As the weather gets colder and our joints start to ache, our thoughts turn to ways to get warm. Now, excluding jumping on a plane and heading to the tropics, we look for gadgets that will warm our world. In my case, a box arrived that months before, in the heat of summer, I agreed to take a look at. Inside were two pink kidney-sized USB-powered devices that turned out to be Stoons hand warmers.
I wrote this article while in chilly Tasmania. It was 6:30 AM, and the temperature was 4 degrees outside. I would soon brave the elements and walk for 60 minutes. But on this occasion, I had a secret weapon: the Stoons hand warmers from Stoov. Unlike the hand warmers you see in supermarkets or at your local chemist, which are chemical, single-use, the Stoons are battery-powered.
Power indicator. Image: Angus Jones.
How do the Stoons hand warmers work?
The Stoons hand warmers are rechargeable, battery-operated, conductive heat devices that reach 58 degrees Celsius to warm your hands. The hand warmers are charged via USB-C, and both will charge in under 5.5 hours with a 15W charger (not supplied). The two hand warmers magnetically hold together for charging, with only one of the warmers having a USB socket. This same socket can also be used as a power outlet to charge your smartphone.
Stoons button. Image: Angus Jones.
The Stoons have three power levels, which can be selected by pressing a single button once to activate; subsequent presses cycle through the three levels. They vibrate at a different frequency with each button press to indicate which setting you are on. The approximate temperatures at each level are 38, 45 and 54 degrees. Respectively, the battery will last up to 10, 7 and 5 hours. At the lowest level, you could go all night with a bit of extra warmth.
Those worried about falling asleep with the heater on don’t need to be concerned, as safety power protocols, overheat protection, and auto-off function are built into the units to give you peace of mind.
Each Stoon measures approximately 10 x 4 cm and is ergonomically designed to fit in the palm of your hand. A handy fabric storage bag is included, as is a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, and each Stoon has a wrist strap so you can let go without having to pocket them. But that’s not a bad idea either.
Stoons box contents. Image: Angus Jones.
As much as you might want to, immediately turning the Stoons to the highest heat level makes them quickly too warm. The mid-level is the sweet spot, and the low level is more around your body temperature. A handy feature is that the Stoons will turn off when you magnetically connect them, which saves you from turning off the two power switches individually.
Back from my walk, the temperature rose to 5 degrees. It’s 18 in the room where I typed this story, but my fingers darted across the keyboard with ease, still glowing from holding the Stoons for an hour. The Stoons are available on the Stoov website for $109 and come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
With every major brand now launching its new TV range in Australia, we’re currently flat out testing the latest and greatest technology. RGB LED is emerging as a strong competitor to OLED in terms of colour accuracy and picture quality, so it’s an exciting time for TV enthusiasts. While we’re still working our way through some of the major 2026 releases, we’ve updated our recommendations for the best TV in Australia across a range of different categories.
Buying a new TV can be confusing, with all manner of acronyms and buzzwords to decipher. Using our tips, you’ll know exactly what to look for when visiting the shops.
GadgetGuy tests the locally available TV models in Australia, meaning we review what you can buy off the shelf. Sometimes, TVs share similar model numbers to overseas products, which can be confusing when reading reviews from international publications. Differences between Australian and international TVs can be subtle or drastically different. That’s why it’s so important to test and provide local information so you can make an informed decision.
These are the TVs we’ve tested and recommend across different categories and budgets. An OLED doesn’t always suit everyone’s needs, for example, so a Mini LED might be a better choice. Where possible, we recommend multiple models per category, just in case you find one on sale when the other isn’t.
Read on for a glossary of common TV technologies, including RGB LED, OLED, Mini LED, and LED, to help you find the best TV available in Australia.
It used to be that OLED TVs had the best colour, contrast, and viewing angles, but struggled in brightly lit rooms. Historically, OLEDs didn’t produce very bright pictures due to the technology not using backlights. Over the years, TV brands have made big improvements, and the Samsung S95H is proof that OLEDs aren’t just for dim rooms anymore.
It’s even 30 per cent brighter than last year’s S95F model, which had already punched a hole through the ceiling of OLED brightness. This means you can throw open the curtains and let natural light in without worrying about it ruining your TV viewing.
Samsung’s anti-glare technology also comes in clutch here. Even in a bright room, the S95H doesn’t show any reflections. Instead, it diffuses light into a soft, barely perceptible glow that all but vanishes the moment you turn the TV on.
TVs may not be known for their sound quality, but this one punches above its relatively slender weight. A soundbar will sound the best, but the S95H’s eight built-in speakers perform surprisingly well, especially with dialogue clarity.
Samsung recently upgraded its TVs with Google Cast support, letting Android phones and tablets easily beam media to the bigger screen. It joins the existing AirPlay support, providing casting compatibility with a wide range of mobile devices.
Replete with plenty of HDMI 2.1 ports and a 165Hz refresh rate, the S95H is also an excellent gaming TV. As a result, you benefit from smooth gameplay, fast response times, and wide viewing angles OLED is known for.
LG continues to make fantastic OLED TVs, and the latest G6 model is proof. You can’t go too far wrong with the base-level B6 or the mid-range C6 either, but if you want the best of the best with the brightest picture output for bright rooms, the G6 is one of the best OLED TVs Australians can get.
Again, brightness is a big point of difference in modern OLED TVs. Gone are the days when you needed a dedicated dimly lit home theatre room to enjoy a movie; TVs like the LG G6 are all-day TVs for any type of content you can think of. This year’s model is more than 20 per cent brighter than 2025’s G5. Like Samsung, LG’s high-end OLED TVs were already bright, and now they go even further.
If you don’t like the matte anti-glare coating used by various TV brands, the LG G6 is an alternative worth considering. It uses a different polarisation technology designed to absorb light, retaining deep black levels while reducing glare.
There’s Dolby Vision support when watching compatible movies and TV shows, which provides great-looking HDR performance, including bright highlights and deep colours. LG’s 165Hz VRR support also lends nicely to gaming on modern consoles and PCs.
You aren’t left wanting with LG’s extensive app support via the G6’s webOS platform. All the popular streaming apps are compatible, like Netflix and Disney+, in addition to more niche services, including Dropout. Both Apple AirPlay and Google Cast are natively supported, too, so it’s easy to cast content from other devices.
We’re currently working on a full review of the LG G6, but our time with it so far has been impressive.
Sony’s first foray into RGB LED technology is a strong one, with the Bravia 7 II a great mid-range TV for Australian living rooms. Powered by RGB Mini LED backlights, the Bravia 7 II produces excellent colour levels, along with strong contrast and brightness, making it a well-rounded display for all uses.
It’s reasonably priced, even more so if you can find the Bravia 7 II on sale. Reflections are probably the only downside to this TV. Sony’s pricier Bravia 9 II gets an anti-reflective coating, something the more affordable model lacks. But if you mostly use your TV at night, or in a light-controlled room, this won’t be a problem.
If you’re coming from a Google TV and like the user experience, then the Bravia 7 II is worth a look. Based on the Google TV operating system, Sony’s mid-range RGB TV plays nicely with other Google smart devices, and even Apple gear, too. Both built-in Google Cast and Apple AirPlay come included, making this TV a streamlined multimedia hub.
Its barely-there bezel makes for an attractive design, looking at home on a TV cabinet or wall-mounted. Keep in mind that the panel is a bit thicker than some, largely a result of the burgeoning RGB LED technology.
Gamers get plenty out of the Bravia 7 II, too, with 4K at 120fps support. When paired with a game console, like the PS5 Pro, the TV automatically does the HDR tone mapping for you. If you’ve ever struggled to get the HDR looking right while playing a game, you’ll appreciate how helpful this feature is.
Best value TV in Australia
We’re currently testing a bunch of different TVs that are frontrunners for Australia’s best value TV. While we’ll have some more comprehensive analysis soon, here’s what we’re looking at and have heard good things about so far.
Hisense has a strong track record of making well-priced, well-rounded Mini LED TVs. Bright, good for Australian living rooms, and versatile, Hisense’s Mini LED TVs tend to excel at sports and gaming.
The sequel to last year’s Hisense U7QAU TV, the U7SAU promises to be more of a good thing. Equipped with four HDMI 2.1 ports, a 165Hz refresh rate, and Dolby Vision IQ for automatic picture optimisation when watching compatible movies and TV shows, this is a strong contender for Australia’s best value TV.
