Good article on why Samsung (and other companies) are getting rid of MicroSD Cards

[wvtarheel]

Even if doze isn't that big of a deal, the wireless charging revolution is going to drastically change the battery situation for many many people. Sure there will be individuals whose jobs take them away from a desk and away from a car. People like that will need a swappable battery OR a bigger battery like the S6 active, the droid max, etc. But for many users, anywhere you set your phone is going to charge it.

And my point is not that you shouldn't get mad. I was a little upset too because I enjoy my swappable battery. My point is that this is the future of technology and until there is a big change in battery tech, this is how mobile devices will function.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Know what's the real charging revolution for me?

When your phone can harness the power of the sun to last practically forever as long as you have sunlight and enough charge for the night.

If someone can do that, I'll wave goodbye to my box of microUSB cables! xD

 

[davem2421]

what cracks me up is the iphone has never had SD card storage and nobody cares yet samsung moves in that direction and they aren't listening to the customers and on the losing side. I for one, don't really care, with SD cards comes another point of failure. yeah I may have more "local" storage but what happens when that SD card crashes? it happens.... also, people don't realize that you can't put a cheap SD card in a device and expect it to run smoothly that then gives the impression that there is something wrong with the phone when trying to access pictures from the SD card and it's taking longer than normal.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

what cracks me up is the iphone has never had SD card storage and nobody cares yet samsung moves in that direction and they aren't listening to the customers and on the losing side. I for one, don't really care, with SD cards comes another point of failure. yeah I may have more "local" storage but what happens when that SD card crashes? it happens.... also, people don't realize that you can't put a cheap SD card in a device and expect it to run smoothly that then gives the impression that there is something wrong with the phone when trying to access pictures from the SD card and it's taking longer than normal.

Anyone who uses any form of storage should know that you should ALWAYS make backups. ALWAYS.

Either on another SD card, an external hard-drive, your PC or the cloud. If your phone takes a swim, that SD card fails or whatever tragedy happens to your phone, you're gonna want a backup.

I use a Class 10 UHS-I 128GB SanDisk Ultra on my LG G4 and have yet to experience any slowdowns. Just something to point out.

 

[Rocketman88]

I don't mind having the cloud as an option, I do, however resent being forced to use nothing but the cloud. One, it uses data, something that most of us have to pay for. Two, if I am either on a flight, or someplace else where my data connection is weak, I cannot access the cloud. My movies and such that I store on my SD are with me wherever I am, whenever I want them, with no buffer delays, no having to to stream it and burn up my data plan.

So, yes, the cloud is awesome, and I have a huge harddrive at my house I have cloud access to, but I prefer to not be forced into using it. It would be like buying a car, and this years new, improved model only has 2 gallons of fuel in it, but the manuacturer tells me, it's awesome, and rememeber, you can always just stop and keep refilling the gas tank.

 

[MDMcAtee]

I have gone back and forth on this issue because I love my sd card and swapping batteries just like all of you.

However, the people demanding these features stay in the phones aren't "power users," they are just afraid of change. I had the same feelings and only through a lot of introspection did I realize I was being silly by being upset that these features were gone.

Wireless quick charging available in all your furniture at home, at work, your car, and public spaces is coming fast. Android doze will increase your pocket time immensely. Free WiFi everywhere is almost a reality in the usa. Cloud storage works fine if you have free WiFi.

Samsung's cellular business is based on great hardware and innovation. The Note 5 is continuing that trend, but it is doing it by cutting features from yesterday. Does it **** me off? Yeah, I have 30 gb of video on my sd card and nowhere to put it except the cloud. But that is how all phones will store most data in ten years or less. You might as well get on board now

Posted via the Android Central App

I'm not afraid of change when it comes to removable batteries and SD cards.

I had the m8 prior to my Active.

What I can tell you is even with a bigger battery and the largest amount of internal memory, it still isn't as acceptable as a large removable battery and a 128 gig SD card.

It's about settling for most people. I am not alright in this because I am not 100 % satisfied with my devices, I am getting by until one can fulfill my needs with the latest and best technology on board for me. I chose the Active because it is a ruggedized phone that I need,that doesn't mean I would chose it if these needs weren't there.

The reason why most people are upset is because Samsung gimped the phone for many people's needs,and aren't releasing it in Europe now.

I am sure folks can get by with the n5, but why should they have to just get by?

The Notes have always been the best at giving power users the top of the line equipment in a complete package, and now someone has convinced them to take the line in a 180 degree shift to mimic Apple's iPhone and they are going to find out just how fickle Android users really are. They don't have Apple's herds waiting to gobble up everything Apple produces. A Note regardless of what some think of it is not and never will be a viable substitute for a iPhone to the Apple herd .

Again this misguided attempt to make the Note a s6 with a pen a failure to understand just how loyal Apple's fanbase really is, and mad the majority of long time Note users really are.

When you strip away features that propelled the phone's acceptance you alienate the core users and they will seek out other phones to fulfill their needs and wants.

Posted from my Samsung S6 Active

 

[Dr Claw]

The mobile market in the U.S. is probably one of the most technologically advanced, and in the U.S. soon im sure will be a mostly wireless country

L O L

When this happens, pigs will actually fly. I actually think the U.S. mobile market, with its clinging to CDMA technology among other things, is behind the rest of the world. Not to mention the whole "carrier" dynamic, while it gets more phones into more hands, also gets in the way of a phone manufacturer's ability to deliver bugfixes and system updates, with all the bootloader locking and bloatware.

If the U.S. was getting ubiquitous wifi as soon as this comment made it sound, there wouldn't be as much moaning over the move to an Apple-ish "planned obsolescence" model for many Android phones. And the anxiety of streaming over "having actual physical media" wouldn't be a thing, either.

U.S. mobile market is frankly trying to shoehorn all the customers into their new "manufactured scarcity" revenue-generating model, and the pushback is warranted IMO.

 

[sup3r1or]

Internal memory is always going to be faster than SD. I havent used SD since Galaxy S2 and I never had any issues. I rather be lag free

 

[Carrtman]

Was only a matter of time till Samsung would get their PR lied, viral marketers and hardcore fanboys up to speed.

I couldn't care less about wireless charging and to be honest I think wired charging is more convenient because I can still use my phone while it gets charged. I'm also sick of hearing about the cloud it's not an option period . If people value privacy and the ability to not being online all the time the cloud isn't an option. I don't care if some company offers me 100 terabyte for 1 buck I still wouldn't use it.

Google can go [language removed] itself if they think people will stop using sd cards there will always be a fix see Kit Kat.

Samsung is alienating their productivity users by making the note 5 a bigger s6. The s5 didn't sell well because it was only a marginal upgrade would they had released the s5 prime as the s5 the story would have been different.

Looks like the note 4 will be my last Samsung device if they want to go the sheep road so be it but that's not why I've decided to buy their pricey products at first. I also have to laugh about the notion that their tv's are top quality no they aren't if I'm looking for a non spying premium TV I'd go Loewe, Panasonic or Bank and Olufsen but for sure not Samsung or LG.

All Samsung has accomplished this year is pissing of their loyal customers and losing them while at the same time not getting the Apple locals...reminds me a bit of BlackBerry abandoning os7 for an inferior bb10 lol

 

[GrooveRite]

Internal memory is always going to be faster than SD. I havent used SD since Galaxy S2 and I never had any issues. I rather be lag free

I'd rather not depend on cloud or using data that is capped with my service. SD card is essential for my use!

 

[lanmansa]

It all makes sense, except when my Galaxy S4 keeps telling me I am running out of storage space and I can't update or install any apps. I have to keep uninstalling stuff and clearing cache just to make space for something. Until they offer me 64GB as the BASE model for phone storage built-in, I'm not having any of that no-sd card nonsense.

 

[mavrrick]

The biggest killer to SD cards are the cheap knock of fake cards that are out there. They are everywhere and I have a feeling cause almost all of the poor perception of SD cards.

