14 DAY TRIAL // If you're not an Apple fan, you might not be that familiar with the Lightning connectivity interface. If you are, though, you may be interested in the new flash drive from Power Quotient International, or PQI for short.
Lightning is the name of the interface that Apple uses to allow its mobile devices (iPhones, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPad tablets) to connect to host computers, external monitors, cameras, USB battery chargers, etc.
It was a replacement for the previous docking connector, bringing the pin number from thirty to eight. It can also be inserted in a slot with either side facing up, and it is bidirectional (can either charge a device, or allow the device to power accessories). The data transfer specification is still based on Universal Serial Bus though.
PQI has just released a flash drive by the name of Gmobi iStick. It has the honor of being the first Apple MFi-certified Lightning Duo USB portable storage drive, as well as the only OTG storage device on the market intended exclusively for Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Often, companies can be remarkably vague on whether the Lightning port is based on USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 technology.
Here, though, PQI says it plainly enough: the OTG flash drives use USB 2.0, like most OTG drives on the market, Apple-ready or otherwise.
If so, then the top data transfer speed is of 480 Mbps, not the 5 Gbps of USB 3.0. Not that that potential is ever truly reached by storage devices, but the throughput usually does reach hundreds of MB per second.
In case the acronym doesn't ring any bells, OTG stands for On-The-Go and is a label that says a flash drive can recognize a phone or tablet as a host PC, like it would a laptop or desktop.
The Lightning connector is certified for Apple MFi, but there is a normal USB 2.0 port on the other end of the Gmobi iStick. You can go from one to the other thanks to the built-in slide switch.
All in all, the newcomers measure 51 x 28.6 x 9 mm / 2 x 1.12 x 0.35 mm and weigh 9.4 grams / 0.33 ounces, regardless of capacity (8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB). In addition to iOS, the list of supported operating systems includes Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and, of course, Max 10.X and above. Unfortunately, a price list was not included with the announcement.