Collaboration is becoming more than just a buzz word these days, with many businesses needing their teams to work closely on projects, be they long form text documents or complicated spreadsheets. Google seems to understand that, and is working on making the whole experience a whole lot more mobile.
Google has today released an update version of its Google Docs app for the Android platform, and in the process has given the platform a real boost in the mobile productivity stakes for those that need to stay up to date in these ever more collaborative times.
In a blog post today, Google’s Vadim Gerasimov explained the changes to the company’s Android collaboration tool while also sharing a video which certainly does a good job of driving home the possibilities that are created when an app such as Google Docs works well.
The collaboration tools themselves are pretty standard, with people being able to add and edit text along with rich text formatting for those times when you just can’t love with out a spot of bold text in order to get that emphasis across. Bullet points and color are also present, as is to be expected from such an app.
You’ll see updates in real time as others type on their computers, tablets and phones, and you can just tap the document to join in.
The real strength of the app is the real time nature of how changes are made to documents. Users will be able to sit and watch as others type new text into a document or simply alter the formatting of text that is already present. The whole thing, at least in the promotional video shared by Google, appears to work flawlessly and shows what can be done when an application has strong support at the server level.
Sat watching the video – which shows a speech being written with a little help from various participants of a wedding – we can’t help but feel like more than a few technologies have been stolen from the ill-fated Google Wave, perhaps another sign that the service was always intended to be an incubator for services further down the line.
Users of iOS and Windows Phone 7 devices will no doubt be hoping that the app will eventually come to their respective handsets, though Google may well keep the app as the jewel in its Android crown. At least for now.
Google Docs for Android and its latest update are available on the Android Market now.
Download Google Docs for Android [Market link]
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