Which trend is more disturbing to you?

A.Nonymous · Apr 26, 2012

I'm looking at some of the new phones coming out and I'm struck by two trends that I find to be disturbing.

1. No SD card slot. WTF???
2. No removable battery. Again, WTF???

Which of these two trends do you find the most disturbing. I honestly can't decide.

marc12868 · Apr 26, 2012

I think having no sdcard slot is more of a turn off for me... I can deal with a non removable battery, but being limited on space would be a worry for me.

jefboyardee · Apr 26, 2012

Omitting either is a deal-killer for me, but if it comes to having to choose, I need the SD more than a removable battery, providing there’s still a way to do a hard boot.

metz65 · Apr 26, 2012

A non removable battery is the deal breaker for me.

xmr405o · Apr 26, 2012

I voted No SD Card slot because of the evolving media trend...higher megapixel phone cams, higher res videos, gaming etc. 16 gbs can go fast if a user isn't careful. A person can use cloud service to store media but then it turns into managing your data caps if you have one. Memory and data can affect a person's wallet not so much a removable battery. IMO.

spb21 · Apr 26, 2012

Both and neither. I haven't had a need for a removable SD, but I want that option, especially with the capabilities of newer phones. I also want a battery that can be pulled.

rui-no-onna · Apr 26, 2012

Voted for SD card slot. FLAC uses a ton of storage.

funpig · Apr 26, 2012

Neither for me. Once I put in an SD card, I really have no need to take it out. Any convenience is offset by the security concerns I have if I lost the phone. With internal memory, there is some security protection which would at least delay the access and give the owner the chance to do a remote wipe. With a removable SD, all the information may be accessed immediately.

I appreciate that some power users who have no access to charging during the day have an absolute need for extra batteries. Personally, I would find it more inconvenient to carry an extra battery and have to go through the hassles of pulling and charging more than one battery. Do external battery chargers exist anymore? I remember about 20 years ago, I would have an extra battery in a charger while a fresh one was in the phone (but then 12 hours standby and 60 minutes talk time on NiCads was the advertised battery power). If you have to charge the extra battery in the phone, isn't that a major inconvenience? I have just modified my behaviour so that I never have to charge more than once a day (usually end of day over night).

My Shine Plus has a stainless steel cover with a nice locking mechanism. It opens easily and has not shown any wear (considering the number of battery pulls to reset the dam thing). On the other hand, my son's Optimus One has a plastic clip on cover. Fortunately, he has not had to do any battery pulls. But I would be concerned that opening and closing it will eventually wear out or break the clips.

brotherswing · Apr 26, 2012

Gotta have my big sd card!

PhoneFanatic1 · Apr 26, 2012

Do you guys think the shift away from SD card slots is being done to transition people to the cloud for storage?

Cryssie · Apr 26, 2012

PhoneFanatic1 said:
Do you guys think the shift away from SD card slots is being done to transition people to the cloud for storage?

I think it is an excuse to charge more.
A 16 GB SD card is a lot cheaper than the same extra storage on an Iphone.

jgreetham · Apr 26, 2012

Who is making phones without an external SD card slot?

OfTheDamned · Apr 26, 2012

Honestly, with LTE/Wifi and cloud storage the lack of an SD card slot doesn't really bother me. All of my music is on Google Music (3 accounts) or Pandora. Videos are on Youtube, Google Movies, Netflix, Hulu+ and now Vudu/Ultraviolet. Books are on Kindle or Audible. Pictures are on dropbox, picassa or flickr. I have 32 Gb of memory with 28.13 Gb total usable space and have about 18 Gb available.

Not being able to upgrade to an extended battery or replace the battery would bother me more.

jgreetham said:
Who is making phones without an external SD card slot?

Google.

The Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus have internal memory only.

rui-no-onna · Apr 26, 2012

jgreetham said:
Who is making phones without an external SD card slot?

