# Question
Title: Locking individual files on micro sd card
I have Galaxy S2 running on android 4.0.3. I have a number of photos, videos, pdf and word files stored on the micro sd card.

I am just wondering if there is a way to password protect **individual** files.

Many thanks

# Answer
**Short answer:**

Maybe.

**Long answer:**

The SDCard is formatted with the legacy MSDOS FAT16 filesystem, which enables compatibility for the most part, largely majority with the Windows platform, not to mention Linux and others. It is for that reason, there is absolutely zero mechanism within that filesystem from a security standpoint. That is the trade-off with legacy filesystem and interchangeability with different desktop systems.

However, the alternative may be, is to format the SDCard to use one of the variety of Linux only filesystems where you can put permissions on each directory to prevent it from being browsable. Notably, ext3fs or ext4fs (Extended Filesystem 3rd and 4th edition respectively). That you might get away with but could induce side effects with the stock Android applications such as Gallery, Music Player.

The one thing that springs to mind, albeit from a technical view-point, would be, to have a Android service running in the background that is monitoring file access to those files in question and the service could trigger a rudimentary dialog box prompting for the password based on the list of files the service can monitor based on your choosing.

A bit of quick google-fu yielded this hit on this app that might be the very thing you're looking for.

> With VeryAndroid File Protector, you can pick files and folders on your android phone or computer to protect with password.

Actually, that is what I have mentioned above! Well, reading the reviews, some disgruntled people felt they were cheated out of it, its free for 48 hours and having to pay a premium price - 19.95 accordingly to the review!
> 2 votes

# Answer
As t0mm13b already described, on a FAT system it's not as easy as setting some file permissions. But what you easily can do is use encryption on single files or entire directories.

One of these ways is to use encrypted containers. You can think of them like password protected ZIP files -- only that you can access them transparently from any app, once you've opened them. An example would be EDS, which uses containers in the popular TrueCrypt format. Using this, you can even copy your containers to your workstation, and access them there: *TrueCrypt* is available across platforms, so e.g. on Linux, MacOS, BSD, Windows...

If you don't care about using the encrypted "stuff" on your workstation, DroidCrypt is another popular alternative, coming with a nice user interface.

As you explicitly asked for "single files", a last alternative to mention is FileLocker, which lets you lock files separately. It also encrypts them -- but to be able to read them again, you must "unlock" each file separately.

If you are looking for more alternatives: There are lots of encryption apps available on the playstore. Some of them can handle single files only, some files and directories. Some even encrypt entire "volumes" (i.e. the entire "disk"). Many of them require root -- the two I picked here should not.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: security, external-sd, privacy
---


# Question
Title: Get root or re-install the OS without a USB cable?
Usually, the guides for getting root or re-installing the OS on an Android device (I have a Samsung Galaxy S, which I'm mostly inetersted about) tell to flash the device from another computer through the USB cable.

Is it in principle possible to perform such modifications without using the USB cable (and another computer)?

Perhaps, by putting a file with the other version of the kernel/OS soemwhere on the device, and booting it in a special mode?

Imaginne the situation: I took the Samsung Galaxy S (and a laptop), but no USB cables, and went away from the civilization. Now it turns out that to use some of the apps I would like to use (like SSH server frontends for Android) I

* either have to re-install the Android OS (because they want a newer version; so I'd use CyanogenMod or Replicant because there are no offical upgrades from Samsung)
* or have root (because they don't want to work without root).

Can this be done without a USB cable?

* (Of course, there is another good solution in this situation: take the source code of those apps, and fix them so that they will work for me, re-compile and install them.)

(AFAIU, after I have full (root) access to the device, I can re-install the OS without a cable and another computer: for example, I have another device that was supposed to work under Android -- Toshiba AC100, but after I installed Ubuntu 12.04 on it by flashing the device, I must be able to re-install the kernel from inside the OS -- there is a "flash-kernel" utility in Ubuntu.)

# Answer
> 1 votes
Use ROM Manager app. It can install ROMs from SD card. You can download your favorite ROMs using it, too.

And, Samsung Galaxy S is officially supported by it.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I guess there must be a backdoor for this because I've read in a news article that it will be possible to upgrade (officially) the OS on Samsung Galaxy without connecting it with a USB cable to another computer **by means of a new "Kies" app from Samsung**.

So, it's possible for an app (in this case, at least the Kies app) to re-install the OS. But this backdoor might be well-protected (requiring cryptographic signatures from Samsung perhaps -- just a guess).

And the article told that one should install the "Kies" app (if it is not present) through the "Samsung apps" app. (I haven't tested this myself because I have been using the device without a SIM-card, but the "Samsung app" app wants a SIM-card...)

So, it's possible to install an app that will be able to re-install the OS. But this backdoor might be well protected (perhaps, only an app from Samsung can do this).

# Answer
> 0 votes
(I've read it must be possible **to flash an update stored as a file on the device in a recovery mode**.)

Indeed, "Procedure B: (Does NOT require ADB)" from Galaxy S I9000 HOWTO section (on forum.xda-developers) must enable me to re-install the OS without a USB cable on a non-rooted Samsung Galaxy S:

> 1. Copy the CustomROM/root file to the "/sdcard/" folder on the phone and (if not already the case) rename to "update.zip"
> 2. Restart in Recovery Mode by pressing an holding VolumeUP+Home+Power.
> 3. Wait for the recovery screen en select "apply: /sdcard/update.zip"
> 4. Wait for it to finish and reboot.

---
Tags: rooting, updates, usb, rom-flashing, kernel
---


title: Stock email client crashing

text:
# Question
Title: Stock email client crashing
Phone is Motorola Milestone (EU version of Droid), android version is 2.2.1.

About a month ago I switched my email server from classic Postfix+Dovecot to Kerio Mail server. I accessed my email account via IMAP and I didn't change any email settings on my phone. After the switch, all emails that were read on server (either via email client like Outlook or via webmail) were showing up as unread in stock email client on the phone. It was annoying but I didn't give it much significance.

After more than a month, stock email client started crashing after checking mail from server. My theory is that mail identifiers of new server caught up with identifiers from the old server, and it's making stock email client crazy ...

Deleting data from email app and recreating the account didn't help, crashing persists...

# Answer
> 0 votes
After using K9 Mail for couple of months, problem resolved itself, stock email client stopped crashing.

This only confirmed my theory that stock email client on 2.2.1 has issues with overlapping message UIDS

---
Tags: crashes, stock-email-app
---


# Question
Title: Haptic Feedback with Gingerbread on Samsung Galaxy mini 2
How can I turn off vibrations when I long press on start screen (to add a widget, etc.) or in Opera mini when long press on a link?

# Answer
> 3 votes
The Haptic Feedback is a global setting provided by your phone, you can turn it off by:

1. Click your device "menu" button";
2. Tap "Settings"
3. Tap "Sound";
4. Tap "Haptic feedback" to remove the green tick, thus disabling this feature.

## What is "haptic feedback"?

> Haptic feedback, often referred to as simply "haptics", is the use of the sense of touch in a user interface design to provide information to an end user. When referring to mobile phones and similar devices, this generally means the use of vibrations from the device's vibration alarm to denote that a touchscreen button has been pressed. In this particular example, the phone would vibrate slightly in response to the user's activation of an on-screen control, making up for the lack of a normal tactile response that the user would experience when pressing a physical button. The resistive force that some "force feedback" joysticks and video game steering wheels provide is another form of haptic feedback.

*More about this at Wikipedia.*

---
Tags: settings, haptic-feedback
---


# Question
Title: How can I prevent unwanted pre-installed apps from automatically running on Android?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> How can I stop applications and services from running?

As I can't uninstall certain programs that come with a phone (My case HTC Desire (not rooted)) how can I prevent certain apps from launching or trying to sync? And hide them? Or "Auto-Kill" kill them

For example

* youtube app
* faceboook app
* stocks (including the sync feature)
* twitter (including the sync feature)

# Answer
> 9 votes
For apps that sync, any app with an ounce of politeness will have any entry on the Accounts & Sync page in Settings where you can disable syncing. This is certainly true of the official Facebook and Twitter apps.

# Answer
> 8 votes
1) Consider rooting your device, it's really easy now with the Unrevoked package

2) Settings -\> accounts & sync. Here you can set options around what does it doesn't auto sync

# Answer
> 5 votes
Autostarts allows you to view which apps receive which events and edit them so that you can prevent certain apps from receiving problematic events (the ones that keep restarting the app). As far as I know it won't help with some low-level apps that run all the time and restart themselves with no events occurring at all, but it should help with others.

# Answer
> 4 votes
There is also an app called startup cleaner. I found it useful in preventing some apps from starting.

# Answer
> 2 votes
To remove bloat ware, rooting the phone and install titanium backup.

# Answer
> 2 votes
With the Samsung Galaxy SIII running Android 4 (and generally starting with Ice Cream Sandwich), it is possible to disable (some) pre-installed system apps without rooting the phone. I'm still going to root it, I think; factory apps imposed upon me which cannot be disabled or uninstalled basically creep me out, quite frankly. If nothing else, it's just...rude.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Starting with ICS (Android 4.0), you can simply "freeze" bloatware you don't need. This means, you make them "unavailable" (or rather "un-executable") on your device -- which makes them invisible in the launcher, and stops them from being started in any way -- while being able to "unfreeze" them any time you feel the need. No root required anymore.

If you're not yet running ICS -- no way to really stop that without rooting your device. Then you have the choice to freeze or even completely remove the crap, e.g. with the excellent Titanium Backup -- which, as a "side-effect" (*lol*) gives you the possibility to make complete backups of all apps and their settings, and that even scheduled. And for cloud-lovers, TB has support for Dropbox built in as well...

Other non-root solutions are only half-hearted: Without root, you cannot uninstall the pre-loaded bloat, and you cannot stop it from being autmatically launched (yeah, some apps promise they can -- but they are just shooting them as soon as they start, so im some cases they start again and get shot again and... you don't want that. The only decent solution in this group I know of might be Autorun Manager which, in non-root mode, detects such "restarters" and then ignores them. In root-mode it also allows to disable listeners to really prevent apps from auto-starting -- which might be nice if you want to keep the app for rare uses, but do not want it to run automatically).

