Review

Phiaton Chord MS 530 review

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

While wearing my Apple Watch on week one, I kept feeling like something was missing. After listening to this week's Let's Talk iOS, Jeff clued me in. I was missing the music capability. It is somewhat surprising that Apple precluded Apple Watch from playing music through the speaker. Most likely, it is a move to conserve battery power and prevent a poor listening experience on such a small speaker.

Enter a renewed need or desire to have a good set of Bluetooth headphones. Coincidentally, I was contacted by Phiaton to review their Chord MS 530 headphones and happily accepted. The M-series headphones are known for bold styling with a modern appeal and high build quality. Having previously reviewed the Bridge MS 500 wired headphones, I was happy to take a look at the more robust, wireless and noise canceling older brother.

Does Not Commute review: and you thought your morning drive was bad?

Lory Gil ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Driving in traffic can be one of the most stressful experiences of a person’s day. Navigating turns, freeway congestion, and distracted drivers can really put you off.

Does Not Commute takes the concept of daily driving and smashes it into a brick wall. After playing this game, you’ll appreciate the relaxing traffic jam you are stuck in every morning. We’ve got a game review of Does Not Commute for you today.

Singularity review: a singularly enjoyable puzzler

Josh Gallagher ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

The core concept behind many iOS puzzle games is something we’ve seen before. Whether it’s a match three or a word jumble, there is a lot of familiar ideas out there. Truly great games are able to take these ideas and expand on them. They mix in brand new concepts and create a game that is unique and exciting. The newest game from unexpected3rd, Singularity, is a tried and true concept that I think we’ve all seen in other games. The question is; does Singularity expand upon its premise enough to be considered great?

Review: Forgotten Memories remembers what it means to be a survival horror game

Josh Gallagher ∙ Updated January 31, 2018

For years, the survival horror genre has suffered from a bit of an identity crisis, with genre mainstays straying into everything from action adventures to point and click romps. With Forgotten Memories: Alternate Realities, developer Psychose Interactive seeks to resurrect the ideals that made survival horror great and prove that the early games in the genre got it right the first time.

Tiltagon review: a game that’s frustrating, but in all the right ways

Josh Gallagher ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Games using tilt controls have certainly come a long way since the early days of the iPhone. Advancements in technology and programming have taken what was once difficult and unwieldy and transformed it into a responsive, valid control scheme. Tiltagon seeks to utilize this new-found precision to create a game that is frustrating, but in all the right ways.

Review: RHA T10i earphones

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated October 1, 2017

When I reviewed the RHA MA-750i earphones a couple of months ago, I wrote about how they made me enjoy music again, and I stand by that to this day. When I wrote that review in February the MA-750i earphones were the best I had ever used.

They're not anymore.

Smove review: use your best moves to get a high score

Josh Gallagher ∙ April 15, 2015

There aren’t many classic arcade style action games that are able to compensate for the iPhone's lack of physical buttons. The loss of tactile feedback is just too much to overcome, but this doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy a nice score chasing romp on our phones. It just means that developers have to create new games that rely on completely different control schemes. Simple Machine’s Smove does just that.

NomadClip adds carabiner-style charging to your pocket

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

I travel a lot. Not necessarily on vacations mind you. I just mean, I'm out and about on a daily basis, gone for side family visits on the weekend, and fly on a somewhat regular basis. Consequently, my daypack is always stuffed with cables for my gadgets, iPhone, iPad, backup battery charger, Bluetooth headphones and the like.

Naturally, there is some overlap there with the Lightning cable, but sometimes you need to charge the iPhone and iPad simultaneously. More importantly, my daypack is made for lightweight daily stuff and every time I cram one more even small item, it gets filled. Thankfully, I've added Nomad's NomadClip to the mix and I can store my charging cable on my belt clip, outside of the bag, and many other non-backpack locations.

Memories – Instant Photo Scanner review: digitize your film photographs with ease

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Say it’s Thursday, and you are frantically looking for some hilarious high school picture of yourself to share with the world on Facebook or Twitter. Once you’ve found the pic, you can’t seem to get a good angle to take a picture of it with your iPhone in order to turn it into a JPEG to post online. Too much glare. It looks blurry. It’s too dark.

That is where Memories – Instant Photo Scanner comes in. You can quickly take digital pictures of old film photographs for sharing and preserving. We’ve got an app review of Memories – Instant Photo Scanner for you today.

Kenu Stance: a compact tripod for iPhone

Jim Gresham ∙ April 12, 2015

From the makers of the Airframe, which I also considered the 'perfect' travel companion for car mounts, comes the Stance. Like the Airframe, Kenu designed their newest gadget to be amazingly simple and solve a problem most iPhone users would love to solve.

Many times, I'm out and about, or even at home, and wish I could quickly find something to hold my iPhone in place. Whether FaceTime, Periscope, Netflix, or reading a recipe, Stance is there to help. I own a lot of docks and stands, at least in the double digits, but none of them are as small and versatile as Stance and I'm thankful Kenu sent one for review.

Early MacBook reviews praise its ambition, but criticize its compromises

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

In addition to Apple Watches, Apple gave select members of the press test units of its new ultra-thin MacBook to try out and review. Like the Watch, the new MacBook goes on sale this Friday, so naturally those reviews began hitting the web today.

For the most part it sounds like reviewers agreed with the general consensus back in March, which is that it looks great, but it comes with significant trade-offs. Nevertheless, we've rounded up some of our favorite takes on Apple's new notebook.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper review: grind through battles with iconic characters

Lory Gil ∙ Updated June 22, 2018

Fans of the Final Fantasy franchise have probably already checked out Square Enix’s latest mobile adventure and made their judgments quickly.

However, there are probably some gamers that haven’t delved into the Final Fantasy Record Keeper (dubbed FFRK) world yet, mostly because of the free-to-play red flag. We’ve got a game review of Final Fantasy Record Keeper to help you decide if it is worth your time.