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Wednesday, May 5th, 2010information | Posted by Editor - Blog News Service

Top 10 Productivity Apps for the iPad

Top 10 Productivity Apps for the iPad

Top 10 Productivity Apps for the iPad

At it’s release many heralded the iPhone as the productivity gadget that would change the world for working professionals everywhere. And yet, it only hinted at what the iPad now offers. It’s hard to over estimate the difference that a larger screen and faster processor can have on one’s out-of-office productivity ability.

For those that haven’t tested the device, the iPad is still misunderstood. Gamers think it’s is an oversized iPod touch. Artists think it’s a sketchpad. But for writers and cube-dwellers, the iPad is a laptop without a hinge. With the right apps, iPad is a way to be productive and get some work done away from the confines of water coolers and morning meetings.

We all have bills to pay, but that doesn’t mean that we have to slave the day away. Work wirelessly and without walls by loading your iPad up with the best productivity apps. Here are our favorite iPad Apps for taking care of business.

word processor ipad appPages. Apple Inc. $9.99. Rating: 9/10. Apple’s full-featured word processor for the iPad gives you charts, tables, graphics, and of course, word processing, within an intuitive interface. The iPad-only app can share with the Mac version of Pages, with Microsoft Word, or via PDF. Pages is just a very well-done word processor and perfect for productivity on the go.

read pdfs on iPadPDF Reader Pro Edition for iPad. iTech Development Systems. $3.99. Rating: 10/10. Adobe PDFs are how documents are shared in the modern world, and iTech leads the pack in putting the “portable” into Portable Document Format. The app can share PDFs via USB file transfer through iTunes, over WiFi or email. As the ultimate PDF program for iPad (there’s also an iPhone version) the app supports searching, bookmarking, auto rotation and many more features for being productive with documents. If you’re telecommuting via iPad, you’ll need this app.

things-for-ipad-productivityThings for iPad. Cultured Code. $19.99. Rating: 8/10. How good does a to-do list – sorry, task organizer – have to be, to be worth $19.99? That’s the main argument against Things. On the other hand, it’s beautiful to look at and use, it’s deep and intuitive, and it’s much more than a bullet point list of tasks. You can sort them by various criteria, arrange lists into projects, and keep it all together with Things like with no other app. The iPad and iPhone apps (sold separately) can sync wirelessly with the desktop version of Things (also sold separately). Still, 20 bucks buys a lot of bits of string to tie around your finger.

evernote ipadd appEvernote. Free Rating: 7/10. After being beat up by our readers for choosing Things over Evernote, we decided to listen to the will of the people and add the much-loved productivity app to our list as well. (Although, to be fair, we have loved Evernote for a long time.) Evernote takes notes in whatever format is best for you — text, photos, audio — and syncs automatically with your Mac, PC and Web. No matter where you are your notes are accessible and if you pay for the upgrade ($45 per year) you can sync your files too. The current version of this app isn’t getting rave reviews in the App Store, but it’s free so you can test it yourself. It may turn out to be your must-have app.

desktop-connect-ipadDesktop Connect. Antecea Inc. $11.99. Rating: 9/10. “Only connect,” wrote EM Forster, and Antecea took it literally. That’s what Desktop Connect does. Period. Remote control your Mac or PC, Windows or Linux from your iPad. Browse the web — even Flash websites. Listen to music. Be productive. Access any computer on the wireless network — Desktop Connect will discover them automatically. Yes, it’s secure. Buy it.

papers-ipad-productivtyPapers. Mekentosj BV. $14.99. Rating: 10/10. Science guys: Papers lets you organize scientific papers in your library and retrieve any of them at any time from anywhere, with all the usual search and annotation functionality you would expect. Plus, it gives you access to eight widely used scholarly databases with millions of available articles. Now you can support your thesis statement without spending all night in the library or prove you’re right at the next Dean’s List Mixer. And, in the spirit of true academia, Papers can easily share articles with other iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users over WiFi or email articles to colleagues who are still waiting for their grant to come through before they can purchase an idevice.

ique-ipadiQue. Infomato, Inc. Free. Rating: 8/10. iQue is called FORGET on the iPhone, and it’s for forgetful people. Passwords, account numbers, personal info you don’t want to just jot down in a non-password-protected note? No problem. iQue uses associative memory, mimicking the way a normal brain remembers to help your gadget-addled version work properly. It’s basically a way of tagging the things that you NEED to remember so you can be more productive — even when you can’t remember what you were going to do next.

deskpad-productivityDeskpad Office. Bluegrass Digital Inc. $3.99. 8/10. Pretty much like Post-It notes on your iPad. Pedestrian? Maybe. But how many stickies do you have on your computer monitor? That’s what we thought. Plus, these stickies stay on the inside of the iPad screen, so they don’t fall off, don’t get stuck on the bottom of your shoe and don’t end up in Sally’s office down the hall.

office2pro-productivityOffice2 Pro. Byte Squared. $7.99. 8/10. Word and Excel. The big kahunas. Oh sure, you can get apps that do things better than Microsoft in any given instance. But these are the formats you want once you’re back in the office — the physical one. Open, edit, or create Word or Excel files on your iPad for $7.99. E-mail ‘em or stick ‘em out on the cloud. Still a little buggy, but if you’re going to be productive on the road then you will need to work with Word and Excel files. Bottom line, you need this app.

printcentral-ipad-appPrintCentral. EuroSmartz Ltd. $9.99. 8/10. The name says it all. Not everybody’s entirely paperless, so you can’t be either – Yet. Until that day, there’s this app. If you need to print, but don’t have the ten bucks, then check out more options for how to print with your iPad.

hr business apps for ipadHR at your Fingertips. HR Sentry. $1.99. 9/10. This is a pretty specialized app, so we’ll keep the description short: HIPAA. FMLA. FLSA. COBRA. Recognize these terms? Then get the App. They’re all in here. HR at Your Fingertips is an essential for any small business owner. With a glossary of terms, section on federal law and how-to guide for creating your own employee handbook, this app isn’t going to be “lite reading.” However, it offers the perfect excuse to spend an afternoon at the park. Grab an Italian soda, kick back on the park bench and tell the employees that you’re an HR seminar.

With these productivity apps, you’ll be surprised how much business you can do with just your iPad! If you do it right, the boss will never have to know that you’re playing hooky at the local Starbucks. Leave a comment and let us know what your favorite productivity apps for iPad are . Then, go and git ‘er done!

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