Motorola has announced the launch of its moto g85 5G – the first device from the moto g family to boast an endless edge display.

The moto g range is known for delivering premium features to consumers, and the moto g85 5G is no exception. The curved display is seamlessly blended with the rear inlay and contoured sides, making for a sophisticated statement coupled with exceptional comfort. The device also enjoys an ultrathin frame, full HD+ resolution, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 screen for enhanced durability, a 50MP main camera, and Motorola’s signature vegan leather finish. Designed to integrate into each user’s life and elevate their day-to-day experiences, whether it’s capturing life’s special moments, staying connected on the go, or simply enjoying some downtime.

As Motorola continues to expand its presence, catering to the growing number of consumers seeking greater innovation, variety and accessibility to premium technology, this latest device will certainly impress.

Kurt Bonnici, Head of Motorola Greater Asia Pacific said, “The moto g85 5G is an incredible achievement in smartphone design. It delivers the top features consumers are wanting – excellent camera capabilities, big powerful battery, strong performance – and we’ve packaged this into our groundbreaking endless edge design. The seamlessly blended curve display, contoured sides, ultrathin frame and premium finishes that were previously reserved for our motorola edge flagship range.

“Motorola’s mission to democratise technology is what first inspired the creation of the moto g family, and I am extremely proud that Motorola continues to show up for our consumers like this. It’s especially meaningful today as we see the impact of the rising cost of living in New Zealand. Our growth in shipment market share is a testament to Kiwi consumer demand; a sign that we are delivering more of what our consumers want and need,” Kurt added.

The moto g85 5G is now available in Colbalt Blue.

The post Motorola pushes boundaries of innovation w. moto g85 5G appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

As a new year rolls around, so does a new dawn of flagship smart phone releases.

In traditional form Samsung kicks of the new year right with their release of the Galaxy S Series.

True it really doesn’t seem that it was 12 months ago we saw the S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra 5G hit the store shelves. But, it was and my how things have evolved.

And an evolution is exactly what we have with the largest and beefier Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G.

As they showcased at CES 2024, the new series of smartphones has adopted the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence).

But first, the specs.

Across all of the new S24 Series, 256GB is the lowest, with Samsung very wisely dropping any 128GB variations.

Knowing that smart phone users that like to adopt the higher end phones will most definitely make use of the camera. A lot. And without the option of microSD expansion for some years now, 128GB is simply swallowed up too quick by vids and pics.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Built to handle the most extreme workload, high end mobile games, all the while keeping cool and calm and not impede on battery consumption.

Samsung offered up the same amount of RAM as last year at 12GB, which is fair and definitely more than you may ever need. This is I hope will see an increase in the next models, as other flagship manufacturers (excluding Apple) are adopting 16 to 18GB, or the provision to be able to utilize storage space to expand the RAM.

We see WiFi 6 compatibility on the S24 Ultra 5G, but it missed out on the WiFi 7 upgrade / future proofing.

Cameras are of course what makes the Galaxy S Series the front runner in the entire Samsung smart device line up.

The rear sees four cameras in the signature layout that makes the Ultra unique.

Your main lens is a 200MP wide, accompanied by a 50MP periscope telephoto, an additional 10MP telephoto and a 12MP ultrawide.

For those breathtaking selfies you get a 12MP wide pinhole lens, which completely minimizes the impact on the full screen view.

The space zoom has been retained at 100x zoom and this has been improved on even more by way of being easier and steadier to use. The Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G also has an excellent macro.

And speaking of screen, it is a vivid 6.8 inch AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh (perfect for gaming) and with HDR10+.

But there is no curve at the sides. While the body of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is rounded for the comfort being held in one’s hand, the screen is edge to edge without the wrapping on either side.

As Samsung did a few years ago now with the discontinuation of their Note series, the S24 Ultra 5G comes with its very own S Pen. This comfortably clicks in to the titanium body of the phone, and Samsung’s One UI will detect when it’s being removed and offer up the usual writing and drawing options that we have seen in prior top shelf S Series, including air action where you can use your S Pen to remotely control your S24 Ultra 5G.

The S Pen is as fluid as ever when writing and is to the likes of a real ink pen when transcribing, which can be natively converted to text via the device’s AI.

So more on that now.

Samsung have always had the most robust and option rich video and picture editor in any smartphone I have used and reviewed.

Now you can utilize AI magic for your snaps. Circle and search is taking a pic of an item or object and using Samsung’s own cloud AI to search the web for that specific item, with an astounding level of accuracy.

Want to remove an ex partner or a photo bomber from a pic. You can!By outlining the object (or person) you want to remove Samsung’s AI will process the entire image and try to fill in the background where the object or person was.

In my tests, it worked, sure, but for the most part was still relatively obvious something had been masked.

The more successful AI image feature was the moving of objects or people, essentially cutting them out of the frame and moving them to a different place within the image.

With the S24 Ultra 5G you no longer need smart photo editing apps. It’s all on the device.

Depending on whether you are using WiFi at home or mobile data will reflect how long the AI processing takes as it processes in the cloud. This is free for now, but there is word out there that eventually it will require a subscription to use the AI features. Makes sense, all other photo editing apps are on subs.

AI is not only limited to your photo’s. It’s also a travelers best friend.

The Samsung AI on the S24 ultra will translate languages in real time, whether that is via a phone call, or person to person.

No longer will you have awkward ‘lost in translation’ moments when on an OE.

Powering this AI infused multi-purpose, multi-taskable beast is a decent sized 5, 000 mAh battery with 45 watt fast charging (via a power brick not supplied), 15 watt wireless and 4.5 watt reverse charging (for charging up your Galaxy Buds.

Battery life is a mixed bag but is on the positive side.

For general use you’re likely to get a couple of days out of a full charge. Gaming decreases this of course. For daily use (and I am not a light mobile user) I was able to squeeze out two and a half days on a full charge.

A few gaming sessions (approx. 6 hours in total) shaved off 30% which is good going (games played are Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal).

8K video recording seemed to cause no stress on the battery after 10 to 20 minutes of footage recorded. Power damage was completely minimal, around 5%.

If you’re a light to mid user you’re going to be fine if you forget to charge your Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G overnight.

Heavy user or a serious mobile gamer, you should make it through a full day, easy.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G has taken a leap in to the future of smart mobiles and set the path and expectations for what we can now expect from a smartphone going forward.

In some respects I feel that the AI is still in an early stage, but in others it excels beyond expectations.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is more than a smartphone. It offers up an entire suite of functionality that no other device can currently, making it the one-stop go-to.

A worthy upgrade or a must own device.

The post Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

OPPO has recently released two Reno series smartphones – the Reno10 and Reno10 Pro 5G.

Packed with hardware that would make other, more expensive, flagship devices feel embarrassed (looking at you Apple) and the biggest wow factor of the Reno10 Pro 5G being the photography specs.

STG received a Reno10 Pro 5G to give a run through and asides from the usual tech rundown and testing of the hardware, it was the camera that was the ultimate standout.

The Reno10 Pro 5G boasts 256GB storage aligned with 12GB RAM and all of your digital goodness is processed by a Qualcomm SM7325 Snapdragon 778G 5G.

Asides from the processor being of slightly lower spec than the current Snapdragon Gen 2, the Reno10 Pro 5G is near to a top tier device.

As mentioned the camera’s are the biggest (but not only) selling point of OPPO’s latest Reno.

For the front selfie you’ve got a super generous 32MP that can record vids @ 1080p / 30fps.

The rear camera’s housing is very unique to this model and here you’re future proofed for your smart phone snaps.

The split lens bay has a 50MP wide with multi-direction, 32MP telephoto and to round out the triple cameras, a 8MP ultra-wide.

Able to record vids at 4K @ 30fps this is the vloggers dream phone with the multi-view camera mode (film with both front and rear camera’s simultaneously).

OPPO has added a Portrait mode along with a host of usual suspects, including night shooting wizardry.

Portrait turns out professional quality bokeh pics that no other smart phone comes close to being able to achieve. Ideal for taking snaps of your demanding fur babies.

