KPH tech blog

Just a quick blog on Micro SD Cards. If you take a look at the blog below, you’ll note I admitted to needing a Micro SD card slot.

There’s also the argument that previous iPhone users, who are now transferring over to Android […] won’t use the expandable storage feature, so OEMs don’t put it in.

That apparently makes a device like the OnePlus 6 [or the] Pixel 3 more appealing to that audience. A cheaper device, with pretty much the same features as an iPhone.

In the article I linked above, [Android Authority’s Joe] Maring talked about phones being released with “128GB or 256GB of internal storage to help mitigate the loss of microSD support,” but despite this, he also admitted that “there are still a ton of users that need to have this feature.”

I’m one of those phone users, and judging by the quoted forum users, and the general gist of the 94 comments on the article (with views from both sides of the argument), I’m not alone on this.

I really would miss the luxury of being able to transfer all of my media over from one device to the other in the click of a finger. How do iPhone users cope?!

Well, nothing’s changed. I love Google’s Pixel 4a and Pixel 5, but (apart from wireless charging, and an extra ultrawide camera lens) I’m not sure what benefits the Pixel 5 has over the Pixel 4a.

The Pixel 4a 5G is, of course, out of the question – I like that it has almost the same specs as the Pixel 5, but it’s the same size as my S9 Plus, and the whole idea of me getting a new phone was to try to get a smaller one.

The Pixel 5 is a great device, but it ditches both the 3.5mm headphone port and the Micro SD card slot.

Re-reading my blog post from 2018, I have to say I would still miss having these 2 features.

I’m still a huge user of the Micro SD card slot, as this allows me to use more local storage than is initially provided. I still have around 35GB of music on my phone, and given that the Android Operating System tends to take up about 8GB storage, on a Pixel 4a or Pixel 5 with 128GB, I’d realistically only be left with around 85GB to store photos, videos, apps and games.

While this is achievable – as noted in this Android Central article from 2018 – having the option of expandable storage (like on the Galaxy S20 and Xperia 5 II) would put my mind at ease.

With support for expandable storage, I could continue to have as many music files, photos and videos stored on my 128GB Micro SD Card as I want – and then use the full 120GB of internal storage for apps & games.

All this, without ever experiencing storage anxiety. This is currently what I do on my Galaxy S9 Plus, and so, having a newer phone, with Micro SD Card support, would enable an almost seamless transition between phones.

– Chris JK.