It’s not the most glamorous thing we’ve reviewed, nor the most expensive. But, the Alfawise Cartoon Face 32GB SD Card is probably the cheapest card of its size that we’ve seen. But, will it turn out that as often can be the case, cheap means nasty? Or have we potentially unearthed a rare gem that could help save people a few pennies when it comes to them needing a memory source to back stuff on to?
BUILD QUALITY – 5/5
Normally we’d speak about design here, as well as build quality. However, all SD cards have to be the same shape and size to fit into the slot, so besides commenting on the cartoon face that’s on the front, focusing on design would be pretty pointless. I’ll admit though, it is nice to see a splash of colour.
As for build quality, it’s what you’d expect from any SD card really. It’s a small plastic chip that you can stick in many devices to save data to. What’s promising about it though is that it offers strong protection, in the form that it is waterproof, heat-resistant, cold-resistant, and so can effectively protect your data. Now I’ve dunked it in the sink, I’ve stuck it in the fridge and the freezer, and it works. But being made of plastic I wasn’t willing to stick it in the oven to see how it fared there, but it was ok being stuck on the radiator for a couple of hours. It’s fair to say it has been put through a fair few tests and come up smelling of roses.
FUNCTIONALITY – 4/5
In terms of functionality, it’s not bad but it isn’t perfect. And there are a few things that are misleading on the listing on Gearbest. Firstly, you’ll see images stating you’ll get up to 80mb speeds for transferring data. You would if you had a bigger card, but for this particular model you’ll be capped at up to 60mb, and after a few tests it did seem to reach that, although not for the whole transfer every time. They do clear this up in the description though.
The second misleading thing is there is an image stating it supports 4K video recording, yet again in the description, it counters this. And I’d say that it’s just a general image, but they have stuck the 32GB card on there, so please be wary if you are buying it for your 4K Action Cam, don’t bother. However, for taking standard photos on your phone, storing games on for your Switch or just keeping it as a storage device similar to how you would a USB stick, it works pretty well.
VALUE FOR MONEY – 5/5
What can I say, it’s an absolute bargain. It isn’t going to be suitable for everyone, especially if you need a bigger size, but Alfawise do offer other sizes besides this 32GB one, and transfer speeds etc get better the bigger the memory. The problem is if you are needing a small card for your Action Cam, this isn’t going to support 4K recording so you may need to buy a more expensive one. That said, it easily captured some FULL HD footage and played it on my PC fine, so if you’re happy with 1080p then you’ll be ok.
OVERALL – 4.7/5
Overall, it’s a pretty standard card and you get exactly what you pay for. The images on the listing can be a little misleading, but the description does clear things up and give you accurate info. Besides the nice Cartoon Face design of the 32GB card (each card size has its own unique design) there isn’t much to write home about except that it was quite robust. In fact, it genuinely impressed me how it withstood multiple tests to check how it coped with being drowned or stuck in the freezer. For less than a fiver, you can’t grumble, and it’s worth taking a punt if you just need a cheap card for some small tasks.
The TL;DR:
- Besides its colourful cartoon face design, it’s a pretty standard SD Card;
- Quite robust, meaning your data is well protected;
- Can’t support 4K Video recording;
- The cheapest 32gb card we’ve seen from a reliable retailer.
If you want to purchase the Alfawise 32GB SD Card yourself, or just find out more information about the product, you can do so by clicking HERE to go to the listing on the official Gearbest website. And if you want to check out more of the reviews on our website, games, gadgets or otherwise, just click right HERE.
