By After relegating users to in-browser editing since Android first came on the scene, Google Docs has finally made its way to mobile handsets in the form of a native app. The application itself will allow you to search through your documents and upload new files, though editing is still relegated to the mobile browser. This isn’t so bad, as Google has done a lot of work getting their online productivity suite up to speed on smartphones. The application excels in the extended features it offers.
For starters, you can now easily share files from Google Docs with the contacts in your smartphone. It’s as easy as clicking the dropdown button next to any item and selecting share. You can also star documents easily, which comes in handy when used in conjunction with the accompanying Android widget. That widget lets you go directly to starred documents or create a new document, but perhaps its best shortcut is one that allows you to upload an image to Docs. Why would we be uploading an image? Because Google Docs features the ability to turn an image containing text into an editable file. Pretty darn nifty.
The app is available for phones running Android 2.1 and higher and can be found in the Android Market now.
Android Market Link: Google Docs
[via Google]
Sounds good, but i tink it will be better if the ability to edit and stuff can be done on the spot
+1
I’m not sure what the article is saying about editing… I’m using the app right now and am able to edit right in the app…
Can’t edit documents, which makes it useless to me.
I can edit some, and not others. not sure why yet
finally!!! This is pretty much the only app I’ve wanted since Day 1 but was without…
Uh.
I was able to edit a spreadsheet….
Same here
Where is the QR code?
search for “Google Docs” and scroll about 10 pages :)
Easier to find if you bring up market, find your Google Maps entry, scroll down to Developer Info and click “view more applications”
Looks to be just a native front end to the document management side of it while the document viewing/editing is web views. Welcome nonetheless.
What I don’t get is why it took Google so long to get this done. This is your own OS we are talking about. I know many of the Google Apps are on Android and some are better than the Apple versions, but to not have Google Docs as an App for so long baffles me.
nm
That was what I was waiting for a long time!
Its nice to have all my documents easily accessible as well as easily shared with others, but it really, really lacks in the basic functionality of being able to easily change a spreadsheet or document. you can do it, but its pretty clunky still as it just kicks you to the web browser. its a good first effort, hopefully it’ll get better.
how does it display in honeycomb?
It works.
Looks the same on my Xoom and my Droid X. Can’t edit text documents on neither but can modify spreadsheets just fine.
well you can edit docs. just press that edit button on the right top. if you install cloud print you can even print from your mobile.
QRcode link to Google Docs QR code link > http://alturl.com/nn4ph
great… yet ANOTHER thing I can’t do on my iPhone.
Nice try troll
Uh, antagonizing posters is trolling, ie, what you just did… my post was facetious satire ;) free lesson
Great start … but I need to see at least two more big featuers if they want me to get all tingly:
1. I need something similar to drop-box so i have an app auto-syncing my documents folder n my PC to this so I don’t have to remember where things are stored.
2. Merge this service with picasaweb (and yes, the android gallery) and give us a real cloud storage solution …. enough with all these islands.
Dropbox, Microsoft with skydrive and mesh, heck Asus’ MyCloud …. Google is frighteningly behind the curve in supplying people with a generic place to store stuff.
And before anyone answers: yes I’m perfectly aware I can buy generic storage for all of my Google services … but if i store a picture in googel docs it’s not visible in picaweb or my image gallery on my phone. The two services are islands unto themselves. Everything is just too dis-joined. I’d love to store “stuff” on Google … I don’t want to have to know in advanced which Google app i need to be in in order to store it and find it later.
Thats Awsome! Now I just need LTE soi can access the market and download the app!
Just tested it. Editing is done in a browser like the article said, but the browser is embedded into the app. So thankfully, it doesn’t kick you out of the app and open the stock browser. Pretty seamless.
HOWEVER, the major limitation this presents is that you won’t be able to do anything offline. For example, if you want to use Google Docs for taking personal notes while in the subway, you won’t be able to.
Just tested it. Editing is done in a browser like the article said, but the browser is embedded into the app. So thankfully, it doesn’t kick you out of the app and open the stock browser. Pretty seamless.
HOWEVER, the major limitation this presents is that you won’t be able to do anything offline. For example, if you want to use Google Docs for taking personal notes while in the subway, you won’t be able to.
Before installing an app, I always carefullly read the list of access permissions that is displayed. For the Google docs app, most of the permissions make sense for an Internet application, but as a habit I NEVER install an app that can read my system log files. Why? Because log files can contain all sorts of personal information, including passwords, but also a history of your activity. I am not paranoid at all; we already know for certain that companies mine our information and can sell it to others. Gaining access to passwords and other personal information through the log files is something I will never knowingly permit.
For Google docs, the permissions are:
Your accounts
Act as the AccountManagerService, use the authentication credentials of an account, manage the accounts list, act as an account auythenticator, access other Google services, access all google services, Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, discover known accounts, view configured accounts
Network communication
Full Internet access, view network state
System tools
Read system log files, read/write sync settings, prevent phone from sleeping, read/write subcribed feeds
Storage
Modify/delete SD card contents
Your personal information
Read contact data
Hardware controls
Take pictures
Cool, OCR on my phone!
Took a picture of a printed sheet, converted quite well (lighting wasn’t brilliant, even with flash)
Editing only works in Froyo. Sad, I have a Moto Backflip which doesn’t have Froyo. Sniff.