This studio quality snapping mode can churn out some of the most vividly detailed shots I have seen from a smart phone.

The camera on the Reno10 Pro 5G is second to none.

The phone itself is large at a 6.7 inch AMOLED screen with an almost zero bezel.

Running the latest version of Android with OPPO’s own ColorOS overlayed, which comes with very little bloatware and has a light footprint on your internal storage.

For the gamers out there (including me) you’ll get a 120Hz refresh, although I have to admit that the default of 60Hz looked just as crisp.

Given the lower processor I wondered if a few of the console quality titles would stutter. Nope, the likes of Call of Duty, Pascal’s Wager, Diablo Immortal all played smooth.

This makes the Reno10 Pro 5G a cost effective gaming phone.

Battery wise OPPO didn’t hold out.

A very decent 4600mAh powercell that is also able to be quick charged with the supplied 80 watt AC adaptor via SUPERVOOC (yep OPPO have included a mains power brick).

Honestly, the OPPO Reno10 Pro 5G teeters on a flagship device and it most certainly is the top of the Reno series at the time of writing this review.

With its photography prowess it outshines OPPO’s current top device the Find X5 Pro.

OPPO have packed so much goodness in to the Reno10 Pro 5G that it seems underpriced.

Shoot professional video, snap studio quality photos and equipped with the juice to last a couple of days between charges.

At its current RRP – and when compared to what other manufacturers price theirs at (almost double) the OPPO Reno10 Pro 5G is not only in the affordable bracket (even in this current cost of living crisis) it’s also the current top mobile-photography smart phone. Ever.

The post OPPO Reno10 Pro 5G Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung’s A Series are known for packing the goods without the high price tag, and this year’s lineup are closely nipping at the heels of the flagship S Series.

Having received a Samsung Galaxy A54 5G to try out I put aside my S22 Ultra (last year’s top shelf handset) and used the new A Series model as my everyday for a week.

Coming in at a smaller ratio, the Galaxy A54 5G has a 6.4 inch AMOLED display with a slim bezel.

The front camera is a pin hole weighing in at a front running 32MP.

From the rear, one could be forgiven for mistaking the new Galaxy A54 5G for a S23. The cameras at the back are housed in a vertical triple array, the main being 50MP (wide) accompanied by a 12MP (ultra-wide) and a 5MP macro.

There’s a 10x digital zoom (maximum) and vids record in 4K.

The macro is excellent as is Nightography (there are modes for both or the camera will auto switch if it thinks it needs to).

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G – Nightography

Powering up the Galaxy A54 5G is a Exynos 1380 (Octa Core 2.4GHz+2GHz) processor with a low but expected 6GB RAM.

While the Galaxy A54 5G is not aimed to be a multi-tasking powerhouse, it does extremely well if you’re someone who uses multiple apps and any time.

Gaming it also fared well being able to run Diablo Immortal, Call of Duty and Asphalt.

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G – Macro

But it is not a gaming mobile, not really. Games chomped away at the 5,000mAh battery and with Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty the phone did heat up.

The Galaxy A54 5G is better suited to creatives. Having a killer camera that comes close (and beats in some respects) the S23 Series.

It doesn’t have that super high price point, so if you’re a photo snapper and a creator the Galaxy A54 5G has got the goods and then some.

The post Samsung Galaxy A54 5G Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G, two innovative smartphones that advance Samsung Galaxy’s commitment to designing awesome mobile experiences.

These new additions to the popular Galaxy A series will help users shoot steady and crisp videos, see clearly even in bright conditions, and do more of the things they love with battery life that lasts more than two days.

“Cutting-edge mobile experiences are increasingly essential to everyday life,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “With continuous enhancements to the Galaxy A series, we’re ensuring that more people around the world can access our transformative innovations.”

The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G deliver stunning images with clear quality even in bright conditions, making use of Samsung Galaxy’s leading Nightography and AI capabilities. Whether users want to capture the perfect selfie or connect through super-smooth video calls, the Galaxy A54 offers astonishing detail thanks to its 32MP front camera.

The new smartphones produce video with amazing clarity, combatting shakiness and blur with improved optical image stabilization (OIS) and video digital image stabilization (VDIS). Even with unsteady hands or when filming on the go, users can be confident about capturing awesome content. For adventures after dark and in low light conditions, Night mode helps users to capture more detail by broadening the camera’s pixel size.

Users can also now remove unwanted shadows and reflections for the first time in Galaxy A series, thanks to the enhanced editing tools.

Both devices feature immersive Super AMOLED displays, measuring 6.4-inch on the Galaxy A54 5G and 6.6-inch on the Galaxy A34 5G. Both displays have been upgraded for astounding outdoor visibility, even under bright sunlight. With the enhanced Vision Booster and a 120Hz refresh rate, the displays will keep up with users as they move between different lighting conditions.

Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G also guarantee up to four generations of OS upgrades and five years of security updates. These features allow users to access the latest software and security to maximize the smartphone lifecycle.

Enhanced mobile experiences rely on advanced security. With Samsung Knox, data is kept under lock and key with defense-grade mobile security. The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G give users access to the Security and Privacy Dashboard, which makes it easy to see how apps are tracking data and enables simple ways to stop unwanted data collection. When users want to share important files that contain sensitive or personal information with the ultimate level of privacy and control, there’s Private Share. This enables users to share files only to designated recipients within time limits and with screenshots disabled.

The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G are also compatible with the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem to provide seamless connectivity between devices. Users can get 100GB of cloud storage and easily back up photos to OneDrive with a six month trial of Microsoft 365 Basic, accessible on the Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G.

The Galaxy A54 5G will be available in two colour options, Awesome Graphite and Awesome White.

The Galaxy A34 5G will be available in two colour options Awesome Graphite and Awesome Violet. Both Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G will be available in New Zealand on April 3rd, 2023 online and select retailers.

The post Samsung Announce Galaxy A54 5G & Galaxy A34 5G appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

OPPO’s flagship, the Find X5 Pro 5G is an absolute beast to be reckoned with.

Powerful with its 12GB RAM and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. Not to forget it’s killer 50MP main camera and a long lasting 5000mAh battery.

If there was ever a smartphone built for gaming, OPPO’s Find X5 Pro 5G is it.

OPPO have even paired up with League of Legends, showing that this is the mobile to take to any eSports gig.

An Android based phone, OPPO have overlayed their ColorOS. Within the features of their operating system is a gaming mode – that you can tweak software and hardware settings before or during play.

All this said, I was keen to see how the internal hardware and battery life would handle some console-quality titles.

First on my list was a fav of mine – Pascal’s Wager.

This is an RPG title that looks like it’s had a straight port from PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Crispy sharp graphics and a mostly open world.

A fantasy title with melee combat, exploration and a lot of hidden goodies as you play through the deep lore.

Being a favourite in my mobile gaming exploits I tend to find myself tuning out while playing and more often than not I end up with a battery warning after a few hours.

So in the evening around 7pm I started out on Pascal’s Wager. In what seemed like only a couple of hours of play I received a low battery warning. In reality it was actually close to 2am…

The OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G had absolutely lasted the distance, from full to 5% I had full uninterrupted play for 7 hours.

Pascal’s Wager, as great as the game is, it can be greedy on the juice, but the OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G didn’t even break a sweat.

Gameplay was fluid, no lag, no jittering, just uninterrupted RPG action.

Following on from that was Need for Speed.

I had this installed from way back, when it first released in the Google Play store but had only played short bursts.

Synonymous to its namesake PC and console franchise, Need for Speed mobile throws you on to the road, city streets and more in high adrenaline fast racing.

The OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G was fully charged and ready to burn rubber.

And it sure did. A 4 hour play time shaved only 23% from its overall battery life.

There were no compromises made in graphics or play and for this one I also used a Bluetooth headset.

Grant Theft Auto: Vice City is a title I hadn’t played in a while.

Sure it’s been out for decades, PlayStation 2 and PSP – with being ported over to mobile a couple of years back.

Given that the OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G was able to handle long playtime with some high end graphic games I figured Vice City would be nothing for the smartphone to handle. I was right.

