Google's long-awaited Dropbox competitor, Drive, is finally here
and includes impressive search capabilities and good integration with other
Google services including Docs and Google+. But if you just want to get some
work done using a reliable file storage and sync service, Drive may not be
ready for you just yet. And unless you're an Android user, the mobile
experience for Drive is not great. Google officially launched Drive on Tuesday
featuring 5GB free online storage and the ability to buy more storage such as
25GB for $2.50 per month ($30 per year) up to a maximum 16TB for $800 per
month. Similar to Dropbox, Google Drive installs a folder on your Mac or
Windows PC desktop (a Google representative told PCWorld a Linux version is in
the works, too). Then you just drag-and-drop files into the new folder and the
contents automatically sync to the cloud as well as any other computers with
Drive installed. Overall, Drive is a pretty good service and offers more free
storage than the 2GB you get from Dropbox, but less than the free 7GB Microsoft offers with SkyDrive. Here's
a look at some of the best and worst highlights of Google Drive.
Once you add Drive to your Google
Account, Docs automatically disappears and is replaced by Drive instead. Not a
huge deal, but I wasn't expecting it. Then when I opened up Drive, I was
shocked to see that a collaborative document PCWorld uses was missing from my
docs list. Usually this is the first document I see when I log in to my
account, and when I went to the "Shared with me" section it wasn't
there either. After a little more searching I finally found it under "All
items." If you're missing documents after switching to Drive, click on the
"More" dropdown menu to get to the "All items" menu to see
whether it's there. Not a big deal, but it's a little annoying that Drive wipes
out Docs and then rearranges some of your stuff.
Good Integration
Google Drive doesn't download copies
of your files that are saved online in Google's Docs formats. Instead, you get
a folder full of icons that are links to open the documents in your browser.
The good news, however, is that if your computer is set-up to access Docs
offline using Google Chrome, you can open these files in just one click via the
Drive folder on your desktop. If you can't get offline Docs to work with Drive,
try restarting your browser. Say, for example, you had a Google Docs
"file" on your desktop called "Test.gdoc." If you happen to
be offline, you can click on "Test.gdoc" and open up a read-only
version of the document in your browser. Try using a Chrome extension such as
Write Space if you need to edit a Google Doc offline. Google Plus now has an
option to share images from Google Drive and in my tests the new feature was
very easy to use. The search giant also says that Gmail integration is coming
soon. In the meantime, you can attach non-Google Docs files from the Drive
folder on your desktop.
Almost No Mobile Support
Only Android users can currently access Drive
using a native mobile app, but the search giant says it is working hard to get
an iOS version finished. If you're a dedicated Google user who prefers a
BlackBerry or Windows Phone, however, it's not clear whether any Drive apps
will be headed your way. For the time being, non-Android users can give the
mobile site a try, but the experience is not as good as the Android Drive app.
Opening an image on my Android phone, for example, was a real chore using the
mobile Drive site, but was intuitive and easy using the smartphone app.
Great Search Capabilities
Google Drive comes
with Google Goggles image search technology built-in, and in my tests
image search results were pretty impressive. I put Google to the test by
dropping into my Drive folder some photos of the Statue of Liberty and the
Chrysler Building in New York City. Moments later I did a search for
"Statue of Liberty" and "Chrysler Building" on the
Web-based version of Drive on a separate machine. Drive had no problem
identifying both landmarks in the photos, and the files did not have any
metadata such as location or handy titles to give the search engine any hints.
But there were some shortcomings. A search for "Queensboro Bridge,"
for example, resulted in no results even though my shot of the Chrysler
Building clearly showed the well-known bridge in the background. Another quirk
was that when I searched for "Manhattan" or "New York
City," none of my images appeared in the results, but a search for
"New York" brought up all of my test images. I also uploaded two
copies of the cover image from Walter Isaacson's biography of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs who died in October. One version of the cover
included the book title and author and the other image didn't. Searching for
"Steve Jobs" brought up both images, but only the image with the book
title and author appeared in the results when searching for "Walter
Isaacson."Again, neither image had any metadata or filenames so Drive could
only identify these items using the actual images. Even though Drive's image
recognition did a good job with landmarks and famous people, it failed to find
other family photos I had uploaded when using generic searches such as
"dog" and "baby." Google says its image recognition
technology is still in its early stages and should improve over time. If you
want to give Google Drive a try, you can get started at drive.google.com/start.
Drive is currently being rolled out to all users, so check back if the new
service is not available for your account yet.
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