storage - 3/5 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

Droid NAS Turns Your Android Device Into A Wireless Storage Device For Your Mac Or Other Android Devices

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

There are few things that are more of a drag, in the mobile device world, than having to find where you left your micro USB cord to plug in your device just to copy a couple of files over to your computer. Most of the time wireless services like Dropbox help alleviate this need. For the times that those aren't enough, Droid NAS can turn your device into wireless storage. Provided you use a Mac or another Android device to access it. Once connected, your Android phone or tablet will show up as a Bonjour device.

The app uses the SMB protocol which, unfortunately, Windows cannot connect to via a non-standard port.

Jul

The Great Android Police Storage Benchmark: 11 Modern Devices Compared In 13 Tests

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Devices By Manufacturer, Features, News

A week ago, I posted a head-to-head comparison/buyer's guide of the Asus Transformer Pad (TF300), Transformer Prime (TF201), and Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700). The most upvoted comment: how is the internal storage performance? So I sat down to benchmark 6 devices.... and with the help of the team, ended up benchmarking 11:

HTC One S (S4)
HTC One X (T3)
Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx
Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Android 4.1 - Jelly Bean)
Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Android 4.0.4 - Ice Cream Sandwich)
Samsung Galaxy S III (S4)
Asus Transformer Pad (TF300)
Asus Transformer Prime (TF201)
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700)
Nexus 7 (Android 4.1 - Jelly Bean)
Toshiba Excite 7.7

The Tests

At Mekerz86's suggestion, we used both RL Benchmark and AndroBench, both available for free on the Play Store.

Jun

SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB UHS-I microSD Review: Like An F-22 For Nerds

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Accessories, Other Reviews

For most, a generic off-the-shelf microSD card is probably just fine. It may slow things down and take a little longer to access, but that's alright in return for lower cost. For some people, though, having their device slowed down by a budget microSD card isn't an option. Other people need high performance for recording 3D and 1080p video. It's those two groups that the SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDHC UHS-I card is for.

^{I think SanDisk caught Sprint's case of diu nominibus.}

SanDisk touts the Extreme Pro as being "the fastest microSDHC memory card on the market." I haven't tested every card on the market, but they're probably right.

May

[Quick Look] SanDisk 64GB microSDXC Ultra High Speed Card: A Fitting Name

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Reviews

Last Updated: May 28th, 2012

Nearly two months ago, I reviewed the new SanDisk 64GB class 6 microSDXC (the XC stands for "eXtreme Capacity") card, and came away hugely impressed. Something the size of my pinky fingernail that can store 16 compressed 1080p BluRays, and outperforms my class 10 16GB card? Yes please.

Shortly after the card's release, the company followed up with a UHS-1 (Ultra High Speed-1) class 10 version. While the original class 6 version now rests at $72 - a substantial price drop from the $100 at the time of review - the UHS card costs just $118. At $100 for the C6, it was a questionable purchase from a value perspective; at $118 for the UHS-1, you're paying for a well-deserved premium for performance.

Apr

[Weekend Poll] Have You Switched Your Primary Cloud Storage Service To Google Drive?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Do You Use Cloud Storage With Your Android?

Google's much-anticipated cloud storage service, dubbed "Drive," finally dropped on Tuesday. Based on our tests, we think the service could still use some work - and we think it has the potential to gain some serious popularity as the kinks are worked out and the gaps are filled. But we're curious: have you switched already, despite the shortcomings? Or are you sticking with your tried-and-true service for the time being?

Apr

Google Docs Free Storage Limit Gets Bumped From 1GB To 5GB Ahead Of Imminent Google Drive Announcement

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, News, Rumors

~~The mythical unicorn~~ Google Drive is so close, we can practically taste it. Earlier today, Reuters broke the news of a possible Tuesday launch (that would be today), confirming earlier rumors of an initial free 5GB quota and throwing a new number, 100GB of upgradeable storage, into the mix.

It's quite possible that Reuters' sources were on the money this time, as around the same time, Google started bumping the usual free 1GB Docs storage limit all the way up to... you guessed it - 5GB. Check it out:

Additional pricing still remains at $0.25/GB, but this could change with the official announcement.

Apr

[Rumor] Google May Be Launching Google Drive As Soon As Tuesday, Offering Up To 100GB For A Price

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Rumors

Hope you're not tired of hearing about the Google Drive! As the rumors about Google's Totally Not Dropbox service leak out in ever-increasing droves, it gets safer and safer to assume the launch is imminent. According to Reuters, Google may be launching the service as soon as Tuesday. Or, as they're calling it across the pond, "today."

Reuters also reports that Google will be offering paid storage options going all the way up to 100GB for a price. No word on what that price is, yet. If Reuters is right, though, we won't be waiting long to find out. In any case, Reuters corroborates that 5GB will be the basic free package.

Apr

[Weekend Poll] Do You Use Cloud Storage With Your Android?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, News, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Do You Own An Android Tablet?

Cloud storage has been gaining popularity in the last few years, and is strongly making its way from the tech niche to the mainstream. Companies big and small have been making their files and documents available on the cloud for some time, and now they're increasingly moving their entire operating platform off local devices in favor or the web. Independent users are making the push too; particularly for Android owners, services like Picasa, Google Docs, and Google Music all take a large chunk of data off the device, and instead put it in the cloud.

Apr

Google May Be Launching The Google Drive As Early As Next Week, Says The Next Web

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Rumors

Rumors about the mythical Google Drive have been ramping up lately. The rumored Google Drive is gunning for Dropbox with universal storage and sync. The Next Web is reporting that the service may launch as early as next week, giving users an initial 5GB of storage space that will sync between Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices. Pretty sweet!

Earlier rumors suggest an early April release which we're pretty well past now, but with the intensity rumors have been milling about lately, it would surprise us if it wasn't going to drop soon. There's still some questions to be answered about just how it will work, but what do you think?

Mar

[Rumor] Google's Cloud Storage Competitor, Drive, Could Launch In First Week Of April

Posted by Nate Kimmey in News, Rumors

It has been several years since the first rumors of Google's cloud storage service "Drive" started popping up, but for quite a while we didn't see any of them come to fruition. Just last month, however, we saw a leaked screenshot showing off the Drive logo and its interface, leading us to believe that an official launch wouldn't be too far off.

According to GigaOM's sources, Google plans to launch Drive in the first week of April, offering users 1 GB of storage space for free, with a charge for any more storage; rather paltry compared to Dropbox's free 2 GB of storage.