Google Docs for Android gets another big update

The Google Docs team has been busy, with another significant update to the Android app just weeks after the last one brought offline documents and an improved tablet experience to the platform. This time around the headline feature is real-time collaboration, although a host of improvements are in order.

That’s not to sell the collaboration feature short – now when you share a Google Doc with other people, the Android app will update changes being made in real-time, just like the desktop version. Tap the shared document and you too can partake in the communal document editing fun!

The new version also rich text formatting, better layout and cursor tools, and a native Android document editor. The native editor is a bigger feature than you might suspect; earlier versions of the Docs app left you editing on the mobile web version of the Google Docs page, which was often sluggish to respond. With a native editor everything is much more responsive, and the native cursor and highlighting tools you are used to on your phone work as you’d expect in the document editor.

For a fun overview of the collaboration features you can watch the video below.



source: Google; Android Market