It’s hard to find a tablet or phone
with room enough to store all your music and videos. We tested a pocketable
Wi-Fi hard drive that provides the extra storage you need
Tablets and phones are great for apps and
web surfing, but they come with limited storage space, so you can’t use them to
carry around all your movies and music. For example, the Nexus 7 was only
upgraded to 32GB before Christmas, and the cheapest iPad and iPad Mini come
with just 16GB, which soon fills up.
Kingston
Wi-Drive 128GB
The latest version of the Wi-Drive,
however, comes with 128GB of flash memory, which you can fill with your
favorite videos, music, PDF documents, and any other type of file you can play
or look at on your phone or tablet.
The flash memory keeps the Wi-Drive small.
It’s about the size of a smartphone, but has no screen. There’s a mini-USB port
for charging and connecting to a PC; a power button that displays how much
charge is left; and a couple of other indicator lights.
Link to the hotspot
Your phone or tablet connects to the
Wi-Drive using its built-in Wi-Fi hotspot and the free apps available for iOS
and Android, which you need to download from the app store. Simply link your device
to the hotspot, then open the app to browse the Wi-Drive’s contents. The app
then uses your device’s own media player and apps to play the files, streaming
them from the drive’s storage. Up to three devices can connect to the Wi-Drive
at any time, and they can all access different files.
Playback
We tested the drive on a smartphone
(running Android) and an iPad (running iOS). The Android phone immediately
played back all the video and other files from the Wi-Drive, regardless of
format. On our iPad, we had to use Freemake Video Converter (www.freemake.com) to change our video files
into a format the iPad could manage (H.264-encoded MP4 files). This was due to
Apple’s hardware being fussy about the type of files it plays, rather than any
fault with the Wi-Drive. Still, iOS users may have to factor in some extra time
to convert files before expecting everything to play from the Wi-Drive, but
that’s no different to any other method of playing media files on iOS devices.
The Settings button on the iOS app lets you
configure the device. The Android version asks you to launch a browser first,
but presents the same interface once you’re there.
There’s
a mini-USB port for charging and connecting to a PC; a power button that
displays how much charge is left; and a couple of other indicator lights
Confusing set-up
By default, the device is set to work as
simply as possible. The Wi-Fi network is unsecured, so you don’t need to enter
any passwords to get onto it. However, you may want to change this to prevent
anyone else with the app connecting to your Wi-Drive and browsing your files.
But there are a few irritating quirks. For
example, when you plug it into your PC, two separate drives become available,
one of which is confusingly called ‘CD-Rom’. It’s the other one you want, but
this comes with files already installed, which is disconcerting. You actually
need these files to set the device up, so it’s a bit careless of Kingston to
store them in a folder where they might easily be deleted. Some aren’t even
hidden in a sub-folder.
Wi-Fi bridge
Because you have to disconnect from your
existing Wi-Fi signal to connect to the Wi-Drive, you will lose your internet
connection. For this reason, Kingston has built in a Wi-Fi bridge. This means
you can enter the details of your home Wi-Fi connection, which lets the device
route internet access through the Wi-Drive and onto your devices. This sounds
useful, but we found the connection wasn’t particularly good. It’s fine for
keeping up with your email and perhaps a little light surfing, but it was
significantly slower than using a direct connection to the router.
The
Wi-Drive is in danger of running out of juice/ in our tests
Battery life
We got nearly six hours of video playback
from the Wi-Drive, which we were pleasantly surprised by, since the
specifications quote a life of just four hours. Two of our six hours were spent
with iOS and Android devices simultaneously streaming different videos.
This may not entertain you through very long
journeys, but it’s enough to keep you going through a few commutes or
medium-length car and train journeys.
The power light shows you how much battery
power you have left. It changes color from green (full to half charge) to
orange (half to quarter charge) to red (quarter to zero charge). This should be
enough warning to get you a charger when the Wi-Drive is in danger of running
out of juice/ in our tests, we still had 90 minutes of playback remaining when
the light turned red.
The Wi-Drive comes with a USB cable, so you
can charge it via your computer, but there’s no plug converter for connecting
it to the mains, which is annoying. Perhaps the biggest let-down, however, is
that the device won’t operate while it’s charging, so you can’t plug it into a
car’s lighter socket, for example, while simultaneously streaming files.
Value for money
Shopping around on the internet, we found
the 128GB Wi-Drive for $195, that might not sound particularly cheap, but it’s
actually good value for money. Consider, for example, that the difference
between a 16GB and a 128GB iPas is $360. True, this space is built in, so it
can be used for apps and is more handy than a separate device. But if all you
want to do is take more movies to watch on holiday, the Wi-Drive offers a much
cheaper way of doing so.
·
Our verdict: 8/10
·
Features: 8/10
·
Performance: 8/10
·
Ease of use: 8/10
·
Value for money: 8/10
If you’re running out of storage space on
your phone or tablet, you can use the Wi-Drive to carry around your biggest
files and keep them accessible. Up to three devices can connect to the drive at
once, making it ideal for storing a variety of content for different users.
It’s simple to get started with the
Wi-Drive, but it’s worth delving into its settings to set up security and
internet access.
It’s
simple to get started with the Wi-Drive, but it’s worth delving into its
settings to set up security and internet access
While the battery lasted six hours in our
tests, we were disappointed that we couldn’t stream files while it was
charging.
Ultimately, if you’re short of storage
space on your tablet or phone, and have some hefty files you want to keep
handy, the Wi-Drive provides a good-value way of doing this.
Product info
Kingston Wi-Drive 128BG
·
Price: $195
For
·
Let’s you remote huge files from your phone or
tablet
·
Shares files between three devices
Against
·
Can’t simultaneously charge and stream
·
Battery life won’t last through very long
journeys
·
Better battery life: Seagate GoFlex Satellite 500GB, $238.5
·
More storage:
Buffalo HDW-PU3 MiniStation Air 500GB, $165
Specifications
·
128GB (32GB and 64GB models also available)
·
Wi-Fi 802.11g/n
·
WPA/WEP security
·
Rechargeable battery
·
122 x 62 x 10mm
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