One of the first things I did after getting my hands on the new iPad was to take a bunch of photos of it for my Apple gadget p0rn collection. Follow along to see the gallery!

When you’re done, head over to the forums and share the photos of your new iPad!

One of our forum members has been able to pop an AT&T microSIM into his new Verizon LTE iPad, and get access to AT&T’s 3G network. We haven’t been able to confirm or deny this yet – it could be a one-off glitch, it could be AT&T or Verizon’s systems being a little confused, or maybe it’s a software oversight (or plan) on Apple’s part to lock down the SIM slot.

If this glitch turns out to be widespread, I suspect that it will be patched up pretty quick, unless of course Apple is purposely selling these iPads unlocked. If any of you guys have a spare AT&T microSIM kicking around, give it a shot and let us know in the forums if it works!

(Image credit)

This is an oldie but a goodie. Scratch that, greatie! Since your new iPad‘s keyboard is multitouch and not physical like a laptops, it can change and transform beneath your very fingertips. That means it can also do a bunch of really cool things to speed up your typing, like letting you more rapidly switch from letters to numbers or punctuation and back without hunting and pecking for the ABC and 123 buttons.

Here are some of our favorites:

• Tap the space bar twice to end a sentence with a period and start the next word with a capital letter.
• Touch the shift button and slide to a letter to capitalize it (faster than individually taping shift then the letter).
• Touch the 123 button and slide to the number or punctuation you want to enter, then let go to enter the number and immediately switch back to letter (ABC) mode.
• Touch and hold down a key to see variant characters. For example, hold down on “e” to see “è” “é” and more, or “$” to see
• Touch the exclamation point button (!) and flick up to quickly enter an apostrophe (‘)
• Type a double character at the end to auto-correct in contractions. For example, weree by default will autocorrect to we’re, saving you from having to type the apostrophe.
• Put two fingers on the keyboard and pull them apart (like you do when you want to zoom in on a web page or photograph) to split the keyboard in two and make it easier for thumb-typing. (Pinch your fingers to bring the keyboard back together again).

While your new iPad keyboard might feel awkward at first, especially if you’re a touch-typist on a physical keyboard. If you play around with it a little, however, you become pretty fast and efficient. Simply learn to trust your muscle memory and Apple’s autocorrect.

• More new iPad tips, tricks, help, and how-tos

In January, the radio show This American Life had hosted an a performer called Mike Daisey to talk about his experience talking to Chinese laborers who assemble iPads, iPhones, and other Apple products. Apparently Daisey had straight-out lied to TAL fact-checkers about many encounters, according to Rob Schmitz, a writer for Marketplace who investigated his claims.  Daisey had created a one-man show called “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs”  (PDF transcript) about his experiences. After being outed, he openly admitted that he’s not a journalist and that he takes creative license with his work. Here’s one excerpt that Daisey made up about one factory worker who had mangled his hand while on duty at Foxconn, and was trying out the iPad for the first time.

He’s never actually seen one on, this thing that took his hand. I turn it on, unlock the screen, and pass it to him. He takes it. The icons flare into view, and he strokes the screen with his ruined hand, and the icons slide back and forth. And he says something to Cathy, and Cathy says, “he says it’s a kind of magic.”

Other parts of Daisey’s commentary alleged that Apple is allowing under-age workers to be on the factory floor, which Apple has admitted to in their own audits, though they say it’s much more rare than Daisey makes it out to be. While it’s great to see stories from Nightline and the like uncover what working conditions are like in Chinese factories, particularly among Apple partners, it’s very worrying to see reports like this get through the cracks and dramatize the situation on the pretense of being factual. Sure, things could stand to improve for folks at Foxconn, but lying about it certainly isn’t going to help the cause; if anything, it discredits the efforts anyone making humanitarian efforts in the area.

This American Life has retracted the episode featuring Daisey, and issued a statement accepting responsibility for the whole mess. At least we can rest assured that this Daisey guy won’t be particularly popular after this episode is done with.

Source: Marketplace, image credit

Yes, a new ipad is totally and utterly pure, unadulterated gadget pr0n but it had to be done. And more importantly, it finally got to be done by ME! Packaged in the simple, elegant white box we’ve all come to expect from Apple, and reading only “iPad”, you first need to remove the plastic before you can get to the fun stuff. I shiny iCloud sticker now decorates the box, and inside is your new iPad, face up, but still dark. Hit the sleep/wake button and you’ll get your first glimpse of the Retina display!

Underneath the face-up iPad are the usual accouterments — the iTunes USB sync and power cable and AC adapter, which appear physically unchanged from last year’s iPad 2. There are also the Apple Stickers, and little tips and tricks books in whichever languages are appropriate for the area.

I got the 32GB Black Wi-Fi model, so that what you see above — Apple’s latest and greatest tablet torn from the safety of its shipping container and shown to the world!

As fun as the unboxing was, however, now we’re starting the really fun stuff — testing it out!

Did you get your new iPad yet? if so, jump into our forums and show us your unboxing photos!

Saturday is March 17th, and you know what that means… Sure as shooting it’s time to go hunting for leprechauns, drink a wee pint of good green beer and of course, nip into store.imore.com and buy some accessories for your iPhone and iPad (we even have some green cases!). And in case you drink a wee bit too much green beer, this sale will go right through until Monday night.

How To Get Your GREEN Savings: Be sure to use coupon code PATTY12 at checkout to save on all your accessory purchases. The sale ends Monday night at Midnight PST, so hurry now and take advantage of the savings while you can!

Let the St. Patty’s Day Savings Begin!

Now that the new third-gen iPad has hit the streets, how many of you recent owners find it heavy compared to the iPad 2? We’re seeing at least a couple of people in the forums that are agreeing about the difference. Of course, if you’re upgrading from the original iPad, there’s going to be no contest, but it’s a much closer call with the iPad 2.

