10 best Android tablet apps that all tablet owners should have
Whether or not tablets are the next wave of computing is still a topic that’s up for debate and one without any real answer right now. That said, tablets can be a lot of fun and very useful if you can find stuff to do on them. In this app roundup, we’ll try to get you started with the best Android tablet apps that all tablet owners should have.
See also: 15 best Android apps of all time!
Pretty much any Adobe app
[Price: Free]
Adobe has quite the range of products on mobile, including Photoshop Express, Lightroom Mobile, Capture CC, Illustrator Draw, Color CC, Shape CC, Brush CC, and many others. These are all useful applications that do various things but they really shine on the larger screen real estate that comes with having a tablet. They’re all free to download and most of them work well with Creative Cloud if you happen to use that. We recommend giving them a look and you can do just that using the button below.
Get it now on Google Play!
Amazon Kindle
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
There are a ton of ebook reader apps out there, but there are few that have the stability, selection, and usefulness of Amazon Kindle. The Kindle Store has a ton of books, magazines, and other reading material that you can buy and read. The larger screen sizes make reading much easier and more comfortable than on phones and tablets are where apps like Kindle really shine. Google Play Books is a decent alternative as well.
Get it now on Google Play!
CamScanner and Xodo PDF Reader and Editor
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
CamScanner is a great productivity app. This allows you to use your tablet’s camera to scan in documents such as invoices, forms, receipts, and other documentation that you may want in the digital space. You can annotate PDFs, send the images in PDF or JPEG format, and there is even a service embedded that will send faxes. It also comes with OCR support, print options, and more. You can use this with an app like Xodo PDF Reader and Editor and between the two, you’ll be able to handle all of your PDF scanning and editing needs. You can use that last link there to pick up Xodo and the button below to get CamScanner.
Get CamScanner now on Google Play!
Clover Paint
[Price: $7.56]
The larger screens on tablets make them almost perfect for artists and Clover Paint is about as good as it gets in the artist space. The app is expensive, but it bills itself as a professional-grade painting app. It comes complete with layers, tons of brushes, customizable canvas sizes, stylus support for most devices, and a lot more. There is a free demo version you can try before you buy it. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, we have a whole list of apps that are great for artists.
Get it now on Google Play!
Flipboard
[Price: Free]
Flipboard is already a wildly popular news-reading application. It uses a magazine-style user interface that looks and feels just delightful on tablets. It’s a great way to read the news and you can customize your news feed with sources you enjoy reading from (we hope one of them is Android Authority!). It’s simple to use, totally free, and you can find virtually any website to use as a news source. If that’s a little over the top for you, Feedly is another great, simple option.
Get it now on Google Play!
Google Drive suite
[Price: Free]
The Google Drive suite is a pretty hearty list of apps and includes Google Drive (cloud storage), Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides (all office apps), Google Photos, and Google Keep (notes). The Drive app will give you 15GB of free storage with more available at a fairly reasonable price and you can back up virtually any kind of file. The individual apps cover the gamut from office apps to note taking, and even photo viewing and backup. Google Photos is especially great because you can backup photos and videos on your phone and then view them on your tablet’s larger screen.
Get it now on Google Play!
HERE Maps
[Price: Free]
It’s true that Google Maps is kind of the de facto option on most mobile devices. However, a good case can be made for HERE Maps. HERE Maps lets you download maps for offline use and also includes offline navigation. You can find info about businesses in the area and you can share your location using the app’s Glympse feature. Google Maps is getting better with offline support but HERE Maps is definitely worth checking out if you want to use your tablet for GPS. Do beware, though, as a few tablets are still waiting for support from the developers.
Get it now on Google Play!
LastPass
[Price: Free with subscription option]
LastPass is a password management application. We’re sure you’re going to log into a bunch of apps, social networks, and websites on your tablet and an app like LastPass can be a real boon for that. The app will securely store your passwords and then automatically help you log into various sites and apps. It’s great for those who don’t want to remember every password they use. There is a subscription service available, but it’s only really necessary if you want to sync between your computer and mobile devices.
Get it now on Google Play!
PushBullet
[Price: Free]
Chances are you have both a tablet and a smartphone. If that’s the case, PushBullet is an app you should absolutely check out. It allows you to connect your devices together in such a way that they can communicate and work together. With this app, you can do things like answer texts on your tablet instead of your phone, copy and paste things between devices, move files between devices, and tons of other features. It helps bridge that gap between your devices and gives you a way to make them all work together.
Get it now on Google Play!
Zedge
[Price: Free]
Of course, you’ll want to pick up some notification tones and wallpapers for your tablet and Zedge is as good an app as any to start your search. It has a ton of crowd-sourced images and sounds that you can use to customize the most basic parts of your tablet. The selections are pretty decent and the app works very well with the advertising being the only minor complaint. If you need something more, we have a whole list of awesome wallpaper apps to try.
Get it now on Google Play!
Bonus: Your favorite video streaming services
[Price: Varies]
One of the more obvious reasons to pick up a tablet is for multimedia and video streaming is a red-hot industry right now. Some of the services we’d recommend is Netflix, Hulu, Crunchroll, Funimation, Sling TV, YouTube, and Google Play Movies & TV. There are plenty of others and none of them are really bad but how good they are will vary based on your taste in video content. There are no wrong answers here because tablets simply rock for video streaming.
Get it now on Google Play!
Bonus: Your favorite music streaming services
[Price: Varies]
Similarly, tablets are great for audio streaming. It could be music from apps like Pandora, Spotify, Google Play Music, and iHeartRadio or podcast apps like Doggcatcher or Pocket Casts. It even works great for a-la-carte apps like SoundCloud. A tablet along with a decent Bluetooth speaker can give you a fun audio experience that’s easy to control and the best part is that it won’t be eating the battery on your phone! With Google Play Music, you can also upload your own music so you can play your own stuff on your tablet without taking up any precious storage space.
Get it now on Google Play!
Wrap up
If we missed any particularly epic Android tablet apps that you think should’ve been on this list, tell us about them in the comments! If you want to stay up to date on the latest Android apps and games news, use the form below to sign up for our newsletter!
To see our complete list of Android apps and games lists, click here!
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Google smartens up Drive file sharing
Sharing files through Google Drive is a pretty straightforward process and one of the coolest ways we can think of to collaborate. Whether it’s on a desktop or a mobile device, Google makes it rather easy to connect with others for viewing, editing, or sharing files. According to Google, the mobile experience is about to get even better.
Users this week will now receive mobile notifications alerting them whenever files or folders are shared with them. From there, a single tap is all that’s needed to head directly to the files and folders.
Drive for Android lets recipients request access to a file which will also be sent immediately to the person who created the documents. You know how sometimes you share a link with someone and haven’t finished up the permissions? Yep – this will help alleviate the headaches.
Also changing in the Drive experience for Android, users will no longer need a Google Account to view shared files on a device. Indeed, this will be just like it is on the desktop and full web setup.
The post Google smartens up Drive file sharing appeared first on AndroidGuys.
15 best Android apps of all time!
Here it is ladies and gentlemen. The crème de la crème. The apps that most people will swear that they cannot live without. These apps have become ubiquitous with Android and if you’re looking for good stuff it’s assumed that you have this stuff already. Without further delay, here are the best Android apps of all time!
Android Device Manager
[Price: Free]
Android Device Manager isn’t so much an app as a service available to most Android device. This is Google’s built-in “find my phone” functionality and it can be yours right now for free. There is an application that lets you manage your devices, find them, secure them, and wipe them down if needed. There is also a web interface available so you can find your devices on any computer using the web browser. Of course, you’ll need to turn on ADM in order to make it work and you can find instructions to do that by clicking here. Do note, you’ll need to have Location Services enabled for the service to find your device.
Get it now on Google Play!
ES File Explorer
[Price: Free]
ES File Explorer has been around since the “good old days” of Android and has been consistently improving and evolving ever since. The app is totally free to use and it always has been without any catches. It has a ton of features including file browsing, root explorer, zipping and unzipping various types of archives, FTP support, multimedia playback support, cloud storage support, SMB support, WebDAV support, and a lot more. Are there other great file browsers? You bet, but there are few that have the pedigree that ES has. It’s free, it’s powerful, and it’s worth having.
Get it now on Google Play!
Evernote
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Evernote is arguably the most powerful note taking application ever created. It comes with a ton of note taking features including the ability to create lists, insert audio/video/images, and all of that is synced to the cloud where it can be accessed from any web browser. There are also a host of organizational features so you can keep all this info in line. It also features collaboration functionality if you need that and it’s all wrapped up in Material Design. The in-app purchases are for Evernote Premium, which is a subscription that gives you additional features such as PDF annotation, better privacy options, and offline access.
Get it now on Google Play!
The Google Drive suite
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Google Drive is a cloud storage solution available on Android where all new users get 15GB for free permanently upon signing up. You can, of course, buy more if needed. What makes Google Drive so special are the suite of applications that are attached to it. They include Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Photos, and Google Keep. Between the office apps, the Photos app (which allows unlimited photo and video backup), and Keep for note taking, you have apps for practically anything you need to do in terms of productivity. Some of the features of these apps include live collaboration, deep sharing features, and compatibility with Microsoft Office documents.
Get it now on Google Play!
Google Play Music, YouTube
[Price: Free / $9.99 per month]
Google Play Music is a special case. Sure there are music apps out there that let you play local content and there are streaming apps out there that let you stream content. Do you know how many apps combine these two concepts? One, and it’s Google Play Music. The service lets you upload up to 50,000 of your own (non-DRM) songs to Google’s cloud for streaming wherever you are. That functionality is totally free. On top that, for $9.99/month, you get a very above-average streaming service with over 30 million songs, playlist support, and various Internet radio options. When you add in YouTube Red, which gives additional features including the removal of ads from YouTube, and you have a truly amazing experience. Of course, YouTube itself is an app worth having whether you buy the subscription service or not.
Get it now on Google Play!
Groupon
[Price: Free]
Groupon is an insanely popular coupon app that tries to help you find deals and coupons for businesses, restaurants, and events in your area. Each coupon found can be used immediately and you can store them for later use if needed. The app itself is well-designed and it’s all very easy to use. There are a variety of uses for an app like this, including vacations, holiday shopping, and when you’re out on the town. The only potential issue is that it’s not support everywhere so you’ll need to check and see if your region is supported.
Get it now on Google Play!
HERE Maps
[Price: Free]
Sure we could’ve taken the cheap way out and listed Google Maps, but considering that it’s pre-installed on virtually all Google Play-enabled Android devices, it feels disingenuous recommending an app that you already have. Instead, we’re going to recommend you try out HERE Maps. This app’s claim to fame is the ability to download and use maps offline while still providing totally offline turn-by-turn navigation. Much like Google Maps, it lets you check out restaurants and various places in your area although it’s not quite as in-depth as Google Maps. It’s totally free and anyone who needs offline navigation should try this.
Get it now on Google Play!
LastPass
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
LastPass is a password manager that has always seemed like a step above the others. A recent update has made mobile use entirely free with a premium subscription service charged for syncing from mobile to desktop and back. Since we log into everything on our mobile devices now, having LastPass is a good idea. It can save passwords and keep them save all while auto-filling passwords for sites and apps that you use regularly. There is also a password generator that generates hard-to-hack passwords just for you. It’s worth checking out for sure. It was recently purchased by LogMeIn so the future is uncertain, but for right now it’s operating as it always has.
Get it now on Google Play!
Nova Launcher
[Price: Free / $4.99]
Initially, we weren’t going to put any launchers on this list. Nova Launcher seems to be extend beyond what normal launchers are. It’s been around for years, it’s been consistently updated, and thus it’s never not been a great option for a launcher replacement. It comes with a host of features, including the ability to backup and restore your home screen set ups, icon theming, tons of customization elements for the home screen and app drawer, and more. If you go premium, you can tack on gesture controls, unread count badges for apps, and icon swipe actions. There’s not much else to say. It’s just that good.
Get it now on Google Play!
Pocket
[Price: Free]
Admittedly, Pocket is a bit more of a power user application but it’s one that we’d recommend to virtually anyone. Pocket lets you take a webpage you’re viewing and stash it away for later. This is great for when you’re browsing the news or you find funny stories from your Facebook/Google+/Twitter feed that you want to read later. It’s extremely easy to use and many of our staff swear by its usefulness. It also works with news apps like Flipboard, social media apps like Facebook, and you can share from Pocket to other apps as well. It’s totally free to use and there are even browser extensions so you can use it on a computer as well.
Get it now on Google Play!
Pocket Casts
[Price: $3.99]
Those who enjoy podcasts probably have the easiest decision in regards to which podcast app that should use. The answer to that question is Pocket Casts. This insanely stable and good looking app allows you to download or stream various podcasts for your enjoyment. It features both audio-only and video podcast support so you can catch up on just about anything. There is also a light and dark theme, a sign-in feature so you can sync your podcasts across devices, and a pretty decent recommendations function. It’s the last podcast app you’ll have to download for a very long time.
Get it now on Google Play!
Pushbullet
[Price: Free]
Pushbullet is a unique application that can do a lot of things. Officially, it’s an app that connects your computer to your device through the web browser. From there you can do all kinds of stuff with it including answer text messages directly from your computer, transfer files, check your notifications, send messages on some (supported) services, and more. It’s a simple application that doesn’t require much tinkering once you’re all set up and ready to go. It remains of the best and most stable ways to do things like answer texts from your computer.
Get it now on Google Play!
SwiftKey Keyboard
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
SwiftKey Keyboard is one of the most powerful and customizable third-party keyboards available. It hit the market several years ago with a predictive engine unlike anything any other keyboard had and the app has grown a lot of over the years. It’s a free download and you can purchase themes for it if you want to. Other features include a dedicated number row, SwiftKey Flow which allows for gesture typing, multiple language support, cross-device syncing of your library and much more. It’s about as good as it gets in the keyboard space.
Get it now on Google Play!
Tasker
[Price: $2.99]
Tasker is a glorious application if you have the patience to learn how to use the app. What it does is allow users to create custom made commands and then use them in various places. There are many apps out there that have Tasker support and you can even use Tasker to create very complex commands for NFC tags. It’s difficult to truly explain what this app can do because it can do so many things. Our writer Jonathan Feist has an extensive collection of tutorials on how to use Tasker and more are coming in the future.
Get it now on Google Play!
Zedge
[Price: Free]
Last, but certainly not least on our list is Zedge. This is a wallpapers, ringtones, notification tones, and alarm tones app that gives you an unbelievable number of options to customize the most basic parts of your device. On top of having an exhaustive collection of things, Zedge also promotes various items during holiday seasons making it easy to theme your phone up for Christmas, Halloween, and other holidays. It’s free and there’s a lot of content there. The only bad part is the advertising which can be a little aggressive and annoying.
Get it now on Google Play!
Wrap-Up
Making a list of the best Android apps is difficult because there are so many opinions on what makes an app either great, useful, or both. With that said, we would love to hear about which Android apps you consider to be the best ones in the comments below! If you want to stay up to date on the latest Android apps and games news, use the form below to sign up for our weekly apps newsletter!
To see our complete list of Android apps and games lists, click here!
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You’ll soon be able to back up your entire WhatsApp messaging history to Google Drive
With nearly one billion monthly users, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging services available on Android. And to make the service even more feature-rich than ever before, WhatsApp is teaming up with Google Drive to bring native cloud storage to the messaging platform. With Google Drive integration, WhatsApp for Android will let you create a private backup of your chat history, voice messages, photos and videos in Google Drive. Once your history is backed up, you can easily restore everything on a new device with just a few taps.
Once you enable this new backup feature, you’ll be able to tell WhatsApp to create daily, weekly or monthly backups of your messaging history. You’ll also be able to specify whether or not WhatsApp will backup your videos, too.
See also: How to get WhatsApp on your tablet
This new feature will be rolling out to WhatsApp users in the Play Store over the next few months, so keep an eye out for the update to make its way to your device. Are you a WhatsApp user? If so, will you use the new Google Drive backup feature? Let us know what you think in the comments.
WhatsApp users can now create private backups in Google Drive
Thanks to a partnership between WhatsApp and Google Drive, users of the wildly popular message app can now keep copies of chat history. Indeed, there are some 900 million of you out there, many of which are using Android as the mobile platform of choice.
According to Google, WhatsApp users on Android are able to backup chat history, voice messages, photos, and videos in Google Drive. Moreover, it’s also possible to restore all of this to a new device should you ever upgrade your Android. Everything is native, seamless and secure as Google will encrypt the multimedia in the cloud.
The new feature is coming to an Android near you, however the process is expected to take a few months to fully deploy. Keep an eye on your WhatsApp settings to see if you’re ready to start backing things up.
The post WhatsApp users can now create private backups in Google Drive appeared first on AndroidGuys.
New Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides features make schoolwork less miserable
Being a college student myself, Google Drive has been one of the best tool to use for writing papers, working on group projects, and otherwise staying organized. The best part is, I don’t have to spend my precious student’s budget on it: it’s free!
Google is continuing to add value to Google Drive with its slew of updates, tailored for students (although, anyone can use them!).
First up, the “Research” tool, which has been accessible in Google Docs on the web version for awhile is now available in Docs for Android. This allows you to search Google without having to leave Docs, and then insert what you find directly into your Doc.
Next, you can now dictate your Docs! This is available in both the web version and app. Voice typing will even recognize formatting commands like “new paragraph” or “exclamation point”. Voice typing is even available in more than 40 languages, helping language students, and students around the world.
The next update isn’t a new feature so much as a change of location and design. Looking at revision history is now accessible in a fancy little button that says “See new changes” (shown above). This lets you see what recent changes were made and by whom, especially useful when collaborating on a project.
Forms has also been updated with a new design, and now easier ways to insert images, GIFs, or videos.
Also added are a bunch of new templates in Docs, Sheets, and Slides! Now templates for reports, portfolios, resumes, and more are all available to make your project look that much better.
Sheets has been updated with a fancy new feature called Explore.
“ Explore creates charts and insights automatically, so you can visualize trends and understand your data in seconds on the web or on your Android. It’s like having an expert analyst right by your side.“
The last new feature is something for Google Classroom users. Teachers can now instantly send websites to the entire class with a Chrome extension.
This is one big update, and a few of these are definitely features I’m excited to try out myself!
Do these features seem useful to you? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
SOURCE: Official Google Blog
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Google Slides and Google Keep gain new powers
Today is Google’s update Wednesday, and it seems today’s focus is on Google Slides and Google Keep, gaining some neat new abilities.
First off, they’re is updating Slides with the ability to share presentations over video calls.
“All you need is your Android phone or tablet, and with one tap of the present button, you’ll see the option to present to a video call.“
This will certainly be helpful for the business world, where video calls and presentations occur frequently. It is already easy to use Slides with Chromecast or Airplay, or simply sharing the presentation. This feature will make things even easier.
Controlling the presentation is done through the mobile device you’re sharing the presentation from, allowing you to advance slides, view speaker notes, and use a timer
Next up is Google Keep, which can now export notes directly into Google Drive from a mobile device.
Google is always adding new things to their products to help make them more real-world-friendly, and these new features certainly add to that.
SOURCE: Google Docs Blog
The post Google Slides and Google Keep gain new powers appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google removes document editing in mobile web version of Docs, pushes for app installation instead
Google has removed document editing from the mobile web version of Google Docs, opting instead for a banner encouraging users to download the official app from the Play Store. The move makes sense, since that’s how they’ve treated Sheets and Slides for a while now. But if you were hanging on and still editing your Google Docs in Chrome, looks like you’ll have to install the app now.
To be fair, the app offers way more functionality and just generally runs much better than the web view version. It might be bad news for someone dealing with a phone or tablet that has very limited storage space, but I’d imagine if they were heavy document editors, they’d probably be willing to upgrade to keep the functionality.
source: Google
Come comment on this article: Google removes document editing in mobile web version of Docs, pushes for app installation instead
Google Drive updated to support batch downloads [APK Download]
Google has just issued an update to their Google Drive application, bringing the version to 2.2.233.30.35.
We’ve already seen features like drag and drop and Chromecast support added in previous versions, which makes the app easier to use, and now this new version of Google Drive builds on those features.
What’s New
– Multiple file sending and downloading
– New sharing interface
Of course, there could be more undisclosed under the hood performance enhancements not immediately noticeable.
If like me you like to be on the cutting edge of developments, you can go ahead and grab the latest Google Drive APK from here.
Notice anything else different in the newest version of Google Drive? Drop us a comment below.
The post Google Drive updated to support batch downloads [APK Download] appeared first on AndroidGuys.
CloudPlayer can play your music straight from Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive
Still on the search for the perfect cloud music streaming service? The new DoubleTwist app CloudPlayer may be the right one for many of you. At least I know I fell in love with it right away, as it’s not really a cloud service in and of itself. It harnesses the power of other cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive to bring one of the most flexible and full-featured music apps around.
As its name entails, CloudPlayer allows you to play music straight from the cloud. It just needs to access one or more of the services mentioned above and scan your library. I downloaded it and it’s crazy easy. I was literally up and running in like a minute, with all my music ready to play.
The feature to sync with your cloud storage service definitely closes the deal, but CloudPlayer is not going to stop surprising us there. I meant it when I said this is one of the most flexible and full-featured music apps out there. CloudPlayer supports both Chromecast and AirPlay. It can also play your high-quality tunes, as it is compatible with FLAC and ALAC. It’s all DRM-free and DropBox users can grant music library access to one family member. You can even download the cache for your music and play it offline!
I can’t think of a music application that doesn’t fall behind when compared to CloudPlayer… at least in terms of cloud features and wireless support. In fact, I will start using it over Google Play Music. I am a huge Google Drive fan and pretty much my whole PC is synced to it. There’s really no need to upload my music to both Google Play Music and Google Drive. In fact, I never knew why Google needs to keep them separated.
If you are like me, there’s no need to worry anymore. CloudPlayer is one hell of an app!
So the service is great, but what about the app?
I have not been using this app for an extended period of time, so I can’t give you an elaborated opinion just yet. What I can tell you is that I have encountered no issues so far. It is also super easy to navigate and understand. Simply slide your menu out from the left and all your categories will be there. From here you can also opt to turn off online access to save data, after which only your local and downloaded songs will show up.
There’s also a search button to find your music and albums are displayed with well-sized icons. It manages to look good and stay simple. That’s all an app needs in order to be a winner by my book.
Access the settings and you can sync/scan your cloud services, choose album art settings, reset the app and more.
Price?!
To good to be true? Well, it would be if the app was completely free… but it’s not. You can download it and test its premium features for 7 days, but access will be limited after that trial period. DoubleTwist is charging $4.99 to unlock premium features like cloud streaming, an awesome equalizer and Chromecast/Airplay support. Then again, these are really the features that make CloudPlayer stand out, so if you are signing up you should pay up.
It’s definitely no cheap application, but I can’t think of a better way to spend $4.99 right now. Are you guys as excited about CloudPlayer as me? Hit the comments and let us know how you feel about it!
AIVAnet 
