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Why no MiniSD slot? (what to say in defense)

Meanee said:
I setup my company's wifi to have client isolation. And dropbox would be interesting if I want to upload 3gb video file. It has to go up to Dropbox, then down to iPhone.

Try again, please.
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Ok fine, IF you dont have an iTunes video AND you aren't near Wi-Fi AND you dont want to store the video on the phone AND you dont like dropbox then yes, an android device is perfect for you while you visit your island that has no iTunes/wifi/slow internet that cant upload and download to dropbox
 
AppleFan91 said:
Ok fine, IF you dont have an iTunes video AND you aren't near Wi-Fi AND you dont want to store the video on the phone AND you dont like dropbox then yes, an android device is perfect for you while you visit your island that has no iTunes/wifi/slow internet that cant upload and download to dropbox
Click to expand...

Ok, how unrealistic is this scenario?

I am about to go to lunch and have a TV show I want to watch. I am at work, and it's a work PC so I cannot have iTunes installed. WiFi has client isolation (any good public WiFi has to have it). Since I am about to leave, transferring a gig to Dropbox and then wait for it to come down to iPhone is not really an option. Not really an island, no?
 
Meanee said:
Ok, how unrealistic is this scenario?

I am about to go to lunch and have a TV show I want to watch. I am at work, and it's a work PC so I cannot have iTunes installed. WiFi has client isolation (any good public WiFi has to have it). Since I am about to leave, transferring a gig to Dropbox and then wait for it to come down to iPhone is not really an option. Not really an island, no?
Click to expand...

If that's a realistic scenario for you (seriously?) just buy your android phone and tote around numerous SD cards with your entire media collection on it so you'll never have to miss a TV show at lunch.

Frankly the what if scenarios you through out there aren't realistic for 99% of the population. If the iPhones not for you then it's not for you. No big deal.
 
Meanee said:
Ok, how unrealistic is this scenario?

I am about to go to lunch and have a TV show I want to watch. I am at work, and it's a work PC so I cannot have iTunes installed. WiFi has client isolation (any good public WiFi has to have it). Since I am about to leave, transferring a gig to Dropbox and then wait for it to come down to iPhone is not really an option. Not really an island, no?
Click to expand...

Again, sounds like, because of this Android is your only option. Although, with said scenario above...ur Micro SD card is still pretty worthless. Because with all that security at work, odds are you can't store your own video files on it to transfer stuff to your micro card. Honestly, i get ur point in some situations in would be beneficial, but with high speed digital transfers via NFC, cloud, etc. it will soon be a thing of the past. Its like arguing for a cassette against an ipod. YES in certain situations it could be beneficial, but those situations are rare and far outweigh the times when the alternative is convenient. At this point, all the micro SD card slot does is waste precious space in a phone when it does what other features of a phone can already do. When manufacturers are trying to use every ounce of space, they are choosing to leave out a storage slot when everything can ve stored to the cloud, internal hard drive etc. hell, even Google left the Micro SD card slot out with the last Nexus...

*EDIT: Don't forget streaming via Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go etc
 
Last edited:
I hate microSD on Android! = DATA LOSS

I bought the original Google HTC Nexus One android on release date and became a minor Android developer.

Over the life of my great Nexus One phone (lasted 11 months then completely dead due to flex cable issues) I twice lost the total data stored on my microSD card due to Android issues.

first was the 4GB microSD which came with the phone, one day it wasn't available, it wouldn't mount on the phone nor Mac OSX nor Windows. I was able to see it eventually with a linux box - for a few seconds - then it disappeared. I only lost photos and some audio recordings.

later my replacement 32GB microSD crapped-out (similarly un-mountable anywhere) This could have been due to an errant App, as I had moved many Apps to the microSD to save internal phone memory. This data was eventually mostly recoverable, after a week of linux PC copying files with a terminal. (again the microSD failure mode was to allow a few files to be transferred then to become absent - by the way these were high quality/high cost microSD)

My next phone was then Windows 7 HTC Mozart with a system embedded microSD. This worked great (for a Windows phone) and I never lost data!

I prefer the Apple iPhone strategy where the on-phone storage is SOLDERED to the motherboard and not subject to random OS, or User or App = total microSD data loss, sometimes. Once is too much - twice means NO MORE ANDROID with microSD for me!

(tho' I'm about to resolder and repair the Nexus One home button flex cables, maybe I can solder in the microSD whilst I'm in there!??)
 
AppleFan91 said:
Again, sounds like, because of this Android is your only option. Although, with said scenario above...ur Micro SD card is still pretty worthless. Because with all that security at work, odds are you can't store your own video files on it to transfer stuff to your micro card. Honestly, i get ur point in some situations in would be beneficial, but with high speed digital transfers via NFC, cloud, etc. it will soon be a thing of the past. Its like arguing for a cassette against an ipod. YES in certain situations it could be beneficial, but those situations are rare and far outweigh the times when the alternative is convenient. At this point, all the micro SD card slot does is waste precious space in a phone when it does what other features of a phone can already do. When manufacturers are trying to use every ounce of space, they are choosing to leave out a storage slot when everything can ve stored to the cloud, internal hard drive etc. hell, even Google left the Micro SD card slot out with the last Nexus...

*EDIT: Don't forget streaming via Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go etc
Click to expand...

NFC cannot be used for transfer. It's transfer speed is 424kbps. It would take something around 50 hours to transfer 2gb.

But I guess at this point, my argument is not for MicroSD, but against iTunes. Since Android device is drag and drop, I do not need to sync to get something on it.
 
verwon said:
Really, if you have to defend your phone choice to others, then you have far deeper issues than any answers on this site will help with!
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Well, have to stand up for something, since ones sports team or political candidate are not all they are cracked up to be. ;)
 
DeaconGraves said:
Pretty much this.

You have no reason to "defend" your purchase to anyone. Anyone who makes you come up with a defense needs to get a life.

And if you feel the need to generate defenses without solicitation, then maybe you should think about why that is the case.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I have had phones with a microSD card, but never used it. For me, it isn't a big deal. For others it is, and that is ok.
 
AppleFan91 said:
I just say "i use icloud" and they usually shut up
Click to expand...

If you said that to some people, they would shut up, but not for the reason you think.

Some people just do not want their stuff sitting out their in space. They want it on their phone. Right there. In their control. Not reliant on an internet connection.
 
Ask them why the official Google devices (Nexus 7, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S) don't have memory card slots and why they "have to play $100 for memory that costs $12 as a MiniSD" because of the "Google Tax".
 
Coupled with this I'm confused overall about the resistance to keep (or increase) local storage and move to the cloud. Both these methods are actually worse for the end user, especially with elimination of unlimited data and the increased hit on battery life to access information through a data connection. Beyond these issues, I refuse to be charged to access media I've already purchased as we're getting dangerously close to the Xbox model of charging you to access services you already pay for (see: Netflix). If I purchase a song/album I should be able to access it anywhere at any time (locally stored).

In the cloud model, I buy a song, store it on the cloud and if, say, I want to access it on a plane, train, boat, or anywhere else there's no data connection I'm out of luck. Does this honestly make sense to people? You may ask why would you not just load what you want before hand, but that breaks the whole concept of ownership and really eliminates choice in what I want to do with my own media.

I was flying from Maui back to DC a few weeks ago (~11 hours of total flying) and thought it would be a nice opportunity to sink in some more time with Diablo III, especially since the plane I was on had outlets on every seat so I didn't need to worry about battery drain. But wait... I need internet access to actually play the game. Is this what people actually want to have happen to all their media and games? Because that's all the cloud will give you.
 