**EDIT:** Beware that rooting the device might void your warranty -- and removing system apps (wometimes already generally modifying the `/system` partition, which is also done by "rooting" as it must place the `su` and `superuser.apk` there) might prevent future "official OTA updates", as those often check the CRC sum of the `system` partition -- which no longer matches after altering its content. This all does not apply to the "Freeze" of apps, of course -- at least not to the official ICS variant of it.

# Answer
> 1 votes
You can also consider an App Manager such as Advanced Task Manager that allows you to kill running apps. Also handy when you have opened a number of apps and they stay open in the background. Simply select and push 'kill'.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Most apps that runs in background should have a setting to disable background updates or something similar. If they don't, then just uninstall them and find an alternative app that are more acceptable. Alternatively, you usually can ask the developer; if the apps are any good then they would have a good development team that listens to their users.

Otherwise, I don't think there is any way to prevent apps from starting. There are several task killer apps that allow you to kill apps if they start; but without rooting or installing custom ROMs, I don't know if it's possible to prevent them from starting in the first place and still able to use the app when you need to.

# Answer
> 0 votes
You have to uninstall them.

Android apps are able to register with the underlying Android system to receive certain events and service requests, and the system knows to start the app up if those events or service requests come in.

Unlike on a standard desktop apps "running" on Android are often not actually running at all (they are blocked until an event or update occurs ... or to refresh state from the network). In general, Android apps are much simpler to suspend and resume than desktop apps, so the system can swap them out if the CPU or memory are necessary for another app without much complication. So, other than having a clean list of running apps, there isn't much to be gained by killing apps.

That said, if a specific app is behaving badly and using too much CPU for the value you get from it, then uninstall it and/or ask the developer to fix their badly behaving app. But really, if the app doesn't show up on the 'battery usage' meter, then you don't really have anything to worry about.

See this question for some answers for more specific apps.

---
Tags: bloatware
---


# Question
Title: Trying to install ADB USB Drivers, but Nexus is never appearing in Device Manager
I'm trying to install the google-adb-drivers.zip file (obtained here) on a Windows 7 64-bit system. The phone is the Nexus S 9020T. USB connectivity works correctly for file transfer mode. When I enable debugging, I expect to see "Nexus" appear under "Other Devices" in Device Manager, but it doesn't. After checking USB Debugging under "Developer Options" in the phone, the computer makes the USB disconnected sound.

I was able to load the drivers on a different Windows 7 32-bit system, but that's not the system I want to use.

Why is the debugging port not being recognized on the 64 bit system?

I saw the other post with a link to download the SDK, but I also would like to avoid installing the entire SDK unless absolutely necessary.

# Answer
You should get the proper USB driver via the SDK Manager (which is the the tool you will run when installing the SDK).

The first step in installing the SDK, is starting the 'SDK Manager", and downloading an Android API package (ie. the code to develop for a specific API)

In the list of options, is an 'Extras' section - that contains the official USB driver for Android developer devices (of which the Nexus S is one). Download that driver for best results.

You won't need to install the whole SDK using this method, but will need to start down that path, in order to get the proper driver.

Good Luck.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Looking at the Google's SDK download page:

This caught my eye under the section '**OEM Drivers**'

> The Galaxy Nexus driver, however, is distributed by Samsung (listed as model SCH-I515).

Might be worth a shot to try that instead.

The alternative is to try this other USB download from the same site here.

The final linky to an alternative site to get this to work can be found here which comes with a edited minimal SDK download purely to get the drivers to work.

If not, then why not temporarily download the whole SDK (*have no choice here and is totally unavoidable*) and just extract the USB drivers from there and wipe the SDK instead, and if you do, be sure to make a backup copy of the USB drivers! :)
> 1 votes

# Answer
Download the proper SDK API for Nexus and more-over you have to download the proper driver, if you have already installed the driver please uninstall it and then reinstall the driver, then it will work fine as I faced the same problem a couple of months ago. But this option worked for me.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: usb, samsung-nexus-s, adb, usb-drivers
---


# Question
Title: How can I change file permissions on Jelly Bean?
My rooted Galaxy Nexus is on Jelly Bean (4.1.1) with a super user application. I want to install sinhala font into the phone, and for that I've tried to copy the font file (droidfallbackcens.ttf) to the font folder in my phone using the root explorer app. But it says that I have only read permissions on my phone.

I have googled this issue and tried several methods *(most of those methods were about ICS)*, but I haven't been able to change file permissions to get "read write execute", can anyone help me with this?

# Answer
> 2 votes
You may need to remount your file system to enable write. I'm not sure how that's done with Root Explorer, but from the Terminal it looks something like:

```
mount -o rw,remount /partition/name/

```

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

# Answer
> 1 votes
If you are using the Speed Software Root Explorer application then you might be holding your phone wrong! -**guffaws**

No really! When I hold the phone in portrait view I can't get access to the little button in the interface that puts that directory into R/W mode (Read/Write):

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

Remember to turn it back to 'Mount R/O' (Read/Only)

*If this doesn't fix your issue then I will wonder if you actually have root access. Just saying...*

Good luck (:

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, files, file-permissions
---


title: Do I need internet/3G to use GPS?

text:
# Question
Title: Do I need internet/3G to use GPS?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 that has some problems with the GPS:
If I use internet my navigation works but when I turn the 3G off, GPS does not work.

Do I need internet/3G to use GPS?

# Answer
In short: GPS works without an active connection, it's completely passive.

GPS has however an addon feature called A-GPS (assisted GPS) which speeds up the startup (*time to first fix*) considerably. It basically warms up the receiver with GPS status data such as time, coarse location and most of all GPS satellite orbit location data (ephemeris data download). Everything of this is also included in the GPS signal but a cold start needs longer if the receiver needs to fetch it itself. With A-GPS this data is downloaded from the internet and fed to the receiver.

Note: The A-GPS data is good for some days but deteriorates over time until the phone needs longer to (once!) cold start again (or a internet re-download is necessary). You can trigger a manual redownload with some apps, for example GPS status.
> 6 votes

# Answer
## Basic Concepts

You are confusing two different concepts: "GPS" and "Navigation", that are used for two distinct scenarios on your device.

GPS is used to pin-point your location in the globe. Navigation is used to plan and track your movements from point A to point B.

While Navigation may depend on 3G or Wi-Fi to access the internet and retrieve maps and other information as to graphically present your location in relation to the designated route, GPS doesn't use the Internet, it works communicating directly with antennas and in turn with satellites to ascertain you global position.

## Phone Settings

There are two phone settings regarding GPS, one is the GPS on/off toggle, the other one is the A-GPS (Assisted GPS), that actually relies on Internet Connectivity as to provide faster and some times more accurate results:

* Tap your device "menu" button;
* Tap "Settings";
* Tap "Location & Security":

+ "Use GPS satellites" - When locating, accurate to street level:

    Tap to apply the green tick as to have the regular GPS method available.
    + "Use Quick GPS" - Use server to assist GPS (check to improve GPS performance):

    If the GPS option is active, you can tap to activate this option, improving GPS accuracy, but keep in mind that this only works with a data plan, as it uses network resources to assist ascertaining your Geolocation.

## Navigate offline

If you need navigation capabilities while offline, you can use an app that relies on maps downloaded to your phone. Personally I'm happy with Navfree: Free GPS Navigation by Navmii available from Google Play Store. I've downloaded some maps, for Portugal, around 90Mb, but afterwards I'm fully capable of navigating without any internet connection.

Maps are provided by OpenStreetMap.org free of charge and updated by a large community.

## About GPS

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. DoD. There are no subscription fees or setup charges to use GPS.

Read about it at:

## About Navigation

Navigation is the process of accurately ascertaining one's position, planning and following a route.

Read about it at:
> 6 votes

# Answer
GPS and navigation are separate concepts.

GPS itself does not require Internet connectivity. However, many navigation apps (e.g. Google Maps or Waze) require an active connection in order to access map data on-the-fly, compute directions, look up traffic details, search for points of interest, etc.

There are other (usually paid) apps that don't require Internet connectivity for navigation because they provide this data as a separate download. Directions, turn-by-turn navigation, POIs, etc. can then be accessed from data that is stored on SD Card, while the device is offline.

In both cases GPS is only used to place your current position on the map.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, samsung-galaxy-s-2, gps, data-connection
---


# Question
Title: Android phone discharges when it has 20%
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Why does my Nexus One power off with 15% power remaining?

I've noticed that when my Google Nexus One phone is showing ~20% of the battery, after using it for a minute or two it completely discharges to 0%. Everything started before two weeks or so. Before that phone was fine, but now if it's showing ~20% of battery, after a few minutes it turns off and when you turn it on, it shows that there are 0% left in a battery and turns off... Where's the problem?

# Answer
There are rumours on bad battery stats being able to cause this, and recommend "battery calibration". If your device is rooted, you could try that (it certainly cannot hurt or cause damage) -- though other sources doubt that theory, there are several apps on the market to help you with the calibration process (e.g. Battery Calibration).

Background: The system learns about the battery state, to understand it better with the time. So if it learned wrong, it might think "hm, battery should still be good, 20%" -- while it's already empty. Then the battery suddenly does not provide enough juice -- and the phone turns off.

It also works the other way around, according to reports, where the device kept running for 2 hours on 1% charge...

**Edit:** You might also want to check battery - Why does my Nexus One power off with 15% power remaining? - Android Enthusiasts
> 0 votes

# Answer
Battery calibration is a myth and was busted by the Google Engineer Dianne Hackborn. See this :)

This is the quote:

> "The battery indicator in the status/notification bar is a reflection of the batterystats.bin file in the data/system/ directory."
>
> No, it does not.
>
> This file is used to maintain, across reboots, low-level data about the kinds of operations the device and your apps are doing between battery changes. That is, it is solely used to compute the blame for battery usage shown in the "Battery Use" UI in settings.
>
> That is, it has deeply significant things like "app X held a wake lock for 2 minutes" and "the screen was on at 60% brightness for 10 minutes."
>
> It has no impact on the current battery level shown to you.
>
> It has no impact on your battery life.
>
> Deleting it is not going to do anything to make your more device more fantastic and wonderful... well, unless you have some deep hatred for seeing anything shown in the battery usage UI. And anyway, it is reset every time you unplug from power with a relatively full charge (thus why the battery usage UI data resets at that point), so this would be a much easier way to make it go away.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: battery, nexus-one
---


title: Android tablet gets hot and shuts down

text:
# Question
Title: Android tablet gets hot and shuts down
I have an Imito android tablet. It gets hot and shuts down. Any have a reason for this and is it fixable?

# Answer
> 1 votes
My first guess would be an app consumes a lot of CPU power and therefore causes the system to overheat. Use a system monitor to find out any misbehaving apps.

---
Tags: overheating
---


# Question
Title: How can I search for emails on an IMAP (or exchange) server?
Is there an app that can search emails by subject, sender or body text through the IMAP4 protocol?

Alternatively, is there an app that caches the email headers for all messages and searches them locally?

# Answer
K9 (IMHO the best Mail client for android) currently lacks this feature. If you want this feature, please vote for it without leaving "I want this too comments"

I don't know of any other alternatives.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: email, exchange, search, imap
---


title: sipdroid - Multiple call handling

text:
# Question
Title: sipdroid - Multiple call handling
I just installed **SIPDROID**. I made three account in sip2sip.(free SIP provider).
Then after I have configured application using one of that account. Application works fine.
**Question is:** If I make multiple call to the same phone using **SIP** is there anyway to handle all calls at a same time?
Multiple call on the same phone seems not working. The first call getting picked up but what about the second call which is coming during first call is going on.
Even second call is not displaying on the screen. Confused !!

# Answer
> 2 votes
Sipdroid that I what started with but after researching on it and from developers reviews I found that application has some missing functionality like multiple call and transferring calls etc...

I don't know but may who is **expert in sip stack or have time to do** can implement missing functionality but I am neither one of them so my desire to get an application that have all this functionality and by modifying it I can integrate into my application and csipsimple is the answer.
However its not easy job to build csipsimple into windows environment but there is hack how to do it. so carefully read its wiki about building project into window environment.

According to wiki you can build native library or you can go ahead without building the native library. I suggest for windows user to go with without building the native library.

If you have read wiki then in *"without building the native library"* section last line is like

> "*To get the .so files, download latest nightly build from nightly build website and unpack the apk file (apk files are just zip files). Then get lib/ARCH/.so files and copy it into CSipSimple libs/ARCH/.so*"

**I have to clarify one important thing about that:**
First get .apk file of csipsimple. The version of ***.apk*** file must same to download version of your csipsimple source code..

Here, you can see the source code version. Download the same version .apk and do further as described in wiki.

---
Tags: sip
---


# Question
Title: Is there any known full device/disk encryption software for android 2.2?
I have not found anything in the app store or other stores, Is there any known full device/disk encryption software for android 2.2, that you have test on your device? if so what is the device?

FYI:I know honeycomb supports this natively, but my device does not support HC.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Full device/disk encryption can only be done correct with OS privileges. That's why there is no such App. But newer Android versions and some ROMs provide this features. Have a look at "Are there any known rom(s) with full device encryption incorporated?"

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, encryption
---


# Question
Title: Will the uninstalling of apps leave file cruft in the root (Android's subsystem)?
Will the uninstalling of apps leave files in the root (Android's subsystem)?

When we uninstall some program on Windows, it leaves some files along the system, does it happen on Android too? If this happens, would it be be wise to access the root to erase this files and free some space?

# Answer
Not in the internal filesystem, but it may leave files on the SD card.

Apps on Android are only able to write on two places within the filesystem

* `/data/data/<packagename>`
* `/mnt/sdcard/` or `/sdcard`

The `/data/data/<packagename>` directory gets deleted when you delete the app, so the only place where file cruft can be found is the SD card.
> 7 votes

# Answer
That depends, a lot of developers do not properly take care of their associated application's data and may leave them lying around. The Package Manager uninstalls the apps from `/data/data/..../` depending on the package name.

For example, Application MyFooBarApp whose package name is `org.foo.bar.app` then this would be the spot - `/data/data/org.foo.bar.app/` which would have the following:

```
/data/data/org.foo.bar.app/
      |
      +- databases/
      |
      +- lib/
      |
      +- shared_prefs/
      |
      +- cache/
      |
      +- files/

```

Those five sub-directories are standard placeholders for the apps to function. And Package Manager will only remove those files and sub-directories upon un-install of said application.

All too often, out of hindsight or bad code, the apps would not automatically clean up after themselves, such as placing temporary files on the `/sdcard` or heavens-forbid, in `/data/local/tmp` which incidentally, is the worst abuse of it as it is world writeable!
> 5 votes

---
Tags: files
---


title: what does "flash recovery" mean?

text:
# Question
Title: what does "flash recovery" mean?
In the instructions for ClockworkMod Recovery for Galaxy S i9000, there is:

> Step 2. Flash Recovery.

I don't understand what this means. Which recovery to flash? How to do this? (With a USB cable, or it can be done by some manipulation with the phone alone, without connecting it to another computer?)

# Answer
> 5 votes
The general consensus is there's usually different partitions available:

* system
* data
* cache
* boot
* recovery

When a guide says to flash "partition" where partition is one of the above, then that implies transferring the contents destined for the partition. The mileage will vary depending on the handset/manufacturer as not all of them actually have implemented partitions like the above.

Usually it can be done with using the cable plugged in and using fastboot.

For example:

To flash a kernel onto the boot partition one can undertake it like this:

```
sudo fastboot flash boot boot_image_file.img

```

followed by:

```
sudo fastboot reboot

```

Likewise in the OP's case, its referring to the recovery partition.

```
sudo fastboot flash recovery recovery_image_file.img

```

I would be wary about using ROM Manager to do this for you without using a computer; Have got bitten by it, and found that it can sometimes, be incorrect with regards to using recovery i.e. ClockworkMod Recovery, it was so convinced that I had a very old version of CWM, when in reality, the latest was installed; end result, I messed up the recovery and threw away ROM Manager as I preferred to do it on the computer - less errors and that the human checking is in place.

# Answer
> 3 votes
I have just a few hours ago flashed ClockworkMod Recovery on my Galaxy S in order to switch from stock ROM to cyanogenmod. Simply follow the instructions from the official Samsung Galaxy S Full Update Guide.

The relevant section about flashing recovery contains the steps you need to follow. Make sure to read the Note at the end of the section if the first kernel doesn't work for you (it didn't work for me).

# Answer
> 2 votes
From the link you provided, you've problem to make ROM Manager work. Use this app. ROM Manager flashes the CWM recovery from within the app.

There's no need of another computer at all...

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, rom-flashing, clockworkmod-recovery, recovery-mode
---


# Question
Title: ROM Manager: What is the difference between the MTD and the non MTD versions (e.g. "Samsung GalaxyS i9000 (MTD)")?
When I select "Flash ClockwordMod Recovery" from the ROM Manager menu a list of devices is presented ("Confirm Phone Model" dialog). There I can choose e.g. between "Samsung GalaxyS i9000" and "Samsung GalaxyS i9000 (MTD)".

**What is the difference between the MTD and the non MTD versions?** When would I choose what?

# Answer
> 10 votes
MTD (Memory Technology Device) is a type of Partition Map (configuration of partitions of NAND).

Partition Map allows those who are using it control over how their partitions are sized and how much space is allocated here and how much space is taken away from there. A file system resides on the Partition Map and governs the data being read,wrote,moved etc by the OS (Android). Changing a file system of a partition is very easy, but changing overall Partition Mapping isn't. Plus, partition mapping decides which file system to support. So, its choice is very important.

MTD is Open Source. MTD supports YAFFS2 as a file system residing on it governing how data is transferred and the speed of which it is done. EXT2 through 4 aren't possible with MTD. Due to Open Source nature, it gives you full control over partitions. **Choose MTD if you use CyanogenMod or MIUI type custom ROMs.**

**A Bit of Knowledge:** Samsung's stock ROM uses BML partition map. BML is proprietary in nature. It's Close Source.

---
Tags: rom-manager
---


# Question
Title: Mobile data limiter keeps enabling itself
I'm 'grandfathered' in on Verizon's old 'unlimited' data program so I'm trying to get the data limiter to be completely disabled (or removed if that's possible).

Going to system-\>data usage-\>and unticking 'set mobile data limit' works to disable the mobile limits for a few days but after a while it re-enables itself and I get the 'mobile data limit exceeded' notification. Setting the data limit to some ungodly amount (terabytes) doesn't seem to have any effect.

The phone is a Razr Maxx with stock ICS 4.0.4. Not rooted currently but if that would help in solving the issue I have no problem making it happen.

Any ideas?

# Answer
Try checking the limit box and then setting limit and warning bars higher some other forums have said it should work
> -1 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, data-monitoring, motorola-droid-razr
---


# Question
Title: email setup couldn't finish - couldn't open connection to server
Trying to setup my homecall.co.uk email on new Asus T300 Android. Followed screen instructions got this message: "email setup couldn't finish - couldn't open connection to server". Also tried entering exactly same settings as on my PC but with same result Any ideas, please? Alan

# Answer
You can open up a command prompt and `C:\ping homecall.co.uk` to ensure that it isn't a server-fault, and if it isn't, then you'll need to poke around after logging into your account to make sure you have the right protocol (i.e. POP, IMAP, etc) as well as the correct server address, the correct ports, and the correct security settings.

Typically, it would be something like

Incoming:
mail.homecall.co.uk ; port:143
Outgoing:
mail.homecall.co.uk ; port:587

But those settings are 99% unlikely to work for you. You simply have to find the settings in your email account.

Typically, you'll find them in your account settings.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: email
---


# Question
Title: Stock email client doesn't load email + images (screens provided)
I am trying the stock email client and I have used my live email account to check it out. Unfortunately, when I open a message I don't get the full email with the pictures like on the computer. For this to happen, I have to press at "load more details" on the end of the message. Also, I can't get the new emails without refreshing the account through the app.

How can I "fix this?"

# Answer
> 1 votes
For the images, you should ramp up the "Size to Retrieve" value. Most images are in the ten or hundreds of kilobytes.

For the sync-

The first thing you should try is -- from the homescreen, Menu\>Settings\>Accounts&Sync\> and ensure that sync is enabled for the email client.

-However- You may not have a version of the stock email client that supports the exchange push protocol. (Such a thing used to exist, although I'm fairly sure *all* stock mail clients support exchange, nowadays) Or else, you may need to remove the account and manually re-add it as an account that uses "Exchange" -

HTH!

---
Tags: email
---


title: Side-loaded Face-Unlock not working

text:
# Question
Title: Side-loaded Face-Unlock not working
I downloaded and installed facelock.apk on my Motorola Android tablet (running 4.0.3) but it fails with "Face unlock couldn't start.".

What's the reason? What can I do to get it working?

# Answer
> 1 votes
See Goo.im. They have a collection of Google Apps as installable .zip files.

There is an explanation for which packages belongs to what Android version on top.

However there's currently only one separate package for Facelock.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The Facelock.apk may not be compatible or rather, clearly, missing some dependency with the Motorola's version of the framework.

It could well be modified to exclude the facelock application as well. To each and their own, each manufacturer are free to modify, add, subtract from the Google Android source to suit themselves.

It might help to obtain the `logcat` using the application aLogcat (found on Google Play Store) and run that in the background and capture the output from the `logcat` whilst running facelock to see what is the underlying reason for the point of failure.

---
Tags: face-unlock, side-loading
---


# Question
Title: Jelly Bean OTA fails on Galaxy Nexus, how to fix?
The company I am working for has hundreds of Galaxy Nexus handsets which are used as the standard operating platform of a company specific app. The app is not important.

We have found that about 70% of the devices fail to install the standard OTA Jelly Beans update. We are running completely stock OS (4.0.4 ICS) and the devices are not rooted.

My questions are:

1. Why does the OTA fail for completely standard builds? Factory reset makes no difference.
2. How can I get some idea as to why the OTA fails?
3. Where does Google provide support for this situation?
4. Can I disable the OTA updates? We are getting very frustrated with the regular interruptions to normal service when the OTA notification pops up no matter what the user is doing.
5. Is there a Google web site that describes how to do the OS update manually? Perhaps we can manually handle the hundreds of handsets, costing us thousands of dollars in labour costs?

I have reported this to the code.google.com Android issues list, no response from that.

I tried to post a notice on Android Developers but the moderation process there seems to take four or more days, perhaps never.

This must be happening tothousands of non-developer users of the Galaxy Nexus, they can not be expected to hack their way around it. Where is the Google fix (or does Google simply not care?).

# Answer
Try the old trick of doing this, from ICS, tap on Settings \> Apps, tap on the tab called 'All', look for 'Google Services Framework', then tap on 'Clear Data', you may need to do this a few times and restart the handset.

This is known to work with the Galaxy Nexus line of handsets.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-nexus, 4.1-jelly-bean, ota-update
---


# Question
Title: How can I use su again after OTA-upgrading my rooted phone?
I had previously rooted my droid when it was running 2.2 froyo. Using the OTA upgrade, i got a gingerbread (2.3.4) for my phone. As obvious, the root privileges were gone..but the superuser app and the everything else related to it is still there in the system/bin and system/xbin folders. Now when i try to run "su" command from an adb shell to re-root my phone, it shows "permission denied".

Is there anyway that i can get the "#" shell i.e. the su privileges instead of the normal "$" shell, so that i can manually delete the previous root files? Thanks.

# Answer
In short, the OTA upgrade clobbered your root settings, am afraid to say you will have to run either SuperOneClick or zergRush to get root again.

\[**TECHNICAL**\]

The OTA reverted the original `default.prop` when on Froyo from this

```
ro.secure=0

```

to this after the upgrade

```
ro.secure=1

```

Thus you may still have the `su` binary etc, but it is the above line that is preventing you from trying to switch user to id of 0 (that's what su stands for! - **S** witch **U** ser)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: rooting, adb
---


title: Tap off raw RF data from antenna

text:
# Question
Title: Tap off raw RF data from antenna
I was wondering if it is possible to pull out the raw RF data from the antenna for use in an application. I have a device that operates as a separate entity with an an antenna feed, but I am interested in trying to put our processing on an Android. This would be the most useful if I could tap off the RF data from the existing antenna, rather than attaching a separate one. I don't know much about Androids - just getting a feel for this before I put too much effort into the research.

Thanks, David

# Answer
You mean the antenna on in the internals of Android handset, underneath the battery or nearby it?

If so - the short answer is no - am afraid!

The firmware and radio base-band is definitely off-limits, closed and proprietary.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: applications
---


# Question
Title: Android update not proceeding beyond the point of earlier cancellation
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note N7000. An Android update was promoted. I started with the update download, but canceled it at 36 MB (total update size:110 mb) because of slow network. After that, whenever I try downloading it, the download stops at the 36 Mb(exactly at 35.88 where I had previously canceled it).

Interestingly, it is the same case with app downloads also, from Google Play.

Device: Samsung galaxy note - GT-N7000. Android version: 4.0.3

Thanks.

# Answer
Try deleting the temporary file that is 36Mb in size and re-start the download again this time.

Please include the method in how you're downloading the update - if you are using Kies, be sure to exit Kies first completely, then look for that temporary file (it will be in a hidden spot within the temporary directory under Windows - not sure of the path `C:\Documents And Settings\Users\XXXX\Local Data` \** OR \** `C:\Documents and Settings\Users\XXXX\Application Data` or similar)

You can easily find that out by searching for it depending on where the Windows Environment Variabel $TEMP points to.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, updates
---


# Question
Title: Any hack to get rid of the "Too many password attempts" lock?
My kids often play with my phone which has a pattern lock screen, and it gets locked due to many attempts, then the phone is locked out and requires a password.

I use 2-step verification, so in order to unlock the phone, I must get a connected computer, and regenerate a password and reconnect the email and other programs in it.
This all process is redundant to me and very annoying and frustrating.

Is there any possible way to disable this nasty "feature"?

p.s., my phone is rooted of course, if that says anything.

# Answer
The simplest solution would be to remove the lock screen but that leads to a whole new set of problems.

I would recommend switching to another type of lock screen such as PIN input or password input. That way the OK button must be pressed in order to submit a password attempt.

The most effective solution of course - don't give your smartphone to your kids. :-)
> 6 votes

# Answer
I have used Secure Settings, although it does not always work as advertised. I use this with Locale to simply disable the lockscreen when I'm in certain locations.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Why not install a sandbox which will prevent this kind of thing from happening?

It is a form of parental control and content management so that certain apps are locked out from kids.

And the bonus - with the sandbox activated, you can still give it to your kids to play with. And no messing about with settings, deleting certain things such as contacts, sms etc.

For example (*take this with a pinch of salt here*), accidentally buying an app from the Google Play Store without your knowledge.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: security, lock-screens, password, 2-step-verification
---


# Question
Title: How can I save the maps downloaded from Offline Maps in Google Maps for reusing after a factory reset?
How do I save the maps that were downloaded from Offline Maps so that when I factory reset my phone I can simply put the backed up Offline Maps that were downloaded for reusing?

# Answer
> 5 votes
If your device is rooted, you can use Titanium Backup to backup the Maps application, which will backup the application and it's data.

After resetting, again install Titanium Backup, (you have to root again, if you had lost the root access, as a first step) and restore the Maps application. While restoring, you get a chance to opt for restoring app alone or app with data. When opting for the later, your offline data also comes.

---
Tags: factory-reset, google-maps, offline-map
---


# Question
Title: Does the Google Nexus 7 support external keyboards?
Can I use an external keyboard with a Google Nexus 7? Will the Nexus pair with an Apple Wireless keyboard? Are there other companies that make compatible keyboards?

# Answer
You can use an external Bluetooth or USB keyboard with the Nexus 7. For more information see the Connect to keyboards, mice, & other devices section of the Nexus 7 manual. Mike Elgan reports that the Nexus 7 also works with an Apple Bluetooth keyboard.
> 7 votes

---
Tags: hardware, nexus-7, external-keyboard
---


title: Titanium Backup vs Android data backup

text:
# Question
Title: Titanium Backup vs Android data backup
So somewhere along the line Android got a native "backup my data" option but I haven't gotten to use it. I used to use Titanium Backup and it was the main reason I rooted my phone, but I don't have Titanium or Root anymore.

Is there any significant difference in what's backed up between the native Android Backup from Google's servers vs the standard Titanium Backup? I mean a plain old backup, none of the freezing/bloatware melting/ect that Titanium *also* provides.

What do I end up with if my phone is bricked or I get a new phone and I restore from either platform?

# Answer
I think you're better off using Titanium Backup if you want to ensure that when you restore your phone, you'll have exactly what you had when you performed the backup. I find that Android's new built-in backup options are inconsistent. For example, after re-installing some apps, some of the settings are magically maintained, however some data (usually authentication data) is no longer there. I guess this is a good thing as storing everything in the cloud would be a bit scary, but when you use Titanium, there are no surprises: *all* of the data is restored.

Another benefit of Titanium is that you can do multiple backups at of a single app's data and restore any of those levels--not so for the built-in backup options.

So I'd advise using Titanium.
> 13 votes

# Answer
You should also be aware of the fact that for getting backed up by Google's "native" backup-to-cloud, an app must *actively* support that -- i.e. it must explicitely use the corresponding API, or it will not be included with those backups. While not all apps support this (\<- euphemism), there's nothing excluded by Titanium Backup. As described, the latter backs up really everything -- while the former only backs up *some* data from *some* apps.

Another good thing to do from time to time is a full Nandroid backup, which is supported by most (all?) custom recovery images/modes (e.g. ClockWorkMod aka CWM). Once booted into Recovery, you can create a Nandroid backup (make sure to have enough free space on your sdcard), and having done this, you can move it from the card to your computer for safekeeping. If you've got enough space on your card, you could also keep the latest copy there: With Titanium backup, you can even extract single elements (such as a special app and its data) from a Nandroid backup. Or, if your system for some reason gets really messed up, you can restore it completely from this Nandroid backup -- again via the Custom Recovery.
> 6 votes

---
Tags: backup, titanium-backup
---


# Question
Title: mediascanner scan from system directory /data
How can I make mediascanner scan phone memory, i.e. the `/data` directory? I want to test playing MP3s from this directory.

When I try to hack it by replacing the "pathStr" from `/mnt/sdcard` to `/data` before `MediaScanner::doProcessDirectory()`, it fails saying

```
W/MediaScanner( 1713): Error opening directory '/data/', skipping: Permission denied.

```

And also crashed (probably in free).

I just want to play MP3s stored in phone memory and avoid reading the SD card for some experiments.

