[Shelly Cameron]

I sincerely would like to know what exactly is the purpose of expandable storage when you can't even format SD as internal? I mean really?
I recently upgraded my safelink phone from an Alcatel to a J3 Luna Pro and I'm incredibly disappointed. The service I get is free so I don't want to complain too much, but I did pay out of pocket for the "upgraded" phone and I even took the time to research the features.
There were a few must-haves so I wanted to take my time and read everything about this device but thanks to all the misinformation, the research was pointless.
My biggest issue is the storage.
I wanted a phone that I could expand by 32 GB at the very least. Every article I read said that this phone comes with expandable storage.
What it doesn't say is that you cannot format the SD card as internal, which basically defeats the purpose due to the fact that most of the apps you download cannot be moved to external storage.
I'm an app freak, I love trying out the beta releases and everything but I can no longer do that because I have no room. I'd have to remove some to make room for others which is total nonsense!
I have a 32GB class 10 chip, I've selected every single app and moved all the ones it would allow me to, and still there's only 1GB of external storage being used.
The only thing those chips are good for in this model phone is photos/videos/music and since you can automatically sync all those to cloud it's not that beneficial!
You have the option to automatically save pics & videos to SD instead of internal so it makes absolutely no sense why only a select few of the apps I downloaded are actually moveable.
That's something that should be in the fine print right after learning the phone comes with "expandable storage"
That's 1 mistake I'll never make again, I assure you! I know what gift I'm buying myself for tax season!
But seriously....other than what I've already mentioned, What is the purpose of expandable storage if you can't format SD as internal?

[SpookDroid]

Exactly that: storage. Doesn't mean you can do system storage. SD Cards are now relegated to external storage only (media, commonly). They're fairly unreliable and due to the constant read/write operations and changes in security in Android, using an SD card for apps became more of an issue than anything useful (remember, SD cards do have a life span measured in read/write cycles, so using them on an OS that's constantly moving data is NOT ideal).

Not sure why this didn't come up in your research since it's talked about to great lengths since this change was introduced in Android a couple years ago (not just your phone, anything that runs those OS versions).

Some devices do support ADOPTABLE storage (which allows for what you want), but this means encrypting the card and forcing it to never be removed from the phone as it cannot be used elsewhere). For this, most manufacturers opt to just avoid adding the 'feature' as it creates more confusion with non-savvy users.

Also, if you're an avid app consumer, you should know that anything below 32GB INTERNAL MEMORY won't get you very far in that regards these days.

[L0n3N1nja]

Personally I've never owned an Android device that allowed apps on the external storage, when adoptable storage was a thing a few years ago Samsung never allowed it because of the negative impacts on system performance. It's also a major headache if the sd card or phone fails.

I used to keep a ton of music on my sd card as my phone is my mp3 player, but now that I've got unlimited data I just stream everything. Still great to have the card for my camera though, nothing more infuriating than having full storage and being unable to take a photo of record video.

[Shelly Cameron]

Personally I've never owned an Android device that allowed apps on the external storage, when adoptable storage was a thing a few years ago Samsung never allowed it because of the negative impacts on system performance. It's also a major headache if the sd card or phone fails.

I used to keep a ton of music on my sd card as my phone is my mp3 player, but now that I've got unlimited data I just stream everything. Still great to have the card for my camera though, nothing more infuriating than having full storage and being unable to take a photo of record video.

Been there many times. Having to delete old pics/videos to make room for new ones. That is such a pain.!

[Shelly Cameron]

Personally I've never owned an Android device that allowed apps on the external storage, when adoptable storage was a thing a few years ago Samsung never allowed it because of the negative impacts on system performance. It's also a major headache if the sd card or phone fails.

I used to keep a ton of music on my sd card as my phone is my mp3 player, but now that I've got unlimited data I just stream everything. Still great to have the card for my camera though, nothing more infuriating than having full storage and being unable to take a photo of record video.

My last phone allowed me to format as internal and I never had any issues with app performance or anything. I still have that phone and everything on it still works perfectly. I'm actually going to reactivate it for my daughter but I'm definitely getting myself a much newer phone and I'm gonna go ahead and grab a tablet while I have the funds to do so.
Any recommendations on what model devices I should look into?
I've always chosen Samsung when paying out of pocket but I'm open to trying something new if it'll be more beneficial.

[RavenLte]

Replying to the original post: the only adoptable phone I've found, and I'm poor, TracFone/SafeLink all the way. Is Alcatel Raven lte. I love it. Had to get an $11 replacement when I came back to SafeLink. Unfortunately, I'm an app lover too. Mostly gaming. I was hoping to find a phone that had adoptable storage that was cheap. I saw the under $20 Galaxy j series phones but I'm thinking SafeLink and TracFone being cheap phones hate adoptable storage. I'm hoping the replacement Alcatel Raven lte has adoptable storage, since this came from SafeLink not TracFone.