Galaxy Nexus: no USB mass storage

Galaxy Nexus is now on the agenda, but this time we do not want to speak only of the smartphone itself, but a "problem" that plagues the entire operating system Android Ice Cream Sandwich . The tests carried out on devices Galaxy Nexus test was taken a major change in the organization of internal memory that we explain after the jump.

From the beginning we used to see two different Android devices in our memory, one of mass (for images, videos, music, etc..) And one for applications, on Ice Cream Sandwich this does not happen.

Starting from Android 4.0 (Honeycomb but also with regard to tablet), in fact, no longer exist any division between personal data and apps, but it will all together in a 'unique internal memory, this was not, however, exclude the fact your phone can have a MicroSD. As you well know, in fact, does not have a MicroSD Galaxy Nexus as it will have a single 16GB internal memory (32GB and later), this, according to Google, would facilitate the management of memory by the user, who will no longer worry about internal memory runs out quickly.



This way the problem does not exist, indeed, is a good thing, if only it were not for one small detail: the device is no longer used as a mass storage via USB then trying to connect a Galaxy Nexus or any device with Android Ice Cream Sandwich will not be recognized as an archive, but as we were accustomed.

Google however (and thankfully) introduced a "temporary solution" using the MTP Support:

The use of MTP instead of the usual MSC (mass storage class) involves some practical advantages for users who routinely use Windows Media Player, but in fact makes it less accessible than the device to use a protocol with the MSC. For example: an MP3 player that is seen by the MSC as a shared memory key (and therefore also in My Computer behaves as such) is much more versatile than an MP3 player that uses the MTP and is viewed by management resources of the computer as a device "Hierarchical", ie as a sub-folder of computer resources. The sub then do not wear indicating the date and time of creation of the files (very inconvenient if the MP3 player has a voice recorder as you lose the date and time at which the data were recorded, because once transferred to the PC purchase date and time of the exact moment of transfer. Another shortcoming is that during a transfer must not close the mp3 player folder from which you are extracting the files or the download stops. ( Wikipedia )

The use of MTP support thus solves the problem only on Windows, MacOS and Linux and all is quiet.

We look forward to something more concrete and some information from Google.

Update: You Juza, thank you, gave us two very interesting links to solve the problem on Mac and Linux, and then allow you to use the phone via USB as we always have. The first method involves MacOS, comes directly from the official website of Android in the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich