New Mobile Site Puts Google Docs On Your IPhone

Google has put up a mobile version of Google Docs (docs.google.com/m) that allows you to view saved documents from an iPhone or other "rich-browser" equipped mobile device. Google Blogoscoped first reported the site's existence earlier this morning, but so far Google hasn't made any public announcements.

There is a single entry help page, which offers the following hints:

At this point, we support both the iPhone and Blackberry mobile devices. Note, however, that presentations are only supported on the iPhone.

Google Docs documents and spreadsheets should also work on phones that offer rich-browser support. While we haven't tested it across all mobile devices, a good rule of thumb is that the more advanced your phone's browsing capabilities, the more seamlessly Google Docs will work.

I tested out the new service on my iPhone and it does work, though Safari choked a couple of times on the login page. It's possible to view most document types as HTML — I tested both Word and Excel files and was able to view both without any trouble.

There doesn't seem to be a way to edit documents, but of course, since the iPhone can't handle the Javascript interface necessary to edit Google Docs documents on main page, that's not surprising.

On the bright side, the new mobile site does offer a much faster interface if you just want to view some of your saved documents.

If anyone out there tests the new site on a Blackberry or other smart phone, let us know what you find.

See Also:

• Add an Ajax Desktop Interface to Google Docs
• User Feedback Prompts Google Docs And Spreadsheets Changes
• Google Docs' New Presentations Can't Compete With PowerPoint
• Developers: Google Adds Docs & Spreadsheets API