CloudOn 4.0 brings virtual Microsoft Office to Android smartphones

CloudOn does the seemingly impossible. It hosts Microsoft Office in the cloud, then makes it available on your iPhone, iPad, or Android tablet. PC World's Yardena Arar called it her "favorite cloud-hosted virtual Office service."

With version 4.0, CloudOn is now available for Android smartphones as well. And it brings some much-needed new features to the table, while retaining (for the moment, anyway) the best possible price: It's free.

If you've used the app in the past (on another device), you'll be glad to know that version 4.0 supports both portrait and landscape views, the latter a very welcome (and overdue) addition.

Also new: CloudOn FileSpace, a place to add notes and view all activity on a single file, including edits, for real-time updates on documents. As always, you can share and view Office documents directly from email, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and SkyDrive.

CloudOn 4.0 can run on Android phones including the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4G, Galaxy Note and Note II, and Galaxy S II Skyrocket. According to a CloudOn rep, these are among the devices the company has "spent the most time on developing and testing." Other phones may work as well (check the Google Play Store), but "it shouldn't be too long before most Android phones are perfectly CloudOn compatible."

I tested the app and service on a Galaxy S3 and found that it worked as advertised. With just a few taps I was able to access my Dropbox account, open an Excel spreadsheet, and edit it.

That said, let's not fool ourselves into thinking Microsoft Office works well within the tiny confines of a smartphone—even one as large as, say, the Galaxy Note II. Although you can create documents via CloudOn, it's just not practical to do so on a phone.

Instead, keep this on hand for those times when you need to review or make a few small changes to a document. For instances like those, CloudOn is hard to beat—especially given that it lets you work within such a familiar interface.

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Posted at 07:50 |  by Unknown

How to improve your chances of recovering a lost Android phone

Password-protecting your smartphone makes sense, as it prevents unauthorized users from accessing your data.

But it can also work against you. Suppose, for example, your phone gets lost. If a Good Samaritan finds it and wants to return it, he or she won't be able to do the necessary detective work. (And it's not like you'd want them poking around your data anyway.)

Fortunately, Android 4.0 offers a solution in the form of lock-screen contact information, which will display the message of your choosing even on a passcode-protected device. Here's how to set this up:

1. On your Android phone, head to Settings, then look for an entry called Lock Screen. (I found this under the Personal section on my Samsung Galaxy S3; on your phone it might be under Security or somewhere similar.)

2. Tap Lock Screen, Owner Information.

3. In the field provided, enter whatever message you think might help someone return the phone to you--your e-mail address or office phone number, for example. You could even set up a Google Voice number solely as an "emergency recovery" number, just in case you don't want your personal number readily visible on your lock screen.

4. Make sure Show owner info on lock screen is checked, then tap OK.

And that's all there is to it. Now, if someone finds your phone, they still won't be able to bypass your security, but they will have the info they need to get in touch with you.

Now there's just the simple matter of what kind of reward befits the return of a lost phone. My feeling: $20. Your thoughts?

While you're mulling that over, be sure to outfit your phone with some kind of tracking app so you're not relying solely on the kindness of strangers. You can't go wrong with Where's My Droid, but it's just one option of many.

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Posted at 06:21 |  by Unknown