Author: Stephen Fenech

The Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones are now available to pre-order with Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile releasing their pricing plans for the devices which go on sale on March 11. And anyone who pre-orders either device will receive a bonus Gear VR headset. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with an updated design, Super AMOLED displays (S7 – 5.1-inch screen, S7 Edge – 5.5-inch screen), a processor that’s 30 per cent faster than last year and an improved 12-megapixel camera. The devices are also both…

Tech Guide took a look at Alcatel’s new Idol 4 and Idol 4S smartphones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which are set to give expensive big brand smartphones a serious run for their money. And customers who buy the device will be holding a virtual reality headset without even knowing it – the packaging the Idol 4 and Idol 4S comes in is actually the VR headset. With a new name – the brand is now just Alcatel, not Alcatel OneTouch – it’s an exciting new dawn for the company which has made a habit or providing value for…

Now you can do a lot more than like things on Facebook with the release of Reactions which allows users to choose a more appropriate response for what they’re friends are doing and sharing. Now if you hover your mouse over the like button on your browser or press and hold like on your smartphone, you’ll get some other choices including Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement with a post and video (on Facebook naturally!) and explained the thinking behind Reactions. “Not every moment you want to share is happy. Sometimes…

Imagine being able to charge your mobile device in just 15 minutes? That’s what smartphone company Oppo has unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Battery power – or lack of it for most users – is the number one complaint with smartphone users no matter what device they are using. But Oppo’s Super VOOC Flash Charge technology can fill an average smartphone’s battery (2500mAh) in just 15 minutes. This breakthrough is an improvement on Oppo’s original VOOC Flash Charge which was introduced in 2014 and could provide an additional two hours of talk time to your device after…

Data is one of the most precious parts of our smartphone plans but app-usage research has found that on average 30 per cent of all data is used by apps running in the background of our devices. Background data is used when you’re not actually using an app like fetching emails, updating feeds and pre-fetching news stories and ads that we might not even see. The worst culprits according to the Opera Max Android app users are Facebook Messenger and Gmail closely followed by Google Drive and WhatsApp. “Most apps are made to give a great user experience, not to…

The Two Blokes Talking Tech, Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, are celebrating their fifth anniversary and are in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress. This week’s Episode 244 marks five years since the blokes began bringing you the hottest tech news in a fun yet informative way each week. On the agenda for this program are the new releases by Samsung with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, LG’s G5 and Alcatel’s Idol 4 and Idol 4S. Also on the show, Sony’s new Xperia X range of smartphones, Huawei’s MateBook, Telstra’s upcoming gateway that can reach…

Garmin has released two more fitness devices – the vivoactive HR GPS smartwatch and the vivofit 3 activity tracker that build on the company’s already impressive portfolio of products. For customers who want to gain an insight into their activity levels or have set their sights on reaching a fitness goal, these new Garmin devices can help you stay on course. Anyone who wants to improve their health, a great place to start is to know your current level of fitness and work from there. And it’s products like the vivoactive HR and vivofit 3 that can help. VIVOACTVE HR…

HP has thrown its hat back in the smartphone ring with the HP Elite x3 – a powerful Windows 10 mobile device that’s a lot more than just a phone – it puts your PC in your pocket. Unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the HP Elite x3 is aimed at high-end and business users and is a device that is a phablet, a laptop and desktop productivity tool in one. It has a huge 5.96-inch WQHD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 which is large and sharp enough to use on the move to stay productive with…

Telstra CEO Andy Penn says sharing 360-degree videos will become the latest challenge for networks as customers embrace the growing number of 360-degress cameras to create and share their content. Speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Mr Penn says the 4G network will be able to handle the anticipated extra load of 360 videos that have the potential to become the next big video format. “There’s a lot of technology and investment that we’re putting in improving video both in terms of radio access network and the fixed network,” he said. “The data increases on the mobile network in…

Episode 187 of the top rating Tech Guide podcast, hosted by editor Stephen Fenech, is coming to you live from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where the latest smartphones have been released. In this week’s show, we take a look at the devices released by Samsung, LG, Alcatel and Telstra. We also chat with Samsung Australia vice president for IT and mobile Prasad Gokhale about the new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices. In the Tech Guide Reviews, we check out the SkyHawk 9600 ultra high powered binoculars and the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 3 Pro. And we also discuss…

Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices won’t be available to customers until March 11 but Tech Guide has already had a thorough hands-in look at the two devices at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Right from the moment you lay eyes on the smartphones you can immediately see the quality and craftsmanship that combines both glass and metal into the sleek lines of the devices. The design language has had a slight tweak from last year with more curves on the rear panels to make them rest more comfortably in your palm as if they are meant…

Huawei has entered the Windows tablet space with MateBook – a 2-in-1 device that combines performance and productivity with design and functionality to be used on the move. The device, which can be used as a tablet or docked to the keyboard and used as a laptop, is made with a metal unibody and is just 6.9mm thick and weighs 640g. It has a 12-inch IPS (in-plane switching) quad HD display with 160-degree viewing angle. And it’s all powered by sixth generation Intel Core processors along with 4GB or 8GB RAM with SSD (solid-state drive) storage options ranging from 128GB…

Sony has introduced the new X Series devices to its popular Xperia smartphone range at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with the promise of a more intelligent and personalised experience. Also unveiled was the Xperia Ear – an intuitive Bluetooth earpiece that is designed to keep users connected to their devices without them constantly looking down at the screen. With the new X Series, which includes the Xperia X, the Xperia Performance and the Xperia XA, Sony has enhanced the camera and the battery performance to be more reactive to where we are and how we are using our devices.…

LG has taken its smartphone design outside the square after revealing the new G5 device which has a modular design to provide the best of both worlds – a metal unibody chassis and a removable battery. The bottom of the sleek device slides open so it can not only allow users to access and swap out the battery but to also attach other modules like a camera pack and a portable hi-fi audio player. This modular system has the potential to create an ecosystem where third party manufacturers could possibly get involved to create add-ons for LG’s G5. The Hi-Fi…

Samsung is looking to extend its lead as the world’s number one smartphone brand with the release of its impressive new flagship devices – the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge – on the eve of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Also announced was the Gear 360 – a 360-degree camera that allows users to make their own virtual reality content. Even Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made an appearance at the launch to talk about virtual reality being the next platform. Facebook actually owns Oculus – the company behind Samsung’s Gear VR – so naturally Zuckerberg was…

Telstra will launch the first hotspot capable of speeds of up to 1Gbps as the company continues to rollout improvements of its mobile network and move towards 5G with the help of network partner Ericsson. In fact, Telstra is planning on using the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast to deploy and trial a 5G service. The gateway device was announced on the eve of Mobile World Congress by Telstra’s group managing director, networks, Mike Wright and is being developed by Telstra in partnership with Netgear. The hotspot will have an all-new circular design and has been described as…

Alcatel OneTouch has unveiled a new logo along with an exciting new range of smartphones including the Idol 4 at the annual Mobile World Congress which has just kicked off in Barcelona. Now simply known as Alcatel and with an eye-catching new logo, the company’s line up of new devices is lead by hero device the Idol 4 which has a range of remarkable new features. Alcatel took the opportunity to launch its new branding in Barcelona where the world mobile phone and network community gather every year. Alcatel will continue to focus on producing high quality devices at an…

Samsung has held on to its position as the world’s number one smartphone vendor while Apple suffered its first ever decline in iPhone sales in the last quarter of 2015 based on market figures from analysts Gartner. Of the top five manufacturers, Samsung and Huawei were the only companies that saw fourth quarter growth. Worldwide smartphone sales in the last quarter of 2015 totalled more than 403 million – a year on year growth of 9.7 per cent and taking the year’s total sales to more than 1.4 billion for a rise of 14.4 per cent over the previous year.…

Optus and Huawei have launched a live trial of 4.5G technology and have achieved incredibly fast download speeds that would exceed your home’s broadband connection. Also known as LTE Advanced Pro, the successful 4.5G trial with Optus and Huawei Wireless Networks was held in Newcastle and achieved speeds of 1.41Gbps with a potential maximum of 1.43Gbps. That’s about 150MB per second so streaming movies and music would be a snap and downloading large files would literally take seconds. These speeds were achieved as a result of carrier aggregation – a technology designed to increase network bandwidth like adding more lanes…

Two Blokes Talking Tech Episode 243, with Tech Guide editor Stephen Fenech and EFTM’s Trevor Long, bring you the biggest, and sometimes small, tech stories in a fun and informative way. On this week’s show, Apple decision to fight a US Government order to access the contents of a terrorists iPhone, the new Chromecast and Chromecast Audio is released in Australia and Telstra customers indulge in a free data day. Also on the show, the Hayu streaming service that serves up reality shows on demand, Lenovo’s tablet with a built-in projector and Phantom drone prices are slashed. In the minute…