text:
Service code to get Xperia model
I'd like to check the manufacturing date of an Xperia Ray. The easy way is by looking at the sticker under the battery, but I'm trying to convey this to a potential seller, and I would prefer something that doesn't involve taking apart the phone. I've read on Yahoo answers that *#9999# should do it, but it's normally a Nokia service code so I doubt the accuracy. I've also found *#*#4636#*#* (info) and *#*#7378423#*#* (service), which may have what I need inside of a menu. Can anyone give me a more reliable answer?

Xperia™ Function Tester App
I would suggest trying this official application to find out the information you needed.

I think this is the same as one of the codes (which though?). I would need confirmation that the production date is mentioned.

Not sure this method reliable or not.
Analysis of IMEI numbers
Input IMEI, then check against Est. Date of Range Issuance.

On my Xperia Z2 this code works: *#*#SERVICE#*#* type into dialer and a menu would appear.


text:
Lost my ice cream truck ringtone
I have a rzr hd and one of the stock ringtones was an ice cream truck. About a month ago, it disappeared from my phone. Any ideas? I don't know the name of it, but I haven't added any ringtones to my phone or connected it to a USB. The ringtone is just gone from the menu.  Thanks!

I found an Ice Cream Truck ringtone in Mobiles24. Could you check if that's correct?

Try re-applying Factory settings to your phone.
How to do it:
Your Home Screen->Menu->Settings->Privacy->Factory data reset.

Caution:

Selecting this option erases all data into the phone. Please ensure
  that You have proper backup in case some Unexpected issues surface!

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
LG Motion Keep Rebooting (Boot Loop) After Installing Beat Audio Installation
I was looking through the Google Play Store after I rooted my LG Motion 4G The other day, and came upon the app "Beats Audio Installation" & Downloaded it and then when i opened the app and finished the setup, it started Rebooting and you cant go to your regular screen, etc. You can only see the Metro PCS logo and LG Logo in the beginning and it keeps rebooting. Please Help!

Format from recovery?

You could try booting into Safe Mode (according to this article you should be able to do so by holding down the Vol - key while switching on the device with the Power button).
In safe mode, all user-installed apps are "disabled", so they won't be started automatically. Once in safe mode, remove the troublesome app (uninstall it via Settings → Applications → Manage Applications). Then simply reboot to leave safe mode -- your device should now boot up fine.

For other (newer) LG phones, be aware that the vol- & power button combo will boot to recovery. Depending on the newer phone, entry to safe mode will vary.

@HasH_BrowN and when in doubt, check with our safe-mode tag-wiki for hints :)

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


text:
How can I remote support an Android tablet?
My mother is considering to get an Android tablet - probably a Nexus 7 or 10. Because I don't live near her, I might need to provide some remote assistance -- and you probably know that talking her through things on the phone is not very efficient, especially when I can't actually see what's on her screen.
I don't want to access the file system, read SMS messages, download photos, etc.
I just want to see what she sees so that I can talk her through whatever she needs help with.
Is there an Android equivalent of running a VNC server so that I can see the exact screen my mom is currently seeing? The "VNC server" apps I've seen in the Play Store are more like remote desktop apps and they all seem to require to launch an app from the device -- then you can see Android on your pc but not on the device which wouldn't help my mom.
Is it possible to do some kind of screen-sharing on Android, similar to a PC running VNC?
Could this work via a PC (Windows, Linux), or would I need another Android device, or perhaps even an identical Android tablet?

Have you looked at How do I access by android phone from web browser and control it?? I think there's similar ones as well (can't find them at the moment).

Thanks; that topic didn't show up in my searches nor while I composed my question. It's very relevant. If that one weren't specifically aimed at working through a browser, I'd say mine is a dupe -- but perhaps non-browser solutions also exist?

Torben, I am currently in a similar situation. May I ask you, how you ended up deciding how to best remote support your mother's android device? Thanks, Lasse

I ended up using Team Viewer as mentioned above, but I didn't get much chance to use it. And when I did, the image was rotated 180 degrees, but not the touch signals, so remote control was impossible!

I attempted to get VNC options working, but they're all buggy.  In particular the keyboard mappings and clunky and the screens never seem to render correctly.  I even wrote to an author offering money for improvements but never got anything back.
Teamviewer 8 is the only solution I've found where it actually works the way it is supposed to (i.e. seamlessly).  Teamviewer is free for personal use, which is a bonus, but it is by far and away the best solution I have found.  It properly supports the Android home/nav keys and has complete and properly mapped support for keyboard input.
To use it, install Teamviewer 8 on your PC/Mac, and "Teamviewer Quicksupport" on your Android device.  As far as I know, root is not required.
No, I don't work for Teamviewer.

As you already put it into your question: You might consider installing a VNC server on your mother's device. Admitted, most of them require root access, so this could be a problem. However, at least one claims to do without root: VMLite VNC Server. But it comes at a cost: There's no free version available, so you'ld have to pay about EUR 6.
To give you a closer idea, some quote from the app's description:

This app works on rooted and non-rooted android devices. However, for non-rooted devices, every time after turning the device completely off and on, you will have to connect your device to a Windows PC or Mac using a USB cable, then run a free desktop program, VMLite Android App Controller, to start the server on your device. Once the server is started, you can disconnect your device. If you don't turn your device off (but just let it "sleep"), then the server will continue running for months, if desired.

As that should definitely work, there are some other apps which might be working as well: VNC Server Ultimate¹ writes The app normally requires root but on some devices it works without root., so you could give it a try -- it's free, and a paid version is available for just EUR 2.

¹ VNC Server Ultimate was unpublished in 5/2015, so consider it a place-holder for the fact that "similar apps might exist"

Download TeamViewer: Quick support and the add-on for the device you want to manage remotely.

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


text:
Need more memory to install Nova 3 Near Orbit on Samsung Galaxy S2
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, running Android 4.0.3.
I want  to install Nova 3 Near Orbit on this device. I need 2 gigabyte of memory to install the game, but I only have 1.97 gigabytes in total.
How can i get the other 3 megabyte? I have 11 gigabyte of space on my phone, and I also have an SD card with 14 gigabyte.

You can get free storage space the same way you do on your PC:

Uninstall some apps you're not using. You might find it useful to go into the device Settings, then Apps (or Applications manager), then press the menu key and choose Sort by size to see which are taking up the most space.
If you have lots of videos, photos, or music in your internal storage, delete them, or move them to your SD card.

There is no way to add additional RAM to your Android device (as you've tagged your question "RAM" I assume you are meaning RAM). So: sorry, you won't be able to solve this.

The OP is confused. Looking at the app's requirements on Google Play, it means non-volatile storage, not RAM.

Well, two things: 1) internal storage cannot be increased either (except for some ugly hacks I'd never propose, especially not anyone confusing RAM with storage), and 2) as the OP doesn't report back, the issue seems obsolete...


text:
Stock Google Music app does not scan subdirectory in Android 4.2.1
Is it a bug in Jelly Bean 4.2.1 that subdirectories within the Music directory are not scanned for music files?
UPDATE: I just verified that copying using cp or using Nautilus on Ubuntu or Windows Explorer works just fine. They are scanned immediately by the player. But if I use rsync they are not! This is very strange. I also checked file permissions and they are the same in both cases.
I am trying to sync the music collection on my desktop to my Nexus 4. On my desktop my music is organized as follows.
    Artist1/
        Artist1/Art1_Track1.mp3
        Artist1/Art1_Track.mp3
    Artist2/
        Artist2/Art2_Track1.mp3
        Artist2/Art2_Track2.mp3
    ...

When I copy the same directory structure into the Music directory the stock music player does not scan the music in subdirectories. It works fine for files in the base Music directory though.
FYI, I use rsync to sync the music collection to the Music directory. I am using Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean on the LG Nexus 4. The device is mounted using go-mtpfs on a Ubuntu installation.

Update: Some summary from the comments (by Izzy)

the problem only exists when files are transferred using rsync. While rsync is in progress, files get a temporary file name extension like e.g. .test.mp3.xdGHsk -- but they are correctly renamed to .mp3 once the transfer is finished (normal behaviour for rsync)
there are no .nomedia files in the affected directories
Rescan Media is used to force the Media Scanner to update the library after rsync completed its job

Update: More summary from the comments and correction (by Srinath)

USB connection mode is MTP, on the Linux PC the device is mounted using go-mtpfs (MTP file system implementation in Go language)
The files transferred using rsync can be viewed and played using a file browser app like ES File Explorer

I just added a sum-up from the comments to your question, and now will remove my corresponding comments. Please check what I've missed, edit it in, and also remove your corresponding comments (you can do so by clicking the little red "x" appearing at the end of a comment when hovering the mouse over it).

Are you suggesting that "Rescan Media" does actually resolve the problem?

I just wanted to say that I have the same issue on my Nexus 5 running KitKat. Using cp, the files are picked up by the Google Music Player and Doubletwist, using rsync, neither are picked up. I'm also cinnecting over usb using go-mtpfs

If the problem is really that rsync renames the files, try rsync --inplace.

This worked for me. I had the same issue as Srinath.

Try and clear the app data.
Settings  > Play Music > Clear data.
This should re-scan your whole SD card for music. If this doesn't work, uninstall Google play music, remove your MP3 files, the reinstall Google play music. If that still fails, try another app like DoubleTwist.

Sorry for the delayed response. I just clearing data with Google Play Music and this does not seem to help. I would prefer not to use a 3rd party app but I have installed DoubleTwist. I will try this and get back.


text:
Why were some of my contacts automatically merged without notice?
I found several questions here where people want to merge several of their contacts into one.
I'm having exactly the opposite problem:
On both my Android devices (Google Nexus 4 and Nexus 7), two of my contacts were automatically merged, without noticing or asking me first.
I noticed this when I didn't find my mother anymore in my contacts. After some searching, I found that my father's entry now had two cell phone numbers (his own and my mother's) and two dates of birth (again, his own and my mother's).
Now I understand how it's possible that they were recognized as "similar" (both share the same last name, street adress, non-cell phone number and e-mail adress), but it's beyond me why on earth it would just merge them automatically, without any notice?
Please note that they are still two separate contacts in the GMail web interface.
They are just merged in the contact apps of both my Android devices.
I had another Android phone until a few days ago (HTC Wildfire with Android 2.2), but I don't know if they were already merged there too or if this is a new bug in Android 4.2.
Finally, I compared my complete contact list on my phone with the one in GMail, on order to find out if more contacts were merged.
But my parents were the only ones, even though I have a few more married couples with the same names and adresses in there.
Any idea why this happens and how I can separate them into two different contacts again?

Same here: my Google Nexus 4 merged at least my mother and brother into one account (it got merged under my brother). The bad thing is: I don't know which other contacts it also merged.

Does this still happen to you? My contacts mix up erratically each time I readd my carddav account. This is so annoying :'(

No, it happened just once, when I asked this question. Then I separated the accounts like described in my answer below and since then, it never happened again. I still have the same phone and the same tablet, though.

I found a solution that kind of works, but IMO it's still unsatisfying.
After some googling, I found that this is a known bug in Android.
Apparently it's fixed (the issue is closed), but I don't think so, because not only do I have these problems now, there are also comments with complaints which were posted after the date when the issue was closed.
One of the comments had a solution that works for me, but it's not ideal:
When I edit the contact (which has my father's name, as mentioned in the question) it shows both contacts to edit...still on the same screen, but clearly separated as different contacts.
On this screen, I can separate or merge them in the options menu. When I choose to separate them, they become two different contacts again...but only on this device. I have to repeat that on the other device in order to separate them there as well.

If you want to keep your Whatsapp and Gmail contacts separated.
Go to settings accounts take off auto sync. Make sure Google or Whatsapp is NOT running in the background (very important)Delete Google and Whatsapp account from settings/accounts, there only (Only on settings/accounts). Open google/gmail and login/Sign up. It will ask you to put on auto sync, let it auto sync and load you email and contacts. Close all running background again. Go to setting/accounts, take off auto sync. Now open Whatsapp, it should only have your phone contacts only (whatever your set to show as phone contacts)
Hope it works for you, running Android 6.0

I have tried the Separate Contacts option on my ZTE Valet Android 4.1 phone.  If I perform it for one contact, it applies to ALL merged contacts.  I like this, but it does not seem intuitive. To separate merged contacts in Android: Open Contacts.  Select a contact that is merged.  Do NOT edit the contact, instead at this point click the menu option (lower right).  Then click Separate Contact.  As I said, for me this separated ALL merged contacts, not just the selected contact.

I solved it by disabling the WhatsApp contact sync.
Go to Accounts > WhatsApp > Sync > Disable
Maybe WhatsApp and Google are conflicting with each other when both sync.

First make sure that all contact are back up with gmail then close mail sync.  Then Go to settings  >permission >permission >contact >contact and dialer first deny permission
And allow  permission again
And then on your Gmail sync you will get all your contacts properly.

I found a 'near' solution for my Moto-X (2014) running OS 5.1.

Go to Accounts, and turn off Auto-Sync Data
Go to Apps, find Contacts Storage and Clear Data
Go to Accounts, Google (all of the sync toggle should be off at this moment)
Sync only the Contacts by touching the Sync toggle button, and wait patiently until the sync arrow symbol stop (meaning sync is complete). It took me about 15 minutes for me as I have 1000 contacts with many pictures on each contact.
Go back to Accounts, and click Auto-Sync Data

With this, I still see few accounts that are merged, but it is way cleaner.
If you have photos on contacts, some photos will also be screwed up, but at least it solved the auto merge issues 90%.
Hope it helps.

The best solution for all android phones is to:

Goto Contacts app
Click on the three dots near the search button.
A list menu will display , click onto Manage accounts.
Delete the other accounts showing here like Whatsapp (It will delete only contacts of Whatsapp, not data of Whatsapp, just relaxed), Duo etc, expect Google.
After deleting the other accounts, restart your phone.
Now your contacts is showing ok. Waw...

I do not use WhatsApp and my Telegram account is not displayed in the Contacts. I still have the issue of contacts spontaneously merging, though. Samsung A50.

I solved this issue in my Realme 2 Pro phone this way:

Open Accounts & Sync
Goto Gmail and open it. Removed all the other accounts except my Gmail account.

Automatically it solved the issue.


text:
Delete Status bar Icon downloaded from web
I joined way2sms to send free SMS from my laptop. Now I find an app icon downloaded to my status bar in my Samsung Galaxy Y mobile. Also, I get debited for calls not made. I am losing money in this scam due to this app downloaded and it does not show up in my running apps menu. I need to find and delete this app.

The app should at least be found in Settings → Apps → Manage Apps, where you should be able to uninstall it. Alternatively you can visit the Playstore website, log in with your credentials, go to "My Android Apps", select your device (in case you've got more than one in there), find the app in that list, and remove it by hitting the trashcan-symbol.
If all this fails (the second alternative should not, but who knows), your "last resort" will be a factory-reset of your phone (which will remove all data and all apps you've installed).


text:
Why does text duplicate itself in Android Jelly Bean Mail?
OK, I have a new Samsung Galaxy S III, updated to Jelly Bean 4.1.1.
While Gmail works fine, when I send messages using one of my Web server's accounts, the message text duplicates itself in the body of the message. So:
. The accounts are set up as IMAP, with SSL on.
Any guidance to configuring the handset or my server to address this?
I do not have this problem using a desktop Mac or PC email client, or an iPhone.

Did you intend to include a screen shot? Your post seems to be missing some information.

No need for a screen shot. You check sent messages and the text inside is duplicated. Also when I hit return in this forum, it posts the message rather than move to the next paragraph.

Example as follows: Test
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S™III  Test
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S™III

Please edit your question to include this information. Comments are, by their nature, impermanent.


text:
Cannot buy apps in Play Store
I recently made an Android Application for a company and today they ordered 10 tablets (Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 3G GT-P5100) with my application. I created a Gmail Account for each Tablet and updated the software and I bought the first copy of my app with a credit card (it was succesfull and everything went perfect). When I tried to buy another copy of my app with the second Tablet I get this error:

I tested all my 8 Tablets, used another Credit Card, another internet connection (3G) but I wasn't able to buy my own application! I even tried to buy Fruit Ninja and I still get the same error.
The error is in dutch, this is the translated version:

A technical problem occurs.
We can not complete the purchase process because of a technical
  problem.
Details of the problem:
We cannot process this request. Any charges will automaticly be
  canceled in 24 hours. Try it again in 24 hours

I am very confused, I recently bought a few apps for my own. I think it's because I used the same credit card for multiple Google Checkout Accounts but I don't think that's the only problem (I tried another credit card). I even called my Credit Card company and they said Google didn't even charged me when the transaction failed so the problem cannot be my Credit Card.

Have you contacted Google? Seems like that might be more fruitful since the "technical error" message implies an issue on their end (maybe their payment system went down or something).

I was wondering if someone has the same issues, I'll also will contact Google for this problem


text:
Is it possible to connect my Android device to my computer's internet?

Possible Duplicate:
How to set up reverse tethering over USB?

If I have a workspace with no WiFi, but I do have an internet enabled computer (through an RJ45 cable), is it possible to get an android device bridged to the computer's internet using a micro-usb cable? It looks like ADB has some point to point features, but all I could find is how to share individual sockets and not the full shabang. Although, I can't say I fully understand the adb ppp command I found on SO:
adb ppp "shell:pppd nodetach noauth noipdefault /dev/tty" nodetach noauth noipdefault notty localip:remoteip
There might even be some voodoo with adb forward?

Have you looked at How to set up reverse tethering over USB? (or the other questions in the reverse-tether tag, for that matter)

I added the reverse-tether tag. Just follow the link edaderathis was giving, and also click the tag to see more related questions and answers.

I assume it depends on the computer. I think a Mac will share its connection over Bluetooth.


text:
Android Apps from Old Tablet to New Tablet
I have a Motorola Xoom running Jelly Bean and am moving to the Asus TFT-700. I plan on giving my Xoom to someone in a factory default condition so that my Google account will only be on the Asus. Do I really need to remember all of my installed apps so that they can be manually downloaded to the Asus or will my Google account take care of this automatically?

Google's backup service is described on one of their support pages:

Backing up and restoring your data
You can back up your settings and other data with your Google Account,
so if you ever replace your tablet, you can restore your data on the
new one. If you choose to use this service, your data is backed up
automatically.
If you previously used the backup service with the Google Account you
just used to sign in, you can also choose to restore your settings
from your Google Account to your tablet now.
Important: If you want to restore your settings, you must do that now
during setup. You can’t restore data after setup is complete.
Many kinds of data are backed up, including:

Your Android settings, such as your Wi-Fi networks and passwords,
user dictionary, and so on
Many Google application settings, such as
your Browser bookmarks
The apps you download from Android Market Some
third-party apps also make use of the backup service, so if you
reinstall one, its settings and data are restored

When presenting content that is from another site/person, please cite it (i.e. provide a link) to give proper credit to the original author(s). Preferably, use the quote block functionality so that others will know you are quoting another source.

Using Google's backup service (as described by greg) is one way. But as in the past this did not prove very reliable (it should have improved with 4.x, though), plus apps have to actively support it (which by far not all do), there are alternatives to consider.
Since Android 4.0, you can perform Full Backup of non-rooted devices. You can also backup/restore single apps (including their data) this way.
An easier approach is using Koush's Carbon Backup -- at least if you buy the Pro license (less than 4 Euro). Install the app on both devices, and you can sync apps and data between the two (see the second "tab" in the screenshot1).

I would use Google backup for any personal data or other data and Appmonster for the apps. The free version can batch backup all the apps on your device to a .apk format which you could batch reinstall onto the new device once Appmonster is installed on it.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Your answer is much more valuable if you provide a link to the Appmonster software.

