Accessories High speed Class-6 microSD card recommended.

[seoultrain]

Actually Class 6 has faster access times, reads and writes. Just look at the specs between each class.

Class 6 is the only way to go.

So much misinformation in this thread.

Read speeds of MicroSDs are limited by the reading hardware. There is no difference between reading Class 2 and Class 6 in standard use (USB, smartphone, camera).

My class 2 16GB card reads at 18MB/s in my USB 2.0 card reader.
My class 6 8GB card reads at 18MB/s in the same reader.

Write speeds are where the disparity shows, but we have on-board memory for intensive operations like photo and video recording. And my Class 2 was $30, not "just a few bucks" less than $60 for a Class 6. Save your money, buy Class 2.

Edit: Access times are about 1ms for all SDHCs. No discernable difference.

 

[Reddog80p]

So much misinformation in this thread.

Read speeds of MicroSDs are limited by the reading hardware. There is no difference between reading Class 2 and Class 6 in standard use (USB, smartphone, camera).

My class 2 16GB card reads at 18MB/s in my USB 2.0 card reader.
My class 6 8GB card reads at 18MB/s in the same reader.

Write speeds are where the disparity shows, but we have on-board memory for intensive operations like photo and video recording. And my Class 2 was $30, not "just a few bucks" less than $60 for a Class 6. Save your money, buy Class 2.

Edit: Access times are about 1ms for all SDHCs. No discernable difference.

Why did you pay $60 for an 8gb class 6 sdhc?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=transcend_class_6-_-20-208-453-_-Product

 

[scarshapedstar]

Why did you pay $60 for an 8gb class 6 sdhc?

Newegg.com - Transcend 8GB Micro SDHC Flash Card Model TS8GUSDHC6

Well, I suspect the short answer is that electronics get cheaper over time. (Until they're obsolete at which point they eventually become more expensive.)

The long answer involves economics of scale, sunk costs, inventory management, marketing, and price discrimination, but I don't feel like writing it.

 

[seoultrain]

Why did you pay $60 for an 8gb class 6 sdhc?

Newegg.com - Transcend 8GB Micro SDHC Flash Card Model TS8GUSDHC6

The short answer is actually that he misunderstood me. I was comparing 16GB Class 2 ($30) to 16GB Class 6 ($60).

My 8GB Class 6 was $20 with the aforementioned USB reader.

 

[needtoride]

Write speeds are where the disparity shows, but we have on-board memory for intensive operations like photo and video recording. And my Class 2 was $30, not "just a few bucks" less than $60 for a Class 6. Save your money, buy Class 2.

Can you explain how on-board memory is used for photo and video recording? I was under the impression that such operations were written directly to the card if configured as such, like my BB Pearl. If it's used as a buffer, write speed of the card would still play a role once the buffer fills.

 

[Dorito]

So much misinformation in this thread.

Read speeds of MicroSDs are limited by the reading hardware. There is no difference between reading Class 2 and Class 6 in standard use (USB, smartphone, camera).

My class 2 16GB card reads at 18MB/s in my USB 2.0 card reader.
My class 6 8GB card reads at 18MB/s in the same reader.

Oh really??? Well my phones MP3 player app functions faster with the class 6 card. Lists come up faster, album art comes up faster, switching songs is fast...... its all due to the faster class 6 card.

 

[seoultrain]

Can you explain how on-board memory is used for photo and video recording? I was under the impression that such operations were written directly to the card if configured as such, like my BB Pearl. If it's used as a buffer, write speed of the card would still play a role once the buffer fills.

I can't seem to load up the pdf manual. I'm assuming you can set the phone to write photos and video to the onboard memory (or does so by default). Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of the onboard memory, and they might as well have included a 16GB card like the MotoDroid.

Oh really??? Well my phones MP3 player app functions faster with the class 6 card. Lists come up faster, album art comes up faster, switching songs is fast...... its all due to the faster class 6 card.

If you can give some proof, I'll concede your point. Otherwise, there are too many variables to validate your statement: formatting, card quality, card age, mp3 app programming, etc.

 

[seoultrain]

Here's some food for thought:
Card 1: Sandisk MicroSD 16GB Class 2
Card 2: Transcend SD (not Micro) 8GB Class 6

Read: (from HDTach)
Class 2: 18MB/s
Class 6: 15MB/s (actually slower!)

Write (from Windows w/ stopwatch)
Class 2: 5.8MB/s
Class 6: 9.69MB/s

Maybe your Class 2 is junk, maybe I got lucky with mine.

 

[nickacs]

Just ordered the Transcend 8gb for $20 on Amazon tonight.. Getting all the goodies ready for Thursday!

 

[jwm2]

I can't seem to load up the pdf manual. I'm assuming you can set the phone to write photos and video to the onboard memory (or does so by default). Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of the onboard memory, and they might as well have included a 16GB card like the MotoDroid.



If you can give some proof, I'll concede your point. Otherwise, there are too many variables to validate your statement: formatting, card quality, card age, mp3 app programming, etc.

Where is the data cached when opening up the music app? If its on the sd card then its possible that writing to the card at a faster rate could speed up the time it takes to view the lists. I have no idea, i'm not an sd card expert, i'm just throwing this out there.

 

[mb01]

Can you explain how on-board memory is used for photo and video recording? I was under the impression that such operations were written directly to the card if configured as such, like my BB Pearl. If it's used as a buffer, write speed of the card would still play a role once the buffer fills.

most of the slightly older phones had a save option for media as save to phone or save to sd card. im guessing it will work the same way. you'll be able to set each type of media a default to where it saves, either "phone" (on-board memory) or card (sd card).

Where is the data cached when opening up the music app? If its on the sd card then its possible that writing to the card at a faster rate could speed up the time it takes to view the lists. I have no idea, i'm not an sd card expert, i'm just throwing this out there.

caching is handled by ram, not sd cards or even on-board memory. and a mobile phone music player caching anything to play music is pointless. thats just adding in a pointless process to take more time to play music rather than running the music files from directly where they are stored like all other music players do.

 

[IOWA]

Why not a class 10 16gb? xD Thats what im throwing in my evo when i get it.

 

[needtoride]

most of the slightly older phones had a save option for media as save to phone or save to sd card. im guessing it will work the same way. you'll be able to set each type of media a default to where it saves, either "phone" (on-board memory) or card (sd card).

Right, so for people who take tons of photos and videos like myself, the default store would be the SDHC. Hence, write performance is important to me.

Could the camera be configured to use the system memory as a buffer and writes to the card when taking photos/videos have stopped, or when the buffer is full? Like a dslr, where you can shoot continuously until the internal buffer fills, then it flushes everything to the card. That's when you'll see the slow down and where fast cards will make a difference.

 

[seoultrain]

Right, so for people who take tons of photos and videos like myself, the default store would be the SDHC. Hence, write performance is important to me.

Could the camera be configured to use the system memory as a buffer and writes to the card when taking photos/videos have stopped, or when the buffer is full? Like a dslr, where you can shoot continuously until the internal buffer fills, then it flushes everything to the card. That's when you'll see the slow down and where fast cards will make a difference.

The Incredible is no Nikon. Besides, you should be writing to the onboard, then transfering to your SD at a later time. That should give you peak performance, regardless of the card you have.

 

[dresteve3000]

The Incredible is no Nikon. Besides, you should be writing to the onboard, then transfering to your SD at a later time. That should give you peak performance, regardless of the card you have.

That might be true, but what happens when you start installing apps and they need an SD card. You'll what that Class 6 SDHC card. Also, if the phone ever dies, how will you remove your pictures, music...

Just something to think about.

 

[Dorito]

The Incredible is no Nikon. Besides, you should be writing to the onboard, then transfering to your SD at a later time. That should give you peak performance, regardless of the card you have.

Wrong IMO. You dont know what kind of flash memory is built into the Incredible. I would guess it is not high speed Class 6 memory to reduce costs? No one knows yet until we can test.

Only time will tell how fast the internal flash memory is....IF it indeed is high speed memory I would still get a Class 6 card anyway, no reason not to.

 

[jwm2]

I'm guessing the internal memory is going to be faster than accessing the sd just due to the extra interfacing it must do to access the sd memory. I could be wrong but it would seem to me that internal flash memory would be quicker if for no other reason than optimized bandwidth and data communication.

 

[mb01]

Wrong IMO. You dont know what kind of flash memory is built into the Incredible. I would guess it is not high speed Class 6 memory to reduce costs? No one knows yet until we can test.

Only time will tell how fast the internal flash memory is....IF it indeed is high speed memory I would still get a Class 6 card anyway, no reason not to.

look at it this way.
a 15 mp camera taking pictures at its highest settings, the files are 5 mB. on an 8 mp camera phone, basically cut the file size in half. 2.5 mB. a class 2 writes at at LEAST 2 mB/s, with the average being about 6. that means it will be able to write those files within half a second. youre arguing about save times being milliseconds faster.
and as for apps using sd cards, apps themselves are maybe 1 mB on average. anything theyre saving to sd cards is kB. KILOBYTES! all these arguments about save times on a mobile phone are ridiculous. if you want to spend the extra money to save files milliseconds faster, go ahead. just realize its basically a waste of money.
sd card class is a gimmick to get non-tech savvy people to spend more money on pointless products. theyre more for people who are moving GIGABYTES of files continually, i.e. HD videos, gigantic computer files, etc.

 

[Max Johnson]

Secure Digital - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Speed Class Rating

The Speed Class Rating is the official unit of speed measurement for SD Cards, defined by the SD Association. It is equal to 8 Mbit/s, and it measures the minimum write speeds based on "the best fragmented state where no memory unit is occupied":[9]

The following are the ratings of some currently available cards:

• Class 2: 16 Mbit/s (2 MByte/s)
• Class 4: 32 Mbit/s (4 MByte/s)
• Class 6: 48 Mbit/s (6 MByte/s)
• Class 10: 80 Mbit/s (10 MByte/s)

Important differences between the Speed Class and the traditional CD-ROM drive speed measurement ("X" speed ratings) are:

1. the ability of the host device to query the SD card for the speed class and determine the best location to store data that meets the performance required
2. class speed defines the minimum transfer speed.

Even though the class ratings are defined by a governing body, like "X" speed ratings, class speed ratings are quoted by the manufacturers but unverified by any independent evaluation process.

On 21 May 2009, Panasonic announced new "class 10" SDHC cards, claiming that this new class is "part of SD Card Specification Ver.3.0".[10] Toshiba also announced cards based on the new 3.0 spec[11] As of December 2009[update], the SD Association's Web site does not include information on this new class or new specification.

 

[anBROid]

Just curious as to why Motorola would include a 16GB Class 6 micro SD if they could have just put in a class 2 for much cheaper.

Can anyone explain why they thought class 6 was needed?

EDIT: Here is the link about the Droid's card btw >> http://developer.motorola.com/products/droid/

 

[mb01]

Just curious as to why Motorola would include a 16GB Class 6 micro SD if they could have just put in a class 2 for much cheaper.

Can anyone explain why they thought class 6 was needed?

EDIT: Here is the link about the Droid's card btw >> MOTODEV > Products > DROID by Motorola

just because they put a class 6 in doesnt mean it was needed. obviously a marketing tool.

 

[Dorito]

I'm guessing the internal memory is going to be faster than accessing the sd just due to the extra interfacing it must do to access the sd memory. I could be wrong but it would seem to me that internal flash memory would be quicker if for no other reason than optimized bandwidth and data communication.

Well no one knows how its interfaced to the system

 

[Dorito]

look at it this way.
a 15 mp camera taking pictures at its highest settings, the files are 5 mB. on an 8 mp camera phone, basically cut the file size in half. 2.5 mB. a class 2 writes at at LEAST 2 mB/s, with the average being about 6. that means it will be able to write those files within half a second. youre arguing about save times being milliseconds faster.
and as for apps using sd cards, apps themselves are maybe 1 mB on average. anything theyre saving to sd cards is kB. KILOBYTES! all these arguments about save times on a mobile phone are ridiculous. if you want to spend the extra money to save files milliseconds faster, go ahead. just realize its basically a waste of money.
sd card class is a gimmick to get non-tech savvy people to spend more money on pointless products. theyre more for people who are moving GIGABYTES of files continually, i.e. HD videos, gigantic computer files, etc.

Listen, Class 6 cards have already been proven to have faster random access times and this can be clearly seen by the mp3 player app loading lists and album art faster with Class 6 cards. This has already been tested with the Droid Eris.

You need to rethink how LONG one second is. Its a LONG time when you're trying to take another shot with the camera. Even 1/2 second is a LONG time when using ANY camera.

You can post as much (misguided?) theory as you want but the fact of the matter is that Class 6 cards ARE indeed faster in our smartphones. Again, there is no arguing this as its already been tested.

 

[needtoride]

look at it this way.
a 15 mp camera taking pictures at its highest settings, the files are 5 mB. on an 8 mp camera phone, basically cut the file size in half. 2.5 mB. a class 2 writes at at LEAST 2 mB/s, with the average being about 6. that means it will be able to write those files within half a second. youre arguing about save times being milliseconds faster.
and as for apps using sd cards, apps themselves are maybe 1 mB on average. anything theyre saving to sd cards is kB. KILOBYTES! all these arguments about save times on a mobile phone are ridiculous. if you want to spend the extra money to save files milliseconds faster, go ahead. just realize its basically a waste of money.
sd card class is a gimmick to get non-tech savvy people to spend more money on pointless products. theyre more for people who are moving GIGABYTES of files continually, i.e. HD videos, gigantic computer files, etc.

Based on Max Johnson's link, class 6 is 3 times faster than class 2. If a photo is 2.5mb, class 2 will take more than a second to write each photo. If you're shooting in 'bursts', the difference between 2mb/s and 6mb/s makes a difference. And personally, I'm not interested in moving photos from on board memory to the memory card as a manual exercise.

Imo, to say the class is a gimmick is a bit far fetched. Try telling that to the pro photographers. (Not that I'm comparing the Inc to a D3s, by any means) Even a 15mp camera isn't writing gb of data continuously, but I doubt you'll find any serious photographers who won't try to get the 'fastest' cards they can get their hands on.

 

[droideris]

Stupid question I guess....

But, I had an Eris, and I'm assuming that the 8GB card that came with it was only a Class 2, but I don't know for sure because I never looked at it. I had problem with my music skipping on it. From this forum, I learned that perhaps I should buy a better pair of headphones that had a gold plated jack. I bought a pair of Skullcandy's, but most of my music still skipped at the beginning of each song but it was not as bad with my old $5 buds.

Could this have been caused because it was only a Class 2 card??

I don't have the phone, returned it last Sunday, so I could pre-order the Incredible! But, I was wondering just the same.

I did just order a Class 6 8GB card last night on Amazon for my DI.

The Eris' preloaded card is Class 4.