Just as
CES is wrapping up, we managed to get some hands-on time with the
AirStash wireless SD card reader, which is targeted at iPhone OS devices (but does work with other WiFi-enabled devices). Like many of the mysterious products from Vegas we have no price, release date or battery life, but what we do know now is that it's indeed very light (1.5 ounces), fits nicely in our hands and supports up to 32GB SDHC cards. As for wireless connection the AirStash acts as a WiFi 802.11b/g access point -- a cunning way to dodge the Apple dock connector license fees or the lack of Bluetooth profiles. Sadly, the prototype wasn't working properly due to "some RF interference," but as you can see above, the AirStash is accessed via a browser (UI design not final). Sure, this would mean you'd lose Internet connection via WiFi, but if the AirStash is cheap enough, then we'll live with it. Let's hope they hurry up with the release, though.
posted January 11th 2010 4:38AM
DLNA?
Make an app for that?
This is far more suited to Android devices where the lack of a garden wall infrastructure would make it easier for both AirStash and 3rd parties to develop for. Further, Android phones often come with less built in memory so this makes more sense for those devices.
@Oflife
Android devices typically have SD card slots, but it would be neat if they made something for the android stuff.
And this is needed why?
Oh yeah, because Apple won't put a damn SD card slot in the iPhone so they can force people to buy a new iPhone for an extra 8 gigs.
@Erb
+1
@Erb - exactly. I mean, this looks like a horribly awkward workaround and nothing else.
Instead of simply plugging a memory card into a phone, you have to buy and carry an additional device, keep both phone and card reader charged all the time, deal with the shortened phone battery life due to WiFi usage and on top of that you need to restrict your WiFi connection to the card reader.
And after all those annoying facts, the integration is practically non-existant - handling files only via the browser? Reeeeally?
This is just stupid on so many levels.
@Erb What surprises me, is that they have not introduced their own memory card, one that is so locked down that it can only work in iPods/iPhones and is DRM'd to hell and gone. Make it out of brushed aluminum, put a glowing apple logo on it, slap a 300% apple tax on it and call it a revolution!
@Erb I've never swapped out memory cards in any of my phones. Card goes in there and usually never comes back out. I think I did upgrade to a bigger card once, but that was it.
@barry99705 Do you use your phone for music and movies? B/c it sounds like you don't...
Acts as a WiFi 802.11b/g access point?! Even if this device could be useful for some limited stuff (not that i currently can think of something), acting as an access point would be the last drop in it's disadvantages. Why not make it act as an access point by default, but let you reconfigure it as a WiFi client later, using, for example, some kind of ini file on the card ?! How hard could that be ?!
And this is news?!
Now iPhone finally has the cutting edge technology of reading memory cards... wow cool. Oh boy, I just wish all my other phones could do that..
mike: hey john, what is that?
john: my wifi memory card reader for iphone. cool hun?
mike: err...
why Engadget comment form fails so often?
Image this with an iPhone app the let you read the RAW files and backup them on the iPhone memory! OMG
Mhmm for those who love conveniently being Inconvenienced.
This particular device is not very amazing since its only purpose is to serve as a SD card reader for phones which should have had SD slots anyway.
But in general i think the whole concept is quite good and i would love it if there were wireless hard drives with very fast connectivity and about 1 TB capacity so it would be easy to access your media from anywhere in your home without too many cables and without extra devices to provide the connectivity (like a NAS or a PC attached to the HDD).
Big Furry Head sounds like Animal Pr0n...
Cool device but just like someone already mentioned, it'd be better
suited for large storage devices instead of just SD cards.
OAN, did anyone notice that phone was in Edge mode? I go to Vegas a
couple of times a year and the AT&T 3G is everywhere and nowhere at
the same time. I could make calls on my iPhone and that was about it.
@dand Yes, I did. Didn't the article say the device works as a WiFi basestation? Then how was the iPhone able to display its contents when it's on EDGE mode? I'm a bit confused there.
@spamfree The prototype wasn't working properly. That page was what was left after the WiFi failed.
@dand Yeah, Josh T had the same problem, but after switching off 3G it worked flawlessly again.
Did they have to make it look like a deodorant?
Try explaining that to the TSA
@Craneguy It has a usb port on it. Just tell them it's a big usb thumb drive.
I't would be nice if it had a bluetooth option so that you could use it without completely demolishing battery life. Either another model, or a switch that goes from Bluetooth to WiFi (Stamina to Speed) would be cool.
@Luxury Guy
Except their target market (iPhone users) doesn't have a bluetooth profile that would allow that sort of connection.
Put a second wifi adapter in it and allow it to act as a pass-through router as well as web-based file server :P
Genesis by Justice and Robot Rock by Daft Punk?
French House related shenanigans all on Engadget!
Funny how even the earliest of Pocket PCs and Palm devices from yesteryear had expansion card \ memory card slots, and the iPhone doesn't -- very innovative, Apple.
I like this device, but it need to support bluetooth and DLNA for me to buy it, and SDXC would be nice as well.
Crapgadget anyone? I bet the iPhone won't allow for you to copy anything from the drive or store anything to it, you will probably get stuck just veiwing stuff.
for some reason I feel it could be much smaller than it is.
Was kind of interested in this until I found out I could just use it for my iPhone. Not a big fan of Wireless G Media streaming.
Hello all from the AirStash team!
We're very disappointed that we weren't able to demonstrate AirStash live for Engadget. The problem with our demo unit turned out to be an issue with our alpha software and we're already working on fixing it. We'll be sending review units to Engadget this month, so stay tuned to see the units in action!
I'd like to address a few points that were raised in the comments. AirStash is much, much more than just an SD adapter for the iPhone. It's a portable flash drive with a built in media server that you can use to share content with many different kinds of devices. It's the easiest way to view a document or media from a computer on your portable device. You don't need to install any synchronization software: just plug AirStash in to the computer, drag the media to your phone, and connect.
AirStash is also for sharing content with multiple devices quickly and easily. Let's say you want to give out the latest digital copy of a presentation or a document before a meeting. You don't need to pass around a flash drive, wait for a large document to send via email, or rely on there being a working hotspot nearby that all meeting participants can connect to.
The interface you see in the pictures is a basic interface that will be available to all connected WiFi devices. For the iPhone and iPod touch, there is a HTML5 web interface that looks and feels just like a native app, but with no installation required. We'll be posting a video of this interface in action so you can see just what it looks like.
Yes, we do like french house music and all other kinds of music too. The track "Big Furry Head" is from Amon Tobin's album "Foley Room". If you haven't heard of him, we encourage you to check him out!
Brian Mastenbrook
CTO Wearable Inc. (Makers of AirStash)
http://twitter.com/AirStash
but why is it so big?
@dani3l So people can also put their iPeen in it.
It would be so much easier if apple just included the damn sd slot but they don't. Maybe they will in the islate? Giving us another reason to upgrade.
As a professional press photographer I could really use this. I shoot with a Canon DSLR. I could travel light with just an iPhone or iPod Touch. Grab the pics from the card then email them back to my web desk for quick posting of breaking news.
If it works ..... I love it