While AppMonster certainly is a good thing here (especially for having previous versions of apps available using its auto-backup feature), batch mode just works with the paid version. Moreover, I wouldn't trust Google Backup for a cent (I mean, backup works -- but I wouldn't expect restore to work): first, it only backs up a subset of your data (apps must actively support it), and second it's quite unreliable. See the backup tag-wiki for alternative backup methods.

@THelper Thanks for the advice! Will do so in future.


text:
Galaxy S3 - high minimum volume through headphones
I recently purchased a UK Samsung Galaxy S3 running Android 4.1.2, intending to replace my iPod as a music player. However, even with the volume slider on its lowest non-zero setting, the volume through my earphones is equivalent to about 45% on my old iPod Touch (or about 30% with all the sound enhancements/equalizer settings turned off). This is far too high for listening in an otherwise quiet room, and is physically painful with louder songs.
Whilst I know there is at least one app which gives finer control of media volume, it requires actually opening a separate app every time you want to adjust the volume. I was wondering if there was a more system-level solution to either provide finer control with the volume buttons/slider or somehow scale-down the volume in general when earphones are connected? Thanks for any help :)


text:
Safe to remove 'OpenFeint' folder?
Given that OpenFeint seems to no longer be in service (OpenFeint service shutting down Dec 14), was wondering if it is safe to remove the OpenFeint folder from the phone.
The main reason is that for some odd reason, OpenFeint images have been showing up in my Gallery, which is really annoying. I've stopped them from showing up by adding the '.nomedia' file in the directories. Whilst doing this, I thought - can't I just remove the entire directory given OpenFeint is no longer in service?
Does anyone know if it will cause any problems?

I won't cause any problem and you can easily delete it.
To be dead sure you can try renaming the directory to something else and see if anything happens. But as I said it's perfectly ok to remove it.

Openfeint is an app addon that tracks High Scores for the registered apps/games.
Removing it might remove your highscore records on your phone, reducing your bragging rights :P
But other than that, if you are not concerned deleting your scores, then you may remove it.

Didn't they give up anyway? It was a sucky system which never worked for me.  Whatever the apps which used it are now using is, it's much better.


text:
Connecting through authenticated proxy
I have an Unrooted Sony Xperia tipo running 4.0.4.
I have a Wi-Fi at home which uses an authenticated proxy. I have managed to apply the proxy and also have managed to use authentication.
The trouble.
Any app on my phone is unable to use the Wi-Fi.
Is there any way I can at least get Google Play running without rooting my phone?

How did you apply the proxy settings.
(This is really a comment. Can a mod please change it)

@JasjeevSingh A comment after 12 days! Well, I used the advanced settings which can be opened by ticking the advanced setting check box, when first setting up the connection with WiFi.

Use Drony.
If you need any help regarding how to configure, this can help.


text:
Regarding file association in ICS
I have a Micromax Supercanvas 2 phone.
I installed ES File Explorer from Play Store. I was browsing through various directories and files. When trying to open server logs, events, and other similar files, I was asked to open the file from a list of applications (e.g HTML viewer, ES file viewer, etc.) I selected Android HTML Viewer (as default). No file content is shown. Instead, an error is shown that file does not exist on path.
I tried going through all android apps and removing the cache and defaults. It did not remove the association. It still opens files in HTML Viewer.
Is there any way to remove the association, so that I can select which app to use to open the file?
Thanks in advance for any help.

From my experience, I think ES's default app associations are separate from the operating system's. To clear ES's file associations (assuming you are using the latest version), from ES File explorer go to Settings > Cleanup setting > Clear defaults.
The next time you try to open a  file ES File explorer should now ask which application you want to open the file with.

You might want to take a look at the Default App Manager. From the app's description:

Default App Manager is a simple yet very functional app to manage (set defaults, clear/reset defaults) default applications for different types of actions that Android does. Unlike other applications that allow you to manage defaults for only one-two types of categories, this app allows to you to manage for almost all the common actions.

The description sounds quite promising. But not having tried the app myself, I cannot give any guarantee it will solve your special issue ;)


text:
Changing the ringing volume when pressing volume keys
The volume buttons of the HTC Wildfire S only changes the media volume, rather than ringing volume, even though I'm on the home screen.
Is there any way of changing the ringing volume when I click the volume buttons?

restarting the phone will do the job !

You probably played a game or something and didn't close it correctly. You probably just pressed the home screen.
So, just restart it, or go back and close it properly.

Please use the full word next time (e.g. you, instead of just the letter u). Text-speak is frowned upon here.


text:
"Restrict Background data" with Jelly Bean on tf300t ASUS tablet
On my tf300t ASUS tablet (with wifi only) I tried to set "Restrict Background Data" following
Settings->Data Usage->three boxes in the upper right corner,
but there is no such option. I read on some forums that this option is only available with limited mobile data, but the option to set a limit is not available under Settings->Data Usage->three boxes in the upper right corner.
There is, however, an option under
Settings ->Developer Options -> Background process limit,
but I'm not sure about it. On my Gingerbread phone, background processes were disabled, and whenever I wanted to download an app, I had to enable it. With the Backround Process limit, however, downloading is possible (therefore, I'm not sure if this is the equivalent to Gingerbread's setting). Furthermore, I noticed that, after setting Background Process limit, every once in a while I get a message that some Asus process has been terminated. My question is: how would one disable background processes (no connections to wifi while screen off, ...) in order to save the battery?

Maybe that option is not available in wifi only tablets. Usually you restrict data because you have limited data on your mobile plan, where wifi you (usually) don't have that limit.

You can check the background process limit box. Its the best way to limit your background processes and in a way save your battery. You can also use power saving mode if you have one....

On my HTC Wildfire (Buzz) running Android 4.0.4 I find the corresponding option in Settings→Data Usage, when I hit the "Menu" button. This brings up A sub-menu with 4 checkboxes: Data-Roaming, Background Data, Show WiFi, Linear Scale. Tapping the "Background data" option I am informed:

background data only can be limited if you defined an overall limit for mobile data

(well, I have not defined any limit there yet). So that should be where background data can be restricted.


text:
Broken recovery mod!
My Sk17i phone(Mini pro) is rooted. And used CWM to install a custom "Unlimited" Rom, then restarted after installation.
And now my handset keeps boot-looping.
After I tried to fast boot, before opening/unlocking boot loader.
PC companion can not find software, SEUS does not update the ROM, as SEUS says its already up to date.
The CWM Recovery saved my data, How can I view it?

I cannot tell from this question if you can boot back in to the recovery, if you can, try wiping data and cache. if that doesn't work, are you sure you installed a ROM for your specific device?

Rom Sk17i Unlimited rom.
I'm setup recovery before installing... Backup sys,data,cache.
Rom setup>reset>Boot logo,Stay...
I can not access the recovery menu!!!!

Fastboot cmd>Fastboot flash system system.img
< Waiting for Device > !!

I am not sure what you ask for but

The CWM Recovery saved my data, How can I view it?

if you mean backups, they'd be in your SD card.

Fastboot cmd>Fastboot flash system system.img < Waiting for Device > !!

that usually means a driver problem IF you can boot into bootloader properly.
Interesting link with un-bricking guide

Reinstall driver,and try again?
Sorry,I'm not speed good english,i'm hungary

yes, try that.
also read the link I gave.
igen, próbáld ezt.
is olvastam a linket adtam.

pls link driver package! Thx


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How can I go back to ICS after JB OTA updates?
My phone is HTC One S VelliC2 and received the JB OTA updates.
However, I could not get used to it. So how can I return to ICS? Can I use the HTC Android 4.03 RUU file? Now the Hboot version has updates to 3.1 and it was 2.09 before the OTA updates. Does the Hboot version matters?
Thanks in advance.

If you can find an original stock ROM for your device (I assume your device is not rooted etc.), or any fitting custom ROM (in case it is rooted etc.), you could factory-reset your device and then flash that ROM. See Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? for available ROM sources.


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Galaxy S GT-I9000 is slow
My GT-I9000 takes ages to come "alive" after powering up. It has been slow for a while, but now it has gotten even slower, anything up to 10 minutes sometimes. When it activates, everything works fine.
I was wondering if it is the loaded software that is causing the problem. Firmware is Gingerbread 2.3.6 XXJW4/XXJW4/OXAJW5. I have done a full factory reset and cleared the cache, but it does not make any difference. Can anyone help please?

After the factory reset, and before you installed all your apps again, did it make a difference then?

Hi,There was no difference after the above. Also, while I was waiting for an answer, I read somewhere else that the XXJW4 is likely to be the problem and would recommend to downgrade to Gingerbread 2.3.4 XXJV7. I have just done that and again, the phone works great with either firmware but after powering off and then on again (no necessarily immediately) the time lag to come on it is not normal.The last time has taken 7 minutes to activate. I am doing all of these tests without my simcard inserted but it is the same with it in.

If it only happens on power-on, why bother? How often do you power-off/on your device? Hey, it's not a Windows phone which needs a daily reboot! My guess is it re-organizes the Dalvik cache on each boot, as if you'd just installed a fresh ROM. While this slows down the first-time-to-ready, this would result in added snappiness lateron.

Had the exact same problem. It went away when I uninstalled the Facebook app.

In part the performance issues is the older kernel and its default governors and schedulers + touchwiz. After that you will find another app and then another which will severely degrade your devices performance. The best way is to move away from this old official Firmware altogether, except for "flash resetting" purposes.

The official Firmware runs Touchwiz, which is a known Resourcehog, in addition to 2.x having known occasional performance issues with the Mediascanner.
I recommend flashing the latest stable CyanogenMod release.
Although you will sacrifice a few features, such as FM Radio - which can be restored with specific Kernels and Apps which use the functionality, it is very much worth the initial time investment in aspects of performance.


