14 DAY TRIAL // Flash drives need to put quite a bit of effort into looking good and striking if they are to have any chance at standing out amongst their peers. In absence of other differentiating qualities, aesthetics are all they can rely on.
ADATA knows this well, as is apparent from the release of the new UC340 USB flash drive series, which exhibits a fairly good balance between elegance and functionality.
At least those are some of the words that the company used in its press release. Not that we're all that eager to rebuff any of them. The outer shells are indeed quite unique.
While the zig-zagging, angular theme isn't altogether new, it does crop up fairly rarely, even among fashion-prone models.
The push-to-click mechanical design also stands out, mostly due to the way the pushable sections are put together.
The UC340 USB flash drive mechanical traits
The main body of the drive is shiny, gleaming black, but the top ends in a blue or red section that looks like a USB port cap but isn't.
Instead, it is the spot where you connect the drive to a keychain or lanyard if you so desire. Also, it is the part you need to press on in order to render the drive usable.
The USB 3.0 port is at the other end, and it stays completely hidden in the main drive body unless you push it out from the other side.
When the click sounds, you can be sure that the USB connector won't just be pushed back into the drive main case when you try to connect it to your PC.
The specs of the UC340 ADATA flash drive
There are capacities of 16 GB to 256 GB, meaning that the full list is this: 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB.
Read and write speeds depend somewhat on capacity, but the best rates are of 200 MB/s for the former and 120 MB/s for the latter.
"UFDtoGO" and "OStoGO" software is available for free download with every purchase, and a lifetime warranty is bundled with all drives.
Availability and pricing
The ADATA UC340 flash drive units should already be up for sale through online retailers and street stores, but their prices weren't specified in the press release, sadly. They will probably be one or two dollars / euro more expensive than alternatives of similar capacity, due to the care given to the design. Even if the bright blue and red rear sections might come across as somewhat glaring.
