Freecom is not a name most Filipinos are familiar with, but the company is seemingly aiming to change this – they are starting to show up in local news items and have sent some notable publications some of their products for testing and demonstration purposes – one of these publications is our very own HWZ. We have with us two products, namely the Mobile Drive XXS and the succinctly named Tough Drive, both rubbery portable 2.5” hard drives.

Freecom has actually been in the business of supplying storage devices ranging from professional DAT and tape drives to consumer-oriented optical storage and flash drives since 1989, and has been serving as OEM manufacturer at one time or another for a variety of name-brand storage products, such as Philips, Seagate, Toshiba, Fujitsu Siemens, Panasonic, and Memorex. They have also been innovating their way through years of technological advancement, going from portable DAT drives, to the advent of CD-ROM drives sporting the then-new USB 2.0 spec, to the latest 2.5” portable hard drive technology.

This plain-faced exterior is in fact a very small portable hard drive enclosure. 

Only this mini-USB connector separates the XXS from being a durable rubber container for your 2.5" hard drive.

The Mobile Drive XXS can be described as simply a rubber sleeve with a mini-USB socket at one end, and a cut that can be folded back on the other. The XXS comes with storage ranging in size from 160 to 500GB; the product isn’t meant to be sold as a separate item. The whole XXS is curved around the edges and is smooth to the touch, much like suede but a lot more elastic. A small tag to one side has “Freecom” stamped onto it, with “Design Sylvain Willenz” on the other side. Freecom claims that the XXS is the smallest 2.5” hard drive, and I would tend to believe this claim, as the XXS is pretty much just the hard drive with a rubber coating – “XXS” is an obvious name for it. Compared to my WD Passport, the XXS is about half an inch shorter, and around 2 mm slimmer.

The same rubberized treatment, but with a two-tone paint job and thicker rubber: Tough Drive.

The USB connector can be attached to an extender for more flexibility when connecting to a PC.

The Tough Drive is another Freecom product, and as the name suggests, it has more substance to it than the XXS – both literally and figuratively. Thicker rubber, a two-tone design, the integrated (but short) USB connector, and the Freecom name stamped on top of the device all lend the Tough Drive a little bit more presence than its super-small sibling. The USB connector has an integrated LED for indicating operation, and further separating the Tough Drive from the XXS is the plastic, candy-color rear that reminds us of the old iMac Apple computers. Freecom claims that the Tough Drive is able to withstand bumps and drops better than most, as its thick rubber body and an internal shock-isolation system stands ready for unfortunate fumbles.

The XXS is much shorter than a regular WD Passport.

The Tough Drive compared to its XXS sibling.

Both devices were tested against a 250GB Western Digital Passport filled up to 2/3 by the owner, and both Freecom products were found to transfer a 686MB chunk of data 10 seconds faster than the Passport ( 36 seconds and 37.5 seconds for the XXS and Tough Drive respectively versus the Passport’s 47.8 seconds). Heat dissipation seems to be a problem, as there is no appreciable change with its temperature when a hand is held over either device – the rubber suits must be keeping a lot of heat locked up, and there are no vents to be found anywhere on either Freecom product. But as 2.5” hard drives aren’t really prone to failure due to heat produced in regular use, there shouldn’t be any problem.

"Design Sylvain Willenz" for those who can't make out the lettering.

We got our hands on a 250GB version of the XXS. Up tp 500GB is available.

For the moment, these two products are representative of Freecom’s presence in the local market, and it seems that Freecom as a company is starting cautiously but smartly, with devices that are mainstream enough to garner enough interest in the mainstream market, but with enough innovation and design chops (the Tough Drive garnered the red dot design award and the XXS received an iF design award) to elevate it above its contemporary portable-storage competitors. Freecom’s website lists many more classy products that we have not seen in local stores yet, but if these two products are any indication, Freecom is about ready to finish testing the waters and is about to jump in headfirst into the Philippine market.

Simple is the way to go for design certifications.

With their products, reasonable pricing, and the help of their local distributor PC Trends, which has already garnered a name for itself for carrying brand names targeted more at the high end of the market, Freecom may soon be populating many more of the local store shelves – watch out for them and see for yourself!