How the iPad works for me.

Guys! I know I've been slacking for a while but it's coz so much has been happening.. I've been away. Went to Kerala for a friend's wedding and was soo nervous about travelling with the lil dude but in the end it all worked out well. He was quite ok during the flights thankfully and the trip was quite fun. The whole gang was there and everyone got sooo wasted at the after party. For the first time ever I got to witness all this sober- very entertaining indeed. ;D
This wedding coincided with my birthday and so it was doubly special.. And just as I predicted I got an iPad 2 from the husband. And I've been playing around with it since to see if it can replace my laptop. And I'm quite happy with it so far.

What do I use it for?
Blogging, editing photos (just the lighting) and making collages for my blog, watching tv shows and movies, sketching, browsing and playing the occasional game.
So after extensive research I downloaded these apps that make doing these activities a whole lot easier.

On but before all this I think I must mention the case I got for this. While the original case looks sleek and beautiful, it won't work for me coz err..I sometimes tend to drop stuff. Yup, I'm quite the clumsy one. So wanted a case with more protection. And I found this rotating swivel type case that lets u rest the iPad in 2 positions each in either landscape or portrait mode. I really wanted the hot pink or purple variant but it wasn't available in India and of those available I thought the red looked hot so got that instead. It's really cool though. Also has that built in magnet that puts the iPad to sleep and wakes it up when u shut/close the case.

Moving on to the apps...
For Blogging:

Blogger Plus
Price: $2.99
This supports Wordpress and blogspot and is v v simple to use. You can even add pictures and format text or add links or tags. Very easy to use. In fact this post has been composed and posted via this app.

For sketching:
I like to sketch some designs sometimes. For clothes, mainly.

Draw for iPad
Price: free
This is a basic sketching/ note taking app that only has some basic coloured pencils as drawing tools. But what puts taxable other such drawing apps is the ability to undo last move and also has some preset templates for playing tic tac toe, dots game and some word game. You can even save the image to your photo library.

Sketchbook express
Price: Free
I'm sure anyone who's ever wanted to own a sketching app has heard of this app by autodesk. It's got a huge range of tools and brushes and you can mirror, fill in or even add images from library. This is the lite version and has fewer brushes and tools but it's all I'll ever need, perhaps more so I'm not buying the full version.

Finger sketch paint for iPad
Price : Free
This again is a cool app for quick sketching. This is the free version and in this you cannot export images to your library but no problem coz you can always take a screen shot.
How to take a screenshot?
Simple, just press the home and power buttons simultaneously and the screen will flash white and the screenshot will be saved in your photo library.
Anyhoodles, this app is cool and has some in built shading options that make sketching easy. No fancy brushes though.

For editing lighting in photos and to make collages for the blog:
I also have the ipad camera connector kit that enables the iPad to read an SD card directly so you can click pics on your camera, take out the memory card and transfer images onto the iPad for editing and uploading directly. Boom!

Photo Toaster
Price: Free

I have the free version which is called photo toaster jr and has some basic presets as well as customisable adjustments for brightness, contrast, white balance and vignette apart from usual suspects of monochrome, sepia etc. You can even crop or rotate your photo in this. This is all I use to edit the lighting in my photos that I upload on my blog to bring out true colours coz sometimes the camera fails to capture that. Decent app, no frills or complicated stuff. Works well for me. You could save the edited photo to your library or post on social networking sites.

Photo ripper finger design
Price: free

This is an extremely simple app that you can use to cut images freehand to make collages. V handy for me to again put together images to upload on my blog.

MoodBoard
Price: Free, $9.99

What I have is the free version which works well for me. With this app you can create a moodboard for your design projects. You could add images and texts and move them around, add arrow marks or tack pins to present it well. The best part- this saves everything as layers so it becomes easier to edit them. Very useful app.

For watching TV shows/movies:

CineX Player
Price: $3.99

This app will play all your avi files and even add subtitles if the srt file is available. But this doesn't play mkv files. So why did I get his? For one awesomely cool feature- it can covert any video into a 3D video that you can watch with 3D glasses. Cool or what? This is available for an additional $0.99 but totally worth it. So much fun, you guys!

AV Player HD
Price: $2.99

Good app, plays all formats including mkv, supports subtitles. I picked this app over some others coz this allows you to receive files from your laptop wirelessly, all you gotta do is key in the ip address. Pretty neat, no?

So yup, that's about all the apps you'll need if your requirements are the same as mine. :)
Plus you an carry an iPad in your bag and can blog from anywhere. You just need your camera, the connector and your iPad. Oh and a wifi connection or a 3G sim. Simple. So beauty bloggers, skip your next haul n pick this up instead. :)