Home Screen Worthy Apps for the iPad 2

On May 14, 2011 in Apple, New Technology.
1

I’ll admit, the previous article regarding the iPad 2 was a little rushed. Why? Because I was busy playing! Now I’ve had 24 hours to fully intergrate the iPad into my life, I think it’s about time to talk a little about the apps that have made it onto the first page on the home screen of my shiny white new tablet!

iPad home screen - With ApplicationsFirst up, Spotify! Iv’e gone for the 16Gb WiFi model, largely due to already owning an iPhone (with constant internet connection). The Spotify app is actually the iPhone version, but why re-make the wheel? Creating a playlist (‘for the iPad‘) allows me to control and constantly update which songs are synced to the device from my phone, computer or directly. Jump onto a wireless connection and hay presto, instant music library updates! In my opinion Spotify is one of the best (if not THE best) application on the iPhone, and it works well on the iPad. I just wish they’d make an iPad specific application.

Next is DropBox. There are a load of reviews about the magic of DropBox, so I’ll keep it brief; If you haven’t got DropBox yet, go and sign up. Then download the DropBox app for your iPhone and iPad and never be without your much needed documents again! It’s also a great way of wirelessly transferring content from/to your devices.

CoolPapers: It’s basically what it says on the tin: An archive of beautiful wallpapers to really customise your iPad experience!

BBC iPlayer: Wonderful! Watch all the BBC iPlayer content on your beautiful device. Perfect for bed-time catch-up! Really nice interface too, very 2.0, and looks amazing on the iPad’s shiny screen! My only gripe here is that some of the programs don’t quite fill the screen (due to aspect differences) and an over-scanning option would be nice.

Friendly. Until Facebook get’s on-board the iPad specific Application revolution, Friendly will be your best bet. It works and interacts well (after a little getting used to). That said, it did have some time-out issues this morning. However, it’s generally been quite reliable (according to a couple of friends).

mBox Mail. This is only really going to be of much use if you have a Hotmail E-mail account. Unfortunately the native ‘Mail’ app doesn’t sync all the folders (due to POP3 / Push / etc) of a Hotmail account. Something Mbox Mail overcomes seamlessly. Dear Apple, please add this functionality to iOS5. Regards.

Skype. I’ll be honest, I haven’t used this yet. But I have used the application on the iPhone. Seeing as how it’s ported directly from the iPhone to the iPad, I can recommend it. Although FaceTime put’s up a good fight against this. I guess it depends on personal preference, and weather your contacts are Apple-esk or not?

Twitter. Facebook should definately take a leaf (preferably one without bird poo!) out of Twitter’s book! A beautiful app, full of features and perfectly laid out! This is how the iPad expereince should be! Even if you don’t have a Twitter account, download this app! 10/10!

Flipboard. A very good, intuitive and modern approach to news reading. With the ability to customise the ‘contents’ page, you read the iPad like a book, with articles appearing in a digital 2.0 magazine style. (Page flipping transitions included!).

iPad running WordPress with Wireless KeyboardWordPress. Much like Twitter, this is a beautiful application. Purpose built for the iPad, in addition to the easy-to-use keyboard, this will soon become my preferred way of blogging. Look, I’m even using it to write this blog (with addition of my wireless keyboard, just to test out the bluetooth connectivity!).

Bonus Application: Google. I decided to add Google as a bonus application for two reasons. 1: I miscounted the number of non-native apps on the homescreen! and more importantly 2: It can often be overlooked, by default going to Safari and using the search bar. However, the Google App does much more than searching the net (as if that wasn’t enough). Google Goggles (search via images) and really good voice recognition make for a truly rich-media searching experience!

So there we go! The top 10, ahem, 11, applications to download for your iPad!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

First hour with the iPad 2

On May 13, 2011 in Apple, New Technology.
0

After a late night ensuring the door-bell was working(!), I woke this morning and greeted a man delivering a small, white box. The iPad 2. But what’s the first thing to do when you receive one of the most popular gadgets of the moment? My answer: Install Apps!

Apps, IMO, transform the iPad 2 from shiny white (or black) tablet device into a personalised multi-use device for reading, writing, gaming, painting, socialising and much more!

