When you talk of e-readers most people think of those from Amazon.  What many folks don’t realise is that there are other players on the market that offer impressive digital reading solutions.  Kobo is one of them and have been my favourite for a long time.

This year Kobo released updated e-readers to the world, with coloured e-ink displays making an appearance.  Kobo sent us the new Libra Colour and the Clara Colour to check out and we were suitably impressed with them, but be warned, don’t expect the display to look as good as your Android or iPad display.  Read on to hear more.

Display + hardware

The Libra Colour has the bigger of the two displays at 7-inches while the Clara Colour is a 6-inch display.  Both are E Ink Kaleido 3 displays with a 150ppi resolution.  While not great, these are designed for reading, not for watching high resolution movies and they accomplish that well.

The Libra Colour display is compatible with the Kobo Stylus 2 but the smaller Clara Colour display is not.  I’m not sure why this difference considering the only difference between the two is the one inch size difference.

The stylus support is handy to have, especially if you are using the e-reader for school or work and you can mark up, draw and write as required while reading documents.  You can also make your own notes for later reference.

Both displays can be navigated by tapping on the display – the location of the taps can be changed in the settings to the areas you prefer to use.  I like this option because sometimes while lying in bed reading I want something different to when I’m sitting on the couch reading.

I did notice that sometimes the display wasn’t overly sensitive to lighter touches when navigating around the e-reader.  Another advantage of the physical buttons.

The Clara Colour lacks buttons so it cannot be navigated using hardware buttons like the Libra Colour can.  Sometimes it is easier to reach and use the physical navigation buttons than the display and as such my preference is to have these buttons.

The front light (or backlight, whatever you prefer to call it) is a ComfortLight Pro which allows for not just altering of brightness but also the ‘temperature’ (warm or cold) of the display which is very handy at night where a warmer display allows for relaxation of the eyes.

The storage of both e-readers is 32GB which is enough for a lot of books (they can store up to 24,000 eBooks or 150 audiobooks based on 1.3MB per book and audiobook length of 6.5 hours with 28.8MB per hour) but if you stick a few comics on it that space will vanish quickly – although how many do you need on your device at any one time?

Comics look a bit faded on the coloured e-readers but it’s nice to have an e-reader which can do both e-books and coloured comics easily.  It means you only need to take one device on holidays with you.

The batteries are of different sizes with the Libra Colour at 2,050mAh and the Clara Colour at 1,200mAh, both of which is enough for up to 40 days of battery life (based on 30 minutes of reading per day with the front light at 30% brightness and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off).  It is interesting to see how much that extra one inch of display size (and maybe the stylus display drives?) must affect the battery life given both have the same expected battery life.

Nothing I’ve seen in this review has suggested to me otherwise which is great to hear because my Sage battery won’t last a week (there was apparently meant to be an update coming to improve battery life but I haven’t seen that in the last couple years I’ve been using it).

The Libra Colour comes with an IPX8 rating meaning it is “protected against the effects of continuous immersion in water.”  The X in it means it has not been tested against dust/solid ingress but water is the main thing for an e-reader with many folks liking to soak in a hot bath and relax while reading on their e-reader.  I’d suggest you don’t deliberately test this out though – I certainly did not.

The Libra Colour is 144.6 x 161 x 8.3 mm which is smaller than my Kobo Sage, mostly due to the slightly smaller display.  This is not a massive issue as it is still larger than most Kindles that you see around, especially if you have decent eyesight.

For me, with my woeful eyesight (without glasses) I do need the text quite large to be able to read properly given that most of my reading is before falling asleep at night, when I do not want to be wearing my glasses.  This results in less being able to be visualised on the page so I do need to turn the page more often – *shrug*.

This is a huge advantage of digital e-readers over normal books – you can alter the text size to suit your eyes.  Can’t do that with a traditional paper book.

The Clara Colour is just 112 x 160 x 9.2 mm in size making it quite compact and great for travelling.   It is 26 grams lighter than the Libra Colour at 174 grams but to be honest, both are light enough to carry in your bag easily without developing any kind of kyphosis or scoliosis from the weight.

How is the display to use?

As mentioned above there were times when tapping the Libra Colour display to turn the pages did nothing and there were times when it reacted so slowly I ended up skipping a page.  I’m not entirely sure why this was the case because it was difficult to replicate it when trying to figure out a reason so it was obviously not that much of an issue.

The Clara colour display did not have this issue so I suspect it was something to do with the stylus display driver on the Libra Colour.  It wasn’t bad enough to make me stop using it though, just a minor frustration that I noticed on occasion.

The colour marking up with notes etc was incredibly simple, especially when using the Kobo Stylus on the Libra Colour.  To highlight words, lines and paragraphs though you do need to tap and hold on a word using your finger rather than the stylus.  The Clara Colour does not support marking up, only highlighting.

The colours used for highlighting etc, along with the colours of the display are incredibly subtle and muted compared to that on a smartphone or tablet but that is one of the limitations of an e-ink display (at this stage – never say never).

The displays are easy to read and I love the ability to change the temperature or ‘warmness’ of a display based on time of day and also your preferences.

File Support

One of the main reasons I love Kobo e-readers are their vast file support.  It natively supports 15 file formats –  EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR.

It also supports audiobooks BUT ONLY Kobo Audiobooks which is crazy.  I tried to put a standard mp3 audiobook file on there, all to no avail.  It also means that audiobooks from sources such as OverDrive will not work either.

One more reason I love Kobo readers is the multitude of ways you can put the books and other files onto your e-reader.

With the more advanced Libra Colour, not only can you drag and drop from your PC but also download from OverDrive, Google Drive, Pocket and Dropbox.  The Clara Colour does not support Google Drive or Dropbox though.  It is very handy and it makes me wonder why this option is not included on the Clara Colour and given its $260 price tag it really should be.

One software option hidden away inside ‘Beta Features’ is the web browser.  It is very simple and can’t do much to be honest but it can be used to search quickly for the name of a book from Goodreads for example.  I’m not entirely sure when you would use this all that much given that these days most people have an Internet connected device such as a smartphone or tablet nearby that has a fully functional browser.

Notebooks

Notebooks within the UI of the Kobo Libra Colour allow you to make notes (funny that) on the go and then export them.  This is very handy but just how useful I’m not entirely sure.  I just wonder who doesn’t have an Internet-connected device designed for this sort of thing nearby to use but I think it’s a great push towards a healthier digital lifestyle (ie. away from the distracting and mentally-taxing social media).

Now the advanced notebooks did convert my handwriting into text well, it did not recognise smiley faces so you’d have to insert these as a freehand drawing if you really wanted them in.  You do not have the formatting that you’d get in a fully-fledged office program but it is designed for basic use only.

Interestingly, it was only during using the notebooks that I noticed any ghosting on the display.  As you can see in the pictures below, the writing was still ‘present’ after it had been converted to text.  I suspect that is a small software tweak needed where it should refresh the display once converting to text but doesn’t.

Audiobooks

Unfortunately, the only audiobooks that will play on either Kobo e-reader are those downloaded from the Kobo store which is incredibly disappointing.

Those that you have downloaded from there though will play as designed once you have connected a Bluetooth speaker or headphones to the e-reader.  I tested with both a speaker and headphones and they both paired quickly and easily and played the audiobook as expected.

The audiobook interface is super simple as you would expect, similar to that on Audible but it was refreshing for those who like an audiobook on occasion.  I just hope that they open it up to audiobooks from other sources too.  They haven’t closed off the standard books to those from their store so I am not entirely sure why they have done so for audiobooks.

Accessories

Kobo offers some great stands/covers that you can purchase separately from the e-reader.  They offer standard folio covers (SleepCovers) along with some that fold into a stand to help prop up the book while reading it.

The SleepCovers start at $44.95 for the most basic Libra Colour version but add an extra $5 for one that includes a folding stand in its design. Clara Colour SleepCovers start at $44.95. SleepCovers are actually great value and although I’d prefer them to be cheaper the ones with the included stand in the design are incredibly useful.

There is of course the Kobo Stylus as well.  There is a special cover/folio case that has a stylus holder too.  For me I think the stylus could be of great value if using the e-reader for marking up, such as reading and making notes on articles, grading papers and editing articles.  While the Kobo e-reader is not perfect for this task it is good that the stylus extends the uses of the Kobo Libra Colour meaning you may be able to get away with carrying one less device.

The Kobo Store and Kobo Plus

The Kobo Store is Kobo’s version of the Kindle Store but although Kobo doesn’t say just how many books it has we know it has more than 1.5 million, it doesn’t seem to have quite the same coverage that the Amazon Kindle Store does.  This is not a huge issue if you know where to buy the book you can relatively easily transfer the book from another device to your Kobo.

As for Kobo Plus I’m still yet to be convinced.  Kobo Plus has over 1.5 million eBooks and 150,000 audiobooks but for some reason there are very few of the big-name books or big new releases.  While Kindle Unlimited doesn’t either, it does give you the option to buy one for free each month.

For this reason I’m not convinced that Kobo Plus is decent value for your hard earned.  You are more likely to get better value out of OverDrive which uses your local library’s online ebooks and is normally fairly extensive.

Kobo Plus Read and Kobo Plus Listen are both $13.99 per month or you can opt for both of these for $16.99 per month.  You can get a month free trial though if you sign up so that may be an option for those undecided.

Use it forever

Forever may be a bit of a stretch but Kobo wants to extend the life of your e-reader with a design that allows it to be taken apart – and repaired.   They have partnered with iFixit to allow users to buy and replace their own batteries, circuit boards and screen replacements.

The overall goal of this program is to be more environmentally conscious.  Not only are the new Kobo e-readers made with recycled plastics and their retail packaging from 100% FSC-certified recycled paper, printed with soy-ink but the tablets themselves should have an extended lifespan due this repairability.

Verdict

The Kobo Clara Colour is a great little device.  Compact and incredibly portable, it is a great e-reader, but that is all it is. It is unfortunate that Kobo has limited the ways to add books to the e-reader as it would have been nice to see Dropbox and Google Drive support for it too.

This e-reader is for those who are either on a budget or only want their e-reader to read books (and listen to audiobooks if you want to get them from the Kobo Store). The black and white version of the Kobo Clara is just $20 cheaper than the Clara Colour which is makes the colour version a no-brainer in my opinion. At $259.95 it is still not cheap but one of the cheaper e-readers on our market here in Australia.

The Kobo Libra Colour though is an e-reader that does it all. It is compatible with the Kobo Stylus 2, it has colour, it has support for Google Drive and Dropbox and has physical buttons (and gestures on-display) for navigating. You can browse the web, mark up articles or assignments etc, make notes in the notebook, read e-books, listen to audiobooks — everything possible in an e-reader.

There really is no equivalent Kindle to the Libra Colour with the Scribe supporting stylus use but is a massive 10.2-inch display (you may as well buy a tablet at $549 for the Scribe), the Oasis is the same size and has physical navigation buttons but doesn’t support stylus use and neither of them are coloured. The Oasis is also much more expensive at $559.

The Libra Colour RRP is $359.95 which I think is a great deal. It may be $100 more than the Clara Colour but it can do so much more. If you are looking for an e-reader that can do everything and do not care about using Kindle Books then the Kobo Libra Colour is for you.

Kobo Libra Colour retails for $359.95 AUD, Kobo Clara Colour for $259.95 AUD, and Kobo Clara BW for $239.95 AUD at www.kobo.com/ereaders and select retailers. The Kobo Stylus 2 is currently available and retails for $119.95.

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The future has arrived. Apple’s Vision Pro is one of the most impressive pieces of technology we’ve seen in recent years and it paves the way for a whole new computing experience now and well into the future.

Apple has rightly not called the Vision Pro an VR or AR headset – it is all of that and so much more so it deserves not to be pigeon-holed.

We’ve seen many other headsets on the market in the past but none of them have the level of innovation and technology of the Vision Pro.

Customers have to remember this is a stand-alone spatial computer – powered by an M2 chip (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine) and a new R1 chip which processes inputs from the onboard cameras and sensors – which can operate on its own even without a phone or laptop nearby.

Naturally, Apple has made Vision Pro fit into its excellent ecosystem so Apple customers already inside the walled garden can enjoy all-new experiences.

And like all of Apple’s other products, the quality, design and finish of the Vision Pro will amaze customers along with the countless other touches that are sure to surprise and delight them.

DESIGN

The Vision Pro has a sleek design that offers the typical high quality you would come to expect from Apple.

It is not a one size fits all product with customers who order the device are required to scan their faces to ensure they have the right size strap and light seal included with the unit.

The Vision Pro has numerous cameras and sensors which are used to allow customers to see their surroundings quite clearly but also to pick up their gestures and movements.

There is a little bit of weight (600-650g depending on the light seal and band you’re using) to the Vision Pro but in the week we’ve been using it we were able to fit it comfortably and securely and use it for hours at a time.

The weight is all in the front – you are literally wearing a computer on your face – but the included straps still provide a balanced and comfortable fit.

We used the main Solo Knit wide band that allowed us to keep everything in place comfortably, but Apple also includes a second Dual Loop band that goes over your head for those who need a little bit of help taking the weight.

When you slip on the Vision Pro, there is a small Fit Dial on the right side to offer a tighter fit or to loosen it.

The battery pack is separate and connects to Vision Pro with their proprietary cable that locks into position.

There is a bit of weight to the battery and users need to be careful that it doesn’t fall out of your hand or your pocket and possibly drag the Vision Pro to the ground with it.

We were constantly mindful to have the battery pack in our back pocket or in our lap but also had to remind ourselves to ensure it was close to us when we stood up or moved around the room.

We found the battery lasted about two to two and a half hours on a full charge but we were able to connect it to power on the included USB-C port so we could work, play and enjoy our content for hours at a time.

The light seal attaches magnetically to Vision Pro and blocks out the light while providing a soft cushion for your face.

The Solo Knit band also has cushioning and can stretch to fit around the back of your head.

EYE PIECES

If you wear glasses, you can either obtain a reader or prescription eyepieces (at additional cost) that attach magnetically inside Vision Pro to replicate the level of correction that your glasses would normally offer.

For our review we had two Zeiss eyepieces that matched our reading glasses prescription and that made viewing vision pro razor sharp and crystal clear.

Inside the Vision Pro are two screens and each have resolution that’s greater than the 4K TV you’re watching in your lounge room.

WHAT’S IT FOR

The Vision Pro is not just a toy or a novelty device. This is a product that can be used to work, for productivity, for education, to enjoy apps, play games, watch sport, stream content and much more.

HOW DOES IT WORK

The Vision Pro uses eye tracking for you to navigate the system.

You simply look at an object to highlight it and gently tap your finger and thumb together to create your virtual mouse click.

The real strength of the device is the fact that there are no complicated controllers that you need to hold and learn.

Unlike other virtual reality headsets, Vision Pro takes no time to learn how to use.

It’s easy to arrange and resize windows as well as opening apps and closing them – it’s literally a glance that’s all that’s required.

APPS

There are already more than 2,000 apps designed for Vision Pro ranging from productivity tools, games, utilities and entertainment – and they all utilise the unique environment that Vision Pro creates.

And there are millions of iPhone and iPad apps that can also be enjoyed on Vision Pro including many games said utilities and other popular apps like browsers, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, TikTok, Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Word and much more.

Apps and windows float magically in your physical space – you can even stand up and walk up to it and around it. If you open a window in one part of the house and walk to another room – that other window will still be there when you get back.

ENVIRONMENTS

The main area that arranges your apps has three options to the left – Apps, People and Environments.

In the environments section users have the choice to transport themselves to various exotic locations including Joshua tree, a Hawaiian volcano, a beautiful white sandy desert, Yosemite national park, Mount Hood and even the moon.

Each of these environments has its own characteristics and audio that truly transport you to that place.

These environments can also be used as a backdrop for your app windows and Facetime calls with the digital crown offering the ability to wind them up or down depending on the level of immersion you want.

WORK AND PRODUCTIVITY

Apple’s Vision Pro is definitely a work and productivity tool that can help you focus on the task at hand and offer even more screen real estate to spread out your work.

There are a lot of native apps including Keynote that allows users to stay productive.

Keynote for Vision Pro is a remarkable tool that not only helps you create your presentation in the same easy and dynamic way that you would on your Mac but also allows you to rehearse your presentation in a remarkable way.

Users can choose to stand on the stage at the Steve Jobs theatre to rehearse their presentation – the same spot where Apple CEO Tim Cook kicks off his keynote presentations.

And you are totally immersed in the environment which includes not only the hundreds of seats in front of you but, if you look behind you, you’ll see your presentation on the big screen as well as your presenter notes in front of you.

Users can also choose to rehearse in a boardroom setting. This is just one example of how Vision Pro can add a whole new dimension to your workflow.

One of our favourite features of Vision Pro is the ability to connect it to our MacBook and use it as our display.

All you need to do is look at your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro and see the Connect option appear.

Once selected the screen on the laptop goes blank and you are suddenly presented with a stunning 5K display that you can resize and reposition right in front of you.

You can still use the keyboard and trackpad and a connected mouse for your input and control but you now have a dazzling display that only you can see.

This is useful to not only stay focused on your project but also to provide added privacy if you are working on a sensitive project.

CONTENT

Viewing content on the Apple Vision Pro is an experience like no other.

Whether it’s streaming a movie, watching the latest episode of your favourite TV show or catching up on a live game the Vision Pro is nothing short of incredible.

Apple TV+ and Disney+ have Vision Pro versions of their apps so viewers can watch the latest movies and TV shows on the equivalent of a huge screen. Interestingly Netflix and YouTube native apps are not yet available on Vision Pro, but you can still watch their content on the included Safari browser.

Vision Pro is like having a portable home theatre.

Now I have gone to great lengths and considerable cost to create a theatre in my house which offers the best possible audio visual experience.

The Vision Pro viewing offers incredible picture and audio quality and is not too far behind our dedicated home theatre in terms of providing an exciting viewing experience.

But the Vision Pro is a solo device whereas my home theatre has several seats for many people to enjoy the movie.

But watching a regular TV screen means having to sit up and look towards the screen.

With Vision Pro the screen moves with you wherever you are looking or moving your head so it would be possible to recline in a comfortable chair or even lay down in bed to watch your content.

But Vision Pro does have the ability for SharePlay so connected Vision Pro users can watch the same movie or TV show on Apple TV at the same time.

Users can choose to be sitting in the front row middle or back of the theatre.

Disney+ also has backdrop options to give users the impression they are at a unique drive-in cinema.

Our favourite Disney+ backdrop was the Star Wars location Tatooine.

IMMERSIVE CONTENT

The Vision Pro can offer users total immersion and Apple TV has just the content to deliver that experience with its Apple Immersive videos.

These are more than just watching a large screen in front of you – these videos take you inside the world you’re watching whether it’s a mountain climber, sitting beside Alicia Keys at a piano, on an African safari, courtside at a basketball match, behind the net at the football or on the field during an American football match.

The potential is huge for major sports to create an all new way to watch the games as if you are sitting courtside or behind the net or on the sideline.

If I could watch live sport like this every week, shut up and take my money right now!

The NBA has developed an app that allows users to watch multiple games at the same time and choose which game they would prefer on the largest central screen.

The PGA Tour has also created a remarkable app that allows you to track tournaments hole by hole and even present 3D augmented reality versions of each hole that you are able to view in real time. This is simply stunning.

3D

Vision Pro also has the potential to start a 3D revival.

Yes, that’s right. You can watch movies in 3D on Apple TV+ and on Disney+ as part of your subscription.

And there are plenty of titles to choose from including the latest Avatar film and 3D versions of some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters including Dune and the latest Star Wars films.

GAMING

Vision Pro is a gamer’s paradise with so many apps built specifically for the device but also countless others which can also be enjoyed in an all-new way.

There’s AirDraw that allows you to paint with your fingers in your own open space.

Super Fruit Ninja, the popular Australian made game, which uses the gesture controls to start slicing away at the virtual fruit appearing in front of you.

If you’re a fan of racing games, there are plenty to choose from and you can even pair an Xbox or PlayStation controller so you can enjoy the massive screen inside Vision Pro and the physical controls in your hands.

AUGMENTED REALITY

There are several apps that can add digital content to your own personal space including JigSpace (another Australian app) which allows you to place 3D objects like jet engines and Formula One cars right in front of you and even take them apart.

Another favourite was Exploring Mars Which placed the Mars Rover right in front of us and allowed us to watch it operate and choose its size before our eyes.

We also loved Sky Guide which allowed us to gaze virtually at the night sky and zoom in on various constellations to explore and learn more about the universe.

And there are many more and there will be many more in the future.

FACETIME

Making a Facetime call with the Vision Pro is one of best things we experienced.

You can connect with other Vision Pro users and talk to each other like you’re in the same room sitting at a table.

It is infinitely better than a video call.

So how can you be seen on Facetime with the Vision Pro – there’s no camera on you and you’re wearing a headset.

You’re seen through your Persona – a 3D rendering of your face and hands that can mimic your actions and expressions and provide a realistic version of you.

We tried a Facetime call with Trevor Long and Kane Vato who had also created Personas for their Vision Pro and it was as close to seeing them in person you can get without actually meeting.

And once you turn on the spatial settings the sound when they are talking is coming from the direction you can see them – just like you would in their presence.

You can set backgrounds for the chat, share your own view and even enjoy SharePlay together so you can watch the same TV show and movie like you’re all in the same room.

This is truly one of the most impressive communications experiences we’ve had since the launch of Facetime.

SPATIAL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

The Vision Pro is actually a 3D camera you can use it to capture spatial photos and spatial videos that are so lifelike it’s like revisiting a moment in time when you watch it. It’s like you’re there again.

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max can also capture spatial videos so they can be viewed in 3D on Vision Pro and Canon and BlackMagic Design also have plans to release cameras and lenses to create Spatial content.

This is an all-new way of creating and reliving those precious moments in your life.

TRAVELLING WITH VISION PRO

The Vision Pro is an ideal travel companion that allows you to watch content and use apps like never before.

There is a travel mode onboard Vision Pro to ensure all the windows you open stay with you rather than being left behind because the plane is travelling at high speed.

In travel mode it locates your windows relative to the Vision Pro rather than in your location when using it in your home.

The ability to enjoy your huge personal cinema in comfort and privacy makes Vision Pro a great device to take with you on your travels.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

The one thing that could be better with Vision Pro is the battery.

It’s tethered to the Vision Pro with a proprietary cable and something you must remember to keep in your pocket or close to you.

If you drop it, it could lead to an accident that could drag the Vision Pro to the floor.

We can understand Apple wanting to keep the battery pack separate to the actual Vision Pro to reduce the weight of the product.

Other brands have located the battery at the back of the headband which balances the weight and keeps everything in one place in a compact package.

Battery life could also be better using it steadily for an hour and a half to two hours could easily bring you below 20 per cent.

Vision Pro does come with a charger and a USB-C cable to allow users to keep it plugged in so they can use it for hours on end.

PRICE

OK, let’s talk about the price.

The Vision Pro starts at $5,999 which means it’s not going to be within the reach of most regular customers.

We can understand brand new technology comes at a high cost.

We’ve seen this in the past and notice prices come down in the years that follow.

But you must remember, the Vision Pro is a standalone spatial computer and a powerful one at that.

It offers incredible power and performance which goes a long way to giving users a memorable experience every time they put it on.

There are many customers who are avid gamers who wouldn’t bet an eyelid paying thousands of dollars to ensure top level performance and low lag when it comes to playing the latest games.

By that logic, Vision Pro should attract the customer who wants not only an excellent gaming device but a device that provides the ultimate productivity tools and a stunning way to view their content.

VERDICT

Apple’s Vision Pro is one of the most advanced products we’ve ever seen. Apple has created an all-new way to work, play, communicate and consume content as only Apple could. The Vision Pro is exciting – but it is the product’s potential that has us even more excited. This is a true game changer.

* For more Australian Vision Pro reviews check out Trevor Long at EFTM and Val Quinn at Gadget Guy.

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We love our coffee – we meet people to drink coffee together – it’s a big part of our lives. But what about if you can make café quality coffee at home? With the new DeLonghi Rivelia you can do just that – at the press of a button.

DeLonghi has been at this a while and they already make some excellent coffee machines.

We already own the La Specialista Prestigio – a manual coffee machine which grinds the beans, brews the coffee and has a steam wand to texture the milk.
We use it every day and it’s fun to make a coffee in much the same way a barista in a café would – manually.

The new DeLonghi Rivelia is the opposite – it’s fully automatic from bean to cup – and all you need to do is press a button.

Everything else is done for you right down to producing velvety frothed milk and mixing in nicely brewed coffee.

The unit is sleek and has a small footprint when you consider what it can do.

And it is all controlled through the intuitive 3.5-inch colour touch screen that steps you through every stage from initial set up to setting profiles and learning what you like and when you like it.

But despite it being a completely automatic machine, there are still several ways it can be adapted to suit your taste.

Setting up is surprisingly simple with the machine taking you step by step to get everything set up, the water tank filled and the coffee beans in the hopper.

It’s really easy to follow the steps via the display.

One of the best things about the Rivelia is your choice of drinks with 16 customizable recipes at your fingertips and the ability to create up to four personal profiles.

The machine remembers the coffee that you prefer and can make it for you every single time.

Another great new feature is the ability to switch between different coffee beans thanks to two interchangeable hoppers.

Traditionally whenever you fill your hopper with beans you’re stuck with that selection until they run out and you refill it with something different.

But with the Rivelia you can have two different types of beans in two different hoppers and easily switch them out depending on what you’re in the mood for.

The machine can also suggest things like the optimal grind, dose and temperature to suit the different coffee beans being used.

And the milk attachment works brilliantly and always produces fluffy, frothy milk.

There are settings on the milk attachment for the level of froth you prefer.

When we made our lattes, milk was always the first ingredient followed by the coffee.

There is also a cleaning feature on the milk container to ensure the hygiene of the system.

What we did when there was still milk left in the container, we detached this small unit from the machine and stored it in the fridge for the next coffee.

The Rivelia is good at making the coffee but what about the clean up?

Every time you turn off the machine it goes through a self-cleaning process which requires you to have a cup to catch any water.

The machine also reminds you to clean out the hopper which is where the ground coffee is disposed of after each cup.

The only thing we didn’t like was how often it suggested to clean the hopper despite the fact would only made two or three cups of coffee – I guess the machine is a clean freak.

And the clean up is not much more work than a pod-based machine.

Instead of tossing pods into the bin you’re just cleaning out the ground coffee from the hopper.

Yes, a pod machine gives you a choice of different coffee with each pod but we are more a pick and stick and the two varieties that were available with the Rivelia was more than enough to satisfy our taste.

The DeLonghi Rivelia is priced at $1,799 but coffee lovers would see this as an investment.

If you can make cafe quality coffee at home, you are going to be spending a lot less money buying it.

For us it meant our morning coffee was waiting for us at home rather than having to head out in the morning or after a workout to buy one.

If you drink a lot of coffee, there will be a lot of savings on how much money you’re going to spend so the machine will pay itself off in a year or two.

VERDICT

The DeLonghi Rivelia is an excellent fully automatic coffee machine that delivers consistently high quality brews to suit your taste at the press of a button. If you like cafe quality coffee without all the work, then this is the machine for you.

The post DeLonghi Rivelia automatic coffee machine review – cafe quality coffee at the press of a button appeared first on Tech Guide.

If you love e-books, you can forget the monotone screen. Now you can add colour to your e-book reading, mark-up and note-taking experience with the new Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Clara Colour.

Kobo’s new Libra Colour and Clara Colour bring the features you knew and loved from the mono versions including the screen sizes and waterproof design and add the brand new E Ink Kaleido touchscreens.

Now you can see your library and individual in full colour while still maintain the glare-free paper-like look.

The new Kobo Libra Colour also adds stylus compatibility so you can mark up your books, highlight passages and create notes to organise your thoughts.

And being colour, naturally you have the choice of colours for your highlighter and writing.

Kobo Libra Colour is available in black or white and has a 7-inch E Ink Kaleido touchscreen display and has an area to the right of the screen so you can hold the device without blocking any of the screen.

It also has page up and down buttons so you can manually turn the pages of your book instead of swiping the screen left or right (you can do that too).

It has a slightly curved form factor, so it fits nicely in your hand with the page turn buttons at your fingertips.

You might be thinking why you need colour when reading text – well you don’t but the attraction is not only seeing your covers in colour and your coloured highlights, but you can enjoy colour illustrations and images.

It also opens the possibility of attracting younger readers with colourful illustrated children’s books, older readers with comics, graphic novels and coffee tables books filled with brilliant images.

The Kobo Clara Colour has a 6-inch E Ink Kaleido and a more compact unit that can easily fit into a bag or a large pocket.

The new Kobo’s offer an excellent reading experience – the screen looks just like paper – it can be read anywhere – in bed at night or outside in the sun – and there are no notifications to distract you from your book.

Onboard the new Kobo Colour e-readers is the ComfortLight PRO which can reduce blue light during the day. You can also choose to read in dark mode.

And with colour – your library of book covers never looked so good.

Now we know many people like to read with a highlighter or pen in their hand so they can highlight and circle passages and write notes in the margins.

There are a few other e-readers that now come with the ability to write on the screen including the Kindle Scribe, but Kobo has a patent for the ability to write and highlight within an e-book which makes it just like the experience you’d have with a physical book.

The stylus does not come with the Kindle Libra Colour and can be purchased at additional cost.

The Kobo stylus can be used as a pencil or as a highlighter. Users can simply write on the screen and annotate the text and, with the press of the button, it makes it possible to select and highlight passages.

It also has an eraser on the top like a regular pencil so if you make a mistake, you just rub it out like you would on paper and it disappears.

The Kobo Libra Colour can also be your journal and notebook.

There are several templates to choose from including simple ruled lines, planners, calendars and much more.

Users can group notes into notebook to easily organise their thoughts, plans, recipes and anything else you’d like to write down.

All your notes can also be backed up to the Kobo Cloud and connected to Google Drive and Dropbox.

The Kobo Clara Colour does not have stylus compatibility but you can still highlight passages in different colours using your finger on the touchscreen.

These latest Kobo devices can also play audiobooks.

With built-in Bluetooth you can pair your headphones and earphones to the devices like you would with your smartphones so you can listen to your books instead of reading them.

The Kobo Libra Colour and Kobo Clara Colour are made from recycled and ocean-bound plastic.

They are also waterproof so you can read them anywhere even by the pool, at the beach or in the bath.

The Kobo Libra Colour has 32GB of internal storage which is enough room for up to 24,000 books while the Kobo Clara Colour has 16GB and room for up to 12,000 books – that should get you through your next holiday.

Many Kobo owners are unaware the devices can be used at your local library to borrow e-books from your local library with Overdrive and Libby integration.

The Kobo Libra Colour is priced at $359.95 with the Kobo Stylus 2 priced at $119.95. The Kobo Libra Colour Sleepcover is available in Butter Yellow, Dusk Blue and Black and are priced at $49.95. The Kobo Libra Colour Clear Case is $39.95.

The Kobo Clara Colour is priced at $259.95. The Kobo Clara Colour/BW Sleepcover is available in Misty Green, Candy Pink, Cayenne Red and Black and are priced at $44.95. The Kobo Clara Colour/BW Clear Case is $34.95. The Kobo Clara Colour/BW Basic Sleepcover in Cobalt Blue is $34.95.

They go on sale on April 30, 2024.

au.kobobooks.com 

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There are often times when we need to connect our computer or mobile device to a TV for a presentation or to enjoy your content on a larger screen and the Verbatim Share My Screen 4K makes it really quick and easy.

Yes, there are ways to mirror your screen but it’s hardly ever a seamless experience when you try and convince one brand of laptop to talk to a particular brand of smart TV.

There is no such issue with the Verbatim Share My Screen 4K.

It doesn’t matter what laptop you have – Windows (Windows 7 and later), Mac (macOS 10.2 and later) or Chrome OS – you connect the transmitter to laptop and the receiver to the TV, monitor or projector and you’re good to go.

It even works with smartphones and tablets running Android.

This is especially effective when you need to share your screen for a presentation in an office you’ve never visited before.

If there is no existing wireless set-up or cable it can be an anxious set up – that’s the last thing you need before an important presentation.

You’re already nervous and want to nail it, not stuff around with the AV set-up and typing in their guest wi-fi password correctly.

Thankfully the Verbatim Share My Screen 4K is super simple to set up.

The receiver connects to the TV or monitor with a HDMI cable – this isn’t included so you need to supply your own.

The receiver also needs power through its USB-C port, and you do get the USB-A to USB-C cable but you need your own plug – you can use the one that charges your phone and you can also use your own USB-C to USB-C cable.

Next you plug the transmitter into a USB-C port on your laptop or Android device.

When we got to the right input on the screen, we pressed the button on the receiver and the button on the transmitter to sync them together and we were looking at our laptop display on our 85-inch TV.

The device supports 4K resolution at 30Hz which is suitable for presentations, streaming and gaming.

And there is no mess of cables – it’s all happening wirelessly.

It will work within a 10m range between the receiver and the transmitter so that offers a lot of flexibility.

And it’s so simple to set up – anyone can do it.

The transmitter attached to your laptop or Android device has a USB-A port as well and this means it can act like a hub so you can connect a keyboard, mouse or external hard drive.

The Verbatim Share My Screen 4K is ideal for a professional or a student and anyone else who wants to get what’s on their smaller screen on their TV screen with minimal fuss and next to no set-up.

It is available now and is priced at $199.

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The Amazon Echo Hub is a great way to bring together your smart home devices and control, manage and monitor them all in one place.

I’ll be honest – at first, I struggled to understand the difference between the Echo Show 15 that’s already on wall and the new Echo Hub with its 8-inch touchscreen.

We can talk to the Echo Show and ask it to play music, videos, set reminders and control our devices.

The Echo Hub is a different beast. It can also play content and do most of the things the Echo Show can do, but where it excels is as a controller and as an all-encompassing dashboard to see the connected devices in your home.

If the Echo Show is where you play your content, then the Echo Hub is your remote control.

A few years ago, a system like Echo Hub was only possible with smart home automation control systems like Control 4, Crestron, Legrand, C-Bus, Savant, Lutron and others that required cabling and physical connections between rooms and between products to operate sufficiently.

These were typically designed for mansions and affordable only by the wealthy.

What Amazon has delivered with Echo Hub takes several pages out of those systems, including compatibility with Matter, Thread and Zigbee and wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity, to make a more consumer friendly version.

What has allowed Amazon to offer this level of control at this price is the fact that nearly every home now has a high-speed broadband connection and a decent wireless network where all of today’s smart homes devices now reside and operate.

The Echo Hub is a wall-mountable 8-inch touchscreen that’s just 1.5cm thick.

We chose to use a specially built Sanus desktop mount so we could sit it on our desk within reach.

It also has a motion sensor, so the screen instantly comes to life as soon as we sat down in front of the screen at our desk.

Once you go through a pretty simple set-up the Echo Hub will gather the connected items in your home and display them in groups on the screen.
If you have Echo speakers, smart plugs, security cameras, video doorbells, locks, light bulbs and other smart products, you will see them grouped together on the screen and control them with a touch of the screen or with your voice.

And don’t worry if you have an Echo speaker in the same room as the Echo Hub.

You can choose the default speaker to play your content. In our case we ticked the box for the Echo Show 15 a couple of metres away on our wall.

So now when we ask Alexa to play music or the radio it’s going to come from the Echo Show 15 which has a better speaker than the Echo Hub and there is no double-up on the audio.

Users can also choose from a few widgets that create shortcuts on the dashboard which can group devices, provide information, display calendars and information and other tidbits including daily trivia and celeb birthdays.

Users can easily set routines so it can do things like wish you a good morning, tell you the news traffic and weather, turn on connected devices and play the day’s news and even play relaxing music when you get home.

Echo Hub can also act as a room to room intercom if you have other Echo products in your household.

It’s also possible to easily create groups so devices in the same room, for example, can easily be seen and displayed on the dashboard.

The beauty of the Echo Hub is that it can connect with thousands of devices including cameras, lights, plugs, speakers and much more from a variety of brands thanks to its compatibility with Matter, Zigbee and Thread.

Once connected to the hub you can control all these compatible devices within your home’s network even if your Internet is down.

The Echo Hub isn’t a glorified tablet. You can’t pick it up and browse the web or run apps like an iPad or an Android tablet.

It’s built to be the universal remote control for your home.

Another favourite feature was grouping our security cameras and being able to see a live view on the screen either by tapping on the display or asking Alexa to show it to you.

Naturally, the Echo Hub works beautifully with Ring products – Amazon owns the company so compatibility was no surprise.

We have mainly Arlo cameras at our place, and it only managed to show the live view from one of our six cameras.

But we did notice some other limitations.

We felt it could have given us more on device control to edit and remove devices.

For this we had to go to the Alexa app to make those changes.

Same thing for when we wanted to edit a device’s name or move it to another room – it was always back to the app to do the job.

So why don’t you just use the app instead of purchasing the Echo Hub.

The app does give you a lot of control, but you’ve got to get your phone and open the app and find you what you want to do where is Echo Hub is always there and ready to go with your devices and groups and shortcuts literally at your fingertips.

And if it’s in a central place in your home everyone can use it.

The Echo Hub is available now and is priced at $329.

VERDICT

If you have several smart devices in your home, especially Echo speakers and Ring products, then Echo Hub is an ideal investment to make the most of your connected products, prepare for more and to give you the ultimate control.

The post Echo Hub review – the universal remote control for your home’s smart devices appeared first on Tech Guide.

The Meta Quest 3 is an impressive improvement over the previous model and offers an excellent entry into the world of VR with lots of content to enjoy on this high quality hardware.

If you’re a fan of the Meta Quest 2 – then you should absolutely get yourself the Meta Quest 3 – it’s a lot better but also more expensive.

In our eyes the Meta Quest 3 is still a product that will have a core group of fans – but it could be more approachable for your average consumer.

While it’s pretty easy to set up and get started, you still need to be fairly savvy to handle the controllers and find your way around.

For us it’s the controllers that are likely to be the deal breaker for newcomers.

For myself, I didn’t mind them, but it still took me a while to get the hang of it and getting to know which button does what.

But when you change the game or experience – you need to relearn what the buttons can do.

The quality of the experience is undoubtedly high – much clearer than the Meta Quest 3 and more responsive.

For us we could get the hang of the controllers and what you need to do with them but for adults who aren’t so savvy this could be a one-hit winder.

I showed the Meta Quest 3 to my wife and while she was completely immersed in the Nature VR app where you explore various landscapes – she found the controllers confusing and hard to use and at one point she handed them back to me so she could just turn around on the spot and enjoy the stunning virtual environment.

There are some simple hand tracking controls (where you don’t need the controllers) but they are still quite rudimentary and a long way from being effectively usable to the point where you can put down the physical controllers and enjoy the same experience.

Getting your head around the trigger and the side grab button along with a joystick and three surface buttons on each controller stopped us in our tracks a few times.

Mark Zuckerberg, when the Meta Quest 3 was unveiled a few weeks after Apple’s Vision Pro, described the product as the best value headset you can buy.

This was an obvious dig at Apple’s pricey Vision Pro which will go on sale in Australia for around $6,000 later this year compared to Meta Quest 3’s $799.99 price tag.

Zuckerberg made the comparison, not us, so I will continue with it.

Comparing the Meta Quest 3 to the Apple Vision Pro is like comparing a Toyota Camry with a Lamborghini.

But I do agree with what he said about value – for what you pay and what you get, there is a lot to enjoy with the Meta Quest 3.

I’ve used the Apple Vision Pro and it’s in a class of its own.

And the main reason for that, apart from its slick design stunning video and audio quality, eye tracking and incredible performance, is the fact there are no controllers.

All you need are your hands and a few simple intuitive gestures to create an even more memorable and immersive experience.

That’s why Apple is going to make VR/AR/Mixed Reality/Spatial Computing more mainstream.

And it’s because I could put the Apple Vision Pro on my mother’s head and she would be able to use it.

But ironically, it’s huge price will probably play against this appeal to mainstream customers.

I know what you’re thinking.

This bloke is making a big deal about the Meta Quest 3’s controllers but it’s like driving a car with a crappy steering wheel and hard to find controls. It impacts on the overall driving experience.

The upside of the release of the Apple Vision Pro is that is it validating the whole world of VR and Meta and other companies like HTC which has been in VR for years and making slow headway.

And Meta and HTC will also benefit because Apple getting involved makes customers think it’s even more worthwhile.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

When Apple Vision Pro is released, more people will be interested in VR and only a handful will be able to afford it which makes Meta Quest 3 even more attractive for most customers.

You just have to put up with those cumbersome controllers.

But let’s get on with the review.

The unit is a little bulky and front heavy, but the weight can be balanced out with an additional rear battery strap (that’s an extra $219.99).

There is a head strap that can help take the weight and an eyepiece hood that blacks out the room and forces you to focus on the screens.

You can easily adjust, tighten and loosen the Meta Quest 3 strap to comfortably suit the size of your head.

These small displays each have a 2064 x 2208 pixel resolution with up to 120Hz adaptive refresh rate – that’s a 30 per cent improvement over the previous model.

In the games we played, the resolution provided a life-like quality and plenty of detail but there was still an animated, cartoon like quality in a lot of the games and apps.

That’s not a fault of the Meta Quest 3 – there’s plenty headroom with the resolution – we just have to wait for the developers to come up with the content that takes advantage of that quality.

What’s also impressive is the directional audio quality which come from strap mounted mini speakers that directs sounds into your ears.

Users can also easily set boundaries so they don’t bump into the furniture, or they can choose to stay seated.

When you come close to the boundary, the pass through cameras come on so you can see your surroundings through the internal displays.

The other attraction is the huge amount of content available whether you want to play a game, go exploring, do some exercise with a fun workout, watch your content or improve your skills.

We played Vader Immortal, Star Wars Tales from Galaxy’s Edge, The Room puzzle game and explored Nature Treks VR and each was excellent.

It captivated my family who were all eagerly awaiting their turn.

That’s the other thing about VR – it’s a solo experience, you’re off in your own little world.

As far as we know there are no multiplayer games where you can see your friends in the games.

Imagine completing a campaign or a mission like that?

But there is no denying the complete immersion of the experience. Once you slip on the Meta Quest 3 you are transported to another world.
We lost track of time and our orientation in the room we were playing. We recommend finding a room with plenty of space to move around if you’re not going to play seated.

The total weight is 515g – that’s more than half a kilo – and after a little while it does get heavy, and you’ll need to take a break.

Another thing that will make you take a break is the average battery life which just got to two hours of use during our review. Then it takes another two hours to charge to 100 per cent again.

That’s the Meta Quest 3 headset on its own – but with the Elite Strap with battery (for an additional $219.99) you can stretch that out by another couple of hours.

PRICING

The Meta Quest 3 is priced at $799.99 with 128GB storage. The only other storage option is quite a jump to 512GB which is priced at $1,049.99.

Users can also purchase an Elite strap ($119.99) which offers a little more support for the weight of the device.

But we’d recommend going for the Elite strap with battery ($219.99) to double the battery life.

And if you want to take the Meta Quest 3 anywhere there’s also a carrying case for $119.99.

VERDICT
The Meta Quest 3 is an excellent VR headset that offers a stunning experience. Improvement is needed with the controller – or getting rid of it altogether – but the device shows there is definitely an exciting VR future awaiting all of us.

The post Meta Quest 3 review – stunning and immersive VR experience but controllers need some work appeared first on Tech Guide.

The need for wi-fi speed has never been more apparent in today’s households as we stream content, playing online games and connect numerous smart devices.

The good news is Netgear’s Nighthawk RS700S Wi-Fi 7 tri-band router can provide the speed you need and more.

Wi-Fi 7 is the very latest wireless standard and one that will be used by more and more products so it doesn’t hurt jumping in early to future proof your home at a time when we take streaming 4K and gaming with low latency for granted.

Wi-Fi 7 is onboard the upcoming Samsung S24 Ultra, the Google Pixel 8 and the Pixel 8 Pro but you can be certain new smartphones and laptops will be supporting Wi-Fi 7 as sure as nose on your face.

So what’s new with Wi-Fi 7?

For a start it has three bands – 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz – and can achieve speeds up to 19Gbs.

The new ultra-wide bandwidth offers 2.4x the speed to your connected devices and Wi-Fi 7-compatible devices like smartphones and laptops enjoying up to 5Gbps.

The device uses multiple wi-fi bands at once to the reliability of the network, reduce latency and deliver data with maximum speed.

The Netgear Nighthawk RS700S is powered by Broadcom’s BCM6726/3 Wi-Fi 7 System on a Chip (SoC) and has a 10Gb internet port to support the faster internet speeds when they are available along with four 1Gb LAN ports for faster wired connections.

There is also a 10Gb LAN port to connect a Ethernet switch or a separate mesh wifi satellite.

There are few things different about the RS700S.

Firstly, it is more like a tower rather than the traditional Nighthawk shape with wings. This slick design means a much smaller footprint

There are also no antennas poking out.
All the technology is contained in the narrow chassis while still offering 360-degree coverage over 325 square metres.

It’s all thanks to the new internal 3D antenna design – that’s more than enough to cover your entire home – even multi-storey homes.
Set up is remarkably simple thanks to the Netgear Nighthawk app which steps you through the whole process and also allows you to change the name and password to the new wireless network.

Once we were connected out tests over wi-fi were seeing speeds well over 900Mbps – some as high as 975Mbps.

We have a 1Gigabit per second plan through Aussie Broadband so the Netgear Nighthawk RS700S was giving the speeds we’re already paying for.

And as more Wi-Fi 7 products become available those speeds will improve even further and maintain that new consistency.

The RS700S can handle up to 200 connected devices on your network – and that’s a lot. We have more than 70 at our place and that still leaves plenty of room to add plenty more.

The Netgear Nighthawk RS700S Router is priced at $1,499 and can provide the sort of coverage you’d expect from a mesh wi-fi system so that can justify this price

Technical specifications:

– 320MHz high-capacity channels & 4K QAM – New, ultra-wide bandwidth means 2.4x the speed to your connected devices. WiFi 7 smartphones and laptops can get speeds up to 5Gbps.

– Multi-Link Operation – Uses multiple wi-fi bands at once to improve network reliability, reduce latency, and ensure data is delivered with maximum speed.

– Lower latency – Dramatically upgrades gaming and interactive online experiences and opens the door for immersive next-gen AR and VR.

– More Capacity for Data-Intense Activities – Connect up to 200 devices, such as security cameras, smart home devices, and speakers, while enjoying 4K/8K video streaming, online gaming and HD video conferencing.

– Multi-Gig Speeds with 10GbE Internet Port – Use the 10 Gig internet port for cable and fibre plans up to 10Gbps. Compatible with any internet service provider.

– More wired ports on every device – Plug in wired devices to improve performance via a 10Gbps and four 1Gbps LAN ports.

VERDICT

The Netgear Nighthawk RS200S Wi-Fi 7 router can offer you expectational wi-fi speeds and coverage in your home now and well into the future.

The post Netgear Nighthawk Wi-Fi 7 Router review – expectational speeds and coverage that’s future proof appeared first on Tech Guide.

When it comes to security cameras, the more area you can cover the better and the Uniden App Cam Pano can give you a 170-degree field of view – it’s actually two cameras in one.

Uniden’s App Cam Pano has two lenses so it can cover a larger area but stitches the feeds together and presents you with one widescreen video or image.

For our review we installed the Pano on our back deck overlooking our yard along with the included solar panel.

When we’re not home we like to observe our two dalmatians – Ziggy and Logan – if they are outside in the yard.

After setting up, thanks to the 170-degree viewing angle, we were able to see our backyard in 3K video resolution from the fence on the left side to the fence on the right so basically there was nothing we were going to miss.

If anything is within 30m of the camera it will be captured on video.

Typically an outdoor security camera has around 130-degree field of view so to achieve what we did with the Uniden Pano and cover the same area, we’d have to position two cameras and look at two different feeds.

Naturally, it’s possible to view live video and notifications with the Uniden Solo app on your smartphone as well as record video and capture images to share.

The onboard camera activates immediately thanks to the built-in AI which also gives it the ability to distinguish between people, animals and vehicles.

And the Uniden Thermo Sense also prevents you getting flooded with notifications because it detects both heat and movement so it will flag a person in front of the camera rather than a tree swaying in the breeze or a car passing by in the street.

It also has a bright motion-activated spotlight also provides colour night vision which is enabled through a CMOS sensor.

The onboard passive infrared sensor spotlight with 440 lumens brightness. This enables colour night vision to be captured up to 30m away.

And everything can be saved locally on a microSD card or on Uniden Cloud for later playback.

Set up was very straightforward – once it was installed.

Where I decided to install the camera and solar panel involved ladders and power drills and it was more where I placed them that made the job slightly more difficult than the actual job itself.

And this proves that if a pen pusher like us can install this – anyone can.

And with the solar panel which was attached next to the camera and connected to the unit via a USB-C cable, we won’t ever need to worry about recharging the onboard battery.

Once in place the Uniden Solo app did the rest. It was just a matter of scanning the QR code on the side of the camera, aiming a second QR code for the camera to recognise and connecting it to our wi-fi network.

The whole onboarding process took a matter of minutes.

The Uniden App Cam Pano is a larger unit thanks to its twin lens design so it’s not as discreet as other cameras – but that’s a good thing.

A visible camera is a great deterrent to anyone coming on to your property with ill intentions.

Key features

– 100 per cent wire free over Wi-Fi

– Dual Lens – Double the Coverage

– Solar power compatible (Solar Panel Included)

– rechargeable battery with 120 days standby time

– low-battery notifications

– rapid wake-up

– colour night vision

– 170-degree viewing angle with dual lens and dual view

– Thermo Sense technology

– 3K (6MP) resolution to view, record and playback video

– SD Card and seven days free cloud backup and storage

– weatherproof design

– AI intelligent alerts

– customised voice-recordable alerts

– siren alert trigger

– motion detection record

– privacy masking to black out areas within the camera’s view

– black out areas within the camera’s view that you don’t want to be recorded.

The Uniden App Cam Pano is priced at $429.

VERDICT

The Uniden App Cam Pano is an excellent product that offers even wider coverage – something that usually requires two regular cameras so you can keep an eye on things when you’re not around. And with the inclusion of the solar panel – it becomes a set and forget solution that will always provide peace of mind.

The post Uniden App Cam Pano review – the twin lens security camera that won’t miss a thing appeared first on Tech Guide.

The new Arlo Video Doorbell not only provides convenience but also peace of mind as an added security device in your home right there at your front door.

The latest version of the Arlo Video Doorbell 2^nd Generation is an impressive upgrade with 2K video quality and 180-degree field of view.

Users can answer their door from anywhere whether they’re home or on the other side of the world and the person on your doorstep will be none the wiser.

When a visitor presses the button on the doorbell this initiates a video call to your smartphone.

When you answer the call, you can see a 1:1 video of the person at your door so you can see them from head to toe.

If it’s a delivery person, you’ll be able to see the package even if they placed it on the floor at their feet.

What impressed us was how quickly we were able to connect when the Arlo doorbell rang – we were talking to the person at our door in just a few seconds.

Other brands can take so long to answer and connect that the person has assumed no one is home and is already walking back up the path or the driveway by the time your video can be seen.

Even if you can’t talk to whoever is at your door, there are pre-recorded messages you can play instead.

Naturally the Arlo Video Doorbell it can handle the weather – rain, sun, cold and heat – so it’s always working for you.

The 2K quality, which is better than full high definition so you can make a lot more detail in the video than you could for the previous model.

It also has colour night vision so it can see as clearly after dark as it can during the day.

The Arlo Video Doorbell is also a security camera and can detect and record motion near your front door.

And you can track everything through the Arlo app including your other Arlo cameras as well as arm and disarm the system at the press of a button.

Customers receive a free three-month Arlo Secure trial when they but the Arlo Video Doorbell – and it’s worth hanging on to and paying from $12.99 a month to keep it.

One benefit of membership is smart notifications which can distinguish between people, packages, vehicles and animals.

Users can also access videos and event history for 30 days.

And with Smart Secure you’re also possible to customise the Smart Activity Zones so the camera is keeping an eye out for motion on those designated areas.

For us we set the activity zone closer to the door rather than including the street which could be seen from the doorbell that would send us a notification every time a car drove by or person walked past the house.

Setting up the Arlo Video Doorbell has been streamlined so you’ll be up and running in minutes.

The Arlo app gives you step by step instructions to detect and connect the doorbell to your home wi-fi.

It also comes with mounting plates so you can position the device precisely how you want it at your front door.

We replaced the previous Arlo doorbell with this new 2^nd Generation model and the mounting plate didn’t line up with the holes we had already drilled. We used one hole and had to drill another one to secure the new mount.

The onboard battery is also not removeable like the old one, so you need to pop off the entire doorbell to charge it whereas with the previous one we had a spare battery on charge to immediately swap the battery when needed.

We suggest you charge the Arlo Video Doorbell overnight when no one will be coming to your door.

Battery life runs at between six weeks to a couple of months depending on how busy your front door is and how much motion is being detected.

But if you have power available at the front door you can power the doorbell, so you never need to worry about charging the battery.

The new Arlo Video Doorbell 2^nd Generation is available now and is priced at $229.

VERDICT

The Arlo Video Doorbell 2^nd Generation offers higher quality and convenience than ever before and is an essential device to not only easily answer the door from anywhere but to act as an additional security camera as well.

The post Arlo Video Doorbell 2nd Generation review – an essential item for convenience and security appeared first on Tech Guide.

For many, mowing their lawn is a chore that’s right up there with vacuuming their carpets and mopping their floors. And it’s no coincidence then that ECOVACS ROBOTICS has extended its expertise from inside the house to the yard with the new GOAT G1 robot lawn mower.

The robot can do for your lawn what the other ECOVACS products can do for your carpets and hard floors inside your house.

Tech Guide has taken a hands-on look at the GOAT G1 from ECOVACS which was surprisingly easy to set up.

The idea of the GOAT G1 is to go out and keep your lawn trimmed and looking good rather than cutting long grass every couple of weeks like you would with a regular lawn mower.

In fact, ECOVACS says if your grass is 6cm or higher you will need to do a regular mow before putting the GOAT G1.

And that’s exactly what we had to do for our review.

Cutting the grass to the level you want is what you need to do so the GOAT G1 will keep it at this length without you having to lift a finger.

And for the record, ECOVACS named it the GOAT G1 – not to mean Greatest of All Time – but after the animal which happens like eating grass.

It was a straightforward setup which began with placing the charging station in an area of your yard which had plenty of space around it but near a power source.

The ECOVACS app steered us easily through the process which included linking to our wi-fi and even performing a firmware upgrade.

Next, we had to connect the two beacons which serve as boundary guides for the GOAT G1 in the yard.

Unlike other robot mowers, there was no need to run a boundary wire around the circumference of the lawn.

This often requires you to dig shallow trenches and hammer in the wiring with stakes.

The app presents various yard shapes and sizes and, if you can match your yard to one of these, it does make setup even faster.

Part of the process was to drive the GOAT G1 using the app like a remote control car around the edge of your lawn to map the mowing area.

You can see within the app as the map of your yard is being built – in much the same way that any Ecovacs Deebot would map your floor plan.

It also does this for the same reason, to establish the most efficient mowing path.

ECOVACS has taken a lot of the technology from its robot vacuums and brought it to the GOAT G1.

One of those technologies is obstacle avoidance with its AIVI 3D technology and a 150-degree fisheye camera which can not only detect objects in its path but navigate around them.

It can see objects as small as three centimetres which could include hoses pets, rocks and toys.

If you have dogs, we can’t tell you whether the GOAT G1 will be able to detect their poo as an obstacle so it might be an idea to clean up after them before you deploy the GOAT G1.

We tested the obstacle avoidance for our review by putting a rolled up hose in the G1’s path. It stopped short and went around it.

But a word of warning if the hose isn’t coiled high enough, there’s a chance the GOAT G1 will run right over it and damage it.

During setup, the app took note of the size of our yard after it was mapped and came up with a suggested schedule for the GOAT G1 which we gladly accepted.

It goes out three times a week and maintains the lawn as if we’ve employed a professional gardener.

And there are no trimmings to dispose of. The GOAT mulches the clippings as it cuts and puts it back into the grass.

And if it gets low on power halfway through your mow, it will simply return to the charging station to top up the battery and return at precisely the spot where it left off.

The app gives you plenty of control as well as giving you the ability to provide a view of the location of the lawnmower through the built in cameras.

The mower can also capture and mark the location of a person on the map and send it to you as a notification. So not only is it mowing your lawn it’s also a security camera on wheels.

Speaking of wheels, the goat G1 can easily get around your lawn and even go over paths and short dividers that separate some yard into different levels.

The GOAT G1 isn’t cheap – it’s priced at $2999.

But if your time is valuable, it will soon pay itself off.

And if you normally hire a gardener to keep your lawn looking good it might work out as a good investment.

VERDICT

The ECOVACS ROBOTICS GOAT G1 can keep your lawn manicured without you lifting a finger – it is easy to set up and run and will save you time and the cost of hiring a gardener to do the work for you.

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The ECOVACS ROBOTICS DEEBOT NEO robot vacuum will be available for $399 this week from Aldi as part of its Special Buys – that’s half price. And before you make the purchase you can read our complete review.

The DEEBOT NEO, usually priced at $799, will be available from September 9 in Aldi’s Special Buys while stocks last.

While the DEEBOT NEO might be new to you, we know the robot vacuum very well after using is for several weeks so we could write our review.

So if you’re wondering about what you’re going to get with the DEEBOT NEO – we’ve already done a thorough test drive and we’re republishing our complete review ahead of September 9 so you can appreciate the value you’re getting.

Here is our original review of the ECOVACS ROBOTICS DEEBOT NEO which will be tremendous value at $399 at Aldi on Saturday, September 9.

TECH GUIDE REVIEW OF THE ECOVACS ROBOTICS DEEBOT NEO

The DEEBOT NEO is both a vacuum and a mop and can take over the cleaning duties without you lifting a finger.

It has TrueMapping laser-based navigation technology so it can map your home and create an efficient path when vacuuming and mopping.

The unit is really easy to unpack and set up.

You need to find a clear space near a power point for the charging station and download the ECOVACS Home app to take you through the steps for set up.

From the app, once you’ve created an account, you can simply scan the QR code inside the lid to link the robot and give it a name.

The maiden voyage of the DEEBOT NEO is mainly a mapping mission (yes, it is still vacuuming and/or mopping) so it gets to know your home’s layout.

You’ll see the map forming on the app as it makes its way around your home.

And it can also create maps for different levels of your home.

The first thing we noticed with the DEEBOT NEO was that it was louder.

And that’s a good thing because the motor is providing more suction – twice as much as a matter of fact.

It was easy to see where it had been with the marks on our carpet.

We’re always amazed by how smart the DEEBOT NEO is and how it can gently find its way around your home without damaging your furniture or rolling over the top of a cable or a sock and getting tangled up.

Part of the TrueMapping technology is object detection so the unit knows to go around something it sees in its path.

In terms of the quality of the clean, we were pleasantly surprised.

We have two dalmatians at our place and chocolate coloured carpet, so the little white hairs Ziggy and Logan shed are easy to see.

The DEEBOT NEO did so well in one room we had to empty the dust bin before it could move to the next.

What will happen over the course of time is the robot vacuum maintaining the clean with a daily journey around the house.

The device is also pretty slim so it can fit under furniture and under tables and around chairs so there’s no need to stack chairs and move items for the DEEBOT NEO to do its thing.

And on the mopping side, the DEEBOT NEO also excelled.

It a small water reservoir and can be fitted with mopping pads. It comes with a washable mop pad and 10 disposable pads.

We have large tiles in our living area and kitchen that are a light colour and can easily show up the dirt.

On its first run, the unit did offer a respectable clean but there were some stubborn spots that needed a manual wipe.

But if it does this everyday – it can easily maintain the level of cleanliness.

The water distribution was impressive thanks to its electronically controlled water pump.

It left a little snail trail where it had been, but this quickly dried.

The unit never once left any excess water or puddles.

The DEEBOT NEO is smart enough to detect the floor type so when in mopping mode and it encounters carpet it will stop instantly.

If it’s in vacuum mode it will increase suction power when it moves from hard floors to carpet.

For those new to robot vacuums, and we imagine a lot of people who buy the DEEBOT NEO will be, the unit will automatically return to the charging station and recharge the battery when needed before heading out and completing the cleaning run.

The app does put all the control in your hand with the ability to set schedules and send the robot vacuum out manually.

Even when you’re not home you can log into the app and take control.

You might find out someone is popping around later, and your place needs a spruce up – you can activate it manually from the app even before you get home.

It’s also possible to link theDEEBOT NEO to Alexa or Google Assistant for voice control.

The DEEBOT NEO is also compatible with the ECOVACS Auto Empty Station so it can automatically transfer the dust and hair collected by the robot vacuum into the larger dustbin which can be emptied every 30 days.

The ECOVACS ROBOTICS DEEBOT NEO goes on sale on September 9 through Aldi for $399.

Following that special offer, the unit will be available at its regular price of $799.

VERDICT

The DEEBOT NEO will surprise you with its cleaning quality and efficiency – it has packed in a lot of flagship features into an affordable and attractive unit that would make an excellent choice as your first robot vacuum.

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When it comes to shavers the more blades you have the better they are and Panasonic has just released its first electric shaver with six blades to provide an even closer shave.

Panasonic’s new ES-LS9A has six Japanese surgical-grade blades created using Samurai sword traditions so it can handle all beard types and maintain their sharpness even after years of use while causing minimal skin irritation.

There are two new thick stubble blades that are coated with Titanium along with two finish blades and two lift blades which can cut more hair in a single pass.

The height of the beard capture area is increased thanks to the tapered blade tips which makes sure those long, flat and difficult hairs are easily captured.

The inner blades of the ES-LS9A are nano-sharpened at a 30-degree angle so hairs are cut as close to the root as possible whether you’re shaving wet or dry.

The shaver also has a flexible shaver head so it can adjust to the contours of your face and still maintain contact between the blades and your skin.

The six blades can move in 22 independent directions vertically and horizontally so it covers a greater area with each stroke.

The Panasonic ES-LS9A delivers more than 84,000 cross-cutting actions per minute to manage to get through facial hair of all thicknesses.

I decided to give the shaver a try for myself.

I’ve got a decent beard if I don’t shave for a few days. When I tried the ES-LS9A I hadn’t shaved for three days so there was a bit hair to trim.

I charged the shaver to 100 per cent before I got started and found it provided a surprisingly close shave.

Usually I use a blade with shaving oil and I can get a nice close shave in just a few minutes.

Using the ES-LS9A took a little longer as I tried to manoeuvre the shaver around the contours of my face and chin.

I don’t have much electric shaver experience, but I learned pretty quickly I needed to attack my beard from certain directions to give the six blades their best chance.

This was probably the closest shave I’d ever had with the many electric shavers I’ve tried over the years.

But it took me almost three times as long as I would shave with a razor. And that’s probably more a fault of mine than the shaver.

Once I got the direction of attack right it powered through and left smooth skin in its place.

I also used the handy pop up trimmer on the rear panel to tidy up my sideburns as well.

The good news is the Panasonic ES-LS9A also comes with a cleaning and charging dock which automatically removes beard trimmings from the blades while recharging it at the same time.

Also includes is a small zip up travel pouch and the plug which can be taken from the dock and plugged directly to the shaver to charge.

The Panasonic ES-LS9A electric shaver is priced at $899 and available at the Shaver Shop.

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Wellness brand Therabody got our attention with the Theragun massage device and now it has released its baby brother – the Theragun Mini 2.0 – which you can take anywhere with you.

The Theragun Mini 2.0 is a travel-sized product that offers the same percussive therapy but in a compact form factor.

And this 2.0 version is 20 per cent smaller and 30 per cent lighter than the first generation Mini.

Therabody has customised its proprietary brushless motor has been shrunken down to its smallest size ever to still deliver the power you expect but from a device that fits in the palm of your hand.

That smaller size makes it easier to slip into a bag or even a jacket so you can take it with you to iron out the knots and get some massage relief on the move.

There are three speeds – 1750rpm, 2100rpm and 2400rpm – and three attachments – the Dampener, the Standard Ball and the Thumb.

These attachments are different sizes and shapes to offer different treatments and massages to suit various parts of your body.

It’s designed to easily grip in your hand with easy access to the main button with your thumb so you can control the speed and turn it on and off.

The device is powered by a rechargeable battery that will run for up to two hours on a single charge.

The Theragun Mini 2.0 can be recharged via the onboard USB-C port.

It even has Bluetooth so it can be paired to the Therabody app and offer treatments and warmups for various parts of your body.

It has warm-up routines for runs and post-run recovery and warm-ups and recoveries for upper body, lower body and other specific areas.

One area we used was the 5-minute treatment for tech neck because we’re working on our laptop every day.

This involved using the Theragun Mini 2.0 on our biceps and traps. It also told how long we needed to hit each body part and what attachment we needed to use.

It’s like having your own personal masseur for each part of your body.

When setting up the app we were asked if we played any sports and took part in any other activities.

We were also asked if we had any problem areas and what we wanted to achieve including reducing stress and soreness and reducing lines on our face and puffiness around our eyes.

The Theragun Mini 2.0 is available now for the reduced price of $199 – it was $349.

www.therabody.com

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The Google Pixel Tablet is a bit of an allrounder – it’s great for entertainment and running your favourite apps and, when attached to the included dock, can turn into a smart speaker, smart home hub and a mini smart TV.

The Android tablet has a 10.95-inch LCD display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate and has a soft touch rear panel and edges.

It is also powered by the Google Tensor G2 chip which offers excellent performance and speed to make using the tablet a breeze. Onboard is 8GB RAM and either 128 or 256GB internal storage. There is no microSD card slot.

Included with the device is a charging dock which serves a few purposes.

First off it keeps the tablet charged when not in use. How many times have you grabbed a tablet that’s been laying around in your home and found there is no charge left?

It can also position the tablet comfortably so you can view apps and content, make and receive video calls and keep an eye on your smart home devices.

Inside the hub are four speakers that can enhance the viewing and listening experience whether you’re listening to music, watching YouTube or watching a movie.

The tablet has the same design language and look and feel of a Pixel smartphone and that applies to the Android 13 OS that’s onboard as well.

There’s a volume rocker key on the top edge alongside a lock button that also doubles as a responsive fingerprint reader.

Also onboard is a USB-C port so you’re able to charge with a cable as well as through the charging dock.

Included with the Pixel tablet is Google TV so it offers the same options in your hand as you’d see on a smart TV running Google so you can access your favourite streaming services.

It would have been nice to have a screen capable of more than 60Hz refresh rate.

The tablet has great resolution for a crisp and bright picture, but a higher refresh rate would have made things a lot smoother when watching videos and playing games.

The Pixel 7 Pro smartphone supports 120Hz refresh rate and has a much smaller screen than the Pixel Tablet.

That aside, watching video content was still enjoyable – it just could be better.

On the audio side the tablet’s speakers are impressive on its own but when you place the device back on the magnetic charge hub and watch your content you get the benefit of better speakers which instantly kick in when connected so you can enjoy even better sound including respectable bass response as well.

It was loud enough to easily fill a room.

Music also sounds great so it can also supply your background audio or the soundtrack to your next party,

And it’s a handsfree experience as well so when you don’t have access to the family TV or just want to watch things in another room or on your own, the Pixel Tablet offers a great alternative.

For video calls the front 8-megapixel camera offers full HD 1080p quality. The rear camera is also 8-megapixel, but we can’t imagine you’d be using this to take photos when you have a much better camera in your pocket with your smartphone.

The charging hub itself is small enough to carry into another room and plug it in.

We found we wanted to use the tablet attached to the dock more often than just on its own.

But like a regular tablet you can take the Pixel anywhere, but it will only connect wi-fi when you’re out and about – it’s doesn’t have a 4G/5G option.

We think the Pixel Tablet is a homebody though because of its ability to act as a smart speaker and smart home hub.

You can use Google Assistant and ask Pixel Tablet for information and to find content.

And when it’s docked, the Pixel Tablet looks just like the Nest Hub smart display and speaker.

When the tablet is docked it can also be used a digital photo frame so you can view your favourite images all the time. Or you can choose to display the time.

But add to that the Pixel Tablet can also be your smart home hub as well to control lights, view camera feeds, set up automations and view notifications.

Automations are centred around times of the day like bedtime, when you arrive home, when you leave home and when you wake up.

The onboard battery will allow up to 12 hours of video viewing if you decide to take this with you on a flight or a road trip.

But when it’s a home – battery life isn’t an issue thanks to the dock which can recharge it or keep it powered while it’s resting there.

It’s also smart enough while on the dock to keep the charge level between 80-90 per cent to maintain the health of the battery.

The Google Pixel Tablet is priced at $899 and certainly offers plenty of versatility so you can use it on the move, in the dock, as a smart speaker and a smart hub.

VERDICT

The Google Pixel Tablet is a multi-talented product that offers the convenience of a smart speaker, the portability of a tablet, the content possibilities of a mini smart TV and a dashboard for your smart devices. And it provides an excellent experience no matter what mode you’re using.

The post Google Pixel Tablet review – a versatile device that can be used in so many ways appeared first on Tech Guide.

Uniden has unveiled a new dual mode smart baby monitor so parents can keep an eye and an ear on their little ones from anywhere.

The Uniden BW6101R Smart Baby Monitor offers 2K super HD resolution for high quality live streaming so you can catch even more detail.

The device has dual mode functionality which means you can view the live stream on the included 5-inch colour HD (720p) monitor or from your iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone or tablet remotely or at home.

You can even get in closer with the camera with up to 4x local digital zoom via the monitor and 6x remote zoom.

The camera has a multipurpose clamp which can either rest on a surface or secure itself to the rails of a cot or a shelf.

The camera also includes a portable back-up battery so it will continue to operate if there’s a power outage or if the camera is unplugged accidentally.

It is also equipped with night vision so you can clearly see your baby at any time of the night.

Also onboard is a room temperature and humidity display which provides alerts if the it gets outside your chosen temperature ranges.

There is also a built-in night light which can be changed to multiple colours to create calm sleeping conditions.

Users can also set a danger zone to mark out an area which a no-go for the baby and receive an alert if there is any movement in that spot.

The walkie talkie function gives parents the ability to soothe their baby without entering the room.

The Uniden BW6101R Smart Baby Monitor also work with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa so it can be integrated into your smart home set-up.
The Uniden BW6101R Smart Baby Monitor is priced at $399.95.

Key features

– 2K (3MP) super high-definition camera

– 5-inch colour screen (720P) monitor

– 4 times local digital zoom and up to 6 times remote digital zoom

– Customisable night light – multiple colours in animation and static mode

– Dual mode: 5-inch viewing monitor included or remote smartphone viewing handy clamp camera and novelty silicon cover

– Portable battery backup

– Room temperature and humidity display

– Danger zone detection mode

– Smartphone remote access

– Two-way talk “walkie talkie” function

– Storage of footage via micro-SD card (supports up to 128GB, not included)

– Sound and motion detection

– Night vision

– Selection of 14 lullabies, including white noise

– Works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa

– Two-year Australian warranty

The post Uniden has unveiled its new dual mode smart baby monitor appeared first on Tech Guide.

The Peloton Tread is quite an investment in your health and fitness. The price tag alone would be enough to get customers to make sure they use Peloton’s latest product every day to get their money’s worth.

Priced at $4,445, the Peloton Tread isn’t going to be an impulse buy. Far from it.

No, what would make a customer shell out this sort of money is the promise of quality equipment that’s made even better by the growing Peloton community of instructors and fellow subscribers around the globe.

We’ve been using Peloton Tread for the past month now and have found it offers a high-quality experience that motivates you to come back day after day.

And you don’t have to be Olympic athlete to get the most out of Peloton Tread.

It can cater for everyone from a person starting or rediscovering their fitness journey to an elite runner who wants to sharpen up their fitness even further.

When you purchase the Peloton Tread, the price includes not only delivery but also installation in your home.

When our unit was delivered there were two gentlemen who put it all together for us in our home and set everything up so it was ready to use.

They even took away all the boxes that it was shipped in.

The key is finding an area in your home that is open enough to not only fit the Peloton Tread but also has space around it so you can take advantage of other Peloton classes that don’t require you to be running on the treadmill itself.

The Peloton Tread itself is a high-quality unit with solid construction made with premium materials.

Setup was quite easy and included connecting the treadmill to our wireless network and logging into your Peloton account.

It’s also possible to create other user profiles so your family and other members of your household can jump in and do their own classes.

We’d been using it for a few days before we ran into one slight complication when the Peloton Tread refused to connect to our wireless network.

We tried hotspotting our phone and that also didn’t work so we assumed it was an issue with the Tread.

Now remember this was a pre-release unit so we acknowledge the fact that there were software patches and updates that needed to be made before it officially went on sale.

In fact, there was a large software update when we went back to it that solved the Wi-Fi issues and it has worked perfectly ever since.

In the meantime, one small panel has also fallen off the left edge of the treadmill and we’ve tried to clip it back on without success.

It hasn’t affected our use of Peloton Tread, but it has affected the look.

The Peloton Tread includes a 23.8-inch HD display which allows you to access your account and the many classes you can do either live and on-demand.

On either side are two control knobs – the one on the left controls incline and the right controls your speed.

These offer a fast and easy way to make adjustments rather than trying to find and change the controls on the touch screen.

These tactile controls work really well and you quickly learn that rolling them forward increases incline or speed and rolling them back towards you decreases those values.

There’s even a shortcut button inside the knob that takes things up to the next whole number above your current setting.

Also included is a safety key that you clip to your shirt so if you fall it will immediately detach from the Tread and stop it.

You also have a large stop button in front of you along with a shelf for your phone and water bottle holders.

But the real secret sauce is the Peloton community and the many talented and colourful instructors that guide you through each class.

Each of the many instructors we’ve encountered on the platform have all been upbeat, fun and positive.

They really know how to encourage you to push yourself to the end of the class.

The other amazing feature is the wide range of choices you have when it comes to choosing a session.

We tried of variety of classes from beginner runs, advanced beginner runs, walking classes along with stretching and cool down classes.

We found ourselves at the end of a 20-minute class, deciding to try another 20-minute class before ending with a 5-minute stretch or cooldown.

The classes have you doing everything from a recovery walk pace to a proper sprint within various incline and speed ranges.

You can also choose from a range of scenic runs which make you feel like you’re running through the middle of London, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or the Scottish Highlands.

Once we were on the Peloton Tread it didn’t feel like a chore, it felt like fun and we were looking forward to using it every day.

You can mix it up a little bit as well and do a class that doesn’t even require you to step on the treadmill.

You might choose a class that is all about stretching or yoga or involves using hand weights.

It’s easy to choose a class based on the instructor, muscle group, exercise type and length.

Peloton offer hand weights as an added extra or you can just use your own.

We had some space behind the treadmill to allow us to still view the screen comfortably while still following the class and hearing everything the instructor had to say.

You can purchase a Peloton heart rate monitor that’s worn like arm band and connects to the Peloton Tread so you can check your heart rate.

But the unit is compatible with Apple Watch and Samsung Watch so all you need to do is firstly pair your smartphone to the treadmill and then open the Peloton app on your watch before starting a class.

Your heart rate metrics would then appear on screen as they are taken from the smartwatch and transferred via Bluetooth.

All your workouts and health can all be viewed on the Tread so you can monitor your progress and look to make improvements.

The Peloton All-Access Subscription can be accessed on your smart phone or tablet for those times when you’re not on the treadmill and out on a walk on a run or on holiday.

The Peloton Tread is a high impact way of exercising which involves running and walking and using your entire body.

Peloton’s existing products including Bike, Bike+ and Guide offer the same experience but with far less impact. Something to consider if you knee or ankle issues.

The Peloton Tread is an excellent piece of exercise equipment that’s made even better by the team of instructors who can keep you aimed towards your fitness goals.

Peloton has been in Australia for only 18 months and already have more than 2.1 million subscribers.

We saw a stat that showed that 92 per cent of subscribers stay on after the first year.

That’s a pretty high retention rate that we put down to the fact that the equipment is first class and the team of instructors also among the best you can find.

The Peloton Tread is not cheap at $4,445 but you are getting a top-line piece of equipment and investing in your health, fitness and wellbeing.

The Peloton All-Access Subscription is priced at $59 per month which may also seem expensive but, when compared to what people are paying to attend instructor led fitness classes at gyms and fitness centres, it’s actually pretty good value.

VERDICT

The Peloton Tread is a quality piece of fitness equipment that can help you achieve your fitness goals with the help of a vibrant and growing Peloton community and some of the best fitness instructors in the world.

The post Peloton Tread review – an investment in your health and fitness appeared first on Tech Guide.

Kindle Scribe is not only the biggest Kindle ever produced but you can also write on the screen with the included pen with a feel like you’re writing on paper.

For customers who still enjoy the tactile experience of writing and prefer to read their eBooks, the Kindle Scribe is ideal.

The 10.2-inch Paperwhite glare-free 300ppi (pixel per inch) screen is sharp and clear and has an adjustable built-in light to suit your writing/reading environment.

Kindle Scribe is much larger than the previous Kindles.

One of the advantages of a Kindle is its small and light form-factor which makes it easier to hold and lighter than a printed book.

With the Kindle Scribe that’s a different story.

But while it’s larger, it’s also heavier at 433g – that’s about the same weight as a tablet.

If you’re not interested in writing and you’re only interested in reading, the Kindle Scribe might not be for you.

But that large 10.2-inch screen can fit a lot more text so you’re turning the page less often than you would on a smaller Kindle.

The Kindle Scribe comes with a Basic or Premium Pen.

The difference is the Premium has a programmable shortcut button and a dedicated eraser.

The writing experience with the Kindle Scribe is excellent and feels just like writing on paper.

There is a slight roughness you can feel on the screen that gives it nearly the same texture and feel of writing with a pencil on paper.

It is instantly responsive – as much as writing on a physical page with a pen or pencil.

You can change the thickness of pen and even switch to a thicker highlighter pen mode.

And when you’ve finished using the pen, it can be attached magnetically on the side of the Kindle Scribe with the narrower bezel.

Kinde Scribe also comes with several spare pen nibs to place them when they wear out, but it will take a lot of writing before you need to switch it out.

There are few ways you can write on the Kindle Scribe.

You can use the device to create and store all your notes.

Users can name and create a folder and then fill it with notebooks.

So imagine a binder with all the loose pages inside – that’s what you get with the Kindle Scribe folder and notebooks.

You can also choose a notebook template which can be either a blank page, a ruled page with various options on the line spacing and margins along with checklists, music sheets, to-do lists and calendars.

Writing text is a breeze and, if you have the Premium pen, you can simply flip it over like you would a regular pencil and eraser and rub out what you just wrote.

Being able to create and name different folders means organising your notes and accessing them is really easy.

And when you go back to the Home screen, all your folders and individual notebooks are there right beside the books in your library for easy access when you need to open the files again.

The other way of writing is making notes inside a Kindle book you’re reading.

Many people like to read with a pen in their hand to highlight passages and make notes.

Kindle Scribe sort of does that.

Unfortunately you can’t underline passages and circle words and sentences.

What you can do is create a handwritten or typed sticky note that you can come back to it and open it later.

That sticky note appears as a small icon just above the text which can opened again by tapping it with your pen or your finger.

Kindle says they, and the authors we imagine, don’t want your scribble cluttering up the page.

All the sticky notes are organised by book, and you can also easily navigate and export all your notes.

But this only works on books downloaded from the Kindle Store.

If you’ve uploaded epub format books to the device, you can still read them, but you can put the pen away because there is no way to make notes on those books.

When you touch your pencil to the screen with those books it simply turns the page.

You can send your own documents the device via the kindle app using the share button from your iOS or Android device or via the Amazon Send-To-Kindle site.

But you can only add sticky notes.

If you want to go to town and write all over a document – you need to send it as a PDF to the Kindle Scribe.

Once it’s in the library you can write on the PDF and underline and circle words and add your own that will stay visible rather than being hidden away like a sticky note.

From next year, users will also be able to send documents to kindle scribe directly from Microsoft Word.

As a reading device, the Kindle Scribe is excellent because of its adaptive light and larger screen which let you read a lot more text between page turns.

It is heavier than a regular Kindle so might get tired holding it in your hand.

There are covers available for the Kindle Scribe that can also act as a stand so you can rest the device on a surface and angle it comfortably for easy reading.

And, of course, you also have the Kindle Store at your fingertips so you can find and buys books in seconds on the device.

Battery life is amazing and a full charge can last for weeks. We’ve been using the Kindle Scribe every day for a week and the battery only went down to 80 per cent.

Kindle Scribe is available in three memory variants – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB – and your choice of a Basic pen or the Premium pen.

It starts at $549 for the 16GB with the Basic pen and $599 with the Premium pen.

The 32GB and 64GB variants include the Premium pen are priced at $629 and $679 respectively.

VERDICT

The Kindle Scribe is an excellent all-round device with responsive and fluid writing and handy organisation of your notes while offering one of the best reading experiences you’ll find.

The post Kindle Scribe review – an impressive reading and writing experience appeared first on Tech Guide.

We already know Oppo for its smartphones but the company has now released its first tablet in Australia – the Pad Air – which is a handy companion for work, play and travel.

Yes, the name of the product sounds almost exactly like a popular Apple tablet, but that’s where the similarity ends.

Priced at $379, the Oppo Pad Air is certainly affordable. And the cover is an extra $79.

On the design side, the device certainly punches above its weight and includes a two-tone metal splicing design with 3D texture on the rear panel which helps prevent those ugly fingerprints.

And the Pad Air is just 6.94mm thick and weighs just 440g.

The 10.36-inch display has a resolution of 2000 x 1200 with a screen to body ratio of 83.5 per cent.

It also has a 60Hz refresh rate and can display more than a billion colours.

The Pad Air screen has a wider aspect ratio that’s perfect for viewing movies and other video content like YouTube.

But it’s not the best shape for viewing websites or reading documents but turn it on its side to portrait mode and you have an oversized smartphone-shaped screen.

This makes viewing websites and social media apps like Instagram and TikTok even easier as well.

Our content on the Pad Air looked impressive.

It also sounded good as well through the built-in quad Dolby Atmos speakers.

Now we’ve heard better quality audio on a tablet but, given the affordable price, the Pad Air delivered a surprisingly good result.

The Pad Air is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 (CPU) and the Adreno 610@1115MHz (GPU) so performance well above an entry level tablet.

It is running Android with Oppo’s ColorOS 12.1 which gives it a clean and minimal look while still offer easy navigation of the system and the tablet’s features.

Realistically, the Pad Air won’t challenge the iPad Pro in terms speed and power, but it will give you enough grunt for basic tasks like creating and editing documents, playing games, reading eBooks and watching movies.

On the battery side, the Pad Air has 7,100mAh capacity which provides days of power with light usage of a full day of video viewing.

That’s another plus for the tablet at this price point.

It also supports fast charging as well when it’s time to power up again – but you’re not getting the legendary Oppo faster VOOC charging.

Onboard is 64GB of storage but the good news is you can expand the memory with a microSD card.

It has a front 5-megapixel camera and rear 8-megapixel camera which will do the job for basic images and full high-definition video calls.

There are a few limitations with the Pad Air including its lack of a stylus and any clear ability to write on the screen.

It doesn’t have a headphone jack, but it has Bluetooth 5.1 to easily pair earphones and headphones to listen to your music and enjoy your video content.

The Oppo Pad Air is ideal for the customer looking for an affordable tablet with a view of consuming more content than they create.

The Oppo Pad Air is available now and is priced at $379. The cover for Pad Air is available separately for $79.

VERDICT

The Oppo Pad Air is an affordable entry level tablet that delivers quality, features and performance you’d usually find on more expensive devices.

The post Oppo Pad Air review – the affordable tablet that punches above its weight appeared first on Tech Guide.

Honey, I shrunk the Apple TV 4K – but don’t worry it’s now even better and still provides a stunning entertainment and gaming experience.

The new Apple TV 4K ticks all the boxes when it comes to quality and features to offer improved picture quality and provide crisp and immersive sound.

The unit is noticeably smaller than last year’s model thanks to the removal of the internal fan.

It now has a passive thermal design and is 20 per cent smaller than its predecessor. Not that size was ever an issue.

There are two models available, one without an Ethernet port (Wi-Fi only) and the Wi-Fi + Ethernet unit for those who want to wire their connection for better quality.

The Wi-Fi only model has 64GB of memory while the Wi-Fi + Ethernet model has 128GB storage.

The device is powered by Apple’s A15 bionic chip – that’s the same chip that powers the iPhone 13 – which is a lot of processing power for a product of this kind.

The result is an incredibly responsive and snappy performance so you can zoom around the menus and jump in and out of your apps with ease.

Apple TV 4K works nicely with all your other Apple devices and services including Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and Apple Fitness+.

You can use your iPhone as a remote control or as a keyboard via Control Centre and make purchases or sign-in to supported apps with Face ID or Touch ID.

You can also use the light sensor on your iPhone to tweak your TV’s colour balance settings and connect up to two sets of AirPods to your Apple TV 4K.

And being connected to HomeKit, users can also get a live view in the top corner of their screen from their cameras or their doorbell and all without missing their programme.

And AirPlay allows users to share anything from their iPhone, iPad or Mac directly to the TV so it’s ideal for showing your photos, streaming music and playing other content you want to enjoy on a larger screen.

But it’s all about utilising the best screen in your house to enjoy a higher level of entertainment.

This time out, Apple TV 4K supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ which happened to be the two most popular and dynamic HDR (high dynamic range) formats used in the industry.

This now allows users to enjoy even more content from various services on more TVs and at their highest quality.

Whether you’re watching Netflix, Disney+, Paramount Plus, Stan or Apple TV+, the Apple TV 4K bring out the best of the content on your smart TV thanks to the wider compatibility with HDR and audio formats.

Set-up is a breeze – it took us just minutes.

It fast because Apple TV 4K can grab your settings from iCloud so all your apps and settings from your previous Apple TV 4K or second Apple TV 4K are right there.

For our review we set up the new Apple TV 4K in our lounge room and connected it to a Samsung 85-inch 8K Neo QLED TV.

Just as important as the unit itself is the Siri remote which has a one-piece aluminium design that fits nicely in your hand.

Apple has designed the remote with contrasting controls – some buttons are concave, some are flat and some are a different shape – so you can easily navigate the remote in the dark or without taking your eyes off the TV.

The click pad and touch surface also come in handy for navigating your content.

The circular click pad can be used as a jog control to get to the precise point of the programme you’re watching while the touch surface responds to presses and gestures.

And, of course, you can access Siri by pressing the microphone button on the right edge of the remote.

You can use your voice to ask for content, move forward and back through what you’re watching and find other programs and information.

Later this year, Siri will be able to recognise your voice to distinguish you from your other members of the household and switch to your profile and make suggestions for content you’d like to see.

The remote now now has a USB C port so you’ll need a USB-C cable – the one that comes with the latest iPhones – to charge it.

Now some may be asking why do I need the Apple TV 4K when I have the Apple TV app on my smart TV?

That’s a fair question, but the Apple TV app allows you to stream your content and is governed by the TV’s processor and quality which may affect the experience.

But with the Apple TV 4K you are getting excellent performance as well as the ability to integrate other apps and services for you to enjoy on your smart TV.

Apple TV 4K has an App Store built in so you can download games either individually or as part of the Apple Arcade subscription, you can also use Siri Voice Assistant, integrate HomeKit, choose the personal photo screensaver option through iCloud Photos or Home Sharing, use SharePlay to watch content together from different locations through FaceTime and you’ll be able to watch the beautiful aerial screen savers which look stunning on a 4K or 8K TV.
Apple TV 4K Wi-Fi only is priced at $219 and comes with 64GB storage. For an extra $30 you will get the Apple TV Wi-Fi + Ethernet with 128GB storage.

To us we think it’s well worth the extra $30 to have more storage and the option of connecting Apple TV 4K physically with the cable.

VERDICT

The Apple TV 4K might be smaller but it has lots more features to power stunning cinematic experiences in your home.

The post Apple TV 4K review – tiny but mighty unit delivers stunning cinematic quality appeared first on Tech Guide.