Easy transfer of phone data

PQI iConnect Mini

32GB: S$120 64GB: S$175 128GB: S$295

EVEN though Apple has increased the base storage capacities of its new iPhones, the S$170 that users pay for each jump up across all models to the next limit is still pretty steep.

And it adds up if you also own any of their tablets, and want more storage space to begin with.

The iConnect Mini is an external storage unit no bigger than a USB flash drive, where one end is a USB 3.0 connector, while the other is a Lightning one. Users simply plug one end into their Apple device, back up any data, such as the thousands of photos that they have taken, and move them to this device.

Once done, they can then stick the iConnect Mini into any computer, and move their files there. The idea is that much of the storage on a phone can then be freed up for other uses, and this makes backing up so much easier, instead of using the rather cumbersome iTunes.

When you plug in the device to the iPhone for the first time, it will prompt you to download the corresponding app. This device isn't really there to act as a secondary storage though, and its interface is more about moving data to and from the phone. This way, you can easily copy movies or work files from your PC over, without involving any additional software installation on your computer.

File transfer between the iPhone 7 Plus and the device is quite fast, and it took only 14 minutes to move 5,800 images from the phone to the device.

One drawback here is that it takes a while for all the images to load on the device's interface, so don't expect things to run as smoothly as Apple's own software.

While S$295 is a high price for a 128GB portable hard drive, it pays for itself if you own several Apple devices, as you can use it across all of them, to move and back up files easily.

So instead of buying a large capacity phone or tablet this year, and another one next year, why not invest in something that can be used on all Apple devices from last year, this year, and more years to come?