(Credit:
DataViz)
Your BlackBerry may already have the free version of the Documents To Go viewer and editor loaded onto it. That's fine for casual users, but professionals who annex their smartphones into their virtual office will want the advanced creating and editing features of the premium version (compare features--PDF).
On BlackBerry phones, Documents To Go Premium Edition 2.0 adds four new features. There's a file browser to delete, rename, and copy and paste all the Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe PDF files across the Documents To Go sub-apps. There's also an enriched PDF To Go app with tools to find and copy text, save as, e-mail a file, and add a bookmark. Tying up a few loose ends, the update now lets you open password-protected Microsoft Word and Excel files that were created in Microsoft Office 2007, and in other Office documents stretching back to Office 97.
The last addition in the new Documents To Go Premium Edition is a desktop app that enables bidirectional USB syncing between your BlackBerry and your home computer. That spells an end to purely manual doc management between the two screens, but we'd love to see over-the-air syncing added next.
Documents To Go Premium Edition cost $69.99 for BlackBerry phones running operating system 4.5 or higher. If you already use Documents To Go Premium Edition on any smartphone, you can upgrade to the 2.0 version for BlackBerry for about $30.
Filling in a blank spreadsheet is an uphill battle, but one you can win.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Ever since Documents to Go came out on iPhone--both the standard version and with Microsoft Exchange Attachments--the publisher has been keeping our interest with promises of a version that could edit Excel documents and create new ones in addition to just viewing them.
That version, Documents to Go 2.0, is now here. The update brings Documents To Go back to fairly equal footing with rival Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite, which added Excel creation and editing support a month before.
In addition to viewing Excel XLS and XLSX documents, both Documents To Go apps can now also create new spreadsheets and edit existing ones. After taking a quick spin through the features, we can say it looks as if publisher DataViz, like Quickoffice, has been able to cram a lot of core features into a small space. There's support for multiple spreadsheets, and the capability to resize rows and columns and search cells (the Find feature). There are also formatting and typeface tools, and support for older, even password-protected, worksheets.
While the addition of Excel support brings this app back into direct competition with the Quickoffice suite, what's true in both cases is that it's infinitely easier to edit an Excel document on the iPhone than it is to create one fresh. However, if you must put your tapping fingers through the pages, then the opportunity is now, finally, here.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Good news comes to the iPhone workforce on Thursday, in the form of an update to Quickoffice Mobile Suite. The latest version will now create and edit the Word and Excel documents native to Microsoft Office 2007 on Windows, and Microsoft Office 2008 on Mac. Prior versions did not support these DOCX and XLSX formats.
The change brings Quickoffice Mobile Suite ahead of its most threatening productivity rival in terms of editing support. Neither of the two Documents To Go applications for iPhone can create Excel documents; their capability is view-only. However, for some people, creating spreadsheets is overkill. For that set, Documents To Go and Documents To Go with Exchange Attachments are the more dollar-conscious choice at about $5, and $10, respectively, compared to Quickoffice's $15 mobile suite. Documents To Go creates and edits DOCX Word files.
(Credit:
Data Viz)
On Tuesday, two versions of file-viewer Documents To Go entered the Android Market. There's the new, free version of Documents To Go 2.0 for Android, and an updated version of the premium model, which expands some of the original app's capabilities.
The lighter, freebie version lets you view Microsoft Word and Excel files and e-mail attachments, but not create new compositions or edit documents.
For a $29.99 upgrade, Documents To Go Premium adds editing into the mix. It also contains more grownup features, including context menus, formatting, word count, and the ability to create a Live Folder shortcut from the Android start screen.
In addition, the premium version layers on support for PowerPoint and PDFs, two other formats that have long been part of the Documents To Go family on other mobile platforms. Slideshow To Go gives Android users the ability to create, edit, and view Microsoft PowerPoint files. PDF To Go incorporates features like multiple zoom levels and password protection into its view-only mini app for Adobe PDFs.
You can get either version of Documents To Go 2.0 from the Android Market app on your phone--for English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Those who bought the original version 1.0 of the app will get the premium version of 2.0 for free. The application works on the T-Mobile G1, HTC Dream, HTC Magic, T-Mobile myTouch 3G, HTC Hero, Google Ion, Samsung Galaxy, and Samsung i7500.
Documents To Go (with and without support for Microsoft Exchange attachments) is one of our favorite applications for turning your iPhone into a home office. But it's not anywhere near complete and it has some formidable competition in the form of Quickoffice Mobile Suite, another premium offering.
If you're in the market for a document editor and creator, this video will give you a peep at what Documents To Go can offer in its first application release.
