Alternatives to Apple's iCloud
Besides syncing your data, there's also the backup feature. Your calendar, contacts and app data will be uploaded automatically to Apple's servers once a day, so even if your iPhone is damaged, your data is saved online. There's also a feature to locate your device and remotely wipe it if you lose it. You can read more about iCloud here.
No doubt, iCloud is useful and convenient, but only if you have invested heavily in Apple products and software. The strength of the service lies in how it works seamlessly across Apple devices (once you have completed the initial setup). And it's free for the first 5GB of storage.
However, Apple isn't the first to offer such cloud-based functionality. You could already do this, but it would take a number of different services and apps to duplicate iCloud's features. It may seem like more hassle, but you're likely to end up with more storage space with third-party services. They also work on more devices and platforms.
For those who don't own Apple products, here are some ways you can create your own, perhaps even improved, iCloud.
File-sharing and backup: Dropbox
When it comes to cloud storage, Dropbox is probably one of the more well-known services, with a reported user base of more than 45 million. Users get a free account of up to 2GB of storage (you'll get an additional 250MB with every referral) for their files. Files can also be synced across multiple devices on various platforms, so it doesn't matter whether you're accessing them on a phone, a tablet or a computer.
But one of the biggest advantages of Dropbox over iCloud is the fact that you can share files with other users. This allows for collaboration between users, especially when it also supports revision history to track changes. This is something that you can't do using iCloud unless the other party has your Apple ID, too.
There are also other services out there that offer similar features, such as Box.net and SugarSync (both have 5GB free storage). You can pay additional fees to increase storage for these services. Microsoft's SkyDrive, which is reportedly getting new features, offers 25GB of free storage but comes with an individual file upload limit.
Photos: Google+ and Picasa
iCloud offers Photo Stream, which allows users to upload up to 1,000 of their most recent photos to Apple's servers and store them for 30 days. It sounds pretty good, but you can do better with Google+ and Picasa.If you have an Android (version 2.2 and above) smartphone and have Google+ installed, you can use its Instant Upload feature to push photos, immediately after they are taken, to Google's servers.
Photos will automatically appear on Picasa Web Albums and as long as each one is smaller than 800 x 800 pixels, it won't count toward the 1GB storage limit on Picasa. This exemption also applies for videos that are less than 15 minutes long. Effectively, you're getting free, unlimited storage on Picasa.
Even if you're using an iPhone, it works for the Google+ app on iOS, though unlike the Android version, it will require you to have the Google+ app open in the background. Finally, there's always the Windows version of Picasa if you're using a PC, which allows users to edit, share and organize their photos.
Email and calendar: Google Apps
Google Apps is an online set of tools that now includes email, calendar and office productivity apps. Since it is Web-based, you just need to have a free Google account and a browser on any computer to access your data. Any changes made can be saved instantly to Google servers. Google typically offers at least 1GB for these apps--Gmail alone allows you to store up to 7GB.As for smartphones, all you need is a Google account and Google Sync will keep your email inbox and calendar updated. It is available for a number of mobile platforms, including iOS and Windows, though there are features that may not work on some, e.g. Gmail sync isn't natively supported on BlackBerry phones but Google Calendar is fine.
Office productivity: Google Docs and QuickOffice Pro
While our first instinct is to go with the free Google Docs for documents, editing appears to be its Achilles' heel, with reports of a clunky interface making it less than user-friendly.
QuickOffice Pro isn't free, but it's widely available on most mobile platforms. Best of all, it works with third-party cloud services such as Dropbox, SugarSync and Google Docs to get your documents synced properly. This is not the case with iCloud.
Currently, iCloud sync for documents is only integrated with Apple's iWork. While Apple has opened iCloud's APIs for developers to get their programs working with the service, this will take some time and there's no guarantee that they will do so. Also, if you wish to put your Microsoft Office documents (from a Windows PC) onto iCloud, you cannot do so via the Windows client. Even on a Mac, you would need to upload the document via the browser at iCloud.com.
Bookmark sync: Firefox and Xmarks
Bookmarks in Safari can be synced across Apple devices, such as a MacBook, iPad and iPhone, though it doesn't always succeed. This feature is also present on Mozilla's Firefox Web browser--Firefox Sync. It's available for iPhone, Android devices and the desktop Firefox browser.
Setting it up is easy enough: A passcode is generated so that you can add a new device securely. After that, you can ensure that your browsing history, bookmarks and even open tabs on a Firefox client will be synchronized across all your devices.
Then there's Xmarks, which is a bookmark sync service that's not limited to any specific browser--it works for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. The downside is that if you wish to sync with mobile devices, you will have to pay for the app.
About the author
After years of reviewing the innards of PCs in his previous job, Senior Writer Vincent Chang has moved on to covering notebooks and PC systems at CNET Asia. A big reader of sci-fi and fantasy, he has accepted the inevitable and gone down the e-book route, though he's still resisting the siren call of the Kindle.
Latest comments
if reading this article has perked up your interest in dropbox, use my referral and you get 2GB 500MB extra and so do i. its a usual of 250MB but with my .edu it is now 500MB. my referral is http://db.tt/BhlCqXE.
There are many tools available in the market which can perform these tasks better than Google docs, well I've come across this tool called CollateBox http://www.collatebox.com/ seems very interesting and handy when it comes to online sharing and accessing of documents. Waiting for this one !!!!!
Join the conversation
Sign In with Facebook or create an account to post a review.
