Nokia Leads Effort to Standardize Flash Memory

By the Betanews Staff | Published September 14, 2007, 12:29 PM

Nokia has joined forces with competitors Samsung and Sony Ericsson as well as memory chip makers Micron, Spansion, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments to promote a single flash storage technology for mobile phones. Called Universal Flash Storage, the companies want to eliminate the need for various adaptors to read the multitude of different types of media now available.

While the standard is still in development, a final version is expected in 2009. It is hoped to provide a higher degree of performance and reliability than the formats currently available. "The proliferating use of flash memory as a storage medium underscores the importance of introducing a universal connectivity to memory cards where high performance and reliability are critical," Samsung president Jon Kang said in a statement.

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Another format = more adaptors to buy.

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What a rock! the whole point is to phase in a standard format so that you wouldn't need multiple adapters. Some use microsd and some use Sony's memory stick micro. They are not interchangeable. A standard would allow us to buy one kind for all phones.

It wouldn't be just another format, it would be designed to replace all others. Just like any standard, that takes time.

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that had to be made long time ago

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as is the case with most standards

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The need to create a standard is definitely a welcome development, since the market has never quite come up with a winner on its own.

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Wasn't aware the non-SD type cards had enough popularity to really bother with a project like this. As far as I can tell, SD, miniSD, and microSD is the winner, and all 3 have their role and purpose.

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Have to agree here.

Why create a standard when there clearly is a leader of the pack.

Why not just pick up the dominant player...and run with that.

Only thing I can think of is so these companies don't need to pay royalties .. so again the consumer loses out to fund the corporate greed.

Fine.. make the standard, but provide a damn adapter that converts existing ones as well.

Sick of the constant movement in this arena.. I have more adapters than keys on the keyboard already.

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Why? Because the new UFS is suppose to have a much faster interface. Not important for small files, but for large files it is very important!

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