The iPad Is Da/Arrivé/Here/Qui - Here Is How To Start
There you go, Apple has officially launched the iPad in 9 new countries today. Well, the iPad actually didn't wait on Apple to go around the world, and one in four iPads bought in the US has already flown the country by now. Also, an important amount of pre-orders has already been delivered early throughout the week, so the launch is not really that much of a massive event.
Anyway, for our international readers who just got their iPad, here is some help for you. Short after unpacking and starting the device, you're going to feel like you don't know what to do with it. This feeling is not going to leave right away as it takes a couple days to get used to this new toy. What you're going to need are apps, and that's where the fun starts:
Free apps
I would tell you to start with some free apps, so you get the hang of it. Unfortunately, there aren't many good ones. Well, there is iBooks of course, Tweetdeck for Twitter and Dropbox for your files or even Epicurious for your recipes. The rest of the free apps you might be interested in will be local apps that provide news and different other kinds of free content. Be aware that the very popular video streaming apps from the US like Netflix or ABC won't work overseas.
Running iPhone apps
At that point you're going to think wait, what about all these iPhone apps I've spending all my cash on for years? Well, they're not for your iPad. You can run them on it, but you're going to be disappointed with the quality. That is unless you jailbreak (here is how), and install FullForce using Cydia (Here is how to use Cydia). That's an important point, while jailbreaking on the iPhone is not essential, it clearly is on the iPad. FullForce will allow you to run iPhone apps on your iPad in fullscreen without quality depreciation. It's not compatible with every single app (no games), but it's a great improvement already.
Paid apps
Alright, so now that you've spent a fortune on your iPad, let's get some paid apps for it. That's where it's going to get tough because good iPad apps are not cheap. First there is the iWork suite, it's beautiful, works great and your friends will love it. On the other hand, that's its only use as I haven't found myself using it even once so far.
Then, there are apps that provide content. For example Wired or our AppAdvice universal app, if you like RSS feeds then Netnewswire is the only way to go. To watch videos you're probably going to love AirVideo, which allows you to stream films and shows from your computer to your iPad without much effort.
There are games too, and let me tell you that even if you're not into iPhone games, you should still give these a try. A nice way to discover the iPad's gaming capabilities are Asphalt 5 HD, Flight Control HD and Plants vs Zombies HD.
Lastly, a shout out to my personal favorite, Instapaper. It allows you to save online articles on your browser, to access them later on your iPad.
Yes, good iPad apps are rare and expensive for now. Just give it some time however and stick around, as we know there are many more to come. In the meantime, you can check out our compilation of iPad apps for the Wifi and 3G iPad launch. Some of them are US-only, but this might still help you find some more:
