Converse like a local with ABBYY PhraseBooks for iOS

Want to be a smooth operator in six different languages or at least be able to ask someone where the bathroom is when traveling? ABBYY has released the illustrated digital PhraseBooks app for iOS devices.

It helps tourists communicate in various languages—English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian—and learn common phrases they would need on their trips. PhraseBooks divides content into 11 topics with special Useful Words section for each group. You’ll hear the phrases being pronounced by native speakers and view rather amusing visuals that describe the phrases. The ABBYY PhraseBooks is available for $9.99 USD on the App Store and you can learn more information about the app here.  

Fluid Notes promises smooth note-taking for the iPad

While it can’t promise to improve your handwriting, Fluid Notes will help make the notes you take on your iPad avoid looking like scribbles of a three-year-old kid using a crayon. Its intuitive interface gives you easy access to the tools you need to create your handwritten notes—switching from fountain pens, to ball point pens, and even to highlighters or crayons are all just a swipe away.

This app has its own bookshelf to help keep your notebooks organized in any way you want. It lets you work in a magnified view so you won’t need to pinch or squint at your screen as you write. You can export your notes to and from the cloud using apps like DropBox, Evernote, Box, and Google Drive. And you can even write on PDF files as if you were just writing on paper. If you want to find out more about this free app, click here. 

Apple iPad vs Samsung Galaxy Tab

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

2010 was the Apple iPad’s year. It took the tech world by storm and simply became one of the hottest devices to hit the market and its success has been phenomenal with just over 9 million units sold as of this writing.

As of late November, the iPad’s only competition came from Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, a sexy 7-inch Google Android powered tablet with a staggering array of features but whose operating system was that of a smartphone. Still, Samsung was able to sell 1,000,000 units in the firs two months, proving that there is a demand for a 7-inch tablet with features similar to the iPad's.

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Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The Samsung Galaxy Tab represents the first real competition to Apple’s highly successful iPad tablet. From the time it was leaked in June, the Galaxy Tab gained a lot of hype from users hungry for an Android tablet experience. Now coming to Canada on Bell's network, we review this much awaited device.

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