htxt.africa's Tech Made Easy - October 2015

WAYS TO CONNECT!

Fibre, 3G, LTE or ADSL? We look at today’s best and most cost-

effective ways to get online.

THE BEST

ISSUE 20 | OCTOBER 2015 | HTXT.CO.ZA

MVNOS FTWBig names a bustSmall players doing a great job of offering cheaper contracts than the big guys

REVIEWED!STASISSouth Africa’s first Kickstarted adventure game is out, and it’s ace!

HOW TOSee in the dark!Build a loadshedding-beating light that comes on when the power trips!

WIN! THE HOLIDAY OF A

LIFETIME IN OUR

GEAR OF THE YEAR

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ISSUE #20 October 2015www.htxt.co.zaContents

Welcome to another issue of your favourite SA tech mag, Tech Made Easy!

Since our last issue, I’ve actually watched a fair amount of ShowMax shows, mostly on my phone and tablet, and I must say things appear to have improved. The quality and stuttering issues I saw just after launch are a lot less noticeable now, and the service is doing a great job of justifying its R99 subscription fee. Nicely done, ShowMax!

And as for this issue, well, we’ve got some great gear lined up for review. I spent a lot of time with a TV I was very sorry to see go (page 20-21), a monitor that I’d definitely consider spending my own money on (page 17), and playing a locally-developed (and Kickstarted) game that was finally released a short while back (Stasis, page 22). In all, a good month.

We also have a review of the latest “Rugby World Cup” game, but as it turns out, the developers shouldn’t have bothered – it’s terrible. Read Charlie’s review on page 23 for the deets.

Right at the back of the mag you’ll see we’re asking you for your input on our Gear of the Year issue, which we’re putting out next month. Instead of it being somewhat one-sided as it was last year, we’re giving you a selection of gadgets and goodies to vote on so we can include your opinions as well. Find it on page 38.

And that’s it from me! Enjoy the issue.

A GOOD MONTH

WANT TO KNOW MORE? USE Bit.lyAt the bottom of almost every article in Tech Made Easy you’ll see one of these strange short codes. It’s a Bit.ly adress shortening link, which means that when you type it into your web browser it will take you to a longer URL with more information about what you’ve just read. Give it a try now!

6 | tech made easy | March 2014

MTN launches super-cheap smartphoneOperator’s sub-r500 Steppa is first of its kind.

M obile operator MTN has launched South Africa’s first Android-powered smartphone

that’s available on pre-pay for less than R500. It certainly an African first, and may even a world one: as far as we know, there’s no other smartphone in this class available for less than $50 anywhere.

That makes it quite a milestone in putting high-tech handsets within the reach of everyone. Which is awesome.

The phone itself isn’t, of course, hugely powerful. It’s based on a Qualcomm reference design, so it has a 1GHz single core Snapdragon processor, a 3.5inch screen and a mere 2MP camera on board. More limiting is the fact that there’s only 512MB of memory and 1GB of storage on-board.

The screen is a decent enough multitouch affair, which takes up most

of the front of the device. There’s no physical keyboard.

It also runs a positively ancient version of Google’s Android OS, Gingerbread. Still, that does still mean it’s able to access BlackBerry Messenger, which is hugely

important for South Africa.Sadly, MTN has confirmed that there’s

no plans to upgrade the Steppa to a more recent version of Android, although local hackers are investigating the possibility of unlocking the phone and flashing a custom firmware.

There’s an FM radio though, along with a microSD port for upgrading the storage. What you don’t get, however, is a fast HSPA radio for high speed internet access

– you’ll have to settle for plain old 3G. All in all, though, it’s a heck of a

phone for the price. Not even Nokia can come close with its Asha range of semi-smartphones, which start at about R799 and don’t have access to half the number of apps and services the Steppa has.

Like the sound of this super budget smartphone? See our full review at http://bit.ly/1l5dVkv

It’s a milestone which puts high-

tech handsets within the reach

of everyone…

More news at

go to htxt.co.za

Climate Change will Cause more storm damage in sa FaCebook buys whatsapp For r200bnTwo scientists from Wits have published a paper which says that South Africa may be at increased risk of tropical storm damage.bit.ly/nww6kr

Facebook has just dived into its war chest again to make another big purchase, this time it’s buying the popular messaging service WhatsApp.bit.ly/1npd8wj

TABLETLOCATED PHONE

LOCATED

There is nothing quite like

and then finding it again.

Kaspersky Internet Security — multi-device 2014.• Mix-and-match security any device combination• Optimised for device protection, performance and usability• Real-time protection against all Internet threats• Premium Android™ anti-theft device protection

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THE KASPERSKY LAB TEAM

THINK ABOUT IT. WE DO.

Need To kNow: News

I am a cyclone forming over Madagascar

PUBLISHER: Brett Haggard – [email protected]: Adam Oxford – [email protected] EDITOR: Nick Cowen - [email protected] EDITOR: Deon du Plessis – [email protected] & NEWS: Charlie Fripp – [email protected] & STUFF: Lungelo Shezi – [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS: Brendyn Lotz - [email protected], Clinton Matos - [email protected] DESIGNER: Quinton Hoffmann – [email protected]: Dorothy Haggard – [email protected] Jubane – [email protected]

htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy is produced by: Hypertext Media, 102 on 11th, Highlands North, 2192, Johannesburg

Contact Us:Email: [email protected]: (011) 023-8001/4Fax: 08654 83304

Our content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence. Other rights may apply for non-original materials.

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ISSUE #20 October 2015www.htxt.co.zaContents

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Need to knowThe important stuff in SA tech25bn connected devices by 2020As gadgets multiply, they’re also getting smarterMaker NewsNew IoT Starter Kit from Microsoft and AdafruitIoT Roadshow coming to SATech News Round-up100% free Wifi access in BraamNew app helps to keep journalists safeCrowd-funded laser razor means no more cutsBRCK creates a “classroom-in-a-box” for rural areasGames NewsNew Humble Bundle Monthly offerSA’s videogames market is worth R2.6bn

The Best ReviewsGames and gadgets galoreGigabyte P55K-V4 Gaming LaptopA budget lappy that tries its best to please everyoneLG G4 Beat SmartphoneIt’s a lot like the G4, only cheaper and slightly less awesomeASUS Designo MX27AQ PC MonitorSuch a pretty screen!Armaggeddon Alien Craft IV G17A pricy mouse for gamersLG 65-inch Super Ultra HD TVA brilliant TV that’ll future-proof your viewing

Game ReviewsSTASISRugby World Cup 2015Satellite ReignForza Motorsport 6Mobile Games

How toBuild your own loadshedding-beating emergency light

Going MobileMobile-focused readingFixed vs. Mobile ConnectivityWhich internet access method is best for you?MVNOs vs. The Big NetworksBecause postpaid isn’t always cheaper

The stuff at the backThe fun bits, right where you can easily find themGear of the Year Reader’s ChoiceThis year, we’re giving you the chance to vote on your favourite gearMonth in statsThe numbers that made the month what it was

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Get to your nearest Incredible Connection Store today

LOGITECH X100 MOBILE WIRELESS SPEAKERCrystal clear sound. Pump up the volume and enjoy!

LOGITECH X300 MOBILE WIRELESS STEREO SPEAKERA powerful wireless speaker designed for performance

LOGITECH MULTIMEDIA SPEAKERS Z213Full bass, compact design

LOGITECH WIRELESS TOUCH KEYBOARD K400Wireless control of your laptop.Bluetooth technology

LOGITECH WIRELESS PRESENTER R400The convenient controls of this wireless presenter will help you make your point.

LOGITECH MX MASTER WIRELESS MOUSEOptimized for Windows and Mac

EXTREME 3D PRO JOYSTICKWith advanced controls and a twist-handle rudder, this joystick stays stable and precise through a acrobatic dog�ght or a long-range strike.

F310 GAMEPADDesigned for the PC gamer looking for an advanced console-style controller.

G105 GAMING KEYBOARDWhen control is critical.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 5

The rise of the intelligent machinesHere’s a glimpse of a future where 25 billion devices are connected.

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

According to Gartner’s Brian Burke, by the year 2020 planet Earth will have around 25 billion devices on it

that generate information. Those devices won’t just include the usual suspects like mobile phones, laptops and wearables, but also connected cars, appliances and secondary devices as well.

“Smart teller machines, connectivity on planes and all kinds of things that will be connected all fall into this category. There will be an explosion of devices,” Burke said.

The key question for device manufacturers will be how people interact with them, and the typical idea of mobility will change. Burke predicts that the devices that will surround you will change and adapt, and the resulting mix will work in concert with the apps you use.

To be successful, Burke said that machines must be able to integrate all the devices that you use – regardless of if they are borrowed or owned – so that you can seamlessly move from one device to another without interruption.

As an example, if you are busy with a piece of work on your laptop at an airport,

in the future devices should allow you to continue working on the plane, which will also have a screen and keyboard for that exact purpose.

“It will be a much more contextual world. There will be changes in application design, and apps will be customised for the devices that are around you,” he said, calling it the

“ambient user experience”.But with devices and machines looking

to hand you off to the nearest and best possible solution, they will also need to learn your behaviour.

In the not-so-distant future, machines will do exactly that. Today, using an algorithm called Deep Face, Facebook scans and detects faces in your images. If it recognises any, those are flagged for tagging. Deep Face learned how to do this on its own, and machines will only get smarter as time goes by.

According to Burke, the smarter machines get, the more implications there are for people. Machines will be able to scan large crowds of people to search for anyone who seems nervous or out of place

– and call the police automatically. This

is already possible, he says, but only on a small scale.

Virtual personal assistants will eventually migrate to a post-app world. Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana can do things for you today, but you still need to tell them to perform those tasks.

These tasks, according to Gartner will be done on your behalf in the future, without you needing to say anything. “It will become almost Star Trek-like, as machines learn and eventually become able to order things for you,” Burke said.

In the post-app future, those same actions will happen automatically, without your intervention, because machines will have learned the way you operate and will be smart enough to anticipate your needs.People sometimes say that humans alive today were born too late to explore the earth, and too soon to explore space. But at least they’re around to see the start of the rise of intelligent machines; let’s just hope those responsible for their creation take note of warnings from the world’s foremost thinkers in their rush to implement. Bit.ly/1O4giRG

Get to your nearest Incredible Connection Store today

LOGITECH X100 MOBILE WIRELESS SPEAKERCrystal clear sound. Pump up the volume and enjoy!

LOGITECH X300 MOBILE WIRELESS STEREO SPEAKERA powerful wireless speaker designed for performance

LOGITECH MULTIMEDIA SPEAKERS Z213Full bass, compact design

LOGITECH WIRELESS TOUCH KEYBOARD K400Wireless control of your laptop.Bluetooth technology

LOGITECH WIRELESS PRESENTER R400The convenient controls of this wireless presenter will help you make your point.

LOGITECH MX MASTER WIRELESS MOUSEOptimized for Windows and Mac

EXTREME 3D PRO JOYSTICKWith advanced controls and a twist-handle rudder, this joystick stays stable and precise through a acrobatic dog�ght or a long-range strike.

F310 GAMEPADDesigned for the PC gamer looking for an advanced console-style controller.

G105 GAMING KEYBOARDWhen control is critical.

6 | TECH MADE EASY | OCTOBER 2015

Adafruit and Microsoft partner up for this IoT starter kit

Last month Microsoft announced that it was releasing its own developer environment for Windows 10 and the internet of things (IoT). In a follow up to this, the

company announced a new partnership with Adafruit which will see the pair producing starter kits for inventors looking to use the Windows 10 IoT (Internet of Things) Core platform.

The starter kit features a Raspberry Pi 2 and an SD card preloaded with Windows 10 IoT Core so that developers and hackers are able to start playing around with the platform as soon as possible. For those that prefer a kit without the Raspberry Pi 2, Adafruit will also offer a kit without it.

Along with the Raspberry Pi 2 and an SD card, Adafruit and Microsoft have included a host of extras to get you started, including a miniature Wifi module, an Adafruit BMP280 temperature and humidity sensor as well as a TCS34725 RGB colour sensor.

The announcement of the partnership with Adafruit was made on the Windows Blog by Steve Teixeira, the director of program management for the Internet of Things at Microsoft, who also addressed growing concerns around the security of the internet of things.

“We are committed to delivering a highly secure platform for you to build IoT applications upon, and we’re going to continue that commitment in upcoming releases. We summarise our IoT security goal as bringing Windows’ enterprise-grade security to IoT devices, and you’ll soon see Secure Boot and Bitlocker encryption available,” he said. Bit.ly/1LZXCTc

IDC Internet of Things Roadshow is coming to SA

As the maker movement and the Internet of Things (IoT) grows, so does involvement and interest from large companies. The International Data Corporation (IDC),

which specialises in – you guessed it – data in various technology-focused industries, is organising the event.

IDC is bringing the event to our country and continent in February 2016 at the Radission Blu hotel in Johannesburg. The Roadshow is intended assess the progress of IoT in our country, continent and the rest of the world.

While the Roadshows is still several months away, and the speakers have not yet been announced, we were told that the keynotes will come from South African companies involved in IoT, whose speakers will discuss their challenges and innovations within the platform.

The only announced sponsor at the moment is Samsung, who has made inroads into IoT with its ARTIK development platform.

Mark Walker, the associate vice president at IDC for Sub-Saharan Africa spoke about a global survey concerning IoT.

“IoT deployments are still in their early stages, with only one-third of planned endpoints already connected […] The next 18 months represent a critical window”, he said.

Finally, delegates from South Africa’s government, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, oil and gas, banking, energy, retail, mining, and automotive sectors will apparently be represented at the event. Big Data and data processing and analytics are also said to be on the agenda for discussion. Bit.ly/1Rm4p9P

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS


City of Joburg announces 100% free Wifi access in Braam

New REPORTA security app helps keep journalists safe

If you happen to be in Braamfontein, you can now make use of free WiFi courtesy of the City of Joburg after it switched on the Braamfontein Wireless Mesh

project in late September.The Braamfontein Wireless Mesh project is part of

the metro’s Smart City initiative, which aims to have 1 000 free WiFi hotspots set up across the Joburg by the end of this year, allowing citizens to connect to the free service from their mobiles, laptops and PCs.

The city didn’t indicate exactly how many free WiFi hotspots are active, but did say that anyone who uses the service has a free allocation of 300MB that they can use per day. This is 50MB more than the City of Tshwane’s Free WiFi Project offers.

“We see this is as very transformative initiative that will turbo-charge Joburg’s digital economy. We have set ourselves an ambitious target to get this going but it is really just the beginning, amazing things are coming and the Smart City is here, this is our vision for a world-class African City”, Parks Tau, executive mayor of the City of Joburg, said in a statement.

The city also seems to be aiming at developing the Smart City WiFi project into something that will mirror the Tshwane project, with voice, video, data features to be added in the near future. Bit.ly/1PSVqvG

The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) has brought out an app called REPORTA that puts a

journalist’s security protocols within quick and easy reach.

The free app basically ensures a reporter is able to confirm their location and status, let key contacts know if their or their colleagues’ safety is at risk and even send an SOS message at the touch of a button.

Journalists can use the app to create notifications with photos, audio files or videos that can be sent to preconfigured contacts quickly when things get hairy.

The app is available for Android and iOS phones, in six languages: English, French,

Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic and Turkish.The official release says the past three years

have been “widely reported as the deadliest period on record” for journalists, as more than ever have died on duty while reporting on corruption, conflicts, illegal activities and other sensitive topics.

The IWMF also said female journalists have suffered particularly, with two thirds of them having “experienced intimidation, threats or abuse as a result of their work”.

You don’t absolutely have to be a journalist to download and use REPORTA, either; it’s for anyone who has similar security-related needs. Bit.ly/1Vv3qES

More stories at

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AFRICAN RENEWABLE ENERGY FUND HITS R2.7BN TARGET

TOWNSHIP ENTREPRENEURS GIVEN A CHANCE TO SHINE

The Nairobi-based African Renewable Energy Fund has hit its fundraising target of $200 million (R2.7 billion), which it plans to use for grid-tied renewables. Bit.ly/1Vv61i7

The Gauteng provincial government announced the first Township Entrepreneurship Awards where finalists stand a chance to win a share of R1m in investment funds.Bit.ly/1VsUGo6

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 9

Never cut yourself shaving again with this crowd-funded laser razor

Two incredibly smart inventors, Morgan Gustavsson MBBS and Paul Binun, have started a Kickstarter to fund a high-tech razor designed to take the pain out of

shaving entirely, because it uses a laser and not a blade to cut human body hair.

The project kicked off on the 21st of September, and within two days had exceeded its modest goal of just $160 000. It crossed the million-dollar mark shortly thereafter, and with 16 days still to go, had amassed over $2.7 million.

If you’re hoping to get in on the action on the cheap, you’re too late: the early bird specials are gone, and if you want one you’re looking at a minimum contribution of $189. That’s more than two grand in South African terms.

The reason you should want one? With the Skarp Lazer Razor, the laser on its business end fires every time it comes into contact with hair, severing it, and because the head doesn’t have a blade, there’s no scraping involved and absolutely zero risk of cuts or irritation.

The Skarp Lazer Razor uses the inventors’ discovery that the presence of a specific “chromophore” in all human hair, regardless of the owner’s race, gender or age, allows it to be cut when hit by a specific light wavelength.

And that, right there, is why we love technology so much. Thanks to the ingenuity of these two inventors, we will one day be able to shave our faces with lasers. Bit.ly/1WBXDzI

BRCK Education creates a “classroom in a box” for rural areas

BRCK Education has created the BRCK Kio Kit, a portable kit made up of up of 40 rugged Kio tablets, a BRCK+PI microserver and wireless charging

functionality, and everything is neatly packaged in a hardened, waterproof, lockable case for added security.

“The Kio Kit is designed as a simple, elegant ‘digital classroom in a box’ solution which requires minimal training or technical knowledge to set up and use. It connects any school within range of a mobile phone tower to the internet, as well as provides locally-hosted content to the Kio tablets within each kit,” the company explained in a statement.

The Kio tablet has been designed to be as low-cost as possible, while rugged enough to withstand knocks from younger learners. It comes shipped with locally-cached videos and web-based content, and has an operating time of around eight hours – just as long as a regular school day.

Material for the learners installed on the tablets comes from international education house Pearsons, while four Kenyan suppliers have also contributed content.

