SanDisk Ultra II SD Card With USB Adapter Now Available

The delayed SanDisk Ultra II SD PLUS, a SD flash memory card with built-in USB connectivity, is now available. The new card works seamlessly in any SD card slot and can also be used as a high-speed USB 2.0 flash drive.

SanDisk Announces SD Card with USB ConnectivityThe Ultra II SD PLUS, is now available from Cicuit City stores and online in the 1GB capacity. It has a retail price of $139 USD.

The new dual-functionality device has been added to the SanDisk Ultra II product line, a family of high-performance flash memory cards with write speeds of 9 megabytes (MB) per second and read speeds of 10MB/sec.

"The new SD Ultra II SD PLUS, which can be used in a wide variety of SD-based products—including digital cameras, PDAs, camcorders and camera phones—means greater convenience and cost savings for consumers. Now, to transfer data, images, audio or video between computers, digital cameras and other electronic devices, you don’t need a card reader, cables or card adapters. Just flip the card to engage the USB connector and simply plug the Ultra II SD PLUS into any USB port. And the card also features an LED that blinks when data transfer is taking place to indicate that the card is being used as a USB flash drive." says Tanya Chuang, SanDisk retail product marketing manager.

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Now This Deserves an Award

LiveFaith @ 6/15/2005 12:40:59 AM # Q
Now this is innovation that just works. I bet E-T would get jolly over this one. And 1GB too in what looks like only half the space, unless it runs flash down the folded parts too. And USB 2 as well.

Very impressive. Makes one think of many applications.

Humiliates that excuse for a "flash drive" that P1 keeps calling the T5 & LD ... and I could do it in an m500! What good is a jump drive that you have to carry a cable around to use it. Not much unless all your friends have athena connectors like at P1s office building.

Now, one last question ... does it work? :-)

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

RE: Now This Deserves an Award
acaltabiano @ 6/15/2005 1:11:11 AM # Q
I agree!

This innovation pretty much obsoletes ANY sort of functional advantage of the newer palms. Now, my TT3 is WAAAAYYY better than the damn T5 & Suckdrive

RE: Now This Deserves an Award
LiveFaith @ 6/15/2005 1:35:23 AM # Q
// Now, my TT3 is WAAAAYYY better than the damn T5 & Suckdrive //

Vent baby vent ... just let it out! You'll live longer. :-D

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

RE: Now This Deserves an Award
LiveFaith @ 6/15/2005 1:41:49 AM # Q
Remember how we used to whine about IIIx, Vx, m515 & T2 INCREMENTAL upgrades as we dreamed of bigger and better things? They say "be careful what you pray for because you might get it". :-(

Ohhhhh for an incremental TT4: 1200mah LiIon, TE2/LD screen upgrade, WiFi, frugal PXA270 proc, OS 5.2.x (bug fixes only), 128MB real memory, software refresh & an extra set of slider screws & Loctite ... $399 all day long!


Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

alternative
ackmondual @ 6/15/2005 5:19:39 AM # Q
A good compromise for those who want the cheapest SD cards ($80 for 1GB) is

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000652LUG/qid=1118826648/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-6291295-7010304

An SD card reader may be difficult to lug around your pocket, but this being the size of a USB flash memory stick isn't too bad.

RE: Now This Deserves an Award
masbret @ 6/15/2005 9:17:43 AM # Q
Lexar 1GB $52 at PCMall after $25 mail-in rebate, just half the price.

IIIx => m105 => m125 => m130 => m515 => Zire71 + Enfora wifi case => Tungsten C
RE: Now This Deserves an Award
kevspalm @ 6/15/2005 4:45:16 PM # Q
ackmondual, that's one lovely alternative. I have no problem carrying a flash drive sized item around, and this way I can access any of my cards (right now I only have SD & TransFlash anyway).

The Ultra II card with USB is a novel idea though!

----------------------------------------
Palm IIIx for 5 years & LOVING IT!

RE: Now This Deserves an Award
Wolfgard @ 6/15/2005 9:29:53 PM # Q
Too bad my TH55 only accepts Sony MS (curse you...Sony!).

At least my ol' Handera 330 can use this. I'm not sure what I'll do with all the memory space, maybe I'll just get it for the geek factor.

pen & paper -> m515 -> Zire72 -> TH55 & Handera 330

RE: Now This Deserves an Award
Captain Hair @ 6/15/2005 10:06:24 PM # Q
Must get new toy....

*wanders out to find*

"People who think they're smart annoy those of us who are."

RE: Now This Deserves an Award
vesther @ 6/16/2005 1:19:33 PM # Q
I don't think so, as I had a TON OF PROBLEMS with SanDisk-made SD Cards in the past, and I'm expecting that this Ultra II SD Card with USB from SanDisk to be no different as far as the crappy quality is concerned. I would personally wait until another SD Card Maker (such as SimpleTech) get in the ring and introduce a technology similar to this but with far better quality.

Personally, I would just stay away from SanDisk.

Powered by Palm OS since March 2002

RE: Now This Deserves an Award
vesther @ 6/16/2005 1:22:57 PM # Q
///TT4: 1200mah LiIon///

Battery I would agree with but I don't think there will ever be a name called "TT4", likely you mean "TT7"? Mm?

///TE2/LD screen upgrade///

Likely it will use the Portrait and Landscape Screen like the Tungsten T3/T5 and LifeDrive systems.

///WiFi///

No, Wi-Fi PLUS Bluetooth

///PXA270 proc///

Speed should be at least 624MHz instead.

///OS 5.2.x (bug fixes only)///

I doubt it. Likely Palm OS Garnet 5.4.8.

///128MB real memory///

The NVFS Problem has been addressed on the Sprint Treo 650 and the Tungsten E2, so I'm expecting that an even more improved version of NVFS (with an 8 Byte/Block Algorithm) should supercede this.

///extra set of slider screws///

I doubt that the guys at palmOne wants to go back to the slider

///Loctite///

I don't know if palmOne wants to include this.

Powered by Palm OS since March 2002

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Brilliant design. So much for the Tungsten 5, LifeDrive, etc

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 6/15/2005 1:00:06 AM # Q
Only potential problems: Traditional SanDisk el-Crappola quality and will the USB connector withstand the abuse?


------------------------
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: Brilliant design. So much for the Tungsten 5, LifeDrive,
LiveFaith @ 6/15/2005 1:37:54 AM # Q
VR,

Geeeeesh man, it's an SD card. They are not designed to use as an occasional hockey puck I don't think. Fragile yes, but even regular SDs usually get pampered in the slot or carry case slot.

Now if you plan on xferring data 300+ times per day it may be a different story?

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

RE: Brilliant design. So much for the Tungsten 5, LifeDrive, etc
ackmondual @ 6/15/2005 5:20:58 AM # Q
^^

That's a rhetoric question right? With u, i can hardly tell.

RE: Brilliant design. So much for the Tungsten 5, LifeDrive,
Adrenochrome @ 6/15/2005 6:05:58 AM # Q
Why did it take two whole posts for someone to somehow relate a USB/SD card to the death of the LifeDrive? Shouldn't that always be the first post on any topic?

"New Stylus Comes in Silver or Black"

Ha! It's the end of the LifeDrive!

"Symbian to Offer New Ringtones"

OHMYGOD, the LifeDrive is now totally obsolete!

"New Species of Ant Found in Madagascar"

I knew it! This totally shows how the LifeDrive sucks!

RE: Brilliant design. So much for the Tungsten 5, LifeDrive,
Adrenochrome @ 6/15/2005 6:10:48 AM # Q
My mistake. I just noticed the first post did in fact equate a $139 1Gb SD card with a 4Gb $500 PDA. See? If you wanted 4Gb of storage, it makes more sense to buy four of these for just $556. Yeah, LifeDrive sucks!

RE: Brilliant design. So much for the Tungsten 5, LifeDrive, etc
hkklife @ 6/15/2005 10:29:57 AM # Q
I've probably owned eight Sandisk cards over the years--a Smartmedia, a 64mb Memory Stick and the rest SD cards of varying capacities from 64mb to 1gb. I currently have sold/given away most of my Sandisk cards as their older cards were VERY unreliable. I would get corrupt SD cards when moving the card from my m505 to my digicam and back etc. And everyone remembers the problems with early T3s toasting (mostly) Sandisk cards.

However, since they changed their packaging a year or so ago to have the green and dark blue wavy logo, reliability seems to have improved considerably. I am currently considering buying a 1gb Ultra II since 2gb prices are still high and availability very sporadic.

