# Question
Title: Why is the amount of time needed to turn the screen on not always the same?
This may very well be a nit-picking type of question about Android devices, and in particularly about the Samsung Galaxy SIII. The concern here, is of a UX nature. When the screen has gone blank to save the battery, and I click the power button, sometimes the screen turns on relatively quickly, othertimes more slowly. This happens also on relatively close carrying outs of such action (e.g. the screen goes blank, I press the power button, and the screen comes on quickly, then the screen goes blank to save power, I press the power button, but this time the screen comes on slowly).

The problematic usability scenario to consider is the following: sometimes, when the screen is taking longer than normal, my brain sends the signal to my hand to press the power button once more, thinking the reason the screen didn't come on is that I haven't pressed the button hard enough (especially since my phone's cover, made of plastic, makes such pressing even harder). However, as my thumb starts to press the button, but before I've completed the action, the screen comes on, and, as I complete the initiated press, the screen goes off again. So I must repeat this again. Sometimes the screen doesn't come on at all during such action because my thumb ends up finishing pressing the button just before the screen turns on, but the phone intercepts the keypress nevertheless and hence stays off. Every time this happens, I don't know if it's because the screen is taking too long to power on, if I haven't pressed the button hard enough, or if I've managed to press the button a second time just before the screen would have turned on, as a second attempt.

So my questions are:

* Why is the amount of time needed to turn the screen on not always the same?
* What's the best way to deal with the problem I described from the user's point of view?
* What about from the point of view of an electrical engineer/hardware designer7UX engineer?
* Is this problem dealt with in newer phones and fixed?

Thanks!!! :-)

Regards.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Here are your answers:

1. Depending on how many of the CPU cores are asleep (clocking at less than 200mHz for your phone), the system needs to wake up those. This takes time.
If the device is not asleep (doing background work), the screen will turn on very quickly.
2. Best way to deal with: Don't use the power button to turn on the screen, but rather use the Home button. The Home button will not lock your phone and thus pressing it more than once doesn't have an impact on usability.
3. The hardware/electrical designer will tell you that conserving battery is slightly more important than quick screen-turn-on times. The UX engineer can't do anything about it. Making sure the system runs as it should does not depend on the hardware configuration (most notably the minimum clock rate/time until deep sleep ).
4. Newer phones may have a better kernel wake-up configuration, that turns on the screen faster (custom kernels for your phone can do that, too), but I can't promise anything.

It's a trade-off between battery and user experience.
I must admit that Samsung's TouchWiz has plenty problems like that one, which led me to switch to custom roms.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, 4.3-jelly-bean, screen, touchscreen, user-interface
---


# Question
Title: Which apps are affected by the SYNC icon in Power Control Bar?
I can turn sync on/off in the Power Control bar. Which applications actually use this sync setting? Is that only Google-based products (calendar, contacts, gmail) or does it also influence apps like IMAP email, Evernote, etc?

# Answer
> 5 votes
I think you mean the **Auto-sync**. Go to "Settings -\> Accounts & sync". You will find which apps are using the sync function under **Manage accounts**. Only the apps in the list will be influenced.

# Answer
> 0 votes
To identify the app that is causing sync. Go to "Settings -\> Applications -\> Manage applications-\> click "Uninstall update" for the app (This is due to the updates that added background sync. only few app show this). These apps are the culprits to drain your battery.

---
Tags: sync
---


title: Everything is messed up on my phone

text:
# Question
Title: Everything is messed up on my phone
I'm using the stock system on my Samsung GS3, and one day the phone just started restarting itself randomly. It might restart itself once or twice a day, and no pattern was observed. Then all in a sudden in one of those weird self-restarting the phone resets itself. All app data are gone but system settings left untouched.

Then comes the waves of error of Google stuff. As soon as you unlock the screen, all sort of errors popped up randomly, like "Google Services Framework has stopped", "Google App has stopped", and "The process com.google.process.gapps has stopped", etc. The Gmail app doesn't load, and you can't view the list of installed apps in the Play Store.

When connected to a PC, with adb it says it's connected, and I can access the system through adb, but I can't use Windows' explorer to navigate the storage system.

I didn't flash any custom OS. I do have root and xposed installed but there is no special action I did that causes this to happen. The syncing of the Google apps are also messed up, and it seems only apps related to Google are having errors.

Without manually resetting (for real) the phone, is there any way to fix this? Once in a while the phone is still resetting itself and this is driving me crazy.

# Answer
> -1 votes
First turn airplane mode on that should stop all erros google sync alike.

Then go to settings \> account \> remove google account.

Then go to where you manage your apps and delete all data + cache of every google app (play store google+ google play services etc).

Also look for an option called something "Redefine preferences" sorry my phone is not on English so may be a little different option but with the same meaning do it then reboot your phone and desative airplane mode see if it's all ok.

If you want you can also do an backup via your PC while on airplane mode so if that steps don't help and you really need to reset you will be OK

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, sync, stock-android, google, system-error
---


# Question
Title: How can I backup contacts on a SIM card to my computer?
My brother wants me to backup the data in his SIM card. How can I copy this to my computer without messing up my own contacts?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Create a separate Google account for your brother's account. Import your brother's SIM's contacts to that Google account.

OK- here's the idea I have:

1. Back up all your existing contacts to SD card. Open your Contacts App and press MENU \> IMPORT/EXPORT \> EXPORT TO SD CARD. A .vcf file will be created with all your existing contacts. Using My Files or Astro or a file manager of choice, save / copy this backup file to another location as well.
2. Optional Step - You can create a separate Google account for your brother so his imported contacts are pushed/synced there.
3. Turn on Airplane Mode - this way there's no chance of any changes being made to your Google Account Contacts (added safety).
4. Wipe all your contacts - from within the Contacts app, press MENU \> DELETE and choose ALL CONTACTS. (This is also rather optional, depending on whether you wish to sync to a Google account or not).
5. Turn your phone off and insert your brother's SIM. Turn your phone on.
6. You currently have no contacts. From within your CONTACTS app, press MENU \> IMPORT / EXPORT and choose IMPORT FROM SIM - it'll ask where the contacts should be imported to - PHONE / list of Google Accounts. Depending on your process, either choose the PHONE or the new Google account and you ought to be done.

You can either sync the new contacts to the new Google account or export them to a .vcf on your SD card.

This is just a rough idea of how you can do things. The end process is yours to tweak to your liking and needs.

# Answer
> 2 votes
As mentionned in the other answer,

*Contacts App \> Menu \> Import/Export \> Export to SD card*

will save all the contacts in a `.VCF` file on SD card, that you can copy to your computer.

Then, it can be useful to use a `VCF to CSV` or `VCF to Excel` converter, like this one (Python needed), to be able to read the `.VCF` with a software like Excel.

---
Tags: backup, sim-card
---


# Question
Title: Is there a flight mode feature where i can still browse the web?
Basically, I just want to appear to other people as I'm offline/my battery is dead.

How can I do this?

I'm not talking about blocking contacts, but the effect would be the same as to block all of them for a given period of time I guess.

# Answer
You can press the Airplane mode and then enable only WiFi. So your mobile data connection to your carrier is off (can't receive calls/SMS) but your online and have a internet connection.

But if you want to appear offline for certain online-apps like WhatsApp or Facebook you have to manually close these apps or log out or something...
> 4 votes

---
Tags: airplane-mode
---


# Question
Title: How to recover "Family Guy: The Quest For Stuff" game progress
My HTC 610 froze and could not be rebooted. I had a game installed through google play and was continually signed in to the google acount. I was told that as long as I was signed in, the game's progress would be saved. I received my new HTC 610 today and signed in to google+, went into the google play menu, clicked on my apps and my games automatically transferred. When I opened up a game, the progress was not there. Is there any way to restore progress?

# Answer
> 1 votes
You play through the new game until you unlock Chris and get to the “Find Better Reception” task. From here you click on the menu button:

This will bring up the TQFS menu, from the menu you tap on Account Info:

This will open the account settings. From this list you click on “Sign in As Someone Else”:

From this list you pick the sign in option you used when you setup your account. So if you setup an account with Facebook select that, Google choose that, etc. :

For you, since you were signed in with Google, you'll select the Google option. Then you'll sign in with your information.

Tap next…and voila! My Quahog is back!

Source

---
Tags: google-play-games
---


# Question
Title: Fast way to update custom ROM on encrypted phone?
If I add corporate (exchange) account to my phone I am forced to use PIN and now it even forces me to encrypt the phone. I have not done it yet but I need to.

I udate my ROM - cyanogenmod - quite often. Now I have no idea if I am going to be able to do so and if it process of updating is going to take longer.

* HTC One XL phone - no external SD card
* TWRP recovery
* I use Titanium Backup to do backup before update and then restore after update.
* Currently I am running CM11.2 but want to try cm12 soon.
* Q1) can I still use Titanium Backup to backup/restore?
* Q2) How to quickly update cm in future if the phone is encrypted?
* Q3) enything else I need to know before I encrypt the phone?

# Answer
> 1 votes
It depends a bit on the recovery you use. But if your device has enough RAM, you could try to install the update via adb sideload.

If you encrypt "your phone", actually only the data partition gets encrypted. You can use Titanium Backup to back things up, but you will be out of luck regarding the data partition (and possibly internal sdcard, see below). If you use TWRP, it offers the option to unlock your encrypted /data when entering recovery, making a full backup possible. Also, using such a USB-OTG device allows you to update via ZIP directly from there!

Depending on your device, also the internal sdcard (and/or external - but you don't seem to have one) will get encrypted. In this case, your recovery will be unable to store the backup anywhere, but if you encrypt your phone you certainly don't want to store your backup unencrypted somewhere on the phone. Therefore, if your device supports USB-OTG, you could just connect an unencrypted usb stick for this purpose - this would be my recommendation.

Apart from that, you can always do "raw" backups directly via ADB by backup up unmounted partitions or even complete block devices. You should be familiar with the partition layout of your device in this case, or simply backup the complete flash (which might take a while). You would typically achieve this (just an example, you might have to use a different device name!):

```
adb pull /dev/block/mmcblk0

```

And to restore the backup:

```
adb push your-backupfile-of-mmcblk0 /dev/block/mmcblk0

```

But of course you can do this also just for individual partitions, e.g. /system:

```
adb pull /dev/block/sd.whatever/by-name/System

```

Check out the fstab.VENDOR file for your device (typically resides in your root directory), you should be able to find the proper device names in there.

---
Tags: exchange, cyanogenmod, rom-update, encryption
---


# Question
Title: How to edit a contact in the "Contacts" app using LG G3
I use the Contacts app with this icon

and write something in the search field to find a contact.

I click the contacts name and come to this screen:

Now, I have found no way to edit the phone number. Clicking inside the box with the green caller will call the contact.

Clicking the menu will give me the menu alternatives: Delete, Join, Add to Home screen.

There is no text anywhere that sais "edit contact" or the like.

Clicking the contacts name will not result in anything. Clicking the contacts photo will show it bigger.

Long clicking inside the box with green caller will popup a menu with the alternatives "Forward contact" and "Copy to clipboard".

# Answer
That's because the contact is synced to your contacts via online account (Facebook in this case). You are not allowed to edit that contact that is why there is no option of editing it. Get it!
> 2 votes

# Answer
I don't know if you have found the answer you are looking for but I found if you click the join button in the edit menu you can combine two contacts into one. So all you need to do is make a contact for the person with their number or what have you and then join it with the facebook contact listing.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Long press the contact and then the edit button will show up !
> -1 votes

---
Tags: contacts, lg-g3
---


title: How to scan QR code for WhatsApp Web?

text:
# Question
Title: How to scan QR code for WhatsApp Web?
I'm hoping this question is suited to this forum. WhatsApp have just announced WhatsApp for the desktop browser (https://web.whatsapp.com).

One of the steps is to scan a QR code using WhatsApp. I can't seem to find the option to scan the QR code.

The instructions say to open WhatsApp -\> Menu -\> WhatsApp Web.

The problem is that my menu doesn't have an option for WhatsApp Web.

My phone is a Nexus 5 on Lollipop 5.0.1.

# Answer
> 12 votes
reboot your phone. I did that and the feature is there in the menu.

After rebooting, you may need to click on "chat," not on "calls" or "contacts." Hope that helps.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Update your WhatsApp to the latest version (2.11.498) and you will see the menu option `WhatsApp -> Menu -> WhatsApp Web`.

I have updated mine and am able to use WhatsApp web with the same menu option.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I completely re-installed WhatsApp and now I see the WhatsApp Web option.

Word of caution: I lost data when I uninstalled WhatsApp.

---
Tags: 5.0-lollipop, nexus-5, whatsapp-messenger, qr-code
---


# Question
Title: How to access my SD card of Moto G 2nd from Win7
All, I am in trouble with accessing the files , photos etc in my SD card of Moto G 2nd. Is there any way to make it ? Thanks.

**Updated**

It is my mistake, I am sorry that I didn't put it clear. Please forgive me . I mean I was trying access it from computer desktop. But so far didn't get it work around. Thanks.

# Answer
It doesn't have an SD card. Nor does it have a file explorer.

Download and install ES file manager from the play store to fix.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Well, inorder to access the SD card content over the device you are going to need a file manager app to do that, if you head over to the Google PlayStore then you can find a number of file explorer available that you can use. Just in case if you want you can try installing ES File Explorer over your device. Once done open the ES File Explorer to look out for the files and folder over your SD card.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: sd-card, motorola-droid
---


# Question
Title: How to increase speaker/call volume? (cm11.2)
Sometimes after I install new version of cm speaker volume is too low. Then I install another version and it is ok. I did some search and found this post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2400231) describing how to fix that for Samsung.

The exact line I you need to edit is `RX5 Digital Volume:1:65%` but I did not find that one in my 'snd\_soc\_msm\_2x' config file.

Any one could explain how to fix the volume for HTC One XL? **I do not want to install any sw to make this work.**

Currently I am running 11-20150104-nightly and the volume is very much too low. My snd\_soc\_msm\_2x looks like

```
Code:

EnableSequence
    'SLIM_0_RX Channels':0:eek:ne
    'RX3 MIX1 INP1':0:RX1
    'RX4 DSM MUX':0:DSM_INV
    'LINEOUT1 DAC Switch':1:1
    'LINEOUT3 DAC Switch':1:1
    'LINEOUT1 Volume':1:73
    'LINEOUT3 Volume':1:73
    'RX3 Digital Volume':1:73
    'RX4 Digital Volume':1:73
    'SPK AMP EN Switch':1:1
EndSequence

```

The original steps how to fix it from the link above are....

```
Code:

Navigate to device folders.
Open "etc" folder.
Open "snd_soc_msm" folder.
Open file "snd_soc_msm_2x" file with editor.
Look for the following section below, it is at 41% using ES editor.

SectionDevice
Name "Speaker"
Comment "Speaker Rx device"

EnableSequence
'PRI_RX Channels':0:Two
'RX5 MIX1 INP1':0:RX1
'RX5 MIX1 INP2':0:RX2
'RX6 DSM MUX':0SM_INV
'LINEOUT2 Volume':1:100%
'LINEOUT4 Volume':1:100%
'RX5 Digital Volume':1:65%
EndSequence

The exact line you want to edit is
'RX5 Digital Volume':1:65%

Only change the percentage amount, and only change it in small increments

```

# Answer
I'm thinking your phone is codenamed "evita" and the file you're looking at is here. Maybe you could try kicking up those ":1:73"s to ":1:78" or another small increment, restart, and see if it's any louder. If so, raise the number from 78 to 83 or whatever until you find the volume you like.

You can compare with this change for mako (Nexus 4) and this comment as well... You might also Google for "msm8960 volume" to see recommendatiosn for other devices that use your qualcomm system-on-a-chip.

I don't know for sure if this will work as expected, but you can report back and let me know if it does.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: volume-control, cyanogenmod, volume
---


# Question
Title: cannot scan QR code for login whatsapp web version
using 3 inch display phone, cannot scan QR code for login. any idea to solve this?

# Answer
Problem is you can't do it with a display that is smaller than 4 inches... Normally, the built-in scanner in Whatsapp has an "OK, got it" button at the bottom of the instruction screen that blocks the camera. On my 3,5 inch model, this button is cut off, so I can't remove the message.

No Chance.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger
---


title: How do I send a contact via SMS?

text:
# Question
Title: How do I send a contact via SMS?
I would like to send two contacts (name+phone nr) to one of my contacts. This is a simple menu-option on my old Sony Ericsson.

How can I do this on Android?

I'm not in the same building as the receiver so I can not use Bluetooth.

# Answer
> 4 votes
# For users with Ice Cream Sandwich:

Using the stock messaging app, you can attach contacts to the message either on "Text" or "vCard" formats.

## When writing the message:

1. Touch the device "menu";
2. Touch "Attach";
3. Touch "Contact";
4. Touch the desired method.
You will then be presented with your contacts list to select the desired contact.

<sup>*Screenshots taken from LG-P700 running Android v4.0.3.*</sup>

# Answer
> 8 votes
Surprisingly, you need a third party app.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/shareContacts.NS.com

# Answer
> 3 votes
On HTC Desire HD (Froyo) whilst composing an SMS: **Menu** \> **Attach** \> **Contact(vCard)**

Or is that a HTC Sense feature?

# Answer
> 3 votes
A new app from an XDA developer just hit the market: Share Contacts

> Share Contacts is an application to Send and Receive Contacts via SMS. It provides facility to pic contacts from phone, customise it and send business card by SMS. It can recognize the messages having business cards and provide facility to save them in Phone.
>
> Here are main features of application:
>
> * Send contacts by SMS.
> * Pick up contact information from saved contacts.
> * Send customised information.
> * Filter SMS with Business Cards.
> * Retrieve contact information from SMS.
> * Save retrieved contact information into Phone contacts.
> * Add contact with Google Sync.
> * Integrated with Phone application.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Is there an add text \> contact option when writing an sms? I can do that in Galaxy S 2.1

# Answer
> 1 votes
I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for but I have been using ChompSMS for over a year now, and it's super awesome anyway, if you use that then there is a little plus icon to the left of the text input, clicking on it brings you a list of picture emoticons, saved templates, and contact insertion. Another option is going to view contact in your phone book and then clicking menu and then share, but I think you were looking to send the info via sms which this doesn't appear to do on my htc inc w/ cy 7.03

# Answer
> 1 votes
In your SMS app, click Settings =\> Add text =\> Contacts, then select your contact and press send.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Another third-party app for this, which I prefer: Contacto's (share contacts)

# Answer
> 1 votes
Contact Share by SMS Lite may be for you.

# Answer
> 1 votes
It's a very convenient way to send contacts in text format. Try Contacts via Sms: this app makes it easy to do so:

> Contacts via Sms enables you to send contacts and contact details as text via Sms (and via any other text application in next update ex: Skype, Viber, Chat, Google Drive, Dropbox, Notes etc).

# Answer
> 1 votes
Go to your contact list -\> pull up your menu -\> share -\> then via email or SMS etc..

# Answer
> 1 votes
Friends, First I would like to draw your attention that there are two application used while typing.

1. If you used option menu then there is a one tab named inserts contacts which is used for sending contacts as a test message.
2. Second function is directly appear when you are start typing as a attachments or insert which is used for sending contacts as a MMS.

Generally we are using second option because its appear on screen easily.

Just check this I hope you will find your answer.

---
Tags: contacts, sms
---


# Question
Title: Installing Google Account on i9500 on leaked 5.0.1
I recently installed the leaked lollipop 5.0.1 ROM for the s4 i9500. I can see that it does not come with the google package of google play, google search and also one cannot add a google account in the accounts. I downloaded the apk but that is not running and not even an error is displayed when i click on it. Is there a way to get google play without rooting? and even add a google account?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Follow the below procedure:

1. Download the ROM
2. Download GApps package for Lollipop
3. Download SuperSU
4. Put the zip files on your SDCard
5. Reboot in Recovery
6. Wipe Data / Factory Reset
7. Select "Install zip from SDCard"
8. Choose ROM zip file
9. Choose GApps zip file
10. Choose SuperSU zip file
11. Reboot system

You need customized google apps package.

Courtesy: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/i9505-orig-develop/rom-cyanogenmod-12-t2943934

---
Tags: google-play-store, samsung-galaxy-s-4, 5.0-lollipop
---


# Question
Title: How to allow apps to delete SD card content
I have Android version 5.0 on two different devices and on both, if I delete any user content (e.g. photos, music) stored on the SD card it appears to be removed but moments later reappears exactly as it was.

I am led to believe that this is part of the new OS version enhanced security but is there any way that I can stop this so that when I delete something, it stays deleted! Currently I can only do this via USB from my PC.

