UFS 2.0 and SD cards (NOT A RANT)

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Okay, remember that one thread I made a while back where I said that the GS6 and Note 5 don't have SD card slots simply because the UFS memory controller doesn't support them?

I stand corrected.

I was reading up on the Meizu Pro 5 (which has identical hardware to the S6 and Note 5 like an Exynos 7420 and UFS 2.0) and it, somehow, DOES have a microSD card slot.

I'm kinda perplexed by this right now. Anyone care to explain how this is so (aside from "Samsung is being Apple" and "Trying to extort people for more storage")

 

[MDMcAtee]

How do you know that it has the exact same hardware. It may have different components bridged differently to fit it's form factors.

I'm not a electronic design engineer but I would think that this has a great deal to do with it and I also suspect that money had a great deal of bearing on the matter as well.

With the current rumors of the s7 using both Samsung and Qualcomm chips in it we will see.

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5

 

[pool_shark]

I thought I read that it wasn't a matter of not being able to support SD cards, but that performance is better without them.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

How do you know that it has the exact same hardware. It may have different components bridged differently to fit it's form factors.

Well, I did say "identical". iDK which is better to use. "Similar"?

 

[MDMcAtee]

Well, I did say "identical". iDK which is better to use. "Similar"?

Much better

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Much better

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5

Heh, thanks.

I'm starting to think Meizu might have added a second memory controller for the SD card

Here lies the "2016 Flagship Killer". It got slayed by 2015 flagships like the LG G4 being used to post this.

 

[BarryH_GEG]

It's quite simple actually.

Adding an SD card, especially one of questionable speed and quality, as a secondary storage mechanism is going to slow down file access on two counts. First, the UI and apps are going to have to query whether or not an SD card is present and potentially read it if there's a need to display file lists or content choices to the user. Second and what's probably behind Google, Apple, and now Samsung's decision to not allow SD card access is to prevent those cards which are the lowest common denominator from slowing the system down. Look at this chart and consider something I/O intensive like gaming or pic access which are normally what end up on SD cards. They'd slow things to a crawl making UFS vs. eMMC irrelevant.

The second is economic. The difference in cost to Samsung between 32GB<>64GB is $10 and they're selling the upgrade for $100. They want you to buy-up to increase their profit margin. No one in their right mind would buy a 16GB iPhone and Apple knows that. So for 90+% of purchasers the real selling price is $100 more than what's advertised. Such is capitalism and neither Samsung or Apple are altruistic.

 

[ccpopham]

Another reason I had read is the prevalence of cloud storage now. Cloud storage is getting better every day and the ability to open a file on my phone and a minute later open the same file on my tablet or windows pc is so much better than an SD card. SD cards are slower and fading a way as the old floppy disks once did. Expensive cameras that use very expensive fast SD card now almost always come with a dual SD card and offer to use the second SD card as a mirror backup of the first card.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[nahoku]

SD cards are slower and fading a way as the old floppy disks once did.

This won't happen anytime soon. SD's are definitely slower than UFS, but every digital and video camera nowadays use SD. Until Canon, Panasonic, Sony, GoPro, etc changes to internal memory, SD cards will be around for a long time.

 

[ccpopham]

They also used film and video tape not long ago too and that tech faded incredibly fast. It may not stick around as long as you may think.

 

[MDMcAtee]

They also used film and video tape not long ago too and that tech faded incredibly fast. It may not stick around as long as you may think.

SD cards are improving and getting larger. Right now we can use up to 2 TB on Android... I don't think they will be going away any time soon.

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

While those are good points, I don't think the humble SD card will be going away anytime soon.

It's still a relatively low-cost and simple way to add more storage for things like music, video and pictures to your phone or tablet.

SD cards are improving in performance and storage capacity. Of course, they'll never match the speeds of eMMC 5.0 and UFS 2.0 (or maybe they will someday?), but for 4K video recording and all that, Class 10 SD cards are capable. Of course, I would never recommend installing apps onto the SD card, for the sole reason of speed.

Also, I'm not sure if it's just me, but I currently have a 128GB Class 10 UHS-I SanDisk Ultra SD card in my LG G4 and it doesn't seem to have any effect on performance. It's still as fast as ever. Yeah, it doesn't have UFS, but I haven't tested an SD card with a UFS-equipped phone yet.

 

[nahoku]

film and video tape not long ago too and that tech faded incredibly fast

I wouldn't call it incredibly fast by any means. Wiki's state film was invented in the late 1800's and magnetic tape was invented in 1933. That means film technology, still in use today, is 145 years old, and magnetic tape, also still in use, is 82 years old. SD tech is relatively young by comparison.