To me, a most useful app is one that I use virtually every day. It helps me get something done or provides useful information to me in a manner I can use. Since I have a vision disability, I need larger print so the apps I choose have a bias to this required feature. As a result, many very useful apps are not on my list if I cannot see the text well enough.
Personal Productivity
Mail Apple's included
Mail App. This is a FREE Choice
I am in and out of e-mail on
my iPad, smart phone and laptop all through the day. I prefer the iPad's
included e-mail app as I like the way it allows me to have all of my e-mail
accounts appear in a single mailbox view. This is easy and convenient. The app
also allows me to make the text larger so I can see it better. Included on the
iPad.
Week Calendar HD
$2.99 New to my Top 10.
This is
new to my list as I've used Pocket Informant Pro for my calendar and to do list
for many years. However, I've dealt with small text all this time since the
calendar was so good. Well no more. Week Cal HD is a terrific calendar AND I
can enlarge the text to my liking. What a joy. I don't mind paying the $2.99
price since I can see it well and use it every day. My favorite view is the
weekly as the current day of the week is slightly wider than the rest.
Nightstand FREE
Since I have to charge the
iPad and I need a nightstand alarm clock with very large letters; Nightstand
for iPad fits the bill perfectly. I just set the iPad up as my night stand
alarm clock and plug it in to charge. The numbers are 1 3/4 inches tall, shows
the weather for my location and I can even dim the screen so it doesn't light
up the room all night.
There is a pay version
($2.99) that allows for your own background photos as wall paper and eliminates
the ads and this is the one I use.
OneNote FREE New to
my Top 10.
OneNote is
part of Microsoft Office and has been around since 2003 and I've used it since
then. I was one of the testers of the app for my company in 2005 and used it
daily. OneNote is a note taking and note organization app. The greatest value
of the app is that all notes are searchable. This means I never loose anything
since I can simply search for a single word in the note and I will get a list
of all notes that contain that word.You
can even hand write notes if your device can handle it like the iPad and
Android tablet. I haven't worked for 3 1/2 years but I
still use OneNote. One of the best features of OneNote is that I have OneNote
on my PC, iPad, Android Smart phone and Android Tablet and all completely
synchronized. I write in one and the note appears in all.Social Media
Tweetbot Alternative Twitter app FREE
I am in and out
of Twitter every day and post a link to this Tablet Grandpa blog on Twitter. It
took me a while to understand and then love what Twitter provides. It shows
short and easy to read quips, information and links to what people are saying
and I get to choose the people. See
my article on how Twitter is useful.
I gladly paid the $2.99 since
I can easily read it throughout the day.
I have a love / hate
relationship with Facebook and Facebook replacement apps. Replacement Facebook
apps have some extra features beyond Facebook's own app and I like that but
none of them have everything. What irks me most is that I cannot enlarge the text
enough to make it comfortable to read. I put up with it because I really enjoy
staying in touch with my friends and family and communicating with some of
them. Eventually, someone will make that perfect blend of features and ability
to enlarge the text for me. Until then, love / hate continues.News and Information
Feedly FREE
For reading news, blogs and
other articles on the web; I've used an RSS (really simple syndication) reader
to pull articles into a single place where I can skim and go to the detail if I
choose. I've used Google Reader for many years but Google has decided to
discontinue it in July 2013. Feedly also works on my Android smart phone too.
I love to read but it so difficult with my vision disability. I require large text and a nice contrast between the task and paper in order to see properly. As a result, books and newspapers are out. However, Pocket saves me because I can "clip" web sites, web articles and other news on the web to Pocket where I have the text set to very large on a very white background. Via my smart phone, I can "share" tweets from bloggers that will put the bloggers article right into Pocket where I can read it comfortably. Pocket also strips out web and blog advertising and just shows you the text and included pictures.
AP Mobile (Associated Press FREE
There are many news apps for the iPad, some of which I like very much but none allow me to enlarge text enough to make them comfortable to read. AP mobile allows me to enlarge the text enough for easy reading. Also available for iPhone and Android smart phones.
Flixster FREE New to my Top 10
I've used
Flixster on my Android phone but now I also use it on my iPad. It is my
"go to" app to see what's playing at my local movie theatre. No more
Internet search or newspaper--I can simply see what's playing close by or even
see which theatre has the movie I want to see right now.
Intellicast HD FREE
I am a bit of a weather junkie and have used many free and
paid weather apps for the iPad. Beyond being easy to read, I love looking at
radar images of weather. I can see a 2 week forecast as wells as an hourly
forecast over the next 24 hours. Many free weather apps limit you to one or
just a few weather locations but Intellicast allows many cities. Intellicast is
my current weather app of choice but I continue to look at the latest and
greatest weather apps.
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Blog on Twitter: @TabletGrandpa
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