Many so called portable devices today are not quite so portable. Take the QCool OTG that I bought yesterday for instance. It might be one of the smallest 2.5″ HD digital album in the market for a mere HK$690 plus any 2.5″HD one so desire. The case itself is well built with aluminum alloy. It comes with CF, MD, SD, MMC, MS (pro/duo), SM, and xD compatible with a CF adapter card reader, a 1200mAh battery claimed to have a 2hr charge, a snuck pouch, a tiny worldwide power adapter, and a USB cable.
The problem is, if one wanted to use it as a portable HD just like any one of the slick USB/1394 external 2.5″ HD case, the cable does not fit in the pouch. And in this case, the power adapter is also needed.
My problem is not so much of the power adapter, the QCool works without the power adapter but uses both USB power and its internal battery power at the same time. Which could leave one without juice for later photo banking. It may or may not work for longer than 2 hours or even less but nonetheless it works. My problem is with the cable. And this seems to be a problem with just about any so called portable devices with a cable of some sort. The pouch never seems to accommodate the cable or other necessary accessories.
There are some very slick HD cases, like the Momobay for instance, in the market. To have such a thin case, why not house the cable as well within a slightly thicker casing? Simply have a hollow shelf or compartment underneath the case would do. Then the pouch could hold the case which carries the cable.
Maybe I could DIY a shelf underneath the case…
If you are going to be out and about w/ your digital camera and your OTG but not your laptop, then a USB cable in the pouch is just dead weight. The USB cable is a standard one, so it can go with your laptop, serving multiple purposes.
The whole idea for such a device is portability. The problem is no just with digital photo banks, but with HD case as well as other devices such as those thumb drives with the loose cap. Only a couple of companies thought off the loose cap problem and came out with the twist and turned machanism for the cap. As for these HD cases and digital photo banks, a built-in spring loaded cable just long enough to reach the back of a standard ATX case would be long, tidy and slick enough.
There are spring loaded cable mouse and phone headsets available, I wonder why spring loaded head ear phones for MP3 or other portable music playing devices are no where to be seen. Again, this problem makes however so protable devices not quite so portable.