can a Samsung Evo micro SD card be used in any device?

[Android Central Question]

Wondering before I buy this Card.... is it particular to Samsung or does it have to be used in an EVO device or is it okay to use in any device it fits?

 

[Centerman66]

Any device

 

[RumoredNow]

Get the EVO. They are very good cards and work in any device rated for that class card or higher.

ProTip: Buy sold by and fulfilled by Amazon to make sure it is genuine. The counterfeit ones no es bueno.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Get the EVO. They are very good cards and work any any device rated for that class card or higher.

ProTip: Buy sold by and fulfilled by Amazon to make sure it is genuine. The counterfeit ones no es bueno.

I agree. I've used an EVO card in a Moto device, and it worked fine.

The one I purchased was sold and fulfilled by Amazon.

 

[Rukbat]

Except that RN has it backwards - a card will work with any device that is rated at the class of the card or lower. In other words, if your phone is rated for U1 cards, a U3 card will work. If the device is rated at U3 (4k video), a U1 card won't give you very good 4k video. The card has to be at least as high as the device wants - it can be faster (rated higher). (A class 10 card is U1. I've never seen a U3 card with "Class 30" on it, but that's what they are - the U number is just the class number divided by 10.)

 

[RumoredNow]

Well, we are both saying the same result.

If the card is rated as a class 10... Needs a 10 or higher slot sort of thing. A class 10 slot will use a class 4 card to the card's best ability. A class 4 slot will bottleneck a class 10 card by not using all the speed the card can handle.

I was also thinking of capacity as well. A slot rated as up to 32GB won't run a 64GB card (but that's filing system stuff). Speed typically goes up with size for the EVO cards (and other quality ones).

True enough you can get high capacity cards in slower speeds, say a class 4, but that's buyer beware stuff.

With the EVO make sure it fits the stated capacity your device can handle or lower. So far as I know, the EVO series is only U-1 and U-3.

Running a card that is faster than the slot can handle should have no ill effects so long as the slot can handle the capacity of the card. Running a card that is slower should only really cause problems if you fall below class 10. Or if your slot can't keep up.

 

[Rukbat]

No, a class 10 slot needs at least a class 10 card to function properly. It won't work with a class 4 card, because the video is probably HD, which is faster than can be written to a class 4 card.

Most phones in use today can handle SDXC cards, and the upper limit on that is 2TB, so we don't have to worry about size for a while, except for much older (or cheap) phones. (Even if the phone claims to support up to 64GB or 128GB, it handles the format that goes up to 2TB, so a phone rated up to 64GB will handle a 256GB card or even one of the new 400GB cards.)

Oh - and running a class 10 (or U1) card in a phone with 4k video won't work. (The slot speed is irrelevant - if the video is coming in faster than the card can handle it, it just won't record the video properly. That's about the only case in which it matters so far. Transferring a file to a class 4 card in a phone rated as class 10 will just take longer.)

 

[RumoredNow]

No, a class 10 slot needs at least a class 10 card to function properly. It won't work with a class 4 card, because the video is probably HD, which is faster than can be written to a class 4 card.

I have a few class 4 cards. I can and have put them in a fast slot and they work. I have some relics in class 2 even. In class 4 my back stock ranges all the way up to 32GB A modern phone with an SDXC slot recognizes them and they read/write files. It's fine for documents and .mp3 if the bit rate isn't outrageously high. You can even shoot some higher res photos if you don't mind some camera lag while waiting for the card to catch up before you take the next shot.

Heck, I have one particular 8GB card in class 4 that outperforms some class 10 cards when I've done read/write tests on them.

The class is a minimum guarantee of speed. Some cards will outperform, but that's on a case by case basis.

It's not the slot that is lacking when it is class 10+ and the card is class 4. The card works, but it bottlenecks at high data rate tasks and performs slowly.

If I put a class 4 SD card in a fast slot there is no failure to see the card or use it - task depending. Yep, it won't do 4k video because it isn't fast enough. But it in no way causes the slot to become functionless as you seem to be implying.

"Properly" becomes relevant to what the user tasks the card to do. You seem to be limiting use to recording/playing back high bitrate video and the Op in no way indicated that is what they want to do.

Most phones in use today can handle SDXC cards, and the upper limit on that is 2TB, so we don't have to worry about size

The OP neglected to state what device he has, so we don't know if his slot is SDXC or SDHC or even (yes some of these are still on the street working hard) plain-jane SD. We have no gauge of what capacity their SD slot can handle.


Would I recommend a card of less than class 10? No. And with the EVO, as I said, I don't think we have to worry.

Does an SDXC slot rule out using a card less than class 10? We have to agree to disagree. My real world observations show otherwise since I rarely shoot video, stream high bitrate off a card and don't think I've ever recorded 4k except as a camera test. Less than class 10 is not optimal, but it still works.