Something on the Side: Hard drive gets a cache boost

In this week’s Something on the Side, SEAN BACHER highlights the Samsung S-View flip cover for the Galaxy S4, the Buffalo Drivestation DDR, the lifetime warranty Mustek is offering on all Brother laser printers, Runtastic Sports Gloves and the Belkin iPad Mini leather cover and stand.

Samsung S-View flip cover for Galaxy S4

The Samsung S-View flip cover is designed not only to protect the Galaxy S4 smartphone, but also provides a screen window on which alerts, statuses and appointments can be viewed. The cover uses the phone’s proximity sensor, which detects when the cover is closed. It displays battery status, time and other updates in an area of the screen visible through a transparent window. The cover attaches to the smartphone by replacing its back panel, minimising the bulkiness typically associated with phone protectors. In addition to viewing updates through the window, users can also swipe on this area to accept or dismiss calls.

Stockists: Major electronics retail outlets nationwide.

Expect to pay: R600

Buffalo DriveStation DDR

The DriveStation DDR is one of the world’s first external hard drives to incorporate 1GB of DDR3 memory as cache to boost data speeds. As a result, it offers read and write speeds up to five times faster than its predecessors and more than double those of its nearest competitors on the market. The USB 3.0 drive offers write speeds of more than 400 MB/s and read speeds over 330 MB/s, resulting in solid-state drive (SSD) performance at conventional hard disk drive prices. The DriveStation DDR is available with 2TB or 3TB of storage space. It is compatible with all major operating systems, including Windows 8 and Mac OS X 10.5 or later.

Stockists: Contact Miro Distribution on 012 657 0960

Expect to pay: R2 000 for the 2TB drive or R2 700 for the 3TB version.

Lifetime waranty on Brother laser printers

Mustek now offers a lifetime warranty on all models of Brother Laser Printers. As part of the lifetime warranty, dependent on the model of the Brother laser printer, customers will receive a 1-3 year on-site warranty, and then a carry-in warrantee to Mustek for product support.

Stockists: Visit www.mustek.co.za for more information.

Expect to pay: Free on all Brother laser printers.

Runtastic Sports Gloves for smartphones

A problem associated with most smartphones is that they do not work properly when the user is trying to operate them with gloves. But the Runtastic Sports gloves get around this. The gloves work with any touch-screen smartphone and employ sensors in the fingertips that replicate the effect of a user’s fingers. The gloves are available in small, medium and large sizes and also keep hands and fingers warm.

Stockists: Visit www.wintecsolutions.co.za

Expect to pay: R260

Belkin iPad Mini leather cover and stand

The Belkin iPad Mini leather cover clips around an iPad Mini to ensure it doesn’t accidentally slip out, has an opening for the rear camera and allows users to position the tablet at four angles for easy use. As the name suggests, the cover is made from leather and the magnetised clip means that the iPad will automatically go to sleep when the cover is closed and wake up when opened.

Stockists: Visit www.belkin.co.za

Expect to pay: R500

* Follow Sean on Twitter on @SeanBacher