Google announced that their Sheets and Docs apps within Google Drive will now be standalone apps on Android. Furthermore, they will work very well in offline mode. This is great news for me as using Google Drive has been unsatisfying when I am without mobile service, which is often at work. By making the web apps modular and usable offline, they make it easier for people like me to start creating things without hunting for a signal.
I have used Quickoffice on occasion, as the app does work in offline mode. However, those files are apparently in a different format as Google Docs and Google Sheets. Technically, Quickoffice can do the same things; but, the results are not the same.
I have introduced a competitor to Sheets recently, Smartsheet. However, Smartsheet suffers the same shortcomings that Google Drive previously had, which is the required Internet access. I don't think I'll abandon Smartsheet. Despite their limitation, it is much better suited to tracking work. I would most likely use Google Sheets for calculations and data tracking.
This development in combination with their recent drop in storage prices, makes it more likely that I would subscribe to Google Drive. I've been riding on the free storage that comes with a Chromebook. I wasn't too sure about resubscribing until now. As the Google Drive apps become more useful in any situation, and storage becomes cheaper, I am more likely to continue using Google as my cloud platform.
Altogether, it makes transitioning between tablet, phone, and desktop more seamless as the concern for Internet access is less pronounced. Google is doing a great job.
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