B E S T
A P P S
Red Laser
Free;
iPhone,
Android, Windows
Want to know if what's
at a local store would
be cheaper online?
Scan its barcode or QR
code with your phone
camera and, using an
app like Red Laser, you
can find out the prices
of the same product at
a variety of e-tailers.
Although owned by
eBay, it provides a good
overview of the market
with price comparisons
from Price Runner
and Google. Note:
its offline-shopping
features don‘t yet work
outside of the USA.
PriceRunner
Free;
iPhone,
Android
Why would you rely on
PriceRunner’s own app
if Red Laser employs
the same tool under
the hood? For starters,
this elegant app
enables you to browse
products by category
if you don’t know what
you want or feel silly
scanning barcodes. It
then presents you with
a handy summary of
information about each
one and automatically
scrapes together any
expert reviews it finds
online in an easily
readable format.
mGifts
€2.50;
iOS
Planning festive gift
buying can be daunting,
but this app aims to
keep you in control
with a neat package of
tricks. You can easily
organise what you
plan to buy for whom,
from where you‘ll
get these items and
track whether you’ve
bought or posted them
yet. It also enables
you to share this data
between Apple devices
via iCloud. The problem
is, as you cannot shop
within the app itself,
mGifts is essentially a
glorified to-do list.
No More Socks
Free;
iPhone
This beautifully
designed app is a
shopping planner not
entirely dissimilar to
mGifts (
see left
).
Where
it differs is in an array
of tools that are both
potent and simple,
such as the ability to
keep track of upcoming
birthdays or share gift
ideas. Better still, its
built-in browser means
you can buy products
online without leaving
the app. The developer
is boosting the app‘s
social tools and
shopping features, so it
truly rocks.
Amazon
Windowshop
Free;
iPad
Unleash the true power
of tablet shopping
with this app. Flick
through five columns
of potential gifts, from
different product
categories, displayed
in a grid format, before
drilling deeper into
whatever catches your
eye. It‘s a cool utility for
whenever you aren’t
sure what to buy a
loved one. For instance,
a search for Batman
brings up everything
from PJs to cupcakes,
plus plenty in between.
Dangerously handy.
Xmas shopping in a click
Gadget
doctor
Dear Doc
How can I improve my laptop’s
sound? It's poor evenwith good
audio sources, posh headphones
or hooked up to a proper hi-fi.
jan mortensen, copenhagen
the soundcard
inside most laptops tends to be sheer tat.
Sometimes you can fix this by simply using a digital connection
to a suitable hi-fi. Alternatively, give your laptop
headphones a huge sonic boost by adding a small
USB soundcard that acts as a mini-amplifier too.
The Arcam rPAC (
€190; arcam.co.uk
)
sounds
superb, though its metal body is heavy to
hump around compared to, say, the
Fiio E10 (
€75; fiio.com
).
It‘s outgunned
by the rPAC, but is a serious bargain for
an audiophile on the move.
WORDS ALEX PELL. WE REGRET ALEX CANNOT ANSWER QUESTIONS INDIVIDUALLY AND NO CORRESPONDENCE WILL BE ENTERED INTO
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