Product Reviews

Secure Digital (SD) cards do not have capacities as large as those of CompactFlash cards and they cost more per MB of storage. However, many users consider SD cards to be a superior type of storage, not least because their diminutive size caters for smaller hardware. SD cards are much better suited to smartphones than CompactFlash memory. Both the SPV E200 from Orange and Motorola's MPx200 have SD card slots for memory expansion. A growing number of slimline

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Pocket PC devices also favour the compact SD format, including Hewlett-Packard's excellent iPAQ 4150, which we reviewed in What's New, Shopper July 2004.

SanDisk, a leading player in the world of memory cards, has recently broken the 1GB SD card barrier. Its 1GB SD card is an irresistible object if you are a heavy data user. In the short time I've been using the 1GB card with my everyday Pocket PC, Mitac's Mio 558, I've found it an absolute godsend. A quick analysis shows that it is storing about two dozen applications, half a dozen CDs of music, a number of e-books and vital data backups, and I have not even used half its capacity yet. With 1GB of storage, the idea of storing feature-length movies at your screen's native resolution is possible, as this is much more than the capacity of a Video CD.

The card has a read/write lock, which is essential if you want to use it as a primary data store, and it allows my Pocket PC to behave like a vast mobile resource. For a little over £100, this SD card is an extremely useful add-on.