Help! I'm confused about storage on my smartphone
One of the things that many GoogleAndroid users like about their devices over theiPhone is the fact that most Android devices allow you to add additional storage capacity. The iPhone doesn't.Dear Maggie, I see in many of the phone reviews on CNET that you can expand your smartphone's memory up to 32GB or up to 64GB using a microSD card. For instance, in the review for the Samsung Galaxy S III, the review notes, "the handset will come in three storage capacities: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. Just in case, it has a microSD card slot for up to another 64GB of storage."
I'm pretty sure I've seen microSD card sizes of up to 128GB. Is it possible to use these types of cards in your phone? At heart, what I'm wondering is if you can plug in any microSD card into any phone or if there are software or hardware limitations that vary by manufacturer or model. As well, how easy is it to manage content on microSD expansion cards?
Dear Neal, This a great question. I've been getting a few questions lately about microSD cards. And it makes sense given the growing number ofGoogle Android smartphones released recently that have additional memory capability.
The short answer to your question is that there is a limit to the amount of memory a particular phone can handle. MicroSD cards come in a variety of flavors. And if your device isn't able to handle a particular flavor of storage innovation, it won't accept higher capacity cards. Standard SD cards max out at a storage capacity of 2GB.
The good thing about memory cards is that they give you the option to store more photos, videos, music and apps on your device than if you relied solely on the phone's internal memory. Another advantage is that the cards can be popped in and out so that you can take your media with you to another device. And lastly, if you have a lot apps installed on your phone, moving some of them to the SD card can in fact improve the performance of your phone.
When you download apps or other media to your phone or save pictures, it's automatically stored here. The Device Memory is what's used primarily to run the OS and other core functionality on the device.
How much storage you have available
In general, apps that either offer core functionality built into Android or that a carrier bundles with the phone cannot be moved to a microSD. Unless you root your phone, you don't have permission to access these folders. Apps that you have to pay for are also as a rule restricted. And you cannot save them to a microSD, because app developers don't want you distributing the app to another user via your microSD.
Aside from apps, microSD is as well great for storing your personal music, photos, and videos. You can do this by syncing your device with your computer and "mounting" the microSD card to your computer. At that time just drag and drop your media onto the microsSD card, just like you would with any other external storage devices.
Pictures, music and especially video can take up lots of memory, so this may be the best way for you to maximize your device storage during saving yourself the headache of trying to manage apps are stored on a microSD. And because you can pop out the microSD card, you can take all that media with you if you switch phones without having to redownload it.
Dear Franny, I've got some good news for you. The answer is yes, you can store unencrypted music from iTunes on a microSD card. The iPhone doesn't have an expandable memory slot to increase the storage. Nevertheless you can move some, otherwise all of your music from iTunes onto a microSD, which can be used on a device like an Android smartphone.
What you'll need to do this is a microSD card in other words compatible with your smartphone and a microSD reader. Some newer computers come with this built in, nevertheless you can as well buy an external one and connect it to your computer via a USB cable.
The time you just drag
And
at the time you just drag and drop the music you want to store onto the
microSD. The music will copy into a file on the microSD. Next you can
put that card into your Android phone. You should see the copied files
on the device. If you have a music player on your phone, your songs will
most likely be found there. You can as well look directly on the SD
card to find your music as so then.Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. The column now appears twice a week on CNET offering readers a double dosage of Ask Maggie's advice. If you have a question, I'd love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put "Ask Maggie" in the subject header. You can as well follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.
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