iPhone apps that work great on the iPad

Romney and I are always trying out new apps on the iPad, but let's face it: a large portion of the apps that we try are iPhone/iPod apps. Unfortunately, a lot of them don't look so well on the iPad once you increase the app to fill the entire screen. But here are a list of apps that we have found to be a lot of fun, even if the graphics aren't perfect.



Words with Friends: I've never been good at Scrabble so it's amazing I like this game at all. However, the fact that I can "cheat" by placing any tiles I want and then hitting the submit button to see if the word qualifies as a "real" word without the opponent knowing how many times I do this and without any penalties if I'm making up words, lets me play this game without any shame. Both Romney and I have multiple games going and are enjoying it a lot.



Battleship: We love the fact that we can play against each other over WiFi or Blueooth since I can use my iPhone and Romney uses the iPad. Brings back many great childhood memories, without the ones of lost pieces!



Peggle: My good friend, Justin Call, convinced me to try this game. It's a pretty fun game, one that Romney especially likes. Going full screen doesn't seem to make it less attractive.



Charadium: This game is a lot of fun to play with random opponents. It's pretty much pictionary over the internet. You take your turn drawing a word while the other people are guessing what you are drawing. You can choose to pass if you don't know how to draw the word it gives you, although you will be docked a few points. Then, someone else draws while you are trying to guess what it is. You can change the color of the "marker" to help out. Once, we had Romney's cousins over who have iPods. We all played a private game just with each other sitting in the living room. It was a great way to play without needing paper, makers, etc.



Bookworm: Another word game that Romney really likes. It gives you a pile of letters that you can try connecting in any sequence to make a word, so long as one letter is touching another. It's pretty addicting as you are always trying to form longer or more complicated words for higher points.

Well, I guess I should cap it here. However, there were several more but I'll just list them below. Definitely worth taking a look at.

Angry Birds
WordWarp
Bejeweled
Parachute Ninja
Veggie Samurai
Luxor
Car Mania

Great iPad Apps!

It's definitely nice having so much more screen real estate on the iPad compared to my iPhone. This really allows for some great apps that I've come to rely on for everyday use. Here are some of our favorite.



ABC Player: Although I wish the video quality were a tad bit better, this app is great. We love to watch WipeOut so if we miss our weekly dose, we can go straight to the iPad and watch it there. Romney also loves to watch Ugly Betty. There is a con with this app: the shows that are available only have a few episodes you can watch and they sometimes change up what shows they have available to watch, so today you might get a few episodes of your favorite show but tomorrow that show may no longer be offered. Still, an entertaining app for the iPad.



TapTap Radiation: Anyone who loves Guitar Hero or Rock Band will find some entertainment out of the Tap Tap apps for both iPhone. This one's specifically for the iPad and it's a lot of fun.



Betty Crocker Cookbook: What can I say? I love to cook!!! Okay, honestly, I don't like cooking and wish I never had to do it again. So this is actually one of Romney's favorite apps. Quite convenient when we're wondering what to make for dinner or for creating a shopping list before going to the grocery store so we make sure we have all the ingredients we need.



We Farm/We Rule: Since these games are pretty much the same thing, I'll clump them together as one game. I'm not sure why, but these games can be highly addictive. You build a farm or kingdom and accumulate money and experience points that allow you to enlarge your land and build new buildings or increase your farming capacities. I have several of Romney's cousins that I play with as I visit their farms or kingdoms to see how they are progressing and to submit an order from one of their businesses. It's all done in real time so I can place an order for a bag of grain. I then leave the app and when the designated amount of hours have passed, I can return and collect the bag of grain from my friend. They get money and experience points and I do as well. It's a time drainer but one I can't seem to stop playing.



MaxJournal: I'm not really sure why I wanted a journal app on the iPad. It's just such a convenient size and easy to take with you anywhere you go. I keep a journal and write in it once a week fairly regularly. I have to remember to take with me when we go on vacation. With the iPad, I'll always have a journal with me. I've been experimenting with taking notes with it as well since I like how it dates it for me. So far, it's only okay for that as there is no way to format the text for bolding, underlining, etc. But I'm still loving the format of the entries, almost like a calendar. Plus, I can always decide to export it via email as a pdf and make sure I don't lose what I've written so far.

Again, the list is too long, but here's a few more that I won't bother writing anything about. Check them out.

MultiPong
Memory Cards
Stick Golf
Netflix
Food Network
Harbor Master
BBC News

Apple's iPad - Review

Romney and I have done a bit of traveling and will do some more before the year is out. Since we don't own a laptop anymore, we used traveling as an excuse to buy an iPad. We've been thinking about it for a while, wondering if it would be a tool Romney could use for her work, assuming we got the 3G version that would allow her to access the internet anywhere. Maps would come in handy for her driving from appointment to appointment. Before taking off, she could consult her map by just typing in the address and it would give her step-by-step directions. Plus it could work well as a notebook to take notes at her visits and in any staff meetings. Anyway, she decided it might not be worth it. However, with the traveling coming up, and me staying away from home longer than she would, we decided to go ahead and get one.

First, let me tell you, we LOVE our iPad (Romney as much as me!). It's become our little companion during the evenings. We do all kinds of things with it like playing games, surfing the internet, using Facebook, taking notes at meetings, watching TV shows, reading, looking up recipes, and a myriad of other things. I've been reading about how other people interact with theirs and how most people don't take it around with them throughout their normal day. They say it is more of a couch computer and I'd have to say that's true. It is so nice to just sit on the couch and watch a show in the evening on the TV while using the iPad to do other things. It's just so relaxing. However, I do take it to work every day and use it during lunch. (I've tried several times to get Romney to take it to work like we originally thought of doing, but she doesn't seem too interested anymore.) I used to pitch in and pay for the newspaper at work and read some of it during lunch. Now with the iPad, I don't pitch in anymore and just read the stories I'm interested in on my iPad.

I will do other posts on the types of apps we have on it and what we really like to use it for. Truthfully, I could probably do tons of posts as there's so much about it that we like. But I'll keep it to a minimum.