text:
How to turn off animation in Lenovo A6000 Plus
I am using Lenovo A6000 Plus smartphone.
I want to turn off all the animations. But in  Developer options there are only few options. The animation option is missing. I searched but I didn't find anything.

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

Previously answered here (it involves having your phone rooted though): http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/53720/disable-window-animations-when-the-menu-option-is-missing

There was an app released a long time ago that might be able to do this for you called Spare Parts Plus


text:
Main functions failure (USB Storage, WIFI, SIM, Camera) after boot in Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 running Android 2.3.6
PROBLEM
So far, I noticed that after I turn it on and it completely loads up, it can't:

show notification-bar
use camera
detect or recognize "internal USB storage"
detect or recognize "SD card"
use WIFI (when clicked, just says "Error")
sometimes use cellular network (have good signal strength but can't reach the network)
sometimes detect "SIM card" (PIN asked on booting but on settings page can't detect!)

WHAT HAPPENED
My device is pretty heavy on apps (about 200 apps installed), sometimes while I`m working, it hangs and everything just freezes but after about half hour cellular network automatically forced to turned off and everything will be just normal and after reset, net will be back too but the last time that this happened, it took about two hours and when I reset the device, my problems began.

WHY
I think  all of this is happening because of two reasons:

the Operating System kernel drivers maybe damaged
hardware failure (maybe some IC controller fried!)
because device can't detect internal/external storage so many apps (such as operating system's own apps) can't work properly

DEVICE INFO

Model number - Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 (GT-S6500D)
Android version - 2.3.6
Baseband version - S6500DJPLI1
Kernel version - 2.6.38.6-1206137
Build number - Gingerbread.JPLJ1
Status - Rooted

P.S.
I know that I simply can use Android's Recovery mode or Odin for flashing a new Operating System but I don`t want to wipe all of my data (very important to me!)

I just want to add that this is not a forum (consider a [tour]) which means all that flashy formatting is unnecessary here. :)

200 apps on Gingerbread :O, time to upgrade now. Even on my OnePlus One with 3gigs RAM and 64gigs Internal Storage, I merely have 20-30 downloaded apps with 2-3 in start-up.
But anyhow, follow this:

Format and install some custom ROM like Cyanogenmod
Keep only required apps.
Remove apps from start-up. Use AIO Toolbox from Play Store.
Use AIO Toolbox on regular basis to clean up.

For all your apps backup: I believe in that list of 200 apps, you must have some system tools. Check if it has backup option for apps or not. Even you can create backup from recovery mode too, if your recovery supports. TWRP/Cyanogenmod/ClockWorkMod do have this option.

thanks a lot, but i mentioned that i dont want wipe my all data (in p.s. section!) and about create backup in recovery mode, i agree thats the best shot if any other ways are dead-end.

you could backup the whole system via adb, edit the backup, and sideload it back on, keeping all your data. I'll put a more descriptive how-to below.

I think you're using CyanogenOS that comes with OPO but there is no ROM named "Cyanogen". It's either CyanogenOS or Cyanogenmod and the former is actually proprietary version of the latter.

@DanB ADB can't backup the whole system.

@firelord i don`t use CyanogenOS, i just rooted my device and used it normally...

@DanB i love to try but i cant find such app you mentioned and i`m still searching, but if ADB works instead what firelord said, so i like to try that, thanks a lot :)

@yek-nafar Umm, I actually didn't use @ for you, neither mention anything related to you. So my comment was meant for the poster of the answer here.

@Firelord Are you sure? it seems to work doing that for me.

@DanB Yes I am. Hold on! My claim  is limited to adb backup. If you're using that in combination with adb pull then of course, the whole system would be backed up (given that the device is rooted).

sorry for asking but adb is the best? or ClockWorkMod or Titanium-Backup?

@Firelord I am using them in combination.

as you quoted:

I don't want to wipe all of my data(very important to me!)

So, A way to do this would be backup editing. You will need the following:

A PC
Your phone, rooted, with cable
adb installed (intall from here)
a copy of the stock ROM from online(you made need a MD5 dismantle method, look at this link here

Assuming you are not rooted, do this first:
download kingo root from here and install it on your phablet. Then, press root and wait. Once it's done, continue on below.
If you do not want to root (even though half this process will unroot it) look at the answer here
First, turn on your phone. head to developer options, and enable USB debugging. Then,
 plug you phone, and use the command 'adb root' to ensure no problems, or very few anyway. adb pull / backup.zip (leave a space between the source i.e. the /, and the place you will save it) Be sure to to put what you want to save it as.(I suggest backup.zip)
next, with the stock ROM, take it apart (see link i gave you on how) and "loot" the /system file.
Then, open the backup you made, and replace the backups /system with the stock /system. re-zip the modified backup, and boot your device into recovery.
from recovery(must be custom, 2.3 does not have what we need by default) choose an option along the lines of install update via sideload,then run this command on your PC: adb sideload <filename of update.zip> or, in this case:
adb sideload backup.zip

And wait. By the time it reboots, it should be in fine condition, without the loss of your data. Good luck :)

if this works then i don`t know how can i repay you, you saved me, but that``s you said is too advanced, it take time to learn and do it, i hope you guys will be here when i have more issues with this solution, thanks again.

Dan, I'm not sure if that's a recommendable approach. First, yek will see a lot of permission denied errors (as adb pull cannot access the entire file system unless the ADB daemon is running in root mode – which is just the case with development ROMs). Second, if the device cannot detect the storage anymore, such a backup would be incomplete at best. Third, flashing such an inconsistent backup to the fixed device might just get it broken again.

I know. Sometimes, high-risk is the only method. However, in light of this, I'll update the method, and I just had an idea

source: Stack Exchange

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authors: Александр Сендер

sort: votes


text:
How to prevent Google from asking for location permission when enabling GPS?
I took this new phone which had a notification about an update. Thinking it is like Windows OS where I must have the newest updates for proper security practices- I agreed for the update.
Turns out it has become a Lollipop device now. It wouldn't be much of a problem except that the owner who has no Google account and want to stay away from them as much as possible, sharing as little info as possible- now gets a popup every time she turns on the GPS, asking her to share her location with Google ("use Google location services").  She keeps hitting 'Decline', but other than being annoying, the demand is obviously destined to be accidentally accepted one day.
I've spent the entire day looking for a solution and I'm fairly desperate. I am not allowed to install any 3rd party GPS app on the phone nor can I revert to the previous version if it involves me downloading some file from the internet (not from an official source) and trying to flash the device (I'm inexperienced and afraid to brick the device as well).
Can anyone help?
P.S.:

Funnily enough the popup has a "decline" button, an "accept" button, and a "don't ask me again" tick box- however when you choose the tick box- the "Decline"  button disappears (turns grey).
I just want to add that it goes without saying about a root being out of the question.

Do you want GPS only?

Yes.       I want this phone to be able to turn on and use the GPS chip, so for instance the location could be used by an app which was installed for such purpose,  but I don't want Google to have this information unless the user has ,specifically, intentionally, chose them for one task or another.

Google Location services are managed by Google Play Services. Disable them from Settings -> Apps -> All apps and you won't see that dialog again irrespective of the location mode you choose, until you re-enable the service. This may cause trouble for un-rooted devices since some 3rd party apps ridiculously depends upon Google Location/Play services to work, and disabling them would revert back to OEM shipped obsolete package, so you must have an updated APK ready at your disposal to re-enable and update the services whenever you need Google Location Services...continued..

Also, if you re-enable Google Play Services you would have to provide your Google credentials again to the system, which would infuriate anyone who is in hurry! So, root the device I would say to avoid such issues. Ask the rooting question and you most likely would be helped.

But if privacy is the issue then why not use a firewall on your device? As long as the Google Play Services isn't getting connected to the internet, you shouldn't bother whether you agreed for Location consent or not?

How do you get ride of the pop up ?

Hi ,there is a simple solution go to settings > location > Mode and
choose device only , the phone will use only the GPS sensor to get
your location it is more than enough because any app that want to get
your location will get your Coordinates (X,Y,and altitude too -height
above sea level- )

What is causing the annoying pop up ?

The pop up shows up becuase you choose high accuracy when you choose
that option the phone will use ,your cell network ,wifi hot-spot and
GPS sensor to determine your exact location in order to do so the
phone need to send hotspot location or network antenna location.

Thank you for the response, I'm afraid however that it doesn't help. The device was already running under "device sensors only". It is true that when I tried those other options said pop up appeared as well, but when I chose 'decline' they simply didn't turn on- as oppose to my situation where upon declining the GPS works well- until the moment it is turned off and then on again. Suddenly the pop up appears.

If it helps, I see now a notification  saying :" RECENT LOCATION REQUEST: Google Play Service."

@Stupidstupidstupid ,I remember having it ,you can check the never ask again but when you do the decline button grays out ,it's like the google maps annoying tip of turning on wifi all over again.  try this too : settings > wifi >>>> click the three dots at the top right and uncheck "scanning always available"  ,also try clearing data and cache for google play services ,google play ,google framework ,chrome ,google+ any google app available (clearing data will make you lose any data on that app )

thank you for trying. the 'always scanning' box was disabled but I tried to clear data from all the "google 'something' "I saw in the  app settings ('all' category)... nope, the request for access is still there. One thing though, the "recent location requests" is now empty even though I turned the GPS on and off multiple times now.

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

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text:
Send/share option goes to sending a new email page in Gmail app by default
Whenever I try to send an application to another android device via bluetooth, when I hit the button "send" it opens a new message in gmail app and the application I wanted to send via bluetooth is attached there. How can I change this so that it asks how I would send that file/app? I
have astro installed as a file manager.

Where is this "send" button you mention? In some app somewhere?

As @DanHulme says there usually isn't a 'send' button, there can be a 'share' button but for obvious piracy reasons, apk files aren't often included in this. It is unclear from the question what you want to do, and how you are trying it? Is it Astro file manager that has this optioni? Have you tried another file manager?

