Google has finally released a native application for Google Docs on its Android platform, providing a clean interface for accessing your documents and images.
The app focuses on making it easy to find and manage documents through filters, collections and starred content. It also comes with a widget for one-click access to create documents, jump to your starred documents and upload photos.
The one important feature Google Docs for Android lacks is native document editing. If you choose to edit a document, the app will throw you to its mobile editing interface within the browser. Apparently, Google didn't feel like native in-app editing was an essential launch feature.
In the meantime, the photo-to-text capabilities are most likely to get attention. If you take a picture of a document that's on your desk and upload it to the Google Docs Android app, it will use optical character recognition (OCR) to turn the photo into editable text. Google warns that it's not capable of recognizing handwriting, so don't expect to turn your calligraphy into a Google doc anytime soon.