An interesting Microsoft research project comes to light!! Project Play Write seems to be in works and it is a Xamarin based application that seems to be available for only Android now. What the app actually does is to enable one to edit Word documents from their phones using something called microtasks. This is where things get interesting as the edits can be made in a game-like manner and in short bursts rather than continuously.

So, it suggests that it will come as a group-engagement and productivity cum entertainment app rather than a boring productivity app. Imagine everyone of your friends in a group making edits in a game-like manner to a document challenging each other!!

Play Write details:

Play Write is a mobile microproductivity application that works with Word to allow people to edit Word documents from their phone via microtasks. Common document editing tasks like shortening or comment triage are broken down into microtasks and presented to the user in a game-like manner so that improvements can be made in short bursts of time while mobile.

Play Write currently supports four common editing tasks:

  1. Spelling correction
  2. Shortening text
  3. Triaging comments
  4. Accepting or rejecting changes

Each of these tasks is completed via a series of smaller microtasks. Other tasks, such as content creation and changing the style or tone of a document are under development.

FAQ

Q. When will Play Write be available for my Windows Phone? Or for my iPhone?
A. While Play Write has been developed in Xamarin as a cross-platform application, it is currently only available for Android phone.