SanDisk Ships 1 Gigabyte SD Card

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, January 27, 2004 6:01:24 PM

SanDisk is has begun shipping the world’s first production one-gigabyte Secure Digital (SD) flash card this week, which contains a unique “stackable” packaging technology jointly implemented with Sharp. The card was created via a new process that doubled the memory capacity without increasing the card size.

This new package employs a low-cost, high-yielding die-stacking process that is designed to enable SanDisk to double the memory capacity without increasing the size of the card, thus launching a new generation of competitively-priced, higher-density flash devices that can store unprecedented amounts of pictures, music and video.

The 1GB card debuts with a suggested retail price of $499.99. However, some online retailers are now offering the card starting around $389 USD. The card has the capacity to store more than 30 hours of digitally compressed music, 1,000 high-resolution digital images and over five hours of MPEG-4 compressed video.

1 Gigabyte SD CardDuring the fourth quarter of 2003 SD became the most popular flash memory card in America, representing 39 percent of U.S. retail sales in November and surging ahead of CF, Memory Stick and all other card formats. In December, the SD Card Association reported that more than 1,500 products were using the SD format, which has built-in Content Protection Rights Management designed to facilitate the secure exchange of content between devices and the card.

“This is truly a breakthrough in the packaging technology that was designed to enable SanDisk to double the card capacity using the same memory technology,” said Yoram Cedar, SanDisk’s Senior Vice-President of Engineering. “Sharp’s expertise was instrumental in allowing us to develop the 1-gigabyte SD Card, which is the primary storage medium for the newest handheld computers, compact digital camcorders and multimedia phones. This process can also be applied to other form factors such as Compact Flash (CF) and Memory Stick (MS), and we expect to use it in future products that require high-capacity flash mass storage.”

Among the smallest of flash memory cards, the SD is only 2.1 millimeters thick and is the size of a postage stamp. Despite those limitations, SanDisk, working closely with Sharp’s Integrated Circuits Group, devised a way to stack additional layers of NAND MLC die in ultra-thin internal packages without increasing the overall size of the card. In what Sharp describes as its 3D-SiP (Three-Dimensional System in Package) process, two ultra-thin packages can now be vertically mounted in the same height that currently houses a single package.

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Price isn't that great

talos4 @ 1/27/2004 8:09:31 PM #
$ 389.00 (discounted) isn't ridiculous, but it is still somewhat greater than the cost of 2 512's.

The best news is that this will drop the price of 512's and 256's.

I'll wait for Panasonic's 1 GB.

R

Breakthrough size for me.
Timothy Rapson @ 1/27/2004 8:19:07 PM #
I have been waiting, seemingly forever, for a gig sollution. I really intend to wait for the $100 1 gig card. That is the price and size that I think would make music storage and playing on a PDA worth doing. I tried to listen to musin from a 128 card and the same four CDs worth of music gets old. As does swapping it back and forth from CDs.

1 gig would allow me to store all the stuff I need with me all the time (my pictures, docs, books, tools) plus several CDs worth of music.

Now, some day I would like to be able to also hold 10-20 hours of video memories. That is WAY FAR OFF in the future. By the time these SDs get to $100 we may have 20 gig internal hard disks in our PDAs. Or Sony's new PSP with it's newer higher capacity MiniDiscs. We'll see. As it stands now, I will probably wind up with a 512 MB sollution and may never get that magical 1 gig flash card.

RE: Price isn't that great
cyberdude @ 1/28/2004 1:12:37 AM #
I'm glad to see this don't get me wrong but I would have a hard time justifying paying more for the memory than I did for the PDA. Another nagging question is do I really need five hours of MPEG-4 compressed video when my T3 battery would only last for 3 hrs?
RE: Price isn't that great
JonathanChoo @ 1/29/2004 3:11:03 PM #
5 hours of Mpeg-4 would be great on my 5 hour T3.

