Native vs. Webkit browser UI

BlackBerry browser UI

The Blackberry browser has traditional menu links in the header

About a year and a half ago, we introduced the first native Soonr application for the iPhone. It has been very well received and gave capabilities never before seen on a mobile phone. Last year the Android phones came to play. One of the major features of the Android OS was its openness. Android was designed for developers to be able to add functionality and we quickly took advantage of this to enable upload and download of files to the phone.

You see, the iPhone has a pretty closed file system. You can’t easily write to or retrieve files from the phone’s memory without going through a very strict program interface. Android is different. Programs have direct access to the storage on the phone. Because of this, it’s easy to download files onto the phone and also upload photos from the phone. We’ve taken advantage of this in the Soonr native application for Android.

Note the "Download" option for the file. You only get this in the Android native applicaiton, not the iPhone.

This is especially useful for cases where you might want a document for offline viewing. Maybe when you are on a plane you’d like to look over a presentation or a sales proposal. With the Android application for Soonr, you can download those to your phone and look them over in places that you don’t have any kind of internet connection. This adds a new level of flexibility to business and personal users alike.

No matter what phone you or your team members use, Soonr will give you a great user experience. Check out the Soonr for Android application in the Android Market place. Download it to your phone for free and have an easy and robust way to access your Soonr account which is connected to your computers and your team members.

Yeah, you’ve heard that before, but we will prove it with actions. This week, you will see a major enhancement in your Soonr Dashboard when you login with your computer browser. It’ll be easier than ever before to understand at a glance, how your data is protected and who is working with you on your projects. Here’s a peek at the new Dashboard along with a partial list of the enhancements that come along with it.

NEW DASHBOARD:

Soonr's Visual Dashboard is easy and powerful!

As you can see, the major Dashboard sections are split and color coded for easy identification.

There are sections for:

- Most recent activity
- Favorites
- Account Status
- Backup Status
- Project Information
- Team Overview

Other updates include:

- Account personalization
- Cloud Drive replaces TeamDrive* providing OS integration and WebDav support.
- Edit from Cloud Drive
- Improve Link sharing
- Backup for large and constantly changing files like Outlook and Databases.
- Backup for external devices

MOBILE DEVICES:

In addition to all that goodness, we will update the native iPhone**, Android, and BlackBerry application to support many of these new features. Some special capabilities like copy files from the cloud to the phone memory card for Android will be supported. Even phones with basic browsers will see improvements in support for the new features.

Please keep an eye on the blog in the upcoming weeks as we will cover these features in more detail with subsequent entries. We think you’ll agree that the enhancements are making huge leaps in functionality while making Soonr easier for you. The easier it is, the faster you can get your work done. Work smarter in 2010!

We are dedicated to protecting your critical files with “Active Backup” and making sure that your data works as hard as you do.

* Please note that TeamnDrive is a TradeMark of TeamDrive Systems GmbH.
Soonr Cloud Drive replaces the TeamDrive name.
** iPhone application submitted to App Store. Availability pending approval.