# Answer
Since 4.4 the "WRITE\_EXTERNAL\_STORAGE" permission no longer grants WRITE access to the secondary(external) sdcard. (This is a simplified explanation, 4.4 did not force this change.)

The necessary permission to do so ("WRITE\_MEDIA\_STORAGE") is only avialable to system apps.

Since 5.0 it is possible to gain write access through Androids storage provider system, this must be implemented by the developer though.

* The native file manager app should be able to write to the external sdcard, check if it requests the "WRITE\_MEDIA\_STORAGE" permission.
* SD Maid will support deletion & renaming with the next update (3.1.2.0+) through the systems storage provider.
* I don't know about SandDisk Memory Zone.
> 11 votes

---
Tags: sd-card, 5.0-lollipop, delete
---


# Question
Title: Screen light is on as long as the charger is connected
My Samsung Android GT-S5660 running 2.3.4 has its screen light on permanently as long as the charger is connected, and I don't know how to make it go off.

I admit fooling around with buttons, settings etc and somehow caused the problem in the first place. I must have gone into some 'setting' somewhere but can't recall where. Which control should I go back to so as to fix the problem?

# Answer
This is an option in the developer section of settings on all android devices I believe. It is called 'Stay Awake' and the description is "Screen will never time out while charging"

If you untick this, the screen should go to sleep as normal again.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: settings, samsung, screen
---


title: PDA, CSC, MODEM files in Custom ROMs

text:
# Question
Title: PDA, CSC, MODEM files in Custom ROMs
The ODIN utility for flashing Samsung phones needs different files like PDA, MODEM, CSC etc. Custom ROMs though are always provided as a single zip file. Why is that? Do custom ROMs already contain these components in the zip file?

# Answer
First off, the Odin utility doesn't actually *need* all of the files in every category. Usually only a single file is flashed via the "PDA" option, and it will contain any of the necessary components. However, Odin provides for an option to flash components separately. For example, you can flash only the "Modem" portion to update the cell firmware.

Custom ROMs are usually designed to not touch critical components like bootloader, modem firmware, or recovery image. These ROMs usually write to OS-level partitions, such as /system and /data (on most phones they can't flash modem firmware even if they wanted to.) The idea is to not touch the critical components, so that even in an event of a bad flash (e.g. power failure, corrupted download, etc.) you could always get the phone operational in some way (recovery, fastboot.) Also by making ROMs not contain firmware for specific hardware, the authors make it easier to create ROMs that work on several similar devices, in many different regions.

For example, CyanogenMod produces a single unified ROM for 9 Qualcomm-based Galaxy S4 models, regardless of carrier or country. The ROM will only replace the OS, and leave the device-specific modem alone.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: custom-roms
---


# Question
Title: How do I access settings in WhatsApp on Samsung Galaxy Note 3?
I don't see the ellipses icon ("...") in the top-right corner of the screen on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Without it, how can I get to the Settings screen in WhatsApp?

# Answer
As suggested in the comments, try pressing the hardware "Menu" button:

click for larger image

On latest Android versions the overflow (ellipses) button is hidden in apps on phones with a physical Menu button.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: samsung, whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: Data connection takes a long time to start up
My tablet has a SIM card that gets data over AT&T's cell network. Once the connection gets going it works great, but connecting to the network takes about 5 minutes. This is strange because it only takes a few seconds for the tablet to determine that it can detect the network at full strength; it just takes a long time for the little "H" to show up next to the signal-strength icon, at which point data exchange can occur.

What can I do to accelerate this? I'm running CyanogenMod on a Nexus 7 2012 tablet.

# Answer
I took this issue to my local AT&T store and had them look at the tablet. They inspected my settings and said they were correct. I had them give me a new SIM card in hopes that would fix the problem; this seemed to lower the connection time somewhat, but it would still take several minutes.

Eventually I factory reset my tablet and switched from CyanogenMod back to stock Android. That made the problem go away; data connection time is back down to a couple seconds.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Reason 1 : H (HSDPA) signal requires greater strength and a mobile tower that emits 3G (HSDPA) signal. In your case ,the phone connects to a 2G mobile tower (near your vicinity) and then searches for a 3G signals ( maybe that tower is somewhere far)

Reason 2: Cyanogenmod maybe designed in such a way that it first connects to 2G and then swithces to 3G. You might want to head on to their support page for further information.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: mobile-data
---


# Question
Title: How do I send a group SMS with google hangouts?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 on Verizon if that matters. Thanks!

# Answer
> 4 votes
1. In Hangouts start a new conversation by going to the Messages tab and pressing on the "+" button on the top-right.
2. Select the first contact. This should open the Hangout conversation screen:
click for larger image
3. Tap the "Anyone else?" button next to the first participant on the top row. This brings up the "New group conversation" screen:
click for larger image
4. Add more contacts you wish to be included in the group conversation by tapping on their name, or typing in their name:
click for larger image
5. Press the OK button. This opens up the actual group conversation with all the selected participants. You should see "Send to group" in the typing area, signifying that you are starting a group Hangout:
click for larger image

You can also turn an existing single-participant hangout into a group chat. Just open the existing chat, tap on Menu button, select "New group conversation" and continue on from step 3 above.

Now messages you send and receive will be shared with all participants.

---
Tags: sms
---


title: S3 stuck on first splash screen

text:
# Question
Title: S3 stuck on first splash screen
I recently installed an update to my custom ROM (http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/development/wip-cyanogenmod-12-t2936990) which was previously working fine on my phone. After installing this update my phone now sits on the "Samsung Galaxy S III" screen and after about half a minute reboots back onto the screen.

I can access recovery and download mode with no problems still and I've tried re-flashing recovery and the ROM with no success.

If anybody can suggest anything I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks.

EDIT: I am unable to actually turn the phone off without removing the battery, every time I hold the power button it just turns itself back on after a second.

# Answer
Have you tried to do a data wipe/factory reset?

You could take a nandroid backup, and use an app such as Titanium backup or Nandroid manager to get (some of) your data back.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I had to install a custom kernal (Alter) to fix the issue. My device is now working like before now.
> -1 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, samsung-galaxy-s-3, clockworkmod-recovery, boot-loop
---


# Question
Title: Is it possible to merge contacts from different sources and upload them to GMail?
I'd like to merge contacts from different sources -- i.e., imported contacts from phone, from sim card, and from my gmail account -- and upload the ultimate contact on my gmail account.

For instance, I know someone's mail adress using my gmail account, and I import his phone number from the sim card. My goal is to update the contact on the GMail account, in order to have also his phone on internet (it's the perfect backup).

Is it possible ? Is it native or should I use another app ?

I'm using a Galaxy S with Android 2.1, unrooted

Thanks for you're help !

# Answer
> 4 votes
**This answer is based on comments from Niall C.**

There are 5 phases in the process :

1. Select each contact, and then link them when relevant. The goal is to have 1 friend = 1 contact.
2. Export the list (Contact \> Menu \> More \> Import Export \> To SD Card), it will work even if you don't have any SD card.
3. Transfer the file to a computer (the file is quite light, even with GPG keys and user pics)
4. Open GMail, backup your contact by exporting them
5. Import the VCF file

And that's all ! Your contacts in GMail have now phone numbers ! Don't worry, GMail merge contacts becase their email adress is already known.

Source : How to move phone contacts to Google?

# Answer
> 0 votes
This is the only solution that worked for me:

1. Run http://www.transphone.net/android-transfer/delete-android-duplicate-contacts.html (the software is quite spammy, but it works).
2. Sync all accounts.
3. Go into phone app, settings, sync all accounts again.

---
Tags: 2.2-froyo, contacts, gmail, sim-card
---


# Question
Title: Maps not pointing in the right direction
I have issues with google maps on my Nexus 5 running Android 5.0.1

The position dot (my location) has a spiky side indicating my orientation. However it doesn't point the right way.

Let's say I am pointing north and I hold my phone un portrait mode, then the orientation info will point east (to my right), which would be the right answer if I was in landscape mode. Now if, while still pointing north, I hold my phone in landscape mode, then the orientation info will point west (to my right), which would be the right answer if I was in portrait mode.

As any one ever had the same issue ? Is there a know fix ?

# Answer
> 1 votes
I've had devices get their compasses screwed up. Just re-calibrate and see if that fixes it: How can I calibrate the compass on my phone? If you have done that and its still incorrect do try it again in a different location, perhaps outside away from any metal just to be sure.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I believe the "spiky thing" you refer to is a little blue arrow, is that correct? If so, I think what it actually displays is your direction of travel (on the map). If you are standing still, it probably show your last known (or assumed) direction of travel.

This same issue confused me greatly when I got my first smart-phone, but I'm pretty sure what I stated above is how it is. You could try it by walking (or driving or riding a bus or train) while watching the map, and then your direction on the map should be shown, regardless of portrait or landscape display.

Let us know if this solves it for you.

---
Tags: 5.0-lollipop, nexus-5, gps, google-maps
---


# Question
Title: I was listening to music on my Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini when the sound coming from my headphones got really low.
The Phone is three days old, and suddenly all music coming from my headphones (yes, tried different ones, and they work the same way, really low sound) got really low. The headphones work on all other devices, but the sound on my Samsung mini is really low. My Phone is not rooted. Pls help!

# Answer
> 1 votes
Hold down the power button for 10 seconds it should reboot it this fixed my problem

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s-3, audio, music, headphones
---


# Question
Title: How do I set up proxy authentication for the entire system without rooting my phone?
I have the Samsung Galaxy S Advance running Android 2.3.6

I was able to set up the proxy server through Settings » Wireless and Network » WiFi Settings » (Options button) » Advanced.

This works well for the browser. If the proxy server requires authentication, then a dialog box pops up for that purpose.

However, all the other apps are totally useless behind a proxy server that requires authentication.

1. How do I work around this without rooting my phone?
2. If rooting is absolutely necessary, what app do you recommend to use (after rooting)? My google searches turn up ProxyDroid. Are there other alternatives?

# Answer
> 1 votes
The app that did the trick for me is Auto Proxy (requires root).

All apps work, including browser, maps, GMail, etc. and it worked on Android 2.2, 2.3 and 4.0.

Additionally, WiFi proxy settings are built in to ICS, but I've had limited success with it. It seems to automatically disconnect from the wireless network. Your mileage may vary.

# Answer
> 1 votes
There is a bugreport on the android site for this which is still open. You can set proxy settings for APN (Mobile Network) but not for Wifi. In ICS also only the Browser will be affected by the Wifi Proxy Setting.

Also Authentification will not completly work at all (see report)

# Answer
> -1 votes
Use Droxy (no root required)

Before opening Drony, change the hostname and port in Wi-Fi settings(modify network), to hostname: localhost port: `8080`, the open Drony, and put in your actual wi-fi proxy hostname, port, username, and password.

---
Tags: samsung-galaxy-s, proxy
---


# Question
Title: Where does Google Music store offline songs?
I have a song I want to use for a ringtone, but the Google Music app doesn't let me set it. I've checked on my sdcard/internal storage for a music/google/gmusic etc folder but can't find anything.

Where is the music file stored on my phone?

# Answer
> 10 votes
The Google Music Apps cache is at

```
/<external_SD>/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music

```

which is usually

```
/sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music

```

# Answer
> 1 votes
It is actually in `/data/data/com.google.android.music/files/music`.

You might need root to access this. The songs are titled just by numbers so it might be a pain to find the right ones. This is from a Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 rooted stock ROM NAE Android 4.4.2.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I use Bluetooth File Transfer and have found the files in

```
/storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/files/music

```

I'm running Android 4.4.2 on a Galaxy S5 (not rooted) and the Play Music app is v5.7.1788Q.1634597

---
Tags: storage, file-management, google-play-music
---


title: 4K Video Recording with the Camera2 API

text:
# Question
Title: 4K Video Recording with the Camera2 API
In the Android Lollipop, Google released the Camera2 API.

Does this mean in Lollipop, any phone with a 5MP camera would be able to shoot 2K video and any 13MP camera would be able to shoot 4K video, and is there any reason why Google may not choose to include this in the Google Camera for Lollipop later this year - ie would shooting in a higher resolution be a compromise in any way?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Yes. Actually, the Nexus 5, with an 8MP sensor, can shoot video which is almost 4K with this app. However, 3 months on, Google has still not updated their Camera app to the Camera2 API, so the Nexus 5 cannot record in 4K using Google Camera.

# Answer
> 0 votes
No, the camera sensor resolution isn't the only factor that determines whether a phone can shoot high-res video, regardless of the APIs offered by the OS. Phones have special *video encode* hardware to make a video file from the raw camera data, and the hardware can only encode so many pixels per second. To record 2k or 4k video, the video encode hardware has to be fast enough, and other parts of the system need enough bandwidth/throughput to handle the data rate.

As for Google Camera, there's no point speculating about its future releases. They might choose to focus on a new feature instead, or may wait until more phone hardware supports 4k video. They might even include it in the next Nexus phone but wait another six months or so before releasing the feature more widely.

---
Tags: camera, video, android-versions, video-recording, 5.0-lollipop
---


# Question
Title: What happens if I factory reset the phone after upgrading to Lollipop?
I have updated the OS from Kitkat to Lollipop using system update. Now I want to factory reset. Does anyone know that after the factory reset Lollipop OS remains or it reverts to Kitkat?

# Answer
> 0 votes
A factory reset only clears the user data from the device, it doesn't touch the system partition which is where the update was applied.

So yes, the Lollipop upgrade remains.

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, 5.0-lollipop, factory-reset
---


# Question
Title: How can I find my phone when it's on silent/vibrate mode?
Sometimes when I can't find my phone, I call it from my wife's phone or my landline. (There's also online service which provides a free call to your phone, it's a handy way to find a missing phone).

Unfortunately, it doesn't work very well if the phone is set to vibrate, and not at all if it's set to silent. **Can I configure my phone to ignore the vibrate or silent setting and always ring for a specific number?**

My old phone was a Blackberry, and it had a couple of features that made it obvious how to do this: 1) it had very flexible distinctive ring features, 2) it had a feature called "ringer profiles" that allowed users to create additional conditions where special distinctive ring conditions applied. (I mostly used its distinctive ring features to set an annoying person to always silent). **Do we have anything similar on Android?**

Alternatively, **is there another good way to configure the phone to reveal itself even if it's set to silence?** (Play music when it receives the word "sing" by text, for example.) If not as a native feature, are there apps that do this?

Finally, I know that nothing will work if the phone is out of charge, turned off, or set to airplane mode. The only solution there is "Don't misplace the phone when it's set to airplane mode."

# Answer
> 5 votes
If you have a Google account associated with the device, you can use Google Device Manager to send an alert to your phone.

> 1. Sign in to your Google Account on android.com/devicemanager.
> 2. If you have more than one device, click the arrow next to the device name to select a different device.
> 3. Select any of the following options in the top left corner of the screen:
>
> * Ring: Rings your device at full volume for 5 minutes - even if it's set to silent or vibrate.
>     * Lock: Locks your device with a new password.
>     * Erase: Permanently deletes all of your data.

You can also use the Device Manager Android app for this.

> 1. Download and install the Android Device Manager app from the Google Play store on your device.
> 2. Open the Device Manager app on your device.
> 3. Sign in to your Google Account.
> 4. If you have more than one device, click the arrow next to the device name to select a different device.
> 5. Select any of the following options in the top left corner of the screen:
>
> * Ring: Rings your device at full volume for 5 minutes - even if it's set to silent or vibrate.
>     * Lock: Locks your device with a new password.
>     * Erase: Permanently deletes all of your data.

(source: Android Device Manager - Google Help)

---
Tags: settings, ringtone, lost-phone
---


# Question
Title: On Nexus 4, system still "up to date" with Kit-Kat
I would like to install Lollipop over the air on my Nexus 4. I know that there is a factory image available, but I'd rather avoid install that if I can.

I have a Nexus 4 that has been turned off from mid-September of this year to mid-December. It had a bad charger port.

I had it fixed, charged it, and updated everything. Android updated to version 4.4.4. And that was it. Now, every time I look at System Update it says "Your system is up to date". If I manually check updates, it doesn't change anything.

Did I miss some sort of window for Lollipop? How can I get the over-the-air Lollipop install for my Nexus 4? Or will I need to do a whole system update from a computer and reinstall everything?

Also maybe worthy of note: this phone is not currently connected to a phone carrier. It's just used as a wifi. I do intend to connect it to a phone carrier very soon, though.

# Answer
Okay, Android finally updated. It found the update the instant I tried to connect through my phone service, as opposed to connecting via wifi. The strange thing is that I could not in fact connect via the phone. But apparently, turning on the mobile data switch prompted the message that an update to Lollipop was available, even if there was no mobile data to be used there.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: nexus-4, 5.0-lollipop, ota-update
---


# Question
Title: Why I can't scan QR code inside Whatsapp?
I have Whatsapp latest version & have the Whatsapp Web Option I put it to scan but it just doesn't scan it. I Installed a QR Scanner app and it works perfectly. I uninstalled the QR Scanner app to see if that was the issue and still doesn't work. My phone is a Sony Xperia E1 Dual... anyone help me...

# Answer
You don't need to install third party QR scanner, rather than you have to use the QR scanner present inside the whatsapp it can be found under whatsapp\>Menu\>WebWhatsApp, use it to scan the QR Code and your problem will be fixed.
> 0 votes

# Answer
After selecting the WhatsApp Web option, does a visual guide pop up? There should be an ”OK, got it” button to clear it, but apparently on devices with smaller displays there’s a bug which caused the button to not appear. If that’s the case, wait for an update (version 2.11.505). I just got mine, and it works now.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: whatsapp-messenger
---


# Question
Title: Should I install cm12 nightly builds incrementally?
I installed CM12's nightly build two weeks ago on my phone. Since its a nightly build, my phone asks me everyday if I want to upgrade to the latest build.

Since it's been a couple of days since I last upgraded my phone, I'm wondering whether I should install every updates incrementally or directly install the latest one.

Are the updates listed on the software-update screen incremental ?

# Answer
> 2 votes
You can flash the latest build as each is a full-build rather than a patch. You do not need to install each one incrementally. You should also be able to change the type of build that the updater checks for from nightly to stable (and possibly some others in between)

---
Tags: cyanogenmod
---


# Question
Title: Updating Nexus 5 from 4.4.4 to 5.0 a month late
So my parent's nexus 5 is currently on 4.4.4 and I want to upgrade them to 5. When the initial 5.0 OTA was released they told me they got the notification to upgrade to 5.0 but they didnt update because they didnt want to relearn all functions changed until I got home. So I am home and when I go into "about phone" in settings and go check for updates it always says the OS is up to date. Even though when I check the version its 4.4.4. Meanwhile all the native apps have updated to their latest verisons. I have already upgraded my phone to 5.0 and today I got my 5.0.1 update today. I get that google doesnt roll out its updates all at once but its been a month since the initial 5.0 update and why is it that I cant upgrade my parents phone and it says its up to date even though its not?

# Answer
Have you tried downloading the factory image and flashing that over a adb with a USB cable? This will normally nuke everything that was on the phone, but if you change one line in the shell script or batch file which carries out the upgrade (removing the "-w" switch) you can upgrade non-destructively. That's what I have done twice now and it works fine.

Unless your parents are rooted, which sounds unlikely, there are no complications. If they are rooted you have to reroot after the upgrade. But that's not really complicated, and it does mean that you can have an adblock.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I had the same problem two months ago, today I received the update for 5.0.1. Seems that waiting is the only thing you can do if you do not want to get into complications by downloading the factory image and take care of do not wipe your data. The update will eventually arrive, although it can take a decent amount of time.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, updates, nexus-5, 5.0-lollipop, operating-system
---


# Question
Title: How to share contact via sms on Android 4.4.2?
I'm using Moto G with stock android running 4.4.2. I would like to share contact detail via SMS. I don't want to use 3rd party app for this basic functionality. Was this functionality available with previous versions?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Kitkat has only 3 defaults for this:

1. Bluetooth
2. Email
3. Gmail

Other options can be added with 3rd Party software, e.g. ES File Exploere adds "Share over LAN".

As per the Google products page this is a know issue.

> I too am annoyed that this issue is happening with the Nexus 5.I can only hope that they will have an update that will resolve this issue.I work in the transportation industry in which I often have to send forward a contact phone number to another driver and at this point is very cumbersome not to be able to quickly Share a recent calls number with another driver.I've been checking the Play Store to see if there is an App dialer that will resolve this issue for me.

From this Android Central thread it confirms that this feature is missing and the solution is to copy and paste, or install 3rd party app.

Without installing a 3rd party application, there is nothing you can do for now.

