Author: Stephen Fenech

South Australia has kicked off its government subsidised home storage battery program with the first of 40,000 units installed today by Australia’s largest solar and battery installer, Natural Solar. South Australia is the first state to introduce a renewable energy subsidy which provides residents with up to $6000 to help fund their home battery storage solution. This means residents can reduce their power bills by up to 90 per cent and also reduce demand on the energy grid. This will not only lower costs for those who install a home battery system but also reduce prices for all South Australians.…

Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro could just be the device that proves the company is a worthy opponent to Samsung and Apple that has enough world-first features and technology to appeal to switchers. The Mate 20 Pro is the premium product in Huawei’s Mate 20 Series and embodies the company’s graduation as a premium smartphone player. Huawei is actually now the number two brand behind Samsung in the smartphone market ahead of Apple in third. It is also number one in many regions. The Mate Series launch follows the introduction of the P20 Pro back in March which won critical acclaim…

Apple’s announcement this week of the iPad Pro was a significant one and not just because it’s an impressive and powerful product  but because the company decided to replace the Lightning port with the widely used USB-C. Many see this as the beginning of the end for Lightning with fierce speculation that the 2019 iPhones may also follow suit and adopt the universal USB-C as standard. Apple has always marched to the beat of its own drum. And it has the right to do that since it has always had end-to-end control of its products – its own hardware running…

Apple’s latest product – the iPhone XR – might not be the company’s premium smartphone but it is still a high quality device that can hold its own against other flagship products. The iPhone XR as most of the features you’ll find on the more expensive iPhone XS but in a more affordable price point. DISPLAY iPhone XR has the same all-screen design and the 6.1 inch display places it squarely between the iPhone XS (5.8-inch) and the iPhone XS Max (6.5-inch). It has a Liquid Retina display which is what Apple is calling the most advanced and most colour…

Apple today introduced a new-look iPad Pro with an all-screen design marking the biggest change to the product since it was introduced more than eight years ago. Now the 11-inch and 12.9-inch Liquid Retina displays go all the way to the edge of the device which now features rounded corners and a new unibody enclosure. The new 11-inch iPad Pro has a bigger display area and more pixels but retains the same footprint as the 10.5-inch model. The 12.9-inch version of the new iPad Pro has the largest display of any iPad but is 25 per cent smaller in volume…

Apple has unveiled its new MacBook Air and added the latest features to the device including Retina Display, Touch ID as well as an even sleeker design. Also introduced by Apple today was updated Mac Mini which retains its convenient small form factor but gains powerful new capabilities. MacBook Air set the tone for ultrathin and ultralight laptops for years to come when it was introduced by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs at Macworld in 2008. Jobs dramatically illustrated just how thin the new laptop was by saying “there is something in the air” before removing the original MacBook Air…

If you want to stay updated and educated about the latest consumer tech news and reviews then you need to tune into Episode 323 of the acclaimed Tech Guide podcast, hosted by Stephen Fenech. On this week’s show, Apple’s iPhone XR has gone on sale, the Messenger app gets a revamp and the app that can people living with memory loss and their carers. In the Tech Guide reviews, we take a closer look at the Epson Fast Foto scanner, the Google Home Hub smart speaker and we check out the HP Spectre laptop range. In the Tech Guide Help…

PlayStation Classic – a compact version of the original iconic PlayStation console – is heading our way and will be preloaded with 20 classic games which are sure to bring back some beloved gaming memories. Available on December 3, PlayStation Classic will be priced at $149.99 and comes with two of the full-size wired controllers in the box. The console also comes with some of the best games from the original PlayStation including Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil Directors Cut. The PlayStation Classic is an exact, but miniaturised, duplicate of the original console with the same…

This post was sponsored by Hisense There are a lot of great games being released at this time of year including Red Dead Redemption II and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and of course you need a good 4K television to play them on like the Hisense Series 9 ULED 4K TV. The Hisense TV has a dedicated Game Mode which can offer you an enhanced gaming experience. With this setting the TV can display the output from the gaming console at its highest speed directly to the screen and bypasses the other features 4K HDR (high dynamic range)…

Nokia has just unveiled its new Nokia 5.1 Plus smartphone in Australia – one of the most affordable devices in the market to be powered by the advanced octa-core MediaTek Hello P60 chipset usually seen in more expensive flagship products. The device has a 5.8-inch 19:9 high definition edge-to-edge display and is running the Android One version of the Android Pie operating system which comes with three years of monthly security updates and the next two lettered Android updates so the Nokia 5.1 Plus can work as good as the day it was purchased well into the future. On the…

A new app has been released that can help people living with memory loss from anywhere in the world so they can catch up on things like reminders, birthdays, messages and other diary events. The Memory Helper app is designed to help carers communicate with family members or clients suffering from memory loss. The app, which was developed in Australia, allows the carers to control a tablet or iPad located in the care receiver’s home remotely to provide reminders and alerts for upcoming events and messages. This way the care receiver can simply glance at the screen after hearing a…

We’ve still got lots of photos in albums from the time long before digital cameras but the new Epson Fast Foto has helped finally bring them into the digital world quickly and easily. Before the release of this device, digitising your pictures meant a long and painful exercise with a flatbed scanner. No wonder I didn’t get around to scanning them before. I always knew exactly where the albums were located because my wife always reminded me, in the event of a fire, I was to grab them all after everyone else had gotten to safety. Now I can rest…

Start your weekend with Episode 365 of Two Blokes Talking Tech, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, for a fun and informative look at the biggest tech stories of the week. On this week’s show, Apple’s iPhone XR goes on sale but the crowds stayed away – is the iPhone line a thing of the past? Stephen and Trevor also talk about the Huawei Mate 20  and Mate 20 Pro smartphones, Channel 7 hints at 4K broadcast of the 2020 Olympics and the smart speakers that also include a display. The blokes also discuss how you…

Apple’s new iPhone XR went on sale today in Apple Stores in Australia – the first Apple Stores in the world to offer the company’s latest multi-coloured device. But the massive crowds we usually see at an iPhone launch were not there today. When the doors opened there were 16 people in the line. Less than an hour before the 8am opening of the flagship Sydney Apple Store in George St there was no one in line. It appears more people decided to pre-order the device and have it delivered to their door today rather than brave the elements and…

Sony has launched three new home theatre projectors with 4K MotionFlow technology onboard to provide one of the best viewing experiences you can get outside of a public cinema. The three projectors – the VPL-VW870ES, VPL-VW570ES and the VPL-VW270ES – will be available from November. 4K MotionFlow displays smoother and clearer motion which is achieved by adding frames to the image to significantly reduce the blur. This makes the projectors perfect for fast-moving scenes in action movies and for watching sports. All three of the new Sony 4K projectors also have HDR (high dynamic range) with even finer colour gradation…

The Nissan SUV range has just been bolstered by another addition – the Juke NISMO RS – but you better get in quick, there are only 240 of these special editions available. This is the third NISMO model that has been sold in Australia. It joins the powerful Nissan GT-R NISMO which was launched last year and the Nissan 370Z NISMO which landed in Australia six months later. And for those who don’t know, NISMO is short for Nissan Motorsport and identifies cars that all provide an exciting driving experience with aerodynamics and handling designed and developed from the racetrack.…

HP has launched a stunning new line up of convertible laptops which include all the features users expect but with a premium look and design that will make them stand out from the crowd. The new models include the HP Spectre x360 13-inch and 15-inch models, the HP Spectre Folio and the HP EliteBook x360 1040 G5. HP’s goal with this new range is to meet the demands for personal computer users who have busy lifestyles while offering a sense of style to go with the impressive functionality. “Traditional boundaries between personal and professional lives are blurring. People want technology…

Google Home was always pretty smart but with the new Google Home Hub, which now includes a 7-inch display, it’s just as smart but now even more versatile. Having that screen adds a whole new set of capabilities and possibilities. The 7-inch screen is just the right size to make it suitable for various places in your home from the kitchen bench, to the office desk on the bedside table. The screen is tilted at an easy angle for you to easily view no matter where you decide to place it. The screen quality is impressive and photos in Ambient…

A brand-new  and simpler version of Messenger has just been unveiled with a new design and powerful new features to help users stay in touch and have fun at the same time. The update will gradually roll out to users around the world in phases. The improvements come as a result of listening to the 1.3 billion global Messenger users who enjoy using the app but were after a simpler and easier experience. With this new version of Messenger, users can still connect with the people that are important to them as well as personalise the conversation. Messenger 4 has…

Lend me your ears for Episode 322 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, so you can stay updated and educated about the latest consumer tech news and reviews. On this week’s show, we just returned from London for the launch of the new Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro smartphones with world-first technologies on board, Brother’s new multi-function printers which come with a year’s supply of ink and Tesla has come up with a more affordable version of the Model 3. In the Tech Guide reviews, we take a look at the Google Pixel…