As far as apple is concerned, think about what sizes they have. I think even the first iPhone had a 64GB option. Not long ago they up'd the cap to 128 GB of storage. It wasn't until recently with SD card advances that other phones have been able to exceed their capacity. I have a co-worker that had the original iphone. He kept his legacy ipod forever because of capacity. So it is a bit of a illusion to think capacity isn't a problem for them to.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[johnmcd348]

I have gone back and forth on this issue because I love my sd card and swapping batteries just like all of you.

However, the people demanding these features stay in the phones aren't "power users," they are just afraid of change. I had the same feelings and only through a lot of introspection did I realize I was being silly by being upset that these features were gone.

Wireless quick charging available in all your furniture at home, at work, your car, and public spaces is coming fast. Android doze will increase your pocket time immensely. Free WiFi everywhere is almost a reality in the usa. Cloud storage works fine if you have free WiFi.

Samsung's cellular business is based on great hardware and innovation. The Note 5 is continuing that trend, but it is doing it by cutting features from yesterday. Does it **** me off? Yeah, I have 30 gb of video on my sd card and nowhere to put it except the cloud. But that is how all phones will store most data in ten years or less. You might as well get on board now

That's what made me decide to go ahead and get the Note5 to replace my NOte2. After I took off a lot of the frivolous stuff of my phone and moved things like the myriad of useless photos taken, I still had 6gb of free internal storage and only used about 9gb of the 59.4gb available on my MicorSD card.

I decided to at least, give it a try. I come from the days when a 10mb(MEGAByte) hard drive was around $3-500 and what was stored was, sometimes, quite selective. We didn't have large music files and videos, they were mostly programs(written with an eye to economy of code) and spreadsheets and documents.

But, as storage got larger and cheaper, things began getting sloppy.

I'm going to give teh Note5 a year to see how I do with it and if need be, I'll go to the Note4 so I can get some of those option back. Unless Samsung and Android changes their minds and we get SD support back again. I don't rely on the cloud. I've been burned WAY TOO MANY TIMES in the past, waiting on a file I have stored there to load on my phone.

Try waiting on a Program form to load for your T-Ball team with a lot of mad T-Ball Moms staring at you and your phone while it says: Waiting on file to load........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

File not found.

And it's a file you really need RIGHT NOW.

I don't trust the cloud with things I know I'll need but things I might want later, I have no problem with. That's why I like Lots of storage.

 

[Bishop_99]

Re: Or they may find they made a mistake, and lose a market share.

I agree there are many choices of large phones without the S pen and all it can do. The point I was making is that Samsung has listened to the hardcore gamer, movie fan, and social media aficionado and created a high end phone with cutting edge hardware and software to address this audience. Likewise they have created an improved phone for the (for want of a better descriptor) enterprise business power user who needs a device to get professional and business work done without the need of a separate device and the "road warrior" bag full of accessories for power and connection.
So yes, if you don't want/need cutting edge technology in hardware and software then there are a number of choices.

Hard to say they have, when it's really just a larger GS6 with an extra GB of RAM. Everything else remains the same and it is getting a limited release. The Note 4 has more features than the Note 5. Not so say that the technology used on the GS6 wasn't high end, just that the GPU and CPU weren't leaps and bounds better than the CPU and GPU of the S805. Edit a video or finish up some quick work on Photoshop, and the Note 5 is only going to finish slightly quicker than the Note 4. The same limitations are still present, they may be improved with the next SoC though. The Note 5 just seems like an after thought to the GS6 Edge+, all about the design and a really limited release.

I really don't think a "hardcore gamer" would use their phone as a real gaming device, just a mobile device to play a quick game when they are out. Same way that a movie enthusiastic wouldn't choose to see a movie on their phone, over their home movie set up. Mainly to see their movies when they are out on long trips. It is a great device for a big time social media fan though. But even for professional users, the Note 4/5 is a great device to get something done quickly, but it doesn't match the power of a computer, it still has a long way to go.

Which still leads me to believe that a good portion of the Note users, aren't really power users, they mainly bought it for the larger screen. Had that not been the case, I don't think we would have seen sales remain even between the Note 3 and 4, once Apple released their phablet. Sales were on the rise with every Note series until the Note 4 had the competition of the iPhone 6+. Now Samsung switched it up to it being all about the design and removing key features of the Note, and they are further alienating some of the long time Note fans.

We'll see how it all plays out for Samsung though when the Note 5 and GS6 Edge + has to go up against the competition this fourth Quarter.

 

[Funkadelick#AC]

Worst article ever. It really doesn't matter if it's 5G or a 10000000G --- the speeds of wireless connectivity has nothing to do with why people want microSD cards. The main reason is because of storage (music, apps, pics, videos) --- you say speeds are getting faster ? Well until data costs from carriers drop DRAMATICALLY then what's the point ? Are people going to take a 300 MB video then upload it to the "cloud" ?? that will cost alot of money per data charges. Not everyone has wireless.

 

[wvtarheel]

If you need your SD card because you can't afford data charges and don't have wireless internet, then a flagship, top of the line smartphone is probably not where you need to invest your money. Wait three months to buy it, and use the money you save over that three months to buy a wifi router. Welcome to ten years ago.

This is exactly the point I was trying to make in my post before about people claiming they want "power user" features when they are stuck in the past, asking for the same features as the note 4 when the rest of the mobile universe (among top of the line phones anyway) is moving away from these outdated technologies. Get a wifi router, my grandma had one ten years ago, it might be time for you to get with the times instead of complaining that Samsung won't cater to your taste for outdated technology.

 

[Carrtman]

If you need your SD card because you can't afford data charges and don't have wireless internet, then a flagship, top of the line smartphone is probably not where you need to invest your money. Wait three months to buy it, and use the money you save over that three months to buy a wifi router. Welcome to ten years ago.

This is exactly the point I was trying to make in my post before about people claiming they want "power user" features when they are stuck in the past, asking for the same features as the note 4 when the rest of the mobile universe (among top of the line phones anyway) is moving away from these outdated technologies. Get a wifi router, my grandma had one ten years ago, it might be time for you to get with the times instead of complaining that Samsung won't cater to your taste for outdated technology.

All postings since the note 5 introduction and only trying to derail the thread with pro Samsung arguments.I thought after getting caught with the s6 and the hired marketers Samsung would do a better job this time guess I was wrong again.

It might be time for your bosses to stop acting like Apple and get back to the stuff that made them famous. I.e top end phones with more functions than everyone else.

 

[TechGod2014]

what cracks me up is the iphone has never had SD card storage and nobody cares yet samsung moves in that direction and they aren't listening to the customers and on the losing side. I for one, don't really care, with SD cards comes another point of failure. yeah I may have more "local" storage but what happens when that SD card crashes? it happens.... also, people don't realize that you can't put a cheap SD card in a device and expect it to run smoothly that then gives the impression that there is something wrong with the phone when trying to access pictures from the SD card and it's taking longer than normal.

Only problem is that this is not an iPhone forum, so you're not gonna get much sympathizers over here with that theory.
A lot of people left apple and purchased a Sammy phone for more options. If Samsung is going to get rid of these options, don't lie to us and expect us to be happy about it.
An SD card slot isn't a hard thing to add in a phone. I have a tablet that uses the same Sim port for an SD card slot. Space isn't the problem. They're just being greedy. I can live without the removable battery if the phone supports fast charging, but making me pay more for storage is straight up bull. Another problem is that they take away these options and instead of dropping the price of the phone they hike it up. I guess less is more $$$. Smh.

 

[recDNA]

Bottom line is nobody is hurt by options like fm radio, sd card, or ir blaster. Some phones can squeeze a bigger battery in by making it nonremovable but Sammy put in nonremovable battery with LESS mAh. You don't like those features? Fine. Don't use them! Ignore them and freeze the aps that use them!

It is crazy to argue the phone is "better" because it has fewer features. Heck, Sammy didn't even make it cheaper let alone better!

 

[syspry]

The real reason SD cards are disappearing is because it's much easier for the Machine AI Overmind to program us all wirelessly when it takes over Skynet.