Matt Tinsley
Articles by Matt Tinsley
Qantas lands Passbook-enabled iPhone app
Australia's Qantas airline has released a brand-new iPhone app (free) with many great features, including Passbook support. The Qantas Airways app lets customers find and book Qantas flights, book hotels worldwide, view flight bookings, access up-to-the-minute flight status and create personalized alerts for specific flights and prices. With Passbook support, fliers can check-in for most domestic flights and add their boarding pass to Passbook, meaning there's no need to carry a paper ticket when traveling. Furthermore, Qantas frequent flyers can use the app to view their points balance and what their next flight is. Handy! The Qantas Airways app is available now from the iOS App Store. [Via AppAdvice]
Acorn 4.0 arrives with much faster performance, curves and more
Flying Meat has updated Acorn, its popular image-editing software for Mac, to version 4, bringing a plenitude of new features and performance enhancements. Most notably, Acorn 4 is dramatically faster than previous versions as well as introduces the following new features: curves, non-destructive filters, multiple layer selection, Boolean shape operations, Merlin HUD, new shape tools and an improved UI. Full release notes can be found on Flying Meat's Acorn website. Acorn 4 requires Mac OS X 10.8 and is available at a special introductory price of US$29.99 through to the end of May at Flying Meat's Acorn website. If you've not tried Acorn before, you can do so as a free trial for 14 days.
Apple places product displays outside future Berlin Apple Store
German site Apfelpage reports that Apple has installed new display cabinets outside of its new, yet-to-be-opened Berlin store. The displays currently promote the iPhone 5, with mock, over-sized iPhones not uncommon to other Apple retail stores. It's understood that the move will attract customers to the store as there is not much else besides two small Apple logos mounted on the store front to attract potential customers. However, Apple Stores, particularly road side ones, are well known for having minimalist, sometimes understated fronts. Both the Regent Street and Covent Garden Apples stores in London come to mind. As reported last week on TUAW, the new store, located in an historic building on the Kurfürstendamm, will open on May 3, 2013. It is the 11th Apple Store to open in Germany. [Via MacNN]
polychord for iPad: an inspiring way to create music
polychord (US$9.99) is a virtual instrument for making and creating keyboard / electronic-style music on the iPad. With its easy-to-use approach and layout, polychord makes it painless to get your head around the basics and start making some really lovely sounding and creatively inspiring music. Whether you're an expert musician looking to perform live or a novice, you'll find polychord engaging and fun. There are two main components to playing polychord: chord circles and strum keys. There are nine Chord circles, each representing a chord that is derived from the musical key you've selected. Each chord circle has seven chord inversions around it, so you can play a variant of the root chord (minor, major seventh, augmented fifth etc). This gives you 63 chords to play in total in a really straight forward and easy-to-read (and touch) structure. Strum keys is a virtual keyboard with 13 keys or individual notes that are derived from the corresponding chord circle you're playing at the time. There are no keys present that wouldn't melodically fit in with the chord circle you're playing. Strum keys is placed horizontally at the edge of the iPad, making it really easy to reach for and play, as opposed to so many virtual keyboards that mimic a traditional piano layout. You can play individual or multiple keys, or strum the strum keys up and down, which produces a very satisfying sound. Additionally, swipe the keys to pitch bend or add tremolo. polychord lets you specify strum keys to play a specific scale pattern, like blues pentatonic, dominant Bebop or Ionian, depending on the style of music you're looking to play. The idea is to play chords with the chord circles and a melody over the chords with the strum keys. In theory, polychord makes it nigh on impossible to hit a wrong note, and with very little practice you'll soon have some nice chord circle progressions and strum keys melodies under your belt. Once you've got an idea for a song, turn on Auto Accompany to add drums and bass (27 patterns) to your track. There's also a customizable arpeggiator which plays the notes of the chord you're currently on. When you switch chords, Auto Accompany's drums, bass and arepggiator will follow you. It all adds much more dynamic to your song. For more advanced musicians, and those wanting to dig deeper, polychord lets you mould and tinker the sound with some very practical variations and customizations (filters, envelope control, warm and fat waves, bitshift mode and timing). It's all accessible and generally designed to be tweaked on the fly, particularly in live performances. When playing, everything is really responsive, with very little noticeable latency, so it really does feel like you're playing an instrument while you're tapping away on polychord. Additional features include saving and exporting, sharing with Soundcloud, Twitter and Facebook, MIDI (for using polychord as a controller with a DAW) as well as virtual MIDI (controlling other apps) and finally, full Audiobus support and integration. Speaking of Audiobus integration, polychord with a few other choice music apps on iPad (see video below) really does make for an exciting and rewarding music-making experience. Spending some time with polychord, the things I loved about it most are just how engaging and playable it is. And it sounds great, too! If you're looking to approach a musical task from a different angle (like songwriting), polychord is a great way to inspire and think differently. Or if you're a beginner, or someone looking to kill some time, polychord is also just a lot of fun, too! polychord is available from the iOS App Store now. For more info on polychord, check out the polychord website here.
TUAW Giveaway: Win a copy of Tabular for Mac
Thanks to the guys at Chromatic Labs, we've got three copies of Tabular for Mac to give away, worth US$19.99 each. Tubular is a comprehensive application for reading, editing and writing tablature music on a Mac. If you're a musician, music teacher or composer of music who's looking to use tablature, Tabular has all the tools you'll need. To find out more about Tabular, check out the review I did of it a little while ago here. Here are the rules and how to enter: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before 3, May 2013 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. Three winners will be selected and will each receive a code to download Tabular for Mac with a value of $19.99. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Collective for Mac retains your clipboard history, saves you time
Collective (US$1.99) is a clipboard history utility for Mac. It keeps track of everything you copy to your Mac's clipboard, which in turn allows you to paste different items without having to go back and forth copying and pasting over and over again. Since I've not used a clipboard utility app before, I know this frustration all too well! So when I got the opportunity to try out Collective, I jumped at it. To use Collective, copy items as you normally would to the clipboard, whether it be an image, file or text. When you come to paste an item, hit Shift + ⌘ + V instead of the usual ⌘ + V, the Collective window will appear with a history of all you've copied to the clipboard. Either click and drag what you want to paste or select it and press ⌘ + V. If you're pasting multiple items the click and drag technique will be the easiest and quickest. Of course, with copying so many things to the clipboard, Collective will soon become quite full, but Collective has some nifty features to help you keep on top of your clipboard. You can live search the Collective clipboard, filter items by the application they were copied from and Quick Look items directly from the clipboard. Collective also gives a thumbnail preview of non-text items. Furthermore, Collective copies text formatting but also lets you paste as plain text. Finally, Collective has Retina display support, is restart resistant (meaning if you restart your Mac all clipboard items will be saved) and supports apps running in full screen mode. Collective won't duplicate items you happen to copy more than once and you can blacklist Collective copying from certain apps, like password managers. Having spent the last few days using Collective, I'm really pleased with how it works. Aside from getting used to the new paste keyboard shortcut, Collective has been a pleasure to use and has improved my workflow. You can get Collective from the Mac App Store now, or why not try out some of these other trusted clipboard utilities recommended by the TUAW team: Flycut or Clyppan.
Friday Favorite: CommandQ for Mac
CommandQ is a Mac utility that stops you from accidentally quitting apps when using the keyboard shortcut "⌘" (or command) and "Q". Unfortunately, we are all susceptible to moments of human error. This means, with the ⌘ + Q shortcut, we sometimes quit apps we don't mean to. Perhaps when we're meaning to hit ⌘ and W or ⌘ and the TAB key. I know I've done it too many times to count! Thankfully, there's an app for that! CommandQ is a Mac utility app that stops apps from quitting unless you press and hold down the ⌘ + Q shortcut for a short period of time. This gives you a moment to catchup with your mistake and let go before the app quits. It's a straightforward concept, but has the potential to save you a lot of frustration and stress. CommandQ lets you customize the period of time it takes for ⌘ + Q to take effect, from half a second to two seconds. You can also specify which apps CommandQ works with, so it's only the important apps which require a longer ⌘ + Q press to quit. CommandQ is a simple, well-designed app that will go largely unnoticed until it saves you from an unfortunate mistake. It costs US$3.99 or is available as a free trial for 30 days. It's not available on the Mac App Store, but you can get it from the CommandQ website here.
Apple to pay Chinese authors $118,000 for violating copyrights
As reported by China Daily, a Beijing court has ordered Apple to pay three Chinese authors US$118,000 in damages for selling their books without prior consent through apps available on its App Store. The lawsuit was filed against Apple by the Writers' Right Protection Union (also known as the Writers' Rights Alliance), an organization that protects the copyrights of authors whose works are published online. According to China Daily, Judge Feng Gang, who was presiding over the case, said Apple "has the duty of checking whether books uploaded by third parties are in line with current laws." The ruling follows a long line of complaints and lawsuits against Apple by Chinese authors who claim their works have been uploaded through apps to Apple's App Store without their permission. [Via Engadget]
Draw Something 2 available with new words, drawing tools
Zynga's Draw Something, the incredibly popular drawing game for iPhone, now has a follow-up: Draw Something 2. It's available now on the US App Store as an ad-supported free download or premium, ad-free version at US$1.99. It was just in February that Zynga VP and General Manager, Dan Porter, said there were some exciting things in the pipeline for Draw Something, and we now know what he was talking about. Draw Something 2 has many new additions and features, including 5,000 new words, more drawing tools and over a hundred colors, plus a social feed and "Galaxy," where users can store their favorite drawings. Draw Something was originally developed by OMGPOP. It became hugely successful within a very short time and was soon acquired by Zynga. It eventually leveled off in popularity, but we're sure Zynga is hoping to re-ignite its popularity with Draw Something 2. [Via The Verge]
Pupil for Retina display Macs makes it easy to switch screen resolutions
Pupil (US$5.00) is an app specifically designed for Macs with Retina displays, specifically Apple's Retina-equipped MacBook Pro range (rMBP). Although Mac OS X gives users five screen resolution options, they are cumbersome to access and change, with users having to enter System Preferences any time they want to change the screen's resolution. Most users of a rMBP will be happy with the native Retina display resolution of 2,880 x 1,800, but more demanding (or adventurous) users may wish to regularly change their Mac's screen resolution to take advantage of the greater screen real estate rMBPs have to offer. Pupil is a simple utility app that gives you access to varying screen resolutions (including 1:1 native pixel resolution for Retina displays) directly from the Mac OS X menu bar. Two clicks will change your screen's resolution, instead of forcing you to dig into System Preferences. Pupil also lets you customize your favorite six resolutions and label them. %Gallery-186236% Some of the resolutions are extreme and impractical, like 3,840 x 2,400 or 720 x 450, and it's no wonder Apple doesn't give direct access to them -- though you may be an advanced user who might use them for testing purposes. Resolutions like 1,920 x 1,200 or 1,680 x 1,050 (which appear as Mac OS X's More Space and second from More Space options in System Preferences) can be really beneficial, so it's very convenient to have on-the-fly, two-click access to them through Pupil. Pupil is available through the Pupil website. It's not available on the Mac App Store, but it's fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. An alternative to Pupil is SwitchRes 4, which you can check out here.
Daily iPhone App: ListBook: A list app with location based reminders and more
NoIdentity's ListBook (US$1.99) is a straightforward list compiler that looks great and has some well-implemented features to help you get on top of all those lists and things to get done. The list maker lets you compile numerous lists and add items (or to-dos / tasks) to those lists. To create a list, add one and give it a title, like "groceries" or "personal," and categorize it by assigning one of 15 images to it, to help differentiate what kind of list it is. Within a list, just pull down to add a new item to that list. This takes you to a detailed view of the item. The first line of text you enter becomes the title of that item. If you add more text on a new line, that appears as a note underneath the title of that item when viewed in its respective list. Items can be assigned or tagged a specific color, to help identify certain items within a list. Items can also have reminders set by date and time as well as location-based reminders, similar to Apple's Reminders app. So when you leave or arrive at a specific location you'll receive a reminder. Recurring reminders can also be set. To complete, check or finish an item, just tap it and it is marked with a tick and becomes slightly faded, or you can set completed items in individual lists to be hidden. There's no way to view all items in one list, but that's not the point of ListBook. ListBook is about making lists, categorizing them and helping you to remember to complete them. Unfortunately there's no cross-platform syncing, which would be nice considering ListBook is a universal app for iPhone and iPad. But if you're looking for a reminders / list app with a bit more flare and power than Apple's Reminders app, but no desire to dive into the depths of pro-organization, then ListBook is worth checking out.
Chitika's March Tablet Update shows iPad usage share rising, still dominating competition
Chitika, the online advertising network, has released its latest Chikita Insights usage share data report for tablets for the March 2013 period. According to the company, based on US and Canadian tablet ad impressions running through the Chitika Ad Network, the iPad still overwhelmingly dominates web traffic on tablets, at 81.9 percent. In fact, the iPad has seen its first month-on-month growth in web traffic share since December, 2012, a 1.4 percent basis points increase since February. Chitika partially attributes this growth to Apple selling refurbished fourth-generation iPad and iPad minis at a discount beginning in mid-March, 2013. Android tablets unsurprisingly dominates what's left. The Kindle Fire comes in second at 7.1 percent, Samsung Galaxy Tablets third at 4.3 percent and Google Nexus tablets fourth at 1.7 percent. Interestingly, Microsoft's Surface tablet only took 0.4 percent of tablet web traffic and the defunct HP TouchPad took 0.1 percent. The full Chitika report is available on the company's website here.
Twitter #Music to debut later today (Update)
As reported by ABC News, the new Twitter #Music app will officially launch today. It will be available through the Twitter #Music app for iPhone and on the web here. Details are coming in this morning. A post has been published to Twitter's blog with a lot of information. The Twitter #Music app will help you discover music based on what's trending on Twitter, bands and others you follow and music gleaned from tweets. Basically, a music recommendation service based on tweets! According to Twitter, it pulls music from iTunes Rdio or Spotify. Music previews will default to iTunes, and those who subscribe to Rdio or Spotify can log into their accounts and enjoy full tracks as they're available. Twitter notes that other music services will be added in the future. It's going to be fun to play with and we'll have a detailed look at #Music soon. Update: Twitter #Music is available it the App Store now.
Tabular for Mac makes reading and writing tab music easy
Chromatic Lab's Tabular (US$19.99) is an all-in-one application for reading, editing and writing tablature music with a Mac. If you're a musician, music teacher or composer of music, on a percussive or stringed instrument, and you use tablature instead of music notation, Tabular has got all the bases covered. With a detailed, built-in interactive tutorial to get you started and help you understand and learn tab music, and an easy-to-use interface with Retina display support, Tabular is simple to get your head around and a pleasure to use. For starters, Tabular is a place to store all your tab music. Its library feature allows you to group and organize your tab music in one easy-to-find place. Import Guitar Pro 5 or MIDI files into Tabular and export them as PDF, MIDI or plain-text (ASCII) formats. When it comes to reading and practicing, Tabular has a looping function, adjustable playback / tempo speed -- so you can start slow and increase the speed as you improve -- and a configurable speed trainer that increases the tempo after every loop -- a challenging way to encourage honing your skills. Tabular also keeps track of your hard work with practice logs. If you compose, Tabular makes it really easy to enter tab using the keyboard. A virtual fretboard displays where each note is played. At your disposal is a large bank of notations, including legato, vibrato, bends and grace notes, to name a few. One feature I particularly like is custom templates, where you can create and save your most common instrument configurations as a template. Tabular also has full printing support. Finally, Tabular supports full rendering of the musical staff, meaning you can see the music in notation form alongside the tablature. If you are learning to play, practice or teach a stringed instrument (with three - 12 strings) or a percussive instrument -- and you don't read music notation -- Tabular is a fantastic way to organize, practice and write tablature music.
iPhone app used to control Touch Bionics prosthetic hand
In 2008, Jason Koger had both of his hands amputated after accidentally coming into contact with a downed power line on his grandfather's farm. Since the accident, Koger has been using a variety of prosthetic arms to cope with everyday life. However, the prosthetics Koger has been using have been limited. In an interview with CNN, Koger said, "It's like I'm carrying a toolbox, but only have one tool. You can't use a wrench for everything." Now Koger has had the opportunity to be the world's first double-amputee to use some remarkable technology: the i-limb ultra revolution. Designed by Touch Bionics in the UK, the i-limb offers the most advanced and versatile prosthesis available, with a powered rotating thumb. It also includes biosim, an iPhone app that gives Koger instant access to 24 Quick Grip patterns. The biosim app lets Koger choose from a selection of automated grips and gestures which aid in daily tasks, like index point for typing on a keyboard or a touch screen, precision pinch mode for gripping small objects, and a natural hand position. The app also lets Koger personally customize his own grips and gestures. Using the Touch Bionics prosthetics and app, Koger said, "Nothing is perfect, but I feel like I can be a more active participant in everyday life with these hands. I can do pretty much everything I could before; it just might take me a little longer." Read the full interview and watch a video of the prosthetics and app in action at CNN Health. [Via Gizmodo]
Mac 101: Checking your Mac's warranty status
More Mac 101, tips and tricks for novice Mac users. Every newly purchased Mac comes with a one-year limited warranty and 90 days of complimentary telephone technical support from Apple. Of course, by purchasing AppleCare with your new Mac, you can extend this warranty and telephone technical support to three years, but it will cost you extra. How do you find out if your Mac is still in its first year of warranty or covered by AppleCare for an additional two years? Simple! Go to Apple's Service and Support Coverage page and enter your Mac's serial number. You'll get a break down of your warranty based on the date your Mac was purchased. Where do you find your Mac's serial number? You'll find it in About This Mac (here's how). Or for an even easier way -- because remembering and grabbing your Mac's serial number can be a bother -- download WozWas's Mac Warranty Status Script, which grabs your Mac's serial number and enters it into Apple's Service and Support Coverage page for you. All with one simple click. Knowing whether your Mac is in warranty can be really helpful, should something go wrong. It's also particularly useful to know the status of a Mac's warranty if you're planning on buying second-hand. Remember, warranty and AppleCare coverage stays with a Mac until it expires. There are different views on whether AppleCare is worth the cost, but regardless, a general rule of thumb is that if you can afford it, you should get it. Though Macs are great, if / when something goes wrong, it can be expensive to repair. AppleCare provides you with peace of mind and first-rate support from Apple.
Better Ears: A music theory and ear training app for Mac
Better Ears (US$24.99) is a new Mac app that teaches you music theory while enhancing your hearing through training exercises. Do you know your intervals? Your minor second, fifth or major seventh from a given root note? Or a major harmonic scale from a mixolydian chordal mode? Not only can you read it and play it, but can you hear it? With 10 different exercise modes, Better Ears will train you to hear, play and read music in a simple and intuitive way. The app provides training ranging from interval and scale recognition to key signature recognition and chord music reading. The app comes with two modes: learning and training. There are four levels of difficulty, from beginner to professional. Choose your level and start with an area to learn. For example, choose beginner and scale recognition. You're be presented with ionian and pentatonic major scales and aeolian and pentatonic minor scales. Click on one, and the scale is played and displayed on the virtual keyboard (or guitar fretboard), written on the music score, and an explanation of what the scale is and what it means is displayed from Wikipedia. When you feel confident that you can recognize, play and read the scales, switch to training mode and hit the play button. The scale is played and you have to listen and identify what kind of scale it is. If you get it wrong, Better Ears tells you what the right answer is and then moves on to the next question. Better Ears gives you stats and feedback on how well you're doing and whether you're improving or not. Better Ears has many different virtual sounds, so if you're learning an instrument other than piano, you're sure to find something that suits your instrument. For keyboard / piano players, you can hook up a MIDI keyboard and play using that instead of the virtual one. It's a brilliant way to practice your scales and become familiar with the instrument. I really like Better Ears. It bundles theory and application into one easy-to-use package. There are no rules as to how you practice, you just go for it. It also looks good and performs well. However, I would love to see an easier way to practice the exercises in a given key. At present, Better Ears moves all around the keys as it cycles through the exercises. You can limit to one key from a control menu, but it would be nice to have an upfront way of controlling such parameters, so you can focus on practicing in one key. Better Ears is available from the Mac App Store now for $24.99 or the beginner-only version is free.
Twitterrific 5.2 offers push notifications and more
Twitterrific for iOS has been updated to version 5.2 and now supports native push notifications as well as bringing performance improvements and a host of bug fixes. The update follows Twitterrific's 5.1 update, which was released just over a month ago. With push notifications enabled in settings, Twitterrific will let you know when you receive direct messages, notifications, new followers and more on Twitter, right to your home screen. However, the service is currently in beta and will initially be available to the first 1,000 users to enable it. If you find you can't enable push notifications after the update, give it a few days and try again. Other notable improvements include banner display, sharing of discussion via email and Storify, added Droplr thumbnail support and improved performance when rotating the display on iPhone/iPod. For additional details on the update, check out Twitterrific on the iOS App Store.The update is available now for existing Twitterrific users, through the iOS App Store or available to purchase at US$2.99. [via The Icon Factory]
Review: iKit NuCharge, two-in-one battery pack and cover for iPhone 5
iKit, a London based accessories manufacturer for Apple products, has announced the NuCharge, an interchangeable, battery pack and protective cover for iPhone 5. iKit says the NuCharge is the world's first iPhone 5 interchangeable battery and case cover, and it's currently running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds, promote and sell the NuCharge, starting at US$59 with first deliveries expected in April. Design The NuCharge promises to double your iPhone's battery life while protecting your iPhone. It comes in three parts: the case or shell, the battery and the back cover, which comes in a variety of colors as well as leather. You place your iPhone into the case, which has connection grooves on the outer back, and either connect the external battery or the protective back cover. The idea is you interchange the battery or the back cover depending on your needs. The case itself is a lightly shaded plastic housing or shell for the iPhone. All controls, ports, the speakers and the camera are left exposed for easy reach and use. The display is not covered either. The iPhone fits snugly inside the case -- it doesn't rattle around and it won't easily fall out. In fact, it takes quite a bit of prying to get the iPhone out of the case. The attachable back cover is a sheet of plastic, which has tiny teeth to lock into the case. Attaching the cover is easy. It fits and locks into the case's grooves as you slide it down the back. To take it off, push and slide the cover upwards. The case cover never came loose on its own in my time with it. %Gallery-184021% The battery pack comes on and off in the same way. It has a built-in lighting connector that you pull out of the bottom of the pack and plug into the iPhone. There are blue LEDs on the bottom right to tell you how much charge is left. To charge the battery, plug in a USB cable and connect the other end to a computer or a powered USB port. The battery pack is a charcoal color, and it's not very bulky or weighty considering its 1900 mHa charge capacity. A nice little extra is a kick-stand that comes out of the back of the battery pack, letting you rest your iPhone upright in portrait mode. Functionality The case and cover offer a moderate level of protection in day-to-day use. The iPhone's sides and back are covered, but the front top and bottom edges of the phone are still exposed. So not all of your phone is protected from scuffs and scratches. Additionally, because the case and cover are two separate parts which are made of plastic, if you dropped your phone, there's little to no shock-absorption. All in all, the NuCharge as a case offers some protection from scuffs and scratches, but I wouldn't trust it with more. On the plus side, the ports and controls of the iPhone are left open. You don't have to fiddle with the case to plug in your headphones or a lightning connector. Although the back panel and case as a whole look nice enough, I struggled with the rest of the aesthetics of the case. For example, the case and back panel attach securely, but there's a small gap left between the two. The finish of the front top and bottom of the case present some raw edges where the case ends. And the overall feel of the case is quite plasticky and cheap. As I mentioned above, attaching the battery pack is a simple process: slide off the back cover and slide on the battery pack. Of course, the battery pack is bulkier than the cover, but that's expected with any battery pack. Although, this is one of the lighter and slimmer ones I've seen. To get power from the battery, pull out the built-in lightning connector and plug it into the iPhone. Unfortunately, when you do this the lightning connector cable sticks out quite a bit. Placing the phone in my pocket became a bit awkward, and I was worried the connection would come loose with an unintentional pull or tug or if I placed the phone in my bag. iKit says the NuCharge will increase your iPhone's life by 100% and I have no reason to disagree with that. Unfortunately, after a few days of testing I couldn't get the NuCharge to charge my phone. I assume it must be a fault in the model I received. But during the time it was working, everything worked as it should and battery performance was good, though I couldn't complete my tests. The kickstand is a nice little extra feature that is flush with the battery, but when extended, offers a practical addition to the case. Conclusion The NuCharge is a great battery life extender, which offers solid battery performance on top of your iPhone's built-in battery. However, I found the interchangeable protective cover, for when you're not using the battery pack, to be more of an afterthought, rather than offering any real protection. Furthermore, when using the battery pack, the protruding lightning connector is very impractical. Pros Solid battery pack offering 1900 mHa Access to all ports, buttons and the camera Slim and fairly light weight for a battery pack Kickstand Cons Minimal protection offered Poor case quality Protruding lightning connector when charging battery Interchangeability of battery and case is gimmicky Who's it for? iPhone 5 owners demanding the most power from a battery pack, but are not too concerned with the form or function it comes in. For alternative battery packs for your iPhone 5, you might want to check out the Mophie Juice Pack Helium or the Mophie Juice Pack Air, which we found to perform the task of battery pack and protective case extremely well.
Review: RHA's SA950i headphones with remote and mic
Simply put, I'm not a fan of headphones. For me, they are bulky, unsightly and, more often than not, uncomfortable. Sonically, I've found in-ear earphones provide a much better reproduction of sound, too. You don't need to have the volume as loud and they isolate external noise much more efficiently, too. So doing a review on RHA's SA950i on-ear headphones (about US$60) was sure to be a challenge for me. However, recently I reviewed RHA's MA150 earphones and the MA350 earphones, too. I was really impressed with the quality of these earphones, especially when taking the price into consideration. So when RHA offered me the opportunity to try its SA950i on-ear headphones, I couldn't help but be tempted -- hoping to have my mind changed on headphones. Design The SA950i's have a more traditional headphone look about them, especially in comparison to the cheaper, but more modern looking CA200 headphones. And that's not a bad thing. %Gallery-183331% RHA describes the SA950i's as offering professional-grade audio, whilst being compact and lightweight. And they certainly are compact and lightweight. Weighing just 105 grams, the SA950i's fit securely on your head. It's easy to customize the fit with the adjustable chrome sliders. They don't feel unnecessarily big or bulky, either. The 40mm titanium-coated mylar drivers are encased in plastic, droplet-like enclosures with soft padding for contact on your ears. RHA's shielded, 1.5m, detachable fabric braided cable -- with gold plated connectors -- easily connects to the headphones, while, of course, the other end goes into your source of audio. The remote, which has volume up and down and a multifunction button (play / pause / answer call / end call) sits conveniently near the top of the cable, within easy reach. It has a good feel about it, and it's easy to feel for the controls as opposed to having to look down and see what button you want to press. The main function button is nicely indented -- your finger just slips into it -- so you know exactly where you are as soon as you touch it. The SM950i's look good and the build quality is nice. While they don't necessarily feel high-end, they don't feel cheap either. They are very light, but I found they were sturdy and I definitely didn't worry about putting them in my bag with everything else. Functionality I mentioned that the SA950i's fit securely, but what about comfort? After many hours of use, I found the SA950i's to be quite comfortable, once I'd adjusted them to sit on my ears correctly. I didn't get that horrible pinching feeling you can sometimes get with some other on-ear headphones. They held to my ears, but not with an unnecessary weight. If anything, I would have preferred the headphones to fit slightly more snugly to my ears to help get that noise-cancelling effect. And the speakers felt just a little far away from my ears, I wanted them to be nearer. However, once they were on, those niggles soon faded away. I did a little test wearing them while hoovering the house. They stayed on, were comfortable and decent at noise cancellation, while producing a full sound -- though I had to push the volume a fair bit, but not to harmful levels. Overall, I found the sound of the SA950i's to be satisfying. As with the MA150 and MA350 earphones, the SA950i's produced a full and warm sound that was engaging and detailed. My only complaint is that the mid-level frequencies seemed a little too emphasized, creating a slightly muffled appearance to the sound. I found it particularly noticeable if I was listening to music on speakers or other earphones and then switched to the SA950i's. The remote and built-in mic worked flawlessly. I had no problem with my voice being picked up at the other end. Everything worked as expected when making or receiving calls using the SA950i's. Conclusions While I'm not converted to headphones, the SA950i's certainly have made an impression on me. The subtle but stylish look is appealing: they feel comfortable, they're compact and lightweight and they perform well -- even if sound reproduction feels a bit confined. Considering the $60 price tag, the SM950i's really do appeal. If you're looking for a budget pair of on-ear headphones, the SM650i's are worth checking out.