Dumb question coming up so brace yourselves.

[5teve]

Hi guys,
I'm not a computer expert by any means but I spend half of my life with my fingers on a keyboard and my eyes watching a screen.
My main PC is a Mac Mini Aluminium which is fairly new but I also have a couple of Compaq desktops around the house and an Advent Netbook. I should also add that I have an iPad 2 with 32gb and wi-fi but no 3G (in white). I love the crystal clear screen and the fact that I get very little "buffering" when watching a video but, apart from that, I can't see any real value for my (almost) £570 if you include the extras that I bought at the time.
So why are you posting, Steve?
The simple answer is that I need the experts (that's you guys) to tell me what software I should be using to make my iPad experience better.
I'd like to create paintings on screen and write a novel, play poker and Scrabble etc. I'd like to use it as an e-book reader for anything but school books. I'm way past that sort of thing.
I need you guys to tell me which software I should be using.
Educate me. Tell me why this iPad 2 is the best thing since sliced bread. ..... Please.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[KevinJS]

OK, here goes. And it's not a dumb question. First time I hooked up a computer to the Internet, I brought my hands down on the keyboard in a flourish that would have made Carlo Curly proud, paused and thought "Christ. I don't know how to use this thing. AT ALL.

I'll leave GarageBand for someone who has found it useful. I can't make head nor tail of it.

Pages. A neat little word processor that is dead easy to use, and extremely useful when on the move.

iBooks. Free to download from the app store, it reads .ePub and .PDF files. Free books available from various sources as well as paid items from the iTunes store and Amazon etc.

Games. Cut the Rope, Angry Birds etc.

Mail and Safari. Both native apps. Somewhat limited when compared to a desktop, but highly effective for us mobile types.

Music and movies. Perhaps a bit bulky compared to most mp3 players, but excellent sound quality through BT speakers, or earbuds. The screen is big enough to enjoy movies. A lot of BluRay movies have a digital copy you can download, or install from a second supplied disc.

I could go on and on, but I'll let others join in with their recommendations.

 

[leelai]

There are so many apps to try, but I'll suggest a few. First of all Appshopper, it's another app from which you can view all the apps available. It has a wish list where you can input the apps that you want, and when they come on sale it will inform you. It is a great app, through which I have gotten many apps for free. I see you like scrabble, there is a scrabble app available but I'm fairly sure you have to pay for it, I use Words with Friends, they have a paid and free version. With the free version, there are ads, not really a problem, you just have to skip them. But a very addictive game all the same. You like word games? 7 little words, jumbline2, Whirly word, Moxie, Letris, war of words and Jangle are just a few.
There are many painting apps, I have ArtRage, there is a web page and a gallery to display your works. I also have Procreate, Asketch and Sketchbook Pro. All very good.
I see you like reading, do you have Paper books? A great app to catalogue your collection is Book Crawler. You can put this on your phone too, so if you see a book you like, you can check if you have it or not.
The mail app we have is supposedly getting an upgrade in ios5, we'll wait and see, but if you get video clips in emails, you will need an app to be able to open them. I have Buzz Player. There are many others that do this too.
Dropbox is brilliant and free, great for transferring data from iPad to PC. Evernote, free also for storing notes on iPad and PC too.
The list is endless, but I will let others chime in here too. Enjoy!!

 

[5teve]

Thanks, guys.
I'll give those (some of them) a try and see what happens.
I appreciate the time that you took to write down your fave Apps.
Many thanks,
Steve

 

[Czevski]

App Hits can be set to show the apps on sale. I got Scrabble and Boggle when they were on sale. I like the card game apps (free) from Jiuzhang Tech for free cell and Klondike.

 

[Poser]

ok..its not called software....we call them Apps(applications).

and the best place to look, is the AppStore.

the thing is, what people like, you might not like.

you have to sort thru category, and browse what area you wanna start with.

too many apps to list.

check this out....iPad for Business and Education

 

[disco_UK]

hi Steve, i use ArtStudio for photo and art editing, very good app which includes using layers, effects, brushes etc. the offical scrabble game is good and works well with the iphone (if youhave one)I'm also using Wordfeud which is a free scrabble app that allows you to play against people online at your own pace (must take a turn in 72 hours though). iMovie is great for video editing, TVCatchup, bbc iplayer and skygo (both only available in the UK so not sure if its relevent)

loads more but only you can decide which is the best apps to get the most out of your ipad. I have and appletv which allows me to get so much more from it as well.

Have fun discovering!

 

[5teve]

Poser ..... That screen-shot you posted ^^^^ there is exactly where I want to be but I have tried all kinds of web pages related to iTunes, AppStore etc but I simply can't find it.
Gizza clue, pretty please.
Cheers,
Steve

 

[disco_UK]

its an "app store" app that comes with the ipad steve, open it on the ipad and then hit search, it should come up with that screen, even if you just try searching for one app it'll come up with that kind of screen with your results.

You won't get that through Safari (your web browser)

 

[leelai]

Do a search for apple in the App store.

 

[5teve]

Ooopsie .... I was trying to find the screen-shot by searching the www using my Mac.
I'll try again later using the iPad.
Thanks for all your help, guys.
Steve (signing off for a few hours)

 

[disco_UK]

no worries m8

 

[Poser]

didn't think you needed help finding the already installed "appstore" app on your iPad.
when opened, you will see categories tab on the bottom(glance at the screenshot above again to see), then that screen should be the one.

if you wanna do this on your Mac, open iTunes and click iTunes store in the left window, then app store just below the apple logo in the middle top, and then select between iphone or iPad(red arrows), and then to the right where you see app store quick links, you will see all categories, you select....happy browsing for iPad apps on your Mac iTunes.
you can download them there(Mac), and sync them later.....OR....enable this(screenshot added below), and it will automatically download to your device without cables(over the air), you use your Mac iTunes to set those options in the preferences screen.