Android app that needs to use non-memory SD card

Question

I'm contemplating making an android version of my iPhone app. One of the attractions is the availability of a micro/miniSD card from Spectec that has an Ant+ radio in it, to communicate with Ant+ protocol devices.

The technical feasibility of this is not my question; but rather its practicality:

This obviously involves taking out the SD memory card in the handset and replacing it with one with no on-board memory, leaving the device with only the builtin 256mb or whatever. this is plenty for my app, but I'm concerned that, aside from annoying the user by having all their music removed, there will be apps on the users device that save data to the SD and will be broken by removing the SD memory.

Can anyone give an opinion on this issue?

TIA

Answer 1

Most Android devices today have media slots on the inside of the case, requiring the device to be off and removing the battery to swap cards. This means that while it is technically possible to swap cards, it is inconvenient enough that users won't want to do it much.

Hence, you should think of this not as temporarily removing access to their music and such, but semi-permanently removing access. This is unlikely to be popular in consumer devices.

In theory, Android applications should test for media being mounted before using the SD card. In practice, I suspect few do. Hence, not only will the user lose access to their music, but a number of their apps will break as well.

Now, since Android doesn't have a driver for this card (in all likelihood), I am assuming you were planning on creating your own firmware. In that case, perhaps you can target devices that are more flexible on the SD card front (e.g., ARCHOS 5 Android tablet, which has two externally accessible slots, IIRC).