SanDisk Ultra II SD Plus USB card review

The humble SD card gets a makeover, but for better or worse?

8 March 2007 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

We all love taking pictures, but unless you have one of those new wireless cameras from Nikon or Kodak then getting them to your computer can be a bit of a bore.

SanDisk believes it has solved this problem with its SD PLUS range available in 1GB and 2GB sizes, why have we chosen to remove a memory card? Because this one has a twist to it.

Instead of just being a regular SD Card, the SD PLUS card is a standard SD card that also includes a USB plug that allows you to transfer your images to your computer by plugging it into a spare USB socket.

Available only from SanDisk, it's such an ingenious idea we just love it because it means that you don't have to connect your camera to your PC via a cable or bother taking your memory card out and then trying to find a memory card reader.

In practice, and the card lives up to its simplicity through and through. Snap a picture, pop out the card, slam it into a spare USB slot, it appears on your desktop (it works with both Mac and PC as no drivers are required), drag the files off, and that's it you're done.

For those worried about the performance, they shouldn't be, the card is also apart of the company's Ultra II range and has a read speed of 10Mb per second (Mbps) (x66) and a write speed of 9Mbps (x60), which is ample for day to day use.

As for the maximum 2GB storage capacity, SanDisk say this should be enough to store 2222 images on a 6 megapixel camera to 1333 for a 10 megapixel camera.

Verdict

The SD PLUS card is such a simple idea we can't believe no one has thought of it before and better still you aren't paying over the odds for the feature.

We love it.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: HP
Price as reviewed: £25
The good: Easy to use, saves time
The bad: Will only work with SD card devices
Quick verdict: It's such a simple idea we can't believe no one has thought of it before. We love it
Score
Winner