# Question
Title: What exactly happens when I use Kies to perform a "Firmware upgrade and initialisation"?
I bought an unlocked Telstra Samsung Galaxy S3 4G, and it's loaded with some Telstra software. I wanted to get rid of those, so I loaded up Kies and it gives me the option to perform a "Firmware upgrade and initialisation". I don't want it deleting everything off my phone and I don't want to do anything to my phone to mess with it so I wanted to be absolutely certain I understood what would happen. I tried googling this subject but couldn't find any useful information.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can give me a detailed, clear and concise answer.

# Answer
***Basic Caveat.***

*It is likely (and to be expected) that a firmware (or OS) upgrade will wipe any user data or settings.*

---

These settings are not easily translated / adjusted across such an update. However, most tools will give such a warning before you proceed.

---

---

***In more detail ..***

**Firmware Update (ROM code)**

A firmware update will *normally* cause ALL user data, settings, and (custom loaded) applications **to be lost**. This is because many applications and your online identity (connection to e-store) are usually firmware specific.

**Exceptions:** For only a minor update it may be possible to just replace the firmware, and not disrupt the higher layers. This is **only** advice for *developers* and the truly adventurous.

Your specific case: *You are attempting to replace the Telstra (big Australian telco) firmware with (possibly) later firmware. This will likely **not** include any Telstra specific applications, and you would need to re-register the phone (upon completion). By then ALL data, settings, and applications would have been lost.*

**Firmware Update (Android OS)**

An Android update will *normally* attempt to retain ALL user data, settings, and (custom loaded) applications. But this is only true for minor update, as major changes will make your existing applications incompatible. For *each application*, the vendor may provide an update with support for the new version to convert (or import) any old data.

**Exceptions:** If you are attempting a major Android update (eg. from 3.2 to 4.0+) this will very likely **not** retain (in any useful form) any of your settings.

Your specific case: *If you were using KIES to update Android from 4.0 to 4.0.4 (or similar) this should be as painless as OTA (over-the-air) updates (prompted on your phone). However, it is not clear from your description what type of 'firmware' (Android or ROM) it is suggesting.*

**Note:** I have not used KIES, as it has no Linux support.

---

Recommendation:

*Look at syncing or backup tools, to save any user data (phone numbers, messages, etc.) to your PC. Any applications will be more of a problem, but will still available (in the online e-store) to again download.*
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, device-firmware
---


title: Change app page order

text:
# Question
Title: Change app page order
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 running Jelly Bean.
I have sorted my apps in pages, by topic or whatever (not the home screens, but the app/widget pages). Now I would like to sort those pages, but I can't find the way to change the order of the pages. Can it be done? How?

# Answer
> 2 votes
I've found it! Pinch with two fingers on the Home Page, to enter the edit pages mode, then move them around.

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, samsung-galaxy-s-3
---


# Question
Title: How to enter CWM recovery on an encrypted Galaxy S3?
I'm trying to enter CWM recovery so that I can back up my ROM.

While rooting my S3 I could enter CWM using the instructions I was following at the time (which I no longer have around).

Since then I've used the built-in encryption feature to encrypt the device.

Now when I try to press simultaneously the volume-up, home, and power buttons - the device only turns off, and doesn't start booting again until I release all buttons and press the power button.

What are the exact instructions for entering CWM recovery on an S3, and do these differ for an encrypted device?

# Answer
**How to get into Recovery Mode** Unplug the USB cable. Shut down the phone. Hold down the 'HOME' + 'VOLUME UP' buttons and press the 'POWER' button for about 5 seconds to enter Recovery Mode.

**How to get into Download Mode (eg: for Odin)** Unplug the USB cable. Shut down the phone. Hold down the 'HOME' + 'VOLUME DOWN' buttons and press the 'POWER' button for about 2 seconds until a WARNING! Screen appears. Press the 'VOLUME UP' button to enter Download Mode. To get out of Download Mode, simply press and hold the power button until the phone restarts.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, clockworkmod-recovery, encryption
---


# Question
Title: Linux ADB Driver for LG Viper (LG-LS840)
On most devices I've run across I can plug the device into a Linux machine and no additional drivers are needed in order for ADB to communicate with the device.

However on two LG devices from last year I am having trouble.

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

When I plug the devices in ADB does not list them when I run `adb devices` to get a list of connected devices. (I get an empty list)

I have ensured that USB Debugging is turned on for both devices. And I have at some point installed an LG driver which allows the ADB to work correctly from my Windows 7 PC. (Interestingly only the Viper works on my Windows PC, the Optimus Elite can't be found by the adb on windows either)

However I would really like to use ADB from a linux machine. I am far more concerned about getting the Viper working than the Optimus Elite, but a fix that worked for both would be ideal.

On the linux machine in question I can successfully use ADB to connect with every other device I've tested so I know that my environment is set up correctly.

I have tried creating various android.rules files under `/etc/udev/rules.d/` but thus far nothing I've tried has had any effect. After creating `51-android.rules` and filling in the appropriate vendor id (1004 for LG) I no longer need to use sudo adb to see the devices that do work, still nothing with the Viper though.

My question is: Do I need some sort of additional drivers in order to get ADB working correctly for the LG Viper (LG-LS840) on Linux, and if so where can I find said drivers? If not does anyone know if there is some setup step that I am missing that will allow this device to communicate with my Linux computer via ADB?

EDIT: I ran \`lsusb' here are the relavent outputs:

```
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 1004:6312 LG Electronics, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 008: ID 1004:6317 LG Electronics, Inc.

```

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

# Answer
Normally, the quickest 'fix' to see what's going on is to try `sudo adb devices` (or `sudo ./adb devices` if you downloaded adb stand-alone.) If that works, then your permissions aren't right. Once the server starts you can use adb without sudo.

However since you said other phones work, my guess is that the LG phones attempt to auto-detect or auto-negotiate MTP / USB Mass Storage and don't like your Linux system (this is nothing new, vendors don't test this.)

There are no drivers for Linux for this (aside: I hope there never are.)

Check `dmesg` and `lsusb` output - it's possible they're doing something funny on the phone side with USB.

You may need to force any sort of auto-mounting or USB storage option to "charge only" which should make the phone behave.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: usb, adb, linux, usb-drivers, lg-viper
---


# Question
Title: Right swipe on contact defaulting to internet calls
My problem is: **right swipe is defaulting to internet calls instead of 'regular' calls**.

First off, these are my relevant call settings:

as you can see I have no accounts and the internet calls are not enabled.

My contacts came from Google contacts (configured them online and then the phone got them).

After they came I used the "Mark as Default" function to select the correct phone number and emails and that's when things started behaving strangely. Doing a right swipe showed me this:

Instead of calling the contact 'normally'.

I started experimenting and was able to reproduce the bug using other similar contacts (contacts that I got from Google with 2 phone numbers + 2 emails). But if I created the Google contact locally (which would sync Ok with google) I didn't have any issues.

No other calling functions are affected: moving the phone to my ear still calls the correct number, direct dial widget still works.

My phone is a Galaxy S III running android 4.1 (but the same thing was already happening in 4.0), if that makes any difference.

**What is causing this? How can I fix it?**

Seems to be related to: How do I prevent "No Internet calling account" error? but I was still unable to fix it.

# Answer
> 2 votes
tldr: I have found a solution work-around:

1. Go to google contacts in your browser and remove the emails from the contact (you can put them in the notes to avoid losing them).
2. Let it sync with your phone.
3. Add emails back to the contact (still from the browser).

You can now do all the "Mark as Default" you want because it will keep calling correctly.

---

Long version:

I decided to do some other experiments.

I started by creating a contact specifically for this (with 2 fake phone numbers and 2 fake emails) and let it sync with my phone. Used "Mark as Default" to select just the phone number.

It kept working fine. Then I selected the default email.

Thats when the phone **started to try to make internet calls**.

To continue my experiments I needed to deselect the email (which is not possible from the phone), so I went to google contacts from my browser and removed the emails and let it sync with my phone.

I then re-added the emails.

To my surprise the issue vanished completely for that contact.

Sure enough I did the same for my problematic contacts and everything is fine now. :)

# Answer
> 3 votes
Mr. Portela has it right, and I figured out a way to solve the issue more quickly:

1. Select the misbehaving contact.
2. Long press the 'default' email address.
3. Select 'Clear default'.

Voila.

I'm not sure what will happen when you try to email these contacts from now on, but at least calling works as intended.

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, calls, 4.1-jelly-bean, samsung-galaxy-s-3
---


# Question
Title: Specifying SD card mount options upon boot
I have an Archos 101IT with a 16G external SD card. The SD card contains one partition that is formatted as an ext3 file system. The Archos runs UrukDroid 1.6.4 (Froyo 2.2).

The Problem: When booted, the SD card is mounted with the following mount options:

```
/dev/block/vold/179:17 on /mnt/storage/sdcard type ext3
(rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,fmode=0666,dmode=0666,errors=continue,data=ordered)

```

The fmode and dmode options make it impossible to use file permissions, in particular it is not possible to make files read-only. This is needed by the Titanium Backup tool to protect backups from being overwritten.

I can change the mount options with a remount:

```
# mount /mnt/storage/sdcard -o remount,fmode=0,dmode=0

```

The Question: How can I have the SD card mounted with the right mount options upon boot?

# Answer
Urukdroid has a special script, /system/bin/mount\_sdcard.sh, that mounts the SD card upon boot. This script understands (V)FAT and EXT4. Anything else is left to the vold automounter. Archos modded vold so it could do a bit more than stock A 2.1 vold, e.g., mount EXT3 file systems.

I upgraded the file system on the SD card to EXT4, and now mount\_sdcard.sh mounts the SD card upon boot with the correct mount options.

Thanks to $aur0n for helping me solve this.

Upgrading an EXT2 or EXT3 file system to EXT4 is easy, see https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4\_Howto#Converting\_an\_ext3\_filesystem\_to\_ext4 .
> 3 votes

# Answer
See if this helps: What's the Android equivalent of /etc/fstab?

From that answer:

> All startup system mounting is done with the `/etc/vold.fstab` helper script.

You can go edit that script and modify the mount with the options you want, so you can have it like that on boot.

```
#######################
## Regular device mount
##
## Format: dev_mount <label> <mount_point> <part> <sysfs_path1...>
## label        - Label for the volume
## mount_point  - Where the volume will be mounted
## part         - Partition # (1 based), or 'auto' for first usable partition.
## <sysfs_path> - List of sysfs paths to source devices
######################

```

Or you can replace dev\_mount with mount.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: external-sd, mount, ext3
---


# Question
Title: Optimum video codec for low end Android phones?
While I know Android phones play mp4 the best, I wanted to know what other specification in this container is the best for playback, (the bitrate, resolution, fps etc). Or perhaps some other codec/format that Android can (or is designed to) play smoothly and with an acceptable file size/quality ratio?

I searched the Android developer page and tried the H.264 setting on my converter etc, but the file fails to play natively on my handset and when I tried to open it using RockPlayer. It plays slowly and the video-audio gets out of sync progressively. I tried many external players. However, 3GP videos from my Nokia phones play smoothly (even natively). **So I want to know what is ideal for my low end phone (video should be normal quality and size)?**

My phone is a Huawei IDEOS U8150 running Froyo with a 320x240 resolution and a 528 Mhz ARMv6 processor.

Also if anyone has tips, what types of encoding is recommended, if I'd be using the software decoder mode in apps like RockPlayer, so I can achieve more file size compression yet achieve smooth playback?

# Answer
> 1 votes
It seems that most of the H.264 encoded video files do not work in Huawei IDEOS u8150 using the Hardware renderer mode.

3GPs , H.263s and less complex video profiles work at full speed in HW mode.

Most FLV video files play on Software Rendering mode (ARMv6 MXVideoPlayer) at appreciable speed (sometimes lagging at certain points, but overclock to more than 600 Mhz, and it runs fairly good at all points)

> Standard MP4s or MPEG-4 Part-2 compressed video files seem to be the best file format to play on **low end android phones** which is easy on the CPU (plays perfect in HW mode) and has good balance between clarity and file size.

Here is my HandBrake Preset for Huawei IDEOS u8150 optimum video format : http://depositfiles.com/files/gbqtxevo4?redirect (320x240 resolution)

# Answer
> 4 votes
I got H.264 (x264 encoder) to play with these settings on my Huawei U8150

* Main profile
* 320x240 (original video was 4:3 which helps, 16:9 or 2.35:1 should become even easier to decode)
* and tuned with the 'fastdecode' setting

I used ffmpeg as the frontend, as Handbrake makes selecting the "fastdecode" option impossible

```
ffmpeg -i "inputfile.avi" \
    -sws_flags lanczos+accurate_rnd \
    -vf "scale=320:-1" \
    -c:v libx264 \
        -crf 23.0 \
        -preset veryslow \
        -profile:v main \
        -tune fastdecode \
    outputfile.mp4

```

the resultant file was only 10% bigger than the one using high profile and no fast decode

I would also recommend using MX player as it actively resyncs the video and audio for those occasional slow downs it may have, but fastdecode seems to fix all the slow downs I could find.

# Answer
> 2 votes
The Huawei IDEOS u8150 uses the Qualcomm MSM7201A system on a chip. That chip uses a QDSP4000 core for media processing. The QDSP4000 core natively supports MP4 encoding and decoding.

In order to take advantage of that feature and avoid software decoding, you will want to store your video in MP4 format. You can reduce the resolution of the video to match the display of your phone (320x240).

A great tool for transcoding your video media is Handbrake. You can use Handbrake to transcode to MP4 format at 320x240 resolution. Once you find a combination of settings that work well for you, consider publishing it as a preset for other u8510 users to try.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I have a phone with the same specs... I found that If I encode using `wmv2` and `wmav2` it actually plays smoother, go figure. `libx264` is a lot more complex of a codec and takes about 30 sec. to start playing a movie, but quality will be better. For a player I use MXplayer with the arm6 codec pack. Within MXplayer settings I set it to use software video decoding and hardware audio encoding as default. Here is a sample of my encoding process:

```
ffmpeg -i input_movie.mp4 -vcodec wmv2 -b 200k -acodec wmav2 -ab 64k -ar 32000 -ac 2 -s 320x180 output_movie.wmv

```

I let my little daughter use this on long car rides to keep her occupied. Obviously you'd want to tweak the bitrates and resolution to what you want. But this is good enough for her.

---
Tags: video, media-player, huawei-u8150, mp4, arm-processors
---


title: Identify this Clock-Weather Widget

text:
# Question
Title: Identify this Clock-Weather Widget
I've just found this photo on CNET:

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

# Answer
> 2 votes
It is Motorola's default clock widget. here is a video that shows ,how can use this widget in other phones

---
Tags: app-widgets
---


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

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

It should apply to the other Galaxy Tab 2 models, too.
> 6 votes

---
Tags: networking, proxy, samsung-galaxy-tab-2-7
---


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

# Answer
> 3 votes
You want to check out Android x86 project. They have documentation and installation instruction for installing an Android on a regular laptop/desktop.

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, fastboot, bootloader
---


title: android special characters keyboard

text:
# Question
Title: android special characters keyboard
Under Winodws, if I want to enter extended characters (such as "«") I canuse the Character Map application and the `Alt`+keypad numbers (such as `Alt`+`0171` for the "«").

How can I do this under Android? I know there are ways to do this under Linux, but is this infrastructure there under Android?

Especially with tablets and phones and their special Android keyboards - which typically don't have `Ctrl` or `Alt` keys.

# Answer
> 5 votes
You might want to take a look at Hacker's Keyboard:

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

It supports a bunch of keyboard layouts -- though I'm not sure about the "special characters" being inserted using alt sequences.

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

---
Tags: keyboard
---


# Question
Title: Try to install Clockworkmod Recovery, always getting stock recovery
I'm trying to install Cyanogenmod on my Samsung Epic 4G. I've tried a couple of ways to get Clockworkmod Recovery on the phone, but every time I boot it into recovery mode I get the stock recovery program. I've tried the method listed on the Cyanogenmod wiki here and one using Odin here, but every time it boots, it loads up with stock.

Does anyone have any ideas for how I can get around this?

# Answer
It looks like the key was holding down volume-down, power, and camera buttons until the capacitive buttons (home, search, etc) lit up, which was longer than until the screen flashed (as stated in the CyanogenMod wiki).
> 0 votes

# Answer
First of all, you need to to flash clockwork mod recovery over your default stock recovery.
Then get into Clockworkmod recovery.
After that you can flash any CynogenMod roms.
Use this guide to work with Odin.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, clockworkmod-recovery, samsung-epic-4g
---


title: Close Application with locale?

text:
# Question
Title: Close Application with locale?
I use the locale app to automaticly start an obd-app (Torque) when I enter my car. This works well. Now I want to automaticly close that app when I leave my car. As there seem to be no Plugins to achieve this, so my idea is to use the Execute-Plugin to End the task using unix-commands.

Is there a "good" way to close an app? The "kill"-command seems to be a bad decision or am I wrong here?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Please visit http://www.twofortyfouram.com/support.html

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

# Answer
> 0 votes
This is very application-specific, (for torque), so maybe not that helpful for others, but the author from torque answered my question:

```
Send an intent - 'org.prowl.torque.REQUEST_TORQUE_QUIT'  and it should shutdown gracefully

```

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

---
Tags: task-management, command-line, locale
---


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

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

# Answer
> 9 votes
Yes, developers can reply to a user review. The user will get a notification via email.

However, as of now this feature is only available for "those with a Top Developer badge." So not all developers can reply to your comments.

Read this page from Android Developer blog for more details.

---
Tags: google-play-store, app-ratings
---


title: Lenovo Tablet A1 disable screen lock

text:
# Question
Title: Lenovo Tablet A1 disable screen lock
I have a Lenovo Tablet A1 and don't know how to configure the screen settings as I would like them. I want that after a certain timeout the screen dims, and/or goes black, but doesn't actually lock.

That is, right now if I choose a screen timeout the thing locks and I have to press the top power button and drag an icon across the screen -- extremely inconvenient.

I have disabled Screen Lock, but it doesn't change this aspect. I also installed No Lock, but it doesn't work on this device. So far my only half-success is to disable the screen timeout, but then it runs at maximum brightness the entire time.

I have checked many questions, and done searches, for disabling screen lock. Apparently none of these work on the Lenovo Tablet.

# Answer
> 0 votes
No Lock works for me on my Lenovo A1!

---
Tags: lock-screens, customization, lenovo-ideapad-tablet-a1
---


title: Is Evernote a malicious app?

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

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

# Answer
> 4 votes
The reason for "phone calls" might be quite easy: Looking at the app requirements, they list "Android 1.6 or higher". With that, this permission is automatically set -- whether the developer wants it or not. Reference: Android 1.6 Changelog.

An interesting discussion on this permission can be found at StackOverflow: Android permissions: Phone Calls: read phone state and identity.

