text:
Improving local wifi speed
I'm would like to use local Wi-Fi Hotspot with no Internet access to connect to multiple Android phones. The problem is, even though is a local network with only a few phones connected and no Internet connection, the phones are a few centimeters away from the hotspot, yet cummunication seems slow/unreliable.
Here are a couple of ping results from a computer to the phone IPs:
PING 192.168.0.100 (192.168.0.100): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=393.810 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=158.493 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=181.057 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 3
Request timeout for icmp_seq 4
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1006.483 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=37.513 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=64.257 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=93.225 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=111.115 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.100: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=139.826 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.100 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 9 packets received, 10.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 37.513/242.864/1006.483/286.991 ms
PING 192.168.0.101 (192.168.0.101): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=385.699 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=203.539 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=151.443 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=232.699 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=219.184 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=262.831 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=249.220 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=266.070 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=471.806 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=114.990 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.101 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 114.990/255.748/471.806/99.526 ms
PING 192.168.0.103 (192.168.0.103): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=319.546 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=137.394 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=160.845 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=184.010 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=206.503 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=24.546 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=47.437 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=69.973 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=93.257 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.103: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=730.538 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.103 ping statistics ---
11 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 9.1% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 24.546/197.405/730.538/195.910 ms

I've used a macbook to ping with a D-Link DIR-505 set to Wi-Fi Hotspot to Xperia  phones with the shipped Android OS 4.1.2.
I think the ping responses are slow and inconsistent. Has anyone else experienced this ? Why does this happen and how can this be fixed/improved ?
Update based on Sergey's input:
Pinging the computer from the phone doesn't look great:

And here's the output using adb shell:
shell@android:/ $ ping -c 10 192.168.1.18
PING 192.168.1.18 (192.168.1.18) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1012 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=8.21 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=184 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=714 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=635 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=556 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=171 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=705 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=622 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.18: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=238 ms

--- 192.168.1.18 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9015ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 8.210/484.855/1012.056/300.283 ms, pipe 2

This is a bit worrying. Also, the power saving scenario sounds plausible but not sure if it still applies in my case as I've got the Stay awake setting turned on and the above tests were done with the usb cable connected and powering the device.

This behavior may be caused by power management features, and does not indicate a problem. Try installing Android Terminal Emulator on the phone and pinging either the router or a normal PC (not another phone) by running ping -c 10 <address> from there. You should notice that ping results in this direction are better.
(Note that without the -c <n> option you will need to figure out how to send Ctrl+C to the terminal to stop ping; it is possible to use a volume button as Ctrl if your keyboard does not provide such a key.)
The difference between pinging a phone from another device and sending pings from the phone itself is that when the phone itself sends ping requests, it is active and can receive the ping response without any significant delay. However, when you attempt to ping the phone from another device, the phone is most likely is in some low-power state, and waking it up can take noticeable time. Wi-Fi also has some powersaving features (e.g., the access point can buffer packets directed to a mobile device and transmit them only according to a specified schedule, so that the mobile device can stay in a low-power state between these scheduled polls).
Because of all these powersaving features you cannot make any conclusion about the Wi-Fi link quality just from ping results you show, unless you either turn off any powersaving during the test (see below for an example in my tests), or at least perform testing from the phone side.
Here is what I see when pinging my Samsung Galaxy W (GT-I8150) using the unofficial CyanogenMod 9 ROM, when the phone is idle with the screen off:
PING 192.168.43.114 (192.168.43.114) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=690 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=418 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=329 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=54.7 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=579 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=6 ttl=64 time=306 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=7 ttl=64 time=217 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=8 ttl=64 time=557 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=9 ttl=64 time=467 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=10 ttl=64 time=195 ms

--- 192.168.43.114 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 54.730/381.686/690.746/187.341 ms

As you can see, the results look pretty bad. However, when I start Android Terminal Emulator and select the ”Take WifiLock” command in it, then turn off the screen again, I get significantly better results:
PING 192.168.43.114 (192.168.43.114) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=95.5 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=2.66 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=94.3 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=2.62 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=88.9 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=6 ttl=64 time=3.14 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=7 ttl=64 time=91.9 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=8 ttl=64 time=5.57 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=9 ttl=64 time=93.9 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=10 ttl=64 time=2.62 ms

--- 192.168.43.114 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9010ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 2.622/48.136/95.551/44.845 ms

And if I repeat the same test with the screen on, ping result is even better:
PING 192.168.43.114 (192.168.43.114) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=2.29 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=2.21 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=8.87 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=3.27 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=4.01 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=6 ttl=64 time=2.26 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=7 ttl=64 time=2.22 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=8 ttl=64 time=2.13 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=9 ttl=64 time=2.73 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.43.114: icmp_req=10 ttl=64 time=2.23 ms

--- 192.168.43.114 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9011ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 2.132/3.226/8.878/1.970 ms

(For some reason, releasing the WifiLock and even closing the terminal emulator does not restore the original behavior, until I turn Wi-Fi off, then back on — probably there is a bug somewhere.)
Running ping from the phone itself gives about 12 ms average RTT without taking the WifiLock, and 1.95 ms after taking the WifiLock — so even when testing from the phone side the effect of WifiLock is significant.

I'd suggest Hacker's Keyboard anyway, not only to be able to send Ctrl-C.

@ott-- Yes, in fact I use it too.

@SergeyVlasov I've tried what you've suggested, results look a bit better, but still kind of slow. Am I missing something ?


text:
What exactly is Device Memory and is it possible to see it's contents?
I'm using Sony Xperia L (Non-Rooted, Stock OS) which shows me I have 1.52 GBs of Device Memory. "Apps and Media" are taking up 0.98 GB and ~240MB is remaining free. I don't understand where all that extra memory has gone to.
So what exactly is this Device Memory? I read that it's "the memory where Android installs Apps". That doesn't really answer my question because I'm trying to get a better understanding of the missing space here and I hardly have Apps installed. So does anyone know:
1) What is the location on the Internal Memory that is considered as Device Memory? I mean is it a Folder?
2) How exactly does Android go about calculating that "Apps & Media"
3) Is there any way of seeing the File/Folder contents of Device Memory?
If we go to Settings> Storage we have a section called Device Memory. Here is a screenshot from my phone.
Notice how the space breakup doesn't add up here.

After a lot of searching around and trial and error I stumbled across the answer to this.

1) What is the location on the Internal Memory that is considered as
  Device Memory? I mean is it a Folder?

Yes. Device Memory is calculated from the Data folder present under root.

2) How exactly does Android go about calculating that "Apps & Media"
3) Is there any way of seeing the File/Folder contents of Device
  Memory?

The "Device Memory" includes all the contents of that /Data folder.

Apps: (apps that are actually installed on my phone),
Data: that is used by these installed apps,
Core. I'm yet to find out about this.
Dalvik Cache: Which gets created for each app that is installed. There is a particular file that is taken from each apk file installed on the phone and put here on the Dalvik Cache.
Free Space: Finally the much needed answer to where all my free space went off too. It got consumed by the way "Device Memory" is architectured. So if you install around 400MB of apps that is enough to actually fill up 1.5GB of Data folder.

Hope this was of help. Here is a screenshot for reference.

You might wish to take a look at our fine internal-storage tag-wiki for a short definition:

Internal storage generally refers to the storage space on your device that can be used for installing applications and their associated data.

It might be a bit confusing, but that's what the terms "device storage" or "phone storage" usually refer to. With most devices, this is where /data points to, and also other partitions like /system, /cache, and /recovery. You can find some additional details in the answers to Android Folder Hiearchy.
As /data is where the apps store their "private" data (well, to be more precise: that would be /data/data), and /system is reserved for, hm, the system, on a not rooted devices most content will stay hidden from you ("insufficient privileges" to see/access).

Internal/Device memory is similar to RAM which android OS makes use of. Its location will probably will remain invisible to you since your device is non-rooted.
I am assuming you want access to internal storage and not internal memory. You can access your internal storage which has the path of
    /storage/sdcard0 where '/' is the root directory.
"Apps & Media" contains all your application data (save files , scores etc), your photos & images stored on the device , music files (mp3, ringtones etc) & videos.
You will need to root your device to see the contents of "/" directory as rooting your device will provide you with super user privileges and thus allow rw access to all directories.
You can check this link to know more about the difference between storage & memory.

"Internal/Device memory is similar to RAM which android OS makes use of." I'm talking about the "Device Memory" that is present shown under the Settings -> storage section. I doubt that it's like a RAM because then it wouldn't make sense for the phone to stop installing new apps with the error "out of memory". Also, it wouldn't make sense for it to contain such a large bunch of media, photos etc.. Why load everything into a RAM memory? And why wouldn't it get reset after restarting the system?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Text editor that supports italic text and tab indenting, via keyboard shortcuts
Background: I've just become to proud new owner of an Asus TF101 honeycomb tablet, which has a nice hardware keyboard attached to it.
I do a lot of writing, and cannot find a text editing app which allows me to set text as italic using CTRL + I, or to reliably indent new paragraphs with the tab key*.
Does anyone here have any recommendations? (I'm pondering writing my own app to do this at the moment, I'm that desperate).
The google docs app doesn't support it (and at any rate doesn't work unless there's an active internet connection). I have tried various free text editing apps, to no avail.
I've asked the developers behind Documents to Go if they support this, but no answer yet. Quickoffice have a feature request for it currently open. Unsure about possible Androffice support, but googling suggest unlikely.
Many thanks in advance,
UPDATE: Documents To Go does not support the CTRL + I shortcut, although italics are supported.
G
PS - I know android tablets are still in their early days, and it might be a case of waiting. The OpenOffice guys have released an ODT viewer, hopefully a potential full openoffice android app might do this.
* - the bundled productivity app called Polaris Office supports the tab key for indenting newlines, but not CTRL + I (it requires four screen-touches to turn italics on and off - OK for once in a while, not OK for frequent use)

I don't believe that viewer is produced by the OOo team, BTW.