Stay tuned for our full review of the Hisense U7SAU soon.
TCL isn’t following the crowd this year. While most other TV brands are dabbling in RGB LED technology, TCL is trying something different with its Mini LED range: Super Quantum Dot (SQD) technology.
TCL claims that its SQD-Mini LED TVs only need blue LEDs to reach 100 per cent of the wider BT.2020 colour range, which equates to a thinner and more energy-efficient panel. We’ve seen some of these TVs, including the C8L, in person, and they certainly looked impressive at first glance.
I’ve also seen several discounts already, so if the TCL C8L holds up in review conditions, expect it to be a good value TV throughout the year.
RGB LED vs OLED vs Mini LED vs LED: which TV to choose?
With so many buzzwords, acronyms, and tech-heavy jargon to sift through, choosing a TV isn’t easy. One of the biggest points of difference to look out for is a panel’s backlight technology. To help demystify things a bit, let’s explain three of the most prominent TV technologies currently available.
Starting with LED, or light emitting diode, TVs with this type of backlight tend to be the most affordable. They’re cheaper to manufacture and therefore get used in most entry-level models.
There tend to be two main types of LED TVs: edge-lit, and full-array. Edge-lit, as the phrase suggests, sees the LED backlights positioned around the edges of the display.
TVs like the LG QNED81 use this technology, which helps keep the cost down. It does mean you encounter blooming, where a halo-like effect appears around a bright subject against a dark background. Meanwhile, full-array LEDs are spread more evenly across the panel, producing a more consistently lit picture.
Mini LED
Mini LED is the next step up, and is currently the brightest mass-market TV technology. These TVs use thousands of rice-grain-sized backlights to produce an image. This creates a greater level of control based on the number of dimming zones a panel has.
Generally speaking, the more premium a TV is, the more dimming zones it’ll have, minimising blooming in the process. Mini LED’s brightness makes it the perfect option for living rooms with lots of natural light and glare, particularly during daytime viewing.
OLED
At the top end is OLED, short for organic light emitting diode. Unlike other technologies, OLED doesn’t rely on dimming zones or individual backlights. This is because it lights up on a per-pixel basis, producing the most precise image of any mainstream TV. There’s little to no blooming on an OLED TV because it can switch pixels on and off as needed.
The drawback is that OLED is more expensive than other types of TVs. It’s also not as bright as Mini LED, which can make things tricky in a well-lit room. Once upon a time, there were fears about OLED burn-in, or image retention issues, where visible image artifacts remained on the screen after prolonged use. These days, the technology has progressed to imperceptibly shift the lit pixels regularly, so it’s only a risk in extreme edge cases.
OLED TVs also consistently have the best contrast, colour representation, and viewing angle. If you want to watch something as the director intended, you’ll likely get the closest depiction on an OLED. On some other TVs, if you miss out on the best seat and watch from an angle, you’ll likely notice a loss of colour and distorted lighting. OLED, on the other hand, produces an almost identical picture no matter where you’re sitting.
With all that in mind, there’s no ‘correct’ TV to choose. Each one has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. Above all else, the two most important things to consider are price and what your main use will be. Keep these factors in mind, and you’ll be happy with whichever TV you pick.
RGB LED
Among the many TV technologies is one that several brands are pushing towards: RGB LED. It’s referred to by various names, depending on the brand. Samsung’s variant is “Micro RGB”, LG has “Micro RGB evo”, while Hisense opts for “RGB Mini LED”.
Each has its subtle differences, but the common ground is the use of coloured backlights. Traditional LED uses a series of white backlights, while RGB LED swaps them out for tiny red, green, and blue backlights.
Hisense recently took the RGB LED trend further, announcing a high-end TV that also includes a fourth, cyan-coloured, LED as part of its array. What TV makers hope to achieve with the emerging RGB technology is greater colour accuracy, so that the depicted imagery looks truer to life.
To add further confusion into the mix, Micro LED is a different technology altogether. Instead of using backlights, it employs coloured LED pixels, drawing similarities with OLED in terms of its pixel-level precision. However, consumer-level Micro LED is still in its infancy, with TVs costing in the tens of thousands of dollars.
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Samsung is going to great lengths to promote how the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s design fits into everyday life. I like how easily the smaller foldable fits into my pocket, but what about everything else it does? You can add dual recording to that list, because I think the Z Fold 8 makes using the front and rear cameras easier than ever.
Samsung’s phones have supported dual recording for a while, but the way it works on the upcoming foldable range feels more intuitive. With both a front and back camera perspective, you can easily preview both views across the main inner display, while letting the subject see the preview on the front screen.
Most helpful is the addition of a split-screen view that lets you see a full view of each camera side-by-side on the main screen. Here, you can also arrange the perspective to be picture-in-picture or one on top of the other. I think it’s pretty neat, and you can see how it looks on GadgetGuy‘s Instagram account.
Valens Quinn attended Galaxy Unpacked in London as a guest of Samsung Australia.
Many Australians can now get three hours of free power in the middle of the day, but don’t assume that it’s always a good deal.
Thanks to the federal Solar Sharer Offer for NSW, South Australia and South East Queensland, along with Victoria’s upcoming Midday Power Saver offer, most Australian households with a smart meter can opt for an electricity plan providing free power between 11 am and 2 pm every day.
The reason they’re prepared to give away free electricity is that, thanks to renewable energy sources, we now have more power than we know what to do with in the middle of the day. Solar feed-in tariffs continue to fall, and instead people are investing in batteries to save their solar energy and spend it after dark.
Is three hours of free power a good deal?
Everybody loves getting something for free, but free electricity actually comes at a high cost, so it’s important to crunch the numbers.
Plans with a free power window charge more for power at other times of day. They also slug you with a higher daily supply charge, while further reducing the paltry solar feed-in tariffs.
There’s concern that the power network will continue to hike daily supply fees over the coming years, wiping out the significant savings that battery early adopters are relying on to make it a worthwhile long-term investment, even with the solar battery rebate.
All of this means that you need to be sure that three hours of free power actually saves you more money than all the extra charges on your electricity bill. It certainly won’t stack up for some homes.
Websites like Energy Made Easy and Victorian Energy Compare are great for comparing electricity deals, with the ability to feed in your usage data over the last 12 months. Make sure you also look for the best gas deals.
Independent government comparison sites make it easy to shop around for a good deal on gas and electricity.
Unfortunately, looking at your recent usage data is of limited use if you’re thinking of switching to an electricity plan with free power, because your daily habits will change. Relying on last year’s data can make a plan with free power seem more expensive, assuming in future you’ll be able to shift some power usage to the middle of the day.
If your spreadsheet kung fu excels, you can probably pull down 12 months of raw data from your electricity distributor and estimate your shifts in demand to make more accurate predictions.
How I saved money with three hours of free power
I’ve had three hours of free power for two and a half years, so that’s been plenty of time to change my power usage habits and reduce my bills.
For my household, a free power window is a no-brainer. I work from home, plus I use a lot of electricity in the middle of the day to charge my Tesla Model Y and top up my Sigenergy home battery.
Of course, many homes are empty during the day as people head off to work or study, perhaps taking their EV. That makes free power much less attractive.
If the best you can do is schedule your dishwasher and dryer to run at lunchtime, then a free power window is probably not worth it. Looking up the power consumption of those appliances should give you a rough estimate of what they cost to run.
The numbers improve if you can also schedule your electric hot water service and swimming pool heater to run in the middle of the day.
I switched to a plan with three hours of free power when I got my Tesla more than two years ago. Even though the car is away from home most weekdays, big free weekend top-ups are enough to ensure I pay very little to charge it.
Free power is very attractive when you have an EV in the driveway and a home charger. Image: Adam Turner.
When I got my Signenergy battery last year, I changed to an electricity plan with both a free power window in the middle of the day and a cheap EV window between midnight and 6 am.
This allows me to top up the battery overnight on the cheap, so I don’t risk paying top dollar for power if the battery runs flat before 11 am. I can also top up the car if it doesn’t have enough for the next day.
I also manually run the dryer and dishwasher in the middle of the day to help the battery last longer overnight. My south-facing backyard gets absolutely no sun in winter, so there’s no choice but to put sheets and towels in the dryer. I don’t feel guilty about it because I pay extra for 100% GreenPower from renewable sources, which includes my free power window.
Switching to a plan with both free and cheap power windows drove up my peak and daily usage charges even further, but I ran the numbers, and it was still the best deal for my home.
