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SmartDisk Adds New Models of Award-Winning FlashTrax (11/03/03)
SmartDisk Corporation has announced today two new models of its portable FlashTrax storage device for use by digital camera owners and MP3 fans. The original unit which came out months ago has a 30GB hard drive and these new models now increase that size with one model offering 40GB and the other a HUGE 80GB of storage. The FlashTrax unit is a very small handheld unit that is easy to take along with you on extended travel or business trips away from your computers, where you may be taking a lot of digital camera pictures and there is a need to reuse your memory cards. The unit has a 3.5 inch color LCD monitor that does in our opinion greatly outperform the small LCD screens of most digital cameras and you can zoom, rotate and more in the playback mode. You can easily insert your memory cards in the built in Compact Flash Type II slot and transfer the images, where you can then view them on the unit's screen or plug the unit into a TV set and watch a slideshow which can be controlled by an included remote control unit. You can eventually download them to your computer and at a fairly fast transfer rate of 480 Mbps, as the hard drives are USB 2.0 compatible. There are accessory adapters so that virtually all types of memory cards are compatible. The FlashTrax unit is also very up to date as there are easy to install firmware upgrades frequently offered by SmartDisk at their website, and most of the current RAW image formats are supported (and this is just the type of unit for those who shoot a lot of RAW images). In addition, the FlashTrax unit can store and playback MPEG movies and MP3 audio. With these new models there will now be even more space to take a along hundred if not thousands of your favourite music titles for playback on the road, and store many more GB of digital images at the same time! The models apparently are shipping now and should be available online and at retail stores although we did not see the suggested prices listed. We have reviewed the original FlashTrax model and found it to deliver as promised. Here is a link to the FlashTrax Press Release and for those who want to read our recent review of the FlashTrax here is the link below.
FlashTrax Press Release (11/03/03) FLASHTRAX PORTABLE PICTURE STORAGE UNIT REVIEW
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Nov. 3, 2003--SmartDisk Corporation today introduced 40GB and 80GB models of its award-winning FlashTrax(TM) handheld portable multimedia device for offloading and storing digital images and music.
FlashTrax safely stores high-resolution images transferred from any flash memory card onto the built-in USB2.0 hard drive and displays them on a 3.5" LCD that outperforms tiny on-camera screens. By using the sleek control pad, the user can change the image, zoom in, zoom out and pan, or choose a slide show function without the need of a PC. In addition to rapid JPEG view and zoom, FlashTrax can display most RAW format files using the JPEG data typically embedded in such files. The LCD folds to ensure that both the screen and control buttons remain protected while in field use. Images may be viewed on the LCD screen or on any TV using the included remote control. To facilitate portability, FlashTrax includes a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery."The Professional Photographers Association has just recognized FlashTrax as one of the hottest new imaging products of 2003," says Charles Klinker, Vice President-Marketing for SmartDisk. "With our new FlashTrax models, professional photographers will find even more flexibility for field applications."
A built-in MP3 player makes this device even more attractive -- more than 7,000 compressed audio files can be stored and played back through the built-in speaker, or through headphones or external speakers. Various play modes are easily controlled from the user-friendly screen display and control pad, making music selection quick and easy.
FlashTrax also supports video playback of motion picture JPEG files, a format typically used for the short "movies" supported by many digital still cameras. With transfer speeds of up to 480MBps, FlashTrax can also serve as an external hard drive to transfer, store and access data or act as a simple backup device.
Availability
The new FlashTrax models are available now through retailers and distributors, as well as through the company's Web site at http://www.smartdisk.com.
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