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How to trace a drive-by download?
I was using the default Android browser and I noticed a drive-by download.
The file is sexplay-r8.apk MD5 (sexplay-r8.apk) = 61ec2c6dab14c53ca323ee0dbcad112e
It looks very much like a malware to me:

What should I do now ? How can I find what triggered the download of this file ?
I'm interested in triggering the download again, but I can't find a way to consult the history of the browser. Android isn't very forensics friendly.

To access the browser history, tap the "tabs" menu. (Looks like the tabs of a file folder and is next to the overflow menu, which itself looks like three vertical dots.)
Once you can see your open tabs plus the blank one to add a new one, tap the overflow menu.
You should see four options

New incognito tab
History
Saved pages
Settings

(I think you know what to do.)
This is on a Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.1.1.

It kinda works, except that the date of the visit is not displayed, and I couldn't find a list of downloaded files either. This is very frustrating, but I guess that's the best I can do with the default browser..

Very first thing I'd do is removing that app ASAP from my device (Settings→Applications→Manage Applications). One never knows what it does!
Second, it helps to disable "unknown sources" (you always can enable them again when needed), to prevent such apps from being installed. With "unknown sources" (in Android 4.0.x you find this option in Settings→Security) disabled, only Google Playstore is permitted to install apps.
I have no idea what this app does, and whether it maybe installed (and hid) some Trojan stuff. If you want to be 100% sure, you can do a factory reset -- but that way you'd lose all your data and all apps you installed (it will, however, by default not touch your sd card). This option might sound a bit paranoid -- but even if I'm paranoid, that doesn't mean they are not after me! ;)
Of course, this is fully up to you. Uninstalling that app is definitly a must -- the other steps are IMHO optional. But I'd at least look around in the App Drawer to check if there are other suspicious things which not belong.

The app has not been installed. It's just there, in my Download folder. It was so obviously malicious that it made me laugh..

And I already wondered why you might have OK'd the permissions -- man, now you make me laugh! :D So just delete it, and you should be fine.

You might want to use a packet sniffing apps for android.
I recommend Shark for Root. This is like Wireshark but for android. It does not have a gui for viewing logs. You will need another application like Shark Reader.
This of course requires you to trigger the drive-by download again while the app is running to track where the rouge apk is coming.


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Unlocked bootloader, encryption

galaxy nexus
unlocked bootloader
no adb enabled
rooted
device encryption on with 10+ characters (Cryptfs Password - Google play)
PIN screen lock with 6 characters

Am I safe if someone wants to extract data from my phone with phone on and off ?
what should I do improve ? Did I miss anything ?

Your phone is as only as safe provided you do not lose it! Also, recommended to install a firewall, such as AFWall+ and appropriately block certain apps. Other than that.

Thanks, I think I am already pretty safe on software thanks  to openpdroid and DroidWall. Thing I really worried was thieves.

The combination of encryption, PIN lock, and having ADB turned off should protect your data pretty well.  It could still be compromised if someone finds a security flaw that can be exploited through the network or the MTP USB connection, but that risk exists in any case.
However, with your bootloader unlocked, someone could take your phone, flash a malicious ROM that contains keystroke loggers or something, and then return the phone to you and wait for you to type your PIN or decryption password.  It'd be better to keep the bootloader locked whenever you don't actually need to flash things via fastboot.
You can use BootUnlocker to lock and unlock the bootloader from within the running Android system.  Unlike fastboot oem unlock, this doesn't wipe your data when you unlock.


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Does the Kindle Fire original have a camera?
It may be too late to ask for such a thing... I checked my Kindle Fire 1st generation model and found a camera on the top left of the device. At least, it just looks like the camera on any phone or camera enabled device.
The listing of features on original Kindle Fire shows that there is no camera. Is this something any others have experienced?
Or is it something different from a camera?
I have not tried to download any app to use camera on the device. Any interesting info would be helpful.

Are you sure that this is camera? It is more likely a light/proximity sensor...

Thanks, I just found this on a blog that describes how to check for the sensor. Your answer is much appreciated.


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Add "scp" to "share via" or "send via" menu
In the photo gallery application a pop-up menu allows selecting various destinations for "share via".
Is it possible to add "scp" to this list? There seem to be a number of scp clients out there but I don't know if any one of them can add itself to the "share via" menu.

What are you really asking for? Is this geared towards development?

I'd like to be able to quickly scp photos to a remote host.

That is largely dependent on if the scp client apps have that feature to enable sharing as in share via! Why not use Google Drive or DropBox, or even Box.net?

The thing is I haven't even found an open source / free scp client yet, do you know any?

@t0mm13b privacy? There might be certain things the user doesn't want to be in the cloud. One of the reasons I don't use such things at all ;)

Did you find a scp solution? I am interested in an updated answer, if you found something.

Shareing is a feature the application needs to explicitly code for and then advertise to the system that it accepts share requests.  If you have an SCP app that you like but it is not offering the share feature try checking if the developer has a website with more information.  If you still have no luck try emailing the developer and asking for the feature.


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Acer Iconia A500 factory reset won't restart
My Acer A500 froze, with a blank screen ( complaining of low memory at that time), so I did a factory reset. Now the screen comes up with the ACER logo but doesn't do anything else within hours; I've tried to factory reset again but same effect. Any ideas on how I can force a start?
Gerry

Boot up your phone. When it gets stuck on the logo, remove battery then place it again.

For the sake of potential future viewers: The Iconia A500 is a tablet without a removable battery.


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Red exclamation mark when trying to update Nexus 7.
Every time I go to update my Google Nexus 7 to Android Jelly Bean 4.2, it fails and shows the Android logo on it's side with red exclamation mark (!) on.
Why won't it let me update to Jelly Bean 4.2?
Has anyone else had this issue before?

How much free space do you have on your device?

I have over 23gb free of a 32gb model

Any idea on what the problem is?!

Am I the only one having this issue with updating the Nexus 7 Jelly Bean to 4.2.1?

Any other salient details? Is it rooted? Have you flashed a custom ROM? What country are you in? Does it have 3G? (Please add this information to your question.)

I had this problem because I manually (via titanium backup) uninstalled one of the system apps: the korean keyboard (which, for me, is rather pointless). Somehow that caused the upgrading process to fail, maybe because my system was not "intact". After I restored the app it worked flawlessly. Did you make any modifications like that? If so, try reverting them.


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How can I bypass the activation on my Droid 2 Global?
I want to put a custom ROM on my D2G, but I think I went about it in the wrong order.
I thought that I had to do a factory reset, but that wound up setting me back. The phone demands that it be activated, but I can't get past that step. I don't want to go back to Verizon with this phone.
How can I get past activation?  I don't want to use the phone on another carrier. I just want access to the phone.

There's a very useful way to bypass the activation on this model of phone.
When you're presented with the activation screen (the little Android), press the following corners of the screen in this order:

Top Left
Top Right
Bottom Right
Bottom Left

You now have the option to completely bypass activation.


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Horizontal calibration and Gyroscope calibration is not working on Samsung Galaxy S2
Whenever I go into the calibration for the accelerometer and gyroscope, the blue dot is not moving around for the accelerometer and for the gyroscope.  Also, all of the auto screen rotation functions have stopped working. No matter what I try, the screen will not flip when turned sideways in any app or menu.
Any ideas on causes or fixes? Could it be hardware or software?
I have been into the *#0*#menu. I tested sensors, and I do get readings from the gyroscope, and it's self-test says it FAIL.

(Click images to enlarge). When I go into sensor, it's showing this:


text:
Is it possible to plug a thumbdrive / portable harddisk that have multiple partitions to a tablet
Is it possible to plug a thumbdrive / portable harddisk that have multiple partitions to a tablet (any generic tablet or tablets in general)
or there is a need to use a Apps to perform such actions?


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Nexus 10 handwriting apps always lag
So I just bought a nexus 10 and among the many reasons for getting one, I want to take notes with it. I've bought myself a nice stylus that works wonderfully on iPads and my galaxy nexus phone. However, writing with the same stylus and exact same apps on my nexus 10 isn't working as one would hope. It seems to lag quite badly in picking up where my stylus is and this forces me to write very slowly so that it will pick up all of my strokes, thus making it pretty much useless in a classroom setting, but, like I said before, I don't see this at all with my galaxy nexus.

So, why am I seeing such a huge difference in performance between these two devices when (I assume) the nexus 10 would be so much more powerful than my phone? Is it the apps or the hardware? And how do I fix this issue without just writing my own note taking app?

Compare the processor & memory of the devices, since a faster processor & more RAM could make a lot of difference in recognition rate and accuracy. Another difference could be the resolution of the capacitive touchscreen panel, and quality of it's drivers etc. In a nutshell, even from same vendor (i.e. Samsung), 2 devices might use very different hardware peripherals.

@icarus74 Yes, one of my thoughts would be the difference in screens...perhaps while an app is configured to work really well with a phone's screen, it might not be for a tablet? I wouldn't know differences would cause this though.

Do you see the same poor performance with other styli? Does the Nexus 10 respond as well to physical touch with your finger as the iPad and Galaxy Nexus? When testing the stylus as you described, did you rest your hand on the screen or keep it lifted off (leaving just the tip of the stylus touching)? Just thinking these factors could help troubleshoot the issue.

@Mr.Buster I do see the same preformance regardless of the stylus used as well as with physical touch. I did not rest my hand on the screen. I agree with you...these are factors to consider and I have considered them...just neglected to post them in my question I guess. Thanks for bringing it up.

@Brandon If all touch interaction with the N10 is laggy then it would be time to consider OS-wide stuff. If you factory reset, does it still lag? (Could be an app causing resource scarcity). Enable "Show Touches" in Developer options; do you see a lag in the registering of your touch (the appearance of the glow where your finger or the stylus touches) or in the OS' response to it (e.g. slow home screen animation)?

