I sympathize with your situation. The simple recommendation to shop phones is not very helpful as my own recent search for a new phone has shown. Most sites focus on hype and make it difficult to get detailed specs. So here are some tips for getting to the information.
Skip the carrier sites. They will have mostly hype and focused on getting you to subscribe than finding you the right phone at the right price. I found my phone by posting on a baseball board I regularly post on. I laid out what I was looking for and asked my online friends what phones they were actually using that could do what I wanted. It was there one of my friends recommended the Galaxy S3 confirming it met all my needs.
Drop by a department store and read the back of the boxes for all the phones carried there. The information you want will probably be in very fine print somewhere. That
I ended up buying a Galaxy S4 and a Galaxy Light. Both will accept micro SDXC cards. I have a 128 GB card in my S4 and copied all my music from my computer on to it. I put a 64 GB card in the Galaxy Light. I suspect both will accept 256GB cards and higher once they are available and affordable.
I have been faithfully using iPhones for years but I am disgusted that the memory storage cannot be increased so I can only download a few apps as I have 2000 photos stored as well. I understand that some manufacturers allow the user to place micro SD cards inside, allowing for unlimited usage just by adding another micro SD card. Which manufacturers allow use of micro SD cards? I was told that LG allows for micro SD Card usage and also allows the owner to change batteries. My iphone also won't allow me to change batteries. Is LG the only manufacturer allowing for micro SD cards?

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