A USB drive for faster transfer of mobile files

At present, you need an Internet connection throughout to move files from Android to PC, a task that involves e-mailing the file or uploading it to a cloud storage site like Dropbox or Google Drive.

Next you open the e-mail and download the attachment, or get the file from the cloud server. And finally you open the file on your computer.

Now this task can be achieved even without a Net connection. Thanks to Leef's Bridge 3.0 flash drive, which provides a flexible, if not smooth, alternative. The drive comes with both full-sized and micro USB connectors.

Housed in a black plastic slide-and-lock tray, each connector is exposed by pressing on a centre button and pushing forward or backward, reported Wired.com.

Plug it in and you can stream or copy content to and from your Android phone, tablet, PC, or Mac. It's easy.

The drive itself is designed for Android devices with Jelly Bean 4.1 or higher, Mac OS X or later, Windows XP (SP3) and later, as well as Linux Kernal 2.6 or later computers.

But it does have its own set of problems.

The Leef Bridge is supposedly compatible with some 40 Android phones and 16 tablets. Some of these devices can read and write data from Leef drives with their Android operating system, but most require the assistance of third party file management apps available in the Google Play store.

Since there is no intuitive design, it may take you some effort to figure out how to find the files you want to transfer, and once found, how to actually move them from one device to the other.

So while the Leef Bridge 3.0 itself works well, users still need to overcome the clumsiness of the file manager apps the drive typically needs to operate.