Top 10 iPad 2 apps
Our picks of the best free and paid-for apps for the iPad 2 and iPad
With some 65,000 apps on the App Store, it can be pretty hard to choose which ones to buy for your iPad 2 (or original iPad for that matter). Thousands are completely free, but even if they make it into the Top 25 list on the App Store, there’s no guarantee they’re any good.
Here, we’ve rounded up a selection of apps that every UK iPad owner should have, both free and paid for. Whether you’re after apps for work or play, we’ve got it all covered.
10. eBay for iPad
Price: Free
Rating: 4/5
Everyone knows that eBay is the place to find a bargain. Instead of trying to use ebay.co.uk from the iPad’s standard web browser, you should install the official app. Search results appear in neat tiles, and tapping one brings up a summary of the item and lets you quickly flick through the various photos as well as read the description without having to go to different pages.
When you sign in with your eBay ID, you can see all your activity including what you’re watching, buying and selling. As you’d expect, it’s easy to place bids and pay for items; the only downside is that you can’t sell items via the app.
The eBay app is brilliant for browsing and buying
9. 4oD Catch Up
Price: Free
Rating: 4/5
Until Channel 4 launched its Catch Up app, the lack of Flash support in Safari meant there was no way to access Channel 4’s on-demand content via your iPad. Although the app doesn’t allow you to watch full series as the website does from a laptop, you can still access programmes recently broadcast on Channel 4, E4 and More4 including The Inbetweeners, Deal or No Deal and The IT Crowd.
The app is incredibly easy to use, as you can find the programme you want in a variety of ways. You can browse the list of recommended shows, search by channel and date broadcast, browse by category or an alphabetical listing.
If you don’t want the kids watching unsuitable shows, you can set a PIN code for either 16+ or 18+ rated content. Although shows initially play in a smallish window, just tap the full-screen button to make them fill the width of your iPad.
40D’s Catch Up lets you watch shows broadcast in the last month
8. Google Earth
Price: Free
Rating: 5/5
We can remember back to the days when Google bought a company called Keyhole and acquired what is now known as Earth. Not the planet, you understand, but something that comes pretty close.
Google Earth has always been a fascinating way of whizzing around the globe on a PC or Mac and looking at highly detailed satellite imagery. Yet despite all the amazing places we could visit, we always find ourselves looking at our own streets and houses from a bird’s-eye view.
With the iPad app, you have unparalleled control over panning, zooming and rotating thanks to the touchscreen. We’ve tested the iPad and iPad 2 side by side, and there’s virtually no difference in performance between the two, so it doesn’t matter if you haven’t got the latest tablet for this app.
Earth lets you go anywhere on the planet and get a bird’s-eye view
Price: Free
Rating: 5/5
Every movie fan should install IMDb’s iPad app as it’s far easier to use than simply visiting imdb.com in the Safari browser. Search for a movie and the cast list is displayed on the left-hand side. Tap on any of these to see which other films they’ve appeared in – we’ve found this particularly when watching a film and struggling to remember where we saw a particular actor before.
On the right you’ll see IMDb’s user rating of the film – usually the best way to judge if it’s actually any good – and a button to watch the trailer, and a filmstrip of relevant photos. Scroll down to find a synopsis, plus both critics’ and user reviews, trivia and quotes.
A neat touch is the Back button which takes you back through all the movies you’ve searched for, saving you typing them in again. At the bottom is a link to buy the film from Amazon.
If you’re keen on films, IMDb has more information than you’ll ever need
Price: Free
Rating: 5/5
If only all electronic programme guides were like the TVGuide.co.uk app. The interface is genius: not only does it look super-slick, but it also lets you scroll around using a finger so you can move backwards and forwards in time as well as simultaneously scrolling up and down through the channel list.
Three hours’ worth of five channels are shown at once, and tapping on a programme brings up a synopsis at the top. A row of buttons below this lets you set a reminder (so you don’t miss the show), remotely record it (if you have Sky+), search for other showings of the same programme, add the programme to your calendar, rate the show and even Tweet about it.
Possibly the best feature is the ability to create a custom channel list. You choose from pre-defined lists including Freeview, Sky, Virgin, BT Vision, Freesat and HD, and then tap the individual channels to show or hide them in the guide.
As it’s free, we can live with the ads that appear at the bottom of the screen, but even if it cost a couple of quid, we’d still snap it up.
If you watch TV, you’ll find TVGuide’s app invaluable for quickly finding shows
5. Accuweather
Unlike the iPhone, the iPad doesn’t come with a weather app. We’re not entirely sure why this is the case, but fortunately you can install Accuweather. It’s one of the best free apps for weather forecasts around and, as with so many of the apps here, provides more information than most people need.
