Has anyone yet tried the following apps?
SoftMaker Office apps?
If it's anything as advanced as their legendary windows mobile edition, then it's worth 6 times the price
check out a review back in 2002 edition
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/software/textmaker-2002.htm
I would like to see if Android platform can hold a light to Windows yet, in terms of productivity.
Yeah, bought the complete Softmaker apps when the were available in the Play Store and still lovin' them like on my old Windows Mobile devices. :good:
I have them all as well. So far, I think they are the best of the Android Office replacement apps, but they are still pretty limited. They do not move you into "windows-level" productivity by any means. . . Perhaps one of their best features is that they allow you install and use all your TT fonts! Presentations works for mild editing of existing presentations and actually presents them reasonably well. . . but it is VERY limited for content creation.
Still, they are better than all the others I have tried (Quick Office, Smart Suite, Documents to Go, Kingsoft Office).
I use all three SoftMaker Office apps, too - no others have a comparable compatibility with Microsoft Office formats, no others are so feature-packed.
For all who are interested: I found that today only SoftMaker sells the complete package (íncluding word processor TextMaker Mobile, spreadsheet PlanMaker Mobile, and presentation program Presentations Mobile) €10 / US$ 10 cheaper, just have a look at the homepage, or Facebook profile for more information.
Office Suite is still #1 IMHO.
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@Jonathanpeyton:
I have used Office Suite Pro for a while, but I found the editing options to restricted, SoftMaker Office Mobile has so much more...
E.g. word processor: Office Suite Pro doesn't even display track changes correctly, but TextMaker Mobile gives you full functionality. You can see changes, record, accept/reject, and jump from one to the next, plus view, edit, and add comments. The process is very similar to how it works in Word, so anyone familiar with that program will have no problem in this app. Same with Comments, footnotes, endnotes,...
The presentation tool of Office Suite Pro doesn't even play all my slide transitions, and no sound, or animations, you can't place comments on your slides, you don't have a spell checker, and such... but Presentations Mobile plays it all and has it all.
Spreadsheet PlanMaker Mobile has more built-in functions than any other, masters syntax highlighting, and rotating text, supports 3d charts, and many other niceties Office Suite Pro doesn't offer.
You can buy a few dictionaries for Office Suite Pro, but get a lot more for free with SoftMaker Office Mobile; you can embed any TrueType, or OpenType fonts with it; and there are several more reasons for me finding SoftMaker Office Mobile way better than Office Suite Pro.
And one strength of it makes it invaluable for me: it's brilliant interoperability with Microsoft Office formats, because I can open any Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file faithfully with it, whilst all others that I've tested, including Office Suite Pro, had problems opening some documents (e.g. if those were password-protected, or had a large size), and opened others only with formatting losses.
If you don't know SoftMaker Office Mobile yet, you should download the free trial versions of TextMaker Mobile, PlanMaker Mobile, and Presenttaions Mobile from the Play Store, and compare them with Office Suite Pro.
Related
Hey everyone,
I was looking to buying a netbook, but this awesome tablet got me.
The first use will be for me university work: notes, powerpoints, excels.. you know.. that sort of boring student stuff.
So how does the tablet cope with .docx, graphs and powerpoint?
Especially, how good is the compatibility with graphs in excel?
What app do you use? Quickoffice? or the one already installed?
Also I would like to hear some feedback about the keyboard: I'm coming from the awesome one of the VAIO FW. How does it compare to a normal good notebook's keyboard ?
by the way I'm planning to buy the 16GB model + keyboard.
thank you
google docs not ok by you? (Don't mean that in a condescending way, but I think it works pretty well, and it works on android).
EDIT: With what I just said in mind, I have only used google docs for writing papers and doing spread sheets minus graphs. Graphing works but for some reason (maybe just preference, maybe there was a good reason) I kept going to openoffice for the graphs. Haven't tried presentations. However I would assume that google docs is not as powerful MS Office, it is compatible though, but I wouldn't feel right relying on it (google docs) for school stuff beyond the basics.
If you want to write some simple documents or presentations with some pictures and texts, the build-in polaris office is more than capable.. and the keyboard dock works surprisingly well..so you ain't going to miss the VAIO. Also, just tried creating some bar/line/pie chart in polaris office spreadsheet.. no problems at all.. no fancy 3D though..
also you won't find any advanced features like automatic reference in Word, animations/sequence in powerpoint or powerful statistics functions/pivot tables in Excel.
for university work, I won't worry about that too much...Polaris Office is a great office suite and I'm very impressed...
best if you go to your local store and try it out yourself..before you make the decision
Polaris does a better job not blowing up formatting than google docs ime. Of course that only matters if you are continuing on from a previous doc. Shockingly it opened my resume (relatively heavily formatted) just fine.
Presentations are going to be something I can't comment on!
Thank you for the answers.
I found this extremely useful thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13993341#post13993341
which compares the different Office Suites for Android
It might also be useful to know that 'Citrix Receiver' works well on the tablet. My uni allows students to login with citrix and use the programs of the campus. Simply put, I can kind of run any possible program (as long as I'm online that is).
