ITy Bytes 3 December – Western Digital; Linksys; JBL; Aspera; Acer; TCL; LG

Ity Bytes 3 December – in this edition,
Western Digital Extreme Pro portable SSD here,
Linksys Aware for Linksys Velop mesh routers – makes you aware,
JBL Project Rock (a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson) headphones can be yours,
Aspera doing nicely – low cost smart, easy and rugged phones,
Acer innovates with ConceptD,
TCL’s 4G MOVETIME Family Watch (MT40),
LG slays dragons with 1ms UltraGear performance gaming monitors,

Ity Bytes 3 December is bite-sized curated news

ITy Bytes 3 December

Western Digital Extreme Pro portable SSD here

Western Digital appears to have broken the external PCIe NVMe SSD speed barrier claiming sequential read speeds of up to 1050MBps on USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps full-duplex) equipped devices. But you may not get anywhere near that – it is not the drives fault but the interface

ITy Bytes 3 December Western Digital Extreme Pro

The catch 22 is that most current PC/Mac devices are USB-C 3.0/3.1/Gen 1 (5Gbps) and tap out 600Mbps (well, in reality, half that unless you are using the right SuperSpeed/+ rated cable). And if you use the USB-C to older USB-A cables/devices tops is around 50-200MBps. You can read more about USB-C and Thunderbolt speeds in our guide.

The SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD comes with a limited 5-year warranty. It is IP55 rated, and rain won’t affect it – it is not waterproof.

Price: 500GB/$295 and 1TB/$399 and 2TB/TBA at JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks and Harvey Norman. Website.

Linksys Aware for Linksys Velop mesh routers – makes you aware

Linksys is alive and well and settled in well with its new owners Foxconn (and Belkin/Wemo). GadgetGuy fondly remembers Linksys WRT routers, and we will explore the Velop range soon.

Linksys Aware is an add-on app for Velop mesh routers. It can sense when connected Wi-Fi devices (smartphones – everything really) move (based on a specified motion sensitivity level). It is user adjustable to avoid false alarms. It is convenient for remotely tracking movement in the home.

Linksys Aware joins Linksys Shield in the company’s subscription software portfolio available for Velop Tri-Band users. Linksys Shield provides comprehensive parental controls. Linksys Aware is $39.99 per annum (free 90-day trial)

JBL Project Rock (a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson) headphones can be yours

JBL has the first wireless training headphones from Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in partnership with Under Armour – Project Rock Collection, UA Sport Wireless Train Headphones. The limited-edition headphones available exclusively at JB HiFi and underarmour.com .au now for $400.

These are on-ear, gym standard cans, powered by JBL ChargeSound for maximum rhythmic motivation, premium sound quality and intensity (good bass). They feature talk-through, speed charge (16-hours or one hour for five minutes charge), oversized buttons (you have seen the plates of meat on the Rock), removable and washable ear cushions. Note they are not ANC (noise cancelling).

Aspera doing nicely – low cost smart, easy and rugged phones.

GadgetGuy recently became aware of Aspera that has a great following in niche markets of smartphones, easy phones and rugged phones. According to Aspera, buyers are not power users, wanting practical solutions like big buttons or ruggedness.

Aspera Mobile phones are sold via retailers including Big W, Harvey Norman and Bing Lee as well as in Caltex and Puma service stations, Bayio and Retravision. The range now includes Android smartphones ($99-199, Easy flip ($79-99), big buttons ($79) and rugged phones ($99-399) all with 12-months warranty.

Aspera Mobile, MD Allan Robertson, said, “With the $99 Jazz 2 smartphone we put together a product aimed at the entry-level and low affordability users. It offers Android Go, Google Play Store with all of its applications, GPS, WiFi, dual 4G SIM cards and much more for just $99.

Acer innovates with ConceptD

If that sounds a bit like ‘Plan 9 from Outer space” it is – ConceptD reflects some of the more funky design that we have seen in a long time. ConceptD is for creatives and professionals.

ConceptD laptops and monitors feature 4K UHD displays with integrated colour correction and demonstrated superior fidelity in reproducing the PANTONE Matching System (PMS) Colours. With a 100% Adobe RGB colour gamut, 90% DCI-P3 colours are brighter and more accurate due to extending the colour range of cyan-green hues. They are factory tested and calibrated to achieve a low Delta E average of <1-2 (4 is good) to reproduce true-to-life colour accuracy.

Using NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards, the ConceptD devices bring real-time ray tracing and AI for designing digital assets.

The ConceptD range is currently available on the Acer online store here, and available in major Australian retailers from Q1 2020. Pricing details are as follows:

7 Notebook with 9th Gen Intel Core i7 Processor, 32GB, NVIDIA GeForce Quadro RTX 3000/5000 with 4/6GB – $4999/6,999
7 Notebook with 9th Gen Intel Core i7Processor, 16GB, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB – $3,999
9 Notebook with 9th Gen Intel Core i9- Processor, 32GB, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 with 8GB – $8,999
CP3 series monitor with 27” UHD, G-Sync, HDR400 – $1,899
CP7 series monitor with 27” UHD, G-Sync 144Hz, HDR1000 – $2,999
500 Desktop with 9th Gen Intel Core i7, NVIDIA Quadro P4000 with 8GB – $5,499
500 with 9th Gen Intel Core i9, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 with 8GB – $7,049

TCL’s 4G MOVETIME Family Watch (MT40)

While schools are banning smartphones, the MT40 is welcome. It helps parents stay connected with their children wherever they go.

Parents can keep in contact with their children via direct two-way 4G calling, video calls, photo-sharing, and messaging on its single touchpoint display. Its geofencing and geolocation lets parents know where their children are at all times. The SOS button is for any situation where a child feels unsafe. Battery life is two days and up to five hours of talk time on a two-hour charge.

Sam Skontos, VP and Regional Managing Director of South East Asia and Pacific, TCL Mobile said,

“The balance between wanting to protect their children while giving them the independence they often crave is a challenge many Australian families are going through. It is a conversation we have had in our own family. While parents work through the right age for their children to have a mobile phone, the MOVETIME Family Watch provides a compelling option for parents wanting to stay connected and monitor their children’s movements at a distance, while being immediately available at the touch of a button if needed.”

Price: $199 and no ongoing subscription fees from at Big W, and shortly in Australia Post

LG slays dragons (well everything really) with 1ms UltraGear performance gaming monitors

The six new UltraGear range includes three NVIDIA G-Syn Certified and G-Sync Compatible monitors, with a one millisecond response time.

Other game-specific settings on the new LG UltraGear range include:

Dynamic Action Sync – allows you to see the action as it occurs in real-time, so you can react immediately and get the edge over your competitors;
Black Stabiliser Mode – Brightens dark areas and gives you better visibility in dark scenes to help you find the enemy or game objectives in the dark;
HDR 10 – To better realise the vision of content creators to represent details in bright and dark parts of high dynamic range content.
HDR 400 – users experience incredible visual immersion when viewing the latest movies, images and games.
Game modes – select models are optimised for each genre including FPS and RTS are directly linked to gamers’ enjoyment of various game genres, and they also offer the perfect experience in games combining multiple aspects of different genres.
Crosshair Feature – Helps enhance accuracy in first-person shooter games; and,
Sphere Lighting and eye-catching design, which improves your overall gaming experience, and sleek yet subtle lighting completes your gaming setup.

Website here

Specifications

ITEM	27GL650F-B	27GL850-B	32GK850F-B	34GL750-B	34GK950F-B	38GL950G
Panel Technology	Full HD IPS Display	QHD Nano IPS	QHD VA Display	Full HD Curved IPS Display	UltraWide QHD IPS Curved Display	Nano IPS Curved Display
Size	27”	27”	31.5”	34” curved	34”	38”
	AMD Radeon FreeSync	NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible	AMD Radeon FreeSync 2 HDR Technology	NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible	AMD Radeon FreeSync 2 HDR Technology	NVIDIA G-SYNC
HDR	HDR 10	HDR 10	VESA DisplayHDR 400	HDR 10	VESA DisplayHDR 400	VESA DisplayHDR 400
Resolution	1920 x 1080	2560 x 1440	2560 x 1440	2560 x 1080	3440 x 1440	3840 x 1600
Colour Gamut	sRGB 99%	DCI-P3 98%	DCI-P3 95%	sRGB 99%	DCI-P3 98%	DCI-P3 98%
Response Time	5ms GTG, 1ms MBR	1ms GTG	5ms GTG, 1ms MBR	5ms (GTG) 1ms (MBR)	5ms (GTG) 1ms (MBR)	1ms GTG
RRP	$549	$999	$849	$999	$2199	$2999