SanDisk yesterday took the wraps off a 4GB Mini SD memory card based on the "high capacity" version of the technology. So far, card makers have prepared SDHC incarnations of regular-sized SD card, but this is the first we've seen to use the half-size form-factor.

Don't expect to see it on sale any time soon, though: SanDisk is shipping sample product to card suppliers and phone makers, but it doesn't believe the product will ship commercially until some time next year. The higher-capacity cards, which use the FAT32 file-system, are not compatible with existing Mini SD card slots.

SanDisk said its Mini SDHC product would be a class two device: it will deliver a minimum data transfer speed of 2MBps. ®