Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones - Silly Name. Serious Clean

It's a problem as old as vacuum cleaners themselves. In fact, I assume it dates back to the manual floor-sweeping machines that came before them.

Tangles.

If you, or someone close to you has hair of any length, sooner or later some of it's going to end up on the floor.

If you have some hairy breed of pet, they're also contributing to your vacuum cleaner's next tangly ambush.

But it's just the physics of floor cleaning, right? If you have a rotating brush of any kind, tangles are just an inevitable part of it.

Well, not according to Dyson.

The PencilVac Fluffycones is a hard-floor cleaner like you've never seen before.

How many times has Dyson caused us to say, "Like you've never seen before," over the years?

As usual, the fabled Dyson engineering team has taken the tangle problem, and instead of adapting current technology to it, they've essentially built a solution starting from scratch.

Well, not quite. We have seen a couple of recent Dyson products with tangle-free heads and they seem to work one of two different ways. Some heads are fitted with a special comb that pulls hair from the brush before it can get all wrapped up but then there's the second, even more elegant solution. Telling the hair to get screwed.

Much like an Archimedes screw, the device he invented to get water to flow uphill, Dyson looked to a rotating cone to force long hair to one end of the brush head where it gets sucked away.

But why have just one cone when you can have four? Now you begin to understand what makes the PencilVac Fluffycones so good at its job.

The four cones have been mounted in pairs and the mechanical head rotates them towards each other, so there's no escape for any dust, dirt and yes, hair. Long hairs are simply "coned" out to the edges of the brush head where they can be sucked up by the startling power of Dyson's fastest motor yet.

But why just solve one problem at a time?

What about cleaning the edges of your floor? In my experience, the only way to vacuum along skirting boards is to use some kind of specific brush attachment and that's probably after you've already scratched the paintwork with years of vacuum heads running pointlessly along it.

The Fluffycones are indeed fluffy - and they stick out slightly past the brush head housing so you CAN actually butt them up against the skirting, leaving no corner unvacuumed.

Problem three?

How about how heavy and bulky conventional stick vacuums are? Sure, they may come with attachments for brushing away cobwebs from walls, ceilings and light fittings, but have you ever tried waving one around over your head for any length of time?

Which is why Dyson made this the world's thinnest vacuum. The handle, battery and dustbin is just 38mm in diameter - about the same as Dyson's Supersonic and Airwrap haircare devices. One reason hairdressers and consumers love using those tools so much is how light and comfortable they are to hold - even for long periods of time. So yet again, Dyson has completely reinvented the form-factor of a stick vacuum so it's essentially the size and shape of a broom handle.

Unfortunately, that means the dustbin only has a 0.08 litre capacity, which would be an issue except thanks to that groundbreakingly fast hyperdymium motor, the bin fills from the top down, with the contents compacted by a continuous blast of compressed air. This not only means you can fit more icky stuff into less space, it also results in much less dust when you empty it out.

Oh... about that; yet another problem solved. Bagless vacuums of the past always seem like a good idea right up until you open them over your bin, attempt to shake the contents out and end up having to dig half of the mess out with your fingers, while a helpful breeze blows all the dust back in your face.

The PencilVac Fluffycones eliminates those hazards with its unique "syringe" emptying system. It literally squeezes the contents of the dustbin down into the tube when you slide it open - then it falls gracefully into the bin without ever touching my delicate digits.

So it's tangle-free. It's slim. It's light. And there's absolutely no mess when it comes to emptying.

What more can you ask for? Well... it's probably the most flexible head of any vacuum I've ever used. It rotates 360° and because the Fluffycones spin towards each other, it can be used in any direction. 

The head is also equipped with green LED lights front and back (if there IS a front or a back) so you can detect every speck of dust, every crumb and every strand of hair.

When it comes to hard floors, the Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones certainly cleans up.

The funny thing is, because Dyson is essentially my personal benchmark for great design, there are a couple of things that have made me ask, "Why haven't they done this as well?"

The first thing I'd like to see is even more ability to get under things. Dyson claims the Fluffycones head will reach under anything more than 95mm off the ground - which is crazy - but in fact, the head itself is even slimmer. If the handle joint - which, as we've established, is probably the most flexible I've ever seen - if it could somehow lie down flush with the head itself, there wouldn't be many pieces of furniture you couldn't vacuum under.

The next thing I'd change if I could would be an extra set of controls on the other side of the handle. This is because the PencilVac is so manoeuvrable, you end up holding the handle "backwards" about half the time. That means I often reach for the power button, only to find it isn't there and I have to twist everything around again to get at it.

By the same token, the magnetic charging stand also only works one way - and it never seems to be the way I first attempt to dock the PencilVac - so again, another twist is required.

I'm sounding high-maintenance now, aren't I?

So one more then; I would also like to be able to leave it standing upright in the middle of the floor, without having to lean it against anything. When you're moving mats and small pieces of furniture out of the way to clean under them, it's kind of annoying to have to lie the PencilVac down on the floor or lean it against a wall - especially because being so twisty and turny, it's actually quite difficult to lean it against the wall without the totally round handle sliding down and clattering to the floor anyway.

Please, Dyson engineers - if you're reading this, don't take these comments as complaints, take them as suggestions for the next model. If your past performance is anything to go by, you've probably thought of all this stuff anyway and you're already working on the next prototype.

    

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones cleaner.

Apple Watch SE 3 - Worthy of Your Consideration

If you're reading this it's likely you...

a) Have never owned a smartwatch before and you're wondering where to start.

b) Are considering upgrading from an older Apple Watch and you're checking out all the options.

Or...

c) You're just an uber-fan of mine, you really dig my writing style and you'll read pretty much anything I publish.

Okay, option c) isn't all that likely, so let's stick with the first two.

As is often the case with Special Editions, or Fan Editions or whatever other name has been given to the more budget-friendly option, for the uninitiated it can be hard to see exactly where the cost savings have been made.

So the question is, if it's that hard to tell the difference, does it even matter?

The first compromise you'll have to make if you choose the Apple Watch SE 3 over the new Series 11 model is colour. You still get a choice; Midnight - which is kind of a bluey-black, or Starlight - which isn't really silver but isn't really gold either. Both versatile colours sure, but you get to choose from a range of seven with Watch Series 11.

Then there's the screen size - it's a complicated calculation because the Series 11 is altogether slightly larger and has a new, wide-angle display - it has a much higher peak-brightness rating too. In saying that, I've had no issues reading my SE 3 inside or out, and the Retina display is now protected by a new grade of Ion-X glass which Apple claims is 4 times more crack-resistant than the face of the Watch SE 2. 

That's good news, because I actually own an SE 2, and as much as I love it, it is pretty scratched up. It'll be interesting to see how the new generation fares over time but I certainly haven't managed to knick it yet - and I've been wearing it everywhere; working out, sleeping, gardening - you name it.

For the first time you also have the option of AOD - keeping the screen on even when your wrist is down. This gives you the opportunity to keep an eye on the time and your notifications without having to make a big song and dance about it.

In terms of sensors and health tracking, the SE 3 is a giant step up from its predecessor, and although it can't run ECG scans and isn't capable of monitoring hypertension or blood oxygen like its Series 11 stablemates can, it does now have a temperature sensor which means it'll notify you of unusual skin-temp fluctuations and can provide retrospective ovulation estimates too.

The SE 3's sleep tracking is also more advanced than ever. You'll be notified if any nocturnal breathing irregularities look like sleep apnea so you can go and get checked out right away.

Another significant compromise between the Series 11 and the SE 3 is battery life, although this is probably only going to be an issue if you're a particularly demanding user. I have had no worries getting through my long, breakfast radio day on a single charge. The best thing is, that single charge happens faster than ever - with the right charger a 15-minute top-up should be good for about another eight hours use.

Because I wear my watch for sleep tracking, I tend to stick it on to charge for half-an hour or so before I go to bed. That seems to be all I need to get it back to 100% or close to most nights.

As well as taking phone calls, the SE 3 is now capable of playing audio from any installed apps through its speaker. I don't quite know why you'd choose this method over a good set of wireless earbuds (don't miss my AirPods Pro 3 review in the next couple of weeks) but I guess if you've left them behind somewhere, it's good to have a backup.

What's impressed me most about the Watch SE 3 is how I've just never found myself frustrated by the lack of something it doesn't have. All my widgets, apps and shortcuts work, just the same way as any other Apple Watch I've ever used and when tracking my exercise, the display is bright, easy-to-read and shows all the metrics I want it to.

