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Preferred and forbidden networks on Android
In the days before Android, buried deep in the network settings of my old phone were two options called Preferred Networks and Forbidden Networks was an option called Preferred Networks, and I have also heard of Forbidden Networks. These were used for roaming: when the home network was not available, the phone would not simply grab the first available network but compare the list of currently available networks to the Preferred & Forbidden Networks: it would never try to roam into a forbidden network, and if one of the visible networks was on the Preferred Networks list, it would try that network first. The lists were stored on the SIM.
Note that this has nothing to do with APNs or network types – this setting is entirely about network operators.
Does Android still use these lists? If so, is there a way to view/edit these lists on Android?

I don't think Android deals with this natively (at least I've never seen/found/heard-of such an option). Which does not mean there's no solution: see my answer here.

Actually, reconsidering it – I use three different SIM cards from different countries in my phone, all of them either Vodafone or Vodafone partner networks. When roaming with any of these cards, the phone will almost invariably pick the local Vodafone network or the partner network, falling back to other networks only when the former is not available. As far as I remember, the cards have those networks in their Preferred Network list – thus apparently Android still honors that. Which leaves us with the questions: is that the same for Forbidden Networks? And how can I edit the lists?

I don't think so. What I rather suppose is happening here is some provider flags making Android prefer those networks. But I've got no knowledge on that level.

Through research I found out that Preferred and Forbidden Networks are part of the SIM card spec. While Preferred Networks are a user-editable preference, Forbidden Networks are not. They are a list of four entries handled by the phone: whenever a network rejects a registration request, its MCC/MNC is stored (dropping the oldest entry if the list is full) so the phone will skip these in the future. Most likely it's up to the modem if and how it handles both – maybe modems nowadays handle everything internally without relying on the SIM.

Deselect international OR select the service provider's roaming options under SIM tools, this may  may help to avoid any forbidden network scenario.

In a limited number of scenarios this might work. If you run a custom ROM, you can also edit the lists of networks considered not roaming (which are per MCC/MNC of the SIM issuer) and then disable roaming—this will effectively whitelist the networks considered not roaming, and prevent use of all others.


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Do different phones have different accelerometer quality? Is there a way to measure it?
I'm creating an Android application that basically detects the vibration of a car on streets and saves the data in a file that I'll analyze later. But I'm curious to know if there's such a thing as an "accelerometer accuracy" on different phones.
If there is, is it possible to measure the accelerometer quality of a specific phone? What are the parameters I should be paying attention when I want a phone with a very good accelerometer sensitivity and accuracy?

I've gotten some specific sensor information on my phone's sensors from an app like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.anu.developers3k.mydevice.  It queries the phone and gets sensor information as well as the sensor data.

The quality of the sensor is mainly determined by the used sensor chip.
For a lot of devices you can find the info which sensor chip is used for providing the accelerometer/gyroscope sensor data. E.g. you can find it in a tear-down article of the device.
With that info you can review the technical data-sheet of the used chip(s) and compare them or ask the electronic tinker scene on the net for their thoughts or recommendations.

If you want to know what sensor is inside your phone, you should download Cpu-Z. It provides information about all hardware inside your phone and gives the name of the chips. So you can google for more information.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cpuid.cpu_z

source: Stack Exchange

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

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Android detects bluetooth gamepad as mouse
A couple of days ago I bought a bluetooth controller(Steelseries FREE Mobile Wireless Controller), but unfortunately my tablet detects it as mouse(I can move pointer with left analog etc.).
I have written a message to support, and they replied that they are sorry but there's nothing they can do...
So I decided to fix it myself. Some games that support keyboard controlling I can play with an app called Bluez IME. But all of the other - not :/
I started logcat in terminal and I've discovered that after I connect my gamepad, it loads hid-keyboard layout and says it's "keyboard mouse"
Below is photo of terminal with important part of logcat(Sorry it's a photo - I'm in a hurry)

So my idea is to load my own prepared key layout file instead of hid-keyboard.kl, but I don't know how to achieve it.
Any help would be appreciated :)
EDIT:
dmupsys input also didn't give me a lot of information: device is called hid-keyboard(while on my phone it's full name of device), its Identifier is:
"bus=0x0019, vendor=0x0000, product=0x0000, version=0x0000" - that's why my configuration file didn't load, but I can't call it "vendor0000product0000.kl", because my tablet sees a couple ofother devices with this identifier :(
My guess would be that it's some system app that hijacks input from gamepad and gives me mouse pointer - it would be fine, but when I enter some game, it's still a cursor :<

look under /system/usr/keylayout ,do you see a file called hid-keyboard.kl ?

Yes, there is this file. I have already tried substituting it with my own, as no other device uses this file. Unfortunately, everything is the same way it was :/
I think it's some system app, that's emulating mouse instead of just letting it be a gamepad...

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


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Text message is being divided into two messages
I use a pre-paid cellular service from T-mobile. Each text message is deducted from my account at a preset rate.
Too often, a text message I receive of 100 or less characters and spaces is broken into two texts, meaning I get hit for 2 texts instead of one. So for example, a 100 character & spaces text will arrive as a 60 character text and a 40 character text.
Is there anything I can do about this and still keep the same service?
Why are texts being divided if they are under the total character & spaces length of 130?

Does this always happen, or only from certain senders? Does the text message include non-ASCII character, like emoji, or foreign characters like Arabic/Russian/East Asian? This might be related: Adjust SMS length limit? and SMS Message Size

A single SMS can hold up to 160 characters. But that's only for text.
Since smartphones make a lot of use of emojis, the SMS cannot hold 160 characters anymore if you include an emoji. AFAIK, the default emoji (smiley) will take 2 characters, but the one with a custom skin tone can take 4 characters. Similarly, it varies from device to device and what kind of emoji it supports.

AFAIK your "smiley approximation" is too short. An SMS uses 7bit characters and a regular smiley requires 16bit. Therefore it uses more than two SMS characters, usually 4: Read https://www.nowsms.com/emoticons for details.

@Robert I just tested this up on my SMS app (I'm using SMS Organizer from Microsoft if that matters) and the regular emojis (the yellow ones) are taking up 2 chars. However, for ones that I long tap and choose skin color, they consume 4. Probably things have changed. Yes, if I'm not wrong, the emojis used to consume more for me in the past. Else this Microsoft app is counting characters wrongly.

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


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How to switch on/off system load and running processes overlay
Somehow I have managed to get my Android phone (HTC Wildfire running Cyanogenmod 7.1 / Android 2.3.7) into a state where the system load (in unix uptime format) and running process list is constantly displayed on top of the screen, no matter what is running.  How do I turn this feature off?
(For the avoidance of doubt, I think this happened while the phone was unlocked in my pocket.  I never explicitly asked for this behaviour.)

Where did you get Android 2.4 from? Never heard about that version :)

Yupp, that sounds much more reasonable ;)

Oh dear, the moment I offer a bounty on this question, I bump into the solution myself.
Cyanogenmod has a "Dev Tools" app.  In "Development Settings" in this app, uncheck "Show running processes" to make this go away.

would be nice if u can give bounty to somebody else who made effort to help u, no? ;)

Can you take the bounty yourself? Of course it would be 0 net gain but you should be able to either award or cancel it.

As far as I'm aware it is impossible to award a bounty to yourself.  This makes perfect sense, as otherwise people might game the system setting bounties to generate interest then awarding themselves the bounty.

The setting you are looking for is, most likely, found in Settings → Development (might be called "Developer options"; I know on some ROMs this option is initially hidden -- but if it's hidden in your case, it would be funny how that CPU overlay was activated). Scroll down a bit there, and you should find the "Monitoring" section -- where you probably checked to "show CPU load".

As the screenshots show, the settings item is sometimes called "Development" and on other ROMs (here: Nexus) "Developer options". Simply check for something similar -- not sure if some manufacturer decided for a third term ;)

There is no "Development" item on the settings menu.

It's usually the previous to last item in the Settings. Might be calles "Developer options". I'll update my answer with a pic.

The options that I have under "Applications" -> "Development" are "USB debugging" (checked), "ADB over network", "Debugging nofify", "Stay Awake", "Allow Mock locations", "Stop app via long press" and "Device host nmae".  There does not appear to be anything marked "Show CPU load".

My bad: I missed the "Android 2.3.7" -- those options I mentioned where introduced with 4.x. But luckily you found them in the CM backport options :) +1 for that from me!

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


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Can't take screenshots on a rooted device
I can't take screenshots on my rooted Android 4.0.3 tablet. It's a Genesis GT-1230 running some modified ROM, and apparently the power + volume down combination is disabled.
The screen is 10.1", 1024 x 600 pixels.

I have GoLauncher installed on it, and its screenshot feature produces a result like this:

(resolution 600 x 988, not resized or edited in any way)

However, if I deny root permissions for GoLauncher, the screenshot result goes like this:

(resolution 249 x 410, not resized or edited in any way)

I installed this screenshot app, it requires root, I give root permission, and it displays an error message, something along the lines of "error on fb0".

I was able to take screenshots after rebooting the device and running the same screenshot app with root permissions.
The GoLauncher screenshot feature gives the same results, corrupt image when ran as root and very small image when ran as non-root.

Why are you doing it that way? Not surprised that the app that was downloaded failed to work!
Android 4.0.4 has native screenshot facility in place - hold down Power button and press the volume down key simultaneously.
A screenshot will be captured and stored on /sdcard/Screenshots

Sorry, it's an Android 4.0.3 tablet, fixed that. Tried the power + up combination, didn't work.

@ruda.almeida see my edit - its power button + vol down key!

doesn't work for me...

@ruda.almeida obviously the ICS ROM was modified to remove the "standard" shortcut in screen capture.... :(  (It became standard since ICS came out) What is the name of the device as matter of interest?

It's a Genesis GT-1230.

I suggest you re-edit your question to include that information to make it easier. Should have stated that from the start!


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What folders should I backup to my computer
I have a SGS2 with ICS. The phone is rooted. I use Titanium Backup Pro for backup, but that only backups to the phone itself, so if the phone is stolen or lost those backups are gone as well.
I have SSHDroid installed, and yesterday I made a backup of the sdcard folder to my home server using rsync. Now I would like to know if there are other folders that have data in them that I miss. I don't necessarily need a full backup of the phone, don't know if that's useful. I just want all user data safe.
So is there something that I'm missing? If so, what folders should I backup as well?

