Android Phone User DIY Upgrades From 16 To 64GB Internal Storage
Imagine our surprise when the first smartphone with upgradable internal storage wasn't a Project Ara phone from Google, it was a Nexus 5 from LG. Project Ara is still a concept – blocks that fit in to a smartphone casing, allowing you to upgrade whenever you like. The LG Nexus 5, on the other hand, is a device made back in 2013. Hardly the age of a device we'd expect to be so versatile. But here it is – the way in which you might upgrade your own internal storage from a paltry 16GB all the way up to a hefty 64GB – easy peasy.
It's at XDA-Developers forums where user Kapetz2 comes in to request a way to enable a higher internal storage size for his Nexus 5. What, said the forum, are you talking about? That's madness!
Of course Kapetz2 had already done the difficult part – manually taking out the old flash storage and placing (or re-placing, if you prefer) the new flash storage. This required some soldering skill and a very careful hand, of course.
It also required that Kapetz2 be confident in his source for a 64GB internal storage chip. This piece of hardware cost Kapetz2 a mere $30 USD.
Just a bit of work on the software-savvy side – exactly what you might expect to find at XDA-Developers forums – and the extra storage was enabled. Not just 16GB or 32GB like a normal Nexus 5, but a whole 64GB. No problem.
Do not go buying the first flash storage replacement you find. Research the phone you have and make the upgrade happen with more research than you think you need. In this case, the parts were purchased in the Ukraine. You'll likely need different sources.
See the full conversation over at XDA Developers forum.
Below you'll see a video of a Samsung Galaxy Note II being "fixed" in a similar manner. Note the tools. Note the precision. Note that if you've never done this sort of thing before, you will almost certainly destroy your smartphone. Don't do it!
You'll want to be in a position where it's OK to break whatever you're working on the first few times you try to modify something this tiny. Don't just jump in without practice!