@RossC: There's no such button. The one which is more likely to be intended for sending/sharing purposes is the "send"  button.

Share button: http://developer.android.com/training/sharing/shareaction.html This has been in android for several years. Are you using a third party application? Here is a pic of the 'share' button in action: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gn8nnLC70Xc/TrFoY1GxKtI/AAAAAAAAAEI/6UDPHv-Zxv8/s1600/sharelist.png Here is the ICON for the share button: https://i.sstatic.net/MVMEg.png I assume you are trying to 'send' it via Astro file manager, which (I haven't tried it in a while) does not allow you to send an apk file as it is a piracy risk. Can you post screenshot of what you mean?

@RossC: Yes, the phone is rooted. My Galaxy nexus doesn't have a file manager, so I have no choice other than using a third part app.

Ok, that's grand. Have you tried this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2015187 That should take care of it, especially since you are rooted! Let me know how you get on! (Note that you will use the 'Share' button as per the images I posted above as you are following the steps in XDA)

Yeah, what you posted links to is for images and pictures or some other kinds of files. But to send an .apk file via bluetooth, you should go to the folder containing it and use an option there.

The one I posted is titled sending an APK. Did you read it? You have to backup the app. You can't just navigate in and send it over bluetooth, as I said that is blocked as a piracy risk! The first line reads: This is a tutorial on how to share an android Application(Apk) via bluetooth.

@RossC: I was replying to your other comment, in which you posted a link on what the button looks like. a friend of mine has another model of Samsung Galaxy and sends/shares app quiet easily. I've Googled it myself before asking here and nothing worked. Anyway, I will give it(the instructions in the aove link) a try, thanks.

Yeah some devices are just easier than others, sometimes you have to go down the XDA route and try the long workaround. We've unraveled the confusion anyway. From what I can tell that 'SEND' option seems to be specific to a particular file manager (Astro in this case), and not an android default. The old 'share' should work on a backup. You MAY be able to do it with root directly in ES file explorer, but I haven't tested that myself. EDIT: ES file explorer has a 'Send' button for apk AND a 'Share' button, just to confuse matters. Try it first, then the XDA post I guess!

There must be a "Share" option, which you can use to send via Bluetooth, Whatsapp, Wifi direct etc..

Possibly not for an apk file? Older android used to share a link to the app on the Market (now Play Store) but not the actual apk itself.

@RossC of course, you can send/share .apk file (or any other type  file) through Bluetooth! (at least in ES File Explorer or Root Explorer or Astro File manager etc,.)...

As for Galaxy Nexus 2, one must use a third party application to transfer files via Bluetooth, since it basically doesn't have a file manager and a third party file manager like ASTRO don't let you transfer files via Bluetooth.


text:
Why does "Phone booted!!!" toast message show up on start up?
Recently, whenever I power on my phone, a toast appears saying "phone booted!!!". What does that mean? Is it a virus? I haven't installed any apps in a week or so.

I've never seen anything like that. Are you running a custom ROM?

@AlEverett: Yes, my phone is only 4 months old.

Can you provide some sort of screenshot or picture of the phone showing this message? Are you running Android 4.2? If so, you can long press the notification and see which app is generating the notification.

The age of your phone has nothing to do with whether you're running a custom ROM. If you are running a custom ROM, which one? Specifically where are you seeing this message?

@BryanDenny: I'll do that next I time I see the notification message again.

@AlEverett: I know it has nothing to do with the age of the phone, that was an irrelevant piece of information! I don't understand what you mean by which one. I see the message at the start up screen just when the phone is booted.

@Gigili: A "notification" is a very specific term for something that appears in your "notification bar". If you're seeing it at the start-up screen it's not a "notification". Please [edit] your question to include the missing information.

It's shown like delivery reports and other notification messages. I don't know any other term to describe it and there's no missing information.

Does it appear in the notification bar? Then it's a "notification". Does it rather flash up somewhere else on the screen, and disappear automatically a few seconds later? Then it's a "toast". Does it appear in its own "sub-window", and you have to close it manually? Then it's a "popup". Does it appear full-screen, and you have to press the "back" button? Then it's an "app" (or at least an activity ;)

@Izzy: TIL. Thank you for your explanation, I edited my question accordingly.

OK, that's clear now :) Additional questions (please update the details into your question as well): 1) by "turn on" you mean "power on", or really every time you switch on your display? 2) Did this happen from the beginning, or did it just start recently? 3) If recently: Did you install any new app immediately before it started?

Any application that uses RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED permission can run when the phone boots (i.e. when it is first turned on), in your case to display a toast message.
Try checking the permissions on your (recently installed) apps. Any application that uses "Start on boot" permission is a candidate for your problem.
To further answer your question, I doubt it's a virus, especially if the app in question is installed from official sources. Most likely just a feature developer implemented to notify himself.

I have encountered this message as well. Its one of your applications.
Try to uninstall the last three applications you've installed if you remember their order.

pls dont use txtspeak, write normal English. Many users here are not native speakers, and some of them already have a hard time without scrambling.


text:
Hardware/Software layer of an android device
I need knowing the differences between a PC hardware and a android device (smartphone), because i have some issues understanding somethings about some subjects.
Generally when I have a computer if I have any restriction , like password in bios or special software into EPROM I need to modify it manually for accessing the PC or make it "totally" under my power.
I want to understand how operators blocks the bootloader of a phone, or "lock" it (not other operators SIMCARDS can work into the device), is this in hardware? Or inside EPROM software? Same way with rooting. If I install a Linux OS in any PC I will be root directly, what happens with the hardware inside smartphones?
Can I have a PC with a network card "locked"? The only way of this is having the eprom of the periphery network card specially programmed.
I think that I need a lot of more knowledge about this subject and I am searching for some books or MOOC that can explain me these specs for deeply understanding the hardware/software interface of an android device phone or any phone in general. I think, for perfectly understand the hardware configuration of any phone device (IOS,Android,windows phone or the nokia stone).
Examples of my problem:

I can have a custom rom in a device, but still is locked, sometimes by software we aim to unlock it, maybe it is inside the software of the GPS antenna?
Sony xperia j st26i "bootloader locked", thats mean, I need to manually flash the eprom for installing a bootloader and custom roms?
Android OS Firmware vs Phone firmware?

Thanks for your help.

This question has an answer explaining some information. Essentially, the 'network card' of the phone does have its own processor and is essentially its own computer (hence why you can root a phone but not necessarily unlock it). Similarly with the bootloader and other parts.

I have seen the answer, do you know any book or online content for understand how all this differents parts work all together for making working the entire device, or some mobile device architecture learning for deep understanding??  Thank you a lot for the answer.

Normally, A blocked bootloader means that the bootloader will verify the signature of the installed OS / recovery to be booted. And recovery does not allow you to install a unsigned OS. If you unlock the bootloader, you can "flash" any firmware and the bootloader wont verify the signature. Also, you can now flash a custom recovery that will be able to install from unverified/unsigned sources. Your SIM can be locked at the modem level, bootloader level or at the OS level. It is typically done at modem or bootloader level though.
To unlock a bootloader, you either flash a modified bootloader or switch a flag (as done in nexus devices). root on phone is more or less like sudo.
Android OS firmware may refer to the Android OS (i.e. system, bin, etc. partitions) while Phone firmware is the OS + bootloader + modem and other require bits that are not the part of OS. Things like baseband processor OS, radio drivers,etc are also updated but are not part of android OS.


text:
How to automate sending my current battery percentage to PC over the internet every 5 minutes?
I'm using Android 9 on my device, there are many times when I'm away from my phone and it is charging in a different room or someone else is using it, is there was a way to send over the battery percentage say bp over to my PC at regular intervals via the internet.
There maybe apps that can do this but I'm interested more in a script or terminal based approach
Ideas I'm thinking of are:

using a script manager on my phone like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.androidideas.scriptlauncher
crontab with a script that sends out bp to a copy pasta and my PC can have it's own script reading that
using cat /sys/class/power_supply/battery/capacity or dumpsys battery | grep "level:" | awk '{ print $2 }' once my device is rooted as mentioned here : How to get battery status in terminal? and doing that every N minutes using cron

I have Termux installed and my device is not rooted yet how do I proceed.

Usually your PC is not exposed to the Internet, therefore a (temporary) storage is needed online. Typical examples are storage services like Dropbox, document services like Google Sheets or messaging systems like Signal or Wire. I am sure for a lot of services termux/Linux scripts exist that allow to store data in one of these services.

@Robert Exactly why I was thinking of a copy pasta aka a pastebin service to broadcast my battery status to for example maybe ix.io but I'm sure the people here have something even simpler. Another issue is how I'm going to get the battery percentage in terminal without rooting.

I'm using gist by Github (which can be done using gem install gist after installing ruby package) for broadcasting my battery percentage first to a private file,  tried using ix.io but pkg install ix didn't work on Android terminal the config.guess threw and error saying unable to guess system type.
Already had Termux installed on my Android with necessary packages and with pkg install termux-battery-status and installing the Playstore api app : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.termux.api&hl=en_IN using termux-battery-status | grep percentage | grep -oP '\: (.*?)\,' | grep -Eo '[0-9]{1,3}' gave the battery percentage in terminal.
Finally I added permissions using chmod +x bp.sh and set up crontab on Android to do this every minute using crontab -e and adding the line * * * * * ~/bp.sh
EDIT
Have started to make use of jq to parse json ouput, so now the one liner for script is termux-battery-status | jq .percentage | gist -f bp -u gist_id and start the crontab using crond
PS : I've put the entire thing here :  https://github.com/himanshuxd/bp-broadcast

You could use Your Phone Companion from Microsoft to link Android to your PC. The battery percentage would be shown at the upper left corner near device icon.

It won't work when I'm using Ubuntu or Arch plus the permission list for that app is quite taxing.

You could try Find My Device which requires GPS to be active.

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text:
How do I load an unsigned Kernel Module to my signature enforcing Kernel?
I compiled a kernel module (wacom.ko) using the proper kernel source for my device and Google toolchain. When I tried to insmod the module, an error message popped up saying

required keys not available

I researched and found out that you need to sign the module to load it into the kernel if the latter uses signature enforcement (which in my case, it does). I assume there is no way of obtaining the private key which the kernel used originally while compiling. But it also doesn't make sense when I think about how any developer would be able to extend the kernel by writing modules if this barrier is in place.
Is there a way to disable signature enforcement of the kernel and load the module that I created? Alternatively, can I somehow sign my module and load it?

Building out-of-tree kernel modules is not usually recommended for newbies like me so that to avoid problems like vermagic mismatch:

config MODVERSIONS
  ...
  Usually, you have to use modules compiled with your kernel. Saying Y here makes it sometimes possible to use modules compiled for different kernels, by adding enough information to the modules to (hopefully) spot any changes which would make them incompatible with the kernel you are running.

Also the warning:

loading out-of-tree module taints kernel

Forced module loading may lead to situations like undefined symbols / references (functions / variables exported and available at /proc/kallsyms).

I researched and found out that you need to sign the module to load it
  ...
  But it also doesn't make sense when I think about how any developer would be able to extend the kernel by writing modules if this barrier is in place.

It's the intended behavior:

Module signing increases security by making it harder to load a malicious module into the kernel.

And that's why MODULE_SIG_FORCE is there. On PCs UEFI Secure Boot necessarily requires kernel and modules to be signed as a part of secure boot chain. Android's Verified Boot signs whole boot partition though, which then - using dm-verity - secures /system and /vendor; the partitions which may possibly include kernel's loadable modules. So signing modules doesn't seem necessary:

Module signing isn't mandatory and isn't tested against

Quoted from Loadable Kernel Modules.

I assume there is no way of obtaining the private key which the kernel used originally while compiling.

You are right. Public / private key pair is generated (using openssl) when building kernel. Public key is built into the kernel and can be viewed in /proc/keys or by:
~# keyctl list %:.system_keyring

If kernel was built with IKCONFIG_PROC, hash algorithm can be seen by:
~# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep MODULE_SIG_HASH

A perl script is also part of kernel source tree which can be used to sign modules:
~$ sign-file <algorithm> <priv_key_file> <pub_key_file> <module>.ko

Is there a way to disable signature enforcement of the kernel and load the module that I created?

No.

Alternatively, can I somehow sign my module and load it?

Ask the kernel developer to provide the same private key (if possible), otherwise only option is to rebuild whole kernel. Get configuration of running kernel from /proc/config.gz if available and required. Don't forget to unset CONFIG_MODULE_SIG or set CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_ALL.
SOURCE: Building External Modules


text:
Facebook messenger 196.0.0.29.99 keeps crashing
I am using LG G6 Stock Oreo 8.0 and everything is working fine except Facebook messenger, it keeps crashing after a while without returning an error. I then took log from my phone and attached here. Please if anyone could read it and help me out to fix the issue. Facebook version below 189 and lite version are working fine. Only this version is crashing.
Logcat: http://saadtariq.net/logcat.txt

The link you provided is broken.

Have you tried cleaning its cache? Uninstall then reinstall?

@parthu_panther please check the link now, just updated.

@ReddyLutonadio yes did everything, completely uninstall both messenger and facebook app, removed all traces etc still no use :(

so strange. they have changed something


text:
You are already a developer/but no developer options
I have a Huawei nova 3i and I remember unlocking developer options when I first got the phone a few months back. Problem is now I have noticed that the developer options are gone so I went to build number and went to press it 7 times but after the first press it says (you are already a developer) but the option is still not there. I have looked online for at least an hour but can find nothing. Any help would be appreciated thanks

Did you try to make a reboot and look again if its activated?

I just tried a restart but still nothing?

Not sure if it matters but I'm using android 8.1.0

I am not sure but I remember that I have read something about Huwei has moved the developer menu somewhere else in the settings. Check all the settings (sub-)menus for the developer options.

@Robert thanks but I unlocked  the option when I first got the phone and it was in the system menu 3rd from the bottom but it is gone now.

I have OPPO A78 5G on Android V14. Mine was under Additional Settings then scroll to the bottom and it is 2nd from last option.

If the Developer options menu refuses to appear there is an alternative:
Use the very tiny app Developer Options. It allows you to enter the developer options menu independently if you have enabled or disabled it.
Once you are seeing the developer options menu check the switch on the top for enabling/disabling the developer options. Try to toggle it several times and in the end leave it enabled. Now check if the developer options menu is visible.
If this does not work use the app again to enter the developer options menu and change the developer options switch to disabled. Then try to tap again the build number 7 times. Hopefully afterwards the developer options menu appears. If not you can keep the "Developer Options" app as workaround. In difference to other apps it does not contains tracking, adware or advertisement frameworks (at least the version I have checked - v1.0.4).

Well you got me worried for a minute Robert because I just got the app and when I selected it part of my phone froze up I couldn't swipe left or right from the main screen and thought the app was bad. But I could still access the drop down menu so I checked settings and developer options were still not there and main screen was still stuck but I could access the back, home and app buttons at the bottom of screen and I pressed the app button and then I could close the app by swiping right but I could not select it. When I did press the app before swiping it away it would freeze that section

And I would need to press the app (square) button again to unfreeze screen

I finally found the other question I had in mind th is nearly identically to your question. It has a slightly different solution, may be it works: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/205858/2241

Well I'm about ready to give up mate i got that app and followed instructions but there was only one developer options selection and instructions  said there were two but before that there was a selection called developer mode, I tried dev options first which was

Com.android.settings.development.DevelopmentsettingDisabledActivity Instead of com.android.settings.Settings$DeveloperSettingsActivity Which the guys said was the first out of 2 dev options it did nothing and I checked to see if dev options were there but no. Then I pressed dev mode option and it took me to and screen that said  {.} developer mode and had a toggle which I turned to on and then checked but still no dev options

For me it was inside System menu.

Settings--> System --> Advanced --> Developer Options.

For Enabling Developer Option:

Settings--> About Phone --> Build Number (Tap 7 Times, to enable)

Tested on Moto Action.

same for me on Sony Xperia XZ2, Android 10

I had the same exact problem with the mentioned phone and none of the provided solutions worked for me. Finally i succeeded to make the developer options visible by going to settings - apps - selecting "settings" app and executing "clear data" on it. It worked with me.

Thanks Johny but after a lot of things I ended up giving up and then when I updated to android 9 I was able to get developer options back the normal. After the update the first thing I did was press build number 7 times and it worked so I'm all good now but thank you for help maybe someone else who has same issue but doesn't want android 9 can try you way

Just press the build number a few times and then go the settings->system
Honor with EMUI 9.1.0 and Android 9

This could also be the solution, especially when the device upgraded to a newer OS/version. And on recent OEM OSes, the Developer options is hidden in additional/advanced settings.

I had the same problem on my sm-j600g but I rebooted and showed up by itself


text:
Tell TWRP to decrypt for ota
Old versions of TWRP would prompt for the password to decrypt the phone prior to performing an ota, however new versions are able to apply otas without requiring decryption. This is great in practise but does mean that magisk is removed by the ota (when decrypted it would run some scripts after the ota installed, this doesn't happen when the phone is still encrypted) Is there anyway to tell TWRP I want it to always decrypt the phone?
Edit: the feature was added in twrp 3.2.2)
Running Lineage 15.1 and magisk v18.0 on a op3t

Possible duplicate: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/189716/116800

Not a duplicate, that question was asked in Jan 18, the version of twrp which installs otas without decryption was only released in July 18 (version 3.2.2)

I understand that's why possible. The command line interface is still same decrypt password : decrypt /data with provided password. Password could be numeric, alphanumeric. Pattern: Use the table bellow to determine what your password will be:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 : ; <
= > ? @
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 :
; < = > ?
@ A B C D
E F G H I
Example: if your pattern is a "U" shape in the middle of the 5x5, enter twrp decrypt '79' in the terminal or ADB shell. Note that characters ;<>? are special to the shell and require backslash escaping or single quotes around the string

That's not the question though, OTAs install fine automatically and just hitting the mount button prompts for a password if I'm installing manually so that's ok, I'm asking if there's a way to tell twrp 3.2.2 + to promote for the password during the automatic installs so the magisk post update scripts can run (or equally a way to move magisk somewhere it can run without requiring decrypt)

There doesn't currently seem to be a way to tell TWRP to decrypt /data before an OTA. As you've said, this prevents the Magisk addon.d script to work, since the main part of that script itself resides in the /data partition. (But it also seems to require other things from the /data partition, so we can't just move it).
Here's a workaround:
Since you're on LineageOS, you can install your OTA update manually in TWRP, after decrypting. First download (not install) the OTA in the LineageOS updater. Then reboot to recovery manually and select the OTA zip from /data/lineageos_updates.
It's a bit more cumbersome than automatic-recovery-OTA, but at least it doesn't require adb or manually downloading the zip to your internal storage, where it is writable by any app with Storage permission...


text:
Samsung Photosphere orientations.txt data
Samsung (and perhaps other vendors) photosphere source files include the photographs and 2 text data files.
sessions.meta - contents are self explanatory, labelled metadata info about the sphere.
orientations.txt - unlabelled columns.
Below are sample contents of orientations.txt:
-0.28355762 0.95895493 7.3134253E-4 -0.19058217 -0.057101488 0.9800091 0.9398263 0.2777497 0.19895127 2.8249815
-0.18003005 0.96288395 0.20110609 -0.044745624 -0.21225126 0.97619015 0.9826429 0.16674495 0.081296444 2.9338377
-0.27238333 0.95405024 0.12488161 0.17231762 -0.07932246 0.98184246 0.946633 0.28895682 -0.14279357 2.9741824
-0.43306527 0.8942725 -0.112832405 0.09304 0.16886118 0.9812387 0.89654785 0.41444248 -0.15633103 2.746174
-0.44042435 0.87723744 -0.19099967 -0.14356112 0.14119293 0.97951764 0.8862373 0.45882356 0.06375239 2.631776

My question is, does anyone know what these columns in orientations.txt represent?

1 row per image
10 columns of floats
no field names
I assume it may have to do with roll, pitch and yaw, but I'm not certain.
Perhaps accelerometry output?

Thank you very much in advance.
This is broadly related to these two other questions, but they don't really address my question.
Get the original photos after using PhotoSphere?
Is there any way to re-render a photosphere?

I've noticed that most elements are less than 1. Moreover the first 9 elements seem to be always less than 1. It looked like elements of a rotation matrix. So I grouped these elements into 3x3 matrix and it happened to be orthogonal, and it is in fact rotation matrix.
-0.28355762  0.95895493  7.3134253E-4
-0.19058217 -0.057101488 0.9800091
 0.9398263   0.2777497   0.19895127

If the phone is in landscape orientation and points to the North than the matrix is identity matrix:
 0.9999746    0.0067272037 0.0023434649
-0.0067065083 0.9999394   -0.008729676
-0.0024020493 0.008713738  0.9999592

The last element in the row is the sum of all elements of the matrix. I don't know why it is added, because it doesn't seem to have any physical meaning, but I guess that it is some form of a checksum.


text:
Recovering from forgotten lock pattern
My son has an impression tablet 10 and has forgot the lock pattern. How can we reset it without knowing the code?

Related: Pattern lock screen on Froyo, what should I do if I forget the pass?

Also take a look at: Cannot unlock tablet as have no internet connection?

If you entered your pattern incorrectly 5 times, Android would lock the lock screen so you cannot draw any more pattern for 30 second (this is to prevent brute forcing) and a button will show up that will allow you to reset the pattern by entering your Google Account email and password.
The image on the left is what the lock screen normally looks, after entering the pattern incorrectly 5 times, another button appear on the bottom.

I have tried alot of patterns and had it lock the screen several times but have never seen a button show up that will allow you to reset the pattern by using google email.

@Lie Ryan I have tried alot of patterns and got the lock screen but never have seen a button show up that will allow you to reset the pattern. Still locked!!!

@MelissaBray: Have you registered your Google Account to the device? If you hadn't then you might need to consider a more pervasive options like factory reset. You'll need to find the key combination that will get you to the recovery; a common key combination is power+volume up/down, but if you can't find it, then you probably should contact the manufacturer support since there seems to be not so many info about the tablet on the internet.

or I can't find much info about the tablet due to the swath of stuffs about "impression of X tablet". IMO manufacturers should consider those kind of issues when naming their tablet.

I think this button only shows up on certain devices or possibly only in Ice Cream Sandwich.  It doesn't work on my Nexus S/Gingerbread.

@ImaginaryRobots Definitely not ICS-only, I just got it on 2.1 and 2.2 on my Vibrants.

does this also work with other types of screen lock, such as pin or password?

@MobileCushion: yes

Button does not appear on my Blu Vivo 4.3

Be aware that you need the Google apps package to see the button :)

That doesn't reset the password until you have data network enabled before phone lockup!

Note that in modern Android this feature is removed. Following this instructions will only increase timeout.

You may be able to figure out the lock pattern by looking at the phone screen in the right light, or taking a picture and perhaps performing simple contrast adjustments on the picture. See “Smudge Attacks on Smartphone Touch Screens” by Aviv et al (presented at WOOT 2010).

sorry but we have tried so many patterns that I am sure the original pattern has been messed up. but thanks

Unfortunately you're probably going to have to do a factory reset, which will wipe all the data on the device (it should leave the SD card alone if there is one, though).
You may be able to do this from recovery mode, which you get into by holding some of the buttons on the device while it boots up.  I don't know what buttons the devices has though.
Another method is to install the Android SDK and the tablet's drivers on your computer, connect the device, and do something like the following from a command prompt (the path may vary):
cd C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools
adb shell wipe data

Edit: From looking online it appears that there is no button combination to get into recovery, though adb reboot recovery might work.  If you're going to install the SDK though you might as well just use the wipe command I posted above.

I have pushed the reset button several times but it does not unlock the screen. Nothing changes any of the times I have hit it. Don't know what else to do.....

@MelissaBray Well my answer contains another method :P

Assuming one doesn't have a Google account (or doesn't have access to it) and one doesn't care about loosing the data, a factory reset will help.
For that

Turn off the device.

Press Volume Up + Power Button for at least 15 seconds.

Release the buttons and a recovery menu will pop-up.

Select "Wipe data/factory reset".

Just tested with a Huawei and it worked fine.

To do a factory reset, push the volume down button and the power button at the same time, then follow the on-screen instructions.

Are you sure that works for this particular tablet? I read that it didn't.

On my Motorola Cliq (an older phone), I was able to reinstall the firmware, and my phone became completely unlocked. It erased some of my system settings, but all of my apps, data, and files on the device were still there.
As a test, I also re-flashed my newer phone (LG Motion 4G, Android 4 ICS) and it kept the password lock. Though, my guess would be that I could probably find a way to erase the password with a specially crafted update.zip file.
(Here is a link of someone who created an update.zip to erase the pin and gesture password in Gingerbread, and it looks like it would work for my ICS phone too).
http://www.garage4hackers.com/f54/reset-android-pin-pattern-lock-using-flashable-zip-tested-gingerbread-2630.html
If this makes some people paranoid, then the lesson here is to setup an app which allows you to remotely erase all your data. A knowledgeable person with physical possession of a device will not be stopped by the presence of a password.


text:
Is the Google TV platform Free?
I know you can use Android free but is it possible to do the same with Google TV?
Let's say I want to build a box myself and use Google TV, do I need to negotiate with Google?

You may not be able to get the full "Google TV" experience on your box, but there's no reason it cannot run Android.

Example: http://www.androidtapp.com/android-on-a-stick-get-android-on-any-tv-with-hdmi/

@Chahk wow that is cool. Was wondering how powerful that  could be, but I guess when you take the screen and battery off a phone, what's left is pretty tiny, and phones get more than enough power to both charge and run off a USB port, so this should be ok. Will keep an eye out.

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about Legal questions (see: [help/on-topic]).

From the Developer's FAQ for Google TV:

Can I download Google TV? When will it be open sourced?
You can't download Google TV itself, but Google TV hardware
  manufacturers provide over-the-air (OTA) updates. We are working hard
  to open source the code for the Google TV project.

So, as it hasn't been open sourced (yet), and Google specifically say that you can't download it, it looks like you're going to have to negotiate directly with them.


text:
Galaxy Nexus screen flashes and brightness issues on various button taps and screens
While using my Galaxy Nexus at night in the dark, I started experiencing issues where the screen would flash for a moment to what felt like full brightness when I tap on certain buttons. It seems inconsistent, but frequent. I've had it happen when pressing the back button in various apps, or switching to different apps in the application switcher. It's bright enough to say that it kind of hurts my eyes.
It also seems like certain screens get locked into full brightness. One example is the main timeline screen of the official Twitter app.
I have Automatic Brightness turned off, and the brightness slider at the lowest setting.
Any ideas as to what causes this? Is there some setting I'm missing?

I just had this happen to me. Seeing your answer, Moskie, I carefully removed the apps one at a time from the application switcher by sliding them to the right, testing between each one. For me, pressing home from the web browser caused my screen to do a slow flaah, opening the apps menu made it go bright and stay bright.
The app that caused the trouble? Camera.

I ended up closing all running apps using the application switcher. That seemed to do the trick. I'm not sure which one was causing the problem, though.

There is an app called Screen filter, which I use to use my mobile during night.  Even when the brightness is at its lowest value, the screen is still bright enough during night to disturb others and hurt my own eyes when reading for long time.  This app enables me to reduce the brightness even further the lowest limit.  Though this does not neither help you to automatically adjust the brightness nor solve the random sudden increase of brightness. But still I posted this as it might help you or others if the lowest brightness is still not low enough.

Strange, i have never heard of something like that, it must be an app which are causing it... Anything you have installed recently? I would try and remove some of the recent installed apps, and see if that works, or make a reset of the phone.. If it still happens after a reset, then it's a hardware issue, and you should talk with those who sold it to you...


text:
Todo app that syncs with Google Tasks and has notification badges?
Coming from an iPhone, one of the things I miss the most is the little red notification badges on my app icons. I don't understand why more Android apps don't have them (not even the phone!?). I digress.
Is there an app available that both syncs with Google Tasks and uses a notification badge to keep track of the number of uncompleted tasks?

Try a different home screen manager.  Launcher Pro does this on my phone for email and texts in the app shortcuts in the launcher bar.  I don't use Google Tasks, so I can't speak to that one particularly.

Google Tasks is one component of their world that is still rather lacking, sadly.

Tick tick is the only one I can find but unfortunately their implementation makes it pretty useless (the badge only goes up to 9)

You should try different launchers. Most of them are better than the stock ones.
So e.g.: Apex Launcher, Nova Launcher, Launcher Pro, and GO Launcher EX support adding notification badges.
The best todo app I've ever seen is Any.DO To-do List & Task List. Give it a try.

Could you please elaborate how this answers the question? Do the mentioned launchers bring the "notification badges", or does the "Any.do" app (links?), or is it a certain combination?

Those launchers have the option to add notification badges, that's why I listed them.
Here you can get Apex: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.anddoes.launcher

I've merged your comments into your answer. You might want to check if I got it right. Feel free to update your answer if not, or if it misses some other details.

Try SplenDo - To Do List.  It shows badge with Today's task count + overdue task count like (2+3)


text:
Remotely brick a stolen phone
If my phone is lost or stolen, can I remotely and permanently brick my phone. This way, not only is my data secure, but the resale value of the phone plummets to zero.
Tangential question: can apps like Lookout or Prey be disabled by phone thieves?

On your tangential question, Lookout and Prey rely on the phone having either a data connection, or a phone network connection on it's current number. For a GSM phone the easiest way for a thief to get round these apps is to pull out/swap the SIM card and do a factory reset (to get rid of the app) before you send the "wipe" command.

It's certainly possible to remote-brick a phone.  In fact, you might be able to use Tasker in conjunction with Mobile Odin or similar to remotely softbrick a Samsung device by flashing bad firmware after a text message, or something.  Of course these devices are also easy to unbrick; to brick them more permanently you'd need to flash a bad bootloader.  Chainfire has said that Mobile Odin can but won't flash bootloaders, so perhaps it could just be modified.
Bad bootloaders can be fixed sometimes if you have the appropriate hardware, but I doubt any petty thief would have it.  Most won't be able to fix a softbrick either.
Any app can be disabled, pretty easily too if you know what you're doing.
Importantly, though, I wouldn't do this.  All it does is guarantee that you can't get the phone back (you can't track it anymore) or that if you get it back, it won't work.  You should just install tracking software instead.  Remote bricking won't deter a thief who doesn't know about it, and while I see the revenge aspect it's not as good as catching them!

"easy to unbrick"...for an average user or someone who has experience flashing/tweaking phones?

@Chance An average user should have no problem with a softbrick if they're pointed to Odin, we've had a couple successes here, but it's probably fair to say that the average user wouldn't know about Odin or solicit the right advice.

Starting today you can access this functionality through stock android and Google apps at https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager. Once you set it up, you will be able to remotely delete all your data from the device, and locate it on Google maps. Remote locking and changing the lock-screen are also listed as functionalities available (soon).
Note that if you have not set this up before losing your phone you will not have access to wipe it remotely. You could see it on Google maps if you have given Google Apps permission to access location information on your phone (GPS and WiFi location information).

I believe both Lookout and Prey have a password option that will make it difficult for a thief to disable the app.
Both of those will be able to wipe the device but not disable it completely. IF you are on Verizon the phone cannot be activated on another line without it being released from your account. I'm pretty sure that is not the case with GSM phones - they just need to stick a new sim in the phone.
However, both Lookout and Prey will be able to tell you the location of your phone. I believe Prey will also be able to tell you additional information that might help you determine the identity of the thief which you can then pass on to the authorities. They aren't always inclined to act on the information but every little bit helps.

if you are using HTC you could wipe the data from HTC sense account. But to Brick the device,depends on how to the flashing. as Koush maker of CWM has discussed of rooting/flashing ROM from with in the application without any PC.
Not sure about which version of CWM supports this features.

On samsung devices overwrite to the EFS partition or write on byte to the nv_data files it contains. Bam imei gone. You may also change device Bluetooth Mac bam second radio unusable wifi ... Not so sure, though. On the plus side only you have the chance to restore the original imei if your device should return. That is if you have a backup. It's extremely unlikely that the thief can create a new imei for the device. Also such procedure is highly illegal and disclosure of the meanings to do so is frowned upon on the public forums.

The question was how to "remotely" brick one's lost phone.


text:
Why reading permission to /proc/1/maps is denied and why doesn't the denial appear in logcat?
I'm developing a native app for Android, and I'm occasionally confronted with permission denied which doesn't trigger a log in the logcat logs.
For example, trying to run:
shell@kltevzw:/ $ cat /proc/<some-not-shell-pid>/maps
/system/bin/sh: cat: /proc/<some-not-shell-pid>/maps: Permission denied

from the adb shell prompt results in a permission denied message sent to stderr, but nothing appears in the logcat. It's not a unix permissions problem as well, as anyone should be able to read the file. For example:
shell@kltevzw:/ $ ls -lZ /proc/1/maps
-r--r--r-- root     root              u:r:init:s0 maps

It happens in some other situations as well, in which I have less control of the environment.
Is it possible that this is caused by some dontaudit rules in the policy? I ran sesearch --dontaudit /sepolicy but didn't find there any relevant rules.
Does anyone here know why are some denials sent to the log and some don't, and how to debug such cases?
Thanks!

REASON 1:
Apart from traditional Discretionary Access Control (DAC), - that makes use of *NIX owner/group/mode of processes/files to allow/deny access - Android implements several other access control mechanisms of Linux kernel to make itself more secure, such as Seccomp Filter was implemented in Oreo.
REASON 2:
While DAC is allowed by-default, SELinux (a Mandatory Access Control) works in denied by-default mode. Any access attempt that isn't explicitly allowed in an SE Policy rule will be denied. Using same, access to /procfs has been tightened in Android O which won't let a non-privileged process/user read - e.g. - /proc/stat and /proc/filesystem. Same restricts you from reading /proc/1 when running as a non-root user from your app.
If SELinux on your device isn't Enforcing, you should be able to read /proc/1 but there are some other security restrictions which - unlike DAC and MAC - are specific to /proc pseudo filesystem.
REASON 3:
Android by-default mounts /proc with hidepid=2,gid=3009 options, which means a non-privileged user will be able to view only its own processes (running with same UID) (ref). So your app won't be able to see directory /proc/1. The only exception is the processes which are member of group AID_READPROC (GID 3009).
REASON 4:
But still if you (re-)mount /proc without option hidepid, you won't be able to read /proc/1/maps because Linux kernel only permits processes having capability SYS_PTRACE to read the details of currently mapped memory regions.
An example of working non-root process on Android is incidentd that runs with CAP_SYS_PTRACE as well as a member of group READPROC. Also the SE Policy rule like following should be defined to allow access:
allow incidentd init : file { read getattr open }

LOGGING:
As far as logging of permission denials is concerned, logd (the service from which logcat reads) is an Android specific logging daemon which necessarily logs events from within Android's native and Java framework (such as manifest permission denials), but optionally includes kernel events (which we can also see using native command line tool dmesg). SELinux denials are also logged to kernel log:
$ ls /proc/1
ls: cannot access '/proc/1': Permission denied

# dmesg | grep avc
[37914.650314] type=1400 audit(1548757064.171:33323): avc: denied { getattr } for pid=28576 comm="ls" path="/proc/1" dev="proc" ino=803674 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app_27:s0:c512,c768 tcontext=u:r:init:s0 tclass=dir permissive=0

# logcat | grep avc
01-29 14:17:44.171 28576 28576 W ls      : type=1400 audit(0.0:33323): avc: denied { getattr } for path="/proc/1" dev="proc" ino=803674 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app_27:s0:c512,c768 tcontext=u:r:init:s0 tclass=dir permissive=0

However Linux kernel may or may not log all of its internal permission denials depending on multiple build and runtime configurations including printk loglevel, DYNAMIC_DEBUG and/or others I'm not sure of. Therefore such messages may not appear in logs.
If you want to get logs related to security events, you can make use of Linux kernel's Auditing System. For that you need to use auditctl tool for defining rules (root required), and you would get details about the denials in logs through dmesg or logcat. Fo more details on how to define rules, see this answer.
PS:
Another reason of not being able to access a certain PID in procfs is PID namespace that isn't relevant on Android so far but very common for isolation mechanisms like containers. In a new PID namespace, any process from parent namespace isn't visible and a process could have same PID (including PID 1; init) as that of some other process in some other PID namespace.


text:
I want ideas to trace which app is rebooting my android
Some process is rebooting my phone every time it connects to Wi-Fi. I thought of connecting it to the PC and do an strace in init or zygote or the system server, but I don't know what to look for in this traces.
Can you guys suggest some ideas or explain which are the system calls used to reboot/shutdown the Linux kernel?
I just did a logcat and got the result below. If you guys do a ctrl+F there is a "reboot" in the middle of the text:
05-22 03:47:08.204 27581 27581 W MtkCam/HalSensorList: [impConstructStaticMetadata_by_SymbolName] constructCustStaticMetadata_PROJECT_SCALER_COMMON not found
05-22 03:47:08.204 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.WAKE_LOCK in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #65
05-22 03:47:08.204 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.VIBRATE in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #67
05-22 03:47:08.204 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.REBOOT in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #69
05-22 03:47:08.204 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #70
05-22 03:47:08.204 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.VIBRATE in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #73
05-22 03:47:08.204 27581 27581 W MtkCam/HalSensorList: [impConstructStaticMetadata_by_SymbolName] constructCustStaticMetadata_PROJECT_FEATURE_SENSOR_DRVNAME_S5K5E3YX_MIPI_RAW not found
05-22 03:47:08.204 27581 27581 W MtkCam/HalSensorList: [impConstructStaticMetadata_by_SymbolName] constructCustStaticMetadata_PROJECT_FEATURE_COMMON not found
05-22 03:47:08.204 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #77
05-22 03:47:08.204 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.MASTER_CLEAR in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #78
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #80
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.DEVICE_POWER in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #84
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #85
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.VIBRATE in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #88
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #90
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.WAKE_LOCK in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #91
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.DEVICE_POWER in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #92
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #93
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #94
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27711 W PackageParser: Ignoring duplicate uses-permissions/uses-permissions-sdk-m: android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE in package: com.sec.android.app.factorykeystring at: Binary XML file line #95
05-22 03:47:08.214 27581 27581 W MtkCam/HalSensorList: [impConstructStaticMetadata_by_SymbolName] constructCustStaticMetadata_PROJECT_CAMERA_SENSOR_DRVNAME_S5K5E3YX_MIPI_RAW not found
05-22 03:47:08.214 27581 27581 W MtkCam/HalSensorList: [impConstructStaticMetadata_by_SymbolName] constructCustStaticMetadata_PROJECT_CAMERA_COMMON not found
05-22 03:47:08.214 27581 27581 W MtkCam/HalSensorList: [impConstructStaticMetadata_by_SymbolName] constructCustStaticMetadata_PROJECT_REQUEST_SENSOR_DRVNAME_S5K5E3YX_MIPI_RAW not found
05-22 03:47:08.214 27581 27581 W MtkCam/HalSensorList: [impConstructStaticMetadata_by_SymbolName] constructCustStaticMetadata_PROJECT_REQUEST_COMMON not found
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27710 D PackagePrefetcher: put: /system/priv-app/EasyLauncher2_Zero
05-22 03:47:08.214 27581 27581 D SeninfDrvImp: [setMclk1][setTg1PhaseCounter] pcEn(0) clkPol(0) CamPll(0x0) mMclk1User(0)
05-22 03:47:08.214 27679 27713 D PackagePrefetcher: put: /system/priv-app/DeviceTest
05-22 03:47:08.214 27581 27581 D SeninfDrvImp: [setMclk2][setTg2PhaseCounter] pcEn(0) clkPol(0) CamPll(0x0) mMclk2User(0)
05-22 03:47:08.214 27581 27581 D SeninfDrvImp: [uninit][uninit]: 1
05-22 03:47:08.214 27581 27581 D SeninfDrvImp: [uninit][uninit]: 0, mfd(12)

