Ha. You’ve just bought an iPad, you don’t really know why you’ve bought it, but now you have you feel you should do something with it other than allowing it to gather dust in the corner of the room, looking sorry for itself.
We’ve scoured the 3500+iPad appsavailable (mid May) on iTunes to see what’s on offer when it comes to iPad ultilities. Yes, those things that let you pretend your iPad is something other than it actually is, whatever that might be.
We’ve tried, tested and reviewed all of the following iPad ultilities apps ourselves, rather than just guessing whether they’re good or not. Prepare to turn your iPad into a clock, a photo frame, another screen for your computer, and oh, so much more.
Air Display
You’ve just spent over 400 on the iPad, and after another 5.99/$9.99 you can turn it into a bolt-on monitor for your Mac.
While this only works for Mac rather than PC users at the moment, a quick install of some software on your Mac, a download of the app on your iPad, and a Wi-Fi hotspot that’s turned on and all of a sudden you’ve suddenly got an iPad that can add extra desktop real estate to your computing needs.
The app works incredibly well and we’ve found that we’ve mostly been using it for Skype chat conversations and keeping an eye on things that need monitoring but not constant attention.
Better still if you already run a two screen setup with an external monitor this will work in conjunction with that.
Price 5.99 / $9.99
Rating 9/10
Weather HD
Yep that barometer in your hallway (if you’ve got one) works pretty well, but we bet it’s not as pretty as this app.
While there are literally hundreds of weather apps available for the iPad this is just beautiful, letting you know what the weather is like right now (in case you haven’t got windows), in the next 24 hours (in 3-hour increments), and over the next 7 days.
Places can be added by city, “zip code” or your current location and then stored for later use. there doesn’t seem to be a limit on how many you can add.
Simple, but you will be hoping for a change of season to get the most out of it.
Price 59p / 99 cents
Rating 9/10
Teleprompt+ for iPad
Chances are you’re a powerful person, or at least think you are. And if that’s the case then you’ve probably got to do a presentation or speech at some point.
In steps the Teleprompt+ for iPad that lets you turn your iPad into a teleprompt. Allowing you to read your script without looking like you’ve got your head buried in a stack of shaking A4 paper which your kids have drawn on to make look pretty.
The app lets you manage your speeches, import via Google docs or write your prose directly into it before managing elements like speed, whether or not you want to view timer or have the text mirrored so you can hide it like politicians do.
You can also change the background and text colour to make it easier on the eye for reading.
If you’re in the speech business – or fancy making some direct to YouTube movies, this is probably just the thing for you.
Price 5.99 / $7.99
Rating 9/10
Big Calculator
You can get them for pennies in the local stationers, you’ve got one on your phone, but hey, I bet they aren’t as big or colourful.
It’s free, it’s got a paper tape so you can see the sums you’ve done already and you can even email them to people.
Call us childish, but it also, more importantly, means you can tell the 55378008 joke to your mates over and over again until they probably punch you.
Price Free
Rating 9/10
Night Stand HD
“You’ve spent how much on a clock!” will probably be the first thing your partner says to you when you proudly place the iPad on your night stand and fire up this app.
Your reply will be 59p of course, because you’ll disregard the notion that you’ve had to splash out the cash for the iPad in the first place.
That said, as an alarm clock, Night Stand HD does the business and the business well.
There are eight very cool themes ranging from a flip clock (as seen on HTC’s Sense UI) and even a binary one for the clever clogs amongst us.
Those worried that it will light up the room shouldn’t be – you can dim the screen by tapping on it – and of course there is plenty of support for the alarm function with options of pre-set sounds or iPod music. And when it comes to turning it off you can set it so you have to solve a maths puzzle first.
Amazing to find us saying this, but a must have.
Price 59p / $99
Rating 9/10
Egg Boiler for iPad
If you thought all of the above were pretty pointless then you’ll love Egg Boiler for iPad.
Making sure you cook your egg the right way can be tough. How does a cold egg affect the process for example? what if you’ve forgotten how long ago you put the egg in the boiling water.
Simple, Egg Boiler for iPad lets you select the consistency you want, you tell it whether or not it’s come from the fridge or the cupboard and then you’ll get a timer to tell you when it’s done.
At the end your iPad makes a big noise and your egg is cooked as requested. Done.
Price 59p / $99
Rating 7/10
Frame Channel
While Apple’s iPad does come with its own slideshow features to turn your iPad into a digital picture frame it’s limited by only serving you images from those you’ve got stored on the actual device.
With a Wi-Fi connection and an amazingly glossy and crisp screen, Frame Channel lets you turn your iPad into a photo frame and stream much more than just images on your iPad.
You’ll have to create an account online (you can do it via the app but we had trouble) and then once that’s done, load in a number of plug-ins to turn your iPad into much more when it comes to photos.
For the more boring, you can opt for a calendar mode (did you really just pay all that money to do just this) as well as setting it to serve you images from a Facebook account, Flickr account and much more – there are stacks.
Photos, news, weather, sports results are all here meaning when your iPad’s not in your hands it can be bringing you information or images to spruce up your living room or kitchen.
Now all you need is a stand or wall hanging case so it doesn’t slide off the mantle piece.
Price Free
Rating 9/10
Truphone for iPad
What actually is the iPad? one thing that it isn’t supposed to be is a phone. Well that is unless you download the Truphone for iPad app.
The Instant Messaging come phone app lets you talk to your buddies on MSN, AOL, and Google Talk, but sadly not Skype, as well as making calls to regular land lines and mobile phones.
The catch is that it only works on Wi-Fi rather than 3G, but on the calls we’ve made (you get 50p worth of calls to get you started) everyone thought the quality was as good as a regular phone.
Truphone also offers an unlimited calling plan and free voicemail, but you’ll have to pay extra for that obviously.
It’s not amazing, but worth having in your armoury if you can find Wi-Fi and your phone battery has already died.
Price Free
Rating 7/10
You
What apps have you found that are really good for turning your iPad into something else? Let us know in the comments below.
Best iPad utilities apps – Pocket-lint
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