It looks like any other thumb drive, but offers way more.
The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick is a flash drive with wireless connectivity and inbuilt battery that allows you to access, stream and transfer your files over 802.11n Wi-Fi. Available with 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 200GB storage options, the Connect Wireless Stick is a pretty neat wireless flash drive to extend storage on your post-PC devices without any wires or internet connectivity.
Design
The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick looks like a USB dongle, a little fatter than a traditional flash drive with dimensions of 20.83 x 78.21 x 12.19 mm. It sports a textured, geometric pattern on the front panel giving a modern, artsy look.
There's an LED on the front panel that indicates whether the drive is powered on, transferring wireless data, charging, or low on battery. There's also a small power button and a loop on the bottom edge to attach a lanyard.
Unfortunately, the cap on the drive cannot be fit anywhere else on the stick when removed to plug into a computer, which is a shame since one tends to lose these caps often.
Setup
What makes the Connect Wireless Stick stand out is the wireless capability of course, and it turns out to be pretty good at it. All you need to do is power on the Connect Wireless Stick. The drive creates an ad-hoc wireless network with default SSID name and settings (these can be configured via the app), and you'd need to connect to that Wi-Fi network to access and transfer files. The connection process is quite easy and user-friendly, and you can connect up to three devices to the drive in no time.
There are two ways to access the drive. You can download the SanDisk Connect app from the Play Store (also available for iOS) or you can go to sandisk.com/myconnect from a Web browser. The latter is useful for Mac or Windows, or when you need to access files on a smartphone just for one time or so. Although, if you have a laptop or Macbook with full-sized USB port, you're better off plugging the flash drive into the port, and access files in the good old fashion. It's simpler and the read/write speeds are better.
The wireless access only works when the drive isn't plugged into your computer's USB port – a design limitation to prevent file corruption with different device types writing to the drive at the same time. Also, on Android, it's complex to stay connected to 3G/4G for internet connectivity while being connected to the drive's Wi-Fi network.
Performance
The wireless range of the Connect Wireless Stick is pretty good, and the company claims that it can reach up to 150 feet in direct line of sight. In my experience, it could easily stay connected to my phone, including uninterrupted streaming playback, from several rooms away, with multiple walls in between.
The battery life of the drive depends on what you're using it for. Streaming video off the drive drains the battery much more quickly compared to keeping it connected for occasionally moving files as one would do in regular usage. With latter, one can easily get over four hours — although I prefer to power off the drive after a file transfer, unless I'm streaming a music or video file. You can charge the drive by plugging it into the USB port of your computer (bummer!), and it takes about two hours to fully charge the drive.
The Connect Wireless Stick is limited to USB 2.0 interface and the file-transfer speeds are just average. I got around 15MBps transfer rate wirelessly and about 30MBps when plugged into a PC. While it's good enough for a quick file transfer or to stream a movie (most videos could be easily streamed on three devices simultaneously without stuttering), USB 3.0 would have made the Connect Wireless Stick future-proof.
Mobile App
The SanDisk Connect app is surprisingly intuitive and quite versatile and makes navigating files and folders pretty seamless. Interesting visuals show how much storage is remaining as well as what mobile devices are connected.
Also, you can set up the drive to back up your phone's camera roll with an in-app menu option. Each time the device is connected, the app automatically saves new photos.
There are a few oddities with some file types, but those could be fixed with an app update. Overall, the app is nicely done, and works as a perfect companion to the device. I would've also liked a Windows app for a uniform experience on the PC. A universal Windows 10 app of course would also satiate folks who use Windows 10 Mobile devices and make it a truly cross-platform device.
The Bottom Line
The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick does exactly what it's supposed to, in a seamless fashion. Connecting to phone and transferring files to and fro is pretty easy and intuitive, and the mobile app works well. It looks stylish, and the wireless connectivity is reliable.
It's not perfect though. The transfer speeds are middling since it's USB 2.0. Also, it's awkward to use on a computer, but you'd really buy it for extending storage on your mobile devices without the need to insert microSD cards or use OTG cables to attach flash drives, and that is where it excels.
Reader comments
SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick allows you to access data on the flash drive wirelessly
I know it's different, but why not leave a thumb drive in a computer and use wifi explorer to transfer files?
Posted via the Android Central App
This is for times when you aren't near a computer.
Thank you for the correction. My mistake.
Posted via the Android Central App
The future is now
Posted via Techmology
It's ironic. Useful, but ironic.
I just got one of these, and it was very useful while traveling. My only gripe is that the connection isn't reliable when transferring large files. And when a file fails, there is no resume function in the app. Oh one other thing, the media player built into the app does not support all formats, so you often have to download the file to your device before playing.
Is it possible to charge in a wall charger, and stream/transfer files at the same time?
Posted via the AC App
Own it.. stutters with streaming ALOT! Can be brutally slow showing thumbnails in gallery and maintaining a connection unless in airplane mode is tricky at best. It's sort-of worth buying...
The idea of this thing is so very cool!
Dumb question. Do you think SanDisk develop their own app, or farm it out.
For the tinkerer, I would recommend the ZSUN wireless micro SD card reader. It is $12 + a card you probably already have. The software it comes with and the app to connect to it are both bad, but my experience with these wifi storage devices even the name brand ones are iffy, with iffy future support. The ZSUN can easily be flashed to Open WRT, and then you can set up Samba or FTP to access the storage from any app or computer.
Plus anything else you can do with Open WRT......
I'm feeling extra froggy so I plan to add a large external antenna and wired network jack to mine. Although this is useful enough and small enough I might get another.
You can always charge it with the phone using an OTG plug. I carry one in my jacket pocket and laptop bag, and I've even charged other phones from mine. Not sure I'd every use it for streaming, as any movie on my server can be dropped into a Chrome browser window and streamed to the Chromecast.
I prefer a more direct solution for phone or tablet use. The Meenova Usb-c connector works great with my 6p and the micro-usb version works great with my Nexus 7. I figure by going this way...less battery drain than wi-fi, plus swappable micro-sd cards for added storage. Pretty compact as well.
http://www.meenova.com/
Posted via the Android Central App
This sounded perfect for Nexus phones without enough memory until you mentioned the Internet access issue.
Just bought one of these. Originally though this would be useful for sending files to my SmartTV so I don't have to keep yanking out the USB drive to watch movies. Unfortunately sending files to these drives via wifi is painfully slow. Streaming however works surprisingly well with no skips or wifi loss...even from 100 feet away.