Primarily, I tested the drive in conjunction with Seagate's GoFlex Media app on the . You can also use the drive via a Web browser--on Android tablets and phones, and even on iOS or Windows--but the experience is rougher there.
On the iPad, the iOS app starts off well with a pleasing two-pane interface that shows file-access shortcuts at the left and a viewer/access pane at the right. (On the iPhone, this structure is reduced to a one-pane-at-at-time approach, as necessitated by the phone's smaller screen.) On the left are sections for Videos, Photos, Music, Documents, and Folder View; tap there, and content of the appropriate file types then becomes visible in the main pane.
That good start is about as far as the app gets, though. In every other way, this 1.0 version comes up quite short. The problems are probably not unsolvable: Seagate has already said that it will address some of the disappointing aspects in future versions, and mobile users are certainly used to frequent app updates. Unfortunately, at this time the app is very limited, which in turn diminishes the usefulness of the drive itself.
Getting started is simple enough: You install the GoFlex Media app onto the iPad, and tap to open it. You can save a step if you go to the Wi-Fi settings and select the GoFlex drive as your wireless network before you open the app; otherwise, the app gives you instructions the first time you open it, or it will alert you when the unit is disconnected and you need to go out of the app to adjust the settings. Regrettably, fixing those settings is not something you can do from within the app. Every time it disconnects--or, say, whenever you exit the app to go to another app that needs an Internet connection--you'll have to revisit the settings to toggle to the Internet connection, and then do so again to reset the Wi-Fi back to the GoFlex Satellite. How much of this hassle is due to a limitation of Apple's iOS and how much is attributable to a limitation of the app itself is unclear; either way, it makes for a frustrating experience.