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Microsoft OneDrive (Android) review: Microsoft SkyDrive

The OneDrive Android app can now automatically upload your photos, but the app still falls behind the iOS and Windows Phone versions.

Jaymar Cabebe Former Associate Editor
Jaymar Cabebe covers mobile apps and Windows software for CNET. While he may be a former host of the Android Atlas Weekly podcast, he doesn't hate iOS or Mac. Jaymar has worked in online media since 2007.
Jaymar Cabebe
4 min read

Editor's note: On February 19, 2014, Microsoft changed the name of SkyDrive to OneDrive and added a few new features to the Android, iOS, and Windows Phone apps. We've updated this review with our impressions of those new features.

8.1

Microsoft OneDrive (Android)

The Good

SkyDrive has a sleek, Windows 8-style interface and dead simple controls.

The Bad

Lacks the capability to move files between folders and edit documents from the app. No security features.

The Bottom Line

If you're a Microsoft SkyDrive user, then by all means, download this attractive and useful app. Just don't expect to use it for editing Office documents.

Microsoft's cloud storage service OneDrive gives you a place to store photos, videos, documents, and other files in the cloud, so you can access them from anywhere, on any of your devices, regardless of the platform they're running. Like competitors Dropbox and Google Drive, OneDrive keeps the files you store in it safe in case your phone is lost or your computer hard drive fails.

OneDrive's Android app gives you the same sleek cloud storage as the Windows Phone and iOS apps, albeit with a few less features. Still, it's easy to use and sports a clean design. Also, if you have a Windows 8 PC, it's easy to access the OneDrive files you upload from the app thanks to the OneDrive integration in the operating system. The Android app is free to download, and users get 7GB of free storage. You'll need a Microsoft account to get started.

Design and features
Open up OneDrive, and you'll see a sleek, tiled, Windows 8-style interface. The Home screen shows all of your files and folders, while your basic controls sit up top (or down below, depending on the orientation of your device). The navigation buttons let you toggle between Tile and List mode, upload a file, create a new folder, and refresh. Tap one or more items to pull up more options, like Delete, Share, Download, and Export. The Share button gives you a link that you can share anywhere and lets a friend view the file straight from your OneDrive. Export lets you send the actual file via Gmail, attach it to a Facebook post, pin it to a Pinterest board, and more.

Microsoft OneDrive for Android (pictures)

See all photos

Adding new files from your Android device to OneDrive is simple enough -- just tap the upload button to grab photos, videos, and other files from your phone to send to the cloud. Or, if you navigate to a file anywhere on your device, you can use Android's Share command to upload it.

In a recent update on February 19, 2014, OneDrive for Android added the automatic photo upload feature, called Camera Backup, that the iOS and Windows Phone versions of the apps have had for some time. Once you turn it on, every photo you snap and video you record will automatically be saved to OneDrive. You can choose to upload those files over Wi-Fi only to save data, if you wish.

What the app can't do, however, is move files around between folders in your OneDrive account. Even if you create a new folder in the app (which you can do), you can't add any files to it. So, if you need to do some housekeeping, it's probably a better idea to do so through a browser, as the app can only delete and create new folders. That missing feature makes the app much less useful than its Windows Phone cousin, and we hope that Microsoft adds it in a future update.

On the main screen, you'll see every file and folder you've saved in OneDrive. Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET

Editing documents
Probably the biggest omission from OneDrive is a built-in interface for viewing or editing Office files. Instead, if you want to look at or make changes to your files, you have to download them locally, then use a third-party app such as Google's QuickOffice or Polaris Office, which comes pre-installed on many Android devices. But if you do this, your changes will affect only the downloaded files, and not those saved in your OneDrive.

However, if you have an Office 365 subscription (which starts at $60 per year) and the Office Mobile Android app on your phone, you can tell OneDrive to open Office files in the Office app and edit them there. Any changes you make will then be saved to the cloud via OneDrive.

In future iterations, we would love to see basic viewing and editing functions for documents built into OneDrive. That way you wouldn't need a third-party app to make edits, and changes would sync automatically to the cloud. Also, it would be nice to be able to protect the OneDrive app with a password or some other security feature.

Final thoughts
While the OneDrive app does look nice, and just recently got the Camera Backup feature which brings a bit closer to the level of the other OneDrive apps, it still has a ways to go in terms of functionality. Before we can give it high marks, we'd love to see password protection, a way to move files around within your drive, and of course, a built-in way to edit Office documents.

8.1

Microsoft OneDrive (Android)

Score Breakdown

Setup 10Features 7Interface 9Performance 8