Cut the cords and go wireless: “World’s first” wireless external USB drive.

Whenever we hear “world’s first”, “best ever”, or any other hype up words, my attention immediately tanks and my hopes trying desperately to lift the ten ton weight off of their shoulders. In the case of this “world’s first” wireless USB Drive, the “Imation Pro WX”, I’m only slightly inattentive. You see, the drive isn’t the first to connect to a host device via the wondrous radio waves around us. Many other NAS type storage devices offer up wireless connections via WiFi. The Imation Pro employs a slightly different form of wireless technology by way of a USB transmitter with an accompanying receiver built into the actual drive.

Kind of misleading? Ya, a tad (AT&T back away….). But only in the sense that it isn’t really the first cord-free way to transmit digital bits. With as common as WiFi networks are now becoming as well as the the fact that most people who don’t connect to storage drives over a WiFi network do so with a stationary desktop that never moves. A stationary desktop doesn’t require wireless storage unless it’s an older machine with limited storage on board. A couple of sticking points that will keep a fair share of end users away is the $500 sticker price. Sure it gives you easy and network free wireless transfers, but is it worth $500? Not to mention, the whole issue of speed comes into play. The max transfer speed for the Imation Pro is a paltry 15MB/s. Novel concept but I’ll pass. Anyone else feel differently?

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