Here's Why No SD Card!

[TuxDotKing]

I don't buy into the reason stated in this thread as to why there's no memory card. There are countless other android phones that had unique hardware circumstances that the nexus one dev phone did not have, such as front camera for video calling, fm radio, etc. Making a device with a limitation like this just to test one little code function hook into the OS is not how these things work and that's not why Samsung excluded memory card. There are plenty of ways to develop for and test a function.

Trust me, it's mostly data transfer speeds, pure and simple. You'd be surprised how much of a speed boost simple things like that can give a device. Of course, I think that SDK function is a part of it too.

Also, Samsung didn't exclude an SD card. Google did. Everything about the Nexus S was chosen by Google, even the Galaxy S-esque shell recieved modifications at Google's request.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Trust me, it's mostly data transfer speeds, pure and simple. You'd be surprised how much of a speed boost simple things like that can give a device. Of course, I think that SDK function is a part of it too.

Also, Samsung didn't exclude an SD card. Google did. Everything about the Nexus S was chosen by Google, even the Galaxy S-esque shell recieved modifications at Google's request.

Yep -- exactly right. Google made virtually every decision about the Nexus S, much like they did with the Nexus One. Samsung just manufactured it to Googles specifications. Trust me when I say everything about this phone is Google, from the OS right down to design decisions and hardware.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

I have a feeling that Nexus S will turn out to be a bigger flop than Nexus One.

I am so tired of reading people call the Nexus One a flop. For it to be a flop we would need to know what Google intended. They never really told us, so we are left to guess.

From the way it was marketed (online only) it is pretty clear that they never intended it to be a mass market device. The Nexus was a Dev phone that was also publicly available, nothing more; and comparing the the sales of the N1 to that of say the Moto Droid, Droid Incredible, or EVO is stupid and hardly fair given that all of those phones had full marketing support from their carriers across all mediums (print, tv, online).

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

All people look at are sales numbers these days. Suddenly because the N1 didn't sell a million units it's a flop. If Google doesn't consider it a flop, I don't think it's anyone else's business calling it a flop...

 

[YourMobileGuru]

All people look at are sales numbers these days. Suddenly because the N1 didn't sell a million units it's a flop. If Google doesn't consider it a flop, I don't think it's anyone else's business calling it a flop...

AMEN Brother!

 

[DroidXcon]

So i listening to Engadgets recent podcast and they said that google is trying to distance themselves from Micro SD because of the hardware problems produced with them and google would rather keep away from using them.. if you read the forums this sounds like a viable explanation. i have read alot about people having problems with formatting and cards unmounting on their own along with other problems.

i guess this is googles way of saying , this is the type of hardware configuration works best with what they have designed over at google.

Perhaps like they mentioned in the podcast future phones will have more highspeed onboard storage.

Please don't attack me on this im just repeating what i heard and throwing out some ideas into the tank.

 

[ragnarokx]

Nobody's going to attack you - this is a friendly forum, and I'm here to make sure it stays that way.

New ideas and information is always welcome.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

So i listening to Engadgets recent podcast and they said that google is trying to distance themselves from Micro SD because of the hardware problems produced with them and google would rather keep away from using them..

Except it really isn't up to Google, it's up to hardware manufacturers to include SD cards or not and if they remove SD card support from Android (which remember is open source and infinitely customizable) they run the risk of having OEM's write their own (non standardized) code to make it work because, let's face it, the general public wants an easy way to add and remove files and to expand the memory of the device. It also seems to fly in the face of what they are already doing? If they want to eliminate SD cards then why did they add Apps2SD in Froyo?

Relax, no one is yelling at anyone, just friendly debate

EDIT: Oh and I think that the issues people are having with SD cards has more to do with the cheapie class 2 SD cards they give away with phones (and most places sell) than with Android itself.

 

[DroidXcon]

Except it really isn't up to Google, it's up to hardware manufacturers to include SD cards or not and if they remove SD card support from Android (which remember is open source and infinitely customizable) they run the risk of having OEM's write their own (non standardized) code to make it work because, let's face it, the general public wants an easy way to add and remove files and to expand the memory of the device. It also seems to fly in the face of what they are already doing? If they want to eliminate SD cards then why did they add Apps2SD in Froyo?

Relax, no one is yelling at anyone, just friendly debate

EDIT: Oh and I think that the issues people are having with SD cards has more to do with the cheapie class 2 SD cards they give away with phones (and most places sell) than with Android itself.

Its not upto the manufacturer what goes into the phone they just use their materials, google would not say , hey samsung make a phone and slap the name nexus on it. Samsung made what they were asked to make...the arguement can be made based on the fact that all the galaxy phones have removeable cards

As for the Apps2SD if you noticed that was not an option before Froyo. then google decided to support the hardware that was already out there, this most likely cause more problems then they anticipated and most likely they would rather not do this but the fact of the matter is that manufactures make the devices they want and they are using this feature so google supports it even though they dont want to . Hence in their iteration of their baseline android device they left this out of it.

And yes def a cheapie SD card issue i agree

And thanks

 

[YourMobileGuru]

The only phones that Google has any say on are those in the Nexus series, so the Nexus One and Nexus S are the only ones your argument holds water for.

Google does not have to approve any other Android phones (ie the Galaxy S series or Droid series). Android is open source and OEM's can do whatever they want with it, put it on any phone they want and modify Android itself any way they want to make it work with their devices. You know the Samsung Continuum right? It has the interesting "ticker" screen which no other Android phone has (yet). Samsung had to write code to make that work and it is highly likely that OEM's would write code to make SD cards work even if Google removed it from Android (or more likely they would simply life the code from a previous version of Android and update it to make it work with the newest version).

OEM's do NOT want to have to add more memory to their phones, it is easier and cheaper for them to give you a free 8GB MicroSD card (which they probably paid $4 for because they bought them in bulk) than for them to increase the internal memory.

I don't think you are giving Google enough credit. What is going into the various initiations of Android is planned months in advance and I think it unlikely that they would add a feature like Apps2SD only to remove it later. Some developers on Googles team may like the idea of not having to deal with SD cards anymore but I have serious doubts that they would shoot themselves in the foot like that with OEM's.

And it's no problem

 

[DroidXcon]

The only phones that Google has any say on are those in the Nexus series, so the Nexus One and Nexus S are the only ones your argument holds water for.

Google does not have to approve any other Android phones (ie the Galaxy S series or Droid series). Android is open source and OEM's can do whatever they want with it, put it on any phone they want and modify Android itself any way they want to make it work with their devices. You know the Samsung Continuum right? It has the interesting "ticker" screen which no other Android phone has (yet). Samsung had to write code to make that work and it is highly likely that OEM's would write code to make SD cards work even if Google removed it from Android (or more likely they would simply life the code from a previous version of Android and update it to make it work with the newest version).

OEM's do NOT want to have to add more memory to their phones, it is easier and cheaper for them to give you a free 8GB MicroSD card (which they probably paid $4 for because they bought them in bulk) than for them to increase the internal memory.

I don't think you are giving Google enough credit. What is going into the various initiations of Android is planned months in advance and I think it unlikely that they would add a feature like Apps2SD only to remove it later. Some developers on Googles team may like the idea of not having to deal with SD cards anymore but I have serious doubts that they would shoot themselves in the foot like that with OEM's.

And it's no problem

Well my point is all theory im sure the truth is somewhere in the middle of all our arguements... or something we have not even thought of. what i said was a theory built on what engadget says, and im not saying they know all but they are usually a little ahead of the curve as far as info is concerned. Perhaps time will tell , or with google sometimes it tells nothing i.e N1 for verizon. lol

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Well my point is all theory im sure the truth is somewhere in the middle of all our arguements... or something we have not even thought of. what i said was a theory built on what engadget says, and im not saying they know all but they are usually a little ahead of the curve as far as info is concerned. Perhaps time will tell , or with google sometimes it tells nothing i.e N1 for verizon. lol

Oh I know don't worry about it

Engaged is also an AppleHugger blog and in that regard somewhat biased toward the fruit company and their way of thinking. They no doubt thing this would be a good move for Android (i.e. copying Apple).

And as for the N1 for VZW, Google did their part, Verizon simply rejected the device because they had the DI already in the pipe and they were so similar. Sucks too I wanted one so badly! :-(

 

[nyc_rock]

I think this phone serves a much different purpose than the nexus 1. First and foremost, people are becoming more and more aware of the delays in Software updates when they buy an Android device with some custom UI.
Second, these custom UI's are not any better, and in many cases worse than stock Android. I think Google see's and advantage here over the LG's, Samsung and HTC's of the world by marketing the "true" google experience.
Non removable storage seems to be a trend for some reason. The iphone does it that way, so does Palm and Windows is the latest. I think it blows, but it does seem to be a trend.

 

[RayStinkle]

Trust me, it's mostly data transfer speeds, pure and simple. You'd be surprised how much of a speed boost simple things like that can give a device. Of course, I think that SDK function is a part of it too.

Also, Samsung didn't exclude an SD card. Google did. Everything about the Nexus S was chosen by Google, even the Galaxy S-esque shell recieved modifications at Google's request.

right but then following that logic, there's no reason why both cant exist on one device, which many devices actually have both internal mass storage with additional SD card slot. i was just arguing against the reason quoted as "needing to test onRemovableStorageIsPresent" as the reason for not having a memory card slot. if that was the way software dev worked, then the google dev phone would always have to have front facing camera, fm radio, etc because those things need testing too. how will the developers test the isFMRadioPresent hook on the nexus S? lol just joshing