--
Generic Casio > Psion 5> Palm Vx > m505 > Sony N770C > T625C > NR70V > Toshiba e310 > T/T > HP h2210 > T/T3

StarTac > Ericsson T28m > 39m > T68m > T610

RE: Price isn't that great, or that bad.
RAMd®d @ 1/30/2004 10:05:33 AM #
I too don't want to pay more for a chip than I did for my T3. It's not matter of whether or not it's "overpriced"; it's just not at a price point that intrigues me. Yet. But a 1G SD is pretty cool.

I still need to learn how to organize files on my 512 card.. Using it doesn't seem as easy or the same as using a FW HD on my computer.

$100 for 1G? I'd bet that's at least one year away, at this point. Not that I *need* one any sooner than that. But I'd probably pay $200 for one if it got here soon enough.

I don't really want a second card, but the price of 256/512 cards will probably make it quite difficult to avoid picking up another one.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

RE: Price isn't that great
Altema @ 2/1/2004 9:30:34 AM #
I had to wait until the weekend to do this test properly, but since we mentioned battery life in relation to playtime, I was able to get 6 hours and 28 minutes of MP3 playback out of a T3 before the battery got down to 25%. Volume was at 30% which a decent volume for my headphones. It could have run longer of connected to a line input, or if I had not kept turning the screen back on to check levels ;)

Bad Sandisk

Hal2000 @ 1/27/2004 9:30:16 PM #
I can't wait to pop this 1 gig travesty into my Z2 and watch it mess up all jointly shared apps. My Sandisk 512 does this now (rec'd as a gift or I'd take it back)......take it out......no problems. It works ok 50% of the time. I'll also wait for the Panasonic. Does anyone else have trouble with Sandisk Cards?

Zodiac2/T616
RE: Bad Sandisk
a_nonamiss @ 1/28/2004 8:58:08 AM #
Quote:

Does anyone else have trouble with Sandisk Cards

End Quote:

Boy, that's a loaded question in this forum...

Arthur

Palm Pilot 1000 > Palm Pilot Professional > Palm III > Palm M100 > Sony Clié PEG-T415 > Palm T|T3

RE: Bad Sandisk
Altema @ 1/28/2004 2:30:00 PM #
LOL!

Isn't this a total waste of time?

Louis Berk @ 1/28/2004 1:56:56 AM #
'Ang on! Isn't this a total waste of time for Palm users? I thought there was a problem using anything greater than a 256MB card reliably in any of the Tungsten range - or is that just an ugly rumour?

Louis

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
Sho-Bud @ 1/28/2004 2:02:08 AM #
That must be an ugly rumor, since my 512 Mb card works like a dream.

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
justauser @ 1/28/2004 7:39:48 AM #
I use a T/T. I've had 2 SanDisk cards (128Mb and 256Mb) and both have died one way or another. My friend has had exactly the same experience and he uses an IPaq. The last 256Mb card I had died when using it with a SanDisk cruiser reader! SanDisk products are just plain buggy. It's got nothing to do with the hardware that uses them.

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
a_nonamiss @ 1/28/2004 8:59:12 AM #
That was the case originally with the T|T3, but Palm has long since remedied this problem.

Arthur

Palm Pilot 1000 > Palm Pilot Professional > Palm III > Palm M100 > Sony Clié PEG-T415 > Palm T|T3

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
borgiaX @ 1/28/2004 9:44:59 AM #
this may not be a total waste, but it does beg the question " is there a use for cards of this size on PDA's".
as one post pointed out, using a card like this for music requires more battery life than currently availalble, using this for movies should ideally require a larger screen or higher resolution screen, what application or use is out there currently or in the near future to make the investment in a 1 gig SD card for a PDA worthwhile???


Flagrans Veritatis Studio

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
mtc111 @ 1/28/2004 12:18:35 PM #
I use Mapopolis to view street level maps of anywhere in the US. All the US maps take over 750M of space. Yup, I could certainly use the 1G card.

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
fleegle @ 1/28/2004 12:56:31 PM #
"...using a card like this for music requires more battery life than currently availalble..."

Come on, it doesn't mean that you're going to play all songs in one sitting. It means that you store more songs on one card so you have more of a choice of which songs to listen to without swapping cards.

Using your reasoning, the 40 GB iPod is useless because it can hold 10,000 songs but only has 8 hours of battery life.

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
pd_workman @ 1/28/2004 1:57:40 PM #
With some programs starting to read files in their native formats, it would be nice to be able to mirror your PC hard drive (data directories at least) to a 1 Gb SD card, and have all of the files that you need handy all the time. Of course, programs like DTG need to add a feature to navigate to a particular directory on the card rather than dumping all compatible files into one window, but IMHO that functionality will not be too far distant.

I for one, would be delighted to be able to carry my electronic client files with me for out-of-office reference and editting.

pdw

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
Altema @ 1/28/2004 2:33:40 PM #
"SanDisk products are just plain buggy. It's got nothing to do with the hardware that uses them."

Very true. My Toshiba card worked fine from day one in the T3. Palm adapted to SanDisk's problem by slowing down the write speed to well below the T3 capabilities, just so certain cards could handle it without freaking out.

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
justauser @ 1/29/2004 2:47:43 AM #
Further to my previous posting, my friend's second 256Mb SanDisk card has just failed - he uses a Sandisk Cruiser and an IPaq :( so my Palm T/T had nothing to do with it. And by 'failed' I mean between us we have had a 256Mb and a 128Mb cards totally fail (couldn't be formatted and no device would even recognise it) we have had a 128Mb card and a 256Mb card reduced to only 40Mb usable capacity. ALL SanDisk and ALL bad. For crying out loud SanDisk, these things are expensive! What are they good for if they don't work on the most popular devices on the market?

RE: Isn't this a total waste of time?
Altema @ 1/29/2004 10:11:45 AM #
"using a card like this for music requires more battery life than currently availalble, using this for movies should ideally require a larger screen or higher resolution screen, what application or use is out there currently or in the near future to make the investment in a 1 gig SD card for a PDA worthwhile???"

Fleegle already covered the battery issue, but just as an additional FYI, the battery expansion pack takes any UC equipped Palm past 15 hours of continous runtime, possibly close to 20 hours for MP3 only.

Regarding the screen size and resolution, the hi-res+ Clies, the Tapwave Zodiac, and the Palm T3 all support 420x320 landscape mode which works out well with widescreen video. The resolution is more than adequate, but screen size is only good for intimate viewing. I know that some portable DVD players have screens that are not much bigger, but every inch makes a difference. However I've found that the screen size works out well in situations like keeping the kids entertained, or during a late night date after stopping at a drive-thru (set the handheld on the dash and plug the audio into the stero system).

The big problem with going higher resolution is storage space. I could fit a full hour of video on a 256MB card for 160x160 resolution, but can only fit about 15 minutes of 480x320 fullscreen with stereo.

Would it be worth the investment? Not for me, at least not at current prices. When they get below $300 I'll probably jump.

Digital cameras use SD cards too!

MediaBaron @ 1/28/2004 2:20:22 AM #
Canon is prepared to announce the new Canon 1D Mark II professional SLR and it has an SD slot in it, along with CF slot. What this means is that professional photographer can now shoot on a 1GB SD card and transmit images remotely using a Palm OS device, I say it's about time since the only solution so far has been to use a Pocket PC device for the CF slot.

I say great for the 1GB SD card, it's the most popular memory card format at this time.

SanDisk may finally get some credit

M3wThr33 @ 1/28/2004 2:53:47 AM #
Well, with the delayed Wi-Fi AGAIN I was a bit miffed, although this warms my heart. I wonder what Sony would charge for a 1GB MSPro stick?

I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. We're in space.
RE: SanDisk may finally get some credit
Timothy Rapson @ 1/28/2004 7:56:16 AM #
1 gig Memory Stick Pros have beeen out for a few months. At Price Grabber you can find they are selling for $358 Sandisk, and $427 Sony.

