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Nexus 7 buzz dampened by lack of storage?

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by Jeff Causey on
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One of the most buzzworthy items on display at Google I/O was the ASUS produced Nexus 7 tablet. Available in both 8GB and 16GB versions, Google indicated their target was a $200 price point. Google did meet that target, but at what cost?

Reviewers have identified a couple limitations involving the amount of storage available, especially for the 8GB model. A look at internal storage on the 8GB version reveals only 5.92 GB are available for end users. The other 2+ GB are consumed by system files. To add to the storage squeeze, Google opted to not include a microSD card option in the Nexus 7. So what you have is what you get.

One option for buyers of the 8GB model to get around the storage constraint is to make use of cloud services. The caveat, of course, is that access to cloud services is only going to be available where a wifi connection can be made. A second option would be to move up the chain and pick up the 16GB model.

Is the small amount of onboard memory and lack of expansion options going to be a deal breaker for buyers of the 8GB Nexus 7? Will the the combination of an otherwise strong set of specifications and a low price point be enough to get buyers to deal with the storage limits?

source: PhoneArena

» See more articles by Jeff Causey


Categorized as Android Manufacturers, Android News, Android Tablets, Google News

  • geedub

    not a deal breaker. The question should be why ask so much of a device that is mainly used for browsing and apps?

    • http://robert.aitchison.org raitchison

      Watching movies and other videos is a common use on a tablet.

  • rbfx4x

    I have a 16gb Galaxy Tab 10.1. It’s only a little bit restrictive as far as loading it with films for a long flight. Otherwise 16gb is plenty for an Android tablet.

  • erikiksaz

    USB OTG. Hopefully a thumb drive could be powered by the tablet alone.

  • Chris

    This is exactly the reason I will not be getting one. And the only reason. Lack of storage.

    • Nathan Hunt

      Couldn’t agree more. Went onto the Nexus 7 page to double check if it had SD support (I was kinda expecxting it so missed it at first) before pre-ordering and to my surprise it didn’t, so no sale. Worsened even by the 5.92 only that’s available!! Would go 16GB but then you’re 1 penny shy of £200, just doesn’t seem to have the impulsive buy appeal at that price

  • http://www.facebook.com/DeadPlasmaCell Dan Garcia

    Meh.. You’re already spending $200, another $50 for the 16gb version shouldn’t break the bank.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001502924009 Dan Mitchell

      That’s an additional 1/4 of the total price for a mere 8GB more… it really lessens the overall value of the tablet, especially when you consider the extra 8GB only costs them <$10.
      Hell, my two year old ipod touch has 32GB. If they want to go cheap and limit it to 8-16 internal then fine, but then should at least have a uSD card slot like even the most basic cell phone.

  • anilwang

    It’s a deal breaker for me. If there was a 64GB model, I’d snap it up in an instant even without an SD card. If there was a 32GB model,I’d grit my teeth and buy it. If the 16GB model had an SD card, I’d snap it up. As it stands, I’ll have to wait longer since 16GB is too small.

  • http://www.bible-tech.com/ Justin A

    For a basic Tablet its pretty fair. the Nook Tablet has an sd card slot, but thats the only one…

    • http://robert.aitchison.org raitchison

      The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 also has a MicroSD card slot and it’s only $50 more. I know I’ve got one (with a 32GB card in it)

  • an observer

    For planned usage, the 16 gb model will be fine.

  • Jason

    Well storage was never a problem for me. The only complain for me is that in australia we have to extra $50 and even after that we still have to pay postage otherwise I would have ore-ordered straight away.

  • pHyR3

    whats so bad about that? I use my phone for music and 16GB stores plenty of movies if you realllly need. Or use the cloud! :D

    • Hochining

      What? 16gb doesn’t even cover half of my audio books, not to mention music. You can barely fit 2 movies in that.
      Sorry but no sd card is a deal breaker for me

      • Ryo Cook

        Dude, it’s 2012. Use the cloud and you have plenty of space. How about 20.000 audio books?

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001502924009 Dan Mitchell

          AGAIN, if cloud was always available then fine, BUT IT’S NOT with a WiFi only device. And not everyone has phone plans they can tether to.

    • http://robert.aitchison.org raitchison

      “The Cloud” isn’t really an answer for a device that’s not always connected to the Internet. Also what about if you want to watch movies on an airplane flight? The cloud won’t help you much there.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Cenkoloji Cenk Yıldız

    This is a problem kindle fire users faced too but fortunately there is a workaround. If you have a 32GB+ storage android phone, you can keep all your movies etc. there, then use wifi file explorer to move them to your tablet.
    And you can do it even when you don’t have 3g or wifi connectivity. You
    just turn on 3g hotspot and wifi file explorer on your phone, and access
    all sd card content from your browser in tablet. I always do like this
    on flights etc. I just keep my movies in my android phone, and move them
    to kindle fire if I want to watch them.

