I recently became a parent. For the first time, mind you. And being a techy, I almost immediately started researching baby tech when I found out I was pregnant. There are lists of baby monitors available in the market, and finding one that suited our needs was… a long and tedious process.

Now I’m a parent of a newborn, and the R14,000 Owlet Baby Monitor Duo 2 caught my attention due to its intriguing combination of video monitoring and wearable tech. The setup is almost like an Apple Watch for your infant (from birth up to 18 months), paired with a camera monitor to ensure your little one’s stats are good.

The full kit

The Owlet Baby Monitor Duo 2 arrives in two separate boxes — one for the Cam 2 and another for the Smart Sock 3. The packaging is well-designed and includes all the necessary components for installation.

Setting up the Cam 2 is relatively straightforward, whether you choose to mount it on a wall or position it on a flat surface. The magnetic base offers flexibility, but opting for the wall mount option requires a bit more effort. The pairing process, while generally smooth, may encounter occasional hiccups, especially during the QR code scanning step.

I should note here that you’ll need a WiFi network in your home, and that the system won’t work sans power. So if you’re opting for a WiFi baby monitor, you’ll need backup power of some sort, as well as continuous internet connectivity.

Owlet emphasises the devices’ security and privacy, assuring users of a secure, encrypted WiFi connection. It’s still a good idea to ensure security on your home WiFi network as an additional layer of defence. You don’t want creeps poking around in your baby’s room via the baby monitor.

Constant check-in

Equipped with 1080p HD video, night vision, and a wide-angle lens, the Cam 2 promises crisp and clear visuals. In practise, the video quality is impressive, capturing every detail with clarity.

However, we did experience a decrease in video quality during real-time use, particularly when streaming over WiFi. This issue could be attributed to transmission limitations rather than inherent camera capabilities. But it happened more than a few times in our testing.

It is nice to have the live feed on your phone though. Most people will have their smartphones with them at all times, so it’s super convenient.

That happens in the Owlet app, which serves as the central hub for monitoring your baby’s activities. It’s user-friendly and provides access to nursery streams, temperature/humidity readings, and two-way audio communication. Despite occasional lags in loading times and video quality fluctuations during motion or sound detection, the app offers essential features for remote monitoring and gives you peace of mind.

One notable feature of the Owlet app is its customisable notification settings. Users can tailor alerts based on sound, motion, or room comfort preferences. This is a very good idea. We found the default notification settings overwhelming as they’ll notify you of every movement and sound (newborns can be pretty active when they sleep).

We suggest fine-tuning the notification parameters to strike a balance between staying informed and avoiding unnecessary interruptions.

Baby’s first Fitbit

The Smart Sock 3 adds an extra layer of monitoring by tracking vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen levels, and sleep.

Setting up the Sock is straightforward, guided by the app’s instructions. The soft fabric and sensor design offer a comfortable fit for your baby – it shouldn’t be uncomfortable for long-ish sessions on their foot during sleep.

It gives you real-time sleep quality indicators which offer valuable insight into your baby’s sleep patterns. From heart rate variations to oxygen level fluctuations, the app supplies a comprehensive overview of the baby’s sleep quality and metrics.

The app will alert you if the baby’s oxygen drops below a healthy range, transmitting the data via the base station which doubles as the sock’s charging port. This base station is essential for communication between the sock and the app.

And even when the app goes offline or WiFi disconnects, the base station still receives readings from the sock and alerts if anything goes wrong. You just won’t have real-time access to stats or the video feed in the app.

Owlet Smart Sock 3 and Cam 2 Verdict

The Owlet Baby Monitor Duo 2 presents a compelling proposition for parents looking to monitor their baby’s vitals and physical health. While the Cam 2 offers standard features found in its competitors, the addition of the Sock 3 sets it apart as a pretty solid sleep-tracking option.

As the technology evolves and user feedback offers improvements, the Owlet system has the potential to become a staple in modern parenting. The only serious consideration is the price. Almost R15,000 for a baby-compatible tracking system might seem like an overspend but that’s only a thought you have if it’s not your newborn being watched over.

Can Sony strike gold two years in a row while offering a more affordable product to the masses? Based on our time with the WH-ULT900N over-ears, that’s just possible. But there are a few items to consider before you put your money down.

Looks are everything

These over-ears are definitely products of Sony’s design lab. In appearance, they come across as a hybrid of the WH-1000XM4 overs from 2021 and 2022’s WH-1000XM5.  The headband resembles the XM5’s but the whole unit folds up in the same manner as the XM4 set. Visually, it’s attractive, but picking them up immediately shows that these aren’t the top of the range. The heft and weight we’d expect are replaced by a slightly hollow feeling that still feels sturdy enough. But it’s not premium.

Our review set was a pre-production model but everything we encountered should be in place in the final retail units. The left ear cup hosts three physical buttons as well as a 3.5mm jack and USB-C charge port. The right cup doesn’t have any external additions but the right-hand panel acts as a gesture panel for play, pause, and navigation.

The three buttons are further indicators that the WH-ULT900N overs aren’t quite for the premium market. The power button also sets up Bluetooth pairing and there’s a key for turning on noise cancelling or ambient modes. The third key is marked ULT. Giving it a poke plays a little sound effect inside the cups and drops listeners into one of three preset audio modes. We found ourselves favouring the default setting but there’s a satisfying bass jump in the middle setting that deepens into an aggressive rumble in the third option.

