Bucket Tech: Samsung Galaxy - Blue Tag Sale

Samsung is giving mobile enthusiasts and tech lovers the chance to upgrade their gadgets at jaw-dropping discounts with the annual Blue Tag Sale (BTS), running now until 9 March 2025. Offering savings of up to 40% on the latest and most cutting-edge mobile devices, this is the perfect opportunity to grab top-tier Samsung products at unbeatable prices.

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, or wireless earbuds, BTS has something for everyone. But hurry because this exclusive sale is only available for a limited time and while stocks last.

Unbeatable Offers to Elevate Your Mobile Experience;

• Galaxy S24 FE – Now R12,999* (save R2,000)
• Galaxy A25 5G – Now R4,299* (save R700)
• Galaxy A16 – Only R3,499* (save R500)
• Galaxy Tab A9+ Wi-Fi – Just R3,299* (save R700)
• Galaxy Tab A9 LTE – Only R2,499* (save R2,000)
• Galaxy Watch Ultra – An incredible R9,999* (save R3,000)
• Galaxy Battery Pack– Just R399* (save R300)

These amazing discounts mean that you can experience the innovation and performance of Samsung devices at great discounts. From the latest Galaxy A-series smartphones to the powerful Galaxy Tab tablets and stylish Galaxy Watches and Buds, BTS is the event to upgrade your tech collection at prices that are simply too good to miss.

Only One Week Left – Act Fast!

With only one week remaining until the sale ends on 9 March, now is the time to grab these incredible deals before they’re gone. Devices are flying off the shelves, so head to your nearest Samsung store, shop online at www.samsung.com/za, visit the Samsung App Shop, or go to a participating retailer to secure your savings.

End your summer on a high with Samsung’s iconic innovations, and make the most of the Blue Tag ale before it’s too late.

Don’t Miss Out on Samsung’s Blue Tag Sale

For more information and to shop the full range of offers, visit: www.samsung.com/za

Offers available at participating retailers and online stores. T&Cs apply.

Bucket Tech: Blackberry Passport

Surprisingly, the Canadian manufacturer is still around and hasn't filed for bankruptcy, whats even more surprising is that they're still allowed to make phones but the biggest surprise of them all is that their latest offering is actually quite good, in fact its more than good as it matches and beats most of the top smart phones in the market right now. The only problem with it is that it looks like a freaken tile!

It's called the Passport, because its the same size and shape as a passport in Canada/ USA. It adopts touch screen functionality and Blackbery's trust worthy QWERTY keyboard that made the brand so famous in the early 2000's. This phone is being marked as a turning point for the company as it is aimed at up class business people who need something versatile and smart enough to do things that you can only do on a PC, such as multi page spreadsheets, etc. But we've heard that before from the company, their Z10 (which I have) supposed to be the device that turned things around for them but with it having to use data and not their RIM server which incorporated BIS, people were not too keen and opted for other brands

Now I know what you're thinking, its a Blackbery and it's bound to give you endless shit after 1 year and that damn clock of death will show up sometime in its life span but here's the thing. After the success with the ranges of chat phones, they didn't really do much to improve on it but after the knock they took, they did have to reinvent the wheel. Although the Z10 didn't prove to be the market changer they had hoped it to be, it became the platform to develop from. The Z10 gave birth to BB10 OS which I must admit had it's flaws at first but after the last few updates, the OS is practically faultless. The Passport comes with the latest OS 10.3 which is custom made for the Passport. 

I said the phone matches and in some cases is better than some of the phones offered on the market today, how? Well to start of with, its running a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip set which is the best on the market with a Quad-core 2.26GHz Krait 400 CPU with 3 gigs of ram! Basically you're sitting with the V12 of processing plants when it comes to hand held devices. With this much ram and processing speeds, there shouldn't be a reason for the phone to run slow at all, even with bloatware. 

Memory wise, it has on board 32gig with MicroSD up to 128gig. The Passport comes with a 13 mega pixel primary camera with auto focus and optical image stabilizer. If the camera is anything like the Z10, its bound to be great. Secondary front facing camera is 2 mega pixel, again not bad. 

Cosmetic wise, the phone looks weird, the 4.5 inch square screen with the keyboard below is a first.. It will take a while to get used to a square phone but functionality wise, what is has on paper makes it a game changing phone for the company. Whether people will take to it is another story, the company already has so much bad reputation but like Apple there are some BB loyalist and some of the old users might get drawn back because of the keyboard but for me they're still playing catch up. In terms of quality of product, I think its great but in terms of things like apps for the phone, they going to need to do a lot of convincing to developers to make them create their app for Blackberry devices. It will be interesting to see how this one does as it really is a great phone but how the market will react to it remains to be seen.

Bucket Tech: LG G3 - Review

Even the box is fancy

When people are due for an upgrade for their smart phone, natural instincts will direct them to the internet to read reviews on the latest gadgets that's thrown out their by the various brands. Most reviews are long and filled with technical mumbo jumbo that you don't understand but boast to your friends anyway because it makes your phone sound cool. A few weeks ago I was given the LG G3 to review but I'm putting a twist to this one, instead of regurgitating what everyone else is writing about, I'm going to take a leaf from the brand's marketing slogan for the phone "simple is the new smart" and give you a simplified, first hand experience with the phone and how it will affect your life on a daily basis.

Looks

Having attended the launch and seeing what the phone was capable of, I was pretty excited to get this phone for reviewing purposes. Playing with it for 30 minutes is one thing but having it a part of your daily routine makes a big difference and that is where the true test comes in. Lets start of with the cosmetics, the phone definitely looks the part, with its brushed aluminium finish available in various colours, 5.5" LCD screen and no buttons on the front make the phone sleek and sexy in appearance. The main power button and volume buttons are quote oddly located on the back of the phone, LG says it makes them more accessible when using the phone with one hand...yeah, didn't really do it for me. There are also flap covers available for the phone with a first of its kind round cut out for a display interface. I highly recommend the cover as I found the phone if dropped, can scratch easily.

Quad HD display is phenomenal

Display

Undoubtly one of the main talking points about the LG G3 is its screen, I kid you not when I say this, it will leave you speechless. It's the first phone to use Quad HD technology, what is Quad HD? Well precisely what the name says, four times HD. The screen has pixel density of 538ppi, which basically means the quality of the images view are true-to-life. LG is setting the standard with this one for future brands to follow and I'm glad they're settled for a 5,5" screen. It seems the norm size but it keeps the phones physical size to a respectable level and you won't feel like you're carrying around a phablet. Of course there is a catch to this phenomenal screen, with the clarity and brightness being so high, it uses a massive amount of battery life. Just over 30% to be exact!

Picture taken at night, on Auto mode with low light

Camera

With many of our current smart phones, the camera's are good but not great. The guys at LG took this into consideration when deciding on the camera that came with the G3. In the end what they've created is nothing short of magical, a 13 megapixel camera with optical image stabilizer and laser focus which translates to the end user take almost perfect pictures all the time, every time, anytime, anywhere and in any lighting conditions. Laser focus enables the phone to focus on the object in milli seconds, allowing the user to snap almost real time pictures, therefore not missing a second of the action. Couple this with the optical image stabilizer and blurred pictures are a thing of the past. There are occasions it does take a while to focus but when I say a while, its still way faster than any phone out there. It also has dual flashes which make pictures much more clearer and adds more detail to whats being captured. 

Taking selfies with help from Chia of the Socialite

Selfies Made Easy

The front camera is pretty decent at 2.1 megapixels, the clarity difference is very noticeable but one of the key features of it has to be the selfie detection. We live in an era where taking a selfie is becoming as important as breathing for some and with one having to press a button to capture it, it often moves the phone and you end up taking 50 selfies before chosing one to post to instagram. With the LG G3, it has a built in gesture control to activate the camera. It's quite neat to use as I demonstrated with many during the time in which I had the phone, simply activate the front facing camera, get everyone in the frame, open your palm and make sure it is visible in the screen, when ready to take a picture, clench your first to capture. It will give you a 3 second countdown and capture the perfect selfie every time. This will save you plenty of time in the future and make you look less of a nana. 

Smart Notice

Operating System

The make or break thing for me on a phone is the OS, Android has flooded the market with the various brands but many of them choose not to customise it too much which leaves me and others feeling that there is just too much to the thing. Not saying that it's bad, some people do feel like they want to be operating the Starship Enterprise when using their smart phone but for others, they just want something simple to operate, hence they keep going back to Apple. LG however have taken the step to customise Android's KitKat v4.4.2 to their phone. Simplifying the OS to the devices needs and cutting out all the other junk that you would find on a standard Android device. It makes the device much more user friendly to operate for everyone. I guess that's what they meant by "simple is the new smart" because at the end of the day, your cellphones primary use is to make and receive phone calls, well and now to receive whatsapp messages. 

Google Now tracking my where abouts

Google Intergration

Being Android, the phone is fully Google functional, what I found pretty cool was the voice activated Google search, by use of a trigger sentence "Okay Google", it will open up the search menu, awaiting your search instruction. So you can search for something on the internet without having to type anything! Google has integrated itself well and the phone also comes with Google Now, which pretty much is like a PA for you, or a creepy stalker that tracks your every move. No really it does, it will gather that the place you stayed at over night is home, and track your daily travel routes, notifying you if there are any delays on the route. It even tracks your location to bring you precise weather reports of the area you're in! The phone has access to Google's play store which has thousands of applications to chose from, besides the social media apps, one can find almost anything that they might find interesting. LG also have a store of their own but that is mainly for applications realted to the phone. 

Accessories

As mentioned before, the phone will have LG covers available for it, LG have also released a wireless charging mat for the G3, the downside to it is that is has to be plugged in to charge, so I don't really see the point. With Nokia's it worked as a portable battery pack. The main accessory for the G3 would have to be it's watch, what makes it different and miles apart from its competitors devices is that you can use it on any android device and is not limited to LG products. The watch also makes use of Googles voice activated menu which makes usability effortless. 

Verdict

While there may be some flaws with the phone, such as build quality and battery life, there is no phone out there at the moment that is perfect but I'd like to say that this one is almost near perfect. Most of the features and key aspects of the phone is revolutionary which is basically setting standards for others to follow. Add to that the good looks and simplified Android user interface LG have modified and you really do have a winning phone. The only other phone that came come close to this is the Oneplus Plus but with limited stock and only available to purchase via invite, LG is sure to have that part of the market sorted. Many times I get asked the question on which is the best phone on the market and I always tell people that the answer is based on user preference because we were flooded with similar devices but at long last there is a device that stands out from the rest of the crowd and while LG might not be very popular with the main crowd, they sure do have a great product out.

Specifications

Processor: Quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 400

Memory: 16gig onboard with 2 gigs of RAM

Screen: 5.5" Quad HD LCD, 16 million colours, 1440 x 2560 resolution

Camera: Back - 13 megapixel with optical image stabiliser & laser autofocus, Front - 2.1 megapixel

Battery life: Talk time - 19 hours, Standby - 565 hours

Some pics taken with the phone

MWEB WiFi High Street

Whether we like it or not, technology has taken over our lives, more often than not we will revert to our phones or computers for something or the other. Mobile devices have come along way from just making phone calls, with a host of social applications and high resolution camera's, a phone isn't merely a phone now a days, people want to share their moments, keep in contact and browse the internet on the go but data prices in SA have been steep, although there have been decreases in the pricing, it really isn't on par with the rest of the world. 

Hence a trip to a coffee shop or restaurant now won't only be decided upon if the coffee or food is good but if they offer free WiFi. On average, coffee shops offer 20mb per person which is hardly enough to update your Facebook status, instagram your food, post a selfie of you and your bestie to twitter and check in on Foursquare. Fear not though, MWEB have come to the rescue by introducing "WiFi High Street", in a first, MWEB have chosen streets around the country that have a big social hub and offered them good quality, high speed, uncapped WiFi! The initiative was launch two weeks back on Durban's iconic Florida Road. Speaking at the launch, MWEB's General Manger, Nathier Kasu said "Florida Road is a great place to demonstrate the possibilities that high-speed WiFi enables. We've created a Wifi zone, rather than a WiFi hotspot, to deliver superior experience to users, wherever they may be on the high street"

What is a WiFi Zone?

WiFi hotspots tend to be a single access points, with limited capacity and scalability as new users join the network, and a poorer overall performance. By contrast, a WiFi zone features multiple access points, meshed together in a single indoor or outdoor environment with more resilient infrastructure and powerful backhaul- with the result being consistent, fast internet access. 

I was skeptical about it but since the launch I have visited Florida Road many times and tested it out, even though I am not an MWEB client, obtaining a username and password was dead simple and within seconds I was connected and ready to go. This really is a great initiative from MWEB and with more of these WiFi Zones planned for SA, it can only make things better for us.