OLALA iDisk 64GB iPhone Flash Drive review: Great for mobile entertainment expansion

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Apple’s iPhone and iPad lineup have never incorporated the use of external storage, the storage they supply is what you’re stuck with. Some companies have taken to solving the problem with the production of an external iPhone Flash Drive. OLALA is one such company and their 64GB iPhone Flash Drive is a decent solution for anyone wanting some extra mobile storage for their iPhone or iPad. Read on for our quick review of the OLALA iDisk 64GB iPhone Flash Drive.

Design

The OLALA 64GB iPhone Flash Drive is constructed from machined aluminum and premium plastics and looks and feels great in the hand. That being said, it’s a bit bulky in design and I wish it was slimmer both in width and length. At one end is the Lightning connector (yes this is MFi certified) which is covered with a hard plastic hood for protection. The other end houses the USB Type-A 3.0 connector which retracts into the housing. The side of this iPhone flash drive houses the mechanism that moves the Lightning connector and USB connector in and out. When being stored the Lightning connector should be out then covered with the plastic hood and the USB connector tucks inside.

The OLALA iDisk does suffer from being bulky, which is odd to say since it’s not a huge device at all. Part of the problem is the Lightning connector doesn’t stick out far enough to be used with almost any case. You will not be able to use this device with any case that’s of medium to heavy use. Slim cases may work but even then, you might have to take the case off for this to fit. The fit of the Lightning connector is pretty exact and other than cases that had no lip on the bottom half I couldn’t get any of my cases to accept the iDisk.

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I thought I could solve the problem by using my Belkin Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar adapter, which actually works but the width of the iDisk covers the second Lightning port. The reality you’ll have to face is you will have to remove your case to use this but overall the design, feel and materials are premium but I just wish it was slimmer, not as long, and had a longer Lightning connector to fit more cases.

Ease of Use

You’re going to treat the OLALA iDisk 64GB iPhone Flash Drive just like any other external storage device. When plugging into a PC or Mac you’ll be able to see the files in folders where you can browse and open at will. On the iPhone you will need to download the companion app called, iDisk Me, which is basically a file explorer app that allows you to see the files on the drive. iDisk Me also features a built-in video player and photo viewer so you can play back videos in-app and view photos. You can also copy photos and videos from you iPhone or iPad’s camera roll over to the drive so you can transfer them to your PC or Mac.

Overall using this drive is not any harder than using any other external storage device, you just have the addition of an app interface. The app interface itself isn’t particularly pretty, it’s kind of dated in design but it gets the job done and is easy to navigate.

Performance

Performance is on par with other USB 3.0 devices. Transfer speeds are respectable, nothing earth shattering, but respectable. It took just under a minute to transfer a 2.5GB movie file from my external HDD to the OLALA plugged into my PC via USB 3.0.

Price/Value

The issue with cases is a big one for me as I am always testing cases and usually have one on all the time. It’s a bit of a pain in the butt to have to remove the case every time but the extra 64GB of storage is nice to have on a plane trip for movie watching. While $42.99USD isn’t an awful price for this, I do wish it had a slightly better design.

Wrap Up

A great way to expand your mobile entertainment selection on the go for your iPhone and iPad, if you can look past the poor design when it comes to case fitting, this could be for you.

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*We were sent a sample of the OLALA 64GB iPhone Flash Drive for the purposes of this review.

Last Updated on January 23, 2017.

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