The new iPad is about 51 g heavier than the iPad 2, totaling 652 g, and adds less than a millimeter in thickness (0.6 mm, to be exact) to achieve a 9.4 mm profile. Much of that growth can be attributed to the new battery which stores twice the power of the iPad 2 only to achieve the same lifespan. Of course, there’s also the new Retina display which may have added a bit of thickness since the pixel connectors are now on a separate plane, but I doubt that contributed much to the weight difference. By comparison, the biggest current competition on the Android front is the Asus Transformer Prime, which manages to keep its weight down to 586 g and maintain an 8.3 mm thickness.

On paper, it doesn’t look like the dimensions have changed a whole lot from the last generation, and I imagine most folks who upgraded to the new iPad from the iPad 2 will quickly forget about the weight, especially once they’re distracted by what the extra RAM, pixel desnsity, and graphical processing can offer them. Still, how many of you new owners can notice the change? Do you think it will impede your usage in any way (however significant)? Speaking of weight, how about the balance? Do you find the new iPad sits in the hand as well as previous models, or has the distribution change enough for you to notice? Leave a comment here, or join the discussion in the forums!

Tell me the first thing you did when you got your new iPad was to load up SpeedTest.net and see just how fast that new, theoretically 72mbps, 4G LTE radio is? Or if you’re outside the U.S. and Canada, that new, theoretically 42mbps HSPA+ radio?

No one will actually get those speeds unless they’re pretty much alone and sitting right on top of the tower, but this is as fast as we’re going to get with current technology, and let’s face it, the big numbers are what we want to see.

I’m having a huge problem getting LTE working on my iPad right now — my SIM wasn’t activated properly, then they couldn’t find the plan, now they say there are delays in the system. Long story short, I’m still stuck on 3G and can’t even post my usual screenshot. But at least I can live vicariously through you for now.

So… What are you getting? Fire up those radios, run your speed test, and give us the results. Make sure you tell us where you are, what carrier you’re on, and what upload and download speed you get on your new iPad.

And since the “pics or it didn’t happen” rule is absolutely in effect, make sure you jump over to the new iPad forum and drop a screenshot in there as proof!

Need something to help you stay awake after waiting in line all night for the new iPad? A bunch of new iOS games can help you out there. We’ve got the cream of the iPad gaming crop listed here; some are already optimized for the new Retina display, while others have updates on the way. Take a look at the list and stock up!

 

Infinity Blade II

 

While you’re tapping your foot waiting for Infinity Blade: Dungeons to come out, you should be brushing up on Infinity Blade II with the new iPad. The franchise has long been a poster-boy for iOS gaming, and though the prequel promises to be great, Infinity Blade II has recently been updated to take full advantage of the new iPad’s killer screen resolution.

The game takes you through a series of one-on-one pitched duels against guardians of an ancient tower. Swiping on the screen translates to different directions of attacks, which must be timed properly to get through an enemy’s defenses and parry their attacks. You’ve got a wide variety of weaponry, armor, and magic at your disposal, which you gather over time by defeating enemies or biting the bullet with in-app purchases.  Enemies are randomized, making each play-through unique, but most of all, the game just looks really, really good. If you haven’t already put a decent amount of time into Infinity Blade II yet, you really should.

$6.99 – Download Infinity Blade II

 

Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy

 

Although Infinity Blade: Dungeons isn’t available just yet, the other game Apple showed off at the new iPad announcement is Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy. It hit the App Store last night, offering new iPad owners a great flight combat simulator with some breathtaking visuals. Its’s got full support for multiplayer so you can get into some intense dogfights with your buddies. There’s also a campaign mode, and over 40 different jet configurations which you can tweak to suit your flying style.

Seeing as Apple had enough faith in this game to use it to showcase the new iPad’s graphical processing power, I have a feeling Sky Gamblers; Air Supremacy will look and play great.

$4.99 – Download Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy

Shadowgun

 

Shadowgun is a third-person shooter that takes place in a dystopian future where mercenaries enforce corporate policies and engage in help executives eliminate competition. You play one bounty hunter who has been tasked with taking out a mad scientist who is creating an army of mutant warriors. You get a bunch of awesome sci-fi weaponry to plow your way through the hordes. While the gameplay is a traditional over-the-shoulder, shooting from behind cover style, the lighting in the game is particularly good-looking.

Shadowgun has is one of the more graphically-intensive mobile games out there, and should give you an idea of just how powerful the new iPad is – especially if you’ve played the game before on another device. Shadowgun was often used to showcase what Nvidia’s quad-core graphics are capable of, and I’d be really interested in seeing its performance side-by-side with Apple’s own quad-core GPU, especially once it’s optimized for iPad-sized Retina resolution. Madfinger tells me  Shadowgun will be updated as soon as Apple starts selling the new iPad in the Czech Republic where they’re based, which is on March 23. I gather that to mean they need to buy one to test with before they can get everything optimized, so we might have a bit of a wait on our hands.

$4.99 – Download Shadowgun

 

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

 

Although the Modern Combat franchise is a shameless “homage” to many of the military shoot-’em-ups available on PC and consoles, Gameloft has done a great job bringing the genre to mobile. If you’ve got a new iPad, Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation stands a good chance of convincing you that yeah, maybe this thing actually can displace demand for Xbox 360 games. Modern Combat 3 has all of the trappings of your traditional first-person shooter: unlockable rewards, ranking up,  multiplayer, achievements, and customizable weapons and class kits. I particularly enjoyed the accelerometer control in the game, but it takes a fair bit of getting used to.

While Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation isn’t yet updated for the new iPad, I’ve been told by Gameloft that the iPad version will be Retina-ready in the next week or so. Looks like the update just went live! Woo! Since it’s going on sale now for $0.99 (down from $6.99), I’d say it’s worth picking up.

$0.99 (on sale) – Download Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

 

Real Racing 2 HD

 

Real Racing 2 is arguably the best racing game available on iOS. It’s got some exceptional textures, sensitive accelerometer-based steering, and great integration with Airplay for split-screen multiplayer on your TV. While I’m partial to goofier racing games, like Burnout Crash (which, coincidentally, is coming to iOS soon), Real Racing 2 is what you want to pick up for a classic, white-knuckled racing experience.

Real Racing 2 for the iPad is Retina-ready, and it’s on sale! Buckle up and get downloading!

$2.99 (on sale) – Download Real Racing 2 HD

 

Mass Effect: Infiltrator

 

Although it’s relatively new, Mass Effect: Infiltrator has proven to be one of the bigger titles launched on iOS recently. The game has a great tie-in with the Mass Effect 3 game on consoles and PC, while still being a great duck-and-cover shooting game in its own right. You play a human supremacist militant gone rogue in a sci-fi world about to be overrun by an intergalactic threat. As you blast your way through a plot of treachery and deceit, you upgrade your various high-tech weaponry, gather incredible new biotic powers, and make tough decisions which will come back to haunt you later on. For a closer look, chomp down on our review.

Mass Effect is a great franchise, and it keeps the production values high as it comes to iOS. The game is already optimized for the new iPad, so have at it!

 $6.99 – Download Mass Effect: Infiltrator

 

There is, of course, a big wide world of iPad games beyond this. Have you guys found any particularly great titles that have been updated to take advantage of the new screen resolution?

Yours truly and Mobile Nations’ own Kevin Michaluk, pinch hitting for iMore in Miami during the massive new iPad launch, procured our own glass and aluminum possessions at the local Walmart at the stroke of midnight, and did what any self respecting gadget enthusiasts in our position would do — we ran over and showed them off and answered questions in front of the Miami Apple Store.

On the way in, we were stopped by the local NBC affiliate and interviewed about the hot issues of the day. Top on the interviewers list of questions was "what was the big difference" between the new iPad and the iPad 2?

Most of his questions, however, were focused on the users of the iPad and the rabid fans who lined up around the world to stand in line to get these things. We talked about the "iconic" nature as something that just separates Apple devices from the pack. It really is about the experience.

Also on the minds of the interviewer (and us all) was the memory of Steve Jobs and the impact he not only had on the new iPad, but also the impact he had on Apple faithful and if that was helping motivate people to stand in line today.

Kevin then pulled double duty, talking to CNN about the new iPad launch, and what it meant for consumers and for Apple.

Leanna meanwhile did the iMore Nation proud in Salinas, California, talking her turn talking to ABC news.

We’ve got video of Kevin’s NBC segment below, and we’ll post CNN and ABC as soon as we can find them. Check it out and then jump over to the iMore iPad forum and Tell us about your iPad launch day experience!

UPDATE: Here’s the CNN video!

iMovie is an excellent video editing application that is easy and fun to use, but are the new trailers really enough to take the spot as the best video editing app for the iPhone and iPad?

iMovie is part of the Apple’s iLife suite for iPhone and iPad. While iPhoto allows you to re-touch and sort your photos and GarageBand aims to give users the ability to edit audio and create music on their devices, iMovie completes the series with tools to help you create, edit, and share beautiful movies and trailers without ever having to touch a computer.

Editing

The editing screen is set up similar to iMovie on the Mac and split into 3 different screens. On the bottom of the screen, you find the timeline for your movie, on the top left, you find available media, and video preview is located in the top right. The "My Projects" screen is beautifully designed to look like a vintage movie theater.

The types of media that you can add to your movie are videos, photos, and music. However, the videos must be what’s available in the Photos app, so if you have homemade videos that you imported into the Videos app of your iPad with iTunes, you cannot access them from iMovie.

Editing movies is very easy with iMovie. You can preview clips by simply dragging your finger across them. You can then trim the edges before adding them to your project. To move clips around in your timeline, simply drag it to where you want. If you want to split a clip, position the cursor, select the clip, and swipe down along the cursor. To adjust the length of time that a video clip (or photo) appears in your movie, just drag the ends of the clip appropriately. You can also easily record audio and video directly into the timeline.

A recently added feature of iMovie is the ability freeze a frame. You do it exactly like splitting a clip, just instead of swiping down, you swipe up.

Music audio tracks are limiting in that you cannot add more than one song to your movie unless your movie is long enough to play an entire song. You can then have a new song start after the first one is finished, but you cannot control the length of the clip nor choose when you want the song to start. Your song must start at the beginning of the movie and it must play until the song or movie is over, whichever comes first.

iMovie comes with a lot of sound effects pre-installed. The good news is that these effects are stackable and you can have up to 3 audio tracks playing at a time (including background music). Choosing when they play in your movie is as simple as dragging them along the timeline. Double tapping any audio clip with give you option to adjust the volume or delete the clip.

Inserting photos is achieved in the same manner as adding videos and audio. Double tapping an inserted photo gives you options to give the photo a title style (opening, middle, ending) and to add a location.

iMovie will automatically add transitions between clips and photos. Tapping on the transition icon will allow you to specify the length of the transition (0.5s, 1.0s, 1.5s, 2.0s) and select between your theme’s special transition – a tradition cross dissolve, or no transition at all.

iMovie is stocked with 8 different themes, each of which comes with its own title screen format, transitions, and theme music.

Trailers

The newest and biggest addition to iMove for iPhone and iPad is the ability to make trailers — credits and all! iMovie comes with 9 different themes: Bollywood, Expedition, Fairy Tale, Narrative, Retro, Romance, Scary, Superhero, and Swashbuckler. Each template comes with a nice example of what it will look like.

