Special delivery: Q&A on FileMagnet for iPhone 2.0

Aside from many features iPhone has, there are two particular advantages that we all love: big space of storage up to 16GB & easy sync via iTunes. But that last one there, has its advantage and at the same time limitation.

Apple has well known for making its products to be user friendly and easy to use, even for first time users. For example simply by dragging & drop the audio/video files into iTunes, click the sync button, and voila; you’ll transfer those files effortlessly to your iPhone. But it really amazed everyone, that we can’t freely access those files inside iPhone. The lack of ability to use your device’s huge storage, is very depressing especially when you could use it to store other than audio/video files.

And that’s what has been the idea for Ecamm Network & Magnetism Studio to develop together an application to tackle the duty of such simple yet essential feature for the upcoming iPhone 2.0 platform; called FileMagnet.

Ecamm Network is already known by its famous application named PhoneView, which has similar use like FileMagnet. But I’m going to let that to be explained later, on the Q&A section below. Let’s focus on the new exciting FileMagnet, which I think will become one of the must have applications for iPhone; and of course for iPod Touch too when the iPhone 2.0 platform update has finally came out.

FileMagnet works very easy, it will carry on the drag & drop tradition along with the fast sync between iPhone and the Mac computer. First, as usual we have to install FileMagnet into each of them.

The Mac desktop client of FileMagnet will act as the host for every files you wish to transfer to the iPhone’s FileMagnet app, when you’ve filled the list like you can see on the right thumbnail picture; just click on the FileMagnet icon at the iPhone and then the sync will begin immediately through wireless connection.

But it doesn’t end there, and this is what will make FileMagnet excel beyond other apps that offer similar functionality of only transferring files; where after you’ve transfered the files you can view them directly from your iPhone.

Although FileMagnet is capable to transfer audio/video files, so far it can only view picture, standard text document, Words and PDF file. There’ll be more and more additional formats support in the future, plus the usual pan & zoom view are also can be applied when using FileMagnet.

Screenshot of FileMagnet viewing picture files. –Click on the thumbnail pic to view it larger--
Screenshot of FileMagnet viewing document files. –Click on the thumbnail pic to enlarge it--

Another best feat from FileMagnet is the extended sync for all of its Mac desktop client, so wherever you are, you will be able to access the files inside your iPhone whenever you connect it on the same WiFi network. Zero hassle over cable and the pain-staking stress if you forgot to bring the USB cable. ;-D

Alright then, I know you’ve been eagerly scrolling down to read the Q&A and found out more about FileMagnet directly from its source. So without further ado, I’m laying down them all bare naked for you the Q&A with Joshua Keay from Ecamm Network:

1. I see you already have an almost simillar application like this FileMagnet for iPhone, called PhoneView. Any particular reasons why don't you just upgrade the PhoneView, but instead make a new app? --- On a simple level, they're similar apps, though in actual usage, they have two different usage patterns. PhoneView is a great tool to get data out of your phone, to copy notes, songs and SMS messages. It also lets you mount your phone as a storage device, like a USB drive, to transport files. FileMagnet is focused on storing and viewing files from on your phone. If you have a word document that you want to read on a plane, FileMagnet is the way to go.The big problem that FileMagnet helps solve is that there's no good way to take your desktop files with you on your phone. The closest way that you can get to that is to email a file to yourself, though those attachments are slow to download and are easily lost in your inbox. FileMagnet stores the files in memory on the device, so that even when you don't have edge access, like when you're in a plane or the subway, you can still quickly access your information.
2. Besides WiFi, what other connections this FileMagnet can use to transfer files to iPhone? --- Right now, we're focusing exclusively on wifi as the way to get files on and off the phone, though other techniques are definitely options for the future. We're working on adding phone to phone transfer features to make it easy to share files with your friends.
3. As we can see in the screenshots, FileMagnet can easily transfer files into an iPhone. But how about if the users have more than one iPhone and they want to connect their iPhones simultaneously, does FileMagnet allow that? --- You could pair more than one phone with your computer, though you would have to connect them separately. Copying to two phones simultaneously isn't a usage model that we designed for, though it's certainly something to consider for the future.
4. It's so great that FileMagnet will be able to view PDF, Words and other documents format in iPhone (finally!). But I don't see Excel/spreadsheet document yet, do you plan to add other doc formats in the future? --- Expanding into additional formats is in our plans, though for now we focused on the most common document types of text documents, PDFs and images.
5. We all understand that iPhone is an amazing entertainment gadget with various multimedia supports embedded in its platform, can you share a little bit insight on how FileMagnet will handle audio & music files? --- We are working on support for video and audio files, though the phone already has facilities for viewing this sort of multimedia content.
6. What other new features are you preparing in the first release of FileMagnet, that you can share with us? --- Right now our priority is testing as many file types as possible and maximizing compatibility across multiple computers and devices. Our goal is to ship as soon as the App Store launches, so rather than focusing on adding features, we're making reliability our priority.
7. This one is for our readers who like to have FileMagnet right away after reading this post, will it be available along with the Apple's App Store launch on July 11th? --- The new iPhone comes out on July 11th, but there's no guarantee that the App Store will launch that day! We're working with Apple to have FileMagnet available ASAP, though until Apple announces when the AppStore will start, we can't guarantee a ship date!
8. And in everybody's favorite line: is FileMagnet free? ;-) --- FileMagnet will cost $5 on the App Store, the desktop version will be free! The app is developed by Magnetism Studios and ECamm Network. The Magnetism URL is www.MagnetismStudios.com

Thank you to Ecamm Network for providing the informations and screenshots of FileMagnet, and special thanks to Joshua Keay & Glen for all the help. Keep up the great work guys!

[blogged with my Treo 750v]