Quickoffice Pro HD Review: Bringing Office to the iPad

Although not without some limitations,  the iPad version of Quickoffice – Quickoffice Pro HD ($19.99) – can quickly become indispensable for storing and sharing files in the cloud, as well as for creating, editing, and viewing word processing docs, spreadsheets and presentations geared to compatibility with Windows- and Mac-based Microsoft Office apps.
You're likely to find Quickoffice Pro HD easy enough to navigate, regardless of whether you're already familiar with using Quickoffice on a smartphone. The iPad edition has four components: File Manager, Quickword, Quicksheet and Quickpoint.
File Manager is the hub, where you access, organize and share documents. Quickword is the word processor, Quicksheet the spreadsheet editor, and Quickpoint the app for slide presentations. Generally speaking, the user interface (UI) is logical, but not necessarily totally transparent.
In reviewing the iPad app, however, we discovered that Quickoffice Pro HD still has quite a way to go in reaching full-fledged compabilitiy with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
In another area of limitations, the company’s menu of video tutorials hasn’t been updated to include the iPad app. Nor does the app have any context-sensitive help. The help button (which is available only in the File Manager) provides a link to the company Web site rather than direct access to the Help Guide. However, once you click through to the Help Guide (which is also available as a downloadable PDF), you can get a decent although not in-depth overview.

PlayStation Store Now Available for Sony Tablet S

For those of you who bought the Sony Tablet S, a PlayStation Certified device, and have been wondering when you will get access to the official PlayStation Store, fret no longer, because it has arrived.
The PlayStation Store for PlayStation Certified devices launched today in nine countries -- including the US and Canada -- although it is appears that it is currently only available for the Tablet S, leaving Xperia Play owners out in the cold (despite the fact that their PlayStation Certified device came out first). Now that the Store has launched, there are 10 classic PSone games that are available for $5.99 a pop. These include Cool Boarders, Destruction Derby, Hot Shots Golf 2, Jet Moto, Jet Moto 2, Jumping Flash!, MediEvil, Motor Toon Grand Prix, Rally Cross, and Wild Arms.
The PS Store update is being rolled out over-the-air, so Tablet S owners will soon receive a notification informing them that the PS Store is open for business and the update is available for download. No news yet on when the update will be coming to other PlayStation Certified devices, but the PlayStation blog is urging users to "stay tuned" as they will be "providing more updates shortly."
The Sony Tablet S was released on September 16 and is available for $499.99 for the 16 GB model or $599.99 for the 32 GB model.

Google Docs for Honeycomb Tablets Review

The new Google Docs update, released October 5 specifically with Honeycomb tablet owners in mind, isn’t what most users would consider a dramatic leap forward. It is, however, a convenient improvement for tablet owners who, up to this point, may have felt they were being forced to let all of their excess screen real estate go to waste. As is ever the case with brand new software releases, there will always be critics who call into question its functionality, decrying any improvements that are perceived as ineffective or superfluous. But despite what you might have heard to the contrary, the Google Docs update for Android tablets is both effective and decidedly not superfluous. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s flawless. Here is a rundown of the new features of the Google Docs application for Android and how their performance stacks up.
New 3-Panel View
One of the greatest weaknesses of the original Android design for Google Docs has at long last been rendered a non-issue for tablet owners, giving those with Honeycomb operating systems (all Android 3.0 and above) a product more suited to the platform of their choice. Whereas before, tablet owners were given the same rudimentary interface that remains in use for Android phones, the new and improved version of Google Docs offers a 3-panel layout whose full functionality is best realized in landscape mode. Each of the 3 panels – or columns – expands from left to right as a user navigates through their list of Google documents.