text:
How to check what's wrong while my phone starts? How to get logs?
My phone does not start up. It shows splash screen, but it doesn't load a system. How can I check what's wrong?
EDIT: More info: the broken phone is Galaxy S+, it is currently rooted, I installed CM 11 on it. I don't know if it is my blame I think not because I haven't done anything special on this phone for some time (it has worked correctly about month with all those modifications installed). I haven't given access to root to any of installed apps. Reinstalling system works, system starts but when I restart my phone it doesn't work anymore (until I re-install it again).
Maybe is there some way to save logs on external sdcard?

What version of android? What was the last app you installed prior to the issue? What was done to arrive at this point? Can you go into Recovery? Did you install a incompatible kernel? A lot of vital information left out, thus making this question too broad to answer. Perhaps, re-edit your question to include the above answers to my questions in order to narrow it down specifically.

Install the android sdk and plug in your phone.

Go to a command prompt
change directory to to your adb folder
Type adb logcat > logcat.txt

this creates a text file in your adb folder and would tell exactly why your phone isn't booting.

"- waiting for the device -" --> computer doesn't see my phone. Another problem is that when I plug my phone before pressing power button, on the screen appears picture of bettery and then I can't turn it on.

Anyway, does it have chance to work? I mean: the problem appears before starting android (I think). ADB is android soft

adb is active even while the phone is starting to boot. So, try a few times and adb logcat should be able to provide some relevant output. But I doubt the logcat is actually going to help you. Get the support tools for returning your phone to stock and re-flash the stock rom when your phone is put in download mode.

EDIT: After update to the question my answer is not valid for this case, I thought that the phone wasn't booting right after flashing new ROM. Leaving my old answer in case someone might have the issue I have described earlier.
As far as I know until your phone boot there is no way to check logs.
Though I think your phone might have some problems booting due to some cached information which wasn't wiped before flashing your ROM. I had similar issue and wiping caches fix my boot-loop on GalaxyS4 - Cyanogenmod 11.
All you need to do before flashing your ROM, is to turn your phone in recovery mode, then wipe cache, and dalvik cache, after that you can flash your ROM. I can't tell you exactly how to do this because I don't know which recovery you are using.
This operation won't delete any of you personal data, only some apps cache, after rebooting your phone should start preparing apps and then boot normally. In case its still not working you might try to wipe cache and dalvik cache again and additionally make factory reset, this operation will wipe all your data from your phone so if you got important information on your phone make sure its the last possible solution, after factory reset flash your ROM again.
Also some custom roms are not working correctly with every recovery, so make sure you are using supported recovery.
PS. Also I advice you checking this forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/ for any information regarding flashing roms/kernels etc.
Disclaimer: Though this worked for me, and I think it should work for you too, I am not taking any responsibility for any damages to your device, nor lost data.

I added more info to my question. Sorry that I haven't said that at once :P


text:
Mass confusion about present and future: Hangouts, SMS, MMS, and Google Voice
I've been trying to make sense of recent news and theories about the future of Hangouts, SMS/MMS integration, and merging with Google Voice.
My main concern right now is that I want to continue having free SMS messages sent through my Google Voice number. I don't have any texting plan from my phone company -- my "real" number is secret to the world.
The facts:

I have a Google Voice number that is public, for calling and free texting
I have a secret "actual" Verizon phone number, SMS or MMS costs $0.25 per message
Google Voice doesn't support MMS
I do not want to activate SMS over Hangouts because I fear it will use my Verizon number which does not have free texting

Am I correct in my concerns? Should I hold off activating SMS in Hangouts because I will end up with a lot of fees from my carrier? Should I pay for an unlimited texting plan with Verizon because doing all of these things won't be free in the future anyway?

Google Hangouts + Voice Integration
Update Sept 10, 2014:  Google has now merged Google Voice into Hangouts.

"Activating" SMS in Hangouts won't affect your ability to use the Google Voice app (at least, not currently). It's just like any other SMS app in that yes, it will use your actual phone number/plan, but it won't somehow prevent you from using the Google Voice app. They're still separate apps. If you want the free texting, just keep using Google Voice. What may happen in the future is not really something we can answer; you'd have to ask Google.

If you keep using the Google Voice app for texting, it doesn't matter if you activate SMS via Hangouts.  However, any texts you send out of Hangouts will go through your Verizon number, incurring carrier charges.
If you are running CyanogenMod 11 ROM, you may want to look into Voice+.  It's a custom app that allows you to pipe all "regular" SMS through Google Voice, from any app such as Hangouts, Messaging, HandCent, Whatsapp, etc.  It's still in beta (as is the entire CM11) but works quite well for keeping all the messaging together in a single app.
When Hangouts got ability to send/receive SMS last year, Google promised that they will eventually merge Google Voice functionality into it, thus making it a single app.  This looks to be slowly happening behind the curtains. In the latest Hangouts v2.1 update, bits and pieces pointing to Google Voice integration started showing up.  We will most likely hear more about this in the upcoming Google I/O developers conference this coming Summer.

Thanks, then my assumptions were correct (thus far). The Voice+ integration is helpful too.

source: Stack Exchange

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sort: votes


text:
When is a free app removed from your Google account?
I install a free app from the Android Market, then I uninstall it. Then I still see it linked to my Google account. But after some time, the app is no longer linked to my account. Other apps instead are always present under the "Not installed" category.
When is an app unlinked from an account?

Only the paid apps you've purchased will be listed under the "Not installed" category indefinitely.  I believe it takes a few hours (or sometimes days) for the Market app to sync with Google servers to refresh the list of installed apps.

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text:
How to change Gmail sync frequency in ICS?
I am using a stock Nexus S that has been upgraded to ICS 4.0.3. I have noticed that Gmail syncs far less frequently since the upgrade - at the moment it appears to be syncing approximately every 8 hours.
I cannot seem to find the menu screen that allows me to configure the frequency of the the sync.
Settings > Accounts & Sync gives me access to switch on or off syncing and would seem to be the logical place for this functionality to live, but I cannot see anything that lets me control frequency.
Similarly there appears to be no settings around this within the Gmail app itself.
Am I being blind or is this functionality no longer available?

If you use the Gmail app the mail is pushed instead of synced and therefore you cannot find the sync frequency setup.
However, if you set up your Gmail account in the Android Email app, where you can have your non Gmail accounts (POP3/IMAP/Exchange), the mail is synced and you can set the frequency in the Account settings, inside the Email app.

For what it's worth -- I have an IMAP account set up, and its settings are accessible from the Settings/Accounts page, as well as from inside the Email app.

So if the Gmail app works on a push from Google, there's no mechanism for controlling the frequency? Push implies (in my mind - possibly not googles!) that as a mail comes it, it would be pushed to the app. This how it appeared to operate prior to the ICS upgrade.

Yes, that is right. When the email sync is set to push, the mails should appear in your phone at the time you get them. Therefore, no sync frequency is needed.

You can only set how much E-mails are synced in the GMail settings.
Goto Gmail > labels > organize labels > click on the label you edit want.

Now you have tree options, 4day, all or nothing. If you choose 4 days, GMail downloads the E-Mails of the last 4 days, if you choose all, all Mails were downloaded and nothing say what its doing.

I will try a different setting and see if it changes the behaviour of the app. My 3 options were None, 30days or All. 30Days was selected and I've moved it to All, Many thanks.

Youre welcom. If I helped you, vote up. :)


text:
Using OR logic in contexts for Tasker
Let's say I want to create a context where the SSID of a WiFi connection is either 'ABC' or 'XYZ'.
I can see where I am able to create 2 contexts, but it seems to enforce AND logic between the two, so in order words I must be in proximity to both 'ABC' and 'XYZ'.
How to make the context to be either, not both?

Specify SSID in the WiFi Connected context to be ABC/XYZ
This will activate the context if you connect to ABC or XYZ,
Reference: http://tasker.dinglisch.net/userguide/en/matching.html

solves this particular problem, but not what the question actually asked

Or probably you can use "Inverted" conditions to do an opposite task?, e.g.
If you want to run a task when WiFi is connected OR when the profile:A is inactive, you can instead setup contexts for "WiFi is disconnected" AND "Profile: A is active" both with "inverted" checkbox selected, and setup a task that does the opposite, if that is possible.
This basically works because of:
(A OR B) = NOT((NOT A) AND (NOT B))

This answer nice because it's more general. That is, it works with context types other than "Wifi Connected". For example, I wanted to create a profile to put my phone in silent mode whenever it's either docked or connected to my Pebble watch. The easiest way to do this was to make a "not connected to Pebble and not docked" profile that disables silent mode on enter, and enables silent mode on exit. DeMorgan's Laws FTW.

just posting my solution to this problem if anybody ever comes here:
create a profile for each condition in the or statement
on enter %Reasons += 1
on exit %Reasons -=1
create a profile with condition %Reasons>0 and the required enter and exit tasks
cheers!

You could make your action depend on a variable "%condition=true" and then make two different profiles:

profile a: set condition to "true"
profile b: set condition to "true"

your profile: if variable "condition"=true then ... and there goes your exit task
But would be nice if the authors would enhance tasker for that... :)

This method causes problems when the condition may be set true or false by both profile a and b at the same time.  For example, I wanted to turn bluetooth on when in a call or in Contacts app.  I set %BluetoothNeeded=1 in either case and clear when either case exits.  While I'm in a call the Contacts app becomes background and usually gets suspended to save memory, which clears %BluetoothNeeded so bluetooth turns off, cutting my bluetooth headset during the call.

You will need to make a single profile for each context and pair it to the action individually.

Hm, this means I won't really be able to have an exit task?

