Microsoft has had a bit of a hard go with the release of its popular office IT suite to mobile devices. The free version of Office for smartphone apps came out in March 2014 with only very limited features. To top it off, Google didn’t stand around with its arms crossed, but rushed to standardize its own online text, spreadsheet, and presentation editors. Now, after months of waiting, the official Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Android Apps for tablets are finally out (although they’re still in preview version).
The mobile version offered only tiny editing capabilities, but these new tablet versions enormously expand their possibilities, almost to the same level as desktop versions. The Word app, for instance, lets you edit styles at all levels, insert lots of different types of elements, use advanced save and editing options, open hyperlinks, and use all sorts of elements with external interactions. As Microsoft explains on its official Office blog: you can work with documents and view them just as you would on a desktop computer.
Recent months have seen a testing process via a closed beta, but from now on you can download the apps for free, with the only requirement being that you have a tablet with Android Kit-Kat or Lollipop and a screen between 7 and 10.1 inches.
