Developers have been busy for months retooling their iPhone apps to make a second debut on the iPad. Some apps are little more than HD versions of the same game, crisper graphics that must be re-purchased for twice the price. Other made-for-iPad apps have been upgraded with features, controls or exclusive add-ons that take advantage of iPad-only technology like the larger screen, reengineered multi-touch or faster processor. And lastly, there are the iPad apps that been designed only for this device, created from scratch to work exclusively with Apple’s new tablet.

For a peek at the kinds of apps that won’t fit on your iPhone, read on! This is our first list of must-have apps for the iPad.

Because of its tablet size, the iPad has been described as “the Kindle killer.” We’ll start our list of 10 new iPad-only apps with the kindle-killing app, Apple’s own iBooks.

iBooks, Apple Computer. Free. Rating: 9/10. If you gave an Amazon Kindle to a loved one last Christmas, you have just gone from angel to idiot. Apple puts its usual attention to design into this app, making e-book reading feel like reading a real book, while adding functionality. Kindle-killing trump card: the iPad’s backlit screen. Apple saved its reader for a screen that can give you an ultra-intuitive “book” experience, but better.

Sketchbook Pro, Autodesk. $7.99. Rating: 10/10. Go to the iTunes store. Read the app reviews. They’re right. Pressure sensitivity, multi-touch exploitation, 10 levels of undo-redo, multi-layer exports in Photoshop format… if you have an artistic bone in your body, you cannot have more fun for $7.99, legally or otherwise.

Korg iELECTRIBE. Korg, Inc. $9.99. Rating: 9/10. This iPad app gets one point off for somewhat more narrow appeal than the above. You need to like beatboxes. But if you’ve worked with real-life beatboxes, you’ll find Korg’s “virtual analog” sound, well, unbeatable.

Netflix, Netflix. Free. Rating: 8/10. Movies and shows on your iPad. That’s it. You need a Netflix membership, but you don’t need a TV anymore.

SkyGrid, SkyGrid Inc. Free. Rating: 8/10. If you’re a zeitgeist junkie, SkyGrid’s a fantastic way to get an overview of Information Velocity. What’s hot, right now, so you can say “That is so 12:54:18,” and mean it. It’s “an RSS reader for the entire web,” as one App Store reviewer puts it.

iMockups for iPad, Endloop Systems, Inc. $9.99. Rating: 8/10. iMockups does one thing and does it fairly well: it lets you produce rough wire-frames for web sites. Auto-fill “greeked” text makes your mockup look real, and it’s easy to rearrange elements and collaborate. You won’t get to the finished product, but, with this iPad app, you’ll be able to get your brainstorming down on “paper.”

Jumbalaya, Fastspot. $2.99. Rating: 8/10. One iPad feature, multi-touch, allows the tablet to be insanely intuitive. Fastspot gets that. In a world used to clicking and pointing, Jumbalaya delivers you the feel of tiles on a table, and the adrenaline of classic timed word-find games like boggle.

Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone for iPad. Telltale Games. $6.99. Rating: 7/10. Intriguing, involving, puzzling, hilarious, and visually beautiful, this paranormal cop scifi comedy adventure may just hook you. Hence, the 7 points. At $6.99 an episode, the serialized saga will get expensive… but it’s soooo good!

Art Authority for iPad. Open Door Networks Inc. $9.99. Rating: 8/10. Forty thousand of the world’s most renowned paintings and sculptures, arranged by time period. Fantastic art appreciation/art history app that links to Wikipedia—but pixels are still pixels. No matter how many shades of white you have, none of them are made from crushed pearls.

Sketcher HD. Acai LLC. $2.99. Rating: 7/10. It’s just an Etch-a-Sketch. Don’t people ever get tired of Etch-a-Sketch? Oh. Right. Actually, it’s more. This iPad app gives you the control the old magnets-and-filings version was missing, with the great memories of the original. It costs less, too!

Do you have your iPad? What are your must-have iPad apps?

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app category: An App For That, Round-Up