I'll try another logcat, but from android terminal so it will stop when the system shut down

if you simply do what you outline above the log you can view on the PC could give you enough clues ... please update your question with a paste of suspect log entries

Have you tried [tag:logcat]?

posted a raw adb logcat in the question

Regular apps can't reboot your device. If it is related to Wifi most likely a kernel driver is crashing. After reboot check the last kernel log in /proc/last_kmsg

I will, Robert. Thanks, do keep in mind my phone is rooted and there is a payload in it


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Is it possible to see which process is calling the zygote socket?
I want to see a verbose from the zygote socket (located in /dev/socket/zygote ) I know i can list all of the services from adb but I wanna see who is calling zygote to fork an specific process. Do you guys know how?
My question does not have an answer, but i made a little code in python that allows me to see the PID of any process listening to the zygote socket

Sniffing UNIX domain sockets isn't straightforward. You need to use strace or something similar on process instead.


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Is it possible to make init stop restarting one of it's "services"?
My init is making the eris persistent, I don't know if the /system/bin/eris is important to keep android's good functionality but at this moment this "service" (the quotation marks are because i stopped the service from the terminal but the process of the path /system/bin/eris is persistent I just can't kill it) I wanna know if is possible to kill it once for all or at least cat the init binary or eris bin.
By the way i want to kill it because eris is listening to a port before even the initial page of the phone shows up, so likely it is receiving and sending info to an unkown machine

eris isn't an Android's service but muse be added by OEM. Which phone is it and what Android version it has? You can delete service's *.rc file or add disabled keyword to stop from auto starting. Adding oneshot will stop it from restarting once killed.

it is an Samsung Galaxy J2 Prime with the default android (I don't know the version) how do I edit the init tho? Where do I write oneshot/disabled ?

You need to find out the .rc file in which this service is stated. Common locations are /, /system/etc/init and /vendor/etc/init. You need root privileges to edit init's .rc files.

First I wanna thank you for all the support you're giving me, second I actually did find and cat the iti.rc and to my surprise eris has both: disabled and oneshot attached to it. Still the process keeps coming back, I'll check more info in the etc. One thing I noticed is that the /etc/eris.confg is missing the "wlan0" line

I'm going to try to kill one the processes being called by the init and put an strace to the init process, this may point me to the root of the problem, since eris is a oneshot service some other process must be calling for the init

A quick strings on eris binary shows that this service has something to do with Samsung Knox VPN that makes use of StrongSwan. So be cautious while playing with it.

I just killed the process while tracing init and it was pretty shocking: a new PID appeared just to call init and them disapeared creating the copy of eris. This misterious process is now inactivated I wish I could get it's path. Just looking for the PID is looks like a kworker but of course this is a heuristic hypothesis

You can check the dependencies of services to figure out if some other service wants eris. But I think stopping this service would break some normal functionality of your device. Stock ROMs always suck by putting such closed source and undocumented mysterious stuff to get control of users activities.

Now I put strace on the eris binary itself and it is showing a PID that is not listed neither in ps neither in /proc I will keep investigating

pwdx is not working for some reason and this is getting weird

Do readlink /proc/PID/cwd

it just displays a bar (as if it is root), (exactly like pwdx is doing) the thing is in the /proc/PID the exe of this hidden process is /system/bin/eris too!

That "bar" must be root directory / and it's expected. zygote runs as root process with cwd /.

Note that you can't simply edit a *.rc file that lives under /, because it'll be regenerated afresh after a reboot.

true, Death Mask, luckily the rc seems fine it has oneshot and disabled I'm playing with strace to see if i can find the source apk/process behind this articulation


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I wiped everything from my phone with TWRP and my version is too old
i have a few ROMs and some backups in my computer so I tried to flash them but I always get "Error executing updater binary in zip" which I heard means my version is too old.
EDIT: I tried to flash them with adb sideload which is the only way adb recognizes the device. I can't really boot on bootloader either
I got a linux, and a windows with SDK is there anything I can do to recover my phone?

How did you try to flash them? Please edit your question and add more details.

Is there a way to install a new version of TWRP from adb sideload + Twrp sideload?

Usually you install TWRP via fastboot.

Flash a new version of TWRP with fastboot... Otherwise if you have a OpenRecovery flashable version of latest TWRP for your device, just copy it over to your internal storage and flash it with TWRP. Neat think about TWRP, you can write your recovery from recovery, then just Reboot - Recovery. For a more detailed answer, we would need to know 1) Your EXACT device and 2) Your current TWRP version

My device is a Alcatel Onetouch (OT) Pixi 3 4.5 4G (5017A) a Lollipop. My TWRP is super OLD is a OTO I believe it is before version 3.0.0 I have the .img of TWRP 3.0.0 that fits my device (on my computer).

Can SP flashtool be useful here?

Flash the new TWRP with the old TWRP ... Then try.

Hang On..... DO YOU HAVE A WORKING TWRP, AND A BACKUP MADE BY THAT TWRP ?

Please have a look at this video on MTK firmware backup's and restoration using SP Flash Tool v5.17 and above.

It saves me writing everything twice https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e2_U68EGSlY

I have a backup made by that TRWP in my computer. But, as mentioned above my computer can't see my phone

Thanks for the video, but BOOT_1, BOOT_2 and USER are empty as I couldn't do the readback, so I can't restore just like that I still think if there is a solution it will come from SP flash


text:
What position do cellular communcation (1G, 2G, 3G, 4G or other function only implemented in phone) play in Android operating system archtecture?
I am entirely new to Android, but have a little knowledge on Linux.
I have view the architecture graph of android on official site:

The Problem:
Not all android device support cellar network. As a result, it isn't shown in graph. But which layer is actually cellular networking (and other function related to SIM card) drivers in?
Analysis:
If it is in kernel layer, it means that there should be an independent kernel repository or patch specific for cell phone other that tab computer, smart television and music player. It would not be a good design of architecture and will be difficult to maintain.
If it is in HAL, it means that wrong driver won't affect the booting process, instead, it will only make cell phone unable to connect to cellar network. While the other application and GUI should be run properly, because the init system will skip the error units. However, it is actually not true.
What I have done:
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note II GT N7108 (China Mobile) (Use TD-SCDMA) which I bought from China. I download and flash two firmware package (Official Samsung ROM for AT&T device and Lineage OS 14.1 for NOTE II LTE). But the result is the same, the device is unable to boot and keeping no change on startup screen.
Update 1:
According to the wikipedia link provide by '@Morrison Chang', it is said that NOTE II for China Mobile use Snapdragon SoC. However, it should be noticed that, the model use Snapdragon SoC is GT-N7108D instead of GT-N7108. GT-N7108 use Samsung Exynos 4412 as its SoC.

If it is in kernel layer, it means that there should be an independent kernel repository or patch specific for cell phone other that tab computer, smart television and music player. It would not be a good design of architecture and will be difficult to maintain.

Bingo. Lots of device specific stuff are in binary blob drivers which only work for specific devices. Android has no common platform like a PC. Those drivers are held by the device manufacturers or system-on-a-chip vendors.
See: Why is it that Android still can't be installed as regular OS?, and Why are there not generic phone OS installers?
Based on this article from LWN.net: An update on the Android problem is seems like the Android kernel problem is improving, but architectural changes like Project Treble would only benefit devices already integrated with those changes.
And so posts like Is there a technical reason Android update story is so bad? will remain valid for some time.
If you wish to go down deeper, at least be aware of the content in the AOSP Architecture documentation
Yes, but what about cellular radio
Mobile telephony radio is managed via a baseband processor which will have its own CPU/RAM/Firmware. Control communication appears to be done by serial AT commands. Realize that baseband processors may differ based on device model.
For more detail see:
How mobile OS talks to baseband OS and How does Modem code talk to Android code
But why doesn't it boot?
Flashing software that isn't specifically designed for the hardware could/would result in bricking. A quick check of the specs for a Samsung Galaxy Note II shows two different CPUs - Exynos and Qualcomm. While both may run ARM code, the internal architecture is different: i.e. number of cores, GPU driver, camera driver, memory layout etc. Putting a US AT&T firmware, designed for Exynos, on hardware for China Mobile, containing Qualcomm, is guaranteed won't work.
Response to Update 1
While the CPU chipset may be the same, GT-N7108 radio band support for the USA is poor with no 3G bands, which means that the physical baseband processor would be different for Galaxy Note II models marketed and sold in the USA. As part of the boot process, the baseband processor is checked (further details in prior links), that could easily result in a non-operational state.

