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Unable to enable Mobile Network settings (options greyed out). Is there any way to restore lost mobile connectivity data?
I have a HTC Desire HD that up until recently has been running well with a custom ROM. For some reason, the phone started to "misbehave" in a number of ways after about 10 months of painless operation, so I decide to try and put the LeeDroid ROM on the phone. End result, the phone is now not much better than a basic iPod touch.
My mobile network settings are all greyed out, and the phone is telling me that it no longer knows what its IMEI, IMEI SV, IMSI, Phone Number, and Base Band details are. Every other feature of the phone seems to be working OK, just not the mobile network connectivity.
Yes, it's a very sad little brick indeed, and I now find myself going retro and using my old Sony Ericson Walkman phone which is SO old school that it's not funny! Yes, it looks really pathetic when I go to touch the screen and... well, you get the picture!  LOL
I am still hopeful that someone out there might know how I can restore the missing information.  I have most of what I need documented, but no idea if there is a way to locate and restore the data more directly from the phone, or if there is a tool that will allow me to feed the missing values in (remember, these are meant to be unique identifiers) in order to help me to restore the phone in some way.
No amount of master resetting, or alternative ROM installing has been of any help so far, and asking this question is really a last gasp attempt to try and de-brick the mobile features of the phone before I find myself either buying an expensive repair at the local authorized repairer, or buying an expensive replacement phone.
Serious KUDOS to anyone who might have an answer to this.

Have you tried reflashing the Radio ROM?

Did you try flashing stock?

The Radio ROM is different from the OS ROM.

Carrying on from above. As the name suggests, it controls the radio part of the phone. You can use the same Radio ROM with different OS ROM's but sometimes there are incompatibilities. I suggest searching for a stable Radio ROM that works with a OS ROM that worked for you and flash them both.

Had the same issue with galaxy s I91000, fix by installing stock ROM for corresponding device. you should try flashing the ROM specific to Country/operator.. and search DesireHD section on XDA.. its common problem when efs files are not backup

Problem solved, and I think I'm finally getting a handle on all of this after several hours of some serious digging through the interwebz, and a bit of trial and error.  So here is what I ended up doing, step by step:

Locate a stock ROM as suggested by Matthew Read and user12295.

This was possibly the hardest part as there were so many dead links out there, and I ended up using a link I found to the Shipped Roms website.

I elected to download the file labelled RUU_Ace_Gingerbread_S_HTC_WWE_2.50.405.2_Radio_12.54.60.25_26.09.04.11_M2_release_199042_signed.exe.
Fully charged the battery on the phone.
Located the original HTC cable in a fit of paranoia and connect my phone to my laptop using a USB2.0 port.

For some weird reason the USB3.0 on my particular laptop wouldn't let me connect the phone during the flashing process the first time I tried to do this.

Ran the RUU utility that I had downloaded, crossed my fingers, and waited for the phone to be wiped and flashed after navigating the various screens of the RUU.
Saw my phone go through a reboot at the end of the process... and all connectivity was working with full networking/identity data restored.

So it turns out that the IMEI number is flashed to a different bit of the phone's internal memory, and the stock flash somehow picks this up.
So All systems go, but I miss many of the features of the phone, including the better battery life that I had under a better ROM and because a couple of my own experimental apps will no longer work.  All of a sudden I wish I'd downloaded the 1.72 version of the RUU as it seems I need to go through a downgrade process in order to root the phone and get a custom ROM reinstalled.
After a bit more Interwebz digging, I came across an application called Ultimate Multi Tool, and I worked through the following procedure:

Connected phone to laptop (as per earlier process)
Set phone to charge only
On the phone, enabled Settings -> Applications -> Unknown Sources
On the phone, enabled Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging
Ran the Ultimate Multi Tool
Operations -> TempRoot
Operations -> Gold Card.

Clicked on the CID button to get the id for my SD-Card.
Clicked on the "Free HTC goldcard generator" link and filled out the form on the screen to generate a goldcard image.
Clicked on the Load goldcard.img button and located the goldcard.img file
Clicked on the Create GoldCard button.

Operations -> Downgrade.

I needed to locate a file called PD98IMG.zip before I could begin the downgrade process. The downgrade process was VERY slow. Took about 30 minutes for me, but your time may vary. As an afterthought, simply applying an earlier RUU may have been a better approach, but I thought I should document exactly what I did.
Phone rebooted into HBOOT menu, and I simply followed instructions on PC and phone screens.
Waited for downgrade to complete and rebooted phone.

Repeat steps 2, 3, 4, & 5
Used On Screen buttons to push Visionary+ and SuperUser to the phone.
On the phone, Ran Visionary+

Checked the Set System r/w after root checkbox
Selected Temproot now
After process finished, Selected Permroot now
Superuser asks for permissions, so pressed the Allow button
Phone Reboots

Set phone to charge only once it had finished rebooting completely
Back to Ultimate Multi Tool, and selected File -> Check S-Off/CID/SIM

Superuser asks for permissions, so pressed the Allow button
Tool now reports back that the CID is a whole bunch of 1's, phone is S-OFF, and SIM Unlocked.  :-)


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Open links in corresponding app instead of browser
When I click on a link, it is always opened in a browser, even if I had installed the corresponding app. For example, YouTube, Reddit, etc.
In Settings -> Apps -> Configure apps -> Opening links -> YouTube, there is the option Open supported links set to Open in this app and Supported links are youtu.be, m.youtube.com, youtube.com, www.youtube.com. Nevertheless, YouTube links are still being opened in browser.
This answer suggests installing Open Link in App, but I think that the system should handle this without any third-party app.
I am using a phone with Android 7.0.

Open your Android settings and search for "default". This should open App Permissions; near the top, under the Default heading, tap on "Opening links." Near the top of the page should be a toggle for "Open links in apps" - set this to on/yes, and restart both the browser and YouTube to reset with the new setting (you may need to reboot your device, I'm not sure).
basically, the option in YouTube tells it to watch for those links so it can open them when it sees you click on one, but the Android system settings are what give it permission to actually open them. You can scroll down through the list of apps on that screen to the bottom and tap on YouTube to see exactly what links it will look for and open.
[Note: these steps are based on a tablet (Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus) running Android 7, so they may be slightly different on a phone or a different tablet. You should be able to get to this setting via the Apps menu though in Settings, just it might be kinda buried and hard to find, which is why I use the search function.]

Hi, thanks for answer. I recently updated to android 8.1 and it seems that it's working since then.

Can you put a screenshot, I see nothing

how does app opener link generator work without these settings?

Samsung Internet browser
If using Samsung Internet browser, use the browser's settings:

From Samsung Internet browser, open Settings
Open Useful Features
Disable "Open app links in browser."

Tested on browser version 26.0.3.7.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How to connect two phones via SSH with a central SSH server?
I have two phones A and B which use Mobile Data. I would like to connect from phone A to phone B, the latter has an SSH server running on port 8022. The central SSH server is running on AWS and has an Elastic IP.
Phone A can connect to AWS Server directly at port 22, so can phone B.
AWS Server configuration:
GatewayPorts yes
TCP forward yes
Password Authentication Yes

Further, I have forwarded port 9099 on the AWS SSH server to local port 8022 on phone B:
~$ ssh -NR 9099:localhost:8022 user@Remoteip

By running netstat -tpln on the AWS SSH server, I can see that 9099 is in listening mode.
But when I ssh from phone A into the AWS server at port 9099, it says timed out.

What I have understood from your question:
You have two phones A and B, which are connected to internet through Mobile Data. Phone B has a SSH server running, listening on port 8022. You want to login from phone A to phone B, but since the later doesn't have a public IP, you want to create a reverse SSH tunnel from phone B to another SSH server running on AWS cloud, listening on port 22. In this way you want that all traffic received on port 9099 on AWS SSH server should be forwarded to port 8022 on phone B, so that phone A can access it on internet.
If I understood correctly, the simplest thing you have to do is:

On AWS run a SSH server, which is listening on port 22. Since you are able to login to this server from both phones A and B, I think you have done it correctly. Let's say your login user here is server_user and IP address is server_ip.
You need two additional keywords in /etc/ssh/sshd_config, should look like this exactly (no extra spaces):
# /etc/ssh/sshd_config

AllowTcpForwarding yes
GatewayPorts yes

After changing configuration, don't forget to restart server.

First parameter ensures that port forwarding is allowed i.e. you'll be able to create tunnel.
Second parameter ensures that the reverse tunnel will listen on all network interfaces, and not only the local (loopback) interface on AWS server.

On phone B run a SSH server, which is listening on port 8022, let's say your login userame is phone_user (Termux's SSHD requires no username).
Do test if you can login to this server. For instance create hotspot on phone A or B or connect both to some third WiFi network. Now login from phone A to phone B. If it doesn't work, troubleshoot the problem, most likely with password / key authentication.
On phone B create a reverse tunnel i.e. forward AWS SSH server's port 9099 to phone B's (local) port 8022:
~$ ssh -NR 9099:localhost:8022 server_user@server_ip

This can be done on Termux or use some GUI app like ConnectBot.
To test if the the tunnel works correctly, on AWS server:
~$ ssh phone_user@localhost -p 9099

It should login you to phone B.
On phone A, login to phone B through AWS SSH server:
~$ ssh phone_user@server_ip -p 9099

If it doesn't work, repeat the steps.
RELATED:

How to connect to Android through SSH over 3G/4G public IP?
How to run SSH/SFTP server for multiple user logins with password authentication on Android?

Id like to confirm that if i need to make http requests on Phone B via Phone A,do i need to have a server or a Client should get the job done

@EhtizadZashkiyor sorry couldn't understand what you mean by http requests. Do you want to host a web server on phone B?

Basically I would like to connect Phone A to Phone B and access the Internet through phone B .So do I need to have a server on Phone B to do this or a client on phone B can do the same ?

@EhtizadZashkiyor You can't connect a client to client. At least one end should be a server.

Ok.Let me configure the server and update about this .

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Create shortcut to Google Location Accuracy setting on Nova Launcher
Is there a way I can make a shortcut on Nova Launcher so I can go straight to Google Location Accuracy setting other than go through a shortcut to location and hit Google Location Accuracy and Flipper switch?

