Palm: lack of microSD slot on the Pre purely a "design" decision
By Laura June 
posted January 23rd 2009 3:25PM
posted January 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]
Oh god, they are starting to sound like Apple...
Palm's head of design used to work at Apple. ;-)
You mean they are starting to sound like a company that understands that the majority of consumers want a great-looking, elegant device, rather than more and more features?
You mean that they are starting to sound like a company that understands that the majority of consumers are idiots?
matthewlikestoburn, yup. Honestly, if you make that assumption about humanity in general, so many things make sense: religion, war, crime, market fluctuations, etc.
Except that Apple is evil when they do something like this. For example:
Apple wants to restrict their phone to web development > OMG, Apple is evil.
PALM wants to restrict their phone to web development > OMG, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread!
Klausner sues Apple because of a Visual Voicemail patent > YES!!! Apple is SO owned!!!
Apple threatens to sue PALM because of a Multi-touch patent > NO WAY, Apple is EVIL!!!
Apple doesn't provide a microSD > OMG, Apple is evil.
PALM doesn't provide a microSD > Okay, well, we'll give them a little slack.
Now I get what Apple wants to sue them for - infringing on the theory of "form over function."
@Paul
Give Palm a break...they turned around a sinking ship.
almost everyone who buys an iphone or a pre is an idiot. nice. takes one to know one i guess.
@Jay C here we go again I can't read an article then the comments on a computer or cellphone without someone mentioning Apple.
I agree this sounds like Apple.
However, this isn't the only device that will be made on this platform. The iPhone OS is only on the iPhone. So far we've had no clues that Apple will be making a device that looks anything different from what it does now (iPhone nano doesn't count).
Palm has already intimated that they will be making more devices with this platform. I would really like more storage too, but look, this is the first generation Palm WebOS device. It's fantastic for a first gen device.
I would rather microSD than the headphone jack since there is stereo bluetooth. Something that apple doesn't include just because they make money on aftermarket bluetooth adaptors. They have a 2.0 EDR chip in there and all it does is work with a headset. WTF is that.
@JayC
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Palm's VP of design or "head design" Peter Skillman?
The ex-Apple employee is Lynn Fox and he is VP of PR.
Cheers,
Good luck, Palm. Welcome the the shrinking handset market of 2009. Oops, no card slot. Let's mark you down a few points. All the handset nerds need card slots to carry around their massive music libraries, videos and porn. No good for Palm putting form before function. That's Apple's line. What the heck. Once Mobile.Me gets working up to speed, I'll just put all my music up in the cloud for unlimited storage. All those poor 14 million or so iPhone users suffering without a card slot. Tsk, tsk. How do they manage?
IMO Apple is evil but so is Palm.
Android 4eva!
Damn, you beat me to it Oscarv77! I was going to say the same thing, except I would have said, this fashion over function BS sounds just like the dumbass decisions out of apple.
@ Paul Chapel
I've come across several of your comments, and all I want to say it STFU. We don't need anymore fires thrown into this flame war, and you are the prime culprite. If you are trying to emulate CLAK and iEye albeit with a little more sophistication, please stop.
Haha, no:
The rest of the reponse--
"The last point I will make on storage is to think about how you currently use remote storage. For example, I have my Google Calendar for family events and I have my corporate EAS Outlook calendar. These calendars are pulled down from remote storage (Internet) to my device. If my device is new, all I need to do is log into my account(s) and the content gets pulled to my device over the air. This is true for Contacts as well. We call this "Synergy". This is something that is just straight out cool. Contacts are now pulled down from the web to my device. So if you update your Facebook contact information, and I am friends with you, your contact information will be updated on my Palm Pre address book. Think about that for a second. I no longer need to cable my device to my computer to make an update to my contacts. I get the updates over the air. Now my contact information is more up to date and if my device is replaced or new, I just enter my account information and I get it over the air to the device. This puts a whole new thought on external storage. The Internet is a BIG microSD card."
Their answer is completely lame. No excuse. No one is going to care about one stupid mm of thickness so that they can have a microSD slot which would add a lot to the phone. Has this man seen a microSD card? It's half the size of my pinky nail and just as thin. The slot would be barely bigger than that.
In fact, I don't believe they have to thicken one entire side of a phone just for that. I'd bet they could've moved things around a bit to fit it in without making any physical changes in thickness. Couldn't they have fit it somewhere under the battery where the SIM card may likely go (as we see with many GSM phones)?
@Paul:
"PALM wants to restrict their phone to web development"
The problem with iphone is not the "web development" restriction, it's the app store and their "policies" on what goes and what doesn't. And not to mention their initial policy on a closed development environment - I don't care if they opened it up eventually, the fact that they started like that is enough to make them look like jerks, plain and simple.
Oh and I still don't see why people are complaining about the webos - other than 3d games and system intensive apps, that you wouldn't run on a handheld device anyway, it will be able to do pretty much all the same stuff. Have you not seen the kinda stuff people do with javascript?
"PALM doesn't provide a microSD > Okay, well, we'll give them a little slack."
Who gives them slack. As far as I can tell people think this is a lame answer and aren't satisfied.
Personally, I think that a millimeter of thickness could've been sacrificed for a microSD slot, and it does suck. However, at the very least they explained themselves. Unlike Apple. Did they ever explain why they screwed people on the iphones original price?? Did they ever explain why there's no copy/paste?? Did they ever explain why they didn't include a replaceable gallery??
I'd rather hear answers that I don't agree with over no answers at all 100% of the time.
@wrabbit,
While noting Paul's position, before there was an app store there was only Web development, and Apple was according to many Engadget readers, evil for not allowing native development. I am in no way sticking up for Apple's policies in the App store, but Paul is essentially correct. Web App only dev for the iPhone was bad, but for the Pre it's OK.
This statement "other than 3d games and system intensive apps, that you wouldn't run on a hand held device anyway," Somewhat invalidates your point because last time I checked, these are exactly the type of apps people want to run on their iPhones and Windows mobile phones. If people didn't want to do this stuff on WiMo then when no one would be developing native apps for that platform either.
also, the answers to these questions: Did they ever explain why they screwed people on the iphones original price?? Did they ever explain why there's no copy/paste?? Did they ever explain why they didn't include a replaceable gallery??
1. There was no screwing. people paid what they were willing to pay. If you are willing at the time to pay $600 for something, then the manufacturer later lowers the price, you may feel screwed, but you aren't. no one forced you to pay, and in electronics, as an early adopter you should expect this.
2. No, they haven't, and they need to correct this. i think they will at some point.
3. Yes. Because most people (read non-engadget geeks) could care less about a replaceable battery. seriously. If you ask 100 random people if they want a replaceable battery, 99% will probably say yes because it sounds useful. If you ask them how many have actually kept a spare or replaced the battery on a cell phone I'll bet the yes responses are well under 10%. I've personally had about 10 cell phones over the years. I've never, not once, replaced the battery. Ditto for laptops.
For crying out loud! To ALL the comments regarding 'fitting' the microSD cards in.... STFU! You do NOT know what is inside, you do NOT know what it takes to 'move stuff around', you do NOT know what hassles already went into the design!
I know it sucks not to have the microSD onboard, it's a HUGE shortcoming to me on the design as well! But it does know good to sound stupid about 'putting it by the volume' or 'put it where the SIM card would be' or whatever. Sure I would've be GREAT with a phone that added an extra mm to the size -I mean good hell, I owned a TREO for crap-sake!!!
This is the FIRST of its design. Why not wait to see what comes later??? I'm freakin excited to have THIS phone, especially over the iPhone -and I'm an avid Apple proponent....usually....
@Nomi
wouldn't turning around a sinking ship just sink it in a different direction?
@Nomi:
They turned around a sinking ship... Then it's still sinking.
The lack of a Micro-SD socket is probably more to do with marketing, i.e. how to get the consumer to pay for an upgraded device in the near future.
No manufacturer wants to sell the perfect phone, they just want to give you enough features to buy it in the first place and then lock you into an upgrade cycle.
Apple increased the storage on its iPhone and got a whole slew of people to upgrade. Palm probably wants to do the same, and although there is no iTunes site for it to drive the need for an upgrade, I would presume Palm has plans to encourage users to fill the space up on it's Pre too.
The bottom line is to sell more phones.
@Licotto
"You do NOT know what is inside, you do NOT know what it takes to 'move stuff around', you do NOT know what hassles already went into the design!"
Yeah, neither do you. So take your own advice. Who do you think you are trying to tell anyone what they can and can't talk about?
thank God, they need that...
shoulda bought palm stock when it was low...they are back up to average...which is not much you can say about all 99% of the consumer electronics companies out there...
ergonomic and aesthetic design sells, not features...that was for the 90s
Palm is done for good, now. Apple has the multi-touch patent in it's back pocket. Palm might as well just shut down the company and give what little money left to it's remaining investors. Either that or go back to using a stylus.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200901262312DOWJONESDJONLINE000655_FORTUNE5.htm
bluetooth & keyfob it ~j/k
So a microSD slot right where the volume buttons (on the bottom keyboard portion) are would have changed the design drastically?
yes, if you consider that a microSD slot is not just a hole but involves internal components and probably would change the design a lot, and by a lot I mean .05 mm... yea thats a lot.
Personally I'd rather have a butt ugly phone that was perfect. Than a perty phone that was lacking.
It's not just a hole.
That's what she...never mind
@00000000
Then why not build your own with that Bug labs thing? Just attach all of the components, and it would be the perfect phone! Of course, by then, it would be easier to carry around a netbook with a larger screen and a cellular card.
@000000
It wouldn't be a "perfect" phone if it was butt ugly, now would it?
I was thinking more in the lip around the slide portion of the phone. HTC did it with the Tilt, Kaiser II whatever you want to call it. The made space for a MicroSD in the top lid that was not much thicker than the card and internal hardware to receive it.
No, it would not have changed the design. Especially when you consider how Nokia's e71 even has one, and it's slightly thinner than the iPhone. Their designers are either lazy or not intelligent.
The lack of removable storage is actually a HUGE issue for me.
I am still happily using a Treo 700p. I watch movies on it, use it as an MP3 player, read and edit MS Office docs/PDFs, read eBooks, surf the web, send/receive email/MMS, store and edit a range of PDA data...including contacts, notes, calendar, to do items, etc....as well as utilize a range of special purpose and custom developed applications.
I can use this thing years after I bought it precisely because of removable storage. The phone has somewhere around 64MB of internal storage. When I first bought it, I think that I added a 256MB SD card. I now have literally dozens of SD cards...and 2GB cards cost less than $10. At any given time I now have thousands of MP3s, hundreds of eBooks, and at least a half dozen full length movies on my phone.
Fixed amounts of storage benefit one entity - the manufacturer - and it really sucks for the consumer...especially on a device with a 2 year contract. Apple has been doing this for some time...since it appears to be their business model. Six months after you buy your iPod or iPhone you are lusting at the next version that has twice as much storage. Frankly, I think THAT is the reason Palm left out this feature. Seriously, everyone remarks at how the Pre is much smaller than they thought it would be once they hold it...so you are telling me that they couldn't have made it a tad bit larger and included Micro SD? Seriously? Are you trying to convince us that it could not be a smidge larger because that would ruin perfection? Give me a break.
I loved the Pre when I saw it...and didn't expect to. I head up R&D in my section of my company and we are just establishing an Android development practice. We have been super excited about that open platform (less so about the G1 and TMobile) and have been placing our full mobile focus there. When I saw the Pre CES presentation, I was shocked...and began to think that we needed to revisit a full focus on Android...until I saw two things:
- The lack of removable storage on the initial handset
- The lame JS/HTML-based SDK
Granted, the latter is a much larger issue than the former (especially since we want to port Java-based code), but the former is also fairly significant.
For now, we are still feeling good about ignoring Palm. We may revisit the topic, but they are going to have to move on these two issues....because we have much more attractive open options. Time will tell to see if consumers agree.
People are talking about the Pre as if it's an iPhone, it's not. It's a PALM. It's business-centric. 8 GB is way too much.
On business phones, u care about the out-of-the-box space.
Design-wise, adding a microSD-slot + 1-2 GB internal space would have produced the same result, I suppose....
They couldve came up with a better excuse than that. If u ever have to Hard Reset a phone having the Micro SD card is a life saver.
the difference here is that unlike for apple, i'm willing to cut palm a break here. certainly at least until the phone is released.
I've got more the feeling this isn't done design-wise but cost-wise. Palm wants to put a product as cheap as possible on the market with the basic functions. Now I dont know how expensive an sdd-slot/controller/etc is though adding just those few extra bucks is something Palm isn't looking for. Shame companies always tend to consider the consumers to be idiots and sell their choices like 'features' or design issues...
My only problem with this device is that, why the heck does the UI has to look so much of something Apple announce 2+ years ago?
i mean when are we gonna see something new & Mind blowing again? I seriously hope Microsoft is working on something behind close doors cause all these companies don't seem to have a mind of their own, seriously
I really don't use my Micro SD card on my Centro.
After software and such it'll end up with about 4 GB of HD space anyway. Maybe I just don't use my phone as an PMP as others do...?
I feel the same way regarding not using the phone as a PMP. However, with the Pre's ability to act as a mass USB storage device, an expansion slot or more internal space would make a whole lot of sense.
The MicroSD slot on my TouchPro is under the battery cover. It takes up almost 0 space, and certainly no external footprint. I tossed a 16gb card in there and forgot about it, and it's wonderful. I can store movies, music, photos, etc and just don't have to think about it. Mostly I use the memory for programs though - having dozens installed an not having to think about it is pretty nice.
The MicroSD slot in my phone keeps me up at night. I just can't stop thinking about it.
Bad excuse. Design isn't just about looking good, it's about functioning well. You never sacrifice function for aesthetics.