Trevor Long fields tech calls covering budget phone upgrades, wireless audio glitches, eSIM travel realities, OLED TV replacement impressions, and home security camera choices. Greg weighs an ~$800 phone for email and calls, with Trev steering toward an iPhone 16e deal/refurb or Android options like Pixel/Nothing/Motorola plus Google Photos/contact export planning. Fernando troubleshoots earbuds dropping to one side, suggesting phone settings/network reset and trying another brand. Anthony clarifies dual-number eSIM limits by iPhone model. David celebrates an 83-inch LG OLED after a Samsung panel failure, praising OLED contrast and picture modes. Finally, Trev questions lesser-known camera brands’ long-term security versus established systems like Arlo/Uniden/Ring and discusses subscriptions, solar, and wired floodlight setups.
This week, taking your calls on Tech Questions - be part of the show by sending a text or WhatsApp to 0477 657 657 and we'll get you on!
Need a basic phone, to last a while - on a budget. Let's chat.
Problems with earbuds, why is one cutting out?
New TV - old one died, new one same price, but a big upgrade - how many eSIMS can you run at one time and a Security Camera Brand we've not heard of.
"I'm looking for a good budget mobile phone that does emails, phones, chase a match. It doesn't be a gaming phone. I'm getting old and getting closer to retirement. I want something simple."
They’re trying to find a cheaper phone that still does the basics. That usually means email and normal calling, not fancy extras.
The speaker is shopping for a low-cost smartphone that still covers basic needs like email and calling. In car-adjacent tech discussions, this often matters because phone features can affect hands-free calling, navigation, and connectivity in the car.
"Yeah. And so are you an Android or an iPhone user today? At the moment I'm iPhone. I've been iPhone since day one."
Android is the software that runs on many phones. It’s one of the main choices people make when buying a smartphone.
Android is one of the two major smartphone operating systems (the other being iPhone/iOS). Which one you choose can affect app availability, customization, and how well your phone integrates with car infotainment systems.
"At the moment I'm iPhone. I've been iPhone since day one. They came out. And is that something that you want to try and keep doing?"
An iPhone is Apple’s phone. It uses Apple’s own software, and it’s a common choice for people who want things to be simple and consistent.
iPhone refers to Apple’s smartphone line running iOS. In a car context, iPhone users often rely on Apple’s ecosystem for connectivity features like Bluetooth audio and navigation integration.
"So it's going to get software updates for the next, you know, five years plus. The only thing that's going to go wrong with it is, you know, the battery over time will degrade."
Updates are the fixes and improvements a phone gets from the manufacturer. They also help keep the phone safer over time.
Software updates are important because they add new features, security patches, and bug fixes. The speaker is using the idea of “support window” (how long updates keep coming) to justify choosing a newer phone.
"The only thing that's going to go wrong with it is, you know, the battery over time will degrade. You could easily get that replaced over, you know, in five years from now."
Phone batteries don’t last forever. Over time they hold less charge, so the phone may need charging more often.
The speaker is referring to battery degradation over time, where a phone’s battery capacity and performance slowly decline. This is a normal aging process for lithium-ion batteries, and it can affect how long the device runs between charges.
"So Boost Mobile is a great place to look for those. So Boost Mobile, they have a shop where they sell refurbished phones."
Boost Mobile is a phone service provider. They also sell refurbished phones, which can be cheaper than buying new.
Boost Mobile is a wireless carrier that also sells refurbished phones through its retail channels. In the segment, it’s mentioned as a place to find older iPhone models within a budget.
"And they're locally or are they in the iCloud? [488.8s] Locally."
iCloud is Apple’s online storage. It can keep your photos and contacts synced across your devices.
iCloud is Apple’s cloud storage and sync service. It can store photos, contacts, and other data so they’re available across your iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices.
"What I would investigate is I would firstly install on your iPad and iPhone Google Photos [504.6s] and synchronize Google Photos with your photo library of your current phone and iPad."
Google Photos is an app that backs up your pictures. Once it’s set up, you can switch phones and still get your photos back easily.
Google Photos is Google’s photo backup and library app. When you sync it, your photos are uploaded to Google’s cloud so you can access them from new phones without manually transferring everything.
"Your contacts, what you want to do is you want to research exporting all your contacts [528.4s] so you want to export them into a file so you can then import them into a Gmail."
Contacts are your saved phone numbers. Exporting and importing them helps you move your address book to a new phone.
Contacts are your saved phone numbers and personal details. Exporting them to a file and importing into another service (like Gmail) is a common way to migrate your address book when changing phones.
"...export them into a file so you can then import them into a Gmail. [533.2s] And mate, once your photos are in Google Photos and your contacts are in Gmail,"
Gmail is Google’s email. But it can also store your contacts so they’re available when you sign in on a new phone.
Gmail is Google’s email service, and it also stores synced contacts through your Google account. Importing contacts into Gmail effectively places them into Google’s contact system for use on any Android or Google-connected device.
"I was doing some numbers and these are just rough numbers. I'm going to talk electric vehicles for a minute, but it's cost a diesel car with 110 litre tank at $3.20 for diesel."
They’re talking about electric cars versus diesel cars. The key point is how much it costs to drive each one.
The speaker is comparing operating costs between electric vehicles (EVs) and diesel cars. This is about “fuel” cost per distance—how much it costs to drive, not the purchase price.
"I'm going to talk electric vehicles for a minute, but it's cost a diesel car with 110 litre tank at $3.20 for diesel. It's going to cost you 350 bucks to fill up."
They’re using a diesel car as the comparison. Diesel is the fuel it burns, and they’re estimating what it costs to fill and drive.
A diesel car uses diesel fuel and typically has a fuel tank measured in litres. The speaker uses a diesel example to estimate fill-up cost and then converts it into cost per kilometre.
"If it has a range of 1300 kilometres, that's 27 cents per kilometre. If you have an electric car and you charge it at a public charger for 65 cents per kilowatt, it's costing you 12 cents per kilometre for 500 Ks of range."
Range means how far the car can go before it needs more fuel or charging. They use it to figure out what the cost per kilometre really is.
Range is how far a vehicle can travel on a full tank (diesel) or a full charge (EV). The speaker uses range to translate a fill-up/charging cost into a per-kilometre number.
"I'm talking about like a Prado versus a Kia EV9 here. And if you charge it on solar and at low cost, it could be even less,"
The Kia EV9 is an all-electric SUV. The point here is that charging it can be cheaper than buying diesel fuel, especially if you use solar.
The Kia EV9 is Kia’s large electric SUV. The speaker is using it as an example of how electricity costs (especially with solar charging) can undercut the ongoing fuel cost of diesel SUVs like the Prado.
"And if you charge it on solar and at low cost, it could be even less, like 90% less than the cost of a diesel's fuel."
Charging on solar means using your own solar panels to power your EV. If you’re making your own electricity, it can make driving much cheaper.
Charging an EV using solar means generating electricity from rooftop panels (or another solar setup) and using that power to charge the vehicle. It can dramatically reduce the effective cost per kilometer compared with buying electricity from the grid.
"So over four years, you've paid the price of the premium of the electric car. I just, yeah, I'm not seeing why people don't get it."
They’re doing a “how long until it pays off” calculation. The speaker compares the extra upfront cost of an EV to the money you save on charging over the next few years.
The segment estimates a payback period by projecting annual savings and comparing them to the higher upfront price of an electric car. This is essentially a total cost of ownership (TCO) calculation over multiple years.
"Look, I genuinely think that the brands you've chosen are excellent, right? So there's no reason why the two that you've chosen shouldn't work, especially the Samsung's, because they should pair really easily."
Samsung is a well-known electronics brand. Here, they’re talking about how Samsung devices make it easy to connect Bluetooth headphones without lots of setup.
Samsung is a major consumer electronics brand, and in this context it’s being discussed for Bluetooth headphone pairing behavior. The speaker expects Samsung devices to show an easy “pop up pairing” prompt, reducing the need to manually configure connections.
"You know, it should be, it shouldn't even need to go into the settings for both those sets of headphones. JBL now do the kind of Bluetooth pop up, top version."
JBL makes headphones and speakers. They’re saying JBL has a Bluetooth feature that makes connecting to your device quicker and easier.
JBL is an audio brand known for headphones and speakers. The speaker specifically mentions JBL offering a Bluetooth “pop up” pairing experience, implying a fast, device-to-device connection flow similar to Samsung’s.
"I had these grand ideas for LiDAR. Grand ideas, we all do, yeah."
LiDAR is a sensor that uses lasers to measure how far away things are. It helps a system “see” the world in 3D, which is useful for things like driver-assistance and self-driving features.
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) uses laser pulses to measure distances and build a 3D map of the surroundings. It’s commonly discussed in advanced driver-assistance and autonomous-driving tech because it can detect objects with high precision.
"and you can go E-SIM only, or mate, you can hold out for the 18 and see whether they go full E-SIM."
An eSIM is a SIM card built into the device. Instead of swapping a tiny card, you can set up your mobile service online, but you need carrier support where you live.
eSIM is an embedded SIM that lets you activate a mobile plan digitally without using a physical SIM card. In practice, it can make switching carriers or plans faster, but availability and support depend on the country and carriers.
"[1664.5s] I would say that is absolutely costing you battery then,
[1668.8s] because you've got to remember what's happening with your phone"
Battery drain just means your phone battery runs down faster. Here they’re talking about how the phone uses extra power when it’s trying to find a mobile signal.
Battery drain is the reduction in phone battery life caused by active power use. In this segment, the discussion connects battery drain to cellular signal searching and radio activity.
Brand
LG
"And we ended up with an LG. Yeah, we've got an 83-inch LG OLED."
LG is a well-known TV brand. If it’s an “LG OLED,” it means the TV uses OLED screen technology from LG.
LG is a major TV manufacturer and one of the biggest players in OLED TV panels. When someone says they bought an “LG OLED,” it usually means an LG-made OLED TV set (often with LG’s OLED panel technology).
"But seven years later and pumping up to OLED, [1901.1s] What I'm wondering is if the colors are real"
OLED is a type of TV screen where each tiny pixel can light up on its own. That usually makes the picture look more vibrant and the dark parts look really black, so colors can look extra intense.
OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) TVs use self-illuminating pixels, which can produce very deep blacks and high-contrast images. Because each pixel lights independently, OLED sets often look especially vivid for colors and “pop,” which is why people notice the difference after upgrading from older LCD/LED models.
"[2056.9s] And it has a wider color gamut, [2058.8s] so if you think the red you're seeing now are good, [2060.6s] then on an RGB, they're theoretically better."
Color gamut is basically the range of colors a TV can show. A wider gamut means more colors can look richer and more accurate.
A wider color gamut means the TV can reproduce a broader range of colors. The speaker connects this to RGB, suggesting that reds and other colors should look better than on the current display.
"I was just after a bit of advice, looking at perimeter security cameras for the house, and I know you I've had a look at Arlo and those sort of cameras,"
Arlo makes home security cameras. It’s the kind of system you can watch from your phone, and it often stores videos either locally or with a paid service.
Arlo is a consumer brand of home security cameras and related smart-home devices. People often compare Arlo to other wireless camera systems based on app experience, motion detection, and subscription requirements for video storage.
"[2632.4s] and here's the manual
[2634.0s] and how Kogan started.
[2635.7s] He went to China, found a factory
[2637.9s] that would make TVs, put his logo on it"
Kogan is an Australian electronics brand. The story here is basically that they didn’t build the cameras or TVs themselves at first—they had them made by another factory and then sold them under their own name.
Kogan is an Australian consumer-electronics brand known for selling TVs and other gadgets, often sourced from contract manufacturing. In the segment, the host describes Kogan’s early approach as finding a factory overseas and putting its own branding on the product.
"and the one other example I would give is Eufy. Now, Eufy, you know, good brand, but four or five years ago they had an issue where when you logged into the app, you saw someone else's cameras, not yours."
Eufy makes smart home security cameras that you control with an app. The host is saying that, a few years ago, there was a serious mix-up where one person could see another person’s camera feed after logging in.
Eufy is a consumer brand that sells smart home security cameras and related app-controlled devices. The host mentions a past security/privacy incident where logging into the app showed someone else’s cameras, which is the kind of failure that can undermine trust in cloud accounts and device authentication.
"[2858.6s] sort of setup. I want to have them stand alone
[2860.8s] as a Wi-Fi camera."
A Wi‑Fi camera is a security camera that connects to your home internet wirelessly. You can usually view it from your phone, and where the video is saved depends on the system.
A Wi‑Fi camera connects to your home network wirelessly, so you don’t need to run Ethernet cables to the camera location. It typically streams video to a phone app and may support local recording or cloud recording depending on the brand.
"I've got a nest. I've got a ring and a uni-den and mate, honestly the difference between any of them is incremental at best."
Ring is a brand of home security cameras and doorbells. It’s one of several companies that offer alerts to your phone.
Ring is a smart-home security company best known for doorbells and outdoor cameras. The speaker mentions it alongside other systems to compare how similar the options are for home monitoring.
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Bunch of calls to get through today from everything from TVs to headphones to smartphones and travel sims and more.
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Looking forward to taking your calls. If you've got a tech question, you can get in touch.
Nice and easy and I'd love to hear from you. Greg is on the line today. Greg.
Hi Trevor, how are you?
I'm really good. What can I do for you?
I'm looking for a good budget mobile phone that does emails, phones, chase a match.
It doesn't be a gaming phone. I'm getting old and getting closer to retirement. I want something simple.
Yeah. And so are you an Android or an iPhone user today?
At the moment I'm iPhone. I've been iPhone since day one. They came out.
And is that something that you want to try and keep doing?
