The Hydragun is not so much as a personal massager but a sports recovery tool. Designed by a fitness buff and Muay Thai competitor, this is a ‘high performance percussive massage gun’. It’s made from futuristic-sounding materials like nano silica gel and aerospace grade aluminium. It can vibrate between 1200 to 3200 rpm to deliver a deep-tissue massage, and has a battery that can last up to 6 hours, depending on the settings. So, it all sounds impressive but what sets it apart from the other ‘massage guns’ on the market?
Let’s start with the build. When your hands are on it, you will notice the quality. It’s weighty but balanced, has a sleek design and the aluminium and rubberised surfaces feel premium.
Controls are positioned on the end of the unit, and consist of white LEDs to indicate power, 6 vibration settings (gears), 3 levels of battery charge and a ‘stall’ indicator. The stall indicator measures the torque exerted on the massage head and lets you know if you’re pushing too hard. It’s good to see this included although I didn’t push hard enough to trigger a warning, so the motor is up to the job.
There’s a rechargeable battery, which means you don’t need to fuss with cables. Expect about 3 to 6 hours of charge from the 2600mAh battery, depending on the settings you choose. Recharging takes about 3 or 4 hours, and you can check the battery level on the display panel.
Massage kit
The Hydragun comes in a semi-soft carrying case with 6 separate massage heads. This includes two stainless steel-capped ‘flat heads’, which are designed for harder massages as they spread the force outwards. There’s another smaller plastic flat head which has a little more give than the steel. The large ball head is for big muscle groups, and its softer shape is great for working around bony structures like knees and ankles. The Fork attachment has dual points for deeper penetration on medium muscle groups like calves, forearms and shoulders. Lastly, there’s the bullet head, which has a pointy end and looks menacing but is just brilliant for pinpointing joints, the soles of your feet or suborn knots.
Six separate massage heads are included in the kit
Putting it to the test
The Hydragun is intended to be used for all stages of exercise. This includes 30 seconds per muscle group before your workout, 15 seconds per muscle group while working out and 2 minutes per muscle group afterwards. You can take the whole kit on the road, although it’s not waterproof so don’t use it in the rain.
I wanted to see how it could help my muscle soreness and recovery after my kick-boxing sessions. They Hydragun’s small size (1.04kg) and battery operation meant that I could pull it out of my gym bag right after training and hit my muscles during cool-down and stretching.
If you do plan to use it in a public setting or locker room, the Hydragun is, thankfully, quiet. It makes a buzzing sound but only at about 30 or so decibels, which is probably similar to an electric toothbrush or a regular conversation.
The LED lights indicate charge level, massage level and a stall warning
My favourite attachment was the bullet head, as the narrow, pointed end could really get in behind my scapula as well as elbow joints, glutes and hips. I also liked the softer ball attachment for ironing out the knots in my quads.
The percussive vibrations range in intensity from 1 to 6. I preferred a higher setting as the lower ones felt a little rough. Also, you need to be strategic about how close you want to get to bones, organs and head. My stomach began to get a bit queasy when massaging parts of my lower back. I also felt a little odd bouncing my brain around when massaging my upper neck.
The other challenge is reaching positions on your back when holding the gun yourself. This is where a partner could really help, but you can still reach many places on your own.
Price, availability, specifications
The Hydragun is priced at $399 and comes with an 18 month warranty. You can order it directly from the company’s website here. Shipping is free in Australia and there’s a 30-day guarantee if you’re not happy. However, you will need to pay a restocking fee if the product has been opened. Also, returns require you to pay for the shipping, so keep this in mind.
I’ve used other massage guns before, but they lacked what the Hydragun has: high-quality materials, quiet operation, cordless design and a great selection of massage attachment heads. It’s not cheap but you do get what you pay for. I felt better after my workouts with less delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), so if you are serious about your recovery, the Hydragun is a great way to maximise your performance.
Features
9
Value for money
8.5
Performance
8.8
Ease of use
8.5
Design
9
Positives
Solid, sleek design made from quality materials
Lots of different massage heads to choose from
Cordless operation and decent battery life make it practical to take with you
In case you did not know all mobile 3/4G boosters are illegal in Australia. Yet dodgy dealers and shonky online stores sell with abandon.
According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), a mobile 3/4G booster is a device that regenerates (boosts) a mobile signal. Like any other RF (radio frequency) signal booster (TV, Wi-Fi etc.) these are highly illegal.
Let’s not get confused however with 3/4G repeaters. These take the available 3/4G signal and retransmit it over a limited area. In essence, they are not dissimilar to a Wi-Fi repeater (not a booster – they are illegal).
Catch 22 – you need written permission from a Telco to use one in any case. Why? They can interfere with mobile networks. Illegal use may lead to imprisonment for up to 2 years or fines of over $300,000.
When to consider a 3/4G repeater
You can get them for a vehicle, marine, caravan, business and home use. Typically, they start at $1500 although specialist antenna can cost a lot more.
The real trick is that they use an external antenna (tuned to the Carrier’s bands) that generally means it has a higher signal strength to start with. These antennas vary from Omni-directional medium gain (3-5dBi) to highly directional high gain (5-9dBi)
That signal goes over coaxial cable to a better-located repeater with a specific coverage area – usually less than 30m diameter circle. The result – not unlike Wi-Fi repeaters (extenders) – is better in-home coverage.
When not to consider a 3/4G repeater
When your performance expectation is too high, it won’t give you mobile coverage over a whole farm or industrial complex. That is when you call your Carrier, and they can explore mini-or-micro-cells at a far greater cost.
Alternatives
If you are in a weak reception area, you may be able to use your NBN home Wi-Fi network to make and receive calls and SMS
Many modern phones have Wi-Fi calling (or voice over VoWi-Fi). Contact your phone manufacturer or Carrier support to find it.
Approved 3/4G repeaters – we repeat Boosters are illegal
While there may be others, all Carriers recommend Cel-Fi Pro and Go. Prices start around $1500. You can rent a basic unit to try first.
