As the year winds down, we’re looking at what could be the next Samsung Galaxy S phone, plus we’ll tell you what Oppo’s shiny triple-camera R17 Pro smartphone is like, and what we all searched this year. All that and more on The Wrap.
Transcript
For the middle of December, this is The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology roundup, and with the year almost over, companies are talking up what 2018 has brought us.
Like in search, with Google this week releasing its Search lists for Australia, with news that Aussies spent much of the time looking for politics, sports, and the price of Bitcoin on Google.
The three most popular Aussies searched on Google were members of the Coalition government, though we also spent a lot of time asking questions. Questions like how to lose weight fast and belly fat were popular enough, but were nothing compared to an issue that seemed to unit Australians under a political issue that may not have been as well thought out.
In fact, the most popular Googled question was how to opt out of my health record, an issue that was clearly on the minds of many an Australian.
We also asked why the internet is so slow, even though “NBN” didn’t even make it on the top ten list of searches. There are lots of things you can glean from the search results, including what we’re desperate to cook, and YouTube had this year’s trends, too.
Australians apparently love the videos of Maroon 5, Drake, and Bruno Mars, while 5 Seconds of Summer had the most popular Aussie music video watched, something that seemed to fit in line with what Spotify found.
Yes, the top charts were much of the news this week, because, shock horror, the year is wrapping up.
But still, that wasn’t all we saw this week.
Netgear unveiled a new hyper fast router made for gamers looking to minimise network lag as much as possible with a new standard.
It’s called 802.11ad, and it’s faster than the 802.11ac we’ve all been using for the past five years or so. You’ll find it in the XR700, which offers faster wired and wireless ports, but it does cost $849, so it’s yet not made for every home.
Stan joined forces with Disney this week, with a move that sees much of the Disney library make its way to one of Netflix’s biggest competitors.
Stan will now offer quite a few movies and TV shows from Disney’s library, and remember that means more than just animated movies. With Disney owning more, it means Pixar and Marvel, and it means Star Wars, too.
We’re not sure how long Stan will have Disney’s library for, but what we do know is that Disney is working on its own streaming media channel. Whether it launches in Australia is anyone’s guess, but for now, Stan appears to be the home for Disney streaming on demand.
And Samsung announced one last phone of the year, though it’s one we probably won’t see.
It’s a phone that sits closer to the mid-range, the Galaxy A8s, and one that might give a glimpse as to what Samsung is doing in its next flagship, the Galaxy S10.
In what could be the new definition of an all-screen phone, Samsung’s Galaxy A8s loses the notch and bezels by making the front of the phone all screen, but cutting out a hole in the top left for the camera.
Now remember that next year isn’t far away, and that means new phones will be on the horizon. Hey, we might even see something as early as January, and if we do, it might have a hole punched out of the screen.
It’s an interesting idea, though one we’re not sure we’re sold on. It feels like there has to be a better way to integrate the camera than this, because this really does look like a hole punch went through the screen and Samsung just threw in a camera.
On a mid-range phone, we kind of get it, but on a flagship Samsung, well, let’s just say we’re king of expecting something more.
And Samsung’s reimagined all-screen phone wasn’t the only phone we saw this week, with our week not being complete without our review of the Oppo R17 Pro, what we can only assume is the last Oppo of the year.
It’s a pretty Oppo, that’s for sure, with the R17 Pro featuring a finish almost like that of a unicorn: bright, colourful, and a little bit magical, going from blue to pink. It’s called Radiant Mist, and it’s just one of the reasons to look into Oppo’s new phone.
Others include the screen, which takes up most of the front, if not for the tear drop where the camera is up top. There’s 128GB storage, an interface similar to the iPhone, a fingerprint sensor built in the screen, and a three camera system that handles itself quite well, even at night.
And there’s also the battery, which not only nets a day and a half of battery life, but also an amazingly fast battery that can hit 50 percent in less than 20 minutes.
It has some misses, like no water resistance or wireless charging, but Oppo’s R17 Pro is worth checking out if you want a flagship-style phone at a less-than flagship price.
And that’s all she wrote this week, so you’ve been listening to The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology roundup.
The Wrap appears every Friday at Podcast One and Apple Podcasts, and will be back next week for more technology heard in five minutes, but until then, have a great week. We’ll see you next time on The Wrap. Take care.
