One of the most annoying things about iOS devices is the lack of a facility for hooking up extra storage. Sometimes, using an SD card or a thumb drive is just way more efficient for transferring files than any of the commercial or private cloud solutions out there. The iStick is a thumb drive that can work with both computers (via USB) and iOS devices (via Lightning), finally creating a simple way to get files to and from Apple’s mobile gadgets without going through the hassle of iTunes.
Created by Hyper, it’s an Apple MFi-certified thumb drive that comes with both a USB and Lighting connector. Whether for transferring movies from the PC to an iPad, moving an ebook collection from an iPod Touch to a Mac, or copying the entire photo gallery from your iPhone to your mom’s iPhone (hey, mom wants a copy of all your selfies), this should do the trick.
The iStick has a sliding switch that controls which connector is exposed, so switching from one to the other takes just one flick of a thumb. Combined with the iStick mobile app, you can play media directly from the flash drive (with support for formats not native to iOS), as well open files from a variety of apps (no need to transfer), conduct file management, and even backup files from your iOS device to the thumb drive.
It comes in a variety of storage capacities, from 8GB to 128GB, with 2.5MBps read speed and 1.9MBps write speed over the Lightning connection. Dimensions are 51.6 x 28.6 x 9.1 mm, with either ABS plastic or aluminum construction for the drive case.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for iStick. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $79.