SoftMaker unveils 'desktop quality' mobile office suite

Microsoft may be focusing on Windows Phone 7, but SoftMaker continues to support Windows Mobile users with the latest release of SoftMaker Office for Windows Mobile, which it claims as the only desktop-quality suite for mobile devices.

Available for download from the firm's web site, SoftMaker Office 2010 for Windows Mobile is a full-featured suite that lets users open, edit and save documents in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats. The latest version adds support for the new XML formats of Office 2007 and Office 2010.

SoftMaker claims that its applications are fully compatible with the Microsoft formats, and will retain all formatting and content, allowing mobile users to collaborate on files with colleagues using Microsoft Office on PCs.

"Until they found out about SoftMaker Office, Windows Mobile users have not had the ability to work on Word, Excel and PowerPoint files without losing formatting or content when they moved the files back to their desktop PC," said SoftMaker chief executive Martin Kotulla.

As well as an overall boost in performance, the new 2010 version of the suite allows users to create PDF versions of documents.

The TextMaker word processor supports document tabs, allowing users to switch between files, features a spell checker, and supports tables and AutoShapes like Microsoft Word.

SoftMaker Office's PlanMaker spreadsheet also includes tabs and AutoShapes, and supports charts and graphs. Users can even import and export data between text or dBase files.

The suite includes SoftMaker Presentations 2010, which lets users edit and display PowerPoint files. Users can insert and edit drawings, graphics and tables, and the tool supports animations and transitions from PowerPoint, according to SoftMaker.

SoftMaker Office 2010 for Windows Mobile runs on handsets with Windows Mobile 5, 6, 6.1, 6.5 or 2003 SE, and requires a minimum 64MB of RAM.