No SD Card slot?

[Eugene]

Do any of the newer Motorola phones have SD card slot, I can't seem to find any. Was planning on upgrading soon but apparently I won't be able to.

 

[jhawkkw]

Nope, Motorola has gone full out Google with it's removal of SD card slots and lean skin that is practically stock android. It looks like only Samsung & Sony make phones with SD card slots, though it appears the HTC One Max has one.

 

[Thom]

Many of us with the Droid Maxx are using an external card reader. See... http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-maxx/756726-droid-maxx-tips.html#post6215705 ... for information.

... Thom

 

[suzukiparts1]

Ever since Google bought Motorola it has been downhill for them. Sad.

 

[Jus10]

Ever since Google bought Motorola it has been downhill for them. Sad.

If you have everything backed up to Google/Play you don't need the SD Card. I have over 4,000 songs stored on Play Music, do I can fit almost another 16,000 and none of these songs are taking up space.

 

[Eugene]

That only works if you never travel outside of where you have a fast enough connection. I can't get any connection on my farm so I have to keep my data local. Also if I left all my music on Google drive I would easily exceed the data plan limits.
That is why the sd card slot is a must for myself, now I'm stuck with the same phone until someone high up in the corporate world gets a clue.

 

[jhawkkw]

Google music stores it on the cloud but let's you download the songs locally to the device and save the in cache for when you don't have Internet.

 

[Eugene]

Which is why you need more local storage to be able to cache for when you don't have internet.
Remember the phone's internal storage is full of all the forced apps so you can't do much without the sd card slot. By the time Google+, Google Chrome, NFL something, Slacker radio, etc are all forced down on you your out of storage so to run any apps you want you need the removable storage.
Then I have a couple G of my most important documents, a few G of the most recent pictures I want to show and a few G of mp3's to play when there is no connection as well as a few apps moved to sd card so my 16G removable is nearly full, I'll be swapping in a 32G soon.

 

[macgiobuin]

Get a 32 gig model and store more than enough music. Or buy a 64 gig USB thumb drive, an OTG connector ($1.35 on Amazon) and you have all the local storage necessary.

 

[Eugene]

and a cord and extra card stuffed in my pocket. Or the manufacturers could just quit removing features

 

[Jus10]

No WiFi for Airdroid?

 

[Eugene]

Not in the mountains of WV where I can't get a cell signal. The reason I need the local storage is I go places where there is no connection.

FWIW I'm finding that small laptops are going the same route. They only support a small SSD and manufacturers want you to rubber band external storage on to them.

 

[Hadron]

Remember the phone's internal storage is full of all the forced apps so you can't do much without the sd card slot. By the time Google+, Google Chrome, NFL something, Slacker radio, etc are all forced down on you your out of storage so to run any apps you want you need the removable storage.

Actually this stuff is in the system partition, so removing it wouldn't free much space (just the dalvik elements). Clear data and disable.

I'd also prefer removable media storage, but an adequate amount of fixed storage is fine. The problem is the definition of adequate depends on the user - some are ok with 8 or 16, some definitely not (32 is my minimum).

 

[Eugene]

the base app but the updates take up app storage so I keep uninstalling updates.

Storage is the problem, I have 32G total now, 16 in the phone and 16 in a microSD but am getting tight on space so a phone with only 32 internal won't work.

 

[Jus10]

After speaking to my Motorola Rep he said Motorola, since moving to z Google, will no longer add SD card storage due to Google wanting you to use Google Drive/Play Music, etc.

So try the RAZR HD if you want the SD card slot, or check out the Galaxy devices?

 

[Eugene]

I assume that means no future phones either. They are going to abandon the high end market completely?

 

[Jus10]

That's what my LG rep thinks. Htc One, LG G2, Moto X, new Droids, none of them have micro SD card slots. The One Max has one which is weird, but it looks like cloud computing is what manufacturers will be thinking of when designing their devices, not removable storage.

 

[Eugene]

Do they not realize that removing all the features that set them apart from idevices is just going to loose sales to idevices.
I won't ever buy an idevice because of too many other issues with Apple as a company but many people don't care and when Android doesn't have any advantage then why buy it.

 

[Jus10]

Open source vs closed? Free music? Different ways to download apps? Custom launchers? Lots of reasons why Android is superior.

 

[jhawkkw]

While not perfect, this is something some people in the Nexus 5 forum have turned to for expandable storage without a full OTG cable.

http://www.meenova.com/

 

[Thom]

I use it on my Droid Maxx. It is great. Pull the SD -Ext card out of my Bionic and read it directly in my Maxx.

Removing the card reader ...

- Removes one more opening in the case.
- Makes more space available in the case for other purposes (like added memory).
- Removes a mechanical entity that was known to fail (I don't know the frequency.
- The biggest plus is that it solves one of the fundamental confusions that Android has had for years ... what does SD Card mean?

Each manufacturer has redefined the term in some cases multiple times ... SD Card ... SD-Ext ... Internal Storage ... USB storage.

What we are migrating into in the future is a single definition.

... Thom

 

[Eugene]

Open source vs closed? Free music? Different ways to download apps? Custom launchers? Lots of reasons why Android is superior.

problem is most people don't care about those kind of things. How many people use Android phones but still buy music from itunes for example, I've known many.

 

[Eugene]

I use it on my Droid Maxx. It is great. Pull the SD -Ext card out of my Bionic and read it directly in my Maxx.

Removing the card reader ...

- Removes one more opening in the case.
- Makes more space available in the case for other purposes (like added memory).
- Removes a mechanical entity that was known to fail (I don't know the frequency.
- The biggest plus is that it solves one of the fundamental confusions that Android has had for years ... what does SD Card mean?

Each manufacturer has redefined the term in some cases multiple times ... SD Card ... SD-Ext ... Internal Storage ... USB storage.

What we are migrating into in the future is a single definition.

... Thom

You have to have an opening in the case for the SIM card anyway and most just share the same hole in the case so no advantage there.

They could have just as easily called it /mnt/removableSDCard or anything descriptive.

My point is what about those of us who need it, make some phones without it for the iphone like (limiting) experience and make some phones with it, don't remove it completely and discriminate against rural folks.

What about the MicroHDMI removal, another advantage over the iphone was being able to show my pictures or whatever on standard TV's.

 

[Thom]

You have to have an opening in the case for the SIM card anyway and most just share the same hole in the case so no advantage there.

They could have just as easily called it /mnt/removableSDCard or anything descriptive.

My point is what about those of us who need it, make some phones without it for the iphone like (limiting) experience and make some phones with it, don't remove it completely and discriminate against rural folks.

What about the MicroHDMI removal, another advantage over the iphone was being able to show my pictures or whatever on standard TV's.

I said it removed one o not all. The HDMI removal removed another opening.

The naming problem came in because there were a lot of apps in use that had the name SD hard coded into them. The SD-Ext name went into use so those apps would work on the new devices. It was the start of a nightmare.

How much memory do you have to have internal to meet your need? 64? 128? 256? I expect they will be coming in the future.

Have a lot of external storage ... why not use a USB stick or SD card reader?

SIM card ... are we really going to stay with the technology? How about something that can be flashed to firmware through the USB port?

... Thom

 

[Eugene]

So using a cord habning out of my phone to read a SUB drive or sd card is better than having one inside the phone, I not have to have a cord wrapped up in my pocket at all times?

Right now I have 16G internal to the phone and a 16G MicroSD in the phone full so I'm using 32G. It appears there are a couple phones selling now with 32G so I'd be maxed out as soon as I bought it. I was goig to replace my 16G MicroSD with a 32G soon.