Reviews - page 70

You don’t buy a $1,000 smartphone and stick it in a $4 silicone shell you bought on eBay. You either leave it exposed so that you can enjoy its gorgeous glass and stainless steel, or you sensibly stick it in a beautiful case that complements its premium design.

Mujjo’s leather cases are perfect for iPhone X. Made from full-grain leather with a super-slim profile, they rival Apple’s own leather cases in looks and durability. I’ve been using two of them for over a month now; here’s what I think of them.

If you like Instant Markup on iOS, then you’re going to love ShotBox. It’s a free app, available from the Mac App Store, that automatically pops up a panel of markup tools whenever you take a screenshot. It’s almost exactly like the Instant Markup tools built into iOS 11.

Stainless steel meticulously weaves its way through the Mesh Band for Apple Watch — Casetify’s answer to the significantly more expensive Milanese Loop by Apple. Casetify’s version is just as stylish and functional as the behemoth brand’s band, and now comes in two brand-new finishes: Iridescent and Gold (that matches the Series 3).

For penny-counters, you’ll save from $67 to $117 on Casetify’s silver and black stainless steel mesh bands, respectively, and gain three additional colors not offered by Apple: gold, rose gold and iridescent.

The Stainless Steel Mesh Bands are for both men and women. Check out the latest colors in our Watch Store, and read on to learn more.

Late last year, I switched password managers. I traded in trusty old 1Password for relative newcomer Dashlane, and I haven’t looked back.

Dashlane is a well-designed, fully functional and easy-to-use password manager that tops 1Password in one key respect: a Security Dashboard that makes it dead easy to track your online security and update it as necessary.

Twitter has killed off its official desktop client for Mac. It’s no longer available to download, and if you already have it installed, it will stop working in less than a month. But don’t be sad; there are other Twitter clients for macOS that are significantly better.

Here’s our roundup of the best.

There are boatloads of smart speakers out there, but nothing quite like HomePod.

Like many Apple products that came before it, HomePod is here to revolutionize an industry. It’s certainly not first to market, but Cupertino’s plan is to make all HomePod competitors insignificant. The new Apple smart speaker uses cutting-edge technology that delivers outstanding sound quality to do just that.

You can’t buy another speaker of this kind for $349. That price tag is not exactly cheap, but if you love music, HomePod should be at the top of your shopping list.

While many Apple Watch bands put fashion front and center, the Nomad Sport Strap embraces the wearable’s exercise potential. This wide, black silicone strap makes the Apple Watch look less like a smartwatch and more like a hard-core fitness tracker.

High-quality audio is the signature feature of Apple’s new HomePod. Apple execs brush off “Siri so stupid” concerns by emphasizing the sound quality of the device.

So the big question is: Will the HomePod be love at first listen? I just unwrapped one of the new Apple smart speakers, and my ears now have a little bit of a crush on HomePod.

Since I started running Cult of Mac‘s YouTube channel, I’ve been striving for the best visuals and audio possible. Compare our latest videos with some of our earlier ones, and you should see improvements across the board.

I’ve always neglected audio, but I’ve learned over time that sound proves vital to crafting quality videos. With that in mind, I recently tried out the Rode NTG4+ microphone. Now it’s part of my essential kit for creating videos.

Check out my video review below.

Lire is an RSS reader for iOS, and it just added a great update in the form of drag-and-drop. Now you can grab any news story and drag it either to Lire’s own drop-shelf (iPhone and iPad), or to another app (iPad). It really makes great use of iOS 11’s drag-and-drop, but is let down by other apps’ poor implementation for receiving dropped items.

Guitar Gravitas is yet another iOS chords-and-scales app for guitar players, but this one’s worth a look because the layout is so damned useful. Unlike many other scale and chord apps, Guitar Gravitas presents exactly the information you need when you have the guitar in your hands and are ready to practice. It puts as much info as possible onto a single screen, without getting cluttered or confusing.

You have in your hands a brand new iPad. Now what? Sure, you can just go ahead and use it au natural. But consider: While iPads may look like hulking slabs of aluminum and glass, they are deceptively delicate. They cry out for protection.

