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Penny Arcade made a comic with the iPad
Most people seem to agree the iPad is a pretty great device for reading (although perhaps not the best, eh Amazon?). However, the debate still rages on about how suitable it is for making stuff. When it was first announced, there was plenty of snark from bloggers like Paul Thurrott, who wrote: "When you go out and about with just an iPad, you're sending a message that you're not going to contribute. You're just there to consume." Obviously, we beg to disagree, and not because we're a pro-Apple site. It's probably fair to say that, despite comprehensive tools like iWork, a variety of just-give-me-my-text editors like myTexts, and even folding portable keyboards, the list of people writing novels on the iPad is probably fairly small. But I use my iPad for making notes and drafting blog posts more often than I use any other single computer. It's small, neat, has great battery life, and does a superb job of not interrupting or distracting me. But text entry, which is admittedly compromised by the iPad's touchscreen keyboard, is only part of the story. The iOS App Store sports a dizzying array of music apps, for example; there's even a complete multi-instrument, iPad-only recreation of "Eye of the Tiger." And there is a wide range of graphics apps too, which have been used to create things like these stunning pieces of artwork and a New Yorker cover that was made with an iPhone. All of these things do have a slight proof of concept air about them, though; there's just a little whiff of "I made this with the iPad because I could." That's why I was impressed in a different way when I read yesterday's strip by popular gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and the accompanying text article by artist Mike Krahulik: "So I am home sick today and that's why the strip looks a little strange. I was trying to figure out a way to draw the comic from home what with all my stuff being at the office. I remembered that I had downloaded the Sketchbook Pro app on my iPad. So today's comic was drawn entirely with my pointer finger. Kiko was kind enough to drop my finger paintings into the panels and add the text for me." What impressed me was that this wasn't art made for the sake of making art with an iPad; this was the iPad being used more routinely to make art that wasn't, in any obvious way, different from the artist's usual style. This is iOS content creation becoming normal rather than extraordinary. And that feels really exciting to me.
Five apps I love on my iPad, and three that need more work
We've had the iPad available for the better part of a week now; here are a few apps that have risen to the top, along with a few more that have sunk to the bottom. 1. GoodReader. Despite Air Sharing going iPad (I had the iPhone version) and MobileStudio providing a nifty universal binary (so the app upscales nicely), I decided to give GoodReader a try. It now sits in my dock. MobileStudio requires FTP, and I wasn't in the mood to drop more cash on AirSharing Pro as I've already spent way too much on apps. I also tried MyPDFs and iPDF but felt they were too limited and rushed to be useful to me. GoodReader, however, hits the spot as a wonderful and capable PDF reader. Plus, it'll read text, image, audio and video files and anything that can be opened by Safari. I'm using GoodReader to manage some big PDF files, upwards of 200MB each, and it handles everything brilliantly. It also plays .mov files. Granted, this performance is thanks in part to the powerful processor in the iPad, but the speed boost in working with PDFs is a welcome change to my now-cramped iPhone readers. There are a few UI tweaks that could be made when managing files, it's true. Still, adding folders, moving things around, and so on, are all there like a little mini-Finder. Piling a bunch of data into your iPad is easy and will look good. %Gallery-89961%
iPad apps: creativity unleashed
We love to create things: drawings, movies, photos, songs, and, on occasion, stunning literary imagery with the help of text styling. While Apple didn't necessarily blow us away with its offerings on this front for the iPad (no GarageBand, iPhoto, or iMovie, for instance), 3rd party developers are naturally happy to oblige. We were frankly surprised at some of the depth and functionality we discovered in the App Store, but while what we have here is a nice start, we're even more curious to see what sort of creativity these developers can coax out us with a few months of iPad experience under their belts and a better handle on the strengths and weaknesses of the system. For the time being follow us after the break as we run you through some of our existing favorites. Not enough apps for you? Check out some of our other roundups!
iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave
There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That's on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple's tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history -- not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an "HD" suffix -- as if that somehow justified the increased cost. Besides, we've seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi -- but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers. Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.
