Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
First Look: Spreadsheet for iPhone
Softalk, a UK development firm known for their messaging and productivity solutions, has released the first iPhone spreadsheet application. The application has the really original name Spreadsheet, costs US$7.99, and is available now from the App Store (click opens iTunes). The first release features over 50 functions and the ability to email spreadsheets created on the iPhone to Mac or PC for further editing. The function list includes:
Date/time functions -- DATE, DATEADD, DAY, DAYABBREV, DAYNAME, HOUR, LASTDAY, MINUTE, MONTH, MONTHABBREV, MONTHNAME, NOW, SECOND, TIME, TODAY, YEAR
General functions -- COL, COUNT, ROW
Math function -- ABS, CEILING, EVEN, EXP, FACTORIAL, FLOOR, LOG, LOG10, MAX, MIN, ODD, POWER, ROUND, SQRT, SUM
Statistical functions -- AVE, MEDIAN, MODE
String functions -- CONCATENATE, LEFT, LOWER, MID, RIGHT, UPPER
Trignometry functions -- ACOS, ASIN, ATAN, COS, COSH, PI, SIN, SINH, TAN, TANH
The initial App Store reviews of Spreadsheet aren't exactly glowing, which is why TUAW will be doing a detailed review in the near future.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John B. said 2:12PM on 10-02-2008
why'd they have to use those ugly gray windows boxes? they need a new designer!
Reply
Tariq said 3:04PM on 10-02-2008
They don't even need to hire new designers, they could just copy the look of Apple's Numbers, it looks worlds better than Excel and this.
Mstrglss said 2:43PM on 10-02-2008
So is there a copy and paste function?
Reply
samsonsu said 2:48PM on 10-02-2008
no financial functions for me to create a loan what-if worksheet?
Reply
jonathan ober said 3:18PM on 10-02-2008
Couldn't apple just make a mobile version of numbers/keynote/pages iwork suite?
I mean for numbers it would pretty much be this spreadsheet program just with the numbers look and feel.
Keynote could up the ante by being able to include photos you take into your presentations and be able to be outputted to a tv screen or other display. You could use the templates already made in iLife then click to include an image or change text. The keyboard area would have a new iWork color/font/editor (no marker felt here!).
Pages would be the same as Keynote, except pages templates. You could select from different layouts, just like in Pages.
Basically you are at home and getting ready to go on the road or flight and you have to make a presentation but dont have the time until you get in the air...laptop battery drains fast and is bulky so you upload your photos or text that you want onto the iphone. Once in the air you pull it out choose your template and start entering content. If you want to add a photo you double tap the photo in the template which brings up your photos. You can move it around and adjust colors, etc. Choose fonts from the new iWork keyboard maybe an 'iWork icon' in the place where the globe currently is (I have languages turned on).
When you are done you can upload to the cloud or transfer wirelessly to any computer or email.
What do you guys think? iWorkMobile...catchy and it could iWork for you!
Reply
Tomahawk said 5:03PM on 10-02-2008
Why not just use Google's Doc & Spreadsheets like mentioned here:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070713140106770
http://thingsthatmakeyougogreen.com/use-google-spreadsheets-and-your-iphone-to-keep-track-of-your-gas-mileage/2008/07/07/
Reply
jonathan ober said 5:19PM on 10-02-2008
@Tomahawk
...because iWork is Apple...Google Docs, not so much. Its all about integrating their product hardware/software lines as much as possible.
Reply
Tomahawk said 7:03PM on 10-02-2008
NO I agree with you about iWork, but why would anyone spend $7.99 on the spreadsheet application from Softalk when you can doo all this now for free through Google's Doc & Spreadsheets in Safari, and then better yet it's synched it's stored in the cloud, meaning you can access it from any computer anywhere.
Rich said 8:37PM on 10-02-2008
There's another good reason to use Google Apps: the functionality is far beyond what a bedroom developer can push out.
Moose said 5:36PM on 10-02-2008
Not only is it horrendous as noted by others, but it looks like a usability nightmare. That is way more icons along the bottom than there should be... If you think that typing is difficult, this is going to be impossible.
Reply
Rowan said 7:19PM on 10-02-2008
Why bag an app you haven't used? 'looks like a usability nightmare' I have no connection with the author of this app and do not intend to buy it, but it's existance fills a gap in the iPhone software set at the moment, I know a few business types that would not buy an iPhone without the ability to edit sheets basically on the road.
Give the author a chance I reckon, and say it's junk if you've used it, not just 'looks like junk'
Besides, I'd imagine it'll get updated.
People complain about 20+ flashlights and calculators and things like Koi Pond, and then when a spreadsheet editing app comes along it's ugly/unusable even by those who haven't actually used it.
But it might be crap, I don't know I haven't used it :)
Reply
fd said 9:17PM on 10-02-2008
Doesn't that look like too much data shown on screen for the limited screen resolution the iPhone has?
Reply
JimG said 10:27AM on 10-04-2008
I purchased this app knee jerk and then read the reviews. Very stupid of me. I don't use Google Spreadsheet because I don't have internet access away from home on my Touch.
Ignoring how it crashes and putting functions in functions is an absolute nightmare at best, division is the worst problem.
The thing only does integer division. You can enter all the decimals you want but if you divide, first it truncates the numbers to integers (invisibly) and then does the math. This makes for some very inaccurate results to simple math.
This division problem along with many others are being addressed, according to their website, in the next update.
Also, this is the second, not the first spreadsheet app. The first was so feature poor as to not warrant my attention.
Reply
adb said 7:24AM on 10-07-2008
Well, I guess I'll have to disagree with most of the folks. I had been looking for a multifield checklist (like the ListPro I used with Windows Mobile), and this works pretty well. Only big missing function for me is sorting; future updates will apparently include importing Excel files.
Only functionality issue I had was hitting exactly the right spot to start data entry for a given cell; I never had a problem hitting the correct icon along the bottom of the screen.
And why is this better than Google Docs? Because roaming rates in Europe are obscene, and I'd prefer something native. My recent trip to the Paris Auto Show would have cost a hell of a lot more than $8 had I been downloading and uploading spreadsheet data the whole time.
Reply