Google Docs for Android update with rich editing and collaboration improvements

Google Docs for Android debuted for smartphones, and was then updated to support tablets, but it was never a substitute for the real thing. The desktop version had rich text editing, real-time collaboration with other writers, and a more fluid sense of “now.” Google Docs isn’t just a Word replacement, it’s a living, breathing cloud service.

Those aspects have now been brought over, as best they can on a smartphone or tablet, to the mobile space. In addition to real-time collaboration, the latest update brings rich text editing, including bulleted and numbered lists, bold, italic and underlining, as well as the ability to pinch in and out on a specific paragraph to see it in greater detail, or to review the entire document. The feature works surprisingly well, and will likely lead me to use the app a lot more often than I have been. At the same time, with the impending release of Google Drive, it was incumbent on Google to update Docs to support rich text formatting, as I’m guessing they’re going to be emphasizing mobile quite a lot when Drive debuts.

Check out Google Docs for Android in the Marketplace, and watch a demo video after the break.

Source: Google Docs Blog