Google Nexus S
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Sony Xperia S/P/U
HTC One X/S

OfTheDamned said:
Honestly, with LTE/Wifi and cloud storage the lack of an SD card slot doesn't really bother me. All of my music is on Google Music (3 accounts) or Pandora. Videos are on Youtube, Google Movies, Netflix, Hulu+ and now Vudu/Ultraviolet. Books are on Kindle or Audible. Pictures are on dropbox, picassa or flickr. I have 32 Gb of memory with 28.13 Gb total usable space and have about 18 Gb available.

Storing everything on the cloud is only viable if you have either:
a.) easy access to wi-fi, or
b.) unlimited data plan

I only have wi-fi at home and only 2GB monthly data so I'd prefer to have a microSD card slot on my device.

El Presidente · Apr 26, 2012

jgreetham said:
Who is making phones without an external SD card slot?

The HTC One series don't have removable batteries either.

OfTheDamned · Apr 26, 2012

rui-no-onna said:
Storing everything on the cloud is only viable if you have either:
a.) easy access to wi-fi, or
b.) unlimited data plan

I only have wi-fi at home and only 2GB monthly data so I'd prefer to have a microSD card slot on my device.

Fair enough. I have both easy access to wifi (home and all over the city I live in) and unlimited LTE 4G data so it works for me.

On the other hand, what can be done with any of that media when you don't have power?

rui-no-onna · Apr 26, 2012

OfTheDamned said:
On the other hand, what can be done with any of that media when you don't have power?

Never had an issue with all-day (well, 8-10 hours continuous) FLAC playback on my phone.

xmr405o · Apr 26, 2012

OfTheDamned said:
Fair enough. I have both easy access to wifi (home and all over the city I live in) and unlimited LTE 4G data so it works for me.

On the other hand, what can be done with any of that media when you don't have power?

rui-no-onna said:
Never had an issue with all-day (well, 8-10 hours continuous) FLAC playback on my phone.

No power no media. No data no media. I guess both scenarios have viable fixes since data and power sources are pretty accessible.

However, power is free and data sometimes isn't.

I'm just afraid that they'll take away unlimited access for those with grandfathered plans because everyone is using more data with cloud service. I've seen my data usage triple when I got my 4g phone and I started using google music, picasa, box and other cloud type services. And I don't consider myself a datahog and I'm on wifi at home.

IMO, A non removable battery doesn't have the same negative impact in the future of smartphones than a smartphone without an expandable memory slot.

Edit: I'm not trying change anyone's opinion...btw.

danaj · Apr 26, 2012

funpig said:
Neither for me. Once I put in an SD card, I really have no need to take it out. Any convenience is offset by the security concerns I have if I lost the phone. With internal memory, there is some security protection which would at least delay the access and give the owner the chance to do a remote wipe. With a removable SD, all the information may be accessed immediately.

I appreciate that some power users who have no access to charging during the day have an absolute need for extra batteries. Personally, I would find it more inconvenient to carry an extra battery and have to go through the hassles of pulling and charging more than one battery. Do external battery chargers exist anymore? I remember about 20 years ago, I would have an extra battery in a charger while a fresh one was in the phone (but then 12 hours standby and 60 minutes talk time on NiCads was the advertised battery power). If you have to charge the extra battery in the phone, isn't that a major inconvenience? I have just modified my behaviour so that I never have to charge more than once a day (usually end of day over night).

My Shine Plus has a stainless steel cover with a nice locking mechanism. It opens easily and has not shown any wear (considering the number of battery pulls to reset the dam thing). On the other hand, my son's Optimus One has a plastic clip on cover. Fortunately, he has not had to do any battery pulls. But I would be concerned that opening and closing it will eventually wear out or break the clips.

I have an external battery charger, and I also have an external battery pack. This meets all my charging needs. However, I would definitely rather have a removable sd card than a removable battery. I need space, plus if something happens to cause my phone to become fried, I feel like I have a better chance of recovering my photos and other media if I can take my sd card out and put it in my computer.

OfTheDamned · Apr 26, 2012

rui-no-onna said:
Never had an issue with all-day (well, 8-10 hours continuous) FLAC playback on my phone.

That was kind of my point. I have more trouble keeping my phone charged when I am out and about than I do with connectivity or data usage. I'd rather have an extra battery while on an all day bike ride or out camping where I have no access to a power outlet. That extra 32 Gb to 64 Gb of storage means next to nothing to me if I don't have power to my phone.

It is all individual need.

marc12868 · Apr 27, 2012

OfTheDamned said:
That was kind of my point. I have more trouble keeping my phone charged when I am out and about than I do with connectivity or data usage. I'd rather have an extra battery while on an all day bike ride or out camping where I have no access to a power outlet. That extra 32 Gb to 64 Gb of storage means next to nothing to me if I don't have power to my phone.

It is all individual need.

But wouldn't you save more battery if you had everything you needed locally? Your radios wouldn't have to work as hard and you could even turn them off if everything you needed was all local

.

danaj · Apr 27, 2012

OfTheDamned said:
That was kind of my point. I have more trouble keeping my phone charged when I am out and about than I do with connectivity or data usage. I'd rather have an extra battery while on an all day bike ride or out camping where I have no access to a power outlet. That extra 32 Gb to 64 Gb of storage means next to nothing to me if I don't have power to my phone.

It is all individual need.

You can use an external battery pack like this one:
Amazon.com: Anker Astro 5600mAh Backup External Battery Pack and Charger (Power Bank) with Flashlight for iPhone 4/4S/3GS, iPad, iPad 2, iPod Touch/Classic/Nano (require your own cable for Apple); Motorola: Atrix 2, Verizon Droid Razr/X2/Bionic; Sams

I have one, and I never have anymore power worries, whether camping or hiking, or just a long day.

scythefwd · Apr 27, 2012

I'd say lack of removable battery. I've got a tiny 8 gb card in my phone right now. I've got well over 3 gb left. I could have easily just gotten a phone with 8 or 16gb on the phone it self. I just came over from a palm pre+, with its 16 Gb on board and never wanted more. Hell, I usually had more than 10 Gb free on it. Now, lack of a replaceable battery.. thats a killer right there. My wifes phones battery went bad just about immediately. Either I could give her my spare.. or we could wait for a prelacement phone to show up....

MSUgEEk · Apr 27, 2012

I think both trends are the right way to go. It takes up extra space to have a removable battery and a removable SD card. With 32 GB onboard storage for high end phones, that is plenty. Using non-removable storage and getting rid of a removable micro SD slot makes for faster read/write times and allows for better design of system board which allows our phones to maintain their thin profiles. Add to that the use of USB host mode with a cheap $5 cable and USB thumb drives most people already own, and you still maintain the functionality of being able to move stuff onto and off of your phones.

Using non-removable batteries has the same effect. Look at the Razr Maxx. It allowed Motorola to insert a battery twice as big while barely increasing the thickness of the phone. They also did so while maintaining it's, basically, modular/removable status. It really isn't that hard to remove the battery out of a Razr Maxx.

A.Nonymous · Apr 27, 2012

svt_gEEk said:
I think both trends are the right way to go. It takes up extra space to have a removable battery and a removable SD card. With 32 GB onboard storage for high end phones, that is plenty. Using non-removable storage and getting rid of a removable micro SD slot makes for faster read/write times and allows for better design of system board which allows our phones to maintain their thin profiles. Add to that the use of USB host mode with a cheap $5 cable and USB thumb drives most people already own, and you still maintain the functionality of being able to move stuff onto and off of your phones.

Using non-removable batteries has the same effect. Look at the Razr Maxx. It allowed Motorola to insert a battery twice as big while barely increasing the thickness of the phone. They also did so while maintaining it's, basically, modular/removable status. It really isn't that hard to remove the battery out of a Razr Maxx.

They are good design wise. I don't think I can argue with you there. I think they're bad consumer wise though. No SD card means if I run out of memory I have to buy a new phone. No removable battery means I'm limited by whatever battery life the OEM gives me. If it sucks for whatever reason, I have to buy a new phone. I don't think either is good for a consumer.

Which trend is more disturbing to you?

Which is more disturbing

No SD card slot

No removable battery

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