Up until last week, Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite was the most sophisticated Microsoft document reader and editor in the App Store. When Documents To Go came out (with and without support for Microsoft Exchange attachments,) some of you asked for a head-to-head comparison.
We'll see your request and raise it to a collection of business applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch that can help keep you productive at home or on the road.
Quickoffice versus Documents To Go
The starkest differences between Quickoffice Mobile Suite and Documents To Go boil down to price, file support, and interface. Both can view Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs, and iWork documents. They are also able to transfer files via a USB drive hookup or through pairing over a Wi-Fi network.
In terms of image quality, both had commendably clear and faithful rendering of images and text. Both instances of Documents To Go are less expensive (at the time of writing) than Quickoffice; about $5 and $10 versus Quickoffice's Mobile Suite at $20. However, Documents To Go can only edit and create Word docs. Quickoffice can generate and edit Word and Excel files.
Editing tools are more easily accessible in Quickoffice.
(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)The Word-only editing limitation brings the standard Documents To Go app closer to the standalone Quickword product (iTunes link), also about $5 now that it's on sale (it's been dropped down from $13.) Quickoffice cannot create or edit Word or Excel 2007 files at present, but Documents To Go does support Word 2007 documents.
In terms of layout and usability, Quickoffice's menu systems are slightly easier to access and use than those on Documents To Go. However, Documents To Go's more premium app opens the door to reading attachments sent over Microsoft Exchange. It's got a trickier setup process than we'd like, but once that's been cleared away, the actual reading and saving are smooth.
For now, choosing the better of the two apps for your needs is a simple calculation. Those who actively work with Excel documents should stick with Quickoffice at this time. Those who rely more on reading e-mail attachments in their full glory (and especially editing the attached Word docs) should head for the premium version of Documents To Go. The set that mostly needs access to Word documents but rarely works with spreadsheets should let economic considerations guide them to the $5 version of Documents To Go.
However, since both applications have ambitious development schedules and strategies, the value proposition of each could rapidly change by the version number. We'll be keeping an eye on these as they continue to take their turns at bat.
See which applications made our top productivity picks for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Corrected on June 26, 2009 at 2:45 p.m. PT: Documents To Go can edit and create Word 2007 documents.
If you've set up an Exchange in-box, you can view attachments.
(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)Documents To Go is such an excellent business tool for viewing and editing documents on other mobile platforms, we were excited to see it emerge in the iTunes App Store earlier this week. We talked about the more basic version of Documents To Go for iPhone (and iPod Touch; $4.99) here, which lets you create and edit Microsoft Word apps, and additionally displays Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs, and iWork files.
Quite a few users, however, had trouble with the more advanced version, Documents To Go with Exchange Attachments. This version essentially adds an in-app Exchange in-box that asks you to set up a Microsoft Exchange account in order to view the supported attachments. Many comments in the publisher's iTunes app page echoed users' frustrations at getting it set up, and hours spent trying to connect it just to have it fail. I decided to try it out.
Although I had already added a Microsoft Exchange in-box to the iPhone, Documents To Go required that I repeat the process. Making your way around domain and server names can be tricky, and it's easy to mistype a strong password. After a minute or two, the app successfully created a second Exchange in-box that had a few parameters, like how far back it should scan for attachments. I stuck with the 2-week default and in another minute or two, the application presented a list of e-mail messages flagged with attachments.
Opening one took some more time--Documents To Go, it appears, resyncs the first time you tap the floating attachment. You shouldn't have to wait the next time you revisit the attachment, except for the few seconds it takes to render the document you open. The viewer rendered spreadsheets and PDFs with its characteristic crispness, and scrolled without lags.
Click in your Docs To Go in-box to open a synced attachment.
(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)At this early stage, the secondary features are a little weak. You can view attachments from your in-box, out-box, and drafts. You can also locally save the attachment, but apart from Word documents, you won't yet be able to edit. Still, the faithful rendering makes Documents To Go's viewer a truer experience than that built into the iPhone.
Is it worth the extra time it takes to set up a new mailbox, sync it, and open the attachment? If you're a business user who's often on the road, probably. It helps to feel comfortable with your Exchange settings, or to be in contact with someone from the office (like an IT admin) who does. That "probably" shifts into a "definitely" if you're willing to give DataViz some leeway while it builds creation and editing tools for Excel, PowerPoint, and PDFs into future iterations (attachment support for other Webmail clients would also be welcome.) These versions give Documents To Go a toehold, but are not nearly as strong as we would hope or expect, given the tiered applications' performance on other mobile platforms. Business users, stay tuned.
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