Editing documents on smartphones and tablet PCs

Whether you want to finish writing that novel you’ve been working on or make changes to tomorrow’s work presentation, it can be a real pain lugging a heavy laptop around town.

So why not lighten your load by ditching the laptop for a smartphone or tablet PC, letting you edit and create text documents, presentations and spreadsheets wherever you are.

Editing documents on a smartphone

iPhone document editing

The Apple App Store is awash with apps designed to help you edit a variety of documents directly from the iPhone 4.

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Documents To Go Premium - Office Suite (£9.11 via download) is one such popular app, described by existing customers as a “very good office on-the-go replacement” and ideal for “writing a novel”.

The app supports:

• Word, Excel and PowerPoint editing - make edits to documents in all three Microsoft Office programs
• Wireless transfer - sync and transfer files from your iPhone to your PC.

The Google Android operating system, used by smartphones including the HTC Incredible S and LG Optimus 2X, offers several document editing apps for download.

These include an Android version of Documents To Go (above), but the most popular is the free Google Docs tool.

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BlackBerry smartphones: Document editing

BlackBerry smartphones are often seen as the epitome of work-based mobiles because aside from giving access to office emails on-the-go, the smartphone range can also be used to create and edit documents.

BlackBerry users can open, view, save and email files directly from the phone, with support for a range of popular file formats, including Word, Excel, PDFs and JPEG images.

Most BlackBerry smartphones, including the new Bold 9900 and Bold 9930, also have physical keypads - a feature missing from most touchscreen smartphones, but which many users find indispensible for editing documents on a mobile phone.

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Tablets: Do they run Microsoft Office?

Tablet PCs, such as the iPad 2, are fast emerging as an alternative to editing documents on mobile phones and laptops. This is mainly because tablet PCs have touchscreens ranging in size between 7in and 11in - making it easy to edit and create documents on-the-fly.

The iPad 2, for example, supports the same Documents To Go Premium - Office Suite app that’s available on the iPhone 4. However, the tablet’s larger on-screen keypad makes typing less troublesome than on the iPhone.

Tablet PCs running Google Android, which include the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab, can also be loaded with document editing software, such as:

• Google Docs - the most popular and free to download
• Documents To Go - supports Microsoft Word and Excel. Costs £9.11 via download
• Quick Office Pro - promises to take “productivity to a new level” with its support for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Costs £10.32 via download.

If you’d still rather use a BlackBerry to edit your documents on then it’s worth noting that a tablet PC version of the smartphone, known as the PlayBook, is now available to buy.

PlayBook has a 7.6in screen - much larger than a standard BlackBerry screen - and can be used to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint presentations. The tablet doesn’t have a physical keypad, though.

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