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[Q] How functional is the included Office Suite?

I am a proud Xoom owner/user but when it comes to available office suites I feel very neglected. I started a thread over at the Xoom forum comparing some of the main features of three major (tablet optimized) office suites.
The official Asus Transformer website states that it will be shipped with the Polaris Suite. Has anyone tried it yet? I know it will be next to impossible to get the apk to run it on the Xoom so if anyone wants to add their experience on the Transformer? Here is the link to the PowerPoint presentation that I used to evaluate the compatibility.
Your help is really appreciated!

it doesn't work to bad.. everything displays apart from the line of symbol text and the the page numbers just show up as hash. The speed of the app is fine in fact is is almost instant.

logichoops said:
it doesn't work to bad.. everything displays apart from the line of symbol text and the the page numbers just show up as hash. The speed of the app is fine in fact is is almost instant.
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Would you mind taking a screenshot for me?

Screenshots:
http://db.tt/Ob5Memd
http://db.tt/GqUiZtH
Speed is very good

^ beat me to it!

logichoops said:
it doesn't work to bad.. everything displays apart from the line of symbol text and the the page numbers just show up as hash. The speed of the app is fine in fact is is almost instant.
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It has some functions that most other office apps don't have - insert table for example. Even better the table functionality is very feature rich meaning you can do things like merge cells.
I have had it crash on me, and when it did so, it lost all of the work I had done - it would be nice if they did a periodic save.
Speed in use is fine.
I'm comparing it to various paid for office apps I have had on the iPad, and it compares favourably so far.

A question is, is it better than Google docs?

I posted a comparison between (for now Word and PowerPoint) Office Suites in the Xoom forum. Bottom line is that none of the currently available apps should be considered perfect. Hopefully the competition coming up with all the Honeycomb tablets will spark a flood of well-developed apps.

I have found that the doc/xls files saved with polaris suite won't open with openoffice or libre office on my ubuntu 10.10 box, which is a shame, as I really like the functionality of it otherwise. In fact, I don't even think they opened with QuickOffice, which I installed next and, despite its more limited functionality, is reasonably good on my transformer!

lytnus said:
I have found that the doc/xls files saved with polaris suite won't open with openoffice or libre office on my ubuntu 10.10 box, which is a shame, as I really like the functionality of it otherwise. In fact, I don't even think they opened with QuickOffice, which I installed next and, despite its more limited functionality, is reasonably good on my transformer!
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I wonder if they open in Word. Such suite should have at least RTF. DOC/XLS are very bad choices especially since there are several very different versions of DOC/XLS formats out there.

Here's a youtube review of Polaris. This guy is awesome. Watch his reviews.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGSfL6XjcN8

popophobia said:
Here's a youtube review of Polaris. This guy is awesome. Watch his reviews.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGSfL6XjcN8
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I checked out his other videos and it made me want to test drive the Transformer so badly. Even my wife who leans towards iProducts was pretty impressed by its options!

Has anyone been able to get google docs integration work on on Polaris?
I can download a document from my google docs. However it will only save it locally and it won't upload it back to google docs. I also tried creating a new document and pushing it up to google docs and that also failed.

cd419 said:
Has anyone been able to get google docs integration work on on Polaris?
I can download a document from my google docs. However it will only save it locally and it won't upload it back to google docs. I also tried creating a new document and pushing it up to google docs and that also failed.
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If you have the Google Docs app installed, then within Polaris you can click-and-hold on a locally saved file, choose Send -> Docs and it will pass it to the Docs app for uploading.
But that just adds it to your Google docs, and doesn't overwrite and previous doc of the same name.

Damn I was really hoping for decent google docs support. I use google docs alot and not having read write acces is a pain. Does anyone know if Docs to go or quick office has read wirte google docs support and have tried on the xformer?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

Can you not use Google Docs via the web browser on the TF?

You can use the mobile docs site but it is very basic. The desktop site crashes the browser when I try to use it.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

lytnus said:
I have found that the doc/xls files saved with polaris suite won't open with openoffice or libre office on my ubuntu 10.10 box, which is a shame, as I really like the functionality of it otherwise.
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The way LibreOffice doesn't open my Polaris file is clearly an LO bug: it crashes trying to do a division by 0.
I'm not allowed to post a URL on this forum but I can tell you that it is bug 40686 in the freedesktop.org bugzilla.

Your best bet is to get quickoffice and doc2go. Between polaris, quickoffice, and doc2go, you should be able to do everything you want to do on-the-go.

This topic has long since evolved in my comparison thread (see sig)
goodintentions said:
Your best bet is to get quickoffice and doc2go. Between polaris, quickoffice, and doc2go, you should be able to do everything you want to do on-the-go.
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[Q] Polaris Office and Google Docs Performance

Hey everyone,
I've been looking closely at the Transformer and it looks like an excellent tablet. The only qualm I have is if I'm going to have it replace some of my other devices for frequent use, it needs to handle Google Docs (or in this case, I suspect the syncing with Polaris Office is the better way to go).
Could anyone tell me how the experience is with syncing between Google Docs? Most importantly, I'm hoping that it can handle relatively complex spreadsheets.
I was going to post an example of the complexity I'm talking about, but I guess I'm too much of a noob to do so yet If you do a Google search for "Epizephyrii Pathfinder Character Sheet" it'll be the first result.
Regular documents are of interest too, but I suspect if it can handle spreadsheets well it'll handle text docs just fine.
Alternatively, how is direct access to docs and spreadsheets on the Transformer? I have an Archos 101 at the moment and haven't been impressed with the lagginess that seems to haunt Google Docs on it.
Thanks!

Locri said:
The only qualm I have is if I'm going to have it replace some of my other devices for frequent use, it needs to handle Google Docs (or in this case, I suspect the syncing with Polaris Office is the better way to go).
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I'd prefer using Google Docs directly - it's MUCH safer (Polaris Office doesn't auto save). Could someone tell if it's fast enough?

If you mean the Google docs website then I just tried it and it was basically unusable. Not sure why they don't have an app for it :S
Edit - just tried mobile site version and it was useable but really basic compared to the proper site

case0 said:
If you mean the Google docs website then I just tried it and it was basically unusable. Not sure why they don't have an app for it :S
Edit - just tried mobile site version and it was useable but really basic compared to the proper site
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Thats really bad news. Why was it unusable? Slow? Or problems with input?

Yeah, I would forget about using the Google Docs site, especially with those complex spreadsheets. I pulled it up on the stock browser and while it would display it, you couldn't really navigate or scroll around it.
I tried to log into to my Google Docs account through Polaris, but kept getting a log in error. Not sure if others are having this problem, but meant that I couldn't really test out that example spreadsheet.
However I do have two paid Office suites available (Docs to Go and Quick Office Pro HD) so I accessed the spreadsheet through those. Docs to Go struggled, in fact made the file read only since there were so many elements it couldn't display. Quick Office fared much better, it displayed the spreadsheet, I could navigate around it and enter text into the cells. Not sure how close it looks to the desktop version.
I would imagine that if a paid app like Docs to Go is struggling, then the free Polaris might also have some issues. At the moment Quick Office seems like your best bet.

You mean it's hard to navigate (touchpad/mouse and keyboard should help then) or doesn't work properly at all? I'm interested in the writing app more than spreadsheet (but simple spreadsheets must work too). Maybe it's better in some other browser? Firefox?

Magnesus said:
You mean it's hard to navigate (touchpad/mouse and keyboard should help then) or doesn't work properly at all? I'm interested in the writing app more than spreadsheet (but simple spreadsheets must work too). Maybe it's better in some other browser? Firefox?
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I found it hard to navigate because of lag, but text input didn't work for me either. Firefox displays websites in their mobile formats so couldn't test it on that browser.

Now that a few more people have the Transformer in their hands (lucky arses ), can anyone answer this question? How well does Polaris Office interact with Google Docs and especially spreadsheets?
I don't care so much that it doesn't auto-save, I can do that myself, but considering the poor showing of Google's Docs app, I'm hoping there will be something much better.
Thanks!

I have the Eee Pad Transformer and I have used the Polaris Office, however you can access the files and download them. I cannot seem to sync it back up though and so that means that the word doc has to be sent via gmail. Does anyone know what you are meant to do to get it to sync back up with Google Docs?

Polaris Office syncs very well with Dropbox... you open any Dropbox Doc or Spreadsheet, it opens, you make changes, close Polaris and Dropbox automatically uploads the doc with updated changes. Dropbox handles this very well. (I imagine the same is true for HD & QuickOffice)
However, Polaris's ability to edit Excel spreadsheets is very limited. I had been hoping to use this on the go, but in my few days of experimenting Polaris changes the format of cells and does not retain formulas, etc. For example, I have billing spreadsheet for work that need to update on the fly. I can update from the TF on Polaris, and access pretty quickly, view the spreadsheet fine. Dropbox uploads the edits just fine, but when I get back to the desktop I have lost formatting, the time and date formatted fields have changed to decimal numbers, date fields are no longer dates (as in 05/07/2011 changes to .40670). It is really more frustrating than useful, so for me it is not usable.
I'd love to hear more about others experiences with other Office apps.
I'm still experimenting with Google Docs... there is a new Google Docs app that I'm hoping will be my solution (although I haven't had a chance yet). I'll update in this thread when I do.
Edit: I also learned Polaris does not like .xlsx spreadsheets... saving as .xls 2003 format seems to work much better; although not fix the formatting problem

case0 said:
If you mean the Google docs website then I just tried it and it was basically unusable. Not sure why they don't have an app for it :S
Edit - just tried mobile site version and it was useable but really basic compared to the proper site
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I dled one on the market made by Google...
But yes, it's very simplistic with no options. Not even bold or font change.
Also, with Polaris, is there a quick save option on the keyboard like ctrl+something? That can be an alternative to autosave.
And how come there is no spell checker?!

I finally got my Transformer yesterday and have done some quick informal testing on this issue (along with some testing already done by another forum member who helped me out outside of this thread).
The big takeaway is that while you can open documents from Google Docs, you can't sync them with Google Docs. Anything you modify has to be saved in an Office format and can only be saved locally not to the cloud. For the spreadsheet I was asking about it rendered okay, but I couldn't change any numbers relating to formulas without it sputtering out on me and some sheets it downloaded wrong and left me with a mess.
I'm interested in trying a combo of DropBox and Office, but for Google Docs it sucks.
I also tested Google Docs on various browsers to see how they all performed. The default Android browser rendered everything fine, but was dog slow. Dolphin HD was similarly pretty slow, although not as bad. Opera did a better job yet, but the top of the pack without a doubt ended up being Firefox! I had some problems with it constantly wanting to pop up the keyboard and editing things was a pain, but much less of a pain then the other browsers. For viewing only it was actually really good.
I still have hopes that Google will make some improvements with both the Android browser (why is it, again, that it can't just be a direct Chrome port? why are they bothering with the Chrome OS?), but at the moment there is no way that this could be my only portable device for lack of good Google Docs support alone. Or maybe some other online docs system will work better.

Locri said:
but the top of the pack without a doubt ended up being Firefox! I had some problems with it constantly wanting to pop up the keyboard and editing things was a pain, but much less of a pain then the other browsers.
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I wonder how it will work with normal keyboard (keyboard dock or bluethooth/usb one).
but at the moment there is no way that this could be my only portable device for lack of good Google Docs support alone.
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The same here. And if Google Docs doesn't work other web application will have problems too. Judging by the SunSpider test the tablet should be more than capable of working with such web apps.

A quick test between Polaris and quickoffice. Polaris has a much better ui for viewing and editing docs. As mentioned Polaris only downloads from google docs. It does not save. Quickofficehas a lot more syncing features with docs, dropbox and more.
Edit : I also wanted to point out that quickoffice has a phone and tablet version. You have to buy them separately though. (Just like docs to go). It seems that quickoffice HD has been ported from the mobile version with only some basic tablet features added. This is the likely the reason the ui isn't as good as Polaris. I would hope they update it to be better in the future.

I'm struggling with this too. I do all my school work (uni assignments and document storage) on google docs and I often jump between workstations (home, work, and now the eee pad). Currently the eee pad is the only one I can't just start working then stop and change where I'm working.
I'm going to try the dropbox solution.

RonSykes said:
I'm struggling with this too. I do all my school work (uni assignments and document storage) on google docs and I often jump between workstations (home, work, and now the eee pad). Currently the eee pad is the only one I can't just start working then stop and change where I'm working.
I'm going to try the dropbox solution.
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I've found that Docs to Go works pretty well. In terms of Google docs integration, it doesn't auto-save, so you have to go File - Save. Unlike Polaris though, it re-saves to the cloud directly.
That means that yes, you could pick up and work on stuff anywhere you go now

Dan76 said:
Polaris Office syncs very well with Dropbox... you open any Dropbox Doc or Spreadsheet, it opens, you make changes, close Polaris and Dropbox automatically uploads the doc with updated changes. Dropbox handles this very well.
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I cant get this to work. How do you do?
When i opnå docindropbox it open in polaris office, but when i save i get savede on the tablet not in dropbox

michaeltryl said:
I cant get this to work. How do you do?
When i opnå docindropbox it open in polaris office, but when i save i get savede on the tablet not in dropbox
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I just re-tested it and there's no configuring necessary... it just works. You have dropbox installed, open dropbox and tap on the doc to open it, it will open in Polaris. Edit any way you like, the make sure you click "save" in Polaris on the upper left. Dropbox will then automatically upload the file. I tested and can verify that this works perfectly!
A caveat though, Polaris can only edit Word and Excel 2003 documents. So if you have newer versions on your computer, save it as 2003 first. Otherwise Polaris will crash; in my experience.
I hope that helps.

thanks i used office 2010 doc.it works perfekt with 2003.

Book Reader

Hi there
I'm buying an Android tablet soon and I will be using it mainly for book reading.
I have a couple of questions about it for anyone that uses their tablet for it.
Is there ANY way to import your own eBook files into Google's new honeycomb book reading application? I'm not talking about uploading them to Google's servers, just dragging a book to a location on the tablet or something so that the application picks it up?
Are there any other good eBook readers that include a smooth animated page turn (like iPad eBook apps) and displays 2 pages rather than a single page paragraph? Optimized for tablets...

Nook has the two page view, BETTER page turn animations than the google app (and anything ive seen on ipad), and allows sideloading of epub files locally.

patass said:
Nook has the two page view, BETTER page turn animations than the google app (and anything ive seen on ipad), and allows sideloading of epub files locally.
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+1 for nook app. It looks good, it's super stable, and it sideloads easily.

I agree. The nook app is wonderful. 2 page looks fine if that's your thing, and the page turns look great. Also the best part in my mind is the ability to read books you purchased in original font. Though, since sideloading is your thing...you still get the best viewing features in Nook.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Nook app is the best. Way better than google books and u can add ur epubs.
Sent from my Samsung Epic

ive put my epub books in the content folder but it hasnt picked them up?
sorted just put them in nook/mydocuments and goto my files

anyway to get coverart on them?

[Q] Office Web Apps on TF?

I've tried searching for this answer to no avail. I'm considering buying the Prime when it comes out, but I need something that will be able to edit OneNote docs in class. Can someone with a Transformer tell me if the Office Web Apps work acceptably well? I'm not doing any heavy editing, but the Web Apps are perfect, because they save directly to the SkyDrive and I can edit them on my main comp outside of class.
Thanks!

