Sheets To Go, the Microsoft Excel equivalent.
(Credit: Data Viz)BlackBerry users have been waiting for Documents To Go, an excellent document viewer that's been besting native viewers on mobile phones, for years. On Tuesday, Data Viz ended the impatient toe-tapping with Documents To Go Premium Edition 1.005 and its new companion PDF-viewer, PDF To Go.
The Premium Edition of Documents To Go ($49.99 for a yearly subscription or $69.99 for a lifetime license), builds on the Standard Edition that comes preloaded on the BlackBerry Bold (review), which also officially released in the U.S. today.
This pro version lets you read, fully edit, and create new word processing documents, spreadsheets, and slide shows that are compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. In Word To Go, for instance, the spell-checking, track-changing, and copy/paste actions are all there. So is support for formatting with bullets, fonts, and form and table inserts, and support for password-protecting those sensitive documents.
PDF To Go is a separate download for viewing PDF documents.
(Credit: Data Viz)Data Viz is also throwing in the new PDF viewer, PDF To Go, with the Premium Edition. Like most PDF viewers on any platform, PDF To Go supports zooming in and preserves formatting on the BlackBerry by wrapping words.
The standard version of Documents To Go is a bona fide perk for Bold owners, who would be otherwise stuck with the BlackBerry's traditionally rather stunted documents viewers. This premium version is certainly better, creating a seamless, intuitive, and feature-packed document handler. You can see a feature-by-feature comparison of the standard and premium versions here.
Documents To Go Premium Edition is undoubtedly a worthy investment for business folks and road warriors, but it also finds competition in eOffice 4.5, which is available for all BlackBerry operating systems (not just 4.5 and above), and which has most of the same features at a slightly lower price ($39.95). eOffice's additional support Google Docs and Spreadsheets, remote access to PC files, and the ability to fax or print documents from the BlackBerry gives Documents To Go Premium a hard run for your money.
You can try Documents To Go Premium for yourself as a free, thirty day trial. It's compatible with BlackBerry's Bold, Pearl Flip, and Storm smartphones.
Article updated 11/4/08.
There's much to admire in RIM's native software set for BlackBerry phones, but for many, the built-in document viewer isn't one of them. Word documents on most models open in a plain text monotone; serviceable, but without the benefit of formatting or the capability to edit the text.
On Monday, Quickoffice released an updated solution for business users and prosumers angling for a more familiar desktop read and the capability to edit attached documents. In addition to support for the usual Microsoft documents--Word, Excel, PowerPoint--eOffice 4.5 ($29.95 after a free 7-day trial) supports Google Docs and Spreadsheets. For companies that have adopted Google's collaboration tools, this feature could indeed provide a valuable way for employees to update their feedback--if their BlackBerry runs on platform 4.5.
The newer models do (the anticipated BlackBerry Bold will run on 4.6), but in the U.S. at least, carriers have been slower in releasing the software upgrade to existing customers whose BlackBerrys run on older software. Eventually, everyone will be approved for version 4.5, but when they get it, will they still want eOffice? Key Quickoffice competitor DataViz confirms that Documents To Go Standard Edition, a reader and basic editor, will come bundled with the carriers' 4.5 update.
The question, then, will be if BlackBerry owners seeking more advanced editing capabilities will upgrade from the free standard edition of Documents To Go to the premium edition, or if they'll give eOffice a try. While the DataViz Web site charts differences between the standard and premium builds, support for Google documents isn't listed among them. That could prove to be eOffice's edge.
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