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How to update rooted HTC Incredible
I rooted my HTC Incredible a few months ago by following a tutorial. My phone downloaded an OTA update and is asking to update. I would like to update and remain rooted. How do I go about doing this?
I removed a few bloatware apps. I couldn't tell you which ones, though.
Android version: 2.2
Baseband version: 2.15.00.07.28
Kernel version: 2.6.32.17-g9a2fc16
Build number: 3.26.605.1 CL264707 release-keys
Software number: 3.26.605.1

First of all, since you've modified the system, the OTA update could very well fail partway through -- most of those are distributed as patches against the existing binaries.
The easy way to update is to find a pre-rooted stock ROM, like this one.  You may  need to update your radio first though, information and download links are available here.  I think the one you have was the official Froyo radio -- you'll need the Gingerbread radio for newer ROMs to work properly.  2.15.10.07.07 is the official Gingerbread radio.
However, if you want to go the hard way, keeping root (or at least the ability to re-root easily) is easy provided your Incredible is NAND unlocked (aka S-OFF).  Recent versions of Unrevoked do this automatically, but depending on where you downloaded from and when could affect that.
To check if you're S-OFF, reboot into the bootloader (aka HBOOT).  To do that, power off the phone, then hold down the volume down button and power it up.  Keep the Vol Dn button held until you get a screen like the following:

You can also see the notification that it has S-OFF at the top of the screen.  That's what you want to see.  If that's missing (or says S-ON), then you don't have S-OFF.  If you're not, get the latest Unrevoked Forever.
Once that's done, you can flash whatever you want and still be able to reroot easily by simply flashing your recovery of choice (often ClockworkMod) from HBOOT and then reflashing a root/superuser package from recovery.


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Failure upgrading a rooted stock Nexus One to Android 2.2.1
I have a root Nexus one, that at one point ran a custom ROM, but now has the stock Android 2.2 release. I just got an update to 2.2.1, and it fails with:
Build : RA-nexus-v1.5.3
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
E:No signature (188 files)
E:Verification failed
Installation aborted.

What is the problem? Why does it say 1.5.3 in the build?

Installing the stock Android 2.2 FRF91 or newer unroots the phone. I had this same problem.
You can downgrade and root using the directions here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=717870

Have you tried installing a stock image from ROM manager and then upgrading from there?  Just to make certain that you are using a clean stock image.
Are you wanting to keep root?  Any OTA updates might remove your root (I don't have a N1, so I don't know how the 2.2.1 update will affect your root status).

I don't need to keep root. When I installed 2.2 I definitely installed a stock image manually.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Do all android phones have to reload their home screen?
I have had my EVO 4G for coming on 2 years.
Lately it has developed this ever so annoying habit of reloading the home screen for 60 seconds any time I return from a memory intensive app such as the Amazon Market or Dolphin Browser, or after I clean up memory.
I have tried cache cleaners, app killers, and periodic rebooting, but it just keeps happening.
The EVO 4G is pretty light on RAM, and I am wondering if I upgrade to a bigger Android device (considering an Epic or Photon), if that will cure the problem?
Anyone have experience with this?
Thanks, Victor

I used to see this on my Droid. A factory reset and being more judicious with what apps I loaded helped for a while. Ultimately, though, I just lived with it until I upgraded my phone.

Using what home screen app? Have you checked to see if other launchers like Holo launcher or the open-source ADW.launcher have the same problem?

No not every android phone does this but it is done in many HTC phones. The reason is simple: memory usage.
Here is the breakdown:
When the system is running out of memory, the inbuilt task killer of the system automatically kicks in and checks to see if it can stop an application and recover some RAM. HTC Sense devices employ a launcher that is "heavy" and often uses up a lot of memory so when the task killer sees you are not using your launcher and knows it needs the RAM for another app, it kills the launcher. Thus, when you hit the home button or quit the app, the launcher has to re-initialize.
Tips:
DO NOT use a task-killer if you dont have a low end device. Android already has a built-in one that kills apps and does it safely. Using apps such as "Advanced Taskkiller" actually mess with the way the system kills apps and actually can cause more Force Closes and system instability in the long run.
Additionally, the more RAM the system has, the more the launcher uses to cache stuff it needs. This is good because the launcher becomes more responsive and fast as its using a cached copy instead of grabbing it all over again. If you clear the cache constantly, it needs to re-cache the items and so it will be less responsive.
Use a lighter launcher. Sense might be good but there are more rock solid and light launchers such as Launcher Pro that wont experience this problem. You dont need a new phone with more RAM. Trust me, 1GB of RAM is more than enough with the right system. :)

Brilliant - I had no idea about Launcher Pro - I love it, it rotates to landscape when I rotate the device - I have been wishing for that ever since I bought the phone! Also, I uninstalled advance task killer, bought a few bytes! Thanks so much for the ideas.

No problem. There are also other launchers like Zeam that are minimalistic launchers designed for performance. Don't believe these store reps that tell you to add task killer apps. They have no idea of the inner workings of android. Google during the making of 2.2 actually added extra code to discourage task killers. Only low memory devices with no RAM to handle multiple applications in a stable manner (usually running firmware not designed for them) need third party task killers.

This would explain why this behavior stopped when I switched to "GO Launcher EX".  +1!

This story had a very happy ending - bought an Epic SII; memory problems solved!

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


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"Low on space" warning with over 50% free
I recently started getting the following notification:

Low on space: Phone storage space is getting low.

When I click on the notification, it takes me to the "All" applications screen listing how much space each application takes, and at the bottom it shows:

Internal storage: 296MB used, 452MB free

Why is it complaining about low space when only 1/3 of the internal storage has been used?
Edit: This is on an HTC Incredible both before and after the upgrade from Froyo to Gingerbread.
Edit 2: Looks like it's not just me:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=20201&q=low%20memory&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=20014&q=low%20memory&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=02216e9b3aed01ad&hl=en
etc.
Edit 3: Called Verizon about the issue (expecting to get the standard "do a factory reset"), but instead got escalated to Tier 2. The Tier 2 person looked up the issue in their system and said it was a known bug and that HTC is requesting all people with the bug not do a factory reset but instead call their tech support at 866-449-8358. I called them and they told me a fix (via OTA update) has been released and will upgrade the Android version to 4.08.605.2 (I currently have 4.06.605.3). Last night my phone did try to do another OTA update, but after restarting it complained that it could not install it due to low memory. The HTC rep told me to remove applications from the phone until the low memory warning went away, then dial the following number to force the phone to check for system updates (it normally only does it once a week or so):
*#*#2432546#*#*

I did this and still haven't received notification of a system update, but hopefully within a week I'll get pushed the new version...
Edit 4: Called again (both HTC and Verizon) to see if there was any other way to force the update again, but they told me all I could do is try a factory reset. A lot of people are running into this, more references:
http://gadgetian.com/27505/htc-droid-incredible-vzw-gingerbread-update-4-08-605-2-dwonload/
http://androidforums.com/incredible-support-troubleshooting/183963-low-space-phone-application-storage-notification-12.html
http://community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/91/t/14260.aspx?PageIndex=5
http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-droid-incredible/134223-second-gb-update-patch-reboot-issue-error-log-message.html

I am seeing this only after the upgrade to Gingerbread

@smp7d: I had low space warnings before the update, but they may have been legitimate. After the update it got much worse to the point where I almost can't use the phone without something force closing or complaining about memory.

I tried what Verizon instructed you to do in Edit 3 (still waiting). Not a couple of minutes later I had the low space warning again. I'm amazed that there are not more people complaining on this site.

@smp7d: Same here, I called again and they said to wait 24 hours and if I don't see anything call back. They definitely know about it (you can just say "the Incredible low memory bug"). Yeah confused why it's not more prevalent, even one of my coworkers ran into the same thing.

The problem is back. Posted another question.

Got these instructions from http://gadgetian.com/27505/htc-droid-incredible-vzw-gingerbread-update-4-08-605-2-dwonload/?replytocom=18668#respond
It worked for me. My update is installing as we speak. :)
"Here is the fix for those of you still stuck in limbo between the Gingerbread Rollout and the patch, and have not gotten another OTA announcement again.
Clear borked upload from cache
1.Boot into recovery
•Press and hold Power, Choose “Restart” option
•When screen turns off, press and hold Volume Down and Power
2.When the white HBOOT screen appears, use the volume button to move down to “RECOVERY.”
3.Press the Power button to select “RECOVERY.”
4.When the triangle and exclamation appears, hold the Volume Up and Power button at the same time.
5.Using the volume button, scroll down to “Wipe cache partition” and select it.
6.Select “Reboot system now”
You can now wait for the update to show up again or you can follow steps below to force an update check:
Manually change the date on your phone to one year ago. This will trigger an automatic check in with the update servers and you will get the appropriate update.

Menu > Settings > Date and Time
Un-check Automatic to prevent the date and time from automatically updating
Change the date to one year ago (under Set Date)
Uncheck Background data from settings menu under Accounts & Sync (don’t really know if it makes a difference, but I did it anyway)
Go back to the main settings and select About Phone > Check For Update and follow the prompts (I had to do this about three or four times.) It went MUCH smoother over Wi-Fi

Caution…when clicking install and reboot, it will stay at the Droid Eye screen after reboot for a while (~5 mins), but eventually, it did get installed.
Read more: http://gadgetian.com/27505/htc-droid-incredible-vzw-gingerbread-update-4-08-605-2-dwonload/#ixzz1gUZiGs1H"

Thanks for elaborating on the links I posted earlier. I should clarify that when it says "one year from today," it means a year ago (in the past), not a year in the future. That confused me at first.

Excellent! The reformat-cache thing unstuck my creaky old HTC Incredible and it's now happily updating. Thanks!

Alright, finally got it after spending a while digging through Android forums.
This thread explains how to clear the /cache partition. After doing that, this thread explains several ways to get the update to trigger again. The one that worked for me was to temporarily set the date one year in the past.

so are you all set now? i may try this tonight

@smp7d: Yep, the new update installed and I haven't seen any low space warnings since.

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Nexus 7 won't boot after being powered down...unless plugged in
I have powered down my new Nexus on a couple of occasions now, but it will not boot up subsequently UNLESS it is plugged into the charger. Is this by design? I've also had it go into this unresponsive state after being charged overnight; in that case, I turned the charger off and on again and it was OK.
Anyone had this happen to them? Do I have a faulty unit?

I just double-checked mine, and it boots fine without the charger (battery at 64%).  I suspect your unit is faulty.

Thanks for checking for me, pgs. That's what I thought. I need to decide whether to take it back now, as it's fine apart from this one little issue.


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Where are android drivers located in the system?
Specifically, I'm looking for the drivers responsible for the tf101 and sl101 detachable and slideout keyboards in ICS.
But in general, where are the drivers located inside the Android OS itself?

They're most of the time baked right into the monolithic Linux kernel (or sometimes available as loadable .ko kernel modules located in /system/lib/modules/). Note: Linux kernel modules are build-specific and cannot be interchanged across devices, different firmware versions.
See the Wikipedia entry for Linux kernel modules

so my keyboard module is likely built into the kernel and If I wanted to get it I would have to have the stock kernel?

Not quite clear what your use case is here... Do you want to build/have your own kernel? There are multiple ways for keyboards to be attached to linux: Bluetooth-HID, USB-HID (human interface device abstraction layer) and probably built-in hardware keyboards with their own driver. They should be available in Asus' source distribution for the TF101, though. You cannot just take the precompiled stuff and install it into a different linux kernel.

I've got Ubuntu running on the sl101 and the slidout keyboard is not working. I have no doubt that it is a driver /kernel problem but .... it is completely disapointing to me if I can't get the keyboard working... I've already been watingn almost two years to get ubuntu on this thing... every day is so depressing that this doesn't work... i have to get it working somehow... either get the driver for linux or make my own driver whatever the solution is

Ok. Now things become a lot clearer. You would need to do some kernel patching most probably (integrate the sl101 kb driver into ubuntu's kernel source and recompile. This is very close to development and sadly off topic (Ubuntu porting)... I guess. Already saw your post on XDA, goog luck! Keep us informed! :-)

I want to locate the USB driver for transformer tf101 , where can I find it ?


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Virtual Sd-card won't transfer
I have a Verizon Galaxy Nexus 32GB. I've installed AOKP on it and it has been running pretty okay with no bugs etc...
But after I connected it too my Nintendo Wii I think it mounted sdcard as FAT32 itself :\
I'm receiving the following error when trying to download something from 4Shared sync app(But actually none can download or transfer anything to Virtual sdcard):

XXXXX.apk: open failed: EACCES(Permission denied)

I already restored my old backup wiped all data etc, nothing seems to work.
Note that I can access my sd-card, i can't only transfer, take pics... basically data.
PS: I showed 4sync problem because it was the only one that specify something

Can you make some aspects clearer? The question is a little unclear to me. From what I read i suppose you have not connected it to the Wii any more and still have the problem with the sdcard accessibility. Please provide logcat debug output https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.jtb.alogcat or install https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jackpal.androidterm and do a 'mount', 'dmesg', 'logcat' command there and see what problem you have. Post your findings here. By the way: Doesn't the GNexus forbid SDcard mounting as FAT32? I think there's only MTP and PTP transfer modes.

Idk, but i'm almost sure it did because of that error.
I can use adb, so logcats are easily provided, i also already saw one of 'em and i've found no problems with storage...
I tried mounting, not working, nothing about sd-card works

I'm confused. Galaxy Nexus doesn't have a SD card. Do you mean you somehow got it to mount the /sdcard/ folder to your wii and then that formatted your /sdcard/ directory?

Sorry,basically the Galaxy Nexus does have a "virtual sd-card" that isn't data wiped with the data factory reset from CWM, for me the only option was to downgrade the phone to a stock version, as it locked and unlocked partition

basically the Galaxy Nexus does have a "virtual sd-card" that isn't data wiped with the data factory reset from CWM but it is when wiped via stock recovery, for me the only option was to downgrade the phone to a stock version, as it locked and unlocked partition. But there are other ways to do it, but all of 'em includes formatting your "sd-card"(sad).


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Long delay for Google Voice prompt if dialed from "Contact" home screen shortcut
I have Google Voice set up to prompt me (whether to dial using GV) every time I make a call (in GV app Settings -> Making calls -> Ask every time I make a call.)
When I dial via the Phone app, or via "Direct dial" home screen shortcut, the "Google Voice" prompt appears instantaneously.  However, if I add a "Contact" shortcut to my home screen, tap it and select any number to dial, the same prompt takes over 5 seconds to pop up.  The logs are showing no other activity during this time:
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.android.contacts/.quickcontact.QuickContactActivity: +332ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {act=android.intent.action.CALL_PRIVILEGED dat=tel:xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx flg=0x14000000 cmp=com.android.phone/.PrivilegedOutgoingCallBroadcaster} from pid 2814
D/PhoneUtils(  636): checkAndCopyPhoneProviderExtras: some or all extras are missing.
D/dalvikvm(  223): GC_EXPLICIT freed 2189K, 18% free 23216K/28103K, paused 2ms+6ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity (has extras)} from pid 1646
D/dalvikvm(  636): GC_EXPLICIT freed 107K, 4% free 13700K/14215K, paused 2ms+4ms
D/OpenGLRenderer(  636): Flushing caches (mode 1)
D/OpenGLRenderer( 2814): Flushing caches (mode 0)
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity: +5s25ms (total +5s167ms)

Specifically, the line I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity:+5s11ms(total +5s302ms) shows the actual "lag" time.
I cannot see anything different than if I try dialing out from a "Direct Dial" type of a shortcut:
D/dalvikvm(  612): GC_CONCURRENT freed 607K, 7% free 15178K/16199K, paused 3ms+16ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {act=android.intent.action.CALL dat=tel:xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx flg=0x14000000 cmp=com.android.phone/.OutgoingCallBroadcaster bnds=[185,50][360,250]} from pid 671
D/PhoneUtils(  636): checkAndCopyPhoneProviderExtras: some or all extras are missing.
D/dalvikvm(  758): GC_CONCURRENT freed 423K, 5% free 13369K/13959K, paused 1ms+4ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity (has extras)} from pid 1646
D/dalvikvm(  636): GC_EXPLICIT freed 210K, 4% free 13690K/14215K, paused 3ms+4ms
D/OpenGLRenderer(  636): Flushing caches (mode 1)
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity: +265ms (total +354ms)

I am running CM9 alpha (ICS: Android 4.0.3) on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, but the same thing was happening on my Atrix 4G running stock Gingerbread (Android 2.3.4) and CM7 (Android 2.3.5.)  This makes me think that this is not a general Android issue, but rather a bug in Google Voice app.
Has anyone else experienced the same problem?  Other than posting on GV feedback forums, how do I go about resolving this?

I went ahead and posted on Google's GV forums as well: https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!category-topic/voice/making-and-receiving-calls/ikNAywCY5q8  Hopefully someone "official" will chime in.

This has been resolved in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.  Still no idea what's causing it on earlier OS versions.

This has been resolved in Android 4.1, a.k.a. "Jelly Bean".  Now Google Voice prompt appears instantly no matter how it's triggered.  Since the Google Voice app has not changed, my original thinking that it's the app's fault was incorrect.
Still no idea what's causing it on earlier OS versions.


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Android Emulator for Ubuntu 12.04
I installed a JDK and then an Android SDK on my Ubuntu 12.04, 32-bit machine (2 GB DDR3 memory). The aim is to have an Android emulator. I created some Android Virtual Devices, one of which I named 'Andreud'. When I type in the command
emulator @Andreud

where 'Andreud' is the name of the Android Virtual Device I created. A blank window with a black backdrop shows up on which "android" word is visible, in its trademark font. This, I suppose, is the welcome screen. The home screen, icons, etc. don't show up. Also, there are buttons for volume control and also the power on button, all of which are enabled. Even the D-pad buttons which has 4 navigation buttons left, right, top, bottom, and a central button are enabled. There are other important buttons, home button, menu button which are disabled. It just shows a welcome screen and for minutes on end and goes blank again.
I would like (barest minimum) one of my Android Virtual Devices to work.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Though not solving your problem with SDK's emulator, you might want to take a look at Jar of Beans, which is an alternative emulator created by an XDA member. Written in Java, it is platform independent, and thus should run on Ubuntu as well.

What system are you running the emulator on? At the moment, it just seems like your system is probably too slow to run the emulator. The emulator is very resource intensive, and unless you have a high end machine it's going to be very slow.
For the start, you'd want to start with a smaller screen resolution. Tablet-sized screen resolution is practically impossible to emulate unless you have a very high-end machine, try WQVGA size. Next check how much RAM you allocate for the virtual machine, if it exceeds the amount of free RAM you usually have when you don't have the emulator running, then it's going to be very slow due to heavy swapping. Also, close other applications running on the system to free up resources.

Thank you very much! It works in WQVGA size and I installed Whatsapp in it. The only thing that remains is to verify my phone number :-)

Probably you run on slow machine, but if you setting it properly, would be running better...
For example you had configured KVM?
Then when you run emulator, add these string at the end:
-qemu -m 2047 -enable-kvm

You had download a x86 or x86_64 image (it can run natively and more faster)?
What kind of system_image you would run?

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


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How to force Android to install app with date or security problem?
I want to install an app on my new Samsung phone. The app was already working on my old Samsung phone. It seems that it cannot be installed due to security reasons.
I get the following errors with different versions of this app:

Failure [-3000: INSTALL_FAILED_REJECTED_BY_DATE]
Failure [-3003: INSTALL_FAILED_MISSING_CERTIFICATION]

How can I force Android to install this App?
Device model: Galaxy S21 FE,
Android version 12,
App: Ubridge Plug-in1 for SAMSUNG.

Could you mention the device model, Android version, and the app you're trying to install? Browsing the AOSP source code, this doesn't look like a standard error code but was added by Samsung (ref: XDA Forum - Samsung Gear 360 Manager app)

Dear Andrew, thanks for your reply. @andrew-t.
Device model: Galaxy S21 FE.
Android version 12.
app: Ubridge Plug-in1 for SAMSUNG.

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


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Why aren't my images geotagged?
I have a Blackview A60Pro running Android 9.
Location is enabled (Settings -> Security & location -> Location is "On")
The Camera app has all the permissions it requests, including Location (both "access approximate location (network-based)" and "access precise location (GPS and network-based)")
Location is enabled in the Camera app settings.
I read this question and downloaded My GPS location to make sure I have a GPS fix before taking pictures.
But the resulting JPEG files don't have any location information in the EXIF data. What am I missing?

I don't know what Camera app the Blackview uses, but have you tried 3rd-party Camera apps? Also, is the Camera app shown on the history of recent access on the Location setting? I just tested Google Camera (not available on Play Store) on Pixel 3a and the GPS location is stored in the "Composite" section, "GPS Latitude/Longitude/Altitude" fields.

"have you tried 3rd-party Camera apps?" I've just downloaded Open Camera and it's recording GPS location!


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Google Pay country not supported
My Google Play country used to be France. I changed it to USA, and can use Google Play myself, but I can't set up Google Play Family Library: "Country not supported. Confirm the country associated with your account in Google payments > Settings."
I have two payment methods, but one is expired. The expired card might belong to a relative in France, but I can't find a way to delete the expired card, only update its expiration date.
Note: my address under Payments Profile is a U.S. address.
Note: I see a link to "Close payments profile". If I do that, can I keep my gmail account and open a new payment profile associated with it?

Did you change your country in the Google Play app under Settings > General > Account and device preferences > Country and profiles or some where else? As far as I understand: to be able to do that, you need to wait 12 months after adding a payments profile (on pay.google.com) with your new country.

I have a similar problem. Did you come up with a solution?


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How do I reboot Samsung Galaxy S when it locks up? Is pulling battery bad?
My Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate) occasionally locks up, so that the screen freezes and it doesn't respond to any user input.  I also cannot hold the power button down to bring up the menu to Reboot, Turn off, etc...
The only thing I know to do is open the back and pull the battery out and turn it back on.
So, my questions are
1)  Is pulling the battery to hard shut down harmful to the phone?
2)  Is there some button sequence I can press to restart the phone?
I'm running a 2.3.4 Gingerbread based ROM.

Holding Power + Vol Up for 10 seconds or so will reboot the phone into recovery.  From recovery, I already have the option selected to reboot phone, so I can press the power button again.  Not sure what users can do if they do not have ClockWork Recovery.

Android is pretty resistant to faults resulting from sudden power loss, but there's always a risk of data corruption/loss, depending on open apps and files at the moment.
Have you tried holding the power button longer, for about 15 seconds (until the screen goes black and the normal startup screen appears)? On my Galaxy S this triggers a hard reboot, meaning that the phone forces itself to restart without regard to the usual shutdown process. I'd think it's a bit friendlier than pulling the battery, but nevertheless, it's a "wrong" way to reboot.


text:
How do I find out why my phone is locking up?
My Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S series) locks up about once per day, where the screen is frozen and it doesn't respond to any type of input. There's no pattern concerning what app I'm running at the time.  How do I find out what is causing it?
I'm running a 2.3.4-based custom ROM (Apex specifically).

I believe this issue has to do with installing a ROM over another one without wiping.  My particular ROM is Apex 9.3.  According to the associated XDA forum thread, freezing problems with this ROM have been solved by "a complete wipe including formatting sdcard, system, cache and data when flashing 9.0".
I have done so, wiping the data and cache in recovery mode, reinstalled the ROM, and I have gone a week without a severe lockup (severe meaning I have to restart the phone to get out of it).  I've had an occasional 5 second freeze or so, but that's it.
Update:  Still had issues with freeze-ups.  Turned out it was the ROM.  Went to a new ROM and have not experienced freezes.

I've had the same problem with my Samsung Galaxy S and the Australian Samsung HO say there's nothing wrong with the phone.  I've been trying to get it fixed since July, but they won't do anything to fix it.  I think there's a fault in the phone that makes the screen freeze over - only thing you can do is turn it off, take the battery pack and SIM card out, then completely reboot it.  I reckon the screen is going to die.

How do you reboot it when it gets locked up?  Is there a button combo you can press?

Try removing (uninstalling) custom apps you installed in batches, and using the phone for a day or two.
Also try removing SD card if you have one. Sometimes SD card causes this, either because of faulty connection with the card or because it makes the connection to battery lose.
It is a slow method and requires patience, but is bound to work.


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downloading 'boot.img' while using fastboot to copy ra recovery
In the process of attempting to get Cyanogen MOD onto my HTC Hero. I rooted it successfully, and can connect with ADB.
I restarted the phone with the back key held down and get the fastboot screen.  I press volume down to get to the HBoot screen (otherwise fastboot was failing to connect).
Now I run:

C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>fastboot boot recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img

and get

downloading 'boot.img'...

and I wait.   And wait.  And wait.  It certainly appears to be doing something in Task Manager (win 7) - it's showing some CPU activity, but how long is this step supposed to take? The longest I've waited was 1100 seconds before interrupting.
Using HTC Hero GSM.

Is there a specific reason why you're trying to boot the recovery image directly instead of flashing it onto your device?

At the time I was going through yet another poorly written walkthrough.  Some reading and understanding, and found it would make more sense to flash the image (clearly), and then the CyanogenMod.

At the time I was semi-blindly following another poorly written walkthrough that just had a series of commands without explaining them.  Now with some knowledge I eventually worked out that it was better to flash the image to the phone.  Still don't know why it was taking so long though.
Eventually with flashing to the phone and then the Cyanogen Mod, I got it all working.  Now with ROMManager on my phone it'll be sooo much easier in future!


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adb doesn't detect my Defy (Motorola MB525) after I call adb kill-server (rageagainstthecage exploit). Any ideas?
I'm trying cyanogen's mod approach to root my Defy. I can do adb shell, it works as intended. But after I run adb kill-server and try an adb shell I get
error: device not found

It seems my phone just decides to not be connected anymore when I call kill-server. I need to physically reboot it and start everything again.
This is the complete command session I did:
[~]$ adb devices
List of devices attached
0A3AA8D5195599849BN device

[~]$ adb shell
$ exit
[~]$ adb kill-server
[~]$ adb start-server
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
[~]$ adb devices
List of devices attached

[~]$ adb shell
error: device not found
[~]$

This is driving me nuts. I've searched about this problem, but there simply isn't a solution in entire Google's database. I want to use this rageagainstthecage root approach because I can see the exploit source, I'm a little nervous about using something in my personal phone that I don't know what it does (an explanation about rageagainstthecage, and a compact explanation)...
Anyone here at SE network have seen a similar problem - or have a suggestion?
I'm doing this in a Macbook Pro machine (OS X 10.6.8). My phone has Android 2.2.1.
(PS: Even without using the exploit, just doing adb kill-server and adb start-server, my cell phone isn't shown anymore on adb devices, thus receiving error: device not found. So this seens to be a problem with adb kill-server)

do adb start-server after killing it.

Instead of doing kill-server, try going in to Settings -> Applications -> Development and turn off USB Debugging, then turn it back on

@PadmaKumar When you run adb devices, it automatically starts the server. So, if you try to run adb start-server before doens't matter, you receive the same error: device not found.

@RyanConrad this doesn't work either... Even if I remove the usb cable, it doesn't detect after I call adb kill-server. I have to physically reboot my phone. :/

I missed this before that you have the motorolla defy. This runs BLUR and I have always had a hard time getting adb to find a BLUR device. I had to switch the different USB modes to get it to find it.

@RyanConrad The problem is: it finds my phone. BUT if i call adb kill-server it stops seeing it. I don't think is a problem with the usb modes, since what I need to be able to use adb is check on debugging mode... but I'm going to try your suggestion.

I'm developing android apps for 2 years with a MB525 as main testing device. The USB connection of that device is so flawed its unbelievable. I think the main problem is the 4 different USB modes you can choose. and also defy only looks for ADB once. You can try to switch USB modes after you kill your servers, maybe then it will find it agai

I had the same problem (Rom: 34.177.3.MB525.Retail.en.DE). The only rooting method that worked was Gingerbreak ( http://project89.com/root-defy-without-pc-gingerbreak-200/ )

Well, thanks for answering about another exploit working. I believe SuperOneClick used gingerbreak as well, since it uses a lot of different exploits to accomplish the root goals.

i'm late to the party but in case anyone googles this and finds it - my own experience of this is solved if you perform the rooting without an SD card in the phone
that way windows doesn't mount the phone and get in the way

I had the exact same setup and problems described by @"Somebody still uses you MS-DOS". I'm using a mac 10.6 and trying to root Motorola Defy following the Cyanogen's wiki and using rageagainstthecage to root.
The wiki suggests using "psneuter" to gain root. Instruction below come from the RootzWiki.
Download latest version of psneuter, and extract. Then run the following ADB commands
./adb push ${LOCATION_OF_PSNEUTER_BINARY}/psneuter /data/local/temp/psneuter
./adb shell
chmod 755 /data/local/temp/psneuter
./data/local/temp/psneuter

ADB should hang, wait a while and then type
./adb shell

If you see a '#' sign instead of the '$' then you have temporary root.

Hum, I believe the psneuter wasn't available as an option when I read the wiki. Thanks for this information, it might be helpful for someone in the future!

Try running adb start-server using sudo.
On my ubuntu machine that I use as my test environment, I always need to start adb service using root.

This isn't a problem with Mac OS X, since I already run these commands and can use them without problem (they're installed using homebrew), but thanks anyway. (I've already come across this hint about sudo on http://www.pocketmagic.net/?p=762)

This isn't exactly an answer to this question, but to the exploit itself: I just became fed up after two days of suffering. I used a tool named SuperOneClick and in 10s it rooted my phone.


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Wifi connects disconnects on android
I have android device with stock android(moto edge 20). Whenever the wifi signal(router) are weak the wifi disconnects. This problem is frequent when my device is connect to a Bluetooth device. This problem mostly occurs when wifi signal is weak and I am doing some internet heavy task, like watching 1080p YouTube video, as the buffering starts the wifi disconnects. I have tried this on many device and the problem is only coming with phones with stock android and not with phones which have some other custom skin.
Stock Android devices I have test this issue with are,

Moto Edge 20
Moto One Fusion Plus
Asus Max Pro M1
Xiaomi Mi M1

With all these devices I am facing the same issue. I have also tried this with Realme Narzo 30 5g and Samsung M51 and for both of these devices there is no such problem.
Can anybody give a fix for this?

I assume you refer to a personal mobile hotspot rather than a router.
You could try Settings > Connections > Mobile Hotspot> changing the AP band to 5.0Ghz.

No, I am referring to a router.

The signal is weak from the start. But since it's only these set of phones. I suggest changing the setting of the router to a lower AP band and try it. If it doesn't work, try a higher band

The setting comes with the IP address of the router itself not the ISP. I had similar problems with the Ghz, some phones tend to only accommodate lower band

Yes I have tried, no help.

Both 2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz

Yes, I have confirmed this problem with many people who are using stock android and they all have confirmed.

Okay, it seems to be an issue with it being a stock android, some features are lacking. I suggest a move to custom rom if you don't mind; if not, a little tweaking from bootloader but might involve changing your network settings and a possible brick.


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Can't unlock my Acer B3-A30 tablet's bootloader
So I have an Acer Acer B3-A30 tablet, which is stuck on the Acer logo.
I'm trying to unlock it's bootloader (with fastboot mode), so I can reflash it (with a stock rom), but it just shows an error saying "Failed to unlock bootloader."
I've checked both of the commands fastboot oem unlock and fastboot flashing unlock, but they just don't want to work. I haven't installed root or any system modifications, this is my first time ever doing so.
It would be even better, if someone told me how to fix it without bootloader unlocking and these other stuff.

fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability = 1?

@alecxs this is what i got : fastboot: usage: unknown 'flashing' command get_unlock_ability

https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient#unlock-bootloader

@alecxs
"you need to enable usb-debugging via Settings/About phone/Version, Tap 7x on build number
Go to Settings/Additional settings/Developer options, enable "OEM unlock" and "USB Debugging"
"
I can't boot the device to enable those.

@alecxs It keeps displaying "Handshake failed, retrying..."

@alecxs the only thing i need is to somehow enable oem unlock without dev settings and i can do the rest by my self

@alecxs I figured out how to use it, but it's stuck at "DALegacy - Reconnecting to preloader"

@alecxs shows this : "Done |--------------------------------------------------| 0.0% Read (Sector 0x0 of 0x200) 0.00 MB/sDA_handler
DA_handler - [LIB]: ←[31mUnknown seccfg partition header. Aborting unlock.←[0m"

so it connected, but this tool won't unlock. your goal is flashing stock ROM, can be done from SP Flash Tool or mtkclient (on locked bootloader)

@alecxs When selecting the scatter.txt file, it displays an error.

make sure the scatter file is for your device. delete the checksum from scatter file

@alexcs I found the original rom, but it still doesn't want to flash it.

flash from mtkclient

@alexcs Preloader - [LIB]: ←[31mError on DA_Send cmd←[0m

https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient/issues/140

@alexcs what to do with that?

I didn't fix it and my parents threw it in trash :(


text:
Android 8.0.0: can not enable developer options for USB debugging?
Android 8.0.0: can not enable developer options for USB debugging?
When I tap the "Developer Options", says:
Turn on Developer options first.

About Phone > Software Information >  Build number.
Tap the build number, says:
Developer mode has already been turned on.

Samsung Galaxy S7.

If you search this site for the error message you will find identical questions with answers how to bypass this problem.

Searched this site. if you could provide me the link, it would be great. thanks.

Does this answer your question? Android : Can't access developer option after enable the developer mode


text:
How to connect keyboard and mouse on AndroidTV so that it works with Cast (Screen Mirroring) on my phone
Recently, I have been looking for ways to cast my phone screen to AndroidTV. I found a way with Android's built-in thing for screen casting and all worked well.
Now, since I'm not a fan of the idea of looking for Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I am interested to know if it's possible to attach a mouse and a keyboard to the AndroidTV (where the screen is being casted from the phone) and for it to work on my phone.
Cause the AndroidTV has USB ports, I want my phone screen shown on the TV but it doesn't make much sense if I have to look at my phone for everything.

Do you use the Chrome cast functionality which simply forwards the playlist to the cast target or do you simply cast the visible screen of your phone?

I just use Cast and this thing called Screen Mirroring on my AndroidTV. So far, it's making my screen visible on TV, but I have no options to use a mouse attached to the USB port of my TV or anything like that. Surprisingly though, when I play sound on my phone, it is heard with the TV's speakers

As the name implies casting was developed to "redirect" videos from the small smartphone screen to the TV. Therefore display and sound to the TV works. The opposite direction is not possible, I assume because of security problems, because otherwise you would never know if it is safe to connect to a TV or not. If you want to fully remote control a phone then you have to use appropriate remote control software like like TeamViewer.


text:
I can't find what file systems for a USB stick my Android TV supports, wondering how to discover that
I just bought a new Smart TV, FOX 32AOS430E, to be precise and had some issues with it the other night with my USB drive. I needed to put a large movie on the USB drive, over 4 GB, so I formatted it to ext4 and then when I tried to open it in file manager, it says can't connect to USB.
So, I reformatted to ExFAT because I read that Android TV supports that format, alas my TV doesn't, or at least my file manager doesn't, and then I try another flash disk in the end that was Fat32 and that one worked.
I can't put my huge movie on FAT32 and can't find anywhere what formats the TV supports, I guess it's not as common as Sony or others, not even a manual online other than what I got in the box.
Edit: I tried ext4, the TV couldn't connect to that one, I have Linux, that's not an issue, but I refuse to believe that Fat32 is the only supported system?

Official exFat support was introduced about one year ago with Android 13. Before exFat support depended on manufacturer modifications. So on some devices it worked on others not or only partial (e.g read-only).

You could try using ext3 or ext4 file systems, they are the Linux native filesystems Android devices use most of the time... However Windows doesn't support them, you will need a Linux computer (which is a bit out of scope for this group). File size would not be be an issue.

Perhaps for additional context, looks like the TV is running on Android 11.

Not sure what solution your are looking for.  It is what it is.  You can try and compress (reduce resolution) on the movie

Same is the case with my "Mi Box". "FX File Explorer" app by "NextApp, Inc." is able to open the ext4 file system.


text:
What does FOTA mean
I just got an over-the-air update from HTC for my Wildfire S  for the "FOTA Client" (or something like this, can't see it anymore after the update and can't find any logfiles in the FileManager or elsewhere) and somne related component also with FOTA in the name.
Googling FOTA only yields blog posts and news about "phone X getting FOTA update" with none of these explaining what it means. Searching here yields zero results...
So, what does FOTA mean?

FOTA -  Firmware Over-the-Air
This is the update sent to the OS via your service provider(for 3G/GPRS/EDGE..) or Wifi.
It will download an image of the new firmware from the server and install it after you accept.

From Wikipedia,

FOTA is an acronym for Firmware Over-the-Air. It is used for upgrades to mobile phones and PDAs.


text:
What's the process for installing a new ROM after I've just completed one?
I have a HTC Incredible running 2.2, successfully used the unrevoked method and rooted it, used Titanium Backup to back up all apps and system data, and ROM manager to install and run CM7. ok, that's all done, but now i want to try Miui, is the process still the same?
What i mean is, i'd rather not reinstall all the apps as I want to try a new rom, but want to go back to CM7 if i don't like it.
How can i try Miui, then go back to CM7 if need be??

Assuming you installed ClockworkMod Recovery via Rom Manager app (or manually), you can do the following:

Install the Appbrain and Fast Web Installer apps.  Run Appbrain, sign in with your Google account, enable the Fast Web Installer from Settings, and perform a sync.
Download the ROM installation ZIP for MIUI and place it onto your SD Card.
Reboot your phone to Recovery mode, scroll down to "backup and restore", go in, and select the "Backup" option.  This will write an image of your phone onto your SD Card.  OS, your apps and settings will be saved.
Perform a full wipe of your device from Recovery by doing a "wipe data/factory reset", "wipe cache partition", and "advanced -> Wipe Dalvik Cache".
Select "install zip from card" option, and then "choose zip from sdcard" to flash the ROM zip that you downloaded in step 2.
Optionally, flash the GApps package, and any other files (refer to the ROM's instructions.)
Once the installation is completed reboot the phone, add your Google account, and set up the system to your lining (do not download any 3rd-party apps yet.)
Open the Market app, install AppBrain and Fast Web Installer again, and sign in.
Open the Appbrain app, and enable Fast Web Installer in settings again.
While still inside the Appbrain app, go to "Manage And Sync", press the Menu button, select the "More lists.." option.  Pick the list that was created for you in step 1, and press the "Add all apps" button.  This will queue up all the missing apps that you had installed on the previous ROM.
Go back once, and tap the "Execute" button.  After verifying the permissions, tap the Install button.  This will automatically download and re-install your apps.
Once the apps are installed, configure them to your liking.
Reboot back into Recovery, perform another backup, and reboot the phone normally.
Open the ROM Manager app, and tap on "Manage and Restore Backups."  You should see a list consisting of the 2 backups you just made, sorted chronologically.
Rename the first backup to "CM7", and the second to "MIUI".

You can now easily switch from CM7 to MIUI by simply restoring the corresponding backup.  Keep in mind that if you change anything on either ROM, you will need to perform another backup so that your changes are saved.

thanks for the great guide!
So question, why can't i just go through ROM Manager and install Miui from there? I don't have CM7 configured how i want it, i would be ok if i had to redo it, i just want to try out Miui to see if i like it.

When switching between ROMs that are vastly different line CM and MIUI, it is always recommended to do a complete wipe to avoid any issues from left over pieces.  If you don't care about your currently installed ROM, then by all means go ahead and blow it away by doing only steps 2, 4, 5 and 6.

That sounds good, can i do that from ROM Manager in CM7? i.e. use ROM Manager in CM7, don't backup current ROM/perform wipe and clean cache, and install Miui from there instead of putting it directly on the sd card?

I can't remember off the top of my head if there is a setting in ROM Manager to do a complete wipe (including both caches) before installing an update zip.  If there is - go for it.  Worst case - you can always simply restore CM7 from backup if something goes wrong.


text:
Connecting Huawei Comet via USB -- shows as CDFS?
I'm trying to install a custom ringtone to my Huawei Comet, and when I connect it to my computer via USB it shows me a drive named "Mobile Partner" that is CDFS and has 0 MB free of 6.59 MB (not the 2GB MicroSD card I have installed). Do i have to use a separate SD card adaptor to plug it into my computer? Or how do I get my phone to show me the SD card?

You probably have it in Media mode or something, onik's answer should help in that case.

@MatthewRead I'd say it's in "tethering mode", since Huawei's 3G USB Modems use a software called Mobile Partner to manage the connection.

T-Mobile Comet Manual, p.14:
Using the microSD Card as USB Mass Storage
To transfer all your favorite music and pictures from your PC to your mobile phone’s microSD card, set the microSD card as USB mass storage.

Connect your mobile phone to your PC with the USB cable. Your PC will detect the microSD card as a removable disk.
Open the notification bar, and then touch USB connected.
Touch Turn on USB storage in the dialog box that opens to confirm that you want to transfer files. You can now transfer files from your PC to your mobile phone’s microSD card.


text:
EeePad Transformer ADB problems with drivers on Windows7 x64
Sorry for the cross-post (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8185773/eeepad-transformer-adb-problems-with-drivers-on-windows7-x64)... I was told this is a better place for my question.
I have 2 Windows7 x64 machines.
One of them has got both drivers (ASUS Android Composite ADB Interface and Transformer TF101) and when i run adb devices I get the device listed as expected.
The other one has only got one of the drivers (ie. the ASUS Android Composite ADB Interface is not there and there is no unknown devices or apparent problems in Device Manager).
Any ideas?

Ok, I uninstalled and deleted the drivers for the tablet and then reinstalled manually and it worked.

I would reinstall the TF101 driver and install the Android SDK drivers.  This XDA post has some additional info.

I tried this but the TF101 ADB (in the Android directory) driver won't install... My other Win7 x64 has got the driver installed, otherwise I would guess that this driver is not suitable for x64. Is there another Asus driver (maybe a different version) that I can try? Or is there a way to force the ADB driver to install - in device manager there is no unknown device?

I have also tried this but no luck: http://android.modaco.com/topic/342845-tool-tf101-rootkit-gui-v13-hc32-v8659-updated-2382011/ Could it be something to do with my usb controller?

Also ASUS Sync does not work... No device found


text:
Do Android 3.0 tablets have standby/hibernate mode?
I am considering an Acer Iconia A500 device as a book reader. Having years of experience with using (and programming) different devices (PDAs, smartphones, tablet PC, book readers), I am used to charge the reading device (whichever I use) only once in a week or so. When I don't read, I hope to have it in sleeping mode consuming only minimal energy (as it's a bookreader, I don't need it running any background apps or hanging on the net).
So the question is - do Honeycomb devices have a true standby mode which can keep the battery for a week or so (and let the device power on in less than 10 seconds), and not just "sleep" mode we see in Android 2.2 smartphones?
Update: got myself the above mentioned device. It holds power for about a week when not used, so I guess this is close to what I would like to have with sleep mode.

As far as I'm aware, Android basically just doesn't work this way. You can turn off the screen ("sleep" mode) and put it into airplane mode for some extra battery saving, but there's no "standby" equivalent like on a laptop. The processor should underclock itself when you do this, too (how much probably depends on the device). And, as Lie Ryan points out in the comments, for phones this is largely due to the fact that a call could come at any time. I'd guess Honeycomb's behavior is essentially a hold-over from that since it's easier than rewriting it.
That being said, if you just want a book reader, you might consider something like a Nook Color. The Iconia is really a full-fledged tablet PC (though running Android), but something designed specifically for e-reading will probably offer better battery life.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.


text:
Do I need Android SDK to connect my phone in USB debug mode?
I'm following the steps provided here to root my Samsung Captivate (Galaxy-S).  I install the USB drivers in the link provided.  Whenever I connect my phone, I get the error There was a problem installing this hardware... SAMSUNG Android Composite ADB Interface.  I do have USB Debug mode checked on my phone.
The googling I have done on this issue mention downloading the Android SDK, but I have heard no mention of needing this on the XDA developers forum or in any other conversation about rooting.  So, I wanted to ensure that downloading the Android SDK was necessary, or would even fix my problem before I bother installing it and its dependencies (Java JDK).  I'm running Windows XP.
Note:  Although I'm running a 64-bit machine, I Installed the x86 Samsung Drivers since Windows XP is a 32-bit OS.  I hope that's right.

Slightly confused by your talk of 64-bit and XP. What OS are you running on your PC and is it a 32-bit or 64-bit OS. Normally you install the same "bit-ness" drivers as your OS is, so if you're running a 64-bit OS on your PC, install the 64-bit drivers. But your screenshot looks like it's XP, and it's a long time since I heard of anyone using the half-baked 64-bit version of XP.

@GAThrawn, I'm running Windows XP 32-bit (not sure if there is a 64-bit version).

ah right, so you were saying that the pc hardware itself is 64-bit. Yes in that case the 32-bit drivers are the right ones to install. There is a 64-bit version of XP, but you really don't want to use it, it is very bad.

You will need the drivers on Windows all right. But for "simple ADB communication", you won't need the full SDK installation. See Is there a minimal installation of ADB?

No, you don't need to install the Android SDK.  The SDK's drivers don't work for the Galaxy S, actually, at least not the last time I tried.
You best bet is to download Samsung Kies and update the drivers through it, as per this answer to another question.  You can get Kies most easily from Samsung UK here.

This may be a dumb question, but is downloading the UK version of Kies a problem if I'm in the U.S.? Is there any difference between the U.S. and UK versions?

@Chance Actually, the only difference I know of is that you can tether your computer to your phone over USB if you use the full version of UK Kies, whereas the US version doesn't allow it.  If you have one of the US variants though (Fascinate, Vibrant, Captivate, or Epic 4G) you should get Kies from the US site for that phone specifically -- just in case the drivers are different from the GT-i9000 drivers.

You can also install pdanet on your machine, it has a lot of Android phone drivers bundled together in the installer.  You can uninstall the application after it installs the drivers. http://www.junefabrics.com/android/

Okay, here was the problem.  I had multiple drivers, and Windows was automatically installing one that did not work.  So, I went to Device Manager, right-clicked, selected Properties..., selected the Driver tab, selected Update Driver....  Then I chose to Install from a list or specific location then selected Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.  I selected Android ADB Interface but I don't know where it came from (Kies, PDANet, or USBDeview).  In list mode it's not clear where it came from.

Usually, all that's needed are the bits to make ADB (Android Debug Bridge) operate, which on Windows are the two libraries (AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll).  But, that really shouldn't be necessary for a commercial product.


text:
How does power usage for data over WiFi compare to data over 3G? (Ignore LTE for now)
If you have unlimited data over 3G so that cost is no option, which is more power efficient?
Using the WiFi or 3G connection for data usage?
Extending battery life being the goal

You can read this article about data connections on mobiles. It explain what are the different technologies with his data transfer ratios and its battery cost. http://www.emezeta.com/articulos/tecnologias-moviles-g-e-3g-h-4g

It depends on several things
As Matthew Read mentions, the hardware, your location, and the other fiddly bits about actual communication are important to the discussion.  But, you also need to consider what you're doing with the phone.
Are you retrieving largish amounts of data often?  If so, Wifi may be less drain on the battery by letting you finish sooner - remember the screen drains power while you're waiting for 3G to finish what WiFi may have finished much sooner.  (But that depends on what brightness level you have your phone set to.)
In short, set your phone up the way you like to use it, in the place you like to use it.  Then run the best test you can to see which uses more battery.  Keep everything as much the same during the tests as possible.  (Know exactly which apps are running, plan what data to use, and time how long you use the data after it's retrieved.)

I appreciate the points.  I think I was curious in general, maybe per unit of data transmitted?  But as others have noted, the screen backlighting on longer while you wait on 3G vs WiFi is a real issue as well.

I never really did a precise comparative test but it is clear that wifi uses way less power than the 3G data connection. So I would recommend to use wifi whenever possible if the goal is to extend battery life.
The only exception I would see is if you often use the phone but for a very short moment at a time, the delay it takes for the wifi to connect can be a hassle. In this case only I would deactivate the wifi.

My experiences support this (I wish I had real evidence, though)

My experiences (Galaxy S) do not, WiFi uses more battery for me.

@Matthew Read: That is interesting!  Can you quantify it any better than that?  (I am not sure how, other than perhaps some silly web page with a constant refresh set, and leaving the phone doing nothing but the web page over Wifi vs 3G perhaps.

Well I can't test right now (I no longer have a data plan), but when I got my phone I did experiment a bit.  I consistently got about 30% battery drain overnight with my phone on 3G, and 10% on WiFi.  I did probably a week of each, so while it's kinda unscientific I think the results are valid -- at least for my hardware, software, location, etc.

@Matthew Read: Isn't 30% drain on 3G higher than 10% on wifi? Maybe you meant the opposite. And by default, even when using wifi, a couple of minutes after the phone goes to sleep, the wifi connection also goes to sleep and it returns to 3G. If you select the option to keep wifi on even when the phone is going on sleep, then I would believe it takes more battery because the wifi chip stays on all the time for nothing.

Oops yes, I meant the opposite.  I set my phone to never turn off WiFi, so that certainly has an effect.

But the phone sleeping is when WiFi is OFF.  Having it on means it's not sleeping, the screen is just off.

It depends.
Try with your particular phone.  Maybe download a large file and see how much the battery drains, then repeat for the other data type.  Factors include how many cell towers are nearby, how many packets your WiFi drops, your specific chipset and radio hardware, software drivers, and the like.

