text:
WPS Server on Android
Would it be possible to emulate a Wi-Fi Protected Setup Server protocol on an Android device?
This way when using the device as a portable Hotspot, I could use a strong password and allow clients to connect using the WPS push button feature.

Don't use WPS because it has security vulnerability.

@QkiZ: that's why I want to use it, I'm a security researcher :D

Needs to add the string (wps_state, eap_server) in the following files
system/netd/server/SoftapController.cpp
int SoftapController::setSoftap(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int hidden = 0;
int channel = AP_CHANNEL_DEFAULT;

int wps_state = 2;

if (argc < 5) {
ALOGE("Softap set is missing arguments. Please use:");
ALOGE("softap <wlan iface> <SSID> <hidden/broadcast> <channel> <wpa2?-psk|open> <passphrase>");
return ResponseCode::CommandSyntaxError;
}

if (!strcasecmp(argv[4], "hidden"))
hidden = 1;

if (argc >= 5) {
channel = atoi(argv[5]);
if (channel <= 0)
channel = AP_CHANNEL_DEFAULT;
}

std::string wbuf(StringPrintf("interface=%s\n"
"driver=nl80211\n"
"ctrl_interface=/data/misc/wifi/hostapd\n"
"ssid=%s\n"
"channel=%d\n"
"ieee80211n=1\n"
"hw_mode=%c\n"
"ignore_broadcast_ssid=%d, **eap_server = 1, wps_state = %d**\n",
argv[2], argv[3], channel, (channel <= 14) ? 'g' : 'a', hidden,**wps_state**));

std::string fbuf;
if (argc > 7) {
char psk_str[2*SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH+1];
if (!strcmp(argv[6], "wpa-psk")) {
if (!generatePsk(argv[3], argv[7], psk_str)) {
return ResponseCode::OperationFailed;
}
fbuf = StringPrintf("%swpa=3\nwpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP\nwpa_psk=%s\n", wbuf.c_str(), psk_str);
} else if (!strcmp(argv[6], "wpa2-psk")) {
if (!generatePsk(argv[3], argv[7], psk_str)) {
return ResponseCode::OperationFailed;
}
fbuf = StringPrintf("%swpa=2\nrsn_pairwise=CCMP\nwpa_psk=%s\n", wbuf.c_str(), psk_str);
} else if (!strcmp(argv[6], "open")) {

fbuf = wbuf;
}
} else if (argc > 6) {
if (!strcmp(argv[6], "open")) {
fbuf = wbuf;
}
} else {
fbuf = wbuf;
}

if (!WriteStringToFile(fbuf, HOSTAPD_CONF_FILE, 0660, AID_SYSTEM, AID_WIFI)) {
ALOGE("Cannot write to \"%s\": %s", HOSTAPD_CONF_FILE, strerror(errno));
return ResponseCode::OperationFailed;
}
return ResponseCode::SoftapStatusResult;
}

Testing
hostapd_cli  wps_pbc


text:
Remote mass installation
We are about to develop an application for one of our client, to be deployed on over way over hundreds of new phones.
I would like to know if can could use google for work (or any other method / service) to "remote mass deploy" this app with no user interaction, or at least minimal interaction (like just accept installation popup) using a list of device ids ?
Thanks in advance for the help

Maybe you take a look how https://f-droid.org is doing this.

I work for a large company that uses Maas360 (https://www.maas360.com) to control company phones.  It has a variety of features including security policies and push  install of applications automatically.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Remove a folder I created in /system/lib
I have root access and am able to remount. I created a folder in /system/lib/ named rfsa, but I don't know why I cannot see or open that folder.
When I type ls, it is there. But when I type ls -l, I get this error
lstat './rfsa' failed: I/O error.

The first time I get this error, I have to reboot and root and remount again.
Also, if I try rmdir /system/lib/rfsa/ (I created this folder myself), I get this error
rmdir: rfsa: Read-only file system

Any ideas what can I try?

Here it is before the ls -l command:
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,discard,data=ordered 0 0

After ls -l and getting the error, it changes to:
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system ext4 ro,seclabel,relatime,discard,data=ordered 0 0

I don't have busybox, but the first time I try mount -w -o remount -t ext4 /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system, nothing is changed. After I get the file I/O error, this time I get:
mount: Read-only file system

Here is the cat /proc/mounts output, before I try to access the bad folder:
rootfs / rootfs ro,seclabel 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,size=949072k,nr_inodes=237268,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
selinuxfs /sys/fs/selinux selinuxfs rw,relatime 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
none /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=949072k,nr_inodes=237268,mode=750,gid=1000 0 0
tmpfs /mnt tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=949072k,nr_inodes=237268,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
pstore /sys/fs/pstore pstore rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
adb /dev/usb-ffs/adb functionfs rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,discard,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/cache /cache ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/persist /persist ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/dsp /dsp ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/modem /firmware vfat ro,context=u:object_r:firmware_file:s0,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0337,dmask=0227,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=lower,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/tctpersist /tctpersist ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/hdcp /persist/data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
tmpfs /storage tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=949072k,nr_inodes=237268,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
/dev/block/dm-0 /data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,discard,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/default/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/fuse /storage/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/read/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/write/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
root@idol4:/ # cat /proc/mounts | grep system
/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system ext4 rw,seclabel,relatime,discard,data=ordered 0 0

what is the output of mount | grep system when it says rmdir: rfsa: Read-only file system?

How do you remount? please try mount -o rw,remount,rw /system.

Might have to do with the seclabel, see: What does the 'seclabel' mount option do? Can you check what extended attributes are set (xattrs should do that)?

I have rw access at first, but once I try to access the folder I created and get the I/O error, with "mount -o rw,remount,rw /system" too, I get: "mount: Read-only file system".

In case you've note tried it yet, try seeking suggestions in this direction: https://www.google.co.in/search?q=ls+input+output+error+linux

If you have a busybox you can try
busybox mount /system -o rw,remount

or use system mount command:
mount -w -o remount -t ext4 /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system /system

There is no busbox. But The system mount does not change anything at first (cause I already have rw access). But once I try to access the folder I had created (rfsa), the access is changed to ro and typing the command above too, returns:  "mount: Read-only file system"

I think you have filesystem error, like @ott-- says. I would run recovery and try repair filesystem. When custom recovery boots, try adb shell from PC, mount /system partition and delete bad directory. Or try repair filesystem.

It is a mount-option that the fs is remounted readonly if an error occurs.
But for you problem with the folder:
Could it be that the foldername contains special characters (that includes spaces or backspaces)? Check it with ls -b * or ls -q * if your ls supports it.

I did try, but these options are not supported for ls. Any other suggestions? I tried adb reboot recovery but the phone reboots in a screen that has a graphic showing volume up/down, but I can not do anything there.

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


text:
While on call, typing a digit on dial pad doesn't make any sound
Since my Samsung Duos phone was upgraded to Android 5.0.2, during a call, when I dial some digits on the numeric pad, there is no keypad tone heard. As a consequence, when an answering machine asks my choice like "press one", "press two", I just cannot provide any choice.
I tried pretty much all settings (dialing keypad tone, touch sounds), with no luck, I can't even imagine why disabling this feature.
Any suggestions?

Device: Samsung Duos  (SM_A300H)  Android version 5.0.2. I don't think it comes from the device, I have it for a year and I have always been able to "press one"  "press two" on request

##0673##  leads to msg  "connection problem or invalid MMI code"    there is no menu except the classic 3 vertical points icon below the Contacts icon, with menus "Speed Dial" and "Settings" , that don't offer any untried setting

On my phone I can't hear the keypad tones at my end, but they still get sent to the other end, so automated menus still work. Have you definitely tried using the answering machine?

absolutely, it didn't work yesterday but today it worked??!!   I think it is definitely not a good idea to suppress this dial tone for user,   thanks for your help

It is good to know that the problem has been resolved. After my suggestions including "cheat code" did not fix the problem yesterday, I discussed this with a Samsung ROM developer. You may like to consider options based on this discussion.
Firstly, the tones which failed are DTMF tones. These are NOT

User configurable
Affected by app misbehaviour
Custom ROM developers also do not tinker with this as it is a deep feature and they don't need to tweak it for user benefit
Stock ROMs/ upgrades will NOT disable it

As to how this happened is a mystery, but there is always an annoying possibility, that this may occur again. You have three options

Do nothing: If it happens again you can try using these kind of apps (bunch of them on Play Store, Google for "DTMF") DTMF Tone Generator

Any of next two options recommended

Device not rooted

Take backup using Kies
Factory reset
Do firmware upgrade/restore using Kies
Restore data using Kies

Or see this for other ways of taking back up  Full Backup of non-rooted devices

Device rooted

Take  nandroid backup using custom recovery backup
Factory reset
Flash upgraded Stock ROM

Can be downloaded from Sammobile after registration. Make sure you download the correct version and of your region
Flash stock using Odin

Restore data from nandroid backuo

Thanks for this detailed answer, yet please say SAMSUNG dev that removing DTMF tone from caller hears is definitely misleading and not a good idea

Thanks for accepting but to clarify that the person I spoke to is a "Custom ROM developer",  not connected with OEM. It may be better to voice your concern by contacting Samsung help directly and mailing them


text:
CM13 on Nexus 9: Any app that internally opens a webpage or otherwise uses System WebView crashes
CyanogenMod 13 nightlies on Nexus 9 with Gapps installed.
I've been dealing with a persistent issue where any app that uses Android System WebView will crash. This means that any app that opens a webpage internally or otherwise tries to render HTML-based content internally (e.g. Email) will crash, rendering a large number of apps unusable.
Installing and updating WebView from Google Play does not help. In fact, it seems that the system is not using the downloaded WebView at all as there is no indication that the WebView app had ever opened at all.
An example error generated when this happens is as follows:
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Build fingerprint: 'google/volantis/flounder:6.0.1/MMB29K/2419427:user/release-keys'
Revision: '0'
ABI: 'arm64'
pid: 12135, tid: 12667, name: RenderThread  >>> com.android.email <<<
signal 6 (SIGABRT), code -6 (SI_TKILL), fault addr --------
Abort message: '[FATAL:gl_fence_egl.cc(65)] Check failed: g_ignore_egl_sync_failures.
'
    x0   0000000000000000  x1   000000000000317b  x2   0000000000000006  x3   0000000000000000
    x4   0000000000000000  x5   0000000000000001  x6   0000000000000000  x7   0000000000000000
    x8   0000000000000083  x9   0000007f7581a4bd  x10  0000007f7581a470  x11  0000007f7581a772
    x12  0000007f7581a4bc  x13  0000000000000054  x14  0000007f7a78c4f8  x15  0000007f8f772aa8
    x16  0000007f8f7646a0  x17  0000007f8f726b6c  x18  0000007f8f772a98  x19  0000007f7581c510
    x20  0000007f7581c450  x21  0000000000000000  x22  0000000000000006  x23  0000007f7581ad38
    x24  0000007f7ad78000  x25  00000000000005db  x26  0000007f7adab930  x27  0000007f7ac2b0f0
    x28  0000007f7581b14c  x29  0000007f7581a7b0  x30  0000007f8f724308
    sp   0000007f7581a7b0  pc   0000007f8f726b74  pstate 0000000020000000

backtrace:
    #00 pc 000000000006bb74  /system/lib64/libc.so (tgkill+8)
    #01 pc 0000000000069304  /system/lib64/libc.so (pthread_kill+68)
    #02 pc 00000000000211e0  /system/lib64/libc.so (raise+28)
    #03 pc 000000000001b980  /system/lib64/libc.so (abort+60)
    #04 pc 00000000006e0bc0  /data/app/com.google.android.webview-2/lib/arm64/libwebviewchromium.so

Any ideas?

The error log seems to give hint about OpenGL, but I have no clue more than this. Since you're using nightlies, you probably need to contact CM about this bug. Consider to report this bug on CM's JIRA for Nightlies. Also, same problem on XDA, but no reply

The internal graphics driver was out of date. Updating the vendor image solved the problem. Updating also fixed a non-working camera.
CyanogenMod ROMs do not provide updated device-specific drivers ("vendor"), baseband firmware ("radio"; for cellular devices only), or bootloaders. These are stored on their own partitions and must be flashed manually at the fastboot bootloader. To do so, download the latest stock system image, extract it, and flash the applicable files:
fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader-image>
fastboot flash vendor <vendor-image>
fastboot flash radio <radio-image>

Update: An official CyanogenMod blog post states:

Nexus devices now ship with a large portion of their proprietary code in a vendor partition on the device itself. This is not something CM’s installation will update for you. If your vendor partition doesn’t match with the CM build, you will be met with an error on boot up that the system is potentially corrupted. To prevent this message (and ensure things like camera function), you should make sure you are on the latest available vendor image for your device. Vendor images can be found in the stock Nexus factory images provided by Google here. Extract the latest available zip and flash the vendor image through your bootloader with ‘fastboot flash vendor vendor.img’.

The error at boot-up looks like this:

Android System
There's an internal problem with your device. Contact your manufacturer for details.


text:
Is it possible to share a hard drive connected by USB in a local network?
I have an android smart TV with android 4.1, USB and LAN port. For file transfer I have a USB hard drive which I move from my computer to the smart TV, but it is kind of annoying.
I would like to leave the hard drive connected to the smart TV, and share it in my local network so that I can access it from my gnu/linux machine.
Is this possible? Thanks in advance.

Can you run an SSH server app on your Android TV? If yes, then you probably can access the hard drive as well. OTG drives are often  mounted at /mnt/usbotg.

If it is a matter of installing the right application, I guess I can. I will read on these SSH servers, thanks! If you elaborate a short answer that can be useful to other people, I'll be glad to accept it :).

Thanks, but I'll wait until you confirm that you can install such an app and that it is working for you. :)

After playing a while with SSHelper, I got it to work. Not very fast, but it does the trick. Thank you very much.

Thanks to Firelord for pointing me in the right direction, I played around with a SSH Server called SSHelper (it's FOSS and can be found on the play store), and got what I was trying to do.
The website has enough information to get it working, and it is very easy to set a passwordless login.
The only con I see, it is that is rather slow for big file transfers.


text:
US: sending international SMS, Hangouts
Maybe that is less an android and more an operator policy question, but posting here because it may very well be a bug in Hangouts, the most embarrassing app google ever published.
I have a tmobile SIM from the US. I travelled abroad and i could send free SMS to that country (by sending to plain <phone number> or +<country code><phone number>) and free SMS to the US (by sending to +1<phone number>).
Now back in the US, i can't send international SMS at all. My default app is Hangouts. Using either my google voice account or the lame-excuse-for-a-UI-SMS-account in hangouts, when i try to send a message to +<country code><phone number> i get a message right after with the text:

Sorry, this service is not available.
now via SMS

What is the correct way to send international SMS in the US?

I'm pretty sure that google hangouts only allows you to receive international text and not send them.  Why I don't know its pretty ridiculous if you ask me.  Here's their support page.  read carefully...
Google Voice Help - Send & receive text messages

You can send and receive text messages using your Google Voice number on the Google Voice website, in the Google Voice app, through your SMS messaging app, or through Hangouts.
International text messages: At this time, Google Voice supports sending text messages to phone numbers in the U.S. and Canada, but you can receive text messages from anywhere in the world. Currently, Google Voice only supports short codes within the U.S.*

ah, do not confuse google voice service and hangouts app! google just screwed up when they tried to make hangouts the google voice client when it doesn't have the capabilities or the UI to do so. I'm talking on this questions about SMS client mode of hangouts. I mention i tried sending the message with both voice and plain SMS. and i expected the plain SMS to work. which it doesn't.

To know if it's your operator, try sending an international message via Messenger. If it works, then it's Hangouts. Just change app and you're done.
If it still doesn't work, then it's your operator. Use Google Allo to send international text messages and you'll be fine. You'll need to contact your operator and see if they can help you.

Note: Google will stop supporting Allo in March 2019.

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


text:
Charging animation not shown after flashing original ROM
I've been playing a lot with my Samsung SM-T210 lately (Galaxy Tab 3 7" Wifi) replacing its stock recovery with TWRP, rooting it using SuperSU 2.37 and changing some files of the system partition.
Later, I tried modifying the /system/bin/playlpm file (called just lpm in other devices) to make the device boot just as soon as power is supplied. After trying many times I realized that it wasn't working so I went back to flash the stock ROM of the device.
Finally, I did a factory reset using the recovery flashed with Samsung stock ROM. After connecting the charger, I found out that the /system/bin/playlpm file was not been executed at all, since no animation was being played when the charger was plugged, only the initial image of the battery with a static image on top of it.
The animation should be something like this:

The initial image seen is something like this:

After flashing the Samsung stock ROM the device should be as good as new and the standard stock animation should be played when connected to the charger.
Anyone knows why this is happening and how to solve the issue?

@firelord could you tell me why did you erase the other tags?

The reasoning behind tags is not that something is mentioned hence the  tag of that word should be used but tags should define what the question is about. None of the previous tags were defining your question. I used the device tag because the question is device specific. I didn't see other relevant tags though. I was unsure on using stock rom tag.

@Firelord I beg to defer because even though this issue appeared on this device it has something to do with Android OS which have to do with all Android devices. In my humble opinion, the fact that the LPM -PlayLPM in Samsung- service is not starting has to do with the OS and is not device specific.

The usage of device specific tag doesn't mean that it something has only to do with hardware but to software as well. You can always [edit]  and add tags but it is always better to have strong justification for their usage.


text:
Google Play says my device isn't compatible with the app even though it meets required Android version
I have a Hisense HS-U601 with Android 4.4.2 but when I try to download apps on Google Play that requires 4.0 and up it always says it's not compatible. For instance I can't update my Instagram app because Google Play says my device is not compatible with the app.

From Instagram's help center:

I'm getting a "Device not compatible" error message in Google Play Store.
We're aware of an issue where some people get a "Device not compatible" error message in the Google Play Store when trying to download Instagram, even though Instagram should support the phone. Google is currently investigating this issue with Google Play Store.
As a temporary workaround, Google suggests clearing Google Play Store's data from your phone and then trying to install Instagram. To do this, go to Settings > Application Manager > All > Google Play Store > Clear data.

Instagram is definitely compatible with your Android version.


text:
Power button broken and can't switch on phone
I have HTC One mini. Power button is broken and can not turn it on. Phone is not rooted and unfortunately usb debugging is not turned on. Any ideas what to do? Or at least how to enable usb debugging?
I tried ./adb reboot but it can not find device

I don't know if your phone has that feature but why don't you try plugging in a charger to turn your screen on and then turn on the "raise to turn on screen" feature in the settings.

I am not sure if this will really help you out or not but it is worth a try.
Make sure you have fastboot and USB driver for your phone is installed on your PC
Connect the a USB cable to your phone and keep on pressing the volume down button while the phone is booting.
If you are able to access the fastboot mode then you are saved and you can try fastboot reboot command.
If your phone is not entering into fastboot mode then go to a nearby shop and get the power button fixed. I think there is no other way you can turn on your phone.

Is this not a cat chasing her own tail? How would you boot into fastboot mode without a working power button and if power button already works somehow , then why boot into fastboot mode at all? Let it simply boot straight into Android OS in that case.

when you charge your phone, your phone boots and runs some code. Remember you can see image representation of charging.
The answer holds true for me when I was using a Xperia mini pro phone. The Mini Pro used to go via proper booting sequence and when it senses a charger or a USB cable in power off mode it was entering only to charging mode and was not turning on the phone.
it's worth giving a try than sitting idle and just watching the phone.

Thanks man, but it did not work.


text:
uninstalled play services&google app - system unstable
I uninstalled updates for Google App and Google PLay Services apps, and suddenly my phone started to turn off and back on again, non-stop.
I can't do anything because it is up for no more than 10 seconds and then it turns off
I don't know what is the cause of this, since I only uninstalled updates, not whole apps, I'm also not rooted.
I know there are similarly named threads already, but my problem is not with play store not opening, but the whole system not functioning properly
It's Xperia L if I'm not mistaken, and android is jellybean i think
I'd appreciate any help A LOT! :)
Cheers,
Olek

Do you have USB debugging turned on? Although you may not be able to correct the issue using it, but possibly can identify it. Regardless, [tag:factory-reset] appears to be the easiest solution.

The phone might still be using the old caches of your old Apps that you have already uninstalled.
So, I suggest you to Go to recovery and try to clean cache and dalvik cache.
Then try to reboot (which may take some more time than usual because you have cleaned all cache) and see it should boot properly.
If this do not help you then you have to go for factory reset as suggested by Firelord.


text:
Powering Samsung Galaxy J7 using an external DC power supply
I would like to turn on Samsung Galaxy J7 using an external power supply. The problem is that it uses 4 pins (+,*,-,*) to connect to its battery. The first pin is the positive and the third one is negative, the other two I think are used to transfer data to the battery.

When I connect my external power supply to the positive and negative pins, the smartphone stays on just for a few seconds, then it shows a message that the battery is low and turn off.
Can anyone help me how to cheat the smartphone in order to make it "think" that my external power supply is its battery?

It is possible to "cheat" the mobile into thinking that is connected to battery, while it is in fact connected to external power supply
How to use phone without battery provides instructions on doing it and has a 4 pin configuration as on your device. I am not elaborating on the details involved as

This is not a standard method and more of hobbyist/ DIY project
I would not recommend any methods that are different from OEM specified. Battery Charging is fairly complex and attempting to replicate by such methods can cause harm to battery/ battery life / device besides being a safety hazard.

Drawbacks
To give you an idea of what  typical OEM battery charging does and what you would not be able to implement (since you don't know how the drivers are designed):

The IC (fuel guage IC) monitors a voltage drop across a small current sense resistor connected in series with the battery to determine charge and discharge activity of the battery. Compensations for battery temperature, self-discharge, and discharge rate are applied to the capacity measurments to provide available time-to-empty information across a wide range of operating conditions.
Battery capacity is automatically recalibrated, or learned, in the course of a discharge cycle from full to empty. Internal registers include current, capacity, time-to-empty, state-of-charge, cell temperature and voltage, status, and more.

What does it mean if you can't implement these features (listed above)?
Li-ION batteries have four stages of battery charging- Constant Current,
Saturation (Constant Voltage), Ready (No Current) and Standby. The battery charging hardware and OS is tuned to ensure that the battery spends required time with appropriate Voltage and Current levels in each of these stages to ensure proper charging
Charging directly by external power supply cannot achieve this resulting in Short term- Battery not delivering rated capacity for every charge and Long term - reduced life of battery. To understand more about Li Ion charging, see BU-409: Charging Lithium-ion
Related: For getting an understanding on the possible reasons for have 4 pins, see Why does this mobile phone have 4 terminals. Unless you have the specific pin out diagram for your battery, you can't be sure of the reason for fourth pin (my guess is NFC related). This is the only source I am aware of for getting pin out diagrams

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


text:
WhatsApp service extended to lifetime and revoked immediately?
I just saw the following when I opened Whatsapp:

Within few minutes I get the following message:

Why is this happening?

Happened to several other people as well. As of now, seems like the reason is unknown.

It sounds like other blogs are talking about it:

WhatsApp is now free and promises to stay ad-free - Yahoo! News
WhatsApp, why you gotta be so rude? - techshout

WhatsApp official blog says that the app is going free:

So over the next several weeks, we'll remove fees from the different versions of our app and WhatsApp will no longer charge you for our service.


text:
How can i make my google maps app close?
I used google maps earlier today and now it won't close. I exited the navigation, even restarted my phone, and it's still showing as running in the background. How do I make it close? I have an LG V10.

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts! Please see: Why is Google Maps always running in the background? / Google Maps runs GPS in background even if the GPS radio is off - how do I fix? / Is there a way to permanently turn off Google Maps until needed?

I spent a long time trying to figure this out and then I accidentally solved it. When you hit the square button to see all the apps running you will see a "pin" next to the "x" which is what you would normally click on to close a running up. If that pin is highlighted the app keeps running. Just tap it to deselect it and then you can close the app normally.
I read a lot of crazy solutions that required rooting and other stuff. It turns out that things work they should I just wasn't aware of the pin button and what it did. I hope you find this useful

I went into setting, did a force stop and then at the top of the page there was a slider I turned to "off" and it fixed the problem.

On my android phone, I tap the home button and it takes me to the navigation app home page. Then I tap the back arrow and it gives me an dialog asking if I want to exit the app.

What you're describing doesn't sound like Google Maps. Is this some other navigation app? The question is specifically about Google Maps.

on my phone i swiped up from the bottom, which allowed me to see my home button(circle) which i could tap , then went to running apps(the square button on bottom row)  and could then swipe sideways to close google maps


text:
Why is Google Calendar reminding me it's "Easter Sunday" on 19 Jan 2016?

A recent update to the Google Calendar app on Android enabled Google Keep reminders to be displayed on the calendar - which is what this looks like. However, I have no such reminder set!? It appears on both the Google calendar widget and inside the app itself.
If I tap-through on the event it does confirm that it is linked to my primary Google account. Whilst I do use Google Keep on this account and do in fact have two reminders set (which do appear on the calendar), there is no such "Easter Sunday" reminder (checked Android, Web Interface and iOS app).
This "reminder" only appears on the Google Calendar Android app. It does not appear on the Google Calendar iOS app, which also shows reminders (the other two reminders are shown correctly). It does not show on the web calendar - but this doesn't appear to have the option to show Google Keep reminders.
I've tried a manual refresh/resync, but this makes no difference.
Searching for "easter" or "sunday" within Google Keep on Android (or Web interface / iOS) does not return any results.
If I hide "Reminders" (uncheck the option in calendar settings) for this Google account then this erroneous reminder does indeed disappear from the calendar.
Latest Calendar app - version 5.3.1-109151569-release. Nexus 4, Android 5.1.1
Seems a bit weird.
Any ideas?

Must be a so called "Easter Egg". Or an early reminder #D Have you verified by the color which calendar it belongs to? Maybe that might give you a clue.

@Izzy Yes, I had wondered that! lol. Yes, the colour suggested that it belonged to the "Reminders" calendar under my main Google account. I have discovered that this reminder originated from "Google Now", although as to why it suddenly recurred and appeared only in the Google Calendar Android app is a bit of a mystery. (I've updated my question, although maybe I should add that as an answer...)

I wonder if one has to explicitly acknowledge/dismiss reminders to have them "marked off". While that would explain why it's listed for "today", it wouldn't explain why the same wasn't the case yesterday (or rather "everyday since"). So did you miss to mention that, or did it really only come up on Jan 19th? Apart from that: Yes, please move your "update" to an answer. Even though it does not explain the "why" part, it explains how to get rid of that reminder, and thus provides a solution (even though it might be a temporary one).

@Izzy Well, I assume I must have dismissed it at the time (Apr 05 2015). It certainly hasn't appeared on the calendar at all until suddenly showing up on Jan 19th! The period between Apr 05 and Jan 19 (289 days) isn't a nice round number of months/weeks and it's a different day of the week (Sun / Tues) so I couldn't say what the recurring frequency was?! But it wasn't even appearing on the "Upcoming" reminders within the Google app. Weird.

I appear to have at least discovered where this reminder has originated from: in the Google app (formerly "Google Now"), under "Reminders", there is a "Past" reminder for "Easter Sunday (Apr 05 2015)".

Past reminder
However, there is no "Upcoming" (current) reminder listed here for "Easter Sunday" - so nothing should be appearing in the calendar. The two (recurring) Google Keep reminders (mentioned above) are the only two reminders listed under "Upcoming". So, it's still a mystery why this "Easter Sunday" reminder appears to have suddenly recurred after an unusual time period.
Partial solution:
Tapping this "Past" entry simply gives the option to delete it. Which I have, and now it's gone from the Google Calendar! It's just a puzzle as to why (and how) it happened?

Since this is additional information, instead of an answer, it should be added to the question, not posted as an answer.

@MichelfrancisBustillos Well, I had initially added it to the question, but it does "part answer" the question and Izzy confirmed this is comments above... "please move your "update" to an answer. Even though it does not explain the "why" part, it explains how to get rid of that reminder, and thus provides a solution (even though it might be a temporary one)".


text:
Can't pull down quick settings panel?
So my HTC One M8 battery has been dying recently at around 30%. I'm pretty sure it's hardware, as it happens even after flashing a RUU multiple times.
Well anyway, I just searched for showtimes for a movie theater near me and it shut off with no warning, as now is normal. I plugged it in, turned it on and... Nothing from the Android OS is vibrating, as in the lower on screen buttons don't give haptic feedback like before, but all third party apps do, like my SwiftKey. I also noticed that I can't swipe down from notifications to get to my quick setting, it's like it was never designed to go any further. Another thing that changed is that Now On Tap is also disabled. Holding on the home key does nothing.
Is it possible the sudden shutdowns finally corrupted something? Should I restore the backup in thankfully made last night, or is there a way to fix any of this?

The same problem as you. I have nothing to do but reflash a twrp backup. The battery dying must have destoryed something like the cache or the data. I found someone else is facing the same prpblems (see at http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-9/help/lost-pull-quick-setting-marshmallow-t3221329 ) Anyway, good luck and hope you will share the reason for this problem here if you find one.

Don't know if you still need a fix for this (it's been a few months since you posted), but anyway I had the same issue with not being able to open quick settings and also my M8 stopped displaying notifications. Not sure what triggered all that, but after performing a few dirty wipe re-flashes of my ROM, I finally did a clean wipe (not just system and caches but also data partition) and that fixed it. Having a google cloud backup made downloading everything a little easier, but I couldn't have avoided essentially wiping everything but my SD card and needing to reinstall all my apps.


text:
Rooted Xperia Z2 won't read memory card
Yesterday I connected my phone in mass storage mode to copy photos off the external microSD card and ejected it properly from Windows before disconnecting it. After that it said there was an error on my memory card.
Now if I go to storage, it reports that the card exists and is mounted, but cannot read from it (and so does not display the usage breakup of apps and media the way it does for internal storage)
If I try using ES File Explorer, it too reports that the memory card exists as well as the count of songs and photos, but cannot read any of them. I have only a couple of apps that I had moved to SD card - these show up in the drawer but either fail with an error or cause the phone to freeze.
I am able to view the contents of the memory card if it's connected to Windows in MTP mode, but again cannot read or copy files.
What's going on?
Is there a fix that doesn't involve reformatting the card and losing everything on it?
Edit Just put it into a card reader, and it works normally. I'm able to view and open files.

did you try accessing sd card from another device
?

Not yet, plan to use a card reader when I get home.

Ok, completely weird, but just taking it out, viewing it with a memory card reader and putting it back did the trick.
Glad I didn't have to erase or format it. I'd like to know what went wrong originally though.


text:
How can i stop Call Broadcast massages in micromax yu yunique
getting lots of msg from CB channel in my micromax yu yunique cell. Please let me how can i stop. I have checked many time in my massage setting but i didn't get hug results. can help me, So let me know

Go to Settings > More (In Android 5.1.1) > Emergency Broadcasts
There some options inside the above settings location.
Read the options carefully and set or unset whichever you want. I hope this will help you.


text:
Using SD-Card as internal memory, but how?
I am confused, I installed today the Marshmallow update on my HTC One m8. I knew that there is a feature to use my SD card as internal memory and I was awaiting this feature. I did what I expected formatting the SD card and I can see the memory but dammed my internal memory is still full. Not more memory at all! Just a second non removable storage which is empty.
I tried to install a huge game (<1GB) but it failed since I have not enough memory. Dammed I just formatted a 64GB SD card! Sh...
So my question is did I something wrong or is it intended that I cannot use the SD card for games?
What is with other media? Can I store files on the "extended" internal memory?
For now it looks like I just reduced my internal memory by installing marshmallow without any memory related benefits. (I am a developer so I know other cool things)

You should be able to move supported apps to the adoptable storage: https://source.android.com/devices/storage/adoptable.html (last paragraph of first section)


text:
How do I select a non-OEM charger for my device?
My Nexus 5 D821 (2014)'s original charger started failing to charge the phone since last week. There are 1.8A & 1.2A LG OEM chargers available in ebay.com. Is it okay to use the 1.8A charger? or Should I go for 1.2A charger?

Related: Long term effects of charging Nexus 5 with the OnePlus One charger (fast charging)

original charger 5V 1.2A

yes. both 5v. but 'current' difference only. 1.8a

Further reading on Electronics.SE: Choosing power supply, how to get the voltage and current ratings?

I took the liberty of editing the question, as the solution is not device specific. Further, this makes it easier for others to search when they are in a similar situation. Thanks

When you are switching to a different charger from What is OEM supplied, things to bear in mind:

Type of battery (not really relevant these days as most batteries are Li-Ion or Li-PO . Both have sane charging characteristics. Your battery is Li-PO). Battery type dictates charging / charger features

Voltage  This is critical and never use higher rated voltage than
what is specified for your device. For instance do not use 9V tablet charger for your mobile rated at 5V (vice versa is safe but charging will be slower )

Current  This does not matter much since the circuitry inside your phone / battery caters for this and draws as much current as required. Quoting from this

Each device has a regulator or charge controller, known as a Power Management IC, or PMIC. This device protects the battery from charging too fast, or too slow.

Nexus 5 charging specifications listed at Charge your Nexus device  and as confirmed by OP in his comments as same for his device

The input voltage range between the wall outlet and this travel adapter is AC 100V– 240V, and the travel adapter’s output voltage is DC 5V, 1.2A

The rating of LG chargers are 1.2 A and 1.8 A and  should be 5V (which is the standard USB charger rating
Having said that, it is playing safer by choosing current rating closest too original-which is 1.2A in your case.
So you can go in for either LG charger as long rated 5V, but given a choice go in for 1.2 A
Edit

See Complete Guide to Using the Correct Charger or Power Adapter (and What Happens If You Don’t) for similar explanation

To make it easier to understand how Voltage and Current affect charger selection and interpret it in layman terms , adding this example from Basic Electricity

In some neighborhoods you'll see a water tank raised high above the ground on strong legs. The water in this tank has been raised up there to create pressure in the system. A series of pipes carry the water down from the tank, under ground, into your house, and then to each sink, bathtub, and toilet. The water in your pipes is under pressure because the water in the tank is pushing down on it. This pressure is similar to Voltage. Voltage is the pressure pushing on the electrons in a circuit.

If all of the faucets in your house are closed, no water flows through the pipes. If you open one faucet, some water flows. If you open all of the faucets, a lot of water flows. This flow of water is similar to electrical Current. Current is the flow rate of electrons through the circuit.

Correlation of this example and charger selection criteria

Voltage:  If the voltage is too high, the pipes in your home (read device hardware) may burst since they just are not designed to handle
Current:   The flow of water (read Current handling hardware)- if it is too low, you will increase by opening the tap outlet to allow more water and vice versa. This doesn't harm the plumbing of the house

but everyone says, higher current doesn't matter, the device will only draw the power it requires.. so, 1.8A charger is safe,  isn't it?

That is exactly what I said in my answer-Current This does not matter much since the circuitry inside your phone / battery caters for this and draws as much current as required. Therefore you can go for 1.8V also, recommendation of 1.2V was being on conservative side


text:
Root Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge running Android 5.1.1
Is there a way to root this device? Its model name is SM-G925F. PingPong Root works only with Android 5.0.2.

Follow this tutorial to root 5.1.1 devices
How to Root edge 5.1.1.
http://galaxys6root.highonandroid.com/galaxy-s6-root/how-to-root-galaxy-s6s6-edge-on-android-5-1-1/
But remember rooting can cause to brick your phone so proceed at your own risk

You could try replacing the stock Recovery with its respective TWRP Recovery and then flashing the SuperSU though the TWRP Recovery.
Next are the download links_

TWRP Recovery: Type the model of your device (Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge), select the correct version of your device and then download the image.
Last version of SuperSU: Will give you root access
Odin: You'll use it to flash the TWRP recovery

Here's a guide for rooting Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7" Wifi. Even though the device is different, the steps should be the same you just need to use the TRWP specific for your device and the latest version of SuperSU (more change of success). Guide
I've rooted devices up to 4.4 but haven't tried this method with any 5.X device so please tell me if it worked.
EDIT
Here a very similar guide but specific to your device.


text:
Can I sync contacts between gmail addresses?
I have a dual sim setup, work and private. I thus also have two email (gmail) addresses registered on the device, work and private. I have many contacts on both, but I want all of them on my private google account. So how can I make sure all accounts are added to my private google account, but not the other way around?

Are you looking to keep the private account synced or would a one-time export/import suffice? The former may require a third-party contact manager.

@PFitz I would want it synced every time I make a change. When I change a contact in my contact list, regardless of the origin, I would want the changes saved to my personal address.


text:
Light-brown stripes on my Galaxy S6 Edge screen
I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge for around 2 and a half months now. Since yesterday when having open a white screen (all white, such as a picture or some other menu) I see a 2 vague light-brown stripes.

I first thought it was some filth on my screen protector (ZAGG Invisible Shield), so I tried wiping it off, this didn't help anything.
There is always a thick-leather flipcase around my phone aswell.
I never dropped, made some damage, had some water-damage or dropped anything on this phone. It's in my pocket all the time without any heavy-weight stuff pushing onto it. The only thing I can think of is that I was holding something heavy against my pocket, but not 'laying it onto' my pocket, I was holding it myself.
What can this be and could it be a fixable issue?

Do the apps you most commonly use have a coloured area that lines up with the stripes? It seems a little soon to have screen burn-in, but it's worth ruling that out first.

@DanHulme  Not that I know of. That part of the screen is this usable though. This really sucks, I really hope this isn't that bad... Could it be my screen protector?

That seems unlikely. Your best bet might be to ask your local Samsung dealer: it could be a faulty screen, which they should replace for you.

@DanHulme I really hope so... Could there be some filth underneath the screen protector? And if that would be the case, how could that happen? As I said, what about the heavy weight I held? I didn't drop anything on it...


text:
Verification Phone Play Store
I want to create a different/new Play Store account in my new device, but when the Play Store asks me for my phone number, it says that it was used too many times.
Is there a way to fix this?
Thanks in advance

There is no Play Store account but Google account 2) Google account can be created using browser from any machine, so you can use it 3) That issue about phone number comes up when you've your phone number registered to too many Google accounts.

Thanks for the response; just one more question, that means that it is impossible to register more accounts with my phone number? there is not a way?

I don't think so. Why not use one of those other accounts in Play Store?

What do you need so many accounts for? Usually one suffices, in some cases you might need a second one (testing, family member). If it's for testing only, who forces you to register a phone number with it? I never did that, and my 2 accounts still work fine.


text:
Remove unknown icon appeared on home screen after mounting SD card
How to remove this icon from home screen of Xperia M2 Dual?
(Click image to enlarge)

May I ask what use it is to move your apps to SD card, and then remove that card? And for your question: which Icon do you want to remove? There is none labeled "this" :)

Looks like you have unmounted the SD card once. Behaviour might change on the implementation of launcher app, basically it should be solved by re-mounting the SD card. The icon with the mark is installed on the SD card.
Settings > Storage > SD Card > [Mount / Unmount]

Readers: Do a reboot if re-mount is not working.


text:
How do I connect my Samsung Galaxy S6 to Android Studio?
I've downloaded a driver called SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_For_Mobile_Phones. When I plug in my phone via USB-MicroUSB, the phones begins charging, but is not recognized by the computer. How do I get my computer to recognize the device, and how do I then connect it to Android Studio? I would really appreciate any assistance at all. Thanks!
Alex

Make sure that your USB cable supports data transfer.
Did you turned on 'Developer mode'?!
Settings > About Phone > scroll to the bottom > tap Build number seven (7) times.

Yes I turned on Developer Mode. I didn't know that some USB cables didn't support that...I guess I will look around the house for another one!

Found one, and yup. It was just the cable. Thanks!


text:
Skylnmobi : Virus? Backdoor ? What is it?
OS : Android 4.4.2
This process like thing (Skylnmobi) opens in background whenever any app is opened.
Even if I kill the process through app manager it still runs in background.
It also uses data when connected to internet (known by analysing data usage of the device)
I have tried many antivirus softwares but they have not detected any unusual behaviour related to this process.
I am not getting straight results through googling, so does any one know about it?

What phone do you have? Did you get it from the manufacturer, or through your carrier?

It is a tablet device provided by our college, actually this problem surfaced only a few days back., and none of my friends, who have the same device have this issue.

Can you or have you done a factory reset?

You wouldn't get straight results from Google because you're using a localized issue as a search query. Try searching for advanced ways on finding and removing a malware from an Android device. The first thing you need to know is the package name of the malware (assuming that it's an app), then find out whether that is a user app or system app. Report us your results by [edit]ing your question.


text:
Get a list of all applications I have ever installed on any phone
This is strongly related to Android market. I have once used an application which I now cannot find using the search function. Unless it was withdrawn, it must still exist and I want to find it. Obviously the search would be easier if I could just manually go through all applications I ever installed on any phone.
Is that possible?

If it was downloaded from Play Store, you'd find it under My Apps. Every now and then apps get deleted from Play Store though. Except for that, answer is no.

Forgive me if you've already tried this, but there's a tab in the Google play store for all apps installed or not. It's under the my apps and games button.

Oh silly me, it's indeed there - already installing the app. Funny thing is it was even already installed, I just didn't have icon on desktop.

https://play.google.com/apps
Is where you can see a history of all apps you have ever installed.


text:
Screen resolution vs. image resolution
I have a question about pixels and screen resolution of an Android device.
The app I developed was at the time when Samsung Galaxy S III was new. The images for my app had a resolution 2310x1300 (ratio 1.777 to fit screen). Samsung Galaxy S III has a resolution of 1280x720. I chose a higher resolution to have some margin for future devices with larger screens and higher DPI.
But that's not enough these days - Galaxy S6 has a resolution of 2560x1440, that is far higher than the resolution of my images. So I thought that the quality of the images for such a device would be deteriorated since the resolution of the images is lower than the resolution of the display. But when testing the app for the Galaxy S6 I cannot see any differences right now - the images scaled for the new device (image resolution of 2310x1300 used in a device with 2560x1440) is at least as good as for an older device with lower resolution.
Have I completely misunderstood how dpi and resolution works?
The images resources are under the /res/drawable/hdpi folder.

Googling could have possibly helped- from sister site http://superuser.com/questions/441799/screen-resolution-vs-image-video-resolution

Can anyone explain how is this relevant to an end-user? DIP (not DPI) and resources are something an end-user wouldn't be bothered with, unless modding an APK.

As mentioned in @w3dk 's answer, you can't see any difference because you can't see any difference. As in, your eyes literally can not differentiate between the detail of the picture on either the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy S6, because in either case, the picture resolution comes close to the eye's limit of resolution (the minimum angular separation of 2 distinct points/objects from a particular distance of observation for which they can be discerned to be distinct from each other). What I will address here are some of your concerns as a developer.
The S3 was a xhdpi device, so any apps on it will use image resources in the /res/drawable/xhdpi/ folder. The S6 is a xxxhdpi device, and so any apps on it will use the resources in the /res/drawable/xxxhdpi/ folder by default, but fall back to the next lower resolution if the requisite folder is not available, utilizing fast image scaling to show the images at the required abstract resolution (dip (device independent pixels), not pixels) (dip are hardware-independent, pixels are hardware-dependent).
You are correct in assuming that image quality should have deteriorated under normal conditions, but your images are in fact pretty high-resolution, and combining that with some downscaling on-device for the S6, you actually get a similar quality image as on an S3.
Why do I say downscaling even for the high-resolution S6? Simple. You're probably not using the whole screen to display the image, and probably what dip resolution you specified maps out to less than 2310x1300 real hardware pixels, so the image is downscaled.
Contrary to what one may think, downscaling from a high resolution source actually increases image quality, and upscaling from a low resolution source decreases it on final display, given the same final display resolution and similar (except in resolution) source images. Here is my source about scaling as regards image quality.
As @DanHulme succinctly put it:

"An image which has been downscaled from a high-resolution source will look better than one which has been upscaled from a low-resolution source."

A followup on the quote: Assuming your scaling algorithm is good-quality. Whatever you do, don't use nearest-neighbor!

@JAB I prefer bicubic where possible.

But isn't Galaxy s3 rather a xhdpi device than hdpi? According to developer android xhdpi (320 dpi) is closer to 306  dpi than hdpi (240 dpi). And furhtermore - I changed folder for my images from hdpi to xhdpi and two things happended 1) images a bit crispier 2) the images loads faster. http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html

Oops. I'll correct it.

Displaying a smaller image than the device is capable of is not going to "deteriorate" the quality of the image, it's just not going to be as good as what the device is capable of. The example image (2310 x 1300) you state should certainly appear "better" on the S6 than the SIII since the image is larger than what the SIII can display so must be scaled down. The S6 is capable of displaying all the image.
The fact that you cannot see the difference is probably simply down to your eyesight. Between 306ppi (SIII) and 577ppi (S6) and depending on the type of media being consumed, the average human at average viewing distances is probably not going to be able to tell the difference. 577ppi is getting close to what the human eye is capable of differentiating (at 4 inches)!

Upscaling an image can reduce the quality of it, by making sharp edges blurry, and sometimes by sampling artefacts, but this is only a concern for "synthetic" images (logos, screen layouts), because photos don't tend to have those sharp single-pixel edges anyway.

@DanHulme , precisely what I pointed out in my addend answer.

@DanHulme Although when upscaling on a very high (577) ppi screen any blurring is going to be negligible and probably not discernable to the average human eye.

OTOH, if you did start out with a, say, 640x480 image, it would look very bad indeed on a 2K display, far worse than how it would look on a HD one. There is the amount of upscaling to consider. Blurring will be heavily noticeable, and if the scaling isn't smooth, you can end up aliasing (jaggies).

How many Android games are upscaled and look horrendous on a 2K display is a topic for another time.


text:
Short disturbance during calls with my Galaxy S3 LTE SHV E210s
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 4g/LTE phone. When I call any one or when I receive a call, there is a disturbing noise, like scratching a dvd movie disc.
What caused the problem and how do I solve this?

"After call received" -- can you detail this? Do you mean when hanging up the call or when call was picked up by other party or after hanging up the call? Have you confirmed whether others users over the web has or had the similar problem?

Update you phone to 4.4.4 kitkat version from wifi and then type on phone keybad *#9090# and press call. This will show the hidden menu of your SHV-E210S.
Got to Network Mode Set -> GSM_Enable. This will turn your phone to work for GSM networks. Return to main screen and restart your phone.


text:
Android - Application Manager - Disable multiple apps at once?
Let me first say I am not an Android person and new to this. I am needing to disable applications on 300+ devices. I have a list that they want disabled, now I've been just manually going in and swiping each one to disable them, but this is very time consuming. There has to be an easier way.  I was thinking with profile I could make and download it off the internet on each one or each device is encrypted with Mobile Iron, is there something to push to the device's to do this this.  My searching has shown nothing useful.
Thanks,
Tablets are LG VK815
Android version 5.0.2

You can hook the tablets one-by-one up to a computer with ADB drivers installed and USB debugging turned on in the tablets' settings, and run a .bat file with the list of stuff to disable which will look like this:
adb shell pm disable com.trash.application
adb shell pm disable com.more.bloatware
[...]

It's that easy! Root may be required depending on device.
Here's an example on XDA: Bloatware disable in .bat file

Aaron this is helpful, how do I know what the "com.mspot.android.music.mspotradiosprint" part is.  These are business devices and only are used for one app, everything else is to be disabled. Example Music, Hangouts, Google+ and a lot other native apps. I don't want to root these devices.

Type pm list packages in adb and it will spit out all of the packages, ready for you to maneuver your way through. Make sure not to disable anything system related, just the apps you know aren't necessary.

If your device won't let you disable some of the apps, I would highly recommend rooting it. In fact, there is one-click-root available for VK815, here: XDA You'll be plugging in all the tablets to your computer anyway. Rooting is really easy, trust me. You will have a lot more control over your tablets, like hiding the Settings app, turning off quick settings in notification bar (so people don't steal your tablets after turning on airplane mode etc.)

These are devices with Mobile Iron on them and are used for nurses. I cant root them, the MDM wont allow that.
I've not got the ADB  way to work, but I would still have to go into each device and put it to dev mode. Thats steps almost as equal of me setting up each device myself manually.

Each device is brand new, so I have to take it out of the box, turn it on, go through the LG setup menus (just skip, skip, skip etc), manually set wifi, and disable 22 native applications, as these devices are strictly to be used for patient data charting, no youtube, play store, games etc.
Right now I've got about 75 done of 300, it was a slow day today. Wish me luck :)

Good luck! If only people knew that rooting does not breach security, it adds to it... Unrooted, any app could really have a root method built in to it (Towelroot, Framaroot) to gain root access without the security layer of SuperSU blocking the access after rooting manually. I guess it technically violates the DMCA.

If the devices are rooted then you can try ROM Toolbox Lite app.
Otherwise, I think you are out of luck since disabling applications is a feature which requires root access unless done through Settings app.
Note: Most Android builds don't consist of many pre-installed system applications. If the application is not a system application it can only be uninstalled or frozen, not disabled.


text:
Saved pages on browser
I am using basic internet browser on my Samsung galaxy GT I8262, if I cleared storage data of google search then will it affect to the saved pages on browser? Will the saved pages get deleted?

Why not take the backup and try yourself? And what is "basic internet browser"? It should be having a name and a version.

Internet app is separate from Google search app so clearing data of Google search won't affect your saved pages


text:
Getting content from external sources via wire
I keep my phone beside me when sleeping at night. I've set it to automatically enable airplane mode for it to stay totally quiet, charge faster and remain cool. But I sometimes hook it up with my speakers at bed to play an audio book, for example, but many of them are quite large.
Here's the issue. It's tedious to delete and replace content on my phone, but I don't want to enable any wireless connection. How can I access media on my local home network? Basically, any wired external media source would do.

I believe there can be a more appropriate title and tag, but I'll leave it for others to come up with that.

@Firelord Neither could I think of a better title.


text:
How do I tell Android to remember which client certificate to use for a given site?
I have a site that requires a client certificate in order to allow access.
I've successfully installed a client certificate onto my Android device.
When I access the site from Chrome, I'm prompted with a "Choose certificate" modal popup which lists the installed certificates on my device, asking me to choose which to use.
How can I get Android to remember the chosen certificate so that I'm not prompted each time I attempt to login to the site?


text:
I have a Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 which I want to root?
If I root my phone will I have any carrier problems? Towelroot seems to be the right program, but is towelroot.com safe? Virustotal said Dr. Web doesn't trust it. Is towelroot the right way to do it root it anyway? If I want to install Cyanogenmod what are my options.
Thanks
References:
https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/46f8ce8a82ae707f6d951e528e4fb55514d55e929c3063ea9f3054003fa6d953/analysis/
When I scan the apk file itself, it has several hits as risk ware or exploit. Does this mean it is not dangerous?
https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/5aa19d58ccda518979ecec97db9ee7a6a1de606fd661ef9238e65f3b533f170c/analysis/

The most reliable root for the Sprint S4 is CF-Auto-Root, which requires a computer. Instructions
If you found an article saying Towelroot will work, then Towelroot will work as well. I have an S5 and I used Towelroot. It's definitely trustworthy.
When it comes to one-click-root apps, it's as easy as just trying them, if they work they work, if they don't move on to the next one. The only exception is when you have to flash a systemless root kernel for that specific device, which applies to some of the latest flagships
Of course I don't know your specific model number, so it's always good to google search your model number, android version, and the word "root".
Hope this helps

My apologies I meant s4. So, with it working on your s5 I should be fine? Thanks for sharing!

Updated my answer. Yes. Millions of Android peeps have used Towelroot, including me. I trust it, Android security freaks haven't found anything wrong with it, so there's that. And no problem.

Ok, I will try those two thanks so much! I sadly can't up-vote your answer yet.

Try Towelroot first, it's the easiest for sure.


text:
Is there a way to turn off app updates when global and app-specific autoupdate setting is already set to Never/Off?
On Monday, January 18th, 2016, on a never-network-locked-or-branded Nexus 5, I've noticed that the Google Chrome app was suddenly updated, together with the user-installed "My Cricket" and one other app (possibly Visual Voicemail?), after doing an intended manual update of some unrelated app.  In all, 4 apps were updated, when only one was intended to be.
I've uninstalled the Google Chrome updates (which also resulted in the data-loss of the browser history and the open windows), but wasn't able to restore My Cricket to any prior version, since, being user-installed from the Play Store, there's no option to go back.
Today, Wednesday, 20th, the Google Chrome app was force updated again.  I've confirmed that its individual settings are not set to autoupdating, nor are the global settings set to apply the updates.  Moreover, one of the top reviews for Google Chrome was a 2-star one, dated 19.01.2016, also alleging a forced autoupdate!

How do I really disable the updates?  Like, for real, no exceptions?
Is there a way to see for sure which exact apps were updated?  E.g., what was that forth app that I allege must be the "Visual Voicemail" one?  (Only the first three apps were visible in the status in the notification bar, but it was mentioned that 4 updates were performed.)
Is there a way to backup my browser history and the open-windows, to prevent losing it all when uninstalling the unsanctioned update?
Is there a way to backup all my apps?

Please kindly note that a user-mistake is highly unlikely -- it happened twice, and was also reported by a highly-voted review in the Play Store.  Also note that the phone has been disconnected from Cricket many months ago; it's only used through WiFi; so, any sort of network interference is likewise a quite remote possibility (it still has the SIM, though, but it hasn't registered to any network in a very long time now, always showing no reception in the top status bar).

Here's another confirmation that it's a real issue, also quite recent: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/632462-google-chrome-auto-updating-without-permission.html

Also a huge thread here: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/gLlJazwMkFs

That Google Chrome update is horrendous! It's being forced outside of Play Store, but there is a way to disable it.
It's pretty ugly, but here's how I stopped it, while keeping Play Services (Gmail, Maps, etc): Go into Application Manager, scroll over to the "All" tab, and find "Download manager". Once you disable that, there will be NO updates from anywhere.
Now, Play Store won't open all the way, asking you to turn Download manager back on. So when you need to use Play Store, go back into settings, find Chrome, disable it, then clear data on Download manager and also on Play Store. Then, you can update other apps without updating Chrome.
You also will need to use Firefox or Opera to download PDFs and other files online.
Hope this helps,

thanks for the suggestions!  was it not enough to disable the foreground data on Play?

Well if you have root, you can use Droidwall to block data through the Google Play app. If you're lucky that may stop these forced updates, but I haven't tried that method. Turning off Download manager is definitely the hardcore way to disable those updates, with no root needed.

I think more people should post blogs about it, and write complaints to the FCC and the FTC.  Clearly -- complaining within Google's owned wall garden is rather pointless in the end.  It looks like this issue has been going on for several weeks already, according to https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/gLlJazwMkFs.  Moreover, this is merely the most recent reincarnation -- they did the very same thing on the desktop -- people who followed the official instructions to disable the updates again started receiving the updates at a certain point all of a sudden!  Been there!

Yeah, desktop Chrome (and Mozilla!) often push security updates, which is cool, until they decide to mess with the UI and menus, nobody wants that. There is a fine line to be drawn. At least we're not tied up in the chains of iOS!

This is not a complete answer but answers some of the points:

How do I really disable the updates? Like, for real, no exceptions?

You can use my answer or Craig's answer for that. No exceptions, but requires root access. The solution is to detach Google Chrome from Play Store's device specific database stored in the device itself. It is always temporary but works.

Is there a way to see for sure which exact apps were updated?

Play Store shows a notification for each app that has been updated. If it doesn't then record the details of broadcasted intent: android.intent.action.PACKAGE_REPLACED. Use my answer here to get details from that intent. Use File write task to log the app or package name  that has been updated with corresponding date and time, into a file using Task → File → Write File action.
You can check the contents of the file at your convenience.

Is there a way to backup my browser history and the open-windows, to prevent losing it all when uninstalling the unsanctioned update?

Absolutely yes, but not without root access. The reason is simple. Chrome doesn't participate in backup and restore infrastructure of device. This simply means adb can't backup the app's data and so as other user apps.
The solution requires root access. You can use titanium-backup or My Backup Pro for ease of use to backup Chrome's data or simply force stop Chrome, copy the data directory of Chrome i.e. /data/data/com.android.chrome to a safe location. You can alternatively archive the directory before storing it, but why add complications? Restoration is as simple as backup.

Is there a way to backup all my apps?

Sure. We've a canonical post here. Note that not every app can be backed up as noted in last point, so having root access is the only way to backup virtually everything, regardless whether the app permits backup and restore.
Did I mention that making a nandroid backup is another coolest thing to do.

Using firewall or disabling Download Manager or restricting background data doesn't solve  but evades the issue. Why? Because as soon as you let Play Store connect the Internet (be realistic, you will open it one day) it should issue updates to whatever it was itching to update for so long, which means forced updates to Chrome may begin. Disabling Download manager means giving up the ability to download any app and so as downloading anything from Chrome. Won't help much. Same problem will be there if you disable foreground data. Disabling background data disable auto-updates in background.

so, disabling background data seems to have no applicability to wifi!  wasn't it supposed to be applicable to wifi, too?  how do i disable the Download Manager?


text:
Change path via script?
Currently, after I shell into my devices I run this script:
#!/system/bin/sh
export PATH=$PATH:/data/local/tmp
echo $PATH
/system/bin/sh

The sh at the end of the script inherits the new path from the export. Without it the change to path is lost when the script ends. How can I get around opening the extra sh? Is there a better way to temporarily change the path?
Thanks!

Can you explain your final goal? /system/bin/sh wouldn't do anything useful to you in a script.

The goal is to temporarily change the path via script rather than having to enter an export PATH every time I log into a device. The call to sh is the only way I've found to make the path change persistent (for the session). Without it the change to path is lost when the script ends.


text:
Empty texts are being sent periodically to specific contact?
When I check my text messages, I am always a bit confused this week. A specific contact in my phone is being sent blank messages over and over again, and I cannot figure out why. What is even more interesting is that the contact that this is happening to does not receive these messages at all. I switched texting apps from Google Messenger to Hangouts hoping the app was just glitching, but still the blank messages continue to appear. They come in groups, one being sent every 2 hours or so (but not in a predicable manner) in packs of 5 to 8 or 9.
I've narrowed down every cause I can think of. All I am down to is my Pebble Time Steel smartwatch or the Android operating system itself that could be causing this.
Anyone have any suggestions to figuring out why this is happening? I don't believe it's the Pebble or the contact in question would be receiving a lot of blank messages and none of these messages appear to go through.

