Comments on: SanDisk Announces WiFi SD & CF cards w/ Memory

I especially like the idea of communications and storage in one and the 256 mb sd card is really very enticing. The prices are also fairly reasonable for a card with so much potential.

I WANT!!!

OrionNE

It's very boring to read those "BT range is much less than the 802.11b and slower as well..." statements. The statement is true but it's like saying "My Bicycle hasn't the speed of my Car and isn't convenience for long distance as well"

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=133008#post133008

#802.11b speed 11Mbps is in practice 2-6Mbps
#802.11 is battery sapping (Toshiba e740 runs 1 hour 45 with integrated wifi); bluetooth has an advantage for being low power; due to 802.11b's power demand to sustain high throughput and medium range, only certain portable devices like laptops can supply this power for long and still retain a reasonable batter life. pagers, handhelds, mobiles etc are not so lucky, they don't possess the energy to allow 802.11b to operate for long periods without directly impacting on their own performance.
#802.11b is designed as a communications channel to a host processor running TCP/IP. bluetooth defines more communications protocol layers and implements real applications. for the foreseeable medium-term future at least, this distinguishes a clear difference in the potential for each standard in embedded systems.
#cellular works better than Wi-Fi when the user is walking down the street or riding in a car. Wi-Fi is also subject to obstruction by everything from chimneys to elevator shafts; This is where Bluetooth (combined with cellular networks) comes in. Bluetooth is more mobile then WiFi. Dual, multi modes or Software-defined radios (SDRs) who support various Wireless Technologies are favourable solutions for now and in the future imho.
#bluetooth has a much lower range and throughput that 802.11, it's consequently significantly reduced power consumption means it has the ability to be much more ubiquitous than 802.11. it can be placed in printers, keyboards, mice, to fulfil its original role, to replace short-range cables. it can also be placed in pagers, mobile phones, temperature sensors to allow information download, monitoring and so on in areas equipped with a Bluetooth access point. low power and a projected stabilisation price of ~$5 gives it this potential.
#technology like bluetooth does not need a base radio station because every device can create a local network.
#bluetooth has a robust wireless connection method with a small footprint that makes it very well suited for millions of handheld devices; a bluetooth chip, designed to communicate in the 10m range, consumes only 1mW of power, compared to an 802.11b chip, which consumes more than 1W. A single bluetooth chipset is also fairly small, with a size of 8x8mm, compared to the smallest 802.11b at 30x14mm.
#bluetooth also holds an advantage concerning audio/voice communication (see Bluetooth Headsets, earbuds and audio/video profiles). here, bluetooth can be used in a cordless phone within a 10m range, in an office environment or home, without the need for handoffs. other WLAN technologies need voice-over-IP to support voice communication. 802.11b is a higher bandwidth standard optimized for rapid transfer of large amounts of data. although voice can be sent (as compressed files), it's not ideal for audio. bluetooth has a reasonable data transfer rate suitable for handling moderately sized data files, plus designed-for-purpose audio channel capability.
http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25675

Wireless Networking: Bluetooth vs. 802.11b / Bluetooth = fully mobile:

"Neither 802.11b nor the newly introduced and faster versions of the protocol are designed for true mobile operation. These standards basically extend the IP protocol for wireless use. You can't carry an 802.11 device from one network to another and expect it to work automatically. Bluetooth, in contrast, was designed from the outset to be fully mobile, making Bluetooth a potentially better system for users who move around in a campus network."

"A lot of people ask me whether Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is "better." Although both are 2.4GHz technologies and overlap somewhat, they are more complementary than they are similar."

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25753

"There are 2 kind of people my friend....those with wires and those without"

I think you're getting the future mixed up with the past...

http://www.handera.com/products/330.asp

It's been on the market for almost two years - I've had mine for over a year now.

Maybe, maybe not. Unless you're an employee, I doubt your guess is much better than anyone else's.

Also it's not color (which is a big deal in my book). There is no future there.

I'll buy a color unit when they make one that runs off of AAAs. I'm not holding my breath.

The only reason they didn't release the color 330 they designed and short-run built was because they diden't want to have a boatload of them on hand when the (Then any-day-now)Tungsten was released.

We didn't know about that unit untill well after it was done - What are they working on now that we don't know about?

As for separate wireless/memory cards...why? EVEN if you had two SD slots I would ALWAYS be interested in having memory on a wireless card... you can never have too much memory.

Because commodity memory and commodity wireless cards are going to be cheaper seperately than a niche combination device (At least in the forseeable future)?

Because with seperated functions you can upgrade one (128mb to 256mb, or 802.11b to whatever comes next) without throwing the other one out?

Currently only an image of the CF model of the SanDisk Connect is availabe at the SandDisk website. And yes, there is an external antenna very similar to the Palm Bluetooth SD Card...

I really want one !!