Internal vs expandable phone memory question

[Bumslie]

So, I'm finally going to make the switch from an iPhone to a galaxy.

The Galaxy S5 is 16gb internal, and expandable up to 128gb.

Supposedly, they are coming out with a S5 with 32gb internal storage.

Now, will there any noticeable performance differences between say a 16gb internal with 16gb external phone and a 32gb internal phone with no external memory?

Thanks tech wizards.

[Marcovich]

With the exception that stuff does not generally auto install onto the SD card, external storage, there isn't a noticeable difference in performance.

At least not that I have ever noticed, and I play a ton of games, download stuff etc.

Sent from my Phablet using Tapatalk

[Marcovich]

Error

[2DoorImpala]

Not really. I have a 32gb note 3 and use a 32gb micro sd to save pictures, movies and stuff so it doesn't take up space

[the86d]

I don't like Samsung's new drivers that don't mount as a drive letter in Windows, it makes it a pain to navigate, and you can't drop a favorite or a link somewhere for quick access to a path on the device (such as DCIM on the SDcard).

Both internal and external seem about the same speed, but I have a class 10 card.

[watt79]

You shouldn't notice much of a difference as long as you buy a decent SD card.

[steelrain82]

If you get the 16gb version make sure you get a memory card. The system uses 8gb right off the bat

[mavericksun]

Certain apps will not install onto microSD cards so they will take up room on the internal storage. I consider 32GB internal storage to be min for any android device since I've experience slight slow down with lower(8GB, 16GB) and just usual lack of storage. MicroSD cards are not standard on Nexus machines because of file system security issues. It's why Samsung products with updated OS had some issues. MicroSDs tend to be formatted with ExFAT files system which does not have security built in to the file system. It's why the new drivers show the device and then internal and external storage instead of mounted drives. I tend to use the MicroSD as media storage than program installs since if you change MicroSD cards, you lose the installed programs. Cheapest and only 128GB MicroSD is Sandisk on Amazon for about $120.

[glock_this]

I would always, always, always reccomend buying the version that has the most INTERNAL memory as you can afford. Persoanly, I never buy anything under 32gb internal. External you can expand and never fill it, internal is the key as it is what holds the OS and most all of your key phone data and apps. Some you can move to the SD card and if you root your phone, and almost all SGSx line is rootable, you can even move more apps over to SD card and delete bloatware install apps. The phone ends up using a fair amount of internal mem just for the OS and it's needs so by the time you buy a 16gb.. the space gets eaten up quick. Like a computer hard drive, the fuller the drive gets the more it bogs down and effects performance. Go for the most internal memory you can afford.

[Bumslie]

The only reason why I've put off switching was because of 2 reasons

1. I own a Mac (yeah yah, boo hiss)

2. I'm on an old unlimited AT&T contract, and I was always told that if I switch, I'll lose my unlimited data. Well I know now that this is not true, so I want to switch. I cannot stand the iPhones poor battery life and call quality any longer.

If you get the 16gb version make sure you get a memory card. The system uses 8gb right off the bat

This is all I need to know. 32gb is it.

[glock_this]

I make a living on a Mac. I have for 15+ years. I think they are the best computers made.

I ONLY use Android phones and always have. Android is open platform so I can root and mod and sideload and tweak it as I like.

I have zero issues marrying the 2 so.. that is a non issue.

[Bumslie]

I make a living on a Mac. I have for 15+ years. I think they are the best computers made.

I ONLY use Android phones and always have. Android is open platform so I can root and mod and sideload and tweak it as I like.

I have zero issues marrying the 2 so.. that is a non issue.

I switched from an iPhone to the sprint evo for a month when it came out. It was really clunky, and I didn't like how it worked with my Mac, so I switched back.

Does your android import photos straight to iPhoto? Or do you have to drag and drop?

[glock_this]

I switched from an iPhone to the sprint evo for a month when it came out. It was really clunky, and I didn't like how it worked with my Mac, so I switched back.

Does your android import photos straight to iPhoto? Or do you have to drag and drop?

I have 11000+ photos in iPhoto and something like 8000 songs in iTunes.

Google has a desktop app that can pull your music off your computer up into the cloud and you can access it via Google Music app. All for free and real time. As well, it has an online player you can access from computer should one care, which I do time to time to organize my music since it has a nice GUI. So, everything on my computer is in iTunes and on my phone is sync'd up to Google music. No issues. And technically, I then also have a backup in the cloud on Googles servers for free.

Now as for iPhoto. I do not sync my photos from my computer to my phone. No reason to do that. Nor would I even want to. BUT I do want to sync my photos from my phone to my computer. So I do this.. I have a DropBox account, free, and the DB droid app, free. The moment I take a photo, literally, it syncs up to my DB account. So, I get an instant backup of my photo should my phone get lost while traveling - bonus! Then, when I am back at my computer, I can pull the photo from my DB folder on my computer - since the image was sync'd to my DB and that means it is sync'd to my computer as I have a real time DB folder on my computer - I drag it and drop it on iPhoto and pow.. Techicnaly, if you wanted to sync some photos from iPhoto to your phone, you "could" reverse that step. I don't, I only go 1 way. But I do use DB to send stuff to my phone all of the time.

And.. there is another killer app called AirDroid that can make your phone be a virtual desktop in a browser so you can move stuff back and fourth that way. As well as good old plug and play by just plugging your phone as a USB drive - but why do that when you have DB or AirDroid for example.

[hey8you]

If you get the 16gb version make sure you get a memory card. The system uses 8gb right off the bat

Are you sure about that? I dont think that is right. Looking at my Galaxy S5, 4.51Gb is being used by system, 2.46Gb is used space(apps?), 189mb cached, 291mb miscellaneous files and have 8.56Gb free. I have several apps installed but was only able to move some of them to my memory card.

[Bumslie]

Thanks glock_this. I'll patiently wait to see if/when a 32gb s5 is released and I'll jump right on it.