Silicon Power Touch 851 Review: Dazzling, stylish USB 2.0 flash drive

Silicon Power Touch 851

The wide outreach of storage devices may have once been a far-fetched thought. As days tumbled by, they’ve almost become a key factor in educational and professional spheres. We’ve also seen technology walk the mile with style in hand. Although the two may have different paths there are manufacturers deemed at abridging the gap. Well, one such offering has just marched into our review labs. We are talking about the Touch 851 flash drive that jumps out of the stylish space carved in Silicon Power’s portfolio. However, to know if the Touch 851 is all about style or also keeps up with the performance level, here’s an exclusive analysis for our readers.

The Silicon Power Touch 851 arrived in a simple packet carrying usual prints of the company and product name, logo and other necessary information. However, at a glance, you may miss on all the just mentioned packaging details as the device lies in a transparent covering at the centre. Once you tear open the packet, a plastic casing covering the drive slips down. This casing snuggly carries the storage device and can be easily split apart. In our palm, the flash drive seemed almost minuscule, extremely light on pockets at meager 6.3 grams. Needless to say, it would hardly occupy any space with 31.6mm x 16.4mm x 6mm dimensions which is almost the size of a thumb impression.

The Touch 851 flashes back a glamorous look, dazzling in checkered patterns of golden and silver. Our unit was embossed with golden checkered design that dazzled in light. It does not pose a plasticky appearance as the device is crafted of zinc alloy. The small rectangular disc carries the shimmering design while it’s placed in a silver metallic frame. One side shows off the elegance to higher one’s style quotient, the other is a completely open section with the 2.0. connector draped in black plastic material.

The drive carries a white printed Silicon Power lettering along with its logo and also reveals the 16GB memory that it holds. An elegant shimmery brownish gray beaded chain has been hooked on to its edge that intricately leaves a slot for keychain. The connector is secured inside the body and we had to slide it open. On sliding it outwards, a slight pressure locks it into the position.

Touch 851

The pen drive is undoubtedly one of the good looking ones we have seen. Besides, it also came across sturdy. However, those fashionistas wowed by every minute design twist may notice the extremely small gap between the front and back frame, revealing that enough attention hasn’t been paid to its details. Moreover, the frame also attracts fingerprints. The sliding design negates the inclusion of a cap. So, one will not have to worry about losing it. The device touts to be waterproof, shockproof and dustproof, owing to the chip on board technology. The device sustained water spills as it could be conveniently wiped off (we are talking about small spills and didn’t really immerse it in water).

We found 16GB of storage space to be ample for our daily needs. However, if you require more than 16GB then you’d have to look elsewhere as the only other option is 8GB. Besides, you can also pick it in 2GB and 4GB storage capacities. The flash drive transferred 14GB of data in 15 minutes, starting at 19Mbps while it slowly stationed at 16.4 Mbps on Lenovo’s Intel Core i7 based notebook with 4GB RAM. However, tech enthusiasts are definitely looking for a speedier transfer.

Silicon Power also lets one take advantage of its SP Widget. The widget assists in managing your content, taking backup and more. Using the SP widget, one can take backups and lay our hands on data encryption, PC-lock and also download a 60-day trial version of Norton.

Overall, the Silicon Power Touch 851 oozes style along with smart features. Its minuscule size aptly holds gigantic data and it would hardly occupy any space in your hand clutch or purses. Seemingly, this flash drive has been targeted at ladies but we feel any one with an acute fashion sense could pick it. It has earned a rating of 8 out of 10 from us. The 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB Touch 851 flash drive can be purchased for Rs. 560, Rs. 610, Rs. 1090 and Rs. 1970, respectively.