Opening Document in Smartphone

Sure, the screen's small and you might have to scroll and squint a bit, but if you've got to read documents while you're on the go, something's better than nothing!

Working with office documents while on the run might seem tedious at first. Most mobile phones have keypads that don't exactly lend themselves well to text input, but I've often found myself wanting to read them, especially when I receive attachments via email. With the help of some affordable software, you can view, and in some cases even edit, documents that start out life on a PC or Mac.

I have been using Quickword Viewer ($14.95 from http://www.quickoffice.com/) to view documents while they are sitting in the Inbox on my Nokia 6600, waiting to end up on my computer when I get back home or into the office. Quickword also can read Palm DOC eBooks. Quickword is fast, and can run at full screen to show the most that any document viewer really can show on a Series 60 device. Quickpoint Viewer ($14.95) is also available, and will let you view PowerPoint documents on your phone.

You can take things a step further with Quickoffice Premier ($49.95), which can read and write Excel, Word, and PowerPoint files. However, it requires a newer Series 60 device. If you are using an older device, such as the Nokia 3650, you'll be limited to Quickword and Quickpoint.

RepliGo (http://www.cerience.com/) is another option. It syncs your documents back and forth, similar to the Documents to Go application available to Palm OS users. RepliGo requires a PC to perform conversions, leaving Mac users totally in the cold. (Though like many Mac users, I'm used to getting kicked in the stomach by software developers now and then, so this doesn't really bother me much.) The RepliGo viewers are available for free, which is good news for folks who spend money on the converters, since it makes it possible for anyone with a supported device to view the converted office documents.

Like RepliGo, the Mobipocket Office Companion (http://www.mobipocket.com/) converts your office documents to a format that you can view on your phone. The reader is free, but you'll need to buy the converter ($19.95; $29.95 adds Access, FrontPage, and Visio support).