I can be basically qualified as chronically technofreakish (couldn’t think of the right word so had to invent one) when it comes to gadgets. I absolutely love them and can always be found pressing one thing or the other so it was Joy Unlimited when I finally became the proud owner of an Apple iPad back in May 2011. Though it took a day or so to fully understand it, exploration of the app store (and opening of the AppStore to Nigerians mentioned here) was what it took to make this wide screen wonder an effective replacement to my laptop (and phone to an extent).

It is a Version 1 Wifi iPad running iOS 4.2 (it would take iMessage on iOS 5 to make me use 10% of my 5GB MTN limit in updating ) and offering the best battery life I’ve gotten apart from on the “Torchlight” Nokia Series. I browse on it using Wi-fi via JoikuSpot on both my Nokia C7 or 5800 – I don’t consider it nice paying twice for Internet.

I will list 7 apps (in no particular order) that have made my iPad a Joy to own and my second most used device (after my phone).

1.) YouVersion
You Version, the Bible app is a Free iPad application which contains numerous translations of the bible in many languages. While I must confess it’s an excuse to take my iPad to church, It’s also very useful as it has audio versions for some bible versions as well as reading plans to enable you complete your bible.

It also keeps the History of Verses you’ve read before, lets you make bookmarks and has a well designed search function. I downloaded and deleted a lot of Bible apps before this so I believe it’s a must-tryout for all iPad users.

You can get it from the AppStore

2.) QuickOffice Pro HD
Hmmmmnnnn, I’ve always used Quick Office right from my days with the Nokia e51 so many years ago. For anyone who doesn’t know, Quick Office is an application which enables you Create, Read and Edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files right from your mobile device.

I downloaded Quick Office Pro HD (after downloading Keynote for a presentation I had to do and immediately asking for a refund) a few months ago and it has really brought out the “secretary” in me.

I am actually using it to type this Blog Post right now and I also use it for my PowerPoint Presentations, Record-Keeping with Excel and mostly, typing of documents, letters, and blog posts like this, of course.

The downsides to the application are that:
1.) It has serious challenges opening my really large Excel files and
2.) It doesn’t have the capability, or I haven’t yet figured out how to insert pictures in my documents which means after typing the text version, I would have to save to Google Docs & insert images using my computer.

Which brings me to one of my best features in the app…

Quick Office allows you to save your documents to various cloud-based services such as Google Docs, DropBox, MobileMe, Sugar Sync and Huddle (though I use just Google Docs for now) and this makes work a breeze as I can easily do typing on my iPad and continue later on my Nokia C7 or Laptop by simply retrieving the document from my Google Docs account.

This is really a powerful mobile suite and at $ 19.99 it is a steal from the AppStore.

3.) Easy Books
I’ve used this app for only a few weeks and I believe it is a must-have for every small business owner or Accountant. It enables you keep track of your business (or personal) finances and can generate Very Professional looking reports such as Balance Sheets, Cash Flow Statements & etc without any stress.

Though you would need a little accounting knowledge to use it as it’s Garbage in Garbage Out, I think a lot of people would find it helpful (as I have). It is a Free App on the App Store with paid upgrades if you are a power user.

4.) iBooks
Ok, I shouldn’t be adding this, it’s a default app with iPads but it’s also an App I’m on most of the time. I have always been a voracious reader from childhood and I lost this habit for a few years after getting my Laptop back in 2007 (yes I know, I always deceived myself that I would read the PDF’s I saved back then on the laptop).

The iPad has brought back the reader in me, with a vengeance and I can comfortably say that I spend the most money spent on my iPad in the iBookStore.

I’ve over 100 books in various categories (of which I’ve read all, some more than once) and the reading experience on the iPad is just something else.

You can easily adjust the light intensity, fonts and other settings, add bookmarks to interesting pages and also, your books would always open wherever you stopped when you open them in the app (one excellent feature that’s saved a lot of my time).

For the Literature and Book Addicts like me, iBooks is definitely a reason to get an iPad

5.) iUnarchive
This was downloaded in a time of desperation and has not been regretted one bit since then. I had paid for a logo for a client and after a long delay, I received the file one hot afternoon on the deadline as a zipped .rar file and was far from my computer so had no means of unzipping and reviewing the work before forwarding it to the client.

After a few “this file could not be downloaded” errors in my Safari browser, I immediately went over to the App Store where after a few false positives, I got the iUnarchive App for just $3.99.
This app which works with cloud storage services, email and even the inbuilt safari browser, enables you to easily handle compressed folders in a wide range of formats.

The best part of it is that it has made me comfortable going anywhere armed with just my iPad as I know those troublesome attachments are no longer an issue. Download it here

6.) Read it later
Can I ever praise this app too much? I’m the kind of Internet user who leaves five firefox windows with 20 tabs each open and would always hibernate the computer rather than shut down on order to avoid loosing important information (far from exaggeration).

Read It Later is a productivity app that lets you save your webpages and bookmarks so you can always come back to them on any of your devices and whenever you are offline.

I first got the Read it later (from readitlaterlist.com) as a firefox add-on (and later on chrome) and this really reduced the tabs open at any given time as I would just mark them to be downloaded and then close the “offending” tab.

Later when I got the iPad, and started using it a lot more than my laptop, I searched for and downloaded the iPad app (and also the mobile safari bookmarklet). This has really made life so simple for me as any webpage I save on the laptop is simultaneously saved on my iPad and vice versa.

For the long pages, one thing I noticed in the app is that it continues at the exact point you stopped when you last used the application. It removes pages immediately you read them and let’s you choose if a text only version or the full website would be downloaded. This is a free app.

7.) MyPad for iPad
This is the app I use for everything about facebook. Though I hardly use facebook nowadays, those few times when I use it, this app has been very helpful.

MyPad let’s you save multiple profiles and can be very useful in facebook (and now twitter) everyday tasks. It lets you chat, upload photos, play games and a lot of other features.

Though I haven’t yet used the twitter features (I still don’t get the fun there), if you use facebook a lot, this would be very useful to add to your app arsenal

This is my very short App list, although I would appreciate more useful/ better apps than these from other iPad users I know with these, the iPad is my gadget of 2011.

I will be back soon with more.

WAM Abu Dhabi, Jul 25th, 2011 (WAM)–Etisalat announced today the commercial launch of First Application Store in Nigeria.

The Service was introduced in partnership between Etisalat and EMS. The new offering provides Etisalat Nigeria BlackBerry Smartphone users the access to a wide array of locally relevant contents.

Users can now discover, download and enjoy a wide array of mobile applications for their BlackBerry Smartphone in a variety of categories including entertainment, games, social networking, news, weather and productivity.

Among “Etisalat Nigeria” many first historic services in Nigeria and Africa, this new service offering aims also to encourage Young Nigerian apps developers to design stellar and innovative apps that enhance users experience and at the same time nourishes local talent and creating commercial opportunities for them.

Essa Al Haddad, Etisalat Group Chief Marketing Officer said “we are delighted to introduce first in Sub-Saharan Africa Operator Branded Apps store. The elevated demand for BlackBerry apps in Africa is behind this move besides, our continuous commitment to Nigeria and the Nigeria’s Applications developer’s to bring the latest in technology and applications to the market. We look forward to seeing rich catalog of personal and business oriented apps produced in Nigeria.”

Source. Thanks, @nelsonisibor!

Fasmicro and Microscale Embedded,the partnership behind the Ovim Android tablet, have announced the opening of Ovim Store and Android Apps Competition.

The Ovim Store is a solution to monetize Android App in Nigeria since Android market does not accept paid App in Nigeria. As such, Fasmicro and Microscale are seeking local solutions instead of bundling Apps written for an American mogul. The partners take pride in that their ideas are original and in their capacity to provide service, not just hardware.

From the press release:

As we noted in statements during the unveiling of Ovim Tablet, we are into application and solution space business, and not necessarily hardware sale. Ovim will drive new services in Africa, beginning from Nigeria, and will simplify the lives of citizens and corporate entities.

Accordingly, we are building Ovim Store – an Android App store that will be exclusive for our Tablet. We have to take this strategy since Google Android Market does not allow paid Apps in Nigeria. So, for us to provide the services we need, we will bundle the Apps alongside the sale of the Tablet. And that means Apps makers in Nigeria can be paid!

In line with their objectives, a competition has been announced to motivate individuals and companies to develop Apps for exclusive inclusion in Ovim Store.

Top prize is a cash amount of N50,000. Submission Deadline is March 31, 2011.

For more details and full press release, head to Ovim Store and Android Apps Competition.

It is good to appreciate Microsoft and the windows phone 7 seeming anomalous marketing. It’s no one’s secret that windows mobile phones have been doing badly in sales as of recent. With the advent of the iphone and android in the mobile phone world, the fortunes of the windows mobile have been dwindling even further.

To understand Microsoft’s policy of appraising itself competitively against these behemoth “foes” you need to appreciate the diametrically opposing world of the Google Android Smartphone and the Apple iphone. One is closed and the other is open source. One has defined offering and quality assured products throughout the retail units of their mobile devices while the other have a powerful OS but ubiquitous mobile products.

Apple feels that users should have the same user interface on their device. This OS can be thus used across similar devices as part of a large ecosystem of Apple products. On the other hand, Android provides a solid open-source approach to their powerful Smartphone line-up, and many manufacturers are allowed to alter them and use them at their will.

You see in some instance, Samsung, HTC and even Acer, adding their own UI on top of the Android OS. So, when you buy an android product, you cannot predict to 100% accuracy what you get in terms of functionality or user interface. A Samsung Android phone may be different in operability from a Samsung or Motorola’s Android device. Even an android application that runs well in a HTC phone for instance may fail to launch on a Motorola Android phone. Perhaps Microsoft wants to avoid this!

Now, Microsoft wants to regulate and strictly enforce a minimum standard for their windows phone 7. They want to use the model depicted above for the Apple iphone into their Windows Phone 7 series. They want to have a closed ecosystem complete with even an apps store known as the windows phone 7 market place, where you can buy monitored apps, analogous to the Apple apps store format.

They want a situation in which if you buy a windows phone from Samsung in Lagos, Nigeria and buy another windows phone from HTC in the UK, You will have the same user experience and you can predict the UI, functionality and similar apps would run in both phones impeccably.

Merit
One of the problems facing the windows mobile is the same that may lurk out at the Android platform later on. This is an inherent problem in open source OS, which is a lack of standardization. And possibly, universality. With this new approach by Microsoft, they intend to bring about uniformity in their products and perhaps they will ensure a quality assurance too.

When you buy a windows mobile phone you are sure of the minimum RAM (256 MB), in built Memory (of at least 8GB), No removeable memory card, One of the three hard ware requirements and possibly upgradeable OS via later firmwares. There is also a quality regulated application store, where apps from third party manufacturers are scrutinized and approved ala Apple apps store format. Microsoft even promises a more open approach to its apps store.

This system also serves their enterprise partners well. There is nothing better than consistency in their Business enterprise users. Their core business enterprise users will have a choice of different manufacturers and third party applications with the assurance that they will get a single OS, the same UI, and apps interoperability, no matter the source of the Windows Phone 7 series.

Shortcomings
This attempt by Microsoft to revamp its OS is not without criticism albeit forthrightly. For one, it is not all about updating and repositioning, but taking into account the preferences of their users and customers.

This new policy has its controversies because Microsoft in their zeal to bring about their new OS, have dived headlong into it, and have ignored some of the mistakes of their arch rival, Apple. For the sake of simplicity this will be enumerated below:

1. No multi-tasking at launch. Microsoft does not want to include multi tasking ab initio in the WMP 7 so as to emulate this function of the iphone and for simplicity. Whether it is to improve battery life or just for a simple interface, no official reasons were given in the MIX event. Not long ago, the Apple iphone was criticized for lack of multi-tasking and from the intensity of this it was clear that users love this feature. Why Microsoft should ignore such as an astounding feature seems difficult to appreciate.

2. No removeable memory card. This is self explanatory.

3. No copy and paste; even the iphone corrected this shortcoming in their OS 3.0. update.

4. No flash in browser; The lack of flash baffles me. In fact they were able to put silverlight (Microsoft version of Flash) in the OS and UI but exclude it in the most important area that mattered which was the mobile internet browser.

5. Tightly regulated Apps store; this may serve as a strength as well as weakness. The Apple apps store has been criticized for its lack of openness. Let us see if that would not be the case with WMP 7 marketplace.

6. The closed environment or ecosystem; There are many people who love the Apple closed system. Others prefer openness and carrier/ manufacturers configurability of an existing OS. That is why the likes of IG (with due respect) will prefer to jailbreak their iphone to get an increased user-configurability. But whatever model you choose, the most important thing a user may prefer may be quality assurance and similar User interface and ease of use in all the Operating systems of one product.

You do not have to start learning again and mastering the User interface of an android phone or a windows mobile phone each time you change a Manufacturer. I, myself prefer a closed but quality assured user interface. Like the PC Windows 7 for instance. It is closed for instance, yet accepts so many third party software/applications.

Whether you buy windows 7 from Dell or Acer or HP, you know what you’ve bought. It has a single OS and UI in all and similar software will run similarly in all three manufacturers. Perhaps that is what Microsoft is after. But then, they should not starve the OS of features!

Conclusion
New devices running WMP 7 would not be out until the “Holidays”. Perhaps it is too early to tell if Microsoft has a winner in its hands. But suffice to say that their policy has merits and demerits. Microsoft has created an easy to use platform, and also removed the lackluster UI of windows mobile. They want to attempt to create a successful mobile model in line with their PC OS model.

The WMP OS is simple enough and allows developers to make good thirdparty applications. The iPhone was criticized before but they have gradually improved their features and are still improving and selling in droves. Perhaps Microsoft will tow the same line if it has a compelling and fluid UI like the iphone.

The taste of the pudding is in the eating, and perhaps we should just wait and see how all this turn out. What will surely help Microsoft will be further improvement of features with subsequent firmware or OS update. If their policy is well thought out, and if they offer accompanying compatible customer support, we just might have a winner in our hands.

WMExperts have published news items confirming the following about WindowsPhone 7 Series:

• 3rd party apps cannot run in the background; only apps from Microsoft can
• Sideloading: the only way for consumers to get apps on Wp7S is to get them through marketplace
• No copy-and-paste
• Silverlight not available in Internet Explorer mobile, though Silverlight is built into Wp7S itself

It is looking like Wp7S is launching as what the first generation iPhone was. How smart is that?

It is almost unbelievable that Microsoft would do something like this. Would it really hurt them to give us the fancy user interface plus multi-tasking plus side-loading plus copy-and-paste?

Was it really that hard to implement these features that they had implemented for years in their existing mobile OS? Sounds like a step forward and three steps backwards to us. But, what do we know?

This strategy may work for Microsoft in terms of overall sales (it worked for the iPhone), but then Windowsphone will lose the patronage of mobile “power users”.

Read the full news items:

1. Wp7S Apps: No Sideloading, (virtually) no background multitasking
2. No copy-and-paste for Windows Phone 7 Series

Freewarepocketpc.net is a website that has been providing freeware for Windows Mobile devices for years. Now, the people behind that site have developed an alternative app store to Microsoft’s own Marketplace for Mobile on Windowsphones.

From the Freewarepocketpc.net site:

OpnMarket is compatible with most of the Windows Mobile Professional devices with touch-screens, once installed it lets you browse, download and install FREE applications directly on your device. OpnMarket will use you mobile network connection or a WiFi connection to download softwares to your phone. It’s simple, instant and FREE!

I downloaded it and working well on my i-mate 8502. OpnMarket is available for download from the Freewarepocketpc.net website.