text:
Lenovo A916 cannot unlock bootloader
My PC OS is Gentoo Linux with Kernel version 4.4.21.
I'm followed these steps:

adb reboot bootloader
fastboot oem unlock

And after this, message pops up "... press Volume+ to continue, and Volume- to cancel", if i press "Volume+" button, nothing happens, and if i press "Volume-" button, operation cancels.
What i should do to fix it?
Or there are another way to unlock bootloader?

Try these commands:

adb reboot bootloader

Wait for your PC to install fastboot drivers for the device then

Check if device is detecting in fastboot mode
fastboot devices
If device is detected use the following command to unlock bootloader:
fastboot oem unlock

Follow the screen instructions and after unlocking reboot the device using the command:
fastboot reboot
Hope It will work for you.
Note: Unlocking bootloader will erase entire data.

Did you not see that he had already tried those? He just couldn't respond to the onscreen instructions.

@AndyYan Can't you see I suggested different commands. He was using adb oem unlock in fastboot which won't work. I have used fastboot command for oem unlock. Please read it carefully before replying.

I'm pretty sure he mistyped, since adb commands won't get response in fastboot, or else he wouldn't get the confirmation screen.


text:
How do I move gigabytes of data from my computer to my phone's SD card?
I'm trying to put my music collection (~37GB) onto my android phone's SD card via USB cable and MTP. It has to go on the card, because my phone's internal memory is not capacious enough.
I've tried drag and drop, rsync, cp, etc. (OS is Linux, phone is Galaxy S8)
Once I get about ~15 GB of data in the directory I can't even ls it or look at it in the GUI file browser, much less add more. Attempting to do anything at that point seems to crash the filesystem driver.
Googling the problem seems to be useless, I just get a bunch of basic tutorials on transferring data with no mention of problems or scope.
Is there some known way to accomplish this short of yanking out the SD card and loading things onto it directly? Am I just weird for trying to copy such a large amount of data via USB/MTP?

Although you seems to have solved this problem by using Windows, did you try using adb (setting up a script to copy-paste individual files) or running a server say FTP, on Android and than copy-pasting into it? adb is slow but FTP could be faster using USB tethering.

I put the SD card in the computer and drag & drop there. I have a SD slot and use a uSD to SD card adapter. Try dragging smaller chunks vs all at once.  I have a 64GB card and drag 20-30 folders at a time, each folder being a complete album. Getting ready to install a 128GB card and do it all again to hold about half my music collection.

Yeah, I can do that (and have in the past) but that means that every single time I get new music I have to go through the whole rigamarole all over again.

Then only do it for the very large transfers. Use USB to let the PC see the phone as external hard drive for transferring an album or two. For hundreds of albums, direct to card is better.

The problem is that like I said, once there's so much in that directory on the card I can't even look at it without a crash, much less modify. I can't even rename something.

You need a better card then, sounds like it's on the way out.  What kind is it? I'd pop mine put of my LG (ThinQ G7?) and tell you the brand/model if I had the little widget that goes in the hole to release it with me. I can tell you I have 15.3GB free, 43.3GB used on my 64GB card. It's the same card I had in my Samsung Galaxy SIII for ages. I've deleted everything and reloaded it since then, the music app I had was showing double entries for a lot of stuff, reformatting and reloading seemed to be the only thing that fixed it.  40+ GB of music takes quite a while.

I don't doubt that: even moving it to a flash drive takes a couple hours on USB2.0. And it may well be an issue with the card, it was a cheapo I got off amazon. But I've been using it for a long time with no issues until I deleted and tried to reload my music collection.

I got it done with no issues on a borrowed windows 10 box. Not happy about it, but it got done. Thanks for trying to help, gave an upvote.

Was able to do it no problems on a borrowed Windows 10 box. Not that such an answer is very pleasing to a linux enthusiast.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to force Samsung Galaxy Tab to shutdown?
My Galaxy Tab P1000 just hung up, at a point where the power button is not responding. Is there a way to force the devise to shutdown immediately?

There is no "force shutdown" as far as I know, but you can force a reboot by holding down the power button for about 15 seconds.

Confirmed that this also works for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.

Did not work for Galaxy Tab S5e. Had to hold down both Power button and Volume Down button for 10+s. (I was setting up fingerprint with pin code, I had set up the pin, but exited out of the fingerprint setup and locked the screen... there were no pin pad or keyboard on the unlock screen and nothing happened when I tapped on the normal restart or shutdown... after the reboot the pin pad showed up and I was able to unlock it... and remove the pin code. What a wonderful QA tested product...)

For Tab S and Tab A
and Tab gt-5100
Should work with 8.4 or 10.5
Hold the Power button, Volume Down button, and Menu key for 10 seconds.
You will enter download mode, simply press the volume down button to restart tablet.
After reboot, you tablet should perform as normal

For my SM-P550 (Samsung Galaxy Tab A with S Pen 9.7") the key combination is Volume Down button, Power button, and Home button for 10 seconds.

This worked with my son's SM-380 tablet.  It certainly beats waiting for the battery to run dead!

Thanks,  Volume Down + Power button worked on Galaxy Tab S5e.

No force shutdown for galaxy tab, but you can use this trick.

Plug the charger into your galaxy tab.
Hold down power button for 10 seconds, and wait to reboot.
After that, the screen will be change with charging battery.
Plug off your tab, and it will be shutdown.

This should be chosen as answer because it really does what the asker wants. I can confirm it works on Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 P5100

The right answer for a bootlooping device

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

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


text:
Freeing up space on SD card
I'm trying to clear some space on my SD card, so I can run AnTuTu Benchmark. Also, having some extra space for music would be great. I'm assuming apps installed to your SD card can eat up free space faster than you'd imagine. As of now, 19 (out of 65 apps) on my SD card which occupy appox. 197 MB total.
I currently have 1.74 GB used and 103.47 MB free, would my ROM be occupying a lot of space (i.e. needing 4GB of HD space to install Ubuntu/Linux)?
I want to figure out the best way to maximise space on my SD card without haphazardly deleting files. Also, knowing what are key folders would help too.

It's better if you don't manually delete stuff, unless you can recognize the package names for the apps you want to remove.
Though it sounds hilarious to install an app to get rid of apps, APPS2SD will neatly list out whatever apps are on the SD card or can be moved between that and the internal memory, so you can make a list of the apps you don't want and manually uninstall them.
Speaking of key folders, here are a couple of common ones-

DCIM - This stores camera photos.
Attachments - Default save location for Gmail attachments.
download - Default file download location.
data - Stores app specific data. If you have games that download additional data, they may store that here.

This is based off my SD card - most of the other folders I've seen are app specific.
Update - Some phones have a Camera directory, with DCIM under it, so look for both.

Thanks! Knowing which folder stores camera pictures helps a lot. I take a lot and I'm sure that's taking up a considerable amount of room on my SD card.

I also discovered that my apk backups from SuperTaskManager were taking up a lot of room on my card. I've zipped the folder and backed it up to my computer and UbuntuOne. This has cleared almost 1GB of space on my card. So, I think it's safe to say that I found the source of my problem.

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


text:
Is there a widget available that duplicates the Launcher Pro Calendar Agenda widget?
Here's what I'm talking about:

I want a widget that shows me an agenda of my Google calendar just like this. But I'm not using Launcher Pro anymore, I'm now on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and am using the stock ICS launcher, so I need a new widget to replace the widget from Launcher Pro.

Indeed - there are a few but I'd recommend Rolf's Agenda Widget. Lots of options and highly configurable.
Scrolling support is present, although the launcher must support scrollabel widgets like ADW / LPP / GoLauncher do.

Thanks! I think this is what I'm looking for. I installed it and will try it out and let you know.


text:
Epic 4g Touch: Choose to route calls through Google Talk or Sprint
A friend of mine just got the Epic 4g Touch (a.k.a. the Sprint version of the Samsung Galaxy s2).  He has installed the Google Voice app on all of his previous Android devices and there has always been an option somewhere to choose whether outgoing calls are routed through Sprint or Google.  This also changes which of his numbers shows up.  However, on his new phone, all calls come from his Google voice number and neither of us can find where to change it.
Is this a new "feature" intended to simplify the program?  Is it some restriction that the Sprint-branded software creates?  Or are we missing something?

Did he set up Sprint's Google Voice integration?

He had other problems so he has now switched Google Voice to use his Sprint number.


text:
Removed Google Apps system app, now the device wouldn't boot
I have a Micromax Canvas A1 device (Android one). It's been rooted and I have removed some system apps on it before. When I disabled Google App, a lot of space was freed and the system worked fine. So I thought I could free some more space by uninstalling the app without any harm. But when I uninstalled it, the 'searchbox stopped working' message came up. I powered off and then on again, but the boot doesn't complete. The android boot animation keeps running endlessly. Tried entering recovery mode, couldn't. Micromax logo is all it shows. Tried the same with adb, it says 'insufficient permissions for device'.
How do I fix this?

Can you list apps that you removed ..and yess reflash your device with stock rom

Removal of Google Apps application caused the problem. Yes, I have flashed stock ROM. It works now.

Reflash the Android One OS by booting into recovery.
First get into the bootloader:
1) Power off your device and wait 4-5 seconds after lights go off.
2) Press and hold Power + Volume Up button together for a few seconds and then release the buttons as soon as you see the boot menu screen
3) Boot into recovery. Flash the Original ROM using TWRP or stock recovery


text:
Is knowing the MTK processor version sufficient to get the right twrp image on Android device?
If I download a twrp image depending on the MTK processor version and not the device name/ manufacturer, will I be wrong ? and will it be 100% working?
Note: the device is not rooted, I am actually trying to root it this way(No other way is working), so let's focus on the question.

You need to modify the fstab of the TWRP version along with many other files of the TWRP version you are willing to use in order to flash the recovery on your device. What is the MTK version of your Android device?

my mtk version is : "mt6735"

It doesn't work that way.
TWRP depends heavily on the fstab of the device model in question, which describes the partition layout of the storage. This is not related to the SoC (processor), and almost never the same between different models.

so if i get the scatter file , i can use iti think

TWRP is built with fstab, so if I understand correctly, supplying a scatter externally won't help. Scatters are only there to help you flash it in, not actually use it. [Note to others: I have no hands-on knowledge about MTK phones; feel free to correct me if you're knowledgeable]

No , i think you are right , scatter files descripes the structure of memory

You would probably get your device bricked. When you are making a TWRP (porting or building from source) it will need your kernel, so no, TWRP from other device won't on your device.

Knowing the chipset is one step. You need to also know the Android version of your device. Then download a working TWRP for the MT6735 on the same Android version. You can  then port it to your device as usual.
Just flashing the downloaded recovery may not work/boot up unless you port the kernel files, storage files, base etc using that from your own stock recovery. If you do this, you will get a working TWRP for your device.

so you think if i know the mtk version +android version , the corresponding TWRP image is 100% safe , i don't really agree , i guess some phones of the same mtk family would need diffrent TWRP images becausethey are not really that simular


text:
How do I update my encrypted phone (CyanogenMod 12)?
I want to encrypt my phone(Xperia M). It has CyanogenMod 12 with cyanogenmod recovery. Wanted to know if I could update it the normal way, flashing through recovery, or some other way.

As of 04-01-2015 custom recoveries don't support decryption CM12 yet. It will give you a wrong password notification when trying to decrypt.
But you can put the update.zip in /cache partition. Then in the recovery, skip entering the password. And flash from /cache partition.
This works because you don't need your password to access /cache partition.

In upgrading to CM13, I would do wipe both caches, system and data. It is enough demanding for the system to the upgrade also without system encryption. However, I have managed to several updates in encrypted systems as Sparta describes but after many of them something often breaks and fresh installation can be necessary.


text:
Android VPN service's policy based routing relative to iptables (specific behavior question, android 5.0, 5.1)
Background:
Several phones, different firmwares
Elephone p7000, Android 5.0 based rom
Xiaomi redmi note 2, three different roms (5.1 based Cyaonogen, 5.0 based AOSP derivative)
Rooted.
Installed a VPN app (Shadowsocks, OpenVPN, reproduces on both)
Now added an iptables rule like that
iptables -t filter -A OUTPUT ! -o tun0 -p all -m owner --uid-owner [uid of an app] -j REJECT
1)
On elephone p7000 (android 5.0) and Redmi Note 2 (Cyanogen, A 5.1) the app now works only if VPN is connected
2)
On Redmi Note 2 (AOSP 5.0 based ROM) app no longer works whether VPN connected or not.
Questions:
a)
where does android VPN service's policy based routing stuff "normally" happen relative to netfilter packet flow ?
b)
Which one of the aforementioned behaviors is the "normal" android behavior?
c)
Is there a way (a clever ip rule trick, perhaps) to re-implement behavior 1 on systems exhibiting behavior 2?
Hope I was clear (not native speaker)
Thank you


text:
Random Crashes On Nextbook Ares 8
I need help. My Nextbook Ares 8 (NXA8QC116 5.1.1 Lollipop) keeps randomly crashing when I am on it, although when it is plugged in, it doesn't crash. HELP PLEASE!
NOTE: Now it does crash when it's plugged in.

What do you exactly mean by randomly crashing? please explain the crashing

I mean that after a while of it being on, it turns off unexpectedly even though it's not dead.

May be your battery is dead as this doesn't happen when it is plugged in.

When I turn it back on, it still has charge. So that can't be the problem.

Did you try resetting it? (you'll lose your data though)

I refuse to reset it. Although, maybe downgrading it to 5.0 might work. Do you think it might work?

I don't think so since the problem may be on hardware side... Or try clearing the cache. But I'd recommend you reset it. Just backup your data.


text:
What is ROM porting?
This might be the silly question but am bit new to Android world so I wanna know what does porting of rom means?wanna know in detail

Porting a ROM is basically having the features of one devices to another devices. By using a Custom ROM you can add software capabilities your device doesn't have provided your phone's hardware supports it.
For example, if your phone manufacturer ships your phone with KitKat and doesn't offer upgrade, you can use Custom ROM and upgrade your phone to Lollipop, MarshMallow etc. However, if your phone doesn't have an OTG hardware, you can have ROMS that support OTG but since your hardware doesn't support it you cannot have it enabled.
Making the ROM from scratch is difficult but Porting isn't too difficult.

 Rare. That's what it is
ROM porting is the process of adapting one ROM to use on another device. For example, porting a Samsung galaxy S4 ROM to the S5. however, it is a long tedious process that takes wayyyy too long.

it is a long tedious process that takes wayyyy too long Lol, Porting is wayyyy too easy than compiling a ROM from source, and can be done in minutes..

@GokulNC you'd have to reconfigure the kernel, a good chunk of system, and probably more to port at ROM


text:
How to install Stock (original android that came with nexus) Android on Rooted Note5?
I want to install the stock Android made by originally by Google that is not Samsung modified without breaking the device.
Can I return back after doing this?
How can I do,
Thanks!

You won't get exactly the same ROM made by Google because Google didn't make one for Note 5. So let's start with ones that are closer to Vanilla.

Note - You can skip to the last step if you already have a custom ROM installed.
Steps for installing custom ROM
Install Recovery
Follow the steps to install TWRP Recovery for your device. It will enable you to root your device (sometimes this step is included and need not be done separately) and install a custom by flashing (android lingo) the zip file.
Find out your device model
You can find it in one of the following ways

System - Go to Settings > About
Back Cover - Printed on the cover or the battery or underneath the battery
Boot Screen - Restarting the device will show it on screen

Download and Install Custom ROM
Note - Steps for installation is given in respective ROM's forum.

Resurrection Remix is a good ROM, giving you vanilla experience with useful extra features.

Here's the link for ROMs and other cool stuff for Note 5.

OP, do note that anything based on AOSP for Exynos 7420 devices is heavily bugged at the moment ("Bugs: too many to count" as said in the XDA thread). If you need the phone to be fully functional then what you want can't really be achieved - blame Samsung for usign Exynos and locking down devices so hard.

If you want a pure nexus experience, the best way would be to build yourself a ROM.
It would basically be downloading AOSP code and adding vendor binaries (drivers) so the skill required is much lower than with custom ROMs because you dont need to edit the system itself.
The instructions can be found on Google developer site and also there is a nice guide on CyanogenMod Wiki site.
The issue here is that the binaries are proprietary and not available most of the time so you wont get the same experience as with the stock ROM.

Thanks for the answer @Chapz. I'm currently making a research about a bunch of ways doing this but I want so much to do this. I hate Samsung's modified AndroidOS.

As a small "workaround" you could customize the stock ROM, I think it would be a better solution considering the situation but you must be very careful about it.

Root your phone
Delete all system/bloatware apps that you dont need
Replace TouchWiz with Google Launcher

You will get a aosp-like feeling, it will run better with unnecessary apps removed and if you add Xposed on top of it you can add features from other ROMs and you keep some beneficial stuff like the Camera which would surely loose quality on other ROMs. Just - be careful.

Different devices has different hardware, which needs different configuration of the OS.
Because of that, Google releases Stock Android for its devices like Nexus, Android One, Pixel. Which is the base OS upon which Mobile Companies work and set it for their devices.
So Basically, you have to be dependent on Open Source Android Developments.
Cyanogen is a very good choice!

Thanks for the answer but can you also edit your answer and add how can I install Cyanogen. I've heard about it but I don't know how to set it up. :D

And for an extra, in the cyanogen mod wiki, the Note5 is not on the officially supported device list.


text:
Old files not showing up on PC. Suggestions for Workarounds?
I'm trying to transfer files from one phone to another. I connected both of them to my computer with usb. However, files that are older than 6/15/17 do not show up on the computer. I can see them in my file manager app, but not on PC.

Try restarting PC

You can use Airdroid to transfer files over local WiFi connection or use adb to pull all files.

Install adb on your PC
Turn on USB debugging from Developer settings
Use adb pull command to copy everything


text:
ProxyDroid not working
I am using connectify + proxy droid, yet only proxydroid seems to connect to the internet, while nothing else works.
Proxydroid connects in the sense that, it loads ads.
Nothing else works.
I'm rooted.
Is there any alternative way to set system wide proxy access? Nothing seems to be working. I tried autoproxy also.
Help.

Hmmm. Did you definitely tick the 'Transparent Proxy' option? That tells it to make everything go through the proxy.
Another thing I have noticed when using it is that it can be quite specific with a proxy - my school uses microsoft tmg, and has the proxy as 'tmg' in browsers, but proxydroid needs the full URL to the system (which is TMG.academy.(myschoolwebsiteurl).co.uk)

You're the G.O.A.T ! Thanks man.

