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(Credit: Sony Electronics)

Though it's not quite a year since Sony announced the HDR-CX12 flash-memory-based AVCHD camcorder, it looks like it's time for a replacement. With a six month lag behind their hard-drive based siblings, the HDR-XR500V and HDR-XR520V, the HDR-CX500V, and the HDR-CX520V promise some much-needed enhancements over their solid-but-flawed brothers.

Sony Handycam CX520V photos

The two models, which differ only by built-in memory--the 500V has 32GB while the 520V includes 64GB--use the same Exmor-R back-illuminated sensor and G-series 12X zoom lens as the XR versions, so we expect them to deliver the same high-quality video, and both retain the novelty geotagging capability for video and new Active SteadyShot image stabilization for use while walking. For the newer models, Sony has made some much-needed improvements to the user interface, as well as added another axis (roll) of electronic image stabilization. The CX500V/CX520V retain a manual control dial, although it's in the back of the unit rather than on the lens barrel. Other enhancements: Face Touch for face detection, the capability to upconvert to 60p playback when connected to a TV via HDMI and in-camcorder downconverting to MPEG-2 (for direct-to-DVD transfers).

While these flash models retain most of the capabilities of the hard drive versions, Sony did jettison the EVF. Grrr. Their main competitors, the Canon Vixia HF S10 and HF S100, don't have EVFs either, but that doesn't mean we have to like them. The HDR-CX500V and HDR-CX520V are slated to ship in September for $1,099 and $1,299, respectively.

(Credit: SanDisk)

Flash-memory manufacturer SanDisk announced Tuesday an SDHC card aimed at new Netbook owners disappointed with the skimpy internal storage the micro laptops may come with. On the surface--in the middle and on the bottom, too--it seems SanDisk took a bunch of old, slow Class 2 8GB and 16GB SDHC cards, rebranded them as Netbook SDHC Cards, and doubled the price of the cards to $44.99 and $88.99, respectively; the street prices are a little lower.

On the product page, SanDisk points out that this is a fast way to add more lightweight storage for videos, music, and photos that is also "hidden out-of-sight" since it'll be jammed into your Netbook's card slot. I guess this is good if you don't want to use a thumb drive or external hard drive, but it's also something that can be done with any SDHC card. (I wouldn't want personal photos and videos hanging out unprotected on removable storage regardless of type, but maybe that's just me.)

The site also says you're able to install and run software directly from the cards. This I'm not sure you can do with any SDHC card, but I'm guessing you can since if it were special, SanDisk wouldn't have buried the feature on the list of obvious things you can do with removable memory. (If anyone knows for sure, please leave a comment.)

A quick search turns up plenty of less expensive, faster SDHC cards from quality manufacturers, so there is no reason to buy these cards. I keep thinking I'm missing something here. (Someone please tell me I'm missing something here?!?)

Sony Handycam HDR-TG5 photos

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About a year ago Sony introduced the Handycam HDR-TG1, a painfully pricey pistol-grip camcorder with relatively decent specs for its tiny, titanium, travel-sized body: 1920x1080 AVCHD video, 2.7-inch touch-screen LCD, 10X zoom optically stabilized lens and a 2.4-megapixel ClearVid Exmor CMOS sensor. Now Sony's replacing it with the HDR-TG5, still overly expensive with almost identical insides and outsides, but updated with 16GB built-in memory and geotagging support with Navteq maps. The company's tweaked the menu interface and added its Smile Shutter technology as well.

On one hand, I'm a fan of geotagging and it's naturally suited for compact, travel-friendly devices. However, as I said of the first rollout in the HDR-XR520V, video isn't quite ready for geotagging; unlike photos, there's no metadata standard for storing the information with the file. As a result, Sony has to store it in a sidecar file with data that most applications won't know how to parse. And then you're stuck using Sony's Picture Motion Browser software.

So the real question becomes is it worth paying $1,000 for geotagging, especially given how primitive (or more accurately, absent) support is for metadata on video files? And I must be missing some key piece of market research indicating that people want to spend that much on an everyday camcorder to keep in their pockets, since JVC jumped in to the pool recently, too, with its Everio X. I'll leave you to ponder those questions. However, for those of you who think they're worth it, the HDR-TG5 will be available in May. It'll use the same accessories as the TG1, including the kit with an extra battery, travel charger and pouch and $100 Sony VCL-HGE07TB wide-angle conversion lens.

LAS VEGAS--Lexar plans to introduce faster, higher-capacity CompactFlash cards using a new generation of the flash memory technology, a company executive said Wednesday.

Lexar's top-end 300X cards will be outpaced by new models shipping later this year.

(Credit: Lexar)

Lexar's current top-end 300X-rated CompactFlash cards use a standard called UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access) to transfer data at 45MB/second, and their capacity tops out at 16GB. But using a new generation of the standard, UDMA 6, Lexar will release cards that have significantly faster transfer speeds and larger capacity, Jeff Cable, director of marketing, said in an interview here at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show here.

Cable wouldn't be pinned down on precise details, but he said the new cards' capacity "probably" would be 32GB, and their transfer speeds likely would "pretty close to" UDMA 6's threshold of 100MB/sec, which is more than double that of today's UDMA.

Only newer SLR (single lens reflex) cameras support current UDMA technology, but it's spreading, and there are benefits. For example, cameras can take longer continuous bursts of photos, and photographers can zoom faster to check focus when reviewing shots on the camera LCD. Video, which is arriving in new SLRs, also can saturate data-transfer pathways.

A surge in Apple's orders of flash memory may signal that a new iPhone is on the way.

(Credit: CNET)

It's been clear for a while that Apple seems to have settled into midyear iPhone refresh cycles as it closes in on the two-year anniversary of its debut, but more signs are pointing to a summer launch.

Think Equity Partners put out a report this week, spotted by AppleInsider, that says Apple has essentially cleaned out Samsung's supply of flash memory in recent weeks. Apple has also asked Toshiba and Hynix to step up with more flash memory, according to Think Equity, as it prepares for an iPhone launch.

Apple has a contract in place with the three companies, as well as Intel and Micron, to supply flash memory for Apple's products through 2010. But Apple tends to launch new iPods in the second half of the year around a September music event, making it much more likely that this buildup has a new iPhone in mind.

In January, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller hinted that Apple has settled on a midyear refresh cycle for iPhones, after launching the original iPhone in late June and the iPhone 3G in July. The spring parade of iPhone rumors has not fully blossomed as of yet, but one persistent rumor is that Apple has some sort of low-cost iPhone in the pipeline, based on CEO Steve Jobs' comments about price umbrellas during an earnings conference call and a recent report suggesting a $99 iPhone is on tap.

Apple COO Tim Cook, however, has dismissed talk of Apple playing in the entry-level phone business, so as usual, it's hard to tell exactly what Apple has in mind. But even if all Apple did was double the storage capacity of the iPhone to 16GB and 32GB, it would need a lot more flash memory chips.

This USB drive is made of solid gold, but its golden age is over.

(Credit: Super Talent Technology)

With all the buzz about solid-state drives that Intel, Super Talent Technology, and other companies have been making, I am a little surprised to learn that the NAND flash-memory market--once one of the fastest-growing segments of the global semiconductor industry--is actually facing a historic downturn.

According to a forecast released on Friday by iSuppi, a technology research and advisory-services provider, the NAND-type flash-memory market has been stricken by weakening consumer spending, causing revenue to decline in 2008. Revenue is expected to decline in 2009, also.

In 2007, total worldwide revenue of the market was $13.9 billion; in 2008, this number is estimated to be about $12 billion--down by 14 percent. The forecast predicts that in 2009 the revenue will decline by another 15 percent.

The NAND market is being impacted by several factors. The biggest challenge is the sale of products that use NAND flash memory, inducing personal media players, flash-memory storage cards and USB flash drives. These products account for almost 80 percent of total NAND chip demand and are sold mostly in retail stores, where prices are continuously slashed because of the downturn in the global economy.

The second is the change in consumers' demand. As the storage capacity of flash-memory devices continues to increase, consumers don't need to upgrade their products as often and are not as sensitive to price declines as they used to be.

While this sounds depressing, it's actually good news for consumers, all in all, especially with the holidays coming up. Still, if you are looking to wait for the price of the solid-gold USB drive to go down, you might have to wait for a very long time.