This article was published on April 2, 2012

This file-management app gives you Windows ‘My Computer’ on your Android smartphone


This file-management app gives you Windows ‘My Computer’ on your Android smartphone

Despite all the new-fangled tech heralded in by the mobile revolution, it seems some people may always hanker for a little old-school familiarity in their smartphone devices.

The imaginatively-titled Computer is a file explorer/management app for Android, designed with Windows users in mind, as it replicates the ‘My Computer’ component popularized in Windows XP.

There’s no shortage of file-management apps out there on Google Play, Astro is a particularly good one. But if you’re looking to delve into all your files strewn across your Android device using that well-known interface loved by Windows users, well, Computer could be for you.

It’s probably worth stressing that Computer is still only a beta release, so you will likely encounter some issues. For example, some of the proposed features didn’t seem to work for me, such as when I went to create a new folder under ‘Documents,’ literally nothing happened. Also, when you first instal the app, the folders don’t automatically detect the correct content on your device. ‘Music’, for example, was spot-on. But ‘Pictures’ required me to shift my images from their current location.

The icons and text were perhaps just a little bit small for my smartphone. But there is potential for a decent app here, beyond the initial retro gimmickry.

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You’ll be pleased to know it has an Open With option for all files, so if you click on a track in your music folder, for example, it will give you the option of opening it with whatever music applications you have on your device. It also has all the usual folders you know and love, such as Favorites, Videos and Downloads:

As it stands, Computer offers reasonable functionality in terms of being able to browse your device, but there are better ones out there at the moment. It’s still early doors though, and I like the thinking behind this app.

Computer

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