Apps for iPad [updated April 2012]

Many of my friends and family have asked me about iPhone and iPad Apps I use frequently, which has led me to create this concise list to share instead of continually re-mailing or re-listing in other places.

My first piece of advice is to download Apps that track pricing and summarize reviews, which allow you to create lists for Apps you want and to avoid over-paying for Apps from companies with frequent sales.

Deal Apps (Universal):

AppShopper (free, Universal)
AppAdvice – AppAdvice.com

iPad Apps:

Utilities:

Find My iPhone – Apple (Universal): Device tracking.
1Password Pro (Universal) or 1Password for iPhone (iPhone device specific): Managing passwords and accounts; ability to sync with application on desktop.
Remote – Apple® (Universal) for iTunes.
XFINITY TV / DIRECTV App for iPad / DISH Remote Access for iPad: TV Provider Apps.
Remote HD (Universal): Control/run your Mac computer from iOS.
Grocery iQ (Universal): Grocery/Shopping list management.
Mint.com Personal Finance / Pageonce Pro – Money & Bills (Pro Version, Universal) Bank and/or personal account management.
MobileMe iDisk – Apple® (Universal) or Dropbox – Dropbox (Universal): Cloud Storage Services.
Night Stand HD – Alarm Clock (Universal)

Non-Safari Browsers:

Social Apps:

IM+ Pro (Ad Supported free version available also) or AIM for iPad (Free)
Twitter – Twitter, Inc. (Universal)
Skype for iPad
Facebook (Universal)

Reading:

iAnnotate PDF – Aji, LLC: my favorite PDF reader/annotator to date.
iBooks – Apple® (Universal)
GoodReader for iPad: another good PDF reader/file system organizer.
Reeder for iPad: My favorite RSS reader, which includes Google Reader sync.
Flipboard: Your Social News Magazine – Flipboard Inc.: Sleek magazine-styled RSS/Twitter reader.
Other decent RSS Readers: Perfect RSS Reader – Connect Technology Co., Ltd / Mr. Reader – Oliver Fürniß
NYTimes for iPad – The New York Times Company
Engadget for iPad,Engadget Distro, Huffington Post for iPad, WIRED Magazine – Condé Nast Digital, et al.

Writing Documents:

Pages – Apple (Universal)
Keynote – Apple (Universal) for presentations.
iA Writer – Information Architects, Inc.: word processing software, without much graphical interface interference.
Phraseology – Agile Tortoise
Bento for iPad – FileMaker, Inc.: Information Management.
Textastic Code Editor: supports multiple document formats, including HTML if you want to hard-code web design.

Note-taking:

Note Taker HD (my preference) or Penultimate: for handwritten notes, stylus is obviously useful.
Evernote(Universal)
ThinkBook – Write, Plan, Outline and Take Notes – Bitolithic Pty Ltd: A stylish, simplified note-taking system, which is also highly customizable. (Although, I’ve decided that they have been a bit slow to update the app over time).
2Do: Tasks Done in Style – Guided Ways Technologies Ltd
TextExpander – SmileOnMyMac, LLC (Universal): create and use abbreviations or short phrases that expand into longer text automatically. This application synchronizes with the desktop version and is also supported by numerous Apps from the App Store.

Reference:

Dictionary.com – Dictionary & Thesaurus – HD iPad – Dictionary.com, LLC or Merriam-Webster Dictionary HD – Merriam-Webster, Inc. (both are free)
WebMD
IMDb
Wikipedia
Lifelike Craig HD – Craigslist for iPhone and iPad (Universal)
AppStart for iPad (2012 Edition) – AppAdvice.com: Introduction to device and Apps for iPad Newbies.

Academic Reference:

Mendeley – Reference Manager (Lite) (Universal, Free): Bibliographic / Reference Management.
Papers – mekentosj.com (Universal): A wonderful reference management system that synchronizes with the Mac desktop application. This includes the ability to synchronize PDFs and Bibliographic information between your iPad and Mac.
Sente Reference Manager for iPad – Third Street Software, Inc. or Sente Viewer (Free version): Similar to Papers, these applications synchronize PDFs and Bibliographic information between your iPad and Mac.

Entertainment: