Kingston Mobilelite Wireless

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Introduction

It was earlier in the year when we reviewed the Kingston Wi-Drive. It was a smart idea when it was created a few years ago, but times have changed and innovations must be made. When we concluded the review, we also showed off the next generation beta model. The Kingston Mobilelite Wireless is the production version of the next generation of »Wi-Drive. It drops the internal storage in favor of infinitely expandable SD cards or USB flash drives. Is it worth it? Yes, it is.

About Kingston

Quote

In 1987, Kingston entered the market with a single product. Founders John Tu and David Sun fulfilled a severe shortage of surface mount memory chips with a memory module that would serve to redefine industry standards for years to come.

Combining one of the most extensive and stringent testing processes in the memory industry, an exceptional free tech support center and a consistent roll-out of innovative technologies, Kingston Technology has continually set industry standards of quality and reliability throughout its history.

Reliability is the cornerstone of the Kingston product strategy. It has played a key role in maintaining the long-term relationships developed over the years with customers. Kingston remains committed to exceeding industry standards with every new development while maintaining the signature reliability of its products.

http://www.kingston.com/us/company

Packaging



The Kingston Mobilelite Wireless is packaged in the traditional Kingston look. You've got black and white with red accents. The memory card package that is shown here is not included, but you'll need to add your own storage. This is an example of a kit that will work well with this.



The back of the packaging has the various labellings and other things that accompany a retail box.

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Specifications

• Inputs for Storage USB and SD - reads SD, SDHC, SDXC and microSD (with included adapter)
• Supported File Systems FAT, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT
• Dimensions 124.8mm x 59.9mm x 17.3mm;
• Weight 98g
• Wireless Network Interface Wi-Fi 802.11g/n with wireless security (WPA2)
• Rechargeable Battery up to 5 hours of continuous use
• Battery built-in Li-ion 1810mAh 3.8V
• Local Storage wirelessly transfer files to and from the MobileLite Wireless app and the MobileLite Wireless hardware
• Camera Roll support1 allows users to move photos from their mobile device to MobileLite Wireless in order to free up space
• Cable USB to micro USB cable included
• Operating Temperature 0°C to 40°C
• Storage Temperature -10°C to 45°C
• Guaranteed one-year warranty, free technical support
• Customizable Device Name (SSID) User selectable Wi-Fi priority list when there are multiple APN/Key available
• File Support MobileLite Wireless can store any file type. Playback and viewing are based on the files supported by the
  mobile device
• General file format support
  Audio: MP3, WAV
  Video: m4V, mp4 (H. 264 video codec)
  Image: jpg, tif
  Document: pdf

Marketing Summary

Quote

Stay mobile with the ultimate wireless companion.

Kingston's MobileLite Wireless reader delivers an unparalleled mobile experience. Because it's not just about being connected, it's about having unlimited access to your favorite videos, music, photos and files from your Flash drive and other storage devices - anywhere you go. Store and share more wirelessly and easily via Wi-Fi - and stream content (for example, three different movies) to three devices at once. Plus, MobileLite Wireless features a battery charger that lets you charge your mobile device to keep you productive. It's backed by a one-year warranty, free technical support and legendary Kingston reliability.

http://www.kingston.com/us/usb/wireless#mlw221

Parts



Kingston includes the Mobilelite Wireless, an instruction pamphlet, a micro USB cable, and a micro to standard SD card adapter. The last one is interesting. Rather than make a micro SD slot, Kingston opted to use normal sized SD cards and just package in an adapter. If you only use microSD, this will work fine. Normal size SD cards? Also fine. USB flash drives? Also fine!

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Mobilelite Wireless



The Mobilelite Wireless is a totally different look than the earlier »Wi-Drive that it replaces. No longer is it the shiny black, cheap, looking plastic. In is the more matte and utilitarian look. This device is for getting a job done, but also has tricks up its sleeve.



The bottom of the Mobilelite Wireless has some rubber feet and various markings and certifications.



One of side the Mobilelite Wireless has the full sized SD card slot. This accepts SDXC cards (as will be shown in the video review).



The other side of the Mobilelite Wireless has a standard USB port and a micro USB port. The standard USB port is for USB flash drives and to charge mobile devices. The Mobilelite Wireless can act as a battery backup when you run out of power on a mobile device. Since the Mobilelite Wireless has its own battery, you can top off your other devices. This is a pretty handy feature since it allows you to carry a single device for multiple duties.

The micro USB port is for charging the device and for putting the Mobilelite in card reader mode. This is the third function of the device. It is a fully functional SDXC card reader. The device must be powered off for this to work. If you want to charge and use the device, you can, though.

Use



For full overview of using the device, please check out the video review in the next section. Basically, the Mobilelite Wireless works well. Think of the »Wi-Drive, but better. It actually works in bridge-mode. Like the previous generation, you have to connect to the device over WiFi.

Once you make this connection, use the Mobilelite Wireless software (available for Android and iOS) to configure the device. It will happily bridge your wireless connection and allow you to use the internet and the extra storage at the same time. If you're so include, you can opt to use any samba type of file manager to get direct access to the Mobilelite Wireless. It is pretty handy.

It can handle up to three different mobile devices at once, but expect battery life to be less. In practice, we're looking at four hours or less while really using the device. This is mitigated since you can use and charge the device at the same time. We found it very useful to plug in USB flash drives for storage since we've got tons of them. It's like you have USB host support without the mobile device supporting it.

For expanding storage in your mobile device, it works well. My Nexus devices happily use this. There are lots of people that have the original Wi-Drive and have wanted removable storage. Now, you have it with this. Remember, no internal storage. You must add a SD card or USB flash drive.

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Video Review



The video review goes over how to use the device and more overall impressions.

Conclusion

The Kingston Mobilelite Wireless retails for about $50 at the time of posting. It is a very worthwhile upgrade over the Wi-Drive and serves its purpose well. While you must bring your own storage, the additional cost is minimal compared to the benefits. How many USB flash drives do you have sitting around collecting dust? That's more storage. Have extra SD cards? More storage. And since you're not limited to only one, you can swap them in and out at anytime for unlimited external storage. It really makes your device have that external storage that it should have had.

This product isn't for everyone. If you have a mobile device and don't need lots of storage, this isn't for you. If you have a mobile device and it has external storage, you probably don't need this. If you have iOS devices or many Android devices without removal storage, this is targeted to you... especially if you use all of your internal storage up. It also just works and does exactly what it is supposed to do. Don't think about it, just buy it.

ASE Publishing would like to thank Kingston for making this review possible.