text:
installing app without copying apk file
How can I install some apps to android without copying the .apk file? I can do the same in iOS. that must be a possible thing, but I couldnt find it neither here nor Google.
EDIT:
Imagine you want to install your own app to someone's device without letting them have the apk file.

It's not clear to me what you mean by "without copying the apk file". The APK is the app, and it needs to be on the phone to install it, even temporarily.

What are you actually trying to solve here?  Is there anything that prevents you from installing the APK file normally?

Do you have physical access to the phone?  If so, you can use adb install app_name_here.apk in terminal/command prompt, provided you have Android SDK tools installed.  However, all this does is copy the APK to the target phone, and register it with the Package Manager.  A user with enough knowledge (and root access) can always find and copy the APK from the phone.

@chahk your answer is what im looking for,correct. please provide it as an answer so that I can accept it. thanks

I still don't see what advantage that should give. Once installed, anybody with physical access to the device could simply use apps like AppMonster to grab the .apk of any installed app. See Dan's answer.

Provided you have physical access to the device, you can manually install your app by doing the following:

Install Android SDK tools from this page (Download for other platforms → SDK Tools Only.)
Install USB drivers for the phone (usually from manufacturer's site.)
Turn on USB debugging on the phone (in Settings → Developer options)
Connect the phone via USB (you can also do this over Wi-Fi with a number of apps if the phone is rooted.)
Open Command Prompt or Terminal and navigate to the "platform-tools" sub-directory of where you installed the SDK tools.
Issue the following command: adb install path_to_apk\your_app.apk

Keep in mind though that you are still essentially "letting them have" the apk, since the installation simply copies the APK file to the appropriate directory on the phone (usually /data/app or /data/app-private) and registers it with Android's Package Manager.  A knowledgeable enough user can still retrieve the APK.

Thanks for the edit, @DanHulme.  I knew I forgot a step in there somewhere :)

The APK is the app. Installing an app on someone's phone is itself giving them the APK, so it's a nonsense to talk about installing the app without giving them the APK. It's analogous to asking if you can run a program on a Windows machine without giving them the EXE file.
If you instead want to install an app on someone's phone without them being able to copy the app to a different phone, the author of the app needs to use an anti-piracy library (a.k.a. "licensing service") to stop the app when it's run on an unauthorized phone. As programming questions are off-topic on this site, I won't discuss that further.

I agree with Dan and @Izzy.  If you are worried about giving the user source code, you can stop worrying for the most part. APK files contain compiled bytecode (along with resources like images and icons.) It can still be reverse-engineered but again, requires some technical knowledge. Your best bet to "protect" your intellectual property is indeed licensing.

The way most developers do it is through an application distribution service (google play, Amazon appstore...). But if you are not ready to publish those options may not seem like good ones. So your alternate option would be to install over ADB, done either over a cable or network.


text:
THL W3 with v4.0.4 - periodically getting "Restricted Access Changed" and losing all SIM services
What happens exactly: when I use my SIM's data connection, after 1-5 minutes of operation (be it while the phone is active or locked), I get a notification "Restricted Access Changed", losing all SIM services -- voice and data. And I get prompted for my PIN. This only happens when I use the SIM's data connection. Using my home router's Wi-fi never introduces this problem.
I had this out of the blue since several weeks ago. I didn't drop or hurt my phone in any way.
I tried using SIM cards of 2 of my friends on my phone. They never had problems on their phones (their Android versions are more recent than mine, just pointing that out). Again, after 1-5 mins of idle/active operation on my phone, we get presented with the same error message and PIN input dialog.
I tried these:

Reset to factory settings -- no apps, nothing. Only started Play Store and locked the phone. Just a minute later, boom, the same problem.
Removed my SD card. No change.
Tried putting the SIM more firmly in the slot (used some paper to make it fit tighter). No change. Though, I only tried that once and not very stubbornly. I guess I'll try that again in the meantime.
In my mobile network, I only have the options of "GSM / WCDMA (auto)" and "WCDMA only". Using either of both doesn't change anything.
Switching off 3G seems to "fix" this, which is of course no fix at all since the network gets at least 3 times slower. Not to mention I can't view any video, etc. I can't count that as a solution.

Here are few links from my google hunt:

Restricted access changed (XDA-Developers)
Unlocked Chinese Android/Restricted Access Changed (Howard Forums)
"Restricted access changed" + "Voice call service blocked" (XDA-Developers)
Restricted access changed (XDA-Developers)
HTC One S is showing, Restricted access changed. Data service is blocked (XDA-Developers)

Some thoughts:

I didn't manually install new applications by the time the problem started occuring.
As said, I didn't drop or hurt the phone in any way.
My data plan is having a limit of 1.5GB. I rarely go over 500MB, and the last month was no exception (I am regularly checking the used bandwidth and traffic on the phone).
The phone is rooted. I am periodically getting BusyBox updates -- I suspect that might be the culprit since it updates a plethora of system files. But I admit that I am no expert in rooting and/or flashing Android phones, and the last sentence might have been an extremely nooby statement. Sorry if that's the case.
The problem is consistent: with 3G enabled and only using internet from my SIM (again, not through Wi-fi, the problem is not present there). However, there's no fixed period. It varies between 1 and 5 minutes, even though I had 2-3 cases where it worked properly for ~15 mins. I am suspecting that the moment the phone's networking hardware/software goes over a certain load, the problem occurs.

Steps I didn't try:

Flash a new ROM. Thing is, THL don't have more recent ROMs than the one I got the phone with when buying it off a friend. He downloaded the latest image from THL's website and flashed it, then rooted it. We never tried using unofficial ROMs.
Flash only the radio software. (I don't have an idea how this could be done, though.)
Call my mobile provider to ask if my IMEI is blacklisted. Or if they have a malfunctioning cell in the area. (Still though, that can't explain why the problem does occur 6km away in a park as well, so I don't think a malfunctioning tower/cell is to be blamed).
Go to repair shop for diagnostic/repair of the internal antenna. I would like to leave that as a last resort. From what I hear, this could easily cost $100. And that phone costed me $200. If I have to do this, I might just go and buy a brand new Galaxy S4 as well. Still, I don't want to just throw it away. Obviously, even if I replace it, I'd like to be able to sell it and not burn the guy I sell it to.

I am out of ideas now. Even though I am by no means an Android expert, I have tried quite a few possible solutions without any effect so far.
Can somebody help with this, please?

Interesting. Have you tried inserting the sim chip into another device? It might be useful to know if these results/issues can be reproduced in such a case.

Yes, and I forgot to mention it in detail: when I tried friend's SIM cards in my phone, they also put my SIM in their phones. No issues with my SIM whatsoever on their phones. Everything leads to the conclusion that the phone is at fault. Either a malfunctioning antenna or a faulty software.

And just to clarify, did their sim chips have issues in your phone? (Also, it might be a good idea to edit the question and add this info)

Yes, I tried 2 more SIM cards on my phone and in all cases the problem reappeared. Conversely, my SIM on their phones didn't present a single issue over a 30+ minutes of work (which is plenty enough time for the issue normally appear 10 times). This led me to the conclusion that it's a phone issue, not SIM issue.

I had similar problem with my brand new Snopow M6 phone. And I'm sure, that this may be common to most Chinese Android phones. First, in Estonia we have 3 major mobile operators, and with SIM cards two of them my phone worked nicely, it did not work with my own SIM. Also tried almost everything, but then started check IMEI code through the operators' networks. And found out, that my operator follows the idea, that its not good enough just not to be in their blacklist, You have to be in their white list. So I gave them a call, and they manually added my phones IMEI to their white list and phone works flawlessly since then. So, if you buy a Chinese phone from the Internet, then first check Your IMEI through carrier, random internet sites might give You an answer, that phone is not blacklisted, but that might not be enough in some cases.

That's useful to know, but doesn't seem like it could lead to intermittent problems: it would either work perfectly with your carrier or not at all.

Well, it's some sort of clue. Once my phone is back from a local repair shop, I'll definitely check that out. Thank you.

@DanHulme I admit I never tried this, actually, and now I regret it -- not because I regret selling a chinese phone, no ;) but because that might've given a conclusive answer to this problem.

@DanHulme I'll accept your answer even though I still don't know if this is officially the solution in the case of the THL phones.

@dimitko You're replying to the wrong person. It's not my answer: I'm the one doubting its plausibility.

@DanHulme Silly me, too tired. Sorry.

Dial *#*#4636#*#* >> Phone Information >> Set preferred network type: WCDMA only if you have 3G connection, GSM Only if you have 2G Connection and CMDA if you have CDMA Connection. The problem occurs when the phone searches for WCDMA in WCDMA preferred and ends up getting something else.

If you're in Europe, I've found that setting it to "GSM only" resolves the problem. On my Nexus 4, I've tried setting it to "LTE/GSM/CDMA auto (PRL)" in the hopes that this also works when travelling to the US.

Nope; this appears to simply come and go on the Telfort NL network, regardless of the setting.

As stated in another comment of mine here, this is a non-solution for me. I successfully "downgraded" my mobile connection to the default 3G which was very slow. But what the hell is the point in this? Might as well just replace my phone, as I did back then (Galaxy S4). Never had any problems since. I have to conclude the problem was either in the Chinese Android modification or in their hardware.

I had similar problem with my phone HTC desire 816 dual sim. the problem started when I travelled another country and inserted a sim of that country in SLOT 1 of my phone. my problem was solved when I removed sim of my country from SLOT 2. So my solution is like that, though its a dual sim phone, yet I cant put 2 sims of 2 different country at a same time.

I tried the following solution and the problem was resolved. This is not a hardware problem.
Go to Settings → More network → Mobile network → Network provider → then in the options select Automatic detect network provider.
After this the phone will go through some registration process and the problem will be solved.

Below setting fixed issue on my Moto-G
Go to Settings>Wireless & Networks>More...>Mobile networks>Preferred network type>select either 2G or 3G as available

With respect, back when I had the THL W3, that was definitely not what I was looking for. I wanted the HSDPA (an enhanced 3G) mode which allows you to easily browse image-heavy social networks like Google+ and 9GAG. I already discovered that switching to much lower speeds "fixed" the issue but I wanted it to work on full capacity.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to get to notifications in settings?
The title sounds misleading... There exists a shortcut under the settings shortcut widget that points to notifications. In this I can see all the notifications that my phone had (even after clearing it in the pulldown notification tray).
I have 2 questions: a) where is it actually located in the settings (I have been looking for it for a while) b) how do I clear this...there seems to be no option (do I reboot?)
Here are the screenshots that may help clarify:

Can you be more precise in what your asking? What is the end goal you are looking to achieve?

@John under android jb, there is a widget called "settings shortcut" which allows you to pick a shortcut to any setting. One of these shortcuts is to something called "Notifications". This window is shown in the last picure. It contains notifications (including ones i cleared from the dropdown bar). I like this feature and was wondering how to get to it aside from using the widget as i do not want to clutter my homescreen. I would assume it lives under settings because i found it under the "settings shortcut' widget, but i cant seem to find it anywher.

So you want to know how to get to that screen without using the widget if I am not mistaken? Also which version of Android are you running? Are you running a custom ROM?

Yes you are correct. I am running stock jb 4.3 build jwr66v

There's no way to get at this activity other than through a settings shortcut. The code for it can be found here on Github, and if you search the repository for the NotificationStation class you'll find all the entry points for it: in this case, only the shortcut intent filter in the manifest. If you examine the code you'll also see there's no way to remove old notifications from the list: as you can see in the screenshot, the greyed-out notifications are those you've dismissed from the 'normal' notification tray.
However, this class is mainly intended as a demo. Android 4.3 adds support for any application (with the appropriate permission) to access and display the list of notifications. For example, a third-party launcher might want to show them, an app might want to show all notifications in a pop-up window iOS-style, a live wallpaper or daydream could respond to them graphically, or a utility might analyse your phone use from the notifications (something like Tasker could trigger actions based on notifications appearing or being dismissed).
Because this is a new feature, and 4.3 isn't on many devices yet, it'll be a while before third-party developers invest the time needed to offer these features, but you won't have to wait long.

Interesting, it would make sense for them to at least have a way to get there especially since its a Settings shortcut...

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


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How can I update to Android 4.4 manually?
I have Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1' with Android version 4.1.2. Is it possible to manually to update to Android 4.4, and if yes how?

It is not currently possible for non Nexus devices. For this you will have to wait until Samsung release a version of Android KitKat for your device or until a developer release a ROM based on Android 4.4 for your tablet (CyanogenMod for example).


text:
Music player widget title cut off
My iPod recently broke so I started using Google Play Music on my phone. It works quite well and today I discovered the widget, so I added it to my home screen. It's very useful, the only thing is that the title is cut off slightly and the whole widget seems too low. You can still clearly make out what it says but it just doesn't look very nice. Any ideas on how to fix this?
Here is a screenshot to explain it better:

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

The problem lies in the number of rows on the screen. On the screenshot in the question, there are six rows designated for shortcuts and widgets. If the number of rows is reduced to five the music widget comes out as it should:

Screenshot (click for larger variant)


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Does WhatsApp duplicate media files?
Whenever I receive or send a media file via WhatsApp, it is stored in WhatsApp/Media/.
Is it ever stored anywhere else as well? (perhaps depending on configuration of WhatsApp)
I want each WhatsApp chat media file and document to be stored only once in the whole directory structure (for a cleaner administration, and to save space). I am not referring to the same file sent/received many times.
Following instructions in https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/android/30031687, I placed a .nomedia file in each of the directories in WhatsApp/Media/ (WhatsApp Images, etc.), and in the respective Sent subdriectories.
With that, they do not show up anymore in the Gallery, so this suggests that the answer to my question is No.

Whatsapp is using peer to peer networks and hence its duplicating files to ensure its availability even though its deleted for one user. But its a bad concept and it junks your mobile. A mapping method should be used to avoid duplication.

At the time of writing this comments, whatsapp doesn't make duplicates. It maps to single original source and all the references in the form of sents and forwards are mapped to it. For instance a same media is sent to two people and than from second person chat it is forwarded to third person, than there will be single file in WhatsApp/sent folder. You have to remove all the references of that image in WhatsApp in order to remove it from sent folder. If you resend an old picture that is already send in the past, guess what you wont get a duplicate as it's already in sent folder

@SamiullahKhan in whatsapp, do we get the duplicate file in case someone sends us the same image multiple times ?

The way WhatsApp is programmed, you will create multiple files of the same media file every time you send it to a new user.
.nomedia file in android just makes sure that the folders (and it's subfolders) are not SEEN in the gallery app. Doesn't at all mean they aren't being created at all.
I am afraid there is nothing you can do to STOP multiple files of the same media from creating when you send the same media file to multiple people.

Can you specify the directories where the copies you mention are created?

Plus, you only mention Sent media files. What about received media files?

If you send to multiple people the same file, all will be in sent (like if you send the same video to multiple people, all those copies will be in WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Video/Sent). Same is for received. Example: If you received the exact same file from a person on personal chat as well as multiple groups, you will see all those in that respective file (so if you got a photo, it will be in WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images folder).

You were refering to a different case from what I had in mind. Your point is also interesting, but I had already found out about it. I had rewritten my question to clarify this.

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


text:
Size required for install much larger than app
Using Marshmallow.
I usually have memory close to full.
It often happens to me that, while trying to install an app of a given size, I am request to free space for 6-10 times the size of the app, which seems very strange to me.
What are possible causes and solutions (if there is any other than doing what is asked for) for this?
Example: trying to install Join (for bike rides). App size is ca. 39MB. I was requested to free 290MB. After freeing some space I still have to free 190MB.

EDIT:
I have found possible similar questions, but with a little less detail on the sizes involved, older Android versions, or other perhaps minor differences, so I wouldn't be sure if the questions are really rooted on the same causes (thus I wouldn't call this one a dupe).
As for the respective answers, I would have to check if they apply; some of them are poorly documented or seem to be more conjectures than knowledge.
For completeness, I am listing here such questions.
"Insufficient storage" when trying to install new app
Something is secretly eating up my Acer Iconia A500 internal memory and I need help finding it
Google Play: Error downloading app - insufficient space
Cannot install some apps in Android 4.1.2
What space am I running out of when trying to install an app?
Google Play asking 100 TIMES the real size of the app
Related: How to compute all space taken up by an app and its associated files

Some app might use features that will be downloaded later on for example, google vision api require some space for it to able to be downloaded even if you are not installing it, but the app may need it. Apps also will caches files so this will also need somwle space. But from my development experience, the app may contains some features that require that amount of space. Even if the size of the app may be much less than the requirement size.

Would Android know that in advance, while attempting installation? Who will tell Android at that point the space needed later on? Even if this is true, I found it strange this is the cause for the subject of the question.

the space is not later needed on, it is needed only during installation but not during usage.

This is possible... It would be good to have documentation to back it.


text:
How to compute all space taken up by an app and its associated files
(Using Android 6)
While trying to determine the size in memory taken up by a given App I got two widely differing values.
    Settings. Applications. Application manager. Whatsapp.
gave 134 MB (App 63.90 MB, Data 71.18 MB), while Total Commander gave 900 MB.
How can I get the size taken up by all files that reside in my cell phone associated with a given App, which would otherwise not be there? I am pretty sure it must be closest to what TC gives, but I am not sure everything from WhatsApp is within its directory, and even less sure that it applies for a general App.
Why does Settings give such a low value?
What is it counting as App and Data?

Related questions:
Similar (old) question (but not the same):
KitKat - How to identify the REAL size of apps (app + datas + ...) to be able to install other ones
Related (very old) question: what is my personal data storage as opposed to program storage  and how can I reduce it?

Questions related to the issue that inspired this one (I am constantly running out of space):
Missing space/Storage space running out Galaxy S2 [tried almost every solution I can find!]
Why am I constantly running out of space on my Galaxy S2?
Microsoft apps always eating up space with data, for apparently no reason
I can't find files taking up space in my android phone

Which Android version do you have? I think it's higher than 5.

Later versions of Android do not count cache data when showing the app size. So you can f.e. see that Instagram takes 150 Mb of your storage while there are more than 2 Gb of Instagram cached data (true story!)
As for Whatsapp, the size of media sent and recieved via Whatsapp (images, videos etc) is not shown in Settings. But since these media are stored in Whatsapp folder, their size is counted when you look at folder properties in any file manager.

Thanks. This answers the second question (do you have sources for that info?). What about the first? See updated question.

Well, what is "true size"? Only binaries? Binaries + appdata? Binaries + appdata+media+cache? Something else?

Everything that would not be in the system if the App were not there.

Well, it's your definition. Google's one is  that "true size" is binaries and appdata. And size of them you see in Appmanager (btw you can see size of cache and clear it if you tap on "Storage" in App info). And by your definition it is not possible to count. Think about media. I have many megabytes of pictures recieved and sent with whatsapp. I woudn't have them if I woudn't have Whatsapp but this doesn't mean that Whatsapp size is hunderds Mb large.

Alex, my intention is not to come up with a consensus on a definition of "True Size". Please see updated question. I doubt "it is not posible to count". Actually, with TC I have counted everything under directory WhatsApp, including the "many megabytes of pictures recieved and sent with whatsapp". It would still miss the count if there were anything due to WhatsApp that is outside that directory, and then the question, for WhatsApp specifically, and also more generally. I still wonder if there is any specific reference to what is Settings counting, beyond the general answer provided.

In "Settings" you see the size of binaries and appdata (whatever it is), if you tap on "Storage" you'll also see the size of the app cache.


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How to have unused apps not take up resources
Is there a way I can have unused apps not take up resources?  Especially Internal memory and other resources not on Sd card.
I am already using Link2SD to move what I can to SD.
I know you can back them up and re install, I was hoping for something easier, like avoiding autostart.

Have you tried disabling an app? Also, give us more details... Which phone, which ROM, which Android version.

I can't see how I can disable an app - will check out

Samsung GT-S5660

I am using a third party app called ES Task Manager, which allows me to manually enable and disable autostarting for the most apps as I can see so far.
You didn't say if your Samsung is rooted or not so I need to mention that you need a rooted device to perform this via the Task Manager.
It might also be possible to transfer not only user installed apps but system apps as well with Link2SD while beeing on a rooted device. At least these system apps are shown by Link2SD, but I never really tried that out.

You can disable these apps. This way the apps will not be running and won't be consuming any resources. You have not mentioned your Android version, so here's how you can disable an app in Jelly Bean, if you have another version of Android just look around the setting may be somewhere else.
Settings -> Apps -> All -> Select the app you want to disable -> Disable

You have also not mentioned what app you are talking about. Remember, this only works for system apps, and they will still take up space on internal memory. If you have a downloaded app, you may have to uninstall it.

I will check out, but its mostly for apps I don't use very often, like some apps for the train.  I am looking to the autostarts app and application backup.

I can't really check this.  Personally I thin Titanium Backup is the way to go.


text:
Android won't start. It keeps showing Samsung Galaxy logo
It keeps showing the logo and doesn't get into Android. What do you recommend me to do?
I've tried hard reset, it didn't work.

(click image to enlarge)

What did you do before this happened? Did you flash a new ROM?

I gave it to my kid to play a game. After a few hours, I found it as turned off. I thought that battery was empty and tried to charge and turn it on. No chance

Does your kid know what happened to the phone? Maybe the reason for your problem might be something he has done by mistake or something.

I've installed 4.1.2 Jelly Bean XXEMD2 Firmware from the scratch. It's working now
Instructions: http://port135.com/2013/06/30/708/


text:
Show WhatsApp popup when clicking the message in notification panel
We can enable popup notifications in WhatsApp settings for "Only when screen is on" and "Always show popup".
What I want is, it shouldn't show any popup when message arrives like popups are disabled, but when I click on the message in notification panel, it should show the popup and I can quickly reply.
Similar to what iOS "Quick Reply for WhatsApp" tweak does. Is it possible?

I don't use WhatsApp, so I'm a little confused. What happens now when you click the notification?

@DanHulme when clicking on notification, it takes the user to the conversation/thread in the app.

Ah, and Салман instead wants it to bring up the pop-up. I see. If there's no setting for that in the app, there's no way around it.

I see, I was thinking some app or tweak can bring up the popup when required.

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/109092/ios-quick-reply-feature-on-whatsapp-for-android (no answer yet as of now)

WhatsApp has implemented this feature on Mar 29, 2016 (v2.12.560). As a fallback for quick reply feature on Android N, WhatsApp added a (kind of) quick reply from notification for all Android version.
When a notification comes, you can expand it (i.e. by sliding down) to show the Reply button. Tapping the Reply button will bring the message as a popup, which you can also reply directly from there.

Image courtesy of AndroidPolice

authors: مرفت عبد المنعم


text:
Split external SD card partially into adoptable storage and portable storage
I don't want all my external SD card as adopted/internal storage, so I was wondering how I can split it into 1 part adopted storage and 1 part normal file storage (what Android calls "portable storage").

You don't need to root your device but the device i done this with is rooted

You need to enabled Developer Options.
Enable the USB Debugging option.
Make sure your SD card is formatted as portable, then get the adb executable (see our adb tag-wiki for details).
Connect your device to your PC and run the adb devices command. If your device is connected correctly you will see your device listed in the output.
Run adb shell sm list-disks adoptable. This will show you the list of disks that can be used for what we want.
For my device it showed me disk:179,128 so i ran adb shell sm partition disk:179,128 mixed 80 on my 32 GB AS card. It gave me 5 GB as adoptable storage and the rest for other uses. (This will format your SD card.)

Does this really require root as the command to set up adoptive storage in the 1st place does not? (sm partition disk:foo,bar)

@Barleyman Well not really but my device is rooted and i didn't test this with none rooted devices so if you like you can try and let me know if you got any error

I did actually yesterday and today on my Galaxy S5. I didn't use the mixed type but at least the sm partition disk:foo,bar private works just fine without root. Migrating from lollipop with Link2SD to Marshmallow with adoptable storage is a bit of work. Gotta do clean install and copy titanium backup files to PC & back and repartition the sdcard on pc and later on the phone. Also titanium backup does not realize phone storage is running out so you'll have to fight past dialogs to move a single app to sdcard to make enough room that you can use apps2sd to migrate the rest..

Works perfectly on Moto E with CM13 Temasek 10.4. Thanks!

On my device the sm partition disk: disk:179,128 mixed 80 command returned the usage of the command, maybe it's because of the custom ROM, but I replaced the comma with an underscore and it accepted it - eg. sm partition disk: disk:179_128 mixed 80

I searched far and wide to come to this resolution... Was able to follow steps using terminal emulator directly on rooted phone, without using adb or usb phone connection: - Format internal SD as portable in settings, hit eject (unmount), opened terminal emulator, I su (just incase) to become root, then sm list-disks adoptable, found my storage 179_64, then sm partition disk:179_64 mixed 80. It immediately started working. Ignored format prompt. Then rebooted and all prompts asking if I wanted to format went away.

poqdavid's answer is correct.
In addition though, you might get the error that your SD card on your device storage is corrupted. If so, follow these steps.
After you have partitioned the disk and while your SD card is corrupted, enter the following commands in the terminal which will list your volumes, for example:
$> adb shell sm list-volumes all
private mounted null
public:179,1 mounted B5B1-140C
private:179,3 unmountable null
emulated mounted null

Then enter the following replacing 179,3 with whichever disk numbers you are given:
$> adb shell sm format private:179,3
$> adb shell sm mount private:179,3

Now your SD card in device storage should be properly mounted and your portable storage will still be there.
This worked on my LG G5 and should work on the Samsung Galaxy S7.

i tried 3 four time $>adb shell sm format private:179,3
$> adb shell sm mount private:179,3 $> sm list-volumes all  output;_private mounted null public:179,1 mounted 5C8A-85AC  private:179,3 unmountable  emulated;0 mounted why it showing unmountable , can we conver 179,3 to public or mount from other adb shell mount command to

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


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Where does "Voice Recorder" save files to on Samsung Galaxy S6?
I don't seem to find the recorded files on my Samsung Galaxy S6. What is the file path to the saved recording files? Google doesn't tell me the answer.

Does it not show the recorded files inside it?

@beeshyams no sounds folder.

@Firelord but i can't copy it directly to my computer.

Checked with a friend who has s6 edge and may help you locate. You can see the file from your Tools>My files>audio> [file_name].m4a. By clicking it he can share it by various means. Path is /storage/emulated/0/voice recorder. Can you check please?

@beeshyams Like I said I found nothing.

Suggest you contact Samsung support in your area

@beeshyams they didn't reply. I asked the question in August.

I can't say with absolute certainty where they are on a Samsung S6, but on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and I doubt that they change their filesystem layout too much from one device to the next.
I can see them from Windows 10 at:
This PC\SM-N900T\Phone\Sounds\Voice 001.m4a
This PC\SM-N900T\Phone\Sounds\Voice 002.m4a
This PC\SM-N900T\Phone\Sounds\Voice 003.m4a
This PC\SM-N900T\Phone\Sounds\Voice . . .

Obviously the mount point will have a different name through other operating systems, but the path from the mount point will be the same.
As viewed from within the phone itself, they're at:
/storage/emulated/0/Sounds/Voice . . .

If Samsung changes things between devices, well, shame on them. Then this won't help you, but it will at least help people with the same layout as the Galaxy 3.
I found it by searching from within ES File Explorer, and checked for similar names through the Windows mount point. So if it's not in the same place, you can at least search for it that way.

This was the path I ended up finding using a local search. I didn't change it so this must be the default path for the Samsung Voice Recorder
\Samsung Galaxy Note 5\Phone\Call

Recordings can be found under: settings/device maintenance/memory or storage.

Navigate to the Phone. Then click in the "Voice Recorder" folder. The files were there for me.

Check your SD card.  Voice Recorder puts it on the SD card if able.  Notably, things already on the SD card won't appear in VR's collection necessarily.

On my S8+ it is in Phone/Recorders


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How to bring back the Google Now card?
I've accidentally swiped off the Google Now calendar card on my Nexus 4 with Google Now launcher, and I missed the "undo" button. How to bring it back?

Do either:

Go to the Google Now > Menu > Refresh, or
You could try clearing the cache for Google search.

Hope that helps.


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How to have two applications play sound simultaneously?
I want the music to keep playing in the background while I practice Spanish on the Duolingo app. The music player stops while Duolingo is trying to play sound as of now.
Is this possible?

Duplicate: How can I prevent an app from interrupting audio playback of some other app?

As for my device, whenever I play Duolingo and music at the same time, then the audio fades slightly with CM 12 built-in player
Now if you are OK with any third-party application, here is what you need to do.

Install and open Poweramp Music Player
Go to Settings
Then click on Audio
Select Audio Focus
Uncheck Short Audio Focus Change

(Click image to enlarge)

Thanks.  That almost works for me.  I want to play something in Poweramp and a song in Pandora at the same time.  If I start Pandora first and then start Poweramp playing with any combination of the Short and Permanent AF Changes boxes unchecked, they both play until Poweramp changes tracks.  Then Poweramp must grab focus back since Pandora halts.  Is there any other way to fix this?

sorry to say that Pandora isn't available in my country and so i couldn't check.