Around 3 hours of running, gunning, stealing and mugging to a killer 80’s soundtrack hardly made a dent on the phone’s battery.

Sure it’s not as present day console quality as other games I tried but it is a massively open world and Rockstar did jizzy up the graphics with their mobile release and there can be a lot in the graphics department to render all at one time.

GTA: Vice City proved to be the less hungrier of all games only knocking 11% off the battery life.

Finally, Diablo Immortal.

The long, long, long awaited Diablo for mobile from Blizzard was definitely worth its wait.

A franchise I have spent a good portion of my life playing.

Diablo Immortal is exactly what you expect from a top down RPG.

Quests, missions, looting and killing. And of course graphics and audio (best played with headphones) that was only dreamt of a few years back.

It’s a beautifully rendered game but you do need a decent processor array to play as it was meant to be experienced.

To no surprise the OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G simply purred along.

This one I played the longest, 8.5 hours with a few short breaks and I was surprised that the Find X5 Pro 5G hadn’t screamed out for its life during that length of playtime.

It almost did though. When I wrapped up there was 16% battery left.

The OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G is absolutely built for serious gaming.

The phone has a 120Hz refresh with HD10+ 6.7 inch screen, which gets those graphics popping. But it was the battery that wowed me overall.

A similar gaming test I did recently on Samsung’s S22 Ultra 5G with the same sized battery did not see the 5,000mAh powercell last.

Why? Good question and one that I’m asking myself.

I think it is due to the overlayed OS plus the OPPO Find X5 Pro focuses all of it’s power on gaming once you start the app. Sure you’ll still get your notifications (you can opt to have these turned off during gameplay) however it puts all resources in to your play time to maximise your gaming prowess.

But it is clear that the OPPO Find X5 Pro is an all gaming beast of a smartphone that currently nothing else can compare to it.

The post OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G. The Gaming Phone. appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung’s S22 range has been with us for a few months now.

Of the series is the flagship, the big tamale of the S22’s – the Ultra 5G.

A ‘Samsung Note’ hybrid the S22 Ultra 5G combines one of the best camera currently available on any smartphone with some killer tech chops to get you multitasking, videoing in 8K and of course mobile gaming.

Having a Snapdragon 8 gen 1 chipset with 12GB RAM (for the higher end model) it’s powerful enough to play through anything.

The 5,000 mAh battery should also be grunty enough to keep the pace for high end console quality games through to lengthy game streaming and eSports.

But was it?

The S22 Ultra 5G comes with a stylus (hence the mention of a Note hybrid) called the S Pen. If you’re an avid user of the S Pen then you’re in for a treat, maybe, there’s dedicated S Pen games.

These are light and generally quick play. Also not my cup of tea.

So I got directly in to the heavy stuff using 5G connectivity.

First up Diablo.

Diablo Immortal is an RPG by Blizzard that boasts console or PC quality graphics and gaming.

Given specific tasks in a mostly open world you’ll kill monsters, chat with NPCs, pick up side quests and loot gear.

Level up and get new equipment the game is submerssive and best played with a controller for mobile.

A three hour play from full battery was surprisingly light on the S22 Ultra 5G and took a mere 21%

Pascal’s Wager was not quite so forgiving on the juice.

Another RPG, Pascal’s Wager is a mobile specific fantastical adventure of a medieval like world.

Looting, pillaging and killing is before you with a handful of DLC’s.

The S22 Ultra 5G handled the rich renders and framerates superbly well. No lag, just fluidity.

But the battery did not fare as well. A three hour play on Pascal’s Wager annihilated 61% from a full charge.

Other games like PUBG and Fortnite weren’t as taxing. 22% and 28% respectively.

Both played perfectly.

As did Call of Duty Mobile. This one got around 2 hours of play, seamless and full on bullet action with a cost of 33% battery life.

Last one was Gameloft’s Asphalt.

A high octane racing series that’s done the hard yards. Their latest throws you directly in to high speed adrenalin.

Get the cars, get the placings and if you like, take out your opponents.