I don't really mind. It depends on what's available. It's the cost factor.
Well, these are a budget in mind then. That's a better question.
Yeah, there is a budget. Yeah.
What's the budget?
I don't really want to go much more than about eight.
Eight hundred.
Outright. Yeah.
Yep. And mate, that's such a great idea. Honestly, eight hundred bucks outright.
You're a happy man. You know, you'll get a lot out of it.
So look, we should be clear. There is a nine hundred and ninety nine dollar iPhone, the 17E.
That's brand new. So that's two hundred dollars over budget.
Here's what's interesting though. The last year's version of that, the 16E is now eight hundred and ninety nine bucks.
Now, today it's eight ninety nine. I just wouldn't mind guessing that over the course of the month or so ahead,
you might find some good deals on that.
And the iPhone 16E, the good thing about it, right, is that it's got a reasonably recent chip in it.
So it's going to get software updates for the next, you know, five years plus.
The only thing that's going to go wrong with it is, you know, the battery over time will degrade.
You could easily get that replaced over, you know, in five years from now.
It'll become a brand new chip again.
So, you know, my eyes would be straight on the iPhone 16E.
Second to that is looking at, you know, whether or not you might buy a refurbished iPhone from somewhere.
So Boost Mobile is a great place to look for those.
So Boost Mobile, they have a shop where they sell refurbished phones.
Maybe there's a iPhone 14 or 15 that is within your price range.
And then in reality, mate, your other option is to go, well, hang on a minute.
I could actually spend less than 800 and get myself an Android phone and, you know,
really start to see, you know, a bit of a saving there, which you're not here to save,
but it'll certainly, you know, it will save you money given your price point.
And, mate, it'll do everything that you want it to do because that's the thing is you're in an ecosystem now.
But, mate, the Android phones, so for example, at $800, and you could have a little squeeze at this.
What I do is I got a JB Hi-Fi. I search up Android phones and I put a maximum budget of $800.
And then you see the Motorola Edge 50.
Mate, this is a beautiful phone.
Now, it's a big screen. It's got like a triple lens camera.
Remember, the iPhone 16 brand new is only a single lens camera.
The Google Pixel 9a is $800.
Now, that's a year old, but it's got the same guts as the one that just came out, the 10a.
I absolutely love the Nothing phone.
There's a couple of those in the sub $800 price point.
So, mate, if you walk in a JB Hi-Fi or Harvies and you just feel a couple of these phones in the handy,
okay, this Nothing, this Google, this Motorola, I think you'll be quite surprised by how nice,
how premium they feel and what their capabilities are.
And look, I wouldn't spend, given what you want out of this phone,
this is essentially a retirement phone, you know, I wouldn't spend less than $600
because I want you to have something that is going to last you five years, right?
So, if you look at all the phones between basically $550, $600 and $800,
there is really just Google Nothing, Motorola.
There is a Samsung there. I'm not a massive fan of it compared to those other ones I've mentioned.
But the Nothing, the Motorola, the Google, they're really good.
And all you need is to give yourself two weeks of transitioning from iPhone to Android
and you'll be across it in no time, mate.
Because messaging is the same, email is the same, photos is the same,
it's just about finding what the app is called or how it works and navigating, you know,
sometimes you've got to swipe right from the edge of the screen to go back
instead of hitting a back arrow, whatever, but it'll do everything you want it to do.
Where are all your photos and contacts saved, you know?
At the moment on the iPhone and the iPad.
And they're locally or are they in the iCloud?
Locally.
So what I would investigate again, so don't look at this as a one-day challenge,
this is going to take you some time.
What I would investigate is I would firstly install on your iPad and iPhone Google Photos
and synchronize Google Photos with your photo library of your current phone and iPad.
And so that'll upload all your photos into the Google Cloud and whatever phone you buy,
brand new iPhone or Google phone or Motorola,
the Google Photos app will synchronize all your photos and you're done, that's awesome.
Your contacts, what you want to do is you want to research exporting all your contacts
so you want to export them into a file so you can then import them into Gmail.
And mate, once your photos are in Google Photos and your contacts are in Gmail,
trust me, it doesn't matter what phone you buy, you'll be sweet.
Right, cool.
What about robust sort of phone?
Is one of those a better take sort of heavier iPhone?
Look, you know, I don't think any of the ones I've mentioned to you are any worse off than an iPhone.
The only difference is an iPhone, there are a million options for cases,
whereas the number of options for a Motorola will be less than a Google.
But for example, the nothing phone and the Motorola phone come with a case in the box.
Now, it's just a clear kind of plastic thing,
but I've been using the nothing phone for the last two weeks
and the case just makes me feel like I've got some protection.
It's not going to survive a drop from a two-story building,
but it'll survive a drop out of my pocket, no dramas at all.
That's cool, that sounds reasonable.
Yeah, I mean, it's basic protection.
And the other thing you do is get a screen protector.
So use the case, use a screen protector
so that in a year and a half when the screen protector is cracked
and the case is chipping, get a new case, get a new screen protector,
and you've got yourself a new phone.
Yeah, I haven't noticed.
I used to do that with the iPhone all the time.
Exactly.
So you've got options, mate.
You've got options.
That sounds all reasonable.
It sounds all believable.
It sounds all affordable.
And mate, you just need to give it time.
Don't be frustrated by it.
If you switch to Android, don't be frustrated.
Just take your time.
Learn something new every day about the phone
and you might end up going,
mate, this is better than an iPhone.
A lot of people do.
Oh, cool.
Well, I think it's a good advice.
I appreciate it.
Good luck, Greg.
Safe travels, mate.
Take care. See you, mate.
Cheers, mate.
Good on you.
Great to hear from him.
And yeah, I mean, that's the thing.
It's tough.
Change is hard.
No, no one loves change,
but it's when it comes to money,
I get really frustrated by people
who will set a budget or complain about costs
and then not be willing.
And I've been talking about this
on the radio in the last week.
Telstra's prices have gone up four bucks a month.
And if you're not willing to change,
then you're not allowed to complain about the price.
Sorry, you're just not.
Now, that doesn't apply to EVs, obviously,
because you can complain about petrol
and there's not much choice
because you can't just go and get a new car.
That's not an every year thing for a lot of people.
But if you complain about petrol prices
and then within time you buy another petrol car,
stop your bloody whinging
because you've now learned that the savings are there.
And look, I'll give you an example.
I was mucking around with this last week
on the Today Show.
I was doing some numbers
and these are just rough numbers.
I'm going to talk electric vehicles for a minute,
but it's cost a diesel car with 110 litre tank
at $3.20 for diesel.
It's going to cost you 350 bucks to fill up.
If it has a range of 1300 kilometres,
that's 27 cents per kilometre.
If you have an electric car
and you charge it at a public charger
for 65 cents per kilowatt,
it's costing you 12 cents per kilometre
for 500 Ks of range.
So 12 cents per kilometre,
that's 44% less than a diesel car.
