Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB is an ideal wireless storage solution for streaming multimedia files. Seagate has extended the product line by doubling up the storage space and adding a more powerful battery. All shortcomings of GoFlex Satellite look to be fixed in Wireless Plus. 1TB of storage space and 10hrs of battery life looks more than enough. You can carry it as a portable entertainment box that has all your files, video, audio, etc. According to me it is an ideal choice for secondary storage. Due to common wifi standard the drive sync’s with various devices like android, iOS, Windows, etc. The limitation of 3 User sync at a single time is still imposed. I thought this would be increased. That means at a time only 3 devices can stream content from Wireless Plus.
Features:
- Wirelessly stream your media and files to tablets, smartphones, Mac computers and PCs
- Carry 500+ movies or thousands of songs, photos and documents
- Free Seagate Media app for iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire and Android devices
- Stream up to 3 different HD movies to three devices at the same time
- Up to 10-hour battery life
Package Content:
- Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB
- USB Charger
- 3 Charger Plugs
- 1 USB to Thin Pin Charging Cable
- USB 3.0 Cable Adapter for PC
- Quick Start Guide
Design:
Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB is quiet portable in size. It fits easily in any pocket. The enclosure is made up of plastic and has nice polish on it. It is not very shiny, nor very dull. The black color gives a professional look. The drive has two light indicators only. Among which one is in green color for power and second in blue for wifi. There is no light available for battery indicator. The only way to find out how much battery is left can be found through going to the dashboard of this drive. A power button and power charging port is provided on each side. Once turned on, the green lights glow up. For charging the Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB, it supports thin pin charger. This is one of the most common charger pin used widely in many mobiles. The Charger is provided in the package with usb support. It offers ease of charging based on different socket. Seagate added a USB adapter separately. Most of the drive has USB 3.0 port on the drive body itself. But here it is provided separately. To transfer files, usb adapter is used. It looks like Seagate is going to offer more accessories for Wireless Plus 1TB to enhance connectivity. There is a bit vibration felt when you hold the drive when you turn it on. It is not really disturbing, but that shows that the drive works on traditional drive with movable parts.
So it is necessary to avoid shock or drop. The drive can face issue if you drop it or simply if it comes in contact with liquid. The body does not feature any durable design, so better you must take precaution while carrying it. The best you can do is, keep it inside your bag or pocket and stream the content. There is no problem with wifi connectivity.
Performance:
For wireless drive, one common issue lies with Wifi drive, which is the buffering after a certain level. Here we are quite satisfied with the performance of Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB. To use the drive you have to connect your device to the Wifi drive. It means any other wireless connection will be disabled. It is possible to lock the drive by setting a password. Unlike GoFlex, this drive also operates on a Web Based access panel. There are two ways to access the content from Wireless Plus. First through WD2Go application which is available for Android and iOS and the second through web browser. In your mobile or tablet or laptop browser once connected just type any address and you will be redirected to Wireless Plus Dashboard. The Dashboard is very simple to use. I had posted some images below separately for Tablet and Smartphone Interface. Compared to Smartphone, it looks far more better on a Tablet PC. The wifi range is around 20 meters maximum. But as you keep moving away from the drive, buffering increases. To get best experience, the maximum distance according me, lies between 5 to 8 Meters.
Seagate Wireless Plus Browser UI :
Below you can see some set of images that we had captured from an Android smartphone with 5inch screen and from a Tablet with 11inch screen. There is a big difference between both. Using Seagate Wireless Plus UI on Tablet is much better. You can see the difference in images below. While WD2Go has some issue with connectivity. A number of times it does not detect the hard drive.
Screenshot from Smartphone:
a). Portrait:
b). Landscape:
Screenshot from Tablet PC:
Conclusion:
Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB offers good wifi connectivity with easy storage option. Due to USB 3.0 support, faster transfer speed is provided that saves much time. Along with media device you can also use the same as backup media. The drive does not give great option to upload files directly via Wifi. But still it act as a good mode of entertainment. We are also quite satisfied with the wifi range the drive delivers. But as I said the more far you’re the more video buffers. Streaming quality degrades from distance. The battery performance is almost great. The drive really offers 10 hrs battery power once fully charged. The cost of Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB is around Rs.14000.
Pros :
- Good Battery Life
- Simple to use App
- Smooth Wifi Streaming
Cons:
- Slow Speed while transferring large files
