A special slot for inserting a memory card. Memory cards allow you to expand the phone‘s built-in memory (or in the past these slots have been used to add some missing features such as Wi-Fi connectivity).
Memory cards have different capacities and are used to store and transfer files between compatible devices. There are several types of memory cards. The most popular and frequently used by mobile phone manufacturers is microSD; however, up until recently Sony Ericsson exclusively used the Memory Stick Micro (M2) card type developed by Sony.
Memory card slots can have various supported memory card capacities. Depending on the device, card slots can support capacities of up to 512GB or even the yet unavailable 2TB.
As manufacturers rarely test their products for compatibility with newer and larger cards that come out after a specific handset is out on the market, whenever it is possible, we try to verify that larger capacity cards run on older phones.
When we confirm that a mobile phone works with a larger capacity memory card than what the manufacturer has advertized, we usually put that down in the phone specs sheet in our database.
That way, when you see the word “verified” in the Card slot field, you will know our reviewing team has personally tested the device for compatibility with the stated capacity and they are compatible even though it may not be officially stated so by the manufacturer.
microSD
A memory card is a flash memory data storage device used in a wide range of digital devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, music players, etc. They are small, rugged and offer high re-record ability.
There is a wide range of memory card formats. MicroSD (SD stands for “Secure Digital”) and M2 (memory Stick Micro) are the smallest at the current time. The microSD format was originally called TransFlash or T-Flash.
microSDHC
The microSDHC cards (HC as in High Capacity) upgrade the microSD standard. They have the same physical dimensions but offer higher capacities (4-16 GB) than the regular ones (64MB-2 GB).
MMC
A memory card is a flash memory data storage device used in a wide range of digital devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, music players, etc. They are small, rugged and offer high re-record ability and power-free operation.
There is a wide range of memory card formats. MMC (which stands for “Multi Media Card”) is one of the oldest formats and has been replaced by newer ones like SD, microSD and microSDHC. Physically, it’s fully compatible with SD cards.
SD (Secure Digital)
Secure Digital or SD is a popular type of memory card. Memory cards are based on Flash memory and are used as solid state storage, their main purpose being an inexpensive way to store or transfer data between computers and other digital products.
The dimensions of an SD card are 24 x 32 x 2.1 mm, which makes it smaller than CompactFlash but larger than miniSD, microSD (TransFlash) and RS-MMC.
SD cards are about the same size as MMC but a bit thicker. They provide a bit more speed than MMC at the expense of higher power consumtion. SD cards also provide a hardware lock that can protect the stored data from being erased.