“For the Galaxy S 4 16GB model, approximately 6.85GB occupies [the] system part of internal memory, which is 1GB bigger than that of the Galaxy S3, in order to provide high resolution display and more powerful features to our consumers” the company told CNET. “To offer the ultimate mobile experience to our users, Samsung provides [a] microSD slot on Galaxy S 4 for extension of memory.”

Unlike with other high-profile devices, such as Apple’s iPhone 5 and the more recent HTC One, owners of the Galaxy S 4 can choose to buy a cheaper, low-capacity version of the handset upfront and then add on storage at a later point. That’s often a cheaper route than going for a higher-capacity model; a $100 difference between 16GB and 32GB tiers is commonplace.

However, while 64GB microSD cards are broadly available now – with a street price of around $54 – they don’t offer quite the same flexibility as onboard storage. The Galaxy S 4 will use memory cards for keeping multimedia, such as purchased music or photos and videos taken with the smartphone’s camera, but it will not allow applications to be installed to them.

Instead, if you want to install an app, that will have to be to the internal storage, which may prove limiting if you’re a fan of the latest games with high-res graphics to make the most of the Galaxy S 4′s Full HD display. There’s more details in our full Galaxy S 4 review.

The Transcend 64GB microSDXC Ultra-High Speed Class 1 memory card offers high transfer rates that go up to 45MB per second, giving users very high performance for demanding tasks. The memory card is being marketed towards smartphone and tablet owners, but is also applicable to other devices with support for microSDXC cards with this high of a capacity.

This card is boasted as offering data transfer speeds that 300 times faster than its non-Ultra High Speed equivalents, making it a good choice for those who watch, process, or record high-definition video, such as those utilizing the 1080p camera on their smartphone. It is also a good option for use with apps that are memory-intensive.

To help put the 64GB in perspective, this tiny microSD can hold approximately 10,000 high-res JPEG photographs taken at 12-megapixels with an average size of 6MB each. Or, for those who spend more time recording video than they do taking pictures, this newest Transcend card can hold 16 hours of video recorded at full 9Mbps 1920 x 1080 H.264 video. The card is available now for $109.

[via Transcend Info]

All you’ve got to do with this little guy is attach him to your keychain with the included loop of fabric – or to your phone, your tablet, whatever you’ve got – and let him sit in wait. When you need Chewie, he will be there for you. What he does is flip out his back side and allow you to read a microSD memory card with your USB drive – simple as that.

Chewie is made of mostly plastic, aside from the gadgetry inside of his flip-out piece which, again, quite simply converts your microSD card into a nearly universally readable USB drive. This accessory is compatible with microSD, microSDHC, and microSDXC memory cards and works with USB 2.0 which, in this case, is Mac and PC compatible. You’ll know it’s working when you see the LED light shine bright!

This little monster is just 1.75-inches tall and 1-inch wide, his keychain loop is included, and he comes with a lovely one-year limited warranty, too! That’s rare for such an inexpensive item, let me tell you! You can grab the Chewbacca MIMOMICRO soon from Mimoco’s online shop or wherever fine and undeniably kawaii tech accessories are sold for right around $12.99. Right this moment he’s completely out of stock, but they’ve got not only several other Star Wars characters available right now, they’ve got DC superheroes as well – grab Wonder Woman while you can!

Samsung say that the microSD UHS-1 card is capable of storing 16GB, and will hit sequential read speeds of 80MB/s. That’s faster than what current microSD cards are capable of achieving, maxing out right now at around 20MB/s. The card is capable of such speeds due to the 20nm-class chip that Samsung is using, plus a new advanced controller.

Of course, that 80MB/s number is theoretical right now. There’s no telling what the real world speeds will be, and Samsung say they don’t even have pricing or exact availability information for the new microSD card. Right now the promise is to start releasing them later this year.

Samsung also confirmed that higher capacity versions of the UHS-1 card will be available in the future. There’s no point in having access to such high speeds if you can fill it up in a couple of minutes, especially with the media consumption demands of consumers, and storage requirements for large photos taken with smartphones cameras.

[via SammyHub]

This device is made to fit in your adult-sized pocket at 2.5-inches wide and 5-inches long. It’s made to work with both microSDHC and microSD (which you’ll see in the hands-on video shortly). You can plug it in to any device with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and the battery that’s built-in to the guts, you’ll be getting sounds blasting for hours on end. Have a peek at the hands-on video here and see for yourself the simplicity:

This unit has not yet powered down and we’ve been using it for a couple days. Not without pause, of course, but still – bring this to your workplace and jam on the tunes for a full 8 hours without any trouble whatsoever. You won’t need to charge this device each night – maybe every other night. That being if you’re using the microSD card or the line-in, though we’re to understand that the line-in will bring you more hours than the card alone. You can also plug it in to the wall via your own miniUSB line for as much up time as you like – whatever you want!

That’s the way you power up the internal battery, too, through the miniUSB port in the side of the device, right next to the line-in. This device provides lovely loud sound good enough for the office or your local skate park, but I’d bring a bigger blaster for a house party. Get an OK idea of how quality the sound is in the hands-on video, or just take my word for it: well worth the price. This device will cost you a cool $29.99 in Satechi’s online store right this minute – available now!

This little beast is just 5 inches long, 2.5 inches wide, and a little over an inch tall, this meaning that it’s certainly a candidate for pocketability. You can work through the microSDHC/microSD card slot for content, or you can plug in your device with the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. With its built-in rechargeable battery you’ll be getting 17 hours of playtime on the card or 24 hours via line-in, no troubles!

You’ll be recharging via the miniUSB jack through your computer or the converter to your wall socket, and the battery inside is a standard lithium polymer. Controls include play/pause, next/previous track, volume up/down, and repeat/shuffle. So we’re talking simple, simple, simple here folks, with a price to back it up! Let’s check it out!

Instead, you need to either make do with the 16GB of internal storage, or add your own memory card. Verizon still offers a 32GB SKU, though that’s simply the original iteration with half internal storage and half microSD, priced at $300.

Considering you can pick up a 16GB microSD for under $10, that doesn’t seem like much of a deal. Verizon of course has yet another RAZR variant incoming, the DROID RAZR MAXX revealed at CES last week; packing a larger battery – a whopping 3,300 mAh in fact – it’s expected to go on sale on January 26.

Our hands-on with the DROID RAZR MAXX is here, while our full review of the original DROID RAZR can be found here.

[via Android Community]

Many pico projectors or too dim or weak, or don’t have long batteries that last through an entire presentation. Yes there are much brighter options available but not portable and battery-powered. This is one of the smallest and most portable projectors around while offering great brightness and a battery that should last through an entire presentation. With the AAXA P4 all you need is your laptop and the projector and you can take your presentation anywhere you go.

The AAXA P4 Pico Projector is powered by a 750MHz Windows CE mobile processor, and is plenty bright too. It gets an 80 lumen high-contrast optical engine by way of Texas Instruments DLP. It features AAXA’s vibrant color technology and the LED should last for 15,000 hours. Some of the other specs that make the P4 special include: 2GB of built-in memory, 1280×800 VGA input, microSD slot for extra storage, composite video input, 1-watt speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, 720p video support, and support for 3rd party apps like Office Mobile and other Windows CE apps.

The new P4 projector is a big step up from the older P2 or other options from AAXA and is available now, priced at $399. It is currently on sale for just $339 and can be found right here.

The reason the two tablets being announced today are called Toughpad, or at least the reason why the A1 is called a Toughpad, is that it’s got a 4-foot MIL-STD-810G drop rating, operating temperatures between 14 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit, and resistance to dust and water ingress. We’ll see about that! In addition, the A1 tablet is a massive 2.13 pounds heavy, has a stylus pen, and has front and rear-facing cameras of unnamed size. There’s a “serviceable” battery inside, and you’ve got the option of getting the tablet with access to LTE or WiMAX connectivity.

Take a peek at every other Android tablet getting smashed while the Toughpad takes all the beating a good hardcore tablet aught to:

This device (the A1) also has software encryption, custom deployment and device management that they say is not found in any other consumer tablet, dual-factor authentication, and more business-oriented safeguards that’ll keep your boss satisfied with the amount of safe their information is in the guts. Panasonic’s A1 tablet will be working with a cloud-based storefront by the name of Business AppPortal and will have a handful of vertical market apps as well as virtualization and security solutions.

There’s also the Panasonic Toughpad B1, the 7-inch version of what’s been listed here in the A1, no additional specifications about which have been listed as of yet. We can expect similar specifications, including another Marvell processor.

BONUS: Since it’s so rare we get to speak about Marvell, have a peek at an old video of a device platform made by Marvell that may well have been a lost end, but we’d be glad to see it pop up again – Kinoma. What this project consisted of was Symbian running Windows Phone, and the potential of running Android apps, vice versa, and all the way back again. Have a peek at this Mobile World Congress 2011 clip here:

Maybe we’ll see it at Mobile World Congress 2012.

However, the card will only work in smartphones and tablets that offer a microSDXC card slot, so you might want to check your device before you get too excited. Many phones only support the microSDHC standard, which maxes out at 32GB. It’s amazing to think that the new microSDXC standard will eventually support capacities of up to 2TB all on a tiny card about the size of dime.

The SanDisk Mobile Ultra will be available in a range of capacities from 4GB to 64GB with a starting price of $24.99. But the 64GB whopper will cost a hefty $219.99. And luckily, the new cards come in a bright red and gray color combination, instead of the usual black, so that they’ll be less easy to lose. For more details, visit the SanDisk product page.

For those looking to get into Android via a unique look at the Android operating system as it’s topped by one of the coolest 3rd-party user interfaces on the market, this is your device. The user interface you’re seeing here is not your average Android 3.2.x Honeycomb experience, instead being called Viewscene 3D, an interface designed by the same folks who developed SPB Shell 3D, a homescreen replacement app quick we’ve reviewed over on our sister site Android Community. ViewSonic worked with that development team to create a great looking out of the box experience with, again, what they’re calling Viewscene 3D. You’ll see the coolness of the look and controls in the hands-on video below.

This device is introduced to us amongst about a billion other rabid technology fans, so you’ll have to bear with the noise, but it’ll be worth it once you realize what you’re seeing here. ViewSonic presents a tablet with a 7-inch display at 1024 x 600 pixel resolution, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and a 1GHz single-core processor with 512MB of RAM. Along the side you’ll find all the ports you love so very well, that being a miniUSB, microUSB, power port, headphone jack, and microSD slot for expansion of memory by up to 32GB should you want to hold every single app you’ve ever downloaded at once.

You’ll be getting a 3 megapixel camera on the back, a VGA camera on the front for video chat, and the whole device is made of mainly plastic. This device will be available for the bargain price of 149 Euros or around $199 USD and will be released inside September of 2011.

Sound like the deal you’ve been waiting for?

We’ve previously experienced this most impressive bright and brilliant technology in the Super AMOLED Plus on the recently released Samsung Infuse 4G and as recently as earlier this week on several new models of the Samsung Galaxy S II as revealed in New York City. Compared to essentially any competitor’s smartphone or tablet display technology, Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus display ends up being the clear winner as far as clarity and overall abilities in brightness go.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 comes in a lovely metal casing with rounded edges for both a high-quality feel and a portability unmatched in the Galaxy Tab lineup thus far (at least as far as Honyecomb tablets go, that is.) This device will be working on your HSPA+ 21 Mbps network carrier for true mobile abilities, you able to access data and internet wherever you go quickly becoming the only way to fly, especially in tablet form. This device is powered by an unnamed 1.4 GHz dual-core processor, it’s display’s resolution sits at 1280 x 800 (WXGA) on a 7.7-inch screen, and its utterly massive 5,100 mAh battery should keep you chugging along for days on end, no problem. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, this newest tablet has a microSD card slot into which you can insert up to a 32GB card for memory expansion galore.

You’ll be working with the newest version of Google’s Android mobile operating system Android 3.2 Honeycomb with Samsung’s newest TouchWiz UX user interface working on top of Android to bring you a true Samsung experience. You’ve got full 1080p video playback, DivX included multi codec and Universal Remote Control functionality able to work with your TV, Set top box, DVD player, Blu-ray player, AV audio system, and more!

Like all recent Samsung releases, this device has access to Samsung’s several “Hub” access points for media including Game Hub, Music Hub, Social Hub, and Readers Hub. The newest of these is the Game Hub, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 being the first Samsung device to come with it out of the box, it containing social games, all the social games your heart could possibly desire. Finally there’s Voice and Video support – speak directly to your tablet in a video chat for clear video and voice or set your device for Receiver Mode for a more private talk.

Follow along with us LIVE for the rest of the Samsung Unpacked event at IFA 2011 for total coverage of every Samsung device we’ll be marveling over for weeks and months to come!

Samsung has a new high-performance memory card that it is aiming directly at in the users of high-end 4G smartphones and other devices. The new memory cards are built using 20nm class technology and have a class 10 speed rating making them suited for streaming HD video. Samsung offers the microSD cards in 32GB capacity. According to Samsung, the cards are good for up to 12MB/s write speeds and up to 24MB/s reads.

Those speeds are better than twice as fast as a class 4 microSD card. The 32GB cards use 32Gb 3-but NAND flash memory chips and exclusive 3-bit NAND controller from Samsung. Samsung doesn’t say exactly when the cards will ship or how much they will be. The newest and fastest is rarely cheap though.

And what do you know, the little deal pops up and has the ability to be popped down for protection of the slots whilst not in use. I think I’m gonna need one of these – for real! Oh and look, we’ve got a fellow named Jeff Cable (Lexar’s Director of Marketing) explaining why you’ve gotta gotta have it. Watch as he pops it up and pops it down and so forth forever and ever. Also notice his fashionable embroidered polo shirt:

Have a look below at the full press release or go back to the following post for more info on the biggest: “Lexar Introduces Industry’s First 128GB Pro SDXC Memory Card” and the last time we reported on one of their lovely card readers: “ Lexar 24-in-1 USB memory card reader plays nice with iPad [Video] ” as well as a review of their SDHC Flash Memory Performance on Canon EOS 1D Mark IV. Can you dig it?

New Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader Dramatically Accelerates Digital Workflow

Fremont, CA, May 19, 2011 – Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today announced the new Lexar® Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader, a high-performance card reader that enables professional and advanced amateur photographers and videographers to maximize their workflow with blazing-fast transfer speeds. The reader leverages SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) technology to deliver high-speed performance that supports the latest CompactFlash® (CF) UDMA, Secure Digital Extended Capacity™ (SDXC)**, and SD Ultra High Speed-I (UHS-I) memory cards. The versatile reader is also backwards compatible with standard CF, SD™, and Secure Digital High Capacity™ (SDHC) memory cards and USB 2.0 host devices. For additional information about the Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader, visit www.lexar.com.

“USB is the most popular connectivity option for PCs, and it’s critical that professional photographers and videographers have convenient and versatile tools to maximize their workflow and fully leverage the performance of their high-speed memory cards,” said Manisha Sharma, director of product marketing for cards, Lexar Media. “The Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader combines extremely fast performance with a versatile, innovative design to provide pro and hobbyist shooters with a reader that dramatically reduces image transfer time. The speed offered by the reader enables users to move large volumes of high-resolution images and HD video faster than ever, allowing them to spend less time at the PC and more time on other activities.”

The Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader features the new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface, which operates at 500MB per second; while the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface operates at 60MB per second*. The Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader takes advantage of the performance of high-speed cards. Real-world tests prove that today’s high-performance cards can be read more than six times faster with the Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader than with previous generation USB 2.0 card readers, and future high-performance cards are likely to enable an even faster data transfer experience. The reader can transfer content from both SD and CF cards simultaneously, and allows for easy file transfer from one card to another. The USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader also features an innovative, pop-up mechanism that lets users close the reader when not in use, protecting it from dirt and debris. Its compact, portable design means users can take it on the go, and its smooth contours help it slip easily in and out of a photo bag or briefcase.

The Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader provides consumers with the quality and reliability they have come to expect from Lexar Media. All Lexar product designs are tested in the Lexar Quality Labs, a group of facilities where all Lexar product designs undergo extensive testing to ensure performance, quality, compatibility, and reliability with more than 800 intended digital devices.

The Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader comes with free, dedicated customer support and a five-year limited warranty. The reader is available now for purchase on www.lexar.com, and will be available from leading photo retailers in June, with an MSRP of $49.99.

The design shows three microSD card slots hidden on the USB flash drive that is revealed by sliding off a cap along the side. The three can be a combination of any capacity microSD cards, so you can custom configure the capacity to meet your needs.

This can also create an interesting new workflow from transferring data and images from your mobile devices’ microSDs directly onto the USB flash drive just by swapping the memory cards. The only trouble I see with this, however, is dealing with all those tiny microSD cards. If you’re at all unorganized at times, those things are the easiest to misplace. Nonetheless, it’s an excellent idea and let’s not forget about the cool form factor of the design, too.

[via Yanko Design]

Video after the cut

There are a few issues aside from the price, of course, not least handset compatibility: so far, it seems, only certain Nokia phones are supported, so if you were hoping to slot the Secusmart into an Android device then you’ll be disappointed. Everybody using the system will need a card too, so cost will add up, but then again these aren’t really intended for everyday users. Happily, Secusmart are working on delivering cheaper versions.

[via ARMDevices]

Both of these fine items can be found on GeekStuff4U and I’m sure your everloving nerd friends would just LOVE to have them for a holiday gift – bank on it. The MR-C27 multicard is [here] and the MR-SMC06 seems to be sold out or just gone for the moment, but that link’ll find it for you when it’s back up.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

NOTE: that this whole situation has both an unboxing and hands-on post and a demo post preceding it, both of the posts can be considered a sort of prequel set to this. Then lets get into the basics: weight, size, and portability.

The NOOKcolor weighs approximately 15.8 oz, that being .98 pounds – lighter than a Harry Potter book (the bigger ones.) It measures in at 8.1x 5.0 x 0.48 in, making it small enough to fit in a jacket pocket, but just a bit too big to fit in anyone’s pants pocket. You can hold it with one hand and read a book, but like any paper book, you’re going to probably want to hold it with both hands and/or balance it against your leg or a table or something along those lines.

There’s a “loop” in the lower left-hand corner that both acts as an aesthetic gesture which differentiates this device from other tablets and marks the place where you’re going to be able to insert your microSD memory card. Over the phone with Barnes and Noble I was told that without any card inserted, the NOOKcolor was able to “hold 600,000 books” – for me, this ends up being about 5.1GB of space with 26 books and magazines on the device taking up space. It is possible for each regular book on your device to be anywhere from 47.2MB all the way down to 372KB – these aren’t the limits, but they are the largest and smallest books I’ve got on the device at the moment, just to give you an idea. Also over the phone I was informed that with the memory card slot you’d be able to attain “unlimited storage.” Infinite books!

Along the edges of the device there’s a headphone jack (on top), volume up/down buttons (upper right), USB plug in (with lovely glowing orange/green “n” on the official cord) (on the bottom), and power button (upper left.) On the back there’s a lightly gripping rubbery back with the official “n” pressed into the center, FCC info and BARNES&NOBLE logo printed on the bottom of the back panel, above and below a small speaker hole grid. Along the entire edge of the device is a very sturdy plastic ring – don’t go bashing against any brick walls anytime soon, but don’t be surprised if it holds up against attacking small animals.

On the front, there’s on single button in the center of a piece of plastic as long as the short end of the screen and as tall as the greater border. This button is sort of a “home” button, bringing you back to your desktop from wherever you are in a book, app, in the browser, wherever. This button is again, cleverly shaped in the NOOK “n.”

Then there’s the screen. The lovely 7-inch backlit LCD screen which I’m told by Barnes and Noble started as a prototype. It’s an IPS screen with optics fusion, 1024×600 resolution, essentially no space between the display and the glass, with a lamination across the whole thing to reduce glare. It’s certainly not a no-glare situation, especially since it certainly is glass, but the sun’s not blasted my eyes out yet with it, that’s for sure.

The screen’s colors are brilliant. Whether you’re accessing a magazine (the best example of still-images, or a video from your “files”, you’re going to find the display’s details to be no disappointment. You WILL see some degradation if you go through the browser to a place like YouTube, even if you’re watching an “HD, 1080P” video – I always use The Matrix movie trailers to test screens out, and this doesn’t stand up to that test at all – lots of yuck in the blacks and colors and everything. However, if you do have a video optimized for the NOOKcolor, you’ll find excellence.

NOTE: Check out this post by user “The Hillarican” on MobileRead forums which explains optimal settings. Use something like the free application “HandBrake” to convert your video. Convert the file you wish to watch to the following: MPEG-4 (FFmpeg) for video codec, AAC (faac) for audio codec, stereo sound mixdown, samplerate of 44.1, and bitrate of 128. DOUBLE NOTE: This seems to work for some people and not for others. If you get it to work, comment below and tell us your super cool secret.

