Mobile document creation and editing is one of the linchpins for mobile success. If — as companies like Google and Microsoft want — we’re going to go more mobile than desktop, we need stronger productivity tools. Google has Drive, which is clearly a desktop service first, also has a very robust mobile system as well. Quip, on the other hand, puts mobile ahead of everything.
With Quip, an admittedly mobile-first document editor and creator, co-creator of Google Maps Bret Taylor and his team are taking a different approach. By bringing the service to the mobile device first, they hope to create a buzz-worthy following. The app has been on iOS for some time, but Taylor notes in an interview with Pocket Lint that this isn’t a dumbed-down port:
“Quip for Android is the best writing experience available for Android devices. It’s not simply a port of the app — it takes advantage of a number of features unique to Android including automatic Google account integration, intelligent notification stacking, custom work to handle third party keyboards, etc.”
Quip also doesn’t plan on being just another document editor. Now that the app is available on both platforms and “76 per cent of phones and tablets in the world”, Taylor and his team want to grow the service. Sharing files via messaging services uniquely ties into the chat function already imbedded, and many smaller business entities are currently using it to plan events and workflow.
Though we like Quip, there is still much more we’d like to see from the service before crowning it a champion. We love the interface, and the collaborative focus is really great, but in terms of straight-up productivity, it’s not there yet. Services like Drive offer all the same functionality, Quip just does it in a different way. If the cumbersome feeling of Drive dissuades you from using it, Quip might just be the answer.
