Having looked at how the cloud has facilitated new ways of
communicating via our mobile devices, the second part of this article
examines a few other areas and types of mobile app which have been
enabled or enhanced by the use of the cloud.
Documents
The ability to store documents and files in the cloud has been available for a while on traditional PCs but it is now a growing area for mobile phones and particularly tablets. With the spread of tablets in the last few years, more and more consumers have not only wanted the ability to view their documents on their mobile device but to also work with them. Consequently, combined services, such as Google Drive (incorporating Google Docs), which provide office productivity software as a service (i.e., SaaS) integrated with cloud storage, have become increasingly popular. Even without this, cloud storage allows the viewing, uploading, downloading etc of files, from work documents to personal notes, on the go. It can be utilised for productivity in conjunction with file editor apps and is particularly useful for managing and sharing multimedia files such as photos.
Browser Sync
Although not all internet browsers are available across all mobile operating systems, each device's operating system will allow a choice of browser and almost all include the facility to synchronise your bookmarks, browsing history, search history and browser settings between all your mobile devices and fixed PCs. With the leading examples in the market such as Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera, the data is encrypted when stored in the cloud so that it is unidentifiable and secure but is still accessible when the user logs in from any device and wishes to synchronise their settings.
Maps
Whether it's the big players in the market such as Google maps and the newcomer Apple maps, or smaller rivals, most mapping applications pull their mapping data, including the image tiles that they use to construct the maps, from the internet. With the sheer quantity of data that would be required to display maps, even for one country (bearing in mind various zoom levels, using different imagery, e.g., satellites, street maps etc), it is not feasible to store all the information locally on small mobile devices and so it is downloaded on demand when the user makes a request to view a certain location or access directions. Consequently, although the software is installed locally, the use of the cloud for providing on demand access to content is fundamental to the mapping apps that so many of us rely on.
Music & Video
Since their inception, smart mobile devices have had the idea of portable music at their heart although for much of their existence the music has simply been stored on the device and manually synchronised with a single PC.
Some music services now rely on the cloud to offer content on demand via streaming with the an obvious example of this being Spotify. However, due to the demand to listen to music without the expense of high transfer rates across 3G or when phone networks are unavailable, total reliance on the cloud for music services has been checked a little - even Spotify has an offline feature to store selected tracks on the device itself.
Probably, the most familiar example of a music app on a mobile device is iTunes. This too has recently embraced the cloud to allow users to store their entire digital music library so that it can be accessed from any device and from any location (provided you are online). Again this service also has the ability to make files available for offline use when a suitable internet connection is not accessible.
Phone Back Ups
Many of the cloud based synchronisation and storage services that have been mentioned so far are available through overarching cloud services such as iCloud provided by Apple on their iPhone and iPad devices. However, this service also allows a back up to be created in the cloud of the whole device in question including documents, files, apps and settings so that if the device is lost or corrupted, or if the user upgrades, they can restore everything from the cloud to their phone. Back up functions to individual PCs have been available before (and still are) but this cloud based solution means that users don't have to wait until they get home and connect to their PC before they have peace of mind that their information is safe or before they can access it if it gets lost when they're out and about.
Documents
The ability to store documents and files in the cloud has been available for a while on traditional PCs but it is now a growing area for mobile phones and particularly tablets. With the spread of tablets in the last few years, more and more consumers have not only wanted the ability to view their documents on their mobile device but to also work with them. Consequently, combined services, such as Google Drive (incorporating Google Docs), which provide office productivity software as a service (i.e., SaaS) integrated with cloud storage, have become increasingly popular. Even without this, cloud storage allows the viewing, uploading, downloading etc of files, from work documents to personal notes, on the go. It can be utilised for productivity in conjunction with file editor apps and is particularly useful for managing and sharing multimedia files such as photos.
Browser Sync
Although not all internet browsers are available across all mobile operating systems, each device's operating system will allow a choice of browser and almost all include the facility to synchronise your bookmarks, browsing history, search history and browser settings between all your mobile devices and fixed PCs. With the leading examples in the market such as Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera, the data is encrypted when stored in the cloud so that it is unidentifiable and secure but is still accessible when the user logs in from any device and wishes to synchronise their settings.
Maps
Whether it's the big players in the market such as Google maps and the newcomer Apple maps, or smaller rivals, most mapping applications pull their mapping data, including the image tiles that they use to construct the maps, from the internet. With the sheer quantity of data that would be required to display maps, even for one country (bearing in mind various zoom levels, using different imagery, e.g., satellites, street maps etc), it is not feasible to store all the information locally on small mobile devices and so it is downloaded on demand when the user makes a request to view a certain location or access directions. Consequently, although the software is installed locally, the use of the cloud for providing on demand access to content is fundamental to the mapping apps that so many of us rely on.
Music & Video
Since their inception, smart mobile devices have had the idea of portable music at their heart although for much of their existence the music has simply been stored on the device and manually synchronised with a single PC.
Some music services now rely on the cloud to offer content on demand via streaming with the an obvious example of this being Spotify. However, due to the demand to listen to music without the expense of high transfer rates across 3G or when phone networks are unavailable, total reliance on the cloud for music services has been checked a little - even Spotify has an offline feature to store selected tracks on the device itself.
Probably, the most familiar example of a music app on a mobile device is iTunes. This too has recently embraced the cloud to allow users to store their entire digital music library so that it can be accessed from any device and from any location (provided you are online). Again this service also has the ability to make files available for offline use when a suitable internet connection is not accessible.
Phone Back Ups
Many of the cloud based synchronisation and storage services that have been mentioned so far are available through overarching cloud services such as iCloud provided by Apple on their iPhone and iPad devices. However, this service also allows a back up to be created in the cloud of the whole device in question including documents, files, apps and settings so that if the device is lost or corrupted, or if the user upgrades, they can restore everything from the cloud to their phone. Back up functions to individual PCs have been available before (and still are) but this cloud based solution means that users don't have to wait until they get home and connect to their PC before they have peace of mind that their information is safe or before they can access it if it gets lost when they're out and about.
© Stuart Mitchell 2012
If you want to find out more about the benefits of hosting your infrastructure in the cloud then visit IaaS.
If you want to find out more about the benefits of hosting your infrastructure in the cloud then visit IaaS.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stuart_P_Mitchell
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