The SD Card debate

[PereDroid]

This is often discussed on these forums in so many different spots. There's the "I must have an SD Card" camp versus the "Bah, we have the cloud now, who needs those?"

I've always been one of those in the SD Card camp. The one thing I've always loved about Android is that it did things differently then the iPhone. An SD Card slot? That was once a selling point for Android. I'm curious... has it become one again?

Why do I like SD?
I like to have my 14GB of music ON my phone. I tried to go "to the cloud". I even let Google upload all my music to try out Google Music. I don't even pay for my data, so that's NOT the issue. Y'know what? I hated Google Music. PowerAMP, which I've paid for, so totally blows it out of the water. As does Media Monkey, which I've also paid for. Wireless synch to my PC? <3! And I just really like not having to worry about a signal when I listen to my music, because even though "VZW has the best network" there are so many dead spots around town that it is impossible to have uninterrupted music streamed.
Not to even mention it drives me nuts that companies still sell 16GB phones. Shouldn't we, at the very least, be getting base model phones with 32GB? Yes, finally, with HTC leading the way, we are. Now with the S5 and the M8 officially supporting 128GB cards... a phone with 144GB\160GB?

What made me want to talk about this? A friend of mine... a lifelong iPhonian texted me last night:
"128GB SD Cards in Android phones now?"
A couple yes.
10 Minutes later:
"So... should I go S5 or M8?"

My lifelong iPhone buddy is switching to Android... and a large part of that reason is the Card slot.
(And he's a bit bored of iPhone... his words "It hasn't really changed a whole lot since that very first iPhone... and this is the "innovative company"?)

Thoughts?

 

[sineater]

I completely agree. With all the music, movies, videos and pictures and sd card is an absolute must. Without them I would be screwed. I don't like the idea of the cloudsecond and third party people already have to much access to my info im not going to hand them even more. So for me an SD card is a must.

 

[Jeffrey]

It's very dependant on how you use your phone. I don't watch movies on my phone. I use my tablet. I do have a ton of music on my phone. In the past I could never justify the cost difference between the 16 and 32G phones. I always bought the 16 and added a 32G SD. I have never come close to running out of space.

 

[NOVICE]

I've noted the tendency of iPhone users to denigrate SD cards. There are legitimate reasons to do so but most of the time it has seemed more like sour grapes.

I have alot of videos and music which exceed my 32 gigs of internal memory. Don't see ever getting a phone without a card slot until the price of internal memory comes way down.

As for those individuals who laugh at people who refuse to depend on the cloud for streaming their media, do these people ever leave the basement and travel on airplanes or visit locales with less than perfect reception. And that's not even taking into account the additional data charges involved in streaming.

Excuse the rant, but I periodically visit AppleInsider where they extol the virtues of having to delete apps or media from their 8 gig phones so they have sufficient room to download the next Apple update.

 

[kodiak799]

I've got @ 8000 songs in high quality...which is @ 60-70gigs. I could probably reduce that, but why should I be bothered with that effort when storage is so cheap?

I like to have a lot of music, news and even some video on my phone partially because I don't always have a signal. Limited data plans are a problem for most people, but none of that matters when you're on an airplane (or in a tunnel on the train). Or inside buildings - I shouldn't be forced onto public/corporate wifi networks to access my PERSONAL data/content, that's partially WHY I have a smartphone.

 

[biglilome]

Having more storage is a must for me. So i totally agree with you on this. I just don't like going on 3rd party apps and waiting for it to load. When its just there on your phone, there's no lag or no wait time (esp when your data usage is low).