Cloud Service Options [re-visited] – 10 options compared
I had a plusser point out that I haven’t done a proper recap of the options for cloud services for Android in a while, and I thought it best to do a good comparison of the apps.
I have quite a few, so I’ll do a bit of a run through on each, and give my thoughts for a rating on how I felt about it on 3 factors; ease of use for: android app / web app / Desktop app / sharing. I will then put a side by side comparison at the end. Keep in mind the score I give them is not really based on any actual rubric, just an estimation of my opinion.
Asus WebStorage
This comes pre-installed on most Asus hardware, and it was on my TF101, so I figured why not. It comes with limited space, so I haven’t really given it all the chance I have in the others, but it seemed like a really pared down version of the other options out there. Plus, sharing seemingly is only with others who have the same service, and to me that’s a big no-no.
There is no ‘syncing’ features as far as I can tell, so it’s a push, then pull kind of scenario. If you want a file, push it to the service, then on a remote client pull it down manually. There is the option for ‘instant upload’ for camera shots, which is pretty common place nowadays.
Well you can download the app for the desktop and have that sync to the cloud. But there’s no option for it to place the file on your phone, which for me is the ideal scenario.
Referrals earn ya 500MB per each… that’s not too bad compared to others. [okay, shameless I know… but… here’s mine]
Android app – 6/10; pretty utilitarian, ie. nothing splashy or fancy. Does what it’s supposed to, but then it has some home screen for tags and ‘attributes’ which are to make it more convenient I imagine, but when we’re used to normal ‘drives’ with a hierarchy this can be more than confusing.
Web app – 7/10; not bad, a little over thinking done on it. What I do like is that it’s easier to move files between folders and there is a new beta feature to create files (limited types mind you
Desktop syncing – 7/10; I’ll admit I haven’t given it a try as of yet, but it looks to be pretty basic… yawn.
Sharing – 8/10; you can set a specific file a public sharing link, and you can password protect that link if you like. You do have a limit of 500MB download per day for sharing links
TOTAL: 28/40
Box
I’ve been really meaning to give this one an honest effort. Especially after they’ve offered Android users 50GB for free! Can’t complain with that. You are starting to see it integrated with other apps more and more (Quickoffice / Aldiko apparently). It’s functionality like that that can make it the most useful of the whole bunch.
You also get a 2GB maximum file size, which it larger than most.
Android App – 8/10; I was going to say 7, but working with other Android apps gives it +1. What I don’t really like is that there’s no ‘download’ option for files. You can ‘save for offline’, which allows you to go and find the file and then move it to another folder if you like. I would like a ‘download file as’ option and let me choose where to save it.
Web App – 9/10; Very simple to move/copy files (hey, drag and drop)
Desktop syncing – 8/10; haven’t tried it, but yo’ dawg… there’s TONS of app options for this. Box for Office, Box Sync, etc… so plenty of options for you to play with and find out with one meets your needs… and it seems to be growing non-stop.
Sharing – 10/10; very simple… public link, embed options and you can make it public, shared with collaborators only; the whole gamut.
TOTAL: 35/40 [wow…]
Comodo Cloud
Newcomer on the stage, starts you off with 5GB and other than that it’s a run of the mill cloud app. Nothing makes it stand out from the rest, except that it’s new (well, new to me at least).
Referrals earn you 200MB… so if you want … here
Android App – 6/10; pretty basic. A nice red theme… but that’s about it.
Web App – 7/10; a few more options here, and it’s nice that it’ll collate everything into the proper ‘file type’ folder for you.
Desktop syncing – 6/10; again, didn’t try it (I’m never so concerned about having ALL my files/folders from my PC go into the cloud… only what I choose), but it looks pretty simplistic
Sharing – 8/10; I like the idea of setting up a share link, and then having the power to turn off that link as you will.
TOTAL – 27/40
CX
Another newbie on the scene. I like short names, easy to remember. You get 10GB to start, after that it looks pretty much the same as the others.
Referrals earn you 300MB per user… here
Android App – 5/10; absolutely basic
Web App – 6/10; good flashy look, but over complicated for what is necessary
Desktop syncing – 6/10; haven’t tried it… so far the whole experience has underwhelmed me, so I’m not finding it necessary to give it a fair shake.
Sharing – 7/10; again, nice to be able to turn on/off the public share links.
TOTAL: 24/40
Docs
My all time favourite… but I’m Google biased. What’s nice about this is that it’s meant to start and stay in the cloud, so the cloud is always central. And great for collaboration. But, as the name says, it’s primarily for DOCS, and documents only. You’ll get UNLIMITED storage for Doc files, but anything else bites into your 1GB file capacity (unless you buy more). Luckily, photos you can upload to ‘Google Photos’ for free storage, and most file types convert otherwise… poor amount for legitimate file use (i.e. say transferring zip files etc…)
Android App – 9/10; getting better all the time – now with a better editor for the supported files, and it also has preview options.
Web App – 10/10; it’s got access to all the files, searching, easily moving and full editing of supported files
Desktop syncing – 5/10; I’m not sure how to rate this one, as I know there are some plugins for office and 3rd party apps to set this up, but… really there isn’t one. So I’m giving it just a 5
Sharing – 7/10; if the other user is a fellow Googler… super simple. If not… a little more complicated. But you can set supported file formats to publish to the web for easy embedding (i.e. see the bottom of this page).
TOTAL: 31/40
Dropbox
This is the most popular one out there, but you only get about 2GB for free (unless you get people to sign up, then you can get an extra 250MB). What’s nice about Dropbox is that it has the auto upload feature built in, so all your photos can sync with the cloud. Handy. Otherwise it’s simplistic to a tee, and easy to use.
Android App – 7/10; nothing more, nothing less than what you’d want (you know my perfect scenario ain’t happening)
Web App – 7/10; again, nothing too tricky here to understand.
Desktop syncing – 8/10; works like a charm, only issue is that ONLY the one folder is sync’d, nothing else. So if you want it on your phone, drag a copy from the folder it’s in (CTRL+CLICK+DRAG) so it goes into the folder as well. So you end up getting 2 files of the same on your computer.
Sharing – 6/10; not great … if they’re not DB users it has to go into a ‘public folder’ for sharing in order to get a public link.
TOTAL: 28/40
Minus
I really love this app… love the name of it. What’s really great about this is that there’s a whole ‘social’ angle to the expereince where you can follow others and be followed, depending on what you have public or not. I use this to primarily search for other photos for desktop ideas.
Also, it’s what I’ve set up for folder sharing on the ‘downloads’ section of this site: https://androidincanada.ca/file-folders/
You get 10GB to start and are allowed another 1GB for every referral [I’m already maxed out at 50!]
Android App – 8/10; I like it… pretty much the same experience you expect from the web on your phone. Uploading photos even has the Aviary plugin for you to edit before you upload.
Web App – 9/10; great folder style, and the whole social option to look through other public folders. moving between folders is kind of a pain. You have to understand that uploading to your ‘home folder’ creates a new folder with that as the name… so if I want to upload a bunch of recordings, I upload the first file “RECORDING 1″ then I have a FOLDER name “RECORDING 1″ with 1 file of the same name. I have to rename that file, and then upload any subsequent files to that folder. Kind of a pain, but tolerable. What is really nice is that there’s some great Chrome extensions for it, and has even screen shot and Aviary editing available.
Desktop syncing – 6/10; haven’t really tried it, so can’t give it an honest answer right now.
Sharing – 9/10; awesome! you get the public links and options for folder links or direct folders and even embeds.
TOTAL: 32/40
Sorami (SkyDrive)
Yes, I know this is a cloud storage app from a competing sphere, but I’m legacied into using it. And you do get 25GB with SkyDrive.
Funny tho’, I haven’t used it in years, but I thought I had some files in there, but when I check it now, it’s empty. It was pretty much all that kept me using the “Live” services. I’d like to merge my hotmail with my Gmail, but there’s no “Import” option in the settings anymore.
Anyways, works great if you still have a Hotmail account, as it’s very similar to Google Docs in that aspect.
Android App – 5/10; I would say failing, but it works… but it’s still a 3rd party app
Web App – 8/10; just because you can edit your files and send live versions to friends.
Desktop syncing –6/10; I’m sure there is an app for syncing… there used to be a few, but under the Live branding they were merging / amalgamating some, and I kinda lost interest about that time.
Sharing – 7/10; only because of the online collaboration options, otherwise it’s almost as confusing as Google Docs’
TOTAL – 26/40
SugarSync
Quickly becoming my FAVOURITE app for syncing. The program works just as it should. And you can set folders in your phone to sync automatically with the cloud, and the same on your desktop.
My often practiced uses for this is to set up the ‘screenshots’ folder to sync with the cloud, so I can easily access those files. And with ‘auto sync/upload’ turned out I have access to them pretty quickly. Almost quicker than going and getting a cable, connecting it, choosing USB mode, finding the drive, finding the folder…
It can also work similarly on the computer. Right click a folder and tell it to sync with the cloud and you can then see it in the app. Unfortunately you don’t get to set where it syncs on your phone unfortunately. But nothing’s perfect.
You can start out with 5GB and get a bonus of 500MB for every referral.
Android App – 8/10; pretty good… I used to complain it was complicated, but I’m getting used to the different options. Unfortunately you can’t set up ‘sharing’ from it tho’… well you can share a folder link, but that’s about it.
Web App – 8/10; not bad, lots of extra links that tend to be redundant (why have several buttons that do the same thing?)
Desktop syncing – 9/10; works like a charm… very simple to use
Sharing – 7/10; you can give out public links, or share links for folders, but only with other SS users. 
TOTAL – 32/40
Ubuntu One
I had a linux fan recommend this one, and as I’ve never really tinkered with Ubuntu for more than a few minutes on my netbooks, I’ve never looked into it. But it should work nicely in those scenarios. Aside from being probably the only one with a Linux desktop app nothing really sets it apart.
It also has the ‘auto upload photos’ option, so I’m using it as a backup of my backup programs for the time being.
5GB to start isn’t worth sneezing at, as it’s pretty good for the average user.
Android App –6/10; nothing exciting with it
Web App – 6/10; pretty blah
Desktop syncing – 6/10; yawn… notice a pattern
Sharing –6/10; you can ‘publish’ a file with a link (and it’s nice that you can ‘stop publishing’ when you want to) and share folders but they will also need to have an Ubuntu One account… so that’s a no-no.
TOTAL – 24/40
Okay, recap
| Android App | Web App | Desktop Sync | Sharing | Total | |
| Box | 8 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 35 |
| Minus | 8 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 32 |
| SugarSync | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 32 |
| Docs | 9 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 31 |
| Asus Webstorage | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 28 |
| Dropbox | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 28 |
| Comodo Cloud | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 27 |
| Sorami (SkyDrive) | 5 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 26 |
| CX | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 24 |
| Ubuntu One | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 24 |
That’s how I viewed it… how do you score it?
And in case you’ve forgotten, here’s some of the options you can compare for each as well.