Apple : Apple might give the 21.5-inch iMac a 4K Retina treatment |
- Apple might give the 21.5-inch iMac a 4K Retina treatment
- Updated: 50 best free iPhone apps 2015
- Updated: 50 best iPad apps 2015: free and paid for
| Apple might give the 21.5-inch iMac a 4K Retina treatment Posted:  Apple's next big announcement could be a 4K 21.5-inch iMac if some registery details hidden in OS X El Capitan are to be believed. A French journalist named Pierre Dandumont, supposedly discovered references to a new retina display resolution of 4,096 x 2,304 in a running beta of OS X El Capitan. Given that the only Apple device to come close to this resolution is the even higher-fidelity 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display, it's likely this new retina device could be the smaller 21.5-inch iMac. Devil in the detailsOn top of references to a new screen resolution, Dandumont also claims to have uncovered some new and unannounced graphics chipsets including the Intel Iris Pro 6200. Lines of code in beta version of Apple's next desktop OS also supposedly revealed four new AMD Radeon R9 processors with the model names M380, M390, M395 and M395X. As MacBook Pro have yet to run anything but Intel processors since the lineup switched from Power PC chipsets back in 2006, it seems even more likely this mystery configuration belongs to a desktop iMac. That all said, we can only speculate for now. If this 4K iMac truly exists, it will likely show up at Apple's next event, which will likely also introduce new iPhone 6s, or another event in the fall that could introduce the iPad Air 3 and iPad Mini 4.
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| Updated: 50 best free iPhone apps 2015 Posted:   The world's biggest social network brings a tightly honed experience to the iPhone and iPod touch, but nonetheless still enables you to access your contacts, feeds and other important information. This sense of focus makes it in many ways superior to using Facebook in a desktop browser. If you pick up an iPhone 6s / iPhone 7 when it launches later this year, Facebook will likely be one of the first apps you'll want to download. RunKeeper The prospect of Nike+ but better and for free might sound unlikely, but that's what RunKeeper provides. Previously split into 'pro' and 'free' versions, the developer now generously includes all the features in one free app. That means you can spend no money, yet use your iPhone's GPS capabilities to track your jogging and cycling routes, and examine mapping and details of your pace and calories burned. Activities can be shared online, and treadmill runs and other exercise details can be entered manually. If you like this then make sure you read 10 best iPhone and iPad apps for keeping fit and 5 sports headphones for iPhone and iPod touch. Storehouse
Storehouse is all about telling stories with the help of gorgeous photos and videos. Although you can submit your own tales, you can also just take in other people's submissions, on anything from amazing journeys in the jungle through to meticulously prepared meals. Manual
One of the biggest new camera features in iOS 8 is the ability to finally adjust your exposure settings. Although you can manually brighten and darken the frame with the basic built-in camera app, the Manual app adds some more granular control over settings such as ISO and shutter speed. Calorie Counter
If you're feeling the need to cut down on your food intake, Calorie Counter's a smart download. The app is well designed and, importantly, has a massive food-item database, making it easy to input everything you eat. Web sync, optional social features, reports and goals add to the goodness. Groove
If you've a large music collection, it can sometimes be difficult to decide what to listen to next. Groove tries to figure out your listening habits and cross-references your collection with Last.fm data. The result is constantly evolving automatic personalised playlists that might just change your iPhone music-listening habits for good. Dubsmash
Here's a cheap and easy way to have a bit of fun with your friends and family. Dubsmash will play a short clip of a popular song, famous movie line or a variety of other phrases while recording you miming along to the lyrics/words. It's simple, sure, but also very effective. Share you creations on social media and just watch the likes and retweets stack up. TodoMovies 3
TodoMovies is a to-do list for movies. You use it to browse what's on (and, if you like, what's been on — including years ago) and build a list of what you want to see. Cleverly the app also enables you to rate each movie, thereby building up a list of your favourites that you can refer to at any time. TripIt
Organizing travel just got automagical. Whether you're a planner or the spontaneous type, TripIt helps transform your travel and booking confirmation emails into a master day-by-day itinerary, with all your plans in one place, via the web or your phone. Along with creating your itinerary, TripIt also suggests attractions and activities according to your schedule, and even looks up all the information we seem to forget like weather, maps, and directions. Podcasts
Apple's apps and software have always been variable, but Podcasts was just a mess when it was first released. However, an update streamlined the interface, and enabled you to create custom stations that automatically update and synchronise over iCloud. Paid solutions like Instacast still edge Podcasts for mad-keen podcast devourers, but Apple's freebie comes close. 7 minute workout
There's more to exercising than just running, and 7 Minute Workout can help introduce you to a whole new set of calisthenics. The app includes instructions for a whole series of exercises including tricep dips, planks (not to be confused with planking), box squats and much more. It even provides instructional video for each to make sure you have the proper form. Find My Friends
A.k.a 'Stalk My Contacts', but Find My Friends does have practical uses: if you're meeting a bunch of iPhone-owning friends and want to know where they're at, for example, or for when wanting to check where your spouse is on the road, to see if it's time to put the dinner in the oven/pretend to look busy when they walk through the door. (Or maybe that's just what freelance tech writers do.) Flickr
Long-time internet users frequently dwell on what might have been regarding Flickr. It should have the ubiquity of Facebook, but seemingly missed the mobile boat. Still, Yahoo! now has new leadership and if apps like Flickr for iPhone are any indication of what's to come, the service might get a second wind. Photosynth
We did a bit of a double-take on seeing Microsoft's name attached to this, not least given the lack of a price-tag. But PhotoSynth is a really great panorama app; it's user-friendly and fun to use, especially when watching your panoramas take shape while you capture them. The iOS Camera app also has a panorama mode, but PhotoSynth's more flexible and works with older devices. Google Maps
It's no secret just how badly Apple's own mapping app performs, although it has got better post-iOS 6. Fortunately, Google Maps is a free download, and a far better solution than the old Google Maps app as well, thanks to the inclusion of turn-by-turn navigation and - in some cities - public transport directions. It's an easy way to supercharge your iPhone's mapping capabilities and one of the first apps you should grab for the iPhone 7 when it launches. 30/30
Timers and task managers are usually designed with extreme efficiency, to the point they practically yell NO FUN ALLOWED in your face. 30/30, however, provides a streamlined, tactile interface that happens to look great, is fun to use, and that makes it a breeze to create lists and define timers. It also enables looping for anyone addicted to the Pomodoro Technique. Evernote Scannable
Although Evernote Scannable isn't the most feature-rich iPhone scanner you're ever likely to see, it's a winner when it comes to efficiency. Open it up, plonk a document on a background with enough contrast, and the app in a moment scans it in. You can send the resulting JPEG to Evernote, share it to another service, or do further scans that will be compiled to PDF. Dropbox
Plenty of apps exist for transferring content between your computer and your device, but Dropbox is free and easier to use than most of its contemporaries. Dump files you want to sync in a folder on your computer and Dropbox for your device will enable you to access them, download them for offline viewing, and, in many cases, view them. Love Dropbox? Then check out our article Essential tips for every Dropbox user. Citymapper
If you live in or visit one of the supported cities (which include London, Paris, Berlin and New York), Citymapper is an essential download, assuming you want to find your way around more easily. It'll zero in on your location and then intelligently get you from A to B, providing all kinds of travel options and routing, and, where relevant, live times for transit. Skype
FaceTime is a great alternative to standard voice calls, but it's no good if you're trying to contact someone without a Mac or compatible iOS device. Therefore, Skype remains an essential download. The interface is simple and usable, enabling anyone with a Skype account to make free calls to other Skype users and cheap calls to anywhere in the world. If you're on Pay and Go, this is particularly handy, but the app also enables iPod touch users to utilise their devices for calls. Photoshop Touch
Photoshop Touch has all your post processing needs. This versatile post processing tool lets you tweak your images for everything from brightness, contrast, saturation to toning down the highlights (otherwise known as the bright parts of the frame). Beyond some basic adjustments, the mobile Adobe workshop comes with layers and many of the same filtering effects from the full fledged desktop app. Movies by Flixter
Movies by Flixter succeeds where it matters. Select a film and the app figures out where you're located, lists nearby cinemas/theaters, and displays times your chosen movie is showing. Efficiency can be further increased by pinning favourite cinemas to the top of the list. UP by Jawbone
Up might be Jawbone's latest app designed for the Jawbone Up24 fitness tracker, but you can also use it with just an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus or iPhone 5S by itself. Thanks to the new Health app and the step tracking capabilities of Apple's M8 and M7 co-processor you can use the app to track your steps, sleep and food intake.  The official Twitter app might lack some of the features found in the likes of Tweetbot, but it does provide a sleek and simple means of using the service. It also rapidly rolls in new features from the website, such as the Connect and Discover views, along with expandable tweets that contain photos and videos. Evernote Clients to access the popular Evernote service for storing notes and ideas online are available for so many platforms that we half expect a ZX Spectrum app to be announced tomorrow. On the iPhone, Evernote is efficient and usable, enabling you to rapidly scan your notes and also create new ones. YouTube
Apple binned its own YouTube app from the iPhone, presumably because it hates Google far more than it loves online video. Google's own YouTube app works much as you'd expect, enabling you to search and watch an almost limitless number of cats playing pianos, people moaning about stuff to their web-cams, and more besides. ShowStopper
You know how it goes: hand your iPhone to someone so they can check out an amazing picture you took, and before you know it they're scrolling like a maniac through the entirety of Photos. Stop such rudeness with ShowStopper, an app that enables you to make locked galleries on the fly. You get up to four images at once, but can go unlimited for $0.99/69p. Kindle With iBooks on the iPhone, you might wonder why you should bother with Amazon's Kindle. After all, the app's not as pretty as iBooks, nor is there an integrated store (you buy in Safari and sync purchases to the app). However, Kindle offers a massive selection of books compared to Apple's app and the reading experience is great. Wikipanion
The Wikipedia website works fine on iPhones, and there is an free official Wikipedia app but Wikipanion is another freebie which gives you quick access to article sections, in-article search, viewing options, a location based map search, bookmarking, and the ability to tweet about whatever odd fact you've just unearthed. Also, wonderfully, there are no ads. Dictionary.com Over two million definitions, synonyms and antonyms are available in the palm of your hand with this free, offline dictionary and thesaurus. The app is fast and efficient, includes phonetic and audio pronunciation of words, and its interface seems perfectly suited to the iPhone. 1Password Although iOS includes iCloud Keychain, 1Password is a better system. It's fully cross-platform and enables you to store multiple identities (such as a full one for payments and a simplified one for forums), secure notes and software licence details. As of iOS 8, 1Password integrates with Touch ID, meaning you can use it with Safari, although the app also retains its own built-in browser. Vidgets
A great many Today view widgets seem quite gimmicky, but Vidgets provides a great mix of monitoring and utility. The standalone app enables you to add and organise the likes of world clocks, network indicators, and widgets outlining remaining space on your device. These are then immediately available in Notification Center. eBay On using the eBay app, there's a good chance you won't go near the eBay website again. The app is fast, has great saved searches (which flag new finds), and enables you to create listings. The last of those things is also improved by the built-in bar-code scanning. Duolingo
We're always waiting for the other shoe to drop with Duolingo, but it seems this organisation really does want you to learn new languages entirely for free. And it's a fantastic app — fun, friendly, and packed with bite-sized quizzes that hold your interest and never become onerous. It's perfect for anyone who wants to dabble in a bit of Spanish, French, German, Portugese, Italian, Irish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish or even English! Shazam Shazam is an app that feels like magic when you first use it. It's deceptively simple—hold your iPhone near to a music source, and wait while the app listens and tells you what track is playing. But the sheer technology behind this simplicity is mind-boggling, and while Shazam doesn't always guess right, it's worth a download. Swiftkey The revamped iOS 8 keyboard is far better than its predecessor, not least because of the predictive word bar, but SwiftKey takes things a step further. Rather than laboriously tapping out individual keys, you just glide your finger across them. This can make for some comical typos initially, but SwiftKey soon speeds up iPhone text entry. Yousician Guitar
