Default Storage Selection for APKs and

Multimedia Content Feature Analysis

Application Notes
80-NR028-1 A
July 2, 2014

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Contents

1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Purpose.......................................................................................................................... 5
1.2 Scope............................................................................................................................. 5
1.3 Conventions .................................................................................................................. 5
1.4 References ..................................................................................................................... 5
1.5 Technical assistance ...................................................................................................... 6
1.6 Acronyms ...................................................................................................................... 6

2 Application Note Description ......................................................................... 7

2.1 Problem description ...................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Preparation before technical analysis............................................................................ 7
2.3 Technical analysis for this feature and reference phones’ unexpected behavior .......... 7
2.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 8

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 Contents

Tables
Table 1-1 Reference documents and standards ............................................................................................ 6

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Revision history

Revision Date Description

A July 2014 Initial release
Note: There is no Rev. I, O, Q, S, X, or Z per Mil. standards.

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 1 1 Introduction

2 1.1 Purpose
3 This document analyzes the feature of “Default Storage Selection for APKs and Multimedia
4 Content” from marketing and gives QRD’s proposal.

5 1.2 Scope
6 This document is applicable to all releases of QMSS 8x10, 8916, 8939 with Android Kitkat
7 version.

8 1.3 Conventions
9 Function declarations, function names, type declarations, and code samples appear in a different
10 font, e.g., #include.
11 Code variables appear in angle brackets, e.g., <number>.
12 Commands to be entered appear in a different font, e.g., copy a:*.* b:.
13 Button and key names appear in bold font, e.g., click Save or press Enter.
14 If you are viewing this document using a color monitor, or if you print this document to a color
15 printer, red typeface indicates data types, blue typeface indicates attributes, and green typeface
16 indicates system attributes.
17 Parameter types are indicated by arrows:
→ Designates an input parameter
← Designates an output parameter
↔ Designates a parameter used for both input and output

18

19 Shading indicates content that has been added or changed in this revision of the document.
20

21

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 Introduction

1 1.4 References
2 Reference documents are listed in Table 1-1. Reference documents that are no longer applicable
3 are deleted from this table; therefore, reference numbers may not be sequential.

4 Table 1-1 Reference documents and standards

Ref. Document

Qualcomm Technologies
Q1 Application Note: Software Glossary for Customers CL93-V3077-1
5

6 1.5 Technical assistance

7 For assistance or clarification on information in this document, submit a case to Qualcomm
8 Technologies, Inc. (QTI) at https://support.cdmatech.com/.
9 If you do not have access to the CDMATech Support Service website, register for access or send
10 email to support.cdmatech@qti.qualcomm.com.

11 1.6 Acronyms
12 For definitions of terms and abbreviations, see [Q1].

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 1 2 Application Note Description

2 2.1 Problem description

3 There is a feature discussion request from India marketing.
4 “In Settings->Storage, there should be option to select " Default Write Disk -> phone storage or
5 External SD Card". Option to select External SD Card should be enabled if External SD Card is
6 present. Once users select the option, new data (APKs or Multimedia Content or any other
7 downloaded data) should be written in the Selected Drive.
8 After carefully checking some commercial reference phones in market and doing technical
9 analysis, we find that technically this feature will cause serious usage issues to applications and
10 commercial reference phones. Because this feature is just a fake feature and is misleading end-
11 users.

12 2.2 Preparation before technical analysis

13 After carefully checking a few commercial reference phones with this feature, we find that the
14 actual behavior of this feature in those phones is NOT the same as (even opposed to) end-users’
15 expectation.
16 Consider the main use scenario below:
17 In a reference phone with this feature, we enter "Settings->Storage->Default Write Disk -> phone
18 storage or SD Card" and select “SD card” as “Default Write Disk” and use “Facebook” (a popular
19 application in India market) to download/save a picture/photo, the picture is actually saved in
20 “phone storage”, NOT “SD card”. We got the same behavior for other files downloaded/created
21 by “Facebook” application, no matter what we choose in "Settings->Storage->Default Write Disk
22 -> phone storage or SD Card".
23

24 Other popular applications in India and China market (such as whatsapp, mobile QQ, Wandoujia
25 etc) have the same behavior as “Facebook”.
26 Above unexpected behavior is heavily making end-users confused.

27 2.3 Technical analysis for this feature and reference phones’

28 unexpected behavior
29 In Android, there is a concept of "primary external storage" (/storage/sdcard0, which is
30 designated in compilation time, may be "phone storage" or "SD card").
31

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 Application Note Description

1 Refer to storage_list.xml in /frameworks/base/core/res/res/xml/

2

3 <StorageList xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
4 <!-- internal storage -->
5 <storage android:mountPoint="/storage/sdcard0"
6 android:storageDescription="@string/storage_internal"
7 android:primary="true"
8 android:emulated="true"
9 android:removable="false"
10 android:mtpReserve="100" />
11 <storage android:mountPoint="/storage/sdcard1"
12 android:storageDescription="@string/storage_sd_card"
13 android:primary="false"
14 android:emulated="false"
15 android:removable="true"
16 android:allowMassStorage="true" />
17 </StorageList>
18

19 Applications will read/write their private data (such as their own DataBase, picture resource,
20 downloaded files) in this "primary external storage". When one application runs for the first time
21 after installed, some essential private data will be automatically created by this application in
22 “primary external storage” and be updated at times during running.
23 If this “primary external storage” is changed during running, applications will lose all essential
24 data and important updated data, which will definitely cause lots of serious unknown issues.
25 Because of the above technical limitations, commercial reference phones never change “primary
26 external storage” and just use “Default Write Disk” option for only few applications (Camera,
27 browser download). But this option seems applicable for all applications in reference phones,
28 which is fake and is misleading end-users.

29 2.4 Conclusion
30 This feature is far less useful than end-users expected and as a result not necessary, because
31 QRD’s builds already support configuring “save location” in camera application and browser
32 download.

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