This Sandisk flipper thingie is nifty but I'd have to use one first to judge the reliability. Smart move to do the retail rollout through one chain so that returns can be closely monitored. Me personally, I'd rather put $140 towards a regular 2gb SD card!!

An easy band-aid on P1's part would be to toss in a 2nd USB Athena cable into future LD shipments. So you have one for home & one for work/travel bag!

RE: Brilliant design. So much for the Tungsten 5, LifeDrive, etc
T. @ 6/16/2005 3:58:15 PM # Q
Adrenochrome - I could not stop laughing over your post. It IS amazing how fast almost any item on this site turns into an "End of the planet as we know it" discussion. Great post.

Related to San Disk and the Life Drive - I must confess I bought a 2 Gig San Disk Ultra II card after the Life Drive came out. Somehow I was able to convince my wife that spending $200 on it would allow me to be content with my T3 and avoid spending the $500 on the Life Drive.

I have not yet gotten it to work. I could read from it but could not write to it. I am not sure yet if it was a defective product or a compatibility issue. San Disk agreed to take it back and test it and are now replacing it with the replacement arriving tomorrow. Unfortunately they did not tell me if it was in fact "defective" or if they are justy sending me another one. Also note that a 512 Mbyte Ultra II works fine in my T3.

Reply to this comment

I saw one of these at CES

AdamaDBrown @ 6/15/2005 1:14:00 AM # Q
It's a cool idea, but I can't say that I was overly impressed with the build quality. It seemed a little frail. Of course, they may have made improvements in the last 5 months.

RE: I saw one of these at CES
neuron @ 6/15/2005 2:43:39 AM # Q
GUS, 5 years warranty. 5 years. I don't worry about it at all.

Test drive...
Masamune @ 6/15/2005 9:25:30 AM # Q
I'd be interested in giving one of these things a whil for a few days and see how they work.

RE: I saw one of these at CES
AdamaDBrown @ 6/15/2005 12:23:32 PM # Q
Most warranties have fine print saying that damage by improper use isn't covered--and what do you want to be Sandisk will consider any snappage to be the result of improper use?

RE: I saw one of these at CES
BBBodeen @ 7/7/2005 3:08:19 AM # Q
I bought one of these. I was concerned about the quality of the USB flip, but it is much stronger than it looks. I am no longer concerned about that.

However, its write speeds are so slow that it almost makes ZLauncher unusable. I bought it to replace a 1 gb (non-Ultra) SanDisk card, confident that it would be faster than the Non-Ultra. It is massively slower. The USB functionality is great, but if it will not operate at Ultra (or even standard SD speeds), it will have to go back.
I have re-formatted it several times, and I have returned it for a new card. No luck, still exquisitely slow in the writes.

VFSMark Results for 1 gb Ultra II plus

File Create: 91%
File Delete: 43%
File Write: 60%
File Read: 662%
File Seek: 655%
DB Export: 48%
DB Import: 366%
Record Access: 670%
Resource Access: 619%

VFSMark: 357


VFSMark Results for 1 gb SD Card

File Create: 470%
File Delete: 345%
File Write: 194%
File Read: 682%
File Seek: 694%
DB Export: 152%
DB Import: 451%
Record Access: 770%
Resource Access: 724%

VFSMark: 498

I would greatly appreciate hearing from anybody else who has gambled on SanDisk and this card. If anybody has been able to get a decent write speed out of this card, I would be most appreciative of hearing how it was done,

I love the card's utility, but if I can't get it to write at an acceptable speed, I have to go back to a card that will. they are cheap and readily available, they just don't do the USB thing.


Palm Pilot_Palm III_Palm V_Visor_Sony NX-80_Sony UX50_Treo600_Treo 650

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SanDisk Ultra II SD Card with USB

dkramer @ 6/15/2005 11:07:44 AM # Q
Does anyone know if this will work with the Treo 650?
RE: SanDisk Ultra II SD Card with USB
LiveFaith @ 6/15/2005 11:32:22 AM # Q
Can't confirm personally, but I would be shocked if it did not. The standard SD interface should be the same as any SD card.

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com
Reply to this comment

Tungsten t3 + softick Card Export

touchmymonkey @ 6/15/2005 1:49:39 PM # Q
While I do like the improved speed, the engineer in me just fears how long that sd card folding functionality will last.

just use the card export (cradle or bluetooth) and your tungsten will have usb flash disk functionality.

RE: Tungsten t3 + softick Card Export
XmonkeyX @ 6/15/2005 4:10:57 PM # Q
"just use the card export (cradle or bluetooth) and your tungsten will have usb flash disk functionality."

I agree that that is a better solution, but ONLY if you just work between your home and office computer. However, for people who work off of school computers (I'm in high school) that would be all but impossible. This is where the idea of either the new Palms with flash drives or this new SD card really shines. I would much prefer to be able to pop out the SD card and stick it in the PC than pull out a cable and hook up my LifeDrive... one less item to carry around.

I think it's a great idea as long as the mechanical parts are sturdy. (And lets face it, it's REALLY not that complicated, so if you don't just jamb it in everywhere, I'm sure wear-and-tear won't be much of an issue. We'll see.)

RE: Tungsten t3 + softick Card Export
touchmymonkey @ 6/16/2005 1:22:10 PM # Q
;) they do sell usb cables you can use to hook up your palm right to a computer so you don't need a cradle.

RE: Tungsten t3 + softick Card Export
XmonkeyX @ 6/21/2005 4:05:07 PM # Q
You still have to have the HotSync software installed though. Can't do that on school PCs.

... ;)

Reply to this comment

How do you open this thing?

Navamske @ 6/16/2005 6:50:27 PM # Q
I purchased one of these things at Circuit City today. I've put it in my TT3 and it's recognized -- so far, so good. As for its other use, that of a USB flash drive, I can't figure out how to "fold" it in order to expose the part of it that goes into the USB port. I can see by the little picture on the card and by the photograph that accompanies this article in what way the card is supposed to fold, but it doesn't budge and I don't want to force it. SanDisk, of course, provided no instructions with the product, nor are there any instructions on their Web site.

If someone could tell me how to open this thing, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

RE: How do you open this thing?
big_raji @ 6/16/2005 9:01:22 PM # Q
Take it back to the store and ask a salesman to show you. That way, if it breaks, they'll give you a new one.

The worst thing that can happen is you end up snapping it yourself, and having to swallow the expense.

Tell us what you think of it now that you have it in your hands! (once you get it folded open of course!)

---
http://www.kinsmenclub.com

Reply to this comment

Jams in Treo 600

jackr @ 11/19/2005 9:08:29 PM # Q
This device may be all the wonderful things it promises, but I'll never know, because it jammed upon being inserted into my palmOne/Sprint Treo 600 when first inserted. I now have a big half-Gb of empty space (because I didn't transfer anything to it first), and no removable media (because it won't come out), and no way to test the USB feature.

This is not what I signed up for.

RE: Jams in Treo 600
AdamaDBrown @ 11/20/2005 4:33:07 AM # Q
Step 1. Complain to Sandisk.

Step 2. Use Softick Card Export to fill your memory card via the Treo's USB connection.

Step 3. Complain to Sandisk.

Step 4. If neccessary, threaten Sandisk.

Step 5. Initiate a worldwide boycott of Sandisk products (use as needed).

Seriously, I'm not too terribly surprised to hear that these things are unreliable. I played with one briefly in January, and it didn't seem to be of the greatest quality.

RE: Jams in Treo 600
Gekko @ 11/20/2005 1:13:53 PM # Q

hmmn. i looked at these before i bought my two Sandisk Ultra II 512MB cards but i thought that the moving parts might cause some problems. looks like my gut was right.

Reply to this comment

Been using mine in my Treo 600 for months

manorton @ 11/20/2005 2:50:48 PM # Q
I've had mine for months with no problems. I use it extensively in my Treo 600.

I was initially concerned about the folding part, but it hasn't been a problem. I am not even careful with it when I fold it. Works great for me.

Reply to this comment

Aiptek has a 2 GB built in USB SD card for $89.99

bcc1 @ 11/13/2006 8:59:44 PM # Q
RE: Aiptek has a 2 GB built in USB SD card for $88.99
bcc1 @ 11/13/2006 9:01:43 PM # Q
Excuse me, it's a $1 cheper. $88.99


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