Google Brings Native MS Office Editing Features To Its iOS Productivity Apps, Launches Slides For iOS

Google is closing the loop on bringing support for natively editing Microsoft Office files to all of productivity apps today. The company’s iOS apps for Docs and Sheets are getting a couple of minor new features and design updates today, but most importantly, these apps will now also be able to natively open, edit and save files from Microsoft’s Office suite.

After launching the original standalone apps for Google Docs and Sheets on iOS a few months ago, it was only a matter of time before Google would also free its PowerPoint competitor Slides from the Google Drive app. Today is that day. Google Slides is now available as a standalone app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Just like the Docs and Sheets apps and their counterparts on Android (the standalone Slides app launched there two months ago), the new Slides app will feature some aspects of Google’s new Material Design user interface language and all the Microsoft Office conversion goodness the company acquired when it bought Quickoffice in 2012.

With this, Google now offers its full suite of productivity apps on all of its major platforms, including Android, iOS, Chrome OS and the web (it’s unlikely Google will ever launch a Metro app for Windows, though.)

Google is clearly positioning its apps as a more affordable solutions for companies that need to occasionally edit Office files. As Google notes, according to Softwatch, 80 percent of Office licenses “are only lightly used.” Those users who only need to make an occasional edit to a native Office document are probably better served with using the Google Drive productivity apps instead of buying a license, Google says.

Microsoft obviously launched Office for iOS earlier this year. To fully make use of those apps, however, users need a subscription to Office 365. Google’s apps are available for free, though business users are likely already paying for a Google Apps for Business account anyway.

You can now download the new Slides app for iOS here and chances are you will be prompted to download it from the Google Drive app, too

Comments

MoviePass drops pricing to under $7 per month, if you opt for the annual plan

MoviePass, the subscription service that lets consumers pay a monthly fee to see unlimited movies in theaters across the U.S., is slashing its prices yet again. The company announced today it’s now offering its service for $6.95 per month, down from the current price of $9.95 per month, when customers commit to a one-year subscription plan. That works out to a flat fee of $89.95 annually. The deal is a limited-time promotion, as opposed to a permanent pricing change, but MoviePass didn’t say how long the offer is valid. However, it is open to both new and existing subscribers – the latter who would receive a 25 percent savings on their current subscription if switching over to the annual plan. This is not the first time that MoviePass has dropped its pricing. When the company introduced its $9.95 per month, one-movie-per-day plan this August, down from $15 for 2 movies per month (or more in select markets like L.A. and NYC, and going as high as $50), it saw so many new sign-up...

ASUS VivoBook X202E Windows 8 Touchscreen Laptop Review And Giveaway

It wasn’t very long ago when prices of touchscreen Windows 8 laptops soared beyond $1000. Thankfully, those days are behind us, and portable computers can easily be purchased – touchscreen and all – for under $500. That’s precisely the demographic in which the ASUS VivoBook X202E falls. When compared to a high-end laptop, its specifications might seem modest, but for laptop buyers just looking for a way to browse the web, watch videos, use basic apps, and not spend too much money, something in this budget is perfectly suitable. The question is, of course, how does the ASUS VivoBook X202E compare to others on the market, and is it the one which you should be spending your hard-earned money on? Well, you’re just going to have to keep reading to find out. Best of all, we are giving away an ASUS VivoBook X202E to one lucky winner. Keep reading for your chance to take home this Windows 8 touchscreen laptop! Introducing the ASUS VivoBook X202E Laptop The ASUS VivoBook X202...

How To Upgrade Your PS3 HDD

The living room game console has become a central media hub for many, which can mean large movie downloads. Despite all the controversy surrounding DRM, digital game downloads have finally arrived too – nowadays, you can download premium AAA titles on launch day without having to wait for a piece of plastic to arrive in the mail. And if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you have gigabytes of new games literally thrown at you every month. On environmental grounds, I couldn’t be happier about the move to digital – but it means local storage needs are growing rapidly. The days of having a slot-in memory cartridge are far gone – a few hundred gigabytes would be modest by today’s standards. Let’s upgrade. Luckily, Sony made it really easy and user-serviceable to upgrade the internal storage drive – unlike Microsoft, who locked it down and demanded you buy first-party approved models only. Upgrading your PS3 drive will not void the warranty. Why Upgrade? I recently bo...

Kiran Upadhyay

Search This Blog