I figured it out. I also have Avast Anti-theft set up, and for some reason all of the messages I send or receive are being forwarded to this contact via binary which is why the messages are empty and why the contact's iPhone is ignoring them.
In short, a bug with avast is the cause. Going to have to give their support a piece of my mind for driving me crazy for two weeks.


text:
Unable to find the contacts backed up to Google account after the loss of the phone
I backed up my contacts to my Google account. I recently got my phone stolen. I have the same number. I have found some pictures from my previous phone but I can't find my contacts! Some of these cannot be replaced. The only thing I can find is how to restore contacts from my current phone. How to get my friends back?

Was sync enabled on your old phone? If not than there is a huge chance that the backup has never been created.

You got your phone stolen? You want to get your friends back? Firstly, this is all extremely fishy (:()) and secondly, this is also horribly unclear. Please clarify your question to be in simple terms with as little extraneous detail as possible.

Google offers an option to restore your contacts to any state within the past 30 days. This may help you recover deleted contacts. Just go to https://contacts.google.com/, click on More -> Restore contacts.

I think that when you log in with your Google account into your phone it should automatically sync those contacts into your device if sync is on.


text:
Keep screen off when proximity sensor is covered (in pocket)
I just recently switched to Sony XPERIA Z5, and I am quite annoyed with it doing things in my pocket. The phone is set to wake on double tapping (which is handy, for a user coming from nokia n9 and jolla). So the phone will randomly goes to the emergency dialer, attempting to unlock, or even may trigger the camera while it is in my pocket.
Since the phone has a proximity sensor built in, is it possible to make the phone aware of that when the screen is off? I mean I don't need it to be automatically switched off whenever it is covered. However, it would be nice if the screen doesn't turn on to load the lock screen when the proximity sensor is covered.
There should be a proper way of doing this right? If a jolla and nokia n9 can do it, I suppose it is going to be easy with Androids?

I've not tested this keeping your environmental conditions in mind, but [tag:Tasker] might be able to help you. It should be something like when display is on  -> lock screen and when proximity sensor reports near, turn screen off. Other automation apps from Play Store may also help here. //What Android version are you using? Is the Android rooted?

on 5.1.1 and it is not rooted, will prolly give tasker a try when i have time

Im inclined to say: nowadays, with AOSP having triggered so many actions unavailable to automation apps, it's a decision left to the user: either root the device, or stay uncomfortable. Sad thing, but that's it. I usually root my new devices before unboxing (i.e. easy-to-root is a major criterium in device selection for me). So I go with @Firelord – Tasker was my first idea as well.

lol, gotta wait a while to root my device if I don't want to lose the drm keys


text:
How can I wipe cache partition in ASUS Fonepad 7 (K00Z) tablet?
I'm running ASUS Fonepad 7 (K00Z, with KitKat updates installed). Here is what I already tried by referring to this and this guide:

I started the phone in fastboot bootloader by pressing the Power + Vol-up button, but it has only these five options:

Reboot.
Reboot fastboot.
SDCARD Download.
Factory Reset.

There is no Recovery mode where I can delete the cache partition.
I also turned on the developer options in settings and then run this command from my linux laptop: adb reboot recovery. But the tablet just starts and quits the recovery screen saying "No command found" or something like that.

Is there any hope of being able to delete the cache partition?
Edit
The issue is still unresolved, but I went a long way towards learning new things in Android testing, thanks to @Izzy. Primarily,

USB Debugging using Android SDK is very helpful. For instance, adb reboot-bootloader will restart the phone/tablet to the bootloader. Of course, the device must be recognized by the computer connected through USB which leads to
UDEV rules should be properly setup (for Linux OS; I'm using I'm using Ubuntu 14.04) or the proper vendor drivers should be installed (for Windows). This Q/A is very helpful in this regard.
fastboot erase cache was supposed to help me, but somehow, my ASUS device isn't being recognized by lsusb while the tablet is on bootloader screen (and thus, logically, neither by fastboot devices). I've raised a ticket about this with ASUS and awaiting a reply from there.

see if this helps :
I installed the temporary custom recovery to root my device, may be you can use that custom recovery to clear the cache.
Search for the methods to root this device.
I will post the link if I can find


text:
Error 495 when downloading apps from Google Play Store via WiFi
I tried downloading apps from Google Play Store via WiFi, but I got error 495.

I tried all the steps like:

Clear cache data from the Play Store app
Delete Google account and recreate it
Factory reset
Rebooting device.

I assure you that the problem is not with the device. It has lots of memory space, so it's not insufficient-memory error. And apps can be downloaded in mobile data. I followed the steps which are provided on the troubleshooting page for "495". But no luck.
Anyone gives me a clear idea of why the apps are not able to download via WiFi only?

It appears that we have many questions for which this question can be marked as duplicate: http://android.stackexchange.com/search?q=495.

@Firelord, I agree with you. But none of those solve this problem. That is why I raised a new question. And for you information I referred many things before posting question here.

I faced this same problem a while ago. I could think of two things here.
1. In my case, I had problem with my router. Other devices connected to the same router had no issues. I had to reset the router and everything worked fine after connecting the device back to it.
2. Then, you say you have 'Clear cache data from playstore app' but have you cleared the cache of all applications? try something like 'cc cleaner'. May be some old installation files/folders of the app you are trying to download, in this case chrome browser, might be causing this problem.

Thanks for your response. I will check with router. And its not for updating the app alone , I coudnt install new apps from Play Store too. Anyway I ll try your router suggestion .

Force stop Google Play Store from Settings and clear the app's cache.
Force stop Google Service Framework and clear the cache.
Reboot Phone.
Check if the problem persists. This should do.

I disabled IPv6 on my router and that seem to have resolved my issue.

Even I faced the same problem while using WiFi
U can try these

Restart the router
Restart the device
Contact ISP
Going to settings and uninstall the updates of play store. As it is a system app, you can revert back to latest version after sometime

Hope it helps


text:
When is native GIF support coming to Android?
When I try to view a GIF in Whatsapp, or the default Android Gallery app - GIFs do not autoplay.
Why is this? When is native support for GIFs coming to Android?

Are you sure that Whatsapp send animated GIFs correctly?

I think that WhatsApp doesn't support GIFs yet, when I received one it was displayed as a still image. But Android does support GIFs, if you download one from the net it should be displayed just fine (at least by Google Photos, but many other app support them). If yours doesn't, is probably because WA converted it to an image only.

To till date now, Android OS don't have native support to run GIF files. For such approach they demand to use a GIF Player or any Media Player who is aware to run GIF (stack of images animated).
E.g. Gallery app, Photos app etc they have features to play gif files.


text:
Stop vibration fedback
How can I stop my HTC m8 from vibration at the start and end of call? I turned off all vibration notifications but still I can't stop my phone from vibrating at the start and end of calls.

Open the Settings application on your device and Navigate to Sound and uncheck the option labelled Vibrate with a description of Vibration feedback for calls.


text:
How can I get the LogCat before my phone restarts?
Recently my phone keeps on restarting randomly through the day, and I would like to trace what is the cause for that.
I tried this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.jtb.alogrec but it doesn't seem to work in Android 6 (It creates the file but it doesn't write anything)
Any ideas on how can I get the logcat or how can I identify the problem?

If the reboots are caused by kernel panics (sometimes the case), you can get the last_kmsg file. It's located at /proc/last_kmsg. This file gets reset every time you restart your phone, so you'll have to grab it soon after a reboot.
Look at the bottom of the file to see why the phone is rebooting. If it's a normal shutdown from an app, it may point to the app that initiated the shutdown. If it's a kernel panic, hopefully it'll tell you what's happening.

Thanks @Carrot. I can't see anything helpful.. This is the last part of the log: http://pastebin.com/5hWZm0SU


text:
Charging works well with new USB cables only
When trying to charge my android devices (Arc S and Nexus 7 (2013)), I noticed that when using new USB-cables, the charging process is going quite fast, but after some weeks (usually four-five) the charging process rapidly slows down, and some weeks later the devices don't charge anymore, i.e. resulting in the need of new cables. Is that a hardware failure, or why do I have to replace the cables every second to third month?

Have you checked the USB contacts for wear and tear? Both in your phone(s) and the cable(s).

The USB contacts in the phone can definitely be old, due to 5 years extensive usage. But why do the cables work at the beginning, and fail later?

Have you considered changing cables as suggested in my solution?

Changing cables works for some months, then I have to change again...

I understand that. Is that the case with thick cables also as mentioned in my answer below, is what needs to be checked

Maybe new cables permit more current flow when they are new than when they are 2 months old, and the stronger current can compensate for the heightened resistance of the worn contacts. This is just speculation, though.

@TamoghnaChowdhury. Your point is valid in two ways 1. Cable resistance will not deteriorate so fast unless it is a poor make (supporting my answer) , 2. Contacts are also adding to resistance probably being old but that will be constant not change with time

cutting open the insulation reveals silver coloured conductors, then it can be the case that they’re made from tinned copper conductors (which are easier to solder) but otherwise are substantially the same for conductivity as for copper. Otherwise, they could be cheap aluminium, which is a worse conductor (68% higher resistivity) and is more mechanically brittle-from comments of post quoted in my answer

Length: Typical ~50 cm, no markings (at least not visible). No extension board used. Cables have to be changed every five to six months.

Thanks. Can you please edit your question, it says " weeks" there.  You just mentioned months. Also adding how many times you already changed in the question, may help someone else guess the reason?

Hardware is not "capable" to decide charging rate based on "newness" or otherwise of cables
In all probability, USB cables you are using are of poor quality, wrong length and thickness
What I would suggest:

Google for "24 awg micro USB cables Less than or equal 2 meter length and purchase from reputed vendor

Why these specs for USB cable? Long explanation but needed to emphasize choosing the right USB cable

Current carrying capacity depends on resistance, for the same Voltage.

