iPhone Explorer: File Control at Last
The inability to work with files on the iPhone has been a complaint from day one. The iPhone OS provides no way to interact directly with documents or other files stored on the phone, rendering the device’s owners dependent on application developers to add to their apps methods to work with files. This leads to a confusing situation as each app implements a different method. That’s why the free iPhone Explorer is such an exciting program — it brings Explorer- or Finder-like file control to the iPhone owner.
The program works on both Macs and Windows, so no one is left out in the cold. Once iPhone Explorer is installed, any iPhone or iPod touch is seen as a Flash drive on the computer, and files can be dragged and dropped onto the iPhone/iPod with ease. Users can create, delete and rename folders to fit any organization scheme desired.
While iPhone Explorer works on any iPhone or iPod touch, those that have been jailbroken get additional benefits as it’s possible to access the root directory of such phones, allowing for the recovery of email, SMS messages and the address book.
The iPhone Explorer has major implications for the iPad, as lack of file control in the iPhone OS used in the iPad is considered a drawback to that device. Since the iPad is expected to work like the iPhone, iPhone Explorer could bring full computer file control to the slate.
(via Lifehacker)
Related research: 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad (sub req’d)
I don’t own an iPod or an iPhone, but several people I work with do, and they’ve frequently asked me about this. Now I finally have an answer for them! :) Thanks for the heads up!
Yep, there’s an App For That !
Any perceived weakness the iPhone may have can be fixed in seconds with the right App only a click away. How many other platforms can say that ??
Get ready for an avalanche of iPad-specific Apps in April as iPhone developer interest has TRIPLED in the last month.
This tool will look great on the iPad as well.
Andy, Goober, Floyd and Otis want one.
Unfortunately Aunt Bee and Thelma Lou are keeping their Android machine..arrgg.
Steady on Bernard ;) The iPhone OS is hardly the most open of platforms by a long shot! And a lot of the weaknesses aren’t “perceived”, they are actual weaknesses.
Still, glad to see some good-old basic functionality coming to the iPhone. About time.
Once Apple find out about this, Iphones will be patched on the next firmware and this Proggy will have to be updated. It will be another cat and mouse game.
This is probably going to turn into a long rant, but I’ve always found the complaint about not being able to browse files to be a little amusing. People seem to think it’s this great thing to be able to browse/create folders and move files around. I think people have a set way they’re used to doing things and don’t want to change. Being a developer working with Java, Javascript, Actionscript, Cocoa, and .NET, I have to deal with folder structures required by various tools to get everything to work properly. We keep holding onto this notion of having to organize all of our data in folder hierarchies. Personally, I find the whole folder paradigm to be outdated and cumbersome for organization. Once you’re talking thousands of files that can be organized in a myriad of ways, folder organization just doesn’t work. One day you may be thinking of organization one way, but later down the road, similar files are somewhere else because the way you mentally associate the topics may have changed. Keywords/tags associated with files make it much easier to find and correlate various topics. Is it helpful to be able to specify a general location where files are stored(internal vs external drive etc.)? Absolutely. Other than that, I think the old analogy of a physical desk with folders and files still being used today in computers with potentially many thousands of files is cumbersome and a needless complexity we still hold on to as a requirement. Having many relatives and friends with very little computer knowledge as where their files get saved, how can i find x, etc… computers would be much more accessible with applications that were smarter rather than trying to hold on to archaic metaphors that don’t scale and are difficult to understand and follow once data gets past a certain point.
“Since the iPad is expected to work like the iPhone, iPhone Explorer could bring full computer file control to the slate.”
If it works like the iPhone, then only jailbroken apps will receive any benefit. All appstore apps are terribly locked down. You can’t even use something like this to transfer .doc files to quickoffice.
@jethro_static Unlikely, such browsing programs have been available for more than two years. The only time they needed changes was then itunes made whole number changes (i.e. 8 to 9)
If AppleInsider is right, the iPad may not need it.
Sorry James
You are a few years behind the times this has been done with PhoneView a commercial app for years via usb cable. This app gives full access to the file system except the core system
Check it out I believe this will be tweaked for the iPad as well.
Cheers
I recently re-imaged the laptop I am currently on, so I can’t check what the (free) app was called that I downloaded some time last year, but it basically did the same thing. Might even have been the same thing JK described. The reason I don’t recall the name is that I, well, used it exactly once.
But yeah, the “at last” in the title is a bit odd.
You are correct but this one in the post is free and will hit the core system files on jailbroken phones.
Hi james as does the PhoneView on on jail broken phones I have found that the free on is very crashy
iphone needs a custom program to do this?!
Many computer-savy people don’t understand the true nature/role of the iPhone/iPad design. The iPad is not a computer in the sense we’ve come to understand. It is a consumer device that will become incredibly popular because it has removed the complexity of performing common tasks such as email and web browsing. This simplification is accomplished in three ways:
1) Single window mode removes the confusion of seeing windows from other applications when you are working in a specific application. How many times have you tried to explain to someone they are no longer in the application they thought they were in and can still see the windows for?
2) Removing the need to view, understand, or deal with the file system automatically negates having to train people how to find files, copy and drag, not to delete, backing up, etc.
3) Removing the concept of having multiple ways to accomplish the same thing, i.e. keystrokes, contextual menu, top bar menu options, etc. On the iPhone or iPad, there’s only one way to do something.
As much as geeks complain about the “locked-down, locked-out” nature of these devices, they are what the public needs and wants. Many people only deal with computers because there’s no other way to communicate electronically. Personally, I’ll be glad when computers go back to being tools for professionals and we no longer have to spend countless hours on family tech-support!