14 DAY TRIAL // A few days ago, the SD association announced a certain new standard for memory cards and, now, Toshiba has unveiled the first memory card to comply with it.
Toshiba's exhibition at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) includes the FlashAir SD card.
Basically, this is a memory card that complies with the Wireless LAN standard.
In other words, that small storage unit has its own wireless network support.
In fact, rather than hold the ability to join a wireless network, the FlashAir creates its own, or so reports say.
More precisely, the card features an 802.11b/g/n hotspot, down to its very own web server.
The implication is that any device connected to the card's hotspot can open a browser and see the pictures snapped with the camera that uses the card at the time.
Accessing http://flashair/ is all it takes to browse the individual folders.
For those who want more numbers, Toshiba gave the Class 6-rated SD card a capacity of 8GB and a piece of $70 (about 55 Euro).
“As cloud servers and wireless technologies continue to penetrate the consumer experience, wireless accessibility will become increasingly more important,” says Michael Yang, senior principal analyst, memory and storage, IHS iSuppli.
“The addition of wireless capability to the existing SD memory card standard, will enable SD memory cards to remain relevant to shifting market demand, and add value to consumers and manufacturers of new cameras, tablets, and mobile phones.”
According to the hands-on experience of the folks at Engadget, the wireless connection is actually quite fast, and so it the read and write speed.
By snapping some photos with a point-and-shoot camera, the pictures were already up for viewing after an instant refresh of http://flashair/.
All that’s left to do now is to wait for February, when sales are going to start. More capacious models are scheduled for the following months.