- General Features
The document types were limited to the basics: word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawings and forms creation.
Compared to Dropbox, cloud storage pioneer, Google took it further and developed Google Documents to have more free storage capacity than Dropbox (now 15 GB, compared with Dropbox’s 3 GB), similar synchronization ability (with a Mac/PC sync client), and ability to store and share more than 30 different file types, including multimedia (.jpg, .mpg, .avi, .gif, etc.), compressed (.zip, .rar, .arj, .7z, etc.) and executable files (.exe extensions).
Google changed the name of Google Documents to Google Drive and very cleverly augmented and retained the file sharing and collaboration affordances that Dropbox lacks, generating huge interest of educators who recognized those constructivism supporting affordances as much needed in education field.
Google Drive has Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and it also brings Google’s search power to the leading position. Google Drive also has image recognition, so if you search your drive for “Niagara Falls,” it will find all photos from your Niagara trip, even if you never titled them.
After the Google Drive launch in 2012, Google started a campaign and published advertisements educating users to better understand the main advantages of Google Drive. The "Exploring Google Drive" video below is a good example .
Google Docs formatting is
comfortable for anyone who has used a basic word processor, and it remains
consistent wherever you view it. Collaboration and commenting on Google Docs is
now simple to manage, with just adding and subtracting of accounts. The main
competitor of Google drive is Microsoft SkyDrive, (7GB free), empowered with
the Office web apps.
Google’s image recognition search is awesome. That is pretty fancy stuff, and it’s only possible thanks to the Internet-scale image search data like Google does.
Google Drive is excellent for storage, and it works like any disk, so we could upload entire movie library if we have enough space. Basically, we can use Google Drive as a Dropbox-like service with similar syncing clients.
Using Google Drive from the security perspective is a great way to store your files safely in secure data centers, where your files won't go missing. Even if your computer, phone or tablet break, the files you store in Google Drive are safe.
Google Drive Web interface in standard browsers loads much faster, than previous Google Docs interface, and is cleaner, and better organized, thanks to the fact is that Google Drive has also had years of refinement in the web browsers as Google Docs, resulting in providing users with stability and ease of creation and managing of the Drive content directly on the Web.
Google Drive mobile app for iOS is faster, cleaner, and better organized, thanks to the fact is that Google Drive has also had years of refinement in Safari as Google Docs. Google released first Google Drive mobile app version 1.1 of for iOS in September of 2012.
Now, in November of 2013, the iOS and Android users can use the improved versions of the apps to edit Google Docs natively on their devices. The Android app can Scan paper documents like receipts, letters, and statements, and Drive will store them as PDFs.
The newest version 2.1.0 of the iOS app updated on Nov 7, 2013, has the Multiple Account Support, so you can now switch between personal, work, or any other Google account, Single Sign In: Sign in once to Google Drive and you'll automatically be signed in to apps like YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome, and G+, Print your files now with Google Cloud Print or AirPrint and iOS 7 Support.
Google’s image recognition search is awesome. That is pretty fancy stuff, and it’s only possible thanks to the Internet-scale image search data like Google does.
Google Drive is excellent for storage, and it works like any disk, so we could upload entire movie library if we have enough space. Basically, we can use Google Drive as a Dropbox-like service with similar syncing clients.
Using Google Drive from the security perspective is a great way to store your files safely in secure data centers, where your files won't go missing. Even if your computer, phone or tablet break, the files you store in Google Drive are safe.
- Web features
Google Drive Web interface in standard browsers loads much faster, than previous Google Docs interface, and is cleaner, and better organized, thanks to the fact is that Google Drive has also had years of refinement in the web browsers as Google Docs, resulting in providing users with stability and ease of creation and managing of the Drive content directly on the Web.
- Desktop features
- Mobile features
Google Drive mobile app for iOS is faster, cleaner, and better organized, thanks to the fact is that Google Drive has also had years of refinement in Safari as Google Docs. Google released first Google Drive mobile app version 1.1 of for iOS in September of 2012.
Now, in November of 2013, the iOS and Android users can use the improved versions of the apps to edit Google Docs natively on their devices. The Android app can Scan paper documents like receipts, letters, and statements, and Drive will store them as PDFs.
The newest version 2.1.0 of the iOS app updated on Nov 7, 2013, has the Multiple Account Support, so you can now switch between personal, work, or any other Google account, Single Sign In: Sign in once to Google Drive and you'll automatically be signed in to apps like YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome, and G+, Print your files now with Google Cloud Print or AirPrint and iOS 7 Support.