text:
How to get Full Screen Caller id?
In my Nexus 4 i have successfully synced the contacts with their google plus and assigned them with their profile picture. The issue is when i call them (outgoing calls) i am able to get their pic in full screen. But when i receive calls (incoming calls) the pic is displayed partly at the top of the screen. What is the issue and how to solve this?

Could you add a screenshot to make it clear what you mean by "the pic is displayed partly at the top of the screen"?

Partly in the sense Image is displayed for the top half of the screen and attend/cut option in the bottom half of the screen. I Just want to show the image in full screen and attend/cut option to be over the image. (Sorry i could not attach screenshot now).

That is because this is a stock android feature. To accomplish the result you want you'll need some kind of third party software i geuss. There are lots available in the play store.


text:
Why did Google block Facebook Contact Sync on the Nexus 5?
Is there a particular developer clause that was violated? If so, why is the facility blocked only on the Nexus and not other Android based devices?

Seems like a valid Android question to me, and there is an answer to this. Leaving this question open.

It's not just the Nexus 5, it hasn't been possible on any stock Google Experience device for quite a few versions (definitely since Honeycomb).

Why? Because two companies are feuding. Not much we can do about that here. Now, a question about how to work around this issue would be on-topic here.

I did some digging around and found that this change was introduced in an update for Gingerbread. It applies to all Nexus devices starting from the Nexus S (except the Nexus One since it comes pre-installed with Facebook).
The problem Google has with Facebook sync is the inability to port the data that Facebook sync adds to the contacts, out of your device.
Here is an excerpt from their statement on this issue:

Since Facebook contacts cannot be exported from the device, the
  appearance of integration created a false sense of data portability.
  Facebook contact data will continue to appear within the Facebook app.
  Like all developers on Android, Facebook is free to use the Android
  contacts API to truly integrate contacts on the device, which would
  allow users to have more control over their data. We are removing the
  special-case handling of Facebook contacts on Nexus S and future lead
  devices.

TechCrunch's coverage on this:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/22/google-android-facebook-contacts/
Engadget's coverage:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/google-disables-contact-sync-in-facebook-for-android-only-nexus/
I am still trying to find the official statement on a Google site. Will update it here if I find it. Also I want to know why Google doesn't get all manufacturers to enforce this rule if it is part of core Android policies.

According to a post in a Google Product Forum:

A sync between Nexus devices and Facebook isn't possible by default.
  To get that information on your phone you will need to install a third
  party application that will sync the information to your phone.
Manufacturers like HTC and Samsung enabled this on their own for the
  people that bought their devices.

An alternative to make this sync happen is to use a 3rd-party app like Sync.ME - Sync for Facebook:

• Full Screen Caller ID - See your friends' picture from Facebook,
  LinkedIn or VKontakte when they call you and when you call them.
• Smart Matching - Matches automatically between your contacts to
  their social network profiles.
• Contact Enrichment - Magically update your contacts with missing
  details (phone number, email, company, job title, address & website).
• In-Call Experience - Take your phone calls to the next level! View
  your friend's latest social network posts and photos during call.
• Birthday Reminders - Never forget your friends' birthdays again!
  Create and share personalized greetings for any occasion.
• ME Card - Your ultimate contact and business card. Choose how you
  appear in your friends' and colleagues' phones. Edit your picture and
  details to keep them updated.

I don't think it is true that HTC and Samsung enabled is on their own as the sync option was available on the Facebook app and not on the operating system itself.

@BobbyAlexander I'm not exactly sure of the details either. I just found the comment in the Google forums. But if you know of any answer (with justification / proof), feel free to update my answer, or post a new answer. :)

@BobbyAlexander HTC and Samsung have enabled it in the sense that they allow the special case handling of Facebook sync on their phones - the one which Google has removed in Nexus devices - "We are removing the special-case handling of Facebook contacts on Nexus S and future lead devices."

@BlueSilver: Yes, I believe the feature was removed only on Nexus devices at that time. However I don't find the provision on my OnePlus One so maybe the vendors have to selectively enable it now.

source: Stack Exchange

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

authors: Сергей Дёмин

sort: votes


text:
Where can I locate the picture that is currently being used for my lock screen?
I have a picture that I cherish deeply being used as my lock screen. The problem is that the  Micro SD card I was using became corrupted at one point and needed to be formatted so the picture was lost. I need to know if there is a location on the files of the phone where I can copy it from. I mean the picture has to be being used somewhere right?
I was using an app called "File Manager" to search through the files and try to find it. If anyone can point me in the right location I would really appreciate it.
Android Version: 4.0.4

Did you already format the card? If so, see How to Restore Deleted / Formatted Files on HD Micro SD Card. Another good pointer to start with is our data-recovery tag-wiki. If the file is already deleted, you won't find it anywhere with a file manager.

The recovery methods don't seem to be working. I tried Easeus. Even though the picture is deleted wouldn't the phone save that picture somewhere in order to use it as a lock screen background?

I'm not sure how that's handled internally; it might also just save the location (i.e. where to find it). Does the lock screen still display it? Then it might be either in cache, or Android really "keeps a copy" for that.

Yes the lock screen does still display the picture. @Izzy

I've just checked an older Nandroid backup which I had unpacked for reference, found no trace. Which leaves the cache (/cache or /data/data/<package_name>/cache) as most likely place, as I didn't extract that. But it's just a guess. // Just cross-checked on my LG O4X, and indeed found an empty wallpaper.png in /data/data/com.lge.lockscreen`; but all those places are only accessible using root-powers...

If you backed up your phone with Google Sync Services, you should be able to restore that image if you reset your phone or register with the same account in another device.

@dandaman12 saddly the phone that I had used to take a picture was a pretty bad one it didn't even have google play store. I don't remember the android operating system but it was no good. That was a pretty good idea though.

From what I can tell from the other answers it sounds like the image you wish to retrieve is also your wallpaper.
If that is the case you could use an app I have been working on for this exact purpose, called Get Current Wallpaper.
It will retrieve your current wallpaper, save it to your Pictures folder on your external storage drive and allow you to share it with whatever app you use to share images :)

Cool! Edit: Is there any reason why it is not compatible with Android 2.3? It might not be that, but I can't install it on my phone, an HTC Wildfire S.

You are right that it does not support older than Android 4.0.3. You should be able to use this instead (slightly less simple, but will also get your current wallpaper):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.alroe.apps.WallpaperSaverFree
:)

A couple of methods come to mind:

You could take a picture of your phone with another camera.
You could do a screen capture of you phone screen using built in functionality of the Android operating system.  The method of doing a screen capture is different depending on which version of operating system you have.  On my phone, I press and hold the POWER + HOME buttons at the same time and a screenshot is capture and saved to my SD card.  Some older version of the Android operating system didn't have the screen capture functionality built in so depending on your version of the operating system, it may or may not be an option for you.
I have written a few Android apps before.  I just checked the Android API's and it looks like I could write an app to retrieve the wallpaper image from your system memory and save it to a SD card if you have an SD card in your phone.  The app would just read the image and wouldn't change it.

Also, do you have an SD card that is working now?
I understand how frustrating it is to lose an important image and would like to help you get it back if I can.

It says right in the question that it's 4.0.4.

Right you are.  Just noticed that.

I do have a micro sd card in it that is working. If you did make an app @user3329361 how would I put it on my phone to use it? would it just be a file that I open from file manager or is there another process I would have to use?

I could send you an app install file as an attachement to an email.  There is a setting in the Android operating system that enables installing apps from an "Unknown Source".  The operating system will install the attached app from the email once this setting is enabled.  Some phone service providers prohibit installation of apps that do not come from the Play Store.  Does your phone service provider allow installing apps that are not from the Play Store?

I wrote the app and confirmed it worked on my phone.  The app retrieves the wallpaper image and saves it to a file on the SD card.  The only user permission is Write External Storage.  If you make your email visible in your user profile and let me know, I can email the app to you.

@user3329361 I've got the same problem, and I'm using Android 2.2.1. Could you make the programme available on a public file sharing site, such as Dropbox or Google Drive, please? I don't mind changing configuration or code, if necessary.

@toothbrush - sorry for the late reply.  I'm a very infrequent user of Android Enthusiasts and just now noticed your request.  It was only by chance that I saw the this question in the first place and could help out.  Could you let me know if you still need the app?  I could post it to a cloud storage location for you to get.

@user3329361 Yes, please. I'd like it very much. I also very rarely visit Android Enthusiasts... :)

@toothbrush I was out of town but am now back.  I'll put the .apk install file on Dropbox and post a link tonight.

Here is the zip file that contains the .apk app install file and the readme information file.   https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1PQcHyIo4PBNm5DRW5yaGx3dkE/edit?usp=sharing

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


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How do I edit contacts in Android 4.4?
On my Android 2.3 phone I've exported my contacts and imported them on my new Android 4.4 phone, a Motorola G. Unfortunately, I found no way to edit the contact. When I open the "phone" application from the main screen, I click "All contacts" (translated) to get the list of all contacts. But as soon as I click on one item, it dials. Click-and-hold does nothing - no context menu occurs. How to edit the contacts (name, phone number)?

Wasn't able to answer, but for those who don't see 3 dots on top-right, just tap the 3rd (rightmost) button on your mobile (back | home | options), it'll show up a menu containing Edit

Don't use the phone/dialer app to edit contacts: use the main People app (it's called Contacts on some non-Nexus phones). From that app, when you click the contact you want, it displays that contact, and you can click the pencil icon on the action bar (at the top) to edit the contact. (The icon might look different on your phone, because most manufacturers replace the People app with their own variant.)

Yuck! Doesn't the dialer app invoke the contacts/people app on a Nexus, like on most decent phones? =:-0 That reminds me of those times on stock-HTC-Android-2.1, where the first thing I replaced was the dialer (exactly because of this). Thought those times were long gone, as that's everything but intuitive or user-friendly. Don't want to know how many people got wakend during night-sleep because of that...

you dont need to do use the People app - as per some of the answers below when viewing a Contact click on the little person icon on the right hand side...that then appears to take you to the people app where you can edit by clicking the 3 dots in the upper top right

@wal Since you're familiar with the Moto G's interface in particular, you should add your own answer.

@DanHulme suggest updating your answer to reflect the fact you dont need to use the People app always

@wal I can't write that description, because I don't have a Moto G and don't know the interface. That's why I say you should write up an answer yourself, instead of burying the information in the comments of a different answer.

@DanHulme Perhaps you can state what phone your answer pertains to? I see neither the pencil icon nor any 'action bar at the top' so your answer was not helpful.

The trick is to click the image, not the remainder of the item, to be able to edit it.

For Moto G and (possibly many other android devices) you can do this directly from the phone app:
Tap the person icon followed by the three dots in the top right (See circled icons below)

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)

in KitKat 4.4.2, To view contact details just click the image of a certain person on your Contact App (not the dialer) but if you want to edit click on the name. :)

I just did this on my Nexus 4 w/4.4.2 and the above answer is partially right. Open your contacts and tap on the picture to open up the contact. Now tap the silhouette of the person next to the star. Now you can tap the 3 dots in the upper right corner and that opens up the editor. Finish the edit and tap done in the upper left.

It's no use referring to "the above answer" on this site. Answers can be displayed in different orders, so you should [edit] your answer to specify which one you mean. Also, note that the Motorola G has a different contacts app to the Nexus 4, so your answer might not be applicable to the questioner.

Click on the dial (phone icon). Find the person you intend to text. Select the 3 dot icon on the far right (at the bottom). Select "all contacts". Boom! Just scroll to the contact and select. I hope this gets ironed out as well.

this is inaccurate. I figured it out earlier yesterday. I got my wires crossed. I will figure it out and repost.

got it!!! Same procedure as above. I was correct. When you select the recipient for the text, look to the far right icon. Select that, and text away.

disregard all that nonsense. just tap on the picture of the person you intend to text. foot in mouth.

tapping on the right direct dials. sorry. inquisitive loudmouth dumbass.

chris, please clean up your comments. Don't add facts as comments, instead [edit] your answer and integrate them. Currently it's nothing but confusing: yes, no, inaccurate, no, nonsense, tap elsewhere... What's supposed to be your answer here?


text:
How to sync highlights & annotations of ebooks/pdf
i'm searching for a way to synchronize  highlights & annotations of my ebooks over several android devices.
I prefer to read ebooks in pdf as it's the only format that keeps the original layout of the book.
Moonreader+ is a good ebook reader that supports highlighting and syncing reading progress. But how can i sync highlights or annotations i made?

I can't imagine how this would be implemented, especially since you also need to make sure that the PDFs exist. How do you check that file.pdf in Device A is the same as file.pdf in Device B? Unlike in Kindle, you know which book is which, and highlights can actually be synced. But what you want is certainly possible though, if you make a custom app, with lots of assumptions here and there.

Moon+ could do that as well, but it will be limited when it comes to PDF. Annotations/Highlights can be exported to files which you then could sync and import at the other end. I'm not aware of any automatism here; but I wouldn't wonder you'll find it in the next version if you ask Seany (the dev) for it, as he's very responsive usually.


text:
How can I sort my non-gmail emails?
I would like to sort my non-gmail emails in a different order (e.g. from oldest to newest, to read the emails in chronological order). How can I do it in KitKat? I was really easy on my old HTC Desire :(

Which email app is this? The stock email app?

@geffchang, yes, the stock email app (but not the gmail one).

Hmm, I've not found any way to sort via Email app. You mention non-Gmail, though. Do you have any GMail accounts on the Email app? Are they sortable? / Personally, I use Kaiten app with all my GMail accounts, and I can sort by Date, Arrival, Subject, Sender, Star, Read/undread, and Attachments.


text:
Moto X Battery Question
I'm new to android and the Moto X.  (iPhone 4s previously.  don't judge.)  I purchased my Moto X a couple days ago (2/15/14) and overall I'm very happy.  The battery life has me concerned though.  Last night before I went to bed I checked the battery and when I woke up I checked it again.  I slept for about 6.5 hour and my phone died went from 63% to 47%.  16% for being idle for 6.5 hours seems like a lot to me.  Previous phones would maybe lose a percent.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

Not for sure what 'Android OS' includes it is pretty vague.  It would be nice to see exactly what is causing the drain of 55%.
Overall it says 17h 39m 3s on battery at the time of this post.  I unplugged it around 2pm yesterday afternoon.  Very light use of the evening and like I said 63% went to bed.
** Update **
Over the past hour or so I've been searching the web looking at screenshot similar to those above.  100% of them have 'Screen' as their highest percentage and 'Android OS' at a much lower percentage.  I must have something turned on that is causing Android to use more CPU time?
I'm running on AT&T with a KitKat 4.4 build.  Still waiting for the 4.4.2 push.

Is it sleeping at all? Android OS is generally the OS related activities, syncing, checking for system updates, et cetera.

The screen is black the entire night.  It has active display and will light up when I move it and show my clock and any notifications.  But to answer your question the screen definitely stays black.

Right, but is it going into standby? If you look at the battery use screen, you should see a line graph followed by the top battery (ab)users. If you tap the graph, it should expand and show you signal quality, how often the device slept, the screen was on and how often the GPS device was being queried.
I see this on my SGS4, but I think this same UI should be on the MotoX.
It could be something is not letting your device sleep. I will say 17 hours is pretty good for an android device. I can barely make 8. But I use it a lot during my commute so there's that.

@WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot I uploaded some images.  It isn't the time the battery has been off the charger it is the fact it lost 16% in 6.5 hours sleeping that concerns me.

@KyleRogers did any of the answers help solving the issue (you didn't yet accept any of them, so this might not be the case), or is still anything missing?

This issue gets pretty clear by the second screenshot, which I will repeat here:

Battery usage (click image for larger variant)
Please pay attention to its lower half, just below the graph, and let me point out some details:

Mobile network signal: This bar has no black, which means the radio was on all the time. Further, the colors indicate a relatively weak signal (see my answer here for details), which most likely caused the device to permanently watch out for a "stronger signal source", powering up the radio for that, and consuming energy for this task.
Wi-Fi: again, a continuous bar, so WiFi was turned on the whole time, consuming energy again.
Interim result at this place: With all sync on (as it is by default), the device would also permanently synchronize your data (in intervals, of course) – contacts, calendars, etc.pp. – which again consumes battery.
Awake: This bar clearly shows your device was not in "permanent standby". You always find "blue spots" on it, even during your sleep period (which most likely is, where the Screen on graph is black but there are blue spots on the "Awake" graph – i.e. most of the "last third")
Charging: Continuous black, so no charger was connected. Guess where the juice had to come from then :)

Conclusion: Pretty normal behaviour, though I cannot speak precisely how much battery-use would be normal (that depends on too many factors unknown to me, as e.g. apps installed, sync intervals, "consumption specifications" of device components, and so on). If you feel it should last longer, consider switching to airplane mode at night (or turning at least WiFi off). There are even tools available which would automate this – some of them e.g. mentioned with my above linked answer.

As always, brilliant post Izzy

This actually sounds pretty normal to me.  If this screenshot was taken shortly after you woke up then it would make sense for the OS to have used more battery, since the screen would have been off for a long while.  I've owned several Android phones, having worked for Verizon Wireless before becoming a developer, and I've never had an Android phone that I would trust to leave unplugged at night.  Without fail, whenever I've done this (always by accident) whatever phone I was using lost a lot of charge by the time I woke up.
Having said that, I would check and see how frequently your phone is checking for new emails, as well as checking how often any other apps (like news apps, Facebook, whatever) are refreshing in the background.  Checking  your sync settings on any apps you are using, or even ones you may not be actively using, could make a big difference in battery life.


text:
How to make Exchange client read signed 'application/ms-tnef' mail?
Someone sends an email with (among others) the following headers
Content-Type: application/ms-tnef; name="winmail.dat"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
X-MS-Has-Attach: yes
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: -1
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: <guid@server1.example.com>
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthSource: server2.example.com
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthAs: Internal
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthMechanism: 04
X-Originating-IP: [1.2.3.4]

to my Microsoft Exchange account, and the mail is somehow signed (and not encrypted) by a certificate which is issued by a CA within our organization.
In Outlook on Windows, I can read this email just fine.
However, clicking the 'Decode message' button which my the standard Android email client shows me (on Android 4.1.2, through the Exchange connection) results in a message 'Cannot show encoded messages.  Certificate not installed.'  (Label and message actually show up in Dutch on my phone, I've guess-translated them back to English.)
I have a .p7b-file containing the CA's public key (and I can get it in X.509 DER encoded or Base-64 encoded format as well).
My question: How can I make the Android email client trust this CA certificate, so that it allows me to read these mails?
Update: I'm not asking for how to add a certificate with a private key (as can be used for authenticating to a wi-fi network), but a certificate with just a public key (which can be use to verify signatures).

Have you tried this answer: http://android.stackexchange.com/a/16730/5342

@geffchang Thanks for the hint, but no success.  I tried this just now, and (1) I can install the certificate successfully; but (2) I suddenly need to protect my phone using a pattern, since this apparently tries to use the certificate for signing in on e.g. WiFi (so as a 'client certificate', as if it had a private key, which it doesn't); however (3) the certificate does show up in Settings -> Security -> Trusted sign-in information -> User; but (4) reading the signed email still does not work.


text:
Can't access my play store account
Due to some reason my phone got stuck. I took out the battery and put it back and restarted my phone, but after that the time shown in my phone was in a back date. As a result I'm getting "I can't access play store". I even removed my account and now I try to login, but still can't access.
What can I do?

