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USB

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max to hit the stores on October 7!

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Featuring the tech giant’s best streaming stick yet, the orders for Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max are going to start shipping out on October 7, 2021. If you haven’t booked one yet, you can pre-order the stick on Amazon.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is 40% more powerful than its predecessor and is powered by a quad-core 1.8GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max supports 4K UHD, HDR and HDR10+ streaming as well as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and recreates a cinematic experience at one’s home.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max utilises a Mediatek MT7921LS Wi-Fi 6 chipset which fosters faster and smoother streaming through superior connections. The latest Fire TV Stick comes with an Alexa Voice remote which easily allows users to search content, control playback, and manage their smart home, along with much more. The four dedicated buttons allow users to get to the popular apps quickly and users can also control their compatible smart TB and sound bar through the Alexa Voice remote.

With Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify, users can also utilise the power of Alexa to get the most out of the Fire TV Stick for entertainment. The support for high-quality streaming is what sets the Fire TV Stick 4K Max apart and is worth putting your bucks in.

“There is a significant increase in video streaming with several direct to streaming release and customers choosing at-home entertainment. Fire TV has millions of active users in India, who enjoy hours of content every day. With Fire TV Stick 4K Max, we have taken the best-selling streaming media player and made it even better with a faster experience and the latest connectivity that provides seamless streaming without slowing down your home Wi-Fi.”, said Parag Gupta, Head, Amazon Devices India.

The Fire TV Stick 4K is priced at Rs. 6,499 and is available to pre-order on Amazon. Please visit this page for more information.

Review: WD My Passport SSD

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WD’s latest portable external storage is small and fast
From ₹8,999, wd.com

Portable external drives have been shrinking in size, and the use of SSDs over the years is one of the reasons. WD’s latest My Passport SSD shrinks them further with its palm-sized form factor and promise of unfettered speed. But is the upgrade worth it? We find out.

The first and foremost thing to notice about the My Passport SSD is its size. It’s tiny, fits in one’s palm and is super lightweight. It’s not fat either, given the width is about 3-4 credit cards stacked together. The patterned metal enclosure looks premium along with the embossed logo and adds to durability too. WD says the My Passport SSD can withstand some amount of shock and vibration and is drop resistant to up to 6.5ft. WD probably wanted to keep things as clean as possible, which is why you will only find the USB Type-C port at the bottom of the drive. The drive does not have a status LED light that keeps you from knowing if the drive is connected or transferring any data. The only limitation with the metal chassis is that it gets hot when you are transferring data. It does not affect the drive’s performance, but the heat transference from the SSD inside the body is instant. WD bundles a small Type-C to Type C cable that supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 and for wider compatibility, bundles a USB Type-C to Type-A adapter.

The drive comes pre-formatted (exFAT filesystem) that enables it to work on Windows or Mac out-of-the-box and since it is based on NVMe technology, the My Passport SSD is rated to deliver a sequential read speed of up to 1050MB/s and write speed of up to 1000MB/s. We tested its claim with Crystal DiskMark 7 (default profile) and the read speed breached its claimed speed to 1062MB/s and write speed to 962MB/s. If we compare random read and write speeds, it hovers around at 153MB/s and 166MB/s respectively. The real-world usage will vary compared to a synthetic benchmark, but needless to say the My Passport SSD is fast.

The My Passport SSD also supports password-enabled 256-bit hardware AES encryption and a couple of other WD apps like WD Drive Utilities and WD Backup.

My Passport SSD is competitively priced with storage options starting from 500GB and goes up to 2TB. It does not have a fingerprint sensor like its closest priced competitor but it has fast data transfer speeds, compact design and different apps to enhance the drive’s functionality.

RATING 4/5
WE’RE IMPRESSED Design, performance
WE’D IMPROVE Heats up
THE LAST WORD The NVMe My Passport SSD is an excellent storage solution if you are looking for super-fast performance in a compact, premium form factor.

Review: SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type-C

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Chic-looking USB flash drive for your mobile device and PC
From Rs. 899, sandisk.in

The heyday of USB flash drives are over, thanks to cloud storage and ample storage on mobile devices. However, USB flash drives still have the advantage of plug-and-play and not rely on factors like an internet connection to access the data on the cloud. SanDisk recently launched their dual drive flash drive that adds up to 1TB of portable storage and allows it to be used with computers and mobile devices that support USB Type-C. But is it worth it? Let’s check it out.

Aesthetics are the last thing one considers while buying a USB flash drive but if that is what you are looking for in a flash drive, SanDisk has it covered. The SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe comes in an all-metal design with a swivelling reversible cover that snaps to reveal the Type-A or the Type-C connector, based on the need. It also features a keyring hole to carry it around in a keychain. The overall design is very premium and while we like it, the all-metal design comes with its share of flaws. For starters, the metal pen drive is prone to scratches, be it from regularly connecting it to a USB port or just by the swivelling cover that leaves a trail after multiple uses. Secondly, the drive gets hot easily considering the metal exterior. The high temperature does not affect performance and the heat is manageable but can concern a few.

We tested out the 128GB variant but SanDisk also sells multiple storage variants starting from 32GB and goes up to a whopping 1TB. The SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe comes pre-formatted with the exFAT file system that ensures out-of-the-box compatibility with a Windows or Mac PC and even Android devices. The USB 3.1 Gen 1 has a read speed of up to 150MB/s and a quick test on CrystalDiskMark confirms the result. The speed will vary depending on the file but the speeds are more or less close to the claimed one.

The drive supports SanDisk’s Memory Zone app, available for free on the Google Play Store. The neatly designed app acts as a file manager that lets you copy or move files from a mobile device’s internal storage to the flash drive. However, during our use, the app in both the OnePlus 8 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S20+ didn’t detect the drive whereas the phones’ built-in file manager detected it without any issues. The only drawback here is that you cannot automatically backup your files like the SanDisk app.

Nevertheless, the Ultra Dual Drive Luxe is a decent offering from SanDisk. It is your USB flash drive for the PC, and if you want to copy or move content to and from a USB Type-C mobile device, it gets the job done.

RATING 3.5/5
WE’RE IMPRESSED Ease of use, performance
WE’D IMPROVE Scratch-prone design, heats up
THE LAST WORD The Ultra Dual Drive Luxe is an easy way to expand the mobile device storage whenever you want it and acts as a personal backup system without any additional cost or cloud storage.

Blue Microphones’ Yeti is their most versatile mic

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Blue Microphone’s long legacy of offering high-quality audio products continues in 2020 as their best-selling USB microphone, the Yeti, is now available in India for a price of Rs. 12,495. It is a plug-and-play microphone capable of studio-quality recording of music, vocals, podcasts, gaming, YouTube videos, Skype and more.

To use the Yeti, one has to simply unbox it and plug it to a Mac or a PC. There are no additional drivers needed. The Yeti USB microphone offers four different recording patterns, namely:

  • Caridoid: which records sound patterns directly in front of it
  • Omni-directional: records 360 degrees around the mic, for band practices, multi-person podcasting, etc.
  • Bi-Directional: records from the front and rear of the mic.
  • Stereo: records separate left and right audio

Speaking of the hardware, Yeti is equipped with three of Blue’s premium condenser capsules for the high-quality audio recording capabilities. It also features a built-in headphone jack with zero-latency monitoring which helps users analyse their voices without any delay. Intuitive controls allow users to easily adjust volume, select the pattern of choice, instant mute, and change microphone sensitivity (gain).

Currently, the Yeti USB Microphone is available only on Amazon in Whiteout, Midnight Blue, Grey, Silver and Platinum colours. For more information, please visit this page.

PNY launches Duo Link OTG in India

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PNY has introduced a new Duo Link OTG flash drive for the Indian market. For the uninitiated, the flash drive allows users to use the same drive with their microUSB-supported Android phones and PCs.

The pen drive comes in an improved slide design function that lets you switch between microUSB and Type-A 3.1 interface easily and boasts transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s.

The Duo Link OTG sells exclusively on PayTM Mall in capacities ranging from 32GB to up to 128GB.

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