Dropbox: An Essential Android App

[normio2]

@ leehblanc

Been a dropboxer for a couple years, and love it. But not quite sure if I am going to pull the trigger for the phone app, because one of the recent reviews says:
WHY does this crap INSIST on constantly running in the background even though advertises otherwise.

In your experience, is this a big deal? Does it eat up memory, battery, and/or overall performance?

I've been running it since they came out with the android app, on several different phones. Now I don't ever check what's running in the background unless I notice a sudden change in battery life, which I never have with dropbox, so I'm not sure what those reviews are complaining about. If it runs in the background, well fine doesn't seem to effect the battery life. And I've had 5 different android devices that I've used it on, including the Thunderbolt now.

 

[willis936]

OP: interesting first post...

 

[djcyph]

Thanks for including this! I HATE when people try to be sneaky

Another GREAT way to get things on your phone quickly and easily (In addition to Dropbox) is Awesome Drop. Works great for when you just want to get that picture or MP3 on your phone and don't want to clutter up your Dropbox.

Awesome Drop

im confused...why do u need drop box app and awesome drop?

 

[smoother#AC]

I've been running it since they came out with the android app, on several different phones. Now I don't ever check what's running in the background unless I notice a sudden change in battery life, which I never have with dropbox, so I'm not sure what those reviews are complaining about. If it runs in the background, well fine doesn't seem to effect the battery life. And I've had 5 different android devices that I've used it on, including the Thunderbolt now.

Thanks for the feedback. That helps.

 

[qzic]

I installed in on my TB and I'm getting great battery life. It's not installed on my wife's TB and her battery life is less than stellar. So, I wouldn't worry about it too much. You can alwas check and see after the fact if it is using lots of batter and uninstall it then.

if you still have access to a .edu account, you can get doulbe the referral credit on drop box by registering the address on your account. The address doesn't need to be a part of your account, you only need to add it and verfiy the address works, and then you get 512MB per referral instead of the standard 256MB.

To increse your referral credit for .edu accounts go to http://www.dropbox.com/edu

If this was helpful and you're just adding an account, feel free to use my own referral link at: http://db.tt/wWvNRqB

 

[tcapote]

If you already have a dropbox account, Titanium Media Sync Keeps Your Phone Synced to Dropbox in Real Time - Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.keramidas.MediaSync

You pick folders from your SD card to sync back to your Dropbox. Any time you add something to those folders—say, if you take a picture on your phone, or download an app you want to try out on your computer later on—it will automatically sync those changes back, so your files will be waiting for you when you get back to your computer.

 

[samuraifortruth]

Thanks so much for the introduction to dropbox ...
Here is my referral link if your wanting extra space..
http://db.tt/InMhfmu

Thanks in advance.
Ronin

 

[macvjk]

If you're a proud new owner of the Thunderbolt and also new to Android, welcome! I hope you'll love the Android platform as much as I do! I've seen a lot of posts in the past few days from folks who ask about what apps they should put on their shiny new toy. Dropbox is one of the best out there. I've used it on my computer, iphone, and several Android phones. It really comes in handy. Put your files into your Dropbox folder on one computer, and they'll automatically appear on any of your other computers that also have Dropbox installed (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!). You can even download Dropbox apps for your smartphone or mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry). Everything in your Dropbox is available from the Dropbox website, too.

Here's a link for you to create a new Dropbox account:
http://db.tt/hMi8DPm

(Disclosure: Dropbox will give me 250MB of additional free space in my account when you sign up for a Dropbox account using this link. And the amazing part? You'll increase your free space by 250MB too. So, we both benefit! And, thanks in advance for using my link! I'm not affiliated with Dropbox other than as a satisfied user.)

Want more Dropbox space to use with your Thunderbolt phone? After you set up your Dropbox account, come back here and post your own referral link so others can help you increase your free space, too!

I'm the OP of this thread, and glad so many have found it useful. I also thank those who have used my link to download Dropbox onto their computers and/or mobile devices. Of course, it's much more useful to have Dropbox on both your computer and your mobile device. Having used Dropbox for a long time now, I'm still not 100% reliant on it. In other words, I don't use it to house the only copy of a file. I know we're beginning to live in a clouded world (no pun intended), but I always make sure I've got a copy of any file I place there easily accessible locally and other than in my Dropbox related folders on my computer just in case the sky clears and there are no clouds visible. I hope you get my drift. Call me insecure or untrustworthy, but my current philosophy pertains to all such services, not just Dropbox. For security reasons, I also tend to remove "sensitive" files from my Dropbox folders when they are no longer needed to be located there. To each his own. Cheers!

 

[androidburn]

There is also a competitor -- SugarSync -- which I prefer (here is my link SugarSync ).

The main reason I like SugarSync over Dropbox is the ability to back up and share any folder you want, not just the one in your "dropbox" or (magic briefcase.) They have apps for all platforms and works well for me and has been reliable.

 

[girlymissjulie]

There is also a competitor -- SugarSync -- which I prefer (here is my link SugarSync ).

The main reason I like SugarSync over Dropbox is the ability to back up and share any folder you want, not just the one in your "dropbox" or (magic briefcase.) They have apps for all platforms and works well for me and has been reliable.

I completely agree - I prefer Sugarsync over Dropbox any day! The one feature of Dropbox that is a huge turn-off to me is that every computer has to have the Dropbox files on it, which is pretty inconvenient when you have over 100 gb of data backed up. With Sugarsync, you can choose which folders to sync between which computers and all of your backed up files over all of your computers are available through the Android app. You can even stream your music through the app too. I use Sugarsync on a daily basis and I can't even remember the last time I hooked up my phone to my pc to transfer files because I just use Sugarsync to do it every time.

 

[julez]

Dropbox + KeePassDroid = win

I use that combination on any machine I have, I honestly don't have any idea what any of my passwords are anymore, the're all gibberish, KeePass makes me more secure and lazy

 

[macvjk]

Thanks for the keepass recommendation. I've been using 1Password because it's what I started with on my Mac. But it's seems cumbersome. I'm off to download it's now!

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[julez]

I will warn you if you use any iOS device though, keepass sucks on those. For devices that have the largest app store available, it definitely has the crappiest keepass app.

 

[Chrisy]

Was just referred to this app from a friend. Seems awesome! I made a house tour video that apparently was too large to attach to email or send to YouTube.

I don't have a computer to upload to. I'm uploading that vid to Dropbox! It's a little slow uploading but at least it works!

 

[Bwangster12]

Been using Dropbox for a few years now and love it. Yeah, it doesn't provide you with the MOST space on teh market, but it does provide convenience. Now that I have an Android phone, the app makes things SUPER easy. SO easy to upload items to my Dropbox and then to just share the file or link to the file.

 

[Chrisy]

I think Dropbox just caused my battery to overheat!

 

[anonymous239411]

If I wanted to download/upload a file on a computer that isn't mine, can I just login to the website and do it through the site? In regards to dropbox and sugarsync? Instead of having to install the software on each computer.

 

[socal]

If I wanted to download/upload a file on a computer that isn't mine, can I just login to the website and do it through the site? In regards to dropbox and sugarsync? Instead of having to install the software on each computer.

That's correct but if you make changes to the file on that computer, the file won't sync with your dropbox folder until you upload the new file.

 

[anonymous239411]

That's correct but if you make changes to the file on that computer, the file won't sync with your dropbox folder until you upload the new file.

Thank you! So I guess if people were to vote Dropbox vs Sugarsync?

 

[ggpike]

I use Box.net. Love their service. (We have a business account w/ them though, so it has some features individual account does not)