text:
Nexus 7 System error 'show low battery logo'
Today I finally got my Nexus 7 though the post and turned it on; I was just checking charge. I got an 'out of battery' UI message and the tablet then turned itself off.
I plugged in the USB charger to the wall and attached the Mini-usb to the tablet and waited an hour. Now, when I try hit the on switch the tablet seems to be running, but I'm confronted with a terminal type windows which says 'show low battery logo'. I did some Googling' and I only found on other thread which wasn't much use.
I am unable to go to another menu and it's a simple command line type message, hitting the screen and the home button is not visible.
Should I leave the tablet to de charge (take forever) or should I continue charging?

By searching in Google, I landed in a discussion thread on XDA.  It seems that this issue is a software bug and just to troubleshoot, keep the battery charged fully and see at what level of the battery this issue comes up. And you are being referred in that discussion as well ;-)

I managed to boot the Nexus, by charging via USB.


text:
How to configure BlueStacks App Player to use Proxy settings when connecting to Network?
Bluestacks allows running of Android apps on Windows by emulating the Android OS image.
I recently installed BlueStacks_HD_AppPlayerPro (0.7.0.725) on Windows XP but was not able to download/install any apps because my network requires a proxy. It shows the following error:

I tried using ProxyCaps like freecap, but it did not work for me. How can I configure BlueStacks to use my proxy settings?

I don't know if it can help, but recently I have installed AMD AppZone (based on BlueStacks) and it works smoothly on my laptop behind a proxy, without no particular settings. Have you tested it? Maybe in a recent version they have fixed the problem.

The other answers are way out of date.
BlueStacks installations now includes a command-line utility HD-ConfigHttpProxy.exe to setup a proxy connection. I can't find documentation for this utility anywhere but it's pretty basic:

Using BlueStacks with a Proxy Server

Open BlueStacks. (It has to be open before running the utiity)
Open a Windows command prompt.

(eg. hit +R  →
type cmd → hit Enter )

Change to the BlueStacks program folder.

(eg. cd C:\Program Files\BlueStacks )

Run HD-ConfigHttpProxy.exe :

Usage:
     HD-ConfigHttpProxy.exe set <host> <port>      connect to specified proxy
     HD-ConfigHttpProxy.exe reset                  reset/stop using proxy

For example: HD-ConfigHttpProxy.exe set 123.45.67.890 4444

When prompted, close and re-open BlueStacks.

Alternatively, you can specify other proxy protocols by including it in the <host> in standard syntax.  For example, I used socks://localhost and my custom port number. It took a couple tries but it worked eventually.

To disconnect / reset BlueStacks proxy settings  :

Make sure BlueStacks is running
Open a command prompt
Run command: C:\Program Files\BlueStacks\HD-ConfigHttpProxy.exe reset
Close and re-open BlueStacks.

but using this method, requests from apps (apk) don't go through the proxy. only from the actual BlueStacks.exe does (like when you click the notification icon)

Setting the proxy worked for me.  Resetting the proxy did not.  I gotta reinstall it now, and it didn't cache the install files.

what version of bluestacks did you try this on? bluestacks 10 and 5 don't seem to have HD-ConfigHttpProxy.exe

Not working for C:\Program Files\BlueStacks\HD-ConfigHttpProxy.exe set 127.0.0.1 8888 while I use Charles as proxy

According to Bluestack employee Deepika Sharma:

Currently, we do not support proxy settings in BlueStacks App Player but will definitely consider it in our future release.

This information came from their help forum thread: No network access behind a proxy.

Alex Guerrieri answered stating that it was able to work around this issue using the application you've mentioned. I'm posting a solution here, as I don't know what you have tried:

I found a solution. I used proxycap to redirect Bluestacks through proxy (even with LDAP). You have to download and install the application, set your proxy and create a new rule for HD-Network.exe (found under Bluestack directory in %Program_Files%). It worked for me.

did you try Alex's solution? I tried using a program similar to proxycap, called freecap. But I still got a "Network Unreachable" error.

@akjain I didn't tried yet! My answer was the "not supported" part. I end up mentioning Alex steps to workaround this issue, since you haven't specified which steps you took to try a workaround. I'll give it a go and see if I can came up with a functional workaround.

I have being able to use BlueStacks on my network using cntlm + Proxifier. I use cntlm to authenticate on my proxy and Proxifier as a replacement for Proxycaps/WideCap. Proxifier lets you tunnel your socks connections through the cntlm proxy (http://proxifier.com/)

Use a VPN android app that supports proxy (e.g. AgoVPN) then connect to the VPN and you will access the internet in BlueStacks. I tested it in Bluestack 5 in Windows 10.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
Is it possible to output audio from the speakers while a Bluetooth headset is connected?
In iOS, this is achieved by double-tapping the home button, swiping right twice, and selecting the speakers.
Can this be done in Android?

You can accomplish this by disconnecting the stereo audio (A2DP) profile from your headset. This still keeps your headset paired with the hands-free profile.
You can do this by opening Bluetooth settings, long-pressing your attached device and unchecking Stereo audio.

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


text:
What is the /cache partition?
What purpose does the /cache partition in Android serve? Are there any cases where clearing the /cache partition could result in lost data?

/cache partition is mostly for saving the downloads from Google Play Store, found in /cache/downloads. It also can hold the recovery log found in /cache/recovery called last_log as well (this holds any errors and/or diagnostics from the recovery binary a lá CWM or stock, which will get logged in the file to aid debugging and development of the recovery binary).
There is also another directory in there called lost+found which holds any recovered files (if any) as a result of file-system corruption, such as incorrectly removing the SDcard without un-mounting it.
So really, there is no loss of data from clearing it.
In fact, upon Android boot-up, the script will clear out the /cache/downloads to make way for any new downloads/updates from Google Play Store.

To give a closer overview on filesystems used on Android devices, here's a short table with a selection of the more important ones:
+---------------+------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Mount Point   | File System Type | What to find here                        |
+---------------+------------------+------------------------------------------+
| /proc         | proc             | metadata about the system such as file   |
|               |                  | system statistics                        |
| /data/data[1] | YAFFS2           | almost all app data                      |
| /data[2]      | EXT3/EXT4/YAFFS2 | data from apps (except those stored on   |
|               |                  | /data/data) plus system                  |
| /cache        | YAFFS2/EXT3      | Cache file system used by some apps and  |
|               |                  | by the system                            |
| /mnt/asec     | tmpfs            | unencrypted .apk file (the encrypted     |
|               |                  | counterpart is stored in                 |
|               |                  | /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure; decrypted   |
|               |                  | variant is needed for running systems to |
|               |                  | access/execute                           |
| /app-cache    | tmpfs            | temporary file system used e.g. by the   |
|               |                  | stock-browser on some HTC devices        |
| /mnt/sdcard   | vfat             | FAT32 file system on the SD-card         |
| /mnt/emmc     | vfat             | FAT32 file system on the embedded        |
|               |                  | (internal) eMMC                          |
+---------------+------------------+------------------------------------------+

[1] on older systems, entire /data is just a single partition/file system
[2] on newer devices, /data can be further segemented
You will not find all these file systems on all devices -- but if you find some of them, this list should give you a raw idea.


text:
Offline city map with directions and public transport?
I'm looking for an app which basically is google maps but completely offline. Even with the new feature of offline maps, the directions and the public transport don't work, as well as the street names are not shown.
Is there a real offline alternative to Google maps?

Closely related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2109/google-map-alternatives-with-offline-navigation-support

Cross posted? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11871887/is-there-an-offline-city-gps-with-directions-and-public-transport?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

No, not related. I'm looking spetially for the public transport functionallity, I already have the offline maps with another gps app.
Edit: yes, cross posted, I was told to post it here.

Please delete your other question on Stackoverflow then. OSMAnd is btw. also a viable free&open source alternative well worth a check (it has a free version with map download count limited to 16 or so). In urban areas it's often much more detailed than Gmaps and it has car/bicycle/walk routing modes and many other features. It's based on http://www.osm.org maps

A quick google-fu, which took less than 2 seconds yielded this hit where I got the information from, fyi - keywords without quotes "android gps offline maps"
Possibly two that might be of interest -
NavFree

Navfree is a completely free navigation app that offers turn-by-turn
  directions, spoken and on-screen instructions, offline map use and
  address search and live search via Google and Microsoft Bing, among
  many other features. The maps it uses are available for free download
  from the Navfree Store. The map data is stored on your device so there
  is no need for a constant data connection while driving. It also
  allows you to browse maps anytime, anywhere without paying for data
  connections, which means no costly roaming charges when abroad.

MapDroyd used to be another option, but it was abandoned and has now been removed.

MapDroyd features world-wide off-line maps powered by OpenStreetMap. Experience true unplugged vector maps avoiding expensive network connections.

Apparently, there's a way to do this - as documented over on XDA which enables you to create your offline maps for storage and to be used by the likes of Google Maps etc... Hope it helps! :)

I really recommend to check OSMAnd, it's getting better with each version (it's completely free software!)

