Favorite iPad Apps for business

I’ve been using the iPad for about a year now and I’ve been part of a paperless pilot group for about 6 months and I find myself using a few apps for work more consistently than others.
As part of the group, we set about trying two different office type suites (DocsToGo and QuickOffice), two handwriting apps (Notes Plus and Penultimate), two PDF apps (iAnnotate PDF and PDF Expert), and two slightly different storage apps (Dropbox and Evernote). I’ve also, on my own, been trying out some utilities for network management (WiFiFoFum and iSSH), remote desktop capabilities (Veency and Citrix) as well as some file and use management software (System Info, iFile and App Stat) specifically for the iPad.

So, without further ado, I want to share with you the apps I find the most useful (in no particular order):

1. Dropbox – desktop to mobile device syncing. Your files are kept in the cloud and a local copy is synced to whatever device you’re currently on. Just a great way of editing on the go. It’s free if you have less than 2GB of files, more if you exceed that.
2. DocsToGo – Document editing – MS Word/PowerPoint/Excel for the iPad. Integrated with the aforementioned Dropbox to seamlessly save to your Dropbox location or to your Google Docs folder or locally. $14.99
3. Winterboard (JB) – Allows modification and customization of icons, backgrounds, lockscreen among other things. Free
4. Perfect Browser – Soooo much better than the Safari app that comes with it. True tabbed browsing, Desktop Browser Rendering, TOUCH Scroll, TV Video Out, Offline Pages, Private Mode, Precision Scrollbar, Printing, Multi-Touch Gestures, Fast Tab Switching, In-Page Search, Font Size Adjustment, Web Compression, Fullscreen & more. I only wish I can figure out how to set this to be the default browser. $2.99
5. IMExchange 2 – Since the built in conduit for Exchange server doesn’t sync task lists, you need to purchase a third party app such as this. I also have Task Task which works fine but this app allows you to sync not just tasks but also Notes. It allows categories and works seamlessly with Exchange. They do this stupid thiing where it’s “free” but after a period of time, it just stops working until you cough up $7.99.
6. Evernote – Similar to DropBox in that you store your data in the cloud. Slightly different in that items may be tagged for faster searching and you can “clip” web pages to store in your Evernote folder. You may also share your Evernote folder to others and, unlike Dropbox, there is no local folder copy on your device, just a cache of the items. Like Evernote, it’s free unless you exceed the set data amount per month downloaded and uploaded (as opposed to actual space used in the cloud – you get 60MB of downloads a month).
7. Citrix – App that gives iPad owners secure access to all of their corporate Windows applications and desktops, making it easy to work from anywhere. Sluggish over 3G, better over WiFi, while it’s a “must have” app, it’s a “use in emergency only” app as it’s a tad cumbersome to navigate. Free
8. Keynote – Apple app equivalent of MS PowerPoint and one of the few apps that will allow iPad 1 owners to (provided they have the VGA adapter) use a projector with the iPad. Super easy to use; however, while you can IMPORT PowerPoint files, you cannot save your work as a PowerPoint file unless you have the desktop version of Presentation. $9.99
9. Appstat (JB) – Allows you to see what apps you use the most and the time spent having each app open. Apparently I check my mail and play Words with Friends a lot. Free
10. iSSH – For techs only. Allows me to run an ssh session from my device. Supports VT100, VT102, VT220, ANSI, xterm, and xterm-color terminal emulator over SSH and telnet, integrated with a tunneled X server and VNC client. Awesome sauce. $9.99
11. SBSettings (JB) – an add-on utility that eliminates the need to launch the settings app for everyday things like toggling the bluetooth connection or setting the device to airplane mode. A simple swipe of the finger brings up the app in the upper left corner of the screen which has toggles to quickly and easily switch things on and off. See image below. Free
12. LockInfo (JB) – another tweak that modifies your lockscreen to show your unread emails, upcoming calendar appointments, texts, and other notifications. It’s an easy way to quickly check on your device notifications. $7.99 through Cydia

*note* items marked “JB” are apps only available to jailbroken iPads (see the Cydia app on homescreen).

LockInfo

Productivity Apps

Home Screen

SBSettings

Utilities

Jailbreak Apps

So you’ve jailbroken your iPhone. Now what?

Home Screen

I’ve mentioned before how there are distinct advantages to jailbreaking your iOS device. I was dismayed when Apple changed the orientation lock on the iPad and made it into a volume lock. Someone promptly developed a “NoMute” app that changes the switch functionality back to rotation lock. Up until the iOS 4.3 update, the only way to get it was through the Cydia repositories.

What I want to do in this post is give you ideas and recommendations as to what to get, app wise, once you’ve jailbroken your iDevice. I won’t go into details on how to jailbreak the unit, you can find plenty of resources here on RedmondPie.com and on iphonehacks.com so I won’t bore you with those details. I will list some terms for the users who have jailbroken their iPhones/iPads for the first time. I was lost trying to figure out what was what and I hope that this list will provide a starting point for all the nOObs.

Jailbroken terminology

• Cydia – App that is the source of all other apps. Central repository
• Springboard – What you see on your screen, the whole thing, icons, background, lockscreen
• Respring – Akin to rebooting your Springboard
• Mobile substrate – A failsafe “SpringBoard.app” that will run in case of a SpringBoard crash.
• SHSH Blobs – is a signature file which is verified against Apple Servers to verify the the iPhone is running the latest version of iOS. If for some reason, when you are try to restore to a previous version, Apple will not allow you to restore it because, you are trying load a older version of iOS. To make this possible, you need to send a request to a different machine (local or designated) which sends an SHSH blob (which was saved by you) back to iTunes faking that its the current version.
• DFU Mode – Stands for “Device Firmware Update.” This is the mode your device needs to be in prior to injecting the jailbreak. It is the state between power off and loading the iOS. Allows access to kernel, which is the current injection vector.
• Tethered – Having to re-jailbreak phone every time you cycle power to the phone. Annoying as hell.
• Untethered – NOT having to jailbreak your phone every time you cycle power to the phone. Don’t jailbreak until the untethered method is available.

OK so now you have your Cydia App on the screen. It looks like this:————————->

This is where you begin.

<———–You will see this screen when you launch the app:

Go to search and search for these 5 critical apps:

SBSettings

Winterboard

Five Icon dock

SpringJumps

AptBackup

Other apps that you might want to consider include iBlank, iFile ($2.00), Veency, Iconoclasm ($2.00), WiFiFoFum, WiFi Passwords, Five Icon Switcher, OpenSSH, and FakeCarrier.

I won’t go over the optional apps but I will briefly describe each of the five apps.

SBSettings

SBSettings is a great add-on that allows you easy access to the most common settings within the iOS. rather than launching the native settings app, you swipe your finger on the top of the device to bring down a selection (customizable) of commands that allow you to turn bluetooth on and off, turn WiFi on and off, allow a quick reboot or power off and an easy way to view and kill processes. Here is how it looks on my phone. Note that you can also quickly turn airplane mode on and off from this screen.

Winterboard controls the themes that you can either download for free or pay for. The themes can range from simple to complex, with skins for your phone app, iTunes app; SMS app, etc as well as modified icons and lockscreens. Winterboard is what controls these mods. Within winterboard, you select those sections you want to use and then you re-spring to get the new skin(s) and look. You can see from the top picture that I have modded my iPhone with the A 2 A [ProjectBLU] theme.

Five Icon Dock is simply that, allows you to place five instead of four icons in the dock. there is also a Six Icon Dock but I find it’s too crowded.

SpringJumps allows you to quickly jump from one screen to the next, bypassing the need to swipe till you get to the correct screen. You can see from my screen that I have Home/Tools/Games/Apps/More. I often switch from Home to Apps and this allows me to quickly go from one screen to a screen two screens down.

AptBackup lets you backup your jailbroken app settings so that when you upgrade to the latest version of the iOS, you are able to keep track of your jailbroken apps. You see, every time Apple releases an upgrade, it removes the jailbreak and restores it to the stock Apple apps, forcing you to try to remember which JB apps you had. AptBackup takes the guesswork out of the process. it backs up the apps you have along with the regular Apple backup which occurs when you sync your device.

As I mentioned above, there are many other useful apps available through Cydia. Peruse the repositories and enjoy the freedom of multiple distribution channels. There are some great apps out there that are NOT Apple sanctioned and it’s worth it to try them out.

**NOTE: JAILBREAKING ANY iDEVICE WILL VOID THE WARRANTY!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!**