@Mr.Buster not all touch is laggy on the device to my eye. I have actually already tried the show touches  thing, it seems that the touch sensitivity is the same through out the device including writing on these note apps. However, the responsiveness that one needs when writing seems to need to be much greater than that needed for swiping and poking apps?

Make device as root
Go to xda-developers.com - Seeder Topic
Install last Seeder apk on your device
Run it

And then your device should work better.

While it seems to work for some people, AOSP project members deny it can do anything good. See http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=42265

@Cthulhu would you like to delete my post?

After a lot of testing, I realized that the stylus that I had was messed up for some reason, I had actually accidentally bought the first generation version of the stylus. After buying the new stylus things improved greatly...but the Seeder app makes the difference in the end.

@Brandon: Thanks for your post; quite helpful to me since I'm going to buy a Nexus 10 and want to have handwriting recognition work smoothly. So, what was the manufacturer and model number of the newer stylus that you purchased?

@bgoodr I bought an adonit jot pro (Official Page: http://adonit.net/jot/pro/ Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Adonit-Stylus-iPhone-Kindle-Tablets/dp/B00931K1QK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368459007&sr=8-1&keywords=adonit+jot+pro&tag=toofyoga-20). I will warn you though, I am still seeing a lag at times, don't know if it's because of the stylus, the app (Using lecture notes pro...best one I could find for android), or the device. This stylus is really geared towards iPads and seems to work better on them. but I really like that it feels like a real pen.You also will NEED a screen protector. scratches


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How to upgrade the HTC One X (with AT&T) from ICS to Jelly Bean from Indian telecome?
I purchased HTC One X unlocked (with AT&T) with Android ICS. I am using this phone in India with Airtel SIM.
How can I upgrade the device to Jelly Bean?

If you have bought an unlocked phone then there's no issue of what kind of carrier you have and which country you are in. Just connect to the internet and get an OTA update from settings, provided they have rolled out the update to their customers in the country where you bought it from.


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How can I import sms from iphone 4s / IOS6 with Samsung Kies
I've got a brand spanking Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and I want to import my SMS's - I've installed Kies, detected an iphone backup, (my iphone's name and date displays) but the import screen just refreshes infinitely (hmm... probably infinite) whilst my fans get to cranking (activity monitor shows 30% CPU).
My iphone backup is fresh, unencrypted, and I've tried with the phone plugged in,  itunes running + iphone plugged in, and ihpone / itunes disconnected.
Any insider tips for me?!
(Please note, this question is IOS6 dependant - other tips for IOS5 haven't worked for me)

possible duplicate of How do I migrate my SMS (text messages) from iPhone to Android?

I don't think this qualifies as a duplicate, since Kies is involved. (The other question is on a non-Samsung phone, so Kies can't possibly be involved.)

also, that question addresses IOS5, and the techniques documented aren't working on my IOS6 phone, tx

Also related or possible duplicate: How to transfer text messages from iPhone to Android with iOS 5

I got an answer from Samsung - was instructed to 'Update Drivers' or some such from the Window or Tools menu.
So, this worked for me - got the text components of my SMS history, then uninstalled Kies due to a conflict with Android File transfer on OSX 10.8.

For anyone else having this same problem and have a Samsung phone, try http://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/
It may not have been available when you initially posted the original question, but I just upgraded from an iPhone 5 with iOS 6 to a Samsung Galaxy S4.  I wanted to copy over my SMS messages and found that most only worked with iOS 5 and below. This worked perfectly (Kies for some reason did not provide an option to transfer my messages).  It also copied over my MMS messages.


text:
"USB power consumption error" (OTG)
I use a USB OTG cable to connect USB devices such as pen drives, mice, key boards, etc. But when I connect some devices, (particularly some of the pen drives I have) it gives me following error message and prompts me to disconnect the device.

I contacted my OTG cable retailer and he suggested that I should use a USB hub with a power inlet, to connect the devices which give the above error as the said error generated due to heavy power drain from the connected devices (pen drives).
I want to know whether there is a possibility of bricking my phone if I use a USB hub with a power inlet, like this:

Which phone is this?

The hub's power should only go to the hub's slave ports, not through the master port back to the phone
But even if the hub uses an odd design, the most it would do is feed the phone 5V and however much amperage it will accept, same as with any bog standard wall charger.
So in short, there's no risk to your phone.

WRT power, all USB hub controllers I'm familiar with (e.g. TI's 2136) run either in self-powered mode or bus-powered mode.  In the latter, all power is drawn from the host USB port.  In the latter, all power is drawn from the power adapter and the power line to the host port is not connected to anything, and thus you can't draw power or feed power back to the host device.

Oh! and Imma catch you if my phone get bricked with the new powered USB HUB. :evilface:

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


text:
Is it possible to intercept and override sensor events in Android?
I want to intercept sensor events in Android and override (fix) transmitted data. Is it possible?
The solution should work for all applications using that sensor.
UPDATE
I need to override magnetometer and accelerometer.

What sensors are you talking about? The GPS? Cell signal? Accelerometers? GPS can be faked, not sure about cell, and accelerometers (and most other sensors) would likely require a kernel modification or a custom driver.

I need to override magnetometer and accelerometer.

Is this a development question? Rather, as dymutaos pointed out, a custom kernel/driver would be needed to override the sensors, with the current Android API, its dubious if you can do so.

Then tell something about custom drivers. Is this require rooting? Or such drivers can normally be developed and distributed by third-party designers?

Drivers are written by the hardware manufacturers. They are the only ones who know exactly what is needed for their particular hardware. If all you wanted to do was emulate hardware, you could probably write your own driver (similar to how some remote desktop clients write their own mouse and keyboard drivers). Blocking or intercepting existing hardware, however, would involve reverse engineering the current driver. At any rate, all options require programming, which is outside of the scope for this site.

@dymutaos pls direct me to the site which is in the scope

No, you cannot natively override the magnetometer and accelerometer sensors. Android does not have an API for this (as opposed to GPS), and faking these signals would require programming a custom driver or kernel. It isn't a simple matter of getting root and changing a simple config file somewhere.


text:
How do I migrate my SMS (text messages) from iPhone to Android?
I want to export my SMS history from an iPhone and import them into a new Android phone, including timestamp, message direction (incoming|outgoing), and correspondent (sender or recipient).
My specific scenario is this, but perhaps a generic solution exists -
Source: iPhone 4 running iOS 5 (jailbroken, if it helps)
Target: LG Nexus 4

This old question seems relevant except that it's aimed at Samsung devices, and it's 1½ years old.
Also, there's this alarming comment:
The problem with faked.org/isms2droid is that it doesn't correctly extract the iMessages correctly. It gets the wrong timestamp, and leaves the address empty and the type (which represents sent or received) is always 1 (received).

I'm thinking that there could be newer solutions that are worth mentioning?

After some digging into google, I came across a software called Backuptrans. The features listed include Transfer SMS between Android and iPhone, Save SMS from Android/iPhone onto local database on computer, Restore SMS from local database to Android/iPhone and many more.
I do not have an iPhone to check this software. This seems pretty good. The work steps are as simple as importing from iPhone to the computer and exporting to the Android device. More details with screenshots can be found here
The only downer for this solution is that you have to pay some cash (a minimum of $29.95) to use it fully. Since you are not comfortable with iSMS2droid (iPhone SMS Import), this seems to be the best option available.
On an additional note, iSMS2droid is worth trying before you buy Backuptrans.

Here is the way you can refer to transfer SMS messages from old iPhone to new Android.

Use iCloud to backup your SMS
Then connect Android phone to your computer
Open the iCloud backup file and copy those SMS to Android phone

This answer to a previous SMS backup and restore question suggests that Very Android SMS Backup should be able to do this. They have a guide on how to do it here: How to transfer SMS to Android from iPhone, Windows Mobile, Nokia, Blackberry etc?


text:
AVD Manager runs but android.bat does not
I can create virtual devices using AVD manager. I can run the emulator and create AVDs. But i cannot do the same using "android.bat".

I get the following error-
ERROR: No suitable Java found. In order to properly use the Android Developer
Tools, you need a suitable version of Java JDK installed on your system.
We recommend that you install the JDK version of JavaSE, available here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads

You can find the complete Android SDK requirements here:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/requirements.html

I have tried every other suggestion that i have come across, including tweaks in the "find_java.bat" and "android.bat".I am perplexed by the fact that AVD manager works but the batch file does not.Could this be a bug? How do i fix this?Operating System: Windows 7 (64-bit)Android: API 10Java: 1.6.0_19 (both jdk and jre)


text:
How to list my recently updated apps
I would like to be able to see a list of my apps sorted by the date the app was last updated. Descending order is preferred, but honestly I'll take anything.
One use case: Earlier today I had two apps show they needed an update. Neither was one that I use daily, but both were important enough to me that I knew I wanted to update. Unfortunately, my phone crashed shortly after the update and thus the notifications are gone. I cannot for the life of me remember what both apps were. (I blame my advancing age. I remembered one of them.) I know I wanted to check out the changes, but since I've no idea what app it was, I don't know where to look.
I could open up every one of my apps in the Play Store and look at the updated date, but I've get well over two hundred apps on here and that is impractical.
Do you have a technique or know of an app that would help me?

Isn't it supposed to show up if you go to the Play Store app, and go to My Apps?

No. They're only listed alphabetically and no option to change the sort. There's no update date shown. Same with the web app.

As of version 4.3.10, the Google Play Store now has a "Recently updated" section under "My apps", which is ultimately what I wanted.

Any indication of what 'recently' actually means? My mail client has recently started chewing through battery power at an extraordinary rate, and I'm trying to work out if this is some mail/network related thing, or a new version of the app.

You could try Elixir 2.
If you go to applications, you could sort it by update time.

Elixier screenshot (click image for larger variant)

Yep, that gives me what I want. This is an awfully heavy-weight application to have for something so simple, though. I also don't like that it's offering me the option to move apps to the SD card when my device doesn't have an SD card.

@user1 Hopefully you'll find more use for Elixir. I use it to give me a home screen with 7x7 icons / shortcuts. Plus a whole load of other functions.

Perhaps. I've not deleted the app yet. I'll see what else it can do.

List My Apps does this. Though you might need some script-fu to sort the output by date.

That's useful. Adding ${lastupdated}, putting some pipes between the fields, and importing into a spreadsheet gives me what I was looking for, more or less.

Since most of the answers here seem partial or outdated, I suggest to try Total Commander app - where you can find the Installed Apps section, and order it by date:


text:
How to take screenshot on GT-19100 with ICS 4.0.4?
My Samsung Galaxy GT-19100 phone is stopped taking snapshot after my up-gradation from ICS 4.0.3 to ICS 4.0.4.
Volume (-) key and power button pressing together is not taking snapshot now.
Is this version of ICS doesn't have screenshot facility or something else is the reason?

You can do this by holding the power button + the home button simultaneously.


text:
What is the difference between building and installing CyanogenMod?
What is the difference between building and installing CyanogenMod? I am really confused.
I'm deciding whether or not I should install CyanogenMod.

Building CyanogenMod requires developers tools and knowledge in actually converting the program source into binary code designated for your selected device/handset.
Installing CyanogenMod is just putting the actual zip of the ROM onto the SDCard and flashing it via ClockWorkMod Recovery which performs the install and prepares the environment on next reboot, this is somewhat, a once-off operation, unless you are into flashing ROMs on a regular basis.

so in the end, is it the same result?

Practically, its the same result at the end of it :)


text:
Nexus 4 auto dialing extension does not work
I used to own a T-Mobile Mytouch 4g before, which had the pause character before extension otherwise 'p' on that handset and it was working fine.
Now, I own and use a Nexus 4 and I understood that the pause character on the Nexus 4 is ',' (a comma).
I replaced all the contact entries that had a 'p' with ',' (a comma) in my contacts. And now it is not working, basically, what happens is when I make the call using that contact's number, the number gets called but the extension is not dialled automatically.
Anyone would know how to fix my issue?

I had the same problem. I changed in the google voice settings to only use it for international calls, which fixed the problem.
When dialing out using Google Voice, I can't get the auto extension feature to work, unfortunately

I had the same issue. I'm with Telus and had a v1 sim card. After cutting it into a micro sim everything seemed to work. except auto dial for extensions.
eg. 1-555-556-7899,,123
I replace the sim with a v3. Issue resolved. Sim card was to old strangely enough.


text:
Installing BusyBox crashes phone
I'm trying to install BusyBox on my rooted stock Droid DNA.
Every time I try the normal install, it fails saying that the program can't be installed in /system/bin. If I do the smart install, it crashes and restarts the phone.
Anything I can do to make it work?
Edit so I looked through the busybox applet manager and about 20-30% are installed/symlinked by the smart install before it crashed the phone. I don't know if this is going to make a difference.
Also, would I be better off not doing it this way and installing through clockwork mod or adb?

Are you rooted?

Yeah. Stock Rom, but I am rooted, and I have superuser installed with BusyBox allowed. Maybe a silly question, but how big is busybox to install? It says I have 450mb free in system.

Should I try installing it to /system/xbin?

I ended up getting it to work by using ES File Explorer to mount system as writeable.
I did a NAndroid backup first in case I needed to start over again, but after mounting system, it appears that it installed like it is supposed to.

I too have a HTC DNA but did not want to root my phone so I just did it the "non-root" way with https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=burrows.apps.busybox.
This way I am not voiding any boot-loaders or warranties.
Required:
✔ Android Terminal Emulator Application
After having a rooted phone for years, I know that there are plenty of applications that allow users to customize their phones; however, when I recently bought a brand new phone this year, I decided not to root it and I realized the main reason for rooting my phone was simply to obtain more linux tools. I made this simple application in order to help users simply install BusyBox without the hassle of being rooted!
All binaries are installed in: /data/data/burrows.apps.busybox/app_busybox/
In Terminal Emulator, Preferences: Initial command: export PATH=$PATH:/data/data/burrows.apps.busybox/app_busybox/
Provided extra Binaries:
✔ add-property-tag
✔ backup
✔ bash
✔ btool
✔ check-lost+found
✔ dexdump
✔ drm1_func_test
✔ hcidump
✔ hcitool
✔ iwmulticall
✔ latencytop
✔ librank
✔ micro_bench
✔ multitouch
✔ nano
✔ opcontrol
✔ openvpn
✔ oprofiled
✔ procmem
✔ procrank
✔ rawbu
✔ run_backup
✔ run_restore
✔ sane_schedstat
✔ scheduler
✔ scp
✔ showmap
✔ showslab
✔ sqlite3
✔ ssh
✔ ssmgrd
✔ strace
How to use BusyBox Non-root:
✔ Step 1: Click on "Install" to install BusyBox
✔ Step 2: Open your Terminal and change directory to the path!
Permissions requested:
✔ Internet: Download BusyBox (make sure you are on WiFi!)
✔ Script: Add PATH to Terminal

Regards,

You should check the following:

Check that /system is mounted as read-write. You can either check the mount filesystem or just try to copy a file with a root explorer to it.
Check that /system filesystem is not full and you have enough space.

As for the install, I would use the smart install in this case, since it won't overwrite all commands present in your ROM. If you find you still can't install it on /system/bin you could try to install it in /system/xbin.
If you find that /system is mounted in read only and you can't install it with that app, then you should install busybox from a flashable zip through recovery.

According to the busybox installer, system has 430mb. Can I free space there somehow? I think it is mounted because smart installer did install some things before it crashed, according to the app some things are installed/symlinked. Would I be better off just using recovery?

If I install to xbin, will it be a problem that some things installed to bin?

You have enough space in /system. If you install busybox to xbin, the app will create links in /system/bin that will point to the executable, so there won't be any problem. Busybox is just one executable file and the app creates links to call it directly.

Ok, looks like I'm going to have to do the flashable zip... Any ideas where to get it? Busybox.net has a lot of options, but I don't know which one is right for my phone. and it looks like it has to be built, which I don't know how to do...

What is your version? Because version 9.0 a had bug which crashed the mobile it seems. He fixed it in 9.1 and it got to play store on January 29th.

That's a good question... I ended up doing a factory reset and then just restoring the apps, and didn't restore busybox at that time, but the titanium backup date for busybox before the reset was Feb 5th, and I'm pretty sure I had the most up to date version at that time. I may try it again, but I really don't want to go through the hastle of having to factory reset (I was running into problems where the launcher would get corrupted every time I restarted, and if I restorted it from backup it would be gone again the next time I restarted. Also, settings was corrupted and could not be restored)

Well. Give a try :)

I might over the weekend... reloading everything wasn't all that fun. I just wish there was a way to roll it back if it gets part way and dies again.


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Samsung Note 1 mystery SMS notification
Every time I get a text message, my phone rings an irritating notification that I can't figure out how to disable. It's not the one that I set the notification to in the settings menu. I disabled any secondary SMS apps I downloaded (Go SMS).
Can someone give me any ideas?

Notifications for SMS can be set from two places:

The general configuration from Settings > Sound, where you can set the default notification sound.
From the messaging app itself, Settings > Notification settings, where you can set it to use the default value defined in point 1 or you can define another value.

Check both places to configure the notification you want. Also if you have any third party apps, despite being disabled they might still mess with the notification alerts. I would suggest to uninstall them while you check your notification sound settings and the reinstall them afterwards if you want to use them again.


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How can I hide an application from the app drawer?
I've got Micromax Canvas 2 and have installed one application which is having some confidential data. Now I want to hide that application from menu.
Is there any way / application for that?

Related http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/29475/password-protected-access-to-phone-features

Hi Flow, I'm not looking for an app to lock other apps. I want to hide selected application from menu.

I know, that's why the question did get closed as duplicate. :) I wonder how you would then start your app if it's now shown in the app drawer (and anywhere else).

Obviously, from an app we've listed out as hidden. It should be work as simple as image / video locker.

it would be more logical, if the application itself would require a password..

You can use a different launcher, like ADW launcher. Free, and has that function.
On the downside, it consumes a bit more of RAM.

Hi csomakk, thanks for the reply. I need an application.

its an application.


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Samsung Android device is listed as modem under Windows, but want it as mass storage device
When I plug in my Samsung phone it puts it under devices and printers it says that it is a modem. It reads Samsung CDMA technologies. I don't know how to get it to detect as a drive so I can put music and pictures on my phone. It is characterised as mass storage device and usb debugging is on.
What am I doing wrong?

Which Samsung device is this?

You should have an USB icon in the notification bar. If you expand the notification bar and click on the USB item you should be able to configure the connection mode you want.


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Cannot find driving mode on Samsung Galaxy S3
After upgrading to the new Android 4.1.2, I can't seem to find the 'driving mode' tab.
Please help.

Have you tried in Settings > Language and input > Text to speech output > Driving mode?

It's at the top, when you pull down to select WiFi,  GPS, screen rotation, etc.

In the most recent version of Android for Samsung (4.1.2) the driving mode is no longer in the top drawer. You can find it as described by @geffchang.


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Prerequisites of Installing New Launcher
First of all, consider me noob in this launcher thing, as I have never installed any launcher on my Samsung Galaxy S2. But now, I'm thinking to take a plunge and download one, but have no idea what are the requirements for such things.
Mobile Information

Samsung Galaxy S2
Model No = GT-19100
Android Version = 2.3.3

Mobile is not rooted.

There should be no real "requirements" for launchers - as long as they could be downloaded to your phone they should work.
Maybe one ore more functions could be slower on older devices if the hardware is not really new, but the base functions should just work...

The launcher must support your phone specs -- but that's implicitly included with as long as they could be downloaded to your phone, of course, when speaking in terms of using Google Play ;)

I also don't recommend uninstalling the stock launcher. If you ever have issues with your new launcher, being able to go back to stock will be helpful.

@TimScarborough No i will not uninstall the stock Launcher. Is it required that we have to uninstall the stock launcher before installing the New one.... or is there any application that can be used to keep both and I can switch between one another using that app....

You can switch back and forth between them.  Android should ask you every time which you want to use, until you set a preference permanently.  Even then, you can go into the settings and switch it back (or just uninstall the downloaded launcher).

See this previous question about how to switch bac to the default launcher: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/6042/i-checked-use-as-default-when-choosing-the-default-launcher-but-now-i-cant-s


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Download video from DailyMotion
Is there a way to download videos from DailyMotion? I do have the DailyMotion application on my phone (Canvas 2) but as far as I can see it doesn't provide any feature to download video.

Install the official dailymotion app from play store.
Click the download button as seen on the picture below. (left of HD)

Hi Roxan, Thanks for you answer. Actually the option is for sync the video which is equivalent to download. Its reaching at Ultimate goal of download to watch the video without internet connection. I couldn't realize that thanks again for your answer :)


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Possible security issues with having debug mode enabled?
Are there any significant security concerns with having a phone with debug mode enabled 24/7? As I understand it the debug mode only really becomes active once the phone is connected via USB cable to a computer with the adb driver which would basically limit the security concerns to malicious programs being installed on a computer and waiting for a phone to connect?
Or are there any other security issues involved that enables apps on the phone themselves to do anything, Bluetooth or WiFi exploits or something similar?

What is USB debugging? Can I keep it ON forever? covers pretty similar ground.

@eldarerathis: To some extent, yes. But there is no real mention of any of the possible security aspects I'm curious about.

@inquam from that linked post: "CON: If your device is lost or stolen, an unscrupulous individual could attempt to steal data from the device regardless of whether or not you've got a screen lock. If you're rooted, they can get pretty much everything." pretty much sums up the main security problem with leaving it on

Exactly. Forensics expert Andrew Hoog mentions checking for enabled Debug mode as one of the main things on a forensic analysts todo list. For data extraction, of course -- and may it be via rooting the device to get access to those data.

All valid points. But the issues with the phone itself getting in the wrong hands etc are all known to me. What I'm wondering about is if there are any other ways to remotely attack a phone in debug mode using WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC or something like that.
As I said, we assume that the owner of the phone has possession of it all the time and that we ignore the issue with malicious software being installed on the client PC and infects the phone when connected via USB to that computer.


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How to remove GMail contacts from Messaging app on Samsung Galaxy S Advance?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S Advance and when I try sending an SMS message to someone, I have to search through all my GMail contacts that for some reasons appear on the app along with my phone contacts.
I don't send mails through the message app and most of my GMail contacts are people who I sent just one e-mail in my entire life.
The Sync and Account settings don't let me turn off Contact sync, just remove the GMail account entirely, and there is no menu in the messaging app that lets me hide the GMail contacts.
Is there any way to make the messaging app only show the contacts I have on my phone?

In Android 4.1 Jelly bean follow the following steps:

Open the Contacts app
Tap the Setting touch button
Select Contacts to display
Select Phone

A similar procedure should work also for the earlier Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

I have note II. Here's my solution: in SMS, when you click create messaging icon, then click on phone book icon, you will see CONTACT tab listing everyone you have emailed and those in your phone book. Ignore that list. Scroll to the left to GROUP tab. Scroll down to MY CONTACT. It'll then show a list with the contacts on your phone (that is, you have already set your phone to display people with numbers only).
You have to manually do this every time but it beats seeing random people you have emailed. And you don't have to group or clean Gmail database.
Visual tutorial on how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRvuSfTZ-1c

after following the steps above and still nothing happens. Go to phone settings>accounts>(click on your email)>left bottom>remove account> check your sms app contacts. Then if you want to add your email again, make sure when you add the account to sync off all.

I wanted to point out that EVEN AFTER following anne's steps above, the email contacts get re-added in the sms. This is because when adding an email account, it is synced EVEN WHEN sync has been turned OFF. So, AFTER the account has been added, sync stays off (if we have disabled sync before adding the account), but because the system REGARDLESS executes one round of sync WHEN ADDING the acco

open up the default text messaging app, click the three dots in a row and tap settings. Click general and uncheck "Show email address. That will stop your email contacts from showing up when you start a new chat.

Here's what worked for me. Contact- settings- accounts- delete WhatsApp. My phone was completely free. (This was after I unsync Gmail and deleted the old Gmail account)


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Samsung S2 kernel change
On my Samsung Galaxy S2, I have Android 4.0.4 running with Kernel 3.0.15-1114882.
I need to change to kernel 3.015-1157945 or 3.015-1056084 .
Is this possible? If yes How?

You can do it by two means, from a custom recovery or directly from Odin. You will need to find the kernel file apropriate for your phone and then either:

Reboot the phone in download mode, connect the USB and use Odin to flash the kernel.
Reboot the phone in recovery and flash the kernel.

Just remember that Odin and recovery kernel files are different, so you can't download the Odin file and then flash it from recovery.


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How to change/remove icons on LG lock screen?
I have LG Optimus L5 with Android 4.0.3. When screen is locked there are four icons (Phone, Messaging, E-mail, Camera) in the bottom of it. If I tap on it and slide, screen unlocks and the tapped app is launched.
I know there are apps for customizing lock screen but I couldn't find any free to help me with my LG.
How can I remove or change this icons on my LG device?

I found the solution by myself. In Settings > Lock Screen you can configure your Lock Screen. There are options to change the way screen is unlocked, to change wallpaper and to change widget and shortcuts.

Unlock the screen. On the bottom left there should be a symbol with three horizontal lines.Touch that. Go to Lock Screen.Tap Shortcuts. The four options should appear. Touch which app you want to remove, the list of apps will come up, scroll until you find the app you want to use and tap on it. Do the same for other apps to remove and add. When finished press save. You can also remove the apps by tapping Delete Shortcut at the very top of the apps list


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desktop shortcut that takes a photo and emails it to a fixed address
I am registered with a website that can archive scans of receipts.  One way to upload the receipt image is to email it to an email address that's tied to my account.
To expedite the process, I want a shortcut on my Android desktop that, when pressed, starts the camera, lets me take & review the photo, and then emails the photo to a fixed email address.  I've found lots of apps that take photos and automatically upload them to your favorite photo sharing site, but I haven't run across any that will send them to a pre-configured address.

Have you taken a look at If This Then That?

There are a bunch of apps on the playstore for services like that (e.g. Expensify). Did you check if your website has such an app attached?

@Izzy My website does not.  Thanks for the suggestion.

A partial solution: If you could add the specific email address to your share menu you could just use whatever camera app you wanted. Check this question and its answers: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/6100/share-through-share-menu-directly-to-own-email-address

Using tasker your could create a task that takes a photo and then sends an email with the photo attached.


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Saving a photo attached in text message
I have a Galaxy S2, running Android 4.0.3
I can open a photo attached to a text message. How can I save the photo (not the message)?

Have you tried a long-press?

When in the message window, "long press" the image (hold your finger down on the image for a second or two) and a menu should pop up giving you the option to download or save the attachment.
When you go to your gallery you'll usually see attachments you've downloaded in a folder called "Downloads" or "Messaging."

On my android 4.4.2 tablet running the app "messaging 4.40.150" do a long hold on the message body not the photo.  It opens a dialogue which allows saving the attachment.  It was easy after that.

I have a Galaxy S4 running Android 4.2.2

In Messaging in the Message I have been sent a photo.. underneath it says MMS
I tap the photo and it goes fullscreen
I tap the (anachronistic floppy disk) save icon
I can rename it
I hit OK and it responds with: Attachment copied to device storage
It is now saved to:

Internal Storage/Download

I use Dropbox to grab it from there
It does not appear in my Gallery :(

If I accidentally long-press I choose Save Attachment for the same thing

On my phone, running CyanogenMod 12.1, I wasn't asked where to put the file or what to name it. It automatically went to the Downloads folder. In there, it had a cryptic file name: cid:262. I just renamed it to whatever I wanted + .jpg.

Long press the message (not the image or video)
A pop-up window will appear, select save attachments
Files are saved to my Downloads directory

Steps taken from a Droid Turbo


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Songs from Google Play don't show up on phone
I'm trying to make a custom calendar notification on my mom's Samsung Galaxy S3 (Android 4.1.1) because the built-in ones are too short for her to hear. This article says I can move a music file to the notification folder in MyFiles.
So I bought a song from Google Play and looked for the file on her phone. Wasn't there. Checked every folder, but no luck.
Did some more searching and found this article from Google Play troubleshooting how to get songs to show up on your phone. Absolutely none of the menu options even existed on my mom's phone, so it was completely unhelpful.
Tried to search for how other people added songs as ringtones from Google Play on their phones. I found quite a few articles addressing it. They all said to add the ringtone from the Music Player app. Checked the Music Player app, and the song wasn't there.
That might explain why the song doesn't exist on her phone, except I can play the song on her phone through the Play Music app. I clicked "Keep on Device," but the song still doesn't seem to exist.
How do I get the song I bought from Google Play to show up as a file on my mom's phone?
However, if anyone provides a quick way to skip all this mess and just make the notifications last longer, that would be appreciated too.

The fact that none of the menu options from the help article was on the phone seems suspicious. Does the phone have Google Play Music installed? Is the same Google account that was used for the purchase also configured on the device?

Google Play Music is the only app I can find the song on, so yes it is installed. I bought the song from her phone, using the same account my sister uses to buy games, so I'm assuming it's configured on the device. How could I tell if it wasn't?

If you actually bought it from the phone then I'd assume you're right, otherwise I'm not sure how you would have even been able to buy it. Generally you can check by going into the phone's settings and finding the "Accounts" sub-section. If it's configured it should be listed there (or at the least it will list "Google" as a configured account).

This isn't a question, it's a barrage of questions. You'll get better results on this site if you restrict yourself to one question per post. As things stand I have an answer for one of your many questions but can't post it.

@DanHulme The list of questions were added after not getting answers to the main question in bold in hopes that I could use the answer to one of them as a clue.

I found this link helpful for downloading Google Play music onto my Samsung Galaxy SIII.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1250232

Navigate to Google Play Store
Select Music
From the left soft key on your phone, select My music
From the upper left menu in Google Play (it should say Listen Now), select Playlist
Scroll to find the Free and Purchased playlist and select it
On the right side of Google Play, below the playlist image you should see a thumbtack in a circle. It will probably be grey.
Make sure you are connected to WiFi (to avoid using data) and select the thumbtack. It should turn orange and your download should start.

I have not found a way to download individual songs yet...

I was having the same problem and just fixed it: Under the Google play (app the you purchased it from) search in the music section the song you bought. When your results come up click the one that says purchased and then click listen (I did mine under wi-fi might be able to do it through data). I should give a message saying error, just click try again and it should sync. At least that's what mine did. Good luck, hope it works for you if you didn't already fix it.

In response to: "If anyone provides a quick way to skip all this mess and just make the notifications last longer, that would be appreciated too."
Use the free Rings Extended app to easily choose any audio file (music or clips) for notifications/ringtones - without having to copy anything to specific folders. Just to clarify, this won't show up as an app when installed. However, whenever you try to change a ringtone/notification, "Rings Extended" will show as an option, which you can then choose to open the app for choosing a ringtone/notification.
Additionally, you can use Ringdroid (also free) to cut the required part/length from a sound file (or music track) on the device.
Unfortunately I don't live in an area that allows me to buy music on the Play store so I can't help with that problem.

The song doesn't show up as an audio file, so I can't make it a ringtone or notification. I bought the song because I couldn't find any of the built-in ringtones or notifications on the phone, otherwise I would've saved myself $1.99 and a lot of trouble.

I realize that you have problems with the song but, as I specified in my answer, this relates to your question about making notifications last longer. Using these tools you can use ANY audio file (from anywhere) as a ringtone. So head over to freesound and download a long (and loud, if required) audio clip to the device and use the tools to set it as notification/ringtone.

I think your are missing an important concept of Google Play Music: The songs are kept in the cloud and are streamed on-demand if you want to listen to them.
If you want to keep them on the device for offline listening, you have to check 'keep on device'. Now it should be clear what that option does.
The links you mentioned in your question are all about 'how to get uploaded music (with Google Musicmanager) to appear on your device'. They are not about how to let the actual song file appear on the device.
This 2 questions should help you further:

How can I turn songs from Google Play Music into ringtones?
Where does Google Music store offline songs?

I actually saw the first one. I linked it in my question. As for the second link, that folder seems to be empty. I also mentioned in my question that I had clicked "Keep on Device." I thought it would store the song on her phone, but since it didn't I starting wondering what its actual purpose was. (Which is why I asked question #4.)

Go to the folder:
/mnt/SDcard/android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music

and remember that the songs don't come up with the title as their file name, GM creates its own numeric filename (God knows why, it's annoying).

The cache folder is empty :(

You can only set songs that are actually on your sdcard... music from the cloud on google music are saved in a database, so you can't access them

If you are having the same problem, I did where you can only play it when the option is set to all music option on the play music app, but cant find it when the option is set to "on device" then here is what you have to do:
Make sure its set to all music, go to listen now. Find the songs that you want to download onto you device and there should be something on the song that allows you to do things with it, like add to queue. Look on that menu and there should be an option saying keep on device, push that and it will start downloading it to your phone and then when you switch it over to the on device music option it should be on that list.
Hope this helped!

When you go to the play music app, on top where it says listen now, change it from "on device" to "all music". Hope this helps.

Do this...it works..copied from a helpful chap elsewhere!
If you go to the Google Play Music site on a browser (PC / Laptop) & navigate to the album you bought, you can select to download the album as a zip of MP3 files, or each individual song. Strange this isn't offered within the app itself. Seems Google may be discouraging us from using alternative music players?

Just verified no option to download purchased songs to local phone storage using a OnePlusOne using google play store. The only solution that works is download to PC and copy back to the phone as noted above.

I got it!
What you need to do is go into the Google Play app.
At the top where it says "Listen Now" hit the 3 lines on the left corner and it brings in a menu.
Select "Settings"
Scroll down til you see "Storage Location"
Select "External / SD Card, etc" (whatever your phone says - just make sure it doesn't say "Internal")
I'm not sure if this next part is necessary but I did it anyway.
Check yes to the two boxes "Cache During Playback" and "Automatically Cache"
Then hit the the download button, or "Keep on Device" or the symbol (downwards arrow with a line underneath)
The file should then be stored here:
My Files -> SD Memory Card -> Android -> data -> com.google.android.music -> files -> music -> (numerical code music files!!!)
Play them with the normal music player to figure out what they are or upload to a PC and rename them, then move them back to the phone.
Ta Da!!!

Go to Settings then Google and make sure sync is on in Google Music. That was my problem.


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Input via voice and handwritten works, but not keyboard on app on Galaxy 2
I am working within an app that has text fields for entry.  I can highlight and cut the text if it auto-populates and I can even use the text-to-speech and handwriting input methods.  When I use the keyboard to type, however, it does not populate the text field.  Any thoughts on why this would happen?

galaxy 2? s2 or note 2?

Model GT-P5113 with Android version 4.1.1

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

Include it in your question.


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I get "unfortunately exchange services has stopped" a few days after setting up exchange email
On my Motorola Xoom running 4.0.3 I can set up an exchange email account and it will work for a day or so then it will give the "unfortunately exchange services has stopped" error after checking for new messages (takes a long time to check). I can re-create the account and it will re-download the emails and contacts but then it errors out again soon.

Are you running a stock ROM or a custom ROM?

Stock, though it's had official upgrades since we bought it (started at Android 3.0)

I think I've found the problem. The user has over 19 thousand emails in his inbox. Moving emails from the inbox to sub folders was all that was needed to fix it.

If you're still active on Android.SE, don't forget to mark this as an aswer so that it can be marked as solved.

authors: Сергей Фомин


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How do I get permission to create this file in an android shell?
I'm trying to root a Kindle and I'm stuck. Getting permission denied and don't know how or what permissions to change.
mike@Inspiron:~/Downloads/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools$ adb shell
shell@android:/ $ echo 'ro.kernel.qemu=1' > /data/local.prop
/system/bin/sh: cannot create /data/local.prop: Permission denied
1|shell@android:/ $ sudo echo 'ro.kernel.qemu=1' > /data/local.prop
/system/bin/sh: cannot create /data/local.prop: Permission denied
1|shell@android:/ $ sudo
/system/bin/sh: sudo: not found
127|shell@android:/ $

I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 if it makes a difference.

I've achieved root without w/o acquiring these permissions. Thanks for any help.

Short answer: You will have to root your device for that.
Explanation: The shell user has no write permission there. The /data directory is not owned by shell, nor does their group match: on my Motorola Milestone 2, e.g., it is owned by system:system and has the permissions drwxrwxr-x, while shell belongs to the shell group only. Only on a rooted device you could either change the permissions, or be privileged enough to override them.
PS: On Android, the sudo command is simply called su -- which explains your last error (/system/bin/sh: sudo: not found) in case your device is already rooted.

@hortstu if you found it helpful, don't hesitate to upvote (click the "up" arrow next to it) or, if it mysteriously solved your problem, even accept it (the "checkmark" button). But whatever you decide: I'm glad I could help :)

I'd love to but still don't have enough reputation.

Ooops... I've thought at least on answers to ones own question... Well, in this case sorry for the "teacher-stuff". Now you have the rep :)

Try this:

adb shell "cd /data/local && mkdir tmp"
  adb shell mv /data/local/tmp /data/local/tmp.bak
  adb shell ln -s /data /data/local/tmp
  adb reboot
adb wait-for-device
  adb shell rm /data/local.prop
  adb shell "echo \"ro.kernel.qemu=1\" > /data/local.prop"
  adb reboot

By creating a link to from /data to /data/local/tmp, Android will believe you are writing to /data/local/tmp even though you're actually writing to /data. This method is actually used to successfully root many devices, though some have it specifically in the build.prop that /data/tmp is off limits.
This method might not work with a Kindle Fire, though I haven't tried. I have rooted a Kindle Fire, but it involved a different method entirely. First, TWRP recovery had to be flashed. Then, a fake recovery image exploit. Then, you could gain access to copy over your su and busybox binaries.
You can try the local.prop method as I described above though. It is compatible with many devices.

Thanks for your help.  I managed to achieve root.  For reasons I don't understand I was able to skip a few steps in the tutorial and it worked perfectly.

You did not follow the rooting instruction properly.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/34162-root-kindlefire-7hd-probably-the-other-2ndgen-kindlefire/
The instruction above would have you create symbolic links to the /data/ directory from /data/local/tmp/ which would make the /data/local.prop writable after a reboot.
Make sure you follow the instructions precisely, including the reboots and all, and make sure you check each step that they do not produce unexpected error message.

I did follow the rooting instuction properly I was just using a different root technique than the one you've linked to.  Thanks for your help but I ended up being able to skip a few steps for reasons I don't understand and I have rooted the kindle.


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Can an app register itself to consume certain URLs?
This is not a programming question but a usability one.
News site example.com has an annoying habit: when I follow a link to an article, the site first displays a pop-up saying “come use our app instead!” So I did, but article links still open the web browser, and still bring up that pop-up.
I’d like to file a bug with the app developer. Could the app have been designed to consume all URLs beginning with http://example.com/? (Otherwise I’ll complain to the web site designers.)

What you're describing is generally referred to in Android parlance as an "intent filter", and yes - Android supports this via the <data> element in the application's manifest file. You could point them to that documentation link in your bug report. You can also find examples on Stack Overflow with some relevant code samples:

Android Respond To URL in Intent
Intercepting links from the browser to open my Android app