John Buckley’s monthly round up of all the tech worth knowing about, for work, rest and play.
The extra edge
Samsung has released two new flagship smartphones with superior design and edgy performance. While the S6 has a standard design, the S6 edge has a gently curving screen that appears to run off the edge of the phone. Crafted from metal and glass, both phones blend beautiful design with innovation and powerful features.
Charging is ultra-fast with a mere 10 minutes of charging providing enough juice for the phone to be able to play two hours of HD video. The phones also support wireless charging, so as long as you have a compatible wireless charging pad, you can just place the phone on the pad to charge.
Business providers will be happy to know that the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are built on the upgraded, end-to-end secure mobile platform Samsung KNOX. This offers defence grade features for real-time protection from malicious attacks. The devices work seamlessly with the likes of Mobile Iron, Airwatch, and Microsoft Office 365. As business works increasingly in the Cloud, security is enhanced with a touch fingerprint scanner, super quick authentication and encrypted data saved in secure device storage.
Pricing: $1049 plus off contract (estimated)
Classic comes back
If you prefer your smartphones with a retro look, this could be the phone for you. The BlackBerry Classic is a device built for the QWERTY keyboard loyalists and those eager to rediscover the speed and accuracy of a physical BlackBerry keyboard.
BlackBerry Classic merges their leading security and high performance of the BlackBerry 10 with the traditional device design and features that users love, including the classic navigation keys, optical trackpad and short cuts. This device also upgrades the BlackBerry Bold experience with a faster browser, larger screen size, longer battery life, higher quality camera, and more applications. The new BlackBerry Classic is available from Vodafone for $649.
Touchless Transactions
Kiwis are embracing contactless payments for their everyday expenses as the technology continues to make shopping faster, more convenient and secure, according to new MasterCard research.
The survey of over a thousand New Zealanders shows that people are using contactless payment solutions like MasterCard PayPass cards in supermarkets most (36%), followed by retail shops (23%). More than eight out of ten of people using contactless ‘Tap and Go’ technology say their use has increased in the past year because the technology saves time (62%) and is convenient and easy to use (58%). Over a third of respondents use Tap and Go or contactless technology whenever they can, or frequently (34%). MasterCard noted that while more Kiwis are embracing the technology, 85% believed the main disadvantage was the ability for unauthorised purchases to be made if a card is lost or stolen. However MasterCard includes Zero Liability Protection on all its cards, so shoppers can carry out transactions without having to worry about any unauthorised purchases or false charges.
MasterCard NZ can be followed online at https://twitter.com/MasterCardNZ
Retail Scanners
Honeywell has unveiled an innovative new suite of retail barcode scanners, designed to allow retailers to better connect with customers and minimise checkout time.
The four new Voyager scanners are designed to help reduce checkout time, speed up loyalty programme enrolment and age verification, and unlock the full potential of the customer’s mobile shopping experience.
The new Voyager 1202G is Honeywell’s first battery-free wireless laser scanner, and provides the same aggressive linear barcode scanning performance as a wired scanner but without the long recharge time, maintenance, or environmental disposal issues associated with traditional batteries.
The Voyager 1602g pocket 2D Bluetooth scanner packs high performance area-imaging technology into an elegant and compact form factor, making it the perfect scanning companion to tablet-based retail POS systems.
For retailers that need to scan coupons from customers’ smartphone screens, the Voyager 1450g tethered scanner and Voyager 1452g wireless scanner deliver powerful linear barcode scanning out of the box. Both scanners are available for upgrade at a competitive price to enable QR code and 2D barcode reading at the initial time of purchase or at any point in the future.
Read more at https://now.honeywellaidc.com/Scanner-NPI-LP.html
