14 DAY TRIAL // In addition to mobile PCs, Toshiba has long been a provider of various storage devices, both magnetic and solid-state memory-based, but it sometimes launches certain auxiliary accessories too, and that's precisely what has just happened.
Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., has formally launched the Canvio Wireless Adapter.
It's a fairly simple, straightforward item, but one that can be quite useful when you're traveling. It makes us wonder why there aren't many more of its kind out there.
Sure, it Canvio Wireless Adapter might not be the first of its kind, but its kind is rare, rarer than mobile Wi-Fi hotspots at any rate.
The newcomer can turn an external storage device into a network storage one, just by plugging the USB port into it.
Sure, it needs to be connected to a power socket, but that goes for pretty much every Wi-Fi device, except the ones with integrated batteries. Here, Toshiba chose portability and compactness over on-board energy.
In its press release, Toshiba talks about how a portable or external hard disk drive can be shared on a network, or directly with up to eight smartphones, tablets or other gadgets with Wi-Fi support.
We see no reason why flash drives and solid-state drives couldn't go through the same though. After all, the idea is ultimately the same. Just the method of storing the data differs, and USB is USB no matter what the insides are.
The device will probably prove most useful in hotel rooms, or in lounges. It will let you share the files on any device and from any place, and since it's a way to tap into a network, then you could, presumably, retrieve files from home too, or send them there.
Playing video straight to a phone or TV (if available), or a monitor, laptop or desktop, might as well happen, at the same time as, say, your friend is sharing photos on Facebook.
In order for tablets and smartphones to access the storage unit via the wireless adapter, they will need to download and install the associated Android or iOS app. Fortunately, it's free, like every piece of software indispensable to this or that piece of equipment.
Finally, thanks to Internet pass-through mode, you can have your device connected to both the Internet and the Canvio Wireless Adapter at the same time. The price of the Toshiba Canvio Wireless Adapter is $79.99 / €58.