Google's Nexus 7 tablet was a revelation when it made its debut last year. The new Nexus 7 is even better, thanks to its 1,920-by-1,200-pixel, full-HD display and ultra-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, that make the tablet smooth and responsive in daily use. Plus, it's light and easy to carry, and, unlike other budget tablets that have appeared over the past few years, the Nexus 7 feels like a quality piece of hardware. Now about those apps...
Right off the bat, you're going to need a number of basic apps. Google tries to cover everything with its various portals to Play, including Play Books, Play Music, and Play Movies & TV. These are good, but you'll want to beef up your media options. What else can you run on it? Fortunately, the Android tablet app situation, while still iffy, is improving quickly. With the Nexus 7's smaller screen, some of the wasted-space UI issues we saw with running phone apps on 10-inch Android tablets aren't as noticeable. Plus, the Nexus 7 is good enough that it could draw a massive wave of third-party developers into the fold. For now, though, many important apps are already available—and work well on the Nexus 7.
One important distinction with the Nexus 7 is the way you organize home screens and create icon folders. Thanks to Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean," the basic UI is now a useful mix of the best of what Android (customizable screens, widgets) and iOS (pop-up icon folders) offer, plus the ever-improving Google Now. You'll definitely want to take advantage of these features, so that the Nexus 7 shows you important information right when you pick it up.
Here's a roundup of the top apps that are ideally suited to the Nexus 7. In other words, consider this a kick-ass starter kit for your new tablet. Whatever your interests, you're bound to find something good here.
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