The best office apps for Android
The best office apps for
Android
By JR Raphael, InfoWorld |
Dec 15, 2014
Which office package
provides the best productivity experience on Android? We put the leading
contenders to the test
Getting serious about mobile productivity
We live in an increasingly mobile world -- and while many
of us spend our days working on traditional desktops or laptops, we also
frequently find ourselves on the road and relying on tablets or smartphones to
stay connected and get work done.
Where do you turn when it's time for serious productivity
on an Android device? The Google Play Store boasts several popular office suite
options; at a glance, they all look fairly comparable. But don't be fooled: All
Android office apps are not created equal.
I spent some time testing the five most noteworthy
Android office suites to see where they shine and where they fall short. I
looked at how each app handles word processing, spreadsheet editing, and
presentation editing -- both in terms of the features each app offers and
regarding user interface and experience. I took both tablet and smartphone
performance into consideration.
Click through for a detailed analysis; by the time you're
done, you'll have a crystal-clear idea of which Android office suite is right
for you.
(Note: Microsoft's Office Mobile app is not included in
this comparison, as the company does not currently allow the app to be
installed on Android tablets.)
Best Android word processor: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
Mobile Systems' OfficeSuite 8 Premium offers
desktop-class word processing that no competitor comes close to matching. The
UI is clean, easy to use, and intelligently designed to expand to a
tablet-optimized setup. Its robust set of editing tools is organized into
easily accessible on-screen tabs on a tablet (and condensed into drop-down
menus on a phone). OfficeSuite 8 Premium provides practically everything you
need, from basic formatting to advanced table creation and manipulation
utilities. You can insert images, shapes, and freehand drawings; add and view
comments; track, accept, and reject changes; spell-check; and calculate word
counts. There's even a native PDF markup utility, PDF export, and the ability
to print to a cloud-connected printer.
OfficeSuite 8 Premium works with locally stored
Word-formatted files and connects directly to cloud accounts, enabling you to
view and edit documents without having to download or manually sync your work.
Purchasing OfficeSuite 8 Premium is another matter.
Search the Play Store, and you'll find three offerings from Mobile Systems: a
free app, OfficeSuite 8 + PDF Converter; a $14.99 app, OfficeSuite 8 Pro + PDF;
and another free app, OfficeSuite 8 Pro (Trial). The company also offers a
dizzying array of add-ons that range in price from free to $20.
The version reviewed here -- and the one most business
users will want -- is accessible only by downloading the free OfficeSuite 8 +
PDF Converter app and following the link on the app's main screen to upgrade to
Premium, which requires a one-time $19.99 in-app purchase that unlocks all
possible options, giving you the most fully featured setup, no further
purchases required.
App: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
Price: $19.99 (via in-app upgrade)
Developer: Mobile Systems
Runner-up Android word processor: Google Docs
Google's mobile editing suite has come a long way, thanks
largely to its integration of Quickoffice, which Google acquired in 2012. With
the help of Quickoffice technology, the Google Docs word processor has matured
into a usable tool for folks with basic editing needs.
Docs is nowhere near as robust as OfficeSuite 8 Premium,
but if you rely mainly on Google's cloud storage or want to do simple on-the-go
writing or editing, it's light, free, and decent enough to get the job done,
whether you’re targeting locally stored files saved in standard Word formats or
files stored within Docs in Google's proprietary format.
Docs' clean, minimalist interface follows Google's
Material Design motif, making it pleasant to use. It offers basic formatting
(fonts, lists, alignment) and tools for inserting and manipulating images and
tables. The app's spell-check function is limited to identifying misspelled
words by underlining them within the text; there's no way to perform a manual
search or to receive proper spelling suggestions.
Google Docs' greatest strength is in its cross-device
synchronization and collaboration potential: With cloud-based documents, the
app syncs changes instantly and automatically as you work. You can work on a
document simultaneously from your phone, tablet, or computer, and the edits and
additions show up simultaneously on all devices. You can also invite other
users into the real-time editing process and keep in contact with them via
in-document commenting.
