Top Android apps for Honeycomb tablets- Summer 2011 edition
Gmail for Honeycomb is so good it may be reason enough to buy a tablet for power users. It makes good use of labels and starring to keep your email organized and accessible. Visit ZDNet Mobile News for the complete picture of top Android apps for tablets.
Twitter apps are a dime a dozen but good ones not as easy to find. Plume (formerly Touiteur) has been optimzed for Honeycomb and is a joy to use. It rivals desktop Twitter clients in the way it displays multiple columns of the user's choosing, and packs in great touch optimization to round out the offering. There is both an ad-supported version that is free and a premium version.
I follow thousands of RSS feeds and having a good reader is a must. Newsr syncs with Google Reader and presents feeds and article headlines in a 3-pane view that makes spinning through many items a breeze. It is full featured and handles everything in Google Reader with the benefits of touch controls. Free.
You don't normally think of mind mapping when you think of tablets but Thinking Space Pro bucks that trend. This app brings full mind mapping capability to the Honeycomb tablet in a manner that is easy and even fun to use. Topics are easily created by hand and can be moved around the screen at will to organize the map just as desired. There is a limited free version and a paid version available.
Honeycomb tablet ship with good onscreen keyboards, but they pale in comparison to this version of SwiftKey for Tablets. It has the text prediction SwiftKey is known for, and packages it in a wonderful onscreen keyboard that is the best in its class. There is even a split keyboard mode for thumb typists that rivals that on the upcoming iPad 3 later this year. This is a closed beta requiring registration and acceptance before access is granted.
Another good RSS feed reader that syncs with Google Reader, JustReader is a multi-column feed reader that is designed for rapidly scanning lots of feed articles. There is a full touch browser included for viewing whole articles in the app. There are free and premium versions available.
News360 is an unusual news reader in that it displays news of the day in a highly visual manner. There is a 3D "cover flow" method for spinning through lots of news items, along with more traditional list views. It is a highly interactive program that makes reading the news of the day a lot of fun. Free.
Twitter apps are highly personal, and just missing the cut for a top app is Tweetcomb. The optimization for the bigger tablet screen is quite good, with multiple columns on hand to keep up with Twitter timelines. It is highly customizable to provide the desired experience. Free.
Another good Twitter app (you can never have enough of those) is Tweetcaster HD, a beta app that presents the Twitter timelines in an attractive display that makes good use of inline previews in tweets. It only displays one column at a time, but switching between the various views is done by simply tapping the screen. It is free while in beta.
Visit ZDNet Mobile News for top mobile technology coverage including hands-on reviews of the top gadgets of the day.