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Office universal apps preview for Windows Phone coming end of April

By Ng Chong Seng - on 19 Apr 2015, 9:08pm

Office universal apps preview for Windows Phone coming end of April

The Office universal apps for phones seem to look very similar to the ones we've for the iPhone. (Image source: Microsoft.)

I know several people who’ve ditched Windows Phone to join the iOS or Android camp. The common reason? The app ecosystem is better on the other side. One very good example is Microsoft’s own Office apps, which are so good on the iPhone and iPad. Then there are others like the Acompli-influenced Outlook and the interesting Office Sway, just to name a couple more.

But if you’ve stuck with Windows Phone, here's a piece of good news: Microsoft has announced that it’d also be bringing Office universal apps for Windows 10 to the phone, starting with a preview version by the end of this month for Windows Insiders. Built for touch devices like phones and tablets, Office universal apps are “optimized for viewing, quick edits, notes, and mark-up”. Of course, a phone or phablet is smaller than a tablet; so to aid one-handed use, you’d find commands and controls being moved to the bottom of the screen when these universal apps are on the phone.

With this announcement, Microsoft has effectively laid out all the plans it has for Office on Windows. The touch-optimized Office universal apps for tablets (and PCs and laptops) are coming too, and are already available in preview form since February with the Windows 10 Technical Preview. And then there’s the next version of the Office desktop suite, which we already knew would be called Office 2016. The IT Pro and Developer Preview of Office 2016 was released last month, and if you’re interested to test them out, you can head over to the Microsoft Connect site. All these should be ready in time (or thereabouts) for Windows 10, which is expected to ship sometime this summer.

Source: Office Blogs.

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