# Answer
> 1 votes
1. Go to the contact details
2. Touch the vertical dotted lines for drop-down menu
3. Select share
4. Select messaging from the pull down menu now the contact details will be in messaging application and ready to send as mms
5. remove the mms by clicking remove button and send

# Answer
> 0 votes
Using Hangouts I can send contact cards but I have to change MMS delivery using drop down menu on left.(Change from highlighted Blue to Grey MMS delivery. Basically changing from Google Voice to Carrier\*)

\*On Sprint so my Google Voice number and my Carrier number are the same. Doesn't make sense that I have to change delivery method.

Trying to suggest they smooth out this delivery process, as it should be more fluid to perform a simple task.

# Answer
> -1 votes
Try Contacts via Sms. It is a simple option to solve this problem in version 4.4.2

# Answer
> -1 votes
Hi go to the contact you wish to share and there you can see the option share aand click it and select via message .

# Answer
> -1 votes
From the Log of the calls..select Name -\> and select Send number

---
Tags: 4.4-kitkat, stock-android, motorola-moto-g
---


# Question
Title: Why are my Astrid and Tasks reminders late sometimes?
```
Samsung GT-I8160 Galaxy Ace II
Stock Android 4.1.2

```

I used Astrid for a couple of years, and now I use Tasks. But both of them has the similar issue: sometimes reminders are late. What may be the reason? How it can be fixed?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Reminders for tasks with due dates and due times should wake up the device and fire at the exact time. If this is not what you are experiencing you can add an item to the issue tracker with more details and I can look in to it.

If a task has only a due date without a due time then other factors come into play, but in most circumstances the reminder should fire at the default reminder time found in the reminder settings preferences.

---
Tags: to-do-list
---


# Question
Title: Asus Transformer Infinity Pad (TF700KL) how to cold boot (enter Recovery Mode)
I have a TF700KL bought from Vodafone. I am unable to go into Recovery mode. I've found some links telling me how to do this, such as the one on the XDA-Developers site:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30223822#post30223822

(look for the section titled "Factory Restore after a softbrick/Downgrade from Jelly Bean to ICS/Clean Factory Restore")

Here, as well as on many similar articles, it says to first "Enter recovery mode" by shutting down tablet, holding volume-down and power for 5 seconds, and when some message appears, press volume up.

Thing is, when I start my tablet up by holding volume-down and power I get the following:

* if the usb cable is not connected to the computer, I get a message like "No USB Cable connected" under a logo of a usb cable connector and a big question mark sign:

* if, at this point, I connect it to the computer via the USB cable, my Windows computer says it's installing some driver (which it succeeds in installing), and then the tablet goes on to display a "ready for download" message under a logo of an android guy wearing a yellow hard-hat (kindda looks like Kyle's brother from Southpark):

After this I can't do anything other than hold power button for a longtime to restart the tablet normally. I have no visible menu, option, etc. Also I've waiting here for like 10 minutes, nothing seems to actually get downloaded or get ready for anything.

In short, I never managed to get to the menus described in the tutorials I've found for this tablet. My hunch now is that I have the LTE version and most people have the non-LTE version and they behave differently on this.

So my question is:

* does anyone know how to go into recovery mode on this tablet,

or

* what's the deal with the menus I describe here (and show in the pictures)

or

* how to go to recovery mode, do a cold boot, do a manual Android upgrade/downgrade from these menus I get?

# Answer
Once you get to the USB logo, press the volume up and down together once and it should bring you into recovery.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: 4.1-jelly-bean, device-firmware, downgrade, asus-transformer-infinity
---


# Question
Title: ADB over TCPIP connects, but no command works after connection has been done
I'm developing an Android app.

The so-called app is being developed inside a Windows 7 Pro X64 VirtualBox machine which has a *bridged connection* with the host machine (a Windows 8.1 Pro X64).

In the other hand, I've installed Genymotion Android emulator.

When I run the following commands, everything works fine until I want to perform a `adb install`:

```
adb tcpip 5555
adb connect 192.168.1.5

```

If I perform a `adb install X.apk` (where *X* is the name of the whole package), the command never ends.

Also, I've completely disabled Windows Firewall in both host and guest machine.

Finally, if I perform a `adb devices` command, it says the device is connected:

```
List of devices attached
192.168.1.5:5555        device

```

I can't figure out what's going on...

# Answer
> 0 votes
After 3-4 days of trial-error I've found what's the source of the issue...

It has something to do with virtualized ethernet adapter hardware. When I switched to Virt IO and I installed the driver in my Windows 7 guest machine, ADB has started to work as expected!

Conclusion: if you want to debug Android apps from a Windows guest to an emulator or device, configure you VirtualBox machine to use VirtIO (paravirtualized) network and you'll be fine!

---
Tags: adb, android-emulator, virtualbox, genymotion
---


# Question
Title: Difference between installing SuperSU using Play Store versus a custom recovery that installs it from a file?
I see that some rooting guides say that rooting involves:

1. Download a SuperSU as a zip file that would be accessible to the phone (e.g. the sdcard).
2. Unlock the phone's bootloader.
3. Booting into a "custom" recovery mode. E.g. TWRP or CWM. Either temporarily booting using fastboot or flashing the custom recovery to the phone and then booting.
4. Use the custom recovery mode to install the downloaded SuperSU zip file.
5. Reboot the phone into normal mode and root access should be A) available and B) managed by the SuperSU program.

However, I also see that SuperSU is also on the Play Store. Installing from the Play Store does not promise any root access. (It actually assumes you already have it.)

So, my questions are:

* **What is different between these installation methods practically?**
* **What is are the technical differences in actions or restrictions?**
* **And how can/does the custom recovery installation method provide root access whereas the Play Store method can not?**

# Answer
Root access (typically) requires several components that work in concert with one another. A somewhat simplified view of what you need is:

* A native `su` binary. This can be invoked from the command line or from applications. It is what actually performs the act of switching users, and grants a process root permission.
* A "gatekeeper" application, that regulates which other apps and processes are allowed to invoke `su` to gain root privileges.

Think of the SuperSU **application** as being a sort of graphical front-end for the `su` binary.

Because of the way directory/file permissions are configured on Android, you need to have the `su` binary on your `/system` partition in order for it to work. Putting elsewhere will not suffice, because it will not have the permissions it needs to actually allow processes to switch users.

Normal applications (without root) cannot write to `/system`, so the SuperSU application itself cannot simply install `su` where it needs to be. This is the reason why you will **not** have root if you install SuperSU from the Play Store without taking any other steps. All you have is the front-end, but not the underlying pieces that are necessary. You only have half of what you need for root, and no way to get the other half from the SuperSU application alone.

Therefore, the most common way to get the `su` file in the proper place is to install it from recovery, since the recovery system has full access to the device storage and can install files anywhere it wants. Once that is done, SuperSU and `su` can talk to each other and provide root access to other processes.

The recovery installation file also installs SuperSU because it is convenient, and putting it in `/system` prevents it from being erased by a factory reset. However, if you wanted to, you could install only `su` from recovery and then get SuperSU from the Play Store. It would function just fine. Similarly, you can update SuperSU from the Play Store later on and it will continue to function (because `su` is already in place at that point).
> 23 votes

---
Tags: rooting, recovery-mode, installation, superuser
---


# Question
Title: Streaming movie from Galaxy S5 to TV, through laptop?
**Summary**: I want to stream Google Play movie from Android to HDMI/VGA/Composite TV, possibly through laptop.

I have no idea whether it's possible or not but I'd really love some insight from some more knowledgeable people on.

More in depth: I have a Galaxy S5, unrooted, that I absolutely love. First smart phone, I've been living off of a talk/text only phone previously. I also recently came home for the holidays to discover that my sister hasn't seen the Lord of the Rings! I figured I'd be smart, and use my Google Play account (with all three extended editions) to stream it through my laptop, and laptop to TV. Well, the internet here is very poor, I guess my parents get about .6 MBps? Anyways, video streaming kept buffering/loading, so I tried to move over to my phone, which has all three already downloaded into internal storage. Couldn't find a way to stream from phone to TV, the USB port wasn't gonna work. I don't have an adapter, but I do have my laptop. I tried pulling the downloaded .wvm file from the phone, but because yay DRM, that's a no go. I've done some searching, and while the AndroidScreencast project seems promising, it says it refreshes at about 5 FPS, so not very good for media streaming.

So I have a phone, a laptop, and a TV. I can connect the phone to the laptop by USB or Bluetooth. Laptop to TV via HDMI or VGA. Is there any way I can play the movie on my phone, have it feeding the video to the TV/laptop, and then to the TV?

# Answer
I'm not sure you can because there are many interfaces in the middle. I don't think there's an app for doing that. What I strongly suggest you is buying the Google's Chromecast. With that $35 stick you'd avoid the using of your laptop and you'd stream directly to your TV.

There are a lot of apps for Chromecast out there, it's a whole new world because Chromecast is a whole new concept.

Videostream is one of the apps you can use for streaming from your smartphone or laptop directly to your TV (well, directly to your Chromecast, but it's connected via HDMI so it's the same) and controlling the play, pause, seekbar and even the volume.
> 0 votes

# Answer
Get an USB hml cable to hook up your phone to the tv: http://www.amazon.it/gp/aw/d/0283382155/ref=mp\_s\_a\_1\_6?qid=1419720244&sr=8-6&pi=SL75
> 0 votes

# Answer
All you have to do is get your computer to play the content from your phone. Try Sidesync if you are a samsung user. VLC Direct Pro is a great way to stream content from your phone onto your computer. Now that your computer is playing content from your phone, connect your Laptop to an external display via an HDMI or (sigh) VGA cable.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: bluetooth, streaming, screen-sharing, video-streaming, google-play-movies
---


# Question
Title: Carbon backup discovery issues with Nexus 7
I have made a backup of my Nexus 7 before its bootloader was unlocked with Carbon and the companion Windows app; I then took the Carbon folder from internal storage to my computer disk.

An unlock, root, flash, etc., later, I placed the Carbon folder where it was:

```
 /storage/emulated/0/carbon

```

I installed an additional application and backed it up to confirm that Carbon stores new backups there:

Yet, no joy.

I've also copied the backup data to Google Drive. Carbon also fails to find the data there.

You might guess it'd be a permissions issue. As far as I can see, it's not.

This person (thread link) has had similar issues with a Nexus 7 but not a Nexus 4. They've emailed the developers one month ago and didn't report back. I emailed them too ~~, but I'm not holding my breath honestly.~~ and actually got a reply. I'm not posting the full text of the email, since that'd be a breach of privacy, but here's the meat of it.

