Most Popular Android Tablet Apps

Ever since Apple released the iPad, anted up the game and Google’s Android tablets couldn’t afford to be far behind. Apple is known for its impeccable App Store, but this doesn’t mean that the quality of Android apps is inferior in any way. The Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom and Amazon’s Kindle Fire (to name but a few) are all running on Android. If you are a recent Android tablet owner, it can be somewhat time-consuming to find your way around Android apps. If you find yourself in this position, I suggest you keep on reading.

First, what are your priorities? Could pricing be a deal-breaker for you? Do you want free apps or are you willing to pay for high-quality apps? Many apps are available for free, but might come with additional ads. In that case, you can pay a premium price that will result in ad-removal. Furthermore, depending on the purpose of the app, the pricing may vary. Apps can go from being free of charge to .99 or or even higher. Because you have a large collection of Android tablet apps to choose from, the following are just a few examples of the most popular apps currently available in the Android Market to get you started!

It’s no surprise that Android offers Google’s Chrome Beta as a web browser (for free). With Chrome you can browse quickly with “accelerated pageloading, scrolling and zooming,” as they promise on the apps’ page in the Android Market. Having an effective web browser will definitely affect your overall user experience. Equally influential are the HD Widgets, priced at .99. This app will not only make it easier for you to navigate your tablet, it also uses a design that’s been described as “elegant and eye-catching” on the app page. You can optimize your tablet by using this simple, but useful app.

If you’re interested in a news aggregator, I recommend the News360 for Tablets app. This app offers you the opportunity to completely customize your news to your social activity and RSS subscriptions. And a big plus for News360 for tablet: it’s free!

Looking to do something more with your tablet? Try out QuickOffice Pro HD. It allows you to use word-processing, PowerPoint, Dropbox and Google Docs (among a few others). This app also enables social sharing options via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Furthermore, PowerPoint slides can be shared on SlideShare as well. The app is priced at .99, but you get quality features that are very useful should you choose to download it.

Here’s a tip: use CamScanner to scan any receipts, bills or other important documentation and save it to PDF formats. This can come in handy in terms of having a digital back-up of all your important files saved to your tablet, which means you can easily access the files whenever (and wherever) you need to. Moreover, you can upload the files to Dropbox; it’s free and the app has some seriously high ratings (almost perfect).

Let’s not forget about the tablet apps for social networks. In the Facebook-dominant social world, it’s no surprise that you have multiple apps available for the network, like the Friendcaster Tab for Facebook or Friend Me. The first app, Friendcaster Tab for Facebook, is free and is Facebook-optimized. It includes your news feed, Facebook profiles, inline photo viewing, a check-in map and many others.

Friend Me is an ad-supported app, which means you need to pay for the upgrade in order to remove the ad. If it doesn’t bother you, you can simply use the free version of the app. The functionalities are quite similar to Friendcaster Tab, however, a benefit that distinguishes this app from the Friendcaster Tab is the ability to play Facebook games—both currently run on Android’s HoneyComb.

As for the other social success, Twitter, you can download Plume. This app is quite popular looking at the number of installs (millions) and high rating it has in the Android Market. The application allows you to customize your Twitter lay-out and integrates a few other Twitter clients such as TwitPic and YFrog. You have access to all Twitter’s functionalities and additionally, Bit.ly will support your tweets.

If Plume doesn’t fit your needs, try TweetCaster Pro. This premium app is priced at .99 and is completely ad-free. It also claims to be the only Twitter app that uses Search Party, which enables users to do advanced searches. It even allows you to add filters and effects to photo attachments. TweetCaster Pro is considered a full-featured app that is worth your money.

You cannot talk about Android apps for tablets without mentioning games. One of the most (if not the most) popular games is Angry Birds. The merchandise items being sold in retail stores all over the world perfectly represent its popularity: a must-have for sure!

What are your experiences with Android apps? Which ones do you think are the best Android tablet apps? I would love to read some of your comments!