Think your mobile device couldn't eat another byte, that it's stuffed full of storage? Surely it has room for a tiny little thin SSD? This is Sandisk's solution for storage in portable devices, the creation of a new class of storage: integrated SSD, or iSSD. Designed to be soldered right onto a motherboard, this drive is the size of a postage stamp, weighs the same as a paperclip, and will be available in sizes ranging from 4 to 64GB. Read and writes clock in at 160MB/sec and 100MB/sec, respectively, plenty fast enough to run a full OS, with an SATA interface ensuring broad compatibility. Early units are available now, with bulk orders shipping soon. Now, how many would you like? Just the one, monsieur?

Continue reading Sandisk's 64GB integrated SSD is no bigger than a wafer-thin mint

Sandisk's 64GB integrated SSD is no bigger than a wafer-thin mint originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don't look now, but things may be getting real on the pay-with-your-cell-phone front, as Cupertino's hired a man with years of experience in enabling just that to finally get 'er done. According to his LinkedIn profile, Benjamin Vigier is Apple's new Product Manager of Mobile Commerce, immediately following his handiwork on PayPal Mobile, Sprint MyMoneyManager and the iPhone-based Starbucks Card. Before that, he spent two years heading SanDisk's mobile commerce and near-field communication efforts and over a year doing NFC for Bouygues Telecom, so it's not much of a stretch to imagine the futuristic concert tickets depicted in Apple's recent patent applications might become reality before long. Either that, or he'll wind up on a completely unrelated project, only to leave under mysterious circumstances later on.

Apple hires NFC expert to manage mobile commerce, prepare to pay with your iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, sure -- SanDisk's 32GB microSDHC card has been "shipping" since late March, but have you actually tried to find one? It's been a lesson in frustration for many, and while a few e-tailers have shown stock off and on, the card has generally evaded archivists who simply need an insane amount of available storage on their handset. Starting tomorrow, however, that should change. Verizon Wireless -- of all companies -- has somehow managed to become the "only retailer that offers customers the 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card." We're assuming it's referring to brick and mortar retailers, but at any rate, the gem will be on sale tomorrow at VZW outlets for $149.99, or just $99.99 if you purchase one alongside Motorola's Droid X. The only trouble with that? You're stuck figuring out what to do with the 16GB microSDHC card that ships inside of the phone. Thank heavens for the Bay, right?

Continue reading SanDisk's elusive 32GB microSDHC card on sale tomorrow at Verizon: $100 with a Droid X, $150 without

SanDisk's elusive 32GB microSDHC card on sale tomorrow at Verizon: $100 with a Droid X, $150 without originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Man, Microsoft is not even trying to be coy with its Pink launch tomorrow -- these happy and attractive young people pictured on the livestream page are clearly being delighted by the "Turtle" portrait slider that keeps leaking all over the place. Or maybe they're just stoked they can use SanDisk microSD cards with it -- that's how the kids react to removable storage nowadays, right?

In other news, Reuters says the phones won't actually be called Pink, and that they're likely scheduled to ship this summer, so that's something, we suppose. Honestly, we just don't know what Microsoft is going to offer here that'll be more attractive to teens than Windows Phone 7 -- we're still hoping to be wowed tomorrow, but we've got a suspicion we'll just be confused and sad. Which isn't a bad way to market something to teens, we suppose. Microsoft Pink: it's like having bad feelings.

P.S.- If you squint just right, that dude totally looks like a young Bill Gates. He also loves cuddles.

Continue reading Microsoft Pink livestream page offers glimpse of Turtle, Pink name changing at launch

Microsoft Pink livestream page offers glimpse of Turtle, Pink name changing at launch originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GameStop listings are about as accurate as a 14th century musket -- especially when it comes to release dates -- but that didn't keep news site GameSpot from capping the above screenshot. As you can no doubt read, the picture suggests that SanDisk will indeed release a specially-branded 8GB USB flash drive alongside the Xbox 360's USB storage update -- but at twice the normal price for a drive of that capacity. Our red hot rage at this injustice is tempered somewhat knowing there's no concrete proof the $40 figure is correct, but knowing SanDisk (and, frankly, Microsoft's own propensity for overpriced storage) we wouldn't be surprised to see several green thumbdrives pulling a premium at retail next week. Once more for the record: as long as it's larger than 1GB, smaller than 16GB and you format it using the Xbox 360 menus, any USB flash drive will do.

GameStop listing shows SanDisk's Xbox 360-branded USB drives at outrageous prices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a pretty firm idea that this was happening, but now Major Nelson has gone and made it official: mass storage is coming the Xbox 360 at long last. There will be a system update on April 6th, which will allow up to two simultaneous USB flash drives plugged into the system, which will be capable of storing profiles, game saves, demos, "and more." The maximum size supported is 16GB, and even though regular USB hard drives will be supported, they'll be up against the same size cap, and performance will suffer as well. You'll have to manually format a USB device for use in this way when plugging it into the 360, but Microsoft will be partnering with SanDisk for a branded drive in May that will come preconfigured. Also tweaked is the new memory management screen (what convenient timing!) which should make shuffling around these files less of a chore. Check out some screenshots below.

[Thanks, Jeff]

USB mass storage support coming to Xbox 360 on April 6th originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, Las Vegas... we hardly knew ye! Okay, that's categorically untrue -- CTIA Wireless 2010 actually marks our third official visit to Sin City in as many months, which means it's nothing short of a miracle that we're not lying in a ditch somewhere in the sun-scorched outskirts of town, penniless and near death. As always, the show brought us a fair bit of mobile news; sure, Sprint's HTC EVO 4G stole the show, but that's just scratching the surface of the pocketable wizardry we saw this week. Don't believe us? Let's dig back through the archives:

Liveblogs
Live from CTIA 2010's day one keynote with Ralph de la Vega and J. K. Shin!
Live from Sprint's CTIA 2010 press event
Live from CTIA 2010's day two keynote with Dan Hesse

Hands-ons
LG Cosmos hands-on
LG Remarq hands-on
Motorola i1 first hands-on!
AT&T's Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus hands-on
HTC EVO 4G is Sprint's Android-powered knight in superphone armor, we go hands-on
Samsung Galaxy S hands-on with video
HTC EVO 4G vs. HD2 and Desire... fight!
Motorola i1 video tour
Verizon vs. AT&T: Pre Plus edition
Dell Aero first hands-on!
SanDisk 32GB microSDHC vs. SanDisk 4GB microSDHC... fight!
Ventev EcoCharge whacks vampire draw, charges two devices for the price of one
iWonder Android tablet fixes major bug: the logo is right-side-up
Cell-Mate headset heads-on
Vitality GlowCap hands-on
OpenPeak's OpenTablet 7 hands-on: Moorestown has found a friend
Netcomm MyZone hands-on
Spracht Aura EQ (the really real version) hands-on
LG Air Sync hands-on
Bitbop hands-on: is this the Hulu of mobile?
Qualcomm MSM7x30 development unit hands-on

News
Official: Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus for AT&T 'in the coming months'
Dell Aero is AT&T's second Android phone
LG Remarq combines QWERTY, not being mean to the environment in one package for Sprint
Motorola makes i1 official, melds Android and push-to-talk this summer on Sprint
BlueAnt intros rugged T1 Bluetooth headset, sophisticated Android app
Samsung announces Galaxy S Android smartphone
Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with T-Mobile webConnect launches tomorrow, $199.99 on contract
HTC EVO 4G is Sprint's Android-powered knight in superphone armor, we go hands-on
Dell Inspiron Mini 10 shipping April 1st with integrated Clear WiMAX
T-Mobile USA reiterates that 'breadth' of 3G footprint will get HSPA+ this year
Samsung trots out Modus Bluetooth headset, complete with dual mics and multipoint
MetroPCS bringing LTE to Las Vegas this year, Samsung doing infrastructure and first LTE handset: the SCH-r900
AT&T announces deals with OpenPeak, Zeebo, American Security Logistics
Verizon launching V Cast Apps on March 29th, RIM devices get first dibs
AT&T 3G MicroCell starting nationwide roll-out in mid-April
Verizon talks commercial LTE deployment details: data devices first, smartphones in '1H 2011'
Verizon to blanket 'one third' of America with LTE this year, double coverage in 15 months
Verizon 'wrapping up' Boston and Seattle trials, 'friendly user' ones coming this summer
Verizon Wireless: 'all' 4G WWAN devices will support 3G, too
Clearwire CEO mentions that WiMAX could join LTE as one, Verizon Wireless CTO says no way
Lenovo adds Sprint 3G, 4G support across ThinkPad line
Skiff partners with Samsung to deliver e-stuff, someday
Samsung debuts U820 QWERTY slider at CTIA, no one notices

Scoops
Motorola's Android-powered i1 launching at CTIA
Samsung to announce Galaxy S smartphone, content initiatives this week

And on that note, we depart Vegas with a heavy heart -- but not all's lost! CTIA Wireless' sister event in Fall, CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment, will be in action in early October in lovely San Francisco -- and naturally, we'll be there. Now if you'll excuse us, just one more hand of blackjack before we head for the airport.

CTIA Wireless 2010 draws to a close originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know which one we'd rather take -- but alas, we came packing the meager 4GB card in our personal phone as we sauntered up to SanDisk's booth at a CTIA press event this evening, not that juicy 32GB bad boy right above it. At the top there you can see the silicon that goes into each and every 32GB microSDHC to come out of the foundry, and it's pretty insane: 8 layers of 32nm 3-bit-per-cell memory. The SanDisk rep we spoke to said that other companies not capable of pulling off the 8 layer trick will be at a significant disadvantage, since they'll need to go with a higher density at the brutal cost of a lower yield rate -- and as we all know, a chunk of silicon that's failed QA is little more than a paperweight (and not a very effective one at that). We'll take three.

SanDisk 32GB microSDHC vs. SanDisk 4GB microSDHC... fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Something big is coming March 23rd, and like a good used car salesman, SanDisk has rolled out an inflatable superhero in its honor. What could it be? We honestly have no idea. SanDisk has already introduced 64GB SDXC cards and the G3 SSD, condensed commercial FM into sugary syrup with slotRadio, and generally exploited NAND in every way imaginable. The company's not scheduled to introduce 128GB chips until 2011, and rewritable 3D flash is still years out. That said, SanDisk does have experience in the portable audio/video realm, and that notch on our wide, cape-wearing friend does look awfully familiar... Oh please, no, not another blasted tablet. We jest, of course, but what could a memory manufacturer possibly be planning that warrants such a teaser page?

[Thanks, Steve]

Something 'big' coming from SanDisk, complete with cape originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Isn't it amazing how flash memory has grown over the years? Not too dissimilar from your ego, right? Just two years ago SanDisk was only offering 16GB modules in the high end of its iNAND embedded flash range, and today the same company presented a new MLC NAND chip with four times the capacity. The trick in this 64GB 32nm silicon gem is the same-old X3 flash technology (along with undisclosed, but evidently significant, "innovations in flash management"), which allows each cell to store three bits. Go on, OEMs -- just shove one of these chips into our next phone and we'll promise to leave you alone until next February. Wait, did we say "promise?" Try... we meant try.

Continue reading SanDisk's 64GB iNAND embedded flash adds memory girth to handhelds

SanDisk's 64GB iNAND embedded flash adds memory girth to handhelds originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SanDisk's X4 tech packs four bits of data into each memory cell, compared with the typical one or two bits. That means they'll be able to far exceed the 32GB limit on SDHC, microSDHC and others, and they've started shipping.

Right now, they're only shipping in 8GB and 16GB capacities, which have been long available, but soon they'll be releasing 64GB and even higher flash memory. The X4 tech doesn't yet extend to SSDs, though it's not really clear why, but it's still great news for us gadget hounds. Many smartphones, especially those running Android, WinMo and BlackBerry OS, rely on microSDHC cards for memory, and a 64GB or even higher capacity card would make those much more viable as, say, multimedia machines. SanDisk assures us that the price will not skyrocket, which is a relief. X4 chips should start appearing in stores very soon. [CNET]

It's impossible not to love the concept of doubleTwist, the all-devices-welcome quasi-iTunes music manager, but up to this point the software has been pretty barebones. Now, things are gettin' ser-i-ous: doubleTwist has a built-in music store, courtesy of Amazon.

To put this into context, doubleTwist debuted not just as an alternative music manager for people with or without Apple players, but as a giant, coded jab at iTunes, Apple, and the way they do business. After launch, DVD Jon, who created doubleTwist, spent a few months waging a small-scale PR war, hanging Apple-baiting banners in San Francisco and parodying their famous "1984" ad. With Amazon MP3 store integration, that ad's promise—to "bring you choice"—has come true, and it's worth a thousand PR stunts

As has been the case with every other aspect of doubleTwist, the music storefront looks like a simpler version of the one in iTunes. Navigation and searching are about as simple as they could be, as are downloads, which only take a few clicks. The whole experience will be familiar to anyone weened on Apple's bloated beast, apart from a few things: Amazon's album prices are often lower than iTunes', and of course, you can immediately sync any music you download—there's only music, by the way—to practically any device you own, be it a Pre, a BlackBerry, a Sandisk, an iPod, or whatever.

The first version is Mac-only and tied to Amazon's US store, but Windows (and international) versions are on their way. [doubleTwist via Techcrunch]