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SM-N9005 (4.4.2 KitKat). Oddities and Quirks on update.

dynomot

Android Expert
Dec 4, 2011
1,897
908
Sheffield U.K
I've set this thread up mainly for the international version of the SM-N9005. Mainly because there are hundreds of different CSC codes for umpteen different countries yet it is basically the same firmware and can be used on any SM-N9005 Note 3. Which version you get is dependent on your country and whether your carrier branded phone adds some bloat from your carrier (network) . That is it. There is no boot loader locking, carrier tweaking (cocking up), unlike in the United States where carriers appear to alter firmware to completely suit themselves on a range of different model number Note 3's.

Right first oddity. I can move any file or folder from internal storage to my external storage (64Gig SanDisk ultra class 10) and vice versa. However I cannot move a file or folder in my phone's internal memory to a USB flash drive plugged in via an adaptor (official Samsung USB 2.0 one). It's easy enough to work around, I just copy/cut and paste it to my memory card first, just an annoyance really.
 
I don't have the battery charging led anymore

Do you have a "Dream time" screen saver on? Is it set to display? Do you have notifications turned off during the night for a set time?

These all might sound obvious, but any of those set (or any combination of them) and the glowing red charging LED and the when it finishes charging, the green one, won't display.
 
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I'm getting consistent failures when attempting to move files from SD card to external card using ES file explorer. Worked fine on the old OS. Looks like the same new 4.4 file restriction. NOT good.

It could be just ES file Explorer, as I can move files between my SD card and external SD card and vice versa, but not from internal SD to a completely external USB flash drive or computer. I have to move them to my external memory card first. I use either the inbuilt file explorer, or Root Explorer.

It is known that 4.4.2 addresses security issues with apps that can not be installed on the external SD any more and cannot write to it without there own dedicated folder. This is to stop apps reading and writing to folders they shouldn't need access to. Unfortunately this is causing problems see here for an explanation :


http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/835124-kitkat-sd-cards-explained.html
 
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Thanks for that. This is really, really bad. The OS is broken.

(I have never installed an app on the external card but it's all my "living" space or work space.)

I wouldn't go as far as to say "The OS is broken" , more like alerted awkwardly, for security reasons. It is a bind and is forcing users away from external memory cards that Google in their infinite wisdom don't want us to use anyway. It will get better with apps that previously had access to everywhere being updated (or not). The problems are mainly to do with lazy coding. For instance Sygic is installed on my internal memory, but all the maps for it and voice files are are on my micro SD. It has made its own folder there, and still works flawlessly.

We'll get used to it (we have no choice).
 
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I wouldn't go as far as to say "The OS is broken" , more like alerted awkwardly, for security reasons. It is a bind and is forcing users away from external memory cards that Google in their infinite wisdom don't want us to use anyway. It will get better with apps that previously had access to everywhere being updated (or not). The problems are mainly to do with lazy coding. For instance Sygic is installed on my internal memory, but all the maps for it and voice files are are on my micro SD. It has made its own folder there, and still works flawlessly.

We'll get used to it (we have no choice).

I try (or tried) to get every app to work to a folder on the external card only. Some will and some won't. Better yet, I use common folders for common functions as much as possible so that I don't end up with too many individual folders to have to check all the time and files all over the place. This is particularly true of picture files. I want them to go where I want them to go. With multiple browsers, multiple picture editors and processors and cameras, what google has done is a disaster.

The OS is definitely broken.
 
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It says it requires root.

It does require root, as do all methods to get back to the "old" insecure way of doing things memory card wise. Personally if it starts to bother me (which it hasn't yet, at the moment its just an annoyance) I'll either flash a zip or run a script to go back. It is just one more good reason to root.
 
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The Kit-kat Contacts.app no longer accepts non-US postcodes. It now has subfields and will accept digits only in the all-new postcode line when you want to enter a new address.

Older pre-Kit-kat address entries have been carried over and are in the old style of one field and no problem with those funny non-US-style post codes.

You can put addresses in a notes field but it appears it only allows one of those so you can't do a proper address and a separate notes as I was wont to do.

As in an aside, I'm in the habit of putting GPS long/lat coordinates in with my addresses. Or at least I was. Now I can't do that either.
 
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The Kit-kat Contacts.app no longer accepts non-US postcodes. It now has subfields and will accept digits only in the all-new postcode line when you want to enter a new address.

Older pre-Kit-kat address entries have been carried over and are in the old style of one field and no problem with those funny non-US-style post codes.

You can put addresses in a notes field but it appears it only allows one of those so you can't do a proper address and a separate notes as I was wont to do.

As in an aside, I'm in the habit of putting GPS long/lat coordinates in with my addresses. Or at least I was. Now I can't do that either.

This is a major fail. Ironic that a KitKat (originally a UK - Rowntree Mackintosh chocolate bar now N
 
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I wouldn't go as far as to say "The OS is broken" , more like alerted awkwardly, for security reasons.
Awkwardly is an understatement. Android should recognize the formatting of the card and do it this way if it's FAT. If it's ext, it should use Linux permissions, so you can give a few different apps access to a single folder.

That way, people who don't want to convert their cards (which doesn't take much effort if you do the copy off/copy back at night while you're sleeping) can still be constrained the way it is now, but those who need it done correctly can get it. Maybe 4.4.4?
 
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Awkwardly is an understatement. Android should recognize the formatting of the card and do it this way if it's FAT. If it's ext, it should use Linux permissions, so you can give a few different apps access to a single folder.

That way, people who don't want to convert their cards (which doesn't take much effort if you do the copy off/copy back at night while you're sleeping) can still be constrained the way it is now, but those who need it done correctly can get it. Maybe 4.4.4?

While I agree that would be a perfect solution, they won't do it like that for two simple reasons though.

1) Google don't want us to use external micro SD cards and will make it continually more awkward for those that use them with Windows PCs and their Android devices.
While a work around is fairly straight forward to get Windows to work with ext formatting, it would be seen as awkward and confusing for Windows users, not something Google would want to be accused of doing.

2) Google can, with some justification, blame developers for lazy, bad coding. Most apps are being updated to continue working properly with the new permissions restrictions. Some (my example is Sygic) already worked correctly.
 
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Since upgrade (and factory reset), my "cursor" seems to jump all over the place when in the mail app .. When I reply to an email and type, it jumps all over the email. Swiping works, but when you then start hitting backspace, the cursor jumps all over the place, deleting random stuff from the mail .. no idea what that is about - only happens in the mail app.
 
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