When it comes to document editing and creation on the iPad, two solutions really stand out: Apple's iWork Suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) and DataViz's Documents to Go app. Which is better? Well, I wish the decision was that easy.

Both apps (or set of apps in iWork's case -- you can buy each separately) allow you to edit and create documents, spreadsheets and presentations. iWork also has the advantage of using Apple's iWork format and Office format as well and is beautifully designed. Documents to Go does a stellar job of rendering and editing Microsoft's Office format. Let's begin by looking at each app a little more in-depth. I will focus primarily on the differences of how each application handles their word processing since this is the number one reason people would use these apps and, you probably don't want a mini-novel to read. There is an incredible amount to discuss with both iWork and Documents to Go, I cannot conceivably cover it all here. My goal is to give you a detailed enough overview to help you decided which app will work best for you.

iWork

Apple sells the iWork Suite of applications for $9.99 each. The individual apps are Pages (word processor), Numbers (spreadsheet) and Keynote (presentations). Pages looks amazing. Just the aesthetic alone let's you know this isn't "baby software", but the real deal. When you start off by creating a new document, you are presented with several beautiful templates to get you started. For our purposes, we will look at a standard blank document. You have a standard document toolbar at the top of the screen. The Body button gives you a good set of default styles. To the right you have the traditional Bold, Italics and Underline buttons. Finally you have a tab-like icon that gives you the ability to enter a tab, line break, column or page break. Wow, that is some serious stuff there.

On the top of the screen you have an "i" button. This allows you to define a style, lists and indents, text alignment and line spacing. To the right is the picture icon that inserts pictures, tables, charts and shapes. Finally you have the wrench icon that essentially has your settings for Pages; Find, margins, watermarks and more can be found here.

Once you begin typing, you have a very familiar experience, it's just like a desktop whether you have been using a Mac or a PC. Use the tab button to quickly indent. Use the ruler to adjust alignments or place tab stops. Regardless, the interface is simple yet powerful. Do you have a multiple page document? A new innovative feature uses the ability to tap and hold in the right margin. This will bring up a magnifying glass that shows you a thumbnail preview of your page. Drag your finger down and it will preview the other pages in your document. Release on the desired page and Pages will instantly open the previewed page for you; no clumsy flicking or endless scrolling needed.

When your document is done, you can email it, share via iWork.com, send it to iTunes, copy it to iDisk or copy it to WebDav. The most popular method is to email. It is important to note that Pages creates your document in the .pages format which is not compatible with any other word processing application other than iWork for Mac. So, when you email your document, you are given three choices: send it as a Pages, PDF or .Doc format. The .doc option is compatible with PCs and PDF is comparable with just about any computer platform, but is not natively editable. If you send in Pages and PDF formats you will be quite pleased with the results. If you create a complex document with graphics, columns, , etc. and send via .doc format, your results may differ. I typically only create boring APA (American Psychological Association) formatted documents, and when sent via .doc format, they render beautifully. The same goes with importing a document, from say, from email. Though Pages does a really good job of opening and editing .doc documents, it is not flawless and some formatting loss can happen. Apple has improved this process with each update, but it is still not perfect. However, this is one of Pages strong points, it actually supports more than one format. You can also easily upload and download documents from the "cloud" via the iDisk and WebDav options.

At the end of the day, iWork gives you a beautiful robust set of tools for not only word processing but for spreadsheet calculations and creating presentations as well. Many of the same features carry over such as sending in Microsoft-friendly formats and access your files from the cloud. Though these apps are not perfect, they offer advanced features, many of which have only been available on desktop applications, until now.

[Pages - $9.99 - iTunes link]

[Numbers - $9.99 - iTunes link]

[Keynote - $9.99 - iTunes link]

Documents to Go

I have used Documents to Go (Docs to Go) for years, ever since the Palm V days of old. These guys have been at it for a while and I was expecting big things from them on the iPad and for the most part, Docs to Go doesn't disappoint. Docs to Go is a single app that supports a wide array of files for viewing and Office files for editing and sells for $16.99 or $9.99 in the App Store. The launch screen is divided into several sections; Local files, Desktop files, Online files, Recents, Search and Settings. Yes, Docs to Go has a very robust means to access your files and search them.

