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PQI Air Card lets you wirelessly access your camera's photos (hands-on)

PQI Air Card lets you wirelessly access your camera's photos (hands-on)

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Memory vendor PQI had a wireless SD card at Computex 2012.

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Gallery Photo: PQI Air Card Wi-Fi SD card hands-on pictures
Gallery Photo: PQI Air Card Wi-Fi SD card hands-on pictures

Wireless SD card manufacturer Eye-Fi has more competition inbound: not only will it have to deal with Toshiba's FlashAir and the SD Card Association's new iSDIO standard, but memory vendor PQI had a tiny Wi-Fi SD card of its own at Computex 2012. Like the FlashAir, PQI's new Air Card creates a dedicated 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi hotspot when you plug it into your camera and press the power button, which you can connect to your tablet, phone or PC, after which point the photos and videos automatically appear in a corresponding app or web interface. Unlike the FlashAir, though, PQI's solution has a microSD slot, so you can swap in and out just about as much storage as you want.

We had a really tough time getting the cards wirelessly paired in the hostile electromagnetic environment of the show, but it seems to work once you do: we were able to view photos and playback video on a connected iPad, and even keep on shooting new pictures while browsing the contents from the tablet. The card turns on Wi-Fi automatically whenever you plug it into a camera, and it will definitely drain your battery quicker (a PQI rep told us that it could cut life by half) but you can manually turn the wireless functions off if needed. The company hopes to go into production next month, but doesn't have a firm release date or price point for us yet. Here's hoping it's easier to pair in a real-world environment.

PQI Air Card Wi-Fi SD card hands-on pictures

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