Question Making the Jump from a 6 year old beast to a Phone with No SD Card Slot - How Do You Do It?

[pinkybo]

My 6-year-old Samsung Galaxy S10+ is on its last legs, and it's time for an upgrade. I'm on a budget (ideally below $800 CAD), so I'm debating between the Google Pixel 9a and the Samsung Galaxy A55. I'm leaning toward the Pixel 9a for the camera, but the no-SD-card-slot thing has me nervous to commit.

My current S10+ has 8 gigs of RAM, 512 GB of internal storage, plus a 512 GB microSD card. While I haven’t maxed that out (used 164 GB internal, 117 GB external) I’m still confused how people manage with only 256 GB total or, heaven forbid, 128 GB of storage. Is the cloud the secret? To be fair, I have Google Photos set to save in original quality, just in case I ever take an amazing family photo and want to print it out. I know if I did the space saver setting it would probably be lower.

Even though I'm leaning toward the Pixel 9a for its specs, I'm wondering if I should choose the Galaxy A55 for the peace of mind that comes with expandable storage.

Help! How do you people survive without a memory card?

 

[gomezz]

I am in a similar situation in considering getting a new phone but preferring to still have an SD card slot. One option I have considered is keeping my old phone as my media player / camera etc and with a new lower spec and lower memory phone for calling/messaging/browsing etc. But that of course negates the advantage of having one device to do it all which is a step back to the noughties carrying a feature phone, a camera and an mp3 player.

Some say that SD cards are inherently more unreliable but I say that I have never had a problem and if I did then simply replace the card with another of a reputable brand. Of course regular backups to elsewhere are advised.

 

[spARTacus]

I'd have preferred to still have a phone with a memory card, but I'm surviving fine with one that doesn't and only has 256GB. I think it comes down to each person individually. For example, I don't consider myself to be a heavy user of lots of apps or take many many photos, don't specifically make use of cloud for offboard option for photos, media or files storage, have what I consider to be a decent enough for me onboard music library at about 10GB, and still have lots of free space. If one is used to 512 however and with all that mainly being used, then I can see why one would be nervous about only having 512 and no extra. Making due with less is certainly doable, but it depends on the individual.