The prices of applications can be a sticky subject amongst developers and consumers alike, especially when considering apps on mobile devices. While it is par for the course to spend £20 or more on a piece of software or game for a PC, Mac or console, it seems completely out of sorts for smartphone or tablet apps.
Bar free-to-play and freemium games and utilities, which have their own benefits and failings, most apps cost between 79p and £1.99 - price points users seem willing to pay. Anything over a fiver, however, is often therefore dismissed by the vast majority as being too expensive, regardless of its quality or feature set.
And that's a shame as there are plenty of very good apps and games available that cost over £5 - sometimes well over - the we'd heartily recommend. It's worth pushing the boat out a bit more to get something that will either help you immeasurably or give you far more than a few hours of casual gaming fun.
That's why we've chosen five of our favourite iPad apps that you'll have to cough up more than the average for. We think you'll find all of them worth the money.
1. Football Manager Classic 15
At £14.99, Football Manager Classic 15 is more in the PC gaming league for price points. However, unlike the FM Handheld 2015 app already available, this is a complete version of the game also available for computers, including the 3D match engine that many - alongside Pocket-lint - have been asking for.
The Classic mode of Football Manager has accompanied the full FM experience for PC and Mac for a few years now and offers a faster, more streamlined way to play the best footy coaching game in the business. That's not to say it isn't fully featured though - it just cuts out a lot of the smallest, micro-management options from the larger version.
Everything else is intact, including player faces, kits and team badges if they have been licensed (or can be added by yourself if not). And the game engine is expansive enough for fans to consider instead of the main game, rather than just to complement it when on your travels.
There's only one drawback to the FMC 15 app for iPad - it requires decent specs to run, so will only work on an iPad Air 1 or 2, or iPad mini from the second generation or up.
2. WWE 2K
Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment (nee Federation) has been subject to yearly beat-em-ups and simulation games on all manner of platforms over the years, but while we've had licensed games and apps on mobile devices before, we've never had the full in-the-ring experience.
2K Sports changed that with WWE 2K which, at £5.99, features as close an experience to the console title currently available as is possible on a phone or tablet.
It has superstar entrances as well as the in-ring action, and you even get to dabble with creating your own wrestler to fight with - something that has been popular on other formats over the years. You can even take your custom superstar through the career mode or play online in real-time multiplayer bouts.
The controls take a bit to get used to, but much of what makes the console games so playable has been retained - even for the smaller screens.
3. Djay 2
An oldie but still a great app, Djay 2 is £7.99 and gives enough control over the simulated DJ decks that a professional can get as much out of it as someone who's just dabbling.
In more recent times, developer Algoriddm added Spotify support so you can queue streamed tracks on the two virtual decks if you have a Spotify Premium account. And if you are mixing two tracks stored on the device via iTunes (ie, you own them) you can live record your efforts and save them as a separate music file.
In-app purchases are also available, including a whole stack of additional audio effects to add to mixes. And the app even has support for a healthy selection of MIDI controllers.
4. TomTom
TomTom for UK Ireland costs £25.99, with a version that covers the whole of Europe also available for £44.99, but both are a lot cheaper than buying a dedicated satnav device.
The service offers the same experience as you would get on a TomTom GPS device, including the ability to add traffic information or additional turn-by-turn navigation voices through in-app purchases. And there is the ability to download and save map information offline so you don't have to constantly stay connected (unlike using a free service like Google Maps).
Maps are also updated regularly and for free.
5. Pages
Apple's own word processor might seem like a hefty outlay at £7.99, but Pages is an invaluable tool if you want to use your iPad instead of a laptop. Yes, Microsoft Office is also available for iPad and offers basic functionality for free, but to get the most from it you need to subscribe for a monthly Office 365 service, which will cost you much more than the one-off fee for Pages.
The latest version of the app also works with third-party cloud solutions as well as iCloud. You can open up documents in other apps, including OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox, to save files in any of them. And there are more than 60 templates available when you create a document to help you save time when drafting a letter, report or even a CV.
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