/lifestyle/technology/rss 九一星空无限 Sat, 17 Jan 2026 09:25:35 Z en /lifestyle/technology/amazon-echo-show-11-premium-hardware-waiting-for-the-os-to-catch-up/ /lifestyle/technology/amazon-echo-show-11-premium-hardware-waiting-for-the-os-to-catch-up/ According to AI (so definitely a fact probably) the Amazon Echo was the first widely sold commercial smart speaker when it was launched in 2014. In fact, we humans had a monogamous relationship with Alexa for a whole two years before any of the other major tech brands caught up and brought out their own virtual-assistant-in-a-speaker. Two years is an eternity in tech. Quite a head-start. Since then, the Echo range (and Alexa) has continued to evolve - bigger speakers, smaller speakers, attaching touch screens to speakers, even screens that swivel creepily to face you wherever you are in the room, screens that look like photo frames with speakers built in - even screens that have speakers built in but not very good ones... Nobody has tried more variations of a smart speaker than Amazon has with the Echo. Twelve years on, they might just about have it sorted. From the front, the Echo Show 11 is all screen. But don't despair; that 1080p, high-density display is firmly fixed in place in front of a completely redesigned speaker containing stereo forward-facing drivers and a custom woofer that brings significant bass punch to the equation - an all-round, full frequency sonic party that has been missing from most Echo Shows of late. I'll be reviewing the new Echo Studio in a few days time but for now, I probably haven't heard a speaker as convincingly room-filling as 2019's original Echo Studio until now. The Show 11 pumps out hefty bass while eliminating any noticeable distortion or vibration, even when playing at full volume. Let's come back to the sound of things and what you can and can't stream shortly but first, the new 11-inch screen. It's bright, it's clear and you can see it from practically any angle (so no need for creepy rotation). The touch-screen responses are far superior to any previous Show - some of these earlier models reacted so slowly, I often pressed the wrong button a second time while I was waiting to get a reaction from the first. That's no longer an issue here.  Maybe it's the screen? Maybe it's the processor. The AZ3 Pro is Amazon's latest and greatest and if that's what's speeding everything up, I tip my hat to the engineers. According to Amazon's own blogs, the AZ3 Pro accentuates all of the Echo Show 11's abilities, including filtering out background noise in order to detect whichever wake-word you've set, as you'll see me demonstrate in the video below. As wireless IoT protocols like Matter, Thread and Zigbee become evermore universal, so does Alexa's ability to control more and more devices with a simple voice command or a few taps on a customised widget on the Echo Show 11's screen. Again, responses to these commands seem significantly accelerated - especially with requests for music from subscribed services or to show live feeds from CC security cameras. I've been especially impressed by the improved interoperability with Apple Music, one of my preferred options. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be the same flexibility to add video streaming apps - if anything, this functionality seems to have taken a step backwards from a couple of years ago when you could literally pair an Amazon Fire TV remote with your Echo Show and use it like a smart TV. I guess people just weren't into using their Echo Shows as a smart TV? I'm not sure if Omnisense is new to the Echo Show, or I just wasn't aware of it until now. Regardless, this is what allows the Show 11 to register when you've entered the room via the 13MP camera, the microphone array, ultrasound, accelerometer and even Wi-Fi radar and Wi-Fi CSI - don't worry; I don't know what those last two things are either. What's important is, the Echo Show 11 comes to life whenever you're around and goes back to sleep when you aren't. Without me getting too carried away fiddling with home-screen settings etc., this iteration of the Show does a much better job of showing me what I want, when I want. Mostly, I just want it to display the pics I've uploaded to my Amazon Photos account but when I'm playing music, it's quite nice to see the album art and useful info like, I don't know, maybe the name of the song that's playing? Unlike some Shows before it, this one gets it. Which all bodes well for the arrival of Alexa+. Which hasn't arrived in New Zealand yet, by the way. Some North American users currently have early access to the new, subscription-only version of Alexa which purports to be more intuitive, has a better memory of previous interactions and is more integrated with tools like your email and calendar. No word yet on when we'll get to keep up with the Joneses. And that's the impression I have using the Echo Show 11; it does pretty much everything I ask it to, more accurately, more intuitively and above all, faster than ever before - which makes me feel like there's definitely more to come. Whatever that is, and more importantly, whether it's worth paying for, is something I'm keen to find out in the coming months.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon Echo Show 11. Fri, 16 Jan 2026 03:36:20 Z /lifestyle/technology/lg-cordzero-the-lowdown/ /lifestyle/technology/lg-cordzero-the-lowdown/ I'm not sure which came first; self-emptying robot vacuums, or stick vacuums with self emptying charging stations. Either way, the less I have to be involved with the stuff I've vacuumed up, the better. Now LG has a new addition that pretty much nails every feature. The LG CordZero range of handstick vacuums comes in a variety of packages, some including an All-in-One auto emptying tower, others with the option of an additional Power Drive Mop head. The A9L Titan is the CordZero that has it all. To start with, the vacuum itself is extremely well thought out, from the moulded, pistol-grip handle to the DUAL Floor Max nozzle. The controls are simple and easily within reach of your thumb so you don't have to hold a trigger down to keep the thing running. LG's Smart Inverter Motor provides up to 220W of suction power, which might not mean much written down, but I've been shocked by the huge amount of dust, debris and hair the CordZero sucks up in a short space of time. In fact, the sheer efficacy of this vacuum means the 0.4 litre dust bin can fill up quicker than you might expect. To help, as seems to be the trend with vacuums like these lately, LG has introduced what it calls KOMPRESSOR technology; its own take on a physical slide control that pushes the contents of the dust bin down with a sort of plunger. The three-step filter system is also very easy to remove and features washable filters. As we move down the device, we come to the stick itself. This has one of the longest telescopic extensions I've used, which is great news for taller users as it will save you having to bend over so much while you clean. The other advantage of such a long extension is it helps you reach further under couches, cabinets and other furniture. This low-down-and-dirty cleaning ability is perhaps my favourite feature of the CordZero - and it's enhanced even further by the low-profile DUAL Floor Max Nozzle. Not only is this motorised brush head low enough to fit under many items of furniture but it can swivel at right angles meaning you really can clean all the way under long sofas without having to move them. That's a big tick for me. The DUAL Floor Max nozzle is effective on both hard and soft floors and has LED headlights to show you every speck of dust and every strand of hair. Speaking of which, LG hasn't even made a big deal about how tangle-free this head is and believe me, in my house, which is full of long-haired dog and even longer-haired women, a tangle-free brush head is definitely a big deal. The A9L Titan CordZero also includes the Power Drive Mop head. This uses two spinning mop pads which are machine washable and simply velcro on and off. The easy-to-fill tank feeds a precisely controlled flow of water onto the pads while you mop and you can even vacuum debris through the front of the head, which also has LED headlights - it's a very effective design. When you're finished vacuuming, the All-in-One Tower awaits to Auto Empty and recharge the CordZero. The tower is an example of the sort of unobtrusive, minimalist design that really appeals to me. Each side opens up to reveal storage cavities for other accessories like the crevice tool, 2-in-1 combination tool and the Power Drive Mini head, which is like a smaller version of the main brush head specifically for dealing with pet hair and the like on upholstery, beds and in cars. There are also small brackets that flip out on either side of the tower to hang the mop and brush heads on. The top of the All-in-One Tower flips up to reveal a second 2300mAh lithium-ion battery charging up should you need to swap out during your clean. LG has been very conservative with its battery life claims on the spec sheet - just 20 minutes in normal mode with the DUAL Floor Max nozzle attached. That seems to be a modest understatement given I've been able to clean my large four-bedroom home without having to swap batteries at all. Then we come to the Auto Empty process itself. Which also means we come to my only real criticism of an otherwise exemplary gadget. In theory, you just slot the CordZero into its corresponding receptacle and the All-in-One Tower takes over, autonomously opening the bottom lid of the dust bin, sucking out the contents and closing the lid again, before charging up for your next big clean. However, with either the Power Drive Mop or DUAL Floor Max nozzle still attached, the Cord Zero is actually too long to easily slot into place. It's the weirdest thing. It's not impossible, but it does involve a fair amount of jiggling around, if not actually bending over to lift up the brush head so it doesn't hang down as you try to get the vacuum in the right position. If you don't line things up correctly, this is what happens when the Auto Empty process kicks in... Far from ideal. Needless to say, I only made that mistake once. Now I either do the little jiggle or simply disconnect the head before I hang the CordZero up. It's just such a glaring oversight on what is otherwise one of the best-designed floor cleaners I've ever used. The suction power and performance of the powered heads is outstanding. The bagless bin and washable mopping pads and filters mean the only consumable you'll regularly have to replace is the dust bag within the All-in-One Tower itself - and you get a spare one of those in the box. And the way you can tidily hide away all the accessories and charge the second battery within the attractive, charcoal-coloured tower is genius. This is my first real interaction with an LG home cleaning device and I have to say, I'm more than impressed. For less than NZ$1,200.00, the CordZero really is the ultimate floor care solution.      Click here for more information on the LG CordZero A9L Titan auto emptying handstick. Wed, 14 Jan 2026 23:05:26 Z /lifestyle/technology/jbl-bar-1000mk2-true-wireless-home-theatre-comes-of-age/ /lifestyle/technology/jbl-bar-1000mk2-true-wireless-home-theatre-comes-of-age/ I'm a sucker for an original idea. Almost six years ago I stumbled across a home theatre system that almost restored my faith in modern hi-fi. By the mid 2010's we'd just about hit the peak of soundbar dominance; TVs had got very skinny but their speakers hadn't evolved as quickly as their picture quality, so if you wanted even half-decent sound to go with your high-def 4K image, you'd have to invest in something external. Even then, JBL had some quality solutions - including a soundbar/subwoofer combo with a difference; detachable rear speakers. You connected them to charge, then you could put them... well, anywhere really. No strings (or wires) attached. I liked the JBL concept. It did a decent job and was a step closer to the truly wireless world I've always imagined we'd be living in by now. Sure, the detachable speakers looked a bit weird and when wall mounted, they drooped a bit when they were attached to each end of the soundbar, but a pretty cool idea nonetheless. One of those gimmick concepts that never really caught on, I suppose. The JBL Bar 1000MK2 takes that concept and runs with it - all the way to the finish line. As opposed to 2018, today, wireless speaker systems are everywhere. Except for one thing; they're not really wireless. Or to be more precise; they're only HALF wireless. If I told my kids I used to run speaker cables under the carpet and across the ceiling to connect my speakers to my head unit, they'd look at me like I was crazy. Actually, first they'd probably ask what a head unit was, then just laugh at me. And although most 2026 home theatres connect a soundbar or centre speaker with their surround speakers and subwoofers via Wi-Fi or some other dedicated wireless connection, all those speakers still need to be plugged into something; power. That's fine if you have a wall outlet close to where you want a speaker. If not, you're basically back to early century me, running an extension cord between power-point and speaker as inconspicuously as possible. Not with the JBL Bar 1000MK2 though. At least not for the two "rear" speakers, anyway. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. What are we actually dealing with here, home theatre-wise? It's a 7.1.4 channel system pumping out a total of 960W - which should be more than enough for most homes. JBL does offer an even bigger system - a whopping 2470W bundle that will really test your neighbours' patience. For now, let's keep it civilised and stick to the Bar 1000MK2 - if you can call a system with a 9kg, 300W 10-inch subwoofer civilised. JBL doesn't usually skimp when it comes to bass and this is clearly no exception. I love it. I struggled to find somewhere to fit a sub this big, but I love it. The main soundbar itself has my favourite feature; flatness. My TV sits on a relatively low stand and I've reviewed some soundbars that get so carried away with boring stuff like the number of drivers and sound quality, they're too tall and actually obscure the bottom of my screen. At just 52mm high, the JBL Bar 1000MK2 fits easily under my telly and although it's jam-packed with all the speakers you need for convincing Dolby Atmos or DTS:X performance, it's not all that wide either - which leaves plenty of room for the two detachable speakers. So about them. They're great. Really great. Each wireless speaker contains its own racetrack and up-firing full-range drivers and they don't have to be used as left and right surrounds. You can put them in a whole other room for a more-than-adequate stereo simulcast of whatever's playing on the main system, or put them in two separate rooms, instantly creating a genuine multi-zone sound system. There's even the option to use the two detachables without the soundbar and sub for a more intimate listening experience that's less likely to keep other housemates awake. These are settings that can be accessed via the JBL ONE app which makes setup easy - including a short calibration process that'll ensure your space makes the most of the 3D, 360-degree cinematic effects the Bar 1000MK2 can produce. It also comes with its own remote, of course, so you can easily tweak things on the fly. The other important thing to note about the detachable speakers is the design is much more robust and aesthetically pleasing than the somewhat clumsy connection offered by that early model in 2018. There are now subtle magnetic caps for both speakers and the soundbar to keep everything looking stylish and when the speakers are connected, it's now a good, firm fit - no more droop whatsoever for wall-mounted installations. You won't have to detach and reattach nearly so often either. It's amazing how rechargeable battery life has improved over the last few years - I've found I can get almost a week's use from the Bar 1000MK2's detached speakers before having to put them back on to charge overnight. Whether it's Multibeam, DTS:X or Dolby Atmos performance you're looking for, this system nails it. Surround and height effects are convincing, dialogue sounds clear over music and the bass rumble is... well, this is a JBL after all, so no complaints there... except maybe from the neighbours. One day, perhaps the subwoofer will be rechargeable too and then we really would have a truly wireless system. In the meantime, if you'd rather not have to attach and detach speakers every few days, you have the option of powering them via an independent USB-C power source - although that's not included. There are also screw mounting holes if you choose to stick the speakers on the wall or on stands. Wall mounting hardware IS in the box. Versatility is the key here and the Bar 1000MK2 is a system that really does allow you to use it the way you want - even down to the extra HDMI inputs and passthrough options on the back. At under NZ$1,700.00 it offers excellent performance for the price, even before you get to those totally wire-free rear speakers. Now JBL has perfected that concept, they're just the icing on an awesome audio cake.      Click here for more information and pricing on the JBL Bar 1000MK2. Wed, 14 Jan 2026 01:11:55 Z /lifestyle/technology/logitech-signature-slim-solarplus-k980-why-arent-all-keyboards-like-this/ /lifestyle/technology/logitech-signature-slim-solarplus-k980-why-arent-all-keyboards-like-this/ There are two different types of keyboards; the totally customisable, mechanical, pro-gaming kind, complete with RGB lighting and swappable keys, or the super boring ones we all use all the time in our every day jobs. They sit quietly on your desk, doing their thing—typing, clicking, and somehow surviving every coffee spill, keyboard shortcut disaster, and the occasional sports journalist angrily bashing away with their endearing, two-finger technique. Well, in recent years, Logitech has created a bit of a niche for itself by introducing a third category of keyboard, somewhere in between. These are keyboards designed with the office in mind - but adding in some other tricks to enhance our productivity. While the Logitech Signature Slim Solar+ K980 for Business is not going to brew your coffee or organise your meetings, it does something way cooler: it powers itself with solar energy. Which ultimately poses the question; why aren't more accessories powered this way? First off, let’s talk about the design. The K980 is certainly slim, although with its full-full sized number pad and set of navigation keys, it's still as wide as any other traditional keyboard. It’s got a matte finish that resists fingerprints so you don’t have to worry about smudging your pristine, professional-looking workspace after eating a sandwich. The soft-touch keycaps give a satisfying feel, and the scissor switches—those magical little things that make the keys so quiet—mean you can type furiously without sounding like that aforementioned two-finger-pecking sports reporter. But of course, its most distinguishing feature is the wide solar panel strip stretching across the top of the keyboard. And that doesn't mean the K980 only runs on sunlight - although that might make a good argument if you're angling for an office with a window - even the light from your fluorescent office bulbs is enough to keep it powered up. In fact, I've been testing it in the murky depths of the 九一星空无限talk ZB Control Room, during my daily Breakfast shift. Interestingly, when you use the Logi Options+ app to set up the K980, not only can you see at a glance how much charge is left, you can also test if there's enough light in your work environment to keep things topped up. I wasn't surprised when the message was "Insufficient light for charging..." I like to run things pretty dim when I arrive at 3:45am. What DID surprise me was that message proved to be wrong. After using the K980 as my primary keyboard for more than a month, it still hadn't gone flat. Far from it, it was still at 100%. How many times have you fumbled around looking for fresh batteries while your keyboard stares back at you, unhelpfully blinking a sad little “low battery” light? Even if you’re working in a basement office, this thing should still have enough juice to last you months - that's if it ever runs down at all. And let's not forget, by going solar, you'll be saving the planet, several AAA batteries at a time. The K980 connects via Bluetooth, so you can pair it with pretty much anything - your PC, Mac, iPhone, or Android device - really, if it has Bluetooth, this thing is good to go.  It also ships with a Logi Bolt USB-C receiver - Logitech's latest tiny dongle that ensures a more lag-free, interference-proof connection. Like many other Logitech mice and keyboards, the K980 also supports multi-device pairing, so you can seamlessly switch between your desktop computer, laptop, or tablet without having to re-pair the keyboard each time. There are dedicated 1, 2 and 3 keys to the left of the number pad so you can switch devices as quick as a flash.  I love how most Logi keyboards have repurposed the functions keys for much more useful shortcuts, like media controls and my favourite, screen capture. But you can use the Logi Options+ app to customise all these keys and many others - even creating macros which can include keystrokes, time-delays and even app launches. The real mystery here is why isn't the K980 just a bit better? I'm not sure how much power it takes to run a tiny LED but I would have thought having one on the Caps Lock key isn't going to affect battery life too drastically. Unfortunately, there's literally no way of knowing if Caps Lock (or Number Lock for that matter) is on or off until you actually type something. Why does this matter? Well, if you've ever typed a whole sentence without looking up at the screen, you'll know how annoying it is to discover your capitals and lower cases were all around the wrong way. But more importantly, passwords. I've been locked out of things for mis-typing my password too many times. If you don't know if Caps Lock is on, I reckon the risk of that increases by about 50%. I wasn't expecting backlit keys but again, given I've never seen the charge level dip below 100% the whole time I've been using it, so I'm starting to wonder if Logitech was way too conservative with what could and couldn't be included on this keyboard. How about something that can't have any effect on battery life at all? Legs. There aren't any. Although most of the inner workings of the K980 are enclosed in a panel running the length of the underside of the keyboard, the height of this alone is not quite enough to prop things up at the same ergonomically-friendly angle fold-down legs achieve on other keyboards. Meanwhile, the typing experience on this thing is buttery smooth. The keypresses are quiet and soft, the scissor switches give just the right amount of resistance - it’s sort of like typing on a soft cloud of productivity. However, if you’re the type who needs tactile feedback and that “clicky” sound that lets everyone know you're hard at work (even when you’re just trying to look busy), you may miss that. But for everyone else? The K980 will have you flying through emails and presentations without sounding like you're, well, a frustrated sports journalist.  For business professionals who want a sleek, eco-friendly, and quiet keyboard that does its job without causing a ruckus (literally), the Logitech Signature Slim Solar+ K980 for Business is an easy win. Like all Logi gear, it's built to last, has that attractive, meant-for-business look and you get to customise keys to fire off your ideal shortcuts. Best of all, you'll never have to charge it or replace the batteries and that's got to be a win - for you and the planet.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Logitech Signature Slim Solar+ K980 for Business. Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:52:12 Z /lifestyle/technology/oppo-enco-x3s-looks-the-same-sounds-extraordinary/ /lifestyle/technology/oppo-enco-x3s-looks-the-same-sounds-extraordinary/ 2025 has been a weird year for earbuds. For starters, I haven't actually reviewed that many. Usually, I'm up to my eyeballs, overwhelmed with screeds of tiny cases containing even tinier buds, desperately trying to find a way to differentiate one set from the next. Not this year though. As far as I can tell I've only been sent five pairs to stuff in, on or over my ears. Which brings me to the other weird trend... Some of these buds have themselves been weird. What's more, I've gone from being adamantly a sealed fit, all ANC, wireless charging zealot, to being quite open-minded about new form-factors and innovative design. So when I was sent some fairly traditional-style buds to review, I suddenly had to change gear again. It was almost refreshing. When I call the OPPO Enco X3s earbuds traditional, I don't mean they're not new, just that we've seen this kind of hybrid sealed-fit-with-a-stem form factor plenty of times now. The reason it's so popular is it provides good stability along with plenty of points of contact which helps with a comfortable fit. The process of selecting the correct sized eartips had me a bit confused at first. Lately I've opted to go a size smaller in my left ear because that seems to result in a properly snug seal on both sides. However, the Enco X3s only comes with a choice of three different sizes (other brands have started providing at least five) and it turned out the Small was a bit TOO small. This was backed up by the evidence of OPPO's own size test in the Hey Melody app you use to set these earbuds up with. Once I went Medium in both ears, the test confirmed I now had a good seal left and right and everything certainly felt more secure too. The Enco X3s has an IP55 rating for water and dust resistance. Combine that with the snug fit and you've got a decent option for exercise. During setup, you can also opt for the Hey Melody Golden Sound test. This is a two-step process that firstly scans your ear canal then guides you though an actual hearing test to figure out which frequency ranges need boosting to achieve your optimal personal listening experience. This only takes a couple of minutes and depending on your own circumstances, it can produce some pretty stark results. With the Hey Melody app you can also tweak the EQ manually or select a preset one. Even more pleasingly, you can customise the controls to your preference; single, double and triple taps, along with log presses and stem swipes on either earbud can be used to play/pause, skip tracks, summon your voice assistant, adjust volume and toggle ANC settings. That's a lot of choice, which is how I like it. You can even activate Game Mode using the onboard controls - opting for a low-lag connection - without having to select it in the app. There's an option called Alive Audio which is OPPO's take on spatial audio or 360 audio or whatever anybody else calls it. Essentially, it's an effect that widens out the soundscape to give the impression the music is coming from all around you, rather than from the earbuds themselves. I've found this works better with some tracks than others. On Buster Moe's "Im so Sick," the tight, pizzicato strings in the verses contrast brilliantly with the giant bass boost in the choruses. Alive Audio definitely adds a sense of space to this clever dynamic contrast. But on the jangly guitar pop groove, "Entwined" by Sydney band Pocketwatch, the 360 effect just made everything sound muddy and blurry. Changing back to non-Alive Audio (Undead Audio? Zombie Audio?) fixed this up straight away. Listening to podcasts and other talk-based content is definitely more suited to the less-alive option too, otherwise the hosts all sound they recorded in an empty water tank. I mentioned the bass just now and I'm going to mention it again because what OPPO has achieved here is frankly award-worthy. The richness and sheer power of the lower frequencies produced by the Enco X3s is something I've only ever heard from much larger woofers in over-ear headphones. The combination of a dedicated 11mm diaphragm woofer with a separate 6mm high-frequency unit means a fairly monotonous song like "Birds of a Feather" by Billie Eilish really comes alive, from the highest highs to the lowest basement-dwelling lows. You getting the impression I like the way these earbuds sound? Oh, daddy. And that's before we cover off the four-step Active Noise Cancellation. It's very good - perhaps not quite the top of the noise-cancellation table but certainly at the party. And unusually you don't only get adaptive and transparency options, but also the choice to simply turn ANC off completely and leave it to the passive cancellation provided by the seal of the eartips. Choice is good. Battery life is confusing. OPPO claims you can get up to 45 hours (including the charge in the case of course) but that's if you don't use ANC or listen to Hi-Res audio via the LHDC 5.0 codec. In my real-world testing, I got up over 5 playback hours on a single charge and I can confirm, the case itself takes a long time to go flat. Which is just as well, because it only charges via USB-C - not wirelessly. That's usually a red line for me. I want all my gadgets to be as wireless as possible. What's the point of your earbuds being wireless if the case isn't? However, these ones sound so good, I'm prepared to make an exception. Which has kind of been the story of my year; I keep thinking I won't like a gadget then it does something so crazy, or innovative or... or just really good - that it wins me over. And that's what happened with the Enco X3s. The excellent sound quality - especially the best earbud bass I've ever heard - more than makes up for any frustration I have re: no wireless charging. ANC is excellent, battery life is good - the Bluetooth 5.4 connection is strong and reliable. They even made my ears feel symmetrical again.      Click here for more information and pricing on the OPPO Enco X3s. Wed, 17 Dec 2025 23:17:27 Z /lifestyle/technology/honor-watch-4-does-what-it-does-very-well/ /lifestyle/technology/honor-watch-4-does-what-it-does-very-well/ When HONOR launched itself to the New Zealand market recently, I was surprised and excited to learn it wasn't just trying one or two handsets to see how they go. No, in addition to two fantastic HONOR phones, we also got the CHOICE Earbuds Clip, the Pad 10 tablet and the Watch 4. This gave me a chance to do a deep dive into the HONOR ecosystem, experiencing how well some of these devices work together for the first time. In saying that, there's nothing stopping you pairing the HONOR accessories with your existing phone, so if you're considering a new smartwatch for 2026, I'm here to give you my first-hand experience. There's no escaping which other popular smartwatch the HONOR Watch 4 looks like, with its rectangular face and rounded corners and yet the HONOR option is priced hundreds of dollars cheaper. The Watch 4 is available in Black or Gold and while the bands are technically swappable, I found sliding the little lug across to remove and replace them was a bit fiddly for my fat fingers and what's more, I haven't managed to discover any alternative straps for sale - not locally, anyway. Not to worry, the Watch 4 is attractive enough in its default configuration. The aluminium alloy casing on my black review unit has a pleasing matte metallic finish and both the watch and its durable silicone rubber strap are light and very comfortable - essential if you're planning to wear it overnight for sleep tracking. In fact, there's another feature that makes the Watch 4 a leading contender if sleep tracking is a priority; battery life. This is not a watch you need to put on the charger every night. Or every second night. Depending on how you use it, you might get a whole week on a full charge. HONOR claims up to 14 days on its website but I think you'd have to disable a lot of the real-time monitoring and run it in power-saving mode to do that. Still, compared to many other watches that barely make it through a full day, I'm very impressed to be able to sail through several days and nights in a row. The proprietary magnetic charging cradle is included in the box and juices the Watch 4 up pretty speedily - assuming you've plugged it into a reasonably powerful wall charger. Once charged, you'll need to have downloaded the HONOR Health app to pair and set up the watch and here's the really good news; you can do that on either Android or iOS devices - vary rare to find a smartwatch that'll happily talk to both. I say "talk to" - but there are limitations. While the Watch 4 does a fast and reliable job of receiving messages and notifications from any or all apps on your phone, it's a one-way arrangement. You can't reply to texts, emails or other messages - not even with a pre-programmed quick reply or emoji. You also won't receive so-called "rich" notifications. Certain apps, like home security monitors for example, often give you the option of a thumbnail snapshot when one of your cameras notifies you of any movement. The Watch 4 will definitely show you the notification, but not the picture. Which is a shame because the 1.75-inch AMOLED display is quite excellent, bright and clear in all lighting conditions, even outside in the sun. When working out, you get a lot of information on screen, set out simply but effectively. On a walk or run, GPS locks on in seconds, then you'll be shown your duration, pace and distance and what workout zone you're in; aerobic, anaerobic, etc. The HONOR Health app helps you set parameters for your workouts, like optimal heart-rate range. I've found the low heart-rate notifications really motivate me to keep my pace up when out walking. Once your workout is complete, you'll see a basic summary on the Watch 4 but if you want more details, you'll have to refer to the HONOR Health app. Same deal for stats like sleep tracking. Sleep and heart-rate aside, the Watch 4 also watches for stress, blood oxygen level and breathing patterns. This in turn, enables HONOR Health to calculate things like your VO2 max and your Fitness Age. I felt obliged to mention that last one because right now I'm showing 6 years younger than I actually am. Not-very-humble brag. While you can take bluetooth calls on the Watch 4, there's no option to set up an addon eSim so you can keep connected even if you're out of range of your handset, although GPS still works so you're welcome to leave your phone at home when you're out for a ride, walk or run. The Watch 4's greatest limitation is its OS - there's no facility to download any apps onto the watch other than those which are already pre-installed. Obviously you have versions of the usual suspects; stopwatch, countdown timer, camera remote, compass etc... But if you thought you might be able to pay with Google Wallet using NFC, think again. Funnily enough, the Watch 4's greatest strength is also its OS. You have access to over 300 different faces and widgets like the media controller work quickly and consistently. It also has a 5ATM waterproof rating, so it's safe to swim with and will definitely survive the shower. If you're new to the world of smartwatches, or you don't have the desire to answer your emails on a 1.75-inch screen and you just want the notifications, then you could do much, much worse than the HONOR Watch 4. It's a reliable, useful, comfortable watch with genuinely impressive battery life. I fact, I've found it hard to take off. Then again, with such a good battery, I don't have to do that very often anyway.      Click here for more information on the HONOR Watch 4. Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:28:43 Z /lifestyle/technology/norton-neo-safety-first-speed-a-close-second/ /lifestyle/technology/norton-neo-safety-first-speed-a-close-second/ Have you ever changed browsers? Or are you too scared to? I get it. This is perhaps the one part of the internet you use more than any other. Unless you're old and decrepit like me, you literally spent your whole life curating your browser - saving some logins, keeping others private, maybe designing your own theme... you've certainly favourited a long, long list of websites and bookmarks. When you think about it, changing browsers is potentially more stressful than changing phones. But I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be - and there are alternatives out there you probably haven't even heard of, let alone considered. I've been giving the Norton Neo AI browser a decent go lately and today I actually made it my default. You may have encountered browsers from other cyber security firms before. The general idea is they can keep you safer from all the perils of the internet if they control the portal you access it from - a bit like getting into your car in your internal garage, then driving to your basement carpark at work, never really coming into contact with the outside world. The trouble is, from what of seen of some of those "integrated" efforts in the past, they were pretty terrible. They looked bad and were often behind in functionality compared with other, modern browsers. Some I've seen are even weighed down with advertising for their own company's products. Ick. Norton Neo is kind of the opposite of all that. To begin with, don't resist trying it because you think it will take forever to set up. Whatever browser. you're currently using, you can transfer all your bookmarks, logins and extensions across to Neo in moments, just by following the simple prompts. Norton Neo claims to use AI to anticipate your every move, which is kind of a weird thing to say but if it can, that'd be quite a boost to your productivity.  And here's what's crazy, when it comes to visiting my regular pages and sites so I can pin the most important ones to the top of my list of vertical tabs, it really does seem like Neo knows what I'm trying to do. The pages load so quickly it's almost as thought they were already open. I think this might be the fastest browser I've ever used. It helps that there are no ads. In the name of protecting your privacy, Neo blocks advertising by default - which obviously some sites get a bit angsty about so it's easy enough to make them an exception if you really need to. If you've been weighed down by the constant bombardment of popups and intrusions every time you're just trying to read a quality article like this one, that could be reason enough to try Neo. Because of Norton's built-in cyber vigilance, you should be well protected against phishing attempts too. In fact, Neo is so focused on protecting your privacy, most of it's AI functions happen on your device, with no personal information being sent anywhere else. This is quite different to how the other money-for-data-driven big tech browsers operate. And again, it just makes using it faster. You'll find a Neo Chat prompt in the top right-hand corner of the screen and any time you need help with - well, anything really - all you have to do is ask. This can range from spell-checking the excellent review you're currently working on, to reminding you to stop working soon and get dinner ready. And of course, Neo Chat knows quite a bit about how to use Neo. As I mentioned, I like to use vertical tabs - although you don't have to. This is the only part of the way Neo is set out I wish is a little more flexible. The vertical tab column takes up quite a bit of space and the option to auto-hide the side panel is greyed out when you use vertical tabs - it only works when your tabs are messily spread across the top of the page. Tabs can be grouped by AI using Smart Tab Management - I'm not a serial tab-opener like some people but I can see how this can be useful for those of you who are. If you ARE one of those people, you'll know that having dozens of tabs open simultaneously is a great way to slow down both your browser and even your whole computer. Neo isn't into that so will shut down tabs you haven't visited for a while to maintain processor power where you need it, rather than playing ads and videos in the background where you're not even looking at them. Meanwhile, everything else is wonderfully stripped back. Even the welcome page (mysteriously, Neo calls this the "Magic Page") can be kept to the bare minimum - a search box obviously, a small weather widget, a clock, a prompt to invite friends to use Neo and a news feed based on your interests. Surprisingly, all this can be switched off leaving you with a lone search box. Bliss. The theory is, the more you use Norton Neo, the more it learns your habits and preferences. I haven't been using it long enough to confirm how effective this is but it's still early days. You even have the option to "Manage" Neo's memories, if you feel uncomfortable about your own browser building up a personal dossier on your work habits so it can be more helpful to you. You shouldn't be worried; remember, that information is staying on your device (and being synced to other devices where you're using Neo and have signed in under the same profile). Unfortunately, when I click on the Mange Memories setting to "view or delete" I'm told I need to sign in to do that. I have signed in. Oh well, like I say, early days. I've been so impressed with the speed, security and lack of clutter Norton Neo offers, I'm keen to use it on all my devices but alas, at this moment it's only available for MacOS and Windows PCs - although when I asked Neo if there were Android or iOS versions available, it told me they were "coming soon." For now I'm more than happy with what I've got and if you've become frustrated with your slow, ad-bloated and possibly dangerously unsecured browser, I suggest you take the plunge and give Norton Neo a go. It's a powerful, legitimate alternative.      Click here for more information on Norton Neo.  Mon, 15 Dec 2025 22:56:40 Z /lifestyle/technology/tineco-floor-one-s7-stretch-the-hard-floor-specialist/ /lifestyle/technology/tineco-floor-one-s7-stretch-the-hard-floor-specialist/ Over the years I've become quite the floor-cleaning expert. It's not like it's something I'm passionate about - quite the opposite, in fact. Being the designated vacuumer/mopper in our household means I'll try just about anything to make the job easier. Which, it turns out, dovetails nicely into something I AM passionate about; gadgets. I have now trialled a long list of stick vacuums and robot cleaners - many of which are excellent products and have the ability to clean both carpet and hard floors. The high-end robots generally do a great job of mopping as well as vacuuming, while the odd stick vacuum comes with some kind of mop-head attachment. However, at this point, when it comes to mopping, the robots win. They generally achieve a more consistent, quick-drying, streak-free result than the labour-intensive addon attachments for the manually-operated vacuums. But what if I've had my priorities all wrong? While the Tineco FLOOR ONE S7 Stretch is for hard floors only, it still vacuums as well as mopping, although the focus is clearly on the "wet work" side of the equation. It comes pretty much ready to go, straight out of the box, other than you having to install the handle into place on the head of the device. Right away, I appreciated how the FLOOR ONE S7 Stretch can be left standing on its own in the middle of a room, with the handle clicking easily in and out of its upright position. This just makes things that much more convenient when it comes to filling and emptying the tanks. There are two tanks - a clean water reservoir that slides into place on the top of the cleaning head and a dirty water chamber that slots into the handle. The latter is actually a three-chamber container, which ingeniously separates solids from liquids and prevents any moisture getting anywhere near the motor. These tanks have a capacity of one litre and 0.8L respectively, which I've found is plenty to do an entire clean of the hard floors in my home - both wooden and tiled. And if you're worried about pushing the weight of all that water around, because the clean tank sits on top of the cleaning head, it carries the majority of the load, not the handle. There's an app - because of course there's an app - called Tineco Life. The main purpose of this, as far as I can tell, is to install any firmware upgrades although you can also view a log of the dates and durations of your cleaning sessions (not sure why) and you can set the volume of the voice notifications - which of course, most normal people will immediately turn off completely. What is far more useful is the large colour LED screen on the top of the waste bin. This gives you an accurate display of remaining battery life and tells you what mode you're in; Auto, Max or Suction. The FLOOR ONE S7 Stretch also utilises the Tineco iLoop Smart Sensor which automatically detects how much of a mess it's dealing with and adjusts the water flow and suction accordingly - this is also represented on the screen; Red means dirty. Aqua is clean. Most of the time you can get a dazzlingly clean floor just in Auto mode, but for major emergencies, you may need the extra attention Max offers and if you're cleaning up a particularly wet mess, it might pay to resort to Suction mode to eliminate any actual puddles before proper cleaning can commence. There's a bottle of Tineco Floor Cleaning solution included in the box, which will probably go a long way (if you use any at all) because you only need to add capful with every full tank of clean water. I'm not sure how much extra cleaning power it provides but I feel like it leaves behind a faint "you've-just-given-everything-a-really-decent-going-over" smell. Remember, this is a vacuum as well as a mop and if there's one thing I've come to detest when cleaning a house inhabited by two long-haired ladies and a perpetually moulting doggo, it's hair tangled around the cleaning brush. That's where the DualBlock Anti-Tangle system comes in; a combination of straight and comb scrapers de-shed the roller brush as it spins at 450rpm. The roller brush also extends right to both edges, getting you to within half a centimetre of your baseboards which is very helpful in tight areas like the space between the toilet and the wall, where no robot ever dares to go. And this is where the "Stretch" component of the FLOOR ONE S7 comes in; the handle can actually fold down completely flat without impeding the suction power into the dirty water tank at all. That means you can get right under furniture and cabinetry with a clearance of just 13cm or more, as you'll see me demonstrate in the video below. Battery life is impressive, given how much is going on with the cleaning head. You'll get around 50 minutes cleaning in Auto mode. Any longer than that and you're just skiting about how big your mansion is. The result is a shining floor which is dry to walk on in a matter of seconds - not minutes, with no streaks or stray water drops lying around. Then the dirty water tank easily unclips, with the hair and other solids trapped in their own, dry compartment while the waster water can be easily tipped out of another.  But perhaps the feature that has impressed me the most is the FlashDry self-cleaning system, all built into the charging station. This is a similar process to what the more advanced robot vacuums I've reviewed do to clean and dry their mopping systems; thoroughly rinsing the mopping roller with clean water heated to 85° then drying it out to keep it fluffy and avoid any unpleasant odours. Except, with those other systems the drying process takes hours.  With the FLOOR ONE S7 Stretch it takes 5 minutes. Done. Sure, it gets a little loud as hot air is forced through the whole system, including the filter and all the tubes, but you're literally home and dry in just 5 minutes. Incredible.  The Tineco FLOOR ONE S7 Stretch is currently on special for NZ$899.00 including shipping, with a spare filter, a spare roller and a cleaning brush included in the box. That may seem a lot for a mop - but if your whole house is hard floors or you just hate the streaks, splashes, puddles and drying of doing it manually, I can assure you, this is one of the best cleans I've seen. I just wish I could use it on my carpet too.