Your cell phone is not just for communicating anymore. It’s quickly becoming a complete solution for uploading, downloading, and storing images, music and data. Your files, MP3s and pictures are important to you. Sometimes, you’ll need to access them when you least expect it. And think about it…where have we always kept them? On our big, clunky desktop computer's hard drive. But, that’s so 2002. How does your cell phone do all this? With a memory card.

Sales of these little juggernauts are exploding – a 160% increase from 2004 - 2005.

Plus, with every passing day, they are getting bigger (in terms of memory), easier to use and less expensive.

The average capacity of memory cards sold for use in cell phones was 112MB (holds 24 songs) in 2005. By 2010, they will be closer to 1.6GB (300 songs).

For those who don’t mind spending a little more, you can get a 2GB memory card right now. They retail for around $90. At this price and size, they may even compete with iPods.

For a 1GB card, look to spend about $40.

These small-format removable memory cards for cell phones are truly all the rage – predictions are saying 1.1 billion cards will be sold by 2010. The best card on the market? Probably Samsung Electronics 2GB memory card. At .04 inches thick, and capable of storing as much as 12 hours of video, why wouldn’t you get one? Plus, it’s fast. With a read/write speed of 10/7 megabits per second. What does that mean? You can download three hours of mobile video in less than two minutes. Best of all, it is compatible with all cell phones that support a memory card.

If you want to watch or record video, or hold lots of songs on your cell phone, be sure to get a large memory card!

Brand Choices and Formats

Samsung uses a format called MMC, or Multimedia Card.

Sony, Intel and Kingston also make cards or memory sticks, which are an older, larger type of data storage devices.

SanDisk recently announced a 1GB MicroSD (Secure Digital) card.

Although all the various types essentially do the same thing, MicroSD is becoming the format of choice for new mobile phones. Their design and capabilities are proving to be more popular than MMCmicro (Multimedia) and Sony's new micro-sized format, the M2.

In addition, SD memory cards can be used in a variety of digital products, such as digital music players, digital video camcorders, handheld PCs, digital cameras, and other devices with a Secure Digital (SD) expansion slot.

Choose the Right Card for Your Phone

First, make sure that your phone has the slot available. Some older phones do not have a memory card slot.

Next, check the owner’s manual or manufacturer’s website for details on what types of memory cards you can use with your specific phone.

Finally, pick a size that will hold the necessary amount of songs, data, games, or images that you want to store.

Your memory card will soon become as indispensable as the phone itself. Get a card and try it out on your mobile phone today!