Having bought Quickoffice back in July of 2012, Google has released a mobile version of the productivity suite for iOS and Android devices on Thursday. The free software is available in both the iTunes App Store and the Google Play store, and one of the biggest reasons to consider trying it is the application’s support for native Microsoft Office formats.
That means documents, spreadsheets and presentations don’t have to be converted to Google’s own Docs format: You can edit these and none will be the wiser that you didn’t use Microsoft software. Quickoffice for iOS and Android also adds the ability to create .ZIP files and view charts in Excel or PowerPoint documents. If you need additional incentives to give the software a go, Google is including 10 GB of additional Google storage with the installation. That storage will remain free for two years but the promotion ends on September 26.
I’ve been using Quickoffice on a Chromebook for nearly 6 months and find it much nicer than Google’s own docs. Most of the functionality is the same but the interface is cleaner. And it’s particularly useful for when people send Microsoft Office documents; the native format in my experience is better than document conversion which often introduces glitches or missing data.
Microsoft provides Office for Android and for iPhone as well, but it requires a subscription to Office 365. My guess? More people will opt to use Quickoffice over the long-term instead of paying Microsoft on a monthly basis.
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