Innehållsförteckning för Issue 200 från T3 Australia

TECHNICS SL-1210G Among DJs and vinyl fans, the Technics SL-1200 has an almost legendary status. Solidly built, efficiently designed and featuring a high-torque direct drive motor, it went on to sell 3 million units and became a staple of clubs and audiophiles’ home setups alike. Although Technics vanished from the scene in 2010 when the brand was temporarily retired, the iconic turntable was soon reborn as the SL-1200G in 2016, which has in turn inspired the new SL-1210G. Coming with a stylish matte black finish, the SL-1210G features an iron-coreless direct drive motor with double rotor/single stator that eliminates cogging and offers powerful torque. Its tonearm is fashioned from cold-drawn magnesium, which has a high damping effect, while its bearings utilise a cut-processed housing to deliver high initial motion sensitivity,…

1 iPHONE 13 From $1,119, apple.com/au Apple’s four new iPhones don’t look too new – we’re in the ‘hardware refresh’ point of the iPhone cycle rather than the ‘radical redesign’ bit, after all – but they’re absolutely some of the most exciting the company has ever released. From the dinky 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini all the way up to the big-boy 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, with the 6.1-inch iPhones 13 and 13 Pro between them, the entire line has been given a bunch of salient upgrades. They each get new batteries with smarter power management, offering between 90 minutes to two-and-a-half hours extra life on a charge. Apple’s newest 5nm smartphone chip, the A15 Bionic, brings six CPU cores, between four and five GPU cores, and a vastly upgraded…

The new Fitbit Charge 5 ($269, fitbit.com) is the most sophisticated fitness tracker Fitbit has ever created. It features some seriously premium features including the ECG app for heart health, EDA Scan app for stress management and an always-on display that’s twice as bright as the Charge 4. Better still, you get a six-month membership of Fitbit Premium so you can enjoy all the perks of the Fitbit App. Not bad for a fitness band!…

VACU VIN CHAMPAGNE SAVER If you only want to save your leftover sparkling wine for the next day, and would rather not pay 400 bucks for it, look no further than this fizz-specific spin-off from Vacu Vin. It seals bottles quite effectively, and also doubles as a dribble-free pourer. $19, vacuvin.com CORAVIN TIMELESS 3 SL This cleverly uses a needle to gently pierce the cork of your precious vintage. As you pour through the needle, exactly the right amount of inert gas is pumped in to fill the gap left, meaning the bottle can be made to last for years. $299, coravin.com.au AARKE CARBONATOR C3 An upmarket SodaStream! The design may be based on posh espresso machines but it uses the same process to carbonate any liquid. You can carbonate…

When T3 magazine launched, I’d been out of school for a few years, but looking back on a quarter century of tech reminded me of something a teacher once said. She was asked, as I recall, about getting older and her response was: “You’ll be amazed at the things that are invented in your lifetime.” It clearly stuck with me, as that was a long time ago and yet I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday. Thumbing through issue one of T3 I’m struck by a few things. Even then, the magazine was enthusiastic about electric cars. GM’s EV1 was the subject, and while that car was never a success it wasn’t because it wasn’t good. And even then, the naysayers wrote letters claiming it wasn’t as clean…

In the 20 years of T3, TVs have changed drastically, especially considering that the most important bit is still much as it always was: a 2D screen surrounded by a frame. Back in the late 1990s, things were hotting up in the TV space. Sony’s patent on its famous Trinitron CRT tech ran out this year, which meant that the best TV quality was suddenly available in cheaper sets – in response, the flatscreen revolution began. Not only did high-end CRT sets start adding flat screens as a differentiator, but rear projection TVs also appeared and offered bigger size (though this was more of a US craze, where they could actually fit the sizes of set required), and in 1997 plasma TVs launched. LCD TVs had been floating around since…

In issue one of T3, we reported on the release of the EV1, a fully electric car from General Motors, one of America largest automobile manufacturers. The sleek two-door, two-seater is generally regarded as the first mass-produced EV available to the public. It had a 0-60 time of around 8.4 seconds and a range of between 70 and 100 miles – and up to 140 miles for the second generation model. (BMW’s i3 will only do around 150 and that was released in 2013.) Despite an overwhelmingly positive response (including endorsements from the likes of Tom Hanks, Danny DeVito and Mel Gibson) only 1,117 cars were made, and in 2002 GM decided to recall them all and crush the lot, in spite of a vociferous ‘Don’t Crush’ campaign. GM suggested…

There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all smart lighting system: what’s right for your home might not be the ideal option for ours, and if you already have some smart home technology then you might find it easiest to go with the platform you’re already used to. So for example if you have a Hive thermostat or security system you might find that Hive’s smart lights are the most effortless addition. But if you haven’t picked your platform, these four options should cover all the bases and budgets. Whether your priority is affordability, expandability, convenience or luxury, these smart systems promise to light up your life. ILLUMINATE EVERYTHING PHILIPS HUE These are definitely not the cheapest smart lights you can lay your hands on, but the Hue system is a…

1 FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS LG has finally revealed the product we were promised would be the TV of the future 25 years ago: a rollable OLED TV. Yes, at the moment it costs $200K and weighs a ton (or 64kg to be accurate, but the point remains), but this is assuredly how domestic video displays are going to develop. By 2046 we’ll be able to unpin our TV from the wall, roll it up like wallpaper and take it wherever we like. Actual, genuine portable television, in other words. 2 SONOS Twenty-five years is a long time for a brand to avoid making any catastrophic mistakes (remember when Atari was going to be the biggest company in the world?), but if anyone is positioning itself to dominate for the long haul…

1 AUTONOMOUS CARS Might 2046 be the year your car can finally pick you up from the pub? Despite the limitations today of systems like Tesla Autopilot, we wouldn’t bet against it. But, rather than full automation, we expect the mid-2040s to feature electric, autonomous vehicles – you could even call them pods for an extra dose of future-gazing – driving themselves along predefined routes. That said, we think most people will still be driving themselves by 2046, but with greatly advanced driver assistance systems, potentially taking full control on motorways, making them safer and more efficient. 2 FLYING CARS Everyone from startups like Lilium to industry veterans like Boeing all believe the future of transport will see us take to the skies in compact, electric vehicles. It sounds idyllic…

The time to invest in your ears has well and truly arrived. There was always a case for it, but now it’s more imperative than ever. We’ve landed at a perfect convergence of form and function. Form because true wireless tech has evolved into a truly respectable, powerful force of audio nature. Function because our situations now basically demand a way to efficiently block out the world, and true wireless ear buds are exactly that. If you’re a home worker now thrust back into the office, if you’re a student forced onto the bus, if you’re just really used to the quiet comfort of home listening and would prefer other sounds simply weren’t there at all, a set of high-end buds makes all the difference. Stepping up the price ladder…

1 MOSHI PORTO Q 5K It may not be the fastest Qi charger at 5W, but Moshi’s handsome cloth-covered pad is the perfect way to keep the PI7 case topped up with juice wherever you may be. It’s the perfect bedside charger, looks great on a desk, and packs a 5,000mAh battery so you can charge on the go. $99, moshi.com 2 FIIO M11 PLUS High-end buds deserve a similarly high-end source, and they don’t come much fancier than Fiio’s beautiful Android-based HD player. Made for precise playback, aptX Adaptive support means you’ll be able to get the very best out of the PI7 on the move. $1,059, fiio.com 3 COMPLY TRUEGRIP TW-400-C Changing the ear tips can make a huge difference to your earphone experience, and when you’re dealing…

SALOMON ACTIVE SKIN 8 SET HYDRATION PACK Our sweet spot for pack size when hitting the trails for a few hours or more. The soft fabric construction with elastic enclosure ensure a snug fit without hindering breathing. There’s pockets for two 500ml soft flasks and quick acess kit up front and storage on the back for anything else you need. $159.99, salomon.com.au TNF FIRST DAWN PACKABLE JACKET Waterproof and breathable, this shell will keep you dry when it’s not. There’s an adjustable hood, zippered pocket on the back and reflective tabs for extra visibility at night. At 165g you’re not even going to know you’re carrying it. $209, thenorthface.com.au THERAGUN WAVE DUO Recovery is importand. The Theragun Wave Duo is a unique take not just on foam rollers but also…