To support my bluetooth headset, my desire was to turn bluetooth on when I'm in the Contacts app OR in a call.  I could do it only while in a call but then I can't make sure my headset is connected before the other party picks up.
None of the solutions already posted would work.  Setting %BluetoothNeeded on when in Contacts or in call means that when a call starts, it sets %BlueToothNeeded on but then when Contacts becomes background to being in call, it sets %BlueToothNeeded off and bluetooth turns off.  Using the inverse operation, turn bluetooth off when NOT in Contacts AND NOT in call but turn bluetooth on as an exit task almost works, but apparently Tasker notices the brief period when Contacts loses foreground status and the call hasn't started yet and turns bluetooth off.
So here's what worked for me, based on this blog:

Create a Task called Dummy with an Action of Tasks > Wait > 1ms
Create a Profile called stateInCall with a condition of State > Phone > Call > Type: Any.  Link it to the Dummy task.
Create a Profile called stateInContacts with a condition of State > Application > Contacts.  Link it to the Dummy task.
Create a Profile called Bluetooth Needed with a condition of State > Variable > Variable Value.  Set Name to %PACTIVE, Op to Matches, and Value to *,stateInCall,*|*,stateInContacts,*.  According to the Tasker docs, %PACTIVE contains a comma-separated list of active Profiles where the list also begins and ends with a comma to make matching easier.  Link this Profile to a Task called Bluetooth On that turns bluetooth on using the Net > Bluetooth > Set: On Action.
Create a Task called Conditional Bluetooth Off with the following Actions:

Task > Wait > 10 seconds
Task > If > %PACTIVE doesn't match *,stateInCall,*|*,stateInContacts,*
Net > Bluetooth > Set: Off
Task > End If

Long press on the Bluetooth Needed Profile then choose Properties.  Uncheck Restore Settings.
Quick press the Bluetooth Needed Profile till the Bluetooth On Task appears below it, in the right column.  Long press Bluetooth On and choose Add Exit Task, then choose Conditional Bluetooth Off.

Conditional Bluetooth Off will wait 10 seconds before double checking that neither stateInCall nor stateInContacts are true, at which point it will turn bluetooth off.  Otherwise, it leaves bluetooth on and when both stateInCall and stateInContacts exit later, it will do its 10 second wait and check again.

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text:
Google Latitude History is telling me that I'm living on the next block
Today was looking over the statistics on Latitude history and I noticed that it registered another place as my home, it is actually one block away from the adress it says.
Is there a way to change or set my home's location manually?

You can manually set the location using an iGoogle gadget or through Firefox.  What you are probably seeing when the location is "one block away" is that GPS is not actually turned on on the handset.  The phone is probably using positioning that is determined used cell phone tower location, so it will get you in roughly the correct place, but not the exact location you would expect if GPS was turned on.

Im sure that im using GPS

If you go into Maps on your phone, press Menu, press Latitude, press yourself, press "View your location history", then press Menu you should see an option to change your Home and Office/School locations.

Turn Wifi on if you haven't got it on already. You don't need to actually connect to it, just to have it enabled. Google uses the known locations of wifi points to help its GPS calculation (don't know if anyone else does, mind you)

Pretty sure the Wifi locations are used by anything that uses the "Coarse Location" but most apps don't nag you to turn Wifi on like Maps does.

If your internet is from a VPN or a server it shows the location of these servers instead of yours using the same method as the new Geolocation function in HTML5 i suppose

It'd be quite a coincidence if your VPN gateway was only a block away from your house...


text:
Are the custom ROMs different for different phones?
Are custom ROMs different for different make of handsets? Or is there only one CyanogenMod for, say, Android 2.2?
Can someone please elaborate why a 'ROM' is called as such? I mean has it any similarity to Read-Only Memory?

FYI, my phone is Motorola Quench XT3, and couldn't find any version of cyanogenmod for that particular model..

The simple answer is Yes there are usually multiple versions of each Custom ROM. If not the ROM may be only usable on some devices.
Usually for each device model (or group of very similar devices) there is one custom ROM version. The reason are the different hardware each device is equipped with. Like in your desktop computer each component needs a suitable driver for being used. This starts with the display which sometimes even changes from model revision to revision and ends with WLAN chip used.
As space and memory are significant on a Smartphone a custom ROM only contains the drivers needed.
Another reason for having different custom ROMS are the different cell phone standards. You have devices built for GSM/UMTS and some are designed to work with CDMA. The telephony stack has to be either the one or the other - again a reason for different ROMs.

so, is it possible to use a closley resembling phone's ROM on my phone? eg. Moto Defy's ROM on Moto Quench??

No, it is generally not possible to use a "similar phone's" ROM on your device. Most of the time hardware is subtly different and while some things will work, enough won't that the entire exercise is not worth your time.

ROM here would mean Firmware, which would be the Android OS in the device.
And like Robert has said, with varying hardware specifications across the devices, the ROM needs to be modified to include the respective hardware drivers so that every functionality of the phone works fine.
Also not every phone may be supported by custom ROM developers. Forums like xda-developers.com may have more information about the ROM's available for your phone.

As your first question was answered properly, I will address your second question:
ROM is an umbrella term for any data you can flash to NAND. In this context flashing ROM = installing mobile operating system. In other contexts it may just mean replacing some files to customize your skin. Etc.
While ROM may be a bit of a misnomer (actually refers to non-volatile memory--not data), most people don't know the difference between a kernel, OS, bootloader and etc. So many modifications just get called ROMs, this avoids confusion and flamewars (like when people call linux an OS instead of saying GNU/linux is an OS or even GNU/linux/X).
So we kinda accept the nonsensical language "Flash this ROM to your phone" because the meaning is obvious to experts, and language purists like me be damned ;)

Yes,  custom ROMs vary by device models and configurations supported. You can always Google for a specific ROM for your device model. And never use a ROM of a different phone on your phone (unless you really know what you are doing and know that one phone is a re-brand of the other). It will certainly lead to soft or maybe even hard bricking of your device.

authors: محمد محمود فؤاد


text:
Why are my network icons blue?
I've got a Motorola Electrify on Android 2.3. Sometimes my network icons (3G and the cellular network bars) are grey, and sometimes they're blue. They seem to be blue when I have a good connection and/or when my connection will work.
What exactly do the colors mean? I've noticed when I have a grey 3G icon, my wireless tether doesn't work at all and I often can't get web pages to load right, regardless of signal strength.

I've "genericized" the previous question's title to now read What does it mean when the connectivity icons in the status bar go white/gray?, and I think it adequately covers this.

@eldarerathis Oh, yeah that looks generic enough now

In my stock Ice Cream Sandwich, the icons turn blue when there is Internet connectivity and grey when there isn't. I'm not sure on Gingerbread though.

Shouldn't the 3G icon not be there when there's no internet connectivity though?

It's not strictly "Internet" connectivity, it's connectivity to Google's services. The distinction is that you can be connected to the Internet but not to Google, feasibly. See What does it mean when the connectivity icons in the status bar go white in Gingerbread?

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text:
Show all apps on home screen, or replace home screen directly with app drawer
Is it possible to customize my Android device (in this case, Samsung Galaxy S2) to not have a home screen, but only the app drawer?
If I can give example, it would be an iOS; you unlock and you are instantly on applications. The reason for this is I don't really use widgets at all, and I don't see the point in having a home screen only for apps shortcuts if I would have only menu (app drawer).

All the ROMs and launchers I've used allow apps right on the home screen.

Almost every launcher allows adding apps from Drawer to the home screen. What  I want is not having to add apps to home screen: installed apps appear right on home screen like on iPhone and can be managed from there.

Ah, got it.  I'm sure there's an app that will copy them all with one click, but I understand why not needing to deal with that at all would be better.

Espier Launcher might be the closest thing you can get to an "iOS experience".
I gave it a test run, it does not have an app drawer...  It's pretty much exactly like iOS.
Note: Espier Launcher is no longer available in Play Store since 2013.

You can give the MIUI ROM a go, see http://en.miui.com/.
I feel that is sort of the iPhone feel ROM for Android. No app drawer, newly installed apps get put onto the next available space on your screens, folders to organise, etc. Even the settings look iPhone-ish.

Thanks, will give it a try later. I don't need the iPhone look, I just want the home screen to behave like iPhone, it's much easier and simpler concept to understand than the app drawer thing.

@Lamnk He says there's no app drawer and the installed apps get on the homescreen itself.. isnt this the answer you are looking for?

From what he describes then yes it is. However I must try it first hand to find out.

My just-released TinyLaunch is a tiny PalmOS-style launcher that just shows a (categorizable) list of apps.


text:
Dropbox app not installed, but there is log activity in /data/system/dropbox
I don't have Dropbox app installed nor DropBox account, but whilst checking log files I've found that there is a /data/system/dropbox directory with log files from, I think, the last time I rebooted my phone.
Why might this present? Is it possibly symptomatic of some kind of malware?

/data/system/dropbox is not part of the cloud storage provider "Dropbox". It is part of the Android OS DropBoxManager (not related at all to "Dropbox", just happen to have the same name).
This puts data from application crashes and kernel logs and such in this log directory. I know the market app uses this directory (See #4) as well, probably to report application crashes.
You could probably remove the data in this directory, but do not delete the directory and you may see logcat errors from parts of the OS/Apps looking for specific files in this directory.
I deleted everything from this folder and rebooted my device afterward, I had no issues with any applications, and it actually freed up some space on the device.

As already answered, what you find in this folder are logs for events or crashes of the Android system. You could open those with a text editor and try to figure things out. All can be safely deleted, but the directory will get populated again as time goes by.
settings put global dropbox_max_files 9

If you are rooted (or via adb shell - thanks @Irfan Latif) you can issue the command above to limit dropbox files in that dir to 9 (or any other number you prefer). You will only see only latest n events, older get overwritten.
For me, 9 is a good compromise that let me see i.e. latest app crash event, without filling that dir with hundreds of small files. You will not run into any issues by setting that to 0, but you will not be able to see potential errors/crashes (silent or not) in apps that could be worth investigating and fixing.


text:
3g direct between two android devices
Is it posible to connect two or more android devices using 3g bypassing the provider infrastructure. Or in other words is it posible for a android mobile phone to recieve the sending signal directly from a other phone and take action on that. Can I add a private Sim card to realise this connection between a set of phones using a duals SIM phone.
Phone B is recieving the send signals from Phone A using a second SIM card adjusted for the good frequencies. By exchaning the role of master and slave we can transmit and recieve signals in the G3 band. To be legal we need a subscrition for A and |B
Is it posible in Android to realize this senario. Swiching between two connections in the same phone?
Phone  1
slave  SIM A_______send
master SIM B____   |
                |  |
                |  |
                |  |
Phone 2         |  |
slave SIM  A____|  |
Master SIM B_______|recieve

No, you can't do this, on Android or any other kind of mobile phone. It's just not how the 3G network works. Each operator's 3G network runs on a frequency band allocated to them by the government. The cell transmitter runs on its own hardware that your phone doesn't have, with a high-power radio transceiver that needs more power than your phone has.


text:
Samsung Glaxy S5 Wifi Not in Range
I have Samsung Glaxy S5 device with some other devices. The Wifi is working every device except in Glaxy S5 device. But when I go to Wifi settings I see 2 connections 1) MyWifi 2) NVRAM Warning: Err = 0x10. When I select MyWifi and put the password. It says 'Authenticating' then it will show 'Not in Range'. Tried everything but nothing is working for me.

