AppBrain

Android app discovery and sharing service AppBrain makes it easy to find the hottest apps in a variety of categories using a web site and a mobile app for your Android device. Initially AppBrain’s claim to fame was the fact that you could find apps on the web and then push them to your phone, but now that the official Android Market supports that feature, the company has been pushing itself as a better organized alternative to the Android Market.

Earlier this month AppBrain launched a new version of its mobile app which is optimized for tablets running Google Android 3.x Honeycomb. Instead of a single-pane view, you can now see a list of apps on the left while viewing details about a specific app on the right.

There are Share and Market buttons below each app. The Market link actually takes you the Android Market to download an app — AppBrain doesn’t actually run its own app store, but instead links to the official Market pages. The Share button allows you to send a page to your contacts using email, Bluetooth, or other applications on your device.

AppBrain 6.0 isn’t the prettiest tablet app I’ve seen to date. It looks like someone just did the minimal amount of work necessary to show two screen side-by-side without actually taking the time to make things look attractive on high resolution displays. For instance, the home screen has way too much white space and basically looks like the smartphone version — only the icons are spread further apart.

When you click any link, you’re greeted with a smartphone-style view on the left and… nothing on the right until you click on an app title.

Still, if you’re already an AppBrain user, there’s no reason not to check out the latest tablet app. If you’re not, you might want to spend some time on the AppBrain web site before deciding whether you need to install this app on your tablet.

Brad Linder

Brad Linder is editor of Liliputing and Mobiputing. He's been tinkering with mobile tech for decades and writing about it since...