If you are with Telstra (or one of its MVNOs), it locks on to Band 28 (7001800MHz) or 3G (850Mhz).
The Optus version supports $G (700/1800Mhz) and 3G (900Mhz).
Vodafone supports 3G (900/2100) and 4G (850/2100Mhz) and is considerably more expensive. It does have regional coverage.
Before you buy ask to see the Carrier certification and if it supports Band 28 (Telstra and Optus) – don’t risk imprisonment or fines because you purchase a dodgy one.
This is a review of two Viomi 2-in-1 robot vacuum cleaner/mops – The V2 Pro (V-RVCLM21B) and the newer V3 (V-RVCLM26B). While both are functionally twins, there is a technology generation differnce.
What is Viomi?
It is a Chinese public company. Xiaomi is its strategic partner and major shareholder, and Viomi is part of its ‘mi HOME ecosystem’.
Viomi has developed an ecosystem of smart products including water purifiers, refrigerators, range hood, switches, speakers, fan, water dispenser, mirror, gas and electric water heaters, water processing, dishwashers and more.
You do not see the whole range in Australia – we are a very small market compared to its target – China’s young, modern, ‘new middle-class’ consumers. It sells factory-to-consumer (F-2-C) in China and via Xiaomi mi-store in Australia.
Interestingly another Xiaomi strategic partner is Roborock (24.7% of shares), making robot vacuum cleaners and more.
Australian review: Viomi 2-in-1 robot vacuum cleaner and mop
V2 Pro (V-RVCLM21B) Website here and RRP $649 but on run-out at $399
V3 (V-RVCLM26B) Website here and RRP $899 but on special at $624
Warranty: 12-months ACL compliant on the robovac and 6-months on the battery, charge dock and charger.
Country of Manufacture: China
If you see two figures separated by a /, it is V2/V3.
What is a Viomi 2-in-1 robot vacuum cleaner and mop
It is actually a three-in-one. Vacuum, mop, and vacuum and mop. It does that via three separate ‘dustbin’ inserts. The V2 is equally capable but has shorter battery life and 20% less suction power.
The dustbin holds 550ml (dust equivalent); mop water tank 550ml (of water) and the combo about half each.
It is a mop in-so-far-as it has three levels of water adjustments that spray into a washable, reusable mop pad. It also can sweep using a disposable paper sheet.
First impressions – another round robovac
All observations are on the V3. Apart from a few cosmetic differences, (the V3 is black and the V2 is silver), the V2 is functionally similar, albeit with some older tech.
Quite large and round at 350 x 94.5mm x about 4kg. The round Laser Radar (LiDAR) turret is at the back, and the IR collision sensor is at the front. It uses the familiar motion-activated bumper avoidance system on the front half. A single right whisker sweeps small detritus into the vacuum brush.
Underneath is the motorised brush (15.5cm wide) and a slide-in rear dock for the mop plate. The ribbed rubber wheels are 65mm – reasonably large – and should clear up to 20+mm sills.
There is a dock. The V2/V3 has a 20V/1.2A/24W and 20V/1.8A/36W charger. We found the robovac pushed it around and may benefit from some double-sided tape to hold it still.
Set-up – easy
In Australia download the Xiaomi mi Home app. Don’t use the barcode in the manual as it points you to an Android APK file – this is for China that does not have Google services.
The app will discover the device and update the firmware. It also states that you cannot use the device (except in a manual ‘dumb’ mode) unless you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.
The app is quite comprehensive. It has all the usual smarts like schedules, multi-floor maps, named room cleaning, no-go and no-mop zones.
Then you let it go, and it builds a map. It must complete a full cycle starting and returning to the base station to create a map.
This stage is vital to later define go-and-no-go areas (for example, carpet with a mop) and to be able to clean rooms by name.
Map building – hard
Both units could not complete the mapping process due to Wi-Fi connectivity issues. It completely ignored two rooms (master bedroom and ensuite) and an area approx. 15m from the router.
The router is in the middle of the home (red circle). The left and right solid red lines were the extent of Viomi’s ability to operate. There are still rooms past that as the LIDAR image shows.
The test home has a Netgear RAX80 AX6000 6-stream router. Signal strength in the master bedroom is between -45 and -55dBM and 150Mbps (good). We can only surmise that the Viomi antenna signal sensitivity is fairly low, and if it loses Wi-Fi, it is unable to function.
In later tests, we placed a Wi-Fi extender in the bedroom and both robovacs were able to complete mapping.
When we disconnected Wi-Fi, the maps ceased to function. They are obviously not stored on the robovac but in the mi Home cloud.
Navigation
It uses a pretty standard LDS laser (LiDAR) and Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) to create a 2D map out to about 8m claimed (tests show that it is closer to 5m).
Error handling
The IR sensor stops it bumping into things. The mechanical bumpers help it find its way out of tight spots.
But it gets quite ‘agressive’ when cornered and there is only one way out. It keeps bumping and turning and twisting – sometimes winning and sometimes giving up.
We also found that it always got lost under a particular bed. It is dark under there the bed linen hangs to the ground.
Vacuumpower
The suction force (claim) is up to 2100/2600Pa. There are settings for silent, standard (default), medium, and Turbo (the Pa measurement above). Our observation is that the default settings are for longer battery life, not for greater cleaning efficiency.
Clean efficiency
We have been doing vacuum reviews for many years and use a 300m2 three-bedroom home as the test bed. It comprises about 30% long and dense shag pile carpet (that few robovacs have conquered), 30% bamboo hardwood floor, 30% sisal ribbed carpet and 10% ceramic tiled bathrooms.
A round robovac will never be as efficient as a D-Shaped one because the latter has a far wider (nearly 2X) rotating brush and can get closer to edges.
We set up three tests excluding the feature rug.
First, the V2 vacuumed the area. Second, the V3 to see if it could pick up more detritus. Third, the Neato D7.
