Skydrive Introduces Itself to Apple

Microsoft's cloud storage solution, "Skydrive" has been my favorite for a couple of years know. Their free service includes 7GB of space which is 5GB more then Dropbox. I had also used a Windows phone for about a year and one of the best features was the direct photo to Skydive upload feature. When I switched over to the Android Galaxy Note 3 this was probably the feature I missed most.

Microsoft is obviously working to expand it's presence in the mobile platform world with their Windows Phone and Surface tablets. On the software side of things Skydive is one of their biggest successes. Until now the camera to Skydive feature was only available to Windows Phone users.

Last week Microsoft announced a major update to its Skydrive app for iOS, which brings with it more advanced photo storage features, and enhanced Facebook sharing options. This isn’t the first Skydrive app for Apple’s mobile operating system, as Microsoft has had a presence inside the App Store for a couple of years, steadily updating the Skydrive app in the meantime.

Now, with the recent release of iOS 7, Microsoft thought the time was right to give it a complete makeover, bringing it visually into line with the new, minimalist look of iOS. One of the most significant feature alterations is the ability to automatically share pictures taken with your iPhone or iPad onto your Skydrive. Much like Android’s auto-upload to Google+, you can choose whether this is done over 3G/4G or Wi-Fi, plus you’re given the option to lower the resolution of the picture to help make the most of the available space.

Pictures shared through Skydrive are then visible on your Windows computer or tablet, along with images captured from any other device connected to the account. Viewing the pictures through the app, it’s possible to share them directly to Facebook, and Microsoft has added a few new options to make this easier. Single or multiple images can be shared, either to an existing or new album, and can be marked for public or private viewing in the app itself.

Finally, the Skydrive app now integrates with Office Mobile and OneNote for iOS, meaning there’s no more messing around with the Quicklook viewer if you need to examine or edit documents saved in Skydrive. The new look Skydrive app will be ready to download for free from the iTunes App Store today.

I expect that these features will be bright to Android shortly as well.