Re: What's the actual *advantage* of not having an sd slot?

On Sun, 15 Jun 2025 21:26:10 +0200, Arno Welzel wrote :

Well - SD cards are memory. So why do you say it is nonsense that the
main use for SD cards is to have more memory in your device?

Hi Arno,
I know you're capable of understanding technical nuances, and while I also
understand them, first I'll say I will never disagree with a sensibly
logical argument. What I disagreed with was portable memory is not the same
as portable storage - even as both are clearly using "memory" cards.

The difference matters.

In one case, which nobody (essentially) uses anymore, they use model is to
"increase the what the phone perceives as the internal storage" of the
device while in the second case, it's simply to increase the storage that
the phone uses to save things that are less critical - such as media.

Same sdcard.
Two different purposes.

Both are "memory" but one is used to increase "internal storage" (so to
speak) while the other is increasing "external storage) so to speak.

There's a critical technical nuance because one is basically not used while
the other is so simple to use all it takes is popping the card in.

I've been working in the IT industry for more 30 years and also develop
software for Android (also see <https://github.com/arnowelzel>) -
professionally and in Open Source projects.

I know. I have a good memory. I read almost every post on this newsgroup.
Especially those from you and Andy and badgolferman and a few others.

I respect your technical acumen.
That's why I was so disappointed you concentrated on the use of sd cards
that (essentially) nobody in their right mind would use.

For the reasons you stated.

But you ignored the use of the sd card which everyone in their right mind
uses, and which is why most Android phones (last we checked) have the slot.

How many SD cards did you use in your life? As part of my job I used and
tested a few hundreds of them over the last 20 years. And yes, some SD
cards *do* fail unexpected and not all smartphones work fine with every
brand of SD cards.

I'm sure they fail, Arno. But so what. You lose a bit? In a photo?
What's the big deal about losing a bit in a 5MB photo Arno?

Think about what the sd card is being used for.
Losing a bit is not a major catastrophe.

Likely it won't even be noticed unless it's a super critical bit.
Do they even exist in portable memory? I don't know.

Can you conceive of a portable memory situation where losing a bit is
catastrophic in the data that is typically stored on portable memory?

All else being equal, a phone WITHOUT the sd slot is always a vastly
substandard phone than one with it *for the user*.
 
That's because it's *impossible* to replace its functionality without it.

 
Well - when I have 128 or 256 GB memory built in to a phone, I don't
have to replace anything. It is just there.

Heh heh heh... That's the whole point!

You got fleeced.
And you don't even realize you were fleeced.

You're a whale.
Even so, you *still* lost functionality with your crappy phone, Arno.

As far as anyone has stated so far, it is *impossible* for you to replace
the functionality you lost by buying that crappy phone.

If you disagree, I'll listen.
Because I respect your acumen (and that of people like Andy).

You know a lot.
But so do I.

Explain to all of us how you can replace the lost functionality?
I will pore over your explanation as currently I see it as *impossible*.

To answer your question, it's *impossible* for there to be an advantage to
the user but it's clearly a huge financial advantage to the phone makers!

 
For me it is an adavantage to have internal memory which can be accessed
with 200-300 MB/s compared to just 10-20 MB/s which is usually provided
by SD cards.

OK. The speed is important. That's a valid point. I will NEVER disagree
with anyone (even an Apple troll) who makes a logically sensible point.

Yes. The data you store on an sd card (typically photos & videos) are
accessed much slower than if you stored that same data in internal memory.

How much of a difference does it make?
I do not know.

Do you?

Yes, having an *optional* slot for an SD card may be useful
for some cases - but I don't see the absolute need for this any longer
compared to the past days where a device without an SD card was more or
less useless since the available internal memory was sometimes even less
than 4 GB in entry level devices (like the HTC Wildfire S with only 512
MB memory which required an SD card just to be able to use the camera
for more than just a few pictures etc.).

Nobody (essentially) uses the sd card to extend internal storage.
It's for portable memory nowadays.

And I haven't seen a single argument where you can *replace* the portable
storage functionality with any amount of internal storage.

SO far, it's impossible.
But I'll take a good look at any argument that states it's NOT impossible.

As the whole point is to learn from each other given our individual
expertise.