AfterDawn: News

Windows Phone 7 devices get their first 'certified' microSD card

Yesterday we reported that Windows Phone 7 devices like the Samsung Focus could not have their storage easily upgraded, as you will need special "Certified for Windows Phone 7" microSDHC cards.

Owners who attempt to update with a "regular" microSD card run the risk of messing up their phones, with AT&T even going as far as to put a sticker on the microSD card holding bracket with the capital letters "STOP!"



Today, however, SanDisk has confirmed the first "certified" card, with Samsung's support pages saying the following:

Compatible micro SD cards will be branded as “Windows Phone 7 Compatible” on the packaging. Approved cards can be obtained from the manufacturer or carrier. (The SanDisk 8GB class 2 micro SD card has been certified.)

The company also warns that once you use the card in your WP7 device, it will become unusable for other devices.

Says Samsung (via EWM):

Once inserted and properly formatted, the memory card becomes an inseparable part of the phone. A micro SD card inserted into a Windows Phone 7 device, and integrated into the device’s file system, is intended to be a permanent modification to the device. Once a micro SD card has been integrated into a Windows Phone 7 device’s file system, it will no longer be readable or writable on any other devices such as computers, cameras, printers, and so on. This includes an inability to format the micro SD card for use in these devices.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Nov 2010 18:27

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• 25 comments

• Joshewah

  That's a bunch of bullshit.
  
  I really the developer community cracks WP7 wide open and removes those BS forms of DRM. That's my only idea as to why they'd do such a thing... DRM.
  

  X360 - iXtreme1.4 ||| Xbox - EvoX Dash ||| PS2 - CC 2.0 PRO SLE ||| Dreamcast ...lol ||| NDS - Acekard 2/M3 Simply/EZ Flash 3-1 ||| Rooted HTC Hero with Ic3rom

  15.11.2010 18:49 #1

• escalante

  Man, i have seen some stupid crap over the years from big corporations. This is in the top 5.

  15.11.2010 19:34 #2

• baxter00

  Pray tell, how much will this unusable/worthless/idiotic SD card cost?
  It should be very cheap, considering you can only use it on a Bone7 phone.
  

  15.11.2010 19:38 #3

• plutonash

  This whole thing doesn't really make sense. MicroSD cards are meant to read by a PC for easy file tranfers/reading without the need of a data cable. Example, I could bring a card full of pictures and pop into a USB SD card adapter and then put it in my friends TV for easy viewing. No need for drivers our anything to actually read the phone or what not.
  

  "Cable thief is a victimless crime."

  15.11.2010 19:41 #4

• bubbah

  there are reports all over the net where people test class 2 cards that perform like class 4+ and compare to another brand class 6 performing below that and even below the class 2 standard ...I am perplexed as to why this sloppy appellation is out there and leads the unwitting public (me) to buy junk...

  15.11.2010 20:56 #5

• bubbah

  oh yeah ...off topic, I noticed all that is shown in ads with phone held in the right hand and thumb scrolling pages and tiles …is there a feature for left-handed people or for people who don't have the full use of the right hand (me) or people who don't have a right hand at all?

  15.11.2010 20:59 #6

• statomike

  edited by ddp that
  
  fudge that

  15.11.2010 22:56 #7

• 21Q

  Uhm. I'm just wondering what the hell is all this bull shit.
  

  If you want a nice icon for your iPhone for afterdawn click on the link below. There is a two second delay before the redirect so act fast! http://www.freewebs.com/21qz/afterdawn.html
  
  Also Check Out My "Pc In An Xbox" Mod. There's a whole Pc inside of it! http://s84.photobucket.com/albums/k6/21q2/Xbox%20Pc/?start=0

  16.11.2010 00:57 #8

• Frogfart

  This is typical of MS, cripple the product with DRM and shaft the customer into paying for it. Remind me, did they do something similar with cards for the Xbox 360?

  16.11.2010 04:42 #9

• ZippyDSM

  Give me a phone with a open OS on it and I just might get it.....
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  16.11.2010 10:10 #10

• shortybob

  So what happens when you want more memory? Do you lose everything you saved to the first card you put in? Because 'unusable' doesn't sound very friendly. And "inability to format the micro SD card for use in these devices." Sounds like they were on all sorts of drugs when they thought that was even a remotely good idea. And I thought Microsoft finally had a product worth buying... Not until it's jailbroken I guess...

  16.11.2010 12:49 #11

• Interestx

  What are the bets it's just some branding BS?
  
  (and whilst the Microsoft bashing might be fun for some they are hardly alone in trying to tie in a bit of this sort of branding to their kit.
  .....it would be a different matter if it was a proprietary unit unlike anything else on the market, locked and completely specific to their unit, right?)
  
  Just as happened with the Xbox and its ability to use flash drives there are certified (branded) flash drives they recommend......but every 'ordinary' one works just as well anyways.
  
  I can see no reason why a class 2 certified SD micro card is going to outperform in the exact same application a 'plain' (but name brand so reputable) class 2, 4 or 6 SD micro card from anyone else not supposedly 'certified'.
  
  It'll be an easy test and known very soon.
  As soon as someone slots one of those 'ordinary SD micro cards in.
  It's hardly rocket science.
  
  The dedicated use of the card might be a pain to some tho.....but then again I never use the SD micro card in my phone for anything but my phone.
  Mines a 16gb SD micro card and they are pretty cheap now.
  I guess if you shelled out on a 32gb right now (while proces are silly) you might be peeved at it being unusable for anything else, but I think most of us buy for our phones not as a general use card.
  
  I would bet the house this part of their 'security' will be hacked pretty soon......I find my phone slow to load stuff when hooked to the PC & taking the card out & loading music (for instance) on it much faster when done direct on the PC with a card adapter.
  

  16.11.2010 14:27 #12

• ps3lvanub

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: Give me a phone with a open OS on it and I just might get it..... Jailbroken iOS? Android?
  

  
  
  OMG! COD6 TENTH HACK WITHOUT JTAG!

  16.11.2010 15:53 #13

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by ps3lvanub: Originally posted by ZippyDSM: Give me a phone with a open OS on it and I just might get it..... Jailbroken iOS? Android? How well supported is a broken iOS? I have a touch would love to be able to use it and not be forced to use it for the 3 or 4 thigns they want you to use it for.... I really want it to be like a generic MP3 player, you double tap on it it plays or executes the file, not for enslaved by Icrap crappy limited OS....
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  16.11.2010 15:57 #14

• elfman12

  Originally posted by Interestx: I would bet the house this part of their 'security' will be hacked pretty soon......I find my phone slow to load stuff when hooked to the PC & taking the card out & loading music (for instance) on it much faster when done direct on the PC with a card adapter. No offense, but this has NOTHING to do with needing a hack, or with DRM, or anything like that. They are just trying to match the R/W, Access specs of the MicroSD card with the memory that's already in the phone.
  Since they are actually being merged into one memory pool, the design of the phone seems to work best when they match up. I found that out first hand, and am glad that they will "certify" (ie. single out mem cards of the appropriate access specs) so that I won't waste time or a card again.
  ***EDIT***
  After re-reading the Samsung statement at the end of this news piece, I pull back my statement a bit. I don't see WHY the formatting should ruin the card for other devices in the future. That's weird, and would like to see a reason or clarification on it. I will be using my card in the phone exclusively, so that's not the issue... I just want to know how it can actually RUIN a card for any other future use? Weird.

  17.11.2010 00:31 #15

• paulmuadeeb (unverified)

  Originally posted by elfman12: Originally posted by Interestx: I would bet the house this part of their 'security' will be hacked pretty soon......I find my phone slow to load stuff when hooked to the PC & taking the card out & loading music (for instance) on it much faster when done direct on the PC with a card adapter. No offense, but this has NOTHING to do with needing a hack, or with DRM, or anything like that. They are just trying to match the R/W, Access specs of the MicroSD card with the memory that's already in the phone.
  Since they are actually being merged into one memory pool, the design of the phone seems to work best when they match up. I found that out first hand, and am glad that they will "certify" (ie. single out mem cards of the appropriate access specs) so that I won't waste time or a card again.
  ***EDIT***
  After re-reading the Samsung statement at the end of this news piece, I pull back my statement a bit. I don't see WHY the formatting should ruin the card for other devices in the future. That's weird, and would like to see a reason or clarification on it. I will be using my card in the phone exclusively, so that's not the issue... I just want to know how it can actually RUIN a card for any other future use? Weird. Well first Samsung is probably talking about average user who have moderate access to utilities when they say it cannot be formated. They are not talking about people with advanced tech skills.
  Second, I have worked with wierd implementations of raids arrays on linux and unix systems(I know its not the samething), and they do rewrite the boot, mbr sectors of drives. Only way to get the drive working on another systems is to find a utility that resets the drive mbr, boot etc... fortunately these are available for Harddrives.
  I am guessing SD cards readers like OSes, cameras, printers etc.. look for some sectors( or data pointers) which have been removed by WP7 and only way to bring them back is to do a low level reset like what the Nokia N8 Camera does. Simple formating will not restore these sectors.
  Disclaimer: This is all based on experience and not first hand knowledge of the WP7 os filesystem.

  17.11.2010 14:38 #16

• Morreale

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: Originally posted by ps3lvanub: Originally posted by ZippyDSM: Give me a phone with a open OS on it and I just might get it..... Jailbroken iOS? Android? How well supported is a broken iOS? I have a touch would love to be able to use it and not be forced to use it for the 3 or 4 thigns they want you to use it for.... I really want it to be like a generic MP3 player, you double tap on it it plays or executes the file, not for enslaved by Icrap crappy limited OS.... Well I'm going to assume that Android is pretty open if I can ditch the crap WinMo 6.1 on my HTC Vogue(Touch) and run FroYo 2.2.1 fly-er then many new phones, thanks to the awesome people at XDA. lmao.
  

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  18.11.2010 00:31 #17

• FYI (unverified)

  Originally posted by Joshewah: That's a bunch of bullshit.
  
  I really the developer community cracks WP7 wide open and removes those BS forms of DRM. That's my only idea as to why they'd do such a thing... DRM. That has nothing to do with DRM. It has nothing to do with Windows Phone either. The 'S' in SD cards is for 'secure'. That means once it is properly integrated to the device, nobody should be able to read its contents. That's the whole point of 'secure'.

  18.11.2010 13:55 #18

• bubbah

  well...if that's the case, I will not consider getting a windows 7 device ever ...I change cards for different purposes ...just as such I will not consider any device where I can't change the battery out (like ifone...) and further will never consider anything where the SIM card cannot be changed out (defeating some legal decision regarding unlocking by carriers)...I travel to many world locations and want to just get a memory card or mostly a SIM card in the local drugstore on the corner to get reasonably priced service not bloated like the US carriers... also, outside the US, only the caller is charged for airtime while here both parties get hosed !!

  19.11.2010 10:37 #19

• plazma247

  lol cant wait for they guys at xda devs to port the win7 phones to run droid :)
  
  What fun.
  
  This is just another reason to add to the list of why i dropped windows mobile phones in the bin a year ago and went droid.

  19.11.2010 12:12 #20

• dave817

  Chalk that phone off my list. That convinces me that the Android OS is the way to go.

  19.11.2010 14:33 #21

• Atesim (unverified)

  Originally posted by Joshewah: That's a bunch of bullshit.
  
  I really the developer community cracks WP7 wide open and removes those BS forms of DRM. That's my only idea as to why they'd do such a thing... DRM. SD cards... SECURE DIGITAL. Finally, someone makes use of the SECURE feature of the cards in order to control the user experience (as other companies do and have done for a while) and suddenly its a travesty of epic proportion!

  23.11.2010 17:44 #22

• plazma247

  Originally posted by Atesim: Originally posted by Joshewah: That's a bunch of bullshit.
  
  I really the developer community cracks WP7 wide open and removes those BS forms of DRM. That's my only idea as to why they'd do such a thing... DRM. SD cards... SECURE DIGITAL. Finally, someone makes use of the SECURE feature of the cards in order to control the user experience (as other companies do and have done for a while) and suddenly its a travesty of epic proportion! To right mate, the bigger the player the bigger the problem the more noise it makes ANTI DRM all the way, give me some ginger bread baby :)

  23.11.2010 17:47 #23

• bubbah

  Originally posted by bubbah: oh yeah ...off topic, I noticed all that is shown in ads with phone held in the right hand and thumb scrolling pages and tiles …is there a feature for left-handed people or for people who don't have the full use of the right hand (me) or people who don't have a right hand at all? found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOmo72pHVH4&feature=player_embedded
  
  it shows a lefty using that win7 fone ...look how he hasta thumb over to the right edge to get it to work ...win7mobile is more crapware...

  23.11.2010 17:58 #24

• phobet

  I guess you really don't have to find reasons to not buy a Micro$oft based phone. Not when Micky$quish is so adept at providing its own.

  22.5.2011 03:31 #25