Samsung S3 unable to use SD card

[Digitaldoc]

Have S3 owners noticed that they can NOT install applications on the phone into an SD card? Application Manager does not even have such an option!!
I brought this to the attention of Samsung on June 21 and they were not aware of it. Samsung says this is a Google OS issue/bug? I'm hoping for an update soon as this is a huge drawback for me.

Addendum: I can copy and paste media to my SD card but I have medical applications that are huge and need to install on an SD card.

[Hook]

Have S3 owners noticed that they can NOT install applications on the phone into an SD card? Application Manager does not even have such an option!!
I brought this to the attention of Samsung on June 21 and they were not aware of it. Samsung says this is a Google OS user? I'm hoping for an update soon as this is a huge drawback for me.

Check out this thread. It will explain most of the problem to you (I am assuming the S3 is doing the same thing):

How To Get The Samsung Galaxy Player 5 (US) to Mount The External SD Card as the Default SD Card

The 25 cents version is that Samsung identifies the internal memory (USB Memory) as the SDCARD at the system level. So any APPS2SD functions and any app setup to use the sd card (like games) use the internal memory because that is where the system points them to. The external SD card is only useable by programs like media programs or Office Suites that allow you to tell them where to look for data. If an app is hardwired to look on the SD card, they will end up using the internal memory.

My theory is that Samsung chose this scheme in order to have to not care whether a unit had an sd card slot or not (some do and some don't). I think the idea is that the external card is primarily for media.

I have never called Samsung for help, but my impression from others is that they don't know what they are talking about.

There is a solution involving root in post 17 of the thread above, but I suspect you would need a different fstab file even if you were so inclined. Also, you'll see Raspy and I backed off the solution because there is some potential risk. Just FYI.

[Digitaldoc]

>>I have never called Samsung for help, but my impression from others is that they don't know what they are talking about. <<

I called Samsung again this weekend and now all Techs are aware of this issue. They, "appear," bemused and concerned about fixing it. Samusing denies any proprietary tweaks causing the problem and state that this is a Google OS issue.

[Hook]

>>I have never called Samsung for help, but my impression from others is that they don't know what they are talking about. <<

I called Samsung again this weekend and now all Techs are aware of this issue. They, "appear," bemused and concerned about fixing it. Samusing denies any proprietary tweaks causing the problem and state that this is a Google OS issue.

I would be thrilled if they fixed it. However, I think they are being disingenuous blaming it on the OS. I suspect Android may be limited by only one external memory mount point (I'm guessing that because I found no solution to this problem that involved creating a second independent mount point), but Samsung are the ones that chose to have the internal memory be what got mounted there. This can't be the only solution because my old Nexus One as internal memory too (only 200 Mb, mind you), but it mounts the external SD card properly.

However, an ideal solution would be to have APS2SD not be hardwired to go for the SDCARD mount point but to be aware of all memory stores and offer you a choice.

[Digitaldoc]

>>but Samsung are the ones that chose to have the internal memory be what got mounted there.<<

Samsung denies this exclaiming it is the OS.

[Hook]

>>but Samsung are the ones that chose to have the internal memory be what got mounted there.<<

Samsung denies this exclaiming it is the OS.

Of course they do.

[Digitaldoc]

Of course they do.

My original thought too. What frost me is I ruminated over purchasing the new EVO vs S3. Now I may regret my choice. Sure I can return the S3 for a restocking charge but if I wait past 30 days waiting for a fix, then there is no return!!!

[Hook]

Yeah, I'm plenty frosted over this. There is no way you can pick this fact up shopping for the device. You are lucky. Took me well over 30 days to figure out it was going on. Then again, I'm slow sometimes.

I base my "Of course they do" on the simple fact that *I* can get the device to behave differently, although with some small risk because I can't make all the low level system changes that would make it not risky. If I can do it, they can do it. This is Linux, for Pete's sake. Linux lite, maybe, but Linux nonetheless.

[Digitaldoc]

Yeah, I'm plenty frosted over this. There is no way you can pick this fact up shopping for the device. You are lucky. Took me well over 30 days to figure out it was going on. Then again, I'm slow sometimes.

I base my "Of course they do" on the simple fact that *I* can get the device to behave differently, although with some small risk because I can't make all the low level system changes that would make it not risky. If I can do it, they can do it. This is Linux, for Pete's sake. Linux lite, maybe, but Linux nonetheless.

It seems to me that the most expedient test would be to find another phone with the same ICS OS version 4.04 and insert an SD card into it and see if applications can be tranferred and or installed onto the SD. If the transfer occurs, then it is a Samsung issue and not a Google OS bug.

[Hook]

Well, I decided to see if I could find out by visiting the Best Buy in our lobby which happens to have a rare geek squad guy who seems to really know his stuff, including Android. According to him, Android was only ever set up to handle small amounts of internal memory (like my Nexus One). He didn't know what the upper bound on that was, but guessed 1 or 2GB (If so, the EVO 4g might turn out to be okay--- check with Jigwashere, here at BH). Anything bigger can only be handled if it is mounted as the SD card. He thought they were supposed to be fixing this in ICS, but had no idea if that actually had come to pass. It may look like a Samsung problem because Samsung is the one putting out a lot of models with substantial internal memory, but he claimed the Razor Maxx, for instance, did the same thing (but didn't have one in store that I could check out).

It's not really a bug as as much as a lack of functionality that needs to be changed. Still, if the above is correct --and it at least makes sense-- it looks like Samsung is right, much as I still think they could find a better way around it.

By the way, there may be conflicting agendas in fixing or not fixing this. There is more and more of a tendency to not include sd cards (Google, in particular, is doing this with the Nexus Line) and Google is pushing cloud solutions. I'm just sayin'...