14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, Microsoft announced a surprising decision and made Office completely free on iPad, iOS, and Android, but the company is also planning some exciting things for Windows users.
As we already reported yesterday, Windows 10 will come with a touch-optimized version of Office that would allow users to work with documents straight in the Modern UI and using the touch capabilities of their devices.
Now we come back on this subject with the very first official video and screenshot showing the upcoming product in action.
As you can see for yourselves by clicking the play button in the video below, Office Touch is obviously aimed at devices with a touchscreen, so the demo is made on a Surface Pro 3 tablet. This device is Microsoft’s current top-of-the-range tablet model and comes with a 12-inch screen, up to 512 GB of storage space, 8 GB of RAM, and a choice of three processors ranging between Intel Core i3 and Intel Core i7.
By choosing this device, Microsoft shoots two birds with one stone, as it not only reveals that new version of Office specifically designed for touch-capable devices, but also puts the emphasis on the true capabilities of the new Surface Pro 3, which is already selling really well across the globe.
The new Office Touch for Windows 10
As far as Office Touch is concerned, it doesn't bring too many changes as compared to the desktop version, and the biggest difference is obviously the possibility of using it without a mouse and keyboard on a tablet that runs Microsoft's latest operating system.
The demo shown below highlights Microsoft Word and PowerPoint running on the Surface Pro 3, but only little can be said from the video, especially because it's specifically designed to reveal the touch capabilities of the Office suite and nothing more.
And still, we're hearing that there will be some differences between the touch version of the software solution and the desktop flavor, as some of the features that are currently included in the full package might not be available for consumers who want to use it on a tablet.
Office Touch will obviously be a pretty neat way to work with documents without the need for third-party software, and this is clearly a step forward given the fact that such solutions were missing from the Windows Store and from Windows RT tablets.
At this point, there's no word on pricing or feature lineup, and since it's going to debut together with Windows 10, Office Touch will be fully presented in just a few months by Microsoft itself.
