Kingston Mobilelite Wireless G2 Review

Almost everyone have mobile phones and tablets these days. They help to run our chaotic lives and store photos, videos, and documents now just as our PCs do. However, with more powerful devices and larger media and document files comes the need for more battery power and capacity. Typically when one buys a phone or tablet, there usually is no upgrade path for capacity or larger batteries such as laptops. Most devices do not include any ports for expansion.

Don’t you hate it when you are jamming out to your favorite song or browsing the web and you see your battery is low and you are unable to charge it because you are on the go?  Or want to record a video but your storage capacity is almost full?

Well, Kingston may have something of interest to you. There new MobileLite Wireless G2. This devices is mainly a wireless media reader, however, it also triples as a mobile charger and portable router that allows you to stream media to up to three users!

PACKAGING AND SPECIFICATIONS

The packaging is quite nice. It has preview window on the front to view the product.  It lists the main selling points of the device as being able to extend your storage, stream your media, charge your devices, read from USBs and SD cards, and allow you to connect to the web with it acting as a portable router.

The Kingston MobileLite Wireless G2 includes 3G dongle support for direct connections and is compatible with the iPad (2, 3rd Gen, 4th Gen, mini, Air), iPhone 4/4S/5, iPod Touch (iOS 7+), Android 4.0+, Kindle Fire, and Kindle Fire HD. When connected via USB to a PC it can act as a USB 2.0 card reader for the system. Windows Vista and newer, Mac OSX V. 10.6.X+, and Linux v. 2.6.x+ are supported.

Included in the box were just three items. The 1.5ft. USB 2.0 cable, a microSD to SD card adapter, and finally the Kingston MobileLite Wireless G2. There was to my surprise no included instructions sheet. Although I usually don’t use them, I have never used a device like this before and it took me a few minutes to realize how it worked and that I needed to download the Kingston MobileLite app on my tablet before I could use it to stream media.

Its supports Wi-Fi 802.11g/n with wireless security (WPA2). It supports SD/SDHC/SDXC/microSD/microSDHC/microSDXC. The supported file systems for SD cards and USB drives are FAT, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT. The built-in 3.8v Li-ion battery is 4640 mAh and it can last for up to 13 hours of continuous use. Or depending if you are using it as a portable charger, it can also charge most smartphones twice. This device is also backed by a two year warranty and priced at around $50-$60.

On the front we have from left to right the battery, the wireless signal, internet indicator lights. Next to those is the power button to turn it on and off. To turn it on hold the power button for 1 second, to turn on the wireless hold it for about 3 seconds or so. To turn it off completely hold the power button down for 3 seconds when it is powered on. Next comes the small hole to a manual reset button and micro USB 2.0 port.

On the back is a single Ethernet port. This is actually a very handy feature especially if you travel a lot and say you can’t connect to any Wi-Fi hotspots or the signals are very weak.  If that is the case you can just hook it up to an Ethernet jack and you will have instant wireless internet access. Just two weeks ago I was faced with this issue at a hotel, having this device with me allowed me to access my emails no issue.

Finally, on the side are the two storage expansion slots, the full sized USB 2.0 port and SD card slot.