Do you use an micro sd card or not in your phone?

[Mr G Reaper]

Ok so here is the thing, i wrote my first app for windows phone a month ago, it makes a character and provides many random generators for rpg games (i shant link it as im not sure the rules on that but its called "Rpg App (1st edition)" now i was quite proud of it and people seem to like it BUT one of the most common things i got told was that people wanted to save thier character. The second thing was "oh i would try it but i have an android phone" (a tiny part of me wonders if i made the right choice going from android to windows lol)

So i set about the creation of the second edition (also now up on the store aptly named Rpg App (2nd edition) ....sorry project "come up with short snappy names of apps and projects so they appeal to the masses more and take less typing" failed ) which is a universal app (so my non window phone using friends can use my app) and saves the character, in fact it saving is an integral part of my design, it creates an html file for the user.

Now were getting to the meat of my point/question, when developing the app i had two choices, store the app in the local space reserved for my app (the user would never have access to this, thats by microsofts design) save the file to sd card. this means with out an sd card my app will not work, im wondering if that really is an issue hence the poll, im betting on the fact that sd cards are so cheap that they will be used by all (or the high majority)

with luck a poll will be attached

 

[gpobernardo]

I'm starting to treat my SD Card the way I treat my hard drives (C: and D in my laptop: essential apps in phone storage; documents and files in SD Card.

Essential apps for me are those that are related to how the system works or to phone functionality (or to that effect)... or apps that I would want to work every time and anytime (in case the SD Card fails, for example), such as the MS Files app, Lumia Camera, OneDrive, MS-DOS Mobile and Here Drive+. All the other apps can go to the SD Card (games, photo editing apps, other non-essential chat apps), together with documents, downloads, photos, videos, music.

 

[Mr G Reaper]

For me everything goes on the sd card, but that may be as im coming from android where you had limited phone space and everything HAD to be on the sd card. This is the first phone i have ever brought that did not come with an sd card (or a headset....thats just weird). I just kind of view it as a must have.

(for those that may ask: its a lumia 735, and i quite like it, windows phone and "windows store" are certainly easier to program for then android as well, though the submission process takes time to get used to lol)

I did add a catcher to my code so if some one with out an sd card uses it they see a message letting them know an sd card is required rather then a crash, as i say im just curious how many out their actually dont have a card.

 

[RumoredNow]

Apps and Maps on the phone (I have 32GB) all else on the SD card; media, camera roll, documents, downloads, etc.

 

[gpobernardo]

Thanks for the information about android vs windows store. I hope more users would participate in the poll as I'm also interested to know the representative result of the population, but I'm guessing it would be closer towards "using" rather than the "not using".

Oh, and welcome to Windows Central!

 

[Slovenix]

SD card all the way. All apps, offline maps, games, photos and videos.

 

[colinkiama]

Its best to develop your app for people no matter what kind of storage they use. Most high end windows phones don't have an sd card slot sadly.

 

[djeire84]

Always remember (if you have access to it) use online storage, you can access it on the go and if you want to use your SD cards fir apps then they wont get full too quick. I use an SD card its nice to have that extra bit of storage for audio, photo and video.

 

[Mr G Reaper]

Its best to develop your app for people no matter what kind of storage they use. Most high end windows phones don't have an sd card slot sadly.

Really blimey thats bad!

The problem i face is there is only really 3 options:
1) use local storage (this is the Microsoft way, ie what they want you to do) all data is stored in the apps local folders which are completely isolated from the user. if i did this the user would not be able to use the resulting files.
2) use the sd card (this is what im doing at the minute) gives user full access to the html files as intended but if there is no sd card then the app will not work (i made it tell the user the issue rather then just error out)
3) use a file picker (had to do this for the windows version as im not allowed to use the documents folder as of windows 8.1...stupid damn Microsoft restrictions) this would be my fall back plan but having to pick where you want to save the html every time you hit roll gets old fast (hmmm i may stop working on new stuff and find a way around this issue )

rock and a hard place spring to mind lol

Always remember (if you have access to it) use online storage, you can access it on the go and if you want to use your SD cards fir apps then they wont get full too quick. I use an SD card its nice to have that extra bit of storage for audio, photo and video.

Being able to store the html files online for the user would be great but app is free so no revenue to invest in such storage solution (wouldn't know where to begin) in theory i could use users one-drive to store them, that would be great for users but no guarantee that they have one (or that Microsoft allow it)) hmmm interesting though.

 

[Laura Knotek]

You'll also need to keep in mind that many people on the forums cannot vote, since their devices don't have micro sd card slots.

 

[srikanth reddy4]

All my apps on SD card except the apps like watsapp,hike nd skype. Photos on my phone bcz i believe its secure to save them on phone

 

[QuadraFX]

Not. No slot.

 

[Mr G Reaper]

You'll also need to keep in mind that many people on the forums cannot vote, since their devices don't have micro sd card slots.

yeah i perhaps worded that wrong lol
im looking into a 4th solution, getting the user to pick a folder once then using that folder until the user restarts the app, its not being very successful at the moment (no way to check a folder has been picked so lots of room for error, would never get past microsoft certification either)

**edit**
found the solution to above... looks like in my next version an sd card will not be required

**edit 2**
scratch that, the nice easy method of picking a folder and assaigning it to StorageFolder that works on windows store apps has been discontinued on the phone side (no idea why) the new way is beyond my abilitys, they have replaced one line of code with the need to have a configuration manager, a way to suspend your app and then resume it when back, special methods need to be made to get it to a storage folder....its way beyond my ability at the moment

 

[Mr G Reaper]

its taken me all of my free time today but finally my app has in both windwos and windows phone, the ability for the user to pick the folder (done once each time the app is loaded)

on windows phone its a real bugger to do, hopefully when i upload the update (want to add more meat to the app as well before i do) my users will like it (both of them)

..... yep my 2nd edition app has a total of 1 windows user and 2 windows phone users
my 1st edition has 70 though

so the sd card is no longer an issue
thank you guys for the feedback, had you guys not of told me that some phones are sd card slot deprived i would not given up on the save folder picker (believe me its not fun on wp.....easy as pie on windows store but on wp its a nightmare from the depths of coding hell)