Wireless storage for smartphones

Introduction

Although 8 to 32 GB of storage that we have current smartphones can seem like much at first, just copy a generous collection of his music and film some videos with the camera long to realize that they are not an endless space as well . With the popularization of cameras capable of recording HD space becomes more scarce, since one hour of recorded video can easily consume more than 2 GB of space.

Even in the case of models with removable microSD cards, it is rare that you actually take advantage of the ability to use multiple cards, as they switch off, replace the card, call back (and realize that all the programs installed on another card left be available) turns out to be too cumbersome.

We come then to the storage devices wirelessly over a category of gadgets that are hitting the market. Unlike some options that have emerged between 2007 and 2008, based on the slow Bluetooth, this new crop communicates with the host via Wi-Fi, which ensures good access speed.

A good example is the Wi-Drive Kingston, which exists in versions with 16 and 32 GB. Although a bit pricey ($ 99 U.S. for the 32 GB version) it groups a set of flash memory, battery, transmitter and Wi-Fi SoC in a very compact form, almost the same size as an iPhone 3:

It works like a combination of a file server and an access point, appearing on the list of available networks and allowing other devices to connect to it via Wi-Fi, gaining access to files. He has a client for iOS, which manages the configuration and allows access and streaming of files, with an Android version promised soon.

It can also be accessed directly via USB, which is handy when you copy multiple files from a PC.

Of course, access the Wi-Drive directly is a good option only when you're on the road, as when connecting directly to it you can not access other wireless networks, losing access to the Internet. This is solved by a wireless mode passthrough, which allows you to access it through another wireless network, thus combining the access drive and Internet access. The application allows you to view directly access most file formats (including video formats supported by the system) and copy them manually:

The major disadvantage of this approach is that you is subject to the platforms for which Kingston decided to support the application. Even after the Android version is available, there will still be many users of other platforms to access it, and if in the future decide to eliminate Kingston platform support that is using your Wi-Drive will become a paperweight, since without the software you do not have access to the drive.

Another similar device, which shares the same limitations is the AirStash for now it is also only compatible with iOS. The main difference between the two is that the AirStash comes with integrated flash memory (you can use a card you want and the ability to switch between multiple cards):

Another option is the GoFlex Seagate, which offers a slightly different solution to the problem, based on a magnetic hard drive 500 GB. In short, you have more than 12 times the capacity for less than twice the value ($ 170 U.S.) but in exchange has a much more massive drive and with a more limited battery life:

Despite being based on one drive, 2.5 ", it is much more than drive a 2.5" external typical, since the presence of the logic board and battery significantly increases the width and length of the drive, and nearly doubling the thickness .

The main advantage of GoFlex for the other two is the fact that he has an embedded web server that allows files to be accessed from any device with Wi-Fi, without needing any additional application. The server is powered by a TI Sitara SoC based on an ARM Cortex A8 processor of 1.0 GHz and 128 MB of RAM.

After you connect to the SSID for the drive (which also appears as an access point and network), you access the files through the "www.goflexsatellite.com", which is redirected by the drive to his address on the network, using a simple trick in the process of name resolution:

The web interface is good insurance against planned obsolescence, since even if the manufacturer fails to support the devices that you choose to use, the drive will remain accessible through the browser. In addition to access via browser, applications are also available for Android and iOS, which offer better support for streaming video.

Besides being another storage option, competing with cards, flash drives, external hard drives, NASes, file servers and so on, these devices are also another sign of a change that is already in the time horizon: more people are going to use or even to travel with only a smartphone, instead of taking along a notebook, as was the rule before. If you take a notebook along with you, drive an external Wi-Fi becomes an unnecessary redundancy, since you can use the notebook's hard drive to store your media library and copy files to your smartphone (or just watch streaming) as needed. The existence of a market for these drives shows how things are changing.

Unfortunately, the existence of these drives also exposes a primary limitation shared by most current devices, which is the lack of support for flash cards and USB storage devices, which would solve the problem in a much simpler, allowing you to simply load a stick to expand the storage of your smartphone. Support for USB mass-storage devices are available in all recent versions of Android and is activated in many tablets of China, but unfortunately is not supported by the vast majority of smartphone makers, who are reluctant to bear the modest demands for energy devices like USB keyboards and with additional support calls.

Nokia tried that as well, including support for USB-on-the-go in the Nokia N8 (which allows him to access USB drives and virtually any other device that supports USB mass storage, including other smartphone cameras transfer mode) but with the migration to Windows phone, all the work done about this in Symbian was thrown out the window.

In an era when manufacturers specialize in creating consumer products, taking into increasingly low esteem the intelligence of users, we can only hope that anyone who has the good sense to bring back this flexibility.