text:
how to upgrade operating system of micromax E311 device for a novice user
I have Micromax E311 phone.
For some reason the settings of phone have become unreachable. So on the display I see com.android.settings. Setting icon with a mechanical gear on it but when I tap it then I get a pop up

Unfortunately, Settings has stopped.

I clicked Ok.
Then again the same message pops up within a fraction of second this keeps happening then I restart the phone somehow and if I touch settings then same thing happens. If I don't touch the setting's icon, there is no problem I can keep using the phone.
So I am not sure what is the OS in this phone. My guess is that it has been formatted to the factory settings, so it's having Android 4.4.2. I read many tutorials about rooting the phone and installing custom ROM on it. Like

After rooting an Android phone, you can switch the operating system
  ROM whenever you want. The rooting process removes the preinstalled
  operating system on the Android phone, replacing it with a rooted
  Android OS.

as given on https://smallbusiness.chron.com/change-roms-rooted-android-30006.html
How to root any device
https://www.xda-developers.com/root/
How to install custom rom
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-install-custom-rom-android/
For my device flash rom
https://www.gogorapid.com/flash-stock-rom-on-micromax-e311/
What I am confused with is to upgrade my device OS to android 10, first I should replace the ROM and then do "something"  as mentioned on lot of forums or what exactly I should to to upgrade the OS of my phone.
I am very confused with all the tutorials available on internet.
I want to know simple steps in bullet points like

Step 1 change ROM
Step 2 change this
Step 3 change that
Step 4 boot phone.

Meaning such a guideline will help me when I read tutorials, and I was getting confused with them.I am not sure if with android 4 OS I can directly upgrade to some thing like android 9 or so.

You are confused because you are reading generic tutorials and background articles. On Android however every device is special, hence unless you have a tutorial that is specific for your device the tutorial is useless.

The first step is to find a custom ROM based on Android 10 that is made specifically for Micromax E311, which doesn't look like there is. The latest Android version that I could find is Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which doesn't look stable either. Browse XDA Forum for this specific model for more information.

actually the model I fear is not Nitro. I have lost access to settings some how before that I had rooted the phone, so if I can know exactly which model number or OS this phone is running some how by connecting with USB cable with a laptop, I will explore more but I do not know how. Thanks for your XDA forum link I will post in it I was not able to search that forum device specific. Well as I am a novice user and do not have much post count so I can not post in that link you gave. That is developer forum so they locked it for spamming by non technical posts.

ok I have posted the question here on XDA users. I posted the link so that if some one else comes here they may see that link. However mostly my questions never get any response on XDA forum.


text:
How to disable an activity containing a special character?
What is the correct way to disable the activity:
com.android.settings/.Settings$SystemDashboardActivity

When I try to disable it via pm disable command it disables the whole Settings activity and not the specific activity SystemDashboardActivity.
Note: I have a rooted device.

You need to escape the dollar character. Otherwise, the shell would interpret  anything after $ as the variable name. Since $SystemDashboardActivity as a variable is not set, your command is effectively interpreted as:
pm disable com.android.settings/.Settings

That naturally would disable the parent (.Settings) component.
Escape $ by prefixing it with \ so as to prevent unwanted interpretation from shell.  Your command should look like this:
pm disable com.android.settings/.Settings\$SystemDashboardActivity

Tested on Android 9.0 running on OnePlus 6. Make sure to run the command as root.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to fix "fastboot FAILED (command write failed (Success))" error?
I tried to flash twrp image in POCO F1 by using the command fastboot flash recovery  twrp.img. But it didn't work. It showed the error message:
fastboot FAILED (command write failed (Success))

What could be the possible reasons?

It can be one of the following issues:
1) Your TWRP image is corrupt. Try downloading the image again, or download from another source.
2.) There is an issue with your USB connection. Check your USB ports and the cable, or try another PC.
Also, are you using a Linux distribution? There is a known issue with Fastboot that sometimes causes the error you mentioned in Linux, so try a Windows PC if you can.

ya. I was using Linux distro, which was showing me this error. So I tried from a windows machine and it worked

FTR: In my case the connection was faulty. Type-C to Type-C cable was giving me this error; when I switched to Type-A-to-Type-C everything started working smoothly.

authors: webknjaz -- Слава Україні

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


text:
How to know if my phone has NFC technology?
I bought the Samsung Galaxy Note phone in Greece, but the store in which I bought the phone brought it directly from Samsung in France (that's what they told me), and the language that the phone had when I first booted the device was in German (so I suppose this phone was purposed for Germany).
Is there any way to find out whether my phone has NFC technology or not?

Elixir 2 probes the hardware. If it doesn't show then you probably doesn't have NFC. Also, com.android.nfc is the default Android app which takes care of NFC. You should be having it unless your OEM deliberately removed it and introduced some other alternative.

For some years now, there are many free apps that will give you this information.  I have one called Phone Tester which shows this screen

As a declaration of support for NFC capability an OEM would most likely add android.hardware.nfc to device's feature list - Which can be queried via adb:
adb shell pm list features | grep android.hardware.nfc
Reference

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


text:
How to upgrade Samsung I5800 Galaxy 3 to Android 2.2?
I have a Samsung I5800 Galaxy 3 with original Android firmware and an official Windows 7 Pro/64-bit machine and a Samsung USB cable that I got with the phone.
I read that Android 2.2 was already out for this phone from Jan-Apr this year, so I thought it would be a very wise thing to upgrade it! OK. Because it looks like Kies can't upgrade the phone, this is "funny".
Here is what I have on the phone:

Android 2.1-update1

Here is the Kies version on the machine:

2.0.3.11082_152 (up-to-date)

Here is the message from Kies that it cannot update the phone:

I tried to reboot the Windows 7 machine, Kies has a troubleshooting part, and I tried it.
How can I update it officially to a fresher version of Android? What else is there?

You could uninstall Kies and the drivers completely, and then install the UK version of Kies from here.  (Make sure to select the UK as your location during install).  This should allow you to perform the update, although it might not give you the language you want.  This worked for me to get Froyo on my Vibrant before it was released in the US.  Alternatively you could try another European country that has had an official update released.
You could also try flashing the latest European firmware via Odin.  XDA has a guide on this (see the UPGRADING section).  This is risky if you don't follow the instructions closely and will void your warranty just like rooting, but I've used Odin dozens of times on my Vibrant with no issues.


text:
Can I view the sales reports/information from Android Market for my apps somewhere?
Is there a way to download the sales information for my Android apps?
For the iTunes store, Apple provides a tool for the same on iTunes Connect Sales and Trends Guide.
Are there similar tools for the Android apps' sales data? OR are there any external tools? I noticed that Appmonger is an app that provides the same. Are there any other external tools/sites?

This is only marginally on-topic as questions about the Market from a developers perspective are off-topic. (Check out the proposal for App Stores, where this would be on-topic.) However, since you're asking about, and there may be, an app for your device that would do what you need, I think it's good enough to stay.

Earnings Reports: Generated near the beginning of the month.
Estimated Sales Reports: Generated daily by adding all transactions that were CHARGED or REFUNDED recently to the current month's file. It can take several days for all new transactions to appear.

Note: Financial data is based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

From Play Console Help - Download sales and payout reports


text:
Resetting a synced Android Chrome profile
I would like to clear whatever settings I have enabled in Android Chrome and have the resulting clean profile synchronised. I have synchronisation of Google Chrome enabled on Android, but there are some settings that I need to clear to factory/default settings. Obviously, if I clear all app data and settings using the normal Android approach, my login state be cleared as well, so the resulting clean profile will not be synchronised to the cloud. There seems to be a bit of a Catch-22 here ...
I basically just want to overwrite whatever data was previously pushed into the cloud with a clean Chrome factory settings profile.

You can reset your Chrome profile settings to defaults at chrome://settings/reset (site won't let me link because it doesn't begin with https://, sorry). This is the simplest version of a Chrome profile reset, but is only accessible via a desktop browser, not directly via Chrome on Android.
This will reset the settings related to your Chrome profile as detailed when you click the button on that page:

This action will:
• Reset some Chrome settings and Chrome shortcuts
• Disable extensions
• Delete cookies and other temporary site data

It's possible to clear all data associated with your Chrome profile from your Android device at the Google Chrome Sync page. This will erase all of the following:

Address bar
History
Bookmarks
Reading list
Open tabs
Addresses
Payment methods
Passwords
Settings
Apps
Extensions
Themes

Also keep in mind:

This will clear your Chrome and ChromeOS data that has been saved in your Google Account. This might clear some data from your devices.
This will also remove your sync passphrase. You can create a new passphrase.

I know that Android Chrome does not have chrome://settings, but maybe the sub-resource with reset has been implemented. Checking!

Nope. chrome://settings/reset does not work on Android. You just get a ERR_INVALID_URL error page.

Sorry, that one is only accessible from the Chrome browser on desktop - I can add that in the answer. The second link will work from Android, and will generate a completely new/clean Chrome profile.

The Google Chrome Sync page was the most pertinent one. thanks!

Awesome, glad it worked for you!


text:
How to use Pixel 6 as webcam on Android 14?
Many reports in the tech press said that Android 14 would include an option to use Android phones as a webcam when connected to another device over USB.
Here it is mentioned on the official Android 14 website

Upon installing Android 14 on my Pixel 6, I don't see this option. It's supposed to come up on the USB menu when you plug in the phone.
I contacted Google Support as a Google One user, but they were useless as usual - hadn't even heard of the feature.
Has anyone gotten this to work?

Sidenote: Google One is not a part of the Android team. So, it should be understandable that they don't know about latest Android features other than their Google products.

Related questions, independent of the Android version: Can I turn my Android device into a webcam?, How do I turn my Android into a USB Webcam?

It's there now, thanks!

The feature should/will be available in December feature drop (also known as Android 14 QPR1), not Android 14 release that just started rollout.
So you either need to install a Beta OS or wait for a couple of months for it to rollout.
When that happens, you'll plug in the phone into your computer via USB cable, tap the "Charging this device via USB" notification and select webcam as the option.

Thanks! I guess that's what "you can soon use your Android phone as a beautiful webcam" means!


text:
Update/Reset android firmware by SD Card. Verizon Samsung S4
I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 that was rooted on the 4.3 build with the saferoot method (I think, it's been awhile). I had since installed Xposed framework and installer, etc.  I unrooted with the supersu unroot method. Now I can't connect my phone via USB in either Ubuntu or Windows 7 (it shows unknown device).  Another S4 shows up and installs drivers just fine on my computer, and my phone isn't recognized by other computers running windows. Basically, no matter what I've done with ADB and Windows drivers, my phone will not talk with my PC and I cannot connect to Odin. I've factory reset my phone, and I just want to be able to communicate via USB.
I'm looking at taking some of the firmware I've found on XDA-forums and installing that through the stock recovery with the SD card. SCH-I545_VZW_1_20131023084910_v4vth34m5z_fac.zip is the package I have.
My question: is this okay to just push this .zip via stock recovery?  Is there anything else I need to do, like install other packages, etc?
EDIT: After factory resetting both in the android OS AND in stock recovery, trying to take the OTA fails.

I replaced the actual USB port on the phone. Not only is it actually communicating, but it's charging a lot faster. The part is fairly easy to change and fairly cheap as well.

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


text:
android shell /system/bin/sh subshell not working
The script
#!/system/bin/sh
/system/bin/busybox find .
f=$(/system/bin/busybox find .)
echo $f
for f in $(/system/bin/busybox find .)
do
 echo $f
done

does not work as expected in my environment.
I get:
.
./loop.sh

while
bash loop.sh
.
./loop.sh
. ./loop.sh
.
./loop.sh

is the result for the equivalent on a linux box:
#!/bin/sh
find .
f=$(find .)
echo $f
for f in $(find .)
do
 echo $f
done

What can I do about this?
The environment is:
getprop ro.build.version.sdk
22
getprop ro.build.version.release
5.1.1
busybox
BusyBox v1.22.1 (2014-09-16 09:27:06 CST) multi-call binary.
busybox uname -a
Linux localhost 3.14.0 #68 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jan 18 10:27:06 CST 2017 i686 GNU/Linux

Maybe you're comparing apples with peaches here, as /bin/sh is something else than /bin/bash (e.g. doesn't support as many things as Bash does). Have you tried how that script works on Linux when using #!/bin/sh instead of #!/bin/bash? Or on your Android device when using Bash (if you have it available there that is)?

@lzzy - thank you for looking into this. On linux the /bin/sh doesn't make any difference. I would love to try out bash on my android device but i don't see how i could try it out without e.g. installing a full debian or a different busybox version. For the time being I'd love to understand what's going on that such a basic function like subshell doesn't work out of the box.

Making no difference means it works the same as with Bash – or the same as with sh on the Android device? As for Bash on Android: my corresponding app list says there is e.g. Bash Shell X you could give a try (if you don't mind it coming with AdMob; otherwise Termius also includes a local Bash).

I guess it's because BusyBox has a different version of find compared to your Linux Distro.. BTW, what is your script trying to achieve? If it's simply listing the contents of a directory, you could better use ls, and pipe it to grep for searching..

it doesn't make any difference what subshell command I call. the subshell $() doesn't work as expected ..


text:
Export data locked away in internal storage
I have used a specific app for more than three years (writing down my dreams and updating a sleep statistic). Now this app is all of a sudden gone from the Play store, and the developer is unreachable. I've always known that it is problematic that this app doesn't have an export feature or anything (like many others), but without having specific Android knowledge, I always thought: It's on my device, I will be able to find and extract it somehow. Well, I found out that the app stored the data in a SQLite database in the internal data folder, i.e. in /data/data/<package_name>/.
I am runnning Android 13 and rooting is of course not an option as this will wipe the phone data, as I understand.
I tried accessing the files via adb from my Linux laptop but I cannot cd into it, "permission denied". I also read that these data are encrypted.
Is there any way to access these data (from another device, if needed?)


text:
New Phone > Videos received via Whatsapp play in Gallery but not in Whatsapp anymore
I've spent hours on this and am amazed there is no obvious answer from googling.
I got a new phone, a Google Pixel 4a. I am transferring data and settings from my old phone, an HTC One M8. I made a Whatsapp backup that saved to Google Drive then installed Whatsapp on the new phone, it detected the backup and I have all my chats, photos and animated gifs.
This is where it gets confusing...
In Whatsapp > Settings > Chat backup I have NOT enabled "Include Videos" yet somehow all videos that were sent to me via Whatsapp when I was using it on my old phone ARE in my new phone? Maybe that was because of how I transferred data between the old and the new phone during the initial setup? I used the Google Pixel app and both phones were connected via a cable. I can play these videos on the new phone in the "Files" app.
In Whatsapp > Manage Storage .. it only sees about 300MB of used space. But when I connect the phone to the laptop and browse the Whatsapp media folder all the videos ARE in there in the Whatsapp Video folder, taking up almost 2GB. Yet they will not play IN Whatsapp, only via the "Files" app.
This is what I have tried:

Clearing Whatsapp cache.
Checked my internet/network connection and I am connected (although this is un-necessary in my case because the videos ARE already in the phone and they do play on the phone from the "Files" app.
Restarted the phone.
Whatsapp has FULL permissions to do whatever it wants on the new phone.

Possible solution?
It's like Whatsapp doesn't see the videos even though they are there? Maybe it's because of how those videos got on the new phone in the first place? Did that Google Pixel Setup Wizard put them in the wrong place? They were originally in the internal storage of my old phone and my new phone only has internal storage also.
This post speaks about renaming the Whatsapp folder in internal memory then downloading an image from a chat which forces Whatsapp to create another Whatsapp folder to be created in internal memory?
As an example of a video that was originally sent to me via Whatsapp on my old phone but does not play in Whatsapp on the new phone but DOES play in the "Files" app... From the "Files" app I can see its location is:
/storage/emulated/0/Whatsapp/Media/WhatsApp Video/ViD-2021.....mp4
An example of an image that does display in Whatsapp on the new phone when I check it in the "Files" app its location is:
/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/Whatsapp/Media/WhatsApp Images/IMG-2021.....jpg
So do I need to drag all the videos from:
/storage/emulated/0/Whatsapp/Media/WhatsApp Video/...
into
/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/Whatsapp/Media/WhatsApp Video/...
??
Update
I tried that idea and copied a video from:
/storage/emulated/0/Whatsapp/Media/WhatsApp Video/...
into
/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/Whatsapp/Media/WhatsApp Video/...
Now when I go back in to Whatsapp this time the thumbnail of the video is no longer greyed out suggesting that I just have to click on the thumbnail for the video to play but when I do I still get the same error message:

Sorry, This media file appears to be missing...

I tried clearing the Whatsapp app cache and restarting the phone but this made no difference.
Any help gratefully appreciated,
Flex

Turns out I was doing the right thing... moving those videos into..
/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/Whatsapp/Media/WhatsApp Video/...
DID make them play in Whatsapp... What was confusing me is the first few videos I was testing to playback within Whatsapp had been deleted by the original sender at their end so they weren't playing but for an entirely different reason!
As to why I had all my Whatsapp videos on the new phone even though I had not enabled Whatsapp to backup videos that was because the Pixel install wizard transferred them over from my old phone. Whatsapp > Manage Storage.. was only seeing about 300MB of used space because the Whatsapp videos were copied over from the old phone to the wrong place on the new phone where Whatsapp wasn't looking.
I guess that's just a feature of how Whatsapp works: if someone sends you a video via Whatsapp and then subsequently deletes it at their end from their Whatsapp conversation with you it will no longer play from your Whatsapp... EVEN if you still have the video in the Whatsapp media folder in your phone!


text:
Can't Donwload/Install/Update any app - Waiting for download
I've got a problem while trying to install/upgrade any app on my android phone, after tapping on install/upgrade it just get stuck with the message waiting for download.
Nothing works for me, I already tried these solutions and their combinations:

Restarting the phone
Clearing google play store cache/data - force stopping it
Clearing google play service data
Clearing download manager cache/data - force stopping it
Uninstalling and reinstalling Play Store updates (also I have tried it without reinstalling)
Removing & re-adding my Google account from device
I've got enough free storage [+3G]
I'm on a WiFi with good connectivity.
There is no new version of Android available to upgrade for my phone
I also tried installing apps from browser, didn't work!
I tried installing apps using a VPN too, Wrap from CloudFlare is the only thing on my phone and it didn't work either.

I'm on Android 8.1
Motorola products, if it makes any difference.

install apk files

Thanks but that would be the obvious thing to do... I rather solving the problem.

assuming you have enough free space for downloading and installing apps, try another wifi maybe it's just a network connection problem not related to your phone. if you're not sure about free space wipe cache from recovery and clear cache for every app from app settings


text:
What is the difference between two AT-command interfaces
Qualcomm SDM660(modem- MSM4114), Mi A2, Android One 9(stock), 2 sim
I founded two devices(not links), that can recieve at commands and answer them. Its /dev/smd8 and smd11. Smd7 is owned by root:root, smd11 - radio:radio.
What is the difference between them?

Modem interfaces are proprietary. Those aren't officially documented. Instead closed source HALs in userspace communicate with them. So their exact purpose and capabilities are hardly well-known. You can experiment with them to explore things. Use inotify, audit etc. to know when and which kernel interface is accessed by which userspace process. Vendor's init and ueventd .rc files are also useful for some interfaces sometimes.

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/223967


text:
How to configure android for not turn on the screen at the time of charging connection/disconnetion?
I want to android device not turn on screen when I connect it to charge and when disconnect from charge.
How and where it may configure?

Is your device roorted? I am not aware of a way to do so on an unrooted device. On a rooted device with xposed I heard that it is possible to disable using the Xposed module "Gravity box". Also on certain custom roms the auto screen-on when charging starts/stops can be configured.

Which Android device are you using? Some OEMs give this option under settings (sometimes under Developer Settings).

@Robert device is not rooted

@Firelord OS is Android One 9


text:
Read GPS location from command line via SSH
I am wondering if there's a way to read the current GPS coordinates via SSH using SSHelper as SSH server.
I came accross some similar threads:

How to detect GPS status through adb shell?
A way to get location coordinates from command line
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31707981/adb-shell-get-live-gps-location-not-last-known-location
Viewing the GPS-location of an Android Device?

I managed to run the SSH server and connect to it. So far, I have tried to run the dumpsys location command over ssh, which gives me the following:
Permission Denial: can't dump LocationManagerService from from pid=27381, uid=10192 due to missing android.permission.DUMP permission

Does that command only work with adb? If yes, is there another way of retrieving GPS coordinates over ssh, i.e. using some shell commands?
I don't have root, and I'm not an app developer. Thanks!

Ah, sorry! you are running the command from SSHHelper app, and to do this your APK should have the permission DUMP of course, which is not possible without root in your case, have you tried Command line from your PC, I have no issue with non-root devices using "adb shell dumpsys location | find "Last Known Locations"

Ah okay, so the DUMP permission is only possible for system apps or apps signed with the platform key, right? So the SSHelper app can't have it, unless i root my phone and move it to the system partition, is that correct? In that case, I wonder if there are other ways of retrieving GPS data via SSH in non-root environments. Since I want to use SSH as a wireless protocol, adb via USB is not an option for me in this case.

While I found no solution using SSHelper, it is indeed possible using Termux and the Termux-API. No root is required.
After installing the Termux app, one has to install the Termux-packages openssh and termux-api:
$ pkg install openssh
$ pkg install termux-api

I also had to install the Termux-API app from Playstore or F-Droid to get it working.
The sshd config can be edited as desired and can be found at $PREFIX/etc/ssh/sshd_config.
Set a password for SSH authentication (or, alternatively and even better, public key authentication with ssh-keygen and ssh-copy-id):
$ passwd

Next, start the ssh server:
$ sshd

To stop the server:
$ pkill sshd

In my case it's on port 8022 per default. One should now have access to the Termux-API commands via ssh. termux-location retrieves GPS data as JSON. For example:
$ ssh u0_a202@192.168.0.7 -p 8022 termux-location
{
   "latitude": xx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
   "longitude": yy.yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy,
   "altitude": zzz.zzzzzzzzzzzz,
   "accuracy": 64.31999969482422,
   "vertical_accuracy": 192.0,
   "bearing": 301.9921875,
   "speed": 0.4399999976158142,
   "elapsedMs": 8,
   "provider": "gps"
}

Sources:
https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Remote_Access
https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux:API
https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux-location


text:
How to uninstall/disable system apps on Fire HD 8?
I want to uninstall or disable system apps on my Amazon Fire HD 8 2017. How can I do this? The FireOS version in "System Updates" menu is 5.6.2.0.

There is a method to disable system apps on Fire HD 8 2017, on your FireOS version. (Discovered by myself, actually :D) You can see that XDA thread here. To battle possible link rot I'll also describe it here too.

I'm not going to add a guide on how to install ADB here, this page by Amazon explains it thoroughly, so you can follow it.
Download the APK attached in post #2, or if the link is broken download it from Dropbox. You can install it with ADB if you know how to, or just install it as you install other APK files.
This is one of most important but most ignored steps. Reboot your tablet.
The Amazon page explains how to run adb commands. Run these commands in order.

adb shell
run-as com.amazon.unifiedsharefacebook

Run pm hide on every app you want to hide. (You might be thinking the difference between hide and disable. pm hide vs. pm disable was analyzed on here.) You can check the package name of the app you want to install by "App Inspector". You can download and install it from here and check the package name of the app you want to remove.

Example: pm hide com.amazon.kindle
Here are all the apps that are safe to remove. Removing any other all could cause unexpected bugs.
Good luck!

it worked and improved speed so much. thank you!!!


text:
How do I disinfect my device infected with a malware?
In the process of trying to resolve the infection, I kept hitting major, dangerous hurdles.  I had a pretty good guess as to what had led to the infection, but hit hurdle after hurdle as I tried to act accordingly. I was surprised that the simple steps I tried didn't work.
Specifically, this is what was happening and what made it malware:
Ads are popping up over other apps and my LG's home screen since I installed this app yesterday. Free VPN Master is the only new app I had installed (on my LG) in over 2 weeks (according to Lookout AND my recollection).  It violates Google Policies: Disruptive ads. Violates: "Ads must only be displayed within the app serving them."
The only other possibly significant change I made was to enable - but not use - developer mode.
This app doesn't seem to have the permissions to enable it to put up the ads I'm seeing, but it's the only thing that makes sense, and the whole VPN Master brand does have an awful reputation. Also, lumendatabase notice #15425531 is notable.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

Please use [meta] if you are in disagreement of a moderator's actions. You willingly added irrelevant information (abused the system) to show your discontent with my moderation, knowing fully that you should have taken it to Meta. I have locked this post until the dispute is resolved on meta  or you decide to disengage on your own. Furthermore, please avoid excessive comments. If you intend to talk to me regarding unlocking it, you can use a chat room. Do note that your successive revisions made your question clear, so I did reopen it, but had to lock it due to system's misuse.

OP here.
So, I was facing this problem, and was surprised that my initial google search didn't turn up anything actually helpful, and multiple harmful things, among the first handful of pages I looked at, and then I found a good answer in google's documentation, here.
Posting here so others can benefit.
Specifically, Google advises there (emphasis mine):
Remove problem apps

On an Android phone or tablet, press and hold your device's power button.
On your screen, touch and again hold Power off Power. Your device starts in safe mode. You'll see "Safe mode" at the bottom of your screen.
One by one, remove recently downloaded apps.

Tip: To remember the apps that you remove so that you can add them back, make a list.

After each removal, restart your device normally. See whether removing that app solved the problem.
After you remove the app that caused the problem, you can add back the other apps that you removed.

(There are more suggestions (2 more big steps) there after those five sub-steps, as well as links more detailed instructions on how to delete and restore apps.)
Additionally, here are some things to skip or avoid - they failed or worse:

I found that quitting the suspect app and rebooting didn't clear the infection.
My device is not rooted, and I had only installed apps via Google Play.
Tip: The phone came with Lookout anti-virus installed; (despite point 2, below) it was useful for identifying the recently installed apps.  I couldn't find a place where Googled logged that info, but Lookout had a log that showed (confirmed my recollection of) what I'd installed in the past two+ weeks: only one app (and auto-installed updates to many apps).
I found that one cannot even minimally trust Google Play reviews; specifically, I found that my review of the suspect app appears when I view the app on the infected device in, but does NOT appear when I view the reviews of the app on the web.  App: Free VPN Master - Fast secure proxy VPN from Freeemaster2018
I also cannot trust Google to keep malware supposedly from its own subsidiary - VirusTotal -  out of the Google Play store!  An official app for running installed APKs thru VirusTotal is described here and was once available thru the link found there (now dead, but in archives), but now there's only a fake copy (here) that's actually malware!
I find that reporting these issues to Google/attempts to google, including the Google-supplied and Google Ad Policy-violating-ads, to be difficult and fruitless.  Google seems to be intentionally avoiding accepting such complaints; submission forms are broken and Google staff I interacted with seem to be trying hard as they can to politely but staunchly refuse to attempt to replicate the bugs.  (Reminds me of this story about Apple politely but staunchly refusing to admit the obvious!)

I should note: There are some other (inferior, IMO) answers to much the same question at Unable to remove malware:

The best way to remove ~99% of all malware is to simply factory reset the device. (actually in a comment)  (IMO, this sledgehammer/nuke from orbit approach is effective, but typically overkill that results in data loss.)
A good explanation of WHY anti-virus software for Android generally sucks (when compared to that for PC or Mac platforms.)


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How to hide Data Saver icon in Status bar?
I've recently enabled the Data Saver feature in Android (Settings). So far so good, but that icon  in the Status bar annoys me a lot. I prefer to have only a handful but very specific icons in my Status Bar.
I looked into GravityBox [O] module, All My... module and searched for some more in Xposed modules repository and outside but to no avail.
How do I hide that pesky icon?
I'm using stock and rooted Android 8.1 with Xposed Framework in OnePlus 6.

Using SystemUITuner, it is possible to remove to remove the data saver icon with or without root (need to grant permission through adb when the device is not rooted).

Open the app, click on TO THE TWEAKS.
Select Status bar. Scroll to the Networking & Data section, then disable Data Saver Icon.

Note: I performed the steps above on a non-rooted device with Android 8.1.
Disclaimer: I am just a user of the app not its developer(s) nor related to him/her/them.


text:
Rooting carrier-locked Pixel 7 Pro
Just under a year ago, I changed carriers due to carrier unlock policies. The provider I switched to I was able to get the Pixel 7 Pro on a payment plan (2 years). With it being a Pixel, I thought at the time all Pixels were OEM unlockable. Man was I wrong, not only am I stuck paying off this phone for 2 years, but without carrier unlock first that can't happen. I know in every other device that If I issued a certain adb disable command, it bypassed that.
Is there not something similar I can do to get OEM unlock without carrier unlock? Any help is much appreciated.

If you plan to root a device it is in general not recommended to buy the device through a carrier. Carriers only want simple customers that don't make problems, but unlocking and rooting are an easy way to cause problems and even brick the device, thus carriers don't like it. Companies that produce smartphones don't have this problem as you loose guarantee when unlocking so all the problems you may cause don't affect them.

No, there isn't something else you can do... And all the Pixel's that are OEM unlocking blocked by the carrier, will always be so... even when paid off, they will carrier unlock the device, but that will not allow it to be OEM unlocked or allow bootloader unlocking. That is just "impossible", or at least it is as of now and has been since the inception of this policy.

Damn. My last few devices were oneplus and same thing carrier locked with OEM unlock greyed out but as soon as I issued adb shell pm disable-user com.qualcomm.qti.uim I would be able to toggle oem unlock and unlock bootloader even without cust_unlock.bin and that has worked from 6t-9 pro until 10t came along

And so at the end of the day any device that's not bootloader unlockable means that regardless if consumer pays it off the device is still truly never yours. How is that legal having a provider tell you what u can and cannot do with your own device. Another form of dysfunctional control

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. Unfortunately, this practice has started at least since Pixel 2 for refurbished and carrier-locked devices: Bootloader wont unlock on Google Pixel 2 (G011A), Google Pixel 2: Is it possible to verify that it cannot be OEM unlocked and why?.

OEM unlocking in Settings > System > Developer options queries Google web service to check if the device was sold as locked by a carrier.
The get_unlock_ability flag is stored in the OEM lock data block which is backed by Titan M on Pixels just like lock state, verified boot rollback indexes for the OS, user flashed verified boot key, Weaver tokens used as an extra input for encryption for throttling, factory reset protection data block, etc.
It is entirely implemented at the UI layer and bypassing that just requires OS (not even root) exploit. Another way is, you can fake the message to Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) that OEM unlocking has been authorized by Google web service but that will require dismantling of the SoC and fuzzing SPI bus channel which is not practical.
Either way, the attack will only work if Google is not signing the response for TEE to verify (have to confirm this).


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Can I forward/reply calls/SMS to PC?
I wonder if it's possible to forward calls or SMS to PC where I can then reply or at least get notified of a call/SMS? For example, calls might be forwarded to Skype, is it possible?

Related: How can I be informed through my computer if a new SMS is received?, How do I send SMS from PC through Android Phone or to Android Phone?

Does this answer your question? How can I be informed through my computer if a new SMS is received?

As of June 2014, I've moved on and developed MAXS. See my answer here.
Below is the original answer.

GTalkSMS is an alternative for Android-notifier which works over XMPP (GTalk, Jabber). It allows you to control various aspects of Android, including an SMS/Call/Battery notification and reply system. Additionally, it is able to send and receive files to and from your Android device. There are many other features too.
Using XMPP as transport, the "desktop app" can be every XMPP Client. This is one of GTalkSMS's big advantages, as it does not need a dedicated desktop app.
Disclosure: I am involved in GTalkSMS. GTalkSMS is an open-source GPL-licensed Android app. Everyone can contribute.

Neato!  While I'm not sure it's all that handy for the OP, that is a nifty app...

The free Windows program MyPhoneExplorer and its companion Android app MyPhoneExplorer Client (also free) enables you to:

get notified of incoming texts (using a Windows tray tip, optionally with sound)
read incoming texts and reply to them
write and send new texts
read and reply to all previously received and send texts on the phone

using an Android phone connected either via the local network (LAN/Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, or USB cable.
You can also:

be notified of incoming calls, including who is calling, and
pick up and hang up a call from the computer,

but you have to conduct the actual call through the phone, using the phone's speaker and microphone or a headset connected to the phone.
The program has many other nice features, including:

backing up and archiving of your text messages (using a local archive of all text messages in which you can search, filter, organize into simple folders, reply to specific texts, etc.)
edit text fields from the computer in any phone app, including copying text from the computer clipboard into the phone's text field (the client app installs a remotely controlled soft keyboard on the phone to be able to do this)
making the computer keyboard act as a phone keyboard when the phone is connected to the computer via a USB cable
taking screenshots from the phone when it is connected to the computer via a USB cable
editing of contacts and calendar
working with files on the phone, synchronising photos and other files between the phone and the computer
getting Android notifications from all apps as Windows tray notifications.

The program has been a trustful companion for me for 8 years. It is mature and stable. It used to only work with Sony Ericsson phones (before Android) but now it also supports Android phones of any brand.
For a time in the past, the program was distributed with OpenCandy, which "recommended" other software to install during the installation, but that has luckily been removed now.
Disclosure: I am the Danish translator of MyPhoneExplorer. But I do it absolutely for free, simply because I love the program and want the translation I use daily to be of high quality.

I can confirm that this works really well.

I have Google Voice set up which allows this. If you were to call or text my Google Voice number and I was signed into GMail in a web browser (I exclusively use Chrome) I can answer the call using either my phone or the computer. I can also send and receive text messages from the computer. I'm also able to answer calls using my house phone, too. I know that this doesn't answer your question but it may solve the problem of being unable to get the question answered.

Highly recommend SMSSync. It's opensource, it doesn't try to do too many things, and it does this specific thing very well.

You can use Google Voice to have calls ring your cell phone and any other phone you like; as vyse mentioned, you can use it directly with Google Chat, but with a little extra effort, you can hook it into any SIP phone like Skype.  This also works for SMS messages, which will show up in your email and you can reply to them exactly as if they were on your phone.
Aside from GV, there really aren't any good alternatives for what you want to do without setting up your own vPBX like FreeSWITCH or Asterisk.

For SMS, I highly recommend MightyText.
For controlling your phone, you can use Airdroid, which is great.
For receiving calls on your computer, I haven't found any solution besides Google Voice, and I live outside the USA, so it's a bummer for me :-(

MAXS (Modular Android XMPP Suite) forwards all kinds of notifications (calls, SMS, etc) to your PC over XMPP. It also allows you to control various aspects of Android, including an SMS/Call/Battery notification and reply system. Additionally, it is able to send and receive files to and from your Android device. There are many other features too.
Using XMPP as transport, the "desktop app" can be every XMPP Client. This is one of the big advantages of MAXS, as it does not need a dedicated desktop app. Although there may be one in the future.
Disclosure: I am involved in MAXS. MAXS is an open-source GPLv3-licensed Android app. Everyone can contribute.

If you have a Samsung Device, SideSync is a great way to accomplish what you're trying to do.
Sidesync has a lot of great features:

Display your phone or table from your PC and control it.
Send and receive phone calls from your PC
Access all of your apps (like sending/reading SMS messages)
See notifications from your device directly on your PC (like incoming SMS)
Access your Phone/Tablet via USB or wireless on the same network
Drag and drop files to and from device

My coworkers connect headsets to their PC, and access their phone via SideSync for most of their work day.

This works with mysms.com. The app syncs your text messages and calls and you get notified via a popup window - similar to Skype.


text:
Drive letter for MTP connection under Windows
In Android 3.0, the connection to the PC as a Mass Storage Controller feature was removed.
Is there a way to access the MTP-mounted phone as a drive letter? I want standard file manager programs (e.g. Total Commander) to work.

Related: http://superuser.com/questions/369959/how-do-i-access-mtp-devices-on-the-command-line-in-windows

@Basj I think you're using wireless network to access the device, which comparatively causes slow performance for obvious reasons. If you switch to USB tethering the performance would be on the same lines  of MTP OR USB mass storage connection. Related: Is there a viable alternative to MTP for file transfer? (works like a charm from Android 4.2.1-6.0.1)

@Firelord : I don't understand your remark. I'm not using wireless connection. I'm using USB Media Storage on my Android 2.3 device, and now with my new Android 4.2.2 device, I would like to still have USB connection with a drive letter (to be able to run file tools such as backup tools, etc.). I'm not interested in wireless solutions for now. My question is : are there solutions available in 2016 that allow to have a drive letter when connecting an Android 4.2 device to PC via USB?

@Basj : my solution works for Android 4.2.1 and above perfectly fine.

Ok @Firelord but this seems to be incredibly more complex than good old Mass Storage from Android 2 etc.? Does this mean the data go through some sort of networking layer (over USB by tethering)? How does it compare with Media Storage in terms of transfer rate? Have you been able to run a backup PC <-> phone's SD card with this technique? (I use a 128 GB SD card...)

@Basj You get the drive letter (proof) and transfer rate is similar to USB mass storage (proof).

Thanks a lot @Firelord for all these informations, it will help! The transfer rate seems perfect, but I don't see the drive letter in the link you mentionned. I personnally have lots of scripts made with xxcopy etc. that run in a .bat file that I'd like to keep, that's why I really want a drive letter. (Or maybe can xxcopy work with MTP?)

@Basj I'd be formally posting an answer shortly to put all of your queries at rest.

Duplicate question and answer here: https://superuser.com/a/1724634

In theory, there is not a way to access your phone's memory card with a drive letter, because, as you said, Android now connects it as an MTP device, and not as a Mass Storage device. But, there are two solutions:

Root phone and get a "Mass Storage" enabler application that will work on your phone.
Without rooting phone: as long as both the computer are on the same network, run an FTP server on the phone, and access it on the computer.

There are applications like FTPUse and NetDrive that will map that FTP address to a drive letter. I used NetDrive on Windows XP, but couldn't get it to work on Windows 7 64-bits, so now I use FTPUse, and it's working fine.
So, it's not exactly the same, and it's a bit slower, but it works, and I am able to browse folders, erase files, etc, and even use applications like WinDirStat to analyze folder sizes etc.

Unfortunately, With 4.4, apps can no longer write to external SD cards... So uploading via FTP is no longer possible

Do you have a link for how to have Mass Storage enabled with a rooted Android 4.2 phone?

@Basj http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-universal-mass-storage-enabler-beta-t3240097

@GokulNC Will this be an "automount" as Media Storage when you plug the USB cable (I'd love that), similar to "automount as MTP" that is the current situation in Android 4?

@Basj No, you have to connect to USB, then go into that app and enable UMS

Isn't there another app @GokulNC that would enable Media Storage automatically ?

My method is based on the answer suggesting WebDAV.  It could be replicated by an FTP, Samba, or other networked file server.  Essentially, you start a WebDAV server on your Android device and mount it as a network drive.  Your phone's IP must be visible to the computer you want to browse the files on.  Generally, this means you must be on the same local network.  This solution exposes your phone's filesystem to your local network and could cause some security issues.  I do not recommend it for untrusted networks.
First, get and install a WebDAV server app on your Android device.  I used WebDAV Server because the interface is simple, it was the first app in my search and the price is right (free!).  Start your WebDAV server app and get its address.  This should be something like http:\\198.162.1.101:8080.
Next, open Computer in Windows Explorer.  In the toolbar, under the address bar, click "Map Network Drive."  Enter the address in the box labeled folder.  Click finish.  If the mapping fails, make sure you can ping the IP address of your phone.
Boom! Your device should now show up in Computer as the drive letter you selected (Z: by default).
References:
d0bon - How do I Map a Drive Letter to my MTP or PTP Android Device?

I cannot test it myself as I have no ICS or JB device, but it might be worth a try to check the following apps, which claim to give you back UMS (as long as the kernel permits it):

USB Mass Storage Watcher OTG
USB Mass Storage Watcher
Usb Host Controller (some user claimed this did it)

This answer is backwards; the question is how to mount the phone with a drive letter... not how to mount a drive onto the phone.

Exactly that's what the answer is about: how to make UMS available again, so you can mount the phone to your computer. Read e.g. the description of USB Mass Storage Watcher and take a look at its last screenshot: Clearly the Android device mounted to the PC in UMS mode: "as an added feature now you can automatically mount your sd card. Just plug your device in and up comes the file window on your computer."

You can try this plugin for TotalCommander: Windows Media Audio v2. Haven't actually tried it, as using FAR Manager instead, and for it there is own plugin PortaDev.

As far as I know, there is only a (commercial) PTP and MTP drive letter mapping solution for Microsoft Windows available:

PTP Drive and MTPdrive by Cranking Pixels.

Those drivers are not perfect, slow at times, and not free, but, I think, they do what you want.

I've created a program called AndroidDrive that detects Android devices connected by USB and creates a drive containing the Android device's internal storage. It's free and open-source and does not require rooting (though it requires USB debugging to be enabled, see below). You can download a ZIP file with the program and its dependencies here. For it to work, you also need to install Dokan (I have no association with the people who made Dokan).
For it to be able to detect and interact with your Android device, you need to enable USB debugging. To do so, follow these steps:

Open Settings on your Android device.
Go to "About phone".
Scroll down to the bottom and tap "Build Number" seven times until you get a message saying that you're a developer.
Go back to the main settings screen, then go to System > Advanced > Developer Settings and enable USB debugging.

When AndroidDrive is running, it will automatically detect any Android devices that are connected by USB with USB debugging enabled, and create a drive for each of those devices. Here is a screenshot:

If you're interested in the source code, you can find it here. If you find a bug, you can report it here.

You can try to install a WebDAV server to the android device, then mount the WebDAV server as a drive on Windows 7.
Here is a free WebDAV server from Google Play (Of course, there are many other WebDAV servers in Google Play). And the steps to mount the WebDAV server as a drive on Windows 7.

I have an Android device ASUS Zenfone and I can view my devices through Total Commander. Here is how I did this:

In Explorer, I right-clicked the MTP device and then choose Create shortcut.
From Total Commander, I open the shortcut and I can explore my device.

Hope it helps.

TotalAndDroid 4.0 - this plugin for Total Commander does not give you a drive letter, but besides this - does the job. You can see all files of your Android device on the TC panel and do all regular operations.

You can simply use TeamViewer to connect your phone and your PC. This way you can access all the features of your phone on your PC. Then, use any FTP server to send and receive files. In this way, you do not need to switch between your phone and PC while sharing files.


text:
Jabber client with old SSL support
The company I'm working for is using a Jabber server which is kind of old. It doesn't support SSL/TLS with SASL but only plain old SSL.
I tried a dozen of Jabber clients for Android but none of them supports this setup.
Are there any alternatives?

Jabiru project has "legacy SSL" option.

IM+ also has the option for "Use old-style SSL" - it appears to be more than just the port 5223, as disabling the option and setting the port manually, doesn't allow authentication.


text:
Android voice search doesn't recognize Exchange contacts
So I'm sure this is primarily because the contacts aren't listed in one of the linked gmail accounts. It's killing me because my dad can't use voice commands to call his contacts like he did on his BlackBerry. The only solution I've found so far is to export the exchange contacts to one of the linked gmail accounts. But obviously this must be redone EVERY time he changes something in outlook.
So, is there some way to get voice commands to recognize the Exchange contacts? Or do I have to look for some sort of 3rd party solution that will sync the contacts between the two services?
Also, he doesn't like how the contacts are listed by the person instead of by the company. Any way to change that?

are you sure you have enabled "Sync Contacts" in the Exchange app?
They should be reachable after that--

I'm 90% certain it is. That should be the default setting.

Ah, but it isn't  -
In the e-mail app, go to settings, the account, and check "Sync Contacts"

I would give it a shot to see if this adds the contacts to the voice search, but it would add more contacts than I care to siphon through --
HTH!

Were you able to solve your problem? Any update? What is your Android version?

To deal with the obscurely picky old dinosaur issue, set up groups. Company 1 > group 1, Company 2 > group 2, etc

Android's voice search is processed by remote servers, not the phone itself. As a result, the contacts must be in a Google account on the phone in order to be searchable.

Contacts>Settings>Contacts to display>Select all the accounts


text:
How can I get the old version of Google Authenticator?
I have an older phone (Motorola Cliq). Motorola refuses to update this version so I am stuck with Android 1.5 until I buy a new phone.
I had to wipe my phone clean and when I went to reinstall the Google Authenticator, it did not appear to me in the Android Market since they upgraded the app and it now requires a phone with Android 2.0 or higher.
How can I get the old version of the authenticator back?

Off-topic... CyanogenMod7 supports the Motorola Cliq. Perhaps it's time you looked at moving from Android 1.5 Cupcake to Android 2.3 based Gingerbread as offered by CM7.1

Did you ever find an old version of the app?

Unfortunately, without a backup of the app (Android 2.1+ needed for Authenticator app after 0.62) that you had earlier, you'll need the app APK from someone who still has it or hunt around for this old version.
You can still use 2-step verification by opting to receive the verification code via sms or by using the One Time codes that were generated when you originally signed up for 2-step verification.


text:
Will Android shift Google Calendar events when I go to different time zones?
I'm entering a bunch of events into my Google Calendar on the web interface and am wondering if I should do them all in local time or select the proper timezone.
If I explicitly pick a timezone (e.g. 1 PM PST) and it shows up as 4 PM EST, will it "fix" it when I go out to California?  What about events with different starting and ending time zones?

Yes, at least for me. All of my events are stored as GMT and the time of the event is displayed based on the time of the device (my location).
Now, I don't know what happens if you "specify" the timezone like you mentioned, as I have never done that.

Yes, this will all work as smoothly as you hope.
I recently traveled to a different timezone.  Before the trip I added a lot of events in my Google calendar with an explicit timezone set (of my destination).  Google (and my phone) did the timezone math correctly when I was there.
The only caveat is that if you travel somewhere outside of your phone's cellular service, then it will not be able to automatically set the timezone (assuming you leave that feature enabled generally).  You'll need to use Settings -> Date & time, then un-check Automatic and then manually set the local timezone.

Google calender works with time zones exactly like you hope it would. All events shift appropriately based on your local time zone without user intervention. I particularly like how on the web you can specify a different time zone for the start and end of an event so you can accurately record the time of an airplane trip.


text:
Can I change app-specific sound files?
Specifically, I'm using Zello and want to change the notification sounds to make them work better with my bluetooth headset, but potential answers probably will be applicable in many cases.
Using Dexplorer, I was able to locate the specific *.wav file inside the internal folder structure of the app. Dexplorer however doesn't seem to offer an option to replace these files. Is there any way I can achieve this, meaning replacing the current *.wav file with a file of my choice?

Dexplorer opens installed APK file and displays info from APK. This is internal application resources, build when autor compiles APK.
To replace specific resources you must decompile APK file, repleace files and compile (build) again.
On new build you must sign APK file with your own certificate (you may generate it). Only author have original keystore to build signed APK file.
App author probably won't provide his application signing key.

Ah so it's different to a Windows PC where all the files are organized in folders. Actually had no idea what exactly an app is. But as it's a single encrypted file, it is by definition impossible to change any of its internal working without the key. Did I understand this correctly? Or are there any possible workarounds?

Yes, is single zip file (APK) signed by author certificate.


text:
How can I view a TLS 1.2 only website on an outdated tablet?
I have a tablet from 2011 (Prestigio MultiPad PMP3384B) with Android 2.3 which I use occasionally. I’ve experienced recently that I cannot view some webpages (https://www.nytimes.com/, for example) as they force using HTTPS (even if they provide public information mostly…). Presumably, it’s caused by a TLS version the device does not know.

On the contrary, https://www.google.com loads and http://www.google.com also works well (no redirection).

I checked the TLS version supported by www.nytimes.com (by following the article How to check what SSL/TLS versions are available for a website?):
$ nmap --script ssl-enum-ciphers -p 443 www.nytimes.com | grep TLSv
|   TLSv1.2:

The output for Google is:
$ nmap --script ssl-enum-ciphers -p 443 www.google.com | grep TLSv
|   TLSv1.0:
|   TLSv1.1:
|   TLSv1.2:

What I’ve also tried:

I’ve found the article Working with TLS 1.2 on Android 4.4 and Lower but the solution only supports Android 4.1 and newer.
I’ve checked Connect to an https service using an http-only client but the solutions don’t seem to be applicable on a tablet It could be achieved with a PC in LAN but I’d prefer solutions not requiring other LAN devices.

Is there any way to view TLS 1.2 only websites on such a device?

Have you looked to see if there's any opensource firmware available for the tablet?  If not, it shouldn't be utilized for internet access or be connected to any kind of network due to being a massive security risk (it's missing 9yrs of security patches).

Alternatively, does the tablet allow installing custom HTTPS CA certificates (some manufacturers disallow this)? I was looking into making a Squid proxy that would intercept TLS, for my Win9x VMs.

@Melebius I know this doesn't address your question, but I believe the following important to stress: That device makes any network it's connected to vulnerable, so if it's on your LAN, you're taking a significant risk.  Android 2.3 is as bad as running WinXP on a PC and using it for internet access - it's ill-advised due to the hundreds of known security exploits and it's likely vulnerable to all known forms of ransomware.   If you must use the tablet, please don't store data on it & put it on its own vLAN (prevent it from accessing any other device and any other device from accessing it).

You can use Opera Mini, which still supports Android 2.3 and uses its servers to compress data.


text:
Galaxy S6 edge sms not working
My Samsung  Galaxy S6 Edge (7.0 Nougat), cannot send basic sms messages, I have to add a Subject to every text. this makes having a conversation with anyone impossible. How can I restore this messaging app. This may have began with the last update to (7.0 Nougat), it was sudden. Samsung has been no help and I cannot afford a new phone. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Rick.


text:
Can I make a flashable ZIP containing one or more APKs
Is it possible to make a ZIP that can be flashed onto a device to add a bundle of applications (.apk files) to the /system/app directory such that it can be flashed after the OS (e.g. CyanogenMod) in a similar way to other bundles such as OpenGApps ?
I've seen things like the ZipMe app but I'd really like to do this on Linux where I have the desired apk files in a directory. I'd like to do this by hand if possible to that I can understand the ZIP's contents.

This simplified example is inspired by this xda-developers thread.
It is handy to use adb but you don't need to.
Get a Java signing tool and keys
Your packaged ZIP needs to be signed. If you have a Java signing tool, great. If not, then you can consult the Google sources for signapk or download a ready-made signapk.jar from here, or here.
The latter also contains sample signing keys that you can use but you can make your own with OpenSSL:
$ openssl genrsa -out key.pem 1024
$ openssl req -new -key key.pem -out request.pem
$ openssl x509 -req -days 9999 -in request.pem -signkey key.pem -out certificate.pem
$ openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -outform DER -in key.pem -inform PEM -out key.pk8 -nocrypt

The following discussion assumes that you have a signapk directory containing signapk.jar, private key key.pk8 and certificate  certificate.pem(which contains the corresponding public key).
Prepare the ZIP contents
Create a working directory (the name is irrelevant):
$ mkdir apkzip
$ cd apkzip

Create the required structure
$ mkdir -p META-INF/com/google/android system/app

The next step is to create a file called updater-script that contains a script written in something called edify. A simple script that serves the requirement is shown below:
# META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script
mount("MTD", "system", "/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/system", "/system");
package_extract_dir("system", "/system");
unmount("/system");

The third parameter to mount is the block device path for the system partition. You can (optionally) verify this with:
$ adb shell grep system /proc/mounts
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/system /system ext4 ...

You can embellish the updater-script with comments and progress bars, as illistrated by may examples on the web but it isn't necessary.
You also need to provide the interpreter for the script which is a file called update-binary that you can obtain from whatever rom you're using, such as CyanogenMod or ResurrectionRemix. Find it in the ROM's Zip file at the location META-INF/com/google/android/update-binary and copy it into the working directory tree at a similar location and alongside the updater-script created in the previous step.
Finally copy in the .apk files that you want in your ZIP. They need to go in individual directories like system/app/<app-name>/<apk-file> where <appName> is a directory named after the app (I don't think the name is relevant) and <apk-file> is the .apk file. There should be one .apk file per directory.
Your file hierarchy should now look similar to this:
./META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script
./META-INF/com/google/android/update-binary
./system/app/SomeApp/com.some.app.apk
./system/app/SomeOtherApp/com.some.other.app.apk

Create and sign the ZIP
Now create the signed ZIP (the -r recurses subdirectories):
$ zip -r /tmp/apps.zip *
$ cd ../signapk
$ java -jar signapk.jar certificate.pem key.pk8 /tmp/apps.zip apps.zip

Apply the ZIP to your device
Push the signed ZIP (the apps.zip created in the current (signapk) directory) to the device, choose a location that your recovery can see:
$ adb push apps.zip /mnt/media_rw/sdcard1/

(You don't have to use adb - you can use another method such as placing the SD card in your computer, etc).
Now reboot to recovery and flash or, in the case of a locked bootloader, use FlashFire or whatever method is prefferred for your device.
Other notes
You can read more about Edify:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Edify_script_language
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=994940

It may be possible to replace update-binary with a shell script. An example of this can be seen in the OpenGApps ZIP files but I have not tried this.
The above works provided that the apps have no native libraries in them. If they do, then they must be be manually extracted from the .apk package (which is itself a ZIP file) /lib directory and placed under /system/vendor/lib in addition to placing the package in /system/app/....
As commented by @DeathMaskSalesman, signing is not required by TWRP, CWM or FlashFire so you can skip the signing steps if you prefer.
I have produced a utility that works on Linux or Android. Get apkzip here.

When flashing from CWM or TWRP, one can generally save themselves the hassle of signing the ZIP. You can also try my Flashable ZIP Generator.

@DeathMaskSalesman I had seen your script but I didn't understand it. Since understanding enough to be able to write this answer, I have taken another look at your script and I have some questions which I'll ask there...


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Firewall software not working as expected on Samsung Galaxy S5 [G900H]
I bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 [G900H] and I installed custom rom from here to get rid of most unwanted applications and having a pure and de-bloated android on my smartphone.
After installing this rom it's working perfect except that when I install (root)firewall applications like DroidWall they do not work as expected and if I create an allow rule for an application, application could not be connected even when I set it to be allowed to use wireless/mobile data. But if select allow rule for all rooted applictaions it works fine but its useless this way.
I also tried to use unroot firewall but it is giving this error message "The VPN is not supported by your device."
I also checked blacklist/white list mode and mode is set to whitelist only.
Does any expert know what problem should be and is it required for me to install other roms to cross over this problem?

Update:
Now I restored my android to its official stock version (I had created a full backup before installing a new custom rom) and tested both DroidWall and AFWall+ and the problem still persists. Seems this problem is a bug coming from Samsungs TouchWiz.

DroidWall is ancient. Please switch to its successor AFWall+ or some other regularly updated firewall app.

@Firelord Ok I'll check it now.

@Firelord I tried AFWall+ it is better than DroidWall but it is not working as well. It works for some applications while not working for other. Very strange.

I finally solved this problem in the case of very strange and share my experience here; maybe useful for someone with same or similar problem:
After a few days struggling with this, Using AFWall+ enabled on my restored official stock android, I tried to change Wifi settings (got to wifi->advanced->[disabled most of Samsung/Google features being there] plus using manual IP[192.168.1.129] and DNS[192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.2]) and finally I found out the problem has gone away! So after that I tried to test which option was causing the problem (trying to remember restore my previous choices) to restate the problem but the problem did not restate and everything is well till now.


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TWRP can not find partitions
I had installed CWM recovery and used it to restore previous rom once and now I installed TWRP recovery (and I hope it replaced CWM because I used Odin3 to install both of them). Now I need to create backup of my device before wiping; But there is no partition detected in TWRP to backup:
Here is what shown on my device when I goto backup page and the errors shown after trying to backup:

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)

The error was because my partitions were marked to be read only and TWRP version 2.7.0.0 was not checking that!
I installed TWRP version 3.0.0 and before starting new version it asked me a confirmation to make partitions editable and this simple step solved the problem.


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Sony Emma FlashTool saying Unable to connect to the network and exits suddenly while I have network
When I'm running sony flash tool (Emma) it shows me following error and suddenly exits:

Unable to connect to the network, please check your network connection.

But I have a connected internet and checked firewall not blocking emma. Why showing this error? I need this tormentor emma flash tool to install an official stock rom in FTF format. On my experience emma flash tool is very weak in design and stops woking with strange and non-described error messages. Are there any alternatives to do same thing without any kind of torturing? Previously, I used odin for my other Samsung smartphone and it was doing its jobs much better.

try updating your JAVA. It might work...
If you Want to fash a new Rom, 'Flashtool for sony' will be very useful. It is very easy to Use.


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Android 4 slows down over year without reason
I have LG-P760 with Android 4.0.4, not rooted.
I have about 500MB free space on phone and for last year I haven't really install much apps and so on. Despite that, my Android started to work slower, than slower and now it's ultra-slow.
I don't recall installing anything, using it extensively, mess with rooting or anything like that.
But even simple loading web browser or backing too home screen to see the pinned applications takes enormous amount of time now.
I've already tried clearing cache of applications and restarting phone several times during last month.
What may cause such behavior and how to get back to normal?
I know one year ago this phone with virtually the same set of applications and amount of stored pictures/music/etc. was capable of running very smoothly.
It looks almost as it was programmed to get slow after year ;)

No one else has said it yet, but you probably knew it was coming anyway. Back everything up and do a factory reset.

Factory reset won't help too much. The thing is that phone is run over by time, so the solution would be buying a new phone

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје What do you understand under "run over by time"? It's piece of hardware, with processor, memory etc. and I wasn't using it extensively. I know friends who use their older phones more and don't have such problems after even few years. I would consider it unacceptable to "run over time" that way for PC/tablet/notebook or any other similar hardware and same should go for phones - after all it's not made out of bambus (at least I hope so).

I mean that is old device now since it have 4.0.4 android, everything older than kit-kat is normal to be laggy. What do you expect from dual core device from 2012?

From device from 2012 I expect approx. to works the same it was working in 2012 if the conditions are the same - it has the same messanging app, disc, processor and same things to do - no new apps installed. Comparing e.g. Windows and Android OS. I still have 20yo laptop with Windows XP now on it. And it works virtually the same way it was years ago. If there were none changes in software and hardware is ok, why should few years affect it that much? I consider it very low-quality solution either in case of harware or software - I will try factory reset to determine if it's OS fault or not.

@EthanZ Can you make answer out of your question? Unfortunatelly, factory reset was the only choice here and it did helped (mostly).

It's not going to work same as when you bought it because of simple reason that software is upgradeing and getting better (or worse) but it requires better technology and more resources all things are developing but your hardware stays the same that is why phones/pc's start to lag and such. In smartphones case 2012 is old. If your 20 yrs laptop works same as first day than either it was crap even than or you're lying because it's not possible even if you use laptop for just to turn it off and on.

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје It would be true if I would update/upgrade any software. Software is virtually the same as it was year ago. And please stop making personal trips calling me liar just because what I wrote does not goes with your view on things. And yes, there's nothing strange with hardware/software working as they should for more then 5-10 years if you work with same set of apps - at least for good hardware/software. For me, if after not even 5 years hardware stays the same and software is the same and it makes hardware to lag on even simplest operations - software is poorly written.

You are wrong longest time that smarphones can be used normally is 4 years max only in flagship case in non-flagship that time is shorter

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје I am not interested into arguing further with you on that topic. And if I would, I think I should suggest chat, not comment section. Just for note, the phone was produced in 2012 but I bought it from company about 2 years ago and it was boxed (not unwrapped or used earlier).

Whatever. Naah, arguing online is pointless, sorry for bad words, that was just my opinion and look on some things. Bye

Try a factory reset. After a while, things get gunked up with tons of unnecessary files that aren't always deleted and a lot of other stuff.
However, your phone will always slow down over time because apps become more demanding as technology progresses. There isn't much that can be done about this.

Unfortunately that was the case. I consider it a bit as low quality of software (Android), not to run stable and need to be reset after year or two. Thank you for suggesting the factory reset - after it everything works almost the same as it was year ago - there is an lag, but definitely not as ridiculous as before (waiting 20 seconds to see incomed sms). For other people facing same problem: remember to backup your data, images, smses and contacts before factory reset :)

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


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How to turn off multiple desktops on Android 4 (LG Optimus L9 P760)?
I would like to turn off multiple desktops that are on my Android 4 phone (LG Optimus L9 P760, if that matters). I can switch between them with touch, but I don't need that feature. And most of the time, I use it by mistake (when I want to click an icon close to screen's edge). So it's more like disadvantage for me to have multiple desktops.
Unfortunately, I cannot find any such position in top menu, settings menu etc.

Eventually I've used Apex Launcher that can be easily downloaded directly from several sites or with K-droid, so it's a good option for people that don't use Google Play / Google Account. Among its features there are options to change the screens count (I've set it to 1) and increase the grid size.
Vembu pointed out the Nova Laucher, which I was unable to test (it seems that working version can be downloaded only from Google Play). Still, it may be an solution for some of you (up-voted).

Try "Nova Launcher" app from the Google play store. The "Nova Launcher" has ability to customize home screens and etc. Try this and check your results.
Nova Launcher

Hi. Unfortunately I don't use Google Play and there is no way to download Nova Laucher apk directly (even when I did it after 1 hour of going throw fake links, installed version showed the window with "please download" that redirect to Google Play). Can you suggest me another application?


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How to move Applications from phone to SD Card?
I have recently purchased Sony Xperia Tipo Dual phone, I couldn't find to move the apps to SD card. We can able to move the Apps from phone standard memory to Phone Internal Memory.
Can any one give me the solution to move the Applications from phone to SD Card?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Have you searched this site? Your question is one of the most FAQ. Try Link2SD or Apps2SD apps from Play Store.

I see several possible duplicates in the "Related" list in the right sidebar. Here's a couple: How to install the application in SDcard (android phone)? Is there any way to move apps to my sd card in android 2.1 on my phone?

I just added the app2sd tag to your question. Clicking on that brings up some related problems, which might prove helpful to you. Also, the "Related" section next to your question might have some useful information.

possible duplicate of How to install the application in SDcard (android phone)?

possible duplicate of How to install APK files on SDCARD?

As the phones internal memory acts as the sdcard (internal SD card), that is what Android moves apps to.
You can use a 3rd party app to move it to the external SD Card, however.


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Install Cyanogenmod 7.2 on Nexus One using ClockworkMod Recovery - "remote: signature verify fail"
Steps I've done:

Downloaded & copied CM7.2 to my SD card (from here)
Installed the Android SDK
Downloaded & copied the ClockworkMod Recovery to the platform-tools directory in the SDK folder (from here)
Rebooted my phone by holding down the volume-down and power buttons
Went into fastboot mode
On my laptop I ran "fastboot oem unlock", then ran it again to make sure it really worked

On my laptop I ran "fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.0-passion.img"

This is where I get the error "remote: signature verify fail"

Anyone know how to fix this?

have you disabled signature verification?

don't know... how do I do that?


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

Legato, your question was already closed as off-topic 2 days ago (http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/27711/convert-voice-into-another-voice). Please stop to repeat it.

@Izzy the question was closed because it was a "Is there a App for X?" type, not because of the question topic. It seems to me that the took my advice and rephrased it. Question nominated for reopening.

That question could be edited and flagged for re-opening. Anyway, voting to re-open.

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

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


text:
Reconnect to mobile via USB without rebooting
I am a developer (using eclipse) and regularly have my Samsung Galaxy SII connected to my PC via a USB cable. A few times per day I will unplug the cable and plug it back in again in order to take phone calls, go to lunch etc. About 4 times out of 5 this is all fine. But one time in 5 the PC fails to properly re-communicate with my mobile and eclipse does not recognise the phone as being connected. Repeatedly unplugging and replugging in makes no difference, the connection is lost. The only way I know to fix it is to reboot my PC - which takes ages!... Is there something else I could try?

Shouldn't be an issue, certainly isn't here with my Galaxy Nexus, you could try an "adb usb" from the CLI? Unless it's the operating system just not detecting it and loading the drivers. Is this a work machine, does it have any software added to not allow unauthorized USB devices?

Its my own "work" machine. I don't have software that bars unauthorised USB devices. I'll try adb usb next time it happens.

I've seen that happen on my machine too. I've never been able to reconnect without a reboot.

Sometimes my computer does the same thing, though it doesn't come up too often. In those cases, I try plugging the device into a different usb port. Usually it fixes the problem (though the first port is still 'disabled' for that particular device until I reboot).


text:
How to activate Android debugging mode
I've recently upgraded my Samsung Galaxy 5 from Android 2.1 to 2.2 and I can't find Android debugging mode in the settings. I need to root my phone.

It's usually located in

Settings > Applications > Development

Of course, you could just perform a quick and easy root by installing Universal Androot as detailed here - http://androidadvices.com/root-unroot-samsung-galaxy-5-i5500-easy-tutorial/2/#.UF3Qi1H1pjc


text:
Are Xoom files automatically transferred to a newly added microSD card?
I just slipped a 32G microSD card into my Xoom tablet. I had used the SD card in my Android smartphone before replacing that card with a larger capacity card. Are files that were heretofore stored on the Xoom automatically moved to the SD card?
I may have neglected to remove all files from the sd card before installing it... so I should be able to delete all files showing up in the /sdcard (sdcard) directory? I note I also have a folder named /mnt/external1 (sdcard) directory. Any idea what is what here?

The files on the SD card are most likely there from the previous handset.  Android won't automatically move any files when it detects a new sd card.

Are files that were heretofore stored on the Xoom automatically moved to the SD card?

No, files that were already on your Xoom's storage aren't moved anywhere unless you manually choose to move them.

I note I also have a folder named /mnt/external1 (sdcard) directory. Any idea what is what here?

The /sdcard directory is a portion of the Xoom's internal memory that is used as world-writeable storage. Since the Xoom uses MTP, it is not a physically separate partition like it might be on other devices, but it is treated differently than other portions of the internal storage (for example, it is accessible over USB).
/mnt/external1 is the physical microSD card that you inserted into the Xoom. It exists and operates completely independently of the Xoom's internal storage (i.e. /sdcard). If you had any leftover files from your smartphone saved on your microSD card then they will should be in the /mnt/external1 directory.
In other words, putting a microSD card in a Xoom effectively gives it two separate external storage locations.

On my stock 4.1.2 Xoom, I don't have write access to the MicroSD card (doesn't seem to be supported). Whenever I want to delete/add files I have to remove the card and put it into a computer. So you may need to do this to remove your smartphone files from the MicroSD card.


text:
Hide / Add / Replace dock icons on home screen
I have Samsung galaxy Y and I do have 2 questions about dock settings on home screen.

Is it possible to Hide / Modify dock on home screen?
Is it possible to make it toggle on touch the home screen?

This functionality isn't available as standard in your default launcher, but the launcher is replaceable.  There are lots of alternatives out there, some require a minimum OS version.  Unless you've rooted your phone it looks like the maximum OS version you can be on is v2.3.5 (Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_y_s5360-4117.php).  So this rules out the newer breed of launchers which are based on the Android 4.x launcher.  BUT there are still a load of good launchers which will be compatible with your phone and will provide the functionality that you're looking for.  Have a look at:

Go Launcher
ADW Launcher

Use Holo launcher: Really an awesome launcher, you will get an ICS look and you can hide Icons in the drawer; you can also add icons in the dock session. Use it and I bet you gonna really like the holo launcher.

My first suggestion is to look into replacing your launcher. You can find several Home Launcher replacements in Google Play Market.
My current favorite is the Holo Launcher.
Alternatively

Hi designerWhoCodes, sorry I don't know your actual name :).
I tried alternate way you suggested as I don't want to use application if its possible by default settings. But I couldn't find any dock settings under settings from menu.

I provided clearer instructions via a new link. My name is Mark. I used the google authenticate and it created my user name from my blog.


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Hide Superuser?
There are many apps out there that will hide your root su file and this seems to work well enough, but none of them are capable of hiding the Superuser application, not even 'Hide My Root' which claims it can do it but actually it doesn't do anything (Galaxy Nexus JB4.1.1., Superuser 3.1.1). Is there any way I could hide the Superuser app in such a manner that I could bring it back easily with an app rather than having to re-root my phone and re-mount/restore or just re-install the app itself?
My motives are not nefarious, actually I just want to get email on my phone but our 'Good' policy blocks rooted phones and once it sees Superuser it bails. This conflicts with the many tools I need available to me which require root access. I've tried putting Superuser into Ghost mode but this does little other than remove it from the launcher. I've tried SuperSU as an alternative to Superuser and Good still recognizes that. Maybe if there were some other lesser known Superuser app that might work but I haven't been able to find one yet.

SuperUser doesn't need root to be installed, and if you can hide su without removing it where does the problem arise?

The problem is I need to hide Superuser temporarily

There is an easy way to hide root/Superuser temporarily. Just rename the Superuser app/apps to some other name in /system/app.
The disadvantage is that this will disable root for all apps.

I was going to say that you were out of luck because I think Good actually checks for signs of being rooted, like an edited build.prop with usually unused arguments, odd system apps, root manager, any root access.
Again, I'm not 100% sure as I don't have any of it's source code.
But then I found this!!!
first you'll need to install Xposed
after that disable Good
then install this apk
go into Xposed, enable the module installed above and reboot (to be sure it's active)
then re-enable Good, might not work as this module hasn't been updated, but worth a shot

Quite an old question asked in the days when Su detection mechanism are far inferior (no SafetyNet). Still it does count as valid...

I kinda want to down-to-earth this answer because it's just a set of links with no overview or information. ,

@AndyYan at least an answer a few years late is better than never

@acejavelin will add some info from my deleted answer


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Restart data connection when stalled?
Occasionally the data connection of my mobile will stall, i.e. it still looks like it does have a data connection (either "H" or "G"), but no server can be contacted.
(In particular, my ROM being a Cyanogen, the data icon will turn gray, meaning that the Google servers can't be contacted at the moment).
This is usually easily solved by switching mobile data off and on again, which is not a terrible nuisance, except sometime this stalled state goes unnoticed for hours, putting me at risk of losing important communications.

is there an easy way to detect this "stalled connection" state? preferably a way that could be used in Tasker to trigger a disable/enable mobile data cycle?
is there an app to handle these situations? I found many that seem to deal with a similar problem, i.e. when the data connection is completely lost (no "H" or "G" icon), but none that deals with this particular situation.

(This is happening on a rooted HTC Wildfire S with a Cyanogen 9 rom, but my question is not specific to it).

Interesting question, and I just had the same. I only found apps triggering this depending on signal quality; "funny" thing is I had this stalling at full signal, so this doesn't do. But if you'd accept that as a work-around, or something to try (including a Tasker profile), you easily find a long answer via my profile page. Watch my questions for cell standby -- don't worry, I didn't ask to many here :)

Hi Izzy, it was definitely an interesting read and it gave me a few ideas :)

You can periodically check status of real connection using HTTP GET by Tasker. You can restart the Data again by Tasker in case connection is stalled.
But, its down side is that it'll drain battery faster.

I guess I'll try this. Are you suggesting to just send a request to a random server, e.g. Google? I wonder what kind of impact it would have on the battery to check for this, say, every 5 minutes, considering that I'm keeping my mobile data always on with full sync. (Also, it's not that much of an issue given that I always keep it in charge at work).

@UncleZeiv Yes, you can trust Google. If not, do check with multiple hosts. BTW, I don't have idea how much battery juice would a HTTP GET drain (it varies depending on system). Do test it on your device. And, if you always keep your device in charging state, battery draining shouldn't be an issue.

@UncleZeiv I'd guess if you're either at full sync it shouldn't make too much difference -- especially if your device is always on the charger. If that works out, consider posting that Tasker profile as an answer -- there are certainly more interested people who could also run it with different settings (e.g. checking all 15min only) if not continually charging :) You could even have two profiles with the same task but different interval, one with "any power connected" and one with the same but inverted, if concerned about battery drain.

Take a look at apps like Connection Checker or Connection State Notifier
YMMV, it seems to work well for some people whereas not so much for others.

Hi Sparx, these seem to address a slightly different problem, that is completely losing data connection or changing connection type. In my case, I stay connected, but any Internet request fails. Plus, Connection Checker tries to solve the problem by entering and exiting airplane mode, which is a bit too drastic for me (it requires re-entering the pin number!) given that just switching mobile data on and off suffices.

I think they work on the same principle suggested by Sachin - pinging a server of choice; if no response, then the data connection is cycled. So even if you have a data connection (shown as connected), but it can't reach the server, it ought to cycle the connection. The notifier at least should help by at least letting you know that there is a connectivity problem, so tapping a widget to turn off / turn on data (loads available) should be an easy thing to do.


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Can I install a custom rom with SIM Lock enabled?
I purchased a phone for development purposes knowing that it was being sold for parts/repair. The phone can't read SIM cards for some reason and the battery always says 999%. No idea why, but everything else is fully functional.
When I go to Location & Security > SIM Card Lock its enabled. I cant unlock it because I dont know the PIN.
If I were to root the phone and install CM7 -- would the phone ask me to input this PIN after I install it?


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Firefox add-on is shown beside search box on desktop, but where is it on Android?
I installed Search by Image Firefox add-on. But I can't see the extension button that we see next to search box on desktop version.
Where do I find it?

In case someone is looking for developing add-ons for firefox on Android see this https://webapps.stackexchange.com/a/137578/199004

Firefox add-ons for Android by default do not appear next to the search box, unless the add-on has an option to show it there.
You need to tap the 3 dot (⋮) menu to reveal them. They could be separately listed as with this example or shown under the add-ons (blue circle with arrow)
.

(Click to enlarge)


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What does [HYPOS] tag on logcat relate to in Samsung Galaxy S II?
I have Samsung Galaxy S II. When I check the logcat using Eclipse, I see an entry with tag [HYPOS].
What is that? I am worried about my privacy.

Please provide more information. I'm not sure that anyone will be able to give you a reasonable answer based on the content of this post, currently. What are you doing when you see this "log tag"? Where are you seeing it? What is it exactly, an entry in the logcat "Tag" column?

From:

Is GPS chip control affected by 'sensor aiding'? - Stack Overflow
Suspected memory leak (in Sygic); how to interpret the Allocation Tracker - Stack Overflow
Show on Map - cgeo Issue Tracker

All of these people are posting issues or logcats relating to the GPS on their phone, I would imagine yours is something similar if it's in a line like:
DEBUG/(2696): [HYPOS] NOMOVE Time 13114, PowerMode 2, GPSWeakSignal 19, GPSFixTime 0, Car 1, DOE 3

The fact it also says GPS in the logcat entry is a hint also.

An app developer can use any word as log tag. The log tag 'HYPOS' can be from any good/bad app that you have installed in you phone.


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How to merge multiple contacts of same person?
An Android newbie here --- I've recently got my first Android phone (HTC Desire S) and I'm trying to clean up a mess of my contacts from a SIM card (three of them, in fact). For example, a certain Edward Bloggs might have several entries:

Edward Bloggs @london, mob

Eddie B @london, home [it's his nickname, we all call him Eddie B]

Eddie @hawaii [he's got a vacation home in there, and... er... who likes paying roaming charges anyway]

All these are in the 'first name' field or split randomly by the phone into the first, middle, and last names.

There are, of course, Google entries from me sending emails to both his work and personal emails.

Now, the question is --- is there a way to merge these contacts? Preferably something where one could select which ones to merge. Anything short of exporting all contacts onto a PC and manually editing the VCF files would be great.

One thing you can do is open the Contacts application, press the menu button, and go to "Import/Export". From there, you import from your SIM card and import them to your Google account. Once you have imported all the contacts, open the Google Contacts manager and click on "More", then select "Find & Merge Duplicates".

You may have to go through and edit some manually if they have really different names. But then you can merge again if needed.

Thanks! Nevertheless, is there a standalone tool? A separate question is if there is any sort of heuristics: the HTC Contacts application does not seem to recognize E.S.Bloggs@domain.com and e.s.bloggs@domain.com to be a prime candidate for merging.