You Don't Like mini-SD, Wait Till You Here About This...

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS2702071510.html' target='_blank'>http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS2702071510.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"SanDisk Corporation has introduced a new line of fingernail-sized removable Flash memory cards that it hopes will become a de facto industry standard for providing user-upgradable internal as well as external storage in the coming wave of smartphones. "TransFlash" cards will debut in smartphones from Motorola...To support the use of TransFlash as main system storage, SanDisk will offer "under the battery" connectors for the chips, in addition to removable, external slot connectors."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/sandisk_ttransflash-coins-sm (WinCE).jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />The mini-SD cards haven't even made it to the markets yet and we have a new standard. I am always in favor of making things small and powerful. But there has to be a limit. I am a clumsy person and easily lose things, I hope these new cards are in-expensive. However I do like the concept of <i>"under the battery"</i> connectors for expandable memory.

[manywhere]

Great, another memory type to loose in my pockets, not ever to be found again, become washed together in the washing machine with my pants and to be found first when the tumble dryer smells melted plastic... :roll:

Come on! Keep to secure digital and compact flash and try to squeeze more memory into them instead. :P

[rbrome]

Motorola already has TransFlash phones shipping, such as the E398 and V710.

TransFlash was first announced as "T-Flash" back in February. (Then T-Mobile threatened to sue SanDisk, saying they owned T-(everything), so SanDisk changed the name to TransFlash.)

TransFlash is in a lot of Motorola's upcoming phones - all except their MS smartphones. But that will change. Motorola is standardizing on TransFlash, including the MPx line eventually.

The reason for TransFlash is the small size. Because it's so small, you can put it in phones that otherwise wouldn't have removable memory at all, like the E398 and V710. The point of TransFlash is that it's based on TriFlash, SanDisk's line of embedded memory (the kind soldered into a phone). In fact, even before it was called T-Flash, it was called TriFlash-R (R for removable). So with such a small size, the idea is that you can replace a hard-wired TriFlash chip with a TransFlash slot, without increasing the size of the phone hardly at all. With other formats - even miniSD - there's much more of a size tradeoff.

In your average non-smartphone, size a primary factor, so like I said, TransFlash will be used to add removable memory to phones that otherwise wouldn't have it at all.

It also allows smartphones to be much smaller. SD is freakin' huge - there's no way you can fit that in a normal-size phone. That's one of the main reasons the first couple generations of MS Smartphones have been so huge. Only with a format like TransFlash will we be able to see normal-size Smartphones.

[Kris Kumar]

Thanks for the information.

Good to hear the technical aspect. Though a little disappointed at the fact that the next MPx series will be switching over to TransFlash. I guess its good. But having faced this problem in the CF world with digital camera & pocket pc. And now have to face the SD -> mini-SD -> TransFlash.

The T-Mobile bit was funny :-)

[kagayaki1]

Wow, rbrome, you really know your stuff. Kind of put this forum to shame :D Seriously, great info. Ditto on the T-Mobile thing - how can you trademark a letter and a hyphen?

I don't know how I feel about the concept behind TransFlash. External flash memory has a long history of being less expensive than its on-board counterparts (look at the cost and size advantages with external over integrated in PPC history, as just one example.) So tying the economies of scale that comes with a “standard” flash card for multiple devices for integrated memory is nice. Also makes it easier to upgrade internal memory yourself (without voiding your warranty).

But I would not want this to serve as a sole replacement for external memory. One of the beauties of having an externally accessible memory card standard is you can use it with other devices, which instantly doubles its value. Not only that, but it makes it easier to save photos you take, upload music files, etc. And if the only expansion were to ride underneath the battery (ala Nokia 3650), I’m afraid I would have to scream…again

From a business perspective, I know why they keep doing this – the biggest money for SanDisk is not in marginalized technologies, like SD and CF – it’s in new standards that take off with big name OEMs, and having the sole ability to produce the memory chips, even for a brief time.

So, by SanDisk being able to stay in business with these kind of technologies, you have to ask yourself a tough question: am I better off that older standards have become nothing but larger in capacity and cheaper for the devices you own today, at the expense of having to pay a premium on the new technologies that throw those very standards into disarray tomorrow?

[rbrome]

...Ditto on the T-Mobile thing - how can you trademark a letter and a hyphen?

Good question. What I hear is that SanDisk wanted to fight it; they knew it wouldn't stand up in court. But, they didn't want to tick off one of their largest potential customers.

Especially with this particular product, SanDisk is now involved in the phone industry. And part of the idea behind TransFlash is that it gives carriers like T-Mobile yet another way to customize the phones and offer something "exclusive".

So for example, Vodafone could offer the E398 with the slot empty, and sell the standard phone for a good price. But then T-Mobile could sell the same phone with a 128 MB TransFlash card in the box, play up the MP3 player feature (which the E398 has,) and really play up the "music phone" angle (and sell it for more $$). In other words, it gives carriers the option to choose between price and features - within the same exact phone model.

So in the example above, T-Mobile might buy all those extra TransFlash cards from SanDisk. That's how T-Mobile could easily become one of SanDisk's biggest customers. And that is why they caved so quickly on the T-Flash name.

But I would not want this to serve as a sole replacement for external memory. One of the beauties of having an externally accessible memory card standard is you can use it with other devices, which instantly doubles its value. Not only that, but it makes it easier to save photos you take, upload music files, etc. And if the only expansion were to ride underneath the battery (ala Nokia 3650), I’m afraid I would have to scream…again

Ah, but TransFlash is designed to work either way. It can be under the battery, or it can be an externally-accessible slot. On the V710, it's an easily-accessible slot. On the E398, it's under the battery. It's up to the manufacturer.

[Jason Dunn]

I always love it when Rich stops by because he's so damn smart when it comes to phones. :-)

I personally really LIKE the fact that I can move SD cards back and forth between my Smartphone, Pocket PC, laptop, and desktop. Breaking that "circle of life" is a major down-side to me, so I'm not very enthused about this. :roll:

[kagayaki1]

Breaking that "circle of life" is a major down-side to me, so I'm not very enthused about this. :roll:

Ditto on liking the interoperability of all my devices with a single memory standard, but I don't know if I would ask Simba or Mustafa about it... :razzing: