Technology

The BenQ Zowie range of esports monitors has become something of a quiet achiever in the world of PC gaming. They represent a viable alternative to bigger, sometimes much more well-known brands and place a higher premium on user consideration than any of them. The Zowie XL2546’s full name, the “BenQ Zowie XL2546 240Hz DyAc…

To everyone who’s ever asked me what camera to buy “to take nicer photos than my phone” — get a Lumix GX9. You’re welcome. In all seriousness, I did not expect to become so enamoured with this camera. Smaller mirrorless cameras usually leave me underwhelmed, with their noisy after-dark shots, clunky menus and plastic feel,…

The initial question with a Bang & Olufsen product is almost always “is it worth the price?”. The Danish consumer electronics brand has a habit of playing in the “Ludicrously Expensive” price range, but has always managed to justify that high price point with an equal focus on luxurious design and world-class performance. No matter…

I’ve never hesitated to recommend Sennheiser headphones to friends in the past. Their headphones have been a go-to of mine for a very long time. My years-long love affair with their HD 598 model is well documented. So when the opportunity to try out a pair of headphones from their gaming range arrived, I leapt…

The Google Home Max is, in this reviewer’s opinion, the best sounding standalone smart speaker on the market. That’s an arguable point of course, but after weeks spent trying this imposing device with various styles of music (and a few podcasts) it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid going full cheerleader mode over its performance….

With the list of new and available smartphones increasing daily, the Huawei Nova 3e, known elsewhere as the Nova P20 lite, is admittedly a surprising entry promising high tech, for the low RRP of $399 AUD. While it seems like a lot to live up to, don’t let the price tag fool you. This is…

The Venom Power Pack & Stand is an essential accessory for hardcore Nintendo Switch gaming, providing a significant boost to the console’s battery life and a solid kickstand base for travel stability. With its sleek design and ease of use, the device is easy to recommend for any Switch gamer.

If you want the concise verdict on Sony’s recently released SRS-XB31 Bluetooth speaker then all you need to know is that they’ve taken last year’s well-reviewed SRS-XB30 and given it some noticeable improvements with better design, punchier bass, and a more comprehensive range of light patterns. It’s mostly as simple as that, sitting in the…

If there’s a creed in the mobile phone industry, it’s likely “Make it look like an iPhone, but then do everything you can to make it cheaper.” This is the strategy Chinese maker Oppo have clung to for a while now and with the R15 Pro, they are steering into the curve harder than ever.

The Plantronics RIG 500 Pro Esport Gaming Headphones, the latest refresh of Plantronics’ longrunning RIG 500 line, are about as close to the perfect gaming headset as any I’ve ever used. I would like to preface this review with a sole caveat: while the headset I was given by Plantronics with which to conduct this…

What do you need in a good gaming mouse? Like, really need? You need it to be comfortable. You need its action to be smooth and precise. You need it to have the requisite buttons for basic play, and maybe one or two extra for customisation and macros. When it comes to designing gaming mice,…

What do you need in a good gaming mouse? Like, really need? You need it to be comfortable. You need its action to be smooth and precise. You need it to have the requisite buttons for basic play, and maybe one or two extra for customisation and macros. When it comes to designing gaming mice,…

Ever since Apple released the Airpods in December of 2016, there’s been a steady increase in number of big-ticket, fully wireless ear buds coming to market. With the Internet of Things steadily spreading toward more casual adopters of technology, and Bluetooth technology improving year on year, it’s become necessary for these devices to enter the…

The NVIDIA SHIELD is a streaming device for the modern age – sleek, fast and multi-modal. It functions as both a universal entertainment device, featuring apps like Netflix, Stan and Spotify, as well as a game streaming device, allowing interfacing with Steam and NVIDIA-powered PCs.

The Logitech G512 Carbon Mechanical Keyboard is very well mannered. It has the rapid fire response times you’re looking for in a gaming keyboard, but the click from its switches as you type is minimal. This makes it a board that can do it all — you can use this as a day-to-day office board…

It’s a bit weird reviewing a pair of PC speakers in 2018. A casual poll of friends who use desktop PC’s for work, gaming or both revealed that every last one of them use headphones, for a variety of reasons. Some of them have infants they don’t want to wake up. Some of them are…

There is a pervasive assumption among PC gaming hobbyists that wireless accessories like mice are going to be a problem. That corded solutions are always the way to go. For a long time, this rather conventional wisdom was correct, but its getting harder and harder for it to stand up under scrutiny. Devices like Logitech’s…

The HyperX Cloud Stinger Core shouldn’t sound as good as it does. This is a $70 AUD pair of headphones. You expect certain things from $70 headphones. You expect them to be cheap. You expect them to be made from hard, unyeilding plastic that keeps them from being worn comfortably for long periods. You certainly…

Younger audiences don’t give a shit about television. They watch Netflix, they watch YouTube and, in greater numbers than ever, they’re watching Twitch. This means that Twitch has become an attractive platform for streamers of all stripes to get their start. Elgato’s HD60 S is, for the first-time streamer, exactly the kind of kit you…

The soundbar has been the go-to piece of home theatre kit for people who want great sound but don’t have the room for a full surround kit. JBL’s refresh of its series of soundbars embraces this desire to save space with the succinctly named JBL BAR 3.1.

From Ultimate Ears previous releases of the Boom 2 and Megaboom, the company has just released the satisfying modern upgrades of the Blast and it’s seriously larger friend, the Megablast. The well-known strong and robust build of UE speakers have been improved with the incorporation of Amazon’s Alexa to not only accompany you in the…

One thing a pair of earphones should do the first time you put them in your ears is make a good impression. Before you even turn them on, they should sit comfortably in the ears with minimal wobble and, ideally, not make you feel like Lobot from Star Wars (though I’ve reviewed my share that…

Boasting “DSLR Performance in a compact body”, Canon’s Powershot G1X Mark III claims to be a “compact without compromise” – and it does a pretty good job of living up to those claims.

The JBL Link 300 is the high end and rather portly older sibling in JBL’s range of Google Assistant enabled speakers. But unlike most elder siblings, it carries itself with all the brashness of the youngest child. It noisy, full of personality and is, on the whole, a very likeable sort.

Gaming headsets have reached an interesting tipping point. For years many of them weren’t worth the price of the box they came in. They sported ugly, heavy designs, poor quality materials and sound quality to match. But over the last five years manufacturers have — to my shock — begun to shift their focus towards…

I’ve said before that, when reviewing home audio equipment, the exterior design of any given product is not terribly important to me as long as they device in question sounds great. Friends, the Edifier Luna HD e25HD TV speakers have really put that personal philosophy to the test. As great as they sound, and they do…

“Lighting can be the difference between a good shot and a great one.” It’s a simple statement, uttered by Australian wedding and portraiture great and Nikon Ambassador Rocco Ancora mid-lecture, but so true – and he would know. The 4-time AIPP Australian Wedding photographer of the year is such a master of light that he…

Canon’s new entry-level D-SLR offering is the very definition of “no frills”, keeping very simple functionality while still offering the intuitive handling you’d expect from Canon’s years of refining their camera bodies. The EOS 1500D, known as the Rebel T7 in the US, was released alongside the 3000D earlier this year, and it’s hard to…

Gaming headphones have come such a long way in the last couple of years, particularly those of the wireless variety. Gone are the days of terrible sound and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it battery lives. Now, if you aren’t providing premium quality sound, no-one wants a bar of you. HyperX has always seemed to be a gaming peripheral maker…

To say that Amazon’s Kindle Oasis is one of the nicest e-readers I’ve ever used would be to undersell it. Amazon are so good at building these devices by now that there’s almost no room in the market for anyone else. But, for good or ill, it’s also quite clear that Amazon have taken their…