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Tineco FLOOR ONE S7 Stretch. Thu, 11 Dec 2025 23:09:31 Z /lifestyle/technology/honor-choice-earbuds-clip-not-for-me-but-might-be-for-you/ /lifestyle/technology/honor-choice-earbuds-clip-not-for-me-but-might-be-for-you/ At the risk of repeating myself, in fact, by now, it's basically a mantra, there are certain things I'm looking for in a set of wireless earbuds. Fit. Wireless charging. Battery life. Sound quality. I've put them in that order because that's how I prioritise those qualities. Some people might find it curious that for me, sound quality is only the fourth most important thing. In fact, some people may forgive a lot of other shortcomings as long as their buds produce the most amazing hi-fi experience possible. But for starters, I'm pretty deaf - well, probably about normal for a 52 year-old male - and also I mostly listen to podcasts, not music. That's why I'm more interested in earbuds that are comfy and stay in, that I can just pop on a wireless charger when I'm not using them and that will never go flat while I am. Then along came something weird and unusual and I've had to rethink my whole list. This month, alongside a couple of very impressive phones, HONOR launched a few other things for the first time New Zealand, including the CHOICE Earbuds Clip. I've read about similar form-factors but have never had the chance to review something like this until now. To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to it. When it comes to earbuds, people tend to fall into two categories, open fit or tight seal. I've always considered myself a tight seal kind of a guy. The benefits are myriad; better passive noise cancellation which, in turn, leads to better Active Noise Cancellation. Buds with a tight seal tend to stay in - especially when exercising. And due to the laws of physics, a tight seal is also far better at delivering powerful bass response, essentially using your own ear canals as speaker chambers for the longer, lower wavelengths. As for those open fit people, all they seem to care about is how comfortable they are and sure, if you're not wedging something down into your ears, it's probably going to feel a bit nicer. The HONOR CHOICE Earbuds Clip is almost the epitome of open fit philosophy. Unlike some other designs that rely on a stem to sit lightly ON instead of IN your ears, or perhaps the hook-over style many athletes and cyclists seem to favour, the CHOICE Earbuds Clip is literally somewhere in-between. Each bud or "Clip" simply slides into place, almost on its own, cleverly suspending the apple-shaped speaker half of the Clip (known as "Melody Pearl") in exactly the right position, over your ear canal, barely even touching it. The instant I had them in place - and I literally had to check in the mirror because I couldn't believe how easy they were to position - I realised these were quite simply the most comfortable earbuds I'd ever worn. Then I shook my head around a bit. And I jumped. And I did a workout. And I walked the dog. And I spent all day digging in the garden. And the CHOICE Earbuds Clip just never moved. Not a millimetre. Making them perhaps the most secure earbuds I'd ever worn too. With around 7 hours playback on a full charge and a total of 36 hours with the charging case, they're up there with the longest-lasting buds I've ever worn too. I've had them for nearly two weeks and I've charged them a grand total of once, when I first took them out of the box. So by now you might be thinking, these sound like the best buds ever. And for you, they may well be. However... There's no noise cancellation. There's no passive noise cancellation because there's no seal and at that point, HONOR obviously decided any attempt at ANC probably wasn't worth the effort either. Well - except for phone calls. There are two mics on each Clip and if you activate it in the app, ANC will be applied to your voice so your callers won't hear any background noise. Like I said at the top, I prefer the rest of the world to go away when I'm listening to podcasts or music, so being able to hear every truck that passes by and the confounded plovers squawking away in their annoying Aussie accents is a bit of an issue. And yet, for some users - cyclists especially - being able to hear those trucks is a safety bonus, not a hinderance. Despite all that, the sound delivered by the 10.8mm dual-magnet driver units is incredibly focussed and remarkably accurate. As I expected, there's no real bass boom to speak of here although there's nothing tinny or thin about how my favourite tracks sound. In fact, the more acoustic, less dancey numbers come across much better than I would have thought possible. I do have one quibble I just can't ignore though; no wireless charging. This very first-world inconvenience is somewhat annulled by the HONOR Choice Earbuds Clip's stellar battery life, but I really do hate having to plug in to charge, even infrequently. Then I put them on again and once again the comfort and stability blows my mind and I'm almost ready to forgive the no-wireless-charging thing. These are definitely pretty great buds. They're light but durable, with an IP54 water and dust resistance rating and the bridge part made of titanium. That's important, because that's the arch you tap for the limited on-board controls; play, pause, answer, etc. These can be customised to a degree via the HONOR AI Space app, where you can also update the firmware and fiddle with the EQ. I thought I'd wear these earbuds a few times, not enjoy the experience and then move on as quickly as I could. But I just love wearing them too much. With no ANC and no wireless charging, they were never going to be my favourite but I tell you what; they're not all that not far off.      Click here for more information on the HONOR CHOICE Earbuds Clip. Tue, 09 Dec 2025 23:35:52 Z /lifestyle/technology/logitech-g515-rapid-tkl-im-in-over-my-head/ /lifestyle/technology/logitech-g515-rapid-tkl-im-in-over-my-head/ In the world of pro-level gaming, fractions of a second can mean the difference between life and death. Obviously, I don't know that from personal experience. I'm no pro. In fact, my usual approach to any kind of virtual combat is repeatedly and randomly mashing any and all keys and controls as fast as I can in the hope I'll kill or disable my opponent or opponents before they can do the same to me. This method can be effective up to a point. But not a pro-level point. Or maybe I've just been using the wrong keyboard. Here's what I know about people who take gaming seriously, they seem to prefer a combination of keyboard and mouse over any kind of handheld controller. So the Logitech G515 Rapid TKL is probably more for them than me. The first indication this keyboard is for the upper echelons of the gaming elite is how boring it looks. Black and dark grey. How striking. Oh - wait, you can also get it in white and grey. Hold me back. In saying that, the W, A, S and D keys are a contrasting colour; a different shade of grey. In fact, even as minimalist industrial design goes, the G515 Rapid TKL is pretty restrained - and I mean that physically. It's incredibly thin - especially for a mechanical keyboard - just 22mm tall. And this is how clever the Logi team have been, combining low-profile keys with magnetic analogue switches to give you the full travel feel without a lot of extra height. To demonstrate just how out of my depth I am with this device, I didn't even know what TKL stands for. Hey, don't judge me. I happen to like number pads and I actually use them quite a bit. But I have recently started using a much larger mousepad and so I'm beginning to appreciate the ergonomic benefits of a more narrow layout. If your keyboard is "Tenkeyless," then the distance your right hand has to travel to get to the mouse and back is drastically reduced - and like everything to do with pro-level gaming, fractions of a second can mean the difference between life and death. There's a nice, long 1.8m USB cable in the box but oddly, it's USB-C to USB-A. I thought the world had moved on from USB-A? Certainly many of the devices I might choose to plug this keyboard into have, which frustratingly meant I had to find a dongle to adapt that larger USB back into a small one. It's a minor niggle but when they're asking you to shell out NZ$389.95 already, I would have like to have at least seen an adapter included in the box. However, once you do plug it in, things instantly get more exciting. All customisations happen through the Logi G HUB app - and thankfully this seems to work just as well in its MacOS incarnation as it does for PC, which is not always the case for high-end gaming peripherals. Obviously there's the obligatory RGB backlighting. While I'm not massively into this stuff, the options on offer here are close to infinite. There are both static and dynamic lighting presets, all of which can be customised to your preference. Or you can just go through the whole keyboard key by key and assign lighting on a whim. LIGHTSYNC allows you to match up with any other compatible RGB accessories and components too. The G515 lets you assign pretty much any action to any key. So for example, if you are using it with with a Mac like I am right now, you can create a profile that swaps Windows shortcuts for Apple ones - most importantly, turning the Alt key into the Command key. Very difficult to cut and paste on a Mac without a Command key. What is probably even more useful for gamers is how you can actually assign TWO actions to a single key - depending on how hard you press it. Perhaps a light push fires a single shot while holding it all the way down reels off a whole magazine. Like everything to do with pro-level gaming, fractions of a second can mean the difference between life and death. Speaking of how hard you push the keys, being a mechanical keyboard you can adjust how each key physically works too. Customise the attenuation point - or how far the key has to travel to work - from 2.5mm all the way down to 0.1mm if you really want a genuine hair-trigger. There's a Rapid Fire option which is more to do with how far you have to lift off between presses and you can even set the priority between keys. This is very handy for a klutz like me who has a tendency to do things like try to shake hands instead of executing a roundhouse kick. Different games require different controls, of course, so it goes without saying you can create any number of profiles and switch to them accordingly. And remember, all these settings can be applied to the whole keyboard, or just certain, crucial favourites.  There's also a standalone Game Mode button at the top left-hand corner. When pressed, it deactivates certain keys you definitely don't want to tap by mistake mid-game. Like the Windows key; the last thing you need as you're entering the home straight or returning to base to complete your mission is to accidentally exit out to your desktop. Basically, if you've ever done something stupid with your keyboard, the G515 can probably be configured in a way to avoid you doing it again. And if you've ever wished your zombie head-shot count per second could go a bit higher, have I got the keyboard for you? After all, like everything to do with pro-level gaming, fractions of a second can mean the difference between life and death. Is this starting to sink in? But now I have a quandary; I'm starting to really like using this keyboard. Although I've only had it plugged in for a week or so and I've definitely been using it more for typing articles like this than any kind of gaming, I feel like I've become a much better typist. I know that's not the point of this device at all and yet... After the initial learning curve when I found myself typing way too many extra letters in every sentence because the G515 is just so damn responsive, I quickly got used to it and began typing much faster simply because that's what this keyboard physically enables you to do. I have absolutely no qualms about its durability and lifespan either. The stainless steel top plate lends a heft and rigidity to the whole setup that you can really feel with every consistent keystroke. Even the rear foldout legs seem solid and reliable. I'm struggling to find a way the G515 Rapid TKL could offer any more and if it's made this noob's life a little easier, just imagine what it can do for the legit gamers out there.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Logitech G515 Rapid TKL. Mon, 08 Dec 2025 23:23:51 Z /lifestyle/technology/honor-magic-v5-well-i-didnt-see-this-one-coming/ /lifestyle/technology/honor-magic-v5-well-i-didnt-see-this-one-coming/ As a tech obsessed tragic, a large part of the time I'm not writing articles about gadgets, I spend reading articles about gadgets. So it's always a bit frustrating when I see something cool being launched somewhere else in the world if it doesn't end up being sold here. I get it. With a population of fewer than 6 million, the whole of New Zealand is a smaller market than most major cities. And we're far. Still, if we don't have access to more than one or two brands of a certain product, we can easily be held hostage, price-wise. So I was surprised, fascinated and excited to see HONOR set up shop here a couple of weeks ago. At the Auckland launch event, HONOR confirmed two phones, a tablet, a smartwatch and earbuds would all be hitting kiwi shelves in plenty of time for Christmas, but of course, it was the Magic V5 that really caught my attention. In fact, whether it's Black, Ivory White or Dawn Gold - like my review unit - it's pretty safe to assume you'll get most people's attention when you pull the Magic V5 out of your pocket, firstly because at just 8.8mm, it's the world's slimmest folding phone. That's not including its significant, octagonal camera module on the light-catching back panel of course - but even with that taken into account, the most striking thing about this full-sized foldable is how light and thin it feels - perhaps even more so than some other non-folding flagships. Thin, light but in no way flimsy. Quite the opposite. HONOR's Mortise and Tenon Dampening Hinge feels as solid as any other I've tried - if not more so. In fact, it's rated to last for at least half a million folds.  I don't think I'm rated for that many folds. I certainly shouldn't be trusted to handle a device like this because I've already dropped it onto a hard floor at least once already. Luckily, the Magic V5 is tough enough to take that kind of mistreatment. HONOR has really focussed on strengthening the area around the hinge and it shows. The 7.95-inch folding inner display is actually reinforced with carbon fibre, making it around 40 times more drop-proof than standard glass. This philosophy of durability extends to the 6.43-inch external screen. HONOR's "Anti-Scratch NanoCrystal Shield" purports to be scratch resistant, drop resistant and just plain wear resistant. The Magic V5 has both IP58 and IP59 water and dust resistance ratings too - making it splash-proof and the first foldable I've reviewed that I've felt comfortable jamming in my pocket when I'm out in the garden getting hot, dirty and sweaty. It even comes with its own case in the box - and not just a token, cheapo one either. Its ombré effect looks really classy and the shiny camera surround isn't just for show - it folds out to serve as a kickstand for either folded or unfolded viewing. But none of that matters without the performance to back it up. Where should we start? How about everyone's most basic phone complaint; battery life? The Magic V5 has a 5820mAh lithium polymer battery, which is large, and in tandem with the market-leading Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile CPU, runs the phone more efficiently (and cooler) than many other high-performance handsets. Admittedly, the MagicOS 9.0.1 U.I. (with Android 15 underneath) is particularly aggressive when it comes to battery "optimisation". As an interface, MagicOS is pretty similar to most other Android-based systems, although it did take me a little while to find the exact setting that would keep my home security apps running in the background so I would receive timely notifications from my cameras and video doorbell. All that aside, by the time I put the Magic V5 on to charge at night, I'm seldom below 50% - even on work days when I get up at 2:50AM. This phone will accept fast wired charging at up to 66W and incredibly, with the right charger, you can juice up wirelessly at 50W. Compare that to other flagships out there. Like every other phone, HONOR serves up its fair share of AI tools - and like every Android phone, it's hard to tell where the native AI stops and Google's Gemini takes over. Rest assured though, tasks like photo and video editing are easy and you can quickly touch up your shots to make them postable - something that's a lot more user-friendly on the phablet-sized internal display. There are some more niche little AI tricks too - the Magic V5 can alert you if you're being deep-faked on a video chat and even has a method to help prevent motion sickness if you're using your phone in a moving vehicle. For such a premium device, it's nice to see it endowed with a genuine flagship camera setup - which hasn't always been the case with foldables in the past. Referring to "Front" and "Rear" cameras doesn't make much sense on a device like this - after all, you can take selfies with the main camera and that external display can even play eye-catching cartoons to get kids laughing in the right direction. Instead, I'm going to call the little punch-hole selfie cameras (one on the edge of each screen) "selfie-cams" and the big kahuna in the gold octagon "the primary shooter". The selfie-cams are the same - which makes sense - 20MP wide lenses, capable of 4K video and can be used for face unlock. Which is the main thing I use them for because as I just said, why wouldn't you just use the awesome power of the primary shooter for selfies? A 50MP wide lens is teamed with a 50MP ultra wide and - wait for it - a 64MP telephoto lens. That's a lot of zoom power - 3x optical and 100x digital - and this is where the AI really starts to pay off; even those 100x long-shots will look nice and clear once our robot slave has cleaned them up for us. Nighttime photography is fabulous, image stabilisation makes shooting action videos a breeze - even the document scanner works fast and accurately. It's simply a great phone. I think, because it's just so usable. Swapping from external to internal screens and back again is smooth and seamless - as it should be. You can share files, photos and video to other devices easily - even to Macs and iPhones - as you should be able to. Little things like fingerprint-free surfaces, front and back, make holding the phone... well... nice. The Magic V5 even knows if there's any large bit of grit or debris caught inside when you close it and will notify you that you're risking damage to the screen if you don't clear it off. Sadly, although it charges wirelessly, it's not magnetic, so it can't snap into place on a MagSafe charger. However, because of the position of the camera module on the back panel, I've found it sits quite securely on my chargers anyway - so even that works out. What's more, it's HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper than the competing handset with the same storage here in New Zealand - and the Magic V5 has more RAM. Yes, I'm excited about this phone. I'm just excited HONOR decided to honour us with its presence. And I can't wait to share more thoughts on the HONOR Choice earbuds and HONOR Watch 4 in the weeks to come. This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.      Click here for more information and on the HONOR Magic V5. In store now at Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming. Mon, 08 Dec 2025 01:08:09 Z /lifestyle/technology/lenovo-legion-go-2-the-heavyweight-of-handheld-gaming/ /lifestyle/technology/lenovo-legion-go-2-the-heavyweight-of-handheld-gaming/ When it comes to mobile gaming, how far are you prepared to go to get the best experience possible? Some people might be happy enough tapping and swiping away at their phone. But you're not those people. You're a real gamer. You have a console. Or perhaps a proper gaming PC souped up with extra RAM, lots of cooling and a high-end GPU. So how are you going to replicate that when you're out and about? The Lenovo Legion Go 2 takes all that and squashes it into a handheld that weighs in well under a kilo. And I do mean all that. Although it's small enough to fit into any backpack, briefcase and most handbags, the Legion Go 2 comes with its own padded, soft-shell case, with an internal pocket just big enough to accommodate the 65W USB-C fast charger. Depending on how long you expect to be gaming on the move, you may not even need to take the charger with you; battery life should good enough to last at least a couple of hours or so, depending on how hard you run the device. And you can run it pretty hard. The Legion Go 2 is commanded by an AMD Ryzen Z2 or Z2 Extreme processor, comes with 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of internal storage, with the option to add still more storage via microSD. Packed with cooling measures to keep things running at their optimum, the updated Legion ColdFront thermal system utilises a combination of larger radiators, bigger fan blades and improved dual heat pipes. So it's fast. And it's powerful. It connects via Wi-Fi 6E - which I've found to be plenty quick enough to stream games like Call of Duty Black Ops 7 via Xbox Cloud Gaming and you can connect bluetooth accessories like mice, keyboards and external controllers using Bluetooth 5.3. However, as we all know, serious gamers often prefer to connect via cables, and here's where the Legion Go 2 designers have let themselves down a bit. I get that these days it's not super unusual for laptops and the like to be a bit miserly when it comes to the number of I/O ports they have. But with the Legion Go 2, Lenovo seems to have taken this to the extreme. You get just two USB-C ports, one of which you'll probably need to leave free for plugging in your charger and of those two ports, one's in a dumb place. There's a USB-C on the top edge, with a power indicator LED next to it. You'll also find the power button up there which doubles as a fingerprint reader for quick, secure logins. Bizarrely, the other USB-C slot is on the bottom edge - and so is the headphone jack. Now, admittedly, if you're using this handheld as a handheld, putting those two plug-holes down there doesn't matter so much. But if you want to make use of the Legion Go 2's very sturdy, flip-out kickstand to play on a desk or table top - perhaps with a mouse and keyboard rather than the attached control paddles - plugging things like headphones and power supplies into the bottom edge makes no sense whatsoever. If they couldn't put all the ports on the top, how about the back?  That niggly design flaw aside, not only can you use external, 3rd-party accessories to control the Legion Go 2, you also have the option of detaching the controllers and converting the right-hand one into a joystick mouse with the attachments included in the box. Apparently, this is something FPS experts like to do - in effect, it enables you to hold the controller more like a gun, creating a more immersive First Person Shooter experience. An experience enhanced even further by the 8.8-inch PureSight OLED gaming display - a screen far superior to most other mobile gaming devices. You're getting the pure black contrast only OLED can deliver along with vibrant colours that really do pop, at a 144Hz refresh rate. It's this premium display that really makes the Legion Go 2 feel like a desktop or console you can hold in your hands. The only downside is it's quite reflective - so the 500 nits of brightness is somewhat cancelled out if you try to game in the sunshine. But as a gamer, you're allergic to sunshine, so that shouldn't be an issue. Aside from the usual dual joystick, D-Pad, A B X Y button configuration and even a small touch-pad, there are heaps of other controls placed just where you need them. Although I never used one myself, I understand a major criticism of the original Legion Go was it was a bit boxy and uncomfortable to hold. The Gen-2 version has been rounded off a lot more and although it can start to feel a little heavy after a while, I haven't found myself cramping up trying to reach the top or rear buttons. The pre-installed Legion Space app is essentially your one-stop-shop for tweaks and customisations. You can access this at any time with a single button press. Then you can adjust power settings, reassign certain controls and access your game library - regardless of what platform it's on; Xbox, Epic, Rockstar, whatever. In fact, there's literally nothing you can't do on this device you can do on any other Windows 11 PC... Other than the fact some things look weirdly tiny on this form-factor. I mean, it's technically possible to check your emails and review spreadsheets but apart from anything else, where's the fun in that? I recommend pairing a keyboard and mouse for your initial setup but the on-screen keyboard is usable enough for logins etc. After that, you should have everything you need to play most games right there in your hands. There really is no limit - from triple-A new releases to retro favourites, the Legion Go 2 is the PC in your pocket you've been waiting for. You'll need pretty deep pockets - it's larger than some portables and perhaps the most expensive - but if you want serious gaming in a mobile package, it 's probably a price well worth paying.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Lenovo Legion Go 2. Thu, 04 Dec 2025 23:46:16 Z /lifestyle/technology/philips-hue-festavia-globe-outdoor-string-lights-a-long-line-of-quality/ /lifestyle/technology/philips-hue-festavia-globe-outdoor-string-lights-a-long-line-of-quality/ When it comes to lighting the exterior of your home, there are two ways to go about it. You can do it cheap... You know; solar pathway lights that look good for a few weeks then one by one, mysteriously stop working. Perhaps accentuated by a DIY sensor light that you were sure you could set to stay on - until you wired it in and discovered unless you move around every thirty seconds, your outdoor dining experience resembles more of a nightclub with a strobe light. Or you can do it right... When it comes to doing lights right, Philips Hue has never let me down yet, although the Festavia Globe Outdoor String lights were the first I've tried for outside. I knew I was dealing with a quality product right from the git-go, even when I was just taking them out of the box. I'm talking a 21-metre long set of 30 globes, each light meticulously wrapped in paper and the entire length tied into more manageable bunches to avoid the frustration of any pre-hanging tangles. 21 metres is decent - that should cater for most outdoor areas in one way or another, although there's a 14-metre extension available if you really want to go to town. Just note, while it's called an extension, it actually connects at the beginning of the string, close to the plug end with its own T-shaped connector. The so-called "Lightguide" bulbs are almost perfectly spherical and perhaps a little larger than I was expecting, which I consider to be a bonus. The globes aren't glass - Hue describes them as "glass-look" - again, that's a good thing because it means they're both weather and shatter-resistant, so you can leave them up permanently. Helpfully, even if you do manage to damage one of the bulbs somehow, you can replace each one individually. My only disappointment early on was the lack of mounting hardware included in the box. At NZ$659.99 you really are shelling out a fair whack for what is essentially a string of coloured lights and while both the bulbs and cable seem very durable I thought there may have been a few sticky hooks or something to help me hang it all up. Luckily, I happened to have a bucket of plastic gutter hooks stashed away from a previous life when I felt co-ordinated enough to run strings of fairy lights around my whole house each Christmas. These sorts of fastenings are relatively inexpensive and I found they worked with the Hue Festavias just as well. While lights like these are generally used to create a little atmosphere above outdoor dining areas, over spa pools or suspended from pergolas, given the time of year I decided to give the front of my house a more public display of holiday cheer. It didn't take me long to run them along the guttering above my garage door, then around my entrance porch, the idea being anyone who arrives at the house will be bathed in a Christmassy glow of some sort. As always, with Philips Hue, setup is streamlined and effortless with the latest version of the Hue app. Remember, Hue has been around a long time now so when it comes to a user-friendly configuration process, they definitely know what they're doing. Like most other Hue products, the Festavia lights connect via a Bridge - not directly to your Wi-Fi. Initially this may seem like just an extra expense but it ultimately works to your benefit as the Bridge ends up being the only device taking up space on your home network instead of each Hue product you own hogging the Wi-Fi individually. It also results in a reliable connection that never seems to drop out or fail when it comes to automations. Hue has good compatibility with virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, so you can easily control your lights with a simple voice command. But here’s where Philips flexes: customisation. Not only can the Hue Festavia globes get very bright, they can also wind down remarkably dim - and obviously can be set to any colour imaginable or a combination of both. Hue offers a wide variety of scenes - both static or dynamic - all customisable to your preferences. Don't like how fast or slow something changes? You can adjust it. You can even match your lights to a photo (or an album of photos) if you're going for a particular style or theme for your next party, or if you prefer, sync them with your playlist and see the colours move in time with the music. I was after something Santa would approve of, so I went with a preset called "Under the Tree" - although the Hue Scene Gallery has a selection of ten different themes in its Winter Holiday section alone. I then bumped up the brightness and increased the speed of the colour changes because that's the kind of tech tweaking nerd I am. Now, the front of my house lights up like a beacon for Rudolph to follow every night from 7:30 - 10:00. Just like the colour settings, setting up automations like that is easy too. Is more than $650 to much to pay for a set of lights? Probably. But knowing they're exceptional quality, there are plenty of them, they're durable and easily customised with one of the best smart-home apps I've used, means a lot less stress at the most wonderful time of the year.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights. Sun, 30 Nov 2025 23:39:15 Z /lifestyle/technology/mighty-ape-3-in-1-magnetic-chargers-bend-me-shape-me/ /lifestyle/technology/mighty-ape-3-in-1-magnetic-chargers-bend-me-shape-me/ Have you ever gone from not knowing something exists to loving it so much you can't live without it? I kind of feel that way about MagSafe chargers. It started out as an Apple thing; why just charge wirelessly when you can actually stick your phone to the charger with a magnet? Then you can produce a bunch of other accessories that magnetise on as well... Battery packs, wallets, car cradles - you had me at magnets. Unfortunately, because I review a lot of different handsets, most of them aren't magnetic like iPhones are, even if they charge wirelessly. Luckily, you can usually pick up a third-party case that is, so you can continue using that nifty MagSafe charger. Now, with the holidays looming, and travel potentially on the cards, you might be looking for a more portable magnetic charging solution. Boy, does Mighty Ape have some options for you... Today I've picked out three of my favourite Mighty Ape 3-In-1 magnetic travel chargers. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses but I'd be happy to find any of them wrapped up in my Christmas stocking come the end of the year. Let's start with the Kogan 3-in-1 Qi2 Foldable Wireless Charging Stand. This charger caught my eye because it's quite a different shape to most other options, about the size and shape of a camera lens. At 340 grams its surprisingly heavy, which may be a bit of a drawback if you're planning on stuffing it in your handbag or backpack - although its cylindrical profile makes it a good contender for sliding into your drink bottle pouch so it's always handy. Of the three options I'm highlighting today, it's the most fun because not only does the top charging plate hinge forward to reveal a second wireless charging cradle for earbuds or AirPods, the third charger pops out of the side for you to perch your Apple Watch on. Because this is a newer-generation Qi2 device, it promises faster charging speeds and safer, cooler operation. It'll charge your phone at 15W, your buds at 5W and your Apple Watch at 2.5W - which isn't bad, although some of the latest iPhones and Apple Watches can juice up faster than that with the right chargers.  The folding phone plate is where the magnetism happens, so you can choose to MagSafe your iPhone to it in landscape mode to make use of the recently added Nightstand clock iOS feature. When I first plugged it in, I was alarmed to see a bright white ring light flash on around the base of the device. I was worried this was some kind of over-the-top status LED to let me know when the charger is charging - an absolute no-no in the otherwise pitch-black master bedroom in the Hart House. Thankfully, this simply turned out to be a nightlight, that you can turn on, off and adjust the brightness of via a capacitive button on the side of the device. It's not really bright enough to read by or anything but it could be useful for helping you navigate an unfamiliar hotel room in the middle of the night. The next option is Mighty Ape's own Foldable Magnetic 3-in-1 Wireless Charger. This is probably the clumsiest-looking of the three but it's very light and folds quite flat, so it's nice and portable. The main phone charging panel hinges up from the base where you'll find a pad for your earbuds, while the watch charging stand folds out from behind the phone charger. This model also features a ring "Ambient" light, this time around the back of the phone charging pad. There's a physical button for this on the base that toggles through several different brightness settings, which seems like overkill for a feature you'll probably hardly ever use. Alarmingly, right next to that button, there IS a status LED that can't be turned off once this charger is plugged in. I know it sounds silly - after all, it's just a tiny line of light a few millimetres long - but some people simply cannot sleep with glowing lights in the room, no matter how little they are. Personally, I'm not worried by them. However, I'm not the only person in the room at night and that other person matters a lot more than me. So out comes my roll of black insulation tape and away goes the little light. This charger is actually the most powerful of the three - still 15W for phones and 5W for buds, but twice the wattage - at 5W - for Apple Watches, which is especially good news if you wear an Apple Watch Ultra - they have bigger batteries and can take longer to top up. The third offering is my favourite; another Kogan-labelled gadget, the 3-in-1 Aluminium MagSafe Compatible Wireless Charging Stand. Why do I like it so much? For starters, it's the most compact; it folds down to the shape of a credit card and is only 22mm thick. Secondly, it looks classy - a combination of brushed aluminium and matching grey charging pads. And thirdly, it's the only one of the three that will charge both an Apple Watch and a Samsung Galaxy Watch. This is especially convenient for me because I'm often swapping between Samsung's and Apple's ecosystems, so it's nice not to have to change chargers every time. I note there's at least one other non-folding charger on Mighty Ape's site that has a reversible watch pad but I've never come across one that'll just accept both types of smartwatch before. As you can see from the photos, this aluminium beauty simply folds up in a Z-shape, with that bi-charging watch pad popping up in the middle. The pads for phone and buds are rubber-coated, so they won't scratch the devices you're charging and the hinges are reassuringly stiff and stable, so the stand will stay at whatever angle you prefer. It's not all good news - although its webpage assures me this charger has been designed with Overcharge Protection, Overvoltage Protection, Overcurrent Protection and Temperature Protection, this stand is the only one of the three that does get a little warm when in use - perhaps something to do with its aluminium casing? It also only promises a meagre 2W charge from its otherwise uniquely versatile watch stand. In saying that, I just popped my Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra on while writing this and went from 51% to 61% in fifteen minutes, so it's not exactly the end of the world. Lights-wise, it's the worst of both worlds. No "Ambient" light at all and a tiny - but inexplicably bright - status LED right on the front of the base, that had me reaching for my roll of tape again. So there you have it, the pros and cons of just a few of the chargers Mighty Ape has to offer. Each one pledges not to overcharge or overheat and all seem to be well designed and manufactured. They all come with a USB power cable in the box but no wall charger. This is a potential trap because you're unlikely to achieve maximum charging speeds if you don't plug into the right power brick. Luckily, Mighty Ape sells plenty of those too. Maybe that'll be a topic for another review, another day. Meanwhile, priced between just NZ$50 and NZ$62, I'm sure any of these three chargers would make a welcome addition to someone's Santa Sack this Christmas. Or maybe give one to yourself if you're planning on going away and you want to keep things magnetic.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Kogan 3-in-1 Qi2 Foldable Wireless Charging Stand. Click here for more information and pricing on the Mighty Ape Foldable Magnetic 3-in-1 Wireless Charger. Click here for more information and pricing on the Kogan 3-in-1 Aluminium MagSafe Compatible Wireless Charging Stand. Wed, 19 Nov 2025 23:20:34 Z /lifestyle/technology/jbl-grip-get-hands-on/ /lifestyle/technology/jbl-grip-get-hands-on/ The world of tech is funny. Sometimes the big brands invent products and spend a lot of time and energy trying to convince us how much we need them... even though we never asked for them in the first place. Virtual headset, anyone? Luckily, the opposite scenario also happens occasionally too. Customer demand and popular trends can prompt manufacturers to, you know, actually give people what they want. For example; if people are going to keep dropping their phones in the toilet, I guess we'll have to make them waterproof. Likewise, JBL has seen what you've been doing with its speakers and has decided to make it easier for you. The JBL Grip is about the size and shape of a can of soft drink. That can't be a coincidence.  My guess is someone noticed how many people were shoving their speakers into the bottle-holders on their bikes, into cupholders in their cars and into the drink-bottle pouches on their backpacks. I reckon that same someone thought to themselves, "Hang on, the Flip is really the only speaker we have that sort of fits that scenario. What if we came up with one especially for it?" And the Grip is the result. A fairly powerful bluetooth speaker with good battery life that fits easily in one hand. Like JBL's other portables, the Grip is ruggedly put together, with durable rubber bumpers on each end to keep it drop-proof and an IP68 rating to keep it beach-proof. There's no lanyard or handle attached to the speaker but there is a small loop around the back you can clip or tie something onto - like a carabiner perhaps? It has a 16 watt output and that's enhanced by JBL's AI Sound Boost algorithm to create a "bigger" sound without any distortion or unwanted vibrations. As usual, no matter what size the JBL speaker is, it still manages to magically create a decent amount of bass punch. JBL claims the Grip will play for about 12 hours on a full charge and my testing so far seems to match up with that. By activating Playtime Boost through the JBL Portable app, you should squeeze out an extra couple of hours before having to recharge - although that feature in turn deactivates some others, like the customisable EQs. The JBL Portable app is also required to control the light. Yes, this portable comes with its own light show. If you've ever read any of my other reviews, you'll know I'm no fan of having flashing lights just for the sake of it. When I first tried the new LEDs out on my review units I was pretty underwhelmed. It's a fairly small panel on the back of the speaker and while it glowed brightly and I could change the pattern slightly, that was about it. In fact, initially, I thought it was only white. Then I updated the JBL Portable app. Suddenly, I had a choice of colours - not a big choice, and weirdly, there's an extra option on the iOS app than on the Android one, but still, by the time you choose a theme and a colour, you've really personalised the look of the thing. Then I realised why the light panel is on the back - not behind the front grille like the party lights are on JBL's much bigger PartyBoxes - it's called an Ambient Light, so I figure it's supposed to wash against the wall, rather than be viewed directly. Once I started using it this way it was actually pretty cool - you can even control the brightness or thankfully, turn it off completely. But my favourite feature by far is the same feature I love on every JBL speaker I've reviewed lately; Auracast - the ability to connect and stream to any other Auracast device, regardless of what make or model it is. Yes, you can create a stereo pair with two identical Grips (and at the time of writing, they're on special for just NZ$99,95 each, so why wouldn't you?) but with speakers this compact, I like to hide a few around the house to create an invisible Auracast ambience - not necessarily loud, just music everywhere. Of course, if you leave their lights on, they probably won't be that invisible. Especially since when you connect via Auracast, the light theme syncs too. The great thing about Auracast is, if you're not satisfied with the bass boom of the Grip on its own (although as I've said, it's quite respectable, given its size) you can team it up with a much bigger option - perhaps the Boombox 4 or Xtreme 4. Bass frequencies are pretty much non-directional, so with the Grip on one side of the room and a bigger speaker on the other, things will still sound fairly balanced. I'd wrongly assumed the Grip would be just another speaker, but between its more than adequate power and frequency range, its durability, its impressive battery life and the all-new light effects, I have no problem recommending it as a "handy" stocking-filler this Christmas.      Click here for more information and pricing on the JBL Grip. Tue, 18 Nov 2025 23:24:08 Z /lifestyle/technology/eero-max-7-push-your-home-network-to-its-limits/ /lifestyle/technology/eero-max-7-push-your-home-network-to-its-limits/ If you're anything like me, you've found yourself on a never-ending quest for better Wi-Fi. It's not just about speed - although speedy downloads and uploads are great. More and more, it's about creating a home network to which everything stays connected, reliably.  I currently have 59 devices connected to my Wi-Fi, with another 29 that are either switched off or are away from home right now. Not all of those gadgets need the fastest, most powerful connection. They just need a router that recognises them and can help them access the net if and when required, every time. Not too much to ask. And yet... even in 2025, all too often our smart speakers ignore us, we can't seem to turn that one smart light on or off and the movie is still buffering before it starts. WHY??? Well, as I've discussed before, there are many reasons your Wi-Fi may be under-performing; What type of plan are you on? How many devices are connecting to your router? Where have you placed your router or routers? You might even be using the wrong kind of cables - after all, they have maximum speeds too. So when I unpacked eero's top-of-the line mesh Wi-Fi system, I decided to give it every advantage... On paper, it's easy to understand why the eero Max 7 system blows its other stablemates out of the water. The more entry-level eero 7 devices are great - but they're only dual-band which means when used as a mesh system, some of their bandwidth is taken up with the routers talking to each other. Meanwhile, the eero Pro 7 units are tri-band, so they have dedicated backhaul. But even the Pro 7s are no match for the still larger eero Max 7 devices. Each eero Max 7 has twice the number of auto-sensing ethernet ports; 2 x 2.5GbE and 2 x 10GbE - that means an incredible potential for wired connectivity if you're on a HyperFibre plan like I am. Not only that, but the larger, more powerful units can cover a massive area - up to 700 square metres, so pretty much my whole section, not just my house. And finally, Amazon claims you can connect at least 250 devices simultaneously. Which should be plenty. Well, until the robots take over completely, I guess. Just because the Max 7 is faster and more powerful, it doesn't mean setup is any more complicated. Quite the opposite in fact. Because I was upgrading an existing eero system, the eero app gives you the opportunity to simply swap devices out, maintaining your network SSID (password) and even the location in your home. You can then choose to use the old eero device as another mesh extender. The eero app might just be the most user-friendly of its kind. You can see every connected device at a glance, including their connection strength and which router they're connected to. You can rename them, pause them, even block them in seconds. But here's where I was really impressed. The problem with my fibre connection - and I bet this is true for many of you out there - is it comes into my house at about the worst place possible, through the garage wall. This was conveniently close to the road for the installers, but that corner of the house couldn't be further away from where I need the internet most; upstairs and diagonally opposite, in the living room. Luckily, I do have limited data cabling installed so in the past I've always just plugged in my ISP's default router, down in the garage, then run my actual home network via a hardline from there, feeding into my primary router upstairs. This time I decided to eliminate any potential chokepoints by using one of my three eero Max 7s at the point of origin, plugged directly into the ONT box. I know in theory, it's virtually impossible to push decent Wi-Fi from a lower storey up to a higher one but I crossed my fingers and hoped I had a way around that. Following the step by step instructions in the eero app, I fired up the first unit in the garage and... it didn't work. No internet at all. There was a brief moment of panic, then I realised there was probably some unique protocol required for the primary router to connect with my ISP. As it happened, that's exactly what the eero app then asked me for. A very quick Google search provided me with the correct VLAN tag, which I entered and I was away and laughing. I've never experienced blazingly fast Wi-Fi in the garage like this - as you'll see in the video below, I could now connect at well over 2 Gbps. I could also plug in cables for other rooms in the house via the three remaining LAN ports. Time to take it to the rest of the house. Next stop, downstairs family room. Here, I set up my next eero Max 7 unit as a Wi-Fi only mesh extender, replacing an older model. This took all of about 60 seconds, again resulting in very satisfying speeds. Now for the real test. One last Max 7 device, in the upstairs living room. I knew connecting over Wi-Fi through the floor and several walls was a bad plan so I plugged into my hard-wired access point instead, just to see what would happen. Amazingly, the upstairs Max7 talked to the garage one with no issues and no input required from me. This was a relief because I needed to run a lot of gear off that upstairs unit - a television, an Apple TV streaming box, an Xbox, a bunch of smart lights and just everybody's phones, tablets and computers. Because my house is wired with Cat5e ethernet cable, I was hoping I could get close to the 1 Gbps it's rated for. When I tested the speed and got the result you'll see in the video below, I was gobsmacked. It was definitely safe to uncross my fingers. If you're upgrading from Wi-Fi 6e, 6 or even 5, I really recommend you go whole hog and give the eero Max 7 a try - especially if you're coming from an older eero system, because you can probably use your existing units to strengthen your mesh network even further. Remember, many late-model Amazon Echo smart speakers now have built-in mesh Wi-Fi too, so you might be closer than you think to the bullet-proof, no dark-spot network you've always dreamed of. Although the eero Max 7 units are bigger, they're still fairly blank and featureless, so should fit in with your decor without too much difficulty and yes, best of all, (for me anyway) you can turn off the status LED using the app. I've decided I'm no longer cutting corners when it comes to my Wi-Fi. I even bought a whole new set of Cat7 ethernet cables to connect my other devices to the eero Max 7 units, just to be sure. I now have the most reliable, wide-ranging and above all, fastest home network I've ever had. An exciting new benchmark has been set.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon eero Max 7 tri-band Wi-Fi mesh system. Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:34:49 Z /lifestyle/technology/dyson-v16-piston-animal-submarine-re-setting-the-standard/ /lifestyle/technology/dyson-v16-piston-animal-submarine-re-setting-the-standard/ I'm no vacuuming expert - although I have been reviewing all kinds of vacuums for a while now. I'm also in charge of vacuuming at our house, so if I'm not an official expert, I am at least experienced. Anyway, for what it's worth, in my view, there's nothing quite like a Dyson. Because of Dyson's driving philosophy of innovation, I think you'd be hard-pushed to come up with another brand that consistently manages to reinvent itself in such revolutionary ways, others struggle to keep up. And wouldn't you just know it? They've gone and done it again. As you might be able to deduce from its somewhat multi-barrelled name, the Dyson V16 Piston Animal Submarine has a lot going on. In fact, unboxing this thing is a bit like spending Christmas with your slightly crazy uncle who thinks it's funny to wrap every present in 17 different layers of wrapping paper to maximise the enjoymnent. Except in this case, every compartment of every box-within-the-box holds a new and exciting present that you really weren't expecting. Even the accessories are painstakingly designed for ultimate performance. The Combi Tool has long been my favourite car-cleaning aid, with its retractable brush allowing me to quickly swap between two heads depending on whether I'm vacuuming hard or soft surfaces.  When Dyson first introduced the Hair Screw Tool, I thought its ability to dispose of even the longest of hair was so groundbreaking, I dedicated a whole review to it. Version 2.0 has been modified to remove even longer hair still and there are now "rug strips" to keep soft furnishings like covers of duvets and cushions from being sucked in and causing the tool to stop spinning. They've even made the Crevice Tool longer, because who doesn't want the longest Crevice Tool possible? But the main "head"-lines are the titular Submarine 2.0 Wet Roller head and the All Floors Cones Sense cleaner head. Both of these are classic examples of Dyson's engineers being told to go out and start again from the beginning; design a wet mopping head and an all-purpose one from scratch, paying special attention to the pain points current users experience. With the Submarine 2.0 Wet Roller, they certainly nailed the cleaning part. I never trialled the original version of this head, so I'm not sure exactly how it's been improved, other than it now offers two levels of hydration - so you can up the amount of water being applied to the roller to help remove more stubborn messes from your hard floors It's a breeze to use and even though it's quite a large head, it's well balanced and the connecting joint folds down almost flat to allow you access under furniture. It cleans throughly with every pass, and unlike other similar devices I've used with rotating, disc-shaped mop heads - or even manual mopping for that matter - the Submarine 2.0 leaves a streak-free finish and the precisely measured water flow means floors are dry in minutes. For me, it worked particularly well on the bathroom tiles and was easy to manoeuvre under vanities and into other tight spaces. There is a downside; the cleanup afterwards. The Submarine 2.0 is not a vacuum head as such - unlike a robot vacuum, for example, which might vacuum at the front then mop at the back on the same pass, Dyson's method forces any hard debris up into the head where it is trapped in a thin, removable collection tray, which requires rinsing off after ever clean. As does the roller and the head itself. This is all a bit of hands-on and gross - and bear in mind, I'm a father of two so I've seen plenty of hands-on and gross in my time. The roller and head then need to dry out - which takes days, not hours. There's a base/cover just for the Submarine 2.0 head, to keep everything tidy. I'd prefer this to be some kind of auto-cleaning and drying station, in a similar vein to the various robot vacuums I've reviewed lately. As great a job as this cleaning head does, I'm not sure it justifies the inconvenience of the cleanup afterwards. On the other hand, the All Floors Cones Sense head couldn't be more user-friendly - and effective. Dyson has obviously gone all in on cones. I've already mentioned the cone-based Hair Screw Tool 2.0. I reviewed the PencilVac Fluffy Cones cleaner a few weeks back. The All Floors Cones Sense head takes that philosophy to new heights. The duo of conical brush bars are each wrapped in a twin spiral of sturdy, nylon bristles to help loosen any bits and pieces from carpet and a softer, wider brush that polishes hard floors without scratching them. The head automatically detects what surface it's on and can adjust the suction power accordingly. And best of all, this is the most tangle-free full-sized vacuum head I've ever used. As long as I've been vacuuming, I've been untangling hair wrapped around the cleaning brush. For years. I've actually become pretty good at it. I've even collected up a few useful tools to help me do it along the way. Told you I'd seen "hands-on and gross." Ah, the stories I could tell. The problem with the All Floors Cones Sense head is I don't get to use those skills anymore. At all. Since I've been using the V16, I haven't had to remove a single hair, not one. In fact, the conical brushes are so effective, when I'm vacuuming particularly hairy spaces -  like where the hair drying and straightening happens - the first pass leaves a tidy little hairball behind which is then easily sucked up on the next pass. It's a miracle. The newest incarnation of Dyson's Hyperdymium motor never misses a beat, of course. The 900w motor drives up to 315AW of suction. Don't worry if you don't know that AW stands for Air Watt - just trust me; there's all the power you need and more. The battery behind it all should last around 70 minutes on a full charge and if that's not enough, you can purchase a second one as they swap out easily. Even now, so few of Dyson's competitors offer anything like the detailed, colour LCD display on the top of the device. Never underestimate how useful it is to know what your remaining battery life is in minutes - it can be very motivational. The screen also shows a breakdown of the particles being sucked up by size, so you know when you've got the surface completely clean. As you'll see in the video below, when you have a vacuum as effective as this one, you may worry about how quickly the 1.35-litre bin fills up. That's where Dyson's next big upgrade comes in; Bin compression. They call it CleanCompaktor technology but it just means you can now squash all the yucky stuff down to the bottom of the bin and keep on vacuuming, drastically reducing the number of times you have to empty the V16. Even the emptying process is better because that same CleanCompaktor mechanism now ejects all the dust and debris out of the bin without you having to stick anything in there - like your fingers - to work any stubborn clumps of ick out. Essentially, it's the totally hands-off experience I was hoping for with the Submarine head. By now, it goes without saying Dyson totally aces the filtration system, the durability (yes, I dropped the whole shebang on my hard floor first time I used it) and the app experience; I just updated the firmware this afternoon. There are so many new and exciting features here, I almost forgot to mention the great ones that have carried over from previous models - like the dust-seeking green light on the brush head and the hidden tools - I mean, how come nobody's talking about the "Easy-Access Wand Tool?" Now you can just push down on the red ring at the top of the main tube to eject the cleaner head without having to bend down. I hate bending down. I love this vacuum. For the most thorough, tangle-free cleaning experience I've ever encountered from a stick vacuum, the V16 Piston Animal Submarine is the new champ. Now, if we can just get that mop head to clean up after itself, I'd be in vacuum heaven.          Click here for more information and pricing on the Dyson V16 Piston Animal Submarine. Mon, 17 Nov 2025 04:12:46 Z /lifestyle/technology/avast-ultimate-business-security-set-your-cyber-security-to-god-mode/ /lifestyle/technology/avast-ultimate-business-security-set-your-cyber-security-to-god-mode/ The trouble with being the go-to person when it comes to tech stuff - whether that's in your home or at your small business - is getting other people to take some responsibility for protecting their gear. I don't mean carrying it around in a case or not leaving it on the passenger seat of their car. I'm talking cyber security. Boring. But essential. Especially as day after day we hear more and more nightmare tales of people - and businesses - being scammed, hacked or compromised in some way. Unless software is kept update and all patches are installed in a timely manner, you, your family, or your business may be exposed. It's a risk that can cost you money, not to mention your valuable files and sensitive information, But what can you do? Other than nag them to take this stuff seriously. Now Avast offers you overall control. And it's easy too. Avast Ultimate Business Security takes all the responsibility of keeping your network secure and puts it back on you because, let's face it, who else can be trusted? Am I right? But unlike other attempts I've made to keep an eye on the PCs and laptops of those close to me, the installation and setting up of this ingenious tool is so simple, it's almost automatic. Once you've signed up and logged into the Avast Business Hub via your web browser, you'll be guided through the initial checks and tweaks to create your new security network. You can then scan your network for any unmanaged devices and add them to your dashboard by sending the owner a download link, or, assuming you know the user name and password, you can install the necessary software on the target device remotely. From that point on they'll have access to Avast's Antivirus, Web Control and USB Protection - and if it's a Windows device, Patch Management and VPN as well. In return, you can set up specific security policies for each device, or assign them to a group. You can choose to have updates installed across your network automatically, or do it manually on a per-device basis - probably more practicable if you're using this tool for your family than if you're trying to keep everyone at your business safe and secure. And unlike so many other security tools, Avast Ultimate Business Security doesn't seem to mind too much if there's already another security product installed - although you'll get the option to remove that remotely too, if you want. What surprised me the most is how thoroughly and effectively Avast Ultimate Business Security was able to detect any required patches and updates. Let me be clear; I'm not just talking about updates to the Avast suite of apps you have installed. Your new, Sauron-like, all-seeing eye will pick up any pending OS updates and third-party patches too. As hard as it may be to believe, you may never have to nag your recalcitrant teenager or long-suffering Domestic Manager to update their computers ever again - because you can now do it for them! Just a warning; your new powers as Network Overlord are not to be underestimated - or abused. Believe it or not, you can even restart your underlings' devices remotely if that's required after the installation of any updates. Mwah hah hah hah ha! Is there anything that can stop you now? Actually, there is. They'll see a little window pop-up to let them know you've activated a restart so they can delay it if they're in the middle of some important work... Or some important gaming. Both Avast's Firewall and VPN are comprehensive and effective - and yet, I haven't noticed any dramatic slowdowns when they're in effect - although I did have to customise my security policies to get Plex to work. My Plex media server resides on the Windows tablet you see highlighted in some of these pictures but after I first installed Ultimate Business Security, I couldn't seem to stream from other devices around the house. Luckily, it didn't take much prompting for Google Gemini to offer up the solution. Not only was I able to allow Plex full access through my firewall for locally connected devices, I now have it set up so I can stream from that tablet, even when the VPN is activated - which I've never figured out how to do before. This really is the most watertight security suite I've ever used on my home network. Depending on how you set it up, nothing gets in or out without being scanned and vetted first. Even unrecognised USB devices will be flagged for approval, in case they have something nasty lurking inside - or perhaps even more importantly, to prevent anyone nicking off with your company's valuable IP. Unsafe and fake sites can be blocked, emails with suspicious attachments intercepted and Ransomware Shield helps you easily protect your most precious files and folders from any outside attacks. Best of all, it really isn't that expensive. In fact, the more devices you protect, the cheaper it works out. What's more, you can trial Avast Ultimate Business Security on up to 100 devices for 30 days. Give it a crack - I'm pretty sure you'll be impressed with how easy it is to set up and monitor. In this day and age, maintaining an effective cyber security regime - both at home and at work - is just as important as insuring your business, house and contents. But I can't stress this enough; that security regime is only as strong as its last updated security patch. The bad guys aren't going away and they get more sophisticated all the time, so it's vital to stay up to date on every device you can. Thanks to Ultimate Business Security, Avast really does make it easy.      Click here for more information and pricing on Avast Ultimate Business Security. Fri, 14 Nov 2025 02:03:37 Z /lifestyle/technology/jbl-partybox-encore-2-and-jbl-partybox-520-create-your-own-light-and-sound-extravaganza/ /lifestyle/technology/jbl-partybox-encore-2-and-jbl-partybox-520-create-your-own-light-and-sound-extravaganza/ The holiday season is upon us and you know what that means... Party time. House party. Deck party. Pool party. Street party. Beach party. Whatever kind of party you're planning, you're going to need music and you're going to need lights. Oh, and karaoke. There might be karaoke. And somebody might also bring a guitar. Basically, you need to be prepared for any eventuality. Don't worry, JBL has got you covered. Take one PartyBox Encore 2, then upsize it with the PartyBox 520. Party success, guaranteed. I know I've reviewed a few of these sorts of JBL speakers before, but I don't think I've ever specifically tried an Encore and I've certainly never brought home anything as large as the 520. Even the Encore 2 is a hefty wee beastie - weighing in over 6kgs. Its size and shape kind of remind me of the 14-inch CRT TV a friend gave us for a wedding present nearly 30 years ago. Unlike that TV though, the Encore 2 has a convenient retractable carry handle on top, so it's easy enough to move from place to place. Meanwhile, at 26kgs, the 520 is one of the heaviest non-car devices I've ever reviewed. Luckily, it has a suitcase-style, telescopic handle and two hard-wearing, easy-rolling wheels at the base, so it too is reasonably portable. This is good news because there's no reason not to take your party on the road - both these PartyBoxes boast an (up to) 15 hour battery life and both have easily accessible battery compartments, so if you really want to go bush, you can purchase spare battery packs and swap them out as required. Functionally, in many ways, these speakers have similar features. A play/pause button in the middle of a volume knob on one side, a lights on/off button in a lighting theme selector knob on the other. You'll also find JBL's obligatory Bass Boost button, a bluetooth pairing button and a set of silly sound effect buttons nobody has ever used on any speaker at any party ever. What is of much more use is the Auracast button. As we've seen on pretty much every other recent JBL speaker, Auracast lets you link any enabled speakers you have, regardless of model or size. Not only does this mean you can combine the Encore 2's decent output with the 520's MIGHTY blast, it's also a clever hack that means you can use the 2 digital mics that come with the Encore 2 through its much more powerful, bigger brother. Those wireless mics are pre-paired with the Encore 2 by the way - all you have to do is charge them up via USB-C, switch them on and you're good to go. There are separate mic controls for volume and echo and they also come with convenient stretchy holders that clip into the back of the speaker. Now you have karaoke and can travel. Apart from the 400W vs 100W sheer power differential, the other major difference between these speakers is the number of I/O ports around the back. Both let you plug in a guitar or an external music source via 3.5mm AUX jack or USB-C. But the 520 reveals itself to be a genuine P.A. system with two hybrid standard/XLR (canon) inputs so you can plug in mics, instruments or perhaps even a turntable deck. There's even a pair of In and Out ports if you choose to daisy chain via hardline with other speakers - although, as we've established, Auracast essentially makes that unsightly cable business obsolete. Right, let's talk lights. Personally, I've never really got the whole "lights built into your speaker" thing. I've always considered it a bit of a token add-on. And with JBL, I find it even more confusing because the built-in lights don't really seem to have changed that much over the years. I mean, if you want lights, get some lights. Even JBL has its own range of PartyLights. They're really good. In saying that, yes, there are lights built into both the Encore 2 and the 520. It seems to be a three-way combination of the traditional RGB LED shape, top and bottom RGB bars and very bright, white strobe-like lights dotted throughout. As usual, these can play various different preset themes at random, or there might be one you particularly like. The JBL PartyBox app also lets you customise your own lighting design, which could be handy if your party was themed around a specific colour. Despite my "meh" feelings towards them, other people seem to like the lights and there's a fairly new aspect to them that does actually make me happy. Again, it's that Auracast thing. Just like the JBL PartyLights I have reviewed before, when speakers are connected via Auracast, their light shows will eventually sync up too. You can watch this happen in the video below. Don't ask me why it doesn't happen straight away but the fact it happens at all is pretty cool - even I have to admit it. There's a world of speakers - of all shapes and sizes - out there. But thanks to Auracast, I keep coming back to JBL. Some makes of smart speaker allow you to play from multiple units simultaneously but it usually requires a drawn-out setup process in an app - which you then have to alter if you want to use a different mix of speakers. It can get pretty complicated pretty fast. With Auracast, it's as easy as a press of a button, no Wi-Fi required. Tell your friends to bring their JBLs and add them to the party. Why not? Get the special features of one speaker (like the wireless digital mics paired with the Encore 2) on all your speakers. That's the kind of user-friendly connectivity that means your party can carry on everywhere - inside or out - even beside the pool. After all, both the Encore 2 and 520 are IPX4 splash-proof. The 15-hour battery life means the party never stops and synced-up lighting from every speaker is bound to please the crowds... and maybe even me.      Click here for more information and pricing on the JBL PartyBox 520. Click here for more information and pricing on the JBL PartyBox Encore 2. Wed, 12 Nov 2025 01:55:51 Z /lifestyle/technology/glenn-harts-2025-gadget-gift-guide/ /lifestyle/technology/glenn-harts-2025-gadget-gift-guide/ By my calculations, I'm about a week late with my guide this year. That mean's you've got less time than usual to peruse my suggestions and make someone close to you very happy with your selections - so the pressure's on. Some of these ideas will make prefect, seasonal stocking-stuffers, while others are the kind of completely over-the-top gift that says either, "I really love you," or "Sorry about the terrible present I gave you last year." Some are just fun for everyone... like this, for instance... 1. Laser Smart Gaming Projector To start with, I was very impressed with how much stuff was in the box. Not just the projector itself but a remote control, two wireless controllers and a large fabric screen, complete with stick-up hooks and a couple of lengths of rope to allow you to hang it up pretty much anywhere. All that for under NZ$400 - not bad. The second thing to impress me was how simple the plug-and-play setup was. All I had to do was insert batteries into the remote and controllers, plug the projector in and switch it on. I was surprised to see the projector find the screen and automatically adjust keystone perfectly with no input from me, other than to fine-tune the focus using the physical ring around the lens. There are 80 "Classic Retro" games pre-installed on this device, taking up next to no space on the included 64GB microSD card.  It's honestly like being back in an amusement arcade in the 80s. If you're looking for hours and hours of simple fun in a box, this is a package that's hard to go past. There's virtually no setup required and everything you need is in the box, including two pre-paired, wireless controllers. I think this is fantastic value, especially given the inclusion of the large, cloth screen and I reckon it'd make the perfect family gift come Christmas time. Click here for more information and pricing on the Laser Smart Gaming Projector. 2. Sony WH-1000XM6 The WH-1000XM6 takes everything the XM5 did so well and gives you much more - or much less, if you're talking about noise. The QN3 is Sony's latest HD noise cancelling processor and it uses an unbelievable twelve microphones to stop the outside world in its tracks, supposedly seven times faster than the previous generation. The result is close to perfect. From the outset, I can confidently claim these are the most effective noise cancelling headphones I've worn to date. The WH-1000XM6 still comes in Black, Midnight Blue and Platinum Silver. Platinum Silver still isn't silver, by the way. It's more of a beige, flesh-tone colour. Seems popular, whatever it is. The soft, squidgy ear cushions and headband are more comfy than ever and at just 255grams, you can wear these headphones all day with no problem. And I do. In fact, they're so good, I'm reluctant to take them off.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Sony WH-1000XM6 wireless noise cancelling headphones. 3. Apple iPhone Air The iPhone Air might just be the most significant iPhone since Steve Jobs showed off the first one back in 2007. The way Apple has pretty much started from scratch to come up with the world's thinnest phone is so much more groundbreaking than it seems to be getting credit for. Okay, at 5.6mm the iPhone Air is not actually thinner than a couple of folding phones out there (when they're unfolded) but for a conventional handset, this is definitely Apple's least conventional yet. It really is quite breathtaking when you see it and hold it for the first time - in fact, I've yet to meet anybody who wasn't impressed when I showed it to them. It's not just that it's noticeably thinner than other phones, at just 165 grams, it weighs almost nothing. It exudes sci-fi movie vibes - you know; when they pull out a wafer thin piece of glass and use it as a phone. For me, the biggest surprise of all is battery life. As part of its new host of accessories, Apple included a MagSafe Battery customised specifically to fit the iPhone Air. Inevitably, most of us assumed this meant the Air's battery life would be terrible and we'd need to supplement it with this magnetised external power supply. Except, I haven't had to use it. Not once. I love this phone. I didn't think I would. I loved the idea of it but when does a great, truly innovative idea like this ever work so well first time out of the gate? Kudos, Apple. You got me. Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple iPhone Air. 4. 360PRO Travel Water Flosser The 360PRO Travel Water Flosser takes everything I love about my 360PRO plug-in model and essentially manages to fit it all in my pocket - well... just about. It really is very compact - the main reason being 360PRO's ingenious extendable design. When not in use, the Travel Water Flosser simply slides down into its own water tank, which essentially means it's about half as long as it would be otherwise. There's a USB-C charging cable included in the box, with the charging port covered by a watertight cap when not plugged in. I'd like to be able to tell you how long a single charge lasts but it's been two weeks of using it at least once a day and I haven't had to recharge it yet. There's even a simple, soft travel case to keep everything in. Pop it in your bag, purse, satchel or suitcase and you'll never be caught out, desperately hunting for a toothpick. Technically, the 360PRO Travel Water Flosser isn't capable of blasting between your teeth with quite as much pressure as the Plug-In can - but I've been using it exclusively for a while now and I haven't noticed any lack of cleaning power. If anything, I've probably ended up with a better result because I've been using it more often. Ideally, you'd have the Plug-In in your bathroom and the Travel version on the road with you - and to be honest, at just NZ$99.00, adding the Travel Water Flosser to your defence against tooth decay really isn't all that extravagant.      Click here for more information and pricing on the 360PRO Tavel Water Flosser. 5. Dyson Airwrap Co-anda 2x  And it comes in a beautiful presentation box.  The latest Dyson Airwrap is called the Airwrap Co-anda 2x - and that box is just full of surprises. It's a large box, with a luxurious, soft-touch feel to it. Not only will it keep the new Airwrap and its associated accessories safe inside, the upturned lid becomes a velvet-covered beauty console, complete with a little stand for your smartphone. That's not so you can keep up-to-date with your social feeds. The idea is to pair with your new Airwrap Co-anda 2x via the MyDyson app. Not only will the app then serve you a selection of instructional videos on how to get the most out of your new styling toy, it will literally guide you, step by step, if that's what you need. The curling barrels are now straight cylinders, not cone-shaped as before. This means you can curl more hair at once, more evenly. And obviously, using the larger 40mm barrel means looser, more wave-like curls. There are two styling brushes; First, the round volumising brush 2x, to help you plump up your style without the frizz you'd encounter with old-fashioned teasing. Dyson has tapered the bristles so you can focus the brush's attention on one section of your hair at a time. Secondly, the anti-snag loop brush 2x let's you pull your style into shape without pulling uncomfortably on your scalp. It's all thanks to Dyson's clever little loop bristles. Because great hair shouldn't give you a headache. Before I started reviewing Dyson hair care products, I didn't know what a flyaway was. In fact, I'd never even heard of them. What an amateur! Now I'm experienced enough to know these are those rogue hairs that just won't fall in line with the rest, ruining your otherwise pristine do. Unless you use the Airsmooth2x attachment, of course. But it's the new fast dryer 2x that's caused the most comment, because it's just so damn good. The Dyson Hyperdymium 2 motor provides twice the air pressure - thus the 2x on the end of everything. That means you can now dry your hair faster than ever, still at tightly regulated temperatures to prevent any damage.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Dyson Airwrap Co-anda 2x. 6. WiZ HDMI Sync Box with TV Backlight, Gradient Light Bars and Gradient Floor Light TV backlighting is perhaps one of the more unnecessary bits of tech you can invest in. As much as I personally love it, it's certainly not something you need, especially given how much it can cost to set up - but this is a system that doesn't have to break the bank. I like the way the WiZ HDMI Sync Box comes packaged with the TV Backlight strip, complete with its own sticky backing or the option of some little sticky clips to hook the Backlight up with. Unfortunately, the TV I was sticking it to had a textured surface that the little hook things refused to stick to, so I had to go with the more permanent sticky backing on the light strip itself. While I chose to use the WiZ Gradient Light Bars to fill out the effect along the bottom of my TV, if the base of your telly is obscured by a giant soundbar or something similar, you may feel you only need the effect of the Backlight strip on its own. The Gradient Light Bars also come with two kinds of mounting stands. You can set them up horizontally, as I have in the video, or you you might want to stand them up vertically and move them further out to extend the backlighting effect on either side of your screen. A pair of WiZ Gradient Floor lights can take this either further to each side or, as I have in my case, you can use one or two to project synced lighting effects on the wall behind you - working in much the same way as surround-sound speakers do. As you'll see in my video, this works brilliantly and the immersive way the rear-projected effect brings you into any scene with fire or explosions is particularly convincing. Click here for more information on the WiZ HDMI Sync Box with TV Backlight, Gradient Light Bars and Gradient Floor Light. 7. Logitech MX Master 4 The Logitech MX Master 4 looks similar - but not exactly the same - as its predecessor. On close inspection, the surface is slightly grippier. The whole thumb rest is now a button, instead of having a tiny one set into it, and there is now a new button entirely, just in front of the forward and back ones. Other than that, ergonomically it feels very much the same. That is to say, it feels sublimely natural in my relaxed hand. The "skates" - the smooth patches on the base that ensure the mouse slides around as frictionlessly as possible - are much larger on the new model. The list of operations you can assign to each control seems to have grown exponentially over the years. From things like play/pausing media, opening favourite apps or taking screenshots, to setting off a dialogue with your preferred AI, here's not much that can't be put on a button and yes, that includes changing devices. In fact, if you have a compatible Logi keyboard like I do, you can transfer it over to the other device, along with the mouse, in one single click. And if the choice of eight buttons isn't enough, now Logitech has introduced Action Ring - an on-screen circle of eight more programmable options, another eight virtual buttons if you like. This is set to provide a haptic vibration when you hover over or select any option. Now, not only can I open my most commonly used folders with the touch of a button, I can also copy or paste with single click. I don't know about making my workflow a third faster, but it's definitely more efficient. And that's before you get to the fact this is just a great mouse to use; it feels super comfy, it's beautifully crafted, has excellent precision and can work on practically any surface - including glass. And have you heard how quiet the clicks are? No? Exactly.    Click here for more information and pricing on the Logitech MX Master 4. 8. Satechi FindAll Collection of Travel Accessories To be frank, I don't know if I've come across a Satechi accessory that hasn't impressed me; the manufacturing standard and high quality materials have rarely let me down, if ever. Why attach a tracker to your glasses case when the case can also BE the tracker? Why slip a tracker into your passport cover when the passport cover can itself be tracked? Get the idea? In fact, Satechi has kicked things off with five ingenious FindAll products; Passport Cover, Glasses Case, Luggage Tag, Keychain and a Card. Yup, just a plain old card, the size and shape of a credit card, which will slip much more comfortably into a wallet or purse than a disc will. The real magic behind each of these accessories is the built-in rechargeable battery, compatible with any Qi, Qi2 or MagSafe wireless charger. I've been using other trackers for quite some time - especially on the two things I always need to know exactly where they are; my keys and the access card for the building I work in. The discs attached to these items work well but I've been surprised how often I have to change the batteries. These are those flat, button batteries and usually they're exactly the wrong kind - when I go to replace them I invariably have every other model of battery in the garage drawer except the one I need. With the Satechi FindAll Collection, that's just not an issue. Pop any of them on any wireless charger and not only will they juice up surprisingly quickly, the charge lasts an amazingly long time - up to 5 months for the Passport Cover right up to 18 months for the FindAll Card. Simple, right? And the keychain is just cool (well, my one is because it's all black, including the keyring itself).All in all I was surprised how much these five simple objects appealed to my geeky brain. Not only easy to pair but quick and easy to charge up too. These are definitely the sort of "Why didn't I think of it?" devices that immediately become essential tools. If you're planning on travelling soon, they're certainly an elegant and stylish way to keep track of your stuff. Click here for more information on the Satechi FindAll Collection of travel accessories. 9. JBL Charge 6 and JBL Flip 7 In recent years JBL's Charge series of bluetooth speakers has been an affordable but effective way of taking your music with you without compromising too much in terms of big bass and genuine power. As for the Flip; as each generation has been released it's won over more and more fans until by now it must be one of the most purchased portable out there. The Charge 6 and Flip 7 are very similar devices - essentially the Charge 6 is a bigger, more powerful version of the Flip 7 with the added ability to charge connected devices via its USB-C port on the back. Being bigger, the Charge boasts a larger woofer and tweeter setup. The battery also lasts longer - you'll get up to 28 hours of playback as opposed to 16 on the Flip. The best thing to do is combine the both speakers using my favourite JBL feature; Auracast. That's not strictly accurate - Auracast is not specific to JBL although I haven't really seen it promoted by other manufacturers yet. Meanwhile, JBL is all-in and I've alreaady featured it in previous reviews. With a push of the Auracast button, you can stream from the same source via multiple speakers, as I demonstrate in the video below. One big advantage to this is if you have one large speaker with superior bass response, it'll compensate for any smaller devices you've connected via Auracast because bass frequencies are non-directional. At NZ$199.95 for the Flip 7 and only $30 more for the larger Charge 6, neither device will break the bank, although together, they may well shake the floorboards.     Click here for more information and pricing on the JBL Charge 6. Click here for more information and pricing on the JBL Flip 7. 10. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 The Z Fold7 is both bigger and considerably smaller - in all the right ways. The main display (unfolded) is now a full 8-inches - last year's was only 7.6. Because of that, the cover display has also expanded out to 6.5-inches but more importantly, it has a more familiar aspect ratio, no longer unnaturally tall and skinny in the hand. The even bigger headline is how slim Samsung has managed to make this thing; just 4.2mm when unfolded. It's lighter too; only 215 grams which means it amazingly now weighs slightly less than its S25 Ultra stablemate - and not much thicker, even when closed. Despite this incredible new slimness, there's a new feel of durability about the device - not only are the displays protected by some of the latest developments from Corning Gorilla Glass, Samsung has made the Armor Aluminium frame even tougher and has completely redesigned the all-important hinge mechanism, now rebranded as the Armor FlexHinge. It's only taken seven generations but now we have a 200MP wide camera, a 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto module that really stands out - both figuratively and literally. This is a classic illustration of the reality check Samsung has given itself; Yes, you can have one of the thinnest phones ever - but if you want great photos and videos, you'll have to put up with a big camera module. That's just physics. And I'm pretty sure Fold fans will be fine with that compromise. If you've been an early-adopting Fold fan from the start, it's probably more because you saw the potential of the device rather than being super satisfied with the reality of those first few iterations. Now all of that potential has been realised, so it might be time to upgrade and start living the dream.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7. 11. Apple AirPods Pro 3 The Apple AirPods Pro 3 don't look wildly different to their predecessors but a close inspection reveals a slightly more elongated design that twists the ear-tip a little further into your ear canal. That may sound a little intrusive to you in-ear skeptics out there but trust me, these may actually be the most comfortable AirPods yet. That's not just because of the new shape. There's also an extra size of ear-tip included in the box, so now there are five sizes to choose from; XXS, XS, S, M and L. In even better news, instead of including a set of foam tips, as some other manufacturers do, Apple has opted to incorporate foam into the silicone tips themselves. Another interesting addition in the AirPods Pro 3 is the heart-rate sensor - which is great news for Apple exercisers who don't currently wear a Watch. I've read some very positive reports about the accuracy of having a sensor in each ear - enhanced even further if you do have an Apple Watch. AirPods Pro 3 are now rated IP57 for sweat and water resistance, making them the most durable AirPods to date. Add that secure, snug fit to the equation and they're pretty much the perfect workout option. The sound quality was already great. Now it's nearing perfection. The heart sensors are useful and the new physical design and foam-infused ear-tips provide one of the most secure, comfortable fits I've ever encountered. As for the ANC? I hope I've made it clear how good I think it is. Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple AirPods Pro 3. 12. Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is definitely not just a giant phone with worse specs.  For starters, it'd be a particularly giant phone, with a display that measures in at an unbelievable 14.6-inches. That's huge. When I got married (a million billion years ago) someone gave us a 14-inch TV for the bedroom. The Tab S11 Ultra is wider than that - especially given its cinematic 16:10 aspect ratio. The display itself is a magnificent, 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X with an anti-reflective surface - just like you might find on the latest flagship Samsung TVs. The toned-down reflection paired with a searing peak brightness of 1600 nits makes for fantastic viewing, whatever the lighting conditions. The Tab S11 Ultra is a mere 5.1mm thick (or thin). Think about that for a minute. That's a 14.6-inch display on a tablet slimmer than any non-folding phone on the market. Talk about jaw-dropping design. What's more, it feels perfectly rigid and robust in your hands - probably due to its enhanced Armor Aluminium chassis. It's even rated IP68 against water and dust. Only weighs in at 692grams, by the way. It's flagship fast and the screen is huge while the rest of it is super slim. Even the battery life is great. There's simply no way to mark this tablet down.     Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. Mon, 10 Nov 2025 23:42:17 Z /lifestyle/technology/laser-7-inch-portable-carplay-android-auto-touchscreen-instantly-upgrade-your-cars-console/ /lifestyle/technology/laser-7-inch-portable-carplay-android-auto-touchscreen-instantly-upgrade-your-cars-console/ When you think about it, other than the move to hybrid and electric, cars haven't really changed that much over the years. Obviously, there have been many constant improvements along the way, enhancing things like passenger comfort, levelling up performance and economy with what's under the hood and changing the aesthetics, both inside and out, to suit whatever look is trending at the time. But at the end of the day, I reckon you could take a driver from the 1950s, put them in a modern car, and they'd figure out how to make it go without too much difficulty. One thing that's definitely new, though, is the advent of the car infotainment system. These days, you can access almost everything on your connected smartphone from your dashboard, via CarPlay or Android Auto - from maps and weather information, to streaming services and even your virtual assistant. That's assuming your car HAS Android Auto or CarPlay. If not, have I got the device for you... The Laser 7-inch Portable CarPlay / Android Auto Touchscreen brings all that functionality to your car - and all your car needs is a charging port and a radio. The idea is simple, really; just because your car didn't come with a fancy touchscreen doesn't mean you can't add one. What can be even more frustrating is if your car DOES have a fancy touchscreen, but doesn't have CarPlay or Android Auto - or if it does, you have to connect using a cable every time. Domestic Manager drives a 2019 Toyota Rav 4 - quite a late-model automobile, but apparently not quite late enough to have the latest connectivity options. Yes, it has a large touchscreen infotainment system, but it's only of limited use because the GPS map option hasn't been updated for six years - so we often find ourselves driving in the middle of nowhere on roads that didn't exist in 2019. That's where the Laser 7-inch Touchscreen comes in. Apart from the screen itself, there's a car charger cable, a 3.5mm AUX cable and a high-quality, versatile mounting arm all in the box. The jointed and extendable mount attaches with a suction cup for the windscreen, and I've found this extremely stable. The cables are both a decent length, so you can probably find a way to run them over or through your console so you don't end up with too much of a visible tangle. Setup is as easy as pairing your phone's Bluetooth - the device will then figure out if it's an iPhone (for CarPlay) or an Android (for Android Auto) and fire up the appropriate homescreen. Before it does, there is a generic home screen with a few icons and a clock, but you're not likely to spend much time looking at this so I wouldn't bother setting that clock - especially since it resets every time you turn your car off. However, there are a few settings that might come in handy via that initial screen during setup. There's a fairly well-appointed EQ app - probably unnecessary given your car stereo is likely to have its own EQ. If you're playing music from an SD card (which I've never actually heard of anyone doing) you can search that card from here too. The most useful thing is the radio transmitter function - which is one way you can connect to your car's stereo. The simple interface shows a selection of pre-set frequencies, or you can choose your own manually in order to find one that isn't already in use by an actual radio station. This works surprisingly well and is obviously a great option if your car doesn't have an AUX in port. The only downsides are you might have to change frequencies on long trips to avoid any region-specific interference and your car stereo will blast static at you for a few seconds when you first start up while the screen is booting. The best option is to connect via the aforementioned AUX cable. In just a few seconds, the screen boots up, connects to your phone, flicks straight into CarPlay or Android Auto (depending what kind of phone you're using) and will start playing your music or podcasts right where you left off. At this point, you now have enabled complete smart-screen capability in your vehicle, with touch-screen access to navigation apps like Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps, not to mention streaming apps such as Spotify, Apple Music or Tidal.  Enjoy the safety and convenience of hands-free messaging via WhatsApp, SMS or Messenger, or just ask Siri or Gemini to make a call. There's even a slightly less-safe option; you can stream content from your phone via AirPlay or Miracast, which is definitely not a feature you'll find in factory-fitted smart screens. Obviously, this is for passengers' use only and you should definitely not be watching the cricket while you drive. Believe it or not, you don't even need a stereo at all. The screen has its own built-in speakers and they're not terrible - which is just as well because although I assumed they would be muted when the AUX cable is plugged in, not so, as you'll see me demonstrate in the video below. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, my motto has always been the more speakers, the better. Besides, your car stereo speakers are much more powerful and you probably won't even notice if you have the volume on the screen set to about half. That one minor anomaly aside, I've been pretty impressed with this device. Setup is easy. The power and AUX leads are long enough to ensure a tidy installation and the windscreen mount is probably the best I've ever seen. For around NZ$200.00, this might just be the most cost-effective upgrade your car ever had.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Laser 7 Inch Portable CarPlay Android Auto Touchscreen. Fri, 07 Nov 2025 01:20:05 Z /lifestyle/technology/oppo-find-x9-pro-a-strong-case-for-phone-of-the-year/ /lifestyle/technology/oppo-find-x9-pro-a-strong-case-for-phone-of-the-year/ This may come as a surprise to some of you, but there are more than two makes of phone out there. I have to keep reminding myself that a lot of people still don't really realise that. Or if they do, they certainly have never considered buying one of those "other" phones for themselves. If you're one of those people, this review is for you. I'm not trying to patronise you. Far from it. Today, I'm here to educate you about a new phone that is quite simply, factually, better than any other phone in many ways. As the telemarketer once said, "I'm not trying to sell you anything." I just thought you might be interested. For a while now, it's been Oppo's strategy to try and own the final flagship phone launch of the year. Last year, the Find X8 Pro turned a lot of heads with its unique design and premium performance. While I was reviewing it, I had more than one person stop me and ask me what kind of phone it was. I just told them, "A great one." So even if the 2025 Find X Pro ended up being a predictable, iterative upgrade, I had every confidence it would still be a pleasure to unbox and use. Well, despite a lot of pre-launch leaks, teasers and hype, the Find X9 Pro has pretty much blown my mind. Let's begin with how it looks; very different this year. The Hasselblad camera module is no longer a wide circle, with four lenses, set in the middle of the back panel. Instead we now have an asymmetrical bump pushed to the upper left-hand corner. Oppo claims this allows for a more natural grip on the phone, now that you don't have to worry about your index finger obscuring any of the lenses. Of which there only appear to be three now - but we'll get to that. The Find X9 Pro comes in just two colours in New Zealand; Titanium Charcoal and Silk White - both have an attractive, metallic sheen under the tough Corning Gorilla Glass, while still maintaining a matte, fingerprint-resistant surface. Unfortunately we don't seem to be getting the Velvet Red option that's available in some markets. Meanwhile, the 6.78-inch display is protected by even tougher Gorilla Glass; Victus 2. The handset also carries IP66, IP68 and IP69 ratings against dust and water - even hot water and high-pressure water. I haven't tried using it in the shower, but it would probably survive. There are new buttons - the Snap Button, which is a customisable shortcut key that can be set to launch tools like Do Not Disturb or turn the Torch on and off. Alternatively, it can fire off AI Mind Space, which is sort of Oppo's gateway to Google Gemini. A short press takes a quick screenshot for Gemini to analyse if required. A long press let's you save a voice note and a double press opens Mind Space to show you all the info it's collated - useful for planning your calendar or remembering that show your colleague said you should watch. On the other side there's now a Quick Button, for more tactile control of the camera. This not only opens the camera app with a double press, but can also be used to click off photos, you can hold it down for continuous burst shots or swipe it with your finger to zoom in and out. Which you may well want to do because the telephoto lens is part of the big news with the Find X9 Pro. The camera array is somewhat confusing to a non-photography aficionado like me - it's described as a triple-lens setup, even thought when you dig into the specs, there's definitely a fourth sensor; the True Colour Camera which is claimed to be an "industry first" 8-channel spectral sensor that effectively ensures the colours you capture are as you see them with your own eyes. If it's clever colours you're looking for, check out the sunset examples I show in the video below. There's a redesigned 50MP Ultra XDR main shooter, which performs particularly well in low light and the 15mm Ultra-Wide camera provides very consistent tone and colour. Then there's this 200MP Telephoto lens. I'll never forget when Oppo introduced the first periscope telephoto camera back in 2017. They thought outside the box to fit a bigger optical zoom INSIDE the box. Now, in collaboration with Hasselblad, they've blimmin well done it again. The new sensor is huge and the Hi-Res shooting unlocks a world of options when it comes to editing both photos and video. Just look at these two shots, both taken from exactly the same spot... You don't get long distance detail like that on any other phone camera I've ever used.  Video quality is incredible, obviously. You can shoot 4K at 120fps from the rear camera and there's a quad-mic system that effectively lets you capture your own surround sound footage. Something else you don't get on any other phone is a 7,500mAh battery, which is probably why the Find X9 Pro is noticeably heavier than last year's flagship. I'm thinking a few grams extra is a price a lot of people will be prepared to pay for the unbelievable battery life on offer here. Oppo says you'll get through two days on a single charge. That's not what I found. I got through three. The massive Silicon-Carbon cell never raises a sweat - and can be charged super fast with the 80W SuperVOOC charger included in the box. What's more, with the right charger, you can juice this phone up wirelessly at 50W - significantly faster than many other flagships' wired rates. What a phone. There's so many other things about this phone that make it unique and awesome, but we haven't got all day. From little things, like the fastest, most reliable under-display fingerprint reader I've ever used, to more important things, like the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chip, the 16GB of RAM and the advanced vapour cooling chamber that keeps this thing running like a Swiss watch. It even pairs with my Oppo Enco X3i earbuds better - they stay connected all the way from the other side of the house! If I'm starting to sound manic, it's because this really is one of the best phones you can buy in New Zealand today - but I'm just not sure how many people know that.  At least now YOU know that and I can finish my glass of water and calm myself down.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Oppo Find X9 Pro. Thu, 06 Nov 2025 20:40:30 Z /lifestyle/technology/hyperx-cloud-alpha-2-and-hp-omen-max-16-lose-yourself-in-a-world-of-gaming/ /lifestyle/technology/hyperx-cloud-alpha-2-and-hp-omen-max-16-lose-yourself-in-a-world-of-gaming/ I'm constantly confounded by people who game. How do they find the time? Don't get me wrong, I love gaming. But it's not really something you can do for half-an-hour during your lunch break. For most games, if you're going to make it past the first training level, you'll need to invest hours, not minutes. So it stands to reason you should be prepared to invest in the best gear to play the game with too. Given we still haven't achieved the Tron-like ability to literally become part of the game, what are the tools currently available to get us as close to that as possible? Pairing the HP Omen Max 16 with the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 might be a good place to start. If you've ever wondered what eight or nine-thousand dollars buys you in terms of a gaming laptop, you could do a lot worse than the HP Omen Max 16. Obviously, there are few different configurations around but my review unit features an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 dedicated GPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD hard drive. If you know anything about the latest standards of PC tech, you'll know all that sounds like a pretty solid base to build something fairly special around, and that's certainly what HP has done here. This is perhaps the most specced-out laptop I've ever reviewed. Yes, it's big and yes, it's fairly heavy but it's actually not as brutishly ugly as I was expecting. The large, 16-inch display is set into a surprisingly slim lid, which closes to a stylishly tapered front edge, giving the impression of a much thinner device - from the user's end anyway. Around the back, things are a bit chunkier - plenty of ventilation and some useful ports; 10/100/1000/2500 GbE LAN for ultra-fast, hardwired connectivity, an HDMI socket for an external display and a USB Type-A port. There's another USB-A on the right side and two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C options on the left. The power supply IS a brute; a 330W brick that might even be heavier than an actual brick. You'll need to lug it around with you if you're planning on taking the Omen Max 16 anywhere - nothing else is really going to keep it charged when you start gaming, despite HP's rather optimistic claims of extended battery life. I'm sure you'll manage many hours on battery alone if all you're doing is browsing and checking a few emails - but if that's what you're planning, this is not the computer you require. Fire this puppy up and as usual for an HP device, you'll be confronted with the standard double-up (or even triple-up) of configuration and settings apps. Between HP Support Assistant, HP Hardware Diagnostics and HP Smart, there's no excuse for not keeping any of your drivers up to date. In fact, because this is an Omen, you have the even more comprehensive Omen Gaming Hub pre-installed, which essentially blows all those other apps out of the water. This is where you can customise absolutely everything, from the keyboard backlighting to the speed of the fans. You can even get those fans to clean themselves by running them backwards. If you're an experienced gaming uber-nerd, you can literally tweak every component. If, like me, you just want the games to look good and keep running with no drop in performance, you can click a button labelled "Unleashed Mode." At that point, you'll definitely start to hear those fans but your game will load nice and fast and that immersive experience we were dreaming of in the intro kicks into high gear. The illusion of being inside the game is enhanced by that big, 2.5K OLED display - complete with 240Hz refresh rate, which I didn't even realise was a thing. My one criticism of the screen is it's very glossy - so reflections can be an issue. That clever anti-reflection tech everyone's using on TVs and monitors these days seems to be taking a while to make it onto laptop screens. The keyboard is rewardingly tactile, with RGB backlighting you can control with the Omen Gaming Hub app. The keys are nicely spaced out - for the most part - and as nice as it is to have a full number pad on the right-hand side, that's where things get a bit cramped and I keep pushing NumberLock instead of BackSpace as I type. The HyperX dual speaker setup is powerful enough, although I might have expected a quad-system on a device in this price bracket. The Windows Hello camera does a nice job too, as you'll see me demonstrate in the video below. Speaking of HyperX, let's plug in the Cloud Alpha 2 headset and see how that stacks up. Wait, did I say, "Plug in?" Why would I plug in a wireless headset? Because this one comes with its own RGB base station, with a big, friendly dial for easy, no-look access to volume controls and six big, reprogrammable buttons. Essentially, the base station replaces the 2.4GHz dongle other headsets use and saves you the bother of having to memorise exactly which controls do what on the earcups themselves. The buttons can be set to act as media controls, they can swap what the dial controls between mic, headphone and chat levels and there are several totally new features on the way. That's right; Cloud Alpha 2 is so new, HyperX hasn't finished yet. To adjust the settings, you'll need to download the new NGENUITY Beta app. There you'll see functions like app launches and programmable macros are still "Works In Progress." Ultimately, what that means is you should be able to create your own macros of certain key combinations you use all the time and add those to the buttons on the base station. To be honest, I'm not sure I really need yet another console on my desk - especially one that doesn't yet have all the functionality it was designed for. But I get how convenient it is to have those controls sitting right there in front of you, rather than having to fiddle about with buttons on the headset you can't actually see while you're playing. As I expected, from my previous experience with HyperX headsets, the Cloud Alpha 2 is extremely well built - both durable and comfortable. And its performance when gaming has been stellar so far - accurate reproduction of music, effects and dialogue, with plenty of space for each element. Indeed, although Spatial Audio is another feature still in development, the surround sound effects are already top notch. I've found this multi-directional soundscape to be very useful when it comes to avoiding attacks from behind and finding contacts lurking down dark alleyways. The mic quality is exceptional - definitely up to podcast standard. What's more, if you find the boom mic too intrusive, you can simply unplug it and rely on the built-in mics instead. One other interesting feature is the Cloud Alpha 2 can pair to a bluetooth source, even while connected via the 2.4GHz base station. This means you can turn off the music on your game and listen to your preferred playlist from your phone instead. Not a bad option when you consider some of the rubbish game designers like to assault you with - especially in racing games. I'm starting to regret my decision to combine these two excellent devices into one review - I could go on and on about either of them. But the fact is, they truly are the ideal combination to bring your gaming library to life. Between the comfort, desktop control and 3D soundscape of the Cloud Alpha2 and the fantastic 16-inch display of the Omen Max - not to mention the raw power of its high-spec chip and GPU - you could be well on the way to that fully immersive gaming experience you know you deserve.          Click here for more information and pricing on the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2.  Click here for more information and pricing on the HP Omen Max 16. Wed, 05 Nov 2025 23:49:32 Z /lifestyle/technology/dreame-aqua10-ultra-track-s-now-this-is-technology/ /lifestyle/technology/dreame-aqua10-ultra-track-s-now-this-is-technology/ If you ever needed an example of how far we've evolved as a species, look no further than the robot vacuum. Of all the gadgets I've reviewed over the years, I honestly believe the robot vacuum is one of the most significant. And I've reviewed electric cars. Sure, cars are clever - but I've never seen one automatically detect what kind of road it's driving on so it can clean that road accordingly. Oh... and then clean ITSELF when it gets back to its garage. So I admit, up until now, I've given robot vacs a bit of leeway. Given they haven't even been able to come up with a reliable self-driving car yet, I was prepared to ignore a few minor shortcomings, vacuum-wise, as long as the job got done in the end. Well, today there are no holds barred. Going easy, just because it's complex technology, is no longer acceptable. That's because I've found a robot vacuum that gets almost everything right. Almost. The Aqua10 Ultra Track S from Dreame (pronounced, "Dree-Mee") is an extremely solid piece of kit. I'm not meaning it's well-built and reliable - although that certainly seems to be the case. No, I mean the device itself is fairly large and relatively heavy. There's a good reason; there's an awful lot going on under the hood, which we'll come to soon enough. By comparison, the PowerDock (base station) is really quite compact and better still, it got the aesthetic thumbs-up from Domestic Manager. She approved of its subtle, elegant style - including the marble-like front panel. Definitely preferable to being able to see a couple of water tanks - one dirty - or a half-full bin of hair and dust. It may seem superficial but in my house, the most logical place to position the PowerDock is right in the middle of our open-plan living area, so it needs to look at least a bit nice. Below that stylish upper facade, is an oddly removable access panel. I say, odd because it comes off completely - it's not hinged and it doesn't slide out like a drawer. Behind it, you'll find the dust bag the Aqua10 Ultra Track S empties itself into and a compartment containing tanks for cleaning solution and pet odour solution. This is my least favourite thing about robot vacuums and it's no exception this time; there are a lot of consumables involved. While it's true traditional vacuums might still require replacement dust bags and perhaps a filter clean every now and then, not many of us would be happy if we had to regularly change out brushes and rollers. You also don't usually add cleaning solution or deodorisers to your vacuum - but that's not quite the same thing, because when you hand-mop a floor, you generally do add some kind of household cleaner to the bucket. I'm uncertain how long it will take to fill the 3.2-litre dust bag - I've only been using the Aqua10 Ultra Track S for a few weeks - and at least there's a second bag included in the box. Perhaps the next generation will feature a bagless dustbin? As for the brushes, I think I've got a lot less to worry about in terms of replacement. This is the first Dreame device I've tried so I'm not sure if some of the technology on offer here is completely new, or just new to me. In saying that, the detangling DuoBrush beats any other system I've ever seen, certainly on a robot vacuum, because guess what? It actually does what it claims; it stays tangle-free. I know that sounds silly but I've seen a lot of hype about being able to suck up hair etc. and before now, few if any lived up to that hype. Dreame includes a fantastic multi-tool/cleaning brush in the box with a bladed hook on one end. I assumed this was going to come in handy as I struggled to free the brushes from the usual wads of long hair every other vacuum gets clogged up with at my house, thanks to its other long-haired inhabitants. But no. After several full runs, not one single hair has managed to wrap itself around either of the two counter-spinning brush rollers. That's incredible. While we're taking a look underneath the Aqua10 Ultra Track S, let's check out the mop. The TrackSync system is also revolutionary to me. I'm used to either two rotating discs or a roller, much like a paint roller. Both options usually do a pretty good job, unless there's something particularly sticky or greasy on the floor. The TrackSync mopping system works more like a belt-sander, with the mop pad running over two smaller rollers, meaning much more surface area in constant contact with your hard floors. This also seems to result in more even water distribution, with hardly any drips or wet patches left behind, so floors are dry enough to walk on almost immediately. In fact, Dreame has put an awful lot of thought into how much water is used and how hot it should be. The mop pad is constantly being sprayed through 24 nozzles by water heated to 45° - this, combined with the automatically measured cleaning solution, breaks down those greasy marks in no time and the Aqua10 Ultra Track S is smart enough to detect the more stubborn messes and will go back for a re-mop if necessary. The water temperature goes all the way up to 100° back at the PowerDock, when it's time to clean the mopping pad itself. After which, 50° heated air dries everything out, ensuring no lingering, post-clean smells. As you'll see in the video below, this is very effective. Stains aren't the only things this robot can detect, of course. Dreame's OmniSight system uses not one, but two HD AI cameras to first create an extremely accurate map of your home before setting about cleaning it, without getting tangled up in loose cords, curtains or just about anything else. That binocular vision seems to give the Aqua10 Ultra Track S a better sense of depth perception - apparently it won't even run over a piece of paper lying on the floor. And yes, you can (if you want to) order the Aqua10 Ultra Track S around with voice commands, although I prefer to schedule it to clean when I'm not home. But you know what I always ask before considering a robot vacuum? Will it take pictures of my pets while it cleans? Yes, this one can. The innovations just keep coming - for example, the LDS sensor on top of the vacuum? That can retract down into the chassis if you're wanting to get under something 10cm or more off the ground. Of course, the headline feature of this device is probably its legs. There, I said it. This is the first robot vacuum with legs as well as wheels. The wheels themselves already raise and lower and can clear things like the edges of mats and carpets with ease. If the going gets really tough, that's when the legs extend out and the Aqua10 Ultra Track S will literally climb over obstructions up to 6cm in height. While that's not enough to go up and down stairs, it'll easily conquer folded-over rugs and the backs of U-shaped chairs. Speaking of stairs, the first few times I used it, I was surprised when the robot stranded itself at the top of mine, precariously hanging over the edge, and complaining I needed to clean the cliff (drop) sensors. I'd do this, only for it happen again straight away. This was quite a letdown. The very least I want from my robot vacuum is for it to successfully avoid stairs. Oh well - thankfully the Dreamehome app is very user-friendly and it took a matter of seconds to create a no-go area on the map along the edge of my stairs and I haven't had any issues since. Other than that, my only criticisms are battery life and noise levels. I have a fairly large home and the Aqua10 Ultra Track S struggles to get through a full clean on a single charge - not a major considering you can set it to continue cleaning as soon as it's charged itself back up. Similarly, the noise of the vacuum doesn't bother me because I'm not usually around. However, I find it interesting the Dreame website wants you to, "Unlock Powerful Yet Low-Noise Vacuuming." I've definitely heard quieter. Have I experienced more powerful? At 30,000Pa, I don't think so. Between the incredible HyperStream detangling DuoBrush and the innovative TrackSync mopping system, I probably couldn't get my floors this clean if I did it manually. Both the mopping pad and side brush extend out when cleaning next to walls, so I can't even claim human superiority there. Meanwhile, the cleaning and drying process back at the base station is flawless and more importantly, odourless. I'm not going to try and convince you the Aqua10 Ultra Track S is perfect - I'm over over-hyping robot vacuums that way. But I'm finally prepared to offer the same level of honest criticism in this product category as with any other because this robot is so very good. The below-par stair-detection, mediocre battery life and requirement for replacement dust bags keep this device from scoring a perfect ten. Just. Fix those three complaints and I'll even let it drive me to work. Click here for more information and pricing on the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Track S. Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:18:19 Z /lifestyle/technology/apple-watch-ultra-3-does-it-get-better-than-this/ /lifestyle/technology/apple-watch-ultra-3-does-it-get-better-than-this/ I may have misled you slightly last time I was talking Apple Watches. I think I claimed something like the Series 11 Apple Watch was pretty much the best smartwatch money could buy. As far as I was concerned, at that specific time, that was essentially true. Improved display, new chip, great battery life, upgraded durability - what more could you ask? Sure, I knew I still had one Apple Watch to come to complete my trio of 2025 offerings - but because I never reviewed the Watch Ultra 2, it had been a while since I'd worn the big daddy of the range. In short, I needed reminding how incredible the Ultra truly is. In my defence, from everything I read and watched last year, the Ultra 2 really wasn't all that different to the original - it featured a brighter display and a new chip that made it possible to interact with Siri, on-device and that was about it. No excuse though, because the original Ultra was one of the most complete "first-generation" devices I've ever encountered. Enhanced GPS connectivity, extended battery life, the most durable case and display Apple had ever produced... Not to mention entirely new features like the Depth app - also measuring water temperature - and navigation tools like Backtrack. So after a year off, I put the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on and was immediately shocked by how good it is. Although the Ultra 3 uses the same chip as Watch Series 11 and the entry-level Watch SE 3, somehow, it just seems to work even faster and more fluidly. This may be in part due to the significantly upgraded display technology. The very large (for a watch) display is now comprised of wide-angle OLEDs, which means you can read it clearly from almost any angle - perfect for sneaky checking of incoming notifications. It also uses the latest LTPO3 technology which allows variable refresh rates, right down to 1Hz (or once a second). This means big savings on battery life - even when the Watch Ultra is in Always On Display mode. That, in turn, means the possibility of some fun new watch faces, like Exactograph, which has a second hand on AOD mode then expands the seconds display down to fifths-of-seconds when you raise your wrist. Did you hear me mention battery life? Indeed you did. Another significant bump to the already outstanding battery life of the Ultra 2, which was rated for up to 36 hours of general use. Not only does the Watch Ultra 3 give you up to 42 hours "normal" use on a full charge, I can confirm it charges faster than ever too. I like to wear mine to bed for its sleep-tracking features so I pop it on the charger while I'm getting ready. By the time I've brushed my teeth and read a couple of chapters of the latest Dan Brown, the Watch Ultra 3 always seems to be back to at least 95%. Fantastic. Speaking of sleep-tracking, obviously Watch Ultra 3 has all the new (and comprehensive) features we've seen in the other 2025 Apple Watches, courtesy of the very "glassy" WatchOS 26. Ultra has always been a fabulous choice for fitness and health tracking and that's even more true now, thanks to Custom Workouts, Workout Buddy, updated sleep stats, the new hypertension alerts and the introduction of Vitals - kind of an aggregate of everything, so you can keep an eye on your overall wellbeing at a glance. Although the Watch Ultra has always led the way when it comes to satellite connectivity, the 3rd gen version now offers emergency communication via satellite, even when you're out of cellular contact. This could be potentially lifesaving in a country like New Zealand, where for some reason, people like to go off grid. For fun. Not only does the new satellite tech mean you can send an SOS if something goes wrong, Find My now also works via satellite so your location can be shared, no matter how remote it is. This is all dependent on you activating the standalone cellular abilities of the Watch Ultra 3 via an addon plan. Unfortunately, only OneNZ and Spark offer these plans for Apple Watch right now, although it's my understanding 2degrees isn't far off. Starting at NZ$1,599.00, the Watch Ultra 3 is quite an investment - but an investment is exactly what it is. There is simply no other smartwatch out there that delivers quite like this one does - and if you're already an Apple user then the choice is even more obvious. The fact that the original Ultra still measures up and I'm not sure I'd encourage those early adopters to upgrade just yet, doesn't mean there haven't been meaningful enhancements over the last two years. The improvements in battery life, display quality and satellite connectivity are all significant. It's just that testing the new model over the last few weeks has reminded me how amazing the original Ultra was in the first place. Two generations on, still the Watch to beat.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple Watch Ultra 3. Wed, 29 Oct 2025 23:34:25 Z /lifestyle/technology/logitech-mx-creative-console-more-shortcuts-to-productivity/ /lifestyle/technology/logitech-mx-creative-console-more-shortcuts-to-productivity/ Here's my attitude to work; I'm against it. So everything I do in life is designed to get my work done so I can spend as much time as possible not working. That doesn't mean I'm not a hard worker. In fact, sometimes it means quite the opposite. If I've got a lot of work to do, I'll work as hard as possible to get rid of it so I can go back to doing nothing. Is that what people mean by "Being Productive?" My point is, if there's anything that can help get me to not-working sooner - even something small - I'll use it. Seconds add up to minutes and even hours... eventually. So how could I resist something that helps me automate tasks I perform over and over again every single day? The Logitech MX Creative Console is not really a single console at all. Rather, it's two separate devices - the MX Creative Dialpad and the MX Creative Keypad. These are connected to your source device via the supplied USB-C cable, plugged into the back of the Keypad. The Keypad and Dialpad connect to each other wirelessly - the Keypad powered by its USB-C connection, the Dialpad by two AAA batteries. I'm not sure how long these batteries are likely to last - there's an on/off switch on the top edge of the Dialpad but I assume (based on no evidence, just a hunch) that like most mice, it probably sleeps automatically when not in use. The MX Creative Keypad also comes with a simple stand, which displays it at a more eyeline-friendly angle than when it is just resting flat on its two rubber runners. Meanwhile, I suppose there's nothing stopping you using the stand for the Dialpad instead - except that would make for extremely bad ergonomics, forcing you to arch your whole hand back to turn the dial. The overall physical setup is very customisable - a hint of what's to come. With each device able to be placed anywhere on your desktop, there's no restriction. Use them side by side, perhaps one on either side of your keyboard - and unlike most mice, it shouldn't make any difference whether you're left or right-handed. The MX Creative Dialpad works very much like a mouse, in fact. Logitech describes its controls as Back and Forward buttons in the top left corner, the Fluid Roller top right. The Contextual Dial is the star of the show, of course, with Left and Right buttons at the bottom corners. But bear in mind, thanks to the Logi Options+ app, each of these controls can be tailor-made to suit your needs.  And the MX Creative Console is designed to suit those needs, even when they change from one app to another. For example, for my default use-case, I have the Dial set to adjust my computer's volume up and down, while the Fluid Roller essentially becomes a vertical scroll wheel, just like on a mouse. But when I'm using Adobe Audition to edit podcasts and other audio for 九一星空无限talk ZB, the roller then zooms me in and out, while the dial skips forward or back to the headers of the audio files in my multitrack session. In many ways, the MX Creative Keypad is even more malleable. It has 9 keys, each capable of displaying its own unique, backlit icon and description. As we've seen with other MX Creative devices from Logitech, again, using Logi Options+, you can use any of these keys to do just about anything; launch certain apps, play sounds, control media and yes, my favourite, start a screen recording. If there's a series of things you do routinely all the time, Logi Options+ let's you create a macro - complete with pauses if required - which you can then drag onto one of those keys. Oh, and if 9 keys isn't quite enough, how does 135 sound? Actually, that's just for starters. You can add up to 15 pages of keys for any profile you create - there are two page-turn buttons at the base of the Keypad. Any of the buttons I've mentioned can also fire off the Actions Ring of course - an on-screen display of eight more virtual buttons; maybe a selection of brush sizes or a choice of alternate signatures for your emails. If you're a bit daunted by all the options, not to worry. There are default setups for many apps, especially Adobe editing tools like Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Lightroom - but also other big ones like DaVinci resolve and Final Cut Pro. I love being able to do things like automate the Save Project As function in Adobe Audition - because there's no hotkey already set up for it. If you want to add some extra production elements to your live feed or even just your meetings, that's totally doable too. MX Creative Console has plugins for Twitch, Zoom, Discord and Teams so you can have video clips, pics, graphics and sound effects all cued up and ready to play live. And with plugins for Philips Hue and streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify, you can control your lighting and music - essentially creating your own smart home hub. So if, in the course of your day, you've ever thought to yourself, "I wish I didn't have to do this every single time..." Now you probably don't. Just take whatever that thing is and assign it to a button, roller or dial. It really is that easy to buy yourself a few extra seconds and streamline your workflow.       Click here for more information and pricing on the Logitech MX Creative Console. Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:12:51 Z /lifestyle/technology/motorola-edge-60-fusion-just-feels-so-elegant/ /lifestyle/technology/motorola-edge-60-fusion-just-feels-so-elegant/ Every now and again I come across a device that really tickles my fancy. It's not necessarily anything logical... It might just be because it's my favourite colour (red, obviously). Or perhaps the controls are in just the right place. Or maybe it just feels particulary nice to use. There was a time - about ten years ago - when curvy phones were all the rage. There were a number of handsets around with displays that flowed around the edges and I loved them. I've always had an irrational aversion to sharp corners and I much prefer something more streamlined. Then, almost as suddenly as they arrived, trends changed and handsets became more boxy again. In fact, as phone cameras became more and more powerful, the boxes started to come with other, smaller boxes attached to them, just for the extra lenses. Yuck. Luckily, sometimes the odd phone still favours curves instead of corners - even in 2025. The motorola edge 60 fusion is one of those handsets. Moreover, its 6.7-inch AMOLED display doesn't just wrap over the sides, it's a quad-curve screen which means the top and bottom taper away too. The display is also a longer-skinnier aspect ratio - 20:9 - which means you can really wrap your hand around the edge 60 fusion to feel the full effect of those curves. While we're discussing the screen, I can tell you it is dazzlingly bright, clear and colourful - but not TOO colourful. Motorola is very big into being Pantone certified for true-to-life colour reproduction - which requires special attention when engineering both camera sensors and tuning the display. I'll have a lot more to say about the cameras shortly but everything looks fabulous on this screen, which is able to produce 4500 nits of HDR peak brightness. Don't worry if you don't know what a nit is, nobody does. What I do know is 4500 is a lot of them, and it means you'll have no issues using the edge 60 fusion out in bright sunshine. The screen also makes up part of the impressive durability equation here, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i - very tough and scratch resistant for a handset in this price range. Add to that IP68 and IP69 ratings against water and dust, the multi-factor MIL-STD-810 rating that means you can essentially take this phone up a mountain or into the desert, and the fact the soft-touch rear panel isn't breakable, like glass, or scratchable, like metal. That rear panel, available in Zephyr (pink) or Slipstream (bluey-grey) also means the edge 60 fusion is far less slippery to hold than many other phones this curvy and instead of a bulky protrusion of camera lenses, the moulded panel sweeps up, ever so slightly, to surround a quadruplet of equal-sized sensors. Unusually, only two of those four sensors are camera lenses; the main shooter is a 50MP wide Sony LYT700C accentuated by a 13MP ultra wide, which also serves as an auto-focussing macro lens for super clear and detailed close-ups. The third porthole houses the flash while the other Motorola describes as a "3-in-1 light sensor." I assume it's this light sensor that facilitates such good camera performance in almost all conditions, bright, dull and even dark. Here's a quick pic I clicked off the other day while walking the dog. I was particularly taken with how blue the sky and the ocean seemed that evening and I hoped the edge 60 fusion would do the view justice... Yup, no complaints there. No issues with the front-facing camera either. 32MP means excellent, high-resolution shooting from a selfie cam, in both photos and videos, as you'll see me demonstrate below. There's also a clever AI Audio setting when filming video that amplifies any audio from the focused section of the video, meaning the dual-mics follow the action. Useful. In fact, moto ai is useful for all sorts of things. Once enabled, it will monitor your usage and keep an eye on incoming notifications when you're not actually using the phone. Then, by simply asking it to, "Catch me up," you'll receive a summary of what you've missed. "Pay attention," prompts moto ai to record and transcribe what's going on right now, pretty useful for meetings or perhaps lectures and training sessions. And you know how you can never remember how to take a screenshot when you really need to? moto ai knows how. Just tell it to, "Remember this." Although this phone isn't capable of the blistering processing speeds on offer from today's highest priced handsets, the edge 60 fusion's MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chip hasn't let me down yet. Often operations like launching and using the camera app can be slow and stuttery on mid-range phones but I just didn't have those issues with this one - probably due to the generous 12GB of RAM - enhanced even further with another 4GB RAM Boost (using available internal storage for an extra performance bump). As you can tell by now, this is a phone I've had no issue using for my everyday device - well, except for one wee niggle; no wireless charging. This is often the first feature to go when trying to get a handset under the $800 mark and sadly, that's been the case here too. Phone-makers will often try to compensate with a big battery and sure enough, the edge 60 fusion's 5200mAh cell seems to last forever between charges. What's less common in this price-range is fast charging. Well, this time you get that too - up to 68W with the right charger. Sadly, that charger isn't in the box but you do get a slimline cover that matches the back panel of the phone and for whatever reason, yes, just like the motorola razr 60 I reviewed recently, the box itself smells wonderful because... why not? Despite its affordable price, the edge 60 fusion over-delivers in many ways, especially in terms of durability and performance. And as for style, you gotta love those curves.      Click here for more information and on the motorola edge 60 fusion. Tue, 21 Oct 2025 23:53:44 Z /lifestyle/technology/apple-iphone-17-pro-max-its-definitely-max/ /lifestyle/technology/apple-iphone-17-pro-max-its-definitely-max/ If you were going to build the perfect phone, where would you start? It's a hard one, isn't it? Everyone has different priorities. For some people, it's all about the camera. If you can't snap a crystal-clear pic of your kid catching their first wave while you're still dry and warm on the beach, the phone is not the one. Actually, speaking of waves and sand and sun, many of you want a phone that can take a beating, preferably without heating. A water-tight device with no cracks or scratches? Yes, please. Other people prioritise more technical things, like processing power and performance. Can your phone edit high definition video AND play the latest AAA-rated mobile games? No? Then go and find me one that can. Then there are the users who just want decent battery life. So I forgot to put it on to charge last night. Why should that be such a big deal? Tick all those boxes off and you're really starting to get somewhere. The Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max might already be there. By all reports, consumers are loving this year's selection of new iPhones and Apple is already setting sales records all over again. I put part of this early success down to the fact there's no doubt the 2025 iPhone range is different to its predecessors and what's more, this year, each model is quite distinct from each other too. (Apart from the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, of course - they're essentially the same phone just in two different sizes) I was blown away by the performance and sheer slimness of the new iPhone Air. Even my battery life worries were somewhat unfounded - although, as expected, the camera proved to be slightly limited. Not so much with the base-model iPhone 17 - here the camera array was a big upgrade on previous "vanilla" iPhones. The new A19 chip never raised a sweat and battery life swooped effortlessly into day 2. So that leaves me with the iPhone 17 Pro Max, wondering how much more could it really have to offer, to justify the significant jump in asking price. Well, let's just say, it offers a lot. We'll circle back to the way the new Pro Max feels and looks shortly because the very first thing that really made this handset stand out to me was how fluid and silky smooth it is to use. The A19 Pro chip is, as you'd expect, Apple's fastest and most powerful iPhone chip yet. The Pro version offers more graphics grunt than the A19 in the base model and there's even an extra core in the GPU when compared to the iPhone Air. There's honestly a tangible difference in the way the 17 Pro Max responds to the lightest of touches. Scrolling is lightening-quick. On-screen edits are just that much more accurate. Even AI responses seem to work more promptly. Speaking of "Apple Intelligence" - it's worth remembering the 16-core Neural Engine does much of its work on-device - meaning both faster response times and better data security. Not only does all this happen more efficiently than ever, the 17 Pro Max is more likely to keep working at its maximum potential thanks to an entirely new heat management philosophy. This year, Apple has opted for a forged aluminium unibody, forgoing the previous titanium casing. The aerospace-grade 7000-series aluminium is better at dissipating heat and combines with an all-new vapour chamber to achieve the best thermal stability yet. In short, I don't think I've felt this phone get warm, let alone hot. I'm also about to write something I never thought I would; this iPhone's battery life has got to be one of the best of any phone available - certainly for a handset with this many high-performance, high-drain features. I know I keep going on about how long my day is; during the week I get up at 2:50am for my breakfast radio show and don't go back to bed until around 8:30 each night. The only reason I make that humble brag is to compare how much battery is left on my phone when I pop it on my bedside MagSafe charger. With the iPhone 17 Pro Max, it invariably shows more than 70%, occasionally even into the 80s. For many years, iPhones were the laughing stock when it came to battery life. Clearly, that reputation no longer applies. This is also a difficult device to break. The 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR display looks wonderful - that's no surprise. It's now protected by Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple claims is tougher than any other smartphone glass. Not only is it more scratch resistant, it also reduces reflections and unwanted glare. The 3000nits of peak brightness adds to the equation, resulting in one of the best displays for outdoor use I've ever encountered. The camera system has also been totally reimagined, with not one, not two, but THREE 48MP Fusion Cameras on the back and the same, revolutionary selfie-cam we've seen introduced on the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air. The performance of that triple-sensor primary array is shockingly good. I've been using this phone a while now and I've barely scratched the surface of what those cameras can do. No matter the lighting conditions, or how far away the subject is, there are just so many options to enable you to shoot pro-level pictures and video. With an intimidating range of focal lengths to choose from, Apple likes to describe it as having "8 pro lenses in your pocket" and after trying them out, I'm not even sure this is over-hyping it. Your photos are captured at 24MP by default - pretty high-res. But there's nothing stopping you editing massive 48MP RAW files. In fact, this camera is so groundbreaking, Apple has come up with a whole new video codec; ProRes RAW. Luckily for me, the Camera app in iOS 26 tucks all these expert settings away - unless you desperately want to tweak them yourself - and quite intuitively juggles things around for you. (This is the kind of AI I appreciate the most - the stuff that happens without you asking it to) As I've already discussed in my iPhone Air and iPhone 17 reviews, the industry-shaking square, 18MP Centre Stage front camera can also be set to auto - intelligently zooming in and out and even changing aspect ratios to optimise your selfie game to a whole new level. I could go on forever. Features like Dual Capture and the upgraded digital stabilisation are further evidence the 17 Pro Max's camera performance probably deserves a review all of its own. And this is the problem generally, with the top-of-the-line iPhone in any given year; it's so good, and so feature packed, you'd need a weekly serial of reviews to thoroughly cover it all off. Sounds perfect, right? Well, not quite. It's big. Well, huge actually. I mean, if you're buying the Max it's because you want a big screen anyway. I get that. But it really is quite big and bulky and heavy and then there's the "plateau." So the plateau is a new design element the base-model iPhone 17 doesn't share, although the iPhone Air does. Sort of. On the Air, this new body-wide camera bump doesn't seem anywhere near as pronounced as it is on the 17 Pro or Pro Max. Ironically, the Air's plateau actually protrudes further from the back panel but it's not as tall and the phone itself is obviously much thinner. Much, much, much thinner. The over-thick design of the 17 Pro Max is all about functionality, of course. I get if you want the longest optical zoom of any iPhone camera, an effective vapour cooling system and an unheard-of extension of battery life, you've got to physically put all that somewhere. But I'll just say you definitely know when this thing is in your pocket. And if you add the horrendously thick and unglamorous MagSafe case Apple sent with my review unit to the ensemble, you might not even fit it in your pocket. Luckily, there are other cases out there and as we've already pointed out, as phones go, this one can take a few knocks even without a case. Not sure if you'd want to risk it though. The 17 Pro Max starts at NZ$2,549.00 and if you're planning to edit some of those huge ProRes RAW video files, you'll need to consider the 1TB model at least - or even 2TB at NZ$4,149.00. For that kind of money, you'd think you'd have more colour options than just Silver, Deep Blue or Cosmic Orange. However, as usual for iPhone Pro, it's what's on the inside that really counts. And when it comes to what's inside this year's version, there's never been a phone quite like it.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max. Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:02:31 Z /lifestyle/technology/logitech-g-powerplay-2-and-pro-x-superlight-2c-this-mouse-never-stops/ /lifestyle/technology/logitech-g-powerplay-2-and-pro-x-superlight-2c-this-mouse-never-stops/ In case you were wondering, no, I'm not a professional gamer. You weren't? What was it that gave me away? The fact that I'm a really uncool, 51 year-old dad? Or the way I constantly complain about not even having time to get enough sleep, let alone play computer games? Regardless, I don't have to be a pro to figure out how annoying it would be to have your mouse die on you, mid battle, mid-race or mid-match. It's one of the reasons many serious gamers prefer a wired mouse; they never go flat. Although, that's not a perfect solution either, because that very wire can also be a bit inhibiting when it comes to unrestricted movement of your mouse. What to do? What to do? Trust Logitech G to come up with a solution. The POWERPLAY 2 is one of my favourite types of gadget; a simple idea elegantly executed. What if you could charge your mouse wirelessly, while you're using it? Sounds easy, right? After all, wireless charging pads have been around for years. Why not a mouse pad that charges too? Well, it must be harder than it sounds, because while there are various desk pads out there with a specific area to charge devices like phones and earbuds, Logitech G seems to be the only brand that teams its wireless mice with a charging surface. Before you even get to the charging part, the POWERPLAY 2 is a very nice mouse pad in its own right. At 344 x 284mm, it's large without being inconveniently unwieldy. It's less than 4mm thick and the rubberised underside will never slip once in place. A large mouse pad is essential if you have a multi-display or wide-screen monitor set-up - it means you can instantly manoeuvre around the screen without having to lift and re-centre your mouse all the time. As far as the charging side of things goes, it's an incredibly simple, two-step process. The POWERPLAY 2 comes with its own wireless charging coin in the box. Assuming you're using a compatible Logitech G mouse, you simply flip its base coin off and replace it with the POWERPLAY 2 version, which is magnetically held in place. Then it's just a matter of plugging in, via the 1.8m USB cable. This doesn't have to connect to your laptop or PC - there's nothing "smart" about it, it's literally just a power supply. The good news is, that cable should be plenty long enough to reach just about anywhere you need it to. The less-good news is that the plug is USB-A - not USB-C. I thought everything was supposed to be USB-C these days - especially in the world of charging. Oh well, hopefully you can find somewhere to slot it into. You'll know its working because there's a tiny LED on the front edge of the control module that lights up white to tell you. And that's it. All you need now is a mouse. That's where the PRO X SUPERLIGHT 2c comes in, just one of at least ten different Logitech G options that all feature that swappable coin in the base. This is probably the only one that weighs in at just 51 grams though. That's practically nothing. When I first unboxed it, I thought I'd been sent some kind of dummy or mock-up. The PRO X SUPERLIGHT 2c honestly feels like they forgot to put anything inside it. Ironically, that couldn't be further from the truth. Not only is there a hybrid system of optical and physical switching in there, you can even store the LIGHTSPEED USB wireless dongle under the charging coin for safekeeping. That dongle is the also larger USB-A size - which again, seems weird to me when many laptops these days only have USB-C ports, but at least Logitech G puts an adapter in the box so you can use the included charging cable as a USB-C extension. Apart from charge anxiety, other issues gamers have with wireless mice are lag and interference. These simply don't seem to be a problem with Logitech G's LIGHTSPEED connection - the 8kHz polling rate may as well be instantaneous and they've gone to great lengths to test their wireless protocols in tournament settings to ensure there's no risk of interference. Take it from me, I have a lot of wireless gadgets on and around my desk but the PRO X SUPERLIGHT 2c hasn't missed a beat yet. You'll also find a set of customised grip tape pads to stick on for extra performance in hot and sweaty situations, although I've found the matte surface of the PRO X SUPERLIGHT 2c to be pretty grippy anyway. As opposed to the silky smooth PTFE feet or "skates" that take up a large percentage of the base of the mouse. Combined with the almost frictionless surface of the POWERPLAY 2 mouse pad, you'll be flying around faster than ever. Especially since the HERO 2 sensor can be wound up so high, you'd need the reflexes of a young cobra to control it. Speaking of which, if you've come to like the sensitivity settings of the mouse you're currently using - perhaps you're only upgrading for the wireless charging or the overall physical design of the PRO X SUPERLIGHT 2c - the Logitech G HUB app let's you port those settings across to your new mouse, as I've demonstrated in the video below. And of course, like all Logitech G-series mice, there's no end of shortcuts, actions and macros you can assign to each button through G-Hub - from launching your screen recorder, to a more complicated sequence of commands that might be unique to certain games. These settings can be saved as separate profiles within the app, or to one of five available slots on the mouse itself - which could be handy if you're planning on using it with different devices. I'll finish up by saying how surprised I was by this mouse. To look at, it doesn't appear to be that different to most other mice. But once I started using it, it wasn't long before I discovered the benefits of Logitech's hundreds of hours working with some of the world's top esports athletes, to hone the design and come up with one of the most comfortable, compact - and certainly the lightest - mice I've ever used. This is one of those devices you eventually become unaware of as you use it, almost as though it's an extension of your own hand. An extension you never have to charge either.      Click here for more information and pricing on the Logitech G POWERPLAY 2 wireless charging system. Click here for more information and pricing on the Logitech G PRO X SUPERLIGHT 2c wireless gaming mouse. Sun, 19 Oct 2025 23:39:36 Z