Google announced that they are creating standalone apps for Google Sheets, Google Docs. Google Slides is on its way and will be coming soon. Let’s see what are the implications of this.
So what
That was my first reaction also, I assumed that nothing changed and they just cloned the apps that were already included in the Drive app. However, I think that, event though this is not a major change, it carries some weight.
A dedicated app
Next time I want to create a new spreadsheet on my phone or tablet, I can choose weather I do that from the Drive app or from the Sheets App. It is kinda the same thing, nothing spectacular here.
It is interesting however to see the way Google further separates the apps from the Drive platform. Remember when you first started using Google Docs, it was basically a website that could be used for great collaboration, now we are talking about Google Drive, the platform that runs lots of apps, including the spreadsheet and the word editor.
Offline support
Yes, we now have offline support for mobile devices and that is cool. The next time you want to write a novel in the middle of the Siberian Tundra, Google has got you covered.
However, size matters
I have a “not so flagship” android device and the first thing I saw after installing the Sheets app was: “storage space is running low, some functions may not work properly”. It seems that my phone could not handle 31 more Mb /FAIL. I suppose that I won’t be installing the docs and slides apps.