Here at TechGeeze, we’re not just about the serious side of tech… that would be too geeky and boring. So we’ll try to spice it up with something unique, with let’s say… pirates! Mind you, not software pirates. We all know that anything slapped with a pirate motif or something along the lines automatically looks cool. So let’s take that concept and bring it up a notch by not only making it cool, but cute as well. IF you never thought you’d see “pirates” and “cute” in a single sentence then think again as a Taiwan-based company tries to do that. Here’s the i-Qute i-Pirate Flash Memory and let’s see how cute it can really go.
Unboxing & Presentation
This little fellow comes in a little see-through plastic carded type of package so at first sight, you can immediately see it’s apparent cuteness. It says at the front it’s capacity and promotional images on both sides. At the back are the multilingual features and specifications. Not much to see here until we can touch and feel the real deal.
Features
- Capless design
- Supports Microsoft Windows, Mac OS 9.0 and above, Linux Kernel 2.4 and above
- Supports USB 1.1/2.0
- LED indication while accessing
- Gorgeous character with USB flash drive
- Silk and smooth feeling housing
- Size: 36 x 33 x 22mm
- Weight: 7.5 ~ 10.5kg
Contents
Okay, contents… let’s see, well you get the gorgeous character with USB flash drive, a cardboard insert where all the promo shots & what not are there and a block of foam. Everything is more awesome when you include a block of foam…
Let’s just proceed with the review proper.
Review
Well, it does everything you’d expect a typical USB thumb drive does nowadays. Well if there’s one thing that we can nitpick about the i-Pirate is that it doesn’t support USB 3.0 despite being made in 2011. But USB 3.0 hasn’t been that common so that’s easily forgivable.
So yeah, at this point, we’ll just review the pirate character in which they’ve encapsulated the USB drive into. It’s basically made of rubbery plastic that allows easier grip by providing more friction to your fingers. To access the USB drive, you must crack and split open the little guy’s back. Quite a brutal sight at the first few tries but you’ll be getting used to seeing this guy’s back being broken the more you use the drive. What’s neat is that when used with a laptop, with a horizontally placed USB port, it would look that there’s a little cute pirate sitting at the side of your gadget. Doesn’t work really well when your port is oriented vertically though.
For maximum playability, you can easily remove the USB drive component and you have yourselves a little pirate figure. The “figure” itself has zero points of articulation, no joints whatsoever. However, being made of rubbery plastic means that you can play with its arms as if it’s saying “Hi!” to you. It also helps the aesthetics that it has four color applications which brings out details more. And did we mention that you can actually remove the little guy’s pants? We don’t know why they’ve included this “functionality” but it’s there.
Final Thoughts
The overall appeal of these devices comes more from the design itself rather than the functionality. And in that aspect, the i-Pirate actually works. If you’re those that like these fancy looking novelty pieces, then this is highly recommended. For more quirky products, you can visit them at www.i-qute.com.tw.
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