Kingston Wi-Drive

Posted on August 13, 2011 07:59 PM

Running out of storage space on your iPad? Kingston, the company which specialises in storage media products, has a solution for you: the Wi-Drive, its first external storage product. Available in two versions, this is a wireless, portable flash drive that can transfer files to different iOS devices within a range of about 10 metres simultaneously.

The strength of the Wi-Drive lies in its wireless connectivity as the iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone do not have memory expansion card slots and with this Kingston product, you can get another 16GB or 32GB. Besides letting you expand the storage on your iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone, the Wi-Drive can also be accessed by additional users; in fact, up to three users can connect to the Wi-Drive simultaneously. This can be particularly useful for family members, colleagues, or students who need to share and access files from portable devices.

The drive is compatible with the all iPad and iPhone generations and iPod Touch Gen 3 and Gen 4. You can also use the drive with computers running Mac OS X (10.5.x or higher), Windows 7, Windows Vista (SP1, SP2), Windows XP (SP2, SP3), or Linux (v.2.6+ kernel).

Although it is still another piece of hardware to tote around, Kingston helps by making the drive thin and lightweight. It uses a mini-USB port for charging as well as for connecting to the PC or Mac. According to Kingston, the Wi-Drive's built-in battery should last for up to 4 hours under continuous use.

The Wi-Drive has a minimalist look, just like Apple’s products, with a logo on its front along with a light that blinks when data is being transferred and LED indicators for Internet and device connectivity.

Prices range from US$129.99 (RM383.60) for 16GB to US$174.99 (RM516.40) for 32GB. [Rufaidah]