Last Sunday, Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S7 while LG took the wraps off the LG G5 with a modular design. Even though both the Galaxy S7 and LG G5 offer microSD card slot for expandable storage, neither of them supports the “adoptable storage” feature of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The latest iteration of Android gives your phone the ability to adopt a microSD card and make it behave like internal storage.
Adoptable storage not for phones with large internal memory?
Both LG and Samsung have decided that it is not in their users’ best interest to support the adoptable storage feature in their flagship smartphones. Of course, the feature is very good, especially if you have a low- or mid-range device with limited storage. The feature lets you setup an SD card as internal storage to store data, apps and media. When you insert a microSD card for the first time on a Marshmallow phone, you are offered a choice to use it as a portable storage or internal storage.
If you choose the former, the microSD card continues to behave as it has been for many years on Android phones. But if you want to use it as internal storage, your smartphone reformats the microSD card and encrypts it to make it behave like internal memory. After the card has been “adopted,” it would no longer work on other devices or card readers. Users also find it difficult to store files on the actual internal storage of the smartphone, though you can still install apps there.
You can still store files and data on microSD card
It is not a big surprise that adoptable storage support is missing from Galaxy S7 and LG G5. You can still store apps, files and data on the card because it acts as a portable storage. You’ll just not be able to use Marshmallow’s adoptable storage feature.
LG G5’s modular design has been well-received by experts. It comes with modular accessories and a slide-out battery that lets you swap the battery within seconds.
