Samsung fans went up in arms when we recently learned that Samsung was not going to activate the “adoptable storage” feature of Android, something that was supposed to be innate to Android Marshmallow. And seeing that Samsung’s TouchWiz UI already uses 8GB of the total 32GB storage most vanilla Galaxy S7’s will have, that is bad, bad news. But here’s some news that should balance the irritation the other way.


galaxy-s7-storage

For a normal user, the Samsung Galaxy S7’s 32GB storage might be enough. Right at setup, if you already have a list of apps included in your usual daily process, you might have around 16GB left from your internal storage. But for heavy users and people who test apps (like us), 16GB left for presumably a 2 to 3 year lifetime of a phone is not going to cut it. Good thing that Samsung has apparently allowed transfering apps to an external microSD card.

s7_transfer

This will let you free up internal storage so you can download a bit more apps and have the needed space for updates when the time comes. Remember that this feature – transferring apps to external microSD – is not usually activated in some brands and models. It feels like Samsung thought of this as an answer to not allowing adoptable storage.

Samsung eating up 8GB of your internal storage out of the box is still not a good thing, mind you. And so is not allowing adoptable storage. But at least users will have an alternative when things get tight. Now, time to break out that 320GB microSD card.

VIA: Droid Life

10 COMMENTS

  1. Still not great. You can’t move entire apps to the SD card using this method, only parts of apps, and only in apps that were developed with this feature in mind. No, the modding scene will have to fix this phone before I buy it.

  2. I have moved 90 percent of my apps to the external memory…..Only a few won’t let you do the transfer, like bank apps and whatsapp which I think makes sense.

    But moving 60-80 percent of the apps you have on your device, plus all Media files is way better than not having the external Memory feature.

    • The problem with this approach is that when the app auto updates (and some apps are updated frequently) it defaults back to the internal storage location at which point you must move it… again. It’s a vicious circle. 🙁

    • Only some apps allow for the option to store on SD card. I believe that’s how it’s always been with Samsung. Other Android manufacturers don’t even provide that option.

    • I’m having the same problem. App gives me option to move, goes to export screen and sits there. Won’t transfer. I’ve moved some already but can’t do anymore.

  3. Yes, this is better than nothing. However, it is frustrating that it is a vicious cycle when it defaults back to internal storage. We have a terrible selection of Androids to demo here in Maine. I’ve been looking online for the best option as I don’t like Apple products for the most part. I wish more phones still had a regular keyboard as well. I bet there would be a good market for that.

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