Summary
The Tata Photon Plus MP3 device not only works as a wireless Internet dongle but also as an MP3 player.
Pros:
- Lots of Extra Features
- Reasonable Download Speeds Within City
- Light
- MicroSD Support
Cons:
- Spotty Connectivity Outside City
- No WMA/AAC Support
- Volume Level is Low
Intro; Features; Design & Usability
Two years back when Tata unveiled their Photon Plus wireless dongle, it was one of the fastest wireless Internet solutions that we’d seen. Even now, the
Tata Photon Plus (and the
Reliance NetConnect) dongles are pretty popular. While there isn’t much in terms of innovation that you can get from a wireless dongle, Tata has given it a shot with their new Tata Photon Plus MP3 dongle that also doubles up as an MP3 player.
Features
The Tata Photon Plus MP3 dongle is the most featured dongle that I’ve come across since not only does it work as a regular wireless dongle, it can also act as an MP3 player and a mass storage device. Plus, you can also use the dongle to record audio and tune into FM radio. The Photon Plus accepts microSD cards and comes with a bundled 2GB card. We tried out a 4GB microSD card with it too and it worked without any issues.
Design & Usability
The new Tata Photon Plus MP3 dongle is slightly longer and thicker than the regular dongle. It’s about the size of USB pen drive but without a USB connector. Instead it has a miniUSB port and comes with a miniUSB cord to plug into your laptop/desktop. People who prefer to plug the dongle right into the laptop USB port may not like the fact that there is an extra cord to deal with but it’s not really too much of a deal breaker.
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The dongle itself is completely made of plastic and has a fair build quality in spite of being very light. There‘s no antenna or any moving parts so that’s great. Now a regular dongle won’t have anything else on its body except for maybe an LED indicator but since the new Photon Plus also works as an MP3 player, there are a number of buttons you have to contend with. A big shiny play/pause button is the most visible thing on the dongle’s body. The bottom edge has buttons that help you choose if you want to playback music or any audio that you recorded. The same buttons also enable recording and control the volume of playback. Adjacent to these buttons is a 3.5mm jack to plug in your headphones. The placement of this port appears strange since this means that if you are carrying the dongle in your pocket; your headphones’ connector will have to be twisted in an L-shape, which isn’t an ideal situation.
The top edge also has a pair of similar buttons that switches the dongle into MP3/FM mode. These buttons can also be used to skip tracks or scan FM frequencies. The backside of the dongle can be slid open to reveal the microSD card slot.
While it may take a little bit of time to learn control the player especially while it’s in your pocket, it’s easy to get accustomed to. It’s also very easy to start using the dongle to browse the Web. All you need to do is connect the dongle to your laptop and the Tata Photon Plus installer should start right up. Following the steps installs the Photon Plus client within a minute and once the dongle finds the network, browsing is enabled.
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