Wow, four screen taps for italic in a text editor? No wonder they needed to be bundled on the device. That said, "Ctrl+I" is actually two screen taps - wouldn't a button near the keyboard that toggles be better?

@Steve Pomeroy: my tablet comes with a full-size detachable keyboard, so I literally mean the long-standing CTRL + I keyboard shortcut to turn on italics. I'm sure that app developers and OEMs will get there in the end with this, but I was hoping to find something that handles it already.
@eldarerathis - thanks for the info.

For information, the android 3.2 OTA firmware update has not fixed this issue in the built-in app. HOWEVER, google apparently have offline editing of google docs in their sights for an upcoming release of the docs app, so some hope there.

Have accepted the answer below, as am conscious that the question has been open for ages.

FOUND IT! http://hawkiesza.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/new-app-on-android-market-paste/ supports CTRL + I and was written with the transformer in mind, it seems. Very basic, saves as HTML, but precisely what I needed.

FOUND ANOTHER! OfficeSuitPro does it too. It's a paid app though.

Documents To Go is a very good app. It provides the formatting requirements you wanted and supports creating and reading Microsoft Office documents as well as Google Docs.
It supports word, excel and powerpoint. It can be found on the Android market https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dataviz.docstogoapp&feature=search_result
There is a free version but I believe this only let's you view not create or edit documents

Thanks Boardy.  I did enquire with the dataviz team about keyboard shortcuts, and at present (well, ~2 months ago now I suppose) they don't support CTRL + I for italics, which is really the only thing I need that the bundled office app doesn;t do already. Tablet support, especially tablets with keyboards, is still evolving though - It's probably unrealistic of me to expect this to turn up anytime soon (unless I somehow find the time to go beyond the 'hello world' application and write my own one that does what I want).

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


text:
Can I customize a widget icon from an app I don't develop?
I installed an icon pack (Arcticons), and some widgets don't match the design of the icon pack.
Let's take Shazam widget as an example. Can I:

Create a custom widget icon for the existing Shazam widget?
Create a widget with icon I want and trigger Shazam's song recognition on my own from "my widget"?

Thanks for your help.

It seems it's impossible to customize the icon of an existing widget.
But depending on the app, we may be able to create a widget that launches an external application.
(Old) Source for Shazam:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4791826/calling-an-extrenal-application

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


text:
How to Send "Note To Self" to an app /website I can view & edit?
On Android v10 on mobile, I use the Google "note to self".
I'd like those notes to go to an app where I can edit/delete them.
I'll settle for Google Keep, although would be ideal to send to Evernote or Any.Do

Short Answer:
You can send them to Google Keep.
Set a default list service

Let your Google Assistant create and edit lists in a service, like Google Keep.

On your Android phone or tablet, say "Hey Google, open Assistant settings."

Under "All settings," tap Notes & Lists.

Tap a service to set it as your default. Note: I tried any.do  but it new notes didn't got to it (that I could see).

If you don't want to sync your notes and lists with any provider, tap Don't Sync.
To confirm, tap Continue.

Any new lists created with your Google Assistant will be visible on your default list service. Any lists you created with your Google Assistant before you set a default list service won’t be available on that service.

Important: If you choose a third-party provider app as your default, that provider’s app's privacy policy applies.
Source

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


text:
Rear microphone not detected
I purchased a few lapel microphones to test out for recording my talks at conferences using my android device. These mics are all mic-only devices, not headphone or head-set units.
The issue is that the microphone, when plugged in, will be detected by the OS as ear-phones/headset on some older devices like an S4, while on newer devices like the G4, it will be seen as 'Microphone'.
The issue is that in the app I'm using, the only microphone that gets picked up is the front mic (the mic on the phone) and never my plugged-in microphone. There is a setting in the app to choose which mic to use, I select Rear Mic, but it says it will only be used, "when detected".
This is my problem, it doesn't seem to be detecting anything. If I plug in headset (ear-buds with a mic), I can record from that mic no problem.
How do I configure the OS to recognize the lapel microphones so I can use them?
I have tried a few adapters that came with the mics, nothing worked. On the G4 the only difference I saw was that using an adapter would make it see a headset or microphone, but the result of not picking up audio from the mic was the same.
I've tried 6 different microphones and yes, they were all intended to be used on android/ios devices

From the following article, it could be due to need for an impedance (a resistor) between the Mic and the Ground wires. As per

The trick in detecting the external microphone on the smart phone is
  to have right impedance between the mic pins. Samsung phones seem to
  require a microphone with impedance of around 1.0k – 1.5k Ohm. Some
  other devices might also work with somewhat higher resistance values
  (1 kohm to few kilo-ohms).

I don't think it's a matter of altering the OS as detection is probably reliant upon the physical/electronic components used.
The article explains that there are two standards used for 4 pin OMTP and AHJ. It also has links to some articles about how to connect (aka DIY wiring/rewiring).
Here's a link to the article.
Android device external mic wiring
I don't think that it's a matter of changing the OS, rather catering for the specific components used.


text:
How to disable MTP and PTP file sharing via USB on Android 5?
For privacy and security reasons I'd like to disable MTP and PTP on my phone. I recently plugged my phone into an inflight entertainment system to charge it, and was surprised to see that the status bar showed that the phone was connected as a camera (via PTP). This could happen with basically any USB hub, and you won't know until you connect to it.
Running Android 5.0.2 on a Samsung Galaxy A3 (SM-A300FU).

I have tried the following:

Enabled USB debugging
Plugged in the USB cable
Rooted my phone (and verified that it's actually rooted)
adb shell su -c 'setprop persist.sys.usb.config adb' (thanks @Firelord)
Verified in Terminal Emulator:
$ su sh -c 'cat /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config'
adb

Unplugged the USB cable
Rebooted
Disabled USB debugging
Plugged in the USB cable

At this point the device is automatically "Connected as a media device", and the setting is back to the default:
$ su sh -c 'cat /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config'
mtp

If I leave the USB debugging enabled the value is mtp,adb after rebooting.

After reporting this as a bug, it turns out it's actually been fixed, and charge-only mode has been reintroduced in Android 6.

This is different from Disabling MTP/PTP/all USB stuff except charging because that question is about CyanogenMod, not stock Android, and the accepted answer is not applicable to Android 5.

Only the tags [tag:usb-connection-mode] and [tag:5.0-lollipop] are enough IMO.

You incorrectly followed the procedure. The command is adb shell su -c 'setprop persist.sys.usb.config adb'. This command runs with root privileges and makes the changes persistent. Yours doesn't make it persistent. The file /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config store the changes.

I see. Can you list and give us the contents of that file after reboot is performed? Which device is it?

Can you try with USB debugging already disabled and editing the file using a file explorer or text editor? Replace mtp with none.

Possible duplicate of Disabling MTP/PTP/all USB stuff except charging

@Firelord This is not a duplicate, as explained above. Basically this question needs different answers for Android 3 and/or 4 (just set it to "Charge Only" mode), CyanogenMod (uncheck the connection modes you're not going to be using), Android 5, and Android 6 (once again set to "Charge Only" mode).

Thanks to @Firelord, this is the procedure to follow:

Root your phone
Install Terminal Emulator
In Terminal Emulator, run su sh -c 'echo -n none > /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config'
Restart the phone

Bonus: Now you can get rid of all those horrible vendor apps. Bye Samsung and Three!
Caveat 1: USB debugging no longer works after doing this, regardless of whether you left it enabled while following the instructions or disabled and re-enabled it. All you need to do (I just verified it) is to set the value back to adb to make it work again, but then of course you have the original problem. If there’s a magic string to make USB debugging work and simultaneously disable both MTP and PTP, I don’t know what it is (I tried with none,adb).
Caveat 2: You can’t update Android anymore without completely resetting your device. Not even de-rooting and a factory reset work - bloody Android still says I’ve made an “unauthorized modification.” Let’s recap: “Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.” I had to boot into Windows and use Samsung Smart Switch for PC to upgrade.

If you one day find the magic string, don't forget to update your answer. I just ended up the same: needing ADB, I had to leave it on "mtp,adb".

You can also just set adb mode alone. Instead of none, just use adb. That won't show MTP/PTP

I agree with @GokulNC. Setting adb alone works well in CM and stock Android.

@GokulNC @Firelord As I said above setting it to simply adb doesn't work - it's overridden to mtp,adb.


text:
How to back up OSMAnd favourites using ADB?
First attempt to back up favourites to my PC after enabling USB debugging and connecting the phone to the PC:

Open OSMAnd+ 4.6.11
Click the hamburger menu
Click Settings
Click Export to file
Expand My Places
Check Favourites
Click Continue
Give up because there's no option to save to a local file

Second attempt, based on this:

adb pull /storage/[ID omitted]/Android/data/net.osmand.plus
Give up because net.osmand.plus/files/favourites.gpx has no favourites

Third attempt, based on this:

adb backup -f osmand.ab net.osmand.plus
Unlock phone and answer backup prompt
Give up because osmand.ab is some 47 bytes

How do I actually do a backup of favourites from my phone to my PC using ADB? The phone is not rooted.

As mentioned in a comment relating to the export issue mentioned above, there is a working solution to this:

Open OSMAnd+
Click the hamburger menu
Click Settings
Click OsmAnd settings
Click Data storage folder
Choose an external storage and follow the instructions

After this I was able to back up favourites by running adb pull /sdcard/Android/data/net.osmand.plus/files/favorites (your path may vary).


text:
Why am I getting Google Drive notifications about strangers' documents?
Screenshot:

Is this just a new form of spam or phishing technique, basically betting that I'll click on the notification and look at the document? I haven't looked at any of them yet, but it seems utterly bizarre that Google Drive would notify me of the occurrence of anything in someone else's document.
A quick tour of the Russian alphabet and Google Translate reveals the document name as "Message No. FB-24".
Cross-post

Related on Google Drive Help, I guess: Mentioned in comment in harmful/spam Google Doc by unknown person

Thanks @AndrewT.; looks relevant! 325 upvotes and no response? Ouch.

