The upcoming 3.0 firmware update for the iPhone is going to fix and improve a lot of things on our favourite device, but there’s still something missing that only a hardware upgrade can fix — well, either a hardware upgrade or File Magic. I’m talking about transferring files to a phone with no USB mass storage capability and a closed-off file system that is illegal to “jailbreak”. I get that Apple wants stability, but there are times when the ability to transfer a file to or from the iPhone would be a life saver.
File Magic offers syncing capability with a desktop or another iPhone, and what’s more — it does all the transfers wirelessly over wi-fi. Interested? Hit the jump for more.
Before I go on, I ‘d like to say that there are desktop applications for the Mac and PC, but I tested the app solely on my PC (although donations for a test Macbook are welcome!).
Desktop < ”> iPhone sync
It really couldn ‘t be much simpler:
- Make sure both machines are on the same wi-fi network.
- Load up the apps on both machines. The iPhone will ask for permission to connect to the desktop (you can also tap the wi-fi icon to connect if the connection is severed)
- Take any file or folder on your computer and then drag it right into the File Magic window
- The file will upload to your iPhone and then you can do a little dance.
- You can also download any iPhone file in File Magic onto the computer.
The transfer speed is great as long as you ‘re sticking to files or folders around ~10 MB. 5 MB will transfer from the desktop to the iPhone in around 30 seconds, so it ‘s still easy to drag-n-drop and then get out the door. Desktop “> iPhone transfers feature a progress bar, so you can see how the transfer is going. Bigger files or folders are going to keep you waiting for minutes at a time, so transfer your files earlier if you’ plan to use your iPhone as USB mass storage.
Downloading files to the desktop from the iPhone is a little bit faster, and the program allowed me to choose which desktop folder I wanted to save files to.
If you don ‘t have an actual wi-fi connection on your laptop, you should be able to set up a quick ad-hoc connection (instructions are in a .pdf that comes with Splashsync) so that you can sync without a router. This is fantastic for cases where your laptop doesn ‘t have a 3G card or any wi-fi, so you can transfer a file to your iPhone and send it out through its data connection (as long as the file is under 6 MB). Call me an idjut, but I couldn ‘t get the ad-hoc on my Win XP desktop or MSI Wind to work, despite my best efforts and a lot of tutorials. I ‘m still working on it, though, since this is a pretty killer feature.
iPhone/iTouch < ”> iPhone/iTouch
The steps for transfers are nearly the same as on desktop syncs, although only the sender will see any kind of progress bar during a file transfer. Once the files are sent both devices will see a pop-up with a list of which files were sent/received. No major gripes with this section, works just as advertised 🙂
Usage
I think the idea behind File Magic is fantastic, but it ‘s probably limited by the Apple SDK. You can sync pretty much *any* kind of file, but the iPhone is limited to functioning as a wireless USB key when it could be so much more. As it stands now, the only files that you can sync are the ones that you transferred from the desktop, since the iPhone ‘s files are completely outside the range of the app. This means notes, photos, and all of your iPod media are off-limits for syncing. I think we should at least be able to access the camera roll, though, so I ‘m hoping we ‘ll see better image syncing in a future update.
However, what File Magic does, it does very well. Transferring documents from device to device is dead simple and it ‘s made all that much cooler by the ‘look Ma, no wires! ‘ feature.
You can even view or listen to most of the media you transfer over. You can ‘t edit word documents, but you can play videos back, view images, or listen to non-DRM music. You can also e-mail the files (not folders) from the iPhone to any specified address.
The only clumsy part of the UI so far is when you have multiple computers that File Magic could sync with. Whenever File Magic detects a computer to connect with a dialogue box will pop up at the bottom of the screen to ask: ‘can I please go on a play date with Rag Desktop? ‘
However, when I have two computers the dialogue boxes will keep popping up, which sounds a lot like this: ‘can I connect to Rag Desktop? can I connect to the MSI Wind? Oh, and can I connect to rag desk– ‘
You get the picture 😛 It ‘d be a lot easier if we were presented with a list of computers to connect to, much like the way File Magic presents other iPhones you can sync with.
Conclusion
If you ‘re looking for an extra way to transfer your files around, File Magic is a great way to use some of that extra space you might have on your iTouch or iPhone. I ‘m also excited to see what new things the app will be able to do once the 3.0 firmware comes out later this year.
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You can pick up your own copy of File Magic for $4.99 on the App Store. The desktop app is free 🙂
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