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As mentioned previously in this post back on December 1st, I was very lucky to be the winner of the ATP SD Trio Professional PLUS. Again, I want to thank Jason Dunn of Smartphonethoughts and ATP Inc for the prize.

With so many electronic devices like smartphones, cell phones, digital cameras, etc one of the problems that will likely crop up is the compatibility of lack thereof of the various different flash memory formats that each device will support. Your digital camera and Palm device will read SD (Secure Digital) flash memory cards. Your Treo 750 smartphone will read miniSD cards. Your cell phone will read microSD cards. Previously, you would end up spending the money to buy all these different format cards for each of these devices and be stuck not being able to easily transfer data or files from one card to another. Well, no longer!

ATP’s SD Trio Professional PLUS will help solve this problem. The package includes a 1 GB (there are other storage sizes available) microSD card with miniSD adaptor, SD adapter and a USB microSD card reader. With these adaptors provided, you can easily transform your microSD card into a miniSD card and a SD card. So, now, this microSD card can be easily read on your smartphone and digital camera and files and data stored can be easily transferred amongst these devices. That means, the picture you took with your digital camera using the microSD fitted with miniSD and SD adaptor can now be transferred to your Treo 750 and to your cell phone. Wow!

Also included in the package besides the card adaptors is a USB microSD card reader. So, if you want to transfer the files in the microSD card to your computer, slip in your microSD card into the reader and plug it into the USB port of your computer. Then simply drag and drop the files. Very simple.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

The card reader has a flip cover so that it’s very easy to insert your microSD card into the slot. The cover will snap into place so if you decide you want to use it as a temporary thumb drive, you can easily do so simply by leaving the microSD card safely stored inside. The nice thing about this is that if you have several microSD cards, you can easily put them inside the card reader and be able to use it right away. With thumb drives, since the storage is fixed in the drive, if it’s full, you will need to first empty or move it to elsewhere before you can store any new data. With this type of a card reader/thumb drive functionality, you practically have an unlimited amount of storage, well, mainly limited by your budget or supply of microSD cards.

Click on the thumbnail image for a bigger picture

Product Video

Video at YouTube

More details (taken from ATP Inc’s website):

Features:

- For interchangeable use with smartphones, PDAs, digital cameras, and many more!

Here are my observations:

It’s such a great idea that you can use your microSD cards on various different devices that support miniSD and SD formats. Think of one card supporting three formats: microSD, miniSD and SD. Simply fit your microSD card into the adaptors and put it in your devices and it will work. Unlike many other packages, where you only have one adaptor to convert from microSD to SD, this package includes a miniSD adaptor as well, which is VERY important to me since my Treo 750 accepts miniSD cards. I would be stuck in limbo without a miniSD adaptor.

The adaptors are very lightweight and easy to use. I had no problems fitting or removing the microSD card into or out of the adaptors at all. I find that the special little curved “notch” at the bottom of the card very nice to have as it makes it very easy to remove the card from the adaptors. Since the microSD cards are so tiny, it’s especially useful to have such a notch for this purpose.

It’s also very nice to be supplied with a very small card reader that can also be used as a temporary thumb drive. The design of looping the handstrap/lanyard through USB cover cap is an ingenious idea, solving the common problem of misplaced or lost card reader caps. It doesn’t get in the way when fitting it back into the reader and also doesn’t get in the way when removed. The tiny clip at the end, although it seems like a great idea, I find may be a bit too tiny to be as useful. Depending on the keychain ring that you have, you may not be able to clip the card reader to it. So, I may have preferred a slightly bigger clip.

The flip cover for the microSD card slot located where you see the ATP Mobile UFD lettering on the reader snaps nicely into place and is very easy to flip open. Simply fit your finger nail at the edge and flick it upwards. I feel that it may be more helpful for someone not familiar with card readers to provide a better way to instruct how the microSD card is expected to be inserted. Although if you look extremely closely, you can make out a small shape of the microSD card with an arrow pointing inwards, I’m not sure if many will be able to notice it. Had ATP colored the arrow with a different color, it would have made a huge difference in making it much easier and more noticeable. But, most of us would, after a certain amount of examination, figure out that you’re expected to fit the metallic side of the microSD card down so that it would touch the similar metallic connectors inside the reader and that the microSD can only fit in one way. It’s not a big deal, but it would help to have a better way to make it easier for consumers to know how to use it. A suggestion would be to move the ATP Mobile UFD lettering over to either the cap or elsewhere and put a diagram similar to the shape of the microSD and the arrow there in that exact place. That would make it very easy and noticeable. Just a suggestion.

The package does include a snap locking plastic case that will fit your microSD, miniSD adaptor and SD adaptor firmly in place. It does work very well, but in my view, I think it would take up much less space if I simply fit the microSD into the miniSD and SD adaptor and then fit that SD card into whatever flash memory card holder or case I have. That’s up to you. That way, you have everything in one piece and if you need it, simply remove the adaptor that you don’t need temporarily and use the card and put it back. And it’s very easy to just remove the microSD card even when all the other adaptors are fitted in, saving the hassle of removing each adaptor out first and putting them back.

Review Summary

The ATP SD Trio Professional Plus is a great package that not only includes a flash memory card (1GB microSD in my example but other storage sizes are also available) but also a card reader that functions just as well as a temporary thumb drive if you choose to leave the microSD card inside it. The adaptors are very lightweight and easy to use. You can quickly insert and remove the card and adaptors according to your needs and they work very well to enable to you use your microSD on devices requiring a miniSD or SD card. The card reader has an ingenious design that solves the common problem of misplaced or lost caps for the USB connector while allowing you easy unobstructed access to the ports when in use and fits perfectly back in when not. As well the lanyard/hand strap has a tiny clip that you can attach to your keychain/ring so that you have this handy utility with you everywhere. Please visit ATP Inc for more details.

Again, Palm Discovery thanks Jason Dunn and ATP Inc. for making this review possible. Palm Discovery currently has no affiliation with ATP Inc.

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