Reviews

Wires suck. That seems to be the consensus when it comes to smart home devices nowadays, and whenever a wireless option drops it is instantly more attractive than the opposite. Requiring wires was one of the few issues I had with the recently launched Arlo Video Doorbell, which is otherwise an exceptional part of the…

Thanks to the deluge of connected home devices on the market, it’s highly probable that most households are going to need to reconsider how they handle their Wi-Fi. That’s particularly true for larger households which may have patches where the signal is a bit weaker than those closer to the single – likely ISP-supplied –…

Few personal audio devices have seen such a massive leap on quality in recent years than true wireless earbuds. The careful juggling act between sound quality, battery life, connectivity and comfort has been nearing perfection with recent releases from Sony and Sennheiser. Although those two focus on just being lifestyle buds, with little consideration for…

Although it was released three years ago, the Sonos One is still a remarkable mid-size smart speaker. Released on 2017, it quickly became the must-have audio device for smart homes, with scarily accurate far-field microphones providing a seamless and revelatory experience with any of the big three voice assistants. Did it sound good? This is…

People have been looking towards their own backyard when it comes to travel this year. That isn’t just a metaphor for the increase in demand for domestic travel, but a literal look at how we can turn sections of our own house into slices of escapism. Even the very act of moving the ol’ BBQ…

Much has been said about the professional-grade Theragun product line and its use for percussive massage therapy. Increasingly, we’re starting to see more professionals take advantage of the easy-to-use devices, particularly now that the 4th generation has been released. But given that these products are publicly available, should the at-home user pay attention as well?…

The grace feature of the Oppo A52 2020 is its A$299 price tag. That should already be an attractive proposition without even looking at the spec sheet, given the company’s reputation for efficiency when it comes to the more wallet-friendly ranges. Seeing as they’ve been dominant in this market so far, it’s not much of…

It’s been a minute since I’ve reviewed a Hyper X headset. Over the last few years, HyperX have gone from a PC hardware manufacturer famous for high performance memory and gaming drives, to a real contender in the peripheral space. With the Cloud Flight S, the latest premium tier addition to their lineup, HyperX looks…

Lenovo’s latest gift to on-the-go creatives is the IdeaPad C340, a reasonably priced chromebook that can be used as either a laptop of a tablet. Released late last year, it’s a smart move from the stalwart company, focusing on value for price-conscious consumers in need of a reliable 2-in-1 for everyday use. Although you’re still…

There are now some fantastic choices if you’re in the market for a pair of truly wireless earbuds. Apple has the Airpods Pro, Sony have their excellent WF-1000xm3 (review here), Bang & Olufsen is still having fun putting out new colourways of the E8 (review here), and there are some promising pieces coming from Bose…

Bose’s SoundLink Micro is one of my favourite small speakers to date, so I’m always going to pay close attention when the reliable audio company plays in the portable space. More recently, that’s been with the bluntly named Bose Portable Home Speaker (BPHS) which is essentially a more powerful and thicker finesse of the popular…

Every now and again a specific kitchen essential rises in ranks, sitting comfortably at the end of frenzied shopping queues and rushed online orders. The awkwardly pear-shaped airfryer is having such a moment right now, and despite aesthetically being the George Costanza of kitchen tools, the hype has been well-placed. Aldi recently put a budget…

The mid-range market has been a sweet spot for smartphones in the past few years, and Oppo are more focused on it than ever with the A91. While the Chinese company awaits the release of their much anticipated and super premium Find X2 Pro, it may be the A91 that ends up being one of…

It should be clear to anyone familiar with Huawei by now that the tech company is nothing if not reliable when it comes to producing devices that look exceptionally good and have outstanding battery life. Last year’s Huawei Watch GT 2 is certainly no exception here, and has since become one of the most attractive…

Testing out Arlo’s impressive third-generation cameras has gotten me a bit obsessed with tech-ing the home with smart security hardware. Though I live on a relatively uneventful street in a quiet Western Sydney suburb, break-ins have been commonplace lately, which in the past few months has made me appreciate this necessary smart home technology even…

Can Huawei make it without Google? That’s been the pressing question for fans of the brand’s undeniably powerful and relentlessly gorgeous phones for the past few months now. It’s the biggest issue surrounding the recently release P40 series (as it was with the Mate 30 last year), and while the official absence of Google Mobile…

Light, lean and already considered one of the best OLEDs available, Sony’s Master Series A9G earns its place amongst the company’s finest products and, with a powerful symphony of super features, justifies its reputation as the “best TV of 2019.” The hallmark of a good OLED is that the technology can still blow you away,…

A large amount of tech news is dominated by updates and chatter about televisions. From improvements to size and resolution, they’re getting bigger and cheaper. Televisions are the immediate consideration for your home. Epson has released their EF-100 projector to make you rethink that choice. It wants you to be thinking about impressive display and…

For a hundred dollar gaming headset, the Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 200 represents pretty solid value for money. I’ve had an up-and-down experience with Turtle Beach’s headsets over the years but with the Recon 200, it looks like it may have turned over a new leaf. Strong hold The moment you put the Recon…

Fujifilm’s X-A7 may be intended as a step up from smartphones for new photography enthusiasts, but it goes so far beyond just being a phone alternative. With a fully articulating large screen, lightweight body, mic input and face and eye detection autofocus, it’s a strong contender for an affordable and effective content creator’s or vlogger’s…

I’ve always wanted a good dashcam. “Good” because the last one I had was on the cheaper side and frequently had write-to-SD card issues, among others. This was a common issue I read of cheaper dashcams at the time, along with just poor quality and build. I always regretted that I didn’t save up and…

Amazon haven’t really reinvented anything with their latest line-up, which began rolling out in Australia just a few months ago. They added a brilliant LED display to their budget-friendly Echo Dot, introduced raw power with the Echo Studio, and have simply just refined and polished the standard Echo to prepare it for a stronger Alexa…

Fitbit are now as ambitious in the world of smart watches as they are dominators of the fitness industry. Ever since 2017’s Ionic product line started the brand who had been, up until that point, only known for fitness tracking wearables started to move towards something bigger and better. They made the mistake of trying…

Where smartphone photography is still bread and butter for all companies now, Google have admirably sought to refine what it means to own a smartphone in 2019. They’ve looked at the entire experience with the Google Pixel 4, which has given us some pretty cool features that should hold great influence over smartphones in 2020….

The Surface Laptop series has proven to be a big success for Microsoft, pulling them ahead when it comes to traditional clamshell laptops and placing them in direction competition with Dell and Apple. Most importantly, it has given the company a new identity in this race, and arguably won them more than a few legs….

Amazon claim that the Echo Dot is the best-selling speaker of all time. I haven’t looked into that, but I haven’t doubted it either. It’s ridiculously affordable, offers incredible value and looks fantastic sidling up to everyday furniture, whether that be on a bedside table or in the kitchen. Since 2015, the device has been…

2019 has been a big year for noise cancelling headphones, and the race to produce the very best has been increasingly difficult to call. Bose were once the clear front-runners with the widely acclaimed QuietComfort line, but since then worthy competitors from Sony, Sennheiser and Bang & Olufsen stepped up in a big way. With…

GoPro have favored redesigning and updating their software with numerous minor upgrades in-lieu of one stand-out, marquee feature for their latest release, the GoPro HERO8 Black. In years prior, each flagship release has come with an industry changing feature. The HERO4 debuted 4K/30fps, the HERO5 was waterproof without a housing unit and last years HERO7…

Assuming you have enough disposable income left over after building up the modern DIY smart home, security should be the next consideration. We’ve already seen what Arlo are capable of when they play around in their ultra premium security space. Now that they’ve steadily built up a rich ecosystem of devices, it’s time they finesse…

Feature-rich, highly intelligent and design-forward, Sennheiser have put a great deal of love into the 2019 iteration of their reputation MOMENTUM Wireless range. The over-ear headphones not only outperform most rivals, but consider the entire sonic experience. This includes Tile technology to address the possibility of misplacing the set. Although you’ll be paying a premium…