TUAW Review: DataCase for iPhone
If you've been looking for a way to turn that 16GB iPhone into a wireless flash drive, there's a new solution available for you in the App Store: DataCase for iPhone (link opens iTunes). The developers, Veiosoft, missed their original release date of July 28th thanks to Apple's annoying application approval process, but you can now buy DataCase in the App Store for US$6.99. Unlike FileMagnet, DataCase doesn't require that an app be installed on the Mac, and it can also be used with a PC or Linux machine.
Read after the break for more information about DataCase for iPhone.
To use DataCase, install the app on your iPhone 2.0 device (or iPod touch, of course), tap the icon, make sure that Wi-Fi is enabled on your iPhone, and then fire up your Mac, PC or Linux box. From your Mac you browse for the iPhone using Bonjour (see screenshot below), and by double-clicking the iPhone icon (Ratatouille) you have access to two default volumes on the iPhone -- Drop Box and Shared Files.
Drop Box is exactly that, a write-only location into which others on your network can drop files for you to view. Shared Files is a read-and-write volume, so you can either receive or distribute files. Create up to 16 volumes with individual permission settings. Coming from Windows or Linux, you can use an HTTP or FTP connection to transfer files. Once the files are on the iPhone, you can view them natively if they're in MS Office, text, or PDF formats.
The iPhone app has a very simple interface consisting of a toroidal lozenge (see below) with a folder icon in the middle. Tapping the folder icon displays the available volumes on the iPhone and their contents.
You may not like the Wintergreen LifeSaver interface (I'm not fond of it), but it does tell you how much relative space is being used and how much is available. At a recent ACN meeting in Denver, I demoed this application and just about all of the Apple consultants in attendance wanted the app for carrying and transferring files. Who needs a flash drive anymore when you have DataCase and an iPhone?
