text:
How do I disable the "Select input method" Notification?
I don't know if this is standard ICS behavior or if it's due to my Cyanogenmod based ROM, but every time I open the soft keyboard by clicking on a text box/area a notification appears in the notification drawer that says "Select input method."  I don't mind seeing this notification one time, but I'm already using the input method I want and I'd like to disable the notification.
Is this standard behavior for Ice Cream Sandwich? Can it be disabled?

Do you have an external keyboard paired/plugged in or anything of that sort? That's the only time I've seen it appear, personally.

No I don't.  I'm using just my phone and nothing else, and there's no hardware keyboard on my particular phone (Droid Bionic)

Why do you want to disable the notification?

Setting -> Notifications ->Android System -> Virtual keyboard; Works at least on Galaxy S10, Android 11.

This is a standard 'feature' of ICS. Aside from the notification, changing input methods can be accomplished through the "language and input" section of the phone menu. If you disable and uninstall all keyboards except for one, so there is nothing else to switch to, the notification may disappear.

Unfortunately, this is true. The only way to disable it is to run a custom ICS ROM that the ability to disable it (a few do).

Ha that's kinda lame.  I guess I have my answer then.

I'm not sure about stock ICS, but in CyanogenMod 9 there is a toggle that allows you to hide this notification.  I will post this as a separate answer.

If you only have one method to select from, I believe it goes away. Go to Settings -> Language & Input and uncheck all but one input method.

I am using alternative keyboard and can't disable the default. Which means I have two I input methods. Thus I can't get rid of notification. Sucks...

@SergiyByelozyorov If you're rooted you can just uninstall/disable the stock keyboard. You can disable even if you're not rooted.

@LiamW: Can't disable it on my Samsung S III. The checkbox in the "Language and input" (in Settings) is checked and grayed out. My phone is not rooted.

@SergiyByelozyorov The stock Android keyboard cannot be unselected, sorry.

@SergiyByelozyorov You can not uncheck it, but you can disable by Settings ->Apps ->All ->Google Keyboard ->Disable ->OK

Unfortunately @András you cannot do this for the Samsung Keyboard, if you prefer to keep the Google Keyboard.  There is only a  Force Stop option.

If only GBoard supported Korean, I wouldn't have to have a second keyboard installed. But I do and there's nothing I can do?

I'm not sure about stock ICS, but in CyanogenMod 9 & 10.2 you can disable this notification by going to "Settings -> Language & input" and de-selecting the "Selector notification" option just below the list of keyboards.

I'm using CM 11 and no longer have this option :(

@Ben CM 11 is still a work in progress.  Most of the CM 10.2 features are currently being forward-ported, and should eventually re-appear.  Give it some time.

I confirm that CM11 does have this option now, and also most ROMs that are based on it.

This option is also present in Paranoid Android (4.6 BETA 1)

Go into language settings and disable(uncheck) all of the other keyboards but the one you wish to use. go to applications settings, find the "all" tab, find the other stock keyboards and disable them. restart. worked for me.

This should definitely be marked as correct answer, IMO. On my stock ICS GNexus, I did this (while leaving my Google voice keyboard option enabled), and once I restarted, the icon no longer appears. Finally!

Just a note, this doesn't seem to work with JB 4.2. :/

This seems to work perfectly fine on my Google Nexus 4 running Android 4.4.4.

Yes it is standard behavior in ICS. This appears if you have more than one keyboard selected in the ICS keyboard & language settings page, which is always the case if you use a third party keyboard. Some custom roms (particularly CM9 and AOKP) allow you to disable it in their extra settings.

On Xperia devices you can disable this by disabling the "Smart Keyboard" option in
Settings->Xperia->Smart Keyboard.

Cannot find this on my Z5 Compact.

Use Titanium Backup to backup, then uninstall "Android keyboard"

You DON'T need to be rooted to do this. The "Disable" function is part of Android, it does not delete the app. Disable can also be used
  to turn off bloatware apps if your squeamish about rooting to get rid
  of them. It does however stop the app from working at all, so be sure
  that its not used or connected to any of the apps you use. Unlike
  using root and Titanium Backup to delete or "freeze" an app, Disabling
  will not keep you from being able to take any updates. When the update
  checks the app will still be there, just turned off
System Settings-->Language & Input Go down to the Keyboard & Input Methods section and uncheck everything but the keyboard that you plan
  to use, including "Google voice typing" and "moto Chinese input" (for
  me that means leaving Swiftkey checked). having only one checked
  should stop the notification. However on the Bionic there are two
  input methods that the checkmark is blocked out on so you can't
  uncheck them: the stock keyboard and Swype. These two are what would
  keep the stupid notification coming back. So you need to go turn the
  things off manually in apps.
System Settings-->Apps-->All-->Android Keyboard (AOSP)-->Disable-->OK System
  Settings-->Apps-->All-->Swype-->Disable-->OK As far I know disabling
  these shouldn't mess with any other apps on your phone if you have
  another keyboard installed from the market, so don't worry about the
  notification that pops up when you hit "Disable".If you are worried
  about it...then you'll have to live with the notification. If
  something down the road does cause you a problem and you think this is
  it then just go back to apps-->all, scroll all the way down, and hit
  "Enable", then reboot and you should be good to go. If you use one of
  these two instead of a third party keyboard I'm sure you could just
  disable the other one and get the notification to go away.
Power off and reboot your device.
Open up texting and test that when you select the input field A) you don't get a notification and B) That a keyboard shows up at all
  :icon_eek: If you don't get a keyboard at all don't panic, there's
  just one more step to do.If you still get a notification go back to
  step one and make sure that any other keyboards are unchecked.
System Settings-->Language & Input-->Default-->Select your keyboard (for me this is Swiftkey) Your keyboard of choice should be the only
  option in this list, select it and then go test to make sure
  everything works right.

Source

Go to Settings > Language and Input and uncheck Google Voice Typing.

If all else fails just disable the stock Google search (which automatically reactivates Google voice typing & therefore 'select input method') and use Google search from a downloaded app.  Yahoo or Bing can also be replacement search engines.


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Insufficient space on Android 6 with SD-Card mouted as internal storage
I've got a Motorola Moto G 3 with Android 6.0
I installed a 32 GB SD-Card and I mounted it as Internal Storage (the new feature in Android 6). After installing some apps I get the error 'Insufficient memory' in the play store. Looking in the memory tab in the settings menu I saw that the internal storage is nearly full but with a filemanager I see that I have 25 GiB of storage left.
I have enabled the device encryption and I have enabled remote debugging in the developers setting.
(UI-tweaker is enabled too)
Has anyone an idea?
Thanks for your help!
Regards Microgamer

Have you tried moving some of the apps to the SD Card?  I believe you still need to do this even though you format the card as adopted storage.

It works logical as one storage...

Oh ups. It works logical as one storage and you can't move all apps. I can only move some but it doesn't helps much.

The correct way to do this is navigate to
Settings -> Apps -> select a large app -> Storage
Here it appears some apps have the option to Change the storage, while others do not - developers have to implement this.
If you have a Change button, then a menu appears where you can select the SD card and transfer the app.
I fear you'll have to go through all your large apps manually and try to free up space.
Another option would be to delete the cache of the apps on your internal storage.

Here you can read about how Android deals with adoptable storage.

In the meanwhile I moved to Android 7.1.2 and some time ago I found that button too. But that confused me because my understanding of one storage is not two storages that are separated for the OS but together for every other app. Maybe the implementation or description of Android is wrong. I don't know. The storage thing was and still is strange for Android.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Email app with HTC mail feel?
Is there email app that has the HTC mail feel? HTC mail blocks cryptographically signed messages, which I finally figured out today. Is there some replacement besides K9?
It is for phones that are always on and receive floods of emails for multiple accounts.
I only care about IMAP(s) connections, not MS exchange.

There are email replacement apps, but unfortunately the few that act similar to HTC Mail will cost money.
Touchdown by Nitrodesk: Touchdown is my preferred email replacement as I use the exchange functionality, and imap protocol. It can tie into most major email services, and also offers some premium features for business users.
Enhanced Email: A more powerful revamp of the stock Email app that is starting to become popular.  It offers some premium features and the developer is very responsive if you have run into issues.
Moxier Mail (free trial): Offers support for all major protocols, its user interface is probably the closest to the HTC Mailapp.
Maildroid (free): Never used MailDroid, but it is yet another email replacement.  The upside is there is a free Ad supported version.
Hope those help!

Can you explain how they are similar?

Fleshed out some details on the other apps, hope that helps!

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


text:
Install default Android 2.2 / 2.3 on Optimus One
I have this LG Optimus One P500h and I was thinking about formatting and installing the default/original Android 2.2 (2.3 would be great) since LG modified the homescreen, keyboard and other stuffs.
Is this possible? Is this safe? Is this insane?
Thanks for your help

There's a "beta" version of CyanogenMod 7 for the Optimus One over at the XDA forums which you could try out. There also appear to be a couple of builds that are derived from CM but mix in different tweaks and patches to the kernel and whatnot (one such build here, also Gingerbread).
CyanogenMod - if you're not already familiar with it - is essentially a vanilla Android experience but with some nice additional settings and improvements. They build from the Android source code and then add some patches of their own. I think one of the few plainly noticeable differences is that they use ADW Launcher as a home app instead of the stock Gingerbread one, but I think the GB launcher is floating around on the Market somewhere. ADW is nice anyway, though.


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How to remove a stored user name and password in Wifi Connection Settings?
I've cleared all stored WiFi connections but the password prompt seen in the screenshot still appears. That user name and password is actually part of a VPN connection I had. I've deleted that VPN connection too. The prompt persists. How can I remove that stored user name and password?
Pixel 2 Android 8.0.0.
Security patch level: November 5, 2017.

Did you use some app that saves passwords? Because i haven't seen the phone saving passwords on it's own

also try clearing your settings cache and other caches. may be reboot after cache clearing.

Changed Autofill service from Autofill with Google to None.

For me that seems like another third party application is rendering the UI (drawing over your settings app) for saved WiFi passwords since natively, forgetting a WiFi will delete and forget it's password and manual settings too. Go to settings, Apps:

and click the cogwheel icon on the top right corner,

click drawing over other apps.

Disable all apps. Return to you WiFi settings if it doesn't show, enable them one by one to note which application was doing that. Hope this helps you

It wasn't this. I disabled all apps listed under "Display over the other apps" except for "System UI" which can not be disabled. Prompt still appears. Thanks for the suggestion I would not have thought to try this. ☮

Okay. Thanks for your appreciation. Until someone comes with an alternative.


text:
By what process is a third party device configured to connect to the WiFi network
I'm wanting to understand what is happening when a device needs configuring with WiFi credentials, but no other communication is apparent.
For example, with the Broadlink RM Mini3 WiFi IR Blaster it's a rather simple process: download and run the required app from the Play store, enter the WiFi details (SSID, Password), turn on the device and click connect within the app. A few seconds later, the device has been configured to run on the relevant network.
By what process is such a device configured when there appears no bluetooth connection etc. that would facilitate the initial connection.

To what are you referring by "the initial connection"? We're just a bit confused as you'd need a connection already to download that app from playstore. So are you asking how it could do that before having the WiFi set up – or did you download the app via mobile data and are just asking how it then manages to setup WiFi?

@Izzy No, I think the question is about connecting another device to Wi-Fi, not the phone, when the device itself doesn't have a keyboard or similar for entering the SSID/passcode. The question is how the (app on the) phone connects to this device to give it the details.

Ah, I see: "Broadlink RM Mini3" is not the name of his Android device, but of an IR adapter – well, R4D4, you should have written that :) In that case, @DanHulme has hit the nail I'd say, thanks! Found a description and included a link, so future readers don't need to be as confused as I was #D

@Izzy My apologies, yes, a bit of further explanation would not have hurt in that regard. Thank you for your perseverance.

It's different for different devices. Some use Bluetooth or NFC, but as you've observed that's not what's happening in your case. The most common alternative is that the device you're configuring can itself act as a Wi-Fi access point (AP): it creates its own Wi-Fi network. Your phone connects to the device's Wi-Fi network and sends it the connection details for the network you actually want, possibly via an HTTP request to a simple web server running on the device. After that, the device shuts down its Wi-Fi AP and connects to the Wi-Fi network you configured.
If there's a network problem, the device should start its own AP again to let you connect and give it some new connection details.

Dan has provided you the answer which addresses how your IR adapter connected
Readers may find the additional information below useful for general understanding

How do devices connect to Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi access points use open frequencies (that can be used by anyone without licence), typically 2
.4 and 5 GHz. On these frequencies they keep transmitting their presence, again typically 1000 times a second. For example, your cell phone hears them (that's how you see all networks around you, when you enable WiFi) and responds announcing it's presence. If it is an open network (no password) , device is connected else  authentication is required
Links below for  details
There are two aspects:

Establishing the connection
Authentication

Establishing the connection:From our sister Information Security site How do cellphones discover wireless APs? you can read the details of how it is done. It uses 802
.11 protocol to transmit beacon frames which do not require prior communication to be established since it uses open frequency -See WiFi spectrum section which is available to any device for use
Authentication:  There is a 4 way authentication. Details are described in linked Wiki


text:
How can I make the stock browser stop asking which browser I want to use?
I have a number of browsers installed on my phone.  I haven't set any as the default because some pages simply render better on some browsers than on others.
When I use the stock browser, every single time I click a link it asks me what browser I want to use.  I'd like it to get the hint that if I chose the stock browser for this current session, then it should open the links in the stock browser and stop asking me.
Is there any way for me to stop the stock browser from asking me this without making it the default?

This occurs to me only when there are redirects in the webpage and not "every time I click a link"

No. Android works with intents. Opening a link is asking for an intent to open an url. If you have more than 1 browser and you haven't set a default, Android will ask you which one to choose.
I can imagine certain browsers not following this rule of starting an intent and just stay in their own program but that's all as the program decide to handle it.

@GAThrawn: Thanks for correcting the typos. Entering answers on an aPad is not necessarily the easiest thing to do.

This is definitely a design flaw

The default Android behavior has no option for this. Like you mentioned you'll always get the question on each start of a browser intent (that is asking android to open an url in a browser). The only way to stop this is to select one and set it as a default.
On the other hand, once you're in a browser session the programmer of the browser could implement the request of a given url to be handled by itself, rather than starting a new browser intent. That would overcome your issue.
If you then start a browser intent to view a url you'll get the android option to select a browser. And the next urls will just be opened in the same browser. In other words it really depends on the implementation of that browser.


text:
Why is my Galaxy S stuck on downloading 'do not turn off target'?
I was updating the firmware on kies for my galaxy s and it got half way through and then said error and is no frozen on the downloading 'do not turn off' screen, I have taken out the battery and put it back in, and tried the hard reset, which leads me to a phone symbol, a computer symbol and an error symbol in the middle, help plzzzzzz

I had the same problem (except I didn't use Kies, I had the problem after the first OTA Update)
Here are the steps I did to get my device back in a usable state:
Keep in mind, this will revert your phone to a rather old (android 2.1) version of TouchWiz. You may want to see if there are newer ODIN files available.
You will probably need different files anyhow, as the ones I have below are for the Galaxy S Vibrant.
Also, I take no responsibility if this does not work for you, or your phone explodes in the process. These are the steps I took, and they worked for me. Good Luck.

Download ODIN3 1.0

Download 512 PIT

Download JFD tar

Note that all 3 of those are from the same thread. It also wouldn't hurt for your to read that post too.

Open Odin, plug in your phone, then put it into download mode.

To expand on this because a lot of people were asking "how to put in download mode". The easiest way I found to actually do it, if you can can connect via ADB is to do the following:

# reboot download
If you can't get that to work, try how i mention below (phone off, battery out, hold vol+ & vol-), or try searching these forums for "vibrant download mode" you will find other things that "work" for people

load the PIT file in appropriate area.

load the .tar file in the PDA area.

DO NOT check 're-partition'.

Click start, let it finish.

At this point ODIN failed on me. and I got the "mobile-!-pc" image.

Now, pull your battery and unplug USB

I also took out the SIM and sdcard at this point.

bring the phone to download mode again

plug the USB back in (the phone should be off)
Hold down vol+ & vol-
Put battery back in
press power

re-run ODIN as mentioned above

Don't give up if this doesn't work. If you get the device to boot, even if it is to the "Error Screen", there is a possibility of recovering.

You should experiment with rebooting via the various key combinations / battery pulls / USB plugged-in-ness below first.  Sometimes the phone can be jolted out of the bad mode it's in by doing that.  If the firmware was partially written though, you'll have to do Odin as Ryan suggests.

I basically agree with Ryan's answer, but I'd use at least Odin 1.5.  Here's Odin 1.7, it includes the 512 PIT file.
For the GT-i9000 (international Galaxy S), get firmware from this XDA thread.  You probably want the newest for your region (excluding Gingerbread, since it hasn't been officially released).
I also recommend checking re-partition in Odin.  This will wipe 100% of your data, however.
I think the easiest way to get into Download Mode is through key combinations.  For the i9000, just hold Power + VolDown + Home until the phone reboots, then let go of Power only; after a second you'll get to a yellow triangle with an Android in it.  For the Vibrant, remove the battery, plug into USB, hold VolDown + VolUp, and insert the battery.

Yes, finding the latest ODIN is a good idea. I really just posted the exact steps and tools I used when I had this problem.

Yep, I upvoted your answer ... I just had too much to put in comments (and didn't want to take over your answer through edits).  I've spent way too much time playing with Odin :P


text:
Can I use my iMac's mic and speakers for a call with my android 2.2 phone (through Bluetooth)?
I'd like to use my iMac's audio (i.e., microphone and speakers) for a call that is handled on my Samsung galaxy i5000 Android 2.2 phone. Is that possible?
I've paired my iMac (OSX 10.6) and smartphone through Bluetooth.
Then, during a call, I opened the context menu on my phone (where you can also enable/disable the speaker of the phone), but the Bluetooth icon is disabled. (although Bluetooth itself is active and working, e.g. from my iMac I can see the files on my phone).
Is there any way to get the above working?
(I wondered whether to post this under apple- or android-stackexchange, but given the Bluetooth icon being disabled, I decided to post it here)

The reason for the Bluetooth icon being disabled is that you haven't paired the phone with a device that supports the Headset profile. Bluetooth uses profiles to categorize which services a device supports, and Macs don't support acting as a headset, only connecting to a headset (see list of supported profiles).
To use this functionality, you'd need additional software which enables the Mac to act as a headset and connect to a headset gateway (which your phone most likely supports).


text:
Can I set the default browser differently for different websites?
I have the following browsers on my phone:

stock
Dolphin Mini
Opera Mobile
Firefox

I don't want to set a catch-all default because some pages render better on some browsers than on others.
When I click on a link on a non-browser app (e.g. google search or google reader) it asks me which browser to choose (as expected).  Can I set a default browser for some pages and a different default for others?

There seems to be an app called "Browser Auto Selector" which looks like it will allow you to associate a domain with a browser.
Here is the link to the page on AppBrain for the app, http://www.appbrain.com/app/browser-auto-selector-free/info.usamimi.kfc9.superakiraman.browserchooser_free

authors: Антон Антонов


text:
How do I take very long exposure photos?
I would like to take some long exposure photos using my Android phone (Moto DROID v1 running Android 2.2.2) of the night sky.  I experimented with the settings for the default camera app, and I found that I can set the focus to infinity, but the exposure time has only three settings: 0, +1, and +2.  If I  set the exposure to +2, I can get a recognizable photo of a full moon, but I am unable to capture a field of stars.
Is there any way to extend the exposure time beyond +2?

Note: there's a misunderstanding between exposure compensation and shutter speed. The exposure setting on the camera app is the first one, not about the duration of the exposure.

You cannot do this from with Settings of the default camera.
You could look at another camera app like Camera Streak (Blog).
Or you could roll your own, here is the relevant details you need to change:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Camera.Parameters.html
setExposureComponent()

I tried camera streak, but without tight control over ISO I just wound up with either a black image or a bright, fuzzy blob.

You could try Camera FV-5. It only lets you go up to 1 minute exposure, but it has ISO control, and the Lite version isn't restricted or watermarked.

You can use Long Exposure Camera 2. This app can be used to achieve very long shutter exposure.


text:
How to assign an app to an NFC event?
I would like to use NFC tags with NFC Task Launcher or AutomateIt, but every time I scan the tag, I get a popup asking for the application to use (I have a few NFC-related ones). I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 and a Galaxy Note 2.
There is no "always use this application" choice (similar to the ones I had when clicking on a link for the first time - which popped up an app panel with a choice of "this time only" or "every time").
Is there a way to force the assignment of an app to an event?

If there's not, and your device is rooted, you can check the playstore for "AutoRun Manager". Install it, and disable the corresponding listeners from the apps which should not respond. Not a real clean solution (and will only last until one of those apps receives an update, or you install another NFC app -- in which cases you need to repeat this step for the affected app), but it should do the job: Only a single receiver = No Popup :)

@Izzy: thanks (unfortunately my phone is not rooted). If I understand correctly the apps register themselves as "event handlers" and there is no way to edit this (similarly to how this is done in Windows or Linux). The idea being that I would edit once the hook for "NCF tag read" event, worst case until a new app is installed (which could be OK for events you have appropriate apps for and which you do not need to redefine on a regular basis)

You could call it that. What they register is called a "listener", and the system sends a "broadcast" to all registered listeners -- but the principle is the same. What you could do if none of the related apps are system apps is use a tool to rebuild the .apk files with those listeners removed. But that might be tricky, and even a little risky, as you'd have to do so for every update, and you might even be unable to update such an app (due to the "broken seal").

In that case I will remove the other apps registered to handle the event. This is not ideal but in that specific case it will be OK. Thanks for the details.

I fully agree, it's not ideal. But I'm glad it's at least a workable solution for you. I will sum up now all the details into an answer (so it's easier to follow for others. Feel free to upvote/accept it then :)

Background
To understand the issue, you will need a little background on how this works:
For almost everything, Android broadcasts "events" -- such as e.g. boot_completed, SMS received, SD card inserted/removed, battery low... NFC signal received. Apps can register so-called "Listeners" with the system, which are bound to specified events. In your case, mentioned apps have registered for NFC events.
Now, when an event is broadcast, and there's no listener to it, nothing will happen. Is it a single app that registered a listener, this app will be called. If multiple apps registered listeners, the system looks if one of them is set to "Default" by the user; if so, this one is called -- otherwise a popup appears fot the user to chose which app should handle the event. Usually, this popup also holds a checkbox to make that app the default for this given event.
Solutions
As said, usually there should be a checkbox -- which in your case does not seem to be the case. So it seems there's no possibility to define a default action for this event, whatever the reason. You could try apps from the playstore which do handle default apps (e.g. Default App Manager) -- but most likely this will not work either.
A second point to look would be in Settings → Apps → Manage Apps, pick the app of your choice, and see if it has the corresponding checkbox not grayed out -- if so, simply check it. Most likely, this will be grayed out, so you cannot do anything here either.
Next step would require root -- so if your device is not rooted, it's purely informational to you. As described above in "Background", all related apps have a listener registered with the system. So we should be able to un-register it. This can be done e.g. with Autorun Manager PRO (yes, it will need the Pro version -- as with the free you only can change 2 entries).

As the screenshot shows, this app can enable/disable listeners, so you can avoid having apps started automatically in situations you rather don't want them. Which would apply to yours: Find the corresponding listener, disable it, fine.
Without root, the only remaining possibility is to get rid of all but one of the apps. You could uninstall the others, or, if you'd rather keep them (and you are running Android 4.0 or higher), rather simply disable them in Settings → Apps → Manage Apps, so when needed, you can simply re-activate them at the very same place.

Thanks for the summary. I tried apps like Default App Manager but they do not cover NFC.

The reason for that is still unclear to me. If it's just too new (so Default App Manager does not know about NFC), the event handler stuff in Android itself should still be capable of handling this, including defaults. Thanks for the app name, I will update my answer with it, so we have everything together there :)

I have tried freezing nfc app (samsung nfc service) on my note 2 with titanium but that killed completely nfc.

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


text:
How to change search engine language?
I'm a native Hungarian speaker, a few months ago I moved to Germany, and I have a problem with the Google search, I installed the Google chrome on my android device but the default search engine is German(google.de), it's so annoying when I would like to get English results, but instead of that I'm getting Germany results. How can I change that?

Set yor language by clicking on 'Einstellungen' or navigate directly to the english localized version: http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en to set it there (you can switch the 'hl=en' for english to hl=hu for hungarian or any other you want in the link).
Setting your start page is not what you want: This will not affect searches from the widget or from the omnibox (the auto completion, aka instant search).
Edit:
Seems like the keyboard language sets the default... switched from en to german and back.

Your search settings are tied to the location where you first installed and ran Chrome. Currently, it's not possible to adjust the language or country domain. This is a known issue in the current version, and we are working on a fix.
As a workaround, go to Android Settings > Apps > Chrome > Clear Data to reset your location. (Note: Enable Sync first to keep your browser settings.)

For clarification, this is quoted from JL King, one of Google Employee, from Google Product Forums.


text:
Is there a way to back up Amazon Market via Titanium Backup without 2Gb backup file size?
I was trying to figure out what was taking to much space on my SD card, and found out the following file in Titanium Backup directory:
com.amazon.venezia-20120409-052438.tar.gz    - 2,020,523,913 bytes (2Gb)

This is obviously a backup of Amazon App Store.
I am guessing the size is so large because for some reason, the Amazon App Store app stores a copy of ALL the apps installed through Amazon App Store (including several very big games, thus 2G size).
Questions:

Is this theory correct? (the file being 2Gb tgz file, I'm somewhat hesitant to gunzip and untar it to investigate the internals).
If so, is the size due to storing a copy of installed .apk files in Amazon App Store itself, or the cache? (I suspect the former, since cache backup is turned off in my TitaniumBackup  preferences).
How can I back up just the Amazon App Store app and not all the apps downloaded from Amazon with it (since, obviously, those are backed up separately by Titanium Backup anyway)

@RichardBorcsik - deleted all the useless comments, since your answer is self contained now


text:
application to restore/download all market applications after new rom is installed

Possible Duplicate:
How to recover apps from a factory reset?

the AndyX Rom has a wonderful feature that grabs all applications previously installed from the market once you do all wipes and new rom setup.
ONLINE AndyX ROM™ v6.0 - XXLPH - Samsung Galaxy S II I9100 | forum.xda-developers.com
unfortunately any other custom rom I used does not have this feature so I have to go to the market again and download all app one by one like skype, whatsapp and so on.
is there an app that would work on all the roms which I could use to grab all what I had installed before regardless in which rom I installed the apps? Thanks !

You can use AppBrain to sync the list of your apps to the service, flash, reinstall AppBrain and sync your device again to reinstall your apps.
The only downside is that when you resync your device you have to accept every app install separately. Or at least this was the case when I last used it (ages ago).

That is not the case if you enable Fast Web Install (separate app from same developers).

Is it just me or the link gives 404?

You could use a backup application (I use My Backup myself, requires root access). Actually, Google has some kind of backup and in case you reinstall your ROM or something goes wrong, it immediately download all the apps you had before from Google Play Store (at least it does so for me).

Titanium Backup can do this.  You'd just want to be careful to only do a restore of non-system apps, as your new custom roms apps are likely to have data incompatibilities.

authors: მამუკა ჯიბლაძე


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ICS upgrade for Asus Transformer should be available OTA
I can read everywhere here in France that the OTA version of Ice Cream Sandwich is available for the Asus Transformer TF101. But when I check for a new firmware, it finds nothing. Is there a step I missed?
My Transformer is currently working with Android 3.2.1.

Sounds similar to How can I get my ASUS Transformer 101 to see upgrades? Also appears to be waiting for the ICS update.

I finally got it OTA yesterday.

OTA upgrade has been stopped due to several SW issues. A modified upgrade is expected within weeks, be patient.
(I do have the upgrade, but not installed as I have read about the problems... now I am refusing it every day :(

Ok, that's what I wanted to know. Could you add a link to the said problems?

Do you have a link to this information csababp ?

If you go to the ASUS web site, there are downloads available (choose Android as your OS. I got confused thinking that Windows was the right choice for the upgrade, they mean Windows for the drivers, and Android for the firmware).
Download the right localized build. I am in the US, so mine was the US build.
Copy it to an microSD card in a directory ASUS\Update\patchFile.zip
Then when you pop the card in, the tablet should notify you that there is an update available.

Right, here the link: http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?m=Eee+Pad+Transformer+TF101&p=20&s=16

geoffc - I should put in the sd card the file I directly downloaded or should I unzip it first?

@RafaelS.Calsaverini You unzip the first level file, should have a second ZIP'ed file in it.  Then you put that on the SD card in ASUS\Update directory and try it then.

Thanks. I tried that, but unfortunately my tablet is not groking the update. After some minutes it returns "There was a problem and the firmware was reversed to the previous state" or something like this. My eee pad is WW and I got the WW file. Maybe there was a problem with the download and a checksum error. Don't know. I will try again later. :(


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Root and then unroot afterwards?
On my device, I have a bunch of stock applications. Some of them I don't need. Some of them are outdated. Here's what I want to do:

Root my device.
Uninstall all my unnecessary apps (no changing of roms).
Install the updates that my other stock apps need (like Facebook). Note: I meant I want to overwrite where the older version will be replaced. This is a common problem with stock applications. You can upgrade them but the older version is still around (possibly because of lack of root access), thus eating up unnecessary internal space.
Add some more other apps.
Secure some of the newly added apps so that they are uninstallable when I go back to being unrooted.
Unroot the phone.

