Tiered data + ridiculously low on board storage + no micro SD support= Gouging
I was very excited to order this device. I was half way through the order when it dawned on me to check the storage specs. Sure enough, there it was. 16 GB on board, no sd support. This seems to be an increasing trend (think the one series). It seems to me carriers have quite an incentive to limit device storage to force users to use cloud/ streaming services and thus rack up excessive data charges. This is really a sad state of affairs.
I guess i'll go with the One x+, at least it has adequate storage.
No. I don't buy it. Too many other high end Android devices have SD Card slots to seriously convince yourself that carriers are trying to gouge customers by making one manufacturer omit SD Card slots in their flagship phones. It makes literally no sense whatsoever.
Samsung's Galaxy Series phones all had SD Card slots. Sony Xperia phones have SD Card Slots. Motorola's phones have SD Card slots. LG's phones have SD Card slots. Even cheap Pantech phones have SD Card slots. Blackberries have them, too.
It makes no sense to blame Verizon or AT&T (or any other carrier) for HTC not putting that in their phone. I doubt a carrier would have that taken out. It makes no sense.
I applaud HTC for going with better designs and built materials, but they have put themselves in a position where they are forcing themselves to make concessions that simply are not consumer friendly in their devices. What Sony did with the ion (put the SIM and SD Card under a compartment up top) is way more practical than what HTC did with the One X and some other devices while still delivering a high build quality and durability.
Additionally, consumers have themselves to blame for these issues as well. The obsession with thin and light is getting out of control and it's a real issue that OEMs and carriers are having trouble dealing with with some devices.
This "trend" only exists with Windows Phones (which until WP8 didn't support SD Cards officially) and HTC Devices since the One Series was debut. It isn't even approaching becoming an industry-wide trend, even among the carriers. Even for WP8, Nokia made sure to put 32GB storage while HTC put only 16GB in their (8X) device, IIRC. Surprised?