In the fashion of our "5 Best Sticker Packs" roundup, we waited about a month after the release of the iMessage Store, so read more for our favorite apps!
On September 13, Apple released the iMessage Store to the masses, with third party developers jumping onboard with their very own sticker packs and apps. After waiting a month for more packs to emerge, we've chosen our five favorites to recommend.
Spotify Premium, the music streaming service Spotify's paid tier, has been around for years, and we recently got a chance to look at it. Spotify Premium's main features include the ability to remove all ads, an offline mode, and on-demand listening (Spotify Free only allows for shuffle play). The removal of ads is a great start. No one enjoys listening to 30-second ads, especially unskippable ones like the ads on Spotify. There would be no point for a paid tier with ads. Also, several reports state that artists are better compensated with Spotify Premium's $9.99 a month price over fees for advertisements. In fact, one of the main reasons Taylor Swift left the service is because Spotify refused to make her music a Premium exclusive. The offline mode is most helpful for those with no SIM card in their phone or relatively crappy cellular service. This also comes in handy aboard plane rides or long road trips. Unfortunately, one major drawback with this is that music is saved by playlist, not individual songs. Luckily, Spotify allows for one song to be in a playlist to remedy the problem. The on-demand listening, as well as getting rid of shuffle play, also removes song recommendations that appear periodically. However, there is no way to turn the recommendations back on in Premium. A final feature Spotify boasts is high-quality audio up to 320 kbit/s that is great for audiophiles. Keep in mind that high-quality speakers or headphones might be needed to take advantage of this. In short, with the impressive features above, is Spotify Premium actually worth your money? For about 99 dollars a year, it's actually great value for it's price. The value gets even better with a family membership, which slashes the price of the second account in half. Unless you like Taylor Swift. Try out Apple Music instead. For Mirror Journal, this was Roan Thibault.
Apple's newest device (as of August 2016), the iPhone SE, is a phone many do not know about. Coming from a 4, 4s, or 5, this is a very easy upgrade, as the screen size stays small, while the specs jump high with the company's brand-new A9 chip, 12 megapixel iSight camera, and Apple Pay. The main thing I noticed when setting it up is just how fast it is. Coming from a 4s in my case, I made the jump from an A5 chip and an 8-megapixel camera similar to the iPhone 5's. I certainly did not expect such a quick and responsive experience on a phone of this size. The only thing it lacks from the 6s is 3D Touch. It also has a 1.2 megapixel selfie camera and a 1st-generation Touch ID sensor, but the rear-facing camera takes stunning shots in all the ones I've tested, and it can take Live Photos, which are sort of like mini videos. And even though the SE only has a 1624 mAh battery, it held up better than the iPhone 6s in a test we tried with a contributor. This may be because of the screen's smaller form factor, which is four inches. To keep the general consensus of this review short and sweet, the SE can be referred to as an iPhone 5s in a 6s's body. But is it still worth it? Like I mentioned earlier, it's a great upgrade from a 5s or earlier. However, unless you dig the smaller size, we recommend that you stick with your 6 or 6s. For Mirror Journal, this was Roan Thibault. Sinead Clancy contributed to our battery test.
Fitbit's Charge tracker, a wireless fitness activity tracker that was released about two years ago, is starting to decline due to the new Blaze and Alta models, but is it still worth your big bucks? The device, first of all, starts at only $109.95. The price has recently dropped from it's original $129.95 price, so now is one of the best times to purchase the tracker. It comes in four colors; black, slate, blue, and burgundy. The tracker syncs via Bluetooth 4.0, which means it is compatible with the iPhone 4s or later, the iPad 2nd generation or later, most Android phones, and finally Windows phones like the Lumia 950. The Charge takes about 7 to 15 seconds to sync data, which is much faster than it's sister tracker, the Charge HR. Finally, the tracker has automatic sleep tracking, a 5 day battery life, and is water resistant (not waterproof). The app is fun to use, as one can compete in challenges with friends and earn badges. The wristband is really where it falls short. While it's comfortable and non-irritant, the metal clasp to put it on is a pain and falls off easily. Now should you buy it? It's really up to you. If you're looking for a $100 fitness tracker, the Charge is it, but you can upgrade to the HR for about $30 and Apple recently dropped the price of its Watch to $300. For Mirror Journal, this was Roan Thibault.
The new game Star Wars Battlefront has caught the attention of many gamers, with the amazing graphics of next gen consoles and the galactic warfare you feel like you are in the Star Wars realm. The gameplay is great to the many blasters or the awesome vehicles it makes the player's imagination pop! The offline missions involve three modes: survival, tutorials, and battles. My favorite has to be battles. It is so into that Star Wars fed, play with your friends or AI in an all out galactic battle for freedom. For Mirror Journal, this was Dante Gaudio.
Amazon released a fifty dollar Fire tablet about a year ago, and it might actually seem pretty good for it's price. But as a Fire user, I found that it's pretty much what you can expect for 50 bucks. Quite a few of the pros are that it comes with a 1024 x 600 IPS display, four 1.3 GHz cores, 7 hours of battery life, a version of Night Shift, expandable storage, and Amazon Underground, an app store in which games like Angry Birds are free. It also comes in four colors. However, the Fire runs a heavily modified version of Android Lollipop that they call Fire OS Bellini. This version of Android does not feature the Google Play store, and replaces it with the Amazon Appstore, Amazon Music, and Prime Video. Unfortunately, the Amazon Appstore does not feature a number of apps and it's clients for Google apps aren't easy to use. There is, however, a built-in Goodreads app which is nice. The rear-facing camera is only two megapixels, while my iPhone 4s from late 2011 has eight megapixels on it. The device only has eight gigabytes, while the iPhone 4s again has 16 gigs as it's base model. It's pretty heavy too. While it must be noted that the tablet is 50 dollars, I expected a lot more. While it is consistently easy to get things off Amazon, I'm not a heavy Amazon user and I don't appreciate it. For $50, you're getting what you expect, but there are better tablets out there. For Mirror Journal, this was Roan Thibault.
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