Press and hold on free space on home screen. Then it will display three options, home settings, widget and wallpaper.
Tap on widget, and scroll down to select settings app icon, and drag it to home screen.
It will open a screen which ask for specific settings, select Location from it.

After that you can move to location settings just tap on that widget.

thanks that really helps me out but I needed to go straight still location accuracy (picture)because that's the GPS and I want to be able to turn off the GPS I after say I use Uber or something instead of going through all the settings and you know if you're in a hurry as you're probably geusing. I'm using law Nova launcher so maybe that might give you an idea of where I need to go I found one thing in the settings reset location actor see when I pressed it and creative the shortcut he just went straight to the location so yeah man

HUAWEI P20 LITE NOvA E3


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Why doesn't my SIM card does allow a connection to this network?
In Android 2.2 from a HTC Desire Z I am frequently finding my phone disconnected from my mobile provider.
When I select my provider from the Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks -> Network operators -> Search networks -> <My Provider> I get the message "Your SIM card does not allow a connection to this network".
The only fix I can find is to restart my phone. Problem appears to widely affect Android phones.

It appears several sites suggest preventing the phone from using 3G. I have gone into Settings -> Wireless & network -> Mobile networks -> Network Mode -> GSM only.
This appears to have fixed the issue for me. Of course this wouldn't be a solution for anybody who relies on mobile data (but my provider charges so much for data that I'm wi-fi only).

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

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Is there a way to print from an Android tablet (preferably without a PC/cloud)?
Is it possible to print from an Android device (specifically an Asus eeePad Transformer) without going via the cloud? The ideal is to do it without going via a PC as well, as I'd rather not have to keep switching a machine on just to print.
My only idea at the moment is something like ePrint or PrinterShare on the eeePad and then print via a print server. Using a PC is one option - do any of the apps work with a Samba print share or something Linux-based? The other alternative is an Edimax print server to make the printer available on the network (either wired or wireless). Will it work? Will any Android apps be able to print like that? Are there any better ways to do it with a USB laser printer?
Thanks.

I know you can do this on certain wifi printers (Epson has an app for mine). Do you have a specific model you're trying to use?

Sorry, I knew I'd forget something. I'm trying to print to a Samsung ML-1665. It isn't wireless, hence the thoughts on the Edimax print servers. I'm trying to use a Linux laptop as a print server, but without much luck so far. ePrint and PrinterShare aren't seeing the device, but that could just be because I've not done it right.

I've done more poking. I can print from a Linux laptop to the printer via the second laptop that it is hooked up to without a problem. ePrint on the tablet won't find the print server. Neither does Samsung app (probably wants Samsung wireless printers). PrintBot lets me specify the details for IPP, but the best I get is an off-centre/misprinted image using the generic Postscript drivers - other drivers don't print or just feed a blank page. It only seems to do text/PDF/images, though. PrinterShare wants horrendous permissions. Eurosmartz Print prints a test page but has poor quality.

See also a more specific question: How to print to CUPS (running on another computer in the LAN)?

There's a paid app called ePrint, which I believe works locally to printers attached to a wireless network (printers themselves don't need to be wireless) and doesn't appear to use a cloud service or need a PC in most cases. They have a free ePrint version that you can use to test the functionality before you pay for the full ePrint version.
Next there's PrintBot, this "Network printer driver" supports 1,000s of printer types connected to a local network. The free version lets you print a few pages to test, the full paid PrintBot Pro licensed version is unlimited.
Try both of those out and see which one works with your printer and apps.
There are also some free proprietary apps that work with specific hardware, HP ePrint  should work, but only to HP printers (both older network enabled ones and newer ePrint enabled networked ones), Samsung MobilePrint should work (but only for Samsung printers).
MotoPrint lets you print to a lot of different printer types as long as they're connected to a wireless network (don't have to be wireless printers), annoyingly you can only install it on Motorola devices, so not putting down as an answer for you but someone else might find it useful.

None of the options seemed to work in exactly the way I wanted, but I think that is just an issue of the constraints I imposed. Your answers are probably great for others.

Let's Print Droid will print directly to Wifi addressable PCL/Postscript printers. It does not contain drivers for Ink Jets howoever.

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


text:
Where are binaries installed?
I just recently rooted my phone so I could install SL4A. I want to execute some commands via a Python script, specifically turn Google voice off for all calls, make the call and then turn it back on. I'm just guessing that I need access to whatever the binary is, but there doesn't seem to be a /bin/ folder, so where are my apps installed to? (p.s. Searching from my mobile browser doesn't work on SE so if this a duplicate, please link me and I'll go ahead and delete the question.)

Why don't you just have GV prompt you if you want to use it when you make a call?

I don't want it to be on for a certain call. And since I can set the script to launch with one click from the desktop that would be less clicks than I currently have to make.

Android apps aren't binaries.  They're .apk's, similar to Java .jar files, and .dex or .odex files when in bytecode form.  They're run in the Dalvik virtual machine, again very similar to a Java VM.
You can launch an app from a shell as follows:
am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n <package name>/<activity name>

For example, Angry Birds:
am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.rovio.angrybirds/com.rovio.ka3d.app

The name of the activity is found in the AndroidManifest.xml file inside the .apk under //manifest/application/activity/@name.  For Google Voice there are quite a few activities, and you may need to use other intents.  I don't have SL4A.
You can also disable apps temporarily with this:
pm disable <package name>

And re-enable:
pm enable <package name>

Is there a way to launch them from the command line, or more particularly, sl4a?

@WayneWerner See my update.

Thanks, that looks like enough information to get me started!


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Clockworkmod sd-ext partitioning + link2sd mount = Where is my ext partition mounted?
HHi all...
I am desperately trying to locate my sd-ext partition in android terminal...
Where is it located?
Or, if the location changes from smartphone / rom...
How can I locate it?
I've tried fdisk -l without luck (the command doesn't exist in android)

It's in
/data/sdext2
Now I just need to understand how to mount it manually.


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is AT&T network possible on the Droid a855?
Is it possible to use AT&Ts network on the Droid a855? At all possible? Tough to find a direct answer on the web for some reason.
Thanks!

Get your hands on a Motorola Milestone (the European versions of the Droid line). Those are all GSM phones. They are also all sold (at least internationally) unlocked, so you could take one to any US GSM carrier and use it.

No, the Droid is a CDMA phone.  In general you can assume that phones on Verizon and Sprint won't work on AT&T or T-Mobile, and vice-versa.


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Which part of Android directories contains so-called proprietary blobs?
When building AOSP (Android Open Source Project) or LineageOS, there is a tool named breakfast. It downloads proprietary blobs and integrates them to the source tree.
I have read this article, does it mean all of the blobs are under  /system/vendor/ directory?
Do those binary files also exist in Android filesystem? And where are they?

Yes, binary blobs are part of Android filesystem. Android can't boot without them as they are kind of hardware drivers for the device. Most of those are found under /vendor/lib(64), some also under /system, /etc and /bin. Before Android Treble, /vendor wasn't necessarily a partition but a symlink to /system/vendor directory. Starting with Oreo, /vendor is a partition, containing all content related to OEM and SoC vendor. Most of the blobs are executable files or libraries, run as independent services on boot. See this sample proprietary-files list.
In addition to that, the first partition (usually labeled modem) on eMMC contains Radio/RIL related firmware. Another partition dsp contains Qualcomm's Digital Signal Processor related binaries. They aren't built with ROM but are part of Android filesystem tree, mounted at (/vendor)/firmware and (/vendor)/dsp. Their execution is isolated from the rest of the device.
Many partition related to bootloaders are in themselves complete binaries, such as aboot, sbl, rpm, tz, cmnlib, devcfg, keymaster, lksecapp on Qualcomm devices. Those aren't mountable filesystem, but directly executed by bootloaders during boot process. All of them are proprietary binary blobs; the closed-source part of Android devices.
PS:
Android (a superset of AOSP) isn't a generic OS which can be installed on any hardware like we do on PCs. Support for the hardware is locked down to proprietary binaries (HALs) by the OEM and/or silicon vendors. So the binary blobs are critical, and the open-source AOSP (including modified Linux kernel source provided by Google) is of no use without hardware drivers. And the manufacturers rarely document the working of their hardware so that developers like Replicant can implement an open source driver. There is very small set of hardware components on Android devices that you can expect to be handled directly by making syscalls to kernel as is the case on PCs. The only notable addition by SoC vendors / OEMs to generic kernel source already modified by Google (1, 2) is the handling of non-discoverable devices (defining device nodes). Rest of the hardware related stuffed is handled in userspace through binary blobs.
Further reading:

Android Device Partitions and Filesystems
Android and Linux Kernel Drivers
Android HAL and Device driver architecture


text:
How to go to a specific time of a video clip quickly in YouTube app?
Since the YouTube app has nowhere to input the URL, I cannot jump to a specific time to view it.
Dragging the player caret is very hard to make an accurate jump especially for a long clip
How to do that easily?

What if you browse YouTube on the browser?

I use YouTube app more often indeed

YouTube now has updated their player and to jump to small area, there is now a popup slider for us to pick the point.

If you type/paste the URL with the time behind #t= into your browser on Android (I use Chrome, but others would presumably work the same way) you should get a popup asking you if you want to open the link in YouTube. This will open the video in the YouTube app and jump straight to the time defined.
Matt Cutts explains how to do this with the YouTube URL on his blog. Try copy/pasting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjDw3azfZWI#t=31m08s into your browser as an example.

The # option does still work.

Thanks for the information! It also works for hours, i.e. t#1hr18m43s

Well, you can't do that in the YouTube app. I tried some third party apps as well and nothing came up. In addition, the YouTube app's website also tells you to ...slide the scrubber below the video to jump to a different part of the video...
So I guess the only option for you is to use your browser to view videos.
Hope this helps.

So boring ^^ For now with big video I will have difficulty to open the part I want to watch. Sliding by our thumb/finger may never get to the point we want it to

@NamG.VU Actually it is not that hard. In vertical orientation, go near a place where you want to jump to and slide to the time needed without releasing it. (e.g. to jump to 10:28, press near 10:20 or so and slide till you see 10:28)

The problem of big video is a "small move of fingef to the right" is equal to minutes not seconds as you are saying

well, Tue answer still stands. seems this is something you have to live with. And like I said, you can always use your browser to view the videos. :D

Get the URL by e.g. sharing the video and copy the link, then just add ?t= plus whatever time at end of the copied hyperlink followed with an s once you share, i.e. for https://youtu.be/FswuhgCyMH4, starting at 40 seconds would be https://youtu.be/FswuhgCyMH4?t=40s.
For adding minutes, add the number followed with an m plus the number of seconds followed with an s, e.g. https://youtu.be/FswuhgCyMH4?t=1m30s.

On audio clips, I start a comment, then enter the desired timestamp(s) and go directly there. (e.g. 1:23, 02:05, 1:01:01, etc.).
Not sure if you have to post, but you can always retract it (or explain yourself!).


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How can I keep the music information on my vehicle's screen updated while playing music from my phone?
How do I get the screen in my truck to stay refreshed/updated while playing music (via bluetooth) on my Samsung Galaxy s4?
The screen shows the first song's info like the song, artist etc. But when my phone starts playing the next song, the screen never updates with the new track information. Why won't it change with the info on the phone's screen?
I am playing music from Slacker Radio via bluetooth to my 2014 Silverado.


text:
Delete pre installed apps under oem/apps folder?
I have already rooted my android tablet. I am able to access internal system locations e.g. data/data/com.example.src.
However, I am unable to delete aps's under oem/apps folder. I have already tried "RootAppDelete" app to uninstall thses apps, but this app says it has no root access. But the data/data/packagename location only becomes accessable after rooting the device, and as I mentioned above I am able to access this location.
Can someone tell me how to delete apk's under oem/apps folder?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Have you checked our bloatware tag-wiki, and tried some of the hints from there? Examples: How can I uninstall applications that are locked by phone vendor? / How do you remove pre-installed apps on a rooted phone?

give the root permissions to the RootAppDelete app from the superuser app.
and I would recommend you to use titanium backup to delete pre installed app

You have to do this : Click file or folder > right click>change permission
After has change then delete file that you want it

it's not that easy to remove those apps. I would suggest installing a custom ROM like Cyanogenmod (that's what I did myself). You might have some problems with apps that do not work under that custom ROM and there is no way back...
I assume that you want to use google play store therefore the "google apps" come by default included in this proprietary package.
I have found a script for doing what you want to do, it didn't work for myself and I ended up using a custom ROM try http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2307355 it is a script which you can modify, you need a rooted device and cwm or twrp

Without the link, there is no useful information here. If the URL stops working, this answer has no value at all. Please [edit] your answer to include useful information that doesn't require one to follow the link. By all means keep the link to source the original material and for further reference.

If you've Superuser, make sure it is giving the app superuser privileges. I used this app: System App Remover Pro v3.0.1035 (com.jumobile.manager.systemapp.pro)

I've removed some information from your answer. Note: 1)Permissions can be noticed during installation so no need to mention them here. 2) Size is not relevant since user can come to know it from product's page on Play Store.


text:
My apps don't have access to my mobile internet
I have a very weird problem with my phone. I don't have mobile internet on any of my apps, but I can surf the internet with no problem when I am using my browser. I think it is good to mention that I am using the browser which comes with android operation system.
When I am connected to a wifi network, everything is fine. The problem is only with my mobile internet. Can someone tell me where the problem may be?
I am using HTC WildFire S. Android version of the phone is Android 2.3.5. The phone is very old and this is the final version that I can update.

Can you give an example of an app that doesn't work? What happens when you try to use Internet from this app? Is there an error message?

did u limit your data usage?

Nope it just says "Can't connect to the network" or "No internet connection". About the limit data usage, I haven't done anything to that. I would also include that I bought a tablet and I have connected the tablet and the phone on one Google account if this may be a problem. Thanks in advance again.

Not sure if it also applies to you, but some network providers may have data plans that only works on specific apps (e.g. browsing plan, WhatsApp plan, FaceBook plan). You might need to check with your provider if this is the case or not.

There could be several reasons

Check your device's date if it is set for today.
Try to reset your Internet settings that is access point settings
Make sure that you have enough memory
Clear catch and app data for that particular app
Try restarting your device two or more times
Make sure you have the latest updated apps

If any of the above does not work unfortunately I have to say that you need to reset your device. Let us know which one of above solution works for you

Some phones have an option to disable Internet access to the apps in the Settings -> Apps. Check if (the app you want Internet) has Internet access in there.


text:
Move from Internal to External
I am using an Motorola XT1022. I have moved the games and apps from the internal to SD card to free the internal memory, but still there are some moved apps files that are occupying the internal memory. So I can't install any other apps.
Can you tell me how to move that apps files to the SD card?

If they are the default apps that came along with device you can not move them to card nor uninstall them. Rooting is the only method to do so. Be careful rooting VOIDS warranty of the mobile. Use Clean Master app from Play Store to clear junk files in internal memory.

It's worth noting that 'moving to SD' only moves a portion of the app to the SD, and Google no longer support external SD cards so I'd expect this to worsen as time goes by.

Yeah my Xperia won't support moving apps to card and there is no hope of getting that feature in future as per Sony Mobile Blog. Probably they are going to increase internal memory and end support to external cards like iPhone. Really iPhone is changing the things.


text:
Battery Status problem
I recently updated my Note 8.0 Wifi from 4.1.2 to android 4.4.2, and shortly after that rooted it (But kept the stock 4.4.2, NO custom ROMs or anything...). Of course, as I knew, the battery consumption was probably going to be a bit higher that 4.1.2... and it was.
But one day i left my tablet to charge for a while (around an hour and a half) and hoped that it will charge from 25% to 100% for that time. But when woke the screen what I saw was not normal... the battery had charged only to 60%. I was worried, as I thought that it might be a battery problem, but then I turned off the device (my mom recommended me to do so) and it showed that big green battery indicator at 100%.
I was relieved, as I thought that it might be just a one time problem, and as I rebooted the device it showed 100% again. But my worries didn't end there, as this problem has now occurred at least 5-6 times.
Is it a battery problem, or a battery indication problem, and how should I fix it?

Take a look at the link I provided, this should rectify your problem. It will explain in great detail how to to wipe the battery stats in recovery, there are 6 methods shown. Since your are rooted this will do the operation properly.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1821870
Wipe The Battery deletes the file "batterystats.bin" which is established among / data / system / .... This file contains all the information "vital" and essential for your battery such as charging the maximum and minimum voltage, the charging time and other info ... this file after it was deleted by this procedure, will be recreated by the system properly.

You have to calibrate your battery.
Go to Play Store and install Battery Calibration from NèMa.
Then follow in app instructions to calibrate your battery....  :)


text:
How to backup phonebook and user data through usb or command code in a locked Android phone
My phone has a USB option. I want to connect it to the PC, and I need the command code to backup my phone book and all user data of my Android phone which is locked.
How can I get the command code I need?

You can connect through adb and run a backup, doesn't require root, however the process is different for different phones.


text:
Downloading game memoryp roblem
So I went to download a large game (1GB). It started downloading, and at 96% it stopped and said I don't have enough memory.
I wont try to download it again, but that 96% that I downloaded is still in my phone and I cant delete it. Can someone tell me how?
I went into options then applications, but there is no that game that I can delete. I tried to find it many times but it is not there.

How are you downloading this game? Is it an app in Google Play? Is it a file you downloaded from the browser? Which browser?

If the download failed, the broken download was deleted.  It's not stored anywhere, and it's not taking up space.


text:
How can I use a Chinese Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9008S in Iran?
I bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9008S in China. I can not install Google Play Services and there are only Chinese and Korean languages built in. I did not know Samsung manufacture mobiles according to region; I think this a disadvantage in Samsung product management.
I am living in Iran I would like to install Google Play Services, as well as add the Persian and English languages. How can I do this?

You could look up how to flash cyanogenmod, and the flash that rom.

Sammobile only lists the Chinese ROM for your device, so it's unlikely you'll be able to use different languages with an official Samsung ROM: to get other languages and Google apps support, you'll need to use a third-party custom-rom. Similarly, it doesn't appear that the N9008S is an officially supported device for Cyanogenmod, likely because none of the developers have one.
There's a thread on the XDA Developers forum, but it doesn't make your prospects look good. Googling for cyanogenmod N9008S produces a lot of noise (rooting guides, and pages that mention N9008S but are actually about other devices), as well as one or two pages that might have unofficial ROMs but are in Chinese, so you'll have to trawl through them with Google Translate to see if any are actually helpful. You might find that as they're in Chinese, they've only ported a Chinese build of Cyanogenmod, which would leave you no better off.
In any case, you should be very wary of unofficial ROM builds, since they could backdoor your device or contain other malware, and you should be extra-careful about following flashing instructions in a language you don't understand. Only try something out if you're willing to risk bricking your phone.


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How can I recover my photos from the Vault app when the phone is lost?
I'm a Samsung Galaxy Grand user. I loaded photos to the Vault app without any problems. However, I  lost my phone.
What can I do to recover my photos?

Buy a new phone and keep backups in future.

@sachin berde was it a free or a premium (paid app) that you installed.

Nothing you can do.  Your phone is gone, and without a backup, you've unfortunately lost all your data.

The first and foremost thing of a Backup is that it's just a copy of your data which is stored separately away from your device on some storage(pen drive, laptop , Pc etc.)
In case you loose the phone, update your software, format the data by mistake or wanted(for updating etc.)  then you connect the device to a system, laptop and re-store the data back which you had stored earlier.
Depending on the device manufacturer you have various backup options available free of cost. In this case yours Is Samsung so you will be having Samsung Kies that helps you in doing the above tasks with ease and with .
There's a very bleak chance of you  getting back the valuable pictures that you have lost(1 out of 100).What I can suggest you is to get in contact with vault support team (email the support team given in the bottom of the app) and explain your situation to them if they possibly have a copy then they might give you.
In the future never forget to take backup and keep updating it (the old backup may not have much data compared to the present day backup).Most of us ignore it despite the fact that software/hardware is prone to glitches and the backup comes free of cost(in case you have huge data you backup like in 15 GB and above you may be charged for the storage in case of Drive,whereas Samsung Kies depends only on your System Limits)


text:
Voice Unlock Problems on Android Lollipop(Lenovo A6000)
Recently,I had heard about the voice unlocking mechanism in Android,which lets us unlock our lock-screen using our voice.
As shown in the first screenshot, I have enabled all options:

Screenshots: Options enabled / Annoying Box / Homescreen afterwards (click images for larger variants)
Now,I lock my phone. I switch on the screen,and then say "OK Google".
But then this is what annoys me. I want the home screen to pop up as soon as I have said the command,but instead what comes up is what the second screenshot shows.
And then my home screen appears, after the "Listening..." Box, as shown in the third screenshot above.
I do NOT want the Google "Listening..." dialog to pop up.I only want the home screen to pop up as soon as I have said the command.
I HAVE done a lot of searching... but to no avail.
Can anyone solve this?
PS: My phone is a Lenovo A6000 with CyanogenMod 12.1.

Does disabling the first option affect the others?

Yes.When I disable the first option,the others are automatically disabled, can't enable them.Weird huh?


text:
Is there a way to look inside and modify an adb backup created file?
I created a backup of my Galaxy Nexus with adb backup. The resulting file is named backup.db and it's somehow encrypted.
I wanted to restore the backup, but it stops when it comes to restoring com.android.providers.contacts. I used adb logcat to find out what's going on and found out that com.android.acore crashes during the restore process.
I'd like to gain access to the data in the backup and remove the contacts database to restore everything back to my phone. Are there any other ways restoring the data from the backup?

I believe none of the answers without using Java will work on encrypted phones. See my answer here: android.stackexchange.com/a/224474/95893 summing up the use of nelenkov's app (github.com/nelenkov/android-backup-extractor). Unfortunately Izzy's Adebar perl scripts ab2tar will not work on encrypted backup files.  Similar:  https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/28481/how-do-you-extract-an-apps-data-from-a-full-backup-made-through-adb-backup

The file is not encrypted, unless your specify so when creating the backup. It is however compressed (using deflate). You can find out the exact format by looking at Android source (com/android/server/BackupManagerService.java) code, and, technically, should be able to extract specific data from it. However, IIRC, there are some file integrity checks in place, so it most probably won't work if you just delete a bunch of data from it. Unfortunately the restore command doesn't seem to have an option to restore a particular app/package only or exclude a package.

Thanks! That's at least a starting point to look inside the file. Would have been easier if I hadn't provided a password for the backup.

Yes, I'm currently extracting everything from BackupManagerService to read the contents of the backup file. It's a good amount of work, but I need my data back...

@ingorichter I started working on this and posted a ton of notes below, in a "community wiki" answer. Feel free to add to it.

I started working on this. I'm posting my results so far here as a "community wiki" answer for two reasons: first, if someone else wants to join in, there's a place to talk; second, if I get pulled away from this project, there'll be hints for someone else to start working.

The backup logic on the host is entirely contained within https://github.com/android/platform_system_core/blob/master/adb/commandline.cpp, in the function named backup. The function is very simple: it validates the command line options, sends the command mostly as-is to the adb daemon on the phone, and writes the phone's output to the file. There isn't even error-checking: if, for example, you refuse the backup on the phone, adb just writes out an empty file.
On the phone, the backup logic starts in service_to_fd() in https://github.com/android/platform_system_core/blob/master/adb/services.cpp. The function identifies that the command from the host is "backup", and passes the unparsed command to /system/bin/bu, which is a trivial shell script to launch com.android.commands.bu.Backup as the main-class of a new Android app process. That calls ServiceManager.getService("backup") to get the backup service as an IBackupManager, and calls IBackupManager.fullBackup(), passing it the still-unused file descriptor (very indirectly) connected to the backup.ab file on the host.
Control passes to fullBackup() in com.android.server.backup.BackupManagerService, which pops up the GUI asking the user to confirm/reject the backup. When the user do so, acknowledgeFullBackupOrRestore() (same file) is called. If the user approved the request, acknowledgeFullBackupOrRestore() figures out if the backup is encrypted, and passes a message to BackupHandler (same file.) BackupHandler then instantiates and kicks off a PerformAdbBackupTask (same file, line 4004 as of time of writing)
We finally start generating output there, in PerformAdbBackupTask.run(), between line 4151 and line 4330.
First, run() writes a header, which consists of either 4 or 9 ASCII lines:

"ANDROID BACKUP"
the backup format version: currently "4"
either "0" if the backup is uncompressed or "1" if it is
the encryption method: currently either "none" or "AES-256"
(if encrypted), the "user password salt" encoded in hex, all caps
(if encrypted), the "master key checksum salt" encoded in hex, all caps
(if encrypted), the "number of PBKDF2 rounds used" as a decimal number: currently "10000"
(if encrypted), the "IV of the user key" encoded in hex, all caps
(if encrypted), the "master IV + key blob, encrypted by the user key" encoded in hex, all caps

The actual backup data follows, either as (depending on compression and encryption) tar, deflate(tar), encrypt(tar), or encrypt(deflate(tar)).

TODO: write up the code path that generates the tar output -- you can simply use tar as long as entries are in the proper order (see below).
Tar archive format
App data is stored under the app/ directory, starting with a _manifest file, the APK (if requested) in a/, app files in f/, databases in db/ and shared preferences in sp/. If you requested external storage backup (using the -shared option), there will also be a shared/ directory in the archive containing external storage files.
$ tar tvf mybackup.tar
-rw------- 1000/1000      1019 2012-06-04 16:44 apps/org.myapp/_manifest
-rw-r--r-- 1000/1000   1412208 2012-06-02 23:53 apps/org.myapp/a/org.myapp-1.apk
-rw-rw---- 10091/10091     231 2012-06-02 23:41 apps/org.myapp/f/share_history.xml
-rw-rw---- 10091/10091       0 2012-06-02 23:41 apps/org.myapp/db/myapp.db-journal
-rw-rw---- 10091/10091    5120 2012-06-02 23:41 apps/org.myapp/db/myapp.db
-rw-rw---- 10091/10091    1110 2012-06-03 01:29 apps/org.myapp/sp/org.myapp_preferences.xml

Encryption details

An AES 256 key is derived from the backup encryption password using 10000 rounds of PBKDF2 with a randomly generated 512 bit salt.
An AES 256 master key is randomly generated
A master key 'checksum' is generated by running the master key through 10000 rounds of PBKDF2 with a new randomly generated 512 bit salt.
A random backup encryption IV is generated.
The IV, master key, and checksum are concatenated and encrypted with the key derived in 1. The resulting blob is saved in the header as a hex string.
The actual backup data is encrypted with the master key and appended to end of the file.

Sample pack/unpack code implementation (produces/uses) tar archives: https://github.com/nelenkov/android-backup-extractor
Some more details here: http://nelenkov.blogspot.com/2012/06/unpacking-android-backups.html
Perl scripts for packing/unpacking and fixing broken archives:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27840175#post27840175

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

Great and detailed answer from Nikolay Elenkov. However I should added that somebody already develop a software that do just that and package it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/adbextractor/
The package contains both Java and Perl tool. I myself prefer Perl over Java any day, so I extracted the Perl codes, make sure they are executable, installed the required Perl library, and run the backupdecrypt.pl against an adb backup file, and it convert it into a tar or gzipped tar file without any issue.
I even formed a one liner in Bash 3 that allow me to do adb backup directly to gzipped tar file:
adb backup -f >(backupdecrypt.pl -D -z - backup.tgz) -all

Hope it helps.

Yeah, they packaged the tool (the Java one) I wrote:) I also helped port the thing to Perl. If you didn't read the READMEs, it might not be immediately apparent that the writeup came first, then the tools....

I have taken backup but it has not created .ab file, instead it has created .backup file. I want to know how to extract it. Also i am not sure whether it has taken all the photos and video's as backup?

For explore existing backup file, try http://www.adb-backup.com page, it is simple without "dd", "tar", ...
Data is not stored on this server. I've developed this online service to make it easier to view backups without manipulating with dd / tar or installing additional software. I'm author www.adb-backup.com

I'd be very careful about uploading an adb backup (and providing the password) to a random website... The data included in the adb backup is private and you have no way of knowing what the site does with the backup. It could be harmless but I wouldn't recommend doing this.

Data is not stored on this server. I've developed this online service to make it easier to view backups without manipulating with dd / tar or installing additional software. I'm author www.adb-backup.com


text:
How do I make my device dial my phone via Bluetooth?
I have a Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 and a Samsung Chrono. I want to be able to be able to call someone using the Galaxy Player through my phone so that I can have the contacts on my Galaxy Player and not on my phone.
Using SIP/VoIP is not an option; I don't have a data plan on my phone. So I would like to do this via Bluetooth if possible.
In fact, if it means that I'll have to use the phone to talk, that's fine too.

Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 isn't actually a phone Per se, so it's hard to use it as such (without some help at least):
Any of the following solutions answers your question the way you intended it to be answered, but this is the result of a deep investigation and testing that might help you or help others in the future.
1) Just like a Bluetooth Handset:
With a fair amount of limitations, you can Pair the Galaxy Player to your smartphone just like pairing a Bluetooth headset:

Turn on Bluetooth on both devices, make the Galaxy Player discoverable, and scan with the phone.

Once the devices recognized each other and got paired, the Player shows up connected to the phone.

When a call gets to the smartphone, the Galaxy Player will ring as well.

The screen does look just like the incoming call screen on a smartphone, providing an option to answer or decline the call.
Initiating a call from the smartphone, will automatically activate the Galaxy Player, just like it would with a Bluetooth headset.
If the Galaxy Player and your smartphone are close together, lets say it the same room, the call has a good quality, just like if you were talking on your phone.
The power consumption for this solution is very low, so its a thumbs up as well.
Sadly, the contacts list on the Galaxy Player will do you no good, since it actually can't initialize any calls.

