I was a little disappointed when I heard that you can't install applications or put anything on the media card that is not pictures, videos, ringtones, songs, etc. Am I mistaken in this?

I don't see why they don't let you to put other things on the media card. Having a Pearl I don't have a lot of room for application so i was hoping to put things on a media card.

Also is there a program that allows you to do this?

Finally is there any known future plans for this?

(Sorry a lot of questions in one)

you can put anything you want just wont necessarily be able to access it on the device. you can use it as a jump drive but that is about it

True, I kind of forgot about that.

I just can't believe that you couldn't at least store attachments to the media card.

you can install some apps but you won't be able to run 'em

I thought I saw something in the Rumor Mill, on BGR, or BB Cool that the next rev bump would handle more types of files out in the flash.

The tough thing is handling the security. It's much more risky out there. Yeah, it doesn't matter to you, but remember the NSA uses these things. The core encryption is nuts.

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It looks like BB OS 4.5 is going to add the ability to work with documents. However the improved attachment handling may require a BES.

I would like the ability to view PDF and Word documents... Excel would be an added bonus.

think pdf from memory card you will have issues with, but word/excel/ppt, if they follow the same setup as palm, will be able to be viewed/edited from the media card

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Uh, aren't Excel, PDF, and Word viewing native functions? Mine does. I didn't think BES had anything to do with it.

viewing excel files from email attachments is okay but i haven't tried viewing 'em from the media card, can that be done? i don't think so but i could be wrong

True, what we need is a file manager since we know the device is capable of viewing the documents. All we need is a way to pull them up.

I was using BeFTP and noticed I can navigate to a word document on my SD but there is no option to launch it. I wonder if they can add that???

RIM does not currently treat the SD card as an integral part of the OS.
There is no built-in functionality that allows any execution whatsoever.

As such, all functionality in regards to reading is left to each application individually.

I am under NDA and can't be saying much, but I believe I can say the issue is well known and there are some great improvements in forthcoming OS releases as well as popular 3rd party applications.

On the other hand, due to OS update policies imposed by carriers chances are some devices may not see those updates until they get old enough to have to be changed anyway.

How much device memory do you have free? What are you tying up your device memory with? Most apps are very small so unless you're storing media and PC files in your device memory (which should be on your media card) I don't see how you "don't have a lot of room".

BES actually does extend your attachment support. A BIS-only user can't view as many types of attachments.

I have a constant battle with memory. I have followed the memory maximization steps and still have to keep a close eye on it. I have to use SoftReset at least daily and usually more often. Even though most of the programs are small, they do add up after a while and memory leak problems compound the issue.

Wanda