The last year may not have been packed with champagne moments – unless you were drowning your sorrows – but that hasn’t hurt the sales of fizzy wine. Champagne and the surprisingly excellent fizzy wines of England may remain reserved for special occasions. However, prosecco, cava and the like are increasingly brought out on every occasion, even if the ‘occasion’ is ‘getting home from work, or the shops’. One big problem with fizz has long been that it just doesn’t keep. That’s no problem if you’re partying with friends, and it all gets polished off in five minutes. If you are wanting to savour a higher quality bottle of sparkling wine over a longer period, it has been more or less impossible, though. Nope, leaving a spoon upside down in…

LOVING IN STEREO What would the Bee Gees be like if they were actually kinda cool? The third album from falsetto neo-soul groovers Jungle once again answers that question, and how. JUNGLE CRUISE The Rock does indeed bulge his way through vegetation wearing a too-tight button-up shirt in this entertaining flick, which is the truest mark of a good film that there is. FREE GUY The Truman Show for the 2020s? Eh, kinda, but not, but sort of – Ryan Reynolds is more likeable than Jim Carrey, and this is a far more fun take on the trapped-in-a-thing genre.…

The first issue of T3 magazine featured a videogame console that, while time has been quite unkind to it since, for the day was a transformative piece of technology for millions of gamers. A third dimension in videogame graphics wasn’t exactly a new thing when the N64 hit the store shelves, with the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn introducing console gamers to the idea of 3D a few years before, but the Nintendo 64 marked a landmark shift. The bright, vivid, polygonal experiences delivered by the console, as championed at launch by the now legendary Super Mario 64, were like nothing gamers had seen before and, almost overnight, transformed gamer expectations. Indeed, T3 issue 1’s coverage of the console noted that “the N64 moves the goalposts of ’90s videogaming at…

In the Wellness arena, we’ve seen major changes in the world of mattresses. Tempur released the first memory foam mattress in 1991, and by the time T3 launched a few years later, people were coming around to the idea that coils were square, man, and what they really wanted was to sleep on a great slab of polyurethane. A sleep surface that you would sink slowly yet inescapably into, to experience the most undisturbed night’s sleep of your life, if only because you couldn’t physically move. (I’m – mostly – joking, of course.) The next major arrival to the slumber party occurred in 2014, when Casper fired up its vacuum-packing machine and started compressing mattresses into almost unfeasibly small boxes, to be swiftly delivered to customers’ doors. Everything could be…

1 INCREASINGLY THIN LAPTOPS The clam-shell design of laptops has remained pretty much unchanged for the past 30 years, but a recent trend we can see carrying on is for ever thinner and lighter devices. Laptops are great for taking around with us, so the easier they are to carry, the better. Over the next 25 years, we can see advances in component manufacturing that allows laptop parts to get ever smaller, so the laptops of the future could be seriously slim devices, while also getting ever more powerful. 2 STREAMING KILLS OFF GAMING PCs Yeah, yeah, people have been predicting the death of desktop PCs for years, but they’ve always been proved wrong. After all, no matter how good laptops or smartphones get, they can never compete with the…

1 CARING, CLEANING AND COOKING ROBOTS You might already have a robovac or voice assistant, but in your smart home of the future, helpful robots will become more useful and commonplace. They’ll take care of your daily chores, like cleaning, doing laundry or chopping up vegetables. But they’ll also play an essential role in providing care and companionship for older people or anyone with mobility issues or disabilities. They may also be able to look after your children and pets, giving you instant access to real-time video, so you know what’s going on wherever you are. 2 LEARNING YOUR HABITS AI advances mean your smart home will know your habits, talk to your devices and proactively make changes to your environment. For example, data from sensors in your PJs will…

