Seagate today announced GoFlex Satellite mobile wireless storage, the first battery-powered external hard drive to wirelessly extend the storage capacity of any Wi-Fi enabled mobile device. With 500GB and Wi-Fi access over 802.11 b/g/n and a rechargeable battery, this latest member of the GoFlex family provides the ability to carry an entire library of video, music, pictures and documents with you. Devices are wirelessly connected directly to the GoFlex Satellite drive by use of the free GoFlex Media app—available now on iTunes and the Apple App Store—or a web browser.
GoFlex Satellite is available immediately for preorder from Seagate.com, Amazon and BestBuy.com for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $199.99, and is scheduled to arrive in Best Buy stores in July 2011. Global availability is planned for later this summer.
“With the growth of the tablet and iPad markets and the larger volumes of high-quality media now being consumed, there is a clear need for access to content that is not plagued with the challenges of streamed video over the Internet,” said Patrick Connolly, vice president and general manager of Seagate’s retail group, in the press release. “The unfortunate fact is that these popular new mobile devices are hampered by their limited storage capacity while one of their primary functions is that of media consumption. With the GoFlex Satellite mobile wireless storage, we wished to create an elegant solution that provides real value to the multitude of iPad users out there by delivering a seamless connection to local storage. No longer will a consumer feel as though it is a compromise to purchase a lower capacity tablet or iPad. With GoFlex Satellite, people will be able to carry their entire media library with them without the need for wires or the web at a fraction of the cost of adding 3G or purchasing or a higher capacity tablet.”
Streaming over the Internet has enabled video access for tablet owners, but the quality is at the mercy of the Internet connection, be it over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G. With more connected devices per hotspot, it’s often difficult to watch video without choppiness or pixilation. Rather than rely on a buffered stream from a distant provider, GoFlex Satellite mobile storage wirelessly serves up media content as a local attached storage for up to three devices at the same time. With a stand-by battery life of up to 25 hours, the powerful lithium polymer battery delivers up to 5 hours of continuously streaming video. To help with extending battery life, the free GoFlex Media app provides a progressive download feature, which temporarily loads the video on to the iOS device it is being streamed to, allowing the drive to go into stand-by mode.
GoFlex Media App
Initially available for Apple iOS devices, such as: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; the GoFlex Media app provides a seamless way to connect the mobile wireless storage to your iPad or iPhone.
Media Sync software
The easy-to-use Media Sync software, also included free with purchase, makes grabbing media from a Mac OS X or Windows computer a breeze. Wherever the files are stored, whether that is a file structure of your own creation or in an iTunes library, the Media Sync software will load all of your desired music, videos, photos and documents on to the GoFlex Satellite drive. Media Sync is easily configured to only place files on the drive that are compatible with your iOS device. Even music and videos purchased through iTunes can be loaded to the GoFlex Satellite drive and will play on all authorized devices.
Loading Media
For rapid loading of media content, the wireless mobile storage comes equipped with the superfast USB 3.0 cable to get files from your computer to the GoFlex Satellite drive. The USB 3.0 cable will also continue to work with USB 2.0 ports and is easily removed for portability. In addition to the USB 3.0 cable, the GoFlex Satellite drive comes complete with a car charger and a compact wall charger.
More info about Seagate’s GoFlex Satellite here.
Source: Seagate Technology LLC
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Caitlin” and “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]
Bit of an overkill isn’t it equipping a wireless storage device with 500GB of hard disk space to sync with an iPad. Unless it does double duty as a backup to the Mac too.
Not when you start wanting to have a good selection of HD movies available. You can just keep the device in your bag/coat/car and pull whatever movie you want off. Now just sync it with your Mac and you can have a very mobile office with all your documents ready to go.
Actually, I think this is a great idea, especially considering that the cameras on iPhones are getting better and better with each release. People on trips can take pics with their iPhones all day and then back them up to their Seagate device when they get back to their hotel in the evening. I’ll be buying one for sure.
Have to choose between Wi-Fi to this storage device or Wi-Fi Internet connection (unless 3G ipad). Also, apparently when displaying enlarged pictures, support for gestures to flick between images is presently missing.
I was hoping for a simple back and forth solution for documents – but apparently it doesn’t support loading into Pages, Numbers or Keynote. Looks like documents are only supported through QuickView – no editing.
Worth looking into. It overcomes my iPad’s 64GB
limit and does it wirelessly. 200 bucks for 500GB
versus $700 for a second iPad? Fascinating and
very tempting.
I was looking into a solution for watching movies at my gym, and had been considering getting a Time Capsule. I want to load a hard drive with movies, so I can watch them on my iPad. This is way better for a gym because it’s battery powered. This drive is not for everyone, but for those of us without unlimited data plans (missed the boat, otherwise Netflix would be my solution) this is an awesome way to carry a huge collection of videos.
FYI, I love File Browser. The only problem is that it’s useless when I’m not near my home network (e.g. at the gym).
ok stupid question time.
its MADE for iOS devices… which are apple.
but uses USB 3.0………………….. oh yeah, for the PC crowd.
sure it dumbs down to USB 2.0, but why not FW? or Does the Freeagent docks work with this one as well?
if the docks/cables work, then its a damn good idea. if not, its just a good idea.
bah, clicked the link, went to bottom of page. answered my own stupid question.
YES you can use the GoFlex cables.
I now upgrade thee to a Damn Good Idea. (and now on my Amazon wish list)
I believe that Air Video application for Iphone & Ipad does the samething and you do not have to buy a go drive limited to 500 gb. You install a separate Air Video application on your Mac which acts as a server on your computers drive. You select the folders on the mac drive that you want to stream. Leave your mac on and use your Ipad or iphone to watch the video thru air play home or away. If at home you can stream to your large TV. Works Great!
works great, till you cap your 3G data usage.
or travel somewhere with NO coverage, or edge..
so how long would it take to stream a 1.5gb+ movie to your iPad over edge?…
this is meant to be used away from home, and probably designed for when there is little/no 3G coverage, or for those without a 3G iPad/iPod. and not relying on a wifi connection somewhere.
yeah.. i’ll take the GoFlex drive.
and stream to my TV at home? yeah, it’s called Apple TV…
Well there goes my idea to add a dongle to the iPod Classic that somehow (by magic) did the same thing….only magically.
If my ipad2 is connected to the Seagate goflex satellite via WIFI.
Is it possible for me to stream a video from the seagate drive to my ipad2, then stream the ipad2 through apple TV to my big TV?