Had you not ticked it? An easy mistake to make :)


text:
need to install gtalk on my HCL X1 tab and also Skype
My tab uses 2.3.3 android version and I need to install Gtalk and Skype. As I read thro threads only after 2.3.4 gtalk is available. But any methods available for Gtalk on 2.3.3? also on skype
Please help

Google Talk is available for most Android versions, and in fact is pre-installed on all Google-authorised Android devices that have the Android Market and GMail installed (because both of those apps rely  on Talk to do their authentication and communication). It may just be called "Talk" on your device rather than "Google Talk" or "Gtalk".
If you're talking about Google Voice, then that app is available to all devices using Android 1.6 and higher, but you can currently only use the service within the US.
Skype use is blocked by some phone networks, but is generally available otherwise if you're outside the US, see this previous answer for some of the options.


text:
Nexus S ICS update problem restarting by itself
I have a Nexus S (european edition, no super amoled screen), I upgraded to ICS in December but I think it has problem because it restarts itself very often and I don't know what have caused this behavior.
Anyone have similar problem?
Thanks

Yes many people experienced problems. Have a look at: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=1c21a7e3690388b0&hl=en
where a Google employee is asking for information on the problems people are having and asking them to submit bug reports. Here's the generic bug report link for Nexus S with ICS:
http://support.google.com/mobile/bin/request.py?&contact_type=android_bugreport


text:
How to find app based on package name?
I've installed a malicious app that is posting ads over my notification bar, but can't find it. I know the java package name for it: com.letang.game103.en using the command: adb shell dumpsys notification.
As you see the name of the app is not obvious from the package name. I want to find which app it is, that uses this package name. I also want to report them to Android Market, after leaving a nice feedback for them there!
I've looked at different dumpsys commands:
adb shell dumpsys [something]

But so far wasn't able to get apps based on their package names.
Is there any way to do this?

The easiest way, without using any specialized tools is just to visit that app's page in the Play Store (website, not app).
All apps in the Play Store have their package name as part of their URL, so you can just take your package name and prefix it with https://play.google.com/details?id= to get
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stackexchange.marvin
where com.stackexchange.marvin is the package name which will take you to the page for Stack Exchange Android app.

Doesn’t help me finding the common name of "com.android.providers.telephony”.

@RobertSiemer com.android.providers.telephony is one of the core packages of Android, so it doesn't have or need to be on Play Store.

@Firelord, I didn’t complain that it is not on Play Store, I complained that the answer doesn’t work with my example!

@RobertSiemer this answer was written as the quickest and easiest way to identify non-built-in apps (as these are all that the question was asking about). If you want an easy way to identify built-in system apps, then I suggest you Ask that as a question. However it's fairly easy to remember that "com.android" indicates a built-in app, and to guess what "telephony" might be doing.

@GAThrawn: I quote: “How to find app based on package name?” and I continue quoting: “But so far wasn't able to get apps based on their package names. Is there any way to do this?” – I’m very well aware that the background given in addition to the question limits the scope and the answer given here works for that scope. – You know what? I’ll upvote this. The answer is good, but it doesn’t completely answers the question.

The question was asked back in 2012 but given that no Android version constraint is given I would like to suggest a solution, which as of now is helpful for Android 5.0 and above.
Install App Manager from F-Droid. Launch it, start searching your package name using the search/lens icon and your app would show up.
(Click image to see enlarged version)

This works even for apps which are not in play store.

Does not appear to work anymore, no apps are shown and searching repositories. S22.


text:
How to reinstall an uninstalled system app through ADB?
My phone is an unrooted Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge running Oreo 8.0. Yesterday when removing bloatware from my phone, I accidentally uninstalled a system app using the adb command:
pm uninstall -k --user 0

I suspect the culprit to be com.sec.factory.camera, as since that unfortunate event, the camera app crashes every time I try to launch it.
I tried reinstalling it using either of these two commands
pm install com.sec.factory.camera
pm install --user 0 com.sec.factory.camera

but they returned a "can't open non-file" error message.
I tried as well downloading the APK on my phone and installing it from Android, but at the end of the installation process, I got a "not installed application" message.
How to reinstall an uninstalled system app through ADB?

The app must still be there somewhere inside /system, so try finding its absolute location and  installing from there.

Technically, the command adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 <package_name> does not uninstall an app from the device. Instead, it just removes it from a user.
There are a couple of ways to get the removed app back to the user: one way is through an ADB shell with the command:
adb shell cmd package install-existing <package_name>

Or an extreme way would be through a factory reset of the device.

I get unkown command: install-existing

Depending on the OS/terminal, the command after adb shell and cmd might need to be enclosed with quotes.

For those circumstances when install-existing solution is unavailable the dandan657's method works. But I've found an easier way to look for the location of the existing APK. In ADB shell type:
pm list packages -f -u | grep <package name>

You will get the result in this format:
package:<full path to the apk>=<package name>

Example:
package:/system/app/Photos/Photos.apk=com.google.android.apps.photos

These are the useful optional parameters that pm list packages command accepts:
-f: See their associated file.
-d: Filter to only show disabled packages.
-e: Filter to only show enabled packages.
-s: Filter to only show system packages.
-3: Filter to only show third party packages.
-i: See the installer for the packages.
-u: Also include uninstalled packages.
--user <USER_ID>: The user space to query.

Tip: Using the above it might be a good idea to have variously filtered package lists saved for the future reference.
Reference: https://android-doc.github.io/tools/help/shell.html#pm

I uninstalled the package com.google.android.partnersetup when I was going to uninstall other app. I couldn't recover it with Bo Lawson's method. Instead, I found this way:
pm dump com.google.android.partnersetup | grep Path

This gives us some paths. One of them is the one I'm going to use:
"codePath=/system/priv-app/GooglePartnerSetup"
Finally, I install the app which is in that direction. The app has the same name of the app folder, with ".apk" at the end:
pm install -r --user 0 /system/priv-app/GooglePartnerSetup/GooglePartnerSetup.apk

I hope this helps, but I don't know what exactly does this do.
My source: comment from Mac23.

My way

Install Solid Explorer
Open Settings
Enable Root Storage
Back to main
Open hamburger menu
Select root
Go to system
Go to app
Search your app
Install it

Bo Lawson's answer has worked perfectly and is the best answer for those without root access, this is what I did:
Install the app again by:
adb shell cmd package install-existing <package-name>

Then uninstall it by:
adb shell pm uninstall <package-name>

Then install the app or its update from Google Play or from your browser.

I had the same problem with my Android 6 phone. On Android 6, the adb shell cmd ... commands are not available.
I fixed it the following way (needs root or custom recovery with full file system access):

Locate the APK file of the deleted package in the /system/priv-app folder
Move the APK file to a different location (e.g. /data/app)
Reboot phone
Move the APK file back to its original location
Reboot phone

I hope this can help others who also don't have Android 7 or newer.

I accidentally uninstalled the default file manager and then was unable to set shared dirs for new apps and other essential functions.
Once I found out the package name included documentsui, searching for that in App Manager (free, available on F-Droid) allowed me to just click a greyed-out listing, where it then asked me whether I wanted to reinstall it. Full functionality restored.
Hope that helps someone.

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.


text:
Is it possible to install unmodified, unadulterated and pure Android on a Sony Xperia S?
I'm willing to buy a Sony Xperia S, but in my opinion, the modifications Sony made to Android is just horrible.
So, is it possible to install the last version of Android unmodified? And, if so, how do I do that?

Of course you can
Just pick one from all the available ROMS, you will find some vanilla builds there if you only want the basics. But it requires the knowledge of rooting your ROM and flashing
if you are afraid of flashing but not rooting, then you can just remove the apps that you don't want using Titanium backup.


text:
Battery - do they last longer if recharged when empty?
I'm about to buy a Samsung Galaxy Ace (it's not much expensive and I think it's a pretty good phone), however everyone has been complaining with the battery life but admitting that isn't bad compared to all the other smartphones.
I read about how to save battery with tips/tricks, and I'll certainly do it; but I'd like to know whether a battery life would increase recharging it only when completely empty (some old phones used to gain life expectancy from that, I don't know if things are changed now)

This isn't quite what you asked, but: I've heard that if you charge the battery fully before you use it for the first time, that'll improve the battery's life.  (The manual for my phone, for example, says "Before you use the phone, insert the battery and charge it fully".)

Related: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/5102/does-recharging-a-battery-when-it-is-only-half-way-dead-decrease-its-life-span

Full discharges put a strain on the battery.
This topic might be of some help to you (the first answer specifically).

If I could split "correct answer" points between you and Richard I would do it, but right now seems that I can't :(

When you say old phones, I think you meant devices which had Ni-Cad batteries.  That practice of recharging only when the battery was run down is known as the Memory Effect
Like Richard said, most phones don't use Ni-Cad anymore but Li-Ion or Li-Poly, which don't exhibit that behavior.
I keep my devices plugged in as often as possible.


text:
Toshiba Thrive, changing system font
I am currently running the Favum 1.1 ROM on my toshiba thrive, and I tried to use Font Installer to install a new system font. For some reason the font will install, but the actual font on my thrive won't change even when I restart and wipe the davlik cache. Is there any way to change the system font?
I can't find the system/font folder anywhere either.

In GB 2.3, the fonts folder is located in /system/fonts, how it works is this, for a font face, it copies the fonts to the original droid fonts names at the same time retaining the pre-defined font names in place.
In my rom, I have this, from adb shell,
sh-4.1# cd /system/fonts
sh-4.1# ls -l
-rw-r--r-- root     root         4824 2012-06-13 16:49 Clockopia.ttf
-rw-r--r-- root     root        86784 2012-06-13 16:49 DroidSans-Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r-- root     root        74656 2012-06-13 16:49 DroidSans.ttf
-rw-r--r-- root     root      3725920 2012-06-13 16:49 DroidSansFallback.ttf
-rw-r--r-- root     root       119380 2012-06-13 16:49 DroidSansMono.ttf
-rw-r--r-- root     root       185228 2012-06-13 16:49 DroidSerif-Bold.ttf
-rw-r--r-- root     root       190304 2012-06-13 16:49 DroidSerif-BoldItalic.ttf
-rw-r--r-- root     root       177560 2012-06-13 16:49 DroidSerif-Italic.ttf
-rw-r--r-- root     root       172916 2012-06-13 16:49 DroidSerif-Regular.ttf

Notice how the names are retained but are in fact Roboto fonts! :)
Sounds like the fonts are installed into a different name in which the ROM is not picking it up. For example, suppose the font's name is 'MyFont.ttf' and that gets copied over, but is not copied into 'DroidSans.ttf'... just a guess.
BTW, what Android is that ROM you're referring to?
Edit: It has been ascertained that this is Honeycomb (Android 3.2.1). Do the following:

Plug in cable to Toshiba Thrive
From command line, issue this, adb shell ls /system/fonts
Select all the text of that output, copy to clipboard, and go to http://www.pastebin.com and create a new paste, paste in the contents and it will create a linky for everyone to see, put that linky into the comments below and will look at it :)

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

I use Rom Toolbox for this. Swipe left twice to get to the Interface section and chose Font Installer. If you're rooted, you'll see the new font after a reboot/hot restart.

