10 Android Tablet Apps for IT Pros on the Go

Do you frequently fly out of town for business meetings or to wine and dine clients? Flight delays, strange hotels and a full itinerary can make it difficult to stay on task while traveling for business. The good news for busy IT professionals is that an Android tablet—along with a few good business apps from Google Play—will help you schedule meetings, find a restaurant in an unfamiliar city or even check in with the office. This list of 10 useful Android tablet apps will help you work smarter, save time and be prepared for any task when you’re on the go.

Based in Nova Scotia, Vangie Beal has been covering small business, electronic commerce and Internet technology for more than a decade.

Khymaera‘s ListNote speech-to-text app helps busy IT professionals create meeting notes, to-do lists and even a virtual blackboard for jotting down those great ideas you come up with after a meeting. If you’re not shy about talking to your Android tablet in public, the hands-free speech feature lets you create and save notes more quickly than you could by typing messages on a small touchscreen keyboard. The best feature for traveling professionals is the convenience of sharing your notes with co-workers who use any Gmail or other Android messaging applications that accept text.

Download ListNote (free) or ListNote Pro ($4.99).

Staying organized can be a daunting task under normal circumstances—but nearly impossible when traveling for work. The Due Today task scheduling app from Lakeridge Software offers useful features to keep you focused on the important jobs. You can create and assign tasks, set reminders for important items and pin projects to your Android tablet’s main screen for quick access. Busy professionals will like the option to set tasks to “float” until they are completed. There’s also a handy reminder if you forgot to do something yesterday.

Download Due Today Lite (free) or Due Today ($2.99).

Tired of trying to find your way around big, unfamiliar cities to get to a business meeting on time? A good app for traveling professionals is Google Maps for Android, which improves the Google Maps experience for tablet users. The beta release of Google Maps for Android offers detailed maps complete with 3-D buildings, driving directions and views of public transit, biking and walking routes. One feature busy travelers will appreciate is the indoor maps that are available for select airports and hotels.

Download Google Maps for Android (free) or view other Android tablet apps from Google.

The eponymous travel organizer app from TripIt is a good option if your company doesn’t use travel management software to manage employees’ itineraries. Before you leave, forward all travel documents to TripIt—including hotel, airline, car rental and other reservations—and the service will organize it all for you. With the TripIt Android app, you can then manage your trip, edit details and sync trip plans with your calendar. Busy travelers will appreciate the quick access to a well-organized and detailed trip itinerary while on the go.

Download TripIt Travel Organizer Free or TripIt Travel Organizer No-Ad ($3.99).

Dropbox is a well-known and useful cloud storage service. With a Dropbox account, you can create, share and sync files between your PC and any connected device you use. The Dropbox Android app lets you flip through albums, save email attachments and edit files stored in your personal Dropbox space. The best feature for traveling professionals? You can share any file created during the business trip with a single touch in the application.

Download Dropbox (free).

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This cloud-sync task manager from6 Wunderkinder is useful for travelers who need to organize tasks and sync them among devices. Wunderlist Task Manager lets you organize to-do lists on the go and synchronize them with your free online Wunderlist account. Any task or list can be shared with co-workers and viewed on a computer or mobile device with an Internet connection. Business professionals on the go will like the easy access to a list of current tasks that can be prioritized.

Download Wunderlist Task Manager (free).

There’s nothing worse than leaving the hotel with tablet in hand to take notes or check your trip itinerary, only to discover you forgot charge it the previous night. The JuiceDefender Battery Saver from Latedroid is an easy-to-configure app that helps extend the battery life of your Android device by managing the most battery-draining components and apps. Busy professionals can install the app and choose a profile (balanced, aggressive or extreme savings) and let JuiceDefender use the best battery-saving options for your device.

Download Juice Defender (free), Juice Defender Plus ($1.99) or Juice Defender Ultimate ($4.99).

Evernote is a useful app for staying organized and productive on the go. You can take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists and record important voice reminders. All notes can be synced across multiple computers and mobile devices, as Evernote supports numerous devices and operating systems, and notes can also be tagged notes for easier searching. Other handy options include emailing notes to colleagues and connecting Evernote to other Android apps you use.

Download Evernote (free).

The SwiftKey 3 Tablet Keyboard from TouchType is a smart touchscreen keyboard for Android devices. Business professionals will enjoy improved typing accuracy and fewer hassles when using the small touchscreen keyboard on an Android tablet. This keyboard app uses a prediction engine to analyze personal typing habits, and you can even share email and social accounts to help it learn your style. The result is better customized predictions as you type. SwiftKey offers several keyboard themes so you can try different colors and layouts until you find one that is comfortable to work with and improves your typing accuracy.

Download SwiftKey 3 Tablet Free or SwiftKey 3 Tablet (3.99).

OfficeSuite Pro 6 from Mobile Systems is useful for viewing, creating, editing, printing or sharing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your Android tablet. Busy professionals can convert text documents to PDF files, open XLSM, PPTM, PPSM and DOCM files, as well as spell-check and quickly view the last opened files. OfficeSuite can open files from the tablet’s internal storage, external SD card or from a cloud storage account such as Dropbox, Box, Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive.

Download OfficeSuite Pro 6 Trial (free), OfficeSuite Viewer 6 (free) or OfficeSuite Pro 6 ($14.99).