Why do high end Lumias have no SD Card slots?

[greedo_greedy]

I'm really baffled why Nokia does not see the need to make SD card expansion a norm.
I find it really wierd, most especially because it's the high end devices that lack the feature.

Consider that the Lumia 920/925/928/1020 are touted for it's photographic qualities. It would be nice for consumers to have a choice.
And what if I want my Lumia to be my all around media device(ipod replacement)

Why does the Ativ S have a SD Card expansion.

I really don't see the logic or how can it be beneficial from a marketing standpoint, how does Nokia decide on these things.

Anyway I'm just ranting. Still love the Lumias. :excited:

 

[stmav]

Just my guess, but it's possible to get the OIS hardware in the phone there had to be some trade offs to keep the size reasonable. How much real estate was available for the sd card?

 

[anon(123856)]

I'm really baffled why Nokia does not see the need to make SD card expansion a norm.
I find it really wierd, most especially because it's the high end devices that lack the feature.

Consider that the Lumia 920/925/928/1020 are touted for it's photographic qualities. It would be nice for consumers to have a choice.
And what if I want my Lumia to be my all around media device(ipod replacement)

Why does the Ativ S have a SD Card expansion.

I really don't see the logic or how can it be beneficial from a marketing standpoint, how does Nokia decide on these things.

Anyway I'm just ranting. Still love the Lumias. :excited:

I agree. Having a SD slot and a removable battery are must haves for me. One of the many reasons I chose the Lumia 822 over the HTC 8X.

 

[Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy]

@stmav
I think you're right. Due to the movement of the entire stack, the inclusion of an sd card slot is difficult. They could have done it but that would have made their phones enormously thick

 

[N_LaRUE]

I think I'm going to be the dissenter here. Looking at an exploded view I don't see a reason why they couldn't have put a SD card in. We're talking Micro here. The Nokia N8 had a SD card and is about the same thickness as a L920. I would say this continues to all the other L92X phones. Looking at the 1020 I really don't see a reason behind it at all.

So in my mind they had a choice, either give us 64Gig of space (no reason why they couldn't) or give us a SD slot. I think the 64Gig would probably be cheaper personally.

 

[neo158]

All an SD Card allows for is the storage of media on the ATIV S, to me having expandable storage is a big deal as I use my phone for music as well as photos and video.

 

[MikeSo]

I don't think this is a technical limitation at all, I think it's one based on market decisions. Nokia sees value in not having external storage on their high end devices. Simple as that. Why? Probably a simple ROI decision.

 

[WPhoney]

So in my mind they had a choice, either give us 64Gig of space (no reason why they couldn't) or give us a SD slot. I think the 64Gig would probably be cheaper personally.

I agree. They should have given one of the 2 options. I wish they had picked 64Gb of built-in storage, since their phones don't reliably read 64Gb SD cards. I'm about to give up on WP8 because of the poor support to 64Gb microSDs.

 

[Rodrigo Mendes]

For the same reason we don't have 128GB devices yet.

32GB is enough for 99% of people who need a smartphone. So it's ok to loose 1%.

 

[xandros9]

because higher capacity models makes them more money.

Apple gets away with around $100 markups per capacity-tier
example:
iPod touch 5
16 GB: $229
32 GB: $299
64 GB: $399

And people go for those, its the same hardware (see below, there's a slight difference with this iTouch generation) just with a bigger capacity memory chip.

But if they offered an SD slot, reasons to buy the otherwise seemingly logically more-expensive models evaporate. (why get the 32 GB when you can get the 16 GB and a 16 GB SD card for less than the markup?)

I know Apple's 16 GB 5th Gen is slightly stripped down, but its just a flaw with this specific example. (look at the previous model's price tiers, or even iPhone's)
SD cannot be used for app storage - probably due to potential app availability and speed issues, but all other reasons pretty much go poof! You get more flexibility too.

The 820 probably exists to appeal to those who wanted some power-features.

 

[Arjun KR]

one of the reason may be,the built in memory is more reliable than 3rd party SD cards,so yet another premium feature for high end users

 

[greedo_greedy]

Well, that's why I bought an 822 (But it's quite possibly the ugliest WP8 Lumia) LoL!!

 

[neo158]

one of the reason may be,the built in memory is more reliable than 3rd party SD cards,so yet another premium feature for high end users

If you like being stuck with the built in storage with no possibility of storing media off the phone itself to allow more space for apps!!!!

 

[Laura Knotek]

If you like being stuck with the built in storage with no possibility of storing media off the phone itself to allow more space for apps!!!!

MicroSD cards tend to have a high failure rate, even if one buys genuine SanDisk cards, not cheap brands.

 

[mcivor88]

MicroSD cards tend to have a high failure rate, even if one buys genuine SanDisk cards, not cheap brands.

No, just no

 

[Reflexx]

I do think they're prioritizing form over function here.

Part of the mystique of these beautiful devices is that they sacrifice things in order to stay in line with a more grand purpose. Apple has proven that this works.

I do expect to see SD cards in the future, but we'll get some marketing/PR talk about how it was difficult to find a way to do it and still keep the beauty and seamlessness of the device. But after thousands of hours of designing and redesigning, they have finally found a way to put it in that was consistent with their design philosophy. Ta da! Introducing the Lumia 930.

 

[xandros9]

yea it is true they want to keep it seamless, a SIM could be bad enough as it is?

 

[raycpl]

I just want a grip with micro-SD for my 920...

 

[Tragic]

On the 925 I think it would have been reasonable to add a SD card slot next to the microphone on the top, the left side of the device or the bottom and add a microsim like door for the SD card to make it look flush with the device.

 

[WPhoney]

I do expect to see SD cards in the future, but we'll get some marketing/PR talk about how it was difficult to find a way to do it and still keep the beauty and seamlessness of the device. But after thousands of hours of designing and redesigning, they have finally found a way to put it in that was consistent with their design philosophy. Ta da! Introducing the Lumia 930.

Classic! That kind of BS is typical of marketing departments! I could picture the whole thing in my mind while reading it. :excited:

But I think Nokia will increase the built-in storage before adding an microSD slot to the 900 series (and "messing" with the phones' seamless design). In my opinion, they'll release a 930 with 64Gb of storage by the Holidays. Perhaps it will be the rumoured upcoming phablet....