The LG G5 and Galaxy S7 won’t support Android 6.0’s adoptable storage

[Guest Kloaked]

Original Article: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/02/the-lg-g5-and-galaxy-s7-wont-support-android-6-0s-adoptable-storage/

 

This one will be short and sweet, but here's some of my $0.02 ahead of time:

 

WHAT THE F***? We're going to continue perpetuating the whole fragmentation of Android are we?

 

With both the Galaxy S7 and LG G5 sporting expandable storage, and Google adding great SD support to Android 6.0, this year it seemed like storage enthusiasts would get everything they could ever want. Apparently that's not the case though, as both OEMs have shunned Google's new "Adoptable Storage" feature.

 

I think the word "shunned" is too strong of a strong word here, but fine lets go with that.

 

Here's a snippet of a quote from Samsung, which you can read the rest of in the article:

 

Samsung decided not to use the Android Marshmallow “adoptable storage” model. We believe that our users want a microSD card to transfer files between their phone and other devices (laptop, tablet, etc), especially the photos and videos they shoot with the camera.

 

Sounds like a sane reason, but is it really? Nope.

 

Here's why:

 

Before OEMs changed the feature, users could pick which mode they wanted the storage to be in and format it appropriately. There was both "Portable" mode, which treated an SD card like normal removable storage, and the new "Internal storage" mode. With "Internal" mode disabled for both devices, the SD cards will only be able to be used for media—no apps allowed.

 

So why can't Samsung and LG just give the feature to us? It's customers would be able to pick which mode they want to begin with; wouldn't be stuck with it being in "Internal mode" forever as seen in the picture at the beginning of the thread. LG and Samsung should just let their customers decide for themselves. Surely they know better what they want?

 

Lets play game: every time phone OEMs change/remove a feature from Android for their own version, lets take a drink.

 

We'll all be dead tomorrow.

[Paralectic]

"Won't support" ? when it's not even released, invalid topic.

[manikyath]

i need this on my 1GB internal storage "klipad" (generic alwinner A23 tablet from "PRC" AKA china)

[Guest Kloaked]

2 minutes ago, Paralectic said:

"Won't support" ? when it's not even released, unvalid topic.

You mean invalid.

 

And is this is invalid as much as all of the Galaxy threads being made?

[TheEpicDuck]

I installed andoid 6 on my gs4. I miss the old plug and play functionality. And yeah i just use the sd card to view and transfer files from my computer to the phone.

[Aytex]

10 minutes ago, Kloaked said:

You mean invalid.

 

And is this is invalid as much as all of the Galaxy threads being made?

savage

[Paralectic]

1 minute ago, Aytex said:

savage

Savage because I made a spelling mistake? What

[LAwLz]

I am actually okay with this. It would be nice to have the choice, but using the microSD card as internal storage is a terrible, terrible idea. Keeping the internal and external storage separate is much better. It will be faster, cleaner and safer. I can see it being a problem on phones with really low amounts of internal storage (like 4Gb or 8GB), but not on these 32GB phones.
LG and Samsung are probably doing this to protect consumers, because having them merged could end up causing a ton of issues for users who don't fully understand it. Like ejecting the microSD card when half a program is loaded on it, or users wondering why a program is so slow (parts of the program has to be loaded from a poor quality SD card).

 

What Google should have done instead, is just allow apps to be installed on external media. That way they wouldn't have to do this weird merging of drives (JOBD?), and there wouldn't be any drawback to keeping internal and external storage separated.

[suicidalfranco]

*installs link2SD* -> problem solved!

[GeekJump]

They bring back flagships with SD slots with Marshmallow at launch, disable adaptive storage abilities -____-

 

What's really funny is its Google's OS but their Nexus phones never had expandable memory (or at least their recent versions)...

[Guest Kloaked]

17 minutes ago, GeekJump said:

They bring back flagships with SD slots with Marshmallow at launch, disable adaptive storage abilities -____-

 

What's really funny is its Google's OS but their Nexus phones never had expandable memory (or at least their recent versions)...

I'm hoping the next ones will. Or at least not start at 16GB storage.

[GeekJump]

47 minutes ago, Kloaked said:

I'm hoping the next ones will. Or at least not start at 16GB storage.

Storage never was an issue for me  My last phone was 16 GB and after 3 yrs I finally filled it up. 

 

I was weird buying my current phone and thought the reason I didn't fill up the last phone soon was because I was aware of the limit....so I bought a 64 GB model (during the promo it was only a $30 diff from 32GB) lmao. I've only used 6 GB so far (including OS background shiz)....

 

I'm the rare fool whose problem is he has too much storage.

 

 

[VerticalDiscussions]

WAAAATTT! Oh god -.-

 

" We believe that our users want a microSD card to transfer files between their phone and other devices (laptop, tablet, etc), especially the photos and videos they shoot with the camera. "

 

That one, is even more laughable than the lack of the 64gb model on all markets...

[VerticalDiscussions]

1 minute ago, GeekJump said:

-snip-

Dayum :p. My 64Gb S6, has 24Gb now available. Gotta shoot dem photos and 4k video, with plentah games. Now this news breaks my heart, and im being forced to forget about the S7 again, -.-! I had hopes the S7/S7 Edge supported the feature, now, its all lost.

[GeekJump]

1 minute ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

Dayum :p. My 64Gb S6, has 24Gb now available. Gotta shoot dem photos and 4k video, with plentah games. Now this news breaks my heart, and im being forced to forget about the S7 again, -.-! I had hopes the S7/S7 Edge supported the feature, now, its all lost.

Well I only had it since New Years (64 GB 6P) lol. I haven't really had much time to take more than a few pics and the ones I do immediately get sent to cloud back up (onedrive or drive depending) so I save storage space.

 

You would still be able to save photos and videos on the SD card just not that apps and games (which does kinda suck since the beefy games easily hit +300MB each now.)

[VerticalDiscussions]

3 minutes ago, GeekJump said:

-snip-

Ye. Like christ, i literally have half of Gamelofts library on my phone... and those are gigabyte class games. All those games would make the S7 without micro sd, unusable for more apps, almost. And i would still have to send the photos back to the SD card, and couldnt record an hour of more of 4K like that :/. All aboard the Xiaomi Mi5 Pro 128Gb hype train for 400€ :p? Seriously, the only friggin out of this world phone with the specifications i need.

[Doobeedoo]

Would never use microSD card for internal storage. It's faster and pretty much better in every way.

[Bouzoo]

Personally I don't see this as an issue and can understand them from a business perspective. Many people just have to have the latest flagships even though they don't know their capabilities and this could cause some serious issues for both the consumers and the manufacturers.

I know a few people that this might see as a deal breaker but still wouldn't try merging internal storage. Install apps sure, but nothing more than that.

[corsairian]

I don't really care that much, I pretty much just used my SD card for media and basically a flash drive.

[bobhays]

18 hours ago, LAwLz said:

I am actually okay with this. It would be nice to have the choice, but using the microSD card as internal storage is a terrible, terrible idea. Keeping the internal and external storage separate is much better. It will be faster, cleaner and safer. I can see it being a problem on phones with really low amounts of internal storage (like 4Gb or 8GB), but not on these 32GB phones.
LG and Samsung are probably doing this to protect consumers, because having them merged could end up causing a ton of issues for users who don't fully understand it. Like ejecting the microSD card when half a program is loaded on it, or users wondering why a program is so slow (parts of the program has to be loaded from a poor quality SD card).

 

What Google should have done instead, is just allow apps to be installed on external media. That way they wouldn't have to do this weird merging of drives (JOBD?), and there wouldn't be any drawback to keeping internal and external storage separated.

Actually they already have that. I have a weak LG with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage, but it allows me to install certain apps on the SD card. I don't know why all apps don't work but it works on most of them.

EDIT: This phone is on lollipop but I think the feature was there even before (maybe kit kat?)