iOS 4.0 Feature Quicklook: File Management
For the longest time I publicly criticized Apple’s amazing mobile OS for not allowing users to manage files. Apparently, Apple has decided to add a feature in iOS 4.0 that does that, to a point. Let me explain how Apple’s approach to file management is not just what I expected but beyond my expectations. First, let’s take a journey back to pre-OS 4.0 where the only way to download email attachments was through a word processing application (Documents To Go, to name one), which allowed you to view your inbox and download attachments. Functional? Yes. Convenient? No way.
There were also file managers such as Air Sharing Pro and Good Reader which allowed you to download files from URL’s, manage FTP servers, Cloud accounts, and even load files onto your iPhone’s hefty 4GB+ of storage through WiFi. But what these applications lacked was a connecting API.
This is where Apple’s pure simplicity of functionality comes into focus. Apple did not implement a file manager or browser of any kind, but they did start allowing files to be sent from one application to another. Since using an iPhone I have had Air Sharing Pro and Documents To Go loaded onto it, but with iOS 4.0 I was suddenly able to open an email attachment into whatever supported application on my device. Since Air Sharing Pro is my file manager of choice, I now open documents from my email into there, organize them into folders, and even edit them in Documents To Go. What Apple did was bold and brilliant, instead of bundling a feature most people would use to screw up their devices, they are allowing universal Document folder access.
Apple introduced this on the iPad in OS 3.2 but it has only made it to the iPhone in iOS 4. You can look at the screenshots I attached to see how the OS now manages throwing files from one application to another. I am excited to see what developers do with this feature.