It might help to be a little more detailed on the "everything" part on your question – or we can only suggest to try "something other" ;)

@Izzy, I mean reboot, disabled MAC filtering, etc

That's something. Now for the "etc", please :) Honestly: please be as precise as possible, or you'll end up in a loop with people suggesting something, and you saying "I did that already" (and please, [edit] those details into your question: with the comments list getting longer, people will stop reading them). There are many possibilities, e.g. removing the AP and re-adding it in your configuration, doing a complete factory-reset, and more.

Is it a 5GHz access point? There is a known problem where some phones running recent android builds cannot access 5GHz APs. I have this problem on my Nexus 4.


text:
How to set a profile that only allows selected calls through?
I work on the third shift, so I sleep during the day. But I get calls all day long, so I shut my ringer off.  I would like to be able to allow a couple of phone numbers that can ring through no matter what.
Using Google Voice to do this won't work because I get calls directly to my cell number as well as to Google Voice.
How to set a profile that only allows selected calls through?

The Setting Profiles app can do that. From their site:

What if I don’t want to miss an important call while I’m on mute?
You can overwrite current sound
  settings with a rule based on Incoming
  Call condition. Here is how to:

Create a new rule
Add Incoming Call condition and set it to your preferred contacts group (like VIP or Family)
Add Activate Profile action to activate the profile where sound is On and/or some custom ring tone specified

That’s it! Now even if your phone is
  set to mute, it will still ring in
  case of a call from someone from
  Contact Group you have set up in step
  two.

They currently have two versions of the app - a Lite and Full. I would try the Lite version to see if it has this feature first.
QR Code for Setting Profiles Lite:

QR Code for Setting Profiles Full:

Awesome thanks!  The last time I bothered searching for this was in the spring and I don't think this app was out yet.

I use "Shh! Auto-Silencer" for a similar purpose, screening notification automatically (so I don't get calls at work rather than while sleeping).
It is a time profile based app that silences your phone between time A and B and allows you to set exception for contacts. The best thing about it is that it runs in the background (boot on start-up and runs off the alarm clock service), you don't need to enable/disable it as a sound mode.

Shh!auto-silencer lite


text:
Notification Volume Control
One of the most annoying things about my phone is that the volume buttons adjust the ringer volume but not the notification volume.
Is there any way I could write a script or configure my phone so that the notifications volume is automatically the same as the ringer volume?
What about setting the volume buttons to set both the ringer and notifications volume?

Go to Settings > Sound > Volumes, then tick Link ringtone and notifications volumes.
If it's not there, you can use an Xposed module like GravityBox to achieve the same result. Just look in the Media tweaks menu.

Which version of Android would the first option be in?

If I am not mistaken, it's been present on AOSP ROMs since 4.1.

It's automatically linked on KitKat aosp for sure (I just checked it). This option is implemented in some devices, but the OEM often overrides it, the tick box isn't present on the few devices I have to hand. If the option isn't there, then Xposed is the only way I can think of also.


text:
How can I get Skype to run on a MD700 tablet?
My uncle bought a cheap MD700 tablet (running Android 4.1.2) and strongly desired to use Skype on it, but for some reason the application didn't recognize microphone input. All it could be heard on the other end was a constant, static buzz.
I started trying older app versions until I found one that worked, and he stuck with that one until it was finally phased out, months later. Now, all accepted versions exhibit the same buggy behaviour.
The integrated microphone and the microphone jack were ruled out as culprits through testing. Other apps record audio flawlessly, and the issue persists even when using headphones. I believe the evidence points to a Skype bug or compatibility problem. A restart to factory settings didn't help. There are no ROMs available for this tablet, so updating Android itself is a no-go.
Running out of options, I connected the device to a Linux station and ran a logcat command during a test call. I considered some dalvikvm, nativecrypto and networkstats entries to contain no diagnostic value, so I filtered them out.
The result can be found here.
While applying some amateurish debugging skills, the following entries catched my eye:

W/AudioStreamInHandler( 4436): read but no streamin
D/AudioYusuHardware( 4436): Audio_Match_Force_device Force_config=0x1
D/AudioSPELayer( 4436): 0

Alas, they do not give that much of a hint for the non-Android developer.
Any ideas on how to proceed or what to test for?
Thank you all in advance.


text:
Is it possible to add a "clear all app button" in android stock
I'm using a moto G (2015) which has android 6 stock. There is no button to clear all apps launched.  By "clear" I mean quit and delete cache. Some skins have such button sometimes represented by a carpet sweeper icon.
I know there is no need to clear opened applications. Android is managed them, will clear them for you if needed, and if you quit an app manually, she will be slower to open.
But I don't like to have a list of recently opened apps (in order) available to whom take my phone. Sometimes, the browser (firefox) remember my last search and I don't want that (I use also inbrowser but needed firefox for the sync feature).
Is it a simple way to add a clear button to android stock?

The Xposed module GravityBox has it, though I'm not sure if it clears the apps as hard as you'd like.

Click whichever button you clicked on your OS to display list of opened apps, and there should be a way to clear/close all of them from this screen. For me there's an X on the bottom middle and displays how much memory these apps used up. Clicking that X closes them all.

The feature heavily depends on whether the skin of the OEM implemented it. As far as I know, since Moto loads the phone with a skin close to AOSP Android, they have no such button, and that's why OP is asking.

@AndyYan ah, I see. For me on various phones option to clear all was somewhere on that screen. Though not always so obvious. I saw that X, but it was a while till I figured what it does, because I thought it just exits so I always used back button instead ;)

A really good Launcher by MS called "Arrow launcher" comes with a dedicated icon on screen that also accomplishes this. But that's a whole launcher so probably not what OP wants. IMHO it's better than Nova Launcher which I was using before. Efficient and clean.


text:
How can I disable unwanted data usage?
I would like to remove unnecessary data usage. I have wifi at home and at work and I would like Android to synchronize/update apps/... only on wifi. In fact, I don't want Android to do any background action which consumes data when I'm not connected to a wifi network.
To sum up, basically, I would like a way (an app?) which disables data when not on wifi and enables it automatically when on wifi.
How can I achieve this?
I'm using Android 4.4 on a Galaxy Nexus (with the help of CyanogenMod 11).

There is one more standard Android setting, i.e. no app needed, which you can change - in fact anyone without unlimited cellular data should do this at first set up. As I can only check Android 5, I can't say how this is done in earlier versions:

Open the Play Store App
Go to Settings:

Click the 3 horizontal bars at top on left of search box.
Left panel slides out...
Scroll down and tap "Settings".

First section "General", tap first item "Auto-update apps"
Select third option "Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only".

This disables a LARGE amount of the automatic data usage while apps auto-update whenever you're on Wi-Fi.

One warning about Restrict Background Data:
On the Settings->Data Usage page, you can scroll down and select each app and choose to restrict background data for that app. This will only allow background data on Wi-Fi for that app.
However, if you then use the Settings->DataUsage->more options->Restrict Background Data, this applies to ALL apps. If you then choose to allow it again, it resets ALL the Apps you've individually restricted back to no restriction. So if you're wanting that level of control, you will need to use a 3rd party app as suggested.
(Here's hoping that a future release of Android sets these as checkboxes on a list of ALL apps as it has for "Move to SD card" to make it easier to stop background data usage by unimportant apps off-Wi-Fi. Then it would be easy for a master control to restrict all apps not already restricted so that it wouldn't reset the checked items.)

Re "Restrict Background Data"; Version? Re "Settings->Data Usage page"; Version? Re "it resets ALL the Apps"; Version?

With on-board methods: You could go to Settings→Data Usage and setup and restrict "background data" for all apps. For this, you would first need to setup some (fake) limit of monthly data (5 TB is fine; you just need to set simething here). Then you can tap each app and activate the check-mark to "restrict background data".
Alternatively, you can pick some automation app such as Tasker or Llama, and have it disabling background data altogether whenever you're not on WiFi, and re-enable it whenever you're on WiFi. Much easier to setup (as you wouldn't have to care for each app separately, and remember that whenever a new app is installed).
If you want to disable mobile data altogether, this again can be done via Setup→Network, for mobile data and WiFi separately. So you could just re-enable it manually whenever you need it; disabling mobile data has no effect on WiFi, so you wouldn't need to permanently switch back and forth. Of course, those automation apps could take care for that as well ;)

Thanks. I tested the 1§, it restrict background data either on Wifi and mobile data : not what I want. (If there is a way to activate the restriction rule only when not on Wifi, I'm interested)

I tested Llama app (2§) which seems to allow me to disable mobile data when I'm leaving home and work. I will continue testing.

3§ is also a good solution (and an easy one). I will take it if 2§ (Llama) is no conclusive.

The restriction described by the first paragraph should only apply to mobile data, not to WiFi. As I wrote on chat, I use that myself for some apps, which then complain when on mobile data but work fine when on WiFi (so I know that setting only affects mobile data, and apps I see complaining include e.g. Google Play Store which no longer updates while on mobile data but does on WiFi).

@Izzy, Re "tap each app and activate the check-mark"; Version? I don't see any checkmarks.

@Pacerier Seen the date? That answer is from 2014. Raw guess: ICS or JB or Kitkat, not newer (as LP was released 11/2014). Just checked: It's still there with Marshmallow (Android 6). And if it's no checkbox, it now is a toggle.


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Remove a SMS from my outbox
It happens to me something very annoying ... I sent an pro SMS by mistake to the wrong customer ... I realized it instantly, so I removed my battery immediately and restarted my phone (Samsung galaxy S4 ) without the SIM card.
The SMS was still not send (with the spinning loader), then I got a message like "the sms has not been sent, it will be as soon as you have access to your network".
I manually deleted the message on the page of the conversation, but I think it must be in the outbox. How to be sure it will not be sent when I put my SIM card back? Is there an "outbox" as for mails where I could remove it definitively?
Thank you for your response
LD


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Skype showing me as online - after stopping app and even after device shutdown?
Scenario A:

start Skype
do some other work
shut down the Android device

Problem:
My contacts are still seeing me as being "online".
Strangely enough there seems to be no heartbeat feature implemented in Skype.
So even after 1 day my contacts are trying to call me - even though the device is powered off.
Initially I thought this symptom would occur in case i forgot to manually quit the Skype app before shutting down the device.
So i was searching for an answer how to configure Skype to automatically log off / quit when the Android device is shutting down?
But now it turned out the situation is even worse:
Scenario B:

start Skype
do some other work
quit the Skype app
shut down the Android device

After step 3 I'm still listed as being "online".
When a contact sends me a chat message it pops up.
So it means: even though Skype no longer appears in the task manager it seems to be running as a secret, invisible background task!?
And after step 4 the behaviour is the same as in Scenario A. I'm not transitioning to "offline" state.
Summary:
There seem to be 3 problems:

no heartbeat feature implemented in Skype
quitting the Skype app is not properly terminating / signing off
shutting down the Android device also is not influencing the online status

The only thing that works for me so far:
You must switch to Skype, tap on your profile, at the very bottom manually do "sign out".
That's just not bearable.
This is:
Android 4.1.2
Skype 4.9.0.45564
Skype 5.0.0.49715
Skype 5.1.0.56619
Skype 5.1.0.58677
Skype 5.4.0.5871 (at least I'm now showing as being "Away" - instead of "Online")
2015-08-15 - the problem is back and it's even worse:
Android 5.1.1
Skype 5.9.0.14047
Even though I'm manually signing out, terminating the app and shutting down the Android device I'm still being shown as being "online"!!
--
All of the above tested @ Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (WiFi only) / GT-P3110

Stupid question, but you're not signed in somewhere else as well, are you?

OMG, I have found the following posting: http://community.skype.com/t5/Security-Privacy-Trust-and/Skype-invading-and-changing-people-s-online-status/m-p/2961695/highlight/true#M28546
According to above the "always on" concept was a deliberate decision by Microsoft:
(...) we have changed the way online status presence works:
(...) we are showing you as online to your contact even when you left or
force killed the app on your mobile phone (...)

They admit that certain scenarios need fixing:
Now we've identified a few scenarios where this is simply misleading:
 - you've switched off your device
 - you've disconnected from the internet (e.g. by switching to airplane mode
   and you are somewhere mid flight)

In these occasions you are right now still shown online and we are working to
make Skype presence indicator be meaningful in these scenarios as well.

This is just so weird.
They should certainly make it configurable.
For now the only way to disconnect is to manually "sign out".
Quitting the app isn't sufficient. Shutting down the device is neither.
Status Update (2015-08-15):
The problem is back. And it's even worse!
Even though i manually sign out, quite the Skype app and shut down the Android device I'm still being shown as "online"!
Observed with: Skype 5.9.0.14047 @ Android 5.1.1

Is there any progress about this in Android version recently? Windows Phone version is still the same, unfortunately :/

Android as well I'm afraid. I had created a test account on a test device a year go, then switched that off. Not used since. The test account (used nowhere else) is still reported being "online", though no activity took place with it ever since...

Send any of Your contacts:
/showplaces

It will show You all devices currently online for this account:
 [18:47:36] System: You have 3 online endpoints:
    {25cf308c-73a9-ddfe-c6c7-c4a2507cf657}) my_desktop Linux Skype
    {e00a3a04-9ff8-1ad3-4b45-4a3a6d2caf95}) my_notebook Linux Skype
    {8440a849-0209-4ffb-25c8-c5bdbbe1035b}) localhost Android Skype

Then send:
/remotelogout

It shokld kick off all devices but current. Now check again by
/showplaces

It should now be only one connection in list:
 [18:50:32] System: You have 1 online endpoints:
    {25cf308c-73a9-ddfe-c6c7-c4a2507cf657}) my_desktop Linux Skype

This is the only thing that worked for me, thanks! Recently, even the manual sign out doesn't work. It says it signed me out but I get a notification and it starts up as soon as someone sends me a message.

authors: ليالي انور مهلنيش


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Alert Dialog List View Shows White Text on White?
I updated my Motorola RAZR to ICS lately, and was using the Go Launcher Ex launcher, and when I tried to select a widget, it popped up a "Choose Widget" dialog that showed the icons, but the text was white on white background.  I can see them if I select them, but not otherwise.
At first I thought this was a problem with Go Launcher Ex, so I installed the Apex launcher instead, and it's choose widget dialog shows the same white on white text again (see below).
I've tried changing Go Launcher Ex and Apex themes, but still have the issue so I began wondering if it was an issue with the underlying color palettes.  I've seen a few posts about this being an issue with the "Light Theme", and they suggest choosing a different theme when you create the alert dialog.  However, I'm just a user, not a developer, so I'm wondering the following:
1) Is this just a bug in Go Launcher Ex and Apex Launchers respectively, and I should complain to both of them?
or
2) Is there something goofed up with the color palette of my phone's light theme and I can tweak it?
Thanks in advance...

Screenshot (click image to enlarge)

Might be best to check with Go Launcher/Apex Launcher's respective forums to see if that's a known issue? For apps to maintain compatibility with ICS and later, and previous versions does take a bit of work to ensure consistency. :)

are you using a 3rd party theme on the device? or is that how ICS looks on the RAZR? do you have this issue when you use the stock launcher?

No third party themes, at the moment. That's just ICS on the RAZR with Apex running (can't get to the Choose Widget alert box in stock launcher)

Aparently this is an issue with several of the launchers in many of the ICS builds.  Will just have to wait for it to be addressed by Verizon, I suppose...
Droid Forums: ICS and Go Launcher Problems


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Strange/troubling behavior when putting phone in car dock
I have a Galaxy Nexus (rooted, running stock Jellybean).  When I place it in the car dock, my screen gets flooded with notifications for "shell granted superuser access," and after a few minutes something attempts to send an email, which I know because it raises the "Select an application to continue" dialog box with choices between Gmail and Email; if I allow it to continue, it simply provides me with a bug reporting email message with no pre-filled recipient, a screen shot of my lock screen, and a 4.7MB(!) textfile.
When I check the superuser log, all of the last 200 events are for "shell," all within a second of each other, which tells me that the actual count of superuser accesses is far higher than that.  Consulting the log indicates that the su process is being used to run a bunch of different diagnostics (one for lsof, one per running process, one per sqlite database, and so on).  So this tells me that it's actually the bug reporting process that is causing the "shell granted superuser access" messages to pop up.  Also, the su instance being used is not the third-party root one but /system/xbin/su - and this process is terminating with exit code 127.
I have never seen this behavior occur anywhere else - it is only when I dock the phone to the car dock when plugged into my car (plugging it into a USB AC adapter doesn't cause this behavior, which is especially strange).  I have written a small application that uses UiModeManager to artificially enter car mode, but doing that does not cause the issue to occur; aLogcat doesn't show anything interesting while the issue is actually happening.
I am running Apex Launcher instead of the default, but these notifications occur regardless of what's in the foreground (the first time it happened, Maps was running in navigation mode), and whether I have a Car Home-specific shell installed or not.

If you can't get it to happen with the UiModeManager, you might want to try doing a startActivity with the appropriate intent (if I read the docs right, you might use ACTIVITY_MAIN with CATEGORY_CAR_DOCK). That might trigger differently. (I was looking at http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html)

It's a built-in bug report feature.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/16019-keeps-asking-me-to-email-bug-report/#entry410481

This is built into Android. It is a debugging tool that lets you send a bug report. It
  sends to you because you manually triggered it.
It is very easy to trigger it, even accidentally. If you press both volume buttons and the power button at the same time, it will vibrate once. Then it takes nearly a full minute before the phone vibrates three times and the bug report pops up. It also doesn't seem to keep processing when the phone is asleep, so if you accidentally do it when say checking the time or something, it will not show up until the next time you unlock your phone. It is easy to trigger and I have done it by accident quite a few times when either checking the time or taking a screenshot (it is pretty easy to press both volume keys accidentally when taking a screenshot).
You can disable the bug report function by going to /system/bin/ and deleting or renaming bugreport and bugmailer.sh, but I am not sure if this will affect the ability to send bug reports for other system apps. Then it won't happen anymore. It can also be disabled in the ROM code by the developer.

That makes perfect sense! The overly-tight design of the car dock is such that it's very easy to accidentally press the various side buttons in weird combinations, and maybe something about the way I sit in my car when I put it in the dock (vs. at my desk) makes the two-button trigger happen more readily.

Have you tried setting superuser to always prompt, then stick the phone into the dock? That's the first thing I'd try, because then Superuser at least should be asking you questions before allowing anything to happen, which should allow you to get a hint as to what's going on.

I will try that next, yes. The thing is that 'shell' is not granted blanket permissions to begin with, so I'm not sure how much of a difference that will make.

I'm hoping that by having superuser prompt for everything, you'll gain more clues.


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App to show battery current or rate of change of voltage, short term info
Id like to have quick feedback about how what I do on my phone affects power usage, but cant seem to find a good widget or app for that out of the hundreds out there! Anyone know any?
Thanks

I'm not sure many devices will have support for something like that.

If you have Spare Parts installed there is detailed information in there about the state of the battery. Also, you can find out what is the application that is sucking up most of the battery via Settings > About Phone > Battery Use.


text:
How to drain the battery quickly?
The scenario I would want to have this is if I want to quickly drain the battery so I can charge it fully again.  Some say that this will help extend the battery life by fully draining/charging the battery.
How to drain the battery quickly?

This will only have adverse effects on the battery life. It may be needed for gauges of certain batteries but not recommended as it decreases battery life.

This question is along these same lines: What causes battery to drain faster than it can charge?
So there may or may not be an app designed to drain the battery but you probably just need to turn on an app that uses the GPS. This will help to fully drain your battery but I don't know that doing so before recharging will extend the battery life.

