Android support for memory card app storage is finally 'coming soon'
By Tim Stevens 
posted May 1st 2010 8:56AM
posted May 1st 2010 8:56AM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted May 1st 2010 8:56AM
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Froyo is really going to put Android ahead here.
@Spiky haired boy It'd be nice if the masses didn't require Froyo to have this much needed feature. The same way they are trying to "de-couple" certain things from the core OS and add them to the marketplace instead, I'll keep my fingers crossed that they do this direct to the marketplace rather than baking it into the OS.
I have no-clue on the feasibility/effectiveness, I'd presume it'd be better to be baked in. Nevertheless, a Google supported option for the masses who aren't on Froyo would be ideal.
@Spiky haired boy
More likely Froyo will cause further splintering and will also shine a bigger spotlight on said splintering because the features it's bringing are big ones that a lot of people care about.
@geoken Have you ever experienced an Apple update?
@InnocentEd
Yeah.
My experience with Apple updates. I got them all the day they were released.
My experience with Android updates (on my HTC Magic). Phone shipped with 1.5. 1.6 came out a few weeks after, carrier pretended it didn't exist. Months later carrier acknowledged it's existence, due to customer pressure, but carrier said 1.5 works great and the only updates will be bug fixes. Said screw it to the carrier and moved to the custom ROM scene where I got the newest features but had to deal with a lot of bugs (I'm talking major stuff here like no bluetooth, not just little things like inoperative indicators). After a while with ROMS I had to go back to the carrier ROM because they had a mandatory radio update and people who didn't run the update had their data cut off. New spl was unhackable at the time, I'm sure that changed but I didn't stick around long enough to care, I just sold the phone and got another iPhone.
@juanvaldez
Yes, they are indeed decoupling things. But sadly, the necessary infrastructure to manage that is only available in Froyo and later builds. So you won't find core updates in the marketplace for older builds, sorry. Your best bet is to wait for a Froyo update for your device, be it an official one or not...
@geoken With Aple you get what they want, when they want you to get it.
Perhaps not knowing that there is an update reduces expectations.
@InnocentEd
Went very smooth as usual.
@InnocentEd I am a happy android user (N1). I was an early adopter of the iPhone 1st gen and 3G. I use my android for everything now but I still hope the interface was as fluid and smooth as my first gen iPhone. I still think that android has a long way to go in terms of interface and style in general. I clearly see now how Apple's obsessive way with appearance had a good impact on their software UI and I just wish that Google had that perfectionist guy who would be the one to sign off on the UI. In apple's camp, that guy is Steve Jobs.
@geoken Just out of curiosity, if you hadn't known of any updates or there weren't any updates would you have hated the phone you were using?
I only ask because many people, who aren't as hip to everyday happenings with Android, seem to be happy enough with their older OS devices.
Sure you can fault Android if you didn't like your first gen phone and got rid of it, but you can hardly fault Android for updating things quickly. Also, if Android released a authorized update to your carrier that supported your phone you could have just used the ROM straight from Google which most likely contained less issues if you were rooting your phone that is.
My Apple comment was meant to point out the major missing features in iPhone but I guess that wasn't your point. I guess Android is subject to the same issues as Windows when it comes to updates, having to span several generations of devices already barely 2 years into it's life. I think they are doing a pretty good job of it considering everything.
I mean they could have just released the update on their newest devices and forced you to pay $500 dollars for the new device instead of worrying about everyone on old devices.....but then they would probably just be called out for copying
@Spiky haired boy
Android still needs a dedicated program that integrates the marketplace and the amazon store.
@Spiky haired boy Its about time. Not to mention, flash is coming with it. We're all in for this update- http://j.mp/android-2-2-is-near
@geoken
The problem with what you're saying is that the general public really doesn't know (and may not even really care) that there are a few updates to the OS. The carriers understand this and they aren't going to be able to roll out the update as soon as Google releases it. There just isn't enough time.
In Apple's case, since everything is only running off of one phone and one carrier with one company, they release the update to everyone at once and everyone finds out at once.
I don't think Google or Android should be faulted just because they are improving their OS at a fast pace and adding features constantly. That's a good thing. Android offers so much functionality with even the most basic 1.5 version that if I had never rooted my Hero to 2.1 I still would be able to enjoy it and all the things it can do.
@geoken, you're saying strange/interesting things. Which custom ROM did you use? Was it Cyanogen? Are you saying T-Mobile required OS upgrade from 1.5 to 1.6 and said it would cut your data plan otherwise, so you couldn't stay with Cyanogen, and that it was impossible to re-install Cyanogen afterwards?
I was on AT&T and installed Cyanogen on my ADP1 (unlocked HTC Dream) while it had a stock Android 1.6 installed. Cyanogen MOD was great, had over the air upgrades, became better and better, and allowed applications on a SD card. I never went back to a stock OS.
Then I bought Nexus One and until yesterday didn't feel it necessary to installed Cyanogen for Nexus One. But yesterday I hit that roadblock again: not enough internal space for apps.
@GIScope,
Could you provide some examples of what was "fluid and smooth" on iPhone and is not so on Android? I'm a happy N1 user, but never had an iPhone.
@Slvrgun,
Could you elaborate on this, please? Are you saying there should be an application allowing to buy Android apps on Amazon, or maybe vice-versa? Strange idea...
(There is a pre-installed Amazon app for Android.)
@vkelman He's probably just referring to transition animations between app switches. Cute, but no functional value.
Its about time nexus one take over
@hoodcrist N1 is already dead. Sold a handful, not coming to verizon. Move on. Fragmentation rulez!
How is it dead when it seems to be going everywhere except for Verizon? I do share concern about fragmentation, though. My hope is that the recent influx of high feature phones will drive manufacturers to raise the bar on their minimum specs, thereby reducing fragmentation in the future. There have been a ton of high feature phones with similar specs (high res and Snapdragon) released or announced in the past few months. Seems the Nexus One, even if it hasn't been a sales gem, at least succeeded in kicking the manufacturers into gear.
@capnbob66 Ooh boy, i must repeat to my self.. dont feed the trolls.
@capnbob66 nexus is never dead its going to get 2.2 before everyone else. Best phone out
It'll happen with Froyo :D
@graey Fuck yeah!
I wonder if this will mean better quality apps and iphone app ports since developers will have ALOT more room to work with?
@dalythu I wonder if there are very many paid apps on Android. In any case Google seems to have lost control over their OS from a business perspective in order to keep up with Apple.
Android is essentially a lost cause business wise for Google much in the same way Blu Ray is a lost cause for Sony. That's a big reason why Google's market value continues to fall further and further behind Apple
@jaffreywali
If you wanted to know how many paid Android apps there are just search on AndroLib.
Google sell search, Apple sells consumer electronics, why would you compare their income ? Why not compare the income of all HTC's Android phones along with Motorola's (whose Droid came close to the iPhone in sales) and Samsung's and Sony Ericssons.
Google created Android to have an open mobile platform that they could increase search revenue through, google search + google maps.
1% of the search market is worth $1 billion.
@jaffreywali
Uh wah? You are really reaching here. Keeping hoping Android is a "lost cause" though...see where that gets ya
@fourthletter Droid wasn't even close. Last quarter, all Moto smartphones were 2.4M, iPhones, 8.5M. Droid is already obsolete, stabbed in the back by Google (N1) and being BOGOF'd by Verizon like crazy. Keep drinking the Kool Aid.
@capnbob66
Lets compare Droids to Apples shall we (pun intended).
iPhone sales - first 74 days: 1 million.
Droid sales - first 74 days: 1.1 million
That means, you guessed it, the Droid outsold the original iPhone. Did the 3GS outsell the Droid? Yes. But the 3GS sold in 8 countries worldwide. The Moto Milestone (rebranded Droid in other parts of the world) has also sold like hotcakes (reportedly outsold the iphone in the UK) although there are no sales figures for it.
