If Seagate had shown the DAVE device at CES last month, it might very well have been the hit of the show: a portable hard drive that borrows the WiFi or Bluetooth connection to make up to 20 GB of storage available to cell phones or handsets from a distance of up to 30 feet.

For a great many consumers, that may be all they need to know about the Digital Audio Video Experience (DAVE) device - they could even forgive Seagate the silly acronym.

Conceivably, Bluetooth pairing would mean that consumers' existing handsets would not need to include special drivers or firmware upgrades in order to recognize the device, since paired Bluetooth devices introduce their profiles to one another automatically. So a user could keep his DAVE device in his briefcase while his handset remains located in his coat pocket or on his belt clip.

Granted, the device would only be capable of storing and recalling files that the paired handset would be capable of utilizing anyway. Still, a cell phone with a connection to a music service such as Verizon's VCAST, for instance, could suddenly be capable of holding as many songs as a small iPod rather than a flash-based nano.

DAVE could also radically improve the functionality of devices with features like digital voice recorders, which could suddenly become capable of recording hours upon hours at one stretch. The device is said to provide up to 10 hours of continuous service power on one charge, and frequent use of standby mode can extend that span considerably.

No word has yet been given on price, though Seagate says it apparently won’t be sold directly to consumers. Instead, it will be offered to carriers and cell phone manufacturers for use as contract or system upgrades, beginning in the second calendar quarter.