The usefulness of an Eye-fi card has, in the past, been dependent on whether a trustworthy wi-fi network was in range in order to send the images to an online storage location. Now, with the Eye-fi mobile, all that’s needed is a compatible smartphone with wi-fi built in.

A camera can simply connect directly to the phone via a secure network, transferring the images to an app on an iOS or Android device. The card can still utilize a wireless network to send direct from camera to internet, but the connection isn’t the only method of sending images. Photos can even be transferred straight to a home computer rather than the Eye-fi View website.

Of course there’s a fair amount of setting up to be done prior to actually using the card. First of all the card must be inserted in the computer, set up to recognize the mobile device and various permissions exchanged to allow usage. The extremely brief instructions and on-screen assistance are of little help, making a number of to-ings and fro-ings necessary before the card and camera were synced.

Once the process was completed the card and phoned happily communicated with little fanfare, so long as a more preferred network wasn’t in range. The iPhone app was reasonably simple to negotiate, although the Android variation was a touch more complex. Both required an amount of setting up with the card inserted into the computer, which only became clear after consulting the help file online.