JBL Live Flex 3 - Not the Buds for Me

In my experience there are basically two types of earbuds wearers in the world; open-fitters and sealed-uppers. It's merely a matter of priorities. If comfort is of utmost importance to you, you'll be more likely to choose an open fit. However, if your main focus is sound quality at all costs, you'll be after a nice, snug, in-ear option.

That is not to say there aren't comfy in-ear buds out there, or that an earbud with a stem will always come up short in terms of hi-fidelity. Far from it. I've tried a lot of earbuds over the years - probably more earbuds than any other single product category - and although I'm generally more inclined to go for the most sealed, concealed, in-ear option I can find, I have, on several occasions, been quite taken aback at how clever audio engineers can be when it comes to generating genuine bass response and effective noise-cancellation from a more open-fit design.

And then there are the hybrids, of course; the best (or perhaps worst?) of both worlds - a sealed tip combined with a stem. Some of these have been some of the best buds I've used.

So while I have my preferences, I still feel obliged to try something new whenever possible. After all, you never know when a really well-designed device might change your mind.

JBL's new Live TWS 3 series offers an option for everyone; the Live Buds TWS 3 comes in my preferred, in-ear, sealed, buds-only form-factor. The Live Beam TWS 3 is the bit-of-both offering I was just describing; stemmed but still with soft tips for a sealed fit.

Then there's the Live Flex TWS 3 we're focussing on today. Stems. Open fit. No seal.

What all three options have in common is the smart charging case, the latest version of the innovation JBL launched last year. The case charges via USB-C or wirelessly and features a 1.45-inch touch display. The idea here is you can control and adjust certain settings on your buds without having to open the JBL Headphones app on your phone.

This includes EQs, spatial effects for music, video or gaming, noise control and more.

It's a nice idea, especially given the extended range these earbuds offer thanks to the Bluetooth 5.3 codec. Because of this, I often find myself several rooms away from my source device, yet if I still have the case in my pocket, I can pause/play or adjust the volume using the touch screen.

In some ways this seems a bit redundant as of course, there are some on-board touch controls on the Live Flex 3 buds themselves. Frustratingly though, these controls are not quite as customisable as I'd like. Each bud can be set to control volume, playback or noise control... but not a mixture of all three. This is infuriating because I'd prefer to use long presses to increase or lower volume on right and left buds respectively, while reserving single taps for playback and perhaps double-taps to toggle ANC - but there's no option to set it up that way.

The full-colour LCD screen on the case also has a selection of wallpapers to choose from and lights up bright white to be used as an emergency torch or you can send an audio alert to find your earbuds if you've put them down somewhere.

The really good news here is this year's smart charging case is really quite compact, despite all its added-on functionality. It's pretty much as pocketable as any other case.

AS for the Live Flex 3 buds themselves... I guess I gave my overall verdict away in the title; not for me.

It's not because of the touch-control limitation - I can live with that. It's all to do with the fit. They don't.

As comfortable as it is to have buds like these just sitting lightly on your ears, rather than burrowing their way deep into your ear canals and hermetically sealing out all exterior distractions, I've spent way too much time readjusting them for a more secure fit and even worse, catching them as they bobble out and worse still, scrabbling on the floor (or ground) for them.

The Live Flex 3 carry an IP54 water resistance rating, which should protect them from rain and sweat but the chances of keeping them in if you're doing something physical enough to break a sweat are pretty low, so I think we can safely say they're not a good option for exercise.

Noise cancellation is another factor. An open fit like this means you're not getting much in the way of passive cancellation so any Active Noise Cancelling has to be pretty damn active indeed. I prefer to keep out sounds like traffic when I'm walking and I don't want aircon noise or other machinery intruding when I'm wearing my buds inside. The Live Flex 3 just don't deliver and in many environments I struggled to hear much difference between having ANC on or off.

Instead, the effect is more like getting your music or podcast through to you despite any external noise. Let me explain. One of my big tests for any earbuds is to wear them while I'm mowing the lawns. Ideally, I won't hear my line-trimmer or mower and will only hear my preferred playlist instead. When wearing the Live Flex 3 buds, noise cancelling didn't do much to reduce the sound of my power tools at all and yet I could still hear my podcasts totally clearly.

This might be partly due to JBL's Personi-Fi 3.0 feature. Using the Headphones app, you can take a guided hearing test to come up with a bespoke Personi-Fi profile that will boost or reduce certain frequencies to provide the fullest sound possible. This feature seems to work very well - I could definitely notice the difference when I toggled it on or off, especially because it creates a unique soundscape for each ear. Pretty clever.

And I can't deny the overall sound performance from these buds is quite excellent.

As expected, because of the lack of a good seal, bass response is a little lacklustre compared to the usual JBL experience. You can remedy this by choosing the Extreme Bass EQ and then you get a pretty nice, punchy result - whether it's on Kimbra's electronic dream, "Everlovin' Ya" or Amos Lee's much more acoustic, "Hang On, Hang On."

I suspect there's no EQ setting that will suit every artist or song universally though. "Perfect Pair" by kiwi band, the Dead Flowers is a jangly, pop/rock affair but on the Live Flex 3 buds it kind of sounds just jangly. And yet, a similar, guitar-driven track, Thirsty Merc's "My Completeness," actually comes across quite powerfully and doesn't top out at all.

It might be just as well you can access EQ controls on the smart charging case, you'll probably want to tweak things pretty regularly depending on what you're listening to.

Please don't get the wrong idea; these are not bad buds, they're just not right for what I use earbuds for. For example, I don't make or take a lot of calls but when I tested the way the Live Flex 3 handled them, I was quite impressed. I could hear who I was talking to and they could hear me in total clarity with no delay or distortion.

I just can't deal with my buds dropping in the dirt when I'm leaning over to change my line-trimmer line. Not ideal.

    

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the JBL Live Flex 3.

Panasonic Z95A with Fire TV - Better Late Than Never

I've been a Panasonic fan since way back. In fact, the first genuinely flash, flat-panel TV I ever bought was a 42-inch Panasonic plasma. I went all out and got the surround-sound system to go with it. (All wired of course. That's right kids, you used to have to hide long cables to your rear speakers under the carpet.)

While Panasonic is a trusted, heritage brand in Japan, it turns out its TVs are only available in specific markets around the world. Here in New Zealand, we love them. Although in recent years it can definitely be argued Panasonic tellies were being left behind by the competiton... not so much in terms of actual display technology but definitely when it came to the user experience.

When I started reviewing Panasonic TVs in 2021, it had been a very long time since I'd had a decent play with one, so I was utterly shocked to discover the operating system was essentially still exactly the same as on my 42-inch plasma from decades before.

Like some kind of weird time-travel experience, I was once again confronted with a seemingly infinite number of settings menus and options, all in an ugly, outdated white font on a blue background. How could it still be like this after all these years?

Obviously, there were streaming options and other smart TV apps available but this kind of operating system simply wasn't doing the otherwise excellent Panasonic panels justice.

Yes, you could argue a bad UI isn't so important on a TV when you can plug in other streaming dongles and set-top boxes and use the screen as just that; a screen. Even so, you're not making it easy for any prospective purchasers when they're comparing different models from different manufacturers in the store.

Well finally, Panasonic has come to the party... In about the biggest way possible, by teaming up with Amazon's Fire TV.

The Z95A is the flagship of Panasonic's new Fire TV range and it's clear proof that in one fell swoop, those old, retro settings menus are officially dead and gone.

Physically, it bears a striking resemblance to other, recent Panasonic OLEDs; once again the panel itself is super slim but the whole TV is actually quite bulky by modern standards. There's a very good and justifiable reason for that, which we'll come to soon enough.

The design of the stand has carried over too, which is definitely fine by me. It's essentially a sturdy, central column set into a flat, mostly disc-shaped base and comes with a click-on cover for keeping cables tidy at the back. But what really sets it apart from other TV stands is its ability to rotate. My mum used to balance her telly on a lazy Susan so she could angle it towards the dining table then back to the lounge between meals. This is a much more stable solution.

Back to the bulk though. This is mostly due to Panasonic's enduring (and endearing) commitment to providing quality sound to match premium picture quality. I've been pretty complimentary of the sound from previous Panasonic TVs and things have only gone up another level here. There are a lot of  built-in speakers of various sizes and abilities, pointing in many directions. Most notably, the soundbar-like array across the bottom which obviously pretty much eliminates the need for an actual soundbar.

I'm not just saying that to be trite - there's a lot of AI goings-on under the hood of this TV and much of it has been dedicated to 360° Soundscape Pro, which utilises all the Technics-tuned speakers in combination with Dolby Atmos to create a genuinely room-filling, immersive experience. 

When setting up the Z95A, you're presented with the option to auto-tune the sound system to your room, taking into account your usual viewing position. This is done using the mics in the TV, the mic in your remote and a series of really weird noises.

The important thing is, it works. When I review a TV, I always try the built-in sound system before plugging my surround-sound home theatre back in, including subwoofer and rear speakers. This time, I just didn't feel the need. Sure, as impressive as the Z95A's speaker array is, it still isn't as good as a proper, multi-speaker system but I tell you what; it's not far off.

And I think this is part of Panasonic's appeal to the New Zealand market. It's a heritage brand for a client-base with some pretty heritage habits. If they don't already own a soundbar, I'm pretty sure they'd rather not if they didn't have to.

Panasonic may have been pandering to this same market when they designed the remote. It's a behemoth. So many buttons... including a full number pad and one with a little TV on it which presumably takes you to... what? There's still live TV happening? Who on earth would waste their time watching that? Probably the same people who need to type in channel numbers I guess.

Several other buttons are dedicated shortcuts to various streaming services and there's a customisable shortcut button too, which brings us (finally) to the main story here; Fire TV.

I've been using various Fire TV sticks in various TVs for a while now and like most Amazon devices, I've found them to be nicely-designed, easy to use and most importantly, they work really well. In other markets, particularly in the U.S., its not uncommon to find televisions for sale with Fire TV built-in but this a first for New Zealand.

What a breath of fresh air. Gone are those laborious (and ugly) blue settings menus inside other menus from previous years (and even decades). Enter a much more aesthetically-pleasing era of easily navigated home pages, with useful recommendations and settings menus that appear subtly on the right of the screen, with transparent backgrounds, hardly even intruding on what you're watching.

Fire TV will learn from your installed apps and preferred content to recommend similar shows and movies but it gets even more user-friendly than that. The Z95A is now essentially an Alexa smart hub. There's an Alexa button in the middle of that giant remote or you can choose to speak to the TV directly. Why? How about to pull up a live feed of your front doorbell camera? Or to activate the "Movie Night" routine you've created that lowers the lights automatically? Or maybe you just want to peruse a list of Chris Hemsworth flicks to see if there's any you've missed. Alexa can do all this and more, you only have to ask.

Finally, lets talk about the most important thing of all; the picture.

OLED panels have crossed a rubicon in the last few years. Until relatively recently, they weren't the best option for daytime viewing in a bright room. That just isn't true anymore and the Z95A is a prime example. There's a long list of pre-set picture options, ranging from the blazing Dynamic mode through to Sports, Gaming and Cinema settings - or of course you can make all manner of tweaks and adjustments manually. 

In fact, although they're now so much easier to access, navigate and see, there are probably still too many settings, especially when it comes to picture and audio options. I found it so overwhelming I eventually did what I swore I'd never do; I left it up to AI. Seriously. I set both picture and sound modes to AI then sat back and enjoyed a series of highly enjoyable AV experiences - from the excruciating discomfort of the audio design of Oscar-winning "Zone of Interest" to the cosy laughs and golden light of Aussie comedies "Fisk" and "Colin from Accounts."

At first I thought, "What a great TV." Then I soon stopped thinking about that and just enjoyed the show. That's how truly immersive the viewing experience is with the Z95A. An experience that has been enhanced immeasurably by the addition of Fire TV, finally, a user interface that is now only helpful and hardly ever frustrating.

    

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Panasonic Z95A with Fire TV.

Amazon Echo Pop - Just a Mini-Review

This'll only take a few minutes of your time, so bear with me.

I'm pretty much running an Alexa household, certainly when it comes to streaming music on smart speakers, anyway.

I've always found the integration with my preferred music streaming services works well and I like to be able to use Amazon's Echo Show devices as digital photo frames.

I've also used Alexa's various skills and routines to automate several lights, cameras and other sensors around my home to make life just a little bit easier.

Then, just when I thought I'd tried every Alexa device out there, I got my hands on the smallest one yet.

Actually, that's not quite true. The Echo Auto is probably the smallest Alexa device but today I'm focusing on smart speakers and while pretty tiny, it turns out the Echo Pop is just as clever as the rest of them.

What's more, it comes in a selection of colours; Charcoal, Glacier White, Lavendar Bloom and Midnight Teal.

