EACH WEEK, WE highlight five apps that are worth downloading for your smartphone and tablet. There are a lot of apps released on a daily basis, but not all of them are worth paying attention to.
This week features hoverboards, identifying items for the blind and 3D clips.
Aipoly Vision
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- Unless you’re directly affected, it’s easy to forget how much software has progressed for those with disabilities. There is still a long way to go, but there are more apps and services designed to cater for such people.
- Aipoly Vision is one such app. Designed for those who have bad sight or are blind, it is able to recognise a variety of objects and scenes.
- Using it is a matter of pointing it at the object in front of you and it will tell you what it sees. It’s pretty accurate at what it does.
- If you want, you can use it to identify different colours through it (it claims it’s able to tell 954 colours apart).
- The uses for this is obvious so as long as you have a iPhone 5s, iPad Air or iPad Mini 2 or better, you’ll be able to use this.
Adobe Premiere Clip
For: iOS, Android
Cost: Free
- If you record video on your phone (let’s face it, who doesn’t?), it’s usually easier to edit them on your phone than upload them on your PC/Mac, a process that can be a few steps too many.
- Premiere Clip does require you to sign up with an Adobe account, but what you get is a straightforward and easy to understand way to edit video.
- The app makes the process as simple as possible. You can ask it to automatically edit your video, but the real value is doing it manually and there’s quite a bit you can do with it. Cropping, speed, fade in/out, filters and adding soundtracks are some of the things you can do.
- If you want to do advanced editing, you could always port it to Adobe Premiere Pro, if you’ve paid for it, but there’s enough here to splice and join together good video clips.
- On its own, it’s one of the best video editing apps out there for both new users and veterans.
Slide
For: iOS
Cost: €1.99
- You have photo apps, video apps and GIF apps, but what about one that can take 3D-like clips?
- Slide does that by getting you to take a photo by swiftly move your phone horizontally to capture it. Tapping a subject creates a 3D-like clip of it.
- We should mention that this is one place where following the tutorial is very useful. It will require a few tries first before you really get the hang of it, but if you don’t get it right, you can re-adjust it so it focuses on a different subject.
- Once you’re finished, you can turn it into a GIF, post it on Instagram, save it as a video or send it as a message.
- It takes a bit of time to get to grips with but it’s a lot of fun.
Open Link With…
For: Android
Cost: Free
- You know when you click a link in an app and it automatically directs you to the mobile browser version (you know, the Open Once or Always question)? You can change that in settings itself but here’s an easier method.
- Open Link With is a simple app that adds it to your browser’s Share button. So if you open a link and go into the browser, tapping it will allow you to open it elsewhere.
- Once you start using it, you can see what apps open up when you tap a specific link.
- It won’t change your life, but it’s handy if you rather open a link in a different app.
- Incidentally, you can see what links open for which apps open on Android by going to Settings > Apps > App Settings > App Links.
Power Hover
For: iOS (Android version coming soon)
Cost: €3.99
- There’s something nice and relaxing about Power Hover. Hovering through different worlds and weaving through landscapes and obstacles can be rather soothing.
- You guide your rider through colourful, simple levels, collecting batteries and making your way from point A to B.
- The controls take a little while to adjust to, but it’s a surprisingly inventive game. Little things like changing the scene, the camera angle or introducing a new enemy or obstacle keeps things fresh.
- It is a challenge however. You’re only provided with a limited number of lives which you can easily lose if you’re not careful. Thankfully the game keeps things fair so you will have time to recover if things go wrong.
- An relaxing yet challenging runner that is easy on the eye.
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