Of course this might not be the only reason. If the app e.g. lets you take "call notes" for an ongoing phone call, it might want to connect it with the contact or at least the calling number. To get the contact, it needs the number. To get the number, it needs... yes, `READ_PHONE_STATE`. Not using *EverNote*, I cannot say if it offers such a feature.

*Personal Information*: A possible reason for *Contacts* I just explained. Some additional reasons, taken from the app description, could be:

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

As for accounts, pick reasons from above: How to share on your Twitter and/or Facebook accounts without accessing them?

So all mentioned permissions could be easily explained. *Could*, as it takes some guess-work. You may be able to tell my assumptions are true if you investigate the described features. But the devs should be able to confirm or deny -- and IMHO it is their responsibility to explain.

---

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

---

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

# Answer
> 2 votes
> "READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY
>
> Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An application with this permission can determine the phone number and serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that call is connected to and so on"

I think it needs calls to make some appointment from them and all the other permission are maybe in the same feature class. I think other users are having similar concerns about other apps from big providers like facebook see here.

My take would be to ask directly Evernote why they need those features enabled.

This is no way a singular incident see a similar concern here.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I don't think since Evernote is quite big they would do something like that, and if would do so it would be something so easy to see. Actually when you are developing for android some methods would require this kind of permission, if i'm not wrong, if you want, for example, check for data connection needs **READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY** or for some advertising..

I've found an interesting article discussing it: Here

---
Tags: security, permissions, evernote
---


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

I'm running stock JellyBean 4.1.1, rooted.

# Answer
> 1 votes
~~A factory reset does indeed reset the virtual SD card on a Galaxy Nexus.~~

Okay, initially it appeared as if it wiped the virtual SD card, but it did not. After the media scanner did its magic, everything on the sd card (mostly) still remained there.

I did a factory reset by going to Android's Settings, then Backup & Reset, and did the factory restore option. I did not wipe the device from recovery.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-nexus, factory-reset
---


# Question
Title: Which application keeps port opened on android?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> List of open ports on Android

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

# Answer
Install the OS Monitor app. One of the things it can do is list your network connections, show the used ports and the app that is using it.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: networking, terminal
---


# Question
Title: Why has my GSIII's battery life dropped from 50-60 hours to 16 hours?
I have a GSIII (Sprint) running Android 4.0.4. In the last three days, I have not made any changes or installed any new software that I know of, but my battery life has dropped such that my phone, when fully charged in the morning, now powers off sometime before I go to bed. This would make sense if I spent a lot of time using it, but I generally will check a few emails (every 20 min or so) and make maybe 4 calls of 5-10 min each in a typical day. I have not varied this pattern lately. I used to have to charge my phone maybe every other day, sometimes when really slow I could squeak 3 days out of it before charging.

Battery usage screen shows 'Cell Standby' taking up 40% of power usage. I hadn't been looking at battery usage lately, but it strikes me that when I first got the phone (3 months ago) I checked these a few times and Cell Standby was fairly low, around 10% as I recall.

I usually keep the phone on WiFi because of Sprint's crummy network, and the phone was in my house the entire time it was on battery, so was on WiFi for data...and WiFi takes up 3% of the total. Display takes up 2%.

I remember on my previous phone, the Evo (original) there was a Dialer bug that caused a wake-lock of some sort...I'm presuming something similar here. Several hard power cycles have not improved matters.

What do I do to stop it, or find out where the CPU cycles are going?

Edit: taking a look at the battery pane of the settings app reveals that the phone is staying awake 100 percent of the time that the radio is on. It did not used to do that. Putting the phone in airplane mode lets the phone sleep as usual except for a few times in three hours, as expected. So, apparently this is a wake lock condition again.

# Answer
Cell standby being high means you have a really weak signal wherever your phone was. The phone cranks its radio up to maximum power to try to maintain a usable signal.

There are several ways to stop it - none of them ideal:

* Put the phone somewhere with a better signal (near a window maybe)
* Put it in airplane mode to turn off the radio (but you won't be able to get phone calls/texts)
* Switch to a carrier that has a better signal near your home/workplace

As for why it's doing it now, it could be that you're leaving the phone in a different place in your house most of the time, or weather is affecting the signal strength, or sprint is extra crummy in your area lately.
> 9 votes

# Answer
It could be an application keeping the phone awake. On my HTC Desire S I can click any application present in the Settings battery pane and see the time the application keeps the phone awake.
> 0 votes

# Answer
HERE ARE THE AREAS THAT EFFECT BATTERY LIFE - HOPE THIS MAY HELP

Weather Widget on front screen. \- click to open -\> Menu -\> Setting -\> Auto refresh = Every 3 hours

Then go to "Settings" (the lines in read are the Titles seen on the MAIN Settings screen most of which you can go in to and change more settings)

Wifi - Off when not in use

Bluetooth - Off when not in use.

Data Usage
Mobile Data = On
More Settings
Flight Mode - Off
S Beam = Off
Wifi Direct - Off
Near By device -\> Switched Off
Mobile Networks -\> Use Packet Date = On Data Roaming = Off

Sound (scroll Down to System)
Keytones = On
touch sound = On
Screen Lock Sound = On
Haptic Feedback = Off
Autp Haptic = Off

Display
Brightness - Open -\> set to auto
Screen time out - After 30 Seconds
Smart Stay = On
Auto Rotate = On
Touch Key Light Duration = 1.5 Seconds
Screen Mode = Standard
Auto Adjust Screen Power = Ok
Display Battery Percentage = On

LED Indicator
Charging = On
Low Power = Off
Missed Event = On

Motion
Motion Activition = On
Direct Call = On
smart Alert = On Tap to Top = Off
Tilt to Zoon = Off
Pan to Move Icon = Off
Pan to Browse Images = Off
Shake to Update = On
Turn Over to Mute = On
Palm Swipe to Capture = On
Palm Touch to Mute = On

Power saving
CPU power Saving = On
Screen Power saving = On
Background colour = On
Turn off Haptic Feedback = On

Accounts and Sync
General toggle at top - ON Dropbox - No Sync
Google mail = Sync Then Open the option to display more
Sync Calendar = On
Sync Chrome = On
Sync Contact = On
Sync Gmail = On
Sync Google Phot = Off
Sync Google Play Books = On
Sync Google Play Movies = Off
Sync Google + = On
Sync Instant Upload = Off
Sync Internet = On
Sync Picasa Web Albums = Off
Facebook - Sync
Samsung account - No Sync
Skype - No sync

If you use Drop Box go in to the setting here and turn Upload using = WIFI ONLY

Location Services
Use Wireless Network = On
Use GPS = On
Use Sensor Aiding = Off (wasnt to sure what this was so left it off)
Location and Google Search = On

Security
Screen Lock = Pattern
With Swipe Lock = On
Lock Screen Option -\>
Shortcuts = On
Information ticker = Off
Camera Quick Access = On (Might as well switch this off as I cant work out how to get by the Pattern Recognition for the camera to auto start)
Clock = On
Dual Clock = Off
Weather = On
Ripple Effect = On
Help text = On
Wake up in Samsung unlock = Off
Make Patterns Visable = On
Lock Auto = 5 Seconds
Lock Instantly on power key = On
Vibrate on Screen Tap = Off

Language and Input
Default = Samsung Keyboard
google voice type = Off
Samsung Keyboard = On -\> in to Settings
Predictive text = On
continuous input = Off Keyboard Swipe = On
Handwritting = On Voice Input = GRAYED OUT Auto Caps = On
Auto Punctuation = On
Character Preview = On
Key Tap vibration = On
Key Tap sunbd = On
Voice Commands for Apps = Off

Acccessibility
Auto Rotate = On
Speak Passwords = Off
Screen Timeout = 30 Seconds
Lock Ato = 5 Seconds
Talk Back = Off
Install Webscript = Not Alloweed
Negative colours = Off

Developer mode - EVERYTHING IS OFF
> -1 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, battery-life
---


# Question
Title: Facebook non-official app for contact sync
I want to remove official Facebook app from system because its a piece of crap, but I am not doing it because it syncs my contact with Facebook. I add someone friend and I get her phone no. and email id in my smartphone (provided her privacy settings permit it). It also syncs photos and missing data with existing Google and local contacts.

I have tried FriendCaster's contact sync. It sucks because of Facebook's privacy policy. Facebook doesn't share phone nos. and email addresses of friends to any app.

So, all apps which login using oAuth have problems with contact sync (correct me if I am wrong). I don't have problem sharing fb password to an app if it can do pure Facebook contact sync. Is there an app?

# Answer
Have you tried HaxSync? I use it to sync high-res profile pictures to my contacts, but I also use the Facebook sync, so I don't know which one syncs the phone numbers and emails.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Sure you can remove the official Facebook app in fact I also uninstalled it by resetting to factory setting and wipe user data. and then I link Facebook account to accounts and sync. It works perfect for me.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: contacts, sync, facebook
---


# Question
Title: How do I change Android screen orientation via simulating acceleration?
I have developed an app and I need to test it. I have borrowed some devices from my friends and bought a few. Now problem is that I want to test it in both landscape mode and portrait mode but I don't want to keep on changing the orientation of phones every 5 minutes manually by myself.

Is there any adb command or anything else by which I can tell the phone to change its orientation? Can I fool it by simulating acceleration or any other alternative?

I am open to rooting but I prefer any solution which works on non-rooted phones.

# Answer
I don't think you can do it via adb, but you can programmatically change the orientation using`.setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE);`

You could link this up to a timer that would change the orientation every five minutes if that's what you want to do, or write it into unit tests to automatically check if everything goes ok when you change orientation.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: adb, orientation, hardware-acceleration
---


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

# Answer
> 2 votes
Depending on where you are in the world, and which carrier you're with, your phone will have a unique model. You can find your phone's model number by going to Settings \> About device and it'll be around the middle of the page.

North American models

```
Carrier Name                Model Identifier

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

```

# Answer
> 0 votes
Via techtrickz.com: you can type `*#7465625#` on the phone to obtain the lock status.

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

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

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, sim-unlocking, carriers
---


title: No Devices on shell

text:
# Question
Title: No Devices on shell
I try to send an intent using an android-shell. The app starts, "su" works nice, but when I enter something like `"adb shell am broadcast -a android.intent.action.SCREEN_ON"` I receive an error:

```
error: device not found

```

when trying to list the devices with

```
adb devices

```

the result list is empty.

WHat am I am doing wrong? (My tablet is rooted, of course)

# Answer
If you are using the terminal app on your device then you don't need to use "adb shell". You just need to run the "am broadcast -a android.intent.action.SCREEN\_ON". I don't know why you would want to run that from your terminal app since the screen would already be on.

You need to have USB debugging on if you are trying to connect via the console on your PC to your device. You also need to have the drivers installed if you are using a Windows machine.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: adb, shell, root-access
---


title: Samsung S3 wont sync

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

Can anyone help with this?

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

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

If none of this works, try contacting Samsung
> 2 votes

---
Tags: sync, samsung-galaxy-s-3
---


title: Brand New HTC Desire C Wi-Fi won't work

text:
# Question
Title: Brand New HTC Desire C Wi-Fi won't work
Just bought myself a Desire C, pretty decent as far as I've played around with it, but I have a problem with WiFi (this is pretty much the case with all my phones). I can't connect to home network by any means. The network though is totally fine because my pc (from which I type this) is connected, my laptop can connect, my other pc can connect and my old HTC Wildfire (the original one) can connect totally fine. I have searched the web for about 4 hours now to no avail. All I can do is ask here for some solution. I will try to get (in a pirate-like way somehow) the WiFi fixer programs to my phone from my pc but still this is not sure to work, so I expect some help.

Now for the specs of the whole network problem:

**Device:** HTC Desire C (obviously) using Android 4.0.3 (out-of-the-box)

**Router:** Netgear DG834G v5 (if you want to ask anything about config, do so)

**Router protection type:** WPA2 PSK (that's what my phone tells me, I will go with this)

**Notes:**

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

# Answer
> 0 votes
**Solved myself:**

I tried after reading a lot of stuff to tweak my router and do a firmware update and I totally messed it up and almost destroyed it. It actually won't work at all and won't be found by wireless or anything, but it was already 5 years old, so I did not mind too much, I went and bought a new one (LogiLink - heard this brand for the first time, but works like a charm). I installed my new router (even though it asked for some things I heard for the first time in my entire life) and it runs on 802.11n perfectly fine for all my 3 computers and all my 3 phones. So turns out my old router was too old apparently.

In conclusion, for anyone reading the question, I believe a firmware update on an old router if done properly (in which I failed horribly) can fix this problem, also as @MatthewRead pointed out in the comments mixed b and g was fairly worse than g only, so you can try this. In any case,

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, wi-fi, htc
---


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

# Answer
> 2 votes
I am afraid, it might not be possible.

First of all, the ideal requirement for ICS to run on any phone is Dual Core processor, and your phone does not have good processor.

Secondly the ram, your phone has only 256MB of RAM wherein for ICS to work smoothly, it requires atleast 512MB RAM.

---
Tags: updates, micromax-a87
---


# Question
Title: Any way to assign startup apps manually?
Is there any way i can set up an app to start at startup? Its a ram boosyer and for some reason it does not auto start....earlier it used to..

Does moving apps to SD card prevent its auto start?

And how can i assign apps mannualy to be "Startup applications"?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Try uninstalling and then re-installing said app - be forewarned though that most RAM boosters / memory cleaners are absolutely redundant in Android. Due to the nature of pre-loading your most used apps in order to give them better latency, there's little to no point of running these memory cleaners. In fact, by running them, you lose a bit of your battery as the OS has to run the processor to select and pre-load other apps.

Yes - moving an app to the SD card usually prevents it from starting up at boot - this is also why widgets or apps that have some sort of notification / reminder / push message need to remain in internal memory.

You can run a script (if you're rooted) or you can use an app like Tasker / Llama to run an app depending on a particular set of conditions.

---
Tags: applications
---


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

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

This is a 16GB Nexus 7 The listed items only add up to a little over 9GB. So 4GB worth of files are missing.

How can I find those missing files?

# Answer
> 10 votes
If the displayed detailed would be **complete**, you'd be correct: 1.28G + 7.28G + 200K + 282M + 762M = 9.6 GB total space -- while the summary says 13.24G. Explanation is easy: The details list is *not* complete. It e.g. misses Cache, temporary files, log files, tombstones, and probably some more.

Where to find those? In the file system, and for completeness this requires root. For some more details, please take a look at corresponding questions by following the tags and . A good source to start with is the question Something is secretly eating up my tablet memory and I need help finding it.

---
Tags: nexus-7, storage
---


# Question
Title: Why does Wifi show an error whenever I try to reconnect (Galaxy Ace)?
I'm using a Galaxy Ace. When I turn off WiFi and try to turn it on again it shows an error. I need to restart my device for it to work. Any ideas?

# Answer
> 1 votes
I believe this is a problem of the ROM itself (Android 2.2 in Ace). Even with only the basic applications it would show the same error.

Anyway this problem is solved for me. I upgraded my phone to Android 2.3.4. After that, up to now (nearly 5 month) I haven't come across that problem.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I believe this is a problem with Samsung's UI, TouchWiz; I experienced this on a couple ROMs for my Galaxy S.

I don't know of any way to fix it without replacing your ROM, but I did find that going to `Settings -> Wireless and network -> WiFi settings` and toggling WiFi there seemed to work. Settings is a standard Android OS app and thus bypasses whatever problem TouchWiz has when you try to toggle the WiFi from the notification area.

# Answer
> 2 votes
You can try this, on the dial pad, enter `*#*#526#*#*` this will automatically load the wifi drivers. Once you see that driver loading successful, you can then turn on the wifi and it might work...

# Answer
> 0 votes
I did have a problem a few months ago where I'd keep getting an error when I tried to turn Wifi on, which needed a reboot of the phone to fix.

I traced it back to an app that I'd installed recently, the app in question monitored the wifi connections and did funny things ensuring you connected to specified wifi points when they were available. After I uninstalled the app the problem went away (the app in question was the BT FON app, in case you have the same one).

So it's probably worth thinking about when the problem first started, and then working out which apps that have anything to do with wifi you may have installed or updated around that time, and removing those apps for a few days to see if it helps.

---
Tags: wi-fi, samsung-galaxy-ace
---


# Question
Title: Filesystem hierarchy, that defines the directory structure and directory contents of Android?
I have searched, but haven't yet been able to find, an authoritative documentation of the filesystem hierarchy of the Android OS.

Can someone tell me whether this exists at all and if so, where?

# Answer
There's a big chapter on that in Andrew Hoog's Android Forensics book on that (see this Amazon list for available copies). Unfortunately, that book doesn't come for free (but from Elsevier; so prices range from ~USD 20 for the Kindle edition to ~USD 50 for the print, with some crazy offers for ~USD 170+ as well), but it explains a lot of background not only interesting for Forensik specialists. A German version of this book now is available for EUR 35, published by Franzis (which can be found e.g. on its German Amazon page as well as on the publishers site, see this link).

While the link to AndroidUserland given in a comment on the question contains a very rudimentary list, a better (though also incomplete) *documentation* can be found at robotz.com. As said, this is far from being complete, but better for understanding.

I remember having seen another documentation at android.com -- some hints can be found there e.g. in the Storage Options (check "Internal Storage" and "External Storage" here). But a complete documentation of the file system hierarchy is missing here as well.

So again, the most complete documentation known to me is Hoog's Forensics book. German speakers might also be interested in taking a look into the chapter Dateisysteme und Datenstrukturen of my book "Die Androiden-Toolbox", which (in this community edition) is freely available in HTML, MobiPocket and PDF versions here on my eBook Server (if you prefer a printed copy with a few more details, the (extended) Franzis edition Das inoffizielle Android-Systemhandbuch will be available end of this month, i.e. starting around the 26.11.2012).

**Disclosure:** As said, I'm the author of the second book mentioned. And, not yet mentioned, the translator for the German version of Andrew Hoog's book. But that does not mean I hold back other sources here, of course.
> 7 votes

---
Tags: file-system, documentation
---


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

# Answer
I would assume that it would be similar or the same as the 8GB Nexus 7, which is about 5.92GB.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: internal-storage, nexus-4, internal-sd
---


# Question
Title: Using MyWi USB 3G Tethering from iPhone to Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
I've been using MyWi on my jailbroken iPhone 4 for over a year now and it works great giving me a 3G connection to my laptop anywhere I am via the USB tether.

Is this possible to do on my Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet the same as I can on my laptop? When I enable MyWi and plug the USB into the Galaxy Tab, nothing happens where I would expect it to pick up on the 3G connection my iPhone has just like my laptop does...

Has anyone got this to work? The tablet is not rooted and is not part of any Verizon or AT&T plan, no SIM in the tablet...

Anything would help!

Thank you, -Derek.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The short answer is no you can't share your iPhone's 3G connection with your Galaxy Tab 2 over USB.

---
Tags: usb-tethering
---


# Question
Title: What is the difference between USB charging and AC charging?
I've recently got hold on an HTC One X having moved from an HTC Desire.

I noticed that my One X charges very slowly when connected to the USB socket on my PC, whereas the Desire was comparatively fast. When charging the One X from the supplied AC adapter the charge is very fast. So, I purchased a new Mains Adapter to keep in the office.

However, when connecting the phone to this mains adapter the device still says Charging : USB under the battery status tab and it isn’t as fast as I thought it should be

So, is there some difference between the supplied AC adapter and this third-party one I have purchased? Presumably the power supplied s not as high or is there something more?

# Answer
To charge at the maximum rate, the charger must identify itself as a charging device by shorting two middle USB pins. This is in the USB specification. Proper chargers come like this. Other chargers can be modified to short the pins together.

I have personally modded a Griffin USB car charger in this manner. Before the change, it would charge in "USB" mode. After soldering together the two pins, the phone charges in "AC" mode.

One caveat: I have not done any tests to see if this changes the charging rate, but it certainly charges quickly after the mod. Everything I have read about this phone says that it will only pull 500 mA in "USB" mode.

References: Wikipedia entry regarding USB charging spec. Look for the words "Dedicated charging port."

Amazon user review with instructions for modding a certain car charger.
> 8 votes

# Answer
In fact the charging time depends on two points:

1. the output current of the adapter or the USB. The output current of the PC is only 0.5a, it may charge slowly than most of the AC adapters (most of the AC Adapters are 1A or more).
2. the input current and the charging convert rate of the phone. Different phones have different input current due to Limited current protection for them. For example, the limites current for Nokia is 0.5a, the input current is only 0.5a even you use an ac adapter with 1.0a output. Beside, the charging convert rate is also different according to the models.
> 13 votes

---
Tags: charging, htc-one-x
---


title: Podcast app that can create playlists

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

# Answer
So I've discovered that beyond pod will do this. It has an autoplaylist function that will allow you to build smart playlists. There is an option in the settings that will share this playlist with other apps (basically it generates and M3u and updates it as it downloads podcasts).

This works OK. I'd love if there was an app that could generate a per-podcast playlist, but for the time being having a single playlist with all my podcasts is better than having to search for them within my entire music catalog.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: music, music-player, podcast
---


# Question
Title: Why does controlling CPU frequency require root access?
According to this answer one of the programs that requires root access is SetCPU that can lower the CPU frequency when the phone is not used thus prolong battery life.

I don't get one thing - why does that require root? What could be the harm in reducing the CPU frequency?

# Answer
1) Because only the root user can change the system's frequency/governor. It's a system level function call and only root can do that.

2) Under clocking really isn't the problem... It's over clocking. You can't really damage the device, but you could end up in an infinite boot loop and an average user may not know how to get out of that.

3) Also: you usually want to replace the kernel when over/under clocking to get new frequencies and possibly under volting to save power (but at the same time, you're going out of the parameters of the CPU and it may end up boot looping because no two CPUs are made exactly alike when you are doing things outside their normal operating parameters).
> 3 votes

# Answer
If have to disagree with Sparx, if you change the CPU frequency via the supported methods that every modern CPU provides, changing it, even in a fast sequence, doesn't affect stability. I would even rule out hardware damage, because of the sophisticated security mechanisms in modern CPUs (overheat protection, etc.).

**Why can only root set the frequency and the frequency governor?** Well, first because it's Linux that only allows root to do so. Second, I think that it's because the average user shouldn't care about. It's the system that decides which frequency is the best in the current situation. It does so automatically, without user intervention and it does the job good under Android (IMHO). While thinks like SetCPU can prolong battery life, it also can shorten it, if it's done wrong. The question here is: **Do you believe that a 3rd party App does better battery management than the one that the manufacturer of the device?** In certain cases sure, but not always.
> 6 votes

# Answer
Mucking about with CPU frequencies can lead to instabilities in your system and might also lead to hardware damage. Such a critical function is best left out of the hands of normal users who don't really need to make such changes.

Since this most certainly a core (important) function, one needs root access.
> 4 votes

# Answer
Allowing cpu frequency to be set directly by user level process is a security issue. It's a hardware functionality that could affect other processes running on the system. On an ideal system, no user level process should be able to affect the execution of another user's processes, except through explicit interprocess communication (e.g. pipes, signals, files, etc).

Examples of damages that could be done:

1. Battery life: a malicious or poorly written could set cpu at a constantly high level, draining more battery than is necessary, without attracting suspicion because it uses little cpu for itself.
2. Poor performance: a malicious or poorly written app could set the cpu frequency at constantly low level, resulting in poor performance. This could then be used to trick user into purchasing our downloading unnecessary optimizer apps, among others.
3. Conflicting cpu frequency set by multiple apps could lead to really unstable system performance and general havoc as they keep overriding each other. This reason alone could make the whole cpu frequency setting useless.

The solution to this? Any single process should not be able to directly set cpu frequency. Instead non root process should only be able to give hints, and the system could then pick the best frequency setting, taking into account the hints from all processes, system policy, and process accounting information. This is what cpufreq "governers" are. One of the job of operating system is to moderate access to shared resources.

Also, it should be noted that lowering cpu frequency does not always lead to better battery life, depending on the work load, lower frequency could also mean it takes longer time to finish the task, and this could easily negate the savings.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: permissions, setcpu
---


# Question
Title: Different wallpaper for each homescreen?
I'd like to be able to have a different wallpaper for each homescreen. I found a live wallpaper that lets you do this. Is there a more efficient/less cumbersome way?

# Answer
> 2 votes
AFAIK the default Android launcher does NOT allow you to do this. However, there are some launchers available on Play Store which let you do this. Regina 3D Launcher is one of them.

The other option I see is what you are already doing, using a live wallpaper like MultiPicture Live Wallpaper.

(I have mentioned some popular apps to do this, there are alternatives available, you can search on Play store.)

---
Tags: home-screen, nexus-7, wallpaper, aokp
---


# Question
Title: ZTE StarTrail : Android Update 2.2 to 2.3.3 or an other version
I'm new android user. I just buy un android phone: ZTE StarTrail. The current version is android 2.2 (Froyo). I would like update my system to 2.3.3 or an other version. i saw there is version each for device (HTC, Samsung ....). I don't found a version for my device. Where can I found android a version that is specifically designed for ZTE StarTrail ?

Thanks

# Answer
> 0 votes
You should check with the manufacturer of your device if they have an official upgrade available. If so, they will either provide the download (with installation instructions) themselves, or forward you to your carrier's support.

If there is no official upgrade, your only option is to find out if there are any 3rd-party ROMs available from Android community developers. Best places to look for such ROMs are xda-developers forums or RootzWiki, for example. Keep in mind that installing custom ROMs usually involves modifications to your phone that will void your warranty with the carrier and/or manufacturer.

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, 2.2-froyo, updates, zte-blade
---


# Question
Title: View WordPress images in Android Gallery
With my Android tablet, the Gallery shows images from an old Blogger blog that I used to use (the blog belongs to my Google account, obviously).

I currently have a WordPress blog hosted on my own web space, and I would really like to have the same functionality--some way to have the images that are hosted on my WordPress blog show up in my Gallery.

Is there any way to do this currently?

# Answer
**No.**

The blogger images showed up because they're hosted in Picasa which is integrated into the Android gallery.

But as a workaround you could host your images on Picasa and link to them from your blog.
> 4 votes

# Answer
Well you can allways make an app that pulls the pictures from an rss feed or php webservice from the site and then shows them up
> -1 votes

---
Tags: images, gallery, picasa
---


# Question
Title: Cannot upgrade Galaxy Y GT-S5360 with new firmware using Kies
Whenever I try to click "upgrade", my phone suddenly disconnects from Kies but the download prompt still runs. After the download process completes, Kies suddenly closes and there are no changes with my phone.

# Answer
> 1 votes
If the answer to my comment is No, then update Kies, and try again.

If the answer to my comment is yes, then try the following:

* Place your phone manually into download mode, and attempt the update again.
* Kill all Kies processes using the task manager, and then open the program again.
* Ensure your USB cable and USB port are working properly (sometimes a weak connection can cause issues)
* Erase all the data on your android (do a factory reset) and try again (I put this last, as you lose all your data, so should only be tried AFTER you have tried everything else you can think of).

---
Tags: updates, samsung-kies
---


# Question
Title: Can't see Macbook WiFi access point on Android smartphone
I'd like to connect my Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Stock JellyBean) to my Macbook Pro (early-2012, running OSX Lion) via an access point created by my Macbook Pro.

Sadly I can't even see the access point on my Android phone.

Does anyone know a possible solution to this problem?

Additional information: A nearby Windows-PC and iPhone can connect to the AdHoc-network of the Macbook. The android phone can connect to all other wifi.

# Answer
In Snow Leopard (sorry, I don't have a Lion to try this with):

In System Preferences \> Sharing,

* Enable 'Internet Sharing'
* Enable 'To computers using AirPort'
* Click the 'Airport Options' button and set up hotspot's network name and encryption. The AirPort will have to be off for this button to be active.
* 'Ok' to back out to the Sharing pref pane.

On the Network Preference Pane, or on the menu bar,

* Turn on the AirPort.

Your device should see your Mac as a WiFi access point.
> 2 votes

# Answer
I am going to expand on the previous answer:

The stock Android OS doesn't see Ad-Hoc wifi points - this has been programmed in. Why Google decided this, I have no idea.

The wifi access point, as you said, is an Ad-Hoc network, as such Android doesn't see it.

The previous answer tells you how to turn the Ad-Hoc network into a wifi access point - like the ones routers use.

Most custom ROMs allow you to connect to Ad-Hoc networks as if they were normal wifi hotspots.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: wi-fi, macos, ad-hoc-networks
---


title: How to select Wi-Fi access point?

text:
# Question
Title: How to select Wi-Fi access point?
I am at the hotel trying to get my stuff connected. Had no problems with phone and laptop, but when I'm connecting with the tablet internet is unavailable.

As far as I can see, it's connecting to some other access point and is being put to other subnetwork (see screenshots, the phone and the tablet). I tried different places, different floors - it's all the same - WiFi level is OK, different subnetwork, no internet.

Is there any way I can fix it by myself, while waiting for hotel staff to "call the programmer to reboot it"? (other than installing Connectify, which I've already done).

# Answer
> 0 votes
First remove the network from known list. Then when you're adding that Wi-Fi network on your tablet use manual DHCP and enter the details from your phone...

This should work without issues..

---
Tags: wi-fi, nexus-7
---


title: Quitting eBay application

text:
# Question
Title: Quitting eBay application
Is there any way to quit the eBay app, so that I stop receiving all these event notifications? I like notifications, but only when I decide to run the eBay application...

# Answer
Do it in the app directly:

> eBay app (home screen) -\> settings (below *WOW* list entry) -\> notifications -\> none
> 3 votes

# Answer
Since Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), it's possible to disable notifications for individual apps. Long-press on the notification and go to `App Info` or go to `Settings -> Apps` and then choose the eBay app. Uncheck the `Show Notifications` checkbox (detailed description with video here).

Notifications are most useful if an app needs your attention but is currently not in your focus. So i don't think there is a system setting that allows to stop notifications when the app is closed and to reactivate them if the app is started.

Maybe you can send a feature request if that setting would make sense for this individual app. You can contact their mobile support team, find out how on google play.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: notifications
---


# Question
Title: cannot add exchange mail on Nexus S running 4.1.2
I am not able to add an exchange email account to my Nexus S. When I select the add account, corporate, and put in email and password i get to next page with the ssl option and press next, I get error message that it couldn't open connection to server.

This is a new account for me, but it works just fine on my WIN 7 laptop, so this is clearly an issue with Android.

Any suggestions?

# Answer
This is an issue of login name and server name.

After entering your email address and password. **Don't** click next, but click **Manual Setup**.

The next page should ask for your username, password(properly fill in for you already), and Exchange server.

```
Username: <Windows Domain>\<Windows Login>
Exchange Server: (you should know, or find out from your Outlook setting)

```

Good luck!
> 1 votes

---
Tags: email
---


title: How can I get a LogCat?

text:
# Question
Title: How can I get a LogCat?
Sometimes I get asked for a LogCat.

**What is this?**
**What is it supposed to do?**
**How can I get it?**

# Answer
**What is a LogCat?**
A "LogCat" is for debugging applications / Android system. When applications / Android crash the output the "explanation" for the crash, the Exception Stacktrace, to a Log. This log can be saved and help developers to fix the crash.

**What is it supposed to do?**
It will help to solve your questions, if your asked for a LogCat it is always useful.

**How can I get a LogCat?**
This isn't hard.

*Prerequisites:*
Linux, Windows or Mac
USB cable for your device
Android Device

*Instructions:*

1. Install your device driver for using adb. Everything you need will you find here
2. Download adb executable for your OS (Download: Windows | Linux | Mac). Paste it somewhere.
3. Connect your android device.
4. Verify if "Settings \> Developer options \> USB debugging" is checked, if not, simply check it.
5. Open a command promt (windows) or terminal (linux / mac). How to do it: On Windows: windows + r \> enter "cmd" (without quotes) \> click enter | On Linux: You don't know how to open a terminal? LOL | On Mac: Type `Terminal` into Spotlight and open it
6. CD to the directory where the adb executable is located. On Windows: Go to the directory where you downloaded the adb executable, Shift+Right Click and select "Open Console" (or similar) | On Linux / Mac: Rightclick in the directory and select "Open Terminal here" (or simply CD into the directory)
7. Type in your cmd/terminal: `adb devices` to verify your device is properly connected.
8. If your device is properly selected, type in `adb logcat` to show the mighty and magic logcat aka stacktrace.
9. Reproduce your error (or whatever) on your device.
10. Right after, paste the whole cmd / terminal window into a paste-service like http://pastebin.com/ and send it to us.
> 8 votes

---
Tags: logging, debug
---


# Question
Title: Is there a way to connect Acer Iconia A500 tablet to windows PC via USB as a drive, not a device?
It currently shows up as a "device", but I prefer to have it as a drive so that I can run tools like SyncToy and many others against it.

# Answer
Download File Manager HD from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rhmsoft.fm.hd

Follow these instructions. Answer source: http://androidforums.com/2848952-post5.html

> On the panel at the left tap Storage.
>
> On the panel at the top right press the Up arrow until the first directory entry is asec. Now scroll down through the directory and you should see usb\_storage. Tap usb\_storage and you should see your data.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: acer-iconia-a500
---


# Question
Title: Repartitioning HTC Sensation 4GB internal memory for /data?
Is there a way to repartition the internal 4GB of my htc sensation? Currently, only 1GB is available for use (/data) The rest is being allocated to /system, /cache, etc.

# Answer
I don't know for sure, but think changing internal partition layout can only be done on special development devices with the security turned off (called s-off).

The problem of running out of space on the internal data partition has been solved by many custom ROMs that can be installed after using the official HTC unlock process, however.

These custom ROMs have various methods of supporting putting apps on the SD card (in a more seamless way than standard Android) or putting even more of the data partition storage requirements on to it (although this often requires formatting the SD card to the EXT file system and sometimes even multiple partitions).

Make sure you go through your app list in Settings first, moving anything you can to SD card, by the standard Android method. This is often enough and easier than installing a custom ROM with a2sd(+)/d2w support.
> 1 votes

# Answer
if you were to have a custom recovery installed onto your device, it may have options to partition the internal storage.

At least, the SGS2 CWM Recovery does.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: internal-storage, htc-sensation
---


# Question
Title: Why does my tablet reset every time I reboot?
I bought a tablet a few days ago.

I was playing around with a wireless mouse and a USB OTG cable and decided to restart the tablet for some reason (I don't remember why). After that, when the device booted I saw the setup wizard that started when the tablet was turned on for the first time.

The device now resets whenever I reboot, and I can't download & install apps from Play (error says that theres no memory), and I cannot enter recovery mode.

Device: Prestigio PMP3270B Android: 4.0.3

# Answer
> 2 votes
All problems from busybox bad installation path..
Solution from here http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/teclast-a10t/factory-reset-after-every-restart-shutdown-1533-2.html

If device isn't root you should root it .Used Unlock Root and Tasselhof Market.
Also downloaded & copied Root Explorer to microSD.
Install and run it.
Go to /system/xbin and find busybox.
Move it to /system/bin
reboot & profit

All download links are on that forum

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, factory-reset, prestigio-multipad
---


# Question
Title: How to manually disable or hide the system bar (menu bar) at the bottom of the screen?
I am using an ASUS Transformer TF300 with Android 4.1.1, and there is an app that shows the playing cards at the bottom of the screen, and show the "Continue" button when the card game is finished.

But the playing cards are half hidden by the system bar, and this "Continue" button is hidden by the system bar mostly, except about 2mm is showing, so it is kind of difficult to press the button.

Is there a way to tell the system bar / menu bar to hide itself? I also went to the settings and set the "System bar lock" to off, but somehow the bar is still showing.

# Answer
> 2 votes
this system bar is part of Android, and is used when the device doesn't have any hardware buttons to press.

As such, it cannot be hidden.

It shouldn't, however, impact upon gameplay - this is an issue with the app, and you should contact the app developer to have it fixed.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Some Custom Rom's have a feature which will disable Navigation Bar and Status Bar, one well-known is ParanoidAndroid with it's feature "Expanded Desktop".

Apart from that I don't know about any other ways to hide the navigation bar.

New CyanogenMod-Versions will also contain this functionality: https://plus.google.com/u/0/117962666888533781522/posts/dYSseZeQ8Sf

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, system, user-interface
---


# Question
Title: Android applications privacy and security concerns
If a user wants to install some applications from play store, is it sole responsibility of the user to decide whether the apps may harm or not? Should the user be worries regarding permissions? For example, if an application asks permission to read contacts, can user be assured that it does not misuse that permission (like, sending to third party)? How google regulates applications and prevent malicious applications? Are all play store applications safe?

# Answer
In short: You can't be assured that an app won't phone home without further steps. Not on Android nor on iOS, period. If you want to minimise your risk, only install official Play Apps through the store itself, see their permission grants upon install and stick only to popular/high volume apps or to big publishers.

Google's Play store is less curated than Apple's one. Additionally, Android allows to access much more APIs than iOS does (e.g. replacing the keyboard or stock SMS app and so on). Also Google allows you to install apps from other sources in contrast to Apple. Most people see this as more freedom (not meant cynically) while it has its drawbacks.

* In early 2012, Google announced its Bouncer, an internal Google Play malware scanner service that all submitted apps have to pass before they get published.
* Starting with Android 4.2 Google also announced an option to have all installed apps remotely checked for malware by Google (regardless if from Google's Play store or not).
* While I personally don't like them (for their bloat and battery sucking), you can install AntiVirus software like Avast. For improved battery, switch off everything realtime and only have it scan newly installed apps.

If you're rooted you can do more:
> 3 votes

# Answer
Answer, no. Not all play store applications are safe.

The reason behind this is that Google does not screen apps entered to the Google Play store - they just appear, with no verification process.

It is the responsibility of the user to judge whether or not an app is safe to install - and the permissions help you with that.

If you have an app that is a calculator, you would be wise to be suspicious if it asked for the read sms permission.

So, there isn't a way to tell if it misuses the permission or not - and those are the risks.

Google does delete apps from Google Play from time to time, however it is never publicized when they do, and it is normally because they are:

* Viruses
* Go against their terms
* Hacking tools

So the only thing you can do is use your common sense.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, security, permissions, privacy
---


title: How to monitor signal strength?

text:
# Question
Title: How to monitor signal strength?
I own a Samsung Nexus S 4G on Sprint, and I am having terrible but intermittent problems with my signal quality on my phone. I have reasonably high certainty that this is a hardware issue (my wife has the same phone on the same plan and her phone usually works where mine does not), but due to the fact that the problem is intermittent I have not been able to duplicate it in the Sprint store.

What I am looking for is a way (perhaps an app) that will periodically poll and record the signal strength on my phone, as well as recording when my phone fails to connect on a call (during the periods when my phone is acting up this will sometimes occur 10-15 times in a row). Are there any apps that provide this functionality, or would have anyone have any advice on developing this app on my own (I am a decent programmer, but I have never developed an Android app).

# Answer
There are a some apps available which would answer your question. The probably best ones include...

**NoSignalAlert**, which not only alerts you when you lost the signal, but also provides a log of those events, and lets you even browse those "dead zones" on a map and display the collected log information along

**OpenSignalMaps**, offering similar features, and giving you the ability to show nearby cells (so if your signal is low, and you want to have a conversation, you can move in the right direction for a stronger signal)

If you are primarily interested in mapping signal quality, **Antennas** might be worth a look as well. It can export collected data to KML, so you can display it in Google Maps / Google Earth on your computer as well.

Then there also is already mentioned **RF Signal Tracker**, again rather interesting for mapping, which additionally tracks Wifi signal

Last but not least: **G-NetTrack** is also good for mapping of daily routes and the like.

---

What might be of even more interest to you is how to automatically react on a weak signal in order to save some juice. If so, I recommend you taking a look at the question What is *Cell standby* and how can I keep it from eating my battery? (and of course its answer).
> 3 votes

# Answer
I suggest you Better Battery Stats, it's what you are looking for.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Check RF Signal Tracker

Also Open Signal Maps
> 0 votes

---
Tags: samsung-nexus-s, network-signal
---


title: CM7.2 Viber installing problem

text:
# Question
Title: CM7.2 Viber installing problem
I'm on HTC Wildfire S

With my stock ROM I can use all versions of Viber

But on CM7.2 I can't install newer version than 2.0.x.xxxxxx (I didn't try every version, but the 2.2. and 2.1. installing exit with the app didn't get installed message.

Please help me to solve this problem. Thanks for your time

# Answer
This is a member of the Viber R&D Team.

Viber is not fully compatible with custom ROMs yet.. :/ However, please try to download from the following link:

Viber Knowledgebase

Let us know if the issue persists. :)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: applications, cyanogenmod, installation, htc-wildfire-s
---


# Question
Title: How to boot into the bootloader when you have ClockworkMod?
I want to upgrade the radio and I'm not sure how to boot into `bootloader`.

When I try to power the phone using VolumeDown+Power, I do get into the ClockworkMod Recovery, but it seems that this is not what I was looking for because on PC the command `fastboot flash radio radio.img` is still `< waiting for device >`.

In case it matters, this is a permarooted + hroot + ClockworkMod, HTC Desire HD.

# Answer
1. Make sure your phone is powering off completely before you try to boot into the bootloader. For a DHD you might need to go into `Settings > Applications` and uncheck the "FastBoot" option in order for it to power down completely (source).
2. If #1 doesn't help, try turning your phone off, then pulling the battery. After you've pulled the battery and waited a few seconds, hold the volume down button and put the battery back in the phone. Then continue to hold volume down while you power up the phone and it should land on the bootloader.
3. If #1 and #2 don't work (or you're lazy, since I think this is the easiest way), plug your phone into a computer that has `adb` on it. Make sure USB debugging is enabled, then simply enter `adb reboot bootloader` from an `adb` terminal. This will (unsurprisingly) reboot your phone into the bootloader.
> 5 votes

# Answer
Not with Galaxy xCover GT-S5690 Gingerbread XXLA6 ... adb reboot bootloader boot "normal". Also #2 boot normal. Volume down & power up boot into recover which is not bootloader "mode". Gobbling thing.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: htc-desire, rom-flashing, fastboot, radio-firmware
---


# Question
Title: make website offline available and browse later without 3G connection
I have a Nexus 7 (wireless only) and no smart phone. How to make a web site offline (mirror) available that I later can read it without internet connection?

> example site http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch

I don't wish articles, I wish full web site with all articles. Tried several apps from Play Store, but they crashes when feeding with my URL.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I'm not aware of any app for Android that can mirror an entire website. However there are plenty available for computers. I don't have experience with any of them, so I can'T give you recommendations. A Google search revealed a few candidates that could do the job. \[1\] \[2\] \[3\]
These should download the individual pages and the necessary resources like stylesheets, images and javascript files.

After you've downloaded the site copy it to your SD card and use web server app to serve it locally. Just open up your browser and point it to the web server's address.

---
Tags: 3g, offline
---


title: App to count my daytime minutes

text:
# Question
Title: App to count my daytime minutes
I'm looking for an app that can count my daytime minutes usage. I only get 200 free airtime minutes between 7am to 7pm Mondays to Fridays until the 24th of each month. (After 7pm my plan has unlimited minutes.)

Preferably, I want to be alerted by the app when I'm going over, i.e., by the 28th it alerts me if I've exceeded 26 minutes.

# Answer
Phone Usage is a great app that can monitor usage and do all of the following! (description on app page)

Monitor your phone call, text and network data usage.

★★★★★ "Loads of similar apps on the market, but this one beats them hands down."

★ Set limits on daily, weekly and monthly usage.

★ Alerts when you break your usage limits.

★ Widgets for calls, texts and data.

★ See which apps are using the most data.

★ See who you call the most.

★ See usage per hour, day, week and month.
> 3 votes

# Answer
You might want to take a look at DroidStats:

(Screenshots from the Playstore). It also offers you to define free numbers (which you are not charged for), to exclude them from your calculation. As the screenshot shows, you have widgets giving you a view at a glance without invoking the app itself. In fact, I only do so if I want to browse statistics: Whom I called most, with whom I talked for the most time, and the like.

As for notifications: The donation version at least allows you to place the widgets inside the notification bar. I think you got a warning when reaching your limits, but I'm not sure as I rarely happen to do so ;)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: calls
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (GT - P5100), shortcut button to close/exit from any app/game
I am a new user of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (GT - P5100).

* Is there any shortcut button to close/exit from any app/game?
* Or, any other mechanism?

# Answer
> 2 votes
No, there is no common shortcut to close/exit any program. The "android way" is to let the OS decide when to actually close/exit an application. Just hit the "Home" button or the "Recent apps" buttons to switch to another application when you're done with the current application, or tap the physical power button to turn off the screen.

The OS will take responsibility for deciding when to suspend and when to terminate a background application. It generally does a good job of this, but some people cannot stand this behavior and so install task manager applications to explicitly terminate background applications.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-tab-2-10.1
---


# Question
Title: Why are my contact pictures blurry and how to fix it?
Since the switch from Android 2.x (2.3.7) to 4.0.4 ICS I notice that all my contact's pictures are blurry.

Some of them come from g+ profiles but most are self added on a gingerbread phone.

Why are they blurry and how can I fix this?

PS: my own picture I reuploaded via the talk app is still low res and upscaled in the phone app. I also have a public profile pic that i updated at the same time.

# Answer
> 10 votes
This is due to a limitation of GMail more than anything. GMail only supports contact icons with a resolution of 64×64, while ICS supports up to 256×256. When you give a contact an icon, Android uploads that new contact icon to GMail... which then promptly downscales it. ...And then Android thinks you changed it to the low-res icon and uses that instead of the nice and pretty one you picked out.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Let's get one thing clear, the contact resolution is still too damn low, even after the "fix" for 4.1 where the pictures were slightly enlarged. As of now, there's only one workaround if you want crisp contact pictures.

* Create a folder with high resolution contact pictures. It's a great idea to backup this folder to Dropbox or similar, you don't want to have to collect these pictures again.
* Download HD Contacts (free) from Google Play. This app will let you specify one "HD" (high resolution) contact picture for each contact. You can backup the database of contacts/apps from here, and you can redo all contact pictures in a batch when needed (like after installing a new ROM).

Until this is fixed server side and Google allows the sync of shiny high resolution pictures, all we can discuss is workarounds, and this is the one I find to work the best.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Apparently, this is fixed as of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean:
See the API Overview for Jelly Bean and you find this:

```
Large photos

Android now supports high resolution photos for contacts.
Now, when you push a photo into a contact record, the system processes it into
both a 96x96 thumbnail (as it has previously) and a 256x256 "display photo"
that's stored in a new file-based photo store (the exact dimensions that the
system chooses may vary in the future). You can add a large photo to a contact
by putting a large photo in the usual PHOTO column of a data row, which the
system will then process into the appropriate thumbnail and display photo
records.

```

# Answer
> 2 votes
I'm not sure if your issue is the one I'm addressing: Gmail doesn't save anything bigger than 96x96. So when your contacts are synced with Gmail, they are downsized. If you wipe your phone and re-sync, the 96x96 photos will be downloaded to your phone.

I couldn't find any solution but to write my own app, which uploads the high quality photos to picasaweb under a private album. Give the app a try: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oxplot.contactphotosync

# Answer
> 2 votes
What worked for me was going onto my PC, opening Gmail contacts, and deleting the contact photos one by one. Then voila, the non-compressed pictures are back on my Android.

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, contacts, profiles
---


# Question
Title: Block all connections except a single host server ? (block by server not by app)
My mobile company offers a free package for facebook with unlimited bandwidth , however when I open my 3G connection the mobile automatically connects to unknown servers (maybe google) and the mobile company charges me for that connection.

The question in simple words:
How can I make all connections blocked (even google) except facebook.com?

# Answer
> 1 votes
If you're rooted, you can configure `Firewall` rules to block all except Facebook, but I don't think your problem is that complex:

> when I open my 3G connection the mobile automatically connects to unknown servers.

Unable to understand what that mean as I can't OPEN my 3G connection. Seems to me, either you are talking about opening web browser or `Background Data` is screwing you. In the first case, make your homepage Facebook. In the second case, turn off `Background Data` from `Settings` ~\> `Accounts and Sync`. Done!

---

If you want to do it with Firewall way, open Terminal Emulator. Switch to root by `su` command (your device must be rooted for that). Now, execute following commands in sequence:

`iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -d facebook.com -j ALLOW`

`iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp -d * -j DROP`

(Do it on your own risk after proper backups. Some devices become unstable after it.)

---
Tags: networking, internet, data-connection, data-plan
---


# Question
Title: Shaky, drifting compass an inevitability on Samsung Nexus S?
I bought a Nexus S off eBay and found that the compass direction wanders even with the device laying still. Likewise, the display in Google Sky shakes around even with the resting on a stable surface, and it often doesn't align correctly with the stars. SkEye reports "Warning: Strange Magnetic field!". Calibrating using Advanced tools doesn't fix the problem.

I'm running ICS 4.0.3.

Doing some searching, I've found mention of other problems of the sort with the Nexus S. It's not clear whether these are just anecdotes suggesting that I have unit with a defect. Or perhaps there is a hardware or software design flaw and nothing wrong with this particular unit. Where does one look to determine if there is a pervasive problem with a given model and OS version? Anyone know specifically for Nexus S and ICS 4.0.3?

# Answer
Had a Nexus S and experienced the same issue, which wasn't present in the Nexus One.

Though my online research, the unofficial stance was that this is a hardware defect in the product line that Samsung and Google either didn't notice or noticed too late to do anything about. The most appropriate place to complain about this would be the Google Product Forums. Here's a thread where this issue is being discussed.

http://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/m/#!topic/mobile/8ODgVdPy5Wk

...an alternative would be the call Samsung up and see if they will acknowledge that its a hardware flaw.

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any fixes for the issue, and have found that although the work around (calibration) helps, the problem either doesn't completely go away or recurs soon after. Just to confirm, the behavior I noticed was:

* In programs that display compass data (like Marine Compass) rotating the phone results in a partial rotation in the sensor data, followed by an unexpected 90 degree phantom rotation, according to the phone. This puts the displayed barring out of step with the true direction the phone is pointing.
* In programs that try to display the full orientation of the phone including the direction it's pointing (like Sky Map) the display is shakey, and seldom provides a true indication of where the phone's actually pointing. Smoothing options result in slightly less shake, but the difference is marginal.
* In spite.of this, games that depended on changes in orientation alone (like those games with the metal ball-bearings you need to guide through a maze--Labyrinth, if I'm not mistaken) worked flawlessly.

I decided to upgrade to a Galaxy Nexus, and noticed that the compass works like it should, and Labyrinth games continue to work. Sky Map, however is still jumpy.
> 2 votes

# Answer
It's not the hardware gang, it's a programming flaw in Ice Cream Sandwich. My Galaxy Blaze's compass worked flawlessly until I upgraded from Gingerbread to ICS. It seems like they misconnected or merged two of the axies or improperly handled the data.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, samsung-nexus-s, compass
---


title: Nexus 4 And Vodafone india

text:
# Question
Title: Nexus 4 And Vodafone india
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Can I use my device on a different carrier?

I am buying the Nexus 4 from US google play store and my colleague is sending it over via his relative. My question is even though google has mentioned that the unlocked version being sold on play store is supported by 200 carriers worldwide - will there be any issues with Vodafone India or is there any carrier that i need to purchase Sim from. Please reply immediately as i am kind of worried here.

Thanks in advance Sameer

# Answer
> 3 votes
Rather than answering your question directly, I will point some things to you on which you should read and research yourself, and find out the answer.

OK, First of all, head over to gsmarena.com and check out the 2G and 3G network specs for your phone.It will have several frequencies listed. Now check which frequenc(y/ies) Vodafone India uses for its 2G and 3G network.(You might have to do quite a bit of googling for this) If any one (or maybe more) frequencies are same in both cases then your phone will definitely work over Vodafone India's network.

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Tags: nexus-4
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title: HTC WildFire Home Screen

text:
# Question
Title: HTC WildFire Home Screen
Couple of weeks back I purchased HTC-WildFire. I did not find a way to change my default home screen. Is it possible to change my default home screen with my own custom screen. If it is possible I will write my own home screen for wild-fire.

Please suggest any mods, or procedures to change my home screen. Or is it possible with custom ROM's?

# Answer
1. On the Home Screen, tap

```
Menu > Personalize Home Screen Tabs.
```
2. To move a tab, tap and hold the icon before the tab name, and then drag it up or down the tabs list.
3. To hide a tab, clear the check box at the right of the tab name.
4. Tap Done.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Press the home button so all screens are shown, then long hold the screen you want as default home screen, then drag it to center of the screen and let go, hey presto.
> 2 votes

# Answer
In most Android phones you can change your home screen. Simply download any "home screen replacement" app from the Market. You do not need to be rooted, nor install costum ROM.

Tips: download "Home Switcher" apps to easily change your home screen. If you don't use Home Switcher, you will need to go to `Settings > Applications > Manage application > **current home screen** > Clear defaults > Press Home button`. Hint: HTC Wildfire's home screen is HTC Sense
> 0 votes

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Tags: home-screen, custom-roms, customization, htc-wildfire
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# Question
Title: Samsung S screen turns off while calling
during a call, the screen turns off and I become not able to click(touch) any button on the screen. PLEASE help if there is any solution cause it makes me crazy. Thanks.

# Answer
> 1 votes
This is normally face detection that turns the screen off so that you cannot press buttons with your cheek. If moving the phone away from your face does not turn it on, then you should be able to turn it on with the power button.

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Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, calls, screen
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# Question
Title: Can I use my android as a wifi bridge via USB?
I have a broadband connection to my computer, but no wireless router. I would like to know if I can connect my android as a wifi bridge; using my broadband connection instead of my mobile internet connection.

I am thinking of turning off mobile network, connecting my phone to my computer with a usb cable, selecting internet pass through, then turning on wifi hotspot.

Does this work, or will the phone default to the mobile internet connection instead?

I have icecream sandwich on an htc one x

# Answer
Setup the phone as a modem. Still most android phones can be setup as a WiFi hotspot.

Following URLs may help you
> -1 votes

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Tags: usb, internet, wifi-hotspot
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# Question
Title: for htc desire s: how to know your phone's region?
i'd like to update my software from gingerbread to ICS, just want to make sure to get the right update for my phone.

# Answer
> 1 votes
You must have been confused by seeing too many files for the update. Actually there is only one file to update to ICS and hence it is the right file. The file is RUU, i.e. ROM Update Utility.

So from, http://www.htcdev.com/devcenter/downloads

Download

> Desire S HTC WWE RUU N/A v4.0 404.0 MB 14.01.401.2

And yes the region is WWE for this case.

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Tags: updates, htc-desire-s, localization
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# Question
Title: Send Navigation Audio to handset but music to bluetooth
I have a DROID 3 and use it both for navigation and listening to music in my car via Bluetooth (Ford with SYNC). In the BT profile for SYNC on my phone, I can turn off media output over Bluetooth and get navigation audio over the phone but still make calls via BT. However, I would also like to have music and podcasts play over BT but still have navigation over the phone. Sometimes I will listen to a CD or radio and still want navigation, but when media output over BT is turned on, I con't get any nav audio, since the car is not switched to the BT media mode.

In older versions of Android Nav, the audio was not over the media channel so this wasn't a problem. Is there a way to switch it back so that nav audio is ALWAYS over the handset speaker?

# Answer
Audio routing would have to be set in the application code itself.

However, direct audio routing is deprecated since API level 5 (Android 2.0).

Older versions of Android Navigation had this direct audio routing set to the ROUTE\_SPEAKER in their application code. But the newer versions of Android have a system wide flag set with setSpeakerphoneOn or setBluetoothScoOn if it should use the speaker or bluetooth.

I'm afraid that you won't be able to change anything about your setup since it is all build into the system and application code. All sounds will be routed through the same audio output in the newer versions of Android and Android Navigation.
> 2 votes

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Tags: audio, navigation
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