TOOLS FOR THE JOB
ON THE MOVE
WHAT’S MORE
E Q U I P M E N T F O R D I S C E R N I N G P RO F E S S I O N A L S SMARTPHONE
KING MAKER
Samsung looks set to continue its dominance of the premium Android smartphone with this Galaxy S21 Ultra, which has been dubbed a “superphone” and “king of Android”. It sports a great 6.8 inch screen, just a bit smaller than recent Samsung Notes, and in Europe has the firm’s Exynos 2100 processor, and runs a version of Android 11. The camera has four modes, the fingerprint scanner is much improved and battery life is excellent. There are cheaper S21 models too.
MERCEDES EQA
WATT ABOUT THIS
APP
If you want to get in at the entry level in a premium electric car range you could have a look at the EQA, the first all-electric compact car from Mercedes-Benz. It’s an SUV that offers an excellent compromise between performance, costs and time to market, says its maker, and is a close relation of the GLA model. It is being launched as the EQA 250, with combined electrical consumption of 15.7 kWh/100 km with 140 kW (190 hp) and a range according to NEDC of 486 km (301 miles) – that last figure looks rather hopeful, although Mercedes is making much of the aerodynamic design. Future models will include all wheel drive with an additional electric powertrain and an output of 200 kW or more, and a range of more than 500 km. It’s out this spring with prices in Germany starting at 47,540 euro, with UK pricing and specification to be confirmed.
Trickle’s developer describes its offering as “an online platform that brings employee engagement, wellbeing and recognition together in one dynamic app”. The idea is that it gives your people a voice so they can share their opinions, ideas and suggestions with you any time. It comes into its own at times of change and restructuring, which no doubt is affecting many firms right now. It’s a British firm based in Scotland. See trickle.works
TABLET
PAPER TIGER
COMPUTERS
APPLE DRIVES UPWARDS ON THE M1 There’s no doubt about the big recent news in computing: the move by Apple to abandon Intel and use its own processors, the first of which is the M1 (actually made by ARM, which provides iPad/iPhone processors). The first M1 machines are a MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro (pictured), and Mac Mini, and the benchmarks have been fantastic and means you’ll be packing high-end performance in these entry level computers, albeit paying premium Apple prices, but still about the same as top-end Windows units.
We were intrigued by this tablet, the reMarkable 2, a sort of virtual paper device that allows you to take handwritten notes and convert these into digital text. It then helps you organise the notes and share across other devices, and you can also review and annotate PDF documents. The display looks like paper and you can also get a pen that has an “eraser”. If you like sketching your thoughts out by pen this could be for you. See remarkable.com CONNECTOR
DOCK OF THE BAY
With so many of us working at home with a mix of equipment this compact dock from Kensington that features both Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C could be the ticket. It also has a SD card socket, ethernet and audio jack. It supports ultra HD via two Displayport v1.2 ports, and also charges at 60 W.
WINNING EDGE 15
