May 26 2010

Box.net for iPad – app review

Posted by admin in Iphone Apps, Iphone News, Iphone Reviews

Box.net for iPad is a front end to Box.net’s cloud-based service that allows you to manage and share your data from anywhere. Thanks to the app, you can access your content not only through the Box.net website on any computer, but from your mobile devices now as well.

The iPad version has a very intuitive and easy to use interface. I recently set up an enterprise unlimited Box account for our business. As we are in real estate development, we have tons of files to upload. I was surprised you can even view AutoCad files with a plug-in. Plug-ins are another area I really enjoyed looking at. OpenBox is a service Box.net offers which features several plug-ins for 3rd party clients and apps that can work in conjunction with Box.net. I spoke to a consultant at Box.net that also confirmed desktop syncing is about to come out of beta and hit officially in the next few weeks. That was one of our biggest concerns as we’d like a cloud backup of all our data.

Also, being a small business, we especially liked the collaboration feature. We can leave notes or tasks for eachother on certain documents and folders. When I sign in, I see what’s new or what files have been uploaded or change since my last log-in.

Box.net offers the following features (some features vary with account type):

Sharing with links
In-folder collaboration
User permissions
Integrated file views
Online workspace
Tasks
Uploading files on the go from your iPhone or iPad

Box.net has a few pricing schemes for individuals and business users. The unlimited business version you’ll have to call for details on as it can vary. The enterprise unlimited version also comes with your own dedicated account manager for any technical issues. You can also add an unlimited number of users for a set price per user, per month. Besides the enterprise plan, the other plans are pretty straight forward:

Lite – 1GB storage, 25MB file size limit, Free
Individual – 10GB storage, 1GB file size limit, $9.95/month
Business – 15GB storage per user, 2GB file size limit, $15/month per user up to 3 users
Enterprise – Unlimited storage, Unlimited users, Call for pricing

These prices are very reasonable compared to maintaining a server. Speaking from a business perspective, we’ve had no issues that Box wasn’t able to resolve. If you use Box on a personal or business level, let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Update: After recording the video, Box.net released an update that allows for the uploading of files. We’ll look at that in the iPhone review soon!

[Free - iTunes Link]