Having access to important documents on your iOS devices has proved to be one of the key factors that has lead to the growing adoption of iPhone and iPad in business. Apple understands the importance of having powerful business tools and as a result they’ve been aggressively marketing iWork suite of apps for iOS.
If you often use MS Office for creating documents, presentations or spreadsheets then iWork for iOS might not be the best solution. Even though you can import and export MS Office docs using iWork you will often run into compatibility or formatting issues.
Polaris Office previously $19.99 and now $0.99 (for limited time) offers more than 230 editing functions and features Microsoft Office document compatibility that will put your worries about editing documents on iOS devices at rest. The developers of Polaris Office are working on a new version 5.0 update that will enhance compatibility features and add more cloud services.
The app allows you to create documents in .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx and .txt format. The user interface is simple and easy to follow. Selecting an element and then tapping the inspector button will expand options in the keyboard area where all options are arranged in vertical tabs.
One of the unique features of the app is the ability to take photos within the app and then apply border, light and other effects. To help you with the creation process Polaris Office even features 15 templates, 18 2D/3D charts and 80 figures.
For those who can’t live without creating spreadsheets for budgets, shopping lists, or sales records, Polaris Office features over 300 functions. The list of features in this app is huge it almost feels like the entire MS Office was squeezed to a 4inch display (when on iPhone). If these features were not enough, you can even directly open zip files and in slideshow mode you can use pointers or even scribble on the slides.
The blogosphere has been reporting on rumours about Microsoft developing MS Office apps for iPhone and iPad, but you can buy Polaris Office for just $0.99 and your wait just got over.
Polaris Office has cloud based storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, cloud built in so you will never lose access to your files whether you created them online or edited on your iOS device.
Overall the app is robust in terms of the features it provides. The app has been downloaded over 400 million times and for a limited period the app is available at 95% off sale. If you’ve always been looking for an app that offers MS Office compatibility and editing features then get this app before the price goes up.
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Comic strips have never gone out of fashion and with today’s technology is easier than ever to create you own. If you have an iPhone, iPad or both then you can try your hand at creating your own by using the photo’s on your camera roll with the universal app Strip Designer.
The functionality on both the iPhone and the iPad are the same although the iPad obviously benefits from the additional real estate but the iPhone version can still produce great results.
The first task in building your strip is to select a template category which controls the style and the number/position of the pictures. If you want to get really granular you can even create your own and while this is a little more complex it’s unlikely that you’ll ever need to delve this deep as the pre-built templates provide a great range of options.
With your layout selected you can then start adding graphics that not only include pictures from your photo album, camera and Facebook but also maps and drawings the latter of which lets you get very artistic with a range of brushes, effects, layers and filters.
Not being that artistic though I focused on using pictures for my strips and adding those are just a couple of taps away and once you’ve added it you can pinch to zoom and rotate the picture to get your desired result.
With your pictures added this is where the fun begins as you begin to add your text that brings your strips to life. Just like the rest of Strip Designer there are a plethora of options to delve into and everything can be tweaked and changed as much and as little as you can like.
The depth of options, tweaks and functionality could put some users off as it may be too complex for them but it shouldn’t, you can get great results without delving in too deep but for those that want to go a little bit further.
With your strip created you can easily share it via email, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and more which makes it easy to get your work seen by potentially millions of people! Strip Designer also takes advantage of the iCloud which means that you can start work on one of your devices and carry on your work on your other device.
At just $2.99 Strip Designer is a great way to get started in comic strips for old and new a like.
What we like:
What to know:
On Thursday, Apple held a special education event in New York City and introduced a number of software products, including the newest version of iBooks, iBooks 2, bringing textbooks to the iPad from large publishers including Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton-Mifflin.
Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Start with one of the Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. Add your own text and images with drag-and-drop ease. Use Multi-Touch widgets to include interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations, 3D objects, and more. Preview your book on your iPad at any time. Then submit your finished work to the iBookstore with a few simple steps. And before you know it, you’re a published author.
Apple also released an iBooks Author application, which allows users to create their own textbooks for the iPad 2. Since then, Apple has posted the video of the event to its site, alongside all other past events.
The Cupertino company also posted the Podcast for the event in both HD and standard formats. Apple is continuously increasing support for iBooks and is attempting to move into the e-reading market to compete with other popular reading devices such as the Nook and Kindle.
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iCard [rating: 4/5]
iCard created by Wondershare is a great new app that lets you create postcards with your own photos. It only take a few simple steps and you can be in touch with your friends and family at the tap of a button.
There are nine templates to choose from to start with. All range in different styles and colors. Some have pictures around them others have patterns, each one is different. Once you have the template set out you need to decide on a picture. You can take one within the app or from your library you then just insert it into the template.
There is also an option to put into the template your location and a picture of your location where you are. Great if you are thousands of miles across the world from the person you are sending it to! If you do make any errors whilst deciding on your photos you can clear the template and start again.
Once you are happy with the template and the photo then you just need to put in your text. The postcard is set out with your chosen photo at the top then any text at the bottom. You tap on the button that shows a speech bubble and write your text in the box area. You can change your font style and size as well. Within this section there is also an option to add a face with an expression. These mood faces range from scared, angry to happy or if you wish you can have none at all.
Once you have designed your postcard then you tap the send button, from there you have to decide how you want to send it. There are several choices email, twitter, facebook your library or just copy it to paste else where. Then you hit send and the person you send it to will receive a beautiful postcard personally designed by you!
The app is very easy to use, all the buttons help you along the way with the options underneath. The templates are lovely to look at, theres a great choice in colors and pictures. It would be nice as a future update to see more options for the templates, because there are only nine and it would be quite easy to use all the styles very quickly.
iCard is definitely a great app for sending personalized postcard to your special ones. We live in a world now where more and more people communicate electronically.This is another great option to consider instead of sending simple text messages via a mobile phone and one that I am sure would be greatly appreciated.
Pros
Cons
Price: $0.99 (iTunes Store)
Category: Photography
Released: May 13, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.2.1
Size: 3.2 MB
Languages: English, Chinese
Seller: wondershare
© 2010 Wondershare Software Co., Ltd. All rights reserved
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.1.3 or later.