Once you select a theme you’re ready to jump right into editing your trailer. On the Outline tab, you can edit your name, studio, and credit info. Although a little boring to fill out, it’s this information that gives your project the appearance of a real movie trailer.

The Storyboard tab is where the real creation happens. The template will have phrases filled out for you but you need to tap them to edit them to say whatever you want. iMovie also provides thumbnails for each part of the trailer. These thumbnails actually contain recommendations regarding the type of video clip you want (closeup, medium, action, wide, group, etc).

Inserting a clip is very easy to do yet hard to be precise. The length of each clip has been predetermined by iMovie so dragging your finger along a potential clip shows a yellow frame around the area of the clip that will actually be inserted into the movie. What’s frustrating about this is that there isn’t a way to preview that little chunk of video all by itself which makes being precise difficult.

Sharing

Sharing your movies is a breeze and iMovie is equipped the the ability to send directly to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and CNN iReport. Just tap the familiar sharing arrow from the projects screen and make your selection.

It’s not unreasonable to suspect iMovie on the iPhone and iPad to sync, ideally through iCloud, with iMovie on the Mac or other iOS devices. Well, it doesn’t. Not even over a cable. This is a shame because it would be very nice if you could start a project on your iPhone or iPad, then finish it up with on your Mac. Maybe next year?

The Good

• Very easy to use due to the great user interface
• Themes are well designed, simple, and fun
• Trailers are easy to edit and fun to create — a great addition
• Ability to freeze frames and split clips
• Lots of preinstalled sound effects

The Bad

• Song clips must be played in the background of your entire movie and the length of the song cannot be adjusted
• No way to sync with iMovie on another iOS device or Mac
• Cannot use movies that were imported onto the iPhone or iPad with iTunes. All video clips must come from the albums that appear in the Photos app.
• Choosing small chunks of video for trailers is not very precise

The Conclusion

iMovie is a great application for making movies and trailers on your iPhone and iPad. It has plenty of features that will please most users. The themes and trailers set it apart from other video editing apps. However, even since the most recent update, Avid Studio is still a more powerful video editing app. I was hoping that Apple was going to wow us with an amazing update, but they didn’t quite deliver this time around.

$4.99 – Download Now

After chatting with the first person in line for the new iPad in Miami, Florida, we had to stick around for the grand opening. We actually found the store reps  around the corner just before things kicked off. As you can see from the video, the Apple employees at Miami’s Lincoln Road store started getting psyched up right around the corner, and when it was time to open, they came barrelling down the sidewalk, hooting and hollering. They cheered for a bit at the front door, took some pictures, then jogged back around the block to their posts.

It’s obvious Apple employees are just as excited as we are to get the new iPad out the door, and it’s great to see that they’re willing to put on a show for the fans who have stuck around all night waiting for it. If you’ve never camped out front of an Apple store for an iOS product, check out this video to see what you’re missing.

YouTube link for mobile viewing

The Mobile Nations team just hit the new iPad launch in South Beach and we made quite a splash. With new Retina displays in hand (procured at WalMart) at midnight, we arrived with iMore T shirts  and had a blast.

Mobile Nations hits Miami

The party started for us at midnight at the local WalMart in Miami. Five of the Mobile Nations team including @crackberry kevin and @teamvisor arrived at WalMart at about 11 PM and found ourselves about 20 people back in line. Just as advertised, new iPads were brought out at 12:01 AM.  Kevin procured a 64 GB White, Marcus – a 32 GB 4G on AT&T, Tom got a 16 GB White and I got a 32 GB Black.

We grabbed about four hours of sleep and then thought it might be entertaining to unbox our retina displays for all to see….in front of the Apple store in South Beach.  The Queue was a couple hundred people deep of eager iPad enthusiasts.

 

Mobile Nations gets TV “FaceTime”

On our way in, Kevin and I were stopped by the local NBC affiliate and interviewed with our new iPads in hand. Kevin was then snagged by CNN (we will post links to all interviews as we receive them.)

Then we fired up the crowd and handed out the smashing and stylish iMore T's. We asked who the iMore readers were and they got the first batch. Then, suddenly everyone in line "remembered" that they were iMore enthusiasts and clamored for the T-shirts.

iMore T-Shirts given out to the crowd

With the T-shirts gone, we watched the mayhem that is an Apple launch. The iOS faithful emerged with smiling faces, lighter wallets and shiny new hardware to show off.

Our NBC interviewer then realized that he was in the presence of greatness and fame in the person of CrackBerry Kevin. He gushed about the endless hours he spent on CrackBerry.com and wanted to hear all about Mobile Nations and iMore.

All in all, it was a great outing.  If you are in Miami, look for the iMore T-shirts on display and watch NBC and CNN and look for us. Now, we are busily restoring iCloud backups and setting up our new, beautiful iPads. Lots more to come!

Stay tuned to iMore.com and keep watching the forums.

Have you gotten your iPad yet? Go to this forum thread and let us know what you got.

YouTube link for mobile viewing

Pages for iPhone and iPad is a great way to do word processing on the go, but iCloud may not keep your documents as seamlessly synced as you expected.

Apple's Pages is the word processing component of their iWork productivity suite of software, and a companion app to Numbers for spreadsheets and Keynote for presentations. Universal apps that work on iPhone and iPad, all three have proven to be popular choices for document management on the go and have just recently been updated to support iOS 5.1 and the new iPad's Retina display.

If you're a new iPad or iPhone owner and need a way to create and edit documents on the go, Pages is Apple's iCloud integrated solution.

Document organization

The documents screen of Pages displays your documents as a grid. You can create folders that contain multiple documents, similar to how you create folders of apps on your home screen. From here you can also delete, rearrange, and duplicate documents, add documents from iTunes, iDisk, or WebDAV, and create new document.

Templates

Pages comes with 16 different templates to help you get started with your project.

• Modern Photo, Classic, Formal, and Personal Photo letters
• Modern Photo and Classic Resume
• Project Proposal and Visual Report
• Poster and Flyer
• Term Paper and Syllabus
• Party Invite and Thank You Card
• Recipe

All of them are fully customizable so that you can make them your own.

Formatting

When creating a document, you’ll find a bar with formatting options you use most often: font type and size, bold, italics, underline, justification, and tabs. You can also easily adjust your margins and paragraph indent by dragging the arrows on the ruler at the top of the screen.

Tapping the paintbrush icon will give you more formatting options like paragraph and list styles, font color, columns, and line spacing.

Inserting media, tables, charts, and shapes

To insert media, tables, charts, and shapes into your document, just tap the + sign and choose what you’d like to insert. From the media tab, you can select photos from your Camera Roll, Photo Stream, or albums. The Tables tab has 24 different table designs to choose from. In the Charts tab, you’ll find 9 different 2D and 8 different 3D charts, each in 6 different colors, and in the Shapes tab, you’ll find 15 different shapes available in 6 different colors.

When inserting your media, you can scale it and move it around your document. If you drag it to an edge, the text will wrap around it, and if you put it in the middle somewhere, the text will separate above and below it.

Tables can be easily editable by just tapping on them. You can type information into each cell (even copy/paste from a spreadsheet app like Numbers) and adjust how many rows and columns your table is made up of.

Charts are treated the same way, except that you can rotate 3D ones around a little bit. Since charts require a set of data to have any sort of value, Pages allows you to edit the chart data (similar to a table) and select if you want to plot the rows or columns as a series.

Shapes are actually pretty fun to add to a Pages document because they are also adjustable. For example, if you select a star, you can add more points to it and adjust how skinny the points are.

Document Setup

If you tap the Tools button, you’ll find options for sharing, searching your document, settings, help, and Document Setup.

Tapping Document Setup will bring you to a new screen that shows a blank document page with a header, a footer, and margins. Dragging the margin lines will adjust the margins and tapping the header or footer allows you to edit them with page numbers, line breaks, or with your own pasted information.

If you take a look at the bottom right corner of the page, you’ll notice that’s it’s turned up a little. Tapping here will fold up the bottom of the paper and reveal two different paper size choices: US Letter and A4. Unfortunately, those are the only sizes available.

In the upper right corner, you’ll find a + sign. From here, you can add media, tables, charts, and shapes, similarly to how you enter them into your actual document. The difference is that if you add these items from the document setup screen, they actually work as the background of your document so that text will appear over them. This is how you can change the color of your page, add borders, and get creative when designing things like posters and flyers. Each item you add can be further edited by tapping the paintbrush icon.

Sharing

Once you’re done creating your document, you can email it, print it, share to iWork.com, send to iTunes, or copy to iDisk or WebDAV. Surprisingly, you cannot share (or “Open in”) iBooks. Although, if you email it yourself, you can then “Open in” iBooks from the email.

Pages also has support for iCloud so that you can keep all your documents synced between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This works fabulously for iPhone and iPad, but the experience is a bit clunky for the Mac – it doesn’t “just work”. To get your document onto your Mac, one would think you’d just have to launch Pages and be able to find it under the File menu. No such luck. Instead, you have to go to iCloud.com and download your document from the iWork section. This is very inelegant to say the least. Most 3rd party apps with iCloud support handle syncing to the Mac better than this. Apple should be embarrassed.

The Good

• Easy to use
• 16 nice templates to choose from
• Photos, graphs, charts, and shapes are very easy to edit, customize, and insert
• Document Setup is a great way to design the background of your project and is great for posters and flyers
• iCloud between iOS devices works great

The Bad

• Syncing with iCloud to your Mac is, for lack of a better word — lame
• Can’t “Open in” iBooks without emailing it yourself first
• Only US Letter and A4 paper sizes
• No Dropbox support

The Conclusion

If you’re looking for an easy to use, well designed word processor for you iPad, Pages is an excellent choice. But if you are a big Dropbox user or want to sync with MS Word, you’re going to want to look elsewhere. Personally, I’m happy with Pages and I’ve never felt the need to shop for a different word processing app.

$9.99 – Download Now

It’s not often we can manage to get the Chief Media Officer of Mobile Nations, Kevin Michaluk to go all in on some Apple coverage for us. (Being the number one BlackBerry fanboy and all.) But here we are on the eve of the new iPad launch and so Kevin hit up the Lincoln Road Apple store in Miami to see what was going down.

Knowing full well the lines would be filling up, Sierra, and her Mom Marilyn who tagged along for the journey, set out to ensure they would be in a great spot to get a new iPad. And achievement unlocked, considering they are in fact the first two people in line for the occasion.

We’re expecting to see more coverage as the night goes on and into the morning but for now, check out the video above and if you’re in line somewhere waiting, drop us a note in the comments or in the iMore forums.

If you just got your new iPad and you’re wondering which apps and games you need to download right now to show off that gorgeous new high density Retina display (and that fancy new A5X processor!), you’re in luck. We have your list right here!

Now, it might take some time for all of your favorite apps to update for Retina display, so you’ll need to be a little patient. We’ll add to and update this list as new apps hit the App Store, so check back often and make sure you subscribe to our updated for Retina display forum thread for a much more complete list.

Update: Apple has just set up a special Retina for iPad-ready section of the app store.

Browse all iPad retina-ready apps and games

Twitter apps: Tweetbot, Twitter, and Twitterrific

While we wait for Facebook all of the big three iPad Twitter apps are ready for Retina. That includes the original iOS Twitter app, Twitterific, which is great for those who enjoy just reading through Twitter, the official Twitter app for iPad, which has one of the most audacious user experiences ever seen on the iPad, and Tweebot which is perfect for power users with best-in-class notifications and great features like “mute”. If you’re brand new to Twitter, check out Twitterrific. If you’re a hard core tweeter, give Tweetbot a go.

• Tweetbot for iPad review
• Twitterrific vs. Twitter for iPad vs. Tweetbot shootout

2.99 – Tweetbot – Download now

Free – Twitterrific – Download now

Office apps: Numbers, Pages, and Keynote

Apple’s iWork suite, which consists of Keynote for presentations, Numbers for spreadsheets, and Pages for word processing has just been updated for Retina, so all your documents will look fantastic on the high-density screen. Keynote was built for Steve Jobs so it’s absolutely best in class, while Numbers and Pages are easy to use and produce great looking documents.

• Keynote for iPad review
• Numbers for iPad review
• Pages for iPad review

$9.99 – Keynote Download now

$9.99 – Numbers Download now

$9.99 – Pages Download now

Racing games: Real Racing HD

FireMint is always at the cutting edge of iOS gaming and this time around is no different. They’ve already updated Real Racing HD for Retina display. Add that to their existing support for AirPlay Mirroring, and not only do you get amazing racing on your new iPad, you can do full on Party Play on your big screen TV via Apple TV. What that means is you and up to 4 people total can each use an iPhone 4S, iPad 2, or the new iPad to race, multiplayer style. Not only is that a whole lot of fun — it’s a shot across the bow of every console in the casual gaming space.

$6.99 – Download now

First person shooters: Modern Combat 3

Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation was already the ultimate First Person Shooter for iPad, and now it comes in Retina. You can play a solo mission with over 13 different levels each with fantastic graphics and enemy AI. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation also offers a highly polished online multiplayer game experience. You can battle up to twelve players in six maps with seven different modes of play. A word of warning, you can accelerate your gaming abilities in this game via in app purchase of weapons and health kits; some find this an unfair advantage!

$6.99 – App Store link

Action/arcade games: Infinity Blade II

Infinity Blade II picks up where the first installment left off, but now does so in stunning Retina. It’s Epic’s Unreal 3 engine and on the new iPad it’s simply stunning. You are locked in a battle with the Deathless, only this time the stakes are higher, the enemies badder, and the weapons more powerful than ever. It’s still a tad repetitive at times, but it quickly becomes as addictive as it is gorgeous, and ChAIR typically has regular updates so there’s always new gear, new enemies, and new aspects to enjoy.

$6.99 – App Store link

Creativity apps: iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand

Apple’s iLife suite is now fully on iPad and fully updated for Retina. It includes the brand new iPhoto for image editing, iMovie for video editing, and GarageBand for music creation. They’re all optimized for multitouch as well, so you can really get your hands on them and manipulate your content like never before.

• iPhoto review
• iMovie review

$4.99 – iPhoto – Download now

$4.99 – GarageBand – Download now

$4.99 – iMovie – Download now

eBook apps: iBooks

While Amazon’s Kindle for iPad app has also been updated for Retina, and has a bigger catalog of titles, not to mention cross-platform support, Apple’s iBooks is just better looking, better animated, and has an overall better experience. And if we’re talking showing off, that’s what wins out. From the latest novels to the best non-fiction to high school textbooks to cartoons like Bloom County and comics from Marvel, you’ll think you’re looking at digital paper.

Free – Download now

Newsreader apps: The Early Edition 2

The Early Edition 2 is an RSS reader with a gorgeous user interface that looks absolutely stunning on the new iPad. Because of our love for eye candy, one of our favorite features is the manilla envelope that pops up when sharing an article to a social network and the "Shared Copy" stamp that appears just before it pops up. If you ever dreamed of reading the news on your iPad with your feet up and while sipping excellent coffee (or wine), this is the app for you.

4.99 – Download now

More to come!

So there you have them, the best apps available to really show off you new iPad! Again, we’ll be updating this page as more great Retina apps come in, so keep checking back and stick with our updated for Retina display forum thread for a much more complete list.

Once you’ve got your new iPad and it’s all set up, you’ll want to add your email accounts to it. Reading and responding to email from an iPad is a great experience on its own. Whether you’ve got iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, Hotmail, Yahoo! or another type of mail, or no mail account at all yet, it’ll only take you a few minutes to get all set up.

Setting up a free iCloud mail account

If you don’t have a mail account yet, you’ll need to set one up in order start emailing as well as do things like buying things from the App Store with an iTunes ID.

Apple allows you to create an iCloud account for free that comes with your own @me.com email address. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can check out our guide below to set up your account before proceeding.

• How to set up a free iCloud account

Setting up an existing email account

If you’ve already got an email address, odds are it’s compatible with iPad. iOS supports the following email types natively –

• iCloud
• Microsoft Exchange
• Gmail
• Yahoo
• Aol
• Hotmail
• MobileMe (will be converted completely to iCloud this summer)

If you are already using iCloud to sync everything else and have already signed in under iCloud, odds are your mail account is already configured for you. Just pop into the Mail app to confirm this.

Everyone else can follow these steps to configure existing email accounts –

1. Go into Settings on your iPad.
2. Now tap on Mail, Contacts, & Calendars.
3. Tap Add Account… under Accounts.

4. Click on the type of email account you have. For this example, I’ll use Gmail.
5. If you’ve got another type of email account than the options listed, you can click “Other”. You may need some additional settings from your IT administrator or from your email account provider in order to finish configuration.

6. Fill out the fields your iPad will prompt you for including name, email, password, and description. Your description can be whatever you want to nickname your account.

7. Your iPad will when verify your account. From here you may have some different sync options depending on your account type. As you can see, I can sync mail, calendars, and notes. I can tick off items I don’t want to sync with my iPad. Since I use iCloud for my calendars and notes, I’ll just turn off calendar and notes syncing for Gmail.
8. Tap Save in the upper right hand corner and you’re done.

You should now be able to go back to your homescreen and tap the Mail icon. Upon first launch, it may take your iPad a few minutes to bring down all of your folders and messages.

How to send an email

1. Tap on your Mail app to launch it.

2. In the upper right hand corner you’ll see a pen and paper icon. Tap it.
3. This will open a new email. You can either type in an email address or type the name of the contact you’d like to email from your address book.
4. Fill out the subject and email body and tap send in the upper right hand corner and your message will be on its way.

That’s really all there is to it. If you’d like more tips on using email on your iPad, check out the links below.

Additional resources:

• How to add a custom mail signature to your iPhone or iPad
• How to mark multiple emails as read on iPhone or iPad
• Even more email tips

You’ve just gotten the new iPad, and now that it’s in your hands and you just can’t wait to see see what your favorite videos look like on that high density Retina display. In other words just can’t wait to load it up with all kinds of content including movies, TV shows, and music. All of the above are available in the iTunes Store directly from your iPad.

How to download and watch a movie or TV show

In most countries, iTunes has a great selection of movies and TV shows to choose from that you can either purchase or rent straight from your iPad, no computer needed. Follow these steps to download or rent a movie directly from your iPad.

1. Open the iTunes app from your homescreen.
2. Click on either the Movies or TV shows tab along the bottom. Here you’ll see a list of new and featured movies or TV shows in iTunes.
3. In the upper right hand corner you can search for any movie or show you’d like.
4. Once you’ve found what you’re interested in, tap on it in order to view a larger description. You can also preview movies via the preview button.

5. When you find something you’d like to rent or buy, you can choose to purchase or rent the standard definition (SD) or high definition (HD) version. Once you’ve decided which one you want, tap it twice to purchase it. TV shows will only allow you to purchase from your device. Movies will allow you to rent them as well as purchase.
6. You’ll be prompted to enter your iTunes password and you’re done! Your download will begin.

To watch your content:

1. Go back to your Home screen by tapping your home button.
2. Find your Videos app and open it.
3. You should see all your tv shows and movies. Tap on the one you’d like to watch to see a description and more info. When you’re ready to watch it, just tap the Play button and enjoy!

You’ll also be able to access most of your iTunes purchased movies from any iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV linked to your account via Movies in the Cloud. You can do this with TV shows you’ve purchased as well.

How to download and listen to music

1. Open the iTunes app from your homescreen.
2. Click on the Music tab along the bottom. Here you’ll see a list of new and featured music. You can also use the tabs at the top to view Featured, Top Charts, and Genius. Genius will look for music based on your current collection that it thinks you may like.
3. In the upper right hand corner you can search for any song or album you’d like.
4. Once you’ve found a song or album you’re interested in, tap on it in order to view a larger description. Tap on the track number to preview a song.
5. You can either purchase individual songs from an album or purchase the entire album in one go. Tap on the price to purchase.
6. You’ll be prompted to enter your iTunes password and you’re done! Your download will begin.

To listen to your newly downloaded music, follow these steps –

1. Go back to your home screen by tapping your home button.
2. Find your Music app and open it.
3. You should see all the music you’ve synced to your phone. Just search for the song or album you’ve just added. You can also go under playlists and “recently added” to see all the music you’ve recently added.
4. Tap play and you’re good to go!

How to re-download your previously purchased music, TV shows, and movies

Most of the content you download will be available for use on your other devices as well. Music, movies, and tv shows can be re-downloaded and watched on any iPhone, iPad, or computer you have authorized on your iTunes account. Movies and tv shows can also be streamed to your Apple TV while music can be accessed if you subscribe to iTunes Match or have your computer running on the same network.

How to stream movies from iTunes on Mac or Windows PC

If you’d rather keep your content on your Mac or Windows PC and just watch them on your iPad, that’s easy to do with Home Sharing. As long as you’re on the same Wi-Fi network, everything on your computer can be beamed straight to your iPad.

• How to use iTunes Home sharing with your new iPad

Other ways to get movies, TV shows, and music onto your new iPad

There are a variety of other options for getting great videos and music onto your new iPad. Netflix and Hulu bring you TV and movies new and old. A lot of TV networks and some cable networks have dedicated apps where you can watch your local shows. Air Video will transcode on the fly and stream MKV, AVI and other videos from your home PC to your iPad. Slacker will provide you with internet radio channels. And there’s a lot more too.

Take a look around the App Store, you’ll be amazed how many apps there are for exactly that!

Additional resources:

• How to set up your new iPad with iCloud or iTunes
• Access iTunes movies in the cloud with your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV
• Movies, TV shows, and videos help and discussion forum
• Music, DJ, and Jamming Forum

Reading magazines and newspapers is an amazing experience the new iPad thanks to its retina display. Newsstand is Apple’s built-in way or ogranize and manage all your issues and subscriptions, so your magazines and newspapers are where you want, when you want. They’ll even download over night so new editions are ready for you right when you wake up!

Note: Newsstand isn’t really an app, it’s a special folder on your Home screen, and magazines and newspapers are actually apps just like any other app or game. Newsstand just makes it easier to find them and keep them organized.

There are actually two ways to get magazines and newspapers onto your new iPad.

How to get magazines and newspapers from within Newsstand

1. Tap the Newsstand app on your homescreen.
2. You’ll be presented with a virtual bookshelf. This is where your subscriptions will show up.
3. To start subscribing tap the Store icon in the top right corner of Newsstand.
4. Browse and download magazine and book apps just as you would any other app. If you’re brand new to the iPad, here’s how

How to get magazines and newspapers from the App Store

1. Launch the App Store.
2. Tap the Categories tab on the bottom.
3. Now tap on Newsstand

Regardless what method you use, you’ll still end up in the same place. Now we can browse for things we want to subscribe to and start filling up our shelves.

1. Browse all the offerings in Newsstand in one of two ways – at the top you can choose between featured and release date.

2. Once you’ve found something you’d like to subscribe to, you can check out the rates by scrolling down a bit. While most items are free to download, you’ll need to purchase a subscription as an in-app purchase. Some publications also let you purchase individual issues as well (we’ll cover that in a minute).

3. To subscribe, just tap the price underneath the cover picture.

4. The button will turn into an “Install App” button. Tap it once more.

5. You’ll be prompted to enter your iTunes password. Click Ok and your subscription will start to download to Newsstand.

How to get a subscription with an in-app purchase

1. Tap on the publication you just downloaded to Newsstand in order to open it.
2. Every publication is a bit different but you should see a section where you can subscribe or purchase individual issues if they offer it.
3. Choose the subscription or issue you’d like and tap the price just as you did previously to install the publication.
4. Enter your iTunes password if prompted and you’re done.

If you subscribed for a certain time duration, Newsstand should automatically download your new issues as soon as they’re available. You can also enable automatic downloads in order to sync your subscriptions across all your devices.

Enabling automatic downloads

If you’ve got multiple iOS devices, namely an iPad and and iPhone or iPod touch – you’ll be able to access your subscriptions on both without purchasing them again as long as you’re signed into the same iTunes account on both.

1. From the homescreen of your iPad, tap your Settings icon.
2. Now tap Store.

3. From here you can choose to turn automatic downloads on for music, apps, books, and any magazines you are subscribed to. Just toggle them on or off for the items you’d like to sync across your devices.

That’s it! You’ll now be able to read all of your subscriptions straight from your iPad or any other iOS device you own. Hit the links below for even more iPad tips and tricks.

Additional resources:

• How to set up your new iPad with iCloud or iTunes
• How to re-download previously purchased apps, songs, and books in iTunes
• Even more iPad tips

Now that you’ve got your new iPad in hand and it’s been set up just the way you want it, it’s time to get to find some great apps and games from the App Store. If you’re new to iPad, no worries. We’ll have you flinging birds, finger painting with productivity, slicing fruit, and making the perfect pictures in no time.

How to download an app or game

1. First thing you’ll need to do is pop into the App Store App from your iPad.

2. You’ll notice a long list of tabs along the bottom. This is where you can browse through featured apps, top charts, and more. You can also use Genius to find new apps that may interest you. The App Store will pull up apps it thinks you’ll like based on what you’ve already got installed. If you know the app you’re looking for by name, you can also search for it in the upper right hand corner.

3. If you find an app you’d like to take a better look at, just tap its icon. You’ll now see a description of the app as well as screenshots.

4. To buy the app, tap the price. It will then turn into a “Buy App” button. Tap it once more to purchase it.
5. You’ll be asked to type in the password for your iTunes ID. Type it in and click ok.

That’s pretty much all there is to it. You’re app will begin downloading and show up on your homescreen. Once it’s done you’ll be able to tap it to launch it.

How to turn on automatic downloads

If you’ve got multiple iOS devices, namely an iPad and and iPhone or iPod touch, you’ll be able to use universal applications on both without purchasing them again as long as you’re signed into the same iTunes account on both.

There’s actually a very easy way to set your devices up to keep your apps in sync. If you’d like the same apps to install on all your compatible iOS devices, you can enable automatic downloads inside settings.

1. From the homescreen of your iPad, tap your Settings icon.
2. Now tap Store.

3. From here you can choose to turn automatic downloads on for music, apps, books, and any magazines you are subscribed to. Just toggle them on or off for the items you’d like to sync across your devices.

That’s all there is to it. If you’re looking for all the best apps and games to download, hit the app reviews link below. Now get to downloading!

Additional resources:

• iMore best apps
• Everything you need to know about the new iPad
• iPad apps and games help and discussion forum

Now that you’ve got your new iPad and you’ve set it up perfectly, you’ll definitely want to check out how awesome it is to read books on the gorgeous new retina display. Text looks better than ever and reading on an iPad has never been more enjoyable. Whether you want to use Apple’s own iBooks service, Amazon’s Kindle powerhouse, or something different, we’ve got you covered.

iBooks

Apple’s own iBooks and iBookstore are a great way to purchase and read books as well as save PDF documents from the web. Many free and paid books are available directly on your iPad through the iBookstore.

From the latest novels to the best non-fiction to high school textbooks to cartoons like Bloom County and comics from Marvel, you’ll think you’re looking at digital paper.

iBooks is a free download from the App Store.

Free – Download Now

Once you’ve got iBooks installed, it’s simple to download books.

1. Open iBooks and tap Store in the upper left hand corner. The bookshelf will turn around to show you the iBooks bookstore. You can browse for books from here just as you’d browse for apps or any other type of media in iTunes or the App Store.

2. If you find a book you think you may be interested in, you can download a preview before buying if you’d like via the Get Sample button.
3. Once you’ve decided to buy, just tap on the price and it’ll ask you to tap it again to confirm the purchase.
4. Enter in your iTunes password and your book will begin downloading.
5. When you go into the iBooks app, you’ll now see your new book on the book shelf. Just tap into it to start reading.

Kindle for iPad

iBooks isn’t the only way you can read eBooks from your iPad. The Kindle app for iPad is a free download from the App Store and if you’ve already got a Kindle collection built, you’ll probably want access to those books. Simply download the app and sign into your Amazon account to access all your purchased books. Best of all, it’s just been updated for Retina on iPad.

Free – Download now

Additional resources:

• How to read eBooks as white on black
• How to re-download previously purchased apps, songs, and books in iTunes
• Books, magazines, and comics help and discussion forum
• Everything you need to know about the new iPad