It’s not often you encounter a tablet that specialises in audio quality. That’s exactly what the folks at Lenovo have done with the Tab Plus, designing an affordable Android tablet primarily for entertainment use.
Described by Lenovo as a “music lover’s dream”, the 11.5-inch tablet wields eight JBL speakers, with the aim of producing deeper bass and clearer high-end treble. It also supports high-resolution audio through headphones, including both a 3.5mm jack and Bluetooth.
Interestingly, you can even use the Lenovo Tab Plus as a standalone Bluetooth speaker. The company is clearly confident in its audio tech, letting you cast audio from your phone or another device to the tablet. Equipped with a built-in kickstand, you can also prop the device up when watching videos.
Image: Lenovo.
As for the display, you’re looking at a 2K (2000 X 1200) 90Hz LCD screen. It only reaches 400 nits of brightness, which isn’t super bright, but the tablet form factor provides flexibility as to where you place it for the best viewing experience.
There are a couple of different screen modes depending on your chosen content. Reading Mode recreates the look of a book, softening the visuals, while Standby Mode lets the tablet double as a digital photo frame or a clock when not in use.
On the inside, the tablet runs on a MediaTek G99 Octa Core processor and 8GB of RAM. You can get either 128GB or 256GB of onboard storage, expandable via a MicroSD card slot.
Lenovo claims the tablet lasts up to 12 hours of streaming, courtesy of an 8,600mAh battery. 45W charging support means you shouldn’t have to wait too long to fill the battery up.
Lenovo Tab Plus price and release date
Out in Australia in August, the Lenovo Tab Plus costs $549 from the company’s online store. Shipping with Android 14, it’ll support two years of OS upgrades in addition to four years of security updates.
In this price bracket, Lenovo’s new tablet sits alongside the Oppo Pad Neo and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A9+, adding to the range of reasonably-priced Android tablets.
Some tablets prioritise reading, while others favour multitasking power, so we’ll soon see if there’s space for an audio-focused model.
While many people have abandoned audio cables in favour of Bluetooth headphones or earbuds, some of us still prefer the convenience and reliability of wired headphones plugged into a phone’s old-school 3.5mm headphone jack. Despite the move towards wireless technology, it’s still possible to find some phones with a headphone jack.
After the Sony Walkman cassette player launched the portable audio age in the late 1970s, the ubiquitous headphone jack ensured that music lovers were always wired for sound.
Once mobile phones became portable music players, many handsets adopted the headphone jack for connecting wired headphones or earbuds.
The fall of the 3.5mm headphone jack
It wasn’t until the late 2000s that the first Android smartphones began to turn their back on the humble 3.5mm headphone jack, in favour of a USB adaptor.
The very first Android handsets, 2008’s HTC Dream and 2009’s HTC Magic, lacked a headphone jack. A few other Android devices followed the trend but, when Apple’s iPhone 7 abandoned the connector in 2016, it was seen as a significant nail in the coffin for the portable audio stalwart.
Since then, the rise of high-quality Bluetooth codecs, the quest for thinner smartphones and the drive to reduce component costs have all been factors in the headphone jack’s demise.
Phones with a 3.5mm headphone jack in Australia
Today, smartphones with 3.5mm headphone jacks would seem a dying breed, as people abandon cables in favour of wireless headphones and earbuds. Yet the headphone jack lives on, if you know where to look.
For Apple fans, the 2016 iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and original iPhone SE were the last iPhones to sport a 3.5mm headphone jack. All of which have been discontinued and can’t be upgraded beyond iOS 15.
Oppo A79. Image: Oppo.
It’s a different story in the Android world, although headphone jacks are rare amongst mid-range handsets and more common at the budget and flagship ends of the spectrum.
At the extreme budget end, shoppers might not be able to afford Bluetooth headphones, while at the flagship end, audiophiles might have already invested in premium wired headphones.
Budget phones
The $179 Aspera Nitro 2 running Android Go is one option when looking for a smartphone with a headphone jack on a very tight budget.
Motorola is perhaps the Android handset maker that has remained the most committed to the 3.5mm headphone jack. Models featuring a headphone jack include the Moto G series G04, G14, G24, G54 and G84, as well as their predecessors. Plus the Moto E series E13 and E32, but not the more expensive Moto Edge and Razr series.
Moto G84. Image: Motorola.
Then you’ve got the Samsung Galaxy A series A05, A15 and A25, but not the A35 or A55, nor the Galaxy S and Galaxy Z series. Plus the entire Oppo A series A18, A38, A58, A60, A78, A79 and A98, but not the Oppo Reno range.
Premium phones
At the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got the flagship $1,599 Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra and Asus ROG Phone 8 sporting a 3.5mm headphone jack. Then there’s much of the Sony Xperia range, including the Xperia 1 VI, along with the discontinued LG V60.
Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra. Image: Asus.
Other less-known brands worth investigating for a headphone jack in Australia include OnePlus, Xiaomi, Realme and ZTE. It may be slim pickings when it comes to finding phones with a headphone jack, but there are some decent options if you know where to look.
It’s a weird time to be reviewing laptops. The industry is currently in the middle of a refresh cycle brought about by Microsoft’s recent partnership with Snapdragon and the Copilot PC+ concept. While the Acer Swift Go 14 may not be one of these newfangled Copilot PC+ laptops, it’s still a great productivity machine suited to most people.
Perhaps just as important as the power the Acer Swift Go 14 wields is its practicality. This is a laptop that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Instead of flashy designs and superfluous gimmicks, it just works and provides approachable convenience in a reliable form factor.
Coming straight from the Dell XPS 14, the Acer Swift Go 14 looks comparatively utilitarian. It has the appearance of a functional piece of technology – not some post-modern art installation.
Although I like my devices to have a sense of personality and colour, Acer’s focused on the most important thing: usability. It’s easy to open and use, and there are loads of I/O ports. I even found the keyboard very Mac-like in both design and feel.
Image: Chris Button.
The Acer Swift Go 14 doesn’t exude the same sophisticated design as a MacBook Air, but that’s of little importance to how well it does its job. With a nicely compact build, responsive keys (including a physical function row), and reliable performance, it nails the fundamentals.
I won’t spend much time on AI features because, regardless of the “AI PC” branding, there’s not much here that solely relies on the laptop’s neural processing unit (NPU). Most of the Swift Go’s AI functionality extends to AcerSense, a program that helps optimise device performance.
Acer Swift Go 14 specifications
Display
14-inch 2.8K OLED SlimBezel Screen 2800 x 1800
Dimensions
14.9mm x 312.9mm x 217.9mm
1.3kg
Processor
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
Graphics
Integrated Intel Arc Graphics
Memory
16GB
Storage
512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Battery
65Wh Li-ion battery
100W TypeC adapter
Connectivity
Two USB-C 3.2 ports
Two USB-A 3.2 port
One HDMI port
One 3.5mm headphone jack
One MicroSD card slot
Wi-Fi 7
Bluetooth 5.3
I couldn’t help but imagine the design brief for this laptop was to create a MacBook from memory, changed just enough so it didn’t look like Acer copied Apple’s homework. Think a thin, lightweight aluminium chassis contrasted by dark elevated keycaps. It’s not a bad thing – not at all – why mess with one of the best laptop designs going around?
Where the Acer Swift Go 14 separates itself, not only from Apple, but also from some Windows PC brands, is through its range of ports. Along the sides, you’ll find two USB-C ports, and an additional two slots for USB-A devices. It’s staggering how quickly some brands abandoned USB-A despite the widespread use of USB-A peripherals. A big tick for Acer there.
Image: Chris Button.
There’s also a built-in HDMI port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a MicroSD card slot. Not visible to the naked eye, but definitely present, is Wi-Fi 7 connectivity and Bluetooth 5.3 support. All in a laptop that tips the scales at around 1.3kg. Not too shabby, Acer.
But there’s always a catch. In this instance, it was fan noise. When put under load, I noticed the fan kicked in rather quickly and loudly. It didn’t reach obnoxious levels, but enough to notice.
Acer also advertises a battery life of “up to 11.5 hours”, which I didn’t reach while using the laptop. It got me through most of the day, but it’s not rivalling the multi-day battery of the MacBook M3 I use most of the time.
Benchmarks
As far as raw performance is concerned, the Acer Swift Go 14 holds its own alongside the competition. Across a range of benchmarking tools, its processing power matches, and sometimes equals its Dell counterpart.
CPU
The model I reviewed used an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, running through Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024 tests neck-and-neck with the Dell XPS 14 and Apple’s MacBook Air with an M3 chip.
Even though the Acer Swift Go 14 doesn’t have a discrete graphics card, the integrated Intel Arc GPU is no slouch. You’ll notice a gap between Acer’s laptop and machines with their own GPUs, which is to be expected.
What is impressive, however, is how far integrated graphics have come. In years gone past, you wouldn’t dare attempt any 3D work or gaming without a dedicated GPU. Now, video editing, 3D rendering, and a bit of gaming is entirely possible just by using what’s included on the system on a chip. And at a more affordable price, I might add.
Not being a gaming laptop, I didn’t use the Acer Swift Go 14 to run a gauntlet of games. Instead, I just played what I currently had on the go, which was Hades 2, an action game where reaction time is everything. Sans graphics card, I had no trouble at all playing the game (beyond my questionable skill levels). The Acer’s crisp OLED screen certainly brought out the best of Hades 2‘s vibrant colour palette, too.
Device
GPU (OpenCL)
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8, RTX 4070)
158,787
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (RTX 4070)
119,970
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (RTX 4060)
96,452
MacBook Pro M2 Max
72,833
Dell XPS 14 (RTX 4050)
65,396
Acer Swift Go 14
34,388
Macbook Air M3
30,479
Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL)
Device
Score
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 8, RTX 4070)
13,796
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (RTX 4070)
12,881
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (RTX 4060)
9,620
Asus TUF A16
9,196
Dell XPS 14 (RTX 4050)
5,445
Acer Swift Go 14
3,879
Asus Zenbook Duo (2024)
3,235
Asus ROG Ally (30W)
3,198
Lenovo Yoga 9i (2023)
1,655
3DMark TimeSpy
Storage speed
Despite impressing in most categories, the Acer Swift Go 14 uses a slower SSD than competing laptops. Using the CrystalDiskMark benchmark laptop returned sequential read speeds of up to 4,800MB/s, and write speeds reaching 3,480MB/s.
These numbers aren’t sluggish by any means, but other Intel Core Ultra laptops tend to wield SSDs reaching speeds around 7,000MB/s and 5,000MB/s respectively.
Who is the Acer Swift Go 14 for?
There’s not much that this laptop doesn’t do at least competently well. So, if you need a portable PC for work, study, or general home use, this is a strong option. Or, if you’re like me, someone who likes playing games, but PC isn’t your main platform, you’ll find a solid companion here.
As I mentioned at the start of this review, the consumer PC industry is in the midst of an early refresh cycle. Laptops launched only earlier this year will soon be “obsolete” in the coming months thanks to chipmakers’ scramble to capitalise on the AI market. That does mean good prices on previous-gen hardware though. At the time of publishing, I saw Harvey Norman selling this laptop for less than $1,200, which is great value.
If the promises of better graphics and battery efficiency have you interested, it might be worth waiting just a bit longer. Based on what’s out now, the Acer Swift Go 14 is a tidy jack-of-all-trades that keeps up with the competition. It may not be the most exciting-looking laptop, but it’s definitely one of the most useful.
Acer Swift Go 14
Looks can be deceiving: the Acer Swift Go 14 is a great-value laptop with reliable performance and lots of ports in a portable form factor.
A third-generation Amazon Echo Show 5 is nearly here in Australia, including a more powerful speaker and Matter compatibility for cross-brand connectivity.
Doubling as a smart display and speaker, the Amazon Echo Show 5 is the most compact of the Show range, coming with a 5.5-inch screen. Built for the Alexa smart assistant ecosystem, it also includes a microphone and camera for voice controls and making calls.
Amazon claims its latest iteration is faster, running on an AZ2 Neural Edge processor, superseding the MediaTek chip used by the previous Echo Show 5 from 2021. Speaker improvements also come to the upgraded model, aimed at producing clearer audio with deeper bass levels.
Alongside a microphone array overhaul, Amazon highlighted the Echo Show 5’s privacy credentials. Don’t want the device listening in? Flick the mic and camera switch off. Plus, there’s also a physical camera shutter that covers the lens.
Like many smart displays, the Echo Show 5 is billed as a versatile device. You can use it to read the news, see your calendar at a glance, and listen to music. Paired with other Amazon devices, like a Ring camera, you can also glimpse security feeds.
As much as Amazon would like you to stick with its ecosystem, the support of Matter is the big story here. Matter is the smart home protocol many of the biggest brands have collaborated on to ensure that you can use devices from different companies together seamlessly.
In theory, it means you could use the new Echo Show to control smart lights, temperature settings, and more from other brands – provided they all support Matter.
Amazon Echo Show 5 3rd Gen price and release date
In Australia, the upgraded smart display costs $169 from Amazon, with three colours available: Charcoal, Cloud Blue, and White. Pre-orders are open now, ready for shipments starting on 10 July.
That $169 price tag puts it $50 more expensive than the previous model. It’s a pretty sizable jump, but it’s worth remembering that Amazon usually heavily discounts its tech during sales like Prime Day.
With the latest version, it bolsters Amazon’s existing smart display range, including the Echo Hub and the 15-inch Echo Show. Other brands also have their own take on the technology, including the recently-reviewed Skylight Calendar made for a more singular purpose.
With two new sets of open-ear headphones, the OpenFit Air and the OpenSwim Pro, Shokz has added even more ways to listen to music while exercising.
Unlike many closed-ear headphones designed to block out as much noise as possible, open-ear models still let you take in your surroundings. It’s why open-ear and bone conduction headphones are suited to runners and anyone exercising outdoors, letting you keep an ear out for traffic.
The Shokz OpenFit Air is a more affordable version of the well-regarded original OpenFit model. It continues the brand’s foray into “DirectPitch” technology, which directs soundwaves into your ears without completely blocking out the world around you.
Aimed at outdoor exercisers, the Shokz OpenFit Air hook over your ears, encased in a soft silicon material, fitting snugly while you move. Although they’re nearly $100 cheaper than the non-Air model, the headphones don’t actually miss out on much.
Shokz made a few tweaks to comfort to help more people wear the Air, but they’re nearly identical to the more expensive pair. Both sets weigh just over 70 grams, support Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, and carry IP54 sweat resistance.
Battery life is the only noticeable sacrifice, albeit a slight one. The original OpenFit advertise up to seven hours of music playback, increasing to 28 hours thanks to its charging case. Meanwhile, the OpenFit Air drops slightly down to six hours for the buds, totalling 20 hours with the charging case.
OpenSwim Pro. Image: Shokz.
For swimmers, the OpenSwim Pro lives up to its name. They have an IP68 waterproof rating, are wearable as deep as two metres underwater, and the 32GB of storage enables music listening without a phone connection. Bone conduction tech is how the OpenSwim Pro works underwater, sending vibrations to your ears while leaving them open.
Shokz OpenFit Air and OpenSwim Pro price
Out now, the Shokz OpenFit Air costs $199 via the brand’s website and retailers including Amazon. You can choose from three different colours too: black, white, and pink.
Normally, when you think EOFY sales, you think about computers and work gear claimable on tax. It’s also a good time to get a great deal on video game consoles, with the PS5 currently on sale at a tempting price.
Sony refreshed its PlayStation 5 console with a slimline version late last year, which is the model currently on sale. It usually retails for $799 in Australia, but you save well over $100 during sale periods. There’s also a digital edition of the console that retails for $679.95. This model doesn’t include a disc drive, so you’ll want to have decent internet for downloading big games.
As it currently stands, you can buy the PS5 (disc version) on sale for less than $670 at most retailers, and the digital edition for under $570. Additional DualSense controllers, used by the PS5, are also nicely discounted at the moment.
At the time of writing, you can get a PS5 on sale for as little as $630.36 from The Gamesmen’s eBay store, shaving more than $160 off the retail price. Most other retailers have the PlayStation 5 for less than $670 until 27 June 2024 if you prefer to pick one up in person.
Multiple years following its November 2020 launch, there are a lot of PS5 games out now. Sony specialises in exclusives, games that can’t be played on any other console, like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok, and a stellar remaster of The Last of Us Part II.
It’s a great console filled to the brim with games to play, also supporting popular multi-platform titles like FIFA and Fortnite. Like any gaming hardware, you always get the best value for money by waiting a few years into its lifecycle, when it’s cheaper and there’s more software that takes advantage of its features.
By that measure, a PS5 is well worth the investment for any gaming household.
Finding an affordable phone loaded with convenient features is easier than you might think. Motorola’s Moto G34 5G offers incredible value thanks to its big screen, NFC technology, and eSIM support. Even better, you can win one courtesy of Motorola Australia.
One of the best-value phones in Australia, the Moto G34 5G is convenience personified. Its NFC technology means you can easily share images and files between devices, and even tap-and-go using Google Pay so you can leave the wallet at home.
Equipped with a large 6.5-inch display, the Moto G34 5G’s 120Hz refresh rate makes everything look nice and smooth. Plus, a 50MP Quad Pixel main camera helps capture good-quality photos, even in tricky lighting conditions.
It’s also one of the most affordable phones to support eSIM technology. Instead of relying on physical SIM cards, it lets you connect to carriers online without delay. The main benefit is that it’s easier to swap between the cheapest SIM plans whenever you find a better deal.
Continuing Motorola’s trend of stylish devices, the Moto G34 5G comes in two slick colours: Charcoal Black and Ocean Green.
Now’s the best time to upgrade your phone, with the national 3G shutdown drawing ever closer. 5G will futureproof your phone for years to come and enable fast internet speeds for downloading and streaming to your heart’s content.
Win a Moto G34 5G phone from Motorola
Valued at $279, you can win a Moto G34 5G by entering our competition today. Simply follow the instructions below for your chance to win. For even more chances, enter using as many of the entry methods as you can!
