Top tech 2019: 12 must-have gadgets to buy now, from 5G phones to smart sunglasses
Are you ready to connect your sunglasses, alarm clock, and kitchen appliances to the internet? These are the new wave smart devices that will help you do it.
Technology
Don't miss out on the headlines from Technology. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Welcome to the era in which everything connects to the internet: sunglasses to alarm clocks, kitchen appliances to kids’ toys.
A new wave of smart devices is washing up on store shelves, ready to respond to your every tap, swipe, and spoken command.
And they’re showing up alongside breakthroughs in mobile technology, wireless gadgetry, and an occasional flashback device.
We’ve rounded up 12 of the most compelling, must-have technologies to catch your eye now and in the near future.
This futuristic headgear combines protection for your eyes with entertainment for your ears. They look like typical wayfarer-style sunglasses from the outside, but Bose Frames hide downward-facing speakers in their arms to direct streaming music from your phone into your ears alone. There’s even a hidden microphone in these frames so you can use them to answer calls, and a button to summon a digital helper like Siri or Google Assistant.
Samsung Galaxy S10 5G ($2016):
Samsung’s top smartphone — arguably the most advanced in the market — has finally landed in Australia, offering a larger screen, bigger battery, ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, and a remarkable swag of six cameras, including new depth-sensing lenses front and back for more striking portraits. But its headline-grabbing feature is its 5G connectivity, as it can achieve download speeds faster than the NBN allows when in the right coverage area.
These newly released earbuds are rapidly gaining a reputation among music-loving athletes, even giving Apple AirPods a run for their money. Powerbeats Pro are winning them over on a few fronts: these wireless earbuds resist sweat and water, they come with volume, call and playback controls on each earbud, they deliver clearer audio in a smaller, lighter package and, unlike their Apple competitors, they stay put thanks to sturdy plastic ear hooks.
The famous German kitchen appliance credited for creating everything from soup and dips to risotto and stews gets smarter in its latest iteration thanks to the addition of wi-fi and a generously sized touchscreen. That 6.8-inch screen will let users look up and follow step-by-step recipe instructions from Cookidoo, while the internet connection delivers regular software updates.
Famed Finnish fitness brand Suunto will released its most sleek and sophisticated exercise partner in Australia on July 1. The Suunto 5 looks more like a regular wristwatch than many of its other creations, even though it features GPS and heart-rate tracking, and sport modes ranging from mountain biking to skiing. This wearable gadget will also deliver alerts from your smartphone and will do so for up to seven days on a single charge.
The world’s top drone maker is taking on GoPro with this feisty action camera that offers longer battery life, greater water resistance, a smaller body, and an extra screen upfront for a lower price than its major rival. Some of its other features include smart electronic image stabilisation to smooth out shaky video, slow-motion and time-lapse modes, and HDR photography to capture well exposed 12-megapixel images.
Osmo Little Genius Starter Kit ($160):
This Apple iPad-based game for preschoolers is more tangible than you might expect. The new Osmo kit, due in stores on July 25, will come with toys kids can use to build letters, sticks and rings to build constructions in the real world than then appear on screen, and new ways to clothe the game’s virtual characters. The Little Genius kit is the first designed for players aged between three and five years, building their vocabulary skills.
This wallet-sized gadget is like a 5G shortcut for your other devices. It taps into Telstra’s next-generation mobile network to deliver download speeds of more than one gigabit per second to up to 20 connected devices at once, allowing you to run an entire household of tech from it. The mobile hotspot will also run for a full day on a single charge and comes with an easy-to-use Android interface.
Amazon’s latest e-book reader will add a new lighting system to lure more readers away from paper tomes. The new Kindle Oasis, to be released on July 24, will feature adjustable lighting that can range from cool daylight to a warm night-time glow and can be set to switch automatically when the sun goes down. The device is also water-resistant for poolside reading, features a 7-inch E-Ink screen, and a battery life of about six weeks.
It’s the cheapest 5G phone launched in Australia but the Oppo Reno 5G is not without tricks. This 6.6-inch smartphone features three cameras on its back panel capable of a hybrid 10x zoom and capturing 48-megapixel photos, while the front camera pops up on a mechanical arm to snap a selfie. The smartphone also features an in-screen fingerprint scanner, sizeable battery, and space to add a memory card.
This internet-savvy bedside gadget delivers a lot of smarts for about the same price as a regular alarm clock. And unlike a standard clock, you can change the face of this device, ask it to dim the lights at bedtime, command it to set several alarms, or request relaxing music or white noise to lull you to sleep. As part of its bedroom-friendly design, Lenovo has omitted a camera from this device, and includes a USB port for charging a phone.
Touch typists rejoice — the mobile keyboard is making a comeback. This new generation BlackBerry smartphone combines its famous Qwerty keyboard with a 4.5-inch touchscreen to deliver the best of both worlds. This modern smartphone, made by TCL, also features a dual camera on its back panel, a fingerprint scanner in its space bar, and Google Android apps.
Originally published as Top tech 2019: 12 must-have gadgets to buy now, from 5G phones to smart sunglasses
Uphill battle for improving social media
The fallout from kids using social media has been laid bare at a summit on the issue, including some “simply frightening” statistics.
Hurricane weatherman recoils in pain
A live weather cross quickly became painful to watch as a weatherman faced the wrath of Hurricane Milton.