This week on The Wrap, big screens are coming for desks and walls, and that’s not all. New earphones, TVs, security cameras, and one of the biggest phones of the year is reviewed, as we look at Samsung’s S22 Ultra. All that and more in five.
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Nearly the end of May 2022, you’re listening to The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology roundup, and while much of the conversation this week has been about the election, now that the whole show is over, you can look for the other things that happened.
Screens and sound and security and more, while many eyes were focused on who was going to run the country, there were other things going on, much of it focused on what can go on your desk or your in your ears or even the next phone you might use, so let’s get stuck in.
Starting with security, because there are a few things going on there. For starters, Google is making changes to how it deals with scams and spam coming in over its Google Drive, handy because there are scams and spam coming in that way. You can even find scams in Google Calendar.
But it mightn’t be that way for all that much longer, because Google has been adding some tech to check out links in documents, slides, and other sources to warn you if they’re scams or phishing. Hopefully that’ll help cut back on scams coming in, though that’s not the only security story this week.
Arlo’s security cameras are also getting an update with a variation on a theme that can be used practically anywhere, provided you have a 4G SIM spare. The Arlo Go 2 aims to be a camera you can take with you, and while it will work with a WiFi network like a regular Arlo, it can also last for up to three months on battery sending you updates about your security and what’s been seen by its camera where ever you left it, all from a 4G SIM card.
That’ll cost a little over four hundred dollars, which isn’t even the most expensive tech we’ve heard of for the week.
No, if you want pricey, you need to check out the visual gear on the way made by LG.
Take LG’s latest experiment for your workspace, because it has a new monitor called the “Dual Up”, that basically sticks two 28 inch widescreen monitors on top of each other for an almost square style of screen.
That experiment will set you back around thirteen hundred bucks locally, while Bang & Olufsen has teamed with LG for a massive 83 inch TV coming in the Beovision Harmony 83. It’s not only large, but relies on one of LG’s massive OLED panels, while giving the sound reigns to B&O, and comes with a staggering price. There’s actually no Aussie price for the Beovision 83, fetching, no joke, 23 thousand dollars US.
It’s very much a case of “if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it”, and we’ll just stick to the regular options, thank you very much, with more TVs on the way out shortly from the big makers. Samsung and LG just launched theirs, and we suspect the remaining few, Hisense and Sony, will be along soon, as well.
Sony seems to be thinking more of sound at the moment, and has another new pair on the way. It’s called the LinkBuds S, and while the first LinkBuds is for open world listening, this new model is noise cancelling that blocks the world, doing it in one of the lightest designs yet.
They’ll also include the ability to handle some head tracking, but the uses are limited, and aren’t quite like how Apple or Beats uses head tracking for Apple Music.
Speaking of Apple, we’re seeing Intel try to compete with Apple recently, with new high-end chips on the way for meaty laptops built to be thin. That MacBook Pro line with the M1 Pro chip must have really left Intel a bit miffed, because there’s an “HX” breed of Core chip coming specifically focused on content creators. No word on price or models, but you can bet they won’t be inexpensive.
Also not inexpensive is a phone we’re checking out this week, as we take a look at Samsung’s big phone for the first half of the year, the S22 Ultra.
At 6.8 inches, it’s just about one of the biggest phones out there, and it kind of comes with everything. A big screen, fast chip, lots of memory, several cameras, and even a pen, as the Galaxy Note’s S-Pen makes its way to the S model. It can do all of the things you might remember, scribble and draw and such, but the focus on the Ultra may be the power.
You’ll find a versatile 10 X capable camera, even though it does lean on some tricks to get you super close. Great shots of the moon come thanks to AI, but they’re not necessarily great at everything.
The phone is quite nice, mind you, and pretty much offers it all, but the price is hefty, while the battery is not. You’ll be lucky to get through 24 hours in the S22 Ultra, and will probably need to charge it nightly, despite the big battery. While the price hits close to $2K and doesn’t necessarily feel as polished as it could be.
It’s a great phone, sure, and one of Samsung’s best, but we suspect we’ll see better in a few months when Samsung outs its Galaxy Z foldables. Not to mention what else will come afterwards, you know, iPhones and Pixels and so on.
For now, you’ve been listening to The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology roundup. A new episode can be found each week at Listener, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. For now, have a great week, and we’ll see you next time on The Wrap. Stay safe, stay sane, and take care.
