Google One will now automatically backup your phone data.

Google One cloud storage went live last year offering a paid storage for backing up phone data to the cloud. Starting at $1.99 per month, users are offered storage options ranging from 100GB to 30TB to save messages, photos, videos, and contacts online in case disaster strikes. 

Yesterday Google announced in a blog post they're improving the service. Besides the standard features mentioned above, Google One will now automatically backup your phone. In addition, the service will backup original quality photos, videos, and multimedia messages (MMS). And users will be able to manage all that on their Android devices from the Google One app.

Google said, "With Google One, you already get more storage for your photos, videos, and documents—giving you the peace of mind that your memories and important files are stored in the cloud. Now with automatic phone backup, we're taking another step in helping you keep the stuff you care about safe." 

Source: Google

Google Drive now supports opening and viewing password-protected Microsoft Office files.

Today Google Drive for Android has been updated with Google's cloud storage service now supporting opening and viewing password-protected Microsoft office files. This is a great addition for all of us using Microsoft Office. The latter remains the gold standard as productivity tools with users and enterprises alike and it's great to see Google adding more support to the world's number one productivity tool.

Now, no matter how useful this feature is to Google Drive users, I have a word of advice. Password-protecting an Excel, Word or PowerPoint file prevent others from accessing these files and that is good. However, Microsoft cannot help you retrieve the password should you forget it. There is no official tool from Microsoft. So make sure that you use a password that is memorable, otherwise, you'll have to resort to third-party solutions, some of which are free and some not. In either case, that implies making your files and content available to whichever solution you choose. Definitely not a secure way to retrieve your password and protect your content.

This update also includes the usual bug fixes and performance improvements and is available in Google Play Store for download.

Microsoft OneDrive for Android makes viewing photos faster.

Microsoft OneDrive was updated today. In version 4.15 of the app, the company improved the scan feature. The change log says all scans “will be cropped, cleaned up and polished thanks to the power of Office Lens.” Microsoft also improved performance and that results into viewing of photos faster. 

Get this update to Microsoft OneDrive for Android in Google Play Store.

Apps update: Dropbox supports CSV file previews; Inbox by Gmail gets undo action inside notification.

A few apps in Google Play Store got minor updates, so I’m gathering the story for each update under one post. 

First in the list is popular Cloud storage service provider Dropbox. This is more of a fix in that the app can now handle CSV files preview within the app itself. This is all there is to this update, at least according to the change log. Get it in Google Play Store.

Inbox by Gmail also received what sounds like a nice feature. The change log states that “You can now undo an action taken inside a notification”. I have yet to give this a try. But basically, if you selected to delete an email in the notification tray and want to get it back to your inbox, an undo button will let you do that. Get Inbox by Gmail in Google Play Store.

Happy update.

Box will now sync Your "Recent List" across devices and preview DICOM files.

Cloud storage service has been updated with two useful features today. The first one is the Recent list within the app will now show files accessed on other devices as well as the browser. A feature that makes sense when your data lives in the Cloud and, nowadays, we use more than one device to access those data. So it's logical to have every piece of information possible sync across them.

The second feature Box added to its Android app is support for previewing DICOM files. I had to do a search to figure that one out. According to Wikipedia Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM), "is a standard for handling, storing, printing and transmitting information in medical imaging." There you have it, Box is now able to safely handle your medical imaging.

Get Box in Google Play Store.

Select multiple items in Microsoft OneDrive with hold and drag gesture.

Microsoft OneDrive was updated today with a pretty neat feature. In version 4.8 of the app, you can hold and drag to select multiple items in the Photos and tiles view. A very convenient feature that lets you quickly select multiple photos with a simple gesture. And should you need to select non-contiguous photos, simply repeat the same hold and drag gestures on the next photos. A cool feature you can start using by downloading or updating Microsoft OneDrive for Android in Google Play Store.

Microsoft adds new improved sharing sheet to OneDrive for Android.

No doubt Microsoft is doing an awesome job pursuing their "mobile first" strategy on competing platforms. Take this update to their OneDrive app for Android as an example. The update was published on June 10 and I missed it since it did not show on my Nexus 6 running Android N; but it did on my Nexus 7 (2013) and it is a long awaited update, albeit a simple one.

Before that update, sharing a file on Onedrive was limited to sharing a link, sending file or inviting people to view the file. There was nothing that permitted sharing to the popular social network platforms we're so accustomed to, as shown in the screenshot below.

Thankfully, Microsoft took note of this limitation and updated their OneDrive app on Android to give users more option for sharing stuff. The screenshot below is quite self explanatory. Tapping the sharing icon will bring up the screen below with more options for sharing your file. It is no more limited to just the three options I've highlighted above, and Android users will get to choose among the apps they have installed on their devices plus the tree options I've already mentioned. You can see the difference after the upgrade with the screenshot below.

In the event you missed the update, get it in the Google Play Store for free.

View photos by tags in latest OneDrive for Android update.

OneDrive is pretty good at handling and storing our precious photos in the cloud. Equally very important is how these photos is presented in the app to easily find the photos we're looking for. I am very bad at categorizing my photos and I let the app handle that for me, which it does well. OneDrive for Android has made a step further to help me more than it actually does by letting me view photos by tags that the app automatically added or that I added myself. The latter is very unlikely in my case, so it's convenient that OneDrive handles that for me. 

That's the only feature Microsoft added to this update that raises the app version to 3.3.0 which is available for download in Google Play Store.

OneDrive lets you limit camera backup to only when charging your Android.

Microsoft's OneDrive for Android has been updated with a very interesting feature today. The cloud storage service is now capable of backing up your precious pictures when your device is charging. A nice addition that will help save power on your Android devices. So, if you're not worried your device gets lost or stolen or bricked by the time you get to a charging station, you will like this feature. Even more so when your out in the field.

The update brings OneDrive for Android to version 2.9.4 and includes the usual bug fixes and stability improvements.

Download the update in Google Play store.

Microsoft renames SkyDrive to OneDrive and adds new features.

Today Microsoft has released the re-branded SkyDrive app which is now known as OneDrive. The change in name was driven by the loss in court of a trademark claim by a British company. Microsoft did not appeal the verdict and decided instead to rename its cloud storage service.

There is more than just a change of name though. See the change log for the new features Microsoft added to OneDrive.

What's new on Android 4.0+:

• Automatically upload photos and videos to OneDrive using Camera backup

• Improved support for working with Office Mobile for Android and OneNote, including editing Office documents

• Larger thumbnails and nicer photo views

• Bug fixes and performance improvements

Update SkyDrive to OneDrive in Google Store.