AirDroid: Your Android Phone On Your Computer

I discovered AirDroid while searching for a way to relocate photos from my phone to my laptop, in order to free up some memory. I was having trouble with my laptop not recognizing my phone via USB, and Bluetooth wasn’t a viable option as only one photo can be transferred at a time. Browsing the web for alternatives, I came upon AirDroid, a pretty useful service that syncs your phone to your computer via the internet.

AirDroid offers to Android users the convenience of being able to control certain key features of your phone from your computer straight from the web. After downloading the app and signing up for an account, just log in online and the service will connect to your phone. Initially, I was only going to use AirDroid to back up my photos so I could delete them from my phone. The one downside to this feature is that it can take a while to download large files or many at once, especially if your internet connection isn't great. However, it still proved to be a good backup plan.

After finishing up, and subsequently solving my USB connection problem a few weeks later, I didn't think I'd need to use AirDroid again. But after revisiting AirDroid today out of the blue, I soon found that there are a few other useful features to take advantage of. 

Convenience

This can definitely be considered a first-world problem, but if you're busy at work on your computer and want to quickly check your phone for any calls or texts, yet your phone isn't beside you, just log on to AirDroid. You'll receive live notifications when you receive calls/messages, and you can even call/text straight from your computer. It can come in handy when you just want a quick glance at important phone notifications (or, let's be honest, you're a bit lazy).

Ringtones/Alarms  

This feature allows you to access the ringtones and alarms folder on your phone easily, to add or delete new sounds. For me, this comes in handy because the alarms on my Nexus 4 are the most non-intrusive, serene sounds that I've ever heard. Since I started using my phone as an alarm clock, I prefer to customize my morning alarm so that I can actually hear it blare in the morning.

Find Phone

Mac + iPhone users know that Find Your iPhone is a useful feature that comes from being able to sync up Apple products. Android users don't have a native phone-finding service, so this would be very helpful for those of us who misplace things easily. I haven't actually tried the feature yet (which is good news!), but from what I've read it allows you to locate your device on a map, call it, erase personal data, and also lock your phone. Now I'm sure that there are many similar services out there, but AirDroid conveniently bundles this together with other nice features.

AirDroid is an unexpectedly useful service that I'll definitely be reaching for from time to time and further exploring what it has to offer. I'm not sure if there are other similar services out there but I found it interesting so I thought I'd share my initial thoughts on it. If you're interested, be sure to check it out and let me know what you think!