Sorry for the delay in posting the review. My internet was down for 9 hours today starting in early afternoon so I was disconnected for a good part of the day so I couldn’t work on the blog. Apparently, aside from not having digital cable and internet, it seems that it also affected Interac debits and even ATMs. This is bad when most things nowadays depend on the internet.

Palm Discovery would like to extend a BIG THANKS to Michelle for providing the product for this review.

Are you a Star Wars fan? Are you a geek that loves to show off the latest and coolest gadgets to the envy of your friends? If so, here’s something that will definitely be “cool” even by those who aren’t into Star Wars or into flash drives. Introducing, a very unique and fresh approach to the boring old flash thumb drives: the MIMOBOTS by Mimoco.

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MIMOBOTS are very cool looking and ingeniusly designed thumb drives that not only works very well as a thumb drive, but looks very cool! There is a huge variety of designs available for the MIMOBOTS that are out there ranging from the very cute to the wicked and of course, characters from the Star Wars collection. This is where it has peaked my interest, being a Star Wars fan myself (who isn’t?), I couldn’t pass up the chance to try to get a hold of the Star Wars themed MIMOBOTS. Thanks to Michelle, I was able to nab the very shiny and lovable C-3PO.

The C-3PO MIMOBOT is part of the MIMOBOT Star Wars Series 3 collection of Mimoco’s MIMOBOT flash drives. Other characters in Series 3 include: Darth Sidious, Imperial Royal Guard, and Wicket. Series 1 characters included: Chewbacca, Stormtrooper, R2 D2, and Darth Vader. Series 2 characters includes: Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, and Princess Leia. Series 4 has recently just been unveiled with the first character is Darth Maul. The next character in the series will be unveiled on June 10th. There is currently a contest going on until June 9th where participants can “guess” which character from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace will be next to be unveiled. Contest details can be found at Mimobot’s website here. Good luck!

The C-3PO MIMOBOT I will be reviewing today is the 4GB version. It comes in four different storage configurations: 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB. Each support USB 2.0 connections, with special extras embedded and included in the drive itself as a zip file (SW3_mimory.zip). Such extras include: screensavers, icons, wallpapers, and especially the extra special MIMOBOT soundbyte that will play a random sound upon insertion and removal of the drive. The drives with the extras are fully supported on both PC and Mac so you can enjoy them on both operating systems. The MIMOBOTS come with a limited 1 year warranty.

The size of the MIMOBOT is relatively small as it is (for me anyway), about the length of my thumb. What I like about the MIMOBOT is its design. The cover of the drive is usually the head of the character. In certain other MIMOBOTS like Boba Fett, it is actually the helmet. That’s what I really like about the MIMOBOTS. It definitely shows the creativity and extra care in the design of each character to make each unique.

To use the thumb drive, simply remove the top of the drive, usually the “head” of the character. You should see the USB connector underneath the cap. Simply connect the drive into the USB port (it will only fit in one way so if you can’t push it in, it’s likely the other way, so flip it upside down and insert it.) Your computer should be able to recognize the drive (it may take a few seconds) and you should get the typical “What do you want to do” pop up where it asks you what you want to do. I normally scroll down and select the “Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer” which will then open up Windows Explorer. If you chose that, you should see something similar to what is in the screenshots below.

Keep in mind that in order for the drive to play the sound file upon insertion and removal of the drive, you will first need to install the special software on the drive. Unfortunately, the entire package has been compressed and stored in a zip file on the drive (SW3_mimory.zip). You will need to decompress or unzip the file (over 163MB in size) in order to extract all the files and folders and then install it.

This is one area where I wished that it could have worked straight out of the box, without going through the process of unzipping the huge 163MB file, and also unzipping the SW3_mimoByte_PC.zip file. But that’s not all. You still have to install the extracted SW3_mimoByte_PC.msi setup file.

Finally, the program asks you to reboot your computer. A lot of work to get this “feature”. But, regardless, it’s still a lot of fun to listen for the random C-3PO quotes. Anthony Daniels is amazing with his voice. Here’s a sample. That is also why I really wanted C-3PO because I wanted to hear Anthony Daniel’s voice.

Aside from the mimoByte sound files, there are other extras that are included in the package. There are avatars, icons, wallpapers, screensavers. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed in the kaleidascope screensaver as I was expecting something else. I would have preferred even a slideshow of the wallpaper pictures instead of the kaleidascope as I find that they are too “busy” and very distracting. That is my personal opinion and I’m sure many people will disagree with me.

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

Specs and Details

Continuing the wildly popular crossover between MIMOBOT and LucasFilm, Star Wars MIMOBOT® Series 3 brings a big ol’ dose of Return of the Jedi goodness into the Star Wars MIMOBOT flash drive collection. The Star Wars MIMOBOT Series 3 introduces another collection of four new characters to the MIMOBOT designer USB flash drive family: Darth Sidious (AKA Emperor Palpatine), a crimson-clad Royal Guard, cute, fuzzy and somehow quite dangerous Ewok Wicket, and Goldenrod himself, the protocol-droid-cum-Ewok-deity, C-3PO.

mimoByteâ„¢ sound software

The MIMOBOT mimoByte™ Sound Software allows you to hear your MIMOBOT flash drive’s innermost thoughts whenever you insert or remove it! Click here to listen to a sample.

* Preloaded digital Mimory
* 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB capacities
* Hi-speed USB 2.0
* Mac/PC compatible
* 2.5″ tall by 1″ wide
* One-year limited warranty

Here are some pictures of the Star Wars Series 3 MIMOBOT C-3PO in its package and by itself

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Slideshow of the above pictures

Product Video

Video of MIMOBOT at YouTube

Here are my observations:

Well designed with appealing shiny looks

I am very impressed. The c-3PO Star Wars Series 3 MIMOBOT is not only great looking, well very and cleverly designed in looks and features that it’s hard not to be impressed. First, its shiny gold exterior is almost enough to set it apart from any other flash drive out there. The cuteness factor also plays a big role. The huge head which also is part of the thumb drive cap with a small body is quite an ingenius design to make it small yet still works like any other thumb drive. I am very impressed at the creative designs for each and every MIMOBOT out there. Some MIMOBOTS have the cap designed as the hair (eg. Han Solo), while others are designed as the helmet (eg. Boba Fett). At various storage capacities from 1, 2, 4 and 8GB, it offers buyers the choice between the storage capacities and needs. I like the LED light located on the drive which flashes to indicate data transfer and connection, however, I would have preferred it to be at the front instead of the back so that I can see C-3PO when plugging it in. But that’s a very minor issue. I’d also like to have seen something that can ensure that I don’t lose the cap (a big problem with flash drives since we all tend to remove the cap and forget to put it back when done). Had the MIMOBOT strung the cap with a string that connects to the bottom of the drive like many other micro card readers, I think it could have really been a great feature. I just have to make sure to cap C-3PO’s head on before leaving the computer. Please keep in mind that there are many other Star Wars characters still available at the Mimobot website plus many other wacky and cute characters that you may find interesting.

Multi-step process to get mimoByte sound to play

On the other hand, one big issue that I have with the MIMOBOT is with regards to the soundByte feature. Although it’s great that the drive will play a sound upon insertion and removal of the drive, it can only do so after the mimoByte software has been successfully installed on the computer. Obviously, if you are planning to impress a friend, the MIMOBOT won’t play the sound upon its first insertion on the computer. And that’s a shame because if it did, I can bet you that it will sell just based on that first initial shocked reaction of a friend’s face when you first plug in the MIMOBOT drive on their computer. It’s not impossible to do. If theFlip’s camcorder software can automatically install upon the first initial insertion of the device on a computer, I can’t believe that the MIMOBOT’s mimoByte software can’t do the same. I’d strongly urge MIMOCO to consider this as I believe that it will definitely sell so much better and faster if this could be done. Currently, if you can recall, I have to first unzip the 163MB zipped file which takes a few minutes to do, navigate to the SW3_mimoByte_PC folder, unzip the SW3_mimoByte_PC.zip file, install the SW3_mimoByte_PC.msi set up file and reboot the computer. This will take a few minutes to do. Of course, once it’s done, the sound will play but most people may not want to do it, especially if they don’t own the thumb drive. What better way to convince a potential customer to get such a thumb drive if you can get it to play automatically the first time it’s inserted? Perhaps, MIMOCO should seriously consider this idea.

Review Summary

Mimoco’s Star Wars Series 3 C-3PO MIMOBOT is quite an impressive looking and working thumb drive. Not only does it look amazing with its shiny gold exterior, it works very well. What impresses me about the drive is that it will play a random sound file upon insertion and removal of the drive (for me, since it’s C-3PO, it will be a C-3PO quote sound file), something I don’t think other drives can do. The drive is very small, lightweight and of course, works very well as a thumb drive, although most of us will use it simply to impress others . With storage capacities of 1, 2, 4 and 8GB, it’s sure to appeal to anyone’s budget and needs. Keep in mind that it can also be considered a collectors’ item as these drives are limited in quantity. Once they’re sold out, they’re gone forever. So if you’re interested in any of the Star Wars or other characters in the huge MIMOBOT family, please check them out!

Again, I’d like to thank Michelle for providing the 4GB C-3PO Star Wars Series 3 MIMOBOT for the review. It’s been a joy to play review it!

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