MAKE YOUR DUMB AIRCON SMARTER

If I had to name one single device from the last few years that's had a massive effect on our everyday lives I might suggest the Google Chromecast.

It's so clever. It's small, it's inexpensive and it allows you to stream from another device or directly from the web. Best of all, it works. Most of the time it works without you even really having to think about it.

This tiny, little thing turns any TV with an HDMI port into a smart TV and it makes already smart TV's smarter still.

Who would've guessed how quickly we'd come to accept watching YouTube, Facebook and Instagram videos on our big screen tellies as nothing out of the ordinary?

Now let's do the same thing for our air con...

New Zealanders have an unusual relationship with air conditioning. Our climate, generally speaking, is not prone to extremes. Sure, it's cold in winter and hot in summer but in most places that often means adding or subtracting a layer of clothing... not heating or cooling your whole house. We don't do radiators or boilers or thermostats... for that matter, very few of us even do apartment buildings. For your average kiwi, air con is something that only happens in offices and even there all it does is cause arguments about what temperature it should be.

However, over the years we've certainly taken to the heat pump as an economical and effective form of home heating (and yes, sometimes, when it's really hot, cooling). While modern heat pumps are available in WiFi versions, they're often not the models already installed in our houses. Yes, most heat pumps allow you to set automated, pre-set routines but if you can actually get your remote to do that you're cleverer than I am.

In fact, I'd be prepared to bet less than 20% of heat pump remotes have the correct time set on them. Let's be honest... it's probably less than 10%.

So... if you've ever thought it would be nice to come home to an already cosy house. Or you'd like to have the heat pump on cold on a hot summer's night... but not all night... here's a device that'll change your life.

The tado° Smart AC Control is basically the Chromecast of air conditioning. Like Google's greatest invention, the tado° is blissfully easy to set up, using the companion app on your phone. Scan the QR code, connect it to your WiFi, pair it with your heat pump and you're pretty much done. It's compatible with most brands of heat pump that use an infrared remote - you can easily find out if yours will work on the tado° website.

Not much bigger than a thick drinks coaster, you can place it pretty much anywhere in the same room as your heat pump. It comes with a decent length power cord which is white, narrow and easily concealed. The device itself is basically featureless and won't draw attention in most settings. The back is designed to keep the cord out of the way and the tado° flush against the wall if you decide to use the included sticky strips to mount it there. There's a nice, big, easily read LED display that appears during setup but you probably won't need it again so you probably won't see it again.

If you're anything like me, not only do you have no idea out how to set your heat pump to come on and switch off at certain times, you even struggle to get it to blow hot when it's cold and cold when it's hot. I don't know who designs those remotes but they're obviously sadistic evil geniuses, the lot of them.

That's why tado° is such a breath of fresh air - or the app is anyway. It clearly displays real-time temperature and humidity readings from the tado° device. It also effectively turns your phone into another remote - turn your heat pump on or off, change the temperature, mode or fan speed - from anywhere. Anywhere in the world.

More importantly, you can easily set any number of scheduled routines or just keep the heat pump on till a time you decide.

This is all very accessible and well presented on the app. Up to a hundred users can be added for each device and obviously you can access several devices if you have more than one heat pump to control.

tado° goes further, giving you insights about air quality and energy savings. There's also a Geofencing function that detects when you're home and when you aren't, giving you the opportunity to run appropriate settings. tado° can even detect open windows, which obviously affect how well your heat pump can control the climate.

Unfortunately, if you want tado° to react automatically to its Geofencing and Open Window Detection abilities that'll require you to sign up to an Auto-Assist subscription, $42.99 a year after a month's free trial. Neither essential or compulsory but if you're the kind of person who worries if you've turned things off before you left the house, it might be worth it.

Easy enough to check, of course. Just open the app.

This time of year it's still light when I go to bed (don't judge me, my alarm goes off at 2:55AM). Often it's hot and stuffy in the bedroom. Luckily, we do have a small heat pump installed but - and this is such a New Zealand way of thinking - I don't like the idea of leaving the heat pump on all night. Apart from anything else, it's not particularly quiet, even in quiet mode. Perhaps tado°'s best feature is how easy it is to set your device to the temperature of your choosing for a fixed amount of time. Set. Forget. Go to sleep.

The other big advantage in using tado° in the bedroom is it's Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit compatible. You don't even need to open the app - just ask your smart speaker to set the air con to the temperature you want and you're in business. No reaching for the remote. No turning on the light.

Oh... you can actually change settings on the device itself. But where's the fun in that?

A heat pump is a significant investment and definitely not worth replacing completely just to get one with WiFi capabilities. At well under $200, tado° makes an extremely budget and user-friendly alternative.

Click here for more information on the tado° Smart AC Control V3+.

MICROSOFT'S PLUCKY LITTLE BATTLER

For all its highs and lows... and really low lows... 2020 has reinforced a really interesting trend in the world of devices... the fan edition.

Whether it's a phone, a tablet or a laptop, manufacturers have finally realised there's a big market out there for people who prefer performance over added extras, substance over fluff.

Especially if there are serious dollar savings to be made.

Yes, this year I've discovered a number of devices that "do the job" pretty darn well - without breaking the bank...

Just when we thought we'd seen every possible combination in Microsoft's Surface range, we're now presented with the Surface Laptop Go, the lightest of the Surface laptops weighing in at just over 1.1 kilos... which is basically nothing at all.

The Surface Laptop Go is available in three colours; Ice Blue, Sandstone and Platinum, as pictured here. The top is a very sturdy-feeling aluminium while the base is a polycarbonate resin system composed of glass fibre and 30% recycled materials. The whole device still feels very premium and finished to high standards. The hinge is firm and there's little to no flex in the screen when opening and closing. It's very slim when closed and because the Microsoft logo etched into the lid is totally reversible, I often can't get it open on my first attempt because I'm holding it the wrong way around. (That's an operator error, by the way. Not a design criticism)

If you are clever enough to get the Laptop Go open, you might be surprised to discover a full-sized keyboard given the compact form-factor. It's a fairly no-frills affair - no back-lighting and just an average amount of travel but there's still a full compliment of function keys and shortcuts for things like Home, End, Brightness and Volume. I've found typing to be no issue at all however playing games is more of a challenge. There are cursor keys, but Up and Down are only half-sized so that's pretty fiddly and there's no right-hand Ctrl key. However, there is a fingerprint sensor, under the power key. This works quickly and consistently.

It's there in lieu of a Windows Hello camera, one of the first major compromises Microsoft has made on this device. So no face-unlock and a lower-spec 720p camera than you'll find on some of the more expensive Surfaces. Yes, the picture/video quality is a little grainy so that's something to consider in the age of online classes and meetings. On the upside, the camera is tiny and takes up no extra space on the top bezel.

In fact, the top and side bezels are impressively narrow for a laptop in this price-range - only the much larger bottom chin really getting in the way. As the display is only 12.4-inches, this really is a highly portable device. You won't feel cramped in terms of viewing experience either; like other Surfaces it sports a 3:2 aspect ratio which has definitely become my favourite screen-shape - there always seems so much more space. Not quite enough space opposite for the oversized trackpad you might find on larger laptops although this one does a fine job.

My next big surprise was the fact the PixelSense display is a 10-point touch screen; another one of those high-end features I expected to be shaved off to save money. This is great, because I find a combination of trackpad and touch-screen works pretty much as efficiently as a separate mouse. You can use a mouse obviously - the Surface Modern Mobile mouse will pair pretty much automatically and comes in a range of colours to match the Laptop Go. Of course, you can pair any bluetooth device and there are both Type-C and USB-A ports to plug anything else into.

You can actually charge the Laptop Go via that USB-C port but obviously it has the usual Surface Connect port for the included 39W power supply. This charges the Laptop Go very quickly - much faster than most other laptops I've used this year. As for how long that charge lasts, it's pretty good - not the longest battery life around but it should get you through a school day or back-to-back business meetings without too much trouble.

Just back to that screen for a moment; make no mistake, this is where Microsoft has made the biggest cut in specifications to get the Laptop Go's price down. At just 1536 X 1024 this is a pretty low-res display by 2020 standards. It's bright enough but I've seen a lot of complaints about fuzzy text etc. Personally, I've had no real issues - Netflix looks fine to me for example. On the other hand, don't get your hopes up about doing any serious gaming on this thing - a simple platform/adventure game like The Touryst works fine but a proper FPS like Gears 5 won't even load.

This isn't just because of the display of course, there just isn't the processing power or dedicated graphics capabilities to handle high-resource gaming or full-on video editing. In fact, when I did try to run Gears 5, a fan cranked up and ran so loud I thought the whole computer was about to spin off my lap! My review unit is the fully-kitted out version - 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. Everything I need to do on a daily basis works perfectly - even audio editing which involves the exchange of large sound files to and from the cloud. Start-up and app launches seem quick enough so as long as you're not planning a career in video production or professional gaming, I don't really know what more you need.

This is the whole point of the Surface Laptop Go - all the stuff you need, none of the stuff you don't.

Of course, at $1749.00 for the configuration I'm reviewing, this is not really a budget laptop but it's certainly a lot more accessible than plenty of other devices out there with similar specs - or worse, with more specs than you need to do the things you want to do.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go.

THE ALL-WEATHER CAM FOR INSIDE OR OUT

One of the tricky things about reviewing gadgets is the timeline.

By its very definition, technology is all about being new. Each device is rushed to market as soon as possible, to try and get the jump on any competition. So there's always pressure (admittedly, mostly self-imposed) to get my reviews out just as fast.

Only trouble is, if I've been using a device for mere days - or even weeks - it's virtually impossible to speculate accurately on one crucial feature; durability.

How is it working months or even years down the track?

For most things, it's pretty hard to tell. But sometimes you get a feeling...

You don't have to dig very far back into my archives to see I've tried a fair few security cameras over the years. Indoor, outdoor, hard-wired, rechargeable, WiFi, standalone or connected to a hub.

And if there's one thing I've learned over all that time it's that electronics and weather do not mix.

The DCS-8302LH from D-Link might finally be the answer.

First up, D-Link is totally nailing the tiny-footprint thing right now. The last few D-Link cams I've installed have all been so small it makes you wonder how big a picture they'll provide.

You don't have to wonder with the DCS-8302LH - you get a whopping 135-degree Field-of-View and you can choose to watch in 720p or True Full HD 1080p at 30fps. The picture is extraordinarily clear and detailed - in full colour during the day and in black-and-white via infra-red overnight. There's dramatically less fish-eye distortion around the edges of the shot than I've experienced with other cameras, although I have found the live feed to be a bit choppy at times.

The saved video is the important thing of course and the big advantage D-Link has over many of its competitors is offering a choice of storage options. Yes, like all the others, there's a subscription service available for cloud storage - but you can sign up to the free plan to store your vids for 24 hours, which might be plenty depending on your circumstances. The third option is to use a microSD card in the camera itself, admittedly, not much use if the camera is vandalised or stolen but again, it all depends on where you're using it as to which system will work best for you. Or you may already be using some kind of ONVIF recording system and the good news is, the DCS-8302LH is compatible there too. Wonderful to have the choice.

