Stash Your Files in the Cloud with CX

The cloud storage market is really heating up right now. Previously we relied on these services to have all our files up-to-date on our home and office computers. Now, smartphones and tablets have drastically increased the need for ways to store and sync files between all our devices. And it’s not just for work anymore – all our music, videos and photos travel with us wherever we go, by the awesome power of the cloud. So where are you keeping your data?

CX might be a choice worth looking into. The service has been around for a while, known previously as Cloud Experience. Having undergone a drastic rebranding and redesign, it now pegs itself as a great place for casual and professional users to store their data in the cloud with a host of features for sharing and collaboration and apps for several desktop/mobile platforms. The redesign and the new offer of lots of free space seemed enticing, so I decided to try it out.

Overview

CX is an online file storage service suitable for all kinds of users, with a fresh look that screams ‘young’. The service faces tough competition from seasoned players like Dropbox but still brings a lot of fight to the ring. You can access all your files stored on CX on your Windows and Mac computers, iPad, iPhone, Android devices and Kindle Fire with the native apps they’ve made available. You also get 256-bit encryption, redundant backups and firewall protection for all your stuff. Plus, you can get started right away with a free account.

Getting started

You can sign up to use CX with a number of plans – my favorite being the free plan which scores you 10GB of space and allows you to create 2 groups with 2 users each and a 200MB group size limit (which I’ll explain in just a bit). You can also go for their The Guru plan which costs US$24.99 monthly and is good for 175GB of space. The price isn’t bad, given that Dropbox costs US$19.99/month for 100GB. SugarSync is cheaper at US$15.99/month for the same amount of room and Box offers 50GB at US$19.99/month (but you can get 50GB free for life if you’ve an Android device).

Apart from the 10GB, you can also get up to 6GB more for free by referring friends at 300MB a pop (and 300MB more when they install the desktop app).

The interface

When you login for the first time, you’ll be guided by a helpful tour to help you find your way around CX. The app looks clean, features simple icon-based navigation and has a bit of an edge to it courtesy the neon color accents.

There’s a Dashboard to show you site notifications and updates on recently uploaded files and comments received on files from people you’ve shared them with in a group. You can see all your files and folders in the Files section, mark them for regular use and find them quickly in the Favorites section and share them with friends and colleagues in the Groups section.

Uploading and accessing files

It’s great that CX offers apps for multiple platforms so you can work with your files wherever you are. The web app allows you to upload your files by dragging and dropping them onto the window. I also tried the Windows app which allows you to designate a folder on your PC, files and folders in there and have them sync automatically with your account.

I found uploads to be roughly four times slower than Dropbox, which is a bit disappointing. The Android app features a spartan interface but does a decent job of uploading and allowing you to view all your files.

As mentioned, files uploaded from any device will show up on all your other connected devices, just like with Dropbox. However, accessing files on any of the interfaces really means you’ll have to download them to see their contents, save for some image thumbnails. At this point in the cloud storage game, I was hoping to see a file preview tool at least for common image and document formats (which Fluxiom offers, albeit at a higher price), but that was not to be.

Sharing files

You can share any files that you upload on CX easily, by copying the link generated for you and pasting it in an email or IM, or by sharing the link on Twitter or Facebook (users are taken to a CX-branded page with file info and a download button). You can even email files or folders from within the app, but this invites users to sign up for the service before they can download the file. Sharing is simple enough from the web app but I’d have liked to have been able to generate links from the desktop app as well (Dropbox adds an option to the Windows right-click context menu).

Groups

CX also allows for collaboration on files and folders. You can create a group, invite people (the number varies from plan to plan) to view and download a file or the files in a folder, comment on them and add/edit files as well. Comments for each file show up on the individual file detail page and email notifications go out to all group members as well. Group members can edit files by downloading the original, making changes and uploading the file (with the same name) back into the group folder, creating a new version of said file.

CX’s implementation of shared folders is pretty neat. When working with a group, you can determine how much space you want to allot to it (and this is where the group size limit comes into play). Also, the files and folders you share affect only the storage space on your account as the group owner, no one else’s.

Using CX

It’s easy to adopt CX and make a part of your computing experience because of the number of platforms it has apps for. Plus, every feature is dead-simple to use. However, I faced a few issues with it which I hope will be addressed soon.

For one, uploading from the Windows desktop app was a lot slower than I’m used to with Dropbox and other services. And you can’t download multiple files or a folder at once – which is a pain if you’re logging in from a new location and need a bunch of your files to work on. The app also failed to generate thumbnails of several JPGs I’d uploaded for some reason.

Conclusion

With all its features, usability and reasonable pricing, CX establishes itself as a veritable choice in the cloud storage market. I understand that they’re still working to move existing users to the new system and are probably facing a few issues (particularly with upload speeds). It’d be great to see them fix these and add some features to sweeten the deal, such as file previews and online editing, the ability to embed files on blogs/websites (like Box) and a quicker, more responsive (Ajax-based, perhaps?) web interface to rearrange and work with files.

Other than that, CX is a good choice if you want to sync your files online. The free 10GB should be enough to get you started and you can always upgrade from there. I suggest you give it a shot and see if it fits into your digital life. Enjoy your life in the cloud!