I'm not going to do a deep dive on all the various ways this speaker can help you access information and connect to the vast majority of IoT devices you have in your home. We've already been there and done that for many Echoes in all their various shapes and sizes.

All you need to know is the Pop works exactly the same way, controlling smart lights, air conditioners and countless other devices by following your voice commands.

As I demonstrate in the video below, you can also do any of the other fun Alexa stuff... set timers, ask for weather forecasts, find out how far away the nearest pizza place is, even order things online.

But perhaps the thing that has impressed me the most is the thing most smart speakers are supposed to do; play music.

In terms of audio quality, I wasn't expecting much from such a tiny little chappie and it's true, this is not a party speaker designed for bombastic beat-drops or crashing rock guitar riffs. However, at a medium volume, the Pop actually does a really nice job of creating a sonic space for a comprehensive dynamic range - especially for more acoustic efforts like Amos Lee's latest album, "Transmissions."

Instruments like nylon-string guitars and stand-up basses come across very warmly and cleanly, making the pop an excellent choice for your bedside table if you like to wake up to a bit of Sunday morning jazz.

But probably the best way to use the Pop is as an add-on speaker. If you're already using a larger Echo Show device, or maybe the truly excellent Echo Studio, which is a big speaker with genuinely decent bass response, adding a Pop or two into the mix will give you a much more room-filling sound. Recent updates to Alexa's ability to group several Echoes together mean this feature is much more dependable and really makes creating an affordable, multi-speaker system very easy.

In fact, with two Echo Pops you can create a stereo pair and I imagine the result is a much bigger sound overall. (I haven't tested this myself but I'm confident in recommending the setup as I've tried it with the slightly bigger Echo Dots and it works insanely well)

There's also the option to use the Pop as a kind of intercom. You may or may not be aware when you have multiple Echo devices set up on the same Wi-Fi network you can make "Announcements" on all of them simultaneously. This is a great way to get everybody to the dinner table at more or less the same time, something that always seems to be a constant challenge in my house.

The point is, for around NZ$85.00 you can add onto your existing Alexa setup very easily and affordably. I've found the Pop does everything you'd expect it to, sounds better than you'd expect it to and I do believe, given its prompt responses demonstrated in the video below, it may even be the best listener of all the Echo devices to date.

    

    

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

Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera - See the Whole Picture

It's hard to believe Ring video doorbells have only been around for ten years. It seems like as long as there have been front doors, deliveries and Wi-Fi, Ring has been there to keep an eye on your packages and perhaps even more importantly, alert you that someone is at your door in the first place.

Over the last decade, the various Ring doorbells haven't changed all that dramatically, making gradual improvements in video quality and extending the range of what can be detected in a growing number of innovative ways.

Depending on which model you choose, you can now trace any visitors to your property from a birds-eye-view, or record them before they even ring the bell.

Once Ring doorbells became successful, it wasn't long before we saw a range of Ring security cameras follow suit - both indoor and outdoor models, not to mention associated floodlights and door chimes.

Now ring is back with one of its most versatile indoor cams yet.

If nothing else, the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera is great value, at an RRP of just NZ$129.00. That's not a lot for a camera with all the features I'm about to detail.

Firstly, there are any number of ways to install the Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera. This is because it's extremely compact and as usual, Ring has included a heap of hardware in the box to help you install it pretty much anywhere you want. There's a mounting plate, a wall mounting bracket, screws and wall anchors so if you don't want to just sit it on a shelf (like I have) you can secure it to the wall or even the ceiling.

It also comes with a pretty long power cable, which is just a standard USB-A to USB-C, so you can easily thread it behind or through furniture and small openings or holes.

Another distinctive feature is the physical privacy shutter - a no-nonsense cover that extends the whole length of the camera, leaving no doubt the camera has been totally disabled when swiveled into place. This cover can also removed completely if you don't think you'll be using it.

Annoyingly, there's a bright LED that shines from just above the lens when the Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera is powered up and there doesn't seem to be any way to deactivate it. I get this is probably another privacy consideration - to let anyone in line of sight know they're being observed and/or recorded - but it's super annoying, especially if the camera is operating in an otherwise dark room.

Nothing a small piece of black insulation tape can't solve... which then poses the question, what was the point of it in the first place? I hate silly little lights.

Speaking of the dark, the Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera works almost as well at night as in the daylight - even providing colour footage. Like Ring's doorbells, you also have the ability to talk and listen through the camera in real time, set up customisable motion zones and obviously you can receive those motion alerts wherever you are via the Ring app.

Should you see something (or someone) out of place, you can fire off a siren which is surprisingly loud and will definitely get any intruders' attention, hopefully dissuading them from intruding any further.

The Ring website claims I'll be able to, "Smoothly pan left to right..." which was overselling things a little. I used the live pan and tilt controls on an iPhone and yes, it was pretty responsive. However, things weren't as consistent when accessing the camera using the Android version of the app. I tried this with two different, high-end Android devices and one worked fine but on the other, the response was often quite jerky and delayed. 

Always hard to say who's at fault in these situations; Is Ring responsible for testing its app and connected hardware with every phone on the market or is the onus on each handset manufacturer to make sure their device works with Ring? See? It's a curly one.

However, for the most part, I've found the combination of the wide-angle lens with the ability to tilt 169° and pan a full 360° provides me with total coverage of my living room, dining and kitchen areas, so I can keep an eye on my dog when I'm not home.

But if you want to use the Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera for security as well as live streaming, you'll come up against my usual Ring pet-peeve pretty quickly; the dreaded subscription.

Ring Protect Basic will set you back NZ$4.95 a month and covers a single device. You'll get advanced features like the Pre-Roll recording I mentioned earlier and here's the rub, you'll need this subscription to save any recordings - a must if you're using the camera as a security device.

Now, I don't want to come across as a cheapskate and even I admit five bucks a month isn't the end of the world. (Especially with the discount for an annual sub) The trouble is, if you have more than one camera, or a Ring doorbell as well, you'll need to jump up to the Protect Plus pan for NZ$15 a month (or $150 for the year). That's not nothing and I've always been of the opinion if you're buying a camera that can record, you should be able to access those recordings as part of the purchase price. By all means, Ring can charge what it wants for cloud storage but I still believe users should always have the option to record to a locally connected storage device instead. 

In fact, I'd be happy to pay a bit more for the device as part of the purchase price if it had a free, local storage option.

Unfortunately, Ring has always set things up this way and I've always complained about it, so nothing is likely to change any time soon.

In the meantime, this is a reasonably-priced, versatile little camera that can be mounted pretty much anywhere. Using the remote controls in the app, you can survey just about every corner of the room it's installed in and there's even a special setting if you want to point it out your front window to monitor a path, driveway or gate.

There's no denying it, Ring makes great security cameras and they've been doing it for over ten years now.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition - Why You Gotta Tease Me Like This?

For a global leader in technology, Microsoft makes some pretty head-scratching decisions sometimes.

You'd think a company this big and this powerful would know better than to use the consumer marketplace as a testing ground for its products, rather than getting them fine-tuned and polished before putting them on sale in the first place.

Examples?

Take the Windows Phone; actually, a very nice piece of hardware. (I'm talking the Nokia Lumias of the early 2010s) Great cameras. Advanced features like dark mode and wireless charging and yet, because there was an extremely limited selection of apps, nobody wanted one.

While we're on phones, how about the Surface Duo? We got two generations of a folding phablet in 2020 and 2021 but it turned out people seemed more interested in handsets with single folding screens, rather than two separate screens hinged together. Still no sign of a third edition.

And then there's the Microsoft Surface itself.

I've argued before that the idea of a tablet that functions like a laptop with a detachable keyboard was incredible back when it was launched in 2012... but it worked so badly it took 4 or 5 generations before most people were prepared to give it a second try.

How does Microsoft not understand the damage it does to its reputation every time it embarks on one of these rush-to-market experiments?

It seems they simply don't care because they've done it again.

The Surface Laptop 7th Edition might quite possibly be the best laptop I've ever used. Right out of the box it looks and feels incredible. These new CoPilot+ PCs come in 13.8-inch or 15-inch versions, with a choice of 10 or 12-core Snapdragon X processors, 512GB or 1TB of internal storage and 16GB or 32GB or RAM.

Depending on which configuration you go for, there's a choice of colours; Sapphire, Dune, Platinum or Black. I've been sent a 15-inch model with all the bells and whistles in black. That would set me back NZ$4,099.00 if I were to buy it from the NZ Microsoft Store.

A pretty penny by most people's standards but this is a pretty incredible device. The HDR touchscreen is up there with the best I've viewed. The bezels are thinner than previous generations so in effect, you get more screen real estate taking up less space.

The new Snapdragon X processors run cool and much more efficiently, meaning outstanding battery life. Microsoft claims 22 hours of continuous video playback. That's not realistic in everyday use of course but I've certainly found the Surface Laptop 7 to be one of the more power-efficient of any Windows devices I've used to date.

Microsoft also claims a startling 86% jump in speed compared to the Surface Laptop 5.

I have no idea how you'd measure that in real-life terms but I've used both computers and I have no reason to doubt the claim. This laptop is fast. Blazing fast.

So what's the problem?

Well, when I test a PC or laptop I use it as my primary computing device for the duration of the review period. That means logging into my email accounts, installing and syncing my preferred browser, downloading a few games to play and setting up Adobe Audition so I can do all my audio editing.

First step? No issues. Because my work runs Office 365, I use all those apps regularly and it was no effort signing in to start emailing and accessing all my Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. As you'd expect.

However, for less "native" apps things got real ropey, real fast.

As I said already, these Copilot+ PCs run on Snapdragon X processors - a new kind of processor and ARM architecture that many developers are still coming to grips with. My favourite browser right now is Arc (sorry Microsoft - it used to be Edge but that has become bloated and messy like so many before it). Arc is a faster, more streamlined option that syncs across devices of varying operating systems but there isn't an ARM64 version of it yet, so that was no longer an option for me.

More frustrating was Adobe Audition. There's literally no way to make it work on the Surface Laptop 7. Not yet, anyway. I don't get it; Acrobat works. Photoshop works. Premiere Pro doesn't work yet - although it's promised to soon. How can you expect someone to hand over four grand for a computer that won't run some of the most commonly used creativity tools on the market?

As for games... Well, this is where things get really interesting. My modus operandi when reviewing a Windows PC is to log into my Gamepass Ultimate account in the Xbox app and download a few games to put the processor, GPU, RAM and storage to the test. On this laptop, you don't even get the option to do a local install of your Gamepass Games - you can only play them via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

I say, "only" but the reality is, I actually enjoyed playing this way on this machine. I found all the games I tried loaded faster than a local-install would, they looked great and it made no difference I hadn't downloaded my own copy. Even a graphics-heavy behemoth like Forza seemed to work better via the cloud than with the last couple of computers I've played it on.

Which only adds to my frustration with this device. It obviously offers incredible power and performance. The touch display is superb. The sound quality is top-notch. The camera and mic features ensure excellent 1080p online video results and the latest Wi-Fi 7 connectivity is faster and more reliable than ever.

There are even enough ports - well, almost. 2 X USB-C and a USB-A. (I'd still like to see an HDMI as well - especially since the Surface Laptop 7 is capable of running up to 3 external displays.)

So why, why, why did Microsoft launch it without ensuring a full complement of compatible apps were all ready to go? 

And that's before you get to the titular Copilot+ abilities which, to be honest, currently come up a little short. Yes, there's a dedicated Copilot button but all this seems to do is open a new Copilot window so you can chat with the Microsoft AI - it doesn't seem to be intuitively integrated with whatever you happen to be doing at the time.

I asked Copilot to create a 1200-word review of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition. Although it was quite a good read, it got some facts wrong. It told me I could have a maximum 16GB of memory - odd, given the one I'm using right now has 32GB. It also claimed to be Wi-Fi 6 which, as I've just pointed out - is now a generation behind.

This kind of blurry, inaccurate generalisation has been typical of every AI I've interacted with to date so I don't fear the robot apocalypse just yet.

When Microsoft launched this new line of PCs, it also promised another exciting feature, Recall. This would allow users to "rewind" their computers to virtually any point in the past, an obvious boon to creatives like me who have great ideas and then forget them almost immediately. Unfortunately, as you may have heard, valid privacy concerns were raised around protecting sensitive information (and perhaps even images) and as a result, Microsoft has delayed the Recall rollout for the time being.

You see? All the potential in the world but who wants to buy a computer that will be incredible eventually? 

Make no mistake, I actually think this laptop is worth every cent of its NZ$4,099.00 price tag - it's so fast, it's so powerful, its battery lasts so long, its display is so spectacular, it sounds so wonderful and it looks and feels so, so good.

It just doesn't do about half the things I want it to right now. Oh, I know it will... but WHEN???

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition.