MobileLite Wireless by Kingston
Want to get something techy for yourself or someone dear, something that's practical and useful rather than disposable and funny? TechRadar Pro has compiled a list of 10 such affordable gadgets and services.
MobileLite Wireless by Kingston
Kingston managed to combine three different products into one small, handy device. The MobileLite Wireless - otherwise known as the MLW221 - packs a SD card reader, a wireless hotspot (i.e when used as an internet bridge) and a useful battery charger.
What's more, you can also connect it to an external hard disk drive and convert the latter into a wireless storage device, plus you can also transfer content from the SD card to a connected USB storage drive (You can connect other card readers like a Compact Flash one) to the USB port.
You can also connect a 2.5-inch external hard disk drive; I tried Toshiba Canvio 2TB external USB 3.0 drive and can confirm that it works. The MobileLite Wireless comes with a charging port (micro-USB port), a connecting one (full sized USB) and the battery, a 1,800mAh, should allow it to remain awake for up to five hours.
Obviously, that depends on a number of variables - the content you're accessing, bitrates or the number of devices connected simultaneously (Kingston says up to three can be connected at the same time).
You can also use it as an emergency smartphone charger. Managing the MobileLite Wireless requires a free application if you use Android or Apple's iOS (no other mobile OSes are supported at this stage).
The app offers a limited set of features but enough for most tasks; You can also use it as a bog standard storage device when connected to a traditional computer. Best of all, you can grab it from MyMemory for as little as £13.99 (about $22, AU$27), which is a bargain for what should be an essential item for any roving, mobile power user.
Its price and its size (60 x 165 x 15mm, less than 100g) makes it more of a practical impulse buy. As for the flaws (USB 2.0 only, rudimentary app feature), they shouldn't distract from the sheer usefulness of the MobileLite Wireless.
Verbatim MediaShare Wireless, AllPuter cable
MediaShare Wireless by Verbatim
A step up from the Kingston Mobilelite Wireless is the Verbatim Mediashare Wireless, which costs about a tenner more than the former at £24.99 (about $38, AU$47). As for the Mobilelite Wireless, you can connect an external USB powered hard disk drive (or plug in a SD card) and share their content with a number of devices simultaneously. Whereas Kingston's allows only three, the MediaShare ups that limit to five, ideal for a big family or for a small business group.
There's also a massive 3,000mAh battery, enough to charge a recent high end smartphone (like the Sony Xperia Z3) fully. The rest of the feature list includes the ability to create a wireless bridge as well as native support for WPA/WPA2 encryption.
There is a free iOS or Android application that essential for remotely accessing and managing your files. Sadly though, like the Mobilelite Wireless, it remains limited plus there's no desktop equivalent should you want to access the files from your desktop.
AllPuter Charging and OTG Cable
One of my genuine "why didn't anyone think about that before" moments of the year. Picture this, you're at an event, you're furiously typing away on your tablet and about to run out of battery, what do you do?
Well, with the AP004093 charging and OTG cable, you can just pull your smartphone (ideally something like the OnePlus One which has a 3100mAh battery) and charge your tablet (or even, in theory, a USB-equipped laptop like the Lenovo Yoga Pro 3).
In theory, AllPuter's cable allows any microUSB devices to charge ... any other microUSB devices. But that's not all, it supports OTG functionality, which means that in theory you can use it to transfer files from one with one device seeing the other as a USB drive.
The cable could be a bit longer at about 10-inch (25 cm); a surprisingly good deal at just under $8 (when you add delivery to the UK), which about AU$ 9 and £5. A definite addition to my list of accessories to be carried around when I am out and about.
Travelcard, Upp Fuel Cell, Leaf Access
Travelcard battery charger
Another elegant alternative to the AllPuter charging cable is a traditional battery charger. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of them have been let down by a poor design.
Enter Travelcard, not to be confused with Transport for London's own Travelcard. The former graduated earlier this year from Kickstarter and is essentially a battery shaped as a credit card (down to the size) and about four times as thick.
At just over two ounces (56.7g), it's half the weight of the Apple iPhone 5 and provides 1500mAh (about half the capacity of the OnePlus One). Physically, it is made of "lightweight aircraft grade aluminium" and is available in four colours.
There's a microUSB port, an on/off button and a multi-coloured LED to inform the user of the battery life status. It does include a cleverly integrated microUSB cable (and connector) and a separate microUSB to USB cable to charge it (it takes about 75 minutes to charge it).
A Lightning version is also available for iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6, and 6 plus devices as well at no additional cost. Speaking of cost, it costs $39 (about £24 or AU$ 46) including free worldwide shipping.
That sounds expensive, especially with such a low capacity, but we have yet to find one that as minimalist as the Travelcard, with an integrated cable. If you find one, do let us know!
Upp fuel cell
The UPP or Ultimate Power Pack could well represent the future of portable power. It is a hydrogen fuel cell charger that plugs into a cartridge that contains hydrogen to transform into a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell.
The subsequent chemical reaction produces electricity (25Whr), heat and water; unlike other traditional batteries, this one doesn't degrade over time which means that you no longer have to remember to charge your battery.
The UPP is not for everyone though; for a start, it is massive and heavy. One charger and two cartridges weigh just over 1Kg; plug one cartridge into that charger and you end up with a contraption the size of a big Maglite-type torch.
Then there's the cost; the starter kit – which includes the charger and a cartridge – costs £149 (about $225, AU$ 290) which is expensive for a 5000mAh rated battery. Fill it up though (with Hydrogen) costs a mere £5.95 (about $9, AU$ 11) and you can use it immediately.
Upp's secret weapon remains its mobile app which allows you to track the energy levels of your cartridges when they are in use. The downside is – of course – that this feature also uses power, albeit a tiny amount.
Leef Access microSD card reader
For some odd reasons, a lot of decent smartphones on the market are devoid of a microSD card reader. This useful feature allows users to augment the internal capacity of their handsets on the cheap often well beyond the manufacturer's maximum available storage capacity (Sandisk, for example, has a 128GB microSD card reader for £73).
It comes as no surprise that there has been a flurry of startups trying to solve that very annoying issue. Leef is one of those and its £13 Access microSD card reader stands out of the lot for three reasons. Firstly it comes with a longer-than-average five year limited warranty, it is also billed as being waterproof, shock proof and dust proof.
Lastly, it comes with a nifty additional card storage slot that allows you to potentially store another extra 128GB. It is absolutely tiny and weighs only 9g. Note that your tablet (or smartphone) will need to have USB OTG enabled in order to use it.
Windows users should be able to use it without any hack whereas Android devices will need to have Android 4.1 Jellybean at least plus a free application (like ES File Explorer) to access/manage files on the cards.
Bench 2X faster, Speedify, Hotspot Pro Plus
Bench 2X faster charger cable
Ever wanted to charge your phone/tablet/Chromebook/portable battery/you-name-it faster, then Bench may well have cracked it with a product called 2X faster charger cable, which as it names implies, promises to slash the charging time across a range of products (although the actual press release we received specifically mentions Android smartphones).
That is achieved by disabling data connectivity which increases the current from 0.5A to about 1A for most smartphones (there's a toggle switch if you want to revert back to the data/charge feature).
For devices requiring even more juice, the 2X faster charger cable can provide up to 2A. Switching to no-data mode also means that it is seen as connected to a wall charger; an additional benefit of that mode is that it allows you to plug safely into any compute without any fear for data privacy (although someone could simply toggle the switch).
The cable comes with over-current protection and is available for iOS as well. All in all, a welcomed addition to any time-poor professional and a snip at £15 (about $23, about AU$29).
Connectify Speedify
Alongside battery life gripes, poor download speeds (and generally abysmal remote access) are generally regarded as the other big issue that sends business people ballistic.
So much so that when Connectify put forward its Dispatch project on Kickstarter two years ago, it got twice the amount it asked for. In a nutshell, Speedify allows users to combine Wi-Fi, landline, 3G and 4G into one big, fat data pipe.
This process known as "Channel Bonding" is available as a service with global servers located in 13 countries on five continents. Connectify claims to be the only service that offers you up to 90% of the combined bandwidth of all your internet connections.
And it is relatively affordable; for $149 (less than £100) for a year, it offers unlimited monthly data while $69 (around £4 per month) gets you 50GB of monthly data if you're a light/medium user. Arguably, you will need to pay extra for the actual web connectivity.
Another great feature is its ability to manually select your server location to access region-locked content. The service is available for Windows 8 and Mac OS X with Android and iOS versions coming soon.
Other than Speedify, Connectify also markets another application called Hotspot PRO Plus. It costs $19.50 for a lifetime license for three computers (about £4 per computer).
I used a random coupon code (DEAL70) to bring down the price by 70% - search online if this one expires. HPP transforms your laptop into a virtual router and you can even recycle your old computer into a souped-up Wi-Fi extender.
Office 365 Personal, Startech mDP/HDMI adaptor
Office 365 Personal by Microsoft
Isn't that surprising that I am suggesting Office 365 Personal as an essential gadget? Well think about it. Microsoft's latest addition to its Office line up costs as little as £49.98 in the UK (and you can even get a brand new Windows tablet – the Linx 7 – if you trade in an old working tablet).
Other than 12 hours' worth of Skype calls, the full array of Office applications and the ability to run it on a tablet and a laptop, it also comes with OneDrive with 1TB of storage space (going up to unlimited early next year). Now all the aforementioned features expire after a year unless you buy a new subscription.
However, if you have a large stash of non-sensitive files (several hundreds of GBs) that you need to store/backup in a safe place, in the custody of a company that won't file for bankruptcy or get acquired for a foreseeable future, then doing it via OneDrive is truly a no-brainer.
That's because Microsoft will not delete these files even after your subscription expires, you won't be able to edit them but you will still be able to read from them.
You will have a whole year to upload these files. Just don't forget that upload speeds are often a fraction of what download speeds are and that uploading content might eat into your monthly data allowance (as set by your ISP or mobile service provider).
Startech Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor
Quite a lot of Ultrabooks (and even a fair few graphics cards) now come with Mini DisplayPort connection as standard in lieu of the traditional D-Sub or HDMI ports; which can prove to be a pain if you're planning to deliver a presentation at a client's office and they only have a HDMI projector.
In theory, Mini DisplayPort – which is popular with Apple - has enough bandwidth to drive 4K monitors at 60Hz (HDMI can only do it at 30Hz) which results in a smoother end-user experience. However, today's product doesn't achieve this (it does reach 4K at 30Hz though).
What it does is merely converting the Mini DisplayPort to a HDMI port, all for just over £23 (about $35, AU$45), more specifically from DP m1.2 to HDMI 1.4 without the need for drivers or external power source.
Unlike other passive video adaptors, this one offers active signal conversion which means that it doesn't require a multi-mode DisplayPort source signal (like AMD's Eyefinity) which greatly expands its compatibility option. In addition, mDP supports 5.1 Surround Sound out of the box and is compatible with most Intel Thunderbolt devices. You will still need to have a HDMI cable at the other end though.
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