Useful things to do with your new iPad mini

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The iPad mini is the latest member of the iPad family and the smaller size is great for using on the go. This collection of 7 things to do and apps to grab will go a long way to making your new iPad mini more useful right out of the box.

Published: January 3, 2013 -- 11:56 GMT (03:56 PST)
Caption by: James Kendrick
Install the Digits app

The iPad mini is great for using as a calculator. The Digits app has all of the expected calculator functions but adds a useful "paper" tape to the mix. It makes doing a string of operations nice and lets you share the tape to provide a record. I use Digits all the time on my iPad mini.

$0.99

Published: January 3, 2013 -- 11:56 GMT (03:56 PST)
Caption by: James Kendrick
Install the CalenMob Pro app

The iPad mini has a free calendar app but the CalenMob Pro app leaves it in the dust. It has several useful views and is a joy to use. It syncs nicely with Google Calendar and with multiple calendars enabled it is a very useful tool on the iPad mini.

Thanks to @jasonhiner for turning me onto CalenMob.

$6.99 (limited free version available)

Published: January 3, 2013 -- 11:56 GMT (03:56 PST)
Caption by: James Kendrick
Install NOAA Radar HD

The iPad mini screen is perfect for detailed weather tracking and the NOAA Radar app is great. It gives near real-time radar images of your immediate area and the big picture too. The app looks great and is extremely useful.

$1.99

Published: January 3, 2013 -- 11:56 GMT (03:56 PST)
Caption by: James Kendrick
Change the iBooks reading font

The iPad mini lacks the Retina Display of its bigger sibling which can make reading ebooks less enjoyable. That's a shame as the smaller size of the iPad mini is perfect for reading books.

The book reading playing field can be leveled by simply setting the font in iBooks to a cleaner font. Open up the fonts menu at the top right of the screen and test the different fonts to see which appeals to you. I find the Seravek font to look great on the iPad mini and recommend giving it a look.

Hat tip to @treestman for pointing out how nice this font looks in iBooks.

If you use the Kindle app for reading books instead of iBooks check the next tip to make that better.

Published: January 3, 2013 -- 11:56 GMT (03:56 PST)
Caption by: James Kendrick
Change the Kindle font and line spacing

If you use the Kindle app instead of iBooks you can make reading books a joy on the iPad mini. Open up the fonts menu at the top right of the Kindle app screen and set the font to Helvetica which is much better than the default font.

You may want to also set the line spacing to the tightest setting on the left which displays the most content on each page no matter how big the font.

Published: January 3, 2013 -- 11:56 GMT (03:56 PST)
Caption by: James Kendrick
Install iPhoto

The iPad mini has a decent camera but not many will use it since it's too big for comfortable camera use. If you also use an iPhone you may want to buy and install the iPhoto app on your iPad mini.

This app works with iPhoto on the Mac for those who use it and also works great with the Photo Stream on the iPhone. It has a solid photo editor that turns any photo taken into a work of art. Well, it can make them better than they were before.

$4.99

Published: January 3, 2013 -- 11:56 GMT (03:56 PST)
Caption by: James Kendrick
Turn on the Safari bookmarks bar

The Safari browser is nice to use on the iPad mini. Chances are if you also have an iPhone you have Safari set to display as much as possible on the little display.

The iPad mini display is big enough to make web browsing nice so you may want to turn on the bookmarks bar to display all the time. This gives you easy access to your bookmarks which is useful.

Open up Settings and find Safari and turn on Always Show Bookmarks Bar. The bar doesn't take up much room on the display but puts frequently visited web sites just a tap away.

Published: January 3, 2013 -- 11:56 GMT (03:56 PST)
Caption by: James Kendrick