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Tag: memory-cards

  • 2TB Memory Cards By 2010?


    Storage of consumer electronics could be boosted by as much as 2TB with the arrival of a new generation of memory cards.

    That’s the expectation of the SD Association, which suggest Secure Digital memory cards based on the new SDXC (extended capacity) specification could be out as early as next year.

    Initially they would offer a capacity of 64GB but this is expected to climb quickly to 2TB.

    The SDA announced the SDXC specification at the start of the year without being able to specify when products would become available.

    However, companies such as Panasonic have already announced plans to develop memory cards based on the new specification.

    The SD Association has about 1,100 member companies, including Toshiba and SanDisk, involved in the design, manufacture and sale of products using SD technology.

    Joseph Unsworth, research director, NAND Flash Semiconductors, at Gartner, said SDXC combines a higher capacity roadmap with faster transfer speeds as a means to exploit NAND flash memory technology.

    He said it makes a compelling choice for portable memory storage and interoperability.

    "With industry support, SDXC presents manufacturers with the opportunity to kindle consumer demand for more advanced handset features and functionality in consumer electronics behind the ubiquitous SD interface," he said.

    SD cards can be slotted into consumer electronics devices to store images, video or other data.

    The new specification will replace SD slots and media based on the older SDHC specification commonly used in devices.

    The SDXC specification upgrades the storage capacity and cuts the data-transfer bottlenecks that plagued earlier specifications.

    Shigeto Kanda, general manager at Canon, said SDXC is a large-capacity card that can store more than 4,000 RAW images, which is the uncompressed mode professionals use.

    He said that capacity, combined with the exFAT file system, increases movie recording time and reduces starting time to improve photocapturing opportunities.

    "Improvements in interface speed allow further increases in continuous shooting speed and higher resolution movie recordings," he said.

    "As a memory card well suited to small-sized user-friendly digital cameras, the SDXC specification will help consumers realize the full potential of our cameras."

    The new slots will be backward compatible and support older SD media. However, older SD slots will not support new media.

  • Sony Ericsson Drops Proprietary Memory Cards For Standard MicroSD


    Sony Ericsson is to stop using its proprietary memory card format in favor of the standard and more popular MicroSD.

    The change will will make moving content between the mobile handsets and PCs easier.

    Among the first Sony Ericsson products to make the shift from Sony’s own Memory Stick Micro cards will be the Satio, Aino and Yari announced last week.

    Sony’s memory cards are a bit narrower and longer than the standard ones made by SanDisk and other companies – making it impossible to insert it into a computer’s built-in memory card reader.

    A user was required to connect their phone to the computer using a cable to transfer music, photos and other content between the two devices.

    While that’s standard practice for many phones, including the iPhone, having standard components makes it easier if not also cheaper.

  • Growing Appeal of Memory Card Movies For Mobiles


    Watching movies on smartphones has in the past had its drawbacks – picture quality, screen size and memory limitations among the most obvious.

    Those are fading rapidly but it seems that delivering video content to mobiles is occupying a lot of people’s attention.

    In the US Alltel Wireless is offering buyers of the new touchscreen Samsung Delve a free 2 GB microSD memory card if they buy the handset before April 16.

    What makes the offer interesting is that Paramount Pictures will put the Mission: Impossible trilogy on the card.

    At last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, smartphone-biz-news spoke to Marine Desoutter, marketing manager with Mobilclip, about its video compression technology that puts movies on memory cards.

    She said the French company has distributed over 100 movie titles worldwide on Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung handsets.

    "Mobile video consumers have not had an optimal experience with video quality on their devices," she said.

    "To change their perception and really deliver on expectations that video quality on mobile devices must match TV or PC quality, the same experience needs to be delivered."

    Desoutter said Mobiclip memory card movies provided full screen display on QVGA handsets (320×240 pixels), 25 frames per second and highly optimized codec for lower battery consumption.

    The memory cards can be used on any handset with a card slot running Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, Palm or Linux operating systems.

    Certainly the quality of the video can’t be faulted but whether movie deals bundled with mobiles will become a standard feature in the near future remains to be seen.

