Author: Stephen Fenech

Samsung has unveiled its follow up to the powerful and eye-catching Galaxy Tab S tablet – the Galaxy Tab S2 – which has an octa-core processor and a stunning Super AMOLED display. Available in two sizes – 8-inch and 9.7-inch – the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 is just 5.6mm thick with a bright and sharp screen with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. Under the hood is a generous 3GB RAM and an octa-core processor that’s made up of two quad core processors – a 1.9Ghz and a 1.3Ghz. The screen grabs the user’s attention from the outset and, with…

Is it a phone? A camera? Something else? We could get bogged down with terminology but here’s what I know for sure: within minutes of firing up Panasonic’s DMC-CM1 I was capturing snaps that had eluded me for years because my iPhone camera could not manage a satisfactory result with the same subject. So this review is something of a revelation, to me at least, in that it is possible to meld a high performance camera with a smartphone to produce a device that can satisfy a photographer who likes on occasion to use a smartphone, as opposed to a…

Pre-orders have opened for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus after the telcos revealed their plans at the weekend. Tech Guide has put together every plan to make it easier for you to compare the best value and choose the one that’s right for you. The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus are more expensive than last year’s models and that is reflected in the pricing. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are still available but now only in 16GB and 64GB capacities. If you want a 128GB iPhone you have to go for the iPhone 6S and…

Apple’s launch event yesterday was one of the biggest in the company’s history and saw the release of the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, the iPad Pro and a brand new Apple TV but here are some questions our readers have been asking. 1. When will the new Apple products be available in Australia? The new iPhones go on sale on September 25 with pre-orders kicking off on September 12. The iPad Pro will be available in November and the new Apple TV will hit stores in late October. 2. Why are the new iPhones more expensive? The weaker Australian…

Episode 224 of the top-rating Two Blokes Talking Tech podcast, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, is coming to you from San Francisco from the Apple launch event. On this week’s show, the blokes talk about the Apple event which was held for the first time in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. They delve into the new products which were revealed including the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, the iPad Pro, the new Apple TV and the new Apple Watch products. Also on the agenda are some issues that came out of the event including…

On the same day the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus were announced, case manufacturers were already showcasing their latest products. But will existing iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus cases fit the new iPhones? The iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus are 0.2mm thicker than last year’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. One of the first questions customers were asking was whether the existing cases would fit the new models. Australian case manufacturers have been in contact with Tech Guide to assure us that the existing cases will still fit the slightly thicker new devices. Proper,…

Tech Guide took a look at the new iPadPro and were stunned by the screen and the sheer size of the device. It dwarfs even the iPad Air 2 which isn’t small but is still just 6.9mm thick and the same weight as the original iPad released in 2010. This device is Apple’s shot across the bow to Microsoft who have been making ground with the Surface Pro 3 and the way it can be used as a laptop or a tablet. But the iPadPro doesn’t have a USB port, it doesn’t even have a USB-C port – the new…

Tech Guide has gone hand-ons with the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus and, while they look almost identical as last year’s models, they still offer an all-new experience thanks to the new 3D Touch screen. Design-wise the look hasn’t changed but the new iPhones are .2 of a millimetre thicker so the iPhone 6S goes from 6.9mm to 7.1mm and the iPhone 6S Plus goes from 7.1mm to 7.3mm. The reason behind this was to fit the new 3D Touch display and the Taptic engine that gives you a little buzz under your finger when you press harder…

Apple has called the new iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus the most advanced smartphones in the world and they now incorporate new screen technology called 3D Touch that enables more convenience and functionality. They were unveiled in San Francisco today at a special launch event and will be available from September 25 with pre-orders starting this week on September 12. The devices look virtually identical to last year’s models but have plenty of changes under the hood including a faster A9 processor. The new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will now available in an all-new rose gold…

Apple TV has been transformed into a smarter device that can now be controlled using a trackpad or with your voice thanks to a new Siri integration that will quickly take you to your desired content in seconds. The new Apple TV device includes an all-new Bluetooth remote control with a glass touch surface trackpad and microphone to activate Siri. The new operating system – tvOS – has also been redesigned to match the iOS 9 software that runs on Apple mobile devices. It will also allow developers the opportunity to create apps for the larger TV screen in including…

Apple has gone big with the all-conquering iPad and added the iPad Pro – which has a 12.9-inch screen – to the product line-up which was unveiled at a special event in San Francisco today. The device also has the power to back up that bigger screen with a new A9X 64-bit processor that provides PC-like performance and that’s 1.8 times faster than the A8 silicon. The larger iPad Pro provides 70 per cent more screen real estate than the iPad Air 2 and has the highest resolution of any iOS device. This new size will open up the already…

Telstra has brought the home phone line into the 21st century with a new app called T-Voice that allows customers to make and receive calls to their home number through their smartphone or tablet. The T-Voice app is available to Telstra customers who are on ADSL and NBN services and will allow users greater choice to make calls at home phone rates through their mobile devices. The app makes it possible for smartphones and tablets to utilise the same technology used by Telstra’s existing home phone products – the Gateway Max and the T-Gateway –  with the same level of…

After lower than expected sales with its hero Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge smartphones, Samsung is now rolling out the big guns with the larger and more powerful Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note5. They are both on sale now. Both devices have upped the ante with larger 5.7-inch quad HD Super AMOLED screens, more features and faster processors. In a smartphone market that’s getting more sophisticated by the minute, these new Samsung devices are suited to power users, customers who consume a lot of content on the move and anyone who wants to take excellent images through…

Episode 164 of the Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, is right here to give you a thorough rundown of the week’s tech news, product news and predictions to keep you updated and educated. On this week’s show, we’ve just returned from the IFA tech show in Berlin and we’ll wrap up new products from Samsung including the world’s first Ultra HD Blu-ray player and Sleep Sense, Huawei’s smartphone beats Apple to the punch with a Force Touch screen, Lenovo reinvents the tablet with a built-in projector and Sphero releases the Star War BB8 toy droid. In the…

We saw the future of gaming and entertainment when tried Project Mopheus at the IFA tech show in Berlin – Sony’s remarkable virtual reality (VR) headset the puts you inside the game. Tech Guide had an opportunity to give Project Morpheus a try on the Sony stand at IFA and it was nothing short of stunning. We played the game The London Heist and the section of the game played started with us being interrogated before the scene flashed back to a gunfight where you are taking cover behind a desk. The Project Morpheus headset connects to the PS4 console…

Lenovo has reinvented the tablet once again with the launch of the Yoga Tab 3 Pro 10 at the IFA trade show in Berlin. It incorporates a projector that can beam up to a 70-inch picture on a screen or wall. The Android 5.1 device has a 10.1-inch quad HD display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core 2.24Ghz Intel Atom X5-Z8500 processor with 2GB RAM. On the audio side, the Yoga Tab 3 Pro 10 has a front facing soundbar which contains four JBL speakers complete with Dolby Atmos enhancement and 3D surround sound. With quad HD resolution…

The Apple launch event is on this week in San Francisco and rumours about what the company will launch have been swirling for months so we’ve decided to go through and sort fact from fiction. For a start the event will be held at a much larger venue than usual at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium which has a capacity of 7,000. So you can expect an audience closer to the size of a larger Worldwide Developers Conference Keynote than the usually more intimate venue used in the past to launch products like the iPad and previous iPhones. This would…

Samsung has used the IFA tech show in Berlin to announce the world’s first Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc player, a device designed to track how well you sleep and the Gear S2 smartwatch. SAMSUNG ULTRA HD BLU-RAY PLAYER Samsung is the first company in the world to announce an Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc player. The UBS-K8500, will be available in early 2016, and will be able to play native 4K content from a multi-layer UHD Blu-ray disc which has been developed to fit the extra data needed to store the larger video file. The device has a curved front panel…

The Two Blokes Talking Tech podcast, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, is coming to you live from IFA in Berlin, one of the world’s largest tech trade shows. On this week’s show, the blokes talk about the products that were unveiled at the show held at Messe Berlin including the Sony Xperia Z5 family of smartphones, the Huawei smartphone with Force Touch Screen, LG’s new OLED TV offerings, the new Motorola 360 smartwatches and the amazing Star Wars BB8 toy droid from Sphero. Also on the show, Netgear’s latest Nighthawk X4S modem router and what…

One of most popular new characters from the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens film is sure to be the remarkable rolling BB8 droid and you can now own your very own working mini version. We had a first look at the toy version which will be available in stores from today. The technology for the actual working droid for the film and the toy – which is sure to be a hit with Star Wars fans in the lead-up to Christmas – was created by Sphero. Sphero is the ball-shaped robot that can race around at impressive speeds and…