Microsoft SkyDrive Update Will Bring Deep Cloud Integration to Windows Phone

The world’s largest software company, Microsoft Corp., outlined new features for its cloud-based SkyDrive service that will be included with Windows Phone “Mango” that will bring deeper integration of the service on Windows Phone.

New features would allow users to easily keep photos and videos in sync between multiple devices, including their Windows Phone and PC. Every photo or video stored on SkyDrive will automatically be accessible from Windows Phone, and any changes that take place on Windows Phone will automatically be synced with SkyDrive.

SkyDrive albums have also been integrated into the messaging and email hubs, which bring the ability to easily attach media to messages. Microsoft has even added an option to upload every album from Windows Phone to SkyDrive for a more seamless sync experience.

 The new SkyDrive update will allow users to search for specific files or browse all SkyDrive folders and view supported documents stored in the cloud on SkyDrive on Windows Phone devices.

Business users in particular will find it very convenient that they will be able to create and edit Office documents on their Windows Phone, with the changes being immediately updated in near real-time on their PC.

A business user could easily update a PowerPoint presentation after landing for a business meeting, and continue working on the presentation on a PC at the office.

With the update, it really has become an effortless process for users to continue working on a single document with multiple devices, as the files continuously stay in sync.

Microsoft says there are more than 250-million documents that are shared through SkyDrive, making it one of the most popular cloud services to share documents.

The news of the SkyDrive update comes just as Apple unveiled its new iCloud service last Monday at WWDC.

Despite the welcoming updates in Windows Phone for SkyDrive, some features that are present in Apple’s new iCloud service are not present in SkyDrive. For example, users cannot sync or stream music between their PC and Windows Phone.

However, one key advantage with the new SkyDrive for Windows Phone is that all of the features are completely free of charge, compared to Apple’s iCloud service that will require an annual fee for some features. Certain features for SkyDrive on iPhone also require monthly charges.