Why Nexus phones don't have a SD card slot

[T.M.M.L]

Put the slot on the phone, don't ship it with a card. If you are smart enough to know you want more storage you are smart enough to buy a card and figure out how to use it.
Of course, if you can't do that and run out of room there is always the obvious answer...store everything in Google's cloud. That's really what they are hoping for, they aren't fooling anyone.

Can't be any more simple than that. You kill 2 birds with one stone.

For the average users, whom I think the Google execs think need to be lead around like lost sheep, you have a phone with one dedicated location of memory. No way to misplace your stuff.

{Google exec}...
Oh, and when your space runs out, allow us to introduce you to this nifty little service we have.

For the powers users, like us, you have the option to increase your memory needs as you see fit.

{Google exec}...
You guys suck!!. You understand bandwidth costs and limited "Share all data" policies.

This is more about Cloud services and increasing revenue. I don't fault them for trying to make a profit, but don't insult my intelligence with the smoke and mirrors B.S.


Edit..

If by that you mean a successful, once borderline monopolistic phone manufacturer, then yes, you'd be right. Find a study that shows the average user uses a significant portion of 32gb. You won't find it. We are NOT average users.

My wife, who is about as far from a power user/tinkerer as it gets, has a 32 gig Iphone 4 that is filled to the brim with music.

That's just using the device as it is meant to be used.

It's not that far fetched to think that 16 gig is incredibly limited.

 

[Omar Days]

It's not a shame at all. It's called a choice. Welcome to what Android is all about.

Choice which seems to be shrinking. I hope Samsung doesn't start following everyone else by removing sd slots from their devices too

 

[Deleted User]

Indeed there is choice but the alternative to Samsung is nexus or HTC if you want a decent higher end phone but the alternatives have no slot!! Just because it has a slot doesn't mean you have to have a card-its an added bonus i think!

 

[ExtremeNerd]

The level of venom and hatred regarding this phone is pathetic. It is a phone, an expensive toy. Some of you act like Google ran over your dog. How is this any different from iPhone users who get pissed off when they don't get features they want? If you don't like the product offered, don't buy it. Vote with your wallet. Simple solution.

 

[Hadron]

Choice which seems to be shrinking. I hope Samsung doesn't start following everyone else by removing sd slots from their devices too

Trends can reverse - Sony re-added them recently, after removing them from the previous generation.

 

[Stuntman]

^ This

They don't even have to add anymore memory, just give us an SD slot, it cost them nothing to add it.

13GB is already dedicated to my music, so that leaves me with 3GB (or less) for pictures, videos, backups, apps, etc.....

Plus why not just give us the choice? Make a 64 GB version people would by it.

For most users, 16GB is enough. The main reason is that Google want to keep the cost low enough to be attractive to common users, in order to compete with iPad. It is an advantage, compared to the high price of iPad.

On my SGS3, I got the 32GB version. Apparently I only have 26GB available. The breakdown of my storage is as follows:

-- Apps: 2GB
-- Pictures, Videos: 700MB
-- Audio (music, etc.): 12GB
-- Misc.: 300MB
-- Available: 11GB

No way that 16GB is going to be good enough for me. Oh, and Google Music is not available in my country. Even so, I wouldn't have been able to listen to my music while I was on a plane as I would not be online.

 

[T.M.M.L]

The level of venom and hatred regarding this phone is pathetic. It is a phone, an expensive toy. Some of you act like Google ran over your dog. How is this any different from iPhone users who get pissed off when they don't get features they want? If you don't like the product offered, don't buy it. Vote with your wallet. Simple solution.

I have absolutely no hatred at all for this device. Not one ounce of venom was directed at the phone by me. I took exception with a suit spouting rhetoric to the ignorant masses about why they decided what they did.

Like I posted earlier, I have no qualms about a company trying to increase the bottom line, just don't B.S. me about it.

Stand and proclaim from the rooftops.."We want you to have to rely on our services.. So we will steer you in a way that almost guarantees you'll have to do as we want!!"

Wouldn't sell as many phones, but at least they would be honest about it.

 

[mikedt]

I understand that but at least give us an SD slot, it cost nothing to put in.

Actually it does cost something to put in. May only be ten cents per device. But if they're making say ten million of these things. That's a million dollars.

It's quite easy actually...want an SD-card slot? - then buy a phone or tablet with an SD-card slot.

 

[mikedt]

And you will also be paying to watch your own photos and videos! And any other of your own, private files!
While Big Brother has free 'unfettered' access to everything! EVERYTHING!

Is Big Brother really interested in your Adele, Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber MP3s? If really got something to hide and must be confidential, then don't store it in the cloud, certainly Google's cloud.

I use Google's cloud for storing contacts, e-mail and calendar. Nothing else though, because most of Google's cloud services are not available here.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

I have absolutely no hatred at all for this device. Not one ounce of venom was directed at the phone by me. I took exception with a suit spouting rhetoric to the ignorant masses about why they decided what they did.

Like I posted earlier, I have no qualms about a company trying to increase the bottom line, just don't B.S. me about it.

Stand and proclaim from the rooftops.."We want you to have to rely on our services.. So we will steer you in a way that almost guarantees you'll have to do as we want!!"

Wouldn't sell as many phones, but at least they would be honest about it.

x100

Best post in a long time.

 

[breadnatty08]

32gb on my GNex is fine. I don't store a lot of media or other data on it. But, I also understand why Google is going with solely internal storage.
Remember when apps to SD was new? Remember how many people were (and still are) confused about where to move their apps and other media to conserve space?
I think it makes sense not to partition the space on your device. What I have a problem with is how low they're going. 8/16 Gb? Not enough. A nandroid for my N7 is nearly 3Gb alone.

 

[pool_shark]

This thread is so complicated, what's an sd card?

 

[spencer808]

In this day and age apps and music take up an incredible about of space. The dark night game alone was close to 2gb (1.8 i think) in of itself. On a 8gb unit you are talking about 20% of the storage going to just that game alone. Plus anyone in the know, knows that 8gb means like 7.something plus the OS on top of that which isnt a tiny file. I just don't see how 8 or even 16gb worth of space are even close to relevant anymore. 32gb or expandable memory or the producers need to figure out how to make things smaller in size. I have a mere 1100 songs on my phone with a couple vids and its close to 6gb. My sister who i consider the person they are making these "everyone" phones for has almost 20,000 songs......you really expect the avg user to pony up on cloud space or trust it with that kinda music collection. The avg person will not totally understand or trust a microSD........but will a cloud service....most won't even really understand that let alone be willing to but $20,000 dollars worth of music on it.


side note my sister is 36 and has made that collection over many many many years lol

 

[Gmash]

Those who are defending this need to stop drinking the Kool-Ade. A fanboy is a fanboy, be it Apple or Google. Most of us don't want Android turning into an Apple clone.

 

[Rxpert83]

One thing that hasn't been brought up is multiple user profiles.

Many believe this feature is only a small update away, and its already shipping on the nexus 10.

A sd card with the way most of them are formatted have no sense of ownership. They cannot be used in s device with more than one owner. It's not feasible .

 

[jerofld]

My theory revolves around what I can see, so keep that in mind:

When Android devices were first launched, you had some internal memory (that the OS used) and if you wanted more, you had to use an SD card (sometimes pre-packaged with it). Your internally stored stuff was kept in /data, and your SD card was partitioned in /sdcard. So when apps and (mostly) games needed more room to put stuff, they just put it in /sdcard.

Then came fixed memory. Google needed to make it work with those apps that relied on /sdcard to store stuff. So they just partitioned /data/media to be called /sdcard. But what about actual SD cards? Their answer appears to be "just don't install SD card slots" and no one will really notice. Google seems to refuse to code a solution for SD cards, hoping the problem will just go away if they do not include SD cards in their Nexus devices.

The evidence for this is in the Android devices you have that have fixed memory and SD cards. Especially for devices that came shipped with HC / ICS. I have an Acer tablet, a Samsung phone, and an Asus tablet. All three have fixed memory and an SD card slot. All three partition the SD card slot as something named differently than the others. One will call it /EXT_SDCARD, the other /EXTSDCARD, and I think the other one calls it "/extmemory", which leads me to believe that each company had to code in their own SD solution.

So that's my theory on why the Nexus line does not have SD cards. If they support USB OTG, then it's not that big of a problem, because you can get SD to USB adapters, but it is more annoying if you constantly rely on the SD card. For an occasional use, it works, though.

 

[Ayhio]

This thread is so complicated, what's an sd card?

LOL,well played

 

[Gmash]

One thing that hasn't been brought up is multiple user profiles.

Many believe this feature is only a small update away, and its already shipping on the nexus 10.

A sd card with the way most of them are formatted have no sense of ownership. They cannot be used in s device with more than one owner. It's not feasible .

Why would anyone need multiple user profiles on a phone? I can see on a tablet, but a phone is almost by definition a personal device. And wouldn't that call for even more memory?

 

[Crashdamage]

No doubt some users will find multiple accounts handy on a phone. But it's probably more about keeping Android for phones and tablets unified as much as possible.

 

[iowabowtech]

Rooted phone without sdcard > bad flash > no nand backup > adb required. That's far more confusing to root noobs than the presence of an sdcard imo.

SDcards are good. Plus they allow for the expansion of storage to the user's discretion. Isn't end user choice what Android is all about? To me, this just sounds Apple-esque. You're going to either pay x amount for 16Gb or y amount for 32Gb and you're gonna like it.

 

[Slug]

Isn't end user choice what Android is all about?

Yup, which is why we should be thankful that the likes of Samsung etc still provide expandable memory. It's not like Google are saying "all Android devices must not have microSD slots", after all. Those to whom the feature is essential still have plenty of choice.

 

[iowabowtech]

Yup, which is why we should be thankful that the likes of Samsung etc still provide expandable memory. It's not like Google are saying "all Android devices must not have microSD slots", after all. Those to whom the feature is essential still have plenty of choice.

Well said. But, Google is also the primary representative for Android in my mind anyway. So, I think their opinion may weigh heavily on manufacturers future decisions. Kinda like the boss at work. When he/she comes up with a big idea, people tend to go along with it most generally.

 

[ExtremeNerd]

Well said. But, Google is also the primary representative for Android in my mind anyway. So, I think their opinion may weigh heavily on manufacturers future decisions. Kinda like the boss at work. When he/she comes up with a big idea, people tend to go along with it most generally.

That's not true at all. All current Samsung phones still have the "Home" button. What's good for one isn't always good for all.

 

[dden4012]

Google drive is what...5gigs per email address? Another 30 gigs would be 6...play their game
You get free cloud storage and they get more emails to data mine. Only issue would be if you need w/e file on your device.

 

[saptech]

My theory revolves around what I can see, so keep that in mind:

When Android devices were first launched, you had some internal memory (that the OS used) and if you wanted more, you had to use an SD card (sometimes pre-packaged with it). Your internally stored stuff was kept in /data, and your SD card was partitioned in /sdcard. So when apps and (mostly) games needed more room to put stuff, they just put it in /sdcard.

Then came fixed memory. Google needed to make it work with those apps that relied on /sdcard to store stuff. So they just partitioned /data/media to be called /sdcard. But what about actual SD cards? Their answer appears to be "just don't install SD card slots" and no one will really notice. Google seems to refuse to code a solution for SD cards, hoping the problem will just go away if they do not include SD cards in their Nexus devices.

The evidence for this is in the Android devices you have that have fixed memory and SD cards. Especially for devices that came shipped with HC / ICS. I have an Acer tablet, a Samsung phone, and an Asus tablet. All three have fixed memory and an SD card slot. All three partition the SD card slot as something named differently than the others. One will call it /EXT_SDCARD, the other /EXTSDCARD, and I think the other one calls it "/extmemory", which leads me to believe that each company had to code in their own SD solution.

So that's my theory on why the Nexus line does not have SD cards. If they support USB OTG, then it's not that big of a problem, because you can get SD to USB adapters, but it is more annoying if you constantly rely on the SD card. For an occasional use, it works, though.

The naming of the external SD Card is where alot of confusion comes in at, even for someone like me, who is computer literate. After getting my first android phone and using the physical ext sd card, I was looking for the name sdcard, which turns out to be internal. That was very confusing at first. Along with the "moving apps to sdcard".

And I agree, they should make the sd card slots for phones and let the user decide if they want to use it or not.