Samsung Announce Larger Flash Memory Chips: 32Gb on the Cards

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122514,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...d,122514,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Samsung Electronics has announced a new flash memory chip that should pave the way for removable memory cards that can hold up to 32GB of data. . . . The new chip will allow memory-card makers to design cards with a capacity of 32GB by putting 16 of these chips into a single card. To put that into perspective, a 32GB memory card would be able to store 8000 MP3 audio files or 20 DVD-quality movies in a handheld device such as a mobile phone, according to Samsung. . . In addition, the SD Card Association, an industry group established to promote the card format, has said SD cards with a capacity of 8GB are in the pipeline, but it has not said when they will be available."</i><br /><br />Excellent news. I still can't get over the thought of one tiny SD or CF card containing thirty two gigabytes of goodness. (That was Thirty Two Gigabytes of Storage btw!). As Samsung say, that's a lot of MP3s. Commercial production of the flash memory chips is planned for the second half of 2006 and so far no memory-card makers have committed to producing 32GB memory cards, but give them time. With tech toys such as these, it's like Christmas as a kid; the future never arrives fast enough ;-)

[marcm]

Wow! I can't even imagine what I would do with an 8GB SD card and a 32GB CF card in my x50v! 40GB of storage... 8O that would be alot of 640x480 DivX videos! :wink: I guess if manufacturers could put the memory chips directly into Pocket PCs, they could also become great PMCs right when they are bought! The future is great! :D

[Gremmie]

What I thought was interesting was flash trying to replace hard drives...it would be nice. It's not a new concept, there is a computer that uses flash memory to put all essential OS files. (http://www.go-l.com/desktops/machl38/features/)

[pjerry220]

Late 2006 is too late for that technology. I want my 32GBs now. As long as I can encrypt the data on the device. You do not want that much information on a card that could get lost and have no encryption on it.

[Darius Wey]

So, how much will it cost? ;)

[ricksfiona]

When these chips go into production in late 2006, we probably won't see them incorporated into SD cards and such until 2007. I hope it's sooner than that, but that's still amazing. I hope they don't cost as much as the devices they are going to go into!

With 32GB of storage available to cellphones and PDAs, it is going to be even more important for software vendors to develop software that is more powerful than we currently use. Pocket Excel, Word and Outlook will have to be much more capable than they are now.

Having this amount of memory available on the smallest of devices will have to raise the bar on all other technologies especially cellular speeds and CPU processing power.

The future IS looking great though!

[Muntasser]

I said it once and I'll say it again, pure PWNAGE! :devilboy:

[Jason Dunn]

If nothing else, this will make more "reasonable" storage card sizes in the 2GB - 4GB range really affordable. :mrgreen:

[hvn99]

Just imagine if a 32 GB SD card was available... If one was to unwrap 3 such cards and create a smaller interface e.g. solder it to the motherboard of a PPC and voila almost 100 GB in a pocket PC, nice!!!

[jlp]

...I guess if manufacturers could put the memory chips directly into Pocket PCs, they could also become great PMCs right when they are bought! The future is great! :D

Who would buy a $3,000 PPC? (today's price for 1GB SD card varies fro m $55 to 82, so count on about $2,600 for memory alone)

And hvn99's 100GB PPC would cost, well, way too much... :evil: