SanDisk made the news these days as Western Digital announced that they would buy them in order to complement their current product portfolio. SanDisk has a lot of experience with flash memory solutions, so they created some guidelines for some of their chips called “Extreme Photo-Image Capabilities” (EPIC), that would distinguish some devices for offering great photo and video experiences. These guidelines include specifications for hardware elements like the cameras, flash storage and application processors as well as software optimizations. The recently announced LG V10 integrates the iNAND 7232 embedded flash drive (EFD), so it is the first smartphone certified for EPIC.
The LG V10 offers some superior image capabilities like multi-shot image capture in RAW format and 4K video recording and playback. Plus, the iNAND 7232 is optimized to improve 4K video playback and the frames-per-second speeds while displaying images. “LG has once again reaffirmed their leadership in smartphone imaging and video with the LG V10, and we are proud to recognize it as the first SanDisk ‘EPIC’ smartphone,” said Christopher Bergey from SanDisk. On LG’s side, Dr. Ramchan Woo mentioned “An increasing number of our customers rely on their smartphone as their primary device to capture their memories in both photos and video. So, it was critically important to us to give the LG V10 truly exceptional imaging capabilities. We are thrilled for our LG V10 to be the first smartphone to meet SanDisk’s EPIC guidelines”.
Some of the guidelines of the EPIC initiative include 32 GB or higher embedded iNAND 7132 EFD or iNAND 7232 EFD, a 13 megapixel or higher camera, full support of the Google Camera API, Android Lollipop 5.1 or later versions, support of RAW image capture, including multi-shot photo capture and 4K Ultra HD video capture and playback from the cameras. Some of the features of the 64 GB iNAND 7232 module integrated in the LG V10 include write speeds of 1500 MB/s and the two companies worked closely to ensure that the module provides a fast storage experience when capturing photos and videos with the advanced cameras and imaging technology in a variety of scenarios. Let’s remember that LG included a Manual mode on the V10 for pictures and videos to adjust some settings like shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus.