Will updates to WP8 allow apps to install on SD card?

[JimiDiGriz]

I'm by no means techy so have no idea on the limitations of this in terms of how WP8 has been written but is there any likelihood of the OS ever allowing users the option of saving apps to their SD card along with media? Understand some might not want to but that would be down to choice. The reason I ask is that as the owner of an L820 I thought that 8gb with an SD card would be ample as I was coming from an L800 and had no real issues with storage, most of my apps were in the low MBs (games notwithstanding). Due to the 'other' issue however I'm finding I'm hitting my limit. Yes, I have a few games on my L820 and yes as most of them are Xbox Live they are quite large (as a side note, anyone finding game sizes are getting bigger in general?), but even so it would be nice to have the choice to exploit my 64gd SD card and perhaps move some of the larger games over to free up some space.

Aside from if this is even possible, would MS even want to? Is it a no brainer or are there downsides to SD card app installations?

 

[SnailUK]

I'm sure its a piece of cake for Microsoft to put apps on the SD Card. I doubt they'll ever do it though.

Quite simply, if they put the apps on the SD card without any sort of encryption, they'll be pirated faster than the latest blockbuster movie. Put encryption on the apps, and it makes them slower to run, which just makes people moan. Lets also not forget, people are already discovering not all SD cards are equal, and the performance differs between cards. Encrypted apps, on slow SD cards, you just cause even more performance issues.

And lastly, put apps on SD Card, theres all sorts of fun transition issues, when people remove cards, with pinned, or in use apps on them.

 

[hopmedic]

XAP files are already encrypted. Yes, MS could do it, but no, I doubt if they will. There is more at stake than just piracy, which is probably actually a VERY minor consideration (considering that you can download XAP files to your computer from the store, right now). It is easy to tie the app to an account.

The biggest issue (IMO) would be performance. First, SD access is slower than built-in. Second, they would have no control over what quality of cards people put in their phones, and MS has made it very clear that the user experience is one of the top priorities for them. They don't want to have phones ending up sluggish like Android phones, no matter what, and as stated by SnailUK, a poor-quality card will do that. Then, as mentioned, is the issue of swapping out cards.

Microsoft already DID have apps installing on SD cards. They've done so on Windows Mobile devices for years before WP came out, and they do so right now on the VERY few (I can only think of one - Samsung Focus) Windows Phone 7 devices that had an SD card. With the WP7 devices, the cards had to be "special" for WP, which could be done through a hack, but I don't know the details as I never did it. So given that they've already done this, in a Windows Phone device (vs Windows Mobile), that's one of the reasons that I don't think piracy is much of a consideration.

 

[rockstarzzz]

Use WP for what it is today, forecasting for WP is as good as being able to tell the weather in England.

 

[leonkehoe]

I'm sure it will happen. Eventually.

 

[freakyrob14]

Not smart moves! Winmo mobile is not good as android phones I have huawei w1 and I'm very disappointed rather using my old cherry mobile phone no updates limited ugly free games and apps