Many Android users like to transfer things like music and pictures from their computer to their phone or tablet and vice versa. Normally this involves plugging in your USB cable into your computer and accessing your device that way. This usually works just fine assuming your computer has the right drivers installed for your phone or tablet and will recognize it.
Wi-Fi File Transfer for Android lets you copy files to and from your computer to your smartphone or tablet without having to plug in your device to your computer with your USB cable. This comes in handy if you want to share files without worrying about drivers for your device or if you want to be able to access your phone or tablet from multiple devices on your network. It does this by utilizing your Wi-Fi connection at home and can even be used for Wi-Fi hotspots at other locations.
Wi-Fi File Transfer allows you to do many things such as upload or download multiple files at the same time. You can also move, copy, delete, rename, zip and unzip files within the interface. Plus if you want to view your pictures right off your phone you can do that as well. The free version is fully functional except it will not let you upload files larger than 4MB. The pay for version will cost you around $1.40
One thing to make sure of before using this application is that your phone\tablet and computer need to be on the same network subnet since the app will get an IP address for the connection through whatever DHCP device you get your wireless connection for your computer from.
Once you install Wi-Fi File Transfer on your device simply connect to your Wi-Fi connection if you don't have it connected already. Then open the app and tap on the Start button. The app will give you an IP address with a port number to type into the address bar of your web browser. It will get that IP address from your DHCP server or device so that it is on the same subnet as your computer. Then it will use the port number to connect via a web browser right to your device. The number after the colon is the port number that it uses.
Type in the IP address and port number given by the app into the address bar of your web browser on your computer and press Enter.
Once you connect to your phone or tablet via your web browser you will be taken to your home folder which will most likely be the root of your SD card. From there you can go up or down folder levels to get to other locations. You will notice that there are check boxes next to each file and folder allowing you to select which ones you want to upload, download, copy etc. You can then use the buttons on top that say download, delete, move and so on to make your changes.
On the top of the screen you will see that there are buttons for Home, My Photos and Gallery which will take you right to those locations without having to browse for them within your file tree. Off to the right it will show you the last modified date for that file or folder as well as have quick links to download, delete, rename, copy or zip the file or folder (not shown). Notice that some files and folders have periods at the beginning of them. These files and folders are treated as hidden by the Android OS so be careful when moving files to these locations because you may have trouble getting to them without using the Wi-Fi File Transfer app. The zip option will let you take multiple files and add them to a single zip file so you only will have to transfer the one file off your phone to your PC rather than a whole bunch of files.
To the very right of the screen you have the upload utility. From here you can browse for a file or folder on your computer and then upload it to the current directory. Since it uploads it to the directory you are viewing on your device then make sure you are where you want the file to be otherwise you will have to move the file after you upload it. And also make sure you have enough room before uploading as well. In the Device status section it will tell you how much space you have available as well as your battery level and what Wi-Fi connection you are currently using.
One thing to be aware of is if you decide to move or copy a file then you will need to know the path to the directory to where you want to move the file to since you will have to type in the path in the copy or move dialog box. An easy way to find the path is to browse to where you want to move or copy the file to within your browser and then make a note of the location from the top of the screen or better yet, copy and paste the path location.
If you go into the settings for the app you will be able to do things like change the port number used for your connection if you want to be a little more secure than using the default. You can also assign the connection a password in case you are in a public area where there might be other people trying to get into open connections. Plus if you don't like the colors the app uses they can be changed there as well.
Wi-Fi File Transfer can be downloaded for free from the Android Market on your device or from the Android Market website.
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