Re: [tlug] Smart phone vs Tablet (and SD cards)

[Kalin KOZHUHAROV <me.kalin@example.com>]

Looking at far away, I think those two opinions are from different
banks of the same river, but...

On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 6:04 PM, Darren Cook <darren@example.com> wrote:
>> (Personally I think it's high time for SD cards on phones/tablets to
>> die. They are essentially floppies and serve no purpose at this
>> point.)
>
> You don't work for Google do you, as this appears to be the company
> line! :-)
>
> The lack of SD card is the biggest black mark against our Nexus 7. And
> Motorolo. And Apple. "Fill up your internal memory, then throw the whole
> machine away and buy the next shiny model."
>
> (This also explains why the SD-card related Android bugs are not getting
> fixed.)
>
> We've often used the SD card on our phones to shuffle things around, so
> we could manage to install a new game or other app. On the Nexus, one
> primary use has been watching videos and recorded TV programmes (*), and
> I'm always have to plug it in to the computer and decide what to delete
> to make space for something else: an SD card holding a chunk of our
> movie collection, that we could move between devices, would be great.
>
> In the market for new smartphone(s) recently, lack of SD card has been
> one way to filter down the choices. Fortunately the cheaper Chinese
> manufacturers always include SD card slots.
>

OK, I kind of disagree that SD cards are like floppies and they should
die, they are still a very needed media for real photos (i.e. not by
smartphone); they have big capacity and relatively high transfer rates
(the expensive ones).

And I want to point to 2 more specifics of the SD card slots - if they
are easily accessible and whether the card can be permanently/safely
inside the device. To be honest, I am yet to find a device that
satisfies both.
On my (family) 3 Nexus 7 devices, the lack of such option is really a
PITA, especially when we are away from the Net and kids want to watch
"that movie"...

The closest I came up with is a USB OTG->USB->64GB USB flash memory
(or SD card reader), but I prefer not to have anything sticking out of
the device with children around. I occasionally use the SD card reader
to watch my DSLR pictures on the good Nexus screen when away from home
(iff I remember to bring the cable and reader). (mostly stock Android,
rooted)

On the other hand, my DoCoMo/Fujitsu smartphone has (physical) SD
card, but to insert/change/remove it you need to remove the battery -
no thank you.

So, as long as I am concerned, non-accessible SD card is poor man's
flash extension - get a new phone. On the other hand having accessible
SD card would greatly simplify my picture preview/publish on-the-go
and carry-on (kids) multimedia library.

Cheers,
Kalin.