The New iPad 2 Apps: A Round-Up

In case you weren't already psyched up for next week.

Mar 2 2011, 3:23pm CST | by Robert Evans

Today at the big iPad 2 event, Steve Jobs unveiled his latest tablet sensation. As much of a star as the new iPad is, the major focus of today's event was the apps. Apple has 65,000 tablet apps to Android 3.0's 100. So, let's get into it.

Here's what we know about the first wave of new and updated iPad 2 apps:

iMovie: The iMovie app allows large-screen multi-touch editing of HD videos. It supports multiple audio tracks and three new themes: Neon, Simple and CNN Report. Your iPad is basically an independent short movie studio with this app. Get a microUSB compatible boom mic and a stand for the iPad and iMovie's automatic face detection and panning effect support will do the rest.

Videos created with iMovie can be sent via email, MMS or MobileMe. You can also send them to your HTDV via Apple TV or export them to your mac or PC. There's also full iTunes support, so you can shoot video on your iPhone 4 (or 5) and then edit and upload via your iPad 2.

GarageBand 2: The bar for producing a professional quality album has never been lower. Want to use your iPad 2 as a drum set, keyboard, synthesizer or guitar? You can now. Or you can record real instruments on your iPad 2 and mix up to eight tracks in the recording studio. You'll even be able to mix and match real instruments and touch instruments, if your band needs a little bit of filler.

iBooks: The iBookstore now contains over 150,000 titles. Random House iBooks are included as of today, and Jobs made a point of announcing over 100 million iBooks sold. There's one other reason I included the iBooks app in this round-up. The iPad 2 is a very different device, from a reader's perspective.

For one thing, the dual-core processor will handle things like searching for in-text terms on Wikipedia or rendering animated books much better. More importantly, the iPad 2 weighs less than its predecessor. 1.3 pounds, versus 1.5. That may still be a little heavy for comfortable bedroom reading, but it is a big improvement from the iPad. And every Honeycomb tablet yet announced.

Keynote: Apple has just announced a new Keynote Themes collection. Users will now have twenty new themes to choose from for $19.99, or ten Themes in Action for $23.99. All thirty new themes will be available for $29.99. Five sizes are available for each theme including- on the iPad 2- full HD themes. For more info on the new themes, check out this page.

PhotoBooth: This app has finally made it off the Mac and onto the iPad. Using the front-facing camera, you'll be able to snap quick headshots and then edit or warp them to your pleasure. By applying a simple effects pane, you can create eight "new" versions of your picture. This one is going to be really popular with drunk people.

FaceTime for iPad: This app has been all-but a foregone conclusion since the iPhone 4 version launched. Have friends with an iPhone 4 (or 5)? Add their name to your favorites list and you'll be able to video call them with the click of a single button. You can also switch between the front and rear-facing cameras during a call.

Updates

All over the app

Source: New York Post

Using an iPad without the right apps is like driving a Ferrari with a Ford engine — especially with the high-definition “Retina” display of the latest version of the iPad. To really unlock the tablet’s power, head to t ...
Full article at: New York Post More like this 3 hours ago

App of the Week: Diet Coda for iPad

Source: The iPhone Blog

I bought the original Coda for Mac the minute Panic put it on sale and have used it day-in, day-out ever since. Coming from Macromedia/Adobe's Dreamweaver, it was a breath of fresh air. That won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with ...
Full article at: The iPhone Blog More like this 5 hours ago, 5:57pm CDT

Fiserv creates iPad app for U.S. Bank

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Fiserv Inc. announced last week it has created an iPad app for U.S. Bank - the first of many tablet apps the Brookfield financial technology company expects to sell to banks and credit unions as more consumers gravitate to the mobile devices. The new ...
Full article at: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel More like this 6 hours ago, 4:46pm CDT

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Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.