Wikipedia Apps for the iPad

Wikipanion is the essential Wikipedia app for the iPad. The free version is great and if you are in need of offline storage, queueing up stories, and a tabbed browsing mode then the pro version is available. What makes Wikipanion great is the combination of great customization options, export options, and interface. The app supports AirPrint. The app will actually format the page to look beautiful on paper and is a big win for those needing a paper version of your article. The app also supports tweeting your articles, emailing a link, opening within Safari, searching within a page, looking up words in the Wiktionary, adjustable font sizes, and serif mode. The app also features an easy way to find related stories, jumping quickly through the article, and bookmarking articles. The combination of all of these things make it the essential Wikipedia app.

Discover has a unique approach to Wikipedia. Each day the app will deliver a different Wikipedia based magazine. The format of the magazine is very readable and a great way to learn about a wide variety of topics. In the landscape view it will even show you related articles to further your knowledge. A simple upwards swipe will let you search Wikipedia and access the stories you want to read. A simple swipe down gains access to your history. The app is both unique and well thought out. Another nifty feature is the ability to hold down on a word and a dictionary definition will appear. The app is better than many of the paid apps. It is simply a great app to learn new things. The user interface puts it above many of the other apps out there. The app lacks some functionality and that is why it is still only a notable app.

Articles offers a great interface to quickly search through Wikipedia. The main feature of this app is the interface. The app is beautiful to use and read with. The app lacks in every other area. The only other options include: language selection, multiple pages open (like Safari), and bookmarks. The app does provide some nice built in bookmarks. These include nearby stories, surprise me (picks a random article), famous paintings, artists, and art periods. Most of these bookmarks could easily be added into your built in Safari browser. The app is notable because it is beautiful to use and read with. The reason it didn’t win the essential app is the lack of features for a $5 app.

Wikihood is the free version of Wikihood Plus. The plus version offers a few more categories to search for and in the future will offer even more features. The app is designed to access Wikipedia by searching for stories in a certain location. The app does a great job with this. The app lets you sort by distance, relevance, ratings, or in a map view. The app does a great job at its goal. If you are looking for a version of Wikipedia just for location this is the app to get. If you are looking for a more fully featured Wikipedia app this is not for you.

When you launch up Simplepedia there is an option to tap for the featured daily article. The app features some more advanced features such as mailing an article link, opening the article in Safari, search within a page for words, adjust the font size, adjust the line height, and turn on or off hyphenation. A cool feature of the app is once you view an article it is automatically stored for offline access. It does this in the background as you are reading. The customizability of the app is better than many, but not at the level that you can in apps like Instapaper. The reason this app is ranked under the decent apps is that it feels still too much like a web browser. The app is wonderful, but much of what is done can already be done with the Safari/Instapaper combo.