AirStash expands your iPhone's storage, wirelessly
By Tim Stevens 
posted January 4th 2010 3:09PM
posted January 4th 2010 3:09PM
You may be able to get your iPhones and iPod Touches in 32GB flavors these days, but what's an unlucky early adopter stuck with an 8GB model to do? Get an AirStash, maybe, a device that pledges to add wireless storage to those devices and, potentially, make internal storage constraints a thing of the past. It looks like an oversized thumb drive, with a USB plug on one end and an SD slot on the other. Charge it up, dump some content on that memory card, throw it in your pocket and, according to the manufacturer, you'll be able to connect to it wirelessly from your handset -- and your friends too, if you like. There are some obvious security concerns here but right now we're going to completely ignore those because of the potential for greatness here, which we hope to see in the flesh in the next few days.
Whoa. I'm all for this, for all devices. Maybe one for my anemic Pre storage? Maybe?
@statelypenguin I can remember when handheld devices had 64 MB of storage.
I can remember when computers had that much, too.
@Jonathan K I remember getting an IBM PS/2 with a MASSIVE 200 MB hard drive.
@statelypenguin
I remember typing letters on rocks and wishing the chief would let me just run over and tell the guy straight away, but no.. I wasn't able to hunt well and the women thought I was a perv so I couldn't gather berries with them... All that was left was pounding away with my hammer and chisel as official message boy.
@statelypenguin nice air stache.
@statelypenguin THis is a great solution nevertheless. It's been something I know a few people have played around the idea of doing for a while now, so it's great to see someone actually get this highly useful tool into production!
Nice job guys! Sign me up for three :D
or Apple could just add a MicroSD slot
@(Unverified) That would junk up the iPod Touch and iPhone in my opinion. Who needs a SD slot when you can get a 32GB for $300 or 64GB for $400?
@(Unverified)
Perhaps iPhone 4 in June :-)
@Jacob Apple Geek Are you serious?
I hope that's sarcasm.
@(Unverified)
But then Apple won't be able to justify charging £100 for 16GB more storage, and people won't want to upgrade their perfectly good phones for no reason other than flash memory getting cheaper.
You're so selfish, you never think of Apple.
@drh There is no way in hell you'll see an expansion card slot on an iPhone.
@statelypenguin Yea, it will only be in the iTablet.... ;)
@barry99705 Apple has been buying you larger flash chips from Toshiba so my bet is that they are going to release even higher capacity internal storage, think 64GB iPhone, 128GB iPod Touch... which still would not hold all of my content...
@barry99705
haha, the iTablet. what a waste of life....
read this, maybe you'll see reason:
http://slapchopp.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/why-the-islate-will-succeed-but-should-fail-miserably/
**shameless self promotion...
That's awesome! It's like a wireless portable HDD! What else does it work with?
@N900 Exactly, it would be a shame if it worked only with the iPhone/iPod Touch. It would be nice if you could use it for any handheld with WiFi, at least with those that have Symbian, Android or WinMo.
Nice, this could be handy.
Doesn't dropbox and other online storage solutions already do this? and dongle free i might add.
the microsd slot sounds good, but I'll keep dreaming. feature creep anyone?
@(Unverified) Yeah, but you need to be online. That's not always guaranteed with at&t these days.
@(Unverified)
I've never got used to using the net services for storage.
Your also reliant on access, where-as this will be local to you, so theoretically better speed without internet bottlenecks or in those circumstances where there's no net access.
I also like the idea of turning it on in the pub and letting all my mates troff stuff from me (if I want them to of-course).
@Nishanth and with this, you need to have your little usb stick charged.
Trading one annoyance for an even bigger one.
@JONNNathannn I guess, but it's still more reliable (if it works). There's no word on battery life though. As long as it can last as long as my iPhone can, it's not a big deal. I charge my phone every night any way.
On-line storage is not the answer for portable devices. WTF are you going to do on that long plane trip?
Even wireless storage is a lame workaround for the lack of an SD slot or proper USB connectivity.
thats pretty cool
I wish I had this for the past two years. I guess that's what I get for being a cheap bastard and going with the 8GB iPhone.
Any word on pricing?
What about the people with the 4GB iPhones?
@PhoenixFox
they should be able to upgrade to an 8GB for around the same price as this puppy
Nice, wonder what the size and prices will be.
I guess we'll have to wait for CES (only a day) to find out cos there's naff all on the website.
we dont care we want the fucking n1 review
Is it SDXC compatible (for 64GB and larger cards, theoretically up to 2TB if I recall)?
@beq Also, why is it specifically advertised for the iPhone? What kind of wireless interface will it have to provide access?
This doesn't really expand an iPhone's storage as only apps that can access a network disk will be able to make use of it. Not the iPod app or any other built-in apps.
@franktinsley Oh and I'm not sure how it would work outside a wifi network unless they managed to use the iPhone's Peer-to-Peer Bluetooth APIs in an innovative way.
What I never got was how all these rather cool devices only work on the iphone. I mean, can't any device with wireless connectivity use this? Or do they just want the iphone compatible part so they can jack up prices?
That's great! Hopefully some developer can combine this storage with the flash storage on the iPhone/iPod and allowing jailbroken users to use it! Seems like a cheaper alternative to more storage. Cheaper since we wouldnt need a new iPhone to get more storage,
@RedChaos
It could prob. be done with custom drivers and if this device can use bluetooth.
This...is...AWESOME!!!
I wonder if this could be integrated into an iphone case...
This looks dumb. Who wants to carry ANOTHER product. who wants to charge ANOTHER product.
The iPhone is popular because it combines functionality so you dont need multiple products.
This product is fail
". . . what's an unlucky early adopter stuck with an 8GB model to do?"
Screw those lucky bastards! I've got the 4GB version—
. . . could this be . . . love?
there goes your sperm...
How about a diminutive iphone dongle with a MicroSD slot?
@solarpos
If it had another port on the bottom so I could use it with docks and such, I'd be sold (price pending of course).
Now this looks very useful, if one comes out compatible with the Pre I am very very likely to get one. Give this something along the lines of bluetooth and market it for phones in general and you'd have a huge market.
Damn. I was hoping you could put your weed in it.
@Gordon
no one said you can't, just hope your tolerance is low enough for .3 or so you'd be fitting in the cap.
I would like to see a MiFi with built-in storage. Why not make the MiFi a portable network storage device??? And still allow me to pop onto the Internet at the same time.
@MLamont
I was about to say the exact same thing (well, not exact, but close enough)
this has a chance to be huge. the possibility of sharing music and files from a small local drive to various mobile devices is EPIC
that is something i need.