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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (1391)	11/8/1997 6:48:00 PM
From: Mike Winn	Respond to of 60323

Hmmm, tough question. Let me think...

To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (1391)	11/8/1997 6:51:00 PM
From: Rex Dwyer	Respond to of 60323

Batteries... Those need batteries which have a limited shelf life, and will always be more expensive. Rex

To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (1391)	11/8/1997 9:02:00 PM
From: Mike Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

A.J., I just went jogging and came back with a fresh mind. Before I answer to your question, I take a look at my digital answering machine made by Ma Bell and to my surprise, I discover that my digital answering machine does not use flash for storing messages. It uses power backed up RAM, can store up to 14 minutes of messages, and uses 4 AA batteries to save the RAM in case the power goes off. I lost the manual and can't tell how long it can save. My answering machine is about the size of a portable CD player. - the first consideration for using flash is size. You have the extra circuitry for the battery backed-up RAM. Sandisk and Siemens said that they are shipping up to 10MB MMC next year, 40MB MMC in 1999, and 128MB MMC in 2001. The MMC is about the size of a stamp. My 16 MB SIMM memory card in my PC is much larger than that. I am not a hardware guy, so I couldn't tell you if they can shrink RAM to the size of a MMC flash or not. You said that the GPS unit is about the size of a cell phone. I don't know if you're talking about the old type which is about the size of a cordless phone, or the new type such as the ones made by Qualcomm and Motorola (Startac) that can fit inside your pocket and there isn't much room in it. - the second consideration is reliability. The users of GPS are more "responsible". If you are a pilot, or you are in the middle of the wilderness, or at sea, and you rely on your GPS for not getting lost, then you probably will carry extra battery. But the users of cell phones are less "responsible" and less "forgiving". Typically, you will use your cell phone or your cordless phone until it completely runs out of juice and then your saved messages will be completely lost. Like I am in the middle of a romantic conversation with my girlfriend, I cannot say "Hey Honey, I have to hang up now or I will loose all the messages and e-mails from my friends and other girlfriends". :))) She would say "fine, but I will hang you up for good too". - There is no accurate way to measure the remaining charge in a battery. This is a science in itself and there are a lot of tech papers on this subject. So if you're using battery backed up RAM, your cell phone will have to tell you that the power runs out about 10 minutes before it actually runs out. - With MMC flash, if you runs out of storage, you just unplug the filled MMC and replace it with a new one. You can also unplug the MMC from your cell phone and plug it into your palmtop computer for reading. - I suppose for home appliances such as web-tv, answering machines, ..., battery backed up RAM is the choice because it's cheaper, power is always available, or lost of memory is acceptable. I hope that I've convinced you that flash is the solution for portable electronics devices. P.S. I travelled to another state last week and rented a Pontiac car. I am surprised to find out that the mileage on the odometer is displayed with a LCD. I wonder how GM got away with that. Suppose my car computer goes dead, does that mean I lost the mileage of my car completely? Like before I sell my car, I will short circuit the thing and poof, my mileage disappears. I suppose that some mechanical storage is still being used and the computer just reads the mileage and displays it on the LCD. P.S.S. I wonder what kind of storage media does the black box on airplanes use? If an airplane crashes and goes under water, this thing has to be able to keep the vital flight info and pilot's voice. It has to be able to withstand heat also.