Sunday, August 04, 2013

The Android expandable memory rip-off

The Android expandable memory rip-off

One of the advantages Android phones always had over the iPhone was an external memory slot. The second is a removable battery. The first one seems to be either disappearing (notice that the "Official" Google phones and tablets no longer have external memory slots). The simple reason for this is that they are no longer supported.

I'm not going to go into the why - differences in external microSD card speeds etc.

Instead, what pissed me off was that I could not install "Real Racing 3" onto my mid-range LG Optimus L9 Android phone. This is not because the phone is not supported, but because the Game needs at least 1.6GB of disk space for the downloadable installer. Now the the LG L9 comes with 4GB of internal storage, but unfortunately only 1.7GB of that is "user available". This is fairly common with mid-range Android phones.



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Saturday, March 09, 2013

Disappointing Android tablet

A few weeks back I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 inch. I had been quite happy with the first edition of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 inch, but it is getting a bit long in the tooth for an Android tablet, and I wanted to move up to something faster and lighter. I didn't get an iPad Mini mainly because of price and because I have an iPad anyway.

My first disappointment was that the price dropped by between $20 to $30 a week to the day after I bought it. It wasn't worth returning because of the hassle and a restocking fee from the online store I'd bought it from - the price you pay for shopping online with free shipping.
Now minor price drops are a fact of life with electronics.

My second disappointment was when I wanted to get the game "GTA : Vice City" for my new Samsung tablet. It is listed as "not compatible" with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 inch - never mind that most of the previous Samsung Galaxy Tablets are compatible (including the current Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 inch). This really peeved me since my old Sony Xperia Play android phone is compatible. Now of course I have bought this game for my iPhone/iPad, but I wanted to play it on a bigger screen.

Ironically the game is compatible with the "Google Asus" Nexus 7 tablet, which I briefly looked at prior to buying the Galaxy Tab. I had wanted a tablet with an expansion slot, but it seems like they are becoming more and more rare. Also Android 4.x and above seem more aimed at tablets (and phones) without expansion slots.


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