Reviews - page 69

If you’ve ever done a freelance project, worked as a consultant, or spent any time being self employed, you know how important keeping track of time spent working can be. Some people prefer to log their time on a sheet of paper, while others have little routines to mark the start and stop of work. Hours for iPhone is a time tracking app designed to make logging your time easy.

Since its introduction, the iPad has slowly won over new markets of people. Over the past couple years, photo and image editing apps have found a home on Apple’s tablet. Pixelmator for iOS takes photo editing and graphic design on iOS to a new level, bringing a photoshop-like experience to your fingertips.

The Newton MessagePad is simultaneously one of Apple’s biggest flops and one of the company’s most underrated products.

A series of PDA devices available during the 1990s, today Newtons are much-sought-after relics among a group of enthusiastic Apple fans. These collectors recognize the devices for the forward-looking gadgets they truly were. The Newton product line is now the subject of a new feature-length documentary, titled Love Notes to Newton. Can it do justice to its beloved subject matter?

When a “premium accessories maker” known for its battery packs and dongles sets out to make wireless headphones, you might fear for your ears. But the only thing in danger from Moshi’s Avanti Air Bluetooth headphones is your wallet.

With a price tag of $299.95, these headphones certainly fit the “premium” bill. Happily, they’re beautifully designed and will please your ears as well as your eyes.

Streaming music has revolutionized the way we listen to music on the go. Starting with streaming radio, and quickly evolving to carrying millions of songs in your pocket (thanks to cellular data), streaming services have enabled incredible access and discovery of great music.

With Spotify, you can experience your favorites and discover great new music better than ever, thanks to algorithmic intelligence and some genius features.

Brooklyn brand Ghostek manufactures some really interesting phone cases, backpacks, speakers and headphones. One of its latest offerings, the Ghostek Rapture Bluetooth headphones, are some of the first to hit the market with graphene drivers.

These lightweight on-ear headphones come in at just $125 (or $99 if you pick them up on Prime Day) but sound a lot better than any other wireless headphones I’ve tried at that price point. Check out my full review below.

For a huge percentage of mobile photographers — from amateur snappers to creative artists — the iPhone is the camera you always have with you. Every iPhone packs an undeniably great camera. But, as with DSLRs or mirrorless cams, the more you shoot, the more variety you crave.

Swapping out lenses at will helps you create a vast mélange of visual adventures with your iPhone. Our roundup of the best iPhone lenses shows you how to find the right external lens or lens kit for your needs.

Apple’s new MacBook Pro offers buyers significantly improved performance at the same price as last year’s models, as well as a “quieter,” improved butterfly keyboard and a True Tone display. But is it worth the upgrade?

Early reviews of the 2018 update are out now. Here’s what they say about Apple’s fastest and most impressive laptop yet.

If you live near a big city, or travel to metro areas frequently, you know what a pain in the butt parking can be. Parking lots and garages use confusing signage to trick you into spending more money, and some less expensive spots are often poorly labeled or hidden entirely. With ParkWhiz, you can get the most bang for your buck, and know exactly what you’re getting. Best of all, you’ll save time so you can enjoy your trip without adding stress.

In the ’90s and early 2000, animated GIFs were a staple of web design. Today, they’re still imperative to the web, but for entirely different reasons. With GIFwrapped, you can search a massive database of GIFs, create a personal library of your favorites, and save the ones you find on social media for later.

It used to be that the first-party iOS apps were only used by people who didn’t care enough to download something better. Mail, Notes, Contacts, the Calendar — all of these were immediately dumped into a junk folder by experienced users, to be replaced with a proper app. But something happened along the way to 2018. Now, Apple’s apps are every bit as good as third-party apps. (Well, mostly. The Contacts app is still awful.)

Today we’ll take a look at a few of Apple’s surprise hits.

It’s road trip season, and that means gas prices can have a big impact on your vacation. Sometimes what seems like a decent gas price is actually a ripoff because you don’t know about the local station around the corner that’s selling fuel for far less.

If you want to get the best gas price, use GasBuddy for iPhone. The app shows you where all the nearby gas stations are. Better still, GasBuddy helps you find the best prices on gas, wherever you are.

