Nintendo DS cartridges, as well as their newer counterparts, DSi cards that are compatible with the newer Nintendo DSi and DSi consoles, allow users to extend their portable console experience. Not only can they play as before, but they can also perform a number of other activities, including converting their Nintendo DS console into an MP3 player, movie viewer, or even an office and PDF document reader.
The R4 SDHC card was the first card to accept memory greater than 2GB. It could accept High Capacity (HC) memory cards, hence the name R4 SDHC. It is now an established norm for cards to accept high memory capacities, but the R4 SDHC was the card that started the trend. At the time, 8GB Micro-SDHC cards were just beginning to emerge on the market and the number of users who flocked to the R4 SDHC to take advantage of this made it a true competitor to the best-selling DS card at the time, along with the original R4v2 and the DSTT card. The only obvious downside to the R4 SDHC card was that due to the larger memory capacity, the load times on the card were roughly 6 to 8 seconds, much slower than the 2 to 3 seconds often seen on the R4v2 and the DSTT.
Recently, in early June 2010, the R4 SDHC team released a new version of the card, called version 2.10T. The card initially confused some of the public because the packaging changed to a gold color similar to the infamous “R4i Gold” card clone. The wording of the card was also deliberately changed from “R4 Revolution” to “R4 Renovation”. The reason for these changes was that the architecture of the card itself was completely redone, so the team wanted to distinguish the old black box from the new one as much as possible.
Card loading times were cut to an impressive 3-4 seconds and the card itself is made from a stronger and slightly lighter plastic with reorganized components to give the card even more mechanical stability. The interface was also changed to closely mimic the official R4i SDHC (the sister card of the R4 SDHC that is compatible with the newer Nintendo DSi and DSi XL consoles). The functionality of the card itself remains the same, but the software now supports newer apps and games, as well as being faster.
In short, the latest addition to the R4 family is very welcome. With so many new Nintendo DSi and DSi XL compatible cards coming out, compatibility with many of the older normal DS cards has declined or even ceased to exist. For example, EZFlash IV, R4v2, and DSTT no longer have software updates available. With these reasons in mind, the new R4 SDHC card is a great reminder that the R4 SDHC team wants to capitalize on this and secure the DS / DS Lite market among consumers who have not yet purchased (or are not considering) the Nintendo DSi. .