After launching the Office for Android phone preview five weeks ago, Microsoft has now released Word, Excel, and Powerpoint on the Google Play Store for anyone to download. Following up their Office for Android tablets and Office for iOS releases, Microsoft has furthered their reach on non-Microsoft OS devices.
With Android phones being the most popular devices in the worldwide market by a fairly wide margin, Microsoft is definitely tapping into a huge user base, a large portion which may already be using Microsoft Office on their work or home computers. The preview program, which saw the Office apps tested on over 1,900 different Android phone models in 83 countries, gave Microsoft important feedback – including the ability to connect to Google Drive and Box – which they’ve incorporated into the release versions.
Some of Kirk Koenigsbauer’s (corporate VP for the Office Client Applications and Services team) favourite features include:
- On the go reviews and edits—I often need to squeeze in quick reviews in between appointments during the day. I can review documents in full fidelity, read comments and then easily add my own.
- Presenting from my phone—I love just bringing my phone to a meeting to present wirelessly. PowerPoint for Android phone gives me the same transitions, animations and design that I would have from my desktop, and I can even use inking to highlight important points while presenting.
- Quick access to my documents—I can quickly find the document I was working on in the office from my phone. It even shows me where I was last working. Additionally, while I am a faithful OneDrive user, I can also access documents stored in Dropbox, Google Drive or Box with our support for third-party cloud storage providers.
- Easy to get—We’ve partnered with over 30 global, regional and local OEMs such as Samsung, Sony, LG and many more, to pre-load these apps on Android devices. Many of these devices will be landing in retail stores later this year.
Microsoft’s Word for Android, Excel for Android and PowerPoint for Android apps are available now on the Google Play Store.
What do you think about Microsoft’s decision to make their Office apps available on Android phones? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
[button link=”https://blogs.office.com/2015/06/24/office-for-android-phone-is-here/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Office Blogs[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