After I made a video showcasing my favorite iPhone X cases, I got a lot of feedback from readers wanting to know more. By far the most popular iPhone X case in that lineup — and the one I get asked about the most, even to this day — is the LuxArmor Classic.

The super-sleek $24 case bears no branding whatsoever. It’s extremely thin and light, but adds a surprising amount of protection. Now, LuxArmor has launched a new collection of iPhone X cases that keep that great, minimalist style but add extra protection.

In today’s video, I give you a quick hands-on look at the new LuxArmor Elite cases. Plus, we’ve got 10 of these to give away!

Do you ever wake up feeling exhausted, even though you are sure you slept well the night before? Or do you find yourself getting that 2:30 feeling a few hours early without any clear explanation? With the Pillow sleep app for iPhone and Apple Watch, you can get detailed analysis of your nightly slumber. Even better, you can gain insight into your body’s ideal sleep and wake times.

There are tons of ways to give money to a friend or family member. You could mail a check, hand them a stack of cash, or send it digitally. With the Cash App, sending money to someone is as easy as entering an amount, dropping in their $cashtag, and hitting send. While this is very similar to Apple Pay Cash, the Cash App packs a few extra perks that make it awesome.

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is officially my primary computing device.

For the past five months, I’ve used it for everything from browsing the web and watching YouTube videos at night, to researching and writing stories for Cult of Mac during the day. I can’t remember the last time I turned on my PC — it’s been a long time.

I wouldn’t have been able to use the iPad Pro for all of this without a great physical keyboard. I’ve tried a bunch of them. And for the past two months or so, I’ve been using Zagg’s excellent Slim Book.

Here’s why it’s my favorite keyboard case for iPad.

When Apple rolled out iOS 5 way back in 2011, one of the software’s highlights was a new app — Reminders — to help you keep track of tasks.

Since that time, Reminders hasn’t evolved much. However, the type of task manager people are looking for has changed dramatically. TickTick offers greater control, more granularity, and is an all-around better to-do list app.

Weather can be exciting, but checking the weather rarely is. Regardless of what’s going on outside, Carrot Weather makes checking the forecast hilarious and fun. Better than that, Carrot Weather offers an Apple Watch app that is best in class for the platform.

Apple’s Sport band is the basic bro of Apple Watch straps. If you want something a little more rugged — and a lot less forgettable — strap on a Tire Tread Sport band from Carterjett. These sturdy silicone bands come in brilliant colors, with extra-large sizes and surprisingly small price tags.

They’re a perfect option for revving up your Apple Watch collection.

Have you ever decided to make dinner, only to find the recipe has gone missing. Sometimes it’s a misplaced notecard, other times, a saved (or pinned) link that is now dead. With Paprika, your favorite recipes are stored digitally, and you’re in control. As someone who cooks nearly every day, Paprika is the best recipe app for chefs of any skill level.

Managing a busy schedule is something we all deal with from time to time. Relying on a calendar app makes it easier, but entering every meeting, project, or appointment can be a hassle. Fantastical is the best calendar app for adding events to your calendar and managing your schedule.

Owning digital movies used to be a pain in the neck. Movies bought on iTunes were trapped on Apple devices, Google Play movies on Google’s service, and Amazon purchases in Prime Video. At the same time digital copies included with DVD and Blu-rays were often stuck in services like Vudu, Flixter, or UltraViolet. With Movies Anywhere, you can finally sync most of your movies across various services, putting your movies everywhere you want to watch.

HomePods went on sale in Europe this week, and I ordered one. It arrived the very next day. I tried it out, and then sent it back to Apple the day after that. Why? Because it’s a half-finished product. Siri is just as glitchy and annoying on HomePod as elsewhere. It doesn’t work properly with a Mac. And it’s not even a very good speaker.

Twitter is a great way to stay up-to-date with the news. A well-curated Twitter feed can provide important updates on topics important to you. Sometimes, knowing what is most important can be a challenge as conversations, memes, and social commentary overwhelm actual news updates. With Nuzzel, you can view a summary of the news stories everyone is talking about. Best of all, it’s personalized to you.

There are dozens of ways to write on iOS. Apple’s own Notes app offers a simple writing platform, while Pages allows for elaborate documents – complete with pictures. While both are good for certain tasks, more serious writers typically want something a little different. iA Writer offers more while doing less, making it the perfect text editor app.