Apparently the thread was locked, I'm not sure when and why...

Dupe with over 600 upvotes and no response! They're probably closing the discussions because people must be frothing at the mouth. Based on my interactions with GDrive support in the past i guess they are basically a money-making sweatshop by now, so I wouldn't expect a fix this side of the millennium.

This has happened to me more then once and always on a chromebook. (I don't own one anymore) Anyway I just wanted to say something because it was malware in my case.


text:
How to fix Bluetooth disconnecting frequently?
I have a Nokia 6 with Android 8.1.0 and a Bose QC35 II headset. It has recently started disconnecting frequently, from approximately every 10 seconds to every two minutes or so, seemingly getting more frequent over time. The batteries are both near full, and the headset is the only Bluetooth device paired with my phone.
So far I have tried

restarting both devices,
removing the pairing and re-pairing,
toggling Bluetooth off and on again.
clearing the Bluetooth app cache and storage and
resetting all network settings in Settings - System - Reset options.

While typing this the device has reconnected at least five times. I was not transferring files or audio at the time. It happens in public and at home, where there are only two other Bluetooth-capable devices.
The sound is often choppy when it does work, so it's as if the signal is terrible even though the devices are less than a meter from each other.
When connected to my PC the sound is fine and the connection is stable for hours.
Edit: This no longer happens with Android, but I think it has something to do with the connection type. There is only one connection type which gives even close to reasonable sound quality, the other one crackles and spits and emits irregular "call from: [nothing]" garbage.

Got same problem here... Motorola One Vision, Android 9 pairing with Sony MDR-XB50BS. It connects, stays for 10s to 20s and disconnect, showing an error screen.
It was working up to a couple weeks ago. Don't know if it's some firmware update or anything...


text:
How to avoid duplicate generated calendar entries?
I'm using Google Calendar on my desktop computer. It seems to auto-generate birthday entries for my contacts in Google Mail. Unfortunately these entries show up twice in "My calendar" in the generic Calendar app (version 1.1) of Android 4.0.4. How can I avoid this?
I don't see any duplicate entries in other calendars, and the calendar list only shows "My calendar" once.
Written on my Samsung SII :-)

You are using Google Calendar app on your phone from the Play Store, correct? Or are you using a ROM based Calendar app (Sense, etc.)?

@BryanDenny I'm using the one which came with the phone, not a downloaded one. It's simply called "Calendar" (version 1.1 according to the "App info" page).

What phone do you have?

@BryanDenny Samsung S II

Here are some options you can try:

Remove your Google account and adding it back. Source
Clear app data via Settings > Application manager > Calendar Storage > Clear data. Source.
UPDATE 2013-05-15: This worked for l0b0

@l0b0 Have you tried the delete data suggestion mentioned here: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/855/why-do-i-have-duplicate-contact-birthdays-on-android-calendar

Clearing the Calendar Storage data worked perfect for me.

It's possible that the calendar app is showing the birthday in the  "My Calendar" and also from the "Contacts' birthdays and events" from google calendar (which you can set up from the website, birthay is in the more section of "Interesting Calendars"). If is the case they should show up with 2 different colors. You can turn on of these calendars off in the 'Calendars to display' options (from the menu).
The other option is that merging/linking contacts (i.e. if a contact has an exchange account and birthday info) ends up in duplicate birthdays entries added to the My Calendar, and show with the same color. So far I delete those by hand.

They actually show up with the same color and title. I checked in the app, and they both belong to the "username@gmail.com" calendar.

@l0b0 If you go to calendar.google.com, are there duplicate entries as well?

As mentioned in the OP, no.

Just to be clear, this solution is not applicable.

@l0b0 I think this answer will still get half the bounty though, since it has at least 2 upvotes.

And I can't vote it down because I have less than 125 score :(

Sorry to bump this up guys, but I think I got the solution to your problem, l0b0. I chanced upon this post while trying to solve the same problem faced by l0b0. I'm currently using Samsung SIII, and I synced my phone contacts to my gmail account. The birthdays of my contacts appear 3 times, with the same colour (under "My Calendar" in Google Calendar app).
I unclicked "My Calendar" in my Google Calendar App, and the contacts disappear. I think the duplicates are because of the contacts I have on my phone. To keep my friends' birthdays appearing on my calendar, I opt to click "Birthdays" instead. Hope this helps!

is it possible your Calendar app is synced with more than one account? If it is, the birthdays which were copied into your calendar from account A may have now been backed up onto account B.
You can check this by going to Accounts and un-syncing all but one of your calendars.

I have only ever had one account, so no. Also, I only see duplicates in Android, not on the Google Calendar web site.

If your calendar is showing twice same events, and even in the same color, it could be because your phone has a default option to show contacts birthdays. So go to settings in your calendar app (in your phone), and look for your "sync calendars", and uncheck the one called Contacts Birthdays. So in the website you'll see the one you're used to, and in your phone you'll see the one by default your phone comes with.
If nothing disappears, or both duplicated events disappear, means those events are stored in another calendar, or you have duplicated entries in your calendar. In that case, from the website go to your contacts and in the "more" option select "find and merge duplicates".
Hope it helps.

Both of the events disappeared when deselecting the "Contacts' birthdays" checkbox. I just verified that a random duplicate entry did not correspond to a duplicate contact (I regularly import contacts, and always use "find and merge duplicates" afterwards).

So if unchecking ONE calendar from the ones you have makes both events dissappear, means all birthdays including it's duplicates are in same calendar. I would recommend to check the calendar via web, unsuscribe from that calendar, sync the phone and make sure all birthdays disappear, and then, suscribe again to the birthdays calendar, make sure via web appears only once. If after doing that, in web appears once and in phone appears twice, issue would be the phone, so test your calendar in other android phone.

An after all of that, if in that other phone you test everything seems to be fine, I guess best choice is to uninstall calendar app (if you're rooted) or factory reset your SII.


text:
No menu entry for mobile network mode after installing CyanogenMod
My phone doesn't get a mobile signal anymore after installing CyanogenMod 10.1.3-i9100 on my Samsung Galaxy S 2. The IMEI is the same as printed in the battery compartment, Wi-Fi is working fine, and it finds mobile network operators, but even after setting it to "Choose automatically" it doesn't connect. When I try to phone someone, it says "Mobile network not available."
According to a CyanogenMod FAQ there should be an option Settings → Wireless & Networks → More → Mobile Networks → Network Mode, but there is no such option.
In "Wireless & networks" I see the following:

Aeroplane mode
VPN
Tethering & portable hotspot
Mobile networks
Mobile broadcasts

In "Mobile networks" I see the following:

Data enabled (checked)
Data roaming (unchecked)
National data roaming (checked)
Access Point Names
Use only 2G networks (unchecked)
Network operators

According to the Android Testing Menu (*#*#4636#*#* → Phone information)
 the network type changes between "HSDPA" and "GPRS". I'm not sure if the "Set preferred network type" setting is the same thing as the "network mode", but changing it from the original "WCDMA preferred" to "LTE/GSM/CDMA auto (PRL)" doesn't seem to help (tried restarting radio afterwards as well).

When you go to settings what Network options are there? WiFi etc?

What do you mean by "mobile signal"? Are you talking about mobile data (in this case, you should check the "Access Point Names" menu, and probably will have to add an appropriate APN), or does it include the "phone signal" as well?

Have you flashed the correct baseband on your device? The baseband from one version of Android may not work with others and you may lose wifi or 3g or whatever.

@RossC Could you please be a bit more specific? I used the latest stable version of CyanogenMod for my specific device.

The baseband is the 'modem' for your device. You usually flash it via Odin in the 'phone' section. The modem may not be fully compatible with your device and this is why you have the issue. I had to flash a new modem on S4 once I flashed a 4.3 Jellybean ROM on the device. Try #1234# or the appropriate code for your device and it should show your current Firmware and Baseband. Here is the modems for your device: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1455188

*#1234# is mentioned, but it (and many other codes) just results in a "Mobile network not available" message.

Flash the correct Modem for your fimware/country and try it again. It takes about 30 seconds so you'll know quickly.

@RossC I'll try to figure out how to do that. Does "my" country mean the country I bought the phone in, the country I live in, the country I installed CMod in, or the country I will be using the phone the most in?

The country you are using your phone in, it's related to the network mainly. I just use the modem ending in the same as my firmware base, eg XXXXXXXXML6 is the firmware, so ML6 modem installed.

let us continue this discussion in chat


text:
How to restore memos on Samsung S2
I have used the memo app which came with Android (the one with the big "T" logo) successfully for years. Today it suddenly lost all my memos without warning. Is this a known bug? Is there some way to restore the memos? Where are they normally stored?
I haven't synced with Google for a while (it seems authentication changed after upgrading to 4.1.2), so that option is not available.
I haven't installed any new apps since upgrading to 4.1.2 (and the Memo app did work successfully for a while after upgrading). I have disabled some apps which I have never used (at least not directly):

ChatON
Clock (digital, funky and modern)
com.google.android.voicese... (I can't seem to display the rest of the name)
Dual Clock (analogue and digital)
Exchange Services
Face Unlock
Game Hub
Google Play Music
Group Cast
Kobo
PressReader
Readers Hub
SNS
Street View
Talk
TalkBack
Voice command
Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo! News
Zinio

Do you mean Samsung's app S Memo?

Did it crash, or did just disappear? Did you do anything before it got lost, like install an app?


text:
Android not syncing anymore
My wifi doesn't turn green anymore, just stays grey/white, therefore my google apps do not sync anymore. I have internet. HTC Desire 2.3.7
Any help?

Did you verify that they're not actually syncing?  Did you reboot?  Did you try a manual sync?  Etc.

yes, I tried a manual sync, I also rebooted

I've had this problem too, but I have found that it is correlated to low internal memory on the phone. Try clearing the cache from some apps and uninstalling the ones you don't use, it helped for me. Nexus One 2.3.7

Very true. I have an HTC Desire myself, and this is indeed the reason. When the notification about low space goes away (at around 15 MB free), then syncing resumes.

On my HTC Incredible, low space can be caused by any app, even if there is sufficient total space. However, it doesn't tell me what app and I have to guess, usually by clearing the cache/data of the app I'm using when it pops up with low memory.

@KevinM yeah, I even installed this https://market.android.com/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.acc.pro to help with cleaning up

Mine has 6GB free internal memory (Droid2), still have been hitting the issue now. logcat reports an HTTP request timeout on Google's server (umm, do they only have one? or why does it stick to that IP?). So there must be other reasons why this occurs. Waiting the 3rd day already for a "server-side fixup".


text:
How do i remove double notifications? Galaxy s 2
I have the newest Samsung Galaxy S2 (SkyRocket) and as a user of Handcent I was able to disable the "double text notifications" on my last Galaxy but on this phone when I go to the main messaing app then the menu button I dont have a settings option.
How can I turn off the notifications so I don't recieve every message twice?

You need to go into the Stock Messaging app, hit Menu > Settings, un-check 'Notifications' which has the text stating 'Display message notifications in status bar'.


text:
Root hboot 2.18.0001 without computer (HTC EVO 4G)
My EVO 4G's charging port is broken and I am trying to gain root access on my device. Is there anyway to do so without using the USB port to connect to the computer?

There is currently no way to do this. The only way to gain root on HBOOT 2.18 is to use the HTCdev tool to unlock your bootloader which requires a USB cable to work since it uses fastboot commands. Revolutionary and other methods only support HBOOT versions up to 2.16.0001 on the EVO 4G.

is there a way to roll back my HBOOT to an earlier version that will allow me to gain root without a USB/Computer?

@moesef: To my knowledge, no. You can't downgrade HBOOT when it's locked, and you can't unlock without a computer.


text:
Time of individual calls in history, if *same* number consecutively
Samsung Galaxy S10, Andorid 11, OneUI 3.1
To obtain time and number of recent calls, I got to the phone app, tap "recent" on the bottom, and see a list of incoming and outgoing calls with phone number and time. However, if it was the same phone number several times consecutively, it shows only the last time, and the number of calls in brackets: "phone_number (3) 12:34".
Is there a way to get a list of all calls individually (for all numbers, even if several times the same number consecutively).
(I know I can tap a line, hit "i", and see the whole list of calls for only this number.)
I prefer a native solution, but if a 3rd party app should be necessary, I prefer clean (as few rights as possible, no advertising, possibly open source) over "for free".

The free software Simple Dialer has a relevant setting. As of now, the text of the setting is this:
"Group subsequent calls with the same number at the call log"
Disable the setting. That would list each call as a separate entry. Note that reverse chronological order of all the calls would not be affected. So if you had made a call to X at 01:00, then to Y at 02:00, then to Z at 03:00, and then X again at 04:00, it would show up as expected:

X at 04:00
Z at 03:00
Y at 02:00
X at 01:00


text:
Cast on LineageOS 20
LineageOS 20, which is based on Android 13, has settings for some screen cast technology, even without having GApps installed. They settings can be found at Settings > Connected devices > Connection preferences > Cast. The UI simply refers to it as Cast, without giving any details on the technology involved or how to set it up.
As per my research, there are two technologies that Android has supported over the years:

Miracast, an open standard, introduced with Android 4.2–4.4 and gradually phased out starting with Android 6, ending with Android 9,
Google Cast, a proprietary protocol, which requires GApps on the device.

The UI simply tells me no nearby devices were found. I don’t see any controls to search for supported devices (in fact I don’t have any, because I don’t even know which technology they would need to support).
Does LineageOS 20 without GApps come with a complete stack for any screen cast technology? If so, which? If not, can this functionality be added? What would I need to install? If so, is there a way to achieve this without installing any proprietary add-ons?

Thanks for the link. The comment actually states that Miracast was supported up to LOS 16.0; LOS 17.1 only supports Chromecast on older devices (no idea what that means for new ones).

according to https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/qkys0j/comment/hj30lro/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button, Miracast was re-added in LOS 18.1. The poster is a LOS dev, who presumably knows what he’s talking about.

I got my hands on a device with Miracast support today, and here is my experience. Setup is not 100% self-explanatory.
AOSP had Miracast support up to Android 9, though some vendors started phasing it out earlier. LineageOS benefited from this until LOS 16.1. LOS 17.1 has no Miracast support, but it was backported starting with LOS 18.1 for select devices. As of LOS 20, it is still available. The following was tested on a Fairphone 4:

Prepare your display so it announces itself over the air.
On your device, go to Settings > Connected devices > Connection preferences > Cast.
Tap the three-button menu and enable wireless display.
You will see a bunch of options appearing; make sure Enable listen mode and Enable autonomous GO are on. (They reset themselves if you leave the screen.)
Available devices should now appear at the bottom of the list. Tap your device to connect to it.

Cast is not perfectly stable. The first time I connected to the external display, it would just give me garbage. After I disconnected, I was unable to reconnect; disabling and then re-enabling wireless display fixed this for me. The second connection attempt finally worked.
Be aware that wireless display is just as prone to radio reception/interference issues as WiFi itself. Especially videos may appear jerky, freeze briefly or show compression artifacts if bandwidth is impeded.
All in all, it works if there is no other option and/or you are mostly displaying still images. I wouldn’t recommend it for watching movies, though.


text:
Android custom keyboard shortcuts
I have a galaxy tab 10.1 connected (by Bluetooth) to a hardware keyboard. What I couldn't figure out was how to use custom shortcuts to do specific task the same way I do it on my pc.
For instance, say I type Ctrl+e on the keyboard, then the application menu will be opened.
I searched the android market, xda-developers site, stackoveflow and the net for an answer but couldn't find an answer. I did not even find out if rooting was required for this :(
Does anyone know how to do this?

are you rooted?

yes I am. Why?.

Then I would follow the process dissassembler posted. I did this with my bt keyboard, and it worked like a charm :) I might have another resource on it, if I find it, I'll give you another answer

I searched around a bit, and I think what you want are key mappings for your Bluetooth keyboard. I found this on MobileRead.
It looks like what you want to do is possible, but it may require a bit of work. I'm getting a bluetooth keyboard, so I may end up trying this myself.
As always, remember to backup anything important in case you run into some problems. I hope this helps. :)


text:
can't update, can't do a factory reset
I have a Nexus S running Android 2.3.4. For a while now it's been trying to prompt me to install newer versions.  Every time I try, it restarts, displays the cute robot error screen and doesn't come back on until I take out the battery and restart it. Pressing power+volume+/- doesn't help.
I also tried to do a factory reset. Same result.
Before I got this phone (it was a gift), the shop did something to it "to enable Hebrew." Not sure what exactly but I suspect they dinkied around with system files and that's what is causing this.
Anyone have suggestions for what to try next?

did they root it or is the software modified in any way after "enabling Hebrew"?

no idea. How do I found out?

My instinct: take it to a more reputable shop :-|

not even sure where the original shop is:)
Surely there must be some way to restore the phone to its original state though?

I've closed your previous question as a duplicate of this one, since this contains some additional information (such as the Hebrew patch/modification). In the future, please try not to re-post questions. It is preferable to simply edit the original with additional info, which will bump it to the top of the active list, thereby getting it more attention.

This a solution to bring your device to a stable, stock, factory default state.
NOTE: this will wipe your device (not the SD card) and return it to stock, unrooted factory defaults.

Download one of these two files:

This file if you want to restore to Gingerbread
and this zip file if you want to restore to the OTA 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) latest update.

Extract the file you downloaded to your computer, in a location you remember.
On your phone, enable debugging

this is usually found by going to the home screen, then pressing Menu and choosing Settings->Applications->Development and check the USB debugging option

Plug your phone into your computer
Locate the run.bat file in the location where you extracted the .zip file
Run this file and wait for the process to finish.
You're done! Reboot and enjoy!

is it .. safe?
Kind of hesitant about something so framed in ads.

The ads are a product of cheap file hosting. This method and these files have been used and recommended by others on reputable Android forums and websites, and the file has been reported genuine by those users, by statement of use. Though the site will try to coerce you with flashy ads, rest assured the file you seek is pure.

If you don't mind ending with CM9 follow these steps:
http://oldwiki.cyanogenmod.org/wiki/Nexus_S:_Full_Update_Guide

Google has the official system images available for download here. You'll need to be familiar with the fastboot tool or learn how to use it :)

This is really old, but I just needed and found working instructions for the factory reset of a Nexus S. They are at https://developers.google.com/android/ota, the relevant steps are:

... use the key combination for your device (Press and hold Volume Up, then press and hold Power), and then select the Recovery option from the bootloader menu. The device is now in recovery mode and an Android logo with red exclamation mark should appear on screen.
To access the recovery menu, hold the Power button and press Volume Up once. The recovery text menu will appear.

From the recovery menu, you can do a factory reset that will wipe all your data.


text:
GT-I9000G - updated to ICS, charging using USB - error sim card not detected and unable to detect USB drive
I just updated my phone to ICS, using samsung galaxy GT-I900G, now whenever I charge my phone using USB, there is a circle icon and the network connection is lost. My machine does not recognize my phone as well. USB error.

For the second part: have you installed the USB drivers?

yea. installed usb drivers. tested my phone on another computer. it detected samsung galaxy s3, plugged in this s2, device not recognised.


text:
How to disable double tap for page-home on Samsung Galaxy S2?
After wondering and getting annoyed by my phone sometimes just jumping to the beginning of a web Page, I finally found out that it's a new Feature of the internet browser. Double tapping on the top of the phone jumps to the top of a web page.
How can i disable this?
I'm using Samsung Galaxy S2 running ICS 4.0.3.

Look under Settings > Motion for an option to disable double tap feature. I disabled the whole motion category.


text:
Connect Samsung S2 with Microsoft exchange server
I bought Samsung Galaxy S2. I created new e-mail profile with my credentials and successfully connected with Exchange server. I can read my e-mail messages, but when I try to send new e-mail, I get following error:
Unable to sign or encrypt message. Certificate not installed.
My company has self issued certificate with .cer extension. What to do ?

Have a look at http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4053/how-do-you-import-ca-certificates-onto-an-android-phone

I will try solutions from given post! Thx


text:
Hide VoLTE icon on Samsung
I used to be able to turn off VoLTE, but since a recent update, if I select 5G, VoLTE can't be disabled anymore (it is grayed out). I don't mind it being on, I just want to hide the icon.

If I select 4G I can disable it. That's what's working for me now. But then I can't use 5G connectivity.

Sorry, just found a way. Get Good Lock from Galaxy Store, and then get QuickStar. It have an option to hide the icon.


text:
How to know, which app is playing music in the background?
I installed some alarms, then I configured them... then I configured the phone settings the standard wake signal for a long music.
I ended up that something is playing music in my ear, in the background, and I have no way to know, which app is doing it.

check music,audio or any kind of media is playing or not using tasker https://taskernet.com/shares/?user=AS35m8nYj7A5qrPTA086ys%2FsiKF8MuaE80lm%2BmVtRU%2FYEwNLoBUZyPn4XVlnaNQa5BUwd%2B2PcHapfR0%3D&id=Project%3AmediaPlayingStatus

Try this command inside adb shell
dumpsys media_session | grep -E "Media button session is.*userId=0"
It will output like this
blueline:/ $ dumpsys media_session | grep -E "Media button session is.*userId=0"
  Media button session is com.bsbportal.music/media_session (userId=0)

Here is a single liner command for getting the package name of app playing the audio
dumpsys media_session | grep -E "Media button session is.*userId=0" | sed "s/.*Media button session is//g" | cut -d'/' -f1 | xargs
blueline:/ $ dumpsys media_session | grep -E "Media button session is.*userId=0" | sed "s/.*Media button session is//g" | cut -d'/' -f1 | xargs
com.bsbportal.music
blueline:/ $ dumpsys media_session | grep -E "Media button session is.*userId=0" | sed "s/.*Media button session is//g" | cut -d'/' -f1 | xargs
com.google.android.youtube
blueline:/ $

If you've paused the Music playing apps then you would get the same above output.
If you really wanna confirm if the audio/music or some content is really being played then you can combine the above command with another one to check its playback state.
dumpsys media_session | grep -E "Media button session is.*userId=0" -A11 | grep "state=" | sed "s/.*{state=//g" | cut -d ',' -f1
Returns "3" for playing state and "2" for paused state.
blueline:/ $ dumpsys media_session | grep -E "Media button session is.*userId=0" -A11 | grep "state=" | sed "s/.*{state=//g" | cut -d ',' -f1
2
blueline:/ $

All my tests were done on Google Pixel 3 running on Android 12, the shell commands might return a different output on different Android versions so make sure to fine tune them. (Or revert back to me if you need any help)


text:
Would I break anything by installing another build of the same custom OS, but with a different signature, using a custom recovery tool?
I am about to get a device for which, so far, only an unofficial LineageOS build exists. A merge request to officially support this device is underway, but as always with LineageOS, no ETA.
A bunch of forum posts mention that there may be issues when signatures do not match. I remember that, when moving from CyanogenMod to its successor LineageOS, there was a special migration process (as the migration implied a change of the OS signature iirc):

Install a special, migration-only build of LineageOS (intended only for migration from CyanogenMod, not for permanent usage)
Boot up LineageOS once
Install a regular LineageOS build over it

Also now, I am seeing discussions about migration paths from an unofficial build of LineageOS to an official one (again, with different signatures). However, I have not yet seen a clear explanation as to what the signature does and what would break if the signature does not match. Presumably any update tool would reject an update with a different signature. However, custom recovery tools (TWRP for sure) allow for signature checks to be skipped, hence this would not be an issue. Anything else I am missing?
My planned update path is the following:

Using TWRP (or possibly, LineageOS Recovery), create a backup of the data partition on my present device.
Unlock the bootloader of the new device.
Install either TWRP (if available) or LineageOS Recovery on the new device.
Install the still-unofficial LineageOS build on the new device.
Using the recovery tool, restore the data backup on the new device.
Use the new device.
When an official LineageOS build becomes available, reboot into recovery and install it.
Continue to use the new device, now with an official LineageOS build.

When switching from Nexus S to OnePlus One, I followed the first six steps and this worked without any issues. Both devices were on the same CyanogenMod version, albeit both were official builds, presumably with the same signature. Thus, as long as the OS signature does not change, the above process is proven to work – save for individual apps doing some extra verification, the effects of which would only affect that particular app.
Would I be able to use the same procedure to upgrade to a build of the same OS but with a different signature? If not, what would be broken by the signature not matching?

Moving the entire /data partition to a different device no longer works with modern Android devices, as that partition is now encrypted. As far as I found out, the encryption method varies from device to device – either full disk encryption or file-based encryption. The recovery tool would therefore be able to either decrypt the partition, or back up the encrypted data and its keys. The second option would only work if both devices use the same encryption method.
As of September 2022, TWRP does not seem to be able to back up, or restore, encrypted partitions, and LineageOS Recovery does not include backup functionality at all. I am not aware of other Android recovery tools, so currently I am not aware of a way to move the /data partition to a different device.
That means the only way to back up /data would be from within the OS. If you are root, you could try taring the directory on one device (storing it on the SD card), then restore it on the other, though I have no idea if that works. Otherwise, NeoBackup (available on F-Droid) can do a batch backup of all installed apps with their data.
For the signature part, that leaves us with upgrading between official and unofficial builds. Examining a key migration script for LineageOS reveals that it modifies two files: /data/system/packages.xml and /data/system/packages-backup.xml. These contain a list of all installed packages and, among others, their signatures. According to the instructions on the LineageOS wiki, the signatures need to be changed before updating to an OS image with different signatures.
Admittedly, that still doesn’t fully answer my original question. Presumably either the recovery tool will refuse to update if signatures do not match, or the new OS will throw tons of errors on boot because all of the system app signatures have changed, possibly forcing you to revert to the old OS or even wipe your data partition. However, there is a migration path if you really need to move to an OS image with different signatures.


text:
Re-Activate Post-Alarm-Clock News Reader on Android
Android's alarm app offers a feature to read the current/latest news from selected sources. It consists of text-to-voice for today's weather and appointments and a collection of different news podcast by the actual publisher.
This feature starts as soons as you stop the alarm. But sometimes it's not even starting. If you pause it for too long, when having a phone call in parallel, it's being closed automatically. And yeah, sometimes, not often, it crashes.
So I am in the "desperate" need of finding a way to manually start this "reading feature".
There are several problems preventing that:

this is not part of the official news app (which is not even required on the phone)
it's not a seperate app on the phone
a couple of weeks ago you could start it manually using the assistantg (Hey Google, read the current news)
not even Gemini knows a valid answer (neither does ChatGPT or Claude, I asked them all)

Please note: I don't want to know how to enable it in the alarm app, I want to start the "reading app" (it's more a process or part of the alarm app) manually. I also don't want to install a different app or use Spotify/Deezer. Also I don't want to workaround it by setting an alarm for 1 Minute in the future. There must be a valid, user friendly solution that my "AI powered Smartphone" offers.

AFAIK, this is a function of Google Assistant. You could try checking on Google app - Settings - Google Assistant - Routines. Then see if there's a routine called "Good morning".

Thanks @AndrewT. - there's no such routine, I could probably add one, but honestly: that's the way of workaround I'd like to avoid, if there's no better/easier solution

If that's the case, could you mention the device model, Android version, and the Clock/Alarm app, just in case it's relevant? I still think this is Google Assistant's "Good morning" routine with the starter alarm dismissed, and it can also be activated by saying "Good morning" to Google Assistant (on my stock Pixel 3a), but I don't know how/if other manufacturers implement it differently.

"Good Morning" is not working, but I found the solution, see answer... thanks anyway!

When in the settings for my Google account (locally, on my phone), I have to select "Assistant" and then "Digital Assistant" - I can switch back to "Google Assistant" from "Gemini". No again, I can activate the news reading feature again.
I remember how the phone at some point asked me about that switch and I didn't realized the impact of that (I don't even understand, why they ever offer this option, Gemini is not really an assistant, as my case proves).


text:
Connecting to OpenVPN running on OpenWrt from Android
OpenVPN 2.5.3 aarch64-openwrt-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [EPOLL] [MH/PKTINFO] [AEAD]
library versions: OpenSSL 1.1.1l  24 Aug 2021, LZO 2.10

I installed OpenVPN on the latest OpenWrt 21.02.1
The client config and server conf files both have these lines at the top:
user nobody
group nogroup
dev tun
..
..

