What are R4 cards and what are they for?
R4 cards are adapters that are used with portable devices with which they are compatible. They allow your device to run on larger memory thus creating more functions for you to use, such as a video player, MP3 player, web browser, word processor, as well as allowing you to store images and videos and play games. There are two main types of R4 cards; the standard R4 memory card and the R4i card. The R4 card works with the Nintendo DS and the R4i card works with the Nintendo DSi device.
There are also more variations of R4 memory cards, such as R4DS Upgrade-II, R4 Advance, R4DS III, New R4, R4 Deluxe, R4 Pro, R4 SDHC, and R4 Ultra. They all work the same way and are still R4 memory cards, with the difference that they have different names.
The R4 memory fits into the slot on your Nintendo DS device, where the standard Nintendo card normally goes. The R4 card is exactly the same size as the original Nintendo card. The R4 adapter will accept Micro SD cards up to 16GB, although this will depend on the version you have.
The R4i card that is compatible with the Nintendo DS can hold an average of between 1 and 60 games at a time. Of course, this depends on the size of the game, but these devices should only be used for backing up games that you have purchased and are legally licensed for.
The beauty and benefit of having a R4 card is that it allows you to have access to a video player, MP3 player, web browser, and games all at the same time. You can also backup your games, pictures, music and videos to the Micro SD card, which means that your device becomes super portable and it is a great device to take on vacation for example.
There is a slight difference with the two versions of the basic R4 memory cards. The first version of the R4 card was created with a spring loaded in the Micro SD slot. These springs were subsequently removed from the Micro SD slot after they were found to be unreliable and therefore version 2 of the R4 card was released. All of the above-mentioned variations of R4 memory cards work in the same way, except that some have a much larger memory and therefore can hold more data. However, these require the use of different software.