Hey gang, Valkor here. I mentioned in a couple of items of my previous Pepcom report that I’d be handling a few reviews, from units I picked up from the show. Well, that time is now as Kingston takes the stage, showing off their latest in the MobileLite series – the MobileLite Wireless G3. FYI, there’s a MobileLite G3 pro, which is the same as the standard unit, but that one contains an internal drive. So let’s see how Kingston's latest storage/streaming device compare to the previous version.
Kicking things off with the design, the MobileLite Wireless G3 takes a different approach than the previous version; while the G2 offered a slimmer look, it was also larger yet not unwieldy. However, the G3 offers a chunkier yet compact design with all of the same ports as its older brother. The front of the unit has your power button and MicroUSB slot for charging the device, on the right is your Ethernet port, on the left, are your slots for the USB and SD card slots, and on top are your indicator lights. The G3, just like the previous versions, works in conjunction with an app that will allow you to access data contained on an inserted SD card or USB drive over a direct Wi-Fi connection with the device. This is so that if your mobile device such as smartphone or tablet holds a limited amount of data, you won’t have to use up all of its space, plus it makes for a great way to backup items from your device to an external storage medium such as photos or important documents. And if you're in a leisurely mood, you can kick back and stream music and movies from the G3 to your device. Finally, you can transfer digital media to the G3, to free up some space in case you’re running out.
Bonus, the G3, like its older brothers, works as a battery back-up in case you’re running low while on the go. And it promises, even more, power than the previous units (2X the power). Using the G3, along with my Nexus 6, I found myself down to 15%, but I was halfway home. I could have ridden it out, but I was still about 30 minutes away. Then I remembered I had the G3 on me, which still had charge (since I didn’t use it much on that day), and it not only got me home but brought my device up to 46% after my arrival, which all in all was within a one-hour timeframe.
For this round of testing, I mostly used the G3 along with my Nexus 7, which only has a 16GB storage capacity. Setting up and getting the G3 going took zero effort and I was well on my way once I tossed a couple of files on a USB and installed the app on my tablet. So how does the G3 fare against the previous units?
The Bang:
The MobileLite Wireless G3 is the perfect travel companion in more ways than one; for starters, its compact size fits perfectly in any bag or purse without adding any extra bulk. And given the extra boost of battery power, you'll always have a handy battery pack available should your device start to run down. But the main reason you’ll want to keep the G3 on hand would be to access your digital media, without taking up storage on your main device; You can toss a ton of media onto a flash drive or SD card and it can not only be accessed by you but multiple users simultaneously as well, without the worry of crowding over one device or eating up precious space on your own mobile unit. Streaming from the G3 to my Nexus 7 was flawless, though I ran into a couple of hiccups (I’ll talk about that below), but lagging was not one of them, which is usually a common issue with streaming devices. And the media I streamed played as perfectly as if I was playing them on my main device. The MobileLite series keeps getting better and better with each incarnation and the G3 shows Kingston’s commitment to having the best in media streaming/storage devices on the market.
The Slack:
Anything negative I say about the G3 isn’t really a negative per say because they’re slight issues at best, which can be improved with some tweaking over time. First up, the app itself does media playback well, but not all file formats are supported; thankfully, the app allows you to open an external app for playback. However, it would be great if playback of any media format were possible in the native app. Next, and this is more of a suggestion if anything, the app allows access to an external media player, but it would be great if I could also share externally with other apps; I enjoy reading comics on my device and the amount of digital books I have takes up a lot of space (again my Nexus 7 is limited), so it would be awesome of I can stream my digital books as well. PDFs it can do OK, but CBRs… not so much.
Kingston MobileLite Wireless G3 is available now and the best just got better as it’s the perfect on the go, storage/streaming device around. You’d be doing yourself and your mobile device a favor by picking up one of these bad boys. I highly recommend it. And out of TOV 5 stars, I give Kingston’s MobileLite Wireless G3 a 5.
