Apps Magazine Issue 59 - 2015 UK.pdf

WORK
OFFICE LENS
MICROSOFT PUTS A SIMPLE
SCANNER IN THE PALM OF
YOUR HAND
Office Lens was originally created
by Microsoft for its own Windows
Phone but this scanner app has
finally come to iOS. It lets you
scan documents as well as whiteboards or
blackboards and it also uses optical character
recognition for later searching.
When you line up a document, the software
detects its boundaries. You press the capture
button and the app creates an image and
cleans it up so that the text is crisp. It also
removes glare and shadows from whiteboards,
providing a tidier scan but taking shots of a
monitor makes a distorted, unreadable effect).
On many occasions, though, you have to
refine the boundaries yourself because Office
Lens doesn’t always line the scans up properly.
The app also requires you to export the scans
to one of Microsoft’s services if you want
to save them and that entails you having an
account with the company. It’s no biggie and
you can get around that by sending documents
Above Manually select parts to save them
to yourself by email or to the Photo Library
but it may put some people off scanning any
sensitive documents.
But then again, this app is meant to work
with other Microsoft applications. It links well
with OneNote, OneDrive and PowerPoint while
also enabling PDF exporting and the easy
importing of images worked on elsewhere. For
Microsoft users, it’s a must.
Office Lens is a dependable, easy-to-use
app that puts simplicity at its heart.
iPhone+ | iOS 8.0 | Free | v1.0.1
http://bit.ly/officelensios
GLASS PLANNERYouknowsomethingisgoingtobe
A DIFFICULT TASK MANAGER,
complicatedwhenanappinstantly
tellsyouitstartswithareduced
LL WITH REASON
feature-settoenableyoutolearn
theropesbeforebeinggentlyeasedin.Moreso
when the explanations for each step have to be
drereadafewtimesinorderto‘getit’.
t Glass Planner is
kes very good use of
top are two lines of
rent calendar month
a list of forthcoming
associated entries.
zontal insertion cursor
be in the right place before
danitem, appointment or
note for a day. You can then
ese later with a simple tap.
he constant bombardment of
-ups explaining each expect
the app threatens to suck the
rlylifeoutofit and using Glass
lanner is a mind-bending chore
that quickly bores. Yet when
youstickatit,it does begin to
click. Its organisational ability is
unparalleled and it feels slick and
solid–moreso,when you upgrade
o the Standard Edition and get coloured
graphics, tags, projects and tasks that can
really improve your planning skills. One thing
that we don’t like, though, is the upgrade
process where you have to either pay or enable
the app to write a promotional post on your
Facebook wall.
The app makers agree that Glass is
controversial but stick at it and it becomes
intuitive and less of a chore.
iPhone+ | iOS 6.0 | Freemium | v1.5.2
http://bit.ly/glassplannerios
Left You
can create
checklists
for your
calendar
items and
tick them
off when
finished
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