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Sony unveils Memory Stick Micro

neptunes

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The duo line is small enough as it is...

e662ix.jpg

Dimensions 15 × 12.5 × 1.2 mm
Volume 225 mm3
Connector Pin 11-pin
Maximum Capacity 32GB (Theoretical)
Max. Data Transfer Rate 160 Mbps (Theoretical)
Operating Voltage 1.7 - 1.95 V and 2.7 - 3.6 V
Interface Serial I/F and 4-bit parallel I/F
Operating Temperature -25∼+85°C
Copyright Protection Technology MagicGate
What, another memory card format?
By Tony Smith
Published Friday 30th September 2005 11:43 GMT


Get breaking Mobile news straight to your desktop - click here to find out how
Sony and SanDisk today launched the latest Memory Stick format, the Micro.

The compact memory card measures just 15 x 12.5 x 1.2mm, which makes it even smaller than the Micro SD card, also developed by SanDisk and previously known as TransFlash. Micro SD cards measure 21.5 x 20 x 1.4mm.

Like Micro SD, Memory Stick Micro will be pitched at mobile phones.

Memory Stick Micro cards run at 3.3V or 1.8V, and can shift bits at up to 160Mbps, Sony said. It expects the format to be able to store up to 32GB of data, though it was forced to admit that's a theoretical maximum. Indeed, it has yet to say what capacities the new format will offer when it comes to market sometime during H1 2006.

Sony and SanDisk said they will begin licensing the technology next month.
The Register

The mods can move this to another forum if the see fit,
 
I totally missed this...
Sony said. It expects the format to be able to store up to 32GB of data, though it was forced to admit that's a theoretical maximum. Indeed

That's quite the improvement from the standard 4gb capacity.
 
A smaller card to go along with smaller phones that are being made, that is the focus of this new card.
 
DarienA said:
A smaller card to go along with smaller phones that are being made, that is the focus of this new card.

Sony should just get out of the memory card business and stop competing with Compact Flash / SD. Clearly GAF says that Memory Stick = PSP memory card only. Any new announcements are useless.

:|

(sometimes companies have to keep producing products for the market they're in)
 
5 gig duo and A DOWNLOAD SERVICE WHERE WE CAN BUY CONTENT?!?!?

Business - strategy - profit... the pieces are there, just put them together.

I'd pay for access in a heartbeat.
 
MS Duos = 31 x 20 x 1.6 mm

MS Micros = 15 x 12.5 x 1.2 mm

So roughly half as long, half as wide and just a hair thinner.
 
Dimensions 15 × 12.5 × 1.2 mm

That's about the size of a key on your keyboard! OMG. This just means that they'll be smaller cameras and whatever devices later on. Nice.
 
jenov4 said:
Dimensions 15 × 12.5 × 1.2 mm

That's about the size of a key on your keyboard! OMG. This just means that they'll be smaller cameras and whatever devices later on. Nice.

Maybe you have a point.
 
Lo-Volt said:
Why? Just, why should they do this? What is the point of this format?

..you're kinda slow aren't you? The new micro card is a format that is going to be pushed for cell phone makers... since alot of the new camera phones are coming with memory slots for moving photos/video and while Sony Ericsson does have cameraphones that take pro duo's this micro will allow them to go even smaller.
 
wonder if they'll have em at the sony center?

i'd like to get a feel for the size.
More importantly , i want a feel for the price.

32 gig + adaptor + psp + low price = ultimate victory

"..you're kinda slow aren't you? The new micro card is a format that is going to be pushed for cell phone makers... since alot of the new camera phones are coming with memory slots for moving photos/video and while Sony Ericsson does have cameraphones that take pro duo's this micro will allow them to go even smaller."

even more important - as G3 phones and "media on the go" / web surfing on a phone becomes more important - smaller and larger media becomes more important.

As hinted elsewhere - we need an adaptor for this and a handle on cost.
if the minaturization has thrown the cost into the stratosphere, then that'll be somewhat disappointing if understandable.
 
I think Sony's philosophy is "keep pumping out formats, one's bound to take off and become huge."

Kinda pisses me off at all their proprietary crap.
 
Tenacious-V said:
I think Sony's philosophy is "keep pumping out formats, one's bound to take off and become huge."

Kinda pisses me off at all their proprietary crap.

http://www.techworld.com/storage/news/index.cfm?NewsID=4493&inkc=0

Memory Stick is the second most popular memory card format, with a quarter of the world memory card production volume, second to the SD format with 41 percent, according to industry researcher TSR.

I think the format already took off.

EDIT: Ah hell I'll just post the whole press release

SANDISK AND SONY DEVELOP “MEMORY STICK MICRO” (M2) FORMAT
Ultra-small IC recording media for mobile phones

SanDisk Corporation and Sony Corporation today announced the development of the “Memory Stick Micro” format, an ultra-small IC recording media designed to meet the growing storage needs of highly compact, multifunctional mobile phones. Licensing for the development of “Memory Stick Micro” compatible hardware will begin October 3, 2005.

“Memory Stick Micro” media is approximately one-quarter the size of “Memory Stick PRO Duo” media, yet only about 1.2 mm thick. The media's edges are slotted lengthwise to allow for more slim-line designed connectors to reduce space in host devices. As dual-voltage media, Memory Stick Micro supports devices operating at 3.3 volts and 1.8 volts.

Memory Stick Micro is designed as an externally removable media with a controlled eject function to prevent users losing the media. Users will be able to insert Memory Stick Micro into an adapter for exchanging data to a Memory Stick PRO compatible product.

Dr. Eli Harari, president and chief executive officer of SanDisk Corporation, said “The Memory Stick PRO format co-developed with Sony has become a highly successful product line for us due to its popularity with a wide range of consumer electronic products such as digital cameras and videogame consoles. Sony and SanDisk recognize the rapidly growing market opportunity for memory cards with multimedia mobile phones, and are joining forces to develop the ultra-small Memory Stick Micro format to foster development of extremely compact multimedia mobile phones.”

Akira Kubota, NC President of Micro Systems Network Company, Sony Corporation said “Sony's collaboration with SanDisk Corporation has continued to develop since our initial announcement of the joint Memory Stick PRO format development in 2003. Today's joint announcement of the Memory Stick Micro format provides a new, versatile IC recording media for mobile products such as mobile phones for sharing entertainment and data.”

Since the September 1998 market introduction of Memory Stick, cumulative shipments of media have achieved 145 million units as of August 2005*1. In recent years, Memory Stick media has been used not only to store still images of digital still cameras and sharing data among PCs, but has also been widely used for entertainment purposes such as playing back video and music content. As mobile phones become more advanced with varied functions, including video and music playback, there is an increasing need for smaller, high-capacity media which this product addresses.

The Memory Stick Micro media will be made available in 1st half of 2006.

Memory Stick Micro Specifications

* Dimensions 15 × 12.5 × 1.2 mm
* Volume 225 mm3
* Connector Pin 11-pin
* Maximum Capacity 32GB (Theoretical) *2
* Max. Data Transfer Rate 160 Mbps (Theoretical) *3
* Operating Voltage 1.7 - 1.95 V and 2.7 - 3.6 V
* Interface Serial I/F and 4-bit parallel I/F
* Operating Temperature -25∼+85°C
* Copyright Protection Technology MagicGate

SanDisk Corporation and Sony Corporation announced the development of the "Memory Stick Micro" format, an ultra-small IC recording media designed to meet the growing storage needs of highly compact, multifunctional mobile phones. Licensing for the development of "Memory Stick Micro" compatible hardware will begin October 3, 2005.

"Memory Stick Micro" media is approximately one-quarter the size of "Memory Stick PRO Duo" media, yet only about 1.2 mm thick. The media’s edges are slotted lengthwise to allow for more slim-line designed connectors to reduce space in host devices. As dual-voltage media, Memory Stick Micro supports devices operating at 3.3 volts and 1.8 volts.

Memory Stick Micro is designed as an externally removable media with a controlled eject function to prevent users losing the media. Users will be able to insert Memory Stick Micro into an adapter for exchanging data to a Memory Stick PRO compatible product.



Nothing to see here people STFU with the bitching already.
 
Tenacious-V said:
I think Sony's philosophy is "keep pumping out formats, one's bound to take off and become huge."

Kinda pisses me off at all their proprietary crap.
You might want to take a broader look at the flash media marketplace because there isn't really *anybody* adhering to a single industry standard. There just isn't one.
 
DarienA said:

Yeah, just kinda annoys me is all. My statement was for Sony as a whole, not just flash though. But I do appreciate the fact that they added an adaptor.

kaching said:
You might want to take a broader look at the flash media marketplace because there isn't really *anybody* adhering to a single industry standard. There just isn't one.

Yeah, that's definitely true, it just sucks that there's so many formats out there and this is just saturating the market with yet another one. I mean, come up with one you think is the best and stick with it. Even more coming out isn't the way to go.
 
Tenacious-V said:
Yeah, just kinda annoys me is all. My statement was for Sony as a whole, not just flash though. But I do appreciate the fact that they added an adaptor.

Blu-Ray posts make sense now.
 
teiresias said:
Blu-Ray posts make sense now.

Oh geez, not this again. Can't you guys take criticism of something without assuming hatred and fanboyism?? Just because my view doesn't coincide with the majority does not insinuate I'm some blatant Sony hater. Man you guys are so 1 dimensional. And besides, I didn't bash BD, I merely stated points about HD-DVD in comparison that you guys were dismissing. I only tried to bring forth the fact that HD-DVD isn't just a DOA POS like you guys assumed, and somehow that makes me a Sony hater.....
 
one thing that has happened in the market place that is amazing is that CF prices have gone UP!!!

the advantage of their Y/storage seems to have been lost
 
I'm sorry but I'm not buying any of this crap. This is complete bullshit and I'll explain why. I bought a Sony Ericsson P800 PDA-phone for a shitload of money a few years back. At that point they had the Memory Stick (the longer ones) and the Memory Stick Duo (the short ones). My cellphone supported the Memory Stick Duo cards.

Due to shitty a architech, the memory stick duo had a maximum capacity of 128Mb which is pretty crappy for a PDA phone which bosts MPEG playback, MP3 and pictures. They then "fixed" that barrier by releasing the memory stick duo pro which was the same physical size as the memory stick duo pro but could hold up to 32gb which is perfect.

At this point they had just released the P900 cellphone which still used Memory Stick Duos (not Pros).

All is well right? New format, same physical size, higher memory. Here's where the bullshit comes into play. They release the memory stick duo pro and they release a firmware upgrade for the P900 which allows it to read the new memory sticks. HOWEVER, they REFUSED to release the patch for P800 users so that we would be force to buy their shity new phone to support their shitty new memory stick. That's fucking awful. There was nothing technology wise that prevented them from releasing a patch, it was a business decision.

So now, i'm stuck with a 128MB cap and i'm forced to buy non-pro Memory Stick Duos which cost more than the Pro series (plus I'd need 8 of them to reach a GIG). To hell with sony and their shit proprietory formats. I will never EVER buy a sony handheld; this includes the PSP, until they follow standards. Don't even get me started on their refusal to support MP3 in the past.

And for those of you saying "at least they'll have an adapter". My phone has an adapter to support the longer memory sticks.. but THEY STICK OUT. If I were to drop my phone, place it in my pocket or whatever, the memory stick will snap in half. Plus it looks ugly with the adapter.
 
DarienA said:
SanDisk Corporation and Sony Corporation today announced the development of the “Memory Stick Micro” format, an ultra-small IC recording media designed to meet the growing storage needs of highly compact, multifunctional mobile phones.

Yeah, this is really just Sony/Sandisk keeping up with the joneses, so to speak.

SD Card = Memory Stick
MiniSD = Memory Stick Duo
MicroSD = M2

That being said, both MicroSD and M2 are plainly ridiculous; they're too small, and since both are working with the same memory densities as MiniSD/Duo, they also have half the space. (MicroSD tops out at 512MB, MiniSD at 1GB, for example).

I'm just not seeing the space savings from using the smaller slot, unless something stupid is already going on under the hood (ie: the Motorola ROKR has the MicroSD under the battery).
 
I guess Memorystick Nano is next?
:)

I really don't think they could feasably get any smaller and still be easy enough to use.
 
These extra tiny memory formats are getting so small they're impractical.
I think Duos are even too small; I worry about losing mine. It's not like they're too big for cells either.
 
Crazymoogle said:
I'm just not seeing the space savings from using the smaller slot, unless something stupid is already going on under the hood (ie: the Motorola ROKR has the MicroSD under the battery).


It's time for the next generation of uber geeks. The return of the watch calculator (or for this gen the watch MP3 / Video / GPS / pong player :D )
 
If the industrial designer for a cell phone is not able to keep the size of the phone down because the physical size of SD or MS Duo is too big, then I gonna have to vote for the designer being a fucking uselesss douche.

There are physical limits to how small we can shrink this shit. It's called our fucking fingers! God damn pointless tech one up BS....
 
I await the day some uses a Memory Stick Micro to put into a DUO adapter, and for someone to put the Duo Adapter with MS Micro into a Memory Stick Pro Adapter.

Holy shit :lol :lol :lol
 
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