There's life yet in Google's Project Ara as the modular phone endeavor just got its own developer conference. Make that conferences.
Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division sang the news on its Google+ page (where else?), revealing the first Ara Developers' Conference will go down April 15 - April 16.
It will be an online affair with a live stream and interactive Q&A, though a small number will be able to attend in person at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.
This will be followed by two more conferences sometime in 2014. The first will focus on the alpha release of the Ara Module Developers' Kit (MDK), which Google plans to release online in April. The MDK will essentially contain everything anyone needs to build an Ara module, or any component that can be used to build a smartphone, be it a keyboard, battery, processor or something else.
Why this matters
All was quiet on the Project Ara front after Google sold Motorola to Lenovo last month. The project was under Motorola's wing, but since Google kept ATAP in the divorce, Ara went along too.
Now that Project Ara has its own developer conferences, it appears Google is putting its chips on letting people mix and match their own handset parts.
In addition to its ready-made phones like the Nexus 5, Google is working on more experimental fare like Project Ara and Project Tango, an Android phone that creates 3D maps of a user's environment using Kinect-like sensors.
The April conference should shed light on whether Ara modules will ever make it into consumer hands or whether this moonshot is doomed to stay grounded. Either way, Google looks prepared to go all in.
Know what else is going down in April? Build 2014.
One Ubuntu phone that won't launch any time soon is the high-end Edge
Chinese manufacturers Meizu and BQ will launch the first Ubuntu phones in the fall of 2014, according to Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth.
The company is starting with lesser-known manufacturers so it can ensure those companies dedicate enough resources to focus on "placing the right device in the right hands," Shuttleworth told CNET at MWC 2014.
He said both manufacturers "are established at getting into difficult, entrenched, or congested markets" by identifying their target markets and "thinking very carefully" about branding and retail strategies.
That's key since the first Ubuntu phones "will be astonishingly great in some areas…but will come across as weak in others," Shuttleworth said.
Making plans
Ubuntu's launch will be focused on China and Europe for 2014. The early phones will be available in the US, but China and Europe will be more important initially, Shuttleworth said.
He admitted that Ubuntu "won't have 650,000 apps in the app store" but said building that up will be a focus. Part of that has been making sure app developers can use the same tools to develop on Ubuntu that they use for iOS and Android.
"We're perfectly aligned with Google and Apple so if you've got an HTML5 app that works with Android or iOS, it will work with Ubuntu, with only a tiny amount of friction that just one person can take care of," he said.
It's unclear exactly where Ubuntu will go after that, though Shuttleworth revealed that the company is "at board level with quite a few household names" in terms of manufacturers.
But one Ubuntu phone that won't hit the market in the foreseeable future is the ambitious Ubuntu Edge. Despite raising huge amounts of cash, the Edge also fell short of its massive $32 million (about £1.92m, AU$3.57m) goal "by a record," Shuttleworth admitted. And he doesn't consider that a success.
Sony outdid itself with the launch of the Xperia Z1 Compact, bringing all the power of the full fat version and shrinking it down without much compromise. But those internals won't stop it being compared to the other smaller phones on the market, with one of the most popular being the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.
Quite rightly, Sony is pushing the Xperia Z1 Compact as more than just another 'Mini' handset that will disappear into tiny handset obscurity.
The question remains then, in the quest for a smaller screened device, what are the differences and which one is the right one for you?
Design
With both the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini handsets coming with bigger brothers, it will be of no surprise that the same design DNA in the Sony Xperia Z1 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 is still there, if not a little more petite.
The Z1 Compact comes with a far sharper and more industrial look than the S4 Mini, a smart handset hewn of glass and metal. Samsung instead followed a far more natural and curvier look with its handsets and has produced a smooth plastic device with the S4 Mini.
That extra heft isn't unwarranted though - the design build of the Z1 Compact is decent, if a little chunky, and feels like it has a slightly higher bill of materials than the Samsung.
With that glass and metal construction it'll be no bombshell that the Z1 Compact comes in much heavier than the Galaxy S4 Mini, weighing in a whole 30g heavier than the Samsung at 137g. The Sony is also larger; vital statistics put it at 127 x 64.9 x 9.5mm.
Samsung's smaller handset is smaller all round at 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.99 and weighs a mere 107g leaving it sitting in the hand a lot more comfortably.
Design differences also spread to the inclusion (or exclusion) of hard buttons and soft keys. Where Sony has left the Xperia Z1 Compact to deal with Android's on screen controls, Samsung has taken its more traditional route with a large central home key and back/menu buttons sat either side.
Screen
With a quick look at the specs sheet it is clear that the Sony is way out in front. The Xperia Z1 Compact comes with a HD 720p (720 x 1280) screen that leaves the 540 x 960 resolution of the Galaxy S4 Mini a little behind.
All those extra pixels in the same 4.3-inch screen mean that the Sony comes out much higher in pixel density too; 342 beats 256ppi every day of the week.
Fortunately for Samsung this only tells half the story. The Galaxy S4 Mini comes packing the same Super AMOLED screen technology, which is both extremely bright and comes with higher levels of contrast than the TFT screen of the Z1 Compact. This goes a long way to easing any pain caused by a smaller resolution.
It would be harsh to call the Galaxy S4 Mini screen poor. It is more than sufficient for sending messages and surfing the web, or for viewing all those images of cats in funny poses and dogs diving for tennis balls.
The added brightness also means that the Galaxy S4 Mini is also easier to use when out and about when sunnier weather hits your window.
Camera
One of the biggest areas that the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact will look to beat the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is the camera. This is because it comes rocking a massive 20.7MP sensor where the Samsung comes with only 8MP.
Both the S4 Mini and the Z1 Compact come sporting front facing sensors too, although these are much closer in stature. Sony has made sure it's won the battle, but this time the battle was much narrower; 2MP vs 1.9MP.
Samsung and Sony have both also taken a look at the camera app, meaning they both offer up more than the stock Android that sits beneath.
Sony has thrown a little more in the way of the camera offering up a few more modes. The more professional photographer may decide they want to forgo the Superior auto mode and take on the Manual mode. This offers up a variety of scenes, as well as allowing the toggle of white balance and exposure.
Instagram lovers have also been covered with varying picture effects and filters allowing easy creation of interesting looking pictures without the need for any Photoshop wizardry. An AR mode also adds extra features including elves and dinosaurs... make of that what you will.
Samsung's variation comes in the forms of different modes: Auto, Beauty Face, Best Photo, Continuous Shot, Best Face, Sound & Shot, Rich Tone (HDR), Panorama, Sports and Night. These don't add a lot of creative features, instead being aimed at perfecting the more basic shots.
Colour reproduction on both is very good, although the contrast is much higher on the Galaxy S4 Mini. Much more detail has been captured on the skin of the satsumas though.
With the colours a little washed out on both, contrast levels are still much higher on the Galaxy S4 Mini. More detail on the cushions has been captured on the Z1 Compact.
A far greater amount of detail has been captured on the Z1 Compact, with edges appearing crisper. Although the contrast is higher on the S4 Mini, colours are more natural on the Z1 Compact.
Oddly, more detail has been captured in the background with the brickwork on houses coming out clearer with the Samsung. The Z1 Compact is much clearer in the foreground with text being much crisper.
There is a massive difference in the low light capabilities, with the Z1 Compact's sensor letting in a lot more light. This means that images come out a lot clearer and more visible than on the S4 Mini.
There's been a lot of talk surrounding sapphire screens for smartphones recently, and it's one of the heavily rumoured features for the upcoming iPhone 6.
Apple has even gone and purchased a sapphire product company, fuelling the rumours of an iPhone 6 appearance further and it could be the catalyst the screen tech needs to catapult it into the mobile mainstream.
So why is it so important? We're here to set the story straight about what sapphire screens are and why we should all be excited for the mobile future.
What exactly is sapphire?
We all know what sapphire is, right? It's that beautiful blue gemstone found on the ring given by Prince William to Kate Middleton for their engagement in 2010.
So why is this precious gem being constantly bandied about as the future of smartphone screens?
In fact sapphire is much more than a gemstone, it is a crystallized form of aluminium oxide which sports a natural blue hue thanks to traces of elements such as iron and titanium.
Why is it good for phones?
Manufactured sapphire has been around for a while and it's used on all of Tag Heuer's watches, as well as being the transparent armour that is currently found on military vehicles and there is some pretty sound reasoning behind this.
It is common knowledge that there is little in the universe that is harder than diamond, a substance that measures 10 on the Mohs mineral hardness scale.
The Mohs scale measures how easily different minerals scratch from 1 to 10, 1 being the softest and 10 being the hardest.
Hopefully there will be less of this
Sapphire measures nine on that scale, only one less than diamond and two to three higher than ordinary glass.
Putting this into context, sapphire mobile screens should be far more scratch and crack resistant than a traditional chemically strengthened glass screen.
Whilst we highly doubt your next phone will be bullet proof like the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Launcher's windscreen, we could be looking at mobile screens that won't crack if dropped, nor scratch if left in a handbag or pocket with a set of keys.
Hasn't sapphire been used before?
With all recent the talk of sapphire screens you'd be forgiven for thinking that its use in the mobile world is something that is completely new.
Anybody with an iPhone 5 or 5S will know (possibly) that's not the case.
There's a layer of sapphire in there
Apple in particular has been using sapphire for a while, with it covering the Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the 5S and the camera lenses of both devices.
What about Gorilla Glass?
The use of sapphire in mobile screens places a lot of pressure on the current screen manufacturers, none more so than Corning who produces Gorilla Glass.
Figures from Corning's news centre suggest Gorilla Glass is currently found in over 1.5 billion devices, a number that is certainly not to be baulked at.
Yeah, it's called sapphire
The same site also show that sapphire is actually harder to scratch than Gorilla Glass, something that is reiterated by Matthew Hall, Director of the Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology at Alfred University's Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering.
"Chemically strengthened glass can be excellent, but sapphire is better in terms of hardness, strength, and toughness" Hall explained, adding "the fracture toughness of sapphire should be around four times greater than Gorilla Glass – about 3 MPa-m0.5 versus 0.7 MPa-m0.5, respectively."
This comes with some rather large downsides though. Sapphire is both heavier at 3.98g per cubic cm (compared to the 2.54g of Gorilla Glass) as well as refracting light slightly more.
Specs compared: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Sony Xperia Z2 (credit: It's a phone face-off)
MWC 2014 has given birth to the Sony Xperia Z2 and Samsung Galaxy S5, both of which will be soon be jostling for your attention as they take over the spotlight as Android's latest, and presumably greatest, offerings.
Unfortunately, before we get both handsets into the office for a thorough TechRadar-style testing, we won't be able to tell which is more worthy of your cash. We can, however, give you an idea of how the two compare from what we know so far.
Check out our head-to-head specs comparison video below, and find out exactly what the Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2 are bringing to the game.
With MHL you can unchain your media from your phone or tablet and easily display videos, games, photos and more on a big screen.
It can be liberating and it's all achievable with the help of just a single cable, yet a lot of people are probably unaware of its existence and many who do know of it still don't really use it.
That's a shame, because MHL carries a whole lot of potential, from obvious uses like watching stored videos on a big screen to more inventive applications such as using it in combination with a keyboard and mouse to type documents, essentially turning your smartphone into a desktop computer in the process.
To find out more about MHL, its potential uses and its future we spoke to the MHL Consortium, a company founded by Nokia, Samsung, Silicon Image, Sony, and Toshiba, which is responsible for licensing and promoting MHL technology.
What is it?
The first thing to get out the way is what MHL is and how it works. Essentially one end of an MHL cable will plug into the micro USB port on your phone or tablet while the other will plug into an HDMI port on a television or monitor and your phone's screen will then be mirrored on the external screen.
Dr Judy Chen, President of the MHL Consortium, explained that it's a "connectivity solution optimised for outputting a mobile device to a larger display.
"Like HDMI it's uncompressed, which is important as that allows it to handle everything in real time, setting it apart from wireless solutions."
A MHL Consortium spokesperson added that it can "simultaneously charge the device and it offers the unique ability to control your phone features via the standard TV remote.
"MHL-enabled products include smartphones, tablets, Digital TV's, TV accessories, Blu-ray players, audio / video (AV) receivers, monitors, projectors, adapters, automotive accessories, cables, and more."
What's it used for?
Probably the most obvious use for an MHL cable is to play videos on your phone but view them on a larger screen.
That could mean playing locally stored videos or taking advantage of an app such as Netflix, essentially turning your handset into a home media player. Since MHL is simply mirroring the screen of your phone it's compatible with any and all apps.
But there are loads of other uses for MHL too. You can use it in combination with a controller for gaming on a big screen and almost replicate a console experience in the process.
The MHL Consortium believes that "MHL is a viable substitute for a games console or a set-top box.
"When it comes to gaming, an MHL smartphone can be seamlessly paired with a wireless game controller and games can be played with zero lag on the larger screen display."
You can use it to view photographs or even connect your smartphone to a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and turn your phone into a full desktop computer.
It comes into its own for all these things even more when travelling, as while you might have a computer, a games console and a media player at home, simply packing an MHL cable and a few optional accessories such as a controller will allow you to bring home entertainment to your hotel room.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. You could also use it while working out, to view exercise apps and videos on a big screen while keeping your phone charged.
Or if you have an infotainment system in your car you could interact with your phone through it with the help of MHL and even mirror a satellite navigation app to it.
You'll still be seeing a lot of your charger in the future
We're waiting for the day when our smartphone battery will last a week on a single charge, but sadly that day will probably never come.
TechRadar spoke to Laurent Fournier, Qualcomm's Senior Director for Business Development, at MWC 2014 who revealed the technology isn't heading towards a smartphone battery that can last days, but rather one that can be charged quickly.
"It's too optimistic" to hope for a smartphone battery that lasts a week, explained Fournier. "The batteries in the old GSM phones that could effectively last an entire week are not something current technology can deliver to smartphones."
"This is because the number of applications and demands a user has of their smartphone does not allow for that kind of performance from the battery."
The classic one day
"Today's smartphone batteries are generally expected to last a day and we are investing more in speeding up the charge, rather than effectively extending the lifetime of the battery beyond the classic one day."
When it comes to actually charging your phone, Qualcomm is pushing the wireless option which already features in some handsets.
"We've announced our version 2.0 of our wireless charging technology and that's definitely the trend we're pursuing," Fournier told us.
So perhaps the nightly charging ritual is going to get easier for more of us, but you won't be waving it goodbye anytime soon.
An anti-NSA smartphone. A year ago that would have meant very little to anyone. Five years ago and the idea of a smartphone that protects your data would have probably been met with a lot of shrugging.
But these are different times, and as more and more people realise that their data is a commodity - and as more Snowdens appear and data breaches unravel - there's a growing call to reclaim our data and re-empower ourselves.
Enter Blackphone, the smartphone that promises two things: privacy and control. Is it NSA-proof? No, but it's offering a level of security and data you certainly won't get with your Samsung Galaxy S5.
Blackphone is the offspring of a partnership between Geeksphone (a Spanish developer known for building open Android phones) and Silent Circle (an encrypted communications firm).
At its heart, the phone runs on a custom version of Android named PrivatOS. via out-of-the-box apps, of your phone calls and texts and encrypted and communicated via data, while web browsing is also promised to be completely anonymous.
That means the person on the other end will also have to have Secret Circle running for messages to be encrypted at both ends.
Power might not be the selling point here, but you're going to want some decent specs if this is to become your go-to phone. Luckily, the Blackphone hosts a 2GHz quad-core processor along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
There's a 4.7-inch HD IPS display on the front and an 8-megapixel camera on the back. With a price tag of $629 (about £377, AU$700).
There are a number of security features in the phone, but one of the standout ones gives you total control over the exact level of access any app has to your phone or to the network. Why is a game trying to access your contacts? Block it.
Another interesting feature is the Smart Wi-Fi manager, which will ensure your Wi-Fi is only active in certain trusted areas, and that it shuts off the moment you leave that location.
Buying the phone will also get you a two year subscription to Silent Circle services, as well as three additional licences, each for a year, to give to family or friends.
It looks nice too, with its black shell and HD display. Yes, security just got a bit sexy.
That said, the final version of the phone that will arrive in June will be slightly different to the prototype we played with. We were told we can expect a few tweaks in the design, but a rep told us that the 4.7-inch screen will remain at the same size.
Early verdict
The Blackphone has got people talking, and for good reason. The phone itself is a nice device but at the end of the day, it's something that will rely on people's paranoia to sell. If data has value, so, apparently, does protecting it. The question right now is: do you consider $629 a reasonable price to do so?
Security specialist Webroot and mobile data expert Cellebrite have teamed up to launch what they claim is the first anti-malware detection and removal service for mobile operators and retailers.
Announced at MWC 2014, the service, which will be marketed as a product, will see Cellebrite placing Webroot's Mobile App Reputation Service and URL Classification Service under the bonnet of its diagnostics product range.
Malware epidemic
Scott Merkle, vice president of Enterprise and OEM Sales at Webroot, said that there is a demand for such a service, as companies have to cope with the rapidly spreading mobile malware epidemic.
He said that contributing to the spread of the epidemic is the rapidly increasing amount of downloads of unknown or untrusted apps and the growing popularity of mobile payments.
Merging the Webroot and Cellebrite software will mean that service suppliers can proactively identify and fix security threats and performance problems on their customer's mobile device.
First of its type
Not only can they test dodgy files against Webroot's Malware database, the service can use Cellebrite's mobile device diagnostics solution to discover phone problems being caused by malware.
Merkle said that the Webroot and Cellebrite service is the first multi-channel phone diagnostics solution provider to offer anti-malware detection and removal to mobile carriers and retailers.
Competition for the biggest honours at MWC 2014 has been fierce, but our dauntless team of phone experts have scoured the show floor for the biggest and best tech of the year.
What will be crowned best tablet? At a phone show, which handset could possibly take best phone? And what's the tech that's got tongues wagging both at MWC and on the internet?
Meet the winners of TechRadar's MWC 2014 Awards:
Best phone: Samsung Galaxy S5
Commended: Sony Xperia Z2, HTC Desire 816
Galaxy S5 loses the gimmicks and wins some TR awards
While some were left underwhelmed by Samsung's latest flagship, we judged the Samsung Galaxy S5 to be the best phone on show as well as the most improved.
Phones and tablets editor Gareth Beavis explains, "This was easily the hardest category to judge, as there were a lot of great choices on show. Both Sony and Samsung's phones have lots of really great features and will be big hitters this year, while HTC managed to offer something impressive at a mid range price point.
"But the overall combination of power and features users actually want over the useless, gimmicky 'innovation' seen on S4, swung it for us."
HTC CEO Peter Chou accepts his 'commended' award
Best tablet: Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet
Sony has won the Best Tablet award two years in a row
It's Best Tablet two years on the trot for the Xperia range - will Sony ever let another company have a look in?
Beavis said, "Last year's winner made a lot better, with beefed up internals and a greatly enhanced screen. The iPad Air has set a high bar to beat, but the technology on the Xperia Z2 Tablet, like powerful front facing speakers, means it has a great chance."
Best in show: Samsung Galaxy S5
Commended: Samsung Gear 2 Neo
The S5 wins TechRadar's prestigious Best In Show award
No other device managed to beat the S5 in terms of desirability. It's the best of the best. As Gareth puts it:
"It's only fitting a phone should win Best in Show at MWC, and the Galaxy S5 is a phone that a lot of people will be proud to own.
"The Galaxy S5 is a phone that a lot of people will be proud to own."
"The need for a standout feature on a new smartphone has diminished in recent times, and now users are getting phones that actually do what they need them to, which the S5 embodies well."
Commiserations to the runner-up, which shows that smartwatches are on the up but still have a way to go.
Gareth says, "The other big story this year was wearables, as we expected. The Gear 2 Neo is the best of the bunch simply because it's last year's Galaxy Gear made much more usable.
The Samsung Gear 2 Neo was a smartwatch highlight
"It should be cheaper and is lighter than the main Gear 2, plus still has all the excellent fitness features we're looking forward to testing out."
People's choice: Nokia X
Commended: Samsung Gear Fit
Nokia's first Android phone is an award winner
Cinderella story. Out of nowhere. A former Windows Phone fixture, now about to become an Android champion. It looks like a mirac... Nokia X is the people's choice! It's the people's choice! It's the people's choice!
"The Nokia X is getting people interested in the low end again," Gareth told us, explaining the buzz.
"The Nokia X is getting people interested in the low end again."
"Sure, the story is Android being used, but really it's Nokia looking to penetrate the budget market with whatever OS works best, so it's great to see this is a hot topic."
And on the runner-up: "The Gear Fit is a strong device too, as it's got a beautiful curved OLED as it's display and focuses just on fitness, while also pushing well into the smartwatch territory by showing off notifications."
Congratulations to all the winners - see you again, same time next year!
Keep up to date with all the goings on at MWC 2014
A Nexus One at the heart, but could it survive on its own?
It's an age old question, one which has troubled scholars almost as much as the issue of whether cats can count. But it's a question which we finally aim to answer: can a smartphone survive a trip into orbit?
Firstly, let's get the obvious out of the way: no, a smartphone can't make or receive calls in space, as it's reliant on ground based antennas.
So you can't use it as a phone, but what we want to know is whether a smartphone would still work after being left floating in space or whether that harsh, alien environment would prove too much for a device which in many cases can't survive a little water or a fall off a table.
Satellite phone
You may be surprised to learn that it's already been put to the test, sort of. Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) launched a Nexus One into space last year as part of a nano-satellite called STRaND-1.
The nano-satellite doesn't just consist of a Nexus One, but the phone has been mounted to one of the satellites panels and sent into space in its entirety. While in space a number of apps have been run from the phone, both to collect data and for fun, and the handset's camera has been used to take pictures.
NASA has a similar ongoing project called PhoneSat, which first involved launching a satellite which used a Nexus One as its onboard computer and then later launching a second satellite which used a Nexus S.
You might think that answers the question but it's a bit more complicated than that as the satellites contained precautions to protect the phones. For example the onboard computer on STRaND-1 would monitor the temperature of the battery and if it started getting too cold it would trigger a processor intensive program to warm it up.
Not to mention the fact that the phones were largely enclosed by the satellites they were a part of, giving them a certain amount of protection. It's a good start but it still doesn't tell us whether a smartphone could survive unassisted.
Hot and cold
Space can get as cold as -270.4 degrees Celsius, while simply being in direct sunlight in high Earth orbit can lead to temperatures of around 120 degrees Celsius. Those are some extreme temperatures and a smartphone could potentially experience both extremes while in space.
Phones just aren't built to withstand that, which is understandable, since short of diving into a volcano followed by a trek across the Arctic to cool off those aren't temperatures that you're likely to encounter on Earth.
Though even within comparatively normal temperatures many smartphones don't fare brilliantly. The iPhone 5S for example can, according to Apple, withstand temperatures of between 0 and 35 degrees Celsius when turned on and between -20 and 45 degrees Celsius when off, which is nowhere near the extremes you'd potentially encounter in space.
Some phones are more resilient, but in a temperature resilience test of 15 of the most popular smartphones carried out by TechHive in 2012, all of them had shut down by -35 degrees Celsius.
Even a phone designed specifically to be durable and withstand the elements, like the Cat B15, can only be operated at between -20 and 55 degrees Celsius.
Smartphone screens may also malfunction in extreme temperatures, while if it's cold enough there's even a chance the screen could shatter. Gorilla Glass has made our screens stronger but they're still not immune to the elements.
The bigger problem though is a phone's battery. If it gets too hot it will degrade faster and at extreme temperatures like those found in space the electrolyte in the battery could even ignite, while cold temperatures can cause the battery to drain rapidly.
MicroSD cards are serious business, or at least that's the impression given by the uproar surrounding any major Android handset that doesn't include a slot for one. But are they really necessary?
There's no denying that they can be appealing. Regardless of how much storage a handset has a microSD card can boost it - and with the launch of SanDisk's 128GB card it can be expanded massively. That can certainly be useful for anyone who wants to jam their phone full of media, but even if you don't it's comforting to have that safety net, knowing that the storage is there if you need it. But do you need it? Really?
You might argue that there's no downside to having a microSD card slot even if it's not likely to get used, but that's not entirely true. For one thing they simply don't fit with the design ethos of some handsets.
Phones of a certain design, such as the unibody HTC One, can't easily support a microSD card slot and the design is one of its biggest selling points. To compromise that would be to compromise the whole handset.
Slow storage
Even on phones which can easily fit one in it's not necessarily desirable. Because while microSD cards sound good on paper in reality they can hugely impact a phones performance.
According to a study carried out by Hyojun Kim at the Georgia Institute of technology, using a microSD card in your phone can cause it to become sluggish, with even basic tasks like web browsing suffering as a result. Overall performance can often drop by between 100% and 300% and in one case the study found that there was an incredible 2000% decrease in performance.
Even at the lower end that's a massive loss in performance and is an unacceptable trade off for some extra storage, particularly on higher end handsets where you're paying hundreds of pounds extra for a boost in specs.
The reason for the performance loss is simple, microSD cards themselves aren't fast enough. They can't keep up with the power and speed packed into modern smartphones. Though some are better at this than others and the brand and class of card you choose will have a big impact.
Bad memory
Speed isn't the only issue either. In late December, hardware hacker Andrew Huang gave a talk at Chaos Compute Club Congress, where he explained that "flash memory is really cheap. So cheap, in fact, that it's too good to be true. In reality, all flash memory is riddled with defects - without exception."
The illusion of a contiguous, reliable storage media is crafted through sophisticated error correction and bad block management functions. This is the result of a constant arms race between the engineers and mother nature; with every fabrication process shrink, memory becomes cheaper but more unreliable.
Likewise, with every generation, the engineers come up with more sophisticated and complicated algorithms to compensate for mother nature's propensity for entropy and randomness at the atomic scale."
Cheap, but not so cheerful
Which brings us to another key issue in the appeal of microSD cards, the fact that they're cheap. On the face of it the price can be appealing, particularly in comparison to paying through the nose for increased built in storage on a phone.
Take the iPhone 5S for example. The 16GB model already retails for a whopping £549, but for a 32GB model you're looking at £629. That's £80 more for just 16GB of extra storage, while the 64GB model is yet another £80 more expensive.
Admittedly Apple products tend to be expensive anyway, but even a 32GB Nexus 5 costs £40 more than a 16GB one and other companies have similar price differences.
Compare that to on average just £7-10 for a 16GB microSD card, £15-20 for a 32GB one or £35-45 for a 64GB one and the pricing does seem quite steep. You could argue that you're paying the extra for a product which isn't 'riddled with defects' but it still seems like a substantial difference, particularly when you can get a 1TB external hard drive for around £50.
Robert Leedham, writer for Which? Tech Daily agrees, saying "microSD cards aren't essential in phones, but they're a cheap way to get added storage. Spending £15 for 32GB extra space on your mobile is a good deal in anyone's book."
An argument could certainly be made that manufacturers should charge less for extra storage then, but given how slow and unreliable microSD cards are it's still often worth paying the extra to avoid them.
Upping the limit
Of course sometimes even paying for a high-capacity handset isn't enough, as you're still not going to be getting more than 64GB of storage, which should be more than enough for most people but it's still easy to fill.
Smartphone storage can be even more limited than it initially appears to be too, as some of the advertised memory is taken up by the operating system and often by apps which can't be uninstalled.
Leedham sees this as a major problem, arguing that: "Manufacturers will begin to offer more storage space if they think it will make more people buy their phones. Realistically, they need to ensure operating systems don't eat up too much existing storage space. Our recent storage test found only 8.56GB (or 54%) of a Samsung Galaxy S4 was actually available for you to use."
Sometimes the hit is only a few gigabytes, as on the 16GB iPhone 5S and Nexus 5, which give you 12.20GB and 12.28GB of usable storage respectively, but other times you can be left with only around half the advertised amount, as in Leedham's example, making a microSD card all but essential.
The good news is that phone storage is increasing. The iPhone 3G had a choice of 8 or 16GB of storage, the iPhone 4 brought the potential storage up to 32GB and the iPhone 5 boosted it to 64GB. If Apple continues that pattern then the next iPhone will have 128GB of storage.
You can see a similar increase among other manufacturers. HTC for example put just 512MB of storage in the Hero, but that went up to 1GB in the Sensation, 16 or 32GB in the One X and 32GB in the HTC One.
That trend is likely to continue, as tablets like the iPad Air now offer 128GB of storage and there's even a smartphone with that amount of capacity, unfortunately it's only available in China, but it's surely only a matter of time before 128GB of storage and beyond become common in phones.
Given the rate that storage has increased so far that's likely to happen sooner rather than later and when it does microSD cards will become a lot less desirable.
The original Grand Memo arrived at last year's MWC, so it makes perfect sense that ZTE is rebooting its phablet one year on with the Grand Memo 2 LTE.
The Grand Memo 2 builds on its predecessor, growing its screen from 5.7 to a full 6-inches, putting it on par with the Lumia 1520 and above the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and HTC One Max.
The 6.44-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra still rules the roost in terms of size though.
A big phone needs big power and ZTE has equipped the Grand Memo 2 relatively well, but the 1.2GHz quad-core processor is a little disappointing.
You also get 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, microSD slot and a sizable 3200mAh battery ZTE claims will last for 15 days in standby.
Battery life may actually be alright on the Grand Memo 2 as it's not rocking a full HD display. Instead you've got to make do with a 1280 x 720 resolution, which doesn't look particularly amazing stretched over such a large area.
The handset itself doesn't ooze premium quality either, with a cheap plastic finish highlighting the Grand Memo 2 may well be one of the more affordable big screen phones around.
At first look the Grand Memo 2 does appear to be a relatively premium device, but pick it up and you'll notice the overly plastic body and buttons that rattle inside the chassis.
This does mean that the Grand Memo 2 is surprisingly light, making it slightly easier to hold in one hand, although I still had to stretch my fingers across the device.
For the most part I'd recommend a two handed grip on the Memo 2, just to be on the safe side.
There's good news in the fact ZTE has loaded Android 4.4.2 KitKat onto the Grand Memo 2, but it's then gone a spoiled it by putting its own custom overlay on it.
Oversized, childish icons make the on screen experience of the ZTE Grand Memo 2 feel immature and toy-like, and to be honest I found it a little off putting.
The processor appears to struggle a little bit too, as general navigation around the handset was slightly stilted and the Grand Memo 2 isn't as quick as its big screen rivals.
As you may have guessed from the name the Grand Memo 2 LTE is blessed with 4G connectivity, which should give you a very fast data connection for fluid web browsing.
Unfortunately I was unable to put the 4G performance to the test during my time with the handset.
You can use the Grand Memo 2 as an universal remote thanks to the inbuilt IR (infra-red) blaster, giving you control over your TV, Blu-ray player, Hi-Fi system and more.
The Grand Memo 2 also comes equipped with a couple of decent cameras - a 13MP offering on the rear and a beefed up 5MP snapper on the front.
In general the camera app doesn't provide a huge array of options, but something I've not seen before is a spirit level mode which helps you get a dead straight photo instead of a wonky mess.
This feature won't be a must have for anyone, but it's interesting to see and I wonder if it will lead to more enhanced settings in the future.
Early verdict
If you're in the market for a top of the range phablet the ZTE Grand Memo 2 LTE is not for you.
Its cheap build, average screen and childish UI pigeon hole it as an affordable phablet, but even then you might want to consider a standard size smartphone over this ZTE offering.