Have you ever had an Android phone before? Having an SD card is horrible for memory management. You have to have photos saved to the phone or the SD card, everything is in different places. If you have multiple music folders because of having multiple storage locations (Phone and MicroSD) sometime your music player won't read it all and you have to get a third party music player but it won't always have a lot of regular features like Lock screen controls or album art or something else.

Camera and the photo Gallery is the worst!
If you have "downloaded" something from some one sending you a MMS it puts it in a separate folder than you camera roll. So apps like Instagram won't read that folder. Its the biggest pain in the ass to deal with.

1 storage center = less pain. Thats why I have a 64Gb, I don't have to worry about packing this thing all the way but I got room to play with.
 
Beezzy said:
Have you ever had an Android phone before? Having an SD card is horrible for memory management. You have to have photos saved to the phone or the SD card, everything is in different places. If you have multiple music folders because of having multiple storage locations (Phone and MicroSD) sometime your music player won't read it all and you have to get a third party music player but it won't always have a lot of regular features like Lock screen controls or album art or something else.

Camera and the photo Gallery is the worst!
If you have "downloaded" something from some one sending you a MMS it puts it in a separate folder than you camera roll. So apps like Instagram won't read that folder. Its the biggest pain in the ass to deal with.

1 storage center = less pain. Thats why I have a 64Gb, I don't have to worry about packing this thing all the way but I got room to play with.
Click to expand...

With Android's gallery and music apps, you can have stuff anywhere on the phone. Hell, put your music in a folder called Horse Porn and it will find it. It's pretty seamless and requires no input from you. I have some music on internal, and some on SD. Yet, it plays everything just fine from both locations and I did not have to do a single thing to make it work.
 
nostresshere said:
If you said that to some people, they would shut up, but not for the reason you think.

Some people just do not want their stuff sitting out their in space. They want it on their phone. Right there. In their control. Not reliant on an internet connection.
Click to expand...
Then thats where the internal memory comes in, thats why they give you the option to purchase a 16, 32, or 64 GB option.
 
iphone.16gb said:
for ten times the going rate.
Click to expand...

Your username might have never been as relevant ;)

____________________________________


I guess at some point Apple will double storage price without changing prices like they did with the iPhone 3G and lots of iPod updates.

16GB is still enough for a lot of people though, so they may offer 16, 64GB and 128GB and skip 32GB, a bit like what they did with the 3rd gen iPod touch.

iPhone 5S 16GB 200$
iPhone 5S 64GB 300$
iPhone 5S 128GB 400$

Would make sense IMO. Otherwise paying 100$ for an extra 16GB of storage in 2013 will feel like a huge ripoff, it already does.
 
AppleFan91 said:
Do you get a phone when you buy ur Micro SD card for 10 times less than the going rate?
Click to expand...

Do you get an extra phone when you choose a 32gb iPhone over a 16gb one? No, but it costs $100 more. 16gb flash memory costs $10 on its own. You do the math.
 
I still think there's no good reason not to add a MicroSD card slot, and I've always been an advocate for including one. That said, I don't need one with my 64GB phone, but it would be nice for those that do need them.
 
Ha!

darngooddesign said:
Do you work for the Pentagon?
Click to expand...

Ha, no.

I left one cheapo giveaway key in the computer after rushing out after a presentation, the others have been "borrowed" with little hope of ever getting them back.

Thankfully, LaCie's key-shaped drive attached to my key ring works great.
 
raremage said:
There is another difference - you have to decide where you're going to store items. The SD card on the GS3 (or any Android phone) introduces management tasks that you don't have using an integrated single "drive."

Some consider this a plus, but to me it's more of a hassle.
Click to expand...

Very good point. I have an S3 with a 32GB internal and have a 64GB SD card, but I don't really have 96GB of storage because only some things can go certain places and often you don't want to split things up between two "drives" just like on a PC you likely want to keep certain things all together on the same drive. So I basically have 32GB for apps and 64GB for media the way I'm using it.
 
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