Dropbox

Dropbox is a file sharing service that keeps your files stored in the cloud (on their servers) while also synchronizing them across all your computers, laptops or even mobile phones. The service is compatible with most operating systems (Windows, Mac and Linux) and with mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android. It has both free and paid subscriptions that can go up to 100GB of storage space.

The Dropbox basics

First, Dropbox requires you to sign up for an account on www.dropbox.com. The free version provides 2GB storage that can be increased later up to 100GB for a subscription fee. This will create your personal folder where you will store all your files. You can now download a small software client on your PC that will keep a folder of your choosing synchronized with the Dropbox servers. From now on, every time you add, delete or change a file, it will be automatically available on both your PC and the Dropbox servers (works both ways).

You may also access your files from the Dropbox website itself at any time, using your account credentials.

The web interface, viewed from a smartphone.

Dropbox for Android

The Android app allows you to access all your files, delete them or upload new ones from your phone. I couldn’t find any way to rename an existing file using the app. I guess if you really wanted to do that you could download, rename and then upload the file (which would take a huge amount of bandwidth).

A common misconception upon installing Dropbox on your mobile is that it will behave the same way as the desktop versions. Actually the application does not automatically sync anything. It is only an easier way to access your files remotely from the server. Say you want to listen to some music on your mountain trip and you place a couple of songs in your Dropbox folder on your PC. This will put the files in the cloud, but will not sync them to your Android device.

Even though an automated sync might certainly increase the monthly bill, it would have been a nice option to have.