Monday, February 20, 2006
SIM (card) City: Another Memory Card Format (Sort of)
Posted by Jonathon Watkins in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 04:00 PM
"Mobile phone group Orange plans to launch SIM cards this year that can store up to 8,000 times the data stored on present day SIMs, potentially helping to transform a traditional phone into a multimedia player. The . . . 512-megabyte "MegaSIM" cards could store up to 130 songs, three movies or 80 games, compared with existing 64 kilobyte cards which could at best store a phone book and some text messages. "The SIM will... remove the need for clumsy additional card slots that are required today to provide storage in multimedia handsets," the firm said in a statement."
So, if it looks like another memory format and stores data like a proprietary memory format....., then I suppose that we will just have to upgrade our card readers again. This certainly is one card format you won't be swapping with your camera, media player computer and PDA regularly. Once this card goes in a device, it will be staying there! The Register reports that the speed of these devices is a zippy 20 megabits/s, the potential capacity is greater than 2Gb and that the SIM works just fine in a 'normal' phone (though obviously without the extra capacity or speed). There's no word yet on cost, compatibility with current devices or whether anyone else is going to introduce these devices on their networks. As a SIM is tied to a particular mobile operator, using a MegaSIM could seriously lock you into one provider's clutches. (Unless the operators plan to give these away for free). So, do you guys see this as a super-SIM or as a sub-standard memory format?
So, if it looks like another memory format and stores data like a proprietary memory format....., then I suppose that we will just have to upgrade our card readers again. This certainly is one card format you won't be swapping with your camera, media player computer and PDA regularly. Once this card goes in a device, it will be staying there! The Register reports that the speed of these devices is a zippy 20 megabits/s, the potential capacity is greater than 2Gb and that the SIM works just fine in a 'normal' phone (though obviously without the extra capacity or speed). There's no word yet on cost, compatibility with current devices or whether anyone else is going to introduce these devices on their networks. As a SIM is tied to a particular mobile operator, using a MegaSIM could seriously lock you into one provider's clutches. (Unless the operators plan to give these away for free). So, do you guys see this as a super-SIM or as a sub-standard memory format?
