Palm: lack of microSD slot on the Pre purely a "design" decision
By Laura June 
posted Jan 23rd 2009 3:25PM
posted Jan 23rd 2009 3:25PM
Palm Product Manager Matt Crowley is holding a week-long Q&A session about the Pre on Facebook, and some pretty interesting discussions are taking place. Most interestingly, so far, is Crowley's answer when questioned about the (for many) cringe-inducing lack of a microSD slot on the company's much-hyped device in-the-making: "Design was the highest goal on the Palm Pre project. The phone has to look and function great in the hand and up against the face on a call. The decision to include or not include expandable storage is an easy one when design is the highest priority. The physical size of the device would have been compromised if we added another physical component to Pre. Just a millimeter can seriously impact the curvature of the design in a way that minimizes the design intent. We wanted to maintain a slick curved slider design without building out too much thickness. When you look at the two parts of the product and see how thin they really are, you may be amazed that we were able to fit everything in. And yes, all the stuff does fit." Now, we're pretty into the design of the Pre, but this kind of strikes us as a lame answer. Regardless, you can toss your own questions into the ring until January 28th. [Via Palm Infocenter]
i dont see the lack of a card slot as a defect at all. I only have 4gb now and its only half full with video, music, and a gps program on a Touch Pro. 8gb is more than enough for the average user and consumer. People just want bigger because they can not necessarily because they absolutely need it. I just cant see why people NEED to carry around 50,000 songs and 20 movies with them at all times. 8gb should honestly be more than enough for the average user and Apple seemed to sell PLENTY of 4/8gb phones just fine.
Well speaking as someone who carries 20+GB of music at all times plus a couple gigs of pc repair utilities on his device, I have to say 8GB is ludicrously small. When people comment on this stuff and say things like "its enough for most people" what they really mean is "its enough for me, so everyone who needs more should stop whining". If it had the sdhc slot you could keep your 8GB and I could throw a 16GB card in and we could all be happy. As it is, Palm's 8GB Pre will not be coming to my house.
When people comment on this stuff and say things like "8GB is ludicrously small" what they really mean is "8GB is ludricously small for me, so everyone who needs only 8BG should stop being content." :)
8GB would probably be fine for me honestly. i have a 1GB card in my Treo now that i realize i very rarely remove from the device and rarely put anything on it except for the programs i install to it and an MP3 every now and then. i was kind of upset at first, but now looking at it, 8GB will be fine for me. it's not like ill be using it to replace my Zune or anything, plus i always carry plenty of USB flash drives and SDHC cards with me for school, so i wont need it to have that much space. sure the option would be nice because some people will obviously need more (and room for expansion is always good) but personally, i think i could make it work.
Whassamatta, zeitgeist? You're such a minimalist that you can't carry a thumbdrive for your utilities?
lame. i want microsd. which makes this phone a no-go just like the iphone.
how much room is the 8gb of storage taking up? how about they remove that to make room for a micro sd slot instead?
its probably cheaper and i think a way better option. easier, more convenient, and can store more.
I don't get the excitement over the pre? Isn't this a completely new OS? If so, wouldn't that essentially mean a severe lack of compatibility and program choices?
well the draw is supposed to be ease of programming for said OS. its all written in web languages, so it's supposed to be super easy to develop for. in theory that should make a pretty high turnover rate for new programs. it sounds good, but ill still wait a couple weeks before i go get one just to gauge peoples reactions of it and see where the bugs are and how big they are (almost inevitable with a new device and OS).
I assume they will follow the iPhone and add additional versions with enhanced storage for a premium.
I think what most people are forgetting is that Palm created this phone to be solely dependant on the web (read:WebOS) if I'm understanding what I've read, seen, and heard so far.
With this in mind, I'm sure Palm would rather you stream music from one of its founding partners, like Pandora for instance, than to plug a card in and carry it around with you.
(For those who are worried about not having control of your music playlist, try out Grooveshark.com.) Also with pictures - Picasa gives you 1GB free, and the photos I've seen of the OS show Picasa to be a built in feature of the OS (Synergy). Once you get your pictures onto the web, you can manage them from anywhere.
I know I'm leaving a lot out and that I'm putting up a fight for a phone I haven't held in my hands yet, but if you get in the mindset that the phone is supposed to rely on the web for a great deal of things, the only thing that really matters is what service you pick to upload your creations, music, pictures, etc.
Sure, if you can guarantee that we will always get a strong 3G signal *everywhere* we go, that may work. Since that's far from realistic today, then I want the ability to carry around what I need access to w/o the internet.
Grooveshark requires flash. Hence, you're an idiot.
just as lame as apples lack of expasion... or battery removability.. or...
Expandable storage is mobile storage. Those who profess to not need it or will not miss its presence either don't feel compelled to ever place files/apps onto the storage card at the PC or a high-quality camera, then transfer the card to the phone ... Or, they are simply serving as apologists to keep this honeymoon-buzz going. I'd say it's a 50/50-shot either way.
I can use 8GB but I would be much happier if it had 16GB built in or a MicroSD card slot.
I wouldn't mind paying extra for a 16GB version.
I was only giving an alternative to Pandora. My statement wasn't intended to imply the Pre would or wouldn't include a Flash player which Palm has neither confirmed nor denied at this point.
By the way, classy post... I appreciate the fact we can discuss this like adults.
@zeitgeist - thats a pretty pathetic argument. Just because YOU want more than 8gb doesnt mean there it HAS to be there or else the product is crap. Id be willing to bet Palm compiled much more marketing data than you will ever have available to determine what people use or dont use. They didnt pick an arbitrary number out of the sky at 8gb. So again my statement remains truthful that the majority of people likely use less than 8gb, or else the statistics would have shown so to Palm and they would have increased the size. Use some logic next time and read the comment below yours:
"When people comment on this stuff and say things like "8GB is ludicrously small" what they really mean is "8GB is ludricously small for me, so everyone who needs only 8BG should stop being content." :)"
Quoted for truth....
@backbeat- oh yes me must be apologists, gimme a freaking break. If you dont like it dont buy it simple as that theres no gun to your head if you dont like whats included. The number of people who need to do the things you list is VERY minimal. Maybe youre simply portraying your own frustrations upon what the general public should want. Simply dont buy it, thats why they make about 2000 different models of cell phones
@Klumsy who said: "The number of people who need to do the things you list [move files/apps to or from PC/Camera to or from phone] is VERY minimal.
Thanks for the belly-laugh, Klumsy. I needed that!
In this day and age of portable devices it really is a horrible idea to not include some form of expandable storage.
to the apologists, just because you may not need more than 8gb NOW, doesn't mean you won't need it sooner than later.
while im always an advocate for expandable memory, when looking at how much memory i ACTUALLY use and what i use my phone for, 8GB should do the trick for me (at least right now). im not going to want my entire music collection (around 70GBs), all my photos, or my entire movie/tv show collection (around 400GBs) on it or anything, it's a phone. i have an MP3 player that is more than capable of handling all those task and i wouldnt plan on ditching it anyway. i know it's kinda weird taking up for something i've never used before but when analyzing what i actually use compared to what i think i need, 8GB will probably do me just fine.
@SoCoolCurt: Yeah I agree with you. My collection run's over 100gb for music alone, and yet I feel that 8gb would be perfect. I currently use a 4gb iPood nano, and I'm really looking forward to the Pre. I've been with Sprint for years, and I just finished running 2 years on a POS Samsung clamshell, and really want to replace it, hopefully with a Pre.
We're talking about more space to care music collections and software, but how long until we're carrying around movies on these things? You're pretty much admitting you won't do much to update the device by limiting it's storage capacity. That number one reason for SD storage is the ability to keep most if not all of your pics,etc on it, in the event of phone failure. Just pluck out the SD (and sim if GSM) and you're off to the next phone.
Similar to a conversation the other day about the ipod and SSD drives. It will never happen, but if if does, that will be the same day that we get a replaceable battery for it, since the SSDs last much longer. So look for a mini SD slot if/when this thing goes GSM.
When is it coming to Verizon (Hey, a man can dream, can't he?)