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TRIM command operability in Android 4.3
Has anyone been able to confirm the usage and operability of the fstrim (TRIM) functionality in the latest Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) release? I have seen multiple articles mention the operability of the TRIM function when certain prerequisites are met in the latest release but I have also read a few comments/blogs where they state that the functionality was added and functional in Android 4.1.

From what I've read, it was added in 4.1, then disabled in 4.2. But that's pretty deep in the bowels of the OS, so I don't know how you're going to confirm it. Anecdotally speaking, my original Nexus 7 does seem snappier now.

See the tracker on google source, change #1 and change #2 So yes, its looking like its available and functional in 4.3

Very nice!! thanks for pointing me out to the source code itself. For what is worth, my device was in a unusable state a few days before the update. It has been two nights since I got the v4.3 and I can really tell you that my device now feels like new again. Go android!


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Using Popen to invoke adb sendevent
I am running into a strange issue, running adb shell sendevent x x x commands from commandline works fine, but when I use any of the following:
subprocess.Popen(['adb', 'shell', 'sendevent', 'x', 'x','x'])
subprocess.Popen('adb shell sendevent x x x', shell=True)
subprocess.call(['adb', 'shell', 'sendevent', 'x', 'x','x'])
They all fail - the simulated touch even that works in a shell script does not work properly when called through python. Furthermore I tried adb push the shell script to the device, and using adb shell /system/sh /sdcard/script.sh I was able to run it successfully, but when I try to run that commandline through python, the script fails.
What's even stranger, is that he script runs, but for example, it does not seem to execute the command sleep 1 half way through the script, echo commands work, sendevent commands don't seem to work.
Doesn't even seem possible, but there it is. How do I run a set of adb shell sendevent x x x commands through python?

Do any adb commands work from Python? Perhaps it is not in your path.

Don't you have to set the stdout=subprocess.PIPE for this?

yes all other adb commands work. I don't think I need stdout=subprocess.PIPE, all that does is allow me to see the output of that command, and/or use the output in my code, which I don't need because there is no output... right?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Just did system update and forgot I had TWRP and root and now the updates changes havent taken affect!
Help! I have just installed the Android 4.3 update on my Nexus 7 which is rooted with a vanilla kernel with TWRP installed. It rebooted after the update and it booted straight into TWRP so I rebooted again and then it booted into Android as normal but the OS is still on 4.2.2 and not 4.3. I have tried going into About This Tablet then pressing Update and its saying its not on the latest version...
Help!

The best way to 4.3 may be unrooting and flashing the stock recovery image.
I used the Nexus Root Toolkit 1.6.4 to install 4.3 on a Galaxy Nexus having some minor problems. I would suggest waiting for NRT 1.6.6 which will have full support for 4.3

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


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Why does my phone occasionally prompt a new RSA key fingerprint for my computer?
I use ADB on my Linux PC to do stuff, but sometimes when I connect my phone, it reports an RSA key for my computer to be verified, despite I check the "remember this computer..." every time it had popped up.
I have no idea why this is happening but as far as I know, I had nothing changed regarding it, no updates on my PC, neither on my phone, so this looks very suspicious to me.
Can someone please shed a light on it? This happens roughly once a week or month I had several sessions in this period.
Additional details:
This is happening on my phone running android 9.0.0.
I ran the stat command against private and public key files. The birth date for both was more than one year ago, access date and time for the private key was when I got the prompt on the phone. So I suspect that the phone forgets the trusted devices.
There is no timeout option available per this answer  (it applies to 11+ anyway? ). There is though a "Revoke USB debugging authorizations" available but it doesn't show any list or a useful trace.

it's a security feature you can disable in developer options

@alecxs ty, but then if it has the option to trust and remember the computer why does it ask again when connected to the same computer? Is this also a separate feature?

Possible dupe: "Allow USB debugging" keeps on popping up

How often does the ADB authorization popup occur? Daily, weekly monthly? Which Android version is installed o the phone?

@Robert 7 days I guess :) https://android.stackexchange.com/a/226669

@Robert Updated the question with more details IMHO I'm not sure if it's random or not (the vendor is Samsung) but I don't have this problem with my older Sony which runs Android 8.0.0.

search your PC for multiple adb binaries 'find ${PATH//:/ } $HOME -type f -perm /111 -name adb 2> /dev/null'

@alecxs There was only one binary, not in the path, (in /lib/android...) and a symlink to that (found with -type l). did even a broader search find / -type f -name adb 2>/dev/null and only one adb binary was found.

do a backup of ~/.android and compare adbkey.pub next time it happened

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


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Android cannot send mail
After working fine for a while, since a couple of months our tablet cannot send mails from mail accounts across several providers. However, receiving mails works. I tried whatever I could think of or found on the internet (see below), and I am quite desperate...
This page shows several possibly related questions, but they do not describe my problem.
It says "sending ..." -> Error message "senden fehlgeschlagen" = sending did not work. Update: Sometimes (seems random, possibly because it is shown for short time ~ 1 sec) it also says in addition "Server nicht verfügbar" = server not accessible (although internet and smtp server work when tested from the other devices, see below).
Device:

Samsung Galaxy 10, 2014 edition Android 5.1.1, Safety patch 2017-04-01
(i.e. all regular updates offered for it)
has enough memory > 6 GB free
mail client: standard Android mail client
mails are managed via IMAP (not POP3) / SMTP

Mail providers tested:

web.de (2 accounts from 2 people)
mail.de
tested each time with only one single account set (and all others removed), just to make absolutely sure the do not interfere with each other

What DOES work is the following:

sending (and every else) mails from each of the accounts using a) another android device (Samsung Galaxy phone, Android 5.0.1 - i.e. all regular updates offered for that device), b) PC/Thunderbird, and c) webmail.
send & receive mails via POP3. I wish to use IMAP (PORT numbers adjusted, same settings exp. for outgoing (SMTP) server).
internet bandwidth (45 MBit/s download, 6 Mbit upload, ping 92 ms) and volume

What I tried so far, without success:

shut down and restart the device
double-check  mail account settings (incoming: imap.web.de / imap.mail.de, SSL, port 993, optional imap path prefix: none; outgoing: smtp.web.de / smtp.mail.de, TLS, port 587, "Anmeldung erfordern" = need authentification checked in checkbox, same PW). All is set as suggested by the respective providers, and as set in the other android device from which I can send mails.Tried also alternative settings (e.g. SMTP: port 25, and other settings), but this did not improve anything (even though probably not all possible combinations)
Removed and re-created the accounts (only one at a time). Still can receive, but not send.
Tried another WiFi at a friend's home, different telecommunication
provider, same problem. There is no problem with bandwith, internet volume etc.
Tried on multiple days since several weeks to months
Mail app is updated
I prefer the normal android client. To our knowledge, there is no other (possibly interfering) client installed.
UPDATES:
As suggested in comment below (thanks!): deleted all data and
deleted all cache from mail app (and again deleted and re-created
account) - no change.
No certificates are needed, but the mail provider requests the users to specifically allow mail clients (mail clients/apps in general, i.e. management via IMAP/POP3, as opposed to the provider's web surface). This option has always been and is still chosen (doublechecked, and works from other devices).

Thanks in advance, I am looking forward to your help.

Try clearing data for the mail app. Settings>apps>mail>storage>clear data. This will delete all the data that's saved in the app. But any data that's already in the cloud is not going to be deleted

@Abochur: Thanks, hope I got this right, menu seems a little bit different. Went to settings > apps > E-Mail: delete all app data, and delete all app cache. Unfortunately id not help. Updates list in my question to keep anoverview.

@beeshyams: sorry - what do you mean by "chat the cache"? I cleared the cache, without improvement.

+1, good point - my work mail does, but not these free mail providers used on the tablet. Updates list in question accordingly to keep track...

I've also recently had email behave really oddly. Early December, out of nowhere it suddenly ate up 4 GB of my mobile data limit (which was 3GB), and it seems that things I emailed since then never arrived or arrived weeks late. I also found an email from last summer in my outbox.
Honestly, this behaviour is so bizarre and broken that I'm inclined to consider the app broken en look for a better one.

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


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Photos directly to dropbox, discarding local copies automatically
Is there a possibility to take photos directly to dropbox?
Currently Dropbox offers the Camera-Upload option, but it doesn't move, but copies files to Dropbox. This still leaves me to delete the local files by hand, hoping that the photos have already been uploaded.
Similiarily there are solutions like FolderSync, but general purpose synchronization software is liable to misconfiguration and increased maintenance requirements compared to special-purpose software.
Ideally I'd like to have a photo app, that doesn't keep local copies of the image, e.g. something like Cambox but for Android instead of iOS.

I believe what you're referring to is covered by http://www.uploadcamapp.com/
They accept upload to Google Drive and Dropbox. Sadly, as of writing this, not OneDrive/365
I also don't know what happens if the service is down / no internet (does it sync later etc)


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What would be a good method to find popular, low rated apps on the google play store?
Apart from just scouring through the charts and clicking on each app individually. I calculate that would take a full week to complete.
I can't find any site that lets you sort the apps by rating, making this tough to achieve... if it's possible at all.
Thanks!

How come popular apps be low rated? :-O

Hang on, are you talking about doing this automatically? Google Play Store is proprietary and no way of automating it or by programmatic means to do so as that is a violation of Terms & conditions of the Play store. Google prohibits usage of screenscraping etc on that and would shoot down anyone doing that.

No. I'm not talking about that. There are many sites that have the data as well. appbrain, appannie, etc. I'm wondering if there's on that would allow sorting by rating which would then allow finding low rated apps. I can't find any so far.

Or there could be some other way of finding these insights that I'm not aware of - hence the question.


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Disable sound made on mute keypress in Jelly Bean
With a Galaxy S4 / Jelly Bean OS, every time I press the mute button the phone emits a sound that's audible to other parties. Can this be disabled? I tried disabling all keyboard sounds in the Ringtones and keypad tones menu, but that didn't seem to help. What else can I try?

What's a mute button? Is that the one when you long-press the power button, and click the Mute icon?

I think he talks about the "micro" button (for voice typing)

On the call screen / keypad there are six buttons. Add call, Hide, End call, Speaker, Mute and Headset. This mute button is the button I'm concerned with.

Can you hear the sound, or only them?

I guess the "mute" button Derek's talking about is the one to mute the mike. But as geffchang asked: Do those "other parties" the sound is "audible to" include the "other end of the line", i.e. the ones you talk to on the phone?

Yes, both I and the other parties can hear the sound.


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Wrong reply-to header in emails (tine20)
I have two different servers with two different user names

foo@mailserver.example (valid mail address)
bar@tine-server.example (not a valid mail, just for tine20 login)

I created an Exchange-Connector on the android device and if I send mails the message is from "foo@mailserver.example" but has a reply-to "bar@tine-server.example" set.
This is broken, since bar@tine-server.example is just a login for the tine20 server. It is not a valid email address.
Sending mails with the tine20 GUI works and there is no reply-to header set.
I use the default mail application on my android 4.1.2 (Samsung S2)
How can I tell the android mail app to stop adding the reply-to header?

Glad you've found the answer yourself! You might wish to make it an answer (currently, it's just a comment and might be overlooked). It's absolutely OK here to answer your own question ;)

I found the solution:
If you use two different servers for mail and tine20, you need to use the mail address if you create the Exchange Connection on the android device. The automatic set up will fail, and in the advanced settings you can enter the name of the tine20 server.
If you use the tine20 login on the first screen, the stock mail app will add a reply-to header to the tine20 server. And that's not valid, if you run two servers.


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How can I transfer my all contacts from old HTC Wildfifre android 2.1 to LG Optimus Vu
I just want to transfer all contacts from old HTC Wildfire with android version 2.1 to new LG Optimus Vu with android version 4.0. I have used different apps but still I am unable to transfer contacts and an unexpected error occures. Another issue is that I can't move contacts to SD card because LG Optimus Vu does not supports SD card. Please recommend a simple and easy way or an app which is helpful to transfer contacts to the new LG optimus Vu from HTC Wildfire.

Just a few steps:

Open the contacts app on the Wildfire
Tap the menu button, select to "Export" your contacts to SDCard. This will result in a 00001.vcf file on your SDCard.
Now use any way you like to get the exported file to the Optimus:

Mail/GMail it to your account
Send it via Bluetooth
Copy to your computer, and then to the new device's internal SDCard
...

On the Optimus, open the contacts app
As above, use the Export/Import feature to import the .vcf file

If in step 3 you chose to Mail/GMail the .vcf file, you most likely will be able to open it directly from the attachment, which should cause it to be offered for import into your contacts app (I never tried that variant, so I'm not sure about it).

I installed Contact Sync and exported all my contact data and groups to a single .vcf file, afterwards I mailed it to my mail account and then downloaded it on my new phone and there imported it with the same app which I used for the export. This did the trick for me.

The simplest way would be exporting all contacts to Google account and then Sync it in a new device.


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Why does my Samsung galaxy blaze randomly shut off and won't reboot until it is plugged into the wall?
My galaxy blaze phone randomly shuts off (even though I have plenty of battery life left) while using it and then tries to reboot itself but never fully starts up. Therefore, it constantly keeps shutting off and on until I charge it.  While it is turning off and on I take out the battery for several minutes but nothing seems to work.  Once it plugs into the wall it starts to work again but lately this is happening more and more often, up to 5 times a day.
Would a new battery or update fix this or is it something malfunctioning within the the phone itself?

open setting choose backup and reset. Once that is done turn the phone on It should be as good a s new. I took this off T-mobile help thanks Tmobile

You should mention that this removes all installed applications and user data from the internal memory and should be used with caution!


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Password has appeared but i've not installed it!
My partner uses her Lenovo tablet all the time , she doesn't use any password or pin just a swipe after boot up screen BUT tonight she booted up its got to the " desktop" screen but when she swipes it comes up asking for  PASSWORD , we've tried all known passwords yet it just says " WRONG PASSWORD " after 5 attempts it shuts down , there's no " Forgotten password " choice!
I'm at a loss , we don't really want to do a reset as she will lose pics that haven't been backup!
It's a Lenovo yoga tablet 2

Is it maybe a Sim password? If you have a Sim card in it, remove it and see if that helps

There's no sim in it !

Oh well, just a guess. The only thing i can think of is that someone thought it was funny to set up a password while she wasn't looking.

I'm the only one been near it so it can't be that , she loaded 2 games yesterday that she saw in an advert thing not the store so i wonder if its a bug! We do think the house is haunted !!

If you suspect an app is responsible for this, try following instructions here let me know how it goes

Got it to say safe mode bottom left but as soon as you swipe it still comes up Password !

Well I'm out of ideas. Let's see if anyone else has an answer as to how a password set itself up without human intervention.

I'm baffled & i don't do baffled!! Cheers anyway

Could you go to Google Device Manager and Lock your phone? It should ideally now ask you to use your Google email and password to unlock. Make sure you are connected to the internet.

Its a tablet , can't get any further than turning it on wait for home screen & that's it , when its normally swipe to continue it now asks for a password! which we didn't set up!!

@Paul harpratap is saying that you should go online to the link provided, and lock the device. On older devices you can set a custom code that will be asked of you when signing in. So go to Google device manger from a different device, and after logging into the same Google account as the tablet, press on lock device, put in a password and lock. Then go to your tablet and put in the same password


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Cannot access network from non-root users in terminal (Permission denied)
Preamble
My problem is, to run specific commands (i.e., start specific processes, possibly at background) on boot. I've installed Termux, so I want to start some of its commands at boot time, such as sshd and crond. For some reason, I don't want to use Termux:Boot application (mainly because it do things late).
I used a script written some time ago, which ables me to call a Termux command, running as the user which Termux shell itself starts as (so not to have problems with processes being run as root, and be able to access Termux commands, at the same time). It worked, however, there is a problem: The network access is denied.
How I found it is a permission denied problem, not something else?
Initially, let's say how I logined as the non-root Termux user. whoami gave me the Termux user name, which was u0_a73. As my phone was (and is) rooted, I could use su binary. So, I ran this:
$ su - u0_a73

Now, I should be able to run sshd command. No, it failed:
$ sshd
bad addr or host: <NULL> (No address associated with hostname)

Why? Focusing on most important parts, I ran ltrace and strace commands. To find what was going wrong, this command helped me a lot:
# # Find most syscalls exited with errors
# strace sshd 2>&1 | grep "= -1"

And resulted in:
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/libc.so", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/libnetd_client.so", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/libc++.so", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/libm.so", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
getrandom(..., ..., ...)            = -1 ENOSYS (Function not implemented)
socket(PF_INET6, SOCK_DGRAM|SOCK_CLOEXEC, IPPROTO_IP) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM|SOCK_CLOEXEC, IPPROTO_IP) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)

Duh! Look at the two last lines: Permission denied.
The Problem
Note: It important to note that the same problem does not exist with Termux shell itself, even with the same environment variables on both shells.
The problem is, I cannot connect to network devices, such as wlan0 (WiFi) and rmnet0 (Data). All commands that requests these accesses fails, like sshd, ifconfig, wget and ping.
So, after a lot of researching:

I've found this thread. It also provides an answer to the problem. However, there are no groupadd or usermod commands (or addgroup or moduser either) on my Android box, anywhere. See this question. It seems these commands may exist or not from device to device.

Due to the note at the beginning of the current section, after running id command on both shells, I realized that, Termux shell's user is added on extra groups than my custom su-initialized shell. The Termux shell u0_a73 user is on extra groups, including inet, everybody and all_a73.
Note: Thanks for the helps, but please avoid saying "So you should add u0_a73 in your custom shell in these groups, particularly the inet one!". Seems impossible in my environment. Read the previous item; I have no command to do this (Why? IDK).

There's another room: Changing permissions (or possibly owners) of device files (or something else). While it should be considered as a temporary fix, as it might have security flaws, but, if you know how, then I'll appreciate you by an upvote (perhaps will not be my own answer).

I don't know if it helps or not, but when I use su provided by Termux and I run ifconfig inside, a bunch of these audit messages will be produced:
09-04 20:08:04.647 24951 24951 I ifconfig: type=1400 audit(0.0:2567): avc: denied { ioctl } for path="socket:[221195]" dev="sockfs" ino=221195 ioctlcmd=8912 scontext=u:r:magisk:s0 tcontext=u:r:magisk:s0 tclass=unix_dgram_socket permissive=1
09-04 20:08:04.647 24951 24951 W ifconfig: type=1300 audit(0.0:2567): arch=40000028 syscall=54 per=800008 success=yes exit=0 a0=3 a1=8912 a2=be83a738 a3=3 items=0 ppid=24888 auid=4294967295 uid=10073 gid=10073 euid=10073 suid=10073 fsuid=10073 egid=10073 sgid=10073 fsgid=10073 ses=4294967295 tty=pts19 exe="/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/ifconfig" subj=u:r:magisk:s0 key=(null)

So, how to fix this permissions problem, that is, the system blocks a non-root user from accessing network devices?
I'm using Android (custom ROM, ViperOS) 7.1.2 (rooted), with Magisk installed, kernel 3.10.
Thanks in advance.

Your process must be in group AID_INET (GID: 3003) (or have the capability NET_RAW) to create network sockets.

@IrfanLatif Please read first two items in "The Problem" section, again. There is a group named inet (3003), and I know if I'm in that group, the problem should be fixed. However, consider I have no way to do that; there's no addgroup or the like in my environment.

Read the linked answer. You don't need addgroup to add your process to a group. You can use e.g. setpriv. If you want to stick with addgroup approach, see my answers to this and this. However it won't work the way you are trying to make it work. To know why, again, read the answer I linked first.

@IrfanLatif OK, thanks for the links, really. As I have not enough time now, I'll check those tomorrow, and report it back.

@IrfanLatif Again, thanks for the links. Great resources. However, I cannot find a solution for my problem there. Maybe that's how complicated Android is implemented, maybe I don't understand things correctly. The only thing I know is that, doing these kind of stuff on Linux distros are much easier than on Android. This is the reason why I personally think Android have a long way to reach the point we could call it a good platform.

Well, Android disappoints those who expect it to be a usual Linux distro. It's not, and most probably never going to be. It uses the powers of Linux kernel, but userspace is entirely a different world. Androids provides no official tools, documentation, APIs or support to achieve what you want to do. We need to figure out some out-of -the-way solution. You can use this command to add sshd process to 3003 group: setpriv --reuid 10173 --regid 10173 --groups 3003 -- sshd. However if you run it from an app which holds INTERNET permission, all forked process are already in the said group.


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Read every file stored on device or SD card?
Flash storage devices (NAND cells) are nutorious for slowly losing charge over time.
Many USB sticks have automatic data retention when idle, but I doubt that MicroSD has automatic data retention.
How do I read every single file saved on the mSD card?

Recursive listing (ls -R) or 'find' will read metadata of every file less or more, though not complete files.

Open
   /sdcard/
/sdcard/ will link you to the correct directory of the sdCard, this is for compatibility i believe.
To really make sure you have every sectors data,

Switch Off your Device.
Remove the SD Card from your device.
Place the SD Card in an adapter ( microSD to SupportedSlot )
Place the adapter into your computer.
Clone the Disk to a  .img  file

Don't choose compression with cloning, or else unused sectors ( marked as replaceable ) will be ignored and not cloned into the image file or partition.        bad for data recovery purposes

One can also run badblocks -vv /dev/mmcblk0. But that's with the PC. How to do it with Android directly?

One possible way is installing an Android terminal emulator such as Termux or jackpal.androidterm (which I have).

cd /storage/extSdCard/
cp -R -v . /dev/null

-v adds verbosity and shows which file is being read momentarily. “extSdCard” might be ####-#### (hexadecimal characters such as 0612-2FA5).
/dev/null is a black hole in Unix/Linux based operating systems. Everything put in there is gone. But what the command does is copying all the files into nothing, hence the source files stay the same, just getting read.

Alternatives:
grep -R "Any Text" #if working directory is already selected using the “cd” command.

Or grep -R "Any Text" /storage/[path to MicroSD card]
This will quickly search every file recrusively for text, causing all data to get read.
You can also redirect the output of the command to >>/dev/null or >>/dev/zero.

Another alternative is using a hashsum generating command (md5sum needs the lowest processing ressources for the same amount of data), but that's less efficient because it needs to generate a hashsum. This process requires additional system ressources.


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Android Terminal: Vibration command?
Which command in the Android Terminal can be used to vibrate? (for a custom length such as 50 milliseconds)
I would like to integrate vibration feedback into a shell script.
Maybe I need permission first. How do I manually grant the Android Terminal permission?

Should this maybe be moved over to StackOverflow?

Shell scripts/command-line questions are on-topic here. No need to move or repost there. Are you open to app based suggestions? For e.g., you can set up a task in Tasker that would vibrate the phone the way you want, and you would be able to trigger that task from shell script as well.

@Firelord Sure, if I can integrate it into the shell script, an app-based solution also will be fine.

@FireLord: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51418054/turn-on-vibration-by-terminal-command does already mention a command (echo 200 > /sys/class/timed_output/vibrator/enable), but the Android Terminal unfortunately has no permission to use it.

Sorry about Tasker. It has introduced some changes so it won't be possible to use it this way. As for the command you mentioned. I've tested it. It works well, but requires root access.

Hmm… @Firelord Maybe there is a command to request vibration engine access via the terminal. But the vibration feedback should be immediate and not delayed by 10 seconds, otherways that would make it less purposeful.


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moving a contact to the bottom of the list
I have a Galaxy Note 2 with CM 10.2 and gapps installed. I keep my contacts in Google and synchronize them to the phone. This works fine.
I would like to move selected contacts to the bottom of the list (usually service contacts which I want to have handy but "on the side")
In other words in my list of contacts I would like to move from
Adam Green
Bank
Claire Jones

to
Adam Green
Claire Jones
Bank

I tried to prefix Bank (in the example above) with various symbols (_, ~, |) but even though they are before or after normal lettres in ASCII, such entries always end up (grouped) at the top of the list.
Any idea how to move them to the bottom? (short of prefixing them with ZZZ)

I think special characters and numbers are grouped together, and would appear at the top when sorted alphabetically.
The way I'd order special contacts is just like what you suggested, prefixing them with z so they'd move to the bottom.

With another phone, I also used to move some contacts (like administrative contacts) off the way (that's at the end of the list) by adding a special character prefix to their name. So apparently this is not possible with Android and Google Contacts app.
I am not completely happy with adding a "zz" prefix... but there is another way: by selecting the contact groups that you want to see in the list (Android 4.4.2)

put the contacts that you want "on the side" in a group, for example "admin"
in the app menu (of the individual contacts view), choose "Contacts to display"
choose "Customise (o)"
uncheck the groups that you do not want to see, and check "All other contacts"

Now you have just your desired contacts in the main contact list. To access the other ones (like administrative contacts), open their group.


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"Data roaming" unchecked but connected to foreign network for data anyway
I am using a Galaxy Nexus LTE running Jelly Bean 4.2.2 with service from Verizon Wireless in the U.S. In Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile networks, I have:

Data enabled: on
Data roaming: off

I have flown to Canada twice recently. Both times, I turned my phone on to discover that I was getting new email through data roaming via a Canadian network, and was later billed accordingly. This happens despite the fact that I have Data roaming off. I have to turn Data enabled to off or go to Airplane Mode to get the phone to stop using data roaming.
Is there a way to actually disable data roaming so that I can set it and forget it?

Does your phone know that it is roaming when it is roaming? Usually it will say Extended 4G instead of 4G or Extended 3G instead of 3G etc.

There is a little "R" next to the signal bars when I am roaming.

Do you have root?

No. I do have Developer Mode enabled.


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Is it possible to get FireFox running on Samsung Galaxy GT-I5700?
Would really like to try and get firefox running on older android device.
Have a Samsung Galaxy GT-I5700 which has an ARM V6 800mhz cpu, 250mb internal memory, 4GB SD and is running CyangenMod9 ICS for Spica(GT-I5700).
Am working on getting native apps2sd working properly to try and free up some of that tiny internal memory.
Have not really researched or tried anything regarding installing firefox but a similar question was asked here and thought would post my own q in order prevent bumping somebody elses thread!
PlayStore say firefox is not compatible with my device yet on mozillas website there are older samsung phones that are listed but my exact model is not.

If you have exactly the same problem as that question, then this is considered a duplicate question. You might want to upvote that question instead, and wait for a GOOD answer there.

I am asking for advice regarding how to from scratch. Other q has failed install. Other q op has higher spec phone certainly when comparing ram and so the necessary steps may be different for me compared to other q.

From the Firefox for Android page : Installation requires [...] 384MB of RAM. Your device has only 256MB. You can always try to install the nightly version, although it may be unstable. Or you can search on google for a stable firefox apk.

Is it possible to partition sd card as swap/pagefile in order to be used as if it were ram?

Googling gave two main results one for this thread and one for http://app4smart.com/en/phone/samsung-gt-i5700-galaxy-spica/soft/363-firefox.html Now that looks easy.

I am not sure if your RAM is enough for a current version of Firefox but...
Instead of Play, look for APK in f-droid or just install F-droid opensource repository from f-droid you have many old versions of Firefox, and other  FF flavors; such as Fennec or IceCatMobile
Installing F-droid, the app will show you if a version is compatible with your device.
Another good alternative to Firefox is the FF flavor Waterfox but RAM is a problem


text:
Blocked but still shows "online" to blocked contact
Please can someone help! I blocked a contact on Whatsapp but I can still see his "last seen" timestamp (as it changes over time - its changed many times since blocking). He can also see mine. I tried blocking with another person to test and it worked fine.
Why can't I block properly for the contact I really want to block?

How do you know he can see your last seen time? If you block someone, you can still see his timestamp.

Are you sure about that? That I can see his but he cant see mine? I tried another thing. I added my own number as a contact, said hi :) then blocked it. Now, when I open that conversation, it says "online" or "typing" even though I am technically blocked.

Also - When I tested with the other person (that I dont actually want to block!) I could NOT see that she was online. So, A and B are both blocked. I can see A's timestamp changing, but I cant see B's timestamp changing.

That's odd. According to the FAQ, only your timestamp should be blocked to the other person, not the other way around.

I know! Thank you. So actually, I should be able to see B's timestamp changing?

If I understood correctly, yes.


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Android shell script permissions?
I have a rooted phone, and I was playing around with Terminal Emulator. I tried writing a simple shell script (test.sh) :
#!/bin/sh
echo "Hello, World!"

Then I opened terminal emulator, cd'd to the directory my script was in, and typed:
./test.sh

and I got a  "permission denied"  error. So I tried:
su
./test.sh

Somehow, still permission denied. So I tried (still as root) :
chmod 775 test.sh
busybox chmod 775 test.sh
busybox chmod +X test.sh

None of the 3 gave errors, but ./test.sh still gave permission denied!  As a last resort I tried
sh test.sh

That ended up working. Finally.
I'm curious why permission was denied for my own shell script chmodded to 775 when run as root. How can permission be denied for anything as root? How can I fix this and make ./test.sh work?

This largely depends on where in the filesystem the script is, so if you could add that it would likely be helpful. If it's on the SD card (or whatever your device uses as "external storage") then you'd probably have to remount the partition or something, because Android mounts it with the noexec flag by default.

It is on the SD card. I'll try remounting.

busybox chmod +X test.sh is wrong, you’d want to be using +x (lower-case). Anyway, 775 ends up being the same, so it’s the noexec issue.

Execute permissions on the SDCard is blocked for that reason.
See this:
/dev/block/vold/179:1 /mnt/sdcard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,**noexec**,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0602,dmask=0602,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0

The noexec part of this line emphasized with two asterisks is the key to prevent any execution of scripts/binaries from the SDCard.
Have a funny feeling this was answered before...deja-vu
Edit
Yup @Izzy has answered this before and here as well.


text:
Android Terminal does not work immediately after reboot
jackpal.androidterm  does not work immediately after starting the phone.
Instead, it first just shows a blank screen. Then I need to wait around 20 to 60 seconds. Then, the terminal's prompt is enabled.

Please don't post exact duplicate questions. Instead, [edit] this question to add more info and context as best as you can, like the device model and Android version, are you using custom ROM or not, etc. Also, you might be interested in reading What should I do if no one answers my question?


text:
Would it be theoretically possible to do a block-level backup of /dev/media without root?
I have nothing against root except eFUSE. Whose ever idea eFUSE was . . .
As far as I understand:
Because of amateur users and clueless minimalists who don't know how to utilise tools that are intended for power users, the development team of TWRP has controversially decided that their NANDROID backup does not include /data/media.
More information and sources in these comments:
  1. Best practice for backing up /data/media?
  2. Best practice for backing up /data/media?
What I want is a block-level image backup of the entire phone, so that I can return to the exact spot later on.
I want that block-level backup to include the /data/media partition.
Now, I have found out it is possible via ADB, but that requires root. If there is really no other way, I would consider taking the risk of rooting the phone after doing any other possible backup method (adb app backup, file backup, etc.)
But my question is:
Is it technically possible to do a block-level (dd) backup of the /data/media partition without root?
Had the developement team of TWRP decided to include /data/media, pleasing power users and maximalists instead of minimalists and amateur users, would it actually have been possible without root?

First of all /data/media is not /dev/media. Former is a directory of userdata partition which is mounted at /data. So in a sense you want to backup the whole block device of userdata partition. That's possible without rooting your actual OS. But you need an unlocked bootloader to boot in TWRP. From there you can dd out any block device, even the whole flash memory chip. But why do you want a block level access? A simple tar of /sdcard is sufficient in most cases.

@IrfanLatif Thank you for solving my confusion. The best thing is a block-level backup of /dev/block/mmcblk0.

@IrfanLatif Block-level access means that it can be flashed back bit by bit to it's original state and the confidence that absolutely nothing is missing from the backup.

The first thing to do when buying an Android device is making sure the bootloader is unlocked. I'm looking at you, Google Nexus. (their locked bootloader has been troublesome to me at some point). Samsung fortunately usually ships without crippled bootloader.

Block level access is usually required when you have to deal with inodes or filesystem journal, such as to recover some deleted data or do some forensics. /sdcard (which exposes /data/media to us) is an emulated filesystem with a subset of filesystem features. E.g. you can't change permissions and SELinux context of files, those are fixed. So they even don't need to be backed up and restored. Filesystem attributes (such as immutable flag) are supported on /sdcard but can't be backed up with tar.

Extended attributes (and hence ACL's) are not  supported (except security.selinux), but they don't matter a lot on Android. However if you are backing up and restoring /data/media directly (with root access), you should take care of file permissions and SELinux contexts. Tar supports backing up a lot of metadata; permissions (including owner and group), timestamps (including mtime, atime, ctime) and extended attributes (including ACLs, SELinux contexts and file capabilities). Interestingly, TWRP also creates tar backups of filesystems like /data, /system, /vendor etc.

in Open GApps a full featured gnu tar binary is included, it support --acls --xattrs --selinux flags

Why even bother with partitions? Why not just dd the entire disk? Don't even worry about partitions, just a full backup of the underlying media and that will copy every last bit or everything. Unless there are more than one disk (chips) in the phone, that should be it. How does one do it?

Is it technically possible to do a block-level (dd) backup of a file? - Yes
Is it technically possible to do a block-level (dd) backup of a folder? - No

/data/media is just a folder as @death-mask-salesman already stated in your linked duplicate

Also from /dev/block/mmcblk0?

@neverMind9 mmcblk0 is a block device file, which can be backed up by dding out (provided that you arrange to provide enough space for saving file). But that's unnecessary. If your device is no more bootable, you won't be able to restore that backup. So overwriting partitions related to bootloaders (like sbl, aboot etc.) and telephony (like modem) is never recommended. Normally you should backup (and restore) only filesystems (data, cache, system, vendor) and kernel (boot). But do keep backup of other partitions as well just to be on safe side.

But it is useless if device is encrypted. GNU tar is strongly recommended. at least we need a custom recovery, or rooted device for  this. some stock recovery do full dd backup of whole data partition (chinese brands). some stock flash tools can make a full dump. adb backup has a -shared flag. but easiest "stock" way is just copy /storage/emulated/0 via MTP, the file permissions are not a big mystery for /data/media and can be ignored

@alecxs MTP has been horribly unreliable and unstable in my experience, with every phone I have ever owned.

@alecxs If the device is encrypted, no problem because I know my lockscreen credentials. I guess if I mount the image in Linux, the OS will ask me for it.

Android encryption is hardware-bound (Arm TrustZone). userdata can only decrypted on the source phone itself. EFS (or METADATA) partition is wiped on each userdata format (thats where encrypted key is stored) - encrypted backup becomes useless

@alecxs What a headache.

@alecxs Oh wait, Apparently, Samsung's bootloaders are locked by default too and the FramaRoot/ActiveRoot/PassiveRoots thing was just an exploit. Oh well…

you should read careful the whole artice http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/06/extracting-qualcomms-keymaster-keys.html


text:
YouTube update enforcement bypass? +Reasons why the old YouTube app is superior
The time bomb of YouTube's legacy versions has exploded:The “later” button to postpone the update has disappeared. YouTube is copying WhatsApp's update mesh.
I really wish to keep using a legacy version of YouTube's Android application, but now, YouTube has pulled the plugs by hiding the “update later” button.
Why have they disabled it in first place?
The application would probably still work technically.
Advantages of YouTube's legacy versions:

Unlimited search history.
Exiting search does not require to reload the results of the previous search or viewed channel/playlist/feed/etc., which saves time and occasionally mobile data.
I still had search terms from 2015 because I never updated. Search history with capitalization saved.
Profile pictures with the shape of a square. Superior field of view.
Less minimalism, more border lines. (I personally dislike
minimalism.)

Free from material design. (I do not hate material design,
but the rounded corners look loose. Windows 10's flat design is OK
becaubecause it looks still very angular. Although, I like the ripple
animation of mterial design.).

Full numbers instead of rounded numbers (YouTube calls them “abbreviated numbers”. Toxic minimalism) for ratings, view counts and suscriber counts. Rounded numbers are too shallow. (“2M” looks shallow, while e.g. the number “2.021.435” looks vibrant and ultimately sexier than a digit with one letter behind it. Additionally, “2B” can be confused with 28 on the first sight, while a a long number such as 2.039.721.486 looks truly unmistakenably immersive.).
Ability to pre-open videos from loaded search results before Internet connection has been established, so that I do not need to open it when the connection has established.
Ability to pre-open search pages too. Pre-opening searches saves the search query into the search history, so that I do not forget searching it the next time I open YouTube's app. Like a tiny sticky note.

How do I keep using the legacy versions of YouTube?
I know MixerBox, but MixerBox has no search history and multi/pop-up window support.

Google services framework does this. if you disable it, you get YouTube back, but google play can't load.


text:
Intrusive Google Play Store advertisements appear as soon as I start charging my phone
I get these types of full screen ads as soon as I charge my phone:

I don't even have to unlock the screen, the ad sound starts playing as soon as I plug in my phone. In order to get rid of it, I installed a third party app called Blokada and it worked and if I see which all ads are popping up, the app says that the ads are:

app.adjust.com
mobile.pipe.aria.microsoft.com

So I guess these ads are responsible for those intrusive popups. I have tried multiple antivirus applications but none of them showed that I have any virus/malware. Is there anyway I can remove these adwares from my phone ?

Does Add-ons Detector find anything unusual?

@acejavelin Blokada is an out of the play store ad-blocker. Sadly it has stopped working now and I get these ads every time I charge my phone.

It isn't a Virus. So, no anti-virus or malware scanner will catch this.
It is just an app which adds lockscreen ads to your device while charging. These ads are set so that they only appear while charging. Some apps even advertise that this makes the device charge faster.
Such ads are included with many free apps and you need to find out which app is showing them on your lockscreen. The most usual culprits are - Avast Anti-virus (Yes!), ES File explorer (the probably stopped now), UC Browser, Xender, Clean Master, and many other so called device booster, battery booster, CPU booster, memory booster type apps.
I'm sorry but you'll have to figure it on your own from this point. It is impossible to pin-point a particular app because there are just so many of then which do this.

+1, good explanation. As OP already identified two networks: there are several apps to detect libraries in apps. So the list of possible culprits can be narrowed done to those e.g. containing an Adjust module (first network mentioned, and IMHO the most likely culprit here). Maybe you want to include that with your answer?

It might be useful to read this latest (2018/11/26) Android Central blog report about "Clean Master" and its ad-click actions.

I just found that "email all in one" was causing this problem on my Samsung android phone. I uninstalled it, unplugged the charger  plugged it back in, and no ads popped up, nor the annoying "fast charge" option, which i never used, but the "Not now" box could not be selected because it was greyed out!


text:
Android x86 in VirtualBox: “FATAL: NO BOOTABLE MEDIUM FOUND. SYSTEM HALTED” directly after installation
“FATAL: NO BOOTABLE MEDIUM FOUND. SYSTEM HALTED” appears on Android x86 6.0 rc3, but not on Linux Mint or Windows XP, immediately after installation.
The boot order is correct.What might be wrong?

That was likely a flaw in Android x86 Marshmallow, which has already been patched in Android x86 Nougat, according to my tests.


text:
AutoHotKey equivalent? (paste timestamp, open app, external keyboard, etc.)
Desktop PCs have AutoHotKey, AutoKey, IronKey, etc. .
But as far as known, nothing compareable for mobile phones.
I would like to be able to do things like:

Instantly pasting timestamp in preferred date format (i.e.20180210115759 or 10.02.2018 11h:59m:19s) using a keyboard shortcut from an external Bluetooth/USB-OTG powered keyboard.
Pasting tinestamp with on-screen keyboard (without any bulky workaround such as copying to the limited clipboard first).

Open/switch to application (e.g. text editor) using keyboaed shortcut.

Ability to launch selected app directly from external keyboard hotkey to take notes using a portable bluetooth keyboard while the phone is still inside the pocket. http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/190819/allow-running-specific-applications-without-unlocking?noredirect=1#comment246822_190819

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Please note we don't welcome software recommendation questions. You can try our sister site, [softwarerecs.se].

@iBug It does not necessarily have to be software. Just a solution.


text:
Only allow websites to open apps to after user confirmation
There are links such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Play store. etc. which can only be opened with one application.
If I accidentally tap on “open inside Quora app”, Android does not ask me for confirmation and directly switches to the Quora app.
I would like Android still to ask me for confirmation.
Uninstalling the app is no solution for me.
Sometimes, advertising websites enforce opening the play store.
With an operating system, which is marketed and always shown off to be the customisation god, this is one of the least things to expect from it.

If I tap on "share using Twitter" using the Internet browser, cross-app access opens the Twitter app without confirmation. Because that is my only Twitter client.

If you "share using Twitter", you are explicitly asking to open the Twitter app on your phone. Instead try share > copy to clipboard and then paste that link you copied into a browser of your choice.
Or if you'd like to continue browsing thru the Twitter links inside the same browser, maybe press and hold to then open the link in a new tab. If simply clicking a twitter link automatically opens the Twitter app, see Leon's answer.

When clicking a link, e.g. some twitter.com/etc, Android will probably ask if you'd like to open it with the browser or the Twitter client. At that point, there should be a check box available saying 'Always open with...' and then the option you choose. If you untick that box, it will ask you again next time.
As I read your question (although no question marks involved), you should disable the Twitter client to open by default. You can do so by going to "Settings → Apps → Twitter client".

I dd this, but it still opens using the app. The actual reason for my question is, that some websites automatically open random apps on my phone.

Okay, then I am not sure what causes this. Could you elaborate more in your question? Especially what you mean by 'random apps' and give a detailed example when it happens? Maybe we can help with that additional information.

Sure, @LeonJosse.

The thing you want to disable is called App Links Android Developers

Android App Links on Android 6.0 (API level 23) and higher allow an app to designate itself as the default handler of a given type of link. If the user doesn't want the app to be the default handler, they can override this behavior from their device's system settings.

To DISABLE:
Go to Settings->Apps->Configure apps(settings icon in top)->Opening links there you will see list of apps with their supported links, tap on any app and it will show supported links and options for that app, something like

Just tap on Ask every time and you are done.


text:
Why not use a legacy flagship rather than a new mid-class smartphone? (Galaxy Note 3 2013 vs. A7 2018)
Why does Samsung not keep producing the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note 3?
These devices, despite of their release date as flaghsip device in 2014 and 2013 still perform very well, and are solid mid-class phones today.
A great example: Note 3 (2013) versus A7 2018 (2018):
The Galaxy Note 3 is equipped with:

Air View hovering controls and tooltips
Air Gesture controls
Humidity sensor (hygrometer).
Temperature sensor (thermometer).
2160p video recording (yes, the Galaxy A7 2018 still only has 1080p at 30fps‼)
1080p@60fps smooth video caputuring capabilities,
Infrared transmitter,
Slightly larger battery
User-replaceable battery (thus custom back covers and wireless charging cover)
S-Pen, the highly functional stylus.
Multi-window pop-up windows with small minimum window size.
Dark user interface (as known from legacy TouchWiz versions) with more icons in addition to the text, also in context menus.
More customizeable and ultimately vibrant camera application user interface.
Homescreen with more options, page slider and more drag/drop shortcuts such as AppInfo.

All of which the A7 2018 has nothing.
Of course, the Galaxy A7 2018 has some advantages such as quick-launching camera, but why does Samsung not keep producing previous flagships that could be an excellent mid-range device today?And features such as the camera quick launcher can simply be implemented via software updates that hopefully do not have side effects such as the uglified Lollipop user interface after updating S4, Note 3 and S5.
There is no mid-range Galaxy Note (there is LG G Stylo however), except Note 3 Neo, which got sold much longer than original Galaxy Note 3 despite being not as good as the original Note 3.

Well, there's 2 parts to your question:

older model phones: I currently use a Samsung Galaxy S4, and I agree with you 100% that older flagship smartphones are still excellent devices for today. Features like a removable battery are going extinct, and that's a deal-breaker for me. Some of these older flagship smartphones are still available for purchase new, just maybe not from where you'd expect.
why don't they do this: Well, a lot of engineering work goes into designing a new device, so manufacturers need to meet certain sales volumes to recoup costs. Also, manufacturing older devices runs into the issue of taking up "resources" (assembly line time, warehouse space) that could be better spent on the newer model. Finally, older phones use different components than current phones. Some of these components may no longer be available, or the contract to supply them has expired, or new contracts for new suppliers for components of newer devices prevents them from entering contracts with older suppliers ("exclusive supply").

I am glad to hear your well-equipped S4 still works as intended! But what if the newer model is not any better? And why do the suppliers not just continue with supplying the parts?

The newer models aren't any better. After the Samsung Galaxy S5, none of the flagship Samsungs have a removable battery, which makes them a "definitely not going to buy" for me.

Unable to edit previous comment: I pressed the edit button 3 seconds too late. I would like to add, that by “newer model”, I did not mean S5 but something like S6 or A7, which are better in some ways, but also have many removed features and disadvantages (S6 obviously!).

You have a good sense of mobile technology, like a power user.

I still run a S4 Mini and an old S3; both are very satisfying, but it all boils down to personal preference.

There's a few factors at play here, some of them technical, some commercial. Don't forget that when Apple introduced this policy of introducing new generations of iPod with more features and completely discontinuing the old ones, people praised them for going counter to the tech industry norm of dropping the price of older models, which was seen as price-gouging of early adopters.
Costs don't work like that
The per-unit cost of making each phone doesn't decrease as the phone model gets older, because the components don't get any cheaper, so the margins would have to decrease in order to reduce the price point of the old models. Although the up-front cost of designing the phone has been paid off, there is an ongoing cost of porting new Android versions and/or backporting security fixes. People already get annoyed when their old phone doesn't get the latest Android version, and this would be even worse when their ex-flagship phone is already stuck on an old version out of the shop.
Can't always support new versions
The Android version problem is even worse than it looks. Sometimes new features require new hardware components to support, for example NFC host emulation for Android Pay, or Bluetooth LE. Sometimes these components are mandatory for supporting a new Android version. The old flagship phone wouldn't be able to keep getting Android updates, while a new budget phone would.
Even when there's no new headline features, the phone OEM is also at the mercy of their component vendors, who have to supply drivers for parts like the GPU, video codec hardware, cellular modem. They don't want to support new Android versions on their old hardware either, because they have the same problem with decreasing margins. If OEMs demanded longer support, component vendors would have to increase their component prices, which would make even the flagship phones more expensive.
Software integration is a variable cost
We've already mentioned that the software integration is a large part of the up-front cost of developing a new model, but it's not the same cost for every model. Flagship phones, with their slick camera app, swanky box features, and performance optimisations, cost a lot more to develop than budget phones. This is part of why the budget phones can be cheap in comparison.
Branding
One last commercial reason is that having a separate budget phone range allows the OEM to differentiate their products better. Samsung (to use your example) doesn't want the Note range tainted with the idea that it's old technology, and discontinuing old models allows them to avoid that. Keeping the budget range with a separate name allows it to be better associated with the price point it's targeted at.
Summary
It wouldn't be possible to offer last year's flagship phone at the same price point as this year's budget phone, it would make it harder for the OEM's marketing, and the decision of when to stop support wouldn't be entirely under the OEM's control any more.

Thank you for this explaination. Now I comprehend it better.+


text:
My Galaxy S3 refuses connection to home WiFi
I first go into settings
then I go into and turn on Wi-Fi
but every time I try to connect to my Wi-Fi it say "connecting, authenticating, disabled "
and all my other devices connect perfectly

Looks like you've stored the wrong credentials on your S3. Try to remove the network from your WiFi list, and add it again. Does that work? If not, can you check logcat?

Also make sure that your wifi router doesn't have a maximum connections setting, you could also try making it an open network and see if it works then.

Also make sure you don't have MAC address filtering enabled.

Forget the Wifi Network you are trying to connect to from your mobile.
Turn Off your Router & Turn it ON.
Try connecting to this Wifi Network again

As other said,

Reboot the Router and remove the plug from socket to cut off the power for a few seconds (say 5 seconds)

Forget the Wifi Network on your device.

Restart your device as well.

Now try to connect. If not connecting, share the screenshot.

That answer has already been given.

For other users than asker: First, try if other devices have the same problem.
If not, then simply:

Disable and re-enable connection. (I know, restarting is against Linux philosophy)
Delete the WiFi network from your list.
Re-add the WiFi network. It is possible that some settings were messed up, or that a WiFi configuration has changed.


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My Samsung Note 8.0 GT-N5100 is stuck in a boot loop. I want to retrieve data ... is there any hope?
I am about to press "wipe data/factory reset" on the recovery menu, but have found this place and you are my last best hope!
I hope to rescue data from S-note and other apps, plus loads of photos and videos (although these are mainly backed up on google+)
I am not an expert but can and will follow difficult instructions if you explain them slowly!
Thank you for your time.

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts, Louise! I've just fixed up the tags on your question to make a better fit. Please check with their tag-wikis for first aid: boot-loop would be the one to start with; if you've solved that part, the other part should be much easier (or even become obsolete, as your problem is gone then). If you still need it, the data-recovery tag-wiki should get you started. Please let us know your progress, and good luck to you!

I have read throughthe bootloop link but am still unsure what to do .. here are my option:

reboot system now ... this makes no difference. - apply update from ADB ... - apply update from external storage ... - wipe data/ factory reset ... - wipe cache partiltion ... apply update from cache.

so nothing that ressembles the commands suggested apart form thre factory reset, which I am avoiding for now ...

Louise, you're talking about the recovery menu – while the boot-loop stuff talks about safe-mode. Please follow the latter link for more details, and combine that with the corresponding text from the boot-loop tag-wiki.

thks, Izzy - so I have tried many combos of power/vol up/vol down/home and still no safe mode. I get a Custom OS screen from power+vol down, with a warning (can cause critical probs) and choice: continue/cancel. I've cancelled each time. Otherwise, that and the recovery menu (described earlier) are all I get. It powers up to the id screen then twirling design and tune, then a pulsating blue-white SAMSUNG sign which remains til I turn it off. (At this point the back and menu panels each side of the home button lit up, it vibrated and the screen/quill pen appeared) Battery charge also shows.

Please check with the Samsung help pages: How do I start my Samsung Galaxy Note® 8.0 in Safe mode?

yeah I did that already and have just tried again, I can't get past stage 2 as the lock screen display doesn't come up :(

OK, I'm out then. Hopefully someone having a Samsung Note can be of further assistance.

what would happen I wonder, if I select wipe cache partition?

really grateful for your input, Izzy!

Nothing that hurts – go ahead and try. As the term "cache" implies, this is redundant data. Might even solve your problem, in fact.

oh well. I tried. nothing changed.  so I plucked up courage and wiped data/ factory reset.

Nothing has changed. Looks like I have a broken device. And now I need to find the receipts and get it back to Tesco's where I bought it nearly a year ago. sigh. thanks for everything, everyone!

spoke too soon ... left it for a few mins and there's signs of life! so the rest worked ... :)

So wiping cache did it? Glad to read your issue is solved! Would you make it an answer (describing what you did so it solved), and accept this answer then? That would help others with a similar issue to find your solution. Thanks in advance!

no, wiping the cache did nothing. I decided to go ahead and reset it to factory settings. sad but better than having a broken device I suppose. there seems to have been no other way out.

That was a rather quick decision. Of course a factory-reset solves it – but now all your data is lost, which could have been prevented. Nevertheless: as it solved your issue, you should make that an answer :)

I tried various suggestions to get past the bootloop but could not even get into safe mode. All I had to work with were the options on the recovery menu. Clearing the cache partition seemed to make no difference, so I eventually gave up and selected wipe data/factory reset.
This also seemed top have no effect. However, the device unexpectedly closed itself down and when I restarted it, there were signs of life and it booted up again for the first time for weeks!
I went through the start-up procedures carefully and selected "restore" for any google/ Samsung data and applications, even though it said I had not backed any up ... and it seems that all my data has not been lost after all! I already knew that my pics and vids were on google+ so was not too disappointed to find quite an empty gallery, but was delighted to find ALL my S-note docs were restored, and a number of my apps.
Some - quite a few - are missing - all my kindle ebooks for example, but I will see if these are transferrable, and there are apps I can find again if I need them.
I would recommend anyone with a Samsung device to have a Samsung account and enable "back-up" - also to save as much data as poss onto the micro sim card.
Thanks to Izzy and everyone for helping me through this traumatic afternoon!

If I'm not mistaken, for pics and videos, I believe you should be able to plug it into a pc using a USB cable and move the folders you want to a backup directory. For App data it may be hit and miss, some you may be able to find, but some will not be recoverable.
Here are links that may be helpful to finding S-note related files:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1423592
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1455282
Mind if I ask what caused the boot loop in the first place?

Thank you for this ... when I plugged it into a laptop using USB it did not register ... I thought that may be because it had not booted up and could not be recognised by the laptop.

I fear that it may have stopped booting because I had let the device's memory get too full ... is that likely? I have tried swapping in an empty micro-sd card in case it could find more memory there to get started but this is probably just highlighting my ignorance!

Was the device on when you plugged it into your computer? It should register if your in the recovery menu. Are you using stock recovery?

I have tried again, and made sure it was on and in Android System Recovery (which I reached by pressing on and vol up simultaneously) and this time on the desktop computer, and still it did not appear on My Computer. Not sure what stock recovery is ...

@LouiseOwen Excellent to hear you got it working again, sorry I was unable to help further. Backup is always the best choice when working with electronics. Nandroid (the "n" is intentional) back up is the official unofficial method for android users, as it creates an EXACT copy of your phone in its current state. (apps, app data, contacts, text messages, pics, literally everything.) The only downside is this requires setting up a custom recovery.


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Titanium Backup - sync via Windows File Sharing (SMB) after backing up?
I have Titanium Backup Pro with sync after backup option, but I don't want to sync to clouds, instead I want it sync backups to my PC via SMB.
I also have Foldersync which supports SMB syncing but it works with scheduling only, what I need is syncing right after the backup procedure is done.
Any suggestion ?
Thanks

Suggestion: FolderSync does support Tasker, and Tasker supports file events. Idea based on a post:

To detect the arival of a new file, use "File Modified" but long press the folder instead of selecting a file within it. now tasker will monitor changes to the folder.

So: Use Tasker to monitor TiBu's backup directory. If Tasker detects changes, give it a wait for 5 minutes (which should allow TiBu to finish the backup), then let it trigger FolderSync to synchronize with your Windows share:

Condition:

Time → Between X and Z (optionally, to minimize battery consumption. X should be at least a few minutes before the scheduled backup, Z a few minutes after. Make sure that Z = the scheduled backup time plus the wait in below task plus some margin for the sync to complete)
Event → File Event → File Modified (select directory as described above)

Task:

Tasker → Wait (5 min, or whatever you feel best)
Plugins → FolderSync → (whatever the action is called there)

Good idea, but I can just schedule foldersync a few minutes after titanium backup. This is close but not exactly what I want, I need it know when the backup's done and sync automatically :)

Sure it would be the simpler method to schedule it just a few minutes past the backup. But to know when the backup is done, that's a bit more tricky: you could use some variables, and a "multi-profile". One is watching that folder in 1-min-intervals, and increasing a variable whenever there's something changed. The other is watching that variable, triggers the backup when the var has not changed 3 times, and also resets that variable then. I'm just not sure if it's worth that trouble :)


text:
Changing Swype keyboard layout
Is there anyway to change Swype from QWERTY to something else, like AZERTY?

You might wish to check Is it possible to add a keyboard layout and dictionary to Swype?

Have you tried downloading a new language?
Go to Swype's settings in Language and input (or keyboard settings). Then, go to Languages > Download languages. You should see Francais (AZERTY).


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Samsung Galaxy S3 headphones do not plug in
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3, 2 months old, and I have an issue with headphone.
No, not the ' I can not see the headphones icon ' issue rather the headphones do not plug in fully.
I tried pressing them slightly harder but still the white metal portion slightly remains outside the body. At that point, the headphones do get detected but a even a slight touch can make them undetected.
What seems to be the issue here ?
I tested the headphones on my old Nokia and they are detected fine. I am sensing something has to do with them not going in fully ?

Have you tried plugging in another pair of headphones on your phone?
If there's a similar problem with plugging in the jack completely, there might be a problem with the jack (female) on the phone. You might want to get it replaced.

I used flash light to see down the jack and there is nothing obstructing it. If I press the ear phones down slightly with my finger, I can hear sound. When I release my finger, no sound.

Did you check it with another pair of earphones?
Sounds like there's a problem with the jack. There might not be anything at the bottom of the jack causing this. But I'd suggest you check with another pair of earphones.

yes, nobody seems to go in.

It looks like the jack is somehow narrow. If its under warranty, you can get that fixed for free.


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How t o get Google Now fetch info from Calendar?
Google recently announced "Now, just ask Google for your flights, reservations, package delivery info, and more
We can instantly fetch this stuff for you if it’s in your Gmail, Google Calendar, Google+, or Google Drive"
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/myanswers/
However, so far as I can tell, it only looks for this information in gmail, not the calendar, at least for me.
Is there some way to get Google Now to "fetch this stuff" from Google Calendar, or is Google's announcement misleading?

Reminders set in the calendar will usually show up in google now. They do for my, I usually have a "notification" type reminder. Is the card enabled in Now?
Also, you can create actual reminders (with voice or text commands) that will create a Now notification.
In the voice search, do "reminder: buy milk": you can then set the time period (evening/night/etc).
More info:
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/3122344?hl=en

Reminders are different. Google Now provides lots of related information - see the link in my question http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/myanswers/ and compare it to what your link describes


text:
Can my phone act as a WiFi access point without mobile data?
I have an old (Galaxy S1-class) phone running a custom ICS ROM.  It has a pay-as-you-go mobile SIM without data.
I also have a bunch of kids with iPads that want to play Minecraft together.  As far as I can tell, I can't get the iPad to make an ad-hoc wifi network on its own.  If I had mobile data, I could turn on the Mobile Hotspot feature, connect all the iPads to the phone.  I think if I did this now, though, my SIM would be charged for any stray Internet requests that are accidentally made.
Is there a simple way to do this?

'adb shell setprop SimCheck.disable 1'

This will disable sim check while turning on WiFi tethering.

Is there an equivalent syntax from the Terminal Emulator on the phone itself? (I don't have a computer handy at the moment, but I do have Terminal Emulator)

Also!  Would I have to take the SIM out to make sure it doesn't try to charge for data? Right now I just set the "mobile data" switch to OFF.

can't you enter this command in terminal emulator.?are you able to turn on tethering with mobile data off?

I was sure it wouldn't work, but I was able to turn off wi-fi, turn off mobile data, then turn on the hotspot.  Thanks, @Rilwan! (Do you maybe want to make a separate answer for that, then I can accept it?)

@james: which way you enable tethering now? simcheck disable or turn off mobiledata & Wifi then turn on tethering? By default turning on tethering should disable WiFi. So i thought just turning off mobiledata should be enough for you. Thanks anyway!

As for the terminal emulator: I would try just skipping the adb shell from the command (which does nothing else but opening a shell on the Android device, which the terminal emulator does itself), i.e. executing simply setprop SimCheck.disable 1.


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Non-HTTP connections time out
I have a Samsung Galaxy Player 5. Before, I could use everything (Facebook, etc) normally. I'm not sure if I changed anything, but now the browser (Internet) loads everything fine, but Facebook &co. are unable to make a connection (timing out, as far as I understand it)
I'm not sure what I could of changed. This happens on numerous networks, so it's not a router-side thing.
What should I investigate or check?

