Life & Technology – 2GB 5th April, 2015

Samsung Australia has finally told us when we’re getting the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge, and it’s very soon: April 10, less than a week away.

 

The Galaxy S6 will start at $999 for 32 GB and cost as much as $1,149 for 128GB. The Galaxy S6 Edge will start at $1,149 for 32GB and max out as $1,449 for 128GB. Pretty pricy! Thankfully, they’re pretty impressive smartphones.

 

If you’re after one of these bad boys on a contract, we’ve dug deep and found out the cheapest plans on offer – click here for a look.

 

What's even more impressive is that the S6 looks very durable. There's been a viral video going around of a fellow slamming his S6 into the ground. Even after three throws, it came out unscathed. There's some debate as to whether it's legitimate, but you can check it out for yourself here.

 

There's another video here of a drop test where the S6 doesn't fare quite as well. Watch it out here.

 

PayPayl this week announced a service it calls “Free Return Shipping”. As you might have guessed, the payment giant is offering customers Free Return Shipping. Specifically, it will refund customers up to AUD$45 to cover postage if an item they buy online needs to be sent back. Of course, you’ll have to have paid for the item wholly using PayPal, and you need to have opted into the service.

 

The Cuisine Companion is Tefal's take on a Thermonix. If you tuned in last week, you'll remember that Harvey Norman's Gary Brown set me the challenge of trying it out. I spent some time of the last week setting it up and giving the Cuisine Companion a go. While learning a new appliance seems like a bigger task than switching smartphones, using the Cuisine Companion is nowhere near as hard as you think. I cooked my first risotto in about 40 minutes, 20 of which I was sitting back and watching TV – not having to stir is such a time saver. It was delicious too! I'm looking forward to trying a few more.

 

There's plenty of apps that try and encourage weight lose and healthier living, but there's not many where you hear that  founder has used their own app to change their own life. Ben Pettit, Trim for Life's co-founder,  has lost over 25 kilograms since December using his own app. The idea behind Trim for Life is that it's trying to humanise fitness – it's not just about counting steps or calories, but personalisation and simple inputs like "did you eat well today". The app also provides motivation, healthy recipes and emphasises constant movement and healthy eating over heavy exercise and fad diets. Click here to read more about Trim for Life.

 

Netgear’s Arlo Smart Home Security camera was one of my favourite products that I saw at CES this year. Unlike other internet-enabled security cameras, Arlo is completely wire-free, making it much easier to place them wherever you want in your house. It’s also got night vision and is weatherproof, so you can keep them outdoors too!

 

Netgear has just brought Arlo to Australia and you can get a starter pack from our sponsor Harvey Norman.  A base station and one camera costs AUD$349, a base station with two cameras costs AUD$589 and a base station with three cameras will costs AUD$799. Additional cameras can be purchased for AUD$249 each.

 

We’re giving an Arlo starter pack on CyberShack.com.au and you can enter the contest until midnight on Monday, as well as read our review!

 

LG this week unveiled the its new range of TVs for the first half of 2015 – and there's a lot! If you've recently bought a new TV – say in the last three to five years – you might be wondering if there's any reason to upgrade. I was wondering the same thing, so I asked Grant Vanderberg, LG's Australian home entertainment marketing manager. According to Grant, size is the number one reason. While people might have been happy with a 40-inch TV a few years ago, bigger really is better in 2015. 64% of total TV sales in Australia are now for sets 55-inches and up, and 25% of TV sales in Australia are 65-inch and up. LG's new line-up goes even bigger featuring 70-inch, 79-inch, 84-inch and even 98-inch models! Click here for more details about what LG is bringing to Australia, as well as some of the exciting technology baked right in