I had hoped it was a little more general than that.  Alas.

Yes, this is my understanding as well. There are so many scenerios to test to get a handle on your device but I'd specifically test the following: 1. Active use: downloading.  2. Active use: uploading.   3. Passive use (receiving background syncs) in good signal area (where you have uninterupted wifi and 3g).  4. Passive use with no reception so yor device is constantly looking for a connection (you'll have to turn off 3g and wifi respectively).  This should give you a good idea how your wifi and 3g consume power.

I can't remember where I read it but I read that 3G will use more power when transfering data but wifi will use more when idling. I tend to keep wifi on, but if I'm running low on power I'll turn it off to avoid the power requirements of scanning for new networks. Also as others have posted, 2G will use less power than both unless you're downloading large files!

i also read this somewhere. but cant remember where.My experience also confirms this.i.e if you just need to be online and recieve minor chat msgs etc(most of the time idling,then switch to 3g or better 2g). If you need to transfer huge data and are near a wifi hotspot, use that instead.This will maximize the battery.

In my experience (HTC Hero and now HTC Desire HD), wifi uses way less power than 3G. My first port of call for power saving is to turn off 3G on my handset if I either don't need mobile data or there is wifi available.

The main battery drain happens when there is actual data transfer. Since the speed of WiFi is much faster compared to 3G, it uses less power to download the same amount of data since it finishes downloading faster.
Also the transmuting power of WiFi is usually smaller than this of a 3G radio since the access point is much closer and the signal much stronger than the usual 3G tower. They tend to be less dense than 2G towers and the phone will need to transmit with more power in order to keep reasonable signal strength with 3G.

Your first paragraph is only true if WiFi does not use a fair amount more power per second than 3G, and most of the time it does.

You posted that it depends. And so does in this case. In the long run (for instance in the span of several days) if you use only 3G, you will need to recharge the phone more than if you used WiFi for most of the data needs. At least that is my observation in a quite covered 3G area (with a few black spots). Also if I used 2G it lasted more than either WiFi or 3G but this is irrelevant to the question.

Hence I used "most of the time" not "always".

While it was true in previous generations of phones that Wifi used more power in idle, it's less true in later generations(think HTC Desire Z and up), with latests wifi chips.
If you are using data, Wifi is then preferable: uses less power, and can have more bandwidth and less latencies depending on the provider… Although public hotspots tend to match latencies and bandwidth of 3G networks… (on purpose?)

I can confirm the experiences of 3G using more power than wifi, and I do believe it is, in fact, stated by Google somewhere in the Android FAQ.
The technical reason probably has to do with the fact that there is much more negotiation going on for 3G, where there could be many radio towers involved, and where they will actually instruct the phone to beef up transmission power if needed. Also, it goes without saying, that there ought to be a difference considering wifi has a coverage area limited to some 20-100 meters depending on equipment and obstacles; whereas 3G operates over a much longer distance up around several Km.
Both operate within a fairly similar frequency band of 1.9GHz to 2.4GHz. In general, the higher the frequency, the more data can be transferred but it also takes more power to get a signal through obstacles. This is also why it's sometimes recommended to turn off 3G (rely on only 2G) in order to conserve battery, since 2G networks usually operate at a much lower frequency band around 800-1000MHz.

If your phone will let you do it, use 2G.  It uses less power than 3G or Wifi.  I believe it only works on GSM network phones.

Misses the point of the question, but I understand your point.

@geoffc Not sure how it misses the point.  Sometimes you have to think outside of the box (of 3G vs Wifi) and look at other (battery saving) options.  2G is an adequate speed if you are looking to save battery life in the long run.

this is subjective my friends.. no exact answer. is definite answer.
scenario 1 - you have a good wifi reception - phone dont have to try hard to fetch network, so battery life is longer. but if wifi is tough to connect then offcourse the phone needs to work hard.. so battery drain quicker.
scenario 2 - you using data network, but in bad reception area then it would have same affect on your battery - drained faster..
in the end, depend on your area's connection in order to have longer battery life..
who knows which connection is the best in tht particular area. just simple logic. no technical wonders can save your battery life i say..

About some weeks ago I have bought one Xiaomi Redmi 4x (5", octa, Dual Sim, Dual StandBy, with 4G primary SIM and 3G secondary SIM, 3GB/32GB) and two Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x (5.5", deca, Dual Sim, Dual StandBy, with 4G primary SIM and 3G secondary SIM, 4GB/64GB). The battery on all three is 4100 mAh.
Because of some posts on another forum that state that "the battery is bad" on these phones, I have tried to execute some tests.
It is not important that I think the battery is very good, but about the disscution above I think is important to say that when I use the only the data connection (4G - Band 1 FDD or Band 38 TDD=my provider) the slope of the power drain is more steep than when it is used only the WiFi either on 2.4 GHz (Redmi 4x) or 5 GHz Redmi Notte 4x).

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


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Can't get past the pulsating boot screen after complete battery drain
My phone ran out of charge this morning after I made a couple of phone calls in bed. I was too lazy to get out of bed to plug it in. When I plugged it in later, and pushed the power button, the phone is continously looping the pulsating X loading animation. The only way to switch it off at this point is to replace the battery.
I read about the hard reset and tried that too. It didn't help.
Update:
I also tried setting the battery aside for over 15 mins before replacing and trying it again.
I was able to get into recovery by holding down the POWER + VOL UP buttons. Tried the "wipe cache partition" option thinking that the phone refused to start due to some stale cache. It didn't help either.
What else can I do to revive the phone? I would like not to lose data, if I can. But it's more important to get the phone working.

Try using adb from the Android SDK tools.  I'd try going into fastboot and restarting from there ... if all else faios you can also re-flash your ROM from there.

Oh, and did you make sure you charged the battery a bit?  Voltage can be unstable below ~20% charge.

Charged the battery completely before attempting to turn it on again after a few failed attempts. It didn't help.

The only option I had was to do a factory reset and reinstall all the apps using appbrain.

That's a bummer. I hope for you that this was a one-time thing. (Please remember to "accept" this answer.)


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"Read phone status and identity" privacy issue
Multiple apps released in my country require the android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE permission which means not only they get to know my phone number, they also get my IMEI. My second concern is that I have apps which are not even related to banking, financials or anything like that, which use this permission and that's just outrageous.
Is there any method in Android to prevent apps from doing that?
I'm a legitimate user, I have my own phone but I don't want to grant access to this data to companies which are leaking customer data left and right.
The only solution I can think of is having an Android VM on my PC, e.g. Android x86 and using these apps in it which is quite tiresome (and I've verified it works).
My phone is not rooted but if there are root related options, I'd like to hear them out.
Of course, there's Virtual Android made in China by God knows whom which is basically an entire Android 7.1 but I'm not ready to trust it yet.

On Android 10+ regular apps can no longer access IMEI.

As Firelord stated rooting fails the SafetyNet attestation; however, using Magisk has its own advantages ;) I'm on Android 10 with root and Xposed framework with all the banking apps working like a charm. SafetyNet is pretty easy to pass with Magisk. In fact, I use Pixelify GPhotos for unlimited google photos storage by faking it to be Pixel 5. I don't really need that but it's good to have it

Just a second thought.. the apps work fine even if you reject the permission which they don't necessarily utilize. In case you always allow all the permissions asked for. Like calculator asking for Phone permission

@Robert can you say more about this particular permission? Can apps still read my phone number? I have an old SIM card which includes it but strangely a newer one does not. Actually Android 11 already hides the phone number but only for apps "If your app targets Android 11": https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/permissions

@44yu5h the apps I use ask for this permission specifically. Of course, I can unpack them, edit manifests, sign them again but I will have to do that for up to seven installed apps which is a chore.

Google enforces that new apps and app updates have a certain targetSDK. "app targets Android 11" means a minimum targetSDK value of 30. According to this all app updates that have been published after Nov. 1st 2021 have to target Android 11 or higher.

I've just run DevInfo https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.liuzh.deviceinfo on Android 11 and it happily reads my phone number. Darn. The app was last updated a week ago or so. IMEI is at least restricted.


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Is it possible to set Android app permissions globally or in batches?
On android 10, is it possible to select multiple apps and to set their access or security permissions all in one go, rather than having to select each app individually?
For context, I have a device with many rarely used apps, and Google keeps removing their permissions automatically.
The setting for telling android not to do this seems to be per app, not per device. The device is old and slow so going to each app individually is a chore.

Related/possible duplicate, depending on the requirement: How can I disable the Android 11's auto-reset permissions globally?

That only applies to Android 11.

For each app, you have to change the permission in App settings, or you can change it overall based on the brands.
For that, follow https://support.google.com/android/answer/9431959?hl=en#zippy=%2Cautomatically-remove-permissions-for-unused-apps

I find it hard to believe that there is no central way to enable or disable this feature, having to do it for every app seems counter productive. Especially in corporate\managed environments where there might be thousands of apps on hundreds of devices. Surely a school IT tech wouldn't be expected to do this individually for every app on every tablet that the school owned?


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Disable accidental dialing of short code numbers
I live in Europe and use Android v.10 on a Xiaomi Redmi 9A phone.
How to disable accidental dialing of short code numbers (that typically consist of 4-5 digits)?

Is this question about those numbers usually start with a # that allows to execute special functions (like showing IMEI) on your phone?

@Robert possibly not that one, but regular numbers that may accidentally subscribe to carrier's add-ons.

@AndrewT. So those short codes belong to premium services which means you can accidentally call them and then have to pay a few Euro, Dollar, .. If this is true the real question is how to stop paying for those "hustle numbers" (as I would call them).


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Samsung a40 bootloop
Does anyone know how to fix a bootloop? I have tried flashing a stock room using Heimdall but that only makes the phone show to Samsung logo show the erasing animation for a little bit and boots into download mode and show "Error validating footer (6)"   . If I try to generate a vbmeta file with abvtool it shows the warning that says that unofficial software was installed and shows the unlocked bootloader warning and after that it reboots.

@alecxs Where should I find that file?

@alecxs After un tarring the stock ROM. I found only a "vbmeta.img" file and no "vbmeta_samsung.img". Could this be because I downloaded the firmware from "samfw.com"?

@alecxs So if that does not apply to my phone is there any other way to unbrick my phone or should I just try to flash "vbmeta_samsung.img" even if it is for another phone or version?

@alecxs But after flashing TWRP all the phone does is show to unofficial software was installed, show the unlocked bootloader warning and reboot.

of course easy way is flash stock ROM but it will re-lock bootloader and you might not able to unlock again because of samsungs restrictions. you can install TWRP and AOSP instead

read the instructions and ask in that threads if something is unclear

Try using the Samsung Smart Switch app for PC to restore the stock ROM.


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How to Block UDP port in devices
am trying to disable webrtc on the root level
Is there any guide to do that
want to stop IP leaks while using a proxy it's easy in chrome but not for other apps..

A local VPN app should be able to block all UDP traffic except the one required. That would even work without root.

alternative if I want to use my proxy?


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How does one transfer data from an iPhone 6 to a Pixel 6 pro that has already been set up (without a reset)?
So this is not the first time I turn on my Pixel 6 pro. When I connect the devices with a cable (this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071G6NLHJ/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza)  no options appear so it is unclear what to do next to transfer the data and the video I was watching doesn't suggest what to actually do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1IPSE2avCE
and I've tried a bunch of things like google one etc but the contacts and the videos from my iphone 6 s are NOT on my pixel.
What do I need to do to get this to work?

this never happens (https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/7129740?hl=en#zippy=%2Ccopy-data-from-your-old-phone-with-a-cable-recommended):

When asked to “Copy Apps & Data,” tap Next and then Copy your data.

I also tried google one but I don't see my contacts or videos form my iphone on my pixel. Why?

cross: https://www.quora.com/unanswered/How-does-one-transfer-data-from-an-iPhone-6-to-a-Pixel-6-Pro-that-has-already-been-set-up and https://www.reddit.com/r/Pixel6/comments/vv5xwv/how_does_one_transfer_data_from_an_iphone_6_to_a/ and https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/443591/how-does-one-transfer-data-from-an-iphone-6-to-a-pixel-6-pro-that-has-already-be

perhaps this will do it? the first option? the second one seems more work? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEdVU96bol8

cross to pixel reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pixel6/comments/vv6roi/how_does_one_transfer_data_from_an_iphone_6_to_a/

honestly the main take away is to do it once during setup of the phone.
Will post it as a community answer since I'm not too happy that I had to download a third party app and that it doesn't seem to be using the cables I bought...I used the Send Anywhere (File Transfer) app. Instructions in video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEdVU96bol8 in text:

download Send Anywhere (File Transfer) app
choose the videos, photos, contacts etc from the iphone
choose the pixel to be a receiver
get the code from the iphone put it in the receiver
then click send

done...or at least I hope the transfer happens. Going on right now.


text:
How to force dark mode on Firefox for Android?
I am looking for a way to force dark mode on Firefox for Android.
I tried using Dark mode add-on, but it doesn't work.
Is there another way?

Try Dark Background and Light Text add-on.
This is how it looks like using the mode (it's night time for me as I write). By toggling the Aa icon on the address bar, you can enable or disable it, select the global or select sites you want affected as also modify the default scheme

@beeshyams' answer does not work as the add-on doesn't work on the android phone I have (Samsung Galaxy S10).
Dark Reader is the only add-on I can find which works


text:
What is causing music playback to stop/pause unexpectedly?
Moto DROID v1
Android 2.2.1
Is anyone else experiencing random music playback stopping/pausing on their handset?  Do you know what is causing it, or how to prevent it?
I've been trying to get to the root of the issue, and I think it has to do with the music playback service.  I've tried several apps (stock Music app, DoubleTwist, Cubed (3)).  In each case the behavior is the same.  Seemingly at random, and with now obvious trigger, music playback will pause/stop.  I've seen this both with and without bluetooth, wifi, Last.FM scrobbling, and headphones.  It does not correlate to notifications, as I get e-mail, text, and other notifications and playback continues.  My music files are stored on the MicroSD card.  Could this be due to latency in loading a portion of a file?

Moto DROID v1 Android 2.2.1 I too have been experiencing this since the Froyo update. I thought it may have something to do if the accelerometer detected a bump as it usually happend in my car or out for a walk. Pandora however has also been randomly pausing when just sitting on my desk.

Update: I'm still getting this behavior.  I tried Winamp.  I tried deleting all of my music with iTunes DRM.  Still pausing though. Just happened with the default music app playing a track at the 1:49 of 2:37 mark of a Beck track.  Music app was in the foreground, phone is in the multimedia dock, and I'm using wired headphones.  The music arrow is no longer in the system tray, but the app is shown.  The 1:49 indicator is blinking.  When I press play, the music continues.

Just tried the new version of the Music app with cloud beta.  It still mysteriously pauses -_-
WinAmp app seems to be free of this defect.

My HTC Desire running Cyanogenmod 7 also does this. It just randomly pauses every now and again. Unpausing it causes it to carry on as it was without a problem, but it is still annoying!

I believe I have resolved the issue by resetting my phone to factory defaults.  After resetting to factory default, I am no longer experiencing the mysterious pauses when playing music.
My rev. 1 Moto DROID came loaded with Android 2.1.  I ran the OTA update to 2.2, and then the OTA update to 2.2.1.  In addition to the music playback issue, I was also experiencing extreme delays when displaying the launcher after the phone had been in a dock. I hadn't performed a factory reset since loading the two OTA updates, so I went through the factory reset process.  The home screen now displays much, much more quickly when removing the phone from a dock, and I have not experienced the music pause issue.

I was hoping this wouldn't be the solution :)

Maybe that resolved because the reset "cleaned" your unused apps that were consuming memory?

Are you actually in the music app when it happens or is it when it is running in the background and you are doing something else?
If it's the latter, it is most likely because your phone is running out of memory and is killing the music player's service.
Go to Settings --> Applications --> Running Services and see if there are any running services that you can remove that would free up some memory.
To confirm if it is a memory problem, run a logger app right after the app gets killed and see if there are out of memory messages being logged or garbage collection going on.

It happens regardless of whether the app is in the foreground or background, I have seen it happen in both scenarios. The app screen shows thay the song is just paused at some random point. I checked memory usage and I have plenty of room to spare. It is a really irritating bug.

It could be a bad music file. One that has errors in it. Does it happen to specific files?
Otherwise it can be that Android is running out of memory. This is evident when the play arrow icon at the top left corner disappears when the music stops.

I have seen both scenarios (music arrow disappears, music arrow persists).  The music file currently being played is fine, as hitting the play button again to unpause the song will continue playing the rest of the song.  I recently cleared out all of my music files that had iTunes DRM to see if that might be causing it.  Will see if that solves the issue.

Have you tried different headsets, if that's what your using?
it sounds like your headset is signalling pause/resume, you mention it happens on BT as well so I'm wondering if its something to do with the headphone jack socket, either dirt in the socket or a wiring fail inside...

Yes, I've tried different headsets (a Rocketfish bluetooth headset and skull candy wired headphones).  The behavior occurred with both headsets.


text:
How can I install an app given only its APK file?
I downloaded the APK file for an app to my PC.  How can I install it on my phone?

In addition to the answers below, you need to allow for non-Market apps to be installed. That setting can be found at Settings | Applications | Unknown sources

On ICS the setting has moved to Settings | Security | Unknown sources

Are you sure that's also required for adb install?

In a simple way You can also download app directly from url http://domain.com/build.apk on your mobile and install it.

Use DropBox.  Put the APK in your DropBox folder.  Open up the DropBox app on your phone, find the apk, tap on it, and it should download it to your phone and then install it.
Use the SD card. Plug your phone into the computer via USB.  Mount the SD card drive.  Copy the APK into the SD card.  Unmount your phone.  Browse to the APK using a file browser app such as Astro.  Tap on the APK and it should present to install it.

There are countless other ways to do this, but these two are probably the easiest.

DropBox is by far the easiest way.

Is it possible to just email the APK to yourself and then open it from the email app? I presume you would've said so if it's possible, but just pointing out another possibility (which might be easier).

@Ricket Email should work too, or at least it does on my Droid1 running CM6 (Android 2.2).  I'm not sure about older versions of gmail.

As easy as that?

Yeah, the Gmail app definitely supports direct APK installation if the APK is an attachment.

Another way...

Place the .apk file onto your SD card (by using your phone as a mounted drive).
Enable applications from unknown sources (go to Settings > Applications > then verify that Unknown Sources is selected).
Use an application such as Installer or APK Manager to install the application.

Why do I need an installer?  Isn't it enough to tap the .apk file?

You don't need an installer if you have a file browser to view the .apk file.

I prefer using the ADB.  However, It's a little less user friendly.  This isn't the easiest way, but it will work without an SD card and will work without the device being internet connected(some devices(tablets) aren't).
At the command line you would type:
adb install "full-absolute-path-to-apk-here.apk"

The "tools" directory of the SDK must be in your path for the adb command to work.

You need two other applications from the market to to this

A file browser (astro, ...)
A application installer (appinstaller, ...)

First, you must go to Settings -> Applications -> check "install application from untrusted sources"
Then, you can navigate to the apk file (you must have copy the apk file to your SD card) with the file manager and launch it with appinstaller

I can browse directly from the stock file browser.  2. why do I need an installer?

Because you can't install a apk file with the market.

I think all the above answers are very relevant. Next time I would recommend downloading the APK directly to your device from the mobile browser. You will save the time and hassle of moving to the sd card or uploading to dropbox to download to your phone.

FYI: Referring to the "above answers" is a little problematic if people sort the answers differently from you.

Here's a no-wires option:
Install an app like 'WiFi File Explorer' (available in the Play Store) to your phone.
From the app, you set your 'Home' directory (like /storage/sdcard) and the app connects to your WiFi network and serves that Home directory and gives you a URL (usually an IP Address and port) that you can now use any browser from any PC or device (on the same network) to connect to and view/copy/move/delete files to and from.
Use that method to get the .apk file from the PC to your phone. Then just make sure the option to install APKs from alternate sources (Settings->Security->Unknown sources on Android 4.2.2) is enabled and if you don't already have a regular File Explorer app on your phone get something like 'Total Commander' and open the APK file from there. The install process will kick in and you're good to go.

Note: the following solution is tested on Android 4.2.1, 4.4.2, COS12 (Android 5.0.2) and CM12.1 (Android 5.1.1).

If your device runs any of the said Android version and the Android is rooted, you may simply download or move the APK into you device's internal/external SD card and from there, under /data/app/. You may use a file manager app for file transfer. Reboot the device and you would find the app automatically installed in your system. You can see its icon in the app drawer and you would be able to use the app from there.
The added benefit or alternatively put, the vulnerability here, is that this approach bypasses the Privacy Guard of CyanogenMod and XPrivacy completely, even when both are active and running in fully-restrictive mode.
Note:

I had to resort to change the file permission of APK to rw-r--r-- in my Android 4.4.2 to make the approach work.
Unknown sources setting need not be enabled.

This answer was posted only for the purpose of sharing some interesting information. It may not be of much ease or usefulness  to an ordinary end-user of Android.

Make sure "unknown sources" is enabled, plug the device into the computer, drop the .apk into the sd card and use the web browser to go to file:///sdcard, tap the apk in question, say yes to the "this file may blow up your phone" scare notice, then tap the "file downloaded" notification and it's installed.


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Google Maps 5.1.0 crashes often. Any solution?
Ever since upgrading to Google Maps 5.1.0 on my Droid X, I have often had Google Maps bog down and freeze to the point of completely crashing the phone.  Anyone else seeing this crash?  Anyone find a solution?

Upgrade to Google Maps 5.2.1, released today.

I did, will report if the problem goes away.

5.2.1 is out, updated my answer :P

You can usually uninstall updates from the app's page in the market. However, previous updates to Google Maps had similar problems for users that never turned their phones off. Try just restarting your phone.

It's worth a shot, I suppose, but I'm seeing crashes from Maps and I've restarted my phone at least once in the interim. (Maps used to be one of the most stable apps.) I'll try another restart.

I restart it pretty regularly, because Google Maps freezes/crashes the entire phone, and therefore I have to.  Uninstalling updates is a good suggestion though, thanks.

Another option is to go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> All (tab at top) -> Maps -> Clear data and/or Clear cache.
If somehow something is corrupted in there, this will more-or-less reset things as if Google Maps was just installed but was never used.

I thought that might be the problem and I did this, but it didn't solve the problem.


text:
Can I pair 2 Android Devices via Bluetooth for internet access?
This is pretty much hypothetical at this point but I'm curious...
Let's say I get one of the Android tablets likely to be coming out in the spring and get one that only has WiFi and no WWAN access built in...
I've got a Moto Droid running stock 2.2.1 and unrooted.  I know I can obviously tether via wifi if I root the device, but there is also the application PDANet that allows you to tether with your computer via USB or Bluetooth.  USB is probably out of the question on most tablets, but is there any way that I would be able to tether the phone to the tablet via Bluetooth?
From what I've read, PDANet uses the DUN (Dial Up Networking) BT profile for tethering, which Android can obviously host, but is there any support in android for BT DUN client mode?
In all likelyhood I will just root (again actually... CyanogenMod almost bricked my phone) and go with that... but I'm also trying to look to the future when I will hopefully replace the Droid next summer and I don't want to become used to WiFi tethering, and then have no option upon purchasing a new phone unless I make sure that whatever I get can be rooted and run wifi-tether.

Turns out that it is possible with a stock (unrooted) Android 3.0 tablet and a rooted android phone, using android-wifi-tether and bluetooth tethering.
details here: http://www.droid-life.com/2011/03/01/how-to-bluetooth-tether-to-motorola-xoom-using-original-droid/

Well...Maybe, I just got an Acer Iconia A500 which runs stock Honeycomb and cannot get it to work :(

It's all possible, but it's is going to depend a lot on the particular tablet you buy.  I can tell you right now that PDANet is not going to work Android to Android.  I emailed them about this and that was their answer.
Bluetooth tether is possible and again is going to depend on the device.  All the Archos Gen 8 tablets have BT Tethering capability (to use your phones internet) baked into the stock os, however, people are getting mixed results (by and large, this seems to be the most successful way to do it).  They had USB tether ( also to use your phones internet) but then removed it, but it is possible, it must may require some hacking.
As far as rooting and using the Wifi tether, again this is possible but people are also getting mixed results with this, myself included.  I am rooted and use Wireless Tether but my Archos 70 can't see the connection because all of the wireless tether apps create an Ad Hoc network and Android supposedly doesn't support Ad Hoc.  From what I've been told in other forums I just need to experiment with other kernels.
If you have one of the phones with "Hotspot" capability and you pay for it through your service provider that signal is discoverable because it's an actual AP and not Ad Hoc.
Long story short, it is possible, but there's no sure bet.  Before you buy, go to the forums for the particular tablet your interested in and read up on what it takes to get the tethering going.

Depending on your phone, the newest versions of Wireless Tether do support infrastructure mode but it's basically limited to one particular chipset + driver. It works on my EVO, for example. The Market version is out-of-date, however, and can't do it on any device. I don't think the Droid is one of the supported phones, though (different chipset), so it's probably a moot point for the OP.


text:
Application for remote-wiping a lost phone without handing access to my data to a third-party?
Or having to pay a subscription?
I have an idea for a hypothetical Android app. Tell me if such a thing already exists.

You install a server in a machine you have total control of, and is (preferably, but not obligatorily) online 24/7.
You install the client app on your phone. You configure it to connect to the hostname/port the server you installed in #1 is listening to.
The client app does a connect every 5 minutes or so. (Configurable.) It backs up your data to your server machine if you configured it to do so.
Your phone is lost or stolen.
You connect to yourcomputer:yourport and feed it the Nuking Password. The server app hashes your Nuking Password and stores it at a predefined location (i.e. yourcomputer:yourport/Nuke)
Like in every watchdog connect, your phone tries to download yourcomputer:yourport/Nuke - but this time it succeeds. It then hashes its own locally stored copy of the Nuke Password and, if it's a match, it nukes all data in the phone. Before doing the pieces of nuking that will kill Internet access, it reports to the server that the nuke command went through.

Can be improved, of course. But tell me, is there a FOSS app like that somewhere? I imagine it would be especially neat for businesses that issue smartphones for a number of employees.

I don't know of an app that meets your exact requirements.  But a simpler version that's (in my opinion) equally secure is an Android app that listens for a specific SMS message, and wipes the phone.  Remote Wipe does this.  Of course, it doesn't entirely kill the phone's software (that would be very device-specific and require a modified bootloader in most cases); and it might be useful to use one of the apps that reports the phone's physical location too, if you want to recover it.

I'd concur - there's a far greater chance that a cellphone will have GSM / CDMA signal but no data in a particular location. In that scenario - an SMS based solution would be better than one based on  GPRS / 3G / 4G data networks.

This is pretty much what happens if you connect your phone to a corporate MS Exchange server.
I think it's possible with other Exchange Active Sync compatible servers that support the Exchange mobile device security policies. If any of the FOSS Exchange/messaging clones currently implement the security policies, then this would all be possible on any Android 2.x phone without needing anything other than built-in software on the client.

Try Cerberus app for Android.
This app works on both rooted and non rooted devices (giving some additional options to rooted devices)
You create account, and login, which allows you to fully control your phone, even so that no one notices that you are doing anything (even if he who stole your phone is using it at the moment).
Some of the main features are taking GPS position every few secs, and posting it to this server as soon as it gains any kind of internet connection. You can even send SMS to your phone with special codes and messages won't appear on your phone, but it will answer you with SMS with GPS coordinates and other information without the user holding your phone knowing it.
You can take front camera or back camera photos. You can record voice, etc. It has many more features. If you are interested, you should totally check this app out.


text:
Choosing correct OTA
Android OS crashed.  Error Message
Android Recovery
TCL/REVL_2_5052w/A30ATMO
8.1.0/OPM1.171019.011/VAR4A-0
user/release-keys

Think that means 8.1.0 = Oreo API level 27

https://developers.google.com/android/ota [only lists the following in a search for 1.171019.011 ]
"taimen" for Pixel 2 XL
"walleye" for Pixel 2
"marlin" for Pixel XL
"sailfish" for Pixel
"ryu" for Pixel C
"angler" for Nexus 6P
"bullhead" for Nexus 5X

To "usb boot" device i'm following: https://www.droidwin.com/fix-cant-load-android-system-your-data-may-be-corrupt-without-reset/
it "seems" user may have held power button too long and that messed up os boot cycle somehow.  Reason to believe circumventing normal boot will allow system to reset and possibly return to normal (at least regain access to data on phone) No new apps downloaded within last 6mnths.
In order to download the OTA Images I need to know which full ota image is correct....right? or will any 1.171019.011 matching image work for the purpose of "usb booting" android?
If it was a linux os i would usb boot - regain access, hd scan, clear caches/temp files and track down the one or two corrupt files preventing boot.  Not sure correct way to achieve this on android.

Many blogs about fixing boot load error have  a boot menu
1.Reboot system now

Reboot to bootloader

Apply update from ADB

Apply update from SD card

Wipe data/factory reset

Mount/system

View recovery logs

Run graphics test

Run locale test

10.Power off
This phone is only displaying boot options

try again

2 Wipe data/factory re-test

adb version

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41

Version 33.0.2-8557947

Installed as /media/k/platform-tools/adb

 adb devices

List of devices attached

Device: https://www.devicespecifications.com/en/model/b6604de0

Before attempting to flash anything, we need to know the specific device model because Android images are not universal. It's not possible to flash Pixel's image to non-Pixel devices, or even one Pixel image to another different Pixel device (it might even brick the device if something wrong happens badly).

didnt know if REVL_2_5052w was the model, but it is a Revvl 2 tmobil.  Error msg in op only info available because boot load returning error message, and can not remove back of phone.