This is the twenty-fifth article in the series App of the Week series.
The tech universe has many different file sharing clients and so the need for differentiation, quality of service, and uptime have to be present for an iOS app to even be worth considering. Google nearly by default has all three of those characteristics and so naturally we needed to review the Google Drive application. In comparison to the Dropbox app, I actually prefer this app for documents, but Dropbox for images. Check out why after the jump.
The Good
The Google Drive service integrates nicely into the whole Google web application system, but the iOS adds a nice touch.
- Great Service, Even Better with Mobile I had been using Dropbox and then simply transferring them to Google Drive after that, this is so much more convenient.
- Collaboration Documents Normally I use Evernote for all of my writing ideas but lately I have done numerous collaboration projects that cannot be done on it. Google Drive is perfect for a document with more than one contributor.
- Great Whitespace Usage What the iOS app adds that you do not get if you log in to Google Drive with a browser is the extra whitespace and on an iPhone, this is HUGE.
The Bad
While there are a lot of great features, there are some issues with the app and service that need to be improved.
- No Preview Thumbnails At this time, I will not be using Google Drive for images because all of my photos do not have filename descriptors and you have no preview of the file, making finding a photo a huge pain.
- Sharing Integration There is currently no sharing integration outside of inviting another user to join in editing the document. It makes business sense for Google to not to include it, but what about not being evil?
- Most Excel Features Unsupported I’m not sure why you would incorporate a feature that is only half baked. Excel on an iPhone does not make sense in the first place, but to limit it to only editing cells when you have so much more available on the desktop?
What do you like or hate about Google Drive on iOS?
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