The team at file-sharing, syncing and storage service Dropbox have unveiled new native clients for Android and the iPad to complement the existing iPhone app. The Android client has been available as a beta for a few months now — Kevin over at jkOnTheRun liked it when he took it for a test drive. A BlackBerry client was also announced, which will be released “quite soon.”
The company also announced a new API, “Dropbox Anywhere,” that will enable developers to integrate Dropbox’s functionality into their own mobile apps. This is significant in that it proposes to make it easier for developers to get documents onto and off of mobile devices like the iPad, replacing clunky workarounds like having to email files to yourself. You can expect to see more cloud sharing/storage functionality popping up in your mobile apps soon (and if you’re interested in cloud computing, check out our Structure conference in June). The list of partner apps already using the API at launch includes some well-known tools like Fuze Meeting, Quick Office and Good Reader.
If you’ve tried either Dropbox’s Android or iPad apps, let us know what you think of them in the comments.
Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Report: The Real-Time Enterprise
The Dropbox client is nice on my Droid. It would be nice to be able to have a ‘Phone’ directory within the Dropbox which would automatically be synced to a folder on the SD card. Obviously you can’t sync everything, but having a subset automatically syncing (even only over WiFi) would be nice.
Even so, it’s nice to be able to access my files more easily on my phone.
SugarSync on android already has the ability to sync files locally to the phone, check it out
I also just realized that SugarSync on iPad added support for external apps. I use Office2 HD on the iPad to edit Google Docs and can now pull down docs from SugarSync right into the app, edit them, save them in Google Docs and sync back up to SugarSync. That bit is similar to the “Dropbox Anywhere” API.
Here is my referal link if you would like to join dropbox. If you use my link we both get an extra 250mb of space:
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTY3NjM2MjQ5
All You need to create an account using my link, and then download the desktop dropbox, install and signin on the desktop dropbox app for the credit to be applied to both of us.
Thanks in advance to anyone who uses my link.
A BlackBerry client was also announced, which will be released “quite soon.” ?????????????????????
I have already Dropbox for Blackberry on my Bold 9000 .. The link for app is http://www.getdropbox.com/m
Cheers for all !!
A BlackBerry client was also announced, which will be released “quite soon.” ?????????????????????
Correcting: I have already Dropbox Launcher for Blackberry on my Bold 9000 .. The link for app is http://www.techcarolina.com/p/Updated%20-%20Dropbox%20BB%20Launcher.html
Cheers for all !!
Dropbox will migrate more customers to their paid service if the Mobile clients cache the files easily for offline use. I know I would BUT for now the interface is not easy enough to do it – let me explain – if I want my file to be available offline on my 64GB iPad – I have to favorite it. Even if I had a 3G, I get the feeling that it would be expensive. It is not just the method of making it available offline – it was, when I tried it last night, counter intuitive to what their desktop apps do – they make FILES available – no settings required.
I like how I can move files from Dropbox to GoodReader on the iPad.
Also – no ability to sort through the files on iPad making navigation just slightly difficult …
One of the problems I see with dropbox is when a few people collaborate on documents using a common folder, the app creates too many versions, and it is not easy to merge all version together. So, if you want sync your folders on multiple devices it works fine, but if you want to collaborate with others it does not!
I’ve been using Dropbox for a few months and I think it’s great. I work on several different computers at home and at work and it’s great to never have that “The file is on the computer at work” issue. I’ve also used the public folder for easy distribution of files to friends. It’s a great service.
[...] pinch, you can certainly do useful work with one. It’s clear that software like SugarSync and Dropbox’s new mobile API are easing the clunky problem of getting files onto and off the iPad, which allays one of my [...]
[...] changes can be saved directly to Google Docs. Note that Dropbox, an offering similar to SugarSync, recently added API support for external applications — so the productivity method I’m using will likely soon work by using Dropbox in tandem [...]
[...] changes can be saved directly to Google Docs. Note that Dropbox, an offering similar to SugarSync, recently added API support for external applications — so the productivity method I’m using will likely soon work by using Dropbox in tandem [...]