No difference between Class 4 an 10 card?

**jamesino** · 10-30-2012, 02:47 PM

When I first got the phone, I bought a SanDisk MicroSD Class 4 16Gb card. My phone is unrooted and unmodded.

Recently, I took advantage of the discounts on Amazon and bought a SanDisk MicroSD Class 10 UHS-1 32GB card. After loading music, images, and movies on the card, I notice literally no difference (aside from the capacity of course) between this card and my old Class 4 card.

The read speed when I load songs/movies/images are exactly identical. Taking vids and photos feel the same too when I write them to the memory card. The only differnce i've noticed is a slight increase in write speed when I transfer files over to the card through USB on my comptuer.

Is this normal?

**xKrNMBoYx** · 10-30-2012, 03:02 PM

I think it's perfectly normal. The Read/Write capabilities are always exaggerated by people (even me). The thing is a card reader on a phone can't live up to one on a PC. So the biggest performance improvements you would see is when transferring files from/to the card and computer.

There can be many circumstances for your experience. The class label means the minimum speed is x mb/s. So a class 4 or 6 can have the speed of a class 10. It's just that it only guarantees 4 & 6 mb/s minimum. From what I remember unless you bought the $100-200 microSD from SanDisk the other ones only have a right speed of 10 mb/s. In order to get more your device needs to be UHS-1 compatible. That standard is fairly new and I believe there is no phone or tablet that can utilize the full speed of a UHS-1 card.

**Goodeye** · 10-30-2012, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by xKrNMBoYx

I think it's perfectly normal. The Read/Write capabilities are always exaggerated by people (even me). The thing is a card reader on a phone can't live up to one on a PC. So the biggest performance improvements you would see is when transferring files from/to the card and computer.

There can be many circumstances for your experience. The class label means the minimum speed is x mb/s. So a class 4 or 6 can have the speed of a class 10. It's just that it only guarantees 4 & 6 mb/s minimum. From what I remember unless you bought the $100-200 microSD from SanDisk the other ones only have a right speed of 10 mb/s. In order to get more your device needs to be UHS-1 compatible. That standard is fairly new and I believe there is no phone or tablet that can utilize the full speed of a UHS-1 card.

That is what I was told and believed however someone on the Galaxy Note forums posted this YouTube video showing that at least the note could utilize class 10 speeds (missing it by .1Mb)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**jamesino** · 10-30-2012, 07:11 PM

Thanks for the link. I downloaded the app, SD Tools, and the result I got for my card was:

Write: 10 Mb/s
Read: 37.5 Mb/s

So I guess it does meet the Class 10 standards.

**funkylogik** · 10-31-2012, 09:39 AM

must say i notice no difference between my class 4 and sandisk ultra... and the s3 has habit of killing class 10s.
wish id just got a lower class 64gb instead

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

**hunterx82** · 10-31-2012, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by funkylogik

must say i notice no difference between my class 4 and sandisk ultra... and the s3 has habit of killing class 10s.
wish id just got a lower class 64gb instead

The expansion slot wasn't really a deciding factor in buying the SG3 but I didn't know it could have a 64gb SD card?? I just assumed it was 32 for some reason. That's serious stuff. Maybe with so much space I will take advantage of it

**smooth4lyfe** · 10-31-2012, 12:27 PM

Either way if there is no difference, Im sure the class 10 is better in some way, so I would get that one anyways

**EnlightenedSoul** · 10-31-2012, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by smooth4lyfe

Either way if there is no difference, Im sure the class 10 is better in some way, so I would get that one anyways

Thats good to know, now I can save a few bucks getting whatever is on sale. Thanks

**Tarant** · 10-31-2012, 01:05 PM

Just because the card is a class 10 doesnt mean that a device can take advantage of the speed.

I went with a class 10 64gb since it was Sandisk, was $55 with free shipping and i use the card in both a digital camera and a gopro. When iam taking and downloading videos having a class10 can make a difference. On my phone not so much.

Also keep in mind folks sd cards are often counterfeited, so buy from a reputable source.

**funkylogik** · 10-31-2012, 09:50 PM

mine is defo from a rep' source and theres an app (cant remember name) to test for fakes.
think i only bought class10 because i thought torrents would download faster to it but i was wrong.
if my s3 eats it, il ask sandisk for a class4 64gb card as replacement

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

**jamesino** · 11-01-2012, 01:30 AM

What do you mean S3's have a reputation for killing and eating class 10 cards?

**funkylogik** · 11-01-2012, 03:55 AM

theres several threads here mate and all over google. its a widely known bug and samsungs answer is "well you didnt use a samsung sd"
im sorry but its a universal sd slot!
aparently the sd suppliers replace fried ones without a problem though, just keep it backed up bro :thumbup:

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

**moosc** · 11-01-2012, 06:46 AM

Its been stated for a few years that with out some hackery Android doesn't do class 10. Class 6 is the sweet spot.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

**lesorkim** · 11-01-2012, 07:11 AM

I think what would be really useful to this discussion is to know what the minimum speed neccessary is to do the "Burst" shots, and to record in HD video, and play back any media. WHAT IF... the top speed required for any function on this phone is only 2 MB/sec, meaning that not only is the elevated performance of a Class 10 card not neccessary, but that even the top performance of a Class 4 card is not needed.

AND... just because you have a utility that says it can write a video at a certian speed, what you really need is the ability to choke the available speed down and see what the slowest you can successfully record a video at. What if 1.5 MB/sec is ample speed to record in the highest resolution possible?

Just my 2 cents