I’ve been playing with a pair of SanDisk’s newest wireless media devices recently and I’m duly impressed with their capabilities. Similar in many ways, the SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive and the SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive are unique enough for different applications.

SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive

Photographers and others are going to love the capability this provides to get photos from your quality DSLR or point-and-shoot camera into your cellphone or tablet without needing a computer. The Media Drive has a slot for your SD card and will create its own wireless network to transfer your photo or video to your smartphone. That means that even if you are in the Mojave Desert with no network anywhere, you can still transfer those files to your phone or tablet and start editing them.

Likewise, if you’ve preloaded the drive with movies or podcasts you’d like to watch, you don’t need to be in a wireless environment to get access to the drive’s content. With capacities of 32 and 64 GB, this is extremely valuable for those with limited drive space on their Ultrabooks, tablets and netbooks. And, up to five users can all be accessing content at the same time.

I’ve used wireless devices before that streamed content to my phone, but with all the previous ones I’ve tried, I lost connectivity to the Internet while using them. With the SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive, you can establish a network and continue using the Internet at the same time. It takes a couple minutes to set up, but then works amazingly well.  You only need establish that network connection once, and next time you use it, it’s all ready to go.

This is also an excellent way to make an immediate back up of those digital photos you just took. Insert your SD card, back the photos up to the drive and then pack them in separate bags. If one should end up on the TSA inspection floor or baggage-handler’s hell, you’ll still have that safe, second copy. Priceless.

Note: any type video or photo file can be stored on the device, but only those capable of being played by your device will stream. Third-party free software for iOS and Android, such as It’s Playing It, and Real Player Cloud can solve those problems and give you additional codecs for playback.

You can also double that capacity by adding a loaded SDHC/SDXC in the slot and access those contents as well.

Features of the SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive:

• Streams up to 5 different HD movies simultaneously
• Up to 8 hours of continuous streaming on a single charge
• SD card slot to instantly share photos or expand storage capacity
• No accessories or Internet access needed
• Works with iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle Fire, Android™ devices

SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive

This flash drive is a masked marvel in disguise. Looking just like a typical lipstick-shaped flash drive, it also has hidden but powerful wireless capabilities. Again, without needing any other network around, you can stream files and videos wirelessly to your laptop, iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire or Android.

This is especially handy when you want to grab some files to always have with you, and you’re not sure when or how you’ll need to transfer them. If USB is an option, that’s the quickest way to get them onto someone else’s device. But if you are driving, on a boat, on a train, or a camel; you can also easily let them connect to the device’s network and pull off just what they need.

I don’t know how many times before I’ve carried a USB flash drive but was unable to give someone my files when all they had was an iPhone or an Android phone without a USB port. That problem is gone forever now.

In a business environment, this could be ideal for sharing files at a meeting.  You load the presentation on your Flash Drive and up to eight people at once can access the drive and download their own copy as the meeting is going on.

The SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB sizes. I’ve used it up to 50 feet away and it worked, but supposedly it has an up to 150 foot range. Connects up to 8 devices and 3 media streams simultaneously.

Features of the SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive:

• Up to 4 Hours of Streaming on a Single Charge
• Compact and portable for easy access to content
• No accessories or Internet access needed
• Works with iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle Fire, Android™ devices

So how to decide?

The biggest differences revolve around packing and taking already created content with you (go with the Flash Drive) or needing to access content from your SD cards after you’ve left your network area (go with the Media Drive.

The other factor is charge time. The Media Drive will go eight hours on one charge and the Flash Drive will operate for four hours.

Either way, you’re going to love the new convenience of being able to share files with just about anyone, anywhere in the world.

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DougBardwell.com awards their Senior Citizen’s Thumbs-Up rating for Sandisk’s Connect Wireless Flash Drive. Now, easily load those favorite photos or videos and toss this in your purse or glove compartment. No matter where you go, you’ll be able to show off that favorite media without filling up the limited storage on your phone or tablet.

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