{"id":20815,"date":"2017-05-22T16:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T10:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/?p=20815"},"modified":"2017-05-22T16:00:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T10:30:32","slug":"how-to-choose-the-best-micro-sd-card-for-your-android-device","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/how-to-choose-the-best-micro-sd-card-for-your-android-device\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose the Best Micro SD Card for your Android Device"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are several Android devices available in the market\u00a0and unfortunately, most Android devices still come with a default 16GB internal storage. Most mid-range or low-end smartphones come with an SD card space. However,\u00a0there\u00a0are many kinds of micro SD cards available in the market, each having different parameters and limits. Selecting a correct micro SD card is essential, to get the maximum value out of the card.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"specifications-and-compatibility\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Specifications and Compatibility<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>There are three main types of micro SD cards available in the market:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>SDSC or SD (Secure Digital Standard Capacity)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>There capacities range from 128MB to 2GB. They utilize FAT16 file system and will work with devices that support SD, SDHC, or SDXC. For example,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Sandisk-microSD-2GB-memory-card\/dp\/B000HCGAFK\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=754e86f04e64921997328939a6419d64\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">SanDisk<\/span> <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">2GB<\/span> <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">microSD<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>is the cheapest SD card available in the market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><strong>SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>There capacity on these cards\u00a0range from 4GB to 32GB and use FAT32 file system. Because SDHC works in a different way than the SDSC cards, this new format is not backwards compatible with devices that accept only SD cards. For example,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Lexar-microSDHC-Mobile-Flash-LSDMI32GABNL\/dp\/B009S51FK2\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=13fb3e015a622214a6d10165bdd176a5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Lexar<\/span> <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">32GB<\/span> <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">microSD<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>is a decent\u00a0class 10 SDHC card. When you purchase a SDHC card, do make sure to look out for the SDHC logo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n[ad type=&#8221;banner&#8221;]\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>SDXC (Secure Digital Extended Capacity)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Their capacities range from 64GB to 2TB and utilize exFAT file system. Because exFAT file system works differently than the SDSC and SDHC cards, this new format is not backwards compatible with devices that accept only SD or SDHC cards. For example,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/SanDisk-Ultra-200GB-Micro-SDSDQUAN-200G-G4A\/dp\/B00V62XBQQ\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=1ddf9fdf4b0714b35936c0e0b4d44400\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">SanDisk<\/span> <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">200GB<\/span> <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">microSD<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>is the class 10 SDXC card you can purchase.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20832\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/1-330.png\" alt=\"How to Choose the Best MicroSD Card for your Android Device\" width=\"640\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/1-330.png 640w, https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/1-330-300x79.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4 id=\"brands\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Brands<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>We should always purchase a micro SD card from a brand. It\u2019s easy to purchase a cheap, generic micro SD card from eBay or black market but in the event that you do so as such, you risk your data to get corrupted. According to this report from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thecounterfeitreport.com\/product\/571\/Micro-SD-Memory-Cards.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">counterfeitreport<\/span><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">.com<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, eBay accounts for maximum fake micro SD cards. While you could get a fake micro SD card from Amazon,\u00a0<strong>look at the review, seller profile, and authenticity of reviews<\/strong>\u00a0with\u00a0<strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/fakespot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fakespot<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Shopping from a trustworthy online electronics store is also a safe. With a branded micro SD card, you can expect better performance, reliability, protection against shock, water, and even airport X-rays. You additionally\u00a0<strong>get warranty and access to recovery software<\/strong>, in case the SD card fails. Some of the popular brands are San Disk (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/SanDisk-microSDHC-Standard-Packaging-SDSQUNC-032G-GN6MA\/dp\/B010Q57T02\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=c8cad932048d7da40b5ed9822c7002d1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">SanDisk<\/span> <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Ultra<\/span><\/strong><\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/SanDisk-Extreme-microSDXC-Adapter-SDSQXSG-064G-GN6MA\/dp\/B010NE3N3S\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=pc&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1482329079&amp;sr=1-22&amp;keywords=microSD+cards&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=7707c3205e4a867aa50885c1e2a170d5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>SanDisk<\/strong> <strong>Extreme<\/strong><\/span><\/a>), Samsung (\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Samsung-128GB-Adapter-MB-MP128DA-AM\/dp\/B00P3NMVVU\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=pc&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1482329079&amp;sr=1-12&amp;keywords=microSD+cards&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=4bc428fcc21d0c4f283d08ddb7549a69\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Samsung<\/strong> <strong>EVO<\/strong><\/span><\/a>), and Transcend (<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Transcend-MicroSDHC-Memory-Adapter-TS32GUSDU1PE\/dp\/B015J44R0U\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=pc&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1482329869&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=transcend+micro+sd+cards&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=5fc9cc33913feab85f15d2b04c670061\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Transcend Premium<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Transcend-MicroSDHC-Memory-Adapter-TS32GUSDU3\/dp\/B00VHW7OPO\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=fac706c93451fd2839825b94109a25f0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Transcend Ultimate<\/a><\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"capacity\"><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><strong>Capacity<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>The first SD specification format supports cards with capacities up to 2GB.\u00a0<strong>SDHC<\/strong>\u00a0format, announced in 2006, supports cards with capacities\u00a0<strong>up to 32GB<\/strong>. On the other hand,\u00a0<strong>SDXC format<\/strong>, announced in 2009, supports\u00a0<strong>cards up to 2TB<\/strong>. At this point, the huge majority of Android devices support SDHC.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to Android device with microSD card support,\u00a0<strong>you have to see the maximum capacity it can support<\/strong>. The manufacturer specifies them in the specs sheet and something like this \u201cexpandable storage via microSD card up to 128GB.\u201d This means that your Android device supports SDXC format with a maximum capacity of 128GB. So, you can either purchase a 128GB microSD card or anything less than that.<\/p>\n<p>Since\u00a0<strong>SDXC format is backwards compatible<\/strong>, you can also purchase an SDHC compatible microSD card with its capacity up to 32GB. For example, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge supports cards\u00a0upto 256GB, Moto G4 Plus 128GB, and HTC 10 256GB.<\/p>\n[ad type=&#8221;banner&#8221;]\n<h4 id=\"speed-class-rating\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Speed Class Rating<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>There are wide differences in memory card transmission speeds among different SD memory card manufacturer and brand. Changing speeds makes it difficult to determine which card will provide reliable speed. The\u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sdcard.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SD Association<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0that creates standards for these products, don\u2019t specify the exact speeds but instead provide guidelines and denote them in \u201cspeed classes.\u201d The term speed class define two specific protocols:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>SD speed class<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They include\u00a0<strong>speed class 2, 4, 6, 10<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>denote the minimum write speeds in MB\/s<\/strong>. A class 2 microSD card has a minimum write speed of 2MB\/s, while a class 10 has a write speed of 10MB\/s. Class 2, 4, 6 all have similar applications and works fine, if you just need to take and store still photos, occasionally record high definition videos or want to store music and videos.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20833\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2-271.png\" alt=\"How to Choose the Best MicroSD Card for your Android Device\" width=\"640\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2-271.png 640w, https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2-271-300x96.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Class 2 cards are too slow<\/strong>, so you may need to avoid them at all cost even for the cheapest digital cameras.\u00a0<strong>Class 4 and 6 cards may be a cost-effective option<\/strong>\u00a0if you\u2019ve basic needs. Although there is no harm on using class 10 cards, it\u2019s more likely a value issue than technical.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Class 10 card<\/strong>\u00a0enables to take full HD video recording (1080p) at 60fps, HD still consecutive recording and RAW photos. Since all budget, Android devices nowadays supports HD video recording, it makes sense to buy a Class 10 card. It performs better while taking photos, multiple burst shots of photos, and during file transfer.<\/p>\n<p>An SD card\u2019s speed class is easy to identify and you\u2019ll see it on the online store listing or on the card\u2019s packaging. For example, in this photo you can see a class 4 and a class 6 microSD card.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20835\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/3-255.png\" alt=\"How to Choose the Best MicroSD Card for your Android Device\" width=\"500\" height=\"278\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/3-255.png 500w, https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/3-255-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/3-255-215x120.png 215w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n[ad type=&#8221;banner&#8221;]\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><strong>UHS Speed Class<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Smartphone camera are developing at a faster pace. We can record a 4K UHD video, take high resolution photos with optical image stabilization and high dynamic range, and record slow-mo video at greater than 60fps. In 2009, SD Association introduced UHS speed class designed for SDHC and SDXC cards. UHS utilizes a new\u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sdcard.org\/consumers\/choices\/bus_interface\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">data bus<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0interface with higher theoretical read and write speeds.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>UHS I<\/strong>have a bus speed of \u2014 35, 50, and 104MB\/s<\/li>\n<li><strong>UHS II<\/strong>has a bus speed of \u2014 152 and 312 MB\/s<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>UHS-I and UHS-II cards can use UHS Speed Class rating with two possible grades:\u00a0<strong>class 1<\/strong>\u00a0for minimum read\/write performance of\u00a0<strong>at least 10 MB\/s<\/strong>\u00a0(\u2018U1\u2019 symbol featuring number 1 inside \u2018U\u2019) and\u00a0<strong>class 3<\/strong>\u00a0for minimum write performance of\u00a0<strong>at least 30 MB\/s<\/strong>\u00a0(\u2018U3\u2019 symbol featuring 3 inside \u2018U\u2019).<\/p>\n<p>If you take and record lots of high resolution photos and 4K video, then microSD card with UHS-I speed class 3 is enough for this purpose. You don\u2019t want a UHS speed class card for a budget smartphone. There are\u00a0<strong>no smartphones which can take advantage of UHS II card<\/strong>, so you can safely avoid it. For example \u2013<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>\u00a0<a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/SanDisk-Extreme-Class-MicroSD-Memory\/dp\/B00O47H8LY\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=abc95dba35bb3769df6ada438c99bca9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SanDisk Extreme Pro<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0is a 64GB, class 10, UHS-I class 3 card (you\u2019ll see a symbol featuring 3 inside \u2018U\u2019).<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>\u00a0<a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Samsung-Select-Memory-MB-ME32DA-AM\/dp\/B01DOB6Y5Q\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=beebom-20&amp;linkId=ac8255a90e97e97472db90efec92cde0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Samsung EVO<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0is a 32GB UHS-I class 1 card (you\u2019ll see a symbol featuring 1 inside \u2018U\u2019).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20836\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/4-233.png\" alt=\"How to Choose the Best MicroSD Card for your Android Device\" width=\"640\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/4-233.png 640w, https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/4-233-300x131.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4 id=\"android-version\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Android Version<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Android has a limited support for micro SD card. We can either use it to store photos, music, or videos or as a temporary storage for apps and games related data. However, Android 6.0 Marshmallow changed that with the introduction of the\u00a0<strong>Adoptable storage feature<\/strong>, which gives format a\u00a0micro SD card to act like internal storage.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20837\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/5-212.png\" alt=\"How to Choose the Best MicroSD Card for your Android Device\" width=\"702\" height=\"622\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/5-212.png 702w, https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/5-212-300x266.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 702px) 100vw, 702px\" \/><\/p>\n[ad type=&#8221;banner&#8221;]\n<p>Once you adopt a new storage, it\u00a0<strong>becomes a part of the system and is not removable<\/strong>. The platform runs a series of benchmark and compares its performance against internal storage. If your microSD is expressively slower, the platform will warn you about a possibly degraded experience with your phone. So,\u00a0<strong>it\u2019s important to choose a highest capacity and speed class microSD card<\/strong>. If your Android device supports 32GB, then go for 32GB SDHC class 10 card. For example, Samsung Evo is a 32GB UHS -I class 1 SDHC card.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"file-system-support\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>File System Support<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>FAT32 is the recommended file system for SD and SDHC cards. If you\u2019re planning to use your microSD card with PC and Macs at any point, then you must leave as it is.\u00a0<strong>FAT32 offers near-universal interoperability<\/strong>\u00a0with every computing system, including PC and Macs. The only disadvantage is FAT32 doesn\u2019t support files larger than 4 GB and volumes greater than 2TB.<\/p>\n<p>But most microSD cards aren\u2019t available in such high capacities, except for SDXC which supports exFAT file format.\u00a0<strong>exFAT file system supports files larger than 4GB, and supports macOS 10.6.6 and above or Windows 7 and above<\/strong>. If you just plan on using the SD card on your Android device, you don\u2019t have to worry\u00a0about the file system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to Choose the Best MicroSD Card for your Android Device &#8211; Mobile &#8211; There are several Android devices available in the market and unfortunately,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1791,46018],"tags":[62017,62016,62004,62005,62006,62027,61999,62001,62002,62023,62010,62011,62013,34643,62026,62019,62022,62024,62007,62000,62012,62020,62028,62021,62014,62025,62003,62008,62018,62009,62015],"class_list":["post-20815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","category-mobile","tag-128gb-micro-sd-card","tag-128gb-sd-card","tag-16gb-memory-card","tag-16gb-micro-sd-card","tag-16gb-sd-card","tag-2gb-memory-card","tag-32gb-memory-card","tag-32gb-micro-sd-card","tag-32gb-sd-card","tag-64gb-micro-sd","tag-64gb-micro-sd-card","tag-64gb-sd-card","tag-8gb-memory-card","tag-keyword","tag-memory-card","tag-memory-card-price","tag-micro-sd","tag-micro-sd-card","tag-micro-sd-card-16gb","tag-micro-sd-card-32gb","tag-micro-sd-card-64gb","tag-mobile-memory-card","tag-phone-to-sd-card","tag-samsung-sd-card","tag-sandisk-memory-card","tag-sd-card","tag-sd-card-32gb","tag-sd-card-price","tag-sd-card-reader","tag-sd-memory-card","tag-sdhc-card"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}