Galaxy S4 Google Play edition - official Android 4.4 Kit Kat is rolling out now

[kgbkny]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet!

Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition scores Android 4.4 KitKat update

 

[Google_Superuser]

Just side loaded it! Not too much to get excited about.

 

[kgbkny]

Since my wife is now the proud owner of my GS4GE (I'm using the Nexus 5), I'll sideload the update when I get home, if it hasn't made its way to her phone yet. The lack of Google Experience launcher is somewhat disappointing, though.

 

[soma4society]

Since my wife is now the proud owner of my GS4GE (I'm using the Nexus 5), I'll sideload the update when I get home, if it hasn't made its way to her phone yet. The lack of Google Experience launcher is somewhat disappointing, though.

Honest question from the uninitiated... isn't a "Google experience" launcher on a device that already runs stock android, and is soon to run 4.4, kind of redundant? What am I missing? Sorry if there's an obvious answer to this I'm not picking up on...

Posted from my N5 via the Android Central App

 

[planoman]

Just side loaded it! Not too much to get excited about.

I have moved on from the S4 GPe but man I loved that phone...what happened with the sd card drama with 4.4? Did your fix stay? Was it fixed ? Do tell!

 

[Mark Cookson]

I just upgraded to 4.4 after undoing root so that the upgrade would work. Apps that used to be able to access the SD card without the mod, like ES File Explorer and an updated Podcast Addict, no longer work in 4.4. It appears that problem has gotten worse, so it no longer appears to be an oversight but a well thought out plan to kill SD. :-(

 

[sang vu hoang]

I just upgraded to 4.4 after undoing root so that the upgrade would work. Apps that used to be able to access the SD card without the mod, like ES File Explorer and an updated Podcast Addict, no longer work in 4.4. It appears that problem has gotten worse, so it no longer appears to be an oversight but a well thought out plan to kill SD. :-(

Downgrade instead of upgrade. Thank for the report.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[planoman]

I just upgraded to 4.4 after undoing root so that the upgrade would work. Apps that used to be able to access the SD card without the mod, like ES File Explorer and an updated Podcast Addict, no longer work in 4.4. It appears that problem has gotten worse, so it no longer appears to be an oversight but a well thought out plan to kill SD. :-(

That sucks. I suspected that might happen eventually. The issue is that Samsung did not even acknowledge the issue either. Hopefully you all find a workaround or fix.

 

[kgbkny]

Honest question from the uninitiated... isn't a "Google experience" launcher on a device that already runs stock android, and is soon to run 4.4, kind of redundant? What am I missing? Sorry if there's an obvious answer to this I'm not picking up on...

Posted from my N5 via the Android Central App

Quoted from techcrunch.com:

"The Google Experience Launcher, meant as a Nexus 5 exclusive, lets you swipe left for Google Now, trigger Google Search through an “OK Google” hot keyword and has a new options for customizing the look of your operating system."

Android 4.4 KitKat Now Available For Google Play Editions Of HTC One And Samsung Galaxy S4 | TechCrunch

 

[youwotm8]

i was trying to install the google play edition on my s4 gt-i9505 ( xxuame2)

and basicalley it didnt go well everything else was okay but in teamwin recovery it made me wipe my whole phone and when i tried to install the google play rom from my phone it wasnt there and now i have no os on my phone usb mode will not work on my pc so i can transfer a rom

am stuck please helpp me i know am a noob i was really into getting the google play edition ..

thanks and my phone is on 3 in the uk if that help?

someone please provide me full details of any steps you may know of with site details to solve this

 

[sang vu hoang]

I just upgraded to 4.4 after undoing root so that the upgrade would work. Apps that used to be able to access the SD card without the mod, like ES File Explorer and an updated Podcast Addict, no longer work in 4.4. It appears that problem has gotten worse, so it no longer appears to be an oversight but a well thought out plan to kill SD. :-(

Confirmation for Es file explorer no longer work on 4.4. Does anyone know other soft that can transfer file to SD card without root? Please help.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[JavaDevelop]

Really a disappointment. One of the primary reasons I (and likely several of us) chose the S4 GPe over the HTC One GPe was the ability to have external memory access. Otherwise, I'd have never purchased a 16GB device (just ins't enough physical memory for my use).
Ever since 4.3 was released on the S4 GPe, I've had to do regular manual memory management (audio / video podcasts, photos, videos, music) due to the space limitations of 16GB.
As a consequence of Samsung or Google's decision to cripple one of the primary reasons for me to purchase this device in the first place, I decided to get a 32GB Nexus 5 on launch day.

Now, after using both side-by-side for a couple weeks, there are reasons I still love the S4, but the 16GB limitation is a show stopper for me. I've listed the S4 GPe on eBay with all my purchased accessories, and going to use the 32GB Nexus 5 for the time being.

Too bad, I really do like the S4 GPe.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

I got the notification that 4.4 was available on this phone, I selected ok and restart.

The screen when to a small blue text line saying recovery.
It booted up, nothing was changed, it didn't update.

The phone wasn't rooted, it had been in the past, I edited the xml file to enable SD card access.

This happen to anyone else? It doesn't say an update is available anymore.

 

[jsabo]

Going out of their way to kill the SD card's a real bummer-- removable SD was definitely a reason I bought this phone over other options, and to hear that I can't access it at all without rooting the phone really sucks.

I get that they don't really want people developing for a feature they want to drop down the line, but was it really causing that many problems to allow power users to be able to shuffle stuff around?

 

[Beachbum37]

I got the notification that 4.4 was available on this phone, I selected ok and restart.

The screen when to a small blue text line saying recovery.
It booted up, nothing was changed, it didn't update.

The phone wasn't rooted, it had been in the past, I edited the xml file to enable SD card access.

This happen to anyone else? It doesn't say an update is available anymore.

I did the same thing. Rooted, edited XML File to allow SD Card write access, no issues. Unrooted, no issues. I just went to upgrade to 4.4 and it gets almost half way through and i get an error and it reboots, no update. Tried it three times and no luck. Guess i will have to root again, edit the xml file back to original and then try. Or maybe just leave it. It works great and i have a NEXUS 5 that will be delivered to me Friday or Saturday.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

I did the same thing. Rooted, edited XML File to allow SD Card write access, no issues. Unrooted, no issues. I just went to upgrade to 4.4 and it gets almost half way through and i get an error and it reboots, no update. Tried it three times and no luck. Guess i will have to root again, edit the xml file back to original and then try. Or maybe just leave it. It works great and i have a NEXUS 5 that will be delivered to me Friday or Saturday.

Its a pain, I have tried the manual recovery method too, which fails.
It gives a permission error in red text.

So I just did a factory reset, still failed. Just booted into the recovery menu to perform a wipe, now just seeing what happens this time.
I'm sure I have something else left in there as it gave the same xml permission error and that SuperSU app is still there that I had to install. Ugh!

I only rooted it so I could use the SD card, you know, like 100% of people would want to.

 

[Beachbum37]

Its a pain, I have tried the manual recovery method too, which fails.
It gives a permission error in red text.

So I just did a factory reset, still failed. Just booted into the recovery menu to perform a wipe, now just seeing what happens this time.
I'm sure I have something else left in there as it gave the same xml permission error and that SuperSU app is still there that I had to install. Ugh!

I only rooted it so I could use the SD card, you know, like 100% of people would want to.

I know and now i cannot decide if want to revert back so i can update it and then not be able to use it. Of course that is why i got the phone in order to learn how to do all of this and have the ability to experiment. So did you reroot and edit the xml file back to original state and then encounter these errors? Or did they occur when trying to update with out making any changes?

 

[Wing Ng]

Found this online:

External Storage Technical Information

Android supports devices with external storage, which is defined to be a case-insensitive filesystem with immutable POSIX permission classes and modes. External storage can be provided by physical media (such as an SD card), or by exposing a portion of internal storage through an emulation layer. Devices may contain multiple instances of external storage.

Access to external storage is protected by various Android permissions. Starting in Android 1.0, write access is protected with the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission. Starting in Android 4.1, read access is protected with the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.

Starting in Android 4.4, the owner, group and modes of files on external storage devices are now synthesized based on directory structure. This enables apps to manage their package-specific directories on external storage without requiring they hold the broad WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission. For example, the app with package name com.example.foo can now freely access Android/data/com.example.foo/ on external storage devices with no permissions. These synthesized permissions are accomplished by wrapping raw storage devices in a FUSE daemon.

Since external storage offers minimal protection for stored data, system code should not store sensitive data on external storage. Specifically, configuration and log files should only be stored on internal storage where they can be effectively protected.

Multiple external storage devices
Starting in Android 4.4, multiple external storage devices are surfaced to developers through Context.getExternalFilesDirs(), Context.getExternalCacheDirs(), and Context.getObbDirs().

External storage devices surfaced through these APIs must be a semi-permanent part of the device (such as an SD card slot in a battery compartment). Developers expect data stored in these locations to be available over long periods of time. For this reason, transient storage devices (such as USB mass storage drives) should not be surfaced through these APIs.
The WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission must only grant write access to the primary external storage on a device. Apps must not be allowed to write to secondary external storage devices, except in their package-specific directories as allowed by synthesized permissions. Restricting writes in this way ensures the system can clean up files when applications are uninstalled.

Source : External Storage Technical Information | Android Developers

Any luck with 4.4 write access? I didn't get the update prompt yet but I'm assuming I will run into similar issues as you guys because I have edited the XML file in the 4.3 as we'll to allow write access and unrooted.

 

[mixgenio]

Has anyone noticed any oddities post update? When I turn the volume up on my phone, my speaker initially makes a garbled noise. It's very strange. Also, when I check out the KitKat easter egg, I see a blank screen instead of the rotating "k". Minor annoyances but weird nonetheless.

 

[fulleraj]

Don't have the speaker noise on volume change, but do have the blank screen for the rotating k screen. After I noticed these upon official OTA I factory reset device for potential update conflicts. No other issues I've noticed so far and running pretty smooth.

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