Can a WIFI SSD connect directly to the phone/tablet i.e. without any other device involved?
I don’t think Android can ever do that because Google disabled adhoc wifi on Android.
Yes, there’s a couple of devices that can connect directly to the iPhone/iPad, just google iphone wifi ssd !
There are several apps using “wifi direct” to transfer files directly between devices. Sort of like bluetooth only much faster. Maybe if you explain the “high level” functionality you are looking for we could give better answers.
1. To transfer files using USB you can use various applications; it doesn’t have to be iTunes.
2. All the other things that one uses iTunes for, like loading apps, backing up, etc. can all be done wirelessly without iTunes.
3. You can create an ad-hoc wifi network on a good computer, without any external hardware.
4. I can’t remember the last time I bothered doing any of the above, even when travelling. It’s pretty rare to want to get a file on to or off the phone or tablet. If I do then I can use anyone of several file syncing apps, like Dropox, or my preference which is Google Drive (because I get free unlimited storage).
I think it’s partly a mindset thing. It’s the same reason I don’t need access to the “filesystem” on mobile devices. Once you start thinking in terms of apps and functionality then one doesn’t really care about individual files.
I’d be interested to hear a use-case for something where Apple’s restrictive practise prevents you from getting the job done.
[I use and like both iOS and Android. Right now I choose to use iOS for my phone, but I’ve switched back and forth in the past.]
1. To transfer files using USB you can use various applications; it doesn’t have to be iTunes.
AFAIK the only non-Itunes USB connectivity is
2. All the other things that one uses iTunes for, like loading apps, backing up, etc. can all be done wirelessly without iTunes.
Only via the internet, however, no?
3. You can create an ad-hoc wifi network on a good computer, without any external hardware.
That is interesting. Samsung Android does it via their “wifi direct” feature, apparently. No internet connectivity via this, however (Samsung block all tethering options except infrastructure wifi).
4. I can’t remember the last time I bothered doing any of the above, even when travelling. It’s pretty rare to want to get a file on to or off the phone or tablet. If I do then I can use anyone of several file syncing apps, like Dropox, or my preference which is Google Drive (because I get free unlimited storage).
That again requires the internet, which is fine when you have it and it’s fast enough.
But, having just got back from Greece, I have approx 15GB of photos. These need to be backed up as one goes, which is trivial with Android (USB OTG cable and a flash stick or a USB hard drive stuck into the end of it, is probably the cheapest) but more involved with IOS which has no USB Master (“USB OTG”) functionality unless jailbroken.
Eventually the 15GB (many of which are DNGs) will be reduced in Lightroom to about 5GB but that is still too much to move over anything “internet” – unless you are in London or Brighton and on fibre.
Bluetooth is completely useless for photos (I have sometimes had the laptop running all night to backup the day’s pics from my phone) but wifi should be OK, based on wifi hard drive reviews I have read. But if you can use a 64GB flash stick, that’s even better.
IMHO the argument comes largely down to your view of how likely the device is to fail. Many many people (not suggesting anybody posting on EuroGA 
) run their life on the basis that their phone/tablet/laptop will never fail, never get stolen/broken, etc, and they always come to grief. It’s just a matter of time… All photos, emails, etc, lost for ever. Of course many aren’t concerned, but many will be.
I think it’s partly a mindset thing. It’s the same reason I don’t need access to the “filesystem” on mobile devices. Once you start thinking in terms of apps and functionality then one doesn’t really care about individual files.
I would equally argue that there is a lot of value in being able to re-use (“leverage” in MBA-speak) one’s IT expertise into the future (“going forward” in MBA-speak) without having to learn new methods (“paradigms” in MBA-speak)
And one cannot touch a proper laptop for modding EuroGA
But, having just got back from Greece, I have approx 15GB of photos. These need to be backed up as one goes, which is trivial with Android (USB OTG cable and a flash stick or a USB hard drive stuck into the end of it, is probably the cheapest) but more involved with IOS which has no USB Master (“USB OTG”) functionality unless jailbroken.
15Gb of phone photos? Ok, so use the USB cable to copy them to a laptop. Don’t need iTunes for that, on a Mac at least, and as you said yourself, you can use USB to access the camera roll from loads of computer apps. And let’s not forget, it was just one person that hated iTunes. Most people tolerate it and this was mostly about how to get things done and whether you need to jailbreak or not use the latest iOS.
I think the point is that you rarely need to get anything off of your phone unless it was created on the phone. That’s why it’s so easy to get movies and photos off it. But anything else, why get it from your phone when you can get it from wherever it came from originally?
And sure, you can use old methods, but then you have to pay the price of not having the ease/functionality of some newer, maybe better stuff.
As for a laptop, sure, no argument from me that many things are better on a laptop, but this was about phones…
I think the point is that you rarely need to get anything off of your phone unless it was created on the phone
This is getting off the topic a bit but what about somebody emailing you a PDF. I don’t think there is any way to get that file off the phone, except via Itunes, or via the internet (Dropbox etc).
Of course, you can just move it from an iphone to your Mac directly via Wifi. But i use Dropbox
This is getting off the topic a bit but what about somebody emailing you a PDF. I don’t think there is any way to get that file off the phone, except via Itunes, or via the internet (Dropbox etc).
I think this is exactly the issue, so for me at least, it’s on topic. If they email it to you and you want to access it on say your laptop, you access the original email. That’s why one uses IMAP, so the email is still accessible to all your devices.
It goes back to what I was saying about the only content on your phone that you might want to get off of your phone is content you create on the phone. I suppose there are edge cases where (i) the thing you want is on the phone, in something like GoodReader (ii) you have your laptop with you and to use that to look at the thing but (iii) you don’t have good/affordable internet connectivity. In this rare case, you could use GoodReader’s wifi transfer ability, if your computer supports creating a wifi network (all Macs do), or you could transfer with a USB cable and iTunes, or you could do what most people would probably do which is just read it on your phone, all without Jailbreaking or not using the latest iOS. In fact, sharing files between apps on your phone is vastly improved in iOS 8 and it’s that which allows you to receive something by email, or on the web, and open it for viewing in Dropbox or Goodreader or Evernote or whatever.
How about transferring photos to an IOS device which were not created on the IOS device? I don’t think this is possible without Itunes or the internet, unless they are coming from a Mac. And this is relevant because I like to keep some (not too many) photos on my phone, of which some come from all over the place.
Goodreader is a great app but the direct access to it (the Documents directory) will end in IOS8, AIUI.
IMAP looks increasingly interesting but that needs the internet too, and potentially one is looking at big files.
