I guess this is good and bad news. On the one hand, as long as you have your phone on you, you’ll never get stuck in a situation where a very competent word processor like Pages  is out of reach (not to mention the spreadsheet and presentation offerings of Numbers and Keynote )… But on the other hand, now we have no excuse not to be making progress on our projects at all time–as iWork is now even more portable than when the whole thing was tucked on our iPads.

There are no surprises when it comes to price. Each package is still available for about ten bucks a piece (with the Keynote Remote still selling separately for 99 cents, fyi). Those with any of the iWork products on their iPads can simply download the update and copy the universal app onto the iPhone… This news is exciting and long awaited, but let’s not ignore that fact that it still might not be optimal to attempt to produce masterful documents/presentations on such a small screen. We’ll be anxiously awaiting the first reviews to roll in, as everyone discovers what kind of job Apple did in altering the iPad software for iPhone. The screenshots look good, but the real test will be when you’re ten minutes from work and remember that you have a presentation due upon arrival. Then we’ll see just how productive your iPhone can be.

Making the iWork apps universal to work with both the iPhone and iPad give Apple’s premium productivity apps an edge over the competing office apps such as QuickOffice.  We now have another great reason to go with iWork Suite for the iOS instead of the competition.

iWork Productivity Apps go Universal, Available for iPhone now is a post by App Chronicles

This probably isn’t something you’ll use everyday. But we’ve all come up against a situation where it’s necessary to generate some spreadsheet data or change text alignment, and when it comes to Google Docs these alterations weren’t possible (or at least not without a ton of effort) until now. Google is not making a big deal about this; rather, they’re offering a link to the desktop version of Google Docs “for one-off times when you need to make an advanced change.”

They still point you to the new mobile editor for everyday use, calling it “fast and lightweight.” Still, it’s nice to have an option for those unique situations where more depth is called for, so thanks to Google for recognizing this.

IPad Now Compatible With Desktop Version of Google Docs is a post by App Chronicles

iWork vs QuickOffice vs Docs To Go vs Office2

For most iPad users who want to make their device into a productivity machine, one of the first apps to seek out is an Office app – something to create and edit documents and/or spreadsheets. Searching the App Store turns up a fair number of contenders for this, all of them with a fair mix of both glowing and less than positive reviews. We here at App Chronicles decided to examine and compare the leading apps side-by-side, helping users decide which app is the best choice.

There are four top contenders for the crown of best office productivity app, and we have looked at them all. The contenders are:

• The iWork apps, Pages and Numbers, from Apple  (Full Review of  Pages, Full Review of Numbers)
• Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad, from Quickoffice, Inc. (Full Quickoffice for iPad Review)
• Office² HD, from Byte² (Full Office² HD Review)
• Documents To Go® Premium, from DataViz, Inc. (Full Review of Docs to Go Premium)

The apps have been evaluated in five areas that are important to productivity in the modern workplace: Word Processing, Spreadsheets, MS Office Compatibility, Cloud Support, and Other Considerations.  Hopefully comparisons between these iPad Office apps will aid iPad users in selecting the office apps best suited for them.

Word Processing Features

Word processing is probably the first productivity demand many users will want for their iPad. And here, hands down, the iWork app, Pages, wins the battle of the word processors. It is more fully featured, more fully functional, and more user friendly than any of the other word processing apps. It has robust and well-implemented controls, excellent ability to insert tables, graphs, and shapes, and extensive formatting and layout options. It’s simply the best choice on the iPad for document creation.

There’s a wide gap between Pages and the word processing features of the second place contender, QuickOffice, and a much narrower gap between QuickOffice and the other apps. Basically, all three edit on a more basic level with fewer features, bells, and whistles. QuickOffice rises above the others, however, in two areas. First, its interface design is better and more innovative than the others (see, for example, its visual page scrolling). Second, it is the only one of the three second tier apps that offers page layout features.

Spreadsheet Features

Excel is a ubiquitous part of many workplaces, and so spreadsheet functionality is an important feature. Once again, the clear winner is the iWork app, Numbers. Even though Numbers is not a perfect spreadsheet app (see our three-star review), it is clearly the best available in terms of features. Especially notable here is the app’s use of the spreadsheet-friendly and function-friendly keypads, which make data entry much easier than in any other app; and its charting and graphing ability. For straight up iPad spreadsheet functionality, Numbers has it.

The functionality gap between Numbers and the rest of the pack isn’t quite so pronounced, but it is definitely a gap. As with word processing, the level of functionality between Office², Docs to Go, and QuickOffice is fairly level. And so again, the nod has to go to the app with the best interface and implementation, which is, again, QuickOffice.

MS Office Compatibility

For most users, compatibility with Microsoft Office — the most dominant productivity app in both workplaces and schools — is a must.  Here, the so-far dominant iWork apps are markedly different.

Pages is perfectly compatible with Microsoft office, able to work with files in both DOC and DOCX format.  This is a trait that it shares with both QuickOffice and Docs to Go. In all three instances, the transfer from Office to app isn’t perfect, and some more advanced document formatting will likely be lost. There just does not exist a perfect app for dealing with heavily formatted DOCX files. Pages does better than the others, however, and QuickOffice does better than Docs to Go because of its page layout preservation.

QuickOffice and Docs to Go will also handle XLS and XLSX files. Again, neither app does so perfectly, and XLSX files seem to lose the most in terms of advanced formatting. But both are functional enough.

Office² falls short in this category. It only creates and edits DOC and XLS files — that is, Office 97-2003 format, which is no longer the default standard. It can read DOCX and XLSX files, but can’t edit or create them.

Finally, there is Numbers, which completely fails here. While it can read and edit XLS and XLSX files, its output is entirely in Mac format. It does not output Excel-format spreadsheets, and Excel cannot open the Numbers file format. Numbers is useless to anyone who needs to export data to any program except Mac-based iWork.

Workflow & Cloud Support

Cloud computing is clearly the dominant trend in file storage and sharing, especially for a wireless device like the iPad, and so cloud support is vital. This is the one area where the three other apps win easily over iWork. Simply put: if you want to use Google Docs, Dropbox, or other cloud services, you have to look beyond iWork. As of this writing, neither iWork app offers any cloud support beyond the ability to e-mail a file.

Docs to Go, QuickOffice, and Office² all support popular cloud services, such as Google Docs, Dropbox, MobileMe, and Box. In this category, it’s a draw; just make sure that the program you choose is compatible with the cloud service you prefer, as some of the smaller services (like iCloud) aren’t served through every app.

Other Considerations

There are some other things to note for consideration. For one thing, Pages and Numbers are separate apps. This is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending upon your needs. If you don’t need a spreadsheet app, for example, then you don’t have to pay for Numbers. But since Pages alone is $10, you’re not exactly saving money versus the current purchase price of either QuickOffice ($10) or Office² ($8). And if you need both, the Pages/Numbers combo is actually the most expensive option.

The other apps in question all function as a single unit which, on an iPad currently lacking multitasking, can make swapping between document and spreadsheet a little faster. This does means that each needs a more robust file management interface. Here, QuickOffice definitely wins. They put a lot of thought into creating a full-featured and iPad-friendly file interface, and the result is something that’s smooth and intuitive.

It should also be noted that of all the apps, Office² was the one that we found the most problematic in our individual review. While its core functionality was not necessarily less than QuickOffice or Docs to Go, the program was simply inelegant in its design, and it the version reviewed also contained a number of bugs. It solidly ranks at the bottom of our list, and also has the worst App Store rating of this group of apps.

The Verdict

If you own a Mac and sync a lot, or if you plan to keep your work on your iPad, then the clear winner here is the iWork Suite. Apple knew what they were doing when they designed Pages and Numbers, and both of them come with more features than any of the other contenders. They’re nice apps that come with the backing of the very designers of the iPad. And if Apple ever fuels them with cloud support (and Numbers with Excel compatibility), then they will be the hands-down winner for most iPad users.

For most users, though, Office compatibility and cloud support probably matter.  If you use a Windows PC,  and/or you need your iPad to be compatible with online services and the computers of friends and coworkers, then you want one of the other apps. Here, QuickOffice is the best choice. While it shares a lot in terms of basic features with Office2 and Documents to Go, it is simply a better app. It is well designed with a slick interface and fewer bugs. For iPad users who want an app to insert into their daily workflow, QuickOffice should be the app of choice.

App Store and Review Links:

• The iWork apps, Pages and Numbers, from Apple (Full Review of Pages, Full Review of Numbers)
• Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad, from Quickoffice, Inc. (Full Quickoffice for iPad Review)
• Office² HD, from Byte² (Full Office² HD Review)
• Documents To Go® Premium, from DataViz, Inc. (Full Review of Docs to Go Premium)

Choosing the Best iPad Office Productivity App is a post by App Chronicles

Office2 has no title screen; it opens directly onto a blank screen, not even calling up a file list by default. This is slightly annoying, especially as competing apps either logically open to a file menu or, if the app closed with a document open, conveniently reopened the app for you (especially while iPad awaits the arrival of multitasking). This is the first small but annoying thing you will experience with Office2, but it will not be the last.

The word processor is purely a text input interface, with no page layout options. It has the expected set of basic formatting options: Bold, Italic, Underline, size, color, paragraph indentation and alignment, bullets and numbers, and a limited number of fonts, plus basic table and image insertion. It’s all presented in a very Spartan black and white interface reminiscent of an iPhone-level interface, even though Office2 HD is not a Universal app. Things function okay in-app; you’ll be able to do what drafting you need to do, though you won’t be able to perform any real document formatting (margins, spacing, etc). You also won’t be able to change your file name, as there’s no “Save As” function.

Its value as a word processor is very limited, however, by one significant issue: it cannot edit the newer, open standard DOCX format used by Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010. You can only view DOCX and can only create and edit the older DOC format. This is a strange limitation. For one thing, DOCX is the new standard in most offices and classrooms. For another, there are other competing Office apps that have no problem editing DOCX files. Because of this, Office2 may be useful for editing on iPad, but becomes severely handicapped when sharing files with others or moving and editing then on cloud services.

The same lack of 2007 and 2010 support affects the spreadsheet side of things. And like nearly every spreadsheet app available for iPad, its spreadsheeting options are more like carryovers from the word processing side, with a few extra features for dealing with functions, formulas, and cells. Its functions are not terribly convenient to use, however. There’s a dedicated button for SUM, but the rest are crammed into a single menu structure and have no autofilling or function assistance.  One thing Office2 gets right here is supporting frozen rows and columns, something other apps lack.

