text:
How to tell if phone's ROM is original or tampered?
I have bought a new phone which seems to be used. The manufacturer checked my IMEI and confirmed that the phone has been purchased/activated before.
The body looks new so I don't mind keeping it but I am worry about malicious software/apps. I know I can factory reset the phone, but is there any way to tell if the ROM is original?
FYI, the phone is a Moto G 2nd gen w/ 5.0.1 lollipop.

if your bootloader is unlocked by default, you can boot into download mode, and you will see KNOX warranty void: x on the top. Values are either 0 or 1 dependent on if it is tampered or not. Doing OTA updates SHOULD also switch to normal android OS, unless the hacker managed to make OTA updates download from his repository

It depends on what you meant by "tampered". Do you consider using custom ROM (e.g. CyanogenMod) as "tampered"? Or to put it simply, do you mean original ROM as "stock ROM" (the one from factory)?

Which phone? Model?

@AndrewT. Yes, I mean stock ROM/factory's ROM.

@beeshyams I had included that in the tags but it was removed, added it to the body now.

I am assuming your device is NOT rooted by you
You can

Factory reset your device (of course after taking back up of data )
Root your device, flash a custom recovery and take a complete back up of your device with TWRP
Generate MD5 check sum using TWRP or alternate apps like Hash Stamp MD5 & SHA1 generator
Download stock lollipop (assuming that your device variant matches with that mentioned and the ROM version on your device matches)
Generate and verify stock MD5 and SHA1 with TWRP nandroid back up
If it matches, it is confirmed both are same and no tampering took place
If not flash only kernel from TWRP, and generate MD5 and SHA1. Repeat with downloaded image and verify
Repeat above with /sys and /data
This should pinpoint the tampering that happened

It is a little tedious but IMO, worth the effort as it proves beyond doubt that either present ROM has not been tampered with or if tampered, in which portion (s) of the ROM it happened. This may not be a practical solution but is based on the premise that (near) fool proof validation is only possible when compared with original stock ROM. Other variations of this could be  see if OTA updates work or comparing partition sizes

The irony here is that if OP is already going to download stock ROM and flash TWRP, then why not simply flash the stock ROM and be at peace, because figuring out file integrity isn't worth anything at that point. Of course, there can be a possibility where the new owner would like to return the device, should the integrity be found compromised, but that doesn't appear to be the case here.

@Firelord..absolutely agree but from an academic perspective to my mind, this is the only sure way of  knowing, addressing the "how" portion of the question. I will wait with interest to see if there is an alternative way which gives equal assurance and unless OP declines this as not a viable option, it stays as an answer.  I have researched ways ever since this Q appeared as non-featured and saw nothing that gives full assurance (of course, I could have missed in not exploring alternatives). Explaining at length to address similar concerns from others

I don't think that the checksums would match even if the backed up ROM was backed up from a clean stock ROM as the files are completely different. The stock update file is probably of EXE type, while the backup is IMG or ZIP. The contents are also different internally because the OEM packs files diferently than a recovery, therefore it is probably impossible that a nandroid backup has the same hash value as an update file.

TheBro21's comment applies only if it's a KNOX enabled device.  For most Android devices, when you boot into downloading mode it will read a few lines in "SYSTEM STATUS: custom" or "Custom Binary Download YES (and the number of time here, if it hasn't be reset with triangle away)". If in bootloader mode it says Unlock state: true, it might be that the ROM is custom, but then again it may have been done by a stock flash.
You can also go into the settings and about and look at the system status, ROM, kernel, or base-band and if it has a weird name, google it, it's probably a custom ROM or kernel, if not, it probably isn't or close enough you'd never notice.
If you really are concerned and want a fresh device on official firmware, google how to flash your device with Odin, than download the latest stock firmware.

That's not enough. I would flash the stock bootloader and recovery if possible too

How to tell if phone's ROM is original or tampered?

This is how I would proceed. If the official stock ROM is available from trusted sources, you can download it and verify the integrity of the binaries on your phone by comparing it's MD5/SHA checksums with that of the one you downloaded.
But in your case, if the official ROM is available you could simply flash it and you can use your phone safely. But in case the ROM is not available(or even if it is available), the most safest option for you is to download the Official CyanogenMod ROM for your device and flash it. It will keep your phone free of "malicious software/apps."

To check if it is tampered - very hard. There are ways with calculating the checksum but I don't know will it work for sure. But, if you want to be 100% sure it was not tempered, I would suggest to manually download the official ROM and flash it. This does not void your warranty and AFAIK all phones can be manually flashed with official software.

This doesn't answer the question at all and "if you want to be 100% sure it was not tempered, I would suggest to manually download the official ROM and flash it." isn't making any sense. How would flashing the ROM would verify that previous was tampered with? You're simply wiping out all the evidence here.

Update file doesn't have the same checksum as the nandroid backup - not a valid check.

Root checkers and other indicators can be easily modified and set by other (maybe malicious) methods, making them also not good proofs.

My answer is no, there is NO WAY to be 100% sure that the ROM hasn't been tempered with. The only way is to download the update, compare checksums of the downloaded file with that on the website, and flash it.
Maybe my previous answer wasn't clear enough.

@Chapz I am a newbie. I searched the internet but I couldn't find the stock ROM on Motorola websites, I could only find it on third-party websites. is it possible to get it from the Motorola? also, would flashing it wipe the phone's memory clean?

Link: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/recovery-images
You need to log in with your Google account or make a Motorola account, and you can download firmwares from their site. Flashing an entire ROM wipes it clean so do make a backup of your files.

Thanks @Chapz! how should I "full wipe" the phone and install the stock ROM? should I use a third-party flash tool, or is there one from Motorola or Google? also will I be able to get OTA updates normally after this?

Unfortunately, this goes beyond my knowledge, you can just google it as I would do it. The full wipe happens when you install the ROM, as it reinstalls all the partitions on your phone. OTA updates should not be a problem as the ROM is official, only difference is that you installed it in a different way.

I couldn't find Moto G's ROM on that link. what do you think about getting it from OTA's cache?

I don't have any knowledge on that one, sorry...


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Force Android to display in grayscale
Is there a way to force all of Android to display in monochrome(also known as grayscale)?
I'm working with a someone who has ADHD (and I am mildly ADHD myself). The colors are too much for him/her to handle.
EDIT: Ideally I'm looking to create an easy way to toggle such a setting.

Do you have any support material / resources that describe the size (audience) for this 'feature'' requirement? This could be raised to Google/Android or Samsung (etc.)

That link is broken ..

Android 5.0 Lollipop provides this feature by default:

Enable Developer mode (by tapping build number within Settings > About phone multiple times)
Go to Developer Options and turn it on.
Under Hardware accelerated rendering you will see option called Simulate color space, click it and set it to Monochromacy.

Does this have any effect on the battery life?

Yes, there will be an effect on battery life, as it will have more CPU usage. However screen type (LCD vs AMOLED etc.) may also play a role here.

On a rooted phone, is it possible to make a shortcut for Monochromacy toggle, or a terminal command?

A launcher will not put the whole system in grayscale, only your home screen.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a true grayscale function you can enable system wide.
If you don't want to buy a Samsung Galaxy S5 then try CF.Lumen https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.lumen
It can color the screen to a specific tint. As a side effect the battery life will increase a lot.
If you have a Samsung phone, but not necessarily the S5 then you can use this root app to put everything into true monochrome (grayscale):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.pruss.GalacticNight

I think Lunar Eclipse Lite is also a good choice for you. it works well on my phone.

Click image(s) for larger version

Does it support pure monochrome/grayscale? Note that there are many screen filter apps such as this, but the questions asks for grayscale specifically.

I think you need this
Root your phone and install the following app from play store by Famous Developer Chainfire
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.cf3d
then change the setting to grayscale

You should also note that the app supports only Froyo and Gingerbread, not any newer versions.

There's no built-in function that does this on an android phone.
The bast way to achieve this is to install a custom launcher. Check on the Play Store, there are a bunch of them.

Please add additional information.  Maybe link to at least one example.  The way your question is isn't clear.  I'm not looking to just change the home screen icons, but the entire android device to grayscale.

I'm pretty sure you can't change the Setting color scheme, but you can change all the other things. In the play store just search for "launcher" and choose the one you prefer, at that point you should look for the available themes for the launcher you've chosen and install it.

Thank for the response, but I do believe it is clear in the question that I am looking to change the entire operating system.  All APPS will likely stay in color unless I am misunderstanding you.

That's correct, I find it hard to change the entire system color scheme, consider it pretty much impossible. I'm a ROM developer and I can't figure out how this could be achieved. Maybe by editing some driver files or the kernel itself. That's tough, one thing is certain, you must have a rooted device, that's the first thing you should know.

It could be done in a custom ROM by changing the compositor (SurfaceFlinger) to render everything as grayscale regardless of the colors drawn by apps.

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Is it possible to unroot a device?
Once a device has been rooted, is it possible to unroot?
I also want to keep my data, so can I unroot without wiping/re-imaging?  If so, how difficult is this?

This really depends.  What phone are you using and how did you root it?
For example: some phones have an easy "one click" root method to root your phone.  They often have a reverse easy "one click" unroot method.  An example of this is EasyRoot for Droid.
As for doing it via a factory reset, that's not necessarily enough.  Factory resets usually (always?) wipe only the user partitions such as /data without touching the system partition, where su and other evidence of rooting is likely to remain.  Re-flashing the ROM should be enough though, although some devices have flash counters that may also be checked if you send in your phone for warranty purposes.

I'm personally using and EVO and am considering rooting, but my intent in asking was to improve my general understanding.  Thanks!

Usually you would root your phone and make an immediate nandroid backup.  That way you can always get back to the state of when your phone was "just rooted".  Then you can (usually) unroot it and return your phone for warranty reasons, or whatever reason you needed to unroot it for.

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How to improve the security on my Android phone?
When I use Android in business I have some secret data on my phone. So if I lose my phone this can easily be stolen.
Is there any way I can secure my phone? E.g. adding password for unlocking it. Any recommendations? apps? or best-practice?

Check out a piece of software such as Mobile Defense which gives you remote tracking and wiping of your phone.

You should also be able to add a lock-pattern that makes it slightly-more-difficult to open the phone

lock pattern is ok but it should be turned off in case of steal. I say that because person who stole phone will faster make hard reset or install new rom than try to break it. Instead of locking you should install apk which tracking phone. Good idea is install application with that feature and.. also install i.e. dropbox which is able upload immediately taken photos on your dropbox account. This way, if your phone will be stolen by stupid person, he will make photos and.. maybe who know you will see his face :)

Don't store data on the micro SD card. It's easy to take out and insert into another device.

True enough, although a significant number of phones don't have enough internal storage to be useful.

"Easy" depends - some devices need partial disassembly before SD card can be manipulated.

The most common way to hack your phone is thru insecure WiFi spots. (Mark Zuckerberg was hacked that way.)
I'd recommend to install Y5 application, which enables WiFi only for spots you trust.

The best way to protect your phone is to encrypt the whole data on it.
I know Nexus devices have option to encrypt devices under security settings.
What this will do, is every time you boot up your device it will ask for your password, if you don't know it, you will not be able to recover any data on your phone.
You will need to set up some password or lock after you turn of your screen as well, so no one can access your phone if you leave it on table or somewhere else.
If you are often using public access points to connect to internet via your Android device, you should always use https sites.
Most common attacks against smartphone users are man in the middle attacks, this will allow attacker to intercept your session with the current server you are gaining informations from (for example Facebook) and it will be able to login to your account and make changes to your account, post on your behalf etc etc, there is no good defense against this, but you can use DroidSheep Guard.
It will detect if anyone on the network is using this kind of attack, and if so, it will automatically disconnect you from that network, therefor preventing an attack.
There are also some viruses being made lately against android devices, which can harm your device in different ways, I have found out that the best thing you can do against this is, use only play store to download your apps, and check what other people say about application, before downloading it,a lso latest android update has additional security, so if you are installing app from other sources, it can check that app for any malicious code in it.
I don't recommend installing antivirus software on android device, it won't help much, and it will slow your device.
I hope this will be helpful for you and others having concerns about  this kind of stuff.

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Maximum (micro) SD card speed class for HTC EVO?
What is the maximum class (e.g., 2,4,6,8,10) supported of microSD card supported by the HTC EVO?
I noticed an improvement in performance when upgrading from the Class 2 to a faster card on my Hero.  I don't want to pay extra for performance that won't benefit my EVO.
HTC and Sprint have not included this information in their specs and I can't find it elsewhere.  Either I'm not understading something fundamental about SD classes or it's not published where I'm searching.

I should add I'm currently using Class 6.

It looks like someone sent HTC an email back in July and got the following response:

I understand you want to know which speed is the best for your device as far as SD card is concerned. We have tested the devices on a class 4 speed. I could not recommend anything higher than that. The phone may be capable of running a higher-class speed, but we have only tested it on a class 4.

You may also want to email HTC support and see what they officially say.  From I've been reading, people have been using Class 6 just fine.  Not sure about 8 or 10.


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How do I install the new Gmail app on Cyanogen?
The same thing is happening with the new Gmail as happened with Voice Search. This again?
adb remount
adb shell rm /system/app/Gmail.apk
adb uninstall com.google.android.Gmail

Okay, so just FYI that DIDN'T work. And now I don't have Gmail anymore.

I installed it simply by going to the market and updating to the new version. I know I have it installed correctly as it popped up a "What's New" dialog on first run.
I have a HTC Magic 32A with CM6.

I tried that but I get the "Installation of 'Gmail' unsuccessful" message I always get for updates google apps on Cyanogen.

I did the same thing on my Motorola Droid on CM6 without any problems.

I have a Nexus One and so far nothing is working. Might upgrade to a nightly for fun, especially since gmail is gone now.

Okay, like every computer issue a reboot solved the problem. After I deleted Gmail I couldn't install the new Gmail but after restarting my phone the install went fine.

Good to hear that it worked for you. I do have a occasional weird problem where it thinks that I'm running it for the first time and keeps popping up the "What's New" dialog.

You need to install the Google apps for Cyanogen. Download the signed zip from the link below, there is one for the ROM (you don't need) and one for Google apps. All you have to do is install it from recovery just as you would a custom ROM. Should solve your problems...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=691366
UPDATE:
The link above is for the HTC Magic. The one below is for Nexus One. Not sure if there is a difference in the zips, but just in case use this one for Nexus One.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=723844&highlight=google+apps

I did that before and all was well but then I went to install the new gmail app (with priority inbox) and I kept getting the "installed failed" message. I'm going to have to install from recovery again though to get it back since I ran "adb shell rm /system/app/Gmail.apk" in an attempt to install it later from the market (which still failed even after running that).

So attempting to reinstall with the file in that link still does not work? Try it again. If it still doesn't work then you are probably going to have to reflash Cyanogen. Before doing anything with ADB you should always create a NAND backup. I wrote a guide on all this for the Evo but most information would still apply to other phones. I recommend reading it... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8104698


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How can I find a lost phone or help people return it?
I'm looking for an app like Where's My Droid to help locate a lost device.
Ideally I'm hoping there is one that might have two specific features:

The ability to display a message to the screen to help people return it, like Windows Phone 7 will have, as illustrated here.
The ability to turn the GPS on remotely to aid in the physical location of the phone. I do not want to have to keep GPS on all the time, to avoid the battery drain.

Running on a non-rooted Galaxy S Captivate.

Another option: I like Lookout.
In addition to tracking/finding your phone, also does virus scanning and backs up data.  It doesn't display a message though.

Very nice looking app

Best get it now, too, because they just announced a premium version. Current users get their features grandfathered in.

Try Prey for Android.
Some features:

To trigger it, you send an SMS with specific text (default: GO PREY)
Once triggered, starts recording its location to display on your Prey dashboard
If "missing" you can put text messages on the screen or cause a loud alarm to be played

Here's a recent review: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/10/28/prey-for-android-is-an-open-source-anti-theft-service/

Looks perfect! The only thing I'd say better would be if it would actually LOCK the phone so it could not be logged in and would just show the configured message and not let the user do anything else. Otherwise, excellent.

Note that having the GPS enabled doesn't (unlike with Bluetooth) drain the battery.  The GPS only uses battery when it's active, which only happens when something is trying to use it.
I don't know of any app that can enable GPS if it's disabled.  For the message however your best solution currently is probably WaveSecure.

Very cool to know! I've left it on for a while now and yeah, it doesn't seem to generally affect the battery life. All those articles about extending batter life always mention turning off GPS and WiFi, (although I know WiFi doesn't really affect it either  :)  )

@eidylon: WiFi may affect battery life if it's actively scanning for open network; if you turn off network notification and set a reasonable sleep policy, then WiFi might have less effect on battery.

I'm admittedly ignorant, but it seems that a lot of apps now want GPS access and they happen to auto-start; so, if GPS is enabled, it can lead to battery consumption, whether or not the user is making use of the GPS.

http://www.androidlost.com/ can turn on gps from an sms messega, it's very difficult to understand how it's work's, but very poweful

At least for #2 check out Samsung Dive, if it's supported in your country (it isn't in mine). It should do the trick. Also has remote lock and remote wipe functionality.
EDIT: Just realized that Captivate is a US device, so this is not supported yet (UK and Germany only). Sorry, my brain hasn't completely woken up yet :)

Samsung Dive requires your phone to be logged into your Samsung account. what if it's logged out for whatever reason, then Dive won't work

Mobile Defense is great, though in closed beta at the time of posting. It lets you see the current status of your phone, its location (with greater accuracy if within GPS range) and lets you sound an alarm with a message. I am not sure when they will re-open the beta, but I love the product.


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How can I force the Sense UI home screen on my Evo to landscape?
I have an Evo running with very default settings. How can I force the home screen (Which I believe to be running Sense UI if I'm not confused) to be in landscape format.  I use my kickstand all the time, and it's a pain to tilt my head to look at the home screen.

The factory implementation doesn't support landscape.  (When you configure the background, you get a hint about this from the dimensions of the image).
Lanscape mode would require a custom ROM.

I know you mentioned Sense UI but you could use LauncherPro which has the ability to auto-rotate the homescreen. Personally I believe LauncherPro is a far better implemented launcher than Sense.
If you purchase LauncherPro Plus you'll get 90% of the Sense UI widgets anyway but also you'll get an increase in speed and stability.
LauncherPro:

This is exactly what I've been using the last few weeks. I don't like it near as well as Sense, but it does rotate, which is the biggest deal to me of all.  I just don't understand why Sense on the Evo doesn't rotate automatically - like the Epic.


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How can I remove the default Google Account on my phone?
I no longer want to link my default Google Account on my phone. I have a Nexus One runnin 2.2.1.
How can I unlink my Google account?

Set up a new gmail account (you have to have one associated with the phone). Next, on your phone go to settings > applications > manage applications > gmail and choose "clear all data" do this for gtalk and google voice too if you have them set up. This should prompt you to start the account setup on the phone where you'll enter your new gmail acct info.

A method similar to the one that Matt mentions worked in pre-2.0 versions of android, all you had to do was hit the Clear Data button for the Google Apps application in Settings->Applications->Manage Applications
Since 2.0 and the improvements to account management that came with it, this trick no longer works. To the best of my knowledge (G2, myTouch Slide and G1 with Cyanogenmod 6) a master reset is now required.
If you need to backup info, try searching appbrain.com for share my apps, sms backup+ or sms backup and restore, and/or MyBackup Pro

If the "clear all data" trick (as described by Matt) does not work (it didn't with my HTC Magic/Android 1.6) you can change the password to the google account (from a computer) and reboot the phone. Sometimes it will ask you for your account info right away after booting and sometimes you have to access some google app like the calendar or mail to trigger the account questionaire.


text:
Is there a way to create location shortcuts for navigation
I often have to navigate to the same places with the google maps navigation. I use speech to enter the address. Is there a way to create shortcuts, which i can chose on the touchscreen to navigate to an often used places? F.e. i dond't want to enter my home address everytime, instead i want to save it as "home" and have the ability to chose that.

You can create a screen shortcut for "home" or any location you use often. Long-press on the home screen, select the Shortcuts option, and scroll down to get a Directions option. You'll be prompted for an address, which can be either specific or general. Choose car, public transit, or walking directions, ensure "Turn-by-turn navigation" is checked, and give it a short name, like "home". Now you have a shortcut which will quickly get the directions you want from wherever you are.
You can also "star" locations on the map that you use often.
You can also use contacts to quickly get addresses for navigation. Were you to have a "home" entry in your contact list, you could simply use the voice command "Navigate to home".

Great answer... wish I had done this when I got the phone! Especially directions to home address!


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My Milestone doesn't always charge
I have a Milestone and sometimes when I plug my (supplied Motorola) charger in the 'charging light' on the side does not illuminate and the phone does not charge. I think that this may also happen even after a successful initial connection (i.e. after plugging it in and getting the light) since occasionally I have unplugged the phone in the morning, after an overnight charge, and it is only 30% full (rather than the expected 100%).
This problem is intermittent and sometimes rights itself but other times I need to reboot the phone.
I have replaced the cable, and still have the same issue, so it is unlikely to be due to a faulty cable.
This happens both when charging it from a wall socket or a USB port.
Does anybody else have this problem? Or maybe have an idea of what it could be?
edit: Faulty hardware may be the cause... I have seen similar posts about people having intermittent problems connecting their Milestones to USB ports, so I'm curious that this may be either a generic bug or a generic hardware fault, rather than just my phone.

I have a charger with a bad cable. It sometimes charges and sometimes it won't. Wiggling the cable point seems to help (don't do that though for risk of damaging your phone.
Check if its your cable or your phone by charging your phone with a data cable. If that charges your device your original charges is faulty. If this doesnt work either your phone connector is bad and you can either wiggle till it works or get a new phone.

Sometimes cables don't conform to standards and mess up the auto-negotiation of power level for the devices attached to them. (Devices can tell the computer / charger how much electricity they require). Phone can handle the max level of electricity, so soldering the 2nd and 3rd pins together on the cable will demand more power from the computer.

May be possible that when plugging in your charger/usb cables it's not making a connection, I had a problem on an old phone (Nokia N95) with this and had to send it off for a new one.
Also possible that it may be the charger, have you got another you could try?

Yeah, I have actually tried it with another charger and it still didn't work. Faulty hardware may be the cause... I have seen similar posts about people having intermittent problems connecting their Milestones to USB ports, so I'm curious that this may be either a generic bug or a generic hardware fault, rather than just my phone.

I say sending it back is the best bet then. I hope this isn't an issue on the Milestone 2, I've got my eyes on one!

Do you use any app killer? I used to use this kind of software, and sometimes I accidentally killed some system service and then it only charged again after a reboot.
I stopped using app killers after that.


text:
Airdroid modifies timestamps of copied files
MTP does not work in Ubuntu so I am using Airdroid to copy photos off my phone (Galaxy Nexus) to my computer (Ubuntu 12.04).  My problem is that the files downloaded via Airdroid all have modification date of when I transferred them.  I want the files to keep the timestamps they have on the phone (which is the date and time I took the photo).
How can I do this?

This is also an Ubuntu / device issue.

Reason is your client saves them at that time, and doesn't ask the "server" (your Android device) for the original time stamps.
You could try using a SSH server on your Android device. DroidSSHd would be a good choice, for example. To copy your files then you need to start this SSH Server first on your phone, which usually tells you the IP and port used. Now you can use any SSH client on your Ubuntu workstation, or from the shell, use the scp command:
scp -p -P 2222 192.168.1.15:/sdcard/DCIM/*.jpg .
would be an example:

-p: Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the original file
-P 2222: Use port 2222 (that's what DroidSSHd uses by default)
192.168.1.15: IP of your device (replace this with what the SSH server shows)
/sdcard/DCIM/*.jpg: All JPEG files from your camera folder on the SD-card (check for the correct path)
.: Copy files to the current working directory

Note that at least on Linux, for ease of use you can tell SSH in its config to always use port 2222 for this IP adding the following lines to your ~/.ssh/config file:
Host 192.168.1.15
    Port 2222

Having done that, you no longer need to specify -P 2222 with each command.
There might be graphical solutions available as well -- but I mostly work from the command line, so I cannot give you examples for those.

This is the classic push/pull issue with FTP.  If you copy files to your PC (push), it does not trust the source (and replaces the time/date stamps).  If you copy files from the device (pull), your PC has control and retains the time/date stamps.  The same issue occurs when FTP copying between two Ubuntu hosts, using Nautilus.  If you can configure settings, you can overcome this.

When I push files with scp or rsync, this issue does not occur either. But confirmed, the described issue is "incorrectly titled" Airdroid modifies timestamps, as the modification is rather done by the receiving client. And also agreed, it is more likely to happen with FTP.

Thank you, using scp worked fine.  I do think it was airdroid modifying the timestamps in my case, because all my pictures were packed into a .zip which was downloaded via browser.  I don't care what the modification date of the zipfile was, but the photos inside all had new useless dates generated too - surely this was airdroid.

Oh -- in this case I agree. But as you didn't point this out before, I couldn't know :)

@Izzy Hi, I stumbled upon this answer while trying to copy files from an Android phone to a computer. I've installed and configured DroidSSHd and tried something like this: scp -p -P 2222 root@192.168.1.19:/storage/sdcard1/*.jpg ~/Desktop/pull/ but I get this: sh: scp: not found. Any hints/ways around that ?

@GeorgeProfenza I suggest you open a new question for that. You can link to this one for reference.

@Izzy Sure, I've posted a question here

Should I replace sdcard by other path if I don't have an extra memory card in my device? I have only the internal memory.

@Sigur I don't think so. This path usually points to the "primary external storage", which is the internal SD card (if available) or the external (if no internal SD card is there). You can use a file manager to check if the path is present.

Running an SSH server on your phone helps you with this problem, just as the previous answer explained. However, because DroidSSHd is older and may not work with newer phones on more recent versions of Android, SSHelper might be a better choice, and I use it regularly for purposes similar to this.


text:
Samsung S3 wont sync
I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S3 but it takes forever to connect with my laptop and i am unsure why this is.
Can anyone help with this?

It takes forever to sync with Kies you mean?

as in the connect symbol just cycles for ages sometimes an hour before it works sometimes not even.

I had some problems like yours with Kies, and I really hate it, but it's an necessary evil for some tasks. Here some things I did, try them:

Make sure you are running the lastest version of Kies
Change the USB port you are trying to connect
If you have another computer to test, try it
KiesAir or AirDroid maybe fit your needs
There's a Google USB Driver
Try reinstalling Kies
Make sure the storage mode is on

If none of this works, try contacting Samsung


text:
What are the differences between the two Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0" models?
I have just got a new Samsung GALAXY Tab 4 7.0" (SM-T230NU).
What is the difference (or improvements) between the 'stock' SM-T230 model GALAXY Tab 4 7.0" and the 'newer' SM-T230NU, recently released for US/Canada and in EU?
Are there also other NU devices? I have also seen references to the GALAXY Tab 4 10.1" as SM-T530NU.

I have found one possible issue, with the SM-T230 not having multi-user mode:

The multi users setting is not available. According to the manual it should be at settings => General => Users.

(My device does have multi-user capability)

I also saw a reference to the two different models on XDA Developers:

Do make sure your tablet is a T230NU model and not just a T230
  model.

UPDATE: 04-Jul-2014
There are three variants: T230, T230NT, T230NU
from: Samsung T230 | T230NT | T230NU Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 WiFi Firmwares

According to other reviews, the plain SM-T230 does not support OTG,
but the SM-T237p does.
I remember how disappointed I was to find this with my SM-T210R.

SM-T230nu has an IR remote, while a simple tab 4 (SM-T230) doesn't have one.

The SM-T230NU (Tab4 7.0) is a regional model, for North America (US/Canada). I can confirm it DOES have an IR 'port', whereas the SM-T330 (Tab4 8.0) does NOT. I have yet to examine an international model SM-T230 (Tab4 7.0).

Is there anything to suggest that is the ONLY difference?


text:
Convert installed app to system app
I am on Samsung Galaxy J2, rooted with TWRP flashing. I want to convert a GPS Spoofer to a system app.
I tried Link2SD and Titanium Backup, but both of them failed. I tried to move it manually, but in all 3 cases, the app is completely removed from the drawer.
Is there any method?

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

SuperSU version v2.73 installed by you is systemless as confirmed by you using methods mentioned here How to find that I am rooted with Systemless
Systemless root does not permit changes to be made by you to /system  by default. See Systemless Root for details. This is most likely the reason that you are unable to convert installed apps to system apps
To enable this, you have two options:

Follow instructions here  Enable /system write in TWRP - Systemless root to make /system writable and then try to install. This should solve the problem (I am also on systemless root but made it writable following this). If this doesn't work,  next option  below
Revert to traditional root - see
Switch over from systemless root to system (traditional) root

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

Although OP seems to have SuperSU installed, I am writing this answer for the users of Magisk so as to prevent near duplicate questions from spawning.
Magisk module App Systemizer can make any third-party app a system app systemlessly i.e. without making changes into system partition. Download it from Magisk Manager or via the link and flash it through Magisk or your custom recovery. Reboot and launch a shell using a terminal app, such as Terminal Emulator. Follow these commands:

su
systemize       # loads the tool
1               # this would list all the third-party apps that can be systemized
ENTER_DIGIT     # enter the digit corresponding to the app you want systemized
CHOOSE_LOCATION # choose the digit corresponding to /system/app or /system/priv-app
TYPE y OR n     # y to reboot immediately and n to reboot later

After reboot your app would show up as a system app. When you get comfortable with this tool you can direct everything through a single command. Follow the module's link for usage instructions.

Magisk Manager can install this module itself

I had a similar problem with a few other apps. It's most likely not a problem with the root. I have Marshmallow 6.0.1. I used Link2SD.
Solution: after converting to a system app, you need to restart the phone, wait for a few minutes, and restart again. Do this 2-3 times then the app will appear.

You can use Lucky Patcher to convert apps to system apps.

Open Lucky Patcher.
Select the app you want to move, then click Tools (if there is a dialog box that appears with a warning message, click Yes).
Click "Move to /system/app" (or "Move to /system/priv-app").

Another app that is also able to convert user apps to system apps is System app remover.
Note: Beware that Google Play Protect will warn about Lucky Patcher being harmful and will prevent you from installing it.

Assuming you have ROOT access, your apk file is present on Windows desktop and you are on Lollipop or lower then,

Install adbd Insecure by ChainFire, launch it and tick the first case.

Why should you install adbd Insecure? -> to be able to  adb remount on production builds.
Then from CMD Shell type:
adb remount
adb push c:\users\username\desktop\yourapk.apk /system/app/
adb shell
chmod 644 /system/app/yourapk.apk
adb reboot

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


text:
Read big HTML files and/or zipped HTML bundles?
I'd like to read a moderately big HTML file - about 3MB. Another option is to have it split in several interlinked HTMLs.
Cool reader is the closest. Though it:

either crashes/gets out of memory, I don't know, on certain pages of a 3MB HTML file (3MB is not that much, actually, for a 50MB free memory).
or doesn't support links to files lying in the same directory/zip file (in a form: <a href="file.html#anchor">)

Are there any other options around?

Have you tried converting this HTML file to a compatible eBook reader friendly format like ePub or plain text? You can use Calibre on your PC to convert the HTML file.

After testing several browsers (Dolphin, Firefox, Opera) and Readers (Moon+) mentioned in similar questions here, only
Offline Browser
seems to do the Job of reading interlinked offline .html/.htm files correctly.

You could try using the default Android browser.  Open the browser, in the address bar enter: file://sdcard/file.html (replace the part after sdcard/ with whatever path leads to your file).  You can then bookmark the file and open it later in the browser without having to re-type the address.  However, trying to make a "bookmark shortcut" or using the HTC bookmark widget will not work for local files.

Look at this Tededroid Android app. It splits text into smaller chunks, enables incremental reading and improves focus when reading web pages.
Disclosure: I am the author of this app.

Moon+ Reader has the ability to view HTML files - not the code, mind you, just the rendered part. It's an eBook reader and is available in both free and paid versions.

It wasn't even able to open my file - it crashed 8(
Though, I can always file a bug report...

Nice reader! Like it, but for the interlinked offline htm books it doesn't work, unfortunately.


text:
What can I do to manage my phone's internal storage?
If you're not used to seeing the 'low on internal storage' notification, what is it that you're doing to keep your phone's internal memory from filling up so quickly?
The 'SD Card and Phone Storage' menu in the settings doesn't really tell me much other than how much is free. And, I don't really have that many applications installed. The top 5 storage hogging apps on my phone are Gmail (18.6 MB), Twitter (17.5 MB), Facebook (12.55 MB), Maps (9.63 MB), and Swype (6.06 MB).
So, are there apps out there (besides your normal file manager ones, like Astro) that will help monitor internal phone storage? Is there something I should be doing to keep my phone storage use to a minimum?

FWIW, Twitter (which I don't use) and Seesmic (which I do use) combined are about 5.3MB, and my Gmail (set up for manual sync) is 2.29MB. This is Android 2.2 on a Nexus One. Somehow, you're losing close to 30MB just in those two areas alone (36.1MB versus 7.6MB). Also, if you are on 2.2, see which of your apps can be moved to the SD card, if you don't mind doing that.

I'm on 2.2. I've moved all the apps that I can to the SD card. I'll have to try out Seesmic or Twidroyd. Haven't used either since Twitter released an official app.

See here how Android calculates your personal space limit: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4991#c145

Related: How disk space is used on Android device?

I'm using an app called DiskUsage which helps visualize what's using both my internal storage as well as the SD card.

DiskUsage is spectacular, but it is hobbled because it does not have root access and therefore cannot see inside the mysterious folder "System Data", which can get very large (4GB in my case).  There is discussion elsewhere about what to do if this is getting too big, but I haven't found anything definitive.

@JessRiedel DiskUsage can access the /root directory, but the device needs to be rooted in the first place. This restriction applies to all apps that want to access /root directory.

Most of the apps you have listed are big because they are storing data.  The apps themselves are not that big.  I would encourage people to check large apps (you can sort by size in the manage applications area of the settings).   Chances are you can clear out the data and reduce the amount of size very easily.  Most of the data for those apps especially is email and data that are old and don't really need to be on your phone.

Going into "Manage Applications" and clearing an apps cache can be very helpful, although it should be managing those itself.

Yes that would be the easiest way to check which apps are using most of the data if your phone has lesser apps.

Here's a tip if you frequently visit "Manage applications" and "Storage"  to clear cache data, review storage usage. I used QuickShortCutMaker from sika524 to make desktop shortcuts to  get to these screens quicker (make in app via: select Activites; select Settings; find activity ending *StorageSettingActivity and *ManageApplications entries; use "try" option, and "create" button) . In AOS 5.x I found these options are several taps away, this saves a few taps. I only need to do cleanup frequently b/c I keep dipping just below minimum 10% threshold.

I am great fan of APP2SD. It comes directly with an advice which apps can be moved to your SD and if the cache can be removed!

This functionality is built into Gingerbread.

I'm using a combination of 2 apps, DiskUsage and Link2SD, and they've helped me keep storage use at bay both on Gingerbread and on ICS. The issues I had with the built-in storage management facility of Android were:

It only shows the space used by the app installation (doesn't count "resource" downloads common in games)
The size reported on the list of installed apps doesn't consider cache usage (so you have to guess and go looking in the details of suspected apps)

DiskUsage is excellent at locating "resources" that may be taking up lots of space, and may be even be left behind when the app that downloaded them is uninstalled.
But if you have lots of small to medium sized apps installed, or if you're using many apps that stay online, Link2SD allows you to quickly locate any misbehaving one. It shows you a list of all installed apps, and allows you to sort them by name, install date, install size ("apk+dex+lib" option), data size, cache size, or total (install+data+cache) size.

If you have many apps showing a lot of cache usage, Link2SD can also clear all of them at once with the "Clear all app caches" option.
Also, if you're using Gingerbread, be aware that apps moved to SD card keep a part of themselves, called "dex", on internal memory, and the size of this "dex" varies from one app to another. With Link2SD you can sort by "dex" size, and quickly find any apps that may be too big to keep installed on certain phones, even if they allow moving to SD (I'm looking at you, Google+ client). Or the other way around, you can sort by "apk" or "lib", and move to SD all apps that show near the top (and allow being moved).

Yes link2sd increases free space inside phone memory but requires rooted phone

You can also choose to replace the default GMail app with the K9 mail client - the main plus point being it can handle other POP3/IMAP4 accounts as well as keep the storage for your email accounts on the SD card - this option does make it a little slow for first access, but if space in your internal memory is at a premium, then this might save space.
You can also try other smaller Twitter clients like Tweetdeck or Touiteur or even a web based mobile site like http://m.twitter.com OR http://m.tweete.net
That would obviate the need for a client app.
WRT Swype, if you prefer other ordinary keyboards, there are a plethora of them available in the market like Better Keyboard / Smart Keyboard etc. which are far smaller in size, but certainly don't have Swype's functionality.

Gmail is devil, it has many non-standard features I can't live without that IMAP4 clients cannot always handle cleanly (e.g. Archives, Labels, Important messages, etc).

Well, there are workarounds - moving a message into a label folder will in fact, assign a label to that message. Also, if you "flag" a message in an IMAP client, that amounts to starring the message in Gmail (of course, if you have extended star icons enabled in the labs, that won't help you assign the other icons)

Re: Twitter app. Unless something has changed in it (it's a couple of versions since I used it), it stores all its cache in "data", which you can clear out by going to "manage applications" in settings. If you do clear out all the data, you'll need to open the app and log back in again. Other apps, eg TweetDeck, have this stuff more easy to clear out in a "cache" section, but Twitter doesn't do it properly.

Either clear your dalvik-cache, install a custom rom (like cyanogen) or force apps to your SD card with an app called 'LinkApp2SD' (I had to reformat my tab because of this one, but it should work if you're rooted and have a G-certified phone).
Also, if you don't want to root your phone, you can try cleaning your app data and cache, or even uninstalling apps you don't use anymore.
See my website's blog to find cool apps and games that can be moved.

I have used the previously mentioned Disk2Usage to take a look at what's eating up my data.
What you can do depends on what your device is.
If you have an external SD card in addition to your phone's internal storage, you can periodically move data over. For example, my camera takes pictures and stores them in the internal storage. Since my phone (an Epic 4G Touch) has an 8 megapixel camera, those pictures can get pretty big, so I'll occasionally move all of my pictures to the SD card when space runs low.
I've also noticed that a lot of programs cache data in the internal memory. I've seen photo apps that cache thumbnails, and even Amazon's App Store caches the entire app APK for any apps you download from that store. This can take up a lot of space, and is generally safe to remove, since, if the app needs it, it can re-download it.
I use the above Disk2Usage app to find the large cache directories, then use a file manager app (like Solid Explorer) to delete those cached files.
Hope that helps.

I've used the terminal emulator to look at my folders (could not find any app that can look into the internal storage partitions - /data etc'
Note that you need superuser permissions for that (I'm rooted so I just enterd su)

I just received the dreaded out of space notification and used Memory Map, which was very helpful in finding what the issue was.

In the manage applications area of the settings, select apps that you dont use. Uninstall these apps if possible,  if not the following method will greatly reduce their size. Force close, clear cache,  clear app data, Uninstall updates, disable.  This also prevents them from growing again. Also in android 4.x, the function of apps that write to sd are broken,  only android itself eg. through the file manager has that permission.  Additionally while many of the apps above look great, they will take some space. I'm posting on a Galaxy s5, but many older devices don't have 16gb of storage space to play with. I would however recommend a good cleaning app that detects app leftovers and removes them as well,  and of course if you decide to stop using such an app you can Uninstall it, it has already served it's purpose. Also ALWAYS move songs, ring tones,  pics, etc. to the sd card.

To bring this a little more up-to-date, let me add a missing piece. Between the lines you could already read that many pre-installed apps are quite data hungry – even if you don't need them. They're receiving updates, which again consumes "user space". So here's a step you can perform:

Nagivate to Settings › Apps
Make sure you select the tab "All Apps" (on some devices: select "All Apps" from the drop-down)
Now walk the apps you haven't installed yourself. For each of them you've never used and don't plan to use (no panic if you change your mind later, steps can be reversed):

Tap their entry
Tap "force stop" (if not grayed out) to make sure the app is no longer running
Tap the buttons to "clear cache" and "delete data"
If you see a button labeled "Uninstall Updates", push that. It will then be re-labeled to …
Press the "Disable" button. See our disable-app tag-wiki for some background on this.

What you have achieved that way:

You freed the space used by the apps' data
You freed the space consumed by their updates
by disabling them, you made sure they do not generate new data and also do not receive updates

If at any time in the future you want one of those apps back: Go to the very same place. You won't see a "Disable" button there anymore: Aftger you've pressed that during above process you will have noticed it's now labeld "Enable". Press that. The app will be re-enabled and available, and its updates will start flowing in again as well.

I also found that "disabling" bundle apps seems to free a lot of internal storage.
I chatted with people on the android IRC channel, and it seems all apps always use some form of cache which takes memory.
Apps that you cannot uninstall like google maps, music, movies, youtube, drive, photos, hangout, etc can be "disabled". They're restored to their factory version, and don't run in the background anymore.
I was running out of internal storage, and doing so freed about 1GB of internal storage.
This was done on an archos 50 platinum, which has 8GB of ram.


text:
Is there a way to easily record a phone conversation in-progress?
I do not own an Android device. I was thinking about getting one, and an important feature for me is the ability to record a phone conversation which is in progress - meaning, while I am in the middle of a conversation, I could touch a button which will save a two-sided audio recording of that conversation from the moment onward.
I am aware that recording a conversation I am participating in without notifying the other members is illegal in some places - I have already checked this and have verified that it is completely legal in my country.
Is there is such a functionality in Android, through core features or available applications?
EDIT:

I prefer a solution which does not notify the other side of the recording, though it's not a must.
I need a solution which works in any country.

FYI, you need to check with states here in the US for legality of recording conversations.

Just to add...Not all recordings of conversations are evil by the way. I use it to conduct telephone interviews with some of my clients, with their permission, and then write up notes from the recording afterwards.

There are a couple of apps to try.  I use Ultimate Voice Recorder which costs $4.99 but works beautifully.  You can start recording in the middle of a call.
A quick search on AppBrain brought up Record My Call which is free.  I haven't used Record My Call so I can't comment on whether or not it can start in the middle of a call.
Update: Ultimate Voice Recorder does record both sides of the conversation.

Lots of the comments say that the Ultimate Voice recorder doesn't work? Quote: "Android system doesnt allow for recording the caller"

Most call-recorders that work on the phone itself - do not work on many devices. This is because of how the hardware is designed.
The only solutions that work across all devices are the ones using an intermediately recording service. There are some such apps on iPhone, and currently only one for Android: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.scoompa.callrecorder.open. Disclosure: I am the developer of this app.

@Guy Is there a solution nowadays (2019) that work on standard Samsung phones (such as A3)? and that can record both sides, even if I'm the caller?

Tasker can do this for you no problems. In fact, it's listed on the home page as a particular use case:

make automatic recordings of what you say during phone calls to SD card

Only your side of the conversation, though, from that sentence.

I agree that sentence isn't clear - but Tasker definitely allows you to record both sides of the conversation. See the following for precise details:
http://tech.shantanugoel.com/2010/09/24/setup-call-recording-android-app-tasker-nexus-one.html

very cool! Though like other solutions here, this does use the speaker phone (it just turns it on automatically).

@Oak is this still true, does it require the speaker phone to be on? Can't we record both sides with Tasker and headphones?

Yes, it is possible to record phone calls using Google Voice (but only calls that you receive).

Note that it does alert the other party that it is recording.

That does sound interesting, though limited; however it seems like an external service only available in the US at the moment, and I'm not in the US.

I don't believe that works when you turn off call announce though.

Ditto Bryan on Google voice.
Another thing to try, download Voice Recorder from market. Turn on speakerphone during call with voice recorder running and recording in the background. That will at least record you, not sure if it will work for the other party, but might while on speakerphone.

This is really an answer to How can I record phone calls on Motorola Atrix 4G? marked as a duplicate even though it's not but it also applies to here.
If you need a call recording feature you better watch out and try before you buy. Some device manufacturers will cripple the base software on their phones most likely due to reasons imposed by the BS hypocritical legislation in countries they operate. You can then install any call recording app you like and it may just not work because of that not because it's buggy (people don't know that and leave bad reviews).
The way they do it varies. Nokia used to inject bleeps in my Symbian phone, it was a pain to find software that would circumvent that. Motorola in their Android Atrix phone went step further and apparently modified the core libraries so that recording is not possible at all.
Sometimes there are ways around it if you are stuck with the current phone. For example, there is Now Blast 2.3.5 ROM available for the aforementioned Motorola Atrix on the XDA developers webisite that originates from China. But still replacing the software is not an easy task if you are new to it. It costed me a night to learn the ropes, the lingo and fix this BS, and only this much long thanks to the support from other people who wrote the tools, guides etc. It also carriers the risk of making the phone unusable.
Here are my results:

UPDATE: Nevermind.  Found it and it has terrible reviews.
Total Recall.  It's pricey ($10) and it doesn't appear to be in the app market but I like how it integrates with Evernote and you can always sideload.

Outdated => "This app is currently not active on Google Play"

I think this app has plenty of configurations to try in case it doesn't work:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.boldbeast.recorder&hl=en
It also has options for rooted devices, in case all failed.


text:
Is there any way to listen to Zune Pass music on my phone?
I have a Zune and download DRM-ed music via the Zune Marketplace that I can listen to as long as I have a Zune Pass monthly subscription. Is there any way to listen to this music on my Droid?

There does not appear to be a way, no. (Some information in this forum thread: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-audio-video/40610-zune-not-droid-friendly.html)
Apparently, DRM'd wma files require a Zune device. Since Droid ≠ Zune, it's not going to work. Unless and until Microsoft decides they want to build a Zune App (à la the way Amazon has a Kindle app) you're out of luck.
Only option appears to be to burn those tracks to a CD, then re-rip them as DRMless MP3s.


text:
Make phone wake up using the volume keys?
Is it possible to make the phone (N1) wake up some other way than using the power button without rooting the device?

Unfortunately I do not believe this is possible. No app can interact with the phone once the phone has been locked / put into standby mode... therefore without installing a custom ROM (which has modified the code allowing other buttons to unlock / wake up the phone) this is not possible.

I have bought a Nexus 4 and now use KitKat OS. Is this possible on it?


text:
My alarm didn't go off this morning!
I set an alarm up and I can see the alarm symbol at the top in the notification bar. However, the alarm didn't go off this morning! Thankfully I'm still in the crossover where my old phone is still in use.
Does the phone have to remain switched on at all times in order for alarms to function?
It's a Galaxy S running 2.1 still, because apparently we're still waiting for Orange to decide how much bloat they want to pack 2.2 with before release.

The alarm clock is the reason I still use an old skool Nokia phone. It even works when the phone is switched off. Try doing that with Android.

Did you accidentally have the volume turned down?

This question on the old ForceClose site has some of the background on the issue of alarms working while a phone's switched off http://www.forceclose.com/questions/776/can-alarms-go-off-when-the-device-is-off and unfortunately every Android device I've owned, the alarm only works when the device is switched on.

Do you use any task killer? Make sure you don't kill the "Clock" apps.
In fact, don't use a task killer at all, they're harmful to Android.

That was probably it - I had killed some apps with the task killer and the clock must've gone as a result. Out of interest, why is the task killer harmful?

@bcmcfc - Here's an article that will explain task killers for you: http://lifehacker.com/5650894/android-task-killers-explained-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them

Yes, the phone has to remain switched on for the Alarm to work.

True, on every Android phone I've had so far (from both HTC and Samsung) the alarm doesn't work if the phone's not switched on.

That's really handy to know - I've been using Nokias for a number of years and will have to make sure I don't forget, turn the phone off and oversleep as a result of the switch to Android.

Yeah, I learned about this too, the hard way. :( Ericsson rings the bell even when it's off. Well eff you samsung...


text:
Which method of wireless tether uses the least amount of power? Bluetooth or Wifi?
If I'm going to wireless tehter to my Android phone what method drains the battery the least? Wifi or Bluetooth?

I'd guess Bluetooth, as Bluetooth has lower transmission range (and thusly should use less power, at least theoretically), but I have no hard data about it.

I decided to look up some data, and my guess seems to be correct: http://nesl.ee.ucla.edu/fw/documents/reports/2007/PowerAnalysis.pdf
According to the report, Bluetooth takes the least amount of energy.
However your 3G radio will probably take the most energy; maintaining a 3G connection without transferring any data is cheap, but once you start sending/receiving data, then it trumps even Wi-fi.

WiFi radios have a high wakeup and
  connection maintenance energy, but low
  energy per bit transmission cost and
  high bandwidth.
Cellular radios have low connection
  maintenance energy, but high energy
  per bit transmission cost and low
  bandwidth.

Disclaimer: The study might only apply for the particular model that the device they use.


text:
Recovering Twitter Account Created on Android Device?
A friend of mine has created a Twitter account on their phone but now can not remember any of the details they used. They remain logged in on their phone but I've had a look through the app but it doesn't seem to mention anything useful.
Have I missed something? I have a adb backup (and the password) to look through if that helps.

Are we talking official twitter app on android?

The twitter account should be connected to an e-mail adress. If it is, you always have the "I forgot my password" route available to you. Also, if you have the password, what is the problem? The username is in plain sight (twitter.com/user) and that's all you need except for the password.

Yes, the official app. Unfortunately the email address is unknown as well.

I ended up contacting Twitter support and they verified ownership of the account using a DM.

Take a backup of the same Twitter client on your phone, with a known handle and email, and then search the resulting files (or backup image) for the know handle and email.  Then look in the same place on the original image/files.

I'd be very surprised if the Twitter app saves the password, it most likely saves some kind of tokens that gives it access to the account as long as the token doesn't expire.


text:
/sbin/sh: pm: not found
I was trying to install apk files from adb. I used the command adb install <app-name>.apk command. But it returned

/sbin/sh: pm: not found

But if I login to the shell with adb shell and do which pm, it returns
/system/bin/pm

But still I can't install apk using pm. If I do pm install /sdcard/app-name.apk It returns same /sbin/sh: pm: not found error.
whoami returns strange things.
whoami: unknown uid 0

But If I become root and install using pm it works just fine! What could be the problem and How do I solve it?
I'm using a custom ROM (WolfRom v2) on Xperia Sola Phone (2012).
Output of ls -l /system/bin/pm. With root and non-root both returns this result.
# ls -l /system/bin/pm
-rwxr-xr-x root     root          191 2008-08-01 18:00 pm

Running adb shell "/system/bin/pm install /sdcard/app-name.apk" returns same error

/sbin/sh: /system/bin/pm: not found

I also checked the sh's permissions. ls -la /system/bin/sh returns this
lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2016-12-06 12:00 sh -> mksh

Which looks a little unusual. Also ls -la /system/bin/mksh returns this
-rwxr-xr-x root     shell      153344 2008-08-01 18:00 mksh

I've also seen that running mksh instead of sh directly gives a root shell.

Looks strange. What custom ROM is it? Have you reported it already to the "ROM bakers" (i.e. at the place where the ROM came from, maybe the corresponding XDA thread)?

@Izzy No. I haven't reported to it and it seems the thread is too old now. You know this phone is old and thus the ROM also. It's WolfRom v2

Asking doesn't hurt. Some folks may still "watch" the thread – and if the problem lies in the ROM, you won't be the only one having experienced it. Worth trying, I'd say.

What does ls -l /system/bin/pm gives? Run it with root access.

What about running adb shell "/system/bin/pm install /sdcard/app-name.apk"? Does it work?

@Firelord I've updated the question.

@DeathMaskSalesman it returns same error. Check the update

@Izzy I'd do. But it seems its a trivial question..and weird one! Thanks for the suggestion

The question might look trivial, but finding the answer is not. And before you get me wrong: I'm not "sending you away", I just suggest "additional sources" ;)

@Izzy I got your tone. It really made me feel home in this SE. Thanks a lot :)

Thanks for the warm words – and yes, that's one of my goals (and besides it's something that made me feel home here when I started at SE years ago :) Fingers crossed, good luck!


text:
screen lock and not displaying lock pattern in android 2.2 (Eclair)
I have HTC Wildfire and one feature I don't like is that it displays the lock composition when I enter incorrect one people knows see the correct one even when displaying password is turned off.
Is it possible to turn it off and/or change to different method of locking screen?
Edit: As people didn't notice I HAVE "USE VISIBLE PATTERNS" TURNED OFF. It is just when I made mistake it is shown.
Edit 2 In Froyo I have option to enter just PIN or even password.

Simply, no you can't.
You can install an app that will give you another way to lock phone, like lockbot.
Of course, rooting will solve the problem...

At least free version displays with numeric code. But at least I'm on right track.

plz explain why the down vote?

Hmm. With custom apps on non-rooted phone HOME button moves to home screen so it is easy to workaround.

Are you entering an actual password, or an unlock-pattern?
Lock-patterns have the option to display/not-display the path entered, so it's a lot more difficult to "shoulder-surf"

Use visible pattern   This is selected by default. Clear this if you
  do not want the screen unlock pattern
  to display as you enter it.

As I said I turned it off. However when I enter bad pattern it is still displayed (the wrong I entered).

Settings > Security, under "Screen unlock pattern" uncheck "Use visible pattern"

Sorry. But please READ questions. I said it was turned off AND this answer was already posted.


text:
Associate android actions (at least turn sound on/off) with calendar
Is there an app for associating events with time. For example:

If it is during event in specific callendars (say Meetings) the profile is turned to vibrate
Otherwise switch to normal profile

I looked on Tasker and it looks nice but possibly it is something free or cheaper.

Tasker or Locale are going to be your best bets.

I wasn't able to find a free solution so I am doing exactly what you're looking for with Tasker.  When my work calendar shows me in a meeting it turns the ringer to vibrate.

Here's a few...
Free:

SoundManager
Silencr

Paid:

AudioManager Pro $1.99
Volume / Mode Scheduler $2.99

Edit: Just realized you may have been looking for something more robust than just a sound profile manager/scheduler.  Chronos ($0.99) and Chronos Lite (Free) appear to do similar things to Tasker and are much cheaper but they don't have the best reviews.  I haven't used them but they may be worth a shot.  (My 2 cents: Just get Tasker)

locale  The best by far.  Well worth the $.  Nothing else is a question.


text:
How do I change the lock-screen wallpaper?
I've lost the ability to change my lock screen wallpaper (in the course of trigger-happy removal of some phone company apps). I used to be able to do 'Menu > Wallpaper' and be prompted for either the phone or lock screen, but now this stage doesn't appear and I'm taken straight to the 'Select wallpaper from' screen.
I'm looking for a way to get the lock/home screeen prompt back or failing that, possibly the  location where the active wallpaper is stored in the file system if that would work, or an app that would let me change the lock screen wallpaper directly. (No luck with Google.)
I'm using an Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade) running Android 2.1.1
Edit:   and Launcher Pro.

With the standard Android launcher, and with the launcher modifications made by most manufacturers, the home screen and lock screen wallpaper are the same. I think your problem is Launcher Pro, if you temporarily switch back to your phone's default launcher this should just work.

Yep, it was Launcher Pro.

I also had this issue. I'm using LG GT540. When using default LG home screen, I can change the LockScreen Wallpaper.
But if I use any other Launchers the option is not there.
Now what I'm doing is: I will switch to LG Homescreen just for changing the Wallpaper and then will switch back to LauncherPro.
You should do something like this. I know this is not the answer you are looking for; I'm just giving you some hints.

Thanks Aji. I forgot to mention I'm also running Launcher Pro. I've removed the Orange home screen switcher unfortunately.

I used 'Home Switcher' app to get back to the Android home screen and could then change the lock wallpaper. Feature request for Launcher Pro  to be able to do this I guess.

Go to your gallery select which picture you want to use. Then press set as and it will bring up the choice to set as wallpaper or set as lock screen. Crop the picture and you're done.

On the ZTE axon mini.. Goto your lock screen then swipe from bottom to top while phone is located, that brings up the gallery for the lock screen... Pick a wallpaper and that it.... For Android lollipop...

I have a zte max and I'm also using Launcher pro and found a way to change my wallpaper for my lock screen.
Go to GALLERY
THEN CHOOSE A PHOTO
SELECT "SET AS"
Then you should have a choice between Wallpaper and lock screen wallpaper...
Hope that helps..

If you go to the gallery and choose your picture, there should be an option to set it for the lock screen. Or as someone previously said, try changing back to the default launcher. And usually launchers have their backups which do store whatever changes you have made. If yours has a restore backup option you can do that too

If u swipe up from the vary base of your phone on the lock screen and keep trying periodically, I managed to get the wallpaper options come up eventually

Simply set the lockscreen image from gallery then restart your phone, it'll be there ipon reboot


text:
ROM Manager - What Is It's Purpose?
I just finished rooting my phone (Moto Droid) for the first time using the z4root application. It worked great (one-click, no computer involved). However, before I start messing with my phone, I wanted to make a backup of my phone so, in case I really screw up royally, I can easily recover back to a certain point (AKA - I don't want to brick my phone).
As I was reading, I started hearing about Nandroid backups. However, it seems as though you need to install some sort of ROM in order for it to happen. I checked into that and heard about ROM Manager. Apparently some of the mods that come with the ROM Manager are able to setup the Nandroid backup. I have a couple questions first, however.

I noticed ROM Manager needs a lot of access to your contacts, accounts, etc. Is that because it's doing a full backup, or something else nefarious? (Yeah, I'm suspicious.)
Is there an easier way to back-up? I don't really care about a new ROM (such as CynogenMod). I just wanted root access for a couple, very specific reasons.
If Nandroid is the only good/correct way to backup a phone, am I going down the right path/process? Anything I should look into before I keep going (such as Titanium Backup)?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

1) ROM Manager is the de facto app to do two specific things: 1) Install a custom recovery 2) Install a custom ROM (or kernels.  Check out ChevyNo1s kernels for the Droid).  You need to not worry about any permission problems with this application as pretty much every rooted person uses it.  It is also an application provided by Koush, who is a well known hacker in the Android community (he ported CyanogenMod to the Droid).
2) You do not have to have a custom rom to do a NANDROID backup.  But you do need a custom recovery.  Download ROM Manager.  Flash "ClockworkMod Recovery".  Then open up ROM Manager again. Then under "Backup and Restore" do "Backup Current ROM".  This will run a NANDROID backup of your phone.  Do this ASAP.  It is very important to have a backup of your  phone right after you just rooted it in case you ever need to restore your phone back to this state.  A NANDROID backup is like taking a full image/snapshot of your phone.  With a NANDROID backup in hand, you can then experiment with custom ROMs (or anything, really) with a safety net of being able to go back to the way your phone was.  You can also perform a NANDROID backup by going into your Recovery when you boot your phone (press and hold X on the Droid when powering on until you get the yellow triangle exclamation point, then press the Camera and Volume Up buttons to get the menu to show up).
3) NANDROID is the best to restore your phone to a previous state.  I highly recommend Titanium Backup if you plan on switching to a custom ROM or ever plan on wiping and reloading your phone (or if you need to re-install an app but need to keep its data).  Titanium Backup will let you backup specific apps (AND their data, only root users can do this!) and restore them.  So you could backup all of your apps on Stock Android, install CyanogenMod, and then use Titanium Backup to restore all of your apps and their data.
Please see these other questions about How do I root my phone, and I've rooted my phone, now what?

Excellent answer! Thank you. One thing that I am still curious about (I believe you that Koush isn't trying to do anything shady). But why does ROM Manager require access to contacts? Is it due to the recovery "stuff?" Thanks again!

@JasCav Are you talking about the Phone calls permission?  This could be why: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1747178/android-permissions-phone-calls-read-phone-state-and-identity

Yeah, that and why it needs access to your contacts' information. Thank you again for your answers.

@JasCav I looked at the permissions and didn't see one for contact's info.

My mistake. I meant to say it requires permissions to look at/discover accounts and credentials. That's the one that I couldn't figure out. (Of course, the fact that the application requires root access pretty much negates all permissions anyway...but I'm still curious.)


text:
How can my Chinavasion TechPad Tablet be put in standby mode
My Android Tablet. (TechPad 7" Tablet from Chinavasion, S3C6410 Android 1.6;) has an option to dim the screen after 2-10 minutes of inactivity.  However, there is no option to put it into a "standby" mode, and a full reboot takes 20-30 seconds.
Any ideas how to really put it into a standby / hibernate mode?

So does pressing the power button turn it off completely?

Android does not support a standby or hibernate mode.


text:
Can I get a notification of failed WiFi connection for secured network?
I have an HTC Hero running Android 2.1. My work has a secured wifi network that we're allowed to connect our phones too. We also have to change our account passwords every so often. When this happens, my credentials are incorrect when trying to connect to the wifi from my phone. But the phone doesn't tell me that, it just keeps trying, which ends up locking my account because of failed logins. Is there a way to get the WiFi app to notify me when the connection fails so I can update the credentials, rather than continuing to try to connect, locking out my account?

The best way I know is to use an app called Tasker. Its price is a little steeper than most, but it's very useful once you start playing with it. Check out lifehacker to see some other examples of what Tasker can do.
Here are the steps for what you want to do:

Open Tasker
Select "New"
Name it "wifi alert" (or whatever)
Select "OK"
Select "State"
Select "Wifi Connected"
Enter the SSID for your network
Make sure the "Invert" check box is checked
Select "Done"
Select "New Task"
Name it "disconnect" (or whatever)
Select "OK"
Select the "+" icon
Select "Alert"
Select "Popup"
Enter some text (wifi disconnected or something more ominous)
Select "Done"
Select "Done"
Select "Apply"

You could also make your phone vibrate or play a sound if you prefer. If you're worried you won't see/hear the notification in your pocket, you can also automatically disable wifi until you have the correct credentials. Just add another action to the task by going to "Net", selecting "WiFi" and setting it to "Off".
Tasker is great fun to nerd out on and isn't nearly as complicated as my numbered list might imply.

I'll definitely look into this. Bummer that it costs money though :(


text:
Can android phones play DVD-format movies over WIFI?
I have ripped my library of DVDs to my home server. I play them over WiFi from other PCs.
Can an Android phone with HDMI out do the same thing as a media center PC, playing these movies over the network on to a TV?

RockPlayer or VPlayer should be able to play most file types you throw at them (avis, etc.).  But as far as I know, they don't play over the network, you'd have to copy the files to your phone first.

It sounds like you're trying to do something a bit like DLNA? This is the set of technologies/protocols that allow you to play media on one device on another device on a home network. It's designed for connecting things like media servers, media players, TVs, etc all together to play across the home network.
You might find the answers to the following questions useful:
Can I get DLNA on my Droid?
DLNA enabled media player?

You might consider plex. You would need to install the plex server on some machine and then install the plex player on your Android. Software is free. I've found that it generally works well over wireless. However, I've been playing from my Win7 laptop over to my Roku (with plex installed). Haven't tried it on the phone. In theory, plex works at WAN speeds too; and they provide a login service you can use to find your plex server at home while on the road.
oops... didn't look at the date of the post. Sorry.


text:
How to retrieve photos from stolen phone
My phone got stolen last Friday. I never used to backup my photos or anything like that. Is there any possible way I can retrieve my photos?

If you never backup your photos online, the only place those are stored is Phone storage which is stolen. So, the only way to retrieve those photos will be get back the phone with the storage. Otherwise, its a No


text:
How to voice command a music player?
I would like to know if is that possible to voice command music actions, like next track, and even delete track would be very nice.
My sport, rowing, doesn't allow me to interact with smartphone through hands, so, these voice commands would be extremely helpful.
In my tries, I just found listen to, which is not that interesting.
I am using Android 2.3.7 - Cyanogenmod 7.2 for Defy

I don't think this is ever going to be possible because the music is going to interfere with the speech recognition.

The idea is to play music over headphones

I don't think you can do this with your stock player.
After some digging I found a good app for you. It's called Voice Action Music Player
See if this suits for you.


text:
Handwrite / draw on a text document
Is there an Android app that enables hand-writing / drawing on a word document? I want to draw and write on the text. I don't want to edit the document, but write on the top of it. Instead of typing the letters using the keyboard, I want to draw on the text. Just like writing / drawing on a picture, I would like to draw on a word document.
I have been looking for this everywhere, can anyone suggest me a good app that can do this?
Thanks.

A new version of Microsoft's OneNote is out on Android (tablets only I'm afraid), which I think you can do exactly what you want. Type a text and handwrite over it. Here's a blog post describing the features.
I think that the best results are obtain with a Note tablet though, with an actual pressure sensitive electronic pen.

I think what you're looking for is usually called "freehand drawing". I can't find any app that supports free hand drawing on Word document. However, Adobe Reader for Android supports freehand drawing annotation on PDF document. You can convert your word documents to PDF and use Adobe Reader to make your annotations.
Freehand annotation on an editable document like Word generally makes little sense anyway, because it's not always obvious where the annotation should move to when the text is edited.

Polaris Office can open and edit word documents, and you can draw directly on the documents.

Not even a link to the app? And please don't "sign" your posts.


text:
Android ROM, RAM, Internal storage, External storage and Battery utilization
I would like to know how the Android OS manages memory for Applications. When are the various memory hardware components like ROM, RAM, Internal storage and External storage used during an Application's life-cycle ? Does all this have an effect on battery utilization ? For e.g. If the RAM is half free then will it consume only 50% of power and likewise for ROM , Internal storage and external storage.
In short I want to understand and decide how I should use my Android phone to minimize battery consumption.

If you are looking for battery consumption, I don't think the storage / memory has a lot to do about it. Things like 3G/4G, WiFi, Display, Voice Calls are the things I would focus on to save battery.

We have a lot of questions here on how to manage battery life, you can find them with a search :).  I don't think the ins and outs of how Android works on such a low level are really on topic here, they are more concerns for OS developers than anyone else.

Your question would require a rather lengthy answer, and does not really fit the scope of our site. So for a complete answer, you'd better find yourself a book.
Some short hints, though:

No such thing as "free RAM", Linux (Android is based on that) makes good use of it. If not required by apps, it will be used to cache e.g. the file system. This not only gives faster access (as RAM is faster), but also saves battery (as physical file system access is minimized). See also:

Are there guidelines on how much free RAM a phone should have
How do RAM and processor speed affect overall performance on Android?
Unix & Linux: real memory usage

To understand the life cycle of an app, you might refer to the Process LifeCycle description on the developers site

(image taken from BottomLessInc Blog)
to minimize your battery consumption (or maximize its runtime), there are a lot of useful answers on our site already. Some examples include:

What is Cell standby and how can I keep it from eating my battery?
What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device?
Which consumes less battery: Wi-Fi or 2G data?
Minimized Apps: Do they consume more battery?
Many more can be found browsing the tags battery-life and battery-usage

Thanks for the input. I will wait for other answers for a week and then vote yours as the best.

Thanks! Glad it helped :) Sometimes it's hard to spot the information when one doesn't exactly know what to look for...

If the RAM is half free then will it consume only 50% of power

Nope. RAM uses power no matter whether the cells are used or not.
The biggest consumer of power in a phone is the display (screen), the various radios (Wifi, 3G/4G, GPS, bluetooth, etc), and the CPU and GPU.
ROM is an overloaded term, it is technically an abbreviation of read-only memory, but there is actually no such thing in modern smartphones. The "read-only memory" (ROM) in modern smart phone is actually writable. What most people say when they say ROM depends on the context, sometimes they meant the flash storage (hardware) and sometimes they meant the firmware (software).
In most Android devices, internal and external storage both uses flash storage, so it's should not be surprising that their power requirements are similar. However, unless you're using an application that is constantly reading or writing large amount of data, the power draw from flash storage are generally quite minimal to overall power usage.

Does all this have an effect on battery utilization?

Yes, but on typical use cases, they are not the major power draw. In typical usage patterns, the display and the antennas trumps all other components by miles.

Battery consumption depends on your screen active time, 2G/3G/4G/Wi-Fi data connectivity, bluetooth, voice calls etc. It has nothing to do with how much of your internal or external storage is free.
And from whatever I have seen, if you use task manager to kill the apps or force stop them usually drains more battery because those apps try to start back.  As far as I know it has absolutely nothing to do with your ROM, I mean Hardware ROM. When it's firmware which is there on ROM it can affect the battery consumption if it's not optimized properly ( kernel tweaks etc)
it's better to keep auto sync off to save battery. Or run it after every 10-15 minutes.. it's upto you!

Auto-Sync has nothing to do with task killers -- so that part is no conclusion from the former. True is however keeping it off saves battery -- but so does switching to Airplane mode. It's rather a question of what to auto-sync and how frequently, to match the users requirements with his/her wish for battery runtime ;)

I think the ROM he meant wasn't the ROM that you install, but the hardware itself. Btw, depending on the ROM you run, it may affect on battery consumption


text:
Samsung Galaxy Ace Internet showing network problem
I have bought a Samsung Galaxy Ace few days back. And it's showing network / connection problem or error, or connection time out. Whenever I try to open a page it shows "Webpage not available". And just to check whether the Internet is working properly or not, I have activated the 'net pack, still it's loading, loading, and loading but not opening the site. Google home page is opening but after Google not even a single page is opening. Samsung applications are also not opening. It shows network error.  Google play store is having the same problem. Please help.

So in simple words, your phone is not connecting to Internet. Did you check your network settings? Call your service provider's service center to get these settings. They should send a settings message, or manually enter APN, host, etc. Make sure the APN, host, port, password, all details are correctly entered. And please, avoid using shorthand "SMS lingo." Someone will have to spend time editing it.

Don't worry as the device is new you have warranty, do a factory reset and see.

Factory reset doesn't seem to be a solution here. What's the point in loosing the data for a connection issue?

@SurajBajaj, did you read the question completely, before using Service Provider's internet there is a network connection problem. So a reset will delete all settings and again Service Provider will send settings then it may work, also the question is incomplete which net she used before using service provider's, static IP not set may be.

Yes, I read the question and also edited it myself! :) Factory reset still doesn't make any sense to me. It doesn't just reset your settings but also wipes all your data! Instead just tweaking Network Settings will help. And yes, I didn't down vote, so calm down!


text:
How to run a specific app's action via terminal?
I need to run my Android app from a remote computer via SSH, but I'm not a command-line expert.
So I would like to know: how to run a specific action (not just open) of an app? Which implies: how to KNOW the exact syntax of possible actions of an app?
Example: I want to start an audio-recording app on my phone from my computer, AND start recording from a remote. Is it possible?

Use this:
am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n <package_name>/<full_class_name>

To control an app, you'll have to put correct values of <package_name> and <full_class_name> in the command. For example, you can use com.google.gmail/com.google.gmail.check_mail (Hypothetical names) as last part of command.
Obtaining package name of an app is easy, but obtaining class name of action isn't. There are two problems:

Many app developers keep class info private.
Not all developers do smart modular programming. Its good habit to divide an app in multiple classes which could be triggered by intents, but not all developers are smart.

Solution of 1st problem: Decompile the app using apktool and see all info. There are also other ways, but this one is always-working method (unless app is based on NDK instead of SDK).
Solution of 2nd problem: Nothing.
Don't worry, most of popular apps follow best programming practice and they provide Public API from which you can get class info.

@Izzy Here's my problem: I'm unable to launch this Activity of Settings app: com.android.settings/.Settings$StorageSettingsActivity. Try it yourself. Actually, what is that string after $ sign ? Is it like a sub-class in the Settings activity?

@GokulNC you might need to quote the entire thing (single quotes), or $StorageSettingsActivity might be seen as a variable and "expanded" to an empty string (unless there's a variable defined by that name).

Ooh, I didn't even realize that.. Thanks BTW :)

Like Sachin Shekhar said, you must use the following command :
am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n <package_name>/<full_class_name>

See a concrete example :

getting the apk file from your Android device or any Market places
running this command :

aapt dump xmltree com.android.settings*.apk AndroidManifest.xml
I would like to start "tethering" menu, so I search an activity in the output :
(...)
   E: activity (line=190)
    A: android:name(0x01010003)=".TetherSettings" (Raw: ".TetherSettings")
(...)

So the final command is :
am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings

The aapt command is part of the Android SDK

Just .TetherSettings in the command wouldn't work. Its not FULL class name..

No, you can ommit the com.android.settings PATH, that's why I said it's relative. Test it on any app you'd like.

I didn't say that it'll not work with other apps. The dot before class name does the magic. But, this shouldn't be encouraged.

You said that's luck, this is not. Do you have sources for your assertion ? Why this shouldn't be encouraged ?

For an Android developer, its certainly not luck. But, on broad scale, I'd say Android supports relative paths by the luck of user. This shouldn't be encouraged to non-developers due to error prone nature.

Use a general purpose logging app (just search logcat on playstore). The logs should show you the app name, class and intent.
Following that run the command in an adb shell or from inside a terminal application in your device:
am start -a <intent> -n <class>

Could you expand the answer? Suppose I have gotten the app name, class, and intent from the logcat, then what should I do to "run a specific app's action via terminal" (as per the OP's main question)?


text:
How to type a curly brace ("{") in CyanogenMod 13?
By chance, I got hold of a Samsung Galaxy S III (S3) Mini, rooted it, and upgraded it to CyanogenMod 13 (Android 6.0.1). When trying to connect it to my WiFi network, I could not do so because my WiFi password contains a curly brace, and it seems I can't type that with the virtual keyboard.
I am quite sure there is a way to do that, so how to type a curly brace in CM 13's AOSP keyboard? Should I install another keyboard?

On Samsung keyboard:
Touch Sym, then 1/2 the curly braces are under 7 and 8.
On AOSP Keybord, Google Keyboard, Gboard:
Touch ?123,  then =\< you'll get all symbols there.


text:
Can I see what apps I own that have been pulled from the market by developers?
Last year I purchased the app grüvtron by Sound Trends LLC. Presumably they later removed the app from the google play store / market. Their website used to have a "buy android version" but now only mentions ios.
The app can no longer be found by searching the market (neither on the device, nor on the web). I can no longer see it under "all apps" / "my apps" (again, neither on the device, nor on the web). The only reason I knew this app was "missing" was because I remembered owning it.
Using google I could find an old market link in a forum to
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.soundtrends.gruvtron
This link normally gives "We're sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server".
However, if I happen to be logged in to my google account that owns the app, I get a market page for the app (!) from which I can chose to install it! Doing so, it indeed gets sent to my device and 'everything works' (though, the app graphics are broken -- but I don't think that is relevant here.)
This is worrying. Obviously I have no idea how many of the ~100s of apps I own that have silently disappeared from "my apps", and thus are left out when I browse that list for things to re-install. And even if I remembered a specific app, how would I find the corresponding market link so that I could re-install it?
So my primary question is:
Is there a list anywhere on the web or on the android device that lists all apps I own -- including the ones pulled from the market? and preferably with market links?
I have the google market receipts, but those are a pain to go through (it is not really a "list") Worse, in there I only see a company name and textual app name, i.e., no market link. If there had been any reference to the app id (e.g., here, 'com.soundtrends.gruvtron') I could at least have re-constructed the market url.

Edit: a few clarifications follows:

A satisfactory answer must describe a way to get a list of apps which includes those I have purchased, but which after the date of purchase have been pulled from the market by developers. The list should include either market URLs or package-names.
The single one of my purchased apps where I know this has happened (grüvtron) does not appear under my "my apps" list (Menu > My Apps in market app), and I assume this is intentional design for apps that have been pulled (though I find it an odd design choice).
I am currently on ICS, with market 3.7.13. The device is the ASUS transformer TF101 tablet.

Yeah I know exactly why you're asking. I had a malware app get removed only today and there may be more, but there's no easy way to track this. Good job, dude.

Related: How to get notified about removed apps from play store?

The application listed above, "AppBak," gets its data from the android package manager class; if you've got root access, you can see the source (/data/dev/packages.list) which is a simple text file that lists only currently installed apks, but there's also an XML file in the same subdirectory, of the same name, which is considerably larger:  packages.xml, and where it seems even uninstalled packages tend to remain. I found proof of my former bloatware freezer application in there once, and while it didn't do me a world of good, at least I had a resource I could check to see what went disappearing in the night.
The question I can't answer is if the Market can now wipe that data from packages.xml. But I'd point out that the PackageManager documentation has a Get_Uninstalled_Packages constant on that page, so I'd guess not.

packages.list and packages.xml are under /data/system/.

Looking at the f-droid's repository, this app, 'AppBak' will generate the list of apps installed on your handset into a simple flat text file on your SD-Card.
The crucial thing to remember, is the 'package-name' is the most important part of it, and is at the developer's choosing and discretion.
For example, an app called 'FooBar', that appears in the application drawer, the package name would be 'com.foo.bar.app', from there it is quite easy to reconstruct a market link from that as in:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foo.bar.app

Seems to be a useful tool, thanks! But this will only give you the package-name of apps installed on the device, right? The main issue here is to find package-names of apps I previously purchased, but do not currently have installed (and cannot install, since they are invisible.)

It lists the apps installed on the device - yes

It should show up on the play store app on your handset, tap Menu > My Apps, not on the web based on PC that is, unless I have misunderstood you? FWIW, my Play Store version is 3.7.13

Not for apps that have been pulled from the market, I think. I guess it could be a specific problem with the app I mention in the question, since I don't know another one I both own and that has been pulled. I'm also on 3.7.13. Can you confirm seeing any app in your "My apps" that has been pulled from market?

Based on above mentioned information, you could built yourself a script which checks the URLs (without you being logged in). For "disappeared" apps, an "Error 404" (page not found) should be returned.

Izzy, your suggestion assumes I already have a list of all apps I own (i.e., both those still on the market and those pulled). But the only list I can produce from google / android is a list over apps that excludes those that have been pulled.