Does your iPhone or iPad ever get full? Of course it does - and the new Kingston Wi-Drive is designed to extend its storage capabilities while overcoming the difficult of not being able to connect external drives because of the iDevices' lack of USB. Trouble is, there are a few niggles in Kingston's implementation of this Flash-based storage extender that make it an accessory lacking in value.

The Wi-Drive is slim and sleek, arriving in a 122x62x10mm package that, oddly, is only 'almost' identically sized to an iPhone (it's a touch longer, so won't fit in specific iPhone cases you may already have).

Its small size, however, is its biggest weakness. Portable it might be, but at just 16GB (£89) or 32GB (£119) it doesn't exactly open up a world of possibilities. Isn't storage supposed to be cheap these days? With a movie likely to take-up around 1GB on average, we're talking an extra 16 movies on the smallest model.

The Wi-Drive could house a significantly bigger music collection, of course, but even with a Wi-Drive bolted on to an iPhone you'll only have reached the size of a bog standard iPod Touch. The Wi-Drive really ought to have a SD card slot for expanding - as in, doubling, at least - its  native capacity.

Simple setup
Setting up the Wi-Drive is simple. Charged up and connected to a PC or Mac using a needlessly long one metre miniUSB-to-USB cable, files can be dragged and dropped onto the device, though it's best if you create three separate folders for music, movies, documents and photos.

Once disconnected, the Wi-Drive's wireless connection needs to be activated by pressing a small green-lit LED button on the side; when the WiFi icon flashes blue, it's broadcasting. It takes a while for network to show, though - at least a minute after LED flashing begins.

Next, you download a free app called - you guessed it - Kingston Wi-Drive from Apple. From the iPhone's setting menu you're can now locate the network created by the Wi-Drive. Once tuned in to it (you'll need to come 'off' the WiFi network you're already connected to), activate the app and - hey presto - you can access everything on the Wi-Drive.

Well, usually.

During our test we had several instances of the connection between the two devices dropping out, and annoyingly the iPhone reverts to its 'home' WiFi network if it's available. Entering and exiting the app and the iPhone's settings menu proved tiresome.

However, our main issue with the Wi-Drive is a software issue; the rudimentary way it presents the content is hard to get used to.

Company: Kingston

Website: http://www.kingston.com/europe

Contact: Kingston on 01932 738888

Tags: kingston external storage ipad 2 iphone wifi wireless