As you can probably tell by now, I just want to overall change the applications on my phone. I also want to secure some new applications that I will be installing (e.g. make them act the same as the Facebook app wherein I can't uninstall it unless I have root). I don't want to install another rom, I don't want to overclock or anything. I just want to change the phone apps then return it back to being unrooted and be on my merry way.
Is this possible?

Absolutely. Well...almost. Just make sure you set the partition from rewritable to read-only once you're "unrooted". However, once you are unrooted, binaries like su and the SuperUser apk will in all probability removed, so you will in effect be dropped to a lower privilege level. This will have the side-effect of having the apps installed in the system partition as being uninstallable.
A workaround is to remove/uninstall apps from the system partition, remove root and then add the apps as user apps - this will ensure that they can be updated in the future without the need for root.

I was also wondering about that. Some of the apps such as Titanium backup, will it work if I install it while I'm rooted then I unroot the phone with it still being installed, will it still function the same way? Or is root really needed by it as well as other apps?

@ShedoSurashu. No. I've done it once (by mistake). Titanium asks root permission at every launch. If superuser is not available titanium can't works (or works with very limited features, I don't remember if it closes without root).

You haven't mentioned which device you're running, but as an example Siyah Kernel on my S2 can restore/unrestore root with a reboot. Perhaps there's a kernel or an app that can restore/unrestore root access easily for your device.


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How can I view downloaded .txt files as UTF-8 in Chrome on Android 13?
We download many UTF-8 encoded .txt files.

Later in the e.g., Northwoods, far from the Internet, we find they are unreadable.

Yes, we could simply open them in a different app, but we wish to keep using Chrome. No, the files don't contain byte order marks. Yes, there is no problem on Android 8, but things are much different on Android 13. As we observe, the content:// URI does not pass character set information, so the browser can only assume it is latin1.
How can I view downloaded .txt files as UTF-8 in Chrome on Android 13?

It turns out on Android 13, in Chrome, one must manually navigate to file:///sdcard/ and then via the directory tree to select the file.
Note, that the final "/" is important.
Without it, you will still trigger a web search (G icon) instead of being allowed to access the file system.

Indeed, you might need to type this in letter-by-letter: f i l e : / / / s d c a r d / as simply pasting might not bypass the web search.
If successful, certainly do save it as a bookmark as I have.
In fact, a better way is to go into your bookmarks and pick an old unused one and then edit the contents to put the file:///sdcard/  right in there and that ought to give you a bookmark that won't get hijacked to web search. If you don't have an old unused one then make a junk one.

Voila, mojibake gone!:

Images taken on Samsung Galaxy, Chrome Dev 113.

Maybe it's possible to copy-paste the link, delete the last character, and type the trailing slash manually.

Or go through the internal pages, such as chrome://omnibox to disable the behavior, etc.

This works for viewing downloaded .txt files (as stated in the question), but I wanted to view other (non-downloaded) .txt files in Chrome (or Kiwi, in my case). This doesn't work for that, since other folders are not accessible now because of Scoped Storage. At the moment, I open them from MiXplorer, so they have content:// URIs, with the wrong encoding, like in your case. I can't access those files even if I move them to the Download folder, I guess this is because they are not in the MediaStore.Downloads table

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


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How to get rid of Chrome's 'Continue browsing' link without visiting it?
There is no sensible way to get rid of Android Chrome's 'Continue browsing' link when it appears, if one does not wish to visit the site in question again. Are there any workarounds?

(In our above example image we show Wikimedia's Upload Wizard site page as the site that we don't want to visit again.)

Go offline. Now, yes, tap the 'Continue browsing' link to  "visit the site" (safely offline). You will get a choice where you can finally cancel the pending future visit.


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Sort contacts by Hanyu Pinyin
I have tried the Google contacts app, the Samsung contacts app, and the Asus contacts app.
Only the latter will sort Chinese contacts in Hanyu Pinyin order, without requiring the entire phone to be switched from English to the zh-cn locale.
Else they get sorted by radical (Unicode order).
If one sets the entire phone to zh-tw locale, one gets Zhuyinfuhao sorting.
Anyway throughout the experience we see the very short sighted assumptions that certain people speak certain languages and prefer certain sorting orders without getting any choices in between.
No, I'm not talking about first name versus last name. Nor am I talking about establishing custom pronunciations for each and every contact.
Anyway the user, me, prefers the English interface to his Android phone. However he has learned Chinese using Hanyu Pinyin. That's how he expects his characters to be sorted by. It is unfortunate that various Android app developers would have never imagined such a combination, for some reason.
And yes, even if one day one could just change the interface language of the contacts app, that would still also be too much of a sacrifice. Why should interface language be related to sorting method in the first place? Sure it's a good guess for the majority, but for the minority it's a hardwired nightmare.
Also, choosing English as interface language means it's anybody's guess which the user's preferred Chinese sorting order might be. So why not give the user the freedom to choose?
Android 13.
Sure, you might say, "See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22907288/chinese-sorting-by-pinyin-in-javascript-with-localecompare and build your own app." But I don't want to build my own app, or root my phone.

Holy smokes, by switching around the Android system language sub order (language #2), I stumbled on the answer. Of course it's totally undocumented so we will just document it here:
We simply put the zh-cn local at rank number two:

This fixes the problem for both the Samsung contacts app, and the Google contacts app. And in fact it even distinguishes that surname 曾 is Zeng, not Ceng!
Sure, it's not the total control that we want. But at least it's a workaround for now!


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Is there a way to automatically turn off wifi?
I have an LG P990, and I recently upgraded it to ICS. Since that, the charging is much slower and energy consumption is much faster. I could live with it, I charged it at work and at home too.
Yesterday however it went from 85% to empty in one night. 49% of the energy consumption is Wifi according to Battery usage.
I want to know how to periodically turns WiFi on, and after a few minutes off. Every program I was able to find did the first part, but when it found a known network, left it on indefinitely.
In the settings I have "Keep wifi on during sleep" set on "Never", but it does not help.

András, please note I slightly adjusted your question to avoid it being closed as off topic (Is there an app for X?, see our [FAQ]). I also added an answer with some useful points you might want to check out before you put an additional app to use :)

Before doing so, I'd consider two more things:
Finding the real cause
High WiFi usage is not caused by WiFi itself (standby), but most likely by another app constantly requesting it to "stay awake". So first check How to deal with (orphaned) WakeLocks? -- which also deals with this.
Checking your WiFi standby policy
In Settings→Wireless & Networks→WiFi, when pressing the menu button, an item named "Advanced" appears. Tap that to go into the advanced settings and check the Wifi Standby Policy. There are 3 options available:

Always: WiFi stays awake even when the display is turned off. Useful if you're streaming music.
Only when connected: Only when a power source is connected (i.e. the device is charging) -- as in that case the "battery consumption" usually is not an issue.
Never: WiFi goes to standby as soon as the display is turned off.

WiFi managing tools
If this requirement still is present after thoroughly checking above two points, there are multiple options available in this section -- enough to fill at least a small book. First, there are tools like e.g. JuiceDefender or GreenPower, dealing not only with WiFi and mobile networks, but covering a lot more energy saving stuff. Other interesting tools might include WifiBatt and many others -- just check the related apps on their playstore pages, or use Mapsaurus to find similar apps.

I have tried JuiceDefender earlier today, wifi settings can not be changed in the free version, or it has the most confusing UI I have ever seen.

As I said in the opening post, Never is set in Wifi Standby Policy. Thanks for the other tip about WakeLocks

You're welcome. I added the other part although for completeness, so if other "searchers" check they see this is an important part to check. As for JuiceDefender: I tried it long time ago, and yes: configuration can be a bit confusing. They have a feature comparision on their homepage (end of the page), just in case you want to check. That page also gives an overview of what you can do with it and how.

I would not recommend GreenPower. After setting it up the wifi ate much less, but GreenPower itself became the second largest consumer of electrons. Only a slight improvement overall.

That might be device specific. Did you contact the developer? Any logs (logcat) captured and sent along?

I just installed this application called Silence. It turns on and off settings based on a schedule.
That is EXACTLY what you asked for but like the others I suspect your issue is a run-away app using too much WiFi

Some of the Norton apps may work, something like the Norton Task Manager. They have useful functions inside their apps.
Or, just search for "wifi disabler" in Google Play.

One of the biggest battery saving things you could do is to disable WiFi only when the screen is locked such as the device being in your pocket. I'm sure there are many ways of going about this, but this is the easiest and most reliable method that I know of.
With this you should be able to save a lot of battery!
If you just follow the instructions I've provided below, you should have satisfying results in just a few minutes!

Download Tasker from the Play Store.
Open Tasker and click the + button. Now click Event → Display → Display Off.
Click the gear (back button) in the top left corner. A pop up menu will appear. Select New Task and name it Display Off.
Tap + → Net → WiFi and make sure the box that says Set is set to Off.
Click the gear (back) twice so that you end up on the Profiles screen.
Now click + again, then Event → Display → Display On.
Tap the gear (back) and then select New Task. Name it something along the lines of Display On.
Click + → Net → WiFi and change Set to On. Now exit back to the Profiles tab. You should now have both Display Off and Display On.
In the Profiles tab to the right of your conditions, there are On/ Off toggles. Turn both of these to Off and then back to On.
Simply exit out of Tasker and you're done!

Good luck and I hope this helps you!

You could try Sentry. It also has a paid version.

Tired of accidentally leaving your WiFi running all day and wearing
  down your device's battery? Tired of being home for hours and
  forgetting to turn on your WiFi? Sentry can help!
Sentry is a fully automated WiFi manager that only requires a simple
  configuration to start. It packs many features into a simple-to-use
  application so you don't have to waste any time on setup.
Sentry operates by cycling your WiFi. If it gets a connection or was
  already turned-on and connected, it remains on, otherwise, it turns
  the WiFi off to save battery.
Even if Sentry is activated you can still manually connect to WiFi or
  turn your WiFi without interrupting.
Sentry can be configured to run in any or all of three ways.
First, Sentry can be configured to run on a polling interval, e.g. 30
  minutes, and check the WiFi status periodically.
Second, Sentry can set to check WiFi status every time the screen is
  unlocked.**
Last, Sentry can be set to run every time the phone boots up. Used in
  conjunction with the other two functions, this can either be used to
  make sure Sentry is always running or to simply check for WiFi every
  time the phone reboots.
Does Sentry running in the background use up my battery life? Nope!
  Not one bit! Sentry is actually only ever truly running when it's
  cycling the WiFi, which depending on the timeout you set, shouldn't be
  for much more than a minute, so no, it shouldn't negatively affect
  your battery life.

"Sentry operates by cycling your WiFi. If it gets a connection or was already turned-on and connected, it remains on, otherwise, it turns the WiFi off to save battery." This is exactly what I said I do not want.


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Google Play: Error downloading app - insufficient space
After one of the latest updates (not sure if it was the last one or a previous one) of the Google Play app, I am having an error trying to update a large app (42MB). It says:

Error Downloading . There is insufficient space on the device.

My device is a Samsung P1000 running Froyo. It's rooted, but the error was there before rooting it.
A quick Google search showed several Samsung users having the same problem (the app in question that was giving me the headache is Smurf's village). Some said that removing the updates to the Android Market (Google Play) app would fix it, but to me it was of no avail.
I also tried the procedure in this Google help FAQ to no avail.
Now I am stuck with a prehistoric version of the Market (that works on small apps) and still cannot update Smurf's Village or install big apps. How can I fix this?
EDIT: device has over 2GB of internal SD storage, 27GB of external SD card, so space is not an issue.

Sorry for not stating it, but the device has no lack of free space.

For me, it was all about killing and rebuilding a bigger cache. I want it registered on SE so other people having the same problem can find an answer googling for it.
The problem seems to be with the size of the partition the cache is in. It is mounted on a 20-30MB partition in the phone internal SD card.
The fix that worked to me was described in this blog post.
THE BLOCK BELOW IS TAKEN FROM Jimmy Halim's blog post, and used with his permission.

After browsing around, I found out that the cache folder (that I assume used by the market) is using small partition (around 20mb in my case).
  So to solve this we need to change it to bigger partition.
You gonna need Android Terminal Simulator or equivalent terminal app. This will also require your Android rooted.
Type su (root permission request will be shown: you need to approve it).
Type cd /
Type umount /cache
Type mount -o rw,remount -t rootfs rootfs / (to set the folder access to rw – read write)
Type rmdir /cache (delete cache folder).
  I personally using root explorer to do point 5-6.
Type mkdir /sdcard/cache
Type ln -s /sdcard/cache /cache (to link cache folder to /sdcard/cache – which should have bigger partition size)

My p1000 was rooted and had terminal emulator and busybox installed. I just typed the commands in the order described by Jimmy Halim (kudos to him).
Searching for the background to this question, I also found this forum post (in portuguese) that seems to (untested by me) solve the problem using an app.
[begin portuguese posting]
Para solucionar o problema, eu  precisei modificar o tamanho do cache do telefone
[end portuguese posting]

What about the poor souls who don't already have terminal emulator or busybox installed. They can't install them, because they can't install anything.

@Urbycoz   If you can't install anything, that is stuff for another related question. I only had problems installing LARGE apps. Emulator and Busybox are tiny compared to today's apps. Also, someone could ask "What about non-rooted devices" and the answer would be the same: It is stuff for another Q&A.

If a user couldn't install anything at all, they could always enable USB debugging and do everything through ADB.

Can you check how much space is left in internal storage of your device? You can do that by going to Settings->Applications->Storage Use and see how much is free space in internal storage. If the value is less that what the app needs (i.e. 42 Mb) then it means that you have to free up some space before installing.
To free up:

Best is to visit the app list and remove unwanted one, starting with the one that occupies more space.
Move the heavy apps to SD Card. Though I suspect this could be possible only from GingerBread onwards and not in your Froyo.

while walking the app list, deleting the cache of apps when it's too big. Maybe only a temporary solution, but better than nothing.

My p1000 has plenty of storage, both internal and external. It is an issue with the cache itself, I was able to solve it for my (ROOTED) android. Still on the lookout for a solution to the cache size that does not require rooting.

The OP said that there was enough space...

Why o why I cannot add an answer to this question? Anyway, finally found a solution for this - uninstall update from Google play app

Just to add some other things to try if @Mindwin's answer doesn't work for you:
1) Delete your logs located in /data/log.

You can do this by either going to the recovery menu and deleting the logs (if the option is available for you, it isn't for every phone). Or if you have a rooted phone you can run rm -r in this folder from a terminal emulator.

2) If you can install apps, the SD Maid app can remove any lingering cache or apk files that are sometimes left over after removal.
3) If your phone is a Samsung Galaxy, you can dial *#9900# from the dial screen and then choose the second option: "Delete Dumpstate/logcat".


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Mute or change user group ringtone depending on current location and time
Here's a sample scenario: when I'm at home and it's after 10pm, all call need to be silent, but family calls are enabled to ring loud.
Is it possible to do this? (preferably using Tasker, but 3rd-party apps is okay)

There is this example: http://tasker.wikidot.com/sleepmode and even have it on my phone but while I was testing it before putting it as an answer I discovered it doesn't actually work correctly. Give it a go while I tinker with it...

Yes, that is the behavior I am experiencing. I have been trying to modify the suggested profiles but with no luck so far. I'll do some more tinkering later today and report here.

I try to follow this example.Only work 1 group (favorit)
-first rule:after 10pm it's set the phone to silent mode(working, icon appears top).
-second rule:when a call comming from favorit group turn off silent mode (working, icon dissapiers),but the this call is silent :( (I think becouse,1rst is the call turn off the silent mode...)
What now is (not?) working:
the phone is in normal state
1rst rule: when an incomming call, who is not in favorite group,switch phone to silent mode.
It's working but I can hear start ring and vibrate the phone about 1sec,before it switches to silent mode...

I found this plugin to tasker: Locale Call Filter Plugin
It's about what I wan't (but not 100%)... :(


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Troubleshooting 802.1x EAP connection
I actually have observed two issues, which most likely are related:

When I try to connect my phone (Motorola Cliq 2; Android 2.2) to 802.1x EAP protected network then the connection attempt seems to fail ~95% of time (the connection state changes from "Connecting"--> "Disconnected"--> "Connecting" --> "Disconnected" ... till it gives up). Five percents of time I am able to establish connections successfully (the connection state changes from "Connecting"--> "Obtaining IP address"-> "Connected")
Another interesting thing here is that Skype still works those 95% of time when my Android thinks that it is actually offline. I can send and receive Skype messages. Albeit Browser or any other WEB application does not work. The WiFi signal is at 80% and I do not have any data plan (once I leave the WiFi range then Skype stops to work)

I am new to Android platform so maybe anyone could give me hints where to look to troubleshoot these two issues? Maybe anyone could recommend tools which can extract internal information of WiFi connection state (the phone is not rooted yet, but I would not mind to do that if I have to).
P.S. The phone works perfectly fine with my WPA2-PSK configuration at home.


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What is USB BICR function in android?
In the build.prop file I found an entry commented "Enable USB BICR function" (ro.sys.usb.bicr). I searched in Internet, but I did not find anything useful. Maybe you know?

I found some hints in the MediaTek (MTK) kernel sources.
There is no description but with a bit of guessing it seems that this option allows you to present a virtual USB CD-ROM when connected via USB to a PC. Often this is used for providing specific drivers that are required for accessing special functionality of the device. The virtual CD is present on the Android device in form of a ISO-image.
From my understanding this option is only relevant for developers creating a custom ROM.


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Recovering deleted files android 6.0.1 (internal storage)
They were onenote's files, research notes. Had problems with sync and lost files.
How can I recover the files in the safest way? It happened today. I already stopped using the phone.
(asking for a friend)

I've just added the data-recovery tag to your question. You might be interested in checking its tag-wiki which will give you some useful links on the topic.

I'd try photorec (testdisk package) in Linux. Or the Piraform file recovery program in Windows. Get it connected to a PC sooner rather than later as you don't want the area it was stored to be overwritten.
Was the Onenote not syncing with a Microsoft account?

It wasn't syncing (and it is part of the cause the files were lost, trying to sync...). I'll try windows alternative. Thank you.


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HARD BRICKED AFTER INSTALLING 4.4.4 UPDATE IN MOTO E 1st gen
When I updated my mobile, it power offed then it gone to bootloader mode then I pressed on normal power, but it didn't, so I press on recover, it gone to TWRP mode and I pressed on recover, there some codes happened, and then it gone off.  till then nothing working.
not even charging,  and not opening bootloader too.
pls I need your suggestion. THANK YOU
This video on Youtube (published March 2015) is showing same problem that I have. You can see in the comments that still this problem is going on.
see article about Easy JTAG on internet.  you can understand how this begin and end.

Can you access recovery by holding VOL DN (not VOL DN + PWR) and connecting a USB cable to a PC? I will provide an answer but it isn't likely what you want to hear... this is a known issue that just happens with some Moto's, and not just the E, the G and X have it on occasion as well but it is rare.

