I really can’t understand why smartphones that come with QWERTY keyboards barely ever have some form of Office software to use.
While writing emails and texts is slightly easier on a slide-out keyboard, it’s not really a feature worth investing in one phone over another for.
Dataviz’s DocumentsToGo sets out to correct this oversight by providing a basic suite of MS Office-like apps along with a .pdf viewer to QWERTY-owning Android users, and indeed to those suffering with software keyboards too.
It’s a pricey app though, clocking in at $14.99 (or £9.58), but if it really offers the same functionality as a portable Office, then it will seem cheap compared to the £89 Microsoft charge.
First impressions are very positive. All four of the applications included in the suite look impressively like a certain large corporation’s efforts as opposed to a cheap competitor. The menus are logically laid out and easy to access, and while the names may not be familiar, the choice of saving in Office 97-08 formats is very welcome.
The program even integrates perfectly onto the phone, making it easy to open attachments from your email and boot straight into the relevant software without any faffing around.
The bad news is, it doesn’t have the same functionality as Office 97, let alone 2008. What you’re getting with this app suite are very stripped down versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint with some bizarre design choices as to what was stripped.
For instance, the number of fonts and formatting options in Word To Go numbers in the single digits, yet if you require underlining anything you’re bombarded with countless options, all of which will be fairly useless to most.
Even more annoying, unless you’re one of those PowerPoint users who only use the default template on every slide, you’ll find the lack of any alternative on Slideshow To Go hair-tearingly frustrating.
Things become more curious when it becomes apparent that it can actually handle these differently formatted slides. Importing in a test PowerPoint file, Slideshow To Go was able to perfectly replicate it on screen. Why it doesn’t have an option to create them though is a mystery.
Sheet To Go – Excel in other words – is by far the most complete of the package, with what looks to be the entire functions list available through the menus, as well as a decent substitute method for highlighting multiple boxes.
It does lack a method of creating charts, but, as with the templates in Slideshow To Go, it’s still able to view any pre-made ones as long as you create them on another piece of software.
DocumentsToGo does just about enough to justify its relatively steep price and those looking for a program that can handle note-taking and catching up with office work on the move will be satisfied with what it can do. Just don’t expect it to be able to create new documents with the same level of polish or options as its bigger brothers.
DocumentsToGo isn’t going to replace your main word processor, but it is a useful note-taking and project reviewing application.
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App: DocumentsToGo
Developer: DataViz Inc
Price: $14.99
Version Reviewed: 2.003
Requires: Full Internet access, read phone state, modify/delete SD contents
Size: 3.33Mb
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Pocket Picks Score: 
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