'Limitations of Osmand Free - limited number of map downloads; no access to Wikipedia offline POIs' .. not exactly free, there's a paid version as well OSMAnd+

It's open source, I didnt mean free as in beer :-)  and it needs funding http://code.google.com/p/osmand/ If you want to sideload unrestricted versions, there are nightlies/ You can also compile it  yourself.

ahhh .... that's important sentence 'free as in beer' :) cool. will check it out! :) Cheers mate! :D


text:
Android 2.3.5 unlock screen activated unexpectedly
My Android HTC Sense 3.5 running Android 2.3.5 suddenly and out of the blue activates the unlock screen without pressing the power button. That's a problem because it gets unlocked by itself sometimes when it is in my pocket. Is there a special setting to disable this activation of the unlock screen?

I don't know why this happens, but you may be able to combat the problem with Proximity AutoLock.  If the phone's screen is somehow turned on, the proximity sensor should tell the phone to turn its screen off right away.  Now, this works when the power button gets pressed; I would think it would also work when other events turn the screen on, but I'm not completely sure.

You can set up a screen lock that requires more that a keystroke to unlock the phone, as to prevent the phone being unlocked when bouncing around inside your pockets:

Click your phone "menu" button;
Tap "Settings";
Tap "Location & security";
Scroll your way to "Screen unlock" and tap over "Set up screen lock";
Pick your poison, for me it was "Pattern";

After selecting a more robust method to unlock your screen, even if the unlock screen pops up while the phone is in your pocket, it will be virtually impossible unlock the phone that way.

This could work.  I would think an 'L' shaped pattern wouldn't be too much harder than a simple swipe. Is there a limit on how many pattern tries you can have?

@Chance After 5 attempts, the device forces a period of 30 seconds before allowing more attempts, and if the notification doesn't get dismissed, the 30 seconds period doesn't start the count down.

Agree.  I just wondered if his phone is becoming unlocked in his pocket via a swipe action, if an incorrect 2-dot pattern would be possible in his pocket, as well.  But the odds of this happening 5 times would be low, I think.  But yes, it would be impossible for the pin screen to be bypassed.


text:
Phone says it's unable to conference calls
I'd like to do a conference call with my Android phone (running Cyanogenmod 7).  I call one number, then call another.  Then I press "Merge calls", but the phone gives the message "unable to conference calls".  Why would this be?  Interestingly, this doesn't always happen.  Sometimes it succeeds, and gives me a conference call with a "Manage" icon in the middle.  So, why would it sometimes fail?

Is the message on the phone or threw the speaker (ie is it the android OS that is telling you it failed or a recorded message?) If it is the latter then it is likely a restriction enforced by you provider.

It's on the phone screen, in a popup.


text:
How can I get small parts of Cyanogenmod like sound files?
Is there an easy way to get parts of Cyanogen Mod, for example the sound files? I'm sure that I can probably pull the source and download individual elements (pictures, sound files, etc) but this seems time consuming and potentially difficult.

Yes, there is a way to do it, use CyanogenMod's github - for reference - this applies across the board whether with AOSP, CAF, CM, AOKP, its found in frameworks/base/data.

You have to go to "downloads" and then download the whole thing, then you can cherry pick what you want from the archive.

not necessarily, the OP can clone just the android_frameworks_base to their PC and can get at the data directory. There is no other way of doing it :)


text:
ad on statusbar

Possible Duplicate:
How can I find out which app is putting ads in my notification bar?

Sometimes I get ads on statusbar. These ads came from some free apps. I have lots of installed apps and I can't figure out from which app the ads come from.
Is there any solution to find the app? I would like to uninstall it to get rid of this messages.
Or is there any solutions to block the ads? My phone is not rooted and I don't want to root.
Hubi

Related: How can I find out which app is putting ads in my notification bar?, Is this red star icon malware? How to get rid of it?, Is there a reliable way to detect the app responsible for an Airpush ad?

@eldarerathis You must close this question because its a duplicate...

One more: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/21151/red-star-and-green-cross-icons

The solution use this AirPush Detector  - This will flag the apps installed that are doing this intrusive advertising on the status bar.
Personally, and for that reason alone, I steer clear of those kind of apps and uninstall them and nuke it. They are not worth my time to download from.

Report it to Google
Name and shame the developer and their app.
Post 1 star negative reviews and share it with others and get them to blog it, post it to reddit and warn others about it.

From what I can recall, Jelly Bean has the capability to block those status bar notifications? Feel free to reply to correct me if I am wrong :)
Edit:
As Izzy has pointed out

According to the updated Playstore guidelines, this technique got banned. For the next couple of weeks it's "grace time" -- but apps having airpush or the like built in will get removed starting in September.

Stay clear? Sure. But I would also report such an app to Google. According to the updated Playstore guidelines, this technique got banned. For the next couple of weeks it's "grace time" -- but apps having airpush or the like built in will get removed starting in September, AFAIR (30d grace time -- I just don't remember its start day)

Stay clear? I did not say that but that's good to know anbout the grace time period from google. :)

AFAIK you are correct that since JB you can find out who (i.e. which app) placed something in the notification area, and to forbid notifications per-app (I have no JB to check, but that's what the changelog says). My opinion on apps using AirPush and similar intrusive ads: 1) report, 2) uninstall, 3) never buy the Pro, 4) do not buy any other app from such developers, 5) make this approach public. So they kill their own business and should be aware of it -- to prevent similar strategies at least to a certain degree (if they know they might think twice).

Yeah, I should have stated, report it and out the developer, give 1 star negative reviews and post it on reddit's /r/android and get the pitchforks ready! :)

exactly! Heat the tar and pluck the chickens! Let's shoot back (not with the chickens, that could cause trouble with Rovio)! :D

LOL! :D Nice one sir! clap clap clap

There are several apps you can use to find which apps are employing which ad networks. Try searching for "ad network detector".
Personally, I've used Lookout Ad Network Detector.


text:
Having a look at the contents of the Phone Memory?
In my Samsung Galaxy Y mobile phone, I am able to see the contents of my Memory Card but I am not able to see the contents (the files and folders) that are saved in the internal memory of my mobile.
Is it possible to have a look at it only after rooting the mobile phone? Is there any app for doing so?

You would need to root your phone.
For file managers with root access, you can try Astro or Root Explorer. If the app loads the default folder, keep going up the parent folder until you can no longer move up; that will be the root folder.


text:
Mounting and Unmounting of Memory Card just by touch?
I am using a Samsung Galaxy Y mobile phone. In my mobile's settings, I see an option to "Unmount the Memory Card for Safe Removal", so it is possible to unmount the memory card without actually removing the card or connecting the mobile with a computer.
I was wondering whether it is possible to Mount the Memory Card back again without actually removing the unmounted card and inserting it again?
A situation in which it may be useful:
I have an Android phone and there is a lot of personal stuff that I cannot let anyone see. I store all the apps containing the personal data in my memory card. Many of my friends and/or Girlfriend ask me my mobile to "check it out"/"play games" etc... At that point of time, I unmount my memory card with just a touch, give it to them and when I get it back I mount the memory card again with just a touch. I do it right in front of them and they have no idea.

I have a Samsung I9305 running 4.4.4 and on my phone there's a "mount SD card" button that appears in the very same place that the "unmount" button was prior to unmounting.

NOTE: I am on Samsung Galaxy S2, Android 4.0.3
Elixir for Android has an "sd mount toggle" feature. It could unmount a removable card (/mnt/sdcard/external_sd), but not (/mnt/sdcard). I could not get it to mount by clicking the toggle again, but a restart [toggle also available] will mount the removable card. This is probably a bug with Elixir; and I will try to contact the developer.

It looks like I made a mistake. I should have mounted /mnt/emmc, not /mnt/sdcard/external_sd. The toggle works (mount, unmount).

Is this working on Android 4.4 or above?


text:
Multiple Pattern Locks at the same point of time
Is it possible to have multiple pattern lock implemented in an android device to increase it's security. I know that it must be possible to design an app to do that, but my question is whether any app has already done it?
Asking a Similar Question, is it possible to install more than one app that lock my screen with pattern lock and use them simultaneously? Will it cause any kind of clashes or other troubles?

To answer the first question - That singular pattern where at minimum four dots must be joined, is built into Android, if you want to have multiple patterns, that requires modding the source and rolling your own ROM which is outside the scope of this site.
Now, onto the second question "is it possible to install more than one app that lock my screen with pattern lock and use them simultaneously? Will it cause any kind of clashes or other troubles?"
That depends on the app, the lock-screen is within the framework of Android itself, unless the app over-rides the built-in lock-screen mechanism, then there should not be any clashes. The important keyword is over-ride.
If the said alternative lock-screen clashes then that's down to poor programming effort. :)


text:
I need a way to trace GPS trails in the background
I have tried several GPS apps over the months, but so far all have fallen short of what I want. My needs are:

Takes a location at short intervals, and writes it to a file (KML or similar open format).
Keeps the GPS active between points, rather than turning it off and restarting a fix each time.
Starts tracking a path as soon as it is launched, without needing to press buttons or choose menus.
Continues tracing in the background or with the screen off.

Applications I have tried:

GPS Trace: Meets criteria 2, 3, and 4; fails 1. Defunct (no longer on market)
GPS Logger: Meets criteria 1, 3, and 4; fails 2.
GPS Essentials: Meets criteria 1 and 2, fails 3 and 4.
Tasker: Meets criteria 3 and 4, 2 partially, fails 1.

Is there a solution for GPS tracking that meets these criteria? I would be happy to pay for such an app, especially if it included additional features such as the ability to be turned on or off from Tasker. Thank you.

As a developer, I am not inclined to the 3rd need. Starting a GPS while launching an app is not possible due to restriction in API. Hence, my app will fail or will start logging invalid entries on start. Hence from developer's point of view the 3rd use case seems to be not worthy. See a related post: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4498075/start-android-gps-service

OsmAnd could be worth a check (its in fact a full fledged offline map/navigation app). You need to enable plugins 'background' and 'tracking'

Considering how many apps can do this @Narayanan, I'm not sure I understand your comment. Enabling GPS cannot be done by an app... but that's not the same as starting to trace, when the GPS is already enabled.

GPS Logger suits all your needs (2 is an option you can turn on)

GPS Logger has been updated to now allow constant logging! And while My Tracks does almost everything right, it did require a separate Tasker plugin. More, it failed to create a new track after being turned off. So, nearly a year later, I'm switching to this.

If you are ready to compromise the third requirement, Google's My Tracks, fits your other needs perfectly.

Since My Tracks can be turned on and off via Tasker, My Tracks serves every purpose. Thank you very much for the answer... no compromise!

Tasker can write location to KLM file: Did you see this gps tracker made in Tasker xml (http://tasker.wikidot.com/tracker) it creates a kml file and stores
Acc:%LOCACC Prv:%LOCPRV Spd:%LOCSPD Alt:%LOCALT  into that file.
To view a KML file that Tracker creates you can either:

view it in the Google Earth Android apo
upload it to your desktop and open it with Google Earth.
upload it to the web, and put the URL to the KML in the search box of Google Maps. This still only works on a desktop computer, but allows the viewing of a kml or kmz file without installing Google Earth.
several other tools exist for publishing kmz files.

I did not. I'm still happy with the GPS Logger solution, but this looks like it would also work, and require no external dependencies.

Trace my Trail is not only a GPS logger but you can also insert POIs and indication and get alarms when you are following the recorded track.

Third wish indeed seems to be a show-stopper. Sacrificing that, you might want to take a look at Locus Maps, which gives you the additional benefit of being an offline/offroad navigation with many map sources buit-in to download from. Plenty add-ons available, too.
Might ask the developer (e.g. on his forum) to add Tasker support. As he's very responsive, chances are quite good he will like and implement the idea. If so, item #3 would be solved as well.


text:
Application doesn't get installed : insufficient storage available
I have around 50MB of internal storage left and some 1.7 GB of external storage left in my phone. But when I try to download and install any application from google android store,I get a message insufficient storage and the application though downloaded doesn't get installed. Why is this ? Earlier it worked fine from the same store.
For instance yesterday when I tried to install whats app I got the same message. What can I do about this ?

Please check Something is secretly eating up my tablet memory and I need help finding it which discusses this issue.

possible duplicate of "Insufficient storage" when trying to install anything on htc thunderbolt

I have had this in the past and been able to fix it by rebooting the device

restarting the device ? I have done it many times

While not directly answering your question the Apps2SD app might be helpful here, not just to move apps from internal memory but for it's feature to clear the cache of all apps in one go. If you have installed a lot then it can be a bit of a chore to go into each and choose Clear Cache. This app allows you to do them all in one hit.

same kind of a situation happened to my SMASUNG GALAXY S2 and i could solve it by following the below steps

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

thank you..


text:
Where can I find official statistics of most downloaded android app in play market?

Possible Duplicate:
Is there a way to see the top apps across all categories?

Where can I find official statistics of most downloaded android app in play market? I would like to check which app in google market was most downloaded? Age wise, Geneder wise, Country wish, device wish, I know Android Developer Console gives statistics about the app I uploaded. But I would like to have some berif statistics about good apps/most downloaded apps in google play.
I can see lot of third party blogs - sorting n rating apps and prearing TOP 10, TOP 50 kind of list. but I can see its not official or proven.

There is no official way. See appbrain.com


text:
How can I change file permissions on Jelly Bean?
My rooted Galaxy Nexus is on Jelly Bean (4.1.1) with a super user application. I want to install sinhala font into the phone, and for that I've tried to copy the font file (droidfallbackcens.ttf) to the font folder in my phone using the root explorer app. But it says that I have only read permissions on my phone.
I have googled this issue and tried several methods (most of those methods were about ICS), but I haven't been able to change file permissions to get "read write execute", can anyone help me with this?

You may need to remount your file system to enable write. I'm not sure how that's done with Root Explorer, but from the Terminal it looks something like:
mount -o rw,remount /partition/name/

You can get the partition name by typing mount without any parameters.

If you are using the Speed Software Root Explorer application then you might be holding your phone wrong! -guffaws
No really! When I hold the phone in portrait view I can't get access to the little button in the interface that puts that directory into R/W mode (Read/Write):

Hold your phone in landscape view when you navigate to that folder. When you get there you will see the little button to 'Mount R/W':

Remember to turn it back to 'Mount R/O' (Read/Only)
If this doesn't fix your issue then I will wonder if you actually have root access. Just saying...
Good luck (:


text:
Ringtones and alarms changes randomly
3 weeks ago my HTC EVO 3d (rooted, S-OFF and with LEEDroid latest ROM) started to randomly change ringtones and alarm tones (mainly at reboot, but occasionally during normal use).
If I restore the right tones settings then the right tones are played, until I reboot the phone. When the phone restarts (and sometimes also without rebooting) tones changes again.
New tones are random, but the pool is limited to a very small subset of the tones I have availables (the tones I use more often) Some of them are on internal memory and some of them are on SD.
Moreover, another problem appeared at once: the alert tone for received mail in the mail app (NOT gmail) should be the one set in the "message" setting (in Mail there's no place to set a separate tone) but on my phone it is not... it's another tone that I never set anywhere.
Already tried to fix permissions, check for SD errors, but no result.
There's something I can check to see what is failing in the system? I can use adb and all the development tools if needed.


text:
Why my phone battery has four terminal? what is the use of the fourth?
I have a LG Optimus One (P500). For sometime I am wondering why my phone's battery has four terminals. I am aware that two terminals are for the positive and negative points and the the third connects to the battery's internal thermistor to monitor its temperature. Still that leaves me puzzled with what the fourth terminal could be for?
Interestingly my phone has only three terminal where as the battery has four. I have searched for answers in Google but no useful results other than description about temperature monitoring comes up.
Also since another doubt also lies in the same image, what is the port that is marked as "A" in the following image? It appears to me as some sort connector and my guess is that it is a connector to a cable with which manufacturers can access something deep in hardware. The Nokia phones which I had also had this feature and I guess this should be common for all phone then.

Update: I am more keen on knowing what the fourth terminal on the battery does rather than why there are three in phone and four in battery. As @Axeman said, this battery could be used in other phones (of LG) as well.

I don't think this question is related to Android.

My guess is it's for NFC, my Galaxy Nexus has 4-pins and all 4-pins exist in both battery and phone. Even if the battery itself does not have NFC, I guess it's still going to be cheaper, manufacturing-wise, to only have a single form factor for both NFC-enabled battery and non-NFC battery.

Ahaa, upon prodding the Google with this clue, I landed up in AndroidForums.com and 'binary visions' said: NFC circuitry in the main board will have the chunky battery between it and NFC readers and hence a RFID antenna is kept in battery and the connection from the circuitry goes through this 4th terminal.

The battery model is LGIP-400N which is used in the Optimus (GT540), Optimus One (P500), GM750, GW620. The GAlaxy Nexus has also 4 terminals, the fourth and another is used for the NFC antenna (see Why is the NFC in the Galaxy Nexus battery?). It could be that one of the models includes extra functionality like the GN and just the battery got reused for your model (not changing the 4th terminal). EDIT: all of the other models also only use 3 of the 4 terminals (maybe they got rid of the 4th for price reasons but didn't change the battery)

And what's the problem that you're trying to solve? How will this help future readers?

I don't mind if it has to closed or removed. but to answer the above question, I have learned that the battery plays an important role with Nfc. Choosing a replacement battery without this thought might resultin loss off NFC capabilities.

It varies from OEM and you need to look at battery pin out diagrams to be sure- searched but couldn't find your device. This , and This are two sources for pin outs I am aware of. Related my answer for Samsung quoting electronics SE reference

As @Axeman said, the connector is an Ultra Small Surface Mount Coaxial connector (quite a mouthful and still could not get how it was abbreviated as U.FL) which is a kind of expansion port which could be used for any radio communication, including GSM, WiFi, GPS.
And as @Lie Ryan said, the fourth terminal in the battery is for connecting the antennae in the battery to NFC circuitry on the motherboard.  Few searches in Google confirmed this and gives raise to following information:
Those who have NFC in their phones, may lose the NFC capabilities if they try to replace with cheap and duplicate batteries which may not have the NFC antennae as said here.
I am summing up all the points to make this question as answered. I was unable to accept @Axeman's answer as complete as it did not answer the NFC part and @Lie Ryan had added as a comment only.
Kudos for them both!
Update: I happen to get hold of LG P500's service manual which confirms the RF connector with the following image tagged as SW1001.

Connector A seems a U.FL-R-SMT-10 and probably is for an external/additional antenna.

U.FL, is a miniature coaxial RF connector for high-frequency signals
  up to 6 GHz manufactured by Hirose Electric Group in Japan.1 U.FL
  connectors are commonly used inside laptops and embedded systems to
  connect the Wi-Fi antenna to a Mini PCI card. Female U.FL connectors
  are not designed with reconnection in mind, and they are only rated
  for a few reconnects before replacement is needed. The female U.FL
  connectors are generally not sold separately, but rather as part of a
  pigtail with a high-quality 1.32 mm doubly shielded cable, which
  allows for a low-loss connection.

(from Wikipedia)

+1 Thanks for the info on connector. Can't accept as answered as the battery terminal question is still not solved.

It's likely that you'll never have an answer to that question. Battery could be used in more than one phone model, with different mechanical connections, and that pin could simply be connected to one of the other battery pins. I can't be sure, but I bet my two cents on this :-)

Talking about LG, it's likely this is not any kind of NFC. I have an LG phone with 4-pin port on the phone and 4-pin battery. When I cover the 4th pin with some masking tape, the phone complains the battery is not genuine and refuses to boot picture.
A quick poke with a logic analyzer has shown me that there's a communication between phone and battery of some kind. Conclusion - it's "battery DRM", used at least on some LG phones (mine is LG Tribute). If your LG phone has 4 pin battery port, it's got this "DRM". If not, it simply doesn't care.

Nice answer - irrespective of whether I can verify it or not.

The extra connections on the battery are for an NTC thermistor within the battery so the phone can monitor the battery temp. How else do you think the phone can display the battery temp? Std on iphones, some Androids can also display it with the right software installed but it does monitor it during charging etc to protect the phone and battery from fire risk.

"How else do you think the phone can display the battery temp?" People don't necessarily know how these things work hence the reason questions are asked. Monitoring the battery temp doesn't protect it from anything unless there is some form of built in protection that shuts the power down if it gets too hot. Not all phones do, and in fact most protection of this type is built into the charger, not the phone.


text:
phone mounts as media device not usb storage
My Samsung Galaxy SII used to mount normally as a USB drive in Ubuntu until the 4.0.3 upgrade. Now the only two options are:

connect as Media Device (MTP)
connect as Camera (PTP)

neither of the above works properly with Ubuntu 12.04 so I could browse and manage files on the phone and the SD card.
Does Android 4.1 not support the device to be mounted as USB drive anymore?? I tried turning on USB Debugging in developer options but no difference...

Related: Why can't I see Android storage as a partition on PC?

Actually, this is even easier: http://www.computerandyou.net/2012/01/how-to-fix-android-samsung-galaxy-s2-not-recognized-on-linux/
Android 4.0.3 does still have the USB Mass Storage feature, it's just hidden in "Other Network Settings" where one would not really expect it...

UMS (USB Mass Storage) was replaced by MTP somewhere with, at latest, ICS. Some kernels still may contain for UMS, but most won't anymore. So here are your options:

Check the market for Apps which can enable UMS again (I heard mentioned a few who should be able doing so, including AL Mass Storage Manager, USB Mass Storage Watcher, and Usb Host Controller -- but no guarantees whatsoever, as I didn't try any due to lack of ICS devices
install the mtp packages on Ubuntu (apt-get install mtp-tools)

Some helpful information on the second point:

Connect your Android Ice Cream Sandwich
How to mount an MTP device as a drive


text:
FakeGGSearch.a - Lookout found a virus on my Android Phone
I use Android 2.1update1 and installed Lookout, and now Lookout says that: "FakeGGSearch.a" is a trojan, but I can't uninstall it!
Now what? What can I do about this? Google didn't returned any results..

Maybe post a question here: https://support.mylookout.com/forums

Can you include more details? Didn't your Lookout specify where that Trojan was found? Say, any app mentioned along where the Trojan was attached to? They don't come stand-alone: As Odysseus at Troy needed the horse to "plug in", those Trojans need an App to plug in. Probably you installed something lately, and maybe even from some, let's say, "3rd party source"?

Where are you located? This seems like it might be localized to Germany. For what it's worth, I use Lookout and nothing came up on my recent scan. (I'm using Android 4.0.4.)

I am from Romania, and I have the same message today on a HTC Hero running Android 2.1, that I didn't use in a while; I have several other devices on Android 2.2-4.1, with Lookout installed, but none gave that message.

I have had a Lookout update since this question was posted. Is this still happening? Fixing a false positive wasn't mentioned in the change log, but still...

I had the same problem this morning.
Lookout reported this trojan, and it says it's part of Google Search Enhanced. When I try to uninstall I get a message saying the uninstall failed.
When I first searched for it there were no results on Google. Now there are several. So this seems to be a very new problem that people have started to see this morning.
I ran a different antivirus and it found no problems.
The phone has had no new apps installed for some time, so I'm hoping this is a false positive from Lookout.


text:
any pdf reader with annotation feature (open source)?
I am looking for a pdf reader for android which can also  annotate, select, highlight text. Any open source option?
Like Foxit Reader?

Why are you dropping Foxit?

Please note that recommendations like Is there an app for X are off-topic here (see What topics can I ask about here? for details). For where your question might fit better, you might want to look into Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast questions? and Where to ask for app recommendations?.

Adobe Reader X for Android v10.3 now supports annotation, highlights and commenting. It is not open source, but it is free to the end user.
There are currently no open source Android PDF utilities that have worthwhile annotation features. This wiki page at the University of Massachusetts Boston lists several open source android PDF viewers, with links: http://howto.wikispaces.umb.edu/PDF+Annotation+with+Android
(I can't post a reply containing more than two links, my apologies.)

I'm using ezPDF Reader, and it has the features you need.
But I don't know what you mean by Open Source. Maybe FREE? If yes, ezPDF Reader has a paid and a somewhat reduced (but not free) lite version.

If you mean ezPDF Reader Lite as free, then you might be wrong. It is still a priced app though at 50% of the cost of the pro version.

@Narayanan Just checked; you're right. Lite is paid app. Was it ever free before? [Bought it Pro, though]

There is a ezPDF Reader API for Android that will cost you around $16K per year.

@geffchang: "don't know what you mean by Open Source."
See, e.g., here. I'm not sure if this translation is any good, but, FWIW, "open source software" -> google translate -> "開源軟件"

I don't know of an opensource pdf editor (and i don't know if you can find one with many features), but Xodo is a great free (but not opensource) pdf editor. I even like it more than ezPDF. A while ago (2016/2017), I searched many pdf apps and xodo was the best one in my opinion.


text:
Searching for factory image of NTT DOCOMO GALAXY Nexus?
i am in search of factory image for my new NTT DOCOMO GALAXY Nexus from japan ... i have checked on https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images but could not found for Android 4.0.4 (IMM76K) GSM/HSPA+
actually i wanted to root my device using nexus root toolkit application and that application has detected my device as GSM/HSPA+ , But on the https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images link there is Factory Images "mysid" for Galaxy Nexus "toro" (VZW CDMA/LTE) Android 4.0.4 (IMM76K)
I am not sure CDMA/LTE image can be used, if anything will go wrong while rooting so i can use image to flash device.
please help/suggest me!!

possible duplicate of Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

This is a slightly different question though.  Google doesn't really do a great job explaining the differences between the numerous GNex variants.

Hardware-wise, the NTT DoCoMo (SC-04D) and the version sold on Google Play Store (GT-i9250) are identical.  You should be able to use one of the "maguro" takju factory images (ICS or JB.)  Definitely do NOT use the CDMA/LTE image.


text:
can't get the exact position in Map
Goal:
Get exactly position in Maps (google map) from my Galaxy SII
Problem:
I don't get the exact position in Maps from where I'm standing.

It is not clear whether the Google Maps gets its location from GPS or from WiFi or from GSM tower. If your device does not get location info from GPS, it will look for known WiFi and finally resorts to CellId from the tower. The accuracy of your location decreases drastically from former to the latter. Can you ensure you had switched on your GPS? And are your device seeing a clear sky to pick up the satellites?

I often have clear sky and I always use GPS then WiFi. From my experience I get more accurate position by WiFi.

It's difficult to get decent GPS position inside buildings or covered areas. Try going outside; you'll get faster GPS locks.
Don't worry, you're not alone. I have the same problem.
Check out FasterFix / FasterGPS as well. They can help improve your GPS locks.

In my case, it doesn't matter If I'm located inside or outside.

@Legato Did you just buy the phone recently? Did it happen before, or only now?

I got SII by a friend. I hade it for 2 month and my friend had it for 4 month. When I got it in my hand, it didn't give any accurate data.

@Legato Maybe he sold it to you with "hidden defects"? Have you tried upgrading your Android [currently 4.0.3, but there's also 4.0.4 in certain countries], and see if it improves your GPS?


text:
WinSCP for android equivalent
Is there a drag/drop ssh client for android so I can connect to my home server via ssh and easily transfer files from server to android phone? something like winSCP for Windows?

Isn't there a variant of ConnectBot with support for file transfer added?

ES File Explorer is one that can use the secure FTP protocol over ssh protocol.
To get the settings, from ES File Explorer:

Hit menu key, Show Tabs, Local, LAN, FTP, NET appears
Tap on FTP
Then tap on New that appears underneath, a dialog box will appear prompting the different FTP types, tap on SFTP

Enter the details of the ssh server that hosts the secure FTP protocol

ES File Explorer will remember the next time, so tap on the server, and then you can browse the file system of the remote server and upload/download files

How can we ues .ppk key for SFTP?

@Thompson .ppk keys are specifically for PuTTY. It's more standard to use an id_rsa or id_dsa style OpenSSH key. You can use PuTTYGen to convert your .ppk to an OpenSSH style key.

I used to use ES File Explorer, but over the past couple of years it has become bloated and laggy on my phone, so I've removed it and replaced it with File Manager + which is much lighter weight. It doesn't do everything that you can do in ES File Explorer, but cut & paste style SFTP is one of the things it does quite nicely.

Ghost Commander If you want to go to an opensource client you'll have to add the SFTP Plugin
AndFTP is another client is another alternative but with publicities

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


text:
Looking for a way to shrink the size of MP3 files
I have a lot of MP3 files on my phone and I would like to re-size them to save space. (Note: I do not want to trim the audio file.)  I know I may lose some quality, but it is fine.
What is the best way to do this?  Perhaps an app? (Free is preferred)

I've re-worded the question for clarity, and made it sound less like an app shopping request.

Is doing this on the phone itself a requirement?  There are a myriad of both paid and free applications for Windows/Mac/Linux that can easily manipulate audio files by down-sampling them or converting to other more efficient formats to save on storage space.

It is easier to me have that on the phone.

For doing the conversion on device itself, I would suggest searching the Google Play Store for audio conversion apps.  Several results look like viable candidates: The File Converter and Convert Audio, for example.  The features to look for are downsampling, changing bitrate and frequency, conversion to more efficient formats like OGG, AIC or FLACC.  I recommend trying each app yourself on one or two MP3 files to see if you get the results you want.  Play Store's 15-minute refund policy should give you enough time to figure out if the app is worth the price.
With that said, I would highly recommend doing the conversion on your PC instead.  First, by copying your MP3s from the phone to the PC you are making a backup.  Just in case something goes wrong during the conversion process, you will not lose the original file from your handset.  Second, there are a lot more choices in terms of software on Windows/Mac/Linux for audio file manipulation (especially the free and open-source variety,) and may also be able to do this in batch (i.e. convert multiple files automatically.)


text:
Is it possible to perform a complete reinstall on an Android smartphone?
I occasionally perform such a reinstall on my Windows PC. I repartition my hard drive, format the partitions, and then install Windows on a blank partition. Can this be done on an Android smartphone? (I have an unlocked Sony Xperia S.)

Yes, it's very possible. Basically you can flash a ROM (custom or stock) very easily, and this is equivalent to a full format and reinstall.
Basic steps would be:

Acquire preferred ROM and transfer to SD card / internal memory
Reboot into Recovery (Hold Volume Up as you power up the phone)
Flash ROM

This is covered more in depth at these links (XDA is a great resource):
Overall "guides" for the Xperia S
"Guide" to flashing the Xperia S (it's a fairly light-on-detail guide though, it is a very simple process)

I would add that in most cases, a factory restore from recovery will bring a stock (an non-rooted) Android device back to its original state.  Factory reset wipes out all user data, and since the system partition is read-only and isn't touched during normal operation, that is usually sufficient.  For rooted devices where system partition(s) are modified (and especially if a custom ROM was installed,) the above is the best way to get a device back to its original state.

Not a problem - just amused me at the time. I should have added a smiley face to indicate that. ;) Best of luck! I generally find the most difficult thing is the key combination to get to recovery, as it changes due to availability of h/w buttons. I'll try and find it and add it to my answer. Also removed the "complaint".

@Chahk My device came with preinstalled apps (e.g. McAfee, and some T-mobile crapware), and a carrier logo animation on device boot. I'm not sure that those would be cleared with a factory restore. It's for that reason I'm thinking about a complete reinstall. I would like to get rid of all that preinstalled and carrier-specific stuff, and get a clean Android install.

To do that you'll need to root and install a Custom ROM.

@ŠimeVidas Pre-installed apps most definitely would not be removed with a factory restore, since carriers and manufacturers place them in read-only areas.

It should be added that a factory reset does not touch the /system partition (where Android system files are stored). So if you root your device, it stays rooted. If you flash a CustomROM, it would not revert to stock by a factory reset. Just /data and caches are "wiped" -- so all app data and user-installed apps plus all configuration is gone after this.

@Izzy Absolutely correct.  In my comment when I said "For rooted devices ...  the above is the best way to get a device back to its original state", by "the above" I meant jeeva's answer (i.e. ROM flashing)

Note that the device's warranty may be void after flashing any ROM, even a vanilla stock ROM. Check your warranty details.


text:
Why can't the su binary simply be copied (techical response please)
I have rooted several Samsung devices and the underlying "goal" so to speak seems to be to get the su binary in /system/xbinand install Superuser.apk.
My question is why does one have to jump through all of these hoops to root the phone (install custom recovery and flash pre-rooted ROM or exploit the current installation)?  Couldn't one just download a precompiled su, move it to the SD card, and run it via adb?  The thing that seems to make a ROM "pre-rooted" is that it has Superuser and the su binary in their respective system paths.  I don't see why it is so important that it is ran from /system/xbin.

The su binary needs both the execution and the setuid permission bit set. The first is needed that the file can be executed and the second is that it automatically runs with the file owner's rights (set user id, or setuid. In this case the owner is root. Read more here).
Files on the external storage don't have the executable and setuid permission bits set and it cannot be granted without root rights. Note also that the SD card is mounted with the 'noexec' flag to prevent execution generally to boot:
shell@android:/sdcard $ ./su
/system/bin/sh: ./su: can't execute: Permission denied
126|shell@android:/sdcard $ chmod 4755 su
Unable to chmod su: Operation not permitted
10|shell@android:/sdcard $ mount | grep /mnt/sdcard
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/sdcard vfat [...],noexec,[...]

That's basically why you can't just copy su onto the SD card and then run it to grant yourself root.

So that's the only thing that prevents rooting, the fact that /sdcard is not executable and you can't chmod?  Once su is in the appropriate location where it can be chmodded executable your golden.  I would think there would be a layer of security to prevent someone from simply running su.  On my server and debian box I can't just run su as a normal user, I am prompted for a password.  I guess the assumption is that if one can install su they can overwrite the shadow file to change the password?

@user974896: Well there's nowhere else for a non-system user to put it that it can be executed, and Android doesn't even have passwd or shadow files anyway. You quite literally need root to put su in an executable location, which is why rooting methods either involve a privilege escalation exploit or getting into a custom recovery (where all bets are basically off).

Yes. This is the answer.

@user974896: in addition to the /sdcard being mounted noexec, the setuid system call can only be called when the suid permission bit is set in the executable, and chown and chmod system call will only allow root to set the setuid bit of a file owned by root (effectively, only root can create an executable that can runs with root privileges). Anyone can call su, but unless the caller is allowed to do so in Superuser's database (or in traditional Linux, in the passwd/shadow database), the call will not succeed. Only the Superuser app (and privileged processes) can modify Superuser's database.

@user974896: This, in addition to the normal security system in Android in which each dalvik application runs as its own user, means that applications that only application in Superuser's whitelist can escalate itself to root without prompt, everyone else will get refused (if it's in blacklist), or will cause Superuser to prompt the user for permission.

Rooting involves exploiting the weakness depending on the android version, hence "jump through all of the hoops to root the phone"
Its a chicken-and-egg!
In order to exploit root, you need a unsecured adb daemon (i.e. the capability to remount /system) on the handset, and in order to have an unsecured adb, you need root! AND also, you need a unlocked bootloader.
Have a look at one exploit called zergRush found on github; the function of interest is called do_fault() where an attempt is made to "break" the stack-frame of the vold's daemon by connecting to the pipe owned by it, and cause it to crash by over-writing the stack pointer to point to a copied version of the shell boomsh which then runs from /data/local/tmp.
After reading the source, you will now realize, why copying the su binary is not enough to have the handset "rooted" and why hoops must be jumped through. And also, as the executable bit on the file-system level for the SDcard is blocked, so no go there - that is there for obvious reasons! :)

Thanks for the links I will be reading them over later.  So even if the sdcard was chmodded 777 from the factory I still could not become root by simply downloading and executing it?

correct! No go! Does not make an iota of a difference and since the factory installed ROM will have that protected a lá you need root to achieve that chmod-ding the SDcard's permissions to do that! :)

Well what makes su so special if it's in /system/xbin?  If you enter adb shell (or run an app as a normal user) you are an unprivilaged user.  Why does executing su when it's in /system/xbin make you root as opposed to running it in our theoretically chmod 777 /sdcard?

/system/xbin is the directory where the busybox utilities go into, and... in a rooted handset, issuing this echo $PATH will yield /sbin:/vendor/bin:/system/sbin:/system/bin:/system/xbin <- notice it! Its in the path! In order to have that in there, you need root hence a lot of chicken-and-eggs situations... :D

Yes I know that's where it goes by default.  What I mean is what is so special about running it there.  Why would executing ./su in /sdcard/, /data/, or any non-root required directory not work assuming the factory shipped the ROM with the directory chmodded at 777.  What I basically mean is the only thing that stops one from downloading and running ./su is the fact that the directories in which a nonroot user can do this in are non executable or is there a bigger picture.

Let's go to the chat room to spare all this comments....

let us continue this discussion in chat


text:
Disabling the "Wi-Fi networks available" on Samsung Galaxy S II (Sprint Epic Touch 4G) on ICS
If I'm away from my saved Wi-fi networks, and have the Wi-Fi radio on, I'm always getting a "Wi-Fi networks available" notification. I can dismiss the notification, but then it comes back within a few minutes.
I can't figure out how to disable that notification. I'm on a Sprint Epic 4G Touch  (Sprint's variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II), recently updated to ICS.
I remember this being a simple setting in Gingerbread, but I can't find the appropriate setting in ICS.

From the Wi-Fi settings page, tap menu and choose Advanced. From the Advanced Wi-Fi settings, uncheck "Network notification". It's only for open networks, but those are the only ones that ICS on the Epic Touch 4G reports.


text:
Tablet apps sounds does not work anymore
This morning I was listening music using grooveshark and the speakers of a Pantech P4100 Tablet. the player stopped playing.
Now -even after restarting and resetting to factory settings-, only the notifications and alarms make sound. the apps do not sound.
Nonetheless, if I plug my headphones it works (appsm notifications and alarms)
How can I fix the integrated speaker sounds?

The problem is caused because the OS thinks you connected your headphones. I saw that problem in iOS some years ago. Use this app to solve it: WiredHeadphoneRoutingFix


text:
Why doesn't ATT Samsung Galaxy S2 detect ICS update OTA and how to update?
My Samsung Galaxy S2 has the Android 2.3.6 version and a while ago I read that there would be an ICS update (http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/25/ics-att-samsung-galaxy-s-ii/). I have been checking for an update via OTA, but it keeps saying my software is up to date. What's wrong and how can I update it to ICS?

It appears that the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Galaxy S2 on AT&T was never pushed over the air, but only via Samsung Kies.
In order to install the update you'll need to install and use Kies. If you do, I strongly recommend creating a system restore point (Windows) before installing it.


text:
Wi-Fi issues with HTC Desire S
I have an HTC Desire S, which I have had no issues with until now.  It is now not recognising any Wi-Fi networks. When I switch on Wi-Fi it scans, then gives me a green tick telling me it has it but it does not actually bring up any network. I have tried this in various locations so I know it is not an issue with my home router. I have also installed a Wi-Fi management app, and when that did not work I did a full factory reset.
Any help would be gratefully received as I am pulling my hair out now.

Please check: From your homescreen, tap the menu key, then go to setup, and "wifi & network". There select wifi. Make sure it's enabled (checkbox). Have it scan. Can you see any networks listed up? If so, and yours is there, tap it to connect. What is displayed? Does it ask for your passphrase (provided you have your Wifi protected)? Any error messages?

Could you install aLogCat, clear the logs and then try to log on to some wifi and then paste the logs here?

Basically I went on holiday and when I came back every single wifi network I was logged onto was saying " not in range, remembered" even if I was right next to it. So I cleared them all and started again. Now it will not even see them or it will let me put in the password and try to connect but still comes up with the same message after searching for 5 mins.


text:
Is there a way to disable voice search?
Since updating to Jelly Bean, my Nexus S had a problem with voice search starting up all the time (about every 30 secs).
Is there any way to disable it?

far easier, folks:
settings > language & input > keyboard & input methods: DISABLE 'google voice typing'

In ICS, to disable an app you can go to Settings -> Apps -> All tabs -> click the app name and click "Disable". I assume its same for JB as well.

You cannot disable every app in this way.

You can go to settings-> applications and choose "all" tab to see the list of all apps and services. Scroll down to the end and choose voice search, which brings you an option to stop the service.
If your device is rooted, you can go one more step ahead and even uninstall the voice search app. In that case, you may need to have app like Link2SD.

Go to the "Applications" in settings menu. Find the 'voice search' and then long press until you get an option for app info. Then you will have two choices: one is force stop and the other is disable. If you choose disable, it will say that by disabling this may cause some apps not to work properly but so far my apps have been working.

Go to Settings→Application Manager→All, scroll down to Google Text to Speech, and Clear data and disable. Also you can uncheck Show Notifications.
If you like, you can install "Jeanny" (wich is pretty cool too) and then install "SVOX English Grace Voice" or "IVONA Text to Speech HQ" to make her talk. Good luck!

For completeness, I add that on the Galaxy S3, it can be located at Application Manager\All\com.google.android.voicesearch.
I brought up the AppInfo, Force stop, then Disabled it.


text:
Is there really no spell check on the built-in keyboard?
I am a new Motorola Droid4 (Verizon) user (from a blackberry). Moto is telling me that there is no spell check on the built-in keyboard, only on the Mutli-touch keyboard.
Is that right?

When you say "built-in keyboard" do you mean the physical one as opposed to the soft (on-screen) keyboard?

If you have your keyboard input method set to Multi-touch Keyboard, then you should continue to get word suggestions even when you have the hardware keyboard open and are using it. If you have your keyboard input method set to Swype, you won't receive suggestions.


text:
What are the /firmware and /efs partitions on Samsung devices
This is specifically the Galaxy s3.  Out of curiosity what are these partitions exactly.  Are they part of the android OS or something lower level than that? If I were to delete everything in these partitions will I brick the phone even after a complete factory restore from "Download mode"? If these are not in fact android partitions why do some ROMs flash them?  What is the difference between /firmware and /efs and are these flashed with most ROMS?
I've been googling the partition structure of my device and these things are not clear. Please help me clear them up :)

According to this linky here this is what it has to say

What is EFS? It is a place that stores your Android smartphone
  important data like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth MAC address and IMEI
  (nv_data.bin).

After reading the above linky, it would be prudent to make a backup of that partition otherwise well and truly hosed! :)
As for /firmware I am guessing that is where the original stock firmware goes into when updating via the official route a lá Kies.
If anyone has a better insight feel free to comment, and I will gladly amend this accordingly :)

I read that link before posting here.  I do not have an IMEI as I use a CDMA phone.  There are a lot of "nv items" I can edit through a tool called QXDM however I'm not sure if they are reading from the same EFS partition.  Is this partition completely separate of the Android OS and actually a separate NVRAM chip that holds radio information?

There's some partitions that are "best left alone" even though I can understand your curiousity! :) That partition - actually do this - enter this from adb shell, enter mount, does it show up in the list, if not, they are "hidden" from Android OS itself. :) TIL - CDMA does not have an IMEI... never knew that! Hah! Learnt something there! :)

CDMA phones use ESNs instead. The concept is pretty much equivalent, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if the /efs partition will have your ESN on a CDMA device.

/firmware
Modem's firmware mount point .Store the firmware of the modem same as the  modem.bin in the odin tar.md5 flasheable firmware. I see it in Fat16
/efs
Stores the wifi and Bluetooth  mac adress, some network data , IMEI data (In some samsung phones, not in all models).


text:
Export photos from Galaxy Nexus (w/ Jelly Bean) to Win 7
I upload photos from my Galaxy Nexus (w/ Jelly Bean) directly to Google+, but I would also like to periodically export photos from my phone to my Win 7 desktop.
I tried Picasa 3.9, but it would always freeze and I would have to force quit Picasa.
I tried Windows 7's photo software (Windows Live Photo Gallery), but it would export every photo, including cached websites.
Is there a simple solution? Or will I need to manually move photos from my Galaxy Nexus to my Win 7 desktop? FWIW, the only feature set I really want is exporting photos/videos to folders based on date taken. Thanks!

I haven't tried it on Windows 7, but I expect Dropbox will work fine.

Good point... Do you mean by running the Dropbox client on my phone? Or still connecting to the desktop with USB?

Dropbox client on the phone and PC.  Phone will upload the photos, and PC will automatically sync them down.

Dropbox works great on Windows 7; I use it myself. If you don't want to leave your photos in the "Camera Uploads" folder, you can use something like Belvedere to automatically move them to, say, your "My Pictures" folder.

This works. I hoped that the Dropbox client worked better than the Win 7 import, but it doesn't (it doesn't import anything). I have to run the client on my phone and my desktop and move photos from my phone to my desktop via Dropbox, which is kind of a Rube Goldberg. I guess I will get used to managing my photos G+. :)

Can you not share a folder on your Windows machine and then use ES File Explorer or similar to copy the files across from the phone? Obviously whilst on the same local network.
It would cut out having to transfer them to a remote location and back again.