You'll have plenty of choice in terms of installation location too. This is due to the versatile mounting system and the excellent hardware included in the box. The mounting plate (like the camera) is very small and securely held in place with just two little screws. The fully adjustable ball-and-socket joint allows for both wall and ceiling installation and there are cable ties and clips provided to help keep things as tidy and as concealed as possible. The power lead itself is very long, giving you as much opportunity as possible to locate the camera exactly where you need it. There's also an ethernet port if you prefer a hard-wired internet connection although a long ethernet cable is the one accessory that isn't  included. 

My favourite little bit is the rubbery, almost gel-like fitted manifold the power lead runs through into the fully sealed connection/microSD compartment at the back of the camera. There are two options depending on whether you need the ethernet cable or not. It all fits perfectly, snugly into place, leaving no opportunity for the elements to get in whatsoever. This is what gives me confidence the DCS-8302LH is likely to stand up to wind, rain, hot and cold for longer than some - the design and materials chosen just seem to make sense. Despite all its weather hardiness, it remains quite an elegant, subtle-looking device and there's no reason not to use it as an indoor camera too.

Setup is still through the MyDlink app, which continues to improve in leaps and bounds, now offering fingerprint/facial recognition login for extra security. Thanks to built-in low-energy bluetooth, setup is faster than many previous devices and I had no issues connecting to my WiFi network and enabling the camera to be accessed through my Alexa account. (It's also compatible with Google Assistant)

Another newish feature is Person Detection. While the DCS-8302LH can be activated by motion or sound, you can narrow things right down so you're only notified by actual people stepping into shot. This means waving branches and shadows can be ignored. It's a feature that works pretty well - up to a point. I've installed the camera to keep an eye on my back fence and unfortunately it's an area my clothesline is in too. Yes, you can use the app to set a specific area to be monitored but if it's a windy day and there's washing on the line, I guess the camera thinks there's an intruder spinning around in my backyard because I suddenly start getting a lot of notifications. Ah well, at least I know it's working.

As with most other D-Link cameras, there's two-way audio - handy to give the courier instructions at the front door - and even a reasonably loud "siren" which can be set off automatically or manually. It actually sounds more like the reversing signal on a large truck than a siren but I suppose it's probably enough to let the bad guys know you're watching.

This is a fantastic all-rounder of a camera, with a great range of video storage options, useful mounting hardware included in the box and most importantly, a confidence-inspiring weatherproof design. I don't think I'll have anything to worry about next winter with this one.

Click here for more information and pricing on the D-Link DCS-8302LH Full HD Outdoor Weather Resistant Pro WiFi camera.

ALEXA, I LOVE WHAT YOU'VE DONE WITH YOUR HAIR

Change.

People just hate it, don't they? As much as they constantly cry out for something new, the moment you give it to them the complaints flow thick and fast.

Amazon has finished the year by giving its range of Echo smart speakers a total facelift and some people have freaked out.

Not me. I'm freaking in...

While there's not a dramatic difference in performance between last year's edition of these entry-level, Alexa-enabled speakers, physically, they're a world apart - or a globe apart, anyway.

For whatever reason, Amazon has decided to make its speakers spherical and although they may take up slightly more shelf space, they do look pretty cute, available in Charcoal, Twilight Blue or Glacier White.

Instead of a can-shaped cylinder for the Echo and a flatter, wider puck for the Echo Dot, we're having a ball instead - for both speakers. Yes, they now look exactly the same, just different sizes obviously. And they're not totally round - how would you get them to stay in one place? There's a rubber-padded base which is where the status LED has been moved to, reflecting brightly off whatever surface the speakers are sitting on. If anything, this makes even more sense than the top-mounted light of previous generations, which often meant you couldn't tell if Alexa was listening if the Echo in question was placed on a shelf higher than eye-level.

I've read comments about the top-mounted buttons being hard to use. Seriously, what's wrong with people? If anything, I've found the complete opposite to be the case. The four traditional control buttons are now rubberised and raised in their specific shapes, in my view making them easier to use than ever - again, if your speaker is up high, you can literally feel which button is which without having to see them. Not that I ever use the buttons anyway. Isn't that the point of having a smart speaker in the first place?

Especially when there's been a discernible improvement in mic sensitivity. I haven't found myself shouting across the room to be heard as I used to with older models. I know Amazon is continuing to put a lot of resource into Alexa's voice recognition abilities, with a more intuitive, follow-up skill-set due to roll out in the coming months. As it is, I'm pretty satisfied with the way she follows my instructions - over time I've learned I don't have to be quite so formal with my requests. "Alexa, louder," works just as well as, "Turn the volume up, please."

And there's still no other ecosystem that comes close to controlling IoT devices around the home. I have many lights, plugs, motion sensors and security cameras linked to my Alexa account that respond to various skills and routines - not to mention my doorbell.

As far as music appreciation goes, there's been a significant upgrade in sound quality and sheer volume - especially with the new Echo. Ask Alexa to set the volume to ten and prepare to have your eyebrows blasted off. Not bad for a $179 speaker. The three-inch woofer and dual tweeters create an impressively full soundscape across the whole frequency range and the bass response is wonderfully warm, punchy and powerful. I'm sitting here with Fat Freddy's Drop on shuffle and every track thumps along most satisfyingly.

As for the Dot - the enhancements in audio transmission here aren't quite as pronounced; yes there's more volume than before but due to its size most tracks still tend to sound a little dry and top-endy. In large rooms, the Dot is best used in conjunction with another, bigger Echo as part of a multi-speaker setup - something easily created within the Alexa app. In fact, if you have two identical Echoes you can link them as a stereo pair - quite a pair if you go for the bigger ones. There's also still the option to connect an external device via bluetooth or 3.5mm jack - very versatile.

As with the previous generation, the 2020 Echo Dot is also available as an Echo Dot with Clock - displaying an easily read LED clock from under the 100% recycled fabric. This works brilliantly as a kitchen timer or a bedside clock - it'll even show the temperature.

I remain confused as to why some reviewers seem obliged to find fault with such well-priced, great sounding devices. I've even seen complaints about the size of the power adapters which is really odd, given they're dramatically smaller than the previous square bricks we had to put up with. These plugs are easily narrow enough to nestle next to any others on your multi-board or side-by-side double outlet. Again, I guess people just love to complain.

Well, no complaints from me; The combination of build quality, design quality and sound quality make these new Echoes exceptional value, especially when you factor in Alexa's smarts... which are getting smarter every day.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon Echo.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.

CONFESSIONS OF AN AMATEUR GAMER

It's been a very long time.

The Domestic Manager once actually bought me a gaming console for a present. I have no idea why she did that. I think it was a test. Could I resist the temptation to spend hours of my life - hours I should be doing "something useful" - lost in actual fantasy worlds, crashing cars, plundering villages and playing professional sports I don't even know the rules of?

Basically, yes. I resisted. I never really played that much. What a good husband. Yeah, right.

Then, years later, my kids gave me a legitimate excuse to dust off that console and even upgrade it. I downloaded PC games and then to make them run properly, I had to upgrade the desktop too. It was my duty as a responsible father to show my kids how video games work.

Unfortunately, they quickly got a lot better at them than me and my excuse for playing them was gone again.

My gaming career was over for a second time.

The question is, can you ever come back for a three-peat?...

Gaming, like all tech, has evolved exponentially over the last decade or so. That means consoles have had to evolve too and the Microsoft Xbox Series X is the result.

The box the Box comes in is very groovy - lots of cool Xbox graphics in black and green. The console is almost suspended in the middle of the packaging when you open it all up. It'll certainly be a crowdpleaser come Christmas morning (assuming you can find one in time for Christmas; they're in super hot demand).

But once out of the packaging, to be brutally honest, it doesn't look like much. The Series X is a relatively featureless tower, reminiscent of the monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey. There's a flash of classic Xbox green under the concave ventilation panel at the top - or the right-hand end if you're using the console lying on its side, as I have to because it's far too tall to fit in my entertainment unit standing up. Oddly, while there are four small plastic feet in each corner of one side to use the Series X sideways, there's a massive round foot at the base which just sits there looking a bit clumsy on the left-hand end when you tip the thing over. Why this wasn't designed to be easily removed is a complete mystery.

Other than that, it's a pretty plain black... well... box.

In fact, in many ways it's becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between a gaming console and a gaming PC. 

Admittedly, to build gaming PC with anything like the performance the Series X offers, you'd have to pay a lot, lot, lot more. I was genuinely surprised to discover the new Xbox retails for $799 - I think that's sensational value for what it does.

If you're still in a disc-based gaming mindset, yes it can do that; there's a very subtle 4K UHD Blu-ray drive built in (and yes, it'll still play your DVDs) but let's get real, digital and online gaming is what we're about now and it's safe to say this is where Microsoft probably has a significant edge (excuse the pun). Game Pass starts from just $12.95 a month - again, an amazing deal as it gives you access to over a hundred games. There are some big titles in there too, like the Gears of War series, Halo, FIFA and the Sims 4 to name a few.

Of course, plenty of other standalone new releases are available for immediate download too, bearing in mind you have 1TB of NVME SSD internal storage at your disposal, with the option of adding another 1TB via Seagate expansion card. There are also three USB-3.1 ports so you can easily connect any other external storage devices, although from what I've read I wouldn't recommend trying to play any games without transferring them onto either the internal SSD or Xbox expansion card first - most modern games are too resource-heavy to access source-files via USB, it's simply not fast enough.

But operations like managing your storage are a piece of cake thanks to the Xbox Series X UI. Everything's clearly laid-out, in a familiar, typically Microsoft/Windowsy way. Logging into your accounts, creating your avatar, even customising the UI itself is all a breeze.

You have access to the Microsoft store, straight from the home screen, not just for games either but you can easily install entertainment apps like Netflix, Disney+ and TVNZ OnDemand. This means if you're connected to a gaming monitor, now you can effectively use it as a smart TV too. Thanks to the healthy quota of USB ports, plugging in accessories like a wireless keyboard makes those account logins just a little more convenient.

But we didn't get this thing to watch TV with, did we?

Time to dust off my gaming skills, such as they are.

I decided to start with my favourite kid of game - driving - ironic, as I'm a terrible driver. Dirt 5 is a great game for terrible drivers. Drifting directly into your competitors in the mud is actually a pretty solid tactic. Without getting too bogged down in tech specs, the graphics on display are standout - with this game I'm particularly impressed with the water effects. Things like puddles, rain and mud look very believable. I also really like the way you can change the point of view so many different ways both inside and outside the car, this means you can find a one that's exactly right for the way you want to race.

Obviously I had to give Assassin's Creed: Valhalla a try, given it's one of the marquee games of this year's new crop. Usually I find role playing games like these a little overwhelming and this one definitely takes a bit of getting into, especially if you take the time to watch all the scene-setting videos. But once I was underway I enjoyed the way the controls responded, I found I was never disorientated during combat and always had a good sense of which enemy I was taking on at any given time. It's hard not to be impressed with the fast load times and the exclusive Quick Resume feature. This isn't enabled for all games but it's fantastic when it is - it means you can swap from one game to another instantly and pick up from exactly where you left off in each game.

No matter if your blasting away at zombie/animal/monster soldier things in Gears 5, one of the latest first person shooters, or patrolling the streets and alleys of Yokohama in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, you can now instantly take a screenshot or record a clip of your gameplay thanks to the new Xbox wireless controller's "Share" button. Not only will this automatically upload to your Xbox online account, but you can then share directly to your activity feed, your club or to Twitter. I've uploaded some shots to my OneDrive gallery so I could use them in this review.

In most ways, the controller is similar to its predecessors, with refinements to the D-pad and a much grippier surface anywhere you need to hold it tightly.

In the couple of weeks I've been getting to know the Xbox Series X, I have actually managed to crash it several times. While playing Assassin's Creed: Valhalla I was trying to get into a house by swinging in through a window from the roof while being shot by arrows. Now, I know that sounds exciting but in my usual gaming style, none of that was really deliberate, I just couldn't get in the door. Anyway, for whatever reason, the controller suddenly started vibrating violently and the whole console shut itself down, leaving me holding a still-shaking controller and staring at a blank screen.

These crashes also happened while I was failing at NBA 2K21, (I suck at team sports games) and I crashed in the middle of my second mission as the Falconeer. Not ideal.

I turned to the internet for help. Of course, this is a bit like trying to diagnose a heart condition by running a Facebook poll and at first people who'd experienced similar crashes seemed to feel it was some kind of overheating issue. I would have been most surprised if this had proven to be the case, given much of the Series X's design is specifically aimed at keeping the console running as cool (and as quietly) as possible. There's a vapour chamber, a whisper-quiet fan, the motherboard is split in two and even the chassis itself works as a heat-sink. This all led me to disregard the overheating theory and I tried opting out of the Insider programme instead. So far so good - there must have been some kind of beta-testing OS bug causing the issue as I haven't had it since.

In fact, what I have had is hours and hours and hours and hours of high quality gaming, all the latest releases, featuring incredibly smooth and life-like graphics. The controller is fast, reliable and intuitive and the UI is fully customisable, giving fast access to my favourite games and apps - even opening many games instantly right from where I left off thanks to Quick Resume.

This is not a flashy, show-offy piece of hardware but it's a genuine powerhouse and thanks to subscription services like Game Pass and its reasonable price-tag, the Xbox Series X is a surprisingly budget-friendly portal into a whole new universe of next-level gaming.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Microsoft Xbox Series X.

EVEN LESS NOISE THAN BEFORE

People have a wide range of requirements when it comes to choosing over-ear headphones.

For some reason. many care more about what their headset looks like than what it sounds like. Big brand names carry a lot of weight... sometimes justified, sometimes not.

For others, sound is everything. Looks don't matter and even comfort takes second place to making sure every frequency is properly reproduced.

If you're like me and your job means wearing headphones for hours at a time every day, then comfort is just about the most important consideration of all.

But if noise cancellation is your big thing, the choice is pretty clear...

Somewhere along the way we all gave up comparing Sony to everyone else and just accepted its noise-cancelling technology is about the best you can get.

That was true two generations ago and it's no different with the WH-1000XM4 headset.

What is different is it's a bit slimmed down, a bit lighter and a bit more comfortable.

Somewhat boringly, there are still only two colour choices - black and silver. Silver still isn't silver, either. It's that pleasantly neutral sandstone/cream colour. The Sony logo above each earcup is subtly embossed in bronze and there's a matching highlight around the upper mic slots too.

I'd prefer other colour options but personally I'm happy with a more muted, downplayed design philosophy and here Sony has been pretty consistent. Both ear cushions and headband are squishily padded and the whole headset feels very light and well balanced. However, because the earcups fit so snugly, I found a tendency for my ears to get a bit hot and sweaty after prolonged use - not unbearably so - but something to consider.

Oh, and don't worry - the battery life is still completely insane. The website claims up to thirty hours use on a full charge which seems to match up with my testing so far. The only downside is it takes more than two hours to fully charge from flat - something for Sony to work on for the next generation perhaps.

One thing that hasn't seen much improvement since the last model is the cable accessories included in the case. The soft-touch hard case is excellent - as compact as it could possibly be - but the AUX cable is still flimsy, tangles easily and is only 1.2 metres long. This is completely mystifying to me as many other models in Sony's own range have alternative, tangle-free leads. Remember, you're paying $429 for these cans, the least they could do is throw in a decent cable. I can only surmise it's a space-saving measure, to keep the travel case small. While there's an airline-seat adapter plug, there's no 3.5mm-1/4inch adapter and the charging cable is frankly, pathetic - only about 15cm long. For some reason the headphones won't work while they're charging anyway but even so - how often can you connect to a charger right next to the headphones? Weird.

Not to worry - what the WH-1000XM4 lacks in quality accessories it more than makes up for in customisation options, courtesy of Sony's Headphones app.

I'm talking a lot more than just whether you use the Custom button for ambient noise control or to access your virtual assistant instead. There's a wide range of preset EQ's or you can fully customise a couple of your own. If you subscribe to a 360 Reality Audio service like Deezer or Tidal, you can actually take guided pictures of your ears to ensure the best setup. No, I'm not joking.

There's a Speak-to-Chat function that automatically winds your audio down if you start a conversation with someone which I guess would be useful in an office situation. Personally, I found it annoying when I was trying to ignore my kids so I turned it off.

But then we get to the Noise Cancelling and well, what can I say? This is a whole other world. An extremely quiet world. When you first set up the WH-1000XM4, you run the Noise Cancelling Optimiser which automatically senses how the headphones fit around your ears, using test tones and the two mics on each earcup to tailor-make a bespoke ANC profile just for you. It doesn't end there, of course - that's just the beginning.

There's seemingly no limit to what Sony's famous QN1 noise cancelling chip is capable of - making constant adjustments seven-hundred times a second to ensure your listening experience remains uninterrupted, no matter what your environment.

In fact, the WH-1000XM4's Adaptive Sound Control is capable of detecting a number of different situations and will adjust your ANC accordingly - whether you're commuting, walking, or just sitting around. It can even learn which locations you frequent and adjusts your sound profile to suit.

Does all this actually work?

