Thursday, May 3, 2012

First Apps To Get You Started On The iPad And iPhone

One of the most common questions I get is what apps should I download once I get a new iPhone or new iPad, especially the free ones?

Well, I have decided to put a list together for those who are new to the iOS and the apps on the list are meant as a way to get you going on the iOS ecosystem. And they are all free.

The apps that are mentioned here are mostly universal. In case you do not now what universal means, universal apps are those that are designed to run both on the iPad and the iPhone.

Some apps can only run on the iPad as they are designed specifically for the screen and controls of the iPad, but any iPhone specific app can also run on the iPad, but at a scaled up version (x2), which sometimes can result in pixelation.

I will talk about screen resolutions between the various generations of iPhone and iPad another time, but for now, if you are looking to get an app, the ideal is a universal app, and it is indicated with a plus sign next to the price icon on the App Store.

Facebook App

The first app for anyone to get is the free Facebook app. It is universal, but runs in different screen layouts for the iPad and the iPhone. For those who are totally addicted to Facebook, this app is an absolute must and I think it needs no further recommendation.

You can do almost everything on the app, but it is sometimes quite buggy but there are constant updates so you should be fine in the long run.

Flipboard

The next app you should get that is free and universal is the Flipboard app. It is basically a news aggregator app that can compile a list of news summary from various websites and RSS feeds.

So, whether you want to catch up on tech news like CNET and AllthingsD, or sports like the UK Guardian, you can just launch this and read most of the summaries.

The app works like a flipboard and the presentation is quite cool and the retrieval is fast. Best of all, it is free so there is no reason not to download this.

PPS

For TV and movie entertainment, the best free app is PPS, which is a China developed app that can stream or download TV shows, movies and variety shows straight to your iPad and iPhone.

It is also universal and I find PPS to have the latest and most popular content available. Believe it or not, you can even stream EPL and F1 here!

Quality wise, it is akin to VCD quality for the live streams, but for movies, they are almost DVD level. The only downside to this app is that it is in Mandarin Chinese, and the content comes with Chinese commentaries and subtitles which you cannot alter.

Bloomberg

For those who like to be updated on the latest business news, Bloomberg TV+ is an absolute must. It is only on the iPad, but it is free and it is beautifully structured to bring you both live Blooomberg TV as well as archived shows like the Charlie Rose show.

Unfortunately, the streaming can be a bit testing at times, but when it is working it works beautifully. The only flaw now is that it is not optimized for Retina iPad at this moment, though I think it will be properly be updated soon.

Apart from these apps, there are numerous free social media, news and entertainment apps that are pretty great as well.

But this is the great thing about the iOS AppStore, there are simply tons of alternative apps that do pretty much everything!

So enjoy these free apps and I will talk about some other great but not free apps in a later post.

1 comment:

  1. Well! Now apps are the great invention in Mobile and medial Player. I think Some apps can only run on the iPad as they are designed specifically for the screen and controls of the iPad, but any iPhone specific app can also run on the iPad, but at a scaled up version (x2), which sometimes can result in pixelation. Now i want to free download Android TV Player apps.. But i could not find here.

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