Google is adding more SD card functionality with Android 5.0

If there is one major gripe that Android users have against the iPhone, it would be this – the lack of expandable memory. After all, some of us do happen to “categorize” the different kinds of photos that we take – ranging from portraits to those of food, in addition to using other SD memory cards to store various files like movies and songs. It has been quite some time that Google has not included SD cards in Nexus devices, not to mention removing this functionality from Android, but it looks like the universe will be restored to the right balance when Android 5.0 Lollipop rolls around.

Google last year introduced Storage Access Framework (SAF) with Android 4.4 KitKat that allowed third-party apps to get access to files with the user’s consent for total SD card access to an app. The method however didn’t sort out all the problems related to the storage in case of apps that dealt with media files (images and video) and required more space to store files on to the microSD cards. Now, Google has introduced new APIs in Android 5.0 Lollipop to allow full directory access, automatic media store and even improve security. With the new improved APIs, developers will have full access to SD card directories and files with only one consent of the user and the apps will be able to create directories for storage on an external storage card in a more sorted way than KitKat. Android developer site notes, “Android 5.0 extends the Storage Access Framework to let users select an entire directory subtree, giving apps read/write access to all contained documents without requiring user confirmation for each item. Android 5.0 also introduces new package-specific directories on shared stora