Posts tagged MicroSD
HTC EVO 4G hit with possible data corruption bug
Jun 3rd
HTC might have a big mess coming its way in just a day or two. The company’s all set to launch its new Android superphone, the EVO 4G, on Sprint tomorrow, but initial reports from users who were given EVO 4Gs at Google’s I/O conference suggest the phone might have a serious data corruption bug.
The phone’s included 8GB SanDisk MicroSD card reportedly stops working until the phone is rebooted. Normally that might just be a minor annoyance, but it turns out the problem keeps popping up in different forms, corrupting data (like photos, videos, and program files), causing programs relying on SD storage to go haywire, giving file permission errors, and more. A thread at AndroidForums has over 200 posts, with no working solution in sight.
The problem doesn’t seem to be limited to the included MicroSD card. Some suspect the issue could be related to the EVO 4G’s unusual seating mechanism for the MicroSD card (pictured after the break), which might cause the card to at times lose contact with the phone’s main board. Given that it does seem to be fixed (at least temporarily) by a reset, we’re inclined to think it might be a software glitch, in which case HTC, Google, or Sprint will hopefully be able to push out an update soon enough.
Update: Whew, that was fast- looks like HTC’s already pushed out an over-the-air update to fix the issue.
Source: AndroidPolice
Photo of the EVO 4G’s unusual MicroSD slot after the break. More >
SanDisk introduces 32GB MicroSDHC memory card
Mar 23rd
SanDisk just announced the world’s highest-capacity removable memory card for mobile phones– a new 32GB MicroSDHC card. The card is scheduled to go on sale next week in the US and Europe for $199.99.
Built on a 32-nanometer, 3-bit per cell manufacturing process, the new model is a class 2 MicroSD card, meaning its throughput can hit 16 Mbps (2 MBps). 16GB MicroSD cards are available at up to class 6, or 48 Mbps, so this isn’t the speediest card around, but 32 gigabytes in something smaller than a fingernail is nothing to laugh at.
Microsoft Builds A Zune Phone: The Misnamed Windows Phone 7 Series
Mar 18th
Several questions were left unanswered at Microsoft’s launch of Windows Phone 7 Series at the Mobile World Congress 2010 on February 15. Since then, and particularly at the MIX developer conference this week, we’ve begun to hear answers, most of which indicate that Microsoft has dramatically shifted its view of smartphones. To summarize, Windows Phone 7 Series has no multitasking, removable storage (MicroSD cards) support, file explorer, or copy-and-paste.
It’s quite clear that Microsoft has shifted lock-stock-and-barrel from its idea of shrinking near-PC-level functionality into smartphones (Windows Mobile actually used to be called “Pocket PC”) to instead embrace Apple’s tightly-controlled, appliance-like approach to phones– the kind of vertically-integrated approach Microsoft has already used for Xbox and Zune.
Essentially what we’re left with is a misnamed OS– this is not a Windows Phone, but a Zune Phone. The “Windows” brand implies a full-fledged computer, not a music player with a phone built in. It’s important to note that Apple’s phone is not called a Mac Phone– it’s an extended iPod, hence iPhone. Microsoft also makes this branding separation- Xbox and Zune don’t contain any Windows branding, for example. Why, then, does Microsoft continue to use the Windows Phone brand when its mobile OS no longer has anything to do with Windows?
Read on for more details. More >
The Ugly Underside of Memory Card Production
Feb 26th
Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, co-creator of the Chumby smart alarm clock, posted an interesting exploration of the underside of MicroSD memory card production in China. Huang came across a batch of questionable memory cards purchased directly from Kingston itself and decided to investigate the issue. Turns out the chips were produced in a “ghost shift”– factory workers return to the facility after hours and use spare or rejected material to create cheap but sub-par memory chips, wrap them up in authentic retail packaging, and sell them in the gray market. Huang watched as mom-and-pop shops packaged and sold similar bogus chips, but the most interesting aspect is of course that his original batch had come from Kingston itself.
Kingston is a major memory brand in places like the US, but it lacks production facilities of its own, instead buying “A- grade” chips from Sandisk/Toshiba and Samsung. While the chips generally work fine, they have enough defects that they might normally be rejected by the chipmaker. As a result, manufacturers are happy to sell them at cheaper rates to companies like Kingston, which then pass on some of the savings to the consumer– but in the case of Kingston, it comes at some risk to their brand name.
Kingston MicroSD Cards - fake (left), real (right); on the authentic chip, the branding and serial number are stamped separately, so they are in different shades, whereas the fake card has all information stamped at once
Source: BunnieStudios
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