Compact WI-Fi Flash Devices

Well known company San Disk has unveiled two new entrants into the mobile WI-FI flash storage market it seems, here's why you may be interested.

The two new devices are very compact which makes them super easy to transport with you, both devices use flash memory as their storage medium as opposed to the traditional mechanical counterpart. What makes this even more of a must have is the fact that the devices both have a built in battery and 802.11n (among the latest standard of Wireless Internet capability) Wi-Fi network which can support multiple clients at the same time.

This means that devices such as Smart phones and tablets will be able to connect to the wireless storage devices with the use of a connect mobile application, it has been stated that each connect drive will have an app of its own, supporting Android kindle fire and IOS platform devices.  Once connected a user will be able to access the connect device to play back contents stored on the storage medium or back up user-generated contents to the connect devices wirelessly.   

If you plug the flash device into your computer the drives will show up like any other removable external storage media. In case you’re wondering the file system used by the drives is exFAT, which works on both Mac and Windows Operating Systems.

Once connected the drives can be loaded with content for fast and easy media streaming / sharing when you are out and about.

Option one: San Disk Connect Wireless Flash Drive:

 

The great thing about the connect flash drive is it is easily recognisable to the average consumer utilising what they already use just with some added layers of technology. The connect drive does not have any internal storage but instead houses the technology for wireless connectivity and sharing for the inbuilt MicroSd Card slot, you can have up to 16B and 32GB internal storage this way. 

Once the SD card is inserted the drive functions like any other thumb drive able to plug into a computers USB port and copy content to and from it, interestingly once the device is connected to the computer the USB port also charges the connect flash drives internal battery which allows for hours of WI-FI usage. 

If you have more than one SD Card available or  perhaps an insatiable need to carry more storage or multiple SD cards then you can hot-swap other SD cards on the go, pretty nifty wouldn't you say? As the connect is among the smallest of Wi-Fi storage devices it can only support a maximum of three Wi-Fi client's at a time, but that's still a relatively good number most will be happy with.

I won't go into details but the drive can also connect to another Wi-Fi network and share that networks Internet connection to all devices that are connected to the Wi Fi network of their own, I'm not sure what benefit this brings however.

Option Two: San Disk Connect Wireless Media Drive: 

 

The second option to connect wireless media drive is much the same as option one, the first main difference is in its physical size which is larger than the flash drive about the size of a small USB hub.

The next difference lies in the amount of storage space supported by the drive, being 32GB or 64GB just like carrying a portable SSD around with you, the drive also has an SD card slot meaning you can double the amount of storage space with high end SD cards of up to 128GB. This added onto the 32GB or 64GB already on the drive means you can carry up to 192GB combined storage.

Having the card slot also means you can quickly share photos you have just taken for example with a group of people, the drive also supports up to eight Wi-Fi devices at any time with up to five Hd streams at once. The drive also offers up to eight hours of battery life which is not to bad.

The two San Disk drives are to be made available to consumers by early August it has been stated, The Connect Wireless Flash Drive has been said to cost £25 and £30 for 16GB and 32GB models. While the Wireless media drive costs £40 for 32GB and £50 for 64GB. If the pricing remains the same on release in August then it will be quite a bargain.