4.3 SD write access

[spacolin]

I called the other Samsung phone number and I got a pretty good person on the phone. Explained the situation and she said nothing is in the system about it. Then had her go on the wed to a link I provided that goes over the problem. She said she posted the problem in the system and I had her post the link as well.
Glad some people here are pissed about this MAJOR problem as well. Lets stay on this till we get a answer!

 

[maconsultant]

So I got this reply this morning form Samsung.

Dear XXX,

Thank you for contacting Samsung Telecommunications America.

After reviewing your email, we understand that you have recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition i9505G from the Google play store. After the applying Android 4.3 OTA update your apps have lost the ability to write to the SD card. We apologize for the inconvenience.

We have checked the weblink provided by you. We are aware of this issue. We are sorry to inform you that, this is a Google phone and update was launched by Google and they would have to launch a software update in order for customer to apps are able to write to the external SD card.

Thank you for your valuable feedback and there might be an enhancement in future software updates.

We would request you contact our voice support team for further assistance. They are authorized to deal these kind of issues.

You can reach them at 1-888-987-4357, Mon-Fri: 7 AM - 9 PM (CST), Sat: 9 AM - 6 PM (CST).

We once again apologize for any inconvenience that might have caused to you.

Please get back to us if you have any further concerns. We will be available 24/7 to assist you.

Thank you for your continued interest in Samsung products.

Sincerely,

Keisha
Technical Support

These people just don't have a clue. They are just trained to point the finger back and forth. Google has authorized a replacement device. I explained I will try the device even though it will behave in the exact same way after applying the 4.3 OTA. I will be demanding a refund upon the failure of this test and we know this will fail. Im starting to think this was done on purpose and it puts me off from dealing with Google or Samsung in the future as the move that was played was a real sleazy move and then to play like you are unaware of what we the end user are experiencing is crazy.

Glad i still have my unlocked iPhone5.. It may be back to IOS..

I actually just returned an unopened Nexus 7 right back to the BestBuy.

These companies don't care unless it affects the bottom line hence they reacted immediately to fix the play store issue as that affected the bottom line. I say don't spend a dime with a company if they don't do right by you. They will change rather than spend their own capitol, but it has to be a unified front. We the people have the power to move mountains.!

The keyword is TOGETHER.

Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk 4

 

[spacolin]

Just got the exact same response as maconsultant from Samsung today. So I called the support number from Google play store and got a good person on the phone. I explained the problem and Samsung's response. He understands the problem and looked at links I provided. He guarantees me he will bring this up at their next meeting and give them the links to articles on the matter as well.

For me the biggest problem with apps not being able to write to the external sd card for me is camera apps. The only camera app I found that had the option to save pictures AND videos directly after taking them to the sd card was "camera jb+" Which worked great before the 4.3 update. Right after I got the 4.3 update I emailed the developer of the app and explained the problem. He responded the next day and said he was working on a fix. If more people email him and ask for a fix maybe we can get this solved without a update from Google. Here is the email for the developer of camera jb+
moblynx.us@gmail.com
Thanks!!

 

[planoman]

I just received my RMA to return this device to Google. How many of you would return it?

The issue itself is not worth returning but the principle of the issue is. Who knows how many other times this device will be in no man's land between Google and Samsung?

I will sleep on it.

Sent from my kicka$$ GT-I9505G

 

[Sasazuka]

I think you should go higher up. The first line customer support rarely understand the issue fully. If you are already rooted this doesn't seem so bad but I can understand the frustration. Point it out to them that they are just pushing responsibility.

Edit: who actually made this update? Samsung or Google?

Sent from my GT-I9505G using AC Forums mobile app

 

[spacolin]

I just received my RMA to return this device to Google. How many of you would return it?

The issue itself is not worth returning but the principle of the issue is. Who knows how many other times this device will be in no man's land between Google and Samsung?



I will sleep on it.