If my workout is one of the many excellent classes available through Apple Fitness, the SE 3 pairs with the iPad or Apple TV I'm watching my instructor on and shows all my data on-screen, along with other useful info, like how much time is left in each exercise or set.

As part of watchOS 26, my watch now asks me to rate how hard or easy my workout was, and this added into my other collated metrics in the health app, to give me a more accurate summary of exactly where I am on my health and fitness journey. watchOS 26 also means new faces and that "Liquid Glass" effect that has had Apple fans raving.

Just like other late-model Apple Watches, you can also use Double-Tap and Wrist-Flick gestures to make using the SE 3 a one-handed operation. Double-Tap (a quick repeated pinch of thumb and forefinger) let's you do a variety of things, depending on what app you're using at the time. Maybe it plays or pauses your podcast, for example.

Meanwhile, the Wrist-Flick helps you to toss away incoming notifications so you can deal with them later.

Incredibly, the SE 3 has exactly the same S10 chip as the Series 11 and Ultra 3 models - that includes a 4-core neural engine that allows you to do things like chat with Siri "on device" - no data connection required.

See? Talk about blurring the lines between the watch that starts from NZ$469.00 and the one that starts at NZ$749.00. With the latest chip, faster charging and a stronger build, the SE 3 isn't just a huge improvement on the SE 2, it out-performs many other, older Apple Watches too. That's why I recommend to give it a serious look if you've decided to upgrade, or you're starting out with a smartwatch for the very first time.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple Watch SE 3.

Logitech MX Master 4 - The Mouse You Love Just Got More Loveable

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say the Logitech MX Master 3 is my favourite mouse.

Here's a quick recap why...

Long-lasting, rechargeable battery.

Durable, super-ergonomic build.

Fully programmable controls.

Horizontal scroll wheel as well as a vertical one.

Forward/back buttons.

Extra thumb rest button.

I use it every day, constantly, from about 3:45AM to 9:30 or 10:00.

It's never let me down. I fire off music with it. I edit audio with it. It's essentially an extension of my hand.

And now it's even better.

The Logitech MX Master 4 looks similar - but not exactly the same - as its predecessor. On close inspection, the surface is slightly grippier. The whole thumb rest is now a button, instead of having a tiny one set into it, and there is now a new button entirely, just in front of the forward and back ones.

Other than that, ergonomically it feels very much the same. That is to say, it feels sublimely natural in my relaxed hand.

The "skates" - the smooth patches on the base that ensure the mouse slides around as frictionlessly as possible - are much larger on the new model. They also seem to be more protected around the edges which is helpful because that's one of the few places where my previous MX Master is showing signs of wear and tear.

Like the MX Master 3, the new edition features an Easy Switch button that toggles the connection between up to three devices. This is really handy for me because I'm often reviewing several gadgets at once and it's so much more convenient to use the same mouse for all of them. 

This time around there's a new Logi Bolt USB-C dongle for an even faster, lag-free wireless connection - not that I've ever experienced any noticeable lag with my old MX Master. It pays to plug this dongle into something though, because it's tiny, and if you're anything like me, if you don't use it, you'll literally lose it.

There's another, even more seamless way to swap between devices, called Flow. All you have to do is install Logi Options+ on each device and assuming you're logged in with the same account and connected to the same Wi-Fi network, the MX Master 4 will now work across each screen, even allowing you to drag and drop items from one device to another.

Oh, and there's another way to switch, but we'll get to that shortly.

Battery life is pretty crazy - Logitech claims you'll get up to 70 days on a full charge. Obviously I haven't been able to prove or disprove that yet. Come back to me in two months.

Logitech also claims left and right button clicks are now 90% quieter. Who knew loud clicking was an issue? Well... I guess now it isn't.

What really unlocks the MX Master 4's productivity boosts is the Logi Options+ app. This is available for both Mac and PC and not only will this show the mouse's current charge level and give you access to any firmware updates Logitech pushes out, more importantly, it's how you customise any of the 8 different buttons.

The list of operations you can assign to each control seems to have grown exponentially over the years. From things like play/pausing media, opening favourite apps or taking screenshots, to setting off a dialogue with your preferred AI, here's not much that can't be put on a button and yes, that includes changing devices. In fact, if you have a compatible Logi keyboard like I do, you can transfer it over to the other device, along with the mouse, in one single click.

