iPad & iPhone User

Published on December 2016 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 49 | Comments: 0 | Views: 600
of 68
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Comments

Content

REPLACE APPLE’S APPS NOW

APP REVIEWS, TIPS AND BUYING ADVICE FOR iOS ADDICTS

APPS & GAMES

93

REVIEWED

iWatch revolution
Nothing will be the same

ULTIMATE GUIDE TO iPAD COMIC READERS

Master iCloud

Advanced syncing masterclass

Meet the PowerSkin for
®

Apple iPhone 5
www.powerskin.co.uk

PowerSkin battery cases provide the ultimate power solution with a quick-wrap protective case for your on-the-go lifestyle. Because battery life is life.
Learn More

WELCOME
EDITORIAL
Editor 020 7756 2867 Editorial assistant 020 7756 2918 Art director 020 7756 2881 Production editor 020 7756 2876 Games editor David Price [email protected] Ashleigh Allsopp [email protected] Mandie Johnson [email protected] Rob Woodcock [email protected] Alec Meer [email protected]

Email me your thoughts: [email protected] Or contact me on Twitter: twitter.com/pricivius

ADVERTISING
Head of sales Group ad manager Senior account manager 020 7756 2836 Account manager 020 7756 2833 Sales executive 020 7756 2803 Steve Marshall [email protected] Tom Drummond [email protected] Michael Newton [email protected] Tom How [email protected] Becky Clewarth [email protected]

O

WHAT’S NEXT?

PRODUCTION
Head of digital production Richard Bailey 020 7756 2839 [email protected]

CIRCULATION & MARKETING
Marketing manager 020 7756 2861 Ash Patel [email protected]

FINANCE
Cover artwork: artist’s conception of iWatch by Nickolay Lamm from MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

Financial director Credit controller Purchase ledger clerk Accountant

Chris Norman Dawnette Gordon Lyn McNicol Parit Shah

PUBLISHING
Editor in chief 020 7756 2879 Publishing director 020 7756 2808 Managing director Mark Hattersley [email protected] Simon Jary [email protected] Kit Gould

iPad & iPhone User is published by IDG UK IDG UK, 101 Euston Road, London NW1 2RA Tel: 020 7756 2800 Printer: Wyndeham Press Group Ltd 01621 877 777 Distribution: Seymour Distribution Ltd 020 7429 4000 No material may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission. While every care is taken, the publisher cannot be held legally responsible for any errors in articles, listings or advertisements. All material copyright IDG UK 2013

h, Samsung. Will your cheeky capers never end? You accuse Apple of valuing marketing magic above product innovation, then you outspend Apple’s marketing budget by $68m. You make snide adverts about Apple customers queuing up for new iPhones with tiny changes, then unveil a Galaxy S4 that couldn’t be picked out in an S3 police line-up. And you claim not to copy Apple’s products, but then do everything you can – bar resurrecting Steve Jobs to do a zombie keynote – to copy its launch events. In the world of Apple and not-Apple (a position currently occupied by Samsung), double standards are par for the course; but the contrasting receptions given to the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4 are still vexing. Everyone else rolls out cautious, iterative upgrades and gets a cheer for trying, but Apple has to redefine the product category every time. In an ideal world, of course, every Apple launch would be like the first iPhone: thrilling, new, and ripe with possibilities. But no company can keep that up forever. Some, as Samsung has shown once again, never manage it at all. Still, we can all dream, and like most of you, we love to come up with ideas for future Apple products. Starting on page 16, we sift through some intriguing concepts for the next iPad, iPhone and version of iOS. Who knows? These could appear in the Apple launch line-up of 2014. And, perhaps, in the Samsung line-up of 2015. David Price EDITOR We’re sure to like you if you ‘Like’ us! www.facebook.com/ipadiphoneuser

In an ideal world, of course, every Apple launch would be like the first iPhone

Follow us on Twitter and join the conversation @ipadiphoneuser

iPad & iPhone User 2013

3

CONTENTS

WIN A YEAR’S
BROADBAND SEE PAGE 9

16

APPLE: NEXT GENERATION From iPhone mini to iPad 5, from iPhone 6 and iWatch to iOS 7; we bring you our fantasy Apple launch line-up for 2013 and beyond.

14

THE iWATCH REVOLUTION What would change if Apple announced an iWatch next week? Almost everything, we predict.

24
GADGETS 10 NEW The tech kit and accessories we’re currently lusting after.

READING COMICS ON THE IPAD Tablets have breathed new life into comics. We show you the best ways to enjoy comics on your iPad.

6 NEWS All the hot
headlines in your iPad, iPhone and iPod world.

03 WELCOME 06 NEWS HEADLINES 10 NEWS NEW GADGETS 12 NEWS APPS & GAMES 56 HIT LIST BUYERS GUIDE 66 OPINION KIRK MCELHEARN

4

iPad & iPhone User 2013

iPAD & iPHONE USER ISSUE 73: MAY 2013

50-53 Syncing with iCloud
Learn how to master iCloud’s syncing components, among its most valuable core offerings, in this months iCloud how to.

44 I’ve got the power Charging tips to prevent you running out of juice 46 Seize the moment Jot it down quickly with CaptureNotes 2’s range of advanced tools 48 Living in the past with Timehop Find out what you were up to a year ago today 50 Syncing with iCloud Get down to business with iCloud 54 Productivity-boosting stock app alternatives Four awesome replacements for Calendar, Mail, Notes and Reminders 55 Clean your lawn in Plants vs Zombies Games academy: master a classic iPad game

31 Sonoro cuboDock
One-box stereo loudspeaker, with the option of Bluetooth wireless
HARDWARE:

32 Just Mobile Gum Plus
Neat, smart little battery unit

30 Gear4 StreetParty 5 Lightning speaker dock Orbitsound M9 wireless soundbar/sub-woofer 31 Otone Varsa mini soundbar Sonoro cuboDock wireless speaker 32 Just Mobile Gum Plus portable charger Wahoo RFLKT bike computer 33 Belkin Thunderstorm iPad case Musubo Retro iPhone 5 case Dodocase Classic iPad case

APPS:

34 ProCutX for Final Cut Pro X iStopMotion for iPad 35 Kodable Wood Camera – Vintage Photo Editor Alt Photo 36 WeatherPro Horizon Calendar MeteoEarth
BOOK CLUB:



34 iStopMotion for iPad
Version two of the excellent animation app



35 Kodable
Teach your kids coding basics

37 The Hare With Amber Eyes: The Illustrated Edition
GAMES:

38 Real Racing 3 39 Shifts Year Walk Capsized+ 40 Little Inferno 41 iCueda Zombies, Run! SEQ



41 Zombies, Run!
Undead-themed fitness app



38 Real Racing 3
A free, fun and beautiful driving game

iPad & iPhone User 2013

5

Should Apple be scared of Samsung’s new Galaxy S4?
Not really, say analysts, following Samsung’s latest smartphone launch

O

n 14 March Samsung revealed the Galaxy S4. We’ve since seen Apple react with a new web page describing what’s so great about the iPhone, coupled with a promotional email. We’ve seen analysts question whether the S4 will be a match for the next iPhone. And we’ve laughed at the rumours from around the web about Samsung’s “misogynistic” and “embarrassing” launch event. So what’s the big deal about the Galaxy S4, and should Apple be worried? The general consensus is no, and following the S4 launch Apple’s share price has risen. The Galaxy S4 won’t actually be available until late April, nor is it all that different to the S3. It’s marginally smaller than its predecessor and slightly Battle eld Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 is the latest challenger to Apple’s iPhone 5 thicker than the iPhone 5. Samsung’s handset has a Super Amoled display with MacKenzie said: “I went from laughing to feeling embarrassed a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, compared to the iPhone 5’s at some of the acting. Watching the presentation, it looks like 1,136 x 640 resolution, while its 441 pixels per inch is also they invested a lot in marketing instead of innovation.” higher than that of Apple’s handset, which is 326ppi. The S4 comes with a 1.6GHz octa-core processor; the iPhone Analyst reaction has a 1.2GHz dual-core chip. In the run up to the event there was talk about how Apple The S4 also features two cameras, and significantly, the should be scared about the new phone – in fact the company’s ability to use both cameras at the same time. We wonder at marketing head, Phil Schiller, even gave two interviews the the practical implication of this, additional bandwidth aside. day before the launch Some experts expect that the advanced features, which also event in which he “Looking at the include eye-tracking functionality, may overwhelm some users. blasted Google. presentation, it The concern may looks like Samsung have been unwarranted. Distancing from Google Topeka Capital Markets Samsung has, however, decided to use the year-old Android invested a lot in analyst Brian White 4.2.2 as its operating system, and the company went to marketing instead was unimpressed with great lengths to demonstrate its own software at the launch the S4. He claimed event, leading some to suggest it’s trying to distance itself of innovation” that the plastic casing from Google. Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg tweeted: – HTC president is “no match” for the “What’s interesting is Samsung clearly pushing their own aluminium enclosure ecosystem over Google’s.” of the iPhone. The S4 is “evolutionary” but it is also “heavier, The Korean company introduced a number of new fatter and less refined than the iPhone 5,” White said. He also software features, including Group Play (for sharing music, noted that adding features is “the easy stuff to do” but when photos, documents and games using NFC); S Translate it comes to the app ecosystem, the iPhone still holds the cards. (voice-based language translation); Smart Pause (pauses a Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray also suggested that the S4 video if you look away); and Voice Drive (for using maps was “unlikely to meaningfully impact the iPhone”. and navigation when driving). However, Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital sounded a note of The launch wasn’t received well. Described as “cringewarning. “Samsung’s momentum is a major issue for Apple,” worthy”, the event consisted of sketches that featured he said. “We need to see Apple expand its iPhone market this “50s-era stereotypes” of women. HTC president Jason year in a big way – and improve its platform.” MacKenzie called the Samsung event “embarrassing”.

6

iPad & iPhone User 2013

UNPLUGGED.

UNRESTRICTED. UNBELIEVABLE.
This is not an alarm dock for your night table, it’s a wake-up call for your smart music. In fact, this is an entirely new performance sound system in one compact unit. But if it was a dock, the NAD VISO 1 would be the best sounding dock in the world. FULL STOP. Crisp, vivid, room-filling, heartpounding and soul-singing sound. Call it what you like, we call it Totally Insane Sound. YOU DON’T NEED TO UNDERSTAND IT, YOU JUST NEED TO HEAR IT.

Available at Sevenoaks Sound & Vision Stores

www.NADelectronics.com

i Tech
RUMOURS
iPHONE 6 COMPONENTS TO BEGIN SHIPPING END OF MAY iPHONE 6 WILL HAVE ‘KILLER FEATURE’ TO BEAT GALAXY S4 APPLE’S WWDC EVENT TO TAKE PLACE 10-15 JUNE iPAD 5 TO ARRIVE IN APRIL OR JUNE iWATCH TO LAUNCH THIS YEAR AROUND 10-15 JUNE

APPLE RELEASES iOS 6.1.3
Apple released iOS 6.1.3 on 19 March, an update to the operating system that powers iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. Included in the update is a fix for a recently discovered means of breaking past the lock screen, along with Maps improvements for Japan. However, less than a day after the update was released, it was discovered that iOS 6.1.3 has a new bug that allows users to bypass the lock screen on an iPhone 4. Apple’s iOS 6.1.3 update plugs exploits that allowed Evad3ers Dev Team to release an unthethered jailbreak. Apple did, however, credit the hackers for finding the exploits in its iOS 6.1.3 security note.

Apple executive blasts Android, Samsung
Marketing boss Schiller tweets “Be safe out there”

A

pple’s marketing chief, Phil Schiller, has criticised Samsung and Google’s Android, which he says is fragmented and has security issues. On 7 March, he took to Twitter to have a dig at Android, highlighting a security report that shows malware threats on the operating system have increased. Schiller wrote: “Be safe out there” in his tweet, linking to F-Secure’s latest Mobile Threat Report, which reveals 96 new families and variants of Android malware were found in the fourth quarter of 2012 alone, almost doubling the number recorded in the previous quarter. No new iOS malware was found during this period. It’s worth noting that, following his tweet, three researchers revealed App Store users had been vulnerable to attack for six months because Apple didn’t fully encrypt traffic travelling between its App Store and users. In addition to his tweet, Schiller also highlighted the “plain and simple” fragmentation of the Android operating system as a problem, which he said “extends to the news we are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being rumoured to ship with an operating system that’s nearly a year old” during an interview with Reuters on the eve of the S4’s launch. In a second interview on the same day, this one with The Wall Street Journal, Schiller argued: “Android is often given as a free replacement for a feature phone, and the experience isn’t as good as an iPhone.”

Sculley: Apple needs ‘creative leap’
That’s what Apple excels at, says ex-CEO John Sculley

T
APPLE PATENTS INDUCTIVE SMART COVER WITH BATTERY
A new Apple patent spotted this month describes an iPad Smart Cover that acts as an inductive charging point to provide wireless power to the iPad and other devices. Apple’s invention could take power wirelessly from a plugged-in iPad and store it within an internal battery to send the other direction when you use the tablet, or it could be plugged into the mains via Apple’s Lightning connector.

he former CEO of Apple John Sculley believes the company is experiencing a “lull in innovation”. What it needs is the next creative leap, he argued during an interview on CNBA Asia. “You have periods of time that are ‘creative leap’ areas,” he elaborated. “That’s what Apple excels at – it’s a creative leap company. In the last 10 years, we’ve had a creative leap decade in technology. We’ve seen social media, we’ve seen 3G, mobile wireless, you’ve seen companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, all doing extremely well. Then you run into a decade like we’re just sort of in right now – the fast follower evolution decade. “We’re not at a big breakthrough point in time, but fast followers excel. So Samsung, an excellent fast follower, is doing well. What Apple needs is the next era of creative leap.” Sculley also believes Apple should focus its attention on emerging markets such as China and India. “Right now, Samsung is much more aggressive in this part of the world,” he argued.

8

iPad & iPhone User 2013

Win a year’s iPad broadband!
with iPad&iPhoneUser has teamed up with O2 to offer 10 lucky winners the chance to win 12 months of iPad broadband.
To be in with a chance of winning, register and request your iPad sim. Once activated†, you’ll be automatically entered into the prize draw.

all O2 accessories with every sim request††

20% off

Plus, get

Enter for free online:

ipadiphoneuser.co.uk/competitions
Competition in association with Activeyou. Activeyou.co.uk is a third party competition site. †sim activation required to enter the prize draw, this requires £10 credit to be applied online, please refer to O2 terms and conditions for further details. 12 months iPad sim broadband applies to a maximum of 1GB data per month and will be applied as credit to the person’s account. ††20% discount applies to all O2 accessories in the O2 accessories shop online, with every verified sim request. This offer is open to UK residents only. Entrants must be 18 years of age. Proof of age will be required before the prize is dispatched. This promotion may be conducted over several different websites simultaneously. 10 winners will be selected at midday on Monday 13th May. Please review our terms & conditions for more information. Images and brands shown are for illustrative purposes only. By entering the competition or promotional offer you consent to receive information and promotions from ActiveYou.co.uk; digitalbox, our Clients and our Partners; IDG UK; plus selected third parties. IDG UK’s terms and conditions can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/T8DAZg. digitalbox / ActiveYou 3rd Party competition terms and conditions can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/Rp88Jn. Copyright © 2013 digitalbox Limited. ActiveYou is a trading style of digitalbox Limited. All rights reserved.

Powered by

NEW & NOTEWORTHY

ASHLEIGH ALLSOPP PRESENTS THE BEST NEW KIT FOR YOUR iPAD, iPHONE AND iPOD

Flying high
Fli Tunes
£12.95 www.prezzybox.com

This crazy contraption could come in handy as summer approaches. Ideal for trips to the beach or picnics in the park, Fli Tunes is an audio amplifier for your iPhone or iPod that also doubles as a Frisbee when flattened. As well as being waterproof, lightweight and wire-free, the Fli Tunes doesn’t require batteries in order to give your iPhone’s music a boost.

VERDICT: Fli Tunes is a neat little gadget for holidaymakers and outdoor lovers. Just don’t forget to remove your iPhone before you throw it!

Natural noise
Griffin WoodTones Over-The-Ear Headphones
£79.99 www.griffintechnology.com

On the case
PowerSkin
£64.99 www.powerskin.co.uk

Available in beech, sapele and walnut, the Griffin WoodTones Headphones have noiseisolating over-ear pads that aim to ensure comfortable listening for long periods of time. The headphones come with a remote control and microphone on the detachable cable. For extra portability, the WoodTones have foldable earcups.

If your iPhone 5 runs out of power on a regular basis, you might benefit from a PowerSkin battery case, which offers up to 6.5 hours additional talk time, according to the company. The PowerSkin for iPhone 5 also doubles as a protective case, while only adding 8mm to the thickness of the device. LED indicators help you know when to charge the PowerSkin, and an included earphone extender means you can listen to music without removing the battery case. VERDICT: A great solution to keep your power-hungry iPhone 5 on the go as long as you. The ultra-angular design is a real bonus.

VERDICT: The Griffin WoodTones Headphones bring a touch of nature to audio technology.

10

iPad & iPhone User 2013

CATWALK THE BEST-LOOKING iPAD & iPHONE CASES

Crystal clear
Crystal Acoustics i-40-EN
£29 www.crystalaudiovideo.com

The new Crystal Acoustics i-40-EN in-ear headphones aim to make good-quality audio affordable. At just £29, the i-40s are made from aluminium, and include a microphone and threebutton remote on the anti-tangle flat cable. Crystal Acoustics provides three sizes of soft silicon ear tips and extra double- and triple-stage dip ear canal tips for added noise cancellation. A carrying case is included. VERDICT: You get lots for your cash with the Crystal Acoustics i-40 in-ear headphones.

BE LK IN PR LEG ICE : UR TBC O CA L: w SES ww .be lkin .co m

RE LU AL E B k RO o.u LA .95 Z n.c 9 .E o 1 z E B :£ ma ICE ww.a PR w L: UR

Hot stuff
Epiphany onE Puck
From $150 www.epiphanylabs.com

Picture this: you’re in the pub and your iPhone’s battery is on its last legs. Enter the Epiphany onE Puck, which uses heat disparities, such as a hot or cold drink, a candle or ice, to charge an iPhone or other USB device. The onE Puck connects to your handset using its USB cable, and will charge it up when a mug of coffee, an icy glass of water, or in this case a cold pint of beer is placed on to its coaster-like surface. VERDICT: Cool! Epiphany says the tech could power a household in the future.

CUSH I PLU S RET PRICE RO : $24 . 9 5 (£1 URL: 6.53) www .idam erican y.com

iPad & iPhone User 2013

11

NEW & NOTEWORTHY THE BEST NEW APPS, GAMES & ENTERTAINMENT NEW APPS ON iTUNES

SequenceApp (Free) With eight patterns to play with and 30 samples from classic drum machines, this circular audio sequencer is ideal for creating polyrhythms, electronica and techno.

PicTapGo (£1.49) By remembering your favourite photo effects, and allowing you to customise and save filters, PicTapGo helps speed up snapping, editing and sharing photos on your iPhone.

BBC Earth Wonders (£2.49) This new app from the BBC brings users images, video clips and interesting facts about creatures that roam the Earth and the landscapes they live in.

Facetune (£1.49) RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
We were impressed by Facetune’s powerful yet easy-to-use photo editing features. Ideal for touching up portraits, the app lets you whiten teeth, smooth skin, emphasise details and even reshape the face of your subject. It provides a patch tool for removing blemishes and a tones tool that can recolour grey hair, for example. There’s redeye removal and a defocus tool for blurring out backgrounds. To top it all off, Facetune also has a filters tool to add various effects and frames to your final image. It’s one of the best photo-editing apps for iPhone we’ve tried.

Path on (£1.49) Add text to photos with this new app, which lets you draw a path of any shape with your finger to flow your words along. There are also pre-made paths to choose from.

Meetings for iPhone (£2.99) Designed to make meetings more productive, this app offers easy minutetaking, action planning and cloud syncing between devices.

Files App (69p) Keep everything in one place with Files App, which lets you read PDFs and Office files, view videos and photos, listen to music, get files from Dropbox and store ZIP and AVI files.

NEW GAMES ON iTUNES

Slingshot Puzzle HD (69p) RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Alawar Entertainment’s Slingshot Puzzle HD is a challenging but addictive iPad puzzle game, with gorgeous graphics and a fun soundtrack. The aim is to get the golden ball into the hole by using the slingshot to propel it towards the goal. Of course, it’s not that easy. You’ll need to avoid obstacles and use various objects to help you reach the hole, while trying to collect three blue gems on the way. There are 126 levels of varying difficulty to complete, with seven different worlds and three board types to choose from.

Infect Them All 2: Zombies (69p) This sequel to Infect Them All has eight playable zombies to help you turn everyone in town into the walking dead. Each zombie has different moves, skills and upgrades to unlock.

Nightmerica (69p) Use randomly generated weapons to fight monsters in this retro-style arcade game. Three arenas, 20 different monsters and wave-based battles make for an action-packed app.

Cognition Episode 1 (£2.49) FBI agent Erica Reed needs your help to catch four serial killers. Find clues hidden by a mystery aide to track down ‘The Hangman’ in this first episode, drawn by comic book artists.

Trenches II (Free) Lead your troops into battle across 50 locations. Customise your army, either British, German or French, with more than 20 different units.

Up In Flames (69p) Chillingo’s new physicsbased puzzler sees Baff the Dragon unleash his fire-breathing powers to free his friends from sharks, wolves and yetis.

1001 Attempts (69p) This universal game aims to make you addicted to its simple gameplay. Dodge missiles, sawblades and laser beams to collect loads of jewels.

12

iPad & iPhone User 2013

NEW COMICS ON iTUNES
FAVOURITE NEW

MAPS APP

Ellerbisms (£3.49)
Ellerbisms is a collection of Marc Ellerby’s autobiographical web comics. They began as sporadic tellings of trivial events, but became a love story when he met a Swedish girl called Anna at Gatwick Airport in 2007.

Vio (£1.99) Turn your voice into an instrument with this universal app that uses pitch correction, harmonies and gesture control within an interactive visualiser.

Avengers Prime (£4.49)
Marvel has collected all five issues of Avengers Prime from 2010 and 2011 into one iBooks comic that sees heroes Thor, Iron Man and Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) band together once more following the Siege of Asgard.

Field Trip (Free)

★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★ RATING ★
Google’s customisable Field Trip app helps you discover new places of interest. You can set it to let you know when you’re close to something cool such as an historic building or an upcoming concert.

CaptureAudio (£1.49) Record voice memos and organise them. With CaptureAudio, you can also ‘Flag’ important points within memos, so you can easily come back to them later.

Jaybird (£2.99)
This 133-page-long graphic novel by Lauri Ahonen and Jaakko Ahonen portrays the story of an adorable little bird, who lives in a large, dusty, cobwebfilled house, with just his bedridden mother and spiders for company.

Penumbear (£1.49) Play with light to solve puzzles and help Penumbear escape the dark castle basement across this platformer’s 100 levels. Fight against monsters and bosses and discover secret levels and characters.

Gravity.Duck (69p) This universal puzzle platform game has 100 levels and three environments though which Gravity Duck can walk on walls and ceilings to avoid deathby-spikes and reach the goal. Quackers.

Eighty-Eight (£1.49) Test your number logic skills in this addictive puzzle game for iPhone. Win badges to help you beat your high-score, and show off your achievements on Game Center.

Young Justice Vol.1 (£7.49)
Based on the Cartoon Network series, DC’s Young Justice Volume 1 sees teenage heroes Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy and Miss Martian take on the League of Shadows and the Joker.

The Walking Dead (£7.49)
The Walking Dead comic, which has been adapted into a hit US TV series, follows the story of police officer Rick Grimes, one of the few survivors of a zombie apocalypse. There are currently 17 volumes of The Walking Dead available on iBooks.

Cyto (69p) Cyto is a cute creature who needs your help to collect memory fragments throughout his colourful universe. There are 81 puzzling levels to play through.

Unmechanical (£1.99) Embark on a puzzlefilled adventure with a little helicopter who has become trapped in a mysterious 3D world full of secrets that you’ll need to uncover.

Dojo Danger (69p) It’s Ninjas against Zombies in this turnbased strategy game that lets you choose from more than 30 characters, each with individual abilities.

iPad & iPhone User 2013

13

THE iWATCH REVOLUTION

The iWatch revolution
What would change if Apple announced an iWatch next week? Almost everything, predicts Ryan Faas

B

efore we begin, a confession. We haven’t tested the iWatch yet. To be honest, we haven’t seen it. You know what? We don’t even know it exists, or that it’s ever going to. Phew! Glad that’s out there. What we do know is that wearable computing is one of this year’s major trends, whether or not Apple decides to join in. (And between the two of us, there’s a fair bit of evidence that it will.) From the Kickstarterfunded Pebble smartwatch to the Google Glass head-mounted display, numerous companies are responding to consumer interest in super-portable communications. It’s likely to be a highly disruptive trend, too: almost all aspects of personal computing will be affected. If and when Apple drops its iWatch, you can expect some fireworks.

including the Pebble watch, which can pair with an iPhone or Android phone. Many are also anticipated uses for Google Glass, which is expected to ship by the end of the year. All of these capabilities have direct business potential. The updates that can be displayed on an iWatch are often those that professionals check throughout the day. Accessing them in an unobtrusive way on a wearable device would allow workers to check notifications in real time without disrupting a meeting – or even a casual conversation – by pulling out their phone and unlocking it.

Two-factor authentication
While distraction-free meetings are a big business innovation for an iWatch, they’re relatively small compared to what such a device could mean in terms of data security. In fact, an iWatch could be the perfect solution to many IT concerns about mobile devices. The key is that the iWatch would be designed to pair with a mobile device – most likely an iPhone. That offers an easy way to set up advanced authentication. The iWatch could replace a passcode on an iPhone or iPad. If the iWatch is in range, the iOS device could unlock without a passcode, saving users’ time.

Business potential
Reports about the iWatch indicate that it would be tethered to an iPhone or iPad that would provide a stream of content and alerts to the wearer, including email, caller ID, calendar info and updates of pre-selected information like weather reports and stock quotes. All of these ideas are present in existing smartwatches coming to market,

iPhone’s best friend? (opposite) Will the iWatch work with the iPhone, or bring its usefulness to an end? Artist’s impression by Nickolay Lamm from MyVoucherCodes.co.uk. Main illustration: James Walker

14

iPad & iPhone User 2013

iPHONE IS DEAD, LONG LIVE iWATCH?
IF APPLE LAUNCHES A SMARTWATCH, ITS OWN PRODUCTS MAY SUFFER
It’s not just Apple’s rivals that face a rude awakening. Some analysts reckon wearable computing will land on the world of mobile technology like a prehistoric asteroid, pulverising the iPhone just as much as non-Apple smartphones. Author Jay Yarow, writing for Business Insider, has seriously considered the idea that the smartphone era will perish almost as quickly as it began. “Lots of people disagree with me, but I think something like Google Glass or whatever Microsoft is working on could end up replacing the smartphone as the dominant way people access the internet and connect to each other.” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has argued that wearable computers could replace the iPhone and smartphones in general over the next 10-plus years. “We believe technology could progress to a point where consumers have a tablet plus wearable computers, like watches or glasses, that enable simple things like voice calls, texting, quick searches, navigation and so on through voice control. Longer term, screens in glasses or projectors could replace the necessity of a screen from a smartphone or tablet.” In fact, back in the summer another analyst was suggesting that Apple needs to kill the iPhone, and that disruption is the path to the future. It’s not only disruption of markets that makes Apple successful – it also disrupts its own products. Asymco’s Horace Dediu explained: “Apple creates new categories and self-cannibalises in a way: the iPhone was about killing the iPod. Apple’s number-one job today ought to be killing the iPhone. Even though it’s the firm’s biggest product. Apple should be doing that, and if not it will face a crisis in a few years.” Karen Haslam

More dramatically, the iWatch could be used as a physical security token alongside a passcode to offer multifactor authentication. If the iWatch isn’t detected by the device, it would remain locked even after the user (or someone who has stolen it) enters the passcode It could wipe all data (or all corporate data). Or even send out an alert, to help ensure sensitive data is securely erased and/or aid in recovering the device. The idea isn’t all that different from many token-based access systems, including smartcards. Such tokens are often used to secure access to sensitive devices or computers as well as to

encrypted data on a computer or access to a secure network. Similar systems are also used to control access to offices and secure buildings. They’re also becoming common features of automobiles that rely on a keychain fob rather than a traditional car key. In fact, depending on the technology used in an iWatch, it could be used for all of these purposes.

Biometrics
Apple could ratchet up the security even further – almost to the level of a spy thriller – with a third level of authentication. If Apple includes biometric sensors in the iWatch, which

is expected, the company could ensure that the wearer is the legitimate owner of both the iWatch and a paired device. A bit like James Bond’s gun in Skyfall. The most obvious biometric authentication is a thumbprint scanner – quite possible, given Apple’s purchase of AuthenTec last year. Other options might include an iris scan or facial recognition. All of these ideas would require specific hardware like a camera to be built into the iWatch, but there’s another option that might be just as secure and much easier – listening to a user’s heartbeat. Given the popularity of devices like the Nike+ Fuelband and Fitbit activity monitors, it seems logical for Apple to build such features into an iWatch. The company has had a long relationship with Nike for pairing devices with running shoes. That would mean sensors to detect movement, temperature, and heart rate. Heart-rate monitoring offers an easy biometric identification option. Much like we all have unique fingerprints, we also each have a unique cardiac rhythm. Cardiac biometric recognition systems are already on the market as standalone solutions or as part of even more comprehensive biometric authentication system by companies like Bionym. Incorporating that into a iWatch already designed to measure cardiac activity should be a relatively easy task that wouldn’t require additional sensors or hardware.

iPad & iPhone User 2013

15

APPLE: THE nEXT GEnErATiOn

From iPhone mini to iPad 5, from iWatch to iOS 7; here’s our fantasy Apple launch line-up for 2013 and beyond
Where next, Apple?
2 The next iPhone(s) 2 iWatch 2 The next iPad 2 The next iOS 2 The App Store 2 No more secrets:

17 18 19 20 20 22

Y

ou’ve got five minutes with Apple boss Tim Cook. Quick: how would you use your time? What idea would you pitch? Which product would you beg him

to launch – or ditch? And (assuming he asks) where would you advise him to take Apple over the coming years? For this fantasy feature, we put ourselves in that wonderful (and entirely imaginary) position. We created an Apple manifesto for 2013 and beyond. From iPhone mini to iPad 5, from iWatch to iOS 7, here’s what we’d like to see from Apple’s next round of launches. Oi, Mr Cook! We’d like a word…

company policy

COnTribUTOrS
Ashleigh Allsopp, Serenity Caldwell, Kirk McElhearn, Abbi Perets, David Price

16

iPad & iPhone User 2013

THE NEXT iPHONE(S)
After seeing a comparatively major physical overhaul in the launch of the iPhone 5 – among other things, Apple made the first change to screen dimensions since the first iPhone – expectations are high for the followup. What can we expect? And what should Apple do, if it knows what’s good for it?
1

LOWER PRICE TAG

Let’s start with that price tag. Seems a bit high, don’t you think? Could you sell the iPhone 5S for a few hundred quid less, Tim? We jest, of course. Yes, it would be nice to pay less for a top-of-the-range iPhone, but we’re talking about something more complex: either splitting the iPhone into two product lines, with one aimed at the budget market, or overhauling Apple’s entire supply chain to shift its focus towards emerging markets such as India – the latter being the policy recently advocated by former Apple boss John Sculley. Numerous industry rumours suggest Apple will create a lower-cost version of the next iPhone; the latest reports propose this could have a see-through plastic design. We’re not convinced by Sculley’s drastic conceptual leap – shifting from rigorous perfectionist to budget box-shifter would undermine everything that makes Apple unique – but that doesn’t rule out some kind of compromise. We’d like to see Apple experiment with a parallel line of lower-cost iPhones, produced with cheaper materials or less powerful components: an iPhone 5S. And then go to town on an iPhone 6 proper.
2

FINGERPRINTSCANNING SECURITY
3

SMALLER BODY

One theory is that an ‘iPhone mini’ will be launched at a lower price alongside a full-sized iPhone 6. Much as the iPad mini’s non-Retina display lets Apple keep the price down and target the upper end of the e-reader market. But we’re going to wish for something else. The iPad mini is increasingly looking like the all-purpose portable computing device of choice, with a form factor that suits gaming on the go, surfing, email, eBooks, and so on. And the logical companion for a jack-of-alltrades iPad mini isn’t a full-sized iPhone, which serves a similar purpose; it’s a specialist phone. Our fantasy iPhone mini is the size of a mobile from the late 90s. It doesn’t have the screen for gaming or video, but you can read your email and surf websites on a strippedback, Instapaper-style optimised interface, and a range of apps enables you to customise the experience almost without limit.

Speculation over an iPhone with a fingerprint sensor was sparked in July of last year by Apple’s acquisition of AuthenTec, a company that specialises in related security systems. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that Apple will find a way to conceal the fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 6’s Home button to maintain the minimalist design. But this is our fantasy, so we can be more specific. The fingerprint scanner replaces the passcode, of course, but why not go further: if Apple adds multiple user accounts to iOS 7 (see page 20), the scanner could enable the iPhone to punch up your personal apps, email accounts and system preferences. And what if using different fingers produced different results? Touch your index finger to the Home button and the iPhone activates normally, use your middle finger and it brings up the camera… using your left thumb could even call the emergency services if you’re being mugged.

Mini-me One artist’s conception of an iPhone mini (left, of course!) next to iPhone 5

iPad & iPhone User 2013

17

APPLE: THE NEXT GENERATION
4

ADVANCED GESTURES

To start with, this could offer another labour-saving substitute for a passcode. Already available on a wide range of Android handsets, gesture unlocking lets you open a smartphone by swiping across a grid of nodes in a preset pattern. But let’s go further. Like our fingerprint sensor, the grid would be sensitive to multiple gestures, each one unlocking a specific user account or function. And within iOS the gestures could continue: the iPad game Infinity Blade interpreted a range of gestures as triggers for magic spells, so why not let the user program gestures on the Home screen? At the swipe of a finger, you could activate apps, send off frequently repeated messages (a text to your wife that says “leaving the office now”, for example), jump to a bookmarked Safari page or do essentially anything that a PC user could set as a keyboard shortcut.
5

NFC E-WALLET PAYMENTS

iWATCH
4 THINGS WE WANT FROM APPLE’S MYSTERY MACHINE
1

You may well have heard users of non-Apple smartphones talking about something called NFC. This stands for near-field communications, and is a set of short-range wireless standards that let mobile phones communicate with each other – or with other electronic devices. Plenty of NFC-equipped Android phones can act as an e-wallet, paying for goods with a swipe of your handset. We’d like to see Apple join the NFC party. Passbook – which offers a partial e-wallet experience already, providing quick access to tickets, boarding passes and loyalty cards – could be expanded to include NFC and mobile payments.
6

CUSTOMISABLE HARDWARE SWITCHES

iPHONE AUTHENTICATION

Discussed in more detail on page 14, this concept would enable your iPhone (or a desktop PC or Mac) to unlock when it detects the presence of its paired partner iWatch, saving you typing in a passcode or password. Or you could require both, for thiefthwarting two-factor authentication.
2

We’ve toyed with the idea of adding an extra hardware switch or two, but that would probably be a step too far for Sir Jony. Instead, we’d like to take an existing idea from the iPad – that you get to pick whether the side switch controls lock rotation or mute – and run with it on our next iPhone. On our fantasy iPhone 6, an option lets you program the mute button to do almost anything – switch vibrate or 3G on and off, set Do Not Disturb or Airplane mode, or activate emergency battery measures (see overleaf).
7

LASER KEYBOARD

HEART/PULSE MONITOR

The iPhone’s keyboard can be a bit cramped for typing, so why don’t we give our iPhone 6 the ability to project a laser keyboard on to any nearby flat surface? Aatma Studio’s conception of such a setup is pictured below. If you think this sounds fanciful, you should know that standalone products that do this are already available. ThinkGeek.com’s Cube Laser Virtual Keyboard connects to iOS devices via Bluetooth and retails for $149.99 (£98.75).
8

Our conception of the iWatch encompasses a wide computing experience, but why ignore the more obvious applications? A wrist computer would be perfect for fitness, and its constant proximity allows it to monitor your lifesigns at all times.
3

FACE RECOGNITION – THE NEXT GENERATION

SIRI

Our iPhone 6’s front-facing camera runs all the time in quiet low-power mode, simply looking for anything head-shaped; when it spots one, it scans it to work our how close it is, and if the face belongs to its owner. If the answer is yes, it wakes up the iPhone. Better still, it could immediately start taking shots with the rear-facing camera, helping you grab pictures before you hit the shutter button. Even with the low-power stipulation this would hobble battery life, so naturally we’ll make face-scanner mode optional.

What about controls? If the iWatch is going to be more than simply an iPod nano on a wrist strap, a 1.5in touchscreen isn’t going to cut it. This is a situation that screams ‘voice controls’.
4

HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTOR

And until the linked iGlasses are available, we’ll need to be able to display images full size on a nearby wall… or hanging holographically in mid air. More iWatch analysis on page 14

18

iPad & iPhone User 2013

THE NEXT iPAD
1

TOUCH-SENSITIVE BEZEL

4

UNIVERSAL PORTS

Strictly speaking, the wide bezel around the edge of the iPad’s screen is wasted space. So our fantasy iPad 5 has alert lights built into its bezel; a blue light at the top indicates unread emails from VIP contacts, for instance. The most vital of notifications are continually visible without having to turn the screen on. The smart bezel is also touch-sensitive, so you can swipe through eBooks or up and down web pages using off-screen gestures, instead of putting your fingers in the way of the stuff you want to see. In fact, Apple secured a patent for this idea back in 2010, so it might not be fantasy at all.
2

iOS devices have never been blessed with a huge amount of storage space, and a longterm item on our iPad wishlist has been the ability to bolster this with an SD card (or one of its mini or micro equivalents). For that matter, a mini-USB port would let us use a wide range of chargers and accessories with our fantasy iPad. Apple has never been big on universal connectivity, but we can dream.
5

INDUCTIVE CHARGING
Hologram sham This ‘demo video’ showing how to enable hologram mode on the iPad 2 is actually a terrific bit of video editing fakery by the clever chaps at FinalCutKing. But something like this might be possible in the future Opposite page Artist’s conception of iWatch by Nickolay Lamm of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAYS

This one, on the other hand, is a bit more of a long shot, particularly in the next few generations. But we can dream. Shortly after the iPad 2 appeared in 2011, a video appeared supposedly showing how to unlock ‘hologram mode’, which projected app visuals upwards into the air above the iPad (pictured below right). In classic Minority Report style, the user could move photos and documents around by swiping through the air. Of course, there was no such technology built into the iPad 2, and this was just a clever fake (watch it yourself at bit.ly/fV8Nvp). But leaving aside the more fanciful ‘swipable hologram’ sci-fi part of the equation, imagine the possibilities. Gaming, on a 3D projection that appears to leap up from the coffee table, would be a mesmerising experience; as would watching sport or talking on FaceTime: it would be like actually being there.
3

Inductive wireless charging is one of those technologies that’s been the Next Big Thing for years. We think it’s ready for the big time. Inductive charging lets you transfer power wirelessly, provided the distances are small enough; with current products this basically means being able to place your iOS device on a charging mat instead of having to plug it in. The down sides are that the technology hasn’t been embraced by Apple itself, so you have to use a third-party case along with the charger; but if Apple built inductive coils into the iPad’s chassis you could use whichever case you like. Then all that’s left is extending the wireless range. Whenever you’re ready, science.

LINKABLE DISPLAYS

If you’ve got time for one more concept video, check out Aatma Studio’s idea of 3D, multiiPad gaming at bit.ly/wwDk4y. Again, it’s an idea illustrated through digital trickery rather than a plausible demo, but since this is our fantasy iPad, we can cherry-pick the parts that make sense and wave away the difficulties. What we like about this video is the ease with which two iPads can link up (we’d suggest that NFC, discussed in our iPhone section, is the most practical approach) and share an image between their displays. The advantages for multiplayer gaming are obvious, particularly on boardgame apps; and viewing photos across two iPads would be a delight. If you could put up with the join down the middle, a pair of iPads would make a rather fine living-room cinema, too.

iPad & iPhone User 2013

19

APPLE: THE NEXT GENERATION

THE NEXT iOS
1

MULTIPLE USER ACCOUNTS

Picture this common scene. A family shares an iPad, with each person struggling to maintain control of it long enough to play their favourite game, check Facebook, send email and surf the web. But since an iPad can have only one account, Mum can’t perform such everyday activities as checking her personal email account (unless she uses webmail), checking Facebook (without logging out and logging in with her credentials), and saving her high scores or recording the levels she has completed in a game; in addition, her bookmarks and browsing history are visible to all other users, as are any saved auto-fill information and passwords. Most people get around this problem by not using a shared iPad for email and other personal data – but why should they have to limit their use of the device? Apple could easily fix the situation by adding multiple user accounts to iOS. Logging in and out of a shared Mac or PC is no big deal: lots of people do it regularly. On an iPad, having multiple user accounts would enable you to wake it up, see a screen with several icons, tap or swipe the one for

your account, enter a passcode, and access your own setup. Many couples and families share an iPad; with a system of multiple accounts, each user would be able to set up a separate home screen, and each would have personal settings, just as happens with OS X accounts. Users would have their own email accounts, bookmarks, contacts, calendars and so on. And their games would be linked to their Game Center accounts: they’d see personal stats and high scores. Finally, each user could hide any of the apps installed on the device. Naturally, Apple would prefer that we just buy more iPads to serve each member of the household. But for people who can’t afford the expense, the best way to make iPads more flexible is to allow each user to have his or her own account.

Login screen Having the option to create multiple user accounts is standard in desktop computing. Why not in mobile?

THE NEXT APP STORE
THREE IMPROVEMENTS WE’D LIKE TO SEE
1

APP VIDEO PREVIEWS

We get to listen to 90-second clips of songs on iTunes before shelling out (fun fact: at one stage the record companies wanted to charge royalties on these). And we can view trailers before buying digital films. So why can’t we see what an app does before clicking ‘download’? Considering the number of negative reviewers on the App Store who complain that the app they’ve just bought isn’t what they expected, it would be in all parties’ interests to include brief video previews as well as a few screenshots.
2

this down to experience; the only alternative is to report a problem with the app, which usually leads to a refund but is obviously unsatisfactory if you don’t want to spoil the record of a blameless developer. We’d like to see a ‘Silly me! I hit download by mistake!’ button, which would refund your money if pressed within 15 minutes of the download.
3

SMART SEARCH
Call off the search Looking for version 3 of iBooks? Whatever you do, don’t type in ‘iBooks 3’. The App Store’s search functions leave something to be desired

REFUNDS

Whether you got bored of typing your password and disabled the warnings, or just clicked on an app too soon after buying another, the chances are that you’ve bought an app by mistake at some point. Many of us swear, sigh and put

Finally, and most importantly, Apple needs to sort out search on the App Store. There’s 800,000 apps on there, but most are effectively invisible because the search function is so weak. It should be sensitive to version numbers, for one thing, since many users won’t know if a sequel to an app is an update (iBooks 3) or an entirely new release (Fieldrunners 2).

20

iPad & iPhone User 2013

2

PARENTAL CONTROLS

Kid-friendly Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 operating system has a superbly convenient set of parental controls that Apple would do well to imitate Ortocorekt… …might save you from some embarrassing errors, but it’s better known for creating gaffes of its own

Microsoft has so far struggled to stand out in the smartphone and tablet war, but its Windows Phone 8 platform contains one fairly fantastic innovation: Kid’s Corner. It’s effectively a user account within the phone – accessible at any time by swiping left from the lock screen – that’s designed to be safe for children: one in which the apps and settings are all controlled by you. They can’t make calls or texts, and social networking is severely restricted. Windows smartphone users swear by the convenience of this feature. You can simply hand the device over to the kids, safe in the knowledge that they won’t waste your money on in-app purchases, stumble on to 18-rated games or view inappropriate websites. Unlike owners of iPhones and iPads, who have to activate parental controls on a case-by-case basis, and have far fewer options even then. So why not pinch Kid’s Corner for iOS 7?
3

back to the default: Safari. When Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer with PCs, it got taken to court for monopolistic practices. It’s time for Apple to give the other browsers a chance, or it might as well ban them.
4

MULTI-USER FACETIME

Skype lets you speak to more than one person at once; Google+ Hangouts allow you to do it for free. Apple is officially behind the times.
5

CUSTOMISED AUTOCORRECT

Apologies to the comedy websites that would be put out of business if autocorrect stopped changing “See you in five minutes” to “I like wearing dresses”. But it’s time for Apple to give finer control over when and where this much-mocked function weaves its magic. Pages, for example – where you create long pieces of writing, want to work fast, and are likely to check through at the end for howlers – really benefits from autocorrect. In emails and tweets it’s more dangerous. It would be nice to have the option to selectively apply autocorrect on an app-by app basis.
6

BATTERY EMERGENCIES

DEFAULT 3RD-PARTY BROWSER

Many of our colleagues use Apple Macs, but almost none of them use Safari as their default web browser; most favour Chrome or Firefox instead. So why does Safari maintain such a stranglehold on iOS? Because you still can’t make a third-party browser the default. Dolphin is a great web browser; Chrome for iOS has its fans. But as soon as you hit a link in an email or on Twitter, you’re yanked

A staple proposal of these kinds of article is “a better battery”. But even in our fantasies, we’re grimly realistic about battery lives. With all the extra features we’re adding, Apple is going to have to work hard just to keep battery life the same. Instead, how about a set of customisable actions set to kick in when your iOS device reaches 10 percent power? Instead of just popping up that annoying warning, the device could be programmed to automatically lower the brightness, switch off 3G, Bluetooth and location services, and generally do everything in its power to stay alive.
7

DEFAULT APP ON WAKE

Instead of defaulting back to whichever app you were using last when you wake the iOS device, we’d like the option to set a different app, or the Home screen, as the default.

WIDGETS AND HOME-SCREEN CUSTOMISATION
8

Last but not least, a concept straight out of the Android handbook: widgets or mini-apps on the Home screen. Our fantasy iOS 7 device has a Home screen stuffed with widgets displaying the weather, the latest headlines and the first line of unread VIP emails. Much as we like this idea, it’s not very likely to happen: Apple hates the idea of users being able to create their own ‘desktop’ on iOS and has been known to remove apps from sale for attempting to offer this.

iPad & iPhone User 2013

21

APPLE: THE NEXT GENERATION WHERE NEXT?

NO MORE SECRETS
THREE WAYS APPLE COULD LOOSEN UP
Followers of Downton Abbey will recall the Lady Grantham’s great lament: “Is there anything worse than losing your lady’s maid?” We believe there is. It’s when you buy a new iPhone on launch day and, due to its new shape and size, you can’t get a decent case for it – or connect it to any of your old accessories. Sure, this is a minor issue in the broad scheme of things, but it’s just one example of how Apple could stand to temper its legendary secrecy with a little more openness in order to improve its customers’ lives. This is the final item on our Apple wishlist. employees end up working in a vacuum; he has described the “lockdown rooms” where those developers toil. The problem is that when employees can’t see the whole picture, they can’t always make good decisions. (Might the launch of Maps have gone better if more of Apple’s employees – and their spouses and friends –had been able to provide more realworld testing?) And the thing is, cross-innovation could very well help Apple. Remember back in 2011 when iCloud was first released? It worked beautifully with iOS. With Mac OS X Lion? Not so much. If the iOS and OS X development teams had merged back then, we might have been a step ahead of where we are now. And that would be a good thing, at least from where we’re sitting.

BOTTLED LIGHTNING
In the weeks leading up to the launch of the iPhone 5, rumours abounded about the phone’s shape shifting and, in particular, about the replacement for the dock connector. But many vendors – like consumers – didn’t have a chance to see the new connector until launch day. This meant that vendors couldn’t update their docks and other accessories ahead of the launch. So they rushed to implement those changes without, in some cases, adequately testing their products. The end result? Consumers suffered from a less than optimal out-ofthe-box experience. And that type of disappointment undermines the excitement of an Apple launch. Likewise, while a few apps here and there had been optimised to take advantage of the new, larger screen, the overwhelming majority of developers had to head back to the digital drawing board, or suffer the indignity of seeing their apps with black bars displayed at the top and bottom of the screen.

THE BLACK MARKET
When you walk into most highstreet shops and they’ve run out of whatever you came for, the staff can generally tell you when the item will be back in stock. They might even be able to locate you one nearby. When you walk into an Apple Store and ask for an in-demand item that’s out of stock, don’t expect a lot of information. Sure, they can put in an order for more iPhones, but according to one former employee, that might not be granted, since corporate powers-that-be determine where units are most needed. This lack of information from Apple also creates some truly insane black markets, particularly in the Far East. In Singapore in late October 2012 – after the iPhone 5 had been officially released there – we visited six or seven Premium Apple Resellers, and none could say when they’d get

a new shipment of iPhones. Yet they were surrounded by unofficial sellers in kiosks with plentiful stock at a hefty markup. In some places, 16GB phones were being sold for as much as $1,250. The price gouging only feeds the frustration of even the most dedicated Apple fans.

HERE COMES THE SUN
Despite these and similar issues, there are signs that Apple may be lifting the cone of silence. Last October, the company announced a restructuring that put several key executives in a position to oversee larger groups of developers. If we’re lucky, this will, as the press release promised, “encourage even more collaboration between hardware, software and services teams.” We can haggle over whether “even more” is the right term to use, but Tim Cook doesn’t seem to be afraid to kick down a few windowless walls and open things up a bit. So we think there are grounds to be cautiously optimistic that things are changing for the better. And that’s one secret that should be shouted from the rooftops.

iWORK IN SECRET
You can make an argument for not releasing information outside the company prior to a launch (especially Apple, which so often has to play the expectations game). But why keep your own employees in the dark? According to Inside Apple author Adam Lashinsky, many Apple

22

iPad & iPhone User 2013

Don’t Gossip!, 1941, by Nina Vatolina and Nikolay Denisov

No matter which iOS device you have, we have the Complete Guide for you

ON SALE

NOW
£2.99

Available to download in digital format through Zinio, Magzter and Macworld’s free Newsstand App

Available on the

Newsstand

READING COMICS ON THE iPAD

A SUPERHEROIC REVOLUTION
The iPad has breathed new life into comics
BY JASON SNELL
for reading comics. They’ve got a portability that desktop and laptop PCs can’t match and, of course, they show off the source material in a way that small black-and-white Kindle screens can’t. The original iPad started the revolution, and the Retina display on both the third- and fourth-generation models provided dramatically improved image quality. Larger Android tablets such as Google’s Nexus 10 have joined the party. And tablets running Windows 8 offer some distinct size advantages of their own.

T

ablets, led by the iPad, have the potential to shake up the comic book industry even more than eBook readers have begun to change the world of prose books. Large, mobile colour screens are perfect

24

iPad & iPhone User 2013

When the iPad was first released, we found it to be an excellent (albeit imperfect) comic book reader. A few hardware and software upgrades later, it’s a lot harder to spot imperfections. The only problem we have is that we’re now buying several comics a week, with a growing credit card bill to prove it.

Single-issue comics
There are a few different options when it comes to reading comics on your tablet, and in some ways they parallel the choices – and the pros and cons – that comic readers face in the printed comic market. Traditionally, comics were published monthly in small, flimsy issues: that’s what we remember purchasing from our local newsagent as a kid. To this day, the major comics publishers still produce these issues – but they cost £2 or £3 now instead of the 20 pence we (okay, our parents) paid for our first comics. The best source for these single-issue comics is a company called Comixology, which makes an app called Comics for iOS (free, bit.ly/YE4iZH), as well as Windows 8 and Android. (You can also buy and read comics directly on its website.) Comixology is also the company behind the official Marvel (free, bit.ly/13jnKzJ) and DC Comics (free, bit.ly/13iNHAt) apps, which are just relabelled versions of the Comics app. The Comics app (in all its forms) provides a storefront that’s inspired by iTunes and the App Store, with a showcase for featured comics, as well as lists of new and popular items. You can purchase a comic within the app, or read comics you’ve purchased via Comixology’s website (comixology.com). One of the best things about Comixology’s approach is that the company keeps track of all your purchases, regardless of where you made them. If you buy them on the web, you can read them on an iPad. If you buy them on a Nexus 10, you can read them on the web. Just as your Amazon Kindle eBook purchases are available across any device with a Kindle app, all your Comixology purchases are available for download and redownload at any time from any device running the Comics app and viewable on the web. Reading comics using the Comics app is pretty straightforward, as well. Once you open an issue, you can spread your fingers to zoom in and pinch to zoom out. Swiping to the left brings up the next page, and swiping right takes you back. In portrait orientation, the iPad’s screen is just big enough to make reading a pleasant experience. We equivocate here because some comics seem a bit too small when fit to the iPad’s screen size, while

others don’t. It’s not much of a hardship to zoom in a little and pan around, but it’s nicer when you don’t have to. Comixology’s app also has a guided view, which moves you through the comic panel by panel as you tap. This view is necessary on the iPhone as its screen is too small to comfortably view a full comic page. On the iPad, though, the feature is superfluous. While Comixology has risen to become the industry’s dominant provider of digital comics, not everyone’s on board. If you’re a fan of Dark Horse Comics, you’ll need to use the Dark Horse app (free, bit.ly/16GVj1e) to buy and read comics. We’ve used this to buy several issues of the Buffy Season 9 comic, and have experienced numerous download and purchase failures. The reading experience also fails to match up with the Comics app – it’s just not as smooth. But for now, that app is the only digital source for Dark Horse comics.

Comic book store Comixology’s comics look great on the iPad 3

Now the comics we buy don’t take up space in a garage or carry-on bag

Trade paperbacks
These days, lots of comic book readers aren’t just readers of the flimsy monthly instalments. A long time ago, comics publishers realised that many readers preferred to buy longer, more expensive trade-paperback editions of comics. (Some of these are self-contained ‘graphic novels’, while others are collections of several issues of a monthly comic.) We now see that trend mirrored in the world of digital comics. You can buy many of these trade-paperback-style collections, sometimes at a discount over buying the individual issues, via Comixology. But they’re also available where other books are sold: on Apple’s iBookstore, Amazon’s Kindle Store, the Google Play bookstore, and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Store.

iPad & iPhone User 2013

25

READING COMICS ON THE iPAD
care about what’s happened in the past couple of years, it’s an interesting option. The subscription doesn’t give you access to read those issues in the iOS app, though.

It’s about content
PDF comics GoodReader is a useful option if you need to read comics as PDFs. Its zoom functions mean it can even cope with comics annoyingly saved as two-page spreads, like this one. Whoever made that decision is a JERK! It’s nice to see publishers trying to reach casual comics readers via mainstream bookstores, but the reading experience is better in Comixology’s Comics app, which was purpose-built for reading comics. It’s easier to pan, zoom, and navigate through a comic using the Comics app than it is to use Kindle or iBooks apps, but the gap is narrowing. Even if the iPad is a nigh-perfect comicreading device, and its comics apps are all perfectly good, the whole thing falls down if there are no comics to read. In the early days of digital comics, publishers were reluctant to release their digital issues at the same time they hit local comic book stores. This artificial scarcity was an attempt to prop up the often-precarious businesses that still form the bulk of comic sales. However, in the past couple of years that dam has burst. Almost every major comic – from Marvel, DC, and all the independents – is available digitally on the same day that its paper equivalent appears in comic book shops. On Wednesdays (the day new comics are usually released), we often scan the “same day as print” section of the Comics app and buy far too many comics. If you’re a comics fan from the era where Marvel and DC dominated so utterly that the indie comic scene was more of a curiosity, you’ll be delighted to discover there are numerous independent comics that are made by the best creators in the business, and most of those comics are available in one or more of these apps. We’re big fans of Robert Kirkman’s teen-superhero series Invincible, Brian Clevinger’s Atomic Robo, and Joe Hill’s Locke & Key.

Netflix for comics
Marvel Comics offers a unique approach to reading digital comics: a subscription service called Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. Originally launched in 2007 on the desktop (and requiring Adobe Flash), it’s now compatible with the iPad. There’s no app – everything works within a web browser – but there are still some bugs to work out. For $10 (£6.60) per month or $60 (£39.70) a year, Marvel DCU is like Netflix for (Marvel) comics. Like Netflix streaming, you won’t find hot new releases, but there’s unlimited access to more than 10,000 individual comics. If you just want to read through back issues of classic Marvel comics, and don’t really

A quick mention of piracy
If you’ve heard about CBR and CBZ files, it’s most likely been in the context of pirated comics. Now, not all of the comics out there in CBR and CBZ format are pirated, just most of them. Still, if you happen to have some files in those formats – and we’ll admit to having loaded an iPad with some comics that are stored in paper form at home – there’s an answer for you, too. We’re happy with Comic Zeal (£2.99, bit.ly/10Lhgbq), which handles CBRs and CBZs with aplomb. There are lots of other good ones, too. There are a few comics we own that are in PDF format. For these, we’re generally using GoodReader. It’s a fine comic reader, and even Marvel’s unfortunate decision to save all of the X-Men issues as two-page spreads rather than single pages can be worked around with a little bit of pinching, zooming and tapping.

Bigger and better Comics look fantastic on the iPad’s Retina display

Big tablets, small tablets
The original iPad debuted with a 9.7in screen, which is close to an ideal size for comics

26

iPad & iPhone User 2013

WHICH COMICS SHOULD I READ?
FIVE LESS WELL-KNOWN GRAPHIC NOVEL RUNS WORTH A LOOK
1. TOP 10 by Alan Moore
Moore’s Watchmen and the earlier issues of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen are fantastic, but Top 10 deserves a mention. The main characters are charged with policing a city in which absolutely everyone is a superhero: vagrants, criminals, cats and mice. as mature as the previous entry, but packed with violence and titillation, and (under Warren) wittily, creatively written.

4. SUPERMAN: RED SON by Mark Millar (pictured)
Short but sweet. A three-book series set in an alternative universe where Superman lands on a Ukrainian farm instead of a Kansas cornfield, and thus grows up defending the ideals of the Soviet Union.

2. THE ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY by Chris Ware
Superb, Jazz-Age-tinged panel stories about loneliness and sexual frustration, nostalgia and social history. Also: good jokes. Really!

3. DIRTY PAIR by Adam Warren
The sci-fi adventures of two genetically enhanced ‘trouble consultants’. Not quite

5. THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK by John Byrne
Featuring the Incredible Hulk’s cousin and lots of metatextuality laughs. “Subplots sure beat subways for getting round the traffic!”

reading. (It’s still a shade too small, but it’s in the right sort of area.) However, the intervening years have seen the release of numerous smaller tablets such as the Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 and iPad mini. Everyone will have their own take on the ideal device for reading comics. There are also those who read comics on their iPhones, a practice we dropped the day we bought an iPad. Personally, we find any device smaller than this to be less than ideal for reading comics. We prefer to read comics page by page, more or less replicating the printed page of paper comics. (Maybe this makes us old school, but as long as comics creators are building pages in this shape, we think it’s only right that we read them as the creators intended.) Smaller screens require a lot of pinching and zooming, or reliance on Comixology’s Guided View to pan and zoom the panels. It beats not reading comics at all, but we wouldn’t choose it. Even now, when we’re using the iPad mini far more than the original full-sized version, we find ourselves digging out the iPad to read comics. Throw in the much higher resolution of the iPad’s Retina display, and it’s clear that bigger is better when it comes to reading digital comics. Though we haven’t spent more than a few minutes reading comics on a Windows 8 tablet, a colleague who has reports that it’s an even better experience than reading on the iPad. Bigger screens make a difference when it comes to reading comics.

The future of digital comics
When we first wrote about the state of comics on the iPad in 2010, it was still early days. Since then, the industry has really got its act together and embraced the digital version. Most comics are available online the day they’re in shops, high-definition files display beautifully on high-resolution tablet displays, and even Marvel’s formerly Flash-only subscription service works on iPads now. What hasn’t changed is that tablets like the iPad are excellent comic reading devices. Now the comics we buy don’t take up space in a garage. We’re buying comics regularly for the first time since we were a teenager, and the iPad is the reason why.

Subscription service Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited offers unlimited access to more than 10,000 comics

iPad & iPhone User 2013

27

1&1 WEB HOSTING

OR LINUX
®

WINDOWS

1 WEB HOST, 2 OPERATING SYSTEMS – ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES!

© Larry Ewing

DOMAINS | E-MAIL | WEB HOSTING | eCOMMERCE | SERVERS
*All 1&1 Web Hosting packages (Windows and Linux) free for the first 6 months, then 1&1 Starter £2.49/month, 1&1 Standard £4.99/month, 1&1 Unlimited £6.99/month, 1&1 Business £9.99/month. 12 month minimum contract term applies. Visit 1and1.co.uk for full offer details, terms and conditions. Prices exclude VAT. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft ® Corporation. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
At 1&1 we provide advanced solutions for even the most demanding web projects – choose from our flexible Windows and Linux hosting packages for the latest in technology and programming. 1&1 offers NEW: Microsoft® ASP.NET 4.0/4.5, the latest programming technology for developers, helping to create modern, professional websites with 1&1 Windows Web Hosting. Linux professionals benefit from NEW: PHP 5.4 and PHPDev, plus unlimited access to 1&1 Click & Build Applications and more with 1&1 Linux Web Hosting.

HURRY! OFFERS END 30/04/13
1&1 Unlimited Windows
Unlimited Webspace Unlimited Traffic 1 FREE domain (choice of .co.uk, .me.uk or .org.uk) Mobile Website Editing Software NetObjects Fusion® 1&1 Edition included Facebook® and Bing™ vouchers worth £55 IPv6 ready and much more …

MAXIMUM RELIABILITY
Your website data is stored simultaneously in two geographically separate high-performance 1&1 Data Centres, with automatic daily back-ups included.

1&1 Unlimited Linux

EXPERT SUPPORT
1&1 employs over 1,500 internal developers to guarantee the continuous improvement of our products. You can manage your account easily wherever you are via the user-friendly 1&1 Control Panel, and get reliable 24/7 phone and e-mail support from our web hosting experts.
NEW! ASP.NET/ .NET Framework 4.0/4.5 NEW! 5 MS SQL 2012 databases (1 GB each)

NEW! PHP 5.4, PHPDev, Zend Framework, Perl, Python, Ruby, SSI 100 MySQL 5 databases (1 GB each) NEW! Webspace Recovery Unlimited access to 65 Click & Build Applications including WordPress, Drupal™ and Joomla!®

NEW! ASP.NET MVC 3 and 4, .NET, AJAX, LINQ, PHP 5, PHPDev, Perl, SSI NEW! Dedicated app pools

6FREE! 6FREE!
MONTHS
Then £6.99 per month*

MONTHS
Then £6.99 per month*

1&1 Data Centres are powered by renewable energy, reducing our CO2 emissions by 30,000 tonnes every year!

Call 0844 335 1211 or buy online

1and1.co.uk

Gear4 StreetParty 5
Portable sPeaker for lightning devices

M

ost speaker manufacturers seem to have simply ignored the lightning connector on the latest ios devices, with many of them deciding to ditch the dock altogether and go with bluetooth wireless connections instead. bluetooth is fine for streaming music, but there are down sides to the wireless approach: for one thing, you can’t charge your ios devices without a dock. gear4 has therefore bitten the bullet and become one of the first manufacturers to produce a speaker dock with a lightning connector. other than this innovation, the streetParty 5 is very similar to other models in gear4’s streetParty range, consisting of a flat-panel speaker that measures 241mm wide, 140mm high and just 30mm thick. the dock with the lightning connector folds back into the speaker when not in use, and the entire unit only weighs about 580g, so you can easily carry it from room to room at home, or slip it into a backpack when you’re travelling. sound quality is also similar to that of the other streetParty models. higher frequencies are clear and detailed, and work well with

the multi-layered harmonies on some old Queen tracks. however, the thin speaker panel doesn’t produce very strong bass, and the sound lacks weight. to be fair, you can’t expect audiophile sound quality from a speaker that costs just £50, and the streetParty will do the trick if you just want to listen to some music over a barbecue or in a holiday apartment. You can also run it off the mains, or insert four aa batteries, which should last for six to eight hours.

Lightning strikes the streetParty 5 uses apple’s new lightning connector

£49.99
Gear4 • www.gear4.com Product page: bit.ly/Yzntcl

Verdict
the sound quality of the streetParty 5 is relatively modest, and you’re paying a little extra for that lightning connector. however, it’s still a good choice if you’re looking for a compact speaker that you can quickly pick up and carry around with you. Cliff Joseph
read More: bit.ly/16tt4ww

rating ★ ★ ★
Likes: slim, portable speaker lightning connector DisLikes: Modest sound quality no built-in battery

Orbitsound M9
coMPact bluetooth sPeaker with a MightY subwoofer

o

rbitsound’s t9 and t12 speaker systems have proved popular with both ios users and people who want to use them as soundbars with their television sets. the new M9 sticks with that winning formula and looks very similar to its predecessor. like the t9, it consists of a compact soundbar that measures just 300mm wide, 90mm high and 100mm deep, and which can sit comfortably on a shelf or be tucked under your tv. that’s accompanied by a larger subwoofer unit to go on the floor. there are a few key differences, though. the M9 abandons the old iPod dock and opts for bluetooth wireless instead. the subwoofer is wireless too, and has been designed to reduce latency and ensure that it syncs properly with the main soundbar. and in addition to bluetooth, the M9 includes three separate inputs for wired connections – 3.5mm line-in, stereo rca and optical – so you can connect it to a tv or other device. the result is pretty impressive. the large subwoofer provides really strong bass

output, and there’s a separate volume control on the subwoofer, so you can adjust the bass for different types of music. higher frequencies are clear and detailed, and the M9 boasts a thunderous 200w total output. we could barely push it to 80 percent of maximum volume in our offices before it became uncomfortably loud, so it’ll certainly work well for parties or as part of a home cinema system when watching movies.

Compact and mighty the M9’s separate wireless subwoofer has a thunderous bass kick

Verdict
the M9 is a full £100 more expensive than the t9, and it’ll be complete overkill if you just want a compact speaker for your bedroom. however, it’s great value if you’re looking for a powerful, high-quality system that you can use as part of the home-entertainment setup in your living room. Cliff Joseph
read More: bit.ly/Yasuhe

£299.95
Orbitsound • www.orbitsound.com Product page: bit.ly/106oue5

rating ★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★
Likes: Powerful 2.1 speaker system with bluetooth wireless DisLikes: big price jump from the t9 no iPod dock

30

iPad & iPhone user 2013

RATiNGS ExPLAiNED
★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★
= STAR BUY: SUPERB

WE TEST REViEWED PRODUCTS fOR PERfORmANCE, USER-fRiENDLiNESS, BUiLD qUALiTY (fOR HARDWARE) AND VALUE fOR mONEY, THEN RATE THEm ON A 5-POiNT SCALE. HERE’S WHAT THE SCORES mEAN.

★ ★ ★ ★ = VERY GOOD

★ ★ ★ = GOOD

★ ★ = POOR

★ = UNACCEPTABLE

Otone Varsa
NOVEL, TWO-iN-ONE miNi SOUNDBAR

T

he Varsa is one of a small but growing number of speaker systems from the UKbased company Otone Audio. manufactured in China and available for under £80, it’s an affordable alternative to your computer’s desktop speakers or a modest addition to your TV set-up. its unique selling point is its versatility: both single horizontal soundbar and 2.0 separate speakers in one neat and fairly portable package. The speakers clip together easily to form the soundbar, or can be set on either side of your desktop or laptop computer at a variety of angles. it’s a cool option, but one that only makes sense if you’re likely to fiddle with speakers regularly. After a little experimentation we found both options to be agreeable on the ears, with a sound that copes particularly well with bass-heavy dance music. The Varsa copes less well with more complex music, where detail seems lost. Sat in front of you, the combined 20W output offers more than enough oomph; turned up, it’s enough to fill a small room, when in party mood, without distortion. for

gamers, the speaker system adds a fair bit of excitement, especially if you like to be immersed in the action. A solid if unspectacular design and build is complemented by touch-sensitive power on/ standby, volume control and mute, which proved responsive despite their diminutive feel. The Varsa is available online via Otone and Amazon, and instore at PC World.

Doing the splits This quirky horizontal soundbar can be transformed into a 2.0 system simply by pulling apart the speakers
£79.99
Otone Audio • otoneaudio.co.uk Product page: bit.ly/14hHnex

Verdict
While the Otone Varsa 2.0 speaker system offers some flexibility, we’re not sure how often users will feel the need to switch from soundbar to separate speakers and vice versa. That said, it’s a decent-sounding and -looking compact audio accessory that should improve on your computer’s audio without breaking either the bank or your desktop. Nick Spence
READ mORE: bit.ly/16TkmVw

RATiNG ★ ★ ★
LikeS: Solid bass sound flexible modular design Reasonably priced DiSLikeS: Despite good bass, sound lacks detail

Sonoro cuboDock
ONE-BOx STEREO LOUDSPEAKER, WiTH THE OPTiON Of BLUETOOTH WiRELESS

i

t may have a Latin-sounding name, but Sonoro is a German design firm. Among its range of compact lifestyle radios and music centres is the cuboDock, a straightforward stereo speaker for the iPod and iPhone. it doesn’t break any new ground in its electronic or acoustic design. instead, it appeals with its simple aesthetics and highquality construction: an all-plastic slopefronted cabinet with centrally placed dock and iPod support, all in a range of colours and finishes to suit just about any taste. The cuboDock can play music in three ways: directly from a docked iPhone or iPod, through a line-in jack at the back from any analogue source, or over Bluetooth wireless. Bluetooth results were a little sketchy; the heavy compression common to the low-band wireless link was the principle problem here, compounded by cascading from already compressed AAC or mPEG tracks. This produced a weary, grainy feel to the music. Best sound quality was heard playing from a docked iPhone 4S using ALAC lossless music

files. The cuboDock could certainly handle bass-rich music without any creaks or distress from the cabinet: an impressive feat in itself. Treble was a little pronounced, just forward of the midband, but we were impressed by the generally tight control. There are no additional tone controls to tweak the sound, but the palm-sized remote control allows you to skip and pause tracks on your docked iPhone, as well as jump straight between the various music sources.

Back to the fuchsia Other colours and finishes (white, black, walnut wood and lime green, for instance) are also available
£195
Sonoro • de-en.sonoro-audio.com Product page: bit.ly/11Cuxxs

Verdict
A neatly constructed, great-looking compact one-box speaker for iPods and phones, with a handy fallback to Bluetooth wireless for convenience when sound quality is less of a concern. Andrew Harrison
READ mORE: bit.ly/11BS8Eh

RATiNG ★ ★ ★ ★
LikeS: Sharp,clean design Convenience of Bluetooth Strong audio when docked DiSLikeS: Audio noticeably weaker over wireless connection

iPad & iPhone User 2013

31

REVIEWS

Just Mobile Gum Plus
Neat, smart little battery UNit

t

he iPhone’s battery life continues to vex and confound, and for all our optimism in the cover feature on page 16, the chances of apple sacrificing screen fidelity or chassis slenderness to improve it are low. so if you want your handset to last longer away from the mains, you’re probably on your own. One option is this neat little battery unit by Just mobile, rendered in the firm’s trademark apple-imitating brushed aluminium. it’s about the size of a pack of cigarettes, if a little heavier (78 x 57 x 21mm, and 138g) and comes with a black bag with compartments to hold the battery and your iPhone. it’s a convenient and portable device, in other words. the Gum Plus is rated at 5,200mah, which translates, according to the makers, into three full recharges for an iPhone. Just mobile also claims you can charge your iPhone from empty up to 90 percent in an hour, but our experience didn’t match this: our handset went from 4 to just 67 percent in that time. an iPad will obviously get less satisfaction, but we gave it a shot anyway. a fully charged Gum Plus took our test iPad 3 from 27 to 56

percent before giving up the ghost; not bad as an emergency backup, but don’t depend on this as a tablet power source. the Gum Plus has a Usb output port at one end and miniUsb input at the other for charging it up. you’ll need to supply your own Usb-wallplug adaptor if you want to charge it from the mains, but iPhone owners will have one lying around somewhere. and it is compatible with lightning devices, provided once again that you provide the relevant cable (Usb to lightning, in this case) yourself.

Portable charging the Gum Plus is small, lightweight and robust

£74.95
Just Mobile • www.just-mobile.com Product page: bit.ly/106qJi4

Verdict
smart, robust and highly portable, the Gum Plus is a convenient power backup unit for iPhone users to tote around on trips. it can even save your iPad in a power emergency, but don’t expect miracles. David Price
reaD mOre: bit.ly/yasm17

ratiNG ★ ★ ★ ★
Likes: attractive brushed-aluminium look matches apple products robust build quality Handy backup power source DisLikes: test unit didn’t charge as fast as we had hoped

Wahoo RFLKT
iPHONe-cONNecteD bike cOmPUter is a biG wiN fOr cyclists

U

niquely, this bike computer relies on an iPhone 4s or 5 for all of its data, pairing via bluetooth. as a result, it gives you access to smartphone features that rival systems don’t offer, most notably the ability to switch your iPhone’s music tracks wirelessly. the rflkt weighs about 60g, and the back slides into a panel attached to an O-ring, which fits around either the stem or the handlebar mount on your bike. (you won’t want to leave it in the mount, though, as it would make an attractive item for thieves – who could easily pry it out of the back panel.) wahoo fitness’s compatible iOs app tracks your workout time, distance travelled and speed; it can also connect with other sensors over bluetooth to display your heart rate, cadence, calories burned and more. by displaying all your ride data on the app, the rflkt essentially turns your phone into a powerful bike computer capable of giving you a great deal of information. most the metrics were reliable, but we found a few hiccups when relying on the

iPhone’s GPs to measure speed. while it was mostly accurate, a few times it reckoned we were travelling at nearmotorway speeds, and these blips threw off the workout’s top-speed measurement in the app. to measure speed accurately, you’ll need an additional peripheral device. Handily, you can choose which of the rflkt’s four buttons perform certain functions, such as changing the music track and switching between displays on the device.

Biker groove switch between music tracks (and keep an eye on your progress) while riding
£115
Wahoo Fitness • wahoofitness.com Product page: bit.ly/ZmQeUp

Verdict
the rflkt is a convenient and customisable way to access all of the iPhone’s features (as well as the wahoo fitness app) during a ride, and the relief from leaving the iPhone untouched in a bag is a big plus. well worth a look for techie cyclists. Michael Homnick
reaD mOre: bit.ly/XbsJib

ratiNG ★ ★ ★ ★
Likes: Highly customisable let you keep iPhone safe DisLikes: speed measurements can be inaccurate if you don’t buy an extra peripheral

32

iPad & iPhone User 2013

Belkin Thunderstorm
unusual, audio-boosting ipad case

i

f, like many others, you find the ipad’s rearfacing speaker less than satisfactory when watching movies and playing games, this could be just the solution you’re looking for. belkin has combined a case, a stand and a speaker system to create the thunderstorm, which aims to significantly improve the sound of apple’s tablet, while also offering a better viewing angle for video content, and offering protection against bumps and scratches. the ipad fits neatly into the tray-like design, and sliding the dock connector into place secures the tablet and provides communication with the speakers. one thing you’ll notice immediately is the bulkiness of the thunderstorm, which is heavier than the ipad itself, at 665g. However, this allows for a built-in battery that can power the thunderstorm’s speakers for up to 10 hours. (the device comes with a bundled mains adaptor that charges both the internal battery and the ipad’s own battery.) When it comes to sound quality, we were impressed. the speakers offer clear and loud dialogue, good bass and a vast improvement

over the ipad’s builtin mono speaker. there’s little distortion at top volume, which is loud enough to fill a whole room. We found that the speaker vibrated quite a lot at higher volumes, however. a free app enables you to adjust the ‘width’ of the sound to whichever of the three options you prefer for each mode: music, video and gaming. a nice touch, that.

£180
Belkin • belkin.com product page: bit.ly/YcdRo8

Verdict
the thunderstorm carries a hefty price tag, but it’s difficult to fault the quality of the speakers. if you’ve been looking for a multifunctional ipad case to improve your video experience, this is it. Ashleigh Allsopp
Read MoRe: bit.ly/13q7Jfp

Rating ★ ★ ★ ★
Likes: significantly improves audio provides all-round protection Free app for customisation DisLikes: expensive Rather bulky

Musubo Retro iPhone 5 case £34.99 ★ ★ ★
www.musubo.com.hk • READ MORE: bit.ly/X7vbuS

Dodocase Classic iPad case £59.99 ★ ★ ★ ★
www.dodocase.com • READ MORE: bit.ly/10cgKlK

the Retro’s design is intended to evoke the look of an oldfashioned microphone, but we didn’t realise this at first; it seemed more like some sort of skeletal ribcage, hugging the iphone with a dual layer of silicon and hard polycarbonate. You put the silicone cover on first, then place your now semishielded iphone inside the plastic outer shell to complete the transformation. (the silicone has press-through button overlays for the sleep/Wake and volume buttons, but the inner case is so squishy that we found them more difficult to press that we’d have liked.) it should certainly keep your phone protected against minor bumps, but if you’re looking for something more minimal, you might want to look elsewhere. the case also comes with an adjustable plastic stand, which offers a choice of three angles for propping up your iphone. Albert Filice

the designers at dodocase pride themselves on the traditional bookbinding techniques they use to manufacture their gorgeous, authentic-looking ipad cases. the cloth that covers the outside of the classic feels just like what you might find on an old used book, and adds to the aesthetic appeal. the material is smooth as well, making it easy to wipe off any spills or debris that your case might come in contact with. the cover is fairly rigid, as it aims to keep your screen safe from anything that might scratch or crack the smooth Retina display. inside, a bamboo frame holds the ipad in place, with rubber nubs in the corners maintaining a tight grip. the dodocase classic is a good (and stylish) option for the price. However, if you want more angle options, or a way to prop the ipad in portrait orientation, there are more suitable alternatives. Albert Filice

ipad & iphone user 2013

33

ProCutX for Final Cut Pro X
EDIT YOUR FINAL CUT PRO X VIDEO PROJECT FROM YOUR iPAD

T

he keyboard and mouse have dominated the video-editing process for aeons, but could there be a method that’s more convenient? There are a few options available, and Pixel Films Studios has recently joined the fray by releasing ProCutX for the iPad. Rather than replacing it, in fact, ProCutX is designed to complement the keyboard and mouse on a Mac. Installation and setup is a relatively simple process, thanks to the clear instructions on the developer’s website. Once this is done, you can edit with your iPad. Having already received its first major update, ProCutX lets you select a clip, set in and out points, and add it to your timeline (you can even choose to add solely the visuals or the audio). This is in addition to controlling keywords, applying speed changes and grading your clips, among other features. It’s not a perfect app by any means: the jog wheel has no inertia, you can’t tap and hold a button – to move through many frames in quick succession, for instance – and the lack of tactile feedback can be a pain: you

often end up looking where your fingers are tapping, instead of focusing on your video.

£17.49
Version: 1.1 www.pixelfilmstudios.com Download: itun.es/i6Jw3M9

VERDICT
ProCutX shows a lot of promise, and the recent version 1.1 upgrade makes it much more useful: we look forward to future updates. It’s just a shame about the lack of tactile feedback. Steve Paris
READ MORE: bit.ly/ZKpqOV

RATING ★ ★ ★ ★
LIKES: 2 Very responsive 2 Fast release of first update DISLIKES: 2 Jog wheel has no inertia 2 Can’t customise interface

iStopMotion for iPad
VERSION 2: A WELCOME UPDATE TO AN EXCELLENT ANIMATION APP

T

he first version of iStopMotion was a pretty spectacular animation app, allowing you to take shots with ease thanks to a camera overlay that showed the previous shot through the current one, helping you see what had been moved and what needed further attention; it also included the ability to use another iOS device as a remote camera. Version 2 brings a few welcome additions. Previously, photos displayed as thumbnails, and swiping through could be tedious. Now, a Navigator timeline represents your entire film. Tap anywhere to be taken to that section. The other major addition is the ability to add audio – a welcome move, although the options are fairly limited. You can import audio from Dropbox, Soundcloud and, of course, your iPad’s music library, but your song is displayed in its entirety. If your movie is shorter than the song, the Navigator will be useless. When sharing your film, that extra audio will be trimmed, but it’s a shame you’re forced to see it in your workspace. You can also record a voice-over, but you’d have to choose between that and the music:

only one layer of audio is allowed. And you can’t combine the best from multiple takes, or create a dialogue for animated characters.

£6.99
Version: 2.0.2 boinx.com/istopmotion Download: itun.es/i6Jn4w7

VERDICT
This is a fantastic stop-motion animation app: it’s easy to use and the shooting and editing tools are great. However, you’d be advised to work on sound in another app. Steve Paris
READ MORE: bit.ly/Wq7Py7

RATING ★ ★ ★ ★
LIKES: 2 Incredibly easy to use 2 Ability to use iPhone as remote camera DISLIKES: 2 Audio tools feel too basic

34

iPad & iPhone User 2013

RATINGS EXPLAINED
★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★
= STAR BUY: SUPERB

WE TEST REVIEWED PRODUCTS FOR PERFORMANCE, USER-FRIENDLINESS, BUILD QUALITY (FOR HARDWARE) AND VALUE FOR MONEY, THEN RATE THEM ON A 5-POINT SCALE. HERE’S WHAT THE SCORES MEAN.

★ ★ ★ ★ = VERY GOOD

★ ★ ★ = GOOD

★ ★ = POOR

★ = UNACCEPTABLE

Kodable
TEACH YOUR KIDS THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CODING

S

urfScore’s premise for its Kodable app is simple: a family of fuzzball aliens have crash-landed and need your help to navigate through a series of mazes. You do this by using some of the simple commands and logic concepts that underlie computer programming. The commands are all drag-and-drop, so a little trial and error will get you through, earning rewards and getting to grips with the fundamentals of coding. Our 12-year-old assistant reviewer was initially scathing of the simple, colourful interface, but half an hour later had worked through the entire first world, completely engrossed. The first level teaches the basics: how to go forwards, up and down, and conditional statements: ‘if this, then that’. The difficulty then increases with a repeat button, coloured squares as part of the instructions, and loops. The second world (available via an in-app purchase) adds more complexity and more fuzzes. A third world, which will focus on debugging techniques, is in development. Kodable is fun to use, challenging and educational, and we look forward to more.

VERDICT
It’s been said that technology is anything invented after one is born. Today’s kids see gadgets as just another part of life: and coding will be a vitally useful skill when they contemplate the job market. Our experience suggests that kids will eat up Kodable, and its programming lessons. It’s not presented as technology, but as mind-food. Angel Garden
READ MORE: bit.ly/131vzxO

FREE (1st world; 2nd £1.49)
Version: 1.1 www.surfscore.com Download: itun.es/i6Jw3mB

RATING ★ ★ ★ ★
LIKES: 2 Easy to learn 2 A fun, educational challenge DISLIKES: 2 Fuzzballs could move faster 2 Variable music would be good

Wood Camera – Vintage Photo Editor
69p ★ ★ ★
VERSION: 2.0 • DOWNLOAD: itun.es/i6Jw9qh • READ MORE: bit.ly/XUWQ2O

Alt Photo
FREE ★ ★ ★ ★
VERSION: 1.2.0 • DOWNLOAD: itun.es/i6Jn8JZ • READ MORE: bit.ly/Xl6SV0

Conceived by pro photographers John Barnett and Zach Garrett, Wood Camera offers a useful mix of photo tweaks and enhancements capable of turning the most casual of shots into eye candy. Users can shoot directly from within the app with live lenses – or filters, rather – and edit them on the fly or at a later date. The app currently offers 32 lenses, but they’re not all as successful as the developers might hope. A minority add little, and sometimes actually make things worse. Wood Camera also offers 28 textures to add drama, contrast and grunge to your images, along with 16 varied frames. These too are a mixed bag, with the odd dud, but there’s enough good combinations to produce stylish results. Nick Spence

Here’s a different take on arty filters. Instead of simply offering styles, Alt Photo seeks to give your iPhone photos a variety of film-like looks, emulating the effects of old film stocks and printing styles. You can shoot a photo for editing from within the app, or pull one from your camera roll. It doesn’t overwhelm you with filter choices. There are only six categories: Color Film, Vintage Color, Toy Camera, B&W Film, B&W Print and B&W Vintage. Swipe down to move through the categories, then swipe to the right to see each of the six variations. Alt Photo’s filters serve up a light, subtle touch with filters to give photos a distinctive and unique character without piling it on too thick. And it’s free. Jackie Dove

iPad & iPhone User 2013

35

REVIEWS

For iPad & iPad mini

For iPhone & iPod touch

+

For all four devices (separate iPhone & iPad versions)

+

Universal. A single version works on all devices

WeatherPro
DETAILED, DATA-RICH BUT CONFUSING FORECASTER
£2.49/£2.99
Version: 2.8.1 (iPad version) Download: itun.es/i6Jn4v2
+

Horizon Calendar
ADDS A WEATHER FORECAST TO YOUR CALENDAR
£1.49
Version: 1.0.3 Download: itun.es/i6Jn8Jq

MeteoEarth
EXPENSIVE, PROFESSIONALLOOKING WEATHER APP
£2.99 (Premium version £1.49 for 3 months, £3.99 for 12 months)
Version: 1.1 Download: itun.es/i6Jw9V4

RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

LIKES: 2 Premium version offers 15-day forecasts 2 Lots of graphs and charts

DISLIKES: 2 Seems expensive, considering that so many weather apps are free

LIKES: 2 Useful, innovative concept 2 Attractive and simple interface 2 Easy for Calendar users to pick up DISLIKES: 2 Suggested locations can be unreliable

LIKES: 2 Stunning visuals 2 Great for showing off DISLIKES: 2 Overkill (and costly) for day-to-day use

RATING ★ ★ ★

W

e’ve been taking a look at WeatherPro for iPad, the £2.99 app from MeteoGroup. There’s also an iPhone version, which is £2.49, and for an additional £3.99 you can upgrade to a premium version for 12 months. You get an eight-day forecast that includes weather types: ‘Cloudy, snow shower’, for example. Temperature is shown on a graph – it’s Celsius by default – but it’s not really clear what the four lines represent. Is one the average temperature for the time of year? We like the fact that WeatherPro made us feel like forecasters: we were handed all the information, and from that we were able to draw our own forecast. Other apps simply tell you hour by hour what the weather is expected to be like, but WeatherPro makes you feel like you’re being given the raw data. It can be confusing at first, though. Our main issue is the cost. There are plenty of good, free weather apps out there, and WeatherPro faces a lot of competition. Karen Haslam

T

his calendar app offers something extra, and it’s a beauty: the weather. Enter the time and place of an appointment, and the app shows what the weather will be like, up to two weeks from now. It makes Horizon very helpful for parents wondering whether to bring an umbrella for a school trip, or business travellers unsure how to pack. Horizon syncs with the iPhone’s native Calendar app, and entering appointment data is very similar, except that a Google-powered search function in Horizon tries to predict the precise location and city you’ll be visiting, the better to offer a precise forecast. This doesn’t always work perfectly, though. Horizon Calendar isn’t just useful; it’s also lovely to look at. It adopts the stripped-down aesthetic popular among recent weather apps, and switches easily between daily and monthly views, and Celsius and Fahrenheit. Best of all, it helps ensure you won’t show up at your next appointment soaking wet from an unexpected rainstorm. Joel Mathis

T

here are free apps out there that are more suitable for checking the forecast for your area, but this professional-looking weather app beats most for bigger-picture data, and for sheer meteorological showing off. It’s very much a display app. Indeed, the makers say it was adapted from a broadcast tool used by TV presenters. You can search for towns and cities to view. Smaller conurbations may not be listed; we couldn’t find Maidenhead, for instance. But we were pleased to see places that exist in both Britain and the US came up in the morally correct order. You can superimpose maps of precipitation, wind, temperature and so on over the geographical image, then swipe to make everything move into the future (up to five days, if you upgrade to the Premium edition). Alternatively, just hit the play button and watch everything animate, just like on the telly. It all looks incredible, but the price tag is likely to put off the casual ‘will it rain tomorrow’ crowd. David Price

READ MORE: bit.ly/XikLDo

READ MORE: bit.ly/11a8pE7

READ MORE: bit.ly/X515qW

36

iPad & iPhone User 2013

The Hare With Amber Eyes: The Illustrated Edition
by Edmund De Waal £12.99
Random House www.edmunddewaal.com Download: itun.es/i6Jt7my

RATING ★ ★ ★ ★
LIKES: 2 Slideshow images of selected netsuke 2 The musical excerpts 2 Secessionist watercolours album DISLIKES: 2 Interruption of final audio file by standby mode

The Hare With Amber Eyes
ELEGANT, EXTRAORDINARY FAMILY MEMOIR TOLD THROUGH A COLLECTION OF MINIATURE JAPANESE CARVINGS

W

hen the renowned ceramicist Edmund de Waal inherits his great uncle’s collection of 264 netsuke – small Japanese sculptures made of bone, ivory or wood – he is intrigued by their beauty and precision, and resolves to trace their journey through his family’s history. Alongside a moving recollection of the lives of family members, this interactive eBook allows readers to delve into the story more deeply, with embedded videos, narration, music, a sumptuous gallery of Secessionist watercolours and, of course, images of the artefacts themselves. The netsuke are first bought in the 1870s in Paris by Charles Ephrussi, the son of a wealthy Jewish banking family, and a cousin of Edmund de Waal’s great-grandfather. They represent the fashion for japonisme at that time; one of Charles’s many passions in a swirling cultural life – he also collected Impressionist paintings, and was a partial inspiration for Proust’s character Charles Swann. In 1899 he sends the netsuke to his cousin Viktor and his wife Emmy in Vienna. As the family scatter to escape Nazi persecution, the netsuke are rescued by the family’s old servant. Passed to safety from their hiding place inside her mattress, they return home to Tokyo with Uncle Iggie, before finding a new home in London.

Despite the violent historical upheavals that fall within this narrative’s span, de Waal tells his story sparingly, with an exactness that seems inspired by the netsuke themselves. The eBook is similarly elegant in its design, with a minimalist scrapbook feel, filled with family photos, maps and documents. Slideshow images are very successful at conveying the variety and The eBook has an elegant, detail of the netsuke (a carved monkey and its young, for minimalist scrapbook feel, example, tumble over and over filled with family photos, in a fiercely playful embrace), but leave one wishing that maps and documents more could have been shown. The final audio file in the eBook is a reading from the last chapter by the author. A satisfying ending, but beware if you sit back to listen: standby mode will cut off the audio after a few minutes.

VERDICT
Successful and satisfying, this eBook makes great use of the iPad’s pin-sharp screen to show off illustrations and archive material to best advantage. The audio and video add an evocative element that enhances de Waal’s beguiling prose and helps the reader to a richer appreciation of the text. Victoria Regan
READ MORE: bit.ly/ZHfcAo

iPad & iPhone User 2013

37

FREE (with in-app purchases)
Version: 1.0.2 Electronic Arts www.ea.com/uk Download: itun.es/i6Jt582

+

RATING ★ ★ ★
LIKES: Beautiful graphics Good selection of lovingly recreated cars and tracks A fun driving experience DISLIKES: ’Freemium’ model entails either waiting around for repairs, or potentially ruinous real-world payments Hardcore driving sim fans may find the handling unrealistically forgiving

Real Racing 3
A FREE, FUN AND BEAUTIFUL DRIVING GAME. BUT IT’S HARD TO IGNORE THE CONTENTIOUS IN-APP PAYMENTS

T

he latest instalment in this popular mobile franchise serves up gorgeous visuals and a fun, fluid racing experience. It’s also free. That’s a first for the series, and sounds great; but the game’s in-app purchase system has proved to be a bit… contentious. Real Racing 3 has two currencies: dollars, earned by completing races and competitions, and gold coins, which can be attained by levelling up your driver or spending real-world cash. This is where the trouble starts. After a few races, you’ll notice that your car’s tyres are in need of a service, or that your engine could use a few upgrades. These modifications take time, during which your car will be unavailable; you can wait a few minutes, or just fork over some coins to get back in the action. And while you could theoretically ignore calls to fix the suspension or headlights, your car’s performance will suffer, making it harder to stay competitive. This is a tricky subject. Like any enjoyable gaming experience, Real Racing 3 stimulates the drive to keep going – ‘just one more lap!’ – and that impulse is curtailed by these seemingly arbitrary limitations. Almost paradoxically, the more you enjoy the game, the more often you’ll run into these enforced breaks, forcing you to choose between racing conservatively, cracking open your wallet, or simply finding something else to do.

And the chances are that you’ll enjoy the game plenty. It’s utterly beautiful to look at, packed with licensed cars – which can sustain visible damage – and carefully recreated tracks. And the tilt-to-steer gameplay is almost as realistic as the title promises (petrolheads may notice that it’s rather forgiving on corners). As for the all-important multiplayer element, this is asynchronous; you’re competing against friends and other users around the world, but not at the same time. You’re only really taking on computercontrolled doppelgänger drivers whose racing prowess and decision-making is based on the real-world player’s past performances.

VERDICT
Ultimately, you have to decide how much your time is worth. We’re not averse to spending money, but we’ve had no trouble setting our iPad aside when the old Nissan is in need of an oil change. Since the game is free to download, take it for a spin yourself and see. Nate Ralph
READ MORE: bit.ly/XpwLDm

Is a ten-minute break really so bad? If you’re not willing to cough up real-world cash for repairs, you’ll have to wait real-world minutes and hours for them to finish. Notifications like this one will quicken your heart

38

iPad & iPhone User 2013

RATINGS EXPLAINED
★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★
= STAR BUY: SUPERB

WE TEST REVIEWED PRODUCTS FOR PERFORMANCE, USER-FRIENDLINESS, BUILD QUALITY (FOR HARDWARE) AND VALUE FOR MONEY, THEN RATE THEM ON A 5-POINT SCALE. HERE’S WHAT THE SCORES MEAN.

★ ★ ★ ★ = VERY GOOD

★ ★ ★ = GOOD

★ ★ = POOR

★ = UNACCEPTABLE

Shifts
IN SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM ‘EVERYTHING’S ON FIRE’

S

omewhere between turn-based strategy and a solo board game, Shifts is basically Star Trek if Kirk and co were doomed. You’re in command of a spaceship and its five-person crew, trying to survive a nanobot attack which has all but destroyed humanity, and hoping to establish new colonies before it’s too late. Every turn, the relentless nanobots damage your hull, the colonists you carry, and your repair capabilities. Every turn, you need to make increasingly agonising choices about which crew members to deploy where, and whether you’ll spend your three or four actions on fighting fires or exploring the galaxy in search of habitable planets. There’s no way to beat the nanobots, so it’s a race against time, striving to establish enough colonies before you run out of fuel, hull or colonists. It’s hard and unforgiving, so it’s more than likely that you’ll wind up as so much sad space-junk, but it is possible – and that’s why you’ll keep boldly going. Sadly, Shifts’ presentation lags far behind its strategy, with ugly art, a fiddly interface and a few grammatical errors giving it the

vague air of amateur hour. It’s testament to the tight, brutal ideas behind this that it works so well regardless.

£1.49
Version: 1.2 threadbaregames.com Download: itun.es/i6Jt9RN

VERDICT
Shifts is in serious need of a makeover, not to mention a fuller tutorial, but it does a fine job of pulling off space exploration, panic and the laser-focus of a good board game within its stark, cramped confines. Alec Meer
READ MORE: bit.ly/YdCkXD

RATING ★ ★ ★
LIKES: The difficulty sweet spot between impossible and theoretically possible Blissful panic DISLIKES: Art, interface and writing

Year Walk
£2.49 ★ ★ ★ ★
VERSION: 1.0 • DOWNLOAD: itun.es/i6Jt7Dz • READ MORE: bit.ly/Zvf08i

+

Capsized+
£1.99 ★ ★ ★
VERSION: 1.0.1 • DOWNLOAD: itun.es/i6Jt7DZ • READ MORE: bit.ly/XYGGU1

A difficult game to describe, this one: much of its power comes from its twisting, sinister narrative, and it’s arguably more about the experience – and a slow, creepy assault on the senses – than it is about the puzzles. Essentially all you need to do is control the movement of an unseen character through a wintry, papercraft-styled forest, chaining together particular sequences to progress. Some of this is perfectly intuitive, some requires throwing conventional logic to the winds, but the overall intent is to make you feel lost and confused, muddling your way back to what may or may not be safety. This is a multimedia experiment in the form of a game, but it’s effective and affecting rather than arch. Alec Meer

If you played the gem of interplanetary jetpack exploration that was Waking Mars, but griped that there wasn’t enough action, Capsized+ might well do the trick. Set on a planet full of spiky threats and blocked passageways, it’s pleasantly large in scale, with a dreamlike feel, despite all the laserguns. The on-demand jetpack means you can create your own path through the hand-drawn-esque environments, while simple physics puzzles abound. Souring things a touch, however, is how hard it pushes a store full of real-money upgrades. The controls make the relatively complicated possible on iPad, but it’s definitely one of those pat-your-head-while-rubbing-yourstomach affairs, so expect a few sudden deaths. Alec Meer

iPad & iPhone User 2013

39

REVIEWS

For iPad & iPad mini

For iPhone & iPod touch

+

For all four devices (separate iPhone & iPad versions)

+

Universal. A single version works on all devices

£2.99
Version: 1.0 Tomorrow Corporation tomorrowcorporation.com Download: itun.es/i6Jr3Wh

RATING ★ ★ ★ ★
LIKES: Dark, destructive humour Something to say, without being preachy Burning things is fun DISLIKES: Is there any point to it?

Little Inferno
BUY LAVISH AND EXPENSIVE ITEMS, THEN BURN THEM. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? BECAUSE

L

ittle Inferno is a satire: a satire of consumerism, of games built around clickfrenzy compulsion, and of the human urge to destroy things. And somehow it’s goodnatured, despite essentially existing to raise an eyebrow at our most scabrous urges. There’s very little to it, on the surface. You drag objects into a fireplace and watch them burn, via a first-person perspective and a one-finger interface. There are no points, no objectives and no risk of failure. If the fire goes out, tap anywhere to start it again. If the fire wanes, drag on more objects to watch it hungrily devour them and leap in size. Immolating some objects will activate animations, pleasures in themselves: corn on the cob sprays into a fountain of blackened popcorn, a wooden bicycle pedals itself across the screen in something like panic. Darkly, a ‘family photo’ item asks you to select a picture from your library: moments later, you’ll watch your dog or grandparents go up in smoke. As the game wears on, more elaborate, bizarre and expensive items become available. In another situation, you might love to own a giant plushie dinosaur; in Little Inferno, all you care about is how well it burns. It’s an extended exercise in futility, but between the twisted, Tim Burtonesque presentation and compulsive entertainment, it’s somehow joyful futility. It’s laughing with you, not at you.

Lest it all sound too vague, rest assured there are optional goals, of a sort. Figuring out certain combinations of items unlocks achievements and bonus coins, while burning everything in the item catalogue means you can buy a new one, stuffed with extra weird, wonderful and vaguely sinister purchases to send to the great fire gods. For a one-screen game about turning things to ash, it never feels short of things to do. Whether there’s any point It’s an extended exercise in to its cheerful scolding of our futility, but between the desire to shop and destroy winds up all but moot: Little twisted presentation and Inferno turns these things, no compulsive entertainment, matter how unhealthy, into entertainment and gorgeously it’s somehow joyful animated, upredictable spectacle. You might end your time with it feeling guilty and base, but you’ll also find its fire has burned into your memory.

VERDICT
Little Inferno is a collection of things we might recognise as ‘gamey’ – earning coins, eradicating things, unlocking other things – but at the same time it wouldn’t be unfair to call it an interactive screensaver. A screensaver ripe with the childish thrill of making things burn for the hell of it, though. Alec Meer
READ MORE: bit.ly/WeLyTK

40

iPad & iPhone User 2013

iCueda
ATTRACTIVE IF LABORIOUS MEMORY-TESTING PUZZLER
£1.49
Version: 1.1 Download: itun.es/i6Jc9KB

Zombies, Run!
UNDEAD-THEMED FITNESS APP: GET FIT OR DIE TRYIN’
£2.49
Version: 1.5.1 Download: itun.es/i6J26JB

SEQ
NINE EIGHT SEVEN… WAIT… SIX FIVE… AAAAARGGGGHH
FREE (extra level packs 69p each)
Version: 1.4 Download: itun.es/i6Jc6xV
+

RATING ★ ★
LIKES: 2 Looks great 2 Challenges and stimulates the brain DISLIKES: 2 Controls can be painful 2 Feels like work, not a game

RATING ★ ★ ★
LIKES: 2 Encourages getting fit 2 Entertaining script DISLIKES: 2 No real ‘risk’ – not gamey enough? 2 Zombies sometimes super-fast

RATING ★ ★ ★
LIKES: 2 Simple, fun gameplay mechanic 2 Quite addictive DISLIKES: 2 Sudden difficulty spikes & can’t skip levels 2 No single-touch restart

K

ey mislayers, own-head-forgetters and the otherwise memorychallenged can exercise their powers of recall with this simple puzzler. Each of the 105 levels displays an arrangement of white and coloured tiles, then tasks you with recreating it from memory. Stylistically iCueda is a winner, with clear, attractive patterns and nicely tactile-looking tiles – these pop out as cubes. But the controls are less of a hit. You swipe your chosen cube until the right tile face comes up, but the problem comes when trying to rotate the face itself, which is fiddly and a bit of a pain. You’ll often forget the pattern while wrestling the first cube into position. The devs boast that playing this game can improve your visual memory. We can’t confirm that one way or the other; our scores certainly improved, but we may have just got better at describing shapes: “Pac-Man, bow tie, bow tie, squiggle.” Which, while amusing, is probably missing the point of an overtly non-verbal game. David Price
READ MORE: bit.ly/YaND4x

T

here are plenty of reasons to start running: to lose weight, build fitness, or simply evade that decomposing figure grasping for your brains. Zombies, Run! casts you in the trainers of Runner 5, a mysterious figure dropped into a zombie-filled world, who has to help the survivors by (literally) running errands. But this isn’t a game as such – it’s more an interactive radio drama. You really will be running, and the app tracks you on your GPS as you collect supplies, and occasionally have to pick up the pace to escape the undead chasing you. There’s not much game here, but it’s a nice distraction while running, and the story is engaging, well acted and occasionally quite funny. Its not as fitnessfeature-oriented as Endomondo or the like, but it can be used alongside more dedicated apps for the best of both worlds: the one that’s full of exciting zombies, and the one where you just want to lose a stone. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared for when the undead walk (or run) the earth, either. Alan Martin

S

implicity can be a virtue, and this economical puzzle game certainly has accessibility in its favour. It’s dimly reminiscent of Sudoku, in that you have to place numbers into a partially prepopulated grid, but these must follow sequential paths (hence the name) from coloured high points down to grey zeroes. Slide your finger along a path and the game will input the figures for you. It’s fun, and rather moreish. Things get satisfyingly complicated as the grids enlarge, the number of coloured paths multiply and everything starts to overlap. But the difficulty curve is a bit bumpy – a series of easy levels is often followed by an absolute killer, which you can’t skip. And undoing your work can be a pain: double-tapping a number should unravel the path back to that point, but it’s sometimes unresponsive; and we wish there was a single-touch restart, as seen on the saintly Pangolin (reviewed last issue). A confirmation box for level restarts? I’m not a baby. David Price
READ MORE: bit.ly/16xBrxE

READ MORE: bit.ly/15qkjq5

iPad & iPhone User 2013

41

Subscribe to

SAVE UP TO
ON YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

50%

www.macworld.co.uk
TERMS & CONDITIONS
The above offer is a Direct Debit offer only. If you would prefer to pay by cheque or credit card then this will cost £29.99 for a six-month subscription and £43.99 for a 12-month subscription. Your subscription will start with the next available issue. Offer expires 01/05/2013. For overseas rates please call +44 1858 438 867 and quote reference MY13.

Macworld for 2013
Pick up a 14-issue subscription for just £39.99 or 7 issues for £27 .99
Enjoy these benefits
Subscribe and save ££££’s
Our best offer to date PRIORITY delivery to your door Never miss an issue

Call 01858 438 867 and quote reference MY13
www.subscription.co.uk/macw/MY13
If you are new to Apple and are looking for advice to help get you started, or if you are a Mac fanatic looking to justify your next buy, Macworld is the magazine to ensure you make the right decision

I’ve got the power
There’s nothing worse than running out of juice, so get yourself covered for any eventuality by calling on the convenience of a portable charger
BY ROB CLYMO
got a constant supply of power can be both stress-relieving and hugely convenient, especially if you simply cannot be without access to your iOS device. Once such item is the Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation Duo external battery (around £80, www.mophie.com), which isn’t cheap, but boasts high-output technology that can recharge two iPhone, iPad or iPod devices at a time. Not only is it wonderfully easy to use, but the mophie features LED indicator lights, allowing you to keep tabs on how much life is left in the charger itself. Better still, it weighs just 200g, and is designed to fit easily into a bag when you’re going away. An extra £20 or so will bag you the Just Mobile Gum Max supercharged rechargeable battery (www.just-mobile.com), which sounds rather grander than it actually is. Again, this offers up the capacity for powering up your iPad, iPhone or iPod, but can also be used with other USB devices. The robust aluminium housing makes it durable, but it weighs in at a little heavier 273g. If you’re looking for an altogether more muscular power supply to take on your travels, then the Veho Pebble Pro-XT (£99.95, www.veho-uk.com) warrants further investigation. Not only can this bruiser power your iOS gadgets, but it can also charge larger mobile devices, such as notebooks. It comes with an array of connector tips, but weighs 396g, so it’s one of the heavier options. Those aiming for a rather more compact power solution might want to look towards the TeckNet iEP390 11000mAh external battery pack (www.tecknetonline.co.uk). This portable option comes in at just under £60 and is perfect for the Apple iPad 2, iPad, iPhone 4G 4, iPhone 3G 3GS and iPod Touch (1G, 2G, 3G). It weighs 270g and is pretty small, and offers 50 hours standby time for an iPhone 4 and 10 hours for a 3G iPad 2. Slightly less effective, but just as portable, is the Duracell 2-in-1 USB charger (www.duracell.co.uk). From the same people who brought you the batteries, this little charging solution is handy for a quick bit of juice when you need it most. There are down sides – it takes a while to fully charge – and it’s not compatible with tablets. However, for anyone looking to bring life

Bijou solution The TeckNet iEP390 11000mAh external battery pack is good on the eye, won’t break the bank and will keep you charged

M

Style on the move The Just Mobile Highway Pro dual charger offers a slick and stylish way of recharging your iOS gadgets in the car

obile gadgets are all well and good, but there’s no escaping the fact that we’re all at the mercy of battery life. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got an iPhone, iPod, iPad or any other mobile gadget, because without power you’re pretty much dead in the water. There’s nothing more frustrating than anticipating a lengthy music or games-playing session, only to find that your power bar is dwindling away to nothing. More crucially, if you’ve got a deadline looming or important work to complete and you’re relying on your device to get it done, then having access to an ‘always on’ power supply is vital. The good news is that there are plenty of accessories that can keep you powered up, both at home and while you’re out and about. Out of the box, iOS devices come with the standard mains power source, which you can of course use in other locations – and also overseas, with the benefit of a simple plug adaptor. That’s fine if you have access to a mains electricity supply. If not, the next best thing is a standalone device that’ll keep you topped up until you find a plug socket.

Portable Power oPtions
Buying a portable charging solution will set you back a reasonable amount of money, and it’s worth remembering that you’ll have something extra to take with you on your travels. Nevertheless, knowing that you’ve

44

iPad & iPhone User 2013

back to their phone momentarily then this small, lightweight option is worth a look. The rather cheap-and-cheerful-looking Momax iPower Pro 8000mAh universal portable battery pack can be found online for around £50 (at www.mobimega.com, for example) and is compatible with the iPad and iPad mini. Once out of the box, this little gizmo is surprisingly durable and packs a powerful punch. The design might not be up to the same standard as its pricier rivals, but this is still a reasonably eye-catching package that also fits easily into your luggage. Of course, chances are that you might be out and about in a car. In that respect you’ve got another angle for staying powered up, thanks to a variety of in-car chargers that work with a variety of iOS gadgets. For example, at just under a tenner, you can get Griffin’s PowerJolt Dual (store.apple.com/uk), which works with the iPad, iPhone and iPod. It’s a nifty little thing that allows you to charge two devices while you’re on the move. Slightly pricier, but a whole lot cooler to look at, is the Just Mobile Highway Pro dual charger, which costs around £35 and enables you to also recharge two devices at the same time. In addition, it sports a built-in fused surge protection feature, meaning that whatever you’re charging will be safeguarded. What’s more, the natty aluminium head on

this thing looks great once it’s plugged in and is complemented by nifty green micro-LED power indicators. Rounding out the pick of the crop when it comes to in-car recharging is the Belkin Car Charger (www.belkin.com), complete with the latest Lightning connector. This device costs less than £20 and allows you to power up your Lightning-enabled iOS device

For every device The Veho Pebble Pro-XT is a beefy portable power solution that comes with a variety of connectors for mobile devices

Double the fun The Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation Duo external battery features a cool design, and is lightweight and portable. Plus it allows you to charge two devices simultaneously

Knowing that you’ve got a constant supply of power can be both stress-relieving and hugely convenient, especially if you simply cannot be without access to your ios device
while you’re on your travels. It’s got a funky compact design, plugs into your car’s power socket and comes complete with a generous 4ft cable. Meanwhile, the Lightning connector is also fully reversible.

AlwAys on
The great thing about this selection of chargers is that there’s something to suit just about any kind of budget when it comes to staying powered up on the go. What’s more, with a wide variety of different devices available – we’ve only touched the top of the pile – there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to stay fully charged, no matter where you’re heading.

iPad & iPhone User 2013

45

Seize the moment
Jot it down quickly with CaptureNotes 2’s range of advanced tools
BY A ROSS

Get organised

Multiple options

Tap the arrow to see all the Notebooks in the Binder you’re currently in, or tap the grid to see your full selection of Binders.

Switch between modes using the pen, the eraser, and the keyboard, or hit the red button to start an audio recording.

Easy does it

Pull up a wrist guard to enable you to rest your hands on the iPad’s screen as you work without confusing the touch sensors.

Fast forward

Tap this tab for full access to the sidebar, where you can quickly scroll through pages and add Flags.

VITAL INFO
DEVICE: iPhone/iPad DIFFICULTY: Beginner TIME REQUIRED: 5 mins WHAT YOU NEED:

T

here are plenty of apps that let you jot down notes on the iPad, but we haven’t come across many that offer the range of CaptureNotes 2. Designed with lectures and business meetings in mind, it’s a good-looking

app with some advanced features that make it easy to quickly capture all the detail you need. CaptureNotes allows you to type and sketch, but you can also take audio recordings. By connecting the app to a Dropbox account, you can import PDFs, meaning you can mark up a set of slides or a document at the same time as capturing the audio from your meeting or lecture. You can even use themed, customisable tags, called Flags, to link a particular section of the audio to the relevant point in your notes, and sort through these easily afterwards. Using your fingertip to write isn’t quite as smooth or intuitive as you might think, and it takes a little practice to combine a PDF, Flags and audio efficiently, but if you’re after a powerful and highly versatile note-taking app, CaptureNotes 2 is well worth a try.

CaptureNotes (£1.99, itun.es/i6JN2TH) 2 iOS 5.0 or later
2

46

iPad & iPhone User 2013

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE: dUly noted

1 Bound together In Capturenotes, you work in notebooks, which are then grouped into Binders. tap ‘new Binder’, give it a name and add a subtitle. you can then opt to change the colour – all notebooks inside the Binder will be the same hue. tap the cog in the corner to alter your preferences.

2 Tweak the settings As well as all the defaults
you’d expect, Settings is where you can link the app to dropbox – it will create a dedicated folder in your dropbox, into which you put any documents you’re planning to annotate in Capturenotes. Back up all your work using dropbox or itunes in data Backup.

3 A glowing report Capturenotes 2 is the best
app we’ve come across for reading and annotating documents: import a PdF – or several – from your dropbox by tapping the Paper icon. you can then write, highlight and annotate to your heart’s content. landscape orientation is best for big documents.

4 Flag it up Flags group key information: there are ready-made sets or you can create your own. drag a Flag off the sidebar and position it in your text. If you’re recording, any Flag you post is linked to that moment in the audio. to listen back or delete a Flag, tap and hold it until the options appear.

5 All the highlights to sift through the information you’ve marked up quickly, tap Filter Flags, then tap on a particular category: you can then surf through each point in the PdF that you’ve tagged with a Flag. tap on any of the text to go straight to that point. this is brilliant for dealing with large documents.

6 Digital pencil case When drawing or writing, press and hold the pen, eraser or keyboard icons to change colour, line thickness, font and text size. you can also choose ‘highlighter’ for marking up key points. However, with drawing, there’s only one level of undo – older mistakes require the eraser.
iPad & iPhone User 2013 47

Living in the past
Find out what you were up to one year ago today with Timehop
BY ROB BEATTIE

Settings to suit Tap here to change Timehop’s settings, add or remove social networks, change when it sends new notifications and more.

Open the portal Tap the personal or group icons to see your own Timehop feed or those of your friends who are also using the app.

Private stays that way Timehop only shares posts that you’ve already made available to online services and networks. Photos like this from the camera roll are not shared or uploaded.

Circle of life Entries in the Timehop timeline can be shared with others via email or reposted on Twitter or Facebook, thus becoming part of a never-ending circle of social media.

