Apotop Wi-Copy is Wireless Drive, Portable Router and Battery All-in-One
By Avram Piltch
Phone and tablet users looking for wireless storage will soon have a new and compelling option in the Apotop Wi-Copy. The product of Taiwanese accessory maker Apotop, this device features both an SD card reader and a full-size USB port that you can access over Wi-Fi using an Android or iOS app. In addition to allowing you to access both SD cards and USB devices, the Wi-Copy can serve as both an external charger with a 5,400 mAH capacity and a portable router with an Ethernet port.
At Aptop's Computex Taipei booth, we got a demonstration of the Wi-Copy in action and came away intrigued by its versatility. As we watched, an Apotop rep plugged both an SD card and a USB stick into the device, powered it on and connected to it via Wi-Fi. After forming the connection, the rep launched an Apotop app on his iPhone and used it to browse the folders on the SD card, select a file and then copy it directly to the flash drive. Because the copy took place between two ports on the same device, it took just a few seconds.
According to Apotop, the Wi-Copy can transfer files between the card reader and the USB port at a rate of 10 Mbps. While that's not exactly blazing, it's quick enough to back up your photos from a camera onto a USB device in a reasonable amount of time. The company expects that many people will use the device to back up photos from a memory card to a USB hard drive or Flash drive. However, the device also provides a great way to access a huge library of local media files from your tablet or phone. Just imagine plugging a 500GB hard drive into the Wi-Copy and using it to access your entire music collection from your 16GB iPad.
With its generous 5,400 mAH battery, the Wi-Copy should last more than 10 hours on a charge. Even better, that amount of juice can charge a typical smart phone twice or fill up a 7-inch tablet like the Nexus 7 once. If you're in a hotel room with an Ethernet port, you can use the Wi-Copy to share the single connection between all your devices.
The Apotop Wi-Copy will retail for around $120 in the U.S. when it launches in the next few weeks. You should be able to find it on select online retailers including Newegg.com.
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Avram Piltch
Online Editorial Director
The official Geeks Geek, as his weekly column is titled, Avram Piltch has guided the editorial and production of Laptopmag.com since 2007. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of LAPTOP's real-world benchmarks, including the LAPTOP Battery Test. He holds a master's degree in English from NYU.
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