App Directory: The Best Office Suite For Android

Android has several good options when it comes to productivity and office software on the go. Every option for Android rolls in word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations natively, all in the same app. Even so, we found that like its iOS counterpart, QuickOffice Pro offers the best combination of document editing features, support for the Microsoft Office documents you’ll inevitably want to view on your Android device, and cloud storage and sharing services to upload and share documents after you’ve worked on them.

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• Allows you to view, open natively, and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, including Office 2010 documents
• Can open documents from and sync to cloud storage and document management services like Google Docs, Box.net, Evernote, Catch, SugarSync, and iCloud, among others
• Offers a robust file manager so your documents don’t get lost
• Supports Office and non-Office documents in the file manager
• Allows you to manage your Android device’s storage through the file manager and delete, create, and rename files and folders
• Allows you to send and share files via SMS, Bluetooth file transfer, or post to Twitter, Facebook, SlideShare, Sricbd, or other social services
• Allows you to display documents and presentations on an external display and control it from your Android phone
• Includes a PDF reader
• Allows you to browse ZIP archives as ordinary folders

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QuickOffice Pro feels like an office suite, crammed into a tiny display, and that’s actually a good thing. Tools and options are where they feel like they should be for a productivity suite, even if you’re using them on a phone’s screen or a tablet display. Adding cloud services and synced accounts is easy, as is opening and editing documents. Full and native support for Microsoft Office documents without the need for conversion first is also a big plus, meaning you can open a document and get right to work without waiting around for the document to convert to a readable format. Document editing tools are easy to access, and as you make changes the app automatically saves your work. Plus, the document manager makes it easy to search for files on your device or on connected cloud services.

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QuickOffice Pro for Android doesn’t seem to have the Wi-Fi uploading feature that its iOS counterpart has, which is a bit of a bummer, but the sheer number of supported cloud services takes the edge off a bit. Also, while the editing tools were more than enough for some on-the-go document editing during our tests, QuickOffice Pro is definitely no replacement for a full-fledged productivity suite on a desktop. Even the HD version for Honeycomb tablets has a great feature set, but advanced users may miss some benefits from a desktop suite. Speaking of the tablet version, it’s unfortunate that iOS users get a universal app for both iPhones and iPads, but Android users have to buy the app twice, once for their phones, and again for their tablets.

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Documents to Go ($14.99/Free Trial) was a close second. DataViz has been in the mobile office suite game since the Palm days, and makes a strong suite of applications, and even offers some wired desktop sync and support for password protected Office 2008 (and earlier) documents that QuickOffice doesn’t have. However, the only cloud service it supports is Google Docs, and that’s relatively new. The file manager isn’t quite as robust, and the interface is a little crowded under the weight of its own features. At times it felt a little too busy to use, especially on a screen where real-estate is important.

OfficeSuite Pro ($10.24) is another option for Android users that boasts a really sharp-looking UI, and big toolbars and buttons to make editing and document management easy. It’s lacking the rich features of its competitors, but it earns points for being really easy to use and easy to navigate.

Kingsoft Office (Free) used to be a paid app, but the developers decided to release the suite for free. Again, it’s a little bare bones when it comes to features — support is restricted to Office, rich text, and text documents only, and the app will only connect with external services if they support WebDAV — and even then you’re on your own setting it up. Still, the suite is completely free, and if you’re looking for an option that’s temporary or you don’t want to spend money, it’s worth a look.

Lifehacker’s App Directory is a growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools.