ONE61 STUDIO BATMAN SMARTWATCH $124.99
Fight crime while counting steps
Are you a Batman fan? Then the Batman Smartwatch from One61 Studio is for you. (The Flash and Wonder Woman fans have one for them, too.)
The Batman Smartwatch looks an awful lot like the Apple Watch. However, it runs on its own proprietary operating system. So while it will interact with iOS and Android phones, it has no app store.
The Batman watch offers five different watch faces — including the Bat Signal, which shows the current time. Each smartwatch offers fans a "gamified" experience, where getting up, moving around and meeting step goals will unlock superhero content like a video clip or audio of superhero actions.
In keeping with the superhero theme, the step counter is "crime fighting." Notifications to get up and move are "patrol reminders."
Once you sync the smartwatch to your phone, you can access your contacts, call logs and notifications and even make and answer calls. Android users can read and reply to text messages; iOS can only read them.
2018 IPAD $559
Latest version makes Apple tablet a winner for the masses
The 2018 iPad is the tablet almost everybody needs.
We tested the iPad with Wi-Fi and cellular and 128 gigabytes of storage, which costs $559. The iPads start at $329, with academic pricing starting at $299.
There isn't much new on the inside, other than yet another faster processor. The biggest improvement is the ability to use Apple's Pencil.
Apple had kept the pencil for buyers of its high-end iPad Pro line, but this time it has brought pencil compatibility down to the masses.
And there's no difference in functionality between the 2018 iPad and the iPad Pro.
At $99, the pencil remains expensive compared with the price of the iPad, though. (There is the Crayon from Logitech at $50, which is compatible but does not have the same pressure sensitivity as the Apple Pencil.)
Of course, you could just use your finger. The pencil is not required.
Would be nice to see the bezels (borders between screen and side of phone) get smaller (think iPhone X), but Apple will likely save that design for the next iPad Pro.
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