Brian & Anand Hate SD Card's in Phones

[WelshBloke]

Exactly, as if this thread was intended to become a mSD b|$%&ing and moaning orgy- fest. Anyone who crashed the party must be a troll. Hilarious.

Well it would be fine if you wanted to lay out any reasons why SDcards should go away, and then stick around to answer the rebuttals.

Now I'll be the first to admit that the level of discussion seems to have gone downhill in this thread but I've seen no reasons why we should do away with SDcards just yet.

Yes if all phones came with 128GB of built in storage and USB3 transfer rate it would be wonderful, but they dont, and until they do I'll stick to having the option of an SDcard thanks.

 

[tommo123]

I personally don't care either, as long as I have a minimum of 32GB -- ideally 64GB+. However, I understand perfectly why someone would want a uSD. And at the end of the day, for Brian and Anand, that is their usage/opinion and what they are advocating. What I don't understand is how, them having a difference of opinion from you, would detract from your preference/device in any way?

check the tweet posted a while back. basically brian going "look at the idiots who actually want expandable storage" and a load of sheep going along with it.

in the end it's personal preference but what i have read and haven't read in this thread is this:

have read - mSD are pointless and phones shouldn't have them. screw you for wanting one.

haven't read - i want an mSD and all phones should have them. screw you if you don't need one.

there have been people in this thread admonishing people for wanting this as an option and those people are a bunch of C U Next Thursdays.

 

[evident]

i would really like brian to respond to us here on this thread and engage with us in a reasonable discussion. I think we can all agree here that their official rebuttal on the website had extremely weak arguments.

 

[WelshBloke]

i would really like brian to respond to us here on this thread and engage with us in a reasonable discussion. I think we can all agree here that their official rebuttal on the website had extremely weak arguments.

I doubt that that would end well. Look what happened when they put up the article to explain. :biggrin:

Its probably better that they just move on, but now with the idea that a lot of their readership actually do find some things valuable that they dont.

 

[Joe1987]

Cool that this thread spawned a podcast comment on The Verge Mobile, and an article.

I guess I hate the idea that phones would all be sealed up, and Apple has been pushing for an integrated sim card as well.

I work long hours and on call occasionally, it's insanely convenient to swap out a battery and keep going, and nice to be able to use my phone as a fairly sophisticated flash drive if need be.

If Samsung didn't have these features, I would likely not be using Samsung phones.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I doubt that that would end well. Look what happened when they put up the article to explain. :biggrin:

Its probably better that they just move on, but now with the idea that a lot of their readership actually do find some things valuable that they dont.

I hope they discuss it more on the next podcast...

 

[QueBert]

Cool that this thread spawned a podcast comment on The Verge Mobile, and an article.

I guess I hate the idea that phones would all be sealed up, and Apple has been pushing for an integrated sim card as well.

I work long hours and on call occasionally, it's insanely convenient to swap out a battery and keep going, and nice to be able to use my phone as a fairly sophisticated flash drive if need be.

If Samsung didn't have these features, I would likely not be using Samsung phones.

I would LOVE to see that, I understand you're fucked if you need to switch cards out, but I wish I could buy a phone with no sim card slot, no headphone jack, not even a volume up and down button. The more seamless to the better.

 

[Zaap]

No matter how 'seamless' or sleek anyone ever tries to make a phone, this is what every other person with one will end up looking like to me after they drown the thing in layers of plastic:

 

[StrangerGuy]

No matter how 'seamless' or sleek anyone ever tries to make a phone, this is what every other person with one will end up looking like to me after they drown the thing in layers of plastic:

Exactly. The exquisite build quality cheerleaders don't live on the same planet as the rest of people with 2 year contracts who has every incentive to make sure their new phone lasts the period.

 

[WelshBloke]

I would LOVE to see that, I understand you're fucked if you need to switch cards out, but I wish I could buy a phone with no sim card slot, no headphone jack, not even a volume up and down button. The more seamless to the better.

They probably could do that now.

Bluetooth for headphones, wifi/nfc for local data transfer, wireless charging, double tap for on.

You're buggered if something goes wrong without some sort of hardware button to force a reboot though.

 

[Joe1987]

They probably could do that now.

Bluetooth for headphones, wifi/nfc for local data transfer, wireless charging, double tap for on.

You're buggered if something goes wrong without some sort of hardware button to force a reboot though.

That would be pretty interesting, It could be waterproofed very easily.

 

[thedosbox]

I would LOVE to see that, I understand you're fucked if you need to switch cards out, but I wish I could buy a phone with no sim card slot, no headphone jack, not even a volume up and down button. The more seamless to the better.

That is the most anti-consumer idea I can think of, and you should be ashamed of suggesting it. Hand back all your electronics now!!

 

[dawheat]

That is the most anti-consumer idea I can think of, and you should be ashamed of suggesting it. Hand back all your electronics now!!

I'd hate this - I keep my phones less than a year and always sell the old ones. I just sold my Note 3 as a relative put a nice deep scratch on it and bought a new one that's coming this week.

If I had to call my carrier each time to release the SIM on my old phone, temporarily transfer service to my backup N4, and then switch again to my new phone, I'd be incredibly annoyed. I'd distrust carriers being gatekeepers to the secondary market for phones, especially if the buyer is on a different carrier. Then we can expect to see "30-day switching service levels" or some other nonsense like that.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Exactly. The exquisite build quality cheerleaders don't live on the same planet as the rest of people with 2 year contracts who has every incentive to make sure their new phone lasts the period.

What gets me about Brian Klug's opinion on this is he has the experiences to see our point of view.

He has had the S4 external charger, he has experienced the incredible convince of flipping batteries.

He has filed a dent on his HTC One, he has seen the essential flaw of aluminum unibody designs (I mean who really can own a smartphone for two years and not drop it?).

He has reviewed the HTC Max and even commented on how the back hides the ugly stickers.

He has run storage benches on phones, all it would take is a test on a modern Samsung SD Card to see how fast they are.

He has all the pieces but he always comes back to (paraphrasing) "but none of it is a deal breaker." I cannot understand it.

 

[Cerb]

No matter how 'seamless' or sleek anyone ever tries to make a phone, this is what every other person with one will end up looking like to me after they drown the thing in layers of plastic:

It's not our fault they stopped making those! Plenty of people get Otterboxes for their popular phones not because they expect to drop them a lot, but because the damn things are too hard to keep hold of, being all thin and sleek. I also know some people that went back to feature phones because of that, or keep an additional feature phone for talking on.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Yeah, one of the worst things about the uni-body design trend is that it's driving ever slimmer phones. Yes, there are some actual advantages to very slim phones, but using them isn't one of them. I find that holding these uber thin phones to be a pain but the majority of the buyers continue to demand even thinner so the makers are kind of in a bind here. I actually like the iPhone design in this regard as the sides, where you hold it, are not so tapered and thin. My HTC One has the tapered sides, that sort of used bar of soap thing, and holding it is not as safe.


Brian

 

[Zodiark1593]

I would LOVE to see that, I understand you're fucked if you need to switch cards out, but I wish I could buy a phone with no sim card slot, no headphone jack, not even a volume up and down button. The more seamless to the better.

Well, I most certainly would never buy such a phone. How the heck would you force reboot one of those if it goes wonky? Can't pull the battery, no power button to hold for a power off, and if I'm at work, neither charger nor computer will be available.

I could throw my other arguments against such a restricted phone, but they're nothing new. So... :thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

 

[Zaap]

^ Well he didn't say no power button, and no power/data connector.

I could almost see the rest of it, so long as it had say, a sensor on the side that raises/lowers volume just sliding your finger across it.

I imagine we'll see such phones eventually. And for all the worries about accidental clicks on the sides- it could have 'virtual bezels' where it simply doesn't register touch but so many pixels in.

 

[Cerb]

Oh, I'm sure we will see them, in some form. I just hope they start getting back to also make phones that aren't so thin and sleek. Hire people good at industrial design to make them look good, so they don't look fugly, ruggedize them a bit, give them bigger batteries than normal, and we can all have what we want. Samsung isn't far from making such phones, today, honestly. If they designed the next Galaxy S to be thicker from the get-go, they could fill exactly that void, FI. Or, Motorola could make a new version of a rugged phone, but make it not fugly. There's nothing wrong with wanting a super-sleek smartphone. There is something wrong with telling everyone that's their only option, if they want new technology, even though there are clear cons to those designs.

 

[ControlD]

The first generation Ipod Touch was without volume buttons and it sucked donkey balls. I don't want to slide over a smooth surface (either on screen or off) while talking on my phone to adjust the volume or change the volume level of my music when otherwise occupied. Buttons are there for a reason: they are simple to operate and get the job done. There is no reason to engineer them out.

 

[Zaap]

Heh fine, but I still want my edge-to-edge screen dammit!

 

[ControlD]

Heh fine, but I still want my edge-to-edge screen dammit!

That would be nice too. I wonder if/when phones start to get a curved surface if the buttons might get moved to the back outside edge. Seems like that might work.

 

[Zaap]

That's a great idea.

Give that sucker a start of 128GB of storage and we're talking my dream device. (Well, there's probably no way we'll get all that AND a removable battery, so I'd just settle for ridiculous future-tech battery life, and ultra-short charging time).

 

[Brian Stirling]

The marketing model that Apple has employed and Brian and Anand seem to adore, is based on offering a base model with limited storage then offering higher priced models with a little more storage. That being the case you won't see them offering a base model with 128GB anytime soon. If you want more storage they want you to pay through the ass for it. And, apparently, that's just the way Brian and Anand like it...


Brian

 

[QueBert]

Well, I most certainly would never buy such a phone. How the heck would you force reboot one of those if it goes wonky? Can't pull the battery, no power button to hold for a power off, and if I'm at work, neither charger nor computer will be available.

I could throw my other arguments against such a restricted phone, but they're nothing new. So... :thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

They could easily make touch sensitive buttons, you have to understand though for a long time I had an iPhone. And I never once had to force a reboot. I understand with Android it's YMMV, but rebooting was never something I even thought about. I predict we'll start seeing phone's like I'm talking about, with touch sensitive buttons and all by 2015. When I got my 1st iPhone people were going "ZOMG! no removable battery WTF that makes no sense!" Now it's not that uncommon to see phones like this. This stuff isn't for everything, and that's where Samsugn comes into play. I don't want SD cards, I don't want a removable battery, and I really don't want any physical buttons to screw up the lines. Samsung fans don't worry about this because Samsung doesn't create phones with lines. They make sweet full featured phones for people who value shit like a removal battery over design. I can appreciate that, but I'm just glad HTC and others are at least offering phones for people like me.