Let's put it this way... the other day I was boiling a couple of eggs for lunch. I set a timer to remind me to take them off the stove and carried on with some writing I was in the middle of, all the while enjoying some music on the WH-1000XM4. Despite being in the same room as the bubbling pot, I never heard it boil. I never heard it boil over. I never heard my timer going off. In fact, I have no idea how long it was before I realised what was going on. Needless to say, those eggs ended up super hard-boiled.

Yup; Active Noise Cancelling so effective, it could burn your house down. Seriously, I've never heard anything like it. Literally. Virtually none of that slight, white-noise hiss you sometimes experience with noise cancelling tech - just your music, podcast or soundtrack, utterly uninterrupted.

In terms of actual sound reproduction, the WH-1000XM4 is hard to fault. Between the high transfer rate of its LDAC bluetooth and Sony's DSEE Extreme - which digitally restores compressed sound files in real time - you couldn't ask for more tech to be incorporated into one headset to ensure the best listening experience possible.

Best of all, you can turn it up real loud.

I've never been a massive fan of Sony's touch sensor panel on the right earcup but they've persisted with it. You adjust volume by swiping your finger up and down, you skip tracks by swiping forwards or backwards. Very annoying if you confuse the two or even get the angle a bit wrong. I much prefer the two physical buttons, nicely spaced out on the left, one for power and the aforementioned Custom button.

There are a few other new little features you'll probably never use but the main thing is, these headphones sound great and with the ANC on, you won't even hear the world ending around you.

Ladies and gentleman, the winner, and still champion of noise cancelling; the Sony WH-1000XM4.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Sony WH-1000XM4 headset.

glennzb's 2020 GADGET GIFT GUIDE

Quite proud of myself this year; my Christmas list is almost out on time. Well, almost.

Anyway, these are my favourite gadgets of 2020 and if you're very well behaved and read this all the way through, you might even find out who won the two copies of Norton 360 Premium to help keep the cybercrims away - that's worth over $200! But you have to promise not to just skip straight to the end...

1: NANOLEAF SHAPES

These are modular lighting panels that are easily connected using Linkers - electronic clasps that allow you to create any geometric design you fancy - and I do man any. Use as many or as few shapes as you like - there are even Flex Linkers so you can extend your Shapes around corners. A single controller unit (included with each "Smarter" kit) can run up to five-hundred panels, so you can cover a fair amount of wall space (or even the ceiling I suppose).

Shapes are fully programmable, capable of displaying up to sixteen-million different colours, can react to music and you can even use them to mirror or highlight your computer screen. 

They come in Triangles, Mini Triangles and Hexagons, with the promise of more shapes to come. They're also fully Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit compatible.

Click here for more information on Nanoleaf Shapes.

2: SONOS ARC

I've tried a fair few soundbars and speakers over the years and put simply, the Arc is the best. It brings you into the action when required, leaves you as an impartial observer if that's more appropriate. 

If your source content has been recorded in Dolby Atmos - and much of what's being streamed these days is - you'll really find yourself in the middle of things.

There's even a Night Sound setting to soften loud sound effects if you're getting your SciFi fix while someone else in the house is trying to sleep. 

The best thing about the Arc? It lived up to all my expectations. The hype was justified. It looks so good, especially in white. Add a couple of Sonos One SL speakers for rear surround sound and you'll be at the centre of a home theatre experience you'll never want to leave.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Sonos Arc.

3: GOOGLE NEST WIFI

If there's one tech lesson we've learned from 2020, it's the importance of a decent WiFi network at home.

The Google Nest router takes what was already working pretty well with the original Google WiFi system and beefs things up considerably - which might seem surprising given this thing isn't much bigger than a softball. The claim is the Nest router offers up to 25% more coverage at up to twice the speeds of its 2016 predecessor and the really good news is, like the original, this is a mesh-capable device and it's fully backwards compatible with those original Google WiFi systems.

The Google Nest Wifi experience makes mesh networking laughingly easy. Plug in the extra router where you need it, switch it on, find it on the Google Home app and it will pretty much do the rest for you. With just two Nest routers I have all the WiFi I need in every corner of my house; from my deck upstairs to my security cameras out the front.

If you're looking to upgrade your router, get this one. If you're looking to change ISP's - go with Orcon and you'll get one for free. This isn't an ad, it's an honest recommendation. In terms of range, ease of use and plain old good looks, Google Nest WiFi is the best I've used.

The Google Nest WiFi router is available from leading retailers for $299.

4: SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 20 ULTRA

Right, it's Phone of the Year time... this one really does do it all.

When I first held the Note 20 Ultra side by side with my S20 Ultra, it was easy to see there'd been a subtle shift. Both handsets are about the same size and yet the Note is more elegant. It's slimmer and because the corners are more square, it seems easier to hold. 

To say the Note 20 Ultra is everything the S20 Ultra is and more isn't technically true - but the few things Samsung has stripped away have undoubtedly made it even better. Add in an improved display and a world of new S-Pen features and there's no question this is the 2020 power-user's dream phone.

Click here for more information on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

5: DYSON CORRALE

When this device arrived for me to review I became the most popular person in the house... for the first time ever. I live with three people who have a lot of hair. I have none.

Cordless hair straighteners is a great idea. Even I can figure that out. Given most of us aren't ambidextrous, I'm guessing it's usually a lot easier to style one side than the other without the cord getting in the way. I've also been reliably informed by my willing test subject there's great advantage in being able to move from one room to another mid-straightening - the light is just better in there apparently.

The Corrale styles faster. It heats up to each of its three temperature settings in seconds rather than minutes and thanks to Dyson's floating, flexible heating plates, you can apply heat evenly to a whole tress of hair in one pass, saving time and causing less damage.

It's amazing for curling and waving and all that too. Apparently.

Look, there's a lot of technical hair stuff going on here. Rest assured if the lady (or long-haired gent) in your life unwraps one of these Christmas morning you're guaranteed to be in her good books till at least New Year's.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Dyson Corrale hair straightener.

6: SONY WH-1000XM4

Somewhere along the way we all gave up comparing Sony to everyone else and just accepted its noise-cancelling technology is about the best you can get.

That was true two generations ago and it's no different with the WH-1000XM4 headset.

What is different is it's a bit slimmed down, a bit lighter and a bit more comfortable.

Oh, and don't worry - the battery life is still completely insane.

There are a few other new little features you'll probably never use but the main thing is, these headphones sound great and with the ANC on, you won't even hear the world ending around you.

Ladies and gentleman, the winner, and still champion of noise cancelling; the Sony WH-1000XM4.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Sony WH-1000XM4 headset.

7: TWELVE SOUTH AIRFLY PRO

If you can't afford a whole high-end bluetooth capable headset like that, this might be the solution.

The Twelve South AirFly Pro is my favourite kind of gadget; brilliant for its simplicity.

Here's the concept; plug this into anything to make it bluetooth enabled.

That's exactly what the AirFly Pro does, with a minimum of fuss but with maximum reliability and sound quality. Best of all, it works either way; sending or receiving bluetooth signals from pretty much any audio device.

The AirFly Pro could well be the perfect solution to a problem you didn't even know you had... until next time you're stuck with in a plane with faulty headphones that is.


Click here for more information on the Twelve South AirFly Pro.

8: AMAZON ECHO AND ECHO DOT

While there's not a dramatic difference in performance between last year's edition of these entry-level, Alexa-enabled speakers, physically, they're a world apart - or a globe apart, anyway.

For whatever reason, Amazon has decided to make its speakers spherical and while they may take up slightly more shelf space, they do look pretty cute.

And to be honest, there's a noticeable improvement in sound quality and sheer volume - especially with the new Echo. Ask Alexa to set the volume to ten and prepare to have your eyebrows blasted off. Not bad for a $179 speaker.

The far-field mic array has also received a decent tweak - Alexa will still follow your instructions, even if you do play your rock anthems at ten.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon Echo.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.

9: HUAWEI WATCH GT2 PRO

It was love at first sight the second I opened the box. It's obviously just my opinion but the Huawei Watch GT2 Pro might just be the best looking smartwatch I've ever seen.

It's a lot to do with the colour. It comes in black, (doesn't everything?) but luckily I was sent the Nebula Grey version. This means a grey-brown leather strap, a titanium case and sapphire glass. Everything about this watch whispers premium build. The back casing has also been upgraded to a more skin-friendly ceramic.

If I've learned one thing from Huawei's recent line of smartwatches, it's how great the fitness tracking is.

There really is an incredible number of activities you can monitor - the usual running, walking, cycling and gym workouts of course along with just about anything else, from squash to kite-flying (I'm not making that up). Huawei has now added golf and skiing too. I don't golf or ski but from what I've read, the golf option does a pretty good job of measuring your swing at the driving range so that sounds genuinely useful.

It'll last you a week on a single charge without any issues at all - much longer if you're not regularly tracking workouts or have some other features disabled. Best of all, there's a new charging puck; completely wireless and magnetic so it no longer requires you to place the watch a certain way round to charge. Far more convenient.

As a fashion accessory, the Watch GT2 Pro is perfect. As a sports and health tracker, it's up there with the best of them.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Huawei Watch GT2 Pro.

10: OPPO RENO4 5G

This is one of the new class of phones offering most of the flagship features at a more affordable mid-tier price.

If you're done with those overrated, glass-backed handsets that basically mean you're risking a cracked phone front and back, the Reno4 will be right up your street. The "Reno Glow" finish on the back cover looks and feels a bit like frosted glass but it's much lighter and far less susceptible to fingerprints...

The rear-facing Ultra Clear Triple LDAF camera is one of the less obtrusive camera modules around right now but it certainly has plenty of tricks up its sleeve - mostly to do with low-light shooting.

The selfie-cam rises to the late-night shooting task too. Great selfies are just my minimum expectation from any OPPO phone - they've built their brand on it - but the Reno4's combination of 32MP main sensor and 2MP dedicated bokeh lens really does provide some absolute crackers. 

This is one of those phones I've found so easy to use; it runs well, has great battery life and totally over-delivers in the photography department - especially at night.

Click here for more information on the OPPO Reno4 5G.

11: DYSON V11 OUTSIZE

Basically the same vacuum as last year, just bigger. So better.

A 25% wider cleaner head. Yes, this year's first stroke of genius from the boffins at Dyson was to take that already amazing, auto-sensing, High-Torque head and stretch it... quite a bit. This means a significant time-saving of course, as you're covering more floor area with less strokes. It's still as manoeuvrable as ever, still knows the difference between carpet and hard floors - it's just wider.

The second big innovation of the year is the other reason the Outsize is called the Outsize. The bin now has a generous 1.9 litre capacity - 150% bigger than before.

This is why using any Dyson product is always such a joy; design, design, design. 

That's why he'll absolutely love it this Christmas.

Was that sexist?

Click here for more information and pricing on the V11 Outsize cordless vacuum.

12: SAMSUNG GALAXY BUDS LIVE

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live have certainly made a splash in an overcrowded market. Nothing else looks like them. Why Samsung didn't just call them Galaxy Beans is a mystery because now it's only a matter of time before someone else replicates the shape and steals the name for themselves.

There's a lot going on for something so small; three built-in mics, Voice Pickup Unit, air vents, bass duct and of course, the 12mm speakers themselves. They really are about as tiny as they can be, any smaller and I'd honestly be worried about inserting them in my ear holes and never seeing them again.

I have found these to be about the most comfortable earbuds I've ever used - primarily because they weigh nothing and there's nothing hanging out anywhere.

Samsung hasn't just come up with something different for the sake of it, the Buds Live are genuinely great earphones too. They sound great and have more features than I can use. They'll work with any Android or iOS device - laptops too - but if you have a Samsung handset, these are definitely the best you can buy.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live.

Right, congratulations time! We had heaps of entries to win a year's subscription to Norton 360 Premium by Norton LifeLock but I only had two to give away. The lucky winners were John Gibbs of Waikato and Micky McLeod from Wellington. Well done thanks to everyone else for entering.

PULLING THE WOOL OVER YOUR EARS

I've never met a Harman Kardon speaker I didn't get along with.

Not only do they always sound incredible but often the design aesthetic is eye-catching and innovative too.

These guys know what they're doing. So you need to understand, any criticisms I hand out in this review - and there won't be many - are based on a comparison of very high-end products, including other devices I've tried made by Harman Kardon itself...

For a relatively small speaker, the Harman Kardon Citation One MKII has a very long name. I can't compare it to the original model as I've never tried any of the Citation range before. However, standalone smart speakers like these are now more common than ever and I've definitely had a good listen to (and indeed owned) a fair few over the last couple of years.

The Citation One MKII certainly stands out appearance-wise, anyway. At 188mm tall and 140mm in diameter, it's not the smallest speaker around but it doesn't take up an excessive amount of shelf space either. The shiny metal accents are unusual - as is the blended wool covering from Danish textile manufacturer, Kvadrat. Not only is this fabric dirt and flame retardant, it gives off a more natural vibe than the plastic, paint and metal we often see on similar gadgets. Apparently the wool used actually comes from New Zealand which is a nice little Kiwi connection.

The Citation One MKII comes in black or grey - although it's quite an earthy grey that almost looks a very pale brown in certain lights and yes, I know I'm going on a bit but one of the first things the Domestic Manager said when she saw it was, "That's a nice looking one." As opposed to, "How long do I have to have that in my house?" which is her usual response when I unpack one of my review items out of its box.

Good looks mean nothing if it doesn't perform, of course. 

Luckily, as this is a Google Assistant-enabled device, setup only takes a few moments and is utterly foolproof. It all happens via the Google Home app - the same app you use if you're setting up a Chromecast. This is how the Citation One MKII's firmware is kept up to date, how you connect it to your WiFi and how you can give it a name and assign it to a particular room in your house.

In fact, if you own multiple Citation speakers (or any other Google-compatible ones) you can easily set up a multi-room sound system to stream the same playlist everywhere at once, or each person's favourite song in their own space. Again, Google Home makes what sounds like a complicated task very straightforward. There's also a Night Mode; this allows you to limit the maximum volume and dim the status LED on a schedule of your choosing.

Annoyingly, you can't turn the LED off altogether. Curiously, it's situated at the back of the speaker's base, so it's out of the way but still lights up an otherwise dark room in the middle of the night. Maybe a future software update will provide the ability to switch it off.

Another option is to connect two Citation One MKII speakers together as a stereo pair and indeed, this is how I set up mine. For anyone born prior to the turn of the century, it's always so pleasurable to use something wirelessly that used to involve running metres of unsightly cables along the wall or hiding them under the carpet. Those were the days.

There's a lot of flexibility in how you use these speakers; you can stream from a source device like your phone via bluetooth, Chromecast or Airplay, or obviously you can just ask Google to play something directly from hundreds of possible services you might be subscribed to.

As I said at the top, being Harman Kardon, I had pretty high expectations so it's probably understandable that I wasn't immediately blown away by the sound produced from my pair of Harman Kardon MKII's. Again, let me qualify that by assuring you they sounded truly excellent... just not super excellent.

Yes, I absolutely love the stereo separation achieved by pairing them together - we've become so used to listening to music from a single speaker I'd almost forgotten how clever a well-mixed stereo track can be. To be sure, every string plucked on Melissa Etheridge's acoustic-based "Chrome Plated Heart" rings out warmly and clearly. It's when things get a bit more sonically crowded I find myself wanting a bit more.

While many people seem to think "OK Computer" was Radiohead's seminal album, I always go further back to "Pablo Honey" when putting a new sound system to the test. From the jangle of "Anyone Can Play Guitar" to the perfection of "Creep" and the mind-bending crescendo of "Stop Whispering," the production standards on display here are timeless. There's a lot going on, yet every instrument has it's own space. Unfortunately, on the Citation One MKII's, the experience is just a little more muddy than I'd prefer.

There's actually decent bass response considering their size and in terms of sheer volume, the 40W output from each speaker's 20mm tweeter and 89mm woofer is plenty to fill most rooms well past the point of polite conversation. Yes, I can dance to that.

Luckily, Google Assistant has pretty good hearing, even with the volume way up she can hear your commands from an impressive distance - in fact I've bossed her around from another room entirely without having to raise my voice. Because Google Assistant works so well, I was surprised to see so many control buttons on top of the speaker. I guess some people would rather touch than talk.

This is unquestionably a premium audio device, constructed from premium materials with premium design. It's priced accordingly - on par with similar products in the three-to-four hundred-dollar bracket.

The multi-speaker, multi-room aspect of the new Citation Series is probably its greatest appeal. The One MKII seems like a great entry point - a starter if you will. I've had a sneaky peak at what else Harman Kardon has to offer in this range and I have a hunch if I get to team these first entre speakers up with a few other configurations around the house, the soundscape is going to expand in myriad ways I haven't even imagined yet.

What I've heard so far is definitely enough to make that a mouthwatering prospect indeed.

Click here for more information on the Harman Kardon Citation One MKII all-in-one smart speaker.