The world is becoming more and more mobile, most of us, especially in the tech industry have a lifestyle that is highly mobile and we have a need for gadgets that will make our lifestyles easier. We take our phones with us, our cameras, and much more usually, and with those items comes the need for connectivity and a way to get the data from those devices.
USBFever had sent me an interesting little gadget that incorporates a Bluetooth dongle and a card reader in one small, portable device. At first I thought this was a Bluetooth enabled card reader, but it's not, it's actually a full featured BT dongle with a card reader built into it.
I have to admit though, it would be a much cooler little gadget had it been a BT reader and dongle all in one…
Multi-Card Reader with Bluetooth Dongle
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Multi-Card Reader with Bluetooth Dongle
Product Code#:AL321-A980
Price: US$17.99
Features:
– Direct access T-Flash / MicroSD / M2 memory cards
– Fully compatible with USB 2.0
– LED indicator for Bluetooth)
– Supports Windows Vista / XP / 2000 / ME
– Bluetooth 2.0 compliant
– Bluetooth class 2, compatible with Bluetooth class 1
– Portable
– Plug-N-Play
– Compact & Lightweight
Recommended applications:
– Wireless connect to Bluetooth devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, etc. for data transfer
– Personal Area Network (PAN) connectivity
Cards Reading:
– SD / MiniSD / SDHC / MMC / MMC Plus / MMC Plus Turbo / RS-MMC / RS-MMC Mobile / RS-MMC Turbo
– Micro MS (M2)
– MS / MS Magic Gate / Ms Select / MS Duo / MS Duo Magic Gate / MS Pro / MS Pro Magic Gate / – MS Pro Duo Magic Gate
– T-Flash / MicroSD
Package Contents:
– Multi-Card Reader with Bluetooth Dongle x 1
– USB Cable x 1
Note:
– Brand: SIYOTEAM
A Better Look at Things
:
The Multi-Card Reader with Bluetooth Dongle comes in an attractive package, it's bright and colorful with lots of information on the front and back. Through the front of the package you can see the device itself, and on the back you can see the USB connection peeking through.
The only thing that comes with this reader/dongle is a USB cable, no disc included.
The device uses two separate USB connections, one is a mini which is on the side for the Bluetooth and to be used with the included USB cable, and the other is the built-in short USB cable that you got a glimpse of through the package. Once each side of the dongle/reader are the card slots, while the top has a small LED indicator.
Installation, Testing and Comparison
For both the Bluetooth and the Card Reader there really is no installation, on Windows XP and Vista it installed automatically. Of course this means that you are stuck using the Windows Bluetooth Stack which honestly sucks… but it works.
With the BlueTooth there is no A2DP, I was hoping there was but I could not get it to work at all, it's nice to be able to listen to music via BT headphones. The regular BT features worked fine, I used it up to my ATT Tilt and was hooked up easily and quickly.
The card reader works well, I put it up against my Ultra Stackable card reader using a PNY 512MB SD card, for testing I used HDTach RW with write enabled.
The stand alone Ultra Reader is faster, but not by much. The speeds achieved with this little gadget should be fine for transferring data when needed.
Summary:
Since it's small and lightweight, it's very portable and you can easily take it with you wherever you go.
My laptop doesn't have Bluetooth or a card reader built-in, so I end up carrying around a BT dongle and a card reader, so if you're like me you'll appreciate having essentially two devices in one small package.
The lack of Compact Flash slot though might turn people off since CF is one of the popular formats for cameras, but the addition of the microSD slot is nice for those of use with cellphones equipped with microSD card slots and good built-in cameras.
DragonSteelMods gives the Multi-Card Reader with Bluetooth Dongle a 4.5 out of 5 score.
Pros:
-Small, portable
-Fast transfer speed
-Easy to install
-Easy to use
-Seems well made
-BT 2.0 compatible
Cons:
-No A2DP
-No CF Slot
-Uses windows BT Stack
I would like to thank USBFever for the chance to review the Multi-Card Reader with Bluetooth Dongle and for their continued support of DSM.
review# 416