March 19, 2007 – SanDisk introduced their latest Secure Digital High Capacity memory card on Friday, which at 8GB stands as the highest storage card currently available in SDHC media. The SanDisk 8GB SDHC card with a bundled MicroMate card reader will retail for $189.99 when it becomes available in April in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It will debut in Asia later this year.
The new SanDisk 8GB follows its 4GB SDHC predecessor that was launched eight months ago, which at the time was their highest capacity SDHC card. With the new 8GB card, users can store up to 4,000 5-megapixel images or 15 hours of MPEG 4 video at 320 x 240 pixel resolution, according to a March 16 company press release.
“As consumers add more digital entertainment and memories to their lives – especially when they start shooting video with a digital still camera or digital camcorder – they need more storage capacity in flash memory cards,” said SanDisk retail product marketing manager Susan Park in the release.
The SanDisk 8GB card is classified as Class 2 in accordance with SD 2.0 specification, meaning that the card can transfer data at 2MB per second. Unfortunately, like most SDHC cards, the new SanDisk memory card is not backwards compliant. SDHC-specific card slots are needed for compatibility.
The new 8GB also includes a free card reader, the MicroMate USB 2.0. The reader is also compatible with SD cards.
“We expect that SDHC will soon spread to digital music players, mobile phones and other personal electronics, making the 8GB SDHC card a versatile tool for moving around lots of photos, music and video,” said Wes Brewer, SanDisk's vice president of consumer products marketing.
Currently, SDHC cards are accepted in 30 digital still cameras and camcorders, according to the release.