2) Using WiFi:
One tested alternative with a very lost cost can be signing up with a service that directs texts and/or calls to the Galaxy Player.
e.g., Google Voice, see the International calling rates
The only drawback using any service like Google Voice on the Galaxy Player is that you can only receive/send text messages and calls when connected to Wi-Fi, unlike a normal phone.
Google Voice is a feature-rich call forwarding service. You get one phone number that will ring all of your phones (cell or landline).
With it, you can receive voicemails and text messages (no multimedia messages/MMS, though).
Being a part of your Google account, you have access to all of your messages; call logs and more.
Google Voice @ Google Play

3) Using VoIP
Signing up with a service with a VoIP solution, it is possible to make actual calls from the Galaxy Player (or any device with speaker and microphone).
e.g., Line2, see the Plans Comparison
This service doesn't get you stuck to a contract, extra fees or a period of time. So, if a better solution appear in the future, you can stop using it immediately.

So what I was asking won't work then.


text:
Will rooting my phone improve its battery life?
I've had an HTC Desire HD with HTC Sense for about a year and I'm quite happy, except for the battery life. After upgrading to the latest version, it lasts about 24 hours with moderate/low usage.
I was wondering 2 things:

If I root it, will i gain some significant battery life?
After a phone is rooted, can it later be returned to the factory state?

I dont know much about rooting.

Your phone is most probably not running Android 3.0, as it was released only for tablets. Please check your settings if you'd like to figure out what version you are actually running (Settings->About Phone). Also, 24 hours of battery life is about typical for smartphones nowadays. What are you looking to get from the battery?

Android version is 2.3.5, but the version of HTC sense is 3.0, which kinda resembles the way it works on tablets

Depends on what you do with the root. You can underclock and get dramatically better battery life.

@eldarerathis 24 hours is what I would expect with high usage.  Moderate usage on my phone (An hour continuous at lunch, games while waiting for the train to/from work, and using it as my alarm clock, but rarely using it as a phone to talk on) gives me on average about 50 hours with Android 2.1 - you should probably also check that you don't have a runaway app that's draining some of the battery if that's what you expect to be average...

@Izkata: The Galaxy Nexus averages somewhere between 3.5 - 5 hours of screen on time for one charge. 24 hours or so is very typical of today's high-end smartphones, especially ones with larger screens and 4G networking. Based on the fact that you have Android 2.1 I'm going to guess your phone is not 4G capable and probably has lower screen/processor specs than, for example, a GNex. My typical usage could probably run for closer to 36-40 hours without charging, but I don't see a reason not to simply plug it in every night, anyway.

@Izkata: Granted, this also depends on how you define "light", "moderate" and "heavy" usage. I'd consider 1-2 hours of use a day near the low end. I typically use my phone ~3 hours per day, and I'd consider that "moderate" compared to others I know, but on LTE with a large screen it'll run the battery into the 30% range.

@eldarerathis Yes, I should have specified model, too: Samsung Galaxy S (Specifically, the AT&T version, the Captivate).  I included my definition of "moderate" in the previous comment so we'd have some sort of comparison.

The only way rooting can gain you battery time is if you can uninstall an app that's using a lot of power, and which you can't uninstall without rooting (i.e. it's something that shipped with the device). I don't know what is on your device, but judging from what I've seen on my Droid 3, there's not likely to be any noticeable change in battery life. On the plus side, if you root the device, you'll have the option to get rid of any junk that was pre-installed and thereby not have to see all the update notices for stuff that you'll never use and which wants more and more permissions with every update.

If you are just rooting (not flashing a custom OS), it is usually better to freeze the problem apps than removing. If the carrier/manufacturer releases an update for the device they check for these apps and if missing will fail to update.

Well, in the battery reports, none of the trash apps are on the top of the battery usage, so I guess I wont be getting any real advantage if I root.

@jlehenbauer 's answer below is more accurate. You will save battery life by reducing the clock speed and voltages and if possible also reducing the no. of actively functional cores in newer multi-core processors. All that can only be achieved by rooting and then using a kernel that supports these features.

@Dbugger Not completely true - some apps will hold a wakelock and prevent the CPU from sleeping.  Those won't show up in the battery usage list since they're not actually doing anything during that time.  Finding those ones is in my experience quite difficult...

@Michael - I think you're forgetting the possibility to reduce the CPU clock frequency which can help battery life. Also, surely "Android System", "Android OS" and others could be tweaked in the custom ROM to improve life further?

@DanW - with most phones that I've seen, the biggest factors in battery life are how much you use it and how you have the screen brightness set. You can mess around with the cpu clock frequency and and tweak to your heart's content and you'll perhaps gain a percent or three, but unless that's your hobby, it's not worth the bother - it won't get you a meaningful increase in runtime.

@Michael - thanks. I use my phone mostly on standby, and so processes such as "Android System" and "Android OS" go to the top. I'm wondering if these may be lighter on a custom ROM such as 'Simplicity'. After all, how does my old phone last two weeks on a smaller battery? That's 25x longer than my current Galaxy I9000.

If you choose to root your phone, there are several options as far as installing custom ROMs and/or custom kernels. Some of these allow you change the clock speed of your processor, the governor controlling the processor, and so on, which can all positively (or negatively) affect battery life. If you are already rooted, ROM Toolbox gives some nice options as far as system manipulation that can help with battery life.
Juice Defender Ultimate also has some pretty cool options if you're root.

rooting android saves up to 25% of battery compared to factory state.
I would suggest you use Kingo Android Root & framaroot.

Rooting has nothing to do with battery, root is equivalent of Administrator on Windows that has the privilege to do system wide changes. Bearing that in mind, can install custom kernels, apps that claim to "squeeze extra juice" from battery etc, with custom CPU governers etc, but really, from the viewpoint of root, your answer looks vague, why 25%, where did you get that from?  What's Kingo Android Root? What's framaroot? A linky or two would help with a brief summary of how to use it.

83.4% of all statistics are made up. In other words, cite your source.


text:
Asus Transformer - Show Virtual Keyboard When Docked
Asus Transformer tablet provides a dock with a hardware keyboard. I can not find information on showing the virtual (on-screen) keyboard while being docked. Is it possible?
It is Android 3.2.1.

Out of curiosity, what's your use case for this? It seems like it wouldn't really provide any benefit (irrespective of whether or not it's even possible).

Believe it or not, but Connectbot ssh client does not provide a way to press '@' or '$' from the physical keyboard! At the same time, the virtual keyboard does not provide arrows. Both arrows and dollars are needed for a lot of console work.

Interesting. It seems rather odd for those characters to be unavailable with the hardware keyboard.

They are, but Connectbot treats shift strangely.

Actually, regarding your second comment about the virtual keyboard lacking arrows: have you tried Hacker's Keyboard? It's not an answer to this question, but it could be a reasonable stopgap for you perhaps (don't know how it interacts with Connectbot specifically, though).

There is a modified version of connectbot that fixes the shift-number problem and some others:  https://github.com/lorantkurthy/connectbot

It's simple: when the hardware keyboard is attached, the tray (lower right of screen) has a keyboard icon. Click it and the top option is use hardware keyboard on/off.


text:
How can I securely store my private key I use for logging into my home PC
I've been told that the SD card is a terrible place to store secure data because any app can read it.  How else can my phone store my private key I use to log into my home PC ssh server?

Which app uses the private key? Is your device rooted?

Which version of Android? More recent versions support disk encryption which will prevent certain types of attacks. I would recommend you protect the private key with a strong password in any event.

I use ssh in a terminal.
$ ls -l .ssh
-rw-------    1 10106    10106          427 Jan  8 07:39 id_rsa
-rw-rw-rw-    1 10106    10106          319 Jan  8 07:39 id_rsa.pub
...
$ pwd
/data/data/com.magicandroidapps.bettertermpro/home

So the private key is protected simply by the unix filesystem and Android's user-per-app design: only Better Terminal Emulator Pro can read id_rsa, and only ssh and other programs I'm aware of run under it.
Whatever your app is, it need only do this to enjoy the same security from other apps.  Full-sdcard encryption, unless it comes packaged with a filesystem having a comparable system of permissions, will not protect your data from other apps.

JuiceSSH stores your keys in its private app directory.
https://twitter.com/juicessh/status/514263527172112384

Click image for larger version
In addition, it encrypts this info.
https://twitter.com/juicessh/status/449123666471948288

Click image for larger version

If your phone is rooted, you have the option of placing the key in a 'protected' area in which any application requesting to access the file would need to be given root access by you.

This provides very little protection in the case of an attacker gaining physical access to your phone.

You can also create a key that requires a pass-phrase to be entered in order to unlock and use the key.

You should consider spending four or five additional seconds in order
to login to your server in order to protect your assets.

As previously mentioned, Android is moving towards full disk encryption, which will substantially increase security of the device in general.

The latest versions of Android now support full disk encryption.  When setting it up, I'd recommend using a pin or passphrase that is not the same as your unlock pin.


text:
Turning off cell broadcast messages in Ice Cream Sandwich
The phone is a stock HTC One X.
The settings menu does not include a checkbox to enable/disable CB messages. They just keep popping up.
Update: Halfer already gave the link to the wikipedia article about CB, which should explain it in more detail than I ever can. What it means to me is that I get location information as I move around in town.
The screenshot here shows the checkbox for this feature on what I believe is Gingerbread:

Update 2: And this is the extremely boring message. This particular one just shows the carrier name, so it's even more useless and annoying than if it were showing location information:

Pardon my ignorance, but: what is a "cell broadcast message"?  What do they look like?

I think these have been around for years - on non-smart phones also - but depend on the carrier. I think the idea is that the network works out roughly where you are via tower triangulation, and sends local info or traffic reports. I always turned them on out of curiosity, but (in the UK) never received anything :(. Aha, here's a reference.

After some investigation and asking around, I have been told that these settings might be under Settings -> Call -> Other Call Settings, and indeed they were.
However, the owner of both a stock Samsung Galaxy S3 and an ICS updated Galaxy S2 told me that those two had the CB settings under Messages -> Settings.
I have not been able to find out which one of these two the default location is. It is possible that HTC has moved them.
What I have found out is that other manufacturers (Sony is one example I've come accross) are also placing CB settings under general settings rather than messaging settings, so there might not be a one-size-fits-all answer for this question.

On HTC ONE X you should go to
phone → [options button] → settings → cell broadcast
or
settings → call → cell broadcast

On S3, open up SMS/Text Messaging.
Press the Menu key - bottom left of phone.
Press 'Settings'.
Scroll towards the bottom of the screen.
'Cell Broadcast Activation' will be about 4 items from the bottom of the menu list.
Uncheck/Remove tick.
Bingo - no more Cell Broadcasts!

Settings -> Phone-call -> Other call settings -> Close CB messages

Just go to a messages, go to menu, scroll down and uncheck CB.


text:
Keep screen alive by using camera
The new Samsung Galaxy S III has an interesting feature which keeps the screen alive (on) if the camera decides the user is reading something by detecting if the user is moving his/her eyes. Does anybody know any application like that in the Android Market which I could install on my Motorola Xoom 2 (Honeycomb) or on my Galaxy S II (ICS) ?

There's a BETA version floating around XDA. YMMV. This is being developed particularly for the S2, although it might work with other devices having FFCs (Front Facing Cameras) as well.
See this thread for more details.

authors: Сергей Коваленко


text:
Unable to make calls, but MMS/USSD and SMS works
I am running a Moto G Stylus 2021.
Currently, I am not able to make any phone calls, not even access my voicemail. I am though, able to receive phone calls and make and receive text messages and use USSD codes. I do not know why this is happening as it did not happen before. It is not a carrier issue because I reached out to them and they told me that they have detected no issues with my device but either way sent out a SIM refresh to my device. Even so I was still unable to make phone calls.
Recent changes to my phone was someone going in and messing around with the MMI codes and settings.
Does anyone know what may be the issue?

Have you reached out to your carrier? This sounds more like a carrier issue than a phone  issue.

@acejavelin It's not a carrier issue as the first thing I did was contact them and spoke with them for a good amount of time about the issue I was experiencing. But in the end they couldn't find out what the problem was, unfortunately.

At this point we don't know what is wrong and I can' think of anything that would cause no outbound calls but everything else including receiving them works. Try a Network Settings Reset, and if that fails consider removing the SIM, doing a factory reset, then setup and reinsert SIM. I know it's annoying, but I don't know what could have changed that could cause that behavior.

Apparently, it seems as if my carrier has issues with the caller ID. Typing in *31# breaks phone calls, and seems to enable some form of outgoing call barring.
Typing in #31# seems to disable it and allow me to make phone calls once more.


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Will a Motorola DEFY+ sync with my Outlook calendar and contacts?
I'd like to buy a Motorola DEFY+ as it fits my needs almost perfectly. However, I read some test reviews which are claiming that the Outlook sync options are quite weak.
Does anyone know if this phone will synchronize with my local Outlook calendar and contacts? Are there any known problems which might occur during the synchronization?

Actually I bought the Motorola Defy+ and I'm disapointed, as it seems there's synchronization is only possible via Google account.

Thanks for your answer. As you described, the situation looks quite disappointing.


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Reason SD cards come FAT formated instead of Fat32?
I found my SD card to be FAT formated instead of a modern filesystem (at least fat32).
This comes with the disadvantage of large allocation unit size (32kb) whilst most of the files are less than that.
Is there a reason behind that and can I safely format sd cards to be fat32 in order to use another allocation size (8kb or less) ?
Phone: Xperia Neo V

Re: the safety of re-formatting with FAT32, Can I format SD to FAT32 from FAT16? discusses that a bit. I'm not sure that anyone can answer the "why" other than the manufacturer of the card (and, FWIW, the cards I've purchased have all been pre-formatted FAT32).

unless you have an sdcard that is 4gb or smaller, it is not formatted as FAT16. That is the max size for a fat16 volume.

How is it Android question?

The reason could have been that Android doesn't support FAT32, for example.

@SachinShekhar My android phone had this sd card FAT preformated. The actual filesize was around 500Mb and the size-on-disk because of the FAT was 1.3Gb. There should be a reason they ship a 2Gb formated that way. It takes space for no obvious reason.

Generally FAT is used when possible simply because it's compatible with more (older) devices.  While this is not much of an issue today, it probably continues out of (1) very slight market advantage and (2) the fact that factory machinery is set up that way and it would cost owners to change it.
In any event, Android can certainly read FAT32; if it couldn't nobody would be able to use SD cards larger than 2GB.  There should be no problem with Android being able to read your card after a format.

I know it's an old question, but I just formatted a card (2GB) as FAT32. It was FAT(16) and at this size the total available space is reduced. Was 1.90GB, now 1.88GB. Now comes in the question of effeciency. Under FAT the files are in 32KB cluster. If you have  text document, it is probably smaller than 32KB, but it will take up a full 32KB cluster. Under FAT32 the size should be around 4KB, that will be better for small files.

Excellent point, tho probably too technical for most users to grasp.


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How to install ROMs without ClockWorkMod in Huawei U8800
I have official Huawei ROM installed on my U8800 (Android 2.3.5) and I want to try some custom ROMs like MIUI. So I researched and find out that I need to replace default recovery.img file in /.cust_backup/image with ClockWorkMod Recovery image file. After I replaced this file successfully tried to boot into Recovery using reboot recovery command (also tried pressing [VOL+]+[Power]) but my phone didn't flash CWM but started to reboot several times instead. After 2 or 3 reboots phone is starting normally without flashing CWM. Then I restored replaced recovery.img with my backed-up one and rebooted, default Recovery screen flashed with no problem. I used official CWM Recovery image (5.0.2.6) for U8800 and some other unofficial CWM images for U8800. But none of them worked. I could neither solve this problem nor find another way to install my ROM Zip from SDCARD. Does anyone know what can I do to solve these?

After trying a lot of different Recovery images finally one of them worked. CWM 5.0.2.7 flashed successfully. People with the same problem can download the working recovery image file from this link


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How can I configure an unlocked HTC Sensation XE for 3g connectivity in USA?
I bought this phone in India and brought it home to USA. In India I had no issues in connecting to 3G network but after coming back to USA I am no longer able to connect to 3G network (AT&T). I know the phone operates in a different frequency but I wanted to know if there is a way to tweak this.
I got excited when I saw a similar link posted on another forum but that did not work on my phone.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks...

AT&T's 3G works in the 1900 MHz and 850 MHz frequencies.
Even though HTC Sensation XE is listed as supporting the 850 MHz frequency, it is only using it for slower 2G (EDGE) speeds.  For 3G it's using T-Mobile's HSDPA bands 900/1700/2100 MHz.  Unfortunately no amount of tweaking in the phone's software will make it work on AT&T's 3G bands, since this is a hardware difference in the phone's modem.
There are very few phones that work on both T-Mobile and AT&T's 3G frequencies - those are called "penta-band".  The new Samsung Galaxy Nexus is one of them, along with older Nokia models E7, N8 and N9 phones, for example.

Fun fact, the T-Mobile Vibrant only uses 1700/1900/2100 for 3G and works on AT&T as well.  It's quadband 2G though.

Interesting!  I haven't seen other phones that are in both 1700/2100 AND 1900 3G frequencies.  Do we have a community wiki question on carrier bands for 2G/3G/4G?  If not, we should definitely start one up.

So that I understand it correctly... If I change my service to T-Mobile I might get 3G speeds on my phone.

@logik6 Yes, you should be able to get 3G speeds on T-Mobile.  I would suggest trying a friend's T-Mobile SIM card or walking into a T-Mobile store and asking them to confirm by using one of their cards.


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Phone keeps downloading data with no user activity, where's the leak?
I've got a strange problem. My HTC Incredible running MIUI has a data leak of some sort.
It downloaded over 4 GB's of data last month and I can't seem to figure out where it's coming from.
I've installed Onavo and My Data Manager to track what's using the data and in Onavo i get 'Market Downloader' and in My Data Manager i get 'Download Manager'
I have barely installed any apps and certainly haven't downloaded 4GB of data, video streaming/downloading, or music. This never used to be the case and I've tried to delete as many of the apps as I could think of that might be doing this, but still nothing.
How can I pinpoint what's downloading this data?

One of the three Incredibles we own had the same problem. It too was running MIUI.
I found this thread on the MIUI forums. After changing the build.prop file as indicated in that thread the problem went away.
Edit to add the following information:

http://androidforums.com/incredible-all-things-root/447517-stop-update-notification.html
Changed these lines to this:
Do not try to parse ro.build.description or .fingerprint ro.build.description=3.26.605.1 CL264707 release-keys
  ro.build.fingerprint=verizon_wwe/inc/inc/inc:2.3.4/GRJ22/222219:user/release-keys
   end build properties
It's really just the "build fingerprint" that matters as you can see.

If the MIUI is referencing an older version of Android then the carrier will keep trying to download the latest Android update. That's where the data download is coming from.

So, when the link no longer functions, what use is this answer?

Summarizing the link would be great :)

This might be of some help. Because I had a similar problem on my 3G.
There must definitely be a feature called as "Background Data" somewhere in your Accounts and Sync Settings. Make sure it is disabled.
What this does is gives access to your apps to contact their servers and download data in the background, without your permission. This reduced my 3G usage considerably.
Second thing you might want to try is, Disable automatic update of all your apps in your phone. This is even worse and uses a lot of data.
Third and the most safest of all, turn your wifi or 3G OFF when you are not using it.

note that Background Data is only advisory, it is up to individual applications to whether or not to honour the setting.

Having two monitoring programs point to the same nondescript process is frustrating. Just to verify, does MIUI's built in Traffic Monitor ("Monitor" icon on your homescreen) show the same thing Onavo and My Data Manager?
In the likely event that it does, the most simple (and time consuming) answer is to systematically disable every single app until you identify the culprit. You would need to make sure to disable only one at a time then monitor traffic over a set period of time to look for a change. For most ROMs this means completely uninstalling apps to disable them, but MIUI's Monitor app also includes Firewall settings that allow you to disable data to specific apps on the fly (including system resources like Android System and Download Manager). I suggest working through the entire list even if you find a result earlier on.
You might also consider connecting to a WiFi router and monitoring your phone's traffic using the router's firmware or other network software. If you can identify where all this traffic is going it might give you a clue as to which app is requesting it all.


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Install WhatsApp on Android x86 virtual machine
I installed android-x86-6.0-r3.iso on
$ virtualbox -help
Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager 5.1.22_Ubuntu

using:
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 17.04
Release:    17.04
Codename:   zesty

If I open Play Store app and select WhatsApp, there is no option to install it. Only the option "add to wishlist" appears.
Is it possible to install WhatsApp via Play Store app on Android x86 virtual machine?

There is no direct way for installing WhatsApp for virtual device from Google Playstore.

Android x86 doesn't come with all features (core features e.g play services, services framework etc) and SIM functionality is also missing.
The virtual device being treated as as "tablet" is incompatible, as WhatsApp states:

Tablet devices are not supported

There are workarounds however to install it on the virtual device.

Check out this thread Install WhatsApp on Android running under Virtualbox .
You could also try the Bluestacks Android Emulator. Easier setup and you can download any app from the Google Play Store including Whats app. Genymotion (free version) is also another good one.


text:
Does Android Have a BIOS?
Do Android devices contain a BIOS? If not, how does it boot up? What is the software that actually boots it up and can you replace it?

Android is an Operating System, similar to Windows. Windows does not have a BIOS either, the computer has a BIOS.
Phones don't have a BIOS though, they have firmware.

Phones don't have BIOS. Vendors implement boot process inside their closed source SoCs. PCs have ACPI, phones have Device Trees (mostly). Bootloaders are also different, again closed source on phones. Only Linux kernel is same, that too modified. Userspace is again entirely different. On Android there is no console login, no traditional X server.


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How to play FM Radio app without earphone?
I would like to play my default FM Radio app. But it always asking to connect an earphone.
Is it possible to play FM Radio app without an earphone ?

No. You need an earphone, or anything that can plug into the earphone jack, with a trailing cable.
This is to provide the phone with an antenna. Because space inside the phone is highly limited, it's usually insensible to have a built-in FM antenna.
Usually, you can still instruct the phone (or at least the FM app) to output audio to its speaker, even when earphone is plugged in, as it's primary function is to serve as antennae.

I use Tecno LC7 and I don't use antenna to listen to radio. So it's possible to have it as built-in

Is the app FM radio (that the stations' availability depends on the current location), or digital radio?

Looking at the Tecno specs online it appears that you do need an antenna.  Or am I missing something?

I never knew the phone was like that until I started using it, it even came with an earpiece

@Andrew. Yes, It's depends on the current location


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How can I read my epub books in Google Books for Android?
Has anyone been able to take and place an epub book inside the Google Books app or know how to do it?

There's a hint that the situation might change soon: The known issues page for Google Play Books NO LONGER lists "Unable to add non-Google eBooks to My Library" as "Working as intended".

As of March 2013, Google Play Books supports third-party ePub or PDF files. You can upload books to your account by visiting https://play.google.com/books/uploads in your web browser (when logged in to your Google account, of course). You are permitted to store up to 1,000 uploaded files on your account at a time, and each file must be no larger than 50 MB in size.
There are also many alternative book reader apps that support ePub files if you would prefer that. Aldiko seems to be very well liked, but I have not used it myself.

Aldiko is a front-runner. Great little reader app.

Another decent epub reader is Overdrive Media Console. I haven't compared it to others, but it works for me, and it's what my public library uses for some of it's e-book lending.

FBReader is a favorite of mine for epubs.

Put the epub on your device. Use a file manager such as Files to open it (with [Google] Play Books). It'll import it then.
This was tested on Android 10 with the Files file manager (version 1.0.347928958) on a Vastking KingPad SA10 with an epub created with Calibre (3.21.0+dfsg-1build1) for Xubuntu 18.04.5 LTS, 64-bit, soon before I answered this question.

You can import/upload them:
Uploading the PDF/ePub file(s) to your Library

Go to My Books
Click on 'Upload File' in the top right corner.
Choose the file(s) you wish to upload.

Getting the PDF/ePub files in your App

Go into your Google Play Books App.
Click on the button on the top left ('Read Now' or 'My Library').
Select 'My Library'.
Click on the button just underneath it ('All books').
Click on 'Uploads'.
Click the Android Menu button.
Click on 'Refresh'
When you try to open the file, you may be prompted to download it.


text:
Why do I need a Gmail account to use Android?
I am a new user of Android phone. I used to own an iPhone. I don't remember needing an Apple account besides using it to download applications from app store. Now I need a Gmail account to do even some of the basic stuff like finding my location on Google Map. Is Google violating my privacy? Why am I forced to log in to Gmail permanently to use Android?
Update: From Eren Tantekin's comment, it seems that Apple is using it's own application to run Google Map. That may be the reason why a Google Account is not required. From Richard Borcsik's comment, it seems that Apple is collecting location data as well, this I am not aware of.
With the background knowledge above, I would take eldarerathis's comment as the accepted answer. I apologise if this appears to be a rant to anyone. I just want some clarification. Thanks.

Try an Android tablet Kindle Fire on which you'll never be asked to login with Google Account unless you use Google's apps after downloading them.

@SachinShekhar, I am referring to a phone, not tablet. I am never asked to login when using Google apps on an iPhone, why should I do so now, on Android?

I don't understand: on the iPhone you need an Apple account "only" to download apps? Oh, cool. Are there people out there that don't ever download any app and just go with the stock ones?

I doubt there's an answer to this beyond "because that's how Google designed its apps". Android itself does not require a Google account to use, only Google's proprietary applications do. CyanogenMod and other pure source builds of Android are actually forbidden from distributing the Google apps within the firmware package itself because of their proprietary nature, and if you install such a ROM without the associated Google apps add-on you won't even have the ability to add a Google account in your settings.
If you don't want to be tied to Google then don't use the apps they produce, but also don't be surprised that they want you to sign in when using services that they provide. It's really not that different from any other app or website that requires sign in to use the services it provides, in my opinion, but if you don't like it use different apps.
Re: the question about why Maps specifically requires a sign-in on Android but not iOS: the comments about the iOS one being developed by Apple could certainly be correct, and I do agree with those statements. In addition, Apple may not want you to sign in Google's servers with their Maps app. It would create a tie (however loose it may be) between you and Google's services, which I'm sure Apple is trying to discourage as much as possible to prevent customers from jumping ship to Android.
Another angle you have to keep in mind is that Google is pushing pretty hard to tie together all of its online services as much as it possibly can. Based on their priorities and their business model, it makes sense that the Android version would try to integrate as tightly as possible with their other services and with the web. It's in their best interest (from a business perspective) to try to make Android apps and their web counterparts as seamless as possible in order to attract users to Android who are already heavily invested in Google's products. Of course, this is just conjecture on my part, I think only Google could truly say why Maps works the way it does.

Your first sentence should be: "You don't need Gmail Account to use Android." :)

Can you enlighten me why I should log in to a Google account using Android as I need not do so previously on an iPhone using the same apps like Google Map? If it is designed to do so on Android, why not on iPhone?

Because Maps on the iPhone is not a "Google App". It is an app made by Apple. You are not directly using a Google product when you use it. Apple is the one using the Google product so that they can provide you a Maps application.

@ErenTantekin: that is a good comment. I didn't know. Now I know. Perhaps you can put it down in your answer?

@RichardBorcsik: I don't remember giving them the permission to do so. Is it the case?

You need a Google account only if you want to use Google services. If you don't want to use Google services, you are free not to have a Google account. However, it looks like you actually tried to use one of Google services (Google Maps) and you were suprised that it requires a Google account.
By the way, you can use the rest of Android without a Google account since the operating system itself is free and open source.

Yes, I am surprise because there isn't such a requirement when I use Google services on an iPhone.

Because Apple is using the Google service there, not you directly.

A flippant title answer goes: Google is an advertising company, so they want to read your email to help trick you into buying necessary stuff.  ;)
I always use phone without google play services installed, but only for public transit time tables.  I never give google maps or any browsers location access.  I don't want their location based advertising!
Instead, I always use open street maps via OSMAnd~ via F-Droid whenever I want a map that knows my location.  In general, open street maps has more precise information than google maps when your doing things off road, like hiking of mountain biking, so you should try out OSMAnd~ anyways.


text:
On Android can I write scripts (similar to Win .bat files) to combine several command line commands?
On Windows, I can run two commands using a .bat file.
How can I achieve the same thing on Android
For example:

update my podcasts by calling pcastclient /updateALL
force sync of my pictures sugarsync /forceupdate

Android's shell will support a limited amount of Unix-style shell scripting. It specifically should have a shell at /system/bin/sh that you can use, however:

The shell provided with Android has a severely restricted set of commands available to it. If you want to do anything even remotely complex you'll need a busybox install (or another shell).
It's generally pretty rare for Android apps to provide any kind of command line interface or binaries. I very much doubt that Sugarsync, for example, allows you to perform a sync from the command line.

If you want a bit of a GUI you may want to look at something like GScript.

There are a few Android apps that are able to control other Android apps, and can chain several commands together using their GUI in a similar way to a script, they both have plugins to extend their support to many popular Android apps and functions.
Tasker and Locale are probably the most famous of these (see here for some comparison) but there are also other similar (free) apps that you could look at.


text:
Recovery Mode Fails on Samsung Galaxy i7500L
I'm trying these steps to root my Samsung Galaxy i7500L.
When I get to step 9, recovery mode, I just see a yellow exclaimation-mark icon over a phone icon. I can reset my phone to OEM settings, but I can't see any menu or enable SU/Root.
I tried copying the rectools.tar.gz to my root folder (I assume this is the folder that opens as a drive when you plug in to your PC via USB and select "open files/folder" -- I think you need Mass Storage mode enabled though). Is that the right place?
Also, even if I reset and then just run straight recovery (without running fastboot to flash first), I see the same screen.
What am I missing?

For some reason you're not successfully replacing the stock recovery (the "yellow exclaimation-mark icon over a phone icon") with the new one they instruct you to download. Step 7 is key:

7) Type fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

This is where they have you 'flash' (copy/format) the modified recovery over the stock recovery. Is this step working for you? Simply copying the 'RECTOOLS.tar.gz' to your device's storage or SD card isn't sufficient.
On a separate note, have you investigated other means of rooting your device besides manually flashing via ADB? My favorite guide is Lifehacker's, and if I read it right you might simply be able to use SuperOneClick.
In any event, as always, tread lightly and read carefully.

Tried SuperOneClick, didn't work. It's not about flashing the new recovery; I cannot boot the stock recover mode, under any circumstance. This is my issue.

@ashes999: Per your question, the screen with the yellow exclaimation-mark icon over a phone icon where you can reset your phone to OEM settings is the stock recovery. Stock recovery won't let you Enable SU/Root, that's a function of a 3rd party recovery that must be flashed in place of your stock recovery.

Really? That's interesting. But then, there's no way out of it without wiping your phone completely. I definitely didn't get step 7 to work, but now I can't afford risking another wipe-out.

@ashes999: Well it's worth noting that flashing a new recovery shouldn't wipe your existing ROM or data, it would only change the recovery partition (a good explanation of the difference is here). Every time you're talking about recovery or rooting, though, you should make backups and be prepared for possible data loss.


text:
Disable LiveWare manager
I have rooted my Sony Ericsson Neo V by downgrading to .42 and using Zergrush, without unlocking the boot loader. Now I want to remove the LiveWare service. NoBloat and similar apps don't show it. How can I delete or at least disable this serivce?

Look in /system/app/ for com.sonyericsson.extras.liveware.apk or similar.  Remove it and any .odex file with the same name if present and that should get rid of it.  (Note that I have no idea if this is required by the system or will otherwise screw up your phone, so do it at your own risk.)

The file was called LiveWareManager.apk and removing it doesn't seem to have any ill effects.


text:
How much power does a Galaxy Tab 10.1 charger need to supply?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes with a special charger which (I'm assuming) provides a higher current output than the USB standard.  Without it, the device can actually die, even if the USB cord is plugged in to a USB port (albeit a little less quickly).
I'm looking for other (cheaper) AC and car adapters, but I don't know the minimum power they need to provide to power the device.  Does anyone know the minimum current needed for a 5V USB connection for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, or perhaps a link that provides this information?

This turns out to be more complicated than just the amperage rating of the power adapter.
This XDA post says that the Tablet itself may 'step down' to 0.5A charging if it cannot detect the right support in the USB host.  There are some additional details in this post but I don't grok them.
That thread led me to this slashdot comment which seems very useful and knowledgeable.  If I understand the story correctly, unless the tablet can negotiate with the host device, the amount of power it can draw is limited.  A physical "hack" (now part of a USB standard) in the adapter can make it clear to the USB client (the tablet) that there is no host device (its a wall wart), so it can charge faster.  Without the hack, the device is limited in the amperage it can use.
More details on the USB charing spec are on wikipedia.
I just verified some of this with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the no-name 2A USB wall charger I have.  If I plug my tablet into this "unapproved" USB adapter, then I get a little red "x" on the battery charge indicator in the system tray.  Additionally, I get the "media scanner running..." alert (which I think means that the Tablet thinks it might be connected to a computer).  I cannot tell at what rate (2.5mA, 500mA, 2A, etc) the tablet is actually charging at, though.
If I plug the tablet into the 'approved' wall wart, I get no such red "x", nor any "media scanner" alerts.
All that said, in practice, I've found that the tablet will charge up on my no-name USB adapter.  I'm not sure if that's because I tend to turn the screen off (and I don't have 3G), and thus the power draw of the sleeping tablet is less than the 500mA, or if its actually getting the full 2A.
I think the upshot is that any reputable wall charger or anything labeled as "compatible" with an iPhone or iPad will probably support the USB charging spec, and thus will fast-charge a Samsung Galaxy Tab.  But I'm just guessing.  It would be nice if there was an official USB logo or label for chargers that supported this mode ...

This makes sense, but I wish there was a specific technical article on this from samsung.  Thanks!

Oddly enough my Samsung travel power adapter only provides power at 500mA (though it's rated for 2A) my Tab shows the red X on the battery, very slow charging, even when powered down.  But I got lucky, I have some Rocketfish power adapter, and the Tab is happily drawing 2A from that.

I have no idea if there's some kind of separate "minimum" spec for this, but the OEM charger is ~2A (so 4 times the USB2.0 spec's 500mA):

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 original charger provides 2A.  But providing 2A is not all it takes to make your tablet happy.
In order to use the 2A, the tablet needs to recognize the charger as a charger and not a computer's USB port.  The tablet is not allowed to draw more than 0.5A from a USB port.  So if the tablet thinks it is connected to a real USB port, it will display a red cross on the battery and charge slowly at best.
A Samsung charger will signal it is a charger and not a data port by shorting the data lines D+ and D- and pulling these 2 lines up to ~1.2V.
A third party charger is likely to leave the data lines disconnected, so the tablet will assume it is a normal USB port and use only 0.5A, even if the charger can provide 2A or more.
I believe Apple chargers short D+ and D- but without setting a specific voltage for this line.  An "Apple compatible" charger might not work.
To charge a Galaxy Tab using a non-compatible charger or any 5V source, you can reproduce the behaviour of a Samsung charger by adding the following USB adapter between the charger and the USB cable:

I tested this on a P7510.  It probably works also with other Samsung devices.  Note that if you use this to charge your tablet from a PC there could be a risk of frying your USB port.  And of course, it blocks all data transfer.

Is there a way I can charge my tablet in the pc. Right now discharge faster than charge if Im using the tablet.

I don't think so.  The problem is that a standard PC USB port doesn't provide 2A.  Only 0.5A I believe.

Once I have one usb hard drive, and I bought a cable with two usb input to connect in two usb port in the pc and feed twice teh Ampers. I wonders if microusb has a similar one.

The tablet charging current is proportional to the voltage that the power adapter can supply. If the charger has a lower than average voltage output, the tablet takes less charging current. A 6 foot USB cable can drop half a volt or more when the tablet is charging at a high rate. So, if you use a long USB cable, the tablet also drops to a lower charging current. I saw another post that said that that tablets can't charge if the voltage into them is less than 4.5V, so half a volt is a big deal.
The latest tablet charging adapters are rated at 5.3V/2.0A!!! This allows them to charge fast even with a pretty long cable with a big voltage drop (i.e. 5.3V - 0.5V is 4.8V, a lot higher than the 4.5V limit)
USB 2.0 Switches are rated to deliver only 0.5A, as are the USB sockets on most desktop computers. If you plug in your tablet to these, they will only draw 0.5A. If you're watching video, surfing or gaming, the tablets can easily draw twice this amount, which means they will be taking half their power from the battery. USB 3.0 switches might be able to supply more.
If you have a laptop, it can supply 0.5A if plugged into the wall, or only 0.1A if running on batteries.
So, if you want to charge your tablet quickly:

Use a power adapter with a 2.0A rating, preferably with a higher than 5.0V output (warning: higher than 5.5V may damage your tablet)
Use a short cable


text:
Need to give away Milestone that's rooted, what happens if I do Factory Data Reset?
In Settings -> Privacy -> Factory data reset?
I don't mind giving it away rooted, but if it wipes out the Superuser application (hence allowing any app to enter root mode unchecked) would be very very bad.
If it erases that app while leaving it rooted, can I just re-download the .apk and reinstall it afterwards? Or does that procedure unroot the phone? That would be OK too.
It's a Milestone 1 with Motorola's official 2.2 update. I just rooted it so I could use the ClockSync and Screenshot apps.

Depending on the device (and root method), the su binary (which gives your device root) is usually located in /system/xbin/ or /system/bin/ directory, while the Superuser.apk (which acts as a gate keeper, presenting you with a dialog when apps request root permissions) is always in /system/app/.  The /system partition does not get cleared by the Factory Reset process, so it's safe to perform while still retaining root.

Good to know, but what about the Superuser apk that asks the user to allow access by apps? Does that stay in place too?

Edited my answer with clarification about Superuser.apk.


text:
What is S-OFF? Why would I want to do it?
I always root my android devices, but there's something called obtaining S-OFF for certain devices, and I have no idea what that means.  What exactly does the term S-OFF relate to?  Why would I want to obtain S-OFF for my device?

As of note S-OFF/S-ON (S stands for Security) only officially applies to HTC devices, but many use it to describe any sort of locked/unlocked bootloader.

If you have a locked bootloader, it's S-ON.  If you fully unlock the bootloader it's S-OFF.  As eldarerathis notes below there's an intermediate state, where it's unlocked but still S-ON, where you can flash recoveries and ROMs but not radio firmware and so on.
If you don't unlock the bootloader, you can't flash unsigned firmware and most often can't alter your ROM (i.e., no permanent rooting).  The locked bootloader generally restores a known good system image on boot if it sees that changes have been made.
For some devices there's no known method of unlocking the bootloader; most of the time you need something official like HTC's unlocker tool.

Minor niggle: On HTC devices (I guess maybe others) your bootloader can be unlocked and still S-ON. In such a case, I believe you can flash system images and boot images, but you cannot flash radios or bootloaders (I'm not completely positive on the details, though, as my EVO has been S-OFF for a long time). Best example is that the HTCdev unlock leaves you S-ON (source for that). Their unlocker tool actually does not give you S-OFF status on any device I know of, unfortunately.

@eldarerathis I had no idea about that, thanks. HTC does weird things with their phones.

Yeah, it's kind of unfortunate, really. I was planning to upgrade to a newer HTC phone with an unlockable bootloader but decided against it when I dug around XDA and found that it would still be S-ON, so that's the only reason I thought to add that comment. It's not very well publicized, IMHO.

What's unfortunate is the confusion about S-ON and S-OFF. Believe me you want to leave security on (S-ON). Yes you can upgrade to newer HTC phones and use the official unlocker to install custom roms. Even with S-ON it's still unlocked for that purpose. Meaning yes you can install custom system, kernel (boot) and recovery partitions. What you can't do is mess with the radio which you really shouldn't be for the sake of everyone on your carrier. Any other argument is for specific unnecessary tools for installing roms.