Office for Android tablet impresses early users as preview becomes available to anyone
After gaining positive feedback following Microsoft’s invite-only Office for Android preview last November, the Redmond company is now letting anyone download the preview apps from Google Play. The preview is available to users with 7-10.1 inch Android tablets with an ARM processor, now eligible for KitKat and Lollipop.
After Microsoft released Office for iPad last year to much applause, the company is hoping for the same success with Android tablets as it endeavors to put Office on every device possible. Office for Android, apropos features and interface, is almost a twin of Office for iPad.
Microsoft wrote in a blog post, “Starting today, anyone can go to Google Play and download the Word, Excel and PowerPoint preview apps. No waitlist. No requesting access. Just go and download the apps!”
As it’s still in the beta stage however, users should expect a few bugs here and there. Users can state their case about what they think of the preview by leaving comments in the Google Plus community. Microsoft added that it wants “more feedback from more users to ensure that Office apps work well on a range of different Android tablets before launching the official apps.” And feedback is looking good so far, some of the latest comments include, “blows every other Office app out of the water, and it’s not even finished yet.”
It’s expected that Office for Android will be released later this year. When it is officially launched non-commercial consumers will, free of charge, be able to create, edit and view documents, although business customers, and users requiring advanced features, will need to buy an Office 365 subscription.
Photo credit: Microsoft
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