By Giveaways
Don't forget to enter this weekend's Giveaway Contest!
Here's how it works: Every other weekend we raffle off tons of great apps and accessories for FREE then announce the winners through iphonelife.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. To enter, go to iPhoneLife.com/giveaways. If you win an app, we will email you the promo code. If you win an accessory, we will ask you for your mailing address.
By Todd Bernhard
The biggest gripes about the Apple Watch are that it's too bulky for exercise, it's expensive, and the battery life is poor. I would add that accessing your heart rate takes longer than it should. Enter the A360 Fitness tracker ($199.95) from Polar. These folks have been making "wearables" since 1977, specializing in heart rate chest strap devices. In fact, the A360 bracelet can link up with Polar's H7 chest strap to get a more accurate measurement of your heart rate. This makes it one of the best fitness trackers for hardcore athletes.
By Conner Carey
Like a turtle, I love to carry my home on my back. If I can depend on a single backpack to organize and carry everything I need, whether for the day or a week, I’m immensely impressed. I’ve used backpacks in the past with pockets for laptops and side pockets for water bottles, but I didn’t realize it could get so much better. The Haven backpack by STM ($99.95) is encapsulated by the name. The designers of this tech bag thought of everything.
By Giveaways
Thanks to everyone who entered the May 2 iPhone Life Biweekly Giveaway! Every other week we give away amazing prizes, so if you didn't win this time, make sure you enter the May 16 giveaway and tell your friends to enter too!
And the winner is... (drum roll please):
By Conner Carey
I don’t know when headphones got so expensive, but I clearly wasn’t paying attention when CDs turned into MP3s and headphones became luxury listening items. For this reason, Jabra Move Wireless ($99.99) are a refreshing option for listeners who want awesome sound in a reasonable price range. Jabra previously impressed me with its Sport Pulse earbuds, but I was skeptical to see if Jabra’s regular headphones could stand up to the test.
By Todd Bernhard
Backups are important. I just traded in a few iPhones in preparation of getting the next iPhone, expected to be announced on March 21. I backed them up to iCloud and to my Mac via iTunes. But there's an interesting alternative that started out as a Kickstarter. The MEEM Backup Cable ($69.99) from MEEM SL is a backup system in disguise. It looks like a USB Lightning cable that swallowed a flash drive. The cable is special because it has 32 GB of memory to backup key data from your iOS device. There is also a 16 GB version for Android.
By Todd Bernhard
We gave the Ring Video Doorbell one of our Best of Show Awards at CES a while ago, and it's nice to see such a good product getting better. While it's great to get notifications of visitors on your iOS device, sometimes you might be away from your iPhone or iPad but near your Mac. With an official (and free) Mac app, now you can see those notices on a nice big screen.
By Conner Carey
There are so many different fitness and activity trackers on the market now, and most of them track similar metrics like steps and calories burned. Spire ($149.95) caught my attention by providing a more well-rounded picture of health that tracks when you’re calm and focus based on your breathing. As important as exercise is to health, I think stress does even more damage than lack of movement. Spire helps you track both and uses the Spire app to bring you back into calm with short meditations you can even do at work.
By Conner Carey
Happy Earth Day! At its Spring Event, Apple covered all the ways in which it’s helping the environment. Apple’s goal is to run all of its operations on 100 percent renewable energy, and it’s a goal the rest of the world needs to take more seriously as well. When it comes to a getting a case for our iPhone, there are often other factors we consider like protection and functionality. So here’s some of the best cases that deliver both on features and eco-friendliness.
By Jim Karpen
Yet another HomeKit-compatible sensor from Elgato is Eve Weather ($49.95), which tracks outdoor temperature, humidity, and air pressure. In my previous posts in this series on HomeKit devices, I've covered iHome's SmartPlug and Elgato's Eve Room and Eve Energy.
By Dig Om
Each year in celebration of Earth Day, we present awards recognizing the most earth-friendly mobile tech companies. Following in the carbon footprints of Apple Inc., (perhaps one of the most ecologically conscientious companies on the planet) these three brands have all raised the bar when it comes to making sustainability, recycling, and conservation top priorities.
By Giveaways
This is the official announcement of the iPhone life Biweekly Giveaway! Be sure to enter the giveaway at iphoneLife.com/giveaways to win prizes, which we'll announce May 2! We are raffling off tons of great accessories for FREE.
By Conner Carey
This year, Mother’s Day falls on May 8. That means it’s time to buy a gift and plan for flowers. I don’t care who you are, your mom waddled around for nine months and gained a tiger’s skin worth of stretch marks (or went through a strenuous adoption process) — the least you can do is get her a gift to show your appreciation. Even if your mom isn’t a tech pro, there are plenty of tech items she would love and get a lot of wonderful use out of. Here’s awesome Mother’s day gifts for the tech mom in your life.
By Todd Bernhard
It's not easy being an App Developer. Every time Apple releases a new version of iOS or one of their own apps, there is the concern that it could replace an app that a developer has been working on for months or years. It can be even more challenging to be an accessory maker for Apple. When the Apple Watch first came out, savvy users discovered a secret "port" behind the watch band connector that allowed for diagnostics but could also be a way to power the watch.
By Jim Karpen
I'm enjoying making my home smarter via Apple HomeKit-compatible devices. So far I've written about iHome's SmartPlug ($39.99), which lets you set up an on/off schedule as well as control an appliance remotely, and Elgato's Eve Room ($79.95), which lets you monitor volatile organic compounds in the air in a room, as well as humidity and temperature. In this post I'll cover a handy gadget from Elgato that lets you monitor how much electricity an appliance is using: Eve Energy ($49.95). Elgato has also given me Eve Weather and Eve Door & Window and I'll cover those HomeKit devices in future posts.