The picture below shows dustbin’s contents – V2, V3 and D7.
V2 picked up 100g, V3 picked up another 100g and the Neato D7 another 145g – on the same floor area in sequence! Viomi does not deep clean.
V2 bottom, V3 middle and Neato D7 top. Note also that the Neato picks up larger detritus and hair.
In subsequent tests over three weeks, we found that it should be set to medium for hard floor and Turbo on carpet to marginally improve the detritus pick-up. Turbo is better all-round but louder and sucks battery life.
On hard floors, it picks up almost every small piece of detritus. The whisker is reasonably effective up to about 20mm outside the device’s diameter in feeding this into the rotating brush.
But anything larger than a rice-bubble tends to be left behind.
It does not like ribbed ‘sisal’ carpet. It simply will not pick-up lint and tissue fragments from the ribbed pile. When set to Turbo, it picked up about 50%. You may not see the detritus (in red) in the image below but this is after several passes.
It will not work on longer pile carpet – few robovacs do.
It is about half as efficient as the Neato D7. That is not to say the Viomi is bad. At the price, it is pretty good.
Cleaning time – slow and slower
Part of the issue is that it has a 15.5cm rotating bush versus Neato’s 28cm brush. That means it has to make twice as many passes to cover the same area. And that takes twice as long too. It takes nearly two hours to clean what Neato does in under one.
Edge Clean – fail
It avoids coming closer than 100mm to any cupboards or overhangs. You will need to use a hand vac to clean this area.
It leaves about a 100mm gap to the edge that you must hand clean
Battery
The V2/V3 have 33W/40W batteries. The V3 lasts about 20% longer.
The batteries are Viomi specific, and I can’t find any for retail sale here. You will likely find generic Lithium-Ion replacements on AliExpress for around $30.
We can only speculate that these use 4×3.7V 18650 (or similar) round rechargeable cells connected in serial so, at worst the battery pack could be repacked locally. Using such cells (especially in serial mode) gives you way less than 200 full charge cycles – 2-3 years weekly use at best.
Battery life claim is 120/150 minutes on hard floors. That is correct for vacuum only in standard mode. In Turbo the V3 got 45 minutes – still reasonable. Straight mopping increases battery life a little as there is no vacuum.
Viomi claims it will clean up to 180/250m2, but the reality is around 100/150m2 with a mix of surfaces.
Recharge time is about five hours.
Mop
Place the 550ml water container in the dustbin receptacle. It will do about 150m2. Then slide in a wet the mop pad and let it go. It will follow the map sans any no-mop areas.
It pulls a soft cotton, damp mop pad behind it. That gets dirty quickly (15-20m2) then it pulls along a dirty, damp pad.
This has done about 15m2 of bamboo hardwood floors. You probably can’t see it against the grey but its pretty dirty and starts badly streaking if its not cleaned.
Like all robomops, you are only supposed to use water. Depending on the floor surface (care with stone and porous surfaces), a teaspoon of vinegar may help to cut grime.
Perhaps the Chinese definition of ‘mop’ is different from mine. I want to see more than a water streak on the floor and I expect good edge mopping.
The red lines show the edges are not mopped. The red circle shows the streaky nature.
My take – it is great for redistributing grime but lousy for serious mopping. It is for maintenance mopping – it won’t remove grime and food/milk drops.
Mop and Vacuum
I find the combination a little redundant as it halves water and dust capacity. But for smaller areas (<20m2) it is fine. User reviews tend to reinforce that its best to vacuum first then mop.
Sweep
You can use ‘one use’ sweep pads instead of the washable mop pads.
Noise
Typically 66dB but can get to 75dB at times.
Under furniture
It will go under furniture with at least 100mm clearance. The LIDAR turret can get caught on hanging cables.
Sill negotiation
The claim is 20mm with the mop attachment that is conservative.
Cleaning pattern
A U-shape pattern with about a 5m turnaround. It also has a secondary cleaning option that essentially does the area twice. That doubles the clean time and we found it only marginally more effective than the Turbo setting.
One user review sums up, “Bought this recently, took me a couple of days to understand how everything works. You must use the secondary clean option on vacuum and mop always if you want to see good results.
We agree.
Sensors – not a lot
It has a cliff sensor and an IR front collision sensor. While it claims 12 sensors It lacks sensors for dust bin full, water empty or carpet boost.
Maintenance (all prices are from the Viomi Shop on AliExpress and exclude freight)
The HEPA filter is washable and will require replacement every three months to maintain airflow. A pair costs US$7.99
The power brush is easily removable and should last 6-12 months (we think longer of the bristles remain intact).
The Side whisker brush is most likely to need replacement every three months.
Wheels should last the life of the device but are available for US$18.99
Privacy – generic advice
While a robovac should have a low privacy risk, we suggest carefully reading the Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions that you must agree to before using any product.
All collect some personal information when you sign up to enable the company to target its own and third-party advertising to owners.
As with any China-based AI cloud, the government can access whatever information is collected.
A robovac can collect
Location
Home layout
Wi-Fi network credentials
Phone details
Registration information – name, email, phone number
If a device has a camera, image and microphone, voice
Site prep
The nirvana is that a robovac can be left to clean any area in any ‘state’. Nirvana does not exist. You cannot expect any robot cleaner to work unaided! As a guide
Lift all dining chairs, stools and side tables off the ground (if you want it to clean under tables)
Lift floor rugs with tassels that could tangle in the brush
Tie up loose electrical cables off the floor
Remove clothes/shoes/bags off the floor
Build lower gradient ramps if it has issues with door sill heights
Use no-go lines on mapped areas or close doors to rooms you don’t want it to clean
We are relatively confident that you can set and go after the above preparation.
GadgetGuy’s take – fit for purpose
Viomi 2-in-1 robot vacuum V2 and V3 are good value. You will pay twice as much for better performance.
A segue first. My sister-in-law loves her cheapie round robovac from Aldi. You see for what she uses it for it is fine. Viomi is a value robovac/mop.
Most users, especially single level apartment/townhouse dwellers with predominately hard floors, will love the Viomi 2-in-1 robot vacuum cleaner and mop – either V2 or V3.
On the other hand, I am a technical reviewer and look for both the upsides and downsides based on real-world tests and comparisons to other robovacs.
The best robovacs tested are NeatoD7 (9.2/10), LG R9 (9.2/10), Roomba i7 9.4/10) and ECOVACS OZMO T8 AVI 8.2/10). But these are all well over $1000. BTW a pass mark is 8/10!
Both Viomi pass and are fit for purpose. If all you have is $399/624, go for it. Just don’t expect everything.
Issues to be aware of
It will not map a room out of Wi-Fi range – it does not exist to Viomi. You will need to ensure the area has reasonable 2.4Ghz signal strength.
It does not like being picked up and moved. It is far better to tell it to return to base and then initiate a specific room clean.
Viomi 2-in-1 robot vacuum cleaner and mop
GadgetGuy'S take
Features
8
Value for money
9
Performance
7.5
Ease of use
8
Design
7.7
Positives
Good sill height clearance
Good on hard floors
Value for money
Consumables are reasonably cheap from AliExpress
Negatives
Clean the mop pad every 20m2, or it will smear rather than mop floors
Connectivity issues – you need a strong 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi signal
The turret ridge can get caught in overhead cables
Privacy – that's your call, so read the terms
Low cleaning efficiency on standard settings – use medium or Turbo
With all the personal information stored on your mobile devices, it’s more important than ever to have protection against dangerous websites and viruses.
Let’s have a look at how Mobile Security for iOSfrom Trend Micro can help to keep you and your devices secure.
For starters, there’s Web Guard, which automatically blocks malicious, fraudulent and dangerous websites.
With Safe Surfing, you can block ad trackers from harvesting your data, and there’s even a secure QR Code Scanner for opening web links safely.
iMessage protection scans incoming texts, intercepting those with suspicious web links and storing them in a Junk folder for you to check later.
And if you like, you can give Mobile Security for iOS permission to check your Facebook and Twitter privacy settings.
Got kids? You can control access to websites on their devices.
And if you use public networks, Wi-Fi Checker is a must for verifying the security of your connection.
Buying the app comes with the benefit of Lost Device Protection, which can help you find your iPhone or iPad, or remotely wipe it. And that’s great for peace of mind.
More ways to protect your family, finances and devices from online threats
To protect your android phone with Trend Micro Internet Security for Android click here.
For how to protect your personal details from being sold on the dark web, click here.
To keep your kids safe online, even when they’re away from home, click here.
It is a hugely competitive smartphone world. There are over 180 smartphone makers, although we only see the bigger brands in Australia. Motorola Mobility, a US icon now owned by Lenovo, knows that legends are made moving forward. That is how it must differentiate itself.
Motorola is in a resurgence. It believes the brand will soon be back in the top five global smartphone companies. You can read more of how Moto got its mojo back here. But Motorola believes that despite the huge amount of innovation it has shown, the real mark is what it does moving forward.
Motorola – Legends are made moving forward
GadgetGuy spoke at length with Chicago-based Dan Dery Vice President Global Products about the smartphones’ future. French-born Dery has an Engineering Degree in Network and Telecommunications, and a Master’s in Advanced Computer Science. For most of his working life, he has been a strategic thinker working with Philips Mobile Phones, Alcatel, Motorola and now Lenovo.
His brief was simple – what is the future of the smartphone? His answers were thoughtful, frank, and multi-faceted so forgive any paraphrasing.
The two most significant messages were
Smartphone future development is directly related to what people will pay for the device
Given point one, Motorola’s immediate future direction is to unlock/unleash the value in the hardware. It will do this via its My UX companion to Pure Android – offering the best experience on each hardware platform.
More boring glass slabs
Motorola has been active in developing new formats – Razr Flip and the Edge. But the Android glass slab (my terminology – not Moto’s) is the most cost-effective way to deliver all required smartphone features.
Moto G series epitomise what Joe and Jane Average need in a glass slab
The more you pay, the more features you get. Things like larger OLED screens, more memory and storage, 5G, more processing power, larger megapixel, multi-sensor cameras, longer battery life, faster charging… It is not unlike cars where you can get all necessary features in an affordable base model. Then the sky is the limit on options.
That is why more than 180 smartphone makers can cobble together a device using generic screens, processors, ram, batteries, and Android. It is easy to make a smartphone – not far removed from the halcyon days of Windows on Whitebox computers. But there is no real innovation apart from what the SoC maker adds to future chips, or Google adds to Android.
What did I learn? Until people pay for more features and functionality, smartphones will remain largely as is. Some larger companies like Motorola are forging the way with new experimental designs.
The major limitation of current smartphones is the display size
“What would you do if display size was not a limitation?” Dery asks.
The display size 5-7″ limits what you can do on a glass slab. Mobile websites display in single columns, use smaller fonts, and multitasking is difficult. So, as it needs to fit in your pocket, displays have reached the maximum practical size.
Foldable, flip and rollable screens help, but you could do so much more if you had more screen real estate.
Sure, you could separate the screen from the phone (a black box in your pocket). But you then run into issues with independent power and electronics for both devices.
Motorola has announced that on certain Android 11 phones it will support Android on a Desktop (monitor). Samsung has been doing this with DeX (Desktop EXperience) that has morphed over a few years from dedicated USB-C/HDMI cradle to wireless screen casting.
Motorola’s Android desktop portends the future
Motorola started toying with that idea over a decade ago and released the Artrix.
But like all new tech, the costs were out of reach for most. Dery says business will be the first to embrace Android on a desktop as it adds screen real estate. It will also reduce the number of computing devices.
Consumers have fewer use cases. Technology now exists with USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 or later (that supports Display Port Alternate Mode for video and audio). It is also possible to use the home Wi-Fi network and Chrome or Miracast.
And a final comment on Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR). We saw a lot of action using the smartphone as a screen, but the tech was not advanced enough. It’s evolution slowed due to very limited adoption and use cases.
What did I learn? The smartphone is a building block for a larger ecosystem. Ultimately that could replace all computing devices and attach to peripherals as well.
Is Android up to this vision of extended computing?
Dery made it clear that Android has met all smartphone needs to date. Its 80% market share dictates it will continue to evolve with user needs.
But he also said that Apple’s Mac move to ARM chips brings its desktop computing into a homogenous computing environment. The same programs will run on Mac, iPad, iPhone and any i-Device. Apple currently has about 15% smartphone market share and 7% of the desktop market. The move may make iOS a more serious future contender.
And he reminded us that Windows has over 80% of the desktop market. It can already do everything that an extended computing environment needs. Windows and Android will move closer together.
But the wild card says Dery, is cloud and edge computing where the smartphone does not have to be as smart. That requires ubiquitous high-speed mobile data. The promise is there with 5G (but not the sub-6Ghz we have in Australia). When mmWave becomes the standard (and that could take a decade), it won’t be unusual to have 10Gbps or more download speeds. Australian fixed-line NBN at present is 100Mbps, and some users can get 1Gbps speeds.
When asked about mobile data costs, he said that many countries have far lower rates. It is an issue that Australia must address when 5G handsets reach ‘scale’.
Danny Adamopolous, General Manager, APAC for Mature Markets adds,
“We are about to hit critical mass for 5G. New chipsets like the Qualcomm SD870 and SD888 5G now allow mid-tier/mid-premium devices to support 5G. We’ll be an OEM that will take this new platform to the moto g family. In Australia, there’s sufficient network coverage now that people will start to see value in 5G.”
What did I learn? The smartphone’s future depends on having low-cost, full, high-speed, internet in your pocket.
What about ARM chips from Qualcomm, MediaTek et al.?
We use chips from several ARM foundries. Qualcomm has an advanced roadmap and 5G research that suits a range of models from mid-market to premium prices. MediaTek has its Dimensity series offering strong lower-cost competition.
Moto’s new Edge S uses the Qualcomm SD870 chip and offers extreme value
What did I learn? There is no stigma in buying a non-Qualcomm chip – it depends on the features you need and the price you will pay.
What is the Is killer app that will drive 5G?
Dery says for the consumer there are none yet. It may come from telehealth, remote working, diagnostics, smart devices/cars, the video streaming industry etc.
At present, we have ‘balance’ between smartphone capabilities and network capabilities.
But he says 5G will eventually replace 4G as component cost gaps narrow. It’s a bit like 4K spelling the death of 1080p once the TV sets cost the same.
Danny adds:
“The fact remains is that there are use cases for 5G, even though many might not see it yet. Regardless of what industry you’re in, as 5G coverage increases in Australia, you’ll start to see the need for it increase as well. It is all about taking advantage of the efficiency, speed and automation 5G provides.”
Source: Juniper Networks
What did I learn? 5G is coming whether we need it or not. Apps will begin to expect the higher bandwidth creating a digital 4G/5G divide.
Moto Mods
Moto mod’s snap-on accessories were the most innovative thinking in a long time. They enabled a Moto Z user to expand outside the smartphone’s capabilities. The Hasselblad 10X Optical Zoom gave a feature that is only just beginning to appear on periscope camera smartphones. Snap-on battery banks, Qi charging, pico projectors, 360° camera, gamepad, sound boost speakers, photo printers and more gave users so much flexibility.
Moto Mods offered the widest and most advanced set of added smartphone functionality – ever
But technology with BT 5 (or later), Wi-Fi 6, NFC and more means that the niche these filled so well now can be disassociated from a particular phone.
You will see an increasing range of Android peripherals that will use USB-C or wireless connections. That is all part of the expanding smartphone ecosystem.
What did I learn? More devices will work with smartphones; similar to how USB enabled Windows to support a huge range of peripherals.
Will we see a replaceable battery again?
No, and we are strong supporters of the right to repair movement making manuals and parts available to repairers. We also look to simplify construction and deconstruction to replace batteries and screens. Unlike some brands, we don’t factor high repair profits or planned obsolescence into the balance sheet.
Battery technology has been moving at a snail’s pace for too long. It is beginning to move ahead with greater density (more energy per cubic centimetre), faster-charging tolerance, new shapes and new components that resist things like a thermal runaway.
The battery is sealed inside to protect it and allow for as much water resistance as possible. We also ensure that the battery quality (number of full recharge cycles) meets the user’s reasonable expectation and price. Naturally, more recharge cycles are best for power users, and they pay for the privilege.
We are also looking at better charging methods. Qi wireless may become proximity wireless (no need to place it on a charging pad) and faster topping up. But all these come at a cost.
What did I learn? Obliquely, smartphone components must match both the price paid and a reasonably expected lifespan.
The world is getting older – What is Motorola doing for the baby boomers and beyond?
I prefer to say that some people have no interest in how the technology works. They consider everything techy just a bit too hard.
Then there are people like you that live and breath tech and want to tweak everything.
It is up to each smartphone maker to add their take on accessibility, under friendliness, complexities etc. We are going down the AI road to make smartphones easier to use for all ages.
That is where My UX comes from. It sits beside Pure Android. It is not a launcher or an overlay, making Motorola devices easy to update. But it allows us to add user experiences tailored to all age groups from a child to an older adult.
My UX uses Motorola developed AI that is the difference between the phone being intuitive to your needs (and making itself more indispensable) and Android where you may need to complete several manual steps to achieve the same things.
For example, if the weather app predicts rain, the phone may remind you to take an umbrella. Or if your battery generally runs out each day at a similar time, it reminds you to top up before you go out.
We view My UX as our blank slate to add value to Android and give a better user experience.
