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

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."

17 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Call the lawyers by FriendlyStatistician · · Score: 5, Funny

    Surely Apple has a patent on undefiled designs?

    1. Re:Call the lawyers by mirix · · Score: 5, Funny

      They certainly have a patent on not including standard features.

      --
      Sent from my PDP-11
    2. Re:Call the lawyers by erp_consultant · · 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.

    3. Re:Call the lawyers by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    4. Re:Call the lawyers by Belial6 · · 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.

  2. Good idea Nokia by stevenfuzz · · 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 · · 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 · · 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
  3. Re:MOD PARENT DOWN oops, it's the story! by FriendlyStatistician · · 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.

  4. So what about the SIM card slot? by baka_toroi · · 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 · · 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.

  5. Oh, I got it! by Bruce+Perens · · 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!

    :-)

  6. Re:New meaning for "defile" by jrumney · · 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.

  7. Re:So let me get this straight... by reboot246 · · 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?

  8. Re:Ha! by smash · · 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.
  9. Buyers don't care! by dell623 · · 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.

  10. Re:New meaning for "defile" by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Funny

    But, Batman, most people don't have a utility belt to put all of this stuff in.