SanDisk Connect Wireless USB Flash Drive, 32GB; anybody tried one?

[ahhaa]

Just saw an ad for a SanDisk Connect Wireless USB Flash Drive, 32GB.

Here's what they say in specs:
The SanDisk SDWS2-032G-A57 Connect 32 GB Wireless Flash Drive is a wireless hub for streaming music and movies to your mobile devices. Connect and watch on as many as eight devices at once. Plus, the SanDisk Connect 32 GB Wireless Flash Drive instantly expands storage capacity for smartphones and tablets. It's compact, portable, and ideal for taking entertainment along while traveling. No Internet connection is required, and you can stream up to four hours of video on a single charge.

32 GB capacity provides plenty of room for large files
Stream video wirelessly to up to 8 devices at once
Ideal for bringing music and movies along when you travel
Instantly expands storage capacity for mobile devices
Freedom to store, share, and stream movies, photos, music, and documents to smartphones and tablets
Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch devices, Android smartphones and tablets, and Kindle devices
Dowload the free SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive app for simple sharing and streaming
No internet connection required
Up to 4 hours of video streaming on a single charge


Wireless Media Streaming for All Your Devices
The SanDisk SDWS2-032G-A57 Connect 32 GB Wireless Flash Drive is your entertainment hub at home and on the go. As many as eight devices can simultaneously stream music and movies from the drive, making it the ideal travel companion. Now there's no need to fill up your mobile devices with media files. Store files on the SanDisk Connect 32 GB Wireless Flash Drive and enjoy them from any device anytime.
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The SanDisk Connect 32 GB Wireless Flash Drive can join Wi-Fi networks and share the Internet with connected devices.

Ultra-Portable with Long Battery Life
The SanDisk Connect 32 GB Wireless Flash Drive is just 3 inches long, so it's easy to take it along wherever you go. It charges by plugging into any compatible USB 2.0 port, and it can stream up to four continuous hours of video on a single charge.

I would like to free up a USB port but am not sure this would also run a wireless keyboard/mouse combo. Also, it seems you could just toss this drive on the dashboard and stream content to a carful of kiddies. Am I reading this right?

[newpball]

We certainly live in interesting times.

[vhelp]

i have one. actually picked up a 2nd one recently, for work. both are the 32gig models. the first cost me $45 at best buy, i saw it on sale for $19 dollars the other weekend and bought it. anyway.

no, you can't connect a mouse/keyboard to it. its not meant for that.

it requires a microSD card for the memory/storage which comes with one already. i've never used any cards higher than 32gig so i can't tell you if (the 32gig fat32 model) goes any higher, (though there is a 64gig exFAT model for using larger files than 4GB).

and, you have to use the sandisk propreatory software (file manager) for the usual operations, though i did not check to see if there are any 3rd-party file manager apps to download and use instead. and you can use the browser on your (iOS or Android) device to add/copy/move files to/from the device to the sandisk (its microSD card). and you can also use the usb to direct-connect the sandisk to a computer and transfer files and what-not. or, as last resort, you can also take the microSD card out (located on the sandisk side) and put that into your computer's card reader to add/copy/move files around.

the sandisk has a 150 feet wifi range.

[ahhaa]

Thanks for the getback! Do you use it much? The price around here is more like $45 than the $19. I'm wondering what happens when the battery goes.

For my PC, I found an 'Android emulator' called Bluestacks, but here's an annoying wrinkle:

"Bluestacks is free for a short duration (half an hour), after which it asks you to pay $2 (roughly Rs. 120) per month; or you can instead install some sponsored apps every day. That's not a big dampener as you don't need to open the sponsored app and you can easily delete it right after installation is complete."

There's more & more extortionware around these days...

[vhelp]

i used network stumber (windows app) to see what channel the device operates on. it is chan 9. so far, i have not seen it change to any other number. so it might be hard-wired into the device software/firmware. something to factor around with, setup wise.

security is good, WPA2 PSK encryption. by default, it has no password assigned. but after setting up a password, if you forget it, you can easily reset it back to factory defaults.

i'm looking into seeing if there are other ways of accessing the devices files w/out using the propriatory app for things like viewing videos.

edit: haven't found anything else. also, i have trouble connecting to the internet while still using the flash drive. it says you can do both, but still won't truly connect, either to my router or directly to my verizon DSL. then again, i'm not savy in these things, though i much prefer a true'er easy access wifi hdd setup, like the wd person cloud. this device is not like that, unfortunately. so if you're looking for that kind of operation, then i would look elsewhere. there even an smaller wifi hdd than the wd personal cloud. it was pocket size. and at the time, it was a 1TB, on sale for $69 and i almost bought it but bought the brother scanner instead. but i'm hoping they get a bit more smaller then pocket size, i will definately get it then. anyway. i hope you find something that works for you.

[ahhaa]

Thanks again, you're a great vhelp!:]

If you haven't looked lately, the Sandisk page that describes the Connect device
has gotten a blurb on it about updating the firmware.

Very strange marketing, but an update might help those access issues.

[vhelp]

i tried the firmware update on the new one that i was testing for you. the older one, that i don't recall having problems with, i seem to have lost.

i'm not very wifi savy, nor anything network'able and internet and android, either. so, it could be my lack of all that. but i still much prefer a more windows like scenario for these kinds of things with wifi storage devices.

anyway. i tried to connect to the sandisk on my pc, under win xp, and according to the setup, i am connected, but there is no folder letter to be found.

next, i went to the Computer Management app and selected Disk Management, but it still won't show a folder or drive letter.

next, i went to a browser window, and entered http://172.xx.xx.xx/wfd/ and was finally greeted by an HTML selection menu of the folders that are currently on the sandisk microSD card. i went to the video folder (it comes with four HD 1280x720p tutorial videos) and attempted to play a video. the video played with whatever default player associated with my system. in my case, it appeared to be VLC. video played smoothly. of course, you don't have internet while in this mode. well, since i couldn't get it to work before, i did not bother to try and figure it out a second time. i will leave that up to a more savy person in those things.