I have been using a product called SugarSync for a while to sync my documents between home and office and also share with other staff in my company. After I discovered that SygarSynchad been deleting files by itself and nor syncing files it should be  it had to go, so it was time to look for a new solution.
Being a Google Apps user I already make use of Google Docs and think it is great for online editing and sharing docs, so I thought I could just use this as a replacement for SugarSync. If I could upload all my files to Google Docs then I wouldn't need to sync them between my machines as well, however having to uploading thousands of files initially via the Google Docs interface and then download and upload them if I wanted to work on them locally would be a pain in tha ass, better if I could somehow map a drive to Google Docs and use it as cloud storage that would be great I thought, also Google Docs is limited to 1GB of disk space which isn't really enough.

Thankfully all of these issues are easily solved.

Get More Storage

It turns out you can purchase additional disk space for Google Docs, although the option to do this is hard to find and simply does not exist on some Google Apps accounts.

Login to your Google Apps account and go to your Account Settings page.
On this page you should see your storage space and a "details" link which will take you to a page to buy more space, on my Google Apps for business account I have the link, but on my Google Apps FREE account the link is not there. HERE is the direct link in case you don't see it.

The additional storage prices are actually shockingly cheap, I doubt you will find a better deal anywhere.

20GB ($5 USD per year)
80 GB ($20.00 USD per year)
200 GB ($50.00 USD per year)
400 GB ($100.00 USD per year)
1 TB ($256.00 USD per year)

Using your Google Apps storage

Access cloud storage like a local drive

Backup files, folders to Google Apps

Sync data across multiple computers

Secure your data with military grade encryption

Here are some productsI tried out which some or all of these features.

1. Memeo Connect for Google Apps

Memeo Connect is a desktop application available for both Mac and PC (XP and higher) which lets you view files on both your desktop and within Google Docs. In the software program, files and folders already online are downloaded to your computer. Local files not yet online can then be moved to the appropriate Google Docs folder via drag-and-drop. The service is relatively simple to use as it presents your documents in an easy-to-navigate window while also incorporating Google's online features like starred files and shared folders.

One major drawback to Memeo Connect is that there's no automatic synchronization option. That means you can't monitor a local folder or folders for new files or changes and then have those documents seamlessly synced to Google's online service. This feature should arrive in a future update, however, so don't let its lack of inclusion be a deal breaker for you if the service fulfils all your other needs.

For personal users of Google Docs, the biggest drawback to Memeo is that the service is only available to users of Google Apps Premier edition, a business-level version of the service which also offers calendaring, groups, Web site creation tools, and video sharing to corporate users for $50 per user per year. Memeo Connect itself costs an additional $9/year.

Memeo connect is also still in Beta and has bugs, when I tried it out I found my folders got duplicated and the hierarchy was not displayed correctly, sub-folders were displayed in the wrong parent folder etc, I also found it a bit odd that they charge for a beta product. Memeo did not work for me and was a complete #fail.

2. SyncDocs

Like the popular applications Dropbox and SugarSync, Syncdocs quietly uploads and downloads your files in the background. Whether you're editing an existing file or creating a new one, unlike Memeo, Syncdocs keeps a watchful eye on your folders and springs into action whenever a change is detected.

The setup process is very simple, with little more to do than clicking a few "next" buttons. You'll need a Google account, of course and Microsoft's .NET 3.5 Framework is also required, but Syncdocs will automatically perform the installation if your computer doesn't already have it.

Once Syncdocs is installed, you'll be asked to enter your username and password. Once your credentials have been verified by Google's server, any files you currently have stored on Google Docs will be downloaded to the folder Syncdocs creates on your hard drive (you can customize its location at any time). You'll also notice a new drive letter on your My Computer screen (usually G:) which provides quick access to your newly-attached Google Docs cloud storage.

If you collaborate with other users on your documents, Syncdocs can process revision history and keep files and folders others share with you synchronized as well. You can even tell the program to open supported file types stored on your computer (such as those in your My Documents folder) using Google Docs in your Web browser for viewing or editing. If you're trying to break completely free of desktop office applications, it's a feature that will certainly help you make the move.

Sadly SynDocs also did not deliver the goods for me, the G drive did not map to Google Docs and I was not able to access my files or upload/download or do anything useful with it. I did try contacting their support to resolve my issues, it took them days to reply to each email, and every response was shorter and less helpful than the last, I soon got fed up and uninstalled and moved on to Gladinet. #Fail.

SyncDocs in action

3. Gladinet Cloud Desktop

These days it’s possible to access many cloud storage providers outside of a web browser, and Gladinet Cloud Desktop supports several of them. The Starter Edition allows you to mount a variety of online providers – including Amazon S3, Windows Live Skydrive, Box.net and of course Google – as separate folders under a virtual network drive called, unsurprisingly, My Gladinet Cloud Storage.

After installation, the setup wizard takes you through registration and then lets you connect to each of your online accounts: click “Add My Cloud Storage Account” and follow the wizard through to connect to your chosen account(s). Note the final step of the wizard – all about syncing folders with other PCs you own – is a Pro feature only, so un-tick this unless you plan to upgrade later.

Once done, just keep adding accounts until you’re done, then click Finish, at which point you’ll be taken to the Gladinet Management Console where you can review your settings, add more providers or configure other aspects of the program, although most of these features – such as Backup and Restore, and Cloud Sync Folders – are restricted to Pro users only.

And that’s it: just click Start > Computer and you’ll see your new virtual drive – open this and you’ll see folders representing each cloud-based service, which you can drag to and drop from like any other folder on your PC. Note the Starter Edition will only allow you to transfer up to 1,000 files in any one go, but this should be ample for most people.

The Professional Edition, which costs $49.99 has no restrictions over file transfers, plus offers better performance and enhanced security as well as the additional features already mentioned.

This is the solution I am currently using as it worked as advertised right out of the box, and after contacting their support with a few questions I found them responsive and helpful, replying within a couple of hours each time.

The only issue I have found so far is a small bug if you use multiple monitors, the Gladinet menu that should show on your Mapped drive is stuck on one my monitors desktop and is inaccessible, but it is not a showstopper and doesn't make the software any less usable.

Gladinet Cloud Desktop in action

Despite spending 1 month playing silly buggers with Dell’s incompetent sales staff (another wonderful call centre in India) trying to actually order the thing due to constant problems on their website and their always apologetic “please give me another chance” excuses, I went against my better judgement and still went ahead and purchased the Dell XPS.
I had spent so long comparing laptops and their features, and the XPS really does give you the most bang for your buck. More memory and more useful ports than the competitors and a full 1080 HD display is what really swayed me, plus the fact that I could have custom artwork on the lid.

My primary use for this laptop is as a development machine, running IIS, MSSQL, MySQL, ColdFusion etc as well as a general office machine, I had no 3D gaming requirements.

Thankfully I can say that so far I have not been disappointed despite my reservations. The XPS runs windows 7 64bit super fast with its 6GB RAM and Core i5 CPU, it boots fast, searches are fast, programs launch fast and has no problems running all my server apps and development tools (Adobe Creative Suite) all at the same time, even Photoshop, so I really have no complaints on the speed and to boot it is also very quiet and so far does not get very hot either.

The Windows experience index is only 4.4 but this is down the the graphics, which as I said I don’t care about, however it runs Windows Aero just fine. Here are the other indexes, which are much better.

Processor 6.9
Memory 6.9
Graphics 4.4
Gaming Graphics 6.5
Hard Disk 5.9

All in all it is actually quite a bit better than my desktop PC which has a highest index of 5.9, even the gaming graphics surprisingly.

The screen is super bright, so bright that I rarely have it set above 1/3 brightness,  however the primary colours (CMYK) are also on the bright side, not sure whether this is due to the gamma or the contrast, I have tried to adjust them but cannot get it to look quite right. For every day use this is not a big problem, however I do sometimes do some Photoshop work, which is where is does matter as images don’t look quite how they should.

The sound on the XPS is also remarkably good, utilising a JBL sound system, my rock/metal music actually sounds how I expect it sound, rather than the horrid tinny sound you get from most laptops.

Battery life is nothing amazing, but for a laptop of this power it does report a surprising 2-3 hours (depending on power saving features you enable etc), and it does have a built in automatic “Dell power saver” mode that turns off all the aero and other high performance windows features while on battery. Although this mode seems to disable itself once you plug back into the power, meaning you have to manually enable it again.

If you are one of those people that finds your hand constantly brushing against the touchpad and moving the cursor when typing, which messes up whatever your typing, then you will appreciate the “disable touchpad” key on the keyboard which you can quickly toggle when typing.

I did have to contact Dell support once, to find out how to adjust the LCD contrast etc and also because I thought they had printed my custom lid design upside down. Thankfully the support was considerably better than their pre-sales fiasco and non existent customer services. They quickly told me where to find the LCD settings (an icon in the system tray DOH!) and told me to send them a picture of the lid and if it was indeed upside down then they would send an engineer out to replace it. After checking the photos on the Dell site It turned out that the image was supposed to be upside down.

The Android 2.2 update for the Streak has had many people screaming with impatience and moaning about every extra day they had to wait for it. Me I was quite happy to wait, the phone came with Android 1.6 and I had no qualms with it, a few niggles maybe but nothing major. I then updated to 2.1 a few months ago and found that I had more issues and it wasn't really an improvement so I was sceptical about 2.2, but if you haven't yet made the leap you can find the list of changes here.

Well finally last month my Android 2.2 update announced itself to me, but this time I decided to do a backup as when I did the 2.1 update I lost all my data as it was a clean install. This time round Dell have made it impossible to avoid the backup warning/suggestion as the update takes you through a step by step wizard and tell you to download the backup software, sadly this is however where the problems started.

To backup or not to backup, that is the question.
I downloaded the backup software, but then was stuck, there was no continue or next button, no instructions on what to do next at all. I eventually discovered have to hit back and go to the previous screen to do step 2. DOH! I bet I am not the only one who got confused by this.

So I ran the backup software but it kept telling me to insert an SD card, WFT! I of course had an SD card plugged in and it was working as I could see it from my PC.

So off I went to the forums and found someone with the same issue who said he had just gone ahead and done the update and all his data had been intact, so I thought screw it, I will risk it. I tried the backup one last time and bizarrely it worked, did my 2.2 update, and low and behold everything remained intact, this however was to be short lived.

You didn't want your contacts anymore right ?

The first time I went to make a call I discovered all my contacts phone numbers had vanished, all I had was email addresses. After some investigation it turns out that the Facebook app is set to sync your contacts with Facebook by default (regards how you had it set before), which overwrites all your existing contacts, so be warned, turn this option OFF before your phone has a chance to sync. This is a royal pain, but at least you can just re-sync your phone with your PC and get your contacts back right ? WRONG!!

No more Outlook Sync.

It also turns out that the DEL PC Suite software is no longer compatible with Android 2.2, so you have to download and install the new Dell Mobile Sync by Nero instead. I could not get this to download from the Dell site, all you get is some download manager which kept telling me there was nothing to download. I finally found a link to a direct download on the nero site and got the software that way.

However after installing I was shocked to discover that this new software only sync's photos, music and video, there is no option at all for syncing with outlook, so there was no way to get my contacts and calendar over to my phone, oh how fricking wonderful, what a useless piece of software. What idiot at Dell thought this was a good idea, whoever you are you are a total A**hole.

So I had to find another way to sync my contacts.

Luckily I subscribe to Plaxo, which provided my solution. Plaxo will sync with Google Gmail/Apps and so will Android. So you basically just use Google as the connector. Obviously because I already use both Plaxo and Google Mail this was not a big deal for me, however for others this would not be an ideal solution. If this solution is an option for you, then here is how to do it, you will need a Plaxo premium account. If you do not use plaxo then you can find tools out there to sync Outlook with Google, e.g.
- Google Calendar sync.

- Google Apps sync for Outlook

Sync with Plaxo

Login to your Plaxo account , and go to Plaxo Premium and click Google Sync and follow the instructions.

Now on your phone, go to Settings -> Accounts & Sync -> select your gmail account -> choose which options to sync (mail, contacts, calendar)

If you get stuck with anything try the Andoid forums. The Dell forums probably wont be much help as they mainly full of people with issues and no-one with answers and Dell do not bother reading their own forums or responding to anyone.

Let me end by saying that I do still like the Dell Streak and think it is a great Tablet/Phone, but Dell have made some big cockups with the rollout of all the updates by the looks of it and their support seems to be non existent. I have emailed them a couple of times and so far no reply at all.

I have had my new Dell Streak for a week now after returning my iPhone 3G and I have to say I am quite impressed and I certainly like it more than the iPhone. I have had comments that is wrong to compare against the iPhone 3G and I should have got the iPhone 4G, but sorry I think this is crap, I owned an iPhone3G so that is of course what I am going to review or compare against. I also read about all the new features and improvements to the iPhone4 and it was nothing earth shattering, yes it resolved a couple of big issues for some people but did not make me want to buy one and would not have resolved most of my dislikes or issues.

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I was due for an upgrade on my mobile this month, after looking at the options O2 offered I decided I really wanted the new Dell streak, but it would have cost me £250 to upgrade, and honestly I don't need it that much. I have accepted the fact that I am rarely away from my computer anyway, so having these phones that do everything is rather pointless as I never use them. So I looked at the FREE upgrades. O2 were offering me the original iPhone 8GB, or I could have the current iPhone 16GB 3GS for £50. I pointed out that the 4G was out soon and I believed they would then have to give the 3G away for FREE to get rid of old stock, which worked and I got it FREE.

It was delivered next day, and I have to say the packaging is quite nice and surprisingly small. All you get in the box though is the phone, headphone and charger. The headphone are the usual bog standard cheap style that hurt your ears, so I wont be using it. The charger is a plug with a USB port so you can charge either via power socket or USB port with same cable, the cable supplied is however very short and will probably not be long enough for charging in the car.

The phone itself is completely self contained, you cannot open it up, which means you are stuck with the battery it comes with, which has quite a poor battery life. It seems to only last for 1 day with moderate use, less I would imagine if you like to listen to music a lot or play games.

Overall I found the phone very usable, the menus are easy to use and are responsive, navigation with your thumb and fingers really is possible, and the on screen keyboard is better than any other phone I have owned to date, although it is still a little fiddly unless you have small fingers, so for women I expect it works a lot better.

The included software is rather sparse, there is no SatNav for example, which is really disappointing for me, yes it has Google Maps which is great to getting directions but is certainly no SatNav replacement. And due to the poor battery life if you do use any satnav software for anything but a short trip it will kill the battery quickly. I did look into getting TomTom installed, but it turns out to be cheaper to buy a separate TomTom device for the car.

What is does have works well though, the email and messaging apps are nice to use, itunes is easy to use and handy for downloading new apps and the safari browser is quite a joy to use compared to other phones I have used, I was actually able to access our ticketing system and have everything work perfectly.

I downloaded a couple of 99p games and they play really well and look nice, I got quite addicted to fragger.

I then tried to copy my custom ringtone from my old phone, and this proved to be more trouble than it is worth, the iPhone will not allow you to use mp3 or other file types as ringtones, you need to convert them to iPhones AAC native format first, then you have the added problem that the only way to connect your iPhone to your PC is using iTunes which will not allow you to copy files, only sync folders.

The biggest disappointment I think has to be the camera, it has no resolution or other settings at all, just point and click and that is it. The picture quality is poor and there is no flash. So if you are looking for a phone with a decent camera, then you can forget the iPhone. This is also an issue for me as I like to have a camera handy to take pics of my kids.

The other major issue I have is the signal strength which is dire, I have either a very low (1 bar) signal or no signal at all at home, and I am in a high coverage area, with my old phone having 4/5 bars most of the time. This may just be a problem with my phone, but I found a lot of complaints about this same issue online.

In summary I would say that if you purely want a phone for calls, email, messaging and the occasional bit of gaming and music and the ability to get online with a decent browser then the iPhone is perfect and has an awesome touch screen menu to boot.

If you want good battery life, satnav, good camera, or any of the control you have with a windows smart phone then you better stick with a windows smart phone.