Gauging which is the best case to safely secure your tablet is not for the faint of heart, given the myriad options out there. That’s where our iPad case roundup comes in. We’ve scoured the best reviews, including our own, and looked at buyers’ favorite cases on shopping sites like Amazon.

Then we gathered our picks into several categories, depending on how much you want to pay, what type of protection you need, and any extra functionality offered (like keyboard cases). And we’ve also put together a list of runners-up — cases that are pretty good, or even great, but just didn’t make our cut.

Make your Apple Watch your own with a truly distinctive, statement-making strap worthy of a double take.

The Batik Strap from French company Clessant is a refreshing take on an everyday accessory. No two are ever alike. And, you can take a look at it now in Cult of Mac’s Watch Store.

Colgate’s new iPhone-compatible smart toothbrush promises to transform the way you brush your teeth, thanks to the magic of machine intelligence.

So is the E1 Smart Electronic Toothbrush With Artificial Intelligence like having a virtual dentist at your beck and call? Here’s what we make of it after a week of tooth-cleaning action.

The Eventide H9 is a magical effects box for musicians, and it is especially relevant to iOS users because it can be completely controlled by an iOS app via Bluetooth, putting virtual knobs and dials on the screen of an iPad or iPhone. Today, we’ll review the EvenMidi, which is a box that does one thing — adds bunch of knobs the the Eventide H9 so you never need to touch a screen again.

Did you ever have something to say that’s too long for a tweet, but too short for a blog post? And what if you don’t have a blog anyway? Then you need txt.fyi, “the dumbest publishing platform on the web.”

AudioStretch is a “music transcription tool.” It’s a universal iOS app that slows down music, and/or changes its pitch, so you can learn to play songs. We’ve covered another of these, Capo Touch, before on Cult of Mac, but AudioStretch is easier to use. Plus, a recent update added the ability for the music transcription app to work its magic on video.

At $1,000, the iPhone X is as expensive as it is attractive. That’s not so great should the worst happen, since replacing the screen alone will cost around $300.

Since I’ve had mine, it’s practically lived in a case. In today’s video, I’m sharing some of my favorite iPhone X cases so far — ranging from the stylish to the extra-durable. Check them out below.

Dropping your iPhone may crack it, but the most likely way to ruin the screen is to scratch it. You might drop your iPhone into your bag and let it rattle around with your keys. You may absent-mindedly slip some change into your dedicated iPhone pants pocket. Or your significant other might pick up your week-old iPhone and a nail file in the same hand, gouging the screen so badly that the scratches are all you’ll ever see from then on.

To prevent this, you should get an iPhone screen protector. Here are the best you can buy.

Looking for a great book to bury yourself in to escape the winter chill (or simply the demands of visiting relatives)? Fortunately, as far as tech-focused books go, 2017 was a great year.

Here are our choices for the best of the best.

As the year nears its end, it’s time to take a look back at everything that was awesome in 2017. As usual, Mac developers rolled out some stellar software, which means macOS remains the best platform for the greatest apps.

Here’s our roundup of the best macOS apps of 2017.

2017 was a great year for Apple as a whole, and the App Store was no different.

From messaging apps to music-generating tools to a smart AI assistant, Apple and various third-party developers unleashed an impressive array of new software designed to get us tapping, swiping and — most importantly — downloading.

Game developers are embracing macOS like never before, which means Windows isn’t the only place to get the greatest titles anymore. The past year brought us a ton of terrific Mac games, from intense first-person shooters to gorgeous platformers filled with charm.

Here’s our roundup of the best Mac games of 2017.

2017 has been one heck of a year for iOS gaming fans. From action-oriented arcade blasters to strategy games so deep they should come with a warning, just about every genre has been well represented.

Distilling hundreds of great titles down to a single shortlist isn’t easy, but we’ve done our best. These are our picks for the 15 greatest mobile games of 2017.

Welcome to Cult of Mac‘s Gadget of the Year extravaganza. Unlike some other blogs, where harassed writers get a last-minute order from the boss to come up with an end-of-year list, and then spend a half-hour writing up the first five Google results for their given subject, our top gadgets are all rad, and all genuinely worth your cash.

Two of them will even change how you use technology, which isn’t a bad score for just one year. Let’s take a look at our favorite gadgets of 2017, and see why they’re so good.