What this all means is that the Droid is doing fine and that's just one Android handset, put them all together and well, you do the math. There is that little report stating that Android traffic in the US as of March was higher than that of the iPhone.
Maybe it's you who should stop drinking the kool aid.
Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks
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It wasn't ignored, it was purposely left out, because they didn't want people to save marketplace apps and redistribute them. Sorta makes the whole marketplace pointless when one could just torrent any app.
Problem is it's done anyway: Apps to SD allows someone to easily "backup" every app and gives the added benefit of freeing up ROM space; Cyanogen couldn't have ported Android 2.1 to the G1 without it.
Sounds to me they realized any stranglehold they had on the system was long gone when the fools allowed the early builds to execute root commands from a contact search.
@SiXiam Cyanogen's 2.1 for G1 has Apps2SD built-in, but it's not enabled by default and it certainly isn't REQUIRED for the 2.1 firmware to work. Partitioning your SD card is actually a bit of a pain in the ass if you don't have a Linux box or the Amon_Ra recovery image installed. I finally got it working on mine, but it took a while. Here's hoping Google can get the system to run apps from a FAT partition so we don't have to jump through these EXT3 hoops any more.
@SiXiam it's evil to have those ideas
@Chip
I don't see how you would have much space left for apps if you didn't use Apps to SD, but your right (I was mistaken) it's not a requirement. DangerSPL is the requirement, which re-partitions the internal flash memory giving Cyanogen enough space for the build.
As for the partitioning stuff it gets complicated on Linux, but there are windows partition programs that can easily make the required ext space. I can't remember the exact program I used.
@Chip
Found it: I used Paragon Partition Manager!
The free version is on download.com...
http://download.cnet.com/Paragon-Partition-Manager-Free-Edition-32-bit/3000-2248_4-10904411.html
@Chip Even better would be exFAT support so that microSDXC cards could be used! Though this may cause open-source vs closed-source licensing issues since Microsoft owns exFAT.
@SiXiam
Hate to tell you this but you can already torrent for huge amounts of paid/cracked apps, or so I hear.......
@Chip,
Aren't there some advantages ext2, ext3 file systems have over FAT?
@SiXiam
This is a non issue as far as I'm concerned. You could always store all the apps resources on the sdcard; all the large games do this.
I have a ton of apps on my Droid, over 100 in fact (probably half of them games) and I've still got almost 38 MB of internal storage available although it has slowed the phone down somewhat.
This feature must be present as a separate appear, not limitd to froyo..as many devices may not support froyo
Allready have this but you think they woulda done this in the first place, no?
Coming again, to save the mother fucking day yeah!
The only problem this is the whole 'X program is accessing memory card when the phone is shut off.' example if you take a video/send MMS and the phone shuts off unexpectedly when you reboot the phone you could get the 'Checking SD card for errors' Message until you delete the offending file..the problem with this is you cannot use the phone to delete it or mount SD to a PC so you must have a microsd to SD adapter and a reader.
Froyo is going to be so epic. I can't wait.
Finally! Now we might see higher quality games because they're not constrained by size anymore. Really annoying when I have to pick and choose what I want to install on my MoStone because memory's low. Really unacceptable on a device in 2010.
@Imran
Yes, that's going to be where Android is going to come to life - it's a fantastic game platform that is limited by the tiny app memory which meant you were having to give up other apps to run a large game.
Now, this is not going to have to be a compromise!
They might incorporate a kind of protection for the apps ..I am pretty sure google is aware of the whole taking apps off the sdcard and re distributing them so there must be some sort of code they will implement it make it harder if your not already rooted and just running stock
This is one of the reasons that I say android isn't ready yet.
Hopefully it will more mature later on.
Well I hope so.
Engadget:
"One of the biggest complaints with Android since the dawn of civilization"
Androidguys:
"One of the biggest complaints among Android users from day one"
Is Engadget in such a hurry that it can't think of its own opener?