

New Dropbox for iOS - rkudeshi
https://blog.dropbox.com/2012/12/super-new-dropbox-for-ios/

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ghshephard
I don't know if I really get Dropbox for iOS. I absolutely love Dropbox the
platform, have an annual subscription to a 100GB share- and I use it
constantly, all day, to share files both between my various desktops/laptops,
as well as for sharing files with friends.

I _access_ dropbox from my iPhone and iPad constantly as well, but I do so
from GoodReader, where I download files, organize them, read them, password
secure them, etc...

I've tried out the new "Photo's" feature - but I already have 100% intelligent
photo syncing between my systems with Photostream - so I stopped the camera
from syncing after about 5 minutes - my photos are already in my Camera Roll +
PhotoStream, and therefore in my Aperture Library. I couldn't understand how,
or why, I would want to use Dropbox to sync them again.

This is one of those extraordinarily rare times where I think Apple's
Photostream, with shared photostreams, and Albums, both public and shared -
actually provide the "Web/Internet" services that I want.

Anybody else find a use for the iOS client for Dropbox?

~~~
abalone
I agree about native Photostream working better than Dropbox's camera upload
stuff. But as for the other uses, you've already nailed it: easy access to
your files. You just use a $5 app to do it, whereas Dropbox's is free. What's
not to get?

~~~
ghshephard
I find it hard to believe that anybody who has an iPhone, and works with
documents, hasn't purchased GoodReader. It's on the top-3 of applications for
people who work with documents, and the top-10 of iPhone apps in general.

But, I'll accept your premise - for the _casual_ user of Dropbox, who doesn't
ever want to buy apps for their iPhone (unusual, the vast majority of the
value of an iPhone comes from it's ecosystem, but i'll run with it) - they can
access their files through the iOS client.

But, really, everyone who does this seriously should have Goodreader on their
iPhone.

~~~
clarky07
Clearly you don't sell iPhone apps for a living :-) you'd be shocked how many
people won't pay for apps. I've met multi-millionaires who refuse to pay for
apps. Not kidding at all.

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trustfundbaby
Still can't sort folder items by date added or date modified. sigh.

I have folders with tons of photographs in them that I upload from my desktop.
Whenever I'm on my ipad or iphone, finding a picture I just uploaded is an
absolute nightmare if I can't remember the name ... I usually have to go load
up dropbox.com in my browser, do the sort there and download the file.

I guess my particular use case doesn't occur that often :(

~~~
briandoll
Same here. I write a lot of notes in markdown that I sync using Dropbox. I
often want to read and edit those notes on my phone or ipad, but I don't
remember the exact file names.

Similarly, I wish photo apps had a "use most recent photo" button, instead of
making me select my photos, scroll down to the very bottom, and click on the
last square.

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stblack
Wow, there isn't much love in the comments below that post on dropbox.com. I
find this is surprising to a point.

I love Dropbox, and I use it in exotic ways. That said, I don't "get" why
Dropbox wants to be involved with my photos. I've balked at this, and I am
surprised that Dropbox seems to be over-pushing in this direction.

Someone once said that 'Dropbox does only one thing, and it does that one
thing VERY well'. I fear that this fixation on photos may be the juncture
where Dropbox lost its focus, and ultimately loses the game.

As a succinct commenter posted on Dropbox.com: 'I don't need to post photos to
Dropbox'.

~~~
mgillett
I think what's so great about Dropbox is that they don't really have a focus.
They do synchronization, and they're superb at it.

It seems to me that Dropbox is trying to change how customers perceive them
and that managing photos is just the first step. Until recently, I think
they've largely been viewed as a handy service to share files quickly between
friends and across devices. There are a certainly a lot of exotic use cases
for their product, and some other commenters have touched on specific ones,
but the average person doesn't take advantage of them (or have them). If
Dropbox can position itself as a base to store and share photos, videos,
music, etc (notice the range of sharing options in the top right of the iPad
in the blog post) they can give users peace of mind and easy access to content
that is now strewn across several services and not carefully curated in other
storage solutions.

------
0x0
A little nitpick on a glitch that I immediately noticed:

The navigation bar (title bar) up on top looks pretty horrible. Opacity of the
icons flickers when navigating back and forth, and "very long folder names..."
are truncated differently the moment animation starts, causing them to jump
around and overlay buttons for the duration of the animation.

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grandalf
Is it possible to share a folder via the IOS app? I keep trying to do this and
can't figure it out and not sure if it's just me or if it's not possible.

~~~
chlee99
I don't think you can. You can delete and create new folders, and I think
thats about it.

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gurkendoktor
> And since Dropbox is a one stop shop for all your memories, you can also
> check out the photos you’ve uploaded from everywhere else!

As long as I'm online.

If I could mark whole folders as favorites and have them available offline, I
would subscribe in a heartbeat and host all my photos on Dropbox. Why do
laptops do this _by default_ but the iPad can't?

iTunes' sync of photo folders serves me well, but it's a one-way street. I'd
love to edit images on the iPad and have them sync back when I'm online. I'm
waiting for Apple, Adobe _and_ Dropbox to fill the niché but how long should I
hold my breath?

Also, has there ever been a poll if users (not designers, managers or HN
regulars) prefer custom UI over the stock iOS UI?

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ishansharma
Dropbox? I have switched to Cubby which has almost every feature of Dropbox(no
photos, but Photostream does photo syncing well for me and I use Picasa for
online backup).

The thing that I like about Cubby is that it is quite fast and you can sync
any folder! And they offer more free space out of box. (I'm waiting for their
pricing to be announced and will surely switch to paid version)

<http://cubby.com>

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VexXtreme
I am currently leaning toward replacing my Dropbox with Google drive. More
(free) capacity, better integration with other Google services, easy creation
of notes and spreadsheets, easier file sharing...

Anyone else feeling the same way?

~~~
cageface
The Drive client on the Mac was badly behaved in my experience, putting a lot
of load on the system and constantly grinding Spotlight indexing. I've
uninstalled it until it has time to mature.

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justjimmy
Does it still compresses the photos on the iPad? Cause that's the only thing
holding me back from subscribing.

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cgomez
Saving a picture finally downloads it at full resolution rather than a
horribly compressed one. Thumbs up.

