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Can't record voice in Whatsapp
I'm using s5 duos and I'm on a custom rom for sometime now and I just noticed something wrong that the voice icon is partially hidden and I can't access it.
I have attached a screen shot.
Is there any way to acess the voice icon?

Screenshot (Click to enlarge image)

What happens if you rotate your screen to landscape?

Still looks the same even in landscape mode @SuperThomasLab

Have yoyu already rebooted your device? What ROM are you using? If you are using CyanogenMod then apply the default theme... Please give more information.

I'm on GERIS rom that I downloaded from XDA. I tried rebooting and even reinstalled whatsapp and its still the same :(

OK, you should reinstall whatsapp. First make a backup of your messages in whatsapp settings and then uninstall, reinstall whatsapp from the playstore .

Already tried that @SuperThomasLab

And you didn't had any problems before installing the custom ROM? If so please disable Xposed etc. And have you set a custom DPI?

Well I actually didn't notice that, but i think it was working fine since my friend who have a single sim variant of the same mobile can use voice recording... no i hqve not set a custom DPI... I'll return shortly after disabling xposed and see if it works.

Sorry, but I can't help you any further. I never had problems like this.

Thankyou @SuperThomasLab i see that a xposed module was actually causing the problem.. disabled it and now it works fine :)

I added an answer:-)

First, reboot your device. Try to reinstall Whatsapp. Disable any mods like custom DPI, custom theme, Xposed, etc...
Hope my answer helps you!


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What does this button do in the Twitter app?
I tried to find the answer online but I couldn't.  In the screenshot what does the circled button do?

That button is for replying to a tweet

Wow, I feel stupid...I was wondering what it did because I see on my own tweet so I thought it had a different use than replying....thanks.

actually, when i press reply on my own tweet why does it not show my handle and only the hsndle of the person I was tweeting to....you sure that button still means "reply" when it's below our own tweet?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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no sound on playing videos using vlc beta on nexus 4
I have nexus4 . i installed vlc beta from this link as default player couldn't play all formats.while playing videos on phone, it showed only video , no audio.
video is alright.

What is 'this link'?

Plus: Did you check the videos with another player? Maybe they do not have any audio track.

after upgrade it worked all fine. thank for voting negative :(

Try another player for the device
of try the same video file in a different format if possible.
This will determin if the the video or not.
It's most likely that the vlc player doesn't support that file format as well.
Your best chance is to t another player like MX Player or BSPlayer (googled that).
Video players for mobiles are more limited on what formats they can play.
Reference/guide for you: http://www.real.com/resources/mobile-video-player

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


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Clearing Dalvik Cache without root?
I recently tried updating my Motorola Atrix 4g. It downloaded, and then it booted down to try to update. However, instead of updating, it ends up booting to a screen that just says
Failed to boot 2
Starting RSD mode

If I take out the battery, I boot up the phone for about 60 seconds before it starts shutting down again.
The phone is rooted, and it seems like it starts shutting down as soon as Android starts giving out root privileges.
Looking through different forums online, it seems as though the best solution to stop the phone from trying to update (without erasing all my data by resetting the phone to factory settings) is to clear the Dalvik cache.
The problem I am having is that so far, it seems that in order to clear the cache, I need root, but as soon as my phone has been on long enough to give out root, it restarts, and I can't do anything with it. To make the problem worse, I seem to be unable to boot into recovery...
Is there any way to clear the Dalvik Cache (really, really fast, and) without root (or recovery)?

I finally figured it out, here's how I did it:
Even though adb can't get root, and the phone it's self can't get root, as it turns out, there is in fact one more way to clear the cache without fully booting the phone.

Turn the phone off
Make sure you have fastboot working on your computer
Press the power button on the phone and then hold down the volume down button until you see fastboot, then hit the volume up button.
Open a terminal window, and type the following
sudo su
fastboot erase cache

And (apparently) voilà!  The cache is cleared!!

Yepp, /cache is cleared. But not /data/dalvik-cache. Quoting rootzwiki: fastboot erase is very straight-forward: It erases the specified partition. Example: fastboot erase cache will erase the contents of the /cache partition. To say it again: that's the app-cache, and not the Dalvik-Cache.

@Izzy Does fastboot have any specific command for deleting the Dalvic/ART cache? Without using TWRP?

@Shayan to my knowledge not.

That's unlikely to be possible. Dalvik cache is stored in /data/dalvik-cache, and doing an ls -l /data (as root) shows:
drwxrwx--x system   system            2013-03-29 14:54 dalvik-cache

As you can see, it is owned by user system of the group system, and all other users only have "execute" permission (i.e. they are only permitted to change into that directory). Digging a little deeper with ls -l /data/dalvik-cache shows e.g.:
-rw-r--r-- system   app_17    6416640 2013-03-02 00:28 data@app@com.google.android.apps.maps-1.apk@classes.dex

All files in here are again owned by system, which is again the only user with write permission (i.e. also the only one who could delete files). The app corresponding to each .dex file is represented as group; but as all "other" users, only has read-permissions.
Conclusion: only root can delete stuff here -- be it from a regular shell or via a custom recovery like e.g. ClockworkMod. Or via a factory-reset, of course...

One thing you could try, though, is booting into safe-mode. If any user app is causing the trouble, the device should boot up fine (as all user apps are skipped in safe-mode). A second suggestion is to attach your device via USB and try to capture a logcat (via adb logcat) to get some more hints on what could causing the trouble. This would of course require USB Debugging to be enabled. In case it was not yet enabled, you might be able doing so from safe-mode (I'm not sure about this, as I've never tried).

Do this:
sdk/platform-tools/adb shell
 shell@android:/ $ su system                  # switch from user "root" to "system"
 system@android:/ $ cd data/dalvik-cache/
 system@android:/data/dalvik-cache $ rm *
 system@android:/data/dalvik-cache $ exit
 shell@android:/data $ exit

and reboot your phone.

As a reminder: DO reboot immediately.

Are you sure what “su system“ will work without root?

This doesn't work without root, because you don't have the su binary..

You don't even need root to clear dalvik cache. You can do it with the stock recovery. Shut off the phone & boot into recovery (I don't know what the key combination for the atrix is, so you'll have to look it up as the key combination is different from one phone to another) & look for an option that says something like "clear dalvik cache" hit volume down to highlight it & power to select it & wait until it boots which will probably take a lot longer than usual, which is normal. Leave it sit awhile while it rebuilds your list of apps. I don't know that might be any different since it's rooted. I've heard of the dalvik folder being as big as 3+GBs.

Do backups.
If you a have Fuel that's now working, install:

Flashy now

Install an advanced recovery like TWRP (Fuel specific). Then you can only run recovery from a working system (no key combo works yet, get there from Flashy dialogs to start the TWRP recovery).

Once in recovery then  finally your computer can do ADB (finally getting shell, I tested on another Fuel) and hopefully from there you will not be locked out (like me) and can unlock the  boot-loader.
Because, if you don't then you will be replacing your phone, should it go loopy. LG said mine did (repeated stopped processes, no use of the phone) just by regular auto updates! It progressed to no settings access.

How is this an answer? I'm sorry, but this must be flagged on multiple grounds.

Hi! This is not a forum so please, while attempting to answer a question, only answer what has been asked. I removed some information from your answer because I found it unnecessary here. That said, attempt to write in an orderly fashion. Do not use abbreviations or short forms for just anything. Read formatting guide for better structuring of your answer. And finally, please keep up the good work of answering here. :) // It is another matter that I've not verified whether your post is even an answer to the question or not.

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


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Stream music from Android phone to PC over WiFi
I've been searching on this site and can't find exactly what I'm looking for:
I have a PC (can run Linux or Windows) that's connected to my surround-sound speakers. When my friends come around they can listen to their music by connecting their phone to my speakers using a standard 3.5mm jack.
Is there a way that would let them connect their phone via WiFi to my PC and they could just play their music like they are connected directly to the speakers via a 3.5mm jack? One of the main requirements would be that they could use the standard music player in their phone.
Also does anyone know if this software or configuration this would require on the PC side to work?

This was part of the purpose of the not-quite-fully-baked Nexus Q, wasn't it?

@AlEverett: The Nexus Q only streamed directly from Google's servers, not actually from phone => NQ. In this use case it would seem to be effectively the same as long as you were using Google Music, but media solely on the phone wouldn't be available.

Also, this seems like a possible dupe of Stream music on Android to Desktop speakers

There is a program that does this for the iPhone call shairport4w.  It basically uses the air play feature of the iPhone to play all audio through a wifi router to a pc running this software.
Edit: Ok so download Airstream. Then go to the PC you want to play from, and download Shairport4w.  You'll need the bonjour service from apple installed for this to work and if I remember correctly there is a way to install only the service without installing all of iTunes. I think it is get the iTunes full package installer and extract it as if it were an archive and only install the bounjour package.
After installing bonjour start shairport4w since it is only a small program running in the background. Then start Airstream. It should find your PC that has shairport4w running on it and then start playing whatever you want. It will go over wifi and play on the PC. I tried is using Amazon Cloud player and it worked great.
Edit: I've just added the links to the mentioned software. Though Kevin explains it the other way around (streaming from PC to Android, so he's probably rather referring to this Airstream app), the app I've linked above is the one for Android → PC streaming.
Edit (2):  This actually is stream any music player on the Android Device to your PC via WiFi.  The new name for the app is Allstream.  Look for it in the Play store.  Unfortunately for it to work, you're phone or tablet must be rooted.  I use it all the time since my Sound system is hooked up to my PC as it is a Media Center, and listen to Pandora, Google Music and Amazon Music from my tablet through the PC.

If you can skip the part with the "standard music player", there would be some solutions involving DLNA/uPnP. This would require an uPnP compatible device at your speakers end (e.g. a fitting programm on your PC), and a streaming app on the devices.
Some devices have such a streaming app pre-installed, so you can share directly from your device. If not, you find several apps on the Playstore, e.g. BubbleUPnP. They act as a "DLNA/uPnP server" (mentioned BubbleUPnP can act as client as well, in the other direction, so basically you could use this on an Android device connected to your speakers instead of your PC as "receiving end" as well).
As for the PC software, you might check with our friends at AskUbuntu for a Linux solution, there are plenty available -- see e.g. UPNP / DLNA (client) player recommendations?, where several good choices are mentioned. I cannot speak for Windows, as I live in a MS-free zone :)

If your computer has Bluetooth capability, it may be easier to use this for streaming the audio.
You need to enable A2DP on your Bluetooth settings (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile), then you pair the phone with the computer and all multimedia audio from the phone will be played by the computer.
This means you can use the default music playing app and play your Google cloud stored music too.

Squeezebox by Logitech. Allows you to play your music as well as Pandora remotely to PC.

As of February 2024, the online service has been taken down.

[...] as of February 2024, we will discontinue our UESmartRadio.com and MySqueezebox.com servers. [...]
[...]
As a consequence of this shutdown, support for services integrating with MySqueezebox.com/UESmartRadio.com will no longer be available on your devices. Most notably this will impact users of TIDAL, Pandora, and Deezer.
Nevertheless, you will still be able to use your UE SmartRadio/Squeezebox by accessing the Logitech Media Server locally. All users will need to download and run some software locally, which can be found here. That means you can continue to enjoy much of the functionality you love.
[...]
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at https://forums.slimdevices.com.


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Is it possible to connect the Google TV remote with an Android tv-box like Minix?
I have found the Google TV remote source code. Would it be possible to modify the code so the Google TV remote could work on my MiniX box? It should be possible since their both are on a android platform? Or am I wrong?

This is highly subjective in the context of hardware/software hacking.
MiniX indeed uses the Android platform (judging by their website), however, it is a dedicated set top-box and maybe the protocol for talking to the remote is different to one of Google TV kind.
Have the crowd behind it, shared some source code or protocol specifications?
Might be worth checking around on forums to see if anyone has hacked the top-box that can do so.
Its a gamble having said that but it does sound fun trying to get the Google TV remote to work with it :)

Thanks for your quick answer. I have searching for the protocols and I could not find any specifications on it, I know that the Google Tv remote uses a protocol called Anymote
https://code.google.com/p/anymote-protocol/
But I think that it only works on a Google TV :-(


text:
Unlock when sliding out physical keyboard
I got a Xperia Mini Pro with a physical keyboard. When I slide out the keyboard, it still have to slide on the screen to unlock it. Can I get to the password prompt with the keyboard movement alone?

That would be unsecure, wouldn't it? a) you could accidentally "slide open" the keyboard with the device in your pocket, and run something randomly; b) some "unauthorized person" could bypass your lock screen easily (when using a PIN/password/pattern lock).

Well, I mean that it should show the password promt when I open the phone, not that I have to open, slide and enter the password all the time.

AFAIK they are both connected, and you cannot get rid of the "simple slide" alone (without de-activating the other as well, disabling "keyguard" with e.g. Tasker).

Can't you just start typing your password? For example with Gnome lockscreen, if you simply start typing, the slider will automatically open itself and all your keypresses will still be captured by the password prompt even before the prompt is visible.

I actually don't know. And I cannot check as I don't have that phone any more. The most recent version of Android that it got is 4.0, so I presume that this question has no relevance any more.

Yes it's possible with tasker + secure settings plugin.
I dit it in a harder scenario (altough I'm an sk17i owner too) I used the above combination to unlock, force landscape, and wake up an alcatel dual sim phone paired with a Nuu minikey sliding bluetooth keyboard.

Could you say exactly how you did it?


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Photos Look "Washed Out" when attached
I have Galaxy sIII and now when I attach photos, regardless if I do so by txt, Facebook or email, though they look wonderful on my android phone, once sent they look terrible, washed out, bland and so on. I recall dimly that when I first got the phone, I could select the size or something on those lines of those photos, now i cannot. I have tried settings, I have tried everything I could think of (at least for a not very techno astute girl), and still no luck. Where should I look? How can I fix this. Please help.

Where are you looking at the photos when they look bland? Is it on the same phone, on your PC, or somewhere else? Please edit your question to include this information.

The Galaxy SIII has a better display than typical computer monitors.  It has a wider color gamut, which basically means it can accurately display more colors.  Without color management of some kind, to convert between the color spaces of different output devices, you will get the washed out look on displays with a smaller gamut.  It's a double-edged sword, as pictures optimized for smaller gamuts will look over-saturated on the SIII.  That's a common complaint among SIII reviewers.
There are apps for doing color management, but I haven't personally tried any of them.  Another option is to do the conversion on a desktop application, like photoshop.

Make sure that you are taking the photos at full resolution from the camera and also that compression after uploading isn't enabled.
To be absolutely sure upload few photos on Dropbox and view them on PC. Check it's resolution on your PC.


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Stop Applications Loading
How can I stop so many applications loading, and slowing down the system. When I clear the Ram I usually see that at least 16 applications have been running. What for?

There are many apps out there which will help you know which apps are running in background and hogging resources with extra features from stock task manager. Few of good apps are
Elixir 2-Application Monitoring Manager.
Wake Lock Detector-Tells you which apps are keeping your phone in partial awake or in full awake state.
Advanced Task Manager-Will help you manage running processes.
Stay away from task killer apps they are no good and  drain out battery.


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Verizon HTC Incredible 2
Will rooting my HTC Incredible 2 allow me to switch carriers ? If not does anyone have any information on how to unlock my phone from Verizon ??

CDMA carriers tend to not allow phones from other carriers to operate on their networks. There is not a way to get your Incredible 2 to operate on another network. Rooting your phone will have no affect on this.
Per This link, here is an explanation:

What CDMA vs. GSM Means to You
For call quality, the technology you
  use is much less important than the way your carrier has built its
  network. There are good and bad CDMA and GSM networks, but there are
  key differences between the technologies. Here's what you, as a
  consumer, need to know.
It's much easier to swap phones on GSM networks, because GSM carriers
  put customer information on a removable SIM card. Take the card out,
  put it in a different phone, and the new phone now has your number.
  What's more, to be considered GSM, a carrier must accept any
  GSM-compliant phone. So the GSM carriers don't have total control of
  the phone you're using.
That's not the case with CDMA. In the U.S., CDMA carriers use
  network-based white lists to verify their subscribers. That means you
  can only switch phones with your carrier's permission, and a carrier
  doesn't have to accept any particular phone onto its network. It
  could, but typically, U.S. carriers choose not to.
In other words, you can take an unlocked AT&T phone over to T-Mobile
  (although its 3G may not work well because the frequency bands are
  different). You can't take a Verizon phone over to Sprint, because
  Sprint's network rejects non-Sprint phones.


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Syncing Google Calendar on Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread
I've got an Android Gingerbread device. When I go to Settings -> Accounts & Sync -> Manage Accounts (and click on my email address) -> Sync Calendar, I see an exclamation mark besides the sync icon (the one with the two arrows forming a circle), and a message below the entry saying "! Sync is currently experiencing problems. It will be back shortly."
Why do I get this message? Can I get things to work by say, installing CyanogenMod? (I am using an LG P690 Optimus Net.) I've heard LG phones tend to have more bugs than other brands such as Samsung, is this true?

Optimus 4X (P880) here. I had the very same problem initially, and was asked to enter my password each time when I tried to sync manually (or install/update an app via playstore). According to "googling", it looks like a server error (but just for one of my devices? unlikely). It solved itself after a few network switches: Experienced this problem with WiFi at home, 3 days long. On day 3 I went outside, using mobile data. Returned home that evening (back in my Wifi), problem was gone. Never found out the real reason -- but you might try "switching networks" and see.

Seems like I might want to get a mobile 3G connection hooked up to my device so that I can try this out. I will follow your advice and see if that works.

Actually, I think there was a server error on that particular day or something. Now my Contacts have the same sync error but not the calendar.

Yeah, but the funny thing is: when I had the trouble with my Optimus, none of my other devices had any problems. All of them connected via the same WiFi router. So either LG has some "special server" configured (then all LG users should have the problem at the same time, but I luckily don't have any now), or it is device-specific trouble based on something else. I'm curious if the problem disappears for you as soon as you've switched to mobile data for a while (which is what I suspect).


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When enabling Bluetooth, is there a way to prevent it from attempting to connect to the two most recently used devices?
Device: LG Nexus 4 (16 GB)
Android version: 4.2.2
I connect my phone via Bluetooth (A2DP) to three devices on a daily basis. Since Android only tries connecting with the two most recent devices, I have to go into the Bluetooth settings and manually select the device I actually want to connect to.
Also, while the first two are attempting a connection, I'm unable to select the third device. I have to wait until those connections fail before it lets me manually choose the other.
Have any of you found any ways to get around this or automate it?

If you are using ICS or Jelly Bean, there are free apps called Bluetooth Auto Connect and Auto Bluetooth that will automatically connect to devices you specify. From the looks of it, it was designed because some devices don't auto connect to any Bluetooth devices (let alone two). It will likely work for your phone as well, if you are running Android 4.


text:
Asus TF300TL - cannot get videos showing on both tablet and on 8" monitor via HDMI
My issue concerns ability to show video on both tablet and on external HDMI monitor simultaneously.
I just recently bought my very first tablet Asus TF300TL and for its companion a 8" lilliput monitor with HDMI. I had this lovely idea of using this setup for car entertainment for kids in addition to everyday surfing.
Unfortunately I noticed today after brief testing that videos are only showing via HDMI monitor when cable connected, when I stop video and return to Asus desktop the screen is displayed on both 8" ext. Monitor and on tablet.
I've tried to browse around the web, but it seems difficult to find info.
I haven't yet updated to Jelly Bean. Do you think it would bring more options for video output or is this Asus hardware (or firmware) limitation?
I really appreciate if anybody has an idea what could I try, I'm a newbie with tablets and Android in general.


text:
Lower Menu shortcuts disappeared
I use a Samsung Galaxy SL I9003 model phone with latest version of Gingerbread on it.
I recently started to experience this problem. The shortcut menus on the lower bar have some how disappeared.
Here is a screenshot of the same...

Screenshot (click image to enlarge)
As of now only the Application shortcut remains.. How do I get the remaining shortcut bak ?
Thanks
P.S : Reboot does not help.

Click that Applications button. Then, long-press and drag whatever icons you want from the list of apps to the drawer. You could drag: People, Phone, a browser, and something else.

how to drag to the drawer ? Here if I long-press I get the home screen and a remove option in the lower half of the screen.

@Yasser How about if you go to the applications list? Then, you go to the menu, and click Edit. (I'll update my answer later, if this is the correct procedure)

@Yasser Or in the home screen, open the menu, and click edit.

No, unfortunately couldnt find any option where I could drag items to my drawer

That might depend on the launcher used, but have you tried to drag and drop an app from the drawer to the "launcher bar" directly? Not all launchers support this, but it's worth a try. You could also first create that app icon on the regular home screen, and then try to drag-and-drop it from there.


text:
How to prevent someone from powering off an android device?
I have a Nexus 5. Even if I enable security passcode or pattern, someone can still switch off my mobile using the power button. How can I prevent it?

What's your actual goal? Are you just worried about a "friend" turning your phone off to annoy you, or is there something else?

You can also remove the power button and alter it so pressing it no longer presses the actual electronic button inside the phone.  If you drill a small hole in the power button where the electronic button is, you may then use a paperclip to press the button.  There are also apps that turn the device off if you want to turn it off without a paperclip.

@AdamDavis went full-DIY on us :) That would most definitely void any warranty you may have on the phone.

@Chahk Ayup.  But you're already using Android, you've chosen the path of tinkering...

@AdamDavis Fair enough. I'll edit my answer to mention hardware tweaks.

@DanHulme First use case that comes to my mind is thwarting a thief trying to turn off the device to prevent locating it remotely.

Does hitting the device with a hammer count as switching it off?

@brchins I can think of lots of reasons one might want to stop the phone being turned off, but that's irrelevant. The question is why Frustrated Coder wants to stop someone turning his phone off.

remove the physical button ?

My main concern was thieves! They steal your phone and turn it off so that it can no longer be traced!. Lost my Nexus 4 dont want to lose this!

You cannot (barring any hardware tweaks.)
If you root your phone and install a custom ROM, you may be able to remove the "Turn off" and "Reboot" options from the Power menu. However, Nexus 5 (as do most modern phones) has a hard-wired feature, where holding the power button for 10 seconds shuts the phone off.  This is done so that you can restart the phone if it freezes up.  Since Nexus 5 doesn't have a removable battery, this hard reset would be the only way to shut it off without having to wait for the battery to drain.
If you are technically inclined, you can always make hardware modifications to the phone which would prevent the Power button from functioning normally.  However, such mods are not for the novices, and will certainly void your warranty.

Almost every device today has that feature - press long to power off.

Note that on some devices, holding down the power button actually causes the device to reboot.

So I would say the best way would be :
1 - custom rom to alter the turn off menu
2 - not to remove the power off option but replace by a fake one that would pretend that the phone switch off (playing a dumb animation as usual) but just putting the phone in sleep/locked mode, actually it should already start at that point to turn on gps, send position thru email, record voice and take picture... only a thief would use a button that a user dismissed.
Aside that a device should not have a lock screen, otherwise a thief would flash it straight  away imho, he should be able to use it as he wants, or supposedly as he wants... probably a fake normal mode without lock activated by the fake turning off described in 2-

@MatthewRead huh? https://repo.xposed.info/module/hk.kennethso168.xposed.apmplus with "Fake Power Off" feature

You can try this app to achieve this - Smart Lockscreen Protector
This app blocks the power menu from showing up if your phone is locked.
So it stops people from powering off or rebooting your phone when its locked.
Note:
However if the person tries to hard reboot by holding the power button for more than 10 seconds (hard reset), then this app cannot support that. As it's hard-wired to do so.
It at least protects your phone to some extent, without rooting your phone.

A device can be halted by long-pressing the power button for few seconds. Does this app prevent it?

No, Long-pressing is a hardware triggered operation.
So this app cannot prevent that from happening.

There is no way you can prevent the phone from getting turned off(without rooting, which will void your warranty if the device is in warranty).
If your phone is supposed to get stolen, it will be.
So Only thing you can do is keep your devices safe.

Just root your phone and buy Cerberus. They got this option.


text:
Format external SD card from android
I am having issues with my SD card, it just gets on getting unmounted and mounted many times per day. I have read online that the best thing to do is to format my card.
I've looked online and everywhere it is suggested that I use the built-in format function found in "Settings > Storage > Unmount SD card + Format SD card" but the option "Format SD card" never shows.
This is what I have before and after unmounting:
 Before Unmounting          After Unmounting

Screenshots - (Click to enlarge)
I also tried to format from linux (I am an Ubuntu user) and I got some error (both in gnome disk util and gparted).
Further info:
My question is then: How can I format my external sd card? I don't have a card reader.
Wiko Darkmoon
Custom rom: superdragonpt_v1.0 from xda, 4.2.2, kernel 3.4.5

Does this answer your question? How to format an SD card?

"Erase SD card" formats it. Back up data before formatting, because all of the files are deleted. You can format from the PC aswell, by mounting as Mass Storage, and formatting it like an regular USB.

Thank you, I was unaware that erase would format it. Cheers


text:
Memory reported as full without being full
I am having storage issues with my Samsung Galaxy S Duos. I solved it by moving apps from phone memory to the SD card, so now 1.2 GB of internal space is free. However, it still tells me that I have insufficient storage for apps.
I found that there are 94 MB of cache files there, but even if that's the case I should still have plenty of free space. Why does my phone still think that the internal storage is full?

Have you already checked with the insufficient-memory tag-wiki? Did the first-aid steps described there help you in any way?

See What can I do to manage my phone's internal storage? and install the app DiskUsage. On my phone, it made clear that the system itself takes up 1.2 GB, while this is not shown in the overview (settings > storage).
A possible explanation for why you get a message that internal storage is full, is that Android always keeps up free space equal to the size of the largest app you installed. So if you install the XyzApp that takes up 100MB, android wants 100MB free disk space in case it needs to update and download the new version.
You can try to move as many apps as possible to your external sdcard. That frees up space, and if by accident the biggest app can be moved, android will need less free space.
Hope this helps!
(And thanks to Izzy!)


text:
auto logoff from all apps on android
i want a functionality where i can log off from all the apps on android ie: auto logoff from skype , facebook , yahoo.
Is a some app already available for this or some easy way to implement this. I tried clearing all the cache but does not log out the app.
their is a app called social secure for ios but nothing for android

Android is designed to not let apps interact with other apps in an attempt to provide a more secure platform. It might be possible on a rooted device, but I have never seen an app that would do that. The logistics would be crazy, because the developer would have to program each and every different app that should be logged out into the app. And any time one of those apps are updated, it could possibly break the logout app. I don't think you will see anything like this on Android.

Thanks , after check i saw that even if i am able to clear all the data and cache then the app is logged out. is their any app that has the functionality to clear all the data of selected apps. i think its built in 4.2 but not in 4.0.2 (i cannot upgrade)

You can wipe any application's data from within Settings -> Apps -> app_name -> Wipe Data (names might be slightly off since I haven't run ICS for awhile). Titanium Backup can do it, but I can't see any way to automate it, only wiping the apps individually. I don't know of any apps that can automate wiping the data for a selected number of apps while leaving everything else untouched.


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How do I open Markdown files from the Dropbox app?
When I try to open a Markdown file in the Dropbox app, it tells me to "Please download an app that can open this file."
I tried downloading MarkDrop, but that seems to only sync within its own folder.
Any suggested apps that support this?

The whole point of Markdown is that they're just plain text files that can be read in anything, and the the formatting is just an expansion of what people used to use in plain text communications like Usenet. What are you calling your files? Mine are name as *.txt files and can be opened in almost anything, but look nicer when opened in a Markdown compatible editor.

@GAThrawn Unfortunately there is a strong trend to use anything but .txt for markdown files. GitHub for instance will not interpret .txt files as being formatted using markdown (and will therefore not pretty print it), you must use one of the other "markdown" file extensions.

I use the .md extension which is why it doesn't open in text editors. I'd rather keep it so other applications know that it's markdown.

@w3d no one should assume .txt is markdown-formatted because most of the time it isn't.

Draft can open Markdown files with .md and .markdown extensions.

Doesn't seem to exist anymore :(

I found a good web application to view and edit markdown-formatted files - StackEdit.
You can integrate it with Dropbox and Google Drive and use it to open any of your text files. It doesn't matter if were .md, .txt, or something else.

Since StackEdit is not an android app, I don't see how you can get it to automatically open .md files.

MarkDawn.
If you open a .md file in the Dropbox app it'll let you to open it with it.
It has been pointed out that currently (as of 2013-04-18) MarkDawn only works as a viewer.

Do you use MarkDawn as an editor? The preview pane does not appear to update for me and neither does it sync back to your dropbox (as other ordinary text editors do)?

The preview works for me but you're right about it only working as a viewer. I've never even tried using it for editing. Oh well.

Seems it's not available anymore

Can you please update for me that answer.  I have exactly the same question and tried a dozen of apps. MarkdownX was good but does no more work


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HTC Explorer wallpaper display problem
I have HTC Explorer, when I download a wallpaper from net and try to set it as wallpaper, the phone first asks me to crop it, so I crop it, but some portion from all the four sides of the cropped image is not displayed.
And now the main problem, the phone has 320x480 screen resolution, I have a wallpaper from net with the same resolution, but the phone still asks me to crop it, while cropping most of the times I have to let go the image from top and bottom, the horizontal part of the image is available but vertical part needs to be cropped.
More interestingly, I created a jpg file on ms paint on computer with 320x480 pix and transferred it to the phone, even then it asked me to crop it and after cropping when I saw the wallpaper to my surprise it was not what or how the original image was cropped.
can you guys help me, thanx in advance.

some portion from all the four sides of the cropped image is not displayed.

At least it seems so -- but that's perfectly normal ("works as designed"). Android does not think of it as a background image solely for the "recent homescreen", but rather for your "collection of homescreen pages". If you swipe through your homescreens left-to-right (or in the opposite direction), and watch the background image while doing so, you will notice it slightly sliding along. So the "left side" of your background image aligns with the left-most "page", while the "right side" does the same with the right-most page.

the phone has 320x480 screen resolution, I have a wallpaper from net with the same resolution, but the phone still asks me to crop it

The reason for this hopefully became clear with above explanation. So generally spoken, you will need a picture with the actual height of your screen, but being wider than the actual screen width.


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How to set up an android device to function as a phone only
Is there a way to set up my android device so that when the lock screen unlocked, the phone app always is open by default? In other words: I swipe to unlock the screen and I always automatically see the phone keypad first and the device is ready to make a call.
I am trying to set up a new Samsung Galaxy Note for my grandmother BTW. Someone bought it for her for her birthday. She likes the size for her eyes, but is intimidated by the home screen, and has discarded the phone for that reason. I figure if can make it operate as she expects then she might warm up to it.

Why would you get an android phone instead of a dumb phone?

Maybe because you can't get dumb phones with text and buttons as big as the Note.

Install this Easy Phone App into your grandmother's cell and place its shortcut on the screen or the desktop of that android device.
And tell her to just swipe that circle with lock off the screen (i.e Unlock  screen) whenever she sees one, and touch on that phone icon in the center! (to activate the Phone app)...

Advantages:

Big font User Interface.

Descriptive Graphics.

Statistics:

Average Rating: 4.4 of 5.

Of 153 people 97  have rated it 5 stars.

Alternative-

Install this One tap dailer.

Features:

It gives a speed dail like facility. Meaning that, it creates a dedicated app icon on screen for each and every contact. That would be good if she has some few fixed people to talk or chat to.

Statistics:

Of 17, 7 rated it as 5 stars.

To do exactly what you want, you can install Tasker. You can try tasker from its website rather than from Google Play store and this allows you to test it for free for 7 days in a device.
With Tasker, I created a profile which watches for an event for screen-unlock and launches dial pad once it gets triggered.  You can download the following content as an XML file and import it into your Tasker installation to test.
<TaskerData sr="" dvi="1" tv="1.6u1m">
  <Profile sr="prof10" ve="2">
    <cdate>1366177538819</cdate>
    <edate>1366177654712</edate>
    <id>10</id>
    <mid0>12</mid0>
    <nme>Unlock</nme>
    <Event sr="con0" ve="2">
      1000
      <pri>0</pri>
    </Event>
  </Profile>
  <Task sr="task12">
    <cdate>1366177546567</cdate>
    <edate>1366177572658</edate>
    <id>12</id>
    <Action sr="act0" ve="3">
      90
      <Str sr="arg0" ve="3"/>
      <Int sr="arg1" val="0"/>
    </Action>
  </Task>
</TaskerData>


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Losing network operator on Samsung Galaxy SIII mini
For some time now (I think it's from the latest Android update) I have this problem,
that time to time (on daily basis) people can not reach me, like I would lose connection to the Network.
I get an SMS after some time about all the calls I did miss. Sometimes I have a hard time to call as well.
I did call my operator, and they didn't had any report like this so far, and I did call Samsung service, and they didn't know about this issue, so I guess is on my side.
If you have any idea what would the problem be let me know.

Do the callers get any "error", like e.g. line busy, or your device currently being unreachable -- or do they get the feeling you simply don't pick up the phone? I had the latter case from time too with my old phone (no ring, no missed call, but callers got to the mailbox and then I got the SMS immediately thereafter). Did not (yet?) happen with my new device, so it could be something specific to either the device or its software. Though I never had the problems you describe initiating a call.

I experienced a similar problem, and it was caused by physical activity making the SIM card coming slightly loose, just enough so that the phone couldn't read it reliably. Try turning the phone off completely, removing the SIM card, reinserting the SIM card, and then restarting the phone.
If that makes the problem go away (at least for a few days), then it probably is the SIM card coming loose: maybe that specific phone is on the largest extreme of manufacturing tolerance, and the SIM card is at the smallest extreme. In this case, a little paper inserted alongside the SIM card, on the side without the contacts, could provide a more lasting fix.

I have a similar problem with my S3 mini. Two or three times a week the GSM/Edge/3G signal strength indicator is at zero and I cannot make or recieve calls, despite being in a good signal area. A simple power down and power up restores the connection, reports good SSI and the backlog of SMS and voicemail calls start coming.


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Issues after rooting my Galaxy S2 by running fk23, the Jellybean ROM
Recently rooted to fk23 and have the following problems:

Having problems with lock screen.
Will not let me modify/change anything.
Time is displayed in military
or 24 hrs format.
Unchecked clock in settings and nothing changes.
Can't change background picture.
There are no plus signs when on lock screen to change anything.

Tried to change settings to secure with pattern, now I have two lock screens to go through.

  Anyone have any idea on how to solve these?

On the lockscreen there are usually no "plus signs". With the standard lockscreens, modifications you can make are quite minimal -- unless you have a special app installed (e.g. WidgetLocker Lockscreen). Same for the "double lockscreen": That's also normal. Again, some special apps might exist to change that.

@Izzy I think the "plus sign" is the button to add a widget to the lock screen, which looks like a rectangle with rounded corners and a + inside. It's part of the stock lock screen on 4.1 and later.

@DanHulme Strange -- I never saw that on my lock screens, not even on 4.1.1. But maybe that's because of "stock != stock"...

I think it is due to u have use wrong Rooting file. did you tried other Rooting file as well?
what i tried is I9100ZSLSJ Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Galaxy S2 I9100
if you want to download it. here is the link

Sorry,  i had someone root the phone for me,  so im not sure how he did it.  Could he have given me internatiobal version?  Don't know why clock  on lock screen is in military?


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Android, typing Czech-specific characters on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2
I have a problem with some characters on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (GT-P5100). When I set language to "čeština" and type ě (Latin small letter E with caron) as result Android returns ĕ (Latin small letter E with breve) but when I use handwrite typing everything works fine. This behavior causes some search results to not be visible in my Android app. What can I do with it? I wouldn't like to prompt users to install another keyboards.

Not sure what you mean by "handwrite typing". Is that an app? How are you typing in the characters in the first place? Is it possible that they keyboard is getting them wrong? Or the way they're displayed is not distinctive enough? (Honestly, at a quick glance, I can't tell the difference between the characters.) Is one valid for Czech and the other isn't? (That would mean that the developer for the keyboard got it wrong.)

I don't have access to device now but @Al-Everett look at this picture, please. I get first character by long press 'e' using standard samsung keyboard link Second character I get by paint it on something like this: link. These two characters are very similar visually but have another unicode point Correct is char with caron.


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How can I easily restrict all apps EXCEPT specific apps from using data?
Let's say I have 100 apps on my Nexus 4.
I want to limit all but 2 of them from running on my data plan (I have 30MB a month).

How can I easily exclude all apps except specific applications from using data (both fore/background)?

"Limit all except" means using a so-called "white-list". If your device is rooted, you might take a look at DroidWall and its forks AFWall+ plus Android Firewall, they support it. As shipped, with Android's native settings you can AFAIK only limit apps separately (black-list).


text:
How do I pause a song thats playing while my phone is locked (Samsung ace 2)
I am looking for a way to pause a song without unlocking it. Take the iPhone for example; just by pressing the home button twice, it pauses the song. It's annoying having to unlock my phone every time that I need to pause a song.

Here are some apps to suite your needs:
Tactile Player – Control Android Music Player Using Hard Buttons
"Tactile Player is my favorite tool which gets the job done and I must say, this one is a must for any music addict who wants to change songs using Android’s hard buttons or play/pause the current playing song. When you are listening to music and don’t want to unlock Android’s lock screen, simply enter the following commands
Press the volume up button two times to play the next track.
Press the volume down button two times to play the previous track.
Press the power button three times to pause or play the currently playing soundtrack.
It works and the best part is that there are no settings and absolutely no configuration required on your music player app. The only catch is that the Tactile player app must run in the background or else the default music player app won’t be able to receive your commands via the volume and power buttons."
Simply Lock Screen – Replace Android’s Default Lock Screen And Add Multimedia controls
"Simply Lock Screen is a wonderful lock screen replacement app for Android which comes packed with basic multimedia features. You can show clock, date, time and media buttons on the lock screen itself, thereby allowing you to control the order of songs that is being played by Android’s default media player app.
Simply Lock Screen adds three buttons on it’s lock screen, so you can play a previous or next track or pause the current one by tapping the respective buttons on the lock screen itself. This one is a good choice if you are looking for a better lock screen replacement with added features."

If you use a headset when listening to your music, and that headset has a button (usually for accepting incoming calls), you might want to take a look at the many headset controller apps at Google Play. They allow you to play/pause with a short single press, skip forward/backward with double/triple click, adjust volume with holding the button, and much more.
As not every app/headset/device combination works 100% satisfying, don't give up on the first try if it doesn't work out "ideally" -- but try the next one. Took me 3 tries to find the perfect match for my device/headset :)


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How to monitor child's SMS messages?
Is there any way to have my son's phone set to where any text message that he receives or sends comes to my phone too.

I would consider this a serious interference with the privacy of your son, if he isn't aware of the fact that you are monitoring his personal text messages.

A similar approach to the one suggested by bassmadrigal would be to use the app SMS Backup + that 'backs up' SMS to a Gmail account. You can then view them via Gmail on any device.

Does it back them up as they are being received or is it something that has to be run manually on the phone?

It backs them up as they are received. I think there is a configurable delay period (i think the minimum is 1 minute). I almost never open the app manually.

I use DeskSMS on my phone, which will forward all texts to an email address of my choosing (which could then be received on another phone) and also allow responding through email, but it will appear to that person as a standard text from your phone. I found it really handy when I was working in a secured office that didn't allow personal cell phones. I could leave my phone in my car and still be notified of any texts and still respond to them, and the person wouldn't have any idea I was using email to respond.
In using it on your son's device, it is relatively easy to disable, so if your son doesn't want you to see things and is technologically inclined, he could probably find ways around it. But I think if the kid is smart enough, just about any app is able to be bypassed. It isn't made for monitoring, but it would work just the same.
I believe there is a $5 yearly charge (I am pretty sure it comes with a 30 day trial), because of the costs involved in running the server that processes everything.

Not exactly to your phone, but there are several "child care" apps available in the playstore which can be used to monitor activities. Take e.g. a look at Care4Teem, Best Parental Control Android, or ParentalFlux Parental Control. Most of these kind of solutions offer a dashboard on the provider's website, where you can check logged acitivities such as calls, messages, etc. Some additional monitor the location and even allow for "geo-fencing" (sending you an alert when the kid leaves the "permitted zone").

Yes, you can spy on your son's phone without him knowing with the help of mobile tracking software. I have been using this spying app for watching my kids to be sure that they are where they supposed to be. Through this tracking app you can spy on his text messages, calls, every activity on his cell phone. Another thing regarding privacy - as you are really concerned about your son and you take care of him, you have the right to monitor his SMS messages. I think software will help you.

"…you have the right to monitor his SMS messages." Just wanted to clarify that this is not true in Germany (and in other parts of Europe and likely other countries with a sane privacy law). A child could sue you if you do so without its consent

Actually, is some countries, it's allowed as parents have complete right over child's property before they are 16\18 (depends where you go). In other words, the parents are free to monitor whatever, whenever they want. A child can by that not sue their parents, because the child has almost zero rights in therms of ownership.


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Jellybean on Motorola Defy
What is the procedure to install Android 4.1 or 4.2 on a Motorola Defy (MB525)? My phone is currently rooted and running Cyanogenmod 9.

A candidate for How do I update the OS on my device? :) As you're running CM9: check whether CM10 is available for your device, which comes with JB 4.1 (CM10) or 4.2 (CM10.1).

Go to quarx2k.ru, and select one of the 2nd-boot folders. These work for both MB525 and MB526. Simply download and flash, making sure to wipe the system, data, and cache first. If you want google apps, go to goo.im and select 4.2 or 4.1, depending on what version works.
If you want a really stable version, select 4.0 or 4.1.
4.2 was not developed on very much, but 4.3 works, I use it daily.
It's not completely stable, but certainly usable.
4.4 works, but I really don't recommend it as of yet.
Hope this helps, message me if you want more information.

For people who may consider flagging this answer, the site listed does appear to be legit. See https://github.com/Quarx2k

Yeah, Quarx2k is the main developer of unofficial CM versions for Motorola Defy and Defy+. Check out his posts on xda.com, they help explain his ROMs and whatnot.


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Remapping hardware key on keyboard to trigger voice input
On my Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro running CyanogenMod 10, what I am trying to do is remap a key I never really use, like the capslock key, to trigger voice input. I know keys can be remapped changing the keymap file after your phone is rooted, but what is the syntax to assign to voice input? Is this even possible?

checking if specific key was clicked double and then assign to specific apk package name like com.example.android.calc


text:
Moto G2 speaker phone issue when calling
My Motorola 2nd Generation(XT1068) mobile running Lollipop 5.0.1 version is facing problems after removing headphone. While I can talk using the headphones' mic and the phone mic has no problems and the other person can hear what I speaking. But I could not hear the other person's voice from the earpiece or when loud speaker mode is on. If I press the loudspeaker, the icon loudspeaker is shown at the notification bar but I cant hear a thing. So everytime I need to use the headset to hear the other person's voice and its annoying.
I cleared the cache and data of the Dialer app but din't help. The only temporary solution that works is to restart the phone. After restarting the phone, the earpiece works fine and I am able to talk and hear properly. But again if I insert and remove the headset to listen to music the earpiece stop working and I couldn't hear the other persons voice on a phone call. I have also tried inserting alternative headsets. I've also tried removing the headsets slowly that din't help either.
I thought the phone was still in the headset mode but if I play song or video from Gallery/Media player or Google Play music or through File Manager apps the two speakers in the front work fine. And If I remove the headset the songs playing in the Play music pauses which means there is no problem in the headset and jack.
Any ideas on how to solve this issue? Could this be a hardware or a software issue?
Update 1:
Troubleshoooting methods suggested by Motorola Support:

Clearing Cache, Data of Dialer and Phone apps.
Wipe Cache Partition on recovery mode.

However both of the above didn't solve my problem. So they suggested me to do a factory reset which I don't want to do since factory resetting will erase all my data.
Update 2:
There was also another problem which gave me "Unable to play this file" in the Play Music app while playing a song. If I open the Dialer app when a song in playing in background(in Play Music/other music player apps) the song stops on it own and wont play and the Play button won't work until I change to next track or sometimes I need to restart the Music player app.

Not a Moto G2 but a similar problem is mentioned here related to Moto X (2013). Similarly, see this,  and this XDA thread.

Solution:
Factory reset.
Finally, after doing all the necessary backups using different tools like adb, Helium(Carbon), Google, Super Backup,  I did a factory reset(Soft Reset through the option under Settings > Backup & Restore > Factory Reset) and the speaker phone issue is solved.


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How to change the default alarm sound?
It seems to me that it is impossible to change the default alarm tone. Does anyone know if it's possible to do that?
I am using Sony Xperia Z2, if that matters.

Oddly enough, Android doesn't provide (as of the time of writing) a way to change the default alarm tone: if you navigate to Settings > Sound & notification, you can pick "Alarm volume", "Phone ringtone" and even "Default notification ringtone", but there's nothing about an "Default alarm ringtone".
The solution that worked for me came from this post. It requires using the ES File Explorer (install it if you don't have it yet, you can remove it afterwards). The steps below are to pick one of the existing alarm sounds as the default one, but can be used for any sound in your SD card. Here's what you do:

Using the ES File Explorer, navigate to /system/media/audio/alarms
Click on the file you want, and in the "Open with" prompt, select "ES Media Player"
Open the menu in the top right, and pick "Set ringtone" (the entry with a bell icon)
In the dialog that appears, pick "Set alarm"

After doing this, all applications that use alarms will use the chosen sound if they're configured to use the system default. The stock clock app will also use this.

I can't verify if this works at the moment because my phone is broken but it seems like a clever hack, thanks!

Unfortunately, ES File Explorer is suffering from feature bloat. Does any other app do this with less overhead?

It works perfecly. In my case, the directory is /system/media/audio/ringtones rather than /system/media/audio/alarms.

Just to add my 2 cents, usually you can change the default alarm sound in the alarm APP, so for me its the clock app that handles alarms, and clicking the three dot menu, sounds and select the default. This is also true for most/some apps, you can set custom sounds within their own settings.

This works great, but wow ES File Explorer is one bloated app. I couldn't uninstall that app fast enough.

I always used ES File Explorer but noticed that newer versions don't have set ringtone option. I found that the last versions with this feature are 4.1.9.x. Hopefully this helps someone.

I also used ES Explorer but recently, I am on Android 11 and it seems you can do this from the Settings:

Open Settings
Tap on Sounds
Tap on Advanced
Tap on Default alarm sound
Choose an alarm tone and confirm

You can do this with zedge. When you download a notification sound and choose the "set" option, it will give you a choice of setting it as the main ringtone, the default alarm, and two other options I can't remember right now.

Good option without having to mess around in the file directories

Once you move your song or ringtone into the file you have created and you click on it and file explorer if you push the three dots on the top right it'll say set ringtone push that and it'll give you the three options shown in the picture!

All fine explorers sunny have this option please mention and link the file explorer you used (if it is ES , it is already covered in the accepted answer and your answer didn't add or help)

It is hidden down the alarm options. You must slide up to see the rest of options configuration for each alarm.

Open a file manager, choose the sound file you want, and move the file to the 'alarms' folder.
Once there it will show up in both sections of the clock app under," Alarm sound:" "Alarm Tone," and "Music," but you must select it! It will not self-add. Tap either one and scroll to it; tap on its name, (not on the right which is play only), tap Save.
To have a more or less permanent Clock/Alarm of this sound:  tap +(add), select the sound, and set the time/date for anything, >Save. Now simply use that alarm by resetting the time/date, instead of crafting a new one, and the alarm sound will follow at that setting.
From BeOhBe

Open the Alarm & clock application, then select the alarm that you want
to change.
Select Alarm sound and select an option, or select the music note button
to select from your music files.
Tap Done twice.

http://userguide.sonymobile.com/referrer.php?region=global-en&product=xperia-z2#!Alarm-clock.html

Thanks, but my question was whether you can change the default alarm. I may've not been clear on that one; what I meant is the alarm sound that new alarms will have set, not how to change the sound of specific alarms after you create them.


text:
Where are the developer options in Android 4.2?
I wanted to access the developer options to enable adb access on Android 4.2 but cannot find it.
How can I enable that?
Once I've activated the menu, how can I hide it again?

...and any idea how to hide them again?

@pelms You should ask this in a new question.

@Flow: Is this really worth its own question? Besides this: Not sure you can do this, at least I haven't found a way to do so using the UI.

Since asking questions is free, yes. The voting process will then decide if it's a good question. And I would upvote such a question.

Starting with Android 4.2. developer options are hidden by default to clean up the options menu. They're nice for debugging but some overlay options may be very alienating for average users when they're accidentially enabled.

On Android 4.2 and newer, Developer options is hidden by default.
  To make it available, go to Settings -> About phone and tap Build number seven times. Return to the previous screen to find Developer options.

You see a popup hat reads You are now a developer when it was successful.
Source: http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html
It's not possible to hide it again unless you're root and delete this file:
/data/data/com.android.settings/shared_prefs/development.xml

EDIT: According to this answer it's also possible to just delete the App data of the Settings app (com.android.settings, located at Settings->Apps->All->Settings->Clear data).

Update: According to this answer it's possible to delete the settings app data (if you're willing to sacrifice other settings, of course)

Deleting the settings app data doesn't wipe your settings.  To wipe all the settings, you'd need to wipe out the data from the "settings storage" app, though (on my GS3 anyway), it won't let you do that.

A factory reset might do it? :P

Sure, but that seems to be a 'little' overkill...

What else does deleting the settings app do? I'm surprised you can't tap the build number seven times to hide it or anything like that.

Video showing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLQ7CZeMEVA


text:
Fakestore, blankstore, gms, microg, unifiednlp - what's best for Android without Gapps?
I've been running Android for maybe 2 years without Gapps or a Google account, and like the experience, but I'd also like to do it better because some apps I used to use, now don't run without some Google services. I researched NoGapps but don't quite understand the  information well enough, and the different packages available, to know what I need.
It looks like these are packages that simulate the Google play store and main services APIs but return either null data, minimal responses, or data from other open source providers? But I can't find a clear explanation what options there are, and the main differences between them, to help me choose what to install.
My current phone is lineage 14.1 + SuperSU 2.79 on a Samsung S7 G930F, and I don't use the Play Store (I use FDroid and sideloading).
Update
Just to clarify (following @Izzy's excellent "basics" reply so far), the main issue thinking about it isn't so much "which of these packages can I use to replace a Google library".
The real issue is, to what extent do these No Gapps alternatives meet the presumed goal of allowing software to still work (by faking a playstore/location provider/other service that they expect GApps to have provided), but also in reality sanitising or avoiding actually using Google for these, or reducing and making clear what data is sent to Google if it's used.
So for example, Fakestore sends nothing to Google, period, its job is to fake that Google Play Store is installed and its Android API working, but unfortunately unreachable/empty.  But for the rest, it's really hard to know what's still sent and what's sanitised or not sent. If all there is, is a FOSS reimplementation of a Google Library, same data, same auth, mostly same logging/datamining, that's a bit weak and unfortunate, even if unavoidable. If Nlp can fully avoid Google and use more trustworthy sources, that's better. But this is the kind of information and discussion I can't find details about.
I'm realistic here - a person who wants an app that needs Google Push Notifications, has to either fake that functionality as installed but not responsive, or use code that cleans the data and does data leak avoidance as best possible, or must accept they can't use that app. But the information needed for that decision is clarity as to what these NoGapps softwares can do, to minimise or avoid data leaks, and how far they can go to distangling from Google.
That's pretty central to "why I want to use them". I'd like to be clearer what their compromises are and what's possible or not, in terms of data and info passed to Google, and I'm not, which is all that stops me enjoying them ATM.

Some basics first:

NoGAPPS is deprecated and got replaced by its successor, µG (read: microG).
µG includes the core (basically, GServices) and also UnifiedNlp.
No GService replacements will support the Google License API. That's much too hot an area. While we all love dentists, we better not see them working on us (replace "dentists" by "lawyers" in this context).
there are ways to access PlayStore, though, and you've mentioned some candidates:

BlankStore: Deprecated, no longer maintained except for bugfixes, but its successor not yet ready. Supports only free apps.
FakeStore: As the name suggests, only a "fake" – i.e. it fakes the presence of Playstore to apps not working otherwise.
Yalp: Like BlankStore but still maintained, plus supporting apps you've already bought (but not the process of buying and not the license check some paid apps perform).
More candidates in my corresponding app list.

I'm running that combination (CyanogenMod + µG with UnifiedNlp + BlankStore/Yalp) for about 2 years now. The only thing I found not working was paid apps that wished to verify their license against GPlay – apart from that, everything runs smoothly. For details, you might wish to see my article series on Android without Google. Note that, however, there seem to be some issues concerning LOS 14.x and UnifiedNlp currently; for details, please check with the issue tracker on µG's Github presence.
You can find the implementation status in the project's wiki, as well as a short introduction. In terms of privacy, you can derive from those two:

Acting as a replacement for the closed-source Google Apps (GAPPS), it is a powerful tool to reclaim your privacy while enjoying Android core features.

(from the introduction; emphasis mine). In the implementation status, take a closer look at two columns: Functionality and Crashing. If both are "No", we have a dummy: Apps think it's there, but absolutely nothing is happening in there (especially no data transmission); this is and always will be the case for Analytics and Ads, for example. No functionality and crashing means there's nothing implemented (not even a dummy) – so apps accessing that might crash, but again nothing is transmitted (currently e.g. Auto and Cast).
If data is transmitted, to my knowledge this is limited to the absolute minimum for the functionality to be achieved. This e.g. includes Google Cloud Messaging (token, id and obviously the message must be exchanged, where the latter is usually incoming only), Account Authentication (guess what: account name and token/password must be sent for that, or there can't be an authentication), Maps API (must obviously send the desired position for the tiles to be retrieved – but this doesn't go to Google, as it uses OpenStreetMap/OpenScienceMap instead). Fused Locations doesn't run via Google either, as it uses the UnifiedNlp backends instead.

That's really helpful basics, thanks. Thinking about it, what's not clear to me (and matters) is, how much each of these just re-implements as FOSS the same Google API calls (and hence still raises the same basic issues just via different middleware), or needs a Google login, etc), and how much they do detach you from Google. I'm realistic, if you want Google notifications/email/search/voice/calendar, it's realistic that Google will datamine it en route. But there's no clear information for most of these about what's been detached from Google vs what's relayed to them, which would help loads

See my update, hope it's clear now. Speaking of "clear": I will clear out the now redundant comments which I integrated with the answer already :)

Thanks - that really is clear! One last question (optional) - is there anywhere a list of exactly what data and/or tracking capability is inevitable, for each Google library function, to get a sense of "Using feature/API X, isn't possible unless one lets Google have data Y; however you can randomise the tokens or wipe them each time for at least data Z"? That would be very wonderful, but if it exists, I can't find it

I'm not aware of that, and rather deal with it "by my guts" (e.g. with Xprivacy, randomizing things like location, device IDs etc.). But what data exactly is sent in which context is beyond my knowledge. If you really want to investigate that, you'd have to "snoop" the network packets I'm afraid – unless someone had already done exactly that, and you can turn up the results. Though even that might change with new versions of the services/apps…


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Why can't I upload binaries to Android Sony Xperia Z?
I recently upgraded my Android to 4.4.4 via 4.3.? When I was on 4.2.* I had no problem either uploading apks and pictures via usb nor via adb install / push.
Symptoms below, any help appreciated. I'd rather not have to root the phone but if I must I must...
Since I upgraded the USB upload has started to act strangely:

I can download any file
I can upload text files
I cannot upload apks
I cannot upload apks renamed to .txt
I cannot upload xml, jpg or anything other than plain text
It is not a size issue I can upload large text files
I've tried both MSC and MTP modes.
I've tried different PC's and cables
If I try to upload a binary from windows 7 copy dialog that stays on screen forever doing nothing or sometimes the storage resets on the phone and it errors.

ADB has stopped working from within eclipse I get:
[2014-10-07 19:14:25 - BluetoothTest] ------------------------------
[2014-10-07 19:14:25 - BluetoothTest] Android Launch!
[2014-10-07 19:14:25 - BluetoothTest] adb is running normally.
[2014-10-07 19:14:25 - BluetoothTest] Performing
uk.co.dossytronics.bluetoothtest.MainActivity activity launch
[2014-10-07 19:14:40 - BluetoothTest] Uploading BluetoothTest.apk onto device 'CB5A1PVTNA'
[2014-10-07 19:14:46 - BluetoothTest] Failed to install BluetoothTest.apk on device 'CB5A1PVTNA': An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2014-10-07 19:14:46 - BluetoothTest] java.io.IOException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2014-10-07 19:14:46 - BluetoothTest] Launch canceled!
From the command line:
C:\android-dev\sdk\platform-tools>adb -s CB5A1PVTNA install c:\users\dominic\workspace\BluetoothTest\bin\BluetoothTest.apk
protocol failure
error: device not found

waiting for device -

rm failed for /data/local/tmp/BluetoothTest.apk, No such file or directory

After a lot of messing around I think I've nailed it. It was an application called "Sony Smart Connect". Like most things that contain the oxymoronic phrase "Sony Smart" is anything but smart. Instantly everything went back to working and I can now get on with coding until the next update stops me for a month...
I hope this is of help to someone in the future.
Dom


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Can't find Wifi Direct option in settings
I have Sony Live with Walkman mobile phone, Android version 4.0.4.
I can't find WiFi direct option in settings. There are only mobile networks, tethering/portable hotspot and two more useless options are there.

Not a direct answer to your problem, but I find Gesture Search invaluable in finding hidden settings that aren't where I expect to find them.

NO, it didn't helped but I thinks that probably the wifi Direct also depends on hardware configurations

Is it dependent on hardware support?

Actually there isn't any option like that. Its missing. There were lots of complaints about 4.0.4 Update for Live with Walkman that Wifi Direct is missing.
look at here.
Also look at this review of update..:
First of all thanks for the wonderful update and congratulations.
Few things i would like to share with sony:
1. We cannot uninstall Appextra from the phone at all and should have that option
2. Phone dialer is laggy it takes almost 3-5 sec to open the dialer plz fix that
3. really time to update the kernel to 3.0 as i have ssen the ICS running on kernel 3.0 with same hardware specification as Xperia 2011 portfolio has and the phone runs better than it is currently running on 2.6.32.9-pref version
4. Wifi Direct option is missing as its a feature of ICS 4.0.X fix that in next update so that we get that option as well
5. please provide us option to move some of the internal app to sd card as it will save more space on phone memory.
6. when tried to update the inbuilt application such as liveware manger Error Unable to do that it says “An existing package by the same name with a conflicting signature is already installed.
7. Google talk application sometimes says we are offline even though we are not.
8.live wallpaper gets force close all of a sudden many times.
9.screen shot option is complicated and should be in the same way as it was in GB
10.photos when viewed from xperia gallery should provide more detail info for the photos and videos as it shows in galary app.
11. A normal sound recorder application should be their to record voices or conversation
12. A file manger application should be their.

May be sony will fix it in next update.

Try going onto your wifi settings page. When your on the list of available connections there may be a button at the bottom of the screen titled "Wifi Direct".
..That's how it is on my S3 anyway

How does that answer the OP's question, the OP clearly stated I can't find WiFi direct option in settings plus, also stated Android version 4.0.4...

No there is no such button anywhere as I mentioned but I found the button in one of my friend's samsung galaxy tablet which has same version of android(4.0.4). as of mine.

The older versions of android has it in 'more settings'.. since the update my phone has moved it to the wifi settings. I know plenty of people who are unaware of where it moved too and I had to direct them! I missed the bit where he stated the Android version..
Sorry for trying to help 't0mm13'...


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How to gain access to the SPI port on any Android phone
I am a hardware developer and want to connect my hardware board by hacking into the SPI port of a form factor Android Phone.  My objective is to connect my board using jumper wires to a Smartphone to create a near form factor demo. (my board size is about 2" x 3")
My questions are as follows

Do any of you know an easy way to gain access to the SPI bus on any Android Phone?
Can these Android phones be re-flashed after making the required changes to the Kernel to support my board?

Just as an FYI, hardware hacking questions are pretty far outside the ken of this site. While not explicitly off-topic (I don't think, anyway) I don't know that the people you're trying to reach hang out here. We're more about helping people use their Android device as is.

I think you might have more luck with this kind of questions over at [electronics.se].


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Emulate touch scrolling by rotating device - tilt to scroll
Does anyone know of an app that emulates a swipe touch or slow scrolling action  by simply rotating the device? presumably by using the accelerometer sensor. This could be used for example in a pdf reader app, to precisely control the speed of an automatic scrolling page by slightly tilting the device. Any suggestions for how to acheive this?


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Galaxy S3 Providing Audible Voicemail Notifications and Alarm reads the time out loud
My Galaxy S3 just started notifying me of voicemails by stating out loud that I had a new voicemail. In addition, the alarm now states the time out loud as it plays the normal alarm music.
I have checked and the Driving Mode is turned OFF and the alarm is set for melody.
I receive no voice alerts for new emails, texts or incoming calls.
Please advise.

@AlEverett The solution in the question you linked was to turn off driving mode. The OP says he has already checked that it is off in this case.

I had the same on my galaxy 4. Eventually I called AT&T and they fixed it on their end.

Did they say if the phone (hardware) was defective? Or was it software-related?


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Google play downloads app and then tells me cannot load as no devices
I have an android tablet and finally got it to connect and stay connected to wifi however the google play store will take its time and download to tablet but it never shows in my download file and after all the time downloading then google displays the you have "no devices" message. How can I get my downloaded apps to show anywhere on my tablet please?

More information is needed.  Which tablet do you have?  Did the tablet come with the Play Store app pre-installed, or are you trying to download the app to your tablet via the web Play Store?

Go to Menu>
Settings>Apps>All>
Google Framework Services>Clear Data
Again do the same thing with the Play Store App.
Reboot your Tablet and check it.
See if you can click the install button on PC and if the apps are pushed onto the tablet.


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How to mute on Galaxy s2 on android 4.1.2
Have just updated software to android 4.1.2 and whereas before one went to settings - sound - and had options mute vibrate so you could mute the phone this new version does not offer that.  How do I mute the phone now?

Just hit the volume buttons in the main screen and you should be able to move to silent mode.

Thanks for the prompt reply.  Initially I had no idea what you were referring to - being a bit dim, but if one touches the top of the screen and 'slides' down it displays settings which include 'Mute'.  So, many, many, thanks - this OAP got there in the end!!


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Can I change the download path for the Amazon MP3 cloud?
I want to download my music from the cloud through the Amazon MP3 app, but whenever I download it always puts it in the "amazonmp3" folder on my phone's internal drive. This is kind of annoying because my internal drive is not as big as my perfectly good 16GB SD card plugged in, which I'd much rather put the music on.
I can't find anything in the settings that references the path where music gets downloaded. Even when I move the app itself to the SD card, it still downloads everything to internal storage. Even worse, my phone won't let me easily just move the folders from the internal storage to the SD card; I have to plug it in and connect it to my computer and do it from there. Is there any way to make the app download music from the cloud to my SD card rather than the internal storage?

Manually moving files as suggested by Michael above works (I use Ghost Commander on my device), but today I found the Amazon MP3 Mover app.
It automatically moves the files to the folder you specify on your SD card as they download and then the Amazon MP3 player app (or Apollo or whatever else you might use) finds them in their new location.
I just downloaded it a few minutes ago and am testing it. So far so good!

On first launch, once you select the destination folder, it automatically moves your existing Amazon MP3 files from their originally location in your internal storage as well. Big plus!

You can download an app called ES File Manager and it lets you move music that is downloaded to anywhere you like.  And then Amazon Mp3 will read it anywhere on your device.

I'm afraid you're out of luck. The app doesn't support changing the location and the filesystem doesn't support soft links. I suggest you contact Amazon and suugest they add the feature.


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Sync only Gmail "My Contacts" group on android 2.3
I have more then 2k contacts on other contacts, but i only want to sync the  "my contacts".
Any hints?

Looks like a duplicate of this question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2472/sync-only-my-contacts-from-google-on-samsung-galaxy-s

Not a duplicate.  MotoBLUR has its own contacts app that doesn't have the same options.

You cannot select which contacts to sync, but you can limit which groups are visible in the Contacts/Dialer apps:

In the Contacts app go to Menu -> Display options.
Under the "Choose contacts to display" section, tap on the arrow next to your Gmail account to expand it.
Uncheck all groups except "System Group: My Contacts" and tap the "Done" button.

Now only the selected contacts should be displayed.
[Edit]
Found the official Motorola video on Youtube talking about their Contacts app.  At the 1:00 mark they start talking about managing groups. It sounds like you should be able to create a new group and assign your contacts there, and then select to display only that particular group.  Give that a shot.

Didn't work,  in my contacts app, after menu, i only have:
Add Contact, Search, Display Groups, My Info, Manage accounts, more  (Settings, share name cards, import/export)
In any of these options, i found the choose contacts do display options.

I was listing the options of stock Android 2.3 Contacts app.  Sounds like your Atrix is running a Motorola's own Contacts app (BLUR?) Have you tried looking in the "Display Groups" option?

yea, i tried, but isn't there.
You know any way to remove BLUR?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Zq48ZOM8EM8#t=61s this is the official Motorola video. Looks like you need to create a Display Group, assign some contacts to it, and then you should be able to display only that group.


text:
How do I enable Direct Boot feature on Nexus 6 running Android N Preview 1?
According to these instructions there should be a "Convert to file encryption" option in Developer settings, but it's not there on my Nexus 6 running stock N Preview 1.  When I try to search for it in the Settings app, it does show up:

click for larger image
Unfortunately, tapping on it simply brings me right back to Developer settings where that option is not found.
The alternative instruction is to reboot to bootloader and issue the fastboot --wipe-and-use-fbe command, but it fails with "fastboot: unknown option -- wipe-and-use-fbe" error.  I am running the SDK Tools version 25.1.1 rc1, and Platform-tools version 24 rc1 from the preview channel of Android SDK, with latest fastboot utility (version 102d0d1e73de-android).
I performed a complete wipe (system and userdata), and flashed all the NPC56P images manually (bootloader, radio, recovery, system, cache, userdata.)  The phone is encrypted, Screen lock is set to "PIN", and Secure start-up (requiring PIN before boot) is enabled.
Is this feature simply not available in Preview 1 and/or Nexus 6?  How can I enable it?

Are you sure the fastboot you're calling is the one from the new SDK you installed? I've been caught out before by having two fastboot binaries of which the older was the first on the path.

@DanHulme I am fairly certain that I am running the latest preview version of fastboot.  The current stable one (rev 23.1) doesn't even have a "--version" switch, whereas the preview one (rev 24 rc1) does, and reports it as "102d0d1e73de-android".  I have only one fastboot.exe installed on this machine, and just in case I navigate to the installation directory in Command Prompt before issuing the commands.

No idea of Android N. So a very humble opinion. disable system level encryption first and then go for fbe. might work.

@IftekharAS System-level encryption cannot be disabled on stock Android 6.0 and above.  On Marshmallow and N the phone gets encrypted by default, and the only way to remove encryption is to use a custom kernel.

I'm afraid that in Preview 1 this is only available on the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P. In Preview 2, support for the Pixel C is added. No other devices are supported at the moment. Sorry!

That's a bummer. Any source for this information?

I'm not sure where it's been publicly stated. But the option only appears in the developer menu if it's supported on the device.

To be clear: source is me, just now; I'm very closely involved in working on this feature, and I just checked our source tree.

Thanks for the information, @PaulCrowley. Is the feature going to be rolled out to all devices (that get updated to N) eventually?

Definitely you are using old version of fastboot.Please use newer version of fastboot of Android N.It worked for me.
You can check various option available with your fastboot.
fastboot --help.
--wipe-and-use-fbe                       On devices which support it,
                                           erase userdata and cache, and
                                           enable file-based encryption
But it does not enable file encryption for me after executing the above command.

I tried this. Was successfully able to --wipe-and-use-fbe but my internal storage was left unencrypted. I encrypted it again from settings > security, and it encrypted. However, this is the usual entire partition encryption and not the file based encryption. Did you get it to work?


text:
"adb devices" successfully shows device, but "adb connect usb" inevitably fails, any suggestions?
I have an ASUS ThinkPad, Android 4.4.2, Kernel 3.10.20.  I've checked Settings->Developer Options->USB debugging.  I've disabled Wi-Fi and BT (because I've seen some devices have some conflict there).  Now here's the command line sequence from my linux desktop trying to connect to my ASUS:
joe@OptiPlex-755:~$ adb kill-server
joe@OptiPlex-755:~$ adb usb
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
already in USB mode
joe@OptiPlex-755:~$ adb devices -l
List of devices attached
E6OKCY917549           device usb:1-2 product:WW_K011 model:K011 device:K011

joe@OptiPlex-755:~$ adb get-state
device
joe@OptiPlex-755:~$ adb connect usb
unable to connect to usb:5555
joe@OptiPlex-755:~$

adb connect is only needed if you are trying to connect to a device over TCP IP, i.e. wireless network.  You don't need to issue any connect commands if adb already sees your device in adb devices prompt.  Just issue any other command, e.g. adb shell ls /sdcard/ and it should connect to the only available device.

What is it that you're trying to achieve? You're yet to mention it.

My word, you're right.  Of course I have full adb control from the moment I complete the "adb usb" command.  What I was trying to achieve was to debug an App under Eclipse.  My device that was under ADB control was not showing up as one of the devices I could run on under Run->Run.  But when I press Run->Debug it does indeed run my App on my device under ADB control.
So what to do now?  Remove the question?  Or do you think CHaHK's comment should become the answer?

Here is the documentation on usage of the adb utility.
Basically, adb connect is only needed if you are trying to connect to a device over TCP IP, i.e. wireless network.  You don't need to issue any "connect" commands for a device connected via USB if it is already recognized in adb devices prompt.  Just issue any other command, e.g. adb shell ls /sdcard/ and it should connect.

Thanks friend.  I see you have a high enough rep to remove the question in case you think it's too obvious.  I'll let you decide.

@JoeC It's obvious once you know it. But as you've experienced yourself, it might not be that obvious before. Someone else might tap into the same trap, so the question is fine here – however "stupid" it might seem afterwards :)


text:
test usb functionality from the handset?
I am using HTC Desire HD, I have a terminal with root permissions.
Are there any tests I can do on the USB port from the handset side?
i.e. to make sure it exists and is functional.
The reason I am asking this is that my computer (Windows 7 64 bit) does not recognize my phone when connected,
however it did recognize another phone of the same brand (but with a different rom).

This sounds like a driver issue.
You should be able to download the HTC Sync for the desire HD and it should include all the system drivers you need to connect to the device.
I am thinking driver because if you have the drivers for "Google Experience Devices" installed on your system already, and the other device is running an AOSP ROM, like cyanogenMod for example, then the android sdk drivers will work with that ROM. The other device, that isn't recognized, is running a non-AOSP rom, it will require the manufacturer drivers for the device.
Again, I am just guessing since I am not sure what ROMs you are running, or what PC operating system you are connecting the devices to.

Thanks for your comment @Ryan, I am realy new to this whole business. Anyway - my own phone is an HTC Desire HD which I did not change its ROM in any way (AFAIK). Where can I see the version of ROM I have? I also don't know what ROM the other device has but I can ask that person. my OS is windows 7 64bit. should I have the drivers for "Google Experience Devices" installed ? (where from)?

I updated my answer to explain where you can get the drivers.

ohh... you mean HTC sync, yes, I had those installed but it seemes like there is a new version. I will try it and see if it helps.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 Died
I updated my phone with Odin v.3.04 and now it is not working anymore. I took out the USB cable and I removed the battery while the phone was in download mode. When I went to turn my phone on again, it would not turn on. Can someone please help me?

Please elaborate what "When I power On it nothing mean my phone going died" means. do you see anything at all on the screen? or it's stuck on a single screen?

May sound stupid, but did you put in the (removed) battery again? Also, did you unplug the USB cable and remove the battery while the update was still in progress?

When i power on I dont see anything at all. (died) i also reinsert battary still nothing. When it failed not in progress then i remove USB cable and battery while in download mode i think software destroy.

Ok so I'm going to take a small leap here and assume you were trying to root your device. Here is what you need to know:
Soft-Brick
Symptoms
You can immediately tell that you have a soft-bricked phone if it turns on but doesn't really 'turn on'. You will see some kind of boot loader screen that will prompt you to connect your phone to your computer and start a transfer. Sometimes a soft-brick will look like a hard-brick (see below), in this case you can plug your device into your computer and see if you can connect to it. If you can connect to it and transfer over a new ROM, then your device is soft-bricked.
What is it?
This word is actually miss used all over the internet. When a device is 'bricked', that means that the system can boot up but it can't launch the operating system because it has been erased/corrupted. A soft-bricked device is actually not the worst thing in the world, all you have to do is flash it with a new ROM and you're good to go! Make sure the rom you are trying to flash the device with goes with the EXACT device. 'close' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Hard-Brick
Symptoms
You can tell that a device is hard-bricked if you try to turn it on or charge it and you get no response. If you cannot launch the boot loader with the special combination (usually power button along with up volume and menu button) then it is probably a hard-brick. Make sure you have determined that your power source and your battery are functioning properly before you jump to this conclusion.
What is it?
A device that is hard bricked is almost useless. There is almost nothing you can do to get it back unless you have professional experience in hardware hacking. Basically what you need to do is make your own 'Jig' that flashes the device ROM with a new boot loader. Once the boot loader is flashed, then you have your backdoor. You can then boot up the phone and flash it.
I will be completely honest with you, you have 2 options if your device has been hard-bricked:

Try to get a new one through your warranty (which is now void) on your device if it is not expired. If you try to do this and you get caught you will have to pay the full price of the device and your carrier will get very angry with you. If you get away with it, you have a new phone and the phone carriers get to sell your phone as a refurbished phone.
Pay someone to J-Tag it for you. Depending on which device you have, it can cost as low as $40. I DO NOT recommend this method because if they decide that they want to keep your phone (especially if you are shipping to Canada or Asia) there is nothing you can do and you are SOL with no phone and $40 missing out of your pocket.

The internet is full of people with your exact same problem. A quick google search will give you answers to most of your questions.
For Samsung device users specifically
Samsung devices can usually be forced into download mode using a JIG. They are pretty simple and cheap to make. If your device has been soft-bricked this will almost always work. If your device is hard-bricked this method will not work, I've tried.


text:
How Do I Launch The SDK Emulator?
How do I use the Android emulator? I made an AVD device in Eclipse, now im trying to launch it via command prompt. Android is the AVD name. I have also installed all the files for Android 4.2.2 in SDK manager. This is what I type into cmd: emulator -avd <android> -gpu on. It spits out, system cannot find the file specified.

By the way, this question is only marginally on topic for this site. This site is intended for questions about using Android devices. Questions about developing for Android belong on Stack Overflow. The emulator is a bit of a gray area, since it's usually used by developers, but non-developers could have some use for it too.

You shouldn't have <angle brackets> around the filename. They're used in examples to show you that you need to change that part of the command (to the AVD name you chose), and you shouldn't type them in.

Also a good possibility for causing the stated problem. I'm so used to that convention I didn't even consider this answer.

To be fair, I didn't think of your answer either until I read it :-)

It sounds like the directory that emulator resides in isn't in your PATH. The path isn't updated by the installation of the SDK.

You need to install AVD Manager inorder to run emulator...check for those and try running using the menu Tools|Android|AVD Manager after installing the necessary files and starting them...Wish u have success


text:
My Galaxy Tab 10.1 fell straight from the bed. Will this influence the Tab life?
Last night, I left the Tab next to me and it fell from my bed onto the floor. The Tab now has a crack in the upper right corner and a little depression between the frame and the screen.  Will this affect the Tab's lifespan/usability or is just cosmetic?

It could have an effect on the digitizer eventually.

Anytime you have a crack or gap in a device where it isn't supposed to be can mean you may run into additional issues. The device will now be more prone to issues from moisture and/or dirt and it may not be as sturdy and could be more likely to break even more when moved the wrong way or dropped (even from a lower height).
If there are cracks in the digitizer (the glass that you touch), it can cause issues with recognizing input from your fingers. And you have the possibility of glass splinters ending up in your finger (depending on how the glass cracked). To help with the possibility of splinters or having it crack further, a screen protector could help (but it isn't guaranteed to prevent anything else).
But the act itself of being cracked (as long as it didn't cause internal hardware damage or too much damage to the screen), shouldn't cause any shortening of life of your product. It is just what may happen after the crack (moisture, dirt, etc) that can shorten the life of the tablet.


text:
Sorry! the process com.android.phone has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. force close
Why does this keep appearing on my phone which cuases my network to go off and on.

Can you please mention ROM using,Rooted/Non-rooted and also which device?

On samsung devices
Over on the Sprint forums, they've posted a fix for this without needing a reset: Go into Menu -> Settings -> Call settings -> Reject with message. If you have more than 5 messages in there, delete some so you have less than 5.
People are reporting that once they do that, they are once again able to receive calls without the force close happening. Hope that helps!
In case its an HTC device follow this

Go to your facebook app and under synchronize settings choose to delete all facebook data. Afterwards log out of the facebook app.
Go to account and synchronizing settings and remove any facebook entries. Now your contacts should no longer contain any data from facebook and should not be linked with facebook either.
Go to the facebook app, sign in and re-choose the synchronizing settings. Press "synchronize" in upper right corner.
Go to accounts and synchronizing and add facebook for HTC Sense and perhaps also the normal facebook account. It will now start re-synchronizing everything and you have to link all your contacts again, but it now works

If both methods didn't work for you go for an factory-reset that will surely solve your network and call issues.

This error message would not go away until I cleared my call log history.