With the new iPad out, it’s important that we get ourselves some amazing apps to add “life” to our iPad and make it a joyous experience. The following thirty apps are considered to be the current popular apps being used by several iPad connoisseurs.
Zite (free)
The Flipboard may have a unique design, but Zite is another reading app that appears divided up in sections like a newspaper and it’s a lot easier to set up and customize compared to Flipboard. The coolest part about this app is that by liking and disliking stories it figures out what type of stories to supply next time.
Bing for iPad (free)
Although Bing may not be as popular among us as a search engine compared to Google, on the iPad, Bing serves as a daily briefing app that supplies information about the weather, news, stocks, and trends. It’s also possible to search the web through the app.
NPR for iPad (free)
One of the first iPad app was NPR. It’s extremely useful for catching up with the news and an easy way to go through the latest stories. There’s also a great variety of recorded and live audio.
StumbleUpon (free)
We usually waste lots of time just surfing the internet on the iPad, but rarely get anything useful out of it. This app is designed to learn the things you like best over time so that eventually you just stumble upon something absolutely amazing with the help of this app.
PCalc Lite (free)
The iPad surprisingly does not have a calculator but this app is the perfect choice for a stand-in. Not only does it have basic math functions, but it comes with trigonometric functions, unit conversions, and other bonuses as well. If you want something more extreme, such as a scientific calculator, you can get it for $10.
Intellicast HD (free)
In one layout, you get more than just a five-day forecast; with Intellicast, you get maps, graphs, and blog posts for a fully detailed report of the weather.
ABC Player (free)
With this app, you can view full episodes of your favorite ABC shows and no longer have to satisfy yourself with short clips. The latest five episodes are available for streaming and the app has been updated for Retina Display on the iPad.
NBC (free)
If you use this app, then you can easily view NBC streaming shows for free without all the extra charges. You will also get trivia, games, photo galleries, and short clips within this app.
Slacker Radio (free)
Pandora may be the most popular Internet radio right now, but Slacker Radio has it all with discographies and album reviews for each artist including cache stations for offline listening.
Temple Run (free)
Temple Run is the new Doodle Jump and even more addicting than Angry Birds. An endless obstacle course of jumps, ducks, and dodges as you gather coins to unlock power-ups and other items makes each game an irresistible time pass.
Jetpack Joyride (free)
This simple game is all about holding the button down to fly over obstacles similar to many other games. However its mission structure and unlock-able items create an addictive hook to the game.
Facebook (free)
The Facebook app just came out last October and its fancy features let us do a lot but most importantly, we can easily browse through the site without having to go through the long process of turning on a computer.
Twitter (free)
With this app, all the navigation is centered around your thumbs. A touch here and there will let you select categories, scroll through timelines, and load web links.
The Guardian Eyewitness (free)
A picture is worth a thousand words. Nontraditional news readers learn about the everyday through spectacular images. For amateur photographers, this app provides them with tips on how to take similar photographs.
Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble Nook (free)
When you have a iPad, then what’s the need for an e-reader? With the Amazon Kindle app or Barnes and Noble Nook app, you have full access to e-books that work equally well on your tablet so that you can spend hours before your iPad and never get bored.
Planetary for iPad (free)
When you get bored of the music default app on your iPad, then switch over to Planetary, the music player that allows you to visualize your artists as solar systems, albums as planets, and songs as moons.
Midway Arcade ($0.99)
Just one dollar and you can play Defender, Spy Hunter, Joust, Arch Rivals, and Tapper within one app. Additional game packs can be bought for a dollar more as you get more addicted to the games. It’s definitely a lot cheaper than all the times you might have played these games in an arcade as a child.
Fantastic 4 in a Row ($0.99)
There’s an entire collection of these classic games but this app beats them all with a yellow game board and black/red chips. It’s an exact replica of the actual Connect Four game. Although there is a free version of this app as well, one dollar will get you more themes and music.
Atomic Web Browser ($0.99)
When Apple’s Safari isn’t enough, the Atomic Web provides you with a more powerful browser with many more options including full-screen viewing and private browsing. This app is a great alternative to have separate from your main browser.
FlickStacker ($1.99)
An excellent alternative for an actual Flickr app (which doesn’t even exist), this app allows you to browse, upload, and edit metadata your photos. Although there’s a free version, it doesn’t compare to the actual thing, which has even been recently updated for the new iPad’s Retina display.
Skyfire VideoQ ($1.99)
For only two dollars, you can buy an awesome tool that converts Adobe Flash video files into an iPad-friendly format. However, the conversions are not always perfect, but it’s better than nothing at all. This app enables the user to watch more TV shows.
Star Walk for iPad ($4.99)
If you’re a space geek, then this app is for you. It has it all—satellite tracking, gorgeous space photos, and a celestial calendar. This app even has an Augmented Reality mode which finds constellations for you when you point your iPad at the sky.
Blogsy ($4.99)
Don’t be dissuaded by the price. This app actually helps save money and time so you don’t have to buy many other apps to do the same job. Blogsy is an amazing help for posting on WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, and other such blogging sites. Its built-in web browser allows for dragging and dropping links, photos, and other such content onto a blog post.
SketchBook Pro ($4.99)
This app would be a favorite among artists, supplying them with over sixty brushes, a dozen layers, and many other tools to create their own detailed drawings on a tablet. And the best part—no mess!
Instapaper ($4.99)
Created by Marco Arment, Instapaper uses a bookmark that gets installed on a desktop browser. It helps the app remember the articles one wants to read which are later presented in a clean layout. The app also suggests which articles are considered worth reading.
iPhoto ($4.99)
iPhoto, Apple’s homemade app, is the newest addition to the iLife suite. It contains photo editing tools that are easy to use and allows us to share those photos on Facebook or Flickr, as well as send them to a printer.
Grand Theft Auto III ($4.99)
Most of us were amazed when Grand Theft Auto went 3D but it’s even more amazing when that same game can be played on a thin, touch screen. However, the touch controls can become slightly irritating after a while, but definitely worth buying to pass time when bored.
Infinity Blade 2 ($6.99)
For those of us interested in fighting games, try out the Infinity Blade 2. This app is packed with graphics, unlockable weapons, and gory sword fighting. But beneath it all lies a simple game that’s already Retina-ready. The graphics are stunning.
Adobe Photoshop Touch ($9.99)
Compared to the simple iPhoto, this app is helpful for more serious work. Although it may not have the exact same features as the desktop software, it still has many great tools including layers, filters, masking, and cropping.
Looptastic ($14.99)
It might sound a little crazy to spend $15 on a DJ app but not when it can be a stress relief. With Looptastic, plenty of pre-made samples are available to play with or new ones can be created if one is an expert in music.