Thanks! Do you think this is better than a USB connection and manually moving? I think I will get used to managing my photos on G+.

I guess the advantage is only that you don't have to physically connect the Nexus 7 to your PC :)


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How do I enter commute details in Google Now?
I want my Nexus 7 to know when I'm leaving for work and display the details about traffic and such. But I don't know where I need to add home and commute destination.

Actually you shoud set you home and work address in Google Maps/Latitude. You can do this at least on your desktop by going to http://maps.google.com, logging in with your Google account, and clicking My places on the left. This shows the fields where you can edit your addresses.
Google Now will figure out your regular schedule after a while, took a couple of days for me to get the suggestions at the right times.

You only need to enable Google Now.
All other settings are automagically determined by Google after a few days of usage.
Note: You give up a bigger portion of your anonymity for that.


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Writing structured text documents
I recently bought an Android tablet with a keyboard, and would like to use it to take notes of conferences, lectures, meetings etc. On a Windows or Linux notebook,  I would use the excellent LyX system for this. LyX basically allows you to write structured text without worrying about the layout, saying "this is a #3 heading" or "this should be emphasized" instead of "this should be bold and a larger size". LyX then allows you to export your text as PDF, DOC, ODF, LaTeX and so on.
I am looking for an App that allows a similar approach to writing for Android. What I already tested:

Writer is almost what I'm searching, a minimalist text editor that understands Markdown and saves its document as plain text on the Android device (no network necessary). I'd like a few more formatting options and an export feature, though.
Write:Tablet doesn't seem to have many structuring features
Most "office" packages like Polaris Office do not offer format templates, but restrict the user to bold / italic / font size types of formatting
Google Docs needs a constant net connection

So, I'm aware that this is a very small niche I am looking for here, and such an app would probably not make sense on phones, but is there another interesting tool for structured text creation?

Thanks for introducing Lyx, pretty impressive open source app.
There are two products from Verbosus. I understood that Lyx is a Latex based tool and hence producing this link.
I am not confident enough whether suggested Latex editor will be equivalent to Lyx, but just trying to help.

You might want to take a look at one of the following apps:

NoteLynX Pro Outliner: Hierarchical organization of notes, customizable CSS, lots of formatting options, hyperlinks and more, XML export
Wikilin: As the name suggest, a wiki-style editor. Cross-platform, different formatting options
Ema Personal Wiki: Another wiki-style editor with dropbox support, also a Windows version available
WikiMind note: Again wiki-style editor, cross-document links, macro support, encryption support

There are also several LaTeX editors on the market, but to me they looked rather complicated. From your question I take it you prefer something like wiki-style -- but feel free to offer a more detailed description of what you are looking for.

There are several Markdown editors for Android, but it's hard to compare and this are evolving. What I have found so far, includes (sorted alphabetically):

Draft
MarkDrop
JotterPad X: Writer
LightPaper Pro
MarkDawn
Notal
Writer
Write: Tablet Notepad/Journal

To find the best application for your needs, first make clear the most important features, such as Dropbox sync or support of a specific Markdown dialect - for instance information about the latter is hard to find from the official app description. For this reason I cannot recommend one app (shopping recommendations should not be given at this place anyway).

If you want to a markdown text editor which has export capability, you should try JotterPad X.

I would recommend Omnibus Writer, which is recently released on the amazon app store (http://www.amazon.com/Jerry-He-Omnibus-Writer/dp/B00PA8VUIS/), there is a cheaper version ($0.99) on android app store, but it has banner ads on the bottom and I ended up returning it.
Not only can you use the markdown syntax, it also allows you to write math equations(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfOnOXirIOs) in a similar way to Lyx, so you can write your Math Homework on the go.


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How can I get a random image on my lockscreen?
Could you recommend me a simple solution to set a random image for my lockscreen?
I have the stock Samsung launcher, stock ICS rom and I don't want to install any custom launcher. I'm just looking for an app to switch the image every few hours.

Not sure why the Close vote. This seems like a reasonable and on-topic question to me.

There are lots of background switchers on Google Play. Are they not switching the lock screen image too?

You can use a live wallpaper that downloads new images periodicaly.
This one has a lot of built in image sites (like national geographic, nasa, ...):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dngames.picofday
It looks like a normal wallpaper and is battery friendly.
The only problem I see is that most of the built in sources update once per day not every few hours, but you can define your own source of images.
You can also try searching for other similar solutions. I think the livewallpaper way is the best beacuse it has a lot less issues with lockscreens (you just choose the live wallpaper as the lockscreen wallpaper and it should leave the normal background intact.

I prefer to use images from SD card.

Not to mention he has already mentioned that he doesn't want to change the wallpaper; only the lock screen. It's not possible with the current applications on Google Play and his additional requirements peppered throughout the comments sections.

On both of my Samsung phones, changing the walpaper brings up a menu with 3 options: "home", "lock" and "home and lock". You can only change the lockscreen wallpaper to the livewallpaper which changes images and have whatever you wish on the home wallpaper.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.j4velin.wallpaperChanger
From Google Play:

Change your wallpaper with one click or automatically every X minutes!
  This app allows you to quickly change your wallpaper with one single click on a widget!
  Additionally, you can enable a timer to automatically change your wallpaper on a predefined time.
  Images can easily be added to the rotation list by using the Android Gallery app or a file manager like FileExpert.
  This app is optimized for battery life & performence, so it might take some seconds to actually change the wallpaper after a click on the widget!
  Features:

easily add images or even folders through the Android gallery & other file managers
change wallpaper with a timer, on each lockscreen unlock or through a customizable widget
3 widgets: change to next wallpaper in rotation list, select the wallpaper you want to see or change the album with one click
ordered rotation or random wallpaper
very low memory and battery consumption: doesnt need any background services running and is not implemented live wallpaper
no ads

Discription clearly explains that this is a wallpaper changer. No use for lockscreen.

It works on both my OG Droid and my GNex. Please give it a try and let us know if it does not work for your phone somehow...

Maybe works, although I don't want to change the normal wallpaper, just for the lockscreen. Same as on Kindle Fire.

The only other way is to program something or root and get a ROM that supports what you want. Why the down-vote? I actually answered your actual question.


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How can I change the default app that opens when double tapping the screen of my Galaxy note with the S Pen?
I would like to change the default behaviour of S Pen so that instead of using the (not so good) memo app from Samsung I can use the note taking app of my choice (right now Papyrus).
How can I change the default behaviour of double tapping the screen with the S Pen while holding its side button to open my app of choice?
Thanks!

I use the app Pentastic for that.
https://galaxystore.samsung.com/detail/com.samsung.android.pentastic
I was actually looking for a way to disable this shortcut. This can be accomplished by combining the above with the app "Do Nothing".
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=i.donothing

Get "S Note Helper" from Google Play Store

Would you mind to give some explanation how this answers the question? A link to the app would be fine, too.

There's no such app in the Play Store. Are you sure that's the name ?

Might be he meant S Pen Helper. According to the screenshots, this can at least enable/disable launching the "default app". Not sure if it can configure the same -- I have no device to check with :)


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Difference between ways of rooting device

Possible Duplicate:
Why can't the su binary simply be copied (techical response please)

What is the difference between flashing device with root ROM and simple pushing su utility to device using adb without flashing it?
If I don't need to launch applications which need a root functionality, but just need to relocate some files in android file system, using su, do I need to flash my device?

In my understanding, the end result is the same in both cases, it's just the rooting methods that differ. Some devices have vulnerabilities that can be exploited in order to push the su binary to the device via adb (example), but these do not exist in all devices. This is why flashing is required sometimes.
TL;DR: It depends on your device.

Correct me if I wrong. Flashing device, you change it's file system and inflate it with some new system tools such as su?

Yes, you basically copy the su binary straight to the file system with the correct permissions, bypassing Android's file system security.


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How can I not show profile pics in Whatsapp?
I don't want any profile pics to appear for any contacts in Whatsapp on my HTC One X, any idea if this is possible?

Until and unless the app doesn't provide the functionality there is nothing an end use can do except request them for the feature.
One difficult and less possible way though would be to monitor the data transfer whatsapp makes and see if it uses different subdomain or IP for pictures like pics.whatsapp.com. If they do so then you can block that particular subdomain. But this might cause the app to misbehave.


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Problems rooting Samsung Galaxy S: SuperOneClick stops responding at step 7
I am having an awful time trying to update my new Galaxy S to ICS. I found a well rated ROM .zip on code.google.com but first I need to root the phone so I can unlock the bootloader. I have been googling all week and read lots of posts saying SuperOneClick is the way to go, but it keeps freezing. It gets to step 7 and stops. There are many threads out there where people say they have the same problem as me, but there is no answer to these posts, or the response is 'well it worked for me', which isn't much help. I also thought of giving Odin a go, but I do not believe my ROM is compatable (doesn't have PDA, CSC etc. elements to select). There must be something I'm missing or the tutorials I've read have left out. Or something else stopping SuperOneClick from finishing it's task.
I get no error messages during the rooting process. SuperOneClick just plain stops responding.

