TextExpander for iPhone & iPad Adds 12″ iPad Pro Keyboard Layouts

Smile, the developer of productivity applications for Mac, iPad and iPhone, has released an update for TextExpander for iPhone & iPad, the mobile version of the popular typing shortcut tool for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Windows (in beta). Version 4.1 adds support for keyboard layouts in English, French, and German on the 12″ iPad Pro.

This update also brings improvements to the snippet editor, adding all fonts to the font list, improving color picker selection, and adding tables and formatted lists to the insert menu.

What is TextExpander?

TextExpander is your typing shortcut tool for Mac. Save time at work or at play, whether replying to email or filling online forms, by typing abbreviations which expand to snippets of text, whole paragraphs, images and more.
Create short, expandable abbreviations for email signatures, standard greetings, formatted text and pictures. TextExpander comes with autocorrect libraries in English, French, and German to correct your typing in all apps. Even make snippets to fix your personal typing foibles.
Create more advanced snippets with fill-in-the-blank areas, paste in copied text, insert the current or future date, choose the final cursor location, and run scripts.

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Hide stock iOS apps

One bone of contention for many iOS users is the ‘forced’ stock apps which come bundled with the iPhone/iPad and its mobile operating system. 

I’m not just talking about the stocks and shares app either.. Power users may chose alternatives to the email, calendar, notes, reminders and maybe even messages apps. 

Personally I just bury the stock apps away inside a folder, on a tab I rarely visit. However if you prefer to keep your iDevice spotless you can follow this video tutorial to temporarily make them disappear.. That is, until a reboot occurrs, then you’ll have to follow the steps again. 


As a side, Apple are planning on changing the way stock apps work in a future release of iOS which will mean you’ll be able to remove at least some of them ‘permanently’. 

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iPad Pro.. Could it be true?? 12.9″ with USB Support?

iPad Pro UserSince the day of release of iOS 9 power users and developers have been hunting through the code looking for clues relating to future hardware releases. One which keeps working its way to the top of the pile is that of the iPad Pro.. A 12.9″ iPad which is potentially going to feature a 2735×2048 resolution screen which equates to  263 pixels-per-inch, according to code found in iOS 9.

Some other things rumoured about the iPad Pro is that it will have:

  • Built in support for USB class C devices, including keyboards
  • Support for multiple user ‘profiles’
  • Stereo speakers (instead of the current mono speaker across the iPad range)
  • A9 Processor
  • 2GB RAM
  • Touch ID

A larger screen would certainly be welcomed by those users intending to use the new split screen functionality… Rumours are the iPad Pro will be aimed at (but not solely) business and education users.

Should this be true, I’d expect to see a release of this later on this year. Probably October in the Apple Keynote, based on the fact the iPad 2 Air was announced in last Octobers keynote.

The below is a link to hirakujira’s tweet, where you can see a screenshot of the code from iOS 9 and details of potential screen resolutions:

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iOS 7.1.2 spotted in the ‘wild’

iOS 7.1

Apple have been working towards releasing iOS 8.0 at this years WWDC (Scheduled for 2nd June) however, they are far from abandoning iOS 7.1 and reports are flooding in that 7.1.2 is showing up in weblogs of popular Apple tech related sites.

It would appear 7.1.2 has been seeded to it’s employees for testing, traffic from the devices is still few and far between but it does suggest they will be releasing an update prior to WWDC. The last update (7.1.1) released on 22nd of April was packed to the rafters with bug fixes and some improvements to the way the Touch ID system worked.

There has been no news, as of yet, to what the update will contain. However it’s been strongly suggested that it will fix the encryption and iMessage issues.

Users who have previously jailbroken may want to hold off from upgrading until a new jailbreak is developed. However, this is perhaps unlikely to get much attention with iOS 8 just around the corner.

Will you be updating to 7.1.2? Or will you hold out for 8.0?

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Hands On: Belkin FastFit Slim iPad Keyboard

Belkin FastFit Slim iPad KeyboardSince the day the iPad came out, I have always been a big fan. However I have never really been able to get on with the on-screen keyboard. I think typing on the screen feels somewhat ‘numb’, and typing large volumes of text is almost out of the question. Which is why I am a big fan (and owner of many) bluetooth iPad keyboards.

In a previous review I wrote about the Kensington KeyFolio, which had taken pride of place in my laptop back… That was until the Belkin one came on offer on Groupon.

I had nothing against the Kensington one, asides from the fact the case was a little bulky and it added a bit of weight to the iPad. The Belkin one on the other hand couldn’t really be much smaller or lighter.

The keyboard features a whole raft of function keys, which gives quick and easy access to some of iOS’s harder to find controls.

It also features a magnetic strip, which keeps they keyboard neatly attached to the iPad and wakes the iPad when the screen is lifted. So the keyboard also acts as a screen protector of sorts.

The next feature may divide the masses, as the keys on the keyboard provide that reassuring ‘click’ as they are pressed. Most other bluetooth keyboards seem to stick to a rubberized key, meaning less noise.. After spending several hours using both, I think I actually prefer the click of a plastic key!

The good:

  • The click of a plastic key
  • The multiple screen positions
  • The quick access function keys
  • The magnetic strip
  • Supports AutoWake

The bad:

  •  The click of a plastic key (if that bothers you)

The bottom line:

This keyboard is perfect if you are an infrequent iPad traveller, who just needs something to ease the pain of on-screen typing. If you are a more frequent traveller, you may want to consider something slightly more robust, perhaps the Kensington Keyfolio

Rating:

Rating: 4

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