Microsoft SkyDrive for Windows Phone review: SkyDrive is simple, sleek, and well-integrated

Sharing from SkyDrive is slick, as the app lets you send a download link in an e-mail or copy it to your clipboard, in just a few taps. From other apps, you can also access SkyDrive, in case you want to post a picture from an album in the cloud, straight to Facebook.

On the Android platform, one of the biggest complaints about SkyDrive is that it lacks a built-in interface for editing Office files. While Google Drive integrates a good amount of Google Docs' editing functionality, SkyDrive on the platform merely houses your Office files and nothing more. On Windows Phone, that is not exactly the case, since SkyDrive is so tightly integrated with the OS' built-in Office app. Thus, its a seamless transition between viewing your files in SkyDrive to editing Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel spreadsheets. And of course, all of your changes, once saved, are propagated to the cloud. What's also worth noting is that Office's mobile editing interface is significantly simpler than Google Drive's, especially when it comes to spreadsheets.

The only thing I found missing from SkyDrive was a password protection feature. Sure, you could always just secure your phone with a lock screen, but I like that the Dropbox app on Android offers another level of security, in case someone happens to get a hold of your device.

Because it is so tightly integrated with Microsoft Office and the Windows Phone OS as a whole, the SkyDrive app is an absolute necessity. It's free, it offers a convenient place to save your files (in the cloud), and it's incredibly easy to use. But before downloading, be aware that the app is only compatible with Windows Phone versions 7.5 or higher.