Faster, bigger SD cards and Eris responsiveness

[-=Jeff=-]

Just wondering, how does this effect speed? I thought only the RAM and Processor had these effects. Is there a way to upgrade the RAM?

I look at it like a Computer, if the phone accesses the SD card then anything that accesses it will work faster.

For example, I have a Macbook Pro from 2007, came with a 5400RPM drive. I upgraded recently to a 7200rpm drive and it runs faster due tot he faster read/write ability of the new drive.

Now I don't think everything will improve with the faster SD card, but I have not done an upgrade yet, although it is now on my list

 

[mrcrusha829]

I have ordered a 16GB Class 4. Will report what I find when it arrives.

 

[textstev]

Meh, I changed it to 4GB Class 6 for only 14$. Speed is really my only concern.

 

[kinakomochi]

textstev, that's probably a question for erisuser1 or other authority to figure out, but as a lay user I can definitely see (now that this mod has been in place for a month) that there's a robust, consistent improvement over stock.

I've tried to do my homework in confirming that it's not some other reason I'm just not seeing, and can't come to any other conclusion.

That other users like pkopalek have seen similar gains with their Class 6 cards bodes well for the Eris community, and possibly other Android phones as well. Feels nice to contribute.

 

[karib]

Transfering files onto my old 8gb class 4 card right now! Hope I see some improvement. If I do... maybe I'll buy a 16gb class 6, although I'm not really sure if I will need 16gb. Would I have enough room on an 8gb to store some movies along with my music? I don't have that much music on there, only like 20 albums.

Oh and thanks a ton for the tutorial. I could actually understand and did it successfully! Big deal for me!!!! Not sure how much faster it is though...

 

[Kevkelsar]

My movies are around 1GB each. So, they can fill up your card pretty fast if you want a good selection with you that day.

 

[karib]

My movies are around 1GB each. So, they can fill up your card pretty fast if you want a good selection with you that day.

Thats alot for one movie... ouch! Looks like I might be dropping another $50 to upgrade the card. I guess only if I can actually figure out how to put a movie on there, lol! Hey, do you happen to live near northern IL??? You come over, do it for me, I buy you some pizza and beer??? j/k

 

[entelechy3]

For my two cents, upgrading to a class 6 card made a world of difference.

The music player and browsing photos are a little snappier, but not a ton--I definitely see some increase in the read speed of this card, but there's clearly a bigger bump in write speed.

Where I see a lot of difference is the camera (almost zero lag after taking picture/video, it's ready to snap again almost immediately), and sync time is a lot faster... I use Salling Media Sync, which tells you the speed it's writing data to the card. With the class 2 I was getting speeds around 2-3 Mbytes/sec, maxing out at just under 4. With the new card, it's consistently between 6-7, and it crept up to 9.X mBytes/sec for a little while. It takes almost no time at all to load huge files or a ton of music on this thing anymore. Saving files from the web is faster, if you use Dolphin and cache on the SD card, the browser responds quicker, etc. It's not system-wide, but there's improvements in a lot of areas.

You can replace your stock 8 gig card with a class 6 of the same size for about $20, or about $40-$50 for a 16 gig. Yes, it's an added expenditure, but remember that this isn't like buying an Eris-specific battery or case... if/when you move on to your next upgraded phone, chances are you can take the SD card with you. I'd highly recommend this upgrade, honestly.

 

[hookem]

Just ordered 16g class 6. Can't wait to try it out!

 

[smittythepig]

just snagged this one. i believe the ridata lightning series are their class 6 cards. only $17 for an 8gb class 6. seems good.

Newegg.com - RiDATA Lightning Series 8GB Micro SDHC MLC Flash Card w/ 2 Adapters (SD/Mini SD/Mini SDHC) Model RDMICSDHC8G-LIG-2 - Flash Memory

 

[karib]

For my two cents, upgrading to a class 6 card made a world of difference.

The music player and browsing photos are a little snappier, but not a ton--I definitely see some increase in the read speed of this card, but there's clearly a bigger bump in write speed.

Where I see a lot of difference is the camera (almost zero lag after taking picture/video, it's ready to snap again almost immediately), and sync time is a lot faster... I use Salling Media Sync, which tells you the speed it's writing data to the card. With the class 2 I was getting speeds around 2-3 Mbytes/sec, maxing out at just under 4. With the new card, it's consistently between 6-7, and it crept up to 9.X mBytes/sec for a little while. It takes almost no time at all to load huge files or a ton of music on this thing anymore. Saving files from the web is faster, if you use Dolphin and cache on the SD card, the browser responds quicker, etc. It's not system-wide, but there's improvements in a lot of areas.

You can replace your stock 8 gig card with a class 6 of the same size for about $20, or about $40-$50 for a 16 gig. Yes, it's an added expenditure, but remember that this isn't like buying an Eris-specific battery or case... if/when you move on to your next upgraded phone, chances are you can take the SD card with you. I'd highly recommend this upgrade, honestly.

What brand did you buy? And where did you get it?

 

[smittythepig]

fyi - a previous poster said that the ridata brand (link above) shows very fast speeds for a class 6. and the reviews seem to agree.

 

[jaybigboy34]

This is pretty interesting. I am waiting for more feedback and then I may try it myself.

 

[entelechy3]

What brand did you buy? And where did you get it?

The brand is transcend, but I can't remember where I bought it, and oddly enough can't find a receipt in my email... puzzling. Regardless, it was either Amazon or buy.com, or somebody else through Google checkout.

My only advice as to shopping online for these things is be careful... I was trying to spend as little as possible while still getting a fast card, so I was digging around all sorts of bargain sites. I came across more than one that claimed to be class 6 speed at a great price, but a quick Google search of the product # listed showed a class 2 card. One even showed a pic of the card, with the "C2" clearly visible! So just be smart.

 

[kinakomochi]

For those wanting to know which brand I have (I am the OP), it's TOPRAM.

TOPRAM, from what I've been able to find, has gotten some criticism for their *full-size* SDHC products for poor write speed (in the account I read, worse than a C2). However I've not been able to find any anecdotal evidence online that this applies to their microSD stuff. That's not conclusive, though.

RiData cards however, do have a number of claims to their good performance, one from a site that does nothing but compare memory. To boot, pkopalek paid *less* for his RiData 16GB C6 than I did for the TOPRAM.

If the funds appear, my next 16GB card will be the RiData Lightning C6. It has a job elsewhere if it doesn't exceed the TOPRAM's performance.

 

[-=Jeff=-]

just ordered an 8gb RiData from Newegg.. looking forward to trying it out

 

[Eric2]

Good info here!

I tried looking up the specs on the MSM7600 chip set, and all I could find that said anything about write/read speed was here in post by "lars" dated 11/17/09:
nueOverClockTest

He gives two sets of speeds, main storage and internal storage. (Internal storage = Interner speicher).

Here's were his results:
Main storage (write);14912.62;KB/sec = 14.9 MB/sec
Main storage (read);18561.93;KB/sec = 18.6 MB/sec
Interner Speicher (write); 405.06;KB/sec = 0.4 MB/sec
Interner Speicher (read);13931.97;KB/sec = 13.9 MB/sec

Class 6 has a write speed of 6 MB/sec (vs 2 MB/sec for class 2). So it looks like the faster card could make a difference, assuming the "main storage" is the bus speed to the card. Not sure about that though. Maybe someone familiar with these processors/chip sets knows.

Wish I would have known this before I bought a class 2!

 

[hrbib21]

^Interesting info. Seems to prove what we suspected. Thanks.

 

[misterdroid]

As a generalization, would I be right in saying that if you don't use your Eris for camera or music stuff, there's not a whole lot of point in upgrading the SD card?

 

[entelechy3]

As a generalization, would I be right in saying that if you don't use your Eris for camera or music stuff, there's not a whole lot of point in upgrading the SD card?

For now, you're right, for the most part. Upgrading your SD card won't make a huge difference in your phone if you don't use apps that read/write to the SD card a lot.

However, when they released the N1 and OS 2.1 (which the head of HTC has said will be coming to the Eris), they also said they'd eventually be updating Android to allow you to store and run apps directly off the SD card (freeing up internal memory). So if/when that happens, a faster card will come in very handy. (Also, if/when we get root access to the phone, you'll be able to do the same thing, again making a faster card a good idea.)

But since we have no idea when any of the above things are going to happen, there's no rush to go out and prepare for it Especially if you don't use the card often enough to notice anything as it is.

 

[textstev]

textstev, that's probably a question for erisuser1 or other authority to figure out, but as a lay user I can definitely see (now that this mod has been in place for a month) that there's a robust, consistent improvement over stock.

I've tried to do my homework in confirming that it's not some other reason I'm just not seeing, and can't come to any other conclusion.

That other users like pkopalek have seen similar gains with their Class 6 cards bodes well for the Eris community, and possibly other Android phones as well. Feels nice to contribute.

I'm sorry I must of missed something very important. I got my new Class 6 SD Card. For 15$ I'm not disappointed, and I enjoy the Adapter as well, but I haven't really noticed much speed improvement, although it isn't slow very much. However, the typing especially in Google Voice App is very slow, and not what I'm used at speeds in other apps.

Also, when you say Mod, what Mod are we talking about (will research upon posting this). Thanks.

EDIT: I want to say I do notice improvement, but not totally satisified with typing particular in google voice at the moment (lag between pressing keys)

PS2: I noticed for some reason there was NO (NOOOO!!!) heptic feedback when I pressed my 4 keys for a few seconds haha, then it went back to normal after I sleep/woke it) Yup anyway, just gibberish, going to play with it some more, maybe disable some graphic features/sound key feedback and see if that speeds up typing.

 

[pkopalek]

I use no key feedback. It's a touch screen, so I'm looking at it anyway. Why do I need to make the phone think about vibrating/sounding off when I press a button? It just slows down the phone and kills the battery.

Just leave your typing on silent. It'll cut down on that lag always.

http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/41557-keyboard-running-much-better-now.html

 

[textstev]

Yes, I used to have no sound, but felt it wasn't user friendly for my friends to play with. Well It's really only meant for me to be using so switched to no sound again.

 

[pkopalek]

Nah, there's a visual anyway, no matter who's playing with it. They'll know they pushed the button.

 

[textstev]

Hehe. Thats true. Everyone is so understanding here. I like this forum and my cute small phone. Typing right from my phone while listening to Pandora actually at the moment.