Again beautifully rendered in console quality eye candy, a four hour Asphalt play diminished a whopping 68% from full charge.

The S22 Ultra 5G has a 120hz refresh rate and this is essential when it comes to high quality and fast paced gaming.

The smartphone’s battery, for the most part, held out well… but I expected more. More longevity on the 5,000 mAh powercell.

Sure not everyone is going to smash out hours of gameplay in one sitting, and if you’re not, you’ll be fine.

The mobile gaming results on the Samsung S22 Ultra 5G were a mixed bag for sure. The phone itself has no issues with whatever high render game you’re going to play on it. It’s definitely got the goods.

Battery wise, if you’re looking at having a full on lengthy online multiplayer gaming marathon or just want to tuck yourself away for some offline looting for hours on end my advice would be to have your charger or a battery pack nearby.

The post Gaming on the S22 Ultra 5G appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Introducing a modern twist on the traditional museum experience, Spark has today launched New Zealand’s first interactive 5G Street Museum – a co-created series of 5G-powered augmented reality (AR) experiences that bring to life unseen stories of some of our nation’s most iconic creatives: Parris Goebel, Benee, David Dallas, Teeks, and Askew One.

The Spark 5G Street Museum app is free to download. The Street Museum exhibits can be viewed by  the public across select streets in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Each exhibition explores new forms of storytelling and self-expression through the power of 5G and AR:

• Parris Goebel is giving fans the chance to dance alongside her in an immersive 3D experience that showcases the incredible superhuman transformation Parris experiences when she performs.
• Benee has built a thriving natural AR world of positivity and fun – The Beneeverse. This exhibit embodies the source of her creative inspiration – a magical world where nature and imagination are flourishing.
• David Dallas walks us through a breakthrough moment that saw him become one of the brightest stars on the NZ hip-hop circuit and one of our most-streamed albums in the last decade.
• Teeks invites us to step into the waharoa and witness his personal experience as a singer song writer and how performing is a spiritual and ritualistic practice that connects him to his tūpuna (ancestors).
• Askew One is paying homage to the strength of New Zealand’s urban and street art culture, bringing together decades of artists in a story of resilience and rebirth.

Spark Marketing Director Matt Bain, who oversees data and automation, marketing, and brand experience says that the Spark 5G Street Museum is about demonstrating to Kiwis what emerging technologies like 5G and AR can do for Aotearoa, whether it be art, culture or the next era of entertainment.

“Over the decades we’ve seen how the wireless evolution has transformed how we engage with the world. 1G enabled calls on the go, 2G introduced text messages, 3G gave us internet on the go, and 4G brought us video on demand. 5G promises to deliver another step-change in our experience.”

“We’ve now got 5G in 21 locations nationwide and if the previous generations have taught us anything, it’s that it’s going to fundamentally change how we work, learn, connect, and are entertained. Spark’s 5G St Museum has enabled world-class creators – artists, dancers and singers –to explore entirely new ways of expressing themselves and in turn, with the speed and capability of 5G, offer their audience a new, immersive way to engage with them at scale and in the highest definition possible,” says Matt.

World-renowned dancer and choreographer Parris Goebel says she’s excited to partner with Spark to share her newly choreographed dance exclusively with Aotearoa in a way she’s never done before.

“To be able to create art in a world where I can do almost anything I want is super exciting. I worked with Spark in a purpose built studio in Los Angeles, wearing a full-body motion capture suit that captured my every move which was then recorded and scanned to build an augmented reality avatar of myself. The inspiration behind my exhibition is about unleashing the inner power that’s within us all.  I wanted people to see the feeling I experience when I move – powerful, unstoppable, invincible and like a superhuman version of myself.”

Also on showcase, popular New Zealand musician Benee (Stella Bennett) welcomes viewers into the Beneeverse – a whimsical natural world of positivity and fun emulating her creative inspiration.

“The natural world is hugely important to me – mentally, physically, and creatively. It’s something I’ve learned to appreciate more as I’ve spent more time overseas. My exhibition is about creating a place where my fans can step into my fantasy wonderland and be reminded of how rich, diverse and precious our world is,” says Benee.

Māori soul-singer Teeks (Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi) has harnessed the power of 5G and AR to create an exhibit that draws on his connection with his tūpuna (ancestors) and whakapapa – creating a visually and spiritually enlightening journey into the depths of his creative processes.

“When I sing, I feel as though I’m opening portals to the ancestral realm. It’s a place of surrender and a deeply spiritual and ritualistic process for me – as though I’m within a whare wānanga. My exhibition is about bringing this journey to life and through the intersection of technology and performance art, I hope this inspires young tamariki to dream big and embrace their whole identity,” says Teeks.

Askew One’s (Elliot O’Donnell) exhibit features a bespoke 3D graffiti art piece designed to incorporate the names, tags, and styles of graffiti artists who created urban street culture history and paved the way for many artists today.

“I had already started to explore how technology can add another element to graffiti art, so I was really pumped when I was asked to create this exhibition with Spark. I wanted to visualise the less known story of how graffiti artists moved underground and bring the fragments of this art to the surface for people to appreciate in an entirely new dimension,” says Askew One.

The fifth exhibition has been co-created with David Dallas and shares the breakthrough moment that saw him become one of the brightest stars on the New Zealand hip-hop circuit.

“The concept behind my exhibit was to illustrate my starting point as a solo artist. I came from being in a group and I wanted to show the journey of how I stepped out into my solo career. I distinctively remember the day I met with director Joel Kefali and being challenged on what my aesthetic was. This was a turning point for me, and from then I worked to differentiate myself from what was going on in hip hop at the time and also what I’d done before. Bringing something brighter and more up-beat” says Dallas.

Spark’s 5G Street Museum is on showcase for the next four months. Kiwis can view the AR exhibitions by downloading the free ‘Spark 5G Street Museum’ app (iOS and Android) and scanning the QR codes featured at exhibitions. Spark mobile customers will not be charged for data usage whilst viewing the Spark 5G Street Museum exhibitions.

The post Spark launches New Zealand’s first 5G Street Museum appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

If Samsung’s latest Galaxy flagship S Series is a little too much for you in price or specs their A Series has got the smarts you need.

With a range of smartphones to cover all bases, the big tamale of this years A Series is the A73 5G.

Super lightweight and ready to snap high quality pics or record in 4K.

The Galaxy A73 5G has four cameras, the main is a whopping 108 MP wide, accompanied by a 12 MP ultrawide and a 5 MP macro plus one 5 MP depth.

These are high-end cameras at a non high end price.

The selfie cam comes in at a generous 32 MP and is also able to record at 4K.

Brilliant stuff for content creators and vloggers.

Samsung have ported over some of the modes from their Fold, Flip and S Series with the usual suspects being readily available. This said the A73 5G night shots still need some work.

You’re not going to get a result of total blackness in a zero light environment – but you’re not going to get the brightest either.

But they do have a thing called ‘Fun’ as a builtin selectable mode.

Clearly this aimed at social media snapping by way of adding filters and such to your pics. A teenagers dream phone for sure.

The 10x zoom is good. At max zoom you’ll lose a wee bit of the finer details but far better than I expected..

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G – Macro mode

The 6.7 inch Super AMOLED screen has an impressive 120Hz refresh rate, a clear winner for gaming. And yep the A73 5G has just enough grunt to have console quality gametime on.

Games like Asphalt Racing, Call of Duty Mobile, Fortnite and PUBG all play real well. No stutter or lag.

But internal storage might be an issue, especially if you’re going to be recording a fair amount of 4K vids.

You’ll get 128GB internally coupled with 6GB RAM. But Samsung are aware of this and keeping the rom at 128Gb keeps the price down while they added microSD support. I’d recommend investing in a microSD, just so you’re not having to delete data to keep going.

Samsung Galaxy A Series A73 5G – Night mode

The processor, a SDG 778G 5G Octa-core is smart enough to optimise RAM usage (system memory) and the battery life as well as producing enough data crunching to multi-task and play like a pro.

