Best iPad Apps

Preface

Even before the poor thing had shipped, naysayers had their fun with it: the iPad’s nothing more than an oversized iPhone. But now that we’ve all gotten are fingers on these silver-and-black beauties, this much is clear: where the iPhone’s great for the little things in life—killing boredom, local lookups, and, you know, talking to people—the iPad excels at an entirely different set of tasks. Its larger screen lets you create and kick back in ways that, while possible on a smartphone, are hardly pleasurable. Its instant-on status invites you to open it more readily than a laptop and then touch what you want: put this circle over there; gimme a closer look at that nose; demon Zombie, take that!

In sum, it’s true: the iPad’s neither fish nor fowl, neither pocket PC nor portable laptop. In a very literal way it’s a mobile computer that you moves as you do: from the couch to the dining room table, from the waiting room to, let’s admit it, the bathroom. (The laptop travels to those spots only for the truly committed.)

With different talents come different criteria for excellence. The choices you’ll encounter in the following pages look different from those crowned in this series’ first installment (Best iPhone Apps). The guiding mission remains the same—curate a collection that will drive the average reader into an enthusiasm-igniting, download-inducing fit of “my iGadget can do that?” But a secondary set of iPad-specific factors played a big part in putting this list together. ...