You CAN play two audio simultaneously. I don't think it's possible with the stock Music player. You can install a third-party music player. In Rocket Music player, you can configure the Audio Focus to ignore the other audio apps while this player is playing. You can do so by setting the option under the Rocket Player Settings > Sound > Audio Focus,

Screenshot - Rocket Player (Click to enlarge)
While I tried to play a song in the Google Play Music app and played a song in the ES File Explorer, the Play Music song stopped. But while doing the same in Play Music and then in Rocket Player, the songs never paused. They both played simultaneously.

Samsung's SoundAssistant does this and allows you to adjust the volume of both apps separately.
Not sure if Samsung's app store (Galaxy Store) or the app itself is available for non-Samsung devices, but it may be possible.

MPV for Android continues playing audio as well. If you connect an external keyboard, you can adjust the volume independently of other apps with the 9 and 0 keys.

You can try old versions of Lark Player from 2023-2022 (maybe). You will find an option in Settings > Play with other apps. Click on it.
I'm sure you will find your solution to the problem. You can get the old versions on uptodown.com (original) and can get the modded versions on several websites (but make sure you have the version number). I do not know about the latest version. The latest version that is in the Play Store should also work.
You can try Poweramp. Just go to Settings > Audio > Audio focus. Turn on the Duck volume and turn off the Permanent audio focus change.

For a free app alternative that allows playing in the background: SoundAura

SoundAura can also switch between an audio focus respecting mode, and a 'play in background' mode that ignores audio focus rules and allows SoundAura to play audio alongside other apps.

As far as I am aware, I don't think this is possible as yet. The OS can only play one sound at a time through the speakers (i.e. it cannot play multiple sound streams simultaneously).

We expect technical answers. There is nothing wrong in mentioning your personal experience but such experience should be technical and not just any  opinion. In short, backup your claim with something that cannot be disregarded instantly. Example, in this case, tell us why Android cannot play multiple sound streams at a time. It would be best to cite technical sources too. See [answer].

There are many audio streams available in Android. As said in the dev doc audio streams are available for alarms, DTMF tones, music, notification, ring, system sound and voice call.  If apps use different streams to play different sound then this possible and that is what most app exploit to support this feature.

Not true. I play games where I had situations when the music from my Music player and the game sounds play simultaneously. I also can play two different tracks at the same time using my music player and my File Manager.

You can play multiple videos on YouTube or stream audio in multiple tabs in Mozilla Firefox, but it gets closed after some time around 15 minutes, maybe due to low memory.

This might be useful if the questioner only wanted multiple YouTube videos, but they specifically asked for it to work with multiple apps.


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How to check what apps are running in Android 6.0?
I used to be able to view what apps are running in the background under settings/apps for 5.1, but in 6.0 you can only see what apps are installed in the same location. Does anyone know where to view running apps?

This is now in the Developer options area of your device settings, under the "Running Services" menu item:

Note that if you cannot see the Developer options at the bottom of your settings, it is because they are hidden by default and need to be manually enabled.

Note that surprisingly this nice feature works even if you (for security reasons) have disabled the overall "Developer options" at the top. You may note that both the running apps list and the inactive apps list at the bottom of the page, does NOT go grey.

You sure these are the apps that are in the background? because the caption there is "App RAM usage".

@TheLogicGuy it is the running SERVICES not the running APPS. For the apps you can set them to Inactive at the "Inactive apps" (the bottom of developer options), though this is NOT the same as stopping them.

Thanks eldarerathis
This is strictly running services and not apps.
...To actually find and stop running apps you can go to
Settings, Memory, "Memory used by apps"
(ADD: Strictly apps that have been running within the last 3 hours, and ONLY those using more than a minimum limit of RAM)
When you click one, the vertical ellipsis top right gives you easy access to actually STOP the app.
Note also that parallel to the "Running Services" described, there is an "Inactive apps" at the bottom of the developer options. And you should try to inactivate an app instead of actually stopping it. If it is well behaved, this will often be almost as good, and is more clean than giving it the axe with stop.

Good find on the "inactive apps", never noticed it before. It doesn't seem to halt running apps like stopping does, though, which could be good or bad depending on the app in question.

Well it is not stopping the apps, it is marking it as inactive. If I understand this right, it is part of the doze-system. That is, it requests the OS to not wake the app running in the background while the phone is idle. When the phone is active it does not help. So this is NOT a fix against bloat. On Marshmallow even bloat that are marked DISABLED can still be started! That really sucks!!! So we need to revisit the disabled-apps list from time to time, to see that they are actually stopped!

Or use apps/Xposed modules like Greenify or Prevent Running. I don't care about the extras, just don't let'em run. Especially when our Chinese app makers never care about app design disciplines and autostart at every single occasion they can think of.

I'm not sure I understand the difference. If you stop all running services belonging to an app, you've stopped the app right? Or is it related to stopping other components, i.e. broadcast receivers and content providers.

Hi jiggunjer. Well I'm by far no expert on Android. But I do see apps that are running (and stoppable) that does not appear on the running services (nor cached processes) lists. We would need someone with more knowledge to teach us the finer details here.. Any takers?


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Why apps are launching slowly?
This issue happens on all of my devices no matter what operating system is on it. Apps launch slowly, however the resources monitor says that CPU and RAM are not busy that much.
For instance, I installed a resources monitor floating widget on my Sony Xperia M2. What I found out that before I tap on a big app like FaceBook, the CPU usage is 3% and there are 370MB free RAM available. Then when I tap on the FaceBook app, the CPU usage started to vary within the range of 50~60% and the free RAM was changing within the range 300~350MB. However the app was still laggy, unlike higher-end Sony phone like Xperia Z2.
Briefly, the question is, why my phone is not functioning as fast as a higher-end phone of the same OS and brand even though it has 40% free CPU and 300MB of free RAM, why isn't it using 80 or 90% of the processor and the same in RAM?

Why is your phone not performing as a higher end phone? You said it yourself, because it's a lower end phone. Xperia M2 has a low-end Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core 1.2 GHz processor and only 1 GB of RAM. Xperia Z2 on the other hand has a Snapdragon 801 chipset with a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor with 3 GB of RAM.

You should read this and this blog post by Dianne Hackborn, Android Software Engineer to understand how RAM management and multi-tasking works on Android

You can always root your phone (and void your warranty) and remove bloatware, install a custom ROM or a performance oriented kernel, etc.

The most probable answer is the speed of the NVRAM (or hard drive).
When an application loads, it needs to read the application into memory - Hard drives and sd cards (but not so much SSD cards) are very slow to read and write, and this is most likely the bottleneck.
A typical hard drive has a read speed of 100 Megabytes per second and SD card can vary greatly but would be typically much slower then a hard drive.  I have been unable to find the type of built in storage in the M2, but it looks like a very budget phone (540x960 pixels) so I imagine they have skimped on the speed of the storage on it to keep the price down.   That said, if you are running apps from an SD card, you may benefit (speedwise) from moving them back to the internal storage, or investing in higher speed sd card.  (A class 4 card is a LOT slower then a class 10 SD card)

thanks,

are there more factors that affect the speed other than NVRAM?
how to know what class is my SD card?
for PC (since it happens on PC as well): if i bought black western digital hard disk will it consume the full capabilities of ram and cpu?

Yes, there are lots of factors.   On a lot of sdcards there is a number in a circle.  Normally 4,6 or 10.  That is the class of card.  That said, there is lots of variance within classes, so the best thing to do is to test by timing copies of large files to and from the cards.  Things like memory and CPU will also affect performance.  Your performance will depend on your type of workload - if you are doing a lot of disk reading and writing you need a decent disk, if most of it is number crunching or in-memory editing (eg a static image which fits in ram), then the hard disk is less important.

i always close unused opened apps so when i reopen them they need to go from the HDD to the RAM again so i'm doing a lot of disk reading and writing. does the motherboard have anything to do with speed?

Practically speaking motherboards have minimal influence on speed. Your best speedups generally come from a faster disk, more RAM (up to a point) and a faster CPU.

ceeeewwl thx alot


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What do CPU Total, CPU Foreground, and Keep awake mean?
I've been keeping an eye on my battery usage on my Android device (HTC One), mostly to see if I can drain it during a full work-day, and I came across the app usage details under the Power settings.
I get a percentage of battery used by the app, the CPU total, the CPU foreground, and keep awake. I'm not sure what they mean, although I can take a guess, but I'm wondering more on how they work.
For instance, I've used the Chrome browser extensively throughout the day (device was on for ~14 hrs, holding around 30% battery life left) and noticed that the battery usage for the app was at 54%. Under use details (see pic below) CPU total was 29m 31s; CPU foreground was 14m 43s; and Keep awake was 30s.

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)
How can these numbers be relatively low when I know I've used Chrome for more than a half-hour and had it as the primary app running for much longer than 15m, which is assuming that my ideas on CPU total and foreground use are what I believe they are.
In essence, what do those three numbers mean in terms of app/battery usage and what does it tell me?

The first thing to remember is that when an app runs, it doesn't actually do computation for the whole time it's running: most of the time it's idle, waiting for data to arrive over the network, or while you're looking at it on the screen. Only very badly-written apps and games keep the CPU active the whole time they're running: this runs the battery down very quickly, and makes your phone rather warm.
So even if Chrome has been on the screen for 30 minutes, it shouldn't have used 30 minutes of CPU time. If it's completely static in that time and you're not interacting with it, it might not have used any CPU time at all! But at the other extreme, even if it was continually scrolling a page, it wouldn't use 30 minutes of CPU time: the screen updates every 1/60th of a second, and each time it just has to run for long enough to work out what the next frame should be.
CPU foreground
Bearing this in mind, CPU foreground is how much time the app has been running on the CPU while an activity from the app was in the foreground. (It might also include when a service from the app was in the foreground: that is, displaying an "ongoing" notification.) It's not a very useful figure on its own.
CPU total
I'm sure you already know that apps can run services and broadcast receivers in the background, as well as activities in the foreground. (For more on this, see What's the difference between a service and a broadcast receiver? ) CPU total includes all of this CPU use. If it's a lot more than CPU foreground, you might suspect that the app is doing a lot of work in the background and therefore might be a battery hog. How much is "a lot" depends on the app. An app that keeps running to check some remote service will use more CPU in the background than a sudoku game.
Keep awake
When the screen of your phone is off, it starts to think about having a quick nap. It enters a low-power mode called sleep where the CPU is almost completely powered down until needed. Because this can interrupt apps' background activities, an app can use a wake lock to stop the device going to sleep until it's finished. (There's also another kind of wake lock, which stops the screen turning off automatically. A video player might use that kind of wake lock.) An app can also use an alarm to wake the device up to perform some background tasks.
Keep awake measures the length of time that this app has used wake locks or alarms to keep the device awake when it would otherwise have been asleep. In a way, this is potentially the biggest drain on battery. Sleeping uses much less power than staying awake, so if an app keeps a wake lock for a long time, it's keeping your device in a high-power mode all that time, even if the app isn't doing any useful work.
If you see an app whose Keep awake time is more than a few seconds, you should report a bug to the app developer, and you might consider uninstalling it. 30 seconds over the course of a whole day is reasonable for an app that does work in the background, but most apps will show less than a second here.

Following is the explanation to the numbers you have in question.

CPU total = Total time of CPU Usage of your app (CPU total = CPU foreground + CPU background)
In your case, Chrome browser used the CPU for a total time of 29 minutes and 31 seconds.
CPU foreground = CPU usage while the app is in the foreground (visible on screen and focused) In your case, Chrome browser used the CPU for a total time of 14 minutes and 43 seconds when it was visible and focused in the screen
Keep awake = The time your app kept the device from sleeping (prevented the phone from turning the screen off)

Additionally, some devices hae the following item as well.

CPU background = CPU usage while the app is running in the background (it has a background process, or widget, etc)

So, as you can see, the actual time the app used your CPU is lesser than the time you used the app.


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Can I root my Nexus 5 without a custom image?
Is it possible ?
So far I've found 2 images that would allow me to get root, either cloudfire or team win recovery project (twrp).
I'm a little uneasy loading an unknown bootloader to my device.
Or maybe some information beyond "run this program", "double click here" and such. I work as an embedded engineer so I like to know what I'm doing
EDIT :
Usually embedded devices have a 3 stage loading. First they execute hard code in ROM when power comes up. Then this code loads the boot loader, then this boot loader brings the actual linux kernel up. It is my understanding that I will be overwriting the boot loader with twrp. By image I mean a fully compiled binary that will overwrite what is already present. If it is not an "image" to you then fine, it is not. I want to know if it is possible to root the device without overwriting the default bootloader.

TWRP by itself is not an image/ROM. It is a custom recovery feature with which you can apply an image/ROM. With your words, I suspect you are bit mixed up with terminologies. State your requirement in plain English and that might help. :)

@Narayanan A "recovery image" is an image as well, so Eric is correct about that. To install CWM/TWRP, you flash a "recovery image" (an image of the /recovery partition, basically).

Just here to add to the conversation: TWRP and ClockWorkMod (CloudFire doesn't seem to be the name of a root tool at all) aren't bootloaders. Flashing TWRP does not replace the bootloader. Additionally, they're both mature open-source projects and considered highly trustworthy. You're free to build from source if it makes you feel safer as well.

I want to know the same thing. one of the tool uses fastboot boot someimage. Would like to know if this tool also flashes the image to the phone or just uses it temporarily to boot

29 January 2015: TWRP can no longer install official updates past 5.0 on Nexus devices. Updating my language here to say "install unofficial updates" instead of "official".

Since you specifically mention TWRP in your question, I'll just use it as my example. Note that CWM or any other possible Android Recovery project will also apply.
It looks like there's a slight misconception at play. I'll just drop a few clarifying notes here:

TWRP is indeed an image to be flashed.
Flashing TWRP does not overwrite your bootloader.
TWRP is not a bootloader replacement - it is Recovery software. It is a drop-in replacement for Android's stock open-source Recovery Mode, and therefore has the access needed to do things like

Create/Restore backups
Root devices
Install unofficial (and some official) updates

So the short answer is: Yes! It is indeed possible to root without overwriting the stock bootloader!
A few more notes:

TWRP (And CWM Recovery) is a mature (Several years old and quite stable) Open-source project that is used by a huge portion of the Android community and considered very trustworthy.
Flashing TWRP will replace the contents of /recovery/.
You generally need to use the stock bootloader in order to select the boot-to-recovery option in order to use TWRP.


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Why does Better Battery Stats say my Galaxy S4 is awake 100% of the time?
I think the screenshots speak for themselves. Can't pinpoint a reason from what I see. Anyone can help please? Thanks

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)

Buggy Samsung firmware. Just search for "l2_hsic wakelock".

@ce4 thank you. What can we do about it?

Not quite sure, what could help. XDA's thread (for the Galaxy S2) is full of posts and there's only little real information. Maybe follow some suggestions mentioned here (and in the linked thread): http://www.xda-developers.com/android/att-galaxy-s2-owners-can-now-identify-whats-eating-their-battery/

Here's another article about an app that tries to detect the culprit: http://www.xda-developers.com/android/defend-your-battery-with-wakelock-detector/

AFAIK the l2_hsic wakelock is connected to "Fast Dormancy". Might be your modem has some trouble with it, as described in some XDA threads (e.g. here). Also see: kernel - l2_hsic prevents my device from Deep Sleep. How to fix it. Both links are about a Galaxy Note, but the underlying issue might be similar.

Buggy firmware. Restarted and problem went away.


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Galaxy S4 - Exchange ActiveSync picks wrong Display Name
When I add an MSN @live.com email account the Galaxy S4, it doesn't pick the Display Name set by Exchange.
From the web interface, it shows the Display Name set as the full name (e.g. John Smith), but on Android, all out-going emails have the username set as the Display Name (e.g. jsmith).
The Display Name for office365.com email accounts seems to be working fine, but not for @live.com email accounts.
Further more, Android doesn't give the option to re-set or update the Display Name in Exchange ActiveSync email accounts. That options is available under IMAP and POP3 email accounts only.
Is this a new issue?
Has anyone been able to fix this?
I called Samsung and they couldn't find a solution in their support knowledge base, asked me to contact my Cellphone Carrier. I called my Callphone Carrier and they said it's out-of-scope for their Support and that I should contact Samsung.

For posterity's sake, I'd like to point out that after doing research online, I have found out that this is an issue plaguing Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3 as well. Most of the discussions on this issue end with, "Why don't you just get a @gmail account?"
Since I refuse to have an email with numbers in it, I am going to stick to my more professional looking email on @live.com. I don't want to put an ugly email like jsmith223@live.com on my resume or any other correspondence for that matter.
Anyhoo, long story short, if you have a hotmail email address (@hotmail.com, @live.com, @outlook.com, etc) and you value a synchronized mailbox (meaning, having all sent and read messages marked as such on your desktop, web mailbox and phone regardless of where you sent or read a message), then don't get an Android device until there is concrete evidence online of someone being able to show that it works. POP3 is archaic technology from the mid-90s. IMAP isn't a whole lot newer, but you can still get by with IMAP. Unfortunately, Microsoft has refused to offer IMAP services on hotmail accounts. So your only options are POP3 and Exchange ActiveSync (EAS).

Can I just point out that this isn't an android issue but a Samsung issue. The android stock email app on a vanilla Rom allows you to set the "Your Name" field. Samsung's modified email app doesn't have this field


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Where is the default ringtone stored?
I recently brought a Sony Xperia C. One of my friends like a few default ringtones of the phone. I tried to search in the internal as well as sd card memory but couldn't find the ringtone.
Where exactly they are stored? Can I send it to my friends using another android phone?

related http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/28300/how-to-manually-upload-ringtones-and-notifications-to-droidx

Default ringtones are usually stored in /system/media/audio/ringtones. You might be able to access this location using a file manager.
Keep in mind that, residing on /system, this place is read-only at best without root-access: so while you should be able to copy from here, you cannot place any files into this directory. If you want to manually add ringtones to your device, rather create a similar directory on your SDcard (/sdcard/media/audio, with sub-directories for ringtones, alarms, notifications, etc.). This location should be recognized automatically by the Android system.

I can not locate/system in my data card or memory card, do i need to root the phone to access it?

You need a file manager that let you do so. Some lock you to the SDCard. You definitly should not need to root for that (though there might be other good reasons, read access to /system isn't one of them).

okay, i got root privilege for my phone, and finally removed all default ringtones & alarms & notifications from /system partition.

/dscard/media/audio worked but only after a reboot. Is there a way to avoid rebooting?

@CiroSantilli六四事件法轮功包卓轩 yes. Triggering the media scanner by other means than a reboot.

On an LG phone, they live in /product/media/audio/ringtones

The ringtones are stored under the folder system > media > audio > ringtones. You can view the folders using any file manager this one.


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How to use an Android phone or tablet to make a projector presentation?
I have planned for some time to use a smartphone or tablet to give scientific presentations via projector, instead of using a laptop. I'm now thinking about buying a new Android smartphone, if I can be sure that in the end I'll be able to realize this goal with it. So my main question is: What do I have to look out for in order to get a device with which I can give projector presentations?
I apologize that this question is not exactly about a concrete problem I'm faced with right now – I just don't want to purchase a costly device only to find out later that I can't do with it what I want. I therefore did some thinking and research about the possible problems, and ask you for advice on how to avoid a concrete problem to occur in the first place.
Here are some issues that occurred to me:

In my experience most projector installations in lecture halls still only provide access to a VGA connector. I know that VGA as an analog signal requires D-A conversion from a digital signal, but I'm confused about how much effort this takes: Some converters have the shape of a box which needs an extra power supply, others are very small and don't need extra power. What is the difference between these different types of devices, and which kind do I need? Please note that the links are only meant as examples, I'm not asking specifically about these products.
Again in my experience, most installed projectors do not yet support Full HD, but still need signals at resolutions like 800x600 or 1024x768. At least some HDMI-to-VGA converters appear to support downscaling from Full HD to VGA resolutions. Since I probably can't control this from the smartphone/tablet: How does it work? Can I trust that the optimal resolution is automatically negotiated between the adapter and the projector? Can I expect a decent-looking result from the downscaling, or will it be all washed out? Practically speaking: Is there a specifically named feature of such converters that I should look out for when choosing one? Again, the link is only for reference.
Android apps normally have screen output optimized for the fixed, physically small screen built into the device and not the flexibility that is provided by changing the screen resolution or resizing a window on a Desktop OS. Is it a realistic goal to achieve a good presentation experience from a mobile device similar to the one from a laptop? E.g. it appears not to be possible to get Adobe Reader for Android into a proper one-page-fullscreen mode. Is there presentation software that does this better? I'm mainly thinking of presentations in pdf format.

