Grench:
Just to clear this out: you want a full-sized SD card slot on the inside of P2, because (as you claim)
- SD cards have better capacity/price ratio than microSD cards in the high end cards
- SD cards have better speed/price ratio than microSD cards in the high end cards
Not JUST the price ratios. Throughout all of the history of SD and microSD, the microSD card capabilities have always been 12-24 months behind that of full sized SD. So...
Currently released SD cards are twice as large in capacity as currently released microSD cards.
Currently released SD cards are twice as fast as currently released microSD cards.
Previously released 12 month old SD cards, compared to equal spec currently released microSD cards are roughly 1/2 the price per GB of the microSD equivalent.
I do not see this trend changing. There simply isn't the 'call for speed and capacity' from the phone and tablet front. If there were, more manufacturers would be equipping their tablets with full sized SD slots.
Exophase has counterargued, that
- There is no technical reason for the speed/price ratio difference (SD and microSD are the same tech aside form the packaging)
- The current situation regarding the speed you describe is because of current market needs
- The market is shifting from SD to microSD, reversing or at least leveling the situation regarding speed you describe in the near future
- There is some merit to the capacity difference due to physical size of the medium
He is correct that there is no electro-mechanical reason for the microSD to be slower. That does not erase the fact that microSD IS slower, has always BEEN slower and that there is no real indication of it 'catching up' to current - only that it is moving forward about a year or more behind full sized SD, just like it always has.
I think there is something beyond market needs involved in the difference in development. The physical size of full sized SD likely makes it easier to manufacture.
"The market is shifting from SD to microSD" - Sorry, I don't see it. I see microSD becoming more common because device manufacturers have foolishly not given the public a choice in it. I would MUCH rather have a tablet with a full sized SD that can take photos straight from my camera than one with a microSD that I can't hardly handle the card from. I don't see it ever 'taking over' for high end cameras (many of which are still CF, but the photogs tend to use SDXC in a CF adapter). Remember, the Pandora and hopefully the Pandora 2 are general computing devices - not locked down cell phones and tablets. For the population that use their Pandora for things other than games, the Pandora needs the added flexibility that full sized SD offers.
I ask of you:
- Do you have any reason to believe the market is NOT shifting toward microSD cards? Current trends in the most sold devices (cellphones) seem to gravitate toward microSD.
- Are you suggesting microSD cards cannot for some reason be as speed/price efficient as SD cards? Why?
- How large a microSD would be large enough to render the capacity issue moot?
I'll try not to get too caught up in this, but I found these parts to be confusing.
Cell phones don't care about the card speed. Heck, most cell phone users don't care about card sizes beyond 8GB. It is a completely different usage scenario. The Pandora is a general use computing device - and deliberately NOT a phone and NOT a manufacturer locked-down tablet. It's use profile is MUCH wider.
microSD cards have NEVER been speed/price, capacity/price efficient as SD cards. They have -always- been 12-24 months behind SD in capabilities. What makes YOU think this is going to change?
How much storage is enough? There is no such animal as 'enough', only limitations based on what the machine can take and how much my wallet can handle.
Right now I use my left SD slot with a 128GB Lexar class 10, 133X card in it. It contains the boot OS parition, a /swap partition, a programs partition and a persistent media partition. I keep transient media files on the 128GB Lexar class 10 card in the right slot. The persistent data and media card are generally >80% full.
128GB SDXC cards have been on the market for about 12 months now. I expect 256GB SDXC cards to hit sometime in either Q4 2012 or Q1 2013. Those will be followed about 3-6 months later with microSDXC 128GB cards.
So, by the time microSD 128GB cards hit the market, I will likely have moved to 256GB cards in my Pandora.
For the proponents of an internal microSD slot, what is your planned usage? OS backup?
My requirements for an internal slot is boot, swap, programs and persistent storage. Four partitions, 3/4 getting the most severe use that the machine can dish out. I want the largest, fastest, most robust card that I can get my hands on in that application. At any given time through the entire history of and current development of SD based card technology, that dictates using full sized SD media.