HTC Magic’s elderly brother, the T-Mobile G1, was heavily criticized for the lack of a document viewer – a must for every smartphone, especially in this price range. Luckily, this time we found what we were looking for – using the Quickoffice and the PDF viewer you can view your office documents stored in the phone’s memory, the microSD card or received via email. Editing isn’t possible, at this stage but this is still a huge step forward for the Android OS.

This is indeed a step forward for the Android line, though it would have been a much better picture if documents editing had been included.

The review: HTC Magic review: Practical magic

Initially, that was not a problem, as I was sure that I would be able to get a 3rd party application to fill this gap. Sadly, till date, I do not yet have a documents viewer and/or editor on my G1, and it does not look like I will get one soon.

No; it isn’t because there are no such apps for the Android platform. DataViz have Documents To Go for Android, and there’s also Quickoffice for Android. But the only way to purchase them (or even download a trial) is from the Android Market. “Great then“, you might say, “So go ahead and get ‘em!”

Ahem, the problem is that paid apps on the Android Market are not available for our region yet. Yes; at the moment, no-one using an Android device in Nigeria can purchase anything from the Market yet. I’m not sure if any African country is currently serviced by the market either. Free apps are available for download though – and I have benefited tremendously from those.

Both DataViz and Quickoffice say that their applications are available only via the Android Market. I am not sure how it will hurt them to make the applications available for download or purchase on their respective websites. It just sounds odd that their prospective users are denied an alternative acquisition platform.

Meanwhile, both DataViz and Quickoffice offer downloads of trial apps and purchased apps for other mobile OS platforms directly on their websites. Why this strange approach to the Android versions?

Anyway, here I am stuck with a superb device but cannot do something as simple as view my MS Word documents, muchless edit them.

Is this a deal-breaker for me? You bet; it is.

I haven’t had a smartphone in donkey years on which I couldn’t read my Office documents, so this is very limiting for me.

Checking the specifications of the upcoming Android devices, I do not see Documents viewer or editor listed for those either. Google, what’s going on here? This is a show-stopper, unless of course Android is being marketed as a consumer-targeted OS.

In which case, I’m out, seeing that I belong on the business end. I’ve certainly found one more reason why I will opt for a Symbian device – and this is a very strong reason.

I love Android, but I’m a fanboy of no platform or manufacturer. I use devices that meet my needs, especially those highest on my list of priorities.

Honestly, I am stumped at the moment. After using Android, it feels painful even considering using older mobile platforms like Symbian and WinMo.

But what alternatives do I have? I so need to be able to read and edit documents without having to boot up my PC. In the meantime, my heart will go on and on for Android… the lover I may not be able to continue with for now, unfortunately