SD Card Expansion? Worthless?

[Miles of Lief]

Out of the few video reviews I've seen now on the 8XT, they have mentioned that you can put in a larger SD card but you can't load any apps to it. So what does this expanded storage actually do for you? What extra data will the expanded SD card hold? Like more pictures, email content, documents? It makes no sense to me that this phones storage is filled up after you download a couple of apps. I've never heard of that with any other phone. How is that acceptable?

 

[Mroofieunblockm]

Microsoft could add apps to sd through installing wp8 security on it so basically you won't see the apps but they will be there while at the sane time making sure that developers have acces to sd cards

As for your comment android has recently removed that feature but its back now but going on like this wont help you

 

[xandros9]

It's for the music and other media that a lot of people have. My music collection is somewhere between 3-4 GB and that won't go over too well in internal storage.

SD cards are for media, and its not for apps because:
- lower-classed SD cards can be a bottleneck, screwing over performance.
- It would need something done for security
- Remove the card = apps go poof!

It could be a mess, but I think the option would still be nice. Android has/had the option, but it only moves part of it.

 

[anon(5346288)]

Out of the few video reviews I've seen now on the 8XT, they have mentioned that you can put in a larger SD card but you can't load any apps to it. So what does this expanded storage actually do for you? What extra data will the expanded SD card hold? Like more pictures, email content, documents? It makes no sense to me that this phones storage is filled up after you download a couple of apps. I've never heard of that with any other phone. How is that acceptable?

Technically the SD card is strictly for music, files, photos, and no app. You can save offline maps on there that's about it.
There is a way to install apps on the SD card. I have yet to try it on my Nokia Lumia 810 but I will soon once I get a micro-SD.

You got windowsphone.com, search for your desired app, click 'download and install manually'. Once you do that, you save the xap file on the SD card, insert into your phone, search for the app in the app store and install.

I know its a pain but its better than nothing.

 

[Mroofieunblockm]

Out of the few video reviews I've seen now on the 8XT, they have mentioned that you can put in a larger SD card but you can't load any apps to it. So what does this expanded storage actually do for you? What extra data will the expanded SD card hold? Like more pictures, email content, documents? It makes no sense to me that this phones storage is filled up after you download a couple of apps. I've never heard of that with any other phone. How is that acceptable?

i do agree in some way cuz the media(pics, video, music) is total bs the video support is an atrocity mp4 and m4 something. Thats it xD as for music mp3 is most used now that's okay. For me sd cards for Windows phone is a waste really, too little video support and even for pictures (gif is not supported) which is an epic fail O.O

Alot of people complain about some phones who dont have it (sd expansion slots) but when you look at whats supported and what can be added its a waste of time

But that's just my opinion , as for music you can't go wrong but if its not that well prepare to be screwed

 

[Mroofieunblockm]

Sd cards for me would mostly be apps( games )

Microsoft can add some sort of security like for example hiding the apps from you and from developers but they can make an app showing what apps/games have been installed

 

[Miles of Lief]

i do agree in some way cuz the media(pics, video, music) is total bs the video support is an atrocity mp4 and m4 something. Thats it xD as for music mp3 is most used now that's okay. For me sd cards for Windows phone is a waste really, too little video support and even for pictures (gif is not supported) which is an epic fail O.O

Alot of people complain about some phones who dont have it (sd expansion slots) but when you look at whats supported and what can be added its a waste of time

But that's just my opinion , as for music you can't go wrong but if its not that well prepare to be screwed

Can you explain this in simple terms please. I'm thinking pictures on my phone is one main reason I would get a larger SD card. But are you saying that it won't really do anything to allow you to store more pictures? I guess in the end, all I'm trying to avoid is having my phone say "no more storage available". Will a larger SD card prevent this from happening, or will I always be fighting this problem with this phone? Thanks

 

[Jaskys]

SD card on windows phone is completly worthless.
I hope they will allow to install apps on SD sooner or later, aswell keeping other storage on certain class SD cards would be cool aswell.

 

[Palm_forlackofchoice]

Why won't my HTC 8XT work as mass storage drive hooked up to USB? When I plug it into my Pioneer HD deck in my Truck I get message "No USB available" and it will not charge my phone either.

I could do this on my HTC Snap running win mobile 6.1 standard.

I love the phone don't get me wrong but why did they have to leave so much out from win mobile?

 

[Mroofieunblockm]

Can you explain this in simple terms please. I'm thinking pictures on my phone is one main reason I would get a larger SD card. But are you saying that it won't really do anything to allow you to store more pictures? I guess in the end, all I'm trying to avoid is having my phone say "no more storage available". Will a larger SD card prevent this from happening, or will I always be fighting this problem with this phone? Thanks

You can store as much as you want its some of the picture formats that are not supported which its mostly used in today which is a big turn off

 

[enthuz]

If MS needed to add some security files to lock down my SD card to allow apps, then I wouldn't be mad. I would just pick up a 64GB card and be happy.

 

[mrmdj31675]

If MS needed to add some security files to lock down my SD card to allow apps, then I wouldn't be mad. I would just pick up a 64GB card and be happy.

That would be the way to approach the issue.

 

[ratsttam]

Why won't my HTC 8XT work as mass storage drive hooked up to USB? When I plug it into my Pioneer HD deck in my Truck I get message "No USB available" and it will not charge my phone either.

I could do this on my HTC Snap running win mobile 6.1 standard.

I love the phone don't get me wrong but why did they have to leave so much out from win mobile?

As far as I know, none of the WP7, WP8 devices show up as "Mass Storage Device", which is what a thumb drive shows up as. Pioneer would need to support the MTP "Media Transfer Protocol" that WP, and a lot of Android devices (My Galaxy Nexus has the same issue) use. Pioneer already supports the iTunes protocol from the iPhone/iPod, so it CAN be done. Contact Pioneer and ask THEM why this protocol isn't supported!

 

[Trunks817]

Can you explain this in simple terms please. I'm thinking pictures on my phone is one main reason I would get a larger SD card. But are you saying that it won't really do anything to allow you to store more pictures? I guess in the end, all I'm trying to avoid is having my phone say "no more storage available". Will a larger SD card prevent this from happening, or will I always be fighting this problem with this phone? Thanks

Larger SD card is perfect for storing pictures. Right now I have my 8XT set up to save all pictures to my sdcard and not on the internal storage. I have taken about 30 pictures already and under the storage area on my phone it shows 0k for pictures and videos. Just make sure you get at least a class 8 card otherwise it stutters when saving pictures

 

[enthuz]

Larger SD card is perfect for storing pictures. Right now I have my 8XT set up to save all pictures to my sdcard and not on the internal storage. I have taken about 30 pictures already and under the storage area on my phone it shows 0k for pictures and videos. Just make sure you get at least a class 8 card otherwise it stutters when saving pictures

Is the stuttering during single shots or burst mode?

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[Trunks817]

Is the stuttering during single shots or burst mode?

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both. I had a class 4 card and it was taking a long time to take burst and even normal individual shots. Upgrading to a class 10 made everything instantaneous!

 

[SnailUK]

The main problem is performance.

WP7 had a phone with an SD card hidden in it. I forget the model. It was shown that the whole performance of the phone varied greatly when you changed the SD card. The problem being, that all cards are measured on their speed, so you can get cards that are very fast to read and write, but WP needs fast random access times, and this is not a figure that is measured or documented anywhere. I seem to recall tests on the WP7 phone showing even different batches of the same make/model of card having different behaviour.

Add in encryption, and that makes performance even worse.

Then add in all the weird transitions WP needs to cope with, where people remove their card while an app is still loaded, or re-insert a card with a missing app. SD Cards are a pain.

I've seen a number of threads where people have performance issues when they have their music collection on SD card too. So yet again its the card performance effecting the phone.

That's the thing Microsoft really can't accept. Some people will spend time, research the card, and get the good ones. Most will look on amazon, pick a huge card for pennies, spend the next couple of months whinging that WP has poor performance, when actually it was the cheap card they brought.

 

[simon.b]

It's exactly how SnailUK said. The problem really isn't so much the security side of things but rather the performance of SD cards.

For fast app loads you need great random access performance with small amounts of data. You really have no reliable way to find such a card because the classification of SD cards is useless in that regard. It only specifies the minimum sequential write speeds that the card must be able to reach. Thats fine if you use it in your camera so you know if the card is fast enought to save HD video or burst shots on it. But for application performance it tells you nothing.

As far as random performance goes there are even differences between the same card and different batches.

Of course when the user encounters bad performance because he installs apps on the SD he will blame the OS for being slow. Because he bought a class 10 SD so it must be fast right? Wrong!

Also keep in mind that android actually removed the feature for SD card installation with version 4 probably because of this reason. I think it was samsung that brought it back to their phones.

 

[LMZR]

I got an SD card, put it into my Nokia, and then wondered what i was gonna do with it.

So far, only photos are being put into it.

 

[enthuz]

... That's the thing Microsoft really can't accept. Some people will spend time, research the card, and get the good ones. Most will look on amazon, pick a huge card for pennies, spend the next couple of months whinging that WP has poor performance, when actually it was the cheap card they brought.

This is so true! I can't count how many times I have stressed this to friends, family, clients and forum members. I do my due diligence before any tech purchase. I only buy from highly trusted and reliable sources. I think my time and lack of patience is worth it.

It's exactly how SnailUK said. The problem really isn't so much the security side of things but rather the performance of SD cards.

For fast app loads you need great random access performance with small amounts of data. You really have no reliable way to find such a card because the classification of SD cards is useless in that regard. It only specifies the minimum sequential write speeds that the card must be able to reach. Thats fine if you use it in your camera so you know if the card is fast enought to save HD video or burst shots on it. But for application performance it tells you nothing.

As far as random performance goes there are even differences between the same card and different batches.

Of course when the user encounters bad performance because he installs apps on the SD he will blame the OS for being slow. Because he bought a class 10 SD so it must be fast right? Wrong!

Also keep in mind that android actually removed the feature for SD card installation with version 4 probably because of this reason. I think it was samsung that brought it back to their phones.

This is well said and must be understood. I even had cards replaced by HTC and Sprint that varied in performance. We have to expect tolerance variations in mass production.

Yes, Samsung brought the feature back and others are following suite.

I got an SD card, put it into my Nokia, and then wondered what i was gonna do with it.

So far, only photos are being put into it.

I use mine for docs, pics, music, etc. I tend to be places without reception nor guest wifi access. It helps to have those files "on hand'. I mostly stream my music, but if there's too much buffering, then I switch to whatever is stored locally. Options can be a good thing.

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