Micro SD Card Design Madness!

[Eagle Eye 62]

As an addendum to another thread on microSD cards and Mavic Mini 3, 3, etc., I just purchased an Insta 360 Camera and noticed they have the same stupid design issue. It is a nightmare to remove the card without some sort of tool. It makes you wonder if these companies ever do any user research before they design the final versions of their products.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

The idea behind these SC card slots is to fully protect the SD card from being bumped and to make it the most secure when recording , thus the reason why the card goes so deep.

The problem with the design theory is that it is painful at times to get them in and out.
With that said I have seen other open designs on Desktop modules only.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

 

[LoudThunder]

they have the same stupid design issue. It is a nightmare to remove the card without some sort of tool. It makes you wonder if these companies ever do any user research before they design the final versions of their products.

The MicroSD Card is/was not intended to be used as a swappable, mobile device like a Thumb Drive/Flash Drive/Cruzer was intended to be.

Think about your smartphone, what does it take to insert or remove the card. On some phones you have to pop the case apart, remove the battery, and the remove the holder for the SIMS and the MicroSD Card. Best case, you need a bent paperclip to insert into an itty, bitty hole in the side of the case to remover the holder. Worse case, you have to find the "special Wire Tool" that came with the phone because the hole to tooooo small for even a bent paperclip…

Also, most smart phone have the capability to integrate the MicroSD Card's memory into the phone's internal memory. Once done, the phone treats all the memory as one larger block of memory. The down side is if the MicroSD Card's Ram is slower than the phone's internal Ram, then all the memory rums at the slower speed.

The problem is that the engineers that design these units only consider having to insert the card, not how to remove it.

When the factory put the water pump on the engine in your car, the engine was sitting on a stand at chest level and the builder said it only took two clamps and there bolts, and less that twominutes to install the water pump.

The mechanic at your repair shop said he had to remove the front grill of the car, the radiator, and unbolt the A/C unit, and three hours work just to replace the water pump… He still has to put everything back…

 

[Johnmcl7]

I haven't used a Mini 3 Pro yet but it's concerning people saying how hard they're finding it to remove the card and I noticed someone even saying they'd designed a 3D printable tool to make it easier. Thankfully it's not something I've come across yet especially on a drone where I want to use a card reader and not have the hassle of connecting the drone to the PC each time.

 

[Starz]

Life’s little pleasures.
Insta 360/ Mini3Pro SD card extraction tool # 43-652
(patent pending)

 

[EsaT]

Can't say Mavic 3 is much better...

The mechanic at your repair shop said he had to remove the front grill of the car, the radiator, and unbolt the A/C unit, and three hours work just to replace the water pump… He still has to put everything back…

Isn't that just the light bulb replacement procedure in some cars?

People should be forced to use devices/things daily for couple years before being allowed inside stone throw distance (okay that's too close, firearm range would be better) of design department.

 

[db4476]

This is a trend that will not go away. The thinking is that instead of swapping a card out, the end user can just download/stream the contents to another machine. I prefer to swap cards out and usually do not download from the drone or camera or some other gadget. But that's just me...

Cheers!

 

[LoudThunder]

People should be forced to use devices/things daily for couple years before being allowed inside stone throw distance

My experience with this type of engineering is with products built by the Steihl Corporation. They are a local company (Yeah, Made in USA) but that does not make the engineers any smarter. I had a Leaf Blower, Chainsaw, and Hedge Trimmer and when it was then time to replace the Weed Wacker I bought another Steihl product. I was happy with all their products right up to that point.

The Weed Wacker had an On/Off Switch rather than a Momentary Switch like their other equipment, so if you shut it down and then tried to restart it, you had better remember to turn it back on… Also the wacker head did not spin unless you brought it up to speed (a safety feature…). But the clutch assembly did not engage until it got up to a lot of speed.

So, weed whacking a sidewalk or driveway with the head turned vertically, meant that any gravel or debris that the whirling trimer line hit was really sent traveling…

At the time, there were online videos showing the units being used, the funny thing was the users were wearing lab coats, proving they probably never did lawn care in their lives…

I wrote and sent video of Real Life Weed Whacking with me pretending to forget to turn the unit back on and even showed the debris being thrown up when whacking a sidewalk and I even called them (remember, local company…) and asked about this. I was told to send the unit in for a warranty checkup and it was returned (fixed???) with no change and the Momentary switch was blown off as a safety issue. Funny how all their new machines now come with a Momentary Switch…

I still like my other Steihl tools, but I got rid of the weed whacker and bought an electric ECO unit…

 

[KennethH]

The MicroSD Card is/was not intended to be used as a swappable, mobile device like a Thumb Drive/Flash Drive/Cruzer was intended to be.

Think about your smartphone, what does it take to insert or remove the card. On some phones you have to pop the case apart, remove the battery, and the remove the holder for the SIMS and the MicroSD Card. Best case, you need a bent paperclip to insert into an itty, bitty hole in the side of the case to remover the holder. Worse case, you have to find the "special Wire Tool" that came with the phone because the hole to tooooo small for even a bent paperclip…

Also, most smart phone have the capability to integrate the MicroSD Card's memory into the phone's internal memory. Once done, the phone treats all the memory as one larger block of memory. The down side is if the MicroSD Card's Ram is slower than the phone's internal Ram, then all the memory rums at the slower speed.

The problem is that the engineers that design these units only consider having to insert the card, not how to remove it.

When the factory put the water pump on the engine in your car, the engine was sitting on a stand at chest level and the builder said it only took two clamps and there bolts, and less that twominutes to install the water pump.

The mechanic at your repair shop said he had to remove the front grill of the car, the radiator, and unbolt the A/C unit, and three hours work just to replace the water pump… He still has to put everything back…

Loud Thunder said: "The MicroSD Card is/was not intended to be used as a swappable, mobile device like a Thumb Drive/Flash Drive/Cruzer was intended to be." I realized that when I had to replace the SD card in my Galaxy Tab A7 Lite. I had to get out that nasty little mini wire tool, and push it hard into that tiny hole. A tray started to emerge. The same but worse for changing the SD card in my Galaxy S7 phone. Pushed in on a tool in that tiny hole and out came a tray, with both an SD card AND the SIM card. Both wanted to spread their wings and fly away. Good thing the images and video for the Mini 2 are recorded on the SD card in the drone itself.

 

[LoudThunder]

Not all MicroSD Card slots are the same, some MicroSd Cards are placed into a cartridge and the cartridge is inserted into a slot. To remove the cartridge, most require a small wire tool (like a bent paperclip) to be inserted into a small hole to eject the cartridge. Some are relatively shallow and the Card only goes in so far, to remove it a pair of tweezers might be needed, finally there are "spring loaded" slots where the Card is inserted until it "clicks" inplace flush with the slot, to remove, a "thumb nail" is usually sufficient to push the Card in just a bit and the Card pops out far enough to remove it...