ADATA prepares to launch DashDrive Air AE800

Following hot on the heals of the AE400, ADATA has taken the opportunity to present the brand new DashDrive Air AE800 to new retail customers at the Distree event in Monte Carlo. It offers some cool new features, but will the channel fall in love with this new portable drive? KitGuru operatives were on hand to snap and savour.

The major technology event known as Distree happens every year down in Monaco. It brings together resellers (the people you and KitGuru buy technology from) with the distributors (who sell to the resellers) and the vendors (the people who actually make the cool stuff in the first place). If you have a product that costs less than £200, then this is a pretty good place to show it off.

On the ADATA stand, we managed to catch up with Melanie Grunewald and Jordi Carbo, who run various the Central European and Iberian regions respectively.

We were keen to know what makes the DashDrive Air AE800 so different to the AE400. Here's a concise run through:-

• The AE800 includes a 500GB drive – perfect for media streaming
• It includes a 5100mAh batttery, which means the device can be used on the move
• The drive is set up like a Sky box, in that you can be accessing data on the drive while it simultaneously streams to someone else on your network
• Speaking about networks, the hotspot it creates can support up to 8 devices – perfect if you decide to holiday with friends or family and want to watch something together in transit
• It has support for iOS and Android applications – so mobile users are well catered for (sorry Blackberry)

And, at just 290 grams, it is definitely portable.

Shipments of the AE400 are due into the UK in time for the CeBIT show over in Hannover in March. The AE800 will follow in behind.

KitGuru says: With 4G data plans likely to be aimed at the ‘low/single digit gigabytes a month', it will be quite a while before we can regularly stream films etc cheaply on the move. In that kind of situation, you need a storage medium, network and control software. ADATA seems to have the bundle right – can they do the same with the price? We'll go out on a limb and say that, if ADATA delivers on the promise, then ‘sub £100' should do the trick.

Comment below, in the forums or join us online at Facebook.

Become a Patron!