Develop Bugs

[Q] Google Music Beta using a lot of data

Hey all, I'm going to be switching to Verizon in the next couple months, I am getting tired of sprint's 3g "dial-up" speeds. The problem obviously is verizon's data plans. I normally use about 3gb of data, and I am trying to get it down to under 2gb so I can get that plan with verizon. I have been using 3g Watchdog Pro for the last few days to monitor my data usage.
I use Google Music Beta a few times a day, but I see it's using WAY more data than it should. I cleared out the data usage from 3g watchdog pro, and then opened Music Beta, and streamed 2 songs that were each about 3 minutes long. After streaming those two files, 3g watchdog shows Music Beta used 80MB of data. I don't know how that is possible since those songs are each about 4mb big.
Anyone else who uses Music Beta and 3g Watchdog notice this?

Use an SDcard with music that you actually want. remove google music. enjoy 2gb of data.

Indirect said:
Use an SDcard with music that you actually want. remove google music. enjoy 2gb of data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but that doesn't really help me. I have 100gb of music, there is no 100gb card.

Verizon Data Plan
Or wait until tomorrow, and get 4GB data plan for the 2GB data plan price - [can't post URL - google "Verizon Data" and see articles about "Verizon Offering Double Data Package On LTE Phones Beginning November 8th"]

But there is also no 100gb data plan. Lol
Sent by breaking the sound barrier

And it's interesting how Verizon calculates their data as well.
I have an aircard through them which is still under an unlimited cap (don't ask), but they do send me automated messages when the card gets up over 5GB/mo..
During the data period, I think they also count some internal packet overhead. In checking the logs for my use on both the card and the server I connect to, they bill out a little more than 1k for every k you actually send and receive. YMMV

sitlet said:
Thanks, but that doesn't really help me. I have 100gb of music, there is no 100gb card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
'Technically' you could get a 128gb SDHXC...but that's 100$+ and not for micro.
Though I haven't noticed it. Have you tried downloading via wifi only, and try caching the music?

Google Music downloads stuff even when not using the application
I have noticed that Google Music is constantly downloading things at random times. Sometimes LOTS of things. I had it somehow download 250MB in the middle of the night when I wasn't using my phone a few times, and the application was not running ( at least not as far as my task manager knew ). What is it doing? I have gone through all of the applications' settings, and I don't see anything that stands out as an option. I ran through my 2GB data plan in 5 days. This is my first experience using Google Music, but let me tell you, I am very close to removing it, and going back to sync'ing music to the SD card.

Any sort of streaming service (Pandora, Crackle, Netflix, Hulu Plus, et cetera) is not really ideal for plans with bandwidth caps. I'm sorry, dude, but you are going to be paying through the nose unless regardless unless you only stream over wifi. I know it sucks, but there's nothing you can do about it.
If you stay with Sprint, though, you can do this, which may solve your speed issues. However, you will not be able to get unlimited Any Mobile calling (if you have the 450 minutes plan). I would do that first and see if it works. If it doesn't, then consider switching to Verizon.
I hope this helps.

I totally understand the part about streaming services not being ideal for mobile service plans that are capped, but I guess I only expect for the streaming application ( in this case Google Music which is more like on demand than "streaming" - like Pandora ) to consume data while I am actively using it.
In the example I'm trying to make, it appears that the application is using large amounts of data when I'm not using it. That's the question I was hoping to have answered here.

Check your background processes and see what's running.

google is meant to cache... and it downloads the files in a pretty big block... so after it's done downloading for the moment... you can skip... five or more songs... and it will pick back up... so unlike pandora... google actually caches.. and instead of only streaming one song at a time.. so it uses even more data then pandora does because of that...
the only thing i can really say to help has pretty much been mentioned... have it set to only stream/download over wifi... download a sizable playlist... and go from there

So no one has any other solution to getting Google Music to stop downloading so much data?
I have been grandfathered under the unlimited plan (as long as that lasts) and I too was surprised when I saw how Google Music used 1.3 GB for me when I at most played 20-25 songs the whole weekend.
my slacker.com account - which I used much more during the holidays only used 35mb. That is over 37x the data usage!

Pay for spotify 10$ a month all u can listen too, sink playlists to phone over WiFi whenever u want, u can stream too if u want
Sent from my PC36100 using Xparent Green Tapatalk

[INFO] Music and lack of SD card

Just checked the Nexus' new page, in features, it says:
Jam on with Google Music
Upload your personal music collection to the cloud with Music Beta by Google, and stream your music to your Galaxy Nexus, computer, or other Android devices. Upload music from your computer, or add your iTunes® library, and everything stays in sync automatically. Even when you have no data connection—just select the albums, artists, and playlists you want for offline listening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason why I canceled the phone out of my list was because of the memory that seemed little for me. Why do I want a huge memory? It's because of music, I don't store movies, videos and other media. But with this new cloud feature works even with no data connection. Does that mean, I don't need an SD card? If that's true I'm definitely getting it, after all the memory was the only thing stopping me, and it was only because of music. Seeing I got my Samsung Wave with a full 16GB card full of music with absolutely nothing else.
Does that save me?

Nex_1 said:
Just checked the Nexus' new page, in features, it says:
The reason why I canceled the phone out of my list was because of the memory that seemed little for me. Why do I want a huge memory? It's because of music, I don't store movies, videos and other media. But with this new cloud feature works even with no data connection. Does that mean, I don't need an SD card? If that's true I'm definitely getting it, after all the memory was the only thing stopping me, and it was only because of music. Seeing I got my Samsung Wave with a full 16GB card full of music with absolutely nothing else.
Does that save me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I gather, It will still need an initial data connection whilst it caches the song from the server that you have uploaded it to, and to cache it, it will take some of your 16GB therefore there will still be a lack of storage for your needs :/
Ps, hope that made sense haha

Bare in mind that the cloud music service is (currently) only officially available to folks in the US.
There will be a lot of people who don't know how to get round that.
As above though, for the 'cloud' service to work without a data connection, you must fist cache what you want to listen to on the phone, and 320kpbs MP3's aren't tiny.

Without data you still need the storage for cached songs.
BTW in case it wasnt clear No sd card + Google music announcement IS the reason for no SD card. I hope the discussion can stop now.

Google Music when download are 320 Kbps resolution, that means a 10 min song will be close to 32 MB each, now do your match and see how little songs you can put in the cache in the 13 GB of space left in the 16 GB version of the GN
so, to enjoy Google Music you'll need at least the 32GB version of GN
the next best thing is to use a USB key on the go, and keep it always plugged into the GN whenever you go around listening to music off your USB stick

The benefit here is that you can change what you store on the fly. So really you'll never need that much space taken up.
Sent from my HTC Mecha using Tapatalk

that's assuming you got WiFi connection nearby, or an owner of an Unlimited 3G/4G plan

Rusty! said:
Bare in mind that the cloud music service is (currently) only officially available to folks in the US.
There will be a lot of people who don't know how to get round that.
As above though, for the 'cloud' service to work without a data connection, you must fist cache what you want to listen to on the phone, and 320kpbs MP3's aren't tiny.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know a way of getting round it :| ... is there one?
Also do you or anyone else reading this know - if I uploaded my own MP3s does it upscale them to better quality?
Thanks

jameslfc5 said:
I don't know a way of getting round it :| ... is there one?
Also do you or anyone else reading this know - if I uploaded my own MP3s does it upscale them to better quality?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, it stays at whatever resolution you uploaded it as, it will not be bumped to 320kbps
and you need a USA SIM card for them to allow you to stream for the free songs, if they detect a NON USA SIM card it will just give you the message that currently it's only for the USA
proxying the server, only works on the PC
and you can proxy the phone too via WiFi with an USA carrier SIM card to fool it

AllGamer said:
Google Music when download are 320 Kbps resolution, that means a 10 min song will be close to 32 MB each, now do your match and see how little songs you can put in the cache in the 13 GB of space left in the 16 GB version of the GN
so, to enjoy Google Music you'll need at least the 32GB version of GN
the next best thing is to use a USB key on the go, and keep it always plugged into the GN whenever you go around listening to music off your USB stick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's for songs you purchased from the Android store. For songs that you uploaded to it, I'm pretty sure the cached version will just be a copy of the version you uploaded, same bitrate and all.

you upload from the PC, not from your phone
the phone only caches whatever is on Google Music
so yes, you only get what you uploaded + whatever you purchased from Google Music
the thing is most audiophiles like me will keep/sync 320kbps music in storage, as anything less than 192kbps sounds really bad in the car deck
but if you want to save space, you can definitely go with 128kbps, but that's only okay with headphones from the phone

And we see the 1% eliminating choice and slowly tightening the noose, forcing us to pay them to listen to our music from both their music store and bandwidth costs....you KNOW this was part of the negotiations with the labels to get the music service up and running.