App: Google Docs
Price: Free
Developer: Google
The rest of the Android word processors
Infraware's Polaris Office is a decent word processor
held back by pesky UI quirks and an off-putting sales approach. The app was
clearly created for smartphones; as a result, it delivers a subpar tablet
experience with basic commands tucked away and features like table creation
stuffed into short windows that require awkward scrolling to see all the
content. Polaris also requires you to create an account before using the app
and pushes its $40-a-year membership fee to gain access to a few extras and the
company's superfluous cloud storage service.
Kingsoft's free WPS Mobile Office (formerly Kingsoft
Office) has a decent UI but is slow to open files and makes it difficult to
find documents stored on your device. I also found it somewhat buggy and
inconsistent: When attempting to edit existing Word (.docx) documents, for
instance, I often couldn't get the virtual keyboard to load, rendering the app
useless. (I experienced this on multiple devices, so it wasn’t specific to any
one phone or tablet.)
DataViz's Docs to Go (formerly Documents to Go) has a
dated, inefficient UI, with basic commands buried behind layers of pop-up menus
and a design reminiscent of Android's 2010 Gingerbread era. While it offers a
reasonable set of features, it lacks functionality like image insertion and
spell check; also, it's difficult to find and open locally stored documents. It
also requires a $14.99 Premium Key to remove ads peppered throughout the
program and to gain access to any cloud storage capabilities.
Best Android spreadsheet editor: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
With its outstanding user interface and comprehensive
range of features, OfficeSuite 8 Premium stands out above the rest in the realm
of spreadsheets. Like its word processor, the app's spreadsheet editor is
clean, easy to use, and fully adaptive to the tablet form.
It's fully featured, too, with all the mathematical
functions you'd expect organized into intuitive categories and easily
accessible via a prominent dedicated on-screen button. Other commands are
broken down into standard top-of-screen tabs on a tablet or are condensed into
a drop-down menu on a smartphone.
With advanced formatting options to multiple sheet
support, wireless printing, and PDF exporting, there's little lacking in this
well-rounded setup. And as mentioned above, OfficeSuite offers a large list of
cloud storage options that you can connect with to keep your work synced across
multiple devices.
App: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
Price: $19.99 (via in-app upgrade)
Developer: Mobile Systems
Runner-up Android spreadsheet editor: Polaris Office
Polaris Office still suffers from a subpar,
non-tablet-optimized UI, but after OfficeSuite Premium 8, it's the next best
option.
Design aside, the Polaris Office spreadsheet editor
offers a commendable set of features, including support for multiple sheets and
easy access to a full array of mathematical functions. The touch targets are
bewilderingly small, which is frustrating for a device that's controlled by
fingers, but most options you'd want are all there, even if not ideally
presented or easily accessible.
Be warned that the editor has a quirk: You sometimes have
to switch from "view" mode to "edit" mode before you can
make changes to a sheet -- not entirely apparent when you first open a file. Be
ready to be annoyed by the required account creation and subsequent attempts to
get you to sign up for an unnecessary paid annual subscription.
Quite honestly, the free version of OfficeSuite would be
a preferable alternative for most users; despite its feature limitations
compared to the app's Premium configuration, it still provides a better overall
experience than Polaris or any of its competitors. If that doesn't fit the bill
for you, Polaris Office is a distant second that might do the trick.
App: Polaris Office
Price: Free (with optional annual subscription)
Developer: Infraware
The rest of the Android spreadsheet editors
Google Sheets (part of the Google Docs package) lacks too
many features to be usable for anything beyond the most basic viewing or
tweaking of a simple spreadsheet. The app has a Function command for standard
calculations, but it's hidden and appears in the lower-right corner of the
screen inconsistently, rendering it useless most of the time. You can’t sort
cells or insert images, and its editing interface adapts poorly to tablets. Its
only saving grace is integrated cloud syncing and multiuser/multidevice
collaboration.
WPS Mobile Office is similarly mediocre: It's slow to
open files, and its Function command -- a vital component of spreadsheet work
-- is hidden in the middle of an "Insert" menu. On the plus side, it
has an impressive range of features and doesn't seem to suffer from the
keyboard bug present in its word-processing counterpart.
