[dammitcubs]

I heard this from multiple sources including engadget. This would really bother me if this was true.

[kharrigan]

Can you explain what this is and why it's important?

[dammitcubs]

When you connect to your phone to your computer, an icon comes up where you can view the contents of the drive and you can read, write multiple files at a time. It's basically like having a hard drive with you.

But from what engadget and howard forums were saying, its going to use a media transfer protocol instead so you can only send one file at a time and I don't know if the files are restricted. It completely limits the phone. IMO.

[yapkuen]

Ugh, I hope that's not true. Trying to transfer stuff onto the Xoom was a bear back when it only had MTP and no SD support. Supporters of MTP will try to tell you that it's just as good as, if not better than, USB mass storage, but in my experience that's just not true.

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Have you tried a wireless FTP? That works great on the transformer. I've also had no issues transferring multiple files at once either. It wont "mount" like an SD card, it'll just show up on your windows PC automatically. If you have a Mac, you'll need to download an app. I did a how to video to get you prepared about a month ago

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5A2HcUmlJw[/YT]
embedding the video here again.

[TroyBoy30]

actually engadget said it was an issue with ICS not the phone

[Andrew Ruffolo]

actually engadget said it was an issue with ICS not the phone

Dunno... won't know until we have it in our hands. If you're using windows, this is a non-issue. If you're using anything (including another android device), there's FTP and cloud storage (which is my preferred route).







Just to name a few. I have a macbook, but I keep it bare of media because Lion has bogged it down so much. I have a Windows/Linux desktop that I use as a remote computer.

[yapkuen]

If you're using windows, this is a non-issue.

I was probably doing something wrong the last time I tried MTP on a Honeycomb device (Xoom) - Windows recognized it as an MTP, but wouldn't let me transfer any files to it, claiming that all of the file types I tried (basically anything I could imagine) were unsupported. Admittedly, I was on a Windows XP machine, but since my employer is super slow to update anything, that's likely what I'll be working with for the foreseeable future -- is MTP support in XP less robust than in Vista or 7?

[Andrew Ruffolo]

I was probably doing something wrong the last time I tried MTP on a Honeycomb device (Xoom) - Windows recognized it as an MTP, but wouldn't let me transfer any files to it, claiming that all of the file types I tried (basically anything I could imagine) were unsupported. Admittedly, I was on a Windows XP machine, but since my employer is super slow to update anything, that's likely what I'll be working with for the foreseeable future -- is MTP support in XP less robust than in Vista or 7?

No clue... shows up fine on my Win7 PC and files transfer fine. Could be something on the computer blocking the device. I know I get errors when I hook up my phone to the WinXP computer at work just to charge it. Do USB drives work?

[yapkuen]

No clue... shows up fine on my Win7 PC and files transfer fine. Could be something on the computer blocking the device. I know I get errors when I hook up my phone to the WinXP computer at work just to charge it. Do USB drives work?

Yep, flash drives, USB Mass Storage, and most other things that I connect via USB work great. MTP is the only thing that has given me a headache so far.

Well, that and the Motorola Triumph, but a lot of people have reported USB headaches with that one.

[Adrynalyne]

I was probably doing something wrong the last time I tried MTP on a Honeycomb device (Xoom) - Windows recognized it as an MTP, but wouldn't let me transfer any files to it, claiming that all of the file types I tried (basically anything I could imagine) were unsupported. Admittedly, I was on a Windows XP machine, but since my employer is super slow to update anything, that's likely what I'll be working with for the foreseeable future -- is MTP support in XP less robust than in Vista or 7?

MTP doesn't work on XP unless Media Player 10+ is installed.

[yapkuen]

MTP doesn't work on XP unless Media Player 10+ is installed.

That explains it. Thanks Adrynalyne.

[GMoney749]

I think Google is learning. Android fans spend way too much time talking about specs over user experience. Hooking up devices to your computer with a cable to transfer files in this day and age is just silly, IMO. As is getting huge internal drives to store all of your stuff on your phone.

The Cloud is where it's at.

[BitGambit]

The Cloud is where it's at.

That is until you hit your service provider's data caps, then that's when cloud storage will be an expensive headache...

[Piquedram]

That is until you hit your service provider's data caps, then that's when cloud storage will be an expensive headache...

Agre... please allow me to want to NOT use my precious, limited data to get to my music/video files. (Referring to cloud-only storage idea here) unless data contracts go unlimited again I don't see how it could be viable with the curent level of tech.

[patrixl]

Thank you for the headup. . With this info I think I can go ahead and activate the sim in my current Galaxy SII I just bought and skip the Nexus.

I have used 5 different Android tablets, some of them don't have microSD card so they used MTP. MTP can be annoying move files, you're not able to see all files in your SD card, just general files like pic, music, docs. Files are moved once at a time, sure you shouldn't copy two files at once to a slow storage, but with user habits and you're trying to move many different files to the card at the momemt. It is slower than mass storage mode to me.

