Today for review I’ve got a small product, but it’s a very useful one if your cell phone uses a sim card. A sim card usually stores all of your numbers and other information, but to access and edit the information you need to do it from your phone usually. This isn’t always the best way to make changes or edits. Making these changes and edits can be time consuming, especially if your phone doesn’t have a full keyboard.
The product I’ve got today is called the i-Tech SIMDrive and it looks like a small USB flash but it has a slot on it for your sim card to be inserted into. On the drive itself is software to allows you to access, edit, backup and even export your contacts from the sim card. You do all this from your computer so it makes the whole process much easier. It’s inexpensive, and in my opinion well worth it to be able to easily access and backup your contacts.
Specifications:
The i-Tech SIMDrive is a lightweight, easy to carry SIM card reader. User friendly, simply plug and play into your PC and access all your mobile phone SIM card data straight from the PC.
Features:
* Simple plug and play solution.
* Insert easily into your PC USB.
* Easy download and management of all SIM contacts.
* Works with 2G and 3G phones.
* View, create, edit, and backup SIM card details using the PC.
* Archive up to 1,000 contacts on your PC.
Specifications:
* Supports Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
* Supports 3V/5V SIM card.
* Supports USB 1.1.
* Capacity: 512KB (Flash).
* Dimensions: 44 x 21 x 10mm.
* Weight: 8.4 grams.
Price: $14.00
Unboxing:
The i-Tech SIMDrive comes in a small box with some information listed on it about the product.
Inside you’ll find the drive itself in a plastic try and a brief instruction manual.
You can easily mistake it for a flash memory drive, it’s very small and portable.
It’s black in color and the cap comes off to reveal the USB connection.
On the bottom you’ll find the sim card slot with a diagram showing you how to insert it:
Installation, Performance, Comparison
When you plug the i-Tech SIMDrive into your computer it will pop up just like a flash drive, accessing it you’ll find a few file there including the main program.
I first tried this with Windows Vista X64, but ran into a problem. The software just refused to run, even as Admin or with Compatibility Mode and even with both.
So I grabbed my netbook running Windows XP and used that. Really That’s where I would want my information backed up to anyway as if I’m going to be somewhere my netbook will be with me. What would be the point of backing it up to my main computer because if something happened while I’m away I won’t have access to it.
I’m on AT&T and they use the sim card system, some carriers don’t and personally I don’t care for that. With a sim card I can easily switch between phones.
The sim card just pops into the slot on the bottom of the SIMDrive:
There is a red light on the unit to let you know it’s on.
My sim card is PIN protected so I had to enter my code to access the contents, it took about 30 seconds to access the information:
Once it was accessed the contents where displayed, and I realized that not all of my contacts are on my sim card. The reason there’s only a few contacts listed is that I use a Windows Mobile phone, specifically an AT&T Tilt and they’re all saved on the phone and not the sim card as I expected them to be. I guess I’m going to have to fix that later to make sure my contacts are on the sim card so if something happens to the phone I’ll still have them.
Obviously I blacked out names and numbers for privacy reasons.
Across the top are the options, the first is File, here you can Read, Save, Import and Export your contacts.
Under the Configuration options you can make some adjustments if needed to make sure everything is compatible with your sim card and your carrier.
The option is Phone Book, here is where you can edit, delete, add, write, copy to phone book, copy to archive and move to archive.
The software is simple and easy to use. You can easily access, edit or add contacts and then just write them to your sim card.
The backup is the most important part I would think, but I do like the export feature as well. The software will export to Excel format then you can just print out your contacts so you’ve also got a hard copy. You can also import that Excel document as well, just edit the information, import it and then write to the sim card. So really the program gives you a couple ways to edit your contacts.
I did run into the issue with Vista, and I found the same problem with Windows 7. It does say in the specs that it’s compatible with Windows 2000 and Windows XP, but I would expect something like this to work with the current operating systems, especially since XP and Win2000 are so old at this point in time.
On the other hand, Windows XP might be old, but it’s still very much alive, especially on netbooks, so it still has come life left in it obviously.
Conclusion:
The i-Tech SIMDrive can be a very valuable asset to anyone with a sim card enabled phone. It makes, editing and adding contacts much easier, and of course it makes backing up and restoring easy as well.
The backup part of this product is probably the most important really, if you’ve ever lost all of your contacts then you know how much of a hassle it is to add them all back into your phone. I’ve done it before and it’s not fun at all.
The i-Tech SIMDrive costs about $14, not including shipping, I think that’s well worth it for the ease of access and peace of mind this little gadget gives you.
The fact that it doesn’t work with Vista or 7 might put some people off, but I don’t think it’s too big of a deal though.
Pros:
+Easy to use
+Inexpensive
+Very small and portable
Cons:
-Doesn’t work with Windows 7 or Windows Vista
Ratings
Overall: 4 out of 5
Performance: 4 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5
I would like to thank MobileFun for the opportunity to review the i-Tech SIMDrive and for their support of Bona Fide Reviews.
Disclosure: This product was given to Bona Fide Reviews for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products.
{ 1 comment }
Looking for info where I can purchase these in wholesale
Comments on this entry are closed.