Do you have a network connection? What Android version are you on?

my phone was in a back date did you update the time & date?

@Izzy I am using cyanogenmod 11,I have network connection everything but it seems that after removing the account and again I tried to add my google account it did not work ,so I finally flashed it again..

I don't know why did I read "black in time", which makes no sense: But as you wrote "my phone was in a back date" – Check your time settings, please!
If your device time is too far off, certificates will cause trouble, which finally results in exactly that: no secure connection possible, and you cannot access your account. In cases like that it often helps to set the time manually (must not be to the second, if it's a minute off it's still fine). Then try again. You can set time adjustment to "automatic" again later.
Background: Certificates have a "livetime", including a start and an end. If your device is outside this frame, the certificate is either only valid "in the past" or "in the future", but not "now". So your device will reject it. Without a valid certificate, the Google Play app won't be able to establish a secured connection, and thus give you an "unable to access" (or similar) error.
Same applies btw. to other apps using secured connections – including the web browser when accessing sites via https. The latter you can use to check whether you've tapped into this trap: Start your web browser, try accessing e.g. https://www.google.com/, and see what happens. If you get a "certificate warning", that's it.

@user202476 If one of the answers here provided the solution, don't forget to mark it such (by clicking the check-mark next to it) :) Thanks!

Did you try to delete the data of the Play Store under Settings->Apps->All->Play Store?

Also try logging into the play store on your PC's browser.


text:
Unlocking the nexus 7 bootloader
I want to root my nexus 7 tab. The first step is unlocking the bootloader. I want to know that unlocking will wipe the os or just data? Can I start the tab after unlocking

It doesn't wipe the OS (the system partition), only the user data. It's a precaution so that an attacker can't install a new OS to get around Android's security protections on your data. See Why does unlocking the bootloader wipe phone? for more details on why.
When you first boot the device after unlocking the bootloader, if you don't flash a new OS right away, it'll go into the first-time setup wizard (where it asks you to sign into or create a Google account).

When unlocking your bootloader it wipes the tablet, so any data you have on it will be erased. So do a backup before doing anything.
Unlocking the boot loader will not wipeout the OS, that is only done if you install another ROM.
Rooting the Nexus 7 is probably the easiest device to do it on. Here are some links that I have used in the past to accomplish that.
The XDA forum: Wug's Nexus Root Toolkit v. 2.1.9
The NexusToolkit download: Nexus Root Toolkit v2.1.9
Read both thoroughly, everything is explained in an easy to understand way.
The XDA forum is a great source of invaluable information.
The Nexus Toolkit is very concise, with an intuitive UI, that runs on your PC. This will unlock the boot loader, install(flash) recovery, install your boot.img(kernel), and install ROM. There is a vast amount of other features, but you'll find them out when using the toolkit.


text:
Wifi and Google Play access after factory reset for off contract Sprint HTC Evo 4G
I no longer use my old HTC Evo 4G I got from Sprint. I want to give it to my toddler so he can play games. Currently, since it is off contract it can't access the mobile network but it still can access WiFi.
If I do a factory reset on the phone will it still be able to have WiFi access? Will I still be able to access the Google Play store with my account?

Google services (Play Store, gmail, etc.) requires any kind of Internet access, cell or Wi-Fi. Your phone should work just fine.

A factory-reset deletes all the user data. It's as if you had a brand-new tablet (but any system updates you've previously installed will still be there).
This means the tablet won't have the password for connecting to your Wi-Fi network, nor the password for your Google account. The first time you turn it on, it will take you through the same initial setup process as when it was new: it'll prompt you to connect to a Wi-Fi network and log into a Google account. If you log in with the same Google account as before, it'll still be able to access all the apps (and books, music, films, etc.) you previously installed/bought from Google Play

Awesome. Just to make sure, you are saying that after the factory reset there no activation step that requires a connection to a mobile service provider?

It's not normally the case, but since carriers can customize the the initial setup process, if you originally got the phone from the carrier, it's possible that they did something like that to it. Only someone who's already tried it with the same device from the same carrier would be able to say for sure; you might want to update your question to say which carrier you got the phone from.


text:
Android to Google calendar sync problems
The option to sync calendars is missing from the list for my 2 Google accounts, following some issues with syncing after which I deleted calendar data and calendar storage data.
I have tried reloading the accounts and all the other options come back - except the Calendar sync!!
Please help..

have you tried adding a 3rd google account; preferably using mobile data, not wifi? see if that brings back calendar sync.

Creating a new account hasn't helped. Also if I go into the standard Android calendar (I use aCalendar usually) and try to add an account, there are no Gmail (and I now have 3) accounts listed...

sonofabitch - it worked! How I don;t know, but something has changed and restored the sync. Many thanks

Try adding a new Google account, preferably via mobile data instead of Wi-Fi. It should restore the calendar sync option.

sonofabitch - it worked! How I don;t know, but something has changed and restored the sync. Many thanks

I am assuming you are on a rooted device.
Use your preferred file explorer to browse to : /system/app
There should be two apk files. One the calendar app (calendar.apk) and the other calendarprovider.apk. The second apk provides proper synchronization between the google account and the actual calendar application which is probably missing or not working.
You should be able to find a replacement apk for your specific device and rom on XDA.

No the device is not rooted. Thanks for offering advice though - lukily another answer solved the problem!


text:
Run native executable in Android
When I install FaceNiff on Bluestack and try to run the executable file from adb shell by
./FaceNiff
I get the error:
/system/bin/sh: ./FaceNiff: not executable: magic 7F45
I have rooted the phone, su the adb.
I think i need correct su and busybox. I tried but failed.

and where did you get this FaceNiff executable from? If it was compiled for GNU/Linux, it won't run on Android.

Why do you try to run it from the shell? Isn't it a normal APK?

I downloaded it from faceniff.ponury.net; faceniff.apk has the binary in asset folder. trying to Reverse Engineer it to understand how ELF is called on android.

I am using Bluestack. I am getting the same error even when i try to run IDA android_server {rooted, updated su-x86, busybox-i686}

a reverse engineer without understanding the difference between ARM and x86 ABI? you have got a lot to learn

trying man... maybe pointing out a right direction be more helpful

Finally i understood. Bluestacks is based on Android-x86 and the file is ARM-based; that is why the error. Tanks anyways

7F45 are the first two bytes of the ELF header \x7FELF. Android also uses ELF, so the error message you encounter means that the FaceNiff binary is not recognised as executable by your kernel (unlikely, unless you forgot to chmod +x it), not for your architecture (e.g. x86 instead of ARM), or uses a dynamic linker not included (e.g. glibc or µClibc instead of Bionic).
If you need to run an Android-ARM executable on Android-x86 you must recompile it for x86 (and look for the correct bitness too, 32-bit vs. 64-bit is also different).
Disclaimer: I’m the mksh maintainer.


text:
How to fix "App not installed"?
I have Galaxy S4 GT-I9500, plus I have much free space. Some apps have trouble to be installed which end after pressing "Install" and telling me "App not installed".
Please I need a solution for this weird issue.

This means the SD card hasn't been fully checked and mounted, and the app you're trying to run is on the SD. That's why you see the icon, but can't run it for awhile.

try disabling security checks in Security preferences
Goto Settings-> More -> Security -> Uncheck Verify Apps and check Unknown sources

1. Summary
Try install your app via ADB → find information about error, that you get, in Google.

2. Demonstration
«Почта России» («Russian Post») app in my case.

Before:

After:

3. Disclaimer
Causes of App not installed in your case may be another, than in my example.
But the actions are the same as in Summary section.

4. Prerequisites
You need:

Rooted device
Enable USB debugging
Install ADB to your PC; simple way in Windows — using Chocolatey

5. Installation via ADB

Connect your Android phone to PC with enabling USB debugging
Download to PC apk file, that you can't install to Android
Try install your app from PC, use command:
adb install <<path-to-your-app>>.apk

5.1. Example
D:\SashaDebugging\Android>adb install postal.russian-5.0.apk
* daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037
* daemon started successfully
postal.russian-5.0.apk: 1 file push… 3.1 MB/s (5024614 bytes in 1.528s)
        pkg: /data/local/tmp/postal.russian-5.0.apk
Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_UID_CHANGED]

6. Finding information about problem
I search in Google Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_UID_CHANGED] → I read most popular Stack Overflow answer → I navigate to data/data in my Android file manager → I find data of my «Почта России» app:

I delete selected folder → I try install «Почта России» again via APK Installer → installation was successful.

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


text:
rot13 on all names of files in a directory!
This one has me stumped :-/
I have a non-rooted nexus 7 (2013, Android 4.4.2). There is a directory on the inbuilt sd card and this directory has about 200 files in and I would like to rename each file in this directory to what you would get if you rot13 the file!
$ for i in * ; do j=`echo $i | rot13`; mv "$i" "$j"; done

would do it on a unix machine with rot13 installed. I have Android Terminal Emulator and BusyBox Non-Root installed but unfortunately neither seem to have a rot13 command.

Not really an Android question (rather Linux/Shell/Bash), but I give the credit of the missing executable. So:
for i in * ; do j=`echo $i | tr '[a-m][n-z][A-M][N-Z]' '[n-z][a-m][N-Z][A-M]'`; mv "$i" "$j"; done


text:
Odin3 says phone is successfully rooted but I have no root access
I'm attempting to Root my Galaxy S3 to try and breath new life in to it (I don't want to upgrade if I don't have to).
I've followed the steps detailed in this post and the results seemed to suggest that everything had worked, as you can see in the screen shot, however when I check using the Root Checker app it states -

Root Access - no access

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't find anything that I can understand, so I'd be grateful if someone can help me fix this problem.

Update
Below are two screen shots taken after the above root process. On the left is the aforementioned Root Checker app, showing no access. And on the right is a warning shown when I open the SuperSU app.
I have indeed just updated to 4.3, so I'm guessing I'd need to go down the manually re-root app, but I have no idea what the relevant forum would be.

Did you try again from step 4 like the tutorial says in the end?

Yep, I've don't it 4 times now :(

Is it the international version or a carrier-modified version?

Carrier-modified (O2 in the UK).

Do you get to this screen? If not, uncheck auto reboot in odin, reflash, remove battery when done and enter recovery mode (VolUp+Home+Power), this will install root. See this link for more details.

That screen shot is exactly what I get. I am looking in to the other link now though...

after flash autoroot, do you installed the latest version of SuperSu?

looks like this pda file is only flashing recovery and cache image. So you should have a custom recovery now(probably CWM recovery).
If this is the case download supersu from here: http://download.chainfire.eu/396/SuperSU/ and push it onto your device.
After this boot into recovery(probably vol up + home + power) and install this supersu update zip.
Reboot system and see if you have luck :)


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Strange chinese menu on Lenovo IdeaTab S6000
Context
I just Skyped with my mother (far away) because her Android tablet (Lenovo IdeaTab S6000, running on Android 4.2) showed a strange menu with Chinese characters, almost like a bootloader. My short troubleshoot history looks like this:

When pressing the volume-keys, the displayed content changed, at one point the text contained "GPS", so I assumed it would be some kind of "hidden troubleshoot menu" for showing system information.
A restart was possible after pressing and holding the standby-button, after restarting everything seemed untouched.
Just to make sure, we changed her passwords.
She did not visit any suspicious websites, nor did she install any apps recently.

With my little knowledge, so far I do not feel able to rule out an attack or a trojan app, from what I can see she could have activated the strange menu by accident. Via internet research I only found one individual with the same problem, but no solution at all.
Question(s)
What can I do to determine the cause? Should I contact the provider/manufacturer? Is it safe to assume that her data & accounts are not compromised?
I know it is little information, so please bare with me, I just want to prevent damage.
Thanks for any advice.
TL;DR
Lenovo IdeaTab showed strange chinese/asian-symbols-menu, gone after reboot, do what now?

What can I do to determine the cause?

The user just accidentally accessed the Factory Mode on Lenovo tablet.
It can be accessed by:

Turn off the device
Hold "Volume Down", then connect the USB

(Image courtesy of XDA)
As a proof, there is a text containing "GPS" like you mentioned.
For the translation of each menu, you can refer to the post on XDA forum (also, source of this information).

Should I contact the provider/manufacturer?

If the user didn't do anything on this menu, then I believe you don't need to contact the provider/manufacturer since nothing happens.

Is it safe to assume that her data & accounts are not compromised?

I believe no data are compromised. Factory Mode is usually related to device testing/configuration, but not individual user data.

If you Hold power and up it will boot to English

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


text:
How to execute a file via adb command line?
I am trying to root my Motorola Xoom. Root checker pro currently tells me that "Executing this file can grant root access!" So I want to try that.
the file is located in system/bin and is called su.
I have gotten this far:
adb shell
cd system/bin
How do I execute the system/bin/su file via the adb command line?

have you tried simply to type su, followed by the Enter-key? Sounds pretty stupid, maybe, but that's how su works. No cd'ing, it's even in the $PATH.

I tried that and nothing happened... I'll say adb shell cd system/bin and once it says root@android:/system/bin #  I type su and hit enter. then the following line will say "su" and that's about it, i'm back at my previous prompt root@android:/system/bin #  ?

If the prompt character is a # instead of a $ then the shell already has root access. The root at the start should have been a bit of a clue.

Hm... Root Checker says "Root Access is not properly configured or was not granted". And both apps that I would like to use which require root (basically the only reason why I am trying to root) also don't work, saying I dont have root O_o

A few suggestions (this is a shell so I'm guessing you have basic shell commands) one or all of these may work:
First try: sh su
Then: bash su
Then: ./su
If it has an extension give all the above commands a try with the extension of su
Also as a suggestion to see what commands are available just type: help
[EDIT]
since you mentioned not having root access try using the sudo command before su (and the above commands if needed)


text:
Can't edit an event in S Planner (Samsung Galaxy SII)
I have an ancient repeating event in local calendar.
Some time ago I had a phone repair and then restored events via Kies. Now I need to edit the event and can't do this because S Planner shows it like meeting invitation. There is no "Edit" option, just "Copy", "Delete" and "Share Via".
Is there any way to convert event from meeting invitation back to a normal event without re-creating it? Do you know some "hacking" application which can modify events in an unrestricted way like "SMS Edit" does it for SMS?
The phone is GT-I9100
Android 4.1.2
Firmware I9100XXLS8


text:
Getting KitKat on my Galaxy S4
I was wondering if there was like an installation that you can install to a Galaxy S4 device to enable you to get KitKat?
I know some people with Galaxy S4's have already got KitKat installed, but it is taking forever to come through as a software update.
Do Samsung push out the KitKat update or the mobile carrier?

This may sound stupid but have you tried the "check for update" button (located in settings)

I have tried that, on 4G and Wi-Fi, but the update does not get pushed through

Officially: not yet, give it a few weeks. Even if your network/device is getting it they usually stagger it by IMEI so someone may have it and not you. As of now only Korea and certain US carriers have an official release. Unofficial: there is the samsung leak of it, there is the Google Edition ROMS that have been around for a few months. Check out XDA. The CARRIER roll it out. It is sent from Samsung > Carrier > Handset!

I'm O2 UK as well, and at 4.3, my phone is 'up to date'.
This article suggests we'll be getting Kitkat, but not quite yet. If you look at comparable previous releases from Samsung, I think we've still got months yet.

Apologies for the late response.
That is exactly what mine says - very annoying.

In the US, updates generally come through the carrier. Each carrier has to test & approve the update; so if an AT&T S4 has the 4.4 update, that doesn't mean that the Verizon version has been approved.

Thanks for replying.
I am on O2-UK, but other people in the UK with S4's have had the update pushed out, but not sure if it is worth updating manually instead of waiting for the update to be pushed over.


text:
Android keeps rebooting
I have a ZTE v9. I flashed it with CynogenMod7 from here. I have installed ClockworkMod recovery 4.0.0.2. Then I rebooted phone from recovery. Now, the phone keeps restarting.
I can't get into recovery mode using power + volume down button (earlier I could). I have a backup of previous rom. How can I restore it?

Any adb logcat errors?

@NoBugs adb devices does not load anything!

NEVER EVER FLASH ANDROID ROM WITHOUT WIPING DATA / CACHE WIPE DALVIK CACHE
FORMAT SYSTEM (optional, but requires for some rom)
Always read instructions carefully before flashing any Rom / Mod and reverify whether its for your phone model only.
Anyway, as you said you are not able to go to Recovery mode, therefore there is no use of having a backup. Try to reset your phone, (ie, press power button for approx 7 - 10 sec). If nothing works, follow below instructions:

Take out the battery. Put on the back cover.
Hold both volume + and volume - while plug in the USB cable to a PC. It will automatically get into FTM mode.
Then flash generic 2.2 firmware on it.
After flashing, it may stuck in the FTM loop. Put in the battery and flash again.
After 2nd flashing, take out the battery for 10 seconds. Then put it back.
Press and hold both Power and Volume + to boot into Android.

I have no experience with ZTE v9, so i can't hand on step by step tutorial . Hope your phone gets well soon.
Sources:

Modaco: ZTE bricked
AndroidForums: ZTE unbrick manual


text:
Viber's sticker bought will be owned once or permanently?
On my Android smartphone Google Samsung Galaxy, I install Viber app and intend to buy a sticker.
My question is whether I will have to re-buy the same sticker on another phone (using the same Google account of course) or it will automatically restored?

Stickers can be synced to other devices. So YES, it's permanent.
Source: How do I sync my stickers across all devices?


text:
android keyboard background
Can I change the background of my keyboard, such as using my own pictures as the background of the keyboard?
I searched this for a long time but there's still no way to do that. I've download an app called GO Keyboard, it allows me to use my own pictures; but when I type I can't see the conversations above: the whole page is just my keyboard and a box to show what I am typing.
Can anybody tell me how to set the background of my keyboard with my own pictures? This means a lot to me, thanks a lot.

Can you post a screenshot where you can't see the conversations using GO Keyboard. I've changed wallpaper with GO Keyboard, and I have no issues. Also using GO SMS Pro.

Choose your go keyboard app. Then themes. In the top right corner there is a icon that looks like a gallery its right about the word LOCAL. once you choose that it says customize theme.. you can from there choose your portrait or landscape background and customize it.. To choose your own photo you will need to have the photo saved in your gallery of pictures.

authors: กฤษดา ติเยาว์


text:
How can I get both sound and vibration at the same time on my Samsung S4?
Need some help. I must have pressed something on the settings on my Samsung S4 because when I receive a chat or SMS the phone doesn't vibrate unless I turn off the sound.
So right now I have to choose to eıther have vibration OR sound and I want both at the same time.

Tried restarting your phone? Is the phone moded?

In the Messaging app, click the left soft key and open Settings. Under Notifications, make sure Vibrate is checked.


text:
What is "Lost RAM" in dumpsys meminfo?
Below is a sample dumpsys with Lost RAM. What is its significance in KitKat? How it can be reclaimed and used?
Total PSS by OOM adjustment:
    31841 kB: Native
               13173 kB: zygote (pid 23001)
                4372 kB: surfaceflinger (pid 23000)
                3721 kB: mediaserver (pid 126)
                3317 kB: glgps (pid 22993)
                1656 kB: drmserver (pid 125)
                 995 kB: wpa_supplicant (pid 23148)
                 786 kB: netd (pid 121)
                 518 kB: sdcard (pid 132)
                 475 kB: vold (pid 119)
                 458 kB: keystore (pid 128)
                 448 kB: /init (pid 1)
                 412 kB: adbd (pid 134)
                 254 kB: ueventd (pid 108)
                 238 kB: dhcpcd (pid 10617)
                 229 kB: tf_daemon (pid 130)
                 200 kB: installd (pid 127)
                 185 kB: dumpsys (pid 14207)
                 144 kB: healthd (pid 117)
                 139 kB: debuggerd (pid 122)
                 121 kB: servicemanager (pid 118)
    48217 kB: System
               48217 kB: system (pid 23064)
    49095 kB: Persistent
               34012 kB: com.android.systemui (pid 23163 / activities)
                7719 kB: com.android.phone (pid 23357)
                4676 kB: com.android.nfc (pid 23371)
                2688 kB: com.nuance.xt9.input (pid 23344)
    24945 kB: Foreground
               24945 kB: com.android.settings (pid 24811 / activities)
    17136 kB: Visible
               14026 kB: com.google.process.location (pid 23472)
                3110 kB: com.android.defcontainer (pid 13976)
     6911 kB: Perceptible
                6911 kB: com.google.android.inputmethod.latin (pid 23298)
    14277 kB: A Services
               14277 kB: com.google.process.gapps (pid 23513)
    26422 kB: Home
               26422 kB: com.android.launcher (pid 23395 / activities)
    21798 kB: B Services
               16242 kB: com.google.android.apps.currents (pid 23767)
                5556 kB: android.process.media (pid 7738)
   145869 kB: Cached
               41588 kB: com.google.android.apps.plus (pid 24689)
               21417 kB: com.google.android.deskclock (pid 23966 / activities)
               14463 kB: com.google.android.apps.docs (pid 8644)
               14303 kB: com.google.android.gm (pid 9115)
               11014 kB: com.google.android.music:main (pid 7716)
               10688 kB: com.google.android.apps.magazines (pid 13892)
               10240 kB: com.google.android.gms (pid 23338)
                9882 kB: com.google.android.youtube (pid 5131)
                8807 kB: com.google.android.apps.walletnfcrel (pid 8937)
                3467 kB: com.google.android.setupwizard (pid 8922)

Total RAM: 998096 kB
 Free RAM: 574945 kB (145869 cached pss + 393200 cached + 35876 free)
 Used RAM: 392334 kB (240642 used pss + 107196 buffers + 3856 shmem + 40640 slab)
 Lost RAM: 30817 kB
   Tuning: 64 (large 384), oom 122880 kB, restore limit 40960 kB (high-end-gfx)

Short calculation (answering the title of your question): "Lost RAM" = total - used - free. Hm, memory leaks? Reclaim by reboot? 30 MB might be not much (compared to the 1 GB total), but it's 3% and no fun...

I have a 300MB+ lost RAM at any time on my device. I'd also like to know why it is lost and is there a way to reclaim it.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21881122/what-is-the-concept-behind-lost-ram-which-appears-in-dumpsys-meminfo may be this can help

Lost RAM is TotalRAM - FreeRAM - UsedRAM. That means, it is the difference between the RAM usage that Android is able to compute and the actual available RAM.
Sometimes it can even be negative, due to issues where RAM being shared across processes is counted more than once. Drivers are mostly blamed for that. There is a memtrack HAL for them to report their memory accounting to Android, but some of drivers just doesn't do it correctly.
If you see a large "Lost RAM" value (which isn't the case in the original question, but is what Wang is talking about), this is probably due to a bug, it can't be reclaimed, unfortunately. You can look into /d/ion virtual directory on your device (probably a rooted device is needed), and examine reports in it, looking for "orphaned" allocations.


text:
should you be on a tablet when its charging?
is it OK for the battery if you keep using the tablet while it's charging? And should you stop charging when it's fully charged.

For the second part of your question, see Is it better to detach a charger when my Android device gets fully charged? and Does constant charging harm my Android cellphone?.

Also see: Is it safe to use phone while charging with portable powerbank? / What happens when using a cellphone when charging?

Yes, you can use a tablet while it is charging. But, if you do something cpu intense (like 3d game) it can become a little hot.
No, you don't need to stop charging when fully charged. The tablet will make sure you don't overcharge.

It's advisable not to play graphic intensive games while charging, the cpu and graphics chipset gets hot which is not good for a long run meaning decreases longevity of the device.
Please disconnect the device from charge after a full charge i.e 100%, good for longevity of the battery.
To further increase the longevity of the battery you can keep charge cycle of 10%-90% or 20%-80% every time charging the device  and give a full charge i.e 100% atleast once per month.
P. S -  Number 3 Point only if you want to be extra careful with your battery. What I always do and is normally advisable never let battery go below 10% and never leave it charging once it says fully charged.


text:
Does deleting content on my phone affect content on Google Photos?
If I delete photos and videos on my device to make more space for other content on my device, will it delete the corresponding content backed up on Google Photos or will it stay online?

I am not sure if this is correct. Seems when I delete either way the photo is gone in both locations.

It will stay online.
Auto-backup only add photo, they never remove it.

I would like a little more elaboration. Could you add a citation or a little more context?

I can confirm that deleting a photo from your Android device does not remove it from Google+ Auto Backup, and removing a photo from Google+ Auto Backup will not remove it from your Android device.

After I updated Google+ yesterday, I see this when I go to delete from the Photos app "Deleting will remove the photos and videos on your device and also any backups in your account", "Cancel"/"Delete everywhere"


text:
Omega ROM 4.4 bootloader/modem problems
Hi I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with this ROM update
OMEGA ROM for Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505
I have followed the steps to flash the boot loader (completed successfully).
Flashed the model (failed) but once I booted into the ROM all was fine apart from I can't make any calls or receive calls. Or more specifically it will dial the call but the screen goes black like its froze/locked up. Has anyone seen this or a similar issue before that they may be able to help me with?

Have you tried asking the question in that thread? Usually, somebody should be able to help you in XDA, unless all they tell you is to BACKREAD the posts.

Before you flash a modem, try another dialer app, just in case it is at fault. Check if 3g/LTE/WiFi are working at all. Chances are that it is the modem that is causing the issue but it is easier to install an app or two before flashing basebands.
On the Samsung Galaxy S4 International LTE model: GT-I9505 you cannot flash a Modem through recovery. You must use Odin to do this.
Complete list of Modems for GT-I9505 and I9500 is here.
It is with noting that sometimes the first flash fails, and can even read as "Success" in Odin. Untick reboot and try it twice, then reboot the device.
You man need to try a couple of modems, but try initially to flash the one relative to your ROM (in your case XXUFNAD). However, the baseband (modem) can be different depending on your region/carrier/settings/ROM so a little trial and error is required. You may be using a 4.2 modem for example and this probably won't work. Most 4.3 and 4.4 modems will work fine in KitKat.
Edit:  This is the recommended modem with the NEW bootloader. This modem is XXUEMJ5 version. Try this first. Then experiment with others.
Flash it in Odin as below, HOWEVER, do it separetely without the bootloader option.

(source: omega-roms.net)


text:
Custom ROM targeted for children
Is there a custom ROM that is targeted at child users? I would be interested in features such as:

custom screens per child
restricted app usage (installing, removing, screen/usage time, blocking in app purchases)
usage monitoring/logging
geo location

Please see Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?


text:
Does GPS cause the phone to get hot?
I am using a Moto G device and I have noticed that when I turn on applications that rely on the GPS Waze or Mapquest, the device gets hot. As in hot to touch. I was previously using a Samsung Galaxy Tablet and I never noticed this.
What causes the device to get hot? Should I be returning my device to Motorola and asking for a refund?

They probably use a lot of "machine power". That's at least known for "continuous location with screen on" solutions (navigation etc).

Short answer yes: you've another chip to power and as Izzy said the screen stays on, the internet is working as it goes, so it gets warmer with location / GPS on. If it is too hot to touch something could be wrong, but all my devices get very, very warm after about 10 minutes of GPS. The worst enemy of your battery is heat, so this may be an issue if used daily for a long time. But it is normal, it just depends on HOW hot, what temp is your battery at?


text:
Can an Android phone be backed up while stuck at boot loop?
I have Samsung Galaxy Note N-7000 which got stuck at boot loop after installing and opening and app called InstaFrame, is there anyway to backup the device before doing a factory reset to get the device working again? The device isn't rooted, thanks.

I'd say at least 95% no. How should that work? "Starting to ba... om, boot." → Try booting into safe-mode and remove that app. Then reboot. With a little luck, you don't need to factory-reset.

Yes, I ended up doing a factory reset, I did not lose any photos though, how come?

They are stored on your SDCard usually (internal or external). Factory-reset usually leaves those alone, just cares for "device memory" (see our factory-reset tag-wiki for more details).

Anytime! That's what this site is about, so feel welcome to ask more :)


text:
Messaging from desktop
Is there something besides Moto Connect and Mighty text that would allow you to SMS/MMS from the desktop.  Mac or PC.  I came from a iOS world where iMessaging worked really well for the desktop.  Hangouts is close, but I message a lot people with iPhones so it just doesn't cover enough people.
Any suggestions?

Well, we're not "Software Recommendations" here. But you might want to try Airdroid. Let's you manage your device from your computer, including SMS and calls.

I can vouch for DeskSMS, but it requires a subscription. DeskSMS offers a Chrome extension and a tablet client as well, in addition to being much faster and reliable than MightyText.

This sounds a lot to me like a sort of push notification system. The way I have implement this into my own foot print is to use growl/libnotify on the desktop and notify my android which allows me to have a central cloud based datastore for my alerts.
There is also the option of just emailing all your devices/contacts instead. One can find a Email To SMS Email Address List which lists the domains you would need to send a message to for your SMS/MMS communication to be transmitted.

Try MySMS. This is a really nice tool and allows you to send, reply, and delete messages from your browser.


text:
Pop Ups in Browser - Possible Viruses?
Since moving to Japan, the chrome web browser on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) has been acting strangely.  Sometimes it will happen when I switch to a new article on a news mobile website, or even if I click a link on facebook.  What happens is that a popup comes up that takes up the whole screen that claims my phone has a virus and I should download something to get rid of it.  I'm not an idiot, so I never click those popups and close the page immediately.  My question is that I'm wondering if I may already have a virus on my phone, and that's why I'm getting these pop ups all of the sudden.  Is there a good way to check for viruses on phones?  Thanks for your help.

Sounds like a malware app. Have you tried one of those ad scanners (Addons Detector, AppBrain Ad Detector, Lookout Ad Network Detector) to find possible candidates? Any app you lately installed (possibly side-loaded) that could match?

You can block pop ups for all sites in the chrome setting however I still get those spammy pop ups even after blocking pop ups for all sites in chrome beta.. All those pop ups you get saying that" your device has virus" or" your device is running slow" are absolutely spam. Those have no relation with your device. Their main motto is to mislead audience and make them install malicious apps that can compromise the security of device..But if you need some good security you can find plenty of them on the play store. You can go for 360mobile security which has a great detection rate and is free to download. Or you can go for Lookout that has a good anti-theft feature that is also free.

I can assure you there is no virus in your device. Those pop-ups will just lead you to any application and games sites, dating sites, etc. Internal pop-blocker of Chrome won't help you in this case. I would advice normal browsers like UC Browser mini & Opera mini to get rid of the pop-ups. Try them and you'll see the difference.

Great answer, Suyash Barve. I hadn't thought of that possibility.
Good answer, MANI, however this is abnormal under any of the top dozen browsers. Annnnd, antivirus apps just give you a false sense of security.
Next time that happens, I'd use the shellcode below to investigate these four places. Get the android terminal app.
shell@android:/data/data/com.browser.application # ls
cache
databases
files
lib

Maybe not lib....
Try this first:
https://adblockplus.org/android-faq

I had the same exact problem. It went from my phone to my PC to my laptop. Reset my phone thrice to get rid of it but the pop ups would start again immediately after reset. I finally figured out that the problem was on my WiFi. My computer that had been hooked up to the wifi had a network virus and had infected everything that was connected to it. Disconnect everything from your wifi. Then connect one thing at a time as you download Quickheal and run their malware program. Once you've done it for the computer/laptop, the phone should be fine after a reset.

This does not sound very plausible.


text:
MID-android tablet with no Bluetooth
All I ask is for an answer. Can I put a Bluetooth dongle on this tablet and run Bluetooth devices such as a keyboard/cover. It's a MID-android 4.1 with a mini USB port and adapter cable to a full sized USB. Everything else is stock. The kernel is standard 13.something, I think.  thank you

According to this XDA post Bluetooth USB dongle support is native starting from Android 4.2.2. So if you're running 4.0 as the tag suggests, it doesn't work. You'll have to update the tablet.
Also, you'll have to confirm that the USB port supports full host mode with USB Host Diagnostics.


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Different user interface than usual on Facebook app
Whenever I download the Facebook app for my Android phone (Motorola Razr D3) it shows up normal for the first time but then changes to a strange interface and then stays that way.

 (Click picture for larger variant)
I've tried deleting it and then downloading it again and again but it keeps changing back, what is this? What should I do?

I would say you are very lucky to have that UI (user interface). I've been waiting to get that version, to no avail.
What you have is the Holo-fied UI of Facebook, which I think was initially available to selected alpha testers of the Facebook app. A group would get the Holo version, while the rest would get the regular version. This concept is called A/B testing. Eventually, if there are no more issues, everybody will that that UI. Have you, by any chance, applied as an alpha / beta tester?
Holo, as described in WikiPedia, is the Google recommended theme for the design of Android apps, introduced with Android version 4.0.
Is there a way to change the interface? NO, because the UI is determined by Facebook's servers. If you attempted to download and install (by sideloading) a Holo-fied version of Facebook, and you were not given the rights to have this UI, you would be reverted to the regular UI. This is the reason why Holofication Nation cannot make a custom Holo-fied version of Facebook. To date, they have already released a Holo-fied UI for Grooveshark, Steam, and Instagram. (and I think for CNN too!)

Thanks! I was getting worried it was some kind of virus or something, no wonder why this version is all full of glitches and bugs


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Android App initial release date
When you are viewing an app in Google Play store, it displays the following : Updated, Size, Installs, Current Version, Requires Android, and Rating.
I am trying to do some research and figure out the initial release / publish dates of different apps. Is there a way to get this information from Google Play, or perhaps a website with this information?

Check in www.appbrain.com for Android apps. It shows all possible information about app. Moreover, it shows release dates with respective released version numbers and number of downloads.

this is not showing the latest and accurate info.

This answer no longer seems relevant.  They don't appear to offer arbitrary app details on that site anymore.

May be not NO!
But if you need to get this information, you need to check the comments section if there are less comments, you can analyze that the least commented DATE (or approximately) will be the initial launch date of that app.(Assuming that every developer starts giving ratings and reviews as soon as app launches to boost Downloads.)
OR
if you have access to developer console, You can check there under "current installs" section, the starting point's date on the Graph will be the Launch date of a particular App.
Also, in developer Console -> under your application -> Select Statistics -> then in the Box after "STATISTICS" heading Select "TOTAL USERS" option and then to the far right in the same line, with the option "SHOW", Select "ALL". Now in the below graph, you will be showing some pin points dropped, which indicates your respective published versions of the application/game in google play. If you hover at the first pin point on the far left of the graph, it will show "JANUARY 1: Published version 1".
Here obviously Jan 1st will be the date at which your application has come LIVE on Google play.
Respectively, you can get all the successive dates of your app updates.

You could try typing the details of the app on the search box and include the details of the previous version or release and see what Google play brings as results. I believe its possible because some people still use old phones and if they access the Google play store using their phone then Google shows the options for that OS whether its new or old.
Take for example you need to find the later version of UC browser, click on the search box and  type versions of UCbrowser or be specific;UCbrowser Cloud version for Java8.5.0.185...it all depends with the application. some you will get the later versions but for others i doubt.


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Nexus 4, ART vs Dalvik Runtime: Which provides a lower battery consumption?
I'm using a Nexus 4 and currently using the Cyanogen Mod 11 ROM. I was using Paranoid Android Beta 4 for KitKat before but switched to Cyanogen Mod due to the stability that Cyanogen Mod offers right now.
I was wondering what are the pros and cons from ART and Dalvik. Especially since I am no longer running the Nexus 4 stock ROM. Is there any other ways of improving battery life by switching governors?

Because of the way this site works, you'll get better answers if you keep yourself to one question per post. As things stand, if someone knows about ART but don't have a suggestion about governors, they probably won't answer your question.

As with @DanHulme's answer, I suggest you remove the last sentence, and ask it as a separate question.

Over all, I think this is a valid question: All other things constant, would using ART consume lesser battery compared to using Dalvik?

The new ART runtime is still experimental. It will make your phone less stable, and some apps just won't work at all. That's why the option to switch from Dalvik to ART is in the developer options: it's only there to let developers and system integrators test their stuff and help Google fix problems.
For this reason, it's a little pointless to measure the performance of ART right now, since bugs in it might cause artificially low or high performance, even in situations where the bug doesn't occur or isn't apparent. Fixing a bug might reduce performance (increasing battery or memory use, or decreasing speed) because extra checks or a slower algorithm are needed to avoid the bug; or, it might increase performance by making some computation unnecessary. Also, further work on improving the performance of ART will certainly be done before it's turned on for everybody.
Combining the effects of fixing all bugs, and all the performance improvements that are made, it's very hard to predict how the finished product will perform. The performance could completely change before ART is ready for mainstream use.

Its going to be activated in the next release of android soon as reported by Android Authority.

It might make your phone less stable.

Currently, very few apps properly support ART. So, the performance difference is not really noticeable. As for battery consumption, there should be little to no difference if your CPU settings are left at default.
ART is a great innovation, and I can't wait to see some great performance numbers in the near future, but we are not there yet.
If you're running CM11 nightly builds, you might see some poor battery life. If you do, try another kernel, such as Devil.

Where is this answering the question!


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Display current speed in OsmAnd
I use OsmAnd when riding my bicycle.
I would like it to display my current speed in a corner of the screen or somewhere similar.
It should not interfere with normal use of OsmAnd, in particular it should not be a different screen.
Is there a way to do this in OsmAnd, via an option or plugin or custom fork or anything?

In OsmAnd:

Open the navigation drawer (swipe from left or bottom left button)
“Configure screen” (Gear icon)
“Right panel” should have a line for “Speed”, tick that.

The speed will be shown, somewhat small, in the top right list. I think standard is to show only the number of satellites, but there are a few items that can be shown there.
Eta:
I also set “Trasparent skin” at the bottom of the “Configure screen” list. Makes the speed &c. a bit less obtrusive.

You could use an "overlay" like e.g. Ulysse Speedometer, Map Speedometer, GPS HUD Speedometer, DigiHUD Speedometer, or Navigation Speedometer:

DigiHUD and Ulysse as map overlays (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)
Though above screenshots are not from OsmAnd, the overlays work the same there :)


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Retrieving old/deleted messages
Is there any way to recover the messages that I accidentally deleted on my cellphone. I am not using Google backup or any other backup service and have never synced with any other device.

You might wish to see our data-recovery tag-wiki, which should get you started on this topic.

Not in any simple, user friendly way.
You're really wandering into the realm of digital forensics here, unless you can convince your carrier that it's worth their while to salvage something from their logs.
Or, y'know, ask your friendly NSA contacts ;p


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WhatsApp does not vibrate when I get a message
In Samsung Galaxy Note 2, WhatsApp does not vibrate either in sound mode or vibration mode when I get a message. How do I fix this?

