Google Drive, the long awaited cloud storage service from Google, is finally here giving users their own corner of the cloud to store documents, video, music and other files. But is Google's attempt to take on current champion Dropbox any good? I've put the two cloud storage services head-to-head and here are my first impressions.
User Interface
One of the first things you'll notice about Google Drive is the slightly old-school user interface. You can see all your folders and files either in a single list, or you can switch to a slightly more Windows-esque thumbnail view. Google has pretty much stuck to the same UI in Google Docs, which to be honest, has always been a bit clunky. Sure, it's functional enough, but I expected something a little more slick. DropBox on the other hand simply uses your OS' folder UI. It's nothing fancy but, given Dropbox's lack of in-browser document editing, it doesn't need to be.
Uploading
Uploading files to your Google Drive is incredibly simple. All of your Google Docs are automatically synced (as you'd expect) and transferring files from your PC works exactly the same as Dropbox. After installing the software, a Google Drive folder will pop-up on your desktop, then all you do is drag and drop files into it and they'll be whisked off into the cloud.
The only problem is office docs - such as spreadsheets and word docs - can't be edited natively in the browser once they're uploaded. So anything created in MS Office or Open Office has to first be converted to Google Docs (and they can't be converted back). So either you stay in Google Docs in the browser, or you download files, edit them on the desktop and then save them. But the ability to edit documents in the browser is a feature that Dropbox doesn't even attempt, so full points to Google Drive on that one.
The app
I was initially impressed by the Google Drive Android app. The app lets you view all of your files on your smartphone and, unlike on the desktop, the interface actually works well on a small touch screen.
Uploading files from your phone is pretty easy too. Either browse files from within the app, or long press on any photo, video or MP3, which opens-up your 'share' options. You can also create and edit Google Docs files within the app. This again, is something Dropbox cannot do.
However, the Google Drive Android app has one frustrating problem. Uploaded audio files cannot be played in the Android media player. One of the main reasons I, and many other people I know, use Dropbox is so I can quickly send MP3s from my desktop to my phone without having to connect any wires. Google Drive lets you upload the MP3s, but you can only play them within the Google Drive app, one by one, which is frankly useless.
Dropbox on the other hand, makes transferring files between PCs and smartphones incredibly easy. All you need to do is stick the music files into your Dropbox folder, and they'll appear in the app. You can then long press and transfer them directly to your music folder and your media player should then be able to play them.
Pricing
So how much does Google Drive cost compared to other cloud services? Well Google gives 5GB free, which is a lot more than Dropbox's 2GB of free storage (but less than Microsoft SkyDrive's 7GB). You can then pay $2.49 per month for 25GB, $4.99 per month for 100GB and $49.99 per month for 1TB. By comparison Dropbox charges $9.99 per month for 50GB and $19.99 for 100GB, so Google Drive is quite a bit cheaper.
Room for improvement
Apart from preventing me from playing uploaded MP3s on my smartphone, Google Drive is a solid cloud storage service, at a decent price, and hopefully, with a few UI tweaks it will get better over time. However, because of that one glaring flaw with music file uploads, Dropbox is still my cloud storage service of choice.
