Do you sometimes wish you could file those last-minute expenses on the train to work? Wish you could get your maths homework done on the school bus? Well, perhaps it's worth investing in a mobile spreadsheet app such as MiniExcel.
As its name suggests, the program equips Java-based phones with a functional spreadhseet tool a à la Excel. The software supports a variety of data formats and can cope with a range of simple formulas. One of the great boons of MiniExcel is that it can be synchronised with MS Excel or Quicken on your PC.
The wonderful user interface reminded me a lot of the heavywight Microsoft spreadsheet app itself. The input of cell information, formatting and formulas is all very familiar, save for the fact that your using the numeric keys on your phone.
It's all pretty simple to use and you get a built-in assistant within MiniExcel which explains the input methods and how to construct formulas in the program. Although data sheets are saved in the program's own format, you can use an external program called Connection Manager to synchronise with Excel or Quicken.
MiniExcel is a surprisingly functional spreadsheet tool for the mobile platform, though it lacks some of the more advanced features of its PC-based rivals, such as the ability to set up complex macros. If you're doing lots of work, or if you want to create large sheets then it gets a bit awkward given the fact that typing data is a lot slower and the screen is much smaller than you'd get on a PC.
Nevertheless, for working on smaller documents or viewing Excel sheets on the move, MiniExcel represents a great solution.
