Today Microsoft releases the latest version of Microsoft Office for iPhone, iPad and Android. I don’t usually post about app update, but this one deserves to be mentioned. Previously we have Office Mobile for iPhone and 3 separate apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) for iPad. Starting from today, the Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps are also available for iPhone. The “Office Mobile” app is no longer used (though it still works, still limited to read only).
Next, the new version of Microsoft Office apps now offers free basic editing. Wait, so what about people who already bought Office 265 subscription to be able to edit documents using Microsoft Office native apps? Well, there’s a “basic” word there. It means that the free version will finally allow users to perform some basic editing functions. However, some editing features are still reserved for Office 365 subscribers. I already subscribed since few months ago, so I still get the full editing features. However, for some people who still insist that Office app must be free, this update might bring a little bit of usefulness for them.
With only the “basic” editing features in free edition, is it still worth to use? For me? Absolutely yes. De facto standard in business world is still using Microsoft Office. There are many other third party apps promising “compatibility” with Microsoft formats. I have tried many of them: Google’s free suites (Docs, Sheets and Slides), Quickoffice, Kingsoft Office and a lot more; NONE of them can open and edit my working files without destroying the very specific formatting that I need. If your “need” is to simply type something and formatting does not really an issue, you have a LOT of other good options. If you want to make sure your document/spreadsheet/presentation must appear exactly the same in all your colleagues’ and clients’ computers, Microsoft Office is still your best choice today.
This new update is available to iOS and Android. Before this update, smartphones (Android smartphones and iPhones) can only view files, even with Office 365 subscription. Now, smartphones get the editing features previously available for tablets only. Still, basic editing for free, full editing with Office 365 subscription.
Another exciting new feature is the new support for Dropbox. I installed Microsoft OneDrive and tried hard to like it. I failed miserably. OneDrive is way too unstable, even in Windows 8.1 device. I got too many warnings that certain files failed to sync and I could never understand why. Those files synced just fine with Dropbox. So with this update, Microsoft Office for mobile devices finally get a decent cloud service that actually works and reliable.
Personally, I am not so sure why would anyone use their small screens (smartphones) to edit Office documents. I mean, it’s a lot more reasonable for tablets (and I do use my iPad to edit Office documents, occasionally). But smartphone screen? I wouldn’t use it for anything beyond very minor editing (perhaps correcting some typo, or changing one or two numbers in my spreadsheet. Well, different people has different needs, I guess.
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