MicroSD card is a type of removable card used for storing information. The meaning of SD is an abbreviation of secure Digital. The cards are used on mobile phones, in portable media players, in newer types of handheld Gps devices, digital audio players, expandable USB flash drives, Nintendo DS flash cards, and digital cameras.
There are many microSD cards available in market but not all will work with your Android phone. Here we will share how to ensure the micro SD card you buy will be compatible with your Android phone.

1. Consider the capacity

MicroSD cards are majorly in three types in terms of capacity, which are: SD, SDHC and SDXC; while the SDXC cards range from 32GB to 2TB and can only be in devices that supports SDXC.
Before choosing to buy the one with the largest capacity for your device; you should first check what your capacity of the device supports
The less expensive Android phones are the ones that support SD and SDHC cards, which means you’ll be limited to 32GB max, for example, according to CNET, the following is a list of Android devices and their support capacity, Xperia Z5 compact (200GB), Galaxy S and S7 Edge (200GB), LG V10 (2TB), MOTO G 2015 (32GB), One Touch Idol 3 (32GB).

2. Consider the physical size

When considering this, for example the hardware that supports microSDXC slots will automatically support every size within the microSDXC, but the physical limit is 128GB, anything larger than that may not work.

3. Consider the speed class

After you have considered the capacity, the next thing to do is to consider the speed also. The speed class of a microSD will determine how fast it can write data. MicroSD cards are given one of the four classifications: 2, 4, 6 and 10. The numbers assigned to the card typically correspond to the minimum of the transmission speed of the card, for example if a card is class 2, it’s the minimum transmission speed of 2 Megabytes per second (MB/S). so also for class 4, has minimum speed of 4MB/S, class 6 has the minimum speed of 6MB/S, and class of 10 has the minimum speed of 10MB/S. the speed class can always be found directly on the card’s label, signified as a number (2, 4, 6, 10) inside the letter “c”. you should confirm the speed class of your android device support before purchasing it.

4. Consider UHS classes

In addition to the speed classes mentioned above, there are two Ultra High Speed classes. UHS cards are significantly more expensive and are designed to be used with UHS compatible devices. UHS cards typically have a classifation of either ( UHS-1 class 1) or 3( UHS-1 class 3), with 1 signifying a minimum speed of 10MB/S and 3 a minimum of 30MB/S. The UHS class has two bus types labeled ‘1’ and ‘2’, however the bus type is rare.

5. Consider the labelling

MicroSDHC and microSDXC cards can be any of these three classes, since capacity and speed are not directly related. MicroSD card type (SDHC or SDXC) and the capacity (GB or TB) are directly labeled on the card. The four speed classes mentioned above have logos to signify their minimum speed, for example, class 10 is the letter C with the the number 10 inside. The UHS-1 Class 1 and Class 3 are the letter Uwith a 1 or 3 inside, respectively. Finally, you may also see a ‘I’ or ‘’II’’ labeled on the card, which references a UHS bus speed.

6. Beware of fake cards and cheap brands

Beware of falling in the trap of buying fake memory cards as it’s easy to buy one, be wary of incredible cheap deals on branded cards from non reputable sellers, there are chances that the cards might be fake. Some of the fake cards carry ‘SDHC’ marking but list capacities over 32GB. And some lists the capacities of 256GB but are cheap 4GB cards. To avoid this, it’s advisable to purchase your SD cards from a reputable seller.
In additional, you should equally be wary of cheap no-name brand. Some of the cards from these no-name brands tends to fail and when they do, they take all your data with them. For this reason, it is usually safer to buy cards from big brand. you typically can expect a great reliability and better performance from these cards, and you can also get a warranty from them ( where your card can be replaced if it fails). Popurlar known SanDisk is an example of a good memory card brand.

source:https://naijatimez..com.ng/2017/03/check-out-6-ways-on-how-to-make-microsd.html