text:
How to create a soft link between root partition and ext3 partition(on SD)
I am trying to create symbolic links of /data/sdext2/app/* on /data/app.
This is what I did in adb shell
ln -sf /data/sdext2/app/* /data/app/
But it is telling "link failed No such file or directory".
Note that none of the partitions are of FAT32 format.
And without -f option it says "link failed File exists".

ln only takes 2 arguments at most (not counting options), the ../* wildcard however expands to all filenames in the folder. Just do place an echo before ln to see what happens.
Do it one by one this way:

cd /data/sdext2/app
  for i in *; do ln -s /data/sdext2/app/"$i" /data/app/;done

or

for i in /data/sdext2/app/*; do ln -s "$i" /data/app/$(basename "$i");done

EDIT
Ok, this is how it works on my device:

me@workstation:~$ adb shell
  shell@android:/ $ id
  uid=2000(shell) gid=2000(shell)   groups=1003(graphics),1004(input),1007(log),[...]
  shell@android:/ $ su
  shell@android:/ # id
  uid=0(root) gid=0(root)   groups=1003(graphics),1004(input),1007(log),[...]
  shell@android:/ # cd /data/
  shell@android:/data # ln -s /data/sdext2/app/banana.app /data/app/cucumber.app
  shell@android:/data # ls -l /data/app/cucumber.app
  lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2012-11-06 22:30 /data/app/cucumber.app -> /data/sdext2/app/banana.app

Will that link hidden files/folders?

Hehe :-) Of course not, but the original attempt wouldn't do that either (so I didn't bother).

still same problem.. i can use other apps like root explorer and link2sd to create soft links.. wonder how it is done..

See my update, also read more on the ln command here.

so.. what do u exactly want me to do??

I made it this way
cp -a /sdcard/olivetree /sdcard/sdcard-disk/olivetree
rm -rf /sdcard/olivetree
ln -sf /sdcard/sdcard-disk/olivetree /sdcard/olivetree

But for wired reasons it didn't work or me in android 'Terminal Emulator' but smoothly worked from my PC via Putty and android 'SSH Droid'.


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Linux ADB Driver for LG Viper (LG-LS840)
On most devices I've run across I can plug the device into a Linux machine and no additional drivers are needed in order for ADB to communicate with the device.
However on two LG devices from last year I am having trouble.

LG Viper (LG-LS840)
LG Optimus Elite (LG-LS969)

When I plug the devices in ADB does not list them when I run adb devices to get a list of connected devices. (I get an empty list)
I have ensured that USB Debugging is turned on for both devices. And I have at some point installed an LG driver which allows the ADB to work correctly from my Windows 7 PC. (Interestingly only the Viper works on my Windows PC, the Optimus Elite can't be found by the adb on windows either)
However I would really like to use ADB from a linux machine. I am far more concerned about getting the Viper working than the Optimus Elite, but a fix that worked for both would be ideal.
On the linux machine in question I can successfully use ADB to connect with every other device I've tested so I know that my environment is set up correctly.
I have tried creating various android.rules files under /etc/udev/rules.d/ but thus far nothing I've tried has had any effect. After creating 51-android.rules and filling in the appropriate vendor id (1004 for LG) I no longer need to use sudo adb to see the devices that do work, still nothing with the Viper though.
My question is: Do I need some sort of additional drivers in order to get ADB working correctly for the LG Viper (LG-LS840) on Linux, and if so where can I find said drivers? If not does anyone know if there is some setup step that I am missing that will allow this device to communicate with my Linux computer via ADB?
EDIT: I ran `lsusb' here are the relavent outputs:
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 1004:6312 LG Electronics, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 008: ID 1004:6317 LG Electronics, Inc.

The top line is a newer LG device that is working properly, the bottom line is the Viper device that can't communicate with adb.

The lsusb -v output for these devices is required to find out what happens here — seeing just VID:PID is not enough.

Normally, the quickest 'fix' to see what's going on is to try sudo adb devices (or sudo ./adb devices if you downloaded adb stand-alone.) If that works, then your permissions aren't right. Once the server starts you can use adb without sudo.
However since you said other phones work, my guess is that the LG phones attempt to auto-detect or auto-negotiate MTP / USB Mass Storage and don't like your Linux system (this is nothing new, vendors don't test this.)
There are no drivers for Linux for this (aside: I hope there never are.)
Check dmesg and lsusb output - it's possible they're doing something funny on the phone side with USB.
You may need to force any sort of auto-mounting or USB storage option to "charge only" which should make the phone behave.

I edited my question to include output from lsusb. I assume that the slight difference in ID is what is causing me trouble. I am not familiar with the lsusb tool. Is the vendor ID the entire string ('1004:6317') or is vendor ID only the part before the colon? ('1004') All of the devices in question default to 'Charge Only' so I think that is not my issue.

It looks like someone needs to add that ID to the list that counts as a phone. You should be able to do this yourself if you can recompile your kernel.

Actually adb under Linux accesses USB devices using libusb without any specific kernel driver. Also adb has a list of vendor IDs which it is allowed to use, but this does not explain the problem in question, because vendor IDs for both phones are the same. And in case of permission problems due to missing udev rules adb devices clearly shows “no permissions” in the list, so this is also not the cause of this problem.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How can I disable the softkey backlight?
I've been using Voodoo Display Filter to dim my screen further than the normal minimum at night, and it works great.  I want to do the same thing with the backlight for my touch buttons since it's incredibly bright.
I wrote a small script to try to do this:
cd /sys/devices/virtual/misc/melfas_touchkey/
while [1]; do
    echo 2 > brightness
    usleep 50000
done

This almost does the trick, but it seems to prevent some touches of the buttons from registering (presumably due to all the events being processed) and the light flickers when I touch one of the softkeys.  Is there any solution that avoids these issues?
Total Screen Control doesn't really work and I'd rather have a free solution anyways, since I'm pretty close already.  I believe CyanogenMod lets you control this as well but I want to stay on my current ROM (Bionix NextGen v1).

Unsure about the Vibrant, but a custom kernel like Siyah for my S2 allows one to set the brightness for the backlight of the capacitive touch keys. Perhaps there's a kernel that offers similar functionality for your device?

@Sparx Possibly ... I use the Voodoo ext4 lagfix so I'd need to find a kernel that supports both.

You can try Screen filter app in google play.

Unfortunately this doesn't work on my Nexus 4.

I have tried the app by Haxor that you linked to. Soft-key backlighting confirmed not working on my Nexus 7, HTC One V, Acer Iconia a500, Kyocera Event, Samsung S2, nor Nextbook 8HD8G.

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


text:
Will a higher class SD card reduce the risk of crashing my Galaxy Ace?
I was using my class 4 32GB SD card in my Samsung Galaxy Ace quite happily until I filled it up to a certain point (which point, exactly I'm afraid I can't find out and don't know). Once the SD card reached a certain percentage of its capacity (Somewhere in the >20GB used area) it started going into the "Sleep of death" bug, where it cannot be woken up after going into lock.
I then deleted some non-essential stuff, and the phone worked with the card quite happily for about 20 minutes, when the card died. I haven't been able to revive the card on my PC or phone.
My theory is that the processor in the Ace couldn't handle that much data on such a low-speed card, which would explain the sleep of death, but not the card failure. Is there any merit in this idea? Would a better class 32GB card have a chance of avoiding the sleep of death, or am I indulging in some wishful thinking?
Apparently the problem is very widespread in Galaxy Aces (according to the manager of a phoneshop I brought it in to), and it seems to happen the Nexus One aswell.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

I don't think a higher-class card would solve this particular problem (btw, you didn't specify which class your current card was). Not being able to revive the card the way you described looks more like a problem with that specific card as such. Was it at least recognized on the PC, and offered for formatting? Or was it totally gone?

I second Izzy's. I don't think this issue is caused by the slow SD card speed. You might want to check if you have an SD card with faked capacity, here's a few tips: one, two

Its because of you are using Max amount SDCard that an Ace can support.
Ace supports 32Gb Maximum, and you are using the same. But Its fact that Ace supports 32Gb ,but it may cause problems mounting that much higher amount.
You can try 16GB class 10, it may be accurate.


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How to limit an app's access only to specific networks?
I'm currently using DroidWall to limit apps' access to the Internet - and it's working great.
Recently I've started to have the need of allowing certain apps network connectivity, but limited only to the current LAN (e.g. only to communicate with IP addresses 192.168.1.x)
DroidWall doesn't seem to offer this in any trivial way (except, perhaps via its custom scripts, for which there aren't any clear instructions for how to apply them only to an individual app).
How can I limit an individual app to LAN access only?

You can use rules like this in your custom scripts:
$IPTABLES -A "droidwall-wifi" -m owner --uid-owner 12345 --destination "192.168.1.0/24" -j RETURN

Instead of 12345, you need to specify the UID assigned to the app; you can find that UID in the list of apps in DroidWall.
Remember that UIDs are assigned dynamically, and if the app is removed, the UID previously assigned to it may be assigned to a completely different app installed later.
There are some enhancement requests for DroidWall (#275, #253) requesting to add such feature, but developers did not respond to them yet.

DroidWall has some examples for custom scripts

A link to those examples is already in the question; however, the -m owner --uid-owner 12345 part which is required for per-app filtering cannot be found there.

I came across a solution that can work for you today.
I have been using this firewall for years but never realized that it has a hidden feature until today.
For most apps on the Android device will still work on LAN even if the APP is completely blocked from the internet.
I tested it and it did not access the internet at all but was able to access LAN.
This can easily be tested from a browser.
For other APPs that use UPNP services. It will not work on LAN if you block it. So then you will need to go to the access log and see the request on to the LAN and open it while making sure the others are blocked from the APP in the firewall.
The APP is called No-Root Firewall by Grey Shirts.
The APP works very well but just does not work on LTE connections and no updates since 2014.

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


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How to increase device's memory storage?
I have an ATT Samsung Galaxy Note. It keeps saying I have low memory, yet I have an external 32Gb SD card and there are 10GB on device left. I don't get why the system memory is being used up. I have 334Mb left and 1.89GB used.
Is there something that will fix this issue?

