Picsel Smart Office mobile app links to the cloud

Smart Office 1.5 productivity tool can access files direct from Dropbox

UK firm Picsel has released an updated version of its Smart Office mobile productivity application, adding user interface support for tablets and integration with online file services such as Dropbox.

Available now, Smart Office 1.5 is a cross-platform application that lets users open and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint files, plus view PDF documents. It is available on a number of platforms, including Apple's iPhone, Android, Nokia S60 and Samsung's Bada.

Smart Office is compatible with documents produced by any Microsoft Office version from 95 up to 2010, according to Picsel.

Version 1.5 adds a number of enhancements, including integration with cloud-based file services. Users can view and edit documents straight from Dropbox on their smartphone, and save the revised file back up to the cloud.

Similar integration with Google Docs is currently being tested, and will be available in the near future, according to the firm.

Picsel marketing director Zubair Salim said that the company is in talks with carriers in the UK and elsewhere, which are interested in pre-loading Smart Office 1.5 on handsets and linking it to their own file hosting services.

"A lot of the carriers are interested in bringing new services to enterprise users," Salim said, adding that the file hosting integration would allow smartphone user to collaborate on documents with colleagues running Microsoft Office on a PC.

This makes Smart Office a potential rival for Microsoft's own Office Mobile applications in Windows Phone 7, which can access documents from a SharePoint server.

The company also has a revised user interface for tablets such as Apple's iPad, which makes greater use of the larger screen area available. Versions for Windows and Linux tablets are said to be in the pipeline.

Smart Office has a slick user interface that displays thumbnail icons of available documents and in demonstrations, seems very responsive when editing files. Users can drag and drop to move text around, and a context-sensitive menu subset appears at the bottom of the screen when test or an object is highlighted.

Other enhancements in Smart Office 1.5 include an Excel Function picker when editing cell formulas, and a Slide Sorter view for PowerPoint files that lets users re-order or delete slides.

Smart Office 1.5 is available to download for £5.99 from the appropriate app store for each respective platform.