title: I can not reboot my Glaxy s 9000

text:
# Question
Title: I can not reboot my Glaxy s 9000
I was running CynogenMod 10 successfully on my Galaxy S 9000 till I got an update message which I unfortunately applied. It seems it could not get access to my apps installed to sdcard. Unfortunately, I did not make any backup from the old installed OS. Afterwards, I wanted to install a stable ROM following a guide on Internet, that I have to download the CynoGenMod ROM 9.0 on sdcard and then went to Recovery mode and installed it after pressing "Wide data/facatory reset".

It took hours till the Galaxy turned off. When I turned it on again, the Galaxy could reboot but I was not satisfied with it, so I went to ROM Manager and clicked Update to stable ROM and chose CynogenMod 10 again to install. Once applied it, the Galaxy tried to reboot, showed the CynogenMOD logo and then went to recovery mode. It shows:

> CWM-based Recovery v6...
>
> reboot system now install zip from sdcard
>
> install zip from sideload
>
> wipe data/factory reset wipe cache..
>
> backup and restore
>
> mount and storege
>
> advanced

Whenever I press "Reboot system now" it tries to reboot, show the CynogenMod logo and goes to Recovery mode again and so on.

As I said, due to the fact I did not backup the old functioning installed OS I can not make use of the feature shown in the menu "Backup and restore".

Any suggestion how to download and install CynogenMod in this case?

# Answer
As you have access to the recovery partition, you should find an update zip that you can flash to it.

Most likely you will have one on your SD card still, if you updated using the CyanogenMod updater.

Using the recovery menu, navigate to `Install ZIP from SDCard` and select it. You will then have to find the update .zip file. It may be in a folder called `cmupdater` or something similar. If you have a folder like that, find a zip in that folder and select it to flash. Erase your data, and try and reboot the device.

If that doesn't work, then I am afraid I don't have any more ideas sorry.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I hope this are the steps you followed:

```
    WIPE (wipe data/factory reset + wipe cache partition)
    Install the ROM from internal sdcard using ClockworkMod Recovery(Reinstall again the rom you want to use)
    Optionally:
    WIPE (wipe data/factory reset + wipe cache partition) again to be sure the partitions are ok

```

If not just reinstall again your cyanogen mod and it should work.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, samsung-galaxy-s, rom-flashing, boot
---


title: Broadcast screen over wireless

text:
# Question
Title: Broadcast screen over wireless
With my Sony Xperia Z1, I can use NFC to "pair" it to Sony TVs to broadcast what is being displayed on my phone on the TV screen as well. I would like to do this however I don't have a Sony TV. Is it possible to use an app or set up streaming so I can view my screen on my TV? I have a typical "dumb" tv connected to a Western Digital Live Hub which can access the videos/media stored on my phone without issues (supports DLNA) over my wireless network.

# Answer
I'll go ahead and post this as an answer. Android 4.2, including Sony's package on the Z1, supports Miracast \- a wireless display standard that's sorta becoming a thing now. Miracast is what Sony uses to connect you to their own TV's, so it's not a proprietary Sony thing (surprisingly).

In order to use Miracast, you need either a Smart TV with the feature built in. Or you can use a Miracast Receiver - they range from $50-$80. I personally use this one \- it's worked great for me from Android and Windows without any hiccups.

Note that there is real latency between the phone and the TV's displays. You're looking at a 500ms lag at best, so this won't work well (or at all) for games. It's really good for watching videos, and things that don't require much interaction.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: video, dlna, television
---


# Question
Title: I did factory reset without taking backup of messages. can i recover those messages?
I have did factory reset my phone with out taking backup of messages... its all important messages.. can i recover those messages back. if so, please guide me.

Phone : HTC Explorer

# Answer
If you're talking about your SMS/MMS messages, then there's practically no way to get them back.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, factory-reset, data-recovery, htc-explorer
---


title: Phone is being overrun with ads

text:
# Question
Title: Phone is being overrun with ads
Whenever I switch on my Internet every morning I get a page which opens up with applications and games that aren't from the Play Store and I see a message that says my phone has stopped outside applications from being downloaded. Plus my gallery gets flooded with pictures of game icons and stuff and no matter how many times I delete them, they come back again. How do I make this stop?

# Answer
> 0 votes
You have downloaded an app using an advertising platform that uses these ads.

These ads are actually *against* Google Play's Developer Policies, so when you find the app (see below) that is doing this, be sure to report it.

There are a few ways to find the app:

* When did the adverts start? If you can remember this, try and think of any apps you might have installed not long before they started, and uninstall them.
* Are there any apps in your Manage Apps area that shouldn't be there? Uninstall them, and see if the adverts go away.
* Check through all your apps, and look at the permissions. Adverts like these will need loads of permissions, so if you see an app with many permissions which it may not need, uninstall it and see if the adverts go.

If the worst comes to the worst, you can factory reset and reinstall all your apps one by one, however this is a last resort, as you *will* lose all of your data.

---
Tags: ads
---


# Question
Title: Gmail App Expanded Email Notification Not Collapsed Automatically
Recently I freshly installed the Gmail app from the Play Store and it had this nice feature which offered a peek of my email in the notification area whenever I swiped down the notification tray; it also had the reply/delete buttons.

But now all of a sudden that feature is literally gone. Now, whenever I receive an email I do get the notification but in kind of that classic way and to have a preview of my email and the reply/delete buttons to appear I have to slide down that notification (either by dragging it by one finger or tap-holding that notif. and then dragging it down as mentioned here on Google's Help Page) a bit every single time which is kinda annoying.

I have Android 4.2.1 installed on my phone. And have checked all related settings to no avail :|

Please help :(

# Answer
> 0 votes
This is standard behaviour, however I think it may have been different in older versions of Android/different ROM's.

On all the apps on my device that use expanded notifications, only one seems to be expanded by default. There is (most likely) an option for developers to make it expanded by default, and this may have been recently disabled in the gmail application.

As this is done at a program level, there would be no way to change it.

---
Tags: notifications, gmail
---


# Question
Title: Is there any way to use a touch screen monitor to CONTROL an Android tablet through USB?
I have a Coby MID7065 Android tablet that I want to connect to a 4 wire capacitive touch screen monitor via USB. I want to be able to control my tablet via the touch screen monitor. I need to know if there is a way to do this, or if drivers that must be written for the Android OS to make this work or where I can get this information.

# Answer
> 1 votes
As far as I know, no Android devices ship with drivers for a USB touchscreen monitor. To make this work, you'd have to find or write drivers for Android, and they'd probably be specific to the type of monitor.

In the first instance you could approach the monitor manufacturer and see if they know of a driver for Android, or are willing to give you the datasheets you'd need to write one.

---
Tags: touchscreen, usb-peripherals
---


# Question
Title: What is the difference between odexed and deodexed ROMs?
What is the difference between odexed and deodexed ROMs? Which is the standard (stock) ROMs that ship use?

# Answer
A `.dex` file is basically a compiled bytecode version of an app that has been built for the Dalvik VM which Android's apps run on. I believe it is short for Dalvik Executable, but I'm not sure if I'm remembering that correctly.

An `.odex` file is an Optimized `.dex` file (hence the 'o'), meaning that it has basically been pre-compiled for a specific platform. The advantage to this is that startup time is much faster since the VM doesn't have to perform any optimizing at startup/runtime. The disadvantages are 1) That it takes up some extra space and 2) An odexed app won't run properly if it's put onto another device, and it must have the associated `.odex` file to run at all.

ROMs are typically released in deodexed form because they can be themed and modified fairly easily, whereas theming/modifying an odexed ROM is basically impossible (at best things would crash like crazy). Some people also choose to release their ROMs in odexed versions for people who would prefer the performance gains.

Most of the stock ROMs I've seen are odexed, I assume because the carriers/manufacturers want the performance boost. They also don't have any kind of official theming methods, so they probably don't care if you can't change the colors of your status icons or your system text or whatnot. Plus they have the advantage of knowing what device they want their system to run on, so they can pre-compile the `.odex` files very easily, I imagine. As an added bonus, it makes it difficult to pull `.apk` files off of the device and share them with people.

**Edit:** Since I just realized that I was not very explicit about the difference here - an "odexed" ROM is one where the apps have been precompiled, and thus contain associated `.odex` files which are external to the `.apk` files. A "deodexed" ROM is one where data that would be optimized in the `.odex` files has been more or less merged back into the `.apk` files (meaning it is not optimized but basically platform agnostic), thus the `.apk` files are self-contained and there are no `.odex` files. This is usually just done with a deodexing utility, such as smali/baksmali.
> 42 votes

# Answer
I personally wanted to know the answer to this a little while ago. Here is what I came up with:

**Odexed and Deodexed**

A standard ROM is supposed to be odexed for release which provides smoother and faster loading of apps into memory. Each .apk has a corresponding .odex. When the application is used by either the system or the user, the .odex is used to start loading the app. A ROM that is deodexed has only the .apk file. When the application is called into memory from only pulling the data from it’s .apk, this takes longer due to not being optimized for easier retrieval from the system.

Common questions that I get asked way too often are:

1. Why do custom ROM’s deodexed?
2. Should I use a odexed or a deodexed ROM?

To answer these questions it comes down to one word, themability. If you talk to anyone that themes ROM’s they will tell you that it’s extremely easier to theme a deodexed ROM. Since we started using deodexed ROM’s, themers could now create themes to apply to a ROM rather than the tedious option to theme the ROM itself (release a custom ROM for a theme). If you use a odexed ROM and try to apply themes, it will not work or only theme some visual aspects, which will give you a terrible user interface to experience.

**Deodex Cons**

I bet you are now wondering why… why is there even an option to download a custom ROM that is odexed? The answer to that is speed. Remember how I said that odexed files are optimized for easier retrieval? Simply put… it’s optimized (like indexing a data table) so the system can open the .apk faster.

**Deodex and zipalign**

Everyone wanted the best of both worlds so quickly after the deodexed trend started to peak, these savvy ROM developers came up with a solution to zipalign at boot. This optimizes each .apk on every reboot which then allows the system to access applications more efficiently and most importantly, faster. Of course, the disadvantage is slightly slower boot times.

**Summary**

If you have a choice to download the custom ROM odexed or deodexed, I would just go with the deodex ROM. You never know when you would want to try out a theme or do some modifications yourself and it’s nice to have easy options rather than flashing a whole new ROM. With newer devices you may not even see a noticeable difference to zipalign on boot. If your device is pretty slow and outdated, well then I would suggest to think about this a little harder. I would bet some of you would prefer to get a nice minimal optimized (odexed) ROM for better performance and speed over customizing the user interface.

If you're new the subject you can find some common terms located on my original write-up here: http://codeversed.com/deodexed-vs-odexed-rom

Otherwise, the above shows you everything you need to know. If I missed anything, please let me know :)
> 10 votes

# Answer
A .dex (dalvik executable) file is basically similar to Windows' .exe files (except in Dalvik VM's language, instead of compiled code). Basically, .odex (optimized dalvik executable) and deodex (de-optimized dalvik executable) relates to how resource files are handled in the applications. The .odex is a .dex file that have been optimized by the dexopt program: http://www.netmite.com/android/mydroid/dalvik/docs/dexopt.html

Advantage

* odex is faster
* it makes themeing easier

Disadvantage

* deodex is slower on first startup
* the .odex files makes theming harder
> 2 votes

---
Tags: custom-roms, odex
---


# Question
Title: How can I access lock screen Apps on Android like iOS 7 -- Galaxy S4 on Sprint
I am a recent covert from iPhone. the one thing i miss, which is even more prevalent with iOS7, is the ability to access basic apps (e.g. phone, flashlight, wifi toggle) from the locked home screen without having to unlock/enter my security code. Even the 3rd party Android home screen apps that allow you "access" apps on the home screen, still require you to unlock your phone after you select the app.

How can i access apps directly from the a locked home screen?

# Answer
> 2 votes
For security reasons, you can't access normal apps from the lock screen: you can only access *lock screen widgets*. They're like home screen widgets, but the app they come from has designated them as suitable for the lock screen: they may have better ways to keep sensitive data hidden than normal home screen widgets.

Not all Samsung phones support lock screen widgets. For example, the Galaxy S III doesn't (unless you install a 3rd-party lock screen app, or a custom ROM), because its lock screen was designed before Google added lock screen widgets to Android. The Galaxy S4 does, though, so you just need to add the widget of your choice to it!

# Answer
> 1 votes
I would suggest a 3rd-party app such as Widget Locker. Dev offers great support, and this application is consistently updated. It also works very well, and is customizable to your needs.

---
Tags: lock-screens
---


title: Create new friend list on Facebook

text:
# Question
Title: Create new friend list on Facebook
With the Facebook Android app I can add and remove friends from existing friend lists but I cannot find a way to create a new list.

Am I missing something? If not, is there an app available that does this?

# Answer
> 3 votes
The Facebook app does not have this feature (and several other features that are available on the web app). However, you can create a new list with a 3rd-party app like Fast Pro for Facebook.

---
Tags: facebook
---


# Question
Title: Does Viber app have a menu to close the app?
I would like to use Viber only if I need it. I want to turn it off if I do not use it, regardless if I can be reached or not.

I do not wish to have a program running and using energy all the time. However, I can't seem to find any close menu to kill the app. Does it even have a close menu / function?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Just installed Viber on my Samsung Galaxy S4 (Android 4.2.2), and I can find an exit menu via `More Options > Exit`.

---
Tags: viber-messenger
---


# Question
Title: My phone can't start after backup failed
I tried backing up my Galaxy S4 using this method: http://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-tutorials/how-to-backuprestore-rom-on-galaxy-s4-with-root-cwm-recovery/

1. 1st backup failed but I could still boot the phone
When backing up, it failed halfway, it failed backing up /data/.
I rebooted my phone and found that my keyboard doesn't remember my custom words anymore.
2. 2nd backup failed and I can't start the phone anymore
I rebooted into the recovery and tried backing it up again the second time.
It failed halfway, it failed backing up /system/.
Then I tried the backup again (without rebooting) and it failed immediately saying no space on the SD card (I am not sure if it's true)

So I rebooted the phone and it is showing the boot animation forever (I waited over 30 mins).

I tried restoring /system/ from the first backup but it didn't help.

I don't even know where the problem is, how can a backup break your phone??
Any help will be appreciated.

# Answer
I finally did a Wipe/Factory reset. I lost all apps and data, but at least I can use my phone again.

And yes, that was because I ran out of space in the internal SD card.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: clockworkmod-recovery, recovery-mode, boot-loop, samsung-galaxy-s-4, unbricking
---


# Question
Title: Developer options for a second user on Android 4.3
I have a Nexus 7 (2013) edition with Jelly Bean and set up several user accounts. I have enabled developer options on one account (clicking Settings::About tablet::Build number 7 times) and everything is working as it should.

Now I would like to enable developer options on a different user account. However, no matter how many times I click the Build number field, the Developer Options refuses to appear.

Is there a way to enable Developer Options on another account? Is there a way to switch Developer Options from one account to another?

(I have tried clearing settings in the account with developer options. It did remove developer options, but it still didn't allow developer options in the second account).

# Answer
Only the main user (owner) has access to `Developer Options`.

**Related question:**
> 14 votes

---
Tags: settings, 4.3-jelly-bean, multi-user
---


# Question
Title: How to check emails (safely & securely)?
I trust Linux more than Android. Likewise, I trust Firefox (with certain settings and certain security-related addons) more than Chrome (or Chromium). I'm new to the smartphone world and couldn't wait for a non-dev Ubuntu Touch release, so I bought an (Samsung) Android phone. Which I have yet to turn on. So the following question is theoretical for now:

How to check emails in Android (safely & securely) ?

Via an app (which?), via a browser (which?), else ?

---

Further, I have more than one gmail account. In Linux, I use two separate browsers to check both accounts simultaneously (I'm aware of other solutions, but am happy with that one on my PC). How to do so in Android?

# Answer
I respect your desire for pirvacy, but if you're so leery of Google-backed software that even the open-source Chromium is suspect, then I don't know that anything simple will meet your needs. I'll do my best to make suggestions for you.

**1:** Remove the Samsung ROM and replace it with something else.

* I'm not a privacy-demanding individual, and even *I* don't trust Samsung's software. In an ideal situation, you would be using a Nexus 4 so that you can install Ubuntu Touch as soon as it's available. Barring that, you can go find a lot of open-source Android projects like Cyanogenmod or AOKP that have baked-in privacy enhancements. Cyanogenmod (Just for example) is open-source, and doesn't include the closed-source Google Apps by default.
* Note that Cyanogenmod recently announced that it's becoming a company, and will no longer be solely volunteer-developed. If you're not cool on that, there are lots of other alternatives. However, I'm pretty sure CM has the best built-in privacy features.

**2:** After you're on your new ROM, don't install a Google Apps package.

* Google Apps, while extremely useful, are closed-source software. We don't know exactly what goes on inside them. If you don't trust Chrome, you probably don't trust Gapps. If you don't trust Chromium, you *definitely* don't trust Gapps.

**3:** Instead, use an open-source Android App repo like F-Droid.

* F-Droid, a very well-filled repository of free and open-source software for Android, including Firefox, etc, is an excellent source for people leery of Google Play, Amazon App Store, and other closed-source or questionable sources of software.

**4a:** Use an open-source email client (Like the built-in email app).

* The Android email app (not Gmail app) is open-source and generally considered quite safe. But you can't be blamed for being too cautious; there are a lot of email apps available from F-Driod.

**4b:** Alternatively, use an open-source Browser (Like Firefox, or the built-in browser).

* The built-in browser is open-source, but is based on Chromium. You probably want to just install Firefox. However, you will probably not find the addons you use on the desktop available for Firefox here.

**More Notes:** Installing an ad-blocker from F-Droid will also help a bit. Ad providers try to do lots of tricky things to track users. Mess with security and privacy settings in Cyanogenmod or whatever ROM you choose.

Unfortunately, your Samsung phone may have a locked bootloader. If it doesn't, you should be okay - most of the flagship Samsung phones (S3, S4, Note2, Note3) - when their bootloader is unlocked - have good support from the major Android ROM projects. If, however, your bootloader is encrypted, then I might suggest returning the phone (if still possible) and getting a Nexus 4. *Yes, I know this is a "Google" phone.* However, it's one of the easiest to bend to your needs. It's also one of the very few that will have immediate and constant support for Ubuntu when it's available. If you don't trust Nexus, then just find something that's well-supported by the open-source community, and has an unlocked bootloader (Galaxy S4's are apparently getting locked by a new update, so be careful!).
> 2 votes

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Tags: security, email
---


title: Activate voice recognition with keyword

text:
# Question
Title: Activate voice recognition with keyword
I want to have the mic listening for a keyword and then have it turn on Google recognizer? Has anyone been able to do this and how? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

# Answer
This is something added Android 4.3 and is featured on the Moto X. The phone passively listens all of the time for you to say "Okay Google Now" followed by whatever your command is. (There's a special low-powered CPU being used to listen, which is why it's not available on every device with 4.3.)

(Here's a video demo by Slashgear.)

I expect to see this more frequently as new hardware comes on the market.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: voice-command
---


# Question
Title: rmt_storage keeps polling and spam logcat
In logcat I can see rmt\_storage keeps doing something every 2/3 seconds

```
I/rmt_storage(15279): rmt_storage open success
I/rmt_storage(15279): rmt_storage shared memory ioctl success
I/rmt_storage(15279): rmt_storage mmap addr = 40009000
E/rmt_storage(15279): rmt_storage wait event ioctl failed
I/rmt_storage(15280): rmt_storage user app start
I/rmt_storage(15280): rmt_storage open success
I/rmt_storage(15280): rmt_storage shared memory ioctl success
I/rmt_storage(15280): rmt_storage mmap addr = 40009000
E/rmt_storage(15280): rmt_storage wait event ioctl failed

```

It seems like the process rmt\_storaeg is spawned again and again and has some failure.

Id like to know WHAT is rmt\_storage. what are the consequences of stopping it and why does it keeps polling something even when the device is totally idle and the screen is off.

# Answer
It's a bug in the Android build as near as we can figure. If your device is rooted there's a workaround otherwise have fun charging your tablet every single night. Check out this Google Groups thread about it.

On my Galaxy S4 I stopped the service and everything still worked. However I found that after disabling wifi, I was unable to enable it again until I rebooted, even after restarting the service. Obviously this is not the case with the Nexus 7 2013, but that does confirm that it's "modem" related.

However I've found several other threads online that reference this service as having to do with external SD Cards (in some ROM development threads) but I do know that with it stopped my S4 wasn't able to toggle the wifi state anymore.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: kernel, system, logging
---


# Question
Title: Clockwork: error: cannot load 'recovery-clockwork': No error
I am trying to flash a recovery-image file into my Nexus 7 but the flashing fails

know that I am working on windows and my image file is located in the same folder as adb and fastboot files are

here are the steps I am following:

* start the tablet android system, and the device works fine
* I restart the tablet into the bootloader using: **`adb reboot bootloader`**
* browse to the Recovery Mode and then check if the adb sees the tablet: **`fastboot devices`**
* adb is working fine and can detect the device and read its serial number
* then when I flash: **`fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork.img`**: I get this error:

**`error: cannot load 'recovery-clockwork': No error`**

what am I doing wrong ?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Most common errors (and solutions to them) are:

* different file name: make sure the file is really named `recovery-clockwork.img`, in your example, or adjust your command according to the file name
* wrong path, e.g. your file resides in `C:\Downloads`, but you're executing `fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork.img` from `C:\`: Either first change to the directory the `.img` file is located in, move the `.img` to where you want to execute your command, or try specifying the file with its full path (e.g. `C:\Downloads\recovery-clockwork.img`)
* sometimes `adb`/`fastboot` behaves strangely when executed from "somewhere else". In those cases it helps to first changing to the directory where the resp. executable is located, and run your command from there.

---
Tags: adb, rom-flashing, nexus-7, clockworkmod-recovery, fastboot
---


# Question
Title: How can I play an Adobe Flash video on my Google TV?
I cannot open a Jib Jab video on my Google TV that someone sent me. It says that I have to have the latest version on Adobe Flash. I thought it came with the latest Google Chrome browser, that's what I have, but it won't play. Can someone tell me how to fix this? I have Sony Google TV NSZ-GS7.

# Answer
Adobe stopped supporting Flash player on Android, and removed their app from Play Store. GTV's Chrome browser's Flash plugin will remain at whatever version it currently is, and will no longer receive any updates.

Bottom line is that there is no way to play that video on your Google TV device.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: adobe-flash, google-tv
---


# Question
Title: Are there any problems caused by setting up my phone before the SIM card arrives?
Bought a brand-new Samsung S4 mini and ordered a new SIM card which is due to arrive in a week. So far I've inserted the battery and charged it.

Should I turn it on, even *without* a SIM-card in it, or would all the settings go awry? For instance, I heard that WhatsApp needs some sort of SIM card (phone number) verification. Will Android keep nagging me about my email address and SIM card etc right from the start until I "give in"?

In short, I can wait till the SIM-card arrives. The question is: Is it *better* to wait (and if so, why)?

# Answer
There is **nothing wrong in turning on the phone** and using it. Put the phone in Airplane mode and start using Wi-Fi and install applications etc.

As for the nagging part, **No, Google will not be nagging you to register your device or SIM till you choose to** (if you have skipped registering the device in the first screen). Google never registers your SIM, it registers your IMEI/EMSI with your account. So even without SIM you can use Google account.

However, without registering the device with Google, you will not be able to enjoy any of the Google play services. Other services (accounts) can be used without any problem.

Whatsapp registers your mobile number (not SIM), if you are retaining the number you can activate Whatsapp in this phone (S4 Mini) by receiving message in another phone and entering the code in S4 Mini (the application has to be removed from that old phone since Whatsapp can run only on one phone at a time).

Also, Whatsapp can be changed from device to device without any issues, just have to re-register it when changing devices for the same number.

In short, just turn on the device and use like normal phone (except for calling). Nothing to be worried about.
> 18 votes

# Answer
If you want to make yourself familiar with the device while waiting for the SIM to arrive, you might considering to turn on the device, skip the Google registration, and switch to airplane mode. Then you can start looking around how things are arranged, what apps came pre-installed, etc. As you didn't configure the Google account right now, installing apps should be out of question at this point (and you also should leave it aside here).

Once your SIM arrives, and before inserting it, consider going to *Settings→Backup and Reset*, and do a ; this will return your device to the state before you switched it on for the first time. Then turn off the device, insert the SIM, switch it back on again.

This time configure your Google account. Doing this for the first time on the (factory-reset) device, this will also trigger syncing your data (contacts, calendar, etc.) and, if you decided so, restore your Google Cloud Backup (if you had this configured on your old device as well). So from the view of your Google Account (and related apps/data), this is as if you just switched on the device for the first time. Now you can also go ahead installing and configuring all the apps you need.
> 3 votes

# Answer
**DISCLAIMER:** I'm not familiar with Whatsapp SIM verification; I don't use it.

You can use your phone even if it doesn't have a SIM card. Google's services doesn't need a SIM card. As long as you have a Google account and Wi-Fi - you'd at least need Wi-Fi to use / log-in your Google account with your phone - you're good to go.

However, like you mentioned, it's possible that apps that require SMS verification won't work. So maybe you can install them at a later time.
> 2 votes

# Answer
There's no harm in turning on your device and signing into your Google acct without a sim. It's no different than buying a wifi only tablet and signing in with your Google acct. The only apps you may not be able to use are those that require your device to have a phone number active on it. Whatsapp may fall into this category, although I don't use it so I'm not sure. You can go ahead and set your phone up however you want before the sim ever arrives, install all your apps, etc with no problem. The only challenge you may have on some devices is skipping the sim activation screen. Usually a quick google search will tell you how to do this so you can access the device.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: sim-card, whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: What will happen to my apps when i switch phones?
When I get a new android I would to keep the apps I have purchased. I will keep the same account but I was wondering if I will have to rebuy my games?

# Answer
> 2 votes
No. Android apps (as well as anything else (books, magazines, movies, etc.) sold in the Play Store) are linked to your google account, not to your physical device.

All the apps and games you previously purchased will be available for download.

---
Tags: paid-apps
---


# Question
Title: Cannot open message application on Samsung Galaxy S2 and Deleted all of my Contacts
I was originally getting an error message about the logserver not working, which I fixed through managing the application and forcing it to close, but now I get another error when I try to access text messages:

> The application messaging has stopped unexpectedly.
>
> \[Force Close\]

Then it doesn't let me access messages. When I cleared the data from my contacts like someone advised, I deleted all of my contacts, and messaging still doesn't work! There was not an option to clear the cache data, and when I try to sync my contacts to my phone from Facebook and my Google account, NOTHING happens.

I need to get my contacts back somehow and figure out how to get the messaging app working. I have tried to look up solutions but I don't understand what most people are saying and I am so frustrated. I do not understand what it means to be "rooted", although I did install the app ES File Explorer which seems to have done nothing.

Can someone please help me?

# Answer
> -3 votes
The only way that I have tried is to download GO SMS Pro and delete the longest message.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, contacts, sms, data-recovery
---


# Question
Title: How can I tell if my International Galaxy S3 is suffering from Sudden Death Syndrome? If it is, how can I fix it?
I have a 16GB International Samsung Galaxy S3 (XEF) running the latest firmware, 4.1.2 (yes, the Premium Suite update, I was thinking that this would've fixed it but it seems not) with baseband XXELKB.

Over the last week and a half, I've noticed my phone randomly freezing and/or restarting itself. I investigated further. At first, I thought it was to do with apps on the device, so I started recklessly uninstalling apps, to the point where I factory reset the device. No dice. Even with not a single non-stock app installed, it still managed to randomly freeze after a few hours of use.

I went googling and discovered that my device is likely suffering from Sudden Death Syndrome, and I'm willing to think maybe I have that. Went through XDA forums, and found eMMC Check. According to that app, I have the affected 'insane' chip.

There's a few quirks that I have, however:

1. Is this consistent with the Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) that people are reporting?
2. Wasn't this bug supposedly fixed with the Premium Suite update?
3. How do I go about fixing this, for someone who has never rooted/flashed a Android device before?
4. How do I go back to stock firmware/kernel after it has been fixed by Samsung?

Any help, even if it doesn't solve my issue, will be much appreciated. Cheers in advance.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Do this:

* Type `*#0011#` on your dialer to go into *Service Mode*.
* From there, go to *Settings* by pressing the left hard key
* Navigate to wifi and turn off power setting mode.

This solved the problem for me.

However if you turn your phone off and again, the procedure will have to be repeated on each restart as its temporary.

# Answer
> 0 votes
update your phone to the firmware I9300XXELLA and check through "exynos" if your device is affected or not affected, it will tell you.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, security, hardware, crashes, system-freeze
---


title: Galaxy S4 video problem

text:
# Question
Title: Galaxy S4 video problem
I've bought S4 yesterday.

Everything works great except recorded video or Youtube video starts to flicker/artifacts, green lines appears and eventually the video stops.

I've tried installing Nexus camera but that didn't work either.

Also when i play videos that are from my PC it works normally, no flicker or artifacts appears.

Tested for dead pixels but there is none:

Increased brightness to the max Installed a free app called Dead Pixel Test by UJACHA from Google Play Cycled through the colors and inspected the screen.

Here's the screenshots when playing youtube:

Dummy recording is here

Should i return the cell and demand a new one?

# Answer
> 1 votes
I'm returning it today because the video is non-watchable, contains flicker and artifacts obviously it's from a bad batch (defective units out of the box, april 2013). At least I've tested it and saw artifacts when casting YouTube video to Google Chromecast.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-4, youtube, video-recording
---


# Question
Title: deactivate PIN-request after airplane mode
When switching on the phone, one is by default asked to enter the SIM-PIN -- which is a good security measure, to prevent "strangers" from causing you costs. Now the same applies when returning from airplane mode: one has to enter the SIM-PIN again. Which renders certain energy-savers useless: if an app e.g. enters airplane mode on signal loss (see: What is *Cell standby* and how can I keep it from eating my battery?), it would be unable to return to normal operation without user interaction.

I'm looking for a way to *selectively* disable this: Have the PIN request active when powering up the device -- but not being asked for the SIM-PIN when returning from airplane mode.

Please do *not* confuse this with "keyguard": I'm not asking about the screen lock (PIN/pattern/password). Here I know my way around, as there is an API for apps to use (so I can e.g. temporarily turn this off with *Tasker*).

I know this works with Samsung devices -- but I preferably want a device independent solution which works for all manufacturers.

# Answer
> 1 votes
**DISCLAIMER**

1. This needs root. No way around that one.
2. Your device must be running Android 4.1+
3. This workaround may be too advanced for some users. Only try to apply it when you know what you're doing.
4. I'm not to be held responsible if something goes awry or Ragnarök starts during the process. You're doing this on your own risk. Proceed with caution.
5. I'm not the author of or otherwise affiliated with any of the mods mentioned. I merely found this and I'm sharing it for your benefit.

**WORKAROUND**

I found a workaround for the problem that's working beautifully on a Samsung Galaxy S2 with Cyanogenmod 10.2 and Dorimanx Kernel 9.41 installed. The necessary steps are as follows:

1. Make sure your device is rooted.
2. Download and install Xposed Framework Installer.
3. When Xposed asks for root anywhere in the near future, **grant it**.
4. Open the app and click on `Framework` -Tab.
5. Click `Install/Update`.
6. **Reboot**.
7. Download and install Jelly Bean 4.x Airplane Mode Helper.
8. Open `Xposed Framework Installer`-App again and select `Modules`.
9. Tick (set active) `Jelly Bean 4.x Airplane Mode Helper`.
10. **Reboot**.
11. Open `Jelly Bean 4.x Airplane Mode Helper`.
12. Tick (set active) **Enabled**.
13. **Reboot**.

That's it! Airplane Mode should work again as in previous Android versions and does **not** ask for SIM-PIN any longer when being turned off. It still does at startup, though, thus keeping your SIM-Card somewhat safe. I set up an automated battery saving procedure with Llama Location Profiles similar to the one described here (Thx a bunch, Izzy) and it's working flawlessly.

Good luck, folks!

# Answer
> 8 votes
The answer lies in the source... it seems to be that the property to request pin-lock is built into `build.prop` or `default.prop`.

Have a look at the reference found in the TelephonyManager source, between lines 735 and 755. For brevity,

```
public int getSimState() {
        String prop = SystemProperties.get(TelephonyProperties.PROPERTY_SIM_STATE);
        if ("ABSENT".equals(prop)) {
            return SIM_STATE_ABSENT;
        }
        else if ("PIN_REQUIRED".equals(prop)) {
            return SIM_STATE_PIN_REQUIRED;
        }
        else if ("PUK_REQUIRED".equals(prop)) {
            return SIM_STATE_PUK_REQUIRED;
        }
        else if ("NETWORK_LOCKED".equals(prop)) {
            return SIM_STATE_NETWORK_LOCKED;
        }
        else if ("READY".equals(prop)) {
            return SIM_STATE_READY;
        }
        else {
            return SIM_STATE_UNKNOWN;
        }
    }

```

The key is `TelephonyProperties.PROPERTY_SIM_STATE` which is referred elsewhere, between lines 94 and 98.

```
//****** SIM Card
/**
 * One of <code>"UNKNOWN"</code> <code>"ABSENT"</code> <code>"PIN_REQUIRED"</code>
 * <code>"PUK_REQUIRED"</code> <code>"NETWORK_LOCKED"</code> or <code>"READY"</code>
 */
static String PROPERTY_SIM_STATE = "gsm.sim.state";

```

After searching through the source code here on my machine, I'll give you the idea of how often this method `getSimState` is called, notice the names of the java source to clue in on how its integrated within Android, not just in the Telephony layer but elsewhere.

```
services/java/com/android/server/am/BatteryStatsService.java 219:      int simState = TelephonyManager.getDefault().getSimState();

telephony/java/android/telephony/TelephonyManager.java 523:    public int getSimState() { 551:     * @see #getSimState 562:     * @see getSimState

policy/src/com/android/internal/policy/impl/KeyguardUpdateMonitor.java 478:    public IccCard.State getSimState() {

policy/src/com/android/internal/policy/impl/KeyguardViewMediator.java 545:            final IccCard.State state = mUpdateMonitor.getSimState();

policy/src/com/android/internal/policy/impl/LockPatternKeyguardViewProperties.java 57:        final IccCard.State simState = mUpdateMonitor.getSimState();

policy/src/com/android/internal/policy/impl/LockScreen.java 273:       mStatus = getCurrentStatus(updateMonitor.getSimState());

policy/src/com/android/internal/policy/impl/LockPatternKeyguardView.java 173:                && (mUpdateMonitor.getSimState() == IccCard.State.ABSENT); 217:                final IccCard.State simState = mUpdateMonitor.getSimState(); 469:                && (mUpdateMonitor.getSimState() != IccCard.State.PUK_REQUIRED)) { 512:   secure = mUpdateMonitor.getSimState() == IccCard.State.PIN_REQUIRED 513:                            || mUpdateMonitor.getSimState() == IccCard.State.PUK_REQUIRED; 643:        final IccCard.State simState = mUpdateMonitor.getSimState(); 662:        final IccCard.State simState
= mUpdateMonitor.getSimState();

policy/tests/src/com/android/internal/policy/impl/LockPatternKeyguardViewTest.java 49:        public IccCard.State getSimState() {

```

Do those file names give a clue, yup, in the lock screen...

# Theory

This requires root at this point, by invoking the `adb shell` and calling `getprop` and `setprop` to do this, the only part is this, by invoking

`adb shell getprop` will get back the pertinent information as shown below

```
sh-4.1# getprop
[gsm.sim.state]: [READY]

```

This subtle property seems to be dynamically persisted into a backing property store, from the moment of powering up and is adjusted accordingly, based on number of things, service, and not to mention accidentally dropping the handset which may knock the sim-card out of its reader which would change the state of the card to "*not-ready*" or "*unknown*". (**ref:** *system/core/include/cutils/properties.h* and *system/core/toolbox/* \[ *getprop* | *setprop* \].c)

Now at this point, theoretically, by invoking setprop prior to locking the screen, it could be circumvented temporarily, but then again, that could get resetted by the telephony layer! Have not tried that! Which is leading to this...

# Conclusion

The **only way** this can be switched off, is to effectively *disable the pin-lock request on the actual sim-card*. That is where the "magic" bit-flag is stored on that, in which the telephony's RIL layer reads it in via the proprietary htc/samsung/qualcomm's library, and that would prevent propragation of the persisting of the property "PIN\_REQUIRED" up through the layers of Android.

# A possible work-around, for Android Developers only :)

*This would require hacking and recompiling the source.* For the airplane mode, when entering that mode and leaving airplane mode, the property could be split up, into two, ***gsm.sim.state*** can be left as is, but devise another property, something like this, **gsm.sim.state.airplane.mode** and assign a value along the lines of `SIM_STATE_PIN_NOT_REQUIRED`, and modify the airplane mode check, to read that property and if set to that, do not show the pin dialog box, otherwise as usually does, prompt it.

# Answer
> 3 votes
I am not sure that you need to do what you are trying to do.

You might, instead:

* Set up two `Tasker` tasks to switch on/off everything that enabling/disabling `Airplane` mode does.
* Don't ever use actually your `Airplane` mode. Use your `Tasker` tasks.

You may have to see if any apps are enabled to *automatically* turn on a hardware radio. Watch to see if an app tries to background sync or whatever, they might try to toggle disabled radios on. If so, disable that app's ability to automatically turn on your e.g. WiFi. I say this because `Airplane` mode certainly stopped the unexpected WiFi connections before but not anymore, if you try this answer.

You could also set up `Tasker` to always go into `Airplane` mode at shutdown. That way you would see the PIN Lock at boot time.

---
Tags: security, sim-card
---


# Question
Title: Remove bloatware from a Samsung Galaxy S4
I just bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 and I'd like to get rid of a lot of applications I found installed but I'm not going to use.

What options do I have?

Surfing the web it seems that I cannot do it without rooting and the only option I have is to disable the applications I don't want. Is that the only option?

Alternatively I saw that a lot of web site links to TrulyClean but it seems to be discontinued. Is there any alternative script I should look for?

I see that there is the possibility to install other ROMs (Maybe the one that Google uses for the version of the device it sells on the play store). Would that help me getting rid of all the bloatware?

These were the options I found searching the web, would you recommend me to go down for any of these three paths or is there any better option? I'd like to know which are the pros and cons of each of them so that I can come up with the best decision for my needs.

# Answer
> 2 votes
DjeMBeY has created a custom ROM on XDA which contains stock ROM, minus the bloatware. It is pre-rooted; once you flash it, you also get root. There is also a Google Play edition if that's what you want.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-4, samsung, bloatware
---


title: Manually updating samsung home app

text:
# Question
Title: Manually updating samsung home app
I have a rooted Samsung Galaxy Y phone. I couldn't help notice that the Samsung Home app in my mobile phone misses a lot of features in comparison to that in more expensive models of Samsung phones.

I tried getting my hands on the .apk file of Samsung home, but apparently, it is not available in Google Play or any of the alternative markets that I know about.

My Question is, will the latest version of Samsung Home even work on my phone, if I am able to get it somehow? (From the /system/apps folder of some rooted Samsung Galaxy S mobile phone)

# Answer
> 0 votes
Check the ADW launcher. An open desktop, lots of functionalities (does not replace the notification bar as it's an integral part of the system

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, updates, samsung-galaxy-y
---


# Question
Title: Can a Factory Reset fix Malware Problem? And another question too!
After factory reset my pictures, videos, and other media remained. Is it an indication of infection? Prior to the factory reset.

Can you explain why my media wasn't deleted? It was supposed to wipe out everything on the phone.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Factory resets only partially erase\* the main data directory, not the internal/external storage drive (SD Card for example).

All videos, photos, music etc remain, as they are stored on the internal/external drive - only apps and app data would be deleted.

\*I say partially erase, because if everything in the data directory was erased, the OS wouldn't function correctly.

---
Tags: security, factory-reset, malware
---


# Question
Title: What kind of hardware problems is a cheap Android phone likely to have?
For development and application purposes an organisation I am with is considering buying a cheap Android handset here in India (this is the handset).

But what kind of problems can one anticipate in such a phone? Most of what I can find on the net is just references to a "short life" - which does not tell us what kind of problems would actually occur - and lack of access to Google Play (on the software end).

I should note that this is a rather peculiar use case in that it's mainly going to be an SMS gateway and at most a very low demand server for SMS (possibly for Web too - there is a discussion on our situation in this SO question). But we are interested in this question in general as well.

**Edit:** For reference, most such cheap handsets in India - and I suppose in most of the world - are made using licensed designs of low end Chinese phones.

# Answer
My answer for you is twofold; there are innate downsides to off-brand devices but - most importantly - your use case (development and application purposes) might make off-brand Android phones a poor choice.

This is from my experience with the phones (I have a lot, having lived in Asia for years, and seeing a lot here in the States)

**First, the general issues.** Cheap, off-brand phones like that can actually perform quite well - but those good phones can be few and far between. Often, you'll face issues with any/all of the following:

* **Screen quality** \- This is generally the first place no-brand manufacturers cut corners. Many, if not most, of the devices will have low resolution and poor color reproduction.
* **Battery** \- This is the next big issue with these. There are many reasons that cheaper design, development, and manufacturing generally mean poor battery life. From the chips used, to the battery technology used, to the radios (In your case, dual-SIM is a known battery-drainer).
* **Local Support** \- Your Mileage May Vary™. Many, if not most, no-brand devices are quad-band GSM-devices - worldphones!! But many are not, and almost all are poorly documented. It may claim to be a worldphone, but who knows for sure?
* **Slowness** \- These things are cheap. Good NAND is expensive, good SOCs can be expensive. Most off-brand phones are much slower than the big-name phones from HTC, LG, Motorola, etc...
* **Customer Support** \- Almost universally non-existent when dealing with these things.
* **Long-term Manufacturer Support** \- You're almost guaranteed to never see an update to the Android OS on these phones.
* **Community Support** \- The devices are, unfortunately, almost never supported by the hacking/modding/Open-Source communities. Phones from big names almost all have communities for modding/roms/help built around them.

That doesn't seem so bad, right? You'll be developing software for your organization. You don't care about watching movies - so screen quality doesn't matter - and it'll always be plugged into a dev machine - so battery doesn't matter either. You probably expected slowness too. You probably don't care about those issues!

**Let me tell you why you *might want to* care.**

* **Screen** \- It's likely to be an old, depracated screen resolution. If you're going to be developing applications to publish then it could be a problem making your app compatible with standard screen sizes. (Your SO question implies you're not, so this might be a nonissue).
* **Slowness** \- You mention that this will be a low-demand server and SMS gateway. Slowness may be a downside for you. The phone you linked is VERY SLOW.
* **Long-term Manufacturer Support** \- This thing runs Android 2.3.6. That's *ancient*. Even though that version is still used on many Android phones today, it could be very limiting for you with its old API.
* **Community Support** \- It's very likely that you'll need to use ADB, perhaps get root, and a plethora of other generally-simple tasks that could be made difficult by the way the phone is engineered. Usually, there's a community to ask for help when things like this get in the way. Not so for this phone.

**TL,DR:** You will *probably* be able to make a workable solution with the phone you linked. There are some very significant unknowns - hiccups you may run into with your project, and hiccups you may run into with the phone - that might be bad with this phone, or they might be no problem. If it was me, I suggest this little phrase:

**If you have to ask, "is this phone going to work?" then you should probably consider a different phone.** Get a device that you *know* will work. Nexus phones are *made* for this situation. And big-name phones, while not as much as a Nexus, will probably be a better solution than the phone you linked.

I realize the price of Nexus phones in India is expensive, but I would say it's worth the added cost.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: battery-life, battery, screen, hardware, processor
---


# Question
Title: Store and retrieve wifi password without installing an app
So I do a lot of development for Android these days and a lot of it involves reformatting my phone repeatedly, and then that leads to me re-entering my wifi password each time. This, over the course of a lot of time, is adding up to quite a lot of time spent entering my wifi password.

So what I am looking for is a way to get past that without having to download an app. **Is there a way to get internet to my device on boot, without entering my wifi credentials.** I'll take any way that's much faster, if I can transmit my password via NFC, if I can share it from another device, if I can wire my internet through USB directly. I have not found a way to do any of these things **without installing additional apps**. Also, I need to consider security still, so getting rid of the wifi password is also not an option, sadly.

# Answer
> 2 votes
This is a suggestion, it may not meet all your critera and not all routers support it.

* Set a second SSID on the router which isn't broadcast
* Have a simple password on this SSID with a minimal number of characters
* Implement MAC lockdown on this SSID
* Enter the MAC of your phone as the only approved connection

Your router will only accept connections from specific MAC addresses on the new SSID, even if others guess your password.

# Answer
> 5 votes
Android's debugging bridge **adb** supports backup/restore:

> adb backup -f wifisettings.bak

presents you a message on screen which you need to confirm (and maybe enter a passphrase) to create the backup.

> adb restore wifisettings.bak

restores it. Just set up your phone to a very simple initial state (nothing else besides the wifi settings, or so). Then backup. adb also supports partial backups (adb -f backup.bak com.app.name), but the wifi settings are not part of a particular app, at least I haven't figured out which package to backup to catch the wifi settings.

Another way: Is your phone rooted? Then "adb push stored\_wpa\_supplicant.conf /data/misc/wifi/wpa\_supplicant.conf" will restore your password file.

---
Tags: wi-fi, internet
---


# Question
Title: Malware App Installed, Then uninstalled immediately- Next action steps
I recently accidentally installed an app from Google Play onto my android phone (Version 2.3.6) which was clearly a fake... It had the same name and icon as the app I wanted, and I hit the install button.

While it was installing, I noticed it was not the real app, and as soon as it completed, I uninstalled the app without opening it.

1 - What actions should I take to assure I have no infection?

2 - Does the fact that I did not run the app mean that it did not have the ability to infect the phone in any way?

3 - Just by installing it, could it have sent my MEID to a bad guy?

Thanks in advance for your help! SteveG

# Answer
> 1 votes
Android won't run anything from the app as soon as you install it. An app can only set alarms, register broadcast receivers, etc. after the first time you run it manually, for example by:

* launching one of its activities from the launcher
* clicking **Open** in the Play Store app
* creating a home screen or lock screen widget provided by this app
* starting it from another app (via a Share action or the like)

This isn't a complete list, but it should be pretty obvious what actions start the app. If you haven't started the app, it can't have run yet, unless the author is able to exploit a bug in Android that no one else knows about.

This is very different to the situation on desktop OSes. In Windows and most GNU/Linux package managers, installing an application consists of running code provided by the app author. In contrast, Android is designed to limit what apps can do. Android itself installs the package by reading its *manifest*, which tells Android the name of the package and what components it contains. Android unpacks the app's files to its own private directory in internal storage, without running any code provided by the app. If the app wants to do any further setup (such as performing an anti-piracy check, or getting you to sign into a server), it can only do this when you first run the app.

---
Tags: security, malware
---


# Question
Title: unlink () and rmdir() errors when running adb wipe command
I'm trying to wipe my device using `adb shell su -c wipe all`, but when I run it I get the following errors:
`unlink() error on '/system/vendor/res/images/dock/dock.png' 'Read-only file system'`
and
`rmdir() error on '/system/vendor/res/images/dock' 'Read-only file system'`
except very many of them for varying files and directories. Is there something I should do before running the wipe command?

thanks!

PS. This occurs on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus with a slightly customized 4.3 OS. I don't really have anything else to compare against, but doesn't seem like a hardware issue, therefore no samsung galaxy nexus tag.

# Answer
As Izzy points out, `/system` is usually mounted read-only, because it contains the operating system itself. The only reason you're getting these errors is because you specifically asked the command to wipe both `/system` and `/data`: that's what the `all` means. If you actually did that, you'd have to reboot into recovery to reinstall the OS. If that's what you really want, you should first remount `/system` as read-only by running the following command in a root shell **on the device**:

```
mount -ro remount,rw /system

```

If you just want to wipe user data, to get an effect like a factory-reset for a clean slate for testing, then the command you need is `wipe data`.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: adb
---


# Question
Title: Which VCF field do I use to specify a group in Android?
I'm creating a VCF file on my website. It works nicely with the export, and most data are being imported, but the group is not created or used on Android.

I've tried using `CATEGORIES` and `ORG`. I also tried to look at `KIND` and `MEMBER`, but couldn't figure out how to use those, seems to refer to URI's and not a group name in the phone book. If I export a contact, it doesn't fill in the group in the contact.

Which VCF field do I use to specify a group in Android?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Here's a list of valid VCard fields separated into supported/unsupported by Android's VCard importer: VCardConstants.java.

As of Android 4.3, `ORG` is supported while `CATEGORIES` is not. Check it yourself for more clarification.

You may also want to compare what has changed in 4.0/4.1/4.2/4.3 here.

---
Tags: contacts, vcard
---


# Question
Title: How to restrict syncing to only calender and not contact
I have contacts and calendar on my Mac but like to sync only the calendar to my android through google. Whenever I sync with google, both my local contacts and calendar are being synced. Because I have separate and different contacts on google, I like to only sync the calendar but not the contact. Is that possible and how?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Settings \> Accounts \> Google Account \> name@gmail.com

You can decide which features to keep synced up here.

---
Tags: 4.2-jelly-bean, calendar, macos
---


# Question
Title: Play a live YouTube stream in the YouTube app
For example youtube.com/opener - it won't play via the browser, but I can't figure out how to access it via the app.

Is it possible?

# Answer
You can't. This feature was added in the ICS version of the YouTube app. Older versions don't support it.
> 8 votes

# Answer
Check how you are looking for it in the app you have a couple options you can try:

From the regular youtube.com/opener site subscribe to the channel

or

From the app search for the AlterArt2 channel and subscribe to it

The channel isn't actually listed as opener it is under AlterArt2 so watch that to make sure you are able to find it. I located it on my youtube app and was able to subscribe and view. I'm using an HTC One X ICS.

Hope that helps.
> 1 votes

# Answer
It seems that if you add the livestream to your Watch Later list, you can then view it via this on your mobile device. However, it will start from the beginning of the stream and it seems you cannot forward it. You can pause it, but I found that if I left the application, when I would go back it would take me all the way to the start again.

Maybe this can help someone somehow.
> 1 votes

# Answer
You can use the browser.

Just type the livestream link, and it will load normally. On the downside, it will lag a little bit.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: youtube
---


# Question
Title: MicroSD and/or internal storage of LG Optimus E615f phone doesn't mount on GNU/Linux
Yes, I do have that phone, rooted few seconds ago. Anyway, is practically impossible for me to be able to mount my MicroSD and/or phone's internal storage on GNU/Linux even if the USB mode is turn to "MTP". On my father's laptop that runs Windows, I can plug and open the folder about my phone and then select between mounting either the MicroSD or the internal storage.

So, How can I mount my MicroSD or phone's internal storage on GNU/Linux?

# Answer
Wow, I had this problem just this week! And just got access to my MicroSD...

# Accessing your MicroSD

**The Problem:**

My MicroSD card works GREAT on my phone, but when I inserted it into my card reader and plugged it into the computer (Ubuntu 12.04), it didn't read! Well, this MicroSD card was a 16GB, Class 4 so I thought maybe it was due to the Class that it didn't work. Since, when I plug in a 2GB MicroSD, it works great! Works on my phone as well as using the card reader.

**What I did:**

Updated my USB drivers as well as my computer and it's all GREAT!

Here's the command that I used:

```
sudo update-usbids && sudo update-pciids

```

And then use the Software Center and just do a full system update. That's it.

The post where I got the info from: Ubuntu 10.04 USB drives not mounting! - These are instructions for Ubuntu 10.04 but it worked for my 12.04. \*I didn't have anything to do with mount-manager at all.

# Accessing your internal storage

This is something that I'm not an expert at but I'm quite sure it's what the rooting program using the ADB connection did to my Android when it needed to install the sudo binary.

But here's a link I hope will be of a great help to you - How to access intenal storage or internal memory of Android while conecting to PC?!
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, lg-optimus-l5
---


# Question
Title: Can't mount first-gen Kindle Fire in TWRP
I have a rooted Kindle Fire running TWRP that I let my kids use. Last week the battery ran low and it shut off, but my three-year-old son somehow booted it into TWRP and wiped the device. Now the Fire hangs at the Kindle logo during boot.

TWRP still works, and I've attempted to mount /sdcard in order to upload cyanogenmod. Strangely, the Kindle is not talking to my Ubuntu PC: when I plug it in, `lsusb` reports no additional devices and `dmesg` reports that the device is disconnecting almost immediately:

```
[450654.465431] usb 1-4.7.2: >new high-speed USB device number 14 using ehci_hcd
[450654.558614] usb 1-4.7.2: >New USB device found, idVendor=18d1, idProduct=0100
[450654.558622] usb 1-4.7.2: >New USB device strings: Mfr=5, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
[450654.558627] usb 1-4.7.2: >Product: kindle
[450654.558631] usb 1-4.7.2: >Manufacturer: Amazon
[450654.558634] usb 1-4.7.2: >SerialNumber: 0123456789ABCDEF
[450657.586116] usb 1-4.7.2: >USB disconnect, device number 14

```

I'm at a loss for how to diagnose this further. The `fk`/`FireKit` tools can access the device but only while it's booting up, and despite using fk to reflash TWRP I have noticed no improvement.

**Edit:** As my answer indicates, I solved the problem by unbricking the Kindle with a different computer. **This shouldn't have helped.** I'm still very open to any answer that helps to identify the real issue.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Ultimately I plugged the Kindle into my Macbook instead of my Ubuntu machine, and it mounted it just fine. No idea what the issue is with my desktop - all other devices on the hub work fine, switching ports changed nothing, etc etc.

If your device won't mount, try it with a different computer. For some reason.

---
Tags: unbricking, amazon-kindle-fire, twrp
---


# Question
Title: Why to create and use a Samsung account (on a brand-new S4 mini)?
Are there any real benefits of (creating and) using a Samsung account? Or is Samsung just offering inferior services (e.g. "synch") in an effort to deepen its marketing clout?

# Answer
> 2 votes
As well as getting access to Samsung's sync and backup service, creating a Samsung account also gets you access to Samsung's app store. It's not as extensive as the main Play Store, but it has a good selection of apps.

Whether you think that's a "real benefit" or not is entirely up to you.

---
Tags: samsung
---


# Question
Title: How to see which applications are saved on phone
Recently I get a lot of warnings that the internal memory is full, which also led to full SMS memory.

What I did was to delete some messages, which seemed to work for a while. Yesterday however, I installed some updates and those warnings messages came up again.

Is there a way to find out which application are installed on my phone? A rather indirect way is to remove the SD card and see which applications are on.

Is there a way to figure this out in a direct way?

# Answer
> 1 votes
In the settings option you have Application Manager. In Application Manager if you swipe to the left you will get apps installed on the sd card. It should look something like this:

---
Tags: applications, insufficient-memory
---


# Question
Title: My apps status suddenly become "not installed on the phone", even the google play store!
I have been searching online for problem similar to my case but unfortunately didn't manage to find any solution to my case.

### INFO

```
Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100T
droid version 4.03

```

### STORY

I didn't do anything, never took out the SD card, or rooting or factory reset whatsoever all this time and my phone was working fine. But then today suddenly when I reached out for my phone to read one whatsapp message, some kind of error message shown up and need me to close it I think. I can't really remember what its saying, not just for whatsapp but along with several other apps.

Then I restarted my phone, and found in my home screen several shortcut icons missing, some are still there but with android logo. So I went to the main menu and noticed all the apps are there but it became gray colored with the same icon (Android with SD text on right corner).

When I pressed the app a message saying the app is not installed on the phone.

Another important thing is that I am unable to locate the google play store anywhere, even under the *Setting-\>Apps-\>All.* Actually, I can't find all the missing applications -- though in main menu I saw the gray colored play store icon (not google play but play store)

I don't think the SD card is the problem since my music and images are still there just fine, not to mention a few games apps still working fine even though they are also stored in SD.

**edit:** Just now I tried to access google play store with internet browser on phone and tried to download the missing apps again but I can't, it gives the message `your device already has this item.` Even if I want to un-install the missing apps, I can't because I cannot locate them under *Settings-\>Apps-\>All*.

### QUESTION

What do I need to do to fix this problem? I really have no idea since I am one that never really follows up with tech development of mobile phone, just take it and use it for granted.

# Answer
I had the same problem. I fixed it by:

* shutting down my phone
* removing the battery and SD card
* putting it back
* turning my phone on.

It's all there again.

If this does not work, try reinstalling the apps.

Don't uninstall the apps with weird icon but go to the store and install them again.

No data will be lost!!! (Tried and tested)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, applications, google-play-store
---


# Question
Title: Kies dies when trying to update Galaxy Note firmware
I downloaded and installed Kies in my Windows 7 laptop. (Toshiba Satellite.) I plug the phone in the USB, it is recognized and its storage shows in Explorer. Then I run Kies. It says there is a firmware upgrade available. I click to update. A window shows with a progress bar at the bottom, saying something like "downloading update components."

After the download goes to 100%, Kies just silently dies on the PC, no error messages, its windows just vanish. And nothing happens on the phone. My phone is not rooted, it still has the carrier-provided software, regularly updated via Play. It was bought here in Brazil.

Kies is trhe latest version, I had it check for upgrades. I also disabled the PC antivirus to no avail.

# Answer
> 3 votes
I had the same problem, did everything I could think of. Finally last night, I decided to try something different. I ran Kies in "Compatibility Mode for XP SP3" it took forever, left the phone plugged in while I went to bed, woke up this morning with 4.1 finally on it.

I run a Windows 7 Premium Home 64bit. Not sure if this will help with everyone's problems with Kies but hopefully it will help a few people. It's worth a try.

My phone is a Galaxy S III from AT&T. To change to "Compatibility Mode" do the following:

1. Go to `C:\` drive, right click and click on \`Explore'.
2. Go to `\Program Files x86`, look for `Samsung` then right click on that folder.
3. Click on `Properties` then click the `Compatibility` tab and choose `XP SP3`

If you are given the option, select `Run as administrator`.

I really hope this helps everyone else as it has me.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Just run the Kies with Administrator permission. For windows 7 right click on the "Samsung Kies" or the "Samsung Kies(Lite)" version and select "Run as Administrator"

# Answer
> 1 votes
Had the same problem with a Samsung Galaxy S.

I persisted and left it plugged in while I went on to do something else. When I came back later on the phone screen was all blue and the pc went to sleep:

THE PHONE WAS BRICKED

The app then says it needs to restore from an error but it freezed the same way it did on the initial update attempts.

I managed to get kies working "properly" on a computer with more memory. But it didn't unbrick my phone.

So if it goes silent don't insist. You can try on an other computer but my advice is NOT TO USE KIES.

You can flash the stock roms used in Kies with another application. (If you need I'll give more info when I get home).

# Answer
> 1 votes
Same problem for me (SGS2 i777) on Windows 7 64bits:

I could fix it by going to **control panel**=\>**programs**=\>**programs and features**. There is an option called *Run programs made for previous versions of windows*: click on it, follow the steps, troubleshooting will start and a list of programs will appear, once the list is populated select **Samsung Kies lite** and select **troubleshoot program**, select start from there.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I had a similar problem with the previous version of Kies. Every time I started Kies (with or without the phone connected) Kies would show a message that some components needed to be updated, even though I had the latest version of Kies. After selecting OK, Kies would start the update process and after a while just close itself without any warning.

I experimented a bit and I think the problem has something to do with rights on your computer. I noticed that Kies does install the components update properly when run from the administrator account, but strangely not when run from another account even when you tell it to "run as administrator". I thought the problem would be fixed after I ran it in the administrator account, but when I started Kies again under my normal (not administrator) account, the update message appeared again, and again Kies shut itself down during the update. After that I gave up and just selected "cancel" every time the update message appeared.

I upgraded Kies itself this morning to version 2.5.0.12104\_15 and now the problem seems to be fixed. The update components message does not appear when I start Kies, but I haven’t tried updating the phone’s firmware yet.

# Answer
> 0 votes
This is only due to the less memory on phone. Try to uninstall some applications and media file from phone memory. Automatically it will work.

# Answer
> -1 votes
Here is the solution:

1. Get sure that u have enough free space in your internal memory.
2. Update your samsung kies.
3. If you had connection problem with USB, download samsung mobile USB device: http://samsung-mobile-usb-device-1-0.soft32.com/
4. Right click on samsung kies
5. Use compatibility mode ( windows pack 3)\>
6. Before you start updating: Go to your mobile and turn off music, wifi, bluetoot, gps..as well.
7. Start updating.

---
Tags: updates, samsung-kies, device-firmware, samsung-galaxy-note
---


title: How secured is password protected Memo?

text:
# Question
Title: How secured is password protected Memo?
I have Samsung Galaxy Star (GT-S5282) with 4.1.2. I wanted to store my bank and credit card information in password protected Memo. How secured is password protected Memo? Is there a way to crack the password of secured Memo? Is it possible for someone to root the phone and get the file/database of memo and get the details stored in password protected memo?

# Answer
> 2 votes
In general it's not a good idea to store sensitive data on your mobile phone, but back to your question.

S Memo is storing your password as a clear text in `/data/data/com.sec.android.provider.smemo/databases/pen_memo.db > CommonSettings > PREF_APPLOCK_PIN` so if your device is rooted you can use Root Explorer to read it. Which means that this application is not secure. You can use KeePasDroid to encrypt passwords or other sensitive data. I am using it on my laptop and on my Android device.

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, security, password, password-protection
---


title: Blocking mode not working with WhatsApp

text:
# Question
Title: Blocking mode not working with WhatsApp
I own a Samsung Galaxy S4, which has the *Blocking mode* feature. It is very useful because it mutes notification sounds during certain hours (I use it to automatically keep my phone quite while I'm sleeping).

It works perfectly for all the applications but WhatsApp. It seems to be a known issue, and I found a workaround that involved a led notification management application.

I don't like that solution because it is not clean and I'd like to find a better one. I come from the iOS world where all the applications are forced to pass through system notification center and I can't really get what's happening on my phone nor how WhatsApp can deliver me notifications.

# Answer
> 1 votes
It looks like a Whatsapp problem. Your best bet would be to raise this concern with Whatsapp themselves. There's no guarantee that they'd fix it, but this isn't Google / Android issue either (from a general perspective). Developers should follow "best practices" when developing Android apps.

**UPDATE 2013-10-07:** This issue has been discussed in XDA, and it's because of how Whatsapp handles notifications (no specific details given). In that thread, there is a possible solution using the Light Flow app.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-4, whatsapp-messenger
---


title: How to NOT charge when USB debugging?

text:
# Question
Title: How to NOT charge when USB debugging?
I develop "on the road" using a laptop that's not connected to a power source, so when I debug on my android devices, they drain my laptop battery. Unfortunately, the laptop is a MacBook Air so spare laptop batteries is not an option. (I charge everything at home at night.)

Is there a setting to switch USB charging off, especially when debugging?

# Answer
No there is not way to turn off charging.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: usb, charging, usb-debugging
---


title: How do I fix my camera?

text:
# Question
Title: How do I fix my camera?
I have a Samsung Admire (running Android 2.3) & my camera won't work: it keeps saying cannot connect to camera & it always says multimedia scanning. I'm not sure but I think some pics have been deleting little by little. Could it be from the scanning?

# Answer
> 0 votes
It sounds like the SD card in your phone has some filesystem corruption. This can make the media scanner hang, can interfere with the camera, and can cause lost files. To check, and to fix it, try putting the SD card in a card reader attached to your PC, and using the disk check functionality there (e.g. `fsck` on Linux).

---
Tags: camera, media-scanner
---


# Question
Title: How to use NFC tags to trigger profiles and tasks in Tasker?
I am planning to get some NFC tags which I want to use to control some profiles in Tasker. Where in Tasked can I choose NFC tag as my trigger? If that does not exist, how can I turn tasks on and off for free using NFC tags? Any plugins?

Thanks.

# Answer
> 5 votes
I don't know whether *Tasker* can meanwhile handle that itself, but it's at least doable with the right plugin. There's e.g. Locale NFC Plugin which could fill this gap. Alternatives exist as well, like a modified version of AnyTag, which is used e.g. in this tutorial.

For more examples, tutorials, and possibilities, I recommend a GoogleFu, ahem, search for "tasker nfc", which brings up a lot of tuts and even Youtube videos explaining different magical things to achieve this way.

# Answer
> 4 votes
Trigger can, among other things, run Tasker tasks. In any case, it's probably worth while to check out this app if you plan on experimenting with NFC tags.

---
Tags: tasker, 4.3-jelly-bean, nfc
---


title: Any way to force an app to rotate?

text:
# Question
Title: Any way to force an app to rotate?
I've got an app that refuses to open according to how I'm holding my phone. So, it makes it uncomfortable to use it so I uninstalled it. I do have auto-rotate on but I guess this app doesn't recognize it. Is there a safe way to get apps that run upside down to work the right way? I can't function without the home button near my left hand.

OS: 4.1 S3

# Answer
> 3 votes
You might try the Ultimate Rotation Control app -- when I tested, I found that it could force any of the apps I tested to rotate. It's a seven day free trial, then requires a license purchase (US$2.99).

It turned out that I didn't really consider the app that inspired me to download this any better when force rotated, so I did not purchase, but your mileage may vary.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I have not tried this myself, but it seems to be possible using the Xposed Framework and its AppSettings Module – provided your device is rooted.

From its announced features:

> * Force orientation (portrait/landscape/auto)

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, auto-rotation
---


# Question
Title: Direct backup from Titanium Backup to DropBox
Device: Samsung Galaxy S4, with root

I was wondering if it would be possible to make my backups straight to DropBox, without needing to save the files to my phone first. I had TiBu upload to DropBox after the backup, but TiBu cannot complete the backup because of the low disk space.

I was thinking of something like a symlink to DropBox, but I don't know if that is possible.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I don't think that's possible. TiBu syncs a local copy to DropBox.

What you could do is:

* Use / Buy an external SD card (64GB or less)
* Go to `System settings`, open the Application manager, and `Move to SD card` TiBu

This way, it doesn't take up internal phone memory. (i.e. TiBu dumps its backup to the external SD card)

---
Tags: sync, dropbox, titanium-backup
---


# Question
Title: How can I download apps from Google Play to my Tab using my PC's Internet connection?
I don't have access to the internet on my Samsung Tab 3 and don't have wifi either. Only my PC has internet access through a landline and non wireless modem. How can I download apps from Google Play to my tab? I got the USB cable that connects my tab to the PC.

# Answer
> 0 votes
While one solution might be to setup reverse tethering, as eldarerathis already pointed out in his comment to the question (see: How to set up reverse tethering over USB?), this most likely requires your device to be rooted.

An alternative approach is described in an Article I've recently stumbled upon: How to extract direct APK links from Google Play Store. This basically uses a Java app on your PC, which is connected to your device via USB cable – and hence would perfectly match your needs.

You would need to download that Java application (Real APK Leecher), install it on your PC, configure it with your device ID (which you can find e.g. via the "dial code" `*#*#8255#*#*`), and then this Java app pretends to be your Android device, so you can use it to browse the PlayStore and download apps to your device.

Disclaimer: I didn't try this for myself, so I'm just sharing my find with you here.

---
Tags: google-play-store
---


# Question
Title: How to disable "reject call with an SMS"?
ICS introduced an option to reject incoming calls with an SMS.

Is there a way to disable this function. If yes, how?

Sony Xperia S handset running JB

# Answer
> 6 votes
Unfortunately, there is no way to disable that. Sony is using a proprietary Dialer that has that function hard-coded into it. Without using a custom ROM, there is no way around it.

I know this because I have experience with this on Samsung devices (they also have a bar near the bottom that allows to Reject with Text), and having heavy proficiency with Android, outside of somehow recompiling the Dialer apk and using your knowledge of Java to find the entry, remove it, and recompile, there is unfortunately nothing you can do.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Just go to `Phone > Call Settings` (Xperia Z3 go to `Settings > Call > Reject call with message`). There you'll see an option to "Reject Call with Message". Go there and you will see some template messages. Just delete all the messages one by one and that's it. Your problem is solved.

---
Tags: calls, quick-responses
---


# Question
Title: Set different default browsers for 3G and Wifi
I use Opera Mini when on 3G, and Firefox when on WiFi. Is there a way to set them as default? I have a custom 4.3 ROM and Tasker, if it helps.

# Answer
Actually, *Tasker* is the key here. You can find a tutorial here: Control which app is the default for an action.

In addition to *Tasker*, you will need the Secure Settings plug-in. The action involved which can be found there is called *Package State*, where you can select between disable, enable, and toggle. So basically it is a work-around: You disable *Firefox* when switching to 3G, so only *Opera* is available then and will be used. As soon as you switch to WiFi (*Tasker* condition: *WIFI connected*), you toggle both package states, so *Firefox* becomes the default browser as it's the only one available.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: browser
---


# Question
Title: HTC One X Has Started to Constantly Disconnect From My Network Even at Close Range
I have a HTC One X (not rooted) running Android 4.1.1 but unfortunately it keeps disconnecting from my router when I am at home. The router in question is a Buffalo AirStation WZR-HP-G300NH2 running DD-WRT and the issue occurs even when I am less than one meter away from it. The phone shows the WiFi signal as full strength, but most of the time it will constantly disconnect and reconnect.

The router is running in 802.11g/n mixed mode at 2.4GHz.

Here's the thing: the phone was previously working fine with my network for several months yet nothing has changed that I am aware of and I have not updated the firmware of either device in some time. I still have no problems connecting to my neighbour's router (which I have been granted access to) from the same phone even though the signal is understandably poor. Also, no other devices have trouble connecting to my router.

My router was configured to choose a channel automatically. Using inSSIDer on the phone I could see that the router was picking channel 6 - this seems to be logical as there does not seem to be anything else using it. I manually set the WiFi to channel 6 to be sure, but the issue remains.

I'm having trouble working out whether the phone or the router is to blame. I'm guessing that there could be some kind of interference on the channel I'm using, but I don't want to change to another one because no other devices have a problem using it and I'm guessing that performance could be reduced due to interference from other networks.

Any help in diagnosing the problem would be appreciated. Both devices have been restarted yet there was no improvement.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Ironically the Android 4.2.2 update I had been waiting many months for turned finally turned up the day after I posted my question. Since I updated I haven't seen the problem occur again so I'm hoping it fixed it. On the other hand it might just be a coincidence so I'll have to see how it goes.

---
Tags: wi-fi, connection-issues, htc-one-x
---


title: Connectify network for android

text:
# Question
Title: Connectify network for android
I have a wired internet access on my win xp laptop. And want to share it to my HTC android smartphone. So, I've installed Connectify Hotspot Pro 3.7.1, created a network, but my android even doesn't see that network. However, another windows based laptop sees it.

# Answer
> 1 votes
It's because Android can neither connect nor "see" ad-hoc networks. There's supposedly a work around in which you install some third party software on your Android device, but it only works on a small list of phone models. A quick Google search will lead you to the page. Sorry, I'm on my tab right now otherwise I'd link it here.

EDIT: Found the link to a similar situation: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5100928/how-to-connect-android-wifi-to-adhoc-wifi

---
Tags: connectify
---


# Question
Title: Help! Google is downloading books to me without my permission or involvement
I noticed I had updates the other day, and was surprised to see that my phone (Droid X, Gingerbread) was downloading *Alice in Wonderland*. I did not ask for this book, and I don't want it on my phone taking up disk space. When I checked, I saw it had also downloaded Dickens' *Great Expectations* and (as if in some kind of smirking insult) Jane Austen's *Pride and Prejudice*. WTF?

Granted these books are in the public domain (i.e. free) but I really think *I* should be the one to decide what I want downloaded to my phone. Not Google.

What's worse, there is apparently *no* mechanism to prevent such downloads. The settings in the book and market apps make no mention of any of this.

Does anyone have advice on how to stop this behavior?

# Answer
Assuming this is Google Books, this behavior should not carry on past these few books. *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*, *Great Expectations*, and *Pride and Prejudice* are downloaded by default, to give a feel for the program and some reading examples. No additional books will be downloaded without your telling the application to do so.
> 5 votes

# Answer
haha I too just had the annoying google downloading books taking up space on my droid, here's how you delete them, to delete a book in your collection of books (including these automatically downloaded books), select the Menu icon located alongside any book in your collection then select delete from library (problem solved! Hahaha! Google We Do Not Want These Books Forced Upon Us!). I found this info here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2851658?hl=en-GB
> 1 votes

---
Tags: google-play-store, settings
---


# Question
Title: Will playing a game in a Android phone while charging damage or cause harm to the battery or the phone?
Will the following situation damage or cause any harm to the battery or/and the phone:

* The phone is being charging (regardless it is using the electrical outlet or via USB) **and ..**
* You are playing a game while the phone is being charging **and ..**
* You will be playing the game for 5 hours or more.

In another word, if you will be playing a android game in a android phone for 5 hours or more while the android phone is being charging, will it cause any damage or harm to the android phone and/or the battery inside the android phone?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Playing while charging does not damage the battery or phone directly.

The only problem is that:

battery gets warmer when is charging, and phone also gets hot when playing. So, **when you play while charging, phone gets too hot** and we know that **battery life would be affected when it works in very hot conditions.**

Sources to read more:

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how\_heat\_and\_harsh\_loading\_reduces\_battery\_life

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how\_to\_prolong\_lithium\_based\_batteries

# Answer
> 0 votes
The https://android.stackexchange.com/a/54200/42449 conditions don't apply globally. It depend on hardware to hardware but it is true that using the phone for hours while charging can do damage in a way or other.

like Micromax tablets get easily heated up while charging if under use while same dont happens after a long with my sony phone.

To keep a long battery like follow the way as per above post.

# Answer
> -1 votes
When your phone gets to 100% battery, unplug it and play games until it reaches 5% battery life remaining. Then stop playing and wait for the battery to cool. Then charge your phone again until it reaches 100%.

---
Tags: battery, charging
---


# Question
Title: Galaxy Note is getting slower and less responsive
I've had my Galaxy Note about 18 months. It's progressively getting slower and slower to respond to user input. Any tap has an unpredictable delay, up to a few seconds. Even typing has a noticeable lag to it. I frequently accidentally tap things twice because there's no response to the first tap.

Is there anything I can do? I'd happily completely wipe and start over at this point. It's at the stage where I barely use it for things like quickly looking up stuff on the net - it's just too tedious.

It's the stock Samsung Android 4.1.2. 350 MB free on the internal storage out of 2GB, 830MB free out of 11GB on the USB storage, and 1.7/14.7GB free on the memory card.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Such symptoms have often been attributed to the eMMC chip (which is in fact a small SSD that runs a flash translation layer (FTL) software). Android 4.3 added TRIM support to address this.

There exist solutions like LagFix (fstrim) that run on rooted devices and essentially do the same. Cyanogenmod's Wiki has more information on buggy eMMC chips.

**However note:** You may want to check your eMMC type first with eMMC Brickbug Check first, to see if you have a known buggy type (where TRIM support is probably faulty).

Some background here, some Samsung eMMC chips are known to cause trouble (they're used in other brands too): https://plus.google.com/101093310520661581786/posts/2eEd95oN1ZP

# Answer
> 0 votes
Here are the no. of you can take:-

1. Try restarting your device.
2. If restarting doesn't help, then install app cache cleaner from play store and clear cache for all of your apps.
3. If above two doesn't work, try factory reset, it will not disappoint you.

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, performance, samsung-galaxy-note, maintenance
---


# Question
Title: What are ways of contracting malware/viruses on your Android phone?
I'd like to know so I can prevent it from happening.

# Answer
1. Downloading and installing an app that contains malware.

That is all. If you don't want malware on your phone, just don't install malware on your phone. That means:-

* When you click **install** on Google Play (or another app store), check the permissions. If the app asks for permissions you weren't expecting, don't install it. It's commonplace for malware authors to upload fake apps that appear to be popular or trendy games or apps, but are in fact imitations that install or contain malware. Google is pretty good at taking them down these days, but they still appear for a while. Genuine software vendors are happy to explain why they need each permission they ask for, so if you're not sure, check if the app description has a plausible explanation, and/or contact the vendor.
* If you're visiting a website and it unexpectedly downloads an APK (an Android app package), don't install it. Just delete the file.
* Don't install apps from warez sites. There used to be a lot of 'reputable' warez on Windows, that actually were the software they claimed to be, but on Android most of the warez sites are just viruses with different names.
* If you're not expecting to install apps from APK files you got elsewhere, go into the settings, in the **Security** section, and turn off installing APK files from **Unknown sources**. You can always turn it on again when you need to.

Apart from that, on Android you still need to apply the usual security precautions you'd take with websites and emails to avoid phishing attacks and scams. Check who the sender is, check what domain you're looking at or what domain the link points to. Even if a message appears to be from someone you know or an organisation you trust, it could be malware posing as them, so think about whether you'd expect them to send this message.
> 1 votes

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Tags: security, malware
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title: Move App to SD in Jelly Bean

text:
# Question
Title: Move App to SD in Jelly Bean
There is no option in Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8, Android version 4.2.2 as "Move to SD Card" in Application Manager.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The other way of doing this is more simpler, the blog which was where I learnt this from.

`adb shell pm getInstallLocation`, the value returned is 0 is default.

* 0 is Auto, will by default Android OS will install it as it sees best.
* 1 is Internal, apps will get installed to the internal filesystem.
* 2 is External, apps will get installed to the external filesystem, by way of SD Card.

Now, to change that to external location

`adb shell pm setInstallLocation 2`, the changes will persist across reboots and any apps will get installed to the SDCard by default.

*Beware:* I am unaware if this will work in the newer later versions of Jellybean. As the latest I have is CM 10.1 Android 4.2 so the mileage may vary.

**Amendment:**

As per @Izzy's comment below, the newer Jellybean version *and probably will remain for later Android versions from that point onwards* the commands used above are, `adb shell pm get-install-location` and `adb shell pm set-install-location` respectively in place of the older commands as highlighted above. Reference found here

# Answer
> 0 votes
Try AppMgrIII, its free, as there is no default option available.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You have to root your device:

http://www.idroidspace.com/root-samsung-galaxy-mega-5-8-and-install-cwm-touch-recovery/

Then install the app in the sd memory and then (finally) you can unroot your device so to don't lose the warranty or the O.S. update

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Tags: 4.2-jelly-bean, app2sd
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