# Answer
EDIT: This is rendered obsolete with Jelly Bean. Android 4.1+ has a unified /data/ and /sdcard section (the sdcard partition is emulated and really resides in /data/media, it's exposed via a special fuse layer to emulate FAT32 behaviour)

My thoughts on this:

* The media scanner scans everything below /mnt
* /data/\* is protected, only individual apps can access *their* folder (/data/data/\[app's package name\])

To get it working the way you like:

* You need root (obviously)
* symlink /mnt/music to /data/data/your-music-location
* you can also do a bind-mount instead of a symlink:
`mount --bind /data/your-music-location /mnt/sdcard/your-music-location`
* Lift access rights accordingly (chmod -R ugo+rw /data/data/your-music-location)

Hope this works (the scanner should scan the whole /mnt as there's also /mnt/emmc and such). If not, you can also bind-mount a /data/data/\* folder to /mnt/sdcard/your-music (as done with /mnt/sdcard/.android\_secure (see the answer))
> 2 votes

# Answer
To furnish my thoughts, hacking on just the in-built media-scanner will not just suffice, as that requires rolling your own ROM! The reason being is that media-scanner is signed with a system certificate that is shared with the ROM in question.

And thus, that requires having the signed keys from the original ROM in order to replace the in-built media-scanner.

As to attempting to put MP3s in the `/system/media/audio` folder - why? Are we talking about album mp3s which can creep up to between 5-8Mb in size? Or are we talking about Ogg Vorbis for ringtones/notifications?

The `/system` partition is limited in size depending on the manufacturer's handset setup in terms of partition layouts.

If the audio media is stored on the SDCard under the respective directory `/sdcard/media/audio/Ringtones` and `/sdcard/media/audio/notifications`, along with a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) pointing to the appropriate media declared as "external storage media" as in "*MediaStore.Audio.Media.EXTERNAL\_CONTENT\_URI*" (see the Developer Documentation on this), it will get picked up by Android itself and will show under the Settings \> Sounds, as '*Phone ringtone*' or in '*Notification ringtone*'.

Depending on the ROM in itself, there may be a Development tools called 'Dev Tools', in there, there is an activity which can trigger the invocation of the in-build Media-Scanner, this is in stock/vanilla AOSP Android.
> 0 votes

# Answer
If you have a standard Linux file system (i.e., not FAT32) on your SD card, you could create `Soft Link` of `/data` in `/mnt/sdcard`.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: media-scanner
---


# Question
Title: IMEI number publicly displayed whenever connected to Wifi
I connected to Wifi (using a HTC Desire using Android 2.3) and a friend used an app (I think it was on an iPhone) to display information about devices connected to the Wifi hotspot. I can accept the MAC address being available but isn't having your IMEI number publicly available make it easy for people to do negative stuff like clone it, then fake a phone on the same network with the same MAC address etc? Or just report the phone stolen by phoning a network and giving the IMEI number? Why is it visible anyway? Can I change that field for the purposes of Wifi connectivity?

Note: I am in no way asking here for information on how to change the IMEI number of my phone - I know it's illegal in many places, and I agree with the law. I just don't see why the IMEI number is relevant in this situation.

Update - to answer your questions/comments:

The Apple app is called Fing.

I saw the app running; my friend is not teasing/lying.

I'm 99% sure I was running the latest version of stock Android on the Desire, and not Cyanogenmod (which I later switched to).

I can't see that it's possible to turn a MAC address into an IMEI address.

The network uses WPA2. He wouldn't have had time to crack it. I'm not aware Fing has a live, free, online WPA2 cracking capability.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I don't know how one would garnish the IMEI information over WiFi but what I would suggest is ask your friend what application they were using and then try to find an Android version of it. The developer that makes the iOS application might make an Android one, too.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Your friend was pulling your leg. Fing on iDevices is for network analysis. You cannot get an IMEI number via Wifi. He was more than likely showing you your MAC address of the wifi adapter built into the phone.

An IMEI is located under the battery on your phone and is usually a 15 digit number. Its used to authenticate the phone with your cell phone provider. Its not an easy task to clone it, if possible at all. A MAC address is a hardware address for network adapters, its 12 digits in HEX, and usually separated with a colon ever 2 digits (eg. 00:01:4F:6D:E9:A1)

A full description of Fing is available here: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/fing-network-scanner/id430921107?mt=8

It states nothing about IMEI, only MAC.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Your friend is teasing you. My guess: He has got IMEI from your device and said that he has got that from Wi-Fi. **Wi-Fi adapters don't broadcast IMEI number.**

If he is still saying it confidently, just ask him the app name and tell me. I'll investigate.

**Update:**
I was expecting app name here in comment of the answer. You've put that in question which didn't ping me. Anyway, now I'd ask you to show screenshot. Fing doesn't show IMEI no. (even if Wi-Fi adapter is broadcasting it). Its available for Android too. You can try.

---
Tags: wi-fi, security
---


title: What does HBOOT mean?

text:
# Question
Title: What does HBOOT mean?
My best guess as of now is "partition and mount point layout". But it feels like there's more to it, since the bootloader can identify the HBOOT by name.

I've been flashing custom ROMs for quite a while now, but I still haven't quite grasped what HBOOT really is or means.

# Answer
HBOOT is bootloader. It lives inside NAND's first partition, mtd0 (if partition map is MTD). It is loaded in memory (RAM) when device is switched ON. Its jobs are:

* Check the Hardware.
* Initialize the Hardware.
* Start the Operating System (Either Android or Recovery).

HBOOT can also support doing more than this like flashing ROMs.

**Something More:** Nandroid backup and restore don't touch HBOOT.
> 6 votes

---
Tags: bootloader
---


# Question
Title: Automatically un-mount SDCard safely when device is rebooted or turned off?
How can I configure my Galaxy S II so every time my device is either rebooted or turned off the SDCard is safely un-mounted because at the moment if I don't un-mount it, the files on SDCard appear as duplicated for some reason.

My device is rooted with Ressurction Remix 2.6.1 with Siyah Kernel 3.2.7.2.

# Answer
> 0 votes
The Android OS is supposed to do this automatically for you unless the device is powered down or rebooted incorrectly (eg. removing the battery). Ive never heard of files being doubled on an SD card after rebooting before. I would suggest trying a different ROM since your phone is rooted.

# Answer
> 0 votes
If files are being doubled, why are you asking about safe unmounting? Problems caused by no safe unmounting are file system corruption, data loss etc. Files aren't doubled by it.

I haven't heard of such type of problem before. Its possible that an app or a shell script is doubling files at the time of boot. To pin-point the problem, turn off the device, remove the sdcard and check with PC that files are doubled or not. If files are doubled, it means something is doing this at time of shut down. Do this: Turn off device by pulling out battery and then boot. Tell me the result.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, sd-card, automation
---


# Question
Title: Nexus 7 doesn't have sdcard folder when connected to PC
I've just bought a Nexus 7. When I plugged it into my laptop, it shows the media folder, I'd like to access the sdcard folder just like the other devices. How to transfer files?

I think "adb push" is not a good choice.

# Answer
> 12 votes
Nexus 7 doesn't support UMS (USB Mass Storage) out of box. But, it supports file transfer by MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). MTP allows you to push and pull any type of files from sdcard, but it doesn't allow you to edit files directly on sdcard (like you do with UMS mode).

From your screenshot, it looks like your Nexus 7 is connected with PTP (Photo Transfer Protocol), also known as Camera Mode. Switch to MTP mode and do whatever you want. Also make sure your PC OS supports MTP.

---
Tags: linux, nexus-7
---


# Question
Title: How can I  transform/convert my  voice while making a call?
**Goal:**
Converting a person's voice to another person's voice when you are talking with somebody with the cell in real-time. For instance the sender is a male but his voice will be converted into a female voice.

How can I transform/convert my voice while making a call?

# Answer
> 2 votes
There used to be an app called SpoofApp that let you spoof your caller id and change your voice. It was a free app but you had to buy credits to use it. I tried it and it did work. The voice changer worked too although it sometimes sounded a little cartoonish. The app is now called Phone Gangster and I'm not sure if it still works the same.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I don't know how to change voice over cellular phone calls, but there's a VoIP calling app which allows you to change voice: Voice Changer Calling.

---
Tags: 4.0-ice-cream-sandwich, samsung-galaxy-s-2, calls
---


# Question
Title: How to use a logical disk partition as an SD card in Android-x86
Android-x86 4.0.4 (ICS) runs beautifully on my netbook and it can even mount USB sticks as SD cards, but now I would like to use an available hard disk space (logical partition, `/dev/sda7`) as a permanent SD card.

Is this possible?

# Answer
According to this thread, this is possible and it is as easy as adding the following line to `/etc/vold.fstab`:

```
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto SDCARD=/dev/sda7

```

But I haven't tried it myself.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: sd-card, android-x86
---


title: Do all apps have a demo/trial version?

text:
# Question
Title: Do all apps have a demo/trial version?
Someone suggested a pay-for app in another question and when I looked it up, it seemed it didn't have any trial version that has the feature for which I'd pay.

Now, I will not pay for something I have never seen working, even if it's only 4€ and so I was wondering whether I missed something or whether it's usual for pay-for apps to charge before you even can try it?

(This app, Moon+ Reader, does have a free version, but I'm specifically interested in a feature of the pay-for version, so the limited free version doesn't help.)

It seems like a very long time (maybe never) that I payed for any software on my desktop where there wasn't a demo of some sort to try out the key features you payed for.

# Answer
> 4 votes
You get 15 minutes trial of all paid apps listed in Play Store. Its Google's policy to refund money if you aren't satisfied but you'll have to claim refund within 15 minutes. After purchasing an app, just look for `Refund` button on app page in Play Store app.

# Answer
> 2 votes
No, not all apps have demo or trail versions. Though Amazon's Android app store has an on-line emulator that lets you try out thousands of different apps in your browser before purchasing.

---
Tags: applications, paid-apps
---


title: droid x bluetooth volume too low

text:
# Question
Title: droid x bluetooth volume too low
Does anyone know how I can get under the hood and modify the db output for my bluetooth media levels? I've read numerous posts of people complaining about this problem but am unable to find a solution. On previous phones, I was able to access the underlying system settings by inputting some lengthy combination of numbers. I don't know if this sort of hardware access exists on the droid x. I'm not finding anything on-line as to how to do this. All ideas welcome.

# Answer
> 1 votes
# Configurations

For most devices, you can only modify the volume of the earpiece, bluetooth, media volume or call volume if you are currently using that feature.

So, the best is to use your device "menu" button when you are using the bluetooth earpiece and check if said option exists. Alternativly, use the volume up/down from your device while with the bluetooth earpiece in use to try and control its volume.

One user at droidxforums mentioned a working solution for him:

> Turn off the Bluetooth on the Droid X. Place a phone call like normal. Adjust the call volume to the MAX and then hang up. Turn the Bluetooth on the Droid X back on and activate your voice command. It will work. You can adjust volume up or down in that fashion.

---

# Apps

If to no avail, currently, there are a few apps available from Google Play Store to deal with issues like this:

## Recommended for custom ROM:

Volume+ FREE and the donate version Volume+ (Volume Boost)

Gives great results in controlling volume settings separably for each sound output available.

## Recommended for Stock ROM

Bluetooth Volume

Worked as promised to control the bluetooth sound output, ideal for boosting in call volume.

This are the ones I have used with excellent results, you can find others at Google Play Store.

---
Tags: bluetooth, motorola-droid-x
---


title: Android Browser Brightness Setting

text:
# Question
Title: Android Browser Brightness Setting
The web browser application on my Samsung Droid Charge has a Brightness Setting that can be accessed from the menu button while the browser is running. There is no setting to have the browser automatically use the same brightness setting as the phone, or use auto brightness. I have no idea why Samsung put in this setting without a way to turn it off! Is there a way to work around this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Samsung with its quest to be different, enriched the stock browser, with its own brightness control, totally separate from the OS.

## No root

There's no workaround, you have to set the brightness independently.

Even using an app to control the brightness levels, as soon as you launch the stock browser, its own brightness control overwrites the one from the app.

## Root

If you have root on your device, you can replace the browser `.apk` with the stock one from Android. You get the same browser, and in theory, without that annoying feature placed by Samsung *(haven't done this myself)*.

## Alternatives

There are alternative solutions for this, like many other users faced with your problem endup using, the usage of another browser that's not the stock one.

---
Tags: browser, screen-brightness, samsung-droid-charge
---


# Question
Title: Set your own contact photo on huawei ascend 2?
I've tried *everything*. Saving myself as a contact, and changed the picture. Didn't work. Synced all my google accounts. Didn't work. I'm not even automatically saved in my contacts. I had to save my number, just to get to my voicemail.

# Answer
> 1 votes
## OWN CONTACT AVATAR

To have your own contact avatar appearing, this varies a bit, due to the device being used or the app being used.

What is recommend and should work on any case is that you need to identify yourself to your phone:

* Tap your device "menu" button;
* Tap "Settings";
* Scroll your way to "About phone" and tap it;
* Tap "Status":

Where it reads "My phone number", you should read your own and up-to-date phone number there, otherwise the phone doesn't know who you are and cannot use any avatar.

A solution to allow you to apply your up-to-date phone number at the mentioned menu, or a solution to have your contact being retrieved from Google with an avatar, has already been mentioned here concerning the Avatar for the SMS conversation, but equally applies to your situation:

How to show own photo in SMS conversation?, specially the answer from Protron.

---

## CONTACTS AVATAR

Usually the contact photo is the user's avatar, if the contact has a Google Account.

To apply a photo or change the existing one, you have to:

1. Open the "Contacts" app;
2. Scroll your way to the desired contact and long tap it;
3. Tap over "Edit Contact" from the popup menu;
4. Tap over the existent picture or over the picture square that if empty shows a `+` sign;
5. Select either "Take photo" or "Select photo from Gallery" to apply the new photo;
6. After selected, tap "Done" to actually save the changes.

By now your contact should have the new photo applied to it.

---

Official Android Support Page for Contacts Management:

---
Tags: photos, huawei-ascend-ii, contact-photo
---


# Question
Title: How to zoom in a web browser on an Android TV?
I have a TV that runs Android 2.2. It can take a USB mouse and keyboard, and I'm running the Dolphin web browser on an auto-refreshed page for digital signage.

Only thing is, I can't get it to zoom in or out - there is no touch (so multitouch doesn't work) and there are no +/- buttons as there are on some stock browsers.

The stock browser doesn't work on the site in questions, and Firefox won't load onto the device (it has a MIPS processor, so any app using the native SDK won't work). Any ideas?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Purchase a mouse which supports multitouch gestures (using which you zoom in or out). e.g. PadKite

If you don't want to purchase anything, just go to Dolphin's `Settings`, tap `Lab` and turn ON `pinch-Zoom Button`. Then, you'll find +/- clickable buttons to zoom in or out.

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, zooming, android-tv
---


# Question
Title: Remove bloatware from Acer Liquid Mini (E310)
I am trying to remove Apps installed from phone vendor, like docs to go, without success. I have read How can I uninstall applications that are locked by phone vendor? and similar topics and I have tried the Titanium Backup Chuck Norris mode but somehow documents to go appears again at reboot. I tried to find a custom rom but for this phone it looks like there is no one. Or maybe I wasn t great at searching... How can I get rid of documents to go forever?

# Answer
Installing a different rom simply did the job.

Right now I'm using 2.3.5

Unfortunately I just have guides in Italian and French but a little google translator did the job :)

French:

http://www.acer-club.fr/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=3336&sid=64e715b102a9932965fa871175c01da9

Italian:

http://www.androidiani.com/forum/modding-acer-liquid-mini/80562-guida-installare-android-2-3-5-su-acer-liquid-mini-custom-rom.html
> 1 votes

# Answer
Root the phone and download root uninstaller, once you grant root access to the app you will be able to remove all the bloatware.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: uninstallation, bloatware
---


# Question
Title: Android - Call log/ history : Retrieve a dialed number when there was no network coverage
I dialed a number when I had no network support but it does not appear in the call history of my android phone.

Is there any way to get it ? (system logs or whatever)

THanks a lot in advance, Jack

# Answer
> 3 votes
Your phone deals with three types of calls: `incoming`, `outgoing` or `missed`. As you can see from the API documentation.

Technically speaking, you've typed some digits, but since you had no network coverage, you didn't actually place any call. So, there was no reason to log anything, or even a way to classify those digits as a valid outgoing call.

Android has a database to store all the calls made, but they must match one of the above three types, and as you can see here the existent fields on the database don't contemplate the possibility of rows for every collection of digits typed that doesn't fit the parameters of a call (duration, type, etc..).

---
Tags: call-history
---


# Question
Title: Disable calendar to sync events to exchange server
I've added an event to my calendar locally on a phone. It was a meeting in the evening after my working hours. How am I surprised to realize that my stupid phone sync this event to exchange server and let this information publicly available to everyone on my work. How to disable such an updates? Local calendar should be local. I like how my phone download an information about ongoing events on my work and inform me but not vice versa.

# Answer
Your "*local and private*" Android calendar is your Google calendar. When you've created that personal event it defaulted to your Exchange calendar. In order to avoid this is the future make sure that you create events in the calendar you want to. Usually it defaults to the last calendar you've created an event in.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: sync, calendar, exchange, privacy
---


# Question
Title: Do Samsung tablets have the same USB connector as Apple's iPad?
It seems that the USB cable for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (and other Samsung tablets) looks like the one used for Apple's iPad or iPhone.

Is it the same?

# Answer
> 9 votes
No.

Apple's older iOS lineup and Samsung's Android tablets have a similar looking but different connector.

You can't interchange them.

And besides this: Apple's new ligthning plug clearly only works with iOS devices (iPhone 5 and iPad 4/mini and better). The available lightning-adapters also only work with iOS devices.

---
Tags: usb, samsung-galaxy-tab, hardware
---


title: How to root my Epic 4G on mac?

text:
# Question
Title: How to root my Epic 4G on mac?
Hello i am trying to root my samsung epic 4g (galaxy s) with my macbook air. I was going to use superoneclick but i cant find a version for mac, does anybody know how i can easily root my phone using my mac?

# Answer
> 1 votes
There's an article over there at the XDA Forum, titled Epic 4G Touch Root on Mac or Linux using Heimdall!. I'm not sure whether these steps apply to your device (not having the "touch" mentioned) -- but as there was no real answer yet, I thought you might give it a try.

The linked article includes a video tutorial, which you might want to watch first. Described steps are as follows:

1. Put your Epic 4G Touch in Download Mode by holding down Volume Down button and Power button together for about 10 seconds then hit Volume Up button. Connect your phone to your computer via a USB cable.
2. Go download the appropriate binaries for your Mac (OSX) or Linux 32-bit or 64bit at glassechidna.com.au
Get the file with "Binary" or "Binaries".
For Mac, you will get a .DMG file you can install and for Linux, you will get a .deb file you can install.
Install these files and open up a command prompt and type:
`heimdal`
You should get a bunch of syntax stuff, if so that's good, you have heimdall installed and working.
3. Go download a rooted kernel, I recommend Zedomax Epic Touch Kernel v3:
Download Zedomax Epic Touch Kernel v3
\*Note - You can also download any other kernel .tar file of your liking.
4. Browse to the directory you've download the tar file by using command "cd":
`cd /home/myusername/Downloads`
5. Untar the tar file:
`tar xvf SPH-D710_Zedomax_EpicTouchKernel-v3.tar`
Double-check you have a zImage file in the directory by typing:
`ls -l`
6. Type the following to flash:
`heimdall flash --kernel zImage`
7. Reboot and you can check that you've rooted your phone by going to *Settings-\>About phone* and see "ZedomaxEpicTouchKernel" in Kernel version.
Also you will see a new app called "Superuser" in apps.

Congrats, you've been rooted with a Linux or Mac.

---

Several more methods are described at How To | Epic 4G Touch Root, and may be even more up-to-date. So please make sure to check them as well before you start. When done, we (the community) of course appreciate your feedback which method(s) you tried and how you succeeded.

---
Tags: rooting, samsung-galaxy-s, macos
---


# Question
Title: Although I was told to charge my Android device before first use, it was already charged. Have I been given a phone rejected by someone else?
I have just received my 'new' HTC one V. The instructions clearly state to charge the phone up before first use, yet the the phone switched on and showed full charge straight away, before I had chance to charge it. My worry is that I have been sent a phone that someone else has had and I really want to be sure it is brand new to me.

