Tag Archives: ipad 2

Top apps for iPad 2 – picked by Wired

Which of the 65,000 iPad apps should you download? From utilities to games, here’s Wired.com’s quick list of must-haves for your brand-new iPad 2.

 

Dropbox

 

Dropbox

We rave about Dropbox all the time at Wired.com. That’s because it’s an indispensable addition to the iPad. It is an online storage service that works on an iPad, iPhone, Android phone, or any Windows or Mac PC. Your Dropbox folder is where you put all the files you want to access with any device, and the service automatically syncs so they’re available to you everywhere.

Say, for example, that you’re a student with a Mac and you want to read research papers on any of your devices. On your Mac, drop some PDFs in your Dropbox folder, then on the iPad launch the Dropbox app and you can read those PDFs on the tablet while you’re on the bus. You could also launch the PDFs with the Dropbox app on an Android smartphone or iPhone.

Besides PDFs, you can put video, pictures and music in your Dropbox, too. You have to have this app: It’ll save you a ton of time that you’d otherwise waste syncing to iTunes over USB.

Freedownload link.

 

Air Video

 

Air Video

Let’s say you’ve got a lot of video files on your PC that aren’t iTunes-compatible, or were acquired through (ahem) less than legal means. With AirVideo, you can quickly set up a server on your PC and choose a folder that you want to share with your iPad.

Then hop on your iPad and launch AirVideo, and you can instantly stream most videos inside that folder. AirVideo will even live-convert videos while you’re watching, so it’s all an instant, seamless experience.

$3, download link.

 

Friendly

 

Friendly

There isn’t an official Facebook app made just for the iPad. Until Facebook comes up with something better, Friendly is basically the best option.

It’s polished and its looks resemble Facebook’s own style, so you’ll feel right at home. After you log in with your Facebook ID, you’ll be wasting time stalking your Facebook buddies in no time.

Free, download link.

 

GarageBand

 

GarageBand

Made by Apple, the GarageBand app is simply stunning. The app packs a virtual piano, guitar, bass guitar and drum set to record songs.

Especially neat are Apple’s “Smart” instruments, which contain preset chords and rhythms for each instrument, so anything you play can sound good. This way, people of all ages will be able to pick up an iPad and compose some neat tunes.

$5, download link.

 

Infinity Blade

 

Infinity Blade

Originally made for the iPhone, Infinity Blade has been rescaled and beefed up for the iPad. While it works on the first-generation iPad, it’s even better on the iPad 2.

This 3-D sword-fighting game puts the iPad 2’s powerful graphics processor to good use. Swipe your fingers on the touchscreen to attack, parry or dodge. It’s a superfun game that should provide hours of entertainment.

$6, download link

 

Instapaper

 

Instapaper

We’ve featured Instapaper before, but we have to mention it again, because it’s just too crucial. Reading through a web browser can be a chore, with all those distracting ads, ugly sidebars, etc.

Hit Instapaper’s “Read Later” button on your PC web browser to add a page to your reading list. Then on your iPad you can launch the Instapaper app to read everything you’ve saved with just the words and pictures, stripped of all the junk.

It’s great for concentrating, and it might just change the way you read.

$5, download link.

 

Flipboard

 

Flipboard

We can’t get enough of Flipboard, a beautiful social magazine. Fundamentally, it scrapes content from URLs shared on Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds.

But that doesn’t do justice to the elegant way it lays out the stories for easy browsing. It’s even better on the iPad 2 now because of the performance boost.

Wired.com is an official partner of Flipboard, too, so you’ll notice our site’s content has been optimized for Flipboard.

Free, download link.

 

PenUltimate

 

PenUltimate

If you come up with a great idea, you can quickly jot it down in this note-taking app that acts a a virtual Field Notes notepad. Unlike other note apps, where you have to type, PenUltimate just lets you scribble on the screen with your finger (or a stylus).

We love it because the design and overall feel of the app is just slick.

$2, download link.

 

TuneInRadio

 

TuneInRadio

Listen to all your favorite online radio stations with this app. Plus, you can use this app to set an alarm to play your favorite station in the morning.

As there’s no built-in alarm app on the iPad, this should come handy. Sure, you’ve just turned your iPad into a $500 clock radio, but you can’t pick up the clock radio and read Google News on it, too, can you?

$1, download link.

 

World of Goo

 

World of Goo

This cutesy puzzle game involves stretching black blobs of goo at geometric angles to reach a goal point (a pipe that sucks up the goo). The sharp graphics and clever sound effects are a nice treat for a game that challenges your noggin.

$5, download link.

iPad 2 has the best display

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The first thing you notice about a tablet is its display. Even when a tablet is powered down, its display is what jumps out first, since the screen is the most dominant part. The quality of the display is a critical component of a tablet, just as image quality is essential to any screen, be it for a laptop, a monitor, a smartphone, or even an HDTV.

I’ve had dozens of tablets cross my desk, and their display quality has varied dramatically. When I look at a tablet’s display quality, I judge it on a number of criteria: brightness, color accuracy, contrast, and image clarity. The last point is a tricky one, as it covers image sharpness and detail as well as text sharpness, areas that can be influenced by how well a mobile operating system renders those elements in software.

Rewind to the debut of the first Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets–those early models running Android 3.0 all suffered from a bug that caused digital images to render improperly in Google’s Gallery app, the default program for viewing pictures. Images looked fuzzy, with little detail. Google quietly fixed the bug later, in Android 3.1; nevertheless, image reproduction could be better, and the Gallery still natively displays images in just 16-bit color.

So where does that leave the discerning buyer hoping to get the best tablet display possible? To find out, the PCWorld Labs lined up eight tablets and compared their image quality side by side.

Head over to the website to see the comparison

iPad 2 achieves invisibility

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Levity Novelty LLC has today released an iPad app that provides simulated invisibility of the iPad 2 screen on a table or other environment, even as the device is moved. The Invisibility™ app is available in Apple’s online App Store for US$0.99.

The Invisibility user simply takes a photo of the table, then lays the iPad flat on the table or lifts one corner. As the user rotates the iPad around its center, or a corner, a perfectly stationary image of the table underneath remains clearly visible.

By all appearances, the screen has disappeared and the user is looking through the iPad as it moves. Users can even see the inside edge of the iPad through the screen, as well as shadows seemingly cast on the table by the empty iPad frame.

Dream of Invisibility Achieved
From the Arabian Nights to the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter’s cloak, storytellers have dreamed of invisibility. Magicians use mirrors and sleight of hand to astonish audiences and make objects disappear. While the Invisibility iPad app can’t yet be adapted to the size and flexibility of a garment or cloak, its core method – combining cameras, motion tracking software, and a large display – can some day be combined to make a greater range of objects disappear.

Read more at the original website

Apple iPad 2 launches tomorrow

Apple announced that its second-generation tablet PC, iPad 2, will be available in India from April 29, Friday, just over a month after the company started selling the updated version of its popular tablet device in the United States.

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The device, priced between Rs. 29,500 and Rs. 46,900, will be available through authorized resellers from 9 a.m. local time on Friday, Apple said in a statement.

Pricing (including VAT)

16GB model: Rs. 29,500

32GB model: Rs. 34,500

64GB model: Rs. 39,500

iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G will be available for a maximum retail price of Rs 36,900 for the 16GB model, Rs 41,900 for 32GB model and Rs 46,900 for 64 GB model.