One such of these Apps is MaxiVista – because, while it is a very niche product which does basically one single thing (without any fancy extra functions or customization), it will definitely appeal to the majority of iPad/PC Owners (which, by my very scientific estimations is at approximately 20-80% of iPad owners). I am sad that not everyone knows about it, because every single iPad owner I’ve told about it in person was instantly impressed. So lets get on with the review, shall we?

What it does: Simply, it turns your iPad into a Second Monitor on your Windows PC.
That is pretty much it. You download the App ($9.99), and go and download the software needed for your PC (which works on XP/Vista/7), boot it up, and go. To say that this is Dead Simple would be accurate. I have notoriously bad luck with installing and updating hardware and software. No matter what it is, I will always, without fail, screw something up. The simple fact that I downloaded, installed, and used this software within 5 minutes shows how easy it is. If I didn’t screw it up, you can’t.

Once you load up the App on your iPad, and run the software on your PC MaxiVista will automatically link the two, and you go ahead and set up where your new ‘second monitor’ is located in relation to your primary monitor. Like I said, Dead Simple.

How it works: Magic. I don’t know.
I’m sure its similar technology to VNC. However, as far as I am aware this will only work if you are on the same network. I mean, that makes perfect sense though.

What it’s good for: Lots of stuff.
I generally have my iPad set up beside my computer anyways. I keep the Mail App running so I can get alerts when I get new mails, or maybe I’ll have Tweetdeck up on my iPad so I can keep an eye on twitter while I’m working on something else. I was basically already using the thing as an extension of my PC when I was on the computer.

Before

Now, I keep a Browser full of email Tabs (especially more convenient now that I can sign in with multiple accounts in Gmail within one browser), and my Gtalk open. You could, if you wanted, also use MaxiVista with your iPad in Portrait, instead of Landscape, simply by turning your iPad.

Now, with MaxiVista

What it’s not good for: Touch & Video
There is no multi-touch (or touch whatsoever) capabilities within this App. While this is a feature the developers have stated on their website they plan to implement in the future, for right now you’re going to have to interact with whatever is on the screen with the mouse.

While the refresh rate is pretty decent for it being connected over Wifi, there are still points at which it lags. Resizing Windows I found to take a while, and playing Video from my computer (such as with VLC) ran very poorly. However: I do want to say that streaming/flash videos such as Youtube or Vimeo actually worked surprisingly well (not perfect, but ‘Good Enough’). Actually. I was surprised to find that all Flash Sites worked well within my regular browser. I don’t know what I was expecting (Perhaps a big gray box saying “No Flash on iPad, Stupid!” ?).

iPad showing Vidmeo Video, & Flash Site

One last downfall – No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t reset the resolution at which my iPad displayed as my second monitor. It certainly shows up on my Display Properties, but even when I reset the resolution, nothing changes. I wish this were a customizable option either via the regular method on my PC or at least as an option within the settings of the program itself.

Display Settings, this didn’t work.

So that’s MaxiVista for you. Simply it works, it’s not perfect, but it’s great. And while Mac users have a few options to choose from, until Air Display comes out with their Windows version, MaxiVista is our only option, lucky for us PC users, it just works.

Yo Dawg, I heard you like Apps so we made an App that helps you get Apps.

Seriously though, I decided to review this originally because it’s part of the RateMyApp system (Consider yourself disclosed), and I got entirely too excited about the possibility of loading up any App info simply by its icon.

Since most people only look at App Icons when they’re already inside the App Store, I don’t think that this will get crazy popular. However, for those of us who encounter App Icons more frequently, this was quickly going to become my go-to App to save all those precious snaps to load up later at my leisure. Except, no, sigh.. it doesn’t do that.

As I did read the reviews on iTunes before I downloaded, I knew what I was getting into. My dreams of snapping a pic of a friend’s Springboard to be able to quickly load the App info later were quickly dashed, but I got the App anyways, hoping to test it out and then give the developers a good what-for and suggestion-rich review. So here goes:

#1 For the love of God, let me save my Snaps. I want to be able to use this like an App-Specific notebook where I can spend all week loading up my iPhone with ‘Apps to check out’ and then be able to load the info up in-App. I can’t even take a Snap unless I’m connected to the internet, this is crap. Fix it. Do it now.

#2 Maybe it’s just me, but I find that it’s difficult to hold the iPhone with one hand while trying to click on the teeny tiny “camera’ button. How about this – you should make it so touching anywhere on the ‘shaded’ part of the screen takes the photo. Seriously, this would be fantastic.

Here are a few screen shots, where you can see the image recognition is pretty darn good. Although the actual App I was snapping was the 2nd choice, you can see why it’s given each option. Pretty cool.

I know this concept isn’t new. uQuery, and many other app review sites are starting to include QR Code to launch the App Store with all the App info just by using QR Code Apps on the iPhone. This is basically the same thing, only better because it’s compatible with *every single site*, so long as they include the App Icon. Which un-ironically I haven’t included for this App in this review.

Until the folks at AppSnap include saving of snaps, for loading later, I’m sorry but I just can’t recommend you download this App. Even if it is only 99¢, which is a deal. As portions of this review will be appearing on the iTunes store, I hope that the developers heed my suggestions and update this thing soon.

At which time, it could be a serious contender for one of my ‘Favorite Apps‘ if they did. Please. Pretty Please?