Possible Duplicates: Phone memory full and it shouldn't be, My internal storage capacity is running low, what can I do?; also refer to: How can I see which applications eat up disk space?

The system uses internal/device memory for a lot of things like...

app data (/data/data/*)
Dalvik cache (/data/dalvik-cache)
Crash- and other system logs (/data/anr, /data/dontpanic, /data/kernelpanics, /data/logger, /data/panicreports, /data/tombstones)
Misc. caches and temporary locations of Google Services (/data/backup, /data/local)
Misc. system files (/data/system)
Installed apps not on SD (/data/app)

and more. You can free some space by moving apps to sdcard (if the apps support this). On a rooted device, you might be able to move even more (e.g. Dalvik cache, app data). But you won't be able to move all.
You will not be able to "increase device's memory storage" -- all you can do is to increase free storage, not the absolute number. As we had this topic quite often, please see related questions for possible actions, e.g.:

Phone memory full and it shouldn't be
My internal storage capacity is running low, what can I do?
How can I see which applications eat up disk space?
What can I do to manage my phone's internal storage?
other questions from the "Related" section on this page

May not be relevant now... but I needed it now and solved...
The link below solved my issue. No rooting or any hacking required. As it only clears the dump (log files etc.), very less risky.
Ref: https://stackoverflow.com/q/16818049/1161069
Here's a very simple solution that works on my Samsung Galaxy S II  and NOTE 1; I have no idea about other models:

Open the Phone app and switch to Keypad.
Dial *#9900#
On the screen that appears, click on the button labelled "Delete dumpstate/logcat".

I've restored about one GB of system space this way.


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Close Application with locale?
I use the locale app to automaticly start an obd-app (Torque) when I enter my car. This works well. Now I want to automaticly close that app when I leave my car. As there seem to be no Plugins to achieve this, so my idea is to use the Execute-Plugin to End the task using unix-commands.
Is there a "good" way to close an app? The "kill"-command seems to be a bad decision or am I wrong here?

Please visit http://www.twofortyfouram.com/support.html

Q: I see the Shortcut setting opens apps... how do I kill apps?
A: Android treats memory differently than a desktop computer. When leaving an app, it is paused rather than killed, so that returning to it later is faster. If Android needs more memory, it will automatically close apps that have been paused but have not been used recently. Because Android manages memory automatically, "task killer" apps are not necessary. Google has blocked "task killer" apps for Android 2.2 and later.
While it is not possible to "kill" apps on Android, the Shortcut setting can be used to simulate this behavior by bringing the Home screen to the foreground. To do this, simply create a new Shortcut setting that opens the "Launcher" or "Home" app (on HTC devices, the Launcher might be called "HTC Sense"). When the setting is fired, it will bring the Home screen to the foreground, pausing whatever application was previously on the screen.

Thanks for your reply. But the app I need to "close" is still using a lot of power when running in background, because of continously trying to reading the OBD - Status. I know that usually task killers are nonsense on Android but this is a special case as I do have to close the app manually even if it switches to a background task

I mark this as the correct solution as it surely helps a lot of others getting here by search. And because I did not want to mark my own answer :)

This is very application-specific, (for torque), so maybe not that helpful for others, but the author from torque answered my question:
Send an intent - 'org.prowl.torque.REQUEST_TORQUE_QUIT'  and it should shutdown gracefully

Looks like I need a little programming. Well already planned doing a bit more than just my "Hello world" I did until now :)


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Android device can support SD Card of up to 32 GB, so FAT32 is more suitable?
May I assume that there is no point to format your SD Card (assume you have the 32 GB size) to NTFS if the device can support SD Card of up to 32 GB and FAT32 maximum limit is also exactly 32 GB?
The reason for asking such question is that since the device can only support 32 GB, so I can assume that NTFS will likely not be supported by the device, or I cannot assume in this way? And this FAT32 will be more suitable and likely to be accepted by major android devices?

32GB is the limit imposed by the Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) specification, not FAT32.
FAT32 supports 2TB drives, with a standard 512 byte sector (or 16TB with 4.096 byte sectors) which is (coincidentally?) the same as the latest Secure Digital eXtended Capacity (SDXC) specification, so FAT32 should be viable for some time to come.
The biggest restriction with a FAT32 formatted drive is the per file size restriction. Since FAT32 uses 32bit file pointers, which means that no single file can be larger than 4GB (actually 232-1). Most of the time this isn't a problem, but if you want to transport movies or virtual machines which aren't split into multiple smaller files, then this might cause you problems.
As an aside, in an answer like this, I can't help but illustrate it with a favorite picture of mine which compares 8 bytes of magnetic core memory from 1953 with 8GB (8 thousand million bytes) of flash from 2008:

In the same space as those 8 bytes from 1953 you could now fit 8x or 12x 32GB uSD cards (when you take into account thickness too) so who knows where we will be in another 55 years? Probably wondering how we got by with only a couple of terabytes in our phone. *8')

The above answers are correct but I am as of yet not allowed to post comments it seems. Still, I thought it worth pointing out that devices where the manufacturer claimed maximum is 32 GB have in the past often supported 64GB or higher cards as well as long as the user reformatted the cards as FAT32 (or another supported filesystem I imagine). The SDXC standard mandates that the cards are sold formatted as exFAT but the standard also includes backward compatibility with SDHC devices, albeit at slightly lower speeds.

the "32" in FAT32 has nothing to do with the "32" in 32GB!
FAT32 is File Allocation Table in 32 bit and is introduced in 1996, when there wasn't any 32GB sd card.
According to Wikipedia: The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GB minus 1 byte or 4,294,967,295 (232−1) bytes.
So you can't copy a huge 4GB (or more) single file to a FAT32-formatted sd card.
AFAIK, android OS does support NTFS and you may want to use it, as it has many benefits over old FAT32.


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Internet problem in Samsung Galaxy S2 after updated Android 4.0
Recently I updated my Samsung Galaxy S2 OS from 2.3 to 4.0, after that the internet is not working properly (e.g. Internet web, facebook, twitter). If I open this application a message is shown saying  "unfortunately internet stopped".
How can I fix this problem?

I had the same problem opening attachments (.doc) in email.
I tried clearing the cache - didn't work, but ...
Under Settings ... Applications ... view all ... Internet ... Scroll down to "Launch By default", and click Clear defaults.
Next, when opening an attachment, select chrome and Just once (or something other than internet).
Worked for me !!!

Go to Settings, Applications, click the ALL tab and scroll down to Internet. Then clear cache see if it works, if not clear data.


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How to Install our android image in laptop ? How to make android boot-able image for laptop?
I have Android Source Code image and i want to install it on Laptop . I want to know how we made bootable image for laptop with android image.
What I have to do so that laptop detect the android image.
There is some site which provide android image for laptop , in which i have to download image but i want my android image been install in laptop. Is any tool is present which make boot loader for android image.GUIDE ME

Unless you have an ARM-based desktop, you need an emulator. There is one included in the Android SDK (for Windows, Linux, etc.).  Can you re-state your question?

i have x86 system and android 4.0 image.Can it's possible to make such a bootable image like here  http://www.android-x86.org/download

You want to check out Android x86 project. They have documentation and installation instruction for installing an Android on a regular laptop/desktop.

thanks Ryan . Can it's possible to make iso image for booting from your android image ? .Just like Android x86.

@i_max 77: build instruction for android x86, there is also build instruction for making isos. You can't use your own image, at least not without rebasing the patches that android x86 are maintaining into your image and recompiling everything.

This would require any applications to be recompiled (or be available in source).  Looks interesting ..


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Identify this Clock-Weather Widget
I've just found this photo on CNET:

I want to know which clock-weather widget app is that?

It is Motorola's default clock widget.
here is a video that shows ,how can use this widget in other phones


text:
How to set network proxy for Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.0 7?
I've already found this guide. It's for the Galaxy 10.1 though and my unit doesn't have the Wi-Fi settings option. Or at least I can't find it.

My apologies, I just found it. For the benefit of those who have the same problem:

It should apply to the other Galaxy Tab 2 models, too.


text:
android special characters keyboard
Under Winodws, if I want to enter extended characters (such as "«") I canuse the Character Map application and the Alt+keypad numbers (such as Alt+0171 for the "«").
How can I do this under Android?  I know there are ways to do this under Linux, but is this infrastructure there under Android?
Especially with tablets and phones and their special Android keyboards - which typically don't have Ctrl or Alt keys.

You might want to take a look at Hacker's Keyboard:

A full 5-row keyboard including arrow and Esc/Ctrl keys, intended for tablets.
Are you missing the key layout you're used to from your computer? This keyboard has separate number keys, punctuation in the usual places, and arrow keys. It is based on the AOSP Gingerbread soft keyboard, so it supports multitouch for the modifier keys.

It supports a bunch of keyboard layouts -- though I'm not sure about the "special characters" being inserted using alt sequences.
If you're mainly interested in being able to insert special characters (and don't care whether they are bound to alt-sequences or selectable by other means), I'd suggest to search the playstore for "charmap". This will yield about 10 results, the topmost of them would match your needs.

Thanks Izzy, I already have Hacker's Keyboard and it doesn't insert characters by the [Alt] method - that's why I posed the question.

Charmap looks interesting...

@PaoloFCantoni Thanks for the hint. As I never used Hackers Keyboard (just being aware of it, and always wanted to give it a try), I don't know about its full capacities. That's why I added the hint to Charmap at the end -- glad you found something with that!


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In Galaxy S3 call history, does the orange arrow mean incoming or outgoing call?
Though this is may sound very trivial, this is not a troll question. I do not own an android phone and need to know for something.

I own a S2 but I assume the icons are the same; orange arrow pointing right is call you made so outgoing, green arrow pointing left is incoming call. Missed call is an arrow bouncing off (e.g. like this)

Orange right pointing arrow is outgoing.
Green left pointing is incoming received.


text:
Galaxy Nexus slow on WiFi wakeup
Performance question here : my Galaxy Nexus is really slow right after I connect it to a WiFi network after long periods not being connected to the internet. That doesn't happen on EDGE or on 4G, and after a while it goes back to normal.
My first guess for the culprit is : the low latency of WiFi networks, combined with the (potentially large) number of apps waiting for a connection to wake up, can spawn a lot of threads, which get data almost immediately, and start processing it right away, all at the same time (unlike EDGE where data can take a while to download). Which obviously clog the CPU and RAM. Is there an app or conmand-line tool (phone is rooted and running CyanogenMod 10, btw) that can show me which ones are doing too much work?
Off-Topic: As a developer, do you know of any tricks that can minimize that effect when syncing in background? Other than not doing it when unnecessary, of course!

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Interesting question but unfortunately your second question is off-topic (questions from programming viewpoint are not allowed, see also the FAQ). You should ask that on stackoverflow

Ah, sorry about that, my bad. I'm leaving that out as an OT question in case someone has a quick 2-cents link/idea, and I'll ask in SO instead. What I'm really interested about though, is the first one. If I can weed out the apps that use too much CPU on wakeup I'd be happy ;)

The OS Monitor app might do the trick.

I'll check it out, thanks! I was wondering if there was any way to display which apps are registered on WiFi/network wakeup, but I guess that OS Monitor or even htop can do the trick...

If you have adb shell ,you can try below command
top -m 10

which displays top 10 applications which takes CPU.

That's actually what I ended up doing, without much success. The latest CyanogenMod M release (10.1) was a huge help however. It still lags behind, but much less than before.

This has become more and more annoying for me as I installed more apps. I solved this problem by installing one of those "battery saver" apps that can schedule when the WiFi goes up or down (3G battery saver pro). I configured it to connect to the network for a couple of minutes every half hour (might change it to every hour to saver battery life) and to leave the WiFi on when I unlock the screen. Tablet is now responsive again! No more waiting for a minute or so to interact with it when I turn it on in the morning or when I come home from work! Yay!

I actually recently discovered that disk I/O was the bottleneck in those cases. I had about 500M free space, and SSD disks lag behind a lot when full, so freeing a few hundred megs helped a lot. Additionally, in case you're running Cyanogen, have you tried changing the I/O scheduler to deadline? It seemed to improve performance somewhat, but I'm wary of this being just another placebo!


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Rooting/unlocking Android Nexus One with broken power button using Linux terminal tools
I am attempting to get Cyanogenmod onto my Nexus One, but am running into far more problems than expected.  The information on rooting Android devices seems heavily fragmented across the web and the tools unreliable.  At least in my case, SuperOneClick has proven a complete misnomer.  So I'd like to go back to basics - executing as many of the commands as possible from a Linux terminal to get the phone rooted/unlocked/whatever else has to happen to get Cyanogenmod installed.  The two constraints I'm working with here are as follows:

The device is running Android 2.2.1 (I downgraded from 2.3.x using the PASSIMG method).
The power button on the device is broken, so any method which requires pressing/holding it is ruled out.

The problem I am having is that even after following Linux-centric guides, I get to the point of installing the SuperUser app followed by the ROM Manager app, but I'm never prompted to give ROM Manager superuser permissions and so can't flash the ClockworkMod recovery.
Below I describe the steps I've been taking so far, based on the How To Root Nexus One Running Android 2.2.1 From Ubuntu Linux guide.

Download/extract/move Nexus One Softroot files to same directory as adb
From adb directory, execute the following commands:
sudo ./adb push psneuter /data/local/tmp/psneuter
sudo ./adb push busybox /data/local/tmp/busybox
sudo ./adb push su /data/local/tmp/su
sudo ./adb shell chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/psneuter
sudo ./adb shell chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/busybox
sudo ./adb shell chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/su
sudo ./adb shell cd /data/local/tmp ./psneuter
sudo ./adb shell

After executing sudo ./adb shell as above, I get the # prompt, which is purported to indicate that rooting was successful.

Still following the guide, I then execute the commands which purportedly make root permanent:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cd /data/local/tmp
./busybox cp busybox /system/bin
chmod 4755 /system/bin/busybox
busybox cp su /system/bin
chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
exit
exit
Again, still following the guide, I execute the commands which purportedly set the /system partition back to read-only:
sudo ./adb shell
su
mount -o remount,ro -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
exit
exit
Now, I download the SuperUser app from the Android Market and open it to make sure it's running.
Next, I download the ROM Manager app from Google Play (looks like it pulled a sneaky and upgraded from Android Market to Google Play here).
I run ROM Manager and choose Flash ClockworkMod Recovery.  I'm prompted to confirm the phone is a Google Nexus One and then ROM Manager runs for about 30 seconds (yellow program bar goes all the way) before spitting out An error occurred while attempting to run privileged commands!.  And this is the point I am stuck at.

I should note that at no point am I prompted by the SuperUser app to give the ROM Manager app super user permissions.  I don't restart the phone or do anything else throughout all of the steps I've described above, so I can't see any reason for root to have been lost at any point.  In fact, if I execute the command sudo ./adb shell after all this, I still get the # prompt indicating root.  And when I execute id afterwards, I get uid=0(root) gid=0(root) -- further confirmation of root.  I really am stuck on this one.  I've spent a lot of time digging through forum posts and online articles, but the signal to noise ratio is poor and I haven't been able to find anything that actually works.  Can someone suggest where I am going wrong?


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"Account unlock" when not connected to internet?
I have a Samsung Galaxy Y mobile phone. I see this screen when I press "Forgot Password" in the pattern lock screen that comes by default with the phone:

My Question is: How would my account be unlocked when
(i) "Wifi" is turned off and
(ii) "Packet Data" is disabled?

Just as a guess I'd imagine the details could be stored in the phone's memory (presumably as hashed values, storing a plain text password would be a big no no). The entered values are then checked against the locally stored hashed ones.

possible duplicate of Cannot unlock tablet as have no internet connection?

Are you rooted?

@SachinShekhar Yes.

Ah, it's not a big deal then.. Just create a Nandroid backup. Do factory reset. And, restore everything from Nandroid backup using Titanium backup.

Search and download Unlocker or Screen Lock Bypass app from internet (which are no longer available in Play Store).
Push it to the system from recovery (with update.zip).
Start the system.

You should be very cautious about installing random apps from discussion forums...

Try connecting to internet by pressing the on/off key and selecting enable data connection mode ...

turn off mobile phone and press volum up + home butten + power button press come out samsung logo and realse the samsung logo to boot in to recovery select the swipe default factory reset

You should also mention that this deletes all data in the internal storage of the phone.


text:
Google Play allows publishers to respond to users' comments?
As far as I have known, and also read in the description of many apps on Google Play, it is not possible for publishers to respond to user's comments, but recently I have come across this:

Can someone give me more info on this? Also, if a publisher responds to my comment, how would I be notified about this? I do not see any Inbox or anything of that sort, also there's no option where we "Allow" Google Play to send up e-mails.

"also there's no option where we "Allow" Google Play to send up e-mails." LOL. It's not a box. It's the terms-of-service.

Yes, developers can reply to a user review. The user will get a notification via email.
However, as of now this feature is only available for "those with a Top Developer badge." So not all developers can reply to your comments.
Read this page from Android Developer blog for more details.


text:
Recovering deleted xml-file on old HTC wildfire

Possible Duplicate:
Recover deleted content from userdata partition?

Before changing my phone i made a back up on my old HTC Wildfire, using SMS Backup & Restore. The program made a xml-file of the text messages. Unfortunately i forgot to copy the the file before resetting the phone and thus deleting all contents. I've tried Remo recover and Wondershare data recovery but they dont seem to recognize the xml-format (pictures and documents are shown). Does anyone have a better suggestion?

Hint: You might want to take a look at Recover deleted content from userdata partition?


text:
Is Evernote a malicious app?
I have been using Evernote on my Laptop and Mobile phone for quite some time now. Recently, when downloading an update of Evernote app in my phone from Google Play app, I noticed that Evernote asks for some objectionable permissions:

I am not aware of any option/facility/service provided by Evernote which would require any of these permissions. Is Evernote Malicious?

Where did you get the app from ?

@EduardFlorinescu From Google Play, obviously.

Then I think the app is not malicious unless someone will prove it is. Evernote is quite big.

@EduardFlorinescu Apps from Google Play are never malicious?

Yes they are but I wanted to now if you have the original app or a copycat that might be a malaware. Evernote is quite a prestigious provider I think is not a malaware but it can spy on you. See answer about similar concerns with facebook.

See also these previous questions for discussion on why many apps need the "Read Phone State and Identity" permission that you've highlighted: Why do so many applications require permission to read the phone state and identity? and Why does an app read my phone's IMEI number? An awful lot of them do

@RichardBorcsik - You seemed to miss the point that I was speaking in general. Since I shouldn't have been doing this anyway, I've deleted my comments.

The reason for "phone calls" might be quite easy: Looking at the app requirements, they list "Android 1.6 or higher". With that, this permission is automatically set -- whether the developer wants it or not. Reference: Android 1.6 Changelog.
An interesting discussion on this permission can be found at StackOverflow: Android permissions: Phone Calls: read phone state and identity.
Of course this might not be the only reason. If the app e.g. lets you take "call notes" for an ongoing phone call, it might want to connect it with the contact or at least the calling number. To get the contact, it needs the number. To get the number, it needs... yes, READ_PHONE_STATE. Not using EverNote, I cannot say if it offers such a feature.
Personal Information: A possible reason for Contacts I just explained. Some additional reasons, taken from the app description, could be:

Email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account (Email taken from contacts)
Share notes with friends and colleagues via Facebook and Twitter (again, your friends data is probably stored with your contacts)
Take meeting and class notes (meetings are probably among your calendar entries, so they could be connected)
Plan a trip: keep track of travel plans, plane tickets and passports (again a clear candidate for calendar: Travel plans)

As for accounts, pick reasons from above: How to share on your Twitter and/or Facebook accounts without accessing them?
So all mentioned permissions could be easily explained. Could, as it takes some guess-work. You may be able to tell my assumptions are true if you investigate the described features. But the devs should be able to confirm or deny -- and IMHO it is their responsibility to explain.

My suggestion to developers always is: If there are sensitive permissions involved, split the connected functionality into addons/plugins. My standard example: Locus Maps. It needs internet access to load maps, that's crucial to the app. Being a navigation app, you might want it to navigate you to your friends -- so accessing your contacts makes sense. But that together with internet, well... you might be concerned. So Menion (the dev) moved this part to a (free) addon. Choice is up to you: Trust him (and install the addon), or enter all addresses manually.

And for another thing I agree with a point mentioned here a couple of times: A 4.7 star rating with almost half a million downloads, I'd say if that app were malicious, we'd have heard about.

"READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY
Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An
  application with this permission can determine the phone number and
  serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that
  call is connected to and so on"

I think it needs calls to make some appointment from them and all the other permission are maybe in the same feature class. I think other users are having similar concerns about other apps from  big providers like facebook see here.
My take would be to ask directly Evernote why they need those features enabled.
This is no way a singular incident see a similar concern here.

There's no need for calls to make contacts for them (that would require calendar and contacts access). As described, many devs say their apps need that to detect incoming calls and react correspondingly (though that should no longer require this permission since Android 2.0). More likely those apps want to access the IMEI as "unique key" for ads. But as you said: Ask the dev, they should know.

@Izzy very useful comment, didn't know that, thanks, I think is interesting that the developer put all the features in the same class. In my opinion accession calls should be sepparated from IMEI. And also iformation if there is a call from information about who's calling who. But then I'm not doing it, its not my call.

That's not the dev's fault. The permissions are sometimes not fine-grained enough. Take an example: you want to display ads in your free app. What permission do you need? Full internet, there's nothing else. But with that, you could do and more. Some ad services require IMEI (they say, to decide whether a given ad already had been displayed to this user) -- so if the dev wants to use this ad service, he'll have to request that permission. Only other reason I could see is if Evernote allows to take notes for an ongoing call, and would connect the number etc. with it.

@Izzy Was tinking about the developer and designer of the platform in this case Google, they should have fine-grained more  the access features, and make them more atomized.

I don't think since Evernote is quite big they would do something like that, and if would do so it would be something so easy to see. Actually when you are developing for android some methods would require this kind of permission, if i'm not wrong, if you want, for example, check for data connection needs READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY or for some advertising..
I've found an interesting article discussing it:
Here

interestingly you found the same article as me check my last link ;)

Thanks for that link! Up to now I would have said: Data connection requires ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, but not READ_PHONE_STATE. So the "data connected" phone state would give another argument besides 1.6 compatibility and advertisements.

@EduardFlorinescu sorry, didn't saw your last link, just found this on google =p. @Izzy maybe Google should create another permission or let devs check for those things with ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, but they probably have a reason to do that on READ_PHONE_STATE

@Markissimo no problem with me, this way adds more consistency to the general answer.


text:
No Devices on shell
I try to send an intent using an android-shell. The app starts, "su" works nice, but when I enter something like "adb shell am broadcast -a android.intent.action.SCREEN_ON" I receive an error:
error: device not found

when trying to list the devices with
adb devices

the result list is empty.
WHat am I am doing wrong? (My tablet is rooted, of course)

Do you have USB debugging enabled?

Yes. But should not matter as I am not connecting by USB but have a console-App directly on my device

AFAIR the adb deamon on the device is only running if USB debugging is enabled.

If you are using the terminal app on your device then you don't need to use "adb shell". You just need to run the "am broadcast -a android.intent.action.SCREEN_ON". I don't know why you would want to run that from your terminal app since the screen would already be on.
You need to have USB debugging on if you are trying to connect via the console on your PC to your device. You also need to have the drivers installed if you are using a Windows machine.

SCREEN_ON was just the maximum simple example to show my problem. Atually I use "org.prowl.torque.REQUEST_TORQUE_QUIT" to end the torque-App


text:
Does a factory reset on a Galaxy Nexus wipe the virtual sd card directory?
I'm looking into wiping my Galaxy Nexus, but I need to know whether or not a factory reset will also wipe the virtual SD card on the phone.  If it does, is there an alternative way to wipe without affecting the virtual SD card?
I'm running stock JellyBean 4.1.1, rooted.

A factory reset does indeed reset the virtual SD card on a Galaxy Nexus.
Okay, initially it appeared as if it wiped the virtual SD card, but it did not. After the media scanner did its magic, everything on the sd card (mostly) still remained there.
I did a factory reset by going to Android's Settings, then Backup & Reset, and did the factory restore option. I did not wipe the device from recovery.

Possibly worth noting: if you use a custom recovery to wipe the /data partition it will skip the sdcard directory by default.

@eldarerathis I used the factory reset option under settings -> backup & reset....  and apparently it didn't wipe the sd card folder. I'm so confused. I'll sort it out in the morning

In order for this to work this strategy cannot do a secure erase (eMMC) and a reformat. One might be able to recover pre-wipe data with forensic tools, just thinking. Will test...

I've updated my answer to reflect what has happened. In short, it did not wipe the sd card folder.

Another note: The wipe that takes place when you unlock the bootloader (in preparation for rooting) does wipe everything, including the virtual sdcard.


text:
Got text message with 'download' button, how would I look at the link source or gain further info to see if this is safe? 2.3.6metropcs
In the 'messaging' app that comes standard with metropcs, I received a text message that had 'no subject' and was just a download button. I know the person, so there is no need to mention not to trust unknown downloads, but you never know when the forwarder is unwittingly passing on spam. I am mainly curious how you would safely inspect the link source or content. android 2.3.6 metropcs

You're right, it might have consequences to follow unknown links. However there haven't been browser exploits in the wild for Android that I know of. If you're concerned, use Opera Mini to access it via your phone, search Google for the main site or just ask your friend what he just sent you.

I wouldn't trust an unsolicited link even if it's coming from a trusted person. All too often, these messages comes from malware infected devices, it's not worth your time to investigate. To be sure, ask the sender what that link was about. Even if it's a valid link, if it's not worth their time to describe what it is that are sending, then it's not worth your time to investigate any further.


text:
"Signature verification failed" when trying to install non-official Cyanogenmod 10 ROM for Sanei N10 Android tablet
Let's see if anybody can help me, because I'm pretty stuck with this.
I've tried to install the following ROM from xda-developers in a Sanei N10:
Unofficial CyanogenMod 10 for many AllWinner A10 tablets
I've installed it following the usual procedure:

Press Vol+ and Power to get the Recovery menu
Select Wipe data/factory reset
Select Wipe cache
Install the three ZIP files: "cm10_a10_20120913.zip", "gapps-jb-20120726-signed.zip" & "n10_compatibility_1.2.1.zip"

The problem is, even though the first ZIP with the ROM installs successfully, the second one (the one with Google's apps) refuses to install, showing instead the message "signature verification failed". The same happens with the third ZIP (N10 compatibility).
So the installation doesn't actually finish. If I reboot the tablet, it runs Cyanogenmod 10, but the touchscreen doesn't work (I have to plug a USB mouse to interact with the operating system).
So what do I do to avoid the dreaded "signature verification failed" message? Just in case if it's of any help to identify the problem, I'll mention that I can see the Android bot laying down with a red triangle with an exclamation when entering the Recovery menu.
I've tried to use the ROM Manager which is preinstalled with Cyanogenmod 10, but when choosing "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery" it says that "The SD Card needs to be mounted to use ROM Manager". Of course my MicroSD is properly mounted (I can see its files in the card from console, from the "Terminal Emulator"). I think this happens because the MicroSD is mounted in /storage/sdcard1 instead of in /storage/sdcard0, but I can't change that. I can't download APKs from the browser, either, because it also says something similar about not being able to access the SD (even though it's correctly mounted and I can see it mounted from Settings > Storage).
I've also tried the CyanogenMod A10 ROM available in this page, which is more recent (October instead of September):
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/3870...mod-10-tweaks/
But the same happens.
I've even tried installing the CWM Recovery ROM, but it doesn't let me installing that from the Recovery either (same message about the "signature"), and with Odin3 it doesn't work either because I don't know how to reach the "download mode", which is needed for Odin3. Pressing Vol+ and Power I get the Recovery, but not the Download mode. Does anyone know how do I get to the download mode in the Sanei N10?
Any idea about how to solve this? Right now I have a tablet with no touchscreen and not even Google applications (so I don't even have the Play Store), so it's practically worthless (at least the WiFi works). How can I get this tablet back to being usable?

As nobody had any idea yet, I provide my thought even though not sure it helps: You might want to try to symlink your SD to its common place, e.g. ln -s /storage/sdcard1 /mnt/sdcard (in case /mnt/sdcard does not exist). Not sure, but I could imagine some apps looking there to determine whether it is available. Of course you need to do that as root.

If that really is the signed gapps package, then I'd guess it's corrupt and you should re-download.  I've never seen this error with a signed package otherwise.

Thanks for your replies. I tried creating that symbolic link, but it just says "link failed Read-only file system" (I was root, by typing "su" and clicking "Allow" in the Superuser window). So, I can't create symbolic links even while being root user?

About the gapps package, I already tried downloading it again twice, but I still got that signature error message. But now I've tried downloading a more recent gapps package (gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip) and that package finally worked! BUT, even though it apparently installed successfully, I still can't see any Play Store icon, nor any other Google app (Gmail, etc.). Why? Those icons should appear after installing gapps, shouldn't they? Maybe this newer "gapps" package is somehow incompatible with this tablet? (is this even possible?).

Also, even though I can now install the newer "gapps" package, I still can't install the "n10_compatibility_1.2.1.zip" file (I still get "signature verification failed" for that ZIP), which, I guess, contains the drivers needed for the N10 so the touchscreen works (currently it doesn't, and I have to use a USB mouse to use Android in this tablet).
Any ideas? I'm getting tired of trying 9485738489754935627 things with no good result :-(. I guess Android is showing here its Linux roots...

I think the key here is managing to install a new Recovery ROM that doesn't care about signing, but how do I do that? I can't install through ROM Manager because I get that error about the SDCard needing to be mounted to use it (and it's really mounted), and then I can't create the /storage/sdcard symbolic link because I get that "link failed Read-only file system" error. Also, I can't use Odin3 because I can't manage to put this tablet in Download Mode. Aaaargh! There's no good solution :-(

Well, at last I could finally solve the problem thanks to chris5s from the xda-developers.com forum.
These are the steps that worked for me:

Download the latest ClockWorkMod for Allwinner A10 tablets from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1802268

Put all three files in the ZIP inside the root of a MicroSD card and insert it in the tablet

Check from the Terminal app inside the tablet to see if the MicroSD card is mounted in /sdcard (just type "ls /sdcard").

If the "ls" command doesn't show anything (that's what happened in my case), then you must modify the "install-recovery.sh" file and replace all instances of "/sdcard" with "/mnt/extsd".

With the proper "install-recovery.sh" file, run the commands specified in the above xda link (in my case the card is in "/mnt/extsd" instead of "/mnt/sdcard" as the original example shows):

su
cd /mnt/extsd
sh install-recovery.sh
sh reboot-recovery.sh

The tablet will then reboot to CWM recovery. Then follow the regular steps to install Cyanogenmod (wipe plus install ROM + GApps + Compatibility). This time the Recovery menu won't care about the files being unsigned and will install them right away!
I hope this helps somebody else!

FYI: There's a more recent version of Cyanogenmod 10 for Allwinner A10 tablets (by a different author) here: http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/38700-rom-cyanogenmod-10-tweaks/

Just make sure that your build no. of build.prop in update.zip Matches with ur current one. This has helped sometimes.

What does Signature verification has anything to do with device properties under build.prop?

@Firelord he probably means the assert props which are included by some developers to perform a device-compability check before flashing. Those lines search for the model number of the device and compare it to the supported ones. But this answer needs some explanation - it's to vague as it is of now.

@benjaminS, yes, thanks for explaining but I already know that, that's why I simply wrote what does Signature verification has anything to do with that. The verification is about authenticity of the file and is not related to device properties.


text:
How can you find which carrier a Samsung Galaxy S3 (GT-I9300) is locked to?
I bought a S3 and it came locked to an unknown carrier. All the unlock services require the information of which carrier the phone is locked to give me an unlock code. So, how can I find that out?

Depending on where you are in the world, and which carrier you're with, your phone will have a unique model.
You can find your phone's model number by going to Settings > About device and it'll be around the middle of the page.
North American models
Carrier Name                Model Identifier

AT&T (US)                   SGH-I747
Bell Mobility (CAN)         SGH-I747
Moblicity (CAN)             SGH-T999
Rogers Wireless (CAN)       SGH-I747
SaskTel (CAN)               SGH-I747
Sprint (US)                 SPH-L710
T-Mobile (US)               SGH-T999
Telus Mobility (CAN)        SGH-I747
U.S. Cellular (US)          SCH-R530
Verizon (US)                SGH-I535
Videotron (CAN)             SGH-T999
Wind Mobile (CAN)           SGH-T999

Via techtrickz.com: you can type *#7465625# on the phone to obtain the lock status.

Type the code *#7465625# or *#SIMLOCK# on the keyboard of your phone. It’ll display various lock status information of your phone. This method should work on all other Samsung Android handsets.

They also suggest imei.info but the site seems to have limited functionality recently.

Interesting, but to me it only tells "locked : yes", basically.


text:
Which application keeps port opened on android?

Possible Duplicate:
List of open ports on Android

On my nexus 7 rooted device some programs keep two ports opened (8080 and 8082). How can I determine what are those applications? Netstat from terminal can't help.

See also: Check which IPs or web-sites an app is communicating with?, List of open ports on Android

Install the OS Monitor app. One of the things it can do is list your network connections, show the used ports and the app that is using it.


text:
Sound volume randomly changes
I'll be listening to music or a podcast, when for no reason that I can tell, the sound will sometimes change. Fortunately, it seems to always go down, not get super loud and blow out my ears.
This happens in any and every audio program, so I don't think it's app specific.
I'm using Android 4.0.4 on a Samsung Galaxy S2. The phone is rooted.
How do I prevent the sound from making random adjustments?

This issue seems to have been corrected by upgrading to a kernel and ROM which are more compatible with my hardware. Should I put that as an answer or should the question be closed?

I would put that as an answer and mark it as such since that was the solution for you

This problem went away after I installed a kernel and ROM that was developed more specifically for my particular phone, the SC-02C.
The lesson learned was to be really sure before rooting or upgrading that one is working with the exact right ROM and kernel.

Many others have had this problem and have overcome it by loading the Persist app from Google Play:

Audio management made easy - Persist puts you in complete control of your audio with a variety of volume controls and settings.

Presets
Volume Locker - Prevent volume changes
Silent and vibrate modes

...

Thank you for this suggestion. Unfortunately, I have tried this app for the last few hours and have discovered that it does not prevent the volume from making spontaneous changes.

I have a Samsung 42" volume uncontrollable and the red power light flickers. This might not be for everyone, before replacing it with a new one I sprayed the on-off switch for a few days. Each day it improved now I have no problem.
                                                 Sonny

I used contact cleaner which should not harm components.

Had problem with volume changing sporadically and interrupted by Google doing voice search.
After trying to shut down Google searches, etc., And failing, ended up switching earbuds to newer pair. That seemed to work.
Still would like option to shut off Google, maybe in another release of android. None of the soluions offered worked with my phone and android 7.


text:
I want to update my Micromax A87 Android 2.3 Gingerbread to Android 4. ICS
Please tell me step by step how can i install Android 4 ICS to my Android 2.3 Gingerbread, I am new to Android but i can do this, if some one help.

Currently no ICS rom available for your phone.
First step in Installing new rom is Rooting.

I am afraid, it might not be possible.
First of all, the ideal requirement for ICS to run on any phone is Dual Core processor, and your phone does not have good processor.
Secondly the ram, your phone has only 256MB of RAM wherein for ICS to work smoothly, it requires atleast 512MB RAM.

Dual core processor is not a criteria to run ICS.
Galaxy s plus,galaxy s, galaxy s duos etc are already running ICS. There are also so many phones which are already running ICS in them.

but the phone would be slow and laggy if the processor is not dual core atleast. also the ram plays an important part.

I have a HTC One V, its a single core Snapdragon, with 512 MB RAM running AOKP. It all depends upon the ROM/Stock OS running on the device and services running  in the background. I run 4.1.2 smoothly.


text:
How do I change Android screen orientation via simulating acceleration?
I have developed an app and I need to test it. I have borrowed some devices from my friends and bought a few. Now problem is that I want to test it in both landscape mode and portrait mode but I don't want to  keep on changing the orientation of phones every 5 minutes manually by myself.
Is there any adb command or anything else by which I can tell the phone to change its orientation? Can I fool it by simulating acceleration or any other alternative?
I am open to rooting but I prefer any solution which works on non-rooted phones.

On this forum someone suggested to use the "flip" command from the monkey "test" program. However, this only works in the emulator, not in real devices.

You could try echoing values to /sys/devices/virtual/accelerometer/accelerometer/acc_file or something similar, though I think that may require root.

This files doesn't exist in my phones. I am trying to locate the right location for this. Does the location vary from device to device, from Android's version to version?

I don't think you can do it via adb, but you can programmatically change the orientation using.setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE);
You could link this up to a timer that would change the orientation every five minutes if that's what you want to do, or write it into unit tests to automatically check if everything goes ok when you change orientation.

I think this has to go in the app which will require me to modify the xml code. I don't want to do that. Can I do it without playing with app's source?

No not really, it's something that you'd usually pick up at the unit testing level rather than trying to automate it after the app is complete.

So that means that there is NO way to change the orientation without modifying the app's source.

Not in the way you need to do it, no.

ADB commands:
first disable auto-rotation: adb shell content insert --uri content://settings/system --bind name:s:accelerometer_rotation --bind value:i:0
set portrait:     adb shell content insert --uri content://settings/system --bind name:s:user_rotation --bind value:i:1
set landscape:         adb shell content insert --uri content://settings/system --bind name:s:user_rotation --bind value:i:0


text:
CM7.2 Viber installing problem
I'm on HTC Wildfire S
With my stock ROM I can use all versions of Viber
But on CM7.2 I can't install newer version than 2.0.x.xxxxxx (I didn't try every version, but the 2.2. and 2.1. installing exit with the app didn't get installed message.
Please help me to solve this problem.
Thanks for your time

This is a member of the Viber R&D Team.
Viber is not fully compatible with custom ROMs yet.. :/
However, please try to download from the following link:
Viber Knowledgebase
Let us know if the issue persists. :)

Please do not use URL shorteners here. They are unnecessary and are too often a vector for malicious sites/software.


text:
How to use Generic USB Joysticks in Android via OTG?
I have a generic USB game controller (looks like a PS2 controller) and I just got my ordered USB OTG cable. So far keyboard and mouse work, however, when I insert the gamepad, I can't seem to make it work. Any thoughts? What can I do to make it work?
Some details about the phone:

Rooted
Unlocked bootloader
Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4

There's a few previous questions on using gamepads (USB and otherwise) that could maybe help you out: ICS and support of gamepad/controller devices, and What are workable/straightforward methods for using external game controllers (bluetooth, USB) with the Android platform?

You gave "some details about the phone", but not what phone it is. USB gamepads just worked in all my devices. Probably your phone lacks the necessary drivers, but we need to know which phone to tell.

You need to root your device.
Also, you need to have and install the following:
Software (APK)
1. USB/BT Joy Center
Hardware
1. USB hub with power capability
2. your generic gamepad
3. USB OTG

After the installation of the APK Insert your hub with power capability (some tablets and phones cant give enough power to the joystick).
When the USB hub lights up it is detected by the tab, all you need to do is plug your generic gamepad.
Now open USB/BT Joy Center this software will automatically detect your gamepad.
(trouble shooting) when your device is not detected. Restart your device with all the hardware connected.
When your tab is already open, try reopening USB/BT Joy Center. I think this should do the trick.


text:
How to check an application's checksum or hash on Google Play?
Some free applications on Google Play are limited to the United States so the rest of the world has to use dodgy sites to get them. However the security of such sites are questionable as the apps might be modified and contain some kind of malware.
Is there a way to get the SHA or MD5 hash of the apk file from the play store so it can be compared with the downloaded one to make sure that it's safe?

Related: How can I verify the authenticity of an apk file I downloaded?

I don't think there md5/sha5 sum would be a good idea. However all apk's are signed by the developer so if you have another app from the same author compare the signatures and check the .apk sig itself. EDIT: see eldarerathis' link above

the other app from developer is limited to so we can't download and compare

sha-3 sum is a very good idea because you can't clone it faster than 1000 years and you can simple compare hash of what you downloaded with what google play say on app page. it can't be easier and safer.

"you can't clone it faster than 1000 years" What're you talking about?

@Richard Borcsik i talking about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sha3

I know what SHA3 is. I was asking about the figure of "1000 years". I'm not talking about cloning (what is that anyway?) but making another apk that has the same checksum as the original. It certainly doesn't require 1000 years given adequate processing power.

that is why sha3 created to prevent clone hash sum. the signature is signing the hash. its all about hash and its secure if you use a good hash function like sha3. by the way why you so much supporting torrent ? why you don't let google put hash on google play pages ? are you a malware developer ?? :D

... am reading this drivel in the comments which are  beyond comprehension... and who says free apps are limited to USA, my guess the OP is living outside of the USA...

Online MD5 is an online resource to compute a checksum.
You could also try downloading MD5 Checker on your phone. I feel like finding somewhere that is actually going to publish the valid checksum is possibly harder.

I think the word you are looking for is identical rather than safe. Safety is an illusion

The  Guardian Project's free and open-source app Checkey does much of what you're looking to do.

via F-Droid:
"Checkey is a utility for getting information about the APKs that are installed on your device. Starting with a list of all of the apps that you have installed on your device, it will show you the APK signature with a single touch, and provides links to virustotal.com and androidobservatory.org to easily access the profiles of that APK. It will also let you export the signing certificate and generate ApkSignaturePin pin files for use with the TrustedIntents library."

No it isn't. It would be also possible to make the modified package have the same md5 as the original, so this wouldn't be too secure.
One solution is to remove your SIM card and use a VPN app like TunnelBear VPN to circumvent regional restrictions or an alternative market like Amazon App Store or GetJar.

no dear VPN won't work with new google store. and MD5 was example. SHA-512 or SHA-3 is completely secure with today computing power ... its sad google don't do that. i think just this can prevent millions of cell phones and tablet don't get infected with trojan horses

Why do you say that VPN doesn't work? I'm using it, and it works. Google is a corporation not a non-profit. It has a financial interest in users downloading apps from the Play Store. So Google doesn't gain anything from adding hashes. Use a VPN like I said above. It works. (Also most people don't know what checksums or hashes are. )

for paid maybe but for free apps VPN won't work. google store check your sim card number and understand your real country ...

@mike Your operators code to be exact. So how do you circumvent that? There are several market enabler apps, or just take out the sim card.

i think you are in USA or UK. well outside there its not easy as you think. it not working, somehow it understand and not allow to download. i tried anything. the only way is to root phone and try market unlocker which is not safe. its a shame google don't do that as its very simple. millions of people have no way to understand apps which download from torrent are safe or not

I live in Hungary. I've been doing one variation or another of what I described for more than two years. It's working for me and all people I know. Why do you say that market unlocker is not safe? You're right that it's simple, but it wouldn't benefit Google. What app are you trying to download? Also you're exaggerating. Far less than millions of people are using torrents for downloading apps. Far less.

bro if it was like that why should people download apps from third party sites which already exist on google play for free ... ? all the people are idiot ?

"all the people are idiot" Yes. Among other things, more people are technologically illiterate than literate. http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/12538/how-can-i-circumvent-regional-restrictions-in-the-android-market There're also people who don't have internet on their phone, don't have a Google account, don't have Play Store.

Wouldnt it be "safe" if you are using both md5 AND sha? , is it possible that you can forge a checksum of both in the same file?

The only way is if you first download it then find its MD5 or SHA1 hash.
Or, use the site http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/ but you have to use the full qualified name of the app.

The website seems to be legitimate, make sure to disclose any affiliation with the site.

This doesn't make any sense to me. If I can already download the app from Play Store then the question would not exist at first place. Why would I bother with a checksum since the problem wouldn't exist anymore. And using checksum of an apk downloaded from  a third-party site as a base checksum to compare with makes the whole point of verification, moot.

Looks like a useful site, but agreed with Firelord that it is virtually worthless as a method of file verification.

Thank you, your answer answers the root problem, how to circumvent country restrictions on the play store.


text:
Brand New HTC Desire C Wi-Fi won't work
Just bought myself a Desire C, pretty decent as far as I've played around with it, but I have a problem with WiFi (this is pretty much the case with all my phones). I can't connect to home network by any means. The network though is totally fine because my pc (from which I type this) is connected, my laptop can connect, my other pc can connect and my old HTC Wildfire (the original one) can connect totally fine. I have searched the web for about 4 hours now to no avail. All I can do is ask here for some solution. I will try to get (in a pirate-like way somehow) the WiFi fixer programs to my phone from my pc but still this is not sure to work, so I expect some help.
Now for the specs of the whole network problem:
Device: HTC Desire C (obviously) using Android 4.0.3 (out-of-the-box)
Router: Netgear DG834G v5 (if you want to ask anything about config, do so)
Router protection type: WPA2 PSK (that's what my phone tells me, I will go with this)
Notes:

I have an HTC Wildfire that can connect to the very same connection and a couple of Windows 7 machines that can do so as well.
I used to have the exact same problem with my previous device (Samsung Galaxy Ace rooted with SanGingerAce) but assumed it was the root config as a friend told me, so did not bother. Said device couls connect totally fine in any other network it has been (including the one of th university I am in), which I will try on my phone tomorrow if that makes any difference).

What channel (1-11) and protocol (e.g., 802.11b) is your router using?  A lot of devices don't support 802.11n and b/g mixedmode may cause problems.

Can the phone connect to any other wireless network?

@ZnewmaN yes it can totally fine...

Solved myself:
I tried after reading a lot of stuff to tweak my router and do a firmware update and I totally messed it up and almost destroyed it. It actually won't work at all and won't be found by wireless or anything, but it was already 5 years old, so I did not mind too much, I went and bought a new one (LogiLink - heard this brand for the first time, but works like a charm). I installed my new router (even though it asked for some things I heard for the first time in my entire life) and it runs on 802.11n perfectly fine for all my 3 computers and all my 3 phones. So turns out my old router was too old apparently.
In conclusion, for anyone reading the question, I believe a firmware update on an old router if done properly (in which I failed horribly) can fix this problem, also as @MatthewRead pointed out in the comments mixed b and g was fairly worse than g only, so you can try this. In any case,


text:
Samsung S3 wont sync
I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S3 but it takes forever to connect with my laptop and i am unsure why this is.
Can anyone help with this?

It takes forever to sync with Kies you mean?

as in the connect symbol just cycles for ages sometimes an hour before it works sometimes not even.

I had some problems like yours with Kies, and I really hate it, but it's an necessary evil for some tasks. Here some things I did, try them:

Make sure you are running the lastest version of Kies
Change the USB port you are trying to connect
If you have another computer to test, try it
KiesAir or AirDroid maybe fit your needs
There's a Google USB Driver
Try reinstalling Kies
Make sure the storage mode is on

If none of this works, try contacting Samsung


text:
How to disable "reject call with an SMS"?
ICS introduced an option to reject incoming calls with an SMS.
Is there a way to disable this function. If yes, how?
Sony Xperia S handset running JB

Seems that there is no answer :(

So you basically want this option to not show up on the lockscreen when someone calls?

@ce4 Yep. (It's NOT on the lock screen though. It's on the bottom of the screen when someone calls me.)

I don't see that you can. It looks like, at best, you can change the possible responses to be empty fields. (Custom ROM solutions notwithstanding.)

@Al Everett Well, it kindda solves the problem. But a message still gets sent. So the base problem remains as is. :(

@Sid you can't disable it on default stock answer app but you can disable with a third party app like HD caller ID.

@avirk Oh no!! So will there be an option to this in a future software update? Using a third party app call functions is not a good option for me. Thanks for the tip though.

@Sid it depends on feedback of user to their phone company. If most people find it annoying then may be they will or Google but not sure if any future update will do that.

@avirk There are threads on their customer support forums, but they seem to just ignore them...

Unfortunately, there is no way to disable that. Sony is using a proprietary Dialer that has that function hard-coded into it. Without using a custom ROM, there is no way around it.
I know this because I have experience with this on Samsung devices (they also have a bar near the bottom that allows to Reject with Text), and having heavy proficiency with Android, outside of somehow recompiling the Dialer apk and using your knowledge of Java to find the entry, remove it, and recompile, there is unfortunately nothing you can do.

Just go to Phone > Call Settings (Xperia Z3 go to Settings > Call > Reject call with message). There you'll see an option to "Reject Call with Message". Go there and you will see some template messages. Just delete all the messages one by one and that's it. Your problem is solved.

Hacky. But it works ;)


text:
Lock down 'receive text messages' setting
I recently got a shock on my phone bill when it showed over a hundred texts received by the standard text messaging app. I had been receiving these solely through Google Voice, specifically to avoid such charges.
I checked the Google Voice settings, and somehow the 'Receive text messages' setting had been switched to 'Via the messaging app'. Ack! I switched it back. But: Is there a way (or a utility app) that will lock this setting in place?
[EDIT] All right, I was a bit vague in the original description of this problem. Let me walk through this step by step:
Last month, my phone bill was about $25 more than the month before. Comparing it to the previous bill, I found that the difference was due to over 100 texts having been received on the phone through the carrier.
I checked my phone settings, and found that in Google Voice, the setting under Sync and Notifications >> Receive Text Messages was set to Via the messaging app. All the recent text messages were listed in the standard messaging app. I changed the Google Voice setting to Via the Google Voice app, and had a friend send me a new text message. It appeared in Google Voice, but not in the standard messaging app.
What I seek is a way to lock down that Google Voice setting so that it cannot be changed. (I suspect that it was altered somehow by a recent Google Voice upgrade.) Does such an app exist, or is there a way of doing this that I am overlooking?
Thanks...
JGB

I'm not sure how viewing them in a different app would result in a charge, is it actually forwarding them to your number?

Yes, I think we need more detail on your setup here. Are you using some kind of carrier integration, like the one from Sprint? Are you having Google Voice forward your SMS messages to your phone? Unless your phone and your GV number are the same (which would require carrier integration) they should be completely unrelated to one another. If someone texts your GV number your phone won't receive an actual SMS unless you have forwarding or integration configured, GV will just get the message.

I would double check to see if the "Receive text messages on this phone" setting on the voice.google.com website is checked.

I've updated the problem description with additional details. Please see above.

If you don't want to receive text messages on your actual phone number and only receive them via your Google Voice number, just call your carrier and tell them to disable text messaging.
I used to do that, back when I had a plan that charged for messages. Just tell them to disable incoming and outgoing text messages, and you won't have to worry about any future charges.
The Google Voice app sends and receives text messages as standard data, and it doesn't use the carrier's texting abilities. So disabling texting through your carrier won't inhibit your ability to use Google Voice for texting.

Be sure that Google Voice isn't configured to also send text messages you receive to your mobile as a text message (SMS charges apply) in addition to showing up in the Google Voice app (SMS charges don't apply). From Google Voice help:

With Google Voice for Android, text messages are sent through your
  data plan, as opposed to your text messaging plan, so there won't be
  any text messaging charges for messages that you send to numbers in
  the US or Canada.
Note: If you have your mobile phone listed as one of your forwarding
  phones in your Google Voice account, replies will come to the Google
  Voice app, but will also be duplicated in the Android Messaging app.
  Depending on your carrier, you may be charged for your received text
  messages. To disable this and only have messages sent to the Google
  Voice app, sign in at voice.google.com, then go to Settings > Voice
  settings > Phones > (your mobile number) > Edit > Receive text
  messages on this phone > Uncheck and Save.

If it helps, I've drawn a flowchart for a previous answer that helps illustrate the difference.

I agree with this as being the most likely cause. And it is still likely causing extra charges. The dual display (in both apps) is in appearance only. The Google Voice app still receives the message and then sends out a broadcast to other apps that an sms was received. Those that have the correct permission (like messaging apps) will get the message. This is all handled on the phone after the message is received by the Google Voice app.


text:
Does the Nexus 4 have 4G?
I know it doesn't have LTE, but what about the 4G networks of other carriers?
If I happen to buy one, will I be able to use it T-Mobile's "4G" HSPA+ network?

What T-mobile is advertising as 4G is not actually 4th generation technology. It's more like 3.5G

Technically speaking, neither is LTE.  As per ITU-R, in order to be considered "4G", a network must deliver 100 Mbit/s.  Only under heavy marketing pressure did ITU-R reconsider, and now recognize that WiMAX and LTE could be considered "early 4G".

Calling LTE "4G" is something I've gotten over ... calling HSPA+ "4G" is just a sad, sad joke.  Marketing > innovation.

Yes, it has HSPA+ which is what T-Mobile's "4G" actually stands for.
This article on AndroidAuthority should help you understanding  why it doesn't have LTE.

It appears the Nexus 4 does have an LTE Chip, but its not enabled. Here's a post to get it working: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/23/how-to-enable-4g-lte-on-the-google-nexus-4/
I've seen a fair amount of Youtube videos of people enabling it and testing it.

You should try and summarise what's on the link in case it goes down.

Ahhh apologies.


text:
Sending a message to all contacts in WhatsApp
I need to send a message to all my contacts (309 phone numbers) via WhatsApp.
Is there a way to send a message for all my contacts, because the application just allows 25 contacts at once?

Use the broadcast function, see: http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/android/23130793

Open WhatsApp
Press the [Menu Button]
Tap [New broadcast]
Type your contacts' names or press the [+] button to choose from your contact
list
Tap [Next]
Type your message and optionally attach media
Tap  the send button

will it send the message an an individual message to all, or a group message? will they come to know that it has been sent to others too?

No, others will be unaware about your broadcast. They will get message in separate chat.

But limitation of this is, If user added in broadcast is not having your number saved in his contact list, he may not get your message.

I don't think this is possible since it's a limitation of the app itself. The best you can do is to put a status message so everyone can see, but you won't know for sure. Or you message them in groups of 25.

Easiest is to select:

Chat icon at the bottom screen
Broadcast list OR new Group at the top screen
Create your contacts

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


text:
Insufficient storage updating Android app
Every time my Nexus S attempts to update Chrome, It displays an error stating "Insufficient storage available". According to "Manage apps" I have 412MB of internal storage available, which should be more than enough.
Searching Google turns up plenty of people with the same issue, but no definitive answer.
How do I get Chrome to update?

I know it wouldn't be the correct, but did you try to uninstall and install it again?

The app's data size had crept up to over 100MB. Still shouldn't be a problem in my opinion, but apparently that was enough to prevent updating.
I cleared the application data "Manage apps" -> "Chrome" -> "Clear data", then was able to update Chrome successfully from Google Play.

Looking at the hardware specs of your phone, having 412MB of free space is equivalent to having just 2.5% of internal storage available, which seems pretty close to a low memory condition. I read somewhere (can't find the page now) that during installation you need twice as much space as what the app will finally use.
So for installing Chrome, which uses 45MB (at least on my phone), you would need 90MB free on top of whatever threshold your device manufacturer is using to trigger the low memory alert.


text:
How to sync contacts in one direction only -- from phone to Google?
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, Android 2.3.
I just lost a lot of time after syncing contacts -- executed from the phone. I assumed that all the changes will be transferred to Google account (as initially) but the effect was reversed -- my changes were deleted, and what I got was simply an undo function -- the old data from Google were transferred back to phone.
So how can I transfer contacts from phone to Google account -- I mean copy them only in this and only this direction?
All my contacts are of google type, so when I say "from phone" it means they are stored at phone memory, but they are not "phone type contacts".

Have the same issue. Whenever i make a change in my phone, google reverts it to that existing in its server. Thus I use a custom backup tool, like TB(Titanium Backup) and have disabled contact sync to google.


text:
Podcast app that can create playlists
I asked before about a podcast app that is able to share it's episodes with the default music player. Does anyone know of a podcast app that takes it a step further and generates playlists for each podcast (playlists that would be visible in the default music player or any music player capable of handling m3u's).

So I've discovered that beyond pod will do this. It has an autoplaylist function that will allow you to build smart playlists. There is an option in the settings that will share this playlist with other apps (basically it generates and M3u and updates it as it downloads podcasts).
This works OK. I'd love if there was an app that could generate a per-podcast playlist, but for the time being having a single playlist with all my podcasts is better than having to search for them within my entire music catalog.


text:
The ps command shows many repeating processes named "app_process". Why?
as of today my phone (Samsung Galaxy Nexus (4.1.1) slows down a lot. I noticed following:
root@android:/ # ps | grep -c app_process
136
root@android:/ #

and here is few details:
root@android:/ # ps | grep app_process | tail
root      3651  1     429424 12600 ffffffff 40061c74 S app_process
root      3667  1     429420 12596 ffffffff 400e3c74 S app_process
root      3680  1     429420 12596 ffffffff 4013cc74 S app_process
root      3681  1     429416 12596 ffffffff 4003bc74 S app_process
root      3682  1     429432 12608 ffffffff 400b4c74 S app_process
root      3711  3710  429424 12600 ffffffff 40102c74 S app_process
root      3722  3721  429424 15244 ffffffff 4004fc74 S app_process
root      3726  3725  429416 15236 ffffffff 40049c74 S app_process
root      3727  3723  429420 15240 ffffffff 4004ac74 S app_process
root      3728  3724  429420 15240 ffffffff 40014c74 S app_process
root@android:/ #

I just boot my phone run adb logcat on my laptop and it's been 15 min already and screen already off yet I still see something going on through logcat. Is this normal?
I cleared /cache and dalvik cache - that didn't help

I don't think that this is normal. At least I don't see  any app_process after my Android completely booted. app_process is port of the Android Zygote Startup though.

I had a similar problem before. In my case, the culprit was one or more background services. Deleting Google Goggles solved it for a while, then it came back.
This time, I removed Trust Go. So far, so good.
Whether or not you have those specific apps, I'd say there's a fair possibility that one of them is the problem.
I tracked it down by going to Settings > Developer Options and checking the box to overlay the processes on the screen. This is important because the act of using another app to check on what's happening can itself change things. I saw that even though a system process was eating all the CPU, Trust Go was frequently in the top five. Removing it seemed to cure it for me

Running Flappy Bird with no network results in heaps of these app_process instances running. Each uses about 7Mb of RAM and they don't go away. Using "OS Monitor" I have never seen app_process instances except for this.
However, killall app_process rebooted the phone so clearly there are other instances running, probably with changed identities. OS Monitor sees these, as does ps on my phone so for me, seeing app_process is never good.
I'd guess something has failed to start or failed to cleanup when exiting.


text:
How to hide the mouse pointer after I finished using a bluetooth mouse?
i recently bought a bluetooth mouse for my android tablet (galaxy tab 7 p1000 running gingerbread) and every time I stop using the mouse, the pointer stands where it was, only thing that makes it go away is a reboot.
Is there any way to hide the mouse pointer when the mouse is no longer in use without rebooting?


text:
Is there no way to get scripts to run in Android?
Since Android is Linux at its base, I logically think it should be possible to run a script on Android, like a Python script or PHP script (with executable bit obviously).
If not conventionally, is there any way to do so?

Are you asking about a command prompt, or about developing Python code under Android?

Python and php are not the same as Linux. But regarding to your question, yes it is possible to run python and php in Android, though you do need to install them first since unlike many other Linux systems, they're not installed by default.

Did you try anything?