There's a number of mounts which differs form device to device. The read-only mounts (most importantly /system which contains the firmware) don't need a backup. The tmpfs file systems (/dev) also don't need one. App related userdata is in /data, personal/media files, etc. reside in the SD card partition, starting with Android 4.0 also in /data/media (the usual sdcard folder is just an export for seamless legacy support). In Samsung phones there might also be an /efs mount which holds the keys for encrypted partitions and mac/imei IDs iirc.

Your SD card contains pretty much all the data you need.
In addition to app backup, you can also use SMS Backup+ to backup your texts to the SD card (and then to the home server).
Titanium Backup Pro version has an option to backup files to your Dropbox folder, so you can use that instead of rsync if you like.
Also, try to move as much data to the cloud as you can - including contacts, settings, photos etc - you get peace of mind knowing that most things are already backed up even if your phone gets damaged or stolen.

Thanks. I believe Titanium Pro makes a backup of sms, so that should be covered. I use crashplan on my computers for local backup and to the cloud.

As Sumesh suggested, synching the complete SD card should be sufficient (Titanium Backup stores its backup data there as well). You could use FolderSync for this, regardless of the backup target (your computer or the cloud). Not everybody loves to have private data in the cloud (I don't, for example) -- but with FolderSync, everbody has the choice where to backup to.

Titanium will also backup your call log and wi-fi settings. I include both in my backups.

True, but it might create problems when trying to move between ROMs, so I usually avoid it. Works well if you're reinstalling the same/similar firmware, though.

If you paid for the Pro version of Titanium Backup, you should have the option to store the backups to several online storage locations. Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box are built-in to Titanium Backup Pro. All you need to do is add your account info, then tell your schedule to back up to those locations.
This is how my phone is set up. If I lost my phone, I would be able to restore my app settings and call logs/text messages on a new phone through Titanium Backup. And since I tell Google Plus to automatically upload photos taken by my camera, I would have photos as well. Everything else that matters is already synced with google.


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"Signature verification failed" when trying to install non-official Cyanogenmod 10 ROM for Sanei N10 Android tablet
Let's see if anybody can help me, because I'm pretty stuck with this.
I've tried to install the following ROM from xda-developers in a Sanei N10:
Unofficial CyanogenMod 10 for many AllWinner A10 tablets
I've installed it following the usual procedure:

Press Vol+ and Power to get the Recovery menu
Select Wipe data/factory reset
Select Wipe cache
Install the three ZIP files: "cm10_a10_20120913.zip", "gapps-jb-20120726-signed.zip" & "n10_compatibility_1.2.1.zip"

The problem is, even though the first ZIP with the ROM installs successfully, the second one (the one with Google's apps) refuses to install, showing instead the message "signature verification failed". The same happens with the third ZIP (N10 compatibility).
So the installation doesn't actually finish. If I reboot the tablet, it runs Cyanogenmod 10, but the touchscreen doesn't work (I have to plug a USB mouse to interact with the operating system).
So what do I do to avoid the dreaded "signature verification failed" message? Just in case if it's of any help to identify the problem, I'll mention that I can see the Android bot laying down with a red triangle with an exclamation when entering the Recovery menu.
I've tried to use the ROM Manager which is preinstalled with Cyanogenmod 10, but when choosing "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery" it says that "The SD Card needs to be mounted to use ROM Manager". Of course my MicroSD is properly mounted (I can see its files in the card from console, from the "Terminal Emulator"). I think this happens because the MicroSD is mounted in /storage/sdcard1 instead of in /storage/sdcard0, but I can't change that. I can't download APKs from the browser, either, because it also says something similar about not being able to access the SD (even though it's correctly mounted and I can see it mounted from Settings > Storage).
I've also tried the CyanogenMod A10 ROM available in this page, which is more recent (October instead of September):
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/3870...mod-10-tweaks/
But the same happens.
I've even tried installing the CWM Recovery ROM, but it doesn't let me installing that from the Recovery either (same message about the "signature"), and with Odin3 it doesn't work either because I don't know how to reach the "download mode", which is needed for Odin3. Pressing Vol+ and Power I get the Recovery, but not the Download mode. Does anyone know how do I get to the download mode in the Sanei N10?
Any idea about how to solve this? Right now I have a tablet with no touchscreen and not even Google applications (so I don't even have the Play Store), so it's practically worthless (at least the WiFi works). How can I get this tablet back to being usable?

As nobody had any idea yet, I provide my thought even though not sure it helps: You might want to try to symlink your SD to its common place, e.g. ln -s /storage/sdcard1 /mnt/sdcard (in case /mnt/sdcard does not exist). Not sure, but I could imagine some apps looking there to determine whether it is available. Of course you need to do that as root.

If that really is the signed gapps package, then I'd guess it's corrupt and you should re-download.  I've never seen this error with a signed package otherwise.

Thanks for your replies. I tried creating that symbolic link, but it just says "link failed Read-only file system" (I was root, by typing "su" and clicking "Allow" in the Superuser window). So, I can't create symbolic links even while being root user?

About the gapps package, I already tried downloading it again twice, but I still got that signature error message. But now I've tried downloading a more recent gapps package (gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip) and that package finally worked! BUT, even though it apparently installed successfully, I still can't see any Play Store icon, nor any other Google app (Gmail, etc.). Why? Those icons should appear after installing gapps, shouldn't they? Maybe this newer "gapps" package is somehow incompatible with this tablet? (is this even possible?).

Also, even though I can now install the newer "gapps" package, I still can't install the "n10_compatibility_1.2.1.zip" file (I still get "signature verification failed" for that ZIP), which, I guess, contains the drivers needed for the N10 so the touchscreen works (currently it doesn't, and I have to use a USB mouse to use Android in this tablet).
Any ideas? I'm getting tired of trying 9485738489754935627 things with no good result :-(. I guess Android is showing here its Linux roots...

I think the key here is managing to install a new Recovery ROM that doesn't care about signing, but how do I do that? I can't install through ROM Manager because I get that error about the SDCard needing to be mounted to use it (and it's really mounted), and then I can't create the /storage/sdcard symbolic link because I get that "link failed Read-only file system" error. Also, I can't use Odin3 because I can't manage to put this tablet in Download Mode. Aaaargh! There's no good solution :-(

Well, at last I could finally solve the problem thanks to chris5s from the xda-developers.com forum.
These are the steps that worked for me:

Download the latest ClockWorkMod for Allwinner A10 tablets from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1802268

Put all three files in the ZIP inside the root of a MicroSD card and insert it in the tablet

Check from the Terminal app inside the tablet to see if the MicroSD card is mounted in /sdcard (just type "ls /sdcard").

If the "ls" command doesn't show anything (that's what happened in my case), then you must modify the "install-recovery.sh" file and replace all instances of "/sdcard" with "/mnt/extsd".

With the proper "install-recovery.sh" file, run the commands specified in the above xda link (in my case the card is in "/mnt/extsd" instead of "/mnt/sdcard" as the original example shows):

su
cd /mnt/extsd
sh install-recovery.sh
sh reboot-recovery.sh

The tablet will then reboot to CWM recovery. Then follow the regular steps to install Cyanogenmod (wipe plus install ROM + GApps + Compatibility). This time the Recovery menu won't care about the files being unsigned and will install them right away!
I hope this helps somebody else!

FYI: There's a more recent version of Cyanogenmod 10 for Allwinner A10 tablets (by a different author) here: http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/38700-rom-cyanogenmod-10-tweaks/

Just make sure that your build no. of build.prop in update.zip Matches with ur current one. This has helped sometimes.

What does Signature verification has anything to do with device properties under build.prop?

@Firelord he probably means the assert props which are included by some developers to perform a device-compability check before flashing. Those lines search for the model number of the device and compare it to the supported ones. But this answer needs some explanation - it's to vague as it is of now.

@benjaminS, yes, thanks for explaining but I already know that, that's why I simply wrote what does Signature verification has anything to do with that. The verification is about authenticity of the file and is not related to device properties.


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How to Force Stop multiple apps at once?
My HTC One X+ with Android 4.2.2 suffers a lag pretty often and I don't like that.
Sometimes I cannot even unlock the phone because screen doesn't come up.
I noticed that when I force stops all other apps (besides the one I am using) when phone lags, it runs smooth.
I have lot of apps installed so going to Apps then selecting the app and then force closing it takes a lot of time.
I am looking for a way where I can force stop multiple apps at once.

See if Fast Reboot helps.   It closes all user processes and restarts/refreshes system-core process.

There are plenty of app killers available on Google Play. You should just work through them to find one you like. The better solution is to really go through your applications and: 1. uninstall apps you really don't need; 2. make sure you are shutting down apps properly and completely after use (and not just using the "home" button"); 3. track down the heavy resource apps as it's probably only a few apps actually causing the issue.

@Manubhargav I am loving Fast Reboot. Whenever my phone lags or starts heating I tap on Fast Reboot app icon and it closes down all user processes and restart systems processes. Fast Reboot is the cleanest app I have seen so far. I am using it along with Phone Boost feature of Clean Master which automatically cleans up the RAM while phone is locked.

@devgr Glad to help. I'm going to post this as answer, for other people who have the same issue, for their reference.

Greenify is also an app that can help you in this problem. It is one of the best task killer and battery saver app that I tried.
Greenify's link on Google Play

There is also 3c toolbox pro, a complete package with various tools. One tool is Task Manager that allows you to kill an app or force-stop an app. The latter does what you need.


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Process List of Charging Powered Off Device
Is there any way to access or log the process list when the phone is off, but plugged into my computer charging? I'd like to see what system processes are running when the phone is connected to a power source but is not yet turned on.
My device is rooted, but more importantly my bootloader is unlocked.

If someone ever makes a device that can run appse when you haven't yet powered it on I'd be impressed.

@Chenmunka, see answer below

@Huey it's not in recovery mode. Reproduce steps are literally, 1. turn phone off, 2. plug phone into computer. If you look at the display, it's just showing the charging animation because the phone is off and plugged into a power source.