> You manually moved the backup, which is an unsupported scenario in Carbon. This is why you cannot see the backups. There is no fix, or workaround for this.

What can I do about this?

# Answer
> 3 votes
As it turned out, all the other apps had their corresponding `.json` file missing. Not a big deal: As badp's answer shows, one can simply use `adb restore` to restore the backups. But as not everybody might have the SDK (or even a minimal ADB) installed (or even a computer available -- one might be on a journey), my answer will take a different approach.

### What we need

First, you will need to make a backup of *some* app, to get a working `.json` file. As the question states, there was such one from the *Adobe Reader*. To visualize it for you, this is what the corresponding file (`com.adobe.reader.json`) looks like:

```
{
  "enabled":true,"system":false,"flags":10010180,"packageName":"com.adobe.reader",
  "versionCode":73784,"label":"Adobe Reader","versionName":"10.5.2","locked":false,
  "date":1367072517125,"apk":false,"backup":true
}

```

You will also need:

* a file manager
* an editor

Of course, you could also perform the steps below from your *Linux* computer; using a different OS, take care for the file's encoding and line breaks.

### What we do

I pick an example app here: *Kindle for Android*. In the question's screenshots, it's listed close to the *Adobe Reader* as `com.amazon.kindle`. For your apps, just pick the corresponding values based on this example:

1. copy `com.adobe.reader/com.adobe.reader.json` to `com.amazon.kindle/com.amazon.kindle.json`
2. open `com.amazon.kindle/com.amazon.kindle.json` with an editor
    * replace `com.adobe.reader` by `com.amazon.kindle` for `packageName`
    * replace `Adobe Reader` by `Kindle for Android` for `label` (actually, you can put anything here -- but might prefer to know what you've got :)
    * optionally, replace the `versionName` accordingly (it will work without)
    * save the file

I'm not sure what `versionCode` or `flags` stand for, so we better don't touch those. We also can safely ignore the rest:

* "enabled"="true" should mean "this app is enabled (i.e. not frozen)"
* "system"="false": It's no system app (matches: Kindle is no system app)
* "locked"="false": This app is not "protected"
* "date" obviously holds a Unix timestamp (most likely that of the backup)
* "apk"="false": Ah, data only (Cabon's default is to not include the `.apk` with the backup, to speed things up)
* "backup"="true": Is this a joke? What else could it be?

Now, first let's see whether *Carbon* accepts our trick. If it correctly lists up *Kindle for Android* as being available for a restore, you might want to repeat above steps for your other backups as well.

# Answer
> 2 votes
It's a kludge, but Carbon uses the standard `adb debug`backend for its operation. This means that the `.ab` format is not proprietary and each of the individual backups can be restored from the adb command line:

```
adb restore C:\whatever\Carbon\things.the.all\things.the.all.ab

```

...or through a graphic tool such as Droid Explorer.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I had the same problem and managed to get it working.

After reinstalling the applications I backed up (Angry Birds in my case), I deleted the carbon folder from the phone (keeping a copy on the PC). I then backed up Angry Birds so that the carbon folder on the phone is recreated etc. I then replaced the new AB file with the one I originally backed up. When I restored, I could see the application and was able to restore.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I'm currently having the same problem, but I found the fix.. I have Nexus 7 2013, before updating to Android 5.0 I copied carbon folder to my PC, after updating to 5.0 I moved carbon folder back to main nexus folder and it didn't show anything, but after long research I found the fix:

1. Open Windows PowerShell
2. Paste into it this code:

> ```
> $subfolders = Get-ChildItem -Path 'Link to your PC carbon folder\*'
> foreach ($f in $subfolders){
>     if($f.Attributes.ToString() -eq "Directory") {
>         $filecont="{`"enabled`":true,`"packageName`":`""+$f.name+"`",`"label`":`"" + $f.Name + "`",`"locked`":false,`"date`":1375398819080,`"apk`":true,`"backup`":true}"
>         $fname= $f.FullName + "\" + $f.Name + ".json"
>         [System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($fname, $filecont)
>     }
> }
>
> ```

This code will add .json files inside every app's folder and it's working, now all my applications are showing in carbon's restore tab.

Click image for larger version

# Answer
> 1 votes
Izzy's answer is a good start: check that you have a .json file for the app.

If you don't have this file, before you go copying and editing another app's .json file, just back up your app's .ab file somewhere, then backup the app again using Carbon.

It should save a .json file this time. You can then replace the new backup's .ab file with the one you need to restore, and the app will be detected by Carbon.

(If it still does not save a .json file, use Izzy's method.)

---
Tags: backup, nexus-7
---


# Question
Title: Android won't boot after unsuccesful wipe operation
I rooted my Asus Transformer Prime and tried to install a custom ROM but I managed to fail. I selected the option to wipe data from the table in the bootloader menu (accessed it via holding power button and volume down) and then I cancelled it by turning the device off because I wasn't supposed to select that. It seems this wasn't wise...

I tried to boot the device but now it's stuck saying "Asus" in the middle of the screen. If I try to power it off, it turns off but immediately it turns back on.

I can't access the bootloader menu. Fastboot nor ADB sees the device via USB.

How can I restore it?

# Answer
> 2 votes
I was having the same issue as this. I was in a "recovery boot loop" and could not get to the recovery options. I did have ADB access to the device **after** I installed the "Naked Drivers". Once I did this I was able to see the device using the command "adb devices". **The MAGIC command once I had adb access was "adb reboot bootloader"** BAM! It rebooted mid bootloop and I was able to select the fastboot option. I followed all of matt95's instructions above including following the link he provided to XDA. The link at XDA explained how to get the "blob" file. It's easy, you download the current rom from ASUS and extract the blob file from it. I literally copied and pasted each command with the exception of the path to my blob file and my TF201 has been resurrected!

Good Luck!

# Answer
> 0 votes
It seems that you have installed the wrong recovery and your devices is semi-bricked (it's not over for him yet). You should:

1-Download the correct firmware blob from the official ASUS site 2-Boot your tablet into recovery and then type on a computer with the device connected

```
adb reboot bootloader

```

3-Your tablet should now receive fastboot commands even if it seems not on the tablet screen (on the tablet the screen seems stuck)

4-Type all these commands one by one:

```
fastboot erase system
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase boot
fastboot erase misc
fastboot erase cache
fastboot -i 0x0B05 flash system path/to/firmware.blob
fastboot -i 0x0B05 reboot

```

If these commands do fail try this 4th step again

Also, refer to this great thread on XDA

# Answer
> 0 votes
Try these instructions:

1. Copy a recovery which supports the Android version of the ROM and put it into SD card .
2. Boot into recovery .
3. Install the `recovery.zip`
4. Reboot recovery ( If CWM , this option is present under "Advanced") .
5. Wipe data/factory reset
6. Wipe cache.
7. Install ROM zip file
8. Reboot system.

# Answer
> -1 votes
You will need to download a proper firmware(ROM) for your device, possibly an identical one as of your current damaged one, then wipe data/system/cache (BUT NOT THE SD!) install the rom from recovery and done. For details contact me directly, I can help you with advices.

---
Tags: rooting, boot-loop, asus-eee-pad-transformer
---


# Question
Title: Send SMS to a list of recipients from a text file
I am old user of Nokia E72 and it has got an interesting function that I always used.

But now I moved to Android on an Xperia SL. On my Nokia, the field of recipients allowed me to copy and past the list of contacts separated by linebreak, from a text file.

This worked with even more than 500 contacts at once.

Unfortunately, I cannot do this on my new Xperia.

My Question is: Which SMS App can allow me to send SMS to a list of recipients from a text file?

# Answer
> 0 votes
Android has a 10-recipient limit for SMS messages to prevent abuse. With root access, you can bypass this limitation. See: Is there any way to remove the 10 recipents limit from the SMS app?

---
Tags: sms
---


# Question
Title: Add applications to the original Android ROM
How can I add applications to the original Android ROM installed by manufacturer, and not lose them after a factory reset?

# Answer
NarenderNishad (via comments) is correct. If you have root access, you can convert the apps to system apps (using an app like Titanium Backup). They will be moved to the `/system` folder. When you do a factory reset, the apps will not be deleted.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: applications, stock-android, android-emulator, android-sdk
---


# Question
Title: Samsung Grand duos not visible in Mac Finder but visible in DDMS
I have eclipse installed and can see my device DDMS tab. Debugging also works normal. But oddly, I dont see my device (both internal memory and sd card) in Finder. I am unable to transfer to-and-fro my Mac. My Android OS version is - 4.1.2 (Jellybeans)

Solutions already tried:

1) Rebooting both device and system multiple times.

2) Select/unselecting "USB Debugging" in developer options.

3) Connecting device as "Media Device(MTP)" and "Camera (PTP)"

4) Installing Kies and trying to access device from there. I get a perpetual "Connecting..." message.

5) Plugging/Unplugging device from Mac. I get the message "Try reconnecting or restarting your device."

The device is definitely getting detected by the system as its shown in DDMS. But what could be the possible cause of not letting me access the storage?

P.S.: Device works fine in Windows, both storage duly pops up in the "Computer" section.

# Answer
> -1 votes
Disabling 'debugging mode' did the trick for me.

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


title: Stereo mix functionality in Android?

text:
# Question
Title: Stereo mix functionality in Android?
Is there any way/app for Android that mimics the functionality of stereo mix in Windows?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Android does not have such a functionality.
Audio streams/pipes are very closed source and only the system itself has access to their data. There are some apps that can stream your audio output to your PC, but they require additional software.

> The problem is: You can only *write* to the audio *output* (add your sound to the mix) and only *read* the microphone *input* (listen to what comes in).

You may go the easy way and connect a male-male audio cable to your phone's audio jack and your PC's microphone jack. That way you get your audio as easily as possible to your PC (assuming you use Skype on your PC).

There are *some* apps that require a *rooted* phone to access the system audio pipes and then will stream the audio output to *AirFoil Speakers* or similar (requires additional software), but because of the way they do that (rerouting all audio) you won't be able to hear what is coming out of your phone.

Also, they are quite delayed (up to 5 seconds even in good networks) and require you to buy the full version just a few minutes after using them.

### My suggestion:

If your device is *not rooted*: Try the audio cable method.
If you have a *rooted* device: You can try finding an app that allows you to stream the audio output to your PC.

