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1" Hard Drives in Cellphones on the Rise

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the coming-to-the-tipping-point dept.

Tomo Hiratsuka writes "The imminent 10Gb 1-inch hard drives we've been hearing about have been well covered but the maker, Cornice, reckons its product could end up in over 70 million cellphones by 2009. Kevin Magenis, one of the company founders, isn't shy about pointing out that this is 30 million units more than predicted DAP sales."

5 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. define: DAP by Caspian · · Score: 4, Informative

    I had to think about this for a moment. "DAP" means "Digital Audio Player". (e.g. iPod, etc.)

    I believe this is the first time this term has appeared in a SlashDot article. (Perhaps a SlashDot Glossary would be a good idea?)

    --
    With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
  2. whats the fascination with stuff that breaks? by Shivetya · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I do not want a harddrive in my phone. My phone gets more abuse than any other gadget I have. Granted its cheaper than using flash but hell I would rather pay for something that isn't going to possibly be toast when it bounces once off the pavement.

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    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
    1. Re:whats the fascination with stuff that breaks? by __aammuz5019 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I agree totally with not wanting a hard drive in my cell phone, but... has anyone tried to buy a cell phone *without* a camera in it lately? I don't want a camera in my cell phone either, because I work in the defense industry and I cannot take my phone into many buildings due to security restrictions. But, when I tried to purchase a cell phone without a camera, I found my only choice was a klunky offering that was too big for me and looked like it was several years old in design. I fear that the idea of having a hard drive in one's cell phone will "catch on," and shortly after, one will not be able to find a cell phone without one. Sigh! smp

  3. MiniSD is already better by michaelmalak · · Score: 4, Informative
    It is already possible to get (I've had one for a month) 1GB of RAM in the mini-SD format, not to be confused with SD, which itself is smaller than CompactFlash. The miniSD is about the size of a fingernail, and that adapter you see at the bottom of the sandisk.com page is a slipcase to bring the miniSD up to the size of SD.

    By 2008, the projected release date of the 1" hard drive, I'm sure miniSD's will be up to at least 4GB if not 8GB, without the power drain of spinning platters, without the seek and latency, and in a much smaller form factor.

    We can see from IBM's CompactFlash hard drives how limited the market is -- basically photographers who can't afford the time to change their "film". But the trend is to smaller and more personal devices, and the market for tiny hard drives will be even smaller in 2008.

  4. battery life by stud9920 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    moving parts is just what my anemic battery needs.