SanDisk Announces 16GB microSDHC

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=4398' target='_blank'>http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/Pr...se.aspx?ID=4398</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory products, today announced it is bringing to market its 16GB* microSDHC&trade; and Memory Stick Micro&trade; (M2&trade;) mobile memory cards - the world&rsquo;s largest removable storage capacity for mobile phones. Best Buy Mobile (NYSE: BBY) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) stores are the first major retail outlets in the United States to carry the 16GB capacity. The fingernail-sized 16GB memory cards allow consumers to &ldquo;wake up&rdquo; the many storage-intensive features offered by today&rsquo;s portable handsets such as music and video playback, high-definition digital camera functions, gaming and GPS applications.&nbsp; In addition to the mobile phone, consumers can use the 16GB microSDHC card in a multitude of other devices, including video cameras, GPS receivers or MP3 players with a microSD&trade; slots such as SanDisk&rsquo;s Sansa&reg; players."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/spt/auto/1222777527.usr2.jpg" /></p><p>Like the sound of a 16GB microSDHC in your Omnia, Touch Pro, Touch Diamo... oh wait, no slot in that one.</p><p>Cruel jokes aside, this is certainly a welcome addition to the microSDHC family. If you're in the US, it'll be available at Best Buy Mobile stores in October and Verizon Wireless stores in November at an MSRP of $99.99. Anyone plan on purchasing one?</p>

[onlydarksets]

Wow - that 32gb artificial cap on SDHC caught up pretty quick, didn't it?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Only hope that artifical gap is easily removed.

With a MSRP of US$100, how much will it actually be in stores?

[Gerard]

My guess would be brick and mortar store price of $79.99 by Christmas, online auction (buy now price) of $60 by the same time. It seems memory starts dropping in price within a month of release these days, with the odd bounce back up... but there are always many alternative sellers to go to.

As for the 'will you buy this one' question, nah. Once bitten, twice shy, the old saw goes. I've twice lost data thanks to two different capacity Sandisk SD cards, and will certainly not be buying memory from that company again. The only other card which has failed for me was a 64MB Lexar CF card, and to be fair, I worked that poor thing hard with a LOT of file swapping and card swapping (for modems, camera cards, other memory cards) over 3 years in several differenct Pocket PCs. I don't think the actual memory was even corrupted, just the pin interface, which gradually died over a few months, more and more often failing to be recognised. I've used a number of Patriot and Transcend SD and miniSD cards since, and none of these has ever caused so much as a hiccough.

[Craig Horlacher]

As for the 'will you buy this one' question, nah. Once bitten, twice shy, the old saw goes. I've twice lost data thanks to two different capacity Sandisk SD cards, and will certainly not be buying memory from that company again.
I've had a zillion cards over the years. My first pda, at least 12 years ago, was an HP OmniGo that used PCMCIA cards. I got an early flash based 6MB card. At that time most needed batteries because they were like RAM. It was new to have a solid state card that didn't need a battery. I think I paid about $180 for that 6MB card and that was a good price!

I've only had about 2 cards go bad. I think one was a transend and I don't remember what the other was. Anyway, I've found Sandisk to be reliable. I also have other transend cards that are still fine. Most of my cards are CF and SD but I also have MSDuo, and MicroSD now.

I try for good deals generally and havn't found one brand better than others. SanDisk may actually be the largest manufacturer of flash memory. I think they make it for some other brands who just rebrand and make their own casing but don't make the memory.

Anyway, I hope everyone doesn't cross sandisk off their list! In fact, the best deal in microsd I've found is the Sandisk package (there are differnet capacities) that comes with the smallest usb card reader I've ever seen for a keychain!!! If you have a phone that takes microsd and don't have one go to Amazon or something and order one now! You'll know it when you see it! The red one is reglular and the gray one is high speed - whatever that means.

...btw...I do want to buy a 16GB for my WinMo phone but I need WinMo 6.1 to support HC!!!! I hope it comes out soon for my iMate 6150. I've heard it could be any time.

[Pony99CA]

If you're in the US, it'll be available at Best Buy Mobile stores in October and Verizon Wireless stores in November at an MSRP of $99.99. Anyone plan on purchasing one?
I would definitely consider getting this to replace my SanDisk 8 GB MicroSD card in my Motorola Q9m, but I just bought the 8 GB card over the summer, so I think I'll wait for the price to drop a bit.

Plus, BestBuy and Verizon don't exactly sell memory cards for the best prices.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

Wow - that 32gb artificial cap on SDHC caught up pretty quick, didn't it?
Why is it an "artificial" cap? If the architecture doesn't allow for addressing more than 32 GB, I don't consider that "artificial". The original Sony Memory Stick was capped at 128 MB (I believe), SD was capped at 1 GB (although you could get 2 or 4 GB with various tricks, I think), various iterations of the FAT file system had different caps, etc.

And what would a "real" cap be? Certainly not size (at least not until you get to the subatomic level), because memory keeps getting smaller every year, it seems.

Just curious....

Steve

[Pony99CA]

As for the 'will you buy this one' question, nah. Once bitten, twice shy, the old saw goes. I've twice lost data thanks to two different capacity Sandisk SD cards, and will certainly not be buying memory from that company again.
I had a SanDisk SD card go bad, too, and remember that they had a pretty bad reputation (either AximSite or AximUsers kept a memory card failure database).

However, I've used a few SanDisk MiniSD and MicroSD cards since then in my Motorola V710, Motorola Q and Motorola Q9m and haven't had a problem. While I wouldn't have recommended them a few years ago, I would today.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

In fact, the best deal in microsd I've found is the Sandisk package (there are differnet capacities) that comes with the smallest usb card reader I've ever seen for a keychain!!! If you have a phone that takes microsd and don't have one go to Amazon or something and order one now!
That's the one I got -- the SanDisk 8 GB MicroSD & MobileMate Reader (http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-MicroSDHC-Memory-MobileMate-Package/dp/B000WPDKRI/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1222813049&sr=8-1). I got mine at Fry's, though (although that Amazon link is now less than I paid).

Steve

[onlydarksets]

Why is it an "artificial" cap? If the architecture doesn't allow for addressing more than 32 GB, I don't consider that "artificial". The original Sony Memory Stick was capped at 128 MB (I believe), SD was capped at 1 GB (although you could get 2 or 4 GB with various tricks, I think), various iterations of the FAT file system had different caps, etc.

And what would a "real" cap be? Certainly not size (at least not until you get to the subatomic level), because memory keeps getting smaller every year, it seems.

Just curious....

Steve
The technical cap for SDHC is 2048GB (yes, 2TB!). The SD group however, placed an artificial limit of 32GB on it. I have no idea why they did that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#SDHC_cards_with_greater_than_32_GB_capacity

[Pony99CA]

The technical cap for SDHC is 2048GB (yes, 2TB!). The SD group however, placed an artificial limit of 32GB on it. I have no idea why they did that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#SDHC_cards_with_greater_than_32_GB_capacity
Thanks for that reference. However, it only stated that the file system has a 2 TB limit; maybe some other part of the standard is more limited (the controller, perhaps?).

I don't know for sure, obviously, but I would assume there's some technical reason behind the limit. What would be the point if there weren't? (I know you said you have no idea, but maybe somebody else does. If the SD Card Association was still located in tiny Hollister, I'd call them and ask....)

Steve

[onlydarksets]

My best guess is that it's tied to FAT32 (which I think had the same 32GB limit until they got around it somehow).