One of Murphy’s Law dictates that you will eventually run out of any available space.
This holds true especially in the digital storage environment.

I remember when I first got the first 128 MB microSD memory card a few years back.
Amazed what technology can do.

Now we are at 128 GB ! in something this small and also with respectable speeds and sturdy.
SanDisk also brought out a 200 GB model and this summer some prototypes appeared with 512 GB !

So in a few years should we expect 128 TB ?
Time will tel.

Let’s crack on.

First about Samsung:

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Samsung is a South Korean multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul founder in 1938.
It comprises numerous subsidiaries and affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand, and is the largest South Korean business conglomerate.

Notable Samsung industrial subsidiaries include Samsung Electronics (the world’s largest information technology company measured by 2012 revenues, and 4th in market value), Samsung Heavy Industries (the world’s 2nd-largest shipbuilder measured by 2010 revenues), and Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T (respectively the world’s 13th and 36th-largest construction companies).

Other notable subsidiaries include Samsung Life Insurance (the world’s 14th-largest life insurance company), Samsung Everland (operator of Everland Resort, the oldest theme park in South Korea), Samsung Techwin (an aerospace, surveillance and defense company) and Cheil Worldwide (the world’s 15th-largest advertising agency measured by 2012 revenues).

 

Price when reviewed: £57.46 – via Amazon.co.uk

Samsung Memory 128 GB EVO MicroSDXC UHS-I Grade 1 Class 10 Memory Card with SD Adapter (Frustration Free Packaging)

 


Presentation

 

A lot of features and very good presentation done by Samsung.
They know how to put the spotlight on their products.

Let’s get the quick specs out of the way.

  • Product Type: microSDXC Memory Card
  • Family Line: EVO
  • Capacity: 128 GB, (1 GB = 1 Billionbyte) – Actual usable capacity may be less (due to formatting, operating system, applications or otherwise)
  • Interface: UHS-I, compatible to HS interface
  • Dimension (WxHxD): 15 x 11 x 1 (mm)
  • Weight: Approx. 0.5 g
  • Read: up to 48MB/s transfer speed with UHS-1 interface
  • Write : up to 20MB/s with UHS-1 interface
  • Limited 10 years Warranty
  • SD 3.0, compatible to SD2.0, Class 10
  • Warranty : 10 Years

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Now things get even more interesting.

4-proof Technology

Samsung memory cards, with 4-proof technology, are the ideal choice for people who want to capture their active lifestyles with an action camera. Insert a Samsung memory card in your action camera and you can be assured that every action-packed moment is safely recorded in whatever harsh environment you encounter, whether underwater, atop a mountain or deep inside a cave.

Waterproof: The Samsung EVO MicroSDXC Memory Card can survive up to 24 hours in sea water.

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Temperature Proof: Endures operating temperatures from -25 ºC ~~ 85 ºC.

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Magnetic Proof: Resists more than 10,000 gauss, which is up to 13 times the magnetic force of standard home theater speakers.

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X-ray Proof: Don’t worry about taking your Samsung EVO MicroSDXC Memory Card through airport X-ray machines, as it protects data from damage.

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Their range consist of 4 models: Standard (blue), Evo (orange), Evo+ (red) and Pro (grey).
The Evo+ supersedes the normal Evo.

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And overall, the capacities ae ranging from 4 GB up to 128 GB.
We are testing the big dog of the EVO, the 128 GB.

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Packaging

 

We have the standard packaging and without the SD adapter.

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Inside, the microSD in a small plastic shroud.

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The Samsung EVO 128 GB MicroSDXC UHS-1 Grade 1 Class 10 – if we call it by it’s full name.

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One small detail to check if they are genuine, must have Made in Korea on the back.

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Next to its half brother and one of our test mediums.

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Testing methodology

 

Synthetic tests and some real life file transfers on both our test computer and smartphone.

Hardware used:

Processor: Intel i7 2700k
CPU heatsink: Thermalright AXP-100R
Case: NCase M1
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB
Motherboard: MSI B75IA-E33 mITX
PSU: Silverstone SX-600G SFX
Video card: MSI GTX 780 Ti OC TwinFrozr Gaming

Generic USB 2.0 memory card reader
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone

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Software:

Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
Crystal Disk Mark v3.0.2
A1 SD Bench (Android)

 

Results

 

First a confirmation that it works and it is seen by the phone.
Mind-boggling that you can have 150 GB of storage on a phone…

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Continuing the phone tests we have the following numbers.

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Very good numbers which are still overkill even for high speed video recording such 4k recording like Note 4 poses.
So we have up to 14 MB/s write speeds.

To put them into perspective:

1080p30fps video recording takes ~ 17 Mbps – that’s 2.13 MB/s
4k30fps takes up to 50 Mbps – which is barely 6.25 MB/s

So there is a lot of headroom even with a very powerful smartphone regarding recording.

One more test, a massive 6 GB transfer of music files from the phone’s internal memory to the memory card.

Now, the PC via an generic USB 2.0 adapter.

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Still good numbers.
We will source an updated stick so we can reach the limits of the memory card.

 

Conclusion

 

Sasmung have grabbed the market here as well with a complete product range.

The good:

+ Solid performance overall
+ Quality product as seen from so many levels of protection
+ Excellent design and marketed product line
+ Good price

The Bad:

– Should include the SD adapter as standard

Glob3trotters “Excellent Overall Product” Award – 4.5 out 5

GG

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