And maybe there are caveats I'm not even thinking of?

Update 2017
Much has changed since the writing of this answer. The old answer (see edit history) is no longer the best answer to this question.
I'd recommend getting a Chromecast and using it with a VGA adapter. This gives you the benefit of giving the presentation wirelessly, instead of leaving your phone tethered to a cable.
Most modern Android phones have this capability, but double check before you purchase if this is something important for you.

Make sure that the phone that you get has a micro-HDMI port, in addition to the traditional USB port. This will allow you to transfer video more easily.
As you noticed, there are two types of converters- the tiny ones, and the large bulky ones with a power supply. The difference is, as stated on the link you sent, that:

Unlike passive adapters Ligawo converter has a power supply, thereby allowing a built-in signal amplification and processing of the image. Provides the signal source sufficient current through HDMI This converter can also be used without power supply.

So yes, the larger ones with power supplies would probably be better in terms of signal quality, and could still be used without being plugged in. However, due to their bulk, the better signal processing (I'm not an expert on signal processing, so I don't know how large of a difference it would make- I've used the small kind, although with a laptop, and it worked perfectly fine) might not be worth it- it's up to you to decide which type is right for you.
As of how the resolution is scaled, it should work automatically for all, if not most, converters. Just double check if it says something like "Input resolution HDMI up to 1080p possible 480p - Output Resolution VGA" (from the link you sent). It shouldn't be a problem to downscale to a specific amount that you want- in the Settings -> HDMI -> HDMI Format, you should be able to change the output resolution. For more info, look here- it is two years old, but the features should still be the same with new phones running JB/KitKat.
As of the software to run, there are many free and premium solutions available in the Google Play store that will work well. If you prefer presenting with PDFs, PDF Reader or Office Suite 7 should work. However, PDFs are a somewhat unconventional presentation format (although they can work), so you should consider using actual presentation software for a better experience. Google Drive for Mobile would work well, since you could edit your presentation on a computer (or your phone) and then present it on your phone, plus it is free. You could also use Presentation Pal, or Office 2012: Presentations, or some other presentation software- there are lots out there, and there's bound to be one that works good for you. All presentation software in the play store should work well for your purpose.
I hope this helps!

Thank you very much, this is very helpful. For instance I didn't realize that it is possible to control output resolution on Android (haven't had a device with video out yet). But you don't speak from actual experience with connecting an Android device to a projector, right? I have this feeling in my gut that things that work with a laptop won't necessarily then... Do you know whether there are HDMI resolutions ("XYZp") that correspond to classic VGA resolutions like 800x600, 1280x1024? – Regarding "actual presentation software" – I do all my stuff with LaTeX/beamer, so it's always pdf. :-)

I haven't connected my phone to a projector or TV (it doesn't have HDMI out) but after doing a little digging around the web, I think it is straightforward, if not commonplace, to connect a phone to a TV. (See here and what I previously linked to). I'm not sure how different it would be with a projector, since their both just different types of displays.

I'm not sure if there is a direct correlation between HDMI resolutions and VGA resolutions, however, I would think that you could set the output HDMI resolution to whatever works best on you projector. Also, PDFs are fine (since it's Latex, you don't really have much of a choice), but if you can't find a PDF app that suits your needs, consider using a PDF to "XYZ Presentation Software" Converter.

It appears that the ability to select the output signal is not a standard Android feature; at least on my new Nexus 5 there are no "HDMI settings".

@A.Donda I apologize if that didn't work, I guess the tutorial I found only applies to the Droid X (although they didn't say it is manufacturer-specific, which puzzles me). I hope that you find some workaround or manage to survive without it, and again, I apologize for not realizing that it was manufacturer specific. I wasn't speaking from experience, I was trusting the internet, which well.... isn't always a good idea.

No problem, your answer was still helpful. :-) As soon as there is a stable version of Cyanogenmod for the Nexus 5, I'll install it, and I'd expect many more configuration possibilities there.

there is a micro-usb to VGA cable available. from phone to projector input, this might help. Havent tried. going to try very soon since i have a similar requirement..

I collected some information relevant to this question in an answer to How to connect your Nexus phone to a VGA projector? – which is the question I actually wanted to ask here, but was told it is too much subject to change to induce answers of interest to future generations. ;-)
In short:

It appears there is no real difference between HDMI-to-VGA converters and HDMI-to-VGA adapters, because also those devices that claim not to need a power supply actually need extra power under many circumstances.
There are no "HDMI settings" on stock Android, though manufacturer-specific Android versions as well as "Custom ROMs" of course may include them. Additionally, there are Android apps that appear to be able to change the output resolution.
It appears that the biggest obstacle to getting a VGA signal from an Android device via an HDMI-to-VGA converter is the circumstance that HDCP seems to be enabled by default for all content, and there is no (simple) way to disable it, at least on stock Android. Standard converters simply do not output a VGA signal if the input is copy protected.

You can use a Samsung Galaxy Beam as a projector if you have got such device. There must be second hand editions of it somewhere on the Internet if you don't want to pay a lot for a brand new one.


text:
Is there a way  to schedule hibernate/shut down on an HTC Desire HD?
I'm planning to get SleepPhones, a sort of comfortable headphone which I plug into my HTC Desire HD. I would play music which puts me into sleep (hopefully) for up to 60 minutes.
Is there a way hibernate/shutdown the phone say after 90 minutes or perhaps at 2am every day to save power?

You should be able to use either Locale or Tasker to setup a condition (i.e., at 2 am) to do something (turn volume down, stop media player, or turn off wifi or other services).  But as far as I know, neither program will let you shut down your phone.

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


text:
Microsoft apps always eating up space with data, for apparently no reason
Microsoft apps (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) use up space apparently for no reason.
At this point, I do not use them.
I am using a Samsung J7 with Android 6, with 16Gb internal storage and no SD card.
Since I often run out of space, I check which apps are using it. I always find Microsoft apps are taking up space for data, and this seems strange to me.
For instance, I go to Settings -> Applications -> Application Manager -> Word -> Storage,
and I see:
Total 256 MB
App 104 MB
Data 152 MB

Why would Word use 152 MB of Data, if I did not read/use any?

I hit CLEAR DATA not long ago, and I checked that the corresponding storage space was actually freed to 0 MB.
Now it is taking again 152 MB.

What are those data?

It is not that much space, but in my case it makes a difference.
Excel and PowerPoint behave similarly.
A stranger case seems to be OneNote, with
Total 3.89 MB
App 0 MB
Data 3.89 MB

EDIT: Now, two days after the initial post, Word takes up 16 kB. That is fine. I will check periodically to see when it increases Data size.
EDIT: A couple of months after the initial OP, without using any of the apps, Excel had 251Mb of Data.

If you never use them - remove them.

@Alex.S - I currently do not use them, and I certainly considered removing them. But I am not certain I would not use them in the (near?) future.

@sancho.s Microsoft's Word and Excel are heavy because they are feature rich. You have so many alternatives like DocsToGo, Smart Office, WPS Office which are all-in-one type of apps. I use DocsToGo for viewing documents because I never edit documents on mobile. It is a pain to do so.

@MANI - The question is about the size of Data, not App, so I guess the comment does not address the OP. Anyway, thanks for the suggested app.


text:
Cannot move app to SD card: "Not enough storage space"
Disclaimer: There are many similar questions, but: 1) No answer there helped me, 2) This one provides additional info and questions, 3) Others seem to be related to Android versions < 8, so the scheme looks different. So it wouldn't really help adding a bounty.
I am using Android 8. As far as I could find, I cannot install apps directly to SD card. I have to install them regularly, and then move them via Settings -> Apps -> Workplace (App info) -> Storage.
I mean to move Facebook Workplace to the SD card, and I keep getting "Not enough storage space".
I have plenty of space there (more than 6Gb).
The app shows as taking up 138Mb. I have 530Mb available in the internal memory.
What I tried:

Moving other apps to the SD card. It worked.
Removing and reinstalling Facebook Workplace. Moving to SD card. It failed the same.
Ejecting the SD card and inserting it again. I had to rebuild my home screen, but still cannot move the app.

What I did not try:

Formatting the SD card. I guess it is too much work to try, and many others reported it does not work.
Reinstalling the OS. It is a corporate device.
Rooting the phone. Ibid.
A custom ROM. Ibid.
Using an app. It seemed to me that this was required for older Android versions. Now Android has that capability builtin.

Other similar questions are:
Unable to move few Apps to SD Card .
This answer provides reasons why an app might not support moving to SD, but I guess Android 8 is already aware of this, and shows the option only if possible.
Plus, I wouldn't know how to tell if Facebook Workplace is one such app.
And none of this has an answer that helps me (many of these are very old questions):
Getting "not enough space" error even i have enough space in sd card
"Cannot Move App Not Enough Storage Space" Error Message
Cannot move app to sd-card?
Storage space in SD card
Getting "not enough space" error even i have enough space in sd card
why do I keep getting message saying unable to move app not enough storage space ?
Move app to SD card
Move apps to SD card in Marshmallow without using internal SD Card storage?
My apps don't move to SD-card
Move apps to internal SD card
"Couldn't move app. Not enough storage space." I have factory reset my phone, inserted & formated a new 64GB MicroSD Card
Why do I keep getting "not enough storage space"
More old questions:
App can't be moved to SD card
What does the 'Failed to move application. Not enough memory' error mean when choosing 'Move to SD card'?
"Couldn't move app. Not enough storage space." I have factory reset my phone, inserted & formated a new 64GB MicroSD Card


text:
Reduce space taken by Outlook
Outlook is eating up space in my Samsung J7 prime. I am currently working with something between 100Mb and zero free space.
If I free up some space, it seems Outlook increases its occupied space.
Is there any way to tell Outlook which folders I want it to sync?
Or any other way to limit (e.g., from the OS) the space it takes?

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/220355/define-storage-caps-per-app-basis#comment284651_220355

@IrfanLatif - Related... and with no answers.

No answers because it's not possible. See my comment.

I know this may not be an exact answer, but I ultimately switched to Android Firefox web browser (or your favorite browser), with desktop homepage link to outlook.offfice.com and... it behaves perfectly. That is, assuming your email account is served there...
MS actually did pretty good job with their mobile web page rendering and functionality, and so far I do not miss any functionality (email, calendar...) from my bloated Outlook for Android app (800MB unmovable local storage!).
Hope this helps somebody.

I guess the only problem with this is you don't get alerts for new "focused" emails.

That is not an option for me...


text:
Missing Cast icon in the Notification Center
I mean to cast my Android screen to my Windows 10 PC.
I pull down from the top, but I do not find the Cast icon, even if I pull a second time.
Can I fix this?
Using Android 8.1.0 (Oreo) in a J7 Prime.
Note 1:

Accroding to this, "Some of these steps work only on Android 10 and up."
There isn't any further specification.
According to this, without explicitly telling it, but shown in the images, I should have Cast available.
According to this, availability of Cast is "largely dependent on your phone's OEM skin... the Google Cast button... has been exclusive to Nexus and Pixel devices, even though other phones have the requisite software to use it."
One should install Quick Settings to be able to add the icon.
This opposes the implicit description above.

Note 2:
I am not certain about the relation between this Cast icon, Quick connect, Smart view, Windows 10 Connect, and the following 2 icons.

Note 3:
I actually mean to cast from Android to PC without a WiFi router, but that is a separate story.

Related on XDA Devs

@AndrewT. - Didn't find much help there. Moreover, it started on June 2016, prior to Nougat.

Tried reboot?

Sorry, I should clarify that there's a very high possibility that Samsung doesn't have Cast on their quick settings since manufacturers are free to customize their devices. Instead, they provide "Quick Connect" or "Smart View" which is too specific for Samsung-related devices


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Contacts are not displaying after Marshmallow update
Recently I upgraded my Moto G (Second gen) to Android Marshmallow. After that, my Contacts app is not displaying any contacts and call logs. What I am getting is one blank screen only.
I tried installing other apps like Contacts+, True Dialer, etc. but the same result. In fact, Contacts+ is not launching only. It's getting stuck while launching. So, after the Marshmallow update, my phone is of no use, because I can't make any calls, see my call logs, etc.
Is this a bug with Marshmallow? Any solution for this issue?

I could fix this issue by doing the following steps.
First Wipe the Cache partition. (It won't erase any files or settings)
To wipe the cache partition do the following steps.

Ensure the device is powered off, and unplugged
Press and hold the Volume Down button and Power button (located on the right edge of the device) for approximately 3 seconds then release.
From the "Boot Mode Selection Menu" screen, select Recovery.
Note: Use the Volume Down button to scroll through the menu options        and the Volume Up button to select.
From the "No Command" screen (Android figure lying on his back), press and hold the Power button, tap Volume Up once and then release the Power button.
Select "wipe cache partition".
Note: Use the Volume buttons to highlight and the Power button to select.
"Reboot system now" will be highlighted, press the Power button to select it.
Note: Allow several minutes for the reboot process to complete.

Once you are done with the Wipe procedure , go to https://contacts.google.com and export your contacts as .vcf file and copy to your device.
Open Contacts App (Phone app) -> go to options on the top right corner (3 dots) -> choose import/export -> import from .vcf file. This will restore your contacts..

I tried wiping cache and it didn't seem to work (but it is possible that I simply didn't wait long enough for the contacts to re-appear) so I tried wiping the dalvik cache and that worked. (Just as a tip if someone is experiencing the same issue. Just wiping the cache, deleting the dalvik cache doesn't destroy any data on your phone)

Remove the Google account first, then set it up again. Go to the Contacts' setting & set contacts display as your Google account. This time, the sync will be as per the Google account and all invisible contacts not found during the search will be visible.

Go to Settings - Contacts - Contacts to Display.
Select All Contacts.
This worked on my Oppo R9 Plus with Android 6.

On Moto G, the new Marshmallow doesn't allow to save contacts to phone accounts (device). You can save your phone numbers to your Google account and during the adding process of a new contact, there are no options to select the place where you actually want to save the new contact like it used to be in the previous version of Android; for instance -- SIM, phone, card, Google account.
In this way, Android tries to own you, your contacts, and all information about you.

To be fair, this depends on the Contacts app. Some 3rd-party Contacts apps still provide local storage.

Press contact icon and drag it to app info.
Then go to permission and enable all options (storage).
Then it will work.

Restart your phone in safe mode, open the Contacts app, and you will see your contacts list loaded without any delay. Now switch off your phone and restart it in normal mode. Everything works fine.

Make sure your device's screen is on, then press & hold the Power button.
In the box that opens, touch & hold Power off.
You’ll see a “Reboot to safe mode” box. Touch OK.
Your device will start up in safe mode. go to contacts tab all contacts will update automatically then again reboot the device and you will be able to see the contacts in normal mode.


text:
Reclaim space occupied by an uninstalled app
I have recently uninstalled Economist.
According to Settings -> Apps, it was taking up ca. 530Mb in data (from the internal memory).
After uninstalling, I did not get that space freed.
Is there any way to reclaim that space, without installing any utility app?
I have seen Clean Master is mentioned a few times. I am not certain who of those mentioning it actually tried it, successfully; and it seems to be quite annoying.
I cannot root the phone.
Related, but not providing an answer:
I uninstalled an app,but did not clear space
Manage files left by uninstalled apps?
Why my phone is always out of space recently, but I didn't install any new software (I tried

$adb shell

su -c "du /data" | sort -n

but my shell doesn't have su)
Completely uninstall an app on Lollipop
Why doesn't uninstalling an app free all the space it had used?
How can I reclaim space used by the defaul email client
(I reinstalled The Economist, to see if Settings -> Apps reported again the same occupied space, so I could Clear Data from there; but not it shows a mere 15Mb of data).
spy / invisible file occupying 4gb+ space in internal storage
Space deleted but not reclaimed for re-use
What else is occupying my android phone's internal space

You don't need to install any cleaners, they can't free space fro you except clearing apps' caches. That you can do yourself too. Android's package manager itself deletes all files related to an app when it's uninstalled. But sometimes the space usage is not updated immediately, even sometimes until restart. However, there is no way to verify how much space an app is actually taking without rooting phone: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/216132/218526

Try SD Maid, in my view best possible option. Been using for years. Corpse finder option in that specifically targets your need. Without root ss @IrfanLatif said, no way

@beeshyams - Thanks. I did not understand... does SD Maid need root or not?

@IrfanLatif - I am certain the space I am talking about was never recovered. I would have noticed 500Mb+ space.

@sancho.sReinstateMonica right. But (un)fortunately no app including SDMaid can scan outside /sdcard without root access. Actual app space usage is in /data partition. See given link for explanation. If the app can explore files or provides commandline access, you can see exact size of only its self owned files in /data/app, /data/data and other directories.

SD maid can work with /without root. As @IrfanLatif made it clear , you can't expect full results without root but since your device isn't rooted SD maid can reclaim what it can. Recommended that based on reputation of app + my experience// Ah, I see the confusion now, sorry for the typo for "ss" read 'as" in my first comment

Just out of curiosity, is there anything in /sdcard/Android/obb?

@beeshyams - @IrfanLatif mentioned that no app can scan outside /sdcard without rooting. Would you agree?

Yes. @IrfanLatif knows what he is talking about

@beeshyams sir I'm honored. @sancho.sReinstateMonica /sdcard is actually /data/media/0. So by "outside /sdcard" I meant in /data partition. Apps can scan or access other partitions partially or fully including /system and /vendor.

@beeshyams - Thanks. I was not clear from your answer whether you meant that specifically or not.

@IrfanLatif - Thanks, will try and post feedback.

@DeathMaskSalesman - In /sdcard/Android/obb I have a few dirs, like com.avast.android.cleaner, com.facebook.katana, ...

@beeshyams - Is SD Maid also ok for files in the internal memory? (The name SD may be misleading then)

oh, yes, the name hasn't got any bearing


text:
Cannot install / update apps
Since a short time ago, I cannot update / install apps.
E.g., if I try updating a given app, it is downloaded and shown as installing.

But as soon as the installation finishes, it shows again as available for updating, and I keep having in my phone the same "old" version.

What can be the cause, and solution for this? (I mean not to factory reset my phone...)
Could it be related to some setting in
Settings -> Apps -> Special Access -> Apps that can change system settings ?
Using Samsung J7 Prime, Android 8.1.0

These kind of bugs are usually because of old play store service. Try updating those first.

Comment above and answer posted are both valid. In addition, clear the data of Play Store if these don't work (you will have to set up again)

@Supars - What is the procedure for "updating old play store service"?

@beeshyams - What is the procedure for "updating old play store service"?

