Leyio Personal Sharing Device 16GB review

The Leyio might look for all the world like (yet) another MP3 player, but look closely and you'll note that it lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack. Instead, its creators would like you to think of it as a "Personal Sharing Device", with which you can wirelessly beam your files - videos, documents, pictures and so on - to others.

It's got 16GB of storage, so it's best to think of it as a heavily-featured storage device: despite the 1.5in, 128 x 128 screen, you can't actually play anything back. It also hides a 2GB USB flash drive - nicknamed the "Shuttle" - at the bottom of its curvy frame.

The flash drive itself is interesting: copy a file from the Leyio to a PC via the Shuttle, and the next time you plug the Shuttle into the Leyio, the file will be wiped from it. Alternatively, if you copy a file onto the Shuttle, it will be moved onto the Leyio.

Another clever touch is the full-size USB-A port built into the side, giving you the option to copy files directly to the Leyio from a USB mass storage device such as a smartphone or digital camera.

Navigating the Leyio's simple interface is done via the fingerprint sensor on the front of the drive: swiping up and down takes you through the menu, and left and right gives you options, such as sending a file to the Shuttle or deleting it. The fingerprint sensor itself is a potentially useful tool in the arsenal of someone who carries sensitive files around, and in practice we had only occasional trouble getting a swipe recognised.

The Leyio includes an ultrawideband (UWB) radio, which allows you to share files with other Leyio users. It's cleverly done - the Leyio includes a three-axis accelerometer, and file-sharing is initiated via a flick of the wrist. It's a neat idea that works well: we copied a 484MB episode of Top Gear from one Leyio to another in 51 seconds; very close indeed to the manufacturer's claim of 10MB/sec. Good luck rounding up enough Leyio-owning friends, though.

The Leyio has some neat touches and is an interesting take on the humble flash drive. But there are a few niggles we can't get past. First is the inability to at least preview files, except images, before you send them. That's fine if you descriptively name files before sending them, but otherwise you could be left hunting.

So, even with the well-implemented wireless file sharing it's hard to come up with reasons that the Leyio is significantly better than carrying around a normal flash drive. The fact that the Leyio relies on a battery (albeit one which Leyio claims will go for 30 days with daily use) is another mark against it. The fact that you could get a less funky 16GB, fingerprint-protected USB flash drive for less than half the Leyio's £138 asking price is the final straw.

Author: Dave Stevenson