Wired or wireless? 5 wireless Android apps and how they compare to manual solutions

Cables, they are so last decade! Why physically connect your device to a computer when you can sync all of your files wirelessly? No need to find a cable and then connect your mobile up. No need to even worry about syncing, files will automatically sync over the air.
These are three of my favourite wireless apps that will help you sync photos, music, videos and any other files between your mobile and computer.

DoubleTwist airsync – Sync media

DoubleTwist is an addon app for the free DoubleTwist media player for Android. Airsync allows you to sync the media on your computer to the Doubletwist media player on your Android. DoubleTwist does this by connecting via wifi to the free DoubleTwist desktop program which is available for Mac and PC. Once you have set up Airsync all of your media will automatically sync to your Android mobile when you are connected to your home wifi.

Pros

• Saves time - Airsync will automatically sync in the background which will save time when compared to manually syncing.

Cons

• Price - Airsync currently costs $4.99 US (£3.04 UK). Thats quite a large chunk of change for an addon app.
• Battery consumption – Airsync will consume a large amount of battery when used so it wise to put your mobile on charge before syncing.

Syncness Wifi Sync Music/Files

Syncness is a little gem of an app! It is a premium app, but can be used to sync any files with your Windows server or Dropbox. If you use the DropBox option, you will not only automatically backup your files to the cl0ud, you will be able to get files onto your mobile by simply dropping them into your DropBox. It will take you a few minutes to set up the app so the correct folders sync, once you do though, you will save a huge amount of time and effort.

Pros

• Music backed up in the cloud - This method will store all of your music onto DropBox. This means that all of your music gets backed up onto the internet so you are never likely to lose that precious music of yours, even if you lose your mobile.
• Automatic – You can schedule your Android device to sync with DropBox so you won’t even have to think about syncing.
• Sync between multiple devices – There is nothing stopping you from installing Syncness on multiple Android devices. Doing this will mean you will have the same music on every Android device you have.

Cons

• Battery consumption - When the app is syncing with DropBox, the app will consume quite a bit of battery power. That might be the reason why the app gives you the option to only automatically sync when you are connected to a power source.
• Cost of DropBox - Although DropBox is free for the first 2gb. It will cost you a minimum of $9.99 a month to upgrade. You do get a massive 50GB for that money but it is quite pricey for cloud storage.

Eyefi

Eyefi is a combination of an Android app and an SD Card. Not any normal SD card though, the card has built in Wifi. Pictures taken on a camera with an Eyefi SD Card inside will automatically appear on the Eyefi app. Not only can you view, save and share your photo’s on your Android, you can use the app to backup your photos on your home computer.

Pros

• Save time – No need to hassle with cables and syncing
• Instant - When you take a picture, your photo will instantly appear in the Eyefi Android app. This means you can instantly view, edit and share your photo.

Cons

• Cost – The Eyefi App is free but the hardware costs £50, a considerable amount of money for a wireless syncing solution.

Cloud Print BETA

The last three wireless apps I have mentioned are all alternatives to manually getting files to and from your computer. Cloud Print which is an app which lets you send files from your Android mobile to the printer, has no manual alternatives which means that this wireless method should be very useful to you. Cloud Print uses the Google Print service to simply send files to the printer from any internet connected device.

Pros

• Free – Both the Cloud Print app and Google print service are free
• No alternative – Although there are alternative apps to print files from your Android to your printer, there are no other ways than cloud printing.

Cons

• Internet connection – You will need to be connected to the internet to a print a file with Cloud Print.

Conclusion

There are many wireless apps for Android out there, these are just my favourite. Without these apps, heaven forbid, we would have to manually connect our Androids to computers which waists precious time and effort. Now, the job can be done without lifting a finger. Ok, maybe one finger to a press a virtual button or two!
Do you have any favourite wireless apps yourself?