Microsoft SkyDrive for Android

If you have an Android smartphone or a tablet then Google Drive is the natural place to store your online files. You get 5Gb of online storage space in which you can store any files you like. However, it is not as useful as it could be and it is geared more to the online storage of Google Docs files. It does little else apart from store your files.

Microsoft SkyDrive is actually better for online storage and this isn't simply because you get more space (a couple extra gigabytes), but the way it handles media files is better. SkyDrive for Android (search for it in the Google Play store on your device), has been given a Windows 8-style interface with a blue title bar and files and folders displayed as tiles. It is clean and easy to use.

If you tap a Microsoft Office file it is downloaded and then displayed using whatever facilities your device has. There is a built in document viewer in Android, but I use Kingsoft Office. It is a free office suite in the Google Play store that reads/writes MS Office files.

It's really media files where SkyDrive scores over Google Drive and photos and videos are shown as thumbnail images. You can create folders to store your photos in the Pictures folder and they appear as thumbnails with a caption. You can tap a photo and it displays full screen, then swipe left and right to browse through the images. It is just like having the photo album on your device, but it uses online storage space and not your device's.

It downloads videos and music rather than streaming them, so it's less useful for these, but I'm going to use SkyDrive to store all my photos. You should check it out.