There's also a growing number of 3rd-party programs that are compatible with MX Master, meaning you can have a different set of controls depending what app you have open at the time - think zooming in and out in Adobe Photoshop, for example.

And if the choice of eight buttons isn't enough, now Logitech has introduced Action Ring - an on-screen circle of eight more programmable options, another eight virtual buttons if you like. This is set to provide a haptic vibration when you hover over or select any option.

That vibration is felt mostly through the new, much larger thumb-rest button and you can alter the intensity of the haptic feedback and even when it happens. One option is to get a little vibration when you move the cursor from one screen to another in a multi-display setup.

Mystifyingly, Logitech claims all these enhancements, additions and updates can save up to 33% of your time. How that could possibly be measured, I have absolutely no idea. What I can tell you is I do a lot of copying and pasting from one folder to another. Now, not only can I open my most commonly used folders with the touch of a button, I can also copy or paste with single click. I don't know about making my workflow a third faster, but it's definitely more efficient.

And that's before you get to the fact this is just a great mouse to use; it feels super comfy, it's beautifully crafted, has excellent precision and can work on practically any surface - including glass. And have you heard how quiet the clicks are? No? Exactly.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Logitech MX Master 4.

ChargeCore SafeCharge Max 10K and Laser Dual Port 45W USB Wall Charger - Time To Rethink Your Charging Habits

We all have them.

Most of us have far too many of them.

In fact, some us have so many, we're not even sure what they're all for.

So we stash them in a drawer or a cupboard thinking they'll probably come in handy one day.

And maybe one or two did. But let's be honest; most of them are still in that drawer.

Chargers and cables. Some of my drawers are so full I can't open them properly.

Even when we throw away the thing the charger charges, we often still keep the charger and the cable.

In fact, because we did that, for many products, the tech brands stopped including chargers in the box.

So that equation will probably correct itself, right? Eventually we'll end up with the right amount of chargers per device and we're bound to have the exact cable required. Hmmm.

I think you can see where I'm going with this.

Looks like Laser has brought its range of high-quality - yet reasonably priced - charging accessories to New Zealand at just the right time.

We'll get to one of the best power banks I've ever used shortly but first, it's time to have a serious talk about chargers and cables.

For a long time there it was true; those little bricks you plugged into the wall, with a USB slot for your cable, were pretty much the same. They cranked out 5V at somewhere between 1A and 2A and it was pretty unusual to find anything different.

Then, not only did the charging demands of the devices we were buying change, so did the cable standards. Goodbye, microUSB. Goodbye USB-A. And yes, after far too long, goodbye to Lightning cables too.

If you don't know the difference between any of those, don't worry, you're not alone. Luckily, thanks to the EU's somewhat heavy-handed regulations, pretty much everything now charges via USB-C. So that means the same cable for everyone, doesn't it?

Not by a long shot. If anything, things have become even more confusing because different cables now look essentially the same.

What's worse is phones, laptops, tablets, watches, speakers and earbuds all charge at different speeds - many faster and faster every generation.

But only if you have the right charger and the right cable. That's right, not all USB-C cables do the same things - some can carry large amounts of data at sizzling speeds while others are for power only - and possibly not even as much power as you would like.

As for those old wall chargers, give them a good hard look - maybe under a magnifying glass. There'll be some tiny print on there - often not even in a contrasting colour - to tell you how many Volts and how many Amps you'll be getting. If you're charging a toothbrush, it probably won't matter much. If you want to charge your phone, your watch and your earbuds all at the same time... forget it.

For about NZ$45.00, you can save yourself at least two headaches by snapping up the Laser Dual Port 45W USB Wall Charger. If you just use the USB-C port on its own, it'll charge at 45W - that's even enough for some laptops and means "fast charging" for any capable phone.

USB-A ports are more limited but at least the one on this charger puts out a 20W charge with enough voltage to run the majority of those three-device wireless chargers many people have on their bedside table for buds, watch and handset.

Even when both ports are in use, you'll get up to 25W from the USB-C and 18W from the USB-C - making this a very compact and convenient travel buddy, providing plenty of juice for at least two devices simultaneously.

