Which office package provides the best productivity experience on Android? We
put the leading contenders to the test
Getting serious about mobile productivity
We live in an increasingly mobile world -- and while many of us spend our
days working on traditional desktops or laptops, we also frequently find
ourselves on the road and relying on tablets or smartphones to stay connected
and get work done.
Where do you turn when it's time for serious productivity on an Android device?
The Google Play Store boasts several popular office suite options; at a glance,
they all look fairly comparable. But don't be fooled: All Android office apps
are not created equal.
I spent some time testing the five most noteworthy Android office suites to see
where they shine and where they fall short. I looked at how each app handles
word processing, spreadsheet editing, and presentation editing -- both in terms
of the features each app offers and regarding user interface and experience. I
took both tablet and smartphone performance into consideration.
Click through for a detailed analysis; by the time you're done, you'll have a
crystal-clear idea of which Android office suite is right for you.
Best Android word processor: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
Mobile Systems' OfficeSuite 8 Premium offers desktop-class word processing
that no competitor comes close to matching. The UI is clean, easy to use, and
intelligently designed to expand to a tablet-optimized setup. Its robust set of
editing tools is organized into easily accessible on-screen tabs on a tablet
(and condensed into drop-down menus on a phone). OfficeSuite 8 Premium provides
practically everything you need, from basic formatting to advanced table
creation and manipulation utilities. You can insert images, shapes, and freehand
drawings; add and view comments; track, accept, and reject changes; spell-check;
and calculate word counts. There's even a native PDF markup utility, PDF export,
and the ability to print to a cloud-connected printer.
OfficeSuite 8 Premium works with locally stored Word-formatted files and
connects directly to cloud accounts, enabling you to view and edit documents
without having to download or manually sync your work.
Purchasing OfficeSuite 8 Premium is another matter. Search the Play Store, and
you'll find three offerings from Mobile Systems: a free app, OfficeSuite 8 + PDF
Converter; a $14.99 app, OfficeSuite 8 Pro + PDF; and another free app,
OfficeSuite 8 Pro (Trial). The company also offers a dizzying array of add-ons
that range in price from free to $20.
The version reviewed here -- and the one most business users will want -- is
accessible only by downloading the free OfficeSuite 8 + PDF Converter app and
following the link on the app's main screen to upgrade to Premium, which
requires a one-time $19.99 in-app purchase that unlocks all possible options,
giving you the most fully featured setup, no further purchases required.
App: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
Price: $19.99 (via in-app upgrade)
Developer: Mobile Systems
Runner-up Android word processor: Google Docs
Google's mobile editing suite has come a long way, thanks largely to its
integration of Quickoffice, which Google acquired in 2012. With the help of
Quickoffice technology, the Google Docs word processor has matured into a usable
tool for folks with basic editing needs.
Docs is nowhere near as robust as OfficeSuite 8 Premium, but if you rely mainly
on Google's cloud storage or want to do simple on-the-go writing or editing,
it's light, free, and decent enough to get the job done, whether you’re
targeting locally stored files saved in standard Word formats or files stored
within Docs in Google's proprietary format.
Docs' clean, minimalist interface follows Google's Material Design motif, making
it pleasant to use. It offers basic formatting (fonts, lists, alignment) and
tools for inserting and manipulating images and tables. The app's spell-check
function is limited to identifying misspelled words by underlining them within
the text; there's no way to perform a manual search or to receive proper
spelling suggestions.
Google Docs' greatest strength is in its cross-device synchronization and
collaboration potential: With cloud-based documents, the app syncs changes
instantly and automatically as you work. You can work on a document
simultaneously from your phone, tablet, or computer, and the edits and additions
show up simultaneously on all devices. You can also invite other users into the
real-time editing process and keep in contact with them via in-document
commenting.
App: Google Docs
Price: Free
Developer: Google
The rest of the Android word processors
Infraware's Polaris Office is a decent word processor held back by pesky UI
quirks and an off-putting sales approach. The app was clearly created for
smartphones; as a result, it delivers a subpar tablet experience with basic
commands tucked away and features like table creation stuffed into short windows
that require awkward scrolling to see all the content. Polaris also requires you
to create an account before using the app and pushes its $40-a-year membership
fee to gain access to a few extras and the company's superfluous cloud storage
service.
Kingsoft's free WPS Mobile Office (formerly Kingsoft Office) has a decent UI but
is slow to open files and makes it difficult to find documents stored on your
device. I also found it somewhat buggy and inconsistent: When attempting to edit
existing Word (.docx) documents, for instance, I often couldn't get the virtual
keyboard to load, rendering the app useless. (I experienced this on multiple
devices, so it wasn’t specific to any one phone or tablet.)
DataViz's Docs to Go (formerly Documents to Go) has a dated, inefficient UI,
with basic commands buried behind layers of pop-up menus and a design
reminiscent of Android's 2010 Gingerbread era. While it offers a reasonable set
of features, it lacks functionality like image insertion and spell check; also,
it's difficult to find and open locally stored documents. It also requires a
$14.99 Premium Key to remove ads peppered throughout the program and to gain
access to any cloud storage capabilities.
Best Android spreadsheet editor: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
With its outstanding user interface and comprehensive range of features,
OfficeSuite 8 Premium stands out above the rest in the realm of spreadsheets.
Like its word processor, the app's spreadsheet editor is clean, easy to use, and
fully adaptive to the tablet form.
It's fully featured, too, with all the mathematical functions you'd expect
organized into intuitive categories and easily accessible via a prominent
dedicated on-screen button. Other commands are broken down into standard
top-of-screen tabs on a tablet or are condensed into a drop-down menu on a
smartphone.
With advanced formatting options to multiple sheet support, wireless printing,
and PDF exporting, there's little lacking in this well-rounded setup. And as
mentioned above, OfficeSuite offers a large list of cloud storage options that
you can connect with to keep your work synced across multiple devices.
App: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
Price: $19.99 (via in-app upgrade)
Developer: Mobile Systems
Runner-up Android spreadsheet editor: Polaris Office
Polaris Office still suffers from a subpar, non-tablet-optimized UI, but after
OfficeSuite Premium 8, it's the next best option.
Design aside, the Polaris Office spreadsheet editor offers a commendable set of
features, including support for multiple sheets and easy access to a full array
of mathematical functions. The touch targets are bewilderingly small, which is
frustrating for a device that's controlled by fingers, but most options you'd
want are all there, even if not ideally presented or easily accessible.
Be warned that the editor has a quirk: You sometimes have to switch from "view"
mode to "edit" mode before you can make changes to a sheet -- not entirely
apparent when you first open a file. Be ready to be annoyed by the required
account creation and subsequent attempts to get you to sign up for an
unnecessary paid annual subscription.
Quite honestly, the free version of OfficeSuite would be a preferable
alternative for most users; despite its feature limitations compared to the
app's Premium configuration, it still provides a better overall experience than
Polaris or any of its competitors. If that doesn't fit the bill for you, Polaris
Office is a distant second that might do the trick.
App: Polaris Office
Price: Free (with optional annual subscription)
Developer: Infraware
The rest of the Android spreadsheet editors
Google Sheets (part of the Google Docs package) lacks too many features to
be usable for anything beyond the most basic viewing or tweaking of a simple
spreadsheet. The app has a Function command for standard calculations, but it's
hidden and appears in the lower-right corner of the screen inconsistently,
rendering it useless most of the time. You can’t sort cells or insert images,
and its editing interface adapts poorly to tablets. Its only saving grace is
integrated cloud syncing and multiuser/multidevice collaboration.
WPS Mobile Office is similarly mediocre: It's slow to open files, and its
Function command -- a vital component of spreadsheet work -- is hidden in the
middle of an "Insert" menu. On the plus side, it has an impressive range of
features and doesn't seem to suffer from the keyboard bug present in its
word-processing counterpart.
Docs to Go is barely in the race. Its embarrassingly dated UI makes no attempt
to take advantage of the tablet form. Every command is buried behind multiple
layers of pop-up menus, all of which are accessible only via an awkward
hamburger icon at the top-right of the screen. The app's Function command
doesn't even offer descriptions of what the options do -- only Excel-style lingo
like "ABS," "ACOS," and "COUNTIF." During my testing, the app failed to open
some perfectly valid Excel (.xlsx) files I used across all the programs as
samples.
Best Android presentation editor: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
OfficeSuite 8 Premium’s intuitive, tablet-optimized UI makes it easy to edit and
create presentations on the go. Yet again, it's the best-in-class contender by a
long shot. (Are you starting to sense a pattern here?)
OfficeSuite offers loads of options for making slides look professional,
including a variety of templates and a huge selection of slick transitions. It
has tools for inserting images, text boxes, shapes, and freehand drawings into
your slides, and it supports presenter notes and offers utilities for quickly
duplicating or reordering slides. You can export to PDF and print to a
cloud-connected printer easily.
If you're serious about mobile presentation editing, OfficeSuite 8 Premium is
the only app you should even consider.
App: OfficeSuite 8 Premium
Price: $19.99 (via in-app upgrade)
Developer: Mobile Systems
Runner-up Android presentation editor: Polaris Office
If it weren't for the existence of OfficeSuite, Polaris's presentation editor
would look pretty good. The app offers basic templates to get your slides
started; they're far less polished and professional-looking than OfficeSuite's,
but they get the job done.
Refreshingly, the app makes an effort to take advantage of the tablet form in
this domain, providing a split view with a rundown of your slides on the left
and the current slide in a large panel alongside it. (On a phone, that rundown
panel moves to the bottom of the screen and becomes collapsible.)
With Polaris, you can insert images, shapes, tablets, charts, symbols, and text
boxes into slides, and drag-and-drop to reorder any slides you've created. It
offers no way to duplicate an existing slide, however, nor does it sport any
transitions to give your presentation pizazz. It also lacks presenter notes.
Most people would get a better overall experience from even the free version of
OfficeSuite, but if you want a second option, Polaris is the one.
App: Polaris Office
Price: Free (with optional annual subscription)
Developer: Infraware
The rest of the Android presentation editors
Google Slides (part of the Google Docs package) is bare-bones: You can do basic
text editing and formatting, and that's about it. The app does offer predefined
arrangements for text box placement -- and includes the ability to view and edit
presenter notes -- but with no ability to insert images or slide backgrounds and
no templates or transitions, it's impossible to create a presentation that looks
like it came from this decade.
WPS Mobile Office is similarly basic, though with a few extra flourishes: The
app allows you to insert images, shapes, tables, and charts in addition to plain
ol' text. Like Google Slides, it lacks templates, transitions, and any other
advanced tools and isn't going to create anything that looks polished or
professional.
Last but not least, Docs to Go -- as you're probably expecting by this point --
borders on unusable. The app's UI is dated and clunky, and the editor offers
practically no tools for modern presentation creation. You can't insert images
or transitions; even basic formatting tools are sparse. Don't waste your time
looking at this app.
Putting it all together
The results are clear: OfficeSuite 8 Premium is by far the best overall
office suite on Android today. From its excellent UI to its commendable feature
set, the app is in a league of its own. At $19.99, the full version isn't cheap,
but you get what you pay for, which is the best mobile office experience with
next to no compromises. The less fully featured OfficeSuite 8 Pro ($9.99) is a
worthy one-step-down alternative, as is the basic, ad-supported free version of
the main OfficeSuite app.
If basic on-the-go word processing is all you require -- and you work primarily
with Google services -- Google's free Google Docs may be good enough. The
spreadsheet and presentation editors are far less functional, but depending on
your needs, they might suffice.
Polaris Office is adequate but unremarkable. The basic program is free, so if
you want more functionality than Google's suite but don't want to pay for
OfficeSuite -- or use OfficeSuite's lower-priced or free offerings -- it could
be worth considering. But you'll get a significantly less powerful program and
less pleasant overall user experience than what OfficeSuite provides.
WPS Mobile Office is a small but significant step behind, while Docs to Go is
far too flawed to be taken seriously as a viable option.
With that, you're officially armed with all the necessary knowledge to make your
decision. Grab the mobile office suite that best suits your needs -- and be
productive wherever you may go.