Sent from my kicka$$ GT-I9505G

Understand your concerns but hope you don't return it. As you said it is a great phone except for this issue. We are just now getting to the bottom of this. We now know its Google's responsibility and thats who we should be contacting and if the person you talk to at Google say's its Samsung's responsibility you have Samsung's response to read to them. The person I talked to at Google emailed me this follow up
Thank you for contacting Google Play Support. As we discussed on the phone, all of the bugs for the 4.3 update are definitely working to get fixed. Your case will not go unnoticed and I will pass the information that you have provided me with on so we can fix the issue that you have brought to my attention.

I am not rooted but for those of you who are I read a fix you can do today by The Mobi Mag. Just google "Fix SD Card Writing Error on Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition running Android 4.3"
Hopefully some of you will email the developer of "camera jb+" because that might be the quickest solution to at least start saving our pics and vids after taking them directly to the extenal sd card.

 

[planoman]

I hear you, but if this all gets straight I am sure Google would be happy to sell me another one. If it does not, many of us paid 700 for a cutting edge device that is not getting supported. Again not the issue itself but the fact that no one had stepped up and even acknowledged this issue and promised a fix. I saw your response from Google but it looked like a generic response to address the several reported bugs in 4.3.

Sent from my kicka$$ GT-I9505G

 

[spacolin]

You make some good points and i understand if you return it. If you do please make sure they understand the reason for your return. thanks

 

[kyoo]

I hear you, but if this all gets straight I am sure Google would be happy to sell me another one. If it does not, many of us paid 700 for a cutting edge device that is not getting supported. Again not the issue itself but the fact that no one had stepped up and even acknowledged this issue and promised a fix. I saw your response from Google but it looked like a generic response to address the several reported bugs in 4.3.

Sent from my kicka$$ GT-I9505G

applaud your move, hope google/sammy acts

 

[thepktrckt]

Just wanted to reply that this worked great for me with JB+ I had backed up my phone prior to doing the update to 4.3 and also checked the xml file. It's pretty clear the line was just simply removed or they used another device as a reference. Added the line and all is well in my world. Too bad CM 10.2 can't get this worked out or I'd be running that.

 

[kjnangre]

Has anyone heard any news on this? Do you think a fix will be coming (other than rooting) or we're just gonna have to live with it?

 

[spacolin]

Has anyone heard any news on this? Do you think a fix will be coming (other than rooting) or we're just gonna have to live with it?

I feel our best best bet is to call Google at 855-836-3987(play store) with your order # and ask if they know about the problem and is there a fix in the works. All they have to do is add one line of code. If they say its Samsungs responsibility then read them this

Dear XXX,

Thank you for contacting Samsung Telecommunications America.

After reviewing your email, we understand that you have recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition i9505G from the Google play store. After the applying Android 4.3 OTA update your apps have lost the ability to write to the SD card. We apologize for the inconvenience.

We have checked the weblink provided by you. We are aware of this issue. We are sorry to inform you that, this is a Google phone and update was launched by Google and they would have to launch a software update in order for customer to apps are able to write to the external SD card.

Thank you for your valuable feedback and there might be an enhancement in future software updates.

We would request you contact our voice support team for further assistance. They are authorized to deal these kind of issues.

You can reach them at 1-888-987-4357, Mon-Fri: 7 AM - 9 PM (CST), Sat: 9 AM - 6 PM (CST).

We once again apologize for any inconvenience that might have caused to you.

Please get back to us if you have any further concerns. We will be available 24/7 to assist you.

Thank you for your continued interest in Samsung products.

Sincerely,

Keisha
Technical Support

Unfortunately not a ton of people have the google edition S4 and many that do are rooted so they don't have a problem. This does not leave many people to call and ask for a fix which means we have to do all we can to make it happen. I called early last week and they said they had not heard of the issue. The rep(Ashton) promised to bring it up at the next meeting. I will call again later this week but it would be great if others called and posted their response here. I heard back from the developer of jb camera+ and he let me know he cannot fix the issue from his end so that option is out.

 

[argold]

I have a ticket, their ref: "[8-1077000001503] Google Play Support", in with Google and I will report whatever comes back. I requested, in order of preference, repair 4.3, allow roll-back of my device to 4.2.2 or allow a return and refund of the changed specification device. Without the original promise of up to 64GB of external storage the 16GB model of the S4 sold by the Play Store as the GPE, is quite inadequate for my needs.

 

[kjnangre]

The S4 page on Google Play currently only promises read access to the SD Card: "Use a microSD card (not included) to import photos, music, movies and more".

I believe responsibility lies partly with both Google and Samsung. I believe no fixes are coming.

 

[argold]

I believe no fixes are coming.

Let's just wait and see. Maybe Android 4.3.1 will tidy up the loose ends and have the external SD Card's administration moved from Settings / Storage to a new tab that will be labelled Settings / Readage

 

[spacolin]

The S4 page on Google Play currently only promises read access to the SD Card: "Use a microSD card (not included) to import photos, music, movies and more".

It also says
MicroSD card only compatible with select third party applications. Not compatible with Google services.

Now the sd card is not compatible with third party applications.

So I have some good news!
Called play store support number again today and after being told they have nothing on this being a problem I told them I needed to speak to a superviser. Got a supervisor on the phone and explained the problem,we talked for over 20 minutes and he looked on-line and saw this is a widespread problem and agreed they should not have taken something away that worked at launch. He gave me his email and promised me will stay in touch and let me know if they plan to fix it or not. So if they plan to fix it great if not then it is time for a class action lawsuit which I will pursue the minute I find out they are not going to fix it.

My suggestion if you call them get a supervisor on the line. Here is the supervisors email confirmation to me

"Hello ///////,

Thank you for contacting Google Play Support. It was a pleasure speaking with you today.

I wanted to email you so that you can be able to respond to me in case you need additional assistance. I will be sending up the information that we discussed today regarding your Galaxy S4 SD card. As soon as I receive a response from a specialist regarding this issue I will email you immediately with the results.

If I can assist you with anything further, please feel free to reply directly to this email.
Regards,"

SO don't give up we will win this!

 

[kjnangre]

It also says
MicroSD card only compatible with select third party applications. Not compatible with Google services.

Did you notice the "1)" in front of that statement btw? It's not decoration! It means that sentence is a footnote. If you look at the page again, you'll see that the footnote refers to the following text. "Use a microSD card (not included) to import photos, music, movies and more. [SUP]1[/SUP]".

I sincerely hope you're right. But your claim is factually false. The footnote clearly means that 3rd party application support applies specifically to the statement about using the microSD card to IMPORT stuff. Import clearly means read-only. I have many 3rd part applications that can read the SD Card. And it's obvious they wrote that statement quite carefully.

 

[spacolin]

Did you notice the "1)" in front of that statement btw? It's not decoration! It means that sentence is a footnote. If you look at the page again, you'll see that the footnote refers to the following text. "Use a microSD card (not included) to import photos, music, movies and more. [SUP]1[/SUP]".

I sincerely hope you're right. But your claim is factually false. The footnote clearly means that 3rd party application support applies specifically to the statement about using the microSD card to IMPORT stuff. Import clearly means read-only. I have many 3rd part applications that can read the SD Card. And it's obvious they wrote that statement quite carefully.

Very good point I did not notice that.

 

[kjnangre]

Bit the bullet this morning. Rooted and fixed the code. Have full write access to the SD card again! Wasn't too hard, used SamuriHL's automated tool. Love that I can fully unroot and get the phone back to exactly how it was yesterday (except with a working SD card)!

 

[spacolin]

Bit the bullet this morning. Rooted and fixed the code. Have full write access to the SD card again! Wasn't too hard, used SamuriHL's automated tool. Love that I can fully unroot and get the phone back to exactly how it was yesterday (except with a working SD card)!

May have to do this if all else fails. They told me when I called the play store that rooting voids the warranty is that true? I have no experience with rooting is there much chance of bricking your phone with this method? If you could give me a link to this method and any tips for a total noob at this it would be much appreciated! Thanks!