For the most part, Yousician Guitar feels quite a lot like Guitar Hero, only you use a real guitar and the app is cunningly teaching you how to play it. Things start with the absolute basics, but before you know it, you're strumming and picking with the best of them. The app's free, although with limited daily play time. Subscriptions enable you to learn more rapidly. Find my iPhone For the paranoid souls out there (or the unlucky ones who've had their devices pilfered), Find My iPhone is a must-have download. Assuming you've a 2010 or later iOS device, you can set up a free account and locate your devices within seconds. (Note that older devices can also be added to Find My iPhone - you just need a recent one to get things going.) Kayak Kayak aims to be an all-in-one smart travel app, providing the means to search for flights, hotels, and car rentals, and then manage your trip and track your flights. Alerts can be defined to inform you about price changes, and the interface is clean and simple, ensuring that you don't miss any important details. Bonjournal
Whether you've a thirst for adventure and are looking for inspiration on where to travel or are more of an armchair tourist, Bonjournal enables you to live vicariously through other people's beautiful photo blogs. And if you do end up somewhere amazing yourself, turning your experience into a great-looking and sharable story is a simple, efficient process. Musations
Musations is one of the latest apps trying to fill the void of musical self-expression in this post-Myspace world, and with enough adoption it could really go somewhere. From a library of over 45 million tracks to choose from you can share a song with your followers, mix it with a personal message, and even add your own lip-sync video. And if you've got an Apple Watch, you can use it to identify music around you and broadcast it to your followers with a simple touch. Google Translate Google Translate is a bit like an insanely portable and entirely free gaggle of translation staff. When online, you can translate written or photographed text between dozens of languages, or speak into your device and listen to translations. And for English to French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish (and back), the app will attempt to live-translate (even when offline) any text in front of the camera. TunnelBear VPN
The idea behind TunnelBear is to keep browsing private and to get around censored and geo-locked websites. The interface is insanely simple — you just tap the country you want to browse from and wait a bit. Connections are generally robust but easy to restart if they drop. For free, you get 500 MB per month. Spam your Twitter feed and you'll get an extra GB. RockMyRun
There are a wealth of running apps available, but RockMyRun is a good'un. This free app monitors your pace - or if you have a wrist or chest based heart rate monitor, your beats per minute - and offers up its specially curated playlists to give you the perfect music for your speed. From serene sounds during your warm up, to high intensity bangers when at full speed, it adds another dimension to your run. The best bit is when you explode into a sprint and the music pounds in your ears. SkyScanner Skyscanner's a great website, which enables you to punch in airports and find out the cheapest way of getting from A to B. The Skyscanner app is the same, but it's on your device and with a spiffy AI. Well worth a download, even if only to check flights for an upcoming holiday. Timehop
The nature of social media is it's all about the 'now'. With Timehop, you get the chance to revisit moments from this day, based around your online history. The service connects to whatever accounts you allow it to, and then shows you what was happening in your world. It's a simple concept that's perfect for iPhone. GarageBand
Apple's GarageBand turns your iPhone into a recording studio. Previously a paid app, GarageBand now has a freemium model. For no charge, you get full access to its features, including a range of smart instruments, MIDI editing and song arrangement. The only limitation is that relatively few instruments are included, but more are available via IAP. BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer is by far our favourite of the TV catch-up apps, largely because it tries to do what's right for the viewer, rather than the suits. You can watch live TV or check out shows that have been broadcast over the past 30 days. Archived shows can be downloaded to watch later, and there's also AirPlay support for firing footage at your Apple TV. Netflix Brits might rightly grumble that the Netflix selection leaves a little to be desired, but it's still a very affordable way to get a ton of TV in front of your eyes. The app works much like you'd expect: browse, watch, realise it's three in the morning - again.  It would be a hard ask to expect the Flipboard experience on the iPhone and iPod touch to match that of the iPad version, but it nonetheless has a good go, transforming your favourite feeds and news sources into a tiny, beautiful digital magazine. |
| Updated: 50 best iPad apps 2015: free and paid for Posted:  50 best iPad apps
If you've got yourself a shiny new iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 3, you'll want to start downloading the best iPad apps straight away. And if you already have an iPad Air or older iPad, you might want to update it with some new apps. It's the apps that really set iOS apart from other platforms - there are more and higher quality apps available on the App Store for the iPad than any other tablet. So which ones are worth your cash? And which are the best free apps? Luckily for you we've tested thousands of the best iPad apps so that you don't have to. So read on for our 50 best iPad apps - the definitive list of what applications you need to download for your iPad now. If you are looking for games, then head over to 50 Best iPad games - where we showcase the greatest games around for your iOS device. Or if you're rocking an iPhone (or have your eye on the upcoming iPhone 6s / iPhone 7) head over to our 50 best iPhone apps list. 1. 1Password (Free)
Although Apple introduced iCloud Keychain in iOS 7, designed to securely store passwords and payment information, 1Password is a more powerful system. It can also hold identities, secure notes, network information and app licence details. Your stored data can then be accessed on more than just Apple's platforms. The core app is free, but you'll need to pay $9.99 / £7.99 to get access to all its features. 2. Madefire Comics & Motion Books (free)
The iPad has given new life to comics, providing the perfect digital home for them with its big, sharp, colourful screen and Madefire Comics makes the most of it by stocking motion comics. As the name suggests these include movement rather than just static panels and often feature music and sound effects too, bringing you into the story like never before. With big names and an ever growing library Madefire is essential for comic fans. 3. Air Video HD ($2.99, £2.29)
Even the most expensive iPads in Apple's line-up don't have a massive amount of storage, and space is rapidly eaten up if you keep videos on the device. Air Video HD acts as an alternative: stream movies from a PC or Mac, auto-encoding on-the-fly as necessary. There's also full support for offline viewing, soft subtitles and AirPlay to an Apple TV. 4. Elevate (free)
We could all use a bit of brain training from time to time and Elevate is a great way to do it. It aims to improve your writing, reading, speaking, listening and maths skills through a variety of daily challenges, which keep your brain active and test you in entertaining ways. A beautiful interface makes it a joy to use and the core app is free, but extra features can be added with a subscription. 5. BBC iPlayer (free)
BBC iPlayer is a must-have download for iPad users. The slick interface makes it easy to browse or watch recent shows and current broadcasts. You can choose from two quality settings and toggle subtitles, stream to an Apple TV via AirPlay, or download shows to your iPad, so you can watch them on the move. 6. Byword ($5.99, £4.49)
Word processing is something the iPad fares remarkably well at — if you have the right app. Byword is a no-nonsense distraction-free editor that just lets you get on with writing. There's Markdown support, helped along by a custom keyboard row, and also a live word/character count. For anyone publishing to the web, a single $4.99/£3.99 IAP provides integration with the likes of WordPress and Tumblr. 7. Comic Life ($4.99, £3.99)
Comic Life provides a creative way to tell a story or present some of your favourite photographs. The many templates provide a starting point and theme, and you can then import photos, add captions, and design special effects. Comics can be sent to friends in a variety of formats, or to your Mac or PC to carry on working in the desktop version of the app. 8. Day One ($4.99, £3.99)
Journalling is one of those things that people always think will fall out of fashion, but it never quite does. Day One has plenty of advantages over a paper-based diary, though; wrapped up in a beautiful interface is the means to add images, weather data and music info, along with formatted text. Individual entries can be 'published' to share with people, and of course everything you create is fully searchable. 9. Diet Coda ($19.99, £14.99)
Panic's Coda is a hugely popular Mac app for coding websites, and the iPad app is no slouch either. Diet Coda provides a touch-optimised means of editing files, which can either be done live on the remote server or by downloading them locally first. Syntax highlighting, clips and a built-in Terminal make this a great app for any web designer on the go. 10. DM1 ($4.99, £3.99)
Drum machines are always a lot of fun, but many of those available for iOS are rather throwaway, their options exhausted within minutes. DM1 is pretty much the exact opposite, packed with a huge number of drum kits, a step sequencer, a song composer and a mixer. Inter-App audio, Audiobus and MIDI support also ensure what you create doesn't end up in a percussion-rich silo. 11. Dropbox (free)
Dropbox is a great service for syncing documents across multiple devices. The iPad client works like the iPhone one (hardly surprising, since this is a universal app), enabling you to preview many file types and store those marked as favourites locally. 12. eBay (free)
Use eBay for iPad and you'll never touch eBay in a web browser again. It's fast and efficient, beautifully showcasing important details and images in its main results view. Gallery images can often be displayed almost at a full-screen size, which is particularly useful on an iPad with a Retina display. Speedy sorting options are also available. 13. Evernote (free)
Like Dropbox, Evernote (a free online service for saving ideas – text documents, images and web clips – that you can then access from multiple devices) works the same way on the iPad as it does on the iPhone. It benefits from the iPad's larger screen, which enables you to see and navigate your stored snippets more easily, but it's handy knowing you'll be able to access all your notes on any other device, or any future device you might buy, like the iPhone 7. 14. Fantastical 2 ($9.99, £7.99)
Apple's own Calendar app is fiddly and irritating, and so the existence of Fantastical is very welcome. In a single screen, you get a week view, a month calendar and a scrolling list of events. There's also support for reminders, and all data syncs with iCloud, making Fantastical compatible with Calendar (formerly iCal) for OS X. The best bit, though, is Fantastical's natural-language input, where you can type an event and watch it build as you add details, such as times and locations. 15. Flipboard (free)
Initially, Flipboard looked like a gimmick, trying desperately to make online content resemble a magazine. But now it can integrate Flickr and other networks, beautifully laying out their articles, Flipboard's muscled into the 'essential' category – and it's still free. 16. Airbnb (free)
Airbnb makes travel affordable and social, as rather than staying in a hotel you can stay in someone's house. Options range from crashing on someone's sofa to renting a private island, or if you have a spare room you could even rent your own space out. The iPad app is one of the best ways to browse it too, letting you search and book using an attractive image-heavy interface. 17. GarageBand ($4.99/£3.99)
Apple's GarageBand turns your iPad into a recording studio. It includes a range of smart instruments, MIDI editing and song arrangement so you can make music anywhere. It's not free any more, but you get access to all of its instruments and sounds for one fairly low fee. 18. GoodReader ($4.99, £3.99)
GoodReader is the iPad's best PDF reader. You can annotate documents, extract text, and now also rearrange, split and combine documents. The app previews various other files as well, can create and extract ZIP archives, and is capable of connecting to a wide range of online services. Alongside Dropbox, it makes a great surrogate Finder/Preview combination — a must-have for iPad power users. 19. iBooks (free)
Going head-to-head with Kindle, iBooks is a decent ebook reader, backed by the iBookstore. As you'd expect from Apple, the interface is polished and usable, with handy cross-device bookmark syncing, highlighting, and various display options. It's also a capable PDF reader, for your digital magazine collection. 20. IM+ (free)
Although the iPad enables a certain amount of basic multi-tasking, anyone who constantly juggles a number of instant messaging services will soon be tired of leaping between apps. IM+ is a good solution, enabling you to run a number of IM services in a single app, and there's also a built-in web browser for checking out links. 21. iMovie (free with new device or $4.99, £3.99)
You're not going to make the next Hollywood hit on your iPad, but iMovie's more than capable of dealing with home movies. The interface resembles its desktop cousin and is easy to get to grips with. Clips can be browsed, arranged and cut, and you can then add titles, transitions and music. For the added professional touch, there are 'trailer templates' to base your movie on, rather than starting from scratch. 22. Kickstarter (free)
After a stint on the iPhone, Kickstarter has now arrived on Apple's slates and it's the perfect fit for it, giving you a big window into thousands of projects which you can back with a tap. Browse by categories and sub-categories, select how to sort projects or just search for a specific one. Just be careful. Last time we launched the app we emerged six hours later and hundreds of pounds poorer. We eagerly await delivery of our smart socks. 23. iStopMotion ($9.99, £7.99)
There's something fascinating about animation, and iStopMotion is a powerful and usable app for unleashing your inner Aardman, enabling you to create frame-by-frame stories. There's also time-lapse functionality built-in, and the means to use the free iStopMotion Remote Camera with an iPhone on the same network. 24. iTunes U (free)
If you're still convinced the iPad is only a device for staring brain-dead at TV shows and not a practical tool for education, check out iTunes U. The app enables you to access many thousands of free lectures and courses taught by universities and colleges, thereby learning far more than what bizarre schemes current soap characters are hatching. 25. Journeys of Invention ($9.99, £7.99)
Touch Press somewhat cornered the market in amazing iOS books with The Elements, but Journeys of Invention takes things a step further. In partnership with the Science Museum, it leads you through many of science's greatest discoveries, weaving them into a compelling mesh of stories. Many objects can be explored in detail, and some are more fully interactive, such as the Enigma machine, which you can use to share coded messages with friends. 26. Kindle (free)
Amazon's Kindle iPad app for reading myriad books available at the Kindle Store is a little workmanlike, and doesn't match the coherence of iBooks (you buy titles in Safari and 'sync' purchases via Kindle). However, Kindle's fine for reading, and you get options to optimise your experience (including the ability to kill the naff page-turn animation and amend the page background to a pleasant sepia tone). 27. Korg Gadget ($39.99, £29.99)
Korg Gadget bills itself as the "ultimate mobile synth collection on your iPad" and it's hard to argue. You get 15 varied synths in all, ranging from drum machines through to ear-splitting electro monsters, and an intuitive piano roll for laying down notes. A scene/loop arranger enables you to craft entire compositions in the app, which can then be shared via the Soundcloud-powered GadgetCloud or sent to Dropbox. This is a more expensive app than most, but if you're a keen electronic-music-oriented songwriter with an iPad, it's hard to find a product that's better value. 28. Launch Center Pro ($4.99, £3.99)
The idea behind Launch Center Pro is to take certain complex actions and turn them into tappable items — a kind of speed-dial for tasks such as adding items to Clear, opening a URL in 1Password, or opening a specific view in Google Maps. Although the list of supported apps isn't huge, it's full of popular productivity apps; and should you use any of them on a regular basis, Launch Center Pro will be a massive time-saver and is well worth the outlay. 29. Microsoft Word for iPad (free/subscription-based)
It was a very long time in coming, and there were fears Microsoft would make a half-hearted effort to get Word on to the iPad. In the end, we actually got a surprisingly powerful, touch-optimised, high-quality word processor and layout app. The subset of tools you get from the PC version is more than sufficient, and for free you can use the app as a viewer. For editing, you'll need an Office 365 subscription (from $6.99/£5.99 monthly), and this will also give you access to Excel and Powerpoint, along with office apps on other platforms. 30. Movies by Flixster (free)
One for film buffs, Movies figures out where you are and tells you what's showing in your local cinemas – or you can pick a film and it'll tell you where and when it's on. The app is functionally identical on iPad and iPhone, but again the extra screen space improves the experience. 31. Notability ($3.99, £2.99)
There are loads of note-taking apps for the iPad, but Notability hits that sweet spot of being usable and feature-rich. The basic notepad view is responsive, but also enables you to zoom and add fine details. Elsewhere, you can type, import documents, and record audio. Notes can be searched and, crucially, backed up to various cloud-based web services. 32. Numbers ($9.99, £7.99)
We mention Microsoft's iPad efforts elsewhere, but if you don't fancy paying for a subscription and yet need some spreadsheet-editing joy on your iPad, Numbers is an excellent alternative. Specially optimised for Apple's tablet, Numbers makes great use of custom keyboards, smart zooming, and forms that enable you to rapidly enter data. Presentation app Keynote and page-layout app Pages are also worth a look. 33. Paper By FiftyThree (free)
There's a certain train of thought that apps shouldn't ape real-world items, but we dismiss such talk. They just shouldn't ape real-world items badly! Paper by FiftyThree gets this right, with beautiful sketchbooks in which you can scribble, then share across the web. Books and the pen tool are free, and other tools are available via In-App Purchase. 34. PCalc Lite (free)
PCalc Lite's existence means the lack of a built-in iPad calculator doesn't bother us (in fact, we'd love to replace the iPhone Calculator app with PCalc Lite as well). This app is usable and feature-rich – and if you end up wanting more, in-app purchases enable you to bolt on extras from the full PCalc. 35. PicFrame ($0.99, 79p)
PicFrame is a simple app, but one that's beautifully honed and a delight to use. You choose a template and then import photos, which can be zoomed or adjusted via filters. Additionally, captions can be overlaid and the frames tweaked until you have the perfect composition. Once you're done, your creation can be shared on social networks or via email, and saved to your camera. 36. Pocket (free)
Pocket and Instapaper have long battled it out for 'article scraper' king, but Pocket trumps its rival in appealing to iPad-owning cheapskates. Instapaper requires a purchase for iPad goodness, but Pocket is free. It's also very fast, offers tagging, includes a great original article/plain-text toggle, and has a vaguely Flipboard-like visual grid-based index. 37. Sequential (free)
We've elsewhere mentioned Comics, but Sequential has a slightly different take on the medium. It's an altogether more upmarket affair, aimed at graphic novels and collections of sequential art that are supposed to be taken seriously. Therefore, this isn't so much everything but the kitchen sink, but a repository for a carefully curated selection of some of the best comics ever created. 38. Autodesk SketchBook (free)
We tend to quickly shift children from finger-painting to using much finer tools, but the iPad shows there's plenty of power in your digits — if you're using the right app. Autodesk SketchBook provides all the tools you need for digital sketching, from basic doodles through to intricate and painterly masterpieces; and if you're wanting to share your technique, you can even time-lapse record to save drawing sessions to your camera roll. The core app is free, but it will cost you $3.99 / £2.99 to unlock the pro features. 39. Sky Guide ($1.99, £1.99)
Augmented reality is still in its early days, but Sky Guide shows off the potential of merging the virtual with the real. Using your iPad, you can search the heavens in real-time, the app providing live details of constellations and satellites within your field of view. Away from the outdoors, Sky Guide doubles as a kind of reference book, offering further insight into distant stars, and the means to view the sky at different points in history. 40. Skype (free)
In theory, we should be cheerleading for FaceTime, what with it being built into iOS devices, but it's still an Apple-only system. Skype, however, is enjoyed by myriad users who haven't been bitten by the Apple bug, and it works very nicely on the iPad, including over 3G. 41. Skyscanner (free)
Skyscanner's website is pretty good, but the iPad app's another great example of how an app's focus can really help you speed through a task. You use the app to search over a thousand airlines, and it provides straightforward competitive journey lists and comparison graphs. If you're planning a flight, it's an indispensable download. 42. Snapseed (free)
Apple's Photos app has editing capabilities, but they're not terribly exciting — especially when compared to Snapseed. Here, you select from a number of effect types and proceed to pinch and swipe your way to a transformed image. It's a fun tool, but there's plenty of control for anyone determined to get their photos just so. 43. Soulver ($4.99, £3.99)
Soulver is more or less the love child of a spreadsheet and the kind of calculations you do on the back of an envelope. You write figures in context, and Souvler extracts the maths bits and tots up totals; each line's results can be used as a token in subsequent lines, enabling live updating of complex calculations. Drafts can be saved, exported to HTML, and also synced via Dropbox or iCloud. 44. TED (free)
TED describes itself as "riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world". The app pretty much does as you'd expect – you get quick access to dozens of inspiring videos. However, it goes the extra mile in enabling you to save any talk for offline viewing, and also for providing hints on what to watch next if you've enjoyed a particular talk. 45. Adobe Slate (free)
Need to make a newsletter, invitation, or report? Then you need Adobe Slate. The app lets you combine text and images into a visual story that flows like the best digital magazines. It's simple to use, letting you effortlessly create a professional story and it's easy to share too, giving you a link which allows your readers to open it on phones, tablets and computers. 46. Traktor DJ ($9.99, £7.99)
Traktor DJ wisely dispenses with skeuomorphic representations of deck-spinning; instead of virtual vinyl on your iPad, you get waveforms, providing visual cues regarding what you're playing. The app is efficient and simple to use, enabling you to define cue points and loops, along with dropping in effects; helpfully, Traktor DJ also attempts to tempo-match songs from your iPad library. It's a very different approach to iPad DJing, but one that works wonderfully. 47. TuneIn Radio (free)
Output your iPad's audio to an amp or a set of portable speakers, fire up TuneIn Radio, select a station and you've a set-up to beat any DAB radio. Along with inevitable social sharing, the app also provides an alarm, AirPlay support, pause and rewind, and a 'shake to switch station' feature - handy if the current DJ's annoying and you feel the need to vent. 48. Wikipanion (free)
The Wikipedia website works fine in Safari for iPad, but dedicated apps make navigating the site simpler and faster. Wikipanion is an excellent free app, with a sleek iOS 7-style design, an efficient two-pane landscape view, and excellent bookmarking and history access. 49. Yahoo Weather (free)
With weather apps, you're frequently forced to choose between lashings of data or something that looks lovely. Yahoo Weather combines both, offering a stunning interface that happens to be rich with information. The maps are a touch weak, but other than that, this is an essential weather app, especially considering Apple doesn't provide an iPad equivalent itself. 50. YouTube (free)
When the YouTube app presumably became a victim of the ongoing and increasingly tedious Apple/Google spat, there were concerns Google wouldn't respond. Those turned out to be unfounded, because here's yet another bespoke, nicely designed Google-created app for iOS. The interface is specifically tuned for the iPad, and AirPlay enables you to fire videos at an Apple TV. |
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