Updated 23 May, 2012, 6:39 pm IST

The Cloud On Your Smartphone

08 Jun, 2010, 2:49 pm IST | by Priyanka Tilve

Smartphones took Internet penetration in our country to another level, will it boost cloud computing too.

As far as portable computing goes, smartphones or multimedia phones with similar features are certainly addictive, and, it’s difficult to imagine a day without the Apple iPhone or the Blackberry or whichever equivalent you might be using. These phones not only look good but they are also highly functional, providing 24x7 access to all your music, images, videos, emails, and social networking. But, what many of us might not realize is that these gizmos are capable of lot more than just that!

This is our second post in the series of Cloud Computing week on Tech2 , and yes, we’re talking about mobile computing, which is fueling Internet penetration in our country like nobody’s business. Picture this, you are away on a vacation and you need to email a document to a client or a vacation picture to your friends. What’s the first thing that comes to mind? (nah, cyber cafes are pass�). You wish that you had your Internet-enabled laptop with you. But, since you were already lugging too much, that was ruled out. Well, your smartphone isn’t any less when it comes to connectivity, and you can access your files from it, from any part of the world, as long as you have Internet-access of course.

A few limitations still hold back mobile computing for now, such as low processing power of most handsets, their battery life, and data storage capacities. Nevertheless, it’s a matter of time before the trend really catches up. Netbooks have been around for a long time now, and are perhaps a very good example of portables that make very good use of the cloud. Recognizing the potential of such devices, leading cloud computing services have launched mobile versions of their offerings. Let’s take a quick look at some of them.

Google is undoubtedly the biggest giant in the cloud computing scenario. Simple applications like Google Docs are quite user-friendly and have gained popularity very quickly. Simply go to docs.google.com/m and you can access all your document files, spreadsheets and presentations. When accessing Google Docs on a smartphone you can only view documents, whereas you can edit spreadsheet cells to a certain extent. You can visit m.google.com to see the complete list of applications compatible with your smartphone.

Though Microsoft seem to be giving good competition with its Office Live applications, its popularity (or acceptance), isn’t matching that of Google, atleast as far as the Cloud is concerned. In any case, Office Live allows you to create and share documents, notes, spreadsheets and presentations, and, the latest buzz is that Office Live Workspace will be paired with Skydrive to provide 25 GB of free personal storage for all its users. Here’s another example by Microsoft, called Live Mesh, which allows you to store files and folders online. Live Mesh promises simple synchronization between the cloud and your devices, as well as between devices through the cloud. It allows you to store 5 GB worth of data for free. Its mobile version can be accessed at m.mesh.com. You can access your files and folders from your mobile, download them, and even make changes and upload them back. The only flip side is that it does not provide automatic synchronization for mobile.

Another application, which isn’t a Microsoft product, is Box.net. This is a great service option that lets you easily share, manage and access all your content from anywhere. The Box.net application for the iPhone and iPad allows you to view documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs, images and Box Web Documents), listen to audio files and watch videos too. It also lets you share files and folders, and invite others to view, edit or add files. Additionally, you can use services from FedEx, Google, Autodesk, Zoho, eFax and dozens more from right inside the Box. The free account allows data storage of up to 1 GB in the cloud.

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These applications are only a few examples to show how far cloud computing has come. Imagine what can happen when there is parallel growth of mobiles phones and the cloud. Smart phones might actually become the next big frontier for full-scale applications on the cloud, giving other portable computing devices a run for their money, especially considering their already existing popularity.