There is no denying that slicing up fruit with a ninja blade on a beautiful 10-inch display is a ton of fun, but surely there has to be much more to owning a tablet than just that. The good news is that there is. If you take a moment to step away from the games category in the app store, you will discover that there are all kinds of great applications designed to help you increase productivity. These aren’t just apps for the business man on the go, and all of them can in fact come in handy for just about everyone.

Here are the top 5 productivity apps in no particular order:

Evernote

How often have you been out and about and thought of something you need to do. A pen and paper aren’t handy, so you convince yourself that you will remember, only to forget all about it 5 minutes later. Evernote lets you use your table like a journal of sorts, where you can jot down ideas, to-do lists, or anything else that comes to mind. You don’t even have to type anything, as Evernote allows you to create audio notes, as well as text. The best part of it all is that it is absolutely free to use.

Dropbox

Most people do the majority of their work on a PC or laptop, which means that files, photos, spreadsheets, and the like are all saved on those devices. That doesn’t really help if you want to share them while you are on the go. The simple answer to that problem is Dropbox. All you need to do is install the application on the computer you use for work, and then drag your files into the Dropbox app. The next step is to install the app on your tablet, at which point you can access all those files any time you feel like it, no matter where you are.

Lecture Notes

Tablets are becoming more and more popular with students across the country, as they are a perfect alternative to the netbook or laptop. The best app out there for students is Lecture Notes, as it allows them to take handwritten notes in class. Of course, you will need a stylus in order to use the app to the best of its ability, but once you do, you can create notebooks within the app for each subject you are taking. Easy to use and just a little over $4 means that it is great value.

ezPDF Reader

If you are looking for a multimedia PDF reader for your tablet, then look no further than this one. At only $3.99 it is an absolute bargain, which actually gets even better when you discover that it also comes with a free 2013 planner (check inside the Thank You folder after you install).

Tasks

If you are someone that regularly uses Google Tasks, then this app is an absolute must. It syncs up with your tasks account and lays it all out in a simple, yet incredibly effective user interface. You can access multiple Google account, sort items chronologically, add reminders and much, much more. It’s a steal at just 99 cents, but if you are a real cheapie, you can also get a free ad-supported version.

If you’re still straddling the fence about jumping onto the iPad Mini bandwagon, then I bet your misgivings is trumping your excitement of holding a brand spanking new one in your hands.

And you’re right to be cautious. After all, with the price tag that goes with the iPad Mini, you’d want to avoid a double dose of buyer’s remorse that goes with buying new stuff — no matter that you wanted the gizmo in the first place!

So before you decide to go online or to the store to get yourself a new iPad Mini, here are some things you might want to think about before you do:

Apple’s 6-month iteration timeline

Apple’s always been honest about their policy of bringing in a better version of new products within 6 months of its release. On one hand, that’s good because bugs are fixed and new features are added to make acquiring your new gizmo a fun, fulfilling one. The flip side of that argument though means that within six months of its first outing, the new iteration of the iPad Mini’s going to have the Retina display that it doesn’t have now and at a price lower than its debut cost.

Less than stellar screen resolution

Speaking of Retina display, the iPad Mini doesn’t have it. Apple loyalists are baffled at this decision to launch the Mini without benefit of a better resolution than, say, the Nexus 7 which is being touted as the Mini’s main competitor yet. Google’s tablet has a 1280 x 800 resolution and a 216 pixels per inch (PPI) display on a 7″ screen.

The iPad Mini, on the other hand, comes in a poor second with a screen display of 1024 x 768 at 163 PPI on a 7.9” size. Owners who are used to Apple’s Retina display are complaining about the terrible screen display. If you’re going to use the iPad Mini mainly as a reading device, you’re setting yourself up for bitter disappointment — the Kindle Fire HD has a better resolution.

Old hardware specs

… or at least, a less than stellar chip powering the iPad Mini. Again, Apple loyalists are questioning Apple’s wisdom in using the dual core A5 chip that’s as old as the iPad 2. Some complained that video buffering is slow on the iPad Mini, blaming it on the old generation memory. And be prepared for a sluggish surfing of graphic intense websites because of the same issue, too. Its main competitor, the Nexus 7, performed better in video and graphics processing tests than the iPad Mini.

Certainly, the iPad Mini has features that recommend it to potential buyers. It is, after all, the handier and lighter of Apple’s family of pads. It also has the same functionalities and capabilities — if not the same hardware — as the larger iPads. It just helps to know what’s in store for you if you get the iPad Mini now compared to a few months down the road, eh?

It can’t really be argued that the iPad is the most sought after tablet on the market, but does that really make it the best. There are plenty of people out there that would happily take an Android tablet over, what they believe to be an overhyped, overpriced tablet that is nothing more than a very pretty display.

Consumers are always going to be split on the Apple/Android debate, but the reality is that even those who believe that the iPad is the greatest thing since sliced bread are going to find that they simply cannot afford the hefty price tag. The good news is that there are plenty of great alternatives out there, and all at a fraction of the price.

Google Nexus 7

Yes, we are well aware that this is a 7-inch tablet, but it is also an incredibly affordable way to get your tablet fix, without having to give up any quality at all. This is truly an ideal way to experience what the Android OS has to offer, and with the 16GB version coming in at under $200, it’s also one that most people should be able to get their hands on without any type of buyer’s remorse.

Google Nexus 10

Size sometimes does mean everything when it comes to owning a tablet, and in that case, nothing less than a 10-inch display will suffice. The Nexus 10 is, as you may already have guessed, the big brother of the Nexus 7. The display on this tablet is about as close as you are going to get to the retina display on the iPad, and while it falls a little short in that department, it more than makes up for it with a blazing fast processor, and all for around $400.

Asus Transformer Pad TF300

Asus have made a name for themselves by delivering low cost computer options that still deliver a healthy dose of quality, This 16GB tablet is very nice indeed, and with a starting price of just $350, you get a tablet that delivers a decent little camera, great Wi-Fi connectivity, and a keyboard dock (assuming of course that you pay the extra $150).

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

This may be the perfect tablet option for those of you like to get a little creative. This 16GB tablet comes with all that you would expect from a great Android device, but it also has an S Pen Stylus that allows you to treat it like a blank canvas of you take advantage of the apps that are designed with the stylus in mind. A little bit pricier, but still less than the iPad.

Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700

This is a blazing fast tablet that has a display to die for. Throw in a camera that really delivers great pictures, 32GB, and a thin, sleek design, and you have a real winner in the Android category, and all for around $500 or less.

It seemed that the global technology press’ collective jaw dropped when video footage of Steve Jobs showing the iPad’s features made the rounds online. While it’s easy to understand Apple fanboys and cultists oohing and ahhing at anything Steve Jobs did onstage at any of his presentations (I wonder if they’d ooh and ahh if Jobs walked on stage with a rock or stick he found in Cupertino), its another when the jaded tech media drops its collective guard and puts its hands together to applaud the iPad. And there is a lot to applaud.

The iPad really brought mobile computing to the next level. What is its secret? No, it’s not the sleek eye candy design or the Apple logo that seems to radiate hypnotic waves among a certain segment of consumers The secret sauce for the iPad is the concept of apps. Using small portions of software on the tablet, the iPad’s mobile computing strategy effectively split computing power between a cloud-based server and a thin software client installed locally. You get the access and mobility of local apps and heavy firepower of cloud-based process crunching. Stroke of genius. Seriously.

Fast-forward to now and it looks like not much has changed on the iPad front. There hasn’t been much improvement or radical upgrades to the standard app mobile computing architecture. What’s worse, Apple insists on a new release every two years or so. But what do consumers get? Why, they get better graphics and SIRI, of course. Wow. Really? I suspect these ‘updates’ every two years are just Apple’s way of milking its consumer base. The Chinese are smart. They aren’t falling for the iPhone 5 like Westerners do. No wonder they invented paper, paper money, and a whole host of products. They are harder to bamboozle with cult marketing.

Here are a couple of reasons why you should not get an iPad.

Its’ high price doesn’t justify frequent updates

Apple’s huge profit margins on its devices are no secret. Given the huge chunk of recession era cash they demand for their device compared to their Android competitors, I (and I suspect many other consumers with more than one brain cell) would ask for compelling features or reasons to upgrade. But no-the only reason we’re given is ‘But dude, it’s a brand new Apple product.’ I’m sorry but plunking down serious cash for essentially reskinned hardware every other year, to me, doesn’t make sense.

