company also sells peripherals, monitors and routers of play. And now it also offers a portable hard drive disk drive.Called the Wireless Duo, this external hard drive has a 1TB
capacity. Like those offered by Seagate and WD, this Asus drive creates
its own Wi-Fi network. You can connect to this network using a mobile
device via an app (Android/iOS) or browser to access files on the hard
drive wirelessly.
Up to five devices can stream content - photos, videos and music -
from the Wireless Duo, though this number of devices drops to three if
all are streaming high-definition videos.
Set a password to allow access to the drive's Wi-Fi network by authorised mobile users.
You can hook up the Asus hard drive to a PC using a USB cable. Doing
so turns the Wireless Duo into a standard portable hard drive with no
network connectivity.
The hard drive is configured in NTFS format. OS X users will have to
install third-party NTFS drivers before using the Wireless Duo.
Read and write speeds are typical of a hard drive. Expect to get
slightly over 100MBps when transferring files. I did not encounter any
lag while streaming videos, but expect to wait a few seconds when
skipping ahead. If your mobile device does not support the format of
the streaming video, it will not play.
Like the WD My Passport Wireless ($299), the Asus Wireless Duo has
an SD card slot. But the Asus also has an IP43 rating, which basically
means that splashing the drive with water will not damage it. It is
more affordable than the WD at $219.
This portable drive is chunky, which could be a good thing if it is able to protect the hard drive from knocks and drops.
Its ports (USB 3.0 and SD card slot) are hidden behind flaps. But
the companion app makes the Wireless Duo feel very much like a freshman
effort. It is unattractive with low-resolution textures and icons. It
is also clunky to use - deleting a file takes four taps. This is not
helped by the app's small onscreen buttons.
Battery life is rated at up to six hours, much less than the 10 hours touted for the Seagate Wireless Plus.
- A decent and affordable external hard drive with a wireless feature. The app, however, needs to be improved.
TECH SPECS
Interface: USB 3.0, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
Weight: 300g
RATING
Features: 4/5
Design: 3/5
Performance: 3/5
Value for money: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
