The SDHC meme has started

I’ve written about SDHC several (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) times. In a nutshell it is an updated version of the SD standard that will let you use between 4GB and 32GB of storage.

The current SD spec allows only 2GB. You can get a standard 2GB SD card for less than $20, miniSD will set you back the same amount, microSD is a little more expensive at $36.

Symbian Freak just wrote an article explaining what exactly SDHC is.

I’m really hoping we see that logo on a retail Nokia package this year.

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

Stefan Constantinescu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#SD_and_SDHC_-_compatibility

As of late 2006, the simultaneous availability of non-standard 4GB SD and 4GB SDHC cards, and incompatibilities between SD and SDHC have caused a great deal of confusion among consumers looking to buy memory for various devices.

The following compatibility issues between SD and SDHC cards and devices can arise:

* Devices that do not specifically support SD2.0/SDHC do not recognize SDHC memory cards.
* Some manufacturers have produced 4GB SD cards that do not conform to the SD2.0/SDHC spec and are incompatible with existing SD devices, and are also incompatible with SDHC devices. Prior versions of the SD spec do not allow for 4GB cards.
Raghu

Thanx man……. tht clears things up………
Deckard

Buuuuttt…. many of those non-standard 4GB SD cards happen to work just fine in SD-only devices, so while SDHC support in Nokia devices would be great (nay, essential in the near future if Nokia want to avoid looking dumb) it’s possible that many Nokia SD-only devices will be OK using 4GB SD (but not SD2.0/SDHC) cards.

Is anyone with a Nokia SD-equipped device able to test with a reputable 4GB SD card (eg. SanDisk, Transcend)?
Stefan Constantinescu

Why should the consumer have to worry about buying a compatible brand. They should look for a compatible standard.

There are already 8 GB cards out on the market for less than $100. I wouldn’t be surprised if by this time next year we could buy 16 GB cards for $75.
Deckard

Also note that SD and SDHC are electrically compatible, so a device with SD-only support can be firmware upgraded to add SDHC support.

In the case of the N95, it all depends if Nokia intend to retrofit S60 FP1 with SDHC and FAT32 support. I bet they don’t, which is a great shame.
Deckard

> Why should the consumer have to worry about buying a compatible brand. They should look for a compatible standard.

I’d agree, but Nokia could also support all the available SD standards (4GB SDHC) so who is to blame? The card manufacturers for offering non-standard cards to meet the demand of consumers wanting ever greater capacity without replacing their non-SDHC compatible card readers, or the device manufacturers for not writing compatible firmware?

It’s not an ideal situation, but since it exists and won’t go away I’d say that Nokia (and other manufacturers) should respond by removing the confusion for the customer and update their firmware accordingly (where this is possible).

Linux, as used on the Nokia N800, has no trouble with the 4GB SD cards – Nokia themselves only recommend “up to 2GB” as that is what the standard defines yet the Linux kernel has no problems with “non standard” cards. And a community kernel for the N800 now supports the full SDHC spec, proving that a firmware update is all thats needed to add SDHC support.

16GB SDHC cards should be with us by the end of the year, Panasonic have already announced their intention to produce them in late 2007.
Deckard

Hmm, the HTML entities have been stripped from the first sentence of my reply… it should have been:

I’d agree, but Nokia could also support all the available SD standards (=2GB SD, ==4GB SD/SDHC, 4GB SDHC) so who is to blame? The card manufacturers etc.
Deckard

I give up… should have been

(less-than-or-equal 2GB SD, equal 4GB SD/SDHC, greater-than 4GB SDHC)