Kingston Mini Slim Trims Excess USB Fat

The DataTraveler Mini Slim introduces an exposed USB connector, making it slimmer and cleaner looking.

We’ve seen plenty of attempts at turning USB thumb drives from geek-chic to just plain chic, but so far none have quite been able to get past that chunky metal USB connector. Rather than hiding it with sliding designs like many other manufacturers have done, Kingston took a different approach with its new DataTraveler Mini Slim, which strips the shiny connector off completely and makes art of the terminals beneath.

The new DataTraveler’s bicolor shell resembles a shim, with a thick upper half that provides a hole for a lanyard, and a whittled down bottom that slides directly into a USB port. Four recessed copper strips, usually hidden by a USB’s connector’s rectangular metal shell, sit in the plastic and provide the physical data connection once plugged in. Besides looking good, the design also trims the drive’s dimensions down to just 6.44mm thick.

The drives are available in black, blue and pink, in 2GB and 4GB capacities (although curiously, Kingston’s press photos depict an 8GB version.) They retail for $11 and $19, respectively.