vB Easy Archive - memory stick

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memory stick - is it worth it ?
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Posted by: didgit

Hello,

Just bought a second hand P800 in very good condition, as standard it comes with a 16Mb card, just wondering if that limits you a lot on what you can do and if I should consider buying a 128Mb memory stick duo and what it will allow me to do ?

thanks

Posted by: mr.cos

well that depends if you intend to leave your phone exactly as is, or do you plan to store extra apps/photos/mp3s? Basically, you will chew through that internal memory really quickly if you plan to do any of the above and seeing as you have a phone that can do all these things you may as well do it.
Amazon are selling the 128 cards quite cheaply-go for it.

Posted by: didgit

what's the difference between a duo stick and normal one and is it worth paying extra for a genuine Sony, I noticed that Expansys have their own for £20 less.

Posted by: flipflash77

MemoryStick Duo cards are half the size of regular MemorySticks (and thus the latter will not fit in a Duo slot). Do not buy MemoryStick Duo Pro cards as they don't work in the P800 or P900 (a real shame...

Posted by: didgit

but with an duo adapter (which I've got) I can add a standard memory card but it will stick out won't it whereas the duo card will fit nicely in the duo slot. Are they any quicker than the normal one though or just more compact ?
what about other make than Sony any good ?

Posted by: Technosaint

you cannot add a standard memory stick into the phone unless you have the Memory Stick Jacket from ARM Station that might help because the memory stick duo is smaller in dimension AND thinner than a regular memory stick so that wouldn't fit into the slot in the phone. Let's hope they can make a jacket for the P900 soon cos I can use the extra space

St.

Posted by: didgit

so the only thing I can add is a 128Mb duo stick not 128Mb stick, what about Magic Gate what's that all about ? sorry if this seems like a silly question but I'm just discovering what's on the market (i.e. ebay...)

Posted by: flipflash77

Quote:

Originally posted by didgit
what about Magic Gate what's that all about ?

Don't waste your money on MagicGate-enabled MemorySticks. MagicGate is Sony's implementation of on-chip DRM. It's only required if you own one of Sony's flash-based MP3 players. Otherwise it's a waste of money.

Posted by: Technosaint

yeah only Memory Stick Duo (not PRO) can be used in the phone, and the max is 128Mb, which can be gotten on Ebay anywhere from $60 - $80 depending on shipping costs.

St.

Posted by: FiReBReTHa

Im All-over with my dead thread reviving.

There are larger capacity Duo sticks available, (i have seen up to 512)

but my question is, does the p900 support larger capacity than the 128 "expandable to" limit they state on their site. or was it just because at the time there were no larger duo cards available.

Thanks!

-Rick

Posted by: Bengalboy

No, at this time the P900 will not support memory larger than 128mb. Don't expect it to either in the near future. Look for that added feature on the P1000, maybe a firmware upgrade at that time for the P900 to support larger capacity memory.

Posted by: FiReBReTHa

Thanks Mark for the Reply,

my next question has two parts,

does the p900 only Recognize up to 128MB, or does it only recognize the 128MB DUO. For example Windows 95 would only recognize 2Gigs on a hard drive even if its larger. Then once it was time to upgrade to a newer version of windows, that version would recognize the rest of the space available.

I would like to purchase a larger DUO and use it until an upgrade becomes available that would recognize the larger DUO, or Maybe in the future someone could come up with a Program that will recognize split folders like a partition on a Single DUO. (256/2 partitions =128). These are just some prelimenary thoughts im comming up with as to i am about to order the P900 and from there i will begin to play and see what i can come up with.

-Rick

Posted by: Bengalboy

Quote:

Originally posted by FiReBReTHa
Thanks Mark for the Reply,

my next question has two parts,

does the p900 only Recognize up to 128MB, or does it only recognize the 128MB DUO. For example Windows 95 would only recognize 2Gigs on a hard drive even if its larger. Then once it was time to upgrade to a newer version of windows, that version would recognize the rest of the space available.

I would like to purchase a larger DUO and use it until an upgrade becomes available that would recognize the larger DUO, or Maybe in the future someone could come up with a Program that will recognize split folders like a partition on a Single DUO. (256/2 partitions =128). These are just some prelimenary thoughts im comming up with as to i am about to order the P900 and from there i will begin to play and see what i can come up with.

-Rick

From what I read on My-Symbian...a larger Duo will not be read at all. So, if you get a Pro card the P900 will not recognize it. There are several discussions on the memory issue there, but I am pretty sure I am correct on this.

Posted by: flipflash77

Quote:

Originally posted by Bengalboy
From what I read on My-Symbian...a larger Duo will not be read at all. So, if you get a Pro card the P900 will not recognize it. There are several discussions on the memory issue there, but I am pretty sure I am correct on this.

Yup, Mark is right. Normal Duo and regular MemoryStick cards are limited by the controller being used as to how much memory they can address. This is similar to how SmartMedia was limited to 128 MB (and ultimately led to it's demise). When Sony first released the MemoryStick spec, they had presumed that their controller design would be fine beyond 128 MB, but they were wrong.

In trying to make a MemoryStick larger than 128 MB, they discovered their error and the only viable way to fix it was by creating yet another memory format in MemoryStick Pro (and Duo Pro). They simply couldn't update older MemorySticks because that would make them incompatible with the millions of existing MemoryStick devices on the market (cameras, computers, etc.). So bottom line: if your device reads regular MemoryStick/Duo cards, it's a 128 MB. No way around it whatsoever (apart from 256 MB Select cards which are really two 128 MB cards kludged together with a manual switch, but I don't think they make a Duo Select card).

Now, why SonyEricsson didn't put a Duo Pro slot on the P900 is beyond me since Pro had been available for several months prior. Must have just not been ready in time for FCC approval or something.