I do wish it were easier to play video content with the NOOKcolor. With other tablet devices (even smartphone devices) it ends up being a much simpler situation in almost every case. On the other hand, this tablet is being marketed as a reading-centric device and they do not seem to push anywhere in the marketing of this device that you’ll be able to view brilliant video. Also note that there’s no video content available anywhere in the B&N store. Should I wish for an easier video situation on a device that doesn’t technically promise it? I can’t be sure.

There are several ways to interact with books and apps, meaning several ways to tap, swipe, drag, etc, but I’ll get into more of that once we reach the rest of this review series. For now, I’ll let you know how well the screen reacts to those actions. Every sort of move or press or tap seems to work perfectly. There are times (especially when tapping something small, like a text link in a book or on the browser) that it takes a few tries to get it to accept your tap, but on the whole, it’s a very good experience touchscreen-wise here.

There is one place on the screen that shows a digital ghost when squeezing the device – see picture – this shouldn’t be a problem since, you know, why would you be squeezing the thing in the first place, but it’ll be interesting to see if this develops into a problem in the future. More than likely this situation arises from there being a piece of equipment inside the casing set up a little higher than everything else, and that’s the place that touches the back of the display first.

Plugging into the wall or the computer seems to work pretty well, the drive folder showing up on your computer’s desktop within a minute, most of the time within 10 seconds. As I’ve said before, I do really enjoy when any power plug lets me know when the device is fully charged, and this one does just that with a lovely NOOK “n” on the cord on the device’s end. While the device is plugged into the computer, you’re not allowed to access anything on the device unless you eject the files folder. Once you do this, though, your device will power up even as you use it. IMPORTANT: if you ever decide to fully power your NOOKcolor off, you’ll have to press the power button down for more than the otherwise short-click-on if you’d like to turn the device back to its on-state. Holding the button down for around 5 seconds should do the trick.

Wrap-Up

The NOOKcolor has very minimal problems in the hardware department. If you’re the sort of person who loves to own the latest device in every department, this is definitely the one for reading books. It feels really great, handles well, and looks just lovely. Powered off or powered on, you know that this is an iconic piece of industrial design, and that is to be commended. I do not miss the ability to turn pages with physical buttons, and as of yet (remember we’re not reviewing the apps in any form yet) I do not miss the eINK display. The NOOKcolor is bright, it’s beautiful, and hardware-wise, it’s right on.

Now that our “A Week With” cycle is complete for NOOKcolor, take a look at all of the posts in turn:
A Week with NOOKcolor: Hardware
A Week with NOOKcolor: Reading (aka Core Apps)
NOOKcolor Unboxing and Hands-on
NOOKcolor Demo
A Bit of Extra Clarity for Would-be Developers of NOOKcolor Apps
and of course A Week with NOOKcolor: 3rd Party Apps and Final Wrap-Up

More on the subject found by Engadget included documentation from Samsung including the fact that once a microSD card is inserted into a WP7 device, it “will no longer be readable or writable on any other devices such as computers, cameras, printers, and so on.” This includes formatting. Scary! Furthermore, they were told that it’s not so much to do with total throughput, as Microsoft would imply, but mostly to do with the random access speed. Sadly, the type of cards these WP7 will be good to work with are currently only manufactured in bulk (which explains why the cards that come standard in the phones work just fine.)

[Via Engadget]

Microsoft hasn’t allowed OEMs to add regular microSD cards to their WP7 handsets, instead mandating that they must have at least 8GB of internal memory.  Rather than do this with a chunk of flash, it seems HTC and Samsung have taken the easier route and put a hidden microSD slot inside instead.

Unfortunately, despite swapping the Class 2 card for a Class 6 8GB microSD, no differences in speed were observed.  Meanwhile the process itself seems pretty patchy, with the HD7 first throwing up error messages about needing the original card.  Still, if you have a spare 16GB or 32GB card lying around, and don’t mind a little tinkering, it’s a handy way to add more capacity to your phone.

The faster class 10 speed means that the phone will be able to store larger photos and video clips faster allowing you to be ready for the next recording or image when you need to be. A fast storage card is particularly important on devices that shoot high-resolution photos when writing the files takes longer.

The card is compliant with the class 10 memory standards set by the SD Association. Silicon Power will also offer the faster memory cards in a pack with SD and miniSD adapters. Pricing is unannounced at this time.

Of course, to save that fifty bucks you’ll also need to pick up a $200 smartphone and commit to a two-year voice and data agreement, so it’s not exactly the cheapest of ways to get frugal on your flash.  Still, 40GB – with the DROID X’s integrated 8GB – in a smartphone isn’t bad, especially when you consider the Android handset’s HDMI out port and 720p HD video capabilities.

Press Release:

DROID X By Motorola Lands on the Verizon Wireless Network Tomorrow

Expandable Memory, Advanced Multimedia Features and Outstanding Call Quality: DROID X and 32GB SanDisk microSDHC™ Card Available Exclusively at Verizon Wireless

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., July 14 /PRNewswire/ — Verizon Wireless and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced that DROID X by Motorola will be available online and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores tomorrow for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

DROID X by Motorola, the newest innovation on Android™ to run on Verizon Wireless’ 3G network, does more with ultra high-speed Web browsing, an HD camcorder, 8 megapixel camera, 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities, and enterprise features and outstanding call quality. DROID X also comes with loads of memory — 8 gigabyte (GB) onboard and a 16GB memory card. For customers seeking the ultimate in storage, the new 32GB SanDisk® microSDHC™ card allows customers to expand DROID X’s memory to 40GB. Verizon Wireless is the only retailer that offers customers the 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card.
Customers can take advantage of the 4.3-inch high-resolution screen on DROID X for viewing the latest movies from BLOCKBUSTER On Demand® presented by V CAST Video. Additional features and specifications of DROID X by Motorola can be found at http://news.vzw.com/news/2010/06/pr2010-06-22.html.
Customers will receive the mail-in rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. DROID X customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan (beginning at $39.99 monthly access) and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan (beginning at $29.99 for unlimited monthly access). Customers can add the optional 3G Mobile HotSpot service to their DROID X smartphones for $20 per month. The 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card is available tomorrow for $99.99 when purchased along with the new DROID X or for $149.99 when purchased separately. In addition, current Verizon Wireless customers who have contracts ending by Dec. 31, 2010, can upgrade to DROID X without penalty.
For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving nearly 93 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 81,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, Nasdaq: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.
About Motorola
Motorola is known around the world for innovation in communications and is focused on advancing the way the world connects. From broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility and public safety solutions to mobile and wireless digital communication devices that provide compelling experiences, Motorola is leading the next wave of innovations that enable people, enterprises and governments to be more connected and more mobile. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) had sales of US $22 billion in 2009. For more information, please visit www.motorola.com.
Android Market, Android, Google, Gmail, Google Calendar are trademarks of Google Inc.
SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. microSDHC is a trademark of SD-3C LLC.

And, lucky for Cerevo, it’s the first digital camera to do so. The Japan-based Cerevo is happy with their new camera, which they’ve lovingly called the Cerevo Cam Live!. Owners will be able to livestream video from the camera, which will then be put on Ustream’s site, without having to upload from a PC or any other piece of hardware. Video will be streamed through the CIF, 352×288 reoslution, format, and the battery at a full charge will give you about two hours of livestream energy.

The best feature, though, is the fact that the Cam Live! will shoot videos in HD (1,280×720), WVGA (800×480), VGA (640×480), and “WEB” (320×240). And just in case you’re not a fan of options when you get done shooting a movie, or taking some snapshots, you’ll be able to let the camera upload to YouTube automatically. Physical feature wise, you’re still looking at a 9MP CMOS sensor, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 3G HSUPA, a MicroSD card slot, USB port, and a 2.4-inch LCD display. And while the original was only sold in Japan, Cerevo plans to go international with the Cam Live! starting this Summer.

[via CrunchGear]

Video demo after the cut

Since the NFC technology is embedded into the microSD card rather than the iPhone case or the iPhone itself, there’s a degree of cross-platform compatibility.  Assuming Visa offer a suitable app for your smartphone – and that said-smartphone has a microSD slot – you should be able to continue to use the modified card even if you decide to dump your iPhone.

Of course, Apple aren’t letting the NFC grass grow underneath them, and the company has already filed patent applications for various NFC-based ticket and mobile payment solutions that would be integrated into iPhones and other mobile devices.  There has been no sign of NFC hardware in the leaked iPhone HD prototypes we’ve seen to-date, but it’s possible that Apple could announce the functionality in their fourth-generation handset at WWDC 2010.

[via MobileCrunch]

SanDisk reckon the only way they’ve been able to stuff so much flash into the new memory card is because it uses their third-gen 32nm X3 (3-bit-per-cell) technology.  They’re also offering it to OEMs with the option to preload content, so we’re guessing we’ll see more T-Mobile HTC HD2 style offerings where feature films are already waiting on the memory card for you to enjoy on your new toy.

[via SlashPhone]

Press Release:

SANDISK FIRST TO SHIP 32 GIGABYTE MICROSDHC CARD

Consumers Unleash the Potential of Smartphones With
Highest-Capacity Memory Card for Mobile Phones

London, March 23, 2010 – SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), the global leader in flash memory cards, today announced that it has begun shipping the world’s highest-capacity removable memory card for mobile phones – the 32 gigabyte (GB)1 SanDisk microSDHC™ card. The new microSDHC card offers consumers an unprecedented level of freedom and flexibility in how they store, send and enjoy digital content.

“With the large volume of photos, videos and music that consumers create and carry around, a high-capacity memory card is a must-have component of today’s smartphone,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and chief operating officer, SanDisk. “This is the highest-capacity card of its type, and SanDisk is pleased to be the first to ship such an advanced product. This marks yet another important first in our innovative history in the flash memory industry.”

Smartphones have evolved far beyond the simple phone call. They serve as mobile offices, music players, cinemas, cameras, video recorders, GPS devices and gateways to the mobile Internet. The highly-versatile 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card delivers immediate memory expansion that lets consumers enjoy the storage-intensive features of their advanced handsets. For example, the 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card can store enough music to outlast 35 round-trip flights between San Francisco and New York before repeating a single song.

The 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card is available now on SanDisk.com U.S. and European e-commerce sites, with worldwide retail availability to follow next month. The new card comes with a 5 year limited warranty and carries a suggested retail price of £144.99.

The 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card also lets mobile network operators (MNO) and handset manufacturers (OEMs) equip their subscribers with enough storage to match the industry’s leading smartphones. By bundling SanDisk’s new card with the phone, consumers get high-capacity mobile storage in a convenient form factor. SanDisk microSDHC cards are also available in 2, 4, 8 and 16GB capacities and are shipping today in volume.

SanDisk is mass producing the new cards based on its industry-leading, third-generation 32nm X3 (3-bit-per-cell) technology, which makes a 32GB capacity possible in such a small form factor. The successful development and wide distribution of many X3-based products through OEM and retail channels in recent years demonstrates both the technology’s maturity and SanDisk’s ability to quickly bring it to market.

SanDisk microSDHC cards adhere to the stringent quality expectations of top-tier handset manufacturers and MNOs, and SanDisk is taking orders now. To meet the specific needs of different OEM customers, the 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card is available in a variety of card and adapter configurations as well as with the option to pre-load the card with custom software.

About SanDisk
SanDisk Corporation is the global leader in flash memory cards, from research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and retail distribution. SanDisk’s product portfolio includes flash memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders; digital audio/video players; USB flash drives for consumers and the enterprise; embedded memory for mobile devices; and solid state drives for computers. SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States.

The KingCall card is a micro-SD card with a smart card “in-chip” that encrypts both voice and text when used with VoIP services. All of the encryption and decryption is handled on the microSD card meaning there is no performance impact for the smartphone.

The card can be used in any unmodified 3G smartphone. The fact that all of the encryption and decryption is done on the microSD card also means the encryption keys aren’t subject to theft using Trojans or viruses. The card will be shown off on devices running on the Sprint network using Windows Mobile and on T-Mobile devices at RSA in San Francisco soon.

To figure that out, bunnie had to go round collecting various real and fake memory cards.  The latter would sometimes be out in huge trays, with street vendors dropping the cards into Kingston packaging and slapping on an “authenticity” hologram and serial number.

“One vendor in particular interested me; it was literally a mom, pop and one young child sitting in a small stall of the mobile phone market, and they were busily slapping dozens of non-Kingston marked cards into Kingston retail packaging. They had no desire to sell to me, but I was persistent” Andrew “bunnier” Huang

After stripping down the various samples with nitric acid and acetone, it was revealed that several of the Kingston-branded cards were in fact fakes, and that even the authentic Kingston cards used Sandisk or Toshiba chips.  It’s an interesting – if technical – read, but if you’re thinking of picking up a new memory card (or trying to save a few bucks by grabbing one in your local market) you should definitely take a look.

[via Red Ferret Journal]

Video teardown after the cut

Also lurking inside is a 3G modem with SIM slot, WiFi and a user-accessible microSD card slot, together with a 1,530mAh battery.  Whether that will be enough to provide all-day web browsing remains to be seen.  There’s also an internal microSD card slot, which we’re guessing Dell are using either for the Mini 5′s onboard storage or for its Android OS.

Obviously the video below is in Vietnamese, but there’s still plenty to be enjoyed as the Mini 5 gets stripped down; there’s also some Vietnamese rock music thrown in for good measure.  Still no word on when the Dell Mini 5 will actually make it to market, however.

[Thanks Tran Manh Khang!]

Despite consisting of a stack of sixteen 32Gb NAND chips and a controller, the 64GB moviNAND embedded module is only 1.4mm high.  It opens up the possibility of capacious PMPs and smartphones offering speedy solid-state memory the amounts of which you’d previously have had to turn to compact HDDs to achieve.

As for the 32GB microSD card, while that may only have half the storage of the moviNAND module it will at least be of more use to existing devices.  It’s expected to go into mass production next month, while the moviNAND module has been in production since December 2009.

Press Release:

Samsung Announces 30nm-class, High-density NAND Flash for Mobile Devices

SEOUL, Korea — January 13, 2009 — Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today announced two high-density memory solutions for mobile devices. The new storage solutions – a 64-gigabyte (GB) moviNANDTM memory device and a 32GB micro secure digital (microSD) memory card – satisfy mobile handset designers’ requirements for advanced compact high-density memory.

