Samsung develops 8GB MicroSD

[dfkt]

Sansa e200 users, rejoice. No word if it's SDHC - seems to be a normal SD card?


Samsung via Gizmodo

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today announced that it has developed an 8Gigabyte (GB) microSD (Secure Digital) memory card, a size optimal for today’s multimedia mobile phones. Featuring the highest capacity today for a microSD card, the new fingernail-sized card is capable of storing 2,000 MP3 music files, 4,000 digital photos, or approximately 5 DVD-quality movies.

SD cards, to date, have been largely used for data storage in digital still cameras and increasingly in televisions. MicroSD cards, which are a quarter the size of an SD card, are backward compatible with SD cards using an extender, to allow multimedia files downloaded by mobile phones to be easily displayed on other media.

With a read speed of 16 Megabytes (MBs) per second and a write speed of 6MB/s, Samsung’s 8GB microSD card well exceeds the Speed Class 4 SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) standard which requires a data write speed of 4MB/s. This is also much faster than the SD Speed Class 2 designation carried by most competing microSD cards currently on the market.

This achievement is the latest in a string of record-breaking improvements in flash memory cards for Samsung as it continues to aggressively pursue its goal of being the development leader for the SD card market, as well as the competing MMC (multimedia card) market.

The market research firm Dataquest predicts that the memory card market as a whole will average 10 percent annual growth between 2006 and 2010, while demand for high density 8GB cards will grow an average of 2.6 times per year over the same period. By 2010, the 8GB memory card will be the market mainstream in terms of units sold.

[CrowdAds]

[Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander]

That is good news! Another advancement in the Flash-HD War...
I wonder how the price will fare?

[Andreas]

that thing is gotta be sdhc, i see no possibility of it not being that, seeing there arent even 8gb SD cards that are not sdhc

[dfkt]

Yeah, that's true... I wonder why they don't call it SDHC in the press release? Probably Samsung's marketing department doesn't know too much about the tech aspects of their products.

[Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Probably Samsung's marketing department doesn't know too much about the tech aspects of their products.

Hey that tongue wasn't called for! Isn't MicroSDHC already available in 32GB? That wouldn't make it a 'record storage capacity'. Since MicroSD is already available in 4GB, an 8GB is the next logical development. Take a look at the symbol on the cards in the above links, why would a MicroSD symbol be on a HC card? Both articles address mobile phones and currently the Palm Treo 680 is the only phone/PDA/smartphone featuring microSDHC support. Since microSD cards are primarily used in mobile phones it makes sense for the article to address this.

Maybe that makes it more clear.

[dfkt]

Yeah, there's nowhere a SDHC logo on the cards... hmmm... interesting. I always thought 4GB is the maximum of the oldskool SD specs.

Of course the pic could be a mockup, since the cards are not yet released to the general public.

[Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander]

I think (theoretically) the maximum for a microSD is 128GB, or something crazy, but I suppose an 8GB is the highest that has been physically made.

[dfkt]

Yes, the theoretical addressing space is 128GB in LBA mode, but I didn't think anyone would release old-spec SD cards with as large storage space (and about the same speed) as the newer SDHC-spec cards. There isn't any normal-SD 8GB card available, only SDHC in that size, AFAIK.

Let's wait and see how this turns out.

Anyway, an 8GB MicroSD would be quite nice for my Nintendo DS's M3 cart - 8GB of DS games at once on-the-go... yummy.

[redyellowpinkgreen]

please excuse my ignorance, but does that mean that my sansa could be 16GB? i know the most it'll take is 2GB but is that a hardware or firmware issue?

[sumx4182]

it's SDHC according to Engaget...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/27/s...s-4gb-m2-card/

[Tobey]

Originally Posted by redyellowpinkgreen

please excuse my ignorance, but does that mean that my sansa could be 16GB? i know the most it'll take is 2GB but is that a hardware or firmware issue?

With a firmware update, yes it could be possible.

[Lacene]

Originally Posted by sumx4182

it's SDHC according to Engaget...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/27/s...s-4gb-m2-card/

actually the OP that dfkt posted was for Samsung, and a different micro SD, but I believe that is also SDHC, like the Sandisk version.

I've never seen 4GB microSD's, so I doubt that they would jump straight to 8GB. I would love it, however, if a firmware write-up would allow for SDHC's to work with the Sansa. 16GB flash with my e280 would be sweet....

[oregon]

I have seen 4GB microSD's at my Verizon store, and they sold for 129.99$. That's the only place I've seen them though. I wish other stores would hurry up and get them in stock. And price them fairly.