Last week in this space I wrote about a way to add 25GB of free storage to your iPhone or Windows Phone – via Microsoft's Windows Live SkyDrive cloud service.
In this blog post, I wanted to share another way you can expand the capacity of your limited smartphone or tablet – but this one doesn't require an Internet connection and you'll get 500GB of storage.
It's an external hard drive that is not only portable – therefore small and battery-powered – but it has the unique ability to wirelessly stream content to a nearby smartphone or tablet. And it doesn't matter if you're using an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android or Windows Mobile device.
Intrigued?
Called the Seagate GoFlex Satellite ($199.99), this small drive emits a Wi-Fi signal and can stream content to nearby devices – even serving up three different streams at the same time.
The work applications are obvious -- as you can fit many thousands of documents, spreadsheets and presentations on a half-terabyte drive -- but you can also use this when on a family road trip over spring break. Imagine you're in the car with a few kids in the backseat and they each have a different Wi-Fi device, such as a smartphone, tablet or media player like an iPod touch. As long as they join the GoFlex Satellite drive -- as if they were logging onto a Wi-Fi network -- they can launch the web browser or open up a free app to see and access the contents of the hard drive. This includes high-definition movies, TV shows, music, photos and other files.
Once you go over three simultaneous streams, it can begin to affect performance for everyone. Of course this gadget can be used at home or at the office, too.
The only other limitation is in the file formats supported. Because an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad can't play .AVI or .WMV files, for example, it won't be able to stream those videos from the GoFlex Satellite hard drive. .M4V or .MP4 video files will work just fine, however.
Slightly bigger than a deck of playing cards, this drive's 500GB capacity translates to more than 300 high-def movies. And consider most portable devices like smartphones and tablets usually max out at 64GB anyway.
While the GoFlex Satellite creates its own Wi-Fi hotspot, keep in mind you can't get online through this drive. It only creates a wireless connection between the drive and the device you're streaming to. But at least you don't need a wireless network to use the drive -- hence the road trip scenario.
Battery life tops five hours for playback and more than 25 hours on standby.
While there's some content preloaded on the device, such as some cartoons and Discovery Channel programming, you'll first want to connect the GoFlex Satellite drive to a PC or Mac via USB 3.0 connectivity (compatible with USB 2.0) and drag and drop content onto the drive. Optional interfaces include FireWire 800 and powered eSATA (sold separately).
Want one? Or at least want more info? Click here for additional specs and features of the Seagate GoFlex Satellite wireless hard drive.
