text:
How do I get my picture to appear in message threads?
In the stock messaging app, the contact I'm messaging has their picture next to their replies, but mine is just a grey box; how do I get my picture there? I have a contact called 'me' with my picture and phone number, but it's not making the link.
I'm running Gingerbread 2.3.4 on Nexus S.

Assuming the answer to my comment above is Talk, you need to change your picture in your Google Account.  This is most easily done through Gmail's settings on a PC.
If you sync your contacts from Gmail, that picture might possibly show up in your SMS app as well.

I created a contact with my name, full telephone #, and email and added the photo to my contact. My photo now shows up in txt messages and in gmail app. I have no clue if it will work with other email and sms apps.

I stumbled across getting my picture to show in a very weird way.  First of all I use Gtalk and my phone is connected to my gmail and my gmail happens to be firstname.lastname@gmail.com which I have a picture for.  So I went into contacts clicked add new contact.  For first name I put in only my first name and filled nothing else out then I hit the button that brings up the settings on my phone and there was a join option.  When I hit join option it gave me suggested contacts which i'm assuming recognized my first name and pulled up gmail account to join and I saw myself show up with my gmail picture voila!

I am facing the problem as well on 2.2.3. I have gone through different suggestions and from them it seems that the owner's phone number needs to be in the SIM itself. The original post is here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=687011 .
I could not try it myself since I am yet to find a phone where I can assign my number to self.

Hmm that sucks you can't do this in Android, is there an app which can do this?

Yes, there is one such app, but I could not recall the name of it. Also it didn't install on my device. Not sure whether that will work for you or not. But if you want, you may try at android market.

App doesn't work on Nexus S :(

I had the same problem, I was very frustrated with all the postings that kept directing me to facebook! Not all of us want to be that connected... Anyway I kept at it on my own and this is what worked for me:

Go into your text message history
Tap on your "shadow" figure
Tap on your menu icon at the bottom of your phone
Tap on "Edit"
Tap on your "shadow" figure
Tap on "Gallery"
Tap on photo from your gallery
Save

Jeez couldn't believe how long this took me to work out, it's not in the manual that comes with the phone in fact almost nothing is in the manual I have had to find just about everything I needed through forums such as this.  That being said after it's all figured out I am ultimately happy with the HTC Wildfire S.
Thanks to all of you who took the time to help us out.
Good luck!  :-)

Can't tap the blank picture on my phone, doesn't do anything :(

If you get the error Toast message "The contact does not exist" when you click on your gray profile image (in the Messaging app), then do this:

Open the "Contacts" app (it has a blue icon that looks like a stack of cards)
It should list all your contacts, with an entry "Me" at the top, with a gray icon
Click on the gray icon at the top, in the section "Me"
Add a photo from the Gallery or from an installed file browser app.
This photo will now show in the Messaging app.

Mine was similar to, but not exactly like, Kimmy's above:

sms history / view a specific conversation.
tap gray image.  phone wanted to add a new contact.
tap menu button.
select insert image - select image from gallery.
select OK - I never did assign the contact a name, phone number, or email address.

Now all my sms messages show the image I just assigned.
Note - I already had my own contact with an image, which was sync'd to gmail, but for some reason the sms app wasn't picking it up.
HTC Droid Incredible
Hope this helps somebody out there...

Note: referencing another answer with "above" or "below" makes no sense, because answers can be sorted in a number of ways.

This worked for me (CM71 firmware):
For users of CyanogenMod-6 go to Settings -> Call Settings -> Additional Settings -> My phone number. Have a try, this should solve you all problems.
Source: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8519

Turns out that if you log into the Google+ app, then your local account ("Me") will be synced with your profile account (Google contacts).
So just download the google+ app (if you don't have it aldready) and log on to it should solve the problem.
I am using Android 4.0 by the way.

G+ option didn't work for me.
I just went into contacts and added my mobile number as a contact.
That way you can set what pic shows when that person talks. And it's you.. so :p

This works with the default Apps on Android version 6.0.1
•   Have the image you want ready on your phone.
•   Open Contact app.
•   Create a record for yourself if not already there.
•   Tap your contact and tap edit, the pencil icon.
•   Under "My local Profile" tap picture icon.
•   Under "Contact photo" tap Image (other options available here).
•   On the left hand column Choose "gallery" or choose the image you want if the image is already present.
•   Image appears in right hand column.
•   Tap the image for size editing.
•   Choose Done.
•   Choose Save.
•   Image should immediately show up in any Messages conversation.


text:
Battery usage problem in Android 2.3.6
Since the update to Gingerbread the battery of my phone has the half duration than with the 2.3.4 version.
The "Battery Usage" in settings don't show anything abnormal.
Anybody have the same problem? What can I do?
Edit:
My device is an HTC - Nexus One

i've had this problem with CM7, but it depends. As in my phone behaves like an old woman, happy on few days and giving a good battery backup and angry on others and killing it real quick.

Jajaja. I think there is a problem with the "Battery Usage", now it show my the Maps app at the top of the list! I don't open this app since two days! I waiting for a savior update that fix this =/

@GojaN: What device are you using?

@AlEverett I edit the question to answer your question. Anyhow, this question has some time and there seems not be any progress. May this question be closed?

@GojaN: Why close it? Someone may still come along with a solution. It's not like we have a limited number of questions we can have open.

Check native email app. Sometimes it starts running and never stops, eating the battery to the end. I don't know how to solve it, so I keep checking and killing it when it starts to behave like this.

You can download & install the app BetterBatteryStats from XDA:

BetterBatteryStats -
  http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809

from the app you can see the partial wakelocks and whats the program that use most of them.
After using this program and found the app that causes the battery drain, you can uninstall and then re install it or freeze it.

Install some Task Killer (I use Advanced Task Killer), change its settings to see low level/system processes too and see the loads of processes running in background. Terminate the unnecessary ones, if required.

You shouldn't ever run a task killer.

Why? Can't I run it for user installed apps?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Unlock bootloader using fastboot using Ubuntu/Linux
I am trying to unlock bootloader for my HTC Legend.
I have ADT (Android SDK according to release 21.1) on my Ubuntu/Linux box.
While following the HTCDev instructions to unlock bootloader of HTC Legend.
I can adb devices that results as under
List of devices attached
HTXXXXXXXXXX    device

But fastboot devices does not result any thing.
When I reboot my phone to FASTBOOT USB mode and plug in the USB cable to phone and connect to PC/Ubuntu.
fastboot oem get_identifier_token
results as following and sit idle.
< waiting for device >
I have cross checked for certain things:

The default USB mode is Charge Only
The USB Debugging is enabled

But on my ubuntu box there are no drivers and no HTC Sync installed.
What am I missing here?
Can I do it from Ubuntu, as I don't have windows?

UPDATE: My device's HBOOT is 1.00.0000

UPDATE2: I just tried with sudo fastboot devices and returned.
HTXXXXXXXXXX    fastboot

Now when I do sudo fastboot oem get_identifier_token it returns:
...
(bootloader) [ERR] Command error !!!
OKAY [  0.010s]
finished. total time: 0.010s

Often you just need to add a udev rule for the device. Do you see it under lsusb when it's in fastboot mode? My guess is that if you compare the device/vendor IDs in fastboot mode to the normal ones that they'll be different (the poor-man's solution in some cases is to use sudo fastboot to get around the udev rule, but I don't know if that's entirely recommended).

Yes I can see my device in lsusb when it is fastboot mode. (Bus 004 Device 042: ID 0bb4:0fff HTC (High Tech Computer Corp.) Android Fastboot Bootloader)I have no idea about udev rules :(

Take a look at this answer and see if it helps you solve the problem. If not, then your situation may be something different (e.g. not a udev thing). The question is for the N4, but the process is the same; you'll just need to use your device IDs.

I just tried and found that sudo fastboot devices lists  my device and without sudo it waits for the device.

It looks like your HBOOT needs to be upgraded to v1.02.0000 in order to use the HTCdev unlock method. The reason for this is that the Legend's bootloader did not originally ship with unlocking capabilities, so you need to upgrade to the version that added it.
Unfortunately, the HTCdev site will give you an RUU to run, but since it's an .exe file it won't do you much good on Linux (even with wine it probably will balk). However, you can perform a manual flash instead:

Download this LEGEIMG.zip1 file. This is the new 1.02 bootloader packaged as a zip.
Copy the zip file to the root of your SD card (as in, not in any subfolders)
Reboot to your bootloader however you like (adb reboot bootloader works, for example)
When HBOOT starts up it should tell you that it found an upgrade package on the SD card. Check the on-screen prompt and select "Yes" to let it flash the zip.
Reboot your phone into your bootloader again and verify that it's been updated to version 1.02. At this point you can follow the HTCdev unlocking instructions.

1Regarding this file: "eldarerathis", you say, "I'm sure you're a trustworthy chap and all, but how do I know that this Mediafire download is legit?" Well, since your bootloader is currently locked, it will only flash images that have been digitally signed by HTC. Since modifying the contents of the zip file would invalidate the signature, you can rest assured that it is genuine and has not been tampered with.
For complete instructions, including how to actually get the zip from the RUU yourself (which requires Windows), refer to this XDA post.

Linux users: If you're stuck in "waiting for device", make sure you run fastboot as root, such as:
$ sudo ./fastboot oem get_identifier_token
...
(bootloader)
(bootloader) < Please cut following message >
(bootloader) <<<< Identifier Token Start >>>>
(bootloader) C8750A7847621A009AAC7949E9B41A52
...
(bootloader) 7206C18600834B50AB6FA9F4A9AFC71C
(bootloader) <<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>>
OKAY [  0.004s]
finished. total time: 0.005s

or run those commands: sudo chmod 644 /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules && sudo chown root /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules && sudo service udev restart

The rules Jakub is referring to are available here. They are also packaged as android-udev on Arch's AUR.

Here a example to flash TWRP and LineageOS on a HTC One M8:
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot oem get_identifier_token

# Download Unlock_code.bin from htcdev.com
https://www.htcdev.com/bootloader/token-submitted

fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.4.0-1-m8.img
adb sideload lineage-17.1-20201009-nightly-m8-signed.zip
adb sideload open_gapps-arm-10.0-micro-20201010.zip

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

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


text:
How Do I Turn Off Google Now Card Notifications?
How do I turn off Google Card notifications?
Let's say I search for an address - Google will then show me a card in the notification area with driving directions to that location.  I don't want the notification.  Is there a way to prevent them from showing up?

Is this Google Now?

@wbogacz Yes, I believe so.

According to this help, Google Now notifications can be limited or turned off.Most notifications for Google Now cards can be turned off or set to low or standard priority. Low priority notifications appear at the bottom of the notifications shade without any additional signal.From the lower right corner of the Google Now screen, touch Menu > Settings > Google Now > card name > and adjust the settings under Notifications.

Yes, that's it.  I actually chose to turn them off entirely.

If you are on Jelly Bean and rooted you can use an app I built to manage notifications for all applications from a single place.
Notifications Off allows you to turn off notifications for all applications. It can also automatically disable notifications for new apps as soon as they are installed.
The next version will have support for profiles, tasker integration and a widget for switching profiles.

Just start Google Settings (grey gear icon, with a g in the middle). Then choose Now Maps and switch off the top slider show maps. This will turn off the notifications as you wanted.


text:
Network unlock code not working
I have bought a used Motorola Defy (MB525), rooted, running CyanogenMod 9 (ICS 4.0.4).
It is locked to work with only a specific carrier. I bought an unlock code, and unaware to this the previous owner got an unlock code from the carrier. Both are the same, so I suppose the code is correct.
When I insert a GSM SIM card from another carrier and turn on the phone, I get a message that roughly translates to "insert SIM network unlock PIN" (see image below).

When I insert the unlock code, it blinks a message VERY fast, I can't even read it, then it says "failed on requesting network unlock", or something like that.
I have performed this more than 3 times, does it mean my phone is locked forever?
I have also been told to remove CM9 and reinstall the stock ROM in order for the unlock to work, but (1) I have no idea if this would actually help, and (2) I have never changed a ROM before and, althouh I used CM9 to create a nandroid backup, I have no idea how to reinstall CM9 and then restore the backup.

If I remove the GSM card and turn on the phone, I can use it (obviously, no phone features). If I insert a GSM card from the original carrier, I can make/receive phone calls and use data connections, when no wifi is present. If I insert a GSM card from any other carrier, I get the unlock dialog. If I press the "dismiss" button, or enter the bought code and get the error message, then it works as if there's no GSM card.

That translates via google - "PIN unlock the SIM network." now, am not 100% sure if that is saying SIM unlock PIN or network lock.... :\ Any other insight?

Apologies if my answer is incorrect, so yeah, am not 100% sure either....could be something wonky going on there with CM...

Bingo! Check the 3rd post on this thread

@t0mm13b that definitely sounds like we're on the right direction here. I will try the suggested fix and see what happens.

I have tried what was suggested and it worked, my phone is unlocked now.

I have followed this guide and my phone is now unlocked.
I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner user, because it involves pretty advanced commands and procedures, and uses ROMs and tools from untrusted sources. Proceed at your own risk!
The performed steps were basically:

Create a complete nandroid backup on the SD card.
Google for a stock ROM for the specific phone model I owned, and the specific carrier that it is locked to. I found one on a random forum. This is not recommended for obvious security reasons, but I was desperate. If your carrier provides an official stock ROM, I definitely recommend you prefer using it.
Googled for the ADB drivers for my phone model. In this case, the Motorola drivers worked fine.
Connected the phone to my computer and flashed the stock ROM. In my case, this actually downgraded my phone from android 4.0.4 to 2.3.3 and unrooted it.
Performed the unlock procedure using the unlock code I had.
Rooted my phone again, and installed a new recovery menu
Applied the nandroid backup from the recovery menu.

Result:
Phone is back as it was before, but unlocked.

There's a SIM Lock and Network lock - both distinctively different!

SIM Lock is to prevent phone from starting up unless a user's PIN is entered.
Network Lock is what it is, tied to the carrier and requires the unlock code which can be bought for a fee.

By the sound of it, a confusion arose, when it asked for the SIM's PIN code that requires to be entered - which is NOT the Network Lock code! It is selected and decided by the user.
In short, SIM Lock has a maximum count of three times to enter the PIN code and if unsuccessful and the maximum retry count has reached, the PUK (Personal Unblocking Code) code needs to be entered!
The PUK code can be found on the original SIM Card plastic accompaniment as obtained by the original carrier. If this cannot be found, the only way is to take it back to the place of origin, where the SIM card was bought and explain to the Sales rep about it and may be charged!
(Now, they could easily be suspicious as in "handling a stolen handset"... get the original proof of purchase from the owner, documentation etc to back yourself up just-in-case!)
Edit
Ok, after clarifying with the OP, who kindly showed the screenshot in their edited question, the message is slightly ambiguous which lead to my not being 100% sure if that message when fed into Google' Translator is saying "PIN unlock the SIM network." Do not know if that is saying SIM unlock PIN or network lock hence the ambiguity.
But further investigation lead to this thread, specifically post #3 which does back-up the OP's statement, despite the thread discussing about Samsung, I would guess the same thing may apply to the Motorola handset:

I have also been told to remove CM9 and reinstall the stock ROM in
order for the unlock to work, but (1) I have no idea if this would
actually help, and (2) I have never changed a ROM before and, althouh
I used CM9 to create a nandroid backup, I have no idea how to
reinstall CM9 and then restore the backup.

That makes perfect sense, as the stock ROM would know how to handle the mechanism as its built into it specifically for the handset, so yes, a revert to the Stock ROM would be required which would obviously mean another OP's question to be posted separately or by per-chance, a quick google-fu to yield on how to revert back to original.

If I remove the GSM card and turn on the phone, I can use it (obviously, no phone features). If I insert a GSM card from the original carrier, I can make/receive phone calls and use data connections, when no wifi is present. If I insert a GSM card from any other carrier, I get the unlock dialog. If I press the "dismiss" button, or enter the bought code and get the error message, then it works as if there's no GSM card.

By the way, are "SIM card" and "GSM card" synonyms?

SIM card and GSM card are synonyms yes. Right, you need to be double sure that the "unlock" code is actually asking for SIM's PIN? Is there a PIN lock on that other SIM card that you're trying to pop in place?

It seems that a mis-translation/mis-understanding happened from the question - to quote I get a message that roughly translates to "insert network SIM unlock PIN"... is it SIM PIN code that is requested or network unlock?

It's "PIN de desbloqueio da rede SIM". "desbloqueio" = "unlock" / "rede" = "network". I've included an image on the question.

Oh, and I suppose there's no PIN code for locking this specific GSM card, as I've been using it for years on at leat 3 different phones, I've not set a lock on it and on other phones it doesn't ask for any PIN code at all.

I will delete my answer if its not correct...

I will try with other different GSM cards and see if the same error shows up.

If you enter wrong unlock code many times. Your mobile is hard locked. You are allowed to enter 5 times.
You need Defreeze code and then use network unlock code. Only unlock code will not work.

Obviously you have network locked phone and correct unlock code. The problem is somebody typed wrong code too many times and therefor the phone won't accept the unlock code.
The solution is to hard reset the phone - search google for hard reset instructions. Once the hard reset is done the phone will accept your unlock code!
Best Regards,
gsmwong

Do not think a hard reset is the cure as was pointed out that CM is a bit wonky about handling network lock/sim lock.

What's the difference between restoring to factory defaults and hard resetting?


text:
How to install Whatsapp on Android 1.6
I am interested in installing Whatsapp on Android 1.6 (Cyanogenmod 4.2) on a rooted HTC Dream G1. Is there any way to install it?

From the whatsapp site, the minimum requirements are Android 2.1, so even if you managed to find the APK and side-load it onto the G1 running 1.6, it probably will not work.
Stable releases of CyanogenMod 5 (Android 2.1) and 6 (Android 2.2) are both available for the G1.  You can install Whatsapp if you upgrade to CM 5/6.

I already tried out CyanogenMod 5 but its too slow and hangs a lot. So, I shifted back to CyanogenMod 4. I was just curious if there was a work around for Android 1.6


text:
How to Import/Export Group field in Contacts via VCF?
OS: 2.1
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant)
When exporting or emailing a VCF file from the Contacts app, the Group data (e.g. Family, Friends) does not get exported.  Similarly, the CATEGORIES property is ignored when importing a VCF file.  Does anyone know how to get this data into/out of the Contacts app via VCF?  Thanks!

You are doing this on the web inside of gmail, right?
I didn't see the groups included in the VCF file either.  But they do seem to be included if you export it as a CSV.  Is it possible that you can use the CSV instead?

No, this is within the phone contact manager itself.  My contacts do not sync with my Google contacts.  Not sure why, and I'm not sure I want them too, anyway.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/


text:
The camera LED on my OnePlus One is continuously on
I recently got a OnePlus One phone (64GB model). I noticed that the LED for the front camera is continuously on. Is there any option to turn it off?

Have you tried using flashlight apps from the Play Store and using their inbuilt LED switches? Or have you tried investigating which app is causing this resource leak?

You probably triggered the gesture to activate the "flashlight" http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/112885/accidentally-triggering-the-sound-player-or-the-torch

When you say LED for the front camera, do you mean the notification LED? That can be easily disabled in Settings - Display and Lights - Notification and Battery light.
If you're referring to the flash LED of the back camera, you can try taking some pictures with the flash turned off and see whether it works.
If not, try hard reset via recovery.

Go to setting > gesture > toggle flashlight > disable it "Unchecked"
I think this caused by a feature in OnePlus can turn the flashlight on by drawing V on the screen, for me it used to work by itself sometime or in my pocket.


text:
Google Now option "Contact recognition" is not visible on my HTC One (M7)
I have a HTC One (M7) and just purchased an LG G Watch R. The combination is working fine, except for the fact that my contacts are not recognized when speaking via "OK, Google".
I wrote a mail to HTC, they told me it's an LG issue. I wrote a mail to LG, they tell me it's the fault of HTC. I have no idea anymore what to do.
In Google Now, going to Accounts & Privacy should have an option "Contact recognition", between items "Safesearch Filter" and "Search engine storage". I don't have this option.
Any idea what could be wrong?

Google settings -> search & now -> accounts & privacy

Bob, please read through my text. It almost clearly says this is the place I have been into all the time...

An anonymous user edited this in : "I had this same problem. Turns out I was doing it from the settings on my m7 and from the Google app. When I tried it from Google now it worked."


text:
Change ROM of Galaxy Nexus Yakju with CyanogenMod of Maguro
I have a Galaxy Nexus "yakju" model and I want to replace the stock Android with CyanogenMod, but I have found only this page which talks about the "maguro". After some research it looks like it will not be different (only where the phone is sold and who update it) and looks like "maguro" is the generic name to mean the Galaxy Nexus phone. My problem is that i'm not really sure if i'm right or not.
Can I flash CyanogenMod without problems? Or could it brick my phone?

To be confirmed by a Nexus user, but AFAIK it is as you guessed already: I'm sure "Maguro" is the codename for the device. What I'm not 100% sure about (but only 99%) is that YAKJU refers to the version of the currently installed firmware. So all together, I'm 99.5% sure you're safe to use those images. What never hurts is making a full backup first (before flashing the new ROM), best a Nandroid backup (from recovery) so if things go wrong you can go back to your current configuration.

The Galaxy Nexus is something of an unusual beast. Because of some regional differences in the factory images (notably, the presence of Google Wallet on the US image) Google distributes multiple firmwares for one model of hardware.
When determining if CM is supported on your device, you want to ensure the phone model is correct. In the case of the GSM Galaxy Nexus, this is "maguro". You can flash a maguro image and it will work correctly. There is no "yakju" or "takju" when referring to CyanogenMod because they build for the device hardware: maguro.
In total, there are three hardware variants of the Galaxy Nexus, but five firmwares. They are:

maguro: The GSM/HSPA+ GNex. This shipped with one of the following images:

takju: Devices sold via Google in the US. This firmware contains Google Wallet pre-installed.
yakju: Devices sold via Google internationally. This does not contain Google Wallet.
yakjuxw: Devices sold via Samsung.
All of these are interchangeable. Any maguro model can run any of these firmwares. The firmware you have determines where updates come from (Google or Samsung), so it was common for people to install takju or yakju firmware on devices that originally came with yakjuxw, in order to get updates faster (i.e. from Google).

toro: A separate model, made for Verizon. It uses the "mysid" factory image.
toroplus: A separate model, made for Sprint. It uses the "mysidspr" factory image.

You can find all of these factory images (except yakjuxw) on on Google's site.


text:
No album icon on Google Photos
I am trying to follow the these instructions to create albums in my Google+ Photos app,
but when I am selecting photos I have the share icon but not the album icon.
I don't know why this is happening. I tried uploading from my computer and the albums work great. How can I create them on Android? I'm running Android 5.0.


text:
Downloads from my mobile not appearing on computer - Samsung Galaxy
I have connected my mobile (Samsung galaxy) with my HP laptop (Windows 7) and clicked "Open device to view files".
I click "Downloads" - that is, what I have downloaded on my mobile - then "videos".
But to view the videos it shows "copying..."
Have the videos been copied on my laptop? If 'Yes', where can I find them?

Yes they will be copied to PC before playing in a temporary location. I don't know the location but look here - Start>Run>%TEMP%

It does that because it is copying the file via MTP. If you want to view the files on your computer it would be far easier and faster to simply copy them to your computer from the mobile. Each time you open a file from your mobile through your computer it will copy them which takes time.


text:
HTC Desire P voice/MMS works, but 3G doesn't
I brought a phone (HTC Desire P) from overseas to U.S.A. I got a voice/data plan with AT&T. We tested the voice but forgot to test data, and later found that the 3G data isn't working.
I tried to turn on mobile from the both from the UI (it auto disconnects after several seconds) and with the android debugger:
adb.exe shell data enable

but I get "Permission denied".
Does anyone know anything that could point me in the right direction?

The HTC Desire P does not support AT&T's 3G frequency bands. Its antennas support the 900 and 2100 MHz frequencies, whereas AT&T has deployed 3G on the 850 and 1900 MHz bands.
You cannot use your phone on AT&T's 3G network. If you want to determine if another device would be compatible, you may wish to look at Can I use my device on a different carrier?


text:
Galaxy S Duos is not charging properly
My Galaxy S Duos doesn't display a charging sign when I plug it in, even though it is charging fine. Secondly, when I use it while plugged in it charges very slowly. A 1% increase takes 4-5 minutes.
When I do a random reboot, the battery percentage decreases, especially when it's at 100%
Why this problem occurring?

Please don't ask people to contact you outside the site to provide or obtain answers. Relevant content should be posted here directly, so that everyone can benefit from it. We don't want to merely act as a facilitator for little side conversations.


text:
How to use OTG Data Cable with a Nexus S to access?
Having an OTG Data Cable, I connected different thumb drives to my Nexus S – running JB 4.1.2 – but my phone doesn't seem to read them. The thumb drives I tried are:

a 16GB Kingston G3 Data Traveler USB 2.0
a 16GB Sandisk Cruzer Fit Mini USB 2.0
and a 2GB generic drive

What else is needed in order to access that memory?
Is there anything along the lines of the Nexus Media Importer but for Nexus S?

Does anything show up at all in settings->storage? It should show up as USB storage.. Use ES file explorer.

No new USB storage showing up.

Also tried with the ASTRO File Manager/Browser – still not showing up.

You might want to check your device's capabilities with e.g. chainfire's USB Host Diagnostics, or try Usb Host Controller which promises to manage devices connected via host mode. Both worth a try.

I also have a Nexus S device (running CyanogenMod 11, Android 4.4.4 KitKat), and it seems Nexus S does not support USB OTG. I tried connecting an external USB keyboard and also a USB mouse, and it did not work. The mouse LED for the optical sensor did not even light up.
So, I believe that either the hardware does not have support for USB OTG, or you might need a custom firmware with a custom kernel to make it work (I believe this is unlikely).


text:
Connecting phone to PC internet using Connectify
I am trying to connect my phone running ICS to my PC running Windows 7 to the internet using Connectify. Everything goes fine except when the phone tries to connect to my laptop wifi hotspot, it gets stuck at obtaining IP address . I tried to set the ip address to static in android but now it says connected but actually the phone is not connected to the internet.
As a static IP and DNS1, I set the address provided for the connectify network created in windows. I set the network length to 24 cuz without setting any value for network length, I wasn't able to save the setting in my phone.
How can I solve this problem?

Most of the other questions here tagged [tag:connectify] look to be similar. have you looked at any of them?

Thank you for your support in Connectify. It sounds like your antivirus/firewall software may be blocking internet traffic. Check our Firewall/Security Settings article in our Knowledge Base.
If you are a PRO user and continue to have problems please submit a ticket by visiting our website. We will work to help you resolve your issue!

You're from connectify? Awesome!


text:
Why do certain apps run even when I don't use them?
I've found that certain apps (Amazon MP3 and Stocks, for example) will occasionally be running in the background even when I've never once opened them. Why is this? This is not desirable - those CPU cycles are mine, not theirs!

Do you have widgets for these apps on the home screen? Could be as simple as that.

This does not answer the question, but you could root your phone and disable the autostart with autostarts, or just remove them with Titanium Backup

Those apps come with the phone and can't be turned off or removed unless you root.  Blame your carrier.  There's really nothing you can do about it non-rooted.  I feel your pain.

This goes with another post I made about a slightly different issue.
Background apps usually just respond to events. Events they care about, which is usually nothing for these sprint apps.
They take up RAM. HOWEVER unlike a desktop, when android wants ram it will remove anything in the "background" that it wants  (older first) to free up space.\
The only exception to ram freeing up is when it sends notifications (a permanent icon in the notification bar... like a downloading icon from the market while the item is downloading).
So don't worry so much about it. These bloatware apps don't harm your android unless they do anything because batter is a big concern. Careful with facebook/twitter as they ping the service every few seconds, you can disable the "pinging" by just disabling the behavior, they won't do anything then. Even the messenger app might get removed from memory, when the system does a background synch it wakes up, loads, runs, and goes back to inactive.

Pretty good explanation. But a desktop system, at least all major ones, will take inactive applications, or even parts of applications, out of RAM and page them out to disk.

Yes, and no. In a regular OS your programs should not be taken out of ram and onto swap unless memory is an issue. However on the desktop these apps can take up small chips of your cpu. And taking up CPU means swapping if they are on disk. And the swapping is what kills you more than the cpu usage. Sometimes bloatware is written badly and just kills your computer, but thats different stories. I remember spending 3 hrs removing bloatware from a new Acer. Not because it was hard to find, but there was so much of it.

Most of my background is with iPhone, and there are certain launch daemons that run when the phone starts up. Sounds like this is the case here too. Dennis from this post says

The only thing I know of, like I point
  out, requires rooting the phone and
  voiding the warranty.  Go to
  /etc/rcx.d and remove the associated
  file with the executable. (This, of
  course, assumes that the filesystem
  follows the same hierarchy as every
  other Linux distro I have run.)

Hope this helps!
Thomas

Before rooting your phone, a not-so-easy operation, you should have a try to disable the auto launch when the phone restart.

It's not possible with the baked in carrier apps.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/


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Can I monitor my phones temperature?
Recently in the UK we've had an unexpected bout of nice weather which means wherever I leave my phone it tends to get quite warm. I know the operating range of my phone (Sony Ericsson Arc) however is there an easy way to find out how warm it is?
It's never left in the sun, always in the shade. If I need to root it I'm open to options - currently running stock 2.3.4 Android.

You can use TempMonitor available from Google Play Store:

System temperature reading in your status bar updating at your choice interval.
TempMonitor is the oldest CPU Temperature monitoring app on the android market. This app is built to do one thing: Temperature, and it does it well.

Some features that you might like:
The temperature can be displayed on the status bar or in the APP Screen. You can also select what you want to see:

Choose from Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Choose what temperature to display (Battery, CPU).
Choose the update interval.

You must, however, note that most devices don't have a temperature sensor. Only a battery temperature sensor, so it may not work.

@liamwli Yes, the APP will only work if there's hardware to extract the information from :) I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that this phone (Sony Ericsson Arc) only comes with a battery sensor. Still, is better to know some than knowing nothing :)

The app is no longer available on play store, do you have the apk of this app?

Note that the app is not available on the Play Store anymore, so future readers might have a difficulty in downloading it (you may still be able to see the entry on the Play Store if you have installed it before).

Battery Temperature Guard free is another cool app to monitor your Android's battery temperature. This will warn you if it gets too high.
This app was very useful during my summer vacation in south France :-)

Note that the app is not available on the Play Store anymore, so future readers might have a difficulty in downloading it (you may still be able to see the entry on the Play Store if you have installed it before).


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How to re-download in-app purchase
I've done a factory reset of my HTC One S and I re-downloaded the game Angry Birds. I had previously purchased the mighty eagle, and when trying to get it again in-game, it takes me to the play store. Play store shows a dialog "you already own this", I can either click OK or Details.
When I click OK, it just takes me back to the main screen of Angry Birds and it doesn't redownload. When I click Details, it takes me back to Angry Birds with the message "Unfortunately, Play Store has stopped". I can only click OK and what follows is a loading screen from Angry Birds itself that never stops loading.
Looks like a bug. Are there any alternatives to get the mighty eagle back?

I feel stupid for not trying this earlier, but I simply re-installed angry birds (again) and I had immediate access to the Mighty Eagle. It didn't even show me the promo and purchase screen. Strange thing is that this isn't how it went first time around, but I'm glad this is all it took.
Rovio still hasn't responded to my support ticket at the time of writing.

To answer your question 'Are there any alternatives to get the mighty eagle back?' Unfortunately not. It's up to app developers to support redownloading of in app content, and it certainly seems that you have found a bug.
Get in contact with Rovio at http://www.rovio.com/en/about-us/contact  or contact@rovio.com and explain your issue - they will be able to help you further

Thanks. That's a real bummer. In my opinion that's poor implementation from Play Store itself. I guess maybe for security reasons, but still...

It's certainly a bad user experience, I agree.  I hope you get your mighty eagle back. :)

it's not so much about the mighty eagle itself, but I find it rather offensive that content I actually paid for is unreachable.


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Least harmful way to disable APN temporarily?
I installed Quick Settings and turn off my mobile internet with this app. I have a motorola milestone with 2.1
However, that causes some trouble sometimes. When disabling it I lose more often my wifi connection. Android seems to try switching to APN when going to sleep. Turning on APN also does take a lot of time occasionally. Worst thing happened to me a few months ago: I had my APN turned off through Quick Settings. This app got an update and all of a sudden I couldn't connect to the internet over APN anymore. I had to do a full reset of my Android because of that.
Can you suggest a way to turn off APN in a less harmful way? (I still wonder why Android doesn't include that.)

I really like APNdroid and haven't had problems with it at all. However, I've got an HTC Dream that's unlocked and running on AT&T so it is pretty much guaranteed that I'm not getting OTA updates.
You can always access your APN settings directly, so even if an update broke your APN settings, you should have been able to go in through Settings >  Wireless controls > Mobile networks > Access point names -- I have the option of manually adding one or more APNs and a "reset to defaults" button that will restore the T-Mobile APNs my phone shipped with.

I'll second APNDroid plus the widget. However, this week the author enabled the free version to allow Airpush notifications. This landed him in hot water with his users and Google. He's removed the library and apologized and will have a new version up soon. Otherwise, a highly useful app that I've employed a lot for testing and personal use.

EDIT: Rereading your question suggested I'm pointing to the wrong direction altogether.
Try OneClick widget.

It opens the settings where you have to un-check Data Traffic (so, it's two click actually). This is the safe way to do it.
Quick Settings, like APNdroid, simply renames the APN thereby disabling/enabling it in one click. So, when you uninstall/update the app when the APN is renamed to something illegal, you will need to re configure your settings renaming the APN to the network provider's default.
Turning on the Data Traffic takes time because of the handshaking required as a 2G/3G standard, so this cannot be avoided.
Note: My phone(xperia x10 mini) comes with several widgets: Data Traffic, Power Control, Status switch (same thing!). So you might as well play with your phone's stock apps before venturing outside.

alright, i'll give that widget a try. I later noticed that APNdroid just adds a minus prior the internet server name. Don't know what happened at the time I had to reset my phone. Cant rrecover... Unfortunatly motorola doesnt provide a stock widget ;(

Tried the OneClick widget. It's the safest way to change setting. Unfortunatly there is no APN disable setting in my Milestone. So, there's no OneClick Widget to do that also ;(


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Problem with Partitioned Internal SD card! I can't get full size back!
I have a Android Matricom G-Tab Quantum Tablet with 1 GB of internal memory (tablet and system Space) and a 16 GB internal storage.
I was running out of space in the 1 GB memory and since Android doesn't use the internal storage just for pics and videos I decided to partition it so I could move some apps with Link2SD.
I partitioned the 16 GB internal storage using MiniTool Partition wizard like this:

8 GB FAT32 as primary partition
The rest as an ext4 partition

The partitioning was done correctly, but when my tablet tried to read the internal SD it didn't show 8 GBs as I expected. It only showed 363 MB. So I connected the SD card to my PC again, and I ran diskpart and "supposedly" cleaned all the partitions from the SD card, deleting any partitions in the process and restoring back its original size and everything and formatting it as FAT32.
The PC shows that the SD card has a FAT32 partition of 8 GB and it lists 8 GB as the whole space of the SD, card so it's missing the space from the ext4 partition. When I open the Minitool Partition wizard it only displays the 8 GB FAT32 partition as the "whole" space and only partition of the SD card. There are no signs of the ext4 partition (or its space).
I put the SD card on a Linux based system to look for the ext4 partition, but with no effort Gparted only shows the FAT32 partition just like Minitool Partition Wizard!
Also, now when I connect the tablet to the PC, it also reads a second disk of 1kb but you can't open it or format it! I'm suspecting this has something to do with the issue, but I don't know what do with it!
Now in the tablet it only displays the 363 MB as internal storage, but I can't seem to access it from anywhere. I don't know where this 354 partition came from. If I put files on the 8 GB partition I can't access them on the device, and If I boot to recovery (Stock Android recovery) and try to open a file from the "internal SD card" it says:

"Cant mount /sdcard"

If I insert an external SD card I can only access it from the recovery, but from the device always shows the 354 MB as the only storage.
I also noted if I open the storage folder with a rooted file explorer it reads these folders:

sdcard0
sdcard1
sdcard2
extsd
usbhost

I remember that before all of this happened the sdcard2 folder didn't exist.
I have tried these apps to "restore" my internal SD card back to its full size but none of them has worked:

SD Card Formatter
Mini Tool Partition Wizard
EaseUS Partition Master
HP Format Tool

It's important to know that now when I open Mini Tool Partition Master and the tablet is connected, it crashes. If I open it without the the tablet connected it starts fine. After it starts, if I connect the tablet to the PC and refresh the device list, it loads the 8 GB FAT32 disk and the 1kb with no partition disk. If I click the 1kb disk it crashes and closes abruptly!
I also tried a bit of testdisk but I don't understand it very well. Supposedly it restored my partition table but I cant see a difference.
If I connect the tablet as an media system I can access 354 MB storage!
I inserted a 2 GB external SD card and it reads the external SD card, so I partitioned the it (1 GB FAT and 1 GB ext2) and when I inserted it back it only read 354 MB just as the internal SD card! Also, if I connect the tablet with the external SD card to the PC, it only lists the 1 GB FAT partition and doesn't list its ext2 partition nor the internal SD card! I went back and deleted all the partitions from the external SD card and inserted it again, and now it displays its 2 GB size correctly!
Is there other way to access the internal SD card?


text:
Linux Deploy: Making new disk image (size) ... fail
I am trying to use Linux Deploy on my rooted Galaxy S3 with Android 4.3 / Slimkat 4.4.4. But when I press install:
Updating configuration file ... done
>>> begin install
Checking mount points ... done
Checking installation path ... done
Making new disk image (1023 MB) ... fail
<<< end: install

go to installation type and select custom, then put a path you want and install it.


text:
How do I cancel password request on my lock screen?
I have tried using the security features using Device Manager on my Hudl 2 to Sony Xperia E1 running 4.4.2 KitKat. When I tried the lock feature, it made my phone ask for the password, but is there now anyway to stop that as it is a pain every time my screen locks? I have tried settings - security - screen lock but the none option is greyed out. I have also tried the "clear credentials" option, but no change.

If you have lock screen options grayed out, that's usually enforced by some program that has been granted permission to act as a "device administrator". Most commonly, it's the stock Mail app if you are connecting to a corporate mail server, or some corporate security software you may have been asked to install if you're connecting to a company network.
Go to Settings→Security→Device Administrators and see if there are any applications listed with a check mark in the box on the right. If there are, you can try unchecking them one by one and going back to the Lock Screen settings each time to see which one is imposing the restriction.
Be aware, however: revoking an app's device administrator permission may result in loss of access to resources and/or the deletion of any data associated with that app. You should receive a warning/confirmation message if that is the case for a particular device administrator you're trying to deactivate. For example, if the Mail app became a device administrator as the result of configuring it to access a corporate Exchange account, you will lose access to the account and all data associated with that account will be deleted if you deactivate its device administrator status.

Exactly the direction I was thinking – specifically with David mentioning I have tried using the security features using Device Manager. Assuming he's speaking of Google's DM, that should be the most likely candidate (it requires being made device admin for remote lock, for example).

If your question has been answered, please mark the answer that you feel best addressed your question as accepted. Once you have at least 15 rep, you can also upvote the accepted answer and any other answers you found useful.


text:
Lost .vcf file while doing factory reset , can I recover it?
I performed a factory reset on my Lenovo A390. I forgot to keep backups of my contacts, and I lost a .vcf file and my contacts are gone. I have important official documents and contacts. How to get that .vcf file back?

Also relevant: How to Restore Deleted / Formatted Files on HD Micro SD Card

Sorry to say that but i think your contacts are lost forever...you can download an app that may scan your drive for deleted files and that may need an root on your phone and is not 100% guaranteed.
Very likely the space where your contacts were has been overwritten so is not possible to recover it.
Next time keep an backup on your external SD card they are not deleted in factory reset and/or your PC or gmail account.
That is true for photos documents and all your data is lost forever if you do not have an backup.
If you want to try an app google for something like "recover deleted contacts android" that should point you to an app capable of that if there is any.


text:
Google plus photo editor (downloading editing tools problem)
I am using a Micromax Canvas a74 which runs on Jelly Bean. I have Google Plus installed on my phone, which has another app named Photos that helps to sync our photos to Gogle's cloud storage.
My problem is when I clean my cache using Clean Master it clears the local cache on my phone, which makes download the online editing tools for the 'Photos app editor'. In other words, when I try to edit my photos using the Google+ editor, it will download some editing tools to my phone's cache, and when I clear my cache I have to wait for the app to download the tools again before I can edit a photo.
Is a way (or an app) to erase the cache using an ignore list, which can ignore system default apps?

I found a solution.
I recommend using UClean instead of another cache cleaning app. It has an ignore list for system apps, so I could add the Google+ Photos app to the ignore list and prevent the cache from getting cleared.
It also has a folder ignore list, where we can specify the folders to be omitted at the time of cache listing. So UClean fixed my problem.


text:
Which application is switching on wifi?
I am running Android 4.3 on a Samsung Galaxy S3, switching on or off WiFi on a need-to-use basis. A few days back, I realized that WiFi would spontaneously be switched on. I switched it off, but it would be switched on again.
I probably have downloaded an app or an update that is the reason for that behaviour. After trying to uninstall a number of these apps (no result up to now), I am wondering whether there is a possibility to log which app does what on the wifi connection, so as to identify the culprit.
I tried WIFi Fixer and saw a log line (among many others) that said:

Failover set to: www.baidu.com

This makes me thinks the culprit tries to go to baidu (I have never connected to baidu). Avast scan does not detect a virus, so I am stuck.

This question might get closed soon due to the overly broad nature. Question: Can you remember what app install(s)/updates (might have) caused this?

Unfortunately, apps were updated semi-automatically (you know 20 of them are updated every week, e.g. google, maps, etc.). I eliminated a number of "suspects" by uninstalling them. So trace tool would be great.

More information: learning here and there, I installed Android Studio + sdk, and could use adblogcat to identify at least one app, namely "Mon réseau" by Orange (My Network, yes, I am French), which optimizes the 3g/4g/WiFi network to which it would connects. Even if you are not connected... so it enables the WiFi from time to time (but does not disable it).

Please leave this thread open until tomorrow same time in case I have an update.

In china GCM (and many other Google services) are blocked by government. In order to send push notification to app in China there are multiple local service providers. One of them is Baidu, the link you are seeing in the logs.
Possible that some app is using that, instead of GCM.


text:
Cannot turn on Wifi or Bluetooth
I have a Galaxy Tab 4 SM-T230, but for some reason it will not turn on WiFi or Bluetooth. The slider goes green for 2 seconds then turns itself off.
I have Googled this problem and it would appear it is a common problem, but for the life of me I can not find a solution.
I have:

done a full hard reset
performed a restore from files saved in December
started tablet up in safe mode
I have removed the 32 GB memory card and powered down the device then started the device up without the memory card

Despite all this, the Wifi and Bluetooth do not work. I am beginning to think this is a hardware problem rather than a software issue and assistance appreciated.

You have another device that works with that wifi?

As an update I contacted Samsung, as the tablet is in warranty, and they told me that the only solution is to take the tablet into their repair centre in the city. As it needs to be flashed with new firmware.
Having done that, they have now told me that the tablet requires some parts as there is an issue with this model. Unsure what parts are needed but will post a reply once I collect the tablet and get the repair report from Samsung. There is no damage to the tablet as it is only 8 weeks old


text:
Good idea to transfer all phone numbers from SIM card to google contacts?
I am new to the whole smartphone thing. Currently all of my telephone contacts are on my SIM card. I suspect it makes sense to move all my phone numbers from the SIM card to my Google contacts (i.e. adding the numbers to existing Google contacts who mainly contain only email addresses). The benefits would be: (a) no more duplicate contacts in my list, (b) automated backup of my contact's phone numbers.
Or, is there something I should be aware of before I do this effort? Will there be some workflow side effects? (apart from not having my contacts on SIM anymore)
Edit: I just transferred all. Actually, I did not remove the contacts from my SIM card, I just hid them using the contacts settings. So if I ever have to use my old phone as a backup, I'll have most of my phone numbers in there

I'm not going to answer if it's a good idea or not - you need to solve that for yourself :).
Having your contacts stored with Google Contacts will eliminate any duplicates (at least duplicates where you have the number stored in the SIM and e-mail in Google, or something like that) and allow you to manage/sync those contacts from anywhere you can access Google Contacts, like a computer.  You are correct that it will 'backup' your contacts so that if you were to switch phones or even carriers, you wouldn't have to worry about bringing your contacts as long as the phone you have supports Google Contacts (web or app).
Keeping your contacts on the SIM allows you to keep them from Google (if you're worried about privacy), and if you get another SIM-based phone, you can easily move them (provided you keep the same SIM).
Personally, having my contacts in Google Contacts has been great.  Easy synchronization, use photos from Picasa as contact photos, management from a computer... but you will have to decide for yourself which is "better".
You may want to see this answer to help you move your contacts from the SIM to Google Contacts.

+1 - Just about a carbon copy of the answer I just typed out, and binned when I saw yours :)

@Matt Great minds think alike :)

I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't be a good idea.


text:
How to use GPRS (not wifi or 3G) to get internet access?
With my Galaxy 5, I can visit websites using wifi, but how can I access them using GPRS (=when no wifi around)? I don't want to pay for a 3G data plan with my mobile operator.
Background: On my old Nokia phone (which didn't have wifi), I was able to visit a website using GPRS (useful only for emergencies, but still, useful). This meant that I did not have to subscribe to some data plan with my mobile operator (at least in my country this is so); I did have to pay for the GPRS connection, but that was only when connected.

This sounds like something that you need to make sure your operator has enabled on your contract, normally with smartphones a data plan is a data plan, once you've got one they give you a (monthly/weekly/daily) bandwidth limit which you can use either on 3G or GPRS, the operator doesn't care which you use.
It sounds like you don't want to pay for a monthly data limit, you want to get a metered contract where you only pay for when you use it (normally charged by the megabyte or by the hour, or something similar).
You can then turn the data connection on or off depending when you want to use it. The exact setting for this can vary from phone to phone, but is normally under something like Settings -> Wireless and Network -> Mobile networks -> Use packet data. On many phones you can also switch to only use GPRS or 3G (sometimes called GSM and WCDMA modes) but all that does is control the speed of your connection, not normally how you're charged.

I am using Android 2.1, and can't find 'Use packet data'.  There is a setting 'use only 2G networks' though. However, I still have no idea how to configure the phone to use GPRS when using e.g. a browser (my contract hasn't changed).

GPRS is 2G. If your phone isn't doing any wireless connection at all at the moment, then you do need to change your contract to one that allows it, even if its just a pay-as-you-go type data contract. I haven't heard of any phone company that will allow you a data connection. Even years ago on a Nokia feature-phone that only connected to data when it was needed, there was a section in my phone contract that specified how much I'd be charged when I used the GPRS connection.


text:
Galaxy 5: GPS always stops working after phone has been in standby
My new Samsung Galaxy 5 (also named Galaxy i5500, and running  (android 2.1) has some GPS issue.
The GPS works fine (i.e. it can find satellites when I use the app GPS Test.) directly after powering up my phone. However, as soon as the phone has been in standby, the GPS no longer can find any satellites. After restarting the device, the GPS is working again until the next standby.
The device has been upgraded to the latest firmware using Samsung Kies, and following Samsung's support advice I have already performed a factory reset.
Is there something that can be done to fix this (apart from waiting for Samsung Support's follow-up)?
Edit: I think this androidforums post describes the problem and solution (still have to test it) quite well.

I haven't tried this myself but the following supposedly helps in getting a faster lock for Samsung's Galaxy range of Android devices.
Make sure GPS satellite and Wireless networks has been activated.
Press *#*#1472365#*#*. This will bring up GPS settings.
Settings -> Parameter Settings -> Address -> Server Type: 1x MPC
Settings -> Parameter Settings -> Position mode: option3
Settings -> Fix Request Settings -> Session Operation: Standalone
Settings -> Fix Request Settings -> Server Option: Local
gpsOne XTRA -> Xtra Enable: Enable

Then try with Google Maps.
If you want to go back to the default setting:
Settings -> Parameter Settings -> Address -> Server Type: UMTS SLP
Settings -> Parameter Settings -> Position mode: option2
Settings -> Fix Request Settings -> Session Operation: MS-based
Settings -> Fix Request Settings -> Server Option: Default

See if that helps. Other users have also reported issues with the Galaxy range of not receiving SMS messages immediately after returning out of Airplane Mode. Seems a touch buggy...

Thanks for your detailed answer. I thought it solved it, but not sure anymore. Couldn't find any satellites after a couple of hours waiting.


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

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

Thanks. Indeed, auto-sync seems to be the right name. The list confirms that it is only my google account that is influenced by this setting (unfortunately, as it would make sense for other apps to use the auto-sync on/off setting as well)

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


text:
How do I recover my Angry Birds progress!
I'm using Cyanogen and had some issues so in recovery I had to "wipe data". Before I did that I did a backup. How can I get back my Angry Birds save data? I thought for sure it was stored on Google's servers since I've done this sort of thing 50 times before and never lost my save games.

What do you mean by you did a backup? Titanium Backup?

I made a backup in "recovery" when you power on and press the ball at the same time. Everything is stored in .img files I guess because that's what I see in the File Manager.

