Author: Brett Venter

It’s a fact that far more budget smartphones are sold around the world than flagships. Everyone wants one of the big boys but they tend to settle for whatever their bank account allows. Vivo’s Y91C, a 6.2in Android 8.1-based handset (the word ‘based’ will be important later) lives close to the bottom of the expense ladder. It’ll cost a mere R1,900 in order to own one. This puts it in contention with Xiaomi’s Redmi range here in South Africa — as well as several cheap Chinese rebrands that we tend not to encounter at Stuff (thankfully, as they tend to……

Thursday seems like an appropriate day to check out something of a throwback from Samsung. Remember how, back in the day, you could pop the battery out of your phone if it was going wonky? Or was, you know, flat and you happened to have a spare battery on hand? Well that’s a thing again with Samsung’s new Galaxy XCover Pro smartphone. There’s always a catch But, of course, there’s a catch. The rugged (yeah, it’s rugged too) smartphone is set to be available first in Finland, previously the stronghold of one Nokia. Samsung’s playing in someone else’s back yard…

Everyone and their brother (plus some aliens) wants in on that Nintendo Switch form factor. At CES this year a company called My Arcade has unveiled something at least Nintendo-adjacent. It’s called the Super Retro Champ. Guess what that is. 

Currently being shown off at CES, the Heatbox is a crowdfunded lunchbox. Yes, really. And, much like the ill-fated Juicero, it tackles a very specific problem — one that you probably don’t really need solved. You see, the Heatbox — as the name suggests — heats up your lunch. Without recourse to microwaves or ovens. 

CES is a time for strange tech to stand proudly next to its more boring rectangular counterparts. Which may explain one of Samsung’s weirder introductions. The company used CES 2020 to unveil Ballie, a little robotic assistant that looks exactly how you’d expect it to. That is, like a Sphero Bolt with a camera in its mug. Just don’t kick ’em, please Ballie is a robotic assistant of sorts — it’s designed to follow you around your home and do all sorts of interesting things. Thing like turning on TVs, opening blinds, adjusting temperatures in the home — generally the…

So you think you’ve seen lazy, have you? Well, 2020’s going to prove you wrong. Even though we really, really wish it wouldn’t. Segway, the company that made the product of the same name, has something new coming: the S-Pod. Wait, what? The Segway S-Pod’s title doesn’t do much to explain what the tech actually is. Sadly, a quick glance at the so-called ‘vehicle’ makes its purpose clear. It’s a consumer-focused chair that also doubles as a self-balancing mode of transport. Well that’s… certainly… novel. To be (a little) fair to this product, the S-Pod’s stated purpose is to help…

2019 is drawing to a close and that means there’s another decade about to end. Depending on who you ask. Let’s not go there, we’ve had that argument once already in the Stuff offices. So, for the purposes of not arguing, there’s another decade about to end. Which is a perfect time to look back at all the things that made it a decade. In tech, anyway.

Facebook-owned Oculus has rolled out some new features for Facebook on the VR platform. The catch? By using them, you’re agreeing that your (first-party, Facebook says) VR usage will be subject to Facebook scrutiny. 

We were expecting, back in 2015 with the announcement of the Resident Evil 2 remake, that Resident Evil 3 (the best Resident Evil) would be on the list of coming titles soon enough. Well, guess what? That four year old blind guess was on the ball. S.T.A.R.S. in his eyes https://twitter.com/RE_Games/status/1204406678373814274 Following all sorts of rumours last week, Capcom has made our dreams/nightmares come true by confirming that Resi 3 will be hitting consoles (the PS4 and the Xbox One)  as well as PCs from 3 April next year. The publisher did this via the Resident Evil Twitter account (see…

Usually this time of the year there’s a whole lot of nothing going on, news-wise. 2019 may be something a little different. Samsung’s reported to be planning a new product announcement for yet more members of the S10 family this December. Yup, if you haven’t already jumped on the Galaxy S10 or Galaxy Note 10 train in 2019, there’s a chance it’s coming around again. Only this time, there will be a pair of Lite variants pulling the coaches. Samsung is said to be announcing a Galaxy Note 10 Lite and a Galaxy S10 Lite before year’s end and, well……