We explained ways to get more storage on
tablets and smartphones.
How
to solve the limit of device storage
These devices, which used to be considered
luxury goods, are now indispensable. 750-dollar price may put the latest and
greatest smartphones or tablets into the luxury list, but mobile devices are
now trying to maintain their position.
Smartphone and tablet are both helpful assistants
and we use them to save hundreds – or even thousands – of photos, videos,
audios, documents, apps, books, magazines…
Smartphone
and tablet are both helpful assistants.
Most are equipped with hi-quality lenses
and sensors that are so good that we will leave our cameras at home, but
shooting photos and recording HD contents by smartphone create more contents
needing saving.
An apparent downside of smartphone and
tablet is limited storage in, in comparison with PC or laptop – this problem
may be extended if you device doesn’t have any memory card slot.
Here, we approached many methods to manage
your media files, to narrow you collections so that you can gain more storage
back, and to add more storage for tablet or smartphone.
More storage, less locations
All of us have different ways approaching
media. Some like to save all on MP3 player, despite that how they won’t be
frequently played. Some scatter everything, including photos, music, videos and
documents, in a few units, such as PC, laptop, USB drive, SD card and even
music player.
Saving all media files at one location then
delete duplicates as well as junk files is a good first step. Then, you can put
into the device the necessary contents. File Duplicate Finder is able delete
file copies in Windows, while free Search Duplicate File app is a good option
for Android.
Local sharing options
If you have a home network already, you
will be able to stream contents to any Wi-Fi supported devices. NAS or other
storages may be a device that have own iTunes server, they are also able to provide
access to your completed libraries of photos and music.
HomeGroup feature in Windows 7 and Windows
8 pushes media contents to PC, laptop, smartphone and tablet that are using
Windows. If you have sufficient amount of devices, find DLNA compatibility
while choosing streaming hardware.
HomeGroup
feature in Windows 7 and Windows 8 pushes media contents to PC, laptop,
smartphone and tablet that are using Windows.
Besides, there’re also apps which control
streaming on iOS and Android devices. HomeSharing in iTunes allows you to do
everything with your media collections wirelessly, without any synchronization.
Let’s try DoubleTwist from doubletwist.com
(and Twonky server accompanying) to stream from and to most mobile devices. Windows
user can connect to iPhone or iPad by using Air Stream and enjoy music or
videos via Wi-Fi.
They are options working in your Wi-Fi
network. To gain external access, you will need to make that central host
server able to be browsed through web – or use web.
Cloud storage
Saving media files in cloud is an ideal
option. Some devices can stream your music and photos via Wi-Fi. Price and
storage limit are various thus you have to check for what suits you most.
For iPhone/iPad user, it’s obvious to
choose Apple iCloud. The service lets you to store and synchronize free 5GB
then you have to buy a pack. Recently, Apple has added 3G connectivity to
iCloud. thus you won’t be limited by using it within Wi-Fi access point, but
you have to keep an eye on data usage in case it exceeds month morn.
Sky Drive is a free service offering free
7GB storage for Windows user. It is also available on Android, iOS and Windows
Phone. Plus, this service enables you to view and delete photos as well as
other file formats.
To have a serious storage, try Box.net,
Dropbox or Mozy. You can earn more space by install them on fewer devices – and
by sharing with your friends. We had free 30GB storage by this way.
Dropbox on Android and iOS can be used to sync
your photos. OpenPhoto provides similar service, allowing you to view and
manage photos online.
Don’t forget Flickr, you have 300MB for
photos per month, while an annual 25-dollar subscription provides unlimited
uploading for videos and photos (with some limit in file size). Then, you can
view and stream them via web or apps that run on Android, iOS, Windows Phone or
BlackBerry.
Amazon and Google allow you to save files
in their online storage featuring up to little GB storage for photos and other
files. Registering Google Drive gives you free 5GB storage.
Stream your own contents
Amazon has released Cloud Player in the UK.
It allows you to save and play all songs bought from AmazonMP3 store, along
with 250 songs purchased in other shops (250 songs available for Premium
service). We hope Google will soon provide similar service in UK through Google
Play. From 11/2012, the American is able to stream up to 20,000 songs and
purchase more to play on their Android devices.
Amazon
has released Cloud Player in the UK.
iTunes Match is a music-streaming service
from Apple. It lets you stream anything bought from iTunes. It breaks through
the storage limit for those who have wide music collections. You have to pay
$38 per year to stream tracks that you didn’t buy via iTunes, but it will
automatically replace them with highest-quality DRM versions.
Lending, no compression
Services lending music and videos remove the
tension on your crowded storage and it will be cheaper than buying a digital
album.
On-demanding streaming, such as Napster and
Spotify, has cost started at $7.5 per month for unlimited streaming through Wi-Fi,
and $15 per month if you want to download and enjoy offline music on your
devices: Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows or Symbian.
You can also upload your music collection
to Spotify but the only benefit is having a program that manages all of your
music.
Mobile Wi-Fi storage
Some manufacturers added Wi-Fi connectivity
and battery to their hardware, allowing contents streamed to smartphone or
tablet. These drives directly connect to your device and they can be controlled
via an enclosed app, thus you are able to use them quickly.
Products, like Kingston Wi-Drive 32GB,
considerably add more storage yet they are small enough to bring along. Wi-Drive
works with iOS and Android, plus it gives access to 3 different devices concurrently.
GoFlex Satellite from Seagate operates
similarly. It works with 8 devices maximally. This product is compatible with
Windows laptops and Android tablets.
Shrink to fit
Storing file to save space on PC appears
smart. On tablet or smartphone, you need to shrink or compress files to reduce
space used. Smaller file sizes will be loaded more quickly. Either tablet or
smartphone is able to display an image seizing more than 3MP without resizing
it to fir the screen. Therefore, saving an image in 8MP size is a waste of
storage in case you just want to view them.
Let’s use an image editor, like Photoshop
Elements to convert a mass of images, reduce resolution to fit the device’s
resolution (or lower resolution more if you aren’t afraid of decrease in
quality). You can choose medium compression rate to the level in which
reduction in quality is invisible. Each image size would be lower than 1MB.
Make sure that you have saved original
images into back-up drive and low-resolution copies into laptop or tablet.
Repeat the above process for images
captured in smartphone or tablet and make sure that you won’t lose original
files.
Reduce sound volume
Shrink your files by encrypt them in lower
bit rate. Improvements in encrypting software mean that album compressed years
ago can be re-compressed by latest tools without loss in quality in case file
size is too small.
Similar principles can be applied on
videos. Using a free video converter, such as Any Video Converter, Freemake or
HandBrake, and export your video files to selected device. However, it must be
note that this process may be time-consuming in most PCs.
