We spent hundreds of dollars and countless man-hours reviewing the first batch of iPad apps just to save you the trouble. Here is our complete compendium of reviews, sorted by category, ranked by preference.
In other words, follow each of these links for a simple list of applications broken down by iTunes umbrella topics. The applications reviewed near the top of each list are our favorites; the applications reviewed near the bottom of each list are often so horrid they aren't worth mentioning...beyond saving you the trouble.
So without further ado...
20 iPad Productivity/Connectivity Apps
8 iPad Lifestyle Apps
6 iPad Social Networking Apps
7 iPad News Apps
7 iPad Music Apps
6 iPad Book/Comic Book Apps
9 iPad Entertainment Apps
36 iPad Game Apps
[Ed note: Some of you may note, various apps may have more pluses or minuses than other apps—that's because much of the Gizmodo staff participated in the reviews, then I went through and ranked them as I saw fit. So don't take the scoring/ranking system too literally (ZOMG PAC-MAN beat Tetris!!) as individual tastes obviously vary, but they should be generally indicative of overall app quality.]