Review: Desktop for the iPad

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple's iPad has a bright and crisp screen which offers a lot of real estate. The lack of windows or multitasking on the iPad ( a limitation that is expected to be rectified in the fall with the availability of OS 4.0 and multitasking) limits what you can do on the device. Desktop app overcomes this hurdle.

This .99 cent app allows iPad users to run two windows simultaneously in both landscape and portrait mode. Using Desktop, you can have your mail app open while having a website on the other window and you can freely cut and paste between windows.

There are a number of other features that are accessible such as currency and unit converters, a voice recorder, a map, a calculator and even a translator.

The programmers from Aqua Eagle came up with a clever workaround to Apple's lack of multitasking but it comes at a cost. The Desktop app does not use Safari browser but a generic WebKit based browser- which works fine except you don't get access to your bookmarks.

Same thing with the mail application which is a clone application that uses parts of your system (address book, Internet access) to get things working.

We like the simplicity and effectiveness of this app and what it does can' be beat for the price. This will be a vital tool on our iPad, at least until proper multiple-window and multiple-tasking comes to the device.

Rating: 5 out of 5