Back in my Pocket PC days, I was a big fan of SoftMaker’s Office suite that actually gave you a mobile client that was nearly as powerful as a desktop client (see my 2008 article on using it with the HTC Advantage). I just read on the SoftMaker blog that they are nearly ready to release a public beta of SoftMaker Office for Android devices.
As Android smartphones and tablets continue to grow exponentially in popularity, the timing seems good for releasing a powerful mobile Office client. We have some existing solutions, such as ThinkFree Office, Quickoffice, and Documents To Go, but if this new SoftMaker product is anything like their previous Windows Mobile product then it should definitely be able to compete.
Based on the few screenshots provided, it looks like SoftMaker Office for Android will have quite a bit of formatting and layout functionality. They also state that they have optimized it for the touch interface and that it works on Android 3.0 devices as well. I look forward to testing it out on my Samsung Galaxy Tab and will let you know more about it when we can all try it out.
