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Solid Explorer vs Dir - Open Source File Manager

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When comparing Solid Explorer vs Dir - Open Source File Manager, the Slant community recommends Solid Explorer for most people. In the question“What are the best file explorers on Android?” Solid Explorer is ranked 1st while Dir - Open Source File Manager is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose Solid Explorer is:

With the amount of functions as well as the two pane browsing, Solid Explorer is very easy to use.

Specs

No specs yet!

LicenseApache 2.0

PlatformsAndroid

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

Common Questions

What are the best file explorers on Android?

Pros

Pro
Easy to use

With the amount of functions as well as the two pane browsing, Solid Explorer is very easy to use.

Pro
Two panel browsing

Solid Explorer allows for two separate panels to be browsed simultaneously, allowing for easy copy past functions as well as drag and drop.

Pro
Beautiful material design

Pro
Connects to cloud services

Add Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, and more, all natively through extensions.

Pro
Ability to read and extract ZIP, 7ZIP, RAR and TAR archives, even encrypted

Pro
Rich customization options: icons sets, colour schemes, themes

Pro
A perfect implementation of Material Design

Pro
Multi-Platform Versatility

Solid Explorer has efficient, productive, and fluid interfaces customized for each users' specific platforms. Versatile, intuitive, and productive on small mobile screens, and capitalizes on larger mobiles (tablets), increasing functionality with added screen real estate.

Pro
Cloud file manager: Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, Sugarsync, Copy, Mediafire, Owncloud, Yandex

Pro
Ability to create password protected ZIP and 7ZIP archives

Pro
FTP, SFTP, WebDav, SMB/CIFS clients

Pro
Root access makes Solid Explorer a fully functional root explorer

Pro
Detailed file information with storage usage statistics

Pro
Native picture viewer (SE Image) and music player (SE Music Player)

Allows quick opening of images and audio files to preview without opening another app.

Pro
Useful tools: hiding unwanted folders, FTP Server (plugin), bookmarks, Chromecast support, media browser

Pro
Batch rename: change names of multiple files at once using regular expressions and variables

Pro
Indexed search finds your files in a couple of seconds

Pro
Protect individual files &/or folders with a password

If your device has a fingerprint sensor you can use it to open encrypted files without a need to provide the password. The same applies for cloud storages, which can now be accessed with the fingerprint as well.

Pro
Extensibility: more features in separate plugins available in Google Play

Pro
Light on resources

The app doesn't take up much storage space; dark mode serves as a battery-saver.

Pro
Privacy-focused

This app doesn't collect any of your private data and it doesn't require any unnecessary permissions.

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Cons

Con
Costs money

There is a 14 day free trial, but for those that would like to use the app longer, it will cost money to unlock.

Con
Slow SMB connections

Connecting to a Samba server can take 30 seconds or longer.

Con
No native Office document viewer or video player

There is no native document viewer, except for the plain text editor (SE Text Editor), nor is there a native video player, with the exception of a video casting app (SE Video Cast). The video casting app appears to require a Chromecast device.