Author: Brett Venter

Samsung’s phone design was novel back when it first turned up in the wonderful Galaxy S8. Now, almost four years later, it’s just business as usual. From the front, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G apart from its older siblings, stretching all the way back to 2017 (as long as the screen’s not lit up). Which sort of sets the tone for this handset. It’s Samsung’s best yet, there’s no doubt about that. With R28,000 as an entry point for the Ultra (with the 512GB version setting you back R30,000), it bloody better be. But if…

Apple has long been rumoured to be working on a form of virtual reality or augmented reality hardware, even if the rumours can’t quite seem to nail down when exactly we’ll see either of these. A new report from Bloomberg is the most detailed yet. It claims that Apple has both AR and VR gear in the works, with a VR headset slated to launch first before more consumer-friendly AR hits the market. Virtually Apple The report cites “people with knowledge of the matter”, giving more information on the apparent project than we’ve seen to date. In terms of design,…

Wait, some of you were still on holiday? MTN has launched a new set of combined hardware/data deals for subscribers old and new, as well as people who use pre-paid rather than contracts. Most deals include a bit of hardware, plus data, and are aimed at kids heading back to school — though they’re likely going to be having classes in your lounge once more. Some data might be useful in that case. MTN your wallet Prepaid customers have several options available to them. R600 (once-off) will net them a Sharelink H220M Mi-Fi LTE router, along with a once-off 13GB…

That was quick — Smartphone brand Honor, following its sale to a Chinese consortium, has announced the Honor V40 5G, its first Huawei-less smartphone. As you might expect, it’s no slouch in the hardware department. In addition, the handset follows the company’s trend of being more affordable than most, especially considering the hardware you’re getting. Where’s the Honor V40? Which, expectedly, included a few interesting choices. MediaTek’s Dimensity 1000+ processor is handling the workload, with 8GB of RAM and a couple of storage options in the background. The display is almost certain to impress — Honor’s gone for a 6.72in…

We’d be lying if we said that we weren’t expecting something like this — LG is considering backing out of the smartphone industry. That’s according to the Korea Herald, citing the company’s CEO Kwon Bong-seok. Life without LG LG’s head sent out an internal memo hinting at something large on the horizon for the company’s smartphone division — which included the following reassurance: “Regardless of any change in the direction of the smartphone business operation, the employment will be maintained, so there is no need to worry.” This was followed by a company spokesperson saying, “Since the competition in the…

Eyes play a very common role in tech, but we’re usually confined to tracking them rather than fixing them. That’s about to change. An Israeli company called CorNeat Vision has performed its first cornea transplant using a wholly-synthetic replacement. The operation, performed by Professor Irit Bahar at the Rabin Medical Centre in Israel, saw its patient, a 78-year-old man, regain enough vision to read an eye exam chart and to recognise his family members immediately after the operation concluded. The implant itself is composed of a synthetic material that “…mimics the microstructure of the Extracellular Matrix (ECM) – the natural biological…

Late last year Apple took the wraps off its long-expected AirPods Max over-ear headphones, we were intrigued but, mostly, we were blown away by the price. At R11,500 for a pair, we said that the Max cans had “…better be bloody amazing.” We haven’t had a chance to listen to anything using them, because they haven’t shipped in SA just yet, but iFixit has already laid hands on them. And then, predictably, used those hands to take the headphones apart. What they found, as all the worst headlines tell you, might surprise you. Making the AirPods Max Apple’s AirPods, typically,…

Last year Qualcomm’s headline smartphone chipset was the Snapdragon 865, which was followed later in the year by the Snapdragon 865+. That second, upgraded processor hasn’t gone away just because the calendar has rolled over another digit in the year column. It’s hit the gym and emerged as the Snapdragon 870. What’s the point of the Snapdragon 870? The question you might be asking is: why? The answer isn’t as simple as ‘this is the new headline chipset for 2021’. That accolade goes to the Snapdragon 888, which gets its name thanks to superstition this year. It’s supposedly a lucky…

For a year that we all want to forget, 2020 certainly has a lot of folks still thinking and talking about it — probably because it’s a year where an awful lot happened and we weren’t allowed to leave the house. But if you’re keen on reliving the exploits of the horrible year that was, in a safe and surprisingly well detailed pixel environment, then check out 2020 Game. 2020: Take two The free browser-based game isn’t especially complicated but it has been lovingly constructed to portray one of the more unpleasant years (we’re speaking for the global population as…

Chinese companies continue to have a terrible time with Trump at the head of the United States. Xiaomi might have largely escaped notice until now but Huawei has been Trump’s favourite target for ages. And, just before the outgoing US president is due to turn over the country to Joe Biden, Trump’s getting one last shot in. A report from Reuters, citing unnamed sources, claims that the Trump administration has notified several of Huawei’s suppliers, including the likes of chip-maker Intel, that it is revoking certain licenses to sell products to the Chinese tech-maker. It also intends to reject “dozens”…