Asus Travelair N review

Usage

You need to charge the battery for at least eight hours before its first use, though it promises eight hours' worth of life from a full charge. There are soft rubbery flaps over the USB port and SD card slot which feel a bit flimsy and as if they're likely to drop off at any moment. The one for the SD slot also tends to slide back under the device when you have a card inserted preventing it sitting flat on a surface. Those niggles aside, the device has a solid feel and it's IP43 water resistant, which means it will survive the odd accidental splash but don't go using it in the bath.

There is an LED to indicate when it's switched on and another to show that Wi-Fi is active. However, these are located on the edge and depending on how the drive is positioned they're not always easy to see.

Plug it into your PC and the Travelair acts like any other external drive. To connect to a phone or tablet you need to download the AiDrive app to your device. This has a smart-looking interface with sections for photos, videos, music and files. You can copy objects between the drive and your device and access files from the Travelair's SD slot. You also have the option to back up your camera files and contacts to the drive as well as backing up your SD card.

When the device is powered on it appears on your list of wireless networks and you can connect without a password. Once connected the AiDrive app gives you the option to enable WPA2 security to protect your data. You can change the SSID and have the option to disable SSID broadcast as well, for added security.

The wireless connection is fast enough to allow you to smoothly stream music or video to your device and it can handle streaming to several devices at once.

Verdict

You can pick up the Travelair N for around £110 (about $160, AU$230). Given that you can easily pay £80 or £90 (about $130, AU$180) for a simple external 1TB drive the extra capabilities on offer here make it look like a bit of a bargain. You're getting a well-made unit that gives you wireless and NFC connectivity – plus it's battery powered so you can use it anywhere and the software for iOS and Android devices makes it easy to access.

Okay, so it's a bit bulkier than a standard drive but that's the price you pay for the extra connectivity. It does feel a little cheaply made in places – the flaps covering the ports and the moulding on the base – but these are minor niggles.

Overall, if you're looking for storage that you can use on the move and share between multiple devices, then the Travelair N is a good bet at this price level.