Review

Why I switched back to AT&T after just a week of using Sprint

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Just before the new year, I decided to take on Sprint's promotional event of cutting an AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile bill in half. Being with AT&T for more than 6 years, and having always wanted to try another carrier for the heck of it, I was lured in by being able to save a few bucks on my monthly bill.

Their offer to pay my contract breaching fees up to $650 from AT&T just about sealed the deal as well.

Knowing that Sprint didn't have the best service in the world, I was wary, but since I really only use my iPhone for social networking, phone calls, and iMessaging, and wouldn't be doing things like streaming HD videos on the go, I was going to take the plunge anyway and see whether or not Sprint would be a good fit for my needs.

If you too were thinking about Sprint for your next carrier, then read on, because what I'm about to share with you could make or break your decision and save you a ton of time of cancelling agreements and wasting time and money.

Access your favorite apps from your Lock screen with Akri

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated February 2, 2016

With a new jailbreak tweak called Akri, your favorite applications are never more than a button press and a swipe away. The tweak, which is now available in Cydia's BigBoss repository for $1.99, lets you have as many of your favorite applications accessible from the Lock screen as you want at all times.

Jailbreak tweaks of the week: Akri, Eucnide, and more

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated February 2, 2016

This week, Cydia started off the new year by receiving more than just a few new jailbreak tweak releases to satisfy those looking for a way to change something their iOS device does. Like many weeks before this one, many of the releases are far from anything to get excited about, but there have certainly been some gems released this week that could be worth your time to try out on your spare time.

House of Marley Chant Mini review: the little speaker that could

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

House of Marley has built up a solid reputation among consumers and reviewers for delivering products with unique, eco-friendly designs, great-sounding audio and affordable prices. So of course I jumped at the chance to check out their Chant Mini Bluetooth speaker.

I’ve been playing with the Chant Mini for a few weeks now, and I have to say that I've been impressed. The speaker sounds great for its size—at just 4.25"x5.5"x4.35" this thing is incredibly portable—and I have to admit that the unconventional design has kind of grown on me.

Atomas: a fun game I can’t put down, and here’s why

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

A lot of times when downloading and trying out games from the App Store, I find myself dissatisfied with the game just minutes or hours after playing it. It's not always easy to find those hidden gems that Apple fails to give the spotlight to, but when stumbling across one, I'll easily get addicted to the game and not want to put the game down.

One such game is Atomas, which is a beautifully-crafted puzzle game by Max Gittel that is centered around the elements of the periodic table and allows you to combine groups of like elements with lower atomic numbers to form elements with larger atomic numbers.

Controller review: a mini player for Mac that doesn’t get in the way

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

When you are blasting beats on your Mac, sometimes it is helpful to have easy access to playback features right on your desktop without having to open the root music player. It is also nice to be able to see the name of the song and artist that is currently playing at a glance.

Controller is a mini player for Mac that works with iTunes and Spotify to display the current track and provide playback controls. We've got a hands-on app review of Controller for you below.

iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case: One month later

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

It's been about a month since I purchased Apple's highly-polarizing Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6s. During this period of time, I've been using the case almost non-stop. I did remove the Smart Battery Case for a few days during the past month to see what life was like without the extra battery life, but I was happy to return to it not long after my experiment.

Most, if not all, of my initial impressions still hold up a month later. The Smart Battery Case might not be the best looking design to come out of Cupertino, but in real world usage, this thing is a winner.

Flewn review: a whale of a story told with style

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

In a decade of immediate gratification, where conversations take place 140 characters at a time and games are scored by how fast you complete them, it's nice to come across an app that does nothing but tell a story so you can slow things down, even if it is just for a moment.

Flewn is a highly stylized book with dozens of illustrations that you access with very little effort, but still feels significantly interactive just the same. We've got a full app review of Flewn for you right now.

Sugr Cube review: the portable Wi-Fi speaker with gesture controls and good looks

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

The Sugr Cube ($229 on Amazon) is a portable wireless speaker with built in gesture controls. It features great design, with a stunning minimalistic wood exterior and a large power/volume knob on its rear. The Sugr Cube isn’t inundated with fiddly controls and buttons; in fact, the volume knob is the only moving part on the entire speaker.

The name of the device fits it well. Really, what’s more simple and sweet than a cube of sugar? This little device might be small and it might look unassuming, but there’s some interesting technology lurking beneath the surface, and some sweet sound ready to emanate from the tiny speaker housed inside of the wooden cube.

Beam is a media-focused Reddit client that’s worth checking out

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

I'm not what I would consider a typical Reddit user. I don't belong to any Subreddits, I don't think I've ever posted anything, and I've only voted on a handful of articles. I really just use the site's FrontPage as a source of news, cute puppy pictures and the occasional funny video.

As you can imagine, most iOS Reddit clients—like Alien Blue—are overkill for my needs, so a few months ago I set out to find an app with a specific focus on media and browsing. I believe I found that app in "Beam for reddit," so I figured I'd take a few moments to share it with you.

Mass Fidelity Core portable wireless Bluetooth speaker review

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

I love connecting my iPhone to my little portable speakers so I can bring my music to any party. The technology is great, and the convenience is awesome. But, oftentimes, the sound quality suffers. There are a handful of portable wireless speakers that perform exceptionally well, but none of them provide that true stereo sound that I'm looking for.

So, when I heard about Mass Fidelity's claim that the Core portable wireless speaker simulates stereo quality sound I thought, "yeah right." The company sent us two Core speakers to test out (for the purpose of multi-room use). Frankly, my opinion has changed. We've got a hands-on review of the Core by Mass Fidelity for your reading pleasure today.

Seng: even in beta, it’s the best App Switcher tweak for jailbroken iOS 9 devices [video]

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

If you're looking for an App Switcher replacement for iOS 9, then look no further than Seng, the currently in-beta Auxo-inspired tweak from developer Charlie Hewitt. We first told you about Seng's recent beta a few days ago, but since then, I've been able to go hands-on with the tweak.

What I found was a tweak that worked much like the original version of Seng released back in the summer time. The big difference here is that Seng now plays nice with iOS 9, a feat that's likely harder than it looks given the state of Auxo 3.