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Android App Reviews: Day 1 — Ghost Commander
#android#app#application#evo 4g#file manager#ghost commander#review#smartphone Posted on April 26, 2011 at 11:53PM 6 notesName: Ghost Commander
Function: File Manager
Price in Market: Free
Personal Rating: 4.6 out of 5
Hello folks, and welcome to my very first Android app review/basic tutorial. Today we’ll be looking at an app called Ghost Commander, which is an extremely useful utility if you are a user who likes to have your filesystem at your fingertips. Ghost Commander has a very nice, non-distracting UI that offers a full view of both your SD card’s contents and the phone’s separate system folder.
This app does NOT require that you root your phone, but a rooted phone allows you to edit the aforementioned system folder’s contents. A rooted phone may also change file permissions (read/write) with chmod through this app. There are several attractive features for this app aside from what has been mentioned, one of which is its lack of banner ads. Another popular file manager for Android is Astro File Manager, but the free version has constant adverts and lacks some of the functionality Ghost Commander provides.
One great feature that Ghost Commander provides is the option to have split-screen file browsing. What this means to the everyman is that it’s a snap if you want to move a photo or other such file from one location to another. As an example, I’ll show you shortly what the split-screen option looks like, and how to copy a file from one place to another.
First, go to the menu and select ‘Application’. From there, simply select ‘# Change panels mode’, and at that point you should have gone from a basic browsing screen to a much more convenient split-panel. Scroll around the left panel until you find what you’re looking to copy. Now, navigate to the location you wish to copy the file into.
From here, long-press on the file you want to copy in order to bring up a simple menu. Hit ‘Copy’, and the right panel’s location should already be filled in for you. Just hit ‘Ok’ and you’re done. The whole process should take under a minute.
As shown above, Ghost Commander shows image thumbnails, which is useful for tasks such as this.
Moving back onto the review of this app’s various functions, we also have the ability to decompress or create .zip archives. This is of course in addition to being able to create new standard files and folders, and renaming existing ones. As far as other formats go, I am looking forward to seeing an update which includes formats other than .zip.
.Tar* and, though it’d be of no use to me, .rar formats would be good to see in future.
This is far and away the best file manager I have found for Android, despite little flaws like the above mention of limited file formats capable of being decompressed. A minor criticism would be that the text is a bit small, so this may be less-than-excellent for anyone who has trouble reading smaller fonts. There is currently no option to change font size, though I do imagine that it will be added eventually.
If you’re looking for a good, fast, and efficient file manager, look no further than Ghost Commander. From my experience, this app is very stable. After all is said and done, I feel 4.6/5 is a fair score for this powerful little file manager.
Permalink~Introduction~
Posted on April 26, 2011 at 10:31PMHey there, all and none. You can call me Weasel. As of now, I am 18 and planning on going to college for either Network Administration or Software Programming. Notably, I know near-nothing of programming, which of course must be rectified before long. I do know a decent amount of commands for use on Unix-like operating systems (*Nix, *BSD, Android), which some people confuse as programming. I’ll save that particular tangent for later; there are still introductions to get through!
(ahem)
This blog will be the landing pad for whatever (probably technology-related) thoughts may be running through my head. In future, I may blog about such things as: Linux-based operating systems, Open Source software reviews, FLOSS-related commentary, commands and utilities that can be used on a Linux-based OS, Android apps, and tips and tricks for you to get your Android phone working just so. Also possible in the future are commentary on programming, computer hardware, and the latest advancements in computer tech.
Today I figure I’ll get the ball rolling with a good-old software review. Safe enough, yes?
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Screencap of my rather new Evo 4G taken with a handy app called ShootMe.
ShootMe is a free app for users who have rooted their phones. Check it out!
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