iOS is closing the gap on Android. Google absolutely needs to...

[chanchan05]

For the record, the idea of having a backup is to have extra copies, not to put everything in one place. For example, I have copies of important documents in several clouds plus on a local WD external drive. Considering that the servers for these clouds + my local copy is spread across 3 countries on 3 continents(DB, Drive and OneDrive in the US at different states, Mega in Aus/NZ, and then me in SEA), it's unlikely that one disaster will wipe them all out unless it's a worldwide thing.

 

[mikedt]

I remember hearing about some author was about to publish a book he'd written, thieves broke into the house, stole the laptop, along with the backup drives or the Drobo or whatever he was using. Lost everything, no copies anywhere else, not online or anything.

 

[AnonGuy]

For the record, the idea of having a backup is to have extra copies, not to put everything in one place. For example, I have copies of important documents in several clouds plus on a local WD external drive. Considering that the servers for these clouds + my local copy is spread across 3 countries on 3 continents(DB, Drive and OneDrive in the US at different states, Mega in Aus/NZ, and then me in SEA), it's unlikely that one disaster will wipe them all out unless it's a worldwide thing.

Correct. I keep all the important stuff on my Hard Drive (under my user folder) as well as in Cloud Storage. Some stuff is also on my Phone's SD Card. Online accounts can get compromised, locked for whatever reason, etc. so it's always important to keep a copy that is accessible to you. Devices can get stolen or lost, SD Cards Corrupted. Hard Drives and SSDs can fail.

Redundancy is the goal. It gives you the failsafes you need to avoid one catastrophe completely destroying your data.

 

[nickdalzell]

if you can afford the data that comes with multiple cloud backups sure. most of the world cannot do that. and i do prefer to have my music when i'm out walking or hiking so the cloud fails there too. unless i like hearing it stop to rebuffer the instant i drop the 3G data.

My primary use of the MyCloud isn't to have backup or cloud storage. it was to shove copies of my media (including videos) onto it so i don't need an internet connection to watch something on Youtube or a movie. i made it into a sort of 'intranet' backup where if and when my connection drops or becomes slow (which is often) or if i max my data cap on Google Play Movie content, i still have the option to watch otherwise online media through my 32" TV at home. since it ties into the local network uploading videos saved on my Note 3 to MyCloud don't use data. neither does playing the content through the DLNA server to my Smart TV. essentially i'm building a mini-online video vault that is accessible offline. i download the videos anywhere there is a wifi hotspot (which is two locations--a gas station and my mom's house) and upload them at home and play them at my leisure.

A great example of when it came through was when there was some odd tropospheric ducting effect last week, and my favorite OTA channel, MeTV died. no signal (i was picking up other channels from two states out too). i wanted to watch Hogan's Heroes which would otherwise have been on. thankfully my WD MyCloud has a good cache of that same show on it. pop into Smart Hub, go to videos, and there's MYCloud showing like a DVR input. select whichever episode i want and hit play. it even shuffles. great solution and no cost to my data plan.

That's about as close to the 'cloud' as i'm going to get. if that media were on Google Drive i'd have a horrible time streaming it with such a slow connection if any, and an even worse cost to my data plan in the event it even played.

 

[bjacks12]

if you can afford the data that comes with multiple cloud backups sure. most of the world cannot do that. and i do prefer to have my music when i'm out walking or hiking so the cloud fails there too. unless i like hearing it stop to rebuffer the instant i drop the 3G data.

Nobody here has argued against this. It's a known and accepted shortfall. That's why you can buy a Samsung with an SD card.

But what we're saying is you shouldn't just condemn cloud storage as being useless for all people.

 

[nickdalzell]

i never said it was useless for all people. i said or implied most people. and since many services have died off it's not even reliable in the long-term. imagine the cost to one's data cap to move gigabytes of stuff off one of the few who finally shut down. unless you live in large cities with great DSL or Cable you're out of luck. the data is going to get wiped if you can't afford to download it locally on whatever internet connection you have.

it might be hard to believe but only 15% of the world even has broadband. many in the USA still have dial-up as their only option or high-latency satellite internet if they're rich enough. it's just not feasible and not guaranteed to live on if the majority cannot access it. it might just flop like the Newton did. only time will tell. until then i'm not relying on it even for backup since the company can snoop your data for possible violations and i'm not keen on that.

the cloud is a mere convenience. but i wouldn't trust it with any data whatsoever.

