[Android] Apps providing "true" desktop experience

While all modern Android smartphones lack physical keyboards, there are numerous other Android devices intended to be used with keyboard and mouse rather than touchscreen, and various solutions providing this capability to any Android device. But finding software that makes advantage of (or at least proves to be usable with) physical keyboard and mouse is a very hard task. So, in this topic I offer to share information and discuss such apps - as rare as diamonds in the thrashcan of Android software. =) I will maintain a list in the first post, please feel free to contribute.

Browsing:
Google Chrome. Yes, it's bad, and Firefox provides way better browsing experience without annoying mobile features, however has best keyboard shortcut support.
Mozilla Firefox - has some bugs, but recently also provides full shortcut support, and doesn't stutter like Chrome.
Yandex Browser. Faster than Chrome, less keyboard shortcuts but major ones including Undo work, default search stuck to Yandex.

Multimedia:
MX Player supports keyboard shortcuts and is overall great product.

Notepad:
DroidEdit. Multi-level undo mapped to ctrl+z makes this text editor really outstanding.
Quickoffice may be used for the job because it is reasonably snappy.

Office:
Quickoffice
Google office products (Docs, etc.) all have full keyboard shortcuts support, however they're pretty slow.
Microsoft office for Android tablet runs on 4.4+, but is good otherwise.

Reading:
Perfect Viewer doesn't support common shortcuts, however you can easily map buttons as you wish.
FBReader - you can turn pages if your keyboard has dedicated volume buttons.

 

I'd be interested to know how Microsoft Office for Android tablets handled a keyboard and mouse. Unfortunately, while I have an Office 365 subscription, I don't have an Android tablet right now to try it out. Who wants to buy me a Nexus 9 and keyboard folio so I can check it out?

 

Mitlov, tried it on my phone. Keyboard shortcuts don't work at all, can't even select with s hift.

 

Microsoft Office Mobile (which is in Google play and is for both phones and tablets) and Microsoft Office for Android Tablets (which is in beta and is available here) are two different products; which did you try?

 

Mitlov, I tried the former. The latter requires KitKat, while latest stock firmware for my device is JB, and anything non-stock lacks some crucial device-specific functionality.

 

The former is and always has been a joke. One of the reasons I got a WP7 phone a few years ago was the claim of "Office on your phone," and when I saw what that meant (basically the same thing as Office Mobile for Android), I was disappointed to say the least.

I have high hopes for the latter, given how well-executed and well-received Office for iPad was.

 

I gave a run down of my first impression in this post at Brighthand:

Microsoft Office for Android Tablet Review

I confess I haven't played that much with keyboard shortcuts, nor do I use a mouse. I'll try out the keyboard shortcuts tonight and can probably rig up a mouse although, truth to tell, the UI is so well designed for touch that I don't feel any real need for a mouse.

I'll let you know.

 

So, I'm not sure mine is a perfect test (and it was pretty quick) as my BT keyboard doesn't have function keys, but I suspect if it did it wouldn't use them as parts of shortcuts in MS Office for Android Tablets.

What I found is that standard basic editing shortcuts like Ctrl - C,X,V,Z, S etc all work (as I think standard shortcuts have been incorporated into Android). Even Alt-TAB brings up running programs and lets you tab through them.

In general, Word shortcuts that aren't also Windows shortcuts don't work. There are also a lot of keys not on an Android keyboard like Home and End.

The mouse works great and really is a help with using office in floating multi-windows. Right click is a one trick pony that only seems to bring up the save or discard dialog.

 

HookBH, thank you for sharing your experience, I updated first post accordingly. Too bad it doesn't run on older Android versions. =(

 

I checked another bunch of browsers for keyboard support today, and discovered that Yandex browser supports most shortcuts I use except for zooming with Ctrl + / Ctrl -, and it's definitely faster than Chrome. I do not quite trust Yandex in terms of privacy, though. Those who want to try it - make sure you disable "Turbo Mode" (that's what they call data compression) if you are concerned as well. Also discovered a brilliant text editor app - DroidEdit. Very comfortable!

 

Recent versions of Firefox provide full keyboard shortcut support, without stuttering common in Chrome.