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Does Dropbox on Android sync on per-file granularity? If so, how does this combo support things like calendar and contacts entries? Sure you can put each piece

by riobard 15y ago

Does Dropbox on Android sync on per-file granularity? If so, how does this combo support things like calendar and contacts entries? Sure you can put each piece of data in its own file and watch the directory with inotify, but that seems to be very inefficient.

rogerbinns 15y ago
Dropbox on Android is pretty pathetic. It doesn't actually do sync - you get a file browser not too much different than the dropbox web site interface, and can download files one at a time! You can also choose to upload files although you can't select an entire directory at once. This is closer to a crappy ftp client than the desktop sync solution everyone is familiar with. They did however recently just add auto upload of photos and videos. It should be noted that Dropbox on iOS is even worse (same download one file at a time mechanism) since you can only upload photos and videos, rather than any arbitrary content. Every iOS app that wants Dropbox integration has to add its own code to do all of it. On Android there is a centralized accounts system where Dropbox, Skype, Linkedin, Facebook and any other app with relevant permissions can publish an account. Other apps can then access those accounts (without getting the username/password - just a token) so they don't require heavyweight integration. Android doesn't do calendar and contacts like Apple does. There can be multiple providers and they can each do whatever they want. For example Google stores those in the cloud, as does Linked and Skype so there is nothing to do to have them in sync. You can see the union of all relevant providers at once. BTW one huge advantage Android has over iOS is that you do not have to keep re-entering passwords all the time. It totally bewilders me that iOS users aren't up in arms at how often you have to keep entering it.
- rangibaby 15y ago
  I would say it's because in ~2010, iOS would remember your password for a lot longer - letting at worst fraudulent and at best misleading apps sneakily spend your money. Especially kid apps.
  - rogerbinns 15y ago
    Today I had to enter my password about 5 times. That included every time I went to the app store for 4 of them, and the 5th is because I installed Apple's Remote control software for Apple TV which decided I should also re-enter my Apple id just in case it is different than the bazillion other times I have entered it on the same device.
- usaar333 15y ago
  Android Dropbox isn't quite this bad. It has a concept of "favorites". Once a file is Favorited, it is automatically synced. I imagine this is done due to concerns about space on mobile devices.
  - rogerbinns 15y ago
    Favourites only puts it in Dropbox's cache. You still have to manually "export" it if you want it in a particular location on the SD card. The desktop client allows you to choose which directories you want to sync. Being able to do that would go most of the way towards being more useful for Android. (There was a votebox issue when I last looked.)

by riobard 15y ago

rogerbinns 15y ago

Dropbox on Android is pretty pathetic. It doesn't actually do sync - you get a file browser not too much different than the dropbox web site interface, and can download files one at a time! You can also choose to upload files although you can't select an entire directory at once. This is closer to a crappy ftp client than the desktop sync solution everyone is familiar with. They did however recently just add auto upload of photos and videos. It should be noted that Dropbox on iOS is even worse (same download one file at a time mechanism) since you can only upload photos and videos, rather than any arbitrary content. Every iOS app that wants Dropbox integration has to add its own code to do all of it. On Android there is a centralized accounts system where Dropbox, Skype, Linkedin, Facebook and any other app with relevant permissions can publish an account. Other apps can then access those accounts (without getting the username/password - just a token) so they don't require heavyweight integration. Android doesn't do calendar and contacts like Apple does. There can be multiple providers and they can each do whatever they want. For example Google stores those in the cloud, as does Linked and Skype so there is nothing to do to have them in sync. You can see the union of all relevant providers at once. BTW one huge advantage Android has over iOS is that you do not have to keep re-entering passwords all the time. It totally bewilders me that iOS users aren't up in arms at how often you have to keep entering it.

rangibaby 15y ago
I would say it's because in ~2010, iOS would remember your password for a lot longer - letting at worst fraudulent and at best misleading apps sneakily spend your money. Especially kid apps.
- rogerbinns 15y ago
  Today I had to enter my password about 5 times. That included every time I went to the app store for 4 of them, and the 5th is because I installed Apple's Remote control software for Apple TV which decided I should also re-enter my Apple id just in case it is different than the bazillion other times I have entered it on the same device.
usaar333 15y ago
Android Dropbox isn't quite this bad. It has a concept of "favorites". Once a file is Favorited, it is automatically synced. I imagine this is done due to concerns about space on mobile devices.
- rogerbinns 15y ago
  Favourites only puts it in Dropbox's cache. You still have to manually "export" it if you want it in a particular location on the SD card. The desktop client allows you to choose which directories you want to sync. Being able to do that would go most of the way towards being more useful for Android. (There was a votebox issue when I last looked.)