That still didn't change the font... I granted it superuser permissions, installed a font, the restarted. Still no change.

hmmm.. a conundrum. Perhaps Favum ROM uses fonts from a different than default location? Will look..

Or maybe I could add a font folder..?

you probably have to locate the existing one.

Have you tried actually looking for font files .ttf, etc? By issing find / -name *.ttf in a shell?

I have not, will try that now


text:
Remove TeleNav GPS app from myTouch 4G Slide
After accepting a system update, I found that T-Mobile installed TeleNav GPS on my phone. Tech tier support tells me there is no way to remove it since it is installed as a "system level" app or something.
I'd really like to remove it, because it interferes with the default Google Navigation app, coming up no matter how many times I set the defaults.
I planned to root the phone, following the instructions on rootzwiki, but after running Revolutionary I got this message:

Your device: doubleshot, with HBOOT 1.45.0013 is not supported at this time

I've read elsewhere I can unlock my bootloader with software from HTC, but that this will completely format the phone, erasing all personal data, installed apps, and messages.
Do I have any other options to remove this hostile GPS application?

On rooting this device, also take a look at Working root method for myTouch 4G Slide? (I know it's your own question, axiomx11 -- this is meant as a reference for others stumbling upon this page).

There is an application called Root Uninstaller Pro 2.7, with the sole purpose of allowing users uninstall either SYSTEM or REGULAR applications.
To download it to your phone via WAP:

Visit http://wap.mobiles24.com on your wap enabled handset
Select Download by ID and enter 552004
Click Download Item

Other links:
Root Uninstaller Pro 2.7 Android App Apk
Google Play :: Root Uninstaller Pro (small price)

Appreciate the links, but it appears this app only works if you already have root, which I don't.

If you overcome the issue of your personal data, by performing a backup, a world of solutions should present themselves :) (I've got many solutions, but for your device they require the wipe-clean process)

Ok, if that is what I have to do, I will do it then.  Thanks.

Another user here helped me get root, and I was able to use the uninstaller program you suggested. TeleNav is gone now, thanks!


text:
Child-proofing an Android phone?
Is there a way (an app, or a special launcher, a set of apps with instructions) that allows turning an Android phone into a child-proof "only call parents" one?
Here are my main requirements (and some possible implementation ideas I was thinking of as bullet points):

The phone's main purpose is to serve as an emergency way to contact parents etc...
Yes, I know there are special child proof phones like LG Milo - I am interested in how to turn an Android phone into that same functionality when not "unlocked".
When "locked down", the only thing a child must be able to do would be to call one of several pre-defined phone #s.

Whitelisting #s in dialer app (requiring password for non-whitelist)
or, having a custom dialer that only has "call Mom" etc... buttons with no way to dial specific phone #s; and tuning off access to Android dialer app (see item #2)

When "locked down", access to ALL non-whitelisted apps is restricted

Password protecting ALL apps not whitelisted (including of course Play Store and browser).
Or, custom Launcher that doesn't have anything but a widget for calling whitelisted #s and apps.
Or, if push comes to shove, I'm OK with ONLY phone functionality being whitelisted if no other apps can be to get this to work.

Less importantly, it's a nice-to-have if the phone can be "unlocked", perhaps via "parent" password, to allow full Android functionality without having to re-flush/reinstall etc...
This does NOT need to be genius-child-proof. E.g. if the way to unlock it is to reboot and launch Recovery mode, that's safe enough for me. The goal of locking down is mostly to cut down on accidental bad usage; and on temptation to do stuff that the phone isn't designated for in school (IOW, emergency contact method); if a child is smart enough to bypass lockdown, it's not the end of the world.

As far as what it takes to do this, I'm extremely comfortable with rooting, somewhat comfortable with flashing as a process (but less comfortable with flashing a random ROM of questionably stability, for obvious reasons); very comfortable with generic Unix commmand line; shell, Perl and C programming; but not Java or Android development. Basically, the sky's the limit technically as long as I don't have to actually write a genuine Android program

To anticipate 2 possible questions: (1) Android version and phone model don't matter - if the advice is only applicable to specific version/model I am willing to get that one as long as Verizon carries it

(2) Child's age shouldn't matter much, but assume it's someone with computer skills of an average 8-10 year old or a very bright and computer literate and hacker-minded 6 year old.

If the main purpose is to call the parents, don't you think a smartphone is overkill? I can imagine situations where you would like the child to have a computer on the go but since you are OK with having only phone functionality, a dumbphone might be more appropriate.  Also,  they're more reliable due to their longer battery life.

Also,  I don't like the idea of getting a child used to general-purpose computers being technically restricted from the start.

I can see this taking the form of a custom lock screen perhaps?

@Erik - given the cost of smartphones these days, AND the fact that Verizon just raised the line cost of a dumb phone from $10 to $30 (vs $40 for a smartphone), getting a dumb phone seems... dare I pun it... dumb :)

Plus, in classic phones, you can't lock games etc.

Activate Fixed Dialing Numbers feature from Call Settings (and, add numbers there to allow). You may need to contact your carrier. This is supported by even classic Nokia phones, so all ROMs should support it.
Kiosk lockdown the device and allow only Phone/Dialer app in Kiosk Mode. For Kiosk Mode, try searching "Kiosk" in Play Store. SureLock Kiosk Lockdown app looks great to me.

Don't forget to allow kid apps other than phone in Kiosk Mode. Happy Parenting!

"Don't forget to allow kid apps other than phone in Kiosk Mode." - as the mode is for use in school in case of emergency (and to the best of my knowledge, you aren't supposed to play apps in school  - though rules May Vary), other apps might not be advisable. I will research it though

@DVK You can exclude that sentence from the answer.. I hope, you aren't assuming it as mandatory thing of the solution.. :-)

Thanks Sachin for recommending our software. I'd like to add that you can even control the "Kiosk" settings in SureLock remotely by hosting a setting file.

@PC Can you please provide premium version to individuals? As you can see in this question, the problem isn't only limited to enterprises.

a new version for consumers/individuals will be available soon. It will allow multiple users like parents and kids to share the same tablet or phone but with different permissions and allowed set of apps

Google has Family Link which allow for some restrictions on the child's device.

Approve/disallow apps
Screen time limits
Location - find child's device

The full list of features is here: https://support.google.com/families/answer/7158477
A few limits:

Child account at 13 years can choose to leave Family Link
Website filtering is limited to Google's SafeSearch & related filtering tools.
Will still see ads

Google Family Link FAQ
Parents should review Google Family Link FAQ and see what data collection is acceptable.


text:
I think my phone might be infected
Over the last couple days, my phone has been acting weird. I have the Galaxy S6 Active. Over the last couple days, whenever I try to open something, rather than opening the app I want, it'll go directly to Uber in my play store. I haven't had any problems before. My phone did an update about 1 1/2 weeks ago and I didn't have problems then. I looked in my device manager to see if anything looks out of the norm or if anything downloaded that shouldn't and that's not the case. Is there anything that can be done?

If it's opening uber app directly in the app store, it must be an adware(malware that displays ads without your permission). Similar to the Google ads you see in different apps. These ads have to be called by an app. Think of it like their host. You can refference more from here
So probabilities are:

Your running a custom OS which was altered to have these hidden behaviours.
There's a funny app installed on your phone that starts when your phone starts. It's trained to listen in when apps are called to open and sends you to Playstore instead.

To get rid of this you could,

If you have a custom OS confirm the authenticity of the build.
Still with a custom OS as superuser prevent any unofficial app from starring when the phone starts. If the behaviour is still persistent repeat the procedure until you find the app causing you this fault.
Go through your phone for any apps that aren't default and uninstall each of the apps while restarting your phone to ensure that all its files are deleted.
Simplest of these all: download adware from the google playstore.
If all these fails, then you might have no other option other than to factory reset your phone to its original state.

Also be very careful when installing apps. If you find something you don't know don't install it. I normally check through comments before installing any unpopular apps to avoid nasty surprises.


text:
How can I use Google Now/Assistant on my Android to set an alarm more than 24 hours away from now?
I know that the alarm can be manually set to a time greater than 24 hours from the time of creation, but I want to be able to do it all verbally. I have tried looking over the internet with no success. I am using Google Now (now: Google Assistant). Thanks.

using google doesn't mean much.  There will be loads of apps that let you specify an alarm WITH A DATE. When it's more than 24 hours away, the thing you're looking for is called a date!

I worked out how you do this now after Google wasn't letting me set an alarm by voice because it was over 24 hours.
Simply:

Create an alarm for today at your desired time
Go to Clock->Alarms and then edit the alarm
Change the date/time to your desired day
Save.

Your alarm should then be set to a date/time over 24 hours. I don't know why we can't say it by voice... Maybe it is a bug. 4 years late but hopefully this can help anyone else stuck too.

Set a reminder instead.
Google Assistant will only set an alarm for the next 24 hours, but it will accept a reminder forever.

That answer has already been given.

Since it was found that an alarm cannot be set more than 24 hours ahead of time, the workaround is to set a calendar reminder a day ahead of the desired date to set an alarm. This can be done by saying

Remind me to [make an alarm for tomorrow] on [May 26, 2016]

where the parts of that statement are the title of the reminder and the date. The statement can be adjusted to add a time if necessary.

Okay, I figured we were just talking within a week's time period. I think what you want then is a Calendar reminder with a notification rather than an alarm.

A Calendar Reminder doesn't have the persistent ring like an alarm does. That is why I would like an alarm instead of a notification. Thanks for your help by the way.

Set a reminder 24 hours ahead, then set your alarm. :)


text:
SMS starts with "ACTA" sent without my consent
On 26-Feb-2020 at 4.24 PM IST, an unknown SMS has been sent from my Redmi 7A Android phone without my consent to a completely unknown number. It starts with "ACTA" and then contains some encoded data. It's all either encrypted or garbage. I have no clue what this is and I can not infer anything from this.

All apps before installation are scanned by a built-in security check. I have run a security scan on my phone and nothing suspicious was found except needing to update MIUI.  No app was installed on that day and I do not download any unknown apk's from unknown sites. All apps have always been installed from Google Play Store.
The number does not exist in my contact list and has never ever been dialed from or any call received on this phone. TrueCaller site reports that number as a spam number from India.
Could someone explain this?

Possibly some kind of account login verification.

It could be Smsc number of your carrier. Check in your SMS app settings to see Smsc number

Are you using iMobile by ICICI Bank? Found a forum thread mentioning about sending "ACTA" SMS. Another article is about an SMS sender malware, though it's really unclear what it is from.

First of all thank you all for your inputs. This helped me to start looking in right direction. I first called my carrier and they informed me that the number does not belong to them. I have 2 different banking applications that allow me to access my bank account details thru respective apps. I then called ICICI Bank customer care and the representative has confirmed that this number belongs to their iMobile servers and the message is some kind of legit verification message required by the app to function properly. To be continued...

Earlier I must have clicked 'Allow this app to send SMS' so the whole process happened automatically. I am relived that there's no spam or some kind of hacking attempt. @Andrew T, you may like to formulate an answer and I will accept it. Thank you all for your inputs.

According to quick research, the "ACTA" SMS is used by ICICI Bank for a verification/activation message on their mobile apps (e.g. iMobile).
From Mi Community - Unable to activate icici i-mobile app on my POCOFONE F1,

Post #10
Solved after the solution given by the online imobile team.
During the activation process,  you get some random text message (ACTA *** which need to be sent for verification) , you copy the entire text and send the same to 9215676766 instead of +91222208888 (icici server number which is usually busy).
This sms need to be sent within 90 seconds and jump back to imobile app and proceed with the activation by setting 4 digit pin and grid value verification. [...]
(Emphasis added)

Also, thanks to the OP's confirmation on the comment thread,

I then called ICICI Bank customer care and the representative has confirmed that this number (ed. +9184220...) belongs to their iMobile servers and the message is some kind of legit verification message required by the app to function properly. Earlier I must have clicked 'Allow this app to send SMS' so the whole process happened automatically.


text:
Can online games from websites be played in Android?
My nephew and I were playing an old Atari videogame from a website on the PC. He has an Android phone and asked me if he could play it on that. I went to the site on Google Chrome and the game loaded fullscreen correctly, but we don't have any idea how the keyboard keys from the PC can be triggered from the phone's screen, if this is possible.
Is this possible? Can online games from websites be played on Android?

Can online games from websites be played in Android? Simply answered, yes. Online browser based games are designed to be OS agnostic and work on any hardware using standard software. That said, because of Android and device limitations, it is with some caveats as you are discovering with things like controls, and in some cases web browser plug-ins, or things like Flash, may not work because of the browser(s) available for Android.
That said, in your specific instance where keyboard controls are required, it might not be possible to play the game without some kind of external device like a keyboard or mouse, which most Android devices support via Bluetooth and some via USB-OTG.


text:
Is there currently an easy way to root Sony Xperia S with stock ICS 4.0.4 ROM?
I'm looking for an easy way, which doesn't need Unlocking bootloader or flashing Roms, just like root solution for SE 2011 devices (one click). It's because I currently use my Xperia S for development purposes and can't afford bricking it! please tell me if there is a solution. Thanks!

@Potential close voters: We don't close vote rooting questions as duplicates any more

Ok, at last, the mighty user of XDA, Bin4ary, has released a very nice and easy toolkit to root ICS JB roms of most sony phones, including Xperia S.
I used the tool and easily rooted my phone. Very fast and painless. No need to flash or unlock bootloader or anything.
If you are also interested, this is the page on XDA:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1886460

There's a guide on Rooting Xperia S ICS and GB over at XDAs. Not having any XPeria device, I cannot verify -- but the comments on the thread confirm it working. It does not even require the bootloader to be unlocked.
Requirements for that method:

Windows
Net framework 3.5 or later

Preparation:

Application Settings: [Unknown sources] checked {Allowed}
Application Settings: Development [USB debugging] checked {Allowed}
Application Settings: Development [Stay awake] checked {Allowed}
Settings -> Display settings [Screen timeout] Set to 30 minutes
If your screen goes off just once then you won’t be able to return to the installation properly. Very important!!
Please think about your battery and try to keep the display brightness to a minimum.
Please use a regular picture for the background. Do not use the default live wallpaper.
Charge the Xperia S’s battery to 80%.
Use the Generic CH (1257-3740) XPERIA S LT26i ROM (6.1.A.0.452).
Can be found here along with the latest FLASTOOL link: XDA FileServer
Net framework 3.5 or later
Gingerbread part 1 and part 2

It also mentions a Root Toolkit.
Installation Process:

Flash Gingerbread firmware wiping data and cache only if you are not on gingerbread
Run Step 1.bat
Install ICE CREAM SANDWICH without wiping anything
Run step 2.bat

To enter CWM recovery you have to tap on sony logo at start few times.
If it does not root properly first time run it again
Thanks to Bin4ry for the files

Alternative: Unlocking the Bootloader
An alternative method involves the SDK, and is described at AndroidPit (German; Google Translate 2 English here). this method, however, involves unlocking the bootloader -- so be aware of Sony's harsh politics when it comes to warranty in this case.

thanks for your answer, but I have currently seen this tutorial. I mentioned in my question that I want a way without any need to flash other ROMs than my current ICS stock rom.

Unfortunately I could not find such solution -- so I thought it would be better than nothing. With some luck somebody else finds a more convenient solution we all have missed -- but if not, you at least have two fall-back solutions noted here. I'd rather love if root came pre-installed, like with our desktop systems...

Added variant #3 -- found a one-click solution for you :)

thanks again, unfortunately that wasn't for "Xperia S", but for Xperia Arc (my previous phone) from Xperia 2011 series. I'm aware of this site rules and I researched really hard before posting my question here, but found nothing, just some tuts like your answers.

Ouch -- OK, sorry for that; if you say it isn't applyable to your Xperia S, I better remove it from the answer to avoid confusion. On the page it said "Xperia Arc S" (to keep the link for reference: PocketPC.CH). Maybe you should include with your question what sources you already checked -- you didn't say so, so it's hard not to post anything you already found yourself ;)


text:
Android 4.0.4 - Wifi WPA-PSK hex password too long
I am currently trying to connect to a Wifi (WPA-PSK TKIP with 64-bit hex password). However my device - LG Optimus L9 with Android 4.0.4 - only allows to type in 63 characters.
It seems that it only support "passphrase" password which is supposed to be 8-63 characters long but not "hex" password..
Did anyone else have the same problem?

Why hex password? Why not a usual combinations of letters/numbers?

Well that would be the "passphrase" I meantioned. I tried that.. I deleted the last character and it worked perfectly. However I have lots of devices using this network and I dont want to change the password for all of them just because of this.

64bit hex password, so 64bits is 8 bytes, so the password length is in fact of 8, composed of letters/number? Clarify?

@t0mm13b: it's probably a 64 hex-char string what was meant (4bit per char, i.e. 4x64bit or 256bit binary key data). Also see here, it should be fixed: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=2009

@ce4 cheers for that tidbit of info - apparently post #7 on that linky is having some trouble too? I do recall issues with WPA supplicant when porting ICS... maybe a replacement binary is available?

it's >3.5 years since the bug was closed and 2 people complained. That's too few to be relevant. I'd say: Either it's case-sensitive (must be all lowercase) or someone mistyped it by accident (and a non hex char slipped in).

@t0mm13b Yes it is a 64 hex-char string.

@ce4 Thank you for the link. I (just to be sure) checked the password and it really contains hex characters only. I copy and paste the password in my android device so I am sure there's no typo.

My experience: One friend's network uses WPA with a 64character hex-key and I haven't had any problem connecting to it since Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
I also had a look at the wifi config at /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf which holds all the wifi credentials. The one entry from above is configured just as every other with the exception that it has a 64 character hex key. I, of course censored both keys and SSIDs, fyi.
Here's a sample:
network={
        ssid="normal_psk_key_network"
        psk="secretpassphrase"
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        priority=1
}

network={
        ssid="64hexchar_network"
        psk=0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        priority=2
}

Did you look at the file on a PC or on the phone? In other words - how do I access this "/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf" file? .. and after that, do you think it would be possible to edit it, just to add the last character of my password?

I have a rooted phone and used USB debugging (ADB) to view it on the command line. It's probably possible to add it, at least if you're already root it's little effort to try it. Not sure which editor does a good job (I prefer non-graphical commandline tools). Maybe try OI file explorer or ghost commander (they support root mode and include an editor). What may also work: Google offers wifi passphrase sync iirc. you could set up your network from another phone.


text:
Test Accelerometer alignment?
Is there any app around that lets an Android user see the "flat" on the accelerometer? The reason I'm looking for such is because I recently got the Need For Speed Shift game. And I notice that the car is veering to the right even if I have the phone held straight. I have to tilt it a little to the left in order for it to go a straight direction which is an awkward workaround. If there's an app that can show a straight line for me to be able to test if my accelerometer is misaligned, please do share. If there's no such app I'll happily accept any hacks/workarounds available like a live wallpaper with a liquid physics on it perhaps?
The sooner I find this out, the better because I can send it in for replacement / repair while it's still under warranty.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy series device you can try dialing #0# to enter a test mode and select sensor to see the degrees of the accelerometer.

I'm a bit confused as to why you'd want to confirm something that already seems obvious to you rather than try to calibrate the accelerometer :P

@MatthewRead, well I was thinking if I had a far clearer display of the accelerometer other than basing it off of a game, I can easily prove to the techs that the accelerometer is indeed misaligned. But as lenik pointed out below, (and something I didn't know), most accelerometers give little miscalibrated readings.

There was an app that I had a while ago, I think they removed it from the market, but I found it here: Tricorder. It's a little cheesey and geeky, but if you are in the first section ("GRAV") it will show you the direction vectors from the readings it gets from the accelerometer. It does some other cool things too, but for your diagnostic purposes, it should work well!
Update: Here's a screenshot of what you're looking for. I took this while holding my phone horizontally, and you'll notice the "y" vector is 0.040. It kept moving between 0.080 and 0.000. I'd say if it's much more than 0.150 off, you probably have a hardware issue.

Here's the reading I got at ~0.500. To get this reading, I held the phone horizontally and lifted up the left side almost a centimeter.  Here's the screenshot, if it helps:

Awesome! I can see that it really is a bit off. I got 0.459 on the Y part. Is it that bad?

If it's not closer to zero, it's probably off. I'll get that on mine and post another screenshot when I can.

Yay, Tricorder. I liked it so much that when they removed it from the market, I tracked down the source and built it myself.

If your device is laying flat on a table, and Y reads 0.459, that's very bad. Are you sure it wasn't 0.0459?


text:
Find a stolen Android device without sim card
I'm looking for an app that could help me find/take pictures & record sound/ erase my data / block device if I lose my cell.
I don't know if is it possible, but will be really useful if the app can work even if there is no sim inside the device/ switched off or have GPS/internet connection disabled.
Thanks in advance!

Check this question. Lots of useful answers there.
link

I had asked a similar question to this one: How can I make my phone/tablet ring remotely without a SIM card?

Cerberus can be activated by both it's web service and via text message.  If you're rooted, it can be integrated into the system apps and so survive a complete wipe.  FYI, NO app will let you track your phone while it's turned off :)
It can also turn on the GPS remotely, has real time tracking using Google maps (looks like Google navigation in a web browser), take pics/record sound & video, sound an alarm, hide itself from the app drawer so thieves won't know it's there, remotely lock the phone with a code, wipe the system, display messages, download the last 10 texts and phone calls, and LOTS more.
Cerberus is $5, and worth every penny. It can be downloaded from Google Play, but the download section on the official site has Cerberus APKs that can be flashed and integrated directly into the ROM.

Noted & corrected :)

AndroidLost is my personal favorite. I don't know if it can turn the device on, but I know it works for everything else. My favorite feature is the pop-up message you can send that takes a picture with the front facing camera when they click OK. If you don't have access to your phone, install it via the market link and login on their site!

I couldn't find any anti-theft app that can be activated in any way besides sending a text message. What you can do, however, is installing one of these apps and immediately activating it before losing your phone. Having GPS continously activated may drain your battery more than you'd like to, though.
Of course, your phone can neither phone home nor be remote controlled unless it has some sort of internet connection. But Wifi should still work without a SIM card.
The most popular apps for this sort of thing seem to be Prey and Where's my Droid. The latter requires the paid pro version if you need remote wipe.

Assuming the phone hasn't been wiped , and is logged into your account, and has some form of network access, Android device manager can locate, wipe and lock your phone. With newer versions you need to enable location access. I tested location and ringing on a phone with wifi, but no functional sim card (I have an old cancelled one inside to keep it from complaining).
Without any way to communicate with a phone its tricky. Prey is pretty nice, has a proven track record (and a pretty impressive recoveries page) and can be activated over text. It will also activate itself on a sim card change or removal, and try to call back so it may be useful since the phone will have to be turned on eventually to get any use of it.
Nothing can track a switched off phone, short of magic.

Google Latitude tracks your location — that would work until they wipe your phone, of course.

You could try Android Device Manager, but your phones 3G must be online or it must be connected to WiFi

Journeyman Geek's answer already mentioned that. In future, please take care to avoid repeating previous answers, which just wastes everyone's time.


text:
How do I transfer contacts from my PC to my phone, without putting it in Gmail?
I have a Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo. I want to copy my outlook contacts to my phone without gmail. This is my first time I bought a Android. It seems great, but one thing I do not like is that I have to sync my whole life with google first, before I can transfer it. The previous software allowed me to copy back and forth between PC and phone,without going onto the internet.
Hopefully it is something I'm doing wrong, because if it is not, I'm changing OS!
Please help
es

AOSP/Stock Android builds allow importing contacts from SIM cards, or VCF files (which are just text files.)
I am unsure the SE Xperia Neo allows you to do this - if so, it's relatively easy to build a VCF file.

Have you tried the Sony Ericsson PC Companion suite?  The latest version's Sync Zone should be able to work with Outlook.
There are other packages on the market that can do this for you, but most are paid like for example CompanionLink ($49, free 2 week trial) with its Android app DejaOffice.

Sony PC Companion really could be better. From your phone, goto contact list them do a back up contacts. It will writes all your contacts to a VCF file on the SD Card. Then you may merge it to whatever application dealing with VCF files.

Move your phone contacts list to the root folder of SD card
Tap on the People option on your phone and select import contacts from SD card.
Choose the list previously uploaded, then all the contacts will be imported.


text:
How can I create a flashable rom from a configured tablet?
We have a fully configured android tablet. I need to create many more just like it. What is the easiest way to do this? Ideally I would create a rom which I could just flash in one step. Is this possible?

I do... I am running CM9 rom.. Christian Troy's build. With CWM

That's a good link and quite a bit better than the current set of steps. But I would like to get it down to something so simple a non-tech person could do it in a couple easy to follow steps.

Assuming all other tablets are of identical model to the original, it should be as easy as rooting them, installing CWM, and then restoring the Nandroid backup you made with the original one.
Keep in mind that Nandroid utility does not back up the contents of the SD Card.  If duplicating the SD Card is also required, that would need to be done separately.


text:
Cut power to a phone without a removable battery?
Well just as the title says, if you have a phone without a removable battery (HTC One X) and it freezes while modding it, how do you cut the power if you can't pop out the battery?
I could see non removable batteries being a huge issue to phone modders like me.

HTC's solution to this issue is to "Press and hold the Power button for at least 10 seconds, and then release it. HTC One X will be shutdown and then boot again."
This is the only solution I would be able to see. If you require something more, then as a phone modder I would recommend you take apart the phone and manually disconnect the battery. This is rather risky unless you are confident in what you are doing. You may be able to refer to this page: http://htcpedia.com/news/HTC-One-X-How-To-Take-It-Apart.html for a tutorial on how to disassemble the unibody of the HTC one x.
The last safe option you have is to simply wait a day or so (since it is stuck on) until the battery drains completely. From there of course charge it up again and continue with whatever software modding you were doing.

Asus do this, too, for their tablets. Hold down the power button for 10-15 seconds and it does a hard-reboot.

Same for Samsung phones & tablets.

It greatly depends on what conditions made your phone to freeze, but generally a long press (10 sec) on the power button might get your phone to reset itself. YMMV, though.

Holding down (volume up+ volume down +power button) at the same time worked for my HTC desire 826 dual sim mobile(Android 5.0.2). not worked holding down power button for more than 10 seconds or even more.

Works for Samsung A3 (2016) in bootloop. However this combination makes the phone just restart (not power off). So I needed immediately after that press volume up + home + power to boot into recovery.

On RAZR, it's hold the volume down button and the power for 10 seconds.

I have a Kyocera Hydro with an internal battery. Holding down the power button got it to power down and then immediately power back on. As though I told it to reset. I probably held the power button for a bit longer then 10 seconds but just keep holding it. It should do the trick. My phone is only partially rooted so I assume this trick would work for a fully rooted Kyocera Hydro or 1 with no administer permissions at all.

Yes. I can power down my frozen Galaxy Tab (with an unremoveable battery) by holding down the power button for more than 10 seconds. Before I found that out, I used to wait for the battery to drain overnight when the tablet had frozen.


text:
What is default GMail setting for: number of days of data to synchronize?
Gmail allows to limit from how many last days it will synchronize the messages. E.g. from one day, two, etc.
What is the default setting? I think this is phone independent, but I ask about Samsung Galaxy S, and SII.

I think this may vary depending on the version of Gmail being used as well, actually, but I'm not positive.

Why the security tag? I can see how you could consider it a related to security somewhat but you don't mention it in the question.

If someone steals phone, this will be the amount of mail he can access

I thought that might be what you mean, but the attacker can always increase the value to whatever they want and access that many days of mail.

Yes, but the phone can be e.g. locked, giving enough time to change gmail password.

That's true but if the attacker can read your emails then that suggests he's already unlocked the device.

4 days I believe, up till Gingerbread. I have Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) and it's currently set at 30 days and I haven't changed it on my device since buying it so I suspect ICS has is set to 30 days as default.
If you look at: http://support.google.com/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=168499 (along with the other links I post below) you can see it mentions a 4 day sync, these posts seem to be referring to Gingerbread and below.
EDIT: After Googling around for a bit I think that 30 days is definitely just in ICS. A few people on various sites mention a 4 day sync which should have been Gingerbread and below. (Note that most of these sources are relatively poor but they mention the 4 day limit, hence why I've posted them)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100122211939AAdHEs5
http://androidforums.com/android-applications/30952-gmail-number-days-sync.html
http://www.askmefast.com/What_does_sync_for_4_days_on_android_gmail_mean-qna370542.html

Which device you have?

A Nexus S, it's got ICS now. I'll edit my answer with some other stuff I've read.


text:
Turn phone on with ADB or Fastboot?
My power button seems to have busted, is there a way I can boot my phone using ADB or Fastboot or some other command line interface?

Following  solution worked for me:

Take your battery out (needs to be a charged battery).
Press and hold the "Home" + "Volume Down" button. While holding them down plug in the battery. This should get you into Recovery mode.
Press "Volume Down" button to cancel Recovery and it should reboot your phone.

With my testing you need to have usb charger connected when you plugin the battery.

NOTE: If you have a USB charger connected it may cause boot-loop until you unplug it.
Verified on Samsung Galaxy S3 with broken power button.

As a sidenote, this also helped me turning on a phone whose power button was broken. Here's what I did - while holding down "Home" + "Volume down", I plugged the wire in. The phone screen turns on momentarily and it recognises the key combination and goes into fastboot mode. There after fastboot reboot is all I needed to reboot it

Worked the same for me too.. thanks a lot.

I would like to mention that, "some devices have 'power button' as their button to select a option, so exiting recovery mode will need the power button to be pressed, and since it is busted, it will create further problem...."

Yes, you can turn it on using fastboot.
Enter in fastboot mode, on the prompt type fastboot reboot.

In order for this to work, they would have to be in fastboot. And that would mean that the phone is on. The original question is can the device be powered on my adb or fastboot command line tools. And The answer to that is "no", since the device has to be on for it to listen for any of the commands from those.

I was able to use this method, combined with the comments on the accepted answer (hold volume up as you plug in to charge - didn't have to take battery out) to power on my phone from an off state. Hope that helps someone else, as it did me!

That means the device had be powered on to enter the fastboot. In my case holding volume up/down did not work. I somehow pressed the power button using a thin scale and device booted. When the device was powered down, adt commands did not work. The answer need to reflect that this method will not work if the device is powered off.


text:
Installing different language on phone
Is it possible to install a different language other than the ones already in the system? I want my phone to display in Japanese. Everything...the menus, status bars, labels. Just as if my phone was made in and for Japanese.

Check out Custom Locale. It lets you modify the Locale of your Android device. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mhoffs.customlocale&hl=en If it doesn't work, let me know.

@Geff: Seemingly, Custom Locale doesn't add a new language entry, it just let's you switch to hidden locales that were already there. Or am I missing sth. here? Pedro: PS: Which phone do you own and which Version of Android does it run? My Android phone runs 4.2 Jelly Bean and it has this language setting entry: 日本語

You may want to see this question as well.

Well, your device is bundled with Japanese language support. I think this was started with 2.1 release. If you are using an older version of android (like 2.1 or so), you might want to check this thread on XDA.
If you have a later version of android, simply go to your language settings and select Japanese as @ce4 suggested
There is no need to install Japanese language in your device.


text:
Is there way to switch between proxy settings on ICS?
I have an Xperia S running 4.0.4. I often need to switch to a proxy for accessing a test server. I can do this fine by modifying my Wifi connection, selecting to show advanced options and then entering the proxy information manually.
The problem is that if I then need to disable the proxy, ICS 'forgets' the settings so I have to enter them manually each time. I need the proxy to work with Adobe Edge Inspect and so browser-specific proxy options are not the answer.
Is there a reputable third-party app which will let me switch between proxies for the current network connection?

Just try ProxyDroid
This app need root permission and IPTABLES support.
It's a full feature proxy application including support for HTTP/Socks proxy types, global/individual proxy mode, multiple profiles.
Binding configuration to WIFI's ssid or mobile connection is also supported.

There is an app which is perfect for your situation

Wifi Manager

You can also try Proxy Server Pro
Note: These apps do not ask for root permissions. But if you're supposed to have root permission, which you don't in your stock ROM, you may want to unlock the bootloader to have root access. See this for rooting details.

rooting Xperia S 4.0.4 does NOT need unlocking bootloader, as answered by me on the question you have linked to.

well, the suggested app does what you need do yes? :)

I'm not the one who asked for the app :)

okay :)

@Sid what do you mean by 'if you're supposed to have root permission?'

@yrajabi I would actually quite like to get rid of the animation provided by O2 as part of the boot process. Does that require unlocking the bootloader?

@Sid When adding a proxy in Wifi Manager it tells me that only the web browser and no other applications will use it. I need it to work for all applications

@codecowboy it means if you have root permission in your originally unrooted device. And let's see if others have solutions for you.

@Sid nobody else has added comments and Proxy Server pro is a server and not what I need.


text:
how to remove sticky (permanent) notifications from notification bar?
I have a buggy app installed in my phone, which sometimes creates permanent download progress notification with animated icon but fails to remove it from notification bar by its own.
I tried to remove the notification manually (swipe it off) but it is sticky and can't be removed. I tried "clear" option in notification bar, but again no success and it is still there! I even stopped that app which created the notification, but no change.
The only option that I have to remove such sticky and buggy notifications is to restart the device, which is very unpleasant.
Which app, hack, command, gesture, etc... I can use to remove that sticky notification?
*My device is Sony Xperia S running ICS 4.0.4 stock ROM (rooted)

This may not directly answer your question but you could use a status bar replacement like Omega Statusbar (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1825283)

Contact the app developer.  If they don't reply, leave a review on the Google Play store.  If they still don't respond, replace the buggy app or upgrade to a newer Android version.  Some non-stock ROM may be available for your device, such as CyanogenMod, which is based on a newer Android version.

If you're using Jelly Bean, then in manage apps, you can turn off notifications for the specific app. Keep in mind, this will turn off all notifications for the app.

Nice hint, but I don't have that "show notifications" checkbox in my device. Maybe your screenshot is from Jelly Bean?! BTW, I want all notifications from that buggy app to be shown, but also be removable by myself.

oh, maybe that is a Jelly Bean feature. sorry.

Turning off and back on will do the trick. No need to turn the notifications off permanently.

I have the same problem... You should go to settings, apps, all, find there download manager and clear all data there. It helps in my case. Good luck :-)

Note that the "Clear data" button performs an irreversible action.  Once you clear the data, there is no way to get it back.  In the case of a download manager, though, it's probably fine; the data is probably unimportant.

If you can't remove any buggy notification from notification bar, then do this
Goto Settings-->Applications-->(click on App which created that notification)-->force close.
then Reopen that Application.

Go to;

Setting-> Apps -> All Apps -> Download Manager
Select download manager
Clear Cache and data.

Notification of sticky downloads will be removed.  I've tested this on a Sony Xperia J with Android version 4.0

Note that the "Clear data" button performs an irreversible action.  Once you clear the data, there is no way to get it back.  In the case of a download manager, though, it's probably fine; the data is probably unimportant.

Are you by chance addressing Bazaar?
If that's the case you can simply go the application specific page and hit the cancel button. This should remove the notification.

Yes, exactly! But I can't hit cancel because the app download completed and installed, but notification remained on 17% and didn't vanish. Finally, I removed it by starting download for another app from Bazaar! BTW, I would like to know a more general solution for such buggy apps.

I don't think there is anything we can do except notify the app makers to fix it.

As already answered by nikola, you should go to Settings->Apps->All. Select the Download Manager in the app list, and then press Clear all data.
You may have to restart the mobile after this is done.

Note that the "Clear data" button performs an irreversible action.  Once you clear the data, there is no way to get it back.  In the case of a download manager, though, it's probably fine; the data is probably unimportant.


text:
Unlocking the Bootloader on a Nexus One with S-On
I'm interested in rooting my (Very recently bought) nexus one, and installing Cyanogenmod over Fastboot.
However, on the boot screen of my device I've noticed the first line tells me that security is on, which disables the USB Interface in the bootloader:
Nexusone PVT Ship S-ON

On the Cyanogenmod wiki page on Fastboot, the instructions say before starting that I need to have a device with S-OFF. However, I've got the impression from trawling through forums that Nexus One phones generally come pre-set with S-OFF (in contrast to the one I just bought).
How do I turn off the Security mode on the Nexus One? i.e. How do I change S-ON to S-OFF?

Nexus Ones do not ship with 'S-OFF', they ship with a "locked" bootloader which then must be unlocked. You can actually use fastboot to unlock the bootloader, just run fastboot oem unlock on your PC using ADB (Android Device Bridge). MoDaCo has a post here with complete instructions and a multi-platform download of the needed tools.

Could you please mention something about S-On in your answer. While this is a way to get to the end goal, I'd still like to know what this line does, and why I should or shouldn't care about it.

S-OFF is "security off" which means the bootloader will allow you to flash ROM images that aren't signed by HTC. Fastboot oem unlock will get you S-OFF on the N1; it's one of the easiest S-OFFs to get


text:
Unlocking Bootloader Identifier Token Htc desire
I want to unlock my phone's boot loader, but for doing so I need a so called "identifier token". After booting into Fast-boot-mode, I executed
fastboot oem get_identifier_token via cmd(adb)
and got
FAIL(remote: unknown command)

What can I do? Would be great if somone could help!

what does fastboot devices returns ?

some code consisting of numbers and letters. I am quite sure the device is recognized

Yes indeed. Did you enabled USB debugging and oem unlock in the Developers Options?

Usb debuggin is enabled. But there is no option oem unlocking in the menu.

But even if I had not turned oem unlocking on, it would give me the token, wouldn't it?

Of course, you should get the token but it's strange why nothing is appearing.

it seems the device doesn't know the command. What could be the cause?

What is tje exact phone model number and Android version?

Htc desire 626g and android 4.4.2

The command should work unless you have mistyped the command. Please edit the question including the screenshot of the terminal. Also enable Unknown sources in Settings > Security


text:
Can't Restore Samsung Galaxy S3 To Factory Firmware
I installed CyanogenMod on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (SGH i747), and now I need to re-install factory firmware to network unlock my phone. Heimdall seems to be able to successfully image the firmware package onto the device, but after imaging, it won't boot. I can still get to recovery mode and download mode, but nothing else. This is the command I'm using to image:
heimdall flash --SYSTEM I747UCDLK3_I747ATTDLK3_I747UCDLK3_HOME.tar.md5

This is the output:
Heimdall v1.4.1

Copyright (c) 2010-2014 Benjamin Dobell, Glass Echidna
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/

This software is provided free of charge. Copying and redistribution is
encouraged.

If you appreciate this software and you would like to support future
development please consider donating:
http://www.glassechidna.com.au/donate/

Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
Claiming interface...
Setting up interface...

Initialising protocol...
Protocol initialisation successful.

Beginning session...

Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
Please be patient!

Session begun.

Downloading device's PIT file...
PIT file download successful.

Uploading SYSTEM
100%
SYSTEM upload successful

Ending session...
Rebooting device...
Releasing device interface...

I tried factory resetting before and after imaging the ROM via ClockworkMod, but it didn't help.
How do I fix this?

NOTE: I am using Linux.

.tar.md5 file is used by Odin (another firmware flashing tool), but AFAIK it cannot be used by Heimdall. Please make a backup of this file.
Remove md5sum
Run md5sum on any file to see what is it's output like. Something similar will be appended to original .tar file. Assuming you can open the .tar.md5 file in a text editor, remove the md5 sum from the end of file (and probably you'll have to remove last new line character). Then rename this file to I747UCDLK3_I747ATTDLK3_I747UCDLK3_HOME.tar.
Extract partitions
You should be able to run tar -xf I747UCDLK3_I747ATTDLK3_I747UCDLK3_HOME.tar. It should create a new directory with similar name and this directory will contain images of boot, cache, fat, hidden, recovery and system partitions (and maybe more):

boot.img
cache.img.ext4
hidden.img.ext4
system.img.ext4

Flashing
You should make sure that partitions on your device have the same names as I've written below (APPS, CACHE, HIDDEN, SYSTEM). You can do it be running heimdall download-pit --output <filename> and then heimdall print-pit --file <filename>. Finally, here's the actual flashing (you may want to add --no-reboot to the first command):
# heimdall flash --APPS boot.img --verbose
# heimdall flash --SYSTEM system.img.ext4 --CACHE cache.img.ext4 --HIDDEN hidden.img.ext4 --verbose

Re-flash recovery (added later)
In case your phone boots to recovery instead of system, you should flash your recovery (doesn't have to be stock) image again.

there is no hidden.img.ext4, im going to skip that step

Gets pretty close, it finishes imaging all those (Exept hidden.img.ext4) then reboots into clockworkmod. I am greeted with a prompt asking if i want to install an untrusted zip (i selected yes). the phone then reboots a few times, then boots back into clockworkmod

It worked! im back at the factory firmware! Thanks!


text:
GPS in Freefall
alright,
i tried to capture gps data whilst skydiving yesterday.
the ride up in the plane shows nice steady increments, but the free fall portion goes lumpy, then flat lines until i hit canopy, when all is well with the world again.
free fall doesn't generally exceed 150mph in a belly position so i thought it would be ok, any hints / tips / things to read?
thank you
oh um, galaxy alpha, homebrew code written in android studio.
the timestamps are consistent so it's likely a hardware/gps thing?
edit: looking at the accelerometer data. the phone is getting really buffeted in my pocket... could this mess the reception?

I don't think this is really an Android question. Even so, do you keep the phone in a chest pocket? If it can't see any satellites in the freefall position, you'd expect lack of data for that portion.

yeh i wasnt sure to be honest, its not really a programming question either and serverfault isnt really the place either is it? it was in a leg pocket and getting buffeted good, im going to try putting it on my back, hopefully the signal will penetrate the rig.

@user2983931 Came across a comment that the max theoretical altitude at which a cell phone would still be able to pick up data and communicate with the cell tower depending on the device and the tower was 10000 feet. So yes I'd say it lost connectivity.

@user145490 thanks mate, but it's all GPS, it accurately showed the lift up to 13500 feet no probs, i'm pretty sure it doesn't need cell connectivity to process GPS data. thanks all the same though.


text:
Access data on device with broken screen (Samsung Galaxy Ace 4)
The screen on my Samsung Galaxy Ace 4 broke (running Android 4.4) and I really, really wish to get all my photos and other data off it. The phone has a pattern lock screen as well as an additional PIN if the pattern is entered wrong. I've tried numerous methods:

I can turn my phone on, hear the startup sound, all the buttons work (even the two touch buttons for back and menu)
when I plug in my phone onto my PC, the device shows up but is empty - need to unlock the phone first.
Touch doesn't respond, so no vision and no touch => no way to normally unlock phone.
Galaxy Ace 4 does NOT support USB OTG, so plugging in a mouse to TRY to do something is out of the question as well.
I don't have USB debugging enabled
The device was never rooted
Maybe that is why I cannot get ADB to work either...
There are a few software solutions available that claim to be capable of unlocking your phone's screen through USB, or being able to get your data off your phone, but NONE of them support Galaxy Ace 4 explicitly.
I DO have Airdroid installed on the phone, but WiFi and other means of connectivity are turned off on the device and I know of no way to re-enable them with a broken screen
therefore Google's Android Device Manager was of no help

At this point I feel I have tried everything. Is there anything else I can do? Screen replacement is roughly $100, and I don't care about this phone anymore as a device, I just want the data. Maybe it's possible to somehow connect a different screen (from a cheaper/older phone? Not just this exact model), it doesn't have to fit perfectly, it can even hang loose on a thread, I just need to unlock the device.
Recently we can often hear in the news how governments hacked someone's phone (a captured terrorist or such), so is there literally any other way I could get into mine? I do know both the PIN and the pattern, and of course credentials to my Google account.

There are tools that can dump data from the eMMC directly through JTAG. (paid tools though)

What I would try to recover at least some of the data, if all the things you already mentioned did not work:

Disclaimer: I did not perform this exact same steps on the Ace 4, but only on a much older Samsung Device. So I can't guarantee that this works, and I'm not responsible for data loss, so do this at your own risk. This is a hop or drop approach.

Part of the process is shown in a video here. I'll put a textual description and some sidenotes below:

On a Windows PC, install Odin3. It can be downloaded here. Odin is a flashing tool for Samsung devices, allowing to flash alternative ROMs or a custom recovery. A recovery is sort of a mini-operating system in your phone, allowing to access some deep-level options and modifications. The recovery that is installed by default has a highly limited functionality, so we will install another recovery in the next steps. This other recovery could be able to let you access files stored on your phone.
Power off your phone.
Put your Ace 4 into download mode by pressing the combination Power Button + Home Button + Volume down key for several seconds. The process can be seen in the linked video. As shown in the video, press Volume Up to confirm going into download mode. Download mode basically means that your device is in a state now where system files (including the recovery) can be modified.
Start Odin on your PC, connect your phone to the PC and wait for Odin recognizing the device.
Download the CWM recovery that is linked below the video. Download the "CWM Recovery", not "Philz Recovery".
Select the AP field in Odin and select the tar.md5 file you just downloaded.
Leave all other Odin options as they are, and hit start.
Wait until Odin is finished.
As soon as Odin is finished, turn off the phone and reboot your phone into recovery mode by pressing and holding Power Button + Home Button + Volume Up button for a few seconds. IMPORTANT: At this point, with a new recovery flashed, I'm not sure if you will still be able to boot into normal Android OS. Most recoveries are not compatible with the default Android OS.
Now, you should have a new recovery on your phone, as seen on the video. This recovery provides some useful functions. Now try to connect your phone to PC and see if it appears in Windows Explorer as a device with all the subfolders in your phones internal storage.
If nothing appears, now comes the challenging part: We need to navigate to the option "mount and storage" that is shortly seen in the video. This can be done using the volume up / down keys and the power key to confirm.
Once you (probably) are in that section, it should look like seen in this picture. Now we want to mount partitions named "ext_sd" or "sdcard" or similar. At this point with a broken screen its gonna be trial and error. I think usually the 4th entry is /sdcard, so after entering the screen, you should press volume down three times and confirm hitting the power button. As far as I remember, this will toggle the state from unmounted to mounted. If you're lucky, you device will show up in Windows Explorer then. If not, hit the power button again to revert the change you just made and make another try by hitting volume down once again to select the next entry.

I think now how you see what I meant with hop or drop approach, especially with a broken screen - this is probably the last chance to get the data, but also could mess up your device. As I said, try it at own risk. If you try it, though, I will be curious to hear whether this worked out. If you have any other questions, let us know.

AFAIK Samsung phones have WiFi option in their power menu so if that is true in your case and also if you have Airdroid configured to connect on having proper connection to a server i.e., PC than you may have a chance of communicating with the device.Do try and report back

Sadly, this is not the case for such an old model. There are only three options in the power menu (power off, reboot, airplane mode).
Nevertheless, I've had the screen replaced a few months ago, so I'm able to use the phone now. I've had tried many things, but in the end wasn't able to recover anything from that phone without having to pay for a screen replacement.