Google Android Tablet preview

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The first Honeycomb-based tablet, the Motorola Xoom, was released towards the end of February. In ourreview of the device, we highlighted a handful of well-designed applications that fit the form factor. The number of third-party tablet applications for Android is still small compared to the iPad, but it's growing modestly.

In the six months that have passed since the launch of the Xoom, the Android tablet application ecosystem has seen some nice additions. There are, however, still a lot of missing pieces. In this article, we will take a brief look at some of the new apps and we will discuss some of the gaps that are still waiting to be filled.

Google finally released its own Reader client for Android last year, providing a native interface for consuming news feeds. As we discussed in in our hands-on report, one of our biggest disappointments with the application at the time was the lack of a tablet-friendly user interface for larger devices. Google has recently remedied that issue with a major update to the application. The new version of the Google Reader client provides a much-improved user interface for phones and a whole new multicolumn interface for Honeycomb tablets.

The Reader app for tablets has a two-column user interface in landscape orientation that makes it easy to see the items in a feed and the contents of an individual story side-by-side. This makes for a much better reading experience, as you don't have to flip back and forth between the two when you are selectively working your way through a feed.

Another nice addition to the Android tablet application lineup is Evernote. We gave you an early look at Evernote's Honeycomb user interface back in May when we got some hands-on time with the software at the Google I/O conference. It arrived in the Android Market in July, bringing great support for rich text editing and a slick grid user interface. Evernote is my note-taking application of choice, but users who are looking for a lighter alternative might like Catch Notes, which also has a very slick Honeycomb interface.

In light of Amazon's rumored Android tablet aspirations, it's not at all surprising that the company has delivered an excellent native Honeycomb version of its Kindle e-book software. The main book selection screen has a two-column user interface in landscape orientation that shows your book covers in a grid and lets you filter the view. The main navigation elements are in a native Honeycomb toolbar at the top of the screen.

One of the best features of the Honeycomb Kindle application is a tightly integrated Kindle store interface with a touch-friendly layout. You can buy new books and download them to your collection without having to leave the application—a feature that you won't find in the iPad version of the application due to Apple's App Store policies.

Although the Kindle app was generally a pleasure to use, there are still a few weaknesses. I couldn't figure out how to get a dual-column text view when reading a book in landscape mode. It also appears to lack a drop-down interface for convenient chapter selection. The app has full support for reading sideloaded "mobi" files, but there is unfortunately no import mechanism in the user interface yet—you have to use a file manager (File Manager HD is a nice one for tablets) to drop the mobi files in the Kindle folder on the filesystem and then restart the application.

The state of social applications on Honeycomb has improved since the platform's debut. My preferred options for Twitter is currently TweetCaster HD, which has a simple dual-column view that shows you one message stream at a time. Users who want to see multiple streams at the same time might prefer TweetComb, which is a bit cluttered but has a more Tweetdeck-like approach to presentation.

The developers of TweetCaster have started working on an experimental Facebook client, which they call FriendCaster. This application is still in beta and wasn't particularly stable during my tests, but offered a reasonably broad feature set.

Reddit is another must-have for me on any tablet device. Although I haven't been able to find a Reddit client for Honeycomb that is as nice as AlienBlue is on the iPad, there are a few that are worth a look. I use one called Reddita, which has a decent multicolumn user interface and support for image thumbnails. Ravishing Reddit doesn't seem as complete, but is also quite decent. I'm still hoping that tasty newcomer Baconreaderwill eventually arrive on Android tablets.

Exchange users who want a native alternative to Honeycomb's functionally deficient standard mail application will likely appreciate TouchDown HD. It's a pretty complete Exchange suite with support for mail, calendaring, tasks, and contacts.

Most of the basics are covered now on Honeycomb, but there are still a lot of gaps that need to be filled. In my own day-to-day tablet use, I've found a few cases in particular where I'm still waiting. The Dropbox client is compatible with Android 3.x but unfortunately doesn't have a Honeycomb interface yet. I'd also really like to have a Honeycomb version of K-9 (or an equally feature-rich IMAP e-mail client) with a Honeycomb user interface. The official Wordpress app is another one where I'm still waiting for a Honeycomb interface.

Photograph by Kevin Harber

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