Follow steps in answer and you should be able to update or simply search for "Google Play Services" in your chrome browser and the app will show up . click on that and if it shows updates available, update it

Here is a detail step by step that will hopefully keep you from doing a factory reset. There's a couple things to touch on before beginning. Placing your phone in airplane mode will ensure updates don't start until you finish the entire process. If you are rooted disable all applications that require root (Task & Scripting Apps, Firewalls, Adblockers, etc) Also anything of that nature for non-root, any 'run at boot' type App. Feed Readers, Podcast Apps, basically anything that wants to sync on reboots and/or connection changes.

First be sure that you have plenty of storage to proceed. More than 1 Gb at least should be free on your internal memory
Also be sure your SDcard is working correctly.
Eject & remove your SDcard, then re-insert it.
Reboot before starting this procedure, we're trying to get everything in the freshest state possible.

1) Turn Off & Reset Networking
 1. Turn ON airplane mode.
 2. Open the Settings App.
 3. Under the "Wireless & Networks" header tap More > Reset Network Settings.
 (Samsung: Settings > Connections > More Connection Settings > Reset Network Settings.)

2) Remove Google Account
This will remove Information linked to your account until you re-add your account Make sure you backup important information before this step
 1. Open the Settings App.
 2. Under the "Personal" header tap Accounts. (No header on Samsung)
 3. Tap Google > Select the account you're using with Google Play
 4. Tap More > Remove Account.

3) Clear Cache & Data from Download Manager
 1. Open the Settings App.
 2. Under the "Device" header tap Apps. (No header on Samsung)
 3. Scroll to and tap Download Manager.
 4. Tap Force Stop.
 5. Then tap Storage.
 6. Tap Clear Cache.
 7. Then tap Clear Data.

4) Clear Cache & Data from Google Play Services
 1. Open the Settings App.
 2. Under the "Device" header tap Apps. (No header on Samsung)
 3. Scroll to and tap Google Play Services.
 4. Tap Force Stop.
 5. Then tap Storage.
 6. Tap Clear Cache.
 7. Then tap Clear Data.
 8. (if available) Tap Uninstall to uninstall system updates.

5) Clear Cache & Data from Google Play Store
 1. Open the Settings App.
 2. Under the "Device" header tap Apps. (No header on Samsung)
 3. Scroll to and tap Google Play Store.
 4. Tap Force Stop.
 5. Then tap Storage.
 6. Tap Clear Cache.
 7. Then tap Clear Data.
 8. Tap Uninstall to uninstall system updates.
 9. Repeat these step for all other existing Google apps. **Backup your data**

6) Things to check in the Setting App before rebooting
  Use the Search in the Settings App, some of these may not be found in every Android version.
 - Reset App Preferences in the Apps settings menu.
 - Reset Permissions in Privacy Guard and set it to OFF.
 - System Profiles are set to OFF.
 - Developer Options are set to OFF.
 - Under the "System" header tap Accessibility, Switch all to OFF.

7) Reboot, Connect & Sign-In
 1. Power on / Reboot your Device.
 2. Open Settings > Display > Screen Timeout. Set it to Never.
 3. Plug your device into a power source.
 4. Allow a couple minutes to pass then turn OFF airplane mode.
 5. Turn Data off.
 6. Open Google Play.
 7. Choose your network.
 8. Sign into your Google Account.
 9. Tap the Home button.
10. Set your device down for 10-15 minutes and let Google process updates, sync, etc.
11. Reboot and access Google Play as you normally would.

All information can be found in the Play Store Help: extra steps to fix Google Play Issues

+1 for a detailed answer.

The answer is long, but it has some pieces of misinformation:

"More than 1 Gb at least should be free on your internal memory". The lower limit I found needed to install apps is 500Mb available space.
The options should be listed in order of "severity". Removing the Google Account should certainly be listed after clearing Caches.

the steps described are the order listed on Google's site. see https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/7512202

Taken from:
Play Store won’t open, load, or download apps

Open your device's Settings > app Settings.
Tap Apps & notifications and then See all apps.
Scroll down and tap Google Play Store.
Tap Storage and then Clear Cache.
Next, tap Clear data.

Re-open the Play Store & try your download again.

Restart your device once.

Please clear your cache and then try updating the apps. More specifically you will have clear the Play Store app cache.
Go to Settings, Apps, Google Play Store app, and click on storage. There you should have a option to clear the cache.
Do let us know if that helps.


text:
Cannot update some apps
I am using Android 8.1, Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime, Google Play Store v 23.8.08-21, Google Play Services v 20.50.16.
Everything installed from the Play Store.
For a few apps that I have installed, whenever I try to update them in Play, they would finish downloading, and start downloading again. After several times, the process finishes and I still have the same old version.
I can still update most of the apps, or install new apps.
For instance, I had this problem with Waze. In addition, the total size that was shown was different from the actual size (36.22MB vs. 78.51MB), but download goes up to the actual size.
I tried uninstalling Waze, to see if this fixed the issue, and now I cannot install it again, so I am in a worse situation than before.

This problem is similar, but not the same, to another I had previously reported Cannot install / update apps
I reinstalled Android in between.
How can I solve this problem?
I have already

Cleared Cache from Google Play Store and Google Play Services.
Removed my Google account and Added it again.
Rebooted phone.

I did not try Clear Data from Google Play Store, since there were people reporting that the phone became unusable after that.

Are the installed apps installed from PlayStore? Because if the app signature does not match the installation may fail. What Android and PlayStore version is installed on your device?

@Robert - I have added all info you asked about

As only a few apps are affected I would try to install the update by sideloading the app from apkmirror.com/apkpure.com or similar web site. As you already have the app installed the app has to have the same cryptographic signature hence you don't have to fear that the downloaded app may be forged or manipulated if it installs as update. Hopefully this fixes the update problems.


text:
How to get Jelly Bean Camera to use external SD card?
I just purchased a 32 GB SD card for use with my Galaxy S3 which is running a 4.2.1 rom. Certain apps like Titanium Backup I was able to switch to start using the SD card just fine, but I can't for the life of me find a setting anywhere for the camera to start storing videos/photos there. Is this possible?
I've googled lots, but all I can find is directions for older versions of Android, which aren't applicable to my setup.

Have you checked the settings in the camera app? In several versions, it has a "storage" option where you can define that.

Unfortunately on this version of Android, the only things in the settings menu are picture/video quality options depending on the mode I'm in. Hitting the actual Android settings button while in the application doesn't bring up any menu at all.

Here's how I did it:

Go into Camera as if you were taking a picture
Go into Settings (gear) on top left
Scroll down to Storage
Change to Memory Card

The poster already commented that they lack this particular setting.

Honestly this option wasn't there for the longest time, and I've been running 4.2.2 for a while. It must have been a bug with the rom I was using, it's there now and works fine.

Just in case you haven't found the setting for this, I stumbled upon it tonight on my 4.2.1 phone. I'd previously set it without realising (only just made the move over to Android) and after removing my SD card the other day, I found after I re-inserted it into the phone it would only save to the internal flash memory... I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I'd done!
Finally figured it out:-
Go to the main Android system settings menu and select Storage. The very top option is to select the default write disk - set this to SD card and back out of the menus.
Job done. :)
Cheers,
Nick

So weird, I don't have that option. Can you post a screenshot? I've still got about 20GB sitting around doing nothing  :(
Here's the top of my storage screen https://www.dropbox.com/s/agxhshsxzdb9cqf/2013-05-07%2000.11.37.png

Long press the screen when in camera, this will popup a menu, within there u can select settings, and change storage to sdcard. You can also press the flashlight button on the right to get that menu.

Change the Default Write Disk from Phone storage to SD card.
Android Setting->Storage->Change the Default Write Disk


text:
Samsung Tab2 without Google ID
Is it possible to use a Samsung Tab WITHOUT using a Google account? I don't like Google to monitor all my activities.

Yes, it is. When you first boot the device, it asks for your Google account. Just select the option "I don't have a Google account" and then the option that says you don't want to create one.
Note that you can't use some Google services like Play Store which require a Google account.

Thanks a lot. But I can ignore the Play Store and install certain apps via the website of the developer?

Yes; there are other app market apps too, including Samsung's own. Don't forget to click Ask Question if you have a follow-up question to ask.

You might also want to check F-Droid, which is a FOSS (free-and-open-source) Android market. They have their own "market app" which you can find on the linked website, install on your device (after having enabled "unknown sources" in your settings), and then enjoy an alternative market app -- without having a Google Account.


text:
error with adb push
Hi I want to push an APK Expansion file to my phone so I am executing:
C:\Users\dogface\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb.exe push c
:\main.1.com.redcricket.Audiobook.obb  /mnt/sdcard/Android/obb/com.redcricket.Audiobook\main.1.com.redcricket.Audiobook.obb
But that fails with this error:
failed to copy 'c:\main.1.com.redcricket.Audiobook.obb' to '/mnt/
sdcard/Android/obb/com.redcricket.Audiobook\main.1.com.redcricket
.Audiobook.obb': Invalid argument
So what am I doing wrong here?

First, especially for "Newbies": Hovering your mouse over the adb tag will reveal some info. Clicking the info link there brings you to the tag wiki, providing you some information to get started. The second link there (Everything about ADB) contains the answer to your problem:

adb push C:\Desktop\TitaniumBackup.apk /sdcard/

For the target, only specify the path, do not include a file name. So your command should look like:
adb.exe push c:\main.1.com.redcricket.Audiobook.obb /mnt/sdcard/Android/obb/com.redcricket.Audiobook

A special error you included is the backslash (\) which, on Windows systems, is a path separator -- but on Posix systems (Unix/Linux/Android) is an "escape character" (directory separator on these systems is the "forward slash", /).

Glad I could help -- and that it was such an easy solution :)


text:
Smaller "Turn off all sounds" widget
My OS version is 4.1.2.
I'm currently using the "Turn off all sound" 2x1 widget on my home screen, but I feel it is too big. I'm looking for a widget that is 1x1 and has the same functionality: mute all (or as many as possible) sounds and leaves vibration notifications on.

You could try Elixir 2. It lets you add different kinds of toggle widgets, including mute widgets.