LibreOffice for Mobile Coming Along Nicely

The popular open source office suite LibreOffice has a mobile version in its pipeline, and it seems to be progressing well.

LibreOffice running on Android with desktop UI

LibreOffice is a beast of an application, with half a dozen application that all share a core. LibreOffice has a rather touch-unfriendly, and it considered “heavy” by many. Well, not for long.

LibreOffice developers have been working not only on getting LibreOffice running on mobile devices, but also at adapting the UI for mobile devices. LibreOffice for desktop OSs might also be going for a UI overhaul, since its interface — while very functional — is now quite dated.

LibreOffice developers have worked over time to get builds running for Android and iOS, a necessary first step before development work on a mobile version can begin, and now the latest version of LibreOffice seem to be compiling for those platforms out of the box.

The UI however is still in its early stages. Currently it is essentially a desktop UI running on a tablet device. The initial plan is for LibreOffice to be available strictly as a document viewer for mobile platforms, with support for document editing coming later on.

LibreOffice Android, Document viewer

LibreOffice Android, Document browser

It is amazing to see how far and how fast LibreOffice has progressed ever since it forked from OpenOffice.org. Development continues at good pace, and LibreOffice 3.6 is right around the corner.