Best microSD card for Android phone: As we discover every time that a large manufacturer decides to release a flagship phone without a microSD slot, Android enthusiasts remain passionate about our options to develop internal storage. But the quality of your microSD card depends on the class and speed of the memory card, as well as the capabilities of your phone. Here we tell you everything you need to know to help you choose the best microSD card for your Android device.
The Motorola E398 was being a first mobile phone which saw commercial debut of TransFlash (later microSD) card. Few years later, their competitors began using microSD cards. – WkiPedia
Firstly, make sure your device supports microSD cards
Unfortunately, as we mentioned above, many smartphones do not have microSD slots and instead claim that internal storage on board is sufficient. And although from our point of view this sounds ridiculous, we must make sure that our device has a microSD card slot.
You can inspect your device and see if there is a microSD slot. If you wish, see the manual of your phone to open the device (or to find out if there is a microSD slot). If there is no microSD slot, well, you can not use a microSD card.
What is the difference between SDHC and micro SDXC?
When you buy a microSD card, you will notice that it is a micro SDXC or SDHC card. The difference between these two microSD formats is simply the amount of data they can store. SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) stores up to 32 GB of data, while SDXC (Secure Digital Extended Capacity) supports 64 GB and more.
Many low-end devices do not support SDXC microSD cards, so it is essential to check your phone’s compatibility before purchasing one. Most SDXC cards reach 128 GB, but in March 2015, Sandisk revealed the world’s first 200 GB SDXC microSD card.
What does ‘class’ mean on a microSD card?
This is important. MicroSD cards come in several different classes – Classes 2, 4, 6 and 10. Although these numbers mean nothing to you (and let you wonder what happened to the other numbers up to 10), they do not reflect Simply makes the minimum rates at which these cards support data transfers. Thus, a class 2 card reads and writes data at 2 MB / s, while a class 10 card does it at 10 MB / s. All of a sudden, it’s not that complicated, is it?
CLASS | MINIMUM SPEED |
---|---|
2 | 2 MB/s |
4 | 4 MB/s |
6 | 6 MB/s |
8 | 8 MB/s |
10 | 10 MB/s |
The “Class” number directly reflects the minimum write speed of the card. However, high-quality cards can run much faster than this, with some of the best out there clocking reading speeds up to 95 MB/s.
What does UHS mean on a micro SD card?
Since 2009, some microSD cards are also UHS-1 or UHS-3 compatible. Although, in theory, UHS cards can achieve data transfer rates of up to 312 MB / s, you will probably only realize the minimum transfer speeds listed below, as no smartphone currently supports UHS standard. As such, UHS will make little difference to your microSD card speed at this point.
UHS class | Minimum speed |
1 | 10 MB/s |
3 | 30 MB/s |
Will a better microSD card speed up my phone?
The most important question is whether picking one microSD card over another will improve the performance of your phone, to which the short answer is “yes”.
If you store applications and photos on your microSD card, a faster microSD card will save faster photos, improve data transfer speeds when moving files between devices, and open stored applications On your microSD Card faster. Note that opening applications on microSD cards may be a bit slower than if you store them on the internal memory of your phone because there is an additional layer of communication between your phone and the micro SD card that needs to be Carried out.
As you can see, there are many things to consider when purchasing a microSD card, and I hope the guide above will give you an idea of which to buy. It is also worth to stick to reputable brands for microSD cards, such as SanDisk, Samsung and Kingston. Use the prices of these brands as guidelines as well – if you see a microSD card from another company that is five times cheaper than these, you must be wary of its quality.
Do you use a microSD card? What size and type do you use for your phone? Please let us know in the comments.