Samsung Galaxy S i9000
Android Gingerbread 2.3.6
Bootloader 3e
ROM ICS_4.0.3_MR1-RC4.2_I9000.zip from code.google.com (http://code.google.com/p/ice-cream-sandwich-sgs/)
SuperOneClick version 2.3.3

I'd suggest CM9 which went stable yesterday: howto install is here. You're sure you have the exact i9000 model and not the i9001? CM9 is here: get.cm. CyanogenMod is imho the most popular and renowned Android aftermarket firmware

Reading the How To, it looks quite self explanatory. However, I still need to root the phone first. And it definitely is the i9000, I just don't know which name it has (Captivate, Fascinate, Vibrant etc.) I am in Australia if that narrows it down.

You need root in case you want to backup everything using TitaniumBackup. The real steps are installing CWM and then Cyanogenmod. Seems like you have the 'galaxysmtd' model btw.

Downloaded CyanogenMod and attempted to flash. I got the same result as I did for the other ROM I tried - I get an 'E:signature verification failed' error. According to my googling, this is to do with the 3e bootloader not accepting the digital signature of the update and rejecting the process. The fix suggested is to root the current system, use a ROM manager to remove the signature checking option for the bootloader, then flash the ROM.

Scratch that last comment. I missed a step in the use of Heimdall which replaces the bootloader. I shall now attempt my ROM install

I have now managed to flash with the CyanogenMod ROM and now have ICS in all it's glory. Many thanks ce4

Ah, nice! That'd been my next question. Have fun!

As recomended by CE4 above, I just followed the steps laid out in this tutorial.
Samsung Galaxy S: Full Update Guide
You can download the ROM from get.cm here (original Samsung Galaxy S variant) or here (Samsung Galaxy S (B) variant), note these are only for i9000 (not i9001 or i9003).


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Samsung S3 i9300 rooted with Heimdall.  Am I able to unroot with ODIN?
I rooted my phone with the Samsung Galaxy S III: Full Update Guide
I stumbled when I tried to flash the CyanogenMod.  I do not get the install from zip file command while in the ClockworkMod recovery mode. So I can't seem to be able to find the zip file to install the CyanogenMod.
What I am trying to do now is to unroot my S3, but seeing that I rooted it using Heimdall rather than ODIN, is it still safe to unroot using ODIN?

Place the .zip on the internal sdcard, the try again with no ext. Sd card inserted

Thanks for the reply. I did not have any SD card inserted while attempting the flashing

Oh, mixed that up... Do you really have the cwm running. Just wondering bec. there's a stock recovery that misses this feature.

you're right, when i do the vol up + home + power button combo, it takes me to android recovery which i had thought was the CWM recovery all long. Does this mean i do not have CWM recovery on my phone at all? Though my phone status says it has been modified

What if you don't do the combo and boot regularly? The normal boot img has been replaced I think.

My stock OS is still booting. But whatever has changed, i duno other than the phone status.

will there be any issues if i were to continue to install cf-root with ODIN with my phone in its current state? Or if i were to unroot with ODIN? I can't seem to find any unrooting guides with heimdall.

CF-root should be Ok in advance. You can also check http://xray.io/dl It checks for rootibility via common exploits just to see if you could get away with the newest super1click to root. Odin/heimdall use both the same Samsung proprietary download mode to flash images. Odin is Samsung Software while heimdall is open source and runs in Win/Mac/Linux. I have used the latter so far w/o problems.

thanks for the tips, i have managed to flash cyanogenmod after installing cf root!

You don't "unroot" per se with Odin; you just flash a stock, unrooted ROM that wipes out everything currently on the phone.  It shouldn't matter whether you use Odin or Heimdall.
Note also that unrooting won't matter if you've flashed anything with Odin, since that also voids your warranty and is recorded on the device.


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Contact Images location
Where are the contact images kept?
I have a contact image that is no longer in my gallery but it is one of my contact's avatar.  I remember taking the photo and making it the avatar.  I've went into my Google Contacts via the web but it is not there.  The contact does not have a facebook or any other type of account.  So it must be somewhere on the phone.
I have a Droid X with Gingerbread.

The contacts is actually an app, hence as other Android apps store it's data, this app also stores in a SQLite database. Images are part of contact data and are spotted in database. It is stored in /data/data/com.Android.providers/contacta/databases/contracts.db

Unfortunately, Astro sees the /data folder as empty.  I am guessing these folders are not visible to the user.

At first I too was stumbled as my file explorer too didn't show, but I was pretty sure about what I was looking for. in my file explorer, I enabled to show hidden files and then I was able to see the database file. By the way, I use ES file explorer.

And you are probably rooted -- as a normal user should not be able to dive below the /data directory (except, as with Skype, the developer was stupid enough to fiddle with the folder permissions, making them read-write for everybody).

What I do is simply create a separate folder in Internal Storage, which contains all my 'pics for Contacts' -- SD content always tends to change OR you change the SD card  throughout years/lengthy periods of time.  Whenever I get a new phone, I simply transfer/copy the contents of my 'pics for Contacts' folder, which is located in my Internal Storage folder, via Bluetooth to the new phone.
A SIMPLIER WAY of course would be to just start saving your Contacts in your Google account under your main account.  This way, any contact, together with its contact photo, will be saved in Google Cloud.  You stated that this does not seem to work for you.  Everytimre I buy a new phone and connect it to my main Google account during initial phone setup, my Contacts and their pics transfer onto my new phone without a problem.

I found an idea. You should download program from Google Play called "Save Contact photo" then you will see all your contacts there and you can share those contact photos via Bluetooth(should have another phone for that!). And then you can see that photo in another phone's gallery, so you can easily transfer it via Facebook or Whatsapp.

A link for the app or at least the developer's name  would help. I don't see any app named "Save Contact photo" in Play Store.

And even if there were an app extracting contact photos, all it would get were thumbnails (which are stored along with the records). The original photo won't be there.


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How can Iget different sounds for different notifications?

Possible Duplicate:
Different notification sounds for sms and email?

I have a Samsung galaxy s2 with Android 4.0.4 Is there any way to set different tones for different notifications? For example, a different tone for SMS than for emails.

Which SMS app are you using? The stock one? Most apps will let you set the notification sound in the application settings. Go to the SMS app and go to the settings in there.


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Prevent Google Talk from being signed in all the time
On my Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro, stock ICS, Google Talk remains signed in all the time. Is there a setting - within Google Talk, in Sync settings, or otherwise - which can prevent Google Talk from signing in? I just don't like being online on IM clients and I don't want to be signed in.

On all my android devices (3 HTC phones and an Asus Transformer), if you sign off gtalk manually (gtalk/menu/exit), gtalk does not reconnect again until you do it manually.

I can confirm this.  On Gingerbread, ICS and Jelly Bean (and quite possibly on earlier OS versions) if you sign out of Google Talk manually, it stays signed off.


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BackupManager causing my phone to reboot
I have Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4.0.1 running Kernel 3.0.1-ga052f63. Every 2 hours, my phone reboots itself. It started doing this 2-3 days ago. I may have installed/uninstalled some apps around that time but I don't remember exactly.
I've gotten a screenshot of the logcat the instant after the phone reboots and 3/3 times it has been exactly after the BackupManagerService activates:

I can also cause the reboot by calling adb shell bmgr run as seen here: Google IssueTracker - BackupManager causes reboot when BackupAgent missing
Is there any way to manage or at least see what apps are 'queued' in the BackupManager? Is there a way to completely disable the BackupManager?

Well, I figured out how to disable the BackupManager (I think), in "Settings" -> "Backup & reset" -> uncheck "Back up my data". I would still like to figure out the cause of the problem though.

Izzy is totally spot on with the logcat - the wallpaper - are you running a live wallpaper that could be interfering with the backup by any chance? Switch to static wallpaper and see if that helps?

Googles Backup-API uses the directory /data/backup to queue outstanding backups (which are not yet transferred). So if your device is rooted, you could investigate this directory for any files contained, and probably remove them if they cause trouble (I'm not sure if/how it then will be handled to figure out which backups it has to repeat, though -- so it's your own risk).
But from your LogCat I'd say BackupManager already cleared that directory (the second black line reads clearing pending backups, followed by beginning backup of 3 targets) -- so I rather assume there's some faulty implementation with one of those 3 apps. I'm not a developer, though, so I cannot say.
You can check your history of installed apps (the App Appmonster IMHO offers to see the installation date; I'm not sure where to find this information with stock apps) to see, which ones you installed last, and "roll back" until the problem disappers (or you left the "probable time frame").
EDIT: Do you have some more lines of that LogCat? It stops just when it's becoming interesting. I'd follow those lines belonging to PID 181 here, so you probably can figure out which app is causing the problem. Fifth line from the bottom up e.g. shows a wallpaper being backed up, along with the wallpaper's API call (android.app.backup.WallpaperBackupHelper -- I guess that's rather some Android internal to backup wallpaper settings, but again: I'm not a developer, I can only make guesses). There might be more lines like this, giving clues.