What does Jerry mean and other questions....

[mightyfacundo]

I'm strongly considering the Note 2 to replace my Bolt, but I have a few questions that I'm hoping some of you can help me with. The first one has to do with a post I saw from Jerry Hildenbrand in the DNA forums:

"Correction. Samsung's phones are successful in spite of the half baked SD card they have present, but fail to support in the OS.
/sdcard
/sdcard0
/sdcard-ext

Good luck getting that to work with 4.2 :-/ "

Can someone tell me the difference between sdcard, sdcard0, and sdcard-ext? And what does he mean about good luck getting it to work with 4.2?

And a couple of other questions I have. Sorry if they've been asked and answered before:

I'm assuming we still can't move apps to sd except with a custom ROM that allows it, but where does the device store large games like The Dark Knight Returns? Does some of that file go onto one of the sd's above or does it use up the 11.2 GB's of internal storage?

Are there any issues with storing music, movies, and pics on the sd card?

Speaking of ROMs, how is the Note 2 looking in this department? Should I expect some solid contributions from the dev community?

Thanks in advance to everyone for your info!

 

[chuckawd]

I'm strongly considering the Note 2 to replace my Bolt, but I have a few questions that I'm hoping some of you can help me with. The first one has to do with a post I saw from Jerry Hildenbrand in the DNA forums:

"Correction. Samsung's phones are successful in spite of the half baked SD card they have present, but fail to support in the OS.
/sdcard
/sdcard0
/sdcard-ext

Good luck getting that to work with 4.2 :-/ "

Can someone tell me the difference between sdcard, sdcard0, and sdcard-ext? And what does he mean about good luck getting it to work with 4.2?

And a couple of other questions I have. Sorry if they've been asked and answered before:

I'm assuming we still can't move apps to sd except with a custom ROM that allows it, but where does the device store large games like The Dark Knight Returns? Does some of that file go onto one of the sd's above or does it use up the 11.2 GB's of internal storage?

Are there any issues with storing music, movies, and pics on the sd card?

Speaking of ROMs, how is the Note 2 looking in this department? Should I expect some solid contributions from the dev community?

Thanks in advance to everyone for your info!

From reading a little bit on the rootzwiki forums I certainly see roms coming out soon especially once it hits Verizon. Mostly though I think they'll be stock mods probably debloated and hopefully someone will attach an apps to SD feature and wifi tether.

Sent from AOSP Thundershed powered 4GLTE Thunderbolt

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

I'm strongly considering the Note 2 to replace my Bolt, but I have a few questions that I'm hoping some of you can help me with. The first one has to do with a post I saw from Jerry Hildenbrand in the DNA forums:

"Correction. Samsung's phones are successful in spite of the half baked SD card they have present, but fail to support in the OS.
/sdcard
/sdcard0
/sdcard-ext

Good luck getting that to work with 4.2 :-/ "

Can someone tell me the difference between sdcard, sdcard0, and sdcard-ext? And what does he mean about good luck getting it to work with 4.2?

And a couple of other questions I have. Sorry if they've been asked and answered before:

I'm assuming we still can't move apps to sd except with a custom ROM that allows it, but where does the device store large games like The Dark Knight Returns? Does some of that file go onto one of the sd's above or does it use up the 11.2 GB's of internal storage?

Are there any issues with storing music, movies, and pics on the sd card?

Speaking of ROMs, how is the Note 2 looking in this department? Should I expect some solid contributions from the dev community?

Thanks in advance to everyone for your info!

Those are different ways Samsung has used to mount the external strorage card.
In Linux (which is what Android is) you create an empty folder to use it as a place to mount a storage drive or partition.
In Android 4.2, the device internal storage has a virtualized path for device storage. Samsung is going to have to re-work the way they integrate the SD card into the system. The problem is that if they just change the mounting point, users will have to wipe the device and start over. We don't mind doing that when loading a custom ROM, but normal users won't be very happy about it, so Samsung will have to figure out an alternative, or piss off 29.9 million of their 30 million users. You can see in the screen shot below that /sdcard0 is used as a virtual path for non-removable storage. You can't have two places share the same mounting point.

 

[mightyfacundo]

Those are different ways Samsung has used to mount the external strorage card.
In Linux (which is what Android is) you create an empty folder to use it as a place to mount a storage drive or partition.
In Android 4.2, the device internal storage has a virtualized path for device storage. Samsung is going to have to re-work the way they integrate the SD card into the system. The problem is that if they just change the mounting point, users will have to wipe the device and start over. We don't mind doing that when loading a custom ROM, but normal users won't be very happy about it, so Samsung will have to figure out an alternative, or piss off 29.9 million of their 30 million users. You can see in the screen shot below that /sdcard0 is used as a virtual path for non-removable storage. You can't have two places share the same mounting point.

View attachment 47040

Thanks for the response Chuck!

And thank you Jerry for the explanation! That definitely clears my confusion and gives me a much better understanding of where Android is heading with future iterations. The whole sd card issue now makes much more sense. Thanks again!

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[blaze5]

So you suggest that the note 2 is not the way to go because I Atleast want to get two updates before I get a new phone next fall

Sent from my PC36100

 

[TheBish0p]

I ended up here after a Google Search. It seems a bit off topic, but after updating my Galaxy Nexus to stock Android 4.2 every file is appearing twice. My images appear twice in the Gallery app, my notification sounds are listed twice, et cetera.

I have a "emulated" folder and a "sdcard0" folder. The contents is mirrored. How can I solve this? I can't have every file being listed twice.

I would be very happy for some tips or even a solution.

Cheers!

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Thanks for the response Chuck!

And thank you Jerry for the explanation! That definitely clears my confusion and gives me a much better understanding of where Android is heading with future iterations. The whole sd card issue now makes much more sense. Thanks again!

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Android Central Forums

You're welcome

I think it's important for people to realize that SD cards aren't bad, they just aren't supported by Android. OEMs (like Samsung) just need to spend some time to integrate them a bit better.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

So you suggest that the note 2 is not the way to go because I Atleast want to get two updates before I get a new phone next fall

Sent from my PC36100

No idea. Samsung may just not use many of the new features in 4.2 and update the rest, or they may figure out something. It can be done if they're willing to spend the time and money on it. I think it's going to depend on how much time and money they are willing to spend

If we see a Galaxy S 4 that has an SD card, I think they are willing to go all the way on it. If the GS4 doesn't have an SD card, well, that would worry me.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

I ended up here after a Google Search. It seems a bit off topic, but after updating my Galaxy Nexus to stock Android 4.2 every file is appearing twice. My images appear twice in the Gallery app, my notification sounds are listed twice, et cetera.

I have a "emulated" and a "sdcard0" folder. The contents is mirrored. How can I solve this? I can't have every file being listed twice.

I would be very happy for some tips or even a solution.

Cheers!

Not sure why it happened, but you should be able to fix it by connecting to your computer and copying everything from the device storage to a folder on your desktop. Then on the phone, delete it all (both copies). Attach back to computer and copy everything back over.

There is really only one copy there, it's just seeing both the original (in /data/media/0/) and the virtual (in /sdcard) as separate files. When attached to your computer you will only see one instance.

 

[blaze5]

No idea. Samsung may just not use many of the new features in 4.2 and update the rest, or they may figure out something. It can be done if they're willing to spend the time and money on it. I think it's going to depend on how much time and money they are willing to spend

If we see a Galaxy S 4 that has an SD card, I think they are willing to go all the way on it. If the GS4 doesn't have an SD card, well, that would worry me.

Ok thanks

Sent from my PC36100

 

[mightyfacundo]

I feel like I dodged a future frustration bullet.



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[blaze5]

I feel like I dodged a future frustration bullet.



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So will you still get the note 2

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[mightyfacundo]

Nope. I'm gonna pass.

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[Jerry Hildenbrand]

I feel like I dodged a future frustration bullet.



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Don't let this be your deciding factor. Samsung is a tech giant, and have plenty of people that could easily work around this. When I'm not stuck in a troll thread, and can talk easy with easy-talking folks (like here) I won't bash SD cards. They aren't for me, but they do have plenty of value for lots of other people.

Samsung has turned Android into a money machine, and will continue to do whatever it takes to keep it that way. If that means dropping some Android 4.2 features or spending time working out a virtualization feature for the SD card, they will do so.

And as far as updates, don't get hung up on the Android version unless you're using a stock Android phone. Other than the photosphere camera (which Samsung could drop in easy I think), there's nothing you'll see in 4.2 that you don't already have in the latest TouchWiz. IMO, Android 4.2 is a push to polish stock Android and try to add features we already see from OEMs in their versions. Google just presents it all in blue on black, while Samsung does it with a bit more flair

 

[chuckawd]

Possibly not on the exact topic but will I be able to save pictures and videos I take with the Note 2 direct to the SD card? I ask because I have 4,400 pics on my SD on my tbolt which allows me to save directly to the SD card immediately after taking the pic or video.

Sent from AOSP Thundershed powered 4GLTE Thunderbolt

 

[hummingbirdhill]

Possibly not on the exact topic but will I be able to save pictures and videos I take with the Note 2 direct to the SD card? I ask because I have 4,400 pics on my SD on my tbolt which allows me to save directly to the SD card immediately after taking the pic or video.

Sent from AOSP Thundershed powered 4GLTE Thunderbolt

Yes. That is a recommended option on Note II.

 

[chuckawd]

Yes. That is a recommended option on Note II.

So within the Note 2 there's an option to save all photos and video directly to the SD card immediately upon taking said photos and videos?

 

[Turbo Brian]

Yup. Within the camera app's settings is an option to chose storage location.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mightyfacundo]

Don't let this be your deciding factor. Samsung is a tech giant, and have plenty of people that could easily work around this. When I'm not stuck in a troll thread, and can talk easy with easy-talking folks (like here) I won't bash SD cards. They aren't for me, but they do have plenty of value for lots of other people.

Samsung has turned Android into a money machine, and will continue to do whatever it takes to keep it that way. If that means dropping some Android 4.2 features or spending time working out a virtualization feature for the SD card, they will do so.

And as far as updates, don't get hung up on the Android version unless you're using a stock Android phone. Other than the photosphere camera (which Samsung could drop in easy I think), there's nothing you'll see in 4.2 that you don't already have in the latest TouchWiz. IMO, Android 4.2 is a push to polish stock Android and try to add features we already see from OEMs in their versions. Google just presents it all in blue on black, while Samsung does it with a bit more flair

It definitely isn't THE deciding factor, but it is certainly A factor to consider. I already felt like I was sacrificing some things from my wish list to go with the Note 2, and with what I've learned today, I'm content to sit back and wait for a phone that comes closer to what I'm looking for. I think the Note 2 will be/is an awesome device, and I'm sure I'd be happy with it. But, and that's a J-Lo sized but, I know I would be frustrated and regret buying it if Samsung decided to cut corners on the 4.2 update and then not update to Key Lime Pie at all because of what we've discussed. Further, Verizon has a horrible track record when it comes to OTA's, and I can envision the sd card issue exacerbating the problem. Now, I understand and agree that I should buy a device for the Android version it has and not worry about what's to come, knowing that no phone is guaranteed to get the newest version of Android, but I also understand how much smoother my tablet is since getting Jelly Bean with Project Butter. So, I can't help but want to do as much as I can to keep the prospect of future updates as an option.

Of course, none of this might come to pass, but the worst case scenario in passing on the Note 2 is that I get to use my Bolt for a few more months until the right phone for me is released. My Bolt is still going strong, and I've been lucky to not have had the data drops, reboots, and other maladies that have afflicted other Bolts, so this isn't much of a sacrifice.

So in short, yes Jerry, you're the reason I'm passing on the Note 2. Thanks a lot.



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[hummingbirdhill]

So within the Note 2 there's an option to save all photos and video directly to the SD card immediately upon taking said photos and videos?

LOL. You phrased your question like a lawyer!