Sadly, no. I havent checked in a couple months, but when I last did, it was slow on all major browsers (stock, dolphin, opera, firefox) and each having various incompatabilities usually related to scrolling or scaling.
In a pinch, they'll do, but I just converted to evernote (which, admittedly, isn't as good in my opinion).
I would be ecstatic if someone were to find a way to get onenote comfortably working on the transformer.

Thanks. There is MobileNoter SE HD, but I've heard mixed reviews. I suppose I'll just have to think of something else or opt for a netbook

You could try google docs, works fine on transformer or even the supplied polaris office.

Save webpage as .pdf

Recently I wanted to save a long webpage as a pdf so I could read it later and send it to someone, but I've discovered that Chrome Beta doesn't seem to have *any* print functions whatsoever... Since the desktop counterpart has the pretty handy print-to-pdf capability, I wonder why it was left out in the Android version?
More to the point: does anyone know a way to print to pdf from Chrome or Opera Mini? These are the browsers I use mostly. I've read Dolphin HD has it, but I'd really prefer not to have to install a fourth browser on this thing...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app

Can't offer an answer about converting webpages to PDF.
As far as printing from the web I tried a few printing apps and I always end up using "Printer Share" from the Play store.
I have Google cloud print set-up and working also.
Finding it complex when just trying accomplish a quick print from the web or any doc in the cloud.

Do you use Evernote?
I find it to be the easiest way to keep/share web pages.
Evernote on Android does not have the same functionality it has on Chrome Windows with the Web Clipper extension installed.
But what's the difference between keeping or mailing an actual web page to the link to it???
And that's easily accomplished in Chrome or the stock browser through the "share" function.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

Thats OK said:
Can't offer an answer about converting webpages to PDF.
As far as printing from the web I tried a few printing apps and I always end up using "Printer Share" from the Play store.
I have Google cloud print set-up and working also.
Finding it complex when just trying accomplish a quick print from the web or any doc in the cloud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not really interested in actual prints. I just wanted to print-to-pdf as a way of keeping a long webpage for offline use and annotation. Thanks for the reply anyway
berndblb said:
Do you use Evernote?
I find it to be the easiest way to keep/share web pages.
Evernote on Android does not have the same functionality it has on Chrome Windows with the Web Clipper extension installed.
But what's the difference between keeping or mailing an actual web page to the link to it???
And that's easily accomplished in Chrome or the stock browser through the "share" function.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an Evernote account, but haven't installed it on my Transformer as I don't really use it much. My idea was simply to save a webpage as a pdf for offline use and annotation. Can I do that in Evernote?
Chrome for the desktop has a great print-to-pdf function. Not only that, it also has a save-to-Google-Drive function in the print menu that saves a webpage as a pdf in your Drive account. I wish either were available on Android...

daemonios said:
I'm not really interested in actual prints. I just wanted to print-to-pdf as a way of keeping a long webpage for offline use and annotation....
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Click to collapse
i realise you don't want to install more browsers, but ...
just wanted to confirm that 'boat browser' has addon also for web2pdf ...
and both work awsum

daemonios said:
Recently I wanted to save a long webpage as a pdf so I could read it later and send it to someone, but I've discovered that Chrome Beta doesn't seem to have *any* print functions whatsoever... Since the desktop counterpart has the pretty handy print-to-pdf capability, I wonder why it was left out in the Android version?
More to the point: does anyone know a way to print to pdf from Chrome or Opera Mini? These are the browsers I use mostly. I've read Dolphin HD has it, but I'd really prefer not to have to install a fourth browser on this thing...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UrlToPDF on the Play Store works well for me.

Thanks everyone who chipped in. I'll give URLtoPDF a try, if that doesn't work I'll check out DolphinHD.

Suggestions for you
Based on my own experience, it is super easy to save webpage as PDF. You just need to use browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc, or other online PDF converters. The only drawback that you might don't like to use these ways is that they can be done easily on desktop.