Author: Stephen Fenech

Garmin has introduced a new simple and intuitive GPS golf band – the Approach X10 – which is like having your very own caddy providing precise distances on the course. The device comes preloaded with more than 41,000 golf courses around the world (with free lifetime updates) so players can see exact distances to the front, back and middle of the green on the bright 1-inch touch-screen display. The device has a water-resistant design so it can handle the rain and sweat and has a battery that lasts up to 12 hours in GPS mode. The Approach X10 can also…

Apple has provided a sneak peek at its upcoming iOS 11.3 update which will have a number of new features including the ability to check your iPhone’s battery health and choosing whether to accept Apple’s power management system. This update will also include for new animojis – a dragon, bear, skull and a lion. Emilia Clarke, the Game of Thrones star who plays the “mother of dragons”, has already taken to Instagram with one of the latest animojis. Naturally, she chose the dragon. There will be even more augmented reality experiences thanks to the update with ARKit which will power…

Whirlpool has showcased how technology can be used to help families cook, clean and wash smarter than ever before with a range of new appliances which were unveiled at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Tech Guide took a tour of the Whirlpool booth at the tech tradeshow to see these impressive new products in action. These include smart refrigerators, stoves and ovens, microwaves, a new cooking app and a washing machine. A big part of the Whirlpool story is the Yummly recipe app the company developed which can use the camera in your smartphone or tablet to…

Take a fun and informative look at the biggest tech news and products of the week with Episode 330 of the Two Blokes Talking Tech podcast with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long. On this week’s show, Amazon Alexa has been launched and the skills that go with it, Google Home usage tripled over the holiday period and Vodafone reduces its NBN plan pricing. Also on the show, Westpac lets you do your banking with iMessage, Apple CEO Tim Cook opens up about the iPhone slowdown controversy. On the product front, Canon’s new compact PowerShot and the…

DJI has literally just launched its latest drone – the Mavic Air – a compact yet powerful device that is built to go anywhere and produce incredible pictures and videos. The Mavic Air, like its predecessor the Mavic Pro, can fold down to a size that fits in the palm of your hand. When folded it is as tall and wide as a smartphone. The drone has an aerodynamic design with magnesium alloy brackets and rear vents to dissipate heat. There are sensors on board to help pilots avoid obstacles and it features intelligent flight modes and SmartCapture which can…

Apples highly-anticipated HomePod smart speaker goes on sale on Friday, February 9 with pre-orders kicking off for Australian customers this Saturday, January 27. HomePod will be priced at $499 and can be controlled by Siri using your voice to play your music, send a message, set a timer, play a podcast and check the news, sports, weather and traffic. The device can also be used to control a wide range of smart home accessories which are HomeKit compatible. “HomePod is a magical new music experience from Apple. It brings advanced audio technologies like beam-forming tweeters, a high-excursion woofer, and automatic…

Tune in to Episode 283 of the top rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, to stay updated and educated about the latest consumer tech news and reviews. On this week’s show, Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks out about the controversial iPhone slowdown, Amazon Alexa is coming to Australia very soon and Westpac can now let you do your banking using iMessage. In the Tech Guide reviews, LG’s V30 smartphone – and it is now cheaper than ever, the GoPro Fusion 360-degree camera is now available and Vodafone reduces pricing for its NBN plans. In the Tech Guide…

Telstra has unveiled its new Tough Max 2 smartphone – the toughened device designed to handle the rough stuff. It is ideal for tradies, construction workers, farmers and outdoor enthusiasts. Version two of the device has a 5-inch display that is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass and with a screen resolution of 1280 x 720. The device is powered by a 1.4Ghz octa-core processor and has 3GB RAM plus 32GB internal storage as well as a microSD card slot to expand the memory by an additional 128GB. On the camera side, it has a 16-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel…

Ecovacs last year introduced its robot vacuum cleaner – the Deebot OZMO 930 – and we got a look at its latest creation, the Winbot X that can now clean your windows in the same efficient way it cleans your carpets. We got up close to the Winbot X at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas recently and saw it in action. The device was working in front of us on a large 2m window where it attached itself using strong suction to clean the pane. It also had a tether in the unlikely event the Winbot X lost…

Vodafone today slashed the pricing on its NBN plans with up to $25 reductions to make it even more competitive and a tempting choice for customers looking to connect their home to faster internet. Vodafone launched its NBN services earlier this year with all its plans coming with unlimited data so there’s no end to the amount of streaming you can do. The Vodafone NBN plans are now priced at: – $70 Basic NBN plan on NBN 12 becomes $60 ($10 off) – $95 Essential+ NBN plan on NBN 50 becomes $70 ($25 off) – $110 Premium NBN plan on NBN 100 becomes…

