Christmas iPad

I'm having 2 Christmases this year due to family jobs, etc. My wife couldn't wait so I got my iPad tonight.

It's been a while since I had one so I'm asking the GRM collective the best way to stock my pad.

My son has a cool Flying game and that made me wonder if there are any cool driving games that uses the pad as the steering wheel?

I also need a mail program that looks and works like a computer mail program. I need to be able to sort into multiple mailboxes and MOST IMPORTANTLY I need one that doesn't automatically open up the top email. I'd like a list of emails just like I see on my computer. This is why I got rid of my last iPad as I can't have an open email showing up on this. I've been told there are several new mail programs but I'd rather not have to experiment.

I use iMovie quite a bit on my computer but the iPad version has been emasculated. I will be using the iPad itself to do my filming and while I can just transport the video onto my computer for the editing if there's a wonderous iPad video editing program with preprogramed transistions and such that is easy to use I might as well look into that too.

I don't have Apple TV so I can't mirror my TV or do any of those cool things yet, but soon, very soon . . .

Check out ibisMail for mail, I think that'll mostly do what you want. I like it well enough to pay for it.

Thanx, that name rings a bell as being told that might work. Have you ever used Mail, Apple's program on a computer? If so how does the functionality, or should I say look, compare?

The short write up and itty bitty pics make it appear that it might do the job, but it's tough to tell. It still appears as if there's always an email open. Or is there a way just to see the list of the emails received and they don't open until I click on one?

There doesn't appear to be a free version that I can try out to see if I like the interface.

I'm by no means an Apple Mail poweruser (I tend to user either Apple Mail or Thunderbird) and most of the email pre-processing I do is actually done on my server so I don't tend to use a lot of the advanced features.

That said, I just grabbed the iPad and popped open ibisMail. If you're at the account selection or folder selection level, there is no open email showing. Once you opened a folder you get a list of messages with a very short single line preview (you can configure how many lines it shows, from "none" upwards, mine's just sitting on the default setting). Once you tap on that, you see the actual email. So yes, you can have it running without it showing an open email.

The only downside I've encountered so far is that I haven't managed to get the background mail reception/check going properly. Not sure why that is as it looks like I configured it correctly, but it doesn't bother me that much. It checks when you open up the email app anyway.

Gearhead games in no particular order to give a shot:

Pit Crew Titans (basic pit stop mini-game)

Reckless Racing 2 (old school arcade game,

Smash Cops & Smash Cops Heat (odd controls, but fun)

Bike Baron (like the Trials games)

Vs. Racing 2 (another old-school style top-down racer)

Reckless Getaway

DrawRace 2

Real Racing 2 (3 is coming before too long, more of a Forza/GT type game)

GTA Vice City was recently released, not sure how it'll be with touch controls.

Here are my essentials for iPad:

Evernote
Dropbox
FileMaker Go
Keynote / Haiku Deck
USA Today
iBooks
Ebay
Craigslist
Winding Road Magazine
Ancestry.com

Wow, I am really boring. My iPad is wireless only, so I tend to use the iPhone for stuff like finding a local restaurant. I use the iPad for reading and watching movies, presentations, and web surfing.

I do have CSR Racing and Machinarium on there, my kid uses them.

It looks like most of the email programs on the app store are some sort of program to entice me into using Google mail. And unless I search specifically for ibisMail it doesn't show. That makes me wonder what way do I need to search to find other email programs?

Anyone used "Multiple Contacts Delete and Easy BackUp" by Asif Khalyani? I have a unique set of contacts on my phone which I have never let my computer back up. If I take my phone to the cloud I will end up with name duplicates but with different info. I think I want to make most of the iPhone info the main info, but I'm worried that once I do it then the wrong something will be over written.