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Friday, March 16, 2012

Beginners List of iPad Apps - and other iOS devices

I have purchased, use and recommend the following apps, especially for new users that might want to use their iPad for many types of activities and functions that people use a laptop for.  With over 500,000 apps in the Apple App Store and over 100,00 specifically for iPad, this list should help you get started having fun and using your device in ways you might not have considered possible.

- Pages for word processing, 
- Keynote for creating electronic slide presentations, 
- Numbers if you need to create a spreadsheet, 
- GoodReader for handling PDFs and a wide range of other documents and email attachments - this app is very handy for downloading and storing documents such as transit maps or PDF brochures and countless other reference documents so you only download them once), 
- Brushes (pixel-based painting), 
- InkPad (vector-based drawing), 
- iPhoto for editing your photos, 
- Video Camera and iMovie for editing videos you record on your device and to add credits and transitions between video clips, 
- Facebook if you use this social networking site, 
- iBooks, Kindle for iPad, and Kobo for reading your favorite books, or Audiobooks for listening to them, 
- Netflix if you subscribe to their service,
- Dish Network for iPad is great for setting you DVR to record your favorite shows and movies, especially when you are away from home, 
- Zillow is great for checking real estate values where ever you may be and wonder how much that property is worth, 
- Elevation for when you want to know how high above sea level are you, 
IFeltThat is good for people who want to know if they just felt an earthquake or not - where ever you might be,
- Star Walk for stargazing - the ability to aim your device at a given point in the sky to find out what you are looking at and get infomation about celestial objects is very slick - and the soundtrack is great for stargazing,
- iDJ for creating your own music mixes of your library, even if you are not looking to be a club DJ, the ability to create your own play lists and customize each transition between songs if wonderful!
- TWC - The Weather Channel app for iPad provides great weather updates with video and interactive radar maps,
- eBay for iPad if you shop eBay this is a must,
- GarageBand and Music Studio are 2 very good apps for composing music,
- Bloom is A fun interactive app for creating or listening to ambient music Brian Eno style,
- SkyFire (web browser that will play flash videos on your iPad), 
- Pandora if you use this service for streaming music over the Internet,
- The Fliq apps (has a better note app, and can import data from the Palm OS devices), 
- UrbanSpoon for finding some place to eat - whatever you are in the mood for, 
- AKAI Synthstation,  iMS20 and iElectribe for a professional synthesizers with a sequencer recording, 
- Magic Window for a gorgeous clock, 
- iBird - I have iBird West for the west coast, but they offer other editions, 
- Flight Control is a game for practice landing multiple aircraft, 
- Fluidity is a fun simple visual painting app, 
- Fotopedia National Parks - Fotopedia has a whole collection of interaction photo books of gorgeous images from stunning locations around the globe and the collection continues to grow - some are even free, 
- Touch Hockey a fun interactive air hockey game for the iPad
- Osmos HD is a somewhat psychedelic game - try it, 
- If Found - just in case you loose or misplace your device, 
- Find iPhone - just in case you loose or misplace your device and want to know exactly where it is and wipe it clean! 
- Particle Pad is another fun visual toy, 
- GameForCats - can also be fun for humans, 
- iHurricane HD if you need the latest info on hurricanes.

This list is in no particular order, as i finally sat down to put it together when another friend of mine bought the new IPad.  This list should be more than enough to get you started with enjoying your new iPad and realizing some of its full potential.