App Reviews

Social networking is a touchy area; either you hate it, or you can’t live without it. It cannot be denied that the advent of the Internet has forever changed the way we communicate with each other. The ease of use and accessibility of social networking sites has attracted those from many distinct walks of life. But, when combined with the media-consumption nature of tablets, is the result Beauty or the Beast? Read on to find out. (more…)

Those of you who are fortunate enough to have Android 4.0.x “Ice Cream Sandwich” on your tablets will know that the stock browser, despite being better than the stock Honeycomb version, leaves much to be desired. Saying that the stock ICS browser is horrible would be incorrect, but just ‘good enough’ won’t do on tablets where users spend a lot of time browsing the web. With their Chrome browser for desktops, Google started a movement to make browsers less and less minimalistic and more about what is actually being viewed. While having the address and tab bars always shown on larger 13”+ displays of laptops and even larger displays on desktops may be practical, on the comparatively miniscule displays of tablets, it distracts from the experience of surfing the web. Luckily for us, Beansoft has stepped in where the Android developers have fallen short and have created a wonderful browser replacement. (more…)

As if we needed any more proof that mobile computing is improving by leaps and bounds, one look at tTorrent will remove any doubt about the power of current-day mobile devices. No longer are tasks such as downloading torrents restricted to desktops and laptops, now your Android Tablet can get in on the fun!
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In previous reviews I have said that tablets are primarily media consumption devices, and while that may be true, tablets also have a flip side: productivity. Because of their large screens, always-on capabilities and their portability compared to laptops and even netbooks, tablets provide an effective mobile solution to many problematic productivity tasks. Anyone who has ever started taking notes electronically instead of on paper and continued this habit will tell you that it makes life easier in many ways. Instead of rummaging through your backpack for that assignment that’s due tomorrow morning, or turning your house inside out looking for that note that you wrote on that piece of paper–digital notes make these problems a thing of the past. JotterPad HD is a fairly new attempt to provide an effective, easy to use and feature rich application to create and view notes on Android Tablets, but can it stack up to the competition and emerge a success? Read on to find out. (more…)

Tablets are media consumption devices. They were made so we could watch, read or listen to our favorite media items on the go, at home or anywhere we please. Thus, for RSS junkies, a good RSS reader is not only important, it is essential for the best tablet experience. (more…)

Once in a while you come across a new tablet app that really blows you away because it is just stunning in both look and feel—especially when it’s making full use of the high resolution screen on your (Honeycomb) tablet. Solar System Explorer is a great example of this.

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The question you may be asking yourself is: what makes a good video player? The question may seem hard to answer because often times when you are using these apps, you don’t think too much about the user interface (UI) and options that the developers included to make their app unique. To the contrary, when you use a video player, the less you see, the better the experience. Most users don’t care what codec is being decoded or what the bit rate of the video is and for these users, MX Video Player is perfect. (more…)

Widgets are a great way to quickly view information on your home screen without having to open that particular app. It is one of the most popular advantages of the Android OS. Unfortunately, many apps still don’t provide widgets and if they do so happen to have a widget, its usually underwhelming. Far too often have I used a widget that just didn’t do the app justice. Missing features such as resizability and the general lack of customizability always provided me with a subpar experience. Another issue is the fact that your homescreen can easily get cluttered after adding just a couple of widgets. This is where Tabr Widget comes to the rescue and begins to address these issues on your Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich tablet device. (more…)

One of the advantage of the Android operating system is that it can be fully customized and a great example is the use of widgets on phones and tablets. Widgets are very useful by providing information on the home screen without having to open an application. This is even better on a tablet where you can take advantage of the larger screen with bigger widgets. Time, weather and date are one of the most useful information and a widget is a great way to display that information on your screen. I find that I need a good clock and weather widget on any mobile device that I own. There are many apps in the Android Market but I have found that Beautiful Widgets is by far the best and worth the price. (more…)

When Steve Jobs first introduced the iPad he pushed the idea of it as an electronic magazine. Publishers were very excited about having another way to sell their magazines since print media is slowly dying. Although the iPad has been very successful, it’s clear that the electronic magazine form on the tablet has not yet taken off as predicted. Still, I believe that in the future most magazines will be consumed on a tablet or similar mobile device. Some still prefer the print magazine and can’t yet make the jump to electronic. But for those brave enough and wanting to get ahead of the curve, there are some options on Android tablets. Today, I will take a look at the Zinio app which publishes many of the the top magazines on your mobile device. (more…)

I tend to read a lot of news to keep up with sports, politics, science, technology and more. I love using my tablet because the larger screen size gives me more information in a high quality format. I use many different apps for different types of information. Some are single news sources like Time and CNN while other are aggregators like Pulse. Today I will take a look at News 360 which is a news aggregator. The unique feature behind News 360 is that it allows you access information on one news story from many different sources which is the 360 view and is not found on other news apps. (more…)

Antipaper Notes HD allows you to replace your real notebook paper with an electronic version. Using your Tablet you can take hand written notes just like real paper and with the same quality using your fingers or stylus. You’ll never have to deal with carrying papers or take up all that space for storing. Let’s find out all the details about this great handwriting app.

Antipaper Notes has many great features that makes it a complete handwriting app that will replace your real paper. You can choose from using the pen or the highlighter with the options for three different thicknesses along with a variety of colors. (more…)

I use Twitter on a daily basis for my blog, work, and personal use to connect with people and friends. I have multiple accounts to follow and manage so I’m always looking for good apps. I specially enjoy using Twitter apps on my tablet because the larger screen size allows me to take in more information at one time. Today I will take a look at Plume, formerly known as Touiteur, which is a highly customizable Twitter client app. (more…)

Previously, I had reviewed Opera Mobile Browser for tablets which I liked but didn’t think it would replace my stock browser. Today, I will review Dolphin Browser for Pad which I believe does have what it takes for everyday browsing despite being in beta. I’ve also tested Dolphin Browser HD for phones which does work on the tablet but it was a far inferior experience compared to the tablet version. Let’s take a look at the details of Dolphin for Pad browser. (more…)

This week Fandango finally released a tablet app for Android. They are definitely late to the game but at least they got it right. In case you don’t know, Fandango allows you to view currently playing movies and purchase tickets for your local theater. In high volume places like New York this can a life saver so you don’t go to the movies only to discover that it’s sold out. But the Fandango app is more than just purchasing tickets as it’s a great way to check out movies, previews, and more. (more…)

One of the great advantages of Android is the fact that you have access to all your files on your mobile device. You can easily manage all your files from picture, movies, documents and more. But of course, how you manage your files and the user interface will depend on what app you’re using. ASTRO File manager has been around since 2008 with over 17 million downloads on the Android Market and a 4.6 average rating. This is a rock solid application and it has been recently updated with a brand new UI and support for honeycomb tablets. Now on to the details. (more…)