Right from the time the iPad was launched, there have been debates about whether the iPad would replace the, then popular, netbook phenomenon. At that time, the proponents and opponents was fairly equal. That was then, but today we are clearly in a position to state that the iPad is indeed an entertainment gadget worthy of doubling as a productivity device and can do almost everything that you can do using a netbook. To prove our point, we have enlisted a few apps that will show off ways in which the iPad's productivity potential can be realised.
Pages
Price: US$9.99
URL: Open in iTunes
Version: 1.3.1
Size: 51.3 MB
iOS version required: 4.2 or later
Pages is a powerful word processor for Mac, redesigned in this version for the iPad. Using Pages, along with normal documents, you can create letters, flyers, brochures, reports, etc. Ready-made templates let you create documents of your choice of colours, fonts and textures, or you can even import from Pages '09, Microsoft Word or a text file.
Documents can also be imported from existing Pages or Microsoft Word document from Mail, your MobileMe iDisk, or aWebDAV service. After creating the document, you can share them or even publish them to iWork.com public beta. You can also print them wirelessly using AirPrint. You can use the large, onscreen keyboard to edit your documents, but you can also use the optional iPad Keyboard Dock to do the same.
Editing is as easy as you would do on your computer. Images and videos can be imported from the Photo app with theMedia Browser. There is even a nifty option to wrap text dynamically around the imported images. Documents are autosaved periodically as you type, so you do not have to worry about having to save them manually. Documents can also be saved as PDF for the sake of cross-platform portability. At US$9.99, this is an application you should not give a miss.
GoodReader
Price: US$4.99
URL: Open in iTunes
Version: 3.7.0
Size: 13.6 MB
iOS version required: 3.2 or later
GoodReader may appear as a good PDF reader at first glance, but the fact is that it is good is an excellent file manager too. GoodReader can easily and quickly open huge PDF and TXT files with sizes over 100 MB, which is something not done by any of its competitors. You can also mark-up PDFs for annotations, which opens new possibilities using the typewriter text boxes, sticky notes, lines, arrows, and freehand drawings present near the top of the window.
Other popular file formats such as MS Office documents, iWork '08 and '09 documents, HTML webarchives, high resolution images, audio and even video files are supported. File management capabilities such as creating folders, move, copy and rename your files, ZIP, UNZIP and e-mail or even sending your files to other apps is possible. Lastly, this application also has the ability to sync your files and folders with remote servers such as iDisk, Dropbox, SugarSync and any WebDAV, FTPor SFTP server. At US$1.99, this is the perfect way to handle your PDF files.
