LibreOffice Coming to Android

The next big LibreOffice desktop release is just around the corner. Well, LibreOffice is an open source productivity software suite that has its sights on the Android platform.This news might not come as a trend-breaker, especially considered that this software suite has taken quite some time to break out of the desktop. The Android project will however be complete soon, effectively availing LibreOffice on mobile smartphones and tablets the world over. LibreOffice contains several modules, including a word processor, a calculator, a spreadsheet and presentation package impress.In a report released Tuesday, the Document Foundation announced that it had assigned the necessary work to develop the Android apps to two mobile apps engineering companies. The Document Foundation is signaling the result will be an ‘elegant, compelling and full-featured experience of this software suite on Android’.After digging out, Samsung Update established that the two companies awarded the work were Igalia (an open source applications and software development consultancy) and Collabora (which developed the LibreOffice Viewer). These two companies will work on the Android versions for Calc, Writer and Impress. Additionally, the Draw vector image editor will be included, and Math for performing equations. More so, Igalia will be working to make available an interface for developers who’re looking to connect their preferred cloud storage provider with this software suite.Although a release date has been determined upon yet, the foundation’s experts predict that it’ll be likely ready by end of March. The Android version will be working on basic presentations and text documents on the LibreOffice Viewer Beta, released earlier in the month. The LibreOffice viewer was engineered based on a Mozilla and Android framework. There were also contributions from the LibreOffice community, the Mozilla Corporation and SUSE. The marketplace response so far has been intriguing, with the apps downloaded over 50, 000 times in a few weeks.