Astro File Manager For Android : Review And How-To

Astro is the most rated file manager by users for Android. Apart from being a file manager, it’s a backup utility and task manager too and all of this are packaged in a single app. On the other hand, add-on modules such as Networking and Bluetooth modules can be installed on the top of it to enhance the overall capabilities. It allows you to manage files on your phone without the need for a computer. Operations you can perform: copy, paste, move, delete, open with other apps, create and folders, etc. What’s convenient about Astro File Manager is the ability to select multiple files to perform actions. Another convenient feature is the ability to Search for files. The app also provides details on Android apps such as package name, version, file size, and even app activities.

As a file manager, files can be searched, edited and added to a bookmark list. It can backup your default and third party apps to SD card. It can also extract zip and tar files to phone memory or the SD card. Process manager or Task killer is another key feature of Astro. Apps, services and processes can be stopped, at the same time giving user key details of CPU and memory usage. ASTRO File Manager Android App features the ability to backup Android Apps to SD card… aband-aid for the loud public cry from Android users who want to free up low internal phone memory without Rooting the phone. This means you can backup the installer files (APK) on your SD Card, then you can uninstall the app. Thus freeing up space but removing the app. To reuse the app, you will have to reinstall the app from the backup.

Using this is simple. To use the Astro File Manager app, you need to download it from the Android Market. You can access the market by selecting the Market icon from your main menu. The quickest way to find the app is to select the magnifying glass from the Market menu. This opens the search menu. Type the name Astro File Manager into the search box and then select the magnifying glass again. You should see the app listed in your search results. You can also locate the app by selecting the Productivity category from the Apps menu.Select the Astro File Manager app and then click Install to begin downloading it. Click OK to consent to the app accessing certain information on your phone. The app will then begin downloading.

Then, Once the app has finished downloading, you will see a box with a check mark on it at the top of your phone's home screen. Use the pulldown function to access the app or you can select it from the main menu.When the program opens, you will be taken to a list of all of the files currently on your phone. Small icons next to each file will identify exactly what type of file it is (music, photo, program, etc). It may take a little time for the icons to appear, especially if they're pictures, so you may need to wait a few seconds before you can tell what the file is. You can then scroll down the list to view all of the files currently on your phone or on your phone's SD card.

If you come to a file that you don't recognize, you may want to open it to see if it's worth keeping. Simply select the file's icon to see information about it. Before you delete any files, you should make certain of what they are. If you are unsure about them, do not delete them until you speak with an experienced computer programmer. You don't want to remove something that your phone needs!

If you are looking for a particular file, you can choose the Search option from the app's main menu at the top of the screen. Simply type in the name of the file and then click the magnifying glass icon to find it. You can also use the Sort option at the top to change the order that the files in the list appear in. To find out more about using the Astro File Manager app, tap the menu button on your phone, select More and then select Help for a full explanation of how the program works.

 

Features

Application Manager

The Application Manager allows you to backup, install, and uninstall applications. It will list all installed applications and all backed up applications. The Android OS does not allow applications to be run from the SD card, but ASTRO provides the next best thing. You can easily backup and uninstall less frequently used applications, and easily re-install them when needed.

There are two tabs in the Application Manager: Installed Apps and Backed Up Apps. The first tab show applications currently installed on the phone, the second shows all the applications in the backup directory. You can long click on an application in either tab for details on that application and appropriate options for that can be performed on that app.

Backup

Applications that are marked as public applications by the publisher can be backed up to the SD card. Android does not allow applications that are marked as private to be backed up. This includes most paid applications. Private applications can be re-installed from the market if necessary.

To backup public applications, open the Installed Apps tab and check the applications you want to backup. The top check box will select them all. Then click the Backup button or Menu / Backup. You will see a copy progress dialog showing the progress of copying the applications.

Backed up applications are stored in the Backup Directory set in Preferences. The default is /backups/apps.

Uninstall

After an application has been backed up it can be uninstalled to free up internal memory. To uninstall a single application you can long click on the application in the Installed Apps tab. You will then see an application details screen. Click the Uninstall button at the top to uninstall the app.

To Uninstall multiple applications check the applications you want to uninstall, then click Menu / Uninstall and follow the directions on the screen.

Backed Up Applications

To re-install a backed up applications click the Backed Up Apps tab, check the applications you want to install, and click the Install button (or click menu / Install).

To delete backed up applications check the applications you want to delete and click Menu / Delete.

Sorting

The list of applications can be sorted by different criteria. Click Menu / Sort By to change the sort type. The available options are Name, Date, Size, or Type, in ascending or descending order.

SD Card Usage

It is often helpful to know how much space each directory and file is using on your SD card. The SD Card Usage tools will show you exactly how much space each directory and file is using in a given directory.

When you first open the tool, it will scan the /sdcard directory and compute the size of each directory and file. The largest directory or file will be listezd first and then listed in descending order.