Security sees all of the bells and whistles. Facial recognition and under screen fingerprint.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me for the 2022 version of the A73 5G is the powercell that Samsung have placed in to the phone.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G – 10x Zoom

A 5,000 mAh battery is going to see you right for a day of heavy use (video recording, gaming, media streaming) and for the more moderate to light users out there the A73 5G will get you a good couple of days before needing a charge up.

If you’re caught short this model has 25 watt fast charging (cabled).

Coming in an array of pastel colours to possibly suit all tastes the A73 5G borders on being a top shelf smartphone. Almost.

The lesser spec’d processor and just shy of 8GB RAM to place it at the lower end of a flagship, the phone has a camera array that Samsung’s entry level S Series should be jealous of.

Built for super reliability and always good to go this year’s A73 5G comes in at well under $1K and outdoes some of the more expensive smartphones from other ‘core’ manufacturers.

The post Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

OPPO, today announced the launch of its high-end flagship smartphone with world-first imaging experiences – OPPO Find X5 series.

OPPO combines breath-taking high-end design with best-in-class technology and camera innovation.

At OPPO INNO Day 2021, OPPO announced MariSilicon X, the dedicated imaging Neural Processing Unit, which overcomes smartphone video capture’s greatest challenge – night-time recording.

Powered by the latest-generation, multicore Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, the Find X5 Pro stays cool under pressure and is supercharged to handle the most demanding games and applications. On the outside, it embodies a futuristic design to express a sense of calm and timeless beauty.

With unrivalled night shooting capabilities, the high-end 5G flagship Find X5 Pro builds on the core DNA that makes OPPO a hit with consumers and critics alike.

With a futuristic aesthetic, new ColorOS, world-class performance, ultra-fast connectivity, and a camera system that’s out of this world; Find X5 Pro raises the bar for smartphones.

OPPO have announced a three-year partnership with Hasselblad, the legendary camera manufacturer famous for documenting the lunar surface and attached to astronaut Armstrong’s chest, to co-develop industry-leading camera technologies for OPPO’s flagship Find series.

The two brands will focus on breakthroughs in colour science to create an improved mobile photography experience on Hasselblad Camera for Mobile.

Since the integration of OPPO and OnePlus, research and development resources between the brands have been combined to maximise efficiency and improve user experience. With the imaging advances made in the partnership between OnePlus and Hasselblad, OPPO is excited to elevate the strategic partnership to the corporate level for both the OPPO and OnePlus brands.

“Following the success of OnePlus and Hasselblad’s collaboration in the past year, we are very pleased to see the partnership enter a new stage of development, giving more users around the world a chance to enjoy the legendary Hasselblad mobile imaging experience,” says Pete Lau, Chief Product Officer. “Camera colour performance has always been a focus for OPPO and a part of Hasselblad’s DNA. We are very excited to be able to explore the future of Hasselblad Camera for Mobile together.”

Building top-tier imaging systems capable of delivering a world-class mobile photography experience is a key strategy for OPPO to bring forth a next-generation premium smartphone experience.

Following the launch of OPPO’s first self-developed imaging NPU MariSilicon X, OPPO is further committed to creating a world-class photography experience through its cooperation with Hasselblad.

OPPO and Hasselblad will now work together to further develop advanced imaging solutions through R&D collaboration, which aims to provide users with more natural colours and a more refined imaging experience.

Leveraging Natural Colour Calibration with Hasselblad, OPPO also targets aims to bring the most natural skin tone possible to its portrait photography.

Starting with the software improvements for natural colour tuning, the three-year partnership will further enhance the colour calibration solution and target to establish the new benchmark for smartphone camera colour performance, delivering a consistent natural colour performance for OPPO mobile phones to cover all scenarios and across the entire camera system.

The result of this collaboration, “OPPO | Hasselblad Camera for Mobile”, will be first introduced in the next generation of OPPO’s flagship Find X series in the first quarter of 2022.

Join OPPO and #EmpowerEveryMoment at the global Find X5 Series launch event, to be streamed live on the 25th of February 2022 at 12:00AM NZDT.

The post OPPO to Launch Flagship Find X5 Series appeared first on Shane the Gamer.