Kies or Android File Transfer? Is one preferred?

[nu2s3]

I have a Verizon S3 and using Kies for my iMac with some success, although I must emphasis...some. Since the latest upgrade, the Kies problem with recognizing the S3 seems to be well known and I've been on the net looking for solutions. Some S3 users have said Kies was a bad program and that Android File Transfer was a better app. Is there a consensus out there I'm unaware of? I don't spend all day trying to keep up with the latest and greatest, but like to make sure I'm using the better of two programs when it's known one is better than another. Thanks for any well known and proven advice.

 

[Trees]

Good news is that there's tons of similar threads on AC Forums with lots of ideas, options, and tips to get Kies working well on Mac OS. Bad news is that in my experience and from reading the many related posts is that not all of the options or workaround work for everyone consistently. Some people are having great success in getting AFT to work, others not. Same goes for Kies.

I recently got AFT to work on my Mac, however Kies has been a no go with the "Connecting" state and then an eventual timeout. I've recently moved from stock ROM to a custom TouchWiz ROM, so that may be one reason Kies no longer works for me.

I'm trying to resist writing up a mini novel on this topic so here's a few links that may help get some of your questions answered. The other question to consider is "how do you think either application will help you for the use cases you have in mind?" The answers to that may show that there are other good options besides either AFT or Kies, or some hybrid combination.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...onnect-my-mac-help-please.html?highlight=Kies
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...gnize-samsung-galaxy-siii.html?highlight=Kies
Android.com
SAMSUNG KIES

Edit:Think I saw a similar post in the Verizon section, so please consider this a response for both forum sections.

 

[GSDer]

What about ditching the Kies software and just use Kies Air on the phone and your preferred Web browser on the iMac? If you only need to transfer files it's pretty straightforward.
If you don't like Kies Air there's a ton of similar apps:
"AntTek Wifi Sharer" https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...s/details?id=com.anttek.server&token=qsVvK8hW (this is a plug in for their File Explorer)
"AirDroid" https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...s/details?id=com.sand.airdroid&token=dOoueZGm

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Trees]

Roger that...AirDroid is a solid "go to" option. Even ES File Explorer has an FTP server built in.