Android Apps:

I was excited to finally see some Android love from Synology. They have had iPhone apps available since DSM 2.2. And yes, I do have an Android phone, the first android operated phone, the G1 (Google) Phone by HTC.

Initially when I downloaded the DSM 3.0 firmware I also grabbed all three Android apps (DS Audio, DS Cam, & DS Photo +). If you setup your router with port forwarding, you could have access to your Music, Pictures and Security Videos that are stored on your DiskStation from anywhere in the world.

One feature all DS apps have is that they have local network search ability as you can see in the image below. The DS apps found both DiskStations on my network, although the apps will not connect to any version below DSM 3.0.



DS Audio:

In theory you could have mobile access to Terabytes of Music. Below you can see a few screenshots on my actual Android phone.

You will need to put in your credentials and the admin must grant each user privilege to use Audio Station. Here you have the option for 'remote mode', which is for controlling the music playing on the DS411+ when there is a USB speaker directed connected.



You can pick what music to play based on album, artist, genre, folder, playlist, or search for what you want. Once you have some items added to your active playlist, you can control the music with the standard options you would see on any music player.



DS Cam:

With the DS Cam app you can connect to the Surveillance system. Although there isn't as much functionality as the full blown Surveillance Station, for mobile access it should be more than sufficient. There are no setup options, so the configuration must be done from the Surveillance Station. It is also a good idea to name cameras something descriptive, unlike what I did for the review calling the one IP camera 'Camera'.

In the images below you can see the Live View for the camera(s). If you have more than one camera, they will appear in the list. You can click on a camera and view what is happening real time. There is a small button in the upper right to take a snapshot of the live view.



The next tab is for watching previously recorded events. Although it would be fairly small, I would like to see the thumbnails for the events like in the Surveillance Station. It would make it a bit easier to find what you are looking for. But you do have the ability to search as well.



DS Photo+:

Once again you are presented with a login screen. But since this is Photo Station, if there are public albums there is no need to login. Only if there are private albums would you need to login.



After login you can see the album thumbnail loaded with the album name and number of photos in each album. You can do the basic photo controls such as, zoom, view photo information, download & upload photos, comment, and start a slideshow.