MobileLite Wireless reader review
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Review: Kingston MobileLite Wireless Reader for Memory Card and USB Storage

MobileLite Wireless reader review
MobileLite Wireless reader review

Do you want to watch downloaded videos on your mobile devices but not enough storage space to save the videos? Do you want to share photos in camera with friends without computer?

Would you be interested if a portable device can do both, plus charge your phone? Let me introduce you the Kingston MobileLite Wireless.

Kingston MobileLite Wireless is a wireless memory card reader. It can read and wirelessly share your memory card and USB flash drive/external drive to multiple devices, as well as charge your device using its build-in battery pack.

Lazada Malaysia gave me a MobileLite Wireless for the following review and the online store is selling the device with great discount.

Table of Contents

Design

MobileLite Wireless reader
MobileLite Wireless reader package

In the MobileLite Wireless package, you will get the wireless reader, a microSD card adapter, and a USB to micro USB cable.

MobileLite Wireless is a simple gray and black rectangle shape plastic box. It is about 5-inch long, about the size of average power bank. It is surprisingly lightweight, despite that it has build-in battery.

At one end of MobileLite Wireless is a SD memory card slot. The other end is a USB port and a Micro-USB port.

Power button is located near to the Micro-USB port. Above power button, you see 3 LED indicators: Internet, wireless, Battery/Power.

Features

What does MobileLite Wireless do? It does 4 things at once:
1. read memory cards and USB storage (flash drive, external drive)
2. stream memory card and USB storage contents
3. charge your phone and other devices via USB port
4. connect to Internet WiFi

MobileLite Wireless supports wireless connection of up to 3 devices at once. You can plug in your camera’s memory card into MobileLite Wireless and instantly share photos to your friends’ smartphones.

You can also copy video files to USB storage and use MobileLite Wireless to stream and share with your family.

Phone not enough storage? Move photos and videos to memory card, wirelessly.

Phone is low battery? MobileLite Wireless is also a power bank with 1810mAh battery capacity enough to fully charge iPhone 5S once.

I was wondering why it has an “Internet” LED indicator then I figured out MobileLite Wireless can connect to WiFi network and allows you upload photos directly to Facebook, Twitter or email as attachment and tether Internet connection.

Your phone would need to disconnect from existing WiFi network and connect to MobileLite Wireless’ WiFi for files streaming. By tethering Internet connection, MobileLite Wireless can keep your phone (up to 3 devices) stay online while sharing files. Nice!

Setup

MobileLite Wireless cannot work without its mobile application named, you guessed it, MobileLite. It is a free app on App Store, Google Play and Amazon appstore.

  1. Power on MobileLite Wireless by press & hold the Power button for 3 seconds. (Press Power button once will activate power bank feature)
  2. Download and install MobileLite app by Kingston Digital.
  3. Connect to MobileLiteWireless WiFi network on your device.

    Connect to MobileLiteWireless WiFi connection
    Connect to MobileLiteWireless WiFi connection
  4. Launch MobileLite app.

All MobileLite Wireless settings are in the app. You can rename its WiFi name, check battery level, firmware version, setup WiFi security (default is no password), and connect MobileLite Wireless to another WiFi network.

Using

MobileLite app screenshot: (left) home screen, device settings
MobileLite app screenshot: (left) home screen, device settings

Simply plug in SD card (or microSD card adapter) or USB storage (flash drive, external drive) to MobileLite Wireless and you will see the files listed in the app’s home screen. You can plug in both USB storage and SD memory card at once.

Maximum 30 files from each storage will be listed on home screen. Photos are listed with preview thumbnails. Supported file types (jpg, mov, mp4, pdf, etc) can be viewed directly in the MobileLite app.

Tap “SEE ALL” to reveal all files and folders on the storage type in file manager, where you can view, copy, move, delete file(s) and create new folder.

For supported file type (photo) on iOS, you can use “Share button” (a box with up arrow) share the file using Message, Mail, Twitter, or Facebook.

Follow the following steps to copy photos and videos from iPhone to MobileLite Wireless:

  1. Tap on the three horizontal lines icon at the top right hand side to reveal side menu.
  2. Tap “Copy from Photos” under IMPORT.
  3. Select target album.
  4. Select the photos and videos you want to copy, then tap “Done”.
  5. Under “Select Destination” choose where to save the files: USB storage, SD Card, Offline Files.
  6. Tap “Copy Here” to copy files to the target destination. You can also choose or create a folder destination.

If you have SD card and USB storage plug in MobileLite Wireless together, you can also copy/move files in between them.

The app does not offer a way to auto select and copy all files (photos). You need to tap them one-by-one to copy in batch. It is tiring when you have hundreds photos on memory card want to copy.

In my test, wirelessly copy ten 12 megapixel photos (2.6MB–3.4MB) from SD memory card to iPhone took about 13 seconds. Faster than I thought. The copied files are saved in the app under “OFFLINE FILES”.

iOS tip: Do NOT use “Share button” to save the photos to your iPhone/iPad. It is very slow…

Generally, the MobileLite app works fine with little lag here and there (probably reading file information wirelessly).

Sometimes the MobileLite app complains that your device is not connected to the MobileLite Wireless Reader, even it is already connected. A refresh or switching view in the app will get rid the warning message.

I also experienced app crash on my iPhone 4S, maybe not enough system memory?

Wired connection

MobileLite app is for mobile devices only. Does MobileLite Wireless reader support your computer?

Yes, the reader works with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux but only wired connection. You connect the micro USB port end to USB port on your computer to use MobileLite Wireless reader.

SD card and USB storage plugged in MobileLite Wireless will be mounted and shown on your computer – just like a normal memory card reader you have.

Specs

  • Storage input: USB and SD (SD, SDHC, SDXC, microSD with adapter)
  • Network: WiFi 802.11g/n with WPA2 security
  • Battery: built-in Li-ion 1810mAh
  • Dimensions: 124.8mm x 59.9mm x 17.3mm
  • Weight: 98g
  • Filetype support: store any file type, playback and viewing are based on the mobile device’s supported format. (general supported filetypes: MP3, WAV, M4V, MP4, JPG, TIF, PDF)

Verdict

Kingston MobileLite Wireless reader is a convenient gadget to have. With the lightweight device, I could:

  • share photos taken by my DSLR
  • stream movie to my wife’s iPhone
  • charge my phone on emergency
  • forget about memory card reader for my notebook.

I do not need to carry power bank and memory card reader again!

I hope the MobileLite app will be polished for stability and performance. It would be great if it can increase concurrent connection from maximum 3 to at least 5.

Though can be accessed via wired USB connection, it would be great if wireless connection with desktop is supported – something like portable NAS.

Where to buy?

Kingston MobileLite Wireless reader is available online at Lazada Malaysia at MYR$145 (retail price is MYR$250).

[box type=”info”]I would like to thank Lazada Malaysia for the opportunity to review MobileLite wireless. This is a free product review with honest write-up. I got to keep the product after review. Interesting to submit your products for review? Get in touch with me.[/box]

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