We prize mobile phones for their slim lines and portability, while generally accepting the trade-offs of small screens, cramped keyboards and minimal storage.

There are ways round their limitations – mini-projector link-ups that can expand displays and a similar technology that can cast a full-sized usable keyboard image onto any surface.

Seagate, the leading maker of hard drives, has come up with a storage solution, unveiled at the Demo ’07 conference in Palm Desert, California.

Originally codenamed Crickett, its Dave (Digital Audio Video Experience) technology delivers 10 to 20 gigabytes of wireless storage in a form factor slimmer than most cell phones.

Dave (on the right of the picture) is about the size of a centimetre-thick credit card and can stay in a pocket, communicating digital files to the handset via either wi-fi or Bluetooth. Battery life is 14 days on standby and allows 10 hours of data streaming.

“We’re going after the phone business from an external drive position,” Bill Watkins, Seagate chief executive, told us, explaining that handset makers want to keep onboard storage to a minimum to lower the cost of phones.

Dave will allow consumers to combine storage of content downloaded through their mobiles, and pictures taken with camera phones, with multimedia transferred from their PCs.

Upgrading to a new phone should also be easier with data backed up to the hard drive. Dave will be available in the second quarter, just before you upgrade to that 8Gb iPhone.

February 1st, 2007 in Digital media, Telecommunications | Permalink