Support for Google Android mobile device operating system

[sven-l]

I added your account, too.

[JSR]

I see the blog for Softmaker Android, re: http://softmaker.com/english/blog/?p=147

What version of Android will be required? There are a number of cheap Android 1.6 or 2.1 tablets doing the rounds right now. Will Softmaker Android run on them, or will a newer version of Android be required?

I'd get myself a tablet for Christmas if I knew Softmaker would run on it (eventually).

SoftMaker Office for Android will run with Android 1.6 or higher.

I see that specification changed:

System requirements

Smartphones and tablets running Android 2.2 or higher

Re: http://softmaker.com/english/ofa_en.htm

I guess I won't be downloading this for a while now.

[martin-k]

We originally intended to support 1.6, 2.0, and 2.1 but this is beyond hope. These versions of Google Android have so many things to work around that they are virtually impossible to support these days. (Technically, 2.1 should still work with SoftMaker Office Mobile for Android, but it will be quite slow. It won't work at all on the even older systems).

[JSR]

We originally intended to support 1.6, 2.0, and 2.1 but this is beyond hope. These versions of Google Android have so many things to work around that they are virtually impossible to support these days. (Technically, 2.1 should still work with SoftMaker Office Mobile for Android, but it will be quite slow. It won't work at all on the even older systems).

My phone runs Android 2.1 on a Samsung Galaxy Portal. Would be interested to know if it'd work on that.

The good news is that my phone is just out of contract so whatever I decide to get next will have a newer Android on it (it's just a shame that Samsung seem to be hit-and-miss when it comes to updating older phones).

Would it be worth trying the Android beta on my phone do you think? Or will it do something so catastrophic that the Earth will stop revolving or something?

[JSR]

In case anyone's interested in trying Softmaker on an older/unsupported Android, I've just downloaded the beta of Textmaker to my Samsung Galaxy Portal running Android 2.1.

It downloaded and installed okay. It's a bit slow on opening. I was able to open a txt document from my Dropbox, but all I get is the "black blobs instead of letters" issue, which is indicated as having been solved on this page: http://www.softmaker.com/english/tipsandroid_en.htm I presume the version I downloaded is the "solved" one as I only downloaded it today but, if so, it's no good for Android 2.1.

[martin-k]

In case anyone's interested in trying Softmaker on an older/unsupported Android, I've just downloaded the beta of Textmaker to my Samsung Galaxy Portal running Android 2.1.

It downloaded and installed okay. It's a bit slow on opening. I was able to open a txt document from my Dropbox, but all I get is the "black blobs instead of letters" issue, which is indicated as having been solved on this page: http://www.softmaker.com/english/tipsandroid_en.htm I presume the version I downloaded is the "solved" one as I only downloaded it today but, if so, it's no good for Android 2.1.

2.1 is not officially supported because it has problems with OpenGL. You can turn to Tools/Options to turn off OpenGL, but will experience a significant speed hit. Depending on the speed of the device, it will either be acceptable or not. Try it.

[JSR]

In case anyone's interested in trying Softmaker on an older/unsupported Android, I've just downloaded the beta of Textmaker to my Samsung Galaxy Portal running Android 2.1.

It downloaded and installed okay. It's a bit slow on opening. I was able to open a txt document from my Dropbox, but all I get is the "black blobs instead of letters" issue, which is indicated as having been solved on this page: http://www.softmaker.com/english/tipsandroid_en.htm I presume the version I downloaded is the "solved" one as I only downloaded it today but, if so, it's no good for Android 2.1.

2.1 is not officially supported because it has problems with OpenGL. You can turn to Tools/Options to turn off OpenGL, but will experience a significant speed hit. Depending on the speed of the device, it will either be acceptable or not. Try it.

Thanks Martin, that worked.

It doesn't appear to be much slower because it was already slow to open to begin with. I guess it does scroll around a bit jerkily. The speed of the device shouldn't be an issue because the Galaxy Portal supposedly has a 800Mhz processor in it (I've run previous versions of Softmaker on devices with much slower processors and much less memory without noticing a speed issue before).

I love Softmaker Office but, if I'm to be honest, this isn't one I'm going to be buying into just yet. I run many versions of Softmaker Office, and the most usable mobile version is Softmaker Office 2002 on my HP Jornada 720 H/PC. Softmaker certainly appears to run much more snappily on that old 203MHz device than on a 800MHz phone. Running Softmaker on my old Dell Axim PDA with foldable keyboard was also much more usable than Softmaker on my phone.

I guess I shall have to wait for the Android experience until I have an Android tablet. Pity there's no iPad/iPhone version of Softmaker. I'm going to have to buy one of the alternatives very soon instead, when I'd much rather be giving my money to the Softmaker team.

[riac]

I don't think the IOS is a suitable platform for any business software or business man.
Really hate to see those world popular but to me the most stupid gameboy-like devices, more stupid than the Symbians.

[riac]

Really miss the days using softmaker on my HD2. It feels good, just like a desktop experience.

[JSR]

I've just run across this thread again because Googling for Softmaker on Blackberry brought up this result.

On a related note, have you considered using the Android compatibility runtime to deliver SoftMaker office to the BlackBerry PlayBook and future BlackBerry phones?

Given the price of Blackberry Playbooks right now (with refurbs under £100), is it possible for Softmaker Office (Textmaker/Planmaker) to be adapted for the Blackberry Playbook in the way many other Android apps have been (see this site for apps that have been adapted: http://apps.goodereader.com/playbook/bl ... vity-apps/).

If Textmaker/Planmaker could run on Playbooks in this way, it may open up a new audience that are buying all those refurb Playbooks. I'm thinking of getting one myself, and it would be the icing on the cake of Softmaker would run on it.

[sven-l]

As far as I know the Blackberry Playbooks does not support apps written in C++ but our Office is completely written in C++ programming language. This makes it hard to transform the Office to run on these devices.

[JSR]

Do other Android app writers use something other than C++ then?

Excuse my ignorance, but I just read on that site about how 1,000+ Android (.apk) apps had been adapted to be Blackberry (.bar) files. They do say that some aren't able to be converted, but there's no mention of C++ that I've found.

It's this availability of many Android apps that makes the Blackberry Playbook look like a very desirable device. Many of the sub-£100 Android tablets I've seen aren't really up to much with hardware, build quality, and battery life. The Playbook hardware combined with Android apps is looking like a nice, affordable little package.

[sven-l]

Sorry, I have no further information but I will refer the support of the Playbook as a feature request to our developers.

[JSR]

Now that I have my Playbook, I can see that it would be an excellent device on which to run Softmaker (just Textmaker and Planmaker would be great additions). The hardware itself is much better than my budget Android tablet (that I don't use much due to the poor picture quality and lousy battery life).

Even just a viewer for Textmaker and Planmaker files would be a help. I'm not relishing the idea of having to go back through all my Textmaker and Planmaker files to convert them into .doc and .xls files just so I can work on them on my Playbook, but it's something I'll have to do. Seems almost pointless working in .tmp and .pmd formats on my other devices if I'm going to have to go back to .doc and .xls.

I'd certainly pay for Textmaker and Planmaker apps again if they were compatible with the Playbook.

From what I can gather, around two and a half million Playbooks have been sold (with a significant chunk of them being sold in the last 3-6 months due to the price drop). The lack of apps developed for the platform disgruntles many owners, but that hasn't stopped the upsurge in sales since the price came down.

[martin-k]

There is no chance to make SoftMaker Office Mobile for Android run on the Playbook, and the market is too small to warrant a port of SoftMaker Office natively to this platform.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.