@Huey, you might've misinterpreted the question, I was looking for the process list, not a list of all running apps. So I could see what system processes were running when the phone is plugged and only charging - http://linuxcommand.org/man_pages/ps1.html

@Huey included a picture of the output to help alleviate any confusion

Just figured it out, pretty easy actually.
If the bootloader is unlocked and the device is powered off and plugged into your computer, you can just use ADB.
Typing >adb devices will result in
You can then run adb shell "ps" and it'll output the process list while in charge mode, like seen below:

Where did you get that info from? That recovery under "List of devices attached" shows up when you're booted into Recovery mode, which means the device is powered-on. This answer is bizarre, though may be true that a very small kernel is running to show that power animation or something! I demand further clarification. And which device are you using? The method doesn't work here on unlocked OnePlus One.

@Firelord understandable, I also don't know.. Info is completely empirical. I didn't expect it to work so I asked the question, then tried a few things out. Perhaps, since the device is off, ADB is assuming it must be in recovery mode because it wouldn't expect an unlocked bootloader. Would have to open the adb code to see what's going on exactly. However I am positive I was not in recovery mode. I literally turned the device off, plugged it in, and used ABD. I would be completely willing to record it as video for the sake of us all.

@Firelord didn't see your edits before I commented. The bootloader is a kernel that takes care of booting the system, and is what runs when the device is charging but off. I was using a Huawei Y536A1. According to XDA was also possible on LG Ultimate 2 (all that I know, I don't have any more devices to test with).

Thanks for the info. Perhaps those who are well versed with understanding of lower levels of Android like bootloader can provide us some insight.

@Firelord that's what I'm hoping for, I'll edit my answer to include some of the info from these comments for anyone else who comes here, thanks for asking so I could realize what I wasn't including!:)

If you really didn't miss something here, that's pretty weird. In order for your local ADB client to see the device, the ADB daemon on the device must be active – which requires "something" to be booted. The absolute minimal system active while charging the switched-off device is very unlikely to do that (at least I've never seen such). So could you please answer @Firelord's question and let us know what device this is, and also include what ROM/Android version you use there?

Could you please provide the link for XDA's thread on LG Ultimate 2 where you saw that thing being possible? Check out browser's history if you don't have it bookmarked or opened in a tab.

@Izzy absolutely. I did mention this was on the Huawei Y536A1, however android version is 4.4.3. As for rooted ROM, I took it from an XDA post, I will comment the link at a later point tonight when I'm not on the mobile app. In this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/optimus-g-pro/d680-development/boot-charge-lg-pro-lite-d680-developer-t3019859 a user found a bug in the bootloader that allowed him to access it via ADB with a locked bootloader. LG device bootloaders since have had a security upgrade, but it led me to try it on the unlocked Huawei where it also worked.

@Firelord see above.

Thanks @chriszumberge! Quoting from the relevant post: Turns out, LG did a pretty sloppy job, giving me adb access to the device when in offline charging mode […] This stated by laufersteppenwolf gives the issue enough weight to make me shut-up with doubts (if he says it is so, I believe him). But also note the context: Wolf considers this misbehaviour/buggy. So it's nothing to count on for other devices, as it's not the way it's expected to work.

@Izzy, that does make sense. I was under the impression that the "LG ... sloppy job" was what gave laufersteppenwolf access when it wasn't bootloader unlocked so he was able to do a lot of not normal things to a locked bootloader device. I'm still trying to prove that this is a functionality available to any bootloader unlocked devices (of which I don't have many laying around so it might be awhile)

@chriszumberge That's what I meant: I fully believe Wolf (he's deep enough into the stuff to know what he's talking about). But I doubt that LG did a sloppy job on Samsung/Motorola/you_name_it ("any bootloader unlocked") devices, or that all the resp. manufacturers did the same "sloppy job" as LG with exactly the same consequences ;)


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How do I set a default calendar-app in Android (Jelly Bean)?
I've installed PocketInformant and use it as my calendar app on my phone with Jelly Bean. However, when I get appointment/calendar event reminders, it's the stock calendar that notifies me. This is a bit annoying, since I sometimes wish to edit the appointment from within the reminder. Clicking edit brings up the stock calendar and not PocketInformant.
Is there a way to set PocketInformant as the default Calendar app? Or at least make it the default app for showing calendar reminders?

Yes!  you should be able to clear the stock app from being the default calendar app by following these steps:

Go to the phone settings
select apps
scroll to the right two screen, to the 'All' section
scroll down until you can find calendar, click on it
scroll down the page and click the 'Clear defaults' button

Next time anything wants to use the calendar, you will be able to select which program you wish to use.

Thank you for your quick and thorough answer! However, the "Clear defaults" button for "Calendar" app is greyed out / passive. Any suggestions?

I just installed PocketInformant and it seems that they haven't setup the app in a way that you can enable it as a default calendar.  Your best bet is to email the company and ask for this feature

I should mention that I found this out by decompiling the source of the trial version of PocketInformant and checking the AndroidManifest file for the section which tells Android that it can be the default calendar app, which wasn't present

I am having a similar issue (greyed out "clear defaults" button) but I am trying to make it work with the google developed calendar app (rather than PocketInformant) and disable my samsung calendar app (which came on the device) as the default. Can't clear defaults on the samsung app, but it is the only one handling appointment files etc...


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SD card won't mount when Xperia Neo V is connected to Ubuntu 12.10
I upgraded my Ubuntu set up to 12.10 and realized that the SD card can't mount like it used to every time I connected my Neo V (running android 2.3.4). It can't be a hardware issue as it mounts successfully via a card reader. It also mounts successfully on Windows 7 too.
For some strange reason the phone charges normally when the USB cable is connected but Ubuntu just doesn't recognize the connected phone or its SD card. How do I rectify this problem? Thanks in advance.

Saw this question on AskUbuntu.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1065964
Please add your self to the support bug posted above. This is a known kernel regression in Ubuntu 12.10.

Thanks for the bug link. Just I suspected it is a kernel issue. Hope Canonical fixes this real soon.

Change USB connection mode to "Mass Storage Mode".


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How do I prevent apps from getting installed onto my Pixel?
I'd like to prevent any apps from being installed on my Pixel.
I tried this with Google Family Link, but you can install apps rated E.
I also tried this with AppBlock, but I can install apps from play.google.com from my computer.
I'd like the primary user on this phone to no longer be able to install apps at all.
An acceptable solution would be to password protect installing new apps, so that someone with the password could install apps.

For enterprise usage you can white-list apps that are the only one allowed to be installed via PlayStore. This seems to be include in the "G Suite Basic" from Google which costs about 5€ per month. See https://support.google.com/a/answer/6328701?hl=en


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My battery life dropped from approximetely 20 hours to less than 15 hours, how to find who is responsible?
My Samsung Galaxy S20 battery lifetime was up to 20 hours per one charge. The I have probably installed some apps, and the time is dropped to less than 15 hours. The phone is clearly warm during the day. It is definitely doing something. How to know what namely?
GSam battery monitor told it can't determine power consumption on per application basis.
Can I see processor usage or something?

I gave permissions to GSam and it showed, that most consumption is from Android system itself. Can some application add module to the system, which consumes power?

What about the built-in battery monitor in Android settings?

@Robert it is very poor and doesn't answer the question.

Therefore it is an comment and not an answer. You have enough rep to know how Stackexchange works. But the battery usage monitor included in settings is a system app and therefore has special permissions. No app that you can install have access to that much data like a system app. Therefore my question is more than valid. Ignoring the most valuable source of information is a bad idea. Therefore I was asking.

Have you looked at similar questions on this site already? From the "related" section: Android smartphone battery suddenly drained twice as fast than usual; from your tags: our battery-life tag wiki links quite a lot matches, like How can I tell what is really draining my battery? // How can I monitor the device battery consumption? // What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device?. Other questions using that tag might hold additional help.

PS: I'd also check network stats. Some of your new apps might be busy even when you're not using them. Especially on Play Store, most of the apps are pretty "stuffed" with ad libraries and such (one of the reasons I prefer getting mine from F-Droid).

@Izzy multiplicity of answers proves that there is no (final) answer. The question is simple: something is eating my power. How to pinpoint it?

Dims, the multiplicity of answers gives you different approaches to find out. Those answers have already been given, which is why we link to them instead of repeating them. Only the person with the device in hand can tell which one it is. Going by the 3rd screenshot I'd say something urgently wants to sync something and gets stuck in a loop, keeping the device awake. But what it is would probably require logcat to look at. You could just disable account sync and see if that has an effect, then if so, try those syncs one by one until you found the culprit.


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Mass setup of Android devices
I want to setup the same account on 300+ devices. I did that for 4 devices and I am tired.
Setting up new device includes:

manually doing all ok/next/skip choices
connecting to WiFi + installing updates
manually typing GMail + password
MOST PROBLEMATIC confirming new device by tapping two-digit number on the first device where this account was added.

Questions:

Is there some automated solution?
Is it possible to at least turn off confirmation of new device completely?

Search for "Samsung KNOX Mobile Enrollment (KME)" or "Google: Android Zero-Touch". But the latter requires devices that are enabled for zero touch which means you have to buy special devices that support zero touch. Regarding 300 devices in one account please read this: https://android.stackexchange.com/q/42506/2241

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Your question lacks some essential details, like: are all the 300 devices identical (i.e. same manufacturer/model)? Is a custom recovery available (so you could eg. easily use Nandroid backup/restore)? There is a special name for that kind of management software (which just eludes me), and we already have some related questions I cannot find without the term :( But as Robert wrote: the limit at Google for multiple devices per account is much lower than 300. Kick out Google and use F-Droid to avoid that problem :)

I've just added the [tag:multiple-devices] tag to your question, please invesitgate; especially related questions like Clone and distribute Android 4 device with preloaded applications // Copying and remotely deploying a build across multiple devices // Best Practise for deploying a clone image across 200 android tablets // Bulk Android Device Provisioning This question links to the current page // clone a Phone then flash image on other phones?


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Does Android Lolipop 5.1 get encrypted by itself upon first boot?
My doubts are,

Would an android device shipped with Lollipop 5.0 get encrypted itself upon first boot? I saw a lot of blogs saying Lolipop does not come with default encryption but in the official link it says that devices get encrypted by default upon first boot — too many confusing blog articles. What is the difference between default encryption and encryption on first boot?

Most blogs say we have to manually encrypt the Device but I don't understand — if it's already encrypted upon first boot, then why encrypt again manually? What is the advantage?

As far as I remember Google had introduced automatic encryption with Android 5 and applied it in the Nexus phones. But nearly no other manufacturer had taken over the encryption feature at that time. Therefore most likely your phone is not encrypted. You can check that in Android settings -> Security if encryption is enabled. If it is enabled you should also see on every reboot the pre-boot password entering dialog asking for the device password.

@Robert official documentation says " Upon first boot, the device creates a randomly generated 128-bit master key and then hashes it with a default password and stored salt. The default password is: "default_password" However, the resultant hash is also signed through a TEE (such as TrustZone), which uses a hash of the signature to encrypt the master key."

The documentation may state that but only if that feature is mandatory for Google Android all phones had it implementad. For example a CPU with TEE was AFAIK not a requirement at that time so most manufactures were using a CPU without. That contradicts your documentation - what now?

@Robert thanks man.Understood

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 LTE SM-T555 (shipped with Android 5) latest stock ROM (Android 7) still unencrypted (I own) - it really depends on how accurate OEMs maintain it. 1. What is the difference between default encryption and encryption on first boot? - nothing. 2. why encrypt again manually? - secure start-up

if device does not boot, for further analysis download stock ROM (off device or www) and have a look in fstab (or just mention your device model so we can maybe help out)


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How to delete my @gmail account from GMail client while leaving on Email client?
I'm have a Samsung S5 which has two (preinstalled, I suppose) email clients, GMail and Email. GMail client has a white envelope with thick red edges icon, while Email has a white envelope with monkey sign in red&white in the middle like a stamp.
Upon setting up my @gmail account and my @company account in the Email client (which is the only one I wish to use) I noticed I started getting notifications from the GMail client as well from my @gmail address. I tried deleting my @gmail account but that deletes it from both email clients.
How can I delete my @gmail account for just one client (GMail) without affecting the other. I originally wanted to just uninstall GMail client but that seems to be impossible since it came preinstalled on the S5, along with a lot of other applications.

Did you set your Gmail account using the Gmail option, or as a standard pop 3 or imap option?

@cde - Using the Gmail option I guess; I didn't need to setup anything but login data, as far as I remember.

Is there a good reason for rolling back to revision 2?

What you can do is,  disable notifications for email arrival in your Gmail application and enable notifications for your account in default email app.
I won't recommend disabling the Gmail app because you may want to configure any other email account(s) with your Gmail app and sync mail and other settings to your phone, like contacts and calendar.

Gmail app has nothing to do with syncing Calendar and Contacts. They are synced very well with Gmail disabled.

Thanks Alex, for clarifying this. But as we can configure almost all email accounts with a single Gmail app, I personally find it easier and more convenient to use.

In the end I went with the "turn off notifications option". As much as it is annoying that you can't uninstall software, this solved the problem at hand.

You can disable Gmail app. Another option is to turn off syncing email in Gmail: Settings → Accounts & Sync → Google → choose your Google account → uncheck Gmail.


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Android (Yuphoria) stuck in bootloop without recovery and ROM & files cannot be written
My Yuphoria 5010 got into bootloop after installing a custom ROM. My friend tried to fix it but deleted the recovery following a tutorial.
Now the device is stuck at the boot logo.
Is it possible to hard format the device to the default ROM anyhow?
Update: This is not a normal bootloop. The problem here is the ROM could not be rewritten. Any writing attempts are being failed. The device was infected with a malicious adware which couldn't be deleted and that's the reason I tried to format the device. Is there any way around if the writing modules fail?

If you flashed a custom ROM, that overwrote (replaced) your "default ROM". So getting it back would mean to flash it. Same goes for the recovery, it can be flashed (provided you've got the image). Usually that's done via fastboot, but you might need to check if your device does that as well (not all devices support fastboot).

Is fastboot working?

@GokulNC fastboot is working but the problem is ROM is not being flashed as all writing attempts are failing

To get more specific help, you'll need to explain more precisely than "failing". What commands did you run, and what results did you get? Give the exact text of any error messages.

Flashing a stock firmware should fix this.

Download and extract Yu Yuphoria YU5010 stock firmware on your computer
After extracting, you should get the Firmware File, Flash Tool  and How-to Flash Guide.
Install the USB Driver on your Computer
Follow the How-to Flash Guide to Flash the Firmware .

Follow the steps carefully and your problem should be fixed.

Nothing could be written

What do you mean?


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Phone only turns on when it's plugged in but then works normally
The problem regards a cheap 5.1-based Android phone, manufactured by a company named Manta. A few days ago it randomly shut off on its own and it was impossible to turn it on because it got stuck on the producer's logo every single time. I tried all the usual stuff like ejecting the SIM, the memory card, wiping cache from the recovery menu - all to no avail. Suddenly, I found a way to turn it on - namely, if you try to turn it on unplugged, you may leave it for a few hours and it won't go past the producer's splash screen. Try to turn it on when plugged in the charger, though - and it'll power up within 30 seconds to the home screen and keep working with no problems whatsoever.
Normally I would think that it's caused by something battery related - but the thing is, it doesn't seem so. First, if you try to turn it on unplugged and leave it on that never ending splash screen, it'll hold its charge alright, not turn off after a minute. And more importantly, second - if you plug it in, turn it on and unplug it - it'll keep working perfectly until you have to turn it off or restart it. What may be the problem, then? Is there anything I may try to do to fix the issue and allow it to turn on when unplugged as well?


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System Data folder swelled to over 50% of the whole disk space after updating to 5.0
I have a LG G2 Mini and a few weeks ago, I got a notification asking me if I want to update to Lollipop - I did it and, to my surprise, a few days later all the apps stopped updating screaming that there was not enough disk space - being confident that there is at least 3GB free, I went to the settings to check and... there was only 400MB free, with "System Data" folder under "Other" occupying 5.2GB (out of 8GB my device comes with).
This state of things has persisted ever since and, as a consequence, my phone is really laggy, apps crashes often and I can't even update anything. From what I googled, some people had this problem as well on various devices but no one came up with a definitive solution. I've tried zeroing the apps cache but to no avail, it only freed 30MB or so.
What can I do with it, apart from the ever-present golden advice of a factory reset? I would prefer not to root either. Is there anything I can do, then?


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How to fix jittery GPS readings that occurred out of the blue?
I have a Xiaomi Mi A1 running Android 8.1.0 and had no issues with it whatsoever but lately, completely out of the blue, the GPS readings became really jittery when using the phone for running tracking. I've been running with it for as long as I had it (a year or so), using Endomondo exclusively all that time as well. Then, one day two weeks ago or so (doesn't correlate with any update the phone would inform me about or anything), the readings just became really inaccurate, with distance error being something between 1 and 2km depending on the length of the run.
Just look at the comparison of an example of a concrete path along the lake near me from 3 months ago:
...and today:

It's a good example cause the path is always the same there, you can't run along it in any other way cause there literally is only one way to traverse it.
What could have happened and how can I try to fix it? All the obvious things are done of course, like restarting the phone, allowing Endo to use location features, turning battery optimization off for the app or other trivialities from the official Endo GPS troubleshooting guide.
EDIT with further researching: Tried checking whether the location data stutters when the phone is in place today too to make sure it's not a loose antenna problem for example and there are no changes in the location at all. It's completely stable and constant as long as the phone is in one place and then updates with no problems as soon as you move it. Also, I've changed during the run today and there are constantly between 12 and 18 satellites (out of 32) that the phone is connected to.
I don't think this is an Endomondo problem either cause I checked my Google Maps Timeline as I have it on and it makes the same weird twists in my routes as Endo, suddenly drawing my path through the buildings or concrete walls (like seen in the first post).
EDIT2: I thought this may have something to do with an update that does not get along well with something in my phone but I recently received an update to Android 9 and after extensive testing I have to admit the very same problem persists :( Does that mean something hardware-related malfunctioned in my device and I can do nothing to fix this apart from sending it in?

Is there something "official" next to your track like a jail or a government building that may use a GPS jammer? I would use an app like GPS Status to check how may satellites are available when you are on the track.

Could one representation be while your GPS is HOT and the othet is COLD.... Some GPS take half an hour to warm up and get an accurate reading.... You may also have had a different phone cover, some cover's don't leave a hole for the GPS sensor to see the sky properly.   ... Network location, Warmth of GPS and Covering the sensor are the usual cause's....     Some days the device will not be seen by enough satellite's to calculate your position accurately, a cloudy day eg....

@Robert - nope, there isn't. Plus, it happens wherever I'm running, not only in the spot from the screenshot - I just showed the part near the lake cause it's open terrain and I always run there the same way so I thought it'd be a clear example. I've tried using GPS Status to flush and re-download AGPS data like the troubleshooting guide suggested and had the app overlay on the last time I went running but it didn't change anything. And I don't think the number of satellites are the problem cause the same issues are present when I'm running through the city center for example :(

@Zillinium - I mean, the first one certainly is from warmer months but it's not like it's the first winter during which I'm running. Also, while some of my phones had the tendency to malfunction GPS-wise in real cold (-15 centigrades or so), right now the winter here is more like 0^C-ish so I don't think it really qualifies as extreme conditions :( Also, I've tried carrying the phone in the exact same armband I used to carry it in those 3 months ago and it didn't change a thing.

I do not mean warm as in summer.... https://www.jimilab.com/blog/the-meaning-of-cold-and-warm-gps-tracker.html


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Does Xperia Mini have automatic camera flash?
Just today I learned that Sony did a nasty trick with Xperia Ray and it features only manual flash.
So I would like to be now super sure how it is with Xperia Mini -- does it have normal automatic flash for camera, or only a manual one as in Ray?

As an owner of the Mini ST15i, the answer is yes, it does have the automatic flash for camera in which it can be turned off if the need arises.

Thank you very much! Btw. does this symbol "ST15i" makes a difference between Mini and Mini Pro, or there are two different "regular" Minis?

The Xperia Mini Pro has the keyboard, Xperia Mini comes without it. ST15i is the name for the mentioned Xperia Mini. Also, ST15i is the 2011 model code to distinguish from the older model Xperia Mini which was in 2010.


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Galaxy Nexus: Safely Remove the device in Linux?
I'm using Linux Mint 13 MATE (based from Ubuntu 12.04) as my main operating system. I have been using the adb shell and use push and pull in transferring to and from my Galaxy Nexus.
As I have read somewhere that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus USB port is sensitive and can easily get broken, I would like to ask if it is safe to just remove the USB cord when I don't need it? Or is there a command I need to type via terminal to have it safely remove or unmount my Galaxy Nexus?

I've been using my Galaxy Nexus with Kubuntu 12.04 & 12.10 and haven't needed to use a specific eject command.
Saying that, here are instructions which will let you mount and dismount your Galaxy Nexus safely.  With this method you can safely mount/dismount and you should still be able to use ADB to pull and push files to/from your device. (Source):
Connecting your Ice Cream Sandwich phone or tablet to Ubuntu for file access
Before you begin, try plugging your phone in and see if it works straight away. At the time of writing, the only official Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone is the Galaxy Nexus, and mine doesn’t work. But future ICS phones might work, depending on whether they have an SD card slot or not, and whether they support exporting the card as USB mass storage. If it works, you should be good to go.
First up, install the necessary tools:
sudo apt-get install mtp-tools mtpfs

Now, connect your Galaxy Nexus to your computer. On your phone, open up the notification drawer, and click on “USB Connection type”. Make sure that MTP is selected.
Then, run these commands:
mtp-detect | grep idVendor

mtp-detect | grep idProduct

You shall get an output like this:
[martyn@martyn-ThinkPad-X220 1] ~ >mtp-detect | grep idProduct
Device 0 (VID=04e8 and PID=6860) is a Samsung GT P7310/P7510/N7000/I9070/I9100/I9300 Galaxy Tab 7.7/10.1/S2/S3/Nexus/Note/Y.
   idProduct: 6860

[martyn@martyn-ThinkPad-X220 1] ~ >mtp-detect | grep idVendor
Device 0 (VID=04e8 and PID=6860) is a Samsung GT P7310/P7510/N7000/I9070/I9100/I9300 Galaxy Tab 7.7/10.1/S2/S3/Nexus/Note/Y.
   idVendor: 04e8

Note down the numbers written in front of idVendor and idProduct, you’ll need those later on.
Now, run this commands:
gksu gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

A gedit window should open up. Type this text in it, all in a single line:
SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, ATTR{idVendor}==”VENDORID”, ATTR{idProduct}==”PRODUCTID”, MODE=”0666″

Replace VENDORID with the idVendor you had noted down earlier. Similarly, replace PRODUCTID with the idProduct you had noted down. In my case, they were 04e8 and 685c respectively, but they might have been different for you.
Also, remember to re-type the quotes in the line after you’ve copied and pasted it, otherwise udev may output an error.
If you’re in doubt, you can copy the same line from this pastebin instead and then replace PRODUCTID and VENDORID as needed.
Save and close the file. Then, disconnect your phone and run these commands:
sudo service udev restart

sudo mkdir /media/GalaxyNexus

sudo chmod a+rwx /media/GalaxyNexus

sudo adduser YOURUSERNAME fuse

Replace YOURUSERNAME with your Ubuntu user name. Now, run this command:
gksu gedit /etc/fuse.conf

In the Gedit window, remove the # at the beginning of the last line (the one that begins with “#user_allow_other”) like this:
# Set the maximum number of FUSE mounts allowed to non-root users.
# The default is 1000.
#
#mount_max = 1000

# Allow non-root users to specify the 'allow_other' or 'allow_root'
# mount options.
#
user_allow_other

You’re almost done! Now, restart your computer, and then run these three commands :
echo “alias android-connect=\”mtpfs -o allow_other /media/GalaxyNexus\”" >> ~/.bashrc

echo “alias android-disconnect=\”fusermount -u /media/GalaxyNexus\”" >> ~/.bashrc

source ~/.bashrc

Again, do re-type the quotes in each command after you’ve copied, otherwise the command won’t work.
Connect your phone again, and then make sure your phone is using MTP, then run this command:
android-connect

Voila! You can now browse your Android phone contents using Nautilus. Just fire up the file manager, and then in the side bar click GalaxyNexus to browse your phone contents just like you would do with a USB stick. You can also add, remove and modify files just like a normal file system.
You might have noticed that you cannot use the Nautilus eject icon to disconnect the phone. Instead, to safely remove the phone, just run the command:
android-disconnect

From now onward, you just need to run android-connect to mount your phone and then android-disconnect to safely remove your phone. Everything else should be handled automatically. I tried many ways of getting the mount and unmount to happen automatically on cable connect, but this was the best solution I could come up with.
These two commands won’t require root permissions to run. All users who are members of the fuse user group should be able to run these commands without root access.

Thanks for response Martyn. Problem is, I don't really use Nautilus but I always use SpaceFM as my file browser. And also, I honestly prefer to use the terminal (which I always use guake like next to always). Hmm... I'm wondering though, if I don't do the instructions above (having the command "android-connect"), will it still be alright?

I've been using my GNex with linux for ages and have never ejected it and have had no problems.  I know that is purely anecdotal but I've not heard of any issues with the GNex usb port.

Thanks Martyn. This is my first ever Android device so best be sure than sorry :)


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Measures distance using the camera
I have found tools like Smart Ruler that helps us measure length using the screen. But for objects bigger than the screen, I imagine there are apps that use the camera and focal length to show distances and widths. If there's no such app, is it possible to use a camera or any other common phone hardware to measure spatial dimensions?

I just found an app from the same developer that does what I wanted for buildings: Smart Measure.

This rangefinder (telemeter) measures the distance and height of a target using trigonometry.

They also have an app called smart distance.


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Data Recovery on Android 11 with broken screen
I have a pixel 4a running android 11 with a broken screen.  The full screen is black; the lower part of the touch screen seems to be responsive but I can't really tell what's going on so I don't know if that is actually doing anything.  The networking seems to be broken in some way, I can't locate my phone with 'find my phone' and the nightly backup hasn't run.  (mMst stuff is backed up through the various cloud services, but I have a few things that I collect, encrypt and upload to a personal server once a day.)  In this case, I was collecting GPS data while planting on my farm and I'd very much like to get that data back.
Things I can do:

I still have the password for the encrypted data partition
USB seems to work, as I can get the device on fastboot
Bootloader is unlocked.
I installed the lineage recovery and can start the ADB shell from fastboot using a physical keyboard.
I can navigate the early file system but can't see how to decrypt/mount the data partition.
I can boot all the way to the lock screen, and I can feel the touch sensor engage when it gets there.
I can hear the notification when I plug in the keyboard after boot
I can type my password, but I don't know if it is successful

Things I cannot do:

I attempted to enable the screen reader by holding both vol buttons; I don't believe I was able to trigger the 'OK' button in the confirmation
I attempted to type my password with a keyboard, then connect to a computer, but best case I need a dual port usb dock so I can plug in the computer and keyboard to trigger the accept dialog.  I am waiting to go home in a couple days so I can grab a usbc dock
TWRP usually has some recovery features but is not available for Pixel 4a/Android 11
I doubt I can install a new screen as the frame is quite bent, I might be able to run it without putting it back together but I worry about keeping the rest of the green board intact as there are already some functions (like networking) that have broken.  I think pulling out the old screen is likely to be a task that leaves the phone in a worse state.

Things I have not tried:

HDMI out to a monitor.  From what I've read, it could be possible with a display link style adapter, which I have, but not with me today.
Flashing or adding root to my base image. (usually that requires a data wipe.)

It seems the easiest thing to me would be decrypt and mount the data partition and then do a couple adb pulls from the recovery.  I'm not quite sure how android 11 does the encryption but I have the password (though the key is probably in the TPM)  Is that something that is doable?  I didn't see any of the usual suspects when I was looking through the tools in the bin so I'm not quite sure how they are mounting their encrypted partitions.

The TWRP thread on XDA for Pixel 4A mentions two months ago a beta version for A11 https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/twrp-flame-official.4110641/page-4 I don't know how difficult it is to build TWRP but from my perspective a custom TWRP version that has your password built-in may be a good option (assuming decryption now works). I would try to talk to the TWRP developers about how to make TWRP to some sort of recovery system that just needs to be started and then allows adb access to the decrypted user data as it contains the password.

I believe that's what I'm working toward.  I see the pixel 4a roms section has a beta version of twrp and I've tried it on my new phone and it seems like it might do what I want.  https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/stock-rooted-boot-images-pixel-4a-nov-02.4153249/

While waiting for good advice, our broken-screen tag wiki has a "data recovery" section which might give you some more ideas. There are e.g. tools to mirror the display to your PC so you know what's going on (requires USB debugging active) – or if you cannot do that, make screenshots and retrieve them via MTP to at least get an idea of where-abouts. ADN (with USB debugging) also offers you some leverage on data access and backup.

I have taken a look at it;  If I had ADB or MTP I would just copy the files off the phone.

you can flash modified ROM with adb enabled, or decrypt from TWRP command line


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Found my child's LG phone but can't remember unlock pattern
Found my child's LG phone which was lost months ago. Can not remember pattern to unlock. What do I do?

Did it have a Google account associated with it? You could use https://www.google.com/android/find and lock the device with a new PIN. Otherwise, if it has no Google account you can factory default, but if it has one and you can't access the Google account the device will be bricked (probably permanently).

Otherwise, our locked-out tag wiki might be helpful to you. Can not unlock my Android device as have no internet connection? (also linked from there) has the most comprehensive collection of approaches, though some of them might no longer work. Best luck!


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How to fix LineageOS 18.1 bootloop on Sony Xperia XZ3?
I installed LineageOS 18.1 following official guide and also installed MindTheGapps. Now I am stuck in infinite loop of booting: LineageOS logo flashes for few seconds and phone reboots same thing happens over and over again. How can I fix this? I tried reinstalling the LineageOS again, but same thing happens.

Though this issue is hopefully no longer there: have you tried without installing MindTheGapps? Could well be that package is the culprit. If all is fine without that, take a closer look if you maybe picked the wrong version of it (version of GApps must match Android version).

I tried without and with it still doesn't boot.

Was worth a try, and at least narrows things down. You performed a complete wipe before flashing, I assume – so I'm out of ideas then, sorry.

Remove the SD card when, that will stop the bootloop. When you've booted up again, insert the SD card and continue as usual :)

I have no SD card inserted into this phone.


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Youtube not playing in Wifi
I have this real strange problem that youtube is not playing on my Onda Tablet (dark screen and "problem while playing"), when I am in my home wifi. When I use my mobile as a hotspot and connect my tablet to it (also via wifi) it's working.
I use several android devices and the Onda Tablet is the only one, which does not play Youtube.
Other Video Players work without problems. This also happens, when I browse to m.youtube.com in a browser on the tablet.
Here's what I already tried:

Clean Cache and data of youtube app
reinstall youtube app
manually downgrade youtube app
changed DNS of the tablet to 8.8.8.8
Factory reset the tablet
Reset my router
My only guess is a misconfiguration in the wifi options of the tablet but I could not find one.

My Tablet:
Onda air v989 running Android 4.4.4
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you!

So, I came across the solution for my very specific problem:
My tablet seems to have a problem concerning youtube and IPv6. It's probably some flaw in the firmware.
After speaking to my internet provider I am now constantly leasing an IPv4 Adress and youtube is working just fine.
If you have similiar problems you should definitly try this out!


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scp is given access to a subdirectory. How to command scp to change parent directory?
When using scp, I am given access to a subdirectory. How should I amend the command to copy files from a different parent directory? I am using the standard scp command as follows:
scp -P port-number hostname@ip-address:path/to/file path/to/folder

I need  clarification. 1) To what hostname@ip-address belongs to? An Android device or other machine? 2) Where are you running scp? Are you running on device itself using ADB or terminal app, or scp is local to a Linux machine, in which case the hostname would be of an Android device.

@Firelord it belongs to my android device. i am running it from my Linux machine in the terminal.


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Touch screen on tablet suddenly not working
This seemingly related question isn't relevant, as it concerns a replaced screen, and this question involves an intermittent problem.
My tablet suddenly stopped responding to touch. I haven't dropped it or otherwise damaged it. It does respond to a USB keyboard, although it is extremely inconvenient to do so.  I factory rest it, but he problem persists.
It's a no-name, and not worth having it repaired. Can anyone think of any software options which might get it working again?

Is the touch screen completely dead or are some regions still work. You can use a touch screen test app. If some parts still work cleaning the screen may help you (see manual how to do so).

It is completely dead

Related: My Google Pixel 2's touch screen suddenly quit working--how can I fix it?

Try force restarting it at least for 2-3 time... if it still doesn't respond, then use a clear bag by filling it with raw rice and leave your tab in it for a few days.

I know of the rice tip when a 'phone is dropped in water, but this was not. And it works perfectly when controlled by keyboard.

Then there could be a fault in any of the boards present in it.


text:
How can I allow incoming calls to only vibrate when I have Do Not Disturb turned on?
Currently, Do Not Disturb fully disables incoming calls, or only shows a silent notification. How can I just make it cause calls to vibrate when I have Do Not Disturb turned on?
My real goal:
I do deep-thinking work as a software developer. I need 4+ hr blocks of time undisturbed so I can do deep work. I'd like to start each work day by turning on "Do Not Disturb" mode for 8 hrs, but I need to still be notified of calls--just via vibrate is all so it's less-intrusive, in case it's a doctor's office, the car repair person fixing my brakes, my wife with an important message, etc.
My phone is Google Pixel 5 with Android 12.

Comprompise: make phone calls less startling by having them vibrate, then slowly raise the ringer volume from 0% to 100% over ~5 seconds
Here is an alternative I just discovered which may meet my need: ie: do not turn "Do Not Disturb" on. Instead, do the following:
(the below was translated from French to English, since my phone is in French, so your wording may differ slightly--leave a comment)
Settings --> Sound & vibration --> Vibration & haptics --> Vibrate for calls --> Vibrate, then progressive ring
With this set, the phone vibrates a couple times when a call comes in, and then slowly raises the volume of the ringer up from 0 to 100% over like 5 seconds. This is so much more gentle and less distressing to my deep-thinking mind while I'm in the middle of something, and it gives me a chance to press a button to ignore the call before it gets loud, rather than startling me out of nowhere enough I lose my train of thought.
It's not quite what I was looking for, but this solution is an okay compromise for now.


text:
How to disable the notification badge on Facebook on Sony Xperia?
I have Sony Xperia. I hope to disable all attention grabbing behaviour on my phone, and after disabling notifications from most annoying apps, the only thing left is the notification badge (red number) on the Facebook app.
Browsing for "turn off notification badge android xperia facebook" only gives me hits regarding Samsung TouchWiz and iPhone, and I so far haven't been able to locate anything in the menu of the app either.
How can I turn off the display of unread events on the icon of the Facebook app?

I think that there is no way to disable this in the default Xperia launcher. The easiest solution is to use a different launcher, like Apex, Nova, Epic launcher and such. The appearance of these launchers is different from the default one, but you may like it, and these launchers have many more customization options that you may also find appealing.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. I thought the Xperia was pretty bloatware free, and that the launcher was the default Android one, but I guess I was wrong on that one :) Will check it out.


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Add apps to default Guest account on Lollipop
I like the guest account feature on Lollipop, but I would like to add apps to the account, so that a guest can use more than just native Google apps, that I have available on my device. I know this was working in KitKat with a "new user".
Is this not possible with just the "guest" user? Do I have to create a new user for that? Are there any drawbacks to having such a "hard guest" account for this purpose on a device? Like a considerable CPU/battery/memory impact?
If relevant, I have Nexus 7 (2013) on Android 5.0.1.

No issues if you sign up with a new guest Google account.
Make a guest user ID for Google services in the guest session, and use the guest session as a normal session.
Though, it shares the device storage (for apps installed) but not RAM.
Hence, both sessions' RAM usages are separately managed for each other!
I tried that.
While my account showed 1GB free, the guest on the contrary showed 1.8GB free!
Impacts: Google is smart, and this feature has been made way better now in Lollipop than in KitKat. So don't worry, everything is managed effectively by the system.

Just to clarify, what do you mean by making a guest user ID for Google services? Will I be able to share the apps? Or will I have to install new instances within this modified guest? Or instead of downloading will it use the downloaded data of the app in the other account?

@Ev0oD Yeah by "Guest ID" I just meant, make a new google account; like 'abcdefguest@gmail.com' or anything that you can remember. So that way, you are able to enable your guest users to download apps from PlayStore. And also, your Main account and Guest account will no way interfare with each other.
So, actually you end up making a completely different set of Users similar to Microsoft Windows!

Adding a restricted user seems to be, what you are looking for. This should work on Lollipop tablets. After creating such an account, you can select which of your installed apps are usable by that account.
Sadly, that feature does not seem to exist on Lollipop smartphones though. There is a workaround though that may also suit your needs.

This is what I mentioned in the question by saying "new user" in KitKat. I know about this, but it does not behave as guest, because it keeps state (as if it was a shared owner of the device). I also stated more subquestions which you left unadressed.

@Ev0oD I added a link to my answer to a workaround. There I also did describe the memory impact. And IMO you have to create another account for this.

By memory impact I did not mean storage capacity requirements, but RAM overhead. But I appreciate the efforts


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Viewing distance in Google Fit
I can't figure out how to view distances in Google Fit. When I walk, it only shows steps and duration. Is it possible to see the distance? How?

At current there is no way to view distance, however it will probably come in a future update.
However you could calculate it by multiplying your steps by your average stride.
You can get your average stride by walking 10 metres, counting how many steps you take, and divide 10 by the number of steps.
One thing to bear in mind about google fit, is that it isn't designed to track say, where you went on a run, it is designed to do low power, background tracking and this is probably why there was no distance feature to begin with.

Good news! As of May 13, 2015, Google Fit was updated to show more kind of data: calories burned and distance. Note that the distance is approximated.
On the main screen, select the right drop-down list to change from active time/steps to distance, or tap/slide the big circle diagram to the second point.
You can also set the units to kilometers/miles in the settings.

(Image courtesy of Google)

Tip: I could only change from US units to normal units on my phone, not on the website. The good news is that you can switch it to kilojoules, too.

The km is not calculated correctly in Google Fit.
It should calculate 1400 steps = 1 km
When there us a break it does not take the previous stros into account.
The calculation should be in a day how many steps walked and it should calculate 1 KM at 1400 steps.
By the process we come to know from 12 am to 12 pm how much we walked in a day in e
Steps
KM
Calories
Heart beat


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Some files are missing after doing backup and factory reset on Android Lollipop
I recently backed up and factory reset my Samsung Galaxy S5, stock and running Lollipop. All the apps that were previously on the device were re-installed and run fine, and the phone mostly performs as it is supposed to.
However, I have just realized that I have missing files; my daughter's telephone number is no longer listed in my contacts (found out the hard way trying to speed dial during an emergency as I was driving), and some music files are missing. By and large the phone was restored to its original settings and works just fine, it's just that there are a few but important to me files missing here and there.
Is there any way to identify and recover all missing files? There are probably more that I just haven't found missing yet.

I used the Backup and reset function in the User and Backup drawer...

Wow, thanks kindly, I was under the impression the phone would be restored to the exact same status it was in prior to the reset. Going forward, what method(s) might you recommend that are more reliable in terms of restoring the saved data? Thank you, again.


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What's eating up my storage?
I selected all the folders of my Internal Storage, and the details say it is 11.64 GB. But, on the left bar, it shows Internal Storage [31.17/32.00 GB]. Screenshot of My Files application of my phone:

ABOUT DEVICE

QUESTIONS

How is this possible?
I can't download any application and install it. How to free the HIDDEN STORAGE?

The internal storage is just the section accessible by nearly every app. But there is also the app-private where only each app can access it's own files. So a file-manager app can only access it's own files and do not show the size of the other app data.