AllGamer said:
you upload from the PC, not from your phone
the phone only caches whatever is on Google Music
so yes, you only get what you uploaded + whatever you purchased from Google Music
the thing is most audiophiles like me will keep/sync 320kbps music in storage, as anything less than 192kbps sounds really bad in the car deck
but if you want to save space, you can definitely go with 128kbps, but that's only okay with headphones from the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are an audiophile, you will be using FLAC for archival, and V0 for mobile playback.

Chirality said:
That's for songs you purchased from the Android store. For songs that you uploaded to it, I'm pretty sure the cached version will just be a copy of the version you uploaded, same bitrate and all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They state that tracks their match their music on the servers will "upload quicker"(Read: Won't need to be uploaded at all since Google Music will simply use the copy on the server), given that, i think it's safe to assume that all files(that don't match) are uploaded and then converted to MP3.
If not, then atleast all the content is likely transcoded to MP3.
Infact, my entire collection is FLAC and i just went to music google and the file streamed is indeed a 16MB MP3, and with a track length of 7:11 that more or less corresponds with a file averaging out at a bitrate of 310 kbps

FISKER_Q said:
They state that tracks their match their music on the servers will "upload quicker"(Read: Won't need to be uploaded at all since Google Music will simply use the copy on the server), given that, i think it's safe to assume that all files(that don't match) are uploaded and then converted to MP3.
If not, then atleast all the content is likely transcoded to MP3.
Infact, my entire collection is FLAC and i just went to music google and the file streamed is indeed a 16MB MP3, and with a track length of 7:11 that more or less corresponds with a file averaging out at a bitrate of 310 kbps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1100462&topic=1100183
FLAC, aac, and ogg files are transcoded into 320kbps CBR MP3. For all other supported formats, absolutely no transcoding or matching will be done.

Sorry don't mean to sound dumb here but with this whole syncing to the cloud the music takes up space on the phone memory through caching? I thought the idea was so it doesn't waste space on the phone with its limited storage. I don't know much about this google music so don't flame too much, inncoent question hopefully will come to the uk soon!
Sent from my X10i using xda premium

The Gingerbread Man said:
Sorry don't mean to sound dumb here but with this whole syncing to the cloud the music takes up space on the phone memory through caching? I thought the idea was so it doesn't waste space on the phone with its limited storage. I don't know much about this google music so don't flame too much, inncoent question hopefully will come to the uk soon!
Sent from my X10i using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have an active data connection, (and until it comes this side of the pond, fooled them into thinking you're a citizen of the US) then it won't take up any space, it'll stream.
If you select songs for offline listening, they'll be cached on your device, using up space - but easily removed and replaced with something else when you change what you specify as available offline.
That's my (limited Brit) understanding of it.

The Gingerbread Man said:
Sorry don't mean to sound dumb here but with this whole syncing to the cloud the music takes up space on the phone memory through caching? I thought the idea was so it doesn't waste space on the phone with its limited storage. I don't know much about this google music so don't flame too much, inncoent question hopefully will come to the uk soon!
Sent from my X10i using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes if you open Google Music, and select the option to make available offline
it will show you the amount of space left in your INTERNAL STORAGE of the phone, so if you only have 1 GB of space left, after Games / Apps, then you can only cache 1 GB of songs at 320 Kbps, using the 10 MB song file example pointed out earlier, you'll see you can roughly only cache aprox 30 songs give or take a few in 1 GB of space
... not much as you can see

Thanks guys that really helps! Good job Google put on all those extra data controls as this could really eat up data plans!
Sent from my X10i using xda premium

Nex_1 said:
Just checked the Nexus' new page, in features, it says:
The reason why I canceled the phone out of my list was because of the memory that seemed little for me. Why do I want a huge memory? It's because of music, I don't store movies, videos and other media. But with this new cloud feature works even with no data connection. Does that mean, I don't need an SD card? If that's true I'm definitely getting it, after all the memory was the only thing stopping me, and it was only because of music. Seeing I got my Samsung Wave with a full 16GB card full of music with absolutely nothing else.
Does that save me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically, the way it works is you can upload 20,000 songs. On your phone, whenever you listen to music, it streams to the device. If you listen to a particular song, album, or artist often, it downloads the tracks to your phone so you're not paying to stream them over and over again.
If you know you're going to be out of data connection, you can explicitly download ("cache") songs, albums, artists to your SDcard so that you can listen to them. When you're back in a data connection, you can choose to keep them downloaded, or clear them again to free up space.
In the settings, you can specifically set it to only stream on WiFi, or only download on WiFi, or both. You may want to do this if you're on a strict data cap. In this case you'd probably cache a couple albums on WiFi while at home before you leave the house to tide you over till you return again.
I've been using Google Music Beta for months and it works pretty damn seamlessly in my experiences.

Obscene Data Usage form Google Music

Google Music has managed to drive my data usage up to nearly 10GB since the 15th with me having only used it to stream a handful songs (less than 30mins) and nothing else! I swapped from the stock ROM to Android Revolution HD about a week ago, and the data usage screen shows the background data for Google Music at just under 2GB since the ROM switch (2GB in approx. 7 days )!
Maybe it has something to do with my 12,000+ song library, but I doubt it. Any clues as to why it is using so much background data when the app as rarely been used?
Side Note: Thank God for unlimited data plans else this would have been costly...
(Please disregard typo in title. Form should be from.)
[SOLVED]
Reseting Google Music has stopped the extreme data usage, even with the app's settings re-enabled to what they were before reseting.
Steps taken:
- Clear data for Google Music
- Revert Google Music back to factory version
- Reinstall from the Market
- Reconfigure app settings

If you have "download over WiFi only" unchecked and have told Google Music to to "make available offline" or something has been caching, it could easily pull down gigs of music. Kinda unlikely but its possible if you've checked the right boxes.
Go check your offline only music collection in the app, see if it's cached a lot of it?

martonikaj said:
If you have "download over WiFi only" unchecked and have told Google Music to to "make available offline" or something has been caching, it could easily pull down gigs of music. Kinda unlikely but its possible if you've checked the right boxes.
Go check your offline only music collection in the app, see if it's cached a lot of it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Precisely. If you checked "make available offline", then it'll download your complete library.
I've been using Google Music for months now (well, since it came out, actually) and have used it for all of my music now (ie I'm streaming all of my music over Google Music rather than keeping it on my SD card) and have never come even close to 10GB of usage total (or more than about 2GB over a month for Gmusic) and that's with listening for about an hour or 2 each day.

'make available offline' eh?... i've had that checked off since i first started using google music on my old thunderbolt and have never had an issue like this. even now, it's still checked on my nexus and not using crazy gigga's like what he's experiencing. that's bizarre

I do have "make available offline" checked, but I have not told Google Music to make any music available offline besides the recently played cache it keeps. If I toggle Google Music to only display songs available offline, it only shows ten.
Also I used Google Music on my old HTC Incredible, and never had this issue. Maybe I'll try resetting Google Music on the device...

if you have it set to stream high quality, then it will eat up a lot of data - Google Music streams 320Kbps files at high quality.
that adds up.

oscillik said:
if you have it set to stream high quality, then it will eat up a lot of data - Google Music streams 320Kbps files at high quality.
that adds up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even then 10GB is a lot of music. Heck, maybe with FLAC you'd get 10GB a month with reasonable listening, but that's without caching anything and still it's possible but unlikely.

If u have unlimited y r u worrying . Try checking " only download music for offline availability via wifi". That might stop all the background dl. Or check restrict background data when u click music under data usage
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

I have had "only download over wifi" checked for the last 24hrs, and Google Music used a additional 0.25GB in that time period. This option should not matter has I never tell Google Music to download any songs for offline use.
The high quality streaming should not be the culprit either since I have opened the app to stream music in the last 24hrs.
The app seems to just be using 0.25GB a day without any user interaction.
As to why I am concerned even though I have an unlimited data plan, I do not like that something is going on with the phone that I cannot understand, and there is the fact the Verizon might start throttling my speeds due to the high usage.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I hadn't really used google music much at all, literally one drive around town in the car for about 15 minutes and it had used 56 MB. So after reading this I streamed one song and told it to make it available for offline listening. It was 14.35 MB to do that. I would agree, that is a lot of data for a small amount of music. Looks like the thing to do is go through and make it available off line while on wifi.
Now I am curious where the phone stores it and how much memory each song takes up. With the android file transfer MTP program on my mac I cannot find the songs I have stored for off line music. It is not in the music folder or anywhere obvious. I will dig into the phone with Astro and figure this out when I get a chance.

bmolloy said:
I hadn't really used google music much at all, literally one drive around town in the car for about 15 minutes and it had used 56 MB. So after reading this I streamed one song and told it to make it available for offline listening. It was 14.35 MB to do that. I would agree, that is a lot of data for a small amount of music. Looks like the thing to do is go through and make it available off line while on wifi.
Now I am curious where the phone stores it and how much memory each song takes up. With the android file transfer MTP program on my mac I cannot find the songs I have stored for off line music. It is not in the music folder or anywhere obvious. I will dig into the phone with Astro and figure this out when I get a chance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think they're stored as normal mp3 files. all renamed, iirc

bmolloy said:
I hadn't really used google music much at all, literally one drive around town in the car for about 15 minutes and it had used 56 MB. So after reading this I streamed one song and told it to make it available for offline listening. It was 14.35 MB to do that. I would agree, that is a lot of data for a small amount of music. Looks like the thing to do is go through and make it available off line while on wifi.
Now I am curious where the phone stores it and how much memory each song takes up. With the android file transfer MTP program on my mac I cannot find the songs I have stored for off line music. It is not in the music folder or anywhere obvious. I will dig into the phone with Astro and figure this out when I get a chance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look in /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music -- that's where music I've asked to be available offline is stored as numbered mp3 files, and it's presumably also the temporary cache for recently-played music.

Well reseting Google Music seemed to do the trick. The background data hasn't changed for two days straight now. Must have just been a bug that had the app constantly communicating to the servers.

SuzakuTheKnight said:
Well reseting Google Music seemed to do the trick. The background data hasn't changed for two days straight now. Must have just been a bug that had the app constantly communicating to the servers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Figured as much. It may have even been hanging on caching one song and trying over and over. Google Music likes to do stuff like that

this is the prime example of when the cloud services are not really delivering as advertised
reason why the 16GB version is just too small for a media / gaming phone

Hi. Im having same problem with massive data usage. Im kind of new to this- so can someone guide me through resetting Google Music? I cant seem to delete it from my phone entirely. I know you mentioned re installing from the market- but whenever I go there it just gives me the upgrade option- which I did- but still doesnt seem to change anything. Sorry! And thanks to everyone in advance for any help!

lespaul1970 said:
Hi. Im having same problem with massive data usage. Im kind of new to this- so can someone guide me through resetting Google Music? I cant seem to delete it from my phone entirely. I know you mentioned re installing from the market- but whenever I go there it just gives me the upgrade option- which I did- but still doesnt seem to change anything. Sorry! And thanks to everyone in advance for any help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings > Apps > All > Music > Clear Data & Uninstall Updates
That will reset the app to factory settings and allow you to pull the newest version from the market again. While this stops the problem, it is not a true solution to the issue as we have yet to identify what is actually causing the usage.
Before wiping, could you post your settings for the app? And any information such as library size and the number of songs you have told Music to store locally would be helpful in identifying the cause.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Thank you! I appreciate the help! What do you need for settings for the app? sorry! Im new to smart phones- so- I need to be walked through alot of this still! But- let me know any info you need and Ill be glad to get it for you. Thanks
That will reset the app to factory settings and allow you to pull the newest version from the market again. While this stops the problem, it is not a true solution to the issue as we have yet to identify what is actually causing the usage.
Before wiping, could you post your settings for the app? And any information such as library size and the number of songs you have told Music to store locally would be helpful in identifying the cause.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium[/QUOTE]

I currently have 7172 songs on Google Music. I have not stored any songs locally so far. Today started my new billing cycle- and I did nothing with my phone except play 1 song- streamed from Google Music. My data went from 0.000 GB to 0.076 GB after only playing 1 song- that lasted probably about 4 and a half minutes. Pretty crazy. Last month- I used up 2 GB of data in 10 days- and maybe streamed about 30 minutes of music during that time. A Verizon rep told me it takes about 30 hours of streaming music to use up 1 GB of data. I dont know if thats true or not. But judging by what others using it are telling me- I have something WAY wrong. So- Im going to try the info from above to reinstall and see what happens. Thank you for all of your help- and let me know if I can be of any help with additional info.
---------- Post added at 11:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 PM ----------
Ive also wondered if it may have something to do with my settings under music. I have a Razr- and everything is unchecked except "Download Via Wi-Fi- only" and "Cache music-temporarily store streamed music." Those were both already checked with the installation. Should I uncheck the "Cache music" box? Is it pulling down alot more data maybe to temporarily store streamed music? Just wondering about this too! Thanks again!

I were uploading about 2GB of music from my computer to Play Music, and when that was done my phone gave me a warning that the app Play Music had downloaded 2GB of data over 3G, now I can't use my 3G for three weeks... When I take a look at Play Music's data folder there's only about 100MB of songs, as there should be.
I had set the app to only download via WiFi, but stream via 3G. Why could this have happened? Since I only have 2GB of memory on the phone, and the used data hasn't increased, what happened really?
Thanks

[Q] Extend the storage?

Hi there,
I wondered if there is some way (even obscure) to extend the Nexus built-in storag of 16/32gb? It's the only thing keeping from getting one...

Janzomaster said:
Hi there,
I wondered if there is some way (even obscure) to extend the Nexus built-in storag of 16/32gb? It's the only thing keeping from getting one...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cloud storage or a USB stick (and adapter) are the only options I believe .....

wilbur-force said:
... a USB stick (and adapter) are the only options I believe .....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't think about that... That's a viable alternative! Thanks!

Janzomaster said:
I didn't think about that... That's a viable alternative! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get cheap adapters from eBay. I have used this method. Its a bit of a pain but it you want to swap movies or music on the go its not too much hassle.

I guess you could use cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox, Google+ [photos]) for docs, files, pics, etc. and Google Music to store your music library. Other than that I'm not really too sure.

Krijs said:
I guess you could use cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox, Google+ [photos]) for docs, files, pics, etc. and Google Music to store your music library. Other than that I'm not really too sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got a very small data plan, so cloud storage for music is not really an option.

Janzomaster said:
I've got a very small data plan, so cloud storage for music is not really an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it depends on what sort of stuff you'd be storing. Google Music isn't really viable without a big/unlimited data allowance, but for relatively small files, Dropbox should be unnoticeable. I got by on my first month with the phone on a 500mb data allowance, occasionally using Dropbox.
I can't really think of anything else. The USB stick idea sounds viable albeit a bit clunky.

Krijs said:
I guess it depends on what sort of stuff you'd be storing. Google Music isn't really viable without a big/unlimited data allowance, but for relatively small files, Dropbox should be unnoticeable. I got by on my first month with the phone on a 500mb data allowance, occasionally using Dropbox.
I can't really think of anything else. The USB stick idea sounds viable albeit a bit clunky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
defintiely clunky but if you want to take extra movies away with you its definitely workable
i thought id miss the SD card slot more than i do. i finally figured that the more storage space i have the more junk i store .... music i never listen to .... photos i took ages ago. im much better at syncing the stuff up to my PC now which is far better in case I (heaven forbid!) lose my phone !!!

Did they downgrade multi-window in kitkat?

It says they only let 2 multi-windows now.... DIdn't before you could do 3 or 4?
Before that I could do as much multi-windows as I wanted? Why did they make this change? Is this a downgrade?
Or am I just imaging things? Was it always 2.
Also, Polaris Office 5 sucks it has so many glitches (document not supported, but it opens manually, doesn't free draw save for ppt, etc.) . I want the polaris office that was included in the original note 10.1.
Also, wtf google Why did you take the external SD card away...
There was a reason why I bought the 16 gb ones.

