tried SkySafari

Finally had a decent amount of time (open-ended) to play with SkySafari (v2.1, formerly SkyVoyager) from Southern Stars on the iPad (v1). Got to explore many of the settings and options and high-quality graphics (using OpenGL). I was very impressed. Of course, the pan and tilt is brilliant.

I like the night vision feature, the ability to toggle asteroids, show constellation full names or abbreviations, realistic sky colour, making the ground translucent, transparent, or opaque, phases on planets, adding to an observing list, and on-board help. It was quick, in all respects: fast at graphical updates (even when I had a lot of features on simultaneously) and fast at accessing the database.

There were some things I didn't like or couldn't find out how to do, such as being able to quickly centre on a selected object. I couldn't find a way to switch between equatorial or alt-az mounts or views...

As, once again, I found the iPad touch screen challenging to use at times. The thin button bar was particularly difficult to use. I would want one of those stylus thingees.