Dropbox is now a universal Windows app. Dropbox already had applications on Windows and Windows Phone but the change brings a unification of code and features to the popular cloud storage platform.
The update isn’t live just yet but will be later today. Daniel Rubino at Windows Central broke the news. The majority of changes are for users on Windows Phones.
Dropbox 2.0 for Windows Phone
- Universal app
- The app adapts properly to your screen size
- Upload files other than photos
- Select multiple files to upload
- Download files directly to your device or SD card
- Save or open files to and from Dropbox within other apps
- Ability to select phone contacts when inviting people to a shared folder
- Improved download speeds
- Bug fixes and performance improvements
Some of the most notable additions to Dropbox on Windows Phone that come from this update include downloading files directly to SD cards, which is a nice feature with some Windows Phones having small amounts of storage, and working with Dropbox files through other apps. These and other changes help make Dropbox and much more native feeling experience.
Making it a Windows app had the largest difference on the Windows Phone side of things but the users on Windows 8.1 devices also gain some handy shortcuts and other features.
Dropbox 2.0 for Windows 8.1
- Create and manage Shared folders within the app
- Added keyboard shortcuts to select all items (Ctrl+A) and to search (Ctrl+F)
- Improved download speeds
- Bug fixes and performance improvements
Windows apps with unified code are one of the most important facets of the Windows platform going forward. While iOS and Android ports, Win32 apps, and other features receive many headlines, full-fledged Windows apps are the best and only way to get features across the entire platform and allow developers to focus on one set of code.
It’s great to see another popular service fully supporting the Windows platform. Hopefully we’ll see even more follow suit.
