re: Apple's Phil Schiller tries to justify the iPhone's puny 16GB starting storage

Actually phones will eventually all have USB ports. Make it the standard amongst all devices and be done with it..

quote:

---

Would be useless on both Apple and the most recent Windows Mobile devices. They both lack file explorers. Neither are likely to include hardware that they don't natively support, so I would expect them to each release a file explorer at least one iteration before this happens.

---

The two flagships to be released later this year will have USB type C.

quote:

---

The two flagships to be released later this year will have USB type C.

---

USB is a type of connector. Having a USB connector on a device does not automatically mean that said device will become a mass storage device.

quote:

---

The 16 GB starting storage option is purely a business move. Apple isn't stupid.

---

Spiting your customers is stupid, just ask Blockbuster. Now obviously it remains to be seen how many people actually care about the issue, but generally, screwing over your patrons isn't the right way to go.

quote:

---

If you guys talking about USB ports weren't implying that USB ports would mean these devices would have mass storage capabilities then what was the point of your posts being in this thread?

---

Yep, and it's not like Apple can't do it just because they use a lightning port. It's definitely not a hardware limitation. They could do it completely wireless if they wanted.

What are we talking about now -- a phone doubling as a mass storage device, or connecting other mass storage devices to the phone? I mean, I can do both with my Nexus 6 already (with an adapter for the latter). I'm actually surprised that you can't do that with current Windows phones. I just looked it up, and while it's technically possible, it involves a registry edit or third-party tools.

If Windows 10 for phones is really supposed to be a "full Windows 10" experience, I can't imagine it not being able to do both natively.

quote:

---

I'm actually surprised that you can't do that with current Windows phones.

---

Blew my mind, too. The earlier windows phone (4-6ish) lost the battle to full-screened apps, pioneered by the iPhone. Productivity-wise, it had pretty much everything (including blackberry, didn't require BES-like product for its deployment) beat, especially when talking about enterprise stuff. I worked for the state for a bit, and my Palm Treo did much more than anything else we had deployed (blackberries of most varieties, then later on iPhones). You couldn't open an attachment in an email on a blackberry without a $3000 server, but you could on windows as if it were a desktop. And you could save it to the phone and open it later, too.


Fast forward to now, and Windows seems to have lost its desire to support enterprise on mobile devices. It's quite odd. Maybe I'm missing something, but they offered a really watered-down product with Win Phone 8. Hopefully they move back the other direction with 10. I wouldn't mind giving them another try.

OK, most of this is over my head and I'd like to know what you guys are saying. Someone mentioned a file explorer earlier. Windows phone has an app called that described as doing:

quote:

---

File Explorer is a very powerful app for windows phone. It can help you manage your folders and files.

Below listed out the advantages of File Explorer:
1. View common used files with File Explorer, such as office documents, PDF documents, eBook, videos, photos and zip files.

It contains built-in video player, music player, and picture browser which can give you a perfect read experience, and our team released another app GoodRead to help you read ebook.

2. WIFI file transfer, which can synchronize PC files to phone isolated storage. It is very useful, if you have no SD card inserted.

3. Skydrive integration, it allows managing Skydrive cloud files. What's more it can help you to upload SD card/Isolated files to Skydrive, which is better than official release that only allows upload pictures in library.

4. Connect SD card, phone, computer and cloud. Currently, GoodExplorer is the only existed app allows transferring files within them.

5. File encryption, which can protect your files from invalid access.

---

What is this mass storage deal? I guess I don't use my phone the way many do.

quote:

---

Windows phone has an app called that described as doing:

---

I'll need to check into this a bit more. I was in the Windows store recently (within the last 2-3 months), and the worker/tech (what are we calling their salespeople?) told me it did not currently have one. And in flipping through a few of them, I wasn't able to find one.

A file explorer is (trying to be a bit more basic for you, here. Let me know if I fail), if you use Windows, like that little "folder" icon or if you use OS X the little "finder" thing. It lets you look at all of your files without being inside of a program (like MS Paint or Photoshop or iMovie). So, if I were to prepare a lecture on, say, heartburn, I could have a word document full of research, a powerpoint presentation, and a pdf handout all saved in one folder on my computer or on a jump drive. The file types are different, but the files belong together, from an organization standpoint. With a file explorer, you could click each of them and open them in their respective programs that view them. The alternative is to open the program you want to use (like Powerpoint) and then open the (powerpoint) file, then the next program and its file, and the next one and its file. Depending on how the creator wants it to work, you can't even see all 3 files sitting right next to each other without a file explorer, usually.


Now, a mass storage device, like colorchangingtiger explained, is just like letting your phone be a USB thumb/flash drive, sd card, etc. You plug it in. Your computer sees it as a "device with removable storage," and you can put whatever files you want on it, including files it can't open itself. That's not as stupid as it sounds, though, because if I have 2 computers that are each capable of opening the file and I wanted to transfer it between them (and they're in separate locations and too large for email, dropbox, etc), then my phone could be the go between. Right now there are a number of other options for the go between, but phones are lost way less often than usb drives and sd cards. It seems, to me, a silly feature to leave out. Though it does protect against a bit of user error.