Documents To Go for Android Review

Documents To Go

From the Developers:

View, Edit and Create Microsoft® Word & Excel® files on your Android-powered Smartphone

Now you can get your work done no matter where you are by using Documents To Go Standard Edition to view, edit and create Microsoft Word and Excel files and attachments on your Android-powered smartphone. And since it is full featured yet easy to use, Documents To Go is one mobile office suite that makes good business sense.

Review:

Coming from Windows Mobile, I was used to being able to create, edit, and save office documents on the go. I had been doing this for years, so when the G1 came out without any office support I was a little upset. I use Office docs frequently for school and for work, and not being able to access them, really hurt my productivity.

Well thanks to DataViz and their Documents To Go application, I can now fully edit, create, view and save Word and Excel files all from my T-Mobile G1. Other document viewers let you view docs, but offer you no great solution to editing or manipulating them in any way. Documents To Go offers a great solution that, in my opinion, beats the built in client on Windows Mobile.

Word documents are a very important to me as I am finishing up my BS and it requires a lot of writing. I constantly have to write long papers and turn in project ideas members of my groups. Having the ability to write these at home and edit them on the go is perfect. I can than email the edited Word document to my Professor or my other classmates. Documents To Go works perfect for editing Word Documents. The application displays all of the in line images and keeps the formatting, fonts, line spacing, and structure 100% intact. Sliding the keyboard out rotates the document into landscape mode, making the document much easier to read. Of course you can also read it in portrait mode if you wish. You can copy, cut, and paste all with in the Word documents by holding the shift key and using the trackball to highlight the text. Documents to Go also offers a ton of editing option from within the document such as formatting text and paragraphs, underlining, bullet points, hyperlink, and indent options. Another great editing tool is the ability to insert items into the document; this is available to you as well on Documents To Go. You can also format new files as either MS Word 2004 or MS Word 2008. So far all the Word files I have created from my Macbook and from my work PC have shown up perfect in Documents To Go without loosing anything. The files I have created from Documents To Go, also show up perfect within Office.

Excel is probably the most important document type to business users. It is also the document type that seems to have the most formatting issues between different applications. There were a few documents I created in NeoOffice on my Mac that would not display, although this may be NeoOffice formatting things incorrectly. Viewing Excel files is great because you have many zoom options in order to fine tune the parts of the sheet you would like to view. Just like Word documents, sliding the keyboard out, the document will switch to landscape mode for easier viewing. Documents To Go gives you a surprisingly large amount of editing options for Excel sheets. You can view different sheets within an Excel document, you have the option for formatting cells, inserting functions, viewing rows, and cut/copy and paste with in the cells. One thing I really like is that when formatting the cells you can even change the cell color as well as the font color.

If you need document support on your Android device, Documents To Go is hands down the best option out there. Its easy to use, the app has lots of options for editing, documents display great, and I had little to no formatting issues. My only issue with Documents To Go is that it does not support PDF documents. I am hoping this will be updated in the future, but as of now it is not supported. The only other downside is the price. Right now Data Viz is selling the app at a discounted price of $19.99, but they have stated the “normal” price is $29.99. For me this is not expensive at all considering similar offerings on a Blackberry are 50+ dollars. Those coming from Windows Mobile will probably cringe at having to spend $29.99 for functions that they are used to having built in. For those that absolutely need office support on your Android device, the benefit will greatly outweigh the cost of Documents To Go.

Pros:

- View, Edit and Create Documents on the go
- Formatting stays intact with 99% of the documents I tried
- Lots of options for editing

Cons:
- Price may be high for some
- No support for PDF Docs
- Large app file size (not an issue if you have root)

The Gadget Gurus Podcast 06

The Gadget Gurus are back again this week with another podcast! This week Ray and I talked about Android, Blackberry App World, T-Mobile’s leaked roadmap, Carriers limiting users, Palm Pre Video, and of course our random antics. Hit the links to get the show!

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Mobile Mike Reviews Dog Whistler by Mobeezio, Inc

Do you have a dog? Do you have an iPhone? If you answered yes to both of those questions, do yourself a favor and go download Dog Whistler. This simple app mimics the sound of a dog whistle as you press the whistle picture on your screen. You can adjust the sound range from 800HZ to 2200HZ, and even set four different presets. I am sure each dog will respond to different ranges, but my Pugs would immediately turn their heads at about 3100HZ and my border collie only perked up for 3400HZ. I don’t use a real dog whistle so I cannot speak to how well it really works in practice, but its a heck of a lot of fun to “blow” the whistle and watch my dogs freak out. Its also pretty interesting for humans too. I found my fiance could hear a lot farther up the HZ range than I could. The app looks great and the sound it emits is very clear and loud. Dog Whistler is a free app in the App Store and can be found with this iTunes link. Give it a shot and sound off in the comments if you had success using it “for real”.

Aevum Obscurum for Android Review

Aevum Obscurum

Game Info:

NOBLE MASTER GAMES RELEASES STRATEGY GAME FOR GOOGLE ANDROID

Honolulu, HI – February 20, 2009 — Noble Master Games releases their medieval strategy game for mobile phones running the new Google Android operating system.

Aevum Obscurum a risk-like turn-based strategy game where you take the reigns of a budding empire and struggle against fellow empires for control of Europe. The Android version of the game offers single player game-play on a map featuring Europe. The game comes with six scenarios ranging from ancient to medieval Europe. The scenarios contain a total of over fifty empires to choose from including the Kingdom of England, Kingdom of France, Byzantine Empire, Sultanate of Egypt, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Celtic Tribes and Ancient Macedonia.

Aevum Obscurum is a game designed for strategy game enthusiasts. Future plans include the addition of other maps including Asia and the Americas. The integration of multiplayer capability is currently discussed and might be implemented at a later point in time.

The full Android application is available in the Android Market for $4.99. A free “Lite” version can be downloaded for try out before purchase. Aevum Obscurum is also available for PC and Macintosh computers. The PC and Macintosh version features both single player and multiplayer modes and can be obtained for $19.99 per year. Download and information are available at http://www.AevumObscurum.com.

Review:

I would like to start off by saying that I have never played a strategy or Risk style game ever. I have always found them dull and boring, with little to draw me into it. When I first fired up Aevum Obscurum I thought, “Oh this is going to be no fun at all!” After about 5 minutes I was hooked and couldn’t put the game down! You start off slowly building your you army and taking over land. Eventually you encounter other countries trying to do the same, thats when the fun really kicks in!

You basically take turns with the computer AI recruiting, moving your army, and fighting the other countries for pieces of land. Each time you recruit to your ranks, it depletes your gold, and you earn gold from tax. The more land you have the more you can tax, which means the more money you make each turn. When you move to a piece of land that belongs to an enemy country, it is simple math that determines the winner. If the enemy country has 500 troops on the land and you move 700 troops to that same space, you win, leaving you with 200 troops. So it quickly becomes struggle to maintain land and continue to grow so you keep making money. Each country has a King which resides in one spot, although he can be moved. To win the game, you must eliminate the other kings, or own 51% of the map’s land. You must use good judgement when moving and expanding, being careful not to stretch your self to thin to quick. At the same time you need to capture 51% of the map, which becomes a pretty tough task when you run into multiple countries who are all out to get you!

Graphically Aevum Obscurum is very simple, and is nothing flashy. The “battles” you have with other countries, you don’t actually see. Instead each piece of land on the map is given a number representing the number of troops on that space. As the “battles” take place, the number’s color will change between yellow (your color) or red (enemy color), to let you know who won and how many troops are left. Aevum Obscurum is very basic in the sounds department as well. At the beginning of each turn, there is a horn like sound to indicate a new round has started. There are also sounds to indicate whether you won or lost when battling for land, but that is about it for bells and whistles.

I really enjoyed playing Aevum Obscurum, and it is a game I will definitely play a lot more of. It may not be the most pretty game, but its better to have function over form, and this game will suck you in if you give it a chance. There is a trial version in the Android market, I highly recommend you give it try before dropping the $5 on the game just to make sure it is your cup of tea. I had never played a strategy game before today, and I got hooked!

Pros:
- Addictive
- Pick up and play where you left off
- Challenging
- Easy to learn

Cons:
- Graphics and sounds are very basic
- On the expensive side for what you get
- Not multiplayer yet

iPhone Docked 3.0 Predictions

New iPhone Hardware thoughts and predictions:

There has been a ton of buzz lately over new iPhone hardware releasing in June to coincide with the 3.0 software. New processors, better display, faster Internet, and a bevy of other things have been rumored to be in the new iPhone. With quite a few signs pointing to new hardware, as well as some leaks, what should we expect from Apple come June? iPhone Docked is going to lay out some of our predictions and thoughts, so grab a cup of coffee, get comfy, and get ready for some great iPhone insight!

Thoughts and Predictions by editor:

Mobile Mike –

If you tuned into The Gadget Gurus iPhone 3.0 special edition podcast you already know I predict NO new hardware in June. Yes you read that right; Mobile Mike says no new hardware in June. Before I get chastised, let me explain for those that did not tune into the podcast.

My major reason for think we will not see hardware in June is the iPhone 3G was subsidized just shy of a year ago. Which means all the current iPhone 3G owners will not be eligible for upgrade pricing. From everything I have read, AT&T took a massive hit when subsidizing the iPhone 3G and is still making that money up today, so it does not make sense for them to give all of those current 3G owners another discount before their contract is up. Also if they did not subsidize the price for current owners, you will have a ton of very angry customers, and I just don’t see them doing that.

Another reason is the current economic status we are in. I don’t see Apple getting lines of people waiting to drop down hundreds of dollars for another new piece of hardware that isn’t THAT much different from the current offering.

My final reason is the hardware itself. What more could the iPhone 3G have hardware wise to justify a complete new model? The current iPhone 3G is capable of video record, yeah the camera could be improved, but it is capable by software. Also what is this faster Internet business? The iPhone itself is a bottle neck, not the network, so adding HSUPA is not going to make that much difference. The only thing I have seen that justifies AT&T comments about speed is the reports the mobile Safari is just faster in 3.0. This has nothing to do with hardware, but software.

Now I could be completely off base with my predication, and I hope I am. I would love to see Apple implement some new features that the other editors have written about. To be honest though, I think I will be completely happy with 3.0 for the next 8-10 months. It packs and will pack everything in the iPhone I think I have ever asked for.

Geoff Farinha -

Personally feel that aside from Apple releasing OS 3.0 to all of the current iPhone owners, that a new iPhone (hardware) will likely be released this June or July. So far Apple has released new hardware with the role out of a new firmware and OS 3.0 will be no exception. With this new hardware Apple will be looking to yet again set themselves apart from any competition they may face, especially the Palm Pre. My predictions, and hopes, for any potentially new iPhone hardware are as follows:

OLED screen-this will greatly improve battery life

Video camera functionality- Whether it be in the form of short 15-30 second clips, or any time length Apple needs to include this function in the phone. Cycorder only goes so far.

Better processor unit- the ARM chip has taken a good amount of flak, and rightfully so. Apple will be looking to better their game by rolling out a new faster and more efficient chip in this phone.

Greater graphical processing- With all the recent focus on iPhone gaming by adding a better GPU to a new phone Apple will convince many more people that the iPhone is a great mobile gaming device.

Faster 3G connection- Details are shady, but rumors are surfacing about a possible plan for the new phones to become capable of a faster 3G network connection. Not only does this depend on the hardware, but also on the network itself.

Without a doubt there is something I have probably missed. However, I feel these are key features that will be addressed with the new hardware. Two things I feel that Apple will NOT do is a physical slide-out keyboard and a removable battery. Creating a physical keyboard would be a step backward rather than forward to the future. Finally, Apple has not included a removable battery in the iPhone yet so why start now? By staying with the contained unit design things are kept simple.

J. Doss -

Memory: I think we are going to see an flash size doubled like we did last year

Processor: The iPhone processor will be bumped up to handle more intensive tasks like video, gaming, and process hungry apps that will utilize and push the new api to it’s limits

Video: Video will be enabled for this device but not for 3G or the original iPhone.

Camera: We will see a minor bump in camera resolution (No more than 3.5 mp)
Internet speed: It will be bumped to utilize AT&T’s faster HSDPA network.

Size: The iPhone’s size should stay relatively the same, I do not expect any reduction in size due to my next one.

My big prediction will be battery: With the new custom batteries for the MacBook pro, I believe we will see Apple utilize the same technology for the new iPhone and make their own batteries. In doing so they will maximize the space used in the iPhone and announce the same type of results for the iPhone that they have seen in the MacBook Pro. Apple has always said battery is number one and that has not changed. With the announcement of 3.0 they said the push notification system will take up 23% more power. That will be their hook to get people to buy a new device. For power users a 23% increase in power usage wouldn’t last a day.

Via: iPhone Docked

Photo Via: Gizmodo