STACK October 2016 Issue 144

80 / 125

The Flashiest of
Flash Drives
With overwhelming technological advances occurring in all directions within
contemporary society, it’s often easy to overlook how classic storage and transfer
devices – such as the stoic and trusty USB – have matured over the years. SanDisk
is one of the world’s premiere manufacturers of flash memory cards and readers,
having assisted consumers shift their data for over twenty-eight years.
Words John Roebuck
visit
80 OCTOBER 2016
TECH FEATURE
SanDisk iXpand
The SanDisk iXpand is a simple and elegant
solution to the unnecessarily common
dilemma of trying to find space on your
iPhone where there is none to find. We’ve all
stumbled across a perfect-looking Avocado
Smash, only to discover that we can’t take a
photo of it because the storage space on our
phone is full. The revelatory SanDisk iXpand
is a USB thumb drive, armed with a Lightning
connector – the mini connector that is
compatible with the most recent iterations of
the iPhone and the iPad. The days of storage
inadequacy are over.
The iXpand Sync mobile app must be
downloaded in order to utilise the benefits
of the drive; once downloaded, the app
automatically recognises the device when
you plug it in. The app is also a breeze to
use and effortless to understand. It doesn’t
automatically organise content into groups,
but is so responsive in its connectivity with the
iXpand apparatus that finding the file you’re
after is a walk in the park.
Most notably, when connected to the
iXpand Sync app, the drive has extraordinary
content playback, with the iXpand capable
of loading High Definition video almost
immediately once a file is selected, with no lag
or buffer time. The media playback potential
coupled with the storage functionality make
the iXpand one of the handiest iPhone/iPad
companions on the market.
SanDisk Ultra Dual
USB Drive 3.0
The iXpand is a wonderful tool for iPads and
iPhones. For everyone else, the SanDisk
Ultra Dual USB Drive is one of the most
convincing options for on-the-go USBs that
money can buy.
Ever watched a movie on your laptop on a
long trip, only to have your viewing cut short
because your computer ran out of battery?
Thanks to the Ultra Dual, which stores
and transfers data between phones and
computers, you can now finish interrupted
movies on your smartphone.
With its super speed USB 3.0, capable of
reaching transfer speeds of around 150MB
per second – which makes it as fast or faster
at transferring as any comparable product
– the Ultra Dual connects to almost every
Android smartphone or tablet.
It’s slightly bulkier than SanDisk’s previous
iteration of the same product (which likely
won't affect the majority of consumers)
but might be worth considering for anyone
looking to use the device with a smartphone
in their pocket.
The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB offers
Android users a portable solution for
additional storage space on their devices
– and at its wonderfully low price, it’s very
difficult to overlook.
SanDisk
Extreme Pro MicroSD
If you're looking for high transfer speeds in a
microSD card, check out SanDisk’s Extreme
Pro MicroSDXC UHS-II cards, available in 64
and 128GB models.
This release offers transfer speeds of up
to 275mb/s from card to computer – the
fastest that you’ll find available today. Perfect
for offloading 4K Ultra HD video from your
camera, drone or smartphone, the UHS-II
card offers a dramatic reduction in transfer
time, permitting more time behind the lens
and less time waiting for your tech.
The cards also include a USB 3.0 reader,
allowing for the best possible transfer rates.
SanDisk’s Extreme Pro MicroSDXC UHS-II
cards are shock-proof, temperature-proof,
waterproof, and even X-ray-proof, so there’s
nothing preventing you from recording – and
safely preserving – your adventures on the
fastest card on the market.
Getting your hands on one of these will
also offer you access to RescuePro deluxe
data recovery – a free one-year subscription
download that makes it easy to recover files
that may have been accidentally deleted;
no need to worry about trashing your best
captures ever again. Additionally, if you’re
using your MicroSDXC UHS-II card on an
Android device, SanDisk offers a Memory
Zone app that will let you back up your
captures to the cloud.