WPS Office – The dark horse of the android office suite

Word processors are very important in a mobile device. You never know when you might actually need to edit a document, or make one. The convenience of a laptop is difficult to reproduce on a mobile phone. The small screen is a big drawback for such a type of application. It is not a simple task of just sporting an application from the desktop environment. The application needs to be tailor-made for a mobile device. Such an application needs creation from the ground up, vigorous testing and then only can it be practical in a mobile device.

INTRODUCTION

There are lots of office client in the play store today. Some of them from big brands like Microsoft, and some from lesser-known ones. Some try to make a complete desktop environment, while some are actually a solid alternative to the laptop. Today I’m writing about such application called WPS office.

Previously known as Kingsoft office, the application has gone a complete rewrite and a recent material design makeover. This app has native support for documents, spreadsheets, presentations and for PDF files. It gives you the ability to edit or create documents with some solid tools, and efficient method used in a mobile or a tablet. Though using a keyword is definitely recommended, it is very helpful for editing or reviewing documents on the go.

BASICS

On first opening the app you have three tabs recent, open and new. On sliding out the hamburger menu, the options are for share plane, settings, feedback and rating. There are also six themes to choose from. The settings menu is pretty bare bone with the option to show starred in a new tab and clear history.

USAGE

Viewing documents is a pretty simple affair, but the performance being decent. The viewing pane has tabs to quickly switch between documents which is a very convenient and welcome change. There are two options available here, mobile view and tools.

Mobile view tries to adjust the document in a mobile format, while I found it to work better in a Word document and a PDF. The tools menu has two options file and view. The file menu has options to search, share, print and file information.

The view menu helps to add bookmarks, see thumbnails and use the volume buttons to flip pages.

The new document creation page has a save button, undo and redo and a floating action button or the FAB. The button switches between tools and that keyboard. There are other basic options available as a word processor in the app.

The option to save, export to PDF, share, encrypt, print and file info. The view tab has the options for the page setup utilities.

The font menu gives you the basic controls to play with your document. It’s pretty surprising to see multiple spacing, smart typography, and the paragraph placement in such an app. The ability to add bullet points is also present.

Objects such as picture, table, shape, comment and hyperlinks can be inserted into the document. In case you thought this was left out the ability to write with a pen is also present.

Though I did notice that the handwriting disappears once you wrap the text a.k.a. go into mobile mode. While saving the page the option to encrypt there.

Creating presentation is a pretty basic thing, with the option to insert text box, picture, shape, table and charts.

Similar to the document editor, the spreadsheet editor is also feature filled. The option to freeze panes, filter, highlights and hide are present. Format tab has a lot of options related to fonts while the adjacent cell tab has all the options you would look for. Insert, Data and Review tabs have the basic options for spreadsheets.

For people wondering, why shouldn’t they just use the Google docs apps, the answer is choice. This app has the freedom to save your file as you see fit and a plethora of options to improve the experience. Though using a keyboard is definitely recommended for serious editing.

Left: Normal View, Right: Mobile View

DRAWBACKS

I do feel that the performance could be enhanced in the application, as the Microsoft office suite feels much smoother, but lacks in the feature department.

The app was not found in the store. 🙁

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