Wi-Drive gives Apple-Amazon gadgets more capacity
Kingston Technology Co. is helping pack more entertainment into Apple gadgets and Kindle Fire tablets.
A Wi-Drive demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show here by the computer memory specialty company allows data-devouring iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Kindle Fire fans easily tote more movies, music, pictures or digital documents.
"Kindle Fire only gives you one gigabyte of usable storage," Kingston marketing manager Randy Marsh told AFP as he cradled a 16-gigabyte Wi-Drive in the palm of one hand. "If you get one of these bad boys you automatically expand to 17 gigs."
Apple devices come with a variety of memory storage capacities but more is usually welcomed among people who increasingly turn to mobile devices for entertainment or information.
Wi-Drives are the same size and shape as Apple's latest iPhone and come in models of 16 gigabytes for $60 or 32 gigabytes for $90. A 64-gigabyte version is scheduled to be released by mid-year with no price announced yet.
Fountain Valley, California-based Kingston is testing a model set for release soon that is designed for smartphones or tablets powered by Google's Android software, Marsh said.
Free applications that can be downloaded to gadgets connect them to drives using the same built-in Wi-Fi capabilities that link to Internet hotspots.
As many as three different devices can be synchronized with a Wi-Drive simultaneously, each accessing different movies, music or other data.
(c) 2012 AFP
