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SanDisk Made an iPhone Case With Built-In Storage (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader writes: SanDisk has made its iXpand Memory Case to alleviate the problem that Apple creates when they release an iPhone in 2016 with only 16GB of on-board storage. The iXpand Memory Case is an iPhone case with flash storage built directly into the case itself that connects/charges via the Lightning port. You won't need a new phone and you won't need to carry around an extra charging dongle, which is the case for many other third-party cases and accessories. Since Apple doesn't make expanding your storage with third-party devices easy, you will need to download/install the companion SanDisk iXpand Memory Case app on your iPhone, which will automatically back-up your camera roll and password-protect your photos and files. If you need some extra juice, you can spend an extra $40 to receive a 1900mAh battery pack that attaches to the case. The iXpand Memory Case is only available with the iPhone 6 and 6s and is available with 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB of extra flash storage for $59, $99, and $129, respectively. Oh, and of course there are varying color options: Red, Grey, Sky and Mint. Maybe your phone battery is running low (God-forbid it is dead) and you just so happen to be nearby a KFC in Delhi or Mumbai, KFC has you covered. They have introduced a meal box that doubles as a smartphone charger.
I have 50GB of iCloud storage, and an unlimited data plan.
Only hipsters want to manage physical chips of storage between devices.
My phone has expandable storage built right into the phone.
Supports up to 128 GB uSD, IIRC. Inside the device itself.
Apple sets its price points based on flash storage amount. If people can easily add more storage, that will be a win for the consumer. Yay, competition!
Another ad.
iPhone case with flash storage built directly into the case...
Or I can buy a phone with an SD card slot built directly into the phone
You won't need a new phone and you won't need to carry around an extra charging dongle...
No I won't will I?
Since Apple doesn't make expanding your storage with third-party devices easy...
Other phone manufacturers do however, so I'll just buy one of their products.
may as well drive the car with felt padding on all the seats and panels and chrome rims.
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Selling 128GB flash drives for $20 more than 32GB flash drives isn't nearly as profitable as selling 128GB flash drive cases for $70 more than 32GB flash drive cases.
...maybe Apple could implement some user-friendly pseudoinnovation, like using the lightning port for attaching mass storage devices and some kind of filesystem to go along with it.
And while I'm thinking about it, have any iOS apps ever tried to use the camera roll as a generic filesystem? I'd imagine that the APIs make sure you're storing data that has the right filetype magic that matches supported image files, but do they resample it or otherwise manipulate the data so that you couldn't store random data to the camera roll?
Is there any reason you couldn't store an MP3 in the camera roll with just enough encoding to make the OS think it was a JPG but that apps that knew "this one trick" couldn't read it?
From TheVerge link:
"Since Apple doesn't exactly make it easy to expand your storage with third-party devices, you'll need to install the companion app on your phone, which can automatically back up your camera roll and password-protect your photos and files. There's also an optional 1900mAh battery pack that can be attached to the case if you're willing to spend an extra $40.
Sadly if you have an older iPhone or the bigger iPhone 6 Plus or 6S Plus, this case won't be of much help. The iXpand Memory Case is only compatible with the iPhone 6 and 6S and is available with 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB of extra storage for $59, $99, and $129, respectively."
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if you keep the extra battery charged up, meaning the phone's main battery will never go through the 500 or so 'cycles' a battery has, shouldn't the phone's battery stay good indefinitely?
It's probably the best attempt I've seen at increasing the iPhone's available storage (yeah, yeah, we know that Apple should allow microSD - you don't need to say it), but it seems rather overpriced.
Considering that cards from Sandisk are around $12 (32GB), $20 (64GB) and $40 (128GB) and considering $40-$45 for a case, then you should be looking at $55, $65 or $85.
Better yet, it should just have been sold as an empty shell of a case with a microSD slot for you to fill - although I appreciate that the profit margins on such a thing wouldn't have been quite so healthy.
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Or you can just use OtterBox's newest case, the uniVERSE (www.otterbox.com/en-us/universe-case-system). SanDisk makes an iXpand Flash Drive module for it as well (http://www.otterbox.com/en-us/iphone-6-6s-iphone-6-6s-plus/sandisk-ixpand-flash-drive/sndk-ixpand.html). This is better because you can swap out the module with multiple other SanDisk flash drives and all of the other uniVERSE modules (battery packs, external speakers, macro lenses, Square Card Reader, etc). Way better than the 1-trick pony SanDisk case. And it's an OtterBox so you know it's protective.
Yeah, I'll just continue buying devices that actually speak to the public instead of some hipster crap that everyone blindly follows because "iPhones are so much better than Android, duh!"
This expandable storage thing has been an issue with iPhones ever since the manufacturers who make Android phones actually listened to the consumer public and gave us what we needed. Screw you, Apple. We're not buying your crap, nor is it going to sway us to buy your crap just because SanDisk is trying to solve your problems for you.
Sincerely,
The SMART technology consumers who actually think before they buy a device