You won't miss camera cables with Eyefi's latest wireless SD card
Eyefi's always had an intriguing hook: Wouldn't it be easier if you could just transfer photos from your cameras over Wi-Fi, instead of manually plugging into your computer? Its wireless SD cards haven't always worked flawlessly, and they're a lot more than standard SD cards, but they're still worth it if you take photos regularly. Now, the company is announcing its latest card, the Mobi Pro ($100), which appears to fix many of the annoyances its customers have had over the years. Mobi Pro lets you finally upload specific photos from your camera to your computer and smartphone, rather than automatically syncing everything. You can even send RAW files to computers now (cue a chorus of "Hallelujah!" from pro photographers). Making up for the sometimes slow wireless hotspot between EyeFi cards and other devices, you can also have Mobi Pro transfer over a trusted wireless network when it's in range, which should be significantly faster.
Just like Eyefi's earlier Mobi cards, your photos will also get uploaded to the company's Mobi Cloud photo service whenever you transfer them to its mobile or desktop apps. That cloud offering grants you unlimited photo storage for $50 a year, but you'll get a year free with the purchase of Mobi Pro. It's reminiscent of other online photo services like Flickr and Google+ (with a hint of the ambitious photo startup Everpix), but specifically tied into the Eyefi ecosystem. Eventually, Mobi Cloud will also be able to analyze your images and automatically categorize them, which should simplify the grueling ordeal of photo management.
In my brief time with the Mobi Pro, I had no trouble sending photos from my Sony Alpha 6000 to my iPhone 6 and MacBook Air. I'm the sort of casual photographer who enjoys shooting pics, but dreads the synchronization and organization process, so it basically suits my needs perfectly. It could also be extremely useful for anyone considering Apple's new Macbook, which has no SD card slot and only a single USB-C port. Getting my phone and PC to recognize the card seemed a lot easier than earlier Eyefi products, though the company's Mac software still needs some serious work. It's slow and actually works against my productivity, which is ironic considering how useful its wireless SD cards are.
If you've already got one of Eyefi's earlier Mobi cards, don't fret. CEO Matt DiMaria tells us it'll eventually offer a newer firmware that will enable some of Mobi Pro's features at a "very low price."