What did I learn? On-board or edge AI is a key element that will differentiate between brands. We have no way to measure that yet.
Smartphones have become megapixel camera phones
We invented the Moto Mod Hasselblad 10X True Zoom back when no other smartphones could give you a true 10X optical zoom and a proper Zenon flash.
No other smartphone could produce a 10X Optical image
Today, you should not think that megapixels (MP) are the sole measure of a good camera. Google’s Pixel shows that a single sensor can achieve almost the same camera results as a phone costing much more. Google’s use of AI and its experience in classifying Google Photos – computational photography – allows the phone to give you the most acceptable images.
We feel that camera phones should be more about quality optics, lenses, sensors and a good balance with AI processing power to produce an image that you think is great.
For example, pixel binning means the image is a composite of the best pixels in a shots bracket. EIS is not optical image stabilisation but dynamic cropping from a larger MP image. Night mode brightens the photo at the expense of colour accuracy or noise.
Computational photography combined with good sensors and lenses
Some brands do camera AI very well – we are one of those. Some lower-cost brands just use the Google Android Camera app and basic SoC AI.
What did I learn? Remember Moore’s Law – Technology doubles about every two years and the cost of same is halved. Features in flagships eventually flow down to mass-market devices. Most innovation is at the flagship level.
Privacy is a core issue at Motorola
Motorola takes a very conservative view about collecting just the data it needs to perform the services. We have a reason for every piece of telemetry we collect, and we do not sell your data. Nor do we use proprietary boot loaders or supply a suite of non-Google apps that could be spyware.
Some brands factor in payments from apps that are not removable and can harvest personal information about the user. Apart from the necessary system and Motorola apps, you have full control over installed apps.
And we all use Google Android, so Google knows all about us.
Every phone user should practice healthy paranoia and read end-user licence agreements/privacy terms. Above all ensure that apps have just the permissions they needs to do the job.
What did I learn? If the product is free; the product is you.
Motorola – final words
Smartphones are commodities. All ‘levels’ use similar components and compete by making the lowest cost handset and then largely sell on price.
The only way to add value is by better service, privacy, testing, certification, and user experience.
As a US-based company, we reflect Western values and user experiences. Motorola’s AI development is in sympathy with those values.
Our entry-level e-series is as low as we can go, still call it a Motorola and deliver a pure Android experience.
Our g-series is the staple of business and consumer users. It is a fleet phone that gives great value and reliability – that won’t change. Although we may introduce more niche g models to cover different consumer markets
Edge has shown that we can compete in the upper mid-range and 5G. The brand can range from flagship with the Qualcomm SD888 and down into an SD870 Lite product.
Razr is an aspirational phone. Sure, we want to sell lots but as the price shows it costs to innovate.
We will have foldable, rollable and more ways to address user’s pain points. But for now, we want to focus on unleashing the power locked up in an Android handset. We want to create new use cases and above all, increase usability.
Average monthly Australian mobile data use is a very closely guarded secret – only Telstra, Optus and Vodafone know and they are not talking. Why? Because the current mobile data pre-and-post-paid plan systems are a huge cash-cow for them and their MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators).
Mobile data plans work on the principle of users never using their data plan fully each month. If they do data rates are throttled to 1.5Mbps or you have to buy data top-ups. And in most cases the data allowances reset monthly – lost after each billing period. Its very one-sided!
The dirty secret Telcos don’t want exposed is that most Australians commit to mobile data plans that are way above their average use. All they are doing is making money for the Telco or MVNO. There are ways to save and even get you mobile data for free!
How much mobile data is too much?
If you search for ‘Average monthly mobile data use in Australian’ (or any reasonable variation) you will find lots of articles on how much audio or video streaming uses etc. There is no end of helpful advice (see Step 2 below) but nothing that tells you what are averages for different types of users.
The last Australian Bureau of Statistics mobile data study was in June 2018. It found then that average mobile data use was about 9GB based on 26.981m connections. Industry analysts generally predicted a 40% growth in mobile data use each year. Telcos seized on that saying plans less than 20Gb risked running out of data.
Well here is the rub. Datareportal says number of mobile connections has grown to 32.89m (a 1.3% increase between January 2019-21) or 130% of our population. A large proportion of that number is machine-to-machine communications.
But it does not stop there. OpenSignal has real world stats from its users. It says Australian 4G users (in September 2020) consumed an average of 9.4GB a month. That is nowhere near the Telcos suggested 40% FUD (fear, uncertainty and deception) increase a year!
You have to ask why Telstras lowest post-paid plan is 40GB per month. There is a huge disconnect between this amount and real use. Of course Telstra will say its the consumers choice but we reasonably understand that its marketing and sales efforts are focused on even more expensive 80GB plans because they include 5G!
By the way most people make the same mistake with unlimited NBN plans when a typical streaming savvy household uses about 300GB a month. You could save there too. It is high time mobile data and internet use was charged per GB just like electricity is charged per Kilowatt hour (and a daily connection fee).
Step 1 to save is to work out how much mobile data you use (average over three months).
It should be on your monthly account. We find that
Occasional users who regard a smartphone as a device to make and receive calls are flat out using 1GB a month – often only a few MB for telemetry and location.
Average users with daily browsing, email and search will, at best, need 3-5GB (about 100-120MB per day).
Power users that steam Spotify (music) and some YouTube (video) generally get by with 20-30GB.
And if you are a ludicrous user have a very close look at how to cut down.
25 emails and 25 web page view daily is 1.5GB a month
HD Video (YouTube or Facebook) for 1 hour a day is 20GB a month
Browser-based games are similar to HD Video
Stream music for 1 hour a day is 5GB per month
Stream HD Movies (Netflix) is 115GB a month
And remember that we are only talking about mobile data – you can safely assume that every pre-or-post-paid plan has unlimited free texts and voice calls to national numbers.
Step 3 is to research mobile data plans that suit you use.
I urge you not to useprice comparison websites for anything more than to get a feel for what is out there. Once you go down that rabbit hole (sign up or answer an online questionnaire), you are mercilessly treated their property with the sole aim spamming the hell out of you to get more of your business.
I repeat – a price comparison website aims to make money from you, not necessarily to get you the best deal!
As a wise, long-dead reporter Franklin Pierce Jones once said, “When you get something for nothing, you just haven’t been billed for it yet.”
There are hundreds of MVNOs and plans but all insist you get their sim first. e-Sim will fix that and open up the ability to instantly switch providers or plans.
Step 4 – assuming that you don’t need more than 20-40GB a month
That puts Telstra out of the picture. Its lowest-cost post-paid plan (not 5G) is $55 for 40GB – $1.38 per GB, and you lose all unused data at each new bill.
It also has pre-paid monthly plans at 8GB/$30 ($3.75 per GB), 18GB/$40 ($2.22) and 28GB/$50 ($1.79). These have up to 200GB data bank roll-over provided you recharge on time. The roll over sounds good but you must use your included data allowance first before digging into the data bank.
But the Catch 22 on many plans is that if you don’t use that in the following month, it disappears. You need a data bank with no expiry provided you pay on time.
Step 5 – investigate MVNOs.
MVNOs resell the Telstra, Optus and Vodafone network. If you need Australia wide coverage, then its Telstra or Optus networks.
The majority of MVNOs buy data at wholesale rates and resell it to you at a package price with their terms and conditions. Note all prices below exclude specials and limited time offers.
Woolworths (Telstra network) gives you a 200GB data bank roll-over as long as you pre-pay each month. As an added carrot it offers users 10% off a monthly shop (to a maximum of $50 discount). It is by far the easiest pre-paid plan.
Prices are 1GB/$10 ($10), 6GB/$20 ($3.33), 30GB/$30 ($1.00), 42GB/$40 ($0.95) and 55GB/$50 ($0.91). There are frequent specials that can halve prices for six months. They also have 180/365-day plans with data gifting to other Woolworth Mobile users.
Aldi (Telstra) have 3GB/$15 ($5), 20GB/$25 ($1.25), 40GB/$35 ($0.88) and 55GB/$45 ($0.82) pre-paid plans with no limit on data roll-over
Boost Mobile (Telstra) have 5GB/$20 ($4), 20GB/$30 ($1.50), 30GB/$40 ($1.33), 40GB/$50 ($1.25) and 65GB/$70 ($1.08). Boost allows unused data to roll over for one month.
Step 6 – save more money using home Wi-Fi.
Assuming you have an NBN Unlimited plan, use Wi-Fi instead of mobile data when you are at home. Most phones have a Wi-Fi preference over using mobile data.
Step 7 – check phone settings
Every app can be set only to use Wi-Fi, not mobile data. Even better only turn mobile data on when you go out.
Step 8 – buy the phone outright
If you buy a phone on a Telco plan for 24 to 36 months, you are stuck using its higher cost mobile plans.
With 85% of all smartphone purchases under $600, you can read GadgetGuy’s reviews, and you will find some excellent 4G phones from $399.
Step 9 – 5G forget it for a few years
My neighbours are with Telstra, each having an expensive late-model Samsung Galaxy smartphones, one Samsung Galaxy Tab 4G and a 4G modem (as they travel a lot and don’t need fixed NBN). And they are wasting money by not using their respective 40GB plans.
Well, blow me down when Telstra emailed them and advised they should upgrade to 5G for an extra $10 per month. They dutifully did despite not having 5G devices nor 5G reception and are now paying extra for service they don’t need and can’t use.
Step 10 – get it for free!
My wife and I were each on a Telstra $65 monthly plan because frankly, I dropped the ball – after all, my business was paying for it – a tax deduction and all that. That was $1560 per annum.
We now have a total $40 a month commitment via Woolworths ($480 per annum) and get that back with the 10% monthly shop discount that saved us $500-600 per year (no real cost). And in checking our data banks, we each have 200GB in reserve if we need it.
What’s in a name? We used to call them earphones. Sennheiser sometimes calls them that, but other times calls them in-ear headphones. Where quality is excellent and sound isolation effective, we tend to call them in-ear monitors, or IEMs. As far as I’m concerned, the Sennheiser IE 300 “High-fidelity earphones” are IEMs.
And these are so new out that they won’t actually be available to buy until March.
The Sennheiser IE 300 IEMS are wired earphones. No Bluetooth. No uncertain radio communications potentially degrading the signal. Just real wire. The wire is 1.25 metres long and terminated, of course, in a 3.5mm stereo plug. Gold plated.
I spent many years going through a ridiculous number of sets of earphones for my portable devices, with them typically dying after nine months or so. Oh, the earphones themselves were generally still fine. It was the cable which failed, the conductor metal fatigued, sometimes at the earphone end, usually at the plug end. If that happens with the Sennheiser IE 300 earphones, well you can just replace the cable. It connects to the earphones with the increasingly common industry standard MMCX connectors. Gold plated.
But that failure should take quite a while anyway, because the cable “is reinforced with para-aramid for outstanding stability even after thousands of bend cycles”. (Para-aramid? That’s a class of synthetic fibres which includes such things as Kevlar, and which are noted for their “outstanding strength-to-weight properties”.) Also at the earphone end, the cables are set into flexible loops which you can mould around your ears to keep the weight off the buds themselves.
(Cool feature, which I hope to check out in coming weeks. Sennheiser is releasing optional balanced cables for these earphones, one with 2.5mm and one with 4.4mm plugs.)
From: Legitimate retailers. And probably direct from Sennheiser at the product page, come March when it becomes available.
Warranty: 12 months
Country of Manufacture: China
About: Sennheiser is a German company. Although established three quarters of a century ago, employing thousands and with revenues of more than $1 billion, it remains privately held. Its first product was a voltmeter, but it soon began making microphones, and then headphones.
More about the Sennheiser IE 300 earphones
The earphones themselves are small and very light – Sennheiser says 4 grams each without the cable. Inside each is a single 7mm dynamic driver, which Sennheiser describes as a “a refined version of the audio specialist’s acclaimed 7mm Extra Wide Band (XWB) transducer”. Even though the Sennheiser IE 300 earphones are put together in China, the driver itself is manufactured at Sennheiser HQ in Germany. I’m not going to try to reword what Sennheiser says about the design:
Every component has been carefully tuned to refine the listening experience: This includes an optimised membrane foil that minimises natural resonances and total harmonic distortion (THD < 0.08% at 1 kHz, 94 dB), a transducer back volume designed to minimise reflection within the housing and a resonator chamber that removes masking resonances in the ear canal for more refined and detailed treble.
Sennheiser rates the frequency response at 6 hertz to 20,000 hertz. It also rates the sensitivity – a measure of the efficiency with which the devices turn electrical energy into sound – at 124dB for one volt RMS input. Most other companies rate sensitivity for a 1mW input, so it’s not entirely certain how it compares. But if we assume that the nominal 16-ohm impedance of the Sennheiser IE 300 earphones applies, that would mean a sensitivity rating of 106dB for 1mW. (One volt into 16 ohms equals 62.5 milliwatts. 62.5 milliwatts is 18dB more than 1mW. 124dB minus 18dB equals 106dB.)
The right earpiece is marked with subtle red ring so that it’s easy to tell which way around to insert them in your ears.
There are six tips provided for these earphones. They are small, medium and large in silicone, and again in memory foam.
Listening
These earphones are ridiculously revealing. I’d been rearranging my gear, so I’d had everything unplugged while I put it all in place. After everything was plugged in again, I of course fired it up and checked to make sure everything was working properly. I was about to plug in some regular headphones, but my eye lit upon the Sennheiser IE 300 earphones, which I’d received that day. It took only a moment to unpack the box, find a 3.5mm to 6.35mm converter plug of which I have several – and plug it in to a British iFi Zen Can headphone amplifier.
The jRiver Media Center app on the Mac Mini, when I fired it up, had a bunch of songs in its Playing Now section, obviously stuff I’d been listening to when I last used the Mac. I’d been diverted from the Mac by a Raspberry Pi which had been using its monitor. These were a rip of a fairly recent Japanese remaster of Alice Cooper’s album Killer, followed by a rip of an earlier CD of “Dead Babies” from the same album, further followed by some UB40 and then by some Bob Marley.
Really? Dead Babies?
I double-clicked on “Dead Babies” and … what was all that noise? It was like the track was playing from vinyl, with a low level scratchy background. I checked. Oh, I’d been playing a rip of the original CD which I must have bought back in the 1980s. So I double-clicked on “Dead Babies” on the Japanese remaster. The sound was fuller, more rounded, and Alice’s voice was slightly more sibilant, and the overall level was much higher … and all the same noise was there. It must be in the recording.
Now, as it happens, Killer was one of the first albums I listened too extensively when I was first getting into hi-fi lo so many years ago. I must have heard this track a thousand times. Never was this noise so clear. (Truth be told, I didn’t even know it was there for the first decade and a half, because my copy was then on vinyl.)
(A note: musically the Alice Cooper band was quite at odds with the image. On stage and in lyrics – “I Love the Dead” – it was shock rock. But much of the time – “Halo of Flies” – it was pretty respectable prog rock.)
Now, getting away from Alice Cooper, I tried a bit of Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, D.956. Indeed, I tried two versions, that by the Australian Ensemble on a Tall Poppies CD, and by the (supplemented) Alban Berg Quartet on EMI. Both of these were exceptionally detailed and dynamic, but a little on the bright side. Nonetheless, I was impressed with the delivery. I’d probably knock a few decibels of the upper treble if I’d had a suitable EQ to hand.
MMCX plug
Going more modern
All that stuff is a bit old, so how about something more recent? “She” from Harry Styles’ Fine Line – a 2019 release – is an old-fashioned Blues number. (What can I say? My kids endeavour to keep me up to date with pop music.) The Sennheiser IE 300 handled this – still, with a fairly bright feel – in a revealing, detailed and exciting way. The bass was plentiful. Distortion was utterly inaudible, even at a fairly advanced level.
I also did a fair bit of listening using the brilliant Astell & Kern &Futura SE200 portable music player, using one of the unbalanced outputs. (The distributor has let me hold onto it for a few weeks. Review here.) The high sensitivity of these earphones means that with the 34 milliwatts available from this player into 16-ohm loads, they can easily push through to more than 120dB. Not that I’d recommend it for the sake of one’s ongoing hearing acuity. I also used a couple of portable DACs: the Cyrus Soundkey, which can push out 62 milliwatts, and the AudioQuest DragonFly Red, which can only manage 17mW at 100 hertz into this kind of load. Even from the latter, the level was more than adequate.
The Sennheiser IE 300 IEMs simply sound great
And, indeed, as I’m writing this paragraph, I’m listening to The Who performing “Won’t Get Fooled Again” from Who’s Next, playing from TIDAL on an iPhone 8 and the $15 Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adaptor. And I have to say, it’s sounding great. Moon’s drums are being beautifully rendered and the tonal balance is near perfection. Apparently this TIDAL “Master” version is remixed, remastered version. It certainly sounds far better than any recording from 1971 has a right to sound. But, importantly, the Sennheiser IE 300 IEMs deliver the goods even from an iPhone dongle.
One last thing. Before starting the music playing, arrange the cable to avoid cable noise. The Sennheiser IE 300 earphones aren’t especially bad in that regard, like all wired IEMs, they’ll be injecting any friction noise directly into your ear canals.
Gadgetguy’s Take – the Sennheiser IE 300 IEMs are lovely, lovely things with which to listen to your music
). And in checking our data banks, we each have 200GB in reserve if we need it.
