SanDisk WiFi SD Not Expected until Fall

Posted By: Ryan Friday, May 30, 2003 8:27:53 AM

SanDisk has pushed back the release date of the WiFi SD card and the Memory/WiFi combo card until the fall of this year. The card will enable WiFi access on any handheld with and SD slot and Palm OS 4 or higher.

SD Connect WiFi CardThe cards was previously scheduled to be available in March. SanDisk posted an update to their product page, indicating the card will not be ready until the Fall. The 256 MB memory and WiFi SD Card combo was also pushed back to a fourth quarter estimated release date.

The Wi-Fi (802.11b) SD Connect cards will have a suggested retail price of $99.95, the dual-function 256MB SD cards will be priced at $149.95.

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Worth the wait?

mkheraj @ 5/30/2003 9:15:59 AM #
Still think it's worth the wait...


RE: Worth the wait?
chinchorrero @ 5/30/2003 9:21:31 AM #
I agree 100%
Saludos

LIFE IS TOO SHORT
Worth the wait...
RAMdŽd @ 5/30/2003 9:38:46 AM #
...if one really wants Wi-Fi.

It's not important to me, at least this time, for a handheld.

But it'll be interesting to see how well this performs.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

RE: Worth the wait?
Louis Berk @ 5/30/2003 9:44:34 AM #
What surprises me is that the information page at SanDisk seems to imply that the PPC SD card will be available earlier - in the summer, whereas the Palm SD card will be later. What is simpler about the PPC that it will be quicker to develop or introduce? Also, which is the bigger market? I'd have thought Palm OS and Palm would be the answer to both questions!

Worth the wait...
RAMdŽd @ 5/30/2003 9:44:50 AM #
Also, I hope SanDisk can deliver at the announced price, or cheaper. Considering the price of current 802.11 cards, their pricing seems fair enough.

I'm still waiting on the iQue, so I'm in no hurry.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

WELL Worth the wait?
sralmas @ 5/30/2003 11:13:33 AM #
I know I want connectivity and storage in one card. I think I want BT+storage, but only if Verizon releases a BT phone. Otherwise, I'll settle for WiFi+storage. Perhaps, by the fall, there will be a BT+storage SD card available for me AND a Verizon BT phone. :-)

RE: Worth the wait?
mashby @ 5/30/2003 11:21:12 AM #
I'm dying for this card. There's more Wi-Fi support than BT support in "the wild" and I could use it a great deal. I'm chomping at the bit for this product and the price point seems pretty good.

Michael T. Ashby
Director
InterPUG
http://www.interpug.com
RE: Worth the wait?
kailou @ 5/30/2003 12:10:02 PM #
...uh, Verizon DOES have a BT phone, the Motorola 270c - its the *only* CDMA BT phone currently available. What they need is a smaller, better BT phone.

RE: Worth the wait?
Altema @ 5/30/2003 12:30:23 PM #
Wish Cingular would catch up and at least offer ONE BT phone in the central US region. I'm currently left with using IR or cable for my Cingular phone data connection. Oh Well, at least it doesn't have a hand crank!

RE: Worth the wait?
kailou @ 5/30/2003 1:56:24 PM #
look in other regions. When I got my 270c it was only available from Motorola direct and from isolated east coast Verizon and Alltel spots - I'm on the west coast. I got mine direct from Motorola. Its all the same Verizon network across the US and the 270c works great out here all the way to NY. Can't imagine the Cingular network would be any different. Why would it care what region you're in?

RE: Worth the wait?
talos4 @ 5/30/2003 7:29:27 PM #

I use the 270c w/BT also. Great phone, but big. I usually leave it in my bag while I surf/get mail anywhere.

It is inexcusable that Verizon hasn't fielded a new BT phone - the 270 has been end-of-life for 2 years.


R

----------------------------------------
"Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"
-- Richard Feynman.

RE: Worth the wait?
jbeedham @ 5/30/2003 10:21:53 PM #
I will want one of these for my Garmin iQue. I hope the quality of this product will be better than the quality of their current SD cards. I have heard lots of bad things about SanDisk SD cards!

-------------------------------------------------------
currently using Palm m125 and waiting for Garmin iQue.
RE: Worth the wait?
Lazarus @ 5/31/2003 5:21:17 AM #
It seems you poor GSM-challenged US guys :) are missing one fact. Bluetooth is not an alternative to WiFi. it's for connecting your personal devices to each other- like phone + laptop + palm + whatever. In Europe, I don't give a damn about WiFi- It simply isn't available everywhere, except small hotspots here and there (and, according to Wired mag and others, that's not likely to change!). With my BT-enabled GSM phone I can connect ANYWHERE- My TT connects to the phone (in my pocket) over BT, and the phone opens a GPRS connection (General Packet Radio Service) to my GSM provider. You can do roaming, too, when you go abroad. And it's cheap. I think that if the US had proper GSM coverage and up-to-date services, WiFi wouldn't be all that interesting, at least not for Palm-enabled humans. :)
BTW, I use a TT and a Nokia 6310i, also worked fine with previous phone, Ericsson T68.
---

RE: Worth the wait?
rokiteer @ 6/2/2003 10:28:16 AM #
OK, so as a Verizon subscriber, if I get the Kyocera 7135 with the SD slot, and this Wi-Fi card, and they actually play together, I'll be able to hook in to the Net, both near and far... but the cost to upgrade from my Clie PEG-SJ30. OUCH!

RE: Worth the wait?
Lucky Bob @ 7/17/2003 1:40:49 PM #
"What surprises me is that the information page at SanDisk seems to imply that the PPC SD card will be available earlier - in the summer, whereas the Palm SD card will be later. What is simpler about the PPC that it will be quicker to develop or introduce? Also, which is the bigger market? I'd have thought Palm OS and Palm would be the answer to both questions!"

My thoughts exactly...

(Why do some people say you can kill two birds with one stone when it's hard enough killing one bird with two stones?)

Sandisk's Memory Problems

carguy @ 5/30/2003 10:02:10 AM #
I wonder if the card that includes 256mb of memory will have the same problem current 256mb (and possibly other) Sandisk cards have. I've heard many reports that Sandisk cards are extremely slow. Does anyone have information on whether this will be the case?

RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
HiWire @ 5/30/2003 10:09:22 AM #
I have heard the same thing... I think the memory controller (on the SD card) was implicated in the slow performance. Also, I've read that the Palm SD interface is apparently a little slow anyway, as it has fewer pins than other SD interfaces.

I guess I'll be buying a Lexar SD card when the time comes. I used to want a 256MB card, but realistically I am now considering 128MB because of cost and usage. An SD card can only go so far on a Palm m505, and I believe that any programs you install on the card have to be copied to the system memory (<8MB) to run.

Still, it would be nice to have dictionaries and other stuff on hand at any moment... it would be cool if more developers allowed you to separate their program and database locations for flexibility.

Palm m505 User

RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
dboehme @ 5/30/2003 10:10:01 AM #
I was thinking the same thing. I went from a 64MB SanDisk to a 256MB Lexar and the speed increase was dramatic for me running on a Palm TT. I hope they addressed their memory speed issues - hopefully they'll address that in some future press release.

RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
chinchorrero @ 5/30/2003 10:10:08 AM #
Here yo can see a great table:(In Spanish)
[url]http://yumexzemun.com/tupalmx/w/comparativo.htm[/url]
Cheers

"Life is Too Short"
RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
Altema @ 5/30/2003 10:37:22 AM #
"and I believe that any programs you install on the card have to be copied to the system memory (<8MB) to run."

That is correct, but it is automatic, so you won't notice ay differnce except the amount of time it takes to open an application stored on the card. You can separate applications from their databases, if you mean moving the application to the card and leaving the databases in RAM. Since the app is copied to RAM when launched from the card, they both wind up together in RAM while running.

If you are low on RAM for your M505, you may want to consider JackFlash to use the extra 1.7Mb of ROM on that model. I just setup a 505 last week with about 10Mb of programs and data. Between using the card and JackFlash, we still had everything running smooth as silk... with 6Mb of RAM still empty.

RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
cad @ 5/30/2003 10:55:24 PM #
That is not quite true.
I run several programs directly off the sandisk card on my TT, including several textbooks, Kinoma, Acrobat, MP3 player etc. Just about everything I use can be run from the 256mb card.

It is a little slow on the upload from the computer though.

TT or not TT, That was the question.
When it was nobler in the mind to choose it over Sony, there was no question. To sleep perchance to dream...

RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
lemketron @ 6/2/2003 12:26:52 PM #
HiWire wrote:
>I guess I'll be buying a Lexar SD card when the time comes.
>I used to want a 256MB card, but realistically I am now
>considering 128MB because of cost and usage.

Cost? How about less than $48 for a 256MB card, with free shipping even (from buy.com, with $20 rebate through the end of June)? I just got one of these myself...

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10330513

>An SD card can only go so far on a Palm m505, and I believe
>that any programs you install on the card have to be copied
>to the system memory (<8MB) to run.

True, programs have to be copied, but these cards work really well not only for programs, but for data too. I use mine to store SplashPhoto images, Kinoma movies, and Mapopolis maps (and since I use it on a Tungsten T, a few MP3 tunes for AeroPlayer as well)...
--Steve


RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
ganoe @ 6/2/2003 4:35:48 PM #
> How about less than $48 for a 256MB card, with free shipping even (from buy.com,
> with $20 rebate through the end of June)? I just got one of these myself...

Got?!? Did you actually physically get one of these??? I ordered from them a month ago and they are SO BACKORDERED that I don't think they will be shipping mine for at least another week or two.

Some other companies have them on sale for slightly more. Do yourself a favor and buy elsewhere.

RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
dboehme @ 6/2/2003 5:34:10 PM #
I ordered mine (for my Pentak Optio S) about 4 weeks ago. Still waiting.

RE: Sandisk's Memory Problems
HiWire @ 6/5/2003 11:07:01 PM #
I guess I'll be getting JackFlash, and a *Panasonic* SD card, if that hyperlink table is still correct.

256MB, if possible :-)

Palm m505 User

Is there a reason for the delay?

asiayeah @ 5/30/2003 11:31:34 AM #
I have been waiting for the wi-fi card for a while. Is there any reason from SanDisk for the delay? Or does anyone has a good speculation?

Now, I just hope the combo card and the wifi card will come out together, so consumers will have the choices, when the cards are available.

Thanks.

Tony

--
With great power comes great responsiblity.

RE: Is there a reason for the delay?
ganoe @ 5/30/2003 6:18:12 PM #
> does anyone has a good speculation?

Probably Palm OS licensing issues. Last I knew, it was next to impossible to write a network driver without being a Palm OS licensee.

Yikes! does that stick out a long way

Sleuth255 @ 5/30/2003 11:53:12 AM #
This thing's so long it may not be possible to put it in a SD card enabled case like the new Innopocket or PSG's.

That is a real problem IMO.

RE: Yikes! does that stick out a long way
mikemusick @ 5/30/2003 12:56:07 PM #
Get real. From a hardware design perspective, the SD format is painfully limited - it stinks for perpherals that do anything meaningful. Not to mention... if it's wireless (Bluetooth, WiFI, GPS, 3G, GPRS) you need antenna space, if it's wired, there's got to be a place to put external connectors.

Bottom line: when (and if!) other manufacturers get on board with SDIO, expect more of the "box on a stick" designs than not.

RE: Yikes! does that stick out a long way
GregGaub @ 5/30/2003 1:43:15 PM #
There's already and 802.11 Springboard module for your Visor, mikemusick. :P
Or, did you see a CF (or any other format) WiFi card somewhere without an antenna that no one else in the world knows about? :P
Or maybe you've designed a new super-small technology that uses subspace pockets to store the extra bulk of the electronics and antenna but decided to sue someone for patent infringement in the year 2025 rather than develop it yourself? :P


-- SeaPUG: http://www.seapug.com --

SD WiFi range

palmit @ 5/30/2003 8:11:40 PM #
It will be interesting to see if this card has better range that the Palm T\C.

Memory Stick comparison

M3wThr33 @ 5/31/2003 4:54:39 PM #
For $150 I get Wi-Fi + 256MB card with SD.

Checking price grabber for prices on MS Pro I get $80-100. And the wi-fi adapter is $150 alone... hopefully a pricedrop will get them on their toes.

I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. We're in space.

Socket Wireless LAN SD Card

Mausoleum @ 6/1/2003 9:20:32 AM #
Don't despair, Socket Wireless is supposed to bring out a n 802.11b SD card out in June/July. (yuck... previously that was June only)

http://www.expansys.us/product.asp?code=WLAN6060

MST

RE: Socket Wireless LAN SD Card
ganoe @ 6/2/2003 7:59:20 AM #
I suspect they will also have Pocket PC drivers first and Palm later, much like the SanDisk card. The only announcement I could find:

http://www.socketcom.com/about/press/read.asp?ID=82

RE: Socket Wireless LAN SD Card
speerman @ 9/7/2003 1:46:14 PM #
Both the Socket and SanDisk SDIO cards are available for the PPC line well before Palm. This is almost definately a driver issue... which leads to the troubling question:
Is it possible that PPC (where you can load drivers) is actually better for developers than Palm (where the drivers are integrated in the OS)? Does Microsoft actually have this aspect of their OS right?

As evidence, think of the SDIO Bluetooth card that only works with OS4.x and not with OS5.x. I recenly got a TT for BT but I prefer the Zire71 layout.

From what I understand, PalmOne (the hardware arm) is responsible for drivers and they're not interested in pushing this add in card issue -- they must be thinking "If you want WiFi get th TC, if you want BT get the TT, if you want GPRS get the TW."

Unfortunately, Sony supports only their propreitary (and expensive) Stick technology or CF cards.

Hopefully TapWave will breath some life and competition into the PalmOS5 world.

It would be equally interesting if an OpenSource initiative co-opted OS5 hardware and settled these issues.

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