A little while ago, QuickOffice ($19.99, iTunes link) brought Word document editing to the iPhone. This week, however, QuickOffice officially loses its corner on that market with the introduction of Documents to Go ($4.99, iTunes link) by Dataviz, a seasoned contender.

The iPhone may not be my device of choice when it comes to doing significant edits to text documents, but in times of duress, it might be the quickest, most convenient, or even the only option available, so I like to have the capability. Let’s see which of these two apps will earn a place of honor on my springboard.

User Interface

Full-featured word processing on an iPhone might not make for a very pretty experience no matter how you slice it, but there are definitely ways to make it more or less pleasurable, depending on your UI choices. It’s a challenging task, taking the ribbon and/or menu bar of a full-featured desktop app and trying to somehow incorporate the same features into a mobile app interface.

Both Documents to Go and QuickOffice try to tackle the problem in much the same way: Store features in a menu bar across the bottom using expandable icons that open up to reveal more functions. While both apps use this feature, they both do so in a very different way, and you will probably vastly prefer one over the other, depending on your personal taste.

Documents to Go editing interface

QuickOffice editing interface

As for me, I like the implementation found in Documents to Go. The main difference between the two is a multipage menu bar that you can scroll by swiping left or right. It means that more features are available to you in fewer steps. There are three pages worth of menu bar items for word editing, including document info, bulleting and numbering. QuickOffice offers far fewer functions from its own bottom menu bar, although both include a very necessary document search function.

Some might prefer QuickOffice’s full-text menu list items, but I like the icons used by Documents to Go. They may be a little harder to grasp at first, but the space they save is well worth the learning curve.

Features

In both cases, most of the features are spot on in terms of what you’d expect from a mobile word editor. You won’t get table editing/creation capabilities, but you will get font and paragraph formatting, list creation, and copy and paste. Interestingly, neither takes advantage of the newly built-in copy/paste functions of OS 3.0.

QuickOffice loses out to Documents to Go by not allowing you to create numbered lists, only bulleted. But it does offer some macro-level features that definitely trump Dataviz’s offering. For one, it has MobileMe iDisk integration baked in, so that all you have to do is enter your credentials and you’re off. Another incredibly useful feature is the ability to email documents you create to anyone from right within the app. Documents to Go doesn’t even have an export to mail function.

Documents to Go does have the ability to sync with a desktop client they offer for free, and to save directly to the desktop should you so desire, as long as you have a network connection. I tend to prefer not having to install any client software on my Mac, though.

Usability

In terms of actual editing mechanics for individual documents, Documents to Go beats QuickOffice on usability. The interface is nicer, you have more control at your finger tips, and the keyboard button is more conveniently located. It’s also just much more pleasant to look at, in my opinion, which can be a big plus if you’re stuck staring at a small screen for any length of time.

With overall usability, though, QuickOffice takes the cake. Being able to share docs so easily via email and iDisk is a huge bonus, and loads easier than using Documents to Go’s desktop client sync.

Verdict

I actually had a hard time picking a winner in this rumble. For the purposes of this comparison, I was only looking at document editing, so I didn’t take into consideration the fact that Documents to Go can’t yet handle Excel file editing. That’s supposed to be on its way in a future update, though.

What I did look at was price. There’s a big difference between the two apps in that regard. QuickOffice is $19.99, and even QuickWord is $12.99. Documents to Go, on the other hand, is only $4.99 ($9.99 for a version with exchange support), and will eventually include Excel editing for no extra charge. That’s a quarter of the price of QuickOffice.

Given that the primary reason I’d even want to have a Word document editor on my iPhone in the first place is for quick edits at the request of a client or employer, and that I don’t use Microsoft Exchange-based email, I decided that the ability to share via email trumps any advantage Documents to Go has with pricing and usability. If future updates introduce Mail integration, consider my verdict officially reversed, but for now, I have to give this one to QuickOffice.

A little while ago, QuickOffice ($19.99, iTunes link) brought Word document editing to the iPhone. This week, however, QuickOffice officially loses its corner on that market with the introduction of Documents to Go ($4.99, iTunes link) by Dataviz, a seasoned contender.

The iPhone may not be my device of choice when it comes to doing significant edits to text documents, but in times of duress, it might be the quickest, most convenient, or even the only option available, so I like to have the capability. Let’s see which of these two apps will earn a place of honor on my springboard.

User Interface

Full-featured word processing on an iPhone might not make for a very pretty experience no matter how you slice it, but there are definitely ways to make it more or less pleasurable, depending on your UI choices. It’s a challenging task, taking the ribbon and/or menu bar of a full-featured desktop app and trying to somehow incorporate the same features into a mobile app interface.

Both Documents to Go and QuickOffice try to tackle the problem in much the same way: Store features in a menu bar across the bottom using expandable icons that open up to reveal more functions. While both apps use this feature, they both do so in a very different way, and you will probably vastly prefer one over the other, depending on your personal taste.

Documents to Go editing interface

QuickOffice editing interface

As for me, I like the implementation found in Documents to Go. The main difference between the two is a multipage menu bar that you can scroll by swiping left or right. It means that more features are available to you in fewer steps. There are three pages worth of menu bar items for word editing, including document info, bulleting and numbering. QuickOffice offers far fewer functions from its own bottom menu bar, although both include a very necessary document search function.

Some might prefer QuickOffice’s full-text menu list items, but I like the icons used by Documents to Go. They may be a little harder to grasp at first, but the space they save is well worth the learning curve.

Features

In both cases, most of the features are spot on in terms of what you’d expect from a mobile word editor. You won’t get table editing/creation capabilities, but you will get font and paragraph formatting, list creation, and copy and paste. Interestingly, neither takes advantage of the newly built-in copy/paste functions of OS 3.0.

QuickOffice loses out to Documents to Go by not allowing you to create numbered lists, only bulleted. But it does offer some macro-level features that definitely trump Dataviz’s offering. For one, it has MobileMe iDisk integration baked in, so that all you have to do is enter your credentials and you’re off. Another incredibly useful feature is the ability to email documents you create to anyone from right within the app. Documents to Go doesn’t even have an export to mail function.

Documents to Go does have the ability to sync with a desktop client they offer for free, and to save directly to the desktop should you so desire, as long as you have a network connection. I tend to prefer not having to install any client software on my Mac, though.

Usability

In terms of actual editing mechanics for individual documents, Documents to Go beats QuickOffice on usability. The interface is nicer, you have more control at your finger tips, and the keyboard button is more conveniently located. It’s also just much more pleasant to look at, in my opinion, which can be a big plus if you’re stuck staring at a small screen for any length of time.

With overall usability, though, QuickOffice takes the cake. Being able to share docs so easily via email and iDisk is a huge bonus, and loads easier than using Documents to Go’s desktop client sync.

Verdict

I actually had a hard time picking a winner in this rumble. For the purposes of this comparison, I was only looking at document editing, so I didn’t take into consideration the fact that Documents to Go can’t yet handle Excel file editing. That’s supposed to be on its way in a future update, though.

What I did look at was price. There’s a big difference between the two apps in that regard. QuickOffice is $19.99, and even QuickWord is $12.99. Documents to Go, on the other hand, is only $4.99 ($9.99 for a version with exchange support), and will eventually include Excel editing for no extra charge. That’s a quarter of the price of QuickOffice.

Given that the primary reason I’d even want to have a Word document editor on my iPhone in the first place is for quick edits at the request of a client or employer, and that I don’t use Microsoft Exchange-based email, I decided that the ability to share via email trumps any advantage Documents to Go has with pricing and usability. If future updates introduce Mail integration, consider my verdict officially reversed, but for now, I have to give this one to QuickOffice.

What’s that you say? You’re looking for iPhone app recommendations alongside a smattering of the week’s Apple news? Read, on my friend, I have just the article for you…

Before I present you with my four recommendations, hand-picked from the freshest apps to launch for the iPhone, it’s time to take stock and review this week’s Apple news.

As if Monday couldn’t get any grimmer, the big news to start the week was all about Microsoft. Specs and other info about its new Zune, apparently code-named, “xYz,” have been doing the rounds. Perhaps presenting a genuine challenge to the iPhone and iPod touch handheld gaming throne, the device may even play XBox Live Arcade content. Very exciting indeed, considering the breadth and quality of games on offer via Microsoft’s online service.

Speaking of which, big surprise of the week is news that Braid, the top-rated, critically-acclaimed Xbox Live Arcade title, has been released on Mac. The game is a side-scrolling platformer, incorporating a host of head-ache inducing time-twisting time-twisting puzzles. Good fun indeed and a worthy workout for cerebral gamers on the hunt for a challenge.

Coming to the U.S. in the very near future is Spotify, the legal music service that’s essentially like having access to the entire iTunes Store for free. The service has already been on offer in Europe since late 2008, Spotify’s founder, Daniel Ek, believes it’ll be officially available Stateside by the start of 2010 at the latest.

While the Spotify iPhone app is still under wraps, Digg.com founder Kevin Rose has been impressed by the desktop version, “… playing w/Spotify, hot damn it’s responsive – plays pretty much any song on earth in <1 second.” Being stationed in Helsinki, Finland, I’ve had the pleasure of using Spotify for several months now — it really is as fast as Rose describes.

My favorite news of the week concerns the latest update to the iPhone. More rumors abound, as a fresh list of specs has been released. Notable possible enhancements to the iPhone include 32GB of storage in the high-end model, built-in FM transmitter, OLED screen, rubber tread backing and discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device.

Moving on to the picks, this week I’ve been looking at Mover, Burger King Now, Lexulous and Flashback.

Mover (free)
With Air Sharing (among others) firmly covering file-sending over the ‘net using the iPhone, there’s still no convincing solution for sharing with other users in your immediate vicinity. Those that are available are severely lacking in ease-of-use and appealing looks. Mover addresses both of these issues directly and, as such, is quite different from the solutions I’ve seen previously. Allowing you to share either contacts or images with other users on the same WiFi network, you simply select the name or photo you’d like to send, then literally drag it across to your friend’s device. As developer Infinite Labs state, seeing is believing, so, before you pick up the app for free, check out the demo video of the app in action.

Burger King Now: Phone Ordering (free)
Back in my student days, I lived off a hearty combination of Domino’s Pizza and McDonald’s. In fact, I accrued a sizable debt due to my adoration for fast food and apparent inability to cook. These days, I love to cook and, what’s more, meat isn’t really a part of my usual diet, saved instead for special occasions — like the meatballs at Ikea. Deep down, my junk food lust hasn’t left me: upon discovering Burger King’s new app, my mouth watered and my heart sank to think of all the glorious grease I’d be missing out on. This may not be as oddly compelling as BK’s Subservient Chicken, but it’s a time-saving app that uses your iPhone to order a tasty trans fat treat.

Lexulous ($3.99)
Up until yesterday, I was under the impression that Scrabble-clone Scrabulous had dissolved under threat of legal action from Hasbro. It seems however that the popular Facebook app has been reborn under the apparently less-libelous moniker of Lexulous. What’s more, the crossword gaming ante has been upped by the release of the Lexulous iPhone app. One of the joys of playing Lexulous via Facebook is challenging friends across the globe, something that both the official Scrabble iPhone and Facebook app don’t allow. With a solid iPhone app, Facebook integration and global challenges, Lexulous is a must-have for crossword game fans.

Flashback ($4.99)
Originally released for Amiga, back in the ‘92, Flashback will bring the memories flooding back for retro-gamers. The game featured Prince of Persia-esque rotoscoped animation, a sprawling alien-jungle and a plot reminiscent of Philip K. Dick’s writings. The iPhone version is pretty tough, especially so, given that the controls have been ported to the touch screen. Plus, I’m not entirely sure of the legitimacy of the iPhone iteration, the app may get pulled from the store — if you’re interested in trying out this classic platform adventure, download now.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with more news from the week and picks from the App Store.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

I’ve been waiting for the ability to edit Word documents on the iPhone since the day I got one. Why? Because I’m a dreamer, and my dream is someday not having to lug around a laptop of any size while I’m traveling, or just out and about in the city.

My iPhone has become a big part of that dream, and the ability to edit any kind of document using it is another. The release of Quickoffice ($19.99, iTunes link) marks a big first for those editing capabilities, with full support for .doc files.

Now, Word support doesn’t mean as much to me as it once did, since I work primarily online these days, but it’s still great to have, and helpful for my own personal fiction writing. Thanks to Quickoffice, I can now edit stories and start new ones on the go, without having to first convert them to .txt or .rtf documents. Conversion doesn’t work well because a lot of the small print publishers still want .doc files, so I have to then convert back before sending.

Quickoffice does some big things right, but it also misses the mark with other features. First, uploading docs from your computer couldn’t be easier, and there’s no server app to install. You do it right in your browser by directing it to a private IP address on your local network, so it doesn’t matter if you’re using Windows or a Mac. Uploading a doc using the web interface worked flawlessly. Definitely a big plus.

Landscape editing is supported, and it does away with the interface bars to give you as much viewing space as possible. Well-thought out and customized for the platform. Editing in landscape makes working on the iPhone much less painful, and the menus aren’t really all that handy unless you’re setting up a brand new doc.

Copy and paste is supported, but since I’m using the new iPhone 3.0, Quickoffice’s implementation seems a little weak, since it actually sidesteps the built-in one. I’m sure this will be fixed by the time 3.0 is officially released, though, and for now their implementation is just fine, though it only works within Quickoffice itself and not between apps.

With Quickoffice you can also edit Excel files, though PowerPoint presentations are not yet supported. Microsoft’s newer .docx and .xlsx files are also not editable, though static versions can be viewed in Quickoffice. Honestly, that’s not really that big of a deal since most people have stuck with the older .doc standard anyway. Bottom line: if you want to edit Word documents on your iPhone, this is the way to do it for the time being, and things could be much, much worse.

A lot of apps have been promising to bring Microsoft document editing capabilities to the iPhone, like DocumentsToGo, which enjoyed prominence on the Palm OS, and continues to be a popular choice for BlackBerry users. But now it looks like Quickoffice might be the first app out the door, though it all hinges on Apple giving it the green light. They submitted their app for approval to Cupertino late this week, and if all goes well, it could be available for purchase in the App Store sometime early next week.

With Quickoffice, users can view and edit Microsoft Word and Excel files and share them over a wireless connection. Quickoffice is actually a collection of three individual apps, two of which are already available for the iPhone now. These are Quicksheet ($12.99, iTunes link), for editing Excel spreadsheets, and Quickoffice Files ($3.99, iTunes link), for viewing a variety of files, and transferring them to and from your device. The third application in the series is Quickword, which brings the crucial addition of Word document editing.

When (and if) it’s approved, it’ll also retail for $12.99 separately, or you can get the whole Quickoffice package together in one app for a price that’s yet to be revealed. I’d guess you might save a few bucks by getting the bundle, so look for it to be priced around $19.99.

News of the app’s submission comes closely on the heels of Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop dropping hints at the Web 2.0 conference earlier this week that document editing was indeed on its way to the iPhone. I’ve thought, until now, that the reason we hadn’t seen it yet was that Microsoft and Apple together were blocking it, but maybe Elop was referring to third-party apps like Quickoffice with his subtle suggestions. Then again, maybe they want to release their own branded solution and Quickoffice will be swiftly denied. We’ll find out next week.

Gallery: iHangman for iPhone