Future of expandable storage in phones?

[mrsmumbles]

How much data does say an album take (10) tracks or so, Over 3G etc?

It depends but if you compress the music enough but not too much maybe 100 to 160 mgs. (If the album is roughly 45 to 60 minutes long.)

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[mrsmumbles]

You're right, having one device that can multitask as several devices is just overkill. Who really needs fancy iPods and smartphones to play music on anyways? I still have a 1985 500w boombox that I carry on my shoulder to listen to music on. All of my cassettes and compac discs I keep in my backpack so I can change songs in a matter of minutes. Screw internal storage capacity, oldschool external storage is the way to go.

Lol! I sure wish I had my stereo and vinyl here. I have so much music and it's all in storage and on my nonworking computer.

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[Ry]

The amount of storage that's "necessary" is enough to hold someone's entire music library. Having to decide what music to bring along with you is a concept that should be dead now. We have the technology to allow most everyone to carry all the music they own with them at all times. Cost is the only reason it's not in every phone. There isn't some other logical reason not to have it, it's just too expensive for most OEM's to put 64GB eMMC's in their phones and still sell them at the right price point and coverage/data plans aren't widespread or large enough to allow everyone to stream music whenever they want.

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

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[mrsmumbles]

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

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I'm very happy for you and your awesome data coverage.

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[dakeb]

Let's get something straight. Smartphones are not just phones to make calls on. They are mini-tablet computers, and they require adequate data storage for effective portability.

Example, I have a large mp3 collection on my sd card. I also use spotify. If I'm driving I listen to music streamed over Bluetooth and need the data storage because data coverage on British roads is flaky.
I also store loads of photos and home videos on the sd card. Internal storage alone is too risky, if your phone needs a reset you lose it. Of course I also back up everything to the cloud, dropbox has 50GB free for Samsung devices.


I will never buy a phone that doesn't have at least 16GB on board and a micro sd card slot. So phones that don't have that are automatically eliminated from any upgrade search I might do.

If I switch phones I simply port my sd card to the new one. No hassle and instantaneous.

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[sauce_a_poutine]

I will never buy a phone that doesn't have at least 16GB on board and a micro sd card slot. So phones that don't have that are automatically eliminated from any upgrade search I might do

Ditto!

It seems like the typical American upper-middle class urbanites who lurk on AC forums, and the uber-wealthy Google-Geeks working on Android, don't seem to understand that there are billions of people subjected to flaky data reception and/or extremely limited data plans. Gouging people for more storage, like Apple does, seems to be what phone hardware makers are aiming for. Google encourages it to save on the royalties paid to Microsoft for SD card support. An unforeseen consequence, it seems, that those of us in big cities with generous data plans have opted for streaming services, instead. Many people had started using streaming services online at home and at work.

This puts a squeeze on users who can't stream. Data caps, pricing bad/unavailable coverage makes streaming a bad proposition for the largest part of cell users. If overpriced onboard storage becomes the only storage available on all Google devices (ie: no expansion on any Android devices), Microsoft just might become much more enticing by offering more storage or storage expansion. I, for one, will always choose expandable storage over OS. All of my phones' functions are available on Microsoft devices. I prefer Dolphin and Google maps, but other than my preference for these two apps, NOTHING is tying me to Google gear.

I don't see the day carriers will make data anymore accessible or cheaper. If I can't have all my music, pictures and home videos on my phone, and need a second device like a Sansa or Walkman to access my files without being gouged for bandwidth, I just might as well go back to a flip-phone: They are much cheaper, have much better battery life...

 

[anon(50597)]

And that's why there's choice. For those that need an SD card and those that don't.

 

[dakeb]

And that's why there's choice. For those that need an SD card and those that don't.

Everybody needs an sd card. They just don't know it yet. They will find out when their phone has to be reset and wipe their data or their cloud servers crash.

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[anon(50597)]

Everybody needs an sd card. They just don't know it yet. They will find out when their phone has to be reset and wipe their data or their cloud servers crash.

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You do know that SD cards crash too, right? I dont live in fear. I'm covered but thanks.

 

[recDNA]

Never happened to me and I've been using the same sd card for the last 3 phones. I just back it up on computer once in a while. I have unlimited data but still think cloud storage is a pita. Google is becoming more and more like Apple. They decide whats best for us. My next phone may be a windows phone.

Beamed from my Galaxy Note 3

 

[kirksucks]

They want everything on the cloud now which is not a horrible way to go. It's very forward thinking. But unfortunately, as with everything service providers do they have rendered streaming from the cloud useless by simultaneously getting rid of unlimited data plans.

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[Jay Sacks]

Hold on to your sd cards. Unlimited plans will not be around forever. Wifi seems cheap now...but wait until your isp starts monitoring your data usage. Once that happens watch for wifi plans at your home and taxes that will come with it.
Start letting the manufacturers know that storage in our hand held computers is important.
If we don't care...believe it will cost us in the future.

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[anon(50597)]

Never happened to me and I've been using the same sd card for the last 3 phones. I just back it up on computer once in a while. I have unlimited data but still think cloud storage is a pita. Google is becoming more and more like Apple. They decide whats best for us. My next phone may be a windows phone.

