This is going to be a bit of rant because this isn’t what I wanted to write about. I just spent the last couple days trying to find word processing apps to use on my new Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus. I wanted to use the tablet as a cross between a laptop and a tablet, something which it is well designed for from a hardware standpoint.
The problem, as with all Android devices, is the apps available are limited or treated as afterthoughts by their developers. I find this dumb and incredibly short sided because there is so much more potential in the Android system, but that is a post for another day.
This isn’t my first Samsung tablet. I’ve been with Android since the beginning of the system, so it’s not like I didn’t know what I was getting into. What did surprise me was how annoying it is to use what is available.
On my PC, I like to use Scrivner. There is no app from Scrivner for Android and though they did originally tease the possibility, they have made it pretty clear that it is unlikely that there will ever be one. And the hunt for a replacement begins….
There are a lot of potential options, but for my needs I’ve focused on a just a few. To be clear, I’m only looking for a word processor. Nothing else. No other “Office” features. Something that I can write journal entries, articles, blog posts, essays, short stories and maybe at least have the bare essentials to organize a book down the road. I want something that is on my harddrive. Not in a browser and not something that is a subscription. I have no problem paying for the software, but I don’t want to rent it.
Oh and it would be really great if the relationship between me and the developers, was just us. No one else involved in the relationship handling transactions or logins. More on this later.
Nothing exists like what I’ve just described. It just doesn’t. I think that is sad. I’ve noticed that Samsung is on an Island to an extent with it’s hardware and I wish they would just go all in and be a true competitor to Apple. They need to start making software that compliments their hardware. They can’t wait around for Google or the Play store to get its shit together.
Anyway, since nothing truly exists like what I’m looking for I went with the closest options that seemed to fit my needs. IA Writer, JotterPad, & Word.
IA Writer — I’ve used this in the past, which is really the only reason it’s being considered. But for some reason, there seems to be no trial version with this? I can’t do anything other than write essentially a note and save it locally, but could not save to the cloud or export. I can’t format or play with any of the settings……. Unless, I buy it. I have no problem buying it, but I want to know what I’m buying. I want to make sure it does in fact fit my needs. Everything I tried to do in the app caused a pop-up to appear asking for me to buy it. This is literally the digital equivalent of a used car salesman following you around the lot. I will never buy it now. Any interest I had was killed by that tactic.
JotterPad — This seemed to have a lot of potential. That’s all I can say because the only way to use it was to log in using either Google or Apple accounts. I’m done with that bullshit. Google has nothing to do with this. Neither does Apple, Facebook, Twitter, etc. If I can’t login or use a service with an account that I set up with them, one on one. Then I simply don’t use that service. Too bad, it did look promising.
Word — And then there is this guy. The McDonald’s of the word processing world. It does the job, it just does. It might be complicated at times, it may do a lot of things I can’t imagine anyone ever needing, but it does the job and has for many a writer for as long as Windows has been around. It just won’t be doing it for me for $69.99 a year. It’s a digital type writer. I’ve bought far more powerful and complex software for far less. I’d pay it to have it as long as say Windows 11 is around, that could be a few years. But, not $70 a year, every year. That is just stupid. The online version is free, but you need to have an internet connection and part of my needs is the ability to work offline. Plus, just like I don’t want a third party getting involved in the account setup, I don’t want to be forced into using OneDrive to save all my files.
So, I guess the search continues. For the record, I wrote this on OneNote because that was the only other usable writing app on the tablet. This is an incredible tablet by the way. I highly recommend the Tab S8 Plus. Also, if there is something I missed that might work let me know in th
