Upgrade StorageZotEZ / Aziz - new android app
I just noticed a new Android app for Zotero, ZotEZ. Apparently it's a daughter app of Aziz Lite (http://azizlite.ezbio.net) which handles various different reference managers.
It doesn't connect to Zotero directly (the description and documentation isn't really clear about this...), instead you copy the whole Zotero profile directory (database file and the storare directory) onto the Android device, or put it on Dropbox, Googledrive or OneDrive, and then ZotEZ can open it.
It doesn't synchronise with the Zotero library. As far as I understand, ZotEZ is read-only but Aziz Lite can modify the local database file, which then can be synchronised with other computers via a cloud service. I'm not sure if this kind of direct synchronisation of the database file is safe (I wouldn't do it), but the app seems quite ok for offline read-only usage.
I'm not involved in any way with the app, I only noticed it on google play and thought this might be interesting for others.
It doesn't connect to Zotero directly (the description and documentation isn't really clear about this...), instead you copy the whole Zotero profile directory (database file and the storare directory) onto the Android device, or put it on Dropbox, Googledrive or OneDrive, and then ZotEZ can open it.
It doesn't synchronise with the Zotero library. As far as I understand, ZotEZ is read-only but Aziz Lite can modify the local database file, which then can be synchronised with other computers via a cloud service. I'm not sure if this kind of direct synchronisation of the database file is safe (I wouldn't do it), but the app seems quite ok for offline read-only usage.
I'm not involved in any way with the app, I only noticed it on google play and thought this might be interesting for others.
If you use it the way you describe, i.e. you just copy the database over, there's of course no risk at all, but since that seems a lot less convenient (you have to repeat that copying step all the time), I'd be concerned most people would follow the more risky & less convenient path.
Still, if one copies the files only in one direction, then ZotEZ can be useful for those who want to access their library offline on an Android. There aren't really any other solutions that work well without hassle.
I had a bit more time to test the app now and I have to say it is very limited. It doesn't understand tags, search is limited, so it's hard to find articles. I find the interface also quite clumsy, and it takes very long to start (but I have a large library of 5000 articles).
So it makes handling a library somewhat easier than just having a directory full of PDFs, but it doesn't do much more.