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ls -b in android shell
If im not mistaking, using ls -b should output escape characters with some sort of representation, but it seems like this option isn't available. Is there an alternative, or is it impossible to have a filename with escape characters on android?

May i ask what you're trying to do with the filenames?  It may be possible to accomplish what you're after without using ls.

Android has a very limited implementation of Linux shell functions.  BusyBox utility expands on the selection somewhat, although it's still not a full Linux set.  It can be installed on most rooted Android devices.
Specifically for ls, only the following options are available via BusyBox:
busybox: invalid option -- b
BusyBox v1.22.1 bionic (2014-05-29 17:30 +0200) multi-call binary.

Usage: ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinsehrSXvctukKZ] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...

List directory contents

        -1      One column output
        -a      Include entries which start with .
        -A      Like -a, but exclude . and ..
        -C      List by columns
        -x      List by lines
        -d      List directory entries instead of contents
        -L      Follow symlinks
        -H      Follow symlinks on command line
        -R      Recurse
        -p      Append / to dir entries
        -F      Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
        -l      Long listing format
        -i      List inode numbers
        -n      List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
        -s      List allocated blocks
        -e      List full date and time
        -h      List sizes in human readable format (1K 243M 2G)
        -r      Sort in reverse order
        -S      Sort by size
        -X      Sort by extension
        -v      Sort by version
        -c      With -l: sort by ctime
        -t      With -l: sort by mtime
        -u      With -l: sort by atime
        -k      List security context
        -K      List security context in long format
        -Z      List security context and permission
        -w N    Assume the terminal is N columns wide
        --color[={always,never,auto}]   Control coloring

The characters allowed in file names on Android are no different from those allowed in other Linux-based systems. As always, it depends on the filesystem.

It's worth being extra-clear that this list isn't the list of options that work in the stock ls, which is even more limited.

thanks, so it seems that if my filename has some escape character or something of that sort, there is no way to pull it with ls without possibly losing information, or is there a way using adb to handle these cases?

You can use wild card characters for these cases. Use * for multiple characters and ? for single characters. ls lib* will find files that begin with lib.

That's good advice, but typing the escapes isn't the problem: it's what happens when ls tries to print them to the terminal.


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USB File Transfer difficult on Cy10.2 ATT GS2 Skyrocket
Okay so I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket (ATT) and I just upgraded the firmware from the the stock ICS to Cyanogenmod 10.2-20131214-SNAPSHOT-InstallerWPPQ50S-skyrocket.
When I try to transfer files via USB, it doesn't just connect the way it used to, it tries to do the MTP or PTP thing. So I've tried using both of these. PTP doesn't work at all, but I didn't really expect it to since it didn't seem like what I was looking for.
MTP I thought would work and it kinda does, but it's very buggy. For example I tried to transfer some music files over and it was terribly slow and it would periodically just stop working mid transfer. It was even worse when I tried to move some large pdf files over because sometimes it would crash before even finishing one (100 MB or so). I was wondering what might be causing this instability.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This doesn't directly answer your question, but you could use an FTP app instead, an app which runs an FTP server on your phone that you then connect to over your local network using a client such as FileZilla on your desktop machine?
(This is how I transfer files to and from my own Android device, the USB is just too slow and unreliable)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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ADB Push not keeping file permissions, specifically execute permission
I "inadvertently" wiped system on my tablet with adb. No critique needed. I've already called myself all the names. What I need now is a way to put at least the "sh" program back on using adb or other program with “x” permission so that I can adb shell once again. Currently, adb removes the “x” permission when using the push option. I examined the adb source code and found one line in the sync section that seems to change permissions to 644. This is a project/challenge to recover this brick. I already have a replacement. Any solutions are welcome. Motherhood comments are not necessary please. Thanks.
P.S. The recovery mode is not working on this tablet (i.e. pwr/vol+/vol-, fastboot, etc.).

Just wondering: How did you wipe /system without recovery? And how do you access the device now without a working recovery? As you wiped /system, the device wouldn't boot up into normal mode either.

Assuming you're on Android 4+, sh is symlinked to mksh. So why not just adb shell ln -s /system/bin/mksh /system/bin/sh?

You can try to install Busybox, SSHelper and Android Terminal Emulator (ATE). Then try to SSH into your device, if adb shell doesn't work. Google for SSH options how to specify the shell to run with remote SSH login. Probably something like ssh user@ip /system/bin/sh or try with ... /system/xbin/ash. Or in ATE you can specify under settings, the shell to use.

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


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Samsung Galaxy Exhibit - Email Photo Problem
I have a Samsung Galaxy Exhibit. When my husband sends me photos in email I can see the small preview picture but when I click on it it reverts to an older picture that he sent me. I think I accidentally locked it to that older picture. How do I unlock it? I can see others pictures with no problem. Thank you!!

I think the original Samsung application is not good enough and has some bugs.
So you can use apps from your mail service like Gmail and Yahoo applications or use applications which support multiple email services like Aqua Mail.

You could provide links to the apps you mention to make your answer more useful.


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Does factory resetting a rooted phone unroot it?
Does factory resetting a rooted phone unroot it? Does it vary by ROM - I'm on CyanogenMod 11 M7 Nexus 4, will it?


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Why does the GPS module hang on my Android phone after some hours?
I record GPX tracks using Osmand.  I have set everything so that it tracks also in the background, with the screen switched off.  After some time (usually hours), I check the GPS and must realise that it doesn't get a GPS fix anymore.  I can wait for hours under a clear sky -- no effect.  But if I stop recording, and re-start it immediately, I get a fix in a second.  What can be the cause of this?
I have created a video at http://youtu.be/sqSjm7EUgbY which demonstrates the problem: Coming and going grey and yellow bars in "GPS Status", but after a short re-start, an immediate fix!
I use Android 4.1.2 on a Samsung Galaxy S III mini.  The background plugin of Osmand 1.7.5+ is active, as is the "keep fixing in the backgroud" option of "GPS Status & Tools".  However, it doesn't matter whether the latter is installed.  The polling time in Osmand is "continuously".
The same issue occurs with some other tracking apps.  At least "GPSLogger" and "Geotag Photos" are affected.  However, I can not reproduce the bug with Google "My Tracks".  Maybe this is due to the fix for https://code.google.com/p/mytracks/issues/detail?id=496 but unfortunately, no details of the fix are known.

It could be the app you are using, in that case contact the developer. If it isn't happening elsewhere then I don't know, my other theory was it was overheating. Samsung devices can run VERY hot and GPS tends to be quite intensive for heat on quite a few devices. If other apps are fine, I'd say contact the developer.

As a developer I see this in my own app IpBike and basically have made the app detect the scenario and automatically stop and restart the gps which normally gets it going.  No idea about the root cause but probably some GPS firmware bug...

The device doesn't get warm.  Since at least four apps are affected, I suspect the cause deeper, i.e. in Android, the driver, or the hardware.  But Google "My Tracks" is not affected, so there seems to be a workaround.


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Netbook 10' displays jelly bean forever
How do I start my new icraig net book, what can I do to start it up or do I have to return to the dealer. The battery is fully charged but i can't go beyond the first screen displaying jelly bean.

If it's never worked, then you should definitely consult the dealer first.

Tnx. It's never worked.

Have you tried doing a factory reset?


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How to permamently change partition attributes?
I've a rooted phone. I want /system partition to be rw on every boot. Partition's attribues are defined in /fstab.<model_name> file. It seems that this file gets restored to the original version after each reboot -- my changes are discarded by the OS. How can I prevent that?

Have you tried modifying /system/etc/vold.fstab instead? I believe that is loaded on boot.

@Chahk: I don't have this file on my device.

Must be for older Android OS versions then. Are you running 4.4+?

@Chahk: <4.3 ver.


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Force Android to stop asking me if I want to terminate my own app
I've got a simple logger app that I wrote for my Android phone.  The problem is, periodically (seems like it happens every few days) when I turn on my phone I am confronted with a modal dialog box telling me that my app has consume X amount of CPU already, and do I want to kill it?  The thing is, this generally happens some time AFTER I have stopped logging and it is just sitting there doing nothing, and moreover, this is when it is on AC power, so I don't see how battery consumption is even a concern.  In any case, it is getting annoying having to constantly tell it to not kill the app.  It is more concerning to think that this might still happen if I ever enable "stealth" mode on my app to track it if it is stolen, as this would alert a perpetrator and give them a chance to disable my app.
Is there some way to disable this behavior?  If so, how?

This sounds like there's a bug in your app causing it to run continuously instead of stopping when it has finished. I'm afraid we can't help you with such a problem, as this isn't a programming site.

@DanHulme I have verified that is not the case to any meaningful extent; the total reported CPU usage of my app is under 2 minutes, all of this before I turned off logging.

Try running your logic in another thread or in async task's doInBackground


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How to get specific contact's "+1" Play Store applications list?
I would like to get list of "+1" Play Store applications of specific contacts. Are there any ways to do this?

Google just added this to the Play Store a few days ago. Open the Play Store and tap the menu in the top left and then tap People. Here you will see an overview and some recommended apps and people. If you scroll to the bottom, you will see a few g+ contacts. Tap "See more" to view a list of all the people in your g+ circles. Then tap on the person you want and all their reviews and +1s will be there.

could not find "people" item in any menus. Can you share target page's link? When I open "Recommended for you" section, recommended applications based on my contacts and my profile are shown. This is not what I'm looking for. @abqnm

I am referring to the Android app so there is no way to link to a menu in the app. It was just added a few days ago, so it may not be on all devices yet.

hmm I see; I was speaking about web ui of Play Store. By the way I could not see any option like you said. Maybe - as you said - it is not ready for all devices.

Yeah as far as I know there isn't a way on the Web version yet. And it just started rolling out about 4 days ago to the mobile version so it could take some time for everyone to get it.


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PGP keys on Android
How do I set up a PGP key on my Samsung Android 4.1.1 tablet? No idea what I'm doing so please give step by step simplistic instructions

Maybe we should take a step back and ask: why do you think you need this? What are you trying to accomplish?

There are some apps for PGP on Android:

OpenKeychain
AGP


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Text messaging application disappeared
I have Samsung S Duos Ice cream Sand witch(4.1.2) loaded in it.I can't see my Text messaging app and also the icon in my phone for past two days.I am unable to get new messages also.I did not hide the application.Since it is one of the system application you can't uninstall.Is it any problem in the operating system to hide Messaging ?

Did you check your app drawer? Perhaps you have just accidentally deleted the shortcut from your home screen.

Also if for some reason it is not in the app drawer look in the system list of apps (Settings -> Apps -> All ->Name of Message App)


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Enable bootloader screen for Lenovo Vibe Z
I pressed and held volume up key for sometime and my Lenovo Vibe Z is seems to be bricked (not charging or switching on). I would like to get into to the boot-loader screen to factory reset the device.
Two things:

Please help me with the key combinations required to get into boot-loader.
Or ways to unlock the boot-loader in Lenovo Vibe Z.

Volume up and Power key?

not happening..I don't understand..it should charge at-least..

How did you manage to brick it? Or is it simply not charging?

While I was on call I pressed and held volume up button..and that was it. Its bricked or not I have no clue.

Hold Volume Down and then hold Power

I would be more concerned with 'not charging' than anything else. Is the cable or the plug damaged? It may be a hard brick, i.e. damaged hardawre. Start with the plug and cable for the charger, try another socket and your PC to charge. Then try another cable / charger. Failing that, try another battery if you can get a hold of one, and so on until we can isolate where the problem is.

Done. Problem was with the charger, was using Samsung charger.
But I still have no clue why it got off by holding volume up key and I am sure that charging was above 20%, it should have resurrected to life when I pressed power button.
And while I am at it, this phone awesome except its antenna. Voice breaks with the jerks on road.


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How to disable calls but still receive texts
Is it possible through a setting or an app to receive only text messages and not phone calls?
Specifically I have an Samsung galaxy s3

Not tested: you could disable the Dialer, go to Settings > Applications > Phone (or possibly 'dialer') and disable. Not a great work around. You could route it to your Google Voice mail if you have that set up. You could use a blacklist app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sriseshaa.android.myblocker or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.incorporateapps.callblockerlite and see if you can block only calls... Let me know if anything suits or works and I'll expand a fuller answer.

Not sure about the Galaxy S3, but my S5 has the option to disable just the calls. Open the Dialer → Settings → Call → Call → Rejection → Auto rejection mode →All incoming calls.

Use call forwarding. Forward to a number which is not in the network.

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


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Call recording for Galaxy S2 with kitkat ROM
I'm looking for a call recording app \ mod that works on Galaxy S2 with android 4.4 ROM.
I used several apps with previous versions (mainly on stock ROM's) but none of the apps I tried worked on KitKat ROM
Currently I use Resurrection Remix ROM but I don't mind changing to a different ROM (I understand that CM based ROMs don't have call recording support)

My suggestion is to go for Call Recorder - ACR, it works fine with my CM11


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Samsung S3 - 40mb free ram of 1.5 gigs?
My S3 has been lagging while I play in games or use aps. I've read that free ram is not supposed to be linked with lag but it seems that it must be. While in one of the games I play, my keyboard will not load, or will close randomly. I assume this is due to lack of ram to open it.
I have very few aps and almost no background processes. How is 1.44 gigs of my 1.5gigs of my ram being consumed?

on the Play Store there are several utilities to clean Phone and speed up processes. My favourite is this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanmaster.mguard
Your excessive use of system RAM is (maybe) due to some persistently active process on your phone. Follow this guide to see yours (and maybe evaulate a uninstallation of some):
http://www.wikihow.com/See-What-Apps-Are-Currently-Running-on-Android
By the way, can you please tell us more information about your Android version?
Best regards,
Luca


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android is upgrading, starting apps boot loop
I have a allview urban tab 7 tablet and it's stuck at this "android is upgrading, starting apps" boot loop. I haven't done anything to it like rooting or installing untrusted 3rd party apps other than facebook, gmail, and some official apps from the market. What can i do? It's driving me crazy and i have no idea what's wrong with it. Can you please help me?

How long have you left it for? It takes a while the first time


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Battery draining much faster
I have rooted by Huawei Honor 3X using this procedure http://playfuldroid.com/how-to-root-huawei-honor-3x-tutorial/ , but it seems like my battery are draining slightly faster. Should I unroot my device, or could it be because of the live wall paper?

Rooting should not affect battery life, unless you have unlocked bootloader too and installed some mods/tweaks or whole custom ROM. You can check the apps with root access, if they're not causing the problem.


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Can you unlock brand new phones?
I saw a cheap Verizon HTC ONE M8 on eBay, but I am on AT&T. If I was to get that phone, could I unlock it straight away? I thought I remember hearing somewhere that you can't unlock phones for a few months after their release.
Sorry if this is the wrong site to ask.

You can unlock phones a few ways: 1) buy an unlocked phone 2) unlock via 3rd party software that will more than likely result in a voided warranty 3) wait for carrier commitment to be up and then ask them to unlock.  The thing with trying to unlock phones from different carriers though, is that Verizon is CDMA and ATT is GSM.  So with that, you can unlock the phone yes, but whether it will work on ATT (be it at all or how well) is up to you. My guess is that voice/text will work fine, but you will not get any data until you edit the APN and then it's up in the air.


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Tablet stuck in boot animation
I have this tablet, MSI Primo 91 and just recently I booted into recovery mode in order to wipe the cache. On restart the tablet gets stuck in the manufacturer boot animation and refuses to boot up.
I then tried to reboot into recovery mode when the android laying on its back pops up. The recovery options won't show up.
This guy here.

The device restarted and gets stuck yet again in boot animation.
I visited the website to download the firmware. I followed the ritual described in the pdf instruction file and I couldn't  recover the tablet.
Right now, I just as stuck as the tablet. How can I fix this?


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How to stop a notification saying "Registering to Network" every few seconds?
On Samsung Galaxy S2 HD LTE SHV-E120K Android v4.1.2 without a SIM I get "Registering to Network" notification repeatedly.
How to stop?
Thanks.

Enable airplane mode. Wifi will work in this state.


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Using a android tablet embeded in my car
I want to replace mycar hifi with a tablet, I have worked out the mechanical issues with putting a 7" tablet behind the dashboard where my exisiting doubld din car ICE is, with it behind the trim i have no access to volume or power without removing it, is there a device I can get that can remote control the volume level and/or the power on/power off functionality.
The tablet will be connected to my amp for final audio output.
cheers for any suggestions (thinking of hacking a BTkeyboard to bits for button funcion unless you can recomned somit better)

For volume control you can go to Settings->Sound->Volumes->Music,video,games and other media

How about using widgets? Probably cheaper and would let you control all the functionality on the device itself, without any external hacks.
For volume control, you might be able to do with a widget similar to Volume Control Widget and for the power menu try an app like Button Savior or Shutdown Menu 2.1 (Both power menu apps require root access I believe)
EDIT:
Just realized that you might have issues waking up the device once the screen turns off. Found Wave to Unlock after a few minutes of googling. It uses the proximity sensor to unlock the device. This might do the trick.

many thanks for pointers, appreciated, using an ipad would be the easy solution, but where is the fun in that

Found this on reddit. Lots of tips! http://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/2jp696/i_installed_a_nexus_7_in_my_car_it_looks_awesome/


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Is possible to change an app icon on 4.1 on my S3?
I have an app that I downloaded from the Play store and it's icon is very visually unappealing and I wanted to know if there is way to replace the default icon with one from an icon pack without a launcher.  Like, can I permanently associate a new icon with the app I want to change?  How can I do it? Or will the default icon always  show up in say, the Share menu but remain different on the homescreen?   Any tips?
OS: 4.1
S3

Unicon
is an icon theming tool which requires root, but it's more consistent throughout the      device.
Icon Changer changes only the icon of the shortcut, but doesn't require root.
Use Apk Extractor to get the installed apk from the device, transfer it to a PC, modify it and then reinstall it. Does not require root.

Icon changer didn't work at all. I wonder why...? Damn, no root or a PC.  :-(

Won't APK extractor require you to sign the new APK with a new key? This would mean you have to uninstall the app and lose its data to install your modified version.

@verve The Icon Changer app is only for shortcuts on the home screen: it won't change the icon in the app drawer or any other menu.

If the icon changer that were suggested are not working, and you don't mind changing your launcher, there are some launchers that support icon changing (and also theme changing and more good stuff).
As example, you have:

Go Launcher
Nova Launcher

You can have a look at the play store, and also see what other launchers can offer you!


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Are .smi or .srt files more compatible with the S3?
I've been using .srt files exclusively on my phone thinking they must be the most compatible as all the apps that use sub files generally say use the .srt file format but today I came across an app that chose .smi files as the only option so I was wondering whether the "sub-community" in the Android world has moved toward .smi?  Now on an Android phone which type of sub file is easily converted to another sub format? And, if one is stuck just using a phone which of the two formats are much more flexible?
OS: 4.1
S3

This question is probably opinion-based.
I'm not familiar with the trend in subtitles, but I use them a lot since I am hard-of-hearing. Most of the subtitles I get from SubScene are .srt files. Occassionally, I'll encounter a .sub and .idx combo, but RARELY an .smi.
A lot of media players support .srt; a lot others also support other formats. My guess on the app that you found which supports only .smi - which you didn't even mention its name - is that it may have been a niche app to play videos that have .smi subs. There may have been no other app that played .smi when it was made. I am just speculating.
But one thing for sure, .srt is not going away any time soon.


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Is it possible to set custom calendar notification sounds for each calendar event?
I'm trying to create a custom notification sound for a single calendar event. For example, I want to use one mp3 for my reminder to take out the garbage, another for a birthday reminder, etc.
Is this possible? My phone is an HTC One running stock 4.4.2
thanks

I have not tried the Caledar Event Reminder, but it's probably worth checking out. Can't try, because it's paid, and doesn't have a trial version.

Download "File Manager (Explorer)" from Google Play List and explore "Notification" Folder.
Copy your custom file - MP3 ringtones in the "Notification" folder.
Open the Google Calendar --> General Settings --> Sounds --> You can find your custom file to select.

Hope this resolves your clarification.

They don't want to set a general sound effect. They want a different sound effect for each individual event in the calendar.


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WiFi icon stays orange when using proxy
I recently setup a proxy within my home. All my machines and devices (PC and android)can connect to the internet through the proxy. I'm using my tablet now to do so.
The one issue I've seen is that the WiFi icon stays orange (I'm on kitkat, so it would be the same as white people on an earlier version). This seems to affect other apps that asks the OS if there is a connection before even trying.
Is there any documentation around using a proxy that could explain this? Is it a known issue? Is it likely I miss configured something?

What device is this on? Android version?

This is on a second gen nexus 7 running 4.4.2. It also happens on my galaxy nexus running 4.2.2.

This was my mistake. I had the proxy server configured incorrectly. Packet forwarding was not turned on so no traffic other than the intercepted port 80 and 443 traffic could reach the internet. Since Google uses ports in the 5000s to determine connectivity and those ports were essentially blocked no internet connectivity could be determined.


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Mount script cannot be created. mount: No such file or directory
I have micromax bolt a58, I have rooted it with farmaroot and install link2sd but it didnt work
when i formatted it with ext2 it says try with fat32, and when i do so it gives error - Mount script cannot be created.
 mount: No such file or directory
Please help me...

You need to say exactly what steps you took and what commands you ran, and the order you did them. Say at what step you got each result, and the exact text of any error messages.

I was following this post
http://www.aagneyam.com/blog/?p=80412
Everything was fine but problem is - Link2SD will ask to select the file system of your second partition i.e ext2 ,ext3 , ext4 or FAT32
this is where I am facing the problem... If I am going with ext2, ext3, ext4 Erro: your device did not support extX, try with fat32. and when i go with FAT32 Error : Mount script cannot be created. mount: No such file or directory

Wat are you using to create and format your partitions? I ran into a similar error when I used Paragon Partition Manager (https://www.paragon-software.com/) in Windows. The phone wouldn't correctly recognise the partition.
I then used (I think it's the 'official') the SD Formatter program in windows to format my partition but it only seems to make use of the entire sd card and not really give you an opportunity to have multiple partitions.
You should really try GParted. It's pretty fool proof. Just make a bootable USB, pop on GParted and create and format you partitions in that. Good guide here for a GS4 but should work for your phone too: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2285221


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Reinstall system apps after removal
I rooted my phone and, perhaps over-zealously, removed many of the system apps which I deemed junk.
But, now I'm trying to restore one of the apps I removed, but simply restoring the file to the /system/app directory and giving the right permissions (rw-r--r-- to root:root) does not allow me to use the app on my phone.
I am trying to restore the Gallery3d.apk app file (from a backup) to my LG P509 phone. I am not sure if this solution will have general application or will only apply to this particular app.
I have already tried copying the app to the user-accessible storage and trying to install it as a User app, but the install fails.
How do I restore this app (or these types of apps) so that my phone will be able to use it again?

You probably need to reboot after putting the file back in /system/app. Or otherwise force it to refresh the list of installed apps (which maybe the pm command can do, not sure)


text:
CLI commands in android?
Since Android is linux, cant i use standard linux commands inside android? I know there are applications that allow for a "Command Line Interface" (CLI). I also imagine that adb would provide access to command input (possibly as root?).

Can i run bash scripts and use commands like mkdir, rm, and cp in android?
If not what caommands can i use? does google provide a list?
How would i input CLI commands in android? ADB?

Does adb provide root?

Note: I run an android emulator, from Eclipse, with Fedora 20 as my OS. I do not presently have an android device to work with, or i would probably just tinker until i figure it out.
Any and all information is greatly appreciated.

documentation for the android terminal emulator. includes a good tutorial on how to use the CLI in android... but not really what im looking for: https://github.com/jackpal/Android-Terminal-Emulator/wiki/Android-Shell-Command-Reference

docs for ADB... more what i am looking for, but it doesnt provide a definitive list of what commands can be pushed through adb... http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html

Yes, Android has a command-line interface just like a desktop GNU/Linux system. But because it's an embedded system without storage space to throw away on features most users don't want, there aren't a lot of commands installed by default: just some specific ones used to interact with Android services (such as am and pm). Because the manufacturer can customize the system image, there's no definitive list of what commands are available: it varies from device to device.
To add more commands, you can install Busybox, which is a single package containing a set of the most-used Unix command-line utilities. There are several "Busybox installer" apps on Google Play, but as it's open-source, you can also install it from F-Droid or build it yourself from source.
As you've already seen, there's a wide variety of terminal emulator apps. These run on your Android phone and provide a window into which you can type commands and see the results. Often they come with SSH clients and the like built-in, because the most common use for a terminal emulator on an Android phone is to SSH into a bigger computer.
In addition, running adb shell from a desktop computer that's connected to the phone via ADB gives you a shell on the phone. You can instead run adb shell command to run command in a shell on the phone.
Neither of the above methods of starting a shell make you root by default, but if your phone is rooted, you can use the su command in the usual way to become root. Whichever root manager you have on your phone (Superuser, SuperSU, etc.) will probably pop up on the screen for you to confirm the root access.
Shell scripts run on Android in the usual way, but as I've already mentioned, you don't get a lot of commands to play with by default, so many scripts written for desktop simply won't work.

Termux seems to be a great emulator that includes a nice selection of Linux commands.


text:
Acer Iconia B1-710 connecting to TV using HDMI
I've tried connecting my Acer Iconia B1-710 to the tv using a USB/HDMI cable but the tv will not recognise the signal!
What else do I need to do to get the image to appear on the tablet and TV simultaneously

I have the A1-810 & it has micro HDMI to connect a micro HDMI to HDMI connector. There is also a mini HDMI connector in total 3 sizes in HDMI connections Mini, Micro & regular HDMI connections!

In order to use a USB to HDMI cable the device needs to support Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL), which, unfortunately, the Iconia B1-710 does not.
Some devices have their own proprietary cables for connecting, but, according to this Acer forum thread:

We do not support connecting the B1-710 tablet to a television via USB. There are no products that I am aware of that would facilitate this connectivity.


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Htc one m7 International not recognized in adb mode
I have an htc one m7 running bootloader hboot 1.56.
I unlocked the bootloader via htcdev.com
The bootloader now shows Unlocked
My phone is recognized in adb when the phone is turned on.
But when i go into the bootloader and get into the fastboot mode, the command "adb devices" returns blank in the command prompt.
I have reinstalled the htc drivers thrice already. Twice using the latest version of HTC Sync Manager and once separately from a link on xda.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Can somebody tell me where I might have gone wrong?
P.s. - Running windows 7 x64

You don't use adb to connect to a device when it's in the bootloader menu: you need to use the fastboot command instead. That's why it's called "fastboot mode"! Not all phones support fastboot: in particular, older HTC phones use a proprietary protocol called HBOOT instead, but I think the newer ones support fastboot.

I figured that out after an hour of searching with different keywords. I'd been out of the rooting game for a while, got confused between the two.

Fastboot in bootloader mode did work.
adb does not work in bootloader.

Thanks for the answer Dan, much appreciated.


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lg ms770 touch screen unresponsive
i really hope i can get solution to my dilemma..
quick details: my phone (lgms770) fell (had its protective case) and now i cannot swipe to unlock, answer phone calls, text..basically the touch screen does not respond. This has never happened before. The power button does work though. It has fallen many times but it always ended up responding well. I removed the case, the battery the sim card and left it for a couple minutes.Then I put everything back together (for several times now) and restarted the phone, but the screen is still not responding. Is there any way to fix this without having to get a new phone??


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google play services do not support your device
When I open some application it says Google play services it says "Google play services which some of your applications rely n do not support or device"..what should I do about it?

What device do you have? What Android version are you running? Where do you see this message?

Similar, if not duplicate: Can't use Foursquare because it needs Google Play Services, which "is not supported by your device"

Prior to Android 2.2 Google Play Services is not supported.

Following steps helped me. May be you can try.

Go to Settings -> Apps
Find Google play
Click on Uninstall updates
Once Uninstall update is done, Open Google Play several times till it updates to latest version itself.
Open youtube to check if the message is gone and you are able to open youtube.

Did not help in my case.

1) Go to Settings -> Storage
        Clear the Cache (select the item and hit OK to clear it), then:
2) Go to Settings -> Date & Time
        Check the first 2 options -- if they're selected already, uncheck and re-select them; see if the time fixes itself.
        If it works, reboot the device and see if the time sticks. If not:
3) Power off the device, pull out the SIM and re-insert it, then power on the device.
        Repeat Step 2.
        If that doesn't work:
4) Try a different SIM (preferably on a different carrier).
5) Lastly, try to manually set the date to within a few minutes of the actual time, then see if it survives a reboot.
If all of that fails, I would suggest booting into recovery (while device is off, hold Power + Volume Down until you the the 'laying down android' screen) and doing a factory reset (back up your data first).

How will this help?


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How to automatically switch between apps and/or websites on Android?
So I'd like to turn a tablet into a calendar, alarm, weather display, and task organizer that shuffles between these every five minutes when not being used. It will be mounted on a wall or next to my dual monitors.
Most likely going to use google calendar, android native clock, a generic weather app, and a custom app or web app respectively.
Any good ways to do this? Thanks.

Clearly a job for Tasker (see also: tasker, automation). You could create a profile being active permanently, and assign it a task running in a loop. An example could look like:

Condition: WiFi connected (your WiFi SSID) have it running all the time while connected to your WiFi
Task:
FOREACH %item 0:3
  LAUNCH APP (Google Calendar) IF %item = 0
  LAUNCH APP (Clock) IF %item = 1
  LAUNCH APP (Weather) IF %item = 2
  WAIT 5 min

The "LAUNCH APP" action lets you select the app to launch. So the loop would count from 0 to 3, launch the corresponding app, then wait 5 minutes (i.e. the app stays in foreground for those 5 minutes). Once #3 has been processed, the task would quit – but should immediately be re-launched, as the condition is still met.
I've not tested this specific configuration, so above is "plain theory" – but should get you started. You can consult the Tasker User Guide for available commands etc, but Tasker also offers a context-sensitive built-in help. Get yourself a 7-day Trial first if you want to test it first, it's available on the project site.


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Find bluetooth version on Galaxy S3 running 4.3
Every answer I've found to this question says that under Settings -> About Phone, I should see Bluetooth Version listed. I don't even have About Phone. There's Settings -> More -> About Device, which shows me the android version and kernel version, but nothing about bluetooth. If I then click on Status (on the About Device page) I get my bluetooth address, but again, not the version. Help?

The option you are citing is the very same. Whether it says "About phone" or "About device" is usually dependent of whether it's a phone or a tablet. Obviously Samsung "thinks big".
To your main issue: You might be able to use a Bluetooth device scanner on your PC to give you details on "devices in reach". Details should at least give you clues, so e.g. "EDR" is not available before BT 2.0, SSP was added with 2.1, etc. (see Wikipedia on Bluetooth).
On the other hand, checking the S3 specs at GSMArena.Com (first address when looking for device specs) shows:

Bluetooth: Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR

Which should answer your question.


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Internet over mobile-data while connected to WLAN network
I have a WLAN network that is not connected to the internet. There is a DHCP server on that network and that assigns its clients an IP and subnet mask, but no default gateway.
When I connect to this network on an android device mobile data will automatically be disabled, so that the device will loose internet connectivity.
Most operating systems, when they are connected to multiple networks use the fastest connection that has a default gateway to connect to IP outside its respective subnet. However Android doesn't seem to get to that stage, because once it connects to a wi-fi network, it will disconnect the mobile-data - to save battery power, presumably. It doesn't care to check if there is gateway on the wi-fi network.
Is there a way to disable this "feature" of disconnecting mobile data when a wi-fi is connected?
Or better: is there a way to prevent disconnecting mobile data when the wi-fi has no default gateway?
Thank you in advance.

First, you need a rooted device.
Then, have a look at this, it's maybe what you're searching for.


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Low space even though most apps are linked to SD card
I have link2SD and 90% of the apps are on the SD card. Yet I still only have a few MB left of space. I tried refreshing my e-mail and got a message "can't download more e-mails, delete some first". I connect using IMAP. What can I do? Obviously I don't want to delete a whole bunch of e-mails but is there a way to have only the 50 most recent e-mails sync to the phone?
Are there other places space could be taken up? When I started running low I went to the app manager but the system mail app wasn't included there so it confused me as to what was taking up all the space (I'm still just guessing it's e-mail).

This sounds a lot like an issue with cache. While the apps themselves can be stored on the SD card, cache that they produce might not. As I don't know what apps you actually have, I can only advise you to at least try and delete cache from various apps, such as twitter, facebook etc.
To delete cache, do as follows (this is for android 4.3): Settings -> More -> Application manager
Here you should be able to click in on every installed app, and delete their cache. Beware, tho, for something like calender and alarm clock apps, any set up serviced from them might reset! This should not, however, delete the app itself.


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LG P880 Screen stays awake whilst charging
I have a phone that when I plug it in it turns the screen on and the doesn't go to sleep until I press the power off button.  Is there a way to make the screen go to sleep automatically like when you just leave it normally and it goes to sleep after 30 seconds?
I have googled and tried most things i have found like checking the developer options to make sure the stay awake when charging box is unchecked and using the original power cable but nothing seems to work and as my personal phone automatically turned off I have got used to just plugging it in and leaving it to charge.
The problem with this new one is that when the screen is on whilst charging, it is so crap that the battery actually goes down rather than charging.  I hate the phone but can't get rid as it's a work phone


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How to install google apps when android built from source
I added a kernel module to the msm flo kernel. I built android JB from source for my Nexus 7(flo). I flashed the device with the built OS. I can add 3rd party apps for which I have apks or I could add them to the source tree.
But I can't add google apps or anything from the play store. I can't add my google account under settings->add accounts since it doesn't exist. I tried installing google play store by downloading the apk to my machine and installing it with apk. Play store does install, but play store crashes as soon as I click on it.
Is there anyway to fix this issue?
I am using ubuntu 14.04

There is a lot more to the Google Apps than just downloading and installing the APK.  Google's Services framework and apps (a.k.a. GApps) are not part of AOSP which is probably where your source comes from, but they are required for Play Store and other apps to work properly.
Unfortunately GApps is closed-source, so it's not allowed to re-distribute these portions.  However, since your Nexus 7 tablet shipped with them, you should be able to easily find all the necessary components in the original image.  Alternatively, you should be able to find the GApps package for your specific Android OS version that works on your tablet over at XDA-Developers forums.

You need the GoogleLoginService.apk and GoogleServicesFramework.apk installed in addition to the play store.
You can obtain the needed apks out of the google apps package cyanogenmod makes available, or just flash the entire thing.
If you want to do the one-at-a-time method, they also have a listing of what all the system apks actually do so you can decide if you want them.

You need to flash the Google Apps package for your device.
Head over to Goo.im. There'll be a guide there on which GApps build to download for a specific Android version.
Flash it through recovery. If you're having lots of FCs with Google apps after this, I'd suggest you reflash your Android build and then GApps immediately after. Don't forget to clear cache.


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Unfortunately, Software Update has stopped OTA (LG G2 Rooted)
Whenever I click it, I get the "Unfortunately, Software Update has stopped" message and the app closes. Picture is not of my phone, I found it from another post that was not answered.

My phone was trying to update automatically but would fail during the process. I read a forum saying to restore some hotspot files that I had changed to get the free hotspot. I must have done something wrong in trying to find the stock hotspot files and now my phone wont even start to try and update.
Any help would be great!

Just open your setting>apps>software update>clear data. You are done...!!!


text:
S4 won't boot into ClockworkMod Recovery
I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4, and am trying to install CyanogenMod 11 Snapshot, but I'm stuck. I installed ClockworkMod Recovery using Loki, but whenever I go into recovery with my phone, it just goes into the default recovery mode, with a little Android guy saying "no command", so I'm unable to install the CM .zip from my SD card.
This is on a rooted S4 (Model SCH-1545) on Android 4.3, Kernel version 3.4.0, and Baseband I1545VRUEMK2.


text:
Why does my phone need to connect to google servers?
You can tell the difference between when your phone is connected to Google's servers, and when it isn't by the following in 4.3:
Connected

Not connected
Please note one is blue and one is grey.
My question is why is it necessary for the phone to connect to Google's servers at all?

Lots of apps use this connection to do their work. As well as Google's own apps such as Gmail and Hangouts, third-party apps that use any of the following features via the Google Play services library need such a connection to work fully:

license verification or in-app purchases
push notifications using Google Cloud Messaging
Signing in with your Google account or syncing or backing up your data to Google's servers
Most Google Play Games Services features (e.g. online multiplayer and leaderboards)

Even so, the indicator isn't really meant as an indicator about Google's servers. Since Google's servers are always there, Android checks if it can reach them as a way of knowing whether it can reach the Internet in general. That way, it's easier for you to know what is wrong if you're on a captive Wi-Fi network; that is, the kind that redirects you to a login or terms & conditions page.


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how can i repair samsung galaxy s duos 2 GT-S7582 no sim card/no service
i already tried installing stock firmware the new and the old firmware philippine GLOBE but still nothing happen still no sim card/no service .. when i try to call it says "not registered to the network" please anyone help me .. even just advice what to do ..

I also faced that problem. After changing the motherboard it rectified. Since it was done during warranty period, I did it free of cost. Many peoples suffer this problem and it is clear that it is manufacturing defect.


text:
where android backup its data?
For some reason, I had to reset my nexus5. Thankfully, I had "Backup my data" on. So, most of my settings are back. But I need to access the backup to change the wallpaper position (it has reset my last wallpaper, but I need to slide it). I have checked google drive and g+ auto-backup which backs up the pictures, but the wallpaper is not there.
Any idea where I can found the data backed up?

Also related: What info does Google backup? / Is there any way to check the backup that android does? / Can I manually download my wifi settings to my Android device from my Google account?

The data backed up using "Back up my data to Google's servers" aren't user-accessible. Each app has access to its own backup data. That's the only access available without hacking into the backup service.
This is a deliberate design decision. Android protects app data from being seen or modified by users or other apps, making it easier for apps to rely on the integrity of their data. (That is, unless you have root, in which case you're on your own.) Allowing users to intercept and maybe modify the backup data would defeat that protection, making it harder to write robust apps and harder for apps to restrict how you use their data (e.g. for movie rental apps).
You can learn more by reading my detailed answer about Google backup and how you can interact with it.


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Google Play site says the app is compatible but the Google Play app says otherwise
I am trying to download a game from Google Play to my VirtualBox. The site (browsed with my Windows 7 laptop and Firefox) says the app is compatible with all of my devices.

I happily clicked the install button, and Google Play site said the app will be installed on my device soon.

However, my VirtualBox reported a failure: the app cannot be downloaded due to an error. (942)

Clicking the notification led to the a dialog with the app cannot be downloaded due to an error. (942) again, and at the bottom-left corner was a message saying that my device isn't compatible with this version, which is a conflict with what Google Play site said as in the first paragraph.

I am using Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.3.10 with Android-x86 4.3 in Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64-bit). My question is: Is my device compatible with the app? And if it is, How can I install it?
(And an off-topic question: How can I complain this to Google for the conflict?)

I am sure it has something to do with the fact that you are running it on a VM. And I am definitely sure that Google wont provide support for an installation of this nature. Maybe you can try the Google forums.

That's not a Play Store compatibility error that you're getting on your device, that's an install error which says that it's having problems installing the app on your device. The Play Store only checks some basic specs of your device (like OS versions, screen size, RAM size, whether or not there's a camera, etc) it can't tell remotely whether or not there's a problem with your device.
There are a few threads on the internet that talk about getting error 942 when installing apps, and they seem to suggest that it's a problem with the GoogleApps on your device. Either there's a data corruption in the GApps, or there's a problem with the version of GApps you've
got installed.
See some of these for more info:

XDA: Play Store - Error Code 942
XDA: Apps not available on market and cannot be installed manually
And others

The two main solutions that worked for people are clearing the application cache on Google Play Services, and Google Services Framework:
To clear the app cache:

Go to Settings > Apps > All then find the following entries in the list
Google Play Services, Google Play Store and Google Services Framework go through each of those and select Force Stop (if available) and then Clear cache

The other solution that has worked for people using non-standard ROMs and installs like yours are to double-check the version of the Google Apps package that they've downloaded and installed and make sure that it really is the right version of GApps for their device and OS version.


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On campus e-resources cannot be accessed via Google Chrome Android
I own a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet(Wi-fi only model) featuring Android 4.1.2. My problem is that I cannot access and use library e-resources on campus although I have my tablets MAC address registered at the computer center in our university and connect via the wireless network available in campus. The problem is exclusive to Google Chrome, I can browse using Firefox and the already installed browser without  problems. Which setting in Chrome might have to do with this?
I am looking forward to hearing your response and suggestions on this
Thanks

What happens when you try to access them? Include the exact text of any error messages.

@DanHulme Not an error message but I am not logged in to the campus account opposed to the case with Firefox for example. Furthermore, I am presented the off campus login page where I have to provide my university account credentials; however, providing these credentials do not provide access.

You'll probably have to get the site admin involved. Without knowing how they're detecting what network you're using, it's going to be hard to find the problem.

@DanHulme I did not get the argument but I have already consulted the library staff and they were unable to provide assistance on the matter.

I wouldn't expect the library staff to be able to help. You need the people who actually run the network.


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Adobe Acrobat signature field does not make other fields “read only” when signed on android
We are using adobe acrobat pro, and creating a simple form that a user can sign on an android tablet. The problem is that when the users sign the document, the fields do not become "read only". If I open the documents on my desktop, I can edit all the fields except the signature field, even if it was signed by another user.
I'm sure it's some silly setting issue, but we've already used the document security settings and adjusted the digital signature form field settings to "make all fields read only" and "locked" the signature field.
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

Any third-party PDF reader will do the same. If you're intending to rely on these "signatures" as some kind of proof of acceptance, you're setting yourself up for legal trouble later.

We aren't using any third-party software. Just adobe reader and adobe acrobat?

I understood that. I'm just warning you that you can't rely on the fields being read-only on other platforms either. A signature field in a PDF file is not a replacement for a cryptographic digital signature. Maybe you already knew this, but since the potential consequences are quite big, I thought I'd better warn you in case.


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PIN invisibility in android
I am using PIN security for unlocking the phone. When i type the PIN, a blue highlight comes to the pressed digit. How can i hide it? I am in Note 2 rooted with stock rom.

How about unchecking Visible Passwords from Settings > Location and Security?

Unfortunately there is no such function on Android. There is something similar when using a pattern to unlock your phone. Another solution would be third party software.
Also check this article on Lifehacker for much more tips on improving your phones' security
http://lifehacker.com/three-ways-to-improve-your-androids-lock-screen-securi-1293317441


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Google Play Store No connection
Why when I enter Google Play Store using my LG-P875 phone, it shows only "No Connection Retry"? A few days ago I was deleting some apps and other stuffs to save up my storage space, and I wonder if I actually deleted sth that relates to the connection to Google Play Store. Please help me find a solution!

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! In order to help you, we will need much more details – e.g. are you connected via mobile network or WiFi? Did your network show a connection? Are you able to access the network with a browser in those cases? Which Android version runs on your device?

Many people right now have been experiencing this issue over LTE networks. As we speak I am also experiencing this issue and I am only able to use any google application over wifi using a Samsung Galaxy S5 -> Tmobile
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Google-Play-Gmail-Maps-and-other-Google-services-hit-by-global-outage_id56208
http://www.droid-life.com/2014/05/16/google-services-experiencing-issues-how-are-yours-acting/
EDIT: After about a day without google services unless on wifi, they have been restored on my device.


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How can I stop Android from synchronizing videos while still synchronizing photos?
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 which is great for watching movies. I move them from my computer via USB to the "Movies" folder and it just works fine.
But one thing that I don't like is that the movie is synchronized. It gets automatically uploaded. I can see it on https://plus.google.com/photos/yourphotos. And I don't like that. How can I prevent Android from doing this?

I have Samsung Galaxy Note II. In my phone I can configure the content synchronization in:
Settings / Cloud / Contents sync
There is independent sync setting for Pictures and Videos.


text:
Transfer file securely android to pc via LAN
I need a file transfer from android device to pc server.Both of them is in same network.First i tried file transfer via adb.But adb is not secure connection.
How do i securely transfer between android and pc in LAN ?

What precisely are you trying to protect against?

transfers are happening in wifi network.only server machine can see packets.unauthorized clients should not  see packets while transferring with 3.party programs(e.g wireshark) what is inside.

BTSync is one way to go,
another way is to install ssh server and use rsync/scp to copy what ever you need.

is there a library for embedding scp to my developing android application ?

@remotecommando This site is for Android users, so you can only expect answers that are useful to end users, not answers to help you write an app.


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how can I change the contents of /proc/product_name_extra?
I have a rooted device and need to change the contents of /proc/product_name_extra from Prod to Eng. I have tried cp, mv, echo, and vi. I get IO error most commonly and no matter what perms I set I cannot edit the file. Any help would be greatly appreciated

/proc isn't a real filesystem, so the 'files' in it can't be changed by normal means. Rather, it gives file-like access to the system state. The only way to change what it reports is to actually change the system: in this case, that means flashing your device with an engineering ROM instead of a production ROM.

Damn. That's actually what I am attempting to do, but in order to flash the engineering files, the updater script checks this files value for "Eng" instead of "Prod"


text:
Put six quick-toggles in Note 3 menu
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The 'slide down menu' [1] can be configured with 'quick-toggles' [1] at the top. A maximum of five 'quick-toggles' can be displayed at any one time, with the remainder of configured 'quick-toggles' available by sliding the 'quick-toggles' control to the left.
My particular use case is that I do need to see at a glance six 'quick-toggles'. Scrolling to see the sixth is a hindrance to my particular use case. First-world problem, I know! How can I configure or hack the 'slide down menu' to show six thinner 'quick-toggles' on the display at once?
[1] This is my first Android device. Please correct my terminology so that I might be able to Google these questions myself next time!

Use Wanam Xposed or Wanam Kit. It's an Xposed Framework module that will allow you to change everything about the toggles


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Can't get in recovery or normal boot HTC One M7
Please help me.
I've done something really stupid. I flashed from ClockWorkMod to Android Revolution HD on my HTC One m7.
I've got ClockWorkMod Recovery installed and when flashing was done i got stuck in HTC startup screen.
Trying to get in to recovery mode again and install my backup did not work, it just shows ClockWorkMod Recovery logo and reboots.
Is there any way to use ADB/fastboot when in the bootloader screen?
Info from bootloader screen:

M7_UL PVT SHIP S-ON RH
HBOOT-1.56.0000
RADIO-4A.23.3263.28
OpenDSP-V32.120.274.0909
OS-4.19.401.8
eMMC-boot 2048MB

Have you tried to make a factory reset via ClockworkMod and wipe cache, dalvik, etc.?

You should be able to use fastboot while in bootloader mode to flash the correct CWM version.  Is that not working for you?

@Bewn: Please don't edit "Solved" into the title – instead, upvote/accept the answer which solved your issue (as you answered your question yourself, you will be able to "accept" in within 48h – but cannot upvote it). This is not a forum, but a "question-and-answer" (Q&A) site, which works a little different ;) Thanks!

The first problem was that fastboot didn't connect to my PC.
This was solved by changing computer to one with a USB 2.0.
The problem I had with my recovery was solved by flashing the recovery partition again and cleaning the cache (forget that the first time).
fastboot flash recovery clockworkrec.img
fastboot erase cache

After this I was able to get into recovery mode.
I then had a problem where Android Revolution HD did not install and my HTC One M7 was stuck in a bootloop.
This was solved by installing TWRP instead of CWM recovery, and by changing S-ON to S-OFF.
I was then able to install Android Revolution HD.
Thanks for the comments and many thanks to "bored_stupid" on XDA-Developers who solved the installation problem for me.


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Offline voice recognition Kitkat
Got a Moto E recently.
I was checking out the Google voice commands. It works great. But offline commands are not working. As soon as I open the voice search/Google Now offline it gives error saying not connected. I tried downloading offline language and installed the same. But still not working. Anything else am missing here?

I own a Moto X and I know that it has "two modes" of voice recognition: one activated at any time by the command "OK Google now", which appears on a black screen, and the other activated by the voice search button on search/Google now app.
Every voice command recognized on the black screen is done offline, but on the white screen it needs to reach Google to recognize the command. In this case download the offline language pack will save you some data and result in a faster command recognition, but you still need to be connected on the internet in order to do so.

How do you get the " offline language pack"?

Go to Google Settings > Search & Now > Voice > Offline speech recognition. There you can manage the downloaded languages.

What are"Google settings"?

It is an app to manage the settings of your Google account. You can reach the Google Now settings by opening Google Now, clicking on the bottom right menu and choosing the Settings option. From there just choose Voice > Offline speech recognition.

Theres no such option. Maybe i have blocked it with xprivacy


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Copy contacts from Google to SIM card
I have recently got my SIM card replaced, and lost all contacts as a result. I was wondering if there is a way to copy them from Google Contacts to the SIM card. It would type them one by one but it seems like a waste of time. Surprisingly, though, I haven't been able to find an easy way to do it. Is there a way to dump contacts from the google backup to the SIM card?

I'm confused. If you have your contacts in your Google account already, how did you lose them? Simply signing into your Google account and enabling sync should download your contacts regardless of the SIM card.  Also, even if you manage to copy from cloud to SIM, the same situation will repeat next time you need to replace the SIM card.

Yes, I can simply download the contacts to the phone, but if I want to use the SIM in another phone (an iOS or a dumb phone) I can't do that. I just wanted a way to copy those to the SIM memory.

You can export your Gmail Contacts list into a .csv file prior to
  importing them into FullContact (to have a backup) using these steps:

Sign in to Gmail.
Click Gmail at the top-left corner of your Gmail page, then choose Contacts.
From the More actions drop-down menu, select Export.... Choose
whether to export all contacts or only one group.
Select the format in which you'd like to export your contacts'
information. Please note, some of these formats can lose some
contact information.

To transfer contacts between Google accounts, use the Google CSV
format. This is the recommended way to back up your Google Contacts.
To transfer contacts to Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, or various
other apps, use the Outlook CSV format.
To transfer contacts to Apple Address Book, use the vCard format.

Click Export. Choose Save to Disk then click OK. Select a location to save your file, and click OK.

You probably want the vcard format. Then use a contacts app that supports vcard importing. When importing it will ask you where to save the information (choose SIM). Note SIM cards can't hold many contacts.


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How to flash a kernel image without building Android from source
I got the following msm kernel branch for my Nexus 7(flo)
      msm/remotes/origin/android-msm-flo-3.4-jb-mr2

added some files and then built an image(zImage). I then downloaded a factory image of Nexus 7 for JB - 4.3 (JSS15R) [This said razor which I dunno why. I thought it was flo]
Anyway I took the factory image. Split the boot.img file into the ramdisk.gz and zImage. Then I got the zImage from the kernel I build and replaced it with the zImage from the factory image. The I combined the zImage and ramdsik.gz to create the boot.img and tried to flash it. But the device goes into a bootloop.
The zImage works when I build android 4.3-JB from source. But aosp seems to miss some packages I need.
I wanted to know what I'm doing wrong and why android goes into a bootloop when I combine it with the factory image

You can't (reliably) combine a kernel with a ramdisk from a different kernel. The ramdisk contains the kernel modules you build, so it has to go with the exact same kernel build. If you build a kernel, you have to flash the ramdisk produced by that build along with the kernel image (and vice-versa).


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Touch screen is not working properly after replacing LCD display and Touch screen
I recently replaced LCD display and Touch screen of micromax canvas A116. but unfortunately my touch screen is not working properly. so my question is that is it because of
some hardware issue or should i require to hard reset my phone or should i do something else? Thanks in advance.

The fact that you replaced your LCD and Digitizer of the tablet may suggest that this will be a hardware problem. Assuming that the device was functional before the 'surgery'.
You might want to double check all the connectors of the digitizer and or display. When that is all 100% correct you can consider that the digitizer will be Dead on Arrival.
Good luck..

Thanks for the quick answer. Is there any connection between LCD and Digitizer? or is it both different entities ?

I dont know how your device looks on the inside or how the hardware is attached, usually the screen and digitizer have seperate flex cables which you plug in on the mainboard.
Assuming you recently replaced the LCD and Digitizer, you should know :)


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Is it possible to change the details of my mobile that my carrier sees?
Here is an interesting one. I have a mobile phone that I use daily. I have a PAYG package that allows unlimited Data with it.
They have just changed their policy that now sees my particular mobile phone as a Tablet. With that they have blocked my Data use via the Sim for this mobile only!
What I am interested in is if there is a way to make my mobile look like another model of mobile to my carrier.
Like this.....
My mobile is a Samsung Galaxy P1000 - I want it to look like a Samsung Galaxy S3 to my network... Hope that makes sense..
I have used this phone for 14 months every day without problems and spoken to my network provider at length regarding the problem. They said if the SIM is used in any other Smartphone it will work, just not mine!!
Look forward to your answers on the matter..

Did you ask how they identified you phone as a tablet? By it's IMEI perhaps? And by the way, it is a tablet with voice call functions, not a phone.

This wouldn't be possible unless your phone is rooted (which is not mentioned). If you have root access, there are apps (Market Helper) and manual methods to change which device is reported to Google Play Store. This might not work if the device is reported based on IMEI or something else, but might be worth a try at least.

Regardless as what it is classed as I was advised by 3 that is would be prefectly fine to use on the package i was using, they have only recently changed their attitude.

@onik you cannot classify the device as a tablet or a phone. It has enough characteristics of both to be on the midpoint. Specially since the device only runs up to gingerbread (official roms).

@Mindwin I can't but the manufacturer can, which is why the device is known as Galaxy Tab, and is marketed as a tablet. User opinions can differ, but if a device is created, branded, marketed and distributed as a tablet, I'd say that user opinions can't sway the carrier.

Your TL;DR; answer is: NO.

Your carrier will always see the IMEI code of the phone. It is like a MAC address on a LAN.
Spoofing or changing the IMEI of a device is Illegal.
Since in S.E. we won't go beyond the law, nobody is changing the IMEI.
You can check the model and status of any device by its IMEI, in this link here.
The P1000 sits on the boundary between a phone and a tablet (Humpty Dum-P1000 sitting on a wall...).
There are some like @onik♦ or your carrier that will see it as a tablet, but screen size (and there are several 7 inch phones out there) is hardly enough to make a device a tablet...
P1000 runs only up to 2.3 gingerbread (stock) - Several apps behave as phone only because of that. It makes calls and messaging, so I call a mistrial on this whole tablet or phone thing.
We are specifically talking of the P1000 here. The other generations of the Galaxy Tab series can fall into the tablet side of the wall, but the P1000? no.
Good luck convincing your carrier of either. My money is on them telling you to suck it (as bad as it sounds).


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Where is the current_now measurement generated
If you go into the adb shell, you can check what the amount of current the battery is discharging by using the following command
cat /sys/class/power_supply/battery/current_now

When the current is discharged it shows it as a negative value. I am wondering where in the kernel this current_now file is generated. I am using a nexus 7(flo) and I am using 4.3 jelly bean.
An app I am using (trepn) doesn't like negative measurements. So it shows current values as 0. I am trying to find where the current now file is generated and replace the sign

Basically there are battery drivers in the android. Actually the device consists of Fuel-Gauge which is the IC providing information  regarding monitoring of voltage, current, temperature. These values are then send to the concerned unit, for eg. charging current is send to the Charger IC etc.
The battery driver (not device) present in the device provides interface to the charger IC and Fuel Gauge IC (not in all chipset but in most of the Samsung phones) and has nodes which has these values and are used by the framework layer through sysfs. So the value which you read is the exact value read from the registers of FuelGauge IC presrent.
Hope this helps.


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Wifi connection issues
Yesterday, we changed the service provider of the office wi-fi and since then, my Samsung Galaxy Tab3 (8.0) working with Android 4.2.2, has stopped recognising my office wi-fi.
It is working well on other wi-fi connections. My cell, my laptop recognise the office wi-fi but its my Tab that refuses to play ball.
Could someone help me out here ?

what error you are getting

Try powering down the device.  Turn it all the way off, not just reset.  This will ensure power cycling the NIC.
When you power it off, make sure it's off for at least 30 seconds.


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Android 4.4.2 - How to not dismiss notification while checking the detail
I recently upgraded my phone to Galaxy S5. This phone has 4.4.2. One big inconvenience I have encountered so far is the way the event and notification work - the system automatically dismisses a notification when I tap on the notification to check the detail. Usually, I can only prioritize what I am doing and the upcoming events after seeing the event detail. But by tapping on the notification, the notification is dismissed and will not show up later, should I decide to ignore the notification for now.
Previously on 4.0, unless I mark a notification and tap on a dismiss button, the notification stays. I would like to keep the old behavior if possible.

It's up to the app (developer) to set when the notification is dismissed (automatically when you touch it, or at some other time), so it sounds like the difference here isn't between the two Android versions, but between the calendar app you were using on your old phone, and the one on your new phone.
Because it's up to the app, it means you just need to find a calendar app where the event notifications behave the way you want (or where there's an option to control it).

I am using the calendar coming with both phones. I have tried digging through settings but couldn't find a way to change it.


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Micro USB cable - Intermittent
I have a http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QOAGOQ/ "4-port USB charger". Recently I noticed that some Android devices e.g Nexus 7 (2013), charge very slowly when one particular micro USB cable is connected but that same cable charges other devices just fine.
I am not sure what to make of this. I thought a cable functions in a binary fashion i.e. it either works or doesn't. Why would it have a degraded performance just in some situation? As long as the connection on both ends is proper so the current is flowing, that's all that matters, right?
Is there a app to check how much current/wattage is currently being received by the Android device? I tried "Battery Monitor Widget" on the Play Store and it shows the current flow as negative or 200mA, surely that can't be right when the charger is putting out 5V/1A per port. Maybe the app is buggy.
Thoughts? Thanks

More likely the app is useless without hardware support. In any case, you specifically mentioned your 4-port charger. Are you using the same port for the "good" cable and the "bad" cable? If not, there's your answer.

My Nexus 7 is running latest Android (4.4.2) and hardware specs are pretty decent but I get your point. Good point about the charger, will try using the same port for both the cables. Thanks!


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I'm switching mobile phone service and I want to port over my contacts
So I have a Droid Razr and I backed up my entire phone to a 7zip file. All I want to get is my contacts and a specific picture and ringtone. I got the picture and the ringtone but I don't know where to find my contacts. I have a lot of them so I don't want to lose them. It would be much easier if I weren't switching phone services because the sim card is Verizon and I could just switch the simcard in and let the contacts transfer like that. But I'm switching to Metro so the sim card won't do anything. At least I don't think it will.

Are you changing phone too, or just the SIM card?

If you're just after the contacts, that should be easy as 1-2-3:

open the contacts app, tap the menu, chose "Export to SDCard"
copy the resulting file (in most cases named something like 0001.vcf over to the new phone
on the new phone, same as in 1. – just chose to "Import from SDCard"

Of course, there are several more alternatives – depending on your preferences:

if you've synchronized your contacts with Google (or some other cloud service), they should automatically be synced to your new device as soon as you connect it with your account
plenty of backup/restore apps are available to assist you, some even specific to contacts
more information might be found in our backup tag-wiki


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Avoid app to autoinstall
I have a "ZOPO ZP100" phone with Android 4.0.3. Eventually applications (Chinese) are installed without my permission. Any human action is not necessary for applications to be installed, and is quite annoying as it often happens that the phone stops working until the app is installed. I would like to know how to avoid that, or at least know if there is any way to know which application or process that performs that action.

Is your phone rooted? If so there are things you can do and I can help you but if not then unless you can get it rooted to get superuser access, you are at the mercy of the image and how it has been configured by the provider.

Could an app you've installed yourself be behind that? I'd recommend checking for apps having the INSTALL_PACKAGES permission, as only those could do things like this. And to do it without user interaction, usually suggests an app with root permissions, as that permission has the protection-level "signatureOrSystem".

I think it is an application that comes with the phone. The phone is Chinese and all applications are autoinstalled, they do in Chinese
@gardian: Yes, my phone is rooted


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Spotify automatic "offline mode" when no Wifi connection
Is it possible to automatically switch my Android Spotify app to "offline mode" when not connected to Wifi?
I've just had 1.5GB of data downloaded via Mobile data connection which has over maxed out my limit!
I'm not sure why this has happened (I can only assume it's re-downloaded some playlists?), but I would like to prevent this from happening again.

Go to Settings and untick "Download over 2G/3G".
This way Spotify won't download/update playlists when WiFi connection is not available.
It can however still stream music, so to disable that just tick the "Offline mode" option.
If you leave it ticked it won't stream music anymore and you will be only able to listen to previously downloaded playlists. Also, you settings will be preserved and the next time you start Spotify it will still be in Offline mode, preventing unwanted Mobile data traffic.

On my app, this today reads 'Download using cellular' and defaults to Off - glad to see before heading out of my apartment!

No need to do that, if your device runs at least Android 4.0:

From your homescreen, go to Settings → Data Usage
tick the checkbox to enable data limit
in the graph, move the bars to some level suiting you (can be imaginary high, to not toggle your mobile data off altogether when reached)
scroll down until you find the Spotify app, tap its entry to open details
scroll to the end of that screen, tick the checkbox to "limit background data"

Done. Now, unless Spotify is running in foreground, it should no longer automatically use mobile data.
This setting has no effect to WiFi, so it would perfectly fit your needs: while on WiFi, Spotify feels no restriction. As soon as you switch to mobile data, the app is no longer allowed to automatically transfer anything in background – but should still permit actions you trigger when the app is in foreground.

It is not possible to programmatically toggle offline mode (ie, by creating an Intent or with Tasker or something). However you can limit streaming quality over mobile networks, same with downloading of offline playlists.
Spotify is aware of some users having problems with high data usage, and some of the recent 1.x releases have contained fixes for these types of problems. So always make sure that you have the latest version of the Spotify app installed!


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Making Phone Calls from a Different Device
Let's assume that I know my device will fall in the ocean in 6 months, I'm not allowed to buy insurance, and my contract expires in 18 months. I'm also a terrible swimmer, and Michael Phelps won't get it for me.
I would think that you could reverse engineer the code and make your own phone calls from a different device, even without the sim card. You just need to be able to program it.
I'm mostly curious if this has been done before and if it has a name. Are there any similar tricks/ideas?

My advice would be - take the easier route. Improve your dexterity and hold on to the phone.

I can't help it. I'm clumsy.

Sorry, this is off-topic because it has nothing to do with Android.

If something like that should happen, you can just get your carrier to "port" your phone number to a new SIM card, and use that in the replacement/spare device. This is more or less the same process you use to transfer your number to a different carrier, but a lot simpler in this case. After all, they're the ones in control of what phone number goes with what SIM. Ask the carrier for a replacement SIM and they should be happy to oblige.

I appreciate the answer, though I was really trying to create a scenario in which I was forced to do it myself. I apparently failed :).

I believe that would be illegal. Isn't it akin to SIM cloning? It has various security threats and is illegal to prevent terrorism and loss of personal information or identity.

@AdityaSomani Yeah. There are definitely malicious uses for this information. Makes it hard to learn this area of computer science :/.

@MillieSmith That's why your question should tell us exactly what problem you're trying to solve. It's hard to answer a question when it requires a kind of guessing game about what the questioner is really trying to achieve.


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Android tablet very laggy and freezing for 3 minutes (slow internal storage?)
I have Pipo M9 Pro with Android 4.2.2
OS is quite laggy and to use Chrome is almost impossible... it is so very slow and sometimes I cannot do anything for 3-5 min because of freezing.
I made some tests with AndroBench and it looks like the internal storate is very slow.

Could this be the main and only problem? Also for the freezes?
Should I just get a fast SD card and link everything to there? With which app? How can I then take the card out and copy something to it?

From the specs about your tablet on       http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/PiPo_M9_Pro
They look good.
You should check how many apps that you have running at one time, too many apps running  can slow down your device. You should check how many apps you have installed, and check that your storage isn't completely full.
I also believe that you do have a slow internal storage on that device.
As far as linking everything to SD , there is a program called Link2sd in Google Play.
In order to use this , you will have to be rooted, as well as have a kernel that supports
mounting an external partition.
If you want to copy something to the card manually from a pc, you would need to find the microsd card slot , take out the micro sd and then plug it into a microsd to sd adapter, or a microsd to usb adapter. Then you will be able to transfer files.

I don't have that many apps running at once and the storage isn't full. I'm now getting impatient with freezes - the system is unusuable. I don't think this is only because of slow storage, now it froze while doing something non-intensive.
Do you think custom rom can fix these freezes? I found one KitKat but it says: "This custom firmware is based on new official update dated 2013/12/26." --> but yes, it's KitKat and I have Jelly Bean, so maybe it will be better.
I was asking about removing SD card with all the apps and OS but of course this isn't smart, I'll just use USB.

If you remove a SD card , that has apps linked to it , the apps will no longer be usable until you put it back in.Linked sd cards are partitioned. So you can still move apps or other data onto the fat partition. In some cases , custom roms are great.  I have used many, and currently are still using them on some of my android devices. If I missed your question, just let me know . Good luck :).

Thank you! I guess I'll just try... but currently I'm trying to find out what SD card speed this tablet supports... is it 30 MH/s, 45 or even 80 ? I wrote to the company and am waiting the answer.. also I asked at slatedroid.com forum for this tablet, but no answer so far.

I had the same freezes and all vanished with this kasty firmware. I am so happy like I bought another tablet. Go for it!

really? I just tried upgrading to firmware PIPO sent me... it's new "20140319_DS1007_M9pro_4.4.2.img" .. still froze for 1 minute while just browsing. So you think kasty could solve this? I guess I'll just try then... but it would be strange. Did they actually change anything that could influence that in their firmware? So "kasty-pipo-m9_pro-442-20131226-rooted4c_mu" is the latest "kasty" firmware? Do you know? tnx

Ok I found the latest Kasty here: http://www.arctablet.com/blog/forum/pipo-max-m9/rom-pipo-m9-pro-android-4-4-2-kitkat-custom-root-firmware-20140319/  - so it's based on the same firmware I tried earlier today and was freezing.. I'll try Kasty but can I reasonably expect it to be better?

Tried it... Chrome froze immediately for 2 minutes :/ "Chrome isn't responding - Do you want to close it?". Very disappointed... I just hope something can be done about it.


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No sliding (gesture typing) feature in Google Keyboard for Ukrainian language
I can't type words via "sliding through letters" in Google Keyboard when Ukrainian language is chosen.
Is it OK? What may be the reason? No "sliding" support specifically for Ukrainian language?
I have Moto G with Android KitKat.
I tried on both 2.0... and 3.0... versions of Google Keyboard...

You can now download the latest version of Google keyboard (with sliding support) from the Google play store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin


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Automatically download new Youtube videos
I am looking for a way to automatically download new Youtube videos from all my subscriptions or from a certain user/channel to my Android phone for later offline viewing. Some sort of video podcast functionality.
I tried a lot of different methods which I read on the web, but none of them seem to work. I first looked in the official Youtube app. You can see your subscriptions there, but no possibility to automatically download new videos for offline viewing. Next step was using a podcast app (AntennaPod) and a url generated from Youtube api:
http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/users/simonscat/uploads?alt=rss&orderby=published
This did not work, it just downloaded a small summary and a link to the video. After trying this, I used the YTPodcaster website to generate a podcast link:
http://ytpodcaster.com/api/index.php/rss?youtubeid=simonscat&quality=22
Sadly, also this did not work. Latest episodes seemed to be downloading, but when I opened one it just returned "null".
I tried other podcast apps (BeyondPod, Podcast Addict, DoggCatcher) but none of them seem to be able to automatically download Youtube videos.
Does anybody know a solution for this?
(Using Android 4.4.2 on Xperia T)


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Homescreen icon disappears on application update
I'm facing an unusual scenario with a few of my installed applications.
Whenever there is an update to the application, when I allow Google Play to perform the update, the shortcut that I had on my homescreen gets removed.
What is going on here? Is there something that the app developer has (or hasn't) done that could cause this to happen? This doesn't happen for any of the other shortcuts I have on my homescreen.
It's generally only an annoyance, since I can just grab the app icon from the app drawer and drop it on the homescreen again, but I have to do so after ever update. And I need to notice that it's gone.
Is there anything I can do to keep it from happening?
Further notes:

Android 4.4 (Moto X), unrooted
Apps only ever installed from the Google Play Store, with a single Google Account
The two apps I'm thinking of where this happens are paid apps, but it's not happening with all of the apps I've paid for

I won't submit as an answer because I can't give you a detailed response but I think its to do with the package and/or name. Android is looking for a specific app/package name for the shortcut.
Think of it as a shortcut within Windows to an app called myappV1.exe but then changing the app name to myappV2.exe without updating the shortcut. Difference is Android removes shortcuts that point to nowhere, Windows does not.

But the package name is the same for all versions of an app. That's what makes them the same app.

Is the issue still relevant, and can you share the name of those two apps?

I've seen this same behavior on many, but not all, apps, and it doesn't seem to be specific to any one version of Android, nor particular hardware. I did notice, today, on my tablet running Lollipop and using the Google Now launcher, that my Facebook app had a slight variation on this - the icon was not removed from my home screen, but the color was partially desaturated; it's missing from my app drawer, tapping the home screen icon produces the toast "App not found", but I can launch it via Recent Apps, or from its "Launch by main activity" button in System Settings > Apps > Facebook.


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How is Edge So Fast?
I have the BLU STUDIO 5.5 on T-Mobile, however its not a T-Mobile device. I only get Edge. It's pretty slow for video watching. However, it loads sites in less than 2 seconds. Sometimes less than 1. How is that possible? On 4G sometimes I didn't get that, especially when I was throttled after using my complementary LTE data.

Some sites which you recently visited are stored on your browser memory as cache and cookies, so when on slow speed data connection it comes up as a plus point because sites load in a second.
Try this: clear cookies and cache and now try to load the same site on edge. It will take long!

When loading a web page there are two different aspects to the speed. First is how long it takes the beginning of the request and response to traverse the network. This is your latency (usually referred to as "ping time" and measured in milliseconds). Second is how long it takes the bulk of the response to follow. This is your connection speed (usually referred to as "bandwidth" and measured in bits or bytes per second).
If a page is relatively small, just a few tens of kilobytes, then the latency will play a bigger role in the page loading than the bandwidth will, and a "slower" connection could "load" pages faster.


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Can I prevent auto-update of apps with changed permissions?
I would like to auto-update any app that has no change in permissions.  Apps with changed permissions, I would like to review the changes before updating.  Is this possible?

You can choose do not auto update from the setting of play store
when you open Play Store > My Apps (from NAVIGATION Drawer) if there will be any notification to update apps ..
when you choose UPDATE / UPDATE all then it will ask for accept permissions if there is any change in permissions
Well it is not possible but If you want to stop Auto-update apps on android then this might be the perfect answer
 1. Open PLAY STORE
 2. Play Store Setting
 3. TAP AUTO-update apps
 4. Choose From Options

How does this prevent auto-update of apps whose permissions have changed?

when you choose do not update & open your play store after couple of days if there is notification 2 update apps in MY APPS section. when you tap UPDATE ALL
if there would be change in permission of apps
a dialogue box will ask for SKIP or Accept with the permission
suppose you have 7 apps update & there are 4 apps with Change in permission
when you TAP UPDATE ALL
4 dialogue box will appear one by one
if you choose SKIP then it will start updating apps those 3 app with no change in permission
if you accept all four dialogue box then it will start updating all 7 apps

I know.  I'm looking for a way to have apps with no changes in permissions to be auto-updated without user action.  I think your answer is "It is not possible".  Even with root priv and some other blocker app installed(?)

well i have done that earlier thats why i am suggesting you..


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Meaning of Options in FastBoot Flash Menu
I've just bought my first Android device, a Motorola Moto G. Following the official guide on Motorola website, I learnt about FastBoot Flash Menu. Here there are several options. I'd like to know what everyone means.

Well, I don't know what all of them mean but I can get you started. You are currently in the bootloader.
Recovery: This is the partition in memory that has a recovery installed. A recovery program allows you to connect via adb (android debug bridge), flash update zip files (or ROMs), perform backups (nandroid backups), wipe data, factory reset the phone and some other stuff.
Factory: This option will restore your phone to factory settings. In other words, it will wipe all your data and the phone will start back up like it was new.
That's all I know.

I'm pretty sure what you said about Factory is wrong, it does not reset the phone, it is apparently more like a "factory mode" for the manufacturer, but I don't know exactly.


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Is that only very few app really use mult cores power?
I google this question but there is almost no discussion. So only very few apps really use more than one core?

It's a pretty subjective question, since no one really knows how many apps do or don't do any given thing. You'd have to carefully analyse each app to find out how much use it can make of multiple cores.
Likely, more apps than you realise are doing this. First off, Android makes it very simple for app authors to work in multiple threads, with helpers like AsyncTask. App developers are encouraged to do most operations in background threads, such as loading bitmaps from storage, transferring data over the network, or long computations. Running those on a second core keeps the app more responsive while the operation's going on.
If the app does anything with GL (most graphics-heavy apps and almost all games do), then it's certainly using two cores. How much use it's making of that freedom to parallelise is different for each app, but again, it lets the app do long-running operations while still responding to you.
On top of this, even if the app you're using right now is only running in a single thread on one core, anything else Android is doing in the background will be running on another core, which again lets your app stay responsive. This might include activities like drawing the system UI, running background services from other apps to check your mail &c., features like "Smart Stay" on Samsung phones, listening for the "OK Google" hotword, and more.
So in short, while we can discuss how much use any given app makes of the power available to it, a sweeping statement like, "very few apps really use more than one core," sounds like the kind of thing an uninformed salesman would say to try to impress you.

@Poldie I believe that's what I said.

Thanks. Is that for the programming part, as long as it is mult threading, then using 2 cores or 8 cores would be the same coding?

@Annie It really depends on how the work is distributed among threads.

There is no central repository where in the apps that are uploaded in Play store or any other store for that matter are sorted into

Apps that use the camera
apps that use one core etc etc

This is because majority of android users do not care how many cores apps use!
Also due to restrictions on clock speed / computational power you can't actually do compute intensive stuff on android, there is CUDA for that, you still have to revert to desktops.
And it all depends on the developer really and we can't really say for sure if there are few apps for android that use multicore.

What restrictions on computational power? You can play GTA 3 on Android, and you can do face detection. Both of those are pretty compute intensive.

for compute intensive applications we use the mighty
Nvidia GPU, Tesla K20
Specifications
Processor clock 706 MHz
cores: 2k
Memory clock 2.6 GHz
Memory size 5 GB
Memory I/O 320-bit GDDR5
Memory configuration 20 pieces of 64M ×16 GDDR5 SDRAM
single precision FLOPS: 3.52 Tflops
Playing GTA3 is compute intensive? are you kidding me?


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Why is the screen going black on my LG Optimus 4X HD when I make a call?
I have an LG Optimus 4X HD and when I make a call, the screen goes black. It does not come back on when I move it from my face or when the call has ended. I cannot check call waiting, internet, contacts, call duration, use speaker phone or anything during a call. The only way I can end a call is by pushing the power/lock button. I have tried re-calibrating the proximity sensor thru the 'hidden menu', checked every possible solution under the settings and NOHING IS HELPING!! This is extremely annoying for me. Can someone please help me?? I am running on 4.1.2.

I have looked into how to disable the proximity sensor on the Galaxy S4 and Nexus 4.
The S4's instructions were on stackexchange: Screen turns off during call with Tecno F7
But it appears Android 4.x AOSP, by default, does not have a way to disable the proximity sensor (I would love to be proved wrong). That's the issue with the N4, and possibly with your 4X HD.
There is a third party application, which I have not tested, that claims to be able to do this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.itsme4ucz.screenoff