Microsoft Brings Office To Android Smartphones For Free

Mark Wilson writes: After a few weeks in preview, Microsoft Office is now available for Android smartphones. Despite Microsoft's mobile-first, cloud-first philosophy, it has actually taken some time to bring the world's most popular office suite to Android phones — it joins the tablet version of the suite that was released last year. Just like the tablet editions, the phone versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint won't cost you a penny, allowing for the viewing and editing of a range of files when on the move. There is a cloud focus with support for not only OneDrive, but also Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box, and Microsoft says it has made changes based on the feedback received during the preview period.

Comments

Re:Free?

[ledow]

Limited functionality unless you have an Office 365 account you can sign into to unlock all the features.

Re:104Mb

[MightyMartian]

Why would I want to use either on a phone or smaller tablet?

That's really the point here. Full-pop word processors are not only going to take up huge amounts of limited flash storage and RAM, but they aren't even necessary.

I use Google's document, spreadsheet and slideshow offerings on my Nexus 5 and Nexus 7. They don't render every aspect of an Office document, though they are getting a lot better (Excel charts display pretty well in Sheets), but I'm really just looking for "good enough", in this case mainly reading, and maybe a very small amount of notation or editing. I'll go to my PC or notebook if I actually want to full blown spreadsheet work or composition. Even with a fully functional version of Word available for my smart devices, I wouldn't pay for the functionality because I'm not a masochist.

Re:Low quality software must be free (as in beer)

[neilo_1701D]

... as that would show the absolutely low quality of their code

What is directly known about Microsoft code doesn't support your argument. For example, after the Windows 2000 code leak several people did their own analysis of the code. For example, kuro5hin concluded:

In short, there is nothing really surprising in this leak. Microsoft does not steal open-source code. Their older code is flaky, their modern code excellent. Their programmers are skilled and enthusiastic. Problems are generally due to a trade-off of current quality against vast hardware, software and backward compatibility.

Note that last sentence: Problems are generally due to a trade-off of current quality against vast hardware, software and backward compatibility.

More recently, static code analysis was done on the legally released Word for Windows 1.1a by PVS-Studio. They concluded:

I have found very few strange fragments. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, I found the code to be skillfully and clearly written. Secondly, the analysis had to be incomplete, while teaching the analyzer the specifics of the old C language wouldn't be of any use.

In short, there may be many reasons not to pay for Microsoft's software. Your perception of the quality of their code is not one.

Google should move on

[denisbergeron]

Now, Microsoft have a Cloud interface that works on all platform (Win, IOS, OSX, Linux), Google don't.
Now, Microsoft have a Office suite that works on all platform (WIn, Ios, Osx, Linux) Google don't.

It's amazing how a year change in the software market. Yesterday google was the leader, now they aren't there.

Re:Google should move on

[CastrTroy]

I'm surprised Windows 8 hasn't already killed Android on tablets. Guess it takes people a while to realize how bad Android is. I have a Surface 2 RT, and the OS itself is so much better than Android. It's a shame developers didn't latch on to the Windows app store more. It's truly a joy to use this device. Android really is quite crippled. No native support for multiple apps. No native support for Google Drive (developer has to write their own code to support it). No native support for network shares. Doesn't come with a command line.