Once you open a file in the Word app, one feature I noticed immediately that I really liked is the ability to pinch and zoom the text to the appropritea size. The text wraps around in real-time which is cool. After deciding on the fone size you like, It's off to write your text. You have the typical fanfare as iWork does with text formats, colors, paragraph alingments, etc. Docs to Go does not support more advanced features in it's word processing app like real-time image arrangement as iWork does, but it gets the besics done well and cleanly. Two quibbles that I have is that Docs to Go was not developed with the iPad in mind, it is basically a big iPhone app, which is such a shame. Menus are designed for the iPhone, not the iPad. What do I mean? A good example is the placement of the formating buttons; they are along the bottom of the app. At first that may not sound like a bad idea, however, when you are typing, the keyboard appears and hides the buttons so you can't format while you time. Is it a deal breaker? No, but annoying none-the-less.

For me, where Docs to Go really shines over the competition is its "Intact" technology. At work, I use Microsoft Word to create my documents. Admittedly, I sometimes use fancy formats, tables, images, etc. As I mentioned earlier, these may not render very well in Pages. With Docs to Go however, if the app doesn't know what the object is on the document, it doesn't even try to render it, instead it gives you a "?" placeholder that tells you "if you delete me, you will lose this feature when you sync back your document". What a life saver! You can edit a document and not have to worry about loosing formating any more.

Other benefits of Docs to Go include the fact that it is a universal binary, so buy it once and you can use on the iPhone and iPad, not a bad deal at al. You can also sync via iTunes Sharing and Docs to Go's own Wi-Fi sharing app for PC and Mac.

[Documents to Go Premium - $16.99 - iTunes link]

[Documents to Go - $9.99 - iTunes link

Conclusion

You can also find previous reviews of these apps, Here for Pages and Here for Docs to Go.

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We're talking Apple's special music event, and iOS 4.2 for iPad. Plus gaming gets Unreal, 1 million iTunes users get Ping, being more popular than Linux, Sammy gives us a double whammy, and RIM will take those docs to go. This is iPad live!

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Did BlackBerry maker RIM just buy DataViz, maker of Documents to Go for iPhone and iPad (and other platform)? CrackBerry.com has multiple sources saying they did, and for about $50 million cash.

This might just be why Docs to Go has cancelled their webOS app before ever releasing it. What does this mean for the iPhone and iPad version? We don't know yet. We like having it as an option and with 120 million iOS device on the market, there's a lot of money on the table for DataViz... er... RIM if they want it.

Apple has made iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) for iPad already, and rumors persist of an iPhone version. There's also QuickOffice, though with Microsoft have Office mobile, Google having Docs, and now RIM having Docs 2 Go, HP might just want to snatch them so they're not the only platform without a home grown office suite.

UPDATE: DataViz has told Macworld that RIM bought some of their assets and hired the majority of their employees to work on the BlackBerry version of Documents to go. They have since updated Docs to Go for iOS, but we'll see what kind of support that gets going forward.

How does a certified golf course superintendent use his iPhone to get the job done and what iPhone apps help get him through his day? TiPb’s iPhone at work contest aims to bring you just such slices of the iPhone life. Here’s greensuper's answer and as a small token of thanks we’re sending him a $20 iTunes gift certificate. If you want to see your name up on the TiPb home page and get a gift certificate all your own, head on over to the TiPb iPhone Forum and share your story now!

Boy, where do I start. I have been a loyal Apple user since the Apple IIe first came out. When the iPhone first came out, I had just purchased another Blackberry with Verizon, I didn't want to incur a cancellation fee and the purchase price of the iPhone. 8 months later, when the 1st gen was offered as a refurb, I got my first iphone. I follow Apple/iPhone news as much as I follow the Turfgrass industry. I have always told my wife, if I had the opportunity to do something else, it would be to work for Apple. Now, how do I use my iPhone. To really get the full functionality of the iPhone and some of it's apps, you really need to subscribe to Apple's MobileMe service. I will explain why below.

The first app I use religiously is Who is Hot?. It is a great weather app for free. No one in my opinion, beats the animated radar in this app. I haven't found one that has beat this yet. I am a Regional Agronomist and one thing this app does is gives me the weather for all my contacts. You open the app and click on one of your contacts and you have all the weather and radar right there.

I also use The Weather Channel app. I use the free version, don't see a big difference in the $4.99 version. I use this app for forecasts and current conditions. This app mirrors the "local on the 8's" from the Weather Channel. It is a better forecasting tool than Who is hot?

The Turfgrass Management app developed out of the University of Georgia is fantastic!! I have several small travel turfgrass books that allow me to reference diseases, weeds and insects. This app puts all that in the palm of your hand with it's extensive turfgrass database. It has been communicated that this app will continue to follow with updates as information on any pest becomes available.

We just installed a new RainBird control system at one of my properties. RainBird has recent'y released their MI control system, this program works phenomenal on the iphone. I am able to control the entire system from anywhere. This summer it has proven invaluable with all the late night storms we have had. In concert with Who is Hot, if I see weather is heading to the property late at night, i can use my MI controller on the iPhone and turn off or adjust the irrigation. All this while playing with my kids!!

Toro recently released an official iPhone App, Toro NSN. This is like the MI Controller only this is actually an iPhone App versus a website. This also gives me the ability to control my entire irrigation system from the palm of my hand. I think the neatest part of this is that Toro has developed an iPhone app. If they have done so for irrigation, imagine the possibilities, apps for equipment repair, apps for ordering at your local vendor, it's endless.

The next program is one that is tied directly to MobileMe without it, you can't really take full advantage of this program. This app is Quickoffice. Quickoffice allows me to create, edit and email Word and Excel documents. Since you can't store files on your iPhone like a Blackberry, this app links to your MobileMe idisk as a work around. I have my entire work load on my idisk, everything! I am able to use this program to email anything to my company or Superintendents from the palm of my hand. This program released an update which allows you to email any document you receive directly to your MobileMe idisk, this is a perfect work around to not being able to store documents on your iPhone. When I receive an email with a document I need to edit and respond to, I simple forward the email to a specific address. This sends the attached file to my idisk. I then open my idisk on QuickOffice and there is my document to edit and resend. The whole process over 3G can take 2 minutes, over WiFi much faster.

I also have Documents To Go. Although the UI is much more friendly than Quickoffice, this program falls short in other areas. I am not able to access my work files on my idisk, although DataViz has stated you will be able to do so in the future. You can't edit Excel files yet, again they (Dataviz) are saying this update will be released soon. If these two updates are released, I will no longer use Quickoffice.

I developed a blog for one of my properties, to communicate information to members. I was finding by the time our weekly news letter was distributed, much of the information I need to pass along would be out of date. The blog has been a huge success at my club. My members love the fact that we use technology like this! The iPhone comes into play because I am able to send an email directly to the blog to make a post. All I do is create an email, the subject line will be the subject of my blog post, create my blog post in the body of the email, hit send and I have just created a new blog post. This has been great for communicating issues like, cart rules and other daily information.

I also use Twitter to communicate with other industry professionals. I do not use this to communicate to any members, it is important to separate the two. I use two apps for Twiiter, Twitter for iPhone and Tweetdeck. They are pretty much the same, except Tweetdeck allows me to create columns for separate categories of people I communicate with. For example, I have a column for PGA Tour tweets, a column for turf professors I follow and a column for other Superintendents. This makes reading tweets easier.

Logmein Ignition was a fantastic app I used prior to Toro releasing their Toro NSN app. Logmein allowed me to login on my iPhone and control the irrigation system. I know a lot of people who use this app to access files on their computer.

Bump is a great app, but in order to be useful you need to be with someone else who has the iPhone and the app. This app allows you to simply bump iPhones together to share pretty much anything you would share on your iphone. I use this with my wife for photos of our kids. Could you imagine walking the Trade Show floor at the GIS with this app. You could arrive at a vendor booth and bump iphones to share contact information. The vendor could use it to send you product information as well. Again, the possibilities are endless.

The camera is another app that is used all the time. I used to carry a camera on my hip, if I needed to take a photo of something I could. I would find myself at times, forgetting my camera at the moment I needed "that" picture. The iphone camera takes care of this. I am also able to send that photo immediately to the GM, members and other workers.

The iPhone for me has become more of a tool than my small multitool. The possibilities are endless as to what Superintendent could use this phone for. I am glad I have a charger of my gator. During those long days, I need that extra boost to get me into the evening. I was actually thinking about starting another blog on exactly this subject. Each day would be a post on how I use my iPhone for my job as a Superintendent and Regional Agronomist.

What about you? Are you a superintendent who uses his iPhone for work? If so, let us know what apps get you through a typical work day!

As a user of Dataviz's Documents to Go product for years, I was ecstatic for the iPhone release and now even more so for the universal binary for iPad. Documents to Go is a mobile office productivity suite that allows you to create and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint formatted documents and file types on your iPad.

Let's first look at how we can access our documents, there are a few different ways. First, you can create documents on the iPad. Next, you can sync with your desktop (PC or Mac). You can install a free desktop sync tool. This allows you to pick a folder on your computer and sync those documents to the iPad, or use the built-in iTunes sync if that is your preference. Last but not least you can connect to a few different web services in the "cloud" and edit your documents and save it right back to the cloud. Documents to Go supports these services:

• Google Docs
• Box.net
• Dropbox
• iDisk
• Public Disk (iDisk)
• Sugar Sync

Editing your document is a breeze (see included screen shots for examples). For the most part, documents rendered properly with minimal formatting impact due to DataViz's In-Tact technology. Instead of Documents to Go guessing what a feature/format is, it tells you if it is unsupported and advises you that if delete it, the feature will be gone from the original document. I feel this is a fair compromise between the desktop and mobile versions of a document; it doesn't even try to guess if it is unrecognized. The bottom of the screen gives you all of the tools you need in portrait or landscape including formats, spacing, inserts, bookmarks, slide types, formulas, indents, tabs and more. Need to send an email with attachments? You can do that directly from within the app too, you can even pick your outbound email account and it will accept and attach multiple files.

For all of the great things Documents to Go does well, there are some shortcomings, though not deal-breakers, I feel you should be aware of. First, you can't access email attachments. Some programs out there allow you to access files in your email via IMAP directly from within the app. This feature is missing. It looks like it is only supported on the iPhone, but seems to be missing on the iPad. When searching outside of a document you have an option to search you entire folder hierarchy or downloaded files only- but not their contents; that is a missed opportunity.

Documents to Go is a stable release with much needed support on the iPad in a few areas. For the average user I feel this app is absolutely fantastic, but for an enterprise user, there are a few features that are missing. I really can't recommend this app enough, but the lack of enterprise support makes me lower the score as I think the majority of users that would benefit from this are road warriors that need access to their work documents when visiting a customer. Sure they could sync before leaving the office, but that negates the value of syncing to the cloud.

If you want a very good robust document creation/editing tool look no further than Documents to Go. Looking for an enterprise solution that will sync your documents over-the-air? Keep looking. Video and screens after the break!

[$14.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Create and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Several cloud based services for syncing
• Excellent format compatibility
• Multiple desktop syncing options
• iPhone OS document handling

Cons

• No enterprise network drive access
• No attachment syncing with email

Sure, new and notable iPhone and iPad apps isn’t a theme, but with so many new and such a large swathe of notable, who needs a theme? Join us after the break to see what’s going on in the iTunes App Store this week!

Documents to Go 3.3

Documents to Go, one of the leading mobile office document creation and editing tools, has gone universal binary which means, for no extra charge, you can now use it not only on the iPhone but on the big iPad screen as well. It includes the same great Excel, Word, and PowerPoint compatibility, but it higher resolution on the iPad, and supports iPhone OS 3.2 for iPad features like inter-app document sharing and iTunes document transfer (which the iPhone should get in iPhone OS 4). They've also added support for SugarSync and iDisk, rounding out DropBox, Box.net, and Google Docs as online repositories where you can open and save back files. Round-trip glory attained. [$14.99 - iTunes]

Loopt Star

Loopt Star lets you go places, find friends, and get stuff. Earn achievements and real rewards from some of your favorite brands, like special offers, discounts, and free music. Connect with Facebook to see where your friends are and compare your stats to theirs on the Loopt Star leaderboard. To earn more points and move up in the ranks (and show off how well traveled you are), collect as many achievements and rewards as you can by checking in to places with your Facebook friends. For your favorite places, try to become recognized as the Boss. New achievements and rewards are always being added and there's always competition to take over your title as Boss so don't get complacent. [Free - iTunes]

MyTown 4.0

MyTown 4.0 adds even more features to the popular location-based game that seeks to turn your real world into a giant monopoly board with you owning all the hotels -- figuratively speaking. Properties are now like factories that can create items! Check out “Create Item” in the new property menu screen to see the new powerful items you can make. Looking for a particular item? Check your friend’s inventory and request a trade for other items or cash! Leave a comment on the properties you own. Let your friends know why these locations are your favorite. View your items organized by gameplay type for easier access! Same items now stack to help minimize your inventory! Players at max level now have unlimited check-ins! Continue checking in to your favorite locations to find parts to create items. Check-ins also recharge over time for all players. [Free - iTunes link]

Slacker Radio 2.0

Slacker 2.0 adds local caching to their already excellent, personalized music streaming service so you can keep songs on your iPhone for when you're offline -- or just concerned about AT&T's new data caps. The Slacker Radio App also still gives you access to the entire Slacker music library featuring millions of songs from thousands of artists. Listen to over 120 expert programmed radio stations or create your own custom stations. Slacker Personal Radio is the best way to discover new artists and hear your favorite songs. Best of all, with a Slacker Radio Plus subscription, you can store your favorite Slacker stations on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and listen even when you don’t have a wireless or Wi-Fi connection! [Free with subscription - iTunes]

Your picks?