But what about when there's no wall to plug into? Nothing worse than being out and about watching your phone go flat.

That's where Laser's ChargeCore SafeCharge Max comes in.

Again, like wall-chargers, you might be thinking, "Why are you telling me about this? I already have a power bank." 

Well, if it's anything like the majority of power banks I've tried over the years, your old one is next to useless - and possibly even dangerous.

The ChargeCore SafeCharge Max is different in a number of ways - starting with how many devices it can charge at once. There are two USB-A slots, a USB-C and a three-way cable included in the box. That cable is USB-A at one end, then splits into two USB-C and a Lightning plug at the other. This makes it another handy travel tool.

Not only does it come in a variety of colours and capacities, it also features a digital LED display so you can see exactly how much charge is left as a percentage. This is so much more useful than a set of three lights that could mean low, medium or high charge. Or even worse, a single LED that might change colour when charge is getting running out.

But probably the most important thing to know about Laser's ChargeCore SafeCharge range is what they're made of; Lithium Iron Phosphate - known as LiFePO4.

Not only will a LiFePO4 power bank charge up faster and charge other devices more efficiently, it'll last much longer - up to five times the lifespan of conventional lithium-ion products.

LiFePO4 is safer too - the ChargeCore SafeCharge Max stays cool and won't swell.

And the best feature of all? Once charged, it stays charged. How often have you reached for your power bank only to discover it's gone flat since you last charged it? Not helpful. For the last few days I haven't used my ChargeCore SafeCharge Max 10K but I've checked the battery level (by pushing the button on the side) regularly. It's still on 100%, ready to go.

The point to all this is not all charging devices are created equal. Some are useless and others might be downright hazardous. My advice is to use the chargers and cables that came with your device wherever you can. But if you can't, always read that tiny fine print on the plug or better still, maybe just empty out that jammed drawer and treat yourself to some nice, new chargers and cables from Laser. 

 

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Laser ChargeCore SafeCharge Max.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Laser Dual Port 45W USB Wall Charger.

Laser Smart Gaming Projector - Recapturing Old School Fun

Right, this is going to age me. Dramatically.

I still remember the first video gaming console my family ever owned.

I can't tell you the year. I can't tell you how old I was. I can't even tell you what make it was - if indeed it had a brand.

And yet I can still clearly remember the weird, boxy controllers with the chrome joysticks and the hours I spent playing the games that were hardwired in - all slightly different variations on the original "Pong".

You could move a line around the screen to hit a "ball" over the net (a long line) to another line, who would try and hit it back. That was tennis, apparently.

Or you could hit it against a wall. Squash, obviously.

Anyway, you get the idea.

I didn't just spend hours doing this. I spent days. Perhaps even months. You know; gaming.

So what if you could recreate that experience for your kids?...

I think that's kind of what the Laser Smart Gaming Projector is all about.

To start with, I was very impressed with how much stuff was in the box. Not just the projector itself but a remote control, two wireless controllers and a large fabric screen, complete with stick-up hooks and a couple of lengths of rope to allow you to hang it up pretty much anywhere.

All that for under NZ$400 - not bad.

The second thing to impress me was how simple the plug-and-play setup was. All I had to do was insert batteries into the remote and controllers, plug the projector in and switch it on. I was surprised to see the projector find the screen and automatically adjust keystone perfectly with no input from me, other than to finetune the focus using the physical ring around the lens.

Although the device does take a minute or two to boot up, once it does, you're presented with a simple - yet functional - home screen, similar to what you might find on any basic Android TV streaming device. Tiles for Netflix and YouTube take front and centre, although you can install any other streaming app from the Google Play Store, once you've connected to Wi-Fi via the settings menu.

I really wasn't expecting this to be a fully functional streaming device and while the resolution is only 720p, it's definitely sufficient for a family movie night - the fabric screen is a lot larger than your average telly.

Just like a movie theatre, you will need to turn the lights off though - this is not a high-end multimedia projector, capable of the extreme brightness and contrast required for acceptable daytime viewing. 

There's a reasonably powerful built-in speaker, which won't set the world on fire in terms of audio quality - but there are both HDMI and AUX outputs, or the option of bluetooth, so you can easily attach an external sound system if you want.

That might be a good idea because there's no escaping the fact that the fan on this thing is super loud, so whatever you're watching or playing will need to be super-er louder to drown it out.

There are 80 "Classic Retro" games pre-installed on this device, taking up next to no space on the included 64GB microSD card. These are accessed via the GAME BOX app on the home screen and then the built-in emulator takes care of the rest. Laser claims you can download your own ROM games to add to this library, being careful to save them in the right format and folder as per the instruction guide included in the box.

I haven't tried this as I've been entertained enough by the library of 80 pre-installs so far. It's honestly like being back in an amusement arcade in the 80s. Some games are two-player, some are not. Most of them look pretty pixelated - especially if you've zoomed the projection out past 100-inches. The pixelation and midi-based soundtracks are all part of the retro charm, of course - but if you want to, there is a way to smooth things out a little.

The first time I fired the Gaming Projector up and started playing Street Racer, I was having a great time getting used to how touchy the controls were but wanted to try out a few other games before dinner. Trouble was, I couldn't figure out how to exit the game. I spent ages pushing buttons on both the controllers to no avail and ended up pressing the home button on the remote - only to discover when I selected GAME BOX again, Street Racer was still running! Eventually, I resorted to turning the whole projector off.

When all else fails, read the instructions. The next day I found the crucial line, "To exit a game or the games app altogether, press the SELECT and START buttons at the same time." Sure enough, that paused the game and not only gave me the option to save it or exit it but to adjust the resolution too. On some games you can add 3x the pixels and there are others where you can improve it 4x. This makes a huge difference and changes things like cars from abstract blobs to blobs with wheels that might actually be cars.

Just like the arcades of old, some games get repetitive as you go on, while others are a bit better thought out. The pre-installed selection covers a lot of bases though - from racing, to fighting, to sport and platform games.

Needless to say, I've already wasted a lot of time carrying out the appropriate research to write this review. It's been a blast. If you've got a favourite Mega Drive, SEGA Genesis, N64, Game Boy or Atari game from decades ago, now's your chance to boot it up on a virtual screen as big as your wall.

And retro gaming is definitely what this device is best at. Although you can watch Netflix or Disney+, it's worth remembering the whole operation is running on Android 13, which is getting on a bit now and I've noticed some compatibility issues with some of the more modern apps. Netflix plays fine - but good luck navigating the app when there's no way to scroll down the home screen. (NB: I got around this by simply searching for the show I wanted to continue watching)

But quite honestly, if you're looking for hours and hours of simple fun in a box, this is a package that's hard to go past. There's virtually no setup required and everything you need is in the box, including two pre-paired, wireless controllers.

I think this is fantastic value, especially given the inclusion of the large, cloth screen and I reckon it'd make the perfect family gift come Christmas time.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Laser Smart Gaming Projector.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra - The Overachiever

When it comes to tablets, I'm biased.

Against them.

Personally - and this really is just me - I struggle to come up with a genuine use case for a tablet that isn't something I could do just as well, if not better, on a laptop.

Or even a phone.

Often tablets end up the poor stepchildren in any given range of tech... under-powered, aesthetically anonymous and usually running an operating system that's been half-heartedly ported across from something that was initially designed for a handset.

Well, it's safe to say, Samsung obviously doesn't feel the same way.

The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is definitely not just a giant phone with worse specs. 

For starters, it'd be a particularly giant phone, with a display that measures in at an unbelievable 14.6-inches. That's huge. When I got married (a million billion years ago) someone gave us a 14-inch TV for the bedroom. The Tab S11 Ultra is wider than that - especially given its cinematic 16:10 aspect ratio.

The display itself is a magnificent, 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X with an anti-reflective surface - just like you might find on the latest flagship Samsung TVs. The toned-down reflection paired with a searing peak brightness of 1600 nits makes for fantastic viewing, whatever the lighting conditions.

There's a booming, yet accurate, quad speaker setup to match, which really does make this a genuine contender for a second TV in your house, be it in the kitchen, bedroom or study.

The study might be the most useful option because Samsung has now tweaked DEX mode, which essentially transforms the user experience of the Tab S11 Ultra into a PC-like desktop, complete with multiple windows and a taskbar along the bottom. The latest version now allows you to share your DEX mode setup to other external compatible displays to create a genuine multi-screen environment.