The problem is: Audio streams are deeply embedded into the system. Normal apps can't read the audio stream of the system, except for their own data *before* it is played.

Worth noting: some headphones with TRRS jacks result in stereo mix recording if playing music through the headphones and recording. Even if the extra wire is not for a mic but a switch.

---
Tags: audio
---


# Question
Title: Where does Android Lollipop keep the mmssms.db file?
I need to delete the file so I can clear my messages, because a factory reset is not an option, and various softwares have not been able to clear the messages.

I am already in root terminal mode, I just need the updated file location, because /data/data/com.whatever from the previous version does not exist.

My ability to receive text messages is impaired until I can reset this file. Thank you for any help.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Nevermind, the solution was to enable root mode and then try the third-party applications again. would have been nice to be able to move the file to prune it down, but really, at this point i just need to get on with it. lesson learned: android lollipop can't handle the 30k messages my iphone 4 can. -.-

---
Tags: 5.0-lollipop
---


# Question
Title: Problem with Android Emulator on Android Studio. HAXM Kernel Module not Installed
I recently switched over from Eclipse ADT to Android Studio and as soon as I tried to fire up the emulator, I saw the following message:

> emulator: ERROR: x86 emulation currently requires hardware acceleration!
> Please ensure Intel HAXM is properly installed and usable.
> CPU acceleration status: HAX kernel module is not installed!

On Googling around, I found that disabling **Hyper-V** would solve this problem. It did. And the emulator worked like a charm. But then, my internet stopped working. In any form. WiFi, Ethernet, every kind of service went bust. Re enabling Hyper-V restored my internet connection, but the error came back. So, I can either use the internet or my emulator.
I really can't keep doing that. Is there an alternate to this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
You need to install Intel's HAXM module. HAXM accelerates your emulator so you don't test apps like a slideshow.

> My advice: Install Intel HAXM. Leave Virtualization Acceleration functions (Hyper-V, Vt-X etc.) activated and the emulator will work. There seems to be something wrong with your network adapter/configuration, too. Virtualization should be independant from your network.

Also please read the error message first and do a Google search to make sure such questions aren't already answered.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I solved this by creating a new Virtual Device in AVD Manager with API level above 14. Try using API level 15 or higher.

---
Tags: windows, android-emulator, android-sdk, intel-haxm
---


# Question
Title: How to root / update the fake Lenovo P780W
I tried searching for a guide to root the 'lenovo' P780 w model - but this model doesn't seem to appear in the various lists of devices which can be rooted (such as Kingo Ready2Root or the list in this post).

The closest information I could find regarding the P780w was at xda-developer forums where one of the links there had a download with a rom and flash tool, but on the other hand indicated that there was no development for this type of phone, and that the rom was only for already broken phones.

I'm guessing that this is because the phone is a fake.

So my question is basically:

1) How can I safely root this fake phone and

2) \[If it is actually possible to root this phone\]: Is there a custom ROM for this phone so that I can update the operating system and Android version from 4.2.2 jellybean to 4.4 or higher?

I'm especially interested in advice from users which also acquired this phone and successfully rooted / updated it with a custom ROM.

PS: I'm sure it's the fake phone that I have. I purchased it via ali express China.

Also, if there are any necessary details about the phone which I haven't mentioned - please let me know and I will post them.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Most Chinese fake phones can easily be rooted as they do not carry any bloatware, skins, extra bundles etc. These phones contain a near stock version of android and thus, don't cause any problems (usually) while rooting. You should be able to use cyanogenmod, it usually works very well on Chinese phones.

Best of luck. Rahul.

PS: To be on the safe side, remember to take a backup.

---
Tags: rooting, custom-roms
---


# Question
Title: Where to do I find my saved book files on my root device?
I have a book app that downloads book files from the Internet. It stops working and the developer wants me to root my phone and find those downloaded files for him so that he can debug.

I've rooted my device and have ssh onto my rooted device. I made myself a root by "su" so there is nothing that I can't access. The problem is that I have no idea where those book files are saved physically. It must be somewhere because I can view those books on my phone.

It would be good if I can use the "find ..." unix command, but my Android device doesn't have the "find" installed.

Thanks.

# Answer
> 1 votes
First go to settings-\>Apps-\>Your app-\>move to SD Card. Then follow these steps:

1. First download ES File explorer
2. Search for the app's folder on the SD card.
3. If you cannot, go to the Android folder-\>DATA-\>Your app. OR
4. go to Android-\>OBB-\>your app.

If you cannot find the folder, the developer ought to help you, especially since you are helping him.

---
Tags: applications, rooting, adb, settings, usb
---


# Question
Title: What is SIM Toolkit and how do I remove it?
I've had this app (SIM Toolkit) since forever and can't seem to find a way to remove it.

<sub>(Click image to enlarge)</sub>

# Answer
SIM Toolkit brings up a list of things like horoscopes, music videos, chat etc. It depends on your service provider and you're not really missing much by not being able to use it! You can't delete the app if your phone isn't rooted.

You can remove it if you're *S-OFF*/using a *custom ROM*. Just remove stk.apk from `/system/app` directory

But in my opinion leave it, don't bother removing it because it's really small app.
> 8 votes

# Answer
You should let it be.

If you use a launcher such as APEX, you can hide the icon from the app drawer.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: stock-android
---


title: Automate input into app

text:
# Question
Title: Automate input into app
Is there a way to create a script or "app" to automatically input data into an already installed app. I.e Fill and submit a todo task in a todo app. Or fill a register form ?

# Answer
> 3 votes
In every device, there is a binary called `input`.
You can invoke it with from your application or even from adb:

```
$ adb shell input
Usage: input [<source>] <command> [<arg>...]
The sources are:
      mouse
      keyboard
      joystick
      touchnavigation
      touchpad
      trackball
      stylus
      dpad
      touchscreen
      gamepad

The commands and default sources are:
      text <string> (Default: touchscreen)
      keyevent [--longpress] <key code number or name> ... (Default: keyboard)
      tap <x> <y> (Default: touchscreen)
      swipe <x1> <y1> <x2> <y2> [duration(ms)] (Default: touchscreen)
      press (Default: trackball)
      roll <dx> <dy> (Default: trackball)

```

You can then navigate int the app using KeyEvent, click buttons, submit text to the focused element, etc.

---
Tags: automation
---


# Question
Title: stuck installing cyanogenmod on htc one X+
After using the standard android on my one X+ for a long time, I decided to get started with cyanogenmod today.

I started by using this manual: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install\_CM\_for\_endeavoru I already rooted it a long time ago, so I skipped everything up onto installing recovery.

First I tried installing the enrc2b, but this gave me the error that my phone was a endeavoru (A bit strange, because everywhere they say that's a HTC one X, while mine is definitely a HTC one X+). After that, I continued with the version for the endeavoru and successfully installed cm-10.2.1-endeavoru.zip on it.

After rebooting it, I got stuck on a endless boot screen of cyanogenmod. I noticed this line in the description:

> his device, if unlocked with HTCDev Unlock, must have its kernel flashed via fastboot. Extract boot.img from the CyanogenMod .zip package and flash it from the bootloader with: fastboot flash boot boot.img

I have no idea if I rooted it with HTCDev Unlock, I did it a long time ago, but I thought I would give it a try. After executing fastboot flash boot boot.img I rebooted, and now I am stuck at a endless HTC splash screen.

I can still get to the fastboot and recovery menu, but have no clue where I wned wrong and how to continue. I already tried a factory reset, but to no avail. I also tried getting the backup that I made back from recovery, but it says it can't find any backups.

any ideas how to continue...?

---

I got a little fit further. When I look at the boot screen, it should clearly be a enrc2b

I downloaded cm-10.2.1-enrc2b.zip , extracted boot.img and flashed that onto it. This at least brought me back to getting stuck at the cyanogenmod screen instead of the HTC screen.

After that I tried to install cm-10.2.1-enrc2b.zip onto it, but that's giving me this error:

# Answer
In the CyanogenMod zip's updater script, remove the entire `assert()` line. That will remove the device identity verification and will let the recovery commence flashing immediately.
> 1 votes

# Answer
reflash the rom, dont reboot into system, reboot to fastboot or bootloader (if so go to fastboot) then do fastboot flash boot boot.img) (you need to extract this from the rom zip you installed)
> -1 votes

---
Tags: cyanogenmod, clockworkmod-recovery, boot-loop, htc-one-x+
---


# Question
Title: Deleting images on SD card is sometimes painfully slow, how can I speed it up?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with about 3G available storage on the device, and 40G available on a SD card. The Camera settings are to store photos on the SD card. When using the stock Gallery app to browse photos, deleting them is often painfully slow. When it's working properly it takes less than a second, but when it's not could take maybe 20 seconds or more.

What could this be caused by? What could I do to diagnose and fix the problem?

# Answer
> -1 votes
I remember this issue.
It's not a problem with your SD card or your phone in general, but with Samsung's TouchWiz.

The system is completely overloaded (800+ mb RAM out of ~900mb used right after boot), so many apps are slowed down when requesting RAM.
Asking the system to delete a file (because of taking care of permissions, handles etc.) requires the system to wake up a process (or launch it if necessary) which then asks for it's own RAM and thus needs to wait until the system cleaned enough memory for it.
Because of the tight RAM condition, it takes time to close processes that are not needed anymore.

---
Tags: external-sd, delete, media-files
---


title: Missing backtick from soft keypad

text:
# Question
Title: Missing backtick from soft keypad
I have a HTC One S with Android version 4.0.3. On the short keypad I can't find a way to do a backtick. Am I just missing it, or is there a way to enable additional characters? (Or maybe a better soft keypad to download?)

# Answer
On my Galaxy Nexus with the default Android keyboard I see the backtick (aka grave) on the secondary symbol screen. `?123` then `=\<` and ``` is the second key in the top row.

I normally use SwiftKey 3, however, and I find it as one of the options on a long-press of `'` on the secondary keyboard (accessed by pressing the `123` key).
> 5 votes

# Answer
For ***HTC*** keyboards long-pressing the `C` key brings up a list of characters to choose from including the backtick character.
> 4 votes

# Answer
On the standard Jelly Bean keyboard, which is the next sub-version after ICS (I class a sub-version as a version in which only the number after the decimal point is incremented), you access the backtick (\`) by pressing the `?123` button, the `=\<` button and then the ``` button is the second on the top row, from the left.

