Windows Phone 7 kills memory cards on the Samsung Focus

As you may know Samsung Focus is the only Windows Phone 7-powered phone that officially supports user-exchangeable microSD cards. It’s the exception of the Microsoft’s basic requirements, which strictly forbid any kind of expandable storage.

It seems Microsoft did this for a reason, because the microSD slot on the Samsung Focus may become its big disadvantage instead of a key selling factor.

There are plenty of users reporting Samsung Focus’s fried their memory cards. This happens mostly when you put a memory card in the slot and then decide to take it out. According to AT&T, Samsung Focus requires specific certified cards, which are still unavailable in the stores. Here is the official statement:

“Windows Phone 7 requires a certified high-speed microSD card for optimal performance. Because the Samsung Focus is expandable via a microSD card, only microSD memory cards certified for Windows Phone 7 should be used. This information is not currently marked on any microSD packaging in market today. As a result, we are advising customers to delay purchasing an external microSD card until the cards identified as “Certified for Windows Phone 7″ are available commercially or in AT&T stores.”

As it turns out, Windows Phone 7 requires cards with specific “random access speed”. If you have a Focus with pre-installed microSD card, you’ll be fine, but I suggest you don’t remove it until there’s more information on the problem.

Another curious thing is that we’ve already saw some people disassembling their Windows Phone 7 devices and changing the memory card. They’ve had success in recognizing the new card after a reset, but then again I’ve seen only few cases.

I hope Microsoft releases some kind of a system fix and its partners must launch Windows Phone 7 certified memory cards. Until this happens, you must stay put with your Focus.

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