This means you now have the ultimate portability of this high-powered tablet complete with the option to display your big presentation in the office boardroom - no bulky laptop or messy cables required.

And I do meant "ultimate" when it comes to portability. The Tab S11 Ultra is a mere 5.1mm thick (or thin). Think about that for a minute. That's a 14.6-inch display on a tablet slimmer than any non-folding phone on the market. Talk about jaw-dropping design. What's more, it feels perfectly rigid and robust in your hands - probably due to its enhanced Armor Aluminium chassis. It's even rated IP68 against water and dust. Only weighs in at 692grams, by the way.

I've called it powerful, so let's talk a few geeky details. The chip is MediaTek's Dimensity 9400+ - a true flagship by anyone's standard, based on TSMC's 3nm process which is pretty much as nano as it gets. This also means high-end graphics for premium gaming performance and speedy rendering of video and 3D animations.

Not to mention Samsung's latest neural processing power to bring you all the cutting-edge tools and tricks from Galaxy AI and Gemini.

The Tab S11 Ultra ships with an S Pen stylus in the box but unfortunately, because I was reviewing a pre-release device, I wasn't sent an S Pen and couldn't fully test some of the cleverest AI features, like Drawing Assist, which literally cleans up your rough sketches and turns them into shareable works of art.

The S Pen makes for a more accurate Circle to Search too - simply circle anything on screen and let Google Gemini find out all about it for you.

In a short time, we've come to expect this kind of enhanced productivity from Samsung's flagship handsets, so it's only natural to find it all enlarged for our convenience on this device.

Even the camera setup out-performs almost any other tablet. The rear shooter is a dual-lens affair comprising a 13MP main lens backed up with a 10MP ultra-wide. Need to capture some UHD 4K footage for your next project? No problem. I don't fully understand why the 12MP selfie-cam is also ultra-wide, although it does tend to mitigate the trap many users often fall into when joining online meetings via a portable device; exposing the other attendees to an extreme closeup of your nostrils. The ultra-wide selfie shot immediately drops you back into context.

So, despite my protests in the introduction, it's starting to sound like the Tab S11 Ultra has won me over, right? 

And here's what unexpectedly, really brought it home. Fitness. Or my lack of.

I've recently been forced to acknowledge I'm overweight, out of shape and have lost almost all my flexibility. So I've been using the Samsung Health app as a catalyst to make some changes. Apart from all the other things it excels at, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is the most comprehensive health tracker I've used to date and I've already made improvements to my sleep routine and found a way to deal with my snoring (much to Domestic Manager's relief).

So what's that got to do with the Tab S11 Ultra? Well, the Samsung Health app can link you to a comprehensive selection of guided workouts, specifically tailored to your unique fitness goals. I've never really paid much attention to this feature before because I've usually come across them on my watch or phone and couldn't quite see the point.

But with the Tab S11 Ultra mounted in a stand, suddenly I was back at the gym, working out with a professional instructor. The 14.6-inch screen is plenty big enough for me to see exactly how to perform each exercise correctly and the quad-speaker sound system pumps out the beats plenty loud enough to push me through those last few sets. At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, I've already lost 2kg in two weeks. Still a way to go though. Wish me luck.

So there you have it; the device that converted me from tablet agnostic to relying on one for my general health and wellbeing. It's flagship fast and the screen is huge while the rest of it is super slim. Even the battery life is great. There's simply no way to mark this tablet down.

    

Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra.

HP OmniBook X Flip 14" - Maximum Versatility. Minimum Compromise

People often ask me how much they should expect to pay for a decent laptop.

Obviously, no two users are the same so there's no right or wrong answer. I usually get them to qualify what they'll be doing most often... Browsing, answering emails and creating presentations? That's a very different set of requirements to someone who likes to edit a lot of video and plays games all night long.

Or maybe it's just another screen you're after? Albeit a portable one that connects to Wi-Fi so you can watch the latest episode of your favourite show.

Generally, if you have between $2.5K and $3,000.00 to spend, you should end up with a decent machine that'll be relatively future-proof too - as much as any piece of tech ever can be.

But right now there's an option in that price range worth considering that caters to almost every situation...

The HP OmniBook X Flip 14" is at least three devices in one. Primarily, it's a 14-inch Copilot+ laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD storage.

