My first thoughts when I got to the website were, "Why on earth?" because in the URL the website is <app.box.com> instead of starting with the typical "www."
I did not have to create an account because apparently at some time in the past I created one though I have absolutely no recollection of ever interacting with box.com ever.
The Uploa.........d
However, I did attempt to practice with the device some. My wife and I just recently got an iPad so I decided to try to move a huge folder (277 files worth 177MB and I'm not even sure "worth" is the right word to use there) over to the iPad. The first thing I noticed was that the upload was extremely slow. It took nearly 10 minutes for the file to upload. I can stream larger YouTube videos far quicker than that so I do not know why it took so long.
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The download was almost as excruciatingly slow. The download was really choppy, stopping and starting again after 10 or so seconds which would add time. However, the file did arrive in my iPad. One feature that is quite interesting is that you can either simply "view" the information or make it available "offline." Either way the iPad has to download the info which could (and in my case did) take time. Confession: I am not sure whether or not the slowness could be because of my internet; therefore, it might be quicker for techy pro's who buy expensive stuff to get better performance out of their equipment.
Viewing
When I pulled up the folder on my iPad, I selected "view" because I assumed that it would simply create links to the information in the folder and then allow me to download them when I desired. It appears to have done that because though the file is 177MB, the storage space used on our iPad was only 81.1MB by Box. Therefore I am assuming that that storage which is taken up by Box on the iPad is merely the size of the app itself.
Overall, the Box app is extremely helpful for moving files around. The folder moved from my PC and displayed on iPad perfectly without any issue. The app also gives you 10GB free storage space. Therefore, if you need a bunch of storage space, between the free space that apps like iCloud, Dropbox, and Box give, one can get a pretty hefty storage space free and move objects across different platforms.
You were moving a much larger file than one usually would. You Tube files have been optimized and compressed for quick transmission, so the comparison is a bit of apples and oranges.
ReplyDeleteYou also are correct that your internet speed is a major factor unrelated to Box, as are the CPU speeds of the respective computers. It would take quite a few simultaneous uses to bring the Box server down in speed, because most folks accessing it would not have enough bandwidth and CPU speed to really draw on it heavily. In comparison to Dropbox, Dropbox switches into the background rather than how Box moves in the foreground. However, unless you put it on your own iPad, Drobbox is a "bear" to change out on a shared machine as an app.
Thanks!