Google Drive on Your iPad

For those of you who may not be aware, Google Docs has been renamed Google Drive. This has been for a few months, but many of us are not aware. Google Drive recently launched an App that allows you to access, edit, and create your documents all from your iPad. I have been experimenting with using the App for the past several days and like some things and dislike others. Here are some of my thoughts:


The Pro's

It is very easy to use and navigate. In order to use it, you obviously need a Gmail account. Obviously with Google Drive being an app, there are several differences from the web-based version of Google Drive. The interface is similar, but has a few minor differences.

For example, editing is different than with the web version. In the web version, you simply open the document and can begin typing. With the Google Drive App, you have click on an icon labeled "Edit" and when you are finished, you need to click done.

I really liked the ability to be able to access and view all of my documents. It makes it easier to show something to someone.

The Con's

At this point, you can't create anything other than a document or folder in this App. You have to have an HTML editor to do anything outside of documents.

It was disappointing to learn that editing tables is currently not supported by this App. I have many documents that contain tables and was sad to see that this does not currently work. Hopefully Google will develop an update to take care of this flaw.

I was also disappointed to see that you can only view Google Presentations, but not edit them. It was nice to have the ability to access past presentations that I have made, but it was disappointing to not be able to create new presentations at this time.

Overall, I would say that this App has the potential to get much better. It will be interesting to see how this App evolves in the future. Grade = C.