Google Drive::Convenient storage.

The good: Google Drive for iOS offers a sleek interface for accessing, moving, and sharing your stored files. Also, the built-in document editors are easy to use and come with a multitude of formatting tools. Real-time collaboration is a nice feature.

The bad: The app doesn't let you create or edit Drawings or Presentations. There are no sorting or filter options to help sift through files. And an extra password-protect feature would be nice.

The bottom line: An elegant blend of Dropbox-like storage and mobile document editing, Google Drive is a must-have app, especially if you're a dedicated Google user.



An impressively powerful mobile productivity solution, Google Drive for iOS mixes Dropbox-style storage with on-the-go document editing. It lets you access and manipulate files in the cloud and do things like create spreadsheets and view presentations, all from its tightly designed interface. The app even lets you collaborate in real-time with other Drive users with whom you share files. As well, it lets you share links to files, so your friends can download items directly from your Drive.

With a recent update, Google Drive for iOS moved closer in line with other Google-made products. It now features a card-based interface like its sibling on Android, and larger thumbnails are available for quick previews of files. Quite frankly, with its sleek look and powerful features, this revamped app should be installed on every Google user's mobile device.

Google Drive for iOS gets a fresh look (pictures)
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Cloud storage
What many Google users may not know is that every Google account comes with 15GB of free storage space. Of course, this space is used for items saved on your Gmail and Google+ Photos accounts, as well as on your Drive, but still, the deal is a good one that's worth knowing about.

Thanks to the included space, you can use Drive to store not only your spreadsheets and text documents, but also any other file types you may want accessible from the cloud. From the app, you can upload photos and videos, and they'll immediately appear in your Drive, ready to be accessed from any of your devices.



Very much like Dropbox, Google Drive opens up a list of your saved files. You can tape to open any, or you can hit the small Info button to open up an Options screen. From here, you can do things like Share, Move, Star, and Rename items. There's also a nifty option to make files available offline. To enable this, just hit the onscreen switch on the Info screen, and from there it will be available in your Drive app, even when you don't have a connection.

With the Search bar up top, finding items stored in your Drive is, for the most part, easy. But even so, I think the system could benefit from sorting and filter options. As it is now, Drive for iOS doesn't let you group items by file type or show only the most recently modified files -- both of which the Android version can do.

When using these editors, it's important to remember that they're not meant to be full-fledged offerings that are on par with their Web-based counterparts. So, for instance, you won't be able to change line spacing in your text documents or mess with formulas in your spreadsheets. Still, the built-in editors are good at the basics and should suffice for most of your handheld needs.

Similar to the Android version, Google Drive for iOS doesn't let you edit presentations or drawings. It lets you view these file types, but there are no tools make changes.

Final thoughts
One thing I think the Google Drive app needs is a password-protect feature. As it is now, anyone with your device can easily fire up the app and tap into your private files. Dropbox currently offers this, and it would be nice to see Google come loaded with the extra security as well.

Regardless of its (few) shortcomings, I still highly recommend downloading the Google Drive app for iOS. It nicely integrates a good chunk of document-editing functionality, with its powerful Dropbox-style storage.

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