[HansTWN]

For those who believe SD cards are not necessary I just want to say this. I think we can all agree that a device with integrated expansion slot that looks exactly the same and costs exactly the same is a better device. Even if you never need the expansion capabilities it makes for a superior tablet.

Now consider that many don't have access to WiFi or unlimited cellular connectivity everywhere (either because the infrastructure isn't there or because it is too expensive). That makes expansion capabilities even more important. And SD cards make moving data between devices like two tablets or a tablet and a phone that much easier. So when we support companies that leave out these add-on (that used to be standard in the past) we really support them ripping us off. The hardware costs they charge you are $20-50 for an external one with a dongle. But if they integrated an expansion slot as standard into every single device the production costs would increase by less than a dollar per piece.

In other words, not having one doesn't save any buyer any money, but those that have to buy an add-on later have to shell out big bucks. Same with prices for integrated memory. Those used to drop by 50% every year. We went from 2GB to 8 GB to 16GB with no increase in the price of devices. We should get 128GB by now! But now they go back to having devices with 8GB??

I find it rather hard to understand that the same folks that (rightfully) complain about corporate greed when it comes to high e-book prices don't stand up to this blatant example of corporate greed on the hardware side? Giving us less for the same money is ok just because you think you probably won't need it? And they are greedy not just for wanting to pinch pennies and thereby depriving us of important functionality, the other agenda is to force us into their cloud and spend more money with them. We are enabling them, we should just say no.