Quadruple the memory on your iPhone or iPod touch, sort of

They say that 50 is the new 40, but we’re not buying it. No matter what they say, we aren’t looking forward to having “senior moments”. However, there are times when a cloudy memory actually is a good thing, especially when it comes to using the internet cloud to expand the memory on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Last week, DropBox emerged from private beta which means anyone can sign up for a free account. Very much like SugarSync, DropBox provides an iPhone optimized web UI that expands your memory by storing data in the internet cloud, then syncing changes to all the computers, iPhones, and iPod touches you have connected to your account. No more having to email files around. Both SugarSync and DropBox offer both free and subscription accounts giving more storage space for those who need it. The free DropBox account is 2 GB and lasts forever, whereas SugarSync’s free account is 10 GB but expires after a 45-day trial.

The biggest difference between SugarSync and DropBox is the implementation. SugarSync runs as an application through which you manage your files and computers. DropBox is more integrated into the operating system of your computer so that your storage area looks and acts just like a folder on your local drive. This integration into the OS makes DropBox easier to use, especially for those unfamiliar with backup and syncing applications. DropBox offers this native platform integration for PC, Mac, and Linux.

Both services do offer web interfaces so you can manage your files from any connected browser, and these work just fine on the iPhone and iPod touch. The web interfaces beg the question, “why bother having native apps at all?” The native apps allow you to work on your files and manage your account offline. Next time you go online your changes will automatically sync with all the computers connected to that account. With SugarSync, you can do this offline management using their free iPhone application. Using DropBox on the iPhone is limited to the web interface, which works great as long as you are online.

There are other very good cloud storage services such as Box.net, but these don’t provide the syncing option, just storage. The UI is web-based only so there is no integration into the native OS like DropBox and SugarSync provide.

The other major difference between DropBox and SugarSync are the pricing options. DropBox has one single paid option that has 50 GB of space for $10 a month, or $100 per year. SugarSync, on the other hand, offers several tiers of pricing which start at $5 a month for 30 GB and goes all the way up to 250 GB for $25 per month.

In addition to syncing personal files across multiple computers, these service could also be leveraged to provide remote teams with a “virtual intranet”. All the documents, images, presentations, and spreadsheets can be shared, and changes to any file would auto sync to everyone on the team. Both SugarSync and DropBox offer revision control making it easy to restore a file to a previous state.

Both DropBox and SugarSync offer excellent solutions for sharing and syncing files between computers and mobile devices. SugarSync offers a free native iPhone app along with more pricing options, while DropBox has native support for more operating systems and a slightly easier to use application. If you are looking for a syncing solution then you should sign up for both free accounts to see which one works best for you.

• DropBox [web]
• SugarSync [app store]

 

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