Must have Apps for Android Tablets [August 12th, 2012]

Tablets are getting cheaper and powerful every day. But what should you install on it?

Majority share of android devices run Google’s Android operating system. Most tablets are running Android 4.0, whereas the Google Nexus 7 runs Android 4.1 Jelly bean, which is also the latest operating system.  

The big question is, what have you installed on your device? We have gigantic collection of apps available on Google Play Store (play.google.com). Every person has his own interest, convenience and purpose. So we find it impossible to come up with a list that all people could find useful. Instead we are going to suggest you some apps that you must have on your device, no matter if you are a designer, a teacher, a techie or simple guy, you will find it useful.

FREE GOOGLE APPS

Google Drive: Recently launched, is used for storing files in the cloud.  You can sync your drive and PC’s data and access them from your tablet, which is cool.

Currents: Used for reading latest stories from web-based newspapers and magazines. You can select the categories you wish to subscribe and for example if you pick Technology, you will be able to read articles from Engadget, Gizmodo, New York Times, The Verge and many more.

Google +: The most recent social networking service from Google. The app work just fine, and will keep you up with the latest discussions and trending topics.

Readers: A great app which enables you to subscribe RSS news feed, can sync with your Google account. Just put the address of the website, and you will receive all its updates right on this app. You can also subscribe to twitter profiles and can tweak a little and get your facebook notifications as well.

Listen: It enables you to search for and listen to your favorite podcast.

More apps
gReader: It’s an alternative to the Google Reader. It has a great user interface, and options such as sharing on facebook, and various apps like evernote, gmail and others.  The pro version of this app allows you to subscribe to podcast, reading out aloud and no advertisement in the layouts.

GNotes / Gtasks: Many people don’t yet know about the tasks feature in Calendar, and that they could also create and store notes in the Gmail. Install the app, login to your gmail account, and you can easily create notes. You can all almost enything into it including text, images, audio, to-do lists and more. The best thing is that everything you will be doing here will be automatically synced to your google account so that you could access the files from your PC too. There are premium versions of both the apps available, but free ones are suffice.

Productivity

Dropbox: Alternative to your Google Drive. The app features some interactive nd more convenient ways to store and sync your data. Has a few inbuilt apps to run and edit word, image, pdf files which is cool. The version will give you 2 Gb data storage space.

Evernote: This app is available for Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android. This shows that how easy it is to manage your files even if you have to switch to some other platform. Create anote, insert images,  audio clips, or record your own voice and put it into the project. This app is perfect for capturing events, writing down your ideas. Visit a website, copy useful stuffs, paste into the notes, this application pushes your creativity to the limits.  It’s a must have freeware. The PRO version of this app has many more interactive features.

Business Apps

Kingston Office: Only a very few applications are there in the android market which can edit a word, ppt file. Kingston Office is one of them. Integrate it with Dropbox and you have something incredible. The interface is very conventional, and the settings are very similar as Microsoft Office.  It’s a freeware.

Thompson Local: This application helps you find banks, library, hotels, buildings, taxis, electricians in the local surroundings. It sorts the result according to their distance from the mentioned source. It retrieves names, address, email address, websites and phone number of the local businesses running around. As it is only a free application, what more do you want?

Money Lover Expense Manager: At times we all see the need to tract our expenses. This free app is just for that. On a single tab, entries can be added, calculated, you can also create additional notes to them if you want.

Social Networking Apps

Facebook: This app has already marked 100 million installations,  it has a great landscape mode. Though it looks very much like the mobile app for facebook. The app is capable enough to see the news feed, top posts, messaging, managing your facebook pages and more.

TweetCaster: More than 50 million people are using it, it’s a brilliant app for android tablets and has got all the necessary features. Home screen has a nice interface, and icons of your timeline, mentions, messages, favorites and lists. Scroll down to the below and you will find four more panels which show trending topics, recommendation of people to follow, search and tweets from locations near to you. You also get the option to filter and view only the text, photo or links from your timeline. The free version has advert at the bottom, to remove that you will need to upgrade it to the pro version.

Skype: We are all familiar with skype. Install the android app, and you will find all the features of its PC version. There is a contact manager, it will show you the online availability of your friends. It is free to video call , audio call or text any skype user, but if you want to call on a mobile phone or landline you will need to buy Skype credit. You can also share photos directly from the gallery to Skype contacts.

Misc Apps and Games

IMDB: Install the app and it will keep ou updated with all the latest and news from the world of movies. The app is very light and can get you to access millions of movies, tv series and casts. You can also try this app called "Flixter", it's handy and has many features like IMDB.

Security Suites: Always download apps from legitimate sources. You can use AVG Anti-Virus, Avast! Mobile Security, Kaspersky Tablet Security.

Weather Forcast Apps: Go Weather EX is a nice app which works out your location and shows the current weather. It also displays charts of showing 24 hours or the whole week. 

The Amazon kindle is a an alternatuve to Google Play Books, and it's always a good idea to have two sources of ebooks because the prices are not always the same in both stores. 

Amazon MP3 is a nice app to browse around 19 million songs and download and purchase the ones you like.

Browsers: For internet browsing, you can use Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera Mini

To check your internet speed, you can use SpeedTest

Games such as Temple Run, Paradise Island and various parts of Angry Birds are the most popular games in the game market.