The full Kio Kit sells for $5 000 )around R70 000), and a single Kio tablets retails for just $99 (R1 400). Pre-orders are now open on the BRCK Education website, with actual units planned to be shipped in January next year. Bit.ly/1P9ttln

BLOODHOUND’S SA LAND SPEED RECORD ATTEMPT HAS A DATE

R2.6M WORTH OF TABLETS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS STOLEN

THE FIRST IPHONE 6S IN SA SOLD FOR JUST UNDER R18 000

Speed lovers, here’s a date to save: 16 October, 2016. That’s the day the Bloodhound Supersonic Car will attempt to break the world land speed record. Bit.ly/1FRJGJX

Thieves got away with over 1600 tablets intended for public and private schools when they robbed a key IT supplier in late September. Bit.ly/1FRJGJX

With the iPhone 6s nowhere to be found on local store shelves, an enterprising South African imported one and sold it for almost R18k on Bidorbuy. Bit.ly/1N3mtqy

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS


Get monthly games, donate to charity

SA’s videogames market is worth R2.6bn

The Humble Bundle website may look like any other digital videogame reseller, but it’s not:

when you buy any of its weekly game bundles, you also get the chance to donate to various charities.

The site now also offers a monthly subscription service that gets you a selection of “highly curated” games every month for a set price.

Subscribe, pay the fee and when the time comes several games will be added to your Humble Bundle account, ready to be redeemed on Steam.

It’s only offered on PC right now, and the service will cost $12 (R167 or thereabouts) per month with 5% automatically going to whichever charity

the bundle supports at the time.The site started off by bundling games

together and offering them for cheap. You can pay anything you want for the bundle – with a minimum payment of a single US dollar – and choose how to split your payment between the game’s publisher, the developer or whichever charity is being supported.

The games on offer haven’t been announced yet, but we believe it will follow the same format as Loot Crate (or the local version Geek Crate), where you pay and the products received are a surprise. Joining before the 6th of November will net you the first bundle (when available) as well as a copy of Legend of Grimrock 2 as soon as you join. Bit.ly/1OdL9gf

According to PwC’s Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2015-2019, the videogame market as a whole

in South Africa was worth R2.6 billion last year. That is an increase of R1 billion from five years ago, and is expected to continue growing to R3.6 billion in 2019.

In the US, the videogame market brings in more cash annually than the films released by Hollywood, and in South Africa the picture isn’t much different.

When speaking of the video games market in SA, PwC includes all forms of videogaming – PC, console, casual and of course social.

It might not come as a surprise, but it’s predicted that the biggest driver of revenue in South Africa will stem from social/casual gaming – which went from being worth R608 million in 2010 to R1.3 billion in 2014 – and is projected to shoot up to R1.9 billion by 2019.

South Africa is also one of only nine territories globally where social/casual gaming will overtake traditional videogame revenues by 2015.

The traditional game market (consoles and PCs) will account for R1.6 billion in revenue by 2019, but only 23% of console revenues will be driven by digital platforms including online or microtransactions by 2019. Bit.ly/1hh39HX

More stories at

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STUDY SUGGESTS GAMES DON’T WARN PLAYERS ABOUT TOBACCO PRODUCTS

HOW TO 100% METAL GEAR SOLID

Some university boffins overseas don’t think enough is being done to warn gamers about the tobacco products depicted in games. Bit.ly/1PUyzA1

Still playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain? Of course you are, it’s huge! Here’s what you need to do to earn that elusive “100% Completion” stat. Bit.ly/1KXcLQN

NEED TO KNOW: GAMES


Gigabyte P55 Gaming NotebookStudents looking for a gaming/work laptop, pay attention.

The Gigabyte P55 is wrapped in a matte black plastic with orange accents flanking the keyboard

but which are still visible when the lid is closed. It looks intimidatingly beautiful in its low profile stance.

Gigabyte bills it as a budget notebook for students looking for something to do their work on, but also play the occasional game on, and in that, it succeeds. It’s the kind of laptop that gets the job done without being particularly flashy about it, but it also has its share of flaws.

While the fundamentals are good – it boasts a powerful Core i7 Broadwell processor, a Full HD screen and a terabyte drive for your data - it falls down a bit in key areas like Gigabyte’s choice of graphics hardware.

The GTX 965 found here is a competent chip, but it will have you gaming at around the 30fps mark in most games, with more recent AAA titles giving it a bit more of a challenge. So it’ll do for the most part, but it won’t wow anyone.

The rest of the laptop has a few highlights, with a particularly competent keyboard. The keys travel just 2.2mm but the termination of a keystroke is solid. Typing is a pleasure, although if you plan on gaming using the keyboard you’re

going to have to prepare yourself for the heat emanating from the components, which get unbearably hot.

We weren’t wild about the feel of touchpad’s buttons, but the touchpad itself is nice and responsive. This is a moot point, though, because Gigabyte throws in a wired mouse which you’re better off using instead of the touchpad.

Ports-wise, you are given VGA and HDMI outputs, a Gigabit Ethernet port and four USB 3.0 ports, as well as an optical drive and the usual 3.5mm audio jacks for headphones/speakers and a mic. There’s even an SD card slot.

The P55’s speakers, however, are just awful. We found that cranking the sound up to 100% resulted in distortion, and it doesn’t help that the speakers are rather quiet as well. You’re better off plugging in a decent set of headphones or external speakers rather.

Unfortunately the components of the P55 are all soldered on to the board, meaning that if the 8GB of DDR3L RAM in the notebook is not enough for your needs in the future, you’re stuck with it.

When you set the P55 to low power mode you can push the battery to last close to four hours, but if you’re watching a Full HD movie battery life will drop down to

around two and a half hours. And gaming on battery isn’t recommended at all, as the laptop throttles its components so heavily to keep battery use low that games are nigh on unplayable without direct power.

The P55 is billed as a budget gaming notebook, and it performs like one. At R18 499, that’s easy to overlook.

Ultimately, it’s an admirable effort from Gigabyte that could easily suit the needs of a student looking for a laptop that can get work done while also handling the odd game.

So long as you don’t expect bleeding-edge performance or to spend much time gaming on battery, and you’ll be plenty happy with it.

DETAILS• Processor: i7-5700 HQ @2.70GHz

• RAM: 8GB @ DDR3L-1600

• Storage: 1TB HDD 7200RPM

• Display: 15.6-inch FullHD @ 1 920 x 1 080

• Ports: HDMI, D-sub (VGA), headphone,

microphone, Gigabit Ethernet, 4 x USB 3.0, SD Card

• Operating System: Windows 8.1/Windows 10

ready

• Weight: 2.4Kg

R18 499

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SCORES

REVIEWS


LG G4 BeatA somewhat smart smartphone fighting for survival in the mid-range

The modern-day act of sharing photos online has had a lot of help thanks to the millions of camera-

equipped smartphones that seemingly everyone and his dog totes around these days. But not every phone’s camera is capable of taking a great shot, so the images that end up online are not all razor-sharp masterpieces.

South Korean manufacturer LG has attempted to address this of late, by including DSLR-like camera options in its latest line of smartphones. This was first seen in the LG G4, whose camera we really liked and, unsurprisingly, LG didn’t stop there.

The launch of the LG G4 Beat (herein referred to as Beat or the Beat), sees the return of these DSLR-like camera features, and a design that could almost fool you into thinking the Beat is actually the company’s premium flagship phone.

As such, the question on the mind of

every LG phone fan is likely how the Beat differs from the G4, and if that lower price tag means unpleasant compromises. Read on, then, we’re about to find out.

DESIGNWith the exception of a minute

difference in screen size, the G4 Beat’s design is almost identical to that of the flagship G4. All physical buttons are once again at the back of the phone just below the camera, it has the same curve, and the phone also sports a removable cover that gives you access to the battery.

The camera itself is set quite high up on the phone, and if you aren’t careful it’s quite easy to capture fingers instead of the full landscape/latte/meal you intended to snap. The Beat’s curve is minimal, and the phone fits nicely into pockets.

LG has opted for a removable battery design instead of the unibody design favoured by some manufacturers, and

thus the G4 Beat has cover you can open. We should point out that getting it off is quite tough, and we were worried about breaking one of the clips that lock the rear cover in place.

MORE POWER TO YOUUsing the phone every day for tweeting,

texting, calling, taking photos and just browsing the web gave us a fantastic two days’ worth of continuous battery life. It also only took around an hour and a half to charge the 2 300mAh Li-ion battery to full capacity.

Powering this all is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 platform, a mid-range chipset that tries to balance performance with efficient operation. The CPU and RAM do well when handling a few processes but once we were running music, a game and a few other apps in the background we noticed the phone lagging.

Running the AnTuTu Benchmark

REVIEWS

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 15

DETAILS• Display: 5.2-inch IPS LCD screen @ 1 080

x 1 920

• Operating System: Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop)

• System Chip: Qualcomm Snapdragon 615

• CPU: ARM Cortex-A53 octo-core 1.5GHz,

• RAM: 1.5GB

• Storage: 8GB (expandable with microSD up

to 32GB)

• Front camera: 5.0 MP

• Back camera: 8.0 MP with Laser Auto Focus

• Battery: 2 300mAh Li-ion Battery

R3 899

showed us that although the Beat’s overall performance isn’t terrible, it is beaten by the much older LG G3.

BARELY ANY BLOATWARE

The Beat uses Android OS version 5.1.1 (Lollipop) and with the exception of LG Smartworld and the Google suite of apps, there is very little bloatware, presumably because of the annoyingly-tiny storage capacity of just 8GB. Sies.

