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Android 2tb external drive limit workaround - General Questions and Answers

I know Android has 2tb limit when it comes to external drives. You can work around filesystem, drives and whatnot, but that size limit seems to be unavoidable.
Having several drives larger than 2tb I'd like to be able to access to them, at least to read them. Is there no way at all to do it?
Partitioning IS NOT AN OPTION, the drive is in a single partition because Windows sees it just fine and has to be like that. I know you can partition it in smaller size, but that's just not what i'm looking for. I mean even Apple can do it with their iPads, why Android still has that 2tb limit?

NaXter24R said:
I know Android has 2tb limit when it comes to external drives. You can work around filesystem, drives and whatnot, but that size limit seems to be unavoidable.
Having several drives larger than 2tb I'd like to be able to access to them, at least to read them. Is there no way at all to do it?
Partitioning IS NOT AN OPTION, the drive is in a single partition because Windows sees it just fine and has to be like that. I know you can partition it in smaller size, but that's just not what i'm looking for. I mean even Apple can do it with their iPads, why Android still has that 2tb limit?
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If possible, this would have to be achieved by building your own custom kernel for your device with support for whatever size external drive you want. Building your own kernel requires building it from source, if the manufacturer of your device has not released a kernel source code for your device, you will not be able to build a custom kernel for your device. You can't achieve what you want by modifying/editing system files or adding additional software or apps. You can't achieve this by editing your device's stock kernel either. Adding features to a kernel requires adding them in the kernel building process, they can't be added by editing a kernel that already exists.
The kernel connects your hardware with your software and controls how your software uses your hardware. This is why you have to build a new kernel in order for your software to be able to use your hardware in a different way than it was designed to do.
If you don't know how to build a custom kernel, you will have to give up on your idea or buy a device that does support larger external drives. No, I don't know how to build a kernel and I'm not linking you to any guides because there are none that are comprehensive enough for you to do this from start to finish. You will have to do some Google searching and learn the process for yourself by trial and error until you get it right. Be warned, you could very easily brick the device and make it unuseable and unrepairable if you do not build the kernel correctly.

Droidriven said:
If possible, this would have to be achieved by building your own custom kernel for your device with support for whatever size external drive you want. Building your own kernel requires building it from source, if the manufacturer of your device has not released a kernel source code for your device, you will not be able to build a custom kernel for your device. You can't achieve what you want by modifying/editing system files or adding additional software or apps. You can't achieve this by editing your device's stock kernel either. Adding features to a kernel requires adding them in the kernel building process, they can't be added by editing a kernel that already exists.
The kernel connects your hardware with your software and controls how your software uses your hardware. This is why you have to build a new kernel in order for your software to be able to use your hardware in a different way than it was designed to do.
If you don't know how to build a custom kernel, you will have to give up on your idea or buy a device that does support larger external drives. No, I don't know how to build a kernel and I'm not linking you to any guides because there are none that are comprehensive enough for you to do this from start to finish. You will have to do some Google searching and learn the process for yourself by trial and error until you get it right. Be warned, you could very easily brick the device and make it unuseable and unrepairable if you do not build the kernel correctly.
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I imagine that unfortunately.
I find it sto stupid that even Apple with iPadOS has better support for something that, in 2022, should be so obvious. I mean, drives larger than 2tb are a thing, and with stuff like USB hub and Samsung DEX using drives bigger than 2tb seems something that people could easily encounter.
But I also think this is some android limit, but I haven't dug too deep to find that out. There is so little online that is hard to understand why there is such limit.
I would be happy to use my tablet as a laptop replacement, but having to adapt my hdd choice seems stupid to me.