Ohm's Law  Current = Voltage divided by Resistance

Resistance in turn depends on thickness

Resistance = Length divided by Area (ignoring resistivity)

Resistance is inversely proportional to the area of the wire
Less area = Thinner Wire = More Resistance = Less Current (you cannot make out thickness of the conductor by looking at it- they all seem to be equally thick but internally the conductor thickness varies)
Similarly, reducing length of wire decreases resistance
Arc S has 800 mA and Nexus 7 has 1150 mA Charging current rating and the cable should support that
Cable Length ,thickness, current rating required for device both matter when choosing the right cable. USB Cable Resistance: Why your phone/tablet might be charging slow relevant to your device specs says

For smartphones, with a requirement closer to 1A, 24AWG wires up to 2m could be sufficient, or 1m at 26AWG, and 50cm at 28AWG.

Nexus 7 is more choosy: It will stop charging if voltage levels drop and resistance comes into play again. Google Nexus 7 Charging goes into details and says

Nexus 7 will stop charging if the input voltage is less than the internal battery voltage plus 0.2 volts.

Use an app like Ampere or 3C Toolbox to measure the charging current (somewhere midway of your regular charging time is a good time to measure, as the values may be different just when you plugged in or towards end of charging)
Calculate the charging time required using the Battery Charge Time Calculator ( choose efficiency of charging at 90 %)

Repeating this test say once a month for a few months at least would give an indication if it is a hardware issue (weird as it sounds). If there isn't a significant change, it only confirms that poor USB cables being culprit

For everyone: USB Cable Resistance: Why your phone/tablet might be charging slow is a useful read to understand why it is a good idea to spend more but buy the right USB cable

It's hard to imagine how a mechanical fault in the cable could cause the charging to get gradually slower, but I admit I don't have a better hypothesis.

@DanHulme :  edited the answer with supporting sources. Point is that these cheap USB cables with use and abuse develop more resistance, ascend this goes worse with time. This is the only explanation that I can think of that fits the situation described by OP


text:
how to enable Android apps to browse user mount points in /mnt
I want to access and work on my remote documents (such as .docx, .xlsx, etc... and pdfs) from within my apps. For this, I have created a cifs mount point from a network sdcard (NTFS v3.1) to my android device in directory /mnt/routersd ; the problem is that some apps such as WPS Office or Adobe Reader don't offer directory list with access to root directories (Ofcourse, the device is rooted). My question is that how these apps can be enabled to explore root directory list such as /mnt/routersd in order for me to open my remote office documents and pdfs through those apps.

I want my mountpoint to be shown in WPS Office directory listing.

Or, to be shown in Adobe Reader directory explorer.

As you see, the pictures in the mountpoint is displayed by QuickPic.

Also, X-plore file explorer can explorer the mountpoint and do copy/delete operations in there.
So, how can I open my remote docs (/mnt/routersd) from within WPS Office and Adobe Reader apps?

Through my research, I couldn't find a way to create a symbolic link in '/sdcard' (my android internal storage) from /mnt/routersd (mountpoint to //192.168.x.x/sdcard); as filesystem for /sdcard in android doesn't support symbolic links.
I also tried busybox mount -o bind /mnt/routersd/ /sdcard/mylink but mylink couldn't be browsed by the said apps (those apps find mylink as an empty directory).
Eventually, I created the symbolic link in my external sdcard, namely sdcard1 (NTFS v3.1), successfully (recent NTFS versions support symbolic links); as follows :
busybox ln -s "/mnt/routersd/" "/storage/sdcard1/mylink"
As Adobe Reader, WPS Office, and many other apps can browse into external sdcard, mylink can be visible in their dicrectory list happily. Now, I can successfully browse my remote files and work on them from within the said apps.


text:
Error "Function not implemented" when creating symbolic link
I'm trying to execute this command busybox ln -s "mydir/" "$PWD"/mylink in order to create a symbolic link from mydir; that, I am receiving the following error ln: /mnt/shell/emulated/0/mylink: Function not implemented! I've tried this in both adb shell and Android Terminal Emulator but to no avail.
Update:
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                   496976        64    496912   0% /dev
devpts                       0         0         0   0% /dev/pts
proc                         0         0         0   0% /proc
sysfs                        0         0         0   0% /sys
selinuxfs                    0         0         0   0% /sys/fs/selinux
debugfs                      0         0         0   0% /sys/kernel/debug
none                         0         0         0   0% /acct
tmpfs                   496976         0    496976   0% /mnt/secure
tmpfs                   496976         0    496976   0% /mnt/asec
tmpfs                   496976         0    496976   0% /mnt/obb
tmpfs                   496976         0    496976   0% /mnt/fuse
none                         0         0         0   0% /dev/cpuctl
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1    774064    420392    353672  54% /system
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2    431368     94172    337196  22% /cache
/dev/block/mmcblk0p8  59034284   5817516  53216768  10% /data
/dev/fuse             59034284   5817516  53216768  10% /mnt/shell/emulated
/dev/block/vold/179:49
                      31632380  25335912   6296468  80% /storage/sdcard1
//192.168.0.1/sdcard  30584780  23082428   7502352  75% /mnt/routersd
//192.168.0.1/sdcard  30584780  23082428   7502352  75% /mnt/shell/emulated/0/routersd

The filesystem you're trying to create the symbolic link on doesn't support symbolic links. All the native Linux filesystems (ext2-4) support symlinks, but the DOS filesystem used on SD cards doesn't, and several others don't. For a filesystem implemented with FUSE (as in this case), it's entirely up to the filesystem driver, so you can't tell whether it supports symlinks or not without trying. You won't be able to create symlinks on those filesystems.

that is not external sdcard (fat/fat32) but the internal storage; supposedly with ext2-4.

@DavidDe It's different from phone to phone, but I'm pretty sure anything in /mnt/*/emulated is going to be its own filesystem, most likely using vfat or some RAM disk format. You can check by running mount and looking for that path.

see UPDATED section; that is the output of busybox df -a

e.g. busybox ln -s /mydir2/ /mylink2 works like a charm in root directory; the problem continues within the internal stroage namely /sdcard.

@DavidDe FUSE (it is another filesystem now) implementation of /data/media/ at /mnt/shell/emulated doesn't support symbolic links in Android. No matter what trick you use, you won't be able to make any use of symbolic links. You can try creating one under /data/media/0/ but as said, when accessed from /sdcard, it would just fail. // You can ask a conceptual question why FUSE used by Android doesn't have such a feature and what kind of filesystem is mounted under /mnt/shell/emulated? That should be asked as a new question, of course.

Found a really smart workaround to bypass this issue

First, we have two environments(I will be referring to them later on)

The android environment

The chroot environment

We want to create a symbolic link from the chroot to the android environment

We can't do that directly so what we do instead is create a directory inside the chroot environment called sym_links. This directory will contain symlinks

I also gave the sym_links directory all permissions and made it owned by everybody so that we don't face any permission complications

chown 9997:9997 /PATH/TO/sym_links -R
chmod 777 /PATH/TO/sym_links -R

Then we will create a symlink to our desired file while being in the android environment then place that symlink we just created inside the sym_links directory.

Then in the android environment, we will mount bind the sym_links directory to an empty directory inside the sdcard while making sure that we are executing this from a global mountspace as root

su -mm
#execute mount commands here

And there you go, you have created a symlink inside the sdcard
How to create a mount bind
mount -o bind /PATH/TO/SOURCE_DIR /PATH/TO/DESTINATION_DIR

How to access global mountspace(using magisk's su)
su -mm

TL;DR: Create symbolic link pointing to your desirable file from within an android environment, place the symbolic link you just created in an environment that can handle symbolic links for eg: chroot environment (or any other path as long as it isnt inside sdcard). Access the global mountspace then create a mount bind from the directory containing the symlink to a directory inside the sdcard


text:
Daydream turns off screen when tapped
I have a daydream enabled, and I have enabled the setting "When to daydream"->"When charging". The daydream starts and displays as expected, but when I tap on the screen to read my notifications, the screen turns completely off rather than turning on and hiding the daydream.
Is there a way to change it so it does not turn off the screen when I tap the daydream? I guess it's a bug...?
I've tried with both the stock clock daydream and a third party one from the store and they behave the same in this manner.
Also - sometimes, this does work (the screen turns on), in exactly the same configuration.
This is on my Nexus 6P with Android 6.0.1

Happens to me too.


text:
Is there a way to set a default send account on Gmail?
So I've decided to try the Gmail app again for email. I really like it, bar one thing.
I cannot seem to specify a default send account. Every time I create an email, it sets it as gmail. I do use Gmail quite a lot, but I also use 2 other accounts frequently.
Is there a way to specify the default send account from the android app (similar to the web client?).

As far as I can tell, no there is no way.  I would put it as an answer, but I can't confirm that 100%.

Yeah, I'm finding lots of sneaky things google does (such as always having your gmail inbox, rather than all inboxes being the default) to get you to use gmail as a primary account. Just was checking in case there was something newer than the years old articles I'd been reading.


text:
Nubia Z9 gives error on starting camera
I bought the nubia z9 mini last year November.
About a week ago this message appears when using the camera:
"camera error"
"Please make sure no other applications occupy the camera, or try to restart the phone. "
I tried restarting but the same error. As requested, I've run adb dumpsys:

> adb shell dumpsys media.camera
Camera module HAL API version: 0x100
Camera module API version: 0x100
Camera module name: QCamera Module
Camera module author: Qualcomm Innovation Center Inc
Number of camera devices: 2 Vendor tags left unimplemented.
Camera 0 static information:
   Facing: BACK Orientation: 90
   Device version: 0x100
   Device is closed, no client instance
Camera 1 static information:
   Facing: FRONT
   Device version: 0x100

I put the New version V3.67 Android Version 5.1.1 [ROM], the error is same.
Can you help me?

the ADB setup and command ready in PC
device connected to PC in debugging mode.
run the camera app.
Disappeared the error, the camera turns on

I was able to solve the problem (thanks to Firelord):
While "being debugged", the camera is turned on. For that, I've simply did the following:

the ADB setup and command ready in PC
device connected to PC in debugging mode.
run adb logcat > d:\dmp\device.log
run the camera app. Disappeared the error, the camera turns on