GoPro has announced the availability in Australia of its new product Fusion – the 360-degree camera which will allows users to shoot in all directions and create immersive videos. The camera can capture 5.2K 360-degree spherical content without any stitch lines so you can film in all directions all the time. The device has a lens front and back and uses Overcapture, software that is found within the GoPro app, to bring it all together to watch and share. Overcapture also allows iOS users to reframe and save fixed perspective videos from the larger 360-degree video to make it easier…

Westpac customers who own an iPhone will now be able to pay family, friends and other contacts via an SMS with the launch of an Australian first with Westpac for iMessage. Westpac for iMessage is part of the latest version of the Westpac mobile banking app on the iPhone running iOS 11. Customers can click on the new Westpac icon at the bottom of the text conversation to get started. From here they will be able to make payments, generate a Cardless Cash code as well as share their BSB and account details. And that can all be done without…

Apple CEO Tim Cook has opened up and apologized to customers in a TV interview about the controversy surrounding the battery issues and iPhone slowdowns saying “we should have been clearer”. “Our actions were always the purest,” Mr Cook said in an exclusive interview on ABC News in the US. The Apple boss also said the company was introducing a system update to monitor the battery health of your iPhone. And iPhone customers will also have the option of turning off the battery slowdown option which was being introduced without the user’s control. In the TV interview the Apple CEO also…

Without a doubt, one of the biggest winners at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was Google. Everywhere you looked, there were products infused with Google Assistant and all we heard was “Hey Google”. There’s no doubt the smart speakers Google Home and Google Home Mini have been popular since they were launched in Australia in the middle of last year. Google Home also had a massive Christmas in Australia as well with the number of users tripling just in the month of December. Around the world, there was a Google Home device sold every second since Google…

LG’s latest flagship smartphone – the highly-rated V30 which is loaded with premium features – has had its priced slashed and will now be priced at under $1000 for a limited time. Customers who want to purchase the V30 have until January 31 to get it $200 cheaper at $999. In Tech Guide’s review of the LG V30, published on November 30, the only fault we had with the device was the price. Here’s what we said: The LG V30 is a lot of phone and it is priced at $1,199. And while that’s a lot cheaper than the iPhone…

With the announcement of Amazon’s Alexa and Echo products arriving in Australia next month, there have been a stampede of companies revealing their compatibility with the voice-powered service. No sooner had the news came through that Amazon’s Alexa will be available in early February through its Echo range of devices, we found out about all the information and services from various companies which will be accessible through the platform. Here are the companies who have announced Alexa-powered skills: AIRTASKER The country’s largest local services marketplace will allow customers to use their voice to take care of things. Users will say…

Amazon will launch its range of Alexa-enabled devices – Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Plus, along with the Amazon Music Unlimited service, in Australia and New Zealand in early February. Alexa is the brain that powers the Echo family of products. It is built in the cloud and tens of thousands of developers are tapping into its abilities to allow you to use your voice to get things done, play your music and to find information. The Amazon Echo, which will be priced at $149, is a hands-free, voice controlled speaker which uses on-device software to detect the wake…

Kogan.com has just revealed the Atlas 13-inch C300 convertible notebook – the first convertible laptop the company has ever offered – which is now available to pre-order for less than $400. The device comes with a 360-degree hinge so it can be used as a laptop and also as a tablet when you fold the keyboard all the way back. The Kogan.com Atlas C300 is ideal for customers looking for and on the go device that can double as both a laptop and a tablet., The 13.3-inch display has a 1920 x 1080 full HD resolution and is powered by…

We saw no shortage of smart devices at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas but one that caught our eye was the Evone smart shoes which can detect if a person has fallen and alert loved ones or emergency services. The Evone smart shoe is designed for three types of people – the elderly, workers and outdoor adventurers. With built-in sensors and GPS onboard, the shoes can detect abnormal movements – like a fall. If this occurs, the Evone shoes will send an alert and geolocation to a nominated friend or family member via a built in GSM…

Augmented reality was popular at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas but there were numerous applications for the technology which was demonstrated by the Third Eye X1 Smart Glasses. The Third Eye X1 has a lens in each eye piece so a user can see text and other objects in their field of vision. Wearing the glasses is the equivalent of watching a 90-inch high definition screen. The company behind the glasses say there are many uses for the hands-free computer. In medicine, a surgeon could be operating with instructions from the other side of the country being fed…