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Apacer Handy Steno AH421 (4GB) review: Apacer Handy Steno AH421 (4GB)

Apacer's memory stick is innovative, but has a whopper of a fatal flaw.

Craig Simms Special to CNET News
Craig was sucked into the endless vortex of tech at an early age, only to be spat back out babbling things like "phase-locked-loop crystal oscillators!". Mostly this receives a pat on the head from the listener, followed closely by a question about what laptop they should buy.
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Craig Simms

Apacer's Handy Steno AH421 memory stick comes from an interesting angle -- getting the "stick" part out of the way, so it can sit flush with the device it's plugged in to.

5.0

Apacer Handy Steno AH421 (4GB)

The Good

Innovative swivel mechanism.

The Bad

Won't plug into recessed ports. No included extension cord.

The Bottom Line

Apacer's memory stick is innovative, but has a whopper of a fatal flaw.

Design/Features
It's smarter than just putting the stick at right angles though -- the body can rotate through 180 degrees (clicking into place at 0, 90 and 180 degrees), to make sure ports don't get blocked. It even has a clothing-style tag on the side opposite to the USB connector to make removal easy.

Where the Steno falls down hard though is it doesn't take recessed ports into account, meaning it simply won't make sufficient contact with some PCs, no matter which way you rotate the body. Other companies include a USB extender cable where this can potentially be an issue -- Apacer does not.

Performance
The AH421 is certified for Windows Readyboost, and the sustained read of 23.4MB/s means it's fairly speedy too. Unfortunately it's a bit hard to overlook the recessed ports issue.

Apacer's Handy Steno AH421 is available in 512MB, 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities.