Toilet-proof tech
THE BATHROOM IS USUALLY A NO-GO FOR YOUR TECH, UNTIL NOW.
THERE AREN’T TOO many gadgets that are expressly made for bathroom use. ere’s the odd smart toothbrush that wirelessly connects to your smartphone over Bluetooth, as well as ‘shower speakers’ that either replace the existing shower head or hang around it to give your lavations a soundtrack, but both are quite niche technologies that probably don’t warrant their premium pricetags.
A better way to use technology in the bathroom is by either using devices that are specially waterproofed (like those pictured on page 100), or equip your existing gadgets with a waterproof casing. ere are obvious merits to the latter route, the main one being that buying a waterproof case for a gadget you already own is far cheaper than buying an entirely new waterproof gadget.
KEEP IT DRY
Lifeproof has a range of excellent waterproof cases for a variety of devices, including all of the iPhones and iPads from the last three years, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 and up. Using a water-tight seal, the ‘nuud’ model manages to add an IP68 rating to the fragile iPad Air 2 while keeping the touchscreen completely exposed and only adding an extra 270g to the overall package. In other words, the iPad Air 2 + the Lifeproof nuud case 437g isn’t that much heavier than the iPad 3.
It’s worth noting that this is the same waterproof rating as the Sony Xperia Z4, but while Sony recommends a maximum depth of 1.5 metres for half an hour, Lifeproof says its nuud case makes the iPad Air 2 waterproof to two metres for an hour.
If the device you want to waterproof doesn’t come from Apple or Samsung, there are other options. Aquapac makes a range of generic pouches in di erent sizes to cater for phones, medium sized electronics (think iPad minis and Kindles) and larger electronics.
e advantage of using an Aquapac is that it o ers a superior IPX8 rating compared to the custom- tting waterproof cases, enabling it to handle a greater depth of up to ve metres for half an hour. e downside is that controls aren’t as easily accessed. e clear plastic front means you’ll be able to see the screen clearly, but the touchscreen’s sensitivity takes a nose dive and you can forget about using the rear-mounted camera.
One of the more ‘out there’ solutions for waterproo ng your personal devices is using a consumer-friendly hydrophobic coating spray like NeverWet. is operates as a water
repellant that keeps everything from couches and shoes to bricks and gardening equipment dry. Whether you can use it on your delicate electronics is another question, and we’re not game enough to use it on our thousand-dollar smartphones. e manufacturer’s hands-on product demo video shows the company president using it on an iPhone, however the instructions on the packaging warns against using it on electronics. Go gure.
HANDS FREE HELP
One of the downsides of using a smartphone or tablet in the shower is that the touchscreen doesn’t deal well with water. One way to get around this is by using voice commands, and on the latest iOS or Android so ware, you can actually do quite a lot without having to touch the screen.
On the iOS platform, pressing and holding on the Home button until you hear two beeps will bring you to the Siri screen, where you can perform a variety of tasks with the right voice commands. You don’t even need to memorise speci c commands, as Siri is clever enough to understand what you mean in plain English. If you’re using your iPhone or iPad as your in-bathroom music player, you can employ Siri as your personal DJ with commands such as “Play the top song from 1993” or “Play more like this” when you hear a song that you like.
If you’re getting ready for work in the morning, Siri scores well as a personal
assistant, with the obvious bene t that you don’t have to be wearing pants to get it to do your bidding. You can ask Siri to rattle o your daily schedule, help you with your wardrobe choice by telling you what the weather will be, and send o any emails or text messages to help you kick start the day.
You can even get Siri to turn on automatically (ie. without having to press and hold the Home button) when you say ‘Hey Siri’, but once this feature is activated (in Settings > General > Siri > Allow ‘Hey Siri’), for models prior to this year’s, it only works if your iPhone is currently connected to power. While we don’t recommend charging your electronics near water sources, Lifeproof’s Fre Power for iPhone 6 Case (not available for the Plus, unfortunately) o ers a neat solution, combining an IP68 waterproo ng with a battery pack that can keep your iPhone charging in the bathroom without posing an electrical hazard.
e Android platform is a little more easygoing with the hot word detection, and provided you’re running one of the latest versions of the operating system, you’ll be able to bring up the voice command capability from any screen simply by saying ‘OK Google’ without needing to plug it into a charger.
e relevant setting to enable this di ers between devices. On stock Android devices, go to Settings > Voice > “Ok Google” detection and enable the ‘From any screen’ option. On the Samsung S6, it can be found by going to Settings > Language and Input > Google voice typing > “Ok Google” detection.
e variety of voice commands available on Android is similar to Siri, but not idential. If you’re suddenly struck with an overpowering urge to know who plays Max in the latest Mad Max: Fury Road movie (a hint: it’s not Mel Gibson) while you’re brushing your teeth, Google Now will happily tell you by retrieving the information from Wikipedia, while Siri won’t. You can also use Android’s Google Now functionality to set reminders (either based on time or location), ask whether there’s currently any tra c on the way to work, and even get it to display a list of funny cat videos on YouTube.