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Verizon kit kat update?? Anyone heard an ETA?

Goodspike said:
I must say though, given how little is different in KitKat all the fretting over the delay in the update seems sort of silly in hindsight.
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For what it's worth Goodspike, I think you did the sensible thing. :thumbup:

You know the old saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Having said that, the 150+ KitKat updates, so far, worldwide have gone with a lot less hassle and problems than, say, the Android 4.3, Jelly Bean, update did. In particular, this Verizon update appears to have caused few problems for users other than the usual non KitKat compatible apps from the Play Store... which is down to their developers.
 
As mentioned in my previous posts, I have had no issue with access to the SD card at all, thus far.

I have moved, copied, deleted, renamed, etc all with Root Explorer (again, I am NOT rooted, so this is all done stock).

All of my apps that were on SD before the update still work just fine after the update. I have been able to move new apps to the SD without issue.

I posted permissions.xml on pastebin, but looking at them, it looks like Verizon may have removed the app access to SD card restriction that google put in place. Or at least changed it so that certain apps, such as file managers, still have full read/write access.

Kratos
 
@Kratos

I didn't mean to leave you hanging. I left for home after the update and the wife had other ideas for me this weekend instead of sitting in front of the PC. Olive Tree now doesn't like the library on the SD Card, hopefully they will fix that soon so that bit of storage can be recovered. Other than that, no other issues. In fact, things seem to be running very smoothly.
 
BigRedGonzo said:
@Kratos

I didn't mean to leave you hanging. I left for home after the update and the wife had other ideas for me this weekend instead of sitting in front of the PC. Olive Tree now doesn't like the library on the SD Card, hopefully they will fix that soon so that bit of storage can be recovered. Other than that, no other issues. In fact, things seem to be running very smoothly.
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I have my Olive Tree directed to /sdcard and have a /sdcard, /storage/emulated, /storage/extSDcard, and storage/sdcard0. From what I can tell, all of these but /storage/extSDcard are sync'd directories. However, I haven't really played with it much and only have 3 bibles and my annotation so it really isn't eating up too much space for me.

I do have to say I think it is an app issue though. They may not be requesting the correct permissions to access the SD card in Kit Kat.

But then again, if Verizon provided a fix for the sd card thing, it should work anyway.

Can you copy the library contents from external to internal storage?

Kratos
 
kratos said:
I have my Olive Tree directed to /sdcard and have a /sdcard, /storage/emulated, /storage/extSDcard, and storage/sdcard0. From what I can tell, all of these but /storage/extSDcard are sync'd directories. However, I haven't really played with it much and only have 3 bibles and my annotation so it really isn't eating up too much space for me.

I do have to say I think it is an app issue though. They may not be requesting the correct permissions to access the SD card in Kit Kat.

But then again, if Verizon provided a fix for the sd card thing, it should work anyway.

Can you copy the library contents from external to internal storage?

Kratos
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Yea, that's what I did. I learned long ago that I don't ever want to download all my stuff again. I keep a copy on the External SD card all the time. When I download something else or update something, I'll copy the internal copy over the external copy to keep them up to date. When we study we like to use several translations and I like to have Strongs available, so I have several bible versions and most of them with Strongs Numbers. Keeping the lot stored on SD makes it simple to copy when something like this happens. The last time, before OT fixed their SD Card issues, I did something to my phone and got ticked off and just did a FDR. I had to download all my stuff again and when downloading lots of books and bibles OT has issues. So I learned to keep a backup copy.

Anyway, glad to hear you are up and running. I am liking Kit Kat pretty well. My phone seem smoother and a bit quicker. May just be a shiny new penny that will tarnish with time, but we can hope not.
 
Goodspike said:
I wonder if it changed your screen setting?

Settings/My Device/Display/Screen Mode

If it was set on anything else, maybe it switched it to the standard "Adapt Display." I'll try changing my wife's phone before the update to see.
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Hmm. I didn't think about that. To be honest, I don't know what it was because I set it so long ago. I think it might have been the Adapt Display but I'm just not sure.

Or maybe it's just all placebo effect! ;) But these icons and edges on them sure look better.
 
Downloaded the upgrade tonight, and like others here migrated everything off the SD card and back to internal storage. After the update installed I wiped the cache partition and moved everything back to the SD. Not seeing much difference in the appearance or performance so far. That's fine, as the thing was working great prior to the update. It's the first andriod device of the 3 I've owned that worked very close to "as advertised" straight out of the box. The other two (OG Driod and Bionic) were so frustrating that I rooted both within the first year of ownership. Not this one.
 
After much hesitation I bit the bullet last night. I am pleasantly surprised EVERYTHING seems to be working A-OK. A few minor changes but nothing I cant get used to. I did move everything off the SD card to internal storage first and lo and behold everything was there and it all works. So far so good!!!!
 
So far the only change I've noticed is persistent folders (shortcut folders) are gone. I wish they have made it optional, preferably on a per folder basis. Persistent folders were a nice alternative to having a car dock app.

I think the phone may once again charge normally, but I'm not certain of that.
 
Goodspike said:
Out of curiosity, why do you use that? Doesn't your Verizon plan allow the native wifi tethering?
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I have a grandfathered unlimited data plan, and resent the fact that Verizon wants me to pay for data a second time if I choose to tether my wifi only tablet to my phone on the occasion where I need to remote in to work, or watch something from my home DVR via slingbox.
 
I agree Spence. I looked at the FoxFi site and it says compatible with S4 kit-kat and I downloaded the app, but haven't tested it yet.
 
MYKEL61 said:
I agree Spence. I looked at the FoxFi site and it says compatible with S4 kit-kat and I downloaded the app, but haven't tested it yet.
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Great if true. It is one step toward my considering the update to KitKat. The only outliers now are concerns over how I may use my 64GB microSD card. If this OS update does anything to lock down my ability to use it as a USB-type storage (I'm IT, and it on occasion to store large PowerPoint presentations as installation files & patches), I'll remain on 4.3 until OnePlus comes out with a phone for use on Verizon networks.
 
Yes, fox fi does work on s4 with kit kat now, also I have moved files back and forth between internal and sd card since the update and haven't had any issues myself
 
Interesting. I couldn't use AirDroid nor my ftpd software to move files after the update. what are you using to move files? And from where to where?
 
I downloaded 4.4.2 this morning. So far no problems, but I think the battery isn't lasting as long.....or maybe my imagination. The battery indicator is white instead of green. Why change something as petty as this? I think the apps may look different and maybe some of the widgets too. Have found anything else yet.
 
Downloaded & applied the update last evening. Had nothing moved to my MicroSD card, but removed it and backed it up for safe keeping.

Only issue is, of course, my MicroSD card being locked down. Seeking options and work-arounds regarding this.

The great news is that it appears to have less lag, and my FoxFi continues to work (earlier reports from the developer indicated that it would not, so they must have found a work-around).

I have yet to extricate my MicroSD card and see what (if any) I can do with it when connected directly to my home computer.
 
SpenceJT said:
Downloaded & applied the update last evening. Had nothing moved to my MicroSD card, but removed it and backed it up for safe keeping.

Only issue is, of course, my MicroSD card being locked down. Seeking options and work-arounds regarding this.

The great news is that it appears to have less lag, and my FoxFi continues to work (earlier reports from the developer indicated that it would not, so they must have found a work-around).

I have yet to extricate my MicroSD card and see what (if any) I can do with it when connected directly to my home computer.
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What do you mean by "is locked down"? Others here are stating that they can write to, read from, move apps to and fro without any issues.
 
GrouchoM said:
What do you mean by "is locked down"? Others here are stating that they can write to, read from, move apps to and fro without any issues.
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I believe this may be an issue with my File Manager (Astro) of choice not yet supporting the latest incarnation of Android. I have installed a second file manager and have regained "some" functionality, but not all. For instance, I have a hidden directory within my Downloads directory on my SD card. I am unable to re-name it from within the secondary file manager. I have the option, however it states that there was an error writing to the card. Alternatively, I had plugged my phone directly into my computer and mounted it as a media device. I can see, create, move and delete items on the SD card from my computer, however I cannot see the hidden directory (even with options enabled to view hidden, as well as hidden system files).

I'll know more later this evening. I'm at work and can't dedicate much time toward this. I have no doubt that there is a file manager available that will allow me to rename directories etc. from within the phone.
 
I have found two issues.

1. With Amazon's music player the artist and album name won't display on my car stereo, but the song name will. No issue with whatever the stock music player is. I haven't tried Google's music play.er

2. My wife and I have a BT device that will not pair if it has not been paired before the upgrade. The manufacturer (who I am purposefully not naming) has a later device that we'll need to buy for the wife because I upgraded her warranty replacement phone before pairing. This apparently is a problem with all KitKat devices, because the manufacturer mentioned it being a problem for a couple of months.

The second issue is a good argument against the policy some people have of automatically doing a factory reset after an upgrade. If I'd done that I'd need to buy two new devices.
 
I have noticed on the stock music player I do have the "L or "M" listed on the side to search for songs/albums/artist by those letters. The songs are there if you scroll, you just cant jump to those letters. I also cant seem to download songs from my computer Windows media player to the phone anymore. Its crazy.. I can get songs from Amazon on the phone but not from Amazon to the computer to the phone.
 
Hi,

Before the KitKat update from Verizon (I updated on May 6th), I was able to connect my phone to my computer (both MAC and PC) via the USB cable (an old Motorola USB one). It would both charge and allow me to use it as a media device and jump drive.

On the MAC, using Android File Transfer (AFT), it would connect as an Installer and then switch to Media MTP. AFT would automatically kick in after a few seconds.

On the PC, it would just show up as a removable device. I could switch files and pictures, music, etc.

Since the update, when plugged into either computer, it ONLY charges the phone. I can't access files of any kind, and there is no drop down menu from the task bar at the top, whereby I can choose what happens when I connect the USB. It only charges it.

I changed cables, changed connection ports, debugging on, debugging off, rebooted, connected in safe mode. NOTHING WORKS.

Help! Any ideas out there?
 
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