When you tap the location button at the top-right, you can add a location by searching for it, or by automatically detecting your current location. You can add as many as you like, meaning you can check the forecast for different areas – just as you could with the iPhone app.
Accuweather works best in portrait mode, as it shows more information. The forecast for the next four days is shown, and includes a brief description such as “A passing shower or two”, the minimum and maximum temperature, wind speed and direction, plus a handy ‘RealFeel’ temperature, which takes the chill factor into consideration to provide a more accurate estimate of what it actually feels like outside.
As well an an hourly forecast for the next 24 hours, you can also scroll down the main page to see the forecast for the next two weeks. Bizarrely, a lifestyle section provides dozens of ratings for conditions such as mosquito risk and kite flying forecast, but not pollen levels.
For weather forecasts, Accuweather is superb
4. Skype
Price: Free
Rating: 4/5
There’s no official Skype application for the iPad 2, and now that Microsoft has bought Skype, it could be a while before there is one. However, you can still install the iPhone and iPod Touch version, which works well. Obviously, you’ll need an iPad 2 for video calling, as the original has no cameras.
Skype is so much better than using Apple’s FaceTime, as you can talk to any of your contacts, no matter whether they’re using a PC, Mac or even an iPhone. Granted, the interface looks blocky when blown up to fill the iPad’s screen, but you barely notice when you’re chatting to someone.
As well as video calls, you can use the traditional Skype audio call, turning your iPad into a massive hands-free phone. The app lets you edit your profile information, even down to choosing a photo from the Camera Roll for your avatar. As the app supports multitasking, you can load another app, perhaps to check your calendar, while continuing to chat.
Not an iPad app as such, but it still works well and is great for video chats
Price: £2.99
Rating: 5/5
GoodReader describes itself as an app for reading PDFs on the iPad, but it’s so much more than that. Yes, it’s true that it is excellent at handling and zooming in on PDFs for reading, but you can also annotate and highlight documents in a variety of ways, including marking up areas with your finger, or creating pop-up comments that appear in desktop PDF readers as well. Full text searching is supported, and you can read any type of PDF, whether a user manual, book, map, or anything.
It doesn’t just support PDFs, either: .txt, .doc, .ppt, .xls, iWork 08/09, high-resolution images, plus audio and video files are also supported. One of the reasons GoodReader is so useful is that it doesn’t require iTunes to get those files onto your iPad. It supports synchronisation with a variety of services including Dropbox, SugarSync and iDisk, plus any FTP, WebDAV or SFTP server – either via USB or Wi-Fi.
Last, but not least, you can manage files in much the way you would on a Mac or PC. You can copy, delete and move files, create folders, zip and email documents, unzip them and even send them to other apps.
GoodReader is regularly updated with new features, making the low price even better value.
GoodReader is a fantastic app for managing a variety of different kinds of files on your iPad
Price: £3.99
Rating:5/5
SimCity is a blast from the past, and provides a spot of retro gaming – perfect for most iPad owners who will no doubt have played the game as kids. As Mayor of the city, it’s your job to make sure things run smoothly. You also get to do the city planning, so you can design the road systems and where the residential, commercial and industrial areas go.
As it’s designed for the iPad, this version makes full use of the big screen and the graphics are superb. Better still, you can pinch to zoom and move around your city with the flick of a finger: far superior to a keyboard and mouse!
You can start from scratch, or choose one of seven starter cities, based on famous places, and complete with landmarks. Add scenarios, such as hosting the ‘World Games’ plus classic disasters such as meteor strikes and locust plagues, SimCity should appeal to both serious and casual fans.
SimCity is perfect for reliving those childhood gaming years
1. GarageBand
Price: £2.99
Rating:5/5
For less than the cost of a pint of Guiness, GarageBand is incredible value. It lets you play a variety of instruments – actually play them, rather than program them to play – including piano, acoustic and electric guitars, plus drums and bass. There’s even a sampler, so you can record a sound with the iPad’s mic and immediately play it on a piano.
Initially we were sceptical about how it would transition from the Mac to the iPad, but as soon as we started to use it, it was obvious that it was complete genius. Even if you can’t play the instrument in real life, you’ll be able to in GarageBand. Plus, even if you’re not interested in creating multi-track songs, there’s still an immense amount of fun to be had mucking around with the instruments.
They can all be played ‘manually’ but also automatically play. For example, you can pick a note, strum a chord, or have automatic strumming or picking. There’s a set of chords that work well together for each key, so it’s almost impossible to hit a bum note.
What’s more amazing is the sheer quality of the sounds – almost good enough to release a record with. Whether you’re seriously trying to put ideas together for a song, or just want a bit of fun, GarageBand is the answer.
GarageBand is even more fun to play with on the iPad than on the Mac
We hope you enjoyed reading about this selection of apps… feel free to suggest any we missed.
