Kingston 256MB microSD Memory Card Review

Kingston’s 256MB MicroSD Card

Two months ago Legit Reviews was at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and saw the first MicroSD cards on the market. We wrote a short piece for our event coverage on the Kingston MicroSD card back in Janurary and today we will mix some of the original article with new content, images, and benchmarks bringing you our full thoughts on the Kingston 256MB microSD flash memory cards.

In March of 2005 the SD Card Association (SDA) announced plans to finalize specifications for a new, super-compact memory card called the microSD. Those in the memory industry know that the MicroSD format was originally created by SanDisk and called T-Flash and then TransFlash before being re-named MicroSD when adopted by the SD Card Association. It took nearly a full year for the technology to take off, but now microSD cards are said to be the ‘hot’ item in 2006 for the mobile phone market. The microSD card is currently the world’s smallest mass produced memory card measuring just 11mm x 15mm x 1mm, and will be completely compatible with SanDisk Corporation’s TransFlash format. Recent phone models like the Motorola RAZR V3i, E1070 and the NEXTEL i870 all use microSD as their flash memory expansion slot. Now that phones are out with microSD slots it only makes sense for memory companies like Kingston Technology to support these devices.

Above you can see the Kingston 1GB Ultimate SD card next to the microSD adapter card. If you look close you can see the microSD card partially instered into the adapter card to give you an idea where it goes and the overall size of the card. Actually let’s take the microSD card out and size it next to a penny.

Now that we know what the card is let’s take a look at the features and benefits of microSD memory cards.

microSD features and benefits:

• World’s smallest memory card
• Specifically designed for mobile phones
• Provides additional memory and expansion and upgrade potential for mobile phones without adding cost to handset
• Permits lower cost handset production by minimizing embedded memory
• Fully compatible with hosts that use SD or miniSD Memory Cards
• SD Adaptor available so users can insert into standard SD card slot
• Supports CPRM, SD and smartSD security
• Operators could preload content as added value

Moving along to the benchmarks!