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Many of today's gadgets no longer serve a single function. With a PDA, you can take pictures and listen to music, for example, while an Apple iPOD can handle basic personal information management. This same dual concept is increasingly finding its way into mobile peripherals too.

Take flash memory expert SanDisk. Several months ago, the company demonstrated a new memory format called Ultra II SD PLUS to PDAStreet. The postage stamp-sized device combines a Secure Digital (SD) card (see top image) with a high-speed USB 2.0 flash drive (see bottom image).

Two very different types of flash storage mediums.

The former is common to all sorts of mobile devices (e.g. handhelds to smartphones, MP3 players, digital cameras, etc.), while the latter has become the defacto standard for the easy transfer of information between PCs.


USB Drive Mode

SanDisk retail product marketing manager Tanya Chuang says, "Now, to transfer data, images, audio, or video between computers, digital cameras and other electronic devices, you don't need a card reader, cables or card adapters. Just flip the card to engage the USB connector and simply plug the Ultra II SD PLUS into any USB port. And the card also features an LED that blinks when data transfer is taking place to indicate that the card is being used as a USB flash drive."

Ultra II SD PLUS delivers write speeds of 9 MB/second and read speeds of 10 MB/second.

The first dual-function Ultra II SD PLUS card is a 1 GB version; available now for a suggested retail price of $150. You should be able to find it for less though. A $110 512 MB edition will ship soon as well.