Patriot’s Portable Cloud Storage and Media Streamers

Patriot also has some portable storage solutions and media players on display. Their concept of the portable cloud storage is basically an external USB 3.0 + WiFi enabled HDD/SSD enclosure with a built-in battery. Instead of transferring large media files onto your tablet or other portable device, you can store them on a device like the Gauntlet 2. It supports HDDs and SSDs and should last upwards of five hours while streaming content over wireless (and potentially longer with an SSD). Probably the most likely use case is for those who want to take a large media library with them on a trip and they lack the storage capacity to hold it all on their tablet/smartphone (though it works with other OSes as well). So you could stash your Gauntlet 2 in the overhead compartment and still watch all of your media library while seated on a plane.

The other additions are the PBO Alpine and Core XT media streamers. (PBO stood for Patriot Box Office originally, though now it’s just the PBO brand.) The Alpine side is Android based, with the current Alpine using an ARM926EJ-S SoC (500MHz, 128MB DDR2, 256MB NAND); the Core XT side uses a Linux based interface with a larger form factor and a Realtek 1186 SoC (750MHz). The Alpine is intended primarily as a media streamer with support for up to 1080p playback with no internal storage, but it does support USB storage; availability is expected in the March time frame with a price of $89. The Core XT has an internal 3.5” drive tray capable of supporting up to 4TB drives. It also has USB 3.0, Ethernet, and WiFi connectivity and again supports up to 1080p video. Availability is also expected around March, with pricing TBD (based on configuration).