Gets Obsolete Quickly

To add insult to injury, not only did you pay over a hundred dollars more for a pricey piece of glass, plastic, and metal, that contraption you giddily brought home from your nearby Apple store, is quickly obsolete. How? The iOS doesn’t update nearly fast enough to keep up with technology changes in the mobile space. Sure, Apple does its best in getting crucial updates out, but its nowhere fast enough. Android machines update better on both the hardware and software fronts.

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The iPad has had an amazing run so far, destroying sales records left and right and making Apple investors wonder why they didn’t get in earlier. Can this trend continue indefinitely though? As Apple continues to upgrade the iPad, other manufacturers are releasing tablets of their own. As the competition increases the odds of the iPad remaining as the tablet king begin to decrease. Or do they? Let’s take a closer look.

More competition might mean less iPads sold, but it also will mean that the iPad will still be the clear leader. This might not sound like a big deal to investors, because “winning” doesn’t really matter, sales numbers do. But these iPad competitors cannot stay in the game long with just adequate sales figures. This means they will eventually drop out and leave the iPad as the sole leader in the tablet market.

So can anyone overtake the iPad and become the king of all tablets? My answer is no and let me tell you why.

Apps

One of the main reasons the iPad is so successful is because of the apps. There are over 100,000 apps designed for the iPad in the app store. The Apple eco-system is strong and nobody can compete with it, not even Android. All of the iPad competitors don’t even have that amount combined.

Will there be another tablet that can have as many apps as the iPad does? This doesn’t seem likely, as app developers only want to create apps that will make money. The only apps that make money are ones that are downloaded by lots of users. Unless another competitor can match the iPad in the amount of apps there’s no beating the iPad.

Price

The iPad is pricey, with the lowest cost iPad being $499. Competitors may see this as a weakness. In order to overtake the iPad in sales they would need to create an iPad that is just as good, but costs considerably less. Amazon made headway with their Kindle Fire which was priced at $199. But it was more of a color e-reader with some apps, rather than a full blown tablet device.

The only way I see another tablet overtaking the iPad is by lowering their price, similar to what HP did with their TouchPad, permanently. Sure, they would lose a lot of money, but you need to “seed” your product out first to create a massive amount of users of your tablet and your operating system. Then, once you’ve got them, you can gradually begin raising the prices on future tablets. This is such a risky move for any company to take. If it works, they strike oil. If it fails, their company will too.

Another option is to look at what is happening with the gaming industry. For every xbox, wii or playstation that is sold, each of those companies loses money. Only when customers buy several games do they begin to make a profit. Can this same “loss leader” principle apply to tablets? We’ll leave it up to Google, Sony, HP and Samsung to figure out.

Dropbox is a cloud storage program that lets you take your pictures, documents and music to any of your other computers. Add a song on your laptop and it shows up on your desktop. Add a paragraph to your research paper with your iPad and the update appears on your iPhone.

Essentially, the point of Dropbox is to allow you to view and edit your files on any device. Dropbox can eliminate the need to email yourself files so you can update them on another computer and then email back the updated copy. Dropbox also eliminates the need to carry around your files on a USB drive from location to location.

Dropbox also serves as your backup solution. Your important files are backup up on Dropbox servers in the cloud. So if you should ever suffer hardware failure or the loss of your computer (or iPad) then the files you’ve backed up are still waiting for you at Dropbox.

While there are many cloud storage solutions out there, I love Dropbox because it runs in the background on my Dell with Windows 7 and my iMac with OSX Lion. When I update, add or remove a file, the changes are immediately uploaded to Dropbox. With other cloud storage solutions you need to log in and actually upload the files yourself which is a huge hassle.

With the Dropbox for iPad app you can now have your files with you on the iPad. You can view your pictures stored in the cloud, read your PDF documents and even play music you have saved in the cloud – even if it’s not on your iPad.

Adding files from your iPad to Dropbox is also simple. You can upload your pictures and videos taken with your iPad to Dropbox which will then make them available on all of your other devices.

Another neat thing about the Dropbox for iPad app is the passcode lock system. iPads are sometimes shared, but you wouldn’t want someone to have access to your Dropbox files though. So the app allows you to create a 4 digit passcode in order to gain access to your Dropbox contents.

The final great thing about Dropbox is that it’s completely free.  Not just the iPad app, but the entire service. Users who need more than the 2GB of free space offered will have to ante up $9.99 monthly for 50 gigs or $19.99 per month for 100 gigs. If you don’t yet have a free Dropbox account you can get one here.

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When iOS 5 was released on the iPad one of the more exciting news was wireless sync’ing. At first glance it sounds amazing. One of the annoyances of Apple products was needing to connect it to a computer to sync. If the iPad is to be a laptop replacement then it should not need a laptop in order to function. So a wireless sync comes close to solving that issue.

However this so-called wireless sync is not as free of wires as you might think. In order for your iPad to sync to your computer, your iPad must be connected to a power source or have 50% or more battery left. I never do charge my iPad on anything other than my computer, so this wi-fi syncing doesn’t appeal too much to me, at least not yet. I suspect in future iOS updates, maybe in iOS 6, we’ll be able to truly wirelessly sync.

For others though, wifi syncing is a big deal so that’s why I’m going to explain how to activate it for your iPad. Here’s a step by step guide on how to sync your iPad to your computer wirelessly.

1. Connect your iPad to your computer and open iTunes.
2. Select the iPad from the left hand column under Devices.
3. In the Summery tab, go down to Options and put a check mark on “Sync with this iPad over Wi-Fi” and apply the changes.

Now that you’ve set it up, you are ready to sync from your iPad wirelessly. On your iPad, go to the Settings app. Choose the General tab and select iTunes Wi-Fi Sync. Tap on Sync Now and you will now sync wirelessly.

Wi-Fi sync is still not perfect though. In order to utilize wifi syncing, your iPad and your computer need to be on the same wifi network. Your computer will also need to be on and iTunes needs to be running.

Apple has been pretty late in entering the cloud storage game. The leaders in this field are Amazon, DropBox and SugarSync. Apple has tried and failed before, their MobileMe service never did take off. Now Apple is trying once again with iCloud, which will be explained here.

First of all, what is this “cloud” we speak of? Cloud storage is like a hard drive in the sky. With cloud storage services you make files you have on one device available on your other devices. Cloud storage also serves as a backup service. Even if you lose your device(s) all of your stuff is stored securely in the cloud. Here is what iCloud does:

iTunes Purchases

With iCloud, when you purchase a song, an app, a movie, a TV show or a book in iTunes on your iPad, the content will be automatically transferred to your other devices like your iPhone and your iMac.

For example, if you’re at Subway and hear a song you like, you use Shazam to learn the name of the song. Then you can buy it through iTunes and have it on your phone. By the time you get home and get your iPad, the song will already be there. There is no need to sync your iPhone to your computer and then sync your iPad to your computer in order to have the song on both devices.

Here’s another example. Let’s say you buy a book on the iPad and begin reading it and you leave a bookmark on page 12. Then you leave your house for a doctors’ appointment. While you’re waiting, you can whip out your iPhone and find the book already there, with that bookmark on page 12 so you can continue reading right where you left off.

Other Files

With iCloud, your latest 1000 pictures are stored on the cloud. This means that if you take a picture on your iPhone it will show up on your iPad or Apple TV or on your computer. Other content that is stored in the cloud and made available on your other devices includes your calendar, events, contacts and documents. iCloud also stores websites that you’ve bookmarked and your notes as well.

Backups

Backing up your data is something that is a necessity for all users. You never know when you’re going to damage or lose your device. These events are compounded when people realize their data is lost too. But backups are easy and automatic with the iCloud service. When you’re connected to wifi and your iPad is connected to a power source iCloud can automatically backup your iPad to the cloud, every single day.

Pricing

iCloud is indeed free, but you only get 5 GB of free storage. If you think that might not be enough for you there are additional paid upgrades you can do. For $20 yearly you can get an additional 10 gigs . 20 extra gigs it will set you back $40 per year while an extra 50 GB will cost you $100 a year. But do note that iCloud has unlimited free storage for books, movies and music that is purchased from iTunes. These iTunes purchases do not count toward the 5 GB limit.