Table of contents for Vol 3 2022 in iPhone User

iPhone 14 Pro Models Home Button iPhones Models The older iPhone models still share many of the same side-button locations and functions iPhone 14 Models The Lightning Connector Current iPhones use a Lightning connector for charging, syncing, and (on the latest iPhones) for connecting cabled earbuds using an adapter. Rear Cameras The single, dual, or triple cameras are found to the rear of the devices. The dual and triple-camera models boast wide-angle and telephoto capabilities, with ultra-wide available on three-lens iPhones; while all of them have optical stabilisation for better pictures. Plus/Max Sizes Some iPhone models come in two sizes: a large version, known as the Plus or the Max, and a regular version that lacks this suffix. The larger-sized iPhones, known as ‘phablets’, are halfway between a phone and…

According to Apple’s Corey Wang, the smart home is still in its early days, and the company wants to bring its benefits to as many people as possible. In order to give users the best available choice of connected home gadgets, Apple has partnered with other industry leaders to create a new standard - Matter. This standard lets smart home accessories work together across platforms, including HomeKit gadgets. In fact, HomeKit underpins the framework of the Matter standard. With the next versions of Apple’s operating systems, the Home app is reimagined from the ground up. It’s more efficient and reliable, especially in homes with many accessories. The Rooms and Favourites sections are integrated into the main app tab, giving access to your entire home in a single screen. New categories…

Info SanDisk www.westerndigital.com £88, $89.99, 82,75 € Compatibility: Lightning and USB-C devices You can use this double-ended flash drive to transfer files between devices, and back up your photos and videos from your tablet or smartphone. Available in 64GB, 128GB or 256GB capacities, it has a USB-C 3.1 plug on one end, and a Lightning connector at the other. You can only copy media and contacts from an smartphone or tablet, using the iXpand app, but plug it into a Mac and you can copy any file. Transferring files to the flash drive is super speedy; it’s certainly faster than its predecessor, the iXpand Flash Drive Go. The iXpand app is easy to use too. It’s a great way of getting more from your mobile device’s internal storage, without clogging it…

Info UUByte www.uubyte.com £35.50, $29.95, 28,30 € An ISO file, or image if you prefer, is a computer file that recreates the contents of an optical disk. It’s ideal for backing up CDs and DVDs, and also for downloading a disk image and burning it to a disk or onto a flash drive as bootable media. These are the tasks UUByte ISO Editor is built to do, as well as managing and organising files on an ISO, or even creating one from scratch. It’s easy to use. From the Home page, you can opt to Burn (make a bootable disk or USB flash drive from an ISO), Extract (access the contents of an ISO), Create (make a new ISO), Edit (add, delete and rename an ISO’s content), or Copy Disc…

Rogue hackers have infiltrated cyberspace, spreading disinformation and trying to influence votes. Data that passes through unsecure servers is potentially compromised too. Did you know telecom providers have to store the content of voice calls, data, images and text messages on these servers for six months, and their metadata such as: time, location, message sender and recipients, for 3 years? Worrying, isn’t it? SpyBuster, a free security app from Kyiv-based developer MacPaw, identifies applications, services and sites connected to potentially unfriendly countries, and blocks them if you wish. It also analyses app behaviour on the fly, scanning connections in real-time and alerting you if any are compromised. You can then choose to disable them, or place them on a whitelist for those you’re happy to allow. SpyBuster is a great…

Info SKYWALK www.skywalkgames.com Free (IAP) Do you remember a little green monster who lived at the bottom of your smartphone’s screen? He was just about the cutest little monster ever. Om Nom was his name, and he was rather hungry; famished, in fact, and if you didn’t feed him up pronto he might just waste away. You didn’t want that on your conscience, right? I certainly didn’t, and I wasn’t alone. Om Nom and his Cut the Rope series went from strength to strength, not only on the App Store. Cartoons, toys and the usual merchandise turned heads for a while until the series’ mainstream appeal waned, returning the series to its gaming origins. Fortunately, the game itself was brilliant! It was 250 levels of rope-swingy, physics-based puzzle gameplay that…

Part game, part interactive movie, when Another World was first released for the Amiga it was more than just another game. It was a real interactive experience. Rather than falling into one of the established genres of the time, Another World was neither a puzzle game, a shoot-’em-up nor a platformer, but it was all of these and more. Playing it now it’s easy to forget how revolutionary it was at the time. The spookily realistic sprite animation still looks very nice, but it was gob-smacking in 1991. The game begins with a scientific experiment gone wrong, which transports the main character to a strange, dream-like world and so begins the adventure where you take on challenge after challenge as you try to stay alive and figure out a way…

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max Apple’s flagship phones To no one’s surprise, the iPhone 14 range includes an iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. These are Apple’s high-end models, top-ofthe-range models for top-of-the-range needs. As expected, there was a price increase over the launch prices of the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, but this wasn’t as hefty as we thought. So let’s take a look at the iPhone 14 Pro, and its larger stable mate, the iPhone 14 Pro Max. New Colours iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are made from surgical grade stainless steel, and are available in four new colours, namely space black, silver, gold, and a gorgeous deep purple design that looks far better than the more lilac model in…

Info Fledging https://fledging.tech/products/hubble £130.00, $90.00, 125,00 € Compatibility: tablet Pro or tablet Air with USB-C data/charging port The tablet has really come on as a go-to machine for both business and leisure. Today’s tablet is so versatile it can replace your notebook when you’re out and about. It’s with this in mind that Birmingham, Alabama startup Fledgeling built the Hubble for tablet. Available for the tablet Pro 12.9” and 11”, and the fourth-gen tablet Air, the Hubble connects to your tablet’s USB-C port. It’s not available for any tablet with a Lightning port or 30-pin dock. It greatly expands the tablet’s connectivity options, offering (from left to right): a headphone socket, HDMI port, SD and microSD card readers, a USB-A port, two USB-C ports (one for charging and one for…

This handy, mains-powered device is more than just an tablet stand. Sure, it can hold your tablet Pro (2018 or later, either size), or tablet Air (2020), in Landscape or portrait mode, so you can watch media, draw with your Apple Pencil or type comfortably by connecting a keyboard and mouse. But it’s also a wireless charger for your smartphone and/or AirPods. Just place them on the pad at the foot of the stand. You can also buy an optional Apple Watch charger that fits on the side of the device. The stand connects to your tablet’s USB-C socket, and you can plug in peripherals using the ports at the back. There’s three USB 3 ports, a HDMI port and an Ethernet port. There’s an SD Card reader and headphone…

Info Radio Garden BV http://radio.garden Free (IAP for mobile devices) Compatibility: mobile/tablet, web browser Sites that collate Internet radio stations aren’t exactly thin on the ground, but Radio Garden does it differently. Instead of listing broadcasters by genre or country, it locates them on a globe which you can rotate on the screen, and zoom in and out of for a better view. Every shining dot on the map is a radio station (or for pedants, an Internet streaming broadcast). Click on a dot, or drag the globe until it’s in the centre of the circle in the middle of the screen, and that station plays. Using the controls at the foot of an smartphone screen and in the bottom-left on an tablet or Mac, you can play and pause…

The latest release of the popular Carbon Copy Cloner backup software offers several major advances over previous releases, but the app has gained a major drawback; thanks to changes in macOS rather than any failing on the application’s part. The Carbon Copy Cloner user interface has had a major overhaul. It now offers Dark Mode, as well as a smaller, tighter window with clearer controls. While a cloning is in progress, you now get a detailed visual indicator of what’s going on, including data transfer rates and an estimated completion time. The menu bar app has been overhauled too. As well as starting, stopping and monitoring your backup tasks, it now also tracks the disk usage consumed by snapshots. Built for speed… Perhaps the most impressive update is a speed…

We all love the macOS App Switcher; hold CMD and tap the Tab key and you can cycle through the apps that are currently open on your Mac, switching from one to another quickly and easily. But if you’ve previously used a PC, you might miss the Windows switcher. That’s where AltTab comes in. With this free app installed, two new keyboard shortcuts are added. The first lets you cycle through all currently active windows, not just the apps that created them, and the second does the same for all windows associated with the app you’re currently using. So if you have, say, three different Safari windows open, you can use AltTab to get straight to the one you want. Unlike the macOS App Switcher, it opens windows that have…

Remember Mokoko, the awesome Mac game that drew its inspiration from arcade classics such as Volfied, Qix and Gals Panic? Remember how you patrolled the perimeter of the gaming area, nibbling away at the central, silhouetted area until you’d captured a given percentage of the screen? Remember how the enemies would maraud around, causing you to die if they touched or shot your trail while you pressed on into enemy territory? If you completed the game but would welcome more of the same, developer NAISU has released a sequel; Mokoko X. The new game offers 32 levels in total, comprised of 24 levels with unique bosses and minions, and eight mega-levels where you fight three bosses from the previous levels at the same time. There are eight different anime-influenced girls…

Info Rockstar Games www.rockstargames.com/ chinatownwars £4.49, $4.99, 4,99 € Major franchises tend to have an instalment that fans consider a misstep. A few (un) popular examples; Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier, Super Mario Sunshine, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, any Star Wars movies that don’t have Part 4, 5 or 6 in the subtitle… The list is endless and, of course, 100% personal. But what about those games or movies that were largely ignored or disdained despite being not bad at all? With that in mind, let’s head back to Liberty City, albeit in a way you’ve never seen before, or again. Launching with very little fanfare in 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was the first original instalment in the monster franchise developed with the handheld market in…

For the iPhone i0S 16 The iPhone is about to get an overhaul, and it won't cost you a penny to upgrade. iOS 16, due for release this autumn, is a free upgrade and it’s packed with exciting new features that get the most from your Apple smartphone. The Lock Screen No one pays too much attention to the iPhone lock screen these days. It’s just there, whenever your phone is locked and needs a passcode or a biometric to open it. Sure, it gives you the time and date, a few recent notices and easy access to the Camera app or Torch feature, but it that’s all it’s good for. But all this is going to change in iOS 16. The new operating system offers a complete overhaul for…

There are changes coming to CarPlay, Apple’s excellent iOS feature that lets you use your iPhone in your car from a touch screen built into the dashboard. These days, many cars have more than one screen, so as well as the standard CarPlay home screen, information is displayed on the other monitors too. Deep integration with the car’s hardware lets you tune your car’s radio or change the temperature directly from the CarPlay screen. You can also display widgets on one of the secondary screens, powered by your iPhone and perfectly designed to fit your screens. Vehicles compatible with the next generation of CarPlay will start to be announced from late next year.…

Western Digital’s My Cloud series of network attached storage (NAS), drives are highly respected. With support ending for older versions of the My Cloud operating system, and therefore My Cloud NAS drives that cannot be updated beyond them, it might be time to update to a modern release, such as this My Cloud Home single-drive device. It’s available in capacities from 2TB to 8TB, or 4TB to 20TB if you opt for the dual drive version. Here we’re reviewing the 6TB model with a single hard drive. The idea behind a NAS drive means instead of connecting it directly to your computer, you attach it to your network. As is typical for such a drive, you connect it to your router using the bundled Ethernet cable, after which you can…

We’ve all seen these devices before – gaming controllers that sandwich your smartphone between two sets of controls, effectively turning it into a mobile console. But the Backbone One is a controller with a difference. As well as being compatible with your smartphone games, including those downloaded with Apple Arcade, it also supports Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Google Stadia and GeForce Now. Subscribers to these services can stream games directly to their smartphone without needing their console or PC to be on. It also supports Xbox Remote Play, PS Remote Play and Steam Link, so you can stream your purchased games from your console or PC too. Backbone One is compatible with all smartphones running iOS 13 or later, and you can even connect a cable to any USB-C screen…

Info DxO https://www.dxo.com £115.00, $129.00, 129,00 € PureRAW 2 is designed for serious photographers. Harnessing the power of DeepPRIME learning, the app corrects errors and blemishes that can reduce the quality of a photograph taken as a Raw file; the photo format favoured by pro snappers with quality cameras. According to developer DxO, over ten million photographers use the Raw format, and 90% of them also use Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. DxO’s PureRAW 2 is designed to work hand in hand with Adobe’s apps, and can be used as a stand-alone app or as a plug-in for Photoshop or Lightroom. As professional photographers know, Raw is a lossless photo format with the absolute minimum of processing, as produced by the camera’s image sensor. PureRAW 2 analyses a Raw photograph and…

Info Staffpad www.staffpad.co Musicians rejoice! StaffPad is built for composers, and it’s an amazing piece of software. With StaffPad, you can write and edit musical notation in your own handwriting, using your finger or better still, with an Apple Pencil. Handwriting is converted into a typeset score, and it even makes corrections where necessary and lets you know if you put too many or two few beats in a bar. After putting together a composition, you can have the app play it back to you. You can play, import, record and edit audio too. The core library, bundled with the app, includes over 55 instruments. If you need more, StaffPad has partnered with sample library producers such as Cinesamples, Orchestral Tools, Spitfire Audio and others to compile extra sounds available…

Info Feral Interactive www.feralinteractive.com £12.99, $14.99, 14,99 € Feral Interactive’s Mac and Apple mobile conversions of SEGA’s Total War strategy games have quite a following. Fans of the franchise have long lauded Medieval II as one of the best, perhaps the best game in the series; and it’s now available on the tablet and smartphone as a universal app. We wouldn’t recommend playing it on a regular-sized smartphone, though. It’s far too fiddly on the small screen. Set in the Middle Ages, the action takes place across three continents – Europe, North Africa and the Middle East – as 17 playable factions vie for supremacy. Six factions are available at the start; England, France, Venice, The Holy Roman Empire, Spain and The Moors. The other 11 must be unlocked by…

Info 11bit studios s.a www.anomalythegame.com The tower defence game is a staple of the App Store. The real-time weapons placement and short gameplay bursts seem perfect for a portable touchscreen device. While we’re big fans of this genre, we’ve found ourselves getting a little tired of the predictable gameplay. The setting and plot may change, but the concept of defending your base using various static weapons from waves of approaching enemies has remained the same. However, just as fatigue appeared to have set in, Anomaly Warzone Earth has blasted onto iOS and tabletOS and flipped the tower defence genre on its head. This time you take control of the attacking craft as they battle through the landscape, avoiding or destroying the enemy’s defences. Role reversal This role reversal is the…

As a retro gamer I love the fact that Apple’s mobile gear is creating a new platform for classic games, and Dragon’s Lair 30th Anniversary (a subtitle which I will now ignore as it essentially screaming “YOU ARE SO OLD” in my face!) is one of the best to join this trend. In the arcades, the game used a laser disc at the core of its technology. You had to press the joystick or the button at the correct time to cause the disc to skip to the next section. Press the wrong direction or take too long and the disc skipped to one of the many comic-book death sequences. This version of the game is just like the original, but with all the crisp, hand-drawn animated graphics preloaded on…