L may fix KitKat SD Card Debacle

[stanlm2]

Looks like a new permission will be added and an app can request full sd card access.
This is all I wanted. Phil & Jerry, feel free to update your 'kitkat sd card policy is good medicine for you' article.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-platform/14VUiIgwUjY
(page 9)

 

[tr-1]

re:

Google must fix this if they want to have a robust Android One program. All those customers heavily rely on SD cards

 

[thatguy97]

re:

God I REALLY REALLY hope so

Posted from my Nexus 7 2013 running Android L or Samsung galaxy S5

 

[xperia2995]

re:

Finally. I hope it works out.
Android was this powerful, flexible OS. With kitkat it just became a fancy brick like iphone which people show off but can never do anything good with.
Just becuse nexus doesnot have a card does not mean that everyone is cool with it.
I was quite disappointed that google had forgot what android was, when they made kitkat.
There were big discussions regarding security & all agree that there should be a workaround rather than a rigid restriction.

I really hope they solve it in L.
Btw some people have already flashed an L. Why not ask them ?

 

[tr-1]

re:

With kitkat it just became a fancy brick like iphone which people show off but can never do anything good with.
Just becuse nexus doesnot have a card does not mean that everyone is cool with it.

Over exaggerate much?

 

[dennis1951]

re:

Finally!! Someone got hit with a clue stick! How soon can do you think Samsung will have the update for the Tab Pro?

Doesn't sound like an exaggeration to me. Nothing like buying a 10" tablet w/ 16 gig on board and advertised up to 64Gig removable storage, only to find that thanks to KitKat the removable storage is basically unusable. I mean we're so worried about apps leaving files on the removable card where they are easily manually deleted and/or just reformatted, but it's OK for apps to scatter files all over the limited non-removable storage? Or is this the week where security the justification for the change to removable SC card handling? How hard would it have been to introduce an integral Android handler that would manage all of the removable card access, rather than expect every individual app to allow requests to it's private storage space. Or maybe create a virtual file system or partition on the removable card where apps can use standard Unix style permissions and leave the rest of the card for shared files. There are so many ways things could have been more secured or organized without making the removable card unusable in so many instances

 

[xperia2995]

re:

1)A choice for Linux style partition option must have been given to the users. This actually does solve all security problems
2)Google itself announced that apps will never "leave behind garbage" once deleted. Yet internal is heavily cluttered even after uninstall.

Its strange what they advertise, and what they actually implement these days
Wonder what they boast about L actually works, and what unadvertised secret trouble it is bringing.

You could root your phone to get the sd card rights back again. Rooting is harmless but can void the warranty.

 

[Paul627g]

re:

Let's keep the lightweight comments about people having common sense at the door please.

Debate, discuss and answer questions but don't insult others.

Thank you

 

[DarkUltra]

re:

You could root your phone to get the sd card rights back again. Rooting is harmless but can void the warranty.

Yes there are simple workarounds if you have root access, but that vast majority of Android users don’t have this (and shouldn’t ever considering the security risk it poses), so it’s not a solution for most people.
SD Card Access Changes for the Better in Android L | Androidheadlines.com

Why would it be a security risk? Easier for websites to plant malware on your phone?

 

[Magnum0071]

re:

Had no idea about this restriction in kit kat till I got Xiaomi MI3 and faced write issues...Thankfully there was a setting "Monitor app permission" and by switching off the setting, I am able to move files, create files and folders without any issues!!!

 

[Whyareallthegoodnamestaken]

re:

A new permission would be nice. But even if we get that I think other OEM's should follow HTC's example and provide their own file manager.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[DJCBS]

re:

I really hope this happens.
I am a current Windows Phone user with a Z3 Compact pre-ordered. I was always baffled at the fact that Google removed this from KitKat when Microsoft added the feature on WP8.1 (unfortunately, Nokia never added sd cards to flagships).
On Windows Phone I always struggle with 32GB...and in those 32GB music and video aren't included because I simply can't have them on the phone otherwise the storage fills up. I've my 32GB almost filled...15GB of which are only apps. WINDOWS PHONE APPS!

So you can imagine the horror visions I already have going from a 32GB phone to a 11GB one but where the SD card is practically useless. I'll be VERY glad if Google does fix this on Android L. Very very happy.
And although I don't like "Material Design" (yeah, I've had enough of it on Windows with the "Modern Design") I think I'll be able to bare with it if this comes back.

 

[monsieurms]

re:

A new permission would be nice. But even if we get that I think other OEM's should follow HTC's example and provide their own file manager.

Posted via the Android Central App

A native file manager is exceptionally useful and prevents the situation from being intolerable, but it doesn't answer all issues. I can't rename files in MX Player Pro any more, for instance. I have to shell out to the File Explorer and do it. I've refrained from upgrading my tablet OS for that reason. Other apps have similar issues.

Samsung has had a native file manager from and before the day KK was released. As I recall, when KK came out, HTC users were tearing their hair out. I'm glad HTC caught up. Or, so I understand it.

 

[Bigballer]

re:

L should also have native support for:
visual voicemail
wifi calling
volte

 

[CKR83]

re:

If I had known Google had crippled my device to the point that I might as well have stayed with an iPhone, I would have stayed with the iPhone. The removal of SD card support made my Galaxy S5 no better than an iPhone. I cannot encrypt anything on the SD card, I cannot do any of my documents on the SD card, can't move music, or save play lists to the SD card, can't use ES File Explorer to do anything other than create a directory (moving and copying from previously created directories doesn't work), QickPic no longer works for my photos and the list just goes on. I really USED that SD card, and cloud storage is a complete joke. Wanna listen to your music on a PLANE? Good luck with that. Want to read that book or work on that document? Ooops.
I don't want to have to root my phone. I've only had it 3 days. But I'm going to HAVE to root it because while everyone is ooohing and ahing about Android L, I have ZERO confidence that AT&T/Samsung will put it on my phone anytime in the next year. And by that time, I'll have gotten rid of the android and gone back to an iPhone -- which is a massive disappointment since I've used an Android tablet for over a year and LOVED it. Of course, it doesn't run KitKat or it would be less useful than the iPad it replaced.

 

[monsieurms]

re:

The KitKat initiative is incredibly annoying, but many of the things you're talking about have work-a-rounds. Why can't you listen to your music on a plane, for instance? I do. The music can still be loaded to the card. It will play just fine with things like PowerAmp. I have about 100gb of mp3s loaded from my desktop at the moment onto my card. Works fine.

Samsung's native file manager will happily delete, rename files for you.

Why can't you read a book loaded from the card? I do. The files can be loaded to the card, the reader can be pointed to the card and will open them up. True, some apps like Kindle now will only recognize internal storage. If you're using Kindle, that's pretty much that. Kindle whispersync books will only go to internal storage--but really, how many of those do you have? It isn't that much space. Other eReaders like Cool Reader still recognize and use the card and happily open books from the card. (You can also use MY FILES to take a book to read with Kindle, "cut" from the card and drop it into the /Kindle directory in internal storage and be on your way reading. While that's an extra step, it's certainly easy enough to do.)

Any number of apps will play videos on the card. I haven't tested everything, but MX Player certainly will.

Document creation issues can be an issue, but hey--store to internal memory. Documents really aren't that big.

If you're downloading things automatically they may wind up in internal storage and you may have to manually move them. Yes, a hassle, but not impossible.

I still store all my media--videos, mp3s and non-Kindle ebooks---on my card. There is no problem accessing them. Renaming them..deleting them...depending on what you're trying to do and with what, that may be an issue. You can always shell out to My Files to do that as a last resort. Yes, that's incredibly annoying and a step that should not exist. I'm not disagreeing. But the card has not really been rendered useless.

L should also have native support for:
visual voicemail
wifi calling

Well, aren't those carrier-specific things?

 

[CKR83]

re:

I've tried to use the My Files that came with the phone. It's a piece of crap that only barely works. And while you might not need to worry about documents, I have many that I deal with and NONE of my writing programs work anymore -- thanks to KitKat.