Enable your GPS and use navigator to some location you are not going to that is far away. Then watch a movie on your phone with brightness on max.
This will get the job done.

I wound up watching youtube, streaming pandora, leaving the flashlight on full power, and playing angry birds.

@npsken: does not youtube automatically stop when you minimize?

I believe it does. I just kept it open.

Do not do this. You are actually harming the lifespan of your battery when fully discharging it before a recharge. See this site for a discussion of how depth of discharge affects battery life.
The only reason you might want to fully discharge before a recharge is if you have a NiCad battery that is susceptible to the memory effect. Your smartphone most likely uses a Lithium-ion polymer battery, so there is no good reason for you to totally discharge your battery. The lifetime is longer if you have a shallow depth of discharge.

Below is cited from this question "Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely."

Watch a movie with full brightness, download a large file, while enabling WiFi tethering (this is a great battery drain), GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi at the same time.

I know that my phone -- HTC's Evo -- actually has a diagnostic tool thats sole purpose is to drain the battery as fast as possible.  Open up your dialer and enter:
*#*#3424#*#*

You don't need to press send or anything.  A recent update for the Evo blocked these tools so hopefully you can still access them.  You can also look up device specific codes if yours happens to be different.  Rooted users have found a way to get these tools back.
The utility turns up brightness all the way, prevents sleep, turns on the camera and flash, turns on the GPS and constantly polls it, etc.  Basically everything that can drain the battery but not damage the phone is done (ie it doesn't constantly vibrate because that would probably be bad).

If you know some basic programming, you can write an application that just do some random calculations (e.g. calculating primes, factorials, or even folding proteins), request CPU lock, prevent screen from turning off, turn on GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi, turn on vibrators, record videos, etc.

Activating WiFi network sharing should empty the battery in a couple of hours.
After the first couple of charge cycles, the battery should be at optimum performance. How this works, I don't really know. But after an initial couple of days, I had a little more use out of a fully charged battery.

Just play The Elements. A very CPU-intensive game. If you add a lot of stuff to make the simulation very slow, you are sure to use the CPU in full.
Meanwhile, you could use a GPS fix to constantly use your GPS. And you could leave your Bluetooth on. All this at the same time (especially with the Samsung Galaxy S2 & Cyanogenmod) you might end up using more power than your phone can recharge.

I found a combination that draws more than 2 Ampere on my phone without requiring any non-built-in app.

Flashlight

Brightness to the maximum. Obvious yet easily forgotten.

Disable adaptive brightness. Sleep after 30 minutes, or better: play a video.

Picture-in-picture video streaming (YouTube, Netflix,...). This keeps active:

The video decoder
The screen
WiFi (or cellular if you can afford it).

If you can't use the network, try Video Looper, no permissions required. There's also a "loop one" option buried in the options of MX player

GPU load like for instance https://jbouny.github.io/fft-ocean/ or https://webglsamples.org/aquarium/aquarium.html keeps the GPU active with just a web browser; no app needed.

GPS navigation

A fan to avoid thermal throttling

Some apps show the total battery drain.

Connect a USB device with a motor, like an external HDD or cooling fan (to the USB port using a USB OTG cable.)
Play HD videos at full brightness and sound (from an external HDD)
Turn on GPS, WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, and do searching
Unlimited vibrator
Run a virus check


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Sync calendar entries on Samsung devices to Google Calendar
The Calendar app on the Samsung Captivate is fed by the Google Calendar, but I have to make all my entries online. Otherwise, they are (uselessly) local to just my phone.
Is there any way to sync them back to my Google Calendar and (most importantly) include the events that I add from the calendar?

The default google calendar app work fine for me. If I enter an event to my phone calendar it will appear on the web calendar in less than a minute... maybe Samsung have fiddled with the handling of calendar events, on the Captivate. Some HTC owners also experience this problem too, btw.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "default" google calendar app.  I don't see such an app in the market, where do I get it?

I use the Calendar app from HTC, and I can enter events and have them appear on my google calendar. Are you sure you're adding your events to the right calendar? (you could be adding them to the local one instead of your google one)

There is a bug report logged with Google on the ability to set the default Calendar events are saved to, that would potentially sort this out http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3920

I'm running the Calendar 2.3.7 on top of Cyanogemod7 and it is not syncing back to the Calendar Web interface.

Related: Sync local calendar entries with Google.

Assuming Samsung have made the same changes for the Captivate as the Galaxy, then fully opening an appointment in the Calendar app and pressing Edit, you should have a line labelled "Calendar" that will say "My Calendar" (this is the local calendar on the phone), press the arrow beside that and it takes you to a list of your calendars and lets you select your Google Calendar to move the appointment there.
Also when you're in the Calendar and want to create a new appointment there are two ways to do it. Either long pressing on a day/time takes you to the quick appointment creation box, this always goes into your phone's local calendar and then needs moving out to your GCal. However if you press the Menu button and select "Create" then it takes you to the same screen as the Edit screen, and you can pick which calendar to save to from there.

long holding the date seems to force it into my calendar but just tapping, then yes, I see the other google cals and it seems to work. Thanks

I use the Gemini calendar app, and it seems to sync back to your Google account.  It does, however, require the stock Google Calendar app, which based on your question, may pose a problem.


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How to move phone contacts to Google?
I'm using the Samsung Vibrant, T-Mobile's variant of the Galaxy S, running Android 2.1.  When I create a contact on my Android phone, I can choose to store it to the SIM, the phone, or to Google.  If I choose phone, is there an easy way that I can move or copy that contact to Google (so it shows up in Gmail, for example) at some later time?
The edit menu for contacts shows options for Edit, Delete, Link contact, Mark as default, Send namecard via and Copy to SIM.

use SUPER BACKUP --> Backup --> Restore --> Done - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.idea.backup.smscontacts

This is the simplest way that I found to do it with my Samsung Galaxy S:

From the main Contacts screen, hit Menu, then More, then Import/Export, then Export to SD card.
Connect the phone to the PC and mount the phone's SD card as a removable drive.
Open browser to GMail, select Contacts then Import.  Select the file on the phone's SD card, then Import.

Voila!  On the next sync, they're back as my phone as Google contacts.

does it would work for Export to SIM card too ?

@URL87 I don't believe there's a way to mount the SIM card as a removable disk on the PC, so I don't think it would. IIRC, the phone's user interface had a way to convert SIM contacts to phone contacts, and then you could use this method to move them to Google.

I've just found a way how to do all this without a PC (at least for Android 2.6.35). You export the contacts to sdcard and then use the same dialog to import. If you have your Google account set up, it'll ask you where do you want to store the contacts, so you select the Google account and there you go. Optionally force contacts sync in the account settings to get it to the cloud.

(latest April 2019) the easiest way to do this, is to install Google's new contacts app. They have an option to migrate all SIM/Phone contacts directly to google. That's a one-click operation. No import/export required.

This is how I did it (I have a Samsung GT-S6102 with Android 2.3.6)

Go to the contact list.
Press the menu button [=] in the bottom left corner of the phone.
Choose Import/Export.
Choose Export to SD Card (remember the name & place of the VCF file).
Go to "My files".
Find the file xxxx.vcf file.
Long push on it.
Choose Share.
Choose Gmail.
Send it to your own email address.
On your PC, open your email in Gmail.
Find the attachment and choose "import to contacts"
Google will now guide you through the merging process.
You may want to delete the VCF file from the phone's SD card afterward.

Afterwards, I hid all contacts but Google contacts

Go into contacts
Press the menu button [=] in the bottom left corner of the phone.
Choose More.
Choose Display Options.
Use the settings under "Select contacts to display".

Simple on Galaxy devices (and prob more)

Goto your Contacts main list.
Press the Menu soft key.
Select Merge Accounts.
Select Merge with Google.
All Device contacts will be merged with Google Account.

This actually appears to be the simplest of all the methods.

A million times, yes! In Lollipop the menu item is called "Move device contacts to."

This works on a HTC Hero 2.1: Open the standard "Contacts" app, in the first screen where all contacts are shown press the menu button, choose "Import/Export" and the option "Import from SIM card".

Thanks.  My phone doesn't have the menu options you describe, though my eventual solution was similar.

A way I just did it as most of these options weren't available (transferring phone to phone)

Filter contacts by device only
Select all contacts
Share contacts to email or however you feel is necessary, I emailed to myself
On the new phone, download the contacts from the email
I got the option on import to save contacts to Google, which I will be adding a new contact to from now on

I recommend Contacts Optimizer (it's free) and you can remove duplicates, move contacts between accounts, mass remove contacts.

Moving contacts is not in free plan!

To make these sort of changes I use MyPhoneExplorer
You install an app on the phone and one on Windows.  From Windows you can suck in contacts, files, messages etc (for backup).  But you can also edit the contacts.  See screenshot, you can just change the account.  And then sync the changes back.

The easiest solution might be to use the "back up & sync device contacts" option as described in Back up & sync device contacts, this appears to work even if you don't have the latest Google Contacts app installed:

Open your device settings
Tap "Google" > "Settings for Google apps" > "Google Contacts sync"
This shows you how many Google contacts have already been synchronized, and how many phone contacts there are
Tap "Also sync device contacts" > "Automatically back up & sync device contacts"
Turn on "Automatically back up & sync device contacts"

After a short moment, you can open your Contacts app and should see that the contacts appear under your Google account.

If you are using the Google Contacts app, you can alternatively also move individual contacts from the phone to your Google Account as described in Add, move, or import contacts.

Another option is to export all contacts, for example as a vCard file (*.vcf), and then re-import them again to your Google account.
See How to migrate all of your Android contacts to Google | TechRepublic. Though I am not sure how reliable that is and if all information of your contacts can be properly preserved this way.


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Which partitions to back up for a "complete" backup?
I have a Galaxy S10e running crDroid 13. I don't have TWRP on it (since it had to be installed from the custom LineageOS recovery), but https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29442630/copy-full-disk-image-from-android-to-computer explains how to get partition images usind adb pull.
Which partitions do I need to back up for a "complete" backup, though? ls -la /dev/block/by-name shows many:
boot -> /dev/block/sda14
bota0 -> /dev/block/sda1
bota1 -> /dev/block/sda2
bota2 -> /dev/block/sda8
bota3 -> /dev/block/sda24
cache -> /dev/block/sda28
cp_debug -> /dev/block/sda30
cpefs -> /dev/block/sdd1
dqmdbg -> /dev/block/sda22
dtb -> /dev/block/sda12
dtbo -> /dev/block/sda13
efs -> /dev/block/sda3
keydata -> /dev/block/sda21
keyrefuge -> /dev/block/sda20
keystorage -> /dev/block/sda6
misc -> /dev/block/sda19
nad_refer -> /dev/block/sda17
omr -> /dev/block/sda29
param -> /dev/block/sda4
persistent -> /dev/block/sda18
product -> /dev/block/sda27
radio -> /dev/block/sda16
recovery -> /dev/block/sda15
sda -> /dev/block/sda
sdb -> /dev/block/sdb
sdc -> /dev/block/sdc
sdd -> /dev/block/sdd
sde -> /dev/block/sde
sec_efs -> /dev/block/sda7
steady -> /dev/block/sda9
system -> /dev/block/sda25
uh -> /dev/block/sda10
uhcfg -> /dev/block/sda11
up_param -> /dev/block/sda5
userdata -> /dev/block/sda31
vbmeta -> /dev/block/sda23
vendor -> /dev/block/sda26

I don't know what most of them do, e.g. bota, cpefs, etc. I suppose I need boot, system, recovery and userdata, but what else?
It's also unclear to me where user files on "internal storage" (/sdcard) are stored. userdata is mounted as /data, but I don't see /sdcard listed in the output of mount. It does show this:
/data/media on /mnt/runtime/default/emulated type sdcardfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,fsuid=1023,fsgid=1023,gid=1015,multiuser,mask=6,derive_gid,default_normal)
/data/media on /mnt/runtime/read/emulated type sdcardfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,fsuid=1023,fsgid=1023,gid=9997,multiuser,mask=23,derive_gid,default_normal)
/data/media on /mnt/runtime/write/emulated type sdcardfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,fsuid=1023,fsgid=1023,gid=9997,multiuser,mask=7,derive_gid,default_normal)
/data/media on /mnt/runtime/full/emulated type sdcardfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,fsuid=1023,fsgid=1023,gid=9997,multiuser,mask=7,derive_gid,default_normal)

but I don't understand how that works, because /data/media seems to be a regular directory and not a device file.

Since the days when /sdcard changed from a real sdcard to an emulated one it is simply a directory on the user data partition. And the sdcard directory is just a soft link in the file-system. Just look at it using ls -l / to see the link targets.

very good explanation of android partitions on xda-developers https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/215683/trying-to-understand-the-options-in-twrp-backup#comment276228_215683 bear in mind that dump of userdata (+ metadata) partition is encrypted, and becomes useless on factory reset

@Robert thanks, OK, so userdata should actually include all user data then. @alecxs Ah maybe that explains why I cannot open the userdata image using the Linux Disks utility! It detects an ext4 filesystem, but fails to mount it with a generic error ("cannot mount /dev/loop0 read-only (udisks-error-quark, 0)"). I have stock ROM files, but don't know how to get the partition names from those. It's just the standard AP, BL, CP, CSC and HOME_CSC tar files.

OK, I opened the tar files in in 7z and opened the .pit file in GGSM_PIT_VIEWER [https://i.sstatic.net/tiN8Z.png], but both include userdata, which obviously does need to be backed up. So I'm not sure how this tells me which partitions to back up.

Also, with userdata being encrypted this would make the backup useless after a factory reset, as I understand, so perhaps this backup method is not so useful after all. Maybe booting to TWRP via adb fastboot boot twrp.img and doing backups from TWRP would be a better option, after all.

No, userdata is included in the stock ROM's partition list - though its length is 0. vbmeta and recovery are also included, of course, but I know I replaced those when flashing, so need to back those up. Basically the stock ROM includes a lot of partitions and I'm not sure which of those are still stock on my device and which have been replaced by flashing my custom ROM (crDroid) or otherwise modified.

on screenshot I can see bota persistent misc keyrefuge keydata


text:
Galaxy S10e stuck on boot screen - cannot get into download mode or recovery
I have Galaxy S10e (beyond0lte), which had crDroid 11 installed. I flashed the latest stock firmware, then TWRP 3.7.0.0 patched with Magisk 25.0 using Odin and was able to get into TWRP. In TWRP I installed the crDroid 12 zip. It appeared to succeed, I wiped cache/Dalvik cache as suggested, and rebooted. My phone is now stuck on the boot screen showing

This phone is not running Samsung's official software. (blah blah blah)
Samsung Galaxy S10e

I left it like that for a good half hour just in case.
The only thing I can do now is reboot by holding Vol Down + Power. I cannot get into recovery mode nor download mode, no matter how many times I try the key combinations (Vol Up/Down + Bixby + Power) - it just goes back to that screen. I was able to do both before installing the crDroid 12 ZIP. Is there anything I can do to recover this phone?

It seems that the stock firmware update changed what needs to be done to get into recovery or download mode!
I now need to have the USB cable connected to a computer while pressing the same key combo (Volume Up + Bixby + Power). Some say to have it connected to power only, not a computer, but that didn't work for me. To get into download mode I now have to power off the phone and hold down Volume Down + Bixby while plugging in the USB cable.


text:
How can I switch from Bluetooth Discoverability mode to device discovery mode in android
I have a question regarding Bluetooth br/edr for android devices.I have a different type of requirement, In which a local device should discover nearby devices as well as local device should be discoverable same time to other device.
How long(minimum duration) I should do Inquiry and Inquiry scan so that I can receive all the devices in the range.
I am new for android and Blueooth br/edr.Any help will be appreciated.
Apology,if question is duplicate.


text:
How do I change DNS settings for 3G?
So I can use Twitter. It is okay when I use WiFi. But in 3G I cannot change DNS.

If you are on Jelly Bean (MR2) or KitKat, you can use my app: Override DNS for KitKat.
For lower versions of Android there are tons of free apps which do the same.


text:
Recover deleted content from userdata partition?
So it came to pass, that Amanda did have a blonde moment and deleted all her threads in the SMS app by mistake. Yeah, "Delete all threads" probably shouldn't be quite so easy to invoke.
The phone's a ZTE Blade, with all its user data inconveniently stored on a YAFFS2 filesystem.
I have an old back up, but the SMS I need to recover are from since then. There are probably some on the SIM card, so I've ordered a SIM reader. I suspect that the twenty or so it holds are mostly network operator spam, anyway.
So, I curse my ineffectual backup plan and vow to back up SMS to GMail in future.
Meanwhile, I resolve to recover mmssms.db, or what's left of it.
First up, I connect adb and check the mounts, then attempt to copy the block to an image on the SD card:
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock6 of=/sdcard/data.img

No such luck. I reason forcibly dismounting would be a bad idea, and probably won't work in any case.
So, I upload a statically linked copy of busybox to the SD card and use the conv=noerror option.
What I ended up with was a file that kept increasing in size until the SD card filled up.
What am I doing wrong?
Does ClockworkMod take an image in the true sense or does it just back the files up and pack them into an image?
Is there a YAFFS2 recovery program? (The two papers I've read make it seem feasible but I haven't seen even PoC code)
Any clues gratefully received/
Edit: The phone is rooted. Very rooted :)
Further edit:
Most of the messages found in mmssms.db-wal:
ls -al /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases
drwxrwx--x    1 radio    radio         2048 Jul 17 20:16 .
drwxr-xr-x    1 radio    radio         2048 Oct 26  2011 ..
-rw-rw----    1 root     root         60416 Jul 17 20:16 mmssms.db
-rw-rw----    1 radio    radio        32768 Jul 17 16:18 mmssms.db-shm
-rw-rw----    1 radio    radio       628832 Jun 30 19:23 mmssms.db-wal
-rw-rw-rw-    1 root     root         60416 Jul 17 20:16 mmssms.db.xxx
-rw-rw----    1 radio    radio       132096 Jun 18 13:25 telephony.db
-rw-rw----    1 radio    radio        32768 Jul 16 22:14 telephony.db-shm
-rw-rw----    1 radio    radio       106928 Jul 16 22:14 telephony.db-wal

With any luck, SMS Backup & Restore will allow a merge.

Is your blade rooted?

@Mandy: Regarding your other question: Yaffs2 is a flash file system that has wear leveling protection for the underlying flash storage (it has a log structered data model where writes are not in place but instead go always to the tail of the "log" and old unused space is reclaimed from the head. Very simply explained). If you didn't write too much you probably can find older instances of files. By ignoring the part of the tail from just before the delete you could be lucky. Haven't done file carving for YAFFS2 so far tho.

Might help: How to recover a deleted file from /data partition?

The sms database is stored in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db which is what you want to do.
Best thing to do, is this, do not plug in USB cable yet:

Reboot into ClockWorkmod Recovery.
Go into Mounts and Storage
Select mount /data
Plug in the USB
From the windows command shell or terminal, adb shell
Since you are in ClockworkMod Recovery, you are root by default, now do this cp /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db /sdcard/MySmsDatabase.db
exit out of the adb shell by typing in this: exit
Now your database is copied to the SD-Card.
Back out of ClockworkMod recovery and just reboot, the recovery will unmount /data for you.

At this stage your database is now copied across. And can be safely extracted via using something like SqliteMan. HTH.
Edit: The OP was interested to know how a dump can be done. - Read on :)
When you invoke this (with USB plugged in and within the adb shell)
sh-4.1# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00500000 00020000 "recovery"
mtd1: 00500000 00020000 "boot"
mtd2: 00120000 00020000 "splash"
mtd3: 00080000 00020000 "misc"
mtd4: 02580000 00020000 "cache"
mtd5: 0d700000 00020000 "system"
mtd6: 0cb80000 00020000 "userdata"
mtd7: 00020000 00020000 "oem"
mtd8: 00180000 00020000 "persist"

Knowing which partition is the key.. So for example from my Blade, I can see that userdata is on the partition mtd6, in which the actual partition information can be found within /dev/mtd/mtdX so its a matter of doing this using cat:
cat /dev/mtd/mtd6 > /sdcard/myuserdata.dump

And from there, taking the /sdcard/myuserdata.dump, depending on the filesystem used on that partition, it can be mounted via loop-back. The mileage will vary and of course, its a chicken-and-egg situation, in order to do all of that, the handset needs to be rooted.

That was most helpful, all (or at least most) of the deleted SMS were in mmssms.db-wal:
Many thanks for the useful pointer!

Now just need to convince sqlite it really does want to take the WAL file and revert those DELETE FROM statements to the mmssms.db. If I get a breakthrough I'll post the outcome here as this is typically what someone searching for a way to restore deleted SMS threads would be looking for.

here's an answer how to get a whole partition off a device. Needs Linux, an adb enabled CWM recovery and knowledge of your device's partition layout (i.e. whats the /data partition's device, /dev/block/?)

@t0mm13b: Yaffs2 cannot be mounted using the loop-back technique. Yaffs2 is a flash file system and depends heavily on a 'MTD chip', see Wikipedia for more. (It's due to some NAND's extra bytes per area that are used  for wear leveling and are not part of the real data). If you read the block device you only get the user-visible data, not the extra flags back. If you want to mount a YAFFS2 image, you need a MTD simulator (the Android SDK has one included, you can specify an additional .img for a VM (or overwrite the data.img))

Has this moved? I can't find /dev/mtd/* at all, under 4.4.4 on an s5 ... instead it seems userdata is mounted from this block device: /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata


text:
Force Calendar App to stay on current day and switch dates when the day is over
I'm using a calendar application at work to display the Conference Room status. It works just fine on the "today" view but it will not switch days. So if today is the 30th, tomorrow the tablet will still display the 30th. It won't switch to the 31st.
I did notice that the app switches days when the volume button is pushed.
So my end goal is to either schedule a volume up/down button push at 1am every day or a "today" screen tap.
Unless any of you know of any calendar app that will automatically keep up with the current date. I've downloaded and used those other conference room calendar display apps but my boss prefers the view of a calendar in day mode.
Calendar App:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.withouthat.acalendar
Device is always on, never sleeps or locks. Screen is always on that app on "today".
The tablets we bought:
https://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-asus-memo-pad-10-16gb-tablet-3
ASUS MeMO Pad 10" Tablet with a 1.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (ME102A-A1-GR).

Thanks for the suggestions!
After I posted this I started changing my search terms. Macro brought up my salvation.
Using MacroDroid I created one macro that hit the home button, another macro that killed the calendar app running in the background and another macro that started the calendar app.
I set the calendar app to open to Day view by default.
Without rooting the devices I couldn't just kill the application and restart it.
Turning off the display also didn't do it.
Along with these 3 macros I added one to turn off the display M-F @ 7pm and one to turn it on M-F @ 6am. So for my needs the free MacroDroid (comes with 5 free macros) worked perfectly!

Triggering the volume is one way it updates you've observed. I'm sure there are more. For example, turning the display off and on should also do. And while to my knowledge no app can (physically) trigger any button, there are some that can switch the display on and off.
One of those is tasker, which is only available as paid app (though a 7-day-trial can be downloaded at its homepage). As a long-time Tasker user, I feel it's worth every cent as it's the most flexible automation app there is for Android – but YMMV, so there are several other candidates you might wish to check. Relevant for your issue are time-based apps, such as Timeriffic or Llama.
Now for the idea: Schedule a task for midnight (or shortly thereafter), have the app turn off the display, wait 1..5 seconds, turn it on again. This should cause a "page refresh" – with the side-effect of your calendar display being updated. Experiment a little with the start time (set it e.g. to 0:05 to be sure it's the "next day" when it executes) and the "wait time" (e.g. start with 15s to see whether it works, and then reduce it slowly to figure how short you can keep it).

I only have a couple of suggestions.

Purchase Tasker to automate a task that resets your screen/sound on a schedule. Disclaimer: I've never actually used that app, but I've heard good things about it.
Email the developer of that calendar and ask for that feature (his email address is on Google Play). And also leave a review on Google Play asking for that feature.
Look for Android Calendar Applications/Widgets that are compatible with Google TV. In other words, if you find an application that was explicitly tested to be compatible with Google TV (which is Android-based also), then it is more likely the developer took the time took to test his application on a screen that never locks and that is always turned on from day to day.


text:
What are the known Android keypad commands (dialer codes)?
There are a lot of different keypad commands in Android. What are the known ones?
Some of them are listed here :

*#*#checkin#*#*:  Phones home to check for updates.
*#*#info#*#*: Enters a detailed phone information menu.
*#*#1472365#*#*: Access to the GPS config menu (useful for patching Galaxy S GPS failure)

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/37020/what-are-androids-secret-telephony-codes

Hey, do these still work in newer versions of Android? I just tried on a Moto X (2013) running 4.4.4 and a N6 on 5.0 without luck. On the Moto X, the commands are at least 'accepted' in that they disappear from the dialer when a complete one is entered, but even this part doesn't happen on the N6. EDIT: None of the commands appear to have any effect on the Moto X except for #*#checkin#*# which, after a moment, does display a 'checkin succeeded' notification.

This page has a good listing of keypad commands.
Here is the post:

*#*#4636#*#*

This code can be used to get some interesting information about your phone and battery. It shows following 4 menus on screen:

Phone information
Battery information
Battery history
Usage statistics

*#*#7780#*#*

This code can be used for a factory data reset. It'll remove following things:

Google account settings stored in your phone
System and application data and settings
Downloaded applications

It'll NOT remove:

Current system software and bundled applications
SD card files e.g. photos, music files, etc.

PS: Once you give this code, you get a prompt screen asking you to click on "Reset phone" button. So you get a chance to cancel your operation.

*2767*3855#

Think before you give this code. This code is used for factory format. It'll remove all files and settings including the internal memory storage. It'll also reinstall the phone firmware.
PS: Once you give this code, there is no way to cancel the operation unless you remove the battery from the phone. So think twice before giving this code.

*#*#34971539#*#*

This code is used to get information about phone camera. It shows following 4 menus:

Update camera firmware in image (Don't try this option)
Update camera firmware in SD card
Get camera firmware version
Get firmware update count

WARNING: Never use the first option otherwise your phone camera will stop working and you'll need to take your phone to service center to reinstall camera firmware.

*#*#7594#*#*

This one is my favorite one. This code can be used to change the "End Call / Power" button action in your phone. Be default, if you long press the button, it shows a screen asking you to select any option from Silent mode, Airplane mode and Power off.
You can change this action using this code. You can enable direct power off on this button so you don't need to waste your time in selecting the option.

*#*#273283*255*663282*#*#*

This code opens a File copy screen where you can backup your media files e.g. Images, Sound, Video and Voice memo.

*#*#197328640#*#*

This code can be used to enter into Service mode. You can run various tests and change settings in the service mode.

WLAN, GPS and Bluetooth Test Codes:
*#*#232339#*#* OR *#*#526#*#* OR *#*#528#*#* - WLAN test (Use "Menu" button to start various tests)
*#*#232338#*#* - Shows WiFi MAC address
*#*#1472365#*#* - GPS test
*#*#1575#*#* - Another GPS test
*#*#232331#*#* - Bluetooth test
*#*#232337#*# - Shows Bluetooth device address

*#*#8255#*#*

This code can be used to launch GTalk Service Monitor.

Codes to get Firmware version information:
*#*#4986*2650468#*#* - PDA, Phone, H/W, RFCallDate
*#*#1234#*#* - PDA and Phone
*#*#1111#*#* - FTA SW Version
*#*#2222#*#* - FTA HW Version
*#*#44336#*#* - PDA, Phone, CSC, Build Time, Changelist number

Codes to launch various Factory Tests:
*#*#0283#*#* - Packet Loopback
*#*#0*#*#* - LCD test
*#*#0673#*#* OR *#*#0289#*#* - Melody test
*#*#0842#*#* - Device test (Vibration test and BackLight test)
*#*#2663#*#* - Touch screen version
*#*#2664#*#* - Touch screen test
*#*#0588#*#* - Proximity sensor test
*#*#3264#*#* - RAM version

I tried some of the above commands with a HTC Incredible and none of them worked.  Is is just me, or are these fake?

Many of these doesn't work in Samsung (Pie) either.

Here are the standard vanilla codes that should work across all devices:
A quick grep through the source code revealed these secret dial codes (for Android 4.1):

4636 (show debug info in apps/Settings)
8351, 8350 (start/stop voice call debug logging or so in apps/VoiceDialer)
36245 (debug email in apps/Email)
8477 (? in apps/Protips)
225 (debug calendar in providers/CalendarProvider)

I did also check all available Google Apps from http://goo.im/gapps (Versions 2.2-4.2 w/o 3.x):
Android 2.2 and 2.3:

8255 (Google Talk)
46, 7867, 2432546 (GoogleServicesFramework)

Android 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 Jelly Bean:

8255, 46, 7867, 947322243, 2432546 (GoogleServicesFramework)
759  (GooglePartnerSetup)

Note:
This functionality is realized via regular broadcast intents and filters, i.e. any app that wants to can define their own code and subscribe to those broadcasts. Also note, that the above code are only the visible open sourced part (CyanogenMod here), and Google Apps (which I did unpack and then scan). If you're interested in doing it yourself, unpack them with apktool and grep through their AndroidManifest.xml files for this way):
egrep -r --include=\*xml SECRET_CODE\|android:host=\"\[0-9\] .
It will find occurences in AndroidManifest.xml:

    <receiver android:name=".checkin.CheckinService$SecretCodeReceiver">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.provider.Telephony.SECRET_CODE" />
            <data android:scheme="android_secret_code" android:host="2432546" />
        </intent-filter>

Here's another linky

There is an free app "SGS Tools" on the market which gives you all the collection of commands.

I assume many of those are Galaxy S specific or even Captivate specific, though?

Unfortunaltely, all Android devices will have a different set of secret codes.
Some of them are specific to some devices, some others aren't.
Secret Codes are generally defined by the applications installed on the device.
If you want to have a valid list of secret codes available on your device, you should use an automated secret codes crawler. Then you can search online for it's meaning.
I recently developped an Open Source app that crawls AndroidManifest.xml files on your device to found secret codes, and allows you to execute the secret codes available on your device.
You can get it on the Play Store or on the GitHub repository Android-Secret Codes.

Uh-huuu... Are you now answering all our secret-code questions with this answer? ;) Will you apply the updates I've pointed to in the first place to all of them as well? #D Thanks for helping out!

The code *#*#4636#*#* will not work on some Samsung devices; even with ADB, you don't have access to the menu.
However, there is a work-around with root access. Just type the following in a terminal on your phone and the hidden testing menu should appear:
su -c "am start -n com.android.settings/com.android.settings.TestingSettings"

It may be easier through my app Root Essentials that can do this and more. You can find that test menu under "Device Info".

Sorry, while this answer is useful on its own, I'm afraid it doesn't really answer this specific question... This answer might be more suitable for other questions that asking about this issue instead.


text:
Is there a way to change the default mic source system-wide on Android?
I have a bluetooth mic (that can act also as earphones) that I would like to use for recording video from various apps. Most apps don't have an option for using a bluetooth mic source and only use the phone's internal mic, and for certain recording activities I can only use the bluetooth mic. Example apps include Snapchat, Twitch streaming, etc.
Is there some way I can tell the android system to use the connected bluetooth for all mic recording, that all android apps can use? Surely this is a common enough use-case, what with all the bluetooth devices being used, that is should be possible?


text:
How can I cancel an ongoing OTA update download?
Edit: Apparently this question was marked 'popular', so I thought I would mention that I found my solution, which has worked without issue: An app called DisableService which let me disable the Motorola OTA Update service. Root is required.
I've been trying to avoid my phone updating for about a week now. Every few minutes I'm switched away from whatever app I'm using to an update screen. Originally there was an option to update later, but now it's gone and I simply switch back to the app I was using. Obviously, this is quite disruptive.
Unfortunately, I tapped the 'Okay' (something to that effect) button and now it's attempting to download the update in the background. I've been able to mitigate this by stopping the MotorolaOTA app, and disabling Wi-Fi.
I'll be clearing out all my Wi-Fi connections in case my phone connects to one and continues the update.
I'll also see if I can introduce something which blocks the update servers.
How can I cancel this so I don't have to worry about the update completing? I have compatibility concerns.
How else can I battle this OTA terror? Please, you're my only hope!
I have a Motorola Moto G, XT1031.
Edit: I have multiple ideas.
One is to, and I don't yet have extensive knowledge of how SSL certificate authorities work, but to introduce a custom root CA, with a CRL including the update server.
Cruder methods include:
running a nameserver to use when on Wi-Fi, which blocks the update server, or a proxy/VPN which could filter requests.
Maybe I could create a fake update server which says, "all good, no updates" and make my phone talk to it with a custom root CA certificate.

Disabling Motorola OTA should do the job. Just go to the Apps section in your Android preferences and find the Motorola OTA entry under the 'All' tab. Disable it from there and you shouldn't get any more update prompts.
(Click image to enlarge)

Unfortunately, my phone prevents me from disabling it. I don't have root permissions. But if the Disable button were not grayed out, yes, that would likely work!

That's strange. Unrooted here and it works. Might be a provider-specific restriction?

I don't know, but I've finally given up, my provider is complaining about how I'm only using 3G and no Wi-Fi.


text:
I flashed Cyanogenmod to my Galaxy S3, got the stock ROM after restarting
I used the Cyanogenmod installer on my phone and PC, everything went fine, and at the end received a success message. After restarting however, I was back at the stock ROM, though with all of my data and settings deleted. What did I do wrong?
The device is rooted. I have ClockworkMod working.

Is the device rooted, custom recovery etc? Could you try flashing the ROM in recovery instead of the PC?

I had similar problem when I first tried installing a custom ROM (CyanogenMod ofcourse) on my ZTE Blade phone. Everytime I tried to install the custom ROM and getting the success message, it asked me to restart the phone but after restarting it again turn back to the stock ROM. I researched a lot and found a pretty simpler solution; I rooted my device using z4root app and then installed Custom Recovery (Clockworkmod Recovery) on it (this custom recovery is device specific many a times, so first ensure if Clockworkmod Recovery is compatible with your Galaxy S3) Now after your phone get rooted and have a custom ROM installed, you will be able to install your custom ROM on it by booting into the recovery.
Feel free to ask me futher if you find difficulty at any point and I will be happy to elaborate the steps further. Cheers!

Using Clockworkmod to flash Cyanogenmod from the SD card worked, though only after I first performed a factory reset from CMR. Thank you!

@JustinR. Am glad that you have got your issue resolved. Cheers :)


text:
Which version of clockwork recovery creates backups as a tar files?
I have used several versions of CWM recovery on my Motorola Droid 2.
One of them was able to back up into a .tar (cache.ext3.tar, data.ext3.tar nandroid.md5, recovery.img, system.ext3.tar) as opposed to the .img files that I am getting now.
Now I can't seem to find that version anymore; can someone tell me which version was able to do that?
(Currently running v5.0.2.0 from http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager)

There is no incompatibility for backups/restores between CWM versions 2.x, 3.x and 4.x. Both the filenames and the contents of the backup files will be the same.
With the CWM version 5.x:

It can read and restore the backup files created by all the older versions of CWM.
If you create a backup with 5.x, an try to restore it in one of the older CWM versions, two issues come up:

File formats:
The contents of /data and /sdcard/.android_secure are now in tar files instead of the old yaffs2 image files.
Filenames:
The backup filenames have changed from partition_name.img to partition_name.fstype.ext.

To answer your question:
Since you have files like the partition_name.fstype.ext, they refer to a backup from the CWM version 5.x.
e.g., your file system.ext3.tar is from the partition system, using file system ext3 and backed up within a .tar file.

Yeah, i have 5.0.2.0 so I should expect it to be backed up as .tar then? I'm still getting .img

@arcyqwerty There's a method to allow 5.x performing backups using the old file name and format. Have you altered any configuration for CWM related to backups?

I don't think so?
I'll look into it. I just reflashed so perhaps putting CWM on again will fix it :)

it is "CWM-Lotus V6.0.4.7"
have a nice day :)

Welcome to [android.se]. Thank you for your contribution, but could you provide official reference, if it exists?

authors: Мартин Зафироски


text:
Inaccurate time? How to fix it?
Sometimes the time on my phone (X10 mini pro) is a little late while in sleep mode. I've experienced differences from 1 to 3 hours. My guess is that the clock system component (if there is such a thing in Android) doesn't get enough CPU time for some reason. This is not a big problem yet, since the clock will show the correct time just a few hundred milliseconds after I turn the screen on. The problem starts when I'm in sleep mode too and the phone is supposed to wake me up, because that way I have to wake up first to wake up my phone to wake me up.
So the question is: is there a way to force my phone's clock to always refresh it's time, even in sleep mode?
Update:
I think I've found a pattern which might be relevant. Looks like this behaviour never occurs while charging the battery.

Sorry, I couldn't resis the "I'm in sleep mode" part. :)

I would expect that the clock ticking on modern chip will be separate than the main CPU. I doubt that the problem wasn't because of the clock not getting enough CPU time

Ok, I changed my guess a little. The clock ticking has to be good for sure, since very shortly after I turn the screen on every application gets to know the correct time.

I would expect the possibility that the screen is simply not being updated because the display is turned off. Is the Alarm still going off at the correct time though? Or is your alarm going off late as well?

The alarm is late too.

@ytg Are you sure? I have the same experience but the alarm is fine, it's just the screen-updating.

@Matthew Read I had this problem before the 2.1 upgrade for the X10 mini. After that I didn't experience things like that, but I have to say that I charge the batteries at night in most of the cases now, and I don't really care about screen updating. But I'll try to not charge the batteries at night for a week and see what happens.

@Matthew Read: My experiments shows that the screen updating can be wrong but when the alarm fires it updates almost instantly. And I get the alarm four out of five times, which is better than before, but still not perfect.

Yeah, you want more than 80% reliability for an alarm.

updating ROM may be the solution for your problem.

Do you live near a timezone shift?

Interesting idea, but actually, no. :)

Just thought I'd add... I'm experiencing a similar anomaly on my ICS Tablet. When in sleep-mode my tablet will lose minutes (not hours). My tablet is in regular use, so I can lose 2-3 minutes per day - which adds up over a few days! However, turning the screen on does not correct the time. The alarm is also late as noted above. Full power off/on appears to correct the time, as does performing a manual time sync (disable/enable Settings > Date & Time > Automatic date & time). Auto time sync seems to be rather infrequent?!

You can use an app called ClockSync, which fetches time from NTP servers and updates the device's date and time.  Rooted users can make this app to update time at configurable interval.

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


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Some apps not available on play store after lcd_density change in build.prop
I changed the ro.sf.lcd_density in the build.prop on my Galaxy SII from the default 240 to 190. It made everything smaller, creating more space and increasing the quality of use for me personaly.
Everything seemed okay at first, applications were behaving normal, but I have a problem with installing some apps from the Play Store. I can search for an app, go into its details, only to find a message on the top saying that my device isn't compatible.
I have found a workaround but it takes too much time since I have to reboot my device twice for it. My current workaround is this:

Change my ro.sf.lcd_density back to 240
Reboot
Search for and install the app
Change the ro.sf.lcd_density back to 190
Reboot

After that the app still works, so no issues there. But the process just takes too much time. Is there another thing I can do to install these apps without my mentioned workaround?

Keep in mind some apps don't work in changed DPI Settings(apart from normal). You might be interested in ParanaoidAndroid which let's you change DPI on per-app basis.

Hey @wayback thanks for the tip. Installing it as my dualboot ROM right now!

There is a modified version of the Play Store that removes device restrictions.
See this xda thread for more info and the download link to your version of android.
It also disables self-updating of the Play Store so your modified version wont be replaced by a newer official one.
Cheers

Thanks! Installed and confirmed that I can now install apps that were previously restricted.

I've not used it but a quick search on the play store suggests this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.birdapi.android.dpipro
It specifies that :

This is the only LCD Density app that can fix the "This device is not supported" error message in the Android market when using an unsupported dpi!

Note: I'm not affiliated with this product

Yea, found that one too. But since I can change LCD Density without using an app, I want to fix this without an app too. That app is able to fix this issue, so there must be a way to fix this by setting the right paramaters somewhere myself.

This one allows you to try to set the density without rebooting https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lv.n3o.lcddensity - it may not work, but worth a try?