If you charge that same car at home,
plugged into power, off the grid,
at 29 cents per kilowatt,
it's 5.7 cents per kilometre.
That's 78% less than a diesel car.
I'm talking about like a Prado versus a Kia EV9 here.
And if you charge it on solar and at low cost,
it could be even less,
like 90% less than the cost of a diesel's fuel.
Now, at 18,000 kilometres a year,
that works out to be a saving of $3,800 a year.
So over four years,
you've paid the price of the premium of the electric car.
I just, yeah, I'm not seeing why people don't get it.
Anyway, we digress into cost of living pressures
and the fuel crisis.
But so be it, folks.
You've got to look around.
You've got to be willing.
This is the EFTM podcast.
Great to have you company
and help you out wherever I can.
Fernando's on the line.
Can I, Fernando?
Can I mine Hawaii up?
Yeah, really good.
What can I do for you?
Well, I was asking you about the earbuds.
I've been having problems with,
I tried a couple of different brands
and they kept busting like you can't hear
properly from one of them.
Wait, so they're not physically breaking.
They're just, the connection is failing
so that they're only going to the left or the right ear.
Yeah, the sound, the sound just drops.
What brands have you tried?
I tried Samsung and I tried JBL.
Samsung and JBL.
And what phone have you got?
Samsung.
Really?
And so you're doing this with like the Samsung buds?
Yeah.
It's kind of fascinating because it's the same thing
that happened to both?
To both of them.
Different earbuds though.
Different left and right or was it the left for both times?
Yeah, left and right.
The Samsung, I passed the left one
and then JBL was on the right one.
Right.
And then doing like a beeping noise, you know?
Like they do when they,
they lost a bit of battery
but it was fully charged and it still was doing like that.
I don't know how it's playing.
It was just like a beep, a long beep.
Hang on.
So you got the same long beep on both of them?
No, no.
No, just on the JBL was that problem with the beep.
The Samsung just, the volume was just low on it, you know?
Did you, have you tried, did you just give up on them
or did you try repairing them each?
No, I, on the Samsung, I give up.
So I got the JBLs and the JBLs, I got refunded.
You're right.
Interesting because I mean, look, I've had it happen.
So what happens a lot with headphones is
you're actually pair with one of the earphones
and then the other one kind of attaches to it.
Right.
Whereas I've noticed, what was the last pair I used?
It might have been a set of Sony's.
You pair to the case and it kind of then establishes
the connection for both the earbuds as one.
One.
I mean, it sounds, the thing is,
it does sound like it was two separate problems.
Sounds like in the Samsung it was very low audio,
whereas on the JBL you were getting a tone or a message.
So it doesn't actually sound like the same problem.
Do you think?
Yeah, I don't think it's the same problem because it was different.
Like you say, different characteristics on each of them.
And to be clear, you'd, you'd, you'd charge the headphones
for the JBLs and check that.
Had you used the JBL app?
Yeah, yeah, through the app, through the app.
And did it show good battery on both?
Yeah, yeah.
Interesting.
I mean, look, the only thing is to try another pair.
But you're going to, and that, that, look, I think here's the thing.
You need to try another pair.
And if another pair has the same problem, then we know that it's the phone.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
But it's very strange.
There are some audio settings in a phone and they're like accessibility settings.
So under settings and accessibility, there can be hearing options.
So there might be a mono mode.
There could be a balance.
There's different things that might be in there, but it's unusual.
They would be turned on.
And also you can reset all the network settings to kind of, you know,
give it a, give it a clean slate.
So the question is, you know, what, what sort of headphones are you looking at?
Have you got a budget in mind?
Yeah, that's fine.
As long as I got good sound on it, I don't care, you know, really.
That's why I ask you what, what brand should I try or keep trying with this?
Or what, what, what do you think is, is it a brand thing or is it a, I don't know.
Look, I genuinely think that the brands you've chosen are excellent, right?
So there's no reason why the two that you've chosen shouldn't work,
especially the Samsung's, because they should pair really easily.
They should do that, that pop up pairing option.
You know, it should be, it shouldn't even need to go into the settings
for both those sets of headphones.
JBL now do the kind of Bluetooth pop up, top version.
What, how much were the, were the JBLs that you bought?
Which, which model were they, do you know?
Ah, no, I can't remember.
200 or something.
Yeah, okay.
And the 200s, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, the only other brand I would probably suggest you look at is maybe Sony.
There are, yeah, I'm just trying to think out loud for you,
but I mean, it just feels like you need to try another brand to make sure
that it's not the phone.
Yeah.
Weirdly.
I think that's what you need to do.
There's some really nice, nothing as a brand, nothing.
Make some really nice headphones as well, about 250.
There might be some cheaper ones as well.
But mate, honestly, I think that's probably the best bet is to go right.
I'm going to buy these and see how they go.
And if that same problem occurs, then we know that it's something on the phone
and you're going to need to do like a network reset or a factory reset,
or it's got a failure in the Bluetooth module.
And then it's a matter of, are you happy with the ones you bought?
Or do you try and get a refund again?
So Matt, I'd probably look at the Sony's or the nothing's
and, and see if you have the same problem.
All right.
Yeah, I'll give it a go.
All right.
Good luck for Nando.
Thanks a lot, Dreb.
Cheers mate, no worries at all.
Thanks for listening.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Cheers, buddy.
That's a strange one because I've definitely had it happen with headphones,
but I haven't had it happen with multiple sets of headphones.
So that's the, that's the challenging part of that one.
Helping Australians with tech questions for over 15 years,
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Great every company.
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Go to eftm.com or download the eftm app and click ask.
Trev.
Anthony's on the line.
Good day, Anthony.
Hi, Trevor.
How are you?
Really good mate.
What can I do for you?
Excellent.
I've got a question regarding eSIMs and before,
and you recently been talking about the new iPhones
and, and that maybe the next version will only have eSIMs.
Yep.
Now I've got a question when you travel with eSIMs.
I do have it.
I have an iPhone 12 at the moment.
Yep.
eSIM compatible.
Yes.
And a physical eSIM.
And I have my physical eSIM in it all the time.
Yes.
And when I travel, I put in an,
I activate an eSIM in the country that I'm in.
Yep.
And so I effectively have two phone numbers.
Yep.
But when you have a phone which only has an eSIM,
does that mean you only have one phone number?
Oh, great question.
So the simple answer is no,
but I want to caveat that it will vary phone by phone
because there may be some, I mean,
there may be some lower cheaper brands
that one eSIM at a time can be active.
But on an iPhone, for example,
now, again, a caveat is it may have changed over time,
but I think on the most recent iPhones anyway,
and I'm pretty sure it's been the way the whole time.
You can have eight eSIMs.
You can have, like I could download an eSIM
for every country in the world.
Eight different countries, right?
And then you can only have two active at a time.
So yes, you can have two numbers.
So when I land in, let's say I,
on the phone that I'm talking to you on now,
which I call my content phone, right?
It's got a local Boost Mobile SIM here for Australia.
It's also got a fully prepaid AT&T SIM for America,
which, you know, I get debited every month.
It's like it's a normal mobile number over there.
And it's deactivated right now
because it doesn't roam, there's no point, right?
Let's say I also had a Vodafone eSIM on this device.
I could have in Australia, as you mentioned,
I could have the Boost physical SIM
and the Vodafone eSIM active at the same time,
and no dramas at all.
Both numbers will work and one of them is used for data.
When I land in America, I could choose,
do I want Boost and AT&T,
or do I want Vodafone and AT&T, or do I just want AT&T?
So just like you do now,
you choose what's on and what's in the slot,
but you do it in the settings
and it's so damn easy to do.
Okay, that was, yeah, because I was really worried.
That's one of the reasons I didn't want to get rid of my iPhone 12
with the concept of just eSIMs
because I really rely on the two SIMs.
Traveling is fantastic.
I'm just searching and the iPhone 12
appears to only allow one eSIM active at any time.
Yeah, but that's all right because I have my physical sleep.
That's why you've got your physical sleep.
So all I'm saying is don't go thinking you can have multiple.
Again, you can download multiple eSIMs,
but you can only have one active.
Whereas iPhone 13 onwards,
whether they have a SIM slot or not,
will operate with two eSIMs if you want.
Yeah, because I was actually...
Two lines.
Have you ever been to America and you see the ads for their mobile?
It's a two-line option that they call a phone number or a SIM a line.
And so essentially on an iPhone 13 onwards,
any of them can have two lines active at any time.
If the phone has a physical SIM tray,
it can be the physical SIM and an eSIM or it can be two eSIMs.
So on the iPhone Air, which is our first iPhone with eSIM only,
then I can download...
I can't look at mine.
I've got multiple SIMs on it,
but I can only turn two of them on, which is all you need.
Yeah, well, that's right.
That's right because it's fantastic for traveling.
It's a great option.
Because I was thinking of changing carriers here in Australia.
Right.
So if I do change carriers,
make sure I get a physical SIM for the new carrier.
No?
Well, I mean, if you're going to keep the iPhone 12,
but are you talking about upgrading the phone though?
Well, when I convinced the Minister of Finance and War, yeah.
I love that term so much.
Very apt.
Well, mate, get her one.
What are you talking about, mate?
Well, yeah, it's the other way.
Yeah, no, I'm struggling.
I'm really struggling.
I love my iPhone 12 Pro.
Oh, it's a pro.
I was going to say, because if it's an iPhone 12 mini,
that's why I'd be still there,
because I love the size of that phone.
Yeah.
No, it's the Pro and I just don't know.
And you see these new...
I definitely say, I always stay iPhone,
but I don't know whether I need to get the Pro,
but I love features of the Pro,
and then is the Pro overkill, so I'm just stuck.
The jump from the 12 to the 17 is remarkable, mate.
It's a vastly better phone.
There's no question.
To the which one?
To the 17, to the most recent, for example, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's just no question.
But, you know, that said, I don't know whether you're...
Did you get the Pro for photography,
or why did you get the Pro?
For the photography and the LiDAR.
Okay.
Which I never came to fruition.
I had these grand ideas for LiDAR.
Grand ideas, we all do, yeah.
So, just the 17 Pro, the standard Pro, not the Max,
or the Max, they're exactly the same,
just different screen size.
The thing is, you're talking chipset improvement,
so speed of running apps, all the AI stuff is much faster,
camera is remarkable,
and you can go E-SIM only,
or mate, you can hold out for the 18
and see whether they go full E-SIM.
I still don't think we're ready in Australia to go full E-SIM.
I just think, I know they've done it in America
and it seems to have gone well,
but see Americans, weirdly,
there is a mobile phone store on every corner there.
So, I think they're very used to just going in
and getting it done.
Whereas in Australia, we kind of,
we just get it sent to us in the post
and all that kind of stuff,
and I think the E-SIM process is still a bit unknown to people.
So, I just don't know if we're ready to go full E-SIM yet.
But when we are ready, mate, you'll be ready,
because it doesn't matter where you go,
if you get a new phone,
you'll be right with the dual E-SIMs operating.
Yeah, because for travelling, that's just fantastic.
What I do is go to, if I'm staying long time in another country,
I actually just buy a local E-SIM
using the local as a native living MIS
and I find them really good value and better roaming and safe.
But if I'm short, I'll use like LA
or something like that if I'm just going for two weeks.
So, it's just so convenient.
It's so convenient.
It's so good and that's why I love the E-SIM concept
and you'll be fine when you are full E-SIM, mate.
The switching from one phone to another
is easy on the telcos here in Australia now.
Adding a local one, turning it off, disabling it in the settings,
it's all easy, mate, so you're good to go.
A question I have, and no one's been able to answer,
do you think it uses more power when you're running the E-SIMs?
No, no way.
Because every time I've been in Europe and I'm running on E-SIMs,
the phone absolutely cooks and overheats.
I think, look, my answer to that would be,
can you genuinely put hand on heart
and say you're using the phone exactly the same way as you normally are?
I'm using more photography.
Mind you, but also the flip side is,
every time I go on there, it's been a stinking hot summer.
But the battery, and it's an iPhone 12
and I think they run hot.
They do, there's no question, but I don't believe the E-SIMs
have any influence on that.
It doesn't use any more extra power.
I didn't know whether the two antennas
were like extra drain on the battery, heating the battery up.
I don't think so.
Well, I'll stop you, but we're talking about using both,
so your local SIM is still active?
My local SIM is active, waiting for any phone call from Australia perhaps.
I would say that is absolutely costing you battery then,
because you've got to remember what's happening with your phone
is your phone is going, oh, where's the mobile?
Where's the mobile?
It's like a dog looking for a bone, right?
Searching, yeah.
And you're doing it with two sets of antennas.
So yeah, it is doing double the work.
I've tried searching for that answer,
and to me it makes sense logically,
but I haven't been able to get definitive answers.
Well, you and I have definitively solved it.
It's definitely using more, not a lot,
but it's definitely using more power to have two SIMs running.
It doesn't matter where they are or how they work.
It's making two network connections.
So at the moment, until I change phone,
if I want to change carrier, I'm going for a physical SIM.
Stick with a physical SIM for sure.
Excellent.
All right, mate, good luck.
Solved another one.
That's what we're here for.
Thanks very much.
Thank you very much.
No worries at all.
Yeah, I hadn't thought about a lot of those things,
so it is good to kind of unpack it.
And yeah, get to the bottom of it.
There you go.
E-SIMs, folks.
Nice and easy.
Great, happy company.
Happy to help wherever I can.
David's on the line today, David.
We do.
Mate, what can I do for you?
Well, I think I messaged you the other day,
hoping you'd give me an answer on a TV
because we had a Samsung 82-inch TV,
which decided to blow the panel last week.
Oh, no.
How old was it?
We were seven and a half years.
