iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Sharp focus is one of the key aspects of capturing a great photograph. Focus and exposure are probably the two most critical technical areas photographers need to understand. In this post, I want to focus on focus (really sorry, couldn't help myself).

The iPhone, like all phone camera technology I'm aware of, gives us very little scope to play with focus at the point of capture. This is because the relationship between its optics and its sensor is such that typically the vast majority of the scene will be in focus, or almost in focus, even if we just point and click. We would describe this as a large depth of field or depth of focus.

There are many compelling reasons to teach children sign language at a young age. For some, it is a valuable skill they will have for the rest of their lives. For others, it is a necessity due to a medical condition or developmental delay. No matter the reason, there are apps out there that help teach little ones sign language. The icing on the cake is that all of these apps are free, which makes them accessible to anyone with an iPhone. 

VLC for iOS Returns to the App Store

By Werner Ruotsalainen

VLC is probably the best all-in-one multimedia player for both Mac OS X and Windows. It also has ports on mobile platforms (or will have when Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 are concerned).

The iOS port, which was released back in 2010, had a stormy history. Shortly after its release, it had to be removed from the App Store, only to return almost three years later, this week VLC for iOS (free). Before, the only VLC version available on iOS was from Cydia, the jailbroken App Store. The Cydia version of VLC has always been the same as the 2010 (initial) version of VLC.

The removal of the initial version of VLC has understandably caused quite much uproar because people tend to think of VLC as the best of all players no matter what platform it's running on. This, unfortunately, hasn't been the case of the initial (2010) version – actually, it has been one of the absolute worst players in terms of compatibility, features, and efficiency. As I've always recommended in all iOS forums, you simply didn't want to use the then-current (2010) version of iOS VLC, because it was plain inferior to the top App Store players (GoodPlayer, It's Playing, AVPlayerHD, nPlayer, HD Player Pro (currently unavailable), RushPlayer, BUZZ Player HD. etc.), and Cydia ones (XBMC, RushPlayer+).


Apple is preparing to upgrade its mobile operating system to iOS 7, and with that, we can expect to see a host of new features on our iDevices as well as significant improvements to already-existing features and apps. One of the things I'm excited to see is how mobile gaming evolves with iOS 7. On that note, it seems appropriate to feature a serious gamer’s headphone. Hardcore gamers and audiophiles alike will appreciate the quality of sound of the V-Moda Crossfade M-100s ($310) over-the-ear headphones. 

While many companies develop great headphones, very few pour as much time, energy, and resources into research and development as has V-Moda. The Crossfade over-the-ear headphones are very much the product of extensive crowdsourcing and feedback from a variety of audio experts and connoisseurs.

Although marketed primarily as a device for recording and broadcasting Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 gaming exploits, Elgato's Game Capture HD ($179.95) also can capture iPad games and productivity software. By pairing it with a laptop and an Apple Digital AV adapter, the Game Capture HD records and broadcasts iPad content in glorious high-resolution video. With the press of a button within the Game Capture's software interface, you can also stream the video to YouTube or gamer-centric Twitch.tv. Read on to learn more.

Elgato's support of the iPad has been surprisingly strong, producing both the eyeTV and eyeTV Mobile for iPad users.

I installed iOS 7 beta 3 on my iPhone 4S a few days ago and have had some time to check it out and the results are in—my iPhone works again!

For those of you who installed beta 2 on your iOS devices, you know what I'm talking about. With beta 2, I couldn't take a picture without shutting down and restarting my iPhone. I often had to tap the surface several times before my tap was recognized, and a few times each day, my iPhone would simply reboot itself.

This is par for the course for an early beta of any software, especially an operating system. However, I wanted to install the early betas of iOS 7 on the devices I use on a daily basis because it's the best way to become intimately acquainted with this revamped version of iOS.

This article is intended for iPhone 4S and 5 users who want to shoot video at 60fps (double the framerate) using iOS 7 as well as programmers wanting to support the new 60fps mode in their apps. No iPad or iPhone 4 users should read further since, to my knowledge, their hardware doesn't support 60fps.


Executive Summary

iOS 7 will support 60fps video recording at 720p (as opposed to iOS 6). While it does have image quality problems on current, compatible iPhones (4S and 5), at least it works.

This article is highly recommended for programmers and people interested in shooting video.

As of iOS 7 beta 2, the built-in Camera application can't make use of the extra pixels of the sensor when zooming. Only custom-written, third-party apps currently can do that. Hopefully Apple fixes Camera in the final version of iOS 7; before that, should you want to use zooming while shooting video, avoid using the Camera app and make sure you write or install an iOS 7-specific video recorder application for best results.

Many of my readers have asked for a complete elaboration on the brand new zooming features of iOS 7, both in the stock Camera application and the programmatic API support (AVCaptureDevice.videoZoomFactor and the related, highly useful properties AVCaptureDevice.activeFormat.videoZoomFactorUpscaleThreshold and AVCaptureDevice.activeFormat.videoMaxZoomFactor).

Ever since the social app Snapchat debuted on the App Store two years ago, parents everywhere have been hyper aware of the downsides of their teens downloading and using the popular app.

Parents are concerned about enabling their children to receive (or send) sexually inappropriate photos or videos, photos that bully, or images taken in bad taste. If parents think they can routinely check their teen's phone to look for signs of these behaviors, Snapchat puts an end to that. When you take a photo in the app, it's not saved to the camera roll, and when you view a photo in Snapchat, it's available to the viewer for less than 10 seconds, and then it's gone forever. 

Welcome to my iPhoneography workflow. Here, I'll share the images I create with my iPhone and the hand-picked, trial-and-error methods I use to capture and edit them with.

This image I took recently, titled "Sunday Serenity," is a very easy-to-approach iPhoneography photo. I want to share a few quick tips first off. Using your iPhone to take professional-looking photos involves a little manipulation. Trying to get those far-away landscape shots with your iDevice can be difficult compared to using a DSLR camera.

In this photo, the sun was about to come up, which is THE BEST time to catch sunrises (for sunsets, the best time is right after the sun goes down). It all relates to lighting, and colors are more intense before or after the sun makes an appearance.

The rugged, waterproof case market has exploded this year, and now that summer is in full effect, people keep asking me, “Which waterproof iPhone case should I get?”

This time last year, Lifeproof had excellent offerings, and... well, that was really about it in terms of quality waterproof iPhone cases. This year, however, there is no shortage of top-quality waterproof cases for your iPhone. Read on for a quick roundup of the best of the best available. And while I can't tell you which one is best suited to you, I can turn you on to some great options (some of which you may not have known about), and let you decide.

This article is intended for readers suffering from the narrow field-of-view of iPhones starting with the iPhone 4 and for programmers offering any kind of video recording in their apps.

As you may know already, recent iDevices use image stabilization during video recording. Unfortunately, not even the latest-and-greatest iPhone 5 has optical stabilization, only electronic, unlike the Nokia Lumia 92x. This, unfortunately, means part of the sensor is used for the stabilization itself, further narrowing the already limited field-of-view (FOV). I recommend you watch engadget's iPhone 5 vs. Nokia Lumia 920 videos so you can see how immensely better optical stabilization is.

In this age of multi-device households, sharing accounts with family members can be a little stressful. Add a tween or teenage into the mix, and it might be enough to push you over the edge. If you’ve ever had your phone ring with a FaceTime call from your 12 year-old’s best friend or received the “iCloud is full” error message after adding a new device to your household, this article is for you.

First, it’s important to know a little bit about your Apple ID and iCloud. Your Apple ID is what gives you access to iCloud, FaceTime, iMessage, iTunes, the App Store, and Game Center, among other services. Since these are the most-used services in my house, they are the ones I’m going to talk about here. Some families choose to share an Apple ID for some services and use separate Apple IDs for others. There is no “one size fits all” cure for family device management—it all depends on your family's preferences. If you forgot your Apple ID, here's how to reset your password.

This article will be useful for anyone planning to display the output of Keynote on an external screen. I've clearly marked sections meant for advanced users or ones with jailbroken devices; they can be safely skipped by other users. This article contains a lot of information on video/TV output in general and the multitasking/backgrounding JB tweaks, which may also be of interest to readers who aren't Keynote users.

Apple's Keynote app ($9.99) is by far the most widely used iOS application to play back presentations. In this writeup, I present you with a complete discussion of everything related to displaying its contents on an external screen or projector (from now on, for brevity, I'll call TV).

If you don't know the name Gary Rayner, chances are still good you know the company he built from the ground up. Rayner is the visionary genius behind the phenomenally successful and multiple-award winning Lifeproof protective cases. Over the years, I've had several opportunities to write about Mr. Rayner, his demanding standards of quality, and the Lifeproof line of cases, arguably some of the best iDevice cases on the market.

Last week at the CTIA Wireless Association convention in Las Vegas, not only did Lifeproof win three trophies at the iPhone Life Best of CTIA Awards, it also played a significant role in a major announcement from Brian Thomas, CEO of Otterbox. Live on the iPhone Life iZone stage, Thomas made the announcement that Otterbox had acquired Lifeproof in a move that according to iPhone Life CEO David Averbach “adds substantially to the Otterbox legacy and solidifies the company’s hold on the case market.”

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