Apple has forced its US users to switch to eSIMs without any real benefit. Google, on the other hand, has kept the tried and true SIM slot.

    • 9point6@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      But then how will they sell you cloud storage?

      Though to be devil’s advocate, my current phone has 256gb of storage and I think that only got full when I loaded up a load of content for a long flight. My next phone (ordered already) is gonna be 512gb.

      I say all this because I was missing the SD card for years, but finally I’m in a situation where I don’t feel like I’m missing it anymore now phones actually come with a reasonable amount of storage.

      Still would be nice to have the option. They could even force it to be an A1 minimum card if their reasoning about people using shitty SD cards and trashing performance has any real weight.

      • lemmyng@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        It’s not just about expanded storage on the device though. I want to be able to read SD cards from other devices (like my dashcam) on my phone. And no, I’m not going to get a USB adapter because I fucking lose those things all the time and cannot find them when I need them

        • Johnmannesca@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          What about one of those sandisk 2-in-1 flash drives that’s got a type a and c port on each end?

          • lemmyng@lemmy.ca
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            3 months ago

            Those don’t fit the use case. I want to be able to take the SD card from assorted devices (cameras, dashcams, etc) and pop them in my phone when I want to review or send things.

            • Johnmannesca@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Well, at least for now entry-level samsung androids still have a tf slot by the sim card, it just isn’t very hot-swappable

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Man, I have over 256 gigs of music on my phone.

        I’m not at the end of the outlier range either.

        Taking pictures and video, keeping such things, requires expandable storage the better the cameras get.

        I’m not bitching at you, playing devil’s advocate is awesome. I’m countering that advocacy in the same spirit (and, I hope, not in a seemingly a dickish way, it certainly wasn’t intended that way).

        Phones has stopped being just phones, and the people making them want us to treat them like a more portable device akin to a laptop, where we use it for everything (mainly so they can figure out a way to profit from that use). Can’t do that if we can’t store what we need on them lol.

        • 9point6@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          To be fair I’d forgotten about the local music use case, I’ve been streaming music for so long.

          Pictures and video, in my opinion, are too valuable to not be backed up, so IMO people shouldn’t be shooting enough to fill half a terabyte before moving them elsewhere.

          But very good point about it being people’s main device more and more—I guess it says something about my assumptions that I just assumed everyone has a bigger main device to offload content off to

          • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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            3 months ago

            I don’t know if it’s a problem anymore, but there’s something in wasting write cycles on a disposable SD card instead of unchangeable drive and also dedicate SD for demanding processes like recording a 4k video while the system drive is free for other processes. Does it make sense today?

  • kinkles@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Without real benefit? How about some thief can’t steal my phone and pop out the SIM? How about transferring carriers without needing to wait to get my hands on the new SIM card?

    Sure eSIMS have their own cons but reporting like they are a pure downgrade is disingenuous.

    • MentallyExhausted@reddthat.com
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      3 months ago

      International travel practically requires a SIM slot. Buy a $40 prepaid SIM and pop it in your phone, or pay hundreds of dollars for international roaming?

    • GreenEngineering3475@lemmy.worldOP
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      3 months ago

      I like esim(s) for the sole feature that “some thief can’t steal my phone and pop out the SIM” and find my device allows me to lock or erase my data on the phone. Current state of esim implementation by carriers doesn’t inspire such confidence. So not going esim only, looks to be the better option for now.

      • kinkles@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        I’m specifically countering the blurb OP pulled from the article that says esims have no real benefit.

        • Makhno@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Users cherrypicking to pursue a narrative?

          Sounds like reddit has arrived

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I find it absolutely hilarious that for so many years people complained about needing to go through extra steps to swap a phone on CDMA carriers in the US like Verizon and Sprint, instead of just swapping a SIM… yet eSIMs are so popular now which require similar steps.

  • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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    3 months ago

    That would force me to change carriers and have a higher bill as my carrier is only supporting its legacy customers and never had eSIM. Glad my current phone supports both.