Image:iPad: my favorite apps (for now)Thanks to a couple of good friends, I managed to get my hands on an iPad a couple of weeks before it was available in Europe.
I expected it to be great, but it really 'grabbed' me.
I know there are plenty of list of must-have iPad apps floating around, but I've been asked so many times lately, that I just needed to put them down for posterity (and from saving me multiple long emails).
I tried to categorize them a bit, so if you're e.g. not into games, skip that section.
I marked all 'to be included in demo's' with an *.
Productivity

  • *iWorks suite: Numbers, Keynote, Pages (spreadsheet, presentation and word processor)
  • NewsRack: easy, flawless RSS reader that syncs excellent with Google Reader
  • Things: To-do list, also possible to group by project
  • *iThoughtsHD: mind-mapping done right
  • Bento: easy to use database for creating your own. Syncs with Bento on the Mac (I use it for my wine inventory and tasting notes)
  • *Mail: just great. I use it with IMAP to notes, but syncs using Notes Traveler too
  • Contacts: syncs using Traveler
  • *Calendar: id., and has nice week and month views (finally)
  • *Jumbo: just a great/big calculator
  • Perfect Browser: an alternative to Safari, but with tabs. Browsing using an iPad is so 'natural' and fast
Reference material
  • AppAdvice: daily iPad/iPhone news, great tips, temporarily free apps,...
  • *SwissQuote: stock updates (Bloomberg is OK too)
  • *Videos: movies, TV-shows, podcast,... coming to live on a big screen like this
  • *iBooks: read books (and within a couple of months PDFs too) (books are rather expensive though)
  • *Photos: slideshows, using 'Origami' is just stunning
  • Skygrid: cool 'portal' to lots of news, nicely categorized
  • *Zinio: a magazine reader. Some magazine editions are free. (for my Belgian readers: Knack and Trends is now also available !)
  • *Accuweather: nice weather overview
  • Google Earth: just like the one on a PC/Mac
  • *Comics: the iPad is made for comic reading. You can download some free samples. Too bad it's only US comics
  • Dictionary: free and good
  • IMDb: great way to find Movie/Actor info. Too bad everything is on line
  • Wikipanion: my favorite Wikipedia browser
  • *WebMD: medical info, a lot of it on-line only, but the first aid stuff is available off line, and very thorough
  • Epicurious: cooking recipes
  • Da Vinci HD: the complete works of Leonardo Da Vinci. Pictures are OK. Liked to have more info
  • Airports: very detailed info about any airport in the world (you need to be on-line though)
Games
  • *Pinball HD: 3 very nice pinball's
  • Compression: a cool Tetris alternative
  • Shanghai Lite: en simple, but nice (and free) Mah-jong, my wife's favorite game
  • *Scrabble: great fun, and one of the few games that is not rushing you. Too bad there's not Dutch language support. My English vocabulary has improved though
  • Prince of Persia Retro: the original from way back. Didn't knew it was such a tough game
  • Solitair Forever: at least a hundred different Patience card games. My favorite is Yukon
  • *Asphalt 5: there are about 5 different racing games, but this one was cheap, well rated, and arcade style
  • Dominion HD: if you like Risk, give this one a try. Excellent, and well designed
  • Multipong: the original pong game, but in a very modern jacket. You can play 4 at the same time
  • Ice Age Delux: a very cool platform/puzzle game. Lots of levels
  • Galcon Fusion: strategy game, addictive, but great fun
  • Blokus HD: puzzle with a lot of options
Utilities
  • *Dropbox: exchange files with your Mac/PC/iPhone, and send them to supporting apps
  • GoodReader: exchange files from different sources and send them to apps
  • *DocsToGo: edit Excel and Word files (the premium version also supports Powerpoint). Sync them with your PC/Mac
  • QuickOffice HD: edit all kinds of documents (including MS Office)
  • Shazam: recognize music/songs
  • *RDP lite: Windows Remote Desktop connection. Connect to your Windows Server/PC and take control of the screen/keyboard/mouse
  • VNC Viewer: take over your PC/Mac using VNC
  • EyeTV: watch TV (live or recordings) if you have EyeTV on your Mac
  • Adobe Ideas: simple but nicely done sketching app
  • PhotoPad: edit your photo's. Lots of different adjustments, filters,...
  • Maps: Google Maps. Very nice on the big iPad screen
  • GPS HD: free alternative for Google Maps. check it out as it has some nice options
Music
  • *Virtuoso: two row piano, good sound
  • *Shiny Drum: great sounding drumpads, many different sounds/pads
  • Beatwave: weird way to make music, still trying to get a grasp on it
Other stuff you need to demo
  • *Pocket Pond: your own very well rendered pond, with koi, moving water, sounds and multi-touch support
  • *Gravitarium or Gravilux: play with thousands of stars. your finger is a gravity well
  • *Molecules: 3D rotating representations of molecules (e.g. DNA)

Of course I know there's lot more, but so far, these are the apps I use (and demo) most.
Other stuff I absolutely need to have ?

Category:  Apple  Macintosh  | TechnoratiTechnorati: ,

Comments (7)