When comparing File Explorer vs OI File Manager, the Slant community recommends OI File Manager for most people. In the question“What are the best file explorers on Android?” OI File Manager is ranked 9th while File Explorer is ranked 21st. The most important reason people chose OI File Manager is:
It asks only for Storage permissions. No other things are required.
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Pros
Pro Completely free and zero advertisements
There is zero cost to using this app as well as zero advertisements in the app itself.
Pro Open Source
File Explorer is filed under the GPL v3 license.
Pro Few permissions
It asks only for Storage permissions. No other things are required.
Pro Lightweight
The app takes only a few seconds to download, as its size is only about 1.5 MB to download and installed (on MIUI) takes only ~6 MB full size.
Pro Open Source
OI File Manager is available for free under the Apache License 2.0.
Pro ZIP file extraction support
OI File Manager supports extracting ZIP files.
Cons
Con Can not select multiple files at the same time
There is no multi-select file support in the app, which means no batch copy, paste or deletions.
Con No additional features (suite)
No other features such as networking connections, junk flies cleaner, built-in media player/viewer/editor. But that might be a pro, since nothing else is asked for this app permission.
Con Outdated
At this moment I'm writing, it was updated last in 2017.
Con Ugly UI
The GUI is old and deprecated. But what would you expect for such a small app?