Smartphones

ALWAYS ON CALL

facebook.com/stuffsa ● @StuffSA stuff@stuff.co.za

MAIL OF THE MONTH

Q KAWAII My name is Liam. I am nine A The last time a new MacBook Pro 16in was years old, and I live in Claremont, announced was in 2019, sadly, Cape Town. I really like your so we’ve already done a review magazine because I am a gadget in an older issue. But we don’t type of kid! I just wanted to tell mind putting a mini-review you guys that you are doing a together right here. It’s an good job on your gadget reviews. excellent bit of Mac hardware, My favourite article in Stuff is ‘Hot even though we’re expecting an Stuff’, because I get to see all the Apple M1 version of it to be really cool gadgets that are out announced at some point and there on the market. I’m saving then it’ll be outclassed. It’s still a up for the Apple MacBook Air monster of a laptop, able to do 512 GB. In your next anything you want it issue could you please to. Speaker, battery do a review on the and screen are all Apple MacBook Pro top notch but if 16in? I look forward to you’re just looking each issue of Stuff and for something to count down the weeks play with, it’s hugely until the next one is out overpowered. Also, in the shops. Keep up thanks for the picture, the good work! Liam. We never ever Liam get stuff like this.

Speak your brains to Stuff and you could win! This letter wins a Volkano audio hamper.

Q BEST ON A BUDGET I've been a reader for a few between the Ultras, Pros, Plusses and Maxes. I know I want one of years now, and you guys are my the new Samsung S series’ with favourite tech magazine. I’m a decent battery and camera. currently using the Galaxy S9 The budget I had in mind is about and I have been considering R15 000 but it could exceed a bit. buying a new phone due to Yahya shorter battery life, lack of new accessories and the S9’s updates no longer being available but I A The phone that you want is Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE don't exactly know what phone (which stands for Fan Edition). At to buy. It’s difficult to choose present it’s got a recommended

WRITETO USANDWIN

price of R15k but you’ll likely get it a bit cheaper because the S21 FE is due to be announced any day now. An Exynos 990 CPU, a large 4500mAh battery and a very decent triple camera setup await. If you can stretch your budget by another R4k you could grab the also-excellent S21 5G, but the S20 FE is a substantial upgrade over what you currently have.

Q THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

Good day. I’m looking for an Alienware laptop. I’ve been checking on the South Africa Dell store, but I can’t get through to anyone there. Calls just go straight to voice mail. I want to buy the Alienware m15 R4 with either an RTX 3070 or RTX 3080 with 32GB RAM in South Africa. None of the online store’s seems to have stock. Do you know anywhere I can order it online? Roger

AWe’ve got some bad news for you. You can buy the Alienware m15 R4 online in South Africa but you’re either getting it from BidorBuy or you’re heading to one of the importer sites like BigAppleBuddy. Alienware hardware is very difficult to lay hands on in SA and this model in particular is a mission to find. You’re going to pay until your wallet is bleeding for it if you bring it in from overseas. It might be a better plan to wait for Razer’s new Stealth machines to land in SA later this year, unless you’ve got a serious yearning for aliens and more than R65000 burning a hole in your pocket.

Q FEELING BLUE(TOOTH)

I am a Stuff subscriber (I think!) and need some help. I want to buy a mid-level Bluetooth speaker (R3500 to R5000) which I need for two functions: as a portable Bluetooth device and also for TV audio. Although we have a good sound system (a Yamaha amp with six B&W speakers), the system operates in a large double volume space and we battle to hear movie audio. It lacks crispness and generally sounds muddy.

Can you recommend a speaker that has an RCA input that meet the above needs? I have researched the Internet but cannot seem to get an definitive answer. Or maybe I should just get a good quality Bluetooth transmitter? Martin

AWe'd suggest the Bluetooth transmitter, like the Logitech Bluetooth Audio Receiver adaptor (R600, takealot.com) we used for a Tivoli sound system we encountered which still has the CD player component. We’ve been very happy with the dongle’s performance, plus it has RCA inputs.