PDA

View Full Version : Cell phones and MicroSD cards



blueshiftoverwatch
July 28th, 2009, 05:24 AM
I have an LG Chocolate 3 cell phone and want to get a MicroSD card (technically a MicroSDHC card) for it to increase the device's storage capability. But I had some questions regarding it so I figured I'd ask here first.

Most of the cards I was looking at (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000068&Description=8gb%20microsd%20card&name=Flash%20Memory) seem to be around the same price. Is there any real difference between brands? Either in terms of quality or in/compatibility with certain devices?

The only incompatibility between MicroSD cards that I'm aware of is that the larger storage cards which are called MicroSDHC won't work in older devices that only take the lower capability MicroSD cards. But since my cell phone is compatible with MicroSDHC cards up to 8gb why wouldn't it therefore also be compatible with any sized MicroSDHC card?

According to the people at the Verizon store where I bought it and the official review video LG has on their website the phone supports MicroSD cards up to 8gb in size. If I put in a larger capacity card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134992&Tpk=16gb%20microsd%20card) would the cell phone either not detect the card at all or only detect the first the first 8gb while ignoring the rest of the space? Someone who wrote a review on the link to the 16gb MicroSDHC card seemed to say that that it'll work. But the entire 16gb won't be accessible.

magmon
July 28th, 2009, 05:27 AM
There is no compatibility difference between brands, and quality is all pretty much the same. The only difference is the name on the card. I don't know about your phone, or why you'd need 8 gig on it xD, but I have a 1 gig micro SD card in my LG dare and it simply adds the content of the card into the memory of the phone. For example, I go to music, the music on the SD card shows up without telling me where it's from.

linuxguymarshall
July 28th, 2009, 05:34 AM
Use built in storage and get one of these badboys. (http://www.switched.com/2009/07/26/new-microsd-card-brings-wi-fi-to-compatible-phones/)

prshah
July 28th, 2009, 06:41 AM
Most of the cards I was looking at (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000068&Description=8gb%20microsd%20card&name=Flash%20Memory) seem to be around the same price. Is there any real difference between brands? Either in terms of quality or in/compatibility with certain devices?

The only incompatibility between MicroSD cards that I'm aware of is that the larger storage cards which are called MicroSDHC won't work in older devices

would the cell phone either not detect the card at all or only detect the first the first 8gb while ignoring the rest of the space?

Caveat: I'm using a PalmOne Treo 650.

You need to be alert about the "class" of the microsh(hc) card; I had a 4Gb SDHC Class 2 card, but when I replaced it with an 8GB SDHC Class 6 card, I was shocked at the speed difference (Over 4x). The "class" will be mentioned on the product, as a (semi-)circled number.

My PalmOne Treo 650 did not support SDHC. However, an "unofficial" upgrade gave it the capability to read SDHC cards. For more SD card readers, a software (driver) upgrade is all that is required to get it to read SDHC cards (from "bit addressing" to "sector addressing")

I read that the PalmOne would not show all 8GB, but it would be accessible. However, I found that only Palm's Card utility saw it as 4GB, practically everything else saw (and uses) the full 8GB (7.2GB).

All in all, I'd say all the limitations are "best guesses" using the current technology available at the time of production of the phone. You should be fine pushing the boundaries.

Hobgoblin
July 28th, 2009, 08:53 AM
But since my cell phone is compatible with MicroSDHC cards up to 8gb why wouldn't it therefore also be compatible with any sized MicroSDHC card?


It probably does but when the phone was designed/tested they only had up to 8GB cards to test with so to be on the safe side they say it is compatible with up to 8GB.

blueshiftoverwatch
July 28th, 2009, 12:47 PM
You need to be alert about the "class" of the microsh(hc) card; I had a 4Gb SDHC Class 2 card, but when I replaced it with an 8GB SDHC Class 6 card, I was shocked at the speed difference (Over 4x). The "class" will be mentioned on the product, as a (semi-)circled number.
How much speed do you really need if your mainly just going to be importing mp3 files onto the phone via Bluetooth? A lot of the MicroSD cards I'm looking at online don't even say what class it is.

It probably does but when the phone was designed/tested they only had up to 8GB cards to test with so to be on the safe side they say it is compatible with up to 8GB.
Since the 8gb cards are only around $15-20 I think I'll just go with one of those. That's a lot of space and the higher capability cards are a little expensive for something that may not work properly.

Swarms
July 28th, 2009, 01:10 PM
or why you'd need 8 gig on it xD,

I use my phone for listening to all my music and 8 gb is not enough for that. Personally going to use 16 gb methinks.

drawkcab
July 29th, 2009, 03:00 AM
I have an lg versa with a 2gb mini sd card.

Adding the card allows me to store media, but it doesn't expand system memory. For example, I can save no more txt messages, apps or contacts than I did before. I can, however, save music, photos and videos to the card.

blueshiftoverwatch
July 30th, 2009, 04:02 AM
I ordered an 8gb class 6 MicroSD card with an SD adapter from some company called A-Data for $19 and got free shipping.

Thanks for the responses.

cariboo
July 30th, 2009, 04:39 AM
I had a 2Gb in my now dead Chocolate, It now lives in my Kodak Z750. I've have never had a very good experience with LG phones. The battery decided to die a month after the warranty ran out, on the Chocolate, and the one before that simply died a week after the warranty ran out.

blueshiftoverwatch
November 25th, 2009, 04:37 AM
I'm resurrecting this thread instead of making a new one.

If I put an 800MB rip of a DVD onto a mobile device to watch, do you think a Class 4 (4 MB/s) SDHC card would be fast enough to transfer the video without lag?

If my calculations are correct 4 MB/s is 240MB a minute. Which would mean that the entire movie could be transferred in less than 4 seconds. Since most movies are an hour and a half long I probably won't need anywhere near that much bandwidth to watch it, right?