Beamed from my Galaxy Note 3

Very common on Samsung phones. Glad it hasn't happened to you.

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[anon(50597)]

Hold on to your sd cards. Unlimited plans will not be around forever. Wifi seems cheap now...but wait until your isp starts monitoring your data usage. Once that happens watch for wifi plans at your home and taxes that will come with it.
Start letting the manufacturers know that storage in our hand held computers is important.
If we don't care...believe it will cost us in the future.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Internal storage is increasing with most every update.

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[JnEricsonx]

I was so glad my HTC Thunderbolt when I got it came with a 32 gig card, and the same day I bought my Note 2, I got a 64 gig card for 50 bucks. Granted, I have about 30 movies on there which takes up half the card but that's kind of the point, same thing applies to tablets-if people wanna put a lot of movies on there, you need the space. And I say this as someone who HAS Unlimited data, but I like to know all my stuff is more instantly accessable on my phone. And also, in the X amount of years I've been using SD, microSD, and flash drives, I've yet to have ONE go on me.

 

[Ry]

And that's why there's choice. For those that need an SD card and those that don't.

Boom.

If you want an SD card slot, you have options.

There is no perfect phone for all.

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[xyzlene]

ahhh.

the gotta have it instant gratification generation. your entire music collection on your phone. i'm laughing. if i were to be travelling for a good year or so. i could see the desire to have a fair amount of my collection on board my phone.. what does it take.. about 3 minutes to delete an album, and install a new one.. 3 minutes... that's all.

limited storage has nothing to do with carriers trying to get over on us.. it has to do with APPLE... they buy in BULK.. making contracts with tech companies that last years on end. Perhaps the head of Lg may be trying to obtain 64 gig flash, but if apple has it all on lock. how can a company obtain a piece of the pie???

another factor is coltan (Coltan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) . Coltan is a major component for tech gear. the supply is in high demand.. take into account apple inc. business practice. supply and demand, and natural resources (coltan), and one has to think of alternatives. hence the cloud. it is not ideal. that i agree. but it is better than nothing. in time 64 gig might become more accessible but for now we have to wait.. personally i prefer all solid state.. it adheres to a more streamlined unified system...

first world problems:-X

 

[sauce_a_poutine]

Internal storage is increasing with most every update.

Too little, and at too high a price.

- Opting for a device with twice the onboard storage compared to a base model is typically much more costly than doubling storage using an SDcard. There's a lot of manufacturer gouging going on.

- Data coverage is either too spotty or way too pricey in most of the world for the cloud to be of any practical use.

- Having the expansion slot for a MicroSD card does not take anything away from the "onboard is enough" and "cloudy" and "streamy" crowd. On the other hand, not having an expansion slot and being limited on data does cause problem to huge numbers of people.

the gotta have it instant gratification generation. your entire music collection on your phone. i'm laughing. if i were to be travelling for a good year or so. i could see the desire to have a fair amount of my collection on board my phone.. what does it take.. about 3 minutes to delete an album, and install a new one.. 3 minutes... that's all.

- I don't have a computer desk and permanent computer setup in my home. I don't need it to earn my living, so I don't see why I should have all that ugliness "at the ready" in my home. My laptop lives in a bag, tucked away in a closet. It only comes out when I buy a new CD or movie, so connecting my phone to it is tedious and does take more than 3 minutes. I don't relish the idea of setting up my computer every time I feel like a change of tunes. I'm no dinosaur; My media is all digitized and stored on my home network, playback is done using streaming devices, and I could just do it from the phone itself, over Wi-Fi, but a phone's interface is less than stellar for file management, and it's just too slow.

- About the "instant gratification generation", It's an easy, ill-defined, unrefined clich?. Besides being that, it shows that you assume everyone here to be a youngster of sorts. Here's a shocker: I was raised in the one-per-home dial phone era, and was driving cars before microwaves became ubiquitous. I am nor young, nor do I have an "instant gratification" type of personality. I'm just being practical; I don't like repeatedly doing the same tedious tasks all the time. Constantly rebuilding one's music folder is tedious, and time consuming.

Thanks to expandable storage, most of my favorite discography is on my phone, I have a bunch of reference documents, reference spreadsheets, lists, pictures and home movies at my disposal without any fuss. No offense intended, but what you call "instant gratification", I call a "negative angle" on what I, and countless others, call "being practical" in the use of technology.

Just my two cents.

 

[xyzlene]

my statement pertains to the average consumer of modern western culture. it is not a cliche. i beg to differ.

perhaps the best bet - might be to believe 5 minutes of my life is no big deal, while 5 minutes of your life might have an entirely different value. internal / external. all preferences.

 

[mrsmumbles]

It's foolish to generalize about who prefers what. Some of us need the onboard storage because we live someplace with lousy data or want to minimize our belongings for space reasons (or whatever).

Then there are those who don't need it and see everyone who can't live with only 16 gig internal ROM as an entitled brat. That POV lends itself to extrapolating that its bearer is them self an entitled brat not understanding why differences exist between himself and others. Solipsism is bliss.

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