review - page 5

I’ve been playing with the 5s for about the last two hours, and I can’t remember the last time I was so stubbornly wrong about, gee, anything really — as much as I was wrong about the iPhone 5s. And not just the 5s, but also iOS 7, which I hated when I first launched it on my iPad last night; but man, is it ever beyond perfect on the 5s.

I know, my iPhone 5s and I have just begun our honeymoon phase, but here’s the first-impression verdict in a nutshell: The iOS 7 / iPhone 5s pairing is phenomenal. I’m so in love.

I’ve been using Neat products for the past couple of years. I’ve got a NeatDesk for Mac and an active NeatCloud account. So when the folks at Neat reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in putting the company’s latest piece of hardware – NeatConnect – through the paces, I jumped at the chance.

It’s been over three months since iOS 7 got its first unveiling at WWDC, and in just a couple of hours, it will be made available to the public. It’ll be completely free to download — no matter which iOS device you’re using — and Apple’s confident it will quickly become the world’s most popular mobile operating system.

iOS 7 is the biggest change to iOS since the original iPhone, introducing a colorful new design for the first time, and bringing lots of new features — including Control Center, improved multitasking and Notification Center, iTunes Radio, and AirDrop.

So should you be rushing to download and install it on your iOS devices as soon as it becomes available, or can you wait until all the fuss has died down? Well, we’ll be bringing your our review in stages over the course of the coming days, but to help make your decision super simple, we’ve trawled through the biggest and best iOS 7 reviews out this week and put together a helpful roundup.

The iPhone 5s and 5c go on sale this weekend, and as usual, earlier reviewers have weighed in. AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg thinks that the 5s’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor is “game-changing,” and everyone seems impressed with the 5c’s build quality.

We’ve complied a roundup of the best iPhone 5s and 5c reviews out there for you to check out. Cult of Mac’s official reviews will be posted after the devices go on sale Friday.

If you’re tired of running through temples, taking joyrides on jetpacks, or robot unicorn … attacking, developer Bravo has a guy you should meet.

He’s RunBot, star of the same-named, free-to-play, sprint-forever game out now for iOS devices. I’m not actually sure that his name is RunBot, now that I think about it, but that’s as good a name as any considering he’s a robot that runs. He also jumps, slides, falls, and flies, but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Is your iPhone’s screen shamefully free of smudges? Do you want to test your memory, spatial awareness, and patience simultaneously? Do you love chalk?

If your answer to any of the previous questions was anything above “Yeah, I guess,” then you might want to check out publisher Chillingo’s puzzle offering, The Impossible Line. It’s out now, it works on your iPhone or iPad, and it does one thing really well: make you swear at a tiny triangle.

The Beamhaus BillFold is a wallet case with three pockets; one that holds your iPhone 5, another for your credit card or ID, and another for your cash. The iPhone pocket has a suede lining that’s kind to your iPhone’s display and prevents it from getting scratched.

The BillFold is made entirely of leather; “Horween latigo” in tan is used externally, while the inside is lined with “Horween Dublin” in black. It’s only available in these colors, but I think you’ll agree it looks pretty darn beautiful.

The BillFold is priced at $89.99, which is a little pricey for an iPhone 5 case. But is it worth it?

Glu Games (Gun Bros, Contract Killer, Death Dome) has a certain reputation for violent free to play games, but the San Francisco-based developer has quite a variety of game genres to its credit, including fantasy and city-building games.

Zombies Ate My Friends is another free to play game, sure, but it has a charm about it that helps cynics like me look the other way when it comes to the typical mechanics associated with the business model. The artwork is pleasing to the eye and there is a sense of whimsy to every aspect of the game, from dialog to undead-smashing weaponry (there’s a ukulele!), that elevates Zombies Ate My Friends from “yet another cash grab” to “worth a download and your valuable time.”

I don’t want to wax too rhapsodic about a gangster game, but Omerta: City of Gangsters has what it takes to keep me engaged for an afternoon of beer and liquor smuggling, along with mafia-style combat justice along the way. The music is delightfully consistent with the period, and the hand-painted interstitial artwork is simply gorgeous.

An omertá is a code of silence, typically associated with the Mafia, that focuses on non-cooperation with the police and non-interference with the activities of others, especially when illegal. Luckily, we don’t have to be too quiet about this enjoyable romp through 1920s America, developed by Haemimont Games and published by Kalypso Studios, the folks behind similar games like Tropico 4.

Ah, summer. Isn’t it just the best time of year? But like the other three seasons, it has its drawbacks. It gets too bright too early, ruining your lie-in; bugs and creepy-crawlies decide it’s okay to come live with you; and the sun is so bright you have to find some shade every time you need to reply to a text message because you can’t see your screen.

But the latter can be eliminated with the Tru-Fit HD Anti-Glare film for iPhone 5. It’s a screen protector that utilizes “the highest grade materials and cutting-edge technologies” to provide your iPhone’s Retina display with scratch protection and a matte finish that doesn’t reflect light.

Every Tru-Fit film is precision die-cut to ensure a perfect fit, and they are applied using the included Tru-Fit applicator, which ensures every film goes on straight, and without dust or bubbles beneath it.

Every one of its four layers has an important role to play, and they combine to create a strong screen protector that promises to install easily, stick well, protect your display from damage, and be removed with no residue.

The Tru-Fit costs $19.95 for two films, which isn’t exactly cheap when it comes to a screen protector. But let’s find out if you get what you pay for.

This is a review of a camera case. And not just any old multi-user camera case: this one only fits two specific cameras – the Fujifilm X100 and the X100S. However, I’m reviewing it anyway because when I was buying one I couldn’t find any useful information about it. Also, there are builders in my apartment and everything is sealed down behind plastic sheeting, so I couldn’t review anything else even if I wanted to (I promise the Lumopro LP180 review will be ready on Friday).

The case is Fujifilm’s own LC-X100S.

Let’s be honest—people buy $300 headphones for two reasons: they like the way they look or like the way they sound.

Phiaton knows that, which is why they put so much effort into making the Bridge MS 500 headphones look like the interior of a Italian sportscar. But for those looking for more substance, how about this: good fidelity and great sound isolation so you can hear more nuances in your music. Sound like a good recipe?

Made from durable thermoplastic polyurethane, the Ballistic Smooth Series case for iPad mini aims to provide even the clumsiest of owners with all the protection they’ll need for their beloved tablet. And it does so without adding too much bulk.

“Your new iPad mini is a sleek and sexy piece of technology, we want to make sure you can keep it that way,” Ballistic says. “We developed the Ballistic Smooth Series case for the iPad mini. This case offers the best of both worlds, it is slim but still offers a lot of protection from the hazards of daily use.”

The Smooth Series comes in four colors — black, hot pink, charcoal, and purple — all of which include four sets of replaceable corner bumpers in a variety of different colors, so you can customize its look to suit you. It’s priced at $39.99, so let’s find out whether it’s worth it.

Grove was last seen on these hallowed pages when I wrote about the SkateBack, an iPhone 5 rear panel fashioned from the offcuts of old skateboards. Now I actually have a skate-derived case in my hands. It’s still for the iPhone 5, but it’s a full case, not just a rear panel, and it comes in the same shape as Grove’s bamboo cases.

It’s pretty good. It’s also $150.

Leather never goes out of style.

For most of the twentieth century, it’s been a material that testifies to professionalism and distinction, and while Apple’s glass-and-aluminum products may be designed with timelessness in mind, this timelessness interfaces well with leather’s inherent timefulness: the way the oils in your hands and the way you touch it give it character over time.

SENA is a company specializing in premium leather cased for phones, tablets and other devices. We gave their Folio Case for the 11-inch MacBook Air a spin. Leather looks good against aluminum and glass, but how does it feel? That’s what we set to find out.

You know who thinks I look hot when I wear this bag? Everyone, that’s who. From the young hipster laydeez to the local barrio ne’erdowells, everyone steals a glance at me when I sashay down the filthy dogs hit covered streets of my dirty Barcelona neighborhood. “Who is that guy?” their eyes seems to ask. “And why is he wearing that short-strapped red leather bag with those pink shorts?” their eyes continue, before rolling momentarily in what I like to think is ecstasy, but which is probably just exasperation.

The bag, though, is worth the attention, and it probably also worth more than its contents. At €180 ($240) it’s not cheap. But then, it’s pretty gorgeous.

Remember that $7 cardboard iPad case I wrote about a few weeks back? I have two here in my apartment, and I have been testing them out for the last week. The review follows, but here’s the short form: They’re surprisingly good; they’re excellent insulators; they’re good for making shopping lists.

Some of us can pick up an iPhone and master its virtual on-screen keyboard in a matter of minutes, but for others, it takes a bit of time — especially if you’ve just come from a BlackBerry or another smartphone that has a physical keyboard built-in. For those of you in that latter group, the NUU MiniKey for iPhone 5 is here to help.

The MiniKey is a clip on case with a special feature: a slide-out physical keyboard that aims to give those who don’t like typing on glass a more traditional solution. Its keys are “designed to match the ergonomics of typing with both thumbs” in an effort to help you type faster and more accurately.

The MiniKey has a built-in Li-Pro rechargeable battery (380mAh) that charges via USB, and like most wireless keyboards, it connects to your iPhone via Bluetooth. It boasts 42 backlit keys, with functions for media playback, numbers, common symbols, and more.

I reviewed the MiniKey’s predecessor for iPhone 4 a couple of years ago, and I was pretty impressed with it, so I couldn’t wait to try out the latest model and find out whether it’s worth its $60 price tag.

The BookBook from Twelve South has long been the best and most luxurious leather wallet case for iPhone, but it has a new contender from Acase that wants to steal its crown. It’s called the Collatio, and in many ways, it’s very similar to the BookBook.

As well as holding your iPhone 5, the Collatio holds up to three credit cards, and features a larger pocket for bills, receipts, and anything else you’d like to stuff in there. It provides access to all of your iPhone’s buttons and ports — though you will need to open it up to use the volume buttons and mute switch — plus its front- and rear-facing cameras.

The biggest difference between the Collatio and the BookBook, however, is the price. While Twelve South’s offering will cost you $60, the Collatio is just $40. But is it as good?

External battery packs are one of the least sexy aspects of the mobile age. They’re the equivalent of the plastic gas can in the back of your trunk: stinky, unsexy, and probably empty when you need it.

Lenmar’s Helix battery pack isn’t particularly sexy, but it doesn’t smell (despite the “Undead Power” branding, which implies putrifying flesh) and it’s unlikely to be empty when you need it: it has a massive 11,000mAh battery inside, capable in theory of charging a third- or fourth-gen iPad from 0% to full. All in a battery pack not much bigger than a deck of playing cards.

For the past six year that I’ve owned an iPhone, not once have I thought about buying a dock. What’s the point? You’ve got your cable right there anyway, and unless it adds some great functionality to the iPhone, I’ve never seen much point in them. But the Projectone from Karas Kustoms has changed my opinion on the usefulness of iPhone docks.

The Projectone is a machined aluminum dock for your iPhone 5 that passively amplifies sound like a megaphone. Its simplistic style and industrial stylings make it one of the best-looking iPhone docks we’ve seen in a while, but is it actually worth its $45 price tag?

Travelers, campers, heavy users, and those who spend a lot of time away from outlets know when you rely on your iPhone for work or play, it’s not making it through the day without at least one partial recharge. Especially with all the hip Vining and Instagramming we’re all do these days.

For those who need a lot of portable power to-go, New Trent’s iCarrier, as the highest capacity portable charger they make, promises not just one smartphone recharge, but up to six. Six!

I devoted my iPhone 5 to iCarrier-only charging to see how well the big boy performed.

The ThinEdge bumper from MyBanana promises to be the world’s slimmest “frame case” for iPhone 5, delivering minimalist protection that doesn’t spoil your handset’s sleek and sexy form factor. It adds just 1mm of thickness to the sides of your device, which is just enough to protect its aluminum edges from dings and scratches.

The ThinEdge extends slightly around the front and back edges of your devices to ensure they never come into contact with flat surfaces when placed down, and that means you can show off your handset’s design without having to worry about picking up scratches.

The ThinEdge provides a soft touch matte finish that increases grip, and it comes in a range of colors, including black, orange, pink, silver, and white.

Is it worth its £23 ($35) price tag?

As you may have noticed already, the embargo on the new Samsung Galaxy S4 was lifted today, and reviewers from all corners of the web are weighing in on the latest Android flagship. Given that the handset succeeds one of the most successful Android phones of all time, many of you are likely to be itching to find out what it’s like.

We’ve put together a review roundup to give you a snapshot of what those early reviews are saying about the Galaxy S4, and to help you decide whether the handset will be worth your hard-earned cash when it goes on sale in the coming weeks.

I called the Pad&Quill Aria the “classiest iPad mini case yet,” and I’ll stand by that after using it for a week or two. It’s also most definitely the sturdiest, best crafted case I’ve ever seen, and the fanciest that Brian Holmes and the P&Q crew has come up with to date.

But can such a fancy case ever be practical? Let’s take a look.