Android's native file explorer

[tlvp]

My Moto Droid X2 with Android 2.3.5 has a built-in app named Files that
serves as rudimentary file explorer.

A Sony Experia tipo dual (ST21a2) with Android 4.0.4, on the other hand,
seems *not* to have any file explorer. Or does it? If so, what's it called?

Thanks. Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

[VanguardLH]

tlvp <mPiOsUcB...@att.net> wrote:

> My Moto Droid X2 with Android 2.3.5 has a built-in app named Files that
> serves as rudimentary file explorer.
>
> A Sony Experia tipo dual (ST21a2) with Android 4.0.4, on the other hand,
> seems *not* to have any file explorer. Or does it? If so, what's it called?

You sure it is named "Experia" and not "Xperia"?

According to gsmarena.com and Wikipedia, the Sony Xperia tipo was
released in August 2012. That does not seem too old and neither is the
Android version you say is on it that a file manager would be absent.

On my Android 4.4.4, it's called My Files. Too much influence from
Microsoft naming a bunch of places starting with "My <folder>". Phone
makers love to customize their OS image so you can't be sure what you
get or what it's called. God forbid you get a standard Android distro.
I've seen complaints in forums where other users have complained the
Sony Experia has no file manager. You might have to install one.

http://support.sonymobile.com/global-en/xperiaxperformance/kb/0231018801b0950b9013ffc786a9b004eff/

That mentions Android 6.0 so I cannot be sure it is buried even under
that Settings path for your Android 4.0.4. Sony is big into DRM and
maybe hiding or omitting a file manager makes them think users won't be
manipulating files on their smartphones. Uh huh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1twUPqKSsAI
(mute the audio since the author was too lazy to narrate his video)

That video shows an app called "Sony File Manager". However, the one at
the Google Play store says "“File Manager” is a dedicated application
for Sony Portable Wireless Server WG-C20 and Micro Vault USB flash
drives USM-SA1 and USM-CA1 series." Plus it looks like a file manager
for uber-boobs.

You get sites listing the "Sony File Manager" or "File Manager for Sony"
but they are NOT Sony sites. For example:

http://sonyapk.com/File-Manager-10.html

sonyapk.com is NOT a Sony site. What it shows looks like what I saw in
the Youtube video. So I'm inclined to think the real app name is "File
Manager for Sony" (which is not the same as "File Manager *by* Sony").
They could be simply redistributing the Sony APK from their non-Sony
site hoping users confuse sonyapk.com with sony.com. Google also allows
way too many apps to have misleading product names.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sony.filemgr

I went to https://esupport.sony.com/US/ but they found nothing relevant
on "xperia ST21a2". No hits. Maybe that's not the model number you
gave. I also tried "xperia tipo". No hits. I then found their mobile
site (http://support.sonymobile.com/us/). What a crappy support site.
Searching on "tipo" found nothing. Guess once they discontinue support
that they also remove any pages for that product.

Correcting the product family name (Xperia, not Experia) and using
"ST21a" instead of "ST21a2", I did an online search on "xperia tipo
st21a manual" and found:

http://www-support-downloads.sonymobile.com/st21/userguide_EN_ST21i_1265-3199.3_Android4.0.pdf

Looks like a not-so-smart smartphone. They expect you to use preset
folders (some requiring you to go into Settings) or file browser dialogs
within apps to manage your files. Looks like you have to get a 3rd
party app to do file management.

I have tried some other file managers. Some users recommend ES Explorer
but I found its free version to be very obtrusive with its ads. Even
when I was not using its GUI but because it runs in the background, it
would popup ads while I was in other apps. Very rude. The only way to
get rid of the disconnected popup ads was to uninstall ES Explorer.

The free apps are so rude with their ads that they quickly soured me on
getting any other free ones. Sometimes, though, I try a free one and
think it's okay only to find it is rude adware. Someone mentioned the
GPS Status app and it looks good. It does have a fixed banner section
at the bottom of its screen for ads but, hey, they're always in the same
place - or so I thought. Later I found it will shove fullscreen ads in
my face as I navigate through its menus. Still need to test a couple
features but suspect it's going in the trash bin, too. Some ahole
authors don't even provide a payware version of their app to get rid of
the apps. They've found monetization of their app via ads to be more
profitable than the trickle of licenses they would sell.

Looks like you'll need to find an app whose author is smarter than was
Sony back in 2012 in writing a file manager.

[Kenny]

"VanguardLH" wrote in message news:ejp784...@mid.individual.net...

I have a Sony Android TV and had to install 3rd party file manager to see
what was on attached USB drive etc., used ES Explorer:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop&hl=en_GB
As to ads Adguard stops them for me:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adguard.android.contentblocker&hl=en
Also had to install 3rd party launcher since the Sony one wouldn't show many
of the apps I installed, actually installed 2, HAL Launcher and Sideload
Launcher.
Kenny

[VanguardLH]

Next is what Kenny added:

> I have a Sony Android TV and had to install 3rd party file manager to see
> what was on attached USB drive etc., used ES Explorer:
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop&hl=en_GB
> As to ads Adguard stops them for me:
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adguard.android.contentblocker&hl=en
> Also had to install 3rd party launcher since the Sony one wouldn't show many
> of the apps I installed, actually installed 2, HAL Launcher and Sideload
> Launcher.
> Kenny

<aside>
Since you are using Windows Live Mail for your NNTP client, and because
Microsoft screwed it up as of version 15, and later, so it no longer
properly quotes the cited parent post, that responsibility is now yours.
Notice in the above quoted content or look at your reply post that there
is no distinction between the parent content (my post you cited) and
your added content (your reply) -- other than my inserted line in this
reply noting what was your reply's content. All the quote character
prefixing and indenting are now your responsibility when quoting the
parent post in a reply when using WLM 15+ versions. Since this is a
legacy program (no longer supported by Microsoft), it will not receive
any updates to fix their bug introduced in v15. If unwilling to do the
proper quoting yourself, consider not quoting at all.
</aside>

Adguard is not free; see https://adguard.com/en/license.html, $9.95/yr
minimum. It also does not alter the ad-laden app's coding for the space
that would get consumed for the ads. It merely blocks access to the ad
source, not recode the app to recapture the screen space wasted within
the app for the ads. So you end up with blank space in the app for
where the ads would've been presented that are now blocked. Some apps
use a banner (at the top or bottom of their screen) to present ads.
Blocking the ad sources means you get a blank banner. The banner does
not disappear. There is no recoup of screen space with the now missing
ad content. It is possible that the disconnected popup ads presented by
ES Explorer (the very rude cause of why I got rid of it) might be
rendered inoperable (not appear) if the ad source cannot be contacted.
That does not alter the programmers were rude in presenting ads
*outside* of their own app's GUI. You still end up paying for something
(Adguard) to get rid of the ads in the "free" apps instead of having to
pay multiple times to get the payware version of the apps without ads.

The Adguard app to which you gave a URL to the Google Play Store says
"Adguard Content Blocker is an app that will block all ads only in
Yandex Browser and Samsung Internet browser without requiring you to
root your device. Adguard Content Blocker doesn't block ads in any other
apps." The Yandex Browser is big in China, not elsewhere. Sorry, but I
am not interested in ever using the Yandex Browser nor do I much use the
included vendor's web browser in my smartphone (which for Adguard's free
app would have to be a Samsung phone).

The free uBlock Origin add-on works in both Firefox and Google Chrome
mobile web browsers; however, it is a web browser extension versus using
Adguard operating as a web interrogation proxy to filter out ad sources
from all web-centric apps (but using a proxy probably requires rooting
the phone whereas a web browser extension does not).

[Ken Blake]

On Sun, 26 Mar 2017 11:40:29 +0100, "Kenny" <m...@privacy.net> wrote:

>From: "Kenny" <m...@privacy.net>
>Subject: Re: Android's native file explorer
>Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
>X-Newsreader: Microsoft Windows Live Mail 16.4.3528.331
>
>"VanguardLH" wrote in message news:ejp784...@mid.individual.net...
>
>tlvp <mPiOsUcB...@att.net> wrote:
>
>> My Moto Droid X2 with Android 2.3.5 has a built-in app named Files that
>> serves as rudimentary file explorer.
>>
>> A Sony Experia tipo dual (ST21a2) with Android 4.0.4, on the other hand,
>> seems *not* to have any file explorer. Or does it? If so, what's it
>> called?
>
>You sure it is named "Experia" and not "Xperia"?
>
>According to gsmarena.com and Wikipedia, the Sony Xperia tipo was
>released in August 2012. That does not seem too old and neither is the

If you send a message like this, without a > added to the beginning of
each quote line, it's extremely difficult to know the difference
between what you are quoting and what you are writing. So if you are
going to post here, please stop using Windows Live Mail as your
newsreader and get something decent.

[John McGaw]

On 3/25/2017 11:01 PM, tlvp wrote:
> My Moto Droid X2 with Android 2.3.5 has a built-in app named Files that
> serves as rudimentary file explorer.
>
> A Sony Experia tipo dual (ST21a2) with Android 4.0.4, on the other hand,
> seems *not* to have any file explorer. Or does it? If so, what's it called?
>
> Thanks. Cheers, -- tlvp
>

Don't know about that. On my Nexus 5 running 6.0.1 I can get to what
'exploration' there is by doing SETTINGS -> STORAGE & USB -> EXPLORE. I
don't know what facilities there are there beyond just seeing file names
and some thumbnails for photos.

[tlvp]

On Sun, 26 Mar 2017 02:00:20 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

> You sure it is named "Experia" and not "Xperia"?

Thanks -- mea culpa, it's Xperia, as you correctly surmised.

[Daniel James]

In article <ejp784...@mid.individual.net>, VanguardLH wrote:
> According to gsmarena.com and Wikipedia, the Sony Xperia tipo was
> released in August 2012. That does not seem too old and neither is
> the Android version you say is on it that a file manager would be
> absent.

Not every Android device comes with a file manager preinstalled, and not
every Android device that does comes with a file manager that you'd want
to use.

My Xperia Z1 Compact (running Lollipop, but I think it came with KitKat)
came with a copy of File Commander (looks like the MobiSystems app of
that name that can be downloaded from Play Store). I didn't like it -- I
can't remember why (maybe because it has advertising, which I consider
to be unforgivable in an app that's bundled with the phone). I hid it
and installed ES File Explorer, but that became too bloated to be usable
so now I use the Asus "File Manager" app (also on Play Store, and not
limited to Asus devices), mostly because I'm familiar with it as it's
standard on my Asus tablet.

The Asus File Manager can act as a SAMBA client, so it can transfer
files over the network, but it isn't an FTP server.

It is a real pity that this sort of basic functionality isn't baked into
Android by Google; and that we have to rely on a wide variety of scrappy
third party apps, none of which is really good enough.

--
Cheers,
Daniel.

[Carlos E. R.]

It is next to impossible to distinguish what you wrote from what
VanguardLH wrote, so I'm not going to try. Please use another News program.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.