iStick is a USB flash drive with 2 connectors. One connector is standard full-sized USB, the other one is lightning connector for iPhone (5 or newer) and iPad (4th gen or newer). This product started as a Kickstarter project back in June 2014. There are 5 color options: silver, gold, space grey, white and black. The capacity starts from 8 GB to 128 GB.
For a Kickstarter project, I must say that the creators of this product did an amazing product to deliver in a product almost on time. They promised to ship my reward in August 2014. And I actually receive it in September. It’s a rarity for most Kickstarter projects I backed.
This USB flash drive comes in a nice transparent box. Included in the package is the iStick, a pouch and a 5 cm lightning extension cable. The main unit looks good and feels solid. There is a switch in the middle of the memory stick, allowing us to choose USB or lightning connector.
Upon connecting iStick into the lightning port in my iPhone 6, it asks to download a free app called iStick. Once installed, the app allow us to copy or move files from iStick to iPhone and vice versa. We can access files directly from the iStick (it has built-in media player), or we can copy them first into iPhone’s internal storage. In my test, the speed of iStick is enough to play music directly, but not enough for movie playing. Movies play nicely after I copied the files into iPhone storage, but still using iStick app.
Sadly, iStick is still limited to the speed of USB 2.0. Writing files from a Mac into iStick is kinda slow, with average 4 MB/s transfer rate. Reading speed is a bit better at 14 MB/s. To be fair, this probably was not so bad back in the era of USB 2.0, plus the creators had clearly stated in their project page about USB 2.0 specification. But now that I’m used to enjoy the speed of USB 3.0, waiting for the transfer process to copy a single movie of 500 MB seemed like taking forever.
Just for the fact that this memory stick would allow easier file transfer from/to my Mac is already exciting. This flash drive would certainly join my everyday gadget pack.
you make a good point Robert, but you do forget that the differences between a 10 dollar watch, a 200 dollar gold plated seiko, a 7000 Tag and a 35k Rolex are obvious to even the untrained eye. there’s really no doubting that apple is making money off people who don’t know better.
however, it takes time and effort and technical knowledge to know better. some people don’t have that, and that’s not their fault. maybe their education is in the fine arts or maybe they’re too old to go reading through engadget reviews. not to mean that anyone who buys apple is stupid. sometimes its just easier to spend the money than to make the informed decision.
I agree with you that the ideal situation is to make “informed decision”. However, reality indeed does not always work that way.
Next, I have to disagree with you about “obvious to even the untrained eye”.
Yes, $10 watch is probably very different from $7000 Tag. However, personally I still can’t get the “expensive” part of a Rolex until today and what differentiate it from a 7k Tag or even a $200 Seiko. Perhaps I have “worse than untrained eye”.
Therefore I still could not believe that some people choose to buy these 35k Rolex based on informed decision.
To me, most of Rolex owners made their decision based on pride and class of the brand, very little to do with technical knowledge about the product.
Not just limited to watches.
Most people who can afford something expensive know very little about how to maximise the use of those products.
Many people who know how to actually use an expensive product can’t afford one.
Most of these people buying these luxurious stuff don’t know the technicality of the “premium” product they buy.
Because, sadly, most of people who can afford luxurious stuff buy them for the pride, not for the actual product.
And that’s okay. I’m perfectly okay with them and do not feel the need to bash them.
All this money for a basic usb flash drive. On Android you buy a cheap $3 cable from china and a 16gb usb flash drive on special for $5 then just pop it into the phone thats it. A little more than a cup of coffee. No apps to put on no over the top prices for some idevice. Some people have more money than sense! No wonder apple is the richest company in the world! It never does anything if there isnt a buck to be made! rest of the world cheap usb flash drive, apple idevice, rest of the world usb cable apple lightning connector, rest of the world video calling or skype apple factime, the list goes on and on
Consumer choice has nothing to do with your definition of “sense”. People can buy non-branded watches from China for less than $10, or $200 gold-plated Seiko, $7,000 Tag Heuer, or $35,000 Rolex. They all provide one and the same function: telling time. The same thing also applies to car industry, furniture industry, TVs, clothing and many more. That’s just how the world’s economy works. There will ALWAYS be products on different price ranges with almost identical function. There will ALWAYS be people who choose the cheapest one, and the most expensive one.
Just be happy with whatever you choose. If you’re happy with your $3 cable and $5 USB flash drive, then good. Use it for your work, for your personal computing, for increasing productivity. Don’t judge other people for making different choices. They don’t use your money to buy their choice of products. They don’t force you to buy the same product. Because buying product is NOT just about price vs list of features. It has been this way for thousands of years, and will continue to stay this way for many years to come.