Not a bad run, you've got to be honest.
Seven and a half years, mate.
She's the last one that did make.
Well, I don't know, did that?
I mean, yes, because I've got a 14-year-old TV in our bedroom,
so yes, they did, obviously.
But then again, I don't watch it, you know, much.
So that probably helps.
So 82-inch, that would have been enormous at the time.
Do you remember what you paid for that?
Yeah, about $5,900.
Really? That's not bad.
Well, I think it was on sale.
It was reduced.
It was a JB special.
So I was actually in the fortunate position
of having a wife who wanted a larger TV
because I was looking at the 65s and 75s.
Wow, can you get her to talk to the wife conglomerate
and spread the word?
So hang on, so your 82-inch goes fuzz.
The wife was supportive back then.
I need to know, what did you do?
What did you double down with?
Where have you landed for a replacement TV?
Well, to start with, we decided to try and see if we could get it repaired
because we didn't know how much it was going to be.
And the panel was about two and a half grand.
That doesn't include labor.
So I went one shop, when I rang them up and they said,
can you bring it in?
And I said, no, it won't fit in the car.
And they said, well, we don't come out.
We don't do house calls.
Anyway, we never ended up having anyone come out.
But we then started looking at high-sense and another Samsung.
And we ended up with an LG.
You went around, you went fully around the traps.
Nice.
Yeah, we've got an 83-inch LG OLED.
Oh, wow. Gorgeous.
And that's around about the same price we've paid for the 82-inch Samsung.
So just under six grand.
Yeah, right.
That's, I mean, look, that is, you know, that's a big TV.
When do you take delivery?
Oh, going through yesterday by the, by JB Hi-Fi.
So yeah, they sent someone around.
It got delivered on Saturday.
They said, leave it in the box.
Don't touch it.
Delivery guys will do it.
Anything goes wrong.
We cover it all and nothing went wrong.
And it's up on the wall on the same TV mount that the old one was on.
It was great.
You, I mean, let's be honest.
The Samsung was a beautiful TV, I'm sure.
I've got no doubt.
It was top of the line at the time.
But seven years later and pumping up to OLED,
you must now be going, wow.
What I'm wondering is if the colors are real
or they're just something I've never seen before.
Like the reds are so red.
I was watching the replay of, I haven't actually seen it.
So don't tell me the result,
but the formula on Grand Prix from Sunday I was watching
and the Ferrari red was really red.
Oh, it's just, it's just amazing.
It's almost exaggerated.
Is it too red though?
Like that's, you got to be careful with that sometimes.
Like, I often turn to, I've got a, like a stunning Samsung,
like an 8K TV here in the office.
And sometimes I turn it when I go, you know what?
I'm going to go to the picture modes and I'm going to find one
that feels more natural to me.
You know, like sometimes I feel like it's dull.
Sometimes I feel like it's too bright.
So, you know, sometimes a modern TV is actually trying
itself to find the right picture mode for you.
And you're actually better off finding a mode that you like.
So it's, it's worth,
it's worth opening up the picture settings and finding,
don't take it too much, but just go with their defaults,
like cinema, sport, et cetera, et cetera.
See whether there's, you know,
a setting that makes you feel better.
I was looking at the Samsung's and they said that the Samsung's
have a real true theater looking color,
not exaggerated, et cetera.
But I don't, I don't know why we went with LG.
I think LG got, had all the top ratings of,
in the, like, in choice.
Were you looking at a Samsung OLED or a Samsung Neo QLED?
Do you remember?
I started even before the QLED.
The, is it the Chrome?
No, the Chrome, lower than QLED.
Crystal, UHD.
Crystal, and that was dull.
Yeah, no, that's, that's not good.
I was fooled out of that straight away.
Mate, if you've come from a,
put it this way, if you ended an OLED,
you were never going to love a crystal UHD.
No, I didn't like it when I saw it,
but what I looked at was the price of a panel.
I thought, oh, crystal I can get
for less than the price of a panel.
Yeah, and that makes sense.
That's the way I started thinking.
It's logical, completely.
And what I love is that you ended up
just spending the same amount
as you spent seven and a half years ago,
which is kind of, that's a great thing
because what you've proven is in seven and a half years,
you can, you essentially get the same size TV,
but you've gone from getting what was probably
the premium LED technology
to the premium TV technology.
Like OLED is definitely the best picture you'll ever see, right?
There's nothing better.
And I've said this, and you know what?
Samsung, this year, had more OLED than ever before.
Both Samsung, Hisense, and a little bit of LG there,
they're pushing out this new thing called RGB,
which is the closest thing we're going to get
to OLED out of an LED panel.
And it has a wider color gamut,
so if you think the red you're seeing now are good,
then on an RGB, they're theoretically better.
But the point is that you only have one TV in your home.
And what I think is critical is to make it look
how you want it to look.
So you're like, what's the Formula One,
and find the picture mode that you like for the Formula One.
And then whack the news on a night and go,
well, that's too dull or whatever,
and find the picture mode that suits you.
So you find a balance, and you find the right picture for you.
Because it doesn't matter what the store thought,
or what the LG thought,
what matters is what you want from the TV.
And just getting used to the remote control is the hard part.
This is like the remote control.
There's no arrows to going left and right.
It's like you have to...
The magic mouse.
It's almost like a mouse in the air.
Yeah, mate. Once you get used to it,
you'll think, why isn't everyone doing this?
Because if you push the home button,
and you present it with all these options,
and then you jiggle the remote, and you go,
well, I can click on that, I can click on that,
it's made. It is so much faster.
Typing on the screen, all that kind of stuff.
I'm surprised no one else has done it.
But it's funny.
You feel weird doing it.
I was trying to get the mouse to move left yesterday,
but there's a control in the middle
that's up and down, but not left and right.
And eventually when I moved my hand,
oh, really?
And has it got everything you need in it?
It's got all the apps you need.
There's nothing if you felt...
Hang on a minute.
Most of the time I use my Apple TV.
Oh, wow.
Mate, load up a movie
that has solid dark scenes.
I know, weirdly, I remember this...
I don't know why I remember it,
but I remember it might have been halfway during COVID,
watching, I think it was called Greyhound.
It was a Tom Hanks warship movie,
and it was on Apple TV.
I think because it was meant to go to cinemas,
and they went, hang on a minute,
we'll just pump it out on Apple TV.
Now, watch that movie. It's a great movie,
but then at the end of the movie, I remember the titles.
I remember the kind of credit scenes,
but it was like a black screen
with the white text coming out the middle.
But in the left-hand bottom corner,
there'd be like a beautiful old photo of...
a black and white photo of someone
actually part of the Greyhound war boat.
And then that had fade to black,
and then the top left hand would...
So these pictures would fade in and out.
Now, what I noticed on my high-sensitivity
at the time was it didn't cope well with that
because it was struggling to have this deep black,
these white text,
and then these kind of low gray scale.
It was really struggling to light the screen specifically.
What you'll see
with an OLED is stunning
because it knows how to produce
a black picture, a gray picture,
a white picture side-by-side,
and you'll never look at the TV again differently.
It's so good.
What I want to do is I want to watch something like...
I know it's an old movie, The Eagle has landed,
for instance, with Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton,
where at the end they have all the credits in red,
and they're so hard to read sometimes on some TVs.
I wonder how long... how it would look on an OLED.
Mate, and then fire up Top Gun Maverick.
Wow.
Something that's been overly produced.
The Formula One movie, the F1 movie, look at that.
That would look spectacular.
I can't wait for that one.
I've seen that one at the cinema, but...
Mate, you've now got a cinema at home. What are you talking about?
No, I mean, I've had it for...
I've had it on big TV, but when I made it,
I said, look, I've got free tickets to the movies.
You know what I'm talking about?
For sure, but you've now got an 83-inch OLED, mate.
Trust me, you'll opt for that most of the time.
Well, congratulations.
Mate, that's a good TV. Enjoy it.
Thank you.
I was actually hoping to get your advice on the other two,
but I ended up...
You've landed in the right spot. Absolutely.
What's your opinion, though, of HiSense?
Because a lot of people were saying,
they're great, but Chinese-branded.
They don't have really the same reliability.
I was reading reviews of people saying how...
That's insanity. It's insanity.
Mate, they've got a three-year warranty.
No other TV offers that.
That's how they back their products.
I've had a HiSense on the...
Like our lounge room wall now,
it's got to be three and a half years.
It's like stunning. Still love it. No issues.
I've never had...
Trust me, I don't get every customer service complaint,
but I get customer service complaints from companies,
people who have issues,
and no, I can't remember a complaint with HiSense at all.
My only issue is that you can never read...
You can never see a review online.
A good review.
Because everyone always puts on,
oh, this is so crappy. Customer service is crappy.
You don't see someone sending a review...
Oh, yeah, well...
So all you have to see is bad reviews.
From individuals, yeah.
I read a lot of reviews on HiSense.
Everyone was saying how the customer service
was terrible, blah, blah, blah.
I didn't read one that said, oh, I love the TV.
I mean, I'm going to do a good review of mine
once I've got used to it and happy with it.
I'm going to say how...
I wish everyone was like you and would leave those reviews
for all different brands.
I do the same with restaurants.
But most people are inclined
to say negative things online
about a company when they've had a bad experience,
but they're not inclined to just suddenly say
a positive thing, you see?
Yeah.
Well, I'm going to be bringing up another company
because I just got my garage door fixed yesterday
and the guy who came out to fix it,
he did such a good job on going to his company
and see how happy I am with it.
Mate, we should really make that the mentality.
You know, it just matters so much
because if you know what,
as an individual when someone says, hey,
we've got a call today, good job,
it just makes you feel great.
How good is it? And that should matter.
It should matter to their performance reviews
and all that kind of stuff.
I think it's more...
I think sometimes good reviews are more important
than bad reviews.
Potentially, yeah, but you've got to...
This is the challenges right if there's too many good ones.
People go, there's too many good ones.
There's something going on. It's been...
It's rigged.
One of my friends always says they're fake.
Fake reviews.
Hey, before I let you go, just quickly,
because you're on your AirPods, I want to just test something
because I've spoken to a lot of people about this.
Take your AirPods out and pick the phone up.
I want to hear the difference in the quality of the sound.
So taking them out and putting them in the charger
and we'll just answer the call.
You shouldn't hang up the phone. No, that's right.
Hang on.
We hope not anyway.
Are you there?
Yes, I'm there now.
Yeah, okay. I'm now not on the AirPods.
See, I would say to you,
it's very clear to me that you're on a better line.
Now, it's probably closer
for most people to detect,
but it's definitely a better quality.
If you tell me about your LG TV quickly,
people will hear the difference.
Okay, so you want me to tell you how good my LG TV is?
Because you just love it.
I love it. I love the colours.
I've got this...
I'm actually watching it now.
I've got one of the Apple TV screensavers
and I'm with the Green Bushland.
Oh, yes.
I'll tell you which one.
I always default to the LAX one.
The one that flies over LA.
I'm looking at the one along the island of Hawaii.
Beautiful.
And it's beautiful green.
But with the AirPods,
I've got the AirPods Pro,
the new...
Pro3s.
Yeah, the Pro3s.
The translation.
Well, they're the best ones I've heard,
but often people think I've got my AirPods in.
I'll be fine, but the quality's not as good.
And I've proven it here,
but they sound fine, mate.
You wouldn't stop using them for calls based on what you've heard here.
I've spoken on some aftermarket ones,
which I tried out,
and I could hear the person on the other end beautifully.
The speakers are great,
but when I spoke, they couldn't hear at
or it was crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle
coming through on their end.
So the microphones aren't terribly good.
Good, man. Thanks for helping us with the testing.
Good luck with the TV, mate.
Thank you.
There you go.
We have a lot, Stephen and I,
when we're taking calls as well.
They think they're doing the right thing by being on AirPods,
but actually, quality's not that great.
Now, the AirPods Pro3 are excellent,
because that was pretty discernible difference,
but not enough to be annoying.
So I think they pass with flying colours
as a call
set of headphones.
Mate, really good. What can I do for you?
I was just after a bit of advice,
looking at perimeter
security cameras for the house,
and I know you
I've had a look at Arlo
and those sort of cameras,
but I was just
looking at one that was
on one of the social media sites,
just to see
Kelco, have you heard of them?
I think I've seen ads for them.
Is it like a family that promote them?
Is their product they created?
Is that how it comes across?
It seems to be coming through like that.
Look, I definitely
haven't tried them.
I've seen ads for them and others similar to them.
And I'd like great respect to someone
for doing their best to create a product
and bring it to market and sell it to Aussies
and all that kind of stuff.
But my challenge is
they're unlikely to be manufacturing cameras, right?
They're more likely to have found
a great factory in China
who are making lots of cameras
and they're white labelled.
So they've gone, we'll take six of those
and put this brand on it and here's the manual
and how Kogan started.
Look, let's be clear, that's how Kogan started.
He went to China, found a factory
that would make TVs, put his logo on it
and he said to them, because the manual
he's told me this story where the manual was
and this is trying not to be racist,
but he said the manual was in Chinglish.
Like it was half Chinese, half English
and it didn't make sense.
So he said to the factory, he said, listen,
because they wouldn't deal with him,
because he was new on a start-up
and they didn't want to order enough.
He said, if you take my order for X quantity,
I will rewrite your manual into plain English
so you can use it for anywhere in the world, right?
So he was helping them
and so the thing is there's factories
everywhere in China that can do these things from.
Why would I be somewhat worried about these?
Because security,
weirdly, it's not because they're not a great camera
and they don't offer a great app,
but what guarantee can they give
that these are hack-free,
risk-free on that kind of thing, right?
That's my only concern
and look, they may have heard from the factory
this, that and the other, but see,
if you look at Uniden, Swan,
Arlo, Google, Amazon,
these companies are selling
millions of units.
They have millions of units in the market
and they are constantly under attack.
So they know what the attack vectors are
and they know how to protect the cameras
and the one other example I would give is Eufy.
Now, Eufy,
you know, good brand,
but four or five years ago they had an issue
where when you logged into the app,
you saw someone else's cameras, not yours.
Okay, okay.
Now, that was just a stuff up.
Someone made a mistake, software error,
whatever you want to call it,
but it's planted that seed in my mind
and so I, you know, I struggle
to love the Eufy brand,
but I expect that they've
absolutely tightened everything about their products
to do that. I can't imagine
that this lovely family
have or are able to get
the absolute same guarantee
for their, the security
of their systems and their apps.
So if you, have you ever bought a smart home,
like a light or a smart home
product from like Kogan or Arby Normano
anywhere?
I haven't, but
no, I just
I've got a few smart products, but not
not the lighting, because I've got
seed us in my home.
Right, so when you buy
these things, so if you buy a Kogan smart
home or a Konect home,
Konect life home or whatever it is, the laser brand,
a bunch of different brands
and you download their app, it's
the same app. It's just called something
else and rebranded. It's a white label system, right?
And the app for that
is called Toya.
And I imagine this is the same. I imagine the app
is just the same as some other brand and
whatever. So look, if it's
amazing value, then
and price is really
critical to you, then, mate
do your best. And I'm looking at their
website. There's like a five, no,
five pack of these, what look like
pan and tilt cameras for 500
bucks. Like that is
that is the value.
Yeah, well that was the interest because
they
well, some of them are solar, they've already got
solar capabilities down.
There'd be change in batteries and things like that
but the fact that they
can pan and tilt was a bit of an interest
and they follow
like an object or something
and might be moving in the yard or something like
that. How many cameras do you need?
Need?
You're not looking at this going, they've got a 10 camera pack
I want them all. How many do you need?
Three. Right, so you need
three cameras. Have you looked at the price
of, say, UniDent
or RioLink?
Well, I suppose that was the reason for the call
just to see what else or what you
would recommend. I mean, because I've seen
Swan in the marketplace but I'm not
I don't really want to go back to
like a base station
sort of setup. I want to have them stand alone
as a Wi-Fi camera.
But also,
I mean, do all of them have
subscription services where you
keep everything in the cloud or some of them
do it? No, so UniDent
definitely don't have a subscription
service.
Swan also for their wireless cameras
don't require a subscription
service. I think RioLink also
don't require
a subscription service.
Obviously, ALO doesn't require it but it's a benefit
just for features. So it's
a balance. But the one
I think I would be
having a quick look at UniDent
and RioLink
would be the two that come to mind as
being
similar products but
with a
higher level corporate backing.
And it's annoying because I'm bagging
them essentially for their absolute
selling point. Their selling point is that they
aren't a corporation and they're doing this
out of their own home and warehouse.
So I don't know
how to get faith in them other than to
say it's tough
when, if they get attacked
if their products get attacked, it'd be disastrous
for them. So I hope they've got that all covered
and sorted.
But I just don't, I can't give you a
credit bill review of the product because I've not
tried them. But you know, price wise
if you go, hang on a minute, this is
like it's too good to refuse
because of the packs they offer
and things like that.
Mate, I'd be dead keen to
hear how they go for sure.
Sure. Yeah, I suppose that was the reason
is it. I mean, I don't
I don't want to find out the track that they
do have that issue and then you've got
sort of burned your money on it.
But with the known brands
obviously they do go through that.
You're going to spend $1,200
on three outdoor cameras with
Keld, right? Okay.
And for
the same price essentially
you could buy
three uni-den cameras that also come
with solar panels.
Okay.
And they pan and tilt. Now, I'm trying to
remember, I don't know whether the uni-den
ones follow pan and tilt. I keep
I feel like their latest one does.
So, so, so go with
the latest version.
I haven't actually plugged it in
and tested but I'm off top of my head.
I feel like it
no.
Because you yourself
you run
I've got a lot all around the
home and the front of the house I've got
a nest. I've got a ring and a
uni-den and
mate, honestly
the difference between any of them is
incremental at best.
But the reason I'm all in on the Arlo
system is I pay, I don't know, $15,
$20 a month and yeah
I get cloud storage but I also get
really vibrant notifications.
So, for example, I get notifications
that say Jackson has arrived
at home because it recognises his face.
I get notifications say
Blue Cooper has parked in the driveway
or, you know, someone suspicious
is near the black here
on the driveway. And while
at the moment that it just adds information
it won't be long.
I'm confident it won't be long before they pivot
that to go okay. So do you want
notifications that we think are
suspicious activity? So they're going to
use AI to do some pretty amazing
things to make out my notifications far
more interesting and reliable.
Plus mate, the cameras are
excellent, the batteries last for ages
and if you put a solar panel on them
or I get the, my favourite one
is the wide camera. It's hard-wired
into power on the side of the house
but it's wirelessly connected to the network
if you know what I mean? You don't have to run back to a
base station but it's hard-wired.
So it's a floodlight and
a security camera in one.
That to me is
because I think honestly the light coming
on is as important as anything else
so that's what I do and
the Arlo wired floodlight
is actually
cheaper than all the products we've talked about.
I think it's under
$200.
Because it doesn't have battery
and all that stuff so
there's something to think about there as well
is just using the floodlights front, back
and centre of the home.
I don't know
of health mate but good luck.
I think you have, I appreciate your help.
No worries mate, let us know how you end up.
No worries, good on you.
Cheers buddy, good on you, thanks mate.
And look, if you have purchased
those cameras that
Craig was talking about, the Keld
and again I want to say
massive respect to Aaron
and Josh
Salkeld
who created this company
amazing. They experienced
break-ins
they had that concern
and they created this company. Excellent.
I just
haven't tried the products and
worry about the long-term security of
the
of that.
I spoke about the app and they say
because I'm reading the website as I go
they say they built their own app
so that's huge, costs significant money
countless iterations and more setbacks than we can count
but owning our own software
means we control reliability, security
updates and the experience you get so that's good.
So all power to them.
Let me know if you've
tried these cameras. I could be convinced for sure.
But I, I mean
warranty, support, all those things are just
easy to go with a big brand sometimes
but you may have
a great experience with another brand. Let me know.
We'll get to you next week.
And we'll hopefully help you out with your
questions.
If you want to be on the show, you know how to do it.
If you've got something to talk about, let me know.
And if you're in the market for an electric car
please tune in to Two Bikes Talking Electric Cars.
You can search it up on YouTube.
The Two Bikes Talking Tech podcast is also on YouTube
on the EFGM channel. Very easy to watch
or you can listen and watch on Spotify
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YouTube.
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just consume.
That's all we ask is just consume the content
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the EFGM podcast.
Bye.
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