I'm pretty sure the Facebook app and others like it still use HTTP to do their work. Can you access the Facebook website through the browser?

Also, please don't guess: "(timing out, as far as I understand it)". Tell us exactly what you see the phone do.

@DanHulme: Yes, I can. I see the player 'load' for a long time (5-10 times longer than to just display a page normally) and then display 'There was an error connecting to Facebook' or similar, depending on the app.


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How can I rename a removable SD card, or create a folder on it. Permission Denied
I am not a programmer, I am a 'user'. I have bought a FonePad and added a 32GB SDHC card, naively thinking I could use it to store the maps I will need on a storage-hungry navigation software.
However, I find I cannot rename the device from Removable, I get the message 'Permission Denied'.  Same result when I try to create a subfolder. Same result if I try using a utility like SDCard Manager or Card Manager HD.
Coming from a Windows world, I am just completely lost.
Take SDCard Manager for example: when running it says that it has *Storage -- Modify or delete the contents of your SD card. I note that SD card is the 'built-in' device.

Is this "SD card" built in or removable? The title suggests its removable but at the end of your question you say its the "built in device"?

The device you mentioned runs Android JellyBean. A terrible feature was added to JellyBean that stopped apps being able to write/modify data on an SD card, except for folders they owned on the SD Card. When an app is installed, a folder is automatically created on the SD card for it. So, your app should be able to save the maps to its own folder on the SD card, however you cannot use a third party app to create folders and such on the card. You'll either have to use a built in file manager or create folders and edit data from a PC.

It sounds like you formatted the card using your computer, or another device. It seems like now your Android device doesn't have proper permissions to write to the card. You can fix this by formatting the card. If you don't want to format the card, just run this on Ubuntu or another linux based system:
sudo chmod -r o+w /path/to/sdcard

This will recursively give everyone permission to write to the card. If the card is empty, you probably just need to apply this to the root directory, with no recursion:
sudo chmod o+w /sdcard/root

Thanks. I have not formatted the card, just put it straight in. I cannot find any formatting utility on the fonepad. Can I format on a Windows or Apple desktop? I do not have access to Linux based system. Supplement: I note a lot of stuff about rooted systems, how do I find out if my system has an accessible root?


text:
Can't get passed Setup Wizard after Factory Reset cause Google Play Services keeps stopping!
after Factory Resetting my Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F Tablet with Android 5.1 i can't get passed the Setup Wizard after selecting the WIFI you want to connect it.. After Checking the Connection then it's doing a Software Update then Google Play Services keeps stopping every time, then revert me back to the WIFI selection screen and loops again and again. What can i do to fix this?
i tried Resetting it again but no luck and there is no option to Clear the Cache from the Boot Menu!!!

First thing to do is to determine the device platform, I mean the CPU inside the device. Is this a Mediatek or Qualcomm model?

The BB-Chip says MT6735 so Mediatek probably. and this must be his  Firmware

any idea where to find the drivers??

On the internet obviously :D . Well the firmware usually contains necessary drivers. If does not: https://androidmtk.com/download-mtk-usb-all-drivers

yeah :P i found some but it says it's for a MT8161 Chip thats why i'm asking!

Well, this is probably a corrupted system files resulted from the reset. Flashing the firmware should solve  this.
Depending on the hardware platform, you'll need tools to flash the device. This phone comes with two variants: the one with Qualcomm chipset and the other with Mediatek chipset.
For your case the chip is a Mediatek MT6735 , you need SP Flash tool and ROM file for the phone exact model. Don't forget to install Mediatek USB and Preloader drivers otherwise the device won't be determined by the computer. Then follow the flashing process.


text:
sharing email accounts among multiple clients
I have configured the default MIUI8 email client with two accounts (one imap and one pop), but I'd like to try other clients. When I install, for example, aqua-mail or k9-mail they ask to configure new mail accounts instead of using the existent, system-level, ones: Settings->Sync->IMAP/POP3.
Is it possible to use multiple clients with the same configured mail accounts?

Yes, it is possible.
If you use POP3 make sure that you deactivate in all clients deleting the messages on the server after fetching them. Otherwise other clients won't be able to download them.
Update: to use an already configured system-level mail account, an email app should have an access to system accounts. Not every email app has it.

I guess you did not understand my point: how do I "import" my already-configured accounts into newly installed clients?

Well, if you want to ask "how do I import" then you should ask "how do I import" and not "is it possible to use". I answered exactly what you have asked.

I've specified "same configured" account

I added some more info.

Thanks for the answer. Any example of such apps?

@cipper No, sorry.

Thanks anyway. I cannot understand why for calendar and contacts it's straightforward (all apps share the same accounts) while for email it's not.


text:
How to add the flashlight toggle in the notification panel on my non-rooted SM-N900A
I'm trying to add the flashlight toggle in the notification panel on my SM-N900A (Android 5.0).
And so far, I've found the Notification Toggle app
 that adds toggles to the notification bar.
But I want to add the flashlight to the notification panel.
How can I do that on my non-rooted SM-N900A ?

That feature you are looking for was introduced  in Android Nougat. Your only option seems to be to root the device and find an Xposed module to add that feature.

@Firelord It has Android 5.0, btw. Does it change anything to your conclusion ?

No, it does not.


text:
How to find unused applications
I want to uninstall unused applications.
BTW : I don't have goople playstore installed nor use a google account, I use yalp or aurora stores to install applications.
How can I find the unused applications that are installed on my smartphone ?

Android since 5.0/6.0 contains an integrated app usage statistics system. It tracks which app is used when and how long.
The data collected by this system can be accessed by every app with the correct permissions - therefore you can find a lot of apps that are able to display the app usage of your device.
Based on this information you can easily find out which app(s) you have not used for a certain period of time.


text:
Restart adbd as shell user on a non-rooted device without rebooting after the "setprop" operation
The setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555 worked on my non-rooted device, now I need to restart adbd as the shell user :
$ adb shell
shell@android:/ $ getprop ro.build.version.release
4.1.2
shell@android:/ $ getprop service.adb.tcp.port

shell@android:/ $ setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
shell@android:/ $ getprop service.adb.tcp.port
5555

I tried this to restart adbd, but the PID of adbd didn't change :
shell@android:/ $ ps -C adbd
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     161   1     4724   308   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
shell@android:/ $ stop adbd
shell@android:/ $ start adbd
shell@android:/ $ ps -C adbd
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     161   1     4724   308   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
shell@android:/ $ exit
$ adb connect 192.168.2.27
failed to connect to '192.168.2.27:5555': Connection refused

Then I sent a SIGHUP to try and trigger a adbd restart, but all it did was to kill adbd and now I cannot connect via USB anymore :
shell@android:/ $ kill -SIGHUP 161
$ adb shell
error: device offline

So now I HAVE to reboot in order start adbd which I've accidentally killed.
After reboot I also tried setprop ctl.restart adbd but it didn't work :
shell@android:/ $ ps -C adbd
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     176   1     4720   300   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
shell@android:/ $ getprop ctl.restart

shell@android:/ $ setprop ctl.restart adbd
shell@android:/ $ getprop ctl.restart

shell@android:/ $ ps -C adbd
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     176   1     4720   300   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
shell@android:/ $

Can you help me restart adbd on my non-rooted device without reboot ?

Disable and enable USB Debugging in Developer Options.

@IrfanLatif Great, just what I needed :) ! Can this also be done via a command line ?

settings put global adb_enabled 0 and settings put global adb_enabled 1. setprop ctl.restart adbd should also work. Tag shows you are on JB where SELinux should not be a problem.

@IrfanLatif As you surely expected, the settings put global adb_enabled 0 command got me disconnect before the next settings put global adb_enabled 1 command got executed

@IrfanLatif Yes it does but I found this 14 minutes ago :) See my own answer at the bottom.

In the specific context of setting the adb tcp/ip port, the adb tcpip 5555 command does restart the adbd service.
As one can see the PID of adbd is changed after the adb tcpip command :
$ adb shell ps | egrep -w "adbd|PID"
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     3675  1     4720   300   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
$ adb tcpip 5555
restarting in TCP mode port: 5555
$ adb shell ps | egrep -w "adbd|PID"
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     3800  1     4720   300   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd


text:
Unable to install on USB storage or SD card?
I have a rooted Samsung Galaxy Y (GT-S5360L),  which I recently factory reset. Now I have a problem: whenever I try to install most apps it gives the error " Unable to install on USB storage or SD card."  I Googled and found 2 solutions: one to delete a cache file, and the other to unmount the sd card while installing. The cache file was sm2dltmp or something like that located in either /sdcard/.android_secure or /mnt/secure/asec. I used rooted terminal emulator to look in both and I did not find the file. I did however, find a bunch of .asec files for apps I used to have before I reset my phone. I moved those to a backup directory, but still installing apps gave me the same error. So far I have only been able to install apps using the second method, unmounting the sd card. All help would be greatly appreciated.

Your "working method" shows the trouble must have to do with your SDCard. You could try with a new/blank card, which then should work. Investigate your current card using a card reader on your PC, and transfer your media files (and stuff you can identify and need) over to the new card, and skip content you cannot identify. If afterwards you don't miss anything, you should be fine.

I backed up my sd card data and reformatted (without restoring the data yet) and the Play Store STILL gives me the same error.

Woah... that's really strange. I've no idea what that might be then. Wait: With the SDCard mounted, can you write to it from the Galaxy Y? Maybe there's some strange problem preventing it being mounted r/w.

Yes I can still write to it

And with a different card it does not work either? -- Well, not really a solution, but maybe a work-around: You could try setting the preferred install location to either phone storage (0) or internal SD (1) using adb shell pm set-Install-Location 0 (resp. 1). Then Playstore should install most apps there even if the card is present.

I have not tried a different card but I suspect it will not work. Installing everything on internal storage isn't really working out as my phone has 200MB internal storage total.

