Have you had files on a Flash drive that you had to urgently transfer to your phone but you just couldn’t because there was no computer nearby?

Enter the Sandisk Connect Wireless Stick.

As the name implies, it’s no ­ordinary Flash drive – it has built-in wireless connectivity to allow other devices, like phones and ­tablets, to connect to it.

This allows you to store all your humongous files on the thumbdrive and access them at any time.

In fact, it even allows up to three devices to connect to it simultaneously, in case you need to share your files.

Hooking up

To access the files you will need to install Sandisk’s app Connect Drive, which is available for Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

File away: You don’t have to be limited by the space on your phone, as you can keep your large files on the Connect Wireless Stick.

However, do note that this drive only supports Android version 4.2 and iOS version 8.0 or higher.

The app makes it simple to ­manage the files on the thumbdrive – you can rename the files, move them around or delete the ones you no longer need.

As this is an app, it can do more than that – it can also open photos and documents such as PDF so that you don’t have to rely on another app.

Where it excels is in the video department, as you can stream directly from the drive.

And did we say it can handle up to three connections? It can do this with video too, so up to three ­people could be watching a movie together.

We tested this with a few HD trailers and the drive streamed three videos with no issues.

The case for space

With extra powers comes extra size. The Connect is a tad larger than most thumbdrives. In fact, it’s closer in size to most cigarette lighters.

I can accept the supersizing but not the rigidity of the cap design – it only fits one way. No doubt a minor issue, but no less annoying.

It’s also only USB 2.0 so videos take a little longer to copy. In our tests we got about 12 to 14Mbps (megabits per second) for reading a file and about 10 to 11Mbps for writing.

Including USB 3.0 would have pushed up the price even further. As it is the drive costs RM179.

All in all, a great drive to own if you like watching videos on the move or if you find the storage on your phone too limiting.

Pros: Great for storing large files like videos; streams HD movies smoothly; handles three simultaneous connections; decent battery life.
Cons: Not USB 3.0; you have to keep another device charged; cap not reversible.

Connect Wireless Stick
(Sandisk)
CAPACITY: 32GB
CONNECTION: USB 2.0, WiFi (802.11n)
SIZE: 20.83 x 78.21 x 12.19mm
WEIGHT: 21.76g
PRICE: RM179

Review unit courtesy of Sandisk