File manager on nokia lumia 920 (maybe other lumia products, don't know)

[Ek-Balam]

BEST ANSWER....
Thanks

It amazes me to a great degree the vehement defense of this issue by the WPC rank and file. While the explanations of the file manager situation are accurate and well stated, this does not at all mean that the decision of the Redmond Rangers was at all good or well conceived. In fact, probably quite a poor one.

Many OS' both are plenty secure and have user accessible file systems. In the smart phone space, the most secure (arguably) is BlackBerry. BB even has a user accessible file system. This OS architecture decision by MS sends a few messages to potential users; "we can trust you mr./ms. user with a desktop file system and make it secure, but not on a smart phone" Or, it takes us so long just to get something to market, we couldn't take the time to figure out a way to make a user accessible file system on our own NT kernel.... wouldn't it be cute if made users access the cloud for these basic OS necessities because the cloud is cool, it's the future... yeh, that's it, we just tell them it's cool. Or, this is the best, "We don't want business or enterprise customers". The latter I believe is a prime reason WP8 has little, very little enterprise installations and even fewer business users clamoring to ring their must have WP8 phones into BOD IT environments.

The lack of a user accessible file system is not "Boring", it's down right ill conceived and lazy.

 

[amitnahar]

It amazes me to a great degree the vehement defense of this issue by the WPC rank and file. While the explanations of the file manager situation are accurate and well stated, this does not at all mean that the decision of the Redmond Rangers was at all good or well conceived. In fact, probably quite a poor one.

Many OS' both are plenty secure and have user accessible file systems. In the smart phone space, the most secure (arguably) is BlackBerry. BB even has a user accessible file system. This OS architecture decision by MS sends a few messages to potential users; "we can trust you mr./ms. user with a desktop file system and make it secure, but not on a smart phone" Or, it takes us so long just to get something to market, we couldn't take the time to figure out a way to make a user accessible file system on our own NT kernel.... wouldn't it be cute if made users access the cloud for these basic OS necessities because the cloud is cool, it's the future... yeh, that's it, we just tell them it's cool. Or, this is the best, "We don't want business or enterprise customers". The latter I believe is a prime reason WP8 has little, very little enterprise installations and even fewer business users clamoring to ring their must have WP8 phones into BOD IT environments.

The lack of a user accessible file system is not "Boring", it's down right ill conceived and lazy.

Absolutely, I agree.

 

[Edson Vuma]

Thanks all...

Now let me close this thread.

Best Regards,
EV

 

[fdalbor]

I will not make any comment one way or another about the value of a file manager (explorer etc.) on a WP8 phone; but I own two Android tablets and I cannot tell you how many times ESexplorer has saved my bacon. It is quite possible for Microsoft to hide system files so a file explorer would not even see them to modify them, without a little work. Maybe they think smartphone users are dumber than computer users and they will some way mess up the phones and cause trouble for tech support. So far I have not had the need for a file explorer on my 820, except for temp and other storage which GDR2 helped some. But it would be nice to have when I do need it and I am sure it will happen sooner or later. Take care people. Just my view.

 

[a5cent]

It is quite possible for Microsoft to hide system files so a file explorer would not even see them to modify them, without a little work.

This is a very popular belief, but it's completely wrong. A system file is any file that isn't user data. That includes far more than what MS ships with the OS. If an app saves its configuration to a file, then that is a system file. If a banking app stores login information in a file, that too is a system file. If an app caches information retrieved from the internet, that is a system file, etc. etc. etc. The ability to meddle with any of those files can break an app or provide a huge attack surface for malicious misuse. WP has no way of knowing if those files really are system files or not.

What you thought MS should be able to do with just a little bit of work, is actually impossible for them to do on their own.

Symbian had a security model in place that required app developers to explicitly distinguish between the two, but app developers often messed this up. One example was a developer that decided users should be able to backup his app's configuration file, so he made it publicly accessible, but neglected to strip the file of the login credentials it had stored ever since version 1.0. There are hundreds of ways to royally screw up, and not all of them are obvious as this example.

Many OS' both are plenty secure and have user accessible file systems.

While such an argument can be made, most security researchers would disagree. I guess it depends on what your definition of "security" is. These days, most of the purely technical exploits are solved or well managed. These are very dangerous threats, and typically what people on forums think about when they mention security, but that is only a small piece of the security pie.

Today, app developers and smartphone users represent the biggest threat to smartphone security. Part of an OS' job is to protect against errors made by them, malicious or otherwise. That is what the file system restrictions are protecting against.

In a nutshell, the operating systems you are referring to can be secure, but only when expertly administered. Smartphones are consumer products however... they just need to work, and they must do so with zero expert administration. That is a completely different ball game.

I'm not saying the current solution is perfect, far from it. I'm just trying to point out that things aren't as simple and obvious as many think.

 

[Edson Vuma]

i will not make any comment one way or another about the value of a file manager (explorer etc.) on a wp8 phone; but i own two android tablets and i cannot tell you how many times esexplorer has saved my bacon. It is quite possible for microsoft to hide system files so a file explorer would not even see them to modify them, without a little work. Maybe they think smartphone users are dumber than computer users and they will some way mess up the phones and cause trouble for tech support. So far i have not had the need for a file explorer on my 820, except for temp and other storage which gdr2 helped some. But it would be nice to have when i do need it and i am sure it will happen sooner or later. Take care people. Just my view.

100% agreed.

 

[Edson Vuma]

But you agree that it would be perfect to have a File Manager, right?

 

[a5cent]

But you agree that it would be perfect to have a File Manager, right?

That depends on your definition of what a file manager is.

If you imagine it to be a separate app that you can use to access all the app generated files on your smartphone (as previously explained the OS can't differentiate between app generated system files and user files), then no, it's the worst idea ever.

If you imagine it to be a separate app that can access only the public folders (Music, Documents, etc) and nothing more, then that is a possibility. However, that solution doesn't solve all the problems people have with random file access, so I don't consider that to be a great solution either. At least it isn't a complete solution.

This issue has been discussed a million times already. I would suggest you take a look around at what has already been written, for example here.

 

[madhusudan Jadhav]

dear sir,
the main problem is phone memory fills with downloaded contents. can this possible ,make sd card also as a default memory like as phone memory that will increase the total memory only the condition is all apps must have the share or edit option which is downloaded by self app. or make internal phone so big and apps has the options then also no problem only it will take extra money.

please reply.

 

[madhusudan Jadhav]

Nokia windows 8 phones doesnot give permission or access to its file system. Everytime one need to connect to pc inorder to copy move files. Files downloaded by uc browser or iexplore cannot be seen. Without file manager it is a **bleep**. Who says it a smart phone? It is a **bleep** piece

 

[designermmg]

MY GOD STAY AWAY FORM A WINDOWS PHONE,,if you have a samsung stick with it ... I hate windows. you cannot acess as easy through computer either its awful..

 

[designermmg]

it is all you say...fit for the bin. going back to samsung galaxy