review - page 12

As my esteemed colleague Charlie pointed out yesterday, Polaroid releasing an “official” app that takes Polaroid-style pictures now is a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Then returned, bolted again, walked at a leisurely pace to an airport 2000 miles away, paused for a week, gone trekking in Bhutan, spent some time finding itself in Goa, and finally bolted some more for good measure.

So let’s all just agree that this app is woefully late, because there are already twelve dozen Polaroidish apps on the App Store, many of them very good at their job. So is Polamatic actually any good? The answer’s yes. Yes it is.

Slide is a free reflex-testing game for iOS that takes the unlock screen slider from your iPhone and puts it to work elsewhere – mainly, as physical exercise for your thumb.

Hands up if you like counting things. Keep still while I count you all. Wait – arg. This isn’t working. How can I keep count? Maybe Tallywag will help me.

If you’re planning to visit London for the Olympic Games later this year – or for any other reason, come to that – you need to grab a copy of Black Plaques London before you go. It’s a fascinating, gruesome, wonderful app that gives you a rats-eye view of the darker side of the city’s history.

There is one huge problem with iPad styluses: the rubber tips tend to drag or even stick on the screen, especially when the screen gets greasy (which is always). Some styluses are better than others: The Wacom Bamboo manages to glide right up until Peak Filth, and the latest Alupen Pro comes with instructions to never touch the tip with your fingers (as you’d expect, I touched it immediately and often after reading that).

But the TruGlide Stylus takes a different take altogether: it ditches the rubber and replaces it with something that looks like a tiny metal scouring pad. Only it doesn’t scour — it glides.

Inpaint4 is an image editor for OS X, available for $10 from the Mac App Store. It’s designed for a specific task – removing unwanted visual elements from photos. That tourist who walked through the background of your snapshot, that hanging camera strap that spoiled an otherwise good image, or that weird bit of junk you just want to take out of shot. Unfortunately it is let down too often by unreliable results.

Everyone knows that Apple leads and others follow, right? It’s iOS that people are copying elsewhere. No-one would ever dream of making a music player for iOS that uses the same UI as Microsoft’s Metro) mobile OS design language. Would they? Wait – would they?

We’re spoilt for choice for camera apps these days, so any newcomers on the scene have to prove themselves somewhat. They face tough competition.

Bright Mango’s Wood Camera, despite its odd name, stands up to its rivals well. It’s a useful multi-function camera with live image filters and an understated, speedy interface.

Like the rest of the BookBook range, Twelve South’s BookBook for iPhone ($60) is a luxury, handmade leather wallet case that’s designed to look like a pocket-sized vintage book. Not only will it lovingly house your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, but it also features three credit card pockets, and a larger pouch for notes and bills.

The BookBook is available in a dark tan brown leather, and every one is hand-distressed to ensure each one is a little bit unique. As you’d expect, the case provides access to your iPhone’s dock connector; headphone jack; mute switch; and volume, home, and sleep/wake buttons.

Readers, your desperate wish to have Monty Python in your pocket everywhere you go has finally – finally – been granted. With Python Bytes on your iOS device, you need never be far from a quick spurt of Pythonism whenever you feel the need for it.

So whether you must hear the Parrot Sketch while waiting for the bus, or would like to pass the time in dull corporate meetings by watching Michael Palin do the Lumberjack Song, or simply enjoy seeing John Cleese in a pink bra; whatever the circumstances, this is the app for you. Possibly.

Tim Schroeder has created two similar, but slightly different, apps for getting your hands on stuff you’ve used recently on your Mac.

Recent Redux is a more full-featured app, priced at $3.99 on the App Store. Recent Menu is its cheaper little sibling.

Facevault is a one-dollar photo archive app that can only be unlocked by one person – the one with the right face.

It sounds neat, and yes, it works. But the face recognition features come at a price, and are hindered by a flaw that affects other apps using the same technology: it can’t tell the difference between real faces, and photos of real faces.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never really got my head around LinkedIn. It does the connections thing very well, but I’ve never considered it as a social networks. It’s not a place I go to, you know, faff about. So do I want it on my iPad? Ummm.

Until I took delivery of the Don’t Panic iPad case this week, this Custom Jacket from Skech has been my new favorite iPad case. It looks like leather, but is in fact artfully textured (and fully vegan) plastic, it holds the iPad tight and safe, and it weighs next to nothing. It also look pretty damn good.

Let’s take a closer look.

Streamified is a social media client for iOS, giving you an all-in-one overview of all your networks, plus RSS and blog feeds from elsewhere. The aim is to simplify everything, but in testing it can become a bit overwhelming.

Google Drive was announced yesterday, and we’ve spent some time putting the OS X client software to the test. How does it stand up against the list of rivals (which seems to be growing by the day)?

This is Fragile Earth, an interactive photo gallery designed to teach you a little about ecology, conservation and the natural environment.

You’re either going to love Opuss, or you’re going to really hate it. It’s a social network for word lovers. It’s Instagram for poetry. It’s Twitter for wannabe comedians. It’s beautifully and thoughtfully designed, but, still in its early days, isn’t as compelling as it could be.

This is Readdle‘s PDF Expert 4 for iPad, and a more full-featured PDF reading and editing app you’ll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.

Jawbone’s Jambox is already one of the best loved miniature portable Bluetooth speakers out there, and we’re here to add to the praise: this is a great piece of kit for anyone who wants to take out the headphones and pump up the volume far more than what the iPhone or iPad’s dinky build-in speakers allow.

But it’s more than just a great speaker. It’s the very distillation of the great design that has sprung up in the accessory space in direct response to the way Apple has redefined the way we look at computers, from pieces of assembled technology to experiences. If you were looking for just one gadget to pick up and show a friend how Apple has revolutionized design outside of its, the Jambox would be a good contender.

Ideas is an iOS app for managing, organising and sorting your ideas and thoughts. It stands out from the crowd thanks to a refreshingly different interface that does the job very well. It usually costs two bucks, but right now it’s on sale for one dollar.

Yesterday we highlighted the release of TextWrangler 4, the wonderful free text editor from Bare Bones Software. Here’s a closer look at the new stuff you’ll find in this update.

Rebus Show is an iOS Rebus puzzle game with visual style and flair.

The CASELLET is a snap-on case for the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S that also doubles as a wallet for your credit cards and bills. Unlike most other wallet cases, which are traditionally made from leather, this one’s made from a durable plastic that aims to provide you with better impact protection against dings and drops.

It will hold up to four credit cards on their own, or three credit cards and a few bills. It comes in black, white, or pink, and it’s complimented by a brushed aluminum backplate. As you’d expect, it provides access to your camera, volume rocker, mute switch, and more. The CASELLET is the spawn of a very successful Kickstarter project, but is it actually any good?

One disadvantage of using an iPhone or iPad as a camera is that you’re stuck with a single, fixed focal-length lens. Optical zoom can work only so far before even Instagram photos start to look bad, and phones with built in optical zooms tend to resemble actual cameras.

The solution? Add-on lenses. Today, we’ll take a look at Photojojo’s four-in-one set of fisheye, macro, wide angle and telephoto lenses. These accessory lenses stick magnetically over the iDevice’s camera, changing the point of view.