NaXter24R said:
I imagine that unfortunately.
I find it sto stupid that even Apple with iPadOS has better support for something that, in 2022, should be so obvious. I mean, drives larger than 2tb are a thing, and with stuff like USB hub and Samsung DEX using drives bigger than 2tb seems something that people could easily encounter.
But I also think this is some android limit, but I haven't dug too deep to find that out. There is so little online that is hard to understand why there is such limit.
I would be happy to use my tablet as a laptop replacement, but having to adapt my hdd choice seems stupid to me.
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Yes, but mobile devices are not powerful machines like PC. Also, drives of that size require power, they are typically powered by the device they are connected to. That means adding unnecessary power drain on a mobile device, it would severely reduce battery life. They don't design them to use larger drives because it just isn't a smart or reasonable alternative, they assume the user is reasonable enough to understand that using a laptop or PC for that purpose is the better solution for using large drives. It is more reasonable to use those drives with a laptop or PC because they are more capable of powering drives of that size without excessive battery drain.
Just because iPad "can" use large drives, doesn't mean it is good at it or that it is an intelligent solution. It is just a selling point, not really a bonus or good thing.
There are no tablets on the market that are capable of effectively being used as a laptop replacement, they will never be able to perform at the level that laptop and desktop does. It isn't an android limitation, it is a technological limitation. The reason is because it is extremely hard to build a compact device with large amounts of processing power, large power capacity and intensive power usage because these factors generate a lot of heat, heat that compact devices can't handle or dissipate without throttling or slowing down performance. Which equals, it just isn't effectively reasonable.

Droidriven said:
Yes, but mobile devices are not powerful machines like PC. Also, drives of that size require power, they are typically powered by the device they are connected to. That means adding unnecessary power drain on a mobile device, it would severely reduce battery life. They don't design them to use larger drives because it just isn't a smart or reasonable alternative, they assume the user is reasonable enough to understand that using a laptop or PC for that purpose is the better solution for using large drives. It is more reasonable to use those drives with a laptop or PC because they are more capable of powering drives of that size without excessive battery drain.
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Power is not an issue. There are hubs. If i can hook stuff to a tablet and use it as a desktop replacement when i'm traveling, I don't see why I can't use an external drive. Moreover, a 1tb drive use the same power as a 4tb one. They're both USB. Is a sw thing, not hw. Sure there are some device without enough power to start the drive, but almost any decent tablet can do it. Plus, as I said, Apple does it with their iPad Pros. Also, I could be using an external powered drive, is just a USB cable.
Just because iPad "can" use large drives, doesn't mean it is good at it or that it is an intelligent solution. It is just a selling point, not really a bonus or good thing.
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On the contrary, I have a perfectly capable device of taking advantage of an external drive, and i'm limited by the OS. And the joke is that such OS is Android which loses against Apple in this case. As I said, i think is a joke I'm able to use something like Samsung DEX and not being able to access a drive just because is bigger than 2tb.
A missing feature is a missing feature.
There are no tablets on the market that are capable of effectively being used as a laptop replacement, they will never be able to perform at the level that laptop and desktop does. It isn't an android limitation, it is a technological limitation. The reason is because it is extremely hard to build a compact device with large amounts of processing power, large power capacity and intensive power usage because these factors generate a lot of heat, heat that compact devices can't handle or dissipate without throttling or slowing down performance. Which equals, it just isn't effectively reasonable.
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Again, what if I have to dump footages and media from my device to some external device? Do I need to carry a laptop in order to do that when a tablet would be perfectly capable of doing it? Again, is a sw issue, not hw. I can edit a video on a laptop or on a tablet just in the same way. That has nothing to do with power. This is an outdated thing that limits some user for no apparent reason (i'm sure there is, and I'm sure is some outdated thing from the past).
I mean, I can use other filesystem, why the heck would I have to be limited by the size of an external drive?