Thanks, it is helpful. However, if it is work in kernel layer, is it works as loadable kernel module (like Nvidia display driver) which can be load and unload manually via modprobe? If it is, the incorrect configuration of a specific module won't affect the others. Why that cell phone mentioned in post cannot boot just because a different cellular network protocol support (In my expectation, it will only show service unavailable in status bar)?

@AlexisAbram Updated with the StackOverflow posts that address the cell radio

Thanks for reminding, I have search for some detailed information about their difference. Please see Update 1 for additional information. Thanks.

@AlexisAbram Responded to your update. Accept answer if it meets your needs. As we have drifted from the original question, it would be best to create a new one should you have other issues.


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Every app in GAPPS works fine except Google Play Store and Google Play Services. How to fix them?
I've done the factory reset, yet I see the  popups  "Unfortunately Google Play Services has stopped". I've  tried reinstalling the GAPPS but a weird situation came up.  I can sign in but the pop up Google play has stopped kept bugging. Plus every app under GAPPS works fine except for the Google Play Store which I cannot connect although I've signed in into my Google Account.
The two apps (Google Play Store and Google Play Services) has troubling me so much.  I've tried  reinstalling, clearing Cache, factory reset, and I can't find the button to uninstall updates for these two preferences. I've tried dozens of APKs, and various versions. I'm using the Lenovo Vibe Shot Z90-7 with Android  5.0.2, running on Vibe UI V2.5.

Also Android police run a site called apkmirror. You could download the play store and services that way and  then put them on your device and manually install them that way. http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/

I installed a GMS Core(Google Play Services) version 7.5.71(1955121-448) apk.
I'm using Google play ver 3.1.11 (2044178-836)
This worked for me.


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How to reset Battery chart
I have an Android tablet (wifi only; no cell service). Sometimes, I want to reset the chart it shows in the battery menu, so that it only shows the last few min instead of the last who knows how many hours.  I know it can be done because I did it once before, though I wasn't paying attention to how it happened that time. Thus, I no longer remember what I did that time. So how can I do it again?

By clearing that Chart you mean that you have to reset the "batterystats.bin" file in your system. For that few apps are available on the Playstore but unfortunately you need to ROOT your device since those are system files.
One such app is here
Hope that helps!

what about the opposite?  after 5 days i am at risk of the battery chart resetting by itself as soon as i start charging, even if I don't hit 90%.  i was able to get as high as 8 days but recently i can't even get to 6 days.


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Google Play Games fails to find "Public Google+ Profile"`
I created a "Public google+ profile" after the first time it asked me, but it just endlessly asks for this every time I try to launch Google Play Games, or any game that relies on it.
I deleted cache, deleted data, and running short on ideas here.

Is this something that's known?
Does my Google+ profile need to be more public?
Does anyone know the requirements on a Google account for Google Play Games to be able to find it?

@Firelord ah geeze, everybody's a critic ;P (thanks - though I'm still pondering upping my hipster cred to solve the problem. Maybe some craft beer and suspenders..)


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DNS blocking on mobile networks?
I'm using my HTC One phone on Sprint's network in NYC, and noticed that my phone cannot access Imgur.
On Chrome, when using mobile data (3G/4G):

https://i.sstatic.net/n5hn4.jpg Fails to resolve "i.imgur.com"
http://i.lvme.me/hjzy57l.jpg Loads fine

On Chrome, when using WiFi:

https://i.sstatic.net/n5hn4.jpg Loads fine
http://i.lvme.me/hjzy57l.jpg Loads fine

Is anyone else seeing this sort of behavior? Might this be site-blocking at the carrier level? Or is there another technical explanation?
Any suggestions appreciated. (I'm missing my cat pictures already.)

If it "fails to resolve" the name, that's an issue with the DNS server used. While for WiFi that's easy to change via settings (in the advanced section of the APN), I never checked if/how that could be done for mobile data. If you figure out, and it can be overridden, simply replace the first DNS server entry with any open DNS server, leaving the second (of your provider) in as fallback.

I remember seeing that the DNS for mobile data can't be overridden...

DNS can be changed with apps like "Set DNS" and with the setprop command, however all fail on KitKat to modify resolvers ONLY IN CASE they were set by the mobile carrier.
An simple solutions was given at:
How to change mobile connections's DNS on Android KitKat?
(in brief: put imgur's IP's in /etc/hosts)
It will work, but myself, I'm still hunting a way to modify the carrier's resolvers.


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Port-forwarding on Android 2.3.6 wifi-tether using Port Forwarder app
I'm having trouble port-forwarding connections from outside my network when tethering with my phone. I have a bad understanding of routers and networking in general, so please bear with me.
My Android device is the one directly connected to the Internet. To enable access to my computer from the outer world via the Android device, I'm currently using the free app called Port Forwarder and my phone is rooted so I have the authorization I need. The port on which I handle connections on the server is 80. Accessing the Server's IP address (inside the network) with <local_ip.addr.ess.here>:80 I can access it, so that works.
The problem is when I'm trying to access it from outside the network, the app tells me to set the source to 80, and the destination whatever it is (their example is 8080); of course I set it to 80 since that's what the server is listening to. So I try to access the server from outside using <phone.public_ip.adr.ess>:80 but it doesn't work.
As you have noticed, I've got no clue what I'm doing and finding guides has been difficult, even for standard routers. Has anyone successfully used this app and maybe could help me out? I probably left out important info because of ignorance, if so, let me know and I will update the question.

What "public address" we're talking about here? If it's the WiFi address assigned by your router (usually something like 192.168.*.*, but sometimes also 172.*.*.* or 10.*.*.*, see Wikipedia), it's only visible inside your local network, and cannot be accessed directly from the "outer world". Port forwarding settings in your router are needed here, and are better discussed at ServerFault.

No it's the address from google'ing "whats my ip" (if you haven't used it google itself gives an ip-address which should be reliable). And you're misunderstand the question, in the title it says "wifi-tethering". Meaning it's not a regular router my Android device IS my router, making this the relevant site. Did you even read the entire question? I'm mentioning apps, phone and other relevant stuff you seem to completely have missed.

I've even read it multiple times – but I must admit I was a little confused. You didn't explicitly state which device acts as "server" in that context, so I assumed the usual direction (the word "tether" alone doesn't specify who's server and who's client, sorry). Thanks for clarification: this makes my comment towards ServerFault obsolete of course. // Your port foward from 80 to 80 looks correct to me. I'd suggest to consult the Android logs (e.g. adb logcat) while trying to access from the outside, to see if it at least reaches your device and maybe logs some hints.

No worries, I'll clarify the question some. I'll look up how to see the log.

Thanks! I've just edited in a little more, so now it should be perfectly clear (hopefully; at least nobody should tap into the same trap as I did anymore). Feel free to adjust if you don't like my edit. // A thought is your provider might not allow for that. To check, setup some server (like a simple FTP server) on your Android device, and try whether that can be accessed from the "outer world". If that doesn't work either, it's your provider blocking that traffic. If it works, we still can investigate further.

I called my provider, and they said they allow it. Only some "known virus ports" were blocked, whatever that means. So the problem should be in the phone itself.

So have you tried with some server software on the phone itself, as I suggested in my previous comment? Maybe it's just a problem with the Port Forwarder app you're using. And as said, adb logcat might give some clues as well.

I am not sure which version you're running, here is my advice. The cause you're probably blocked, is due Android's firewall and strong Se-Linux policy.
Since you have a full root access, you can get a shell with ADB, and check that. Type su - and it will get you into root. I am using TerminalEmulator, but you can use native one, if it is shipped with OS.
If I've understood you correctly, your phone acts like router in tethering mode. So this is needed to forward packets:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
See if that helps. Most likely, you'll need to play with iptables, allow port 80,443 on the tethering port.
This is not complete answer, but it is too long to post as a comment.

The answer is your provider blocks port 80, however if you switch to port 443 they can not block it because port 443 has to have two way communication unblocked for https to send and receive responses. Thus changing from http to https:// should most likely resolve your issue.


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Vanilla Android
I hope I don't post this in the wrong place.
It's been known for the life of Android that upgradability of the device is one of main reason when deciding to buy a device. Among the main stream brands, I have owned Samsung Galaxy (the first Samsung Galaxy), LG Optimus G and first generation of (ASUS made) Nexus 7.
Nexus 7 still receives updates until now. I received one or two updates for my Samsung Galaxy and I never got any update on LG Optimus G. According to media, Kitkat update for LG Optimus G is coming (or has come in some countries) but I have not seen it so far.
I have also owned and used few Chinese brand Android devices and they are good for the price but again  the version came with the device is pretty much what you will end up with.
My question is: how hard it is to produce an Android phone that can run Vanilla Android and some future updates (within reasonable time frame). I don't know anything about OS level programming but I would imagine that Google must have some guideline and roadmap about OS Android. If Nexus devices are updatable, why can't other manufacturers choose the same kind of hardware? Can anyone who knows about how OS/hardware working share their knowledge?
It would be awesome if Chinese devices run Vanilla Android and are updatable just as Nexus ones.
[EDIT]
I guess, my other question is: is updatability (or lack of it) more a technical or business reason?
Thanks.

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about why OEMs add their own modifications to Android.

how hard it is to produce an Android phone that can run Vanilla Android

It's not possible at all. Every device (including Nexus devices) needs Android to be ported to that device. This means setting it up, from the source code, with the correct drivers, configured correctly for that device. Even if there are no other manufacturer customizations (such as HTC Sense), it needs to be done to make Android work at all.
Even if the device is similar to or shares some components with an existing device, it still won't be compatible with that device's ROMs.
This work needs to be repeated by the manufacturer for each new Android version. This costs money, and for unbranded devices where repeat custom and reputation aren't important, there's really no advantage for the manufacturer, or way for them to recoup their costs.

Arrgh you beat me to some of the points :) I've modified mine for other details to supplement (hopefully) this answer.