# Answer
> 12 votes
It is not uncommon that rejected/refurbished phones find their way back to the market as "new" ones.

But in my (and at least Al Everett's) experience, batteries are almost always shipped with some charge. I wouldn't worry, as long as there are no other indicators that your device was pre-owned.

# Answer
> 8 votes
See Wikipedia on Lithium-Ion battery technology (especially sections "cell life" and "safety").

In short:

* Cell life is best at ~50% charged
* Safety requires the battery to be charged to above 3V (and below 4.2V)
* The best consumer experience would be to charge the battery to 100%
* The LiIon battery discharges itself during shipment/storage
* The battery's internal charging level detector may be incorrect and needs some cycles to self-adjust

As a trade off, it's charged to (my guess) 60% and then shipped. It's not full and may be even almost discharged when the customer gets it, thus tell them to charge it the first time. I guess the manual doesn't say it's **empty**, does it? It's the best tradeoff between cell life and the customer's first user experience with the device.

# Answer
> 4 votes
All batteries have some self-discharge so whatever their charge was initially they will discharge when sitting on the shelf. Also most batteries effectively "die" if they undergo very deep discharge. This is why all batteries are shipped charged - either fully or partially. So when you buy a battery (or a device) the battery will always be charged to some level which will depend on the manufacturing process and the time the battery spent on the shelf. This is why the battery level showing "full" chargealone is not a sign of the phone being not new.

---
Tags: battery, charging
---


title: Unable to uninstall apps

text:
# Question
Title: Unable to uninstall apps
I am unable to uninstall any application on my Samsung Galaxy S. I have tried all possible ways (settings-applications-manage applications-uninstall and with the edit option). These applications are the normal ones downloaded from market.

But whenever I reboot my phone those applications are still there in my phone and its as if nothing has changed.

Also I keep getting this "settings.google.application has stopped unexpectedly" and am not able to open any of my apps.

I tried formatting my internal SD card by connecting it to the PC but that also didn't work.

# Answer
> 1 votes
(converted from a comment to an answer)

This might be a file-system problem.

I once got an overfull yaffs2 files system on /data to get frozen and wasn't able to delete/move/update anything. By executing 'dmesg' in a terminal or via adb you could clearly see it, was full of yaffs panic msgs.
Formatting was the only option (aka. factory reset).

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, uninstallation
---


# Question
Title: Tab stays on 216mhz instead of Deep Sleep
I am using Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and I have installed Cpu SPY. I have noticed that when I leave the tab in the night, WiFi OFF, flight mode on, it does not go to Deep Sleep but stays on 216Mhz. I guess it is an app or something, however I do not know how to investigate this.

I run 4.0.4 stock, rooted.

What can I do to have the device on Deep Sleep the time that it stays on 216Mhz?

# Answer
> 2 votes
To have your device in Deep Sleep, you need to find out what applications are running and causing a wakelock that doesn't let the CPU go bellow 216MHz, thus preventing the device from entering into Deep Sleep mode.

I can recommend BetterBatteryStats by Sven Knispel available from Google Play Store:

> A high battery drain is often a limiting factor for a great user experience. With BetterBatteryStats you can analyse the behavior of your phone, find applications causing the phone to drain battery while it is supposed to be asleep and measure the effect of corrective actions:
>
> * Spot drainers based on detailed information about the root cause
> * Use the online Knowledge-Base to find how to reduce or remove the wakelocks
> * measure the effect of actions to reduce drain
> * detect changes in the awake/sleep profile and quickly find the causes (rogue apps)
>
> In other words BetterBatteryStats helps you to get the best out of your Android smartphone.

After finding out the applications that are causing your problem. Don't forget to disable BetterBatteryStats.

---
Tags: battery
---


title: Opening PDF drawings with comments

text:
# Question
Title: Opening PDF drawings with comments
On some of my PDF drawings the Engineers review stamp block is covering a portion of the drawing. I am using Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 -7.0 with ice cream to view this drawing. I did not have any issues viewing the same drawing with the same "Engineers approval" stamp on my Windows 7 desktop. Can someone tell me if there is a solution or if this is an issue with Adobe Reader 10.2.1?

# Answer
Use ezPDF Reader to view that file.
> 1 votes

# Answer
This sounds like it could be one of two things: either it could be a problem with the PDF reader on the Samsung Galaxy Tab ***or*** that the different screen resolution is just making both images appear on top of one another (more likely). Since the tab has a smaller screen it could be "warping" the image to appear differently when in actuality there's nothing wrong with the PDF. You'll need to shrink that PDF.

There are many PDF viewers on the market that will allow you to view PDFs accurately if the PDF reader is the problem. A simple market search for "PDF" should turn up a number of readers. You can try this approach but it's also likely that the reader on the tab is merely warping the image and that there's nothing inherently wrong with the reader itself.

More likely, you can try shrinking your PDFs down to an appropriate size if they're too large. From what you're describing this may very well be the problem, your exact problem may be occurring because the images within the PDF are extremely large.

They can be trimmed down. This will also reduce the overall file size of the PDF (desirable). For more information see: http://www.ehow.com/how\_4937702\_reduce-pdf-file-size-easily.html
> 1 votes

---
Tags: pdf
---


title: VNC client with mouse capture

text:
# Question
Title: VNC client with mouse capture
Been using Ubuntu over chroot on my Asus sl101 eee pad slider.

Works nice but I would like mouse integration like in virtual box etc.

Any VNC apps out there that will capture/integrate my mouse so that I can do right clicking etc.?

# Answer
There is a fantastic project underway called Android-VNC-Viewer has several input modes that would capture mouse movements/actions like right click.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: linux, vnc, mouse
---


# Question
Title: After update to Jelly Bean I am asked to select the E-Mail protocol. Which one should I choose?
Has anyone come across with sync-in email accounts using the native app?

For example:

I known a Bell.net account (Provided by Bell Canada), which uses Hotmail.com server. On Ice Cream Sandwhich I was able to punch in my email & password and it would automatically connect to my email no issues.

When I upgraded to 4.1.1 Jelly Bean it prompt me to select "POP", "IMAP" or "Exchange" setting. Is anyone else experiencing this with either a Bell.net or Hotmail.com accounts?

# Answer
Modern email clients are often able to detect the email server settings just from the username / password tuple.

If you are suddenly asked for an protocol (and possible outgoing/incoming mail server settings) then you should look them up on your mail providers homepage.

**E.g.,** a quick Google search came up with this page for Bell Canada.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: email, 4.1-jelly-bean
---


# Question
Title: Screen-casting/screen-capturing the camera view (appears black)
For demoing an Augmented Reality app, I would like to do a screencast of the Android device's screen (HTC Desire S).

The open source project androidscreencast works fine, except for the camera view. The overlays on top of the camera show through, but the actual camera view itself just shows up black. I have the same issue with the ddms tool that comes with the Android SDK - I can capture the screen, except for the camera view which appears black.

Here's the image I get using the ddms tool if I try to capture the screen when I have the normal camera app running: http://twitpic.com/83uztm

Please does anyone know why this is and how to get around it? Is it some kind of security feature, or a bug?

I came across something earlier that looked like a code workaround someone had come up with, but I don't have access to the app's underlying source code, so I need a non-programming method of getting this to work.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Sorry, without root, is probably not possible. With your device's OS version and the fact that you want to capture an overlay (video playback), even harder.

Prior to Android 3.0, screenshots were taken using the framebuffer, that is accessed by opening the `/dev/graphics/fb0` device. This location requires root access, and even with root may not work for all devices. Some devices use a pair of framebuffers and toggle between them.

Additionally, and more related with your current problem, the framebuffer doesn't contain surfaces in an overlay (often the case with video playback). That's the reason as to why you don't get the video, only the application frame.

---

Support information by developers on stackoverflow by this answer and this answer.

---
Tags: camera, screenshots, android-sdk, screencast
---


# Question
Title: Can I merge two, or more, separate Titanium backups
In this case I'm looking to restore SMS messages from Titanium.

I have made a backup of all SMS. Then I started on a new ROM without restoring SMS. I then made a new backup of the current SMS.

Is it possible to combine those two separate backups so that when I restore I will get my SMS from both backups?

As I understand, if I restore one backup, then I restore another backup it will not combine them but rather write one over the other.

# Answer
This is more like a manual job, but can be done.

With Titanium Backup PRO/Donate version, you have this feature (compare versions here):

> Backup/restore SMS, MMS, call log, bookmarks and Wi-Fi networks in the portable XML format!

You can combine both SMS backups into a single XML file format and restore it to your phone all in one. Afterwards, perform a backup like you usually do, to have it all together.

**Ps:** Will probably require you to go back and forward, but here's a guide:

1. Backup to XML the existent SMS on your device;
2. Restore the old SMS to the device;
3. backup the old SMS to XML;
4. Edit both XML files to merge them;
5. Restore all back to your device.

You can refer to Titanium Backup website to collect more information or to request support from the developers.
> 11 votes

---
Tags: sms, backup, titanium-backup
---


# Question
Title: HTC Sense Keeps Crashing Even After Factory Reset
I just updated my HTC Desire today to the newest firmware. However, on booting up the phone I get this message saying:

```
Sorry!
-------------
The application HTC Sense (process com.htc.launcher) has stopped unexpectedly.
Please try again.
                                 Force Close

```

When you force close it pops up again in \<1sec and keeps looping like this. Sometimes you can pull down the notification bar and open a text or email, but `com.htc.messaging` and `com.htc.mail` produce similar error messages.

I have googled for some answers, but the search and menu buttons do not work, I do not have an alternate window manager and cannot install anything using `adb` (permission is denied). I tried many hard resets and factory resets but to no avail. Any help is greatly appreciated.

# Answer
> 1 votes
OP fixed the issue with the following solution:

> **Edit:** I fixed it by following the instructions from TheUnlockr - How To: Unroot the HTC Desire and flashing this ROM \[Direct Link\].

---

Community wiki under "best-practices" defined by this meta answer.

---
Tags: htc-desire, htc-sense, updates, force-close
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Galaxy S3 direct call always calls the same number
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S3 and the direct call feature always calls the same number no matter whose contact I am viewing. Is this a bug in the feature? (The number it calls to is one of my frequent callers.)

# Answer
Well, I rebooted the phone and it is working fine now, but still not sure why this happens. It happened to me twice and works fine when I reboot the phone. This is not an answer to my question but more like a solution to overcome that
> 2 votes

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, direct-call
---


# Question
Title: Browser keyboard refresh shortcut for Android 2.3.7?
I would like to know if there is any way to associate a keyboard shortcut for refreshing a webpage in Android with physical keyboard version 2.3.7.

# Answer
There are several interesting browser shortcuts available:

```
Menu + J: Back
Menu + K: Forward
Menu + R: Refresh active page
Menu + F: Find
Menu + B: Open bookmarks
Menu + H: Browsing history
Menu + S: Open browser settings
Menu + I: Zoom in
Menu + O: Zoom out

```

(Source: Android Browser keyboard shortcuts)
> 1 votes

---
Tags: 2.3-gingerbread, browser, keyboard-shortcuts
---


# Question
Title: Complete list of hardware keyboard shortcuts for Desire Z?
I like to use the hardware keyboard of the Desire Z including shortcuts, however I haven't found a complete list. For example, the HTC help pages don't mention Function + Backspace = Deletion of text left to the cursor.

Can anyone provide a complete list or further "secret" shortcuts? This might also involve the usage of the optical "trackball", e.g. selecting text by using it while pressing Shift.

# Answer
> 1 votes
As the links in the comments are partly broken, I try to sum some things up here -- before the remaining links go to Nirvana as well.

# Global Shortcuts

```
Access number pad – Tap the 12# button on the keyboard
Turn on CAPS – Tap and hold the up arrow/Shift key until it has an underline.
Access keyboard settings – Tap the Gear icon on the keyboard

```

# Browser Shortcuts

```
Homepage – Menu + Spacebar
Find – Menu + F
Select text – Menu + E
Page Info – Menu + G
Share Page – Menu + S
Downloads – Menu + D
History – Menu + H
Settings – Menu + P

```

# Messaging Shortcuts

```
Press C to compose new message
Press R to reply
Press A to reply all
Press F to forward

```

(Source: HTC.COM)

# Assigning your own Shortcuts

While on the Home screen, you can quickly open an app or an item by pressing a keyboard shortcut.

1. While on the Home screen, open the slideout keyboard.
2. Press and hold any of the keyboard keys (A ~ Z).
3. Tap OK.
4. Tap Apps or Shortcuts, and then tap the app or shortcut that you want to assign to the selected key. If you are assigning a shortcut to an item on your phone, follow the screen instructions to proceed.
5. While on the Home screen, press and hold the key you’ve assigned a keyboard shortcut to. The app or item opens.

(Source: HTC.COM)

---
Tags: htc-desire-z, keyboard-shortcuts
---


# Question
Title: Sense 4: How to add items to pull down menu?
I just received a HTC One S with Sense 4 installed. I've seen on other Android devices that the pull down menu contains different settings, such as a Wifi button.

Is there a way to add these buttons to the Sense 4 pulldown menu?

# Answer
I cannot check you image (corporate proxy forbids), but I take it you mean those "toggle buttons" to switch on/off things like Wifi, Bluetooth, etc. In this case, you can do so e.g. with Elixier (first picture) or Notification Toggle (second picture)

Some Custom ROMs also come with something similar pre-installed, as e.g. CyanogenMod does.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: htc-sense, notification-bar
---


# Question
Title: Root Android then Restore Factory Defaults
If one roots an Android device (smartphone), what happens when Factory data reset is performed after that? Will the device remain rooted?

# Answer
> 4 votes
It depends on what you mean by resetting the phone:

1. A Full wipe / factory reset using the recovery system will not remove root. You flashed root into the /system/ partition, so it isn't going anywhere if you just wipe the data from the device.
2. Re-installing official firmware will remove root (e.g., re-flashing a stock ROM)

---
Tags: rooting, factory-reset
---


# Question
Title: All Unity 3D games result in "Force Close"
I have a Huawei u8160 (A.K.A Vodafone 858 Smart) running CyanogenMod 7.2 Madteam ported.

All apps that use unity3d force close on their startup although they are compatible.

So I wanted to know if I should install something to make it work or any thing else?

# Answer
This is because **they're not compatible.**
Unity requires devices with ARMv7 instruction set, your phone only supports v6.

I'm sorry but there's nothing that you can do other than buy a new handset if you want to play cutting edge games.

See this for the detailed specifications of your phone.
> 8 votes

# Answer
Unity games work on arm v6 with VFP, most cell phones sold after 2011 that have qualcomms and arm v6 work with unity games, however, this is an issue with cyanogenmod as of 8-21-2012, but if you remove parts of your game and load a blank level, you'll see it works, so its just a missing piece, no clue if they will fix it or find it.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, force-close, huawei-u8160
---


# Question
Title: Samsung GS3 (SPH-i710) exchange server repeated security update notification
I just connected my Samsung Galaxy S 3 (SPH-i710) to my exchange email server at work. It synced up and my email and calendars show on my device, however every few minutes I get a notification that says "Update Security Settings" when I click on it, it shows an alert dialog that says "Security Update Required" "Update Security Settings to use ". Clicking OK will allow my email box to refresh. However if I ignore the notification it won't receive push updates.

Does anybody know what the cause of this may be?

# Answer
Exchange is trying to apply your organization's default ActiveSync policy to your device. More than likely, the refresh interval setting on the ActiveSync policy has a number set in hours. Unchecking this box may resolve the issue.

We're having this issue with a couple of our Android devices after publishing a new ActiveSync policy.

Here is Microsoft's official response on the issue.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: email, security, exchange, samsung-galaxy-s-3
---


# Question
Title: How to auto start/stop tether if wifi is unavailable/available?
I use my Galaxy S as a wifi tether hotspot for my tablet and laptop, so tethering is always on (I have extended battery so it's ok). But if my phone is in the area where I have wifi internet (for example, at home) I don't need it to act as hotspot and want it to stop tethering and connect wifi. Is there a way to automatically start tethering if no wifi is available and stop it / connect wifi if wifi is available for long enough?

# Answer
> 2 votes
You can do so e.g. with Tasker, adapting the Wifi Tether Profile described in the Tasker Wiki -- provided your phone is rooted:

## Requirements

## Tasker-Tasks

* **Tether-On:**
~~Plugin -\> Execute~~ Script -\> Run Shell `/data/data/android.tether/tether start 1`, check "Use Root"
(with the *Locale Execute Plugin*, prefix the command with an `!` to mark it as "root command")
* **Tether-Off:**
~~Plugin -\> Execute~~ Script -\> Run Shell `/data/data/android.tether/tether stop 1`
(with the *Locale Execute Plugin*, prefix the command with an `!` to mark it as "root command")

## Tasker-Profiles

You now can attach these tasks to any condition, such as e.g. "Wifi Near" with your networks name. You can also add things like "Wifi On" / "Wifi off" to above tasks to customize.

Detailed descriptions can be found in the linked Wiki.

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Tags: tethering
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# Question
Title: How can I automate the Hotspot login process?
> **Possible Duplicate:**
> Can I automatically log in to open WiFi that requires web login/password?

Scenario: I go into a coffeeshop, I fire up my droid, and it says it's on the webs. But as soon as I start surfing it bounces me to the establishment's wifi signon page. I agree, click the button, and (I'm assuming) it sticks the droid's MAC address in a table and lets my traffic through. If I return to said coffeeshop within 24hrs, I'm usually still there.

Problem: My droid is WiFi only, I have no cell contract. So If I walk in and forget to fire up the browser, I won't get any texts or calls.

Solution: Does anyone know of an app that would automate this process? The droid itself will hit the wireless network as soon as it comes within range, provided I've used it before. But then it'd be nice if it tried to fetch a webpage, got redirected, and responded automatically.

Alternative: If there is no such app, would you guys be interested in a free one if I took the time to cook one up?

# Answer
There are several Hotspot apps around which can automate this. An example would be WiFi Web Login. I didn't check this one (but used a similar some time ago): As soon as the Wifi comes in reach, your device should connect (provided you did it once manually). If the Hotspot app is running in background, it should pick up from there. You have to record the session once for this to work, it's like a macro-recorder.
> 6 votes

# Answer
It's not fully automated (and possibly not too helpful for you yet depending which phone you've got) but Android 4.1 (Jellybean) does detect when Wifi Hotspots have a landing page, and pops up a notification which will take you straight to the hotspot's login page.

Notification bar:

Pulled down Notification:

I only noticed this last week when I was having to do some work from a coffee shop. The notification happened on my Galaxy Nexus phone and my Motorola Xoom tablet (both running Jellybean).
> 0 votes

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Tags: wi-fi
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# Question
Title: Android mail client not deleting emails on IMAP server
I have a new Samsung Galaxy S2 SkyRocket and the native mail program doesn't delete my IMAP mail from my server. When I view my mail on my PC, I'm still seeing the emails I deleted on the phone.

The Samsung tech told me I needed to uncheck the "Leave a copy on server" option in my mail client on my PC; however, Thunderbird 12.0.1 doesn't have that option (and personally, I fail to see how that has anything to do with my phone's mail client.)

Does anyone have an idea on how to set my phone so that it deletes those emails?

Thanks!

# Answer
Unbelievably this bug is still outstanding as of Android 4.0.4.

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1029

The only fix for this is to use a different email app. Most people end up switching to GMail.

Not happy. I miss my Nokia N900.
> 4 votes

# Answer
You change the "Leave a copy on the server" option on the *Android* mail client.
> 0 votes

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Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-2, sync, email, imap
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# Question
Title: Can anyone recognize this app (toggles WiFi, GPS, Sync, BT, etc.) in the notification bar?
I found this screenshot in one of the market apps (Galaxy Nexus Flashlight), in the red rectangle there is an app do you know this app? it seem very interesting.

# Answer
Thanks a lot everyone, I found it, it's a custom ROM called AOKP http://www.forum.aokp.co
> 5 votes

# Answer
If you're thinking about installing it, I'd recommend you to use Widgetsoid. It can sit on homescreen and as notification (like in image). And, it provides a lot of toggles which -- I bet -- no other app provides.
> 4 votes

# Answer
the correct answer: this is an app called TogglePanel that appears in the notification pull down. It costs $1.
> 2 votes

# Answer
This is the built-in `Power Widget` of the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

In other ROMs it's called something like `Power Control` or `Toggle Buttons`.

But as an APP there is a very good Application called Power Control which has a free and paid version.
> 1 votes

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Tags: notification-bar
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