You’ve queued for hours, and you’ve managed to buy your very own iPad 2.
You’ve lovingly charged it and registered it to iTunes, but what’s next? Get some apps on it. Although the iPad is a great YouTube viewer, web browser and multimedia player, it’s the apps which make the iProducts shine.
Here’s the apps that show you exactly what the iPad 2 is capable of, and why it trumps its older brother.
Infinity Blade
One of the games which has already benefitted from an added update to make the most of the new iPad 2 hardware, textures are sharper, and perhaps just to our eyes, shinier?
Also, loading times have been shrunk, taking you far less time to get into the game.
It’s a Game game, so that means there’s fights, swords, a baddie that killed your father, and nary an angry bird in sight.
iMovie
It’s first time on the iPad, you can edit video from the dual camera,s with multi-touch support, something not available on the iPhone and iPod versions.
If you’re into chopping together your own films, it doesn’t get better than this.
Red laser
We’d say it’s a better barcode scanner than google’s search (which just searches for numbers) it’s free and compatible with the iPad 2, albeit in a stretch-version of the iPhone app. Search for bargains, and even connect through to ebay.
Facetime
Yes, we know it’s right on the iPad when you buy it, and yes, you’ll need a friend with either another iPad 2 or iPhone 4 to make this work, but this is video-chat at its simplest. Expect Skype and lots of pretenders to flood the iPad app section with similar programs in the very near future
Back to the Future
Pushing the original iPad to its technical limits, playing it on the new tablet shows that BTTF wasn’t really made for the old boy- it was made for its sequel. All the action sequences run super smooth, with hardly any stuttering, something that was all but chronic on the iPad 1.
A tap-and-drag adventure, you play Marty McFly from the film series, trying to rescue the doc from somewhere in time.
Garage Band
Make your own music. Connect your Guitar, or record sounds through the mic, and it all sounds bafflingly good quality- or at least very similar to some TV adverts.
There’s also drum loops, and the app can even smooth over your lack of musical knowledge with automated melodies played in key.
We’ll get that record deal, one day.
Angry Birds Rio
And here it is. You can’t mention any tablet/smartphone -based game with out returning the genre’s top striker- Angry Birds. Rio is the very latest version, and you’ll notice it’s looking slightly more polished than previous. Plenty to play through too, with new achievements to unlock, and even monkeys to destroy. They’re the new pigs, don’t you know.
Google
Google’s own app is crammed full of web-based gems, click on their GMail app and you’ll get access through a web-page browser.
Other treats include voice-operated search, and camera-based search that stretches from barcode reading, to website addresses, logos, and even Sudoku solutions.
All this extra functionality comes from the iPad 2’s own cameras
Hipstamatic
Though there may already be complaints over the quality of the front and back-facing cameras, Hipstamatic (running the iPhone version, expanded) is here to ensure some turn out at least marginally artistic.
Well worth having, ready for photos in less than perfect conditions.
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