Decreasing Size Of Expansion Memory

[snutz411 0]

Ever since I picked up my Palm TX last Winter, I've noticed the ever decreasing size of memory cards especially with SD (Secure Digital).My Palm TX has a port of SD cards which is great. It can handle anything from 256mb to 2gigs. If you have ever since the size of an SD card, then you know that it is pretty small. It can pack a whole lot of data in a small amount of space.Now after SD comes miniSD. I don't have anything that uses them, but I know they are pretty small. Some of the older model mobile phones use miniSD cards for expansion memory.Finally after I got my latest cell phone, I came to know the wonders of microSD. It is literally a fraction of the size of an SD card. It is unbelievable. You see this TINY little card and you see that it fits 2 gigs. In fact, microSD cards come with a dockable SD card where it can fit in. This card is so small and I feel like I'm going to break it every time I handle it. Its great that it is compact but is capable of holding 2 gigs of data, but WOW these memory cards are getting tiny.I've only noticed the trend with SD. Compact Flash and Memory Pro DUO don't seem to be getting smaller.Your thoughts or comments.

[yordan 10]

Also, don't forget SmarMedia, which are the biggest format now. They seem really huge compared to the other ones, a big surface and they are very, very thick. Simply consider that they fill up their crystal box, when the other type memories seem very small, lost in their big box.

[Pharoah 0]

I don't see the need for MiniSD. SD is small enough, they should be increasing the capacity more and not making a mini one. It's somewhere around the size of a penny/dime, and you're sure to lose it! CompactFlash are nice because they're big and they can't be bent too easily. Also CF allows for expansions like GPS and even one of those Enfora cards to go into your PDA. The best SD I ever saw was a little digital camera made by Palm to go with their i705 a few years back. Looked like it was about to break off the side of the ting though

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

My camera is a fujifilm so uses the xD media cards which are pretty optimum for me. They're basically about 2/3 of the size of a stamp with not much extra thickness to them so they are quite small indeed holding up to a couple gigs I believe. Regardless it's impressive to say the least.I wouldn't say increasing storage capacity is the only conern right now since we always want smaller gagdets... and if we need to have a smart media card that is almost as big surface wise as the entire device that would start causing some issues. Keeping the data storage tiny lets us create smaller and more compact devices.

[vhortex 1]

I don't see the need for MiniSD. SD is small enough, they should be increasing the capacity more and not making a mini one. It's somewhere around the size of a penny/dime, and you're sure to lose it! CompactFlash are nice because they're big and they can't be bent too easily. Also CF allows for expansions like GPS and even one of those Enfora cards to go into your PDA. The best SD I ever saw was a little digital camera made by Palm to go with their i705 a few years back. Looked like it was about to break off the side of the ting though

imagine this if we dont make things smaller..

if we dont invent stuffs to be small.. imagine the size of your computer today if the parts dont get small.. for your processor alone and with the upgrades it have if all parts sizes are retain.. then you have a table full of transistors.. and we still have the mother board which in fact is much bigger.. the equivalent of the tiny IC's compacted inside is around 3 to 5 PCB boards each. how many was reduced by the engineers..

have you remember the floppy disc before? how big they are and how they come pack now in a much upgraded formats..

we cant just make things give more perfomarnce or ouput and retain size.. we need to compact them also since smaller stuffs have shorter wirings and faster processing due to less digital travels.. and thing to consider is that we are putting a lot of stuffs together to build better gadgets..

if we dont shrink stuffs.. then we will end up with fast, efficient gadgets of mammot size..

[Demonhawk 0]

I think thehre is a point where having it too small is inefficient as well, I mean if you lost that card you would lose a ton of data or whatever you have got on there, and usually the smaller things get the more fragile they are. Even with just a regular SD card I am afraid of breaking it, because usally its what 1/8" thick card? A drop on a hard surface or say you have to handle it alot. Some of my friends have broken theres just trying to take it out of their cameras. I agree that if technology didnt get better and smaller then we would have a problem, but sometimes somethings are too small.

[wutske 0]

I can only say one thing, I love miniSD . It's cheap (€34/Gb) and it's faster than the normal SD memory. It's very important to make everyting small, imagine having a PDA with bluetooth, wifi, mobile phone, and 8Gb of storage ... 5 years ago ??? It would be a freaking brick (not to speak about the battery you'd need to run it a couple of hours).The main reason why MS is still large is probably because they want them to be back- and forward compatible.Ow, and xD sucks, it's slow, expensive and only used by Olympus & Fuji (wich is peanuts compared to the rest of the market, I mean, try finding a freaking card reader that supports xD cards ... took me a while to find one with good specs for a descent price). Just my 2c

[KDEWolf 0]

It just sucks buying a MiniSD for my current cell phone and later having to buy a MicroSD for the next one... or maybe it'll be NanoSD, who knows...

[vhortex 1]

I can only say one thing, I love miniSD . It's cheap (âŹ34/Gb) and it's faster than the normal SD memory. It's very important to make everyting small, imagine having a PDA with bluetooth, wifi, mobile phone, and 8Gb of storage ... 5 years ago ??? It would be a freaking brick (not to speak about the battery you'd need to run it a couple of hours).The main reason why MS is still large is probably because they want them to be back- and forward compatible.

Ow, and xD sucks, it's slow, expensive and only used by Olympus & Fuji (wich is peanuts compared to the rest of the market, I mean, try finding a freaking card reader that supports xD cards ... took me a while to find one with good specs for a descent price). Just my 2c

here. it is easier to find a card reader but hard to find a good sized xD card..
common xD card here is around 64MB and what i need is 1GB or 2GB for my digital camera..

about fragile.. it depends on the person handling them.. but if you mean the comfort of putting the card on the table while you clean some parts of you electronic device.. yeah they are too small for that.. it can be blown by an electric fan.. or even a hair drier.. even some aircon blower can be a hazard to it..

i will still go to the fragile smaller parts.. than the non fragile bigger ones.. from time to time.. they make casings or protectors for this small parts anyway.. i got an xD travel kit pack.. a 4x5 inches mini traveling case with compartments and xD armors..

[yordan 10]

I simply put my smartmedia card in my Blue Card holder, cannot fold, will not be lost, but could be stolen.