Python/PHP specific
If you are asking specifically for Python and PHP scripts, SL4A probably is your best choice (though there are other Python
supporting apps in the playstore, like e.g. QPython Lite). And if you want to automate things, you might want to take a look at the SL4A Script Launcher (in connection with TaskBomb task scheduler) as well.
Shell Scripts
But talking about "Linux" and "scripts in general", the first coming to my mind are Shell Scripts. These can be run directly from the command line using any terminal emulator (e.g. Android Terminal Emulator, Terminal IDE) -- or, if you prefer some "graphical help", using specific launcher apps like SH Script Runner, ScriptMe, or Script Manager.

Bash shell scripts can be run from SL4A also.

You want SL4A. From the website:

Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A) brings scripting languages to Android by allowing
  you to edit and execute scripts and interactive interpreters directly on the Android
  device. These scripts have access to many of the APIs available to full-fledged Android
  applications, but with a greatly simplified interface that makes it easy to get things
  done.

To run python scripts on android download "QPython" / "Qpython3" app from google play store.
To run PHP scripts don't use SL4A because you can only run php scripts but can't develop php sites,Instead download Server for PHP app from google playstore.
Watch the below video to learn how to run php scripts on Server for PHP app
:
https://youtu.be/VG6IdIi7m8k

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! This answer might be more helpful if you add a link to the apps you're recommending.

6 views to the video as of now! Seems more of a promotion than an answer.


text:
Any way to assign startup apps manually?
Is there any way i can set up an app to start at startup? Its a ram boosyer and for some reason it does not auto start....earlier it used to..
Does moving apps to SD card prevent its auto start?
And how can i assign apps mannualy to be "Startup applications"?

Try uninstalling and then re-installing said app - be forewarned though that most RAM boosters / memory cleaners are absolutely redundant in Android. Due to the nature of pre-loading your most used apps in order to give them better latency, there's little to no point of running these memory cleaners. In fact, by running them, you lose a bit of your battery as the OS has to run the processor to select and pre-load other apps.
Yes - moving an app to the SD card usually prevents it from starting up at boot - this is also why widgets or apps that have some sort of notification / reminder / push message need to remain in internal memory.
You can run a script (if you're rooted) or you can use an app like Tasker / Llama to run an app depending on a particular set of conditions.


text:
My space used and free space doesn't add up
See pic - the numbers don't add up!

Screenshot (click for larger variant)
This is a 16GB Nexus 7
The listed items only add up to a little over 9GB. So 4GB worth of files are missing.
How can I find those missing files?

You mean, your Nexus 7 is 16GB but appears only 13.2GB?

Any reasons for the downvotes?

@eldarerathis I see. Just saw the screenshot saying 13GB and him saying it's the 16GB version I immediately assumed that's the problem.

Thanks for the edit @RichardBorcsik, the question is much clearer now.

How disk space is used on Android device?

If the displayed detailed would be complete, you'd be correct: 1.28G + 7.28G + 200K + 282M + 762M = 9.6 GB total space -- while the summary says 13.24G. Explanation is easy: The details list is not complete. It e.g. misses Cache, temporary files, log files, tombstones, and probably some more.
Where to find those? In the file system, and for completeness this requires root. For some more details, please take a look at corresponding questions by following the tags internal-memory and storage. A good source to start with is the question Something is secretly eating up my tablet memory and I need help finding it.

Thanks for that, will find a way of finding those files.

The linked article should get you started -- most needed details are covered there. Feel free to let us know where the gross of those ~3.6 GB were located. Btw: The screenshot information looks a bit misleading to me: "Apps (app data & media content)" could be interpreted to mean the data only, excluding the .apk files. So in case you cannot get together the missing space otherwise, consider to check that as well. Oh, and if you use App2SD, it might also be the "decoded .apk files" on internal storage...


text:
Filesystem hierarchy, that defines the directory structure and directory contents of Android?
I have searched, but haven't yet been able to find, an authoritative documentation of the filesystem hierarchy of the Android OS.
Can someone tell me whether this exists at all and if so, where?

are you looking for this https://github.com/keesj/gomo/wiki/AndroidUserland ???

Definitely the type of information that I'm looking for. However, I had hoped there'd be something authoritive from Google or such.

Related: Android Folder Hiearchy

There's a big chapter on that in Andrew Hoog's Android Forensics book on that (see this Amazon list for available copies). Unfortunately, that book doesn't come for free (but from Elsevier; so prices range from ~USD 20 for the Kindle edition to ~USD 50 for the print, with some crazy offers for ~USD 170+ as well), but it explains a lot of background not only interesting for Forensik specialists. A German version of this book now is available for EUR 35, published by Franzis (which can be found e.g. on its German Amazon page as well as on the publishers site, see this link).
While the link to AndroidUserland given in a comment on the question contains a very rudimentary list, a better (though also incomplete) documentation can be found at robotz.com. As said, this is far from being complete, but better for understanding.
I remember having seen another documentation at android.com -- some hints can be found there e.g. in the Storage Options (check "Internal Storage" and "External Storage" here). But a complete documentation of the file system hierarchy is missing here as well.
So again, the most complete documentation known to me is Hoog's Forensics book. German speakers might also be interested in taking a look into the chapter Dateisysteme und Datenstrukturen of my book "Die Androiden-Toolbox", which (in this community edition) is freely available in HTML, MobiPocket and PDF versions here on my eBook Server (if you prefer a printed copy with a few more details, the (extended) Franzis edition Das inoffizielle Android-Systemhandbuch will be available end of this month, i.e. starting around the 26.11.2012).
Disclosure: As said, I'm the author of the second book mentioned. And, not yet mentioned, the translator for the German version of Andrew Hoog's book. But that does not mean I hold back other sources here, of course.

You have given, all combined, a pretty complete answer. Thanks. But why is that book SO expensive (50 dollars)?

As I wrote: Elsevier... Don't ask me. The German version is EUR 35, which is approx. the same. It's not a "fiction" book but a technical book -- not so many buyers...


text:
Using MyWi USB 3G Tethering from iPhone to Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
I've been using MyWi on my jailbroken iPhone 4 for over a year now and it works great giving me a 3G connection to my laptop anywhere I am via the USB tether.
Is this possible to do on my Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet the same as I can on my laptop?  When I enable MyWi and plug the USB into the Galaxy Tab, nothing happens where I would expect it to pick up on the 3G connection my iPhone has just like my laptop does...
Has anyone got this to work?  The tablet is not rooted and is not part of any Verizon or AT&T plan, no SIM in the tablet...
Anything would help!
Thank you,
-Derek.

Why not just use the wireless tether option? The Galaxy Tab most likely does not have drivers for the iPhone.

Bluetooth is another option by the way!. PS: Wifi tether is a battery hog and if you commute via train you might have plugged in the USB anyway.

My experience is bluetooth tethering is just as bad, but slower speeds.

What would be my wireless tether options? I am trying to use my 3G connection from my iPhone via MyWi jailbreak app so I have a free 3G connection to the tablet using my 3G unlimited data plan...

Per MyWi's website: "Create iPad or iPhone WiFi Hotspot to connect mutiple laptops or mobile devices to share your iPhone/iPad's internet connection" You should be able to create a wifi hotspot with your iPhone that your Galaxy Tab 2 can connect to or possibly create a bluetooth connection from your phone to your tablet for connection sharing.

thank you...and yes, I have done that. but the key point here is that I want to use my iPhone's 3G connection, not WiFi.  Using MyWi currently I simply turn on USB tethering when I am on 3G and plug the USB into my laptop...I then have 3G internet access on my laptop when there is not a WiFi connection available.  I'd like to do this on my Galaxy 2 Tab....not sure if it is possible.

You can't share your 3G connection over USB but you can over wifi. Just as you just turn on usb tethering, you can turn on Wifi hotspot to share your 3G connection via making your iPhone a hotspot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zoIsmVYuTo

The short answer is no you can't share your iPhone's 3G connection with your Galaxy Tab 2 over USB.

And what is the long one? I.e. we would like to know what are the facts and sources that you rely on to give that short answer

USB tethering would require the Galaxy Tab 2 to have a driver for the iPhone, which it does not. In theory a person could write a driver for the android operating system to utilize USB OTG for the iPhone, but as far as I can tell one does not exist. This post (http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/27738/can-android-devices-access-an-ios-file-system-via-usb-otg) references the limitation of connecting to an iPhone, but any sort of remote possibility would require root at the very least along with lots of development work.


text:
What would the effective memory space be in a 8GB Nexus 4?
So, the Nexus 4 doesn't have an external micro SD card slot, which of course is bad. So, how much of memory space would I get to use for installing applications, copying music, videos etc ?

The 16GB one has 12.92GB so the 8GB should have around 5GB. http://cdn.androidcentral.com/sites/androidcentral.com/files/imagecache/w680h550/postimages/684/lg-nexus4-review-42.jpg

I would assume that it would be similar or the same as the 8GB Nexus 7, which is about 5.92GB.


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cannot add exchange mail on Nexus S running 4.1.2
I am not able to add an exchange email account to my Nexus S.  When I select the add account, corporate, and put in email and password i get to next page with the ssl option and press next, I get error message that it couldn't open connection to server.
This is a new account for me, but it works just fine on my WIN 7 laptop, so this is clearly an issue with Android.
Any suggestions?

Do you know what kind of SSL (Port) it requires?

This is an issue of login name and server name.
After entering your email address and password. Don't click next, but click Manual Setup.
The next page should ask for your username, password(properly fill in for you already), and Exchange server.
Username: <Windows Domain>\<Windows Login>
Exchange Server: (you should know, or find out from your Outlook setting)

Good luck!


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Google Chrome crashes when attempting to access Desktop Bookmarks (Asus Nexus 7)
Steps to reproduce:

launch Google Chrome browser and open new tab
touch bookmarks option on bottom menu
select Desktop Bookmarks

This causes Google Chrome to crash, resulting in:

"Aw, Snap! Something went wrong while displaying this web page. To continue, reload or go to another page"

Screenshot:

Debug output:
http://pastebin.com/CqypRRbv
I have tried the following actions, which have been unsuccessful:

disable/enable Chrome Sync
restore tablet

Does anyone else have this issue or this is this an isolated problem?

works for me :-(

Works for me, too. Could you probably get us a LogCat? Heres how: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/33216/how-can-i-get-a-logcat