Go to Settings > Notifications. Select Vibrate for message notifications subsection. Can you please check if this works?


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Where does Android ICS store the cursor graphic?
If you plug in a mouse to an Android device, a cursor shows up. I was wondering where that cursor graphic is stored? I'm a root user and want to know in case I wanted to modify it in the future.

Mouse cursor graphics can be located in the framework-res.apk. Specifically, res/drawable-x/pointer_arrow.png inside the APK file where x (suffix of drawable) is pixel density class of your device.


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Facebook messenger not displaying profile pictures
My Facebook messenger app is not displaying profile pictures of all my friends on Facebook. Under my Facebook app settings, sync all is on.
Does anyone know what seems to be the problem?

Do you have decent internet speed? Just clear cache once, and reopen application. Sometimes a sync issue occurs

I dont think my internet speed is the problem caus i've already done this on my wife's tablet and just after the installation voila! There goes all the pix of her friends..


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Tvheadend on Android DVB-S2 TV Box(AML8726-MX)
I have Android DVB-S2 TV Box
CPU: Amlogic AML8726-MX
TV-Tuner: AVL6211
I need to install Tvheadend server to the device. To play video in the browser (on the same device) via RTP (or nativ android app - VideoView).
I found Tvheadend compiled under Android. It starts, but the TV tuner was not recognized correctly.
Can someone have a successful experience in installing this software?
If you have experience in writing android applications for such hardware, please tell me where to start!

I think you should install some Linux OS like Ubuntu. Tvheadend server works only in Linux.
There is no other way.


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64 GB SD card with Samsung s3 mini
I bought a Sandisk Ultra microSDXC card with 64GB to use in my Samsung s3 mini. When I put it in the phone doesn't find it (presumably); going to settings -> storage and scrolling down to the bottom it says
Mount SD card
Insert SD card

but it is greyed out, so nothing happens when I tap it. The SD card seems to work perfecly fine as a storage on my Windows 7 computer.
Googling around it seems I might have to format the SD card to fat32 (I tried first reformatting it with exFat, the default, and also NFTS, to no avail). But that is not an option when using right-click -> format... on windows 7.
So I try Fat32Formatter. When I start it it claims the SD card is in NFTS format (even though it's formatted to exFat). Trying to format it to Fat32 I get the error Failed to determine the drive.
I also tried HP USB disk storage format tool, but when I start it all the options are greyed out and I'm not even able to select a device.
Lastly I tried "MiniTool partition wizard", which indicates that the SD card is (Bad Disk) and doesn't let me format or do anything to it. I try using Partition Recovery Wizard on it, but that doesn't change anything.
Any ideas?

Easy solution for anybody with a card-reader in their pc. (Relaid from: forum.xda-developers.com/)

Place the card in your PC's card reader and determine the drive designation (i.e., G:\, H:\, etc.)
Download the fat32format utility in GUI version from here: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.exe. Click on the picture to retrieve the file.
Launch the guiformat.exe.
Choose the drive that corresponds to your SD card.
Choose the size of the SD Card you are formatting.
Check the Quick Format box.
Press Start.

Source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1773735

Thanks, formatting the card to FAT32 using this tool I got it working! +1 from me.

Firstly you are saying there's no option to format the memory card in fat32 on Windows 7. Which version of Windows 7 are you using??? I have windows 7 home premium and ultimate both have the fat32 as default, infact they have four options to format i.e ntfs, fat, fat32(default), and exfat.
And secondly yes you will need to format that memory card in fat32 format for it to work.

The way I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong), windows can't format 64GB SD cards to Fat32, only those with less storage (I tried making two partitions with 32GB each, didn't work either).

yes it can format.did you try this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1773735, i tried it, it worked for me. if this doesn't work you can try this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsbk7SKonE8

Thanks! The second method in the first link works for formatting (I already tried the first method as mentioned in OP) but the phone still can't find the card. I guess there is some other issue..

The S3 Mini only supports up to 32GB MicroSD cards.  Link
And for reference, no, Windows does not support FAT32 formatting above 32GB.

I just got my daughter's S3 mini to work with a 64GB card after I followed FearlessCoward's advice and formated it to FAT32.

Thanks for answers!
It turned out to be a hardware issue. I returned the phone and they repaired it, after which other formatting fixes mentioned above worked (I can't remember which one at the moment).

authors: النور الساطع


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Does the Bluelight Filter for Eye Care app really work?
Does the Bluelight Filter for Eye Care app really work? Can you tell me why it is helpful to protect eyes?

Rephrased question so it's clearer and doesn't get closed.

This question is off-topic since it's not specifically Android related. The same question can be asked to other light-emitting device, such as other smartphones, and PC monitors. The second part of the question is also off-topic and more suitable on [biology.se] or [health.se]. And lastly, as of current writing, it invites opinion based answer. This probably can be salvaged by changing the question to ask for fact based, like "Is it possible to filter bluelight using app on Android?".

These apps really work. There are lot of apps that I have used to reduce eye strains such as lux auto brightness, darker pro, juice defender's brightness settings,  etc.

To add to @user52165's answer, changing color of the screen to orange or blue(ish) is easier on the eyes. Hence, it reduces eye strain, especially when you're trying to read the screen late at night (and you're very sleepy).

The app purports to reduce the blue light emitted by your device, so the question is really whether that is even possible on Android.  Since this answer conflates a bunch of apps that do different things, I doubt it really addresses the issue of blue light.  The other answer says that it is not possible, but it looks suspicious.  I'm still not sure of the correct answer.

Sorry to tell you that no app can really filter the blue light emitted from your digital screen. This kind of app does reduce our eye strain because it helps to change the contrast, adjust the brightness, and add some shades. Want to know whether the eye care app filters blue light effectively, you should use a spectrometer.
In this video, you can see clearly how blue light has been filtered by T’amie blue-light protection glasses with the use of a spectrometer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmUebEu3GzE&noredirect=1
In fact, most of us computer workers pay more attention to eye care from blue light and eye strain. But we should make the right choice to protect our eyes.
Hope this helped!

Please disclose if you are affiliated with the link in question. It feels like promotion (which is allowed on this site, but only if it is relevant and you give full disclosure).

This answer makes a claim but does not offer anything to back it up. The video does not address apps. "No app can really filter the blue light emitted from your digital screen"? Prove it.

Bluelight filter apps do help to reduce blue light.
Assume you have a fully blue screen on your mobile. Each pixel would obviously be emitting blue light. The effect of blue light is not the effect of the waves unlike UV rays that damage cells. Its effect on human beings arise from the fact that our biological processes associated with sleep is linked by nature to an absence of blue colored objects in nature at night. Now, let us place a red opaque screen on top of the blue screen described earlier. Obviously, the eye now sees a red screen and it does not trigger any sleep hormones. A blue light filter app uses this phenomenon by using a semi-transparent non-bluish overlay that increases the reddishness and/or greenishness of the screen.
We have developed an app to reduce the bluishness of the screen. It has no ads, over 400 good reviews, and small file size (~86kb). You can try it out or just read through the reviews to understand how it is helping users.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panagola.app.bluef
Affiliation: Developer, Non-profit

Some useful apps can truly block blue light and offer eye protection. And I also approve the upstairs' point: blue light blocking percentage differs due to the different apps and products. Generally speaking, I enjoy the F.lux on my Android phone very much.
Besides, a blue light protective eyewear is great for eye protection, too.


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how to free unused memory in android?
i had downloaded an app but after connecting my phone(HTC ChaCha) to pc and after disconnecting my phone from pc,i found that the app is not working any longer.Rather the phone was failing to recognise the app.So i uninstalled it.But after uninstallation the memory occupied by the app was not freed.how can i free that memory?

Are you talking about RAM, or storage?

In settings, see if you can find something called "Application manager". When in that, find the "all" list. See if the deleted app is still listed there. If yes, there should be a few options to clear the data it stores, use them. I am not sure how your android looks like, but they should generally be the same.
If that does not help, you can use this app: Clean master - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanmaster.mguard&hl=eng
I use it on my private phone, and it seems to do good when it comes to free up memory. However, I am unsure if it work on your phone, as it does not list all versions it supports. It's also free.
You can also connect the phone to your computer again and see if you can remove the app data manually, however, how this can be done differ between phone models, and it can be risky as the data you want to delete might not be found so easily.

hey thanks for the suggestion.had tried this kinda apps before but were of no use.this one is good.did work.couldnt free the whole memory but it was helpful somewhat!

If the app had some effect, I will dare say that my last suggestion, involving connecting the phone to the PC again, will be the final and probably best step to remove it all. Sadly tho, as also stated, I can't help much there, as it will involve a lot more than simply knowing the phone model and android version

actually my phone's internal memory is really low.there lies the problem.and i will surely try whatever you suggested and if it works i will let you know.

I did a quick search on your phone, and I found out it only has 512 MB of internal memory. I will be honest and say that is quite, quite low. In that case cleaning some "wasted" memory will only get you so far, I found out it supports SD (memory) cards. I suggest you simply go and get one of those to buff your memory. Unless you use the phone to take a lot of pictures, or store a lot of music, a 1 or 2 GB card will do fine, and likely not cost a lot either.

Thanks for doing a research on my phone.i do use a 8gb memory card but no matter what the applications take up a lot of space in my phone's internal memory so whatever i do this memory thing bugs me a lot.i did try what you said but it was of very little help actually.Thanks anyway for your suggestions.


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Lock screen force close.when slide the phone reboots it continually persists.:-\
I installed a widget locker lock screen app for my android 4.1.I didn't liked it so I directly uninstalled. Now every time I try to slide on the lock the phone reboots. Again after boot when I touch the lock it reboots .what to do now. I think it is a sort of service problem .

Can you boot into safe-mode? If so, check there if that app did really uninstall. Though a factory-reset should certainly solve the issue, that would mean all your apps and data to be wiped from the device.

It is uninstalled. And i don't like to factory reset .i have rooted device


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Chrome JavaScript stops - reloading tab fixes it

On my Samsung Galaxy Note II, when I visit StackOverflow it occasionally doesn't highlight interesting questions (which is done after the page has loaded).
I believe this is a Chrome issue, where JavaScript stops working. Closing the tab and reloading the site fixes the problem.
Has anyone else experienced this problem on Chrome for Android, and is there a fix? I have had browser updates and it still happens, but is difficult to replicate.
Here is how it should normally look:

Hasn't happened to me, but I've moved to the official app. You could try another browser, or the app, or Chrome Beta maybe?

Have you tried opening the Chrome developer tools to see what resources are not loaded? See Remote Debugging Chrome On Android for more info.


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Samsung kies3, device does not support initializing
I am using my galaxy note 3 with stock software and getting this error, never upgraded in this computer.
Any ideas what the problem is and how to solve it?
Thanks!

(1) Are you using the original data cable? (2) Have you tried re-installing Kies?

Yes, original cable, I will try to reinstall Kies, though. Thanks!

Please post back if it's successful or not, so we can add answer. :)

OK, nothing... Reinstalled, tried different USB ports and cables... No luck.


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Mobile browser and google apps in mobile internet fails to connect, but everything else can use connection
My android phone cannot browse any internet page and use google apps on 2G/3G network.
However I can freely ping anything from terminal emulator. I can use at as AP point (I am doing it now). Wifi browsing works well. Why I have no idea.
Only indication of problem is:
failed to identify at proxy error (I am not sure my localisation says something similar). What is happening?
I recently installed cyanogenmod instead of Android jelybean 4.1. I cleaned phone using standart procedure through clockwork rom manager.
Any ideas what could be wrong?

Yupp. Time settings usually – at least when it only affects secured sessions. Is your phone's date+time set correctly, or is it e.g. back to 2011 or forward to 2525?

Time settings are correct, but certification might be wrong, I will try to see if it is wrong.


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how to get control-/ or control-_ to work
I'm using the Hacker's Keyboard, which provides extra keys such as control, alt, and so forth which are necessary when doing things like shell commands.
I'm having an issue where I can't undo in emacs using a single keystroke.  Using ctrl-x,u works, but it very clumsy on a tablet, due to the fact that the there is no tactile feedback  - so to undo accurately I have to type very slowly, which is the opposite of what I want to do when undoing, which is to quickly jump back several states.  I could add something to my .emacs file to choose a different keystroke, but now I have several machines that I have to create or update an .emacs file on, so I would like to use the default if possible.  And there is also the question of what key I would use: for instance, control-z is one possibility but that is already taken by suspend process.  control-u is another, but it is already taken too.
The two default single keystrokes that emacs uses to undo are control-/ and control-_.  However, when I try both of these keystrokes in Android, the control part seems to get lost.  I have also tried cat | hexdump or cat directly from a shell prompt (ssh or terminal) and the control seems to get lost in those two, instead of seeing something like ^_ as expected.  Other control characters work just fine, so I can't see how it's a general issue with either app not recognizing control characters.
From reading various pieces of documentation it seems like Android 3.0 Honeycomb added support for all the various control characters, although looking directly at the Android documentation I don't see a code for everything, so I'm not sure if this is something that just isn't supported or if the application is at fault, or if there is just something else that I have missed that is needed for this to work.

You don't say what keyboard layout you're using. Do you have to use shift to get a / on your keyboard?

@DanHulme In Settings for the Keyboard I'm using the "English [en] 5 row, 4-row, Dictionary available" input language. "/" is unshifted ("?" is the shifted form).


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Why does android init not die?
As I read from the book Embedded Android (Karim Yaghmour), android init does not die. However, Linux init systems usually die. Why doesn't the android init?
And also, why does android not use / need systemd?

No, Linux init never die....

The init process in a unix-type system (which generally has pid 1) never dies. The system needs that process to be there in order to operate properly.

systemd is a newer take on the concept of the init process. It fulfills the same role, and when we speak of the init process, it doesn't matter what it's called, it matters only what it does, which is start everything else and stay running.

uhhh.... am not exactly sure what is the OP trying to elicit from this discussion, systemd is more geared towards {desk|lap}tops and servers. Since it would be deemed too "heavy" especially in the arena of mobiles with limited resources...

Init is one of the first processes that is loaded when the Bootloader starts in Unix.
So, technically init is the first process that starts and all other processes are either children or the grandchildren of init.
Now, when a process say Ystarts execution, it is usually forked from its parent process, say X when X dies(finished executing) the process Y now has no parent, and it becomes an Orphan Process at this time init takes over the ownership of the process and becomes the parent of Y.
Like this, there are so many processes running at a given instant in the OS, everything has to be taken care by init.
Since Android being a flavor of Linux, and Linux being a derivative of Unix, it is for the same reason that init doesn't die,unitll the system shuts down.

The question is very simple to understand. It asks: "Linux init systems usually die. Why doesn't the android init?" You've told what init is and what it does but that isn't tantamount to why it cannot die in Android but in other Linux distributions. // Init is the first process in user-space, that's what they say and Init is loaded by kernel, not bootloader.


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Root for HTC desire U dual sim not found
I bought a new HTC Desire U dual SIM phone but did not find even a single rooting method. How do I root this phone?

What is this tweak are you talking about?

You need to root your device (HTC desire)? Please state your question correctly.

I want to root my desire u dual sim to flash custom roms but could not find any.


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Browsers are using default application, not themselves, to open links -- how do I fix this?
Yesterday on my phone (Android 4.3.2, Galaxy 4S) Chrome started opening the stock browser (just called "Internet") when I clicked on links.  That's not what I want -- a browser should use itself to open links unless I tell it otherwise -- so I cleared the default settings first for the other browser and then, when I saw the reverse happen, also for Chrome.  So currently I have no default browser and each one asks me what application to use -- every single time.
Before this problem arose, links originating from outside of browsers (like email) opened in the default browser but links from within any browser opened in the originating browser just like you'd expect, with no "what do you want to open with?" dialogue required.  What do I need to do to get back to that state?
I intentionally use two different browsers to keep different web-site credentials from bumping into each other.  I don't want to always use exactly one.

Pop to Settings > Applications > Internet and the "Clear Defaults" and see if that helps.

@RossC already did that.  That's what I meant by "cleared the default settings"; sorry for the confusion.

Ah sorry, I misread that. This is a know issue afaik, I'll try to find more on it. The 4.3 update has a few issues like this, and I've seen it happen NFC and other places.


text:
How to find IP addresses of nearby Wi-Fi networks?
Smartphone application show info about nearby Wi-Fi networks it finds, i.e. channel, SSID, MAC address of router, etc, except it IP addresses. Is it possible to discover IP addresses of nearby Wi-Fi networks without connecting to it?

No. To find out the IP addresses you'd have to be able to connect to the DHCP server that handles giving out the IP addresses for that subnet, get and IP address and a subnet mask, and then scan the subnet for active IPs. To do this, you'll have to be connected to the access point.


text:
Possible to set custom ringtones for Nexus 5 contact groups?
I recently acquired my Nexus 5. While I'm absolutely in love with the device, I haven't been able to find a way to set a custom ringtone for specific contact groups.

As a Nexus 5 owner I was not able to do without a specialized 3rd party app (I used Group Ringtone:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/group-ringtones/com.appventive.groupring). This feature seems to be missing in Android.

Try downloading a app from the play store like ringtone maker, it worked for me.

Were you able to assign a ringtone to a contact group like the OP requests?


text:
How to root Nexus 5
How to root the Nexus 5?
What precautions to take? I have never tried it before.
Also suggest me what type of back up I should perform before rooting.

Just follow the instructions here : Rooting Nexus 5
Next time do search on xda for any custom rom, rooting related information!

I recommend you take a look into our fine rooting tag-wiki. Once read, start following some of its links. You will find someone already asked your question.

@AadiDroid: Broken link. How about providing an answer summarizing the forum thread you wanted to link to, or better, based on more recent information?

@Izzy: That question looks like it asks how to root, but it actually asks for the behind-the-scene concepts (what normal rooters don't see nor need). As such, the answer is not a tutorial but a list of facts.

@AadiDroid Seems your link got broken. Just goes to a general N5 list, no rooting instructions on that page. See what I've meant back then when telling you to include the essentials? ;)

Easy Way to Root Nexus 5
If you want to get root access on your Nexus 5 with simple steps, refer to the one click solution - iRoot. It offers two versions for rooting, which means you can root your Nexus 5 without PC as well. Before using iRoot to root your phone, unlock the bootloader on Nexus 5 at first.
Remember that unlocking the bootloader will factory reset your Nexus 5. So please back up your data in your Nexus 5 before doing this.
After unlocking the bootloader on your device, move to the steps on how to root Nexus 5. Here we take the iRoot PC version for example:
Step 1. Make sure your phone has USB Debugging Mode enabled in Developer Options. If not, please go to Settings -> About Phone and tap Build Number until the notification that Developer Options have been enabled pops up. Then back out a step and you can see it at the bottom of your Settings menu.
Step 2. Make sure you have installed Nexus 5 USB Drivers on your PC.
Step 3. Ensure your Nexus 5 battery is charged to at least 85%.
Step 4. Download iRoot PC version on your computer. Connect your Nexus 5 to your PC.
Step 5. iRoot wll detect your device automatically. After detecting, click “Root”.
Step 6. Now your Nexus 5 should be rooted already.
Note: You can also root Nexus 5 without computer with iRoot apk. Just download the apk version directly on your Nexus 5. Or download on your PC, and drag it into your Nexus 5.