However, fold the very impressive touch display right over (or the keyboard right under) and you now have an extremely powerful - and quite large - tablet. Or that's the idea, anyway. I'd love to know how many X Flippers out there ever use the device in tablet mode. Technically, there's nothing but up sides - all that storage and processing power; you'd never get close to that kind of performance on a tablet-only device. In practice though, while 1.3kgs is light for a laptop, it's reasonably substantial for a tablet. Also, with the keyboard folded away, it's a pretty bulky tablet - feels weird to hold too, with all those keys underneath. I mean, I guess you could read your eBook this way but at 14-inches, that's a damn big book to take to bed.

No, the other configuration I prefer is "Tent Mode" - where you perch the partially unfolded device on its edges, effectively using it as a standalone smart screen. This is the position most suited to watching YouTube recipes on the kitchen bench or a bit of late-night Prime Video from the bedside table.

What they never tell you though, is there's a fourth way to use the OmniBook X Flip - very useful when standing at your desk or collaborating with others... Just lie it down flat. Or close to. For me, that's the true bonus of this form-factor; if you've ever wanted to open your laptop lid just that much further, with this one, you can.

But it's not all about the 360° folding lid - the OmniBook Flip X 14" has got a lot else going for it too.

Like all the HP laptops I've reviewed in the last year or so, the keyboard is excellent - nicely spaced out, clicky, decent travel and yes, it has a dedicated Copilot key so you can summon the ever-present AI from any window with a single click.

Also, like other HP devices, there's a fair amount of pre-installed software - although I wouldn't go so far as to write it all off as "bloatware" because some of the utilities are pretty useful. The pick of these might be Poly Camera Pro - a genuine video editing suite that can even connect to external cameras so you create multi-view content, right from the laptop.

Some things are less useful. A Windows search for "HP" under Apps brings up a choice of no fewer than nine different apps and tools, some of which do almost the same thing and one, mysteriously just called, "HP" doesn't seem to do anything at all, other than show you how much battery life you have left over the top of an animated background. Yes, I wasted about three minutes of my precious time logging into that one so you wouldn't have to.

The the IPS touchscreen is bright, clear and although it's quite shiny, I haven't found it overly reflective in most situations.

Battery life is sufficient without setting any records - although it's almost getting to the stage now where all-day battery life should just be a minimum expectation. I think I'm going to stop mentioning it unless it's exceptionally good or woefully disappointing.

I'm not sure the OmniBook X Flip 14" is exactly a gamer's go-to. Generally, I've found using it to be a real pleasure - it's reliable, Windows 11 does all the things it's supposed to, Copilot seems to work quietly and efficiently - but when I tried streaming games from Xbox Cloud Gaming, things took a long time to load and I experienced a few freezes that required restarts. Hard to say if that's a connectivity issue, a processor issue or a graphics issue - but it was an issue that happened more than once.

In fact, overall I've found many apps to be quite slow to launch - although most things seem to work fine once they're up and running - and changing aspects when using the screen in portrait as a tablet or even upside-down in tent-mode, all rotated into place slickly enough.

The deep "Atmospheric Blue" casing looks classy and feels premium. In fact, given its literal flexibility, the device seems super solid and durable.

I'm also impressed by the selection of ports; two USB-A slots, two USB-C and a full-sized HDMI connection which makes linking to an external display so easy. Unfortunately, the two USB-C ports are both on the left-hand side which can be a bit limiting when it comes to plugging in your power cable - but I'm quibbling here.

Another wee feature I wanted to highlight isn't really specific to the OmniBook X Flip as such, although its Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity certainly helps. Microsoft Phone Link has suddenly got really good. This is the pre-installed app that essentially mirrors your connected phone with your laptop. I haven't seriously attempted to use it for a while because it always used to be so limited and unreliable but I've given it another go while testing this device and whaddya know? It started sending me notifications from all my apps in a timely fashion and in a way I could deal with usefully. Productivity upgrade? Tick.

If the OmniBook X Flip 14" was just a "normal" laptop, I'd say its performance doesn't quite live up to its current NZ$2,848.00 asking price. But it isn't normal. It's so much more adaptable and although it may not be as lightning fast as some similarly-priced machines, those can't transform into a tablet or a free-standing smart screen. Besides which, I saw it on special much cheaper earlier in the week so keep your eyes peeled for a hot deal.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14".