Office suites have been, at least until the explosion of the Internet through the World Wide Web, the most essential set of applications that most end users had on their computers, something that is evident in the fact that the The pair that formed and continue to form Windows and Microsoft Office was for many years the flagship of the Redmond giant, which in the last decade has diversified its business model to focus more on services.
Obviously, circumstances have changed a lot over time, to the extent that the web browser has ended up displacing office suites as the main application of an operating system. The preponderance of web browsers is reinforced if we see that today the web does much more than display text, but also powerful video platforms and other types of content, proposals and tools that, depending on the user’s approach, are found on it. it makes it unnecessary to have so many applications installed locally or that many already have hardly any music and videos stored locally.
Although they have lost importance, mainly among users with a more common profile, office suites are still widely used for the creation of texts, spreadsheets and presentations (in addition to other possibilities such as mathematical formulas and databases). . And while on PC it is normal to be able to do a lot of things through the web browser, including office tasks, the situation changes a lot when we get to mobile phones.
In the mobility sector, locally installed applications continue to be used mainly because they offer greater immediacy than the web browser and allow data to be saved, since both the data and the interface have to be loaded through the web, while in the applications the interface is present locally and only the data is downloaded (or at least initially it is). Another aspect to take into account is that it is easier for local applications to take advantage of the characteristics of the operating system itself.
5 Best Alternative Office suites for Android Phone
With this panorama, mobile office suites are usually served through applications. Here the best known options are Microsoft Office and Google Docs , which are well known and whose quality has been proven over time. However, that’s not to say that they’re the only quality options available, so here are five alternative office suites for Android that, at least in appearance or at first, have no relation to giants like Microsoft and Google.
Collaborate Office
It is an implementation of LibreOffice developed by the British company Collabora , which has close ties to Linux and free software. In the absence of an official implementation of the suite promoted under the umbrella of The Document Foundation, Collabora Office is a very good alternative that fully respects the ethical values ​​of the original project.
As for the Android suite, it provides everything the user needs to edit documents, allowing them to create and modify formats in the text creator, spreadsheets and presentations . In addition, it offers high compatibility with Microsoft document formats and high levels of privacy thanks to the fact that it is free software and is not tied to any service in the cloud.
The fact of not being tied to any cloud service gives it value in terms of privacy, an aspect that is reinforced thanks to its free software nature, which is why it offers much more transparency than proprietary solutions such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs.
WPSOffice
Possibly the most popular alternative to Microsoft Office after LibreOffice. This suite of Chinese origin is famous for being the one that best preserves the formats and layout of the documents made with the Redmond giant’s office suite , a factor that has won many followers.
WPS Office for Android offers a word processor, spreadsheets, slideshow maker and easy file sharing. It also supports cloud storage, online editing, template library, and is compatible with Google Classroom, Zoom, Slack, and Google Drive.
Of course, this suite has a drawback, and that is that it is offered with a trial period of only fifteen days , after which you have to checkout to pay 35.99 euros per year.
SoftMaker Office
SoftMaker Office is a German office suite that offers word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and planning. It is paid, but alternatively it offers a free version for Windows, Mac and Linux called FreeOffice . It is proprietary software in its two aspects.
SoftMaker Office makes three different applications available for Android, which are the word processor , the spreadsheets , the presentations and the planner . Compared to other solutions in the same segment, it offers a more classic interface and more similar to what one can find in desktop office suites, so it can be ideal for use with a keyboard and mouse through a tablet.
All the applications are quite complete and offer advanced functions, although there are features that can only be obtained by going through the checkout. Of course, the free functions are left to the user permanently, at least for now.
ONLYOFFICE
ONLYOFFICE is LibreOffice’s great rival among free office suites. On the desktop, it stands out for having an interface similar to the Microsoft Office Ribbon and for many it offers better compatibility with the Redmond giant’s formats.
Like other options mentioned in this post, it provides a word processor, spreadsheets, and slideshow application. At the level of features, it stands out for allowing synchronization through ONLYOFFICE’s own cloud, supports collaborative editing and allows you to protect documents with a password , which comes in handy in terms of privacy and to ensure that only authorized people can access the documents. contents.
Polaris office
And we close the list with Polaris Office , an office suite that includes, as we have already mentioned on several occasions, a word processor, spreadsheets, slide presentations and opening of PDF files. It is proprietary, ad-supported in apps and contains in-app purchases for additional features.
Polaris Office boasts of being a compact suite by occupying, according to its file in the Play Store, only 60 megabytes on disk. It supports Microsoft formats and is available for free for 24 templates, 20 2D/3D charts, 37 slide transition effects, 173 different shapes, and 300 spreadsheet formulas . It also supports cloud integration through services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive.
Users who want to can upgrade to Smart Plan ($3.99/month or $39.99/year) or Pro Plan ($5.99/month and $59.99/year) to benefit from many features premium.
conclusion
As we can see, there is a lot of life beyond Google Docs and Microsoft Office when you want to use an office suite, a set of applications that is still considered essential on the PC, but whose presence on mobile phones is not so prevalent.
Google Docs and Microsoft Office are two good solutions, but they have the drawbacks of being proprietary, being maintained by large corporations with monopolistic aspirations and generating doubts about the privacy they offer if you don’t work exclusively locally with them, so here we present This list encourages the user to explore and discover which office suite best suits their preferences and needs.