Any other new and notable apps this week? Any hidden gems or great finds? Let us know in the comments. Need. More. Apps!

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AT&T introduces tiered data plans, Steve Jobs speaks at D8, WWDC 2010 predictions, Slacker 2.0, Documents to Go 3.0, Fishies, and all the week's news, how-tos, and app reviews. Listen in!

We're trying an experiment! We've posted video for the first 20 minutes of the show on YouTube and embedded it below. Drop us a comment and let us know if you want to see more. (And if you work for YouTube, can you get us one of those accounts that doesn't force us to chop it into 10 minute chunks? Kthx!

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Part 1

Part 2

Documents to Go with Exchange Attachments is all grown up, has changed its name to Documents to Go Premium [$14.99 - iTunes link], and now offers support for PowerPoint and Gmail attachments for iPhone and iPod touch:

• Edit and create Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations
• Edit/add bullets and text in Outline mode (changes reflected immediately in Slide view)
• Edit/add speaker notes
• Sort/add/dupe/delete slides
• Edit/view Gmail attachments

About the only thing missing is a dedicated, multi-app accessible file repository on the iPhone akin to what the photo app does for images. Get working on that, would you Apple?

Meanwhile, it's a free update for existing users so if you buy it or just upgrade it, and you try out Docs to Go's new PowerPoint or Gmail features, let us know how they work for you!

Matt Miller, editor of our sibling-site NokiaExperts, got an advanced look at Documents to Go for iPhone as part of his ZDNet gig, and has already gone live with an amazingly detailed review: Review: Documents To Go raises the bar for iPhone word processing.

Matt loves the low price point, the Word editing, and Exchange support. Obviously, he misses the Excel editing support, but knows that's coming.

Check out his full review for more, including a huge screenshot gallery, and overviews on editing, syncing, and Exchange support.

Thanks Matt!

Documents to Go is finally -- FINALLY! -- available for the iPhone. But, it currently only supports Word editing, no Excel (though they promise it via a free update), no PowerPoint (though no one else is doing that either). Yet, there's a higher end version that includes Exchange Attachments integration!

148apps has the details, but the short and long of it is, there are two distinct versions now available:

• Documents to Go (Microsoft Word editing & Desktop sync) ($4.99 - iTunes link) allows you to create and edit Microsoft Word documents, view Excel, Powerpoint, iWork, PDF, and "other files" (presumably what's natively supported), and includes a 2-way Wi-Fi desktop sync utility for Mac & Windows.
• Documents to Go with Exchange Attachments (Microsoft Word editing, Exchange attachments, & Desktop sync) ($9.99 - iTunes link) offers all the above plus the ability to receive, edit, and send Word docs, and view other docs attached to Microsoft Exchange emails (if you don't have an Exchange account, don't get this version!)

It looks like they're still using their homebrew cut, copy, and paste solution, and with iPhone 3.0 just days away, the timing is a little awkward. Any developers Documents to Go on iPhone 3.0, let us know how that works for you. (We anticipate a 3.0 happy update ASAP)

The most important question is, however, all of you waiting on Documents to Go, is this what you wanted? Worth the wait? Sound off in the comments!

Screenshots after the break!

Looking for a mobile office suite for your iPhone? Almost a year ago, when the SDK was announced, Dataviz looked for iPhone users input:

You can bet we’ll have our hands on this SDK as soon as possible. I can’t guarantee anything, but please, if you are interested in having DataViz software on your iPhone, let us know!

Well you spoke up and they listened! It is official that Dataviz is bringing Documents to Go, the very popular office suite, over to the iPhone:

This is great news for former Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile users. With this software users can view, edit, or create Microsoft Office content. All of the big apps are covered including Powerpoint, Word, and Excel.

Dataviz now has a website you can visit to sign up for release information here in this link.

[Thanks for the tip jwc194!]