VITAL INFO
DEVICE: iPhone/iPad DIFFICULTY: Beginner TIME REQUIRED: 5 mins WHAT YOU NEED:

T

hese days, people live so much of their lives online, cross-posting between Facebook and Twitter, Instagram and Flickr, that it’s a wonder anyone can keep up with everything. In addition, all that electronic

business has another interesting side-effect, making everything not just instant, but also momentary: as if a post – whether it be a photo, a link or a comment – only exists until it’s pushed off the screen by someone else’s noise and chatter. The free Timehop app gives iOS users a chance to remind themselves of what they were up to in the dim and distant past by grabbing their entries from popular social networking sites (along with photos from the camera roll) and displaying them once a day. Previous posts are shared with other Timehop users, while local photos are not. So it’s a good way to reminisce, while keeping private moments to yourself. Here’s how it works.

Timehop (free, itun.es/i6Jn5nc) 2 iOS 5.0 or later
2

48

iPad & iPhone User 2013

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE: NOBODY’S PAST IS HISTORY

1 Let’s time travel Start by
downloading the app and installing it. Tap the icon to launch the app and then tap the Log In or Sign Up button at the foot of the screen. Necessarily, Timehop needs access to loads of social media data, so tap OK to continue. Next, choose which services Timehop can scan for information and tap Continue again.

2 Add local photos Timehop can
tell if any of your friends are also using the app and allow you to see the stories they share at the same time as they can see yours. Tap ‘Got It’ to move on. Next, there’s the option to include all the photos in the camera roll – note that these aren’t shared or uploaded – tap Authorize and then OK.

3 One year ago… Nearly there.
At the next screen, tap ‘Got It’ and OK to confirm you’re happy to receive daily notifications from Timehop. Choose whether to share your new-found Timehop love with Facebook and Twitter or skip that step and then let the app do its stuff. After a moment, the first entry appears.

4 Even further back Timehop
doesn’t stop at one year, either. Scrolling through the list of entries we found photos from two years ago. All links are live (assuming the source still exists) so it’s easy to revisit something you may have forgotten about. Here for example, is a gig review of the Alter Eagles, an Eagles tribute band.

5 Sharing again There are annotations under each entry which tell you where it was first published (‘fb’ for Facebook and ‘tw’ for Twitter), together with an email button which opens the default mail app with the diary entry already attached, along with a Share button so you can post the entry again on Facebook or Twitter.

6 Add/Remove services If you
change your mind and decide you’d rather not revisit your ancient tweets, then tap the icon to the right of the Timehop logo and at the next screen, tap the Settings cog. From here, it’s easy to add or remove services, change how often Timehop sends you updates (the default is daily) or edit your profile.

iPad & iPhone User 2013

49

SYNCING WITH iCLOUD

Syncing with iCloud
Let’s get down to business with iCloud’s main functions. This month: syncing
BY SERENITY CALDWELL

i

iCloud is chock full of features for syncing, sharing photos, listening to music, reading, backing up your devices, hanging out with friends, and more. In this article, we’ll learn how to master iCloud’s syncing components, among its most valuable core offerings.

SYNC YOUR DATA AND DOCUMENTS
Once you have iCloud set up on your devices, you can take advantage of the service’s syncing and storage capabilities. Whenever you make a change within an iCloudsupported application, your data is seamlessly pushed across all of your devices; you won’t actively have to choose when you want to sync your device or what you want to sync. Instead, your data is automatically stored in iCloud, and your iOS devices sync to and pull information from this central server on a regular basis, keeping everything up to date.

HOW DOES SYNCING WORK?
Don’t panic: this article doesn’t go into nittygritty explanations about online storage and push servers. Instead, we’ll outline the basics of how Apple’s iCloud sync process works. It’s a fairly simple and (usually) seamless process. Step 1. You add or change a reminder on your iPhone. Step 2. If your iPhone has a network connection, that change goes up to the central iCloud server. (If, for whatever reason, you don’t have a network connection when you first make an edit, your iPhone stores the change locally until it can sync with iCloud again.) Step 3. iCloud confirms that this is the newest change or addition made to that reminder list. Step 4. The server makes the change to iCloud.com, and then sends that change down to all of your other iCloud-connected devices. This all takes place behind the scenes and within seconds of your initial change. “But what if,” you might ask, “I’m changing the same reminder on both my computer and my phone?” While it’s not the best idea to do that, iCloud tries to handle near-simultaneous changes by syncing them in the order in which it gets them, with the most recent change synced last. For example, if you add ‘Milk’ to your shopping list on your

computer, and then immediately add ‘Eggs’ to your iPhone list before iCloud has had a chance to sync, iCloud will add first ‘Milk’ and then ‘Eggs’ to your list on iCloud.com. Next, it will add ‘Milk’ to your iPhone list above the ‘Eggs’ item. Finally, it will add ‘Eggs’ to your Mac’s shopping list. That said, any sync service – iCloud included – can get tetchy if you try changing multiple records or the same record in multiple places. iCloud will try its best to reconcile your wishes, but you might occasionally end up with duplicate list entries, events, or notes.

VITAL INFO
DEVICE: Mac, PC, iPad

and iPhone
DIFFICULTY: Beginner TIME REQUIRED: Varies WHAT YOU NEED:

iCloud account

WHAT CAN I SYNC?
iCloud’s document and data sync makes up a large portion of the service. You receive full sync support across all devices (PC, Mac and iOS) for your iCloud.com email, contacts, calendars, reminders, and notes, and that data also appears when you log in to iCloud.com. Depending on your device, you can also sync Safari bookmarks and open tabs, Passbook passes, and app documents and data. Each feature your device supports is listed in the iCloud preference screen; from there, you get to choose what items you want the service to store. For instance, if you enable contacts sync for your iPhone, whenever you enter a new contact there, it automatically gets pushed to iCloud.com and any other devices you have set up to allow contact syncing.

50

iPad & iPhone User 2013

MAIL, CALENDARS, CONTACTS, REMINDERS AND NOTES These five areas are part of iCloud’s core sync program; they are the only ones that can be synced across all iCloud-supported platforms and thus the only ones viewable on iCloud.com. On the Mac and iOS, these areas sync to the programs of the same name: your email syncs to Mail, calendars to Calendar, contacts to the Contacts app, and so on. On a PC, iCloud syncs with Outlook 2007 or later. When you first set up your iCloud account, these features are on by default; that means when you check off a reminder on your iPhone, that reminder will also show up as completed on your Mac (assuming you’ve set up the service on both Mac and iPhone). If you don’t want to sync certain data – your contacts, or your calendars – you can turn off syncing by going to System Preferences > iCloud (on your Mac) or Settings > iCloud (on iOS) and unticking the boxes or turning off the toggles for the appropriate selections. SAFARI BOOKMARKS, READING LIST, AND iCLOUD TABS Available for iOS and Mac users only, the Safari option lets you sync bookmarks, your Reading List, and open tabs and windows (which Apple refers to as iCloud tabs). This data doesn’t go to iCloud.com; it gets synced directly between devices. Bookmarks and Reading List are fairly straightforward: add a new bookmark to your browser, or an article to your Reading List, and that change gets pushed to all your other devices within moments. If you’ve ever found yourself viewing a web page in Safari on your iPhone and wanting to instead view it on the larger screen of your iPad or Mac – or, conversely, reading an article on your Mac and wanting to transfer it to your iPhone as you walk out the door – iCloud Tabs is for you. Instead of emailing URLs to yourself, you just tap the iCloud Tabs button and grab the URL from your other device. iCloud syncs any tabs or windows open on any of your devices – assuming they have

internet access. On your iPhone or iPad, you access synced tabs by tapping Safari’s Bookmarks button, and then tapping iCloud Tabs. (If you’re already in a sublist in the Bookmarks list, tap the left-facing arrow until you get to the top level, titled Bookmarks.) Tabs are grouped by device, and each tab’s entry shows the name of the web page and its URL; tap any item in the list to open that webpage on your device. On your Mac, you access synced tabs by clicking the iCloud Tabs button – which looks like a cloud – in Safari’s toolbar. Tabs are similarly grouped by device, although on the Mac they only display the website’s title instead of both its title and its URL. PASSBOOK Designed for the iPhone and iPod touch, Apple’s mobile wallet app stores boarding passes, event tickets, customer loyalty cards, coupons, movie tickets and other assorted passes and cards in one location. Whenever you pick up a pass, ticket, or coupon, your iCloud account automatically uploads these to the service’s central server. While you can technically sync Passbook with other devices, the only ones available

Reminders (above left) We’ve ticked off the most pressing task on this list… (Above right) …and it (fairly) promptly appears under the Completed list in Safari on a desktop Mac

Cloud tabs Easily view web pages you found on your iPhone on the iPad’s larger screen

iPad & iPhone User 2013

51

SYNCING WITH iCLOUD

are the iPhone and iPod touch – which means that as an iPhone owner, you’d need to also own an iPod touch (or two iPhones) to take advantage of this. But if you’re giving your daughter movie tickets, for example, the sync feature might be useful. PHOTO STREAM With Photo Stream, you can snap a picture from any iOS device – or upload a photo to your Mac or PC – and have it pushed to all your other devices and computers. You can also create Shared Photo Streams, which allow you to collect and send albums of images to your friends and family. On iOS devices, iCloud syncs your Photo Stream to the Photos app, under the Photo Stream tab; on a Mac, you use iPhoto or Aperture; and on a PC, you must choose a folder on your hard drive to use as your Picture Library. The Apple TV can view your Photo Stream, but you can’t upload images to it from the device (as there’s no actual way to add photos to the Apple TV). Photo Stream keeps a copy of the last 1,000 photos snapped on your iOS device or uploaded to your Mac or PC; these photos are stored on iCloud’s central servers for 30

days. Your computer automatically downloads any new synced photos to your chosen photography program, or to your designated photo library folder. In iPhoto, the photos appear under Events, with a default name that includes the month and year, along with Photo Stream. You can, however, change the event name, or reorganise those images and put them elsewhere. iOS devices, in contrast, won’t automatically download full-quality Photo Stream images to your phone – they’re only available for viewing. If you want to edit an image or save a hard copy of it, you must first download it by going to Photos > Photo Stream, selecting the appropriate photo, and then tapping Share > Save to Camera Roll. You can delete individual Photo Stream images from iCloud via your iOS device: Just go to Photos > Photo Stream, tap the image in question, and tap the Trash button. You can also delete multiple images by going to Photos > Photo Stream, tapping the Edit button, and then selecting the images you wish to delete. You can delete Photo Stream images from iCloud via your Mac by opening iPhoto and selecting Photo Stream, and then

iCLOUD SYNC TROUBLESHOOTING
Here’s a couple of common issues with iCloud syncing, and how we would advise tackling them. Diagnosis: merger Content merges – when you try to sync an active iCloud account with a device that has calendars and contacts on it – can be a source of trouble. iCloud always attempts to merge things seamlessly: if it’s merging calendars, and you have two events with the same name, it automatically tries to accept the one you created most recently. Most of the time, data merges should work, but there can be mistakes. If you’re worried about overwriting data, back up your device before you turn on iCloud. Duplicates, duplicates, duplicates If you’re using iTunes 10 or earlier, and you’ve switched on calendar syncing with both iCloud and iTunes, you could be in for some serious duplication. Connect your iOS device to your PC or Mac, select it in iTunes’ Source list, choose the Info tab, and peer at the Sync Calendars entry. Look for these words: “Your calendars are being synced with iCloud over the air. Your calendars will also sync directly with this computer. This may result in duplicated data showing on your device.” This is a strong hint that you’re doing A Bad Thing and that you need to make a choice between syncing with your computer and syncing with iCloud. You can disable calendar syncing within iTunes by unticking the Sync Calendars option. When you do, iTunes will offer to remove its calendar entries from your iPhone. But suppose you have different events in the calendars synced from your Mac and those synced via iCloud, and you’d like to have all of your events on the iPhone. Try this: attach your iPhone to your Mac and, in the Info tab, disable Calendar syncing. When you see the offer to keep or remove the calendars currently on the iPhone, keep them, then click the Apply button at the bottom of the window. Now, move to your iPhone, choose Settings > iCloud, and flick the toggle next to Calendars to Off. Again, you’ll be offered the choice to keep or delete your calendars. In this instance, delete them (don’t worry, they’re stored in the cloud). Now switch the Calendars toggle back to On. In the sheet that appears, tap Merge. What happens? The duplicate events currently stored on your iPhone (the ones synced from your Mac) and on iCloud are merged into a single event. Any additional events not found in your iCloud calendar get added to iCloud.

52

iPad & iPhone User 2013

choosing the photo(s) you wish to delete. You can’t delete individual Photo Stream images from a PC, though you can clear your entire Photo Stream online by logging in to iCloud.com, clicking your name in the top right corner to bring up your Account preferences, selecting Advanced, and then clicking Reset Photo Stream. If you want to share images in your library with friends – whether you’ve added them to Photo Stream or not – you can create a Shared Photo Stream on your Mac or iOS device (from iPhoto or the Photos app, respectively). On your Mac, select the images you want to share, click the Share button, and then click Photo Stream. From here, you can create a new Shared Photo Stream, or add it to a Shared Photo Stream you’ve already created. Create a new stream, and you’ll need to choose whom to send it to and whether you want to make the images available on the web. Friends who have iCloud will see the shared stream pop up in the Photo Stream section of iPhoto or the Photos app on iOS; those without an iCloud account can view the images on the web. You can also easily create a Shared Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad by selecting the images you want, and then tapping Share > Photo Stream. After you make a Shared Photo Stream, your recipients can comment on or like your photo, and even save it to their own computer or iOS device. DOCUMENTS & DATA This toggle controls the wireless sync and storage of all iCloudenabled apps. Sometimes referred to by Apple as Documents in the Cloud, Documents & Data keeps your app information ubiquitous across all your iOS devices and computers, allowing you to create a document on one device, save it, and pick up where you left off somewhere else. Accessing documents between iOS devices is seamless. Say you started a Numbers spreadsheet on your iPad; you could save it

and open it up later on your iPhone to do some tweaking. You can access your projects across all your iOS devices (and, if the app in question supports OS X, the Mac), so it’s not necessary to file share or email copies to yourself. Documents & Data will automatically sync your documents through iCloud, so you can access them on all of your iOS devices. Apple’s own App Store apps (such as Pages, Keynote, Numbers and iPhoto, among others) use this functionality, as do third-party apps like AgileBits’ 1Password, Tapbots’ Tweetbot and Autodesk’s SketchBook Pro. Using iCloud in apps that support it is simple as can be: Just flip the Documents & Data switch on in iCloud settings. Then, when you download an iCloud-enabled app, it should prompt you to use the service to store documents or data. (If the app doesn’t ask you about iCloud functionality automatically, you may need to turn on a setting in its preferences.) If you ever want to delete an app’s iCloud information, on an iOS device, select Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage > Documents & Data; on a Mac or PC, go to the iCloud preference pane or control panel and click the Manage button.

Photo stream (above left) iCloud (and Photo Streams) allows you to view your iPhone photos on your iPad. But it doesn’t download them at full quality unless prompted… (Above right) …To do this you’ll need to select the option Save to Camera Roll first

Which documents are hogging iCloud’s storage? As you can see, Pages is taking up about 100 times as much space as Infinity Blade II, which makes us rather sad

iPad & iPhone User 2013

53

Four productivity-boosting replacements for stock iOS apps
Awesome alternatives to Calendar, Mail, Notes and Reminders
BY RICK BROIDA

I

f you’re an iPhone user, you’re no doubt familiar with the pre-installed apps, such as Calendar, Mail, Notes and Reminders. Indeed, these are key tools in any mobile worker’s arsenal – and yet all four have room for improvement. Some would say a lot. Below, we’ve rounded up four great alternatives to the aforementioned apps, all of which will boost your productivity.

further right to delete. Swipe left and you get built-in snooze options, an ideal way to make mail resurface at the top of your inbox at a later time and/or date. Mailbox is free, but for the moment you’ll have to join a fairly lengthy waiting list to get it. Trust us: it’s worth waiting for. itun.es/i6Jr9vq

REPLACE CALENDAR WITH FANTASTICAL
If you live and die by the calendar, as so many business people do, you’ve no doubt had some complaints with Calendar for iOS. Instead, try Fantastical, which provides a fresh, attractive interface for your appointments, and also simplifies adding new ones. Specifically, you can create an entry just by typing a simple sentence: “Lunch with Thomas on Friday at Always Be Chewing.” Even better, you can dictate that same sentence and Fantastical will turn it into an appointment, with all the critical details filled in. There are a few iOS-imposed limitations, but we find Fanastical to be exactly that, and well worth the £2.49 price of admission. itun.es/i6Jt5Hv

REPLACE NOTES WITH SPRINGPAD
Bet you thought we were going to say Evernote. Anything is better than Apple’s anaemic Notes app, which can’t even sort your entries, but we find SpringPad to be the better information-management tool. For starters, it’s much easier to learn, with an interface that’s as straightforward as Evernote’s is confusing. What’s more, it offers handy extras like task lists, reminders and contacts, and you can collaborate with co-workers on selected items. itun.es/i6Jc6Bf

REPLACE REMINDERS WITH ASTRID
We can’t survive without a to-do list, and while Apple’s Reminders gets the job done, it’s a pretty bare-bones task manager. Astrid is just the opposite, offering a wealth of task-management tools and an attractive, straightforward interface. You can add tasks using your voice, copy tasks to your calendar, and, perhaps best of all, assign tasks to people in your contact list. It’ll even import your existing tasks from Reminders. Not bad for a freebie. itun.es/i6Jt8Zj

REPLACE MAIL WITH MAILBOX
The stock Mail app isn’t bad, but Mailbox makes inbox management a breeze. It’s all about how you swipe. While viewing your message list, you can swipe right to archive an individual message, or a little

The replacements From left to right: Fantastical, Mailbox, SpringPad and Astrid

54

iPad & iPhone User 2013

Clean your lawn in Plants vs Zombies
Got zombies on your grass? Here are some tips for playing PopCap’s tower defence gem, designed to keep even the most persistent corpse off your plot
BY ALAN MARTIN
THE BASICS
Sunshine is everything, so don’t be afraid to plant a lot of Sunflowers/Sunshrooms. Two rows should do it. While harvesting sunshine early on, one neat tip is to put down Potato Mines to hold off the early zombies without having to spend all your sunshine on more expensive plants. Sure, they’re one use only, but at 25 sunshine each, they won’t break the solar bank. Plant them some way in front of the oncoming zombie, though, so they have time to activate. Keep your defenceless plants at the back. It may sound obvious, but plants with no means to defend themselves should be as far away from the zombies as possible. Remember, if the worst comes to the worst, you have one free kill per row with the lawnmowers. If reached, they will kill everything in their path. A helpful safety net.

GARDENER’S TIPS
The Wallnut (and its cousin, the Tallnut) can be a lifesaver. If some zombies are getting uncomfortably close to your house, you can put one down to stall them (35 seconds for the Wallnut, 70 for the Tallnut) while you gather up sun-power, dig up defenceless plants and put down a pea-shooter or two. The Gravebuster may seem a luxury item, but it’s worth using when you have excess sun for two reasons: 1) it gives you extra cash to spend on stuff from Crazy Dave, and 2) zombies pop up from the graves in the final waves – if they’re removed, they can’t. Speaking of Crazy Dave, save up money and visit him often. Top items include an extra

seed slot, and the Sunflower upgrade for double the sunshine per harvest. You can also use the Wallnut to bottleneck a bunch of zombies at once. Plant a Wallnut, let them gather around it, drop a Cherry Bomb and worry about cleaning up the bits of corpse later. Another way to bottleneck zombies is using the underrated Garlic, which will send zombies into an adjacent row after a single bite. Putting these on the top and bottom columns can funnel the undead into your four main rows, where you can concentrate all your firepower. Jalapeños burn not only the Zomboni, but also the icy path it leaves behind.

Fog level Foggy levels are tricky, but clever use of Planterns and Torchwood will help if you can keep them protected

SPECIFIC LEVEL TIPS
Rooftop levels are angled, so anything on the back five columns will need to either be a catapult, or a non-offensive item like a Sunflower. But once the roof is flat, the trusty Threepeater is just as effective here as ever. On ‘conveyor belt’ levels, whack down unwanted plants, then immediately dig them up to clear space on the belt for prize items. The bowling levels aren’t too taxing, but as each Wallnut bounces off at an angle from the zombie it hits, you can control which direction it heads by using the bottom or top lanes, where it can only ping off in one direction.

Standard level Joke for you: What does a vegan zombie eat? Graaaaaaaains

EXPERT TIP Need more tips? This is only scratching the surface of the game, but PopCap have a very neat guide in-game. The Suburban Almanac tells you about all the plants and zombies encountered so far. It’s selectable from the main menu. The ‘Help’ button, however (hilarious as it is), is best ignored, unless you’re secretly rooting for the undead.

iPad & iPhone User 2013

55

HIT LIST

I

n Hit List you’ll find our picks of the best gadgets, updated each month with the most favourably reviewed kit. Hit List starts with Apple’s devices themselves: on this page we look at the current iPad and iPhone line-ups, and the iPods are rated overleaf. Later you’ll find the accessories most worth your hard-earned cash, from audio gear to cases, chargers and stands. And finally we round up the best apps and games from the iTunes Store. Only the best kit makes it into Hit List: look out for the golden 5-star logos, which indicate a product that has earned our coveted Star Buy award for excellence.

INSIDE HIT LIST
58 iPODS • HEADPHONES 59 SPEAKERS 60 iPHONE 4/4S/5 CASES iPAD CASES 61 iPAD STANDS • STYLUSES BATTERIES & CHARGERS 62 APPS 64 GAMES

iPhone 5
Long-screened, beautiful upgrade to an already brilliant smartphone
Price depends on mobile contract. SIM-free: £529 (16GB), £599 (32GB), £699 (64GB) www.apple.com/uk/iphone

RATING
LIKES:

★★★★
Taller screen 4G compatibility DISLIKES: Lightning connector 4G limitations

Thin, light, beautiful design Faster graphics and all-round processing than 4S Better low-light photography

N

otable new technology in the iPhone 5 includes a larger, 4in display, 4G LTE connectivity, a new A6 processor, a better camera and an HD front-facing iSight camera. There’s also a new dock connector called Lightning, which replaces the 30-pin Dock connector that’s been present on every iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and most iPods. The amazing thing about the iPhone 5 is that the device itself manages to feel smaller, while the screen is bigger: up

to 4in. Partly this is down to the lighter weight, slimmer design and smaller bezel. Depth is down to 7.6mm. The taller (but not wider) 4in display’s 16:9 ratio is better for watching films and TV shows. In portrait mode you get an extra row of apps on the Home screen, and many list-based apps can pack in an extra story or two. Once they’ve been optimised for the additional space, games will look pretty special. The A6 processor makes the iPhone 5 around two and a half times as quick as the 4S, and also speeds up its camera; this component is again rated at 8Mp but has improved low-light capabilities and a tougher lens. While slimmer and reversible, the Lightning connector has its down sides – those old cables and wired accessories won’t work without an adaptor. But overall the iPhone 5 is marginally better in just about every area than the 4S. READ MORE: bit.ly/PsYqTf

iPhone 4S
Fast, great at photos and gaming, and £50 cheaper than a few months ago
Price depends on mobile contract; SIM-free: £449 (16GB only) www.apple.com/uk/iphone

RATING
LIKES:

★★★★
DISLIKES: Easily outpaced on most demanding apps by iPhone 5 Lack of noticeable changes may put buyers off

Faster than 4S Terrific camera Full iOS 6 compatibility Same smart design as iPhone 4

C

an a £50 price cut tempt buyers to consider last year’s model? Perhaps. The 4S hasn’t turned into a bad phone overnight, and at £449 it represents sound value for money, if lacking in the excitement of the more recent release. The 4S earned record-breaking sales by taking the successful look of the iPhone 4 and tossing in a dualcore processor for dramatically improved speed, a heavily upgraded camera and some brand-new voice-command

technologies with tremendous potential. Siri, indeed, is now a stronger proposition than ever thanks to the free software update iOS 6, whose features the 4S can enjoy in full. (See bit.ly/KywxnP.) The dual-core A5 processor is one generation more advanced than the A4 processor that powered the iPhone 4 and the original iPad, and you can expect better performance when handling demanding apps and games. The iPhone 5, however, sees a yet more significant speed bump thanks to its A6 chip. The 4S’s camera saw a jump in spec from 5Mp to 8Mp and offers fast response shooting. It also shoots video at 1080p, which is quite a bit higher resolution than the iPhone 4’s 720p. (This means all your video files will be larger.) The iPhone 4S is worth considering for its decent speed, great camera, extensive iOS 6 compatibility and smart design. READ MORE: bit.ly/JPUuJW

56

iPad & iPhone User 2013

RATINGS EXPLAINED
★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★
= STAR BUY: SUPERB

WE TEST REVIEWED PRODUCTS FOR PERFORMANCE, USER-FRIENDLINESS, BUILD QUALITY (FOR HARDWARE) AND VALUE FOR MONEY, THEN RATE THEM ON A 5-POINT SCALE. HERE’S WHAT THE SCORES MEAN.

★ ★ ★ ★ = VERY GOOD

★ ★ ★ = GOOD

★ ★ = POOR

★ = UNACCEPTABLE

iPad with Retina display (4th gen)
Looks the same, but it’s faster than any previous iPad
Wi-Fi only: £399 (16GB); £479 (32GB); £559 (64GB); £639 (128GB) Wi-Fi+Cellular: £499 (16GB); £579 (32GB); £659 (64GB); £739 (128GB) www.apple.com/uk/ipad

RATING
LIKES:

★★★★★
Better camera performance DISLIKES: Slightly decreased battery life Lightning accessories are still in short supply

Incredibly fast performance Lightning connector offers an improvement over the dock-connector

G

ood luck telling the iPad 3 and 4 apart. In fact, the only outward difference is the cable you plug in: the iPad 4 – which entirely replaces the 3, leaving the iPad 2 as the budget alternative – features the smaller Lightning connector. Otherwise, though, externally this is the same iPad you know and love: the same controls, support for the same Smart Cover and the same 2,048 x 1,536-pixel Retina display.

So what are the real differences? First, the iPad 4’s A6X processor, which is roughly twice as fast as the iPad 3. Still, it’s going to be a little while before companies start shipping apps that can take advantage of all the horsepower the iPad 4 brings to bear. The rear-facing camera is now a 5Mp model – providing a much crisper image than its predecessor – and the front-facing camera gets a bump to 720p for video conferencing. The iPad 4 also extends 4G functionality, which means the iPad now works with the UK’s version of 4G. And a huge 128GB of storage has just become available. This is a modest improvement on the iPad 3, but that’s no reason to look down your nose at it. This is the most powerful iPad yet, with by far the most storage capacity. READ MORE: bit.ly/RaffSm

iPad 2
Reduced in price and a decent alternative to the iPad 4
Wi-Fi: £329 (16GB) Wi-Fi + 3G: £429 (16GB) www.apple.com/uk/ipad

RATING
LIKES:

★★★★★
Only available with 16GB Camera is poor, especially compared to the new iPad Will start to feel sluggish as firms create apps with the super-fast iPad 4 in mind

£70 cheaper than iPad 4 User-friendly and enjoyable Wide range of apps available DISLIKES: No Retina display

E

ven fewer Apple fans are going to spare a thought for the humble old iPad 2 now that the iPad 4 has hit the shops. But this is the same sparkling, all-conquering tablet we loved just a few months ago, and it’s had £70 slashed off its price. A quick go on the iPad 2 and you’ll understand just why it proved so popular. Instantly switching on, it enables you

to access the internet and all your favourite apps with the kind of finger interaction that made the iPhone popular. The large screen also makes it ideal for reading books, watching video, and playing games. The display here looks sharp, bright and clear – right up until the second you read some text on the iPad 4’s Retina display. The difference in non-text environments is less marked, but is likely to increase as developers take advantage of the extra detail. The price is £70 below the equivalent iPad 4, but all but the lowest storage versions (of both Wi-Fi and 3G models) have been discontinued: it’s 16GB or nothing. This is likely to fill up quickly if you watch films and play lots of games. READ MORE: bit.ly/OUaNGA

iPad mini
Most of an iPad at half the size – but no Retina display
Wi-Fi only: £269 (16GB); £349 (32GB); £429 (64GB) Wi-Fi + Cellular: £369 (16GB); £449 (32GB); £529 (64GB) www.apple.com/uk/ipad

RATING
LIKES:

★★★★
DISLIKES: No Retina display Some apps and websites feel cramped on smaller screen

Most of the iPad experience in a smaller, lighter package Existing iPad apps run natively

T

he mini is just 46 percent of the volume of the iPad 4 and 47 percent of the weight. Yet it has a 7.9in display that’s a full 66 percent of the screen area of a full-size iPad. In terms of internal components, the iPad mini is somewhere between the second- and fourth-gen tablets. It uses the same dual-core A5 processor and 512MB of RAM as the iPad 2, but it has the 1.2-megapixel FaceTime HD front

camera and 5Mp back camera of the iPad 4. Of course, the mini also uses Apple’s new Lightning connector. Contrary to Apple’s recent trend towards highres screens, the mini doesn’t have a Retina display. Instead, it offers the same screen resolution as the iPad 2: 1,024 x 768 pixels, considerably lower than the 2,048 x 1,536 of the iPad 3 and 4. If you’re accustomed to one of those, the lower pixel density is immediately noticeable, especially on text. It’s worth pointing out, however, that after three days of only using the mini, the difference – while still noticeable – wasn’t nearly as glaring. With the exception of a Retina display, the iPad mini gives you the full iPad experience, in a device about half the size and weight of the standard iPad. READ MORE: bit.ly/RzhRII

iPad & iPhone User 2013

57

iPODS iPod touch
■ £249 (32GB), £329 (64GB) ■ Apple ■ apple.com/uk RAtinG ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ the new touch is slimmer, lighter and taller than its predecessor. the extra screen space allows for another row of icons, and many apps will be built (or redesigned) to take advantage of the taller display. the touch has the A5 chip found in last year’s iPhone, and you’ll find this model noticeably quicker at starting up from shutdown and firing up apps. As well as a 1.2Mp frontfacing camera, it now packs a 5Mp rear-facing iSight camera that reveals far more details, is better in low light and has superior colour accuracy. the old touch’s camera tends to drench images with a blue hue and produces grainy results in low light. indoor skin tones are warmer with the new iPod.

IN-EAR HEADPHONES

OVER-EAR HEADPHONES

Apple EarPods
■ £25 ■ Apple ■ www.apple.com/uk RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

Parrot Zik
■ £349.99 ■ Parrot ■ www.parrot.com/uk RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

These EarPods provide a significantly improved listening experience compared to Apple’s previous bundled headphones. And if you’re looking to upgrade from existing Apple earbuds, or to replace a broken set, the EarPods are easily worth £25, especially considering that they include an inline remote/mic module. READ MORE: bit.ly/T2W2iV

Parrot’s new Zik headphones boast a stylish design by Philippe Starck, sound great and cost a small fortune, though they work hard to justify the price. The comfortable earpieces are packed with techno-goodies, including a rechargeable battery, Bluetooth wireless streaming, touch-sensitive controls and noise cancellation. READ MORE: bit.ly/Vyhu2K

Sennheiser CX 550 Style II
■ £80 ■ Sennheiser ■ www.sennheiser.co.uk RATing ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Audio Earmuffs
■ £19.99 ■ KitSound ■ kitsound.co.uk RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

Sennheiser’s new noiseisolating headphones are a stylish and sturdy set. They’re designed with a small arm that’s tilted forward to help the cable stay in place and the headphones comfortably in the ear. Sound-wise, the CX 550 Style iis are a strong choice – balanced and detailed. Pricey, but worth it for the quality and comfort. READ MORE: bit.ly/KSnyXr

At this time of year, our thoughts turn to physical comforts, and these headphones will certainly keep your ears nice and toasty. They are comfortable to wear too, and there’s an easy-to-use volume control on the cable. The audio quality is strong for the price: warm and rich, although there’s not much punch to the bass. READ MORE: bit.ly/13ewB6R

iPod classic
■ £199 (160GB) ■ Apple ■ apple.com/uk RAtinG ★ ★ ★ ★ the classic is a tried and tested way to carry media; it’s brilliant if you want to take a large collection of music and video with you. the latest version is 160GB, which represents excellent value for money, and if capacity is your prime concern, the classic is the iPod to own. it also offers superb battery life: it’ll play tunes for almost two days before the battery dies. And the clickwheel is still a design classic. However, it isn’t really made for the kind of fine touch you need to precisely move from cover to cover. And it’s hardly a quick way to find one out of several hundred albums and then play a particular song. there are easier ways to explore and play your music.

Denon AH-C560R
■ £70 ■ Denon ■ www.denon.co.uk RATing ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Air-Fi AF32
■ £70 ■ MEElectronics ■ www.meelec.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

Denon is known for its high-quality audio systems, but its earphones can be quite pricey. However, the AHC560R costs £70, and still provides excellent quality. A high frequency range results in a very clean, clear sound with rich echoing bass and detailed higher frequencies. includes a mic for making and taking calls. READ MORE: bit.ly/JRSOKZ

For a set of Bluetooth wireless headphones in this price range, the Air-Fi AF32 on-ear stereo headphones are extremely comfortable and offer good sound quality. And you can’t beat the feature set or the 12-hour battery life. Leaving aside minor quibbles about hot ears and not-quite-perfect audio, we really like them. READ MORE: bit.ly/iEBiTW

Etymotic HF2
■ £99 ■ Etymotic ■ www.etymotic.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Sennheiser RS 220
■ £349 ■ Sennheiser ■ www.sennheiser.co.uk RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

A phenomenal set of earphones – the HF2s might be at the top end of most budgets, but they deliver the kind of sound that can cost a lot more. Etymotic has also teamed up with hearing experts ACS to offer a custom eartip service, which makes for a comfortable fit. This costs an extra £90. Moulds can be done at your local Boots. READ MORE: bit.ly/KoA9Ly

There are less expensive wireless headphones that provide comparable quality – the RS 160s (bit.ly/Ji9UXX), for example, are half the price – but the extra input and output features built into the transmitter unit will appeal to audiophiles and home cinema buffs who want to integrate these into their entertainment system. READ MORE: bit.ly/M85cni

58

iPad & iPhone User 2013

SPeakerS

WireleSS SPeakerS

iPODS iPod nano
■ £129 (16GB) ■ Apple ■ apple.com/uk RAtinG ★ ★ ★ ★ the latest version of the iPod nano reverts to a more traditional tall-and-thin design that provides room for a decent-size display once more. it measures a still-modest 76.5 x 39.6mm, but increases the size of the screen to a more practical 2.5in. the nano also regains its ability to play video. the screen is touchsensitive as before, but the increased size makes it a lot easier to browse and flick through your music and video collection. Battery life is rated at a maximum of 30 hours for audio, although video playback is a more modest 3.5 hours. the nano looks good, too, with an aluminium exterior that’s available in more than half a dozen colours.

Gear4 Xorb
■ £69.99 (£89.99 for Bluetooth) ■ Gear4 ■ gear4.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

UE Boombox
■ £199 ■ Logitech ■ ue.logitech.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

The Xorb’s 30W output is fairly loud, but its compact design means it doesn’t produce the most expansive sound. It’s probably not quite beefy enough to be used as the main speaker system in your front room, but it’s a good, affordable choice if you need a compact speaker for your bedroom, or for a small studio apartment. READ MORE: bit.ly/YG7r15

As its name suggests, the Boombox is designed with portability in mind. It’s well built, with a metal grille covering the speaker drivers and a rubber coating on the base. The speaker can pair with three Bluetooth devices at once, so you and your friends can use it together. Sound quality is good too: nice and detailed, with a firm bass. READ MORE: bit.ly/15lcmV7

BeoPlay A3
■ £449 ■ Bang & Olufsen ■ www.beoplay.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

SuperTooth Disco 2
■ £79.95 ■ SuperTooth ■ www.supertooth.net RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A novel iPad speaker and stand that embraces Apple’s tablet snugly, the BeoPlay A3 is clearly a quality product from a quality brand, and it’s especially suited to those who keep their iPad at home and close to hand. Great for desktops and bedside tables, the A3 offers a rich, detailed sound. The price, however, makes it a serious investment. READ MORE: bit.ly/N1z2DT

The price tag isn’t one to be taken lightly – a quick search online will demonstrate that goodquality wireless audio can be had for £20 less – but the look, portability, convenience of use and audio output of the SuperTooth Disco 2 all tell in its favour. The wireless speaker market is thick with contenders, but this is one of our favourites. READ MORE: bit.ly/11dajEi

Rechargeable Speaker S715i
■ £129 ■ Logitech ■ www.logitech.co.uk RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Braven 650
■ £159.99 ■ Braven ■ www.braven.eu RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

iPod shuffle
■ £40 (2GB) ■ Apple ■ apple.com/uk RAtinG ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ With the redesign of the fourth-generation iPod shuffle, Apple has brought back a classic design that works well with any set of headphones. At £40 for 2GB, it’s not only the perfect entry-level iPod, it’s also a solid second device for iPhone users who want to keep it simple while exercising. While the reduced size makes it a bit harder to clip on clothing than the secondgeneration model, it’s hard to quibble about small details without focusing on the big one: Apple has backed off its misguided design of a buttonless iPod shuffle and returned to the right path. throw in the VoiceOver features and the longer battery life, and it’s easy to say this is the best iPod shuffle Apple has ever made.

It may be bigger and heavier than most portable models, but the S715i is still practical as a travel speaker and should fit into a backpack or bag fairly easily. Its eight-hour rechargeable battery is great for listening to music on the go, and the chunky design allows it to generate enough power and bass to really get things swinging. READ MORE: bit.ly/MyYk6Q

The Braven 650 is worth looking at if you need a sturdy and compact travel speaker. Measuring 6 x 2.5 x 2in, it will easily slip into a backpack. It’s also light, at just under 400g, but its aluminium casing is a lot more sturdy and durable than many plastic portable speakers. It sounds good too, as the aluminium seems to add weight to the audio. READ MORE: bit.ly/10bhLzl

Orbitsound T9
■ £199 ■ Orbitsound ■ www.orbitsound.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Libratone Zipp
■ £329.99 ■ Libratone ■ libratone.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Compact one-piece speaker docks are a popular and convenient option, but often suffer from poor bass output. To counteract this, the T9 comes with a separate subwoofer. The speaker dock itself has a similar soundbar, with an iPod dock on the top. It’s also equipped with digital audio and video output connectors to hook up to a TV. READ MORE: bit.ly/OLLhmh

One side effect of Apple’s new Lightning connector table is a boost to the appeal of wireless accessories. And with its clever AirPlay and PlayDirect, simple setup and attractive design, the Zipp is easy to recommend. If you want a portable AirPlay speaker, it’s an excellent option – as long as the £329.99 price tag isn’t too steep for you. READ MORE: bit.ly/SuM6TQ

iPad & iPhone User 2013

59

iPAD miNi CASES Sena Florence for iPad mini
■ £79.99 ■ Sena Cases ■ www.senacases.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Leather iPad cases seem to be today’s go-to accessory for travelling business execs, and Sena’s Florence is a beautifully crafted example. A magnetic clasp reproduces the Apple Smart Cover’s on/ off functionality, and the front cover folds to form a triangular stand. The fit and finish are nice, and this is a stylish piece of work.

iPHONE 5 CASES

iPAD CASES

Griffin KaZoo
■ £19.99 ■ Griffin ■ www.griffintechnology.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

LifeProof Nüüd
■ £84.49 ■ LifeProof ■ lifeproof.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

This elephantine iPhone 5 case is very comfortable to hold in one hand. It’s fashioned from soft silicone with a pleasing matt finish. The visuals are a treat. That nice, vibrant colour makes it stand out so much that it’s easy to find at the bottom of a bag, and we love the attention to detail: the Home button is covered by a ‘paw print’. READ MORE: bit.ly/TvON4Y

The makers of this case claim you can submerge your Nüüd‑clad iPad to a depth of 2m, drop it from 1.2m and expose it to dust, ice and snow. Getting the iPad in isn’t hard, but requires some patience. Once it’s inside, you have access to all the ports and buttons. You’re compromising on weight and bulk, but this is some serious protection. READ MORE: bit.ly/ShLAL9

Proporta Ted Baker
■ £29.95 to £39.95 ■ Proporta ■ www.proporta.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Taylor Smart Stand Sleeve
■ £49.95 ■ Case Addict ■ www.caseaddict.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Powis iCase mini
■ £60.45 ■ Powis ■ powiscase.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ This book-style iPad mini case is available in a slew of patterns, from tartan to fake animal skin. Alternatively, you can customise the design with an image of your own. The well-made case offer protection from drops; but at 19mm deep it adds a noticeable degree of thickness. Magnets hold the mini in place and trigger sleep and wake, and there’s a kickstand.

Proporta has one of the largest collections of iPhone cases available, but the ones we like best are these Ted Baker print models. You can choose from a basic protective case with smart prints such as bicycles, bugs and a good old‑fashioned paisley pattern, but there’s also a flip case made out of faux leather with a geometric pattern print. READ MORE: bit.ly/SjZett

This partially stiffened sleeve is also a stand. A stitched groove on each side lets you fold it into two neat tetrahedral structures: a shallow one for typing and a nearer‑ vertical one for viewing video. Magnets are sewn into the mouth of the sleeve so it clamps shut when the iPad is inside and holds itself together when folded into a stand. READ MORE: bit.ly/LzIrmC

Griffin Survivor
■ £35.99 ■ Griffin ■ www.griffintechnology.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Flexi-Fold Smart Case
■ £35 ■ GGMM ■ thepadzone.co.uk RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

QDOS Libris Red for iPad mini
■ £34.99 ■ QDOS ■ qdossound.com RATING ★ ★ ★ Fashioned from red imitation leather, the Libris covers the iPad mini’s display with a front flap that can be held in place with an elasticated band. Within the flap are two pull-out leather stands that prop your iPad mini in either vertical or horizontal orientation. The Libris adds a fair amount of bulk, but offers decent protection and is stylish, too.

Available in a variety of colours, the Survivor is designed to meet UK and US military standards. The case consists of a shatter‑resistant polycarbonate frame with silicon padding to cushion your iPhone from drops, and a screen protector. The port covers are sealed to keep out dirt or rain. READ MORE: bit.ly/XnZBVX

This is a great case and stand for the iPad 2 or 4. It’s a tight fit, but that’s not a bad thing. The folding stand idea (the covering flap can be bent into various supportive shapes) is a clever and effective concept. It’s not super‑cheap, but Apple’s Smart Covers set you back just as much without offering any protection for the iPad’s back. READ MORE: bit.ly/NhGVSG

Cygnett Urban Shield
■ £19.95 ■ Cygnett ■ uk.cygnett.com RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

South BookBook Vol 2
■ £69.99 ■ Twelve South ■ www.twelvesouth.com RATING ★ ★ ★

Cygnett’s Urban Shield is a smart‑looking case that’s also tough enough to provide good protection. The sturdy polycarbonate frame has a rigid plate of aluminium mounted on the back panel to deal with knocks and scratches, but also has a smart brushed‑metal finish to give it a touch of Apple‑esque style. READ MORE: bit.ly/TWrILf

The BookBook is a striking iPad case that comes in black, brown or red. A zip runs around three edges, where the pages would be visible if this were an actual book. A leather frame on the right‑hand panel supports the iPad 2 or later. When it’s all zipped up, the BookBook does a good job of protecting your iPad, and gives a distinctive look. READ MORE: bit.ly/TxX4I6

60

iPad & iPhone User 2013

iPAD STANDS

BATTERIES AND CHARGERS

STYLUSES Sensu Portable Artist Brush/Stylus
■ $39.99 (around £25.60) ■ Sensu ■ sensubrush.com RaTing ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Sunsu Brush offers something special – it’s a paintbrush. You can use it on a touchscreen thanks to metallic particles embedded into the bristles, which make it conductive. it also comes with a handy stylus at the other end. it’s expensive, but then it is a high-quality item. if you create images on an iPad, you should consider one of these.

Gogo Stump Portable Stand
■ £19.95 ■ Stump ■ www.stumpstand.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

BioLite CampStove
■ £149.95 ■ BioLite ■ www.biolitestove.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

This cylindrical rubber stand has a deep slit that can hold your iPad or iPhone in portrait or landscape position; a round cut-out lets you easily press the Home button. it offers three viewing angles and is weighted for stability. Available in black, red, green, yellow or pink, this combines utility with simplicity at a reasonable price. READ MORE: bit.ly/RadkyB

The CampStove is an ingenious portable charging device that uses a fan to oxygenate and help maintain a fire inside a small, stainless-steel chamber. The fan is powered by a rechargeable battery, but in a convenient twist, that battery is itself recharged using the heat of the fire, and can then be used to charge your other gear. READ MORE: bit.ly/Vd5Z48

Slate iPad Stand
■ £71.99 ■ Ergonomic Cafe ■ ergonomiccafe.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

XtremeMac InCharge X5
■ £129.99 ■ XtremeMac ■ www.xtrememac.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

The Slate lacks the finesse of other iPad stands and feels the work of a smaller company; and it took a little getting used to. But we found the benefits became clearer over time. Some fine-tuning would be welcome, but for now this is a worthy option for anyone concerned about improving posture while working with an iPad. READ MORE: bit.ly/QS6VaJ

if you own a whole range of iOS devices, the appeal of XtremeMac’s inCharge X5 will be clear: it’s a compact, no-clutter way to stash up to five such devices for charging and storage. Each (30-pin) dock cradle provides a full 10W of power, letting you simultaneously charge any combination of five iPads, iPhones or iPods. Deservedly popular. READ MORE: bit.ly/11bmeBi

Scribbly
■ £9.99 ■ Scribbly ■ scribbly.eu RaTing ★ ★ ★ ★ The Scribbly stylus resembles a permanent marker pen, but its chunky looks are misleading – the soft, seemingly durable nib is precise and responsive, offering good control. its build quality is good, and has so far survived numerous trips in pockets and bags without signs of wear and tear.

HoverBar
■ £75 ■ Twelve South ■ www.twelvesouth.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Juice Pack Powerstation Mini
■ £50 ■ Mophie ■ www.mophie.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

The HoverBar is a malleable metal arm with a clamp at one end and an iPad mount at the other. Attaching the clamp to an object, such as an iMac, lets you position your device at any angle or height you find convenient. A ball joint behind the iPad enhances flexibility, allowing the user to rotate and tilt the device with ease. READ MORE: bit.ly/z8gU8i

At just 80g, the Powerstation Mini packs a 2,500mAh battery into a case about the size of a credit card, and a few mm thicker than the iPhone 4 or 4S. The top and bottom are made of a rubberised (and fairly scratch-resistant) material, and the Mini’s small size means it’ll easily slip into a pocket or bag. READ MORE: bit.ly/QaTqkU

2 in 1 Stylus & Pen
■ £9.99 ■ The Snugg ■ www.thesnugg.com RaTing ★ ★ ★ ★ For professional artists looking for an advanced tool, this may not be the best choice. But at £9.99 it’s perfect for the average touchscreen device owner who wants to use it for drawing, painting, taking notes, and more. With the added ink pen and headphone jack attachment features, you can’t go wrong.

UpStand
■ £41 ■ Just Mobile ■ www.just-mobile.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

Crosskase Solar 15
■ £139.99 ■ Crosskase ■ crosskase.com RATing ★ ★ ★ ★

The UpStand is a real looker, with a solid circular base and arrowshaped supporting bracket, all made of gleaming aluminium that complements the iPad beautifully. The stand is a bit on bulky side, but the aluminium design is surprisingly lightweight, so you can easily move it from room to room. Smart and convenient. READ MORE: bit.ly/KDRZst

The Solar 15 is a sturdy, well-made rucksack with plenty of pockets and a solar panel on the front. The slim battery can charge an iPhone 4S twice over. Filling the battery requires at least eight hours of solid sunshine; shady periods mean the reality is likely to be more. But as a backup power supply, the Solar 15 is a nice option. READ MORE: bit.ly/OL5JUm

iPad & iPhone User 2013

61

PHOTO APPS iPhoto
■ £2.99 ■ Apple ■ itun.es/iPL6n6 RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Drop-dead gorgeous with swift animated operation, iPhoto for iOS is also deep, complete, equipped with a huge number of functions and easy to use – putting photo viewing, editing and sharing at your fingertips. We expect most people who try it will end up turning to iPhoto for iOS as their default mobile photo editor.

APPS

Twitterific 5
■ £1.99 ■ Twitterrific ■ itun.es/i6Jd4yg RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Google Maps
■ Free ■ Google ■ itun.es/i6Jf2V7 RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

The Iconfactory’s willingness to completely redesign Twitterific every few years is part of the reason for its continuing success. Version 5 is more competitive than ever. The new version features a more seamless design. But above all, even though there are plenty of customisation options, the app’s simple, not overwrought. READ MORE: bit.ly/10RDpI5

Google Maps is a very solid mapping and navigation app. It looks remarkably similar to Apple’s own Maps app, right down to the blue dot that highlights your current location. Features include public transport information, the ability to bookmark frequently visited locations, Street View, and turn-by-turn directions. Welcome back, Google. READ MORE: bit.ly/UqEEH9

Postr for Tumblr
■ £1.99 ■ Tomaz Nedeljko ■ itun.es/i6jt3Qh RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Feedly
■ Free ■ DevHD ■ itun.es/i6Ds5jk RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Photosynth
■ £1.99 ■ Microsoft ■ itun.es/i6DB5j7 RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ Photosynth lets you take panoramic photos. It uses a rectangle with a centred dot to indicate the area being captured. It paints edges using dotted lines to show what’s missing, and as you move the camera around, it tries to capture new portions automatically. Tap finish, and the app shows a preview of all the frames captured, then stitched together.

Given its popularity, it’s baffling that Tumblr doesn’t have an official iPad app. Postr is a decent substitute, allowing you to post photos, quotes, links, video, audio – whatever takes your fancy – from within the app. You can even shoot video on your iPad and share it at once. It’s the best Tumblr app we’ve come across. READ MORE: bit.ly/NjoXB2

Touted as a ‘personalisable and beautiful magazine’, Feedly is a joy to use, thanks to a simple, intuitive design that makes browsing more considered. It isn’t for news junkies seeking an instant fix, but for anyone who wants to explore and share the wider world online, it’s well nigh essential. READ MORE: bit.ly/Vk13pe

Bento 4 for iPad
■ £6.99 ■ FileMaker ■ itun.es/ibf9Gq RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Popsicolor
■ 69p ■ Tinrocket ■ itun.es/ibD3xP RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Afterglow
■ 69p ■ Simon Filip ■ itun.es/i6Dn9vt RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Afterglow has many of the tools found in other photo editors, but combines them in such a clean, intuitive interface that it’s a joy to use. It currently offers a fairly modest range of filters, but these are all of a high quality and include a selection of worthy ‘guest filters’ created by Instagram users.

FileMaker should be congratulated: Bento 4 for iPad boasts a look and feel that are both intuitive and pleasing to the eye, and there are 40 new themes and 25 templates; more are available for free via a built-in link. A major update which, despite some quirks, should make life easier for anyone needing to pull data together. READ MORE: bit.ly/MshhO6

Popsicolor offers a way for iOS users to create watercolour-style paintings with minimal fuss: simply select a photo from your library and wait for the app to make a mess. Despite a few shortcomings – the tools and colour palette are both limited – it offers attractive, painterly results way above the standard set by most other art apps. READ MORE: bit.ly/LobhQn

GarageBand
■ £2.99 ■ Apple ■ itun.es/iPL6n7 RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

iBooks 3
■ Free ■ Apple ■ itun.es/i6Jk62Q RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

We found it hard to imagine how GarageBand could work on any iOS device except the iPad, and while it works best on the larger device, the designers have generally done a good job of transferring it to the iPhone. There are also enough improvements to ensure that this remains a must-have app for musicians everywhere. READ MORE: bit.ly/vva1UV

iBooks 3 is a free update, and offers a few improved features without changing any of the basic functionality of the app. Getting it is a no-brainer. There’s still a lot we’d like to see from iBooks (not least of which is a Mac OS X version) and Kindle fans may remain unconvinced. But it’s still a terrific e-book reading experience. READ MORE: bit.ly/TAcLk0

62

iPad & iPhone User 2013

TV APPS

Mailbox
■ Free ■ Orchestra Inc ■ itun.es/i6JR3Q2 RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Sound Uncovered
■ Free ■ Exploratorium ■ itun.es/i6Jr4wH RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

BBC iPlayer
■ Free ■ BBC ■ itun.es/i6Jk5Ry RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The BBC’s iPlayer now lets you download TV and store shows for 30 days for offline viewing in a choice of file sizes. A good selection from all BBC channels includes some feature films. BBC iPlayer also benefits from an attractive user interface and good navigation.

Mailbox feels beautifully polished, but it has depth. You can mark a message as unread again by tapping on its timestamp, and conversation threads with earlier messages collapse, then expand if you tap them. Composing messages is easy and you tap the camera icon as you write your email to add a photo. READ MORE: bit.ly/YaaA31

Sound Uncovered is designed like an interactive magazine. It features articles, videos, sounds and interactive experiments to help users engage with sound, science and the ways the two intersect. Even though it’s a sound app, it’s very visually interesting, with lots of high-res photography and interactive images. READ MORE: bit.ly/XlCoFO

Remote
■ Free ■ Apple ■ itun.es/i6J83Fn RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Note Taker HD
■ £2.99 ■ Software Garden ■ itun.es/i6Jd6YL RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Apple’s app lets you use an iOS device as a remote control for a Mac or Apple TV – to control playback, adjust the volume and pick songs or movies to play. It’s also had a makeover to support the new features in iTunes 11 and complement its visual style. To switch between devices, press the large button in the bottom left. READ MORE: bit.ly/11cASs0

One of the challenges of writing on an iPad is trying to figure out where to rest your hands. Note Taker HD resolves this problem with a simple zoom feature that allows you to write at the bottom of the screen, while the actual text appears wherever you want it. A simple yet powerful tool to help you capture notes no matter what they are. READ MORE: bit.ly/Wdpeu8

TVCatchup
■ Free ■ GZero ■ itun.es/i6Jk6pf RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This app offers around 50 live or almost live TV channels. A simple interface shows channel listings and now and next EPG information down one side of the screen. Picture quality, over Wi-Fi at least, is excellent, with clear pictures.

Pholium
■ Free ■ 58 North ■ itun.es/i6DN8GH RATING ★ ★ ★

1Password
■ £5.49 ■ AgileBits ■ itun.es/i6J34kV RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This app will let you create virtual photo books. You start by importing some photos into Pholium’s Gallery, which provides some modest editing tools. Your book can feature as many pages and place as many photos as you like; you can also add captions. Once you’re finished, you can publish your book to your Pholium Library. READ MORE: bit.ly/U2l2XU

Passwords act as gatekeepers to our email, banking and just about everything else we do. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t very good at either creating or remembering them. 1Password works by creating a virtual vault in which you can store your passwords, and if you’re having trouble coming up with one, it will generate it for you. READ MORE: bit.ly/12twKD9

RTÉ Player
■ Free ■ RTÉ ■ itun.es/i6Jk6pq RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ Content from Ireland’s National Public Service Broadcaster is available for up to 21 days after transmission. Playback is generally excellent, free of the video loading and audio sync issues and sudden crashes we found with some iOS TV apps.

iPlayer Radio
■ Free ■ BBC ■ itun.es/i6DM7Tr RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

OmniFocus
■ £13.99 ■ Omni Group ■ itun.es/i6jt88c RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The BBC has set out to revamp its online audio content in style, and the dedicated BBC iPlayer Radio app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is an impressive start. While it lacks some of the features found in the excellent and exhaustive TuneIn Radio Pro, the BBC’s involvement should ensure further enhancements and features. READ MORE: bit.ly/Tjug82

If your red badge count of unfinished tasks never seems to go down, try this superb to-do list app. Although it takes some effort to learn, it’s well worth it. Eventually, OmniFocus changes you. You stop being tied to just getting that wretched list of tasks down, and instead look to see what you can do now. A terrific, mindset-changing app. READ MORE: bit.ly/Mri2q9

iPad & iPhone User 2013

63

ROLEPLAYING GAMES Bit Dungeon
■ 69p ■ Tom Heinecke ■ itun.es/i6JS5Sw RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ A no-frills, high-action take on the roleplaying dungeonrunner concept. The only time you’re not cheerfully hitting a cartoon monster with a sword is when you’re rummaging through its corpse to see if there’s a better sword inside.

GAMES

Granny Smith
■ £1.49 ■ Mediocre AB ■ itun.es/i6Dc5rY RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Letterpress
■ Free ■ Atebits ■ itun.es/i6J38f4 RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Granny Smith likes her apples, and in this wonderfully whimsical app, she’ll outrun a robber with some surprisingly spritely parkour moves to get her fill of vitamins. Each level is a compulsive side-scrolling race between the player and an AI player. Make sure you collect every apple to get a three-fruit rating. READ MORE: bit.ly/UU39ix

Beautifully designed, with a sparse, minimalist appearance, Letterpress is for two players; you can play random opponents or Game Center friends. Each turn, you can use any of the letters on the board to build a word. The tiles you use turn blue, while your opponent’s turn pink. The aim is to have more tiles in your colour when the game ends. READ MORE: bit.ly/Tg2s2s

Super Hexagon
■ £4.99 ■ Terry Cavanagh ■ itun.es/i6Dw7hQ RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Bad Hotel
■ 69p ■ Lucky Frame ■ itun.es/i6J38f2 RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition
■ £6.99 ■ IdeaSpark Labs ■ itun.es/i6Jq3zG RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This remastering of one of the most revered roleplaying games of all time shows its age, but that doesn’t stop it feeling like a true iPad essential. It’s pricey, but it offers weeks of tactical combat and goblin-bashing.

You play a tiny arrow on the edge of the hexagon, and it’s your role to rotate around the centre and ensure you’re not crushed by incoming shapes. It sounds a little thin when we point out that you only need to stay alive for a minute to unlock the three extra levels. However, staying alive for those 60 seconds is incredibly tricky. READ MORE: bit.ly/To2OSn

Bad Hotel is a remix of the tower defence game. You manage a series of hotels, but the building’s psychpathic Texan owner wants to trash it in order get his hands on the insurance pay-out. You counter his bird-bombers and death balloons by building the hotel ever higher, adding guns and healing blocks. READ MORE: bit.ly/UOYPBk

Autumn Dynasty
■ £4.99 ■ BulkyPix ■ itun.es/i6jt9By RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

The Room
■ £2.99 ■ Fireproof Games ■ itun.es/i6Dw7Yv RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Bastion
■ £2.99 ■ Supergiant Games ■ itun.es/i6Dq9nx RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Beautiful both visually and atmospherically, Bastion is not so bogged down in its own grandeur it forgets to be a reliably compulsive stream of action, too. The controls feel a little on the awkward side, but not to the extent that this stops being a memorable few hours of monster-bashing.

With its distinctive, calligraphic art style and gesture controls, Autumn Dynasty is a thoughtful, distinctive and pleasingly nonboring take on historical strategy gaming, entirely built with touchscreen controls in mind. It needs a little fine-tuning in the interface and difficulty departments, but it’s fresh and attractive. READ MORE: bit.ly/RQeLkO

The Room is a thoughtful, attractive puzzle game, set on and within one intricate safe, whose surfaces are adorned by strange mechanisms and logic puzzles behind which smaller, more challenging boxes lurk. Some of the puzzles are bit obtuse, but the carefully contained focus means you can never go off course. READ MORE: bit.ly/TincnJ

Tiny Wings HD
■ £1.99 ■ Andreas Illiger ■ itun.es/ibF6mT RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Fieldrunners 2
■ £1.99/£5.49 ■ Subatomic Studios ■ itun.es/i6jt9gB RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Wonderful, charming, inventive, simple, beautiful, fun: pick an adjective. We were happy enough to see Tiny Wings’ clever side-scrolling action transferred to the iPad’s larger screen, but the new head-to-head two-player mode is a massive bonus. This is the finest party multiplayer we’ve seen on the device. READ MORE: bit.ly/MDWQYR

Subatomic has taken an addictive little iPhone game and sharpened everything up. It’s about as polished, well-crafted and enjoyable to play as the humble tower defence genre gets. The graphics are vastly improved – zooming in reveals beautifully rendered towers and vehicles – and there’s a wide arsenal of weapons to choose from. READ MORE: bit.ly/NPVzTj

64

iPad & iPhone User 2013

SPORTS GAMES

Spaceteam
■ Free ■ Sleeping Beast Games ■ itun.es/i6JG7nh RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Joe Danger
■ £1.99 ■ Hello Games ■ itun.es/i6JG7vK RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Wonderputt
■ 69p ■ Damp Gnat ■ itun.es/i6Dc2JN RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ There’s crazy golf, and then there’s Wonderputt: one connected course of 18 holes, and a series of beautifully animated, wildly imaginative sporting puzzles. It’s a bit of a one-trick pony, perhaps, but what a trick. It takes the tedium and the posturing out of golf, turning it into a thing of delight and surprise.

The premise of this game is that you, and between one and three of your friends, are manning the bridge of a spaceship trying to outrun impending doom. You do this by following a series of increasingly bizarre instructions (‘Set Moonsock to 3’) on each other’s screens. Co-operation and laughter are the main ingredients. READ MORE: bit.ly/WsQh71

Joe Danger was originally a downloadable gem for PlayStation 3, but a lot of thought has been put into making the transition to the small screen as smooth as possible. You’re a daredevil motorcycle ace pulling stunts and grabbing coins. The courses are nicely short, but there’s plenty of unlockables to keep you coming back. READ MORE: bit.ly/XARSEx

Hundreds
■ £2.99 ■ Semi Secret Software ■ itun.es/i6JL5xw RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Angry Birds Star Wars
■ 69p/£1.99 ■ Rovio ■ itun.es/i6Dc2JQ RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Hundreds’ premise – so simple, yet open to so many permutations – is this: make the big number reach 100 by tapping bubbles to grow the smaller numbers inside. Starkly beautiful, clever and able to pull surprise after miraculous surprise from that simple concept, Hundreds is an early contender for game of the year. READ MORE: bit.ly/1112I66

Star Wars fans will love the mix of characters, and Rovio deserves a lot of credit for thinking of ways to include new effects into the game’s core mechanics. The characters are dressed up in Star Wars garb – the birds as Jedi and the pigs playing the Empire – and there’s load of powers. This is a great way to while away a few hours. READ MORE: bit.ly/UYWC2s

NBA 2K13
■ £5.49 ■ G2k Sports ■ itun.es/i6DN8mt RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ Keeping the spirit of its console version, NBA 2K13 raises the bar for basketball games on iOS. It’s one of the more realistic mobile sports simulators you’ll find. The courts are crisp, clean representations of their real-life versions, and the players are recognisable and believable in their movements.

Super Crate Box
■ £1.49 ■ Vlambeer ■ itun.es/i6Dn7MZ RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

King of Opera
■ 69p ■ Tuotantoyhtio Tuokio ■ itun.es/i6Ds58Q RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Super Crate Box is a slapdash port of a PC game – the controls are infuriatingly awkward – but it’s still as compulsive as a sack full of Pringles. That it can succeed in spite of such a flaw says a lot about just how splendid this really is. Death is so regular the control problems don’t wind up being quite the problem they first appear to be. READ MORE: bit.ly/UZfKx6

As with all great party games, King of Opera’s concept is simple: there are four operatic tenors, and only one spotlight for them to hog. When someone else has the spotlight, everyone else tries to shove them off the stage to take it for themselves. The action gets a bit samey, but within its short lifespan this is a joyfully pure experience. READ MORE: bit.ly/RhFSUd

New Star Soccer
■ Free ■ New Star Games ■ itun.es/isz74V RATING ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ While others try to cram full games console experiences on to a touchscreen interface, New Star has simplified things. And it’s a testament to the gameplay that even football haters will get something out of this. Indeed, it offers the perfect mobile footballing experience.

10000000
■ £1.49 ■ EightyEight Games ■ itun.es/i6Dg3mb RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

Beat Sneak Bandit
■ £1.99 ■ Simogo ■ itun.es/i6jv249 RATING ★ ★ ★ ★

An effortless blend of match-3 puzzles like Bejeweled Blitz and dungeon-running roleplaying games such as Diablo, this is two of the most notoriously time-devouring gaming genres combined into one frightening whole. Fortunately, 10000000 is also both innovative and brilliant. Highly recommended. READ MORE: bit.ly/SoW4qz

Beat Sneak Bandit puts the emphasis on music and rhythm. Everything in the house follows a set rhythmic pattern, from trapdoors to security guards. Tap to the beat on the screen and the cat burglar will step forward. Hit a wall and he’ll turn around. It’s harder than it sounds, but Beat Sneak Bandit will charm everyone. READ MORE: bit.ly/Ozplh7

iPad & iPhone User 2013

65

OPINION

GeSTURe POlITIcS
Instead of making life easier, iOS’s many complex hand gestures are a nightmare, sighs Kirk Mcelhearn
Kirk mcelhearn is a senior contributor to Macworld magazine and author of the regular column Ask The iTunes Guy. Follow him at twitter.com/
mcelhearn

IllUSTRATION: lOUIS ROSKOScH (louisroskosch.com)

they sound more like figure skating moves than computing controls

K

eyboard shortcuts have two advantages: they’re convenient to perform, and (often) easy to remember. But what’s the equivalent on an iOS device? Gestures, from swipe and flick to pinch-to-zoom. And I’m not sure they offer the same benefits. Gestures, on iOS and elsewhere, are getting out of hand. So to speak. It’s too hard to find out which ones do what, and to even pull off the more complex ones. A friend recently showed me the five-finger-claw to go back to the iPad home screen (difficulty rating 7/10), and I was amazed. Rather than simplifying my use of phones and tablets, gestures are making it more complicated. Okay, some gestures are simple and logical: the two-finger downward slide on a trackpad, for example, which you can use to scroll through long documents or web pages. But deeper in the jungle of gesture controls, you get the two-finger-double-tap, the five-fingerreverse claw, and the six-finger-tap-dragwiggle. They sound more like figure skating moves than computing controls. And they’re too complicated for me to remember.

With iOS, this gets even more complicated. In addition to various standard gestures – such as swiping an item to bring up a delete button – each app can introduce its own. A recent email app that I tried incorporates both long swipes and short swipes; but apparently, the developers and I don’t agree about what long and short mean, as I found myself making too many mistakes. As for Twitter clients, some show a conversation if you swipe left; others show it if you swipe right; and still others do nothing. Granted, most people use only one Twitter app, but it’s a pain to adapt to a new one because gestures aren’t standardised.

one hand doesn’t Know what the ipad is doinG
On the Mac, OS X gives you good ways to learn how to use trackpad gestures. Open System Preferences, click the Trackpad pane and then click one of the three different tabs. Apple realises that gestures are complicated, so it includes brief videos showing you how. Apple doesn’t provide a cheat sheet for iOS gestures, and since iOS apps generally don’t have Help, learning the correct gesture for each action depends on trial and error. (Some developers have websites that provide good help, but many don’t.) It took me a long time to figure out how to untilt a map in Apple’s Maps app; other apps have had me scratching my head (with three fingers) for far too long. To make things easier, Apple needs to provide more information about gestures, developers need to stop trying to invent ‘cute’ new gestures, and perhaps an Apple app demonstrating gestures would make them easier to learn. But no more gestures, please, unless you want to see one of my own.

GoinG throuGh the motions
related linKs
Gesture-based interFaces are out oF control bit.ly/13TgWM4 macworld help: cure For unintended Gestures bit.ly/Ys0tXy intel plans to control pcs with a dirty looK bit.ly/14X94Fv

The proliferation of gestures invites confusion, as does the fact that not all applications support them. It goes beyond apps, though. Suppose I’m looking at a gesture-related web page on Apple’s site, aimed at developers. If I try to do the Smart Zoom (difficulty rating 6/10) by double-tapping with two fingers, nothing happens. I assume this is because the content is in a frame, and Safari can’t zoom just the content of the frame. Other gestures fail in other apps for similar reasons: logically they should work, but a glitch prevents this.

66

iPad & iPhone User 2013

®

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close