Sound decision

Whatever the WH-ULT900N’s faults, and we’ll get to a few of them in a second, there’s one thing they do extremely well. The audio is top-notch. As mentioned, we stuck mostly with the default setting which, in our opinion, didn’t need tweaking at all, but there are a couple of bass-enhancing modes available via the ULT button. The first is just a little more bassy. The second would give a speaker-laden taxi a run for its head-rumbling money.

But the ‘ULT’ portion of these cans isn’t really required. Those with more precious audio tastes can lovingly craft their own personal EQ settings in Sony’s app. Others, the folks Sony seems to be after with these over-ears, can simply jack up the bass until it’s capable of crumbling concrete foundations.

If, like us, you’re one of the world’s more or less normal people, at least as it pertains to audio, then Sony’s default setting is an excellent experience. There’s clear separation of lows, mids, and highs, excellent clarity throughout, and whatever you’re playing, from classic 90s thrash metal to more sedate offerings from the softer side of Spotify, sounds as fresh as the first day you heard it. There’s even a little space for nuance in complex melodies if that’s your thing.

Sony claims a solid 30 hours of battery with noise cancelling and Bluetooth enabled and a serious 50 hours with noise cancelling off. We… didn’t get to run them all the way flat before the review was due but that was partly due to their arrival in South Africa, partly the admittedly excellent battery life, and partly the fact that we gave these cans a brief charge about midway through the review that added 15% to the battery total. Not bad for ten minutes’ work.

The catch

Obviously, you won’t purchase a R5,000 set of headphones (the planned retail price for Sony’s WH-ULT900N overs in South Africa when they land) and expect perfection. It would be nice, but there were a few sacrifices made to get there. One of the main ones we’ve already mentioned — the build falls short of being truly premium but it’s quite far above ‘seriously budget’ as well.

There are other aspects that we weren’t thrilled with. The physical controls could have been slightly better placed. A button always seemed to be under a thumb as we raised and removed the WH-ULT900Ns, switching us to a bassier profile or ambient mode without consulting us first. The touchpad on the right side also took some getting used to. Swiping between tracks always worked but convincing it to pause or play on command was another sort of mission.

Noise cancelling… works. We’ve experienced better from Sony itself but even from similarly-priced headphones. Sony chose to focus on one main aspect with these overs. As a result, these will cancel noise well enough but they’re unlikely to blow you away with their stunning silence. It’ll mute the office and traffic and almost everything else in your immediate vicinity. But others have done that task better.

Finally, there’s the audio cutoff when removing the headphones. Initially, it didn’t work at all and now, following a few days with these headphones, it’s still a little iffy. Power management is also a little iffy. Sony’s cans will turn themselves off if you put them down for a while, which is great. But you’ll have to physically turn them on again in order to resume listening. That’s very much a first-world problem but Sony’s pricier headphones have spoiled us somewhat.

Sony WH-ULT900N verdict

Sony’s headphones, at the time of publication, aren’t in South African stores just yet. When they do drop, at that RRP of R5,000, you’d be doing yourself a favour by checking them out. They’re aimed at folks with middling budgets who like some rumble with their tunes but that doesn’t mean that Sony has skimped on the sound. The WH-ULT900N headphones have plenty to offer where it counts and a handful of properly premium features to explore. The few cost-cutting aspects can easily be forgiven when the sound is as good as it is.

But you can say that about basically any backup battery. Does it have anything special to recommend over the vast swathes of other battery brands in the local market today? That’s a slightly more difficult question to answer. Sure, the Bluetti EB70 has a lot going for it but is it enough?

Built like a brick…

The Bluetti EB70 716Wh battery is a substantial rectangular brick of plastic that will blend into most darker corners. Stuff‘s images, shot under lights, make it seem more prominent than it really is. For all its monochrome nature, the various markings are readily visible. As is common with power stations, the various sections are grouped and powered independently. If you’re only after the 12V socket and a couple of USB ports, there’s no need to activate the AC output, for instance.

There are nine output ports in total and only a single input. If you’re hoping to use a portable solar panel or something similar to charge the EB70, you’ll have to make use of the included adaptor. Outputs consist of dual USB-C (100W each), USB-A, and 12V DC ports, as well as a single 12V socket. The remaining two are a pair of Type D AC sockets capable of delivering 220V of power with a draw of up to 1000W. There’s also an LED light with two levels of brightness, in case you need to see what you’re doing in the dark (spoiler: you do).

Station operation

As with most power stations, Bluetti’s EB70 is a simple matter of plug-and-play. Plug in your TV and console and you’ll be able to play during Eskom’s outages. The same is true of other appliance combinations, obviously. The EB70’s operation is actually simpler than most products of its type. Any power button will begin proceedings, meaning there’s less fiddling in the dark if all you want is the LED, while shutdown calls for all the power buttons to be turned off.

The LED display offers basic input/output information and also shows the battery level. The level indicator takes a second to fire up so it always looks like it’s flat for a few seconds before the bar climbs to the top. There’s little other information available, so there’s no problem with the LED shutting itself down a few minutes after it lights up. The info is still there and you can wake the LED if needed. You just won’t need to.

Trouble keeping up

So far we’ve seen that the Bluetti EB70 is a competent power station, even if it’s a little short on features. There is one more feature, not counting the wireless charging pad built into the top of the unit, but it has its ups and downs. The feature is pass-through charging, a nice-to-have on most power stations. This one is a bit of a left-handed gift, however.