    A survey just released suggests that embedded content is an increasingly strong influence in swaying consumers’ mobile purchase decisions.

    So perhaps the offer of some blockbuster movies on a memory card will be equally persuasive.

    We’d be interested in hearing if you think that’s so.

  • SanDisk and LG Offer Flash Storage Services for Mobile Networks


    SanDisk Corporation and LG Electronics have demonstrated a new technology for mobile phones that offers multimedia-rich services using removable flash memory cards.

    It enables mobile network operators (MNOs) to distribute preloaded and downloaded content on removable memory cards, while restricting the accessibility of such premium content to their network subscribers.

    The content protection service is made possible by enabling memory cards to authenticate user credentials via data on the SIM card.

    SanDisk and LG Electronics demonstrated the technology using the new LG KC910 Renoir.

    It ensures that content preloaded in the cards can only be used in approved handsets.

    The two companies have worked closely to implement this new technology.

    SanDisk’s technology brings flexible storage-based services to network operators by allowing IP connectivity to the memory card in the handset.

    The memory card serves as a network node that is remotely manageable by the operator using industry-standard TCP/IP and OMA Smart Card Web Server.

    Amir Lehr, senior director of business development at SanDisk, said the technology would allow handset manufacturers and MNOs to meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of consumers who want easy access to premium content on their mobile devices.

    He said it marks the beginning of a new era in mobile phone service and content distribution.

    LG Electronics’ adoption of new technologies like the OMA SmartCard Web Server (SCWS) standard, allows the subscriber’s SIM card to be used as an authorization server.

  • Memory Cards Earn Best Handset Accessory Revenue Return


    Memory cards provide the greatest revenue of all mobile phone add-ons, according ABI Research.

    This is despite cellular handset accessories such as chargers and batteries shipping far more units in what is today a USD $58 billion industry.

    Driven by the photo, audio and video demands of media-centric handsets and smartphones, these memory cards, largely from third-party suppliers such as SanDisk, will see a 17 per cent compound annual growth rate in shipments over the years to 2013.

    Industry analyst Michael Morgan said that of all accessories, memory cards deliver the best revenue return.

    "In fact, as production has outstripped demand the market is currently oversupplied, leading to a 60 per cent year-over-year fall in per-Megabyte prices," he said.

    "However, the memory capacity of the cards being sold is always increasing, and the resulting higher Megabyte volumes more than offset the decline in ASP."

    Handset makers have been putting inexpensive low-capacity cards into smartphone and media phone boxes for some time.

    Morgan said there is currently a point of friction between handset vendors and carriers: the operators want all memory cards out of the box, preferring to sell higher-capacity cards separately.

    "The challenge for mobile operators is that subsidizing handset accessories means losing some of the high margins that they earn through the sales of these products," he said.

    "But subsidies also mean that many more subscribers will have handset accessories such as memory cards, and will be more likely to use mobile music services or download songs, leading to higher data ARPUs for operators."

  • HD Video Download Service Allows Blu-ray Recording


    Japan is to get the world’s first HDTV video download service that allows users to export high-def content from HDDs to Blu-ray Disc.

    Tsutaya online provides video content from a server to compatible digital home appliances and allows the content to be copied on Blu-ray Disc, iVDR-S and memory cards.

    Tsutaya obtained permission to use seven of the technologies that can export content based on MarlinDRM specifications.

    The service, which is to be launched on 19 December, will offer over 400 titles, including movies and TV programs created by US film companies.

    Tsutaya online has gained permission to dub HDTV content from them.

    HDTV video can be exported, without down conversion, to Blu-ray Disc, DVD-R DL (AVCREC) and iVDR-S media.

    AACS will be applied to recording on Blu-ray Disc and DVD-R DL media, while SAFIA will be applied to recording on iVDR-S media.

    Video can also be delivered in a form protected by DTCP-IP to DLNA-compatible devices.

    Tsutaya expects to be able to offer a down-convert service from HD to SD, with the content than able to be recorded on SD memory cards, Memory Stick PRO and EMPR (embedded memory with playback and recording function).