You've probably moved on from this but I had the same issue.
Make sure that you are using Fragments instead of Activities for the tab contents.
When creating the tabs: Instead of:
inCall = new Intent("com.example.callfinder.FINDCALLS");
TabSpec specCall = tabHost.newTabSpec("calls");
specCall.setIndicator("Calls").setContent(inCall);
tabHost.addTab(specCall);
replace with:
TabSpec specCall = tabHost.newTabSpec("calls").setIndicator("Calls");
tabHost.addTab(specCall, <ClassName>.class, null);
These links are what helped me piece it all together: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/v4/app/FragmentTabHost.html http://apptechinfo.com/android-fragment-tab-example/
Hope this helps.