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My Favorite Android Tablet Apps

Book Reading Programs

  • Aldiko (For Epub Books) - I purchased the paid version. I am not sure what limitations the free version has.
  • Kindle Reader (for Amazon books) -

News Programs

  • News360: You set it up by topic and it learns what you like and gives you news from thousands of sources.
  • Taptu: You set it up by source, but it also includes a search button to add key words as if they were a source.
  • Umano - Professional actors and readers read the main stories of the day to you. Interesting story selection. -
  • News Republic: A really nice news app. Very configurable. You select topics and it grabs stories from hundreds (or thousands?) of sources on those topics. You are not limited to stock general topics either, as a search function. In addition, you can configure your home page, changing the topics presented and the size of the panels.

Security

  • KeePassDroid For Keepass password manager.
  • Keepass2Android Offline Another Keepass password manager for Android. People seem to like it. It seems much better than KeepassDroid. I'm switching. There is also an Online version if you keep your password safe in the cloud.
  • Lookout: I use this as an antivirus. It is the oldest one, but I have no comparison data with alternatives.Lookout: A good solid Antivirus that gets excellent ratings and has been around Android for a long time. A good choice. Free for the basic program. $30/yr for additional browsing and remote locking and wiping.
  • TrustGo: Another Antivirus that is newer but is getting excellent results in tests and very good ratings. Free including remote locking and wiping.
  • Tunnelbear: Make a secure vpn connection when accessing the Internet from uncontrolled places. 500 MB of free use each month. Since I only use this when I'm in strange places I don't control, this is more than I ever need in a month.

Sync Tools

  • Google Drive: Online storage and file sharing. Part of Google Docs.
  • Evernote: I keep nearly 2,000 notes in this program. I can take notes, or capture webpages from my tablet or computer and have them available anywhere. I capture parts of pages where someone has a good suggestion, or software fix, and store it so I can find it a couple years later. Great search within the database. Good tagging system. Fabulous program and service.
  • Pocket: Lets me mark webpages to read later on my tablet or PC.
  • Google Apps: Tied to Google Drive, these are online apps that work for most word processing and spreadsheet needs among other things. Google's online spreadsheet has replaced my local one, and I also use the writing program for some note taking and word processing.
  • ChaosHost: I use Chaos Software's Intellect for my client management software. It does my calendaring, contact management, task management and email. With ChaosHost I am able to sync my phone and tablet with ChaosHost so all my appointments and contacts are always updated. It does not handle either email or tasks, though I have a web interface I can use to login and work online pretty much like I do at the office.

Tools

  • Wifi Analyzer: Check out what networks exist and what channels they are using.
  • ES file Explorer: Absolutely fabulous. Great free program for copying, and moving files, even from your main computer (with fixed IP). It is very easy to use. Well designed. Lots of special additional features, like putting shortcuts to files on your desktop, or networking with your main computer.
  • Battery Info by Mathias Mewes - Great battery program. Shows you your battery percentage but also a graph of temperature and percentage over time and which apps use how much.
  • Speed Test: Lets you check your download and upload speed. How good is your connection?
  • Spideroak: For those of you with Spideroak backup, this will let you access all your backed up files from your tablet or phone, just in case you wanted to show people even more pictures of your children. -

Office Programs

  • Google Apps. I do much of my writing in Google Docs. I now use Google Sheets for a spreadsheet. Saving to Google Drive makes them accessible on my phone, my tablet and my computers. I am doing a presentation using Google's Presentation software.
  • Google Cloud Print: By activating this service, you can print to your local printer from Google Apps. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pauloslf.cloudprint
  • Cloud Print: An App which allows anything you can share on your phone or tablet to be printed to your local printer.
  • Google Drive: Where your Google Docs stuff goes. -
  • Jota+ - A wonderful text editor. Will allow multiple tabs and is saves as standard text so it can be read on any machine. It even allows you to choose the variations on standard text used by Linux, Windows and Mac. I use it for note taking. Notes can be copied to and then used on your notebook or desktop machine.
  • ColorNote: A wonderful note taking and list manager (like my grocery list) - This is nicer than Jota+, but the files are meant to be used within it, not shared with your desktop machine.
  • Kingsoft Office: People say this is the best MS Office clone. Lets you read edit and write Excel, Word and Powerpoint files.
  • Kaiten Mail: My preferred email program, though K9 is fine. -

Keyboards

The stock Android keyboard is pretty good, but there are a plethora of wonderful alternative keyboards for Android devices. Since I actually type a lot on my 7" Nexus tablet, getting the best onscreen keyboard is very helpful. There is nothing like experimenting with the real thing, so download a number of them and try them out to see which you like best. Even those which cost money, usually offer a free trial period.

  • Quick Keyboard Switch: I suggest you play with a number of keyboards. While you are experimenting, and maybe even later, you can use this handy free tool to quickly switch from one keyboard to another.
  • SwiftKey: This is a great keyboard replacement. I type much better with it than with the standard keyboard. It seems to have the best prediction engine of any keyboard.
  • Hacker's Keyboard: - Another fabulous keyboard. Very configurable and open source. You can make keys larger and adjust the layout some. Particularly nice for tablets where you have more room.
  • AI Keyboard and AI Keyboard for Tablets: Both of these have 2 week trail periods to test them out. After that, they will still work but have prediction removed. This is currently my favorite for my tablet. It is highly configurable, choosing rows, configuration, size of keys, colors, and much more. Since I normally type in portrait mode, adding a row on top, gives me access to more keys. I can also make the keys larger. The setup I use has undo and re-do keys, as well as right and left cursor keys. Prediction is good, but not as good as Swiftkey.
  • Google Voice: Some of my clients normally just talk to their tablet instead of typing. This works surprisingly well and is definitely something you should try.
  • Keepass2Android Keyboard: For users of Keepass2Android, this keyboard should be used for password entry instead of the stock or other optional keyboards. It doesn't remember your password to enter the program so it can predict it next time you type. It assists in the entry of passwords once you reach the entry screen. Finally, it bypasses the clipboard entirely, as there have been modest possible security issues there. This is only for password entry and comes with Keepass2Android password safe.

Media / Other

  • IMDB: Internet movie database
  • YouTube: Well, its YouTube!
  • Wapapedia: Wikipedia and more for Tablets. -
  • Arcus Weather: I think this is the best weather program. Very accurate hourly forecasts.The Widget predicts even finer. Requires Android version 4.0 or higher

Financial

  • Dwolla: To make payments via Dwolla -
  • Paypal: To make payments via PayPal -

Games





Date: June 2013


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