Sure Android needs to be ported to the device (drivers etc) but shouldn't it be about porting it to hardware (CPU, GPU, etc) level rather than manufaturer brands level? I mean, the Android should be ported to Snapdragon or MTK rather than to Samsung or Lenovo for example? Comparing to Linux (desktop), tho the availability and compatibility of drivers are not as good as for Windows but it is usually expectable that we can install the next version of a linux distro to our PC. I suspect that there is no some kind of database for supported driver for Android?

But it's not just about the chipset: it's about all the hardware, and the way it's configured in that particular device. Only if the two devices have the exact same hardware can they share a ROM image, and even then the "product name" needs to be set correctly in the ROM.

Thanks. Referring to your other comment, this was a genuine question even though it sounds like a discussion.

It is a business reason. Each OEM (manufacturer) wants to stand out in the market through their hardware AND their software. The next time you go to upgrade will you consider learning a new OEM overlay or just a shiny new version of what you already know? (A lot of people go for the latter, they don't care about the OS, their phone is a "HTC" or a "Samsung" not an "Android" device.) There is also another, slightly underhanded reason too.
Also note that EVERY device has its own kernel, drivers etc so there isn't really a 100% vanilla android, it must be ported to each device including the Nexus line.
By way of an example: Samsung have their Galaxy S5 flagship running Android, with the Touchwiz overlay. Every Samsung Android device has the Touchwiz Framework. Users get used to the look and feel and general 'Touchwizzyness' of the device. Now in the meantime they develop the Tizen operating system, and skin it to be almost identical to Touchwiz. Now to a user, the underlying operating system is kind of invisible to the user, and functions much the same, except Samsung now have you on their hardware and their own OS.
Here is a Tizen Screenshot
Here is a Touchwiz screenshot
See what I mean?


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How can I exit "Quick Mode" on Acer Liquid smart phone?
The Acer Liquid 630 received a Lollipop update in December.
I accidentally launched Quick Mode and now I am not able to exit. If I choose to end QM, the phone asks for confirmation but stays in Quick Mode. Before installation of the Lollipop update, leaving QM was possible.
This problem has been reported also in a recent comment on How do you take quick mode off Acer Liquid Z3?
Is there a way to disable or exit QM, or do I have to return to factory settings?

I have filed a bug report with Acer now, and resetted my phone to factory settings.
Update: three months later, Acer has not yet replied, but the phone has received two updates since December so maybe it is fixed. I will not test it as I might end up with another factory reset.

I don't have Acer smartphone, so I don't really know your attempt to exit QM, but have you followed the official manual from Acer?

@AndrewT. Yes, definitely.

Instead of a factory reset and install everything again, you can download a home launcher from appstore! Set your new home launcher as default then uninstall quick mode(sucks bigtime)... I like my phones new look, i even got rid of the left page on the homescreen. :-)


text:
Which Android emulators can co-exists on single machine?
Which emulators can co-exists on single Windows machine and be used simultaneously for app development (adb support)? I'm using Genymotion which seems to work on bare system; AVD x86_64 requires Intel HAXM driver; how about Microsoft emulator from Visual Studio 2015? Did anyone tried it already?
EDIT: question was clarified to emphase the simultaneous work on one machine - virtualization issues are main topic, not CPU/RAM usage

You can use as many emulators on the same machine as you want, simultaneously, at the same time, there's no actual limit, as long as you have sufficient RAM in your computer to handle that many emulators. When you want to debug an app you just choose whichever emulator you need.

I believe this is not true, as virtualization environments are mutually exclusive. Therefore I believe Microsoft emulator (Hyper-V) and Genymotion (VirtualBox) cannot run at the same time, but I ask for actual experience.

Actually i want to clarify that comment i just made. They are not mutually exclusive i.e. they do not prevent the other from running concurrently. There are not many programs out there that refuse to run concurrently with other similar programs. If you know of any I would like to know because this is news to me. So i repeat, as long as you have enough RAM you can run as much as you want. This is the whole point of a modern multitasking operating system. This isn't 1994.

@tomash This answer is correct, but you really have to be careful about RAM usage. I could open 2 AVD emulators, but that doesn't mean both will run flawlessly, given running 1 emulator is already a heavy task on my laptop.

RAM usage is not really in the scope of this question. I think it should be obvious to any Android programmer that they need a LOT of RAM to run Android emulators.

Question was edited - "simultaneously" translates to "without reboot required to switch virtualization host"

You can use them simultaneously, without rebooting, as long as you have sufficient RAM. Have you even tried using 2 emulators and it doesn't work? Because you don't seem to understand that it is not only possible, but this is why multitasking operating systems are a thing. Just open 2 virtualization hosts (or however many you need) and see what happens, because I think once you see it in practice you will understand what I am telling you makes sense.

authors: علي فاروق الساعي


text:
Email App for Exchange Server and alternatives
I would like to set-up my company email in the Email app on my android device (Exchange server). After completing the set-up, it asked me for security update in which it lists lots of warnings such as erasing all the data on phone, etc. I got scared from these as I am not sure whether the IT dept would have all those privileges on phone or not.
Alternatively, I tried to set up an alias with my Gmail account to send email from my Gmail and it looks like it was sent from my company email, but I don't have the SMTP server address (I tried my best to get it, it seems that the exchange server doesn't have one).
Any alternative to use my company email on my android without give all these permissions to take control of my phone without my knowledge?
My phone is Samsung S3 GT-I9300 with Android 4.3

What phone do you have (Brand, model, android version)?

My phone is Samsung S3 GT-I9300 with Android 4.3

The security requirements set by the Exchange server admins are designed to protect their company information. They don't want to risk you losing your phone and having any random person read your company email. If a thief tries to brute-force the lock code, the email program will force a factory reset after a certain number of failures.
Personally, I think if they require you to read email outside of work hours (yuck) and have this security requirement, they should be willing to provide a phone and service for free. But I digress.
Here are some solutions you can try:
Email app that lies about complience
There are some email apps that will lie to the Exchange server about its adherence to the requested policies. I use Enhanced Email. It's a paid app, but it was a Free App of the Day on Amazon a couple years ago. There's also K-9, a free and open source app, but it only works with specific Exchange servers (2003/2007). There are probably others out there that work as well.
XPosed Module
The XPosed has a ton of modules for system tweaks, including one that should let you bypass Exchange Security Requirements. It will let you bypass the requirement while using any email app you want.


text:
How do I re-install the system app "Google Talk"?
I accidentally uninstalled Google Talk using Root Uninstaller and now I can't download anything from the Market.
Can anyone help me? I don't have the .apk file for Google Talk.

Did you take a backup with Nandroid or Titanium Backup? Which device/ROM?

The Google Talk application is a key part of the Android Market authentication. If you are not signed in to Google Talk, you cannot use the android market. This is one of the reasons there needs to be more "Warnings" with apps like Root Uninstaller. They allow you to remove vital apps from the device, and don't tell you what damage it could do.
You have a couple options:

You will need to find the apk for your device, or that works for your device. There are some devices that use a different version of the application, Then use a tool like Root Explorer for example, to put the apk file back in /system/apps
Restore from a Nandroid / Titanium backup (if you did the backup before hand)
(re)Flash a ROM on your device, which could put the device in the "factory state" if you are not flashing the same ROM that you already have on the device.

I also seen this in the applications description and it may actually make a backup of any app that you freeze or uninstall. check and see if you can restore with the application.

If you CANN'T freeze/defrost, try to enable USB Debugging (HOME/Settings/Application/Development/USB Debugging)
If you CANN'T restore backup app, try to "find apps on SD card" then long-press the app and select "install as system app".
This application uses SDCARD to store data

If you don't have a backup of the app, I would think the most sure fire and straightforward way to get it back would be to "restore to factory state".
Prior to doing that, I'd recommend using Titanium Backup to save all your settings and apps.  Just reinstall TiBU again after you reset your phone and restore everything from the backup.  Short and sweet.
If you decide you absolutely need to remove system apps in the future, Cyangogen mod has a bare bones guide on what's safe to uninstall.


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How to prevent Samsung Tab 10.1 from turning display on by itself?
I just bought this Galaxy Tab 10.1 with Android 3.2 and while I love it, one thing drives me nuts - every time I turn the screen off using power button, the screen comes back on in a minute or so. I went through all display settings and haven't found anything relevant.
Any ideas how to stop that madness?

If the screen automatically switches on without the user having intiated this, it looks to me like some app requested a specific WakeLock (SCREEN_DIM_WAKE_LOCK, SCREEN_BRIGHT_WAKE_LOCK, or FULL_WAKE_LOCK, see PowerManager API). Please check if How to deal with (orphaned) WakeLocks? might help you.

It looks like ambient display is the cause of this have you checked related settings


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 LG Optimus P690 - how to launch silently
Is there a way (without rooting) to skip the startup sound on LG Optimus P690 if sound was not disabled before turning the phone off?

Lars Aronsson over at Androinica seems to think you can using an app called Silent Boot (though others disagree). Also suggested is Android Assistant which is supposed to automatically turning down the system volume before the phone power cycles. I haven't tried any of them personally - give 'em a try, YMMV.


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How can I determine the latest released firmware for my Samsung device?
This problem eludes me. I have two Samsung Android devices, a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a Galaxy S2. I keep'em up-to-date using the update option in the settings panel, however, I think I'm not always sporting the newest firmware that was released, maybe because of region issues or some other reason.
So I would like to know if there's a Samsung website or any other source where I can spot the latest stock firmware available?
Thanks all

In general there really doesn't seem to be a good way to keep up with updates that haven't been released directly to you.  I find the best way is simply to be involved in the "Android ecosystem" — reading Android blogs and news sites, and so on.
Sometimes there are stock ROM lists maintained on sites like XDA, for example this one for the i9001, and you can monitor those.
For actually acquiring ROMs, see: Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

Thanks! It's too bad Samsung doesn't have that kind of communication with its users. I hope that, as this market matures, the manufacturers get more smart about this kind of thing.