Re: Verizon may be skipping Kit Kat on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3
These issues seem to be related to secure computing. if an SD card is disabled, or an app is logged out of after reboot etc... sounds like there is some for of secure operation happening within the device.
on 4.3, there is a build.prop entry, secure storage enabled (or something to that effect) set to true. when that was set, it made it impossible to keep a stable wifi connect upon reboot, and other annoyances -
2 things.
1. I hate to see stories that are just not true, or insanely misleading - fact is, 99% of the garbage put on the net is made up. So, when I here stories (like this post) which suggest by it's title that Verizon is going to skip kitkat due to problems, or in the middle of this post / thread which stated that the S4 and Note 2 had kitkat rollouts, and the post from one of the authors in this forum which states that future android roms (noting kitkat), can't be rooterd etc. It's all baseless garbage, and these authors are either making this stuff up or just like to achieve some kind of false power trip attempting to put fear into readers...
It's like there were end over end rumors for years, every time a new windows version came out, that DOS was dead / gone, etc, yet none of those rumors ever materialized. Same here...
and what do I expect to see in the future...
a. Verizon will come out with kitkat for the S4 / Note 3, for the simple reason of keeping customers - at the minimum. kitkat is in the S5, and if there were real problems with it they would have not released the phone.
b. I do not believe that future android versions will be protected against rooting (or some fake administration), as, the developers in the community (e.g. beanstown106, adam outler etc) WILL work to enable true rooting etc, or find a reasonable simile thereof... workable for users. Simple fact is, Samsung / Motorola / Verizon do not have a lock on these units (software), if it can be flashed / altered, they WILL eventually (and usually a few days to a few weeks) gain access - ALWAYS..
and finally;
I have owned 6 - 8 phones over the last 3 years, that is excessive I admit. 4 razrs, one S4, two note 2's and I'm on a note 3 -
In a recent discussion with a Verizon store manager, who shall remain nameless. he shrugs off the breaking warranty issue as a non-issue (weak scare tactic) with respect to rooting and replacement ROMs - as Verizon (or other carriers) may say it, but cannot really enforce it to a degree - this is based on a conversation I had within the last week... if the user can reflash the phone back to factory they'd never be able to prove it (regardless of knox) - what a farce...
furthermore - we, as consumers, have rights, as we are the owners of the units, and a carrier does not hold any Jurisdiction over how we use those units (with the exception of theft of service**). whereas, if you root, unlock, debloat, de-NSA*** your phone (for the sake of privacy) - it is within your rights to do so. The threat of a warranty bust or any other form of harassment / threat of termination of service or legal recourse is at best, baseless... If it were true, then i'd be held liable for damaging phones - with the responsibility and consequences of either paying a fine, having to buy new phones, or being terminated long long ago -
** Theft of service? There are services that a carrier's DO in fact provide (e.g. serving data, making calls, txt's - but that is the extent of it... everything else is a feature of the phone not a service). So, hotspots are features of the phone - not a service a carrier provides; docks that your phones may plug into (Motorola devices) are not devices where a carrier considers it tethering which warrants a subscription (see AT&T - they do this), nor is any other phone based feature. I consider features, free territory to do with what I want...
*** de-NSA? what's this? sounds illegal. well, it's not. Your right to privacy is not illegal, and your willingness to observe it is not a basis for doing something subversive / ganked... -
A way to prevent the collection of information - don't give it, that simple...
for example:
Android 4.3, ties Verizon location services together with the hardware GPS; if you turn on this feature then Verizon can log your location requests - and thus sent to the NSA for collection (just metadata right?) - but, if you disable / prevent Verizon location services from operating (and you can do this via rooting) then they can't collect that data because there is no data... You can operate your hardware GPS, under android 4.3 but you just have to know which playstore applications do that - power toggles (hint hint)
kitkat note - observing the feature within a Verizon S5, where it appears that you can operate the hardware GPS independently - this is good...
also, AppOps allows you to turn off location collection -
another big one, is the collection of how your phone is used, via the apps you run - turn off logging...
I reserve the right to not be studied, so a carrier cannot collect the data so they know how to market my ****. my phone is a phone, not an advertising medium / device...
this post is a bit off from topic - probably on someone's pet peeve list I'm sure...
have a nice day