Samsung’s Buds 3 Pro lands in some hot water
Samsung’s newly announced Buds 3 Pro has hit a speed bump ahead of the global 24 July launch date thanks to several complaints calling the buds’ quality into question. This isn’t another Note 7 debacle – they won’t explode in your ears – but the ear tips may not be up to the Korean’s regular standards, with reports of tearing rather easily.
Samsung confirmed it was officially halting the Buds 3 Pro shipments in a statement shared with Android Authority.
“To ensure all products meet our quality standards, we have temporarily suspended deliveries of Galaxy Buds 3 Pro devices to distribution channels to conduct a full quality control evaluation before shipments to consumers take place,” the company said. “We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Samsung’s statement here doesn’t explicitly mention a delay, but its website in the US does. Those who pre-ordered their Buds ahead of time will now have to wait until 28 August for delivery – a whole month late. Samsung South Africa’s website still shows pre-orders as shipping on Thursday, 25 July, though later corrects to a 30 August shipping date when it’s in your cart.
Whether that’ll be enough time for Samsung to root out the quality control issues remains to be seen.
Dyson OnTrac drops the Bane look and ups the customisation factor
Dyson’s first attempt at blocking out the noise from its frankly overpowered vacuums, which came with a staggering R16,000 price tag, hasn’t dissuaded the company from trying to crack the headphone egg again. This time, it’s doing away with the air filters (yup, that was a thing) and going all-in on customisation with the Dyson OnTrac.
It’s done away with the $950 price too, leaving a (still expensive) $500 (R9,150) price tag in its place. That’s still $100 more than Stuff’s favourite over-ears, the WH-1000XM5. But Dyson is justifying the purchase by offering a swathe of customisable ear cups and cushions – at $50 a pop, we might add – plus a choice of headband. You won’t be swapping that out later, so choose wisely.
But it’s the ANC that caught our eye. Dyson claims the OnTrac offer the “best-in-class” noise cancellation thanks to its eight-microphone setup that lets you adjust the noise around you through the mobile app. Dyson points to 40mm drivers that “reproduce frequencies from as low as 6Hz to as high as 21,000Hz, providing deep sub-bass that you can feel, and clear highs at the upper end of the frequency range,” when you ask about sound quality.
Battery life might be the unsung hero of the lot, however. Dyson reckons you’ll get around 55 hours of juice before they start whining about it. And that’s with ANC turned on. Whether South Africa will get to join in on the fun remains to be seen.
Skyworth’s Google TV won’t fit in your pocket, but it’ll do better than most
Have you ever wanted a mini-TV you could take with you wherever you go? One that isn’t your smartphone, we mean. No? Well, Skyworth has brought one out anyway, and we can’t pretend the idea doesn’t intrigue us. Standing, we wouldn’t exactly call it ‘tall’ but at a respectable 24in, Skyworth’s new TV comes complete with a carrying handle, Google TV software and a R4,000 price.
That’s… not bad, considering you’re getting Google’s ahead-of-the-rest TV OS that features preinstalled Netflix and YouTube right out of the box. It also claims three hours of battery life that’ll beat Eskom back when load shedding inevitably returns. It even supports solar and car charging, for those seeking an off-the-grid weekend away while keeping up with House of the Dragon. You’ll need to sort out the internet connection, though.
You’re only getting a FHD LED display, but at this size, it’ll hardly matter. As long as you can keep up with the rugby, right? HDR10 makes matters better, as does the two Doly-boasting front-facing 6W speakers embedded into the base. It’s all covered in a 4kg chassis that can be picked up and moved around with ease.
Everything old is new again
Tired of the world? Want everything to go back to how it was twenty years ago? We can’t help you there, but FiiO can at least help mask the pain with a nostalgia-driven portable CD player. At least for a little bit. The DM13 as it’s officially called, will finally put those spindles and CD binders to good use again. Assuming they’re still at the bottom of that cupboard you haven’t cleaned out in years.
The DM13 follows in the footsteps of FiiO’s other retro-revivals that brought cassettes and vinyl back into the fold (we bet that sold well). In a bid to tempt all those millennials who now have money, the DM13 arrives in September touting a futuristic design that brings a digital display, Bluetooth support for the AptX, AptX HD, AptX Low Latency, SBC, and Apple’s AAC codecs, and eight-hour battery life that won’t require a AA hot-swap on the go.
Oh, and it’ll play CDs. Duh. You’ll need to wait until September for the privilege, however, if you can stomach the $180 (R3,300) price tag, plus whatever it costs to get the device over South Africa’s border, seeing as the odds of a local release for the device are… slim.