I spent a while downloading a huge array of applications from the AppStore, so here they are;

spotify, myO2, DropBox, weather, clock, liveprofile, skype, vouchercloud, shazam, nectar, sainsburys, twitter, calcuylator, sky sports, sky mobile TV, sky+, sky news, iLoaderHD, bigoven, coolpapers, winmdowshop, ebay, photosynth, imovie, photoshop express, wordpress, marvel, IMDb, DC Comics, Flixster, Rightmove, Yelp, GarageBand, Big top 40, Engadget, BBC News, IGN, Mashable, Google Earth, Google, Fisher Scientific, QI, Banner, bbc iplayer, good food, TV Guide, 4OD, stumbleupon, flipboard, facebook, friendly, airvideo, instapaper, tunein radio, penultimate, world of goo, pages, keynote, numbers, bloomberg, CNBC RT, RealRacing2HD, Angry Birds, Next, Wired, T3, Telegrtaph, The Times, Qwiki, betfair, convert units, mBox Mail, GoodReader, and a couple of web based apps.

Amongst the jungle of apps (helpfully found via iPad alternatives to those installed on my iPhone), the following made it onto the first page of the home screen, and are probably worth a look yourself;

iPad 2

  • Spotify
  • Dropbox
  • Coolpapers
  • BBC iPlayer
  • Friendly
  • Skype
  • Twitter
  • FlipBoard
  • WordPress
  • Google

    •  

    It’s very much a case of installing apps that you want, in order to utilise the personal benefits of having an iPad. I’ll review the iPad 2 and corresponding applications in more detail after a couple of days playing with it!

    Tagged with: • • •
     

    must have apps for new or formatted pc

    On September 2, 2010 in Development, General.
    0

    Old PCAfter eventually grinding to an almost stop due to a C-Drive bursting at the sesames with unnecessary programs, today I decided to bite the bullet and format. It was a hard decision, with over 6 years (that’s 18 years in computer years) of old programs hidden away in the registry. After formatting and installing a fresh and shiny version of Windows 7 (which is a gem to install, by the way) I got to work installing a couple of must-have essentials for any self-respecting computer literate. Here’s a couple of the best.

    First things first, security. I decided that to give the PC a fighting chance against all the inter-nasties out there, good Firewall and Antivirus protection was a must. For a Firewall, I went with PC Tools Internet Protection. This software and I go way back, and I used to use it back when it was JUST a firewall. (PC Tools Firewall Plus). Oh, how times have changed. This latest version comes as an all-in-one security gold-mine! Firewall, Anti-spyware, Anti-virus and Anti-spam all under one roof! It also comes with IntelliGuard which protects anything and everything internet related such as your cookies, browser and network. Best of all, there is a freeware version, meaning you can get all this for free (with a few more advanced features disabled, granted).

    To back up the brilliant PC Tools suite I decided to go with a dedicated Anti-virus app. For this, I decided on AntiVIR by Lavasoft. Again, this software and I have a deep and long history, but it’s never once let me down, and acts promptly whenever a worm, trojan or virus somehow got onto the system. It’s also free and is a brilliant program. The only annoying thing about AntiVIR is the annoying splash screen which appears from time to time. However this can be disabled quite quickly and simply by delving into the registry a little. Or just Google it.

    That was the security sorted, and after a quick reboot I got a grip on the social side of things. First up, Google Chrome to browse the internet, knowing I was safe and secure. Spotify was next, so I could install the rest of my programs while singing along to my favourite tunes, followed by Vuze (formally Azureus) and DropBox to transfer files from an online repository I had made with all my files and folders. MagicISO and MagicDisk completed the set (in order to mount virtual disks I had created containing more files) and I was well on my way.

    Finally was the working man’s tools. The obvious was Microsoft Office, so I took the opportunity to try out my university allocated Office 2010 student edition. This install took a while, and was the perfect break required to grab something to eat (If you’ve ever formatted a PC before you’ll understand the burden of looking blankly at loading bar after loading bar). Last but not least was the Adobe Suite, containing Photoshop, Dreamweaver and the other’s, which any serious website designer designer and computer scientist should invest in.

    New PC

    So there you have it folks. There are always a couple of additional programs worth installing (Adobe PDF Reader for one) but that’s my run down of the apps I installed on day one. I must say, it feels good to see the amount of space on my C:/ Drive again, and the PC feels as sharp and responsive as the day I built her.

    It, I mean it.

    Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •