Office for iPad

[Jux]

can anyone recommend a good but cheap Office suite type thing for a first gen iPad?

I suppose I really want a free one, so what's the best free one, and failing that, the cheapest good one?

Thanks.

I use Pages or word processing. It's not free though.

For word processing.

Open Office works well and is free.

I use Office2HD - cheap

Open Office for iPad? I had no idea! I use it on my PC. That'll be easy then thanks Mollie.

I'll look at the others too though, 'cos you never know...

Thanks all.

can't download Open Office on my iPad.

Whoops,just checked. It doesn't work on Macs. Sorry.

What about NeoOffice?

Mollie, they have a version for Mac OS, but not iPad which is different.

It's odd that there seems to be no office software for Ipads. Makes me think that it is really something that is only suited to playing games and surfing the 'net. I got ds a netbook because I wasn't convinced about the word processing capabilities of an Ipad (didn't do much investigation though).

I had very little need of one but my bro gave me it for my birthday, because I love new tech and can't afford it (he's wonderful). It's a bit slow on adsl, the only way of syncing it with your computer is via iTunes which is an application I loathe, you can't print from it unless your printer's wifi - mine isn't - and surfing isn't always that great as it doesn't support Flash so a lot of embedded videos won't play. The speakers are shit but you can play music on it, and pics are great (though mine doesn't have a camera so I have to jump through some hoops with iTunes to get them on to it).

It's useful to me as I am frequently confined to bed so can access my OU course site from it, but I can't access all my course stuff using it. I do most of my MNing on it, though . On the whole, I think a netbook is more worthwhile.

It is very beautiful though, and I do love it quite a lot.

"It's odd that there seems to be no office software for Ipads"

There is, Apple have released Pages (word processing) and Numbers (spreadsheets) for the iPad.

"I got ds a netbook because I wasn't convinced about the word processing capabilities of an Ipad (didn't do much investigation though)."

While it can do it I agree that a netbook with a proper keyboard will be better. The iPad is great for taking notes in a meeting and tweaking existing documents but I don't think it's at all suited for creating big documents. But that said you can buy a proper keyboard for it...

"surfing isn't always that great as it doesn't support Flash so a lot of embedded videos won't play"

I've not really missed Flash on my iOS devices, true enough there are a few videos that won't play but most of the web works. Flash is a technology that's is fading away, you can do amazing things now on the web without Flash. Adobe have already announced that their ceasing development of Flash for mobile platforms.

"On the whole, I think a netbook is more worthwhile."

I think there's a real choice and a real differentiation between the two platforms. There's no way that you can argue that one is "better" than the other.

iPads, on the whole, just work. They are a doddle to set up, look after and use. But they're really limited to just content consumption.

Netbooks are far more complicated and if you buy a Windows one then you're getting back that never ending treadmill of security and virus worries. But in return for that complexity you get something that you can create with far more easily.

So how do you spend your time on online? Do you consume or create? Which suits your needs better?

Pages if you have an Apple iCloud account, because you can sync to your PC though it.

Or QuickOffice via Dropbox.

Although neither are free

The Pages app for ipad isn't that expensive - it works fine for writing letters etc on