sandisk – Tech Raman

Western Digital's new 3D NAND technology fuels the next wave of Big/Fast data in Smartphones

Lakshmi Rajan — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 03:39:10 +0000

Smartphones are developing in light speed and users are demanding better mobile experiences. They are consuming more applications than ever before and developers are fueling their appetite with newer advancements in virtual reality. augmented reality, advancements in photography, 4K media, 360-degree streaming video and much more. All these means increase in the volume, velocity, variety, and value of data. This puts a stress on the embedded flash memory and a need to cope up the memory technology to cater to the increasing demands. 3D Nand technology aims to ease things up and Western Digital has launched the latest generation of intelligent iNAND 8521 and iNAND 7550 embedded flash drives (EFDs) to smoother things.

What is 3D NAND technology?

Smartphones uses embedded flash memory to store and interact with the applications and user data. For many years, the technology used was 2D planar that stacked storage cells horizontally and was limited to “x” and “y” dimensions. Soon, the technology hit the road block of scaling limit and thus a need for a new technology which was filled by the 3D NAND technology that gave scope for extreme capacity, better performance and higher reliability when compared to 2D planar NAND. In 3D NAND technology, the cells are stacked vertically on top of each other in a layer sorts. This skyscrapper kind of technology gave path for larger storage densities within the same space or lesser than the previous 2D NAND technology. The better performance this new technology offered allowed for much better crunching of data and adopting at ease the new advancements and handling the big data that was thrown at it.

iNAND 8521 and iNAND 7550 embedded flash drives

At a media briefing held at Bangalore, Western Digital talked about their new iNAND 8521 and iNAND 7550 embedded flash drives and how it would help for better Smartphone experiences. “By end of 2018, we estimate that average storage capacity will climb to over 60 gigabytes per smartphone globally to support the growing proportion of rich multimedia content and data-driven experiences from artificial intelligence to augmented reality on the devices,” said Neil Shah, research director of devices and ecosystems at Counterpoint Research. “This warrants a move to advanced 3D NAND embedded flash storage solutions, which will drive these richer experiences even further.” Jackie Bao, Director of Product Marketing, Western Digital Corporation shared insights on the new technology and how iNAND 8521 EFD is designed for the big data / data smartphones. The iNAND 8521 uses the UFS 2.1 interface and WD’s latest fight-generation SmartSLC technology, this translates to doubling the sequential write speed¹, and up to 10 times the random write speed² pitted against the existing flagship smartphones powered with the present iNAND7232 EFD mobile solution. It also supports 5G and latest WiFi speeds and gives room for developers to take advantage of the high performance. For mainstream Smartphones not to be left behind the flagship Smartphones while keeping the cost down, WD also have introduced next generation iNAND 7550 EFD. It is based on the e.MMC interface and offers sequential write performance of up 260 MB/s and random read/write performance of 20K IOPS and 15K IOPS respectively. This would help the next generation mid-range smartphones to increase the boot-up time and to quickly launch the applications. Mr. Balaji Sivakumar, Director of Product Marketing – Western Digital Corporation stressed on the importance of India being one of the largest Smartphone market and the Western Digital’s commitment and acknowledgement of the Indian market and the continuous focus to engage both with Indian and global OEMs and bring an enhanced Smartphone experiences. Apart from the flash memory, Western Digital has been actively bringing its various storage solutions to India and they recently launched a new range of hard drives for higher recording densities and low costs per terabyte. ]]>

SanDisk Dual Drive and SanDisk Memory Manager – Dual Drive, Multipurpose Daily Drives

Lakshmi Rajan — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 18:08:30 +0000

Yes, the Smartphone storage has got better now. Even budget mobiles with 32GB storage has become common these days, so some might even think do we still need the little pen drives still? Well, hell yes, it still has its place and let’s see why. It’s for no reason that the feature called OTG is enabled in most smartphones these days and is also one of the most deciding factor for many when they choose their smartphones. Not everything needs to end up in the phone storage, there are different needs and use cases. Mini USB Pendrives are convenient for immediate backup,to move files between Smartphones, PCs and laptops. To carry your favourite media files, when you are on travel, to take quick backup of the memories you shoot on camera and many more. While the storage has become beefier on the smartphones, so is the media contents stored, so still the Dual drives make sense to free up the space instantly and for safe backup too. And with Sandisk Dual drives having cross compatibility with Android, Mac , Windows it offers seamless transfer between various gadgets and qualifies it to be one of the most versatile little gadget to carry around. Western Digital owned Sandisk has wide range of mini drives which they call as Dual drives. The Sandisk Dual with USB 2.0 plug at one end and the more contemporary Sandisk Ultra Dual with a faster USB 3.0 plug. Then there are various storage options to choose from ranging from 16GB to 128GB. The Ultra dual with the USB 3.0 connector is backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports and can get speeds of upto 150 MB/s, so works well if you are a habitual big transferer of big media files. Apart from the drive itself what captured my attention was the Sandisk Memory Zone app available both on App store and Play store. The app is a neatly done memory manager to manage on your phone, the card and in cloud. And not just the memory management, the app can also has few more aces up its sleeves by doubling as file browser, backup, file compressor and also integrated media player. There are two utilities that stand out for me in this app, one is the automatic backup which I can schedule it on one particular day of a week and time and it makes sure my new contents on my phone be it the photos, videos or even files are automatically backed up into the drive. Neat, no manual work here. Secondly, It also allows to backup the images I put into the social media apps like Instagram, Twitter or Facebook which I might be posting from different devices and all gets backed up again here when I give the necessary permission to the app. Again, pretty neat and practical. It also allows to push the content to cloud directly via the app. https://youtu.be/1Zs3VU9A298 So now you might agree with me right? mini drives are not going to be history and SanDisk Dual Drives along with the Memory Zone app has made it a worthy addition to check in a gadget must have lists. Share your thoughts.]]>

SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick Review (32GB) | Tech Raman

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 17:01:29 +0000

The world is going wireless and so does the mobile accessories too. The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick is a USB flash drive with built-in Wi-Fi capability that wirelessly transfer and stream large files to and from your mobile device. The wireless stick is available in many storage capacities – 16/32/64/128 and 200GB. What I got here for review has 32GB storage. The Stick is easy to setup and use and very convenient in taking a backup of your mobile pictures and videos wirelessly. The drive has an easy-to-use mobile app. It can also stream simultaneously to three devices.

Design and Build:

The Connect Wireless Stick has a black, plastic body and measures 77mm x 19mm x 11mm and weighs around 21 grams. The textured, geometric pattern on the front panel gives it a uber cool look. The back and sides have a matte finish. The right side has a small, slim power button which is easy to access and turn on. On the front panel near the center there is a single LED that serves as indicator using colors and patterns. There is a clear cap to secure the USB connector. On the bottom side, there is a lanyard eye if you want to connect a loop.

LED Indicator status :

When the device is on, it blinks in white
During WiFi data transfer, it blinks rapidly in white
While it is charging, it turns amber
When battery is low, it blinks red
During firmware update, the color alternates

The drive comes with a clear cap, which cannot be stored anywhere on the stick while it’s plugged into a computer, though it can be kept on the device if you’re connecting remotely.

Performance:

Connecting to Mobile devices:

You need to download SanDisk Connect App which is available for both iOS and Android to wirelessly connect the Stick with your mobile devices. Of course, you can also use it as a regular USB drive by connecting with an OTG cable or hooking it up directly to your computer but you don’t buy this for that purpose, I assume. The app is easy to setup and it hardly takes a minute and the process is very simple. It connects on 802.O11n Wi-Fi and pairs up to three mobile devices at once. If you don’t want to download an app, you can still connect using browser. Once connected, you can transfer files to and fro the device and stream content from it without any lag. The app also displays how much storage is remaining on the drive, the type of devices connected with a neat interface. The strength of the Connect Wireless Stick is in the app which is simple, well organized and straightforward. The app setting also allows you to back up your phone’s camera roll, so that it automatically saves new photos every time a device connects. This is pretty cool as I take loads of pictures and it allows me a constant back up on the stick, which I can conveniently sort out later. The wireless connection has a 150 feet range in direct line of sight, but the range as in any wireless network depends on the obstructions like walls in real usage.

Connecting to Computer:

While I simply plug in the Connect Wireless Stick to my laptop USB port like any other drive, it also offers to wirelessly connect but its not a straight affair. You need to connect to the Stick via your browser by accessing a special web address, I found plugging it in a much easier option than the browser hassles.

Data Transfer speed:

The Connect Wireless Stick uses USB 2.0 interface and limited to it so the speed is a bit underwhelming compared to the USB 3.0. Its logged 9.84MBps write and 15.8MBps read speeds in my drag-and-drop file transfer tests on PC. But speed is not what we are looking at here, the ease of use at moving files between mobile and the drive is what scores the brownie here. You can movie multiple files at once, and during the process continue using the phone. Though you must remember it disables your WiFi and connects via its own wireless network, though there is an option where you can simultaneously use your mobile data while the Connect’s wireless network is in action.

Battery Life:

The SanDisk’s battery life is rated for 4 hours 30 minutes of continuous video streaming and it takes two hours to fully charge. The charging is done by simply plugging it into a USB port on a computer.

Conclusion

I am a sort of person who takes a lot of pictures but usually don’t store all of them on cloud, for me the Connect Wireless Stick comes handy especially with its auto-backup of the camera roll. I don’t worry about deleting the pictures accidentally on my phone plus I can review the pictures a weekend and movie it to my hard-drive. Of course I could do it better by syncing it to a wireless external hard drive but unfortunately I have not invested on one. This comes handy though for me. ]]>