One of the many limitations of an i-device is their reliance on iTunes. Unless you’re jailbroken you cannot simply connect it to a computer and drag and drop files across. Ringtone creation either meant buying a ringtone or chopping and converting a file in iTunes. What a breathe of fresh air it was when I exchanged my iPhone for a Samsung Galaxy S2 some 8 months ago. I feel like I have control over my mobile again.

The most common way to connect an Android device to a computer is via USB. Once you activate “USB mode” on the device and then connect the cable you’ll be able to access its files via an Explorer window (or Finder on a Mac). Sometimes it’s not possible to have the right USB cable, so I found two other ways which use Wi-Fi rather than a cable as the transfer method.

ES File Explorer is the best file browser I have used for Android. It allows operations such as multi-select, Copy, Cut and Paste on files and directories on your device or SD Card. Apart from your device, you can use ES File Explorer to explore other computers on the local network, servers via FTP, other devices via Bluetooth, and access your cloud storage (Skydrive, Dropbox, Box and Sugarsync supported).

ES File Explorer Interface

The other app I came across is AirDroid. Once the app is launched it will allow access to the device via a web browser from a computer on the same network. From here you can drag and drop files, retrieve your call logs, and even send SMS messages among other things. It took only a minute to upload an entire album from my computer to the phone using the upload feature. I don’t see myself using anything else to transfer files to and from my computer but this great app.

AirDroid Web Interface

Both AirDroid and ES File Explorer are free in the Google Play store. I highly recommend them to anyone using an Android device.

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