I added my answer... like I said, you probably won't like it but it is an honest one. :/

There are really only 4 viable solutions for a hard bricked Moto "letter" device, assuming this is truly hard bricked and not a battery or charging issue. Being hard bricked on one of these devices means that the bootloader is inaccessible and the device doesn't boot, if the bootloader is inaccessible we have few options remaining for self-repair.
Qualcomm HS-USB Qloader 9008 - All Qualcomm devices have the ability to be hard flashed with the proper files. Although this is an option for many devices, it is not for these devices because Moto/Lenovo will not release the necessary files. Thus this is not a valid option for these devices, I only bring this up because searching the internet will return many references to this tool, but we cannot use it thanks to Moto/Lenovo policy on these devices. - Source
JTAG programming - Requires an external device and ROM files, assuming the partitioning is still intact this is a viable option although for lower end or older devices, the price of the programmer is often significantly more than the value or replacement cost of the device, with modest units costing around $200USD (source) without the necessary cables which sometimes need to be purchased separately or fabricated, and the initial cost of this device when new was $100USD and it's current value is around $30USD, most likely makes this option undesirable.
Authorized Service Center - Have the device repaired by an authorized Moto service center. Due to the age of this device, it is likely out of warranty and the cost will likely be more than the device's value or replacement cost. I have no reference for this information, so it might be worth your time to investigate it yourself, if this was the result of an official OTA update, it may be possible to find a sympathetic ear at a local authorized repair center.
So this brings us to the Final Option... As noted in some of my previous options, the cost/value of the device needs to be considered here. The Moto E is a low-end, low cost device and was released in May 2014, just over 3 years ago. This device has very little value and a replacement unit would likely cost less than any valid repair option, so it may just be time to discard/recycle the device and purchase a new or used replacement device.
Like many things in life, not everything can be feasibly or economically repaired, sometimes you just have to accept that and move on.

hello, have a nice day, please guide me, that I have gotten device QUALCOMM HS-USB QDLOADER 9008. and then I opened the BLANKFLASH.and showing Massege ( FAILED ‹blank-flash:sdl-transfer-image:sdl-hello:error sending packet› )

what to do now?

@BLUENIGHT We do not have the proper files to perform a QDload, the blankflash from the thread linked in the other answer if for the Moto G, it will not work. The thread was closed on XDA because it was WRONG and didn't work. There is no working "unbrick" for the Moto E.

OK, so mean,  I have to go to service center...... Lastly found the solution

Just something before my answer : softbrick is when you still CAN boot into recovery functions of the phone (fastboot or recovery) or still see some logo appearing on your screen at plug / bootup state ;
While hardbrick is when everything went wrong and you destroyed a reserved system / bootloader space that you weren't supposed to touch anyway, so your phone can no longer access anything.
Supposing, from your answer that you are hardbricked, if nothing shows upw
, well... Your phone is pretty much stuck in this state...
It is a good idea to ask a reseller or the manufacturer for a repair; but sometimes this involves a full motherboard change because you touched some DRMs or OEM stuff needed for boot.

I think that there is no other reserved system space except your internal storage.

There are some OEM partitions, like Sony's TA which is accessible from TWRP, and if you wipe it, your phone is dead forever.

Your phone internal storage is just like a flash drive. Even if you wipe it completely along with the OEM partition causing it to hardbrick you can reflash it using USB by connecting it with PC. It is just required the right tool.

defat, can you tell me tools name?  I've tried to connect device to pc but, it's not connecting to the pc,  then I've realise that my mobile was on before that so the battery gone.  then I connected to charger, now it is blinking flash light.  but How to know that my mobile is On or Off?

@BLUENIGHT  xda has some guides how to flash new ROM in hardbricked phones. I don't know about the tools.

it says everything depend on hardware devices as EASY JTAG, but I want to flash it by pc without buying any external device. BECAUSE EVERY EXTERNAL DEVICE FOR THIS FUNCTION are  MUCH EXPENSIVE. so help me.

@defalt internal storage has many partitions. Blank the wrong one, and you can no longer boot. Kill the bootloader, and you can say Goodbye – unless you're able to play with JTAG and its tools (nothing for the "average user").

@Izzy My friend's phone was completely erased along with the bootloader. It was become a piece of electronics with no software to operate. He still managed to flash new custom ROM into his phone by connecting it with PC. He did use some tool to flash it. How manufacturers install their stock ROM when manufacturing of the phone hardware is completed?

@defalt depends on the hardware. First, they of course have the means (correct JTAG setup), second they probably just through it away and send you a replacement. Third, it makes a difference whether you've got an MTK (which seems to have a kind of "read only emergency boot loader" so Flashtool can connect it even if "hard bricked" – though there's also some "partition" you shouldn't touch), or something not having such a special setup.

Rolling back to old os may be difficult. So you can try custom os. But if you need stock rom back try fastboot rom. Check whether fastboot rom is available for you. You may want to use tool to do that

Sorry, Ankith: But how is this answering the question? OP reports the device "hard bricked", i.e. it doesn't boot in any mode. So there's no way in flashing a ROM or anything like that.


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Join/Merge external SD with internal SD card?
I have a Samsung device of 8GB with an SD card of additional 32GB.
I'm using many apps that cache data for offline use (mainly Google Play Music), these apps are not smart enough to determine the 32GB of available space and take advantage of it, but instead claim 'no space'.
I thought perhaps there is a workaround for it by merging the external storage with the internal so the apps 'think' there is 48GB.
I don't use several SD cards which means I'm not gonna switch SDs back and forth any time soon.
Do you know a hack for it? Or any solution to make Google Music store its stuff into all available space wherever it is?
I've read this link, but since I'm not so much into Android development, I didn't understand it, can anyone refer me or translate it into a more detailed guide (I'm not a complete noob, but I'm not a hacker).
P.S. My device is rooted.

Technically possible, by using a software raid (striping of both partitions). However: You cannot pull out the sd card any more, nor can you use usb storage. Such a merge is not feasible, without proper support by Android, so there's a high risk to lose data. Don't do it.

Instead of mergin your internal an external SD card, I think its easier to just bind the directories with high data to the external SD card. The idea is to link the folder were Google Music stores the offline cache with the SD card, so it will write it there instead of the internal memory. This is valid for any other app that writes to the internal memory, just follow the steps:

Go to Settings > Apps > Running and close Google Music.
Open your file manager and go to /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache and delete all files.
Create a folder in your external SD card, for example MyMusic
Create a file in your internal SD card with the mount options, for example MusicScript.txt
Insert the following in the file (check the directories path as it might change):
mount -o bind /emmc/MusicCache/ /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.Android.music/
Go to Google Play store and install Script Manager.
Open Script Manager, grant it root, open the MusicScript.txt file you've created and select Open As > Script/Executable.
Select su and boot and hit save.
Reboot your phone.
Open Google Music and click on Choose on device music. You should be able to see the total space available is the same as the space available in the external SD card.

As an alternative, if you have a kernel that supports init.d scripts, you can skip steps 6 to 8 by adding the file as executable to /etc/init.d/, that way it will be executed at boot.
How to find your internal SD card path:

Use ES File Explorer and it should display your SD card content once you open it. You can check the SD card path in the toolbar at the top.
Use any Terminal (e.g. ConnectBot) and type mount or mount | grep sdcard, the command should display the mount point or path of your internal SD card.

Doesn't look like it worked. Does emmc refer to the external card?

You have to check your phone layout, some phones or android versions reference the internal memory as either /emmc or /sdcard. You can check this by using any file manager and looking where is mounted your sdcard.

Nops, that didn't work. I copied the same paths as it appears in the device file browser for both internal and external memory card. How can I verify that script has run? Perhaps some other script instructions? Can you please be more specific in details, I'm not an Android expert at all.

I've added how to check your internal SD card path to my answer.

Thanks for adding the extra details. I still didn't understand what means ES, I'd also like to ask what terminal you'd recommend.

"ES File Explorer" is an app from Google Play (its a file explorer). For console I like "ConnectBot", also found in Google Play.

Are you skittles? >:P Anyway, this works great on my S3. Except the path was wrong to me. This is the right one: /data/data/com.google.android.music/files/

I couldn't make the init.d to work, can you expand more on this?

The problem is that SManager starts after GMusic starts caching the music, and internal memory is choking.


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How can I copy content from my SD Card to my PC?
I have an LG Marquee on Boost Mobile and recently my phone started to boot loop. I had not backed up my micro SD Card contents and am afraid I could lose them with my phone acting up like this. Each time my media scanner runs at start up, the phone reboots again, so I cannot access my media content in time to salvage it.
A user on here gave me the idea to buy an SD Card reader, put the contents of my SD Card onto my PC and copy them onto a new card. Then I could insert the new card into my phone and factory reset it in order to save my media content.
My question in a nutshell is: What is the process of copying content from an SD Card onto a PC, and then copying this content to a new card?
My second and last question is: Once I move the contents of my current SD Card onto my PC and copy them to a new SD Card, will my factory-reset phone take the new card and load the contents?

Remark to your second question: A factory reset is not required just for changing the card, the new card will be recognized without such. Keep in mind that a factory reset would delete all your content and the apps you've installed -- so that's rather a "last ressort" when having trouble with the phone, to rule out software problems.

@Izzy I appreciate the info. I would've ended up resetting my phone unnecessarily had you not told me that, so thank you!

Also see my answer on your other question: formatting the card before obtaining its contents is a bad idea as well, as formatting would destroy the contents and leave nothing to obtain!

Answer to your first Question:
No specific processes needed. When You Connect your SDcard to PC via SDcard reader, you can see a new drive is mounted on you PC. Just copy necessary files to PC and similarly copy same files to new SDcard.
Answer to your first Question:
Yes. your mobile will recognize your new SDcard when you mount it to your mobile.

I appreciate your help. It's much easier than I thought. Thank you.

Just mark as answer if it was what you expected.


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problems with sync of contacts to google
my samsung galaxy europa seems to sync ok with my google account. but the contacts do not appear in my google account on the web [whereas updates to calendar and email do]. any advice appreciated.

Is it updating Google contacts that doesn't sync, or is it that new contacts created on the phone don't sync?

By default the contacts you see on the web are your most used contacts.  You have to choose all contacts to see everyone.

Is your phone configured to sync contacts with your Google account?
To verify this go to Settings --> accounts & sync, tab on your account and verify that the Sync Contacts option is checked.
If this option is checked then the contacts are synced to your account but you are probably using a configuration in your gmail web account that only shows you the most used contacts instead of all contacts.


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Does a "one key" voice recording application exist?
I am looking for a voice recording application that could be used in the same way as a dictaphone, by pressing one key (for example "volume up" during a few seconds) without having to unlock the screen and find and click the shortcut to the application. Such an application could easily be used while driving.
Does such an application exist ? Is it even possible for applications to use key triggers while the screen is locked ?

Something like that would have to be done in a custom rom, there's no way in the api to do that.  I'd suggest looking at something like widget locker to put a slider on your lock screen that takes you straight to your voice recorder app.


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How do I upgrade my rooted Nexus One using OTA updates?
I have a Nexus One that I rooted years ago. It's running "stock" Froyo. I get offered OTA updates to Gingerbread, and I'd like to do the update.
When I choose the update, it reboots the phone, which brings me to the ClockworkMod bootloader. Now what?
Can I make this work somehow?

OTA updates can only be applied to a completely stock, non-rooted phones, using the stock recovery.
If you really want a completely stock Gingerbread, you will need to un-root your Nexus One and revert to Froyo's stock recovery.  See instructions here.
Alternatively, you can flash one of the custom Gingerbread ROMs.  Some are very close to "stock" (only pre-rooted) while others like CyanogenMod offer other tweaks on top of the original.

Are you sure?  What happens when you try to get Clockwork to install the update?

Clockwork will fail to install an official OTA.  Sometimes it starts but errors out in the middle.

OK, thanks. It handles official packages nicely on my SGS so I had no idea.


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Forgot password on Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 - how to reset?
I've lost my password on my almost new Samsung Galaxy S4. Now I can't unlock the tablet, and I can't shut it down since all these actions require the password. The only thing I can do is restarting it.
Now I want to reset it to factory settings, so I can set a new password. However, all the guides to a hard reset say you have to turn it off first. This I cannot do since it requires the password.
How can I reset or shut down the tablet without a password?

If you have time, let the battery drain. Then power up the tablet with the charger. Press Power + Volume Up to go to recovery (until you see the recovery screen) and reset the tablet.
If not, hold Power + Volume Down for up to 45 seconds to restart the tablet. When it restarts, press Power + Volume Up to go to recovery (until you see the recovery screen) and reset the tablet.

Sources:
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 Reset Guide: How to Master Reset, Reset Network Settings, Soft Reset your Tablet
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 - Factory Data Reset (Powered Off)

Option 2 did it, thanks. 15 seconds were enough.

Doesn't that trigger FRP (factory-reset protection) without the account being removed prior to reset? Be sure to check if you can run the initial setup before you "give away" the device, @cheeesus – or the "receiver" won't be that happy…

@Izzy Thanks for the advice, but at the moment, the device is staying with me.


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Why are there two different Firefox icons?

Why are there two different Firefox icons? The version is 57 I guess.

Pull the notification bar down to see why. Maybe it's a notification

I'm so forgetful that after screenshoting it I forgot to see why...

I mean, I need it to happen again, but I don't know how

Single app can use different small-icons or status-bar-icons for different notifications. In your case there are two notifications from Firefox for which the icons are different.
They are set programmatically like setSmallIcon(R.drawable.icon_name) for every notification.

What are the differences between small-icons and status-bar-icons?

they are same, programmatically smallIcon is used. status-bar-icon is common term.

ah, you should put the plural s outside the markdown. Anyway, I wonder why they need to use different icons...

there must be some logic in developers mind, who knows


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How to "Suppress Beep Sound At Recognition Start" on Gboard voice input?
When using Gboard voice to text input, an atrocious bell sounds to prompt the user to start talking.
It wakes up the ...
Sure, I could turn down its volume with the four Android volume sliders. Indeed, on different phones it is on a different sliders. But that doesn't matter, because that is not the solution I am looking for. Why? Because it affects other apps. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Yes, in a Utopian world one could have A and B, and even my groundbreaking landmark Android Speaker Permissions proposal. But today I am merely wanting to deball this one bell, on my run of the mill Samsung A13 5G Android 13 phone.
The logcat is:

04-02 19:24:44.433 I/VoiceInputManager(3099): VoiceInputManager.startVoiceInput():194 startVoiceInput () : VoiceSessionParams{audioInputStream=null, primaryLanguageTag=en-US, secondaryLanguageTags=null, triggerApplicationId=null, triggerFieldName=null, blockOffensiveWords=true, autoStarted=false, fallbackAvailable=false, suppressBeepSoundAtRecognitionStart=false, connectOnly=false} : VoiceTranscriptionState : UI = NOT open : Microphone = NOT listening : Recognizer = NOT running

If only I could somehow go in and toggle that suppressBeepSoundAtRecognitionStart to true!
https://support.google.com/android/thread/201115689/google-voice-typing-ding-sound-is-way-too-loud


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Scan QR codes automatically and continuously
I want to put my Android device in a fixed position, and have the device's camera continuously scan for and respond to QR codes.
For example, I have a few QR codes. I want to be able to put the first QR code in front of the device's camera, and have the device perform the action attached to the QR code (e.g. open a web page). Later on, I'll put a second QR code in front of the device, and it will respond to that QR code. There should be no manual intervention as far as scanning for new QR codes, nor for performing the action in the QR code.
Is it possible?

After opening the webpage, app will become a background app.. How do you think it should work?

As Sachin correctly states: If you want to immediately execute any action, the barcode scanner will become the background app -- and your auto[mat] is moved into a garage. If on the other side you want to batch-collect barcodes for later processing: this is possible.
The well-known Barcode Scanner offered for free by the ZXing-Team provides a "bulk scan mode", in which all scanned barcodes will just be stored for later export in e.g. .csv format. You can read more about this in an article on Using Android smartphone to mass import books.


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Play DVDs on an Android device (preferably Google TV) as DVDs without conversion
I have a collection of DVDs I own and have ripped and would like to play on my Android device.  I want them to play on my Android device exactly like a DVD -- with menus, etc.  I can easily do this on my PC with various DVD playing software (i.e.  VLC Media Player).  I do not want to convert the file to DivX or MP4 or whatever. (as the answers to those questions suggest)  I do not want to lose the menuing and the scene selection, etc.  Instead, I want a full 4.5 GB rip stored on my hard drive and I want to "point at that" (and over the network to boot).
I saw these two questions:

Can android phones play DVD-format movies over WIFI?
how to watch DVDs on my Captivate

However, neither of these questions addresses what I would like to do.
Is this possible?

As far as I know there is no DVD-player software for Android. Nothing that can emulate a DVD experience from a network (or even local) location.
What are you needing from a full DVD experience that you cannot get by transcoding the movie to a portable format? Scene selection? That's really just a way to visually access chapters in the movie. I've used HandBrake to transcode my movies for my Droid X2 while keeping the chapter markers.
If you need things like different languages and subtitles, HandBrake can include those as well into your MP4/M4V output.

this workarund is no direct but complex and time consuming. Conceptually a DVD reader should be able to be accessed through USB OTG and then data should be accessible by software.


text:
Switch between accounts in Android 4.2
I would like to know if it's possible to easily switch between two Google accounts in Nexus 4 running Android 4.2 JellyBean.
For example, I have at the moment two Google accounts set up in the device: my personal account and my work account. But if I access Google Analytics, I can only access using my personal account (the first one that was set up).
Any suggestions?

How are you accessing analytics? Through Chrome?

I access using the Google Analytics app available at Google Play

I asked a similar question.
As a workaround, you can use the data profile feature of Titanium Backup Pro with the analytics app.


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Taking raw photos using Android devices
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4. Is there a way in Android or an app that can take raw photos? I.e. have the raw camera data to process in a program like Photoshop. I am using Android 4.2.2.

Related: RAW camera and Lollipop

NO, there is no public API that allows developers to create camera apps that takes raw photos. Based on what I've read in dpreview.com, implementation would have to be at driver level, and specific to each device.
Also, raw files taken by camera phones would also look nasty.

Thanks for the information. Quite an education and a disappointment. While majority of phone would look nasty there are some newer models like the Nokia EOS (I know, not an android phone) and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom that take nice photos.

@Lynda Yes, I think think some Nokia phones support raw format (DNG).

@geffchang Not yet, but they will. Check here: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/22/nokia-bringing-raw-imaging-lumia-1520-and-1020/

Look at my answer

Now it's possible to take raw photos on some Lollipop devices, like Nexus 6 and 5, among others.
Why is this possible? Because Lollipop includes a lot of new APIs to work with the camera (Camera APIs v2), so any developer today can use them and take the most of the device camera.
Nowadays, Camera FV-5 is the best app to do this (although it is compatible with older versions of Android, raw format only works on Lollipop devices). You can try it or buy it.
Note: Raw capture only works on paid version.
This is another useful link!


text:
How do I grant root privileges to an app?
I have installed Root Explorer on my HTC G12 phone. When try to view /init.rc, it shows 'No root privilege' and ask me to root my phone.
It seems Root Explorer didn't run as root (or this process is not added to some group with storage access). And, it seems on a non-rooted device, when the phone boots up, we are logged in as a non-root user.
Where does Android control the log-in user's privilege level? Is it in the init process?

The log in user is always a user.  You have to invoke su to run specific commands as the root user, and su will not work unless you have rooted your device to gain access to the root account (imagine it's password prtoected and you have to crack the password).  To gain root access on your device, check out How do I root my Android device?
Root Explorer and similar apps will automatically invoke su when they are able to.  The SuperUser app can be used to control access to su, so that you don't have to worry about rogue applications elevating themselves beyond your user permissions.


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How to get camera and gallery working for android 5.1
My phone recently couldn't use Camera neither the front or rear camera. It would show black screen and freeze I cleared cache and did a hard reset. It didn't solve it.
So I thought of uninstall both apps(with root) and try to reinstall them. I did but nothing changed. So I decided to uninstall and replace with the gallery and camera app of my marshmallow device. Both were installed but forced stopped. So I moved them to system/app. It still didn't work. Now I don't even have a backup of the original apps. Is there a work around for this? I don't want to flash. And is there a way I can extract those files from the firmware I downloaded?

It's really difficult to help you without know what device have you got.
But by the SoC, I think it's a Mediatek-based smartphone

Have you tried alternative camera and gallery apps, e.g. from Playstore or F-Droid? See if e.g. Open Camera works (available in both places).

Extracting them from a firmware is dependent on what is the file extension for the firmware. We have a variety of firmwares:

Fastboot Imaged Firmwares
Full Over the Air zip Updates
We have Odin tar Archives
LG kdz Firmwares
Spreadtrum soc Firmwares
Recovery Flash zip Firmwares
Raw binary Firmwares

So if you may want to extract from Fastboot .img firmware, you should know that img files are specially extracted and edited by repacking. Especially for true boot and recovery images. But hope for you is: /system is not a true imaged partition but its a file system. Though named as System.img in ROMs, it is natively a .tar archive that you can extract using WinRAR on computer and locate the app and extract it. The structure is arranged just like the /system partition of Android.
Recovery Flash zips and Over The Air zip updates, as the name suggests are zip archives which can also be extracted with a method similar like the above
KDZ and SOC Firmwares are also archives. But since you don't want to take a lot of time researching what types of archives they are, just open WinRAR on any device you feel convenient and use it as your file explorer. Navigate to the ROM you downloaded and click on it. This will actually do auto-detect the compression algorithm used and it will open it. It will show what type the archive is in the file name of archive. Find your files and copy them.
ODIN tar is a tarball archive. Just extract it with RAR or any other app you find convenient.
You're only locked to flash a whole ROM if your phone has a RAW binary file which can only handled by certain preloading binaries which understand them natively.
Lets come to laying the file back to rest on your file system. Android Nougat always is simple to lay the apps to system. The containing folder obviously had two or one folders in it. One for .dex classes named OAT for easier preparation by the Dalvik Virtual Machine which takes care of all application preparation. And one for libraries used by application named LIB.
They go here: for example the Camera app
/system/app/Camera/lib/arm/lib_camera.so

That's the library
/system/app/Camera/oat/arm/Camera.dex

That's for the Classes
/system/app/Camera/Camera.apk

That's for the application
After copying them. Fix the permissions to
chmod 0644

For all files
chmod 0755

For all folders
I hope this is all you need. As per your question
But if they don't, just flash the whole phone and be ready to go again.
Be sure to review, vote or mark this answer if it helped you. Waiting to hear from you buddy

Welcome again. Anytime


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How can I limit data usage depending on whether the screen is on, or off/locked?
How can I limit data usage depending on whether the screen is on, or off/locked? For example, when the screen is off, data can only be sent and received at a reduced rate. Or, when the screen is off, data connectivity is reduced to 2G. I want to leave data on, but I don't want to let it chew through all of it.
I am aware of the data saver option, but it doesn't do what I want.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Please note that recommendations like Is there an app for X are off-topic here (see What topics can I ask about here? for details). I've rephrased it slightly to match this site's rules as well as your intention.

This literally sounds like what JuiceDefender does... One of the few "battery saver" apps I would actually recommend.

You could  try CleverConnectivity No Ads.
How it works
CleverConnectivity  will automatically turn on and off connectivity
 (data/wifi/sync) while screen is OFF.

For example if the user chooses below configuration:
  Time On: 2min
Time On Next Check: 1min Time Off: 10m Usage check Interval: 3s

Once the screen is OFF, CleverConnectivity will keep connectivity alive for 2min. Then it will check if data is used during a period of
  3s.
If data is used, connectivity will be kept for 1 minute (Time On Next Check).
If data is NOT used, connectivity will be deactivated for 10min. After this, the connectivity will be re-activated and Time On will
  kick in.
Once screen is ON, connectivity will be automatically re-enabled.

With a custom ROM there is also an option to keep conneectivity to 2G only whilst screen is off.

NB (from author): This app is not yet fully compatible with Android Lollipop 5+ as Google has restricted the access to the method to toggle mobile data programatically

Use Tasker app which can disable the internet connection automatically when the screen is off. Configure the app as below:
Profile: Screen Off
Context: (Event) Screen off
Task:
Clear variable %SCREENSTATE
Stop if %POWER ~ ON
Disable "Mobile Data" (With "Keep MMS" if you want)
Disable "Auto-SYNC"

Set Profile's Task Priority to 6


text:
Disable Save As Pdf Option In Print Dialog
I would like to disable or remove the Save as PDF option on the following print screen, is it possible in anyway? A solution with MDM capabilities or programmatically is acceptable.

What i tried so far is,

Checked for a solution on the Android Application Programming side but as far as i see it is not possible.
Checked the list of applications installed on the device to identify if this feature comes with a "print-service" application such as Cannon's or HP's print service applications. But did not see an app something like "Save as PDF print service", also this feature is not listed in settings->print-settings->print-services.

If you can get your hands on the source to rebuild the /system/app/DocumentsUI/DocumentsUI.apk and /system/app/PrintSpooler/PrintSpooler.apk since it relies on the first app, you can manage but any other way won't work for you


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Something's automatically sending "stuff" from my phone
Today I was on my computer and I had my phone (Samsung Galaxy S2 X) sitting beside me. All of a sudden the screen on the phone came on and instead of it showing the lock screen, it went directly to the home screen and a little message appeared at the bottom saying "Sending...". This happened a couple more times and then stopped.
I have ran both a AVG and avast! virus scan of my phone and both came up empty.
I'm wondering if I should be worried if something like this happened or is it something else? What I don't understand is how it just went straight to the home screen without having to unlock it. There's nothing in my text messages or emails to suggest it was being used for spamming. My guess is that it was just an app sending usage statistics or something? Any ideas?

What I don't understand is how it just went straight to the home screen without having to unlock it. -- It's a program already having access to inside of your system. Why would it have to unlock then? It has nothing to do with unlocking physically because unlocking is meant to restrict access of humans solely. E.g.: Airdroid app when accepting connection from PC browser bypasses any unlocking authentication (pin,pattern,slide,password,etc) and will show a dialog box to select Agree or Deny.

If that is a malware, it will take care to leave no tracks (i.e. deleting the sent message).
Two things you should do ASAP:

Contact your provider and check what messages where sent. Especially expensive "Premium" messages. It could be something sends "just spam", but it also could be some "money generator".
Check with a permission checker what apps have the permission to...

send SMS/MMS
deactivate your lockscreen (aka keyguard)

If you find an app that has both permissions, that's a very likely candidate. A good app to check this is e.g. RL Permissions, which lets you check by app and by permission:

RL Permissions: Apps by permissions / Permissions by app (source: Google Play; click images for large variants)
As RL Permissions has not been updated for more than 2 years, an alternative to this is Permission Explorer, which offers similar features:

Permission Explorer: Apps by permissions / Permissions by app (source: Google Play; click images for large variants)
Once you've identified a suspicious app, deactivate or uninstall it. Watch if the described behaviour continues. If it does not, you've got the culprit.
One more lesson learned: Just having some AntiVirus on your device doesn't mean you're safe and don't need to care. Those "checkers" mostly compare with a database of known malware. Unlike their PC companions, they don't do heuristic scans.

Thanks! I checked with my carrier and there doesn't seem to be any unusual text messages that were sent. There also doesn't seem to be any apps that I can see were being used for malicious activity.

That's good news! I already wondered why a malware app would do that in a so obvious way. But still I'm curious what app does unlock the phone to send something. Did you find any app with the DISABLE_KEYGUARD permission which could do that?

I found lots of apps that have that permission but none look suspicious....

OK, so no need to worry it seems. If you want to figure out what's going on despite of that, you might want to capture your logs using e.g. aLogCat (which also allows you to save your capture to SDCard for e.g. posting it to pastebin and adding a link here so we can help you investigating).


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Does USB Internet option require root access?
Hi I want to reverse tether from PC, OS Win 8.1 to android device but is it required root?
In Activity in Local Area Connection Status (Local Area Connection is my Remote NDIS...) I get increased Sent values but this increase is very slow(i.e 168 bytes and after few seconds 210 bytes, and another secs 252 bytes) and not fluent, Received values increase proper and relatively faster than Sent values
I have on the phone 'USB internet active' notification, on PC
I have in Connection section in General
IPv4 Connectivity: 'No network access'
the same with IPv6
Media State: Enabled
Duration: (8 minutes and is increasing)
Speed: 425.9 Mbps
Ethernet is my PC connection with speed 100 Mbps but I live in dorm and really I have lower speed
Phone Model: Quantum 350
I have tried enable sharing tab
and when I launch Opera mini go to some website i.e www.google.com then browser loads and loads and after few minutes I get confirm dialog with info that cannot connect but during the 39 minutes my phone received 395,000 bytes and increasing now (during 45 minutes) I have 460,000 and increasing

ReverseTethering does not require a rooted device. Depending on your device, it might come with a preinstalled reverse tethering option. Unfortunately, this preinstalled solution is only included in very few devices.
I am the developer of ReverseTethering NoRoot, an app that brings reverse tethering to any Android device running Android 4.0 or newer. No root required. All major host OSs are supported. The app is available on Google Play.


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How to update custom ROM with CWM
How to update custom ROM with Clockwork Mod. Currently I have amzen 5 kitkat and want to update to version 6. I know how to flash ROM but I don't know how to update it. Does install .zip from sdcard overwrite earlier ROM or will make bootloop. Other option is to update in settings 'system's updates' but I don't have Internet connection and also this custom ROM probably doesn't support reverse tethering (Internet USB)

Assuming you are on a previous version of the same ROM, the recovery shouldn't matter, just flash the new ROM ZIP (and Gapps if not included in the ROM) and wipe caches... Do not wipe data, and reboot. That is normally all you need to do. Whenever upgrading, make sure to do a backup of your data first, because issues do occur sometimes and one of the first troubleshooting steps with issues on custom ROMs is to clean flash.

@acejavelin Must I port update before updating from earlier also ported rom or only download .zip file with update and flash rom?

I'm afraid I don't understand... What do you mean port ROM? It's either for your device or not.

ok understand this