Angry Birds save data is stored to /data/data/com.rovio.angrybirds/files.  I don't believe it's backed up to Google.  Normally all that's backed up is your list of apps, certain settings, contacts, etc.  So your wipe data would have erased it.
I always use Titanium Backup to save my apps and their data.  And when I do something risky like flash a beta ROM that might wipe the phone storage, I back up Titanium's backup folder to my PC.

I have a backup that was made in recovery but they are all .img files. Maybe I should be asking how to extract data from there. Also, where on the SD card is the savefile stored??

One thing you could do is restore the backup, you should be able to do this in recovery.  Then back up Angry Birds with Titanium, move that backup to your PC, wipe data again, copy back the Angry Birds backup, and restore it with Titanium.  Mounting the .img files is somewhat complicated, you have to set up a loopback device and stuff.  I wouldn't recommend that unless you're very comfortable with the command line and such.

Okay, I'm about to do a Restore with ROM Manager but I don't think those are the right ones. Might have to boot to recovery again and restore from there. ARG! I thought I read Google has a cool "cloud backup" for Android Apps. Must not be that cool.

I did the restore and I don't see any data/data folder. There is other things in data but mostly related to twitter stuff. I'm scared. Now going to a backup from January . . . it'll be old be better than starting from scratch. Gotta backup more often but I was running out of room on my SD card.

Okay, I'm all the way back to January and I Angry Birds is even installed on this version and it launches and my old data is there . . . but I still can't find it. Not in sdcard/data/data

Make sure you're looking on the phone storage, not the SD card.  Only the app should be on the SD card, the save files are on the phone storage.  You need root to browse /data/data (I assume you have it though, being on CM)

Okay, looking at other questions it turns out "File Manager" lies. There ARE folders in the /data/data folder on the phone but sadly, no angry birds.


text:
Power saving tips for Galaxy S2 that don't involve turning it into a dumbphone
My Galaxy S2 has always shown not more than 8 hours of battery life.
This is with the stock ROM, as well as the recent 2.3.5 update and a rooted kernel.
All the battery saving tips I've seen essentially boil down to 'turn off everything that made you buy the damn phone in the first place and use it only for voice calls like a dumbphone.' - i.e. disable 3g/EDGE/wifi/gps/bluetooth/screen brightness.
Of the lot, I've done the following:

Screen permanently set to 10% brightness, i.e. the lowest.
Bluetooth/Wifi/GPS only on when needed, which isn't much (Couple of Foursquare checkins everyday).
Sync disabled.
Haptic feedback/vibrations disabled.
The 2 capacitative buttons are set to only glow in the dark, so during the day they are never on.

Yet my battery goes down like crazy, and if I don't carry my charger with me the phone can't even make it through the day. Is there a way to find out what apps hog the battery?
The battery usage graph and list of apps by battery usage doesn't really help; it only shows me the apps that I've run myself recently.
So is there anything else one can do to improve battery life, or am I resigned to carrying around a charger always?

There are lots of battery tips questions here. Did you look at any of them? (I see a whole host of likely candidates on the right under "Related".)

That was exactly my point - if the solution is to turn off everything it negates the purpose of having a smartphone. And all the tips I've seen so far boil down to just doing this.

I'd recommend experimenting with other kernels.  On my original SGS Vibrant the stock kernel gives me a full day if I don't use it, whereas my current one gives almost a full week without use (just syncing over WiFi).  It's never less than a day unless I have the screen on for hours.

A larger "extended" battery may be your only solution if you're not willing to give up on functionality.  Of course a thicker battery means a fatter phone, but function before aesthetics, right?

In my Galaxy s2, the battery live about 24+ hours in normal use. The main causes of consuming the battery that I noticed are the high traffic on WiFi or 3G, playing 3D games, and lighting the screen for hours.

@Chahk - I can't exactly stick a battery thicker than the internal bay now, can I :)

@Rex Actually, you can.  Most extended batteries come with a custom battery door.  As an example, do a search for "samsung galaxy S II extended battery" on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=samsung+galaxy+s+II+extended+battery&_sacat=0&_odkw=samsung+captivate+extended+battery&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313 and take a look at the photos.  It does make the phone look somewhat uglier though.

For what it's worth, your question and all of the answers are not specific to the SGS2. I suggest genericizing the question.

I usually get by the day by carrying a USB charger since I always have my laptop or other computers around me. Some people get through by buying a second battery pack or a thick extended battery.
Any apps that syncs every 15 minutes is battery sucker, since it prevents the phone from sleeping. Syncing every hour or so shouldn't affect battery by much. If possible you should prefer apps that uses C2DM (i.e. push instead of poll). Many apps that polls for data have configurable polling frequency, try to have the same polling frequency for all apps or integer multiples.
For mailboxes that need to receive occasional urgent emails, don't use the stock Email client, instead use Gmail client or Exchange which uses push. If your email server supports IMAP IDLE extension (a push extension for IMAP protocol), you should use third party IMAP client, e.g. K9 Mail. However, don't use push for low priority high-traffic mailbox. You might be able to find a sweet spot for yourself by using two or more mailboxes for your high urgency and high traffic mailbox.
If you're rooted, underclock. Most phones have much more CPU than is needed for daily usage; underclocking will curb the phone to not go full power state unexpectedly, remember to restore the clock before doing CPU intensive activities (e.g. games) and to underclock it again afterwards.
I hope you know to disable Live Wallpaper. They're good for showing off, but not if you want your phone to last the day.
Secure the phone in your pocket. I found that my phone drains battery faster when in a tight pocket since the hardware button are often accidentally pressed which activates the screen and prevents the phone from sleeping.
In some custom ROM, e.g. CyanogenMod, the notification bar have power widget, which is handy for quickly enabling/disabling battery sucking features, e.g. GPS, 3G, etc.

However, remember that in the end it's all a tradeoff:

There are two apps, Juice Defender and Woofi, which, when used together can dramatically increase the battery life of your phone. The idea is that if you don't need to be notified the instant that you receive a message via the internet, your mobile data doesn't need to be on all the time. Juice Defender (among other things) will disable your mobile internet, and then re-enable it at a specified interval so that your phone will check for new notifications. It does not affect text messages and phone calls.
Woofi uses your network location as a basis to disable and enable wifi, so that you only have your wifi antenna turned on when you are somewhere you can use it. If you are a control freak like me, you could also do all of this with Tasker. I have it set up so that when my screen turns off all internet connections are disabled until I turn the screen back on. Then if it does not connect to wifi within 30 seconds, wifi is diabled. It turns data on every 10 minutes to notify me if I receive an email.
I put a shortcut to enable/disable this on my homescreen, and my battery life almost doubled.
Finally, if you just flashed a new rom, your battery life will be bad for the first week or so, until the Dalvik cache and battery information caches are built up. You should notice a significant boost in battery life after a few days.

didn't know that about flashing +1

Biggest battery-killer for me is being in a place with little or no cell signal and having the cell antenna on. The phone is constantly trying to connect with the network and it just sucks the battery dry.
When I'm at work I can't get any signal in my office, so I put the thing in Airplane mode. (I can't make or receive calls anyway, so might as well.) I easily end the day with 80% battery. If I forget to do that, I'm out of juice by early afternoon.

Sounds drastic..I've also seen my signal waltz up and down while at work. The thing is, this is my first non Nokia phone, and my previous N8 still managed to last 15 hours or so at work, with email sync enabled.

Thanks for the answers, ZShakespeare, Al Everett and Lie Ryan :)
It's true, the cell network signal is quite poor at work - that could be why it drains so fast. I've tried out all your recommendations and in the interests of others, I'm going to document what I did:
First, for unrooted users. If you don't have Tasker, get it - it's the most powerful task automation tool for Android, though somewhat aimed at power users. There's no free version(15 day trial) but it's worth every penny. (It's a little cheaper when bought direct from the developer instead of from the Market). I have already set Tasker to kill wifi and disable autosync when I enter my office. Now in addition, I've created a profile to turn off the data connection(EDGE/3G) when the screen is blank.
Next for rooted users - and this is where I see the most drastic power saving - by underclocking the CPU.
I am using 2.3.5 and have experimented with 2 kernels - DarkyROM's SuperCore 2.0 and Hacre's Ninphetamine. The latter is a high performance kernel with voltage regulation features (SuperCore doesn't support changing voltages).
I've installed SetCPU, and set it to downclock from 1200 MHz to 800, and reduce the CPU voltage to 975 mV (at 800 MHz, lowering further will cause problems). I've also set it to further reduce the clock to 500 MHz when the screen is off. By doing this, I got a boost of nearly 4 hours in battery backup.
Looking at this, I wonder why Samsung doesn't do the same thing in the 'power saving' mode that is available by default; not everybody would want to/be able to experiment with rooting their phone.
Finally, about syncing apps and email - I turn off autosync while I'm in office, and at other times I use the built in mail client to sync my gmail every hour. My office Exchange mail is sync disabled while I'm in office, and set to push mail at other times. I don't get more than a couple of mails a day during non office hours.

I find Power Saving Mode feature pretty good, anything not being used is shut off but turned on when needed automatically.

My battery woes are despite having the powersaving mode always on :(

I work in a secure room that has cinderblock walls with poured concrete in the voids and a heavy mesh screen (like heavy duty chicken wire or chain-link fence) embedded in the walls, the door is steel - and security cameras too to add to the fun. It acts like a Faraday Cage but even with all that I can get a signal sometimes but yes it can certainly drain the battery.

You've already turned most off the features and yet if it only gives less than 8 hours, chances are there is some hardware fault. Maybe in battery.


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Looking for option for 3-way file sync
I want to be able to have a 3-way sync for some files between home and work PCs and my Android (HTC Sensation, 2.3).  I want to sync a few documents and Keepass password database.
What options are there for this?  I found SMEStorage which looks very good, but I can't really see a good sync provider that does everything I need:

Windows Live Mesh: good for transparent sync on the PC, but I did read somewhere that docs synced from here would be read-only on Android (this doesn't apply to Skydrive, but can you sync to that like you can with Live Mesh?)
DropBox - hmm, I really don't want all my files publicly readable thank you...
FTP - I'd have to have a separate sync solution on my PCs
Google docs - not good on PC as I want a physical copy synced one each one.

Is there some other simple method I'm missing?  If there was a way of getting it to work with Live Mesh then that would be ideal.
EDIT:
  Looks like Live Mesh also syncs to Sky Drive, so Android clients that have read/write sync to Sky Drive may work, such as Sorami or SMEStorage may work

DropBox (with the exception of your "Public" folder) is completely secure...
Other Dropbox users can't see your private files in Dropbox unless you deliberately invite them or put them in your Public folder. Everything in your Public folder is, by definition, accessible to anyone.
https://www.dropbox.com/help/27

Completely secure apart from this: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/21/dropbox_security_issue/

it was only unsecure for four hours.

@the_mandrill: security fuckups like this can happen to any provider, including if you had your own FTP server (well, especially if you owned your own server). I don't think this knee-jerk reaction is warranted.

I use SMEStorage. I actually use 2 Storage Clouds on it. My home WebDav Server and SkyDrive.
My files physically reside on my home WebDAV server and on SkyDrive. I have a phone to SkyDrive folder sync setup through the SMEStorage App for some docs/files.
SMEStorage has the ability to encrypt files uploaded to it and then decrypt on the fly from the  Client, which suits me. It uses AES-256 and does not store the private key so if you lose the key your stuffed but again this approach suits me.

Thanks. I did go for SMEStorage before I saw your response. It looked to be the most versatile option that seems to cater for every platform and storage mechanism.

You can add your own private folders to Dropbox, you don't have to use the Public folder. I use this for some syncs between work, home and phone.

Thanks, but I'm concerned about Dropbox's security - see above comment

@the_mandrill you could always encrypt the files yourself that you put on Dropbox

I could, but then that defeats the idea of having transparent client sync at each end as that necessitates having to decrypt, edit and then re-encrypt

Google Docs actually would be a viable solution. You just need a way to sync local files to and from GDocs.
ReadWriteWeb reviewed three such apps. There are surely others.

I use Sugarsync.  Similar to Dropbox but without the poor security track record.  The Android client also handles automatic sync where dropbox doesn't.  Of course the Windows clients do as well.


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Unable to set custom ringtone on Moto G 2 after upgrading to Lollipop
I'm unable to customize the ringtone on my second generation Moto G after upgrading to Lollipop. I tried doing it normally from the Android settings, but just got a default "beep" sound instead. Only the built-in ringtone works properly.

Well, that's weird ! Haven't heard anything like this from the members over here even I am also having the same Moto G2 and things are working just fine with me ! Means you are the only one having this problem may be you should backup your data and try performing a complete factory reset !

You may want to look at the answers here, if you have not already: Custom ringtone not working on Nexus 5 since OTA Lollipop

I am facing the same problem in MOTO G Gen2. After upgrading to Lollipop, custom ringtone stopped working (If you assign tone to particualr contact, its working, but phone ringtone is not working...) everything else is fine. Please guide me if there is any solution for this.

Work around for this is here: Convert ur mp3 files to .ogg files and set as ringtone. http://audio.online-convert.com/convert-to-ogg

Make sure your ring tone file is in internal storage.

@Santhosh did you find a solution? I have the same problem with same phone!

I can do it in my Rocket Music player while playing a song there is an option "Ringtone" in the options menu. Whenever a song is playing the song or tone is set as ringtone.

@AkiRoss, .ogg file works as ringtone. Convert your mp3 to .ogg and set as ringtone. If you don't want to convert to .ogg, try to set a ringtone from file explorer. i.e Install and open ES File Explorer - sdcard -  - open your mp3 file in ES media player - set as ringtone using player options.

Someone put this as an edit instead of an answer:

Instead of setting ringtone under setting --> Sounds and
  notifications, try to set your ringtone from your player [Ex: ES File
  Explorer --> sdcard --> download --> your song. Play this in ES media
  player --> set ringtone ].

and someone else tried to edit this in:

1- change ur choice music into .ogg format (try fx file explorer it may able to rename any format u want)
  2- put that music file on the ringtone folder on phone
  where hangout ringtones are present  3-now power off ur phone and
  start it
  4-go to phones and notification folder u got ur choice music
  as a ringtone

I just tried by moving my required song to device storage, then saved that song in ringtone folder present in sd card folder and set the song as ringtone via file explorer and it worked.

Please Try this way, Simply Place the Your Ringtone in FileExplorer-->sdcard-->Ringtones-->yourRingTone file.Its working.

I have the same problem here's how I solve the problem.
Copy the song you want to set as ringtone to your internal memory / ringtones folder and set it as your ringtone. Note setting ringtone from sd card won't work.


text:
Where does YouTube's offline feature store video files?
I'm using YouTube offline feature on my Android device, so that I can playback the offline videos within the YouTube app even there is no internet connection. When I searched for any of the video files, I can't find them on device/SD card memory. Are they encrypting the file so that it can be played only with YouTube app? Does anyone know the specific folder for offline video data?

The location for those videos on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is as below:

Internal
  storage/Android/data/com.google.android.youtube/files/Offline/(system
  generated folder name)/streams

There might be a minor change to this location or path on other Android devices, but all those downloaded files are saved as .exo files, in an Internal Storage of a device!
But it is also true (to the best of my knowledge) that those "offline" videos can only be played using official YouTube App, and those videos simply can not be played using any other Video/Media player application.
YouTube (means Google) controls the access to the offline file.
The permission is controlled on their server per account basis, to access those downloaded files.
There are 2 other discussions related to offline functionality here and here, which should be helpful to enrich the info about YouTube offline feature.

Offline YouTube videos don't vanish after 48 hours Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/surprise-offline-youtube-videos-dont-vanish-after-48-hours/1/407062.html

@Sanjeev OK, edited the Answer to remove 48 hr line and thanks for hint


text:
Hangouts Icons Meanings
I know when someone reads your message, their picture in mini appears after the last message. Here's where I'm confused:

If it's shaded, that means they're not currently looking at your particular conversation?
There's a mini cell phone icon that appears beside the mini picture. It seems to appear randomly. Does it simply mean that they answered your hangout via cell phone? Or does it mean that they are currently using hangouts with another conversation (if the mini picture remains shaded)?

If there is a computer next to their icon, it means they are on a PC (or Chromebook).
If there is a phone, they are on their phone. The position of their icon shows the last message they read.
If the icon is dim, it means they are not looking at your message. Doesn't mean that hangouts is open, or closed.


text:
How do I find out if dnsmasq is running?
I have dnsmasq available on my Android (stock ROM 4.4.2 Note2) and would like to know how I can tell if it's running and what settings its currently using?

If you're rooted, go to /system/bin/ and find dnsmasq if it's in there. Alternatively, you can also check /xbin (but, that's unlikely to be there).
If you managed to find one in either path - you now use a terminal emulator and type su first and enter, then type dnsmasq -d to see if the process will be invoked properly. It should also run with its default settings depending on how it was compiled.

I can't tell you exactly for the settings, but here's an approach that basically should work for any app:
What you will need
Either a terminal app, or an adb connection to the device. Be able to work with the command-line.
Alternatively, for parts of the tasks there are apps available to monitor system resources.
What to do
At the shell prompt, you can check for active processes using the ps command. You can filter the output using grep. Assuming you know the package name (you can find it in the app's Playstore URL, right after the id=), and let's say it's com.foobar:
ps | grep "com.foobar"

would either show all processes of the com.foobar app – or nothing (if it's not running).
As for the settings, that's not that easy to determine. Depending on the app, these are either stored in a database, in the apps "shared preferences", or in both – all those stored below /data/data/com.foobar in our example case, which only root or the app itself has access to.
So if the device is rooted, you could try to directly access the corresponding files in /data/data/com.foobar/database/* and /data/data/com.foobar/shared_prefs/*, and investigate the files – using SQLite3 (or one of its GUIs) for the database files, and some XML viewer for the shared preferences.

that doesn't work in this case, dnsmasq is not a typical installed app, it seems to have been supplied with the ROM.

If you know how the process calls itself, it works the very same way. Everything running a process shows up in ps.

I've looked for it already using ps dnsmasq. Nothing showed up.

I have no idea how the process itself is named. While the application is DNSMasq, the process could e.g. be "dnsd". I'd take the full process list when I'm sure it's running, redirect that to a file (ps > ps.txt), and investigate that for what might be the one. I'm not sure whether the -f and -F parameters are available (full/extra full output) for additional details, but you might try.

I've tried 'ps dns', 'ps dnsd', it's not showing up, I think I've tried all the obvious names. I have a feeling it's not working in which case, I probably need to do another question about how to get it running, because I don't know how/never tried before.

It might help to include where you've obtained it from and how you've installed it. Also, with ps dns (if you've meant that literally), 'dns' would have been understood as options to ps – not a "parameter to look for". See my previous comment: either redirect the output of ps to a file (which you then can investigate), or pipe it to grep (e.g. ps | grep dns).

that's not quite true about dns being understood as a parameter, for example I tried 'ps dhcp' and it picked up the dhcp daemon. It must have either come installed with my ROM or with the kernel I flashed, I will find out, but in any case it's not running. Also I came across a question that said there is no OS-level DNS caching on Android, not sure how true this is though, it seems to contradict other things I've heard. https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/18002/is-there-a-way-to-list-the-local-dns-cache

Strange. If I try that, I get an error: "unsupported option". OK, sorry then – I know no further...

Are you using busybox?

I stay corrected: At the device with busybox, this indeed works :puzzled: Looks like I was to much thinking of the BSD-style ps on my Linux machine. Sorry for the confusion!

authors: Андрей Васильевич


text:
Android Security Automatically lock
I'm using a Moto X (2nd Gen.) with Android 5.0 and I'm trying to utilize Smart Lock by setting the option in Settings → Security → Automatically lock to:

5 seconds after sleep, except when kept unlocked by Smart Lock

No matter what I change it to, Android will still force me to enter my pattern, except when unlocked by Smart Lock (Trusted devices, Trusted places).
What am I doing wrong?

You are doing nothing wrong. It's an intended feature. Why should your device be unlocked when you told it to lock after 5 seconds?

@GiantTree Hmm, Let's say I locked my phone by pressing Power Button and then remembered something (within 5 seconds) and when I turn it back on, Android asks me for my pattern, I thought feature would allow me to bypass entering pattern if phone is turned back on within time period specified (5 seconds) in this case.

Pressing the power button locks the device instantly. As by design/security reasons.


text:
Can't see email older than 30 days
I have a Galaxy S4 Active and I cant find emails that are older than 30 days. How do i get them back? I didn't delete them.

What app? GMail? Email?

There is a value which can be either in your Setting App, or Mail application for the days to Sync. GKRAEIEC has stated this. If you have any issues please update your question with what application you're using.

There is an option in settings for your email account where you select how long to cache email locally. It works on a per label basis so you can store starred emails for longer than inbox (or whatever you like).

This was a good answer, but for someone who is unsure perhaps provide an example. Something as simple as this may aid your answer: Go to Settings - Mail (May be called Accounts) - Select your Mail Account - Sync and then alter the value here. If you're unable to find this here, go into your Mail application, settings and look for sync. Your answer is correct, however if you go that extra mile you'll be able to improve your answer, better help someone and also get it marked as correct.

authors: عمرو العبداني


text:
How can I remove the screen lock during phone calls on Android 4.4.4?
How can I remove the screen lock during phone calls on Android 4.4.4? I have a Samsung Galaxy Core 2, and whenever I'm on a call I have to tap the screen two times to unlock it. Is it possible to remove it?


text:
PC is not detecting Nexus 5 after revoking USB debugging authorizations
I accidentally revoked USB debugging authorizations for my PC, and now it is not detecting my Nexus 5. It worked fine before this. I have USB debugging already enabled and tried disabling and renabling it, but it did not help.

Have you restarted your phone and PC before trying again?
And how are you connecting: via terminal/console, via Eclipse or Android Studio...?


text:
How can I connect a Shure BETA 58A Vocal Microphone with a Samsung Galaxy S4?
How can I connect a Shure BETA 58A Vocal Microphone with a Samsung Galaxy S4?

You can use a cable like this to connect the microphone to the 3.5mm jack headphone slot in your smartphone. That one is said to be working with a Galaxy Camera, be sure to check on Google and on users' feedback for the compatibility.
Important: you have to search, in general, for a cable which switches from XLR (the connection present in your microphone) to mini jack or 3.5mm jack (the headphone slot in your phone). The XLR has to be female (holes for the pins), while the jack must be male (the jack pin coming out, to be inserted in a jack hole). Be sure to check five times in the internet for compatibility issues and extra steps needed to make it work.

uhh the link links to a, uhh HDMI, uh, thingy.  Not an XLR-to-3.5mm adaptor, at any rate.

Thanks, I have no idea of how that thing came out. Inserted an appropriate link.


text:
What is the fastest way to turn the phone into silent mode?
The title kinda tells it all. Sometimes I need to turn silent for a meeting and the procedure is like:

Unlock the phone
Click on Menu
Go to Settings
Click on Sound
Enable Silent mode

Apart from (1), which can't be shortened (can it?), I want to minimize the remaining 4 clicks.
EDIT: I have a Nexus S, but I'm more interested in things that are not specific to models. Also, please feel free to add model-specific answers, as other people may find it useful.

What phone? On my Nexus One, I can just hit my volume-down button (without unlocking) one click down past vibrate.

@Uninspired I tried to leave that open so answers can be generic.

Personally, I think that the easiest way (apart from sliding right to left, but that's not available on all phones) to put the phone into silent mode is to hold down the power button for a short period of time, then select Silent mode.

It CAN be shortened!
You can silence your phone straight from the lockscreen by sliding from right to left.
See this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTQ-c7QJdYQ#at=4m

+1 This is great! I'm going to accept @Linus's answer because I have a locking pattern so can't use this. Nice to know, though :)

Doesn't work with HTC sense :-(

Holding the Volume-Down button on most Android devices from the home screen will drop to silent mode.

You can also a widget on your home screen to toggle between silent / vibrate / normal modes.
Too many to list. Most popular ones work well.

I use Widgetsoid

There is an android app named as Profilo which provides a lot of features to silent your phone quickly. This app has four features location based, voice based, time based and a shake functionality. The quickest way is that shake your mobile once and it will be silent. Shaking again will unmute it. You can schedule your phone as well. You can save a location. At that location your cell phone automatically will be on silent mode. Here is the link.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apptrekkers.profilo

See How to not be a spammer


text:
Phone randomly cannot recognize my Wifi network
I have a few WiFi network in the neighborhood and the Nexus S will always detect those networks that I never use. However, for my own WiFi network, it randomly fails to recognize the network, even though I sit right next to the router. I know that everything else is OK, because I can access the network through my laptop, and if I just restart the router, the phone will start to pick up the signal again.
I think there might be something wrong with my router, because I never have that problem with the network at work. The only difference I can think of is, I turn off my router right when I stop using WiFi...
What might be wrong? Is this a known bug? Are there workarounds (that does not involve restarting the router?
Update: I do find some clue. If I turn the router on before turning on wireless on the phone (via the power management widget), then things work just fine. If I turn on wireless on the phone before the router, I'll need to restart the router. I don't know how much sense it makes though.

Was this always the case?  This really sounds like your router is just flaky, which we can't help you with ...

No it's random. And if the problem is with the router, then why don't I have it on my laptop?

I've found the problem. Both the router and the phone was working correctly. The problem is with the Wifi channels. According to Wikipedia's List of WLAN channels, some places only allow channels 1-11, some others 1-13. Devices will provide support accordingly. My router supports channels 1-13, while the phone (I guess) supports channels 1-11. So when the router uses channels 12 or 13, the phone cannot detect the network!
Solution?

Buy another router which only support channels 1-11.
Logon to your Routers config through your browser to find whether the router supports limiting the channels. Refer to your Routers user manual on how to do this
Change the channel settings on the router to be manual (i.e not automatic), and somewhere in the range 1-11 (preferably 1 or 6 or 11).


text:
App searches in wrong directory
I just installed DroidID3Tagger, however it just searches for my music files in /mnt/sdcard, my music however is in /mnt/emmc.
Is there anything I can do instead of moving the files?
I'm using CM9 Nightly on a SGS1 with Icy Glitch Kernel. (for some reason the Kernel swapped sdcard and emmc)

In response to @Zuul's comment below his answer, usage of the ln -sf /mnt/emmc /mnt/sdcard is not the appropriate way of dealing with it, because it's a soft-link and forcing it that way, can lead to some mis-behaviour of apps who are relying on the SDCard's mount point, by way of refusing to work with it, Play Store can fail in this regard.
The best solution is to use this:
By using busybox, explicitly bind the mount point to make /mnt/emmc behave exactly like a SDCard, i.e:
/system/xbin/busybox mount -o bind /mnt/emmc /mnt/sdcard
Which will show up as a mount point in the proper way, if this was a soft-link it would end up like this -
/mnt/sdcard -> /mnt/emmc

Google Play store, as I mentioned has an internal checking mechanism to see if the directory is not a link (it will return a error of -22 IIRC).

This app reads files from the device internal storage located at /mnt/sdcard, not from the external storage or any other location.
Since the app was last updated on March 4 2011, I don't think this will get fixed.

However, if you have root on your device, you can create a soft link from one location to another thus tricking the app.
The command is used like this:
ln -sf {target-filename} {symbolic-filename}

So you should execute:
ln -sf /mnt/emmc /mnt/sdcard

When the app accesses the /mnt/sdcard the system will give it the contents of /mnt/emmc.

Just for clarification it does use /mnt/sdcard, but in my case it's my external SD. /mnt/emmc is my internal SD. (Something got messed up when I installed the Icy Glitch Kernel)                                                                    I tried this code in "Virtual Terminal", i get the error message "link failed No such file or directory".

hmmm... maybe ln is not the appropriate way to deal with it - perhaps using busybox as in /system/xbin/busybox mount -o bind /mnt/emmc /mnt/sdcard ?

Yes, that worked ;) I don't use the app anymore but it might come in handy on other things aswell

@wayback What end up solving the issue, the soft link or the mount?

@Zuul The busybox/mount solved it

@t0mm13b Your attention is needed here. Your comment solved the issue, perhaps moving it to an answer, thus allowing the OP to accept it and close this problem.

@wayback Thank you for the feed back, lets wait for t0mm13b's answer.


text:
Resetting Galaxy S 3 to factory default ICS
I am a new Android user, and recently I have upgraded the default ROM of Samsung Galaxy S 3 to Jelly Bean MIUI ROM using the steps mentioned at the International Business Times.
Now I want to revert it back to default ROM but I am unable to do so.
Although the blog says

If you want to return to your previous ROM for some reason, boot into
  recovery (using the procedure explained in step 3), choose backup and
  restore, then restore your previous ROM by selecting it from the list.

But I didn't find anything within the list.
I tried wipe data / factory reset but still not getting the default ROM.
What do I need to do to get back the default firmware?

Did you do the NANDroid Backup, as step 4 of that guide suggested? If so, did it complete successfully? It might have failed e.g. if there was not enough space left on your sdcard. BTW: A factory-reset will never revert to the previous ROM -- it just cleans up all user data, caches, etc.

Yes, I did so and there was about 7 gb of space left within my internal memory. I didn't noticed whether it was successful or not(may be you are right), and after that i did the factory reset, which i believe must have deleted the back-up

Nope, factory reset doesn't delete anything on the card. Your backups should be saved there in the clockworkmod/backup/ directory. I had it once with not enough space left on the card and got no warning (although I saw it when checking those 0 byte files before I continued to the next step ;), hence that question. 7G should be more than enough, usually. My backups never exceeded 1GB. But you already found the only alternative (+1 from me) -- still you might want to look for those files, for the next time to know ;)

I found a workaround, Downloaded a firmware from http://www.sammobile.com/firmware/ and updated my galaxy s3 with that using odin. Upon first reboot my phone hangs showing only boot screen with samsung logo for about 2 hours, then I restarted phone in clockworkmod recovery did a wipe data / factory reset and then restarted the phone again, I got the default firmware back. Then connected the phone to pc using kies and upgraded the firmware.