The triumphs amid the high-tech turkeys

The first year of a new decade is set to be a big one for technology, but there was no shortage of tech turkeys last year. Apple kicked off the blunders in January when a serious FaceTime security glitch allowed users to listen in on the people they were calling when they did not pick up the call. The biggest public embarrassment last year also went to Apple, with its failure to launch AirPower, a single charging pad it promised could charge multiple devices, with faster charging times, on a single pad. The hugely popular WhatsApp was forced to fix a security bug in October that allowed hackers to take over the messaging app with a malicious GIF. Twitter and Facebook disappointed spectacularly, with the latter slammed repeatedly for privacy breaches and data handling. Twitter finally banned political advertising on its platform. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, announced in February — was billed as the first phone ever with a foldable touchscreen — but cracked and crumbled as soon as reviewers got their hands on it. It finally launched in Australia in October, but with a price tag of $3000, one could buy a separate tablet and Galaxy S10 smartphone with change left over. The ‘Year of the Fold’ doesn’t look like its gaining traction in 2020 either, with Huawei’s foldable Mate X currently available in China only and pre-orders for Motorola’s Razr delayed indefinitely. Huawei also hit a brick wall when the White House banned US companies, including Google, from doing business with the Chinese telco, resulting in its flagship Mate 30 unable to access the full version of Google — the operating system that runs on their phone. “As a result they released the Mate 30 Pro in November but it had no Google playstore, it didn’t have Google Maps, it didn’t have Gmail, so basically it was this vanilla phone that had a very limited ability on Android,” says Stephen Fenech at Tech Guide. 5G was also a great disappointment