RE: SanDisk may finally get some credit
orol @ 1/28/2004 9:31:22 AM #
MS pro from sony can be ebayed for around $350 shipping included

not to mention, it took "only" one year to follow MS to get to the mystic !gb SD. clie users can now enjoy 2GB card :o)

so maybe in one year from now, we will see a 2gb SD card :o00

Pretec announced 1GB MMC Card

karlberlin @ 1/28/2004 3:16:11 AM #
In another forum I found the following link

http://www.pretec.com/PR/PR_1GB%20MMC%20%20010804.pdf

Pretec has announced a 1 GB MMC card, saying that this will be fast than any SD Card. Furthermore, at least in the past, MMC cards were much cheaper too.
So wouldn't that be the better solution?
I know for PDA you don't need the speed but if you want to use it for a camera too, than speed is really good!

RE: Pretec announced 1GB MMC Card
Wollombi @ 1/28/2004 2:10:39 PM #
Sure, but the SanDisk is currently shipping. The Pretech MMC card is merely announced, with no samples yet, meaning it's vaporware until we see it on shelves.

Sad, though, I'd rather have the Pretech card.

_________________
Sean

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

Just an interim solution...

palmhiker @ 1/28/2004 8:31:17 AM #
A 1GB SD is good news, but in probably less than 2 years I believe we will see the micro-hard drives with capacities of several GB's in most PDA's.

These HD's will likely cost less for manufacturers to implement than for users to purchase these higher capacity memory cards.

RE: Just an interim solution...
helf @ 1/28/2004 10:11:48 AM #
yeah, those littel half inch micro HDDs are pretty cool. 2-4 gigs :)

RE: Just an interim solution...
Wollombi @ 1/28/2004 2:12:51 PM #
Oh, yeah. They're real cool, and also come with all the fragility of a mechanical hard drive. Granted, shock protection on these babies have gotten better, but you still risk your data every time you drop your PDA, use your PDA in very hot or very cold temperatures, pass through any sort of magnetic field, etc. Solid state memory doesn't have these drawbacks, nor is it hindered by the speed issues of seek times on spinning platters.

_________________
Sean

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

RE: Just an interim solution...
ozz @ 1/28/2004 5:25:20 PM #
Not to mention the fact that the 2-6 GB micro-hard drives will probably cost about $1,000 or more, at least initially. No thank you.

_________________________
Lord, help me become the person my dog thinks I am!
That will be a good sized "interim" for some people.
RAMd®d @ 1/30/2004 10:17:11 AM #
While I applaud the ideal of mini/micro-drives, I wonder about their shock resistance. They seem to work very well in the iPods. But a PDA falling from a shirt pocket could really give them a jolt.

But of more concern is battery drain. They have to be tougher on a battery than a chip. There may be some great applications for HDs, but I'd prefer to keep them out of an already power hungry PDA with a too small battery as is.

Maybe a solar cell based screen, like some older Pulsar watches... Except not many of us may use our PDAs out doors or in strong light.



______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

RE: Just an interim solution...
ADBrown @ 2/3/2004 1:59:43 PM #
>Not to mention the fact that the 2-6 GB micro-hard
>drives will probably cost about $1,000 or more, at
>least initially. No thank you.

4 GB microdrives can be had right now for under $200.

Will this Sandisk blow up my TC?

Lab_monkee @ 1/28/2004 11:26:41 AM #
I've read the user comments about the problems with Sandisk cards used in TT/T2 and especially T3's. Does anyone know if Sandisk has resolved these issues today???

RE: Will this Sandisk blow up my TC? Yes.
Hal2000 @ 1/28/2004 4:49:59 PM #
Yes it will blow it up.

Zodiac2/T616
RE: Will this Sandisk blow up my TC?
cobrakon @ 1/29/2004 4:24:46 AM #
Interesting,

I have Memorex, Lexar, PNY, and Sandisk SD cards and have not had problems with ANY of them in my Zire 71. My associates that also have Z71's have not had problems with their 256MB either.

I wonder if that issue is only a Tungsten/Zodiac issue? On the topic though, 512MB cards are going to be around $100 now!

RE: Will this Sandisk blow up my TC?
RAMd®d @ 1/30/2004 10:23:38 AM #
Yes it will blow it up.

But you will get a warning on the screen:

This PDA will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

You can't ask for more than that.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

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