Best iOS app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps for free for a limited time

Everyone likes Apple apps, but sometimes the best ones are a bit expensive. Now and then, developers put paid apps on sale for free for a limited time, but you have to snatch them up while you have the chance. Here are the latest and greatest iOS app deals available from the iOS App Store.

These apps normally cost money and this sale lasts for a limited time only. If you go to the App Store and it says the app costs money, that means the deal has expired and you will be charged. 

DriveBox

DriveBox is an interactive intelligent vehicle app built for car, truck, motorcycle, and all types of vehicle lovers and daily users. It brings all your content and in-car entertainment under one roof.

Available on:

iOS

Sketch Bench

Create cool and realistic sketches and paintings with this unique app. Complete lifelike drawings, realistic sketches, and beautiful paintings, all with this handy tool.

Available on:

iOS

Fimly

Fimly is based on a groundbreaking realtime 3D rendering technology. Create incredible movies with pictures from your camera roll. Just select your favorite pictures and let the app do the rest.

Available on:

iOS

NiteFan

This app will allow you to choose between the sounds of four different fans to help you fall asleep when your head hits the pillow. Play one type of fan or mix them together to create your own custom fan sound.

Available on:

iOS

Skyless

Shoot as many stars as you can through the circle. The difficulty will increase with every hit, and you’ll have to try to get the best score and beat them all in this game.

Available on:

iOS

Drift

Drift is a simple, elegant, and beautifully designed travel planner that is solely focused on the places you plan to visit. It is perfect for a vacation itinerary and everyday to-do agenda.

Available on:

iOS

Ditch the briefcase with the Lowepro Urbex backpack with custom compartments

As tech gear continues to expand into new categories and new sizes, Lowepro is offering a solution over the one-size-fits-all bag. On Tuesday, September 5, Lowepro announced the Urbex, an urban backpack series that uses customizable compartments and configurations to accommodate a wide variety of laptops, tablets, and other digital gear.

The Lowepro Urbex, available in 20L, 24L and 28L Plus sizes, uses an integrated Gear Box, a removable compartment that can hold anything from cords and accessories to headphones, with built-in pockets and loops for organizing those smaller accessories. The GearBox has a dedicated compartment at the bottom of the bag. And with the two largest options, the compartment can also be attached to the bag’s exterior.

Along with the Gear Box, Lowepro aims to make a flexible backpack with a HighRise hinged divider, which allows the remaining space to work as one compartment or two. All three bags also offer a slot for a 15-inch laptop or 10-inch tablet and a dedicated smartphone pocket.

The Urbex BP 20L, which is slated to retail for $100, is the most compact of the bunch, designed to use as a briefcase alternative that’s also roomy enough to hold your lunch.

Stepping up to the $120 Urbex BP 24L, you are offered a larger main storage compartment and the option to mount that GearBox on the outside.

The largest of the bunch, the Urbex BP 28L Plus, has expandable sides to accommodate an additional four liters of stuff. When not in use, those sides pack back in to maintain the bag’s slim design. The 28L retails for $150.

“The needs of those moving through dense urban environments continue to evolve, and so do our bags,” said Michelle Erbs, marketing director for Lowepro. “Today more and more of us are content creators, world travelers, and adventurers. The Urbex is versatile enough to meet the needs of today’s modern urban professional and serve as the go-to bag for trips across town or across the country.”

The two smallest bags will be available in black, dark gray, and dark green, while the largest Urbex is available only in black. All three bags are expected to be available beginning in October.

Lowepro, now in its 50th year, designs camera bags, laptop bags and travel bags.

LG V30 vs. iPhone 7 Plus: Can LG’s new flagship take out Apple’s champion?

The LG V30 is finally here. It follows in its predecessors footsteps by not only offering top-tier hardware, but also excellent design and a large, beautiful display with curved edges.

It’s not the only great phone on the market — there are plenty of others, like Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus. How do the two phones compare? We pit LG V30 vs. iPhone 7 Plus to find out.

