Bright future for iPhone: SanDisk's 32GB flash drive?

[Kabeyun]

It seems that flash memory is growing as quickly as its prices are shrinking. SanDisk has announced (a couple of months ago) a solid state UATA flash drive that's only 1.8", consumes only 0.4 W read/write, and has sick transfer speeds.

Just puttin' it out there, fyi.

-K

 

[Lob]

I found a link with a bunch or Solid State Drives (SSD). The prices are too high for me to buy one, but I would love the know the price of this Sandisk drive!

 

[Kabeyun]

I read $600, which, while far cheaper than the PQIs, would still be too costly even at wholesale for a reasonably-priced iPhone. Prices are steadily decreasing though. It's a good bet we'll see the end of the portable computer platter HD one day soon.

-K

 

[Lob]

Yeah that would be great. I hear they have hybrid drives too. You can store your OS on the Flash side of the drive and put the rest of your data on the platter side.

 

[nynex]

Does the iPhone offer SD card? I have read that it does not have any type of media storage like that. Just wondering because...
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(2339)-SDSDRH-8192(Available June 2007)-SanDisk_Ultra_II_SDHC_8GB_High_Performance_Card.aspx

 

[carolinagirl113]

loveeee

I would love it if the iPhone had higher flash memory AND its price went down. Wooo that would be the day.

 

[sagerocket]

Seems surprising to me that (with the iPhone) Apple isn't squeezing out at least a moderate improvement in storage capacity above and beyond the flash memory driven 8GB iPod Nano. Clearly, even the larger capacity iPhone is going to fill up quickly for those of us with large music or movie libraries. Would it have been *that* much of a margin hit to splurge on even a slightly increased 10 or 12GB unit? Or, is this Apple's way of tempering the initial sales push (and iPod canibalism), by nudging some of us to hold out a bit for higher capacity storage capabilities? You decide...

 

[ColsTiger]

They may be trying to avoid the battery usage of a large capacity. That would inevitably add the amount of video stored to the phone and deplete the already subject battery too quickly.

 

[michael27hogan]

i think the iPhone just has a hard drive and no sd slot in which you can improve the memory.

 

[Digeverything]

i think the iPhone just has a hard drive and no sd slot in which you can improve the memory.

I think people are just talking about the cost of flash memory going down and causing the price of the iPhone either going down in response or additional flash memory being added, due to the lower cost for flash memory. I read somewhere not to expect any drastic change in the cost of flash memory in the next year.
Also, I don't think it actually has a hard drive at all. Hard drives would take up space, weight, and maybe battery(?). Plus they could potentially skip, i think, if your phone were to take a hit.

if any of this is wrong, someone feel free to correct. I'm no expert, just basing this on what i've read...

 

[Lob]

I think people are just talking about the cost of flash memory going down and causing the price of the iPhone either going down in response or additional flash memory being added, due to the lower cost for flash memory. I read somewhere not to expect any drastic change in the cost of flash memory in the next year.
Also, I don't think it actually has a hard drive at all. Hard drives would take up space, weight, and maybe battery(?). Plus they could potentially skip, i think, if your phone were to take a hit.

if any of this is wrong, someone feel free to correct. I'm no expert, just basing this on what i've read...

I know the original iPods and I believe the bigger video iPods are still running on actual Hard Drives. As far as the skipping goes, when you choose a song or something it would put into ram or something and play from there. But, you were correct about the flash drives using less power. The future looks good with flash since we won't have to worry about powering those HD motors and waiting for disks to wind up to speed.

 

[Nieriel]

O.O

wtbc man?

man, my mom should come on boards like this.

"Oh sweetie, you know so much about computers!"
"Mom, trust me; compared to ACTUAL tech geeks, I should probably wear a helmet when operating a computer...."

I just say this because these 32g flashcards are about THREE TIMES BIGGER THAN MY COMPUTER!

but yeah, even I know flash card capability would :sing-song: ro-ock!

 

[wjp09]

I see flash memory as the Next Gen media median. It costs less and less each year to make. For instance when I bought my Sony PSP, the 512mb memory stick was 90 dollars. Now, less than (or just about) two years later, the 2gb sticks are less than 90 dollars. You will see this trend continue with all Flash memory. Even quicker with competition.

 

[andre000]

Hard drive? Hardly.

I think people are just talking about the cost of flash memory going down and causing the price of the iPhone either going down in response or additional flash memory being added, due to the lower cost for flash memory. I read somewhere not to expect any drastic change in the cost of flash memory in the next year.
Also, I don't think it actually has a hard drive at all. Hard drives would take up space, weight, and maybe battery(?). Plus they could potentially skip, i think, if your phone were to take a hit.

if any of this is wrong, someone feel free to correct. I'm no expert, just basing this on what i've read...

Hard drive? No. The iPhone's specs clearly show that in is flash memory. Although I wish the capacities where higher, flash is the way to go for this device for reasons already stated, eg: small footprint, better battery management.

I think your theory of less capacity= less movies to load and run down the battery capacity to be very interesting. I never thought about that.

 

[wjp09]

You also need to remember that it is a PHONE. It is not an ipod. It is a phone with ipod support not an ipod that makes calls. It is intended to be a phone

 

[Nieriel]

You also need to remember that it is a PHONE. It is not an ipod. It is a phone with ipod support not an ipod that makes calls. It is intended to be a phone

it's an iPhone, not a Phonei!

 

[Parkerlee14]

does anyone know for sure whether you can expand iPhone memory or not?

 

[wot_fan]

does anyone know for sure whether you can expand iPhone memory or not?

The iPhone does not support memory cards. The only way I can see to expand its memory is to crack it open and replace the flash cards. We won't even know if that is possible until the iPhone is released. At that point I am sure some brave soul will try it. It won't be me though .

 

[andre000]

The iPhone does not support memory cards. The only way I can see to expand its memory is to crack it open and replace the flash cards. We won't even know if that is possible until the iPhone is released. At that point I am sure some brave soul will try it. It won't be me though .

Ain't that the truth!

 

[itsabouttime]

The iPhone does not support memory cards. The only way I can see to expand its memory is to crack it open and replace the flash cards. We won't even know if that is possible until the iPhone is released. At that point I am sure some brave soul will try it. It won't be me though .

LOL, just the phrase "crack it open" makes me cringe. I can't imagine doing that to my iPhone.