Winners and Losers: The sunny weather has made its way to Britain and there’s a chance to touch grass, so why are we heralding Netflix this week?
Lots of diverse news in the tech world this week. On the fitness tracker front, the beloved Whoop brand brought its fifth generation model to fore. I’ve been using Whoop since it was a prototype build and it’s been great to see the company’s journey. Now there’s a fifth generation Whoop model and an additional MG (Medical Grade) device that includes blood pressure estimates and an ECG to check for irregular heart rate. It’s not cheap these days as, if you get the full subscription you’re looking at over £1,000 over three years. You do get the tracker for free though.
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We got a couple of interesting arrivals in the gaming laptop sector, with Dell’s Alienware bringing back its Aurora brand for gamers who want a sleeker and more portable machine for dual use. The Lenovo Legion i9 has gone all out with the specs and has an optional glasses-free 3D display.
On the Apple front, a senior company executive admitted AI might make the iPhone obsolete in a decade, but in the meantime it was reported the company might just shuffle its iPhone release schedule and release them semi-annually instead.
While Apple makes it easier for Android users to embrace the iPhone, Google is working on keeping people on-platform. A new battery health feature is arriving in Android 16 but will skip the devices that need it now.
In console news, Nintendo is dropping the invite requirement to buy a Switch 2 directly in the UK and Xbox is sneakily taking over the PS5 store. Finally, Spotify has added a snooze button to silence those tracks it plays too often. It’s algorithms have us so pigeonholed these days, that it plays about 27 songs over and over. Speaking of music, the leak of Sony’s new XM6 over-ear noise-cancelling headphones sounds like we’re in for a treat.
Anyway, let’s get on to the main event… this weeks winners and losers
Winner: Netflix
If we could measure the amount of time we spend trying to find what to watch on Netflix vs actually watching Netflix the results wouldn’t make pretty reading. However, this week’s updates are here to help you separate the wheat from the chaff and have you watching in no time.
The TV software is getting real time recommendations based on your likes and dislikes to help you find something to fit the mood. Plus you don’t have to go digging through the menus to find your lists. It’s right there on the home screen.
But the mobile app discovery tools are where it’s at. There’s a new Open AI-powered search feature you can get super specific with. You can say: “I want something funny and upbeat,” for instance. Plus there’s a new vertical feed of social media-style clips from shows that might pique your interest. You can go straight to the series page from there.
Love these features! There’s so much on Netflix that it’s difficult to get a handle on what to watch. Hopefully the advanced search will come to the TV app soon too, and couples get to collaborate on a vibe rather than getting annoyed by each other’s scrolling.
Loser: New Microsoft Surface Pro
Microsoft revealed a new Surface Pro 12-inch this week and I believe they’re trying to pitch to the iPad Pro market as Apple looks to make its highest-end tablet a little more Mac-like for productivity users.
However, I can’t help feeling the changes Microsoft has made to entice potential iPad Pro fanciers haven’t gone far enough. I love the new sleeker design, keyboard revamp, and magnetic Surface Pen additions. The display-size that straddles the two iPad Pro options makes sense. However, a downgraded Snapdragon chip compared to other versions in the range and only having an LCD screen will turn off anyone who values the word ‘Pro’.
Microsoft has got the new model to start at under $799, which is $200 cheaper than the 11-inch iPad Pro. That’s a plus, but the sacrifices leave me thinking the Windows 11 2-in-1 isn’t Pro enough for that audience.
