Nokia Claims a Memory Card Slot Would Have "Defiled" New Phone

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nokia Claims a Memory Card Slot Would Have "Defiled" New Phone

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 5, 2012 @12:00PM from the not-in-the-face dept.

nk497 writes "Nokia unveiled its flagship Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 handset today, but it doesn't feature an SD card slot. There's a reason why: Nokia's designers didn't want to 'defile' the design. 'We started with the premise that we wanted an uncompromised physical form,' executive vice president Kevin Shields, said. 'To put an SD card slot in it would have defiled it.' He said most people don't use the storage in their phone, although the Nokia Lumia 820, which has only 8GB of storage, does include a micro-SD card slot behind its removable cover, which Shields claims doesn't compromise the design."

33 of 371 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Call the lawyers by FriendlyStatistician · 2012-09-05 12:04 · Score: 5, Funny

Surely Apple has a patent on undefiled designs?
1. Re:Call the lawyers by mirix · 2012-09-05 12:12 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  They certainly have a patent on not including standard features.
  
  --
  Sent from my PDP-11
2. Re:Call the lawyers by BenJeremy · 2012-09-05 13:31 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  They are pretty stupid. The first thing I did when I bought my phone was spend even more money on the biggest SD card it would take. I will, in all probability, never remove it from the phone - or at least, I never have removed them from my previous phones.
  That means for me, the SD card just makes the phone bulkier, more expensive, and more prone to failure. I'm sure there are people who actually use the removable storage, but certainly it appears that I'm not alone.
  How is it making it more expensive? When there is no external storage, your phone price jumps in disproportionate amounts to the memory it has onboard. I suppose if you like paying $100 extra to get an extra 16GB on your phone, then having an "undefiled" phone will make you happy.
  I'm also a bit baffled how a slot makes the phone "bulkier" - SD slots don't really add much to the thickness, and if anything, we've learned that phones CAN get too small (form factors for most things don't tolerate being shrunk too much).
  What I'd prefer to see is all smart phones come equipped with SDXC slots, perhaps one internal (battery slot) and one external.
3. Re:Call the lawyers by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-09-05 13:33 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Yep, first day with my new phone, I bought a 32G uSD card. My dad bought the same phone, and on the way out the store he bought a 32G uSD card.
  They're meant to stay in the phone. I think they just wanted to have no removable / serviceable ports.
  
  --
  
  ---
  ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
4. Re:Call the lawyers by erp_consultant · 2012-09-05 13:53 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I used to have an iPhone but I got sick of having to use iTunes to get anything on or off the phone. So I switched to an Android (Samsung Galaxy S2) which has a MicroSD in the back. MicroSD's are cheap and hold a lot of data. Now I just put it in USB mode and I can copy away to my heart's content. I won't buy a phone that doesn't have expandable storage. iPhone had better put one in (fat chance) or I'll be sticking with Android.
5. Re:Call the lawyers by marcosdumay · 2012-09-05 14:08 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Except that you either wouldn't have as much storage with a fixed internal memory or would pay a huge premium for it.
  Phones come with expansible memory because each one wants a different capacity, and the manufacturer would be stuck selling a low capacity high volume model and a high capacity low volume one, satisfying nearly nobody.
  
  --
  Rethinking email
6. Re:Call the lawyers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-05 15:23 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  my friend [...] she or he
  It must be a very close friend if you haven't yet discovered its gender. You are truly a master of implausible lies.
7. Re:Call the lawyers by aristotle-dude · 2012-09-05 16:28 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  When my friend's Android phone broke, she or he was able to transfer all the data to a new phone with a simple physical process. When I broke my iPhone, I was screwed.
  Of course, iCloud makes that less painful now. It horrifies the parts of me that value privacy, so I keep them away from the smartphones.
  Uh, your friend should have had backups in iTunes of their settings and all of their content in iTunes.
  
  --
  Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
8. Re:Call the lawyers by Belial6 · 2012-09-05 19:03 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  If you took 20 phones, 10 with SD slots and 10 without, I highly doubt that you could pick the ones that had SD slots based on thickness.
9. Re:Call the lawyers by Canazza · 2012-09-05 20:27 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  and I'm a fat bastard, so my trouser pockets are oversized anyway. I can fit my phone *and* a chocolate bar in my trouser pocket.
  
  --
  It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
Good idea Nokia by stevenfuzz · 2012-09-05 12:05 · Score: 5, Funny

I mean, you are doing so well you should definitively make-against the-grain decisions for your customers. I mean, no one uses storage, right? Why would you want to put more memory in there. I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with saving a few bucks.
1. Re:Good idea Nokia by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-09-05 13:30 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I mean, no one uses storage, right?
  Since most, if not all people won't buy this phone, it logically follows that they won't be using storage in it either. Cutting down on the memory chips for the phone that nobody is going to buy saves manufacturing costs, so it's actually a clever business decision.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
2. Re:Good idea Nokia by Black+Parrot · 2012-09-05 16:23 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I think the bastards are just copying the iPhone which also has no SD card slot. Apple should sue them.
  Great business model: sue people for not doing things you're not doing.
  
  --
  Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
New meaning for "defile" by Bruce+Perens · 2012-09-05 12:06 · Score: 4, Insightful

8 GB storage is really small. I have 32 GB of just audio on a microSDHC card in my phone.
Defile, in this case, means "make useful for longer than the two years of the carrier subsidy". Nokia doesn't want to kill sales of their next phone with this one. Just like Apple.
Except that Apple will be here two years from now. We can't be that sure about Nokia.
I still have my n900. Gee, what could have been, if they hadn't been such cowards!

--
Bruce Perens.
1. Re:New meaning for "defile" by jrumney · 2012-09-05 13:00 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Given that Windows Phone basically formats your SD as part of a RAID-0 array together with the internal storage, an SD Card on a Windows Phone is not really useful - you can't use it for data transfer, because it isn't formatted in a way any other device can use, and replacing it involves reformatting not just the SD card but the internal storage as well.
2. Re:New meaning for "defile" by marcosdumay · 2012-09-05 14:26 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  ...who uses their phone as an mp3 player? I have an mp3 player for that.
  In fact. I also carry a voice recorder, a notepad (and a pen), a radio receiver, a pager (in case somebody decides to send me some text), a camera, a phone-number list, a calendar, and a video recorder. Why would I not want to? Each one does its work quite well.
  The only problem is that I've run out of supply for my instantaneous camera, and had to stop using it.
  
  --
  Rethinking email
3. Re:New meaning for "defile" by Bruce+Perens · 2012-09-05 14:32 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  But, Batman, most people don't have a utility belt to put all of this stuff in.
  
  --
  Bruce Perens.
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN oops, it's the story! by FriendlyStatistician · 2012-09-05 12:08 · Score: 5, Informative

You might try reading the summary before you post next time. The phone that includes a micro-SD slot is not the phone that does not include an SD slot.
TL;DR: RTFS.
No defiling by hawguy · 2012-09-05 12:08 · Score: 4, Funny

I can't wait until their next phone that will have no speaker or microphone since that would compromise the physical form and most people don't talk on a Smartphone anyway.
So what about the SIM card slot? by baka_toroi · 2012-09-05 12:10 · Score: 5, Insightful

How come a SIM card is blended perfectly with the case but a Micro SD card -which is smaller- "defiles" the design?
1. Re:So what about the SIM card slot? by sexconker · 2012-09-05 12:13 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  How come a SIM card is blended perfectly with the case but a Micro SD card -which is smaller- "defiles" the design?
  Because the "design" is to sell 8, 16, and 32 GB variations for $499, $599, and $699, respectively.
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN oops, it's the story! by pushing-robot · 2012-09-05 12:10 · Score: 4, Informative

The phone with a MicroSD slot is the Nokia 820. The phone without a SD slot, Micro- or otherwise, is the 920. It's been a while since any phones had full-size SD card slots.

--
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Nokia Lumia is a disaster stock price down 16.6% by walterbyrd · 2012-09-05 12:43 · Score: 4, Informative

As I understand it.
What's the problem? by Black+Parrot · 2012-09-05 12:50 · Score: 4, Funny

Couldn't consumers just take their defiled phones to a priest and get them blessed?

--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Re:Quite stupid... by John+Bokma · 2012-09-05 12:52 · Score: 4, Insightful

Some people listen to music on their phone, or watch photos on it....

--

Perl Programmer for hire
Oh, I got it! by Bruce+Perens · 2012-09-05 12:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Defile is the new word for unmount! You file the SD card when you insert it, and you defile it when you eject it!
:-)

--
Bruce Perens.
Re:My happy little Droid Razr Maxx... by wbr1 · 2012-09-05 13:04 · Score: 4, Insightful

has a microSD slot on the side under a cover next to the SIM card. Ingenious design.
IMHO, the only thing that could defile a phone these days would be the name Nokia on it. Or Blackberry.
Or Windows 8.

--
Silence is a state of mime.
Re:So let me get this straight... by reboot246 · 2012-09-05 13:09 · Score: 5, Funny

The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?
Re:Ha! by smash · 2012-09-05 13:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

Yup, that lack of SD slot sure killed the iPhone. And the iPod.

--
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Buyers don't care! by dell623 · 2012-09-05 13:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

Sorry, this is yet another example of why the tastes of slashdot readers are basically irrelevant for any manufacturer today. Users don't care about MicroSD slots, the lack of one does not hurt sales and most people who have MicroSD slots in their phones have no idea what to do with them. Yes you can get cheap 64GB SDXC cards for $60 or so, and it's criminally stupid to not have MicroSD slots (or just offer large storage at a reasonable cost). But users don't care. Google realized that, so did Nokia.
Wrong Order by Bob9113 · 2012-09-05 13:33 · Score: 4, Funny

'We started with the premise that we wanted an uncompromised physical form,' executive vice president Kevin Shields, said. 'To put an SD card slot in it would have defiled it.'
Hmm, Kevin: If you're trying to channel Apple, you have the order wrong. First you build a strong following among artistic folks by consistently bringing pretty technology to market. Then you talk like an effete douchebag. If you get the order backwards it sounds pretentious.

--
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
Nokia: Too Late! by kelemvor4 · 2012-09-05 13:52 · Score: 4, Funny

Nokia, It's too late to worry about defiling the device! You've already loaded Windows Phone onto it and ruined an otherwise acceptable cell phone.
The real use for the Lumia 920 by kurt555gs · 2012-09-05 14:33 · Score: 4, Interesting

I think the Lumia 920 and Windows 8 finally shows what Microsoft had in mind when they underhandedly planted Elop as Nokia's CEO. You can't just destroy a company obviously and not have stockholder suits. SO, if a devious and nefarious evil company such as Microsoft wanted to destroy Nokia's stock price and then buy it's patent portfolio cheap to be used to bully Apple, RIM, and Android makers into paying Microsoft royalties ( which I believe is M$'s actual goal ) You have to pretend you are making an effort to compete. At least falsely. So, you destroy all of the work Nokia has done, fire anyone creative or innovative, tie Nokia up with contracts so there is no escape, then come out with a complete piece of shit like the Lumia 920. Nokia stock drops below it's cash reserves, and Microsoft can claim, we really tried. We don't know why it failed. This useless cell phone is the poison pill in a pretty yellow package to kill off Nokia.

--
* Carthago Delenda Est *