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Get better file management on Android with Solid Explorer

Stop wasting your time with other file explorers and try this feature-packed one instead.

Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET


Android design has come a long way -- and evidently so has at least one file explorer app. Solid Explorer is a fully featured file management app with menu organization that makes sense paired with a classy user interface.

Generally when you open a file explorer you'll just see a directory listing, a few feature buttons, and maybe even a search box to look for specific files. Solid Explorer puts apps like these to shame with its arsenal of features.

Dual-panel file browsing in Solid Explorer. Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

Dual-panel browsing is the next step for Android file browsers and Solid Explorer knows it. Why would you want to copy a file and then navigate somewhere entirely different in the same window instead of using a drag-drop method? The two panels work independently of each other (swipe between them in portrait or view side-by-side in landscape) and allow you to easily move things around.

Menu options in Solid Explorer. Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

In addition to easy organization tools, you can also create ZIP, TAR, and RAR archives from files on your device. And if that's not enough to impress you, you can also connect to your Dropbox or box cloud storage account, or use FTP, SFTP, or SMB to access more of your data.

Here's the full list of features from the developer:

1. Two independent panels for browsing

2. Drag and drop inside and between panels

3. FTP, SFTP, and SMB/CIFS clients

4. File sharing via FTP

5. Support for ZIP, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, and RAR archives

6. Creating ZIP and TAR archives

7. Dropbox and Box support

8. Bookmarks

9. Root access

10. Indexed search, also available from the system (that means that you can search for files from the Google Search widget/app)

11. Detailed file and directory information


Grid view for file management in Solid Explorer. Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

Pair all of these features with a light or dark gradient theme -- whichever is easiest on your eyes -- and this app is sure to cater to all of your file-management needs. In fact, Solid Explorer is still in beta, so it has time to become ever better. What do you think? Is anything missing?