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Most Used iPad 2 Apps: What’s On My iPad 2’s Home Screen

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My favorite iPad apps end up on my iPad 2’s home screen and dock.  Interestingly, my home screen has only changed slightly now that I have the 3G iPad 2.

For more iPad 2 Apps, check out The Best iPad 2 Apps for May 2011

Of the apps below there are only a few that are iPad 2 specific. Three of them have to do with the camera – Quickshot and the Apple Camera app as well the camera feature built into Evernote. I added Navigon for directions because my new iPad is a 3G model. There are a couple of newcomers that are sitting there temporarily while I test them out for reviews.

IMG 0741

Here  is a screen shot showing the apps I most use.

Some people put all their apps in folders on the Home screen. I find that doing so slows me down, so I categorize my apps into folders but place them in the second screen unless it is a category that I use a lot, like some of the ones below.

Apple Installed Apps

Of the apps that Apple installed for me out of the box, I use most:

  • Safari – I haven’t found another browser that I like enough to replace it. Embedded links always go to Safari anyway.
  • Mail – I triage my email on the iPad- meaning I delete the junk and quickly read the good stuff, but seldom respond unless I can do so quickly or have to do so quickly.
  • App Store – I’m always looking for cool new apps.
  • Calendar – I’ve tried a few including Pocket Informant HD ($14.99) and Calendars from Readdle ($6.99), but I keep coming home to the iOS Calendars. It’s the worst calendar app around, except for all the others.
  • Settings – I’m always tweaking or trying to reconnect to Wi-fi networks so Settings stays in the dock.
  • Open – I keep a spot open for an app that might graduate from the home screen to the dock. I justed deleted Toodledo ($2.99). I thought I’d use it all the time, but I was wrong.
  • Camera – It’s not on the dock but does have a spot on my home screen. I didn’t think I’d use the iPad camera that much. I was wrong. I use it primarily as a scanner for papers handed to me in meetings.

Productivity Apps

Productivity

Some of favorite productivity apps have also been reviewed at Notebooks.com as our iPad App of the Week – a weekly recommendation series of iPad apps. To get things done I mostly use the following:

  • Documents to Go Premium ($16.99) – I just recently stopped using Pages and Numbers and instead use this old friend which I used in my Windows Mobile days. It is a nice office suite for the iPad that integrates with cloud storage sites like DropBox, SugarSync and Google Docs. It reads documents and allows editing of all Microsoft Office formats. Other files it reads are PDFs, iWork and most image formats. At the end of this list is our video review of Documents to Go Premium.
  • Yammer – this is a virtual water cooler that we use at Gottabemobile.com and Notebooks.com to organize our work. To be honest, I would love to delete it since the app is not very good with a lot of little annoyances. Also, it is an iPhone app that I run in 2X mode. I don’t recommend it and only mention it because it is there and I have to use it for work.
  • Evernote – this is one of those must-have apps. It organizes notes and syncs them between any machine you have. It is not perfect but is the best of its kind available. You can take audio notes and pictures as well. I often store shots of paper given to me in meetings. I use the built-in camera instead of taking a picture with the Camera app.
  • Bible Study Apps – I’m a pastor first and a tech blogger second so I use a number of Bible apps which I highlighted at Notebooks.com.
  • DropBox and SugarSync – I mention both of these because I have been using DropBox. I am currently working on a SugarSync review and will likely be switching over to the service for a number of reasons. These are both great file synchronization and backup services that are incorporated into many other apps for iOS and Android. I prefer SugarSync because it lets you sync any folder including those on external drives.
  • Blogsy ($2.99) – I haven’t found a great iPad blogging app, but Blogsy is the best of breed. It is more stable than the other few options that are in the app store and has a few more features. I am just learning the ropes and haven’t even posted with it yet.
  • LogMeIn Ignition ($29.99) – This is the most expensive of the remote PC control apps, but it is easily the best. A close second would be Jump Desktop ($19.99). With these you can log into your desktop or laptop system remotely and control it quite easily. You don’t have to be on the same network. An Internet connection is needed and the remote system must be online too. LogMeIn just added the ability to transfer files to/from the computer and iPad.
  • Navigon Mobile Navigator USA/Canada Edition ($59.99) – Turn-by-turn directions are great on the huge screen. Navigon offers voice directions, traffic info, and 3D views of the terrain.

Entertainment Apps

Entertainment

  • Kindle – The Kindle is a great eReader, but with an iPad you can read the books in this app. I love the Kindle and the app and don’t read very many books that aren’t available for this app. The video below this list shows it off.
  • NewsRack ($4.99) – For reading Internet news sights I’d rather use my iPad and NewsRack than my computer and Google Reader. RSS is perfect on the iPad with NewsRack. I export links to articles I want to spend more time with to Instapaper. I call this an entertainment app, but I use it as much for blogging and work as I do for entertainment.
  • Hitpad – This is the newest app on my home page. It is a beautiful news site that makes it easy to find the most talked about subjects on the Internet in a number of categories including general news, entertainment, sports, technology and more.
  • Twitterific (Free with in-app upgrade) – I jump around between different Twitter apps, but right now I’m using Twitterific. Others I like are Osfoora and Echofon.
  • QuickShot ($.99) – This camera app will upload the pictures it takes on the iPad 2 directly to your DropBox account. Works great!
  • Nikon D3100 from QuickPro ($27.99) – I just bought a Nikon D3100 to replace my disappointing Canon PowerShot G12. This app is a nice set of video tutorials. Most of them are pretty basic, but they have been helpful. There are other QuickPro apps like this one for other cameras.

Games

I have two folders of games on my Home Screen, but I categorize them as my favorite and then the rest. The rest are here only because I want all my games close to one another. Here is the list of games I play most often on my iPad.

IMG 0742

  • Plants vs. Zombies ($6.99) – I was addicted to this tower defense game where you block zombies from your house by planting plants that hurl things at the zombies killing them.
  • Lux DLX 2 ($4.99) – A RISK clone with a ton of fun maps to make it interesting. You can see it below in the video after the list.
  • Fieldrunners ($7.99) – A tower defense game where you kill little guys before they escape through the other side of the playing field.
  • NFL 2011 ($4.99) – Football sim game.
  • RealGolf 2011 ($.99) – Golf sim game.
  • Space Invaders ($1.99) – A fun version of the classic. This was my first video game addiction back in the day.
  • Real Racing HD ($9.99) – The most enjoyable iPad racing game that takes advantage of the iPad 2 gyroscope and accelerometer.
  • Mancala FS5 (Free with in app upgrade) – A strategy board game played with beeds. One of my wife’s favorites.
  • Spades (Free) – The classic card game.
  • Atari Greatest Hits (Free with in app upgrades) – All of Atari’s best for only $15.

https://youtu.be/AW3nE1IJESg

14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. Elias

    04/12/2011 at 12:49 pm

    Nice list! That’s hilarious, I had the same problems with Yammer, so I dropped it. For the most part I have a lot of the same apps here on my iPad as well, but you missed my favorite…as a DISH customer and employee I use their TV Everywhere app. It’s awesome for waiting rooms, or sitting at the airport, but I use it a lot on my lunch break at work as well to catch up with some of my DVR’d shows.

  2. tivoboy

    04/12/2011 at 5:09 pm

    Wow, no slingbox or goodreader?

  3. themaria

    04/13/2011 at 2:13 am

    Hi Kevin! Chiming in from Yammer here. Sorry you are having issues with the Yammer app. The app you are most likely using is the old iPhone app, which is actually being replaced with an iPad-friendly app. It’s coming out shortly, and here’s a blogpost highlighting some of the improvements: https://bit.ly/yamipad

    Hopefully the new app will present a better user experience for you!

    – Maria Ogneva
    Head of Community, Yammer

  4. Best iPad 2 Apps

    04/21/2011 at 2:47 am

    Some of them are really cool, thanks for sharing

  5. Belinda Wong

    04/26/2011 at 11:17 pm

  6. Jessie628

    05/05/2011 at 3:35 am

    There’s without my fav ‘the vampire diaries’ and ‘the twilight saga’ in kindle .. :(

  7. Jacky Kandy

    07/05/2011 at 12:55 pm

    best ipad 2 apps for blu-ray, dvd, video, audio… ipad 2 transfer
    ipad2-apps.iresort.biz

  8. Jacky Kandy

    07/06/2011 at 2:37 am

    best ipad 2 apps: ipad2-apps.iresort.biz

  9. No name

    08/19/2011 at 5:18 am

    What does it mean when you say “free with in app upgrade”?

  10. Guess232

    04/17/2012 at 1:25 pm

    Thanks for all these applications. I will try on my iPad 3…

  11. Juils

    06/18/2012 at 6:27 am

    Great business app to add to this list is Beesy. I’m using it in my everyday life. I hate forget a thing ! the application generates for me a ToDo list from my tasks previously notes. I can also send by mail easily my minutes after a meeting https://www.beesapps.com/beesy-ipad-to-do/ .

  12. eleanorgossett

    11/09/2012 at 11:53 pm

    I see the superlative contents on your blogs and I perfectly enjoy going through them. Your articles and listing are inspirational.
    https://www.ipad-34u.com/

  13. Tia

    05/24/2013 at 3:24 am

    Hi Juils,

    Thank you for sharing Beesy, I discover this apps few weeks ago on the Evernote Trunk and it’s true, it’s a really great productivity tool for work. I use the app all the time to taking notes, share my files, to-do…
    I advice people who are interesting by productivity apps to keep an eye on Beesy, it’s really interesting. :)

  14. breezeofpali

    05/31/2014 at 4:18 pm

    I have this translucent camera on my mini ipad screen. A “friend” installed it. It has Siri, Device, Home, Favorites as icons if you open it up. How can i get rid of it?
    Thank u!

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