The CompactFlash Association, the guys behind the CF card format, has just released the details for the CompactFlash revision 5.0 spec. What’s new with the old card format? Oh not much. Except for a higher storage ceiling. So high, in fact, that it’ll probably take some time before we’ll ever see the full extent of its potential.
Memory maker Transcend has launched fast writing SDHC cards that fall under their Ultimate line. Simply labeled as the Ultimate Class 10 SDHC cards, the new memory cards target HD recorders and high-resolution cameras, and offer write speeds of up to 20MB/s and read speeds of up to 16MB/s–far outpacing existing Class 2 cards that guarantee write speeds of 2MB/s, and Class 6 cards that top out at 6MB/s.
Ultimate Class 10 SDHC cards are available in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB capacities, and are selling for $17.70, $33.30, and $68.90 (before taxes) respectively on Transcend’s online store.
Memory maker Super Talent has just launched the CFast line of storage cards, a high-speed CF card that claims to offer “unmatched” read/write speeds. Available in 8, 16 and 32GB capacities, the CFast cards offer a bandwidth of 375MB/s, which is four times faster than the 600x (90MB/s) ceiling on current CompactFlash cards. It’s capable of 200MB/s read speeds, thanks to a SATA interface running between the card’s SSD memory and the device—translating to faster wait times when used on high-end cameras.
Samsung has recently unveiled the company’s first self-branded memory cards.The company has previously manufactured the flash memory and sold it to third parties, but with the number of mobile devices–most of which use the storage cards–that come out these days, coming out with their own wouldn’t be a bad idea. The new cards will be available in the standard SD, microSD and CompactFlash formats and will be available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities. Both SD and microSD cards will be class 6 cards, while the CF cards run at 233x.