However, you may need to enable an extended or QWERTY keyboard - this can usually be done from the keyboard settings, which can be accessed at:

System Settings --\> Language and Input --\> Press the little setting icon next to your input method/keyboard.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: keyboard, special-chars
---


# Question
Title: Downloading all my Dropbox files to my Android
On my Samsung tablet with Android, I installed a Dropbox app. It shows me all my files, but when I try to open a file for the first time, it has to connect to the Internet to download it.

Since usually I don't have an internet connection, I would like to download all files at once, so that they will be available locally. How can I do this?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Search for file synchronization apps like FolderSync Lite (Google play)

---
Tags: dropbox
---


# Question
Title: How can I automate some processes on my phone
I'm trying to figure out how to automate some processes on my phone:

1. when it rings I want to say "answer" or "pick up" and then be able to go converse with the caller through speakerphone.
2. would be the inverse: I want to say "call John Doe" then I want the call to be placed in speakerphone

For when I am driving:

1. when a text is received I want to say "read text" and my phone to read me the text message.
2. I want to say: "type text message to jon doe" then I want to dictate a message and my phone to type it and when I say send – it sends on a note

Any ideas?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Try using Utter + Google Now. It can add tons more voice commands to Google Now, which can be activated while your phone is off just by saying "Okay Google".

http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2014/05/17/mastering-voice-control-android-going-beyond-google-now/

You can also try a different app called Commandr for Google Now.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Android has a lot of automation apps that support speech recognition. But to listen for voice commands from the lock screen, will require the Google Now app, since it's the only app that be configured always listen. Some app examples:

* Automate \- free, full/advanced automation
* Tasker \+ AutoVoice - paid, full/advanced automation
* utter! - free, voice/simple automation
* Commander for Google Now - free, voice/simple automation

---
Tags: stock-android, automation
---


# Question
Title: How can I run a sequence of applications or actions on certain triggers on Android?
Is there is free application or some trick to run sequence of applications on android? For example I want to start the following sequence: **Wi-Fi --\> Tor --\> Browser**

# Answer
> 2 votes
You should try Tasker for simple interface and quick setup.

If you are willing to do something by code and very specific, a good alternative is onX by Microsoft, you can write your code to do exactly the things you wanna do. Also there are some ready recipes that you can quickly setup.

# Answer
> 0 votes
For newer phones, you can use Automagic, which has almost all of the functionality of Tasker (at the time of this writing, and expanding) and has a *much* better interface for editing your sequences. It also makes use of the newer Holo themes on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and later.

# Answer
> 0 votes
The simpler automation apps can probably only start a single app, or maybe more, but not in sequence. The more advanced apps that can perform this is either the trusted old Tasker (paid), or the newer Automate (free).

---
Tags: automation
---


# Question
Title: Is it safe to install Android L on my Nexus 4 (January 2015)
I have a Nexus 4 that was killed (battery) when Google released android 4.4. It was the bug regarding battery being drained by the WiFi.

It was such a pain to make Google sending me a refurbished one that now I don't upgrade my phone as soon as a new android release is delivered. I want to be sure it won't destroy my phone again. According to this, there were bug with the Nexus 5 in the beginning of android L...

So finally my question: Is it safe to install android L on my Nexus 4 at the moment (January 2015)?

Thank you for your help!

# Answer
> 3 votes
Wait.

I've had positive and reliable experiences running Android 5.0.1 on Nexus 10, Nexus 7, and Nexus 5.

However, my Nexus 4 experiences reboots with Android L and a friend's Nexus 4 outright powers down regularly.

That said, a bugfix Android 5.0.2 is rolling out to Nexus devices right now. So wait.

---
Tags: updates, nexus-4, 5.0-lollipop, bugs
---


title: Why did maps not auto update?

text:
# Question
Title: Why did maps not auto update?
Yesterday I was using the Google Maps app and every time I tried to change the mode of transportation away from driving it would crash giving the message "unfortunately google maps has stopped working". I tried rebooting and clearing the app cache to no avail. I then noticed in the Play store an update was available for it which I clicked on and installed. The auto update setting was checked so why didn't this happen automatically? Not even a notification was given saying there was an update available (unless I missed it). I could see this being a huge problem if apps randomly stop working and you don't know why and have to go through the Play store manually to apply updates.

# Answer
> 1 votes
It could be that the new update needed an extra permission. If that is the case, your app won't update automatically. It needs yo to accept the new permissions first.

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Tags: updates, google-maps
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# Question
Title: Send Android Notifications(like SMS, Gmail, WhatsApp) to PC
Most of the time, when I keep my device for charging, away from my PC where I work, I get lot of notifications from things like Gmail, WhatsApp, SMS and Hangout, and other communication apps.

I know that I received these notifications because I do get sound alert whenever I receive them.

But I need to walk to my phone to see what those messages are and then take appropriate action if needed.

Is there a way to send or divert these device's notifications to my PC? And respond to them from PC itself?

```
My Android device: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2(Android 4.1)

My PC: Lenovo B40-30, Windows-8.1

```

# Answer
> 2 votes
Serach for apps who solve this problem like these:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sand.airdroid

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rsupport.mvagent

# Answer
> 3 votes
This should work for you:

**PUSHBULLET**: Pushbullet makes your devices work better together by allowing you to move things between them easily. Never miss a call or text again while working at your computer. See all of your phone's notifications on your computer. You can see text messages, phone calls, and more.

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pushbullet.android

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Tags: applications, sms, notifications
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title: How to deal with link2sd?

text:
# Question
Title: How to deal with link2sd?
I installed link to sd and moved apps without creating the 2nd partition , do I must unistall my apps (I can't move them to internal storage),If I can do a recovery please tell me how!

# Answer
> -1 votes
Download DU Speed Booster. It has some handy features such as move to SD and Safe Uninstall and will help you out.

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Tags: recovery-mode, insufficient-memory, link2sd
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title: How To Bypass Android Lock-Screen?

text:
# Question
Title: How To Bypass Android Lock-Screen?
I can't remember the pattern to my phone anymore. How can I bypass it? I've looked at my options but they've been whittled down. Android debugging isn't enabled, so I can't use the Android SDK to access the console, as one article suggested. And I'm unable to use the "Bypass Screen Lock" app on Google Play to get in, as I can't remember my google account info- which means, of course, that I can't just use the "forgot your password?" option, either.

The phone in question is a StraightTalk Galaxy S2 running Anroid 2.3.6

Can anyone help me?

# Answer
If you logged in with your google account, you should be able to see a forgot password option after you enter the wrong password 5 times. your google password will let you reset it.
> -1 votes

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Tags: lock-screens
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# Question
Title: Can I create a wifi network on my WiFi-only Nexus 7?
I have a Nexus 7 on which I'd like to create a wifi network, so that I can have my laptop connect to it. The goal is to transfer files back and forth (I have a server running on the Nexus 7).

I'm not talking about tethering — the Nexus 7 is wifi-only. I'm aware that what I'm asking for will mean that neither device will have an Internet connection.

The device is not rooted, and I'm not willing to root it. I'm looking for something that be installed from the Play Store without rooting. Thanks.

I know that I can do things the other way around (create a wifi network on my laptop and have my Nexus connect to it) but let's exclude that for the purpose of this question.

# Answer
> 0 votes
I realised that the built-in tethering works even on WiFi-only devices. The catch is that if you have multiple users set up on the tablet, you can enable tethering only when logged in as the first user. This is what I'd missed I posted my question.

# Answer
> 1 votes
For transferring files between tablet and computer via Wifi there are a few methods.

1. For file transfer between Android devices I personally use Superbeam. They also have a Windows app. On one device you select the files you want to send and it gives you a barcode and a Wifi name. On the other device, you scan the code or connect to the Wifi name and the file transfer will start.
2. FTP. There are different apps that turn your Android device into a FTP server. For this, I personally use Solid Explorer (has a free 14 day trial). It is a file explorer with FTP possibilities, but there are more than enough standalone FTP Server apps in the Store. With Solid Explorer, I go to `Menu` \> `File Sharing` \> `Start`. If you're connected to a Wifi network, it uses the IP address of your device (something like 192.168.x.x). If you're not connected, it will ask if it should set up a hotspot. Connect to the hotspot and enter the URL given for access. In windows you can make a shortcut in Explorer, so after you make it the first time you can just click on your shortcut.

Click image for larger version

# Answer
> 0 votes
**Setting up a WiFi network:**

You can simply start a `WiFi hotspot` on your android device, and connect Laptop to this WiFi network.

Or you can also connect to a WiFi network created by host laptop, because your aim is to transfer files.

**EDIT:**

As OP told that there is no UI available on his device (WiFi only device), obiviously, the only possibility to do this on un-rooted phone is to create WiFi network on the other device and connect to that device, or to root the phone and add this functionality by yourself.

You may be interested in following links:

1. SMS and WiFi Tethering on Nexus 7
2. Nexus 7 Hotspot and Tether
3. Can I tether from a Wifi only device?
4. Asus Nexus 7 Tethering and Wifi HotSpot not available
5. Activating wifi hotspot tethering on a Verizon Droid with Froyo 2.2
6. Portable Wi-Fi hotspot Free
7. Wifi Tether - Rooted
8. WiFi Tether For Root Users

**Transferring files in a WiFi network:**

AFAIK, Once you are in a WiFi network, you can use ES File manager for this. Because there is a window with name "LAN". This may give you a clue. (I didn't transferred files though)

# Answer
> 0 votes
I use FoxFi to start hot spots without having to root my phone. The app is free, as well.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Try SuperBeam. It seems to satisfy all your requirements

* It is available in the play store
* It uses WiFi direct, so no routers or internet connection needed
* It does not require root
* It have a Windows/Linux/Mac client so you can transfer files from and to your PC

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Tags: wi-fi, nexus-7, wifi-hotspot
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# Question
Title: how can i unlock my locked screen of lg p 500
my screen locked after too many attempts but my volume key is also not working for hard reset. can any body have idea? due non working condition of my volume keys i am unable to hard reset.

# Answer
> 1 votes
The hard reset would be a sensible thing to do in this situation but if the volume keys are broken then it won't work (as you mentioned already). However, sometimes you just need to push them a little harder.

Try turning your phone 180degrees and pressing them. If all fails, you are left with no option but to take it into a store where the keys can be fixed (to be honest why wouldn't you, having a phone without volume buttons is like having a radio without volume knob). It won't cost a great deal of money to get it fixed and will ensure quality for years to come, otherwise just get a new phone.

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Tags: sim-unlocking, volume
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