I’m kicking off a new series of reviews here: Three Up, Three Down.
First up is the Kingston Wi-Drive, a portable wireless hard drive for iOS devices.
Leading Off
I’ve been using Kingston’s Wi-Drive for the last month. It’s a small, lightweight wireless hard drive for use with iOS devices. The model I’ve been using is 16GB. To connect, you use the Wi-Drive app (free in the App Store). Estimated battery life is 4 hours, which I found to be accurate. It comes nicely packaged, with a nod to Cupertino.
Three Up
- Everything about it is fast. Using the app, setting up the connection, and accessing content on the Wi-Drive is fast. After about five minutes to set up the app and connect to the drive, I was streaming Batman Begins. Once I selected the movie in the app, it was playing in less than three seconds. And scrubbing forward and back in the movie was instant. Zero delays. Very fast. It also remembered where I left off in the movie I was watching.
- It’s light and small. It’s slightly thinner than an iPhone 4s and can easily fit in any pocket, purse or backpack for easy portability (thought I don’t recommend it for reasons outlined below).
- You can share the connection. Up to three users can connect simultaneously, allowing up to three people to access the media on the drive wirelessly. I experienced no issues accessing the same content on multiple devices at the same time.
Three Down
- You can only connect via WiFi. This is limiting, because you have to disconnect from your regular WiFi network to use the device. You can use the app’s wireless network function to connect the Wi-Drive to a wireless network, but it’s not perfect. For instance, I couldn’t type in a network that wasn’t broadcasting its SSID. Also, if you leave the car or hotel room, your device may not reconnect to the Wi-Drive automatically. Having to connect to its WiFi network, then open the app, then find your media every time can become rather annoying. I’d rather just have the media on my device. Finally, you can’t use iPhone tethering while you’re using the Wi-Drive.
- It’s expensive. When I received the drive, it was priced at $129 and $179 for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively. Currently prices have dropped to $69 and $99 on Amazon, which is much better.
- It gets hot when it’s being used. Really hot. Scorching hot. Not good. While it’s built for portability, you can’t keep this in a pocket, a laptop bag or even resting near a piece of paper, for fear it might catch on fire or burn up the drive.
The Final Score
I can see this device being useful for someone with an 8GB iOS device, families on a road trip or a long plane ride, or possibly small teams during a business meeting. Outside of those scenarios, it’s doubtful that you’ll get much use out of a Wi-Drive, and the heat is a major concern. For the money, you’d be better off upgrading to a larger capacity device or upgrading your Dropbox account.
Nest Labs has already received plenty of press. But I was reading their blog today, and came across this comment, showing how smart the Nest thermostat is at launch. Can you imagine where it will be with a few software updates?
Nest does use Time to Temperature – which is based on your home’s thermal profile — to approximate how long it’ll take to warm or cool your home. So, yes, if Nest knows, for example, that you want it to be 72 at 6PM and that it’ll take 40 minutes to get to that temperature, it’ll start heating up the house earlier.
I’m in for two sometime in 2012.
I’m at DevLearn, the premier conference in the learning industry.
This is always a great conference. The Guild does a great job getting excellent keynotes in. I also get to attend Kevin Thorn’s precon session today, How to Put the Story in Storyboarding for eLearning. I’m really looking forward to learning from him.
Between Kevin (@learnnuggets) and Aaron Silvers (@aaronesilvers), I should drastically improve my ability to communicate visually by the end of the week. This is most excellent.
Things I’m looking forward to:
I brought my iPad, iPhone, and a Snowflake microphone for recording snippets, and, maybe, a full show with Judy. Judy and I plan to interview vendors and some other learning celebrities for our elearning podcast, The ToolBar. If you have a request for questions we should ask vendors, let us know.
This is my fourth or fifth DevLearn. I always learn something new and grow my personal learning network (PLN). If you’re going to be here, look me up! Ping me via the conference app, Twitter or my contact form. I look forward to meeting more folks I’ve only interacted with online.
I’ll be posting a lot of photos and session reviews. I also recommend the following resources whether you’re attending or not.
How can you be “disappointed” by the iPhone 4S announcement from Apple? Because it isn’t almost twice as fast? Oh, wait. It is. Because they didn’t update the camera like we’ve been asking them to do? Oh, wait, they did. Because they’re not offering a 64GB version? Oh, wait, they are.
So, it must be because they didn’t update the form factor to a really crappy teardrop concept that would be a pain in the ass to game on. Or, maybe it’s because they didn’t call it an iPhone 5? What a crime! It’s horrendous! Except it’s RIGHT IN LINE with what they’ve done for years. iPhone 3G → iPhone 3GS → iPhone 4 → iPhone 4S.
So, I ask, how can you be disappointed?
More on this from smarter people than me:
If you judge Apple’s products by the reaction of analysts and the press, you’re an idiot. Pure and simple. Apple doesn’t make products for analysts and the press. They make products for everyone.
- MG Siegler: “Apple’s ‘Fall From Grace’”
(via Judy)
That’s what people want to see when they go to Apple events: Steve Jobs holding up a rainbow-hued unicorn that you can purchase for your very own…
… this interconnected web of products is the thing that makes the continued development of the new and magical products possible.
- Kottke: “Unicorns and wheels: Apple’s two types of products”
Would as many people be disappointed if Apple had released the same device but called it the iPhone 5?
- Marco: “By any other name”
(via DF)
