4GB SD Card Announced

Posted By: Ryan Thursday, June 2, 2005 12:59:58 PM

ATP, a Taiwan memory manufacturer, has announced a new ProMax SD card line that will come in capacities of up to 2GB initially, with a 4GB card planned.

4GB SD CardThe new cards will Conform to the latest SD v1.1 system specification. They are rated at fast 133X transfer rates (up to read 20MB/s and 18MB/s write). Devices will have to use the SD 1.1 standard in order to operate with the 4GB version, which no Palm OS device yet supports.

The company plans to have the cards ready by the fouth quarter this year. ATP has not announced pricing.

Current Prices on 4GB SD Cards | Memory cards on sale

Thanks to Pat Horne for the tip.

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4GB of space?

joad @ 6/2/2005 4:55:46 PM # Q
Whoa. The Lifedrive is already obsolete...

How about just moving to 128MB RAM and dual-slot SD/SDIO as a standard now, Palm?

RE: 4GB of space?
twrock @ 6/3/2005 7:59:19 AM # Q
Sorry, but no, that makes far too much sense. Now shutup and leave us alone. We are too busy doing market research.

RE: 4GB of space?
potter @ 6/3/2005 12:39:54 PM # Q
joad @ 6/2/2005 4:55:46 PM wrote:
> Whoa. The Lifedrive is already obsolete...

Not yet.

Ryan on Thursday, June 02, 2005 12:59:58 PM wrote:
> 4GB SD Card Announced
> ATP, a Taiwan memory manufacturer, has announced a new ProMax SD
> card line that will come in capacities of up to 2GB initially,
> with a 4GB card planned.

So when we will see these 4GB cards is unknown.

RE: 4GB of space?
joad @ 6/3/2005 12:50:39 PM # Q
...probably before a Treo with more than 23MB available RAM. ;)

RE: 4GB of space?
AdamaDBrown @ 6/3/2005 7:17:16 PM # Q
They've mentioned that they plan to release the 4 GB model in the fall. I hope they make it, though there's been a lot of delays in the production of high-density SD cards in general.

Reply to this comment

Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card

Gekko @ 6/2/2005 5:05:23 PM # Q

Which would you rather have?



RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
adamsmark @ 6/2/2005 5:12:27 PM # Q
I'll take the 4GB SD card any day. I'm using a 1GB card with some room to spare, though I might upgrade to a 2GB once prices drop. I use a Treo 650 and experience no delays using data from the card. I also like that I can change out cards, share them with devices, etc. Lastly, no moving parts.

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
Masamune @ 6/2/2005 5:35:26 PM # Q
Jesus - can you imagine two of these in a Zodiac? You would have more space in one handheld than in my old desktop and mike's put together. That said, my 512Mb SD card's got more space than Mike's desktop.

Seriously, I'm still waiting on those USB/SD card combos from Sandisk - they look like they could be handy in emergencies.

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
sford @ 6/2/2005 5:58:27 PM # Q
Yeah, I'd rather have the 4GB SD as well. I've too am currently using a 1GB with room to spare, and "swappability" of the card trumps the thick HD for me.

I *would* like to be able to use my Palm as a USB portable drive, though.... :)

____________________________________
Pilot Pro -> III -> IIIe -> Nino (yeah...oops!) -> IIIc -> VIIx -> m505 -> NR70V -> NZ90 -> NX60 -> T3 -> Zire 72s

www.PalmKB.com

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
InsGuy @ 6/2/2005 6:05:14 PM # Q
>>can you imagine two of these in a Zodiac? You would have more space in one handheld than in my old desktop and mike's put together.

Exactly! In addition, you have 128mb of RAM, not 64 'reserved' on the hard drive, a nice screen, and a vibrating alarm :) What a shame this came out over 1.5 years ago ;)

All good things...

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
LiveFaith @ 6/2/2005 6:38:36 PM # Q
Can you imagine $400-$600 extra on a $300 PDA too. Maybe it COULD be done, but WOULD it be done?

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com
RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
Gekko @ 6/2/2005 6:41:42 PM # Q

Reverend - you know as well as we do that it WILL be done - and be done a lot cheaper than that. As the SD Card technology continues to mature, economies of scale/competition kick in, these will get larger and larger and cheaper and cheaper.

I'd rather have a device with 64MB of *REAL* RAM and a 1GB Card than 10GB of NVFS/HD/NAND.

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
cbowers @ 6/2/2005 8:25:31 PM # Q
"As the SD Card technology continues to mature, economies of scale/competition kick in, these will get larger and larger and cheaper and cheaper."

But then so will HD's. Until 3D optical storage, and nano-cluster storage make their debut (outside of the lab) I don't see flash taking the stage from HD's just yet. Scale it up, and M-Systems 3.5" SCSI Flash HD in 90Gig flavor MSRP'd at $90,000 last year. This years 176GB model hasn't had it's price announced yet.

It's *because* everyone says, "why would I had a hard drive when I can get the same amount of storage in a flash card?", that HD's will stay on the near side of cheap, comparitively.

But yes, there is a day coming when HD's will go the way of the 8-track. But for today, there's the LifeDrive.

But PalmOne, come-on, put more cache in it, and extend the "RAM" partition to 128Gigs. At least the latter costs you nothing to compete with the box side-panel specs of a Windows Mobile device.

"I'd rather have a device with 64MB of *REAL* RAM and a 1GB Card than 10GB of NVFS/HD/NAND."

Choice is a good thing. Pick up a Zodiac while you can...

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
mikecane @ 6/2/2005 8:38:33 PM # Q
>>>That said, my 512Mb SD card's got more space than Mike's desktop.

But I also have a 20GB pocket HD. And 50+ CD-Rs from offloaded files! (You can do the math.)

LD2 needs a 20GB HD.

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
cbowers @ 6/2/2005 8:41:48 PM # Q
Nah, it just needs USB host (already), and/or firewire, and it can mount my 40Gig iPod.

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
mikecane @ 6/2/2005 8:42:30 PM # Q
>>>Pick up a Zodiac while you can...

Not if you like 32K Memos...

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
cbowers @ 6/2/2005 8:48:45 PM # Q
If that was the only thing stopping a purchase, I'm sure the addition of MegaMemo, or use of Wordsmith/Word to Go/Quickword etc., would bridge the gap.

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
Gekko @ 6/2/2005 8:56:10 PM # Q
>But I also have a 20GB pocket HD. And 50+ CD-Rs from offloaded files! (You can do the math.)

MikeCon - what in the hell kind of data are you storing on all of this? It seems to me that your entire operation is little more than a solitary man in a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken.



RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
Kesh @ 6/3/2005 2:34:09 AM # Q
Not if you like 32K Memos...

The Zodiac includes a copy of WordSmith, so that's not a worry.

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
Adrenochrome @ 6/3/2005 9:20:17 AM # Q
Golly. That's a hard one. Sort of like Minivan vs. Ferrari. Which would I rather have...

Obviously, anyone would rather have the SD card. And most would pick the Ferrari.

So why isn't everyone driving a Ferrari? Hmm...

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 6/3/2005 11:04:20 AM # Q
So why isn't everyone driving a Ferrari? Hmm...

Insurance rates?


------------------------
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
------------------------

The Palm Economy = Communism™
The Great Palm Swindle: http://www.palminfocenter.com/comment_view.asp?ID=7864#108038

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
mikecane @ 6/3/2005 12:31:54 PM # Q
>>>MikeCon - what in the hell kind of data are you storing on all of this? It seems to me that your entire operation is little more than a solitary man in a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken.

P2P is veddy veddy good to me.

I found the chicken dead this morning. There was some white starchy matter leaking from its, uh, drain. CSI is doing a swab. DNA is expected to match that known chickenhawk, VoR.

There is NEVER *enough* storage
mikecane @ 6/3/2005 1:30:39 PM # Q
http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid=8853

-- well, this would be a start.

You want Ferrari?
mikecane @ 6/3/2005 1:54:18 PM # Q
http://tinyurl.com/d4ka9

RE: Hard Drive vs. 4GB SD Card
ackmondual @ 6/4/2005 1:16:20 AM # Q
hmmm, again with the 32K memopad limit. But i digress, I'd be more concerned about the lack of NotePad.
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How Fast?

ggeoffre @ 6/2/2005 11:01:17 PM # Q
The news that these card can hold 4GB is only half the story. Is that number correct? 133X Transfer Rate? I have a Lexar 2.0GB High Speed Professional Write Accelerated 80X Compact Flash card for my Canon Digital Rebel XT and it screams. It can handle rapid storage of the 14 frame burst rate of my 8 Mega-Pixel images at an alarming rate. These 4GB cards are nice to have given their size, but the speed is what caught my attention.

RE: How Fast?
cbowers @ 6/3/2005 12:38:48 AM # Q
Moot point on most devices whose SD slots aren't as fast as the cards in them.
First question: Is that throughput 4-wire or SPI mode? Every PalmOS spec sheet I've seen shows only 2 of the 4 data lines in the SD slot connected.

VFS benchmarks fall short of the current card throughput, nevermind scorcher like this.

Still, good for ATP, just not real useful for us.
Now if that card has a USB2.0 tab on the side ala Sandisk, that'd be something...

RE: How Fast?
mikecane @ 6/3/2005 12:34:38 PM # Q
Does increased speed mean increased voltage draw too? How would this compare in terms of electricity used vs a HD?

RE: How Fast?
potter @ 6/3/2005 12:46:47 PM # Q
mikecane @ 6/3/2005 12:34:38 PM wrote:
> Does increased speed mean increased voltage draw too?

As a general rule-of-thumb, with digital-electronics, with increased speed comes an increased power requirement. Sometimes as bad as a square relationship; if one doubles the speed, one requires four times the power.

Since power is voltage times current (P = I V) and usually one holds the voltage constant, to increase the speed will call for increased current.

RE: How Fast?
mikecane @ 6/3/2005 1:36:26 PM # Q
Excellent. So math it out for us! This SD vs LD HD = ?!!?

Reply to this comment

Will it work in a Palm

grahamnind @ 6/3/2005 4:31:23 AM # Q
I seem to remember from a discussion somewhere that Palms can only use a maximum size of 2GB. Does anyone know if that's true?

RE: Will it work in a Palm
Galley_SimRacer @ 6/3/2005 11:05:15 AM # Q
I've heard the same thing.

--
"I'm not a cool person in real life, but I play one on the Internet".
Galley
RE: Will it work in a Palm
Surur @ 6/3/2005 11:15:47 AM # Q

Due to the new fat32 driver Palm OS can address 4GB easily (as seen in the lifedrive). Older Palm devices do not have this capability natively, but there is an unofficial patch around which people can try and install.

Surur

RE: Will it work in a Palm
mikecane @ 6/3/2005 12:35:51 PM # Q
I'm surprised, surur, you haven't piped up to tell us that all PPCs -- including your hinky Loox -- can use this new card at full speed. WTf is MS paying you for if you slack on the job like this?

RE: Will it work in a Palm
Surur @ 6/3/2005 1:32:48 PM # Q
Its all part of my plan Mike. I'll lurk in the background, absorb all the Palm OS knowledge I can, contribute useful information,and then..., one day... Pow! Right in the Kisser!! The Post to convert you all!!!

Surur

RE: Will it work in a Palm
patfla @ 8/26/2005 9:36:45 PM # Q
Hi,

I'd be very curious to know more of the 'unofficial patch' that Surur refers to. I've had a Tungsten T3 for some time; bought a 2 GB SD card; and only then found that, due to FAT vs fat32, my T|T3 couldn't use the card.

This (a work-around that worked for some people) can be easily found with web searches:

http://palmpowerups.com/

But, alas, while it may work on other models, does not work on a T|T3.

pat


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I take it most of you have missed this part

touchmymonkey @ 6/3/2005 1:30:22 PM # Q
" Devices will have to use the SD 1.1 standard in order to operate with the 4GB version, which no Palm OS device yet supports."



RE: I take it most of you have missed this part
jhsieh @ 6/3/2005 2:34:12 PM # Q
I'm surprised news of our 4GB got picked up so fast. Yes for the 4GB to be fully used, the host device will have to be able to read FAT32. Personally I'm more excited about our 4GB MMCplus. 4GB capacity, plus our preliminary transfer speed estimates are about 30MB/s read. None of what I'm saying is official, just some preliminary info for all to chew on.

-Jeff

www.atpinc.com
jwh@us.atpinc.com

RE: I take it most of you have missed this part
mikecane @ 6/3/2005 8:47:10 PM # Q
>>>I'm surprised news of our 4GB got picked up so fast.

This is the internet. We move at a faster pace. Tomorrow we will start complaining that you haven't yet produced an *8GB* card...

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The file size limit

ray00pal @ 6/3/2005 3:38:35 PM # Q
I think the first issue is the file size. What good is it if I can not upload a whole movie to the SD? I need to spend a lot of time to split up the movie and recode it... I think the current file size limit is 128MB. Am I correct?
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