Specs

LG V30

iPhone 7 Plus

Size
151.7 × 75.4 × 7.3 mm (5.96 × 2.96 × 0.29 in)
158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm (6.23 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches)
Weight
5.57 ounces (158 grams)
6.63 ounces (188 grams)
Screen
6-inch OLED
5.5-inch LED
Resolution
2,280 x 1,440 pixels (537 ppi)
1,920 x 1,080 pixels (401 ppi)
OS
Android 7.1.2 Nougat
iOS 10
Storage
64GB, 128GB (select markets)
32, 128, 256GB
MicroSD card slot
Yes
No
NFC support
Yes
Yes (Apple Pay only)
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
A10 Fusion with 64-bit architecture, M10 motion coprocessor
RAM
4GB
3GB
Connectivity
GSM / HSPA / LTE / CDMA
LTE / GSM / CDMA / HSPA+
Camera
Dual 16MP and 13MP rear with wide-angle lens, 5MP front
Dual 12MP rear, 7MP front
Video
4K
4K
Bluetooth
Yes, version 5.0
Yes, version 4.2
Fingerprint sensor
Yes
Yes, Touch ID
Other sensors
Gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, proximity sensor
Barometer, 3-axis gyro, accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor
Water resistant
Yes, IP68
Yes, IP67 rated
Battery
3,300mAh
2,900mAh
Charging port
USB-C
Lightning
Marketplace
Google Play
Apple App Store
Colors
Aurora Black, Cloud Silver, Moroccan Blue, Lavender Violet
Gold, rose gold, silver, black, jet black
Availability
Coming soon

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile

Price
Coming soon
$729
DT review
Hands-on review
4 out of 5 stars

The LG V30 features the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, which is Qualcomm’s latest and greatest mobile chip. Coupled with 4GB of RAM, the LG V30 is quite a powerful phone. The iPhone can match it. According to benchmarks, the aging iPhone is on par or better than almost every single Snapdragon 835-equipped phone to be released so far. That’s thanks to the iPhone’s A10 Fusion chip, which is an absolute powerhouse. While it does only have 3GB of RAM, iOS manages RAM differently and it doesn’t need as much as Android.

When it comes to storage, the iPhone 7 Plus has more options between 32GB and 256GB. The LG V30 offers 64GB as base storage, and 128GB is available in select markets. To compensate, it has a MicroSD card slot, meaning that you can expand upon that storage if you need more.

The two phones are about as powerful as each other. While the iPhone has more storage options, the V30 has a MicroSD card slot. This one’s a tie.

Winner: Tie

Design, display, and durability

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The iPhone has long been heralded as a design champion, and the iPhone 7 Plus is no different — it looks great. By 2017’s smartphone design standards, however, it looks dated. That’s because more and more smartphone manufacturers are adopting the “bezel-less” trend, where the front edges around the screen are reduced for more screen real-estate. It’s how the V30 can have a 6-inch display, despite having smaller dimensions than the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.

The V30 also uses an OLED screen, which offers better blacks, colors, and contrast over the iPhone’s LCD. Apple is expected to use LG’s OLED screens for its next iPhone, and expect to see a bezel-less design with the iPhone 8 as well. The V30 has a resolution of 2,280 x 1,440 pixels, and the iPhone has a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution. No matter how you look at it, the V30 has a better display.

On the back of both of the phones you’ll find a dual-lens camera, though the iPhone’s camera protrudes a little more than the V30’s.

Last but not least is durability, and the V30 wins there too. While Apple made headlines for the iPhone’s IP67 waterproofing, LG has taken things a step further by giving the V30 IP68 waterproofing, meaning it’ll be able to withstand up to 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes. The iPhone can only deal with up to 1 meter of water. Either way, you won’t want to take your phone swimming, but if you happen to drop it in the bath it should be fine.

The winner here is clear. While design is largely down to personal preference, the V30 uses more modern design trends — plus it has a better display and should be more durable.

Winner: LG V30

Battery life and charging

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The LG V30 features a battery capacity of 3,300mAh, while the iPhone 7 Plus sits in at 2,900mAh. Now, it’s important to note that a larger battery capacity doesn’t always translate into a longer battery life, and that’s likely especially true give the fact that the V30 has a much larger display with a higher resolution. LG claims the V30 will last 20 hours in continuous talk time, Apple claims the iPhone will hit 21.

Still, the V30 has a few tricks that the iPhone doesn’t. For starters, it supports wireless charging, which can be super convenient for some people. It also offers Quick Charge 3.0, which should help charge your device much quicker than the iPhone. The iPhone’s battery life is only slightly longer, so the wireless and quick charging put the V30 ahead.

Winner: LG V30

Camera

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The iPhone has long been known to offer an excellent camera, but these days other manufacturers have been putting a lot of effort into their own cameras too. The V30 puts a very heavy emphasis on the camera, and like the iPhone it offers a dual-lens shooter.

One of the rear-facing lenses on the V30 is a 13-megapixel wide-angle lens, while the other is a 16-megapixel standard lens. That’s a pretty cool combination, and it bucks the trend of using a telephoto lens in favor of a wide-angle one. The quality is pretty excellent too, and the f/1.6 aperture should help make the camera an excellent choice in low-light situations. The front-facing camera on the V30 sits in at 5-megapixels.

LG has focused more on video with the V30, introducing a new Cine Video mode that offers Cine Effects, color graded filters that you can slap on videos before you start filming. A Point Zoom feature also lets you slowly zoom into anything you tap in the frame, and it makes your shooting skills look like a professional cinematographer.

The iPhone’s camera is also a dual lens setup, and both lenses sit in at 12-megapixels — one standard lens with an f/1.8 aperture and one telephoto lens. It’s a nice combination, and helps in situations where you want to zoom more than usual. It also has a few features the V30 doesn’t — like optical image stabilization, which will help keep photos nice and sharp. The front-facing camera on the iPhone is 7 megapixels, so expect to take better selfies.

Both of these phones have a lot to offer in the camera department. And both have some features that the other doesn’t. This one’s a tie.

Winner: Tie

Software

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The software is arguably the main point of difference between these two phones, and it’s tough to award a winner as it’s largely down to personal preference — but we will talk about some of the main differences between the two operating systems.

iOS, which is the operating system found on the Apple iPhone, is largely hailed as being easier to use than Android. While the gap in ease-of-use has become smaller in recent years, the fact remains that it’s still a little more intuitive and user-friendly.

The trade-off, however, is that Android can do a little more — it offers more customization, a few more features, and is probably better for those who like to tinker with software. One thing to note, the V30 comes with Android 7.1.2, which isn’t the most recent version of Android. LG said it will bring the Android 8.0 Oreo update, but it didn’t share a timeline.

You will never not have immediate access to the latest security and version updates on iOS, so we’re giving the iPhone the win here.

Winner: iPhone 7 Plus

Price and availability

This one’s a little tough to compare — since we don’t actually know exactly when the LG V30 will be available in the U.S., nor how much it will cost. The iPhone 7 Plus has been available for some time now, and starts at $770.

We can expect the LG V30 to have a similar price tag, but because we just don’t know yet, we’re giving this to the iPhone for availability.

Winner: iPhone 7 Plus

Overall winner: Tie

Both phones are powerful, and they both have features the other doesn’t. For example, the V30 has a better display, better durability, more charging options, and a MicroSD card slot; but the iPhone has Portrait Mode, 2x optical zoom, and it gets fast updates. We’ll have to see the V30’s price to see if it can break the tie in its favor — or against.

The Slate 2+ from French startup Iskn digitizes physical drawings in real time

Why it matters to you

This device combines physical sketching and digitization for artists on the go.

A French startup called Iskn just made it even easier to turn physical drawings digital with the Slate 2+, a tablet-like device and magnetic ring that lets creators draw on normal paper and immediately digitizes their sketches.

Iskn made a huge splash in 2013 when it raised nearly $350,000 in a Kickstarter campaign for the Slate, the first iteration of the device, which could digitize drawings in real time with little more than a magnetic ring. In 2016, the firm took the concept further with the Slate 2, which had a more ergonomic design. Now, at IFA 2017 in Berlin, Iskn announced the Slate 2+, which it says makes the product even more functional.

“The Slate 2+ is basically the same as the smart drawing pad that allows you to give digital life to your paper drawings,” Maeva Revellin, brand and content manager for Iskn, told Digital Trends. “You can use any paper, any type of notebook, your own pens and pencils. All you need to do is slide the ring onto your pencil and pen and when your draw, it comes to life in real time on your screen and in our app.”

The device works by using 32 sensors which track the movement of the magnetic ring that is attached to a pen or pencil. With the Slate 2+, Iskn added a new UX and design; a sleeve and pencil case; and a specially designed stylus that gives the feel of a pencil drawing on paper. Revellin said these features will allow creators to “keep an authentic drawing experience with traditional tools, but at the same time have all the benefits of a digital technology.”

Although the Slate seems like an ideal tool for illustrators on the go, Iskn insists it’s practical for anyone who likes to jot down notes the old-fashioned way, yet have them saved digitally.

“We have a lot of illustrators but also people working within the creative industry who like to take digital notes, who like to make tattoos, or write down ideas,” Revellin said. “A lot of designers and architects, for example. It’s really for everybody who wants to get creative and find inspiration wherever they go.”

The Slate 2+ is available to pre-order on the Iskn website for $179.

With new owners and major changes, the Lily drone might fly after all

Why it matters to you

The Lily brand hasn’t exactly earned any trust, but a revised version of the flying camera is getting ready to launch under new ownership.

The Lily drone went down in crowdfunding infamy after the flying camera maker that raised $34 million failed to actually manufacture and ship the drone — but now a new version of the Lily flying camera is about to hit the market. The Lily brand was purchased by the Mota Group earlier this year, and now that company is launching the Lily Next-Gen, a modified version of the Lily.

The Lily Next-Gen includes a few updates but drops a few of the camera’s more notable features. The camera gets an upgrade to 4K, with still photos bumped up by a single megapixel. The drone also adds one-touch take-off and landing, along with Smart Hoover, which the brand’s new owner says keeps the camera stabilized. The Next-Gen also includes geo-fencing, quick charge, and an external battery. And the drone’s arms will now fold in for increased portability.

But while the update includes a number of new features, there are a handful of features missing that the original Lily promised. The drone no longer appears to launch just by tossing it up in the air and the tech specs say nothing about waterproofing. The flight time also appears to be shorter than the original and there’s no mention of that wrist-worn tracker and controller.

The original Lily was unique (at the time, anyway) because the drone promised simplicity — just toss the Lily into the air and the drone would automatically track your movements and record you. That idea started back in 2013 with a prototype in 2015, however, and a number of Lily’s unique features aren’t so unique anymore. Autofollow features are easy to find and there are a number of “entry-level” drones designed to be easy to fly, like DJI’s Spark and the GoPro Karma.

GoPro was actually one of the companies bidding for the Lily brand after the company announced its closure, according to Forbes, putting in a $250,000 bid on the intellectual property. The Mota Group ended up purchasing the branding rights for $300,000, while LR Acquisitions bought the company’s patents and prototypes.

The company behind the original Lily filed for bankruptcy in February, after two shipping delays and after running out of no money to actually manufacture the drone. After a lawsuit for false advertising and unfair business practices was filed, the company allowed pre-order customers to file paperwork for a refund.

The Lily Next-Gen is expected to list for $799 with a $499 pre-order price — and the brand’s new owner is promising worldwide shipping in 2-4 weeks. But with the drone’s checkered past and the number of competing models now being marketed by established companies, it’s unclear just how well the new Lily will fly.

The Traveler wants you! Which platform will you play ‘Destiny 2’ on?

Eyes up, Guardian. The City is in ruins, the Traveler is shackled and a new enemy threatens all you hold dear — including your carefully curated collection of exotics.

Destiny 2 is almost here, and for the first time, Bungie’s celebrated not-quite-an-MMO is coming to PC in addition to PS4 and Xbox One. That presents a bit of a dilemma for fans of the original Destiny: Do you pick up where you left off, or switch platforms and start anew?

Gear, mounts, and all those fancy capes you gathered won’t be carried over if you pick up your previous Guardian, but your physical appearance will be, giving fans a bit of continuity as they’re thrust into a new conflict.

On the other hand, a new platform offers new opportunities — just try mowing down a few Cabal legionnaires with a mouse and keyboard in 4K, and you’ll see what we mean.

#Destiny2 is almost here. What platform will you use to defend the Traveler against the Red Legion?

— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) September 5, 2017

Wine taste bad? The temperature may be to blame, but this gadget can help

Why it matters to you

Your wine may taste a great deal better if you serve it at the right temperature. This smart wine monitor will help.

There are more than 33 billion bottles of wine consumed worldwide every year — and apparently, 75 percent of them are served at the wrong temperature. The Kelvin K2 Smart Wine Monitor is designed to solve that problem and help you get the maximum flavor from your chosen tipple. As tech journalists, we’re in favor of anything that enhances our drinking experience, so we got a demo of this clever gadget at IFA in Berlin.

If you’re anything like us, you probably serve white wine from the fridge and red wine at room temperature. Well, it turns out that for many types of wine, you’re doing it wrong. The inventor of the wine monitor, Steve Parker, only discovered this himself after tasting a bottle of chardonnay that had been recommended to him by the local wine store and finding it unpleasant. He reported his disappointment, and the wine store manager inquired about the temperature at which he had served it.

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It turns out that chardonnay should be served at 12 degrees centigrade, instead of 4 or 5 degrees, which is how cold most fridges are. Upon tasting it again, Parker was blown away by the difference, and so he set out to create a wine thermometer.

The Kelvin K2 Smart Wine Monitor is a band that you can affix to your chosen bottle of wine. There’s a sensor in the middle that must be in contact with the bottle, so it’s best lined up underneath the label — this also allows you to continue to monitor the wine temperature as you guzzle it. The sensor is surrounded by a foam material that insulates it, to ensure that it measures the temperature of the wine and not the temperature of the inside of your fridge.

What’s cool about this device is that it pairs up with your phone via an Android or iOS app, and it will alert you when the wine is at optimal drinking temperature. Pop the cork and experience the complex balance of flavours as the maker intended. The app lists over 200 wine varieties, so you can find the right temperature for your bottle. Parker told us that Kelvin hopes to strike a partnership in future (perhaps with someone like Vivino) or develop the app further so you can just scan the bottle, instead of having to enter the variety of wine manually.

According to wine expert, Jancis Robinson, “Temperature is the single most important aspect of serving any wine. You can change completely how a wine tastes by serving it too cool or too warm.”

Interestingly, getting the right temperature can have a bigger impact on the taste of cheap bottles of wine than it will on high end bottles, so this could be a gadget worth having. If you fancy trying it out, the Kelvin K2 Smart Wine Monitor costs £40 (around $50). You can find out more at the Kelvin website, and we plan to test it out for ourselves soon, so stay tuned for our impressions.

If you’re a wine drinker, then you may also be interested in our roundup of the best wine apps or gadgets designed to improve the taste of cheap wine.

The $400 Oculus Rift promotion makes a dent in the battle with the HTC Vive

Why it matters to you

The HTC Vive still maintains a lead over the Oculus Rift in terms of its Steam user base, but there are signs that competition is heating up — which could lead to more discounts for you.

In early July, Oculus announced its Summer of Rift promotion, bundling the company’s virtual reality headset with a pair of Touch controllers at a compelling price point of $399. The price cut was extended from its initial six-week run, but a blog post published over the weekend confirmed that it would end Monday — and we can already see the effect that it had on Oculus’ rivalry with HTC.

Valve’s most recent Steam hardware and software survey offers details of VR headset usage between April and August. Over the last month alone, the share of Steam accounts using a Rift has risen from 36 percent to 44 percent, cutting the HTC share down from 60 percent to 52 percent.

Of course, Steam is not the be-all and end-all of PC gaming but it’s certainly the premier platform at this point in time. These figures cannot be taken as an exact summation of the wider VR landscape, but they certainly give a good indication of how the two biggest headsets around stack up to one another in terms of popularity.

The fact that the Rift was able to make up so much ground over a short period of time might indicate that VR hardware is getting close to the kind of price point that makes the technology more palatable for users. A $399 headset with motion controllers included seems to be attractive enough to spur on adoption.

HTC is not oblivious to the success that Oculus has enjoyed over the course of the Summer of Rift. Just a few weeks ago, the company announced a permanent $200 price reduction for its Vive headset, which puts it at $600 — just a whisker more expensive than the $500 Rift, which isn’t too much of a premium to pay for hardware that is widely considered to be the gold standard for VR.

It will be very interesting to see how competition between Oculus and HTC plays out from here. The Vive is still more popular among Steam users and most would agree that the headset provides a better overall experience, at a higher price. On the other hand, the Rift has momentum on its side, which could turn out to be a crucial factor.

Close to the Metal Episode 54: ‘Destiny 2’ on PC, VR headsets, and IFA news

This is an exciting week for fans of Destiny. While we played the PC beta just last week, the console version is releasing tomorrow, September 6th. That means it’s time to decide which platform you’ll play Destiny 2 on. Of course, our vote on Close to the Metal is the PC version — which means we’ll have to wait until October 24.

Yet there’s far more happening that just Destiny 2’s launch. IFA, the biggest consumer electronics show in Europe, is coming to a close. As expected, a number of Windows Mixed Reality headsets were shown, alongside quad-core laptops using Intel’s new 8th-Gen Core hardware, which promises to push multi-core performance into slimmer, lighter footprints.

Close to the Metal is a podcast from Digital Trends that takes a deep dive into computing and PC gaming topics. Each show, we’ll focus in on one topic, and leave no stone unturned as we show off the latest in hardware and software. Whether it’s the latest GPU, supercomputers, or which 2-in-1 you should buy, we break down the complicated jargon and talk about how user experience is affected in the real world.

Please subscribe, share, and send your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We broadcast the show live on YouTube and Facebook at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern, every Tuesday.

Pixelmator Pro brings simple, single-window interface to advanced photo edits

Why it matters to you

The original Pixelmator is popular because of the $30 price but Pixelmator Pro could stand on a number of advanced features.

Pro-level image editing usually means hundreds of options divided into dozens of windows, panels, menus, and tabs, but the photo-editing community will soon have access to a professional-grade, artificially intelligent software with a minimalist interface. Announced Tuesday, Pixelmator Pro 1.0 is a Mac photo editor designed to mix high-end tools with a simpler interface.

Coming from the same company behind the $30 budget Pixelmator, Pixelmator Pro uses a single-window interface for non-destructive photo editing, according to the developers. Unlike the original, Pixelmator Pro includes a number of more pro-level features, including RAW support.

AI is behind a number of the program’s features, including a repair tool for removing unwanted objects quickly, matching the gap using data from the surrounding pixels. Images can also automatically be straightened by detecting the horizon in the shot. A quick selection tool is also powered by AI, along with a tool that automatically names the layers in the file.

Pixelmator Pro includes a number of non-destructive edits, which allows users to go back and modify edits without deleting everything that has happened since. The non-destructive tools include color adjustments, effects, styles and layout tools. The program is also equipped with a number of presets, allowing users to create their own custom quick edits by combining and saving multiple steps. The program also includes dual texture brushes and power-painting tools, as well as reshaping, text, type and vector options.

The developer says the program was designed exclusively for working with images on a Mac, resulting in an interface with a dark color scheme and a simple, one-window view, with full screen and split screen viewing options. The company says that workflow makes it easy for beginners new to photo editing, as well as users moving from another Mac program. Support for the Touch Bar and iCloud is also built in.

“Pixelmator Pro offers every tool you could ever need to create, edit, and enhance images on a Mac in a beautiful, user-centered interface,” Saulius Dailide, one of the Pixelmator founders, said in a statement “And with its GPU-powered, machine learning-enhanced tools, it’s truly one of the most advanced and innovative image editing apps on the planet.”

The new software is expected to launch this fall inside the Mac App Store. The company hasn’t yet released pricing information, but the original Pixelmator sells for a $30 download.