Dropbox review

One of the first wave of Cloud storage apps, Dropbox has carved itself a chunk of the market by offering a service across the Windows, Linux and Mac OS operating systems.

The service has a no-nonsense appeal, placing a folder - the titular Dropbox - in the Documents folder of each connected PC, and synchronising anything you drop into it. Prices and plans are equally straightforward, with 2GB of space available free or 50GB for $99 (£68) per annum.

The interface is clean and simple, and a system of symbols superimposed on folders and file icons keeps you informed on their current synchronisation status. Dropbox also wins points for its web interface, which gives an at-a-glance view of recent activity and has a superbly implemented revisions feature, where you can easily track or reverse changes.

Files and folders can be shared through a system of email invitations, and you can send users direct URL links. You even get a special Photos folder dedicated to image sharing.

That leaves us with two concerns. First, as it only synchronises the files and folders stored in your Dropbox folder, it isn't the most flexible service. Second, speeds can be scarily inconsistent. When Dropbox is fast, it's very fast, as the results in our performance tests on p91 show; when it's slow, it's very slow - sometimes taking several minutes to recognise a change, or uploading files at rates as low as 1.2Kbits/sec. This didn't seriously affect our use, but you can expect Sod's law to apply when you need to sync something in a hurry.

All the same, with such good cross-platform support and a decent set of features, Dropbox is one of the best offerings around.

Author: Stuart Andrews