I am still at Las Vegas at the moment attending the CES 2023, after 2 years away! Lots and lots of great tech here and I’ve got 2 of the brands with their brand new TV ranges for 2023.
Had a talk with Jason Carrick Sales General Manager TCL Australia who talked us through their mini LED range and what’s in store for 2023.
Mini-LED is the new black (well, almost)
Most TV makers have declared that mini-LED is the staple of their 2023 offerings. This leaves the lower-cost Edge-lit, Back-lit and Direct-lit LED/LCD market to generic suppliers.
In part, it is recognition that Mini-LED coupled with Quantum Dots (QLED, ULED, NanoCell, QNED etc.) offers a bright, colourful picture at a value price. No, mini-LED is not as good as OLED or QD-OLED, but for the average Aussie home, it is damned good. READ MORE…
We also spoke with Christopher Mayer Regional Training Manager Hisense ANZ, and shared their 2023 range.
2023 U6 and U7 ULED Range: Mini-LED for the masses
The range includes models from 55- to 98-inch. These have fewer mini-LEDs and dimming zones. They all support IMAX Enhanced, Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ adaptive viewing and AI Sports Mode.
The panels will support 144Hz (PC gaming only). In addition, it has Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), AMD FreeSync Premium, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and HDMI 2.1. READ MORE..
Whether it’s a problem of the 21st century or fossil fuel burning, we have many more hay fever, asthma and respiratory issues.
We wrote a guide to keeping your air clean. Breathe easy this spring. Read this before you buy an air purifier and know what to look for. Here are some of the air purifiers we reviewed.
Philips has a bladeless fan purifier that does up to 70m3 with new AI technology to use local Air Quality data and internal sensors to set the right fan speed for the job Philips Air Performer AMF765 air purifier with a fan. 8.7/10 While on Philips, its traditional air purifiers offer excellent value, including the 1000i-series (5x6m medium rooms), 2000i-series (6x6m large rooms) and 3000i-series for even bigger 6 x 7m rooms. This review covers the range – Philips AC1715 clean air for all sizes of homes. 8.7/10 If you want something extra like Ultraviolet germ killing, the TruSens range covers from small to larger 70m2 rooms – TruSens Z-3000 is a germ-killing. 8.6/10
Mitsubishi has an interesting self-cleaning pre-filter and intelligence to find dirty air pockets, and it is made in Japan too. Mitsubishi MA-E85R-A. 8.4/10
De’Longhi adds a dehumidifier to the air purifier, which comes in different room sizes. We asked the question do you need a dehumidifier and the answer was only if you have high humidity and mould issues. De’Longhi DDSX220WF-WH Tasciugo AriaDry. It scored 7.4/10 mainly because dehumidifiers chew electricity, and we feel a dedicated dehumidifier may offer better amenity and value.
ACCC Says No To TPG/Telstra Regional Tie Up
The ACCC has been deciding whether Telstra and TPG (Vodafone) should be allowed to have a mobile network sharing arrangement in regional Australia.
It would mean, you take ALL the Telstra and Vodafone towers in regional Aus, remove the ones where there is duplicate coverage (two towers in one location) and let customers that subscribe to both companies use this new network. Its a bit more complicated than that, but you get the gist of the suggestion.
The benefit? Better regional coverage in the bush. Even better than the current Telstra network now. But there is more benefits here. Some of the cheapest phone plans are available by sim card resellers of the Vodafone network (think Kogan mobile and tpg telecom). These services give customers access to the Vodafone network at the lowest cost. The problem is that while Vodafone regional coverage is rubbish (we just drove from Sunshine Coast to Sydney – its pretty bad between Byron and Grafton, then bad again Coffs to one hour north of Newcastle) so customers in regional Australia don’t buy them because the service is not as good as the Telstra network (that costs more to access).
So customers in the bush pay more as they stay with Telstra.
Now its no secret that since the merger of Vodafone and TPG, the new company needs to earn a profit (in short, it’s basically not – at least not from selling mobile sim plans!!!) and the new company decided to form a network sharing agreement with Telstra for regional Australia. It meant less Vodafone customers (and their resellers) could access the Telstra network in the bush (which is the best one) on their Voda network accessing sim.
It would also have meant that a customer (like me) who has Vodafone and enjoys their $5 a day international roaming would have also had the benefit of accessing Australia’s best regional network, but at the lower price that Vodafone is offering today.
BUT ACCC says ‘NO’. So customers in the bush need to keep using Telstra – Optus gets the biggest Christmas present since a hacker decided to only release 10k stolen data records and we all get to hear about it a week before Christmas when we are not really thinking about stupid decisions made by Government departments.
One might suggest that as soon as Vodafone gets access to a better regional mobile network they could pump up their prices. Maybe. Maybe. But there is still Optus out there offering good plans and if Vodafone bump up their rates it would be ‘see ya’ to an alternate provider.
Also, satellite is just around the corner. The idea your phone will be able to talk to a satellite provider in the next few years. So, would it not be a good idea to sure up the first part of the mobile network that will be less commercially viable once customers from the city can begin regional roaming on satellite? It appears not.
Its nuts and I don’t get it.
Last chance to buy your Christmas presents, we invited Mitchell Whitaker Director from Harvey Norman New Castle and shared some great deals you can still catch at Harvey Norman. Run….NOW!
We also invited a great friend of the show, Alex Choros Managing Editor Whistleout who talked about some of his Best Tech of 2022.
We invited Brad Reed, IT / B2B Marketing Manager from LG Australia who talked us through the latest LG Gram Laptop lineup.
LG Gram 2022 has several rarely-seen yet desirable features compared to most other laptops. The gorgeous, high-resolution screen has a taller 16:10 aspect ratio. It provides more vertical working space that makes it easier to read and use. And they are impossibly light – hence the name Gram.
The LG Gram 2022 range uses Intel Evo Core 12th generation processors (2021 models use 11th gen). They come in three sizes (14/16/17″) and either a traditional clamshell or a 360° Hinge two-in-one design. Read more..
We also invited Jeremy Stewart VP Global Marketing from Swann who shared with us the latest AllSecure 650. This is a security camera that runs in 2K resolution, wire free and rechargeable batteries that can last for 3 months!
Netflix $7 Ad Supported Plan Coming November 4
The guys Netflix announced on Friday a new subscription tier. This one is the cheapest option, but its supported by up to 5 minutes of advertising each hour. For me, this sounds like a great way to ruin Netflix, but for others it might be a way to get your favourite shows on Netflix for less. When it comes to streaming services I subscribe and unsubscribe based on whether my family is watching. Holidays are on? All the services are running, but during times of the year when school and work is on, and maybe the content has not been refreshed, then the streaming service is temporarily switched off.
Now you will need to decide, do you pay for the service with cash or in part with your time? Also, the $7 tier will remove some other elements. There is no option to download shows to devices for offline viewing, say good bye to watching a movie on the plane while you travel and the maximum resolution for content display is 720HD. The latter is a bigger one for me as I love watching content in 4K UHD and many of you seem to love this to. The average size of TVs selling in Australia today is 65inches and this is the type of TV that excels with higher resolution content.
Remember, Netflix will be joined with advertising supported tier plans shortly by Disney+, i am sure others will follow.
Sadly, I see advertising supported tiers coming online and ‘all cash’ tiers then growing in cost in the near future. I hope i am wrong, but ad support is the perfect way to reduce the cash outlay and keep customers connected. Time will tell.
