iDrifta unboxing and some initial comments – with lots of pictures
Posted on June 6, 2012Review of iDrifta here. Unboxing continues below.
I was confused last week when my mom called me to say that a parcel had just been delivered to her house for me. I asked her to open it for me since I wasn’t expecting anything and didn’t have a clue what is was. I was quite delighted when she told me it was an iDrifta. Neither DSTV mobile nor their marketing company had told me there were sending me one for review so it was really an unexpected surprise. This is the second time they have sent me one of their new products to review (the USB Drifta was also provided for review) so thank you once again to DSTV mobile for being so kinda as to send this through, and for the nice red ribbon and accompanying letter. Just in time for Fathers day 🙂
This post is the “unboxing”, the review will come later. I called their call centre earlier to activate the device, but now 3 hours later it’s still not activated. I don’t much feel like spending more time on the line to the call centre (that last call was 15m+) so decided to write this up instead and try again with the call centre later. Enjoy this for now, will link to the review later.
Below is the original WiFi Drifta box (left) and the iDrifta (right). The boxes are fairly similar in size, however the iDrifta box is significantly thinner, probably less than half of the original Drifta. The iDrifta box also has a hanging slot at the top so retailers can keep a number of these hanging behind their counter for convenience.
When you open the box there is just one cardboard insert (left). There is a short printed notice with a QRCode for those wanting to take part in their “audience measurement programme”. The box was easily opened and quite neat and tidy, packed well to protect the iDrifta.
Flipping over the insert you can see a short micro-USB cable. I was surprised to see this and wasn’t sure of the purpose but the instruction insert provided more detail on that when perused. It seems this little iDrifta has a battery in it, and needs to be charged before use. This was quite a surprise as there was no mention of this during the press release or anywhere else. I had (wrongly) assumed this worked like the USB Drifta and would be powered from the iDevice (iPad/iPhone/iPod). There was also a little note attached to the aerial of the iDrifta warning you not to pull the cable out or interfere with it. Fair enough, I supposed there will always be someone trying something odd.
So once we remove everything from the packaging we have just three components. The iDrifta (top left), the instruction booklet (top right) and the micro-USB cable (bottom).
The iDrifta is cute and compact. A little fatter than I had anticipated, but nothing bad. Probably slightly smaller than the size of a matchbox (if you ignore the aerial loop). The aerial loop is also made of soft flexible wire.
Compared to the original wifi Drifta you can see that the iDrifta is about a quarter of the size, though is a little bit fatter. The aerial loop is also much shorter than the telescopic extended aerial of the original.
Another shot of the two devices side by side. The telescopic aerial is cut off here and extends almost as long as the original drifta itself. The iDrifta is most definitely much more compact.
You can see here the width of the iDrifta compared to the original. While the original Drifta has a battery flap on the back where you could remove the battery, and even pop in a spare (it used a common battery from some of the older low end Nokia phones), the new one is pretty much sealed. The unit has a join through the plastic on the side, but doesn’t look like it was made to open.
Another surprise was the micro-USB port at the bottom in the centre of the aerial loop. This wasn’t obvious in the press photos, though by now since having since the micro-USB cable it was obvious it would have a port. At this stage I was wondering if you could use this to charge the iDevice while using the iDrifta. Sadly this turned out not to be the case, and while the iDrifta can be charged while in use the iDrifta itself uses the iDevice connector so you can’t charge and use your iDevice.
Another shot of the charging micro-usb port and the status light showing when the device is charging. It turns red when plugged in, no indications of other colours. There are also no other status lights on the device, unlike the wi-fi and USB driftas.
A shot of the device with a micro-usb cable plugged in. I just popped in my Blackberry charger, works a charm. Having compatible cables is a boon.
An alternate view showing the Apple connector. The device itself is not much wider than the connector, though a fair bit fatter.
Here you can see the relative size of the device compared to the iPad. The picture onscreen is being streamed from the wifi drifta as at this stage I still didn’t have an active iDrifta, still the dreaded E4-16 signal scrambled error.
Lastly below are pictures of the instruction booklet which explains what the device is all about.
That’s it for now folks. Review to follow shortly.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to post any questions in the comments that I can make sure to cover in the review.
Thanks again to DSTVmobile for providing the review unit.
Tags: drifta, DSTV, dstv mobile, idrifta, ipad, iphone, ipod touch, unboxing
Categories: Fun things to do, Gadgets, iPad
[…] Unboxing photos […]
24.06.2012 12:13
Just so you know it doesnt work on Jailbroken devices. Ive tried earlier patched versions of the software and nothing works so far.
19.06.2012 20:22
When I use older versions it just says this device requires a application you do not have do you want to download it from the appstore.
When I say no it kicks me out. When i say yes it updates but detects it is jailbroken.
19.06.2012 20:26
Thanks for the update Derick. This supports what we had experienced and suspected. The iDrifta requires version 1.09 of the software and the latest patched version is 1.07. Take a look at the faq : http://j-j.co.za/gofaq for more details. I have added a section for iDrifta and captured what info I know there. Feel free to suggest further FAQ items. Justin
19.06.2012 22:55
Hi Justin, You can get your iDrifta activated by phoning the direct lines of Moiketsi or Sandile as stated in the letter that came with the iDrifta. Please let me know if you have any further issues.
18.06.2012 11:20
Hi Maiyo
I managed to get it activated last night through the call centre, I’m impatient when it comes to new toys so was trying to avoid waiting until today.
Thanks again for sending the device through.
Regards
Justin
18.06.2012 11:34
The Idrifter sound does not work on my ipad, contacted dstv .They cannot solve the problem , sound works on iphone, but no solution from dstv . Very dissapointed . looking at other complaints this is the most common. Surely some whizz kid can sort this out promptly .They must sort teething problems before they launch a product on the market !
18.06.2012 11:13
Hi Chris
Can you please provide further information around your device, the versions of software you are running and the nature of the problems being experienced, will try and help you sort this.
Regards
Justin
18.06.2012 17:04
[…] = 'jjza';Images of the two pages of the iDrifta quick start guide included with the device. The full unboxing of the device can be found here. Review to […]
17.06.2012 18:57
[…] = 'jjza';Update : The new iDrifta has been released (iDevice only) – unboxing here. Review to […]
17.06.2012 18:22
[…] Some of my comments below are inaccurate. Take a look at the “unboxing” post here : Unboxing of iDrifta with lots of pictures and comments. Review is to […]
17.06.2012 18:20