"It used to be possible for Android apps to access any kind of storage on an android device through the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission. Writing to the SD card is useful for many different kinds of apps, e.g. file managers or cloud storage synchronization. However, the latest version of Android will no longer allow apps to write anywhere on external storage media, instead apps will only be allowed to access app-specific folders on SD cards. Android Police has an excellent writeup of the changes and the implications for users."
[ED Note: This is bound to irritate power users that rely on their SD cards for additional device storage.]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by stormwyrm on Wednesday February 19 2014, @11:00AM
And this is why I have never used an Android device without rooting it first, which is why I've never felt this change even when I updated my Nexus 4 to KitKat. I went as far as changing the kernel to permit USB OTG with external power, even though the main OS is still more or less stock. Honestly, the changes Google's pushing onto Android recently are disturbing to say the least, and if things like this keep up I'll really begin to seriously look at alternatives. I wonder if it's possible to run Sailfish/Jolla or FirefoxOS on my stuff (Nexus 4, Galaxy Nexus, Asus Transformer). I went to Android to get away from Apple's iron grip on iOS, and now it looks like Google is trying to play the same games on their platform too. Alas. [androidcentral.com]
Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre.