New Android cell phone -- NOT made in China - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

spdrun · #16 03-14-2014, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

I had a S3 and now S4 and the wife has an S4. Changed to the Note 3 because of the bigger screen. HOWEVER, the latest update has me a little peeved. My backup program which used to backup to the cloud and SD card can not work anymore because Kitkat does not allow many 3rd party applications to write to the SD card. You have to root the phone to get it to do that.

What's the point of an Android device that's not rooted? Unrooted Android device == glorified iPhone with slightly better app selection.

First thing I did after turning it on was to root it! But yeah, shame on Google for crippling their devices. Bet they prefer people to pay for their Drive service than using an "outdated" SD card.

BTW - the thing about write access isn't strictly true. Write access is still allowed, just in a silly fashion. Apps can read anywhere on the SD card, but can only write to their own folder in the Android directory on the SD.

aklim · #17 03-14-2014, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdrun

What's the point of an Android device that's not rooted? Unrooted Android device == glorified iPhone with slightly better app selection.

First thing I did after turning it on was to root it! But yeah, shame on Google for crippling their devices. Bet they prefer people to pay for their Drive service than using an "outdated" SD card.

BTW - the thing about write access isn't strictly true. Write access is still allowed, just in a silly fashion. Apps can read anywhere on the SD card, but can only write to their own folder in the Android directory on the SD.

Only thing I can think of is someone who doesn't know what they are doing and lacks the confidence to pull off rooting. That or you don't own the phone and should not root it, IOW company phone.

I believe they made the claim of better security or some stupid reason. Not sure exactly but seems to be trending towards it with Jelly Bean and now definitely so with KitKat.

Therein lies the point. Why would I do a backup on the phone TO THE PHONE? WTF? The primary reason I write to SD is so I can restore it of the phone breaks. I believe you need a Google account to set up the phone properly.

spdrun · #18 03-14-2014, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Therein lies the point. Why would I do a backup on the phone TO THE PHONE? WTF? The primary reason I write to SD is so I can restore it of the phone breaks. I believe you need a Google account to set up the phone properly.

If an app can write to its own folder on the SD card, it could still do a backup. They'll just need to re-write the app.

Technically, the phone will work without a Google account. The main reason I need one is for the Play Store aka Android Market, possibly for Maps. (Since I don't use gmail or any Google cloud services.)

There are custom firmwares like Cyanogenmod that are even less dependent on Google accounts.