Will any future google device have a microsd card slot ?

[davidb423]

I really like the option of adding expandable storage to my devices, whether they be a cell phone or tablet.

The new pixel devices are clearly the direction google is moving in. But no micro sd card slot.

This is frustrating as it is a lower cost way to add storage. I know built in storage should be faster...but there are many reasons having more on board storage is helpful.

But with the new pixel phones, the past few nexus devices, and even the pixel c tablet not having expandable storage, does this mean google will never include the option in the future?

I don't know. But it is annoying as I do like a clean android experience, but not at the expense of limited storage. And the options for the pixel are only 32 gig and 128 gig, which means (buy a little or a lot) but no 64 or 256...

I think my main hope is other manufacturers stick with more stock android software, and keep the microsd slot!

In the meantime, sticking with Galaxy s7 edge as the pixel is back to google.

 

[Aquila]

If they release another Chromebook, that might - or if there is validity to the rumors of a desktop OS the hardware for that could. Given that Google feels that microSD cards are meant for budget mobile devices in developing markets and as they don't make those phones and tablets directly, it's unlikely that we'll ever see microSD on a Made by Google device.

 

[M120]

To be honest google has on multiple occasions expressed their disdain for SD cards.

 

[mikey1273]

I love them. I like keeping my music files and stuff on an sd card. This way when I need more space I just upgrade to a bigger card not the device. When I upgrade to a new device I find it easier to put my sd card in and my stuff if all there. No need to do a usb transfier or download it from the cloud again.

 

[Matty]

Only time will tell. I personally hope they do include a Micro Sd card. Their previous devices did not have so i would say probably not likely. Google is going down the same road as Apple. Being able to charge whatever they like for storage sizes because you cant expand it any other way.

Im a huge fan of Micros SD cards and some of them have over 100 mbps read/write speeds which is very good. Even better than Laptop hard drives (5,400 rpm). I put all my Movies, music and pictures of my SD card since my storage currently is only 16GB.

 

[Aquila]

Gosh I hope not. That's be a huge mistake. At least on the flagships.

There's a rumor Android one is coming to the us. They can put cards in those.

 

[Aquila]

To be honest google has on multiple occasions expressed their disdain for SD cards.

It's a two part argument. microSD is inferiore to internal storage on multiple fronts. They want them restricted to budget devices in developing markets. The cards are a band-aid for a problem that they themselves make worse.

 

[supur_playur301]

I definitely enjoy having a microsd slot but if we get phones with a lot of internal space than I wouldn't mind if phones stopped including them

 

[flyingkytez]

Google will NOT have the microSD card slot in their future phones. They WANT you to use their Google cloud services like Google Drive, and make you pay more money for online storage (unlimited cloud storage for photo and video, but what about everything else??? Music? They want you to use Google Play music which sucks). Also, they are big on security, if you lose your phone and you have private information on your SD card, then that would be an issue. Another thing is copyright issues, they don't want people sharing files easily by SD card. Their first Nexus tablet, which was the Nexus 7 (2012), did NOT have an SD card slot. I think they will never get it. People will still buy their phones simply because of the pure Android experience, though it will be a deal breaker for some. 32GB is NOT enough for my MP3 collection. No, I don't want to stream my music online!

 

[B. Diddy]

If you frequent these forums, you'll notice lots and lots of posts about SD card corruption and failure. According to a source I know in the industry, this is not surprising, since SD card makers use bottom-of-the-barrel memory -- even the manufacturers with good reputations, like SanDisk. So it's not a simple cut-and-dry argument that "Google wants to make money off you." There are serious concerns about using low quality memory to install apps and save important data to.

 

[Aquila]

The "make money off you" is an incredibly weak argument because it ignores obvious reasons that are clearly stated by the entity making the decision, and those reasons are logically validated by the evidence we have available here within our forums. MicroSD cards are less stable, less secure and slower than internal storage. All three of those points are obvious and any one or two of them is justification to eschew the usage of that feature in favor of more internal storage, which is what they themselves promote and offer. MicroSD integration is also more confusing for the basic user, which all the threads about adoptable storage and apps2sd will prove. Even more nuanced users are having trouble with the fragmented implementation.

For these reasons, Google has stated that they believe removable storage should be limited to budget devices that are sold in developing markets. Those would be markets where better solutions, such as devices with more internal storage and networks with ready access to cheap or free data, are not readily available.

Google isn't making money off of you streaming data unless you are on project Fi, aside from the contribution that your presence in the ecosystem provides through their profiling. They give the majority of these services away for free and the carrier's aren't bribing them to cause more data traffic. They also get the same information regarding your habits whether you use their services or not, with very few exceptions. Most apps can't or choose not to hide their activity from the OS.

TLDR you can choose not to like the reasoning, but pending refutation based on evidence that Google is lying about their reasoning, just stating that they are and inventing conspiracy theories with new unsupported reasoning just isn't justified.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Given that I have been burned by SD card fails (2 San Disks and 1 PNY) I will never personally trust them again. They are fine for temporary use, but in the long run, no. MTBF can occur at any time, even though the average is about 4 years.

 

[Aquila]

I don't dislike the cards, I dislike the cards in mobile devices. They make MUCH more sense in other devices. But then again - typically a USB 3.0 flash drive is a better choice, so maybe I'm wrong on other devices too.

 

[illdini]

What about UFS cards?

https://news.samsung.com/global/sam...ne-up-offering-up-to-256-gigabyte-gb-capacity

530 megaBYTES (not megabits) per second (MB/s) reading, up to 170 MB/s writing.

 

[Aquila]

What about UFS cards?

https://news.samsung.com/global/sam...ne-up-offering-up-to-256-gigabyte-gb-capacity

530 megaBYTES (not megabits) per second (MB/s) reading, up to 170 MB/s writing.

What about them?

 

[anon(10181084)]

I use in my overclocked Tab 2 a 32GB SanDisk card. The slot is right above the SoC, so it is frequently exposed to way over 50 degrees celsius (used my father's CAT s60 to measure that). The card was purchased last summer and the tab was OC-ed to 1420mhz @1408mV a few months later. The card is rock solid and works like a charm. It has a 7 year warranty. I am totally against the trend of not including sd slots in tablets/phones. It is up to the USER to decide where they want to store their stuff.

 

[judasmachine]

It cost them more to put it in due to license fees, etc. I think they are completely done with them. Some of us who were around for most of the Nexus era knew this painful fact a long time ago.