List of Phones with easy-access and/or external SD Card Slot

[jonobot]

I wonder if there is a list of phones/smarthones/devices that have an SD or MicroSD Card Slot that is easily accessible or in the best-case scenario an open external SD Card Slot where you can just pump in an SD-Card on the run?

Mainly needed to punch in SD-Cards from Cameras and Mobile-Audio-Recording devices into the Phone for uploading.

Or for example to use with the Mobidapter:
Mobidapter: SD Adapter for USB Memory Pens

As i couldn't find a list that focuses on external SD-Card slots i suggest we start one here - so if you got any infos, just throw in some phone names and share your thoughts

 

[EarlyMon]

Hmmmm. I see the idea and your problem, but I'm not sure that's going to work with Android, as it stores all of its easily user-accessible data on the sd card, too (unlike feature phones where an sd card is an option).

If you have a spare sd card, you might experiment by formatting that in your phone, then placing in your camera, take pictures, then bring that sd card back to phone.

That might well work, as Android recognizes the standard folder, DCIM (digital camera images), for picture storage and the camera should care about the other folders on the sd card.

You'll have to research your phone, tho - some Androids have all FAT32 sd cards (the camera will be ok with those) while others add in a Linux file system as well to the mix.

Also - unlike feature phones, sd cards in Android phones are always mounted for use by the operating system. So, they're often placed under the battery to ensure your is off before removal so as to not damage the directory and file entries (in other words, unlike a feature phone, you can't hot-swap an sd card).

That said - there are a lot of hardware options in the Android world and a phone may exist that will do exactly as you desire to work with this tool - not too sure about that, tho.

 

[jonobot]

Oh, i see... ...so i can't just rip out the SD-Card out of a running Android-Phone.

So it seems i have to resort to the Airstash to access external Data on the run.
Or get one of those Bluetooth-SD-Cards into my Camera/Audiorecording-Device, which only works with SDIO-Slots though and i doubt my aging Canon D40x Camera and Zoom H4 Handy Digital Recorder have an SDIO-Slot.

So - Airstash seems to be an allround solution, still it is yet another device to carry around.

So - if anyone reminds ANY mobile phones with Wifi and 3G/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HDSPA network access and easy-access external SD-Card-Slots, just post the names, i'll look them up and compile a list then

 

[EarlyMon]

Yeap - sounds like you're in a tight fix, especially for a hundred dollar solution.

I'll look around and if I can find something, I'll post back.

 

[MoebusNet]

Hmmm...Treo 650?

 

[Usta]

As mentioned by EarlyMon, the microSD cards in Android phones are not hot-swappable.
To bring information into the phone, the source devices need to have some kind of communication protocols, like Wifi/bluetooth.
Lately, the trend may be changing. Samsung is releasing Galaxy S2 with USB Host function (USB-OTG). This practically allows the phone to accept incoming USB connections from USB storage devices (USB sticks, card-readers, HDD, possibly digital cameras). In ideal case, you just connect the camera with the phone via USB cable and copy the content. Otherwise, you put the camera memory card into a small card reader and connect that to phone via USB.

 

[jonobot]

Samsung is releasing Galaxy S2 with USB Host function (USB-OTG).

Whoa! That's great news - as i'm totally new to the smartphone-world i was totally stunned by the lack of USB-Host-Function in nearly all devices.

The only thing i touched from the smartphone-world 'til now was the "OpenMoko Freerunner" a year ago or so - and that had USB-Host... ...from that experience i expected all smartphones to have USB-Host but as i started looking for my first smartphone a week ago i found out the contrary.

So - yeah - if USB-Host-Function finally hits the place all storage and data exchange problems should be history

 

[snapper.fishes]

What are you talking about?

The Galaxy S sd card is hot swappable. Oh, the phone won't like it and will greet you with a message saying that you removed the SD without ejecting it safely, but that's the same as unplugging a thumb drive from Windows. You will have to take off the battery cover, but you don't have to take the battery off to remove the SD card.

 

[Usta]

What are you talking about?

The Galaxy S sd card is hot swappable. Oh, the phone won't like it and will greet you with a message saying that you removed the SD without ejecting it safely, but that's the same as unplugging a thumb drive from Windows. You will have to take off the battery cover, but you don't have to take the battery off to remove the SD card.

Practical side ignored, what happens to the phone if you pull out the SD card, while having bunch of apps running on it?
Looks to me you risk data loss by doing this kind of card swapping, and possibly you will have to restart the phone anyway...