The Apple Newton wasn't a bad device either. it was convenient, offered the ability to even make calls on the thing (with a proper card inserted into it) and had the benefit of mobile communications (with a cellular card). it was not a bad product. neither is the cloud. but like the Newton, the cloud only has a niche following and is ahead of its time. Maybe it will succeed and become akin to the seamless connectivity that one sees in Star Trek? i'd like to see that happen. but i'm not going to be an early adopter of this tech. i fell victim to 'early adopter' syndrome before. i had a Newton, even one of the early Pocket PCs. they seemed cool at the time, but ended up being unsupported paperweights before given a proper chance. i regretted purchasing them.

 

[zither74]

I have spent $700 each on a Galaxy S5 and an Xperia Z2 over the last 4 months. My first two Android phones after 6 years owning iPhones. They are both horrible. Nothing works. I can't listen to more than 1/2 a song on Spotify, can't watch Facebook videos, can't keep an app from crashing after 2 minutes of use, and far too many other issues to list. Exact same laundry list of problems on both phones, right out of the box, so I know it's the OS, not the device. I was warned... I didn't listen. Now I'll be paying another $700 for the new iPhone in a month. $2,100 on devices in 5 months. Never again. Android just doesn't work.

 

[nickdalzell]

Seriously? i've had many Android devices but did prefer iPhone and iPad until iOS 7 killed it for me, but the best Android devices i've had that worked pretty much 100% of the time (that is, so long as i kept from getting root and ROM fever) have had the Samsung name on them. never have a problem with them, TouchWiz, or their alternatives to Google Play. I'm such a Samdroid these days that i won't carry an Android device unless it has Samsung or at least LG on it (and only because LG products copy Samsung so much, both in the UI as well as the product's looks--look at the LG G Pad 2nd Gen compared with the Tab 3 from Samsung. they're so close it's creepy)

I tried Nexus for a short time to see what they were about but was left with two paperweights that hardly get support even if they're still in their 18-month window. so they're shelved. i had tons of other cheaper Android phones that sucked and random rebooted and crashed tons, ate up battery, but that's more to blame on cheaper hardware plus Android 2.2, which sucked compared with Android 4 and up.

If not a Samsung i'd consider LG. they're very close, and i once had a Samsung A/C unit that upon closer inspection of its guts after it dumped freon (it was $50 what would one expect?) it had mostly LG components inside. in fact, the box itself had 'Samsung 5,000 BTU Room Air Conditioner' with fine print saying 'manufactured by LG electronics' next to it. so they might both share parts or share products, with LG being the cheaper alternative to the Samsung offering? not sure. but they're the only Android products i'd have.

 

[chanchan05]

Wow that's just weird. I've never had those problems.

 

[bjacks12]

Zither, I get the feeling that you're exaggerating.

Even at it's worst, my Galaxy S1 was never unusable. You make it sound like it refuses to do anything.

But then, I see that you have 3 posts, all to tell us about how terrible Android is. I'd bet you don't even own the devices you mentioned.

 

[chanchan05]

While I may not be as quick to say that Zither is a troll, what he does say is highly unlikely. If Android was that bad it won't be selling as well as it does. There is also the possibility of him being ripped off, having bought Chinese clones masqueraded as the real thing.

 

[AnonGuy]

I have spent $700 each on a Galaxy S5 and an Xperia Z2 over the last 4 months. My first two Android phones after 6 years owning iPhones. They are both horrible. Nothing works. I can't listen to more than 1/2 a song on Spotify, can't watch Facebook videos, can't keep an app from crashing after 2 minutes of use, and far too many other issues to list. Exact same laundry list of problems on both phones, right out of the box, so I know it's the OS, not the device. I was warned... I didn't listen. Now I'll be paying another $700 for the new iPhone in a month. $2,100 on devices in 5 months. Never again. Android just doesn't work.

Don't expect to be taken seriously.

Android has issues, but almost no devices are as bad as you write about in this post, or really even close to it.

I just did a Spotify Trial on my Note 3, and it was flawless. I share a ton of videos on Facebook. Everyone who reads my posts here knows that I use my phone for a lot of training video recording and sharing, so if that was a chronic problem I'd have never gone back to Android (Note 3) from the iPhone 5S that I replaced my Android (GS3) with after 10 days of using it. I'd also have posted a dissertation regarding those issues by now...

I listen to music for hours a day on my devices, without issues. Both On-Device (SD-Card) music as well as streaming.

Try saving a video from OneDrive to the Camera Roll on an iPhone with iOS 7 and tell us how it "just works," BTW. Good Luck!

If those phones were that bad, you'd think a lot more people would be reporting those problems. People can be fans, but it's hard to be a fan if the products are as rubbish as you say they are. Owners would be up in arms if those devices performed as poorly as you're reporting.

No one will believe you, and rightfully so.