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One of the many complaints of those who own an older computer is that there is a lack of built-in bluetooth support. Sure, we can go out and get a bluetooth dongle for the older computer and it will work, but what happens if you are traveling and the only computer you have access to does not have bluetooth? Or, you’re at your friend’s house and are using his computer, which doesn’t have bluetooth? Again, you can bring along your bluetooth dongle, but a lot of times, you will also need to bring along the driver CD to properly install it on that computer. Not only will you need to bring a lot more things with you, but going through the process of installing the drivers and the device can be the extra hassle that most of us don’t want to deal with. Here’s a solution: USB Fever’s Mutli-card Reader with Bluetooth dongle.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this device only operates as a bluetooth dongle, this device can also double and work as a SDHC multi flash memory format card reader! Yes! It’s true! This device can read the following formats: SD/MiniSD/SDHC/MMC/MMC Plus/MMC Plus Turbo/RS-MMC/RS-MMC Mobile/RS-MMC Turbo, Micro MS(M2), MS/MS Magic Gate/MS Select/MS Duo/MS Duo Magic Gate/MS Pro/MS Pro Magic Gate/MS Pro Duo Magic Gate, T-Flash/MicroSD. Whew! That’s a lot of memory formats!

This portable bluetooth dongle has its own USB connector that normally tucks in neatly on its side when not in use but can be removed to be plugged into a USB hub or port when required. How very handy!

So, this is a 2-in-1 device with a bluetooth dongle and a multi-card format reader supporting SDHC cards in one little package that fits in the palm of your hand. Talk about having convenience, connectivity and accesibility of files in this small device.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

To use the device as a card reader, simply remove the USB connector, normally neatly fitted on the side of the device and plug it into a USB port or hub. Then, fit in your flash memory card into the corresponding card slots. Make sure you inspect it carefully to ensure you are inserting your card into the correct slot and you are inserting it the right way. There are four slots along the sides of the device. Thankfully, they are labeled to indicate which formats are supported for each slot.

To use the device as a bluetooth dongle on your computer and add bluetooth support for it, first remove the USB connector and cable and plug into a USB port or hub as you would do to use it as a card reader. Next, locate the supplied USB cable in the package and plug in the mini USB connector to the indicated port of the device, clearly identified with the bluetooth symbol/icon. At the other end of the cable, connect the USB connector plug to your computer’s USB port or hub. As a result, two USB ports have been occupied by the device: one by the device’s own attached USB connector and one by the supplied USB cable.

If using it for the first time, your computer will go through the drivers search and installation process. When it’s finished, you will see the LED light of the device flash to indicate it’s ready and enabled. Of course, you will also notice the bluetooth icon in your computer desktop’s system tray (bottom right corner of your computer screen near the clock).

More details of the product (taken from USB Fever):

Features:
- Direct access T-Flash / MicroSD / M2 memory cards
- Fully compitabile with USB 2.0
- LED indicator (for Bluetooth)
- Supports Windows Vista / XP / 2000 / ME
- Bluetooth 2.0 compliant
- Bluetooth class 2, compatible with Bluetooth class 1
- Portable
- Plug-N-Play
- Compact & Lightweight

Recommended applications:
- Wireless connect to Bluetooth devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, etc. for data transfer
- Personal Area Network (PAN) connectivity

Cards Reading:
- SD / MiniSD / SDHC / MMC / MMC Plus / MMC Plus Turbo / RS-MMC / RS-MMC Mobile / RS-MMC Turbo
- Micro MS (M2)
- MS / MS Magic Gate / Ms Select / MS Duo / MS Duo Magic Gate / MS Pro / MS Pro Magic Gate / - MS Pro Duo Magic Gate
- T-Flash / MicroSD

Package Contents:
- Multi-Card Readers with Bluetooth Dongle x 1
- USB Cable x 1

Note:
- Brand: SIYOTEAM

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Slideshow of the above pictures

Product Video

Video at YouTube

Alternative video link: Video at blip.tv

EDITED July 29th: Correction. I made the mistake with regards to the bluetooth dongle. To use the bluetooth dongle, you will need to plug in the supplied USB cable to a USB port or hub but you do not need to plug the other USB connector as well. That USB connector is for the card reader portion. I made the mistake of mentioning that you required to use two USB ports for the bluetooth when you only need ONE, which is via the supplied USB cable. Of course, it may be convenient to have it occupy two USB ports so that you can have access to both the bluetooth and card reader without having to unplug one and plug in the other. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Here are my observations:

I really like how this little device packs not only a card reader but also a bluetooth dongle together in one package. I also like how I don’t need to bring a long or install drivers to use this device, unlike many other bluetooth dongles. Keep in mind that I now use a laptop running Windows XP rather than Windows 2000 (which previously was a nightmare trying to find drivers to for devices) so it’s nice that I don’t need to search for and install drivers. This has now become my “portable” bluetooth dongle that I pack with me when traveling to have access to bluetooth support anywhere I go. I really like the design of being able to neatly fit the USB connector plug and cable back onto the side of the device when not in use. This keeps the connector and cable safe when packing and traveling and reduces clutter. It’s unfortunate that the supplied USB cable doesn’t have such a similar feature or way that it can be wrapped or tucked neatly away or this could be such an amazing designed device.

My only quip about this device is that there is a lack of diagram or imprinted image on the device showing the correct way to insert the flash memory cards. With the SD card slot, you can easily determine by looking into the slot and find out where the connections will be made, but with the much smaller microSD/T-Flash card slot, it’s much harder to see. Obviously, I was having a bit of difficulty trying to figure it out when I first tried it. BTW, you are supposed to have the gold or metallic side facing up and inwards when inserting it into the card reader slot. Aside from that, I don’t have much else to complain about. It works well right out of the box.

Review Summary

USB Fever’s Multi-Card Reader with Bluetooth dongle is one great 2-in-1 device that works not only as a bluetooth dongle that doesn’t require drivers to install and operate but also as a card reader that supports a variety of flash memory formats and high capacity cards. I especially like how the bluetooth dongle runs right out of the box without requiring a driver CD and it doesn’t come with one either. Please keep in mind that my computer now runs on Windows XP and it’s likely that if you are running on other operating systems that you may need to search for drivers to have it work. With bluetooth support, this means that I can easily transfer files to and from my Treo smartphone to the computer, even on my older Inspiron 8100 computer that doesn’t have built-in bluetooth support or any other computer for that matter. And, that’s not all. If you have bluetooth headsets, you can stream music from your computer to your headset, or use it as a voip headset with Skype or hotsync via bluetooth, or transfer files between bluetooth supported devices and your computer. You get the picture.

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