14 DAY TRIAL // Google seems determined to prove that its Android platform can meet all the needs of mobile users, and the release of a new Google Docs application for Android is the latest step the company took in this direction.
The Google Docs app for Android was designed to connect users with their online Google Docs account, so that they could easily access, edit or create documents from their handsets.
Google also packed the new mobile application with sharing options, and more, so as to offer mobile phone users the possibility to remain productive at ease even when on the go.
“Part of getting work done on the go is being able to easily access, edit and share content, which is why we’re happy to announce the new Google Docs app for Android,” Google notes in a recent blog post.
“With this new app it’s easy to filter and search for your content across any Google account, then jump straight into editing docs using the online mobile editors. The app also allows you to easily share items with contacts on your phone, right from within the app.”
Clearly, this is Google's way of showing that Microsoft's Office suite packed with the Windows Phone 7 platform is not the only such app that mobile phone users can benefit from.
Among the other features that the new Google Docs app was released with, we can count the ability to easily upload content from the phone, or open documents from Gmail.
Moreover, the application provides users with the possibility to easily add a widget to the phone's homescreen so that they would enjoy fast access to one of three actions: jumping to starred documents, taking a photo to upload, or creating a new document.
Another appealing feature of the new mobile application would be the possibility to take photos of text and then turn them into editable Google documents courtesy of optical character recognition (OCR).
“Just create a new ‘Document from Photo' or select the camera icon from the widget, and your converted document will appear in your documents list shortly after you snap the picture,” Google explains.
“You can also convert photos already stored on your phone by sharing them with the Google Docs app. OCR does a pretty good job capturing unformatted text in English but won't recognize handwriting or some fonts - stay tuned, it will get better over time!”
The new Google Docs app was released in English for now, and can be downloaded from the Android Market on all handsets that run under Android 2.1 or higher.
