Tech —

Preview: Office for Android tablets is like Office for iPad, but on Android

Microsoft really seems committed to this "Office everywhere" thing.

Google Docs on the Nexus 10. Quick and convenient, yes. Versatile, not so much.
Enlarge / Google Docs on the Nexus 10. Quick and convenient, yes. Versatile, not so much.
Andrew Cunningham

Google's Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps are a lot of things—they're fast, they're convenient, and they're available on both iOS and Android—but you couldn't call them "powerful." Even the Web versions of Google's productivity software are pretty basic compared with the feature-stuffed behemoth that is Microsoft Office, and the mobile apps are minimalist by comparison.

Microsoft was slow to recognize and respond to the things Google's apps did well (they were good at collaboration and they didn't cost anything) but it's made big strides that culminated in the free-to-use Office for iOS apps we got earlier this month. These apps fall short of the capabilities of "real" Microsoft Office, but they offer plenty of the most essential features, and they preserve your documents' formatting no matter where you're opening them. Soon, Microsoft will be expanding those efforts by releasing a similar version of Office for Android tablets. We've got our hands on a preview version now—let's take a look at how they stack up to the iPad versions and whether they'll get the job done for workers who need more than Google's apps offer.

Different platform, similar experience

Office is going multi-platform, but Microsoft is clearly focused on making all the different versions of it look and feel more or less the same. You can see it in the new OneNote and Outlook apps for OS X, the Office apps for the iPad and iPhone, and now in Office for Android tablets. Look back at Office 2010 for Windows and 2011 for Mac, and you'll see two products that look and behave pretty differently. Compare any of the newer apps to Office 2013 for Windows, and you'll see more similarities than differences.

Office for Android tablets uses a condensed version of the Ribbon UI that's similar but not quite identical to the version included in Office for the iPad. Both offer the same tabs (Home, Insert, Layout, Review, and View, with other element-specific tabs popping in and out of view as needed), though the Android version omits the all-caps headings that Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson so loves to complain about.

You can still choose to open files from and save them to cloud storage or local devices storage, depending on your preference. The apps natively support Microsoft's OneDrive and SharePoint services (OneDrive gets linked up automatically when you log in), but the native Dropbox support added to the iOS apps earlier this month is here too.

Once you're actually editing a document, the UI differences are minor. Editing tabs are left-aligned instead of center-aligned, and the look and arrangement of a few of the icons has changed. A more familiar File menu replaces the iOS version's AutoSave button (the piece of paper with the sync symbol beside it). Going to File and then Save As feels more intuitive than tapping the Sync button and then tapping Name to bring up the same menu. Microsoft also uses Android's standard Share button for e-mailing links and attachments rather than the "person with a plus sign next to it" button used in iOS.

Since many Android tablets use 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratios, Microsoft has also done a few things to compress the UI to work with smaller amounts of horizontal screen space. The Ribbon tabs and buttons stack on top of one another, and a small button with a plus sign hides any formatting options that the screen is too small to display. The "pile of buttons" approach at the top of the screen isn't the most elegant thing we've ever seen, but it's an acceptable compromise for tall skinny tablets like the Nexus 7.

Finally, the Android version of Office can do a handful of things that the iOS version can't, mostly centered around pulling data from and saving data to other apps and services. Where Office for iOS can only insert photos from your device's Photos app, Android's Intents system will let you put in pictures stored locally or in cloud-based sources like Google Drive. When sharing documents, you can also save them to third-party services (other than Dropbox, which still has tighter native integration with the app). It's possible that Microsoft could replicate these features in iOS by using the Extensions introduced in iOS 8, but the apps will have to be updated before you can share them by anything other than e-mail.

The one thing we'd like Microsoft to clear up here is that the sharing options for files all say "Email" on them. So you can upload a file to Google Drive from Word, for example, but to do it you need to tap "Share" then "Email as attachment" then tap the Google Drive icon. It works as intended, but the wording here is confusing.

Missing stuff

Comparing the iPad and Android versions of Office side-by-side, we noticed a few things missing from the Android version. We should stress that these apps are just a preview right now, and that any or all of these things could make a return in future preview builds or in the final version of the software. Microsoft wouldn't comment officially on what will and won't be making it into the final version, but if you notice a missing feature that you need, it's too early to panic.

First, we were able to sign in to the apps with both a "premium" Office 365 account and a "freemium" standard Microsoft account, but either way the Android version appears to be missing everything on the iOS version's list of pay-only features. In the iOS versions, all menu items are present regardless of the kind of account you use to sign in, but a notification pops up when you try to use a paywalled feature. Microsoft tells us that these paid features will make it into the final build of the software.

Second, the Android apps are missing quite a few of the built-in document templates that ship with the iOS versions. Word is missing more complex templates like "Brochure" and "Flyer" and "Contemporary Resume," but it includes the same array of simple templates. Excel and PowerPoint on Android use entirely different templates from their iOS counterparts. We wouldn't necessarily say that using different templates on different platforms is bad, but it's an odd choice.

Finally, the Android apps are missing many items from the "File" menu in the iOS versions, including the AutoSave toggle and the ability to easily duplicate a file or restore it to an earlier save. There's a separate File menu in the Android apps, but it doesn't provide access to all the same settings.

Conclusions and getting it for yourself

If you get into the preview, you can give Microsoft direct feedback.
Enlarge / If you get into the preview, you can give Microsoft direct feedback.
Andrew Cunningham

Based on this preview, our verdict for Office on Android tablets is pretty much the same as it was for the iPad apps back in March. Microsoft is much later to this game than it ought to be, but it's done a good job of deciding which features to include in a lighter, touch-optimized version of Office. The company implements those features in a way that doesn't make the apps feel too cluttered.

The apps probably won't inspire many people to switch from Google Docs if they're already using them and happy with them. Google's offerings are available now, today, on all kinds of Android devices, and they're still much better at simultaneous multi-user collaboration than Office is. But as an effort to attract home or business users still entrenched in Microsoft's ecosystem, it's great to have a familiar set of apps that can view and edit files without losing your formatting or limiting compatibility with Office on other devices.

If you want to grab these apps for yourself, Microsoft has launched an official preview program for anyone with a 7 to 10.1-inch Android tablet running Android 4.4. If you've already updated your Nexus tablet to Lollipop, Microsoft doesn't want you—we attempted to sideload the apps onto a Nexus 9, and they installed with no problem but crashed at launch. The preview is invite-only, but anyone who signs up has a chance of being accepted.

Listing image by Andrew Cunningham

Channel Ars Technica