Physical storage in the form of microSD cards (see earlier post) are convenient for smartphones and tablets that do have card slots (like some Android products), but not so much for other devices like Apple iPhones and iPads that don't have slots.
But all such devices have some sort of physical connector -- typically microUSB (or more recently USB Type C) on Android devices, and the Apple Lightning connector on iPhones and iPads. So wouldn't it be great to have a dedicated flash drive that connected to both your portable devices and to your computer, so you could transfer files directly between them, without the need for intermediate SD cards or the vagaries and slower speeds of wireless connections or cloud services?
This is the idea behind the Kingston "Duo" products -- small flash drives that have both a standard USB port for computers, and a second port for portable devices, either microUSB, USB-C, or Apple Lightning.
The Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3C is a dual drive with both standard USB and USB-C ports.
It works with Android devices that support USB OTG (On-The-Go) drives to provide expanded storage like a flash drive.
The microDuo 3C is tiny at less than 1.2 inches long, and seriously inexpensive at 32 GB of storage for around $12, 64 GB for $19, and 128 GB for $39.
Similarly, the Kingston DataTraveler Bolt Duo provides extended storage for iPhones and iPads, with both a USB and a Lightning connector.
Since iOS does not support general file access to storage, the Bolt Duo focuses on handling your photos and videos. You can transfer your photos/videos to the drive, capture directly to the drive, and view the files on the drive.
You also can set up the device to automatically back up photos and videos from your camera roll, and even optionally delete the originals to free up space.
The Bolt Duo supports USB 3.1 transfer speeds (120MB/s read and 19MB/s write), and is available with 32 GB of storage for around $34, 64 GB for $39, and 128 GB for $69.
With these capacities, "just" 32 GB holds up to some 8,000 photos or 2 hours of video, and 128 GB holds up to 32,000 photos or 8 hours of video.
- See full Holiday Tech 2018 presentation for my local talks in the Princeton area
- See companion article in U.S. 1 Newspaper, Nov. 14, 2018
Find the Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3C and
Kingston DataTraveler Bolt Duo on Amazon.com