Possible the place where you will go studying has something like citrix?
Powerpoint Animations
Hi to all,
Has anyone found an app that will run PPT presentations just as they would run on a PC? I'd love to be able to run my prezos with all animations...
Thanks much!
husker71 said:
Hi to all,
Has anyone found an app that will run PPT presentations just as they would run on a PC? I'd love to be able to run my prezos with all animations...
Thanks much!
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+1 for this..
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Don't think that you'll find any software for Android. Android is primary for gaming, not working.
But Excel and Word sheets work quite good with Polaris Office (pre-installed), I haven't tried PPT yet.
It all depends on what you plan on doing. Simple word processing, presentation, or spread sheet would be OK. In Excel for instance if you use macro's you will run into problems. I know that Polaris could read some of my files.
To be honest there are people on here that claim to have replaced their laptop with the Transformer but frankly I don't see how. It is fine for internet, email, & entertainment. It isn't going to replace a laptop that you use for work or school in my view anyway.
Polaris Office work pretty well and is included with the TF (can't beat fee functional software). Just don't expect it to be as functional and easy to use as a real PC.
Honestly if I where using it MS Office apps for school, I'd stick to a laptop. You'll be a lot less frustrated that way. TF would be fine simple office type task or edits in a pinch, but I wouldn't want it to be my main Office device.
Lets not forget tablets aren't true laptop replacements, they don't have that kind of power.
If you've used Windows Mobile you have probably heard of Softmaker who had one of the most capable office suites for Windows Mobile. They brought a desktop grade office suite to Windows Mobile. They have been developing a version for Android and it is now ready for public testing.
To be useful in the real world, an office suite needs to be compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.
SoftMaker Office Mobile for Android fills this requirement competently: It not only works impeccably with the old Microsoft Office formats DOC, XLS, and PPT, but also faithfully reads and writes files in the new DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX formats that have been introduced with Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010.
You will not find any other mobile office suite that renders documents in all these file formats as faithfully as SoftMaker Office Mobile.
System requirements
Smartphones and tablets running Android 2.2 or higher
ARM-compatible CPU
64 MByte RAM
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You can download the apks from their site and you will have to register for a free software key.
Download: http://softmaker.com/english/ofa_en.htm
A new beta has been released, and will be usable until the end of May. You can use the same product key from the previous beta. Use the same download link as above.
Some of the changes:
Several problems in the file manager are fixed now
Evernote can now be used
Crash during program launch has been fixed
Several issues with product activation have been corrected
PDF export improved
Some fixes to dialog boxes (for example, the document statistics dialog)
To exit from the applications, you now have to tap the Back button twice
PlanMaker now offers to align cells horizontally and vertically
Keyboard shortcuts such as Ctrl+B and Ctrl+O are now available on devices with keyboards
Several minor changes
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I, like many, have been on the quest to find the best OfficeSuite for Android, especially one that maintains some particular formatting I have. We all know the story, every app has some shortcoming so I actually use a combination of 4 based on what I'm doing.
Today I wondered if I should make a switch on the desktop. I don't need to use MS Office, but I need more formatting that Google Docs provides. So the question, is there a Desktop office suite or file format that does a better job playing nice with Android and the existing office suites? I'm going to test out LibreOffice, but didn't know if there were others I should consider too. I want to be sure that going back and forth preserves styles I have in the document and layout (like booklet layout.)
Which ones have you tried?
toenail_flicker said:
Which ones have you tried?
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I regularly use:
Polaris Office
Office Suite Pro 6
QuickOffice Pro HD
I've tried:
Documents to Go
SoftMaker Office 2012
I've just started to test SoftMaker Office 2012 but so far I think the most robust is Office Suite Pro and I can also print directly from there which is very handy. Had greater hopes for QuickOffice after Google's purchase but haven't seen any updates in ages.
OfficeSuite Pro 6 is the one I use. Best I've found so far. Always open to new apps, though.
I think the biggest problem is the possible formats available for android vs other computers. LibreOffice use's, as it's default, the ODF format and as yet there is no editing support for that format in android. However! LibreOffice is working on an android version but I fear it is still quite a ways off.
I like Kingsoft Office, but I try to use Google Docs for most of my needs.
Just wanted to write a review about a great app to give back to the developers. It's the best Microsoft Office viewer there is and it's free: Mobile Document Viewer. The interface is clean and it works very fast (except with very large files), and can even read documents to with a built-in text to speech engine. It's a MUST tool to always have installed on your phone because you never know when you are going to need it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.joergjahnke.documentviewer.android.free
Hey everyone. Looking at trying to pickup a Surface RT during the black friday sale. I primarily want to use it for taking notes in class. What do you all think of the original RT with the 8.1 update? Worth getting it, or should I spend my money on something else?
On a side note: It's between a Surface RT (at black friday prices), a chromebook, and the Nvidia Note 7. I can see the pros and cons of all the devices, but a) I am entrenched in google's ecosystem (gmail, google keep, google drive, google music, etc) and b) I am going to school for computer engineering.
So what do you all think?
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It will work great for notes if you get the Type Cover, there is no active pen support. But it's not that great with Google services. You will have a much better experience using Outlook, OneNote och Skydrive with the Surface.
Sorry I'm not much help here, never used a chromebook nor the Nvidia =).
I used my RT for note taking for a few months before moving on to the pro model, and it was a pretty good experience. I would have a notes doc open in reader and copy/paste stuff from it into one note and type additional info in various combinations. If you are interested in using google docs on the RT, that may dissuade you, as it's quite laggy. I had no such issues just using the office software for that sort of thing. For google apps, the only workaround I really had to look for was a google voice app, the rest of what I use was just fine via browser and the built in mail app.
I ended up moving to a Pro due to a few limitations that I ran into:
- inability to run the e-testing software we use on the RT (lockdown browser and a security.exe file)
- desire to do more pen writing for some notes (really just chemical reactions and such, things that don't lend themselves to typing)
If you have a laptop as a backup for any software you need on your course then yeah. Chances are on a computer engineering course it will be useless for anything other than a glorified pen and paper replacement (as would the other 2 choices).
As long as you are ok using Google Apps in a browser only, an RT can work well enough (I can't comment on the rest of your use cases). My employer uses Google Apps for Education as our primary email so I've done it. If a jailbreak is released for RT 8.1 I am curious how well (or not) Outlook RT will work with gmail, especially since I won't be able to run the sync software Windows 7 and previous could (I don't know if it works with Windows 8).
domboy said:
As long as you are ok using Google Apps in a browser only, an RT can work well enough (I can't comment on the rest of your use cases). My employer uses Google Apps for Education as our primary email so I've done it. If a jailbreak is released for RT 8.1 I am curious how well (or not) Outlook RT will work with gmail, especially since I won't be able to run the sync software Windows 7 and previous could (I don't know if it works with Windows 8).
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You have always been able to add IMAP accounts in outlook and GMail offers full IMAP support.
MS Office can save in open document formats (ODT instead of doc/docx etc). Google docs also use these formats under the hood or can at least attempt (albeit poorly) to import .doc and .docx etc anyway. Could certainly download your file, open it in MS Office, save it in open office formats, re-upload to google drive. In my experience MS Word outputting to ODT works better than google docs or libre office importing DOC and DOCX
SixSixSevenSeven said:
If you have a laptop as a backup for any software you need on your course then yeah. Chances are on a computer engineering course it will be useless for anything other than a glorified pen and paper replacement (as would the other 2 choices).
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My original plan was chrome book + chrome remote desktop to my gaming PC at home, but the surface and tegra note 7 wouldn't provide that. Then again, the surface is a bit stronger in the notes department and portability, and the tegra note would excel at math notes (its a math and physics heavy degree)
Unfortunately, my budget is very limiting, and I cannot get multiple devices. I have an old netbook loaded with my sata2 ssd, and mint Linux right now, but the performance is meh, and the resolution is abysmal...
My desktop should suffice for specialized software, but I am really needing a device for notes (I write slow, but type fast, at least with a real keyboard).
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bluefalcon13 said:
My original plan was chrome book + chrome remote desktop to my gaming PC at home, but the surface and tegra note 7 wouldn't provide that. Then again, the surface is a bit stronger in the notes department and portability, and the tegra note would excel at math notes (its a math and physics heavy degree)
Unfortunately, my budget is very limiting, and I cannot get multiple devices. I have an old netbook loaded with my sata2 ssd, and mint Linux right now, but the performance is meh, and the resolution is abysmal...
My desktop should suffice for specialized software, but I am really needing a device for notes (I write slow, but type fast, at least with a real keyboard).
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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Surface would do remote desktop just fine. Windows RT being a near straight port of windows 8 to ARM (minus the desktop lockdown) does include RDP support which is the default windows remote desktop software, although there are 3rd party RDP servers for OSX and linux too. RDP is very effective.
You also have VNC as an alternative to RDP. There are VNC clients and servers for most major platforms including android and jailbroken windows RT devices (this does limit to windows RT 8.0, although looks like the 8.1 jailbreak isnt far off).
Although in all honesty. I wouldnt rely on remote desktop access.
Will you be returning home each day and can you also use the machines at university? You may be able to get away without bringing your own full x86 machine. Otherwise I would seriously be considering a laptop or x86 windows tablet. There is the ASUS T100 for £350 which is a windows 8.1 10" tablet with a proper keyboard docking option too and using intel bay trail, but at £350 you can get a laptop with a bigger screen (also important) which is morepowerful too.
There are people on my course that bring surface RT's (and a few pro's too) and take notes in lectures, but they all end up fighting for lab computers the rest of the time and I dont think you can rely on remote desktop always being available or having a low enough latency, not to mention some university or college firewalls blocking it.