How to choose the best microSD card for your Android device

Over time, users of Android devices (whether we are talking about mobiles or tablets) are becoming more and more demanding in terms of specifications and storage. A fairly common and well-regarded solution is the inclusion of a microSD card slot which, by the way, makes life easier for many people.

Now, some people have doubts about which microSD cards to buy and how to choose them, as there are normally several features that the user cannot differentiate and which of them is most suitable for the intended use. ‘he wishes to give it. With this in mind, for those who are confused and undecided, we will explain how to choose the microSD card that best suits your use.

A review of the different types of microSD cards

First of all, it is best to start by knowing the different types of microSD cards and their write speeds, because the higher the latter, the faster you will be able to save the data they contain. The first type is the original microSD card, which has a maximum memory of 2 GB, so we’ll leave it out as obsolete.

The second type of cards is microSDHC, which have a memory of up to 32GB, but today, unless you have a slightly older device, these will be somewhat outdated for most users. The third and last type are therefore microSDXC, which can reach 2TB.

Within the microSDXC we can find a classification by class, the number of which indicates its stable writing speed. So we have those of class 2, child 2 Mbps, class 4 child 4 MB / s, class 6 child 6 MB / s, class 8 with 8 MB / s class 10 with 10MB / s. After that we have the class UHS (Ultra High Speed), which has a separate classification.

First of all, we have to UHS-I, which is divided into two subtypes, the U1, which has a minimum read and write speed of 10MB / s and a maximum of 104MB / s, and the U3, with a minimum speed of 30 MB / s and maximum of 104 MB / s. On the other hand we have the UHS-II, which have the same minimum speeds, but the maximum is 312MB / s.

Newer are the UHS-III class, which reaches a speed of patient 624 MB / sAlthough these figures are based on prototypes of cards that have been tested by the SDA (Secure Card Association). In addition, these SD and microSD cards are ready to support 4K slow motion video recording, although they are not officially sold at this time.

CARD CLASS	WRITING SPEED
Class 2	2MB / s
Class 4	4MB / s
Class 6	6MB / s
Class 8	8MB / s
Class 10	10MB / s
UHS-I U1	Minimum 10MB / s Maximum 104MB / s
UHS-I U3	Minimum 30MB / s Maximum 104MB / s
UHS-II U1	Minimum 10MB / s Maximum 312MB / s
UHS-II U3	Minimum 10MB / s Maximum 312MB / s
UHS-III	624 MB / s

Which microSD card should I choose for my use?

Now that we’ve filled the previous section with numbers and acronyms to get a rough idea of ​​what speeds they typically reach, let’s get down to practice. There are many users of microSD cards and, in general, can be divided into several groups depending on what they want to store there.

A recommendation is to ignore cards with a class lower than 8 (i.e. 6 and less) since the prices of these are affordable enough to take them into account. With that said, we’re going to group users based on what they want to store on their microSD cards.

I only want him to put pictures and videos

If you are the type of user who will exclusively put photos and videos on the microSD, the minimum would be to have a class 10 card to guarantee a good reading and writing speed. However, if you are using a high-end smartphone or tablet, it would be a good idea to consider a UHS-I.

Taking into account that many users tend to store a large number of photos and videos (social networks, WhatsApp, made with the device itself …), 64 GB of memory would be ideal. An example of a microSD with these characteristics can be this card which on Amazon costs less than $ 25, although there are many other equally viable options.

If you’re one of those people who want to take full advantage of the device’s ability to record videos in 4K and want to use that resolution, it’s best to invest more money in a UHS-II microSD, like the one here, because they are ready to store content in this resolution and perform the writing and reading process in a more agile way.

I want it to install apps

For these cases, it depends a lot on the device you have. I would recommend a UHS-I on most low-mid and mid-range devices (Note that the terminal supports microSDXC cards), while, for a high end, I would bet on a UHS-II to match the reading speed of the card with that of the internal memory of the device.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that in order to install apps on the microSD, you need to set it up as internal storage, as we explained some time ago in a tutorial.

Please note, before buying a random microSD card, make sure that one of the symbols you see in the image that is just above appears, because this way you will have the guarantee that it is appropriate to install applications. Obviously, this does not mean that those who do not have the symbol are not, but with it you will have certainty.

Which microSD card would suit tablet users?

In the case of tablet users, I would make the same recommendations as in the previous points, because although the photographic section is not important on these devices, you might want to see this content there rather than on a smartphone, for which the card should be adequate in each situation.

USER TYPE	RECOMMENDED MICROSD CARD
Store photos and videos	Class 10 or UHS-I If you record a lot of video in 4K resolution, UHS-II
Install applications	UHS-I or UHS-II

I still have a question about which card to choose

In many cases the user has already chosen their microSD and made the purchase, but in others there may still be doubts. It can happen, especially if you don’t know what exact use you are going to give it for or if you think you are going to use it for a little bit for everything. In that case, the most balanced option is UHS-I for its good read / write speed and economical price.

On which brand to choose, the most popular today are Sandisk, Kingstone, Samsung and Lexar. The first two, in many cases, offer better value for money, but they are all quite good at it. All of these recommendations are a basis for any user to make the right purchase. What type of microSD do you usually use?

In Engadget Android | How to move applications to the microSD card on an Android mobile