I tested Microsoft's new Android phone in Windows File Explorer feature and now can't imagine how I lived without it.

I tested Microsoft’s new Android phone in Windows File Explorer feature and now can’t imagine how I lived without it.

  • MicrowavedTea@infosec.pubEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    If you just want the file explorer feature, windows also supports ftp, though it’s a bit hidden. You can get an ftp server app on android and use ftp://phone-ip on the file explorer path input to access the phone’s files.

    • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nlEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      If you’re using Windows, you may as well download as SAMBA app so your phone is discoverable in the network while you’re at it (\\phone-name in Windows explorer). WebDAV also works natively (I believe that’s http://phone-name.local in most networks); that too can be mapped to a drive letter.

      Even NFS is supported if you toggle the feature in the “enable or disable windows features” screen.

      The Windows FTP stack is kind of terrible, especially in Windows explorer, so I would use any other protocol before FTP for transferring files from my phone.

      One thing this Windows feature does do that other methods don’t is authenticate and encrypt the connection. With the methods above (including FTP) you’ll transmit any password you may send over an insecure connection by default, and setting up a secure connection requires paying attention to certificate fingerprints and the like. KDE connect also protects your connection (uses SFTP) but that doesn’t mount the phone on Windows IIRC.

  • FuzzyRedPanda@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    The Android app data folder is absent, likely by design, to prevent accidentally messing up any app installations. Any folder that Android tries to hide on your device is still hidden in File Explorer.

    Omg I am the owner of my phone. If i want to see all my folders, show me all my folders.

  • CJOtheReal@ani.socialEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    This is a bunch of propaganda… KDE connect works and things like warpinator or a app that enables your phone as NAS are also great.

  • kitnaht@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. With Microsoft found having uploaded peoples files to OneDrive because they felt like it and jamming advertisements all over their OS, there is no fucking way in hell I’m giving a Microsoft app any access to my files.

    Google is bad enough, I got into using Android from the beginning to break free of Microsoft shit. Microsoft has proven to be a very shitty steward for their users.

    • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I got into using Android from the beginning to break free of Microsoft

      Wow. That’s like saying you got into cholera because the plague is worse.

      If that isn’t proof that the corporate surveillance dystopia has become completely unavoidable, I don’t know what is.

      • kitnaht@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Android was released in 2008; And Google wasn’t the behemoth it is today. Microsoft had already shadow-funded multiple companies to try and destroy Linux, as well as many other horrid practices; like inventing ActiveX

        Android is Linux under the hood, and open source at that; so I run an Android distribution stripped of Google’s influence. Notice I said that I got into Android and not Google.