It’s raining tablets and smart phones everywhere. They all are packed with never heard of features and that too in real small packs. But a major drawback of any tablet or smart phone is its limited storage capacity. Even the top of the class devices cannot carry too many movies or audios. Those with expandable memories are too limited by inadequacy of flash drives.
It seems hard drives would have been a better way out. And Seagate cared to come out with a solution. They released an external hard drive - GoFlex Satellite - capable of streaming data to iPads, Android tablets and even smartphones.
Good
Goflex Satellite external drive looks similar to any Goflex Pro or Goflex Slim. However, it sports an internal battery and wi-fi connectivity. Size of the drive is 4.72X3.46X1.26 inch and weighs only 0.59 pounds 267.62 grams. GoFlex Satellite can store up to 500 gigabytes, which means you can take along your complete movie and music collection.
Goflex Satellite can work with different operating platforms like, iOS, Windows XP, Vista and 7 and Mac 10.5.8 or above. Your tablet or smart phone can talk to the drive over wi-fi network within a range of 30 ft. It can stream data to 3 different devices at the same time. So, on a family trip you don’t need to pre-load anything on your iPad. Enjoy your favorite music and let other enjoy what they want.
The drive can stream all kind of video, audio and document files, supported by modern day tablets and phones including, MPEG-4, Motion-JPEG, AAA, MP3, MS Office, Adove and iWork.
For faster data transfer, it has USB 3.0 port. You can sync Goflex Satellite with any computing devices, windows or Mac, by plugging it to computer or network. The drive has 5 hours of active battery life with 25 hours of standby life.
Bad
This is a rather innovative device, but not free from glitch. Due to inbuilt battery and wi-fi, GoFlex Satellite is quite bulky compared to other external drives. Besides, as it uses wi-fi to stream data, you cannot access internet over wi-fi at the same time. So, if you have to check mail or hit some websites while enjoying a movie, get mobile internet.
Due to digital right management or DRM restrictions, connecting iPads with the drive often gets very tedious. Bulky hard drive is also counter-productive for mobile devices like, tablets and smart phones. While on tour, we carry devices and their chargers along. With this hard drive, you have to bear some extra burden.
Bottom line
Seagate Goflex Satellite external drive is definitely a useful storage solution for smart phones and tablets. Multiple streaming makes it ideal network storage too. Though the device is not very handy and mobile; but you can always carry it in your backpack and access it without removing from its casing. Currently, Satellite is available for $199.99 from Seagate. Considering price of an iPad, Satellite does not look very expensive too.
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About the author: Alyssa Clarke is a passionate writer who loves collecting unique tech stuff. Her recent purchase was a cool designer wooden USB flash drive and is soon planning to own a set of noise cancelling headphones.
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