Again, if I wanted something that was a crippled device, I would have stayed with an iPhone because quite frankly, even my iPhone 5 worked faster and more smoothly than this phone does. Plus, I just found out that the latest "Security" update from AT&T fraggs any chance of rooting the device, and now I'm stuck with a crippled phone unless I can get AT&T to take it back.

Guess Googles Do No Evil aways was BS.

 

[monsieurms]

Re:

I've tried to use the My Files that came with the phone. It's a piece of crap that only barely works. .

Could you tell me what it is you're trying to do with My Files that makes you so unhappy with it? Personally, I have tried 4 different file managers, plus My Files. By far, I think My Files is the easiest and most intuitive to use. The only critique I'd have is that it doesn't perform certain operations on multi-selected files that come up after search (nor does the vaunted Astro), but that's not a situation that comes up all that often for me. If need be, I can delete and multi-select with ES. Es will delete from the card. I think in the last 2 years that multi-select from search situation has occurred just once or twice, though.

My Files also doesn't have some very fancy gizmos and marginally related features like exploring Dropbox and ancillary functions like backup, task manager, etc. Frankly, that's why I like it. Sometimes it is a lot simpler to have a stripped down program that focuses on one thing.

But for basic uses, in the context of THIS conversation on SD cards, what doesn't it do that you're disappointed in? It is still what I click on most often. It's easy and simple, and so are most things I want to do.

Nb: I have plenty of documents, but documents tend not to be very big files. One long MP3 can be the equivalent of a couple of dozen documents. It's easy to store them in internal memory as they don't take up much space. Obviously, I would rather not have to worry about that. Don't get me wrong--it ticks me off, too. But I don't feel unable to function. It's a minor annoyance. The card still works fine for the really large files where I actually need a card.

Listening to music from the card, watching videos--no problem. If you're having a problem doing those things, which is what you said originally, that shouldn't be. The card works fine for accessing such files. That's basically what it's for at this point.

 

[CKR83]

Re:

That's true about the document size. But as a hobby I write. I use my tablet, and, in a pinch, the phone to write with. I have a WHOLE lot of documents, and none of the writing programs (like google docs) talk to the SD card. And there's no way that I'd put that stuff on the 'cloud' because if you lose connectivity, you lose your ability to write. So that's number one.

ES File Explorer allows -- sorry -- ALLOWED me to move things using my LAN. I could connect to any computer on my network and get any file I wanted, then copy it to the SD card. At least, that's the way it worked on my Galaxy tablet and that tablet is why I bought THIS phone. The tablet hasn't been updated, and never will be -- even if AT&T ever bothers to do an update.

Double Twist: I have a lot of music, and I was looking forward to importing the playlists from my old iTunes. No longer, because DoubleTwist probably won't be able to write to the SD card -- I haven't tried it yet.

There is NO decent picture manager anymore. QuickPic no longer works, thanks to KitKat and there's now nothing to keep pictures that are on an SD card hidden -- or encrypted. Speaking of which --

SSC, a great encryption program, says right on their page that you need to root the device in order to be able to use it.

I cannot put anything from my dropbox directly onto the card -- now everythings a 2 step process. IF I have the room on the base device.

The list goes on, but you get the idea. So much of the data freedom that I enjoyed with my Galaxy Note 8 is gone thanks to kitkat. And thanks to this most recent "security" update, so is my ability to root the phone without a WHOLE lot of trouble.

 

[BlueAlchemy17]

Originally Posted by xperia2995<br />
You could root your phone to get the sd card rights back again. Rooting is harmless but can void the warranty.

<br />
<i>Yes there are simple workarounds if you have root access, but that vast majority of Android users don’t have this (and shouldn’t ever considering the security risk it poses), so it’s not a solution for most people.</i><br />
SD Card Access Changes for the Better in Android L | Androidheadlines.com<br />
<br />
Why would it be a security risk? Easier for websites to plant malware on your phone?<br/>

Except in terms of malware. Anyone should realize that a smartphone (Android, iOS, Windows Phone) is a handheld computer and just like your laptop/desktop, anyone would be smart and prudent to have a good Anti-virus / Anti Malware program on their phone.