Additional note: those 32 GB also include the Android System, where not only you cannot access all files to read, but you cannot write at all. So no chance to "use" any free space that might exist there. PS: you might also wish to consult our storage tag-wiki for further details, including to free up storage. Most of our tags have such wikis attached, always worth a look :)

okay @Izzy and Robert


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find out what app/package uses sensor
on my device running AOSP something accesses a sensor of my phone continuously, preventing it from going into deep sleep and thus draining battery.
Logcat shows the pid, but that just links to android.hardware.sensors@2.1-service.multihal.odin (using adb and ps -p PID)
an entry in logcat looks like this:
10-10 21:33:18.615   869   954 I android.hardware.sensors@2.1-service.multihal.odin: MIUS:isWakeUpSensor()
10-10 21:33:18.617   869   954 I android.hardware.sensors@2.1-service.multihal.odin: MIUS:run() after post event here
10-10 21:33:18.817   869   954 I android.hardware.sensors@2.1-service.multihal.odin: MIUS:run() before post event here
10-10 21:33:18.817   869   954 I android.hardware.sensors@2.1-service.multihal.odin: MIUS:readEvents() enter
10-10 21:33:18.817   869   954 I android.hardware.sensors@2.1-service.multihal.odin: MIUS: before polling
10-10 21:33:19.068   869   954 I android.hardware.sensors@2.1-service.multihal.odin: MIUS: poll result timeout, continue for next
10-10 21:33:19.068   869   954 I android.hardware.sensors@2.1-service.multihal.odin: MIUS:readEvents() exit

Is there any way to find out what actually calls the sensor?
Thanks in advance!


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My Windows laptop wants to repair my phone, but my phone is happy
When I initiate a USB mount of my phone, Windows 7 tells me the disk is going bad and wants to know if I want to rapair it (Motorola Droid 1; FRG22D if that matters). I am assuming this is a problem between the two disk systems talking to each other (like when you try to mount any EXT4 partition with Windows).
A) Is it really in need of repair? If so, should Windows be doing it? (Windows has no actual, practical problems with R/W of the drive and the phone is not reporting any issues or taking too long when remounting the SD card)
B) If Windows is just spitting up irrelevant error messages, how should I mount to disable the error message? Is this is just an annoyance anyone else has encountered?

FWIW, I have the same phone/OS as you, and I've never seen that message.

Tough problem to search for... google thinks I want to repair windows 7.

I'd say it likely is corrupt. The mounted storage is just the FAT32 partition on your memory card -- none of the linux partitions are mounted by default, unless you've got an aftermarket Apps2SD setup. As long as we're talking about your FAT32 partition, GAThrawn's answer below is correction.

@sai I had apps2sd setup while I was rooted, but I have had the problem before, during, and after (I got my phone replaced) rooting. The primary constant is the SD card. Thanks for clarifying that the FAT partition is the only one to mount; did not know that.

I had that on my old HTC Magic a couple of times, it is supposedly down to not properly doing the Eject Disk bit in Windows and Unmount drive bit on the phone before unplugging it.
After it had annoyed me enough times by asking me to repair the disk every time, I unplugged the micro-SD card from my phone, put it in a USB SD card reader, plugged that straight into the PC and let Windows run the repair. This time the repair completed successfully, and after plugging the SD back into the phone I didn't have any more problems with it (for a few months at least).

I am going to have to clone and give that a shot this weekend thanks!

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


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What is involved in installing Android onto a device?
I just picked up a Viewsonic G-Tablet.  It's got killer hardware specs and is running Android 2.2 but it's barely usable because of this terrible TapUI that's crippling the device.  I have been following a thread at the XDA forums where users are attempting to root it and get a custom ROM installed, but I'm wondering how hard it is to just wipe it clean and get the stock Android 2.2 running on it.  The people who have rooted and blocked most of the TapUI report losing access to their settings, which I guess is heavily integrated into the TapUI.
Is the problem that Android 2.2 doesn't support specific hardware and someone needs to create a ROM with all the necessary drivers?

Basically you have to compile Android for that device with its drivers.  Example of compilation process. An older example from the official dev site for building 1.6 for the G1.
Devices like the N1 and G1 (Dev phones) let you easily put these images on your phone after compilation, because that is what they were made for (unlockable and hackable). I believe their drivers are in the official Android source (I could be wrong, but they are easily available).
All other devices don't come unlocked, so first you have to unlock (root) your phone to be able to write anything else to it.
I've never compiled Android or a ROM, so I can't give you much more details than this.  Essentially there are proprietary binaries (the drivers) that are also needed for each specific Android phone in order to get it to run on that device.  So you either have to get those drivers from the vendor or write them yourself.

It is up to the manufacturer of the device to provide the appropriate and functional drivers for any hardware on their device.  Unfortunately, many of them also like to add their own UI (often poorly designed and implemented).  This is the case with the TapUI from all I've heard.  This is not a problem with Android.  It's a problem with Viewsonic.

I'm not trying to place blame when I say "problem" but isolate the solution.  So you are saying that the issue is that Viewsonic has not released their drivers?  And a stock version of Android won't work without them?  Also, how about a crack at my question?  What's involved in installing Android onto a device?  What steps & components are necessary?

Bryan's answer covers the concept well. You don't need extra hardware really. You just need a compiled version of Android that is compatible with the hardware in question (i.e. includes the necessary hardware drivers). You copy the binaries and it will need an "installer" application which will install it on the hardware. That's a bit oversimplified, especially if something goes wrong during the install. If that happens you can lose access to the hardware and generally then only the manufacturer can restore it using specialized hardware. A lot of people don't want to risk that.

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


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GNU Utils in Android Emulator
Can we install GNU utils on Android emulator?
Depending on emulator's platform (x86, x86_64, arm64, armabi, etc), can one install corresponding GNU utils build? I mostly interested in vim on emulator.

By GNU Utils, did you mean GNU core utilities? I couldn't find any reference to gnu-utils.

yes, I should have said coreutils.

I don't think you can install GNU utils directly on Android, because Android is not GNU/Linux.
From Coreutils - GNU core utilities,

Introduction to Coreutils
The GNU Core Utilities are the basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities of the GNU operating system.
These are the core utilities which are expected to exist on every operating system.

(Emphasis mine)
But Android is not GNU/Linux

Android is very different from the GNU/Linux operating system because it contains very little of GNU. Indeed, just about the only component in common between Android and GNU/Linux is Linux, the kernel. People who erroneously think “Linux” refers to the entire GNU/Linux combination get tied in knots by these facts, and make paradoxical statements such as “Android contains Linux, but it isn't Linux.”(*) Absent this confusion, the situation is simple: Android contains Linux, but not GNU; thus, Android and GNU/Linux are mostly different, because all they have in common is Linux.

(Emphasis mine)
...however, alireza7991 from XDA forum was trying to port them to Android.

Requirements: an ARM v7 processor with built-in NEON SIMD (scorpion, krait, exynose 4, exynose 5,...)
Installation

Be sure you meet the requirements!
Get the zip file (CoreUtils on Android v1)
Flash it via recovery mod
Reboot and enjoy

Usage
To avoid issues of having busybox and coreutils at same time, all utils are named in form : cu.${UTIL_NAME}. For example:
cu.echo "hello world!"
cu.chmod 644 /system/build.prop

Bugs: a few utils such as ls and uname are broken down till I fix them and add the correct one to repository. Some utils are missed. (currently we have 103 applets working)

Further reading: BusyBox Replacement on the Horizon? Meet GNU CoreUtils on Android

PS. If you want to use Vim on Android, why don't you use Vim Touch or Terminal IDE, or search "vim" on Play Store instead?

I do some feeble Android development as hobby, thus was looking for vim in emulator. not an app. it shall work in adb shell


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Can PowerTutor app measure exact whole power consumption of device's GPU?
I'm developing face detection app using OpenCL for heterogeneous devices with CPU-GPU. My app uses CPU - GPU simultaneously, so I want to measure app power consumption, comparing only GPU version which most calculations are executed in GPU kernel.
I found PowerTutor app. It measures power consumption of each app. The PowerTutor app measures about utility of CPU, LCD, 3G, WiFi respectively and weighted average of power consumption.
Can PowerTutor app measures exact whole power consumption of devices which uses GPU?

I haven't tested the app, but I doubt it will count GPU too. The utility of CPU, screen, cellular network and WiFi seems to be logged by Android OS, and any apps (including PowerTutor) can use & display it, but I never see GPU utility on any battery logger apps. I might be wrong though.

As already mentioned, Power Tutor doesn’t display power for the GPU. Power Tutor is a very cool app, but it's based on research that was done in 2011. It uses modelling to estimate power consumption. No actual power is displayed. Power Tutor is surprisingly accurate when it is run on the phone that was used to create the model, but that phone (the HTC Dream) was released back in 2008. According to Google Play, the Power Tutor app hasn't been updated since April of 2013.
On my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Power Tutor only reports LCD and CPU power and both are very inaccurate. The actual power consumption of my device when idle is 528 mW. Power Tutor says it's 623mW to 818mW. That's an error of up to 55%. The per-rail estimates are off even more. On my device it shows the GPS uses up to 400mW. That's an order of magnitude off. It shows my audio power usage is around 350mW, which is also way too high. Power Tutor shows my screen uses a little under 600mW. That's too high. It shows the processor uses around 0-150mW. That's too low. On my device the per-rail WiFi doesn't work.
It's true that Android has power profiles, but those don’t appear to be accurate either. I can provide more details if anyone cares.
A better way to measure total system power is an app called Trepn Profiler. It doesn't estimate power. It reads the actual current and voltage from the power management IC and converts that to into power. Because it runs on target, that does make readings a little higher than they should be, but it’s a very useful tool for this who are lucky enough to have a device that reports accurate battery power.
If you have money to burn and you want to measure accurate per rail power of the CPU (Cores 0-3), CPU (Cores 4-7), Graphics (GPU), LCD Backlight, Front Camera, Rear Camera, System Memory (RAM), Internal Memory/SD Card, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, Sensors and USB, you could get a Snapdragon MDP tablet from Intrinsyc. I don’t want to provide more details here because I know this isn’t a commercial forum.
In the unlikely event that you are willing to share both versions of your app with me, I’d be happy to let you know what the power consumption is of each. You could also get a Monsoon Power Monitor and measure this for yourself.
Disclosure: I’m part of the team who produced Trepn Profiler. Trepn is free in Google Play. We’re working on a new app that will be released later this year that will also show modelled system power on the most popular mobile processors. Sorry for the blatant plug. I only mention this in case some of you would like to Beta test this app.

I have been tested my app on Galaxy S5 with Snapdragon. and I research CPU - GPU co-processing using OpenCL. thus, I need to exactly profile  utility of resource and power consumption. So I want to ask  more. Could you leave your email address?

You can contact me at ricks1@mail.com. If you found my comment to be useful, please upvote it. I'm a new user here that would help my standing. Thanks.

Welcome, and thanks for a splendid first answer!  You may want to add our power tag to your favorite-tags list, so that you'll more often see questions which are interesting to you.

Note that, if you indeed are a Trepn product manager as you write here, you have a strong conflict of interest.  You are welcome to talk about Trepn on our websites.  However, in every post in which you do so, you must always add that you work on the Trepn product team -- just as you have done in this post.

+1. Read this now, after seeing your other answer today. Thanks. Is the app ready? Would volunteer to beta test- I have Moto X Play

If that was App Tune Up Kit - just installed that :)

I know this is an old post, but if you are developing for APi level 21 and  above you can use Google Batterystats and Battery Historian.
Look at the Android developer documentation


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How to block calls/SMS by contact name (might have multiple phone numbers)?
I'm using Moto X. I used to blacklist spammers directly into the downloaded app or the built-in Android blocker.
The problem is that every time that I reset my phone to factory settings, I have to add all numbers again, one by one.
So I created a contact on Google called "SPAM", and inserted all spam numbers into it.
Is there a way to simply block the contact called "SPAM", instead of adding dozens of numbers again?

This is academic, really, when using Google Voice. Unfortunately, GV is not universally available.

@AlE. yes. unfortunately, not available in my country yet.

Lots and Lots apps are available for the same. Just a Play needed.

@See-Sharp i know. i have tried at least 20 apps. its really hard to find one that can block by contact name, not by number.

Mr. Number added this feature to recent versions.
When you select a contact name to block, it adds all phone numbers related to that contact to the blacklist.

From within the stock Android environment, you can at least force contacts to the voicemail. It is not possible to block SMS directly, at least not without root (to my knowledge).
I have a Nexus 4, so your options might differ from what I have.
If you go in the People app, you'll be able to find your SPAM contact. In the top-right corner, you'll have the ⋮ button (or the menu button on the device). There will be an option "All calls to voicemail". If you check this, all numbers within that contact will be sent to your voicemail and won't vibrate/alert you.

does not apply for kitkat (4.4.4)

Have you tried Go SMS? It can block by text filters

SMS blocker smartly block blacklist/keywords and filter spam messages

it works for sms, but not for contact names.

Have you tried using BlackList?

Blocking:

Block call/text/MMS messages for a blacklist (a list of numbers)
Block call/text/MMS messages for private numbers (no numbers, no caller id), numbers not in my contacts
Block call/text message for pre-/post-fix numbers
Exception list (don't block list) (PRO)
Text filters by plain text or regular expression, prefix-matches, postfix matches.

yes. does not block by contact name.


text:
Google Play Store: Package file was not signed correctly
I'm using Lenovo A369i and my Android version is 4.2.2. When I install an app, after it's finished installing, an error appears,

Package file was not signed correctly

First time, I thought maybe it's my connection problem. But when I try it again, Google Play Store shows the same error. How to fix that?

I am pretty sure this is an issue with the Play Store, and not your specific device.  Probably the best bet is to just wait, and try again later.  You could also use the Play Store customer support to complain (which might get the issue elevated in their internal bug queue).
Bottom line, it's not you, it's them.

thanks booger..i'm try to contact play store customer support but they don't give any responds...any suggestion??


text:
How much disk space (GB) does Android 5.0 OS take up? Is "System memory" the OS? Is 5.5GB typical? Can I free any of it?
I've been a proud owner of an Android for all of ~6 hours now. I just upgraded from my dumb phone, to a smart phone, for the first time ever, this afternoon. I know, a little later than most...
I have a 16GB Samsung Galaxy S5 from Verizon.
Phone Name: SAMSUNG-SM-G900V
Model Number: SM-G900V
Android Version: 5.0
Kernel Version: 3.4.0
etc etc...
I put in a 16GB micro SD card, turned it on, configured it, installed a half-dozen apps, took two pictures, moved over all eligible apps to the SD card (via Settings --> Applications --> Application manager --> SD card menu), then I looked at the memory usage.
Settings --> Storage shows only 7.13GB free on the internal memory, out of 16GB. This seems pretty shocking to me. The only things that stand out are: Applications, 2.45GB (ok, I suppose I understand that...), and "Miscellaneous Files", 5.47GB. Of the Misc. Files, 5.46GB is "System memory."
What exactly is "System memory?" Is this the Android 5.0 OS? Is it normal to be this large? (I would have expected the OS to be more like ~2GB, and certainly < 4GB). Is any of it space I can free up?
With normal usage, installing another couple dozen apps over the next couple yrs, and trying to store all photos externally on the SD card, do any of you foresee me running out of memory really soon?
Thanks for any insight.
PS. Here is the info exported from the DiskInfo App, per the request in the comments.

 Internal Storage (MMC)

System [mmcblk0p23] (/system) [ext4]
Used: 2.5 GB, Free: 455 MB, Total space: 2.9 GB
Cache [mmcblk0p24] (/cache) [ext4]
Used: 32.6 MB, Free: 991 MB, Total space: 1 GB
Data (userdata) [mmcblk0p26] (/data) [ext4]
Used: 4.6 GB, Free: 5.9 GB, Total space: 10.6 GB

 SD Card

External SD [mmcblk1p1] (/mnt/media_rw/extSdCard, /storage/extSdCard) [vfat]
Used: 204 MB, Free: 14.5 GB, Total space: 14.7 GB

 Memory

RAM
Used: 1.3 GB, Free: 421 MB, Total space: 1.7 GB
Swap
Used: 966 MB, Free: 313 MB, Total space: 1.2 GB

Give us the output of DiskInfo as a screenshot.

Although, not a "screenshot" per se, I exported the DiskInfo and pasted it here.

A lot of devices from Verizon seem to have bloatwares of around 6GB under Miscellaneous Files.There seems to be no solution found yet.

Firelord gave me the tools to answer my own question, by asking me to post a screenshot of DiskInfo, which I have now added below my question. Corrections (if any) to my answer here are welcome.
Looking at my DiskInfo, according to my understanding of Linux, I'll make the following deductions:
Android 5.0 (ignoring the SD card) consists of the following 4 partitions:
1. mmcblk0p23, for System, 2.9GB
2. mmcblk0p24, for Cache, 1.0GB
3. mmcblk0p26, for Data (userdata, incl Apps), 10.6GB
4. Swap, 1.2GB (equivalent to the Windows "virtual memory" file, for instance)
Partitions 1, 2, and 4 must be what comprise "System Memory," which is what I asked about in my question. Their sum is 2.9 + 1.0 + 1.2 = 5.1GB
My "System Memory" however is 5.46GB. Why the 0.36GB difference?* I'm not exactly sure, but I've answered my question essentially: Android 5.0 is 5.1GB if you use these "default" partition sizes.
*Answer (thanks to @user1958698 below): Android uses true, base-2 memory size, where 1 GB = 1024^3 = 1073741824 bytes, whereas DiskInfo uses the rounded off base-10 memory size, where 1 GB = 1000000000 bytes. The ratio is 1073741824/1000000000 = 1.074. DiskInfo's sum (base 10) is 5.1, so multiply by 1.074 to get the base-2 equivalent, and we have 5.1 GB x 1.074 = ~5.48 GB, which is almost the same as the 5.46GB of "System memory" reported by the Android Storage settings. Now, the minor discrepancy between 5.46GB and 5.48GB must certainly be due to some rounding error in the initial 5.1GB value reported by DiskInfo.
Can it be shrunk? Sure, you could shrink Swap, and and shrink System by <455mB, but it's prob. not worth it. Shrinking Swap could reduce performance, and shrinking System could require expanding it again the first time there's an upgrade.
Update, 13 May 2016:
FYI, I've now run out of internal storage memory for apps, and I have cleared all the cache. It turns out the 16GB version of the phone is NOT big enough for my needs. I will now figure out how to get apps to install onto the SD card by default, so I can free up internal space. This will probably require repartitioning the SD card, using gparted on a Linux computer, and/or rooting the phone. We shall see.
Nevertheless, here is a key piece of information for Android 5.0 users: once you get down to <~600MB free space on internal storage, you will no longer be able to sync gmail, update apps, or install new apps. You will instead consistently get an error that says, "Insufficient storage available." Therefore, ~600MB seems to be the magic amount of free internal storage that must be available for stable operation of the phone. Note: for some small apps, I was able to get down to 200~300MB free and still update them, but to update my bigger apps, like Facebook, gmail, Google Photos, etc, I had to free up to ~640MB or so before they would update.

I know this is a bit old, but I thought I would add my 2 cents on the discrepancy between what DiskInfo says and what Android says (the 0.36 GB)
but my guess is that DiskInfo is representing sizes in Base 2 GB notation (1073741824 bytes/GB) and the Android UI is displaying in Base 10 notation (1000000000 bytes/GB)
5.1 * 1.073741824 ~= 5.476.  With rounding errors factored in it should put you right at the 5.46 Android shows

Looking at my 32gb Nexus 5, it says that I have 26.8gb total space, so about 5gb sounds right. Samsung is also know for having a lot of bloatware on their OS which could be taking up some space.
To my knowledge the only ways to free up space from the Samsung apps would require you to root your phone.
In terms of running out of memory, it really depends how much you use it. If you keep all your media (music, photos etc.) on your SD card and download a modest amount of apps, 7gb should be plenty. If not I usually find I have a lot of apps on my phone that I never use anyway so you could delete those if it comes to that.