Well, suspicion is one thing. But you won't know for sure before you've tried. If the problem persists with a different card, it's clearly a case for service.


text:
Why can't I see Google Play "Staff Picks"?
I used to see the Staff Picks section in Google Play, both on the website and on my device.
Recently, I can't find it - I can see only the "Editor's Choice", this seems to be the only lists of apps that are featured by Google.
Did they remove it, or is it some sort of bug?

Looks like it was lost in a redesign. I see a "Play Picks" category, and can still see "Editor's Choice", but no "Staff Picks".

Where do you see "Play Picks"?

Right at the top of the home page. It's one of several app groupings I see. Here's a screen shot: http://i.imgur.com/3KFCnIh.png?1

That's strange. I don't see that on my device... Maybe they show it differently for different countries, etc.

They absolutely show different content based on country and carrier.


text:
Installing Android in Samsun Omnia M
Can I install android on samsung omnia m mobile. Currently it is running on windows 7.5 mango. It has 4gb internal space..but no slot for micro sd card. If yes, then which version of android will be suitable for my device?

It seems like a very long process and it seems like it is very hard to reverse:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1040025

From what I read you need to be pretty tech savvy to get this to work. If you have Ubuntu installed then it is a little bit easier.
You need to know how to partition a hard drive and things like that, if you are not very Linux savvy I would probably give this one a pass. If you are very Linux savvy or you are just dying to have Android then I will help you through it, but it will be a lot of instructions and it will take a very long time. And as with any non-official Android port, there are a couple of weird problems with it, but it seems they can all be fixed with work arounds.
I hope this info helped you, let me know if you decide that you are dead set on getting Android on your device. I will try to give you some pointers to help you along the way.


text:
Is it possible to retrieve a call without having recorded it?
I made an important call and I want to listen to it again. Unfortunately I didn't install any application to record calls. Is it possible ? Are calls recorded somewhere ?

Once you make a call, that's it! No further can do. To be able to record calls, is grey-area legally speaking, and also requires kernel capabilities to do so.

It is Illegal in the US to record a call without the consent of both parties. There is a Wiki page dedicated to it. Recording calls is something you should not personally do.

Not possible. At least not on most ROMs. Try the NSA or your country's secret services.

Technically it is not possible now. You should have installed some call recording app earlier.
I see, this call was important to you and you want to hear it at any cost.
Let me be clear if you are thinking about to getting call recording from your service provider then, you can't.
a big No, Service providers don't record any calls and ideally, they should not.
Most of the countries(US/UK/India/Europe and all others) countries have their regulations and Privacy laws to prevent this.
However, in a few cases, your calls might be recorded by the government. most of the countries have provision for call recordings(only with permission of court) and allowed to be recorded by only a few government organizations for an internal security threat.
In this kind of cases, recording of calls can be done by authorized Law Enforcement agencies only with a Legal Warrant.


text:
Does the Secure Random bug affect apps besides Bitcoin?
The Bitcoin Project recently announced a bug in the SecureRandom implementation on Android, which caused Bitcoin wallet apps to generate weak private keys that leave bitcoins vulnerable to theft.
The major wallet apps have released updates which apparently include their own RNGs instead of using SecureRandom.
However, in principle, weak random numbers could cause vulnerability in any crypto system where they're used. Thus this could affect any app that uses this function for secure communication: perhaps pgp, ssh, remote access and tracking, or even the built in ssl and https implementations.
Is there any information about other affected apps? Has Google announced an OS update to fix the bug, or otherwise responded to the issue?

I believe that Android's SSL/HTTPS uses OpenSSL which has its own RNG.

I do not know of any specific apps, but it certainly CAN (on probably does) affect other apps. Read here for Google's notes on the problem, as well as info for developers on how to avoid the bug. They have also issued patches and sent them to their OHA partners, but it is up to each of them to roll out the update.


text:
How can I force-disable all dock detection/HDMI connectivity?
Context:
I have a RAZR MAXX XT912 with 4.1.2 (3.0.8-gbacb1cf). As soon as I wake it for any reason, it immediately acts as if it is connected via HDMI, despite the fact that no cable is connected.
Many people have this problem, and it is usually a result of a software issue or a shorted connection somewhere in the HDMI hardware/plug that results in a phone thinking it is docked.
For me, it occurs constantly (some people experience it intermittently)--as soon as I wake the phone from sleep/non-lit states, it immediately rotation-locks itself into widescreen and presents me with the docking choices menu.
Question:
Is there some way to permanently disable HDMI dock detection?
What I've tried:

I've tried the "HDMI Connection" setting; whenever I uncheck it, the phone goes back to normal. However, leaving it unchecked doesn't work: if I restart the phone with it unchecked, the phone acts as if it's docked when it starts again, and I have to go into settings, check the box again, and then uncheck it before the phone behaves. The phone also periodically "forgets" what that I've unchecked the setting (without a reboot), and I have to go check/uncheck it again.
I've tried clearing all application caches, to no avail.
I tried clearing the cache partition, to no avail.
Finally, I tried a factory reset, but the symptoms persisted.
I've fiddled around with a hand lens and a needle inside the HDMI connector, but couldn't observe any shorted pins and didn't manage to affect the symptoms at all.


text:
Howto downgrade any app to the previous version without losing data on android oreo?
Howto downgrade any app to the previous version without losing data on android 8.1 ?
EDIT 0 : Nota Bene : Here, Fairemail is given as an example, my question is not app specific but Android specific. I'm actually asking how to downgrade any app to it's previous release having already downloaded the apk.
Here is the information of the package eu.faircode.email I want to push to downgrade :

$ du -h eu.faircode.email_1036.apk
13M eu.faircode.email_1036.apk
$ aapt2 dump badging eu.faircode.email_1036.apk | egrep '^$|package|[s]dkVersion:|application-label:|native-code:'
package: name='eu.faircode.email' versionCode='1036' versionName='1.1036' platformBuildVersionName='' platformBuildVersionCode='' compileSdkVersion='29' compileSdkVersionCodename='10'
sdkVersion:'21'
application-label:'FairEmail'
native-code: 'arm64-v8a' 'armeabi-v7a' 'x86' 'x86_64'

I tried to reinstall this app without data-loss :
$ adb install -r -d eu.faircode.email_1036.apk
Performing Streamed Install
adb: failed to install eu.faircode.email_1036.apk: Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE]

but it didn't work, so I tried the un-installation of this app without data loss and it worked :
$ adb uninstall -k eu.faircode.email
The -k option uninstalls the application while retaining the data/cache.
At the moment, there is no way to remove the remaining data.
You will have to reinstall the application with the same signature, and fully uninstall it.
If you truly wish to continue, execute 'adb shell cmd package uninstall -k'.
$ adb shell cmd package uninstall -k eu.faircode.email
Success

But then the installation of eu.faircode.email_1036.apk didn't :
$ adb install eu.faircode.email_1036.apk
Performing Streamed Install
adb: failed to install eu.faircode.email_1036.apk: Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE]
$ adb install -d eu.faircode.email_1036.apk
Performing Streamed Install
adb: failed to install eu.faircode.email_1036.apk: Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE]
$ echo $?
1

It seems adb install -d is only use-able with debuggable packages only according to this :
$ adb | grep downgrade
      -d: allow version code downgrade (debuggable packages only)

Can you help me ?

For me, using Termux, I could downgrade connectbot using cmd package install -d my.apk -- see also https://github.com/connectbot/connectbot/issues/1031. Presumably this package has debugging enabled? The command simply reported Success after a few seconds and the app worked again on my device.

What you want is not possible and for a good reason: updated data structures (files, database, etc) are often incompatible with old app versions. This is why you can downgrade debuggable packages (for development purposes) only.
If you have a problem with FairEmail, please report it in this forum:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/source-email-t3824168

@M66B Last I downgraded another app because it was crashing on my device. This question is not app specific. I'm actually asking how to downgrade any app to it's previous version having already downloaded the apk.

@SebMa the answer was intended to be generic, but I was not sure if the question was general, hence the link to the FairEmail forum

I understand the risk. Although I'm not sure developers bother update their data structures every now and then, otherwise they will have to rewrite their I/O components often.

@SebMa especially when using Android ROOM it is easy to add new fields for new features to an existing database, so this might happen more than you think.

If your device is rooted, there's a work-around (apply at your own risk – as Marcel correctly pointed out, there's a reason why it's made close to impossible):

install titanium-backup
backup the app you want to downgrade
uninstall the app you want to downgrade (completely, i.e. app & data)
install the older version
use Titanium Backup to restore data only

This worked for me in several cases. No guarantees however: if the newer version changed structures in its databases/configuration, you will end up with an unstable app – and later updates might fail (in those cases, use TiBu to restore the full backup you made originally – so make sure to keep that one safe).

The pb. is that my device is not rooted. I've read about this, have you tried it ?

Also *migration mode * in settings may be needed to ensure DB integrity

@SebMa Yes, I have – and am quite happy with it. TiBu works fine on Magisk (to my experience on multiple devices, you can safely ignore TiBu's warning concerning SuperUser in that configuration).

Nokia TA-1041, android 8.0.0.
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.39
Version 1:8.1.0+r23-5ubuntu2
Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS x86_64
Kernel: 5.13.0-40-generic
I actually met a similar problem, when downgrading the WeChat from 8.0.18 to 7.0.21. I tried adb install -r -d and adb install -r -t -d, both of them does not work, with the error [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE].
However, I tried this method, it works. https://moreless.medium.com/how-to-downgrade-an-android-app-without-losing-chat-history-afea00141601

adb shell cmd package uninstall -k <package>  to uninstall package.
adb reboot to reboot your phone.
adb install <package_apk_file.apk>  to install a lower version app.

Note that the reboot is very important, this step could not be avoided. I actually tried adb shell cmd package uninstall -k before reading the page above. But as long as I do not reboot, the lower version could not be installed, with the error [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE].

Additionally, https://blog.csdn.net/u012852597/article/details/108814434 from this article, it seems that you could also try to copy the apk file to '/data/local/tmp/' and install the apk.

Your answer basically just links to medium.com where the actual solution is described which is bad style for answers as linked web pages can change at any time or the link goes dead which makes your answer useless. Please always include the relevant steps for solving the problem.

Modified. Is it good now?