“Samsung’s high-density memory solutions bring the storage capacity levels of computing systems to small, mobile devices,” said Dong-Soo Jun, executive vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Electronics.

He added, “The 64GB embedded memory, moviNAND, and the 32GB microSD card each greatly expand the data storage density of mobile devices, meeting customers’ memory requirements and ushering in a new era of mobile and IT device capacity growth.”

The memory solutions are based on Samsung’s advanced 32 gigabit (Gb) NAND flash. The 64GB moviNAND, which measures 1.4mm in height, consists of 16 30nm-class 32Gb MLC NAND chips and a controller. The 17-die stack was achieved by using 30-micron thick chips and advanced package technology. With the new 64GB solution, Samsung’s proprietary embedded memory, moviNAND, is now available in 64GB, 32GB, 16GB, 8GB and 4GB densities.

The 32GB microSD card, developed this month, stacks eight 32Gb NAND components and a card controller. The industry’s highest capacity, production-ready microSD card is enabled by the use of Samsung’s advanced 30-nm class 32Gb NAND flash memory technology. Previously, the highest density microSD card in production had a 16GB capacity and was based on 40nm-class 16Gb NAND. The new 32GB card is 1mm-thick. The portion of the card that is inserted into a handset measures just 0.7 mm in height.

According to market research firm iSuppli, the global NAND flash memory market for 32GB and higher memory cards is forecast to be 530 million units in 2010 and reach 9.5 billion units by 2013 (in 16Gb equivalent units).

Samsung’s new 64GB moviNAND has been in mass production from December 2009, while the 32GB microSD is now being sampled with OEMs, with mass production expected next month.

Controls are straightforward, with power, search, history and random hardware buttons and everything else – such as text-entry – handled by the touchscreen.  Since the display is pretty basic, the two AAA batteries should last around a year, and it’s reasonably child-friendly thanks to the scratch-resistant tempered glass screen cover.

That microSD card also holds the OS – the work of Openmoko, apparently – and WikiReader’s creators are hoping that it’ll encourage open-source tinkerers to hack the device into doing other things.  Updates to Wikipedia can either be loaded yourself, or for a $30 annual subscription they’ll send you four new cards a year.

DVICE have been playing with the WikiReader, and aside from wishing for a backlit display they’re pretty impressed.  Picture support would be another improvement, but we mostly did without pictures in old-fashioned encyclopaedias so there’s no reason we shouldn’t force the kids of today to do the same.  The WikiReader is on sale now, priced at $99.

Press Release

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – October 13, 2009 – Openmoko announced today the availability of WikiReader, a palm-sized electronic encyclopedia containing the more than three million English language articles of Wikipedia that can be accessed immediately anytime, anywhere without requiring an Internet connection. WikiReader is available for $99 at http://thewikireader.com and Amazon.com starting today.

WikiReader turns on instantly, and works for months before replacement of its two AAA batteries is necessary. The large monochrome screen uses a touch interface. Articles are scrolled with a stroke of the finger and hyperlinks selected with a simple tap. Three buttons, Search, History and Random, offer the convenience of reading specific topics or the serendipitous pleasure of discovering something by chance within Wikipedia’s rich array of articles ranging from Freud to Final Fantasy. Updates for the WikiReader are provided quarterly and available for free download via their website. A yearly subscription plan for updated microSD cards is also available for $29.

For more than eight years, people from all corners of the world have contributed knowledge inWikiReader can be used anywhere anytime the form of articles, translations, and source codes, collectively building Wikipedia, the largest reference resource that humankind has ever seen. WikiReader extends this spirit of collaboration, representing the combined vision of a designer, device manufacturer, significant grass roots research, and input from parents to preteens to pedagogues about the ways people want to access information throughout their days.

“We created the WikiReader to be fun, easy, informative and entertaining for all ages,” said Openmoko CEO, Sean Moss-Pultz. “WikiReader is a whimsical look at the joy of learning in the digital age. It’s personal and it’s fun. We’re extremely excited about sharing our device with the world.”

WikiReader was designed by Thomas Meyerhoffer, the former Apple designer known for reshaping surf culture with his radically different surfboards: “The key is keeping it simple. We really want the focus to be on the experience of reading Wikipedia, not browsing the Web. That’s why we only have three buttons. There really is no interface. You’re just straight into the content.”

WikiReader puts Wikipedia in your pocketMeyerhoffer, continues, “Because it’s offline and offers parental controls, the whole experience happens within the device. That’s especially great when it comes to kids. I can give this to my nine-year-old, and I know he’s only going to get content that is fine for him to read.”

Erik Moeller, Deputy Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said, “We’ve played with WikiReader, and it’s a lot of fun to see the entirety of the English Wikipedia text in a self-contained little box that doesn’t require Internet access. It could also be one viable approach to share the world’s most comprehensive encyclopedia with people who aren’t connected. We will watch the continuing development of this device with great interest, as it’s fully in the spirit of what Wikipedia is all about: empowering people.”

For more information on WikiReader, please visit http://thewikireader.com.
Images and video are available for download at: http://thewikireader.com/media.html.

About Openmoko
Openmoko, Inc. combines creative and technical people to create original forms in the field of consumer products. Privately funded and based in Taipei, Taiwan, Openmoko built the world’s first open source mobile phone, giving birth to an active community that contributes to the world of open source mobile technologies. For more information, please visit http://openmoko.com

The Ovation MC998D is also backward compatible with HSPA networks, and future firmware updates will unlock up to 28.8Mbps downlink rates, assuming the networks catch up.  Novatel’s MobiLink 3 auto install connection manager is preloaded on the dongle itself for easy use.  No word on when we might see it on sale, though, nor if Novatel have managed to tempt any of the carriers with the MC998D.

Press Release:

Novatel Wireless Introduces Innovative Ovation MC998D Next Generation HSPA+ High-Speed USB Mobile Broadband Product

SAN DIEGO, Oct 07, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Novatel Wireless, Inc., (Nasdaq: NVTL), a leading provider of wireless broadband solutions,today announced its industry-leading Ovation MC998D HSPA+ product.

The Ovation MC998D supports the 850,1900 and 2100 MHz frequency bands and is designed to provide connectivity virtually anywhere to check email, download rich multimedia content and stay connected to family, friends and coworkers. The Ovation MC998D offers unprecedented speed in Novatel Wireless’ compact form factor design and comes equipped with “multiple input multiple output” (MIMO+) and diversity antenna technologies to maximize data throughput and operating range. Featuring Novatel Wireless’ MobiLink 3 auto install connection manager, memory storage of up to 16GB via MicroSDHC and backward compatibility with HSPA technologies, the Ovation MC998D provides a total solution for mobile broadband connectivity.

“The addition of the Ovation MC998D to our previously announced family of HSPA+ products underscores our commitment to ensuring our customers’ needs are met on schedule as they upgrade to the latest technologies available,” said Rob Hadley, CMO of Novatel Wireless. “Our complete HSPA+ product line represents our efforts to continuously innovate to provide the fastest and most reliable wireless data devices for our customers and their customers.”

HSPA+ is the next evolution of high-speed packet access (HSPA) wireless broadband technology with greater capacity for data throughput compared to current 3G networks. With peak data speeds of up to 21.6 Mbps on the downlink and 5.76 Mbps on the uplink, as well as the ability to achieve up to 28.8 Mbps downlink speeds with future firmware updates, the MC998D design delivers significant performance enhancements over previous broadband technologies.

ABOUT NOVATEL WIRELESS

Novatel Wireless, Inc. is a leader in the design and development of innovative wireless broadband access solutions based on 3G and 4G WCDMA (HSPA & UMTS), CDMA and GSM technologies. Novatel Wireless’ USB modems, embedded modules, Intelligent Mobile Hotspot products and software enable high-speed wireless Internet access on leading wireless data networks. The Company delivers specialized wireless solutions to carriers, distributors, OEMs and vertical markets worldwide. Headquartered in San Diego, California, Novatel Wireless is listed on NASDAQ: NVTL. For more information please visit www.novatelwireless.com. (NVTLG)

This release may contain forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended to date. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements contained herein. These factors include risks relating to technological changes, new product introductions, continued acceptance of Novatel Wireless’ products and dependence on intellectual property rights. These factors, as well as other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, are discussed in more detail in Novatel Wireless’ filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (available at www.sec.gov) and other regulatory agencies.

(C) 2009 Novatel Wireless. All rights reserved. The Novatel Wireless name, logo Ovation and Mobilink are trademarks of Novatel Wireless, Inc. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

There’s also 1GB of onboard memory – good enough for 1,000 titles, Bookeen say – and a mini USB connector for charging and syncing.  The 5-inch e-ink panel is 4 x 3 inches and runs at 600 x 800 resolution, 200dpi; it can show four levels of greyscale and, like other e-ink based ebook devices, lacks a backlight but is still suitable for outdoor reading.

So, no touchscreen or fancy wireless connectivity, but if you’re looking for an ebook reader that you can fit in your bag (or a sizeable pocket) then the Bookeen Cybook Opus might fit the bill.  On sale now for $280.

[via GizmoScene]

There’s also talk – in the user manual at least – of integrated 3G data connectivity, though the FCC do not mention it as part of their A5S testing.  It’s possible that 3G WWAN is reserved for the A5H 7502.  As for wired connectivity, there’s a microSD card slot and a microUSB port, together with some sort of docking connector.

Only one image of the Archos Android tablet powered on is shown, but that seems to indicate that the company have crafted their own custom UI on top of the Google OS.  Unfortunately the image isn’t clear enough to fully make out all the details, so we may have to wait until September 15th to find out exactly what Archos have in store.

[via Engadget]

First and foremost, the Magellan RoadMate 1700 is seven-inches of widescreen pleasure. It’s finger friendly to say the least, and it boasts a pretty clear image for you to stare at, and poke mercilessly. It’s gone up on a few retailer’s websites, boasting the standard RoadMate features, which are not limited to: entire maps of the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada; on board AAA TourBook lists; text-to-speech; a MicroSD card slot for memory expansion; and six million points of interest.

Of course, as these things go, there isn’t any word on a release date at this point. Going by what some retailers are saying, such as Best Buy, they’ve got a target window between September 14th and 21st. They’ve got the price at $299.99, like the Magellan Maestro 4700 from a few months back. If the release date pans out like we think it will, then September just got a bit heavier with its tech releases, and we’re beginning to wonder if our pocketbooks are going to be able to keep up.

[via Engadget]

Video demo after the cut

As well as standard 2D and 3D mapping, the Becker Z205 is capable of displaying 3D views of cities and buildings, together with 3D landscapes.  There’s also text-to-speech, voice control complete with voice-entered destinations, traffic analysis based on historical trends, road signs and lane guidance.

Preloaded is mapping data – courtesy of Navteq – for 42 European countries, and there’s also a media player with image/audio/video playback and a microSD card slot for adding memory.  The Becker Z205 PND is likely to see a launch across Europe, though release date and pricing is unknown.

[via NaviGadget]

In fact, the 1,700mAh rechargeable battery is only good for 35 minutes use; for any longer, you’ll need to add an optional external battery which will be available in either 70 or 180 minute capacities.  They’ll obviously boost the P2′s 4.3 x 2.3 x 1 inch size and 260g weight.

AAXA are quoting contrast of 1,000:1 and up to an 80-inch image, with stereo 1W speakers and connectivity including a 3.5mm composite A/V port, miniUSB for recharging and a 3.5mm headphone socket, along with the VGA port.  We reviewed the P2′s predecessor, the AAXA P1 back in April.

The AAXA P2 pico-projector is available to pre-order now, priced at $349.

[via PicoProjector-info]

The two cards, manufactured by Mitsumi Electric Co Ltd and Renesas Technology Corp, are based on a design by KDDI but use different wireless components.  The Mitsumi Electric card, on the left in the image above, relies on Atheros Communications Inc’s AR6002 chipset with integrated RF transceiver and baseband processing.  Meanwhile Renesas Technology uses its own KS3021 RF transceiver IC and KS7010 baseband processing IC.

The antenna on both cards is around a third the overall size; none of the companies involved revealed what sort of range users might expect.  KDDI envisage the WiFi microSDs being used to add WLAN wireless to cellphones and other mobile devices, though there’s no word on a possible release date nor pricing.

The Opus supports ePUB and PDF files, with or without DRM, and has 1GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for adding more.  Since you can fit a whole lot of ebook files into that sort of capacity, you can organize titles into folders.  There are large page-turn buttons on the side, apparently making the Opus usable in both portrait or landscape orientations.

The device supports 12 different font sizes and has a user-replaceable battery.  Still no word on pricing or specific availability, but there’s a full image gallery, plus unboxing photos, available here.

The PMPs include the Archos 2 Vision, which has a 2-inch touchscreen, FM radio, 8GB or 16GB of storage and a microSD card slot.  Meanwhile the Archos 3 Vision has a 3-inch touchscreen, FM transmitter for piping audio through a car radio, video playback functionality and a composite TV cable.  It too has 8GB of storage and a microSD card slot. 

Both have kinetic scrolling and a photo viewer.  They’ll also be joined by the Archos Clipper, a compact 2GB “ultra-mini” PMP intended to take on the iPod shuffle.  It will be priced at £19.99 ($33) in the UK, while the Archos 2 Vision and 3 Vision will be £49.99 ($82) and £89.99 ($147) respectively; all three arrive in August, and will be followed by 4-inch and 7-inch versions in the fall.

No new specification details for the Android MID have been revealed, but Archos have confirmed that it will be based on Google’s open-source platform but with their own interface.  That will make its debut on September 15th.

For the full rundown of what’s in the MiFi box, check out our video unboxing.  Basically, in its SIM-free form as you see here, Novatel Wireless supply a global power-adapter with various plug inserts, a USB to microUSB cable, rechargeable 1,530mAh battery and a small printed Getting Started guide.  The MiFi 2352 supports various connection speeds, from quadband (850/900/1800/1900MHz) GPRS/EDGE up to triband (900/1900/2100MHz) UMTS HSUPA/HSDPA.  Network-depending, you can theoretically see up to 7.2Mbps downlink rates and up to 5.76Mbps uplink rates.

There’s no driver disc, because there needn’t be any drivers.  As standard Novatel require no connection manager – the software Verizon supply with their CDMA MiFi is their own decision; Sprint’s version uses no such app – presuming you’re using the 2352′s WiFi connection.  Setup is as speedy as dropping in your SIM, holding down the single button until the lights begin blinking, and then waiting for the MiFi to start spitting out a wireless connection.  The default SSID is a sensible “MiFi_2352″ and by navigating to “http://www.mifi” you access the device’s locally-hosted homepage showing the number of connected clients (up to 5 are supported simultaneously), connection details and battery status. 

Since sharing a capped HSPA data connection via an unsecured WiFi network seems a recipe for overage charges or disconnection, the first step for most users will be accessing the admin pages and setting up WEP, WPA or WPA2 encryption.  Thankfully that’s straightforward with the MiFi’s basic but speedy UI; there are also options for MAC filtering and recording various logs of WiFi connections and modem events.  The MiFi can be loaded with up to six “internet profiles”, each with corresponding settings to a different SIM; that way, if you regularly switch between carriers (say, if traveling) then it’s simple to flick between the presets.

As on a full-sized router, there’s also port filtering support, the ability to set custom permitted applications, port forwarding, a switchable DHCP server and VPN pass-through support.  Unlike a normal router there’s also an optional power management setting which can shut the MiFi down after between 2 or 60 minutes of idle time.  Once you’ve made all the tweaks you want, you can backup the settings to a connected computer.

Buttons may be in short supply on the MiFi, but blinking colored lights are not.  To be fair, there are only two: one single blue WiFi logo hidden in the chrome strip running the modem’s waist, the other a multicolored light integrated into the power button.  The former lights solid when WiFi is on, then flashes when users are connected.  As for the latter, that cycles through various hues to indicate GPRS/EDGE, EDGE/WCDMA or HSPA connections (green, blue or violet respectively) together with flashing red to show low battery and amber to show charge status (flashing when charging, solid when full).  There’s no obvious way to see more granular battery status; that requires accessing the MiFi’s status page. 

One of the main differences between this HSPA MiFi and the CDMA versions available in the US is its microSD slot, according to the documentation happy with up to 16GB cards.  With this, it’s possible to turn the MiFi into a miniature, portable NAS of sorts; access can be set as read-only or read/write, though there’s no granular password control over different users as you’d find on a full-scale NAS.  From talking with Novatel, it seems this might be addressed in a future update.  Access, though, is limited to anybody with encrypted WiFi access, which is likely enough control for most users, making the MiFi ideal for storing commonly-accessed files and documentation.  It’s also ideal for use with a netbook, UMPC or MID, which might sacrifice internal storage for portability.  A few 16GB microSD cards are a whole lot cheaper than paying for an SSD upgrade on such a device, plus they’re then of benefit to any WiFi-connected computer.

So far it’s a pretty basic NAS, though.  You can upload files (one at a time), open or delete them from the web interface, but there’s no way to transfer files already on the card between folders.  We were also unable to map the microSD card as a network drive.  On the up side, each folder can be given separate read-only or read/write status.

It’s also possible to use the MiFi as a standard, USB modem, with the supplied cable and the drivers available to install from the device itself.  Novatel’s connection manager offers the usual connect and disconnect choices, with basic stats, plus an SMS app and address book.  Unfortunately using a direct connection kicks the MiFi 2352 into non-WiFi mode, something Novatel’s quick start guide seems to imply is intentional but that we’d prefer was a user option.  There’s no provision for topping up the MiFi’s battery via USB while also sharing its 3G connection, though of course most OSes will let you broadcast the connection over the notebook’s own WiFi.

Also new to this particular MiFi model is its processing capabilities.  Novatel have given the 2352 a separate 900MHz ARM app processor, RAM and flash storage, with the obvious expectation being that there’ll be a growing catalog of third-party and homegrown mobility software that can run on the device itself.  As with any new platform, however, the limitation is primarily a shortage of cooperating developers.  There’s seemingly just one third-party app on offer right now, an enterprise-level device manager from Alcatel-Lucent (which we didn’t have access to for testing), while Novatel themselves have apparently developed a “basic” VPN client.  With no MiFi App Store or equivalent, however, distribution seems left to carriers or hardware providers, not individual users, and there’s currently no publicly available SDK.

That’s unlikely to stop the intrepid from delving into the MiFi 2352′s Linux roots, albeit on a small scale.  Having been told that the intelligent hotspot “doesn’t support Android at present, but runs an OS selected for its potential for Android installation at some point in the future” we’re feeling cautiously optimistic that – likely as the Google OS itself develops, and becomes more suited to non-smartphone devices – future MiFi units could end up with an Android Market injection.

All early days, though, and right now the bigger question is how those extra components might impact on battery life.  Novatel quote the same 4hrs use/40hrs standby for the 2352 as the Sprint and Verizon MiFi 2200 units, which lack the app processor, and supply a bigger, 1,530mAh battery than the 1,150mAh in its simpler cousins.  In our testing the 2352 managed a little over Novatel’s active usage estimates, complete with some standby downtime; your experience will vary on how strong the 3G signal is, and we did notice the MiFi became quite warm after extended use, particularly when it was struggling to keep a grip on a connection indoors.

Officially, the MiFi 2352 is only available through one European carrier at present, Telefonica in Spain.  It’s unclear if they’ve made use of the MiFi’s A-GPS abilities; there doesn’t appear to be any obvious way to access it in our non-carrier unit.  Sprint’s 2200 MiFi can be set to integrate location data with such things as Google searches, automatically bringing back nearby listings ahead of more general ones.  That appears to be a carrier-specific function.

Speaking of carriers, Novatel have a GSM version of the MiFi intended for US 3G bands.  The MiFi 2372 is yet to show up on the company’s own webpages, but its been spotted clearing the FCC complete with support for the 850/1900MHz bands; that suggests we may be seeing an AT&T version sometime in the near future.

There’s little not to like about the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2352.  It’s slightly thicker than the EVDO versions, and that’s partly because of the discrete app processor that, right now, we’re not seeing much use of, but future implementations could righten that balance.  Similarly, the microSD functionality may not be as flexible as a traditional NAS, but it’s a nice bonus and a quick way to share information between devices or users.

None of that distracts from what the MiFi does best, though: sharing a single connection in a straightforward way.  With a reasonable HSPA link it’s possible to fool yourself into thinking you’re at home or the office, as devices automatically hook up to the MiFi 2352′s connection and leave you to focus on what it actually was you wanted the internet for.  We’re not sure on UK pricing for the 2352 (nor US pricing for the 2372) but importer Mobilx.hu are offering it, unlocked, for €220 including tax ($315/£186) and in Spain Telefonica are charging €29 or €59 per month.  Considering you can realistically replace a smartphone data package, and multiple traditional USB or PC Card modem contracts, for just one MiFi connection, road warriors and traveling families could do a lot worse than checking out the 2352.  Its certainly found a permanent place in our kit bag.

Novatel Wireless MiFi 2352 unboxing video: