Windows Phone 7 has Skydrive for all its cloud backup needs, but what happens if you are a Dropbox user?

Unfortunately there isn’t an official Dropbox app for WP7, but that hasn’t stopped the makers of BoxFiles for Dropbox using the cloud storage company’s API to create one for us.

So is it any good? We’ve been having a play to find out

BoxFiles for Dropbox

Format

Windows Phone 7

Price

99p

Where

Marketplace

BoxFiles for Dropbox isn’t a new app, in fact it came out in 2010, however after a series of bugs that put everyone off and then a recent update to benefit from the new Mango (Windows Phone 7.5) update we thought we would give it a crack, a second chance if you will.

Costing 99p the app has had a complete overhaul seeing improvements on speed, integration with SkyDrive so you can get your modified documents back to Dropbox, and pinch to zoom on images.

Firing up the app loads up your Dropbox folder and this is broken down into files, pictures, search and your Skydrive folder (once you've given it your password and login details) so you can transfer files between the two.

Files lists everything sorted alphabetically an allows you to refresh the folder if you know someone is adding a file to your Dropbox, as well as, take a picture from within the app and have it saved directly to your Dropbox folder. You also get the option to create a new folder, edit names, delete files, and all the standard file manager options you would expect.

Clicking on a file downloads it to your phone and then lets you open it as long as the file is supported. Word documents for example are opened in Word. PDFs in Adobe Reader, Images in the photo gallery. All files can be downloaded via 3G or Wi-Fi and we've only had problems with older versions of Word, but that's a Word on the phone issue not an issue with this app. 

Once downloaded, those files can be saved locally and then uploaded again later via a menu option in the dedicated app. Take a picture on your camera, click share, and there is a Share with BoxFiles for Dropbox option ready for you to share with Dropbox. Doing so uploads the image to your Dropbox and everyone is happy.

If it all sounds incredibly easy, that’s because it is. After all BoxFiles for Dropbox is basically a hard drive in the cloud that your phone can see.

While Skydrive does offer you considerably more storage (25GB vs 2GB) for free, that’s as good as a chocolate teapot if you don’t use the Microsoft service on other devices - we don't. 

If you are a Dropbox user this is definitely worth the cash and if the budget won’t stretch to 99p (really?), then you can get a free trial version until you are convinced. That trial version is fully functional, but it doesn’t have the Skydrive integration and contains ads.