NEWS
4
Apps
11
Features
25
How-To
30
New iPhones
Reviewed! CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE
PLUS XXXX XXXX • XXXX XXXX XXXX XXX PLUS STREAM VIDEO • MESSAGING APPS
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Issue 33: Holidays are comin’... The planet has almost completed another circuit around the sun, bringing us ever closer to the season when all sense goes out of the window, and we indulge in a frenzy of over-eating, over-drinking and over-spending. Here at Swipe, we applaud these efforts, and have an array of fabulous gift suggestions for you or a to enter a veritable cave of wonders. We also have news on the arrival of the Although the initial reaction seems to be a cornucopia of app reviews, and some great tips for using your iPhone abroad
and gets stuck into this jam-packed issue.
THE SWIPE TEAM
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iMessage, and any other trademark is a trademark of Apple inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Screenshots are for illustrative purposes only and all prices are correct at the time of publishing.
NEWS
Apple eyes up deal with PrimeSense Kinects with motion company
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umor has it that Apple is currently finalizing a deal to buy PrimeSense, the Israeli company responsible for the technology behind the Xbox 360 remote-sensing controller, Kinect. Assuming the $345 million deal goes through, Apple will gain access to the company’s motion tracking expertise, which many believe is destined for the long-awaited Apple interactive television set – much like the remote sensing in Samsung’s Smart TVs.
Samsung SMART TVs can even play a gesturecontrolled version of Angry Birds
However, PrimeSense’s latest sensor, the ‘Capri 1.25’ is small enough to be incorporated into laptops, tablets and smart phones. Imagine being able to control your MacBook, iPad, and iPhone without having to touch the device at all…
PrimeSense’s ‘Capri’ sensor is easily small
PrimeSense’s technology is already at work in a sensor you can plug into an iPad. Occipital’s Structure Sensor is a Kickstarter project that was looking for $100,000 and got $1.3 million. With the device plugged in, you can scan a room for its dimensions, capture objects in 3D, or engage in augmented reality gaming. The potential is very exciting, and soon Apple will have its own motion tracking company to play with.
The Structure Sensor clips on to your iPad rubbish sequel)
Apple mothership Through the keyhole
H
aving received permission to build its new campus, Apple has released a few more renderings to Wired magazine showing off what the proposed site will look like when finished. The massive building will sit on a 176-acre plot of land that was once home to HP and Compaq and will have a 2,000-space parking garage beneath it.
Designed by architect Norman Foster, who previously designed the Gherkin in London, the building will host 13,000 Apple employees with a few smaller buildings nearby reserved for the super secretive research and development teams. The campus will also host a new underground auditorium, where we can expect many Apple products to be launched once the site is finished. Completion is projected for 2016.
APPS
Fantastical 2 FLEXIBITS INC.
Dear Jony Ive: THIS is how to make a Calendar app – a Reminders app, too
W
e always had a bit of a soft spot for third-party calendar app Fantastical. Its interface was simple and efficient, at odds with the mess that was Apple’s iOS 6 Calendar app. Additionally, the natural-language input of appointments with visual preview was nothing short of astonishing. Tap in the words ‘Lunch on Friday for two hours at 1pm’ and the appointment would evolve as you typed, in a zoomed-in calendar view. It felt natural and like a calendar from the future – one with better app designers.
list underneath. Crystal clear!
Fast forward to the new iOS 7 era, and two things could have happened. First, Apple could have blown everyone away with such an amazing calendar app that third-party equivalents would have been rendered entirely redundant. Secondly, Fantastical could have arrived in iOS 7 flavour – all flat colours and no textures – but offered little in the way of new features. In reality, Apple disappointed with a frequently awkward Calendar overhaul, but Fantastical provided yet more reasons for its continued existence.
Same but different
On the surface, it appears little has changed. Fantastical uses your iCloud calendars (and also supports Google, Yahoo!, Exchange and Facebook events) and presents you with a list of events and a day ticker. Drag the list or ticker and the other view keeps in sync. You swipe the ticker down to access search, and pull it down further to switch it for a simple month calendar. As before, new events can be entered in the same manner as Apple’s Calendar, or by using the far superior natural-language parser.
use natural-language input
Dig deeper, though, and you see this app’s been given more than just a paint job. Some new features are subtle, but nonetheless useful: the custom number keyboard when creating events; the integrated maps on event pages with addresses; an optional ‘light theme’; the means to open links and maps in Google Chrome and Google Maps rather than Safari and Apple Maps. But there are also two major new features that justify the price tag. First, flip your device into landscape mode and there’s a new week view. It could perhaps do with a little more contrast on the event ‘bubbles’, but the view is more usable than Apple’s equivalent and was also a very obvious missing feature in the original version of the app.
Secondly, Fantastical now supports reminders. Accessing them is a touch awkward – you must do so via the ‘Reminders’ item found in ‘today’. Also, you cannot create or delete reminder lists. However, you can add and remove individual reminders, along with setting alarms (time- or locationbased) and adding maps.
integrated ma
Given how dreadful Apple’s iOS 7 Reminders app is, Fantastical’s ability to work with reminders would make it worth the upgrade price alone. But with all the other new features and improvements, we can honestly say Fantastical 2 is one of the very few third-party apps we think you should install on your iPhone, and do away with Apple’s equivalents. VERDICT
MAKE A DATE “At first, we feared this was merely an iOS 7 spruce-up. But no, Fantastical 2 is far more, and remains as essential as ever. Thoroughly recommended”
DOWNLOAD SCREENSHOTS PLAY VIDEO
GET A BETTER HOME SCREEN #15
MESSAGING APPS Replace Apple’s default apps with our pick of the best alternatives
T
ext messaging remains big business on mobile, with carriers offering all kinds of deals and incentives to tempt people to sign up. But as smartphones continue to evolve, there are options to move away from SMS and to other platforms and systems that can save you money and provide extra functionality.
advantage of Messages: extremely long for free On iOS, Apple figured out its own way of circumventing carriers through its Messages system. In 2009, this was merely a straightforward app that supported both SMS and MMS, but by iOS 5, it had gained support for Apple’s own iMessage protocol; with iOS 6, syncing expanded to non-iPhone devices, enabling people to use iPhone phone numbers to send or receive iMessages on an iPad or iPod touch. The way the Messages app works is seamless. As you send a message, your device figures out if the recipient has iMessage set up and is able to receive such a message. If so, the message is sent in that format and has a blue bubble; if not, Messages falls back to SMS, and the bubble is green. At least, that’s the theory. In practice, it’s quite common for messages to get lost, to arrive long after they were sent, or to comically arrive in a different order on different devices.
Messages thread
In looking to replace Messages, though, you run up against the problem of silos. As much as iMessage is designed to work with Apple kit, it at least also works with SMS (to some extent); most messaging systems, however, are even more closed. In our round-up, then, our aim this issue is to find apps that balance usability, functionality and reach.
time-stamps
FEATURES
Christmas Gift Guide Seasonal suggestions for iOS
L
ooking for some great present ideas family, friends or even just yourself? Then check out our carefully selected collection of awesome Christmas Gifts‌
Audio and Video Cases Gadgets Toys
Audio and Video AE2w Headphones PRICE $250/£200 FROM BOSE
B
ose took their sweet time developing its first set of stereo Bluetooth headphones, but it’s sure been worth the wait. Designed to sit over, rather on or in your ears, they’re phenomenally comfortable, easy to setup, easy to use and they sound absolutely marvelous. Naturally, you can use them to answer calls without having to fetch your iPhone out of your pocket and the battery should give you up to seven hours of run time or up 200 hours on standby. They also include a regular audio cable for when the batteries run low or you just fancy listening Bluetooth-free. BUY IT NOW
Elgato EyeTV Mobile PRICE $100/£90 FROM ELGATO
P
lug this handy gadget into your iPhone and you’ll be able to watch TV on the go – without affecting your mobile data plan. The US version uses the Dyle mobile TV network (see dyle.tv for coverage); while the UK version uses Freeview. Both models give you access to a wide range of channels and naturally there’s a free companion app – EyeTV Mobile – to help you tune in. It’s available free on the App Store. The only real catch for US users is that you’ll need to use a 30pin to Lightning adapter to use it with an iPhone 5 or later. The UK fares better with a choice of 30pin or Lightning versions. BUY IT NOW
Mini Jambox PRICE $180/£150 FROM JAWBONE
I
f you like your speakers to be a little more portable, then the Mini Jambox is ideal. Small, lightweight and fashioned from aluminum, it offers up to 10 hours of battery life between recharges and sounds great as well. You can easily pair it with your iPhone or any other iOS device using Bluetooth and it comes with a 3.5mm audio input for wired listening too. You can even use it for conference calls. To help you make the most of it, there’s even a free Jawbone companion app, which enables you to tweak the speaker’s settings and various other functions.
BUY IT NOW
Zeppelin Air PRICE $600/£500 FROM BOWER & WILKINS
W
hether you’re celebrating Christmas With The Rat Pack or Lady Gaga, it pays to play your tunes on a fantastic sounding system – and the Zeppelin Air is it. Made by the same company whose speakers can be found in Abbey Road Studios, the Zeppelin Air includes both AirPlay and a handy Lightning connector that can be used with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. You can even string a bunch of Zeppelin Airs together (figuratively speaking) to a create a multi-room sound system. Did we mention that it’s beautifully made and good-looking to boot? We just did. Now go buy one.
BUY IT NOW
Apple TV PRICE $99/£99 FROM APPLE
“N
ow there’s always something good on TV” Apple says – and you better believe it. This hockey puck-size black box gives you easy access to a wealth of content, from movies, music, TV shows and podcasts on the iTunes Store to third party services like Netflix. You can play videogames mirrored on to your TV from your iOS devices, and it’s just as capable at playing the content stored on your iPhone, iPad or Mac too, thanks to AirPlay. And if there’s nothing on TV, you can use it to view any photos or movies you’ve shot thanks to iCloud, Photo Stream and the iMovie Theater Channel.
BUY IT NOW
Cases XD5 Waterproof Sports Case PRICE $130/£100 FROM OPTRIX
I
f you’re the kind of person who’s just as likely to be halfway up a mountain as lounging in front of the TV on Christmas Day, then the Optrix XD5 is just what you need. Designed to be crush-proof, water-proof and shockproof, it offers perfect protection for your iPhone 5 or 5s – and includes a 175-degree wide angle lens so you can shoot action-packed movies and photos of your adventures. Team it with a range of optional accessories – like a helmet mount – and you’ll even able to shoot video of you opening your presents. Perfect. BUY IT NOW
iPhone 5c frē Case PRICE $80/£50 FROM LIFEPROOF
W
ant to keep your colorful new iPhone 5c in pristine condition? Then this sturdy LifeProof case is just what you need. Available in black or white versions, the frē will keep your phone safe from dust, dirt, snow and water (it’s submersible up to 6.6 feet) while still giving you access to all its buttons, ports and controls. Best of all, its clear back lets you chosen iPhone 5 color show right through, while the case offers invisible scratch protection for your iPhone’s precious touchscreen. It also includes an anti-reflective optical glass camera lens, so you can keep shooting in the even most perilous of post-Christmas conditions.
BUY IT NOW
iPhone 4 Case Stun Gun PRICE $99 FROM YELLOW JACKET
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urrently available only for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, this sturdy case has an altogether different kind of protection in mind. While it looks innocent enough on the outside, it actually contains a high voltage stun gun that can temporarily disable an assailant giving you enough time to get away. It includes a dual safety switch to prevent it being activated accidentally and can also help recharge your iPhone’s battery – giving it a useful double purpose. Available in a range of colors, including yellow, this case is not available in the UK.
BUY IT NOW
Refuel Battery Case PRICE $90/£60 FROM MOJO
B
illed as the ‘world’s first removable power solution for your iPhone 5’, the Mojo Refuel is a two-part unit, consisting of a matte plastic battery housing and two plastic bumpers, one red and one silver. The iPhone clips into the battery, and then the bumper clips on to that, keeping the phone in place and its edges protected. The battery case itself uses a standard 2200mAh battery, and comes with a spare unit in the box. The back of the case simply slides off, allowing you to snap in a replacement; the back then slips back on again and is quite secure. All in all it’s a very neat and ecofriendly piece of kit. If your biggest issue with the iPhone is its battery life, consider this your problem solved!
BUY IT NOW
HOWTO
Stream to an iPhone Play from your computer
W
hile AirPlay lets you stream video from your iPhone to a TV, it’s also possible to stream films and TV shows from your computer to your iPhone, thus saving space by not needing to store them. Find out how‌
There’s an app for that There are several apps available to do this but we are using Air Video HD. To get started download the app to your iPhone, while on your computer download the companion program from the website. You will then need to set up a specific folder on your computer’s desktop and then add your videos to this. Now tell the companion program which folder they can access.
Next, open the Air Video HD app and as long as both your iPhone and computer are on the same Wi-Fi network, your computer will appear as an option at the top. Tap this and you will connect to it. This will then let you choose the folder specified and you can select which video to watch.
Upon selecting a video you also have a few other options. If you have language files attached to the video, you can tap the Language option and change this.
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In your next packed issue... Alternative apps We complete our roundup of the best tools to replace Apple’s apps
App reviews All the latest games, utilities, and creative apps tested and rated
Top expert advice Get to grips with Pages, and discover a host of new tips for your iPhone
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