NaXter24R said:
Power is not an issue. There are hubs. If i can hook stuff to a tablet and use it as a desktop replacement when i'm traveling, I don't see why I can't use an external drive. Moreover, a 1tb drive use the same power as a 4tb one. They're both USB. Is a sw thing, not hw. Sure there are some device without enough power to start the drive, but almost any decent tablet can do it. Plus, as I said, Apple does it with their iPad Pros. Also, I could be using an external powered drive, is just a USB cable.
On the contrary, I have a perfectly capable device of taking advantage of an external drive, and i'm limited by the OS. And the joke is that such OS is Android which loses against Apple in this case. As I said, i think is a joke I'm able to use something like Samsung DEX and not being able to access a drive just because is bigger than 2tb.
A missing feature is a missing feature.
Again, what if I have to dump footages and media from my device to some external device? Do I need to carry a laptop in order to do that when a tablet would be perfectly capable of doing it? Again, is a sw issue, not hw. I can edit a video on a laptop or on a tablet just in the same way. That has nothing to do with power. This is an outdated thing that limits some user for no apparent reason (i'm sure there is, and I'm sure is some outdated thing from the past).
I mean, I can use other filesystem, why the heck would I have to be limited by the size of an external drive?
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You can disagree if you want, but, it doesn't change the fact that power usage and heat generation ARE the reasons why.
I didn't say that a tablet couldn't use large drives and I didn't say that a tablet couldn't do the things you described. I said that they are not reasonably effective tools for those purposes, which is why there is no focus on building them for those purposes.
A lot of the things that you want to use the tablet for are actually intensive activities. Video editing, for example, depending on the video and the kind of editing that you do, tends to be intensive and can be long duration processes, the more RAM and more processing power, and the more battery life, the better, which is why laptop and PC are better suited for these purposes. Sure, some tablets can do it, but in reality, they just aren't completely up to the task, especially in the long term.
When I said, large drives, I meant drives larger than the device has on-board. It had nothing to do with 1TB vs 2TB vs 4TB.
To give you a metaphor, a mechanic has to choose the best tool for the job, why purposefully choose to use a lesser tool when a better tool already exists?
Power usage, performance and heat generation are the 3 main things taken into account when designing compact devices all of which are increased by the kinds of activities you are discussing.
But, I know I'm wasting my time trying to use logic with you when all you are focused on is your own personal convenience.

Droidriven said:
You can disagree if you want, but, it doesn't change the fact that power usage and heat generation ARE the reasons why.
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Sorry but I strongly disagree.
Power is the same. The exact same. A 2.5" 500gb use the same power as a 2.5" 4tb drive. Heat is the same as well since the specs are very much the same beside space.
Droidriven said:
I didn't say that a tablet couldn't use large drives and I didn't say that a tablet couldn't do the things you described. I said that they are not reasonably effective tools for those purposes, which is why there is no focus on building them for those purposes.
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It might be, but I see this as a lack of foresight. That 2tb limit is a sw thing. The drive is perfectly seen and recognized, but the space is not. This is why you can partition a 16tb drive in 8 2tb partitions and see them all.
Droidriven said:
A lot of the things that you want to use the tablet for are actually intensive activities. Video editing, for example, depending on the video and the kind of editing that you do, tends to be intensive and can be long duration processes, the more RAM and more processing power, and the more battery life, the better, which is why laptop and PC are better suited for these purposes. Sure, some tablets can do it, but in reality, they just aren't completely up to the task, especially in the long term.
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I know, but they're designed to do that. I'm not doing anything weird, the manufacturer expects me to do it. And i'm doing it there because in some case is better to bring a tablet than a laptop. Is that simple.
Is like buying a car and having the air conditioning not working past 35° ambient temperature because "is a bit too hot".
I think Google forgot about it since there isn't that much audience for that, but is actually becoming an issue. Media use a ton of space and larger drives are a thing.
being able to access something via OTG was one of they key features of android and now is a limit. Even Apple do this better now.
Droidriven said:
When I said, large drives, I meant drives larger than the device has on-board. It had nothing to do with 1TB vs 2TB vs 4TB.
To give you a metaphor, a mechanic has to choose the best tool for the job, why purposefully choose to use a lesser tool when a better tool already exists?
Power usage, performance and heat generation are the 3 main things taken into account when designing compact devices all of which are increased by the kinds of activities you are discussing.
But, I know I'm wasting my time trying to use logic with you when all you are focused on is your own personal convenience.
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Is not about personal convenience. The drive use the same exact power. Simple as that. Is a 5v 900mA USB drive. This is true vor every USB drive. SSD, HDD, anything.
As I said, is a sw thing so whatever you said about hw and power is straight up false.
What I asked is why there is in 2022 this limit and if there is a way to avoid it, since is a SW limit. Especially now with Google TV I don't understand understand they have this limit. Even Chrome OS doesn't have that.
About your example, this is not a better tool. This is a lack of a tool.

NaXter24R said:
Sorry but I strongly disagree.
Power is the same. The exact same. A 2.5" 500gb use the same power as a 2.5" 4tb drive. Heat is the same as well since the specs are very much the same beside space.
It might be, but I see this as a lack of foresight. That 2tb limit is a sw thing. The drive is perfectly seen and recognized, but the space is not. This is why you can partition a 16tb drive in 8 2tb partitions and see them all.
I know, but they're designed to do that. I'm not doing anything weird, the manufacturer expects me to do it. And i'm doing it there because in some case is better to bring a tablet than a laptop. Is that simple.
Is like buying a car and having the air conditioning not working past 35° ambient temperature because "is a bit too hot".
I think Google forgot about it since there isn't that much audience for that, but is actually becoming an issue. Media use a ton of space and larger drives are a thing.
being able to access something via OTG was one of they key features of android and now is a limit. Even Apple do this better now.
Is not about personal convenience. The drive use the same exact power. Simple as that. Is a 5v 900mA USB drive. This is true vor every USB drive. SSD, HDD, anything.
As I said, is a sw thing so whatever you said about hw and power is straight up false.
What I asked is why there is in 2022 this limit and if there is a way to avoid it, since is a SW limit. Especially now with Google TV I don't understand understand they have this limit. Even Chrome OS doesn't have that.
About your example, this is not a better tool. This is a lack of a tool.
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As I already said, it has nothing to do with how much power a 2TB drive uses compared to a 4TB drive. When engineers design devices, it is designed with the intent that the battery should be big enough to power the device itself and its own internal hardware for a certain period of time. Being able to power the device itself and also power external hardware while also having the battery to last the intended period of time means that a larger battery must be used in order to power the extra hardware without reducing how long the device can operate, this effects the size of the device this effects hardware design, this effects software design, these factors effect the costs of design and manufacture of the device(which get passed to the user). To power extra hardware means larger battery, which effects overall size of the device, amout of space to fit the other hardware inside the device, where and how each component is positioned without interfering, where heat is generated and how it is dissipated.
The heat I was referring to was heat generated inside the tablet by the "extra" activity of powering the external device and the extra load on the processor and performance loss due to operating over USB. More work means more heat, period, its a law.
Besides, the larger majority of users don't use tablets for the kinds of things you're talking about. This also comes into play when designing a device, why should they add a feature to suit a small demographic?
I'm giving you real world reasons why it isn't done from an engineering perspective.
You are giving me reasons why it "should" be done from a user perspective.
The engineering/cost perspective comes first because that is where the rubber meets the road, user perspective comes last.
If an engineer were to design a device for the express purposes that you have discussed, I can promise you that it wouldn't be a small, compact thing like a tablet.
There are plenty of powerful slim laptops that are comparable in size to some tablets and they can do the job better, for longer than a tablet can.
Do you think the average user would choose a device with less performance that has to be charged more often in order to be used the way you are describing? Or do you think the average user would choose a device that is better suited to the task and doesn't have to be charged as often?

Droidriven said:
As I already said, it has nothing to do with how much power a 2TB drive uses compared to a 4TB drive. When engineers design devices, it is designed with the intent that the battery should be big enough to power the device itself and its own internal hardware for a certain period of time. Being able to power the device itself and also power external hardware while also having the battery to last the intended period of time means that a larger battery must be used in order to power the extra hardware without reducing how long the device can operate, this effects the size of the device this effects hardware design, this effects software design, these factors effect the costs of design and manufacture of the device(which get passed to the user). To power extra hardware means larger battery, which effects overall size of the device, amout of space to fit the other hardware inside the device, where and how each component is positioned without interfering, where heat is generated and how it is dissipated.
The heat I was referring to was heat generated inside the tablet by the "extra" activity of powering the external device and the extra load on the processor and performance loss due to operating over USB. More work means more heat, period, its a law.
Besides, the larger majority of users don't use tablets for the kinds of things you're talking about. This also comes into play when designing a device, why should they add a feature to suit a small demographic?
I'm giving you real world reasons why it isn't done from an engineering perspective.
You are giving me reasons why it "should" be done from a user perspective.
The engineering/cost perspective comes first because that is where the rubber meets the road, user perspective comes last.
If an engineer were to design a device for the express purposes that you have discussed, I can promise you that it wouldn't be a small, compact thing like a tablet.
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What I'm saying is that most device can ALREADY POWER external HDD just fine. Basically any decent tablet which is not a cheap one can do it, easily. The only limit is the size. This has nothing to do with engineers, or power or whatever. They already went throgut that and we already have this feature. What is lacking now is support to bigger drives due to some lazyness I think.
Now, as I said there is already support to other filesystem, so you're free to use the same storage on different platforms, and, digging a bit: I've found this.
Also there is some interesting stuff about Android TV. Apparently you need to format through the OS in order to use it. I guess it would be ext4 or something like that, but still, playback and recording limit is way higher.
Also, digging more it seems that it is possible, although a bit messy. It works like 50% of the time for some reason, but it is possible. Is not native tho. This is what i'm complaining for.