It was such a great deal for battery owners that, not long after, my power retailer scrapped that plan. My deal expires next month, and unsurprisingly, it seems no one offers those plans any more, so you need to choose between a free midday window or a cheap overnight window.
A cheap overnight charging window is great for topping up your battery in winter. Image: Adam Turner.
Make sure you choose wisely. I’m sticking with a free window, but the new plan will still drive up my power bills by about 50%. Not just in higher charges, but also because there’s no point topping up the battery overnight in winter if power remains the same price until 11 am.
I’m actually opting for a plan with four hours of free power, which sounds amazing but again comes with higher charges elsewhere.
Also keep in mind that many plans limit your three hours of free power to 24 kWh, after which they start charging. That’s a challenge when most homes can pull down at least 14 kW per hour, which is easy to do if you’re charging a battery and car at the same time.
Are you already getting three hours of free power?
Of course, the elephant in the room is that, if you have solar panels on your roof, you’re probably already getting free power in the middle of the day. There’s no point in changing plans unless you will consume/store more power in the middle of the day than your panels produce – so you need some insights not just into your usage but also how your solar performs during the year.
Rooftop solar already offers free midday power for many homes. Image: Markus Spiske on Unsplash.
Once again, it’s a no-brainer for me, because I live at the bottom of a valley with a narrow, mostly east-west roof. This limits how many panels I can squeeze on the roof and how much power I can squeeze out of them.
My solar panels can cover the air conditioning in the middle of summer, but not the heating in the middle of winter. They’d never be enough to fill my mid-sized 24 kWh home battery, so its return on investment is reliant on a free power window to top it up.
Then of course there’s charging the Tesla. My solar system can pump out 5 kW at best, while the car wants to pull down 7 kW by default when charging at home – so a free power window really comes in handy.
Looking to the future
Just as I’m losing my cheap early-morning top-up window, I’m also losing access to the great Charge HQ app that I’ve been using to schedule my car charging. It’s been acquired by energy retailer Amber, which is rudely shutting it down for non-Amber customers.
Charge HQ is much more advanced than Tesla’s built-in scheduling, for example letting me set different charge limits for different times of day. This means I can top up to 30% overnight when it’s cheap, but then aim for 100% in the middle of the day when it’s free.
At this point, I wish I’d known enough to buy a smart EV charger for home, rather than opting for a dumb Tesla Gen 3 wall charger.
Without Charge HQ, my best option for complex charging schedules seemed to be combining Home Assistant for home automation with EVCC for smart car charging. It’s a steep learning curve, even for a techie like me, and I’ve already run into challenges. (If you’re looking for something less complex, Tessie might do the trick for US$6.99 p/m, but I haven’t used it).
For example, I wanted to use TeslaBleHttpProxy running on a Raspberry Pi to wake the car via Bluetooth for charging from EVCC, but Teslas will only connect to three BLE devices simultaneously. That’s fine during the day, but a problem at night when we have three smartphones at home which all run the Tesla app and talk to the car via BLE for keyless access.
Instead, I’ll need to use Tesla’s Fleet API to wake the car over the internet. After a lot of messing around trying to cobble this together, I decided it was easiest to pay $45 a year to link Home Assistant to Teslemetry (which simplifies using Tesla’s Fleet API), and then optimise my automations to ensure I don’t spend too much on API credits when sending commands to the car and checking its status.
Home Assistant has a loyal following but gets quite complicated.
I’ve been putting off setting up a Home Assistant server for a few years. Partly because I didn’t want to overcomplicate things, and partly because it plays into my OCD tendencies to get a bit too enthusiastic about optimising things.
That said, more integrated and granular home automation will let me claw back some of my rising power bills. For example, I can slow down the car charging if it looks like the house battery won’t fill up in the free window. I can also optimise overnight car top-ups from the battery in autumn and spring, when I have a little power to spare.
A four-hour free window will also reduce the need to slow car charging in favour of the battery. Plus it will ensure the battery lasts an hour longer before running flat in winter, whilst buying me more time to power-hungry appliances like the dryer.
Remember, free power sounds too good to be true, but you need to do your homework to ensure you’re not spending more than you’re saving.
Australia’s new emergency alerts system will get a workout next Monday, ahead of the official launch of AusAlert.
Scheduled for Monday 27 July 2026 at 2:00 PM AEST, AusAlert will send a test “Critical Alert” to every mobile device in the country. Devices — including phones, tablets, and smartwatches — will vibrate and play a siren-like sound for 10 seconds. Because it’s only a test, it won’t require any further action.
Designed to warn Australians during times of emergency, like a natural disaster, AusAlert will officially launch in October 2026 as the new national warning system. Monday’s test is part of ensuring it’s ready to go in a few months’ time.
Once fully operational, AusAlert will serve multiple purposes. As the national test will demonstrate, it can be used by the Australian government to warn people about national emergencies. For location-specific dangers, state and territory emergency services can also send an alert.
Alerts under the new system fall under two categories: Critical and Priority. Critical, the type being tested next Monday, indicates that immediate action is needed, like evacuating during a bushfire. Priority still refers to a high level of potential danger, but is intended as a “watch and act” warning to prepare for danger. Priority alerts can be disabled, but not Critical alerts.
Here’s what Monday’s Critical Alert test will look like. Image: Australian Government.
If Monday’s alert may impact someone’s safety, the AusAlert website states that they can either turn off their mobile device or enable aeroplane mode.
Schedule for the AusAlert test per state and territory
According to the official advice, some people will receive the test alert immediately, while others may get it later. Here’s when the test Critical Alert is scheduled for each Australian state and territory:
Australian Capital Territory: 2 PM AEST
New South Wales: 2 PM AEST
Queensland: 2 PM AEST
Tasmania: 2 PM AEST
Victoria: 2 PM AEST
Northern Territory: 1:30 PM ACST
South Australia (including Broken Hill): 1.30 PM ACST
Western Australia: 12 PM AWST
Christmas Island: 11 AM CXT
Due to the nature of the test, some people may not receive the alert. This may stem from factors such as location, device, or not running the latest software.
As the government’s website explains, “the purpose of testing is to understand these real-world differences, confirm the system is working as intended, and improve public information before AusAlert is used in real emergencies”. There’s also a feedback form for those who encounter any issues with the test.
Have I mentioned that I love Donkey Kong? In case this is your first time reading my work, I’m a big fan of Nintendo’s lovable ape. On an entirely, completely, and utterly unrelated note, Lego has officially revealed a set depicting the original Donkey Kong arcade game.
Launching on 1 August, the $279.99 set includes 1,371 pieces that construct a mini replica of the 1981 arcade classic. It’s a fairly sophisticated-looking bit of kit; the joystick and buttons actually move Jumpman across the ‘screen’ as barrels roll down the girders in a loop.
Lego enlisted the help of Steve Wiebe, former Donkey Kong world champion, to star in a reveal video for the set. If you’ve watched The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, you’ll recognise Wiebe as the main rival to Billy Mitchell in what was a contentious time for the competitive arcade scene.
While I never strove to compete for high scores, Donkey Kong holds a strong place in my heart. When growing up in regional South Australia, my dad would use his lunch breaks to take me to the local arcade to play the game, plus all manner of pinball machines I was too young to be any good at.
Those early years instilled a love of gaming that persists to this day. Every time I see Donkey Kong in any form, I’m reminded of how involved my parents were (and still are) in my life.
Is it silly to feel sentimental over a nicely assembled collection of small toy bricks? Nah, I think it’s human nature to enjoy charms and trinkets that ascribe meaning to our lives.
Taking its South Korean heritage to a new level, Samsung’s My FanCam feature is one of the more fun additions to the Galaxy Z lineup shipping with the One UI 9 software update.
Inspired by K-pop fandom culture, My FanCam lets you record videos and then choose what to focus on afterwards. For example, if you record a group of people dancing, you can select a person via the Galaxy AI menu, and it will then automatically centre them in the frame, regardless of where they move.
I can also see My FanCam being handy for school concerts or sports, when you want to easily keep your child the centre of attention in videos to send to friends and family. Within the setting, there are options for different aspect ratios, too, automatically reframing the video in 9:16 or any other common orientation you want. You can see my efforts via GadgetGuy‘s YouTube channel — just don’t judge my moves too harshly!
Valens Quinn attended Galaxy Unpacked in London as a guest of Samsung Australia.
