With tablets getting more popular, people are undoubtedly going to be looking to use the light, easily portable devices in lieu of laptops in more and more situations. A laptop isn’t heavy, but it seems so burdensome once you get used to toting a sleek tablet around. The one major factor that is slowing the transition to tablets-all-the-time is the lack of word processing/spreadsheet software (and the keyboard that makes those programs usable). Productivity apps that claim to solve this issue have hit the tablet market, but are they any good?

This is the exact dilemma that Bree Fowler, of The Star, faced. So Bree downloaded three tablet productivity apps and did a little in-the-wild testing. Here’s a peek at what she found:

Quickoffice (iOS and Android)

The $20 app includes programs similar to Microsoft’s Word for documents, Excel for spreadsheets and PowerPoint for presentations. But the programs have some shortcomings and don’t mesh perfectly with the Microsoft versions.

For instance, Quickword, the word processing program, doesn’t include a spellcheck feature. Rather, it has an autocorrect function similar to those in phone email and messaging programs. While autocorrect is nice, it’s not always enough.

iWork (iOS)

Pages, for word processing, Numbers, for spreadsheets, and Keynote, for presentations. They cost $10 each, or $30 for the set, making iWork pricier than Quickoffice. …

Pages, for word processing, Numbers, for spreadsheets, and Keynote, for presentations. They cost $10 each, or $30 for the set, making iWork pricier than Quickoffice.

Microsoft Office (Windows)

Working with Microsoft Office on a tablet is much like working with it on a desktop. As a result, there’s less of a learning curve than with Quickoffice or iWork. …

Microsoft’s version of Office for the tablet seems best suited for business users who crave seamless connections between their computer and on-the-go tablet.

The Final Consensus

If you’re serious about replacing your laptop with a tablet, regardless of what brand, you probably want to invest in a good external keyboard. With both the Apple and Samsung tablets, typing was very awkward, whether I laid them flat or propped them up at an angle. …

Whatever you decide, don’t expect to shelve your laptop in favour of a tablet or phone anytime soon. These programs fill in a gap, but are far from replacements.

Read Bree’s full assessment at The Star >>>