Microsoft Office for iOS was released early last month with support for just the iPhone and it is finally making its way to Android devices. Just like with the iOS version the Microsoft Office for Android is only compatible with Android phones and not tablets. Another similarity is that while the app is available as a free download users will require an Office 365 subscription in order to use it.You can download the app directly on your device through the Google Play Store or by using the link which follows:
| Download |  |
| Price | Free |
| Requirements | Android 4.0 or greater |
The app is currently only available in the US Play Store, but Microsoft promises to bring it to 117 additional markets with 33 new languages over the coming days. While its disappointing that Office is not available for the iPad or Android tablets it makes sense that Microsoft would not want to give too much away, especially when they are campaigning to build interest in their own tablet lineup.
Office for Android has the following features:
- Access documents from virtually anywhere:
- Cloud – With your phone, you can access Office documents that are stored on SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro, or SharePoint.
- Recent Documents – Office Mobile is cloud-connected. The documents you've recently viewed on your computer are readily available on your phone in the recent documents panel.
- Email Attachments – You can view and edit Office documents attached to email messages.
- Office documents look stunning:
- Great-Looking Documents - Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents look great on your phone, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt Graphics, and shapes.
- Optimized for phone - Word, Excel and PowerPoint have been optimized for the small screen of your phone.
- Resume Reading - When opening a Word document from SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro on your phone, it automatically resumes at the place where you left off reading, even if you last viewed the document on your PC or tablet.\
- Presentation Views - The Slide Navigator view in PowerPoint lets you browse slides faster, while speaker notes help you practice your presentation.
- Make quick edits and share:
- Edit - You can make quick edits to Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
- Documents Remain Intact - Formatting and content remain intact when you edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents on your phone.
- Edit While Offline - Your device doesn't have to be continuously connected to the network to work on an Office document that is stored online. You can view and edit recently used documents even while you’re offline. Your changes will be saved online when your device reconnects to the network or to Wi-Fi.
- Create – You can create new Word and Excel documents on your phone.
- Comments - You can review comments that have been made in Word and Excel documents on your phone and add your own comments.
- Share - When you’re done with your edits or comments, simply send the document in email or save it to SkyDrive or SharePoint.
The Office 365 subscription costs $9.99 per month (or $99.99 per year) which will give you access to view and edit your documents on the go. However since the subscription is connected to your Microsoft account it will also give you access to:
- The latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access for your Mac or PC.
- Access to office applications on your Android Phone or iPhone.
- Access to full version of Office applications on any Internet-connected PC running Windows 7 or Windows 8 using Office on Demand.
- 20GB of online storage on SkyDrive.
- 60 Skype world minutes per month
- Further discounts for University students
- and more
Additionally Microsoft is offering 12 months of Xbox Live Gold if you subscribe for Office 365 before September 28th.