Counterclockwise: the relationship between dual SIM slots and microSD cards

24 June 2018
Both SIM and microSD cards are under siege - one from the advent of embedded SIMs, the other from maker's reluctance to let you expand your memory.

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  • Vvvky
  • rAR
  • 04 Jan 2019

Alien , 24 Jun 2018Are you blind or blind? NO china phone has SD card slot. On... moreThat's the thing bro with smartphones getting smarter people are getting dumber. All these kids just use their smartphones for taking silly selfies and social networking and these days PUBG. It's sad that the hybrid SIM technology completely zeroed out the dedicated dual Sims and SD slots in the flagship space. Only some budget smartphones have that convenience now.

    • A
    • Alien
    • 3RM
    • 25 Jun 2018

    Anonymous, 25 Jun 2018SD card better than OTG lol seems that you don’t know shit ... moreWho cares there's a difference? The SD card is used for storage purposes, not apks. So it doesn't matter if it's a bit slower.
    OTG may be better, but you always have to carry it with you, easy to loose, extra stress on the USB port, battery drain etc.
    The internal memory is used only to install apps, while the SD card is used for STORAGE.
    If you want less of a SMARTphone, that's your choice..
    Meanwhile, ALL the big brands have the SD card slot on their high-end flagships.
    The pixels don't have it because fuggle wants your money for extra spying cloud storage ;)

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 3Yb
      • 25 Jun 2018

      Alien , 24 Jun 2018Are you blind or blind? NO china phone has SD card slot. On... moreSD card better than OTG lol seems that you don’t know shit about storage speed. Internal storage always better than external storage aka SD card and OTG still better than SD card and faster.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • v3B
        • 25 Jun 2018

        Anonymous, 24 Jun 2018Chinese crap idea good for cheap phones only.LOL sure.. btw they are also making more money than you can ever dream of.

        Dude, triple slot is so important for people travelling you have no idea. Went to Taiwan recently and bought a local SIM for a week's use, had to give up my original SIM, which is so easy to lose when overseas, just so I can use my microSD for taking photos and storing music offline. Imagine you are going to multiple countries on 1 trip.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • jSq
          • 25 Jun 2018

          Anonymous, 24 Jun 2018I'm alright with hybrid dual sim but I do understand the ne... moreyou do realize if you loose your phone, you loose your sd card too

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            • F1982
            • n}X
            • 25 Jun 2018

            Vegetaholic, 25 Jun 2018No in Europe with diminishing roaming charges I don't see a... moreIt's not common in Europe mostly because the networks deliberately kept them away so people don't even know it's possible. Still today people look at me like I have 2 noses when I tell them my phone has 2 sim cards (in UK).
            But there are still good uses for them, the same reasons why they're popular in other countries, particularly in Asia where they're considered normal. It's not just about roaming.
            With 2 cards you can have 1 with a good deal on calls/texts and another with a good deal on data for example. Both working simultaneously.
            What I use it for is to have both my personal and work phone in 1 handset. Otherwise i'd have to carry around a 3 year old mid-range samsung for my work line. No thanks! Dual Sim hopefully continues to become more understood in markets where the networks have very successfully kept them a secret up until the introduction of more Chinese brands.

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              • AnonD-171484
              • u}u
              • 25 Jun 2018

              I want a real dual sim phone and a dedicated SD card slot in a flagship. I have lots of music and they are fine in an SD card. I think most Android phones don't have that much memory to do without an SD card, and in order to use the hybrid 2nd sim, one has to forgo the SD.

              Why can't they just charge a bit more for a second sim , and for those who don't need to use it, just leave it alone??

                MicroSD card slot is not supposed to be ditched, especially from the ones also manufacturing their own MicroSD cards, for an example, Samsung; or the camera oriented ones.

                I bet the reason most of the recent flagship phones without the card slot included, is the way to attract people buying a higher storage capacity edition. This is explicitly a disaster to some of the photo taker taking lots of high-quality pictures in this case, whose works cannot be stored externally - but gone to the internal instead - harming the durability of that (internals unable to be replaced easily). this is no good when they need to clear the old ones with lower storage!

                Anyway, I don't really mind of ditching so - as long as there are any other method that can let all the new document (such as newly taken photo, downloaded stuff) to be stored directly to the microSD (like through the external reader). Yet what is considered the best for me, is to make a dedicated buffer slot, so that the users with high data transferring usage, will not suffer from internal storage problems easily due to excessive drive writes.

                Back to the years when Samsung introduced S6, well, i thought Samsung made the decision of no longer supporting them, shivering me to the death. As a company which also fabricates the externals, they were ultimately a troll towards those users. luckily, S7 brought back that slot, as of now, it is still up.

                Furthermore if you are not going to remove/replace the microSD card once they are in your phone (for a certainly long period at least), then Android can get you covered to utilize that as a internal storage as well as i remember the feature Android 6.0 has.
                ---
                I hate the phone builders charging a ridiculous margin when you want a storage amount jump, for an example, from 64GB to a 256GB's iPhone 7 or later. based on iPhone 8 in HKD, you have to pay HKD$1'200 ($152,91) more to jump from 64GB to 256GB. moving to microSD cards, in the recent pricing, you can literally buy 2 of 256GB (Samsung EVO Plus 2017).

                you might refute me by its lower transferring speed, you are right, however, at least you can store everything you might think it is important - you don't need to wipe them away let the new in.

                  No in Europe with diminishing roaming charges I don't see a point for dual SIM card devices. Never had it to be honest, one card is what you need in Western Europe at least, well if you are in other continents it is more tricky so I understand urge two have more than one SIM card

                    kiasunkiasi, 25 Jun 2018actually if you search the Tube, there are video guides on ... moreI see. I would rather avoid such projects. ^^;

                      • k
                      • kiasunkiasi
                      • sAI
                      • 25 Jun 2018

                      Kiyasuriin, 24 Jun 2018That would be impossible. A stacking solution would never w... moreactually if you search the Tube, there are video guides on stacking a secondary SIM on top of SD card, of course after some DIY like filing off a little bit of SD card casing

                      but it can be done

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                        • Luxor
                        • IVZ
                        • 25 Jun 2018

                        Kiyasuriin, 24 Jun 2018That would be impossible. A stacking solution would never w... moreOh, thats right. I forgot about the pogo pins. Too bad. I like the e-sim idea too but I dont like the inconvenience of not being able to swap it manually. I guess there are no perfect solution. I guess I will stick to having dedicated dual sims and sd slot.

                          Anonymous, 24 Jun 2018Why not order from outside your country? Shipping something... moreShipping cost and taxes on Amazon go to around $50.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • EFR
                            • 24 Jun 2018

                            Anonymous, 24 Jun 2018https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kDXxM-mCWFg Enjoy your gam... moreFew if any phones are advertised as "water proof"; they are advertised as 'water resistant', because a daily use device's waterproofing is so easily defeated by things like a small drop.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • EFR
                              • 24 Jun 2018

                              phred, 24 Jun 2018I'm getting really sh1t to bits with the arrogance of what ... moreEnd users are not customers, they buy phones by the unit. Carriers are customers, they order in the thousands. Carriers don't have end users' best interests in mind.

                                Luxor, 24 Jun 2018This comment section is going in a loop. Repeating the exac... moreSame here. Just watching the carnage with some nachos!

                                  Anonymous, 24 Jun 2018It does not help that we have people who are get angry when... moreIf I state something. I cling to it, I'm never opposing my inner truth.
                                  So if I can't find a device that have my conditions. I won't compromise. I'll look for a brand that gives what I want and need

                                    Anonymous, 24 Jun 2018I'm alright with hybrid dual sim but I do understand the ne... moreCouldn't agree more! However, I wouldn't mind the absence of IR blaster.

                                      Luxor, 24 Jun 2018Dual sim offering should be a norm. People are trying to se... moreThat would be impossible. A stacking solution would never work, as the card in the upper level is not touching the relevant connector (be it a SIM or an SD card. Unless you'll start adding pogo pins for that very solution

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • S0A
                                        • 24 Jun 2018

                                        Domestoboto, 24 Jun 2018The price jump from a 64GB card to a 128GB card is absolute... moreWhy not order from outside your country? Shipping something so small should cost very little