BOWERS & WILKINS PI7 $599, bowerswilkins.com WE’RE IMPRESSED The best-sounding wireless earbuds yet; solid noise cancellation; bass is deep and resonant and knows its place; really clever extra features that add convenience; comfortable fit and weight… WE’D IMPROVE …but size is literally too big for some; no quick ANC/Transparency switch; average battery life. THE LAST WORD Bowers & Wilkins PI7 are a true wireless masterpiece, with some fantastic extra features. Every element feels like it’s been allowed to be the most important element, all at once, and it works. But the design of the earbud may be an issue for smaller ears. MASTER & DYNAMIC MW08 $479, masterdynamic.eu WE’RE IMPRESSED Impressive sound; effective ANC and ambient modes; long battery life. WE’D IMPROVE No EQ settings in app; case prone to…

HOW WE TEST In T3, we feature only the finest gadgets out there, and we believe that you – our loyal reader – deserve only the best tech in your life. We don’t want you to waste time, and money, on inferior products, and that’s exactly why our Tested section exists. In here you’ll find only the latest and hottest tech. Each product has been handpicked and tested by T3’s experts. We only choose people with specialist knowledge for each test, so you know you’re going to get an outcome based on many years of experience in their respective field. As well as our traditional five-star rating system (right), we also give out awards to particularly exceptional gadgets, using the line-up below - so when you spot one of these,…

From $2,800 dell.com Let’s make no bones about it: we loved the Dell XPS 13 9310, especially the wonderful OLED screen. Sometimes, though, you need a little bit more space, which is where the XPS 15 9510 comes in. It ups the gorgeous OLED screen’s size to 15.6 inches, and upgrades the internals to give it some decent gaming kick. The highlight of this new iteration of the XPS 15 is that 15.6-inch OLED display. It has a resolution of 3,456 by 2,160 pixels, which is just a bit below the resolution of a 4K TV. There is an option for a 4K screen for the same money, but this uses a more standard LCD display. This OLED display is worth the slight reduction in resolution, though: it has the…

From $2,150 bang-olufsen.com Aimed squarely at B&O’s audience of tech-savvy music lovers with an eye for design, the Beosound Level is a portable smart speaker that can be positioned on a surface upright, laid flat, or wall mounted. If you’re looking for a stylishly understated speaker that isn’t understated on audio quality, it’s an excellent choice. Released in early 2021, the Beosound Level costs from $2,150, which is for a model with a dark grey fabric covering and silver aluminium frame. That design looks good… but it’s not the right choice. If you’re going to splash out on an elite Wi-Fi speaker, you should be looking at the version that comes with a more gold metal finish, and a wooden grille. It fits nicely in either a minimalist setup or…

At a very lithe 373g per shoe, the Vectiv Exploris Futurelight trail shoes are a lot of shoe for very little weight. From the top down, the upper is an abrasion-resistant Cordura ripstop mesh combined with TNF’s Futurelight membrane keeps the shoe breathable and at the same time waterproof while additional overlays on the toe cap, rand and heel offer plenty of armour for your feet against strike damage. There’s a high-rebound EVA midsole, Ortholite X55 footbed, padded tongue and Ghillie lacing system, which all work together to ensure premium out-of-the box comfort and stability on the foot. The addition of TNF’s Vectiv sole system really makes this hiking shoe stand out from the crowd. The combination of a single-density 3D TPU plate underfoot and rockered midsole genuinely help to…

Q KERRY ERICSSON How can I make my whole house smart? A Guru has long bounced off the whole smart home thing, despite acting as smart home correspondent for a number of reputable publications in the past, but a light has turned itself on within him: that stuff you’re doing with Alexa and Wi-Fi? It’s not smart home. It’s smart Barbie Dreamhouse. It’s dumb home. It is simply the cloying cream on top of a delicious bottle of smart milk. To do smart home right, you need to roll up your sleeves. To do smart home right, you need to roll up your sleeves. This means, unfortunately for you, a period of learning This means, unfortunately for you, a period of learning, during which you will need to absorb the…

When I joined T3 way back in *cough* 2000 and *cough* – quite a long time ago – it was very different to how it is now. The focus was on ‘gadgets’ in various shades of grey and beige, and I was not really intending to stay long. Certainly not for the [redacted] years I have ended up being here. Then the iPhone happened and suddenly technology was not solely for spec-obsessed, speccy men. It was a cool, thrusting new universe of high-bitrate life enhancement. The tech market opened up overnight to new people and new ideas. T3 was quick to leap on this and began to embrace the idea of ‘tech lifestyle’, as brands from cars to kettles desperately charged to leap on the ultra-lucrative, designer techy bandwagon that…

Smartwatches are a common sight in 2021 – you can’t leave the house without seeing someone wearing an Apple Watch, Garmin running watch, or Fitbit on their wrist. There’s no questioning they’ve hit the mainstream – you’re just as likely to see one on the wrist of an oiled up gym buff or social media influencer as you are a pale, skinny, slightly awkward IT worker. But it hasn’t always been this way… I started writing about technology in 2015, just as the first generation Moto 360 was announced. It was around the same time smartphone innovation began to plateau, so the new category of ‘wearables’ came as a breath of fresh air. The Moto 360 wasn’t the first smartwatch available commercially, but it was the one that captured people’s…

Connect and control all kinds of smart home devices from your phone or smart speaker 1 AMAZON ECHO SHOW 10 Two of the current Amazon Echo range offer integrated Zigbee hubs: the Echo Show and the Echo. Zigbee works with a range of different smart lighting systems. $399, amazon.com.au 2 HIVE HUB Hive is probably known best for its smart thermostats and radiator valves, but the range has expanded to include smart home security and smart lights too. Control them with Hive’s own app or with a smart speaker. $138, amazon.com.au 3 TRÅDFRI GATEWAY Ikea’s smart light hub doesn’t just enable you to control its smart lights and bulbs with the Ikea app on your smartphone or tablet. It also enables you to control your other Ikea smart home products…

1 FIIT Fiit made waves when it landed in 2018, with people branding it the “Netflix of fitness”. However, it was during the pandemic when Fiit really came into its own, enabling us to virtually attend our favourite studio classes from our living rooms when gyms were out of bounds. But that’s just half the reason why the company has made a name for itself. It’s incredibly smart and well-designed, integrating heart rate monitoring and real-time workouts with live leaderboards to gamify exercise right from your television set. As the years pass, we’ll see a lot more from Fiit and its contemporaries. 2 JAXJOX One of the most innovative yet underrated fit-tech firms out there, JaxJox made a great impression at CES in Vegas back in 2019 with its connected…

$1,440 (body only) nikon.com It’s a case of back to the future with this latest Nikon APS-C mirrorless camera. No hoverboards or DeLoreans are required this time around, however, as the manufacturer has taken inspiration from its own Nikon FM2 film SLR from the mid-1980s. Bringing things up to date here, we get 20.9 million pixel effective digital images or 4K video clips. The seductively retro SLR-like pentaprism design of the Nikon Z fc with its tactile knobs, levers and dials is high up on the list of features that will appeal to the photo enthusiast wanting to get hands-on with manual selections, as opposed to simply letting the camera do it all and concentrating on pointing and shooting. Though it outwardly resembles a serious piece of kit, it is…

$4,995 (65in) sony.com.au The idea of what Sony might be able to coax out of its latest panels with the assistance of its new Bravia XR processor is pretty mouthwatering. And the set delivers. This is absolutely one of the best TVs of 2021, and takes Sony’s OLEDs to whole new level (and they were pretty damn great before). Here we take a look at the 65-inch model, which is a steep step up price-wise from the likes of Sony’s own A80J OLED (the model below this one), or the LG G1. But the A80J doesn’t have that all-important high-brightness panel, while LG’s G1 makes relatively restrained use of its high-brightness core. Simply put, they’re just not the same… The brightness boost is easily the big headline here – and…

$895 panasonic.com When it comes to the perfect camera for travel photography, there are a few different options you could consider. However, when it comes to a genuine all-rounder, one which is small enough to be unobtrusive but can cover off a good degree of different subjects, then you can’t go too far wrong with the Panasonic TZ200. With it, you get something that you can slip into a pocket, but which also gives you full manual control and raw shooting (if you want it), a 15x optical zoom, 4K video recording and a host of other useful features. Around the base of the lens, you get a control ring, which can be assigned to various functions depending on your preference, including aperture, a nice touch for enthusiasts. Some of…