Best MicroSD for Note 3?

[Cary Quinn]

Now to answer your question, it all depends on personal preference. SDcards work on flash memory, which hasn't really advanced that much since it's creation. If you feel it is worth the investment, and you are sure the device will support it, I say go for it.

The comment about Samsung deliberately frying the cards of competitors has already been addressed. But I would add that it would be easily provable if such a thing was happening, and it would make more sense for Samsung to (pull an Apple) just say some cards are "not compatible" and not recognize them to waste time and energy on frying a card.

As for Flash Memory, Every Smartphone, Tablet, and NetBook built within the past has run off of some form of Flash memory.
So does the SIM card that your phone may use to store carrier information and some of your contacts.

Flash has advanced from a single chip hold a few kilobytes of memory and only lasting for a few thousand read/write cycles to over a million, to now being able to rival Hard Disk drives in performance, capacity and reliability.

Interestingly enough AceManX, a good source of answers for your question can be found right here.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-2/253478-will-sandisk-ultra-32gb-microsdhc-class-10-uhs-1-work-galaxy-note-2-a.html
This thread seems to be a good discussion on past problems with some Sandisk SD cards, and whether Samsung phones can support UHS-I .

 

[AcemanX AcemanX]

The comment about Samsung deliberately frying the cards of competitors has already been addressed. But I would add that it would be easily provable if such a thing was happening, and it would make more sense for Samsung to (pull an Apple) just say some cards are "not compatible" and not recognize them to waste time and energy on frying a card.

As for Flash Memory, Every Smartphone, Tablet, and NetBook built within the past has run off of some form of Flash memory.
So does the SIM card that your phone may use to store carrier information and some of your contacts.

Flash has advanced from a single chip hold a few kilobytes of memory and only lasting for a few thousand read/write cycles to over a million, to now being able to rival Hard Disk drives in performance, capacity and reliability.

Interestingly enough AceManX, a good source of answers for your question can be found right here.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-2/253478-will-sandisk-ultra-32gb-microsdhc-class-10-uhs-1-work-galaxy-note-2-a.html
This thread seems to be a good discussion on past problems with some Sandisk SD cards, and whether Samsung phones can support UHS-I .

Thanks bro, checking it out now

 

[thymeless]

Even if your phone doesn't support UHS-1, it's probably still worth it for those times you use the card on your computer. You'll appreciate the faster speeds there regardless of whether the phone can write that fast.

 

[Haalcyon]

Even if your phone doesn't support UHS-1, it's probably still worth it for those times you use the card on your computer. You'll appreciate the faster speeds there regardless of whether the phone can write that fast.

Absolutely. Again, its worth noting that the Extreme cards seem to be built to a higher standard and are more durable.

 

[sddabrow]

Do most computers support UHS-1 as well? I currently have a 2012 Macbook Pro, but want to make sure it the SanDisk Extreme 64GB is worth the $100 and at least one of my devices supports it.

If not, I'll at least get the Class 10 64GB card for $50.

 

[Haalcyon]

Well, it shouldn't be too hard to find a UHS-1 compatible USB 3.0 card reader .

 

[Stephen Johns]

I know this is an older post, but for people like me who have stumbled upon it, I wanted to share my experience. I purchased a Note 3 and was rather unimpressed with the write speed to my standard Sandisk 16GB MicroSD card that I had from my other phone. I just purchased a 16GB Extreme Pro thinking that the processing time between taking pictures would be drmatically reduced. It appears that the Note 3 is NOT UHS-1 COMPATIBLE! No noticable difference was made in speed and using the "A1 SD Bench" app, I found that the read speed was 21.48MB/s and the write speed was 18.16MB/s. So, if you are looking at the Extreme series to have a speed advantage, save your money!

 

[TroyBoy30]

got a samsung in mine

 

[rezzacs]

Thanks for the feedback. Currently shopping around for a microSD for my Note 3. So what brand are you recommending then? Stick to Samsung?

 

[Solrighal]

As an enthusiastic amateur photographer I've always used Sandisk but I remember reading when I first got this phone that Sandisk could cause some problems. So far I've only bought Samsung for the phone and I've had no problems. Make of that what you will.

Sent from my SM-N9005

 

[Alain_A]

That is what I have in my phone a SanDisk class 10, 64 GB. I have no problem with it.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[mountainman]

As an enthusiastic amateur photographer I've always used Sandisk but I remember reading when I first got this phone that Sandisk could cause some problems. So far I've only bought Samsung for the phone and I've had no problems. Make of that what you will.

Sent from my SM-N9005

Same here. Using Samsung 32GB card no problems. Link to the one I got ==>

Samsung 32GB PLUS Micro SDHC with Adapter - up to 48MB/s - UHS-1 Class 10 Memory Card (MB-MPBGCA/AM) by Samsung http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E1XI6PS...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU3461304

Sent from my SM-N900V using Mobile Nations mobile app

 

[Kettle]

I have the SanDisk Extreme 64 GB from Costco . It works great.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[Mangesh Salunkhe]

i wanted to know for note 3 N9005 which microsd card suitable.
is it - Selected: 64GB | Item # SDSDQXL-064GB -
SanDisk Extreme® microSDHC™/microSDXC™ UHS-I Card

please suggest.

 

[edoct 2408]

after reading some comments about note 3 frying sd cards other than samsung, i got samsung 32gb class 10 U1 (it says 48mb/s but tested only got read 32mb/s, write 16mb/s), but after reading some comments again about high temperature/overheating caused by sd card (lately i noticed my note 3 always runs at around 50 C, and while playing games can get really hot in few minutes, i replaced it with 16GB sandisk class 10 (30mb/s), tested got read 34mb/s, write 12mb/s. i though the samsung card had higher spec??

waiting for sandisk result.. but for sure, it needs loading time browsing photos on samsung card, while sandisk doesn't.

 

[bernatikv]

I bought 32GB SD Card Sony SR-32UXA claiming 95MB/s read and 50MB/s write speed. Put it into my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005. Measuring speed with "A1 SD Bench" and got read 20.53MB/s and write 16.40MB/s. So much lower than I expected. I could have saved some money. Also using SD Insight tool it tells me that manufacturer is "Jiang Tay Tech. Co. Ltd." instead of Sony.

 

[LeoRex]

SD Insight tool it tells me that manufacturer is "Jiang Tay Tech. Co. Ltd." instead of Sony.

That part I wouldn't worry too much about. Sony doesn't actually manufacture the memory media... they just rebrand the cards and sell them. Looking around, Jiang Tay Tech is a known HW vendor for SD media. That may not explain any performance issues though. What are the highest speeds that the Note 3 is capable of? The card may be faster than the phone can do.

 

[caravanio]

Hello, guys.

Read a lot about SD card and SD card reader hardware specifications. Wrote both to SanDisk and Samsung's support about what are the hardware specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (N9005)'s integrated SD card reader like:

1. Bus speed class (Default Speed, High Speed, or Ultra High Speed I, II or III)
2. UHS speed class (1 or 3). Presumably this characteristic is applicable only for UHS bus speed classes.
3. Application performance class (A1 or A2).
4. Speed class (1-10)
5. Video speed class (V6, V10, V30, V60 or V90)

Asked them what are the values of all of the aforementioned SD card / SD card reader hardware specifications that the Note 3's SD card reader can take full advantage of and not only just support them e.g. making use of part of their potential. SanDisk shared that they can't tell the SD card reader characteristics of Note 3 and I should contact Samsung about those bits of information. This is very strange because how SanDisk listed both recommended and supported SD cards for Note 3 without knowing the host device's SD card reader capabilities? Asked local Samsung support about the latter and still awaiting an answer. It is highly important to know that one should contact the local Samsung support from the country the phone was bought at, since as Samsung's international support told me, phone hardware specifications vary accross countries.

So, while waiting for Samsungs official answer about N9005, I would list my findings and questions. Currently, if anyone can tell which are SD card reader and SD card only hardware specifications, it would be highly appreciated. Bus speed is presumably one of SD card reader's main characteristics but not sure about the rest whether they are SD card-only or SD card reader applicable as well. As everyone else I am looking for the cheapest and having highest performance SDXC that Note 3 can fully utilize. The stated maximum capacity is 64GB (SDXC capacity class) but as user tests reveal Note 3 is capable of housing a 128GB SDXC as well. Also, looking at SD cards and card readers hardware specifications listed by SanDisk the characteristic expicitly shown as being applicable not only to memory cards but to the card readers as well is the capacity one - SD, SDHC, SDXC. Again, about the capacity, SanDisk shows as recommended (not only supported, but recommended) a 200GB SDXC card for Note 3. Thus presumably the 64GB limit is only a merchant's trick, so that you could buy Note 4, 5, ..., 8 to be able to install a > 64GB SDXC card.

As seen, presumably Note 3's SD card reader could take full advantage of big enough storage capacities. But what about speed? Note 3 is able to record 2160p30 e.g. 4K @ 30 fps. Looking at the official SD card specifications provided by the SD card association (see also at this video here, stopped in the right moment of time) the minimum required SD card reader and SD card specs to support 4K video recording are - HS bus speed (UHS speed class is not applicable anymore), speed class 6 and video speed class V6. What I know from SanDisk's support, articles, e-shop product descriptions, etc. is that for a flawless 4K video recording, the minimum recommended specifications are: UHS-I bus speed class, UHS speed class 3 and speed class 10. The UHS speed class 3 characteristic is stated everywhere as the most important one. Looking at all of the above posts on this topic presumably Note 3's card reader is one that supports at most HS bus speed class (no UHS bus speed classes), no UHS speed class, unknown speed class (presumably 10?), unknown video speed class, unknown application performance class. If any of you could share the true SD card reader hardware specifications of Note 3, which the phone could take full advantage of but not only support, it would be great. Also, a final list of the best SD cards for it would be highly appreciated. What draws attention when looking at the product specifications of both SanDisk and Samsung's SD cards is that they mention 4K as supported resolution only if UHS speed class 3 is present. For instance, SanDisk's Ultra range doesn't support UHS speed class 3 but only 1 (example:

UHS speed class U1 and speed class 10 for Full HD video recording and playback

). But if one goes for the Extreme class like this SanDisk Extreme SDXC then the product description says:

UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) and Video Speed Class 30 (V30) ratings for 4K UHD video

I am willing to buy the latter but I am afraid Note 3 would take advantage only of a small fraction of its capabilities.

Best Regards