Docs to Go is barely in the race. Its embarrassingly
dated UI makes no attempt to take advantage of the tablet form. Every command
is buried behind multiple layers of pop-up menus, all of which are accessible
only via an awkward hamburger icon at the top-right of the screen. The app's
Function command doesn't even offer descriptions of what the options do -- only
Excel-style lingo like "ABS," "ACOS," and
"COUNTIF." During my testing, the app failed to open some perfectly
valid Excel (.xlsx) files I used across all the programs as samples.
Best Android presentation editor: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
OfficeSuite 8 Premium’s intuitive, tablet-optimized UI
makes it easy to edit and create presentations on the go. Yet again, it's the
best-in-class contender by a long shot. (Are you starting to sense a pattern
here?)
OfficeSuite offers loads of options for making slides
look professional, including a variety of templates and a huge selection of
slick transitions. It has tools for inserting images, text boxes, shapes, and
freehand drawings into your slides, and it supports presenter notes and offers
utilities for quickly duplicating or reordering slides. You can export to PDF
and print to a cloud-connected printer easily.
If you're serious about mobile presentation editing,
OfficeSuite 8 Premium is the only app you should even consider.
App: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
Price: $19.99 (via in-app upgrade)
Developer: Mobile Systems
Runner-up Android presentation editor: Polaris Office
If it weren't for the existence of OfficeSuite, Polaris's
presentation editor would look pretty good. The app offers basic templates to
get your slides started; they're far less polished and professional-looking
than OfficeSuite's, but they get the job done.
Refreshingly, the app makes an effort to take advantage
of the tablet form in this domain, providing a split view with a rundown of
your slides on the left and the current slide in a large panel alongside it.
(On a phone, that rundown panel moves to the bottom of the screen and becomes
collapsible.)
With Polaris, you can insert images, shapes, tablets,
charts, symbols, and text boxes into slides, and drag-and-drop to reorder any
slides you've created. It offers no way to duplicate an existing slide, however,
nor does it sport any transitions to give your presentation pizazz. It also
lacks presenter notes.
Most people would get a better overall experience from
even the free version of OfficeSuite, but if you want a second option, Polaris
is the one.
App: Polaris Office
Price: Free (with optional annual subscription)
Developer: Infraware
The rest of the Android presentation editors
Google Slides (part of the Google Docs package) is
bare-bones: You can do basic text editing and formatting, and that's about it.
The app does offer predefined arrangements for text box placement -- and
includes the ability to view and edit presenter notes -- but with no ability to
insert images or slide backgrounds and no templates or transitions, it's
impossible to create a presentation that looks like it came from this decade.
WPS Mobile Office is similarly basic, though with a few
extra flourishes: The app allows you to insert images, shapes, tables, and
charts in addition to plain ol' text. Like Google Slides, it lacks templates,
transitions, and any other advanced tools and isn't going to create anything
that looks polished or professional.
Last but not least, Docs to Go -- as you're probably
expecting by this point -- borders on unusable. The app's UI is dated and
clunky, and the editor offers practically no tools for modern presentation
creation. You can't insert images or transitions; even basic formatting tools
are sparse. Don't waste your time looking at this app.
Putting it all together
The results are clear: OfficeSuite 8 Premium is by far
the best overall office suite on Android today. From its excellent UI to its
commendable feature set, the app is in a league of its own. At $19.99, the full
version isn't cheap, but you get what you pay for, which is the best mobile
office experience with next to no compromises. The less fully featured
OfficeSuite 8 Pro ($9.99) is a worthy one-step-down alternative, as is the
basic, ad-supported free version of the main OfficeSuite app.
If basic on-the-go word processing is all you require --
and you work primarily with Google services -- Google's free Google Docs may be
good enough. The spreadsheet and presentation editors are far less functional,
but depending on your needs, they might suffice.
Polaris Office is adequate but unremarkable. The basic
program is free, so if you want more functionality than Google's suite but
don't want to pay for OfficeSuite -- or use OfficeSuite's lower-priced or free
offerings -- it could be worth considering. But you'll get a significantly less
powerful program and less pleasant overall user experience than what
OfficeSuite provides.
WPS Mobile Office is a small but significant step behind,
while Docs to Go is far too flawed to be taken seriously as a viable option.
With that, you're officially armed with all the necessary
knowledge to make your decision. Grab the mobile office suite that best suits
your needs -- and be productive wherever you may go.
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