There’s just no sugarcoating it; the Fasetto Link isn’t pretty. Nonetheless, it’s a novelty among wearables — even at CES 2015 — allowing you to quickly strap a compact solid state drive to your wrist with up to a terabyte in storage.
The silicon band, which will be available in melange of capacities if successfully funded on Indiegogo, functions as a wireless hard drive on which you can store photos, videos, music, and more without the aid of the Internet. The bulky device can then stream that content to your smartphone or tablet for up to 12 hours over Wi-Fi and grants access to your files through a standard Web client or using a dedicated app available for Android or iOS systems. Moreover, it communicates strictly with the mobile app, meaning it leaves no digital trace on your device.
Surprisingly, read and write speeds are impressive. The latest prototype clocks in at 530 megabytes per second and 470Mbps, respectively. It also offers standard encryption and layers on top of it an authentication scheme that must be used whenever you pair a new device with the Link. The added protection is welcome considering the likelihood of misplacing the device, though it might be a hassle if you intend to pair it with the maximum of 20 devices.
The Link isn’t just unconventional in terms of purpose, either. The device’s waterproof design incorporates a wireless dock opposed to relying on standard charging cables. The standby time supposedly pushes two weeks. Health-tracking features for counting your steps are included, too.
Sadly, solid state drives rarely come cheap. While you can currently pre-order the terabyte model of the Link for $800 on Indiegogo and the baseline 128GB model for $200, the prices are set to increase after the campaign runs its course. It’s a hefty price for storage, especially with cloud storage so accessible, but the Link may be just the right fit for those with shoddy — or nonexistent — Internet service. It happens.
