How big of an issue is the lack of an SD card?

[androidatic]

I keep going back and forth between the Razr and GN, but this thread isn't about that. What was the thinking behind not including an SD card slot on the GN? This will end up being one of the factors in my decision process but I would like some of your input.

I like to put some music on my card but with limited space being shared between music, pictures and apps, this becomes an issue. Are they forcing people to stream from the cloud and pay for cloud storage in the process? Or is there another reason for not including an SD card slot that I am not thinking of?

Sent from my Droid, the only mobile OS that matters.

 

[digitalslacker]

The Nexus S doesn't have an SD card slot and I've never run into any issue.

If you want to toss your entire library on there, yeah that might be an issue but that's always been an issue. These devices were never designed for that.

Are they forcing us to use streaming services? Nope, we're doing that all on our own for them. Streaming, I think, is the way to go.You no longer have to worry about managing your music, it's there when you need it and doesn't take up space when you don't. That might not hold true for everyone but I think it's moving more in that direction.

I think removable SD cards are something we want simply because it's what we've always had. I've never missed it though.

 

[botero]

Different cards are rated for different speeds. It becomes a point of inconsistency in the user experience if you stick a slow card in there. By not adding one, they get total control over how the phone runs. They are giving us 32 gigs which should be plenty for most people. Not all... but you can't design something to make everyone happy. Also, I'm sure they have studied usage patterns and decided that a lot of people don't store any media on their phone at all. Personally, I use Pandora and Google Music for music, Netflix and HBO Go for video, and all my pictures are instantly uploaded to Google+/Picasa. The only big files on my SD card are ROMs and backups. Fortunately I have a Verizon unlimited plan still... my habits might change if I had a cap on my data...

 

[tntdroid]

Depends on what you do with your phone. Do you fill a 16gb card easily? If so might be a issue. I just have apps and photos and have no issues. All music on Google music cloud. If you need lots of space hopefully the 32gb comes.

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[grayzweb]

I currently have a Droid X with 16 internal & 32GB micro. I have lots of media stored, but honestly don't need it all.
I have a lot of ROMS & old Nandroid backups that are about 1 GB each that I don't need anymore just taking up space.

I am fine with the Nexus having only 1 memory source. I'll just have to delete old files I don't need, and sync files with computer for backup.

From what I read somewhere,Android manages space better when everything is on 1 "drive" - At least when in comes to where you install apps.

My Big question is if there will be $100 price difference between 16 & 32GB like iPhone did. If so, I manage with 16GB!


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[Nechasin]

My only concern is thatif the phone dies, then you have no way to get things stored on the internal media. with a removable SD card, you can at least recover that data. But having said that, I have never touched the sd card in my OG Droid.

 

[borgey401]

Internal reads/writes faster then sdcard and is superior to it in most other aspects. Only downside is you can't remove it but say you "brick" your phone you can still mount usb mass storage in recovery and grab the data off of it. I'm sure there are probably ways to do it also.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

I don't have any issues at all with it being only 32GB. However like the poster above said, if they come out with a 16GB and it's actually $100 cheaper, then I'd definitely go for the 16GB. I would possibly even go for it if it was only $50 cheaper. Any money saved is good in my book.

I have a 32GB card in my Thunderbolt and I use just over 2GB of it. So I definitely wouldn't have any issues.

 

[CynicX]

Not an issue at all for me. Only thing I have that takes up a lot of space are movies. But having a tablet I don't I'll be dumping to much on to the phone. Probably just a movie or two to show case its screen when the need arises.

 

[Asterdroid]

If you are on a grandfathered unlmited data plan look into Subsonic. Best 10 bucks you'll ever spend: Subsonic ? Free Music Streamer

 

[androidatic]

Good points everyone. I have the unlimited data plan but Google Music has a small GB cap and I'm not paying for more storage to stream music.

It's not a deal breaker but some food for thought for me when making my decision.

Sent from my Droid, the only mobile OS that matters.

 

[Asterdroid]

Good points everyone. I have the unlimited data plan but Google Music has a small GB cap and I'm not paying for more storage to stream music.

It's not a deal breaker but some food for thought for me when making my decision.

Sent from my Droid, the only mobile OS that matters.

Read my post above. I posted it seconds before you posted this.

 

[vicw926a4]

When you have a built-in uSD card and it becomes necessary to do a Factory Reset on the device, the data on the card is not erased, which can really help during restoration.

Lacking the uSD card, and having everything on a single partition in the internal memory, all data, including app & data backups, graphics and music files are erased, so you need to be careful to copy key data to an alternate device, or to cloud storage, for restoration later. That can be a real inconvenience, and time consuming.

That problem really concerns me while considering the GN as my next Android phone.

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[dAii7]

It's an issue for us with tiered data plans

SD card is like a flash drive for me

Sent from my DROIDX

 

[ctychick]

When you have a built-in uSD card and it becomes necessary to do a Factory Reset on the device, the data on the card is not erased, which can really help during restoration.

Lacking the uSD card, and having everything on a single partition in the internal memory, all data, including app & data backups, graphics and music files are erased, so you need to be careful to copy key data to an alternate device, or to cloud storage, for restoration later. That can be a real inconvenience, and time consuming.

That problem really concerns me while considering the GN as my next Android phone.

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This is exactly my concern. I've had to restore data to Note Everything (which I rely on for many things) and was really happy to have everything backed up on my sd card. I'm worried about not having that "safety net."

In another thread someone suggested a backup service or cloud backup. Does anyone currently use these methods to back up app data? If so, what app or cloud do you use and do you find it convenient?

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[Asterdroid]

This is exactly my concern. I've had to restore data to Note Everything (which I rely on for many things) and was really happy to have everything backed up on my sd card. I'm worried about not having that "safety net."

In another thread someone suggested a backup service or cloud backup. Does anyone currently use these methods to back up app data? If so, what app or cloud do you use and do you find it convenient?

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

I'm fairly certain this isn't the case. The internal storage should partitioned, and a factory reset won't erase the partitioned content. It has to be set up this way or apps that use your SD card would not be able to recognize the internal storage as an SD card.

 

[ragnarokx]

I'm fairly certain this isn't the case. The internal storage should partitioned, and a factory reset won't erase the partitioned content. It has to be set up this way or apps that use your SD card would not be able to recognize the internal storage as an SD card.

You're exactly right. Everything on my "internal SD card" stays there when I do a factory reset or flash a ROM.

Sent from my Google Nexus S

 

[vicw926a4]

You're exactly right. Everything on my "internal SD card" stays there when I do a factory reset or flash a ROM.

Sent from my Google Nexus S

That hasn't been the case on my ASUS Transformer on 3.2. A Factory Reset clears all of the internal memory, and it warns you of that fact before proceeding with the Reset. Perhaps the process varies from one OS level, or from one device to another. It remains a concern for me, and I hope that in the end I am pleasantly surprised to find that the GN will allow for partitioning off user data to protect it from a Factory Reset.

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[vicw926a4]

I currently have a Droid X with 16 internal & 32GB micro. .......

I think you meant to say 8GB internal.

Actually, that nets about 6.5GB available internal storage, and it seems to be dedicated just to apps. I've never found a way to put any of my own data into that area, so my user storage area consists of my uSD card capacity. Have you been able to put anything into your internal memory, except for apps?

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[Stang68]

I don't use much of my space now that I use Google Music. I'll occasionally put a TV episode on the card but still, doesn't take up much space. I am hoping the GNex has 32GB of storage, though, just in case. 16gb just doesn't seem like all that much these days.