Google has explained that Nexus devices only offer fixed storage as the company wants to avoid "techy nonsense left over from the paleolithic era of computing".
Upon answering questions about the Nexus lineup on Google+, Google's director of user services on Android, Matias Duarte, said offering consumers expandable memory through SD cards was apparently too confusing.
"Everybody likes the idea of having an SD card, but in reality it's just confusing for users," he said. "If you're saving photos, videos or music, where does it go? Is it on your phone? Or on your card? Should there be a setting? Prompt every time? What happens to the experience when you swap out the card? It's just too complicated."
Instead of implementing SD card support, Nexus devices offers a fixed amount of space that "apps just seamlessly… use", with users not having to "worry about files or volumes or any of that techy nonsense left over from the paleolithic era of computing".
As for Jelly Bean's transition to consistent system buttons and status bars, Duarte explained that it's due to usability research and muscle memory. "What mattered most of all was muscle memory – keeping buttons where you expect them, no matter how you hold the device," Duarte explained.
Google recently announced the Nexus 4 smartphone (which won't feature LTE support), as well as the Nexus 10 tablet and a 3G 32GB variant of the Nexus 7.
