| Standing screen display size | 5 Inches |
|---|---|
| Hard Drive | 2 TB Desktop |
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EDIT: OCT 06, 2016 ******* The Lyve service is being discontinued on December 31, 2016 *********Please note that you will no longer be able to view your photos or videos through the Lyve mobile and Lyve desktop apps after the Lyve service is discontinued.******* Please see the comments section below for more details:We all have come to digital age wherein all our precious memories are now just a mere digital file. A `file' on your PC, a `file' on your tablet, another file on your smartphone and some in MicroSD card, some on a hard disk drive stashed somewhere in a drawer or some lurking somewhere in cloud services which you failed to renew and who knows where else!It has been a classic dilemma for users like me who takes copious amount of photos on a daily basis and that too from so many electronic gadgets including cameras, tablets, smartphones etc.; and the main issue has been how to store them in a centralized location for ease of access. Before this product's existence the solution had been for me is to allocate a network attached storage (NAS) and make a public folder to copy all my digital photo and video files manually from each and every gadget using which I take photos and videos.After few months of using a personal NAS I did find it very hard to keep track of which photo or video file had been backed up into my NAS and there have been numerous occasions wherein I accidentally deleted files from my Smartphone or tablet thinking that I had backed it up into my NAS!LyveHome photo and video Manager designed and developed in Cupertino CA (Silicon valley USA) solves that problem for me beautifully by acting as a `content aggregator' wherein it automatically gathers the photo & video files from all my gadgets which runs the client app from Lyve and makes a copy of the same into the built-in 2TB of storage seamlessly without any user intervention safely and securely using 'WiFi' or 'Wired' network and in my own home or at work - Sort of a 'Personal cloud storage' if you may wish to call it with less anonymity where your personal data is being stored.Technology such as these comes with its own challenges but I was pleasantly surprised that folks at Lyve has done tremendous amount of work behind the scenes making this mammoth task simple as clicking or touching few screens. - Kudos on that! The device itself is very small, white in color blends beautifully connects to Wi-Fi or Wired Ethernet and needs Internet connection at all times for it to work but the actual content (Your personal photos & Videos) gets stored onto the built-in 2TB HDD this product has.PROS[+] Ease of installation - Anyone can do it even if you are not tech savvy[+] Content aggregation work very well as long as you have fast internet connection[+] Doubles as a nice photo frame (Rather than a boring black box HDD)[+] Free Client IOS App, Android App, Supports Kindle Fire (Generation 2 and above)[+] Silent operation no fan no noise[+] HDMI output connection to your TV for display on larger screen (Supports VIZO smartTV wirelessly)[+] Has one USB and one 'SD' card slot for faster upload to the internal 2TB HDD[+] Has digital clock display and screen that is bright, clear and of HD quality[+] Very good quality material and workmanship[+] Fast & courteous `US' based customer technical service via phone & email.CONS[-] Must have Internet access at all times (Does not work without it)[-] Does not work in private networks and if you are having limited data plans your data usage will be high![-] Must create a Lyve ID using the device or using apps before you can use the product[-] Must have fast internet connection (especially upload speeds)[-] There is no backup in cloud as of yet (But that can change in the future may be?)[-] No support for Windows XP PCs, The minimum requirement is Windows 7 SP1 with .NET 4.5.1[-] Deleting multiple files (On Android App seems cumbersome)[-] No plans to support Android 2.x devices at this point in time[-] Does not support exFAT based high capacity SDXC cards at this point in time[-] Windows 7 & higher app support is very basic at this moment but might improve?Lyve seems to have gone above and beyond to mask the nitty gritty techie details so that this solution is made to fit everyone's needs and the process of setup is very simple and it does work but you will have to understand that content aggregation does take time initially and you will learn that if you have a large collection of photos to begin with then you will see it will takes hours or days depending on how many files you need to transfer to the device.My one important suggestion would be to make all the photos you currently have properly organized first (you may need to tweak the file's date and time) before you allow the apps to gather it from your various devices so that it does not screw up the timeline in the way it will appear later since it maintains the all that on the LyveHome (I learnt it the hard way) Also, if you want peace of mind that your personal data is 'double-safe' you can make a 'mirror' copy of your photo & video files by buying two of the same product and keep one in work and one at home - problem solved :) freedom from cloud services (If you hate them since they offer limited storage space for free or charge outrageous fees for large storage space)Overall impression was very good, But I was sort of disappointed later during the testing of the product that it does not work until it gets connected to internet and wants to be connected to internet (*MUST* have access to Lyvehome servers) at all times even for transferring files locally (Wired or wireless) (This beats me!) It just simply does not work in private LANs. Also, I did have some issues during the product testing especially with Windows XP SP3 based old PC where most of my old photos & videos are kept and I had to contact customer support for assistance. They were courteous and responsive but I learnt that they have *no plans* (as of yet) to support Windows XP based PCs since their window client app runs with .NET 4.5.1 framework. Also, at the current moment the Lyve App is *only* compatible with Kindle Fire Generation 2 or better. It is incompatible with other tablets & phones that are Android 4.1 and higher registered to Amazon App-store. This could be Amazon App-store issue which lyve will eventually fix. Currently, if you have other Android based tablets and phones you are suggested to get the free Lyve app from Google Play services which works fine as long as your tablet or phone is Android 4.1 and higher.Edit (June 29 2014):--------------------Initially I had rated this 4 stars, But after using it more I found some limitations (See more CONs) and thus Loses one star combined since the windows client app support is very basic at this point in time and close to being worthless. Also, it does not work in Private local LAN and needs access to internet at all times.Disclosure: Before you like or dislike my review I would like to disclose that I received this Product from Amazon for free in exchange for an unbiased review for fellow Amazon shoppers. If you feel that my review is biased in anyway please feel to comment and I will try to answer any questions you have in your mind to best of my knowledge and experience and Oh! BTW I am not affiliated with Lyve by any means.Three Stars! - Happy Shopping!
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