Once you’ve accounted for the OS and pre-installed applications, you’re left with just under 2GB of usable storage. You can of course expand this by up to 32GB with a microSD card, but it’s galling nonetheless.

After looking at all of this and comparing the G4 to the Beat, you get the sense that LG cut everything by half when developing this phone.

NO TOUCHYThe Beat has a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display

with a maximum resolution of 1 080×1 920. This HD resolution, coupled with a pixels-per-inch count of 423 means the Beat’s screen looks fantastic.

Its response to touches, however, is not as great. We experienced a delay when executing some tasks, and in rare cases we had to re-execute a command because it hadn’t registered with the touchscreen. This becomes especially noticeable in games.

QUESTIONABLE CAMERAAt the rear of the phone is an 8MP

camera that gives you the same amount of manual control over your shots as the G4 did, but just with a slightly less-advanced camera sensor.

Those looking to mimic professional grade photos will no doubt be overjoyed by the Beat’s ability to adjust aperture, manual focus and white balance to really capture great shots.

This is both the best feature and the biggest problem with this camera: it assumes that everybody understands how to balance colour temperatures or adjust the aperture to get a good looking photo.

The camera app automates the process for you somewhat, but since you aren’t able to tweak those settings without switching to full manual mode, you’re stuck with either learning what the best ISO is or taking mediocre photos.

LG has added the ability to take photos when you say a word like “cheese” or “smile”, but we found that there were times it didn’t work.

Moving to the front, you get a 5MP camera with a feature called Gesture Interval Shot. The premise is that you open and close your hand in quick succession to snap a selfie; we found it only works some of the time, which resulted in us frantically waving at the phone while trying to take a not-so-secret selfie.

HALF A G4 While features like the detailed camera

controls are nice to have, and you can certainly capture some decent shots if you get everything just right, we can’t shake the feeling that we are getting half of the LG G4, for slightly more than half that phone’s asking price.

There are also many smartphones that don’t make as many sacrifices. The Innjoo One, for instance, costs R2 600 and scores just 2 000 fewer AnTuTu points, has a 13MP rear camera and 16GB of built-in storage.

So while the Beat is a solid phone with some great features, a few questionable design decisions leave it being a bit too expensive for what it offers. Bit.ly/1KP64DY

7

6

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7

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Camera

Battery Life

Display

Hardware

Design

SCORES

REVIEWS

Tel: 011 880 2885 Fax: 086 685 8132KAMERAZ - Shop L12, Rosebank Mews173 Oxford Road, Rosebank

Web: www.kameraz.co.zaMail: [email protected] us on facebook: http://goo.gl/3XitwWW

stockist of major photographic brands

Turning amateurs into pro’s

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 17

ASUS Designo MX27AQ PC MonitorBeautiful design meets prosumer-level features in this almost-4K-but-not-quite PC monitor.

ASUS appears to have thrown everything it had at this monitor but a high-performance 4K

panel, as it has absolutely everything else a discerning buyer looking for a general-purpose monitor could want.

Pretty brushed metal design that makes it look like it belongs in an art museum? Check. Edge-to-edge screen with a teeny tiny bezel? Check. Advanced AH-IPS screen technology that produces lifelike colours and a picture you can see from just about every comfortable angle? You betcha. Multiple inputs so you can hook it up to your PC, Xbox, PlayStation and laptop all at the same time? Oh yes. Attractive and adjustable stand that lets you angle the monitor slightly for convenient viewing? Naturally.

Heck, it even has built-in speakers that use ASUS’s proprietary SonicMaster audio tech and speaker hardware from Bang & Olufsen in case you don’t already own speakers or you don’t want the screen to share desk space with the monitor. Having built-in speakers is not as common as you might think in modern screens, so it’s a really nice touch. Pity the sound they produce isn’t amazing – volume is lacking and sounds on the high and low ends of the spectrum don’t always come out, but

speaker-less audio support at least present.Literally the only thing that’s missing

that would otherwise make this the perfect monitor for general use is 4K. Instead, the MX27AQ has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, also known as WQHD, or “widescreen quad HD” as it effectively offers four times the 1280x720 resolution of 720p. Sadly, 720p is still referred to as “HD” in this day and age when it’s anything but “high” definition, but what can you do.

On paper this less-than-4K resolution seems like a bit of a disaster, but since the screen is “only” 27 inches from corner to corner, 2560 x 1440 is still far sharper than 1 080p is at the same size since there are more pixels per inch. That means you won’t see any pixels when your desktop is set to that resolution unless you sit less than a foot from the screen.

Gamers impressed with the MX27AQ’s looks may also be a bit disappointed that it “only” sports a 60Hz panel and a 5ms grey-to-grey response time; while these factors produce moving images that are adequate for general use, gamers often look for screens that can refresh faster than 60 times a second and which can shift colours at speeds closer to 2ms.

This means the monitor is aimed at a

prosumer who likes great design and who dabbles in a bit of everything from movie-watching to net-surfing to work, but for whom gaming is not a core focus.

Lastly, while we loved our time with the MS27AQ , we couldn’t help but feel that it’s rather pricy for what you’re getting. Yes, it looks amazing and the design may have won awards overseas, but you could literally buy a 40-inch 4K Smart TV that gives you more screen and sharper visuals, also at 60Hz, for less money.

Still, if it’s a brilliant PC monitor you’re after, this one will certainly do a great job. Bit.ly/1HqGJ0J

DETAILS• Panel Size: Widescreen 27-inch, 16:9

• Panel: AH-IPS, 60Hz

• True Resolution : 2 560x1 440

• Pixel Pitch : 0.233mm

• Brightness(Max) : 300 cd/㎡

• Viewing Angle:178°/178°

• Response Time: 5ms (Grey to Grey)

• Inputs: 2 x HDMI, 1 x HDMI/MHL, 1 x

DisplayPort

• Outputs: 3.5mm audio

• Speakers: 3W x 2 with ASUS SonicMaster/Bang

& Olufsen ICEpower tech

R11 999

8

9

3

10

10

9

Overall

Design

Value for Money

Viewing Angles

Colour

Sharpness

SCORES

Tel: 011 880 2885 Fax: 086 685 8132KAMERAZ - Shop L12, Rosebank Mews173 Oxford Road, Rosebank

Web: www.kameraz.co.zaMail: [email protected] us on facebook: http://goo.gl/3XitwWW

stockist of major photographic brands

Turning amateurs into pro’s

REVIEWS


Armaggeddon Alien Craft IV G17Plenty of buttons but a dearth of quality leave us a bit cold.

Armageddon’s ridiculously-named Alien Craft IV G17 mouse is packed with many buttons and

features, some of which are truly inspired while others are more limited in their use.

It’s worth noting even the underside of the G17 is packed with features. Unfortunately, they’re of the “more limited” variety, starting with four “feet” which hamper movement somewhat since their surfaces are quite rough.

We initially thought this roughness was due to the newness of the mouse, but after a few weeks movement was still rough even on a high-end mousepad.

The G17’s laser sensor is rated at 8 200 CPI. While this does sound high, it just wasn’t sensitive enough for us, even in boring office work, so you will be disappointed if you want to be precise with your headshots.

The G17 also has a removable hatch granting access to a weight compartment, which can accommodate up to eight weights. Packing them in will increase the G17’s mass by four grams each, for a total additional weight of 32 grams.

This right-hand only mouse is quite large and shaped very nicely, with two

thumb buttons as well as another two that are activated by a sliding function. The two sliding buttons are a nice inclusion, but they’re unfortunately not placed well enough to be easily accessible, and you’ll need to move your entire hand in order to use them.

At the top you’ll find a strip of black which is a different material to the rest of the mouse. It’s not exactly rubber but it’s softer than the plastic. The two main buttons are nothing special, but between them you’ll find a scroll wheel that is; while notched ever so slightly, it’s as smooth as butter and scrolling with it is a real pleasure.

The two other top buttons are for modes (profiles) and CDP (sensitivity). Tapping the mode button cycles profiles, which will also affect the lights on the right side. The CPI button is the most impressive, though: touching it will let you change sensitivity on the fly using the scroll wheel.

Once you’re happy, you can hit any button on the mouse and that sensitivity setting will be saved. We really liked this feature, but were disappointed to find that the setting was sometimes reset and we’d have to change it after a reboot or restart.

You can use the bundled software to do some fine-tuning with the sensitivity, change what the buttons do and set up macros, and turn the lighting on or off, as well as set it to pulsate. The software does its job, but there’s nothing exciting or special here.

Since there is 512 KB of on-board memory here, we suggest you download the software, make the changes you want, and then delete it.

At R1 049 the G17 is priced at the high end and, while it does have some great tricks and features, it’s missing that little extra bit of a quality feel to make this an unqualified recommendation. Bit.ly/1iEg08j

DETAILS• 8200CPI Avago 9800 laser engine

• 8-level adjustment on-the-fly CPI

• 3-level polling rate adjustable on-the-fly

•11 buttons

•180 turn in 1 click macro

• 8-level weight management (total

additional weight 32g)

• 1.8m cord

• Independently adjustable X-Y axis CPI

• Customisable sensitivity, acceleration and

double-click speed

• 1.8m cord

R1 049

6

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4

5

8

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Features

Value for money

Software

Hardware

SCORES

REVIEWS


LG 65-inch Super Ultra HD TV (65UF950T)It’s big, it’s a bit expensive but trust us, you’ll fall in love with it anyway.

If there’s one thing you can count on to make you happy - or at least, to help you forget about reality for a while

which is basically the same thing - it’s TV. Modern-day sets keep getting better and cheaper with every new generation, too.

LG’s 65-inch behemoth is one such TV; despite being huge and packed with “smart” features, it’s not as expensive as 4K/Ultra HD TVs were a year ago. And it’s not “just” 4K: this is a Super Ultra HD TV, which means it has a 4K panel that’s better at displaying life-like colours than last year’s “non-super” TVs did.

4K, in case you need a refresher, is a display technology that packs four times the number of pixels onto a TV screen than 1080p did. The net result is much better clarity and far more detail in any given scene; even 1080p content like Blu-ray movies and downloaded videos benefit from 4K as 4K TVs usually include a feature called “1080p upscaling” which works to make regular 1080p content look a little sharper with some

clever computations that happen in the background.

We were only too happy to review this TV when it came in, but setting it up was quite a mission as it turned out to be deceptively heavy. Sure, it’s all thin and sexy-looking like a modern TV should be, but the curved metal base it stands in weighs a lot – for better stability, obviously – and the screen itself is certainly no lightweight either.

Getting the TV to slide onto the two protruding metal bits that stuck up from the base was the hardest part of the setup. You will definitely need at least one other strong friend to get it done.

Once set up, we were pleasantly surprised by the TV’s excellent little remote control, as it turned out to be motion-sensitive, giving us a floating mouse-like pointer with which to navigate the TV’s on-screen menu. This particular TV comes with WebOS 2.0, LG’s TV operating system that gives it all of its smarts, including access to a selection

of apps that include YouTube and even ShowMax.

Yes, all you need to enjoy ShowMax’s thousands of hours of video content on this TV is your username and password, but unfortunately not even the TV’s 1080p upscaling will make it look good – while watching on a small screen is the best way to watch ShowMax shows, the service’s quality doesn’t scale quite as well on bigger screens like this one.

To access all of the 950T’s smart features, though, you’ll need a home network connected to the internet. Happily, the TV supports both wired and wireless network connections and setup is ridiculously easy.

We made extensive use of the YouTube app during our lunch breaks while the TV was here (fail videos ftw), but perhaps the best part of having it was we got to see YouTube’s many 4K videos playing as they are meant to be seen – on a 4K screen. And boy, is that quality exceptional. It’s so good, you’ll start to notice just how

REVIEWS

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LG 65-inch Super Ultra HD TV (65UF950T)It’s big, it’s a bit expensive but trust us, you’ll fall in love with it anyway.

DETAILS• Panel: 65-inch LED

• Screen Technology: Super Ultra High Definition @ 3840 x 2160, 60P

• Inputs: 3 x HDMI, 1 x HDMI/MHL, 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0

• Operating System: WebOS 2.0

• Networking: WiFi, Ethernet

R39 999

comparatively grainy and blurry even 1080p videos are.

Of course, to watch 4K videos on this TV means you will need a decent internet connection and a generous data allowance. Our office’s uncapped Telkom LTE-A connection coped fine, but we were averaging transfer speeds of around 55Mbps and we weren’t worried about using too much data so that’s to be expected. If you’re on a much slower connection, you’ll have to wait while 4K videos buffer so that’s something to keep in mind.

When it comes to hooking things up to the 950T, it has four HDMI ports so you can easily have a decoder, games console, computer and media player all hooked up at the same time. One of the HDMI ports supports the MHL standard, which lets smartphones and tablets that also support it output their screens to the TV with a special MHL cable. Or you could, you know, just Miracast your phone’s screen to the TV or use the LG TV SmartShare app to do it wirelessly instead.

Just above those are three USB ports (two USB 2.0/one USB 3.0) where you can insert flash drives and portable hard drives stuffed with movies. Impressively, the 950T played all of the most popular video file formats with its own native player without so much as a complaint, so you can potentially chuck out your old media players and simply stock up on USB storage instead.

So while this TV performs very well and we fell in love with it while it was here, we did discover a caveat: it makes anything less than proper 1080p HD look very rubbish indeed. Watching anything that wasn’t HD was just awful, with every blemish and instance of poor compression showing up even worse than they do on a smaller screen.

That’s the problem with raising standards – anything less just can’t compare, to the point where you will likely not want to watch anything in standard definition ever again. This TV will spoil you with what HD content should look like, which is quite a blow as there isn’t exactly a lot of native 4K content around these days.

So should you buy one? Our answer is yes, because this is a really good – and future-proof - TV for the price. Sure, it costs R39 999 and that’s still a lot of money for the average South African, but the tech and quality on offer fully justifies it. Bit.ly/1KP64DY

9

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7

10

9

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Ease of Use

Setup

Inputs

Interface

Image Quality

SCORES

REVIEWS


StasisThis Kickstarted South African-made adventure will make your skin crawl as much as it’ll make you think.

Stasis is a game you won’t soon forget. Not only is it the production of just two South Africans, brothers

Christopher and Nicolas Bischoff, but it’s one of the most atmospheric, soul-sucking and thought-provoking adventure games you’ll ever play. It’s also the first South African-made game that raised its funding through the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform.

Stasis is set in a bleak and distant future, and casts you as John Marachek, a man who is awoken from stasis – a sleep-like state required for space travel - only to find himself aboard the Groomlake, a blood-soaked and seemingly abandoned space ship/research vessel. He had been on his way to a holiday destination with his wife and child, but clearly they didn’t get there. He wakes up alone, disoriented and in serious pain… and then things get worse.

He is soon contacted by a mysterious woman who attempts to guide him through the Groomlake, ostensibly to help him find his wife and child. But the ship he’s on is a nightmarish place, mostly devoid of life but full of evidence – blood stains, human remains and destruction - of some awful event that happened not too long ago, and he must navigate its terrors in his dazed, disoriented state in order to find what he’s looking for.

Death lurks around every corner for John, because Stasis takes a lot of inspiration from the old point & click adventure games of the 90s that enjoyed punishing players with unexpected death. Deaths are pretty graphic, too, thanks to the detailed game engine Stasis is built on, and if you have a weak stomach you should consider playing something a little more tame instead.

The developers also made all of the game’s deaths easter eggs/Steam achievements, and even packed in a few suicides too. Suicides are only triggered if players click certain objects on John multiple times, though, so you won’t see them all unless you specifically go after them. Thematically, however, once you reach a certain point in the game you will completely understand why someone in John’s position would consider offing himself; the game’s story is really that acutely distressing.

Puzzles abound as well, although we were only too happy to see that these had a more modern feel to them, and avoided the old “retrieve the cat hair to use as a fake moustache so you look like the picture in the passport you stole, on which you drew the moustache” tropes. As such, puzzles in Stasis are mostly logical; when they start to feel difficult it’s usually

because you simply hadn’t picked up the appropriate object yet.

The graphics, voice acting and music in Stasis are just superb, putting its production values right up there with any studio-built game you care to name. The animation is a little janky at times, but really, that’s forgiveable considering the two-man team and limited budget it was built on.

By the end of the six-hour story, you’ll be emotionally spent. Stasis is more horrifying than scary, and the ending will stay with you long after the credits roll. In all, it’s a brilliant production by a clearly-talented developer and a must-play if you like horror, point & click adventure games and great writing.

9

9

9

8

10

9

Overall

Writing

Story

Puzzles

Audio

Graphics

SCORES

DETAILS• Developer: The Brotherhood

• Platforms: PC only via Steam

• The Good: Memorable story

• The bad: Not for the faint-hearted

or weak of stomach

R350

REVIEWS

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 23

What HB Studios should have done with its time instead of developing this game was to

sit on its hands and look the other way, because to say that Rugby World Cup 2015 is a mess would be a bit of an understatement.

It looks terrible, controls worse, and leaves you feeling like perhaps you should have simply burned your money, because that would have been more fun.

Depending on your difficulty setting, the ball will pop out at the back of the scrum and it will then just sit there until you once again press the corresponding button. Once the scrum half retrieves the ball, the gameplay will pause, allowing you time to decide which way you want to pass or if you want to run/kick.

Passing is a simple button press, but if you want a bit more control there is a combination you can press and hold to manually select your direction. The action couldn’t have been animated any worse, either, as it looks like the ball carrier is having a muscle spasm before he slips the ball in a particular direction.

The only aspect of Rugby World Cup 2015 that remotely makes you feel as if you’re on the field is when it comes time to take a penalty kick. The camera moves to

a close-up third-person view, and you have to adjust your aiming depending on the distance and wind speed. With that said, the strength bar to kick is a simple up-and-down affair. Like the rest of the controls, it gets the job done but it’s dull, leaving you feeling like you’re just going through the motions instead of actually playing.

The gameplay itself is pretty awful as well, as all that’s needed to score a try is to find a gap. If there is even the slightest of gaps between opposing players, chances are that your man can squeeze past his opponent and run all the way to the try line – no matter how far away he starts out. It might sounds true-to-life, but on this scale it’s just ridiculous.

Opponents also seem rather reluctant to tackle the ball carrier, as they would rather opt to surround him with as many players as possible before taking a leap. Every now and then you’ll find one player on the opposing team that wakes up slightly and runs after you, but deliberately running in a zig-zag pattern for a bit is all that’s needed to shake them off and score a try.

In short, make all the jokes you want about the intelligence of real-life rugby players, the AI opponents in RWC 2015 take the cake in the stupid department.

But by far Rugby World Cup 2015’s

most egregious transgression is the fact that half the teams aren’t licensed, and thus can’t give you real team and player names or real-world stadiums when competing in the game’s main mode. That’s an unforgivable sin for a game called Rugby World Cup 2015, which clearly banks on the competition’s name to sell copies.

The whole package is just so bad, we don’t recommend picking it up even if all you want to see is if it’s really that awful. It is. Just trust us on this.

As a result, we find it very hard to recommend Rugby World Cup 2015 to anyone – even ardent rugby fans. Bit.ly/1KUmElD

Rugby World Cup 2015Touch, pause… don’t engage. Truly, a worse rugby game there has not been.

3

0

3

4

3

3

Overall

Realism

Replayability

Controls

Graphics

Gameplay

SCORES

DETAILS• Platforms: Xbox 360/One, PS4/4, PC

• Developer: HB Studios

• The Good: The DVD doubles as a drinks coaster

• The Bad: Gameplay. Graphics. Price.

R799 (consoles), R599 (PC)

REVIEWS


Satellite ReignThis rough gem isn’t your father’s Syndicate, but it definitely has its moments.

Satellite Reign is set a rain-slicked, neon-encrusted cyberpunk dystopia in which corporations rule, poverty

is rife and the streets are essentially a combat zone in which kill-or-be-killed is the order of the day.

Players join one of the corporations as a kind of squad overseer, and then use a team of cybernetically-enhanced soldiers to accomplish a set of goals laid out on a map. That, in essence, was the narrative and gaming premise for the Syndicate games it draws inspiration from, and Satellite Reign recreates it faithfully.

Unlike the Syndicate games, in which the Agents under the player’s command were pretty similar in their abilities, Satellite Reign’s troops are all from different classes with an array of varying abilities that can be levelled up.

The levelling system has a two-pronged effect on how Satellite Reign plays out. First off, players are encouraged to use their individual squad members to accomplish certain tasks and this, in turn, complements different styles of play.

For example, if you want to take the stealthy approach, it’s worth having your Infiltrator lead from the front, since they can use cloaking abilities and ziplines to

sneak past guards. Soldiers are for the more direct approach – since they can manipulate cameras, turrets and entrances and they are more heavily armoured than their compatriots.

Agents must be micro-managed, making sure they’re exactly where they need to be, accomplishing tasks they’re best suited to. Run-and-gunning in this game, therefore, will only get the player so far.

The game’s visuals recall the moody ambience of films like Blade Runner, The Matrix and Cyber City OEDO 808. Rain spatters down from permanently overcast skies, smearing the pavements in a sheen that reflects the neon lights and giant digital billboards that surround the player’s trench-coated cyber warriors. It’s an environment one could spend hours exploring, soaking up its dystopian beauty and cyber-noir atmosphere.

That being said, the developers have wisely included fast-transport beacons that allow players to have their squad navigate the open-world metropolis quickly. Sadly, there isn’t really much to do in the city, aside from ride ziplines, breach buildings and ride in some elevators, and there aren’t any pedestrian NPCs to interact with or open world mini-games to play,

so the sense of it being a living breathing world is somewhat lost.

Combat is also a little disappointing. There’s just none of the weight or heft to any of the squad’s attacks to really make them feel like they’re dishing out copious amounts of damage. And beyond bringing down the rival corporation that the player’s four operatives are dropped into, there’s not a lot going on in the game’s sorely-lacking narrative.

In a way, Satellite Reign’s shortcomings mirror the problems facing the world it inhabits; everything doesn’t always work to the best advantage of those in its environment, even if everything about that world looks achingly cool. Bit.ly/1Kzk0AB

8

8

7

8

9

Overall

Depth

Story

Mechanics

Presentation

SCORES

DETAILSPlatforms: PC Only via Steam

Developer: 5 Lives

The Good: Looks good, tactical options

The Bad: Lifeless city, no real story

R415

REVIEWS

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Forza Motorsport 6 plays like most other Forza games: it’s as close to driving hyper-expensive supercars

as most of us will ever get, and the hardcore racing simulation it’s known for is present and accounted for. But there are a few new additions to number six that’ll please newcomers and old racers alike.

This time, tracks feature variable weather and the option to race at night, which affect how you need to tackle each race. Sadly, though weather isn’t actually dynamic; that means if a race starts off dry and sunny, there’s no chance clouds will come over and you’ll finish the race in the rain. It feels like a missed opportunity.

When it rains, though, puddles form and add a new hazard – that of aquaplaning if you hit the water at the wrong angle, or too fast. Both features are welcome additions that keep the racing feeling fresh.

Like every other entry in the series, Forza 6 provides drivers with an incredibly huge selection of cars to tool around in – over 450 cars in total, twice the amount offered in Forza 5.

And the graphics… just wow! Cars and tracks are rendered using a physically-based materials system, which allows for light to be reflected and refracted

differently according to the material it hits, making everything look hyper-realistic.

As in previous games, players can tinker with gear ratios, experiment with downforce or see how close they can come to the magical power-to-weight ratio that will rocket their car further and faster, with tangible results coming from clever mechanical adjustments.

Or, you can just ignore all of that and use the new “mod packs”: virtual packs of cards unlocked through regular play or bought with in-game currency that allow players to tweak and augment their vehicles automatically.

Forza 6 is not an easy game to beat. The general rule is if there’s a car in front of you, you’re going to have to work very hard to overtake it, and is thus so hard that even competent drivers will find a challenge on the ‘Inexperienced’ difficulty.

As in 5, Forza 6 makes use of Drivatars – AI players based on your friends who drive the same way they do, based on what the game learns about their abilities. When you are offline, your own Drivatar will be inserted into other people’s games as an AI opponent, and can also net you some in-game cash if it races well enough.

Forza 6 has a whopping 26 tracks, up from the 17 of 5. Forza 4’s

Hockenheimring and Sonoma are included, as well as a redesigned Rio de Janeiro track from the original game. Brand new tracks include Brands Hatch, Circuit of the Americas, Daytona, Lime Rock Park, Monza and Watkins Glen.

This is definitely one of the best entries in Microsoft’s flagship racing franchise and a huge step up from its predecessors. However, its difficulty makes it a tough entry-point for series newbies who will undoubtedly have to work a bit harder at the game before the rewards start rolling in and things feel a little more familiar. Bit.ly/1MNyvUU

Forza Motorsport 6The prettiest Forza yet will make you work for every win.

9

8

9

9

9

9

Overall

New Features

Longevity

Car Selection

Gameplay

Graphics

SCORES

DETAILS• Platform: Xbox One Exclusive

• Developer: Turn 10 Studios

• The Good: Brilliant racing, amazing visuals

• The Bad: Very difficult

R899

REVIEWS

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Star Wars: UprisingA surprisingly addictive mobile action RPG that’s more fun than it is pay to win

Don’t let the fact that this is a free mobile game confuse you: this is a great MMO-ARPG set in the Star

Wars universe that’s more Diablo than Dungeon Hunters 4. Following the death of Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi, Uprising takes place as the news of the Sith’s death hasn’t yet spread.

Gameplay will be familiar with anyone who has played Diablo - while not as deep, the combat is still satisfying and there’s only a few irritating aspects of the touch-only input. Searching out loot and

upgrading your gear is plenty rewarding, and we got more than a few hours out of it without feeling the grind common in freemium games.

If you’re a Star Wars buff you’ll find simple joy in the setting and characters, and hunting to complete an iconic armour set will keep you going (we’re desperately trying to the full Storm Trooper look, because everyone knows the Empire is just better). A solid recommendation all around, but expect some lag and long loading times.

As more of the big gaming publishers turn to mobile platforms, the challenge most

of them face involves porting Triple-A franchises without alienating fans. One of the industry’s success stories is Square Enix whose Montreal studio garnered critical acclaim with Hitman GO. The game re-imagined the IO’s stealth series as a turn-based board game on iOS, Android and Windows devices.

The success of Hitman GO has prompted Square Enix Montreal to adapt another of the publisher’s iconic game series for smart devices. This time, Tomb Raider is the recipient of a platform port and the result is, if anything, even better than Hitman GO. Lara Croft GO takes a couple of pointers from Montreal’s last outing; players guide Lara along pre-set pathways, the action is all turn-based, and every level is a cunningly-devised puzzle.

On her travels through the various maps, Lara will face giant lizards, snakes, treacherous rock faces and the odd bottomless pit. The key to success here is based on trial and error as the player guides Lara past hostile creatures and unstable terrain to reach the end of each level. The overall difficulty isn’t too taxing, but that’s the only (minor) disappointment in this otherwise swoon-worthy game.

DETAILS• Developer: Kabam

• Platforms: Android and iOS

• The Good: Cunning levels

• The bad: Loading times, lag

Free, with in-app purchases

8

6

10

8

8

Overall

Lag & Loading times

Star Warsiness

Addictiveness

Graphics

SCORES

8

7

5

9

9

Overall

Variety

Puzzle complexity

Sound

Graphics

SCORES

Lara Croft GOGoodbye action, hello tactics: this time around, Lara raids tombs one move at a time.

DETAILS• Developer: Square Enix

• Platforms: Android, iOS,

Windows Phone

• The Good: Cunning levels

• The bad: A bit easy

R69.99 with in-app purchases

REVIEWS

MOBILE COMPUTINGI live each and every day to the fullest. I’m out the door in the morning and don’t stop until I get home at night. I need my electronic devices at my side – protected and accessible – keeping me connected. Case Logic makes it simple by designing solutions that fit my devices and my style.

Case Logic. Life, Simplified.

MOBILE COMPUTINGI live each and every day to the fullest. I’m out the door in the morning and don’t stop until I get home at night. I need my electronic devices at my side – protected and accessible – keeping me connected. Case Logic makes it simple by designing solutions that fit my devices and my style.

Case Logic. Life, Simplified.

IN STORE | ONLINE | MOBILE

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 29

Build a loadshedding-beating lightNeed a light that comes on when loadshedding hits? Here’s how to make one that comes on all by itself when the power fails.

Although loadshedding has been quite rare since May this year, it never hurts to be prepared for the probability of

the lights going out.You could go off-grid, or construct your

own solar-powered UPS, but these can become quite expensive.

This got us thinking; could we build something simple quickly that would automatically give us light when the lights go out? Building a light is simple enough, but how would we get it to switch on by itself ?

In a “Eureka!” moment, we realised that in the 21st century many people have a Wifi

connection that they almost never power down, and the router switching off could serve as the perfect event to switch a light on when the power goes down thanks to the Wifi module on the Edison.

Genius, right? We think so.

COMPONENTS REQUIRED

To build our working prototype we used the following kit:

• Intel Edison• Intel Edison Arduino Breakout board• 2 x Micro USB to USB cables• 4 x Jumper Cables• 1 x 220 Ohm resistor• 1 x LED• 1 x breadboard

LET’S BUILD A BASIC CIRCUIT

First we’re going to need to build the circuit that will become the light.1. With the breadboard positioned with

the numbers and letters at the top, take the resistor and plug one end into the second female header on the negative pole on the left side of the bread board. Then plug the other end of the resistor a little bit further down. It doesn’t matter how far down you go, we’re just creating resistance so that our LED doesn’t pop because of a surge.

2. Take one of the jumpers and insert it into the input immediately following the header that you plugged the second end of the resistor into.

3. Take the second end of the jumper that was plugged into the hole next to the resistor and plug it into the header numbered 10D.

4. Take your LED and plug the negative (this is the shorter leg of the LED) end into the header labelled 10E.

5. Take the positive (this is the longer leg of the LED) and plug it into the header marked 10F.

6. Finally take a jumper and plug one end into hole 10J, and the other end into a header in the positive channel of the bread board. We used one in line with the rest of our circuit.

7. Take one jumper cable and plug it into the first header in the negative channel that we plugged the resistor into earlier. Take the second jumper cable and plug one end into the positive channel that the other end of the LED is connected to.

HOW TO…

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WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 31

8. Next take the jumper coming from the negative channel and plug it into Digital Pin 8 header on the Arduino breakout board. The jumper from the positive channel will plug into the Digital ground (GND) pin.

9. The circuit is complete, and to test that everything is working we suggest using the Blink test; just remember to edit the pin in the test from 13 to 8.

LET’S WRITE SOME CODEEdison is fully Arduino compatible. So

we’re going to use the Arduino IDE for this project because it has access to all the C++ libraries we need and the coding is really quite simple.1. Before we begin, we need to tell the

Edison which library it should be referencing our commands from. We’ll be using the native Wifi library in the Edison as well as the SPI library.

2. Next, declare what elements will be used in the code. To start off we’ll declare the Wifi status. Since we don’t know if the Wifi will be switched on or off when the sketch runs, set the Wifi status to Idle.

3. Seeing as we’re building a Wifi detecting light and we’ll need to give the Edison access to the Wifi network, we input our Wifi network’s name in the SSID and the password in the Pass field.

4. Setup is quite simple. We’ll set the serial mode to 9600 bits per second and set the LED pin to an output. This will make sure that when we tell the pin to write it will switch on and not, for example try and draw power from the LED.

5. We start off the loop code by telling the Edison to try connecting to the Wifi network. If the Edison is able to connect to the Wifi network the code will write LOW to the LED meaning that it will be switched off. When a Wifi connection is not possible the code will write HIGH to the LED, switching it on.

6. Once you’ve done this Verify your code to make sure the syntax and commands are correct.

7. Once the code has been verified you should get a “Done Compiling” message and a summary of the size of your sketch.

8. Finally, click upload and your code should start being deployed to the Edison. Once that is done you should get a “Transfer Complete” message. Wait a few seconds for the Edison to run the code, and that’s

CODE:#include <Wifi.h>#include <SPI.h>

int status = WL_IDLE_STATUS; // Set the Wifi radio’s statusint led1 = 8; // Set the pin the LED is plugged into in our case its pin 8 char ssid[] = “YourWifiSSID”; // your network SSID (name) char pass[] = “YourPassword”; // your network password void setup() {

Serial.begin(9600); pinMode(8, OUTPUT); }

void loop() { status = Wifi.begin(ssid, pass); if (status != WL_DISCONNECTED) digitalWrite(8, HIGH); delay (100); status = Wifi.begin(ssid, pass); if (status = WL_CONNECTED) digitalWrite (8, LOW); delay (100);}

Build a loadshedding-beating lightit, your Loadshedding Light is ready for use.

Bit.ly/1VCadlw

HOW TO…

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Mobile vs. Fixed InternetWhich internet connection will win your wallet?

With so many internet connectivity options available today, confusion can reign supreme

when trying to decide which internet connection is right for you. Fortunately, the TME team is here to give you the lowdown on what you can expect, and help you decide how you should be connecting to the world wide web.

MAYBE MOBILE?Going for a mobile internet connection

like those provided by our big cellular providers is ideal when you travel a lot, or you don’t have access to the infrastructure needed for a fixed connection.

This option is for people who need to connect to the internet wherever they are using mobile tech like smartphones, tablets and laptops.

A mobile connection requires a SIM card that plugs into a smartphone, tablet, MiFi and even some laptops. Once you’ve chosen your data plan, all you need to do is plug the SIM card into whatever device is

convenient for you and off you go.You should, however, be aware that

mobile data is a lot more expensive per gigabyte when compared to fixed options like ADSL and fibre. How much is “a lot more”, you ask? Well, you can pay anything from R58 per gigabyte of mobile data, whereas a gigabyte of ADSL data can cost as little as R7.

In other words going mobile is convenient, but expensive compared to a fixed-line option.

And when it comes to the sort of download speeds you’ll get, your mobile connection’s performance will ultimately be determined by the technology your chosen network supports (LTE, 3G), the physical layout of wherever you are as well as your distance from the nearest base station, so your results will most certainly vary. Bad weather, too, can affect it.

When everything is working as it should, mobile internet speeds are crazy-fast. LTE is capable of operating at 150Mbps – fast enough to download a 1.5GB file in just

one minute and forty seconds – while ADSL and 3G connections are far slower.

The problem is that’s a theoretical speed, and real-world speeds are typically much lower owing to the aforementioned performance-affecting conditions.

WHY WIRED?At present there are two “fixed-line”

internet options in South Africa: ADSL that uses your landline telephone, and fibre options that don’t.

For ADSL, you must have a phone line

MAXIMUM CONVENIENCE

We recommend: Get a MiFi (a mobile WiFi device) that lets a number of WiFi-enabled devices connect to it and use any mobile data you have loaded on the SIM card that sits inside.

HOW TO…

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 35

from Telkom first. Once it’s installed, it’s a matter of calling an internet service provider (ISP) and arranging for ADSL to be activated on the line. Then, you must arrange for an ADSL data package and a router configured with your account details.

ISPs offer capped and uncapped packages that vary in how fast they are and how much you can download. Uncapped is an all-you-can-eat service allowing uninterrupted browsing, though downloading too much will result in the service provider limiting your speed. Capped packages offer a set amount of gigabytes to use each month, but your speed is guaranteed while it lasts.

Pricing for uncapped packages is based on how fast your line is; an uncapped 2Mbps data package, for instance, starts at around R199 (Telkom).

The pricing for a capped account is based on the number of gigabytes you want and starts at R80 for 5GB and can go as high as R600 for 50GB. The more you buy, the lower your per-gigabyte cost, making high-capacity capped ADSL accounts quite attractive for heavy users.

Fibre, on the other hand, uses a light signal transmitted along a fibre-optic cable to send and receive data; because of this, the download speed of a fibre line is fantastically fast. The down side is that fibre is expensive compared to ADSL, and requires special equipment.

At present 50GB of fibre data at a speed of 10Mbps costs around R650, while 500GB at 100Mbps will set you back in the region of R2 400. Fibre to the home is slowly being rolled out to select suburbs right now, so if you want this connectivity you will need to find out if your area is covered which you

can do on the websites of ISPs that provide fibre access, like Vox Telecoms, MWEB and Telkom.

LTE ADVANCEDThe latest mobile internet option we’ve

encountered is an uncapped LTE-A connection from Telkom, which we have here at our offices. It consists of a router connected to an antenna that gives us download speeds of around 55Mbps, which we all connect to over WiFi.

We’ve tested it for gaming, and discovered that it’s quick enough to even play fast-paced FPSes like Battlefield 4.

It’s a blend of mobile and fixed, and gives us the speed of a mobile network while not really allowing us to easily move around with it. That’s not bad at all for R599 a month.

SO WHICH ONE?The best advice we can give is to first

consider what your internet connection will be used for; if you’re a lightweight user that shops online, emails, Tweets and Facebooks every so often you should be fine with a 3G or 4G connection.

If you occupy the middle ground and want speed and wirelessness but you don’t necessarily need to be mobile, Telkom’s LTE-A is a fantastic choice. Cheap, too, plus it’ll let you stream movies from services like ShowMax and Vidi.

Heavy users who stream movies and videos online and who upload and download large files should rather consider ADSL or fibre, as both offer a much lower cost per gigabyte than mobile does.

SERVICE PROVIDERSTelkom (DSL, 3G/4G LTE, Fibre) – www.telkom.co.zaAfrihost (DSL, 3G/4G LTE) – www.afrihost.comMWEB (DSL 3G/4G LTE, Fibre) – www.mweb.co.zaNeotel (4G LTE, Fibre) – www.neotel.co.zaAxxess (DSL, 3G/4G) – www.axxess.co.za

BANG FOR YOUR BUCKWe recommend: A 4Mbps ADSL line (R275) and 60GB of capped data from Axxess (R123). That’ll cost you R398 a month (plus the cost of the phone line itself) and delivers great value for your money as well as consistent speeds and a decent amount of data.

KNOW YOUR USAGEBefore signing up for any sort of data deal it’s best to get an idea of how much you require. We suggest monitoring your daily data usage over a week or so; from there you can calculate just how much data you might use in a month and thus the kind of package you need.

SPEEDMost service providers offer a “best effort” service which means that the service you receive may not reach the exact speed you paid for; this difference is usually quite small but if it looks like it’s far below what you’re paying for, contact your service provider.

HOW TO…


MVNOs vs. The Big NetworksCould a virtual operator be your next cellular provider?

Tariffic is a South African service that helps people save money on their cell phone bills by analysing

the local cellular market, and using sophisticated software to match specific cellular users with the cheapest plans and bundles that suit their needs.

For the third quarter of 2015, Tariffic found that Mobile Virtual Network Operators, or MVNOs, are offering consumers cheaper packages than those from the networks on whom they piggyback their services.

Here are the five users Tariffic uses as reference:

SUSANNEA public relations worker who uses a lot

of minutes and data. Spend: R2 100pm.

CHRISWorks in financial services, uses a

BlackBerry to make minimal calls, but varies his monthly data use. Spend: R1 200pm.

TSHEPOAttends a prestigious Joburg high school,

can’t be separated from his top-of-the-range iPhone. Low call use, high data use. Spend: R1 100pm.

HOWARDA post-grad varsity student who is now

paying for his own contract, with average usage patterns. Spend: Around R800pm.

MALEEKA varsity student with a tablet; relies

on his SIM card for internet access for research, work, occasional sports catchup. Spend: Around R500pm.

ME&YOU MOBILE PERFORMS WELL FOR YOU & ME

me&you mobile’s R300 unlimited voice offering performed particularly well for Susanne, saving her over 50% compared to the other MVNO’s. It must be noted that according to the me&you website this package is only available for the first 1 500 subscribers. me&you mobile also offers competitive call rates as low as 39c/min on their high-end packages. Their 5 GB bundle is much cheaper than offerings from other operators which is apparent in the recommendations for Tshepo. Even though me&you mobile don’t offer data contracts, their voice contracts with data bundles performed very well for data user, Maleek.

FNB’S INNOVATION FAILS TO EXCITE

Even though FNB Connect can be cheaper than the network service providers, they have proved to be more expensive than the competing MVNO offers for 4 out of the 5 users Tariffic modeled. One of the main reasons is due to FNB Connect’s very high Out of Bundle call rate of R1.50/min. FNB Connect’s data offerings are very well priced, with their 5GB data contract named

the Tariffic Pick for Maleek.

VIRGIN MOBILE - STILL IN THE GAME

Virgin Mobile offers affordable 12-month and month-to-month packages and are the top recommendation for Howard and second for Chris and Tshepo. Virgin Mobile’s selection of data contracts is very limited, and with a high out of bundle rate, the overall package for data user, Maleek, performed very poorly.

HELLO, MR PRICE MOBILE (MRP MOBILE) – ARE YOU THERE?

The standard call rates on mrp mobile vary from R1.79/min to 79c/min depending on whether you take a SIM-only or a handset deal. mrp mobile don’t offer large data bundles which disadvantaged Maleek’s recommendations.

OPERATORS BEWARE – THE MVNO’S ARE HERE!

In 4 out of the 5 cases that Tariffic explored, the MVNOs performed better than the best network performer, making them very affordable.

Note: the packages Tariffic surveyed do not come with any phones, and so if it’s a phone you’re after, the networks could still offer cheaper deals.

Bit.ly/1Km1J7u

HOW TO…


As it’s October, it’s almost the time of year when we get to pick our favourite gear of the previous 12

months. But this year we want to make things a little more inclusive by asking you, our loyal readers, for your opinions.

To do that, we’ve put together this list of products and categories for you to vote on; the campaign will take place online, and to enter all you need to do is fire up your browser and point it towards htxt.africa/goty2015, and fill in the form we’ve prepared for this express purpose.

There is a bit of a catch, however: at the

end of the form, you’ll find a quick Reader Survey where we’ve asked you to enter some basic information about yourself so that we can get to know our readers a little better. The trick is you need to fill that last section out, otherwise your vote won’t count.

But that’s not all; we will choose a single winner at random from all of the entries we receive, and that person will get a really awesome prize: a gorgeous Super Ultra High Definition TV from our friends at LG.

That’s a pretty decent incentive if we do say so ourselves. Think of it as a bit of a quid pro quo type deal, in which you scratch

our back, and stand a chance to win a TV that will enhance your viewing until some new standard takes over from Ultra High Definition sometime in the 2020s.

Sound good? Below you’ll find the list of products we’ve shortlisted for your consideration. When you load up the web form, you’ll notice that some categories have an Other option, where you’ll have the chance to enter your favourite product from that category if it’s not listed.

Good luck!

THIS YEAR, WE’D LOVE TO HEAR ALL ABOUT THE KIT THAT BLEW YOUR HAIR BACK IN 2015!

GEAR OF THE YEAR 2015

LAPTOPSDell Studio XPS 13

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch

Acer Aspire Switch 10

Lenovo Thinkpad T450S

Gigabyte Aorus X7 Pro

Alienware 17

MSI GT80

NETWORKSCell C

MTN

Vodacom

Telkom Mobile

me&you

FNB Connect

Mrp mobile

Virgin Mobile

SMARTPHONESApple iPhone 6

Sony Xperia Z4 Compact

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+

LG G4

HTC One M9

Innjoo One 3G

COMPETITION

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 39

TO ENTERIn exchange for a few personal details, we’re encouraging you to vote on your favourite kit of 2015. You stand a chance to win a lovely SUHD TV from LG! All you need to do is fill out the form at the official voting page, and you’re in the running!

The closing date for votes is the 15th of November, 2015. See the entry form for the Ts & Cs.

POINT YOUR BROWSER AT HTXT.CO.ZA/GOTY2015 TO ENTER!

GEAR OF THE YEAR 2015

TABLETSSony Xperia Z4 Tablet

Apple iPad Air 2

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5”

Surface Pro 3

Lenovo A7600 10.1-inch

CAMERASNikon D3300

Sony Alpha A5100

Panasonic Lumix TZ70

Canon EOS 7D II

Olympus OM-D E-M10

WEARABLESRazer Nabu X

Jawbone Up2

Apple Watch

Fitbit Charge

Sony Smartwatch2

Pebble Time Steel

ACCESSORIESRazer Mamba Tournament

Edition Gaming Mouse

Mionix Propus Mouse Pad

Thrustmaster T300 RS

Steering Wheel

Corsair H2100 Wireless

Headset

Xbox Elite Controller

GAMESMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Dying Light

Batman: Arkham Knight

The Witcher 3

Bloodborne

Pillars of Eternity

COMPETITION

STATS

4 days after the iPhone 6S went on sale in the US, one appeared on local ecommerce

site Bidorbuy for R17 999. It sold to someone from Amanzimtoti in KZN just 2 days later, who now owns a 128GB Rose

Gold iPhone 6S. Bit.ly/1N3mtqy

The numbers that sum up the best of

the month

SA techin stats

Enjoy this free copy of htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy? There’s loads more stories like these,

plus in-depth features and news published daily at our website www.htxt.co.za.

NEXT MONTHAnd if you want even more, keep your eyes peeled for issue 21 from 1 November in all good technology retailers.

If you think the world is crowded with tech now, just wait – Gartner

says that by 2020, there will be over 25 000 000 000 connected devices on

planet Earth. Bit.ly/1O4giRG

A brand-new PC monitor from Philips boasts a total pixel count of 8 294 400, has a

176° viewing angle and a very impressive 40 inches of screen

real estate. Bit.ly/1N1tbNY

Edward Snowden joined Twitter, and just 16 hours

later he had attracted 896 000 followers. Should the 32-year-old be caught some day, he’s facing up to

30 years in prison. Bit.ly/1LlI11l

Every day, people from around the world upload over 80 000 000 photos to

Instagram. The 5-year-old photo-sharing service now also has over 400 000 000

active daily users.

Bit.ly/1O9Bzv4

South Africa’s average LTE speed of 8Mbps ranks 10th from the

bottom of the list of countries that use the technology. New

Zealand is top with an average of 36Mbps. Bit.ly/1N3ouD2

Documents

htxt.africa's Tech Made Easy - October 2015