  • drawz

    I have already preordered the 8 gig. Yes it may be a bit of a squeeze, but I use all cloud services so hopefully I’ll make out ok

  • SebaKL

    Will someone be kind to explain to me please, what other possible reasons, beside encouraging cloud service, is for google not to add on storage? Phone and Tablet, follow same suit. I really don’t get it.

    As much as I appreciate cloud, and see it’s useful purpose, it’s not something I would consider as a primary storage place. I really don’t want to be forced to rely on internet to access my files. It has higher chances to fail than electricity. Two, when I’m home, I use MacAir for light surfing on a sofa (can’t compete with proper keyboard), and I use iMac and PC for work, while TABLET exclusively on a go, only because of portability. Never use it at home, well, I do but just to update it and install apps. And on a GO, is where I need access to files, and on a GO is where I mostly don’t get WFI access. I also use tablet when I travel, and when I do, the wifi access is very poor, or very expensive. Forget tethering with phone and use DATA. At 10$ per 1MB is ridicules, to even consider cloud as solution.

  • dre99s

    This is the exact deal killer for me. I was so excited to buy this darn tablet. I actually purchased a 32GB micro SD card last week that I saw on sale in anticipation. If you go on a trip you want to have games and movies with you! On the cloud is not the same. I struggled and thought to buy the 16gb version, which is still barely acceptable. But during checkout for $277 delivered, I changed my mind. The lack of HDMI out stinks, but the closed, use-the-cloud-for everything just killed it for me. This seems too much like apple, and I do not buy their products. Very disappointed! I will wait for one like this from Acer or Asus that has the connectors and ports.

    • http://robert.aitchison.org raitchison

      I hate to say I told you so but I was pretty confident that this thing was not going to have a MicroSD card slot (the last 2 Nexus devices haven’t and Google has said they want to move away from external storage) and when they started talking about competing on price with the super stripped down Kindle Fire I feared they would have limited memory.

      So last month I decided to stop waiting for the Nexus 7 which was looking more and more like it was going to be disappointing and I picked up a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. I promptly slapped a 32GB MicroSD card in there and am very happy with my decision.

  • Ryo Cook

    There are no phone storage limits anymore. It’s all in the cloud. Google said this over and over again at the presentation.

    I only mark the book I currently read as offline.
    As for movies, most are streaming only anyway. I’m sure they can be buffered somehow. For Apps… yes, that is not really so much. But good enough for a hundred apps, before your device will be on it’s knees anyway, because devs are running background tasks like crazy in every crap app.

  • http://twitter.com/ImSteevin ImSteevin

    How much could it possibly cost to add a micro SD card slot. I would pay that amount more.

  • hamboy

    If it was more expensive then the lack of external storage would put me off but it’s so cheap I’ll still get one. Plus, as others have said – it supports USB on the go

  • Tom

    definitely..i’m boycotting this just because google is being an asshole and charging me 50dollars for 8gigs..

  • Tom

    plus, USB otg drive would be ugly and very inconvenient.. why in the world should we use that when google couldve spent 2 dollars on a micro sd slot and raised the price by 5?

  • http://www.facebook.com/snowboardpunk99504 Larry Harris

    Fail for me. I was hoping this would be a small fast tablet I could skype with my family and watch movies on during downtime while deployed. Great yeah you can carry your phone or ipod but I rather have one device for my small stuff when A laptop is over kill / impractical. 16gigs is what? 10ish movies or 2 seasons of a show? Great now I have to bring my laptop with an external to swap out stuff. Cloud is every ones answer? Great when you have WIFI im sure but im not walking out in the 130 degree weather a mile down the road to horribly slow wifi and download crap that would easily fit on a few SD cards or a single external. Looks like ill be getting the Galaxy Tab 2.0 or maybe wait til someone gives google the finger and starts putting options people actual want in their products. Until then I’ll keep watching Google become the new Apple.

  • Michael

    I’ve been using the gnex for several months now, I was originally concerned about only having 16gb of space, but when you’re using netflix and streaming from google music, storage space is really only for apps, and 16gb is more than enough.

  • danny

    Micro SD card slot is the most basic thing and they don’t have it.
    They are creating a product and try to prevent it from selling well. Wonder what the management of the company are thinking???

  • Anonym

    …lack of external storage…
    Yep, the same reason why the Blackberry Playbook is useless to me. I can’t plug in USB or SD (micro) card into it and read music or other data off of it. What’s the point in all the snazzy stuff? Just build a crippled OS if you are not going to put on ability to read external drives.

    I wanted a Squeezebox, but that only supported playlists of 100 files (offline, no network). So I looked to tablets, and haven’t got much further.

    What the hell is wrong with these manufacturers??? For about 15p on each model they could make a lot more sales, but no, they seem content to go bust, or only sell to idiots?