SanDisk: Two-way fun!

How do you exchange data photos, music, movie clips, office files between a handheld device like a phone or a tablet and a PC of any kind? Well, the problem has been solved.

The geniuses who thought of phone operating systems including Android, apparently forgot to  make allowance for this very common and frequent requirement: How to upload or download files from phone to laptop or vice versa.

There is no easy way because the micro USB connector that comes with most portable devices doesn’t mate with the standard USB port of desktops, laptops and notebook PCs. Most of us have to get around the problem by mailing the files to ourselves then opening the mail on the other device speak of inefficiency and waste!

SanDisk is, as far as I know, the first to come up with a USB drive that provides a solution that will make you say, “Why didn’t they think of that before?” The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB  drive comes in three capacities from 16 GB to 64 GB. It offers a micro USB connector on one side and a standard USB 2.0 on the other. You stick the micro connector into your phone and copy the files you want to transfer from phone to drive. Then stick it into a laptop or desktop PC using the standard connector. You can achieve the same result by carrying extra Micro USB-to-Standard USB cables but this is just simple! The cost ranges from '1,199 to '3,800 for the 16 GB to 64 GB sizes.

A word of caution: While the dual drive will work with the vast majority of phones and tablets, there are a few which use a slightly thicker and wider micro USB connector, then you are back to the old game of convertor cables. Also, SanDisk’s dual drive is USB 2.0 and it won’t be long before they launch a USB 3.0 version.