iPhone App: Dropbox
= 5 stars
Sync files between computers, online, and view them on your iPhone.
The Good
- Works in conjunction with Dropbox on a computer (Windows, Mac, and Linux versions available). Installing Dropbox on your computer creates a folder in which you place stuff you want to sync or share. Said folder appears on other Dropbox enabled Macs, and on your iPhone via this app. It’s super simple, and the overall execution is very Mac-like, complete with a new icon in the menu bar and Finder windows, providing easy access to your Dropbox folder.
- Works with a variety of files: JPGs, rich text, PDFs, MP4. Images in particular appear in a gallery format.
- There’s a website interface, which also has neat features like sharing files and activity history. DropBox also acts as cloud storage.
- Freemium: 2 GB free storage for free. Pay for more storage; 50GB for $9.99 a month or 100GB for $19.99 a month.
The Bad
- Large files don’t work well, particularly over 3G. A 500K PDF loaded just fine, but a 10MB comic book became laggy and unresponsive. A large audio file skipped before it loaded completely.
Conclusion
Feature wise, the free DropBox is similar to iDisk which requires a $99 annual MobileMe subscription, plus its ease of use nearly out-Apples Apple. With small files, I’m already using Dropbox instead of iDisk or trying to figure out some way to shoehorn them into iTunes. Highly recommended.
iTunes App Store Link: Dropbox — Dropbox
I love Dropbox! Believe it or not, it’s just as simple on Windows, too.
Once selective sync arrives, I’ll be able to install it at work again (without the whole Dropbox being transferred to my work machine). LAN sync has sped things up here, given that I’ve got a laptop and a desktop.
I haven’t used the iPhone app much, though I’m sure it’ll be handy exactly when I need to use it.
Yeah I remember your recommendation of dropbox from way back when. Am
already using it regularly.
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