Availability of 32GB MicroSD cards

[TOR]

Samsung announce 32GB microSD cards, 64 GB moviNAND - GSMArena.com news

Been an interested lurker on the forums for a bit, very interested in the N1. Saw this article and thought it's potentially important for N1 users who've had difficulty locating 32GB cards for their phone - they're on their way!

 

[sooper_droid12]

Yeah, for how much!? Not cheap, I assure you. With 16gb microSD cards going for at least $40 now, these will be well over $90-100 a pop!

 

[jodaboda]

FAST 16GB are themselves $90-100, so if you want a FAST 32GB (you do), count on paying a lot more...

 

[sooper_droid12]

Exactly, the ones I quoted are name brand class 2, or no-name brand class 4 16gb microSDs. Not even talking about class 6 yet which is where you want to be when Google releases an Apps2SD native support.

 

[TheMadMan]

Exactly, the ones I quoted are name brand class 2, or no-name brand class 4 16gb microSDs. Not even talking about class 6 yet which is where you want to be when Google releases an Apps2SD native support.

at last i understand the class system! I always thought a class 1 was better than a class 6 but obviously not.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Classes go 2, 4, 6; 6 being the fastest transfer rates. Although, SD cards have released some new transfer technologies which make them pretty darn fast, faster than the current class 6 rates. Hopefully, we'll see the same thing trickle down to the microSD cards.

 

[TOR]

Exactly, the ones I quoted are name brand class 2, or no-name brand class 4 16gb microSDs. Not even talking about class 6 yet which is where you want to be when Google releases an Apps2SD native support.

Two noob-y questions sorry.

1) With class 6 being ideal, would a class 4 cut it for future SD-stored apps, or not really?

2) The N1 supports micro-SDHC right? The specs sheet mentions micro-SD card support, but if it takes up to 32gb, it's implicit that it's micro-SDHC?

 

[mi_canuck]

i just ordered a sandisk 16GB microSD off ebay (free shipping) for 39.99.... i'm assuming since 32GB (and 64GB) *just* coming out... they will be more than double/quadruple respectively compared to 16GB... which seems to be the sweet spot for price/GB right now...

so wait... the Sandisk 16GB I just bought is "class 2".... from what @sooper_droid12 said above... is that bad? did i just waste $40?

I guess worst case, it will become my porn movie SD card...


seriously though - this is the limitation of lower on board memory... at some point, putting apps on the SD card will be necessary, but at that point... the SD card will be become somewhat semi-permanent if you want access to those apps... say you have 2 or 3 SD cards that you want to swap with say different song libraries or movie libraries, etc... you'd have to copy all the SD stored apps to each SD card to maintain full app functionality when swapping SD cards....

 

[sooper_droid12]

So I don't have to post it up later. Here are the WRITE speeds for class 2, 4 and 6:

Class 2 = 2 megabytes/second
Class 4 = 4 megabytes/second
Class 6 = 6 megabytes/second

The READ speeds are different and based off of CD-ROM speeds, so you'll see numbers like 16x or 32x. So, here they are:

Rating Speed (MB/s)
6x 0.9
32x 4.8
40x 6.0
66x 10.0
100x 15.0
133x 20.0
150x 22.5
200x 30.0

Class 2: 2 MByte/s - 13x
Class 4: 4 MByte/s - 26x
Class 6: 6 MByte/s - 40x

But these read speeds may vary from card maker to card maker and usually represent the "minimum" speed. Some will advertise up to 100x or more. So, do your research. Will it be enough for App2SD? I think so far, with the apps currently available on the Market, people with rooted DROIDs are doing okay with their OEM class 2 microSD.

 

[mi_canuck]

i'm assuming class 4 and 6 cards are way pricier?? who makes them/sells them?

 

[TOR]

Thanks sooper

Doing my own research, Class 6 8GB cards seem reasonably priced, but Class 6 16GB cards are not, probably because, at the moment at least, they're effectively top of the range.

 

[mi_canuck]

where do you even find class 6 cards? i did a "froogle" search, and looked on newegg.... could barely find class 4 (couple of Kingstons...)

 

[TOR]

Amazon, ebay, Play.com

 

[sooper_droid12]

Just be careful when you buy non-name brands, especially those flea-bay ones from China or the likes. They're NOTORIOUS for mis-representing their speeds and class. Stick with what you know is reputable.

 

[TOR]

For brands I mainly looked at Samsung, Transcend, Sandisk. Only used ebay to gauge approximate prices, I've had plenty of fakes and knock-offs from ebay before.

 

[gentlefury]

FAST 16GB are themselves $90-100, so if you want a FAST 32GB (you do), count on paying a lot more...

Really?

Newegg.com - RiDATA Lightning Series 16GB Micro SDHC (MicroSD) Flash Card w/2 Adapters (SD/Mini SD/Mini SDHC) Model RDMICSDHC16G-LIG-2 - Flash Memory

That's a class 6 16GB Micro SD

 

[sooper_droid12]

RiDATA who?

 

[FreshPrince]

Still can't believe they couldn't at least give us 16gb stock for the price tag. Pretty pathetic.

 

[Member12446]

I just bought a Sandisk Micro-SD which was meant to be a class 6, but has a 2 on it, the supplier told me:

The Sandisk Ultra Micro-SD is the fastest micro-sd card in the world. Sandisk recently revised the packaging to show a 2 but the memory card itself has not been changed at all.

It has a read speed of 15mbp/s and a write speed of 9mbp/s. All Class 6 micro-sd cards from other brands only have read/write speeds of 6mbp/s.

I did get about 8mbp/s write speed when I tried it, so it sounded plausible.

 

[mi_canuck]

I ordered a Sandisk 16GB microSD earlier (before seeing this thread doh!) from ebay.... it's a class 2, but I'm hoping it ends up being like yours to be much faster...

 

[mi_canuck]

how do you check the write speed of a micro SD? is there an app or a system feature that checks it?

 

[Member12446]

how do you check the write speed of a micro SD? is there an app or a system feature that checks it?

I copied a file to it and looked at the speed. Repeated it with the one that came with the N1 and mine was faster.

 

[mi_canuck]

non scientific, but hey - whatever works