Convergence seems to be the name of the game these days, and
ADATA's riding that bandwagon. The company has just launched an interesting mishmash of products: a wireless storage reader and power bank. The DashDrive Air AE400 is a wireless reader that can read and stream data from
USB storage media and SD memory cards, and also functions as a power bank that can charge other mobile devices. The AE400 can be an easy to operate wireless hotspot, with support for 802.11 b/g/n wireless networking. When functioning as a network bridge, the internet connection can be shared by up to 10 devices at the same time.
As a storage reader, the AE400 enables wireless data transfer between mobile devices and SD cards, USB flash drives, or portable HDDs. It supports up to 3 users simultaneously streaming 1080p video, or up to 5 users simultaneously streaming 720p video. Supported operating systems include iOS, Android, Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8), OS X, and Linux 2.4+. The DashDrive Air Elite App (for users of iOS 5.0 & Android 2.3 or later versions) is free for download from both the Apple App Store and Google Play. It'll ship soon for around $70, but it remains to be seen how many folks actually find this combination of features desirable.