Docs to Go 2.0 for BlackBerry Gets New Features; Still Too Expensive

DataViz has upgraded its mobile document-viewing and editing software for BlackBerry smartphones to v2.0. The upgrade packs valuable new functionality business users are sure to appreciate...but at $69.99 for a new license, Documents to Go v2.0's steep price tag might scare away many potential buyers.

By Al Sacco
Mon, October 26, 2009

CIO — Business-software-maker DataViz just dropped a message to let me know that is has upgraded its mobile document viewing and editing software, Documents to Go, to version 2.0. The new software is available immediately for $69.99 for a lifetime license, and existing Docs to Go users can upgrade to the latest version for $29.99.

DataViz Documents to Go Premium Edition 2.0 for BlackBerry

New features within Documents to Go v2.0 include a new Windows-desktop app that helps users ensure changes made to documents via smartphone are carried over to the desktop versions of the files and vice-versa. Docs to Go 2.0 users can also employ this "desktop application with bi-directional synchronization" to easily transfer single files or entire folders back and forth the between smartphones and desktop machines, according to DataViz. And thanks to the company's InTact Technology, all original file formatting should stay, well, intact throughout any and all file transfers.

Docs to Go 2.0 also now supports password-protected Microsoft Office 2007 files. It has a bolstered PDF to Go portable document format reader that lets you find and copy text within a PDF; save as; send files via e-mail; and more, DataViz says. And the software has its own on-device file-navigator and file-management app, called "Documents to Go Files." Docs to Go Files is meant to provide a single, easy-to-access location for storing and managing mobile documents on your BlackBerry.

Documents to Go for BlackBerry is available in two versions: a free "standard" edition that ships with all of RIM's latest BlackBerry devices running OS 4.5 or higher; and a commercial, or "premium," version that costs $69.99. Docs to Go Standard doesn't have any of the Premium edition's advanced document creation or editing functionality, though its simple document viewing capabilities typically meet most casual BlackBerry users' needs.

In fact, I recently uncovered a "trick" that brings some of the bonus functionality found with Docs to Go Premium to Standard Edition users free of charge.

I'm a Documents to Go Premium user, but honestly it took me a long time to decide whether or not to upgrade from the free, standard version, and if I had it all to do over again, I might not pay for the license. I certainly won't be paying an additional $29.99 for the 2.0 update, though the new features do seem interesting.

Documents to Go Premium is a great product; it serves its purpose quite well, and it's not a device resource-hog. But it's just too expensive for what it is. A new license to DataViz competitor QuickOffice's eOffice for BlackBerry software, which offers much of the same functionality, is literally less than half the price of Documents to Go Premium.

Learn more about Documents to Go 2.0 for BlackBerry, as well as the company's products for other mobile platforms, on DataViz's website.

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