Office docs on an iPhone?

oalvarez

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As an aside, we ought to start a poll, even in this geek heaven, of how many users ever really heavily edited a document or spreadsheet on a handheld device - converged or not. I've argued for the need for it for years, BUT have rarely ever done it. View them - yes - all the time,

have already gone down that road and more times than not many still like to say that they really do. but i always end up asking them this: how many rows and columns are the spreadsheets that are being viewed? seriously, my spreadsheets are too large (literally mb's in size, can be thousand rows deep and over a hundred wide) and cannot be viewed with any real success. if their spreadsheets consist of two rows and five columns, i guess it could work for them. as for word docs, again, so many would respond in a manner that would lead you to believe that they are in fact reading pages of material, editing, cutting/pasting, typing lengthy responses and the like. i personally don't buy it, and if they are in fact doing all of the above, they must be in the smallest percentile group of that type of user. really, when out and about and you find a treo user, ask him/her if she does/doesn't. there used to be hundreds of them around me (here at work) and no one ever did outside of perhaps reading and responding (lots of that) to their email, viewing pdf's and word docs. forget about viewing or working in a spreadsheet.
 

surur

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Can you differentiate keeping notes? Because I generate large pieces of unformatted text on my WM phone (the device with really the best keyboard at present, the HTC Universal). I would also view pdf's and doc's at the end of web-links, but my real use is recording information.

Surur
 

llarson

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Does the iPHONE ahve a TEXT widget?

Can you differentiate keeping notes? Because I generate large pieces of unformatted text on my WM phone (the device with really the best keyboard at present, the HTC Universal). I would also view pdf's and doc's at the end of web-links, but my real use is recording information.

Surur

If there is TEXT widget that would do well for notes and such. No real formating there but for notes and general outlining it works well.
 

Malatesta

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have already gone down that road and more times than not many still like to say that they really do.
I am partial to the argument that editing docs is not huge or popular and you often bring up Excel, which is a good example.

OTOH, all one needs to do is follow the announcement that MS finally put Office capability on their WM6 Smartphones (which we proceeded to extract and install on every WM5 smartphone :eek: ). The main limit? No new document creation. The response? Almost universally people cried foul and went on to create both a small program that could "create" new documents or the "template" hack.

For myself I have been sent Word docs before that I needed to edit a line or two here and there and having that feature is nice.

This comes back to once again: Who tells you how to use your device: you or MS?

No different with the iPhone. It's the freedom to do so that people want, not imposed limits. There was no overt reason why MS prevented new doc creation only on MS smartphones and there is no over reason for no doc viewing or editing on the iPhone. Purposefully limiting an action, despite how well you argue for it's exclusion, is still an imposed limit.
 

TRgEOff

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As an aside, we ought to start a poll, even in this geek heaven, of how many users ever really heavily edited a document or spreadsheet on a handheld device - converged or not. I've argued for the need for it for years, BUT have rarely ever done it. View them - yes - all the time, but even the best of keyboards (HTC Hermes IMHO) and largest screens (Axim) are too small for editing more than a few paragraphs without going cross-eyed and thumb tied. So Apple's quick salvation could be in integrating a version of Picsel for viewing.

When I started my current job, it was on a rather ad hoc basis, and I did four months of work completely on my treo (albeit in conjunction with a Palm IR keyboard). I was writing up reader-friendly, one-page summaries of the research of the 25 labs in the Institute where I work. Most of my "real" writing, at least of short pieces like these, happens in my head, I just needed the Treo to capture the words for digital distribution
 

Kupe#WP

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Editing documents on a cell phone has always been a last ditch "I am screwed and have no other way of doing this" alternative. Many times I have downloaded an attachment a beamed it to my laptop to edit.

...

If I can at least view docs on an iPHONE I will be tempted to switch.
Like you, I seldom have a need to edit a Word, Powerpoint or Excel document on my phone, but I read, assess, and comment on (via text email or voice) several documents per week using a viewer like Picsel. That's the reason I'm surprised Apple didn't pick up on this kind of technology for the iPhone - it's not new, flashy, or "revolutionary"...it just works.

Maybe they're expecting folks to convert their docs to Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) before sending them to the iPhone users - that's the kind of innovation we need in the industry! ;)
 

oalvarez

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I am partial to the argument that editing docs is not huge or popular and you often bring up Excel, which is a good example.

OTOH, all one needs to do is follow the announcement that MS finally put Office capability on their WM6 Smartphones (which we proceeded to extract and install on every WM5 smartphone :eek: ). The main limit? No new document creation. The response? Almost universally people cried foul and went on to create both a small program that could "create" new documents or the "template" hack.

For myself I have been sent Word docs before that I needed to edit a line or two here and there and having that feature is nice.

This comes back to once again: Who tells you how to use your device: you or MS?

No different with the iPhone. It's the freedom to do so that people want, not imposed limits. There was no overt reason why MS prevented new doc creation only on MS smartphones and there is no over reason for no doc viewing or editing on the iPhone. Purposefully limiting an action, despite how well you argue for it's exclusion, is still an imposed limit.


i appreciate and respect all that you say but i was simply pointing to what i believe to be a falsehood in "how much" users really do in both word and excel. having the programs available to you is great to have, i just don't think they're used to the "extent" that so many say they do. there are very honest members around here who constantly say that they reserve that type of "real work" for their laptops or pc.

as for the rest, i have no axe to grind with "who tells me how to use my device" or the rest to which you speak to.

regards
 

dstrauss#IM

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i appreciate and respect all that you say but i was simply pointing to what i believe to be a falsehood in "how much" users really do in both word and excel. having the programs available to you is great to have, i just don't think they're used to the "extent" that so many say they do. there are very honest members around here who constantly say that they reserve that type of "real work" for their laptops or pc.

as for the rest, i have no axe to grind with "who tells me how to use my device" or the rest to which you speak to.

regards

I agree with both of you, and wouldn't consider imposing my "standards" on someone else's needs. My point is the Apple should have at least included a viewer so you you could read and comment on attachments. That would probably take care of 80%+ of the user universe.
 

braj

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I personally create small spreadsheets to track stuff I need that are formatted to work on a small screen. Just basic calculations.

Anyhow, what would be nice is if Apple could extend the multi-touch concept and browsing features of Safari to work on a spreadsheet. Allow you to see the whole spreadsheet or in different zoom levels easily. A reader would be a good start but having the ability to edit on the run would be much better.
 

dstrauss#IM

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Well, time to eat crow (without salt no less) :eek:

The latest demo on Apple's website shows the iPhone can VIEW .doc, .xls, and .pdf files attached to emails. It also point out that it has threaded SMS... https://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/guidedtour_large.html#mn_p
:bow:

Almost as if they sat back and waited for complainers (like me) and then released info on all the goodies Jobs skipped in the big premier. I always enjoy looking dumb, but of course it comes easily to me...:eek:

What a difference 24 hours makes...can't wait to see what else trickles out over the next week...:hmm:
 

braj

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Well, time to eat crow (without salt no less) :eek:

The latest demo on Apple's website shows the iPhone can VIEW .doc, .xls, and .pdf files attached to emails. It also point out that it has threaded SMS...:bow:

Almost as if they sat back and waited for complainers (like me) and then released info on all the goodies Jobs skipped in the big premier. I always enjoy looing dumb, but of course it comes easily to me...:eek:

Wha a difference 24 hours makes...can't wait to see what else trickles out over the next week...

You should only eat half a crow because you still can't edit them. Or can you? Hmm...
 

dstrauss#IM

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You should only eat half a crow because you still can't edit them. Or can you? Hmm...

No, I think I owe them the whole bird, because all I asked is that they at least let us view so we can comment on attachments (#48). Anything else you guys would like me to ask for before launch...:D
 

braj

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No, I think I owe them the whole bird, because all I asked is that they at least let us view so we can comment on attachments (#48). Anything else you guys would like me to ask for before launch...:D

Do you need some salt? Hot sauce perhaps?
 

mikec#IM

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Well, time to eat crow (without salt no less) :eek:

The latest demo on Apple's website shows the iPhone can VIEW .doc, .xls, and .pdf files attached to emails. It also point out that it has threaded SMS... https://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/guidedtour_large.html#mn_p
:bow:

Almost as if they sat back and waited for complainers (like me) and then released info on all the goodies Jobs skipped in the big premier. I always enjoy looking dumb, but of course it comes easily to me...:eek:

What a difference 24 hours makes...can't wait to see what else trickles out over the next week...:hmm:

Now the real questions - which version of Word are supported in the viewer...

I did not see the .xls viewer being shown...
 

dstrauss#IM

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Yikes! Using Edge? That would be painful.

All these demos have been so cool ON WIFI CONNECTIONS. I can't wait for the return lines to start up with all those folks who have choked for a week on EDGE. I can see it now..."this $%#@ thing takes 20 seconds just to LOAD the first page of the Times...you ought to see how long it takes to switch pages..."
 

braj

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Yikes! Using Edge? That would be painful.

No, actually it would be quite convenient, revolutionary in fact. When on the run, if you get an email with an attachment you simply must read, just go to your local Starbucks (in SF never more than 100 feet away), pay the fee and look at the attachment! How convenient!
 

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