San Francisco's Cloud Engines has announced its first mobile-focused device at IFA 2011. Pogoplug Mobile will allow users to securely stream entire libraries of digital content from connected storage in their homes to their Android or iOS mobile phone and tablet, without having to worry about monthly fees or storage limits. It will also cater for private sharing of media with family and friends and could well be the perfect companion for Amazon's Cloud Drive and Player or Apple's upcoming iCloud service. Gizmag caught up with Pogoplug's Daniel Putterman in Berlin for a quick look at what's on offer...
With the launch of the Pogoplug diskless file server in 2009, Cloud Engines gave users the power to access home content on the road. The company's new mobile cloud companion takes that to the next level, allowing Android and iOS mobile device owners to stream entire libraries of photos, music, movies and other digital media from home-based storage to their mobile phone and tablet.
Whereas other online storage services require users to upload digital media to third party cloud servers for storage and retrieval, the Pogoplug Mobile device is connected to a home router via Ethernet and then hooked up to an external storage drive via USB or a camera's photo album via the onboard media card reader. The device works with Pogoplug desktop software, free-to-download mobile apps for Android and iOS devices and through a browser-based online account. Once set up, a mobile device user opens the app to get always-on access to the personal digital content linked to the Pogoplug Mobile box.
In addition to being able to have your entire personal digital music or movie collection available whenever (and wherever) it's needed - without worrying about some record company mogul or movie executive limiting what you can and can't listen to and watch - the Pogoplug personal cloud solution also allows users to privately share digital media such as photos and videos from mobile devices with colleagues, friends and family.
Pogoplug Mobile will also take care of automatically backing up and storing photos or videos taken on a mobile device to your home storage, doing so in the background and requiring no user intervention - although you might want to keep a close watch on those mobile bandwidth allowances.
The Pogoplug Mobile device is currently up for pre-order and will be available from October for a suggested retail price of US$79.99.
The company's Daniel Putterman gave us a quick demonstration at IFA 2011 in Berlin: