Author: Brett Venter

As you might guess from the number ‘five’ in the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s full title, Samsung has been doing this for a while now. If you’re a Stuff reader, you’re probably more familiar with the folding smartphone phenomenon than the average person but Samsung’s got a lot of money to buy advertising. So why don’t you know more than one (perhaps two) human being who actually owns one of these things? The price is probably a significant factor. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 12GB/256GB review unit Stuff had to play with will set you back R42,000. If you opt…

We here at Stuff sometimes encounter a bit of tech we’re expecting to be okay that turns out to be worth far more than the price of admission. The Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker, a new edition of the little puck-shaped speaker from Xiaomi, is just one such device. If you trust us you can close the review now, head out, and drop around R600 on one of these delightful little pucks. If you’re after budget-friendly portable sound that will literally fit in a pocket (while giving you quite a bulge) while also filling a room, this is exactly what you’re after.…

Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max might well be the brand’s most metal phones yet. We don’t mean that in a George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher kind of way either, even though George really is a delightful human being. We’re talking literally. Apple’s headliners for the next twelve months are fashioned from titanium rather than the aluminium we’ve all come to expect. What that means is that these handsets are both lighter and tougher, yet are somehow not more expensive. In America, at least, where launch prices for the Pro and Pro Max remain unchanged compared to last year. Here at…

When it comes to high-end fitness watches, there’s only really one name on the roster. Or is there? The Coros Apex 2 Pro is a pricy wearable designed to go head-to-head with Garmin’s Fenix lineup. Stuff recently got an introduction to the brand and if first impressions really do count, we’re expecting some impressive things from them in future. Impressive things right now are also good. That’s just what the Apex 2 Pro supplies. It bloody better, at its R13,000 price point. This wearable is a multidisciplinary gadget but we… are not. This review is mostly based on its run…

You’d think that working for Stuff would lead to us becoming awfully snobby about the tech hardware that we use. It’s certainly a risk. When everything is always awesome, it’s easy to look down on more affordable tech. But stick around long enough and you start to appreciate what’s possible when you don’t spend the maximum amount of money. The Nokia C32, which properly fits into the ‘budget’ category, is an almost perfect example of this. The Nokia C32 costs a relatively tiny R2,500 while managing to a) look like it’s more expensive and b) offer features you really wouldn’t…

You might recall a few weeks ago that we took a trip to Bash, The Foschini Group’s one-stop online website for everything under its various rooftops. At the time, we mentioned that the products from that store were acquired with a very specific purpose in mind. That purpose was to help get ready for summer, in that whole ‘we’d like to wander around the beach without feeling self-conscious’ sort of way. The key thing about making a summer body is that you can’t wait until summer to start making it. It takes time for winter food to get out of…

Xiaomi hasn’t made any secrets about the fact that it’s planning to take on the world’s auto manufacturers by building EVs. It first announced its plans back in 2021, explaining that any vehicles it makes won’t be launched under the Xiaomi brand. But the new marque would be a subdivision of the company. It’s easy to say that you’re going to build electric vehicles. It’s even simpler to repeat it. The tricky bit is actually pulling that off. There are things like investment, facilities, expertise, and other essentials to acquire first, followed by regulatory approval. The Chinese tech-maker has most…

Portable battery packs are everywhere these days. With all the competition in the market, the ACDC 150W Portable Power Station — supplied by a local company called ACDC Dynamics — is a bit of an anomaly. For starters, it’s priced a little high. That’s Stuff’s most obvious complaint about it but it could well be a benefit if you’re willing to take the right view of things. More on that in a second, though. First, there’s the price you can expect to pay for this 150W power pack. It’s available online for around R4,700, though you can get it for…

One day, South Africans will no longer need to rely on backup power to get through the day. But, to quote Aragorn II, Heir of Elendil, “today is not that day”. In the absence of the Light of Eärendil (Galadriel’s gift to Frodo, if you’re feeling a little lost), it’s a good idea to have something like the Ecoflow River 2 Max on hand. For those not familiar with the brand, Ecoflow makes some of the most impressive backup batteries we’ve ever encountered. Of course, they’re usually accompanied by equally impressive prices but that’s the nature of technology. It’s rare…

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console is almost twenty years old. It’ll be even closer to that milestone when Microsoft shuts down the Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace in July 2024 but it won’t quite make it across the finish line intact. The console’s not going away. As long as it still works, it should do what you bought it for, but the storefront is toast a little under a year from now. The last day for making a purchase from the old familiar place will be 28 July 2024. That’s how long you have to buy anything you’ve been putting off…