SanDisk & Motorola Produce New Flash Card Format

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5166554.html?tag=cd_top' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/2100-1041-51665...html?tag=cd_top</a><br /><br /></div>If you were asked what we really need in terms of new technology for PDAs & operable devices, what you answer? I bet it’s not another flash card format. :? But guess what? "Memory card maker SanDisk and cell phone manufacturer Motorola have teamed up on a new small flash card aimed at handsets as the two companies look to capitalize on the trend toward the miniaturization of memory cards. SanDisk formally announced the new format, called T-Flash, late Thursday. The new cards will allow portable devices to store data, such as digital images and audio. SanDisk expects the cards to be readily available in the second quarter, and Motorola intends to use them in new cell phones due out in the second half of the year." Oh goodie. :? <br /><br />"The T-Flash cards will be about half the size of a cell phones' subscriber identity module (SIM) cards, or about the size of a fingernail, according to Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SanDisk. They will store 32MB to 128MB of memory and cost $14 to $39, the company said." Do they give you a free magnifying glass with it I wonder? <br /> <br />"Multiple incompatible card formats have created some confusion among consumers, but with Motorola's support, SanDisk has a good chance of gaining a foothold in the market for the new format, according to Jim Handy, an analyst with research firm Semico Research. Motorola is among the top five cell phone makers in the world." Confusion, no, really? :idontthinkso: Full speed ahead for plan fragmentation! <br /><br />"Among the current card types are Memory Stick, Secure Digital, CompactFlash, MultiMediaCard, xD-Picture Card and Smart Media. There are also miniature versions of Memory Stick, Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard." You don’t say? So, how about making the formats we already have cheaper and with higher capacity? Anyone every heard of growing the pie rather than trying to take a bigger slice of a smaller pie? :frusty:

[T-Will]

Wow, this is great news!!! :roll: :roll: :roll: :evil: :evil: :evil:

[jizmo]

One huge yawn for this project :sleeping:

/jizmo

[Steven Cedrone]

These people make it harder and harder to buy gadgets. For me, I will not even look at a device unless it supports the media I have already invested heavily in. I refuse to have to buy new media for a new device. That being said, I think the smallest card I would ever own is MMC/SD form factor. Anything else is just too small!

Steve

[joelevi]

These people make it harder and harder to buy gadgets. For me, I will not even look at a device unless it supports the media I have already invested heavily in. I refuse to have to buy new media for a new device. That being said, I think the smallest card I would ever own is MMC/SD form factor. Anything else is just too small!

Steve

I've got to throw my vote in with Steven... I was a CF Type I guy with my old Pocket PCs... now I've got a few CF cards laying around (luckily my new digital camera reads CF Type I so it's not a total loss)... My New Pocket PC (iPaq 4155) has no CF slot, so I'm slowly making the switch to MMC and SD. But that's enough... Let's get the capacity up, price down, and speeds faster and forget about further fragmenting the market. It's only causing confusion among newbies (and even some of us seasoned users).

Sandisk, are you listening?

[Raphael Salgado]

If SanDisk was really listening, they'd first improve on their quality control before they start developing new stuff. I've never bought a SanDisk flash memory device that actually kept data long enough to be useful. Defrag a card once, or perform a memory test on it, and I've got more bad blocks than a town in Atlanta, GA. (http://www.morganquinto.com/cit00alph.pdf)

[Jereboam]

God this annoys me.

I have to deal with SD, Memory Stick, and xD cards as it is.

Why don't these people get their heads out of their butts and listen to the people who buy their products?

J'bm

[Mojo Jojo]

So, the question you really have to ask is who is benefitting?

The easy answer is the companies envolved.

They make a different form factor, but the insides are pretty well known so cost is low, attach it to new models. This means the consumer has to weight the cost of the new models features against what they have already invested.

The hope is they get you with the feature set, buy new 'formats' that are cheap for the companies to produce yet create a new revenue stream from the consumer to the coffers. In addition once a person invests heavily enough in one 'format' they become locked into the companies that support that format, which can be a single company (i.e. sony).

So, in my mind, I can see why a company is doing it... and it isn't for my benefit. :roll:

[Techtoys]

If they could just make an SD card with say, 10x the cost per GB of a hard disk, then they would have all the SD pie already. :roll:

[pelucidor]

My easy solution to this is: I won't be buying any Motorola phones with this unnecessary technology, and I might boycott Sandisk too (I also have suffered with their poor quality).

SD is physically small enough - it just needs to be cheaper, higher capacity and a heck of a lot faster for the next generation of digital still and video cameras (already good enough for most PDAs).

[Jonathon Watkins]

SD is physically small enough - it just needs to be cheaper, higher capacity and a heck of a lot faster for the next generation of digital still and video cameras (already good enough for most PDAs).

Don't forget - we also have the Mini Secure Digital format as well - backward compatible with SD -AND it's tiny.

[David C]

The real reason why so many memory format is out there is because of licencing. Every company wants to make it rich by comming up with their own standard that everyone adapt. Each time somone makes a SD card, they have to pay licencing fee to the SD group. SD group don't have to do much work, except marketing and deal inking with companies to ensure the containue usage of the SD format.

If SanDisk no longer have to pay licencing fee for every memory card they make, their return of profit would be so much larger. On top of it, they may be able to earn some licence fee from the new format too. So it make sense for every able memory manufacutre to try and come out with their own format, and get others to adapt to it.

It is really annoying to have to remember which of the many different "standards" wich device use. But, memory market is still fairly new, and there is no telling who will win at the end. I'm willing to bet there are going to be even more memory "standards" that are going to come out to the market.

[gibb-a]

Wow, are tweezers included?

I just hope that we can voice our "non-acceptance" of these new formats with our pocketbooks!

[RedRamage]

Agree, Agree, Agree with eveything said here.

I have no problem with adopting a few format if there are real advantages to it. Sure, size is an advantage. The smaller a media type is, the easier it is to fit inside of a small device like a PDA or Digital Camera or Cellphone. However, there is a point where size moves from an advantage to a liability. I already worry that my SD & MMC cards are too small and could be lost or broken relatively easily. Furthermore, if you go any smaller my big fingers are gonna have a hard time hold them.

I really can't see going with a format smaller than the SD/MMC size.

[Christian]

Since I'm an avid digital photographer, I would not consider buying a PocketPC without a CF slot. As far as I can tell, SD hasn't caught up in terms of performance... a year and a half ago, the highest capacity CF cards had a 4x lead over SD (1GB vs 256MB). Today, the lead is 8x (8GB vs 1GB). The write speed gap has also widened. What this tells me is that improving the SD format is a much better idea than coming up with yet another useless format. :evil:

[Jonathon Watkins]

Agree with you there totally Christian.

My digital Camera uses (any any I buy in the foreseeable future will use) CF cards because of the cost, media capacity, speed and size issues. I like the CF format size-wise. It does not feel as fragile as SD cards.

[bjornkeizers]

*rolls eyes* Not again. It took me long enough to get used to SD - I used to be a CF addict and I still use two of them, one in my camera and the other one as a floppy disk replacement in a USB reader :D

I won't switch to another format for a year or two at least.

If SanDisk was really listening, they'd first improve on their quality control before they start developing new stuff.


I apologize in advance. Some of you know this strange habit of mine, but every time someone mentions something bad about Sandisk, I jump in to counter their argument.

I have bought more then two dozen cards in all shapes, sizes and formats, and I have not experienced a single problem.

Carry on.

[gohtor]

boo. I would have hoped that manufacturers support the sd or xd format than to introduce yet another memory card.

[gohtor]

If SanDisk was really listening, they'd first improve on their quality control before they start developing new stuff.


I apologize in advance. Some of you know this strange habit of mine, but every time someone mentions something bad about Sandisk, I jump in to counter their argument.

I have bought more then two dozen cards in all shapes, sizes and formats, and I have not experienced a single problem.

Carry on.

I have to agree with you there. but my sandisk 256 died on me recently. probably due to overuse. I play mp3's and record audio onto that card on a daily basis. not to mention also my inbox mail attachments resides there too. All in all i'm satisfied with it but the fact that mine died and many others have had bad luck with them, I would definately recommend a non sandisk brand just to avoid the potential problem.

I can't say much about non-sandisk brands, never heard of much complaints from lexar or others.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I have to agree with you there. but my sandisk 256 died on me recently. probably due to overuse. I play mp3's and record audio onto that card on a daily basis. not to mention also my inbox mail attachments resides there too. All in all i'm satisfied with it but the fact that mine died and many others have had bad luck with them, I would definately recommend a non sandisk brand just to avoid the potential problem.

I can't say much about non-sandisk brands, never heard of much complaints from lexar or others.
Lexar is one brand that I've yet to see complaints about and they are the 2nd most used brand on this board behind SanDisk (according to a survey I saw a while back on this board). The ratio of users was something like 2:1.

Back on topic, these guys (SanDisk & Motorola & everyone else looking to further defragment the market) are sick. Just when you think you couldn't possibly defragment the market any more...

[epc]

Wow, are tweezers included?

I just hope that we can voice our "non-acceptance" of these new formats with our pocketbooks!

Agreed . the only way this nonsense will stop is by boycotting and not purchasing any of these products.

Perhaps this forum should conduct an on line survey with other sites as well and send the results to all card manufacturers. :evil:

[Pat Logsdon]

Lexar is one brand that I've yet to see complaints about and they are the 2nd most used brand on this board behind SanDisk
I've complained! :wink: Seriously, I had a bad Lexar, and found out that they buy about half of their SD controllers from SanDisk. Go figure, eh?

Back on topic: Since I've moved on from my Axim, I have no use for CF, but I'll be GOSH-DARNED to HECK if I'm going to move away from SD! :mrgreen:

I feel sorry for the people who are going to get suckered into buying products that use these things. They'll be hurting a year or so later when they find that the cards aren't being made anymore due to poor sales. :roll:

[wigglesworth]

I have a 1Gb & a 256MB card from Sandisk and have never run into any problems with their performance.
Being on a relativly small income this will affect my buying choices in the future, both my PDA & Camera take Type one CF cards. Moving to a new format if it is adopted by PDA & Camera manufactures will limit who I buy from.
In my case I will continue to buy from those who still support my current type of media and I have chosen to stop buying cards from Sandisk.
On a side note I sent an email to sandisk with a link to this thread.

[bjornkeizers]

I feel sorry for the people who are going to get suckered into buying products that use these things. They'll be hurting a year or so later when they find that the cards aren't being made anymore due to poor sales. :roll:

Indeed. Real life example: I was out on a job with a classmate of mine, and both of us had brought our cameras. His was a sony, mine is a Canon Digital Ixus V2. So, mine uses CF and his uses MS.

Now, he wants to buy a bigger card - he only got a 16 mb stick with it, good for.. three whole pictures. I told him: he'd be better off dumping the cam altogether; as the best he could get would be a 128 mb memory stick, which would be 30 euro more expensive then a similar sized CF card. But, I can get 256 or 512 mb cards off the shelve just fine - he can't get more then 128 mb because there simply isn't a card that size, and the 2x128 mb isn't a perfect solution for cameras...

His camera is old, and can't take MS pro, and even if it could, the new Pros are like three times as expensive as CF or SD in the same size...

Oh the joys of new formats..