MediaFire debuts for Android, offers users 50GB of free cloud storage

MediaFire for Android. The app is free, and so is your 50GB account.

(Credit: MediaFire)

Back in August, I wrote about cloud-storage service MediaFire, which was offering a whopping 50GB of free space, no strings attached.

Well, there were strings in the form of certain limitations (see below), but it wasn't like you had to provide a credit-card number or start paying for the space after, say, six months.

Yesterday, the company unveiled MediaFire for Android, which joins the iOS version in giving you mobile access to your cloud drive. And new users still get 50GB of storage, free of charge.

Like other apps of its kind, MediaFire for Android lets you view documents and photos, stream audio, watch videos, share files with others, and so on. It also lets you upload snapshots and videos directly to your account, a nice option for folks who are running low on local storage. Unfortunately, there's no batch-upload option, meaning there's no easy way to archive, say, a photo gallery. That's one area where an app like Dropbox holds the edge.

Indeed, my one complaint with MediaFire overall is that it lacks any kind of Dropbox-style file/folder syncing. Pretty much everything has to be uploaded manually. A company rep hinted that syncing will be available down the road, but no word on whether you'll need a paid account to take advantage of it. (MediaFire offers Personal, Pro, and Business accounts starting at $1.50 per month.)

That said, the Android app as it stands is very easy to use. You can tap any item in your account to view it, or tap the menu arrow to access options like share, copy link, make private, rename, delete, and download. There's also a search option.

Limitations aside, MediaFire remains a great option for sharing large files with others, accessing your data across multiple devices, collaborating on documents, and creating backups of non-critical files.

And, hey, it's 50GB of free storage, no strings attached. It might not be ideal for everything, but I suspect you'll find it useful for some things.

What do you think? Will you take advantage of MediaFire's generosity, or do you really need desktop syncing and/or batch uploading?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/tcoc/~3/SBnKqKrIoWY/

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