Future of expandable storage in phones?

[garublador]

I do, at home, but not when I spend weekends up north, where the closest building is a gasbar/convenience store about 2 hours' drive away.

What situation are you getting into where you lose the data on your phone and are forced to restore lost data while on a weekend trip up north?

What you're doing is making a straw man argument. You're not arguing with anything I'm saying, you're making up a different argument, quoting me and then arguing against the fake argument you made up. The claim was that we all "need" an SD card to back up our phone data in case of data loss. That happens very infrequently and can almost always wait to be done (or you have no choice but to wait to be done) until you have a broadband connection.

That is NOT what I wrote. I wrote that "billions of people subjected to flaky data reception and/or extremely limited data plans".

But for that to pertain to what we're talking about it would have to mean they have no access to the internet. Data plans don't matter. We're talking about restoring lost data, which can almost always be done when you have a WiFi connection. I use zero of my mobile data plan backing up data on my phone, so talking about data plans means you don't understand what we're talking about.

My phone gets a lot of bandwidth-less use. It's the ultimate deep woods cabin and camp site jukebox and video playback device. It's no tablet, but still, I read books on it. It's also what I use to keep and edit my Journal. My work hours are logged on a spreadsheet which I edit and save on the phone itself. (I don't have a regular office job). I use it to have a read out of my GPS coordinates and use it's compass. I use it to ID vegetation and birds with my botanical and birdwatchers' guides. I also have a folder with a whole bunch of recipes saved from the web, in many deferent formats, including some in video form, so I also use it for cooking. The timer on the phone is also quite sweet for cooking times. It's Notepad is a regular life saver. I also keep a few catalogs of all owned hard copy media, which avoids double purchasing of CD /DVD/ Blu-Ray. I also keep a locally stored "wanted list"; because my Amazon list can be hard to connect to Inside a big shopping center, and HMVs often have better deals than Amazon on the type of titles I like.

But how do you get all of those apps, music and books on your phone if you have no other backup but a micro SD card. For that to pertain to what we're talking about you would have a very limited data plan, no other storage/computing device and no access to WiFi. Otherwise you'd have access to backup storage that's more reliable than an SD card. Again, you can restore backed up data on a WiFi connection with no need to use a mobile data plan. All we're talking about is restoring backed up data.

From April to October, I spend my weekends camping in out-of-coverage areas. I live in a city of a 3 and a half million people on the east coast. Yet the first "No reception at all" zone I encounter is just 3 hours' drive away. On the 11 hour drive to the city where my parent met, and where 40 thousand people live, there are 3 "data blind" spots and one 2 hour "No reception at all" zone.

But there's WiFi, right? Again, the chances of needing to restore backed up data while in that situation and also without WiFi seem really slim. I travel to places without data reception as well and have never needed any backed up data. In fact, when I'm in those situations I rarely need any data that isn't media. If I did have to restore my phone in that situation I'd just have to live with listening to the radio. That seems like a lot less of a down side than permanently losing all of your data because your SD card got corrupt or broke.

 

[Haalcyon]

, using my phone to make calls is becoming quite quaint for me...a neat novelty considering its more common use as a mini tablet. I'm glad these mini tablets can still be used for that quint phone call though.

 

[dakeb]

, using my phone to make calls is becoming quite quaint for me...a neat novelty considering its more common use as a mini tablet. I'm glad these mini tablets can still be used for that quint phone call though.

It isn't a phone. If you want a phone, buy a phone. What you have is a small tablet computer that has a phone call function.



Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Haalcyon]

It isn't a phone. If you want a phone, buy a phone. What you have is a small tablet computer that has a phone call function.



Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

Very true indeed.

 

[sauce_a_poutine]

The claim was that we all "need" an SD card to back up our phone data in case of data loss

That was not my statement, it was from "TgeekB".

But, I must say... You can feel good about yourself, though. I've turned due to your clever evangelism... It's just like I said, ( And I will quote myself here ):

from this thread, I have seen the light.

Of course SD cards is for cavemen and of no use to "civilized people". Now, if you'll, excuse me, I'll get back to splintering a flint rock to make into a dagger, before my mammoth meat goes bad.

 

[anon(50597)]

That was not my statement, it was from "TgeekB".

But, I must say... You can feel good about yourself, though. I've turned due to your clever evangelism... It's just like I said, ( And I will quote myself here ):



Of course SD cards is for cavemen and of no use to "civilized people". Now, if you'll, excuse me, I'll get back to splintering a flint rock to make into a dagger, before my mammoth meat goes bad.

Actually I did not say that. I said there was choice so you can have it either way. I choose no SD card.

 

[The Hustleman]

But but but.. With the "cloud", I do have access to my entire music collection.

Posted via Android Central App

Only when online

 

[garublador]

That was not my statement, it was from "TgeekB".

That's what I was arguing was a bad idea. Then you started arguing against my points, so you were arguing for the need for an SD card as backup storage. That's how a debate works. If you were arguing some other point then why were you quoting what I said and arguing against it? That doesn't make any sense.

Of course SD cards is for cavemen and of no use to "civilized people". Now, if you'll, excuse me, I'll get back to splintering a flint rock to make into a dagger, before my mammoth meat goes bad.

I never said anything close to that. SD cards are great for storing media because of how inexpensive they are compared to internal storage. They're just a bad choice for backing up data you want to keep considering how much cloud storage you can get for free.

 

[DroidGuy1990]

If history accounts for anything....SD's cards will go away completely by this year other than Samsung's top flagships. Will be out of the radar by 2014. and by 2015 they will make the SD card slot so small and efficient with ability to triple storage on a phone, The mobile idunstry is following the late 2000's computer industry almost too a tee. Think about your personal computers. It was first nice to have 60GB of storage on that hard drive then 300GB now the average PC has I think like 500GB-1TB of storage? Smartphones will need more storage as more and more people use them to replace there last gen computing devices.

 

[mrsmumbles]

That's what I was arguing was a bad idea. Then you started arguing against my points, so you were arguing for the need for an SD card as backup storage. That's how a debate works. If you were arguing some other point then why were you quoting what I said and arguing against it? That doesn't make any sense.

I never said anything close to that. SD cards are great for storing media because of how inexpensive they are compared to internal storage. They're just a bad choice for backing up data you want to keep considering how much cloud storage you can get for free.

But how long is it going to take me to upload to a cloud over 50GB with a 1.5Mbps uplink?...

Sent from my LG870 via Tapatalk 2

 

[garublador]

But how long is it going to take me to upload to a cloud over 50GB with a 1.5Mbps uplink?...

Sent from my LG870 via Tapatalk 2

How did it take you to get 50GB of data on your phone in the first place? For me, a vast majority of what's on my phone is songs that I downloaded from my PC. No need to back that up to a cloud, I have it on my PC, on a removable drive and I either have the hard copies or I can just re-download it from iTunes or Amazon. My pictures get uploaded to Dropbox each time I connect to WiFi, so it's only a few at a time. The rest is automatically synced at night while I'm sleeping so even if it takes 7 hours it doesn't affect me (it's probably just a few minutes each time.)

 

[garublador]

If history accounts for anything....SD's cards will go away completely by this year other than Samsung's top flagships.

We're almost there, now.

I believe that getting rid of the SD slot is premature until 64GB versions of each flagship is available to most customers, but I agree that the SD slot will likely go away eventually. The size of internal memory in phones has sort of hit a plateau in the last year or so, and they're charging a ridiculous premium for internal storage in some cases ($100 extra for a $20 part that doesn't require any engineering to change), so I think it might be hard to predict when 64GB+ phones will be the norm, but it will happen. The big advantage to SD cards is that it's an inexpensive way to add storage to your phone, not that they're removable. Plus, the cost of eMMC's will likely go down, but the cost of adding a SD slot will remain the same. It will eventually be cheaper to add an additional, large eMMC than it will be to add a uSD slot. Once phone have "enough" storage the demand for SD card slots will drop off significantly and it will be very difficult for OEM's to justify including them in their design.

 

[DroidGuy1990]

We're almost there, now.

I believe that getting rid of the SD slot is premature until 64GB versions of each flagship is available to most customers, but I agree that the SD slot will likely go away eventually. The size of internal memory in phones has sort of hit a plateau in the last year or so, and they're charging a ridiculous premium for internal storage in some cases ($100 extra for a $20 part that doesn't require any engineering to change), so I think it might be hard to predict when 64GB+ phones will be the norm, but it will happen. The big advantage to SD cards is that it's an inexpensive way to add storage to your phone, not that they're removable. Plus, the cost of eMMC's will likely go down, but the cost of adding a SD slot will remain the same. It will eventually be cheaper to add an additional, large eMMC than it will be to add a uSD slot. Once phone have "enough" storage the demand for SD card slots will drop off significantly and it will be very difficult for OEM's to justify including them in their design.

You are completely right.

 

[mrsmumbles]

Garublador said:
"How did it take you to get 50GB of data on your phone in the first place? For me, a vast majority of what's on my phone is songs that I downloaded from my PC. No need to back that up to a cloud, I have it on my PC, on a removable drive and I either have the hard copies or I can just re-download it from iTunes or Amazon. My pictures get uploaded to Dropbox each time I connect to WiFi, so it's only a few at a time. The rest is automatically synced at night while I'm sleeping so even if it takes 7 hours it doesn't affect me (it's probably just a few minutes each time.)"

Again, you're fortunate: you have both a working computer and a regular schedule/life.

I now have 15 MB downlink. So obviously it's going to be easier to fill a card up than to back it up by uploading to a cloud with my 1.5 MB uplink.

Sent from my LG870 via Tapatalk 2

 

[Ry]

If history accounts for anything....SD's cards will go away completely by this year other than Samsung's top flagships. Will be out of the radar by 2014. and by 2015 they will make the SD card slot so small and efficient with ability to triple storage on a phone, The mobile idunstry is following the late 2000's computer industry almost too a tee. Think about your personal computers. It was first nice to have 60GB of storage on that hard drive then 300GB now the average PC has I think like 500GB-1TB of storage? Smartphones will need more storage as more and more people use them to replace there last gen computing devices.

Sony will probably keep supporting them too.

 

[Ry]

- Flagship smartphones usually cost $500 to $800. However, there are devices that cost less than that that still support SD cards.
- OEMs like Samsung and Sony still support SD cards on their flagship device, likely because they make SD cards.
- Samsung and Sony aren't the only OEMs that offer smartphones with SD card support.
- The Nexus line hasn't supported SD cards since the Nexus One, and even then the Nexus One was sold at a "normal" smartphone price.
- A licensing/royalty fee is likely paid to Microsoft if a device supports SD cards.
- Don't count on Google's Nexus line or even Motorola's future phones for SD card support.
- There is no perfect phone for all.

 

[Haalcyon]

- Flagship smartphones usually cost $500 to $800. However, there are devices that cost less than that that still support SD cards.
- OEMs like Samsung and Sony still support SD cards on their flagship device, likely because they make SD cards.
- Samsung and Sony aren't the only OEMs that offer smartphones with SD card support.
- The Nexus line hasn't supported SD cards since the Nexus One, and even then the Nexus One was sold at a "normal" smartphone price.
- A licensing/royalty fee is likely paid to Microsoft if a device supports SD cards.
- Don't count on Google's Nexus line or even Motorola's future phones for SD card support.
- There is no perfect phone for all.

Three words (or two and a letter): Optimus G Pro ($440)

g2 cm10.2

 

[Ry]

Three words (or two and a letter): Optimus G Pro ($440)

g2 cm10.2

+ tax? haha.

Was it always that price? With the G2 out now, some may argue that the G Pro isn't the "current" flagship.

Samsung = Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3
HTC = One
LG = G2
Sony = Xperia Z1 (?)

Google = Nexus 5
Motorola = Moto X

 

[Haalcyon]

+ tax? haha.

Was it always that price? With the G2 out now, some may argue that the G Pro isn't the "current" flagship.

Samsung = Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3
HTC = One
LG = G2
Sony = Xperia Z1 (?)

Google = Nexus 5
Motorola = Moto X

The G Pro isn't the flagship at all but is still great bang for the buck. I'm not sure why AT&T didn't charge me tax but I'm not complaining (nor did I question them on it). The G2 has noticably better battery life but otherwise the G Pro is a great phone and runs CM10.2 with aplomb.

g2 cm10.2

 

[garublador]

Again, you're fortunate: you have both a working computer and a regular schedule/life.

I now have 15 MB downlink. So obviously it's going to be easier to fill a card up than to back it up by uploading to a cloud with my 1.5 MB uplink.

So how did you get all of that data on your card without it being already backed up somewhere else? What happens if your phone gets stolen, lost or destroyed? One point I haven't made yet is that keeping your backup directly on your mobile device is the most terrible place possible. A backup that has the chance of being lost or destroyed at the same time as your main source isn't going to be very useful for many of the failure cases.