14 DAY TRIAL // Near-field communication isn't something you'd expect to find on a storage device, but with wireless support being integrated into everything out there, it's not too shocking to see it finally happen.
Indeed, since miniaturization is the primary focus of all technological pursuits right now (well, most of them), combining technologies is always a good thing.
And since we've already seen portable hard disk drives and solid state drives with integrated Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth, seeing something similar done to memory cards is actually expected.
That's what happened: Toshiba has formally introduced the first ever SDHC memory card with NFC support (near field communication).
Toshiba NFC SDHC memory cards
NFC is a very short range wireless communication technology, stretching over an inch or so, which would by all accounts make it useless.
There were attempts to make a fast file transfer engine out of it, but those ideas were scrapped early on in development, years ago.
Since then, NFC has been turned into a means to quickly establish Bluetooth links between mobile devices, or a mobile device and a laptop / desktop / whatever else.
All it takes is bringing the areas with the NFC chips close enough to each other and voila! Instant connection.
Toshiba's new SDHC memory card with NFC functionality takes things to what they were originally planned to be. It will allow you to place your smartphone on the spot on your PC/tablet where its own NFC is located and move files between the memory card and the computer quickly.
It will make it unnecessary to remove the card from your mobile device and stick it inside the card reader of your system.
The Memory Card Preview app will need to be active in order for the exchange to work, installed on the memory card itself, but that's no big deal. It will show 16 photo thumbnails and how much space is left.
Availability and pricing
The 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB memory cards will be up for sale sooner or later, with USH Speed Class 1 and SD Speed Class 10 performance (50 MB/s to 104 MB/s). Sadly, exact pricing and availability details are unavailable. Look for white cards with a green “label” on the front side. You can't really miss them.