text:
How to prevent a Tasker profile from toggling back-and-forth?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with Tasker 4.0u1 installed. I have a "Low Light" profile which activates ScreenFilter when %LIGHT == 0 (and I'm not in certain apps which don't react well to the filter being turned on).
In dark situations, this works quite well and prevents the S3's bright (even on minimum brightness setting) screen from hurting my eyes.
The problem I have is that in dim-light situations, the filter keeps turning on and turning off, which gets so annoying I have to pop into Tasker and shut the profile off.
How to prevent the profile from toggling back-and-forth?

Would a WAIT at the end of that task improve the situation? You could delay the task's ending for, say, 30s. Another idea would be to set a user variable (e.g. %LIGHT_FILTER) to 1 when the filter is triggered on (don't forget to delete it in the exit task), and add an IF with something defining when the filter is on it should not trigger back unless %LIGHT exceeds a given threshold (e.g. trigger only when it's at least 3, you might need to play with that value).

Based on Izzy's suggestion, this is what I've come up with:
Profile: Toggle Screen Filter
Primary Context: Variable Set %LIGHT
Secondary Context: Not in Netflix, Safe in Cloud, etc.
Task:
1. Perform Task `Distance` Priority 8 Parameter 1 %LIGHT Parameter 2 %OLDLIGHT Return Value Variable %lightchange
2. If %lightchange > %LightThreshold
3.   If %ScreenFilterOn = 1
4.     Perform Task `Screen Filter Off` Priority 8
5.   Else
6.     Perform Task `Screen Filter On` Priority 8 If %LIGHT = 0
7.   End If
8. End If
9. Variable Set %OLDLIGHT To %LIGHT

Task Distance:
1. Variable Set Name %rval To %par1 - %par2 Do Maths True If %par1 > %par2
2. Variable Set Name %rval To %par2 - %par1 Do Maths True If %par2 > %par1
3. Variable Set Name %rval To 0 If %par1 = %par2
4. Return Value %rval

Task Screen Filter On:
1. Screen Filter 48.6% Soft-keys On
2. Variable Set Name %ScreenFilterOn To 1

Task Screen Filter Off:
1. Screen Filter 100% Soft-keys On
2. Variable Set Name %ScreenFilterOn To 0

I had to fiddle with the value of %LightThreshold a bit. I started out with it set to 30, but that turned out to be so high that Screen Filter never activated. With it set to 10, things seem to be working well for now. I'll report back in a couple of days.


text:
Issues transfering .apk files from PC to phone using the cable. Sony Xperia Neo
I want to transfer some .apk files to my phone to install the applications on it.
I've tried many ways of downloading and installing applications on the smartphone but to no avail, so I think this method is the easiest one for now.
The problem is whenever I transfer them to a folder (browsing the phone memory like a USB) I cannot find them on the phone or there is no installation available.
Where should I paste those .apk files on my smartphone to be able to install them?
My phone is sony xperia neo l.
Is it the same for other smartphones?

How are you attempting to find them on the phone? Pretty much any decent file manager app (third-party ones, anyway) should offer to install the .apk for you if you attempt to "open" it.

Plug in your phone and drag the APK file onto the SD card. Then go on the phone and download a file manager (ASTRO File Manager is my favorite) from the Play Store. Then in the file manager find your apk file (it should be in /sdcard or /mnt/sdcard). Tap on the APK file and an installer should show up.

Right, but how to download a file manager when there's no way to download and install an app from google play?

@Gigili Download it from here: http://www.appsapk.com/astro-file-manager/ on the phone (this is an old version though). You can install it by clicking on the apk file in the Downloads app. After you do that ASTRO is installed.

Use a SD card and put the APK file on that. Put the card into the phone (if it supports it) and open the files folder on your phones File Browser (Could be something differently named). Install it as if it were another app.

Maybe this is not the best soultion but you can also install application directly to your Android device from PC using Android SDK. Run this command in command line to install .apk:
adb install /path/to/file.apk

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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How to prevent automatic aggregation of contacts
I have more than 3000 contacts and maintain the master copy on my PC.
I regularly create a CSV file from the master and then copy the data to the Contact Manager on my Samsung S3.
I have done this for years, with a Blackberry and then an iPhone.
Android Contact manager arbitrarily joins contacts together. People who work for different companies with the same name, people who live at the same address with different names, etc.
The result is that I cannot find them in my address book, and phone numbers get mixed up. Without separating the joined entries I cannot tell which phone number belongs to which person when I try to call someone.
Equally, when someone calls me, the wrong name is displayed.
I have tried using different ways of moving data to my phone (a Samsung S3). Using Kies or VCF files.
Surely there must be a way to turn off this destructive 'feature'.
It would take me days to go through all my contacts and separate them manually each time I copy from the master.  Synchronizing rather than delete/copy makes it worse. Entries that I have previously separated join together again!

As an Android Developer, I know, that it can be done programmatically in an app:
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/ContactsContract.AggregationExceptions
However, I don't know if there is any contact app having such behavior.
I know one app that has so-called "private" contacts feature - that's contacts that it does not share with Google. It might help you but you'll have to use it instead of the default one:
https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Contacts
Here, for a very small price (half a dollar in September 2019) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobiletools.contacts.pro
Here, for free:
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.simplemobiletools.contacts.pro/

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How can I get back access to the media interface drivers?
After much waiting and tribulation, I've finally successfully unlocked tethering and installed Paranoid Android on my Nexus 7 3G device.
In the progress, I had to tell Windows to ignore its default MTP drivers and use Google's debugging own to interface with Android, fastboot and the like. As a result, I now can't go back to accessing the device using MTP from inside Windows itself.
I tried uninstalling all the relevant drivers from Device Management, but now Windows prefers Android ADB Interface to whatever I was using before. I've tried to force the setup of MTP drivers from Device Management, Add legacy hardware, Install the hardware that I manually select from a list, Portable Devices, (Standard MTP Device), MTP USB device. This didn't work ("This device cannot start. (Code 10)").
How can I get file transfer back?

Which version of PA are you using? For what it's worth I also have a Nexus 7 (Wifi) running PA and also can't enable MTP.

Does it work with Linux? Linux should always work fully "out of the box" with Androids, so if it has a problem it's the ROM, not your computer/Windows drivers.

Try to identify the location of the driver on the system ie, windows/system32 then uninstall the software and the driver from device manager. Once you have done that return to system32 or where ever its located and delete it. Reboot your system and try installing the old drivers.


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LG optimus 4x HD root
I tried to root my phone, but got only to the step 10, because my phone is too damn slow! I can't do anything with my phone, all I'm able to do is restart it over and over again, I can't even go to the lock screen. Can someone please help me? Is there a way to get my phone back to how it was? I don't need the root.
Link to the site I used while trying to root my phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=29868577
The rooting steps were posted by alexp999.

Is it ICS or JB? That method does not work for JB+ . See comment

To undo steps 1-9, you might try to boot into safe mode and remove the SystemBackupTest app. After the next reboot, your phone should be "back to normal", hopefully.

You can just reinstall your firmware using this tool. It's the official update tool for lg phones. After that you can just root your phone again. Just remember, it's almost impossible to completely ruin your phone ;)
Edit: You might want to make a backup, because during the update you lose everything on your internal sd (everything on your external sd is safe)


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Trouble installing ADB correctly, Kindle will not show up in device manager
Currently using kindle fire HD 7.3.1 7" and would like to be able to add google play but when ever i try to install adb it says that I correctly installed it.
I have both ADB turned on in the kindle and Allow installation of Applications.
Although this is what shows up in Device Manager:

DeviceManager Screenshot (click image for larger variant)
Although this should be here there should also be another "Kindle" below "Keyboards".
Question. How can i get ADB to correctly install.

Actually, it shows in device manager (from picture provided by you). So what is your problem then?..

There should be a second "Kindle" showing below the keyboards.

No, there shouldn't be second kindle. Who has told you that?

Even still when I try and run the .bat's it does not show up under devices.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8189488/debugging-android-apps-on-the-kindle-fire


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Carbon backup discovery issues with Nexus 7
I have made a backup of my Nexus 7 before its bootloader was unlocked with Carbon and the companion Windows app; I then took the Carbon folder from internal storage to my computer disk.
An unlock, root, flash, etc., later, I placed the Carbon folder where it was:
 /storage/emulated/0/carbon

I installed an additional application and backed it up to confirm that Carbon stores new backups there:

Yet, no joy.

I've also copied the backup data to Google Drive. Carbon also fails to find the data there.
You might guess it'd be a permissions issue. As far as I can see, it's not.

This person (thread link) has had similar issues with a Nexus 7 but not a Nexus 4. They've emailed the developers one month ago and didn't report back. I emailed them too , but I'm not holding my breath honestly. and actually got a reply. I'm not posting the full text of the email, since that'd be a breach of privacy, but here's the meat of it.

You manually moved the backup, which is an unsupported scenario in Carbon. This is why you cannot see the backups. There is no fix, or workaround for this.

What can I do about this?

I notice the Adobe Reader folder contains 4 items, while the others only have 3. I don't use Carbon, so I don't know if that is meaningful, but it seems suspect. Did something important in the backups get lost along the way, perhaps?

As to the support: I've emailed the dev as well, about 2 months ago, with a problem, including all necessary debug details (logcat etc). 3 mails so far. No reply. While Koush is busy developing a lot of good stuff, he seems not to reply to support requests unfortunately :(

@eldarerathis The extra file is "com.adobe.reader.json": {"enabled":true,"system":false,"flags":10010180,"packageName":"com.adobe.reader","versionCode":73784,"label":"Adobe Reader","versionName":"10.5.2","locked":false,"date":1367072517125,"apk":false,"backup":true}

That's Carbon's control file to identify a backup, including the data it needs to display for restore. If there are no such .json files in the other directories, Carbon cannot identify them. You could try to "fake" such files for the other apps (create them with the corresponding data) -- but I have no idea what should be put for "flags" and "versionCode".

@Izzy ...then why didn't Carbon create those files to begin with?

According to Koush's post on G+, even the Betas already had it: Each backup has 3 files (json, ab, png). So it should be 3 files, not 4. Maybe you can give an example of an item with the 3 and the item with the 4 files (each directory, do a ls -l)?

@Izzy All folders have three files; for TuneIn Radio e.g. it's .nomedia (empty), .tunein.player.png, tunein.player.ab.

So you've lost all the .json files (the .nomedia is just for the MediaScanner service, so it doesn't pick up the .png. I might have an idea -- maybe we meet in the main chat room? If it works out, I can sum it up later for an answer here. Just ping me once you're in chat.

As it turned out, all the other apps had their corresponding .json file missing. Not a big deal: As badp's answer shows, one can simply use adb restore to restore the backups. But as not everybody might have the SDK (or even a minimal ADB) installed (or even a computer available -- one might be on a journey), my answer will take a different approach.
What we need
First, you will need to make a backup of some app, to get a working .json file. As the question states, there was such one from the Adobe Reader. To visualize it for you, this is what the corresponding file (com.adobe.reader.json) looks like:
{
  "enabled":true,"system":false,"flags":10010180,"packageName":"com.adobe.reader",
  "versionCode":73784,"label":"Adobe Reader","versionName":"10.5.2","locked":false,
  "date":1367072517125,"apk":false,"backup":true
}

You will also need:

a file manager
an editor

Of course, you could also perform the steps below from your Linux computer; using a different OS, take care for the file's encoding and line breaks.
What we do
I pick an example app here: Kindle for Android. In the question's screenshots, it's listed close to the Adobe Reader as com.amazon.kindle. For your apps, just pick the corresponding values based on this example:

copy com.adobe.reader/com.adobe.reader.json to com.amazon.kindle/com.amazon.kindle.json
open com.amazon.kindle/com.amazon.kindle.json with an editor

replace com.adobe.reader by com.amazon.kindle for packageName
replace Adobe Reader by Kindle for Android for label (actually, you can put anything here -- but might prefer to know what you've got :)
optionally, replace the versionName accordingly (it will work without)
save the file

I'm not sure what versionCode or flags stand for, so we better don't touch those. We also can safely ignore the rest:

"enabled"="true" should mean "this app is enabled (i.e. not frozen)"
"system"="false": It's no system app (matches: Kindle is no system app)
"locked"="false": This app is not "protected"
"date" obviously holds a Unix timestamp (most likely that of the backup)
"apk"="false": Ah, data only (Cabon's default is to not include the .apk with the backup, to speed things up)
"backup"="true": Is this a joke? What else could it be?

Now, first let's see whether Carbon accepts our trick. If it correctly lists up Kindle for Android as being available for a restore, you might want to repeat above steps for your other backups as well.

It's a kludge, but Carbon uses the standard adb debugbackend for its operation. This means that the .ab format is not proprietary and each of the individual backups can be restored from the adb command line:
adb restore C:\whatever\Carbon\things.the.all\things.the.all.ab

...or through a graphic tool such as Droid Explorer.

I had the same problem and managed to get it working.
After reinstalling the applications I backed up (Angry Birds in my case), I deleted the carbon folder from the phone (keeping a copy on the PC).  I then backed up Angry Birds so that the carbon folder on the phone is recreated etc.  I then replaced the new AB file with the one I originally backed up.  When I restored, I could see the application and was able to restore.

I'm currently having the same problem, but I found the fix..
I have Nexus 7 2013, before updating to Android 5.0 I copied carbon folder to my PC, after updating to 5.0 I moved carbon folder back to main nexus folder and it didn't show anything, but after long research I found the fix:

Open Windows PowerShell
Paste into it this code:

$subfolders = Get-ChildItem -Path 'Link to your PC carbon folder\*'
foreach ($f in $subfolders){
    if($f.Attributes.ToString() -eq "Directory") {
        $filecont="{`"enabled`":true,`"packageName`":`""+$f.name+"`",`"label`":`"" + $f.Name + "`",`"locked`":false,`"date`":1375398819080,`"apk`":true,`"backup`":true}"
        $fname= $f.FullName + "\" + $f.Name + ".json"
        [System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($fname, $filecont)
    }
}

This code will add .json files inside every app's folder and it's working, now all my applications are showing in carbon's restore tab.

Click image for larger version

Izzy's answer is a good start: check that you have a .json file for the app.
If you don't have this file, before you go copying and editing another app's .json file, just back up your app's .ab file somewhere, then backup the app again using Carbon.
It should save a .json file this time.  You can then replace the new backup's .ab file with the one you need to restore, and the app will be detected by Carbon.
(If it still does not save a .json file, use Izzy's method.)


text:
samsung gt i9000 does not start
I flashed my Samsung Galaxy S with 4.1.1 through Odin. But I didn't like it, so I wanted to restore it to Android 2.3 -- and and while restoring it, my computer suddenly restarted and my mobile phone turned off.
Now the problem is that when I try to open my mobile it doesn't respond.the screen gives me nothing. When I try to start it in download or recovery mode it does the same.
I tried to connect it to my PC but nothing happened. When I charge it, it gives me nothing.
I replaced the battery and it did the same.I connected the jig(301k), nothing.
Is there anything I can do to revive my phone?

It sounds like you have hard-bricked your phone. The only thing you can do to get it back is send it in to get it jtagged, or jtag it yourself. The jtagging process is quite complex and unless you have a lot of experience in hardware hacking, you probably should just send it in to have someone else do it right.
I had a similar situation to the one you're in:

Is there a way to restore my Samsung Galaxy S3 (SCH-i747)?

Which ultimately led to:

How risky is it to return a rooted android device under 'warranty'

I returned my phone to AT&T under warranty and they just send me a new one. I did a lot of research on AT&T and Samsung to see their policies on returned phones. Basically after searching the internet for a couple of days I had concluded that the general consensus is this:

Should you return a bricked phone that you were trying to root? No, it is a breach of the warranty and the warranty is null and void
Will I get caught if I try to return a phone that I bricked while trying to root it? Highly unlikely.

If your device is not under warranty, then you have to send it in to get jtagged. In order for your phone to get jtagged, they have to open it up and do all sorts of stuff to it. If your warranty is still in effect, I would highly recommend going that route first.


text:
IMEI mismatch error on restoring nandroid backup from another device(same model)
I use a Micromax A52 ...
I have Gingerbread Custom Rom on it...
what i want to do is backup my rom and restore it on another Micromax A52...
so the models are same...vesrsions are same too...
but when restored on the other device, i get an IMEI mismatch error and the Sim Card does not register...
How do i solve this problem?
Using CWM6 ported for my device.
Thankyou! :)


text:
Hcl me connect V1 lockscreen error
I installed Google play in my HCL ME V1 tablet. It was working fine, when i restarted the tablet, my pattern unlock type changes to swipe screen unlock, and when I swipe it to unlock the screen the lock fades away and does not unlock.
What can I do to solve this issue?


text:
CWM Recovery mode menu does not show up, stucks at red screen
I have Karbonn A5+ phone. I did not find any tuts online tailor made for this model A5"+"', though I found very great resource for Karbonn A5, which I presumed that must be same as A5+ but just with lower processing power (855MHz vs 1GHz). They look exactly the same. I tried to install the drivers for A5 as in this video  and link given in video description, they seem to be installed properly.
I tried to install CWM recovery as shown in this video by the same person who prepared above video for A5. It said that the CWM recovery was flashed successfully and the rebooted. But when I tried to reboot the phone in recovery mode it did not show the CWM menu, it just stuck at red screen.
What could be wrong? Does these drivers are incompatible? If yes, how can I test them? Or the CWM provided in the description of the video above may be incompatible with my phone? If yes where can I get proper CWM recovery for this phone? Now I tried reflashing the CWM recovery twice but it did not helped, So how can I get at least my stock recovery back? And how can I install CWM recovery properly?
Well I know I asked too much question stupidly. But just anxious as am noob.

My guess is that the CWM image is not 100% compatible (there might be more differences between the A5 and the A5+ which cause this). As for getting back your original recovery: as you might not have a backup of it, you might need to find a suiting image elsewhere. If you're lucky, the manufacturer provides such. Checkout Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? for possible ressources.

@Izzy what could be differences between A5 and A5+, at least they look completely same, anyways which parameters should I look for to come to conclusion that recovery for A5 will not work with A5+

Sorry, I don't know that. They could have a different chipset, or other hardware differences. I'm not in programming, so I don't know what the recovery addresses. Things like this are better asked at XDA, I'd say.

Ohkay I got the stock recovery, phew... My phone is detected as W650 by adb devices command. The stock recovery provided in other video by same person is for many firmwares including w619 and w650 as it lists while running. So I tried it and it worked. However the CWM recovery seems to be for W619 only. Now am a bit confused about from where these numbers come from, the internal firmware code? But at least I know what is difference here. Currently it seems that am pretty stuck with no CWM recovery for my device. Any thoughts @Izzy. Is there any generic CWM?

Nope, and there cannot be such a thing AFAIK. I also never heard of any. There might be some working for more than one device, but never anything "generic" -- too many hardware differences for that I guess. But as said, I'm not that deep into development to know all the details involved here.

Ohkay I did not found any custom ROM from this specific device Karbonn A5+ neither tried to cook one myself, but I learnt some facts about it, so just putting them here so that others may get some help.

Drivers at the said source site are compatible with Karbonn A5+ , though they have been said to be of Karbonn A5 at the source site.
The custom CWM at the said source site is incompatible with Karbonn A5+
About stock recovery - I already said it in comments, just repeating it out here:

My phone is detected as W650 by adb devices command. The stock recovery provided in other video by same person is for many firmwares including w619 and w650 as it lists while running. So I tried it and it worked. However the CWM recovery seems to be for W619 only.

Though I still not know from where these numbers w650, w619 came from, the internal firmware code? I will like to know this.
Honestly I think this device cannot take on ICS or JellyBean nicely because of its low RAM. So just stick to stock gingerbread - its fine. In fact I got another device which runs JellyBean on 512MB RAM & 1GHz dual core processor. I always feel that my old phone running gingerbread is smoother than this newer one - at least at basic swipe transitions/animations. JellyBean feels bloaty/resource intensive, but is surely smoother than ICS.

Root your phone first. On GB, there are thousands of root exploits, but I recommend Framaroot as it is PC independent. Once it is rooted, use Flashify app to flash CWM recovery.


text:
How to install Android Composite ADB Interface
Having trouble with this line on this tutorial:

"In your Android SDK directory, at \extras\amazon\kindle_fire_usb_driver, run KindleDrivers.exe, and then follow the instructions on the screen."

I just cannot find this area, any idea where i should install it from?

On XDA, in the user profile of Astarioth, there's a link mentioned in the "most thanked" tab:  https://dl.dropbox.com/s/vprplelu9zx7s2o/kindle_fire_usb_driver.rar?dl=1 (and this is the XDA post thanked for). The name of the .rar archive suggests it holds your wanted drivers -- and the quote

[...] uninstall your old Kindle USB Driver and install this one.

confirms my guess :)
Now, why didn't you find it in your SDK directory, you might ask? Guess that's as it goes with apples and peaches. You assumed Google's Android SDK -- while Amazon has its own Android SDK. And that line most likely referred to the latter, while you have the former installed. Also only a guess -- but I'd say I guessed right again? You might want to read Setting Up Your Development Environment, take a special look at the section Installing SDK Add-Ons. If you work with Eclipse, this gives you another source to get to the Kindle drivers.

All i want is google play store :( thank you for your help.

Then you should not have bought a Kindle. Though running Android, they are competing Google. But that doesn't help you now -- what might help you is taking a look at How can I install the Google Apps Package (Play Store, …) on my Android device?. I guess, rooting will always be the first step for that...

Okay thanks, I never bought it haha, Just a gift I am trying to make the most out of.

Oh -- OK, in that case my apologies for the accusation #D Have you checked the other questions related to rooting the Kindle Fire HD? They might provide additional help.


text:
BusyBox `ln -s`: How do I create symlink to a directory on external SD-card?
How do I create symlink to a directory on external SD-card? Do I have to edit /etc/passwd and add user or root to the sdcard_r group--since, I see that the /storage/ location is owned by sdcard_r? Do I have to change the partition type, ie filesystem of the external sd-card?
I've searched through the previously-asked questions, as well as google-search about the ln function in busybox; however, I'm not able to figure out why I keep getting an error creating link failed File already exists when I try to run ln -s /storage/sdcard1/original_dir/ /storage/sdcard0/DCIM/sym_dir .
I have root privileges and, as far as I can tell, /storage/& sdcard1 are not symlinks themselves. I appreciate any and all helpful comments.  Thanks.

If the source directory is on a FAT filesystem then that may be the cause of the error (although I would expect a different message); FAT16/32 do not support symlinking.

thanks for the response, eldar; what would you recommend for the partition fs of the external-sd card? ext2, ext3, ext4? Just wondering how the kernel on jelly-bean, or android in general, handles these other types of filesystems--do u have any personal experience/observations with this? Thanks again :)

What device do you have? Some of the more modern devices will still have the internal and external sdcards formatted as either FAT32 or ExFAT. This is what allows you to use USB Mass Storage on most computers as those formats are relatively universal (FAT32 is, ExFAT is debatable). Formatting these to other formats may cause issues on the computer, and some phones would require you to change the fstab to properly mount these new partition types and that is usually part of the RAMdisk, which isn't easily editable. Also, are you rooted on a stock ROM or running a custom ROM and if so, which one?

I have a 9-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet (A2109) with Android version 4.1.1 (jellybean); Kernel version 3.1.10.  I have root privileges (superuser) as well as ClockWorkMod installed.
The external card is a 32GB card that "was" partitioned as FAT32, though I'm in the process right now to shrink that initial partition down to ~10GB and creating a second parition as ext2--since I'm not sure that this Kernel version and/or Android System would fully support ext4.
The only thing that resembles an "fstab" file is the /etc/vold.fstab file that seems to have similar/same contents that one would expect.

The rootfs (/) as well as /system have to be mounted with rw permissions.
So, to check for that execute # mount |grep -i rootfs and # mount |grep -i '/system'
If you don't see rw for the permissions, do # mount -o remount,rw / and/or # mount -o remount,rw /system


text:
Phone lists saved WiFi network that I do not recognize
I know my phone will not store WiFi hotspots unless I connect to them, but I've noticed one on my phone that I have no recollection of ever connecting or saving. It's out of range yet saved on the list.
I am wondering if there is anyway this is possible. Obviously if WiFi is on it will scan whatever is around, but will not store any of them unless told to. I'm wondering why I have one stored that I've never connected to or saved. Nobody else has used my phone.

Some other people have had a similar problem:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/615395-wifi-keeps-auto-connecting.html

It is possible that your phone connected to it because it is an open network, which means that no password is required to connect. You can disable this feature by going to:
Settings --> Wireless & Network settings --> Wifi Settings
There should be a checkbox for automatically joining an open wifi network, just uncheck it.
If your device does not have a checkbox for this, then your device does not have that function and it is not the source of your problem.
It is also possible that you joined the network on accident. Most phones have a setting that sends a notification when an open network is available. If you click on the notification it will connect to the network.

If you want your device to forget a network, then just go to wifi settings, then click on the remembered network and select forget.


text:
Unusual battery drain on note II
My Note 2 battery is driving me insane.
I have been using my Note 2 for like 2 months. And I had been following the recharging cycle where you only charge the battery when it reaches 5% or less and remove from socket when it reaches 100%. This method has been working real well for me. I used to get really good battery life. I would recharge it to 100 and remove from socket and keep it there. I might only start working with it after 2 hrs of idle time a nd the battery percentage would be like 98 which is pretty normal.
But two days back when I had to go out I found my battery level at 24 % and since I had no other choice I had to recharge it for 10 mins. That's when the problem started. After coming back home the battery had pretty decent juice left in it and I left it idle. After an hour or two when I checked the phone it had already switched off. I was in shock and tried to switch it on but it didn't work. So I thought of charging it to 100. After almost 3 hrs it was fully charged but since I don't work on my phone so late in the night, I removed it from socket, switched it on and left it there idle. And when I woke up after 5 hrs it had only 69% juice left in my battery. I checked my running apps and there were none. I had my data connection stopped. And still only 69?
Thats kinda weird right? Is it because I recharged it before getting to 5 %. Is there a way I can remove the battery cycle cache or something?

First: LiIo batteries don't like it very much to run "low on fuel". What you describe as "charging cycle" rather is a "calibration", and should not be done too often: it shortens the battery's life time. It's rather recommended to charge as often as possible, keeping "fuel" at 50% or above if possible, and better not drop below 20% if you can help it. Second, I'd check for consumers like John's answer suggests; might be there's a rogue app. Third: Don't use task killers as John suggests; they often have rather the opposite effect.

Yeah you've basically been fed lies about how to treat your battery. Running it all the way down to 5 percent every time is one of the worst things you can do to it. It will kill the battery faster. That said, it should still last for a couple hundred charges this way providing you don't leave it that far discharged for very long.

@thomasrutter Can you suggest me the best ways to treat my battery, like when should i recharge it and all??

That's technically a separate question so you should search for existing questions and ask your own.  But I can say, top it up when you get a chance and it's convenient, and try not to get it too close to fully discharged too often.  Li-Ion batteries are extremely easy and forgiving and you can treat them how you like for the most part, the one exception being avoid fully (or near-fully) discharging them every time.

Since your device is pretty new there is almost no way it is actually the battery (unless it is a defective battery). It is probably a rogue application. Try turning off your device and turning it back on. You should try to reboot your device at least once a week, it will clean up any memory leaks and will help keep system applications from crashing. If restarting doesn't help, then let the battery die all of the way; then, let the device charge all the way before turning it on. If you are still having problems then it is either a system app that is getting hung up on something and hogging cpu, or it is a defective battery.
You can check how much battery each application is sucking up by going to:
Settings --> Battery Information --> Battery Use
That is where it is on my phone at least, it should be in a similar location for you as well.
In the case of a defective battery, as long as you haven't tampered with the device at all, it is covered under your warranty with the manufacturer. Just bring it back to your mobile carrier store and they should be able to handle it for you with no problems.

Edit:
You can use a task killer to kill a rogue process on android. A rogue process could eat up battery especially if it is doing things like using Wifi.
I had this one development phone that I would charge, and then it would be in my pocket and it would start burning my leg because it would get so hot. It was a rogue system app that was constantly getting stuck in some sort of network loop whenever I was connected to wifi. I usually just restarted my phone, but I would on occasion just kill it with a task manager.
Here is (in my opinion) the best task killer on the market (for free): Memory Booster - RAM Optimizer
A restart about once a week will keep your phone functioning correctly. This will also clean up any possible memory leaks as well.
You should NOT use a task killer to end an app that is not hogging CPU, android should take care of all of that stuff for you.

Friends don't let other friends use Task Killers.

John, using task-killers in most cases rather has the opposite effect: they kill all apps, and 75% of them immediately restart themselves. Thus you use even more juice. Task and RAM management should be left to the Android system itself. Task-killers have their purpose, too: to kill a rogue app which e.g. is just eating all your ressources (90% CPU, too much RAM, and maybe even "downloading the entire internet") and can't be closed otherwise. Don't use them in "Chuck-Norris-mode" :)

@Izzy will the android system be able to recognize that a system process has gone rouge? Will it be able to then terminate the app? I haven't heard of the android system being able to do such but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.

In your comment you describe where task killers should be used. Your answer, however, sounds like you do a "Chuck-Norris-Roundhouse-Kick" to "clean up your running applications" -- hence the warning :) Maybe you want to update your answer and elaborate a little more on the "real good use" (and warn of Chuck)? Also, from the app's description I find some good points -- but it doesn't tell if a boost includes killing some non-whitelisted apps, and if so, on what criteria. Especially I cannot see how it detects "rogue apps", and neither have heard Android does that itself.

@Izzy see edit, it you would like to add anything or change it just go for it I don't mind.

I like the final quote :) Yeah, that hits the nail with the task killers :) I just wonder why you removed that app-link. That Memory-booster sounded promising (finding and clearing memory leaks and the like)...

Guys, guess what I charged my device to 100 and wrkd with it for an hour or so..then had to transfer some files through usb..and it actually increased the percentage by 1% . And my battery had juice for 2days and 18 hrs..pretty amazing..

Another suggestion: Maybe something's preventing sleep. One way to check is to go to Settings --> Battery Information --> Battery Use (as suggested here) and then tap on the graph; this should bring up something like this. If the awake line has chunks showing the system is not asleep when the screen is off, it could be due to a rogue application.


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Can I root a Superpad Flytouch 8?
I purchased a Superpad Flytouch 8 recently and now it hangs on the Android start-up page. I cannot access the menus for factory reset so I guess I need to get my head around "rooting".
The PC repair store says it can't be fixed but surely someone can help me prove them wrong.

You don't need Android running to do a factory reset. Try following the steps in this video to reset your tablet.

Ive tried this solution many times, I cannot get the menu to come up. The closest I get is the android figure lying down with a red triangle.This was by holding "home" button and " power " button, but no menu appears!


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Updating Siyah Kernel to 1.9.1 on Galxy SIII i9300 ends in black screen after Siyah logo
I currently run Siyah 1.8.9 Kernel with CM 10.1 nightly (20130218), and I've tried to flash Siyah 1.9.1 with both Odin (PC) and through CM recovery. Both ways end up with a black screen after the Siyah logo. I've wiped cache and dalvik as well and fixed permissions.
I'm not sure what the problem is. GM's website seems to support the CM 10.1 nightly I'm running. Am I missing something in stweaks setup? Something else?


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Sudden drop in battery life
I used to get average good battery life, i.e. for about 2 days without re-charging, since yesterday my Samsung S2 battery life has become terrible, I haven't installed any new applications.
What could be the reason for this?

Go to Settings - Battery and take a look at the usage. You should see if there are any apps using an unexpected percentage of battery life. I've also seen location based apps drain my battery, but that's not saying that's what's causing your issues though.

That's in fact the first place to look for. I have this from time to time on some devices -- until now, always Google Maps was the culprit. And the solution was a simple reboot -- until Maps did it again a few weeks later... As that always had to do with WakeLocks, a look into How to deal with (orphaned) WakeLocks? might prove helpful, too.


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Boot loop data recovery
Cyanogen mod 9, ClockworkMod Recovery 5.8.9.2
I recently plugged in my phone after the battery completely died over night and the phone is stuck in a bootloop. I left it trying to boot for 30 minutes and it's just stuck.
I've made a backup in clockworkMod recovery and am willing to flash the phone to a newer or the same version of cyanogen but I don't want to lose data.
Is there any way I can make sure my contacts and SMS messages are recovered?

Before you go hard-core: have you checked with the boot-loop tag-wiki for possible remedy? Have you tried to remove the battery for a few minutes, then re-insert and boot up again? Have you cleaned up cache and Dalvik-cache from CWM?

Yeah I did all of that. Battery out for a while. Cache clearing, everything I could find.

OK, was just a thought. Can you boot into recovery? Not sure if adb backup is available there as well, but you could give it a try then. For SMS, com.android.providers.telephony should be the one to backup, for contacts com.android.providers.contacts if I remember correctly.

@izzy can boot into recovery, no adb backup though :(

OK. Try adb shell and see if you can access e.g. /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts (needs root). If so, you could at least adb pull the two directories and, if you flash the same ROM again or simply do a factory-reset, might be able to adb push them back, followed by a reboot so the corresponding services pick up the changed data. You could also try to adb pull the entire /data/data directory with settings etc. of all your apps, just in case ;)

I reinstalled android and lost all my data. Nothing else worked. :(

I recently went through this, and it is possible to restore your data, take a look at my own experience at Extract App Data from Nandroid / CWM Backup. Basically you can use Nandroid Manager to restore the data you have backed up. But I am not sure if I got all the data of the apps that might have been installed to sdcard though, so if you can, take a backup including those apps as well (maybe too late now). Hope you still have that backup.. just noticed the date :(


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How to edit doc from mail attachment in drive?
I have an email with a .doc or .xls attachment and I wanted to copy some text from it. JB 4.2 opens it by default with the "document viewer app", which doesn't allow copy/paste.
I tried downloading it, then sharing to Drive, but Drive doesn't show it as an editable document, and it still opens it with the "document viewer app", not with Drive editor.
Is there a way around this?


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If I install a new ROM does that erase all my installed apps and dat?
If I have a rooted (Razr M in this case) and want to install an updated ROM (e.g., to upgrade to a new 'Droid OS version) will I need to reinstall my apps and restore my data?

Unless you wipe all your data before the update, you do not need to Reinstall applications or Restore application data. But when flashing a completely different new ROM, it's recommended to do a full wipe before proceed. Further more, If you are planing to do a full wipe you can use a application like My Backup Pro or Titanium Backup to back up all your applications and data.


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Does rooting erase anything?
If I root my android phone (just so I can get access to Wifi Tethering, etc.) will that erase anything on the phone (apps, data, etc.)?
Will it change anything other than the ability to run app(s) as rooted?

Related: Is there a way to root an Android phone without unlocking the bootloader?

will that erase anything on the phone

Rooting itself should not erase anything (except for, maybe, temporary files created during the process). However, on some devices rooting requires to first unlock the bootloader -- and that usually includes a factory-reset (which means: all data and user-installed apps are gone -- which you can work around on Android 4.0+ performing an adb backup –apk –shared –all –f /path/to/backup.ab before performing the unlock, and adb restore /path/to/backup.ab afterwards, as Compro01 pointed out in below comment).

Will it change anything other than the ability to run app(s) as rooted?

Yes.¹ As the necessary binaries (usually su, SuperUser.apk/SuperSU.apk, and busybox with all its symlinks) are pushed to the /system partition (which otherwise is mounted read-only), it will change that partition. Might sound trivial now, but the thing is: some ota-updates (and other updates shipping directly from the manufacturer/provider) first compare the partitions checksum. If that doesn't match (and it won't after rooting), updates might be refused/failing.
On the other hand: if those updates wouldn't fail, you might lose root when they are applied. If they include a full /system image, that is.

¹ Update: With Magisk the changes described here are not applied to the system partition.

For dealing with the factory reset, the simplest method on recent android versions (4.0 and newer) is just to use the adb backup command.  adb backup –apk –shared –all –f /where/you/want/the/file (backs up your apps and all user data) followed by adb restore /where/you/put/the/file after you're done unlocking and before you root.

@Compro01 Doing the backup before unlocking, yepp. I never tried that way, and it should not break something on restore (i.e. overwriting/removing the "root work"). With your permission, I'll include that directly with the answer.

Specifying the path to backup doesn't work with my device moto-x instead after confirming the backup on device, it creates backup with name backup.ab in current directory. The version of adb that I have is 1.0.32.

@DivKis01 backup.ab is the default name if not specified otherwise. I've never heard the -f parameter was ignored. Are you sure you hadn't a typo in?

@Izzy: Yeah I tried couple of times and there was no typo.

Sorry to read that. Seems your device has a buggy ADB implementation then. Which leaves to always rename the backup.ab after its creation – just a work-around, but better than nothing.

You write " (which means: all data and user-installed apps are gone -- which you can work around on Android 4.0+ performing an adb backup" <--- That's not such a workaround because it dosen't make an image, it makes a compressed file with the files and folders. So data recovery is very limited.

"WARNING: adb backup is deprecated and may be removed in a future release"

also for many people it doesn't work https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/143367/creating-a-backup-with-adb-results-in-41-byte-file e.g. it just creates a 40-something byte file

@barlop That 41 bytes file happens for apps that opted out of backup. Which were not that common when this answer was written. Today I agree: that flag is totally over-used, and more often for the wrong reasons than not.

It "shouldn't" change anything other than adding permission to su, and perhaps adding Superuser permissions app and busybox. It really depends on what method you use, though, there could be glitches that might delete something.

if rooting includes unlocking the boot loader then it might wipe the data

I have rooted before and it doesn't erase anything.

No Rooting does not erase anything in most of the cases, it instead provides you with extraordinary backup capabilities.
When you're rooted, you can backup almost anything (user apps, system apps, all app data, call logs, SMS, game progress, Wi-Fi access points and more) that can be easily and seamlessly restored in case of a factory reset or otherwise so loss of the data.

Some guides will point out that to root you need to unlock the boot loader, so they consider that as part of the process, and consider that "on some devices rooting requires to first unlock the bootloader -- and that usually includes a factory-reset (which means: all data and user-installed apps are gone"

I root devices often. Rooting does not erase anything but if the rooting method does not apply properly, your motherboard can get locked or damaged.
It's always preferred to take backup before doing anything.
You can get your contacts from your email account but notes and tasks are stored in phone memory by default.
Also, after rooting you can install Clockworkmod recovery but do not wipe anything.

if rooting includes unlocking the boot loader then it might wipe the data


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Can't use Google Account on Android 2.3
I have an LG Phoenix with Android 2.3 and I just recently did a factory reset, and now when I go to add my Google account, it won't let me add it. After I entered in my username (...@outlook.com) and my password, it says that "...@outlook.com does not use gmail". Then it offered me a couple suggestions to create a gmail account. I don't want a Gmail account. I don't understand why I need one when I've already got a Google account. I thought that would be enough info needed.

An Outlook account is not a Google account. Outlook is a Microsoft property. Is that the kind of account you're attempting to use during the configuration, or is it something else (like an account where you used the outlook.com address as a username, maybe)?

@eldarerathis A Google Account uses an email address as a username. For example, the owner of chester@example.com could establish a Google Account with that address by using the "I prefer to use my current email address" link on Create your Google Account. This address would be marked as a Google Account without Gmail.

As noted in this question, there's no special hard requirement for gmail anymore.
But <ics GoogleServicesFramework (or at least I tested version 2.3.7 that can seemingly only be found on some late-gingerbread stock ROMs) still expects that as "principal" one (ie use Play Store and GMS).
I guess like this shouldn't be too hard to solve by tinkering with the apk or accounts.db, but for the moment that's it.
Creating a totally new and dupe account, with your main "official" one as secondary (to keep stuff in sync) should work then. It's not really the most of simplicity or neatness, but if you don't want to dirty your account with gmail face, it's the only other option.
p.s. in 2017 you might get some initial crash here or there, due to very old vanilla applications. Making sure to install this and this solved everything for me.

Certainly android is developed by google, so he make a stipulation into it that the android users had to have google account to make it work. So just make it one ;)

Android itself doesn't require a Google account, only Google's applications do. The initial account setup is generally skippable.

Google account != Gmail account. Google had an account system back when Gmail still required invites.


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Can't access Samsung Galaxy S2 (GT-I9100) storage?
I'm using Samsung Galaxy S2 and I was able to access its storage before. But now, it does not appear in My Computer anymore.
I tried reconnecting it and even restarted both the S2 and my PC but to no avail. However, when I typed adb devices on cmd, my device is listed there. In fact, the connector icon is also present on the notification bar of my device. I also tried switching the cable I'm using but it still did not work. Furthermore, the cable seems to be working with other devices. Other PCs won't also recognize my device.
I'm using a 32-bit Windows XP and the connection mode of my device is MTP. What could be the problem of my phone? How do I fix it?

On your device, go to the developer settings and disable USB Debugging. Then try again (some devices have trouble to connect in "drive mode" when USB Debugging is enabled). If that doesn't help: What else did (you) change between "once it worked" and "now it doesn't"?

Hi, @Izzy. Thanks for replying! I tried disabling USB Debugging earlier but it didn't fix my problem. After performing a factory data reset, my device is now working properly. :)

A factory-reset is not the most convenient solution -- but better than staying with the problem. So glad you've been able to solve the issue!

@Izzy: Yes. It's better than being stuck with the problem. Thanks! :)

I wasn't able to know what is the problem with my device. But after performing a factory data reset, it's now working. :)

Did you encrypted your device storage? If no then just backup your all data and give it a factory reset. It should fix the problem. Had this problem with my s3 for two times. Now its' running fine.

Also try a different USB cable.  Sometimes cables can be finicky.

This seems more of a comment, isn't that so?!

As adb works perfectly, it's unlikely to be the cable.


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How to sync Picasa photos to Android 4.2.2?
My phone system is Android 4.2.2, CM10.1. I have installed the GAPPS and Google+, but I still cannot sync photos from Picasa. Some people says syncing from Picasa is removed in 4.2+...really?

With the big Google Plus push this past year, Google have been slowly moving to retire Picasa Web Albums entirely.  First, they made it so that all of your Picasa albums are available via Google+ Photos, then they've set Picasa 3 desktop application's sharing options to Google+ as the default, then they even started redirecting https://picasaweb.google.com/home address to Google+ Photo Albums, and Android Gallery Sync options are indeed gone in 4.2.2 version.  As of this writing, the latest gapps package includes the following change log:

All apps updated to 4.2.2 versions
Google Play Store updated to 3.10.14
Google Play Services updated to 3.0.25
Gmail2.apk (Gmail) and GoogleEars.apk (Sound Search for Google Play)
  removed since they are available in the Google Play Store
  --May require uninstalling and reinstalling Gmail and Sound Search after flashing.
Keeps previous version's Photosphere/Picasa sync install on Mako,
  Manta, and Tuna.

The last line means that the Gallery, which is no longer a stand-alone app, and instead integrated with the Camera app, is an older version in order to preserve the Picasa Sync functionality, while keeping the newer Camera features such as Pohtosphere.  Unfortunately this is only available on very few devices such as Nexus 4 (code name "mako"), Nexus 10 (code name "manta"), and the Galaxy Nexus family (code name "tuna").  This is due to the Camera apps not being open source on either Google's Android core apps, or every other manufacturer's UI overlay.  It is therefore impossible to get the Picasa sync code working on other devices.
If you are willing to experiment a bit, there is an older version of an add-on to the main gapps package here which may help you get Picasa Sync back.  You should flash this gapps-jb-picasa-20121011-signed.zip file after flashing the latest gapps.zip package.  However, keep in mind that this add-on was designed for Android 4.1 (not 4.2.x)/CyanogenMod 10 (not 10.1,) and will therefore remove any newer Camera features.  It may also cause other unforeseen issues and instabilities, so make sure to take a NANDroid backup of your current ROM before flashing that file.


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Why does Facebook Home not require any permission?
I recently tried Facebook Home on my HTC One X. It sucked! So I uninstalled it after few hours.
But the thing is that it does not require any special permission. Actually no permissions were required and its size was less than 300 KB. Why? If Facebook can manage a launcher in less than 300 KB then why do other launchers are so heavy and require so many permissions?

I thought the Home app requires the Facebook app and the Messenger app to function, have you checked their combined permissions?

@onik: Just checked the permission of my Facebook app and Messenger app and you are right it has permissions like directly call phone numbers. YIKES! Now this has got me worried. So does this mean the Home app is already present in Facebook app?

The Facebook Home app doesn't really do much itself. It gets all its data from the main Facebook app, so it doesn't need to access the Internet. Doing any action from the launcher uses an intent to launch the main Facebook app, so it doesn't need to (say) access your location or take photos to make posts: only the main Facebook app does.
To take another example, say you use Facebook Home to "like" something. Facebook Home doesn't go to Facebook's servers: it tells the main Facebook app (on your phone, so not using the Internet) to "like" the thing. Then the main Facebook app (which does have the Internet permission) uses the Internet to tell Facebook's servers about the "like".
The same goes for the size. All the Facebook functionality, sync code, custom button graphics, libraries, and so on are in the main Facebook app, so why would they duplicate them in Facebook Home? Facebook Home probably just has a little code for laying out the home screen, a few icons, and the information Android needs to understand that the app is a launcher.
The apps can use each other this way because they're both by the same developer. (Actually there's a little more to it than that, but that's the first requirement.) Android verifies this by looking at the signatures on each app to check they were both signed with the same private key: in this case, a key that Facebook (the company) has. Without this private key, another developer can't create another app (or modify this app) that can use the Facebook app like this.
It's also possible for an app to create a new type of permission. So, as an example, the main Facebook app could create a "read my Facebook timeline" permission, and then I could write an app Dan's Bookface, which would be able to request that permission in order to read the timeline directly from the Facebook app, without needing the "internet" permission. When you install Dan's Bookface, you'd see "read my Facebook timeline" in the list of permissions just like you do with the permissions built into the system.

So basically 90% of Home already exists in Facebook app?

Yes; I'd probably go to 95%. I think it is also worth adding that they do this to quash any paranoia about Facebook Home having loads of access to your device (which Facebook has anyway).

@Kezz101 Do you have a source for your claim that it's meant to make users feel better? From an engineering point of view, it's the obvious way to write the app.

@DanHulme I don't really want to start a massive discussion here but mainly from here. Engineering wise it would make more sense to allow the end user to install Facebook Home independently of Facebook. Also, as this article and some Google studies show, less permissions mean the user is more likely to feel 'safe' when installing an app.

While we can all agree that fewer permissions looks better, there's no suggestion in that article that writing Facebook Home this way was a deliberate choice to make users feel better. That's a very strong claim to make with no evidence, especially on a site like this, which focuses on substantiable, objective facts, not opinions.

If it doesn't use Internet  then how like and comment work?

@RobinHood I added a new second paragraph to make this clearer.

From the What's New page on the Play Store for the current version of the Facebook app (v3.1, April 18, 2013):

Faster photo uploads
Get chat heads to keep chatting while you're using other apps if you install Facebook Messenger
New permissions to set up Facebook Messenger and Facebook Home, which you can install separately: http://www.facebookhome.com
Bug fixes

(my emphasis)
So the Facebook Home app definitely pulls it's data from the main Facebook app, and "piggy-backs" on the main app's permissinos.


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How to show chat head facebook android manually?
The new version of Facebook Messenger show a chat head when new messages arrived.
When closed, I don't know how to show the chat head unless waiting for the next message to come

So you want a permanent notification icon so that you can just open the chat app from your notification bar? Or are you asking for something else?

An icon or shortcut to open the chat head is what I look for

I use Messenger, and yes, chat heads do show, what I do is, type in to chat, then back out and finish, it is up to them to reply back, and when they do, their chat head re-appears with a new message, in short, that would be the behaviour of Messenger itself, doubt if you can force the chat head to be on permanently all the time...

@t0mm13b Why would you doubt that :) ? I just want to positively chat to my friend using the chat head and need to open it! I like to chat with being-float app like that without living my current app

A free app called Notification Shortcuts gives you the ability to set up a permanent notification that will open an app you specify when you select the notification.
You can set up multiple shortcuts and can even set up toggles for wifi, bluetooth, etc, if you want.
The downside to this is that when you receive a message, you'll have a second notification from the chat app itself. But since the facebook chat app lacks an option to set up a permanent notification, this 3rd-party app is the next best solution.

They have updated their Facebook app now. Please see my answer.

With the new update to Facebook app now, the chat head is opened whenever I start my chat with a friend.
Note that if we want to use the old way of chatting via Facebook, we would use the Facebook Messenger app.

Open messenger then click on the chat head you wanna open. Click i for info. Click 3 dot on the upper right corner then click "open chat head".

Open messenger then click on the chat head you wanna create shortcut for. Click i for info. Click 3 dot on the upper right corner then click "Create shortcut". This will create shortcut on your home screen, that will open chathead for this conversation.


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Enable Location Service on Facebook Messenger app for Samsung Galaxy Note II
How do I enable location services on Facebook Messenger app for Samsung Galaxy Note II?

Within the Messenger app, choose the Overflow menu (three vertical dots) then choose Settings > Location Services and check the box that enables location services for the app.

I tried but still it is disable.


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syncing markup/word notes over dropbox?
hi i'd like to have the following functionality:

putting a file into my dropbox (html,wordformat) - which i'm editing from my PC
android app for acessing that file (desktop shortcut), display html/word-format + edit

any ideas?
currently i'm using a textfile which i can edit with the default android-editor, but markup would be better :)
thanks

i saw that but epistle is not at the android market anymore :(

You're right. The developer has a new, similar app now. There was also a similar question; let me see if I can find it.

Epistle has been replaced by Draft. That said, searching for "markdown" on the Google Play Store offers a number of possibilities. Have you tried any of them?


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GTalk notify when a friend is online
Why can't I set GTalk on my Samsung Nexus S to notify when a friend is online like it does on the computer?

The reason for this is because that feature is not included on the application. It is more related to Gmail which gives you privilege to talk but it doesn't notify you of online activity between your peers.

Well the issue of it is that the GTalk don't let you have notificaion, assume that you're using cell phone, and all of a sudden it shows you a bunch of notifications for every friend who gets online!
Secondly GTalk is no more! Its now Google Hangouts, you can update to that one now! Its super. You get your conversations everywhere, Google+, Gmail, Hangouts!

This does not really answer the question, does it?

@Sid, well it DOES! He wants to get the info why he can't get notification. I told him the basic reasons why Google isn't providing the same functionality as they do for the computer version of their chat apps!


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Google Maps Location History is showing an incorrect location
I have a major problem that I hope someone can help with. On my Google Maps feature under my Location History it shows a location that I was never at at any point, but when my wife happened to see that location she doesn't believe me that the GPS could be wrong and pinpoint that location if I was never there.
I was first wondering myself how could that could be possible if I was never there or my phone was never at that location that was 35 miles away from me and second is there any way I could prove the GPS being wrong? Can I contact Google Maps and can they give an official printout of that certain day and every location I was? I really need to prove my honesty to her and hope there is a way.

From Google's Location Source and Accuracy page:

Data sources
The following location data sources may be used to derive location:

GPS: GPS accuracy can be up to several meters depending on your GPS signal and connection. Your phone must support GPS, have it enabled,
  and allow Google Maps access to it.
WiFi: WiFi (wireless network) accuracy should be similar to the access range of a typical WiFi router, or about 200m or better. Your
  phone must support WiFi and have it enabled.
Cell ID: Cell ID (cell tower) accuracy depends on cell tower density and available data in Google's cell ID (cell tower) location database.
  Accuracy may be approximated at distances up to several thousand
  meters. Note: Some devices do not support cell ID location.

...
Note: When Latitude is running in the background, it will default to
  cell ID (cell tower) location on most phones to preserve your battery
  life.

So if you didn't have Google Maps open for any reason at the time of the erroneous location, it will have defaulted to it's least accurate location finding service, that depending on the density of cell towers in that area (generally more dense in urban areas, less dense out in the countryside) could be out by several kilometers.
If you visit the Location History page in your Google account on a PC, at https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0 then it should show a similar map and listing of places as you see on your phone, but you can also click each recorded location to see how (in)accurate it was. When you click the blue dot for a location, Google draws a blue circle around it that shows approximately the (in)accuracy of that location fix.

The picture above shows an inaccurate fix that covers 3 villages, and a number of roads (I was actually on a train at the far southern edge of that blue circle).
As long the problem location fix has a large blue circle around it, and you can account for being somewhere in that blue circle then you should be ok.

At first, I couldn't see any blue dot areas. Then I realized that I had to zoom in to see anything (because I had GPS on and thus had a very accurate reading for each location). Thanks for pointing out this feature!

@Jason, I found some points of mine that had great accuraccy, but I know are also incorrect. But they are within a quarter mile or less from where I actually was, and I imagine GPS was off and it used WIFI (and as I work at a campus, the wifi is the same SSID everywhere). So even if the blue dot doesn't cover where you actually were, it should cover an area close to where you actually were. The accuracy is an estimate, after all.

I'm in a rural location and because cell reception is poor, I use a high power directional antenna.  It's normal for android to show a location that's out by as much as 25 km, while claiming an accuracy of a few hundred metres.  Moments later it might switch to a different tower in the same general direction from me but kilometres from the last location, and be similarly confident of its accuracy.  Google thinks I routinely travel faster than the speed of sound.

That's most likely not a GPS position, but rather a WiFi hotspot. Google's location service makes use of different identifiers:

GPS
WiFi hotspots
Cell towers

While GPS should be quite accurate (bad conditions might give lower accuracy, but usually shouldn't place you too far off), and cell towers usually are not moving -- WiFi hotspots may exactly do that. I will give you an example situation to understand:
Say, Google's "StreetView cars" passed my house/flat in NYC 2 years ago, while my homy WiFi hotspot was turned on. So they recorded my hotspot's SSID, and connected it with the current GPS location. 6 month later, someone passing by my NYC home with "network location" turned on, gets a fine (and relatively accurate) position from that: location service asked Google's database about my hotspot's SSID, and got the coordinates back.
Fine, so far -- but a year ago I decided to move to San Diego. I completed that 6 month ago, and set up my WiFi hotspot again. Now you pass by my house, your device detects my SSID, asks Google for that hotspot's location... and suddenly you are in NYC, as Google did not update its database yet!
That's how it mostly happens -- and that's how I traveled hundreds of miles in a few seconds a couple of times (my ears still ringing from that acceleration, as I also traveled back a few seconds later)...
To prove you're unlikely having been there, check your other stored locations and check their timestamps. Try to find some with a timestamp close to the wrong location. Once it turned out you must have traveled light-speed to make those data becoming true, the error should become obvious.

I have that problem too on my daily commute I suddenly get "relocated" to the next village while walking to the train station. I wonder thoug how I can fix that. Can I report this to google?

Not that I know. I wonder why we are forced to share our data with Google (when using network location). The "official reason" was exactly that. But they do not seem to care...

@Marcel Yes, you can report this now. See https://android.stackexchange.com/a/117269/100457

I apparently just walked 12,200 miles to somewhere just off the coast of west africa because someone google screwed up the coordinates wifi for a Lakeview Animal Hospital in Chicago which I walked by.

If you click on the dots, you will get the time it recorded you there.  If it is 35 miles away, and it is within minutes of the previous location, then it would be impossible for you to be there in less than 1/2 hour.  I also agree with the others about the Wi-Fi.  I was traveling in Michigan this week, and there is one point in Las Vegas that shows up just 10 minutes after the previous position in Michigan.  Someone's internet connection was being sent out to the network from Vegas.

GPS uses best estimate statistical methods to guess at the location, and sometimes the calculation goes wild due rounding errors, lousy code in the GPS chip, etc. etc.

The problem is not GPS, which is really very accurate, albeit not always available. The problem is that the "location" calculation, in order to save battery, uses data from a number of sources far less accurate than GPS.


text:
Can I make Google Play not run a background process (on CM10)?
There is always a background process for Google Play Market in the CyanogenMod 10 system (Android 4.1.x). I don't like this. Since my device (Samsung Galaxy S) doesn't have much memory, I'd like to make it not run in the background.
Instead I'd like it to run only when started manually to install a new app or check for updates, or from time to time (to give it the possibility to sync).
Is this possible without de-installing Goolge Play?

I think Google Play is bundled with some services that requires for another applications.
 ie : Applications that uses Google Cloud Messaging (GCM).
According to this link: http://developer.android.com/guide/google/gcm/gcm.html

GCM requires devices running Android 2.2 or higher that also have the Google Play Store application installed....

So basically, Google play is not there only for install a new app or check for updates etc.. So I think it's better to leave it as it is.

Perhaps, Greenify could be of some help. In that answer, it is said that it would still allow to receive GCM. I wonder whether it will really alleviate the pressure for resources on the device. (The device is rooted.)


text:
Will reseting my device to factory setting unroot and remove superuser?
As the title says, if I reset my rooted nexus 4 to factory settings will it be unrooted relocked and superuser uninstalled?

No, root won't be removed by factory reset. If you want to remove it, then you should flash stock ROM; or delete the su binary from the system/bin and system/xbin and then delete the Superuser app from the system/app.

So just deleting those two folders and SuperSU will completly remove root?

Sort of. But to be safe use a application like OTA Root Keeper. In this application there is an option to temp un-root (keeps a backup of su binary). But If you’d like to make it more permanent, click the “delete su backup” button. You can then click “Restore Root” whenever you want to bring the root back.

You can't "restore root" without a "su backup".


text:
How do I make Android consider my WiFi Access Point as valid (blue?)
We have a very large wifi network at Stack Exchange, and the primary guest network is tightly locked down.  Our firewall rules permit essentially just http/https and vpn connections.    When our Android phones connect to the wifi, they show good coverage but the WiFi icon never turns from grey to blue.
What is the Android phone checking to make the grey/blue wifi icon decision in JB 4.2.2?

This is the "what is it checking" part (albeit, not entirely specific): What does it mean when the connectivity icons in the status bar go white/gray?

After probing the firewall logs, it appears that the grey/blue icon is triggered depending on whether or not your device has access to Google Play.  In our case, I had to open tcp-udp port 5228 (as per http://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2651367) and after turning wifi off and back on again, the icon became blue.
I can't confirm whether http/https is also part of the equation; we already had that open so it's possible if one is running into this issue even after opening tcp-udp 5228, that http/https may also be required.


text:
Remove 'Driving mode' from status bar dropdown?
I have a Samsung phone with android 4.1.2.
When I slide down the notification bar there are multipls items. One of those are driving mode. I don't drive anywhere (I can't afford a car, gas, insurance, tickets, etc,  and so I use public transportation) so I want to remove the button. This is what I'm talking about:

Notification Bar screenshot (click image for larger variant)
Second over from the right.

Go to the phone Settings. Click Display from the Device group, then on the next screen click Notification panel. You can add and remove notification bar items from there.
Not all Samsung ROMs have this option: in particular, I don't think the Galaxy S III had it until 4.1.2.


text:
Handcent has forgotten half of my contacts
So I've noticed recently that some of my friends contact info has disappeared, at least when using Handcent.  If I get a text from them, I only see their numbers, and if I try and send a message they aren't listed in my contacts. If I use the default Text Messaging tool all of my contacts are there, and if I send a message to someone from there, I'll see it in Handcent as well, but without the contact info.
I have A Droid RAZR, running Andoird 4.1.2

I use Handcent too, and I noticed sometimes this happens if I use my phone's "Free Memory" tool. Usually, after starting HS then closing it with the back button, then going back in fixes it for me

How to shoot yourself in the foot using... task killers? Sorry, but I couldn't resist :) @Luke is that "Free Memory" tool a kind of task killer, and was even pre-installed? It's a known thing that task-killers might cause more trouble than they are solving, when not used carefully. It's not their purpose to "free memory", for example :)

@Izzy It came built in to the phone, it's a widget from LG that closes background apps for me. I know the behaviour it causes on my phone, and I like it, personally

OK with me -- I just wanted to point out :)


text:
2G versus 3G: Does it really save battery?
I often hear the recommendation that fixing your device to 2G saves a lot of juice compared to using 3G.
Is that true? Or is it really a myth?

Fast answer:
Nes. Yo. Well, it all depends... on how you use your device.
Detailed answer
Self-Experiment
I just did a self-experiment to find out. Until now, I had all my devices fixed to 2G -- as that should "save juice", like the question suggests. So for 4 days now, I have 3G enabled. Surprisingly: No difference which could not be explained by measurement errors or slightly different situations (after all, I had a. no lab conditions and b. just tested with a single device). Humm. Time to go for some facts, and do some calculations.
Hard data
I already posted some hard data on battery consumptions of components as answer to the question What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device?, more than half a year ago. So now I picked the relevant values, made an average over the two devices, and -- I admit -- slightly adjusted things to reduce differences:

I took the best GSM (2G) speed possible to make 2G seem faster
I took worse conditions to "slow down" UMTS (3G) to conditions which should be met even in areas where it was not improved to the "the latest cutting-edge" (oh, speaking of "edge": 2G assumes EDGE here).

And now I've got some surprising answers: Whether 2G saves more juice than 3G, or vice versa, depends on how you use your device. I created 4 different "usage-groups", and added a 5th special case at the end. Here are my results:

Few phone minutes, few data
Yeah -- that's me: 150..300 minutes talk per month, that makes not more than an average of 5..10 min per day. I have a 50 MB data flat, and hardly ever use it up (which makes for ~ 1.5 MB/day). So I'm mostly left with "standby":

~UMTS StdBy 15 mW
~GSM StdBy  10 mW

Consider that your screen uses 400..800 mW on average when turned on, a difference of 5 mW can safely be ignored. Besides, the little data even compensate -- but I get ahead of myself.

The 24/7 caller with no time for data
...better switches to 2G:

~UMTS Tel   800 mW
~GSM Tel    400 mW

As you can see, when on-call, 3G uses about twice as much juice than 2G would use (and you don't speak faster on 3G -- a call is a call, and will take the same time). So if you spend a lot of time in calls, and have only little data traffic, you're much better off with 2G/GSM.

Few phone minutes, but big data sucker
Here comes the big surprise: This group saves a lot when sticking with 3G/UMTS:

~UMTS XFER  1200 mW
~EDGE XFER  1000 mW

Doesn't look like a huge difference? OK: looking on "how much does it suck per minute" might not make the big deal. So we need a second component:

~UMTS speed dl/ul   7/1 MBit/s (HSDPA/HSUPA)
~EDGE speed dl/ul   200/100 kbit/s

You see I assumed max speed for EDGE, but not the state-of-the-art (20 MBit/s downstream) for UMTS. UMTS coverage might differ between areas, but the 7+ MBit/s should be available everywhere. Now let's look how long the download/upload of 1 MB data takes, and how much juice that corresponds to:

~UMTS 1MB dl/ul     1s/8s ~ 1200/9600 mWs
~EDGE 1MB dl/ul     40s/80s ~ 40.000/80.000 mWs

That's about a factor of 1:7 for upload, and even more than 1:30 for download!
So yeah: This group is definitely better off sticking to 3G!!!

Multi-Tasker: 24/7 on call while using full data
This now very much depends on what "full data" stands for, and if you're really a 24/7 on-call-boy (or girl). No clear answer for this, you must put your own data into the equation and do the calculation. It's rather 50:50 -- as with group #1, you might run a "zero growth" -- or tend to either group 2 or group 3.

Special case: The "hopper"
Especially in rural areas, coverage might be, humm, "slippery". Your device might be permanently toggling between 2G and 3G, always on the hunt for the better signal. Here all the above might become relative, as the toggling itself is drinking the juice. If you are in such a situation: Check to which of the 4 groups above you fit best, and fix your device to either 3G or 2G, depending on.
Btw: A similar situation would be if you've got the idea to toggle between 2G/3G whenever you switch your display off/on. As the toggling requires up to 10s full-power (to find the corresponding stations; 2G and 3G use different frequencies), you wouldn't really "save juice".

Epilog
Yepp, I completely forgot about 4G/LTE. But incidentally. First: I have no 4G/LTE device for a self-experiment. Second: I have no "hard data" on 4G/LTE. So all I could do is guessing. Doing that, OK, OK: It most likely will be the same as above -- just increment the numbers by one :)

Note: the "hopper" scenario also applies if you travel by underground - most cities have station coverage, but not in tunnels, inducing the power-intensive signal search many times in the space of a few minutes. In such cases, disabling mobile data altogether while travelling by underground has dramatically improved battery life on my devices.

Since this question just resurfaced it might be nice to get an update of your data to include 4G now that it's been a while.

Might be, @ThomasMartin – but I cannot do that. I'm not using 4G, and I have no stats to base an update on. You could ask a new question especially for 4G, and link to this one here as reference.

For me switching to 2G has helped my battery last 2-3 hours longer. I use a samsung galaxy s3 I9300. Was using 3G connection for the first two months and the battery would be over by 14-15 hours under normal-heavy usage. Switched to 2G data couple of months back and the battery life has improved by 2-3 hours.
My usage has always been the same with both 3G and 2G. I use about 1.5GB of data every month. switching to 2G gave me better battery life for the same usage.
But while travelling , when there is fluctuations in network coverage , even 2G network mode drains battery. The network coverage has direct impact on the battery life. The better the network coverage , the better the battery life.
Screen , data transfer and games are the biggest battery hoggers for me. I have used some battery saving applications before but never found it to be useful, though other users may differ, its my opinion.

Do you use a lot of data? How is 3g coverage in your area? Without any background, this does not say much. The question was not intended as a poll ;)

My Data is ON 75% of the time. Mostly email and whatsApp. There are couple of places where 3G is absent.

It's not whether your data is "turned on", but the amount of data transferred which makes the difference. Mail & Whatsapp usually don't use "big data". What's your monthly used volume on mobile data? That's what counts here, provided signal strength is comparable for 2g/3g. See my answer for details: huge volume => 3g is better, low volume => 2g is to be prefered.

i was just giving an opinion according to my experience. My usage has always been the same with both 3G and 2G. I use about 1.5GB of data every month. switching to 2G gave me better battery life for the same usage.

OK, thanks! With those details it becomes more helpful :) Maybe you could update your answer to include them (2g/3g coverage plus the average data usage per month)? Thanks in advance :)

I live in a city and the coverage for both 2G and 3G is excellent. I make/receive phone calls for about 20-30 minutes a day. Use approximately 1.5gb of data every month.
But while travelling , when there is fluctuations in network coverage , even 2G network mode drains battery. The network coverage has direct impact on the battery life.

munna, I meant you should edit your answer to include those details :) Many users don't go through all of the comments, so it's always best to include additional details with the answer itself.

I agree that the network coverage has direct impact on the battery life. If you have a good 4G coverage, your battery will last longer than if you use 2G but with bad coverage.
Anyway, the white paper of Xperia V for example gives more battery if your smartphone uses 3G than in 2G mode. The same with other Xperia smartphones. Is it a mystery or is it a mistake?

Are you answering OP's question, or are you asking a question?

Specs of Xperia SP according to Sony.
Talk time (max.):
2G: 625 min. (10.4 h)
3G: 1133 min. (18.9 h)
Stand-by (max.):
2G: 635 h (26.5 days)
3G: 734 h (30.6 days)
4G: 709 h (29.5 days)

Chico, we don't collect device specs here. And just listing the theoretical talk time the manufacturer put on the pocket doesn't answer the question (unless you talk non-stop and do nothing else with the device). Apart from that, OP has no Sony device.


text:
Configure Android for ONLY IPv6 on T-Mobile
I figured out how to configure a dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 "Access Point" for T-Mobile connectivity on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus, with stock Android 4.2.2. For some reason, when I visit http://myglobalip.com, I'm still getting an IPv4 address returned in addition to the IPv6 address.
Question: How do I configure the "Access Point" so that it only gets an IPv6 address, and not an IPv4 address?
My current IPv6 "Access Point" configuration looks like:
APN: epc.tmobile.com
Proxy: Not set
Port: Not set
Username: Not set
Password: Not set
Server: Not set
MMSC: Not set
MMS proxy: Not set
MMS port: Not set
MCC: 310
MNC: 260
Authentication type: Not set
APN type: Not set
APN protocol: IPv6
APN roaming protocol: IPv4
Bearer: Unspecified

I've also tried configuring the APN roaming protocol to IPv6 which hasn't helped at all. I'm still getting an IPv4 address as well.

Update [2013-04-30]: I believe the reason I am still able to access IPv4 websites, is because of DNS64+NAT64. The public IP address I'm getting from http://myglobalip.com is the public IPv4 interface of the NAT64 gateway.
I think the answer to this question is: T-Mobile uses some sort of transitional technology called 464XLAT to provide IPv4 connectivity over an IPv6-only GSM wireless network. There is more information about 464XLAT at this URL: https://sites.google.com/site/tmoipv6/464xlat.
Ultimately, it doesn't seem possible to disable IPv4 functionality altogether. Obviously, doing so would break a lot of applications from functioning properly, but I really wanted to do so entirely for testing purposes, to see what would and would not work.
The part that confuses me is that the 464XLAT RFC requires a "CLAT" daemon, which I don't believe exists on my stock Galaxy Nexus 4.2.2 Jelly Bean ROM. With this in mind, I'm not entirely sure what sort of configuration I'm running.
Here is the 464XLAT RFC.
If I use an app called Network Info II to view network interface information for rmnet0 on my Galaxy Nexus, I can see that I have ONLY an IPv6 address configured. In fact, the app even has an IPv6 "tab" specifically designed for viewing IPv6 information. I cannot see any IPv4 information when I have selected IPv6 as the APN.
More T-Mobile IPv6 information can be found:

T-Mobile IPv6 is Here and Now
Top Free Apps on T-Mobile IPv6-only Network


text:
Galaxy can't boot up, stucked at Samsung logo
I recently upgraded my stock ROM of my Galaxy GT-p1000 from Froyo 2.2 to Gingerbread 2.3.6 and got stucked. I used the Odin to flash the ROM, it was successful by indicating that the ROM has been flashed OK, it rebooted and hanged at Samsung logo there rebooting & loop back to restart rebooting again over and over. Someone told me something about flashing the boot image with ADB, I do not even know what's ADB talking less of where find. I'm stuck, what should I do for my tab to boot up?

Have you checked with the first-aid provided in the boot-loop tag-wiki? E.g. have you cleared cache, wiped Dalvik, etc?

Since you said you have aready use Odin to flash, I think you know how to get these necessary files: Bootloader, PDA, PHONE, CSC, PIT.
Then, let's start.
Force the device to the upload mode by this way: simultaneously press power button and down button.

When the device is in download mode, plug Odin software and flash ONLY bootloader file (normally bootloader file is like this: BOOTLOADER_DEVICECODE.tar.md5 ).
After that, flash again with all PDA, Bootloader, CSC, PHONE and it's ok without PIT.
You should use the lastest version of Odin, as I am now using ver. 3.07.

Please feel free if you need more help.

Sir, your answer is very close to solving this my problem. I was able to download the latest version of Odin 3.07 but I can't find where to download BOOTLOADER_DEVICECODE.tar.md5. Where can I find this file to download?

Could it be that P1000XWJQ8 Android 2.3.6 Firmware Rom that I used to Flash/Update the Galaxy Tab GT-P1000 is the wrong one? Everything seem Ok when I flash the Tab, it clearly displayed "PASS" after it was successfully flash. At first when the Bootloop started, I flashed PDA with DBData file. Can you suggest another Firmware ROM for the Galaxy Tab GT-P1000, Jelly Bean 4.0.1, 4.0.4 or something? I really needs your help.

Again someone suggested that I should flash my Boot Image with ADB, I do not even know what is ADB, do you know anything about ADB? If you please tell me about and where I can get the file

As I know, normally when something happens with on/off state, it is related to bootloader file. Bootloader file is the most basic ground state for other layers, and apps to boot up.

Well, I have no idea using ADB, Odin is likely a greatest one to flash device. :)

This might be helpful for you: http://androidromupdate.com/2012/02/26/how-to-install-p1000xwjq8-android-2-3-6-firmware-update-on-galaxy-tab-gt-p1000/


text:
How can I erase whole phone securely?
How can I erase my phone completely and securely before selling it for someone else? I have read that secure deletion procedures used on regular hard disks are ineffective on flash drives connected through USB, due to inability to tell the embedded controller to effectively erase all of the data, or something like that.
Not sure about internal storage though (both phone storage and internal SD card), however both of this and the SD card should be erased securely, so that I can be absolutely sure that none of my private data will be available to the next user.

For a real safe delete of all data on the device, a simple factory-reset won't do: data might still be recoverable if one takes the efforts required for such a data-recovery. So I'd recommend taking a look at e.g. Nuke My Phone:

Following National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines, Nuke My Phone sanitizes your internal SD card, where Android phones typically save pictures, downloads, documents, and other such personal data. Then, we eliminate the guesswork by prompting you to initiate the factory reset.
Nuke My Phone doesn’t eradicate data from your external SD card, but that’s okay because reusing your SD card in your new device will save you money! If your device has an external SD card, make sure to remove it before recycling or trade-in.

So this app should really wipe your internal-storage: it not only deletes content, but overwrites it with random data. This way, nothing is recoverable anymore afterwards -- and you can savely give away/sell your device.


text:
Galaxy GT-P1000, in recovery mode, which button is "Home Key"?
In the Galaxy GT-P1000 Tab, when you're in "Recovery Mode", Volume Up & Down is used for scrolling. But which button is referred to as Ok or Home Key to select?
As far as I know, the Menu Key, Home Key, and Back Key are soft keys that only light up after a full Boot, while in Recovery Mode, these three keys do not come up (lights up).
Right now, after successfully flashing my GT-P1000 stock rom, the instructions says that I should go into recovery mode by pressing Volume-Up button together with Power button and enter the recovery mode and use the Volume up and Down to scroll to "wipe/factory reset" to complete my upgrade. I could not find the "Home Key" that I needed select that option after scrolling to "wipe/factory reset" and my Tab won't boot fully either.
I need these answers quickly to get my Tab working. At the moment, the Tab continues to loop back to rebooting around the Samsung Logo.

Does it have a physical power button? Usually, that is the OK button in recovery mode.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab GT-P1000, has physical Power button but when I press the power button, nothing happened, when I press and hold the power, the Tab is turned off. I'm confused

On my GT-P1000 when in recovery mode, the lit up buttons (four light icons on the side where the cable plugs in), the home key is your OK button.


text:
Text not being underlined in internet app on S4
I have an issue with my S4 browser:

Open Google site using the default Internet app (not Chrome)
Enable predictive text, input about 8 dots and then add some following characters
Notice that the line under the text would be placed incorrectly, like this: "........text __" (it must be the "text" with the correct underline)

I have checked with Chrome, and everthing seemed fine. I know that there must be something wrong with Webkit engine, but I can not find where it is, or even what class the issue comes from.
Could you please share some experiences for me? I appreciate your help.
B.R, Giap.


text:
What is the proper way of using GPS Test Plus to update GPS data?
Do you need to click the Clear AGPS button, then click the Update AGPS button, then wait for its home screen to update the list of satellites it finds, before closing the app?
Or is clicking the Update AGPS button sufficient?
The help file describes what these buttons do, but there doesn't seem to be any best practice for using the app (or when is the best time to close the app).

Clear AGPS Button. Pressing this buttons clears the AGPS aiding data from your phone. Do this if your GPS takes a long time to get a
  fix.
Update AGPS Button. Pressing this button requests the download of AGPS aiding data. The AGPS aiding data can become out of date, so
  requesting an update will get te latest version.

Updating is sufficient. I think clear is for cases where you are offline and can not update.


text:
Mediaserver is eating my phone's battery?
I'm using dual boot on my SGS2 with CM10.1 and JellyBam and both running fine but with some issue of mediaserver draining my phone's battery like a crazy nut. I have checked on Google and got many threads about this without any proper solution. This question already exist on this site but that solution doesn't work for me and rebooting every time is a big pain.

Screenshot of "Battery Usage" (click image for larger variant)
I've also deleted all media files on my Sdcard but it still trigger to eat my battery.


text:
Image order in Gallery
Using 4.0.4 on generic Chinese tablet.  I have holiday pictures in a folder as an album, they show in reverse order - latest through to earliest - making slideshow worthless. The filenames are in the correct sequence as are the date/time stamps.  Any ideas on correcting this please.  It seems that a friends phone does the same!  Is this a bug in Gallery?


text:
Android and Google contact sync: "Starred in Android"
How can I sync Android contacts directly with Google?
The problem is I have several groups under my Google account ("contacts", "contacts2", "Starred in Android"). When I try to add a new contact from my Android device, under the groups tab I can see only "contacts" and "contacts2" named groups, but not "Starred in Android". And when I choose to sync contacts with Google, it syncs with contacts which are under the "Starred in Android" named group. So as you can guess every time when I add a new contact from my phone, I must change this contact's group to "Starred in Android" from Gmail.

"Starred in Android" is a special group. You don't add a person to the group through the groups interface, but by tapping the little star on the contact profile on your phone. That sorts them to the top of the "favorites" list.
There's no concept of a starred contact on the web app side, so I guess they decided to create this special group. (In fact, from what I recall, this group won't be created until you actually "star" a contact.)
So, don't scroll to the bottom of your contact to try to add them to the "Starred in Android" group. Scroll to the top and tap the star.

There are "phone" and "contacts" apps. I want to reach my contacts from default "phone" app not "contacts" app. I can see all groups from contacts app but  not from default phone app.

What you're asking for isn't possible from the Phone app.

So how can i add my contacts directly to "Starred in Android" group. I dont want to go to contacts app, search for contact which i just added and use star icon every time. By the way there are thousands of numbers at my contact list.There are many same numbers coming from Whatsapp etc.

Add them in the Contacts app in the first place. I almost never use the Phone app directly. I find who I want to call in the People app and select the number I want to dial from there. Of course, the whole point of the star is to quickly find those few contacts that you want to force to the top of the list. If you have "thousands" of starred contacts you're using the feature in a way it was not intended.


text:
Installing Orbot as a remote SOCKS server for other computers?
I installed Orbot on my Android device and I want to make it a remote SOCKS server so that other computers can connect to it.
The TorFAQ – Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki suggests that for Tor on Windows, the user should edit Tor's directive file torrc. So I did the same thing with Orbot on my device. Here is the contents of my torrc file on Android:
SocksListenAddress 0.0.0.0
SocksPort 9050
SocksPolicy accept *
SafeSocks 1
Log notice stdout
ControlListenAddress 127.0.0.1
ControlPort 9051
CookieAuthentication 1
RelayBandwidthRate 20 KBytes
RelayBandwidthBurst 20 KBytes
AutomapHostsOnResolve 1
TransListenAddress 127.0.0.1
TransPort 9040
DNSListenAddress 127.0.0.1
DNSPort 5400
HardwareAccel 1
SafeLogging 1
TestSocks 1

I added the first and third lines to the original file. However it doesn't work. The SOCKS server refuses the connection all the time.
Can anybody help me please?

From ticket 5438: SocksListenAddress is deprecated but still used in default/sample torrc ... Replace this with "SocksPort 0" if you plan to run Tor only as a relay [...] (I currently cannot check the full source as I'm behind a somehow restrictive firewall). Also, from the Tor Manual: SOCKSListenAddress no longer has a purpose

Thanks for the information but I can't find the line SOCKSListenAddress no longer has a purpose in the manual, it's only available in Google cache. Also setting SocksPort to 0 would completely disable SOCKS connection to Tor.

Did you ever find a solution to this? I want to put my grandfathered unlimited data plan to good use.

This solves the problem:
SocksPort 0.0.0.0:9050