Microsoft has relaunched its SkyDrive service as
OneDrive, following its
UK trademark battle, and has taken the time to make a number of updates to the cloud-storage service. In a wider push to compete against other cloud storage services, such as
Dropbox and
Google Drive, OneDrive will be providing new ways for users to earn extra free storage, and a new monthly payment option for buying more capacity.
As before, users will have a free 7GB allocation of storage, though 3GB can be earned by enabling automatic backups of photographs taken by smartphones or tablets, and an extra 500MB for every extra user referred to the program. As part of the relaunch, Microsoft will be providing 100,000 users a 100GB allocation, via a giveaway on the service's
Twitter feed sometime today.
Users are able to purchase a block of storage to add on top of their existing free capacity, with the existing annual charges supplemented by monthly options. While the yearly version ranges from $25 to $100 for an extra 50GB and 200GB respectively, the monthly option charges $4.49 per month for the lowest option, rising to $11.49 for the 200GB allocation.
While the updated Windows Phone and iOS versions of the app will effectively just have a name change, the Android version adds the option to back-up their camera roll to the service, something already offered by the other two platforms. Users can share photos and videos with other users without needing to worry about file formats, and also co-author documents in real time with other users using
web app versions of Microsoft Office.
The rebranding has also extended to the corporate version of the service, with OneDrive for Business offering a similar experience as before. Despite the effort to change the name, SkyDrive will still be visible in Windows and Office until their next respective major update.
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