Generally, the EB70 operates in silence. You can connect a substantial power draw to the 716Wh battery and it’ll get on with the job without a mutter. But if you happen to connect the charger while this is going on, which has a chunky brick at its midpoint, you’ll be greeted by a lot of fan noise. This is a combination of things — the EB70’s internal fan but mostly it’s the power brick grumbling about being forced to work.

There’s also the charge speed to contend with. The Bluetti is capped at 200W, meaning it takes a few hours to get back up to full strength. Passthrough charging should help this, in theory, but we found that the unit struggled to maintain even that charging speed when powering something on the other side. Disconnection and recharge when it’s not needed is probably the better way to use this one. You lose the convenience of passthrough but you also lose the constant noise of the power brick.

Bluetti EB70 Portable Power Station verdict

There’s plenty to like about the Bluetti EB70 716Wh power station. It’s super-simple to use, will power up to 1,000W of appliances (for a while) and the battery is substantial enough to keep you entertained for the length of a rugby game or more if you’re careful about what’s connected. The main drawback is the noisy power brick, which renders this unit’s passthrough charging more unpleasant than it should be.

At R9,000, the current price for this backup battery, you won’t feel ripped off. Batteries with similar capacity (but also more features) are around R3,000 more expensive. It’s important that you know that the EB70 takes longer to top up than other LiFePo (lithium iron phosphate) batteries we’ve tested. That might be an immediate downside but it could pay off with a longer battery lifespan. We haven’t tested this one for long enough to be sure of that but hey, it could happen.

Let’s first address the elephant in the room. The pinnacle of the Note series, the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ has had a massive price jump. What once used to cost R11,000 for the best that the Note series had to offer in 2023, will now set you back R16,500. And honestly, it’s worth it — even more so if you get creative with where you purchase the device. From some places, it can be had for R4,000 less than Xiaomi’s official figure. Jus’ saying.

Slippery slopes

There’s no denying that Xiaomi’s assembled a decent-looking phone. While most mid-rangers in the category settle for the bare minimum, Xiaomi put in real effort to help the Note 13 Pro+ stand out from the rest of the crowd. Whether it’s the curved display — a first in the Note family — or simply the Moonlight White coating our review model turned up wearing, there’s something for everybody here. And we haven’t even got to the important bits yet.

Those curved edges aren’t only for show. Disagreeable as you might be toward the idea of a phone without ‘proper’ edges, the Note 13 Pro+ uses them to its advantage, offering a generally more comfortable fit in hand. Sure, those metal-looking rims and a generous coating of Corning Gorilla Glass (Victus) are doing a lot of heavy lifting to up that premium (if [very] slippery) feel, but we’re not condemning that. Team effort and all, you know?

Under that slathering of toughened glass is a gorgeous 6.67in AMOLED display that’s quite capable of hitting a silky-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and a brightness level touting a splendid 1,800 nits all weave together for a display that we found difficult to put down — day or night. That’s saying something.

Don’t expect anything special in the way of ports. Xiaomi has stuck with the basics, such as a USB-C charging hole, SIM slot, and a singular speaker vent adorne the phone’s bottom. Running along the right-hand side is the volume rocker and power button, while the top is home to the speaker’s better half and a lonely IR blaster. A 3.5mm audio jack is sadly absent from the Redmi Note series for the first time. RIP.

Dime-piece Dimensity

If you’re picking up the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ in South Africa, you’ll be “stuck” with the best of the lot, meaning 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Internationally it’s a different story so you’ll need to look in the creative spots if you’re after something a little less capable and lighter on the wallet.

No matter where you’re getting your device, it’ll come stock with MediaTek’s 4nm octa-core Dimensity 7200-Ultra SoC, including the Mali-G610 MC4 GPU. It’s no flagship chip, but that’s alright. We never once struggled to get the Note 13 Pro+ in the gaming mood, hitting a consistently smooth 120Hz after we’d enabled the feature in the settings.

Having already proved itself a capable gamer, you’d be right to think it’s great just about everywhere else. Multitasking? No problem. Jumping from app to app like an iPad kid looking for his next fix? Easy. The only real cause for concern is a slight tendency to get a little warm around the edges roughly an hour deep into a gaming session — 45 minutes under more duress. Bring on winter, we guess?

Don’t expect anything more intensive than a simple Android 13 affair with Xiaomi’s MIUI 14 skin thrown in to distract you from that fact. The company’s new and flashy HyperOS is absent, but we’re hoping that’s nothing more than an oversight that’ll be fixed by the time the Note 14 arrives. Right, Xioami? In the meantime, you’ll need to put up with a fair amount of bloatware and some settings fiddling to get it un-MIUI-fied.

Battery life was about as standard as it gets. There’s a 5,000mAh battery shoved in there, somewhere, and it’s about as consistent as you’d expect. Pretty damn consistent, then. Keep its tasks simple, and it’ll stretch to accommodate roughly a day-and-a-half’s worth of life. Squeeze in some gaming while you’re at work, and you’ll be lucky to have 10% at bedtime. More exciting is the 120W charger which is about as excellent as it sounds.

No gimmicks here 

The Redmi Note 13 Pro+’s camera bump may not look particularly extraordinary, but the tech it’s packing in the three-sensor array definitely is. You’ve probably heard Xiaomi shouting about the 200MP main sensor from the rooftops, or you’ve got a bit deaf. Either way, it worked so well last time around, so why not now?

Xiaomi hasn’t put all of its eggs in one basket. That 200MP camera is one of three, with 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro sensors filling the gaps. ‘Round the other end is a perfectly capable (often more so) 16MP front-facer. If you were hoping for a depth sensor, you won’t find it here. That’s fine. There’s a whole 200MP sensor to mess around with to comfort you through the loss.

And comfort us it did. You’ll fare better with images in the daytime, providing clear and fairly detailed snaps — even without switching to the dedicated 200MP mode inside the phone’s camera app. Colours can occasionally appear washed out, with a hint of pink overshadowing the image. It’s not constant and felt like an almost random occurrence — seemingly depending on the light levels.

Those secondary cameras are about as average as you’d expect from a mid-ranger who has blown the budget on its main sensor. Still, we didn’t hate the variety. The 16MP front-facer on the other hand was the star of the non-200MP show, pulling some half-decent, Instagram-worthy selfies out of the bag, even if the AI-touting software beautified our faces a little too much for our liking.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5g verdict 

Xiaomi’s taken a rather big bet by setting the launch price as high as it has. R16,500 is certainly a lot to stomach, especially when it doesn’t have what the top billing companies like Samsung or Apple can bring to the table. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the price — it is — with that excellent camera set-up, gorgeous displays and fashionable coating. But we can’t in good faith have you spending R4,000 more than is necessary. The creative avenues aren’t that hard to find.

There’s a lot to be impressed by here. The fit and finish belies the price and the noise cancelling tech definitely does too. The audio doesn’t quite reach these heights but it’s close enough that you’ll want to consider these before dropping twice the price on something else.

The Core of the issue

Anker’s Soundcore range has previously been a bit hit and miss for Stuff, especially in the budget category, but a couple of years makes a serious difference in tech. The design of the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC isn’t especially novel but the fit has seen considerable improvement over the last set of stem-wielding in-ears we tried from Anker. They nestle inside the ear in just the right way to all but disappear — which is also what background noise will do. More on that in a second.

The buds are… well, buds. The build quality is notable. They’re lightweight at under six grams per bud but they don’t feel like they’ll crush under pressure. This carries over to the case, which is one of the better efforts we’ve seen in any set of in-ears in a while.

There’s a fair weight and bulk to the case that translates over to the hinge, which snaps closed without any hint of wobble. The LED button that pops the lid open also functions as an actual button, setting up pairing with a long press.

This goes rather neatly with the other almost premium features of the Liberty 4 NCs — the touch controls along both stems are welcome, there’s an IPx4 rating so you can sweat on them without worry, and the case will charge wirelessly and via the USB-C port. Not bad for buds that occupy the R1,700 to R2,000 price bracket.

Key performance indicators

The real star of this concert is the Liberty 4 NC’s noise cancelling. The company’s promo material claims that it blocks “up to 98.5%” of external noise and we’re more or less convinced there. Sure, you’ll get better noise cancelling from other (more expensive) devices but the silence produced by the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC buds is almost eerie.

Turning on active noise cancelling results in almost total silence. Less ANC produces a low-level hiss but here there is only a smooth emptiness and the very edges of spoken words. Pop on your favourite playlist and you might as well be on an orbiting satellite. Nothing reaches you unless it’s combined with physical contact like a whack on the shoulder.

The Liberty 4 NC buds offer audio in keeping with the rest of this reasonably-priced package. It’s almost universally great, though a touch heavy on the bass in some of the default EQ settings. Audio maintains clarity through most genres and, while you can get better budget audio, these are good enough that we wonder how Anker manages to justify the price of the Soundcore Liberty 4 buds. Must be the presence of 360° audio jacking up the cost in those buds because there’s not a whole lot of room for improvement in other areas.

Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC verdict

We’ve barely touched on the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC’s battery up till now. That’s because it was so far from being an issue that we almost forgot about it. There’s an advertised 10 hours in a charge and a total of 50 hours with the case taken into account and that sounds about right to us. We couldn’t kill them on any single work day and the case certainly has the bulk needed to provide the legs Anker’s advertising here. So are the Liberty 4 NC’s the perfect in-ears?

Well… no. But they’re a serious value proposition for anyone with designs on excellent audio and features with less than two grand in their pocket. It’s possible to get better performance, better noise cancelling, and better battery life from your in-ears. It’s probably not possible to get all three at this price point. Or, if it is, we just haven’t had a chance to give those headphones a spin just yet. That time will come, in that case. For now, consider these.

You don’t actually need to know any of this. All you need is the desire to own a basic cellular phone with a battery that will outlast Eskom’s longest load shedding avoidance streak since March 2021. A desire for monster keys and a return to the T9 keyboard format from the late 1900s would also be useful since that’s what you’re getting here.

Something old, something new

So what does a twenty-first-century dumbphone look and feel like? It’s a fair amount like the devices from the heyday of cellular phones but with lighter plastic. The folded device is neatly compact and even unfolded it’s very easy to handle in a single hand. This owes a lot to the Nokia 2660 Flip’s narrow width and generous keys. Even the cellphones of yesteryear didn’t feature keys this large. There’s the classic T9 configuration topped by a navigation wheel and other physical buttons to help you get around not having a touchscreen.

The Nokia 2660 Flip is otherwise light on physical features but there’s one rather modern(ish) one to marvel over. That would be the external 1.77in display. It’s really only good for checking the time and the odd notification but since it helps you avoid flipping even this low-effort device open, it’s handy to have. Oh, and there’s a camera sensor and flash on the outer side.

A headphone jack, a charge port (microUSB), a volume rocker, and a wakeup key along one edge round out the other features. There’s also what looks to be a dock connector at the base of the phone. Being what the Nokia 2660 Flip is, the whole rear panel can be pried off. Inserting one or two SIM cards and a microSD card (there are slots for all three) calls for this operation. Very retro.

Mocor, fewer worries

That’s almost all there is to this smartphone. The official specs list a Unisoc T107 processor inside the Nokia 2660 Flip, along with a mighty 128MB of storage and 48MB of RAM. Yes, they’re measured in megabytes. When you scroll through the very simple-t0-navigate operating system, you’ll see why. The internal 2.8in, 240 x 320 display doesn’t call for much in the way of speedy hardware. It doesn’t take that much to play Snake, after all, even if the revised version of Nokia’s mobile classic is now rendered in colour instead of monochrome.

It took us a while longer than expected to run down the Nokia 2660 Flip’s Mocor operating system. This OS is developed by MediaTek and is typically used on lower-end phones. Long story short, don’t expect to download and install much, though there are a set of apps pre-installed. Some of these you’ll somehow be asked to pay for, in the case of the trial versions of Tetris, Doodle Jump, Crossy Road, and a couple of others. Facebook, as ever, is entirely free. So are the calculator, stopwatch, and converter apps. There’s also a voice recorder, which is a nice touch. It’s simple to read and navigate, which suits this device’s target market.

There are a couple of other features still outstanding. There’s a built-in FM radio and the flash on the outer screen doubles as a torch during load shedding. We know this because you have to use the Torch app to turn it on. Finally, there’s actually a camera. It’s a 0.3MP camera, sure, but it’ll take photographs. We wouldn’t post the pics to social media unless it was being done ironically, but it’ll let you assign a face to a contact on your device effectively enough.

Nokia 2660 Flip verdict

The Nokia 2660 Flip is a basic cellular phone and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It has a R1,500 starting price point, which might seem contentious since you can grab a budget Android for less than that. But Nokia’s flipping dumbphone is designed for a very specific market that will appreciate what it has to offer. We’re talking about folks with (some) mobility or visual issues who can’t easily handle a smartphone.

The oversized keys, simple navigation, and stripped-back features make it ideal for older users, those with some physical issues, and even folks who just want a cheap business backup or emergency phone. The battery lasts for absolute ages when powered on and even longer when the phone is off. That’s handy to have when you’re stranded on the side of the road with a couple of flats and a car boot full of slowly melting ice cream.

The first thing you should know is that this highly affordable notebook is sometimes labelled as the McLaren C in South Africa. For about R3,000, we’re not asking questions too closely about why the naming convention is a little off. The second thing you should know is that this is definitely an entry-level notebook. More on that in a second.

Netbook nostalgia

Once upon a time (okay, right around 2008), there was a computer form factor called a netbook. These typically featured screens about ten inches in size, underpowered processors, and were primarily used for browsing the internet. We get a similar impression from the McLaren C1, if only because its 11.6in display is smaller than the 13in and upwards we’re used to dealing with daily. There are other similarities to this retro tech (the netbook all but disappeared in 2012) but these are much more commonplace across notebooks today.

Construction is uniformly plastic and you’ll note some give-in sections of the body. This is most noticeable in the lid — any pressure here will see the TN (twisted nematic) display deform before popping back into place. The answer there is obvious — don’t poke the bloody thing there — but you’ll experience give in a few sections of this notebook. It’s made of plastic. What did you expect?

There’s an impressive set of ports available. A power port, USB-A, mini-HDMI, and USB-C are arrayed down the left edge, with a 3.5mm, USB-A, and even a microSD card slot arranged along the right. The keyboard is close to being full-sized (minus the number pad) and the trackpad is also substantial enough to work with. A mouse peripheral is a good idea but it’s not essential. The working area feels sturdy enough, too, but we’d refrain from using too much pressure. Don’t stand on the McLaren C1 with a stiletto heel, that sort of thing.

Intel (Celeron) inside

The Packard Bell McLaren C1 is priced at around three grand and you can expect the internals to be arranged accordingly. You’re not about to find a unicorn in your garden at this price point. It’d be nice but we live in reality. The key spec here is the Intel Celeron N4020 processor, which drives the 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and provides you with the calculations needed to edit Word documents, browse the internet, and fire up some golden oldies from Good Old Games. You’ll get Planescape Torment running but don’t expect anything made this decade to do the same.

In terms of internal features, that’s about as far as it goes for the McLaren C1. WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 handle connectivity but don’t expect anything as extravagant as an ethernet port. There’s a dinky little webcam above the 1,366 x 768 display that supports Windows Hello but won’t make you look like a contender if you’re attempting to live stream video to YouTube. 0.3 megapixels can only do so much. The panel doesn’t perform badly, a function of its size. If this were a 15in notebook, you’d be wincing at the visible pixels but crammed into an 11.6in screen, it doesn’t look terrible. Again (and with everything mentioned here), price is the major factor and there’s a fair amount of forgiveness in the three grand price tag.

How does it do?

‘Celeron’ is the word that will make network technicians wince but it’s a fact that there are more folks in South Africa in need of a budget notebook than there are users who really want 60fps in their favourite first-person shooter. That said, if you’ve come to this review looking for favourable performance stats, you can stop looking. They’re not here. The McLaren C1 is a sometimes-sluggish machine, a fact that was driven home when we conducted the first round of updates on setting it up. Downloads were neatly done but the installation chugged along slowly enough that we were worried about having bricked it. Turns out, it’s just slow when reorganising the file system.

But everyday tasks, provided you don’t ask the C1 to do much more than one or two at a time, are well within reach. You can crush its spirit effectively enough if you attempt to open that one Excel spreadsheet with origins lost to the mists of time that runs your entire workplace, but sensible usage will see decent results. It would function as an ideal note-taker for a student, a small media consumption device, or for lightweight interaction with the internet.

Its usefulness is further increased by two options. We mentioned above that there’s a microSD slot on the side. Yeah, you can probably convert that to internal storage if you feel like it. We wouldn’t blame you. But there’s also a very easily accessible slot in the underside that allows for a speedy M.2 NVMe solid-state hard drive upgrade. Jumping from 64GB to fifteen times that is a simple enough operation that anyone can do it. While the McLaren C1 is powered off, please.

Packard Bell McLaren C1 verdict

Whether you want the Packard Bell McLaren C1 has more to do with your budget than what it offers. The more you pay for a laptop, the better it will perform. This one hands you the bare minimum of usability but has a couple of option upgrade paths that make it a more effective proposition than when you first take it out of the box. It’s an ideal starter machine and it’ll keep up with minor usage but the second you start requiring performance, you’ll want to upgrade. Not everyone needs performance, however. For those users, the review score is justified. But if you made a funny face when the word ‘Celeron’ first cropped up, you’re probably too advanced for this machine.

Others choose to go for a soft reboot, by pairing the iconic franchise hero with a plucky young individual who is a possible successor, testing the waters and putting the franchise in a position where it can pivot in a new direction with a new star if needed (see: Indiana Jones 4 with the addition of Shia LaBeouf, or Thor: Love and Thunder with Natalie Portman, and even Despicable Me 4, coming later this year, features the introduction of one Gru Jr.).

Kung Fu Panda 4 is another such addition to the catalogue of quadrilogies, a very soft reboot that, while continuing Po’s adventures, removes him from the Fast Five and introduces him to a potential successor. While it offers some fun action and humour, it ultimately struggles to escape the trap of clichés that filmmakers are faced with once you’ve squeezed most of the magic out of a franchise in earlier movies.

Kung Fu Panda: 4 the future

In the last instalment, Dragon Warrior Po had to deal with the responsibility of leading the Furious Five, whilst reuniting with his long-lost father Li Shan. Now, Master Shifu arrives to inform him that it is time for Po to ascend to become the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace, meaning he must choose a successor to replace him as the Dragon Warrior. He stops a tricky and resourceful fox (whom we later know as Zhen) from stealing ancient weapons and has her arrested.

Unfortunately, though, there’s news of Tai Lung’s return, and Zhen informs Po that this is the work of The Chameleon (dun dun dun!), a shapeshifting sorceress who is hell-bent on stealing and absorbing the kung-fu abilities of Po’s vanquished enemies.

In Kung Fu Panda 4, Po is still that bumbling, brave dumpling-loving goofball we remember from previous films. He shows an ability to solve problems without getting away from his unending belief in the goodness of others. It’s this that ultimately gets Zhen out of prison, and into the film as one of its main (and best) characters.

If there’s any problem with Po, it’s that he’s almost too good. He’s so far into his journey as the Dragon Warrior that he can find a solution to almost any problem (even if he winds up creating more on the way). He has little doubt, no existential fears. Everybody loves him, his fathers get along, and his belief in others is almost always rewarded. His only problems are how strong and powerful the villain he is currently facing is, and he always overcomes those, too. It’s a shame the movie doesn’t use this to have Po ponder his mortality as a warrior.

Zhen’s backstory is simple and run-of-the-mill. She’s an orphaned fox who learned to steal and hustle on the busy streets of Juniper City. She creates an interesting dynamic throughout — with her confident and brash personality — countering Po’s frantic and uncertain energy. And it’s here where most of the film’s comedy chops are put to the test.

Mortal Combat

If you were at all stressed about Kung Fu Panda 4 fumbling its villain, don’t be. You can thank Viola Davis’ amazing and electrifying performance for that, dominating any scene she’s given space to run around — creating what turned out to be a rather formidable foe — for both Po and the writers.

Unfortunately, it’s here where the film stumbles a bit. After a life of constant rejection for her size, The Chameleon decides to master kung-fu by way of sorcery. It’s unclear why exactly her goals are beyond becoming the supreme kung-fu practitioner. Is it for pride? To be loved? To be feared? If so, why? Her master plan is a great undertaking of effort, but her motivation for it is a little thin.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is packed with well-choreographed action scenes, but you probably already guessed that. Though they aren’t filled with as much originality as previous films, they’re still fun and kinetic. The film’s final showdown is its crowning achievement, as expected, offering up a visual spectacle befitting the Kung Fu Panda name. Even so, we’d have liked to see The Chameleon take on a few more action sequences throughout the film.

Kung Fu Panda 4 verdict

It’s hard to inject freshness and novelty with each new entry of an established franchise — especially when you’re nearing a fifth instalment. As the well of great and original ideas runs out, filmmakers and producers play it safe, staying away from bold creative choices that risk alienating fans and thus, shrinking that box office haul. This results in a product that is ‘just fine’, as long as it’s profitable. And that’s what Kung Fu Panda 4 is: just fine. It’s filled with fun action scenes and some good humour, but its fear of daring storytelling choices leaves the story vulnerable to the cliché, betraying a lack of the out-of-the-box storytelling that made previous movies so great.

If you have a hard time with this, you may find the story too predictable. This is not likely to be a problem for the children, though. The movie is packed with enough action and humour to keep them entertained for the relatively short 1:30-hour runtime. Kung Fu Panda 4 promises to be yet another fun and colourful experience for the little ones, especially if they love action heroes. The adventures of Po the Dragon Warrior continue in this film with colourful landscapes and fight scenes, and a cast of side characters with their own funny quirks. The animation is good, and the voice cast does a wonderful job.

Kung Fu Panda 4 releases in theatres this Friday, 22 March 2024.

Is this iPhone?

Uh, no. The A79 might have the conventional good looks necessary to fit in at a Genius Bar, but it doesn’t truly belong. One look at the A79’s accessory-packed box should be enough to tell you that. When was the last time Apple included a phone case and charger?

And of course, those “conventional good looks” involve the A79’s somewhat bulky figure that Apple is so in love with. We’re not bothered by it. We’ll never fault a phone for slimming down, but if the materials are right, those bulky features go a long way in making a R9,000 piece of kit feel like double that price.

Our review model turned up in a ‘Mystery Black’ hue that probably bogged down the marketing team for weeks dreaming it up. On the rear, over in the top right corner is the rectangular “Innovative AI Camera” bump that fortunately doesn’t take up much real estate. The back is all coated in a treated plastic that’ll almost have you thinking “Oppo didn’t really cover this thing in glass, did it?”

Running along the phone’s iPhone-esque metal frame and rounded corners are all the usual port suspects. USB-C holds court in the centre, joined by a speaker vent and something we don’t often see anymore – a 3.5mm earphone jack. You’ll find the volume rocker and power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader along the right, while the left is home to the SIM tray.

Easy on the eyes

It might have the body of an iPhone but that’s where the similarities end. The A79’s 6.72in FHD+ LCD display makes that immediately apparent. That wasn’t a dig, the A79’s display, capable of reaching 680 nits brightness, handled everything we threw at it – which mainly consisted of watching YouTube, answering emails, and handing out Ws in Marvel Snap. That’s the 90Hz spec doing most of the talking.

While it made scrolling around a whole lot quicker, we had difficulties getting the A79’s gaming chops up to scratch. It struggled even booting them up, and in the case of Marvel Snap, a card game in the same vein as Hearthstone mind you, it couldn’t get the frames up higher than 30fps. Now imagine PUBG Mobile.

It’s easy to blame the 90Hz refresh rate for not living up to expectations, but that isn’t it. Our issue lies with the choice of processor: a MediaTek Dimensity 6020, 8GB of RAM and Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. Again – when it comes to handling the mundane stuff, it’s great. Just… don’t expect much more.

More annoying is the Android reskin Oppo calls ColorOS – especially in the beginning. If you aren’t clearing out the boatload of bloatware, you’re being asked to register for Oppo-this or Oppo-that. Once the mountainous pile of Facebooks, Booking.coms and other rubbish was removed, ColorOS settled itself down in the background as a regular old Android clone that can be almost entirely forgotten about.

We did say almost. It’s far from being a big deal, and even further from being a dealbreaker, but Oppo’s presence is felt the most when hooking anything up through Bluetooth. Hit the Bluetooth switch on, and the A79 will automatically try to connect to the last device it used — waiting around thirty seconds before it gives up and accepts new connections. For those who have plenty of devices in a rotation, you have been warned.

Something to say (loudly)

One of the A79’s best features is the inclusion of dual stereo speakers, and what Oppo calls “Ultra Volume Mode” which will send the numbers rocketing up to 300%. Oppo wasn’t kidding. The A79 gets loud. Really loud. But on the journey to 300%, it loses much of its clarity before eventually reaching a level of distortion that becomes downright unpleasant.

When it wasn’t being put through the reviewer mill (because seriously, when will 300% volume ever be necessary?), the A79’s speakers turned out to be surprisingly decent. It’s not often we get to say that about a smartphone we aren’t paying through the nose for. Audio was clear and detailed — improving our YouTube and Netflix sessions a whole lot.

What turned out to be the A79’s proper best feature, however, was the 5,000mAh battery it’s got in there. It’s comparable to Samsung’s S24 Ultra — only losing out on the top spot thanks to the still respectable 33W charger in the box. It managed to conquer a full day without breaking a sweat, very nearly surviving long enough to make it a full 48 hours. It never quite managed the feat, but stick it on power saving mode, keep the gaming to a minimum, and it’ll pull it off easily.

Throw some more intensive use at it — a few videos from Hbomberguy at full brightness should do the trick — and it’ll start to tear at the seams a bit. That means calling out for a charger nine hours in, which, for the price Oppo is asking, is still rather impressive.

Utterly failing the A79’s decent feature set is its fingerprint and face unlock features, the former of which is embedded right into the power button. Under-screen sensors are the future, and the A79 is a perfect example of why. Unlocking the device took at least three tries per attempt — a combination of the failing face scanner and fingerprint sensor. Constant vibrations from the sensor’s failed attempts in your pocket didn’t help matters one bit.

Megapixels aren’t everything

You’ve probably heard that megapixels aren’t everything, or you read the sub-heading, one of the two. In Oppo’s case, it couldn’t be more true. It houses a solid 50MP main sensor in the rear, accompanied by an unenthusiastic 2MP depth sensor, and a simple 8MP sensor around the front. There isn’t a triple-digit spec to point at, but that didn’t stop the A79 from pulling some decent pictures out of the bag.

The 50MP sensor was obviously the star of the show. We knocked out a bouquet of decent-looking images across various lighting conditions, hardly ever losing detail. The 2MP and 8MP sensors are less serious about their jobs but will do everything you ask them to, and do them fine. Don’t expect them to do anything more, however.

You’ll need to flick on the camera’s AI enhancer to get the results we’re talking about, something Oppo leaves off by default. Colour reproduction does take a slight and unfortunate hit but that can be remedied with a bit of editing.

Oppo A79 5G verdict

Oppo’s A79 5G has everything a mid-range phone needs: a big display, excellent battery life, admirable camera skills, and an enticing price. Ignore the R12,000 RRP and you’ll find far more respectable listings around the R9,000 mark. It’s not without faults, like a failing processor that makes gaming a slog, or the too-loud speakers that’ll drown out any sort of quality. Thankfully they’re few and far between, making the A79 a good option for anyone looking to get out from under Samsung’s wing without breaking the bank.

The Aonic 50 Gen 2 isn’t perfect. You can look toward more notable brands if your conditions include a slice of perfection in your headphones. But it’s got loads to offer for folks looking for an alternative to the same old faces scrabbling for a space at the top of the audiophile audio pile.

Built to beat expectations

One thing a newcomer has to do is look the part. That’s something the Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 manages effectively. The build, from the sturdy earcups to the stubby curve sections connecting the whole to the padded headband, doesn’t necessarily scream ‘quality’ but it’s certainly talking at the top of its lungs. Seriously, it’s all very premium, right down to the physical buttons on the right-hand earcup that will do most of the controlling for you. Or you could use the app but who’s got time to fire up a smartphone every time they need to skip a track?

The Aonic 50 Gen 2’s right cup has a USB-C port, a button for setting up Bluetooth 5.2 connections, and then a main rocker that handles everything from answering (and rejecting) calls, playing and pausing tracks, and adjusting volume. You’ll figure all of this out in minutes and we don’t have to explain it here, but it’s important to note that the Bluetooth button is multifunction too. By default, it also controls noise cancellation, if you need it physically present on your cans, but this function can be altered via Shure’s app. It’ll shunt your ANC options to the app but gives you more freedom when using the headphones in public.

Using a physical button on something mounted on your skull can be a hit-and-miss affair, especially when the button is operated via a stabbing motion. Some companies overcome this by opting instead for touch controls. Shure simply ensures that these are seriously clamped onto the top of your dome. Sure, you can tear them off but it’ll take a passing bus or a ‘roided up crossfitter in the gym to do it. On the downside, it also made the Aonic 50 Gen 2’s a little uncomfortable over long periods. This isn’t universal (the other folks at Stuff had no such complaints) but you should be aware of the possibility.

There’s one last physical annoyance to get out of the way and it’s almost personal. The Aonic 50 Gen 2’s fold flat into their hardshell case but don’t fold down as compact as we’d like them. Noise cancelling as a feature makes the most sense on an airplane and space is at a premium in cabin luggage. The case is only just too large to be properly comfortable in an airplane seat or an overhead bin. It’s not a problem everyone has but those who have it wish they didn’t. It’s not a serious issue but it’ll bulk up your laptop bag more than you’re expecting.

Cancel culture 

Speaking of noise cancelling, the ANC in the 50 Gen 2 cans is… okay. We’ve heard better. Or, rather, we haven’t. That’s sort of the point. The spectrum of noise cancelled out by the internal microphones here is fairly broad but it’s not quite broad enough. Most of the time you’ll reside in blissful silence aside from the melodious strains of Now That’s What I Call Finnish Death Metal Vol. 665 but occasionally this contemplative state will be broken by intrusions from outside.

This isn’t an occasional thing, either. This exact scenario played out on a few occasions at the Stuff offices, which are not especially raucous (usually). Okay, so there’s also a bloody great big generator outside our window that causes serious mental health damage whenever it’s load shedding (and it’s always load shedding) but the point is that noise intrudes. Turning up the volume will work but that can’t be good for your ears.

Audio ointment

The rest of the Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2’s aural features most certainly are good for your ears. If you’ll let them be and are willing to fiddle. Out of the box, you’ll find that highs and lows are well-emphasised. If you’re in favour of dubstep and its descendants, you’ll be pretty well served by these over-ears. Fire up the app’s EQ and you’ll be greeted with enough options to make Tony Maserati twist a knob off in happiness. It also made resident audio nut Duncan Pike a beaming ray of sunshine for at least five minutes.

It’s not all about the electronica, of course. With the right tweaking, you’ll find yourself greeted with a soundscape wholly in keeping with the almost-R10,000 price tag. This is just as well because… well, there’s an almost R10,000 price tag.

There’s plenty of room for the highs, mids, and lows to roam around, though it’s also possible to overemphasise one over the others. Vocals, after a session with the EQ, are crisp and clear enough without drowning out the rest of the musical arrangement. This depends on what you’re listening to, but that’s on you.

There’s just one more fly in this audio ointment, however. The Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 overs are priced at R9,500 in South Africa. That’s about right, based on the features and performance found here. But there’s something else in South Africa at that price point (or lower) with better features and performance — the Sony WF-1000XM5 over-ears. You might want to give the new guy a shot but the old stalwart is a known (and better) quantity.

Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 verdict

The sum of our concerns with the Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 overs are that they can get uncomfortable, they might be a teeny bit too enthusiastically priced, and the noise canceling needs work. Okay, and they might not be the best airplane headphones but that’s a design complaint. Balance that against excellent audio, a better app (which you’ll need to use for the best listening experience), and a brilliant build and Shure is on track to chew on some of the market currently going to more established brands. As long as Sonos keeps its rumoured headphones under wraps (or prices itself out of Shure’s demographic), we’re sure to see more from the American outfit in the very near future.