All iPads Monster OTG and Sandisk IXpand Review

[TheGdog]

So I went to Best Buy to pick up a hard drive so I can back up on my phone and iPad. I discovered that my videos were taking up a lot of space on my phone. Normally I get my drives from OWC, but I didn’t need anything fancy and I didn’t want to wait on a delivery. When I got to Best Buy I discovered that they have a sale on a lot of their hard drives including a product called monster digital on the go cloud. I decided to settle for a $54 Toshiba hard drive, and then purchase this product for an additional $50. I was trying not to spend more than $100.00



I thought it looked cool for a couple of reasons.

It lets you wirelessly connect to the SD card slot or a usb drive. I thought that I would be able to connect my external drive to it and then backup my videos on the go.

It also had an ethernet port, that let you use it as a mobile router. and the usb port could be used to charge your phone.

Pretty cool, so I picked it up. However I discovered that not only did I not like it, but It isn’t a very popular device according to the few 1 star reviews it gets online.

Here is why I didn’t like it.

#1 while it does let you back up your videos using the app, playback is like watching an HD youtube video on dial up. Its so slow, Had to wait quite a while just to watch a 45 second video.

#2, You cannot send files off of the drive to other apps on your device. The app cannot load anything other than media files and you can’t get them out of the app. So if you had, say a document you wanted to send to Goodreader? Nope, but the app can’t even view the stupid file. Its clearly a media only device, well expect for its not…. See Point #1.

#3, the wifi connection is terrible, it takes forever to actually show up, and when it does, it takes another 2 minutes to join the home wifi.

Not to say that someone wont get good use from this product, but i’m very disappointed.

So I did something I almost never do…..Returned it.

I decided to see what else they had. Looked at 4 or 5 wifi hard drives and none of them gave me any reason to believe they would do better. I was about to walk out, when I looked up and saw the Sandisk IXpand. Usb/lighting thumb drive. After looking at it for a minute I bought it. Glad I did.

First off, it is only 32gb, but I plan on using that Toshiba drive to keep a long running backup of Videos. But right now, I only have 3gb of videos on my phone, so not too bad.

Here is why I love this drive

#1 The app has no lag on video playback. Its just as fast as local playback. Maybe because it is

#2 I can send files to other applications. So that PDF, can get send to good reader, and that photo can get added to camera roll.

#3 no wifi to deal with and its really small

#4 Its cross platform. A PC or Mac and can use it like a regular drive, and I’m sure that android phones have some way of connecting a usb drive. If they don’t, then I’ll just make fun of them.

#5 When plugged into my phone it actually works as a kickstand. That might not be intentional, but hey its nice!

However It does have a few cons.

#1 unlike the Monster, it is only 32gb and cannot be expanded.

#2 its really wide, so plugging it in beside the back up drive requires a usb extender cable on most computers.

#3 Doesn’t have any of ethernet router features or charging. (obviously). It also cannot be used while iPad is plugged into charger.

I’m glad I found this product. Its almost a too good to be true product. Thats really my main frustration with the iPad, no way to get files on or off unless you have a computer. Which in some cases defeats the point of an iPad. I don’t really believe the iPad is meant to replace a laptop for people who need them (like me). But there are times when just a few little features would make it possible to take the iPad instead of the computer. This is one of them.

I hope this was helpful to a fellow apple user who wants to back up media and get files to their device without using a cloud service. I’m glad I got this.

FYI, apparently the Ixpand can only be purchased from Best buy.

 

[Pat too]

#1 unlike the Monster, it is only 32gb and cannot be expanded.

FYI, apparently the Ixpand can only be purchased from Best buy.

Sandisk have listed 16gb and 64gb versions also, so they should be available in other stores in the near future.

Whilst I like the idea of the Sandisk, I'd wish they could've made it a bit smaller. An equivalent Sandisk OTG flash drive for Android is tiny in comparison! I'm guessing the iOS version requires so much power that a battery needs to be incorporated, hence the huge size.

Sandisk OTG flash drive for Android:

 

[TheGdog]

Sandisk have listed 16gb and 64gb versions also, so they should be available in other stores in the near future.

Whilst I like the idea of the Sandisk, I'd wish they could've made it a bit smaller. An equivalent Sandisk OTG flash drive for Android is tiny in comparison! I'm guessing the iOS version requires so much power that a battery needs to be incorporated, hence the huge size.

Sandisk OTG flash drive for Android:
Image

Yeah its pretty big. The biggest problem with that is plugging it into my macbook. Wish it was as small as the android one. I'm pretty happy with it however.

 

[donnaw]

Couple of questions -can you move movies purchased via iTunes on to the drive? And does the app support different formats? I have close to 1T of recorded TV I would love to take some of it with me on a trip and watch them on my iPad but they are all .avi files and I haven't found a good option for watching them.

Thanks in advance...

 

[ipos]

Sandisk have listed 16gb and 64gb versions also, so they should be available in other stores in the near future.

Whilst I like the idea of the Sandisk, I'd wish they could've made it a bit smaller. An equivalent Sandisk OTG flash drive for Android is tiny in comparison! I'm guessing the iOS version requires so much power that a battery needs to be incorporated, hence the huge size.

Sandisk OTG flash drive for Android:
Image

only for android? what abt ios?

 

[Pat too]

only for android? what abt ios?

Yep, that tiny Sandisk Ultra Dual OTG Drive in the pic has a micro USB connector suitable only for Android devices.

Many of the other iOS 'OTG style' flash drives like the iStick are quite big in comparison. There is an upcoming product from Leef, the iBridge which is slimmer and more 'thumb drive' like but it has a weird J shape: http://www.leefco.com/leef-ibridge

 

[ipos]

Yep, that tiny Sandisk Ultra Dual OTG Drive in the pic has a micro USB connector suitable only for Android devices.

Many of the other iOS 'OTG style' flash drives like the iStick are quite big in comparison. There is an upcoming product from Leef, the iBridge which is slimmer and more 'thumb drive' like but it has a weird J shape: http://www.leefco.com/leef-ibridge

this looks interesting

http://www.amazon.com/i-FlashDrive-...F8&qid=1419730006&sr=8-2&keywords=iflashdrive

 

[Pat too]

this looks interesting

http://www.amazon.com/i-FlashDrive-...F8&qid=1419730006&sr=8-2&keywords=iflashdrive

I was always a bit intrigued when I saw those i-FlashDrive devices in my local John Lewis (UK Department store), that was until I noticed the price tag...You could buy an Android smartphone or tablet with OTG support/micro SD upgradable for that kind of money!

Some good news for UK peeps interested in the Sandisk iXpand, the UK pricing isn't a direct dollar conversion as is often the case with tech products. MyMemory have listed the 16gb, 32gb and 64gb versions priced at £18.95, £26.95 and £33.95 respectively (not currently in stock).