Written by Matthew JC Powell
February 02, 2012
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It's great to have a movie or a few TV shows to watch on a long journey, and the iPad is pretty great for attaching said content. What's not great is the fact that the iPad — even a big old 64GB iPad — has fairly limited space for carrying stuff about. You have to decide before your trip what stuff you might like to watch while you're on your trip. If you change your mind on a train somewhere, bad luck.
And that's not likely to change any time soon, with the cost of solid-state storage as used in the iPad still very high. We're still some time away from a 500GB iPad, sadly.
Enter Seagate, with another entrant in its increasingly comprehensive and versatile GoFlex storage range. The GoFlex Satellite looks and feels much like any of the other GoFlex portable storage solutions — in fact you can use it as a portable drive for your Mac if you're so inclined — but it has one extra little trick: a WiFi transmitter.
Switch on the Satellite's WiFi and you've got an ad-hoc network (configurable to your liking using your Mac) to which you can then connect your iPad, iPhone or other WiFi-capable device. Then, using Seagate's free GoFlex Media app, watch or listen to whatever you want, wherever you are.
You're still limited to 500GB at the moment, though you can expect larger capacities in the very near future. Even 500GB, though, allows you to store a much wider range of potential entertainment — so you can account for whatever mood you might be in on the journey.
Connection to the Mac is via an included USB 3.0 cable, but of course this is GoFlex so if you have a different cable around use it instead. I used the Satellite with FireWire 800, for example. The Satellite comes with a plastic cover that snaps over the GoFlex connector on the back, so when it's not hooked up it doesn't have its backside hanging open.
Another important limitation is the fact that, when connected to the GoFlex Satellite's WiFi, your iPad can't also be connected to anything else — like, say, a 3G network. Don't do it if you're expecting an important email. (If you've got an iPhone of course this isn't a big issue.) Seagate says that a future firmware update should allow the GoFlex Satellite to connect to an existing WiFi network — if that happens your iPad needn't be cut off from the world if your hotel has WiFi.
One other point: the WiFi transmitter cannot, obviously, be used on a plane. So this is strictly a solution for earth-bound travellers, or for use at your destination.
You're not limited to Seagate's media-viewing app, though. Any device capable of connecting to a WiFi network and running a web browser can use the media on the Satellite, and I've also used other media players on the iPad such as Azul Media Player with great results. One Satellite can stream to three devices at once — even if they're all trying to access the same content.
The main advantage of using Seagate's app is that it allows you to download content from the Satellite directly to your iPad, so you can watch it on the iPad and switch off the Satellite, rather than draining the batteries on two devices. You can also use the Seagate app to download documents to your iPad, making the Satellite a handy way to bring along PDFs, Office documents or other work you might need to catch up on.
You can charge the battery with an included charger, or it will charge while connected to your Mac. The included charger is connected to the device with a USB-to-DC adapter cable, so in fact you could charge it using your iPad charger, assuming you've brought that along — no need to bring two.
On a full charge, you can get over four hours of battery life — enough for a couple of feature-length movies, if your iPad's battery will hold out that long. In practice, I think the battery lasts well enough for most situations in which I can envisage it being used (remember, long air trips are verboten).
As for content, it handles anything your iPad can handle, basically. Even DRM-protected iTunes content such as purchased movies and TV shows are fine, provided your iPad is authorised to play them. You can use the supplied utility to sync photos, music, movies and TV shows to the device from your Mac, or simply drag and drop when connected via USB. Unfortunately you can't sync content from your Mac via WiFi, but this is a minor limitation.
It's light (about 260g) and small (12cmx9cmx2cm) and fits easily into a pocket of a backpack or satchel (and as with most other GoFlex devices it can protect itself in the event of a drop). Thanks to WiFi connectivity it doesn't even need to come out of the bag to stream media. All up, it's pretty hard to find anything to complain about.
