Dear Doc,
I’d like some binoculars for
birdwatching on holiday. I want
them to be compact and light yet
still fit for purpose. I don’t mind
investing in a good pair, but I fear
being oversold. Any thoughts?
mp, newcastle
as with laptops
,
binoculars involve trade-offs between size, quality and
price. For handheld use, 8x magnification is the practical limit and only
lenses under 30mm are considered compact. Even so, many birders prefer
42
mm. RSPB sells a credible 8x25 compact pair for just
£89 (
rspb.org.uk
).
Eden Quality XP 8x42 (£245;
edenwebshops.co.uk
)
or Opticron Traveller
BGA Mg 6x32 (£269;
opticron.co.uk
)
are
steps up, but for the best of all worlds
go for Swarovski CL Companion 8x30
(
swarovskioptik.com
),
at a hefty £860.
WORDS
ALEX PELL
.
WE REGRET ALEX CANNOT ANSWER QUESTIONS INDIVIDUALLY AND NO CORRESPONDENCE WILL BE ENTERED INTO
WhatsApp
£0.69
iOS, Android,
Blackberry,
Windows Phone
Still paying to send
texts? This simple tool
enables you to keep in
touch, for free, with
those who also have
the app, even if they
own a different type of
smartphone. You can
also share pictures or
video clips without
charge, provided you
stay within your 3G
data limit or use Wi-Fi.
Skype
Free
most platforms
Regular Skypers
don’t need to be sold
the merits of this
communication tool,
but they’ll be glad to
have easy access on
the road. The app
does tend to hog the
system resources of
your phone, but with
a robust internet
connection it often
works well and can
prove an invaluable
ally for travel.
Calltrunk
Free trial
iOS
It isn’t easy to record
calls on an iPhone
–
unless you sign up
for Calltrunk, which
can even capture
international calls.
Audio files can then
be accessed from a
computer, or shared
via, say, Dropbox, and
you can search for
keywords or have
the files transcribed.
There are a various
subscription options.
HulloMail
£5.99
iOS, Android,
Blackberry
Some mobile carriers
have ‘visual voicemail’
services that show a
few details of incoming
calls, but they don’t
come close to this.
HulloMail allows you
to record a message
for each contact, send
voice messages to
email or have the first
10
seconds of every
message transcribed
to see the gist of it.
Proloquo2Go
£130
iOS
A lifeline for those
who have difficulty
speaking, this app has
a grid of symbols as
well as the option to
type with a powerful
word-prediction
feature and converts
messages into speech
using an appropriate
gender, age and
accent (English
only). It’s a bargain
compared with similar
specialist systems.
Talk’s cheap
This month, we check out the top apps to aid communication
Gadget doctor
B E S T
A P P S
V I E W P O I N T S
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