iWork Pages for iPad Review: Great Choice!
| App Name: | Pages |
| Platforms: | iPad |
| Publisher(s): | Apple |
| Genre(s): | word processing |
| Release Date: | May 13, 2010 (version reviewed) |
I am not generally a Mac person. My experience with the desktop version of Apple’s iWork is limited to about 5 minutes. So my review of Pages, the iWork app for the iPad, is based primarily on how it stands up to the word processor that I use, quite literally, everyday: Microsoft Word. And even though Pages for iPad could never match the sheer size and depth of that singular and genre-defining program, Pages is a phenomenal tool for the iPad.
As a word processor, the program is fully functional. Once you get used to the touch keyboard and formatting interface, you’ll be drafting and editing with speed and accuracy. It’s actually quite impressive how many word processing features they packed into Pages–shapes, colors, charts, fonts, pictures, margins, etc. Apple really delivered a word processing app that doesn’t feel like an “app”, in the sense that apps are something we think of as small and portable and limited. It even comes with a series of nice pre-made document formats, for those who need a quick layout.
With their first app update, Apple fixed one annoying oversight--the lack of a formatting bar in landscape mode.
Very quickly, Pages has become my go-to application for drafting reviews for App Chronicles. This entire review was written in-program, up until the final edits. Pages has got everything I need for writing on a day to day basis. That is saves directly into .docx format is especially nice; I prefer to keep my formats consistent between machines and hate having to work in something like .rtf.
Once I dug into the system, I found a robust set of fine formatting controls for creating publishing quality documents even beyond my daily drafting needs. Do the options in Pages stand up to comparisons to Microsoft Word? Maybe not. But you can make something look pretty good, even though you won’t be able to achieve quite the fine level of finish you could on Word 2007. There’s a lot of options, but never as many as could be built into a desktop program–fewer fonts, more preprogrammed settings–and the nature of the touch interface is such that finer control (like setting a precise pixel size on an image) is missing. But it’s still a great suite of options.
Photo borders, shadows, backgrounds ... you can do a lot with Pages.
Now, one word of warning regarding formatting and importing/exporting documents: the more you apply advanced formatting to your documents, the less compatible Pages docs become with Microsoft Word 2007, and visa versa. While the two programs play well together in general, they don’t speak the same language, and that can mean extra work after transferring between them if you’re getting fancy with the document effects. For example, Pages doesn’t seem to like the way Word 2007 formats tables within the document, and I always found myself having to redo them in-app.
Still, Pages has nearly every feature I might ask for in an on the go word processor … with a couple of significant exceptions.
The one major thing wrong with Pages, to my mind–the nearly unforgivable thing–is the completely restrictive and technologically backwards way Pages handles file sharing. Pages offers only two ways to move files from the app: e-mail attachment or export via iTunes. Theres no way to move files wirelessly, nor to shared edit a document via Google Docs or any other cloud option. I’ve expounded on this incredible lack of WiFi and cloud document support elsewhere, so I’ll keep it brief here. Suffice to say, this is the one major black mark against this otherwise wonderful app.
I also can’t stand the fact that there’s no way to print from Pages. But that’s an issue with the iPad in general, not something I can hold against this app. And besides, Steve Jobs (or some assistant who answers his e-mail) has promised that printing is on it’s was, so I’ll just have to be patient for now.
Finally, I know that I haven’t been able to cover every feature in my time using the app, and that different users may have different issues. For example, I have heard complaints about the lack of a footnoting feature. And it’s true, it’s missing here. For my own needs, this isn’t a big deal, but if you need footnotes in your work, it’s clearly a glaring omission. For me, the lack of a word count feature seems the more immediate (albeit minor) omission, if only because document length is important for what I do. I can only hope that these features, like printing, are forthcoming.
A selection of document templates.
Overall, Apple did a wise thing by launching the iPad with such a well designed and full featured productivity app. It certainly outclasses any third party word processing app currently in the App Store. While it has some limitations versus a desktop program, and its file importing/exporting is practically Neolithic, neither of these ruins its core user experience, it’s still worth the price of admission for most users.
Our score: 4 out of 5, until printing and cloud support round the app out.
Pages is available for $9.99 in the App Store.
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