Kingston Wi-Drive: the Future of Wireless Storage?
With this evaluation, we continue with the newest member of our ABT staff, Mario Vasquez, who will be heading up our “Mobile corner” as Contributing Editor. Mario (aka ZeroEnigma) will help ABT with mobile platforms. This is the second of many of his upcoming evaluations, articles and blogs.
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Mark Poppin,
Senior ABT editor
Kingston Wi-Drive: the Future, if tweaked … just a little!
One of the main things to dislike about an iPhone/iPad/iPod touch is its non-expandable memory. There is an invention called the Micro-SD card; the technology is out there already! Why companies choose to have proprietary drives, ports, or lack of them is not for this discussion, but there is another great option for expanding your storage. Enter the Kingston Wi-Drive:
The Wi-Drive is essentially 16 or 32GB of wireless storage that can be accessed simultaneously between 3 users without any degradation in performance. If you have ever bought any kind of iPhone, the Kingston Wi-Drive has a similar unboxing: a black box followed by slick technology.
The Kingston Wi-Drive is compatible with the Apple iPad; iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4G (3G is limited to iOS 4.2.1 or higher); and iPod Touch Gen 3 and Gen 4. An Android app is currently in beta; it works on some android tablets and the Kindle Fire is supported fully. You can also use the Wi-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).
The Wi-Drive can read a number of iOS-compatible formats, including AAC, MP3, WAV, m4v, mp4, mov, M-JPEG, jpg, bmp, tiff, pdf, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, txt, rtf, and xls. Take a look at the features and specifications. There isn’t much information on Kingston’s web site but we have the specifications below. One thing to note, prices are way down from the suggested retail pricing.
Kingston Wi-Drive Features and Specifications:
- Capacities*: 16GB, 32GB
- Dimensions: 121.5mm x 61.8mm x 9.8mm
- Operating Temperature: 32°F to 122°F (0°C to 50°C)
- Storage Temperature: 14°F to 185°F (-10°C to 70°C)
- Wireless Network Interface: Wi-Fi 802.11g/n with wireless security (WPA/WEP)
- Rechargeable Battery: up to four hours of continuous use
- Cable: Mini-USB to USB cable included. User can upload files and content from their PC/Mac to the Wi-Drive using the USB cable
- Portable: Uses Flash-based technology for durability and reliability
- Convenient: pocket-sized for easy transportability
- Simple: just plug into a USB port
- Guaranteed: one-year warranty
- App: downloadable at Apple’s App Store
- Compatible with: iPad, iPhone 3G/3GS/4, iPod touch (3G is limited to iOS 4.2.1+)
- Configurable APN (access point name) and Key functions to connect to Wireless Access Point (Internet Connection)
- Supported File Formats:
- Audio: AAC, MP3, WAV
- Video: m4v, mp4, mov, Motion JPEG (M-JPEG), AVI
- Image: jpg, bmp, tiff
- Document: pdf, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, txt, rtf, xls
* Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage. For more information, please consult Kingston’s Flash Memory Guide at Kingston.com/Flash_Memory_
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Kingston Wi-Drive |
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| Part Number | Capacity and Features | MSRP (U.S. Only) |
| WID/16GZ | Wi-Drive 16GB | $ 129.99 |
| WID/32GZ | Wi-Drive 32GB | $ 174.99 |
About Kingston
Founded in 1987 with a single product offering, Kingston® now offers more than 2,000 memory products that support nearly every device that uses memory, from computers, servers and printers to MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones. In 2010, the company’s sales reached $6.5 billion.
With global headquarters in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston employs more than 4,000 people worldwide. Regarded as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune magazine, Kingston’s tenets of respect, loyalty, flexibility and integrity create an exemplary corporate culture. Kingston believes that investing in its people is essential, and each employee is a vital part of Kingston’s success.
Kingston serves an international network of distributors, resellers, retailers and OEM customers on six continents. The company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs.
Let’s take a closer look at the Wi-Drive as we unbox it
Dude you are killing it! I love this board. Subscribed for life. Thanks!
I get tons of errors when I run the installer.
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