Kingston Wi-Drive wireless flash storage

Fondleslab file fattener

Thu 8 Sep 2011 // 06:00 UTC

Aerial view?

While it seems an ideal device for stocking up on content for travel, it does have a fatal flaw – being wireless, there’s no way you can use it on a plane. Also, when hooked up to a computer to transfer content, its wireless connection is unavailable, so you can’t check content playability as you pile it on.

An impressive wireless range, but there's no escaping that it's pricey

It does exceed itself in other areas though. The 802.11b/g wireless range is quite something, which in tests was easily double its quoted 10-metre reach. Its battery life lives up to its 4-hour rating too. The only issue here being that the low battery red warning light comes on when there’s still plenty of juice to keep you going for another hour or so. Oh, and speaking of warning lights, when the pale green power button glows, you can barely see if the device is on in daylight.

Verdict

As a concept, the Wi-Drive is useful, but far from perfect, especially given that even the 16GB model is just a fiver shy of a ton. No doubt it will be refined, but in its current form – as a device geared to relieve storage restrictions – it is rather odd that it imposes its own limitations. After all, Kingston has traditionally provided the means to upgrade equipment, but with the Wi-Drive, the company has made a device with its own storage limits. Undoubtedly, Kingston wants to sell its chips, but given the Wi-Drive's price, it is the lack of an SD-card slot to further extend its capacity that rather takes the shine off this compact and capable iOS storage expander. ®