Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Magnificent camera and specs!
Price: From R32 000
Samsung recently refreshed its flagship devices with the launch of the S23 series. The primus inter pares is the Galaxy S23 Ultra and, boy, does it live up to pushing the boundaries beyond the range! It features the brand-new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor – the equivalent of a V8 6-litre engine with a graphics processor that is designed and geared for some serious gaming. It is the best Android business phone available. Aside from the power of this device, the 5 000mAh battery packs energy that will last you two days, and it will take you just over two hours to charge it back to 100% using the supercharger. The built-in S Pen now has even more functionality and enhanced handwriting recognition, making this intuitive and even easier to use. But the star feature of this device is without doubt the camera. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is equipped with five cameras, which include a 12-megapixel selfie camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, a whopping 200MP wide-angle camera, a 10MP telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom and another 10MP telephoto camera that takes care of the 3x optical zoom. The Samsung Nightography feature takes incredibly impressive photos and videos in low light and dark areas. The quality of images out of this phone are jaw-dropping!
Sustainability is a massive focus for corporates, and consumers are becoming more aware of which brands have this embedded in the products they purchase. And in the electronics world that’s even more apparent. With this phone range, Samsung has focused on recycling. The front and back glass screens are made from the new Gorilla Glass Victus and are made from 22% recycled glass.
Sonos Era 300
An extraordinary auditory experience
Price: R 11 000
When Sonos was founded in 2002, just over 21 years ago, its founders wanted to make the perfect, best-sounding wireless speakers so that users could enjoy music wherever they were. Fast-forward over two decades later and the wireless speaker pioneer is creating even more magic.
When it comes to sound today, the common terminologies we hear about are spatial, immersive and Dolby Atmos. If stereo is “so 90s”, then surround sound is “so 2000s” ‒ so please do not use that terminology around the younger generation. And if mono is still in your sphere of reference – well then, just stop reading right here.
Sound has evolved so much today. Once you listen to the very latest developments, you can never go back to listening to a stereo solution, or even to surround sound, for that matter.
This is where the Sonos Era 300 speaker is so ahead of its time. The hourglass-shaped speaker is the size of a medium box and features six drivers positioned around the top, sides and bottom to support Dolby Atmos Music. And the experience, I have to tell you, is extraordinary. Wherever you sit near the speaker you are delighted with a magnificent auditory experience that washes your listening senses in 360-degree audio.
It’s also incredibly easy to set up: download the Sonos app, pair the speakers and then simply stream from Spotify or Apple Music, which is coming soon.
EcoFlow Delta 2
Cutting-edge backup power
Price: R25 000
https://za.ecoflow.com/products/delta-2-portable-power-station?variant=41462254960849
The term “load-shedding” is a trigger word for anxiety among South Africans, especially when you are desperately trying to work or just simply continuing with whatever you’re doing, and you don’t have energy. Generators and solar systems remain costly and prohibitive for many, and while there are tons of backup power solutions out there, many are not effective.
The EcoFlow brand was founded in 2017 by a group of entrepreneurs who wanted to create the perfect battery for drones. When you talk about battery efficiency, drones are the ultimate test.
The EcoFlow Delta 2 is a very impressive power solution with cutting-edge technology built in. It has 1 024 watt hours of power. That is 1000 watts of energy. To put that into perspective, your average wireless router uses six watts, a modern energy-efficient fridge 200-300 watts, a modern television around 150 watts, and an LED lightbulb around six watts. So, with 1000 watts you can power quite a bit when you need to.
It features a lithium ion battery which you can extend up to 3 000Wh to add even more capacity.
But that is not even the cool bit. It pairs with an app so you can monitor and control everything through your phone, and the best part about this EcoFlow Delta 2 is that you can recharge it to 80% in 50 minutes – critical when you look at the gaps between load-shedding power schedules. It weighs just 12kg, so another advantage is portability, especially if you are going away.
Synology DiskStation DS723+
Is time to take control of your data?
Price: R11 000 excluding drives
Don’t you miss the days when you could store your data and backups with ease? The term drowning in data couldn’t be more truthful in 2023. We are creating so much data that we don’t even know where it is all stored. Remember when 5GB of cloud storage was sufficient? Then 50GB became the norm. Now we are being reminded by Google and Apple and Microsoft that your cloud storage is running out of space and it’s time to “upgrade”. And it doesn’t stop. I am personally tired of upgrading. Have you recently done an audit of how much you are spending on storing stuff in the cloud? Well, between Google, Apple and Microsoft I am forking out almost R1 000 a month. And it’s not slowing down. Photos and videos are probably the biggest culprit, simply because the quality of phone cameras has improved so much over the years ‒ and so has the size of the images! My recent data audit has pushed me to look at other solutions, especially where I will have more control.
The Synology DiskStation DS723+ is an elegant NAS (network attached storage) box that plugs into your router at home and allows you to back up almost everything to it. It is very flexible solution that can be used as a media server, a backup solution, for all your file sharing and even to store your CCTV video footage.
Storage space is scalable and the great thing about this being a dual-bay storage solution is that if a disk does fail, you always have it replicated. Synology software is genius that makes it all happen seamlessly and very fast!
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