I have folders of documents and music in my phone, I use a syncing app to sync the folders from my computer. This is not possible with MTP mode. I do not want to use cloud services

And hopefully, since the mtp thing is a honeycomb/ics "feature", hopefully you'll still get usb mass storage when your s2 gets ics ....

[Akuma]

Agre... please allow me to want to NOT use my precious, limited data to get to my music/video files. (Referring to cloud-only storage idea here) unless data contracts go unlimited again I don't see how it could be viable with the curent level of tech.

Your best option would be to plan ahead for what music you want to make available offline and sync on wifi. I realize that's only music and isn't a solution, however there are ways to stay under you restricted
data limits. I am grandfathered into unlimited data on Verizon so I don't anticipate any issues.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

[overfloater]

The Cloud is where it's at.

And where is the cloud at? Not in poor coverage areas, not on planes, not on subways, not where you're roaming ... that's where.

The cloud will be "where it's at" when coverage is ubiquitous. Until that time it's still only a backup plan, not a solution.

[Andrew Ruffolo]

And where is the cloud at? Not in poor coverage areas, not on planes, not on subways, not where you're roaming ... that's where.

The cloud will be "where it's at" when coverage is ubiquitous. Until that time it's still only a backup plan, not a solution.

That's what Verizon is for... except the planes. But many international airports in the US have LTE. I downloaded 2 movies from my cloud before getting on my last flight to Mexico. The Cloud is where its at... unless you have a tiered data plan, in which your life revolves around planning... whether you use a cloud or not.

[dammitcubs]

I think google got rid of USB mass storage because of the whole partition issue. They decided it was too much hassle and they wanted to streamline the phone for make it friendlier to use.

to be honest, i seriously think google don't care about the user as much or they are a bunch naive nerds who think their way is the right way.

[yapkuen]

I think google got rid of USB mass storage because of the whole partition issue. They decided it was too much hassle and they wanted to streamline the phone for make it friendlier to use.

to be honest, i seriously think google don't care about the user as much or they are a bunch naive nerds who think their way is the right way.

The partition thing was somewhat confusing to the average consumer, and having to unmount the SD volume when using USB mass storage mode was a little annoying, but I think in the long run MTP will be a step back in terms of ease of file transfer, at least until cloud storage becomes reliable enough to be the primary method of file access -- which would require carriers to stop being so stingy over mobile data and to all get their act together on 4G speeds.

[jamesbrown33]

The partition thing was somewhat confusing to the average consumer, and having to unmount the SD volume when using USB mass storage mode was a little annoying, but I think in the long run MTP will be a step back in terms of ease of file transfer, at least until cloud storage becomes reliable enough to be the primary method of file access -- which would require carriers to stop being so stingy over mobile data and to all get their act together on 4G speeds.

What this allows is that the phone manufacturer no longer needs to tell you how much space is available for apps and how much is available for media. The fact that all internal storage is available for whatever is huge plus and for windows users (read: most of the world) mtp is not that different from usb mass storage.

[FineWolf]

OK, just to clear this up...

It's the same senario as it ever was: USB MSD is only available for the MicroSD card, not for built in storage.

Since the Galaxy Nexus doesn't support a MicroSD card, it doesn't have MSD.

[Analog]

OK, just to clear this up...

It's the same senario as it ever was: USB MSD is only available for the MicroSD card, not for built in storage.

Since the Galaxy Nexus doesn't support a MicroSD card, it doesn't have MSD.

I'm confused. My Motorola Atrix 4G supports a MicroSD card as well as having built-in storage (an "internal SD card" actually mounted as /mnt/emmc), and it presents both of them as separate MSDs.

So is there something about USB MSD that requires a MicroSD card to be present, but as long as it's present it can also present the internal storage as an MSD? Or is just a choice made by Android's developers that if there is no MicroSD card supported, the internal storage will not be mounted as a separate partition and will not be available as a mass storage device? Or is it a Samsung thing? Or...?

[FineWolf]

I'm confused. My Motorola Atrix 4G supports a MicroSD card as well as having built-in storage (an "internal SD card" actually mounted as /mnt/emmc), and it presents both of them as separate MSDs.

So is there something about USB MSD that requires a MicroSD card to be present, but as long as it's present it can also present the internal storage as an MSD? Or is just a choice made by Android's developers that if there is no MicroSD card supported, the internal storage will not be mounted as a separate partition and will not be available as a mass storage device? Or is it a Samsung thing? Or...?

Since Honeycomb and the various back end changes in Android, Internal memory is no longer accessible via UMS. Before Honeycomb, your apps and data partition were separate, so you didn't have that problem. However, you were limited in the amounts of apps you could install due to the small apps partition. []