Why Huawei's NM cards mean you don't get to expand the Mate 20 storage

17 October 2018
Let's look at the possibilities of NM cards becoming a trend and why that won't happen anytime soon.

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  • H
  • Herthaner9
  • M{E
  • 17 Jul 2020

I've just run the update and now discover the same issue - card is not recognized anymore! I have ordered a nm card reader online to at least get my data off that card in time to buy a new one from Huawei. Guess their anti-competition strategy worked for me...

    My Mate 20 has decided not to recognise the NM card. I think it was after the latest core update, although there were other issues with my data provider at the time so I can't be certain that is the cause. Apparently it is not a genuine Huawei card as it has no serial number, and as such is not supported by Huawei. This seems to be very anti-competition to me. I had used the card as my default photo storage, it seems that I may have lost all my images. Beware!
    Has anyone had a similar issue or have any suggestions?

      • c
      • chaloklam
      • m1%
      • 16 Mar 2019

      where is the huawei compatibility list ? I have a Huawei nova4 with double sim , and i wonder if i can extend memory with a huawei ND card ?

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • 7xb
        • 22 Jan 2019

        There is some confusion regarding NM (NanoSD) standard introduced by Huawei at Mate 20 series launch.

        The primary driving force for NM (NanoSD) is to support future Hybrid Multi-SIM (Nano-SIM, Multi-SIM stand-by) within smartphones. NM is essentially a reduced version of MicroSD with identical internals. Size-wise, NM is identical to a Nano-SIM and 60% of the size of MicroSD. This makes support for Hybrid Multi-SIM simple. Multi-SIM refers to multiple nano-SIMs, more than 2 SIMs. If NM is not introduced, when future phones require support for Hybrid Multi-SIM, any support for additional memory extension will be difficult, due to space limitation. There is a growing demand for supporting 3-SIM-Stand-by (even 4-SIM-Stand-by) among Chinese smartphone buyers.

        In terms of compatibility, price, performance and capacity, NM (nanoSD) is essentially identical to MicroSD. Every NM comes with a NM-to-MicroSD converter so NM is usable where microSD is usable. But in future Hybrid Multi-SIM slot, only NM will be supported. (NM can be put in where a NanoSIM is. You will need an additional larger slot for microSD if microSD is supported.)

        The price for NM will be marginally higher than MicroSD initially, but will drop once its use is accepted. At this time, all NMs are OEM through Toshiba. Huawei doesn't charge license fees and makes no money out of it. Its acceptance will depend sorely on other Chinese smartphones makers. Whether other phone makers (Apple, Samsung, LG, SONY) adopt NM has no real-world impact.

        Suppose you have a phone that supports 4-SIM-stand-by, but you only use one SIM. You can put in three 256GB NMs for 768GB extended memory. Isn't it wonderful? Have you ever imagined there will be a slot supporting multiple memory cards?

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • wdx
          • 20 Jan 2019

          Hate it, make hybrid sim slot go from worse to worst.

            • j
            • jas
            • twZ
            • 11 Dec 2018

            DANIEL, 23 Oct 2018Will these NM chips will costs like 1000 USD Are you sure :... moreit costs 115usd for a 256gb nm card in hong kong, idk about other places

              • F
              • Furtim
              • vp2
              • 06 Nov 2018

              I'm quite happy to buy the Huawei’s proprietary NM Card, this Mate phone, will end up being the Market leader sooner than later.
              The simple fact is China take all the best features of all phones and combine them into one.
              I have the Mate on order as I type lol
              Was a Samsung Galaxy buff but have seen where things are heading.
              Huawei may or may nor steer away from the Huawei’s proprietary NM Cards, if it puts buyers off the phone.

                DANIEL, 23 Oct 2018Will these NM chips will costs like 1000 USD Are you sure :... moreI think these NM cards will cost around $50 for a 256 gig version.

                  • D
                  • DANIEL
                  • JHM
                  • 23 Oct 2018

                  Trollhammeren, 20 Oct 2018over a 1000$ and still made without any brains .... Will these NM chips will costs like 1000 USD Are you sure :O ? ? ololo ??? :O

                    Anonymous, 19 Oct 2018Cloud = someone else's hard drive. No thanks. Hope yo... moreYou clearly don't understand what cloud storage is for. It's not just for data backup. It's for synchronizing you data across multiple devices. Because of cloud storage, when I add a calendar entry on my phone, it instantly appears on my desk top. There is no other way to do that.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • Tui
                      • 21 Oct 2018

                      Trollhammeren, 20 Oct 2018over a 1000$ and still made without any brains .... exacty lol.. so stupid why new standard for sd cards that DONT exist on the market ? what are they smoking ????

                        • T
                        • Trollhammeren
                        • Lax
                        • 20 Oct 2018

                        over a 1000$ and still made without any brains ....

                          Anonymous, 19 Oct 2018Cloud = someone else's hard drive. No thanks. Hope yo... moreBrain is something that you are suppose to have. When I wrote "my own" I meant that I own it and it is in my house. You type whatever makes you feel better. If you only comprehend 4k videos and "battery waste when uploading to the cloud" I suggest you start reading something else besides your love life. Also, I never said I do not own an SD card, you presumed that.....ergo...you like to listen to yourself as no one else would.
                          And for your information: Apple uses Google's cloud for storage therefore you can't actually call it iCloud unless you're an Apple sheep.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • tNw
                            • 19 Oct 2018

                            Anonymous, 17 Oct 2018LIES !!!! Dont believe in those MicroSD speeds. .. I hav... moreWhat kind of branding? There's two of them. It tested ok on my windows 7 device.

                            But I tried again on a benchmarking app and they couldn't go over 30 lol. So did the other users on the online ranking.

                            Then again, the benchmarker popped out an error message so I am not sure.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • tNw
                              • 19 Oct 2018

                              siminum, 19 Oct 2018I built my own personal cloud ergo you are clueless when it... moreCloud = someone else's hard drive.

                              No thanks.

                              Hope you won't get iClouded someday.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • sxs
                                • 19 Oct 2018

                                siminum, 19 Oct 2018I built my own personal cloud ergo you are clueless when it... moreSo you want me and other heavy storage users to spend so much more than the cost of a cheap high capacity micro sd card and start building our own 'personal cloud' so we don't have to pay for storage fees but still use data and still drain the battery in the process? How silly can you get just so you justify your sour graping against phones with micro sd slot and users of high storage capacity micro sd cards? :) I'm telling you not all users are like you who don't have a need for external micro sd storage. We like all our media files stored in our micro sd card, accessible offline, anytime, anywhere, no data or wifi needed. We don't like to waste data for cloud backups, uploads downloads and would rather spend data on online news reading, purchasing from shopping sites, purchasing/renting Google/Netflix movies for offline viewing, social media updates, emails, etc. Cloud storage of personal media files like one's personal photos and 4K videos waste so much time, money and add to the battery burden. Now you know.

                                  Anonymous, 19 Oct 2018The truth hurts, doesn't it? You sourgrape phones with micr... moreI built my own personal cloud ergo you are clueless when it comes to newer (actually not so new) technology - more space than in an SD card. I rarely use WiFi as my data signal is quite strong and gives me what I want. I have more than enough traffic on my current subscription to suit my need. You don't need to infatuate yourself, admit it, you are in love with your phone and there's no shame in that and besides, I don't use social media on my phone (those are other true power suckers like Facebook) - I use them on my PC. The way you brag yourself tends to show how narrow minded YOU are for not being able to have a conversation without pointing your finger towards the other person. You like to have a monologue rather than a constructive conversation and you hate being contradicted = I never did such thing, you simply exploded when I asked why the urge of SD card when you can "cloud your information". If you would have told me that you have some virtual machines on your SD card I would totally agreed with those as they are quite large in size and moving them to the cloud it's quite a tedious work.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • sxs
                                    • 19 Oct 2018

                                    Anonymous, 18 Oct 2018One word: hoarder. Which only means you are not able to ... moreIt's a shame and an extremely narrow minded point of view to call media lovers of the highest quality music, movies and photos as well as supporters of very useful offline apps (like offline Wikipedia) 'hoarders' when they are rather actually maximizing their phone's use to their FULLEST, online or offline, making them worth the money you spend on them and not just using them simply as a glorified Facebook and Youtube devices, but as an all-in-one multimedia, educational, social and productivity device, much like how you would use your laptop with 1-2TB of storage.

                                    Yes, I also have Office files for screen sharing and presentations to the workplace smart tv. I rarely bring my laptop anymore. The fact is, we are power users using our phones more and more like the way we use our laptops--- And your extremely limited and primitive thinking calls it 'hoarding'. If you are happy with wasting time, money and battery power on the cloud, then go ahead. You probably prefer microscopic storage Chromebooks too, over a real 2TB storage Windows laptop. You simply don't have the slightest idea we are actually using our smartphones vastly in a lot more varied ways than you. And for once, stop sour graping just because your internal storage only phone can only dream of what our phones with huge micro sd card storage can deliver and achieve.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • sxs
                                      • 19 Oct 2018

                                      siminum, 19 Oct 2018If you cannot comment to the point then please stop comment... moreThe truth hurts, doesn't it? You sourgrape phones with micro sd expansion because your phone can never claim to have the same flexibility, convenience and liberating experience as those who have large external micro sd storage expansion. And just because LTE and WiFi is strong and reliable at your home and office doesn't mean it's strong and reliable everywhere you go and anywhere else in the world. Besides, why waste data, time, money and battery power and pay for monthly cloud storage when you can have your own micro sd storage? LTE data is better spent on online news reading and social media and email updates rather than wasted on media and personal files you have to store on the cloud just because your stupid phone has filled up storage and no micro sd card expansion.

                                        [deleted post]If you cannot comment to the point then please stop commenting. If your network is so lame and barely gives you 2 signal lines on your device stop discussing fast LTE speeds and that it's draining my battery. In 4K, the ratio is something like 10 min for 10%. Yes, sure, you have an army of batteries waiting to provide assistance but this can only prove how in love you are with your device and that only 4K videos can keep that love going. And stop assuming what experience I have when it comes to mobile phones or computers: appearances can sometimes be very deceiving.

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