Related

Anyone think that they could replace a obd2 ecm/ecu with an android phone?

therealmaximus said:
Anyone think that they could replace a obd2 ecm/ecu with an android phone?
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I may be wrong, but:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torque

ive seen these, they just read parameters from the computer via the obd diagnostic port, what i meant was actually removing the the obd computer and using an android device to receive the incoming sensor data and use the data such as rpm, throttle position, and so forth to advance or retard timing tables and fuel tables to actually run the engine i have tuning software for my honda that i can run and retune my engine with but only from my laptop id like to be able to do this with an android device.

[A] 😉 let me know
That's an interesting question and not what I thought it was when I first read your initil post. Reading it literally you're asking about replacing the actual 'brain' that conductor that co-ordinates the entire ignition,fueling,emmisions and other secondary parameters that make the engine run in a harmonious symphony(oh, whatever happened to self metering by atmospheric pressure drop and contact breakers lol). I read it as taking out the OE ecu/ecm/powertrain module or whatever other term you use for it and replacing it with an android device. An interesting exercise but hardly worth the mountain range of problems involved considering you can go out and buy a custom fully programmable ECU anyway.
That is how it sounds though when you say replacing the ecu with an android device. i.e removing the ecu and putting in one running android or a piggyback ecu running amdroid....... i know, i'm being maybe a little too pedantic but it drew me in and made me read the thread and am definitely interested in finding out if there are any android apps that can reprogram or flash an ecu similar to the ones that run on windows.
I've mentioned in another thread I have a deep knowledge and experience in the car side of the equation but my knowledge of computers themselves ranks about 'interested in knowinf more but basically capable of using one n that's it' level. Or tge same as 99.99% of car drivers. They can drive but beyond that all they really know is where to out the petrol in although 100,000s of them will say they know all about cars lol.
In other words, I see know reason why technically there are no equivalent android apps/devices that can do what software packages running windows you use on a laptop. I'm in a similar but different position than you. I really want that ability to remap/flash new firmware onto ecu's except right now I don't have a laptop or desktop of any kind right now. All my online and computer needs are admirably dealt with on my Note 3 so i haven't bothered replacing either my pc or laptop when they passed on.
Was on ebay recently and seen very interesting and potentially useful software claiming to be able communicate fully with any obd1 and 2 ecus allowing you to reset, remap and 'chip' any ecus and also fully set up a new replacement custom reprogrammable ecu too although i am skeptical you could buy one that fully capable for £20 off ebay but they promise full customer support and the ability to download an entire remap for almost any make amd model so perhaps their claims are based on the abilitynof their product rather than merely sales rhetoric.
Anyway, what I mean is I see no reason why if windows can fully communicate with obd2 and android can also read current and pending dtcs, display freeze frame, live data and allow you, if you know the particular formula, to view data with custom PIDs then it seems possible that a software package written for android couldn't be capable of doing wnat these windows/mac programmes can do. I'm sure I've seen linux compatible software for desktops out there so surely an android version is poasible. BUT as i explained my knowledge of computer systems/languages is risible so there may well be a glaringly obvious reason that android is unsuitable (there's probably 1000s of 10 year olds laughing lije mad thinking is this guy stupid or what lol).
BUT if you ever come accross such an software package that runs on android let me know because if not it looks like I'm going to have to go buy this 20 odd quid ebay software AND a bloody laptop on top to bw able to use it

So, a coworker pointed me at a chrome book, and said, "Look, it's awesome, 10+ hours battery!" I was skeptical, I've heard horrendous things about chromebooks' usefulness, but then I found out chromebooks give you access to TTY, so in theory you can use all the nifty CLI utilities that make Linux/Unix systems so great to work with. So I went back and reexamined how I use my endless supply of various devices, from desktop to mobile phone. For the most part, I use my phone to call, stream, or browse. I use my laptop to connect to my development machine (It's just inconvenient to hold my code on my local machine for a variety of reasons, and it's not really safe practice anyways.) A short while ago, I was looking for a tablet with a data plan, and I couldn't find one - even carriers with unlimited data plans don't support tablets with unlimited data plans. Damn it! Then, as I was researching chromebooks, I realized something spectacular - despite tablets having a thicker, and therefore heaver screens, tablets are in general 1/2 the weight of chromebooks. (wtf?) So I went in search of system on a board computers, and I found MK802, which could cover all the essentials - a keyboard w/ trackpad, wifi, bluetooth, audio, video. But then I realised - I've got a heap of old android devices from the G1 all the way up to my most recent (but still outdated) Samsung I515 (whatever that's called in common-folk-tongue). And I thought to myself, "Why not use the PCB out of one of those old, working-but-outdated phones to make a DIY tablet or chromebook which will probably weigh less than COTS chromebooks, register as a cellphone with the carriers, have unlimited LTE data, and 20hr battery life?" The Droid Charge seemed like the best candidate. Although I have a couple extra I515s, the awesome thing about the Droid Charge is that it has an HDMI port. Work on the fly, come home, hook it up to a proper monitor, instant win!
Unfortunately, I haven't ever worked with drivers, firmware or the likes. I could probably MacGyver a way to hook up a keyboard with a touchpad to use the micro usb jack (I mean I'd just need to emulate hooking the DC to a dock, right?), but the real blocker for me would be the screen. I imagine there MUST be a way to swap the stock LCD and touch screen digitizer on the Droid Charge, and hook up a 10-12in one, probably from some other Samsung product, but that's completely speculation. I was hoping someone on here could help me out with hashing out how to do the screen swap up to a 10-12in screen.
Thanks,
Misha

I have noticed a trend of newer phones foregoing the option of the user changing the battery or having a microSD slot. Is there still a need/want for these to be on phones? My thought is that this is what android is all about, giving the user options on their phone. MicroSD used to be the main reason that people went from iPhone to Android. I don't know about you but I don't like this trend with manufacturers. I hope they listen to the ones left that still want this. What do you think? Are these features still relevant? Do you only buy phones with these features and wish they wouldn't do away with it?

mikeboucher21 said:
I have noticed a trend of newer phones foregoing the option of the user changing the battery or having a microSD slot. Is there still a need/want for these to be on phones? My thought is that this is what android is all about, giving the user options on their phone. MicroSD used to be the main reason that people went from iPhone to Android. I don't know about you but I don't like this trend with manufacturers. I hope they listen to the ones left that still want this. What do you think? Are these features still relevant? Do you only buy phones with these features and wish they wouldn't do away with it?
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That is two questions.
Batteries are quickly getting to the point where they don't need changing. Sure, there are the extreme users who carry spares, but the vast majority of people will never remove or replace their battery ever. By simply foregoing a removable battery entirely, you can make phones slimmer, and ironically, pack more capacity in the same space - since you aren't having to waste space on the plastic casing, pins, etc. (or not, as in the case of the HTC One) However, as a "normal" user, I have a pile of old phones that still worked fine when they retired - with their original batteries.
Now, as to the SD card question. That is a bit more interesting. A bit part of it, IMO, is the fact that Google is really pushing their cloud services - for music, videos, backups, etc. They give you about 15GB (or just a bit shy of a mid-sized SD card) out of the chute, but even if you don't upgrade, they would prefer you to use that instead of a SD card. Why? Because using cloud storage means that you are connected to Google servers, and having your usage monitored by Google services.
Even if they don't show you ads via this route, Google isn't just an advertising company, they are also a data aggregation company (in support of advertising). They want people to be tied as intimately to their services as possible for both reasons, because it allows them to charge advertisers more. I really believe this is why Nexus devices don't have SD cards at all, and I won't be surprised if Google pushes OEMs to stop supplying them at some point, as an external SD card lets you bypass all of that.
Note, Apple is likewise pushing cloud services, and Microsoft has started in as well. All of these companies want your phone to be a network terminal, not a computer. Network terminals are completely dependent on the network, and more likely to keep you in their ecosystem.

agree with the second floor

jshamlet said:
That is two questions.
Batteries are quickly getting to the point where they don't need changing. Sure, there are the extreme users who carry spares, but the vast majority of people will never remove or replace their battery ever. By simply foregoing a removable battery entirely, you can make phones slimmer, and ironically, pack more capacity in the same space - since you aren't having to waste space on the plastic casing, pins, etc. (or not, as in the case of the HTC One) However, as a "normal" user, I have a pile of old phones that still worked fine when they retired - with their original batteries.
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Batteries still wear out though. After ~500 cycles, a lithium based battery (Li-ion, Li-Po) loses upwards of 20% its original capacity. If you're a heavy user, 500 cycles can happen within a year, definitely within 2 years. And yes, spares are always good. You never know what might happen.
Now, as to the SD card question. That is a bit more interesting. A bit part of it, IMO, is the fact that Google is really pushing their cloud services - for music, videos, backups, etc. They give you about 15GB (or just a bit shy of a mid-sized SD card) out of the chute, but even if you don't upgrade, they would prefer you to use that instead of a SD card. Why? Because using cloud storage means that you are connected to Google servers, and having your usage monitored by Google services.
Even if they don't show you ads via this route, Google isn't just an advertising company, they are also a data aggregation company (in support of advertising). They want people to be tied as intimately to their services as possible for both reasons, because it allows them to charge advertisers more. I really believe this is why Nexus devices don't have SD cards at all, and I won't be surprised if Google pushes OEMs to stop supplying them at some point, as an external SD card lets you bypass all of that.
Note, Apple is likewise pushing cloud services, and Microsoft has started in as well. All of these companies want your phone to be a network terminal, not a computer. Network terminals are completely dependent on the network, and more likely to keep you in their ecosystem.
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It's not that at all. It's security. If you have a proper lock on your phone (PIN/password/pattern), nobody can access what's on your phone. No data, no personal information, no nude selfies, etc. But if you store "sensitive" stuff on your microSD card, anybody can get that. That's why with 4.4 KitKat, moving things to external SD became so much more difficult, or even impossible without root.

Planterz said:
Batteries still wear out though. After ~500 cycles, a lithium based battery (Li-ion, Li-Po) loses upwards of 20% its original capacity. If you're a heavy user, 500 cycles can happen within a year, definitely within 2 years. And yes, spares are always good. You never know what might happen.
Yes, and I wasn't thrilled that the M8 requires massive disassembly to get to the battery. I never said I *liked* it, just that it hasn't been as big a deal lately.
It's not that at all. It's security. If you have a proper lock on your phone (PIN/password/pattern), nobody can access what's on your phone. No data, no personal information, no nude selfies, etc. But if you store "sensitive" stuff on your microSD card, anybody can get that. That's why with 4.4 KitKat, moving things to external SD became so much more difficult, or even impossible without root.
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KitKat's external SD security isn't totally absurd. Apps can only read/write data in folders they create, so it means you need root to use a file system explorer. I'm still not sure how they worked out special cases, like both the camera and gallery being able to access the same folder on an external SD card, so there are exceptions. Depending on how that exception works, it's possible that this hole still exists, but that's pure speculation.
However, the issue of removable storage has been around forever, and while it is a valid concern, I kind of doubt that was the driving force. The new restrictions really didn't start to come out until after Google started pushing Drive as a serious storage option for phones and tablets, so I still suspect it is more a case of nudging people onto the cloud than security. I could see "happy synergy" at best, but if it were really about security, I would expect Nexus devices to have about 2-3x the storage they presently offer to make up for it.
However, I'll admit that I'm suspicious of these drives to "put it on the cloud", and I wouldn't put it past Apple, Google, or any other company, to make "security decisions" that tend to nudge you towards those offerings. As such, I'll leave the possibility that user security really was a factor in pushing away from external SD storage.

i don't have a really brand phone and i liked the possibility to move apps to the SD card.
now i'm on 4.4.4 and i can't install too many apps 'cause i can't move them.
that's something that really bothers me as i can't afford a new phone.
in the sametime, even if you have a cloud based storge, you can't move apps overthere: that means that, with pictures resolution getting bigger (and so the file size), once you have a little bit of those + some mp3 + a video or 2, you will soon finish the default space.
(the thing is also that in Italy we don't get many Gb per day/month so most of the guys i know, don't use mp3 from the cloud but they prefer to keep the file with them)

Planterz said:
It's not that at all. It's security. If you have a proper lock on your phone (PIN/password/pattern), nobody can access what's on your phone. No data, no personal information, no nude selfies, etc. But if you store "sensitive" stuff on your microSD card, anybody can get that. That's why with 4.4 KitKat, moving things to external SD became so much more difficult, or even impossible without root.
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I am surprised, dismayed and disappointed to see this on an android developer forum. Perhaps you think the rest of us are mad - but the truth is that Apple, Microsoft and Google all have back doors into their operating systems. Apple and Microsoft are both America-based, and we all know what their privacy (non-privacy) is like. (or do we?) Google, since being bought from its original owner, has become part of the mega-corp flock. Google logs just about everything, and is also based in America. In fact, Google is the new Facebook of privacy violation. (Heard of a unique advertising ID?)
In fact, the governments of various countries employ hackers to come up with exploits of mobile phones. There are also zero-day exploits built in at government behest. This was shown in the leaked papers (I forget whether it was Snowden's lot or Assange's lot.)
If you have sensitive information, the only reliable way to store it securely is on a device which does not have any physical capability to connect to an external network wirelessly, and do not connect it to any external network physically.
This is why all big corp. and govt. research / secret systems are on a disconnected network. As in, they are physically connected within the building, but the building does not have external network communications.
Removable batteries are being taken off the market because they power the tracking capabilities of the device - even when you turn it off. If you didn't want your phone to track you, you used to be able to take out the battery. Now, if the battery is not removable, you have to leave your phone behind if you don't want to be tracked or potentially let others listen in on a sensitive conversation.

I am creating this Thread for a question i have for developers.
Is it possible to plug your phone into the Computer and use the power of the CPU in our android smartphones to improve the speeds of your PC. Video editing/3D rendering/PC gaming. Is it possible to upload the processes from the PC to the Phone. processes on the CPU/GPU on the Phone. E.G. Nvidia Tegra 3/Nvidia Tegra K1. then transfer the information back to the PC.
Or any way around it, Video rendering, The PC does one frame and the Phone does the other frame? is it possible to run it through the MicroUSB Cable? or is the Data rate not fast enough?

I'm not a dev, not yet at least.
Smartphones don't have any cooling system and even the newer would get hot in a short time.
Good if you want to fry eggs, really bad for stability and for the phone itself.
Also, you should manage to get no bottle neck due to USB 2 limits, or use it for some non-real time application.
IMHO, the game is not worth the candle.

would it work today with ucb 3.1 without thunderbolt? Because i just want to improve from about 20 fps to 30 on cs go

Hello there, I have a very general question regarding android phones:
How can it be so hard to run an os on a phone when it is so easy (at least way easier) to run a os on a pc.
I mean even slight misshapes can ruin your phone and there is no way for a phone to boot from anything except it's internal memory. In addition to that, it takes forever to push updates to different phones which even use the same CPUs (mostly Snapdragon 8xx). I really do not get this. I have a piece of hardware in my hand which basically seems to me like a computer with a smaller screen and somewhat different Io devices, but shouldn't it be able to have all the features a full pc has? What is the fundamental point I am missing here? Is there any reason besides companies wanting people locked out of their devices, so they can keep making money? Why don't I get a message of "no is media" when I mess up with a lineage install but instead could turn my phone into a piece of garbage?