Author: Marcé

Today, Telkom published its annual earnings report, ranging nine months and ending in December 2020. We deciphered most of the financial jargon and concluded two things: 1) lockdown increased the need for broadband connectivity and 2) South Africans really do prefer mobile connections.  The work-from-home era was short-lived for some, but if there’s anything humans relied on tremendously, it was having a stable connection to the web at all times. Whether it’s through a mobile phone, an LTE mobile router with a SIM or a fixed internet connection — workers and employers, in some cases, were forced to pick up…

If we asked you: What hardware goes into a car? You’d go ahead and name all the greased up components that broke on your ‘92 Toyota Corolla last year. But these days, almost every part on a modern vehicle requires some sort of computer chip or sensor. They’re basically computers on wheels, and if there’s a semiconductor shortage, companies like Ford can’t manufacture vehicles. Easy as that.  What prompted the shortage? Following a cascade of nationwide lockdowns throughout the world, the newly imprisoned human population turned to the one thing they can do indoors: play with gadgets. This boost in…

Something very cruel happened to us this week. The Stuff editorial team received a review copy for the Nioh Collection Remastered a mere two days ahead of the review embargo. Filled with excitement, and a little bit of fear we dove right into the first title, filled to the brim with features tailored for the next-gen console we’re reviewing it on: PlayStation 5. The fear quickly consumed all of our excitement once we finished the tutorial.  The same happened once we booted the graphically beautiful Nioh 2 Remastered and sped through the tutorial. What have we gotten ourselves into? Nioh…

Smartphone display innovations continue to bring us closer to Tony Stark’s lab filled with see-through panels. That faux-augmented reality future is a few millimetres closer with Xiaomi’s new concept smartphone that features a “quad-curved waterfall display.”  The mockup’s display features a deep 88-degree ‘waterfall’ curvature on all four edges. Remember Huawei’s Mate 30 Pro’s edges? From what we can gather, the concept mockup’s got edge ‘dropoffs’ around the entire body. This can either go over really well with consumers, or they’ll absolutely despise it.  Xiaomi’s edgier than you Of course, the main issue here is the fact that there’s absolutely…

Welcome to the battle of the black slabs. Samsung was so eager to launch this yar’s slate of Galaxy devices, that it pushed the reveal event to the second week of January. Maybe it couldn’t wait to show off its next generation of redesigned, revamped, updated or even revolutionary new tech? Let’s see how the new Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra stacks up against its predecessor, the S20 Ultra.  Both devices dominate in the upper-high-end smartphone market, and it’s clear these aren’t developed for the everyman. The S20 Ultra launched at just over R30,000 early in 2020, while the S21 Ultra…

One day, when we’re all grown up, we’d like to be rich and never have to work anymore. The (almost unattainable) pipedream of all eight-year-olds has been achieved by the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, at the age of 57. The Amazon CEO announced late yesterday that he will step down as CEO, taking up a role as executive chairman.  Bezos will be replaced by Andy Jassy who heads-up (and founded) Amazon’s cloud computing business. Jassy will fill Bezos’ seat in the latter half of 2021, according to reports.  Jeff Bezos steps down “Being the CEO of Amazon…

If you thought South Africans were unsure about the COVID Alert SA app, be prepared for the next wave of questioning aimed at the government’s newly announced Electronic Vaccine Data System (or EVDS) and its data collection plans.  It’s one thing to order batch after batch of vaccines, but a proper rollout strategy is needed if the government plans to vaccinate a massive amount of humans. The government has developed a phased approach to vaccinating the nation, in which each phase is attributed to a certain group of society. To help administrate this process, it has announced the EVDS system…

What is the reason companies are removing charging adaptors from phone boxes? (Spoiler: it’s not only to cut greenhouse gas emissions) Shortly after Apple’s 2020 iPhone launch, Samsung tweeted that, unlike the iPhone 12, Samsung devices come with charging adaptors in their boxes. Apple had just announced that it would no longer include charging adaptors or EarPods with its devices. Buyers would find the charging cable (Lightning to USB-C) bundled with a new smartphone, but not much else. Apple’s rather odd announcement was made in the cause of “sustainability”. It justified the exclusion of chargers on environmental grounds — it…

LG may be exiting the smartphone market soon, but with TVs like the OLED55CX, it really doesn’t need to sell smartphones. Really. It’s become synonymous with some of the best panels in the biz, and for good reason. 2019’s C9 range was one of our favourite entries, and LG brings similar tech to its CX panels. Where it does change up its methods slightly, is the addition of a 48in OLED variant in the CX line — it’s nice to have a smaller option, as the 55in is an intimidating beast in its own right. In addition to our review…

Turn your memory back about two years, and you’ll remember how the Stuff team raved about the Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV that made its way to South Africa. We’re not exactly spoiled for choice when it comes to EV options in South Africa. But luckily, the high-end car makers will never disappoint.  Now, Jaguar has announced that its updated I-Pace will officially launch in South Africa in three trim options. It’s bringing in the base Jaguar I-Pace EV400 S that’s priced at R1,942,600. Step it up a notch, and you’ve got the I-PACE EV400 SE that breaks the 2-mil mark…