It was always 2 from the factory. You can root and enable 4 though.

Hahahalalala said:
Also, wtf google Why did you take the external SD card away...
There was a reason why I bought the 16 gb ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you use the cloud... Google wants to own your info, not just allow you access to it....
The bullsh!t line about security is ridiculous...

The cloud is not the answer. Download and upload speeds, data charges, file sizes and security issues. Just a few concerns. I use cloud storage and am in the process of reducing it. Trust Google? Hell, that is akin to demanding you trust the government. You cannot.
Via my Note 3

BclingergFJ said:
The cloud is not the answer. Download and upload speeds, data charges, file sizes and security issues. Just a few concerns. I use cloud storage and am in the process of reducing it. Trust Google? Hell, that is akin to demanding you trust the government. You cannot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree about the cloud not being the answer. I also agree that taking away a feature people relied on, even made purchasing decisions based on (16GB vs.32GB), for no truthfully explainable reason, is pretty crappy. But it's time to move on. The hobbling of external storage first came to light last December when the SGS4 GPe received 4.4.2. That's six months ago. Since then, nothing's changed. People's choices are:
Leave Android for another OS out of contempt for Google
Stay on 4.3 forever
Root and install a fix
Adjust the way you use the external SD card and come up with new ways to do things
Trade your 16GB devices for one with more storage
***** endlessly to strangers on discussion forums about how crappy Google's decision was and how your life has been ruined
Even with six months having passed, every day, on every forum I view, there's another new thread started about "why can't I save to external SD?" It's getting kind of old. So people need to pick one of the above and move on. And those choosing option 6, no one here can help you and answers to any and all questions you might ask have been posted dozens of times. F'd up external storage is Google's "new normal" and they aren't going to back down.
P.S. - I chose option 4

we can stop 16g android device and finally we have 32g or more.
Sent from my SM-G900S using XDA Free mobile app

hochui said:
we can stop 16g android device and finally we have 32g or more.
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Click to collapse
Someone should tell Samsung.
This really isn't the catastrophe it's being made out to be. Video, games, and pics take up the most storage space. They can be stored and played off the external SD card. Most large apps allow you to move them to external SD too. All Samsung's apps (Video, Music, Gallery, My Files, Samsung Link) have universal access to external storage and can be used to manipulate files saved there. Any app can create its own sandbox on external SD and save/edit/delete files there. What's been lost is every app having access to everything on external storage. It's a pain in the a_s but there are work-arounds that aren't that onerous and most people, especially consumption users, will be fine.

4. root and SDfix
The only acceptable solution is to root and run SDfix from playstore.
I was forced to do that after kitkat OTA upgrade on my Note3 and external SD write was crippled overnight.
My Note10 is still on 4.3 rooted, but when I go 4.4, root+SDfix will be first on the list right after the upgrade.

BarryH_GEG said:
I agree about the cloud not being the answer. I also agree that taking away a feature people relied on, even made purchasing decisions based on (16GB vs.32GB), for no truthfully explainable reason, is pretty crappy. But it's time to move on. The hobbling of external storage first came to light last December when the SGS4 GPe received 4.4.2. That's six months ago. Since then, nothing's changed. People's choices are:
Leave Android for another OS out of contempt for Google
Stay on 4.3 forever
Root and install a fix
Adjust the way you use the external SD card and come up with new ways to do things
Trade your 16GB devices for one with more storage
***** endlessly to strangers on discussion forums about how crappy Google's decision was and how your life has been ruined
Even with six months having passed, every day, on every forum I view, there's another new thread started about "why can't I save to external SD?" It's getting kind of old. So people need to pick one of the above and move on. And those choosing option 6, no one here can help you and answers to any and all questions you might ask have been posted dozens of times. F'd up external storage is Google's "new normal" and they aren't going to back down.
P.S. - I chose option 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pick 6... :silly:
Seriously though, the sdfix doesn't fix everything unfortunately but its the best option right now.
And just so we're absolutely clear, GOOGLE SUX!!!!!!