10 Must Have Apps for Every iPad Owners!
Apple sold 3 million iPads in the first 80 days after its April 2010 release. With the iOS 4 update scheduled for this coming fall (be sure to follow us on our iOS 4 Mini Series), I’m sure every iPad owners would want to have some of the best apps for their iPads. We will take a peek at some of the best apps available for the iPad. Some are paid programs, others are free. But in either case, these applications will either expand the user’s ability to enjoy entertainment on their shiny new iPad or simply improve their productivity.
ABC Player
One more way to watch your favorite ABC shows anywhere, any time. Watch your most loved ABC shows for free on the ABC.com Full Episode Player for the iPad! Watch full-length episodes of LOST, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, Desperate Housewives and more.
Features:-
- Episodes – It’s easy to find the episodes you’re looking for.
- Schedule – When’s your show on? Now you know!
- Viewing History – Need to pause an episode and come back to it later? No problem. We’ll save your place so you can pick up where you left off.
ABC Player is currently available from iTunes App Store for FREE!
Air Sharing HD
Featured in our Apps of the Week (June 1st, 2010 – June 7th, 2010), Air Sharing HD allows you to copy files to and from the iPad over a wireless network, and even mount (or map) its internal storage as a drive on a PC or Mac over Wi-Fi. With its built-in file viewer, it allows users to view files on the iPad once transferred, not to mention that it supports many file formats too.
Features:-
- Create a wireless hard disk
- View documents
- Many file formats supported
- Email documents
- Connect to your computer
- Mount remote file servers
- View and download email attachments
- Perform advanced file operations
- Print documents
- Share files with other users
Air Sharing HD for iPad is currently available from iTunes App Store at $9.99.
You can read our full review of Air Sharing HD here.
Documents To Go Premium
Some of you owning an iPad may want to use it for more than just playing games. From time to time, you may actually want to do some work on your device. This is where Documents To Go Premium comes into play! Thanks to DataViz’s Documents To Go Premium, which is now a universal app, Word, Excel & PowerPoint files can now be viewed, edited and mailed from your iPad. This app has been available on nearly all mobile platforms for quite some time, but never before had it felt so functional until now, on a 9.7″ screen of the iPad.
Features:-
- Edit, Create & View Word, Excel & PowerPoint files (including Office 2007/2008/2010)
- View PDF, iWork & other files
- iPad/iPhone 4 WITH iOS 4: Send & receive attachments using the device’s built-in Mail app
- iPhone/iPod touch WITHOUT iOS 4: Send & receive attachments in MS Exchange & Gmail
- Access, use & sync files stored in Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, iDisk & SugarSync
- Includes desktop app (Win & Mac) with 2-way file sync (Wi-Fi/3G required)
Documents To Go Premium is currently available from iTunes App Store at $14.99.
You can read our full review of Documents To Go Premium here.
IM+
IM+ on iPad's chat interface
What would your digital social hub be without instant messaging (IM) services? This is where IM+ fills the gap.
IM+ has won many praises for being one of the best multi-protocol IM app for the iPhone and iPad. For the price you pay ($9.99), you get both the iPhone AND iPad versions. If you are really tight on budget, there is the option of the ad supported IM+ Lite, which only has a few non-critical reduced/missing features. If you have multiple accounts with friends and networks across multiple services, IM+ fills in your IM needs. And if you are an owner of both the iPhone and iPad, IM+ is definitely worth your money.
IM+ is currently available from iTunes App Store at $9.99.
You can read our full review of IM+ here.
IMDb Movies & TV
IMDb is the world’s largest collection of movie, TV and celebrity information. IMDb is the leading app on the iPad to find US showtimes, watch trailers, browse photo galleries, get US TV listings, find latest DVD releases, explore popular charts and share movie info. IMDb aims to list every detail about every movie and TV show ever made, including who was in it, who made it, the plot, user ratings, trailers, photos, reviews, quotes, goofs, trivia and much more.
With IMDb for the iPad, you can:-
- Search the world’s largest collection - Over 1.5 million movie and TV titles and over 3.2 million celebrities, actors, actresses, directors and other crew members
- Look up (US only) - Movie showtimes at local theaters near you, TV listings for your local time zone, recaps of TV shows from previous night, upcoming movies
- Explore popular charts - Most popular movies listed by genre, most popular TV shows, US Box office results
- View - Movie trailers, user reviews for movies and TV shows, critics reviews for movies and TV shows, quotes, trivia and goofs about movies and celebrities
- Shop - DVDs and Blu Ray discs for any movie or TV show from Amazon.com stores
IMDb Movies & TV is currently available from iTunes App Store for FREE!
Kindle
The Kindle app is optimized for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, providing users the ability to read Kindle books using a beautiful, easy-to-use interface. You can discover and read over 600,000 books in the Kindle Store, including the latest best sellers and new releases. You can also read your Kindle books on your Mac, PC, Android, BlackBerry, Kindle, and Kindle DX. Amazon Whispersync automatically syncs your last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across all of your devices, so you can pick up right where you left off no matter what device you are reading on.
Features:-
- New beautiful user interface tailored to the size, look, and feel of the iPad
- New Home library view with pinch, zoom and scrolling support
- New page turning animation that replicates the look of turning a page in a book. Customers who prefer a simpler, unadorned reading experience can use the default “Basic Reading Mode” option to turn off animation
- Adjustable screen brightness within the app to help reduce eye strain
Kindle is currently available from iTunes App Store for FREE!
You can read our full review of Kindle iPad here.
Netflix
Netflix offers a free app that will stream its over 20,000 television shows and movies to the iPad. Yes, you heard correctly, a free app that gives access to tens of thousands of movies and TV shows. This is yet another way to pass the time with the beloved iPad. If you’ve not heard of Netflix, Netflix is a service offering online flat rate DVD and Blu-ray Disc rental-by-mail and video streaming in the United States.
Features:-
- It’s part of your Netflix unlimited membership
- Watch as often as you want
- Resume watching where you left off on your TV or computer
- Browse movies and manage your Queue right from your iPad
Netflix is currently available from iTunes App Store at FREE!
You can read our full review of Netflix for iPad here.
Pandora Radio
Pandora Radio is your own free personalized radio, now available to stream music on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. Just start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a “station” that plays their music and more music like it. Already a Pandora user? Even easier. Just log in. Pandora on the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad is fully integrated with Pandora on the web. Enjoy all your existing stations – and create new ones right from your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.
Pandora Radio is currently available from iTunes App Store for FREE!
You can read our full review of Pandora Radio here.
Pulse News Reader
Pulse News Reader is a visual news reader for your iPad. It takes up to 20 news sources you follow, and instantly creates a visual mosaic of your news. Tap on an article, and you’re presented with a very clean view of the news story.
Features:
- Dual view: For each article, you can switch between a clean text summary of the article or go to the website directly. When you tap on an article, both are ready to view, almost instantly!
- Dashboard: With the dashboard layout, you can continue to browse stories of a news source as you read an article. Zero hierarchy!
- Offline sync: No internet? No problem. Pulse loads the news you read, and makes it available wherever you are.
- Smart search: No need for complicated RSS 2.0/XML/*#@ feed addresses. All you have to do is enter keywords and Pulse fetches the feed for you. You can add upto 20 sources in this version.
- Easy share: Found an interesting article? Sharing it via email, facebook, twitter and instapaper is as easy as 2 taps.
- Smooth transitions: Getting lost in applications as you rotate your iPad. Special care has been taken to maintain consistency between Landscape and Portrait views.
Pulse News Reader is currently available from iTunes App Store at $3.99.
You can read our full review of Pulse News Reader here.
WeatherBug Elite for iPad
WeatherBug Elite for iPad employs the power of the WeatherBug network – the world’s largest weather network – to provide iPad users with the latest weather information including local current conditions, extended forecast, severe weather alerts, animated Doppler radar, live weather camera images and much more! Uniquely designed for the iPad interface, WeatherBug Elite for iPad enables users to truly personalize their own weather experience.
Features:-
- Weather At-A-Glance – Users get a comprehensive single-screen view of weather information via a new widget panel design and large display map integration.
- Location-Enabled Intelligence – Use “Find Me” to bypass location settings, allowing the app to automatically detect device location in order to present the most relevant weather data.
- Optimized Visualization – Large maps are available to better visualize current conditions and approaching storms. The entire presentation of weather data is optimized for either portrait or landscape mode viewing.
- High Resolution Video – View WeatherBug National Outlook videos in 640×480 resolution.
- Instant Camera Images – Quick-glance snapshots and live weather camera images are instantly available from up to 15 locations within 100 mile radius of the user’s current location.
WeatherBug Elite for iPad is currently available from iTunes App Store for FREE!
You can read our full review of WeatherBug Elite for iPad here.
There you have it! These are the apps that I have been using regularly but as you know, the App Store is growing by the day. One thing for sure, these applications will either expand the user’s ability to enjoy entertainment on their shiny new iPad or simply improve their productivity. What’s your favorite? Feel free to share them with us!
Related posts:
- Kindle iPad Review
- WeatherBug Elite for iPad Review
- Apps of the Week (June 29th, 2010 – July 5th, 2010)
- Netflix Review
- Apps of the Week (June 22nd, 2010 – June 28th, 2010)
