Apple’s Airdrop service is amazing, fast and reliable but it is compatible only with the iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac, and MacBook. Frankly speaking, Airdrop is not the only solution for sharing files. You can use cloud storage platforms or third party applications like Lenovo Share IT, Snapdrop (a clone of Airdrop) for this task.
Share It is an app from Lenovo that makes cross-platform file sharing blazing fast. It uses a wireless connection (WiFi or Bluetooth) of your phone/computer for the same.
Snapdrop is a new web service that allows you to share files between 2 or more devices. It is compatible with all operating systems. You can access it on any browser.
Snapdrop, the Apple Airdrop alternative has the below 2 requirements:
- The 2 device must belong to the same network.
- The sender and recipient should open Snapdrop on their browsers.
Once you open Snapdrop, the website will display the details of the browser and OS running on the other device. It also displays a clickable icon of a computer or phone.
When you click the icon, Snapdrop will open a file explorer dialog. You have to select a file that you want to transfer to the other device. The file will be first uploaded to the server, after which a pop-up will appear on the recipient’s device. The pop-up has a button to accept the file from the sender.
The website uses https protocol. Its developer claims that when the transfer operation is complete, the file will be deleted from the servers.
One major advantage of Snapdrop is the fact that it supports all browsers. You don’t have to install separate applications on the phone, tablet or PC. The website saves your time as you’re not requested to login or create an account.
SD has some limitations. It doesn’t allow you to upload multiple files at a time, but there’s a workaround. You can create a compressed archive of all the files that you want to send.
When I tested it on my phone with 300 MB free RAM, quad-core processor, 5GB free space on the ROM, this website was not able to upload files. On Chrome for Android, I was getting the insufficient memory error. On CM and UC browsers, the website refreshed every time I selected a file.
Snapdrop worked well on my laptop, but it didn’t work on phone smartphone. Let’s hope that the developer fixes this problem. Access this new cross-platform file transfer service here.