I installed the OpenVPN for Android app on my Android phone. When entering the client config file... am I supposed to comment out or delete the first two lines since there is no user called: nobody and no group called nogroup in my Android. At least I didn't see anything in /etc/group and `/etc/passwd in Android OS.
I see in the OpenVPN manual that the --user option lets you:
"Change the user ID of the OpenVPN process to user after initialization, dropping privileges in the process. This option is useful to protect the system in the event that some hostile party was able to gain control of an OpenVPN session."
I can connect from the Android client to OpenVPN server by commenting out those two lines but is there a way to obtain the benefit of running as user "nobody" and group "nogroup", or some such unpriviledged user, when connecting to OpenVPN server on OpenWrt from an Android phone?
From a Terminal to my phones Android OS if I do ls -l I can see user and group of all files is: u0_a252 so should I make a user an group of u0_a252 on the server running OpenVPN and then use that as the user and group in you are dropping root privileges on the client with --user and/or --group the client and server config files? My phone is not rooted so I guess running as user u0_a252 will be the same thing as running OpenVPN unprivileged?
Lastly do I NEED to define a user AND a group or is one or the other enough? The OpenVPN manual is a bit ambiguous on this point because it also states: "[if] you are dropping root privileges on the client with --user and/or --group.."
Cheers,
Flex

I asked the creator of the OpenVPN for Android  app.
That app ignores the OpenVPN --user and --group options and it runs as an unpriviledged user which can be confirmed by installing Android Debug Bridge (ADB) on a computer to which the phone is attached via USB cable. Then run commands such as these:
# adb shell
sunfish:/ $ top | grep openvpn
20901 shell        20   0  10G 2.8M 2.1M S  0.0   0.0   0:00.00 grep openvpn
20901 shell        20   0  10G 2.8M 2.1M S  0.0   0.0   0:00.00 grep openvpn
19186 u0_a253      20   0  14G  96M  49M S  0.6   1.7   0:02.23 de.blinkt.openvpn:openvpn
19186 u0_a253      20   0  14G  96M  49M S  0.3   1.7   0:02.25 de.blinkt.openvpn:openvpn
19186 u0_a253      20   0  14G  96M  49M S  0.6   1.7   0:02.26 de.blinkt.openvpn:openvpn

So in my case the client connecting to the OpenVPN server has user id: u0_a253 and not root.
Regarding my original question.... my understanding is that u0_a252 is the UID of the Terminal process.
Cheers,
Flex


text:
Can one download GMaps offline areas without signing in?
Can one download GMaps offline areas without signing in?

No, but you can sign in, download the offline maps, then use them off-line although they do expire in 30 (?) days if I recall correctly. If you do not/can't sign into Google, then you will need to find a different Map/Navigation app.

@acejavelin thank you sounds good please feel free to convert your comment into an answer.

Yes like @acejavelin said its impossible without signin in but there are many apps offering offline maps like this one  which i used before and recomend it.

From the comment section, it is currently not possible to download GMaps offline areas without signing in.

Comments:

No, but you can sign in, download the offline maps, then use them off-line although they do expire in 30 (?) days if I recall correctly. If you do not/can't sign into Google, then you will need to find a different Map/Navigation app.acejavelin Apr 4 '17 at 13:34
Yes like @acejavelin said its impossible without signin in but there are many apps offering offline maps like this one which i used before and recomend it. Silent 1 min ago


text:
Samsung Galaxy loosing mobile network connection randomly until restart
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G and every time I enter a building's basement, even for just a short time period, the connection is cut and my phone looses it's connection to the mobile network.
(Sometimes it also just happens randomly and I only notice it once a song stops playing in the background).
I can still connect to WI-FI, but the 4 bars disappear and I'm not receiving any signal/connection, until I completely restart my phone or take out my SIM-card and put it in again, which probably restarts the SIM-driver.
Is it possible to manually restart the SIM-driver, which does not require me to restart my phone, nor take out my SIM-card?
(And is there an answer to why my phone is even doing this in the first place?)
Thank you very much!

The only action you can do is enable Airplane mode and some seconds later disable it.

@Robert wouldn't de- and activating mobile data do the same? Because that does not work.

Just deactivating mobile data does only disabled the data channel on cellular level but the voice part remains active. Therefore enabling Airplane mode should make a difference.

@Robert Thank you very much for the explanation! Next time it happens, I'll let you know if it worked!

Original solution by @Robert.
I'm just answering my own question, so other people facing the same problem, know that there is, in fact, a solution.
Just activate "airplane mode" for a few seconds and then deactivate it again, in order to not just disable mobile network, but also 'the voice part'.


text:
If I were to factory reset my device, would my kernel be reverted to my default one?
Would my kernel be reset to its default variant? If not, is the only way to factory reset my kernel to flash the default one?

See almost same Q&As here: https://android.stackexchange.com/search?q=user%3A96277+factory+reset

No, factory resetting your device does not revert the kernel.  Yes, if you want to reset your kernel you must flash it.


text:
What is the typical Android OS Upgrade policy?
I noticed that our HTC Thunderbolts were upgraded from Android 2.3 to Android 4.0. That is very nice, I thought it would never upgrade.
Now that it did, I am wondering, why / what rules qualify an upgrade? Is it once every 18 months regardless? Is it diverse depending on which phone you have? Does it also depend on the carrier and/or brand? (are the HTC phones generally this way, or is it Verizon's choice)
Please clarify the Android OS update policy for me.
It would be extra good if you knew the policy on the iPhone OS, and how it compares.
Oh, and I already know that apps (YouTube, Play Store, Play Music, Gmail, Games) are not part of the OS, except for certain bundled apps. (Camera, Internet, Phone, etc.)

There basically is no policy. You'll get updates whenever the carrier/manufacturer/Google decide to release them.

Then the question is, who decides? The Carrier, Manufacturer, or Google? Or do they have to agree?

Google releases updates of Android regardless of what anybody else is doing with it. They develop it on their own timeline. What the manufacturers and carriers do after that probably varies, I would guess. In the US where phones are (typically) heavily subsidized by carriers, they generally have much more influence. In places where subsidizing is less common that may not be the case at all.

Who decides depends on where you buy the phone from. If you're buying a nexus device directly from Play Store, it's Google that decides the update. If you're buying carrier subsidized phones, it's usually the carrier that decides update schedule, sometimes that closely follows the manufacturers's update schedule, other times there can be significant delay between manufacturer update and carrier update schedule. How large the delay is is carrier dependant.

There isn't a specific Android OS Upgrade Policy. If it's a Nexus device and it can handle the latest version of Android it will get the latest version of Android from Google. Other than that it is up to manufacturers to update drivers and their specific customized version of Android for their own devices and then it is up to the carriers to approve those updates and release them to users' phones.
Apple has only one phone basically and they release updates on what seems to be a yearly basis and update is done via their own service, not restricted by carriers.

Well, then for completeness, do you know how often Google updates the Nexus device?

Major updates tend to be every 6 months and minor updates in between.

According to Google 18 months is the OS life.
"Nexus devices may not receive the latest version of Android if they fall outside of the update window, which is usually around 18 months after a device has been released."
https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705?hl=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history
The last few new Android versions have been

Android Jelly Bean 4.1 on July 2012
Android Jelly Bean 4.2 on November 2012
Android Jelly Bean 4.3 on July 2013
Android Kitkat 4.4 on October 2013
Android Lollipop 5.0 on November 2014
Android Lollipop 5.1 on March 2015

So apart from a gap between 4.4 and 5.0 the minor releases have mostly been about half a year apart, and there has been a new major release (eg new dessert themed codename) about every one and a half years.
Important notes, however:

Only Nexus branded devices get the updates as soon as they're released.  Third party manufacturers get given the source code on that day, and it takes them a few months to make it into a release, depending on various factors.  Additionally, they have various agreements with carriers to let the carriers test updates before releasing which can add months.
Not all devices receive all updates, and some receive no updates at all.  The more "popular" a device and the more it is considered a "flagship" device, the more likely it is to get updates, but that's only a general rule of thumb.  There are phones being sold today still using only Android 4.3 with no further updates.


text:
SIM settings icon always on notification bar
I bought an imported HTC Desire about 6 months ago and put my New Zealand Vodafone SIM in it. When I start up the phone, there's nothing in the noticication bar as you'd expect. Then, after a call is made or data connection initiates, an icon appears that looks like a SIM card with a cog next to it. I assume it's something to do with SIM settings. When I drag the notification bar down and click on it, nothing happens.
It's not a big deal, but I'd like to get rid of it if I can!
Don't know if it matters, but since I upgraded to Gingerbread, most of the icons in the notification bar are grey rather than white, but this one has remained white.
The phone is running the official HTC Desire Gingerbread upgrade - Android 2.3.3.
Update: Photos of the icon:

Obviously the phone is unlocked if it makes calls, but is it still running firmware from another region or carrier? That would likely explain it.

It's running the official HTC Gingerbread firmware - assume that's not carrier- or region-specific... That said, I assume it's my carrier trying to send me some settings but the phone can't read them or ignore them or something...

Usually that symbol means it's preparing the sd card. I always get it when I restart my phone as it's loading all the apps/wallpaper that I have.

Are you sure it is a sim related icon and not a micro SD card icon ? Does it have any text with the icon ?

Could you make photo or another image of this icon? I'd like to take a look at it.

@nathpilland - Pretty sure it's not the preparing SD icon, I see that on startup too.

@George - have added photo links just now...

That is the SD card icon not the sim card icon.
Perhaps your phone does not recognise the SD card, or the card needs reformatting to be used with the phone.
Or you don't have an SD card inserted.
EDIT
After further research:
That icon is called "stat_notify_sim_toolkit." It is used in just two places, both methods inside com.android.server.MountService:
notifyMediaUnmounted()
notifyMeadiaChecking()
Tracing these methods backwards, I see that the MountService calls them when either:
1) a volume is detected as not mounted
2) it is checking to see if a volume is mounted
Num. 2 should only take a few seconds at longest.
So, "something" is not mounted properly, though I cannot guarantee that is the SIM that is having a problem.
You should remove and re-insert all plugable items (SIM, SD).

Another option recommends:

settings > applications > manage applications > SIM Toolkit > Select Force Stop button

If this removed the icon 'temporarily' at least it confirms it's a SIM problem and not SD.
EDIT 2
Someone has a recommended solution for NON-ROOTED phone's here:
(I cannot verify this method as I haven't tested it)
SimCard Notification Icon Fix
For rooted phones simply use Titanium Backup and FREEZE the app: Sim Toolkit

I have an SD card in there and it works fine... There is a different icon there when it says "Preparing SD card" etc...

@x3ja Edited hope you can fix it!

cool thanks! Yes, force stopping SIM Tolkit removes the icon temporarily (comes back after a few seconds). As for the temporary root option - will look at that too - interesting that it's on the Vodafone NZ forums - I'm on Vodafone NZ too... perhaps it's unique to us kiwi Vodafoners?


text:
Where to find diagnostic information as to why mobile data won't turn on
I've had a Samsung Galaxy S3 for a little over a year now and not had too many problems with it. This afternoon, however, it's decided it won't connect to mobile data at all. I've had similar things on this and previous android phones, so I've tried:

making sure wifi isn't on
checking that mobile data is enabled (!)
checking the AP settings (these are actually locked down by my network provider - O2 UK)
turned on & off airplane mode
restarted
powered off & on
powered off, removed the battery and powered it back on

In all cases, I get no mobile data icon (so it's not even trying to connect from what I can tell) and I get no connectivity. Phone calls and wifi are working just fine.
Is there anywhere diagnostic information is kept around the status of the mobile data connection? If there's an error occurring, that would certainly be useful!
I did drop the phone a few days ago, but the mobile data has been working fine since then... but I guess it could still be related somehow. Even if that is the case and there's a hardware fault, the same thing applies - where is the diagnostic info?
I'm on the O2 UK stock image by the way - 4.1.2 / JZO54K.I9300XXEMC2

There might be some test modes available, hidden behind some "secret code" entered via the dialer. You could check with this list for the SGS and see if you find a matching stick.

Thanks for the pointer. In the end it appears to have been a carrier issue - I was unable to receive calls & texts as well (although I was able to make calls and send texts). Woke up this morning and it appears to be working again.

Thanks for the feedback, x3ja! I tried to sum up everything in an answer (to make it obvious that your issue has a solution). Feel free to "accept" the answer to indicate it includes your remedy :)

While in this case it turned out to be a carrier issue (and solved on the carrier's end, see this comment), in other cases one of the test menus might prove helpful. for a starter, you can find a lot of "secret codes" in this list for the SGS, together with a short explanation. But use them on your own risk :)


text:
Nexus S 4.0.3 (OTA) missing icon in the phone app
How can I solve missing icon issue? Restarted couple of times doesn't help.
Note: It was fine for a couple of months back. When it start happening, I just need to reboot, but now it's permanent.
The action buttons in the phone app should look like this:

But instead my phone app screen look like this:

Are you running an official OTA update, or a custom ROM?

what is that little "tick" in the right corner? maybe based on your DPI all the buttons do not fit and it needed to be put in a menu.

@Chahk yes, I'm running offical OTA, no unlock, root etc. For cm I do have other device ;)

@Ryan that's exactly my question. Pressing menu does nothing though.

@user802421 Have you tried a factory reset yet?

Not yet. I was hoping not to atm.

@Ryan pressing the "tick" (with a needle;) show contacts to add to the call.

I want to guess that maybe 4.0.3 maybe changed what you are used to seeing if you didn't change anything on the device. other then that... I have nothing, sorry.


text:
How can I enable cpu, memory, and io in cgroupv2 (attempt to run Docker on Android)
I am trying to run Docker on Android, using a Pixel 3a XL rooted, running stock rom but flashed a custom kernel. I need to enable cpu, cpuset, memory, io, and pid controllers in cgroupv2. After enabling them in menuconfig and flashing the kernel, the script used to check shows only pid available under cgroupv2 controllers.
What do I need to do besides enabling these options in the kernel’s menuconfig? Did I maybe not enable all the necessary options? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
With the current state, when I run docker I get a warning for each item, ex “WARN: Unable to find cpu controller”. and error setting cgroup config for procHooks process: bpf_prog_query(BPF_CGROUP_DEVICE)
As I understand it, these options may be mounted with cgroupv1 and this is why they do not show up?
I am using this guide: https://gist.github.com/FreddieOliveira/efe850df7ff3951cb62d74bd770dce27
and these are the options I enabled in my kernel using menuconfig: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Docker
From the config I flashed in my kernel:
CONFIG_CGROUPS=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_FREEZER=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_PIDS=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_DEVICE=y
CONFIG_CPUSETS=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_CPUACCT=y
I flash the kernel by flashing the Image.lz4-dtb file that is created after building the kernel.
Here is a photo after running the script to check if kernel options are all enabled. Am trying to change these from missing to available/enabled.

The solution was to run: sudo mount -t tmpfs cgroup_root /sys/fs/cgroup
which created directories for each of the cgroup resources and allowed Docker to run.
Useful is section 2.1: https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/+/android-trusty-3.10/Documentation/cgroups/cgroups.txt


text:
Is OpenAI ChatGPT available for Android?
Is https://chat.openai.com available as an app for Android or even mobile in general?
When asking it directly, it claimed it can be installed as a service inside Google Assistance, but since I wasn't able to do it is that true? If so, can you provide screenshots?

OpenAI has published the official ChatGPT Android app on July 2023, but there's no integration with Google Assistant (yet).
It is because:

Saying "talk to OpenAI Assistant" on Google Assistant will do a web search as expected.
Google Assistant doesn't have "Services", "Assistant", or "Apps" menu.
Google Assistant doesn't support 3rd-party assistance service.
If there was such an OpenAI Assistant/ChatGPT on Android, even in the closed/private beta phase, then it would have been making news all over the place. Alas, there's none. ChatGPT for Android finally arrives next week.

Please be aware of possible hallucination.


text:
New battery results in strange behavior
I was having the impression that my phone (Pixel 4) battery is already low on capacity (and a battery monitor calculated a capacity of 61%) so I ordered a new one and followed a tutorial on how to replace it. It was rather easy.
Now with the new battery I have some strange behavior that I can't really solve but it is reproducible since days:
When my phone reaches around 40-45% while using, it shuts off. It doesn't shut down like it does when it is really on low battery, it simply dies. It also dies in a way that I can't trigger the booting process. I have to connect it to a cable, wait for the % to show up on the screen and then I am able to boot it.
When it is finally up and running, I have often a completely different percentage shown in the top. Sometimes 50%+ (which means when it hits 40-45% again, it shuts off again). Sometimes (like right now) it showed 45% before booting and when booting was finished, it showed 18%.
So now I thought I need to calibrate it (and as I have read here, it is even only a myth). Anyway I tried it nonetheless. Drained it until it never even showed the boot logo again, then charged it until 100% while still being off. Issue persisted. I drained it again and charged it fully while being on. Still the same "shut off" around 40%.
One additional thing I noticed: My device lives like an hour at 1% capacity (no extreme power saving active!) before it shuts down, so I really have the feeling that the percentage is wrong/off.
Is the new battery broken? Would it help for me to make a full reset of my phone? Any ideas what I could try?

There are similar questions on this site but none having an affirmative way to fix. Consensus is "change the battery" and take extra care that you are doing it correctly without messing up the circuitry (not saying you did that but as a precaution) // I don't think a factory reset will help unless you repeat this experiment in safe mode and you get contrary results (battery works as expected)

Hm... yeah I think it is the only reasonable explanation. The battery must have some kind of defect. I will try and order a new one.

I have now a new battery since 4 days and it behaves now again like it should. No shutdowns in-between anymore and no unreasonable jumps in percentages.
Only strange thing I observed was directly after the replacement. The new battery was stuck on 31% until the battery died but once attached to charging, it behaved like it should, so I assume my system was simply confused with the new one at first :)


text:
Getting market error "Sorry there's not enough space to install this item."
Android Froyo 2.2 with 3GB available mmcblk0p2 space and over 3GB free space on MicroSD.
Have no idea from when it started. Since then, every time when I try to download/update an APP from Android Market, it prompted the "Sorry, There's not enough space to install this item." message for further action.
Have tried a few hints from Web, but yet no luck:

Format MicroSD.
Clean up Memory and Cache of Android Market.
Repartition the main storage from 4GB to 3GB.
tune2fs -m 1 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2

Any body can give steps to overcome this?
---Update on Debug message gathered from ADB---
When I clicked on Install-->OK to start download from Market, it logged a warning message in logcat:

14:45:16.928 Warning PackageManager 1948  Couldn't clear application caches

---Storage Structures---

#df -ha

Filesystem               Size    Used    Available    Use%    Mounted on
/dev/root                2.9G    652.8M   2.2G         22%     /
tmpfs                   76.8M     12.0K  76.8M          0%     /dev
tmpfs                   76.8M      0     76.8M          0%     /mnt/asec
tmpfs                    4.0M      0      4.0M          0%     /sqlite_stmt_journals
/dev/block/vold/179:9    3.7G     41.2M   3.6G          1%     /mnt/sdcard
/dev/block/vold/179:9    3.7G     41.2M   3.6G          1%     /mnt/secure/asec
tmpfs                    0         0      0             0%     /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure

====== Update on 2nd Aug 2011 ======
**
After days of research, found a few discussion about the error of calculation on available space in Android 2.2 series.  Someone was mentioned on the maximum partition size which might caused this problem.  Thus I have run a test on this, to repartitioned the system partition from 3GB down to 2GB and the market was back to normal...
Any idea on how to solve this?**

Application caches and data mounts are probably low on space.

Which device are you using? Sometimes that matters

Can you show us the "normal" space information?  From Settings -> SD card and phone storage.

@Ray, There are over 3GB available space on both Machine Memory and MicroSD.  Believed Low on Space is not an issue.

@Broam,
I am using the porting version of O2Droid.  Previously was used with no problem.  Until a day it appears system corrupted, after reinstall the whole system, it happens.

I was getting this error because my Gingerbread update was filling the /cache folder.  Deleted it (this probably requires root) and was able to update apps again.

Depending on your bootloader, fastboot erase cache may work. You don't need to have an engineering bootloader; later "ship" loaders allow for this too.


text:
How to make screen 'unsensitive' on incoming calls?
Here's the scenario: what I often find happening is that I receive a call on my Android phone (HTC Desire S), and as I'm rushing to get it out of my pocket I'm accidentally managing to swipe the screen, which rejects or accepts the call, when I didn't want to.
What's the best way to avoid this, given that I want to keep my phone in my pocket? I'd kind of like the screen to remain disabled when a call is being received until I press the power button at which point it becomes sensitive. Is there a way to do this or something which would avoid this accidental accept/reject of calls?

I just did it again.  I just hung up on someone who was calling me.  AAAAArgh!!! :-)

The way I solved the issue to my satisfaction was to buy and install the WidgetLocker Lockscreen app.  This is an awesome little app that basically allows you to replace your lockscreen (and incoming call screen too) with something customized.  I just have one horizontal slider to unlock the screen now, and it has completely eliminated accidental screen unlocks, as well as accidental accepts/rejects for incoming calls!  :-)
I would highly recommend WidgetLocker Lockscreen in any case, because being able to customize the lockscreen is really nice.

An anonymous user asked this (by doing an invalid edit): WLL has some bugs. On my LG P500 it sometimes unlocks sceen by its self on incomming calls. If I have some SMS or Missed call nottification, screen unlocks on incomming call.
This problem is the biggest minus of android. Solution is wery easy but android builders didn't take it in consideration. Why? Why unlocker is separate from loncher and is hard to override.

Buy case or cover for your phone. It will give you opportunity to take phone from your pocket without touching the screen. This isn't perfect solution, but I don't see another solutions.
Also I agree with you that swiping screen while getting phone out from pocket is annoying. +1.

This doesn't quite answer your question, but I wonder if you could change how you grip or store your phone. For example, I never have this problem with my Droid 1. It lives upright in my pocket, and I'm able to grasp it and pull it out without touching the touchscreen at all, and since it's upright, even if I did grab the screen, I would be touching the top part, which is away from the sliders for me.
My previous phone has a little place for a wrist strap, and I tied a big rubber ring to it which I could then grab with one finger to retrieve from the pocket.
Your phone is different of course, but maybe you can reason your way to some handling procedures that work around the problem.

Install Tasker from Google Play, create a scene without any further contents, produce a task to show this scene as overlay, blocking, fullscreen, with exit button, and then a profile to run on state call, incoming performing this task.
More beautiful scenes are possible.


text:
How can I enable swipe for back in Chrome for Android
Recently bought a new tablet, its running Android 6.0. On my touchscreen Windows 10 laptop, I can swipe the screen with one finger to go back and forward in chrome.
How can I do the same the same on Chrome for Android?
I've searched the internet, but can only find custom apps to perform this function. I have never installed anything custom to get this working on Chrome for Windows.

With newer version of Chrome for Android, it's possible to go back or forward by swiping left or right from the edge of the screen. If it's not enabled by default, follow the steps below:

In the address bar, type chrome://flags.
In the flags search box, type "history navigation".
You will either find depending on your Chrome version "Enable gesture navigation" or "Overscroll history navigation". Click on Default, then select Enable.
Restart Chrome.

Swiping left or right from the edge of the screen on tabs will take you back to the previous page or forward to the next page.


text:
WEP Wifi Connection Problem
I am new to this forum and would really want to please help me get this problem solved. I just bought a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and tried connecting it to my internet at home (Belkin N1 router - 64-bit WEP encryption) but it does not connect at all. It catches the internet connection and says its in very good range, I put the key but it never connects. I have tried all the different things possible via this forum, googling for answers, etc but haven't found a solution yet.
Stuff that I have tried:

Tried accessing it via a static i/p technique.
I cannot change the WEP encryption to WPA-PSK because the internet
is set up by my landlord and I am not allowed to change it. I can
check the settings and it shows access to all b/g/n configurations.
I have another phone i.e. the new Sony Xperia S, even that is not
able to connect to my wifi.
I am able to connect both these phones very easily to other wifi's
having WPA-PSK connectivity but just not my home network.

Update:
I have been able to partially solve the problem but it is not the exact solution that I am looking for. Here's what I have tried:
I have tried the WPA-PSK approach (AES encryption) and it does somehow make it work on my Xperia S (it did not connect to it instantly). Basically, there is an option of WPS (Wifi-Protection Setup) in my Xperia S which allowed me to do a Push Button Configuration (PBC) i.e. holding the router button for 3 seconds to allow my phone to access it. It assigned me an i/p address and thus made it work but spoiled it for my other housemates, so I had to get the setting back to WEP.I know it is more secure to use WPA, but I cannot change it without asking my landlord. Anyways, the point is that somehow my other phone connects to the router not instantly but via some route as given above. My question again is: Is it really not possible to connect it via WEP?
Kindly help as I have been struggling a lot to find for a proper solution over the internet.

Do you mind telling the length of you WEP key?

8 digits is the length of my WEP key = 03C004E1 (something like that). Dont exactly remember now.

Currently wireless channels are 6 and extension channel is set to 10.

Original key is: 0e39c004e1

Does the phone Wifi require Hex key or ASCII key?

Probably hex, but it shouldn't hurt to try both.

The problem is, it can see the network and try to connect it but it just cant get an ip address. It keeps looping on trying to connect and never does. When I checked the ip address section of it, it says 'Unavailable'.

Have you tried connecting without a password? ie, turn off WEP and any other encryption of wifi?

You should definitely avoid WEP because the algorithm is broken. Your network can be cracked, in the worst case, in a couple of hours and in the best case in minutes. Your landlord cannot force you to keep an insecure network in your house as well as he cannot force you to keep a broken door lock for it. Remember that if someone breaks into your network and does something nasty, you are in charge of proving that you are out of it.

@Power-Inside: Yes, I have tried connecting it WPA-PSK - AES and it has worked but then it spoils the internet connection for others and they are trying to connect it via WEP (Added an Update section just below my question). I know it is not the best thing to have a WEP connection as it can be cracked, but while its still there can I not access internet via that?

@Nerds.Dont.Swear No, what I meant was try to make your wifi access point an open one (without either WEP or WPA) and try connecting. If it connects without any problem, then it'd be certain that there is a problem with the encryption.

Ok, I'll give that a go.

64-bit WEP key in ASCII mode is 5 characters, and since you've said your WEP key is 0e39c004e1, you have to enter it in HEX mode. I'm not sure if your phone can handle HEX input, so if I were you, I'd try to (temporarily) assign some other WEP password, which can be entered in ASCII mode (5 random characters, letters or numbers), and see if that works from your phone.

Since you've mentioned that both your phones, Xperia X10 and Xperia S have the same problem with this router, it might be a good idea to invest about $30 in small WiFi router, which can connect to your home network and serve internet to your phones and other wireless devices. I use TL-MR3020 and it works perfectly in many situations.

Nope, I tried it and it doesn't work unfortunately.

you have mentioned "Xperia S" in you question, is this a different phone? if you have access to the different phones and different routers, it might be a good idea to check and see which phone can connect to which router. this might help to isolate the problem, be it with your phone or with your router. from my other experience, Sony devices can be quite picky about connecting to some type of routers, while everybody else does not seem to have any problems. had to change my router once because of this.

I have added an Update section just below my question telling what I have tried with the Xperia S and how I was able to kind of solve the problem but I am sure it is not a phone problem and more of a wifi issue. Both these phones work absolutely fine on any other WPA-PSK router. I have tried both of them at work and other places. No problems as such. Its only the WEP connection that has created these problems.

do I understand correctly that both your phones, Xperia X10 and Xperia S have the same problem with this router?

Yes. That is correct.

amended the answer, since additional comments do not display anymore.

The funny thing is, when I tried connecting my iPhone 4S to my wireless connection.. it connected straight away... Does it look like an Android problem?

from my experience, sony products are a tad picky about wireless connections, so I would not blame Android, more likely it's the problem of the particular phone model/brand.

But considering the fact that the Xperia S quite a recent release, why should that not work? By the way, just to mention the fact that I have faced exactly the same problem with a HTC Hero as well.

I think this is most likely a problem with the Android platform itself. My own LG P500 phone won't connect to any WEP secured network even though the key is 100% correct. In that case it was an iMac desktop with connection sharing through WEP, as that was the only option available for sharing.
It's not ideal, but perhaps finding a good compelling article about the benefits of WPA over WEP and presenting it to your landlord might be the easiest fix here.

I just thought of posting my solution here as well in order to help others that might face this problem in the future.
After troubleshooting the problem for over two months, I have finally been able to resolve the problem with the help of a Belkin technical support engineer. Just for clarification, the problem is neither with the phones nor the router. It is to do with the Wifi settings that can be accessed via the gateway i/p address (In my case it was: 192.168.2.1). I have followed the below steps that made it work for me (Please note that this solution may not help all the other WEP problems, it just seemed to help in my case. The best idea is to check up with your router's technical support department unless there is a problem with your phone).
Wifi settings changed:

Disabled Firewall
Disabled WAN Ping Blocking
The most important part:
Under Security, I changed the Wireless channel from '10' to '9'.
Changed the Configuration from "802.11 b/g/n" to "802.11 g only".
Changed the SSID name from say: "Belkin-Router" to "Belkin".
Applied changes and hurray, my phones got instantly connected.

Hope this helps others as well.