Office2 offers viewing functionality for a good selection of documents, DOC and DOCX, XLS and XLSX, PDF,PPT, and a variety of graphics formats. I was able to open all the file types. However, whenever I was loading a larger file off the cloud, Office2 took a long time to download and open compared to similar apps on the same wifi connection. And, Office2 even froze up on me when I tried to open some significantly large files (like PDFs of more than 50 pages).

That freezing is indicative of a number of little bugs in the Office2 system. For example, if I hold down the backspace key, it will delete about 30 characters, and then freeze out. The key stops working until I tap in the input field, after which it will work again … for about 30 characters. As someone who does a lot of writing on the iPad, I find this terribly inconvenient, as deleting a sentence or two is absolutely commonplace and my sentences tend to be mkre than 30 characters long.

The app has also crashed on me a couple of times, twice as I was navigating and loading from my cloud services. I think it might have to do with larger files; both times I was trying to view long or graphics heavy documents.

And speaking of graphics, Office2 allows you do do basic graphic insertion into DOC files, but whenever I tried to do it, the app froze on me. When I reopened the document, the pic would always be there, but that’s small consolation for such a significant bug.

Office2 got a lot of attention when the iPad first launched because it was the first out of the gate to offer iPad users a cloud-friendly alternative to iWork.  But the app simply feels rushed, more of an upscales iPhone app than a standalone “HD” app for the iPad … and that’s after a flurry of post-release version updates. And, lets face it, the lack of DOCX and XLSX editing is a major, major problem. One can only hope that the developers make some significant improvements to the app in future versions. For now, Office2 stands as the cheapest of the cloud-friendly productivity apps, but be wanted: you get what you pay for.

Our Score: 2/5

Office2 was available for $7.99 at the time of this review.

Office2 HD Review: Limited, Flawed is a post by App Chronicles

Documents to Go is a universal app, but in this review, I focused primarily on Documents to Go as an iPad productivity app. I did so because Documents to Go is one of several apps vying to be the productivity leader on the iPad, where demand for such apps is high. And in that vein, there are some things I really liked. For one thing, it has cloud support, something the premier iPad productivity offering, iWork, sorely lacks. (I have complained about that before.). Documents to Go offers cloud access to all the major providers, including  Google Docs and Dropbox.

Documents to Go offers three editors, including a documents editor, a spreadsheet editor, and a presentation editor. For each, you can either create new documents within the app or import pre-existing Office format documents. It also allows you to view PDFs and a wide range of image documents.  It wants to be your go-to app for all your document use needs.

[Yes, users of other iPhone and iPad productivity apps, it does allow PowerPoint editing. But don’t get your hopes up. You basically get to add and format text in outline mode, with almost no ability to control layout or slide design and zero image functionality.]

The interface and design of Documents to Go can best be described as utilitarian. Sternly black and white, with few fancy transitions, screen wipes, or other nods to style. It’s definitely form over function. For example, in the word processor they wisely placed the formatting tools above the keyboard, instead of at the top of the page. This makes then quicker to access while typing, like Function keys on a keyboard. A wise choice…

…for the word processor, at least. For some reason, that sensibility doesn’t carry over into the spreadsheet  and presentation editors. Seriously? I can’t bold the text in a cell while I type it? Apparently not.

This is sort of the way with Documents to Go. For every feature I liked in the program, there was another that made me scratch my head.

For example, like every Office type program I have tried on the iPad, Documents to Go strips any and all complex formatting from the document, preserving only the most basic RTF-level features (bold, italics, etc.). It is, like everything in its class, for basic editing, not for page layout or desktop publishing. But Documents to Go is also the only one that strips page layout.  It functions the same as if I had Microsoft Word in Web Layout mode. This makes sense on the small iPhone screen, but not for the larger iPad. When I compose on the iPad, I want a rough idea of page count, margins, etc. To me, it’s an obvious omission.

As a perhaps even worse example, the cloud synching isn’t total. Whenever you pull a document from the cloud, it downloads and saves it locally. Then, you have to manually re-upload it later, and it uploads it as a new file. I ended up with four versions of this review in my Dropbox account on account of this belabored system of synching, sequentially marked (1), (2), etc.  Definitely not my idea of convenient or useful, though I could see it as a useful feature if I were sharing a document with others.

I could go into details about the various apps, but my reaction to them was all the same. While there are some definite pluses to Documents to Go, it just doesn’t strike me as a very polished or user-friendly app. There are certainly other options on the iPad, especially at its rather steep $15 price tag. If you need a practical editor for on-the-go work, it’s certainly a functional app that will get the job done. But I think that Documents to Go needs a few new version updates before it really solidifies itself as a tool I’d want to use regularly. There are better options out there.

Our Score: 3/5.

Doc to Go Premium is $14.99 at the time of this review.

Documents to Go Premium Review: Rough Around the Edges is a post by App Chronicles

Quickoffice’s core components are a word processor, Quickword; a spreadsheet editor, Quicksheet; and a PowerPoint viewer. It’s easiest to reference our recent Quickoffice Mobile Connect for iPhone review for a full rundown of each component, because almost nothing has changed here in terms of functionality and features:

• Quickword is still a great word processor, albeit one with no ability to insert, manipulate, or remove images, charts, or graphs.  They’ve added some formatting and navigational aides, like persistent formatting menus and a slick page-scrolling feature, which help you better work with existing documents. The problems with lost formatting in imported .docx files remains, though.
• Quicksheet is still a decent spreadsheet system that’s great for managing and displaying data in an existing workbook. It’s still very limited in its spreadsheet creation tools, though, and like Quickword it will strip fancy formatting from your .xlsx files.
• The PowerPoint viewer is still mediocre at best, capable of opening and displaying but with a lot of formatting errors. Editing functionality has not yet been introduced.

Quickoffice, by its very nature, invites comparison to the iWork titles. While it’s not quite apples and oranges, the two really come from two different directions. Whereas iWork seemed designed with content creation in mind, QuickOffice for iPad is all about inserting itself into your workflow.

Almost every refinement, every improvement, every additional feature in Quickoffice for iPad relates to workflow and the management of documents both between the ipad and cloud serbices and also across cloud services. And in this, Quickoffice for iPad hits a home run.  Quickoffice lets you not only acess, but edit, copy, move, and manage documents from all the major cloud servers. It supports Google Docs, Dropbox, Box, MobileMe, and iDisk. Its dashboard has been designed so that every file in each of these services can be manipulated on-screen, without switching windows or hopping back and forth. The file management screen is perhaps my favorite addition to the iPad app, a feature that takes full advantage of the iPad’s larger screen.

Quickoffice really did an excellent job on file management.

Quickoffice for iPad also creates in, saves to, and shares with Microsoft Office, supporing .doc, .docx, .xls, and .xlsx formats. This alone makes it more valuable than iWork to the 80% or more of us whose workplaces have adopted Office or Office-compatible productivity suites.

(It should be noted that, at the time of this writing, Quickoffice is having an issue working with some Google Docs files, due to changes made in the Google Docs system within days of the release of the app. The developers have stated that this should be fixed in the apps next update.)

There are things keeping Quickoffice from being perfect right now.  The whole PowerPoint viewer is a bit meh, and is anticipated editing feature still isn’t there–it has been coming to the various iterations of Quickoffice “soon” for some time now. Then there are the little but noticeable missing options in Quickword, and the more significant and limiting missing options in Quicksheet, mostly as it comes to creating spreadsheets or entering data into more than one cell at a time. So as a standalone content creation device, Quickoffice for iPad has some way to go.

As a part of your daily workflow, however, it’s top notch. And since the developer has a history of supporting and updating their apps, Quickoffice for iPad will only get better. With the iWork suite, Apple focused on features, but dropped the ball on functionality by ignoring the need for workflow and Office compatibility. Quickoffice for iPad doesn’t make these mistakes, and as such, even with its current limitations, it is a great choice for anyone who needs a portable document companion in their work.

Our Score: 4/5.

At the time of this review, Quickoffice for iPad was on sale for the introductory price of $9.99, which makes it $20 cheaper than iWork. Quickoffice for iPad is available in the App Store.

QuickOffice HD for iPad Review: Solid Workflow Support is a post by App Chronicles

ToDo (that’s “too-doo” BTW, not “toh-doh”) is a GTD app, a “to-do list” just like the name implies. It has a full-featured set of options for creating tasks, groups of tasks, multi-step projects, and checklists of items. ToDo lets you track and organize your to-do list and also to sync your tasks between your iDevices and either the Appigo Sync program installed on your dock computer, or an online Toodledo account.

ToDo for iPad. Even though it was the second of the pair released, I have quickly come to think of ToDo for iPad as the “base” application of the ToDo system. It is a full-featured app with a great-looking interface and the screen real-estate to be truly functional.

Like the best GTD apps, ToDo gives you a host of options for creating, organizing, and tracking tasks. Because ToDo offers a range of task management and grouping options, I can create  a functional and–more importantly for me–quick-glance picture of my day and week. It’s got all sorts of prioritizing, flagging, and sorting options as well, so that I can keep key tasks where they’ll draw my attention first.

In addition, everything about the way ToDo for iPad is designed lends itself to easy use. I like to set up tasks on the iPad partly because of the visual benefits. With the iPad’s bigger screen and fuller layout, I can see everything at once, giving me a quick and accurate picture of what my week is going to look like.  And, it feels a bit funny to type it, but the calendar book design actually helps me take the app seriously. The design helps as a visual metaphor for me to say to myself, “Okay, this is my week, and this is what I have to do today.” Maybe I’m just a sucker for a good visual.

For anyone looking to get a good GTD app for their iPad, ToDo is a great choice.

ToDo for iPhone. If ToDo for iPad is my calendar book, then ToDo for iPhone is the paper list I carry in my pocket. Eschewing the graphical conceit of the iPad version, the classic ToDo app presents itself in clean, straightforward iPhone aesthetic.

In terms of function, everything you can do in the iPad app, you can do in the iPhone version. They’re equally functional; in fact, in a lot of ways it’s like working with a universal app. However, i have got to say that, after using the iPad version, I don’t like creating tasks on the iPhone version quite as much. If I need to, I can, for it is exactly as fully functional as it’s companion app; but since I do most of my task management on the iPad version, I treat the iPhone app as more of an extension, something to remind me of what needs to be done.

Make no mistake though: ToDo for iPhone is fully featured and an absolutely fine choice for a stand-alone GTD app on your iPhone.

Better Together. Each of these apps is an excellent tool by itself. But I have really grown to love the combo of iPhone and iPad apps, along with my Toodledo account. If you own both devices and need a GTD solution that’s easy to use and super-effective, then you really can’t go wrong here. Personally, I need a good GTD system to keep me on track, and ToDo has delivered in spades.

Currently, both app are available for $4.99 each, making the pair cheaper than some single task management apps. Since the price for the iPhone app used to be $10 and the iPad app might easily end up at an a higher price point, I highly recommend getting both apps while this sale is still on. Even if you adopt them after the sale is over, however, they will still be worth the price of admission.

Our score: 5/5 for each app.

At the time of this review, ToDo for iPhone is available for $4.99 in the App Store.

At the time of this review, ToDo for iPad is also available for $4.99 in the App Store.

ToDo for iPhone and iPad Review: So Happy Together is a post by App Chronicles

Air Display for the iPad is a new app that conveniently allows you to turn your iPad into a second, or a third screen for your computing pleasure!  No wires, no dongles, no USB connectors, this app works all on its own to provide you with a lot more visual real estate.  Developed by Avatron, this app follows up on their previous success with Air Share for the iPhone and subsequently the iPad, which simplifies file sharing between computers and devices.

So many apps promise and fail to deliver those promises.   This new app does not disappoint and therefore will help to solidify Avatron’s position as a developer that delivers.

As a busy writer with the constant need for more research material within view I thought this might be worth a look. (pun intended!)  I plunked down my $9.99 and downloaded the app (which is currently only compatible with Mac OS X).  I was prompted to download an installer which provided me with a toolbar button on the top right of my iMac screen.  Clicking on that gives you a screen which allows you to select your iPad in your wifi network.

Once my computer and my iPad were talking, then the screens go blue momentarily and reopen with the familiar purple starburst mac screen.  You then use your mouse to move the page you want displayed on the iPad into place to the right of the screen(s) you are currently using.  You will end up with something like this:

How this all really works is a bit beyond me I am afraid, but I am glad to be able to get it working so easily and efficiently!  There are a few weird things about this setup however.  It will take you a while to get the hang of using the mouse in all the various screens.  A certain amount of repositioning of the browser (or whatever you have displayed on the iPad) will be necessary.  The mouse and the iPad display itself is a bit stuttery but not to the point that it is frustrating.  Once you have your page on your iPad the temptation to use your fingers is overwhelming and they will work, but not very well.  The most frustrating thing I find is that no keyboard pops up on the iPad, something I have learned to expect.  Another factor to consider is that sound will only play on your main computer speakers, not from your iPad.  Video will play albeit with a bit of a dim quality.

Computer monitors are definitely coming down in price to hover around the $100 mark, so the $$ are not a huge concern.  But the desk space can be an issue for some.  Not to mention the extra wiring work needed to run the second monitor so it sits in an optimal location.  This app allows you to bypass all those hardware issues and add your second (or third) monitor in an almost virtual way.  Once you have it up and running it is then movable, you can run about the house (within your wifi network) with your computer’s screen at your beck and call, even dare I say it, while you’re in the washroom!  You never know when  inspiration will strike!

This app will be of particular interest to those of you who own a Mac Mini since the Mini does not support a second screen without a USB solution.  It will be a third screen option for those with an iMac (which supports one extra screen) and those with a Mac Pro or anybody who wants a cheap screen solution.  The Mac Pro can accommodate multiple screens.

With the iPad we are experiencing the birth of truly mobile computing.  Air Display for the iPad gives us a very useful tool to improve the portability and personalization of our computer experience.  People will find weird and wonderful ways to use this app to allow them the flexibility to make their computer work for them instead of against them.

Overall I would have to say that this app pretty much perfectly delivers on its promise.  I give this app full marks in execution!

Our Rating: 5/5

Air Display is currently available in the App Store for $9.99 at the time of this review. (App Store Link)

Air Display for the iPad Review. Use Your iPad as a Second Wireless Monitor. FTW! is a post by App Chronicles

I am not generally a Mac person. My experience with the desktop version of Apple’s iWork is limited to about 5 minutes. So my review of Pages, the iWork app for iOS, is based primarily on how it stands up to the word processor that I use, quite literally, everyday: Microsoft Word. And even though Pages could never match the sheer size and depth of that singular and genre-defining program, Pages is a phenomenal tool for the iPad, and a convenient one for the iPhone and iPod Touch

As a word processor, the program is fully functional. Once you get used to the touch keyboard and formatting interface, you’ll be drafting and editing with speed and accuracy. It’s actually quite impressive how many word processing features they packed into Pages–shapes, colors, charts, fonts, pictures, margins, etc. Apple really delivered a word processing app that doesn’t feel like an “app”, in the sense that apps are something we think of as small and portable and limited. It even comes with a series of nice pre-made document formats, for those who need a quick layout.

Very quickly, Pages has become my go-to application for drafting reviews for App Chronicles. Pages has got everything I need for writing on a day to day basis. That is saves directly into .docx format is especially nice; I prefer to keep my formats consistent between machines and hate having to work in something like .rtf. And once I dug into the system, I found a robust set of fine formatting controls for creating publishing quality documents even beyond my daily drafting needs. Do the options in Pages stand up to comparisons to Microsoft Word? Maybe not.  But you can make something look pretty good, even though you won’t be able to achieve quite the fine level of finish you could on Word 2010.

Now, one word of warning regarding formatting and importing/exporting documents: the more you apply advanced formatting to your documents, the less compatible Pages docs become with Microsoft Word, and visa versa. While the two programs play well together in general, they don’t speak the same language, and that can mean extra work after transferring between them if you’re getting fancy with the document effects. For example, Pages doesn’t seem to like the way Word formats tables within the document, and I always found myself having to redo them in-app.

Recent updates to Pages have helped some of these limitations along. For example, the formatting compatibility between Pages and Word 2010 seems incrementally better today than it was when the app released last year. Further, Apple has proven that they’re dedicated to making Pages the premier, go-to app for word processing on iOS by adding key features that were noticeably missing in its 1.0 incarnation, like a word count, a document organization feature, and a more versatile, user-friendly task bar. Device-wide changes like Air Print have also improved Pages’ ability to act as a standalone word processor.

In case you’re wondering, everything I’ve said above applies to the iPhone, as well. As of Version 1.4, Pages is a Universal app. This was a brilliant choice on Apple’s part, and they did a great job of shrinking down the app without sacrificing core functionality. Things are sometimes harder to do on the small screen, but that’s a result of the form factor, not any design flaw in the app. If you need to word process on the iPhone, Pages is there for you.

Still, even one year later, there is one major thing wrong with Pages: restrictive file sharing. When it launched, Pages offered only two ways to move files from the app: e-mail attachment or export via iTunes. Since then, Apple has introduced other options, including iDisk (of course)  and WebDAV support. But they still have not given users simple cloud access — that is, access to things like Dropbox and Google Docs. Yes, I know that I can get Dropbox access with WebDAV through DropDAV, but that’s an additional fee each month that I shouldn’t have to pay, not when every other word processor on iOS lets me access Dropbox, Google Docs, and other services directly. At this point, it’s clear that the withholding of access to these third party cloud services was deliberate, what with the impending arrival of iCloud in the fall. But even when iCloud arrives, even if it’s as awesome as Steve Jobs can make it, the lack of access to third party cloud services will remain a clear blemish on this otherwise great program.

Overall, Apple did a wise thing by launching the iPad with such a well designed and full featured productivity app, and they’ve continued to grow Pages into a top-notch tool. While I’m sure that there are some small quibbles users might level at it, Pages outclasses any third party word processing app currently in the App Store. Its limitations versus a desktop program are increasingly minor with each update, and while the choices for file importing/exporting is insultingly restricted, it does not ruin the core user experience (and it may even cease to become an issue if iCloud rocks as hard as it might). Pages is still worth the price of admission for most users, unless they absolutely need a non-WebDAV cloud client as part of their workflow.

Our score: 4.5 out of 5, until third party cloud support rounds the app out.

Pages is available for $9.99 in the App Store.

Apple Pages Demo

iWork Pages Review: Great Choice! is a post by App Chronicles

When I first bought my iPad, a friend of mine told me that I absolutely needed GoodReader from Good.iWare. It was sound advice, because I have since found GoodReader to be a robust and versatile addition to my iPad.

GoodReader is built to be a one-stop document reader for the iPad, and it really does deliver. The program is casually referred to as a PDF reader, and it excels in that regard. I was able to load a PDF file of over 150 pages with no problem and not a single flaw in decoding. GoodReader comes with complete PDF navigation functions–in addition to page turning, there’s text searching, bookmarking, fast scrolling, and a go-to-page function. GoodReader also offers in-app contrast and orientation lock functions, very convenient to have at the bottom of the page.

It does everything my PC’s Acrobat Reader does, and more. Since the chances are slim of Adobe releasing an official Acrobat Reader app anytime soon, having GoodReader there to fill the gap is, in and of itself, worth downloading this app.

But PDFs are only a part of its function. GoodReader actually reads a multitude of formats, including PDF, DOC, TXT, iPhone-compatible audio and video, and pretty much any file format that can be viewed through the iPad’s native Safari browser. All of this can be done in-program, and document reading generally works well. The PDF functionality (searching, bookmarking, etc) is ported to most document types, of course. Tht makes GoodReader an excellent central depository for document files on your iPad.

More importantly to me, however, is that GoodReader can be set up to download stored documents from popular cloud programs, like Google Docs and Dropbox; most e-mail programs, from Hotmail to Yahoo!; and even FTP servers. Virtually anywhere you might need to grab a document from for reading on the iPad, GoodReader can grab it for you. It’s a cloud-friendly program that works well in that regard.

Good reader has so much functionality built into it as a document consumption device that one can’t help but wonder why such functionality isn’t native to the OS. But then, that’s been the way with the iPhone OS so far—Apple builds the core structure, but then lets the third party developers figure all this stuff out. Still, to have GoodReader’s functionality across the OS system would be a boon to the iPad.

Good Reader isn’t perfect, of course. It still doesn’t connect directly with the iWork apps,  but I think Apple is the culprit there. One can, however, e-mail files from, say, Pages and then download them from e-mail into GoodReader, and from GoodReader into Google Docs (and visa versa). It’s a bit obnoxious, but it’s the best workaround I have found so far to the inconvenient way iWork moves files on the iPad.

GoodReader makes viewing any sort of document a piece of cake. For anyone who wants to make the iPad a functional documents device, GoodReader is a must. It even helps out with some of the productivity issues that iPad suffers, in that it allows for a much less bothersome way to share files to and from the most popular cloud applications. Highly recommended for any iPad owner who needs to carry, view, or manage documents on the go.

Our Score: 5 out of 5.

GoodReader is currently available for .99 cents in the App Store. (App Store Link)

GoodReader for iPad Review: GoodApp is a post by App Chronicles

The iPad is a great mobile internet browsing device. Its design, shape, and ease of use make surfing the web less awkward than the laptop.  However, the default Safari browser may still be lacking in certain features that an average iPad user would like to see.

Full Screen

For a laptop, the full screen feature may not be an important feature to have.  But with the iPad, when users are holding the screen up close and rotating it around, a full screen browser becomes essential for a satisfying web browsing experience.  The iPad is designed to be a media device comparable to a media rich book or magazine.  Imagine always having that annoying address bar around when you are trying to read a magazine.  That doesn’t feel too good.

The same is true for reading online comics or manga on the iPad. The iPad is a perfect device to read online comics and manga.  This mobile internet device is shaped like a comic book, and with double tap of the screen, the image gets positioned to utilize the maximum available screen space. Because online mangas are rendered in an image format, it gives the best viewing experience if readers can read them utilizing the full screen space of the iPad.  It makes reading those tiny words a little easier and the drawings a little more life-sized if given the screen space taken up by the address bar.

Duo Page Browsing

The iPad has enough screen real-estate to browse two different sites at the same time.  For example if you want to compare the specifications of 2 products on two different web pages, this feature would come in handy.  You can also watch youtube videos or sign on to Meebo, the instant message aggregator site, and surf the web at the same time.  This feature is a must for those iPad owners who like to multitask.

One-touch Tab Buttons

Current desktop and laptop browsers feature 1-click tabs to allow for easier and faster web browsing.  Unfortunately, in Safari, to switch between web pages, users need to tap a separate tab button and then tap again to select a page to be loaded.  This extra work that it takes to switch between pages can get really annoying.  A desktop styled tabbed browser will greatly increase iPad user’s efficiency in navigating through the sea of web pages on the net.

Private Surfing

Since your iPad may be just lying around the house for everyone to use, may be it is not such a good idea to leave a trail of your browsing records.  Alternative iPad browsers that can enable private web browsing will save you the troubles of clearing your browsing history every time you finished your web session.

iPad Browser Apps

The following are current iPad browser apps in the App Store that feature one or more functions listed above. These apps, especially Atomic Browser and iCab Mobile, are probably one of the best iPad browsers in the App Store. These two browsers are also universal apps, and that means they work on your iPhone or iPod Touch too!

SkyFire Web Browser for iPad

Updated on 12/23/10:

SkyFire Web Browser for iPad has just been released in the App Store just in time for the holidays. As many of you may already know, Apple does not allow Adobe Flash application on the iPad. But SkyFire Browser for iPad is the exception. SkyFire is a unique browser that lets users view Flash videos. You cannot do that with any other browser out there because Apple does not allow Flash to be installed and running on the iOS. SkyFire go around this restriction by processing Flash content on their own servers, and then stream Flash video data back to your iPad. If you watch a lot of Flash based videos, this is a must-have app.

SkyFire also have other features, including Full Screen browsing and private surfing. It also features Facebook and Google Reader integration. That means users can “like” any web page even without a like button on the site. Users can also browse popular pages on a site based on the number of “likes” for a webpage on that site. There’s also Google Reader integration so you can always check your newest feeds at a tap of the screen.

However, Skyfire is missing desktop style tabs. You will still have to tap a button, go into another page to change to a separate web page. Not very convenient. But if you are eager to watch Flash videos on your iPad, this is the app you need to get.  For more information on SkyFire Web Browser for iPad, check out our in depth review.

App Name: SkyFire Web Browser for iPad

Price: $4.99

Atomic Browser

Atomic Browser (App Store Link) has a boatload of features not found in Safari.  It is the browser that has almost all of features discussed above, including full screen browsing, 1-touch tab buttons, and private surfing.

Its full screen mode is great, giving users access to all of iPad’s available screen space.  It even allows users to adjust the opacity of the full screen menu buttons so they can browse the web at full screen while easily move between web pages at the same time. If you are only looking for an inexpensive full screen browser for your iPad, this app is definitely fits your need.

Atomic Browser’s 1-touch tab feature is the best among similar iPad browser apps in the App Store.  Its tabbed browser closely mimics the experience found in Firefox and Chrome browsers.  The browser will automatically open a new tab when a link that belongs to a different domain is selected.  The tabs appear just below the address bar.  By just tapping the tab 1 time, users can read the contents to the other web page.  User can select to open new pages in the background by holding the link until the choices appear.  It would be nice if users have the choice of opening new pages in the background with just 1 tap.   Such an option would be a welcoming addition to future updates.

Private surfing is also included.  Just open the settings page to set up private surfing so no one will know where on the web you have been hanging out.

These are just a few of the features users will find in this browser app.   Other great features include ad blocking, multi touch gesture support, in-page search, font adjustment, and viewing the source code or the web page.

Multi-Touch gesture support makes Atomic very unique and convenient. While in full screen mode, users can easily move to the next tab by using 2-finger swipes. 3-finger swipes by default will allow users to close the page. Multi Touch gesture support also allows users to go back and forward, making web browsing in full screen mode seamless and smooth.

Atomic Browser is probably the best iPad browser app in the App Store.  It even works on the iPhone as a universal app.  With all of those features, it should do more than to satisfy iPad owners who just want a browser as good as their desktop computer.   At only $0.99 at the time of this writing, it is a no-brainer.

App Name: Atomic Browser

Price: $0.99

Bottom Line: Best Value with Loads of Features

iCabMobile

iCabMobile (App Store Link) is another excellent alternative browser.  Like Atomic Browser, its full screen mode allows users to utilize all of the iPad’s available screen space.  It also has tabs like those on the desktop.  iCabMobile does have the option to open links in the background with just a quick tap.  That is a plus for those who likes to open multiple links for later viewing.  Also, like the Atomic Browser, private surfing is a function that can be enabled in iCabMobile.

iCabMobile has other unique functions.  iCab Mobile enables downloads.  You can download items from the internet and then export them to your desktop or laptop computer for later use.

Other iCabMobile features include easy Google language translation and ad blocking.  iCab Mobile is also a universal app and can be downloaded to the iPhone or iPod Touch.

iCabMobile is currently available for $1.99 in the App Store.  When comparing to Atomic Browser, it is a little bit more expensive.  It also doesn’t feature that multi-touch gesture control.  But with its ability to download files and quickly opening tabs in the background, users may want to make their selections carefully depending on their unique web browsing habits.

Update: iCabMobile has since been updated to 1-touch tabs similar to Atomic Browser.  But it’s ability to designate newly opened tabs directly to the background with a quick tap makes it a superior tabbed browser than Atomic Browser.

iCab Mobile has also added Dropbox support. Now, you can download files, images, webpages, and more directly to this great cloud storage system. With cloud computing support now added, you may want to think carefully between choosing iCab Mobile or Atomic Browser… Better yet, get both since they offer unique features you need for a more productive web experience.

App Name: iCab Mobile

Price: $1.99

Bottom Line: Solid Browser with Cloud Computing and other unique features

Browser Duo

Browser Duo (App Store Link) does one thing well.  That is giving you access to two web pages on 1 screen.  If you find yourself with the need to browse two web pages at the same time.  This is probably the browser app you will need.  It also does private browsing and full screen.  However, the full screen mode is not perfect.  It does not utilize all of the iPad’s screen space like iCabMobile and Atomic Browser.  So if you are looking for an alternative browser just for the full screen mode, this is not your best choice.  But if you are looking for duo page browsing function on your iPad, it may be a good choice.

Browser Feature Comparisons

3 iPad Alternative Browsers to Safari for a Richer Internet Experience is a post by App Chronicles

With the release of the iPad over the past weeks, it is important to look back at one of my most used iPhone applications, Instapaper Pro, for this app shines on Apple’s new mobile device. Instapaper (both the free 2.0 and Instapaper Pro) provides a wonderful reader application blessed by simplicity and ease of use. At $5.00, Instapaper almost justifies the price of the iPad all by itself, as the amount of free reading it offers is endless. That said it remains an invaluable resource for iPhone users as well.

Each day many scan the newspapers and magazines around the internet to find articles, while of interest, that are just too long to read at work. Instapaper solves this problem by allowing one click reformatted articles sent directly to your iPhone or iPad for later reading. Blog posts with multiple comments are also reformatted to each device seamlessly. While a number of apps provide reader solutions, Instapaper does it better and quicker, allowing you to catch up on your reading on the subway, in bed, or anywhere else you can find a moment or two.

With magazines such as The New Yorker, and The Atlantic providing full archived stories; Instapaper compresses them and makes later reading a pleasure in a manner unseen by other reader applications. I’m not a fan of browsing on Safari for iPhone, and while possible to feed Instapaper from the iPhone, Instapaper allows the user to use the larger screen of the desktop to find your daily reading and transfer it to the iPhone and iPad in one click.

Simply download Instapaper from the App Store and then visit their website at Instapaper.com on your desktop or laptop. Within minutes you can create your account with a free sign-up. Once this is finished simply drag the provided “read later” bookmarklet into your browser of choice. You can quickly install a similar bookmark directly into Safari on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch as well. Once this is finished simply browse the web and whenever you wish to read a story later on your mobile device click “read later” on your browser.

What happens next is the heart of the application. Each time you open Instapaper, all your selected articles are reformatted to the device you are using. Stripping the page of all Flash, advertising, and clutter is done quickly and transferred to your device as long as you are connected to the internet by wifi, Edge, or a 3G network.

There are few drawbacks but they are worth mentioning, they include: any subscriber based content must be signed into manually, also Instapaper cannot view multiple page articles without your assistance. Simply look for a printer friendly or single page option before sending the article to Instapaper. Instapaper is not really designed as a heavy RSS users program but does include quite a bit of functionality.

The free version is a must for all iPhone users but the Pro version includes a huge array of features to warrant its $5.00 price tag. These include:

• Automatic Background Updating
• Folders
• Starred User and Feed Folders
• Tilt Scrolling
• Adjustable Fonts and Text Size
• Email any Link
• Send Links via Tumblr and Twitter
• In-App Offline Dictionary
• In-app browser with fast Text mode
• 250 Article Capacity (Versus 10 in the free version)

All in all Instapaper is a suberb application and one of the many improved by the addition of the iPad to the family of  Apple mobile solutions.

5 out of 5 stars.

Instapaper Pro is a universal binary app and works on both your iPhone and iPad.  Instapaper Pro is available at the App Store for $4.99 at the time of the review.  (App Store Link)

Instapaper Pro Review: Endless Reading is a post by App Chronicles