The Glo HD has an internal microSD card slot

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by jackj

Is there any reliability issue using an SD card instead of a chip for the os and content files? This just sounds sub-optimal for some reason--more prone to corruption. Are such concerns misplaced?

I'd suspect that either fixed or removable memory are equally prone to corruption. The fixed memory is likely to be faster though that will depend on the design and support chips. OTOH, if you have corruption, the removable memory is easier to work with when your device is not bootable. In manufacturing, it could be easier and cheaper to pop in a preprogrammed uSD card than to have the capability of programming the internal memory when no operating system is present.

Originally Posted by jackj

Is there any reliability issue using an SD card instead of a chip for the os and content files? This just sounds sub-optimal for some reason--more prone to corruption. Are such concerns misplaced?

To my knowledge, most mobile devices are using SD memory for non-volatile storage may that be in card or chip form. Since the Kobo is using an internal uSD card, they have control over the supplier of that memory (which means they can select suppliers that provide reliable SD memory). That leaves mechanical failure as the main disadvantage of using a uSD card. I suspect that this form of failure is relatively low, otherwise Kobo would have switched to chips long ago.

I'm actually curious as to why Kobo uses a uSD card for system memory, since very few vendors go this route. Then again, that is far from the only uncommon feature in Kobo products. They do things like provide an active serial port, they do not use a locked bootloader, and most of the software is open. (By that I mean the base operating system and many of the libraries are open source. Nickle itself is proprietary. Yet even that proprietary software is unprotected, which has enabled users to create patches.) Things like that leave me wondering if they use an internal uSD card because they want to leave their device open to modification by interested and skilled users.

[murg]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

To my knowledge, most mobile devices are using SD memory for non-volatile storage may that be in card or chip form. Since the Kobo is using an internal uSD card, they have control over the supplier of that memory (which means they can select suppliers that provide reliable SD memory). That leaves mechanical failure as the main disadvantage of using a uSD card. I suspect that this form of failure is relatively low, otherwise Kobo would have switched to chips long ago.

I'm actually curious as to why Kobo uses a uSD card for system memory, since very few vendors go this route. Then again, that is far from the only uncommon feature in Kobo products. They do things like provide an active serial port, they do not use a locked bootloader, and most of the software is open. (By that I mean the base operating system and many of the libraries are open source. Nickle itself is proprietary. Yet even that proprietary software is unprotected, which has enabled users to create patches.) Things like that leave me wondering if they use an internal uSD card because they want to leave their device open to modification by interested and skilled users.

Probably the SD card holder + driver electronics + SD card is cheaper than using a chip. Kobo has used chips, my Touch has one.

Kobo being an open system is probably due to them not having the resources to close it off.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

To my knowledge, most mobile devices are using SD memory for non-volatile storage may that be in card or chip form. Since the Kobo is using an internal uSD card, they have control over the supplier of that memory (which means they can select suppliers that provide reliable SD memory). That leaves mechanical failure as the main disadvantage of using a uSD card. I suspect that this form of failure is relatively low, otherwise Kobo would have switched to chips long ago.

I'm actually curious as to why Kobo uses a uSD card for system memory, since very few vendors go this route. Then again, that is far from the only uncommon feature in Kobo products. They do things like provide an active serial port, they do not use a locked bootloader, and most of the software is open. (By that I mean the base operating system and many of the libraries are open source. Nickle itself is proprietary. Yet even that proprietary software is unprotected, which has enabled users to create patches.) Things like that leave me wondering if they use an internal uSD card because they want to leave their device open to modification by interested and skilled users.

If you will peruse the XDA forums you will find that many android phones and tablets have used microSD cards as memory for years. Most devices will have a thread with step by step instructions to get them running with the memory card replaced by a larger capacity cards

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Things like that leave me wondering if they use an internal uSD card because they want to leave their device open to modification by interested and skilled users.

I doubt that. They'll probably close it up later like Amazon has and Sony did.