10 best applications for docked iPads and iPhones

As wonderful as they are to use, iOS devices need pretty regular care and feeding to stay in tip-top operation. In spite of Apple's advances in battery life and reductions in power consumption, the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad all need electricity to work.

But just because your favourite iOS devices are plugged in and powering up, that doesn't mean they have to sit there doing nothing at all. iPads, iPhones and iPod touches are so much more than mere placeholders when they're docked and syncing. Actually, some of the most useful tools you'll find are among the apps that made the cut for this list.

It's important to keep in mind that each of us uses our iOS devices in individual and unequalled ways, so there's no single correct way to set up your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad for when it's charging.

Use Photoshop or another image editing program? Air Display can store palettes and toolboxes. Working from a laptop? Use Air Display to store windows that you can't fit on the limited real estate of your screen. Air Display can as well store apps that you'd like to keep open nevertheless don't necessarily need constant access to, just as iTunes or Calendar, or your top instant messaging app.

Air Display will automatically rotate into landscape and portrait aspect ratios as then, depending on how you have your iOS device positioned. To use Air Display, you don't need to have your iOS device physically connected to the computer you want to use it with, even though they will need to be on the same Wi-Fi network.

Free companion application for Mac or Windows systems

Air Display works using a free companion application for Mac or Windows systems. There are a number of virtual screen applications for iOS, nevertheless Air Display wins for us for a few different reasons: It works evenly well on both iPhone/iPod touch displays and iPads; the software is so then-behaved; and it's dead simple to use.

For Windows users, the Aero graphical theme and DirectX are deactivated during Air Display is used, so you won't be able to run games or see fancy visual effects. And bear in mind that Air Display works over Wi-Fi, so there can be a bit of lag as the screen draws the content from your computer.

That's what makes LiveScore an ideal app to use when your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch is docked. Presumably you're supposed to be doing other things as then, so LiveScore provides a minimal distraction during you're working.

What better way to wile away idle time during your iPhone recharges than to improve your vocabulary? That's the idea behind this handy app, which enhances your word knowledge using both visual and audio cues. Reading a definition of a new word every day is fine, however if you don't know how to pronounce it or use it, you may look like a fool the first time you try to casually work it into conversation.

Dr Wayne W Dyer's self-help books have been popular internationally, and now you can capture a bit of his motivational philosophy on your iPhone with Inner Peace Cards, a deck of 50 Affirmation Cards, each with a positive, self-affirming message to help you find inner peace.

The 50 cards has positive messages

Each of the 50 cards has positive messages, one on each side, accompanied by a calming illustration. You can shuffle through the deck, view them face up or, to mix things up again, choose one with no fixed idea face down. You can as well email cards to your friends or save them as iPhone wallpapers.