9to5Mac Reviews

I’ve always been slightly torn when it comes to headphone choice. While I make no claims to being an audiophile, sound quality is my number one criterion when it comes to selecting headphones. I like neutral sound characteristics that faithfully reproduce what the musicians intended us to hear. I also like high-quality, traditional materials with understated looks. That tends to leave me choosing from the traditional hifi brands.

At the same time, though, I’m a gadget guy. I loved the touch-panel controls of the Parrot Zik. The only thing that put me off those is that, plane journeys aside, I’m not a fan of noise-cancelling cans. I like to be able to hear just a little of what’s going on around me – enough to hear when an announcement is being made on a train, or that I’m about to step in front of a bus – and the Zik headphones don’t sound good in passive mode.

So when Phiaton announced the BT 460, which has a similar touch-and-swipe interface, I thought I’d give them a try. These also have one further claim to fame on the gadget front: they automatically pause music when you take them off, and auto-resume when you put them back on …

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Regular readers will know that I’m a sucker for wood. Show me something well-crafted from an attractive chunk of wood and I’m on board.

I’d previously admired Grovemade’s wooden iPad sleeve, and the company’s iPhone cases were featured in our ‘best of iPhone 6/Plus cases’ roundup, so I thought I’d check out its recently-announced MacBook Dock. The dock is available in a range of sizes to suit the 12-inch MacBook, 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air, and 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro. I tested it with my 11-inch MacBook Air …

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It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on the state of iPhone and iPad controllers, but I have seen some improvements since we first covered some of the shortcomings with the early batch of game controllers that came out under Apple’s Made-for-iPhone licensing program. Today I’m taking a look at the new Tt eSports Contour MFi controller, a new $65 option that includes a classic Xbox-style design and a built-in stand to hold your iPhone and turn it into a true handheld game console.

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Since watchOS 2.0’s announcement I’ve known that I would want to use the Photo Album watch face. The ability to have my favorite photos display every time I looked at my Apple Watch’s display made me think the device was about to get more personal. Facer’s launch today takes that personality one step further.

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Apple’s Cards app introduced in 2011 and discontinued two years later remains one of my favorite iPhone apps to date. The service was fantastic: snap photos on your iPhone, then turn them into personalized letterpress cards sent through the mail to friends and family. Stamp and envelope included, you’d pay $2.99 for anywhere in the US or $4.99 for anywhere around the world. You can still send personalized letterpress cards using Photos on the Mac, but the service was perfect for me as an iPhone app.

I’ve tried a handful of similar iPhone apps since Cards shut down with Postly being the latest and perhaps most modern. Available for iPhone and iPad, Postly lets you create personalized postcards from your iPhone that deliver worldwide for $1.99.

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If you’re looking to upgrade your home appliances and add Siri control, then HomeKit is a key feature you’ll want to look for when buying new hardware. The number of HomeKit-compatible smart thermostats is continuing to grow with Honeywell’s Lyric Round Wi-Fi Thermostat (2nd-gen) as the latest to hit the market.

Among competing thermostats, the basic premise is the same: Wi-Fi connectivity lets you remotely control heating and cooling from mobile apps, and intelligence using location and the Internet let you add some home automation. The pay off is potentially a lower energy bill and the cool factor of controlling the temperature with Siri.

Having recently reviewed the ecobee3 HomeKit thermostat as well, I’ll be using it as a comparison below to highlight what makes Honeywell’s Lyric Round smart thermostat different.

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There are now a ton of third-party Apple Watch bands on the market of varying quality, but at $69, this alternative to Apple’s pricey stainless steel link band from Hyper is worth a closer look.

The bands are made out of the same 316L stainless steel that Apple uses, and nothing about them indicates why there would be an almost $400 gap between these and Apple’s.

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A smart thermostat that you can control from your iPhone is nice, but if you’re a fan of Siri then HomeKit-compatibly is a must. The ecobee3 Wi-Fi thermostat can be controlled using Siri on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, and it uses remote sensors to determine temperature and presence around your home to be smarter about automating your HVAC system. Overall, the thermostat itself is rather slick and the software experience behind it holds up well. If you’re curious about HomeKit and in the market for a smart thermostat, the ecobee3 just might be the best option yet …

Earlier this year at CES, I got the chance to stop by Bluelounge’s booth and discovered a product announced late last year that I hadn’t seen before, the Kosta Apple Watch Charging Coaster. What caught my attention is that it’s designed similarly to Apple’s Magnetic Charging Dock, but comes in three non-white colors including dark grey and costs $15 instead of $80. There are a few key differences to consider with Kosta compared to other Apple Watch docks …

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While iPhone photography keeps on improving thanks to the advancement of tiny camera sensors and image processors, it’s still nowhere near as fully-fledged as DSLR or Micro 4/3rd photography. You can’t swap out interchangeable lenses for different types of imagery, and have to rely on third-party manufacturers producing clip-on accessories. That’s where the Aukey 18mm HD wide angle clip-on lens comes in.

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An amateur astronomer friend has a motorized telescope that allows you to tap in the name of the object you want to see – a constellation, a planet, a deep-sky object – and it automatically locates them in the sky. Universe2go offers an equally hi-tech but more casual approach to stargazing suitable for beginners – including kids.

Universe2go is an augmented reality system that uses your iPhone to do the clever stuff. In essence, it’s a more sophisticated version of Google Cardboard. You open the companion app on your iPhone, snap your phone into the plastic enclosure and then look through the goggles at the night sky. An angled mirror overlays your actual view of the sky with labels from the app.

Pause with the green pointer over a planet or constellation, and the app provides visual data and an audio commentary. Alternatively, choose an object in advance and the app uses the display to direct you to the correct part of the sky before using the augmented reality system to highlight it …

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Naim Audio isn’t a household name outside of audiophile circles, but this British company has for many years made some of the most respected amplifiers in the business. Naim long had an informal partnership with Linn, and if the standard audio system fitted to Bentley’s ultra-expensive cars isn’t good enough for you, the optional audio upgrade is to a Naim system. You’ll also find it available through the Apple Store.

The company is notoriously conservative when it comes to new technology, refusing to even consider making a CD player for most of the 1980s, relenting only in 1989, when it felt the technology had developed sufficiently to allow it to deliver the quality it sought. It’s therefore no surprise that Naim has waited so long to launch its first wireless speaker system, the mu-so – nor that it has done the job properly when it finally did so.

The price is also no great surprise …

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iPad cases these days come in so many forms. You can get ones that only cover the back and ones that only cover the front (like Smart Covers). You can get hefty book-style cases or even cheap Chinese amalgamations from Amazon; I was using this $10 cheap wraparound one until very recently.

Today’s review is about the Oxford from Pad & Quill ($129). The Oxford is a premium Folio for the iPad Pro, described as a luxurious case and stand combo with an integrated pocket for the Apple Pencil. First impressions online are positive, but great iPad cases require a combination of style, features and practicality. I’ve been trying Oxford out for the last few weeks to decide how it stacks up for me. Does it deliver on these points? Read on for my full review …

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The iRig Keys Mini is an electronic MIDI music keyboard that connects to iPhone and iPad with a Lightning cable. Although it isn’t regularly advertised, iPhones and iPads have had great support for MIDI input instruments and other devices for a long time. Since iOS 4 in fact, Apple gave the developers the ability to interact with MIDI peripherals. Simultaneously, the App Store has bloomed a wide ecosystem of sophisticated music creation and audio production apps. This makes for a perfect storm of capability and functionality: not only are MIDI accessories possible, they can really be used to make music on iPhone and iPad.

Read on for my full review of the iRig Keys Mini piano keyboard for iOS ($79.99).

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Today we’re taking a quick look at two Incase sleeves made specifically for Apple’s 12″ Retina MacBook. Neoprene Classic Sleeve ($39.95) comes in five colors and zips the 12″ MacBook in a low-profile soft carrying case. ICON Sleeve ($69.95) has a slightly larger profile that makes it thinner and ditches zippers for a tight-fitting opening at one end.  We compare both MacBook sleeves in detail below:

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For a while, Scotland-based audio company RHA was known primarily for delivering audiophile-grade sound in affordable earphones. With the T20, that’s not exactly how they played it. In fact, this set of headphones is not anywhere near cheap enough to be classed as an affordable pair, but I still feel that in terms of design, audio and versatility, they comfortably give you your money’s worth. That’s despite the fact they’d set you back $240/£180 if you decided to splurge on them…

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Backpacks are as convenient a way to carry things around a city as they are when hiking in the great outdoors, keeping your hands free and spreading the load across two shoulders, but they can be a little worrying when you’re carrying expensive gadgets. The reason? All the zips are behind you. Standing on an escalator, in an elevator or on a platform waiting for a train, you always have the worry of a thief quietly unzipping the compartments to make off with your hard-earned technology.

A messenger bag feels safer, because you can carry it at your side with an arm across it, but it’s less convenient and less comfortable than a backpack. This is the problem Riut set out to solve, with a secure backpack designed specifically to keep your gadgets safe from sneak thieves – so I thought I’d give it a try …

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Ever since I upgraded from an 11″ MacBook Air to a 13″ Retina MacBook Pro, I’ve been hunting for the perfect hybrid computer and camera bag — a compact backpack that could hold my laptop, DSLR, lenses, and accessories at the same time. Six months ago, I covered several MacBook/camera bags from Incase, including the DSLR Sling Pack I’ve loved for years, and larger “Pro” options for bigger laptops. Each hybrid bag makes different compromises: for my needs, the Sling Pack’s too small, and the Pro bags are too large. But users of 11″ MacBooks might find the Sling Pack “just right.”

Seeing potential in a new alternative, I jumped at the opportunity to test Booq’s upcoming Slimpack ($195), a MacBook-sized evolution of its earlier iPad/DSLR backpack $145 Python Slimpack. Booq makes excellent bags, but apart from offering a multipurpose camera/headphone compartment in Boa Flow, it hasn’t taken a deep dive into the camera-laptop hybrid category. While the new Slimpack’s laptop compartment is just a hint too small for the 13″ MacBook Pro and iPad Pro I’m currently using, it’s right-sized for 12″ or smaller MacBooks, as well as 10″ or smaller tablets, any of which can be paired with a full-sized DSLR, three or four lenses, and accessories. Bundled with a rain shield and Booq’s standard Terralinq loss recovery protection system, it’s a very nice bag, and one I would certainly use if I switch to a 12″ MacBook next year…

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