System version 19.6.3.obake-maxx_verizon.Verizon.en.US

[LilCasear]

Installed the latest Kitkat update and noticed that USB OTG wasn't fixed. As stated in a lot of posts, USB OTG use to work on Jellybean 4.3. Still can't use MyBackup Pro to read and write to my Meenova micro SD adapter anymore. I'm not a fan of the use of any cloud service, and backup my computers, phones, etc to SD cards and USB sticks. Should have kept my Droid Bionic. About ready to pay the Verizon penalty for terminating my 2 year contract and get a Windows phone, or heaven forbid an iPhone.

 

[LilCasear]

Thanks Don for the suggestion. Currently after I use MyBackup Pro to back up my info to the internal SD card, I use Total Commander/USB-Stick Plugin to copy the rerware folder to my external Meenova microSD card. It seems a waste when I use to just back up directly to the microSD card under Jellybean 4.3 using MyBackup Pro. Whatever Google giveth, Google taketh away

 

[doogald]

Thanks Don for the suggestion. Currently after I use MyBackup Pro to back up my info to the internal SD card, I use Total Commander/USB-Stick Plugin to copy the rerware folder to my external Meenova microSD card. It seems a waste when I use to just back up directly to the microSD card under Jellybean 4.3 using MyBackup Pro. Whatever Google giveth, Google taketh away

It was a bug, I believe. The Moto X had the same problem with 4.4, and was fixed with 4.4.2.

 

[LilCasear]

As shown in the title of this thread, I am running Kitkat 4.4.2 on my Droid Maxx. I don't believe this is a bug. I believe Google removed the USB OTG feature from Kitkat 4.4 to make us more cloud dependent. If it's fixed on the Moto X with Kitkat 4.4.2, then why not the Maxx? Whatever Google giveth, Google taketh away!

 

[doogald]

As shown in the title of this thread, I am running Kitkat 4.4.2 on my Droid Maxx. I don't believe this is a bug. I believe Google removed the USB OTG feature from Kitkat 4.4 to make us more cloud dependent. If it's fixed on the Moto X with Kitkat 4.4.2, then why not the Maxx? Whatever Google giveth, Google taketh away!

4.4.2 has not been delivered to the Droid Maxx yet. The 19.6.3 update is still version 4.4. You can check for yourself in settings / about phone - you'll see that it's just 4.4 still. The latest OTA was mainly an update to the baseband to correct a rare roaming issue in Canada, as well as turning the status bar icons from Holo blue to KitKat white.

FWIW, the Maxx never had version 4.3, either. It went from 4.2.2 to 4.4. (There were two OTAs, one at launch in August and one in November, that kept version 4.2.2 and now two OTAs that have been 4.4.)

Again, I don't know that 4.4.2 (and it is confirmed to be coming from sources at Motorola, though there is no promised timeframe) will fix the OTG issue, but it did on the Moto X when that problem happened when that phone got 4.4 with a nearly identical build as our phones. The same thing happened to the Moto G when it was updated to 4.4, and OTG support was fixed in 4.4.2.

See https://plus.google.com/102838570385793445288/posts/Dfpjj3F2K6T for more about this and the coming 4.4.2 update.

And, just to clarify this some more, USB OTG support was an undocumented feature that just happened to work. Motorola never advertised that these phones supported that feature for attached storage. Still, I hope that the experience of the Moto X and the Moto G is a hint of what will happen with the Droids - though that may not be so.

(Also, iOS definitely does not support USB OTG unless except for the import of photos, as far as I know, so switching to an iPhone won't help you there.)

I will say this: I share your frustration with the delayed 4.4.2 update. This phone has had several bugs introduced with the 4.4 update in December/January - the OTG non-support, the double home key problem, the share bug, with the share menu getting stuck to one share item - and it's coming on five months with no resolution to these problems. I understand that there are time constraints, etc., but it would be nice if Verizon could be more forthcoming about acknowledging these bugs/issues and giving even an estimated update schedule.

 

[LilCasear]

Thanks so much for the detailed information and for the link. Was the Android OS modified to change the icon blue to white colors, which is fixed on my Maxx? If so why didn't they change the Android Version to 4.4.1? I assumed KitKat was 4.4 and that was all I was going to see for the Android Version since there was no mention of 4.4.1. I don't think an undocumented, unadvertised feature that just happens to work wasn't planned. Also, don't worry about me getting an iPhone. I don't like any computer, phone, cloud that begin with an i

 

[doogald]

Thanks so much for the detailed information and for the link. Was the Android OS modified to change the icon blue to white colors, which is fixed on my Maxx? If so why didn't they change the Android Version to 4.4.1?

You can read that link from David Schuster. The short version is that Motorola was preparing an update to 4.4.2 when Verizon, who controls the Droid brand, asked instead for them to fix the roaming issue. The white icons are not an Android OS update necessarily. The KitKat update for the Droids earlier this year kept the blue icons from Jellybean rather than change to the white icons used by stock Android. Apparently Verizon decided that they wanted the white icons after all, so that was included in this update as well.

They didn't change the version to 4.4.1 because the core Android OS is still at 4.4. They just changed some minor files that determine the color of the icons, plus some firmware files for the radio (which are not Android.)

When these phones are 4.4.2, the about phone will list that as the version, like this screenshot of the Moto X does: http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com...Receiving-Android-4-4-2-KitKat.png?1390296792

I assumed KitKat was 4.4 and that was all I was going to see for the Android Version since there was no mention of 4.4.1.

KitKat, so far, has been the original 4.4, plus a patch update to 4.4.1 and then quickly an update to 4.4.2. Motorola updated the X, G, and the 2013 Droids to 4.4 last November, December and January, and then the Moto X and Moto G were updated to 4.4.2 in February and March. At the same time that our phones received the baseband patch last week, the 2012 Droids (Razr HD, Razr MAXX HD, and Razr M) were updated to 4.4.2. Our phones are scheduled to get 4.4.2 in the future - we just don't know when.