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Why the Samsung Galaxy S4 Micro SD Card is Useless

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The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a great smartphone, but after a week I only have 3.5GB of storage left and dumbed down Micro SD card support on Android highlights the missing 32GB and 64GB Galaxy S4 models.

Currently the 16GB Samsung Galaxy S4 is the only model available for purchase from U.S. carriers, and several confirmed it will be the only model they offer. Some sources claim a Samsung Supply chain issue is behind the problem, but carriers are quick to point out that users can rely on a Micro SD card and the Cloud instead of the internal storage, but that’s not completely true.

Read: Samsung Galaxy S4 Review

There are limitations to what users can place on a Micro SD card and using the Cloud will push data usage up, which could force customers to spend $10 to $20 more a month.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Micro SD card is worthless for apps, purchased movies and most music.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Micro SD card is worthless for apps, purchased movies and most music.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the inclusion of a Micro SD card to store media and USB OTG support makes it possible to plug a USB drive into the Samsung Galaxy S4 when I need even more, but this doesn’t solve the problem of limited internal storage.

Google is focused on pushing consumers towards internal storage with changes in the ability to move apps to the SD card in Android 4.2 and in the design decisions of the Nexus 4, which only offers internal storage.

After using the Samsung Galaxy S4 for a week, and only downloading some of the apps I traditionally use, I am left with only 3.5GB of storage left on my 16GB Galaxy S4. That’s after a week of use, and forcing 1080P HD video and my photos onto an SD card.

Currently the biggest data hogs, after Samsung’s implementation of Android, are games, Google Play movie purchases and a few other apps. I’m afraid to download all the games I’ve purchased and to store any Google Play Music on the phone.

Why is this such a big deal with a 32GB Micro SD card waiting with 90% open?

Simple. Google won’t let me move any of this data to the Micro SD card.

Samsung Galaxy S4 data used after one week thanks to a few games and one HD movie.

Samsung Galaxy S4 data used after one week thanks to a few games and one HD movie.

Apps need to be on the Internal memory in order to work, likely because Google is worried users will purchase cheap, slow Micro SD cards that will impede performance. With many popular games clocking in at over 1GB in size, internal storage space disappears fast.

Google Play Movies and TV shows are also restricted to the internal memory. This is probably a concession to prevent piracy, which is especially annoying because there’s no apparent way to buy or rent content that I can store on the Micro SD card. If I were to pirate movies or break DRM to rip them to my computer I could store them on the Micro SD card.

When it comes time to listen to music, I’m not able to download the 1,645 songs I uploaded to Google Music without wasting internal storage. Some of them I can side-load from a computer onto my Micro SD card, if I want to give up the convenience of cloud sync. The same goes for music apps that allow offline playback, most of which will store songs on the internal memory.

With all of this in mind, the Micro SD card is basically good for photos and videos taken with the camera, as long as the photos aren’t taken in Burst Mode, which only supports saving to the internal storage.

There is the option to rely on the cloud for movies and music, but with a limited plan on AT&T this isn’t the best option for me or for many users. This also means more time spent picking and choosing apps and media when I will be offline on a plane or long trip. Apple offers the iPhone 5 with up to 64GB of storage and the HTC One comes with up to 64GB of internal storage.

Until Android improves on the ability to use built-in apps and services on the Micro SD card, it cannot be a replacement for 32GB or 64GB Android smartphones.

117 Comments

117 Comments

  1. Samcrap

    05/03/2013 at 12:57 pm

    Cheap plastic now this. Awesome!

    • me

      05/30/2013 at 4:52 pm

      F**K google

      • AltayKai

        06/13/2013 at 6:48 am

        F**k you and your whole family including your grandmother and grandfather and worthless thief ancestors. Happy?

        • jacky solstech

          05/13/2015 at 4:42 pm

          wan ahmad syot

    • Mike

      07/22/2013 at 10:59 am

      I’ve never understood this. Samsung has always used plastic, and never really heard many complaints for the S, S2, S3, Note, Note 2; now all of sudden plastic has become cheap. Where was the uproar for the Note 2 and S3. Seriously the so called cheap plastic is more durable than say the iPhone. I mean if it was such an issue, then why the so-called experts and idiots like Samcrap wait so long to b*tch and complain. I expect to see the S5 have a non-plastic body, could of been the S4 if you stupid f*cks really pushed the issue earlier instead of waiting till the phone was already released.

      I mean that’s like taking an English class, typing essays a certain way and getting As and Bs. Then all of sudden the final essay is due, I type it in a similiar fashion while following the outlined guidelines just as before and get an F. Huh?

      • Thomas Brown

        10/23/2013 at 8:20 am

        I don’t care if it’s crafted from dog poop, as long as it works well and suits my needs.

    • Sharon

      08/26/2013 at 5:40 pm

      I have the S4 galaxy made in Korea, and I cannot go online on the phone, can someone tell me why.

    • crApple

      09/03/2013 at 7:22 am

      Go and buy youself an overpriced crApple that uses children to manufactuer its products.

  2. Jack

    05/03/2013 at 1:16 pm

    16 GB Galaxy S4 with about 8-10 GB free space should be fine for 90% of users; but if you need more just buy the 32 GB for an extra $50 or the $64 GB and problem solved.

    Micro SD Cards are really cheap, like $15 for a 16 GB, $30 for a 32 GB and $50 for a 64 GB and you can store all your music, movies, photos and games and just leave the internal 8-10 GB for Apps and problem solved.

    If the 16 GB phones were useless then most phone carriers would be in trouble because only ATT will carry the 32 and 64 GB.

    Probably 90% or more of Galaxy S3 sold in the world were also 16 GB and nobody complained.

    • ukandroid

      05/03/2013 at 5:12 pm

      Did you actually bother readtng the story Jack? The card is not a solution – as the headline says! Laos the S3 did not have so much memory used by the bundled apps that you can’t remove. A high performance phone with hi-res graphics will be used for large games and apps that have to be stored in what is left of the 16Gb left for users – around 9GB.

      • Laszlo Demeter (@demlasjr)

        05/06/2013 at 7:50 am

        The other problem is that those shops selling S4 32 gb version are increasing the price with $150 just because the damn Samsung doesn´t know how to handle with the stores.

      • rainabba

        05/29/2013 at 3:23 am

        The problem isn’t reading the article, it’s that the author is ignorant (as you appear to be). The complaint is that the slot isn’t useful, which is just plain wrong any way you shake it, but especially wrong if you’re a user that actually needs more space and control over your phone, in which case you’d root it (who doesn’t anyway) then swap a couple lines and the SDCARD becomes the primary storage. This means a phone with 64GB+ of storage for WAY less than a 64GB [crippled] iDevice would cost.

        • Ari GoldBlack

          05/29/2013 at 11:05 am

          But don’t you then loose 90% of the selling points for buying an S4?

        • Jamar

          06/19/2013 at 7:55 pm

          Swapping a couple of lines sounds easy… if the kernel allows you to root. If you get the Japan-market edition of the S4 the local carrier there has added mandatory access control to the kernel that checks for and wipes out any root binaries during the boot process.

          • Kyle Daniels

            06/19/2013 at 8:19 pm

            If you do research, you will find that people have found a way around this.

        • waggs

          08/11/2013 at 5:02 pm

          EXACTLY ….it’s an android, “you can’t” doesnt exist. “I” users just dont get it…

      • brokenbentou

        08/18/2013 at 1:16 pm

        Things you should do: Root your f****ing phone, shove everything onto the SD and move on.

        • jjjj

          08/27/2013 at 5:02 am

          Not everyone can root

    • Rushmore

      05/04/2013 at 7:40 am

      But that has effectively been a year ago. Apps are correlating more to richer graphic content due to the faster chipsets. Examples are media centric social apps and 3d games averaging over 1gb in size or more, once installed. Also, the S3 had 2gb more space and launched when apps were not at that point trending as large.

      Thie reason the issue has exploded and Samsung caught off guard with a response mor lame than Apples with antenna gate is it IS and issue to more people now.

    • Lars

      05/04/2013 at 9:55 am

      NOT ALL COUNTRIES offer the 32 or 64 gb….ever.

    • Nunya Business

      06/01/2013 at 9:20 pm

      Just buy the models that aren’t available anywhere yet, and will probably never be available on Verizon?

    • naz

      06/12/2013 at 4:21 pm

      I agree. Why do people make things so complicated?!?!? And FYI 32 gb Galaxy S4’s are available. I almost bought one here in California.

      • EarnYourLeather

        06/13/2013 at 8:19 am

        Not if you’re on Verizon

        • bk

          07/02/2013 at 11:44 am

          They are now, on Verizon. Estimated Ship Date July 5, 2013.

          • EarnYourLeather

            07/02/2013 at 12:11 pm

            Welp, there goes tomorrow’s paycheck.

    • Kyle Daniels

      06/15/2013 at 10:35 am

      Until Android 4.2.3 gets pushed out we can’t move games to sdcard. I have over 30 games and apps installed and I still have 5GB left. All my music and pics are on sdcard.

    • Charlie

      07/25/2013 at 6:04 pm

      That would be great if the Galaxy S4 microSD external memory would let you download to the microSD. Read the article before making assumptions

    • EnZo

      08/16/2013 at 6:53 am

      lol check your facts

    • Alex

      08/24/2013 at 9:20 pm

      No offense but you’re a moron the sd card use is so limited that when you move an app to the sd th internal memory is still being used up so regardless of moving an app to the sd card it still takes a huge chunk of the internal memory.

    • tweeeeeeeeeezy

      10/16/2013 at 9:32 am

      Well Jack. When I had my first smart phone, my touch 3g, my 4 gb sd card was “more than I ever needed.” But higher specs on everything = more data. Soon 128 gb wont be enough. I do love my sd slot, but the article is correct. Without rooting and hacking, there’s only so much you can put on it.

  3. sriabhiriabhi

    05/03/2013 at 2:06 pm

    You have sgdz game in your tray. Add me. User: sriabhi

  4. Randy

    05/03/2013 at 7:06 pm

    I already have 16gb smart phone called the nexus S that i bought 3 years ago and i consently have to delete my apps & reinstalled them when i need them. Believe me it is a pain! I will wait for the 32 or 64 model of galaxy s4.

    • EddieT

      05/18/2013 at 2:17 pm

      You do know that the system OS does not automatically delete some data directories, even if Factory Reset device. Try scanning your internal hard drive with “SD Card Storage Optimizer” by Kalyani (Note: this is for intermediate to advanced Users). If you remember what apps you removed, and you find a data directory still on the hard drive with this app, use it to delete that and regain needed space.

  5. Jeff Jones

    05/03/2013 at 9:09 pm

    Mr.Smith, I enjoyed the article. What do you think of using the Android SDK’s adb utility to change the default app install location to the sd card? That is, after one puts aside the fact that a consumer shouldn’t have to go to such extremes (or wouldn’t even know how to) to have enough memory. Would that help much if at all?

  6. Rizo

    05/03/2013 at 10:12 pm

    Root and de-bloat… I also bet that in the next month, someone on XDA will have a memory swap hack that will eliminate the gripes.

    • ukandroid

      05/04/2013 at 4:24 am

      Whilst some power users will be prepared to root their phone, the average user won’t and will soon get frustrated with the storage on the 16Gb model after a few months of downloading apps, games, music and video.

      • Rizo

        05/04/2013 at 5:20 am

        I agree. But that frustration may also lead to this alternative with a little bit of research. Rooting is so easy, and unrooting is even easier. It’s another option, that’s all.

      • Evan

        09/09/2013 at 8:26 am

        see, the problem with rooting, is that then you cant watch video’s on your phone, unless thats been changed?

    • Rushmore

      05/04/2013 at 7:43 am

      Problematic with Jellybean (by Google design)and will help but a tiny fraction of the consumers stuck with the storage.

    • EddieT

      05/18/2013 at 2:26 pm

      Already been done. Try “Roehsoft RAM Expander (SWAP)” from Google Play Store. Up to 4GB virtual RAM

  7. Rushmore

    05/04/2013 at 7:35 am

    Security was one reason and the other was customer complaints to carriers and carriers complaints to the OEMS and then right to Google. Customers were swapping cards and not making the connection that is why their apps stopped working or vanished. Also, people were buying cheap cards and having issues- again not making the connection.

    Google decided to kill the option. In spite of this both carriers and Samsung themselves are misleading customers that adding and sd card fixes all issues.

  8. Ken

    05/04/2013 at 8:06 am

    Why bother announcing that there are 32gb or 64gb models when we can’t buy them? Why make a powerful phone and then limit it? Also, I can’t figure out how to install large HD videos on my SD card in excess of 2gb. The file format of the memory prevents me from doing so. I tried reformatting it but then android returns it to the default format. Any suggestions?

    • dillon

      11/04/2013 at 10:41 pm

      You have do download a codecs to compress the movies and also play them

  9. Tony

    05/04/2013 at 8:52 am

    Excellent article bringing to light good information the average consumer should be made aware of prior to purchase.

  10. Neil

    05/04/2013 at 1:57 pm

    wow doesn’t help us that bought it already, why didn’t the reviewers mention any of this after weeks of playing with this device?

  11. Tony

    05/04/2013 at 2:54 pm

    Thanks for exposing Samsung’s half truth here. I have the galaxy note 2 and I ran out of system space the moment I downloaded my apps. NFS takes more than two gigs. I have about five gigs of Offline music from spotify. By the way I have 24 gigs of useless free space in my sd card!!

  12. AA

    05/04/2013 at 8:48 pm

    The problem is that people like Josh are too reliant on using Google services. As mentioned in the article, you can sideload your own videos and music onto the microSD, it’s only a problem if you are using google’s services. See what happens when you go for DRMed crap?

    • Tony

      05/04/2013 at 9:24 pm

      Is not just google services. I use spotify and my Offline music cannot be saved onto the sd card. A top game like NFS will take up two gb space and cannot be moved to sd. What use is an eight core processor when you don’t have space to store the apps??!!

  13. Neil

    05/05/2013 at 3:24 am

    Once u root it believe u can partion the msd and drop the new rom right into the msd itself, not sure if thiz helps everyone though.

    • Funny

      05/30/2013 at 12:21 pm

      OMG, don’t you just drop that fking “root” sht? Average people (80-90%) don’t do that. They want to buy a phone which works the way they expect, not hacking it to make it work. Get it? So, it is what it is…That’s what Sammy plastic toys are. Go get yourself a HTC One and you’re happy.

      • Charlie

        07/25/2013 at 6:15 pm

        I just returned my htc one for g4. One has no sd slot. Who wants a dongle hanging from the micro usb slot. And two htc ones battery is NOT removable. It dies, phone dies. Id rather not take the risk. I would of kept it if it had these features and the battery didnt drain sooooo quick

    • EddieT

      05/18/2013 at 2:42 pm

      No. THAT doesn’t solve anything

  14. Azm

    05/05/2013 at 4:15 pm

    I have the solution in one word: ROOT

  15. Int'l Executive

    05/06/2013 at 10:46 am

    Not useless, just not a solution to the bigger problem.

  16. SDcomputerGuru

    05/06/2013 at 11:37 am

    Crap! Now I have to cancel my pre-order. I hope the HTC One doesn’t let me down.

    Thanks dude.

    • Matthew MacWilliams

      05/06/2013 at 9:07 pm

      The HTC ONE is a great phone with a few drawbacks. The two main ones are no external storage options (micro sd cards). Also, the battery is built in and if the battery goes bad, the phone will need to be replaced, or, if you like carrying a spare battery around with you, this isn’t an option.

      • Funny

        05/30/2013 at 12:26 pm

        Those two problems are overstated. Who needs external storage if you have 64GB. Who cares about removable battery if it rarely fails? Look at iPhone users, No one complain about external storage and non-removable battery.I personally like HTC One strategy: get rid of external storage and removable battery to save space.

        • John

          06/02/2013 at 9:50 am

          Every battery begins to fail the first time it is used. Replacing the battery every year gets back about 15% of loss.

        • Tikal

          05/17/2014 at 5:43 am

          Only fanboys and whose change there cell every years doesn’t complain this majors failure.
          In my case, I’m coming from apple for this reasons. And trust me, it’s not for the OS and app.

  17. Matthew MacWilliams

    05/06/2013 at 9:00 pm

    I can’t wait until the bigger SDXC cards come out. It supports up to 2 terabytes and will support speeds up to 300mbps. eventually these issues will be fixed. We have to wait for the companies to release the smaller ones so they can make money off of each increment of storage size :-(.

    • tristan

      05/29/2013 at 11:11 pm

      You also have to wait til the phones can support up to those sizes as well. The S4 only supports up to 64GB MSD cards. This is only a guess but its gonna be almost another decade til a terabyte MSD card is released and phones that support them.

  18. Dante

    05/07/2013 at 1:08 pm

    I do agree that they should be required to advertise only storage space available to the user. I do, however, absolutely love the phone. It is miles ahead of any other smartphone out today (I’ve used iPhone since the 3GS). The plastic design is lighter, feels better and has better grip. Most everyone throws a case on their phone anyway.

    Also, rooting the phone with Motochopper took literally 30 seconds. Then, you can move apps to your card.

    • T M (@tpm985)

      06/06/2013 at 3:54 am

      I keeep hearing all this talk about rooting, can someone please explain that in a way that an intermediate user can explain?

  19. Strife

    05/09/2013 at 4:26 pm

    I like how the author failed to mention rooting. Its so simple that even the average joe can do it now in less than 10 minutes. Honestly googles stance has nothing to do with performance or people thinking android is just slow since the solution is easy and has been done for years and most obviously on the xbox 360 when you use a usb drive.

    You plug in an sd card, if your phone needs to format it then it also does a speed test. If it fails you cant use it to store apps(to prevent horrible failure and bad pubicity). If it barely passes you get a warning that while you can use it to store apps there will be a performance hit and you must agree to that to proceed. If it passes with flying colors then you are golden and you go about your business. This would take 30 minutes of coding for a google programmer to implement into the OS and would solve everything and get people informed that all sd cards are not created equal.

    For me though rooting is the solution plain and simple. Let google know you wont abide their attempts to become an apple like overlord and make ROOT the battle cry of the resistance just jailbreak did for crapple devices.

    • Jamar

      06/20/2013 at 11:39 am

      This depends on the country in which you bought your phone. Japan-market models are already implementing access control, rendering the 10-minute methods useless; it can be worked around but that requires flashing a custom ROM with Odin. Good luck getting the average joe to try THAT.

  20. karincarrollKarin

    05/10/2013 at 8:51 am

    AT&T has the #32Gb version in stock… (Black only) After the OS is factored in the phone has 24Gb available…. better than the 9ish that the 16Gb actually has available….

  21. Dante

    05/10/2013 at 8:59 pm

    I have to follow up my comment just to prevent someone from getting false info and wasting their time. I’ve come to find that the Galaxy S4 will not allow you to move apps to the SD card, regardless if it’s rooted or not. I don’t know if it’s Google or Samsung that prevents it, but simply rooting the phone will not allow you to achieve this. I still love the phone, though. I’m just moving all media to the card and installing apps to the device. Peace out.

    • Bill

      05/27/2013 at 11:25 am

      Has anyone tried the Link2SD app on Google store for this problem? It works fine on my older LG Optimus V (with only 160-180Mb internal storage). I also have a plug-in MicroSD of 32Gb, with 1Gb devoted to the external partition needed by this app.

      • Bill

        05/27/2013 at 11:27 am

        BTW, Link2SD requires root; which IMO was not too difficult to set-up.

  22. aaronFTW

    05/13/2013 at 10:01 pm

    If a cure for cancer was found, someone, somewhere would bitch about it. As others have stated, the Galaxy S4 w/ SD is a great phone for the majority of users. Smartphones primary purpose is still communication. If you view/listen to that much damn media, then get a tablet or other device whose primary purpose is for video/photos/music. Sheesh.

    • tdeamicis

      05/31/2013 at 12:01 pm

      There are many cures for cancer….

  23. guest

    05/15/2013 at 1:15 pm

    Makes me happy i got a POS overpriced $200 LG that does the same and no use for micro SD other than media storage and tomtom gps map. They got samsung now or sams is in on it with goog. Fk that!

  24. Phil

    05/15/2013 at 6:52 pm

    I TOTALLY AGREE … I felt like I’ve been had … from SAMSUNG … I never expected them to follow the steps of Apple in rushing something that feels like a “GIANT STEP BACKWARDS” … Sorry to say!

  25. abubasim

    05/16/2013 at 11:46 pm

    No movies or music on the microSD card? I guess that’s true if you stick to Google Play. But one of the advantages Android have over iOS is the freedom so why yourself to Google Play for your entertainment???

    If you get your entertainment elsewhere then you have no restrictions on where to store it!

    Since I switched from iOS to SGS4, I have a ton of movies purchased from iTunes. I have stripped them all of DRM (using Requiem) and dump them – without shrinking those bigger than 4GB since my SGS4 supports exFAT – on my 64GB SDXC card and watch while in bed or away from home.

  26. fletch75

    05/17/2013 at 1:09 pm

    Just root the phone for free takes 5 minutes then download app2sd for free and your done apps right to the sd card of your size choice

    • Alvie

      06/01/2013 at 2:03 am

      Thank you… I was reading through all the asinine complaints to make sure someone commented on root / app2sd. Having previously owned such “flawless” devices as the Thunderbolt and Bionic, I know I chose the right device if this is the only hateration I have to hear about the sg4 being a POS. If you can’t comprehend the concept of an OPEN SOURCE NETWORK and use technology to customize the sg4 to your needs then maybe I can interest you in my OG HOT PINK RAZR.

  27. Tyler

    05/21/2013 at 11:29 am

    Solution: Root your phone and install FolderMount
    Problem solved.

  28. That Guy

    05/22/2013 at 6:31 am

    The author fails to mention that his phone is neither a video game system nor is it a home entertainment system. Buy a laptop, design your own terabyte capable smart phone and operating system or simply STFU. I recommend the latter.

    • Ppl never gets satisfied.

      05/25/2013 at 4:22 am

      Best comment.

      • Alvie

        06/01/2013 at 2:05 am

        Ditto!!!

  29. AB

    05/23/2013 at 10:00 am

    I switched to Tmobile for the same reason, as they have unlimited plan without any contract and overage fees. I got S4 on April 29 itself, plugged 64GB microSD card, have all the apps up-to-date, games for me and my son, other free apps needed for my life style, even I am using S-health, etc and still no problem to me. I am still at the same around 9 GB free internal storage. So I recommend to get 64GB card, switch to good plan/carrier with unlimited data, and good to GO!

  30. David Tooker

    05/26/2013 at 9:02 pm

    There are several App Manager programs that will move most of your apps to the SD card, freeing up much of the original 16GB. If you have a 64GB micro SD card, you can easily move a hundred or more apps to the micro SD card. I have over 250 apps, over 1000 pictures and about 2000 songs and still have room to spare…

  31. joey

    05/31/2013 at 1:49 pm

    this is stupid i have a 64gb card in my note 2 and store everything on it. its not officially supported but works flawlessly through various means. google it, dont just type up stupid articles

  32. Veb

    05/31/2013 at 3:15 pm

    I wanted to read all of the replies, but I started having seizures after reading a couple.

    It is actually not Google that’s limiting moving Apps2SD. Its Samsung. The way the internal storage is mounted makes Android think it’s an SD card. So, why move apps from SD card to SD card?

    Internal memory is mounted as sdcard0, whereas the external SD card is mounted as extSdCard. A very stupid move on Samsung’s part. But I’m guessing they did this for MTP support. Now, when you connect your USB cable, instead of un-mounting all of your storage from Android for use by the client OS, it’s all shared through some retro-new protocol that music and media devices use so that you can access it from both Android and your computer (albeit not at the same time, hence it being stupid)

    Ranting aside, this initial external SDcard limitation can be sidestepped with a simple root (ZOMG MY WARRANTY!) and installing Link2SD (something I have obviously done).

    So, my “useless” 32gb SD card got a second partition of 5 gigs that I use to realistically move every user app to the external SD card’s second partition, leaving only (you guessed it) symbolic links on my internal memory. (kind of like “shortcuts” for all the windows users).
    So, with 168 downloaded apps, I still have 5.82gb of free internal storage.

    If this was too hard for you to understand…..you probably want to do some reading up on it
    or
    You don’t need 168 individual apps (like I have)
    or
    after taking burst mode pics, manually move them to the external card (not that hard to do with a file manager)
    or
    get a Nokia 3310 and not even worry about apps for that matter. Or movies downloaded from Play store. Or pictures. Or even dropping your phone. Seriously, that phone is beast!

    I miss my Nokia 3310.

    • Veb

      05/31/2013 at 3:24 pm

      In retrospect, I should have read the comments from the bottom up. These guys know what I’m talking about.

      And some were smarter than me in stating that: Your phone is…well… a phone.

      If you want a TV, buy a TV.
      Want a movie server? Make a movie server.
      Want to use a tablet? They actually make those (and are cheaper than phones. How did that happen?!)

      Point being, this article made me rage. People who don’t understand technology should stick to writing articles about cat videos.

      Sent from a “T-Mobile” Galaxy Note 2 user.

      (I say “T-Mobile” because the only thing of theirs left on my phone is the logo on the back and their carrier signal)

      • guy

        06/01/2013 at 8:54 am

        Thanks, couldn’t have said it any better. Sucks though that I had to read every comment to see this.

      • Jamar

        06/20/2013 at 11:46 am

        “Your phone is…well… a phone.”

        And for over $600 unsubsidized it better do more than just be a phone, and it better do it well.

  33. Ian

    06/04/2013 at 6:34 am

    This is problem! But its a Jelly Bean (OS) problem not a Galaxy 4 problem. You can find a basket brimming full of ostensible reasons why Android/Google elected to effectively cripple its SD cards but they largely appear to be vapid and trite.

    If lies pay better than truth expect lies.

    I suspect Google like Apple wants its customers to use the cloud. After all who doesn’t love clouds, reminds one of heaven and unicorns. But unfortunately the cloud is not nirvana, its closer to an air conditioned hell then heaven. The cloud is where you pay to send your data and upon its arrival becomes their data and then with a big smile you buy it back. (Data rates may also apply !)

    Ian

    Ps You’ll also notice it just so happens that the plug and play, works on any machine without additional software, mass storage mode is also GONE. Its been replaced with the buggy, DRM infested, OS specific MTP transfer…. And the crowd gets up on their hind legs and roars their approval !

  34. Antony Oldham

    06/06/2013 at 8:11 am

    Latest news today on GSMarena is that samsung is releasing an update and you will be able to farm out your apps to the micro sd card. Case Closed!

    • Jose de Vicente

      07/24/2013 at 10:34 pm

      Not true. I just updated a few minutes ago. The update lets you move the app over to the external sd card but it does not let you move over the app data. Make sense? For example, I have NFS Most Wanted installed on my phone. The update will let me move over the 60mb app over to the external memory but not the 1.2gb game data. So the update is pretty much useless for people who want to play games on their phones. And don’t try to use the whole if you want to play games then buy a console crap bc if that was how “smartphones” worked then we would all just be carrying flip phones that only make phone calls and send texts.

  35. Warren Jones

    06/06/2013 at 1:05 pm

    Why not?

  36. John Smith

    06/12/2013 at 6:45 pm

    I’ve had this phone for a week and a half now and I’ve downloaded all of my old apps and media and still have 6.53gb left on my device and 12.5gb on my 16g sd card.

  37. Smithlol

    06/14/2013 at 7:50 am

    Samsung is releasing an update that allows user to install app on the sd card

  38. adam dep

    06/15/2013 at 2:56 am

    Black people are ruining the world

  39. Devin

    06/20/2013 at 1:01 pm

    any time I see josh smith i don’t trust the site that i’m reading the article on. and adam…. I’m a white male that disagrees with what your saying. Greed is ruining the world, Hunger is ruining the world, War is ruining the world. but all of that usually stems back to greed. whats your excuse? It’s people like you that ruin the world

  40. crunchyFoot

    06/21/2013 at 8:07 am

    Some false info from a raging douche. You can absolutely play music from the sd card. That’s the only place I gad it stored and it worked fine. Mot entirely sure about games since I haven’t tried it yet.

  41. Mikrik

    06/30/2013 at 2:11 pm

    This whole (long) article seems to have stemmed from the promise thats it’s alright to buy something that dosen’t fit your needs and then complain about it afterwards. You wouldn’t buy a suitcase and expect to get everything in your house into it. Your phone is an overnight bag , pack carefully. Thank you Veb for your post, well said.

  42. jmichaelohara

    07/08/2013 at 3:03 pm

    I’ve had three “S3’s” and now three “S4s,” including the 32Gb I now have. What pissed me off in the beginning of this ride to Korea, was they don’t know how to count. Samnsung can’t count Mhz for display performance, so they give it a new buz acronym (just cut in half whatever they promote for the truth); now they can’t count Gb. It doesn’t matter how many aps are embedded in the memory to STEAL the truth of what these damn creative marketing jokes are sold as. 16 gb gets you 10 (maybe); and the 32 gb I have, got me 24 gb “NET.” The word “NET” is not in the Korean Language, and to sum up everyone’s complaints here, albeit a little late into the thread, the real problem with ALL these phones is they are BETA versions prematurely put into the open market for US to be the lab rats who trouble shoot (at our frustration, time and expense) for the OEM. As far as HTC goes, I would never own ANY phone you can’t take the battery out, because as we all now know, you never know when BIG BROTHER and all ITS Desciples (Google, Yahoo, AOL, MS, and all the other data miners we jokingly refer to as email providers is — using our phone to listen in, track where we are, where we’ve been and what we see. Besides, I like keeping a spare batter when a charger isn’t around. HTC and Motorol, and Apple are missing a lot of the market who’s smart about the ability to remove batteries for both security and service freedom. That is all. :-)

  43. Lehrit

    07/16/2013 at 8:02 am

    Why would you put ALL the games you have on your phone? Are you stupid? You have to learn to not be a little kid and remove the games you don’t like, and not just keep it ‘cuz you bought it. I have tons of apps and only have the ones I like, and I still manage to have 6gigs of room.

    It’s funny how you can’t find anything bad about the phone so you wrote about a personal problem. What a horrible writer.

  44. Timmy...

    07/17/2013 at 11:47 am

    Hello,

    All you have to do is root your phone and also get a 64GB microSD card and you’ll be fine. You can easily store games and other things on there.

    There are various guides on the Internet to assist you with rooting your Android phone, it’s a very easy process and there’s so much brilliant customisation available.

    I hope this comment helps.

    Have a good day.

  45. viane

    08/01/2013 at 5:25 pm

    since it has a micro sd slot i think dis z fair so whoever z nt contented can get a 64gb 4 more data storage

  46. IMA

    08/05/2013 at 10:42 am

    This is a totally ignorant article… First, this article was written in 2013, well after 64GB SD cards were already available, so why are you whining about only having 16GB? Second, Android has had the ability for a long time to move data off internal storage and onto the SD card to save space, which means you didn’t do the slightest bit of research before writing this. Finally, the Galaxy’s PRIMARY function is being a “cell phone”… If you want a gaming platform that you can load with a hundred GB of games, go buy a tablet that made that purpose. — Josh, you’re obviously you’re an iPhone owner with size envy over the Galaxy S4 and you’re grasping at straws to try and make the lackluster iPhone 4 or 5 offering sound like it can still compete with the Galaxy S4.

    • Flamencoguy

      08/10/2013 at 10:47 pm

      Amen.

  47. Flamencoguy

    08/10/2013 at 10:49 pm

    You never heard of Titanium Backup? Use it to move most apps to SD card. Apps run in RAM so should still be fast.

    • Mitch

      08/13/2013 at 10:31 pm

      except you still need root access for that…unfortunately :”(

      though there are apps out there that are finding ways around the mandatory root access….or even making apps think the data is on internal when its really on external (sdcard).

      heck, i know this because i still am stuck using the ancient r800x (verizon xplay) that has only 300 MEGABYTES of internal space, that im using a combination of 2 apps to save the large games i have (gameloft) to my 64 gb sdcard….and i still have 200 MB of internal space left. maybe if people werent in stalling so many apps and actually use the phone for what it is then they would have issues? heh

  48. Ron Shortt

    08/16/2013 at 2:36 pm

    Hey, just connect your phone to the computer, make a folder at the root, Music or Pictures, copy your files to the folder and the phone will find it. NOT A PROBLEM!

  49. Cody Tubbs

    09/01/2013 at 1:21 pm

    Googl play lets you save all.your music online for free up to 20000 songs so whats the real issue here ? Or is this an htc lover writing a bias article.

  50. Cody Tubbs

    09/01/2013 at 1:23 pm

    Google play lets you store 20,000 songs for free on your music manager the cloud works quite well they even have an app to direct you to your music account. It even tranfers all of your iTunes.

  51. Dolores Jennings

    09/20/2013 at 6:21 am

    I have an S4 and rooted it the day I got it. flashed Omega ROM. all apps work from SD card. Also for you iphone wankers. It doesn’t hurt to learn alittle about tech, Rooting is a piece of cake if you can read. you can even UNroot it if you need to go back to the store. Sheeessh. Grow a brain.

    Also. I would NEVER buy an iphone because I like control of my phone , i.e removable battery and sdcard., TSA and the cops love you guys though. hahah

    One more thing. do NOT buy a cheap 32GB micro card. Make sure its Class 10. BIG difference in speed.

  52. Earl Chresean Flores

    10/23/2013 at 11:54 pm

    its not completely useless.. if you have a rooted phone all you need to do is download directory bind.. im using it on my note 2 now.. i’ve transferred all of my game’s SD files to my 64gb microsd.. no problem so far as long as you are using a class 10 micro sd..

  53. dillon

    11/04/2013 at 10:33 pm

    Actually the writer is wrong the samsung galaxy s4 is available in a 32GB version
    its probably not available for AT&T shit network but for verizon you have to special order it. I use to work for them so should know it goes for $300 and go buy your samsung class 10 64 GB micro SD card off amazon.com for $50. There problem solved

  54. Tim

    11/19/2013 at 4:13 am

    I have noticed with My S4 (Sprint) i have the option to move some apps to my SD Card, and some i cannot So i just moved what i could and free up some space. I dont download alot of apps from the market because most are CRAP and dont work anyways.
    As for the build quality of the S4, Like someone said previously, all galaxy models have been plastic. from a business stand point plastic is a cheaper material and the goal of every business is to manufacture cheap to increase your bottom line.
    I think Samsung should get rid of Touch Wiz and Go Pure Google. Touch Wiz is problematic, and every update we recieve is suppose to improve its performance but actually makes things worse or cause other problems.
    I dont see a point in having stupid features like schrolling the screen by tilting your head…..really….who uses that. SAMSUNG, GET RID OF TOUCH WIZ COMPLETELY. (Yes i am aware of the google version of the s4, but remember, it came out well after everyone ran out and got touchwiz s4’s)

  55. Richie

    01/07/2014 at 6:33 am

    no its a ‘smartphone’. It’s advertised as doing all these cool things. it IS very much sold as an entertainment system and that’s why it’s £1000 over 2 years. We have every right to expect it to play movies and store music.

  56. Henry Siegertsz

    11/10/2014 at 5:19 pm

    As usual big corporations have their own Ideas on how to con potential customers, with external storage being just one such enticement.
    The way to get back at the man is not to bleat impotently on obscure forums like this, no offence to the administrators. However, the likes of Google, Samsung et al will stand to attention on Facebook, Twitter etc.,
    Don’t get mad, get even. Blog the holy cap out of all the frustrating and irritating limitations these insensitive leviathans impose on purchasers.
    Google took and sold Linux a free OS, labelled it like a confection and imposed unfair and unreasonable restrictions on third party OEMS using the platform.
    I would never have bought the Note 8, can’t use the 64GB top end SD card there’s pitiful internal storage, Google Bloat ware I won’t ever use and 26 updates a week filling my depleted device storage to the point I have to remove the apps I actually want to use.
    Windows, better get good because the circus outfit at Google are setting a great stage for failure.
    Rant Over.

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