Detailed information is also show for each item in different colors. Size shows the total size of the item. Num Files is the number of files in the directory. Directory %25 is the percentage of the current directory used by this item. Disk %25 is the parentage of the entire SD card used by this item.

Two bar graphs displayed behind each item provide an easy summary of the percentage used. The lighter bar shows the Disk %25 used and the darker bar shows the Directory %25used.

To get details on sub directories and files, click on the directory. The sub directory will be scanned and the data for the items in that directory will be listed. Us the Up arrow button at the top to return to the parent directory.

Task/Process Manager

The Process Manager shows currently running Applications, Services, and Processes in three separate tabs. Running applications can be stopped (killed).

Detailed information is shown for each item in different colors. PID is the system Process ID.CPU is the percentage of CPU being used. MEM is the amount of memory being used.

Apps

The Apps tab show the currently active applications on the phone. Long clicking on an application will show the menu dialog for that application with these options:

• Kill Application - this stops the application. It may not be highlighted if the application is a system level application.
• Open Application - this will open the application.
• Application Details - Show a dialog of details about this application.
• Ignore Application - Add this application to the ignore list. This means this application will be skipped when Kill All is selected.

To stop all running user applications click Menu / Kill All. This will stop all user applications except the ones on the ignore list.

Services

• This tab lists all running services on the phone. Services cannot be stopped, but stopping the application associated with the service will generally stop the service as well.

Processes

• This tab lists all low level running processes on the phone.

 

Learning Functions And How-To’s

Single vs Multi Select

The Edit menu can be opened in three ways:

1. Long clicking on a file and selecting Edit.
2. Click the Edit button in the toolbar.
3. Click Menu / Edit.

Option 1 is a single file mode. The operation will only happen to the file that was clicked on. Many of the functions listed below can also work in multi select mode. Multiple files can be selected and changed at once. For example, multiple files can be selected and copied to another directory.
To select multiple flies, click on the Multi button in the Toolbar. The button will highlight when it is in multi select mode. Long clicking on the Multi button will (un)select all the currently displayed files. Once the files have been selected, you can use option 2 or 3 above to perform an operation on the selected files. The descriptions below will say if the function can be used on multiple files.

Copy

To copy a file:

• Long click on the file name, select Edit / Copy.
• Navigate to the new directory and click Edit / Paste.

To copy multiple files:

• Click the Multi button and select the files.
• Click Edit / Copy.
• Navigate to the new directory and click Edit / Paste.
  

  Delete

To delete a file:

• Long click on the file name, select Edit / Delete.

To delete multiple files:

• Click the Multi button and select the files.
• Click Edit / Delete.
  

  Move

To move a file:

• Long click on the file name, select Edit / Move.

To move multiple files:

• Click the Multi button and select the files.
• Click Edit / Move.
• Navigate to the new directory and click Edit / Paste.
  

  Rename

To rename a file:

• Long click on the file name, select Edit / Rename.
• Enter the new file name and click OK.

Note: Do not change the file extension (the part after the period '.') unless you know what you are doing. The phone will not be able to identify the correct file format if the extension is changed.

Create a new directory

To create a new directory click Menu / New / Directory. Enter the directory name and click Create. The Create button will be disable until you enter a name or if you enter an invalid name.
The Directory Type can be normal or compressed. A compressed directory will create a directory compressed with the ZIP format.

Create a new zip file

To create a new, empty zip file click Menu / New / Zip File. Enter the file name and click Create. The Create button will be disable until you enter a name or if you enter an invalid name. Files can be copied into or out of the zip file just like it was a normal directory.

Change View

There are two main types of views: List and Icon. To change the view, click Menu / View / Change View or click the View button in the Toolbar.

Directory Options

Directory Options can be set for each individual directory. The following options can be set on individual directories:

• Show Thumbnails
• Show File Details
• Hide File Extensions
• Show Hidden Files - files that start with a period (.)
• List Directories First

To set directory options, click Menu / Change View / View or click the View button in the Toolbar, then click the Set Directory Options button.
The default options for all directories can be set in the Look and Feel section of Preferences. If you change the view options for an individual directory those setting will stay in effect for that directory whenever it is viewed. You can reset all the directory options in the Look and Feel preferences.

Sort

Directories can be sorted ascending or descending in the following ways:

• Name
• Date
• Size
• Type

To change the sorting, click Menu / View / Sort or click Sort in the Toolbar.

Refresh

Refresh will reload the current directory in case any files have changed. To refresh a directory click Menu / View / Refresh or click the Refresh button in the Toolbar.

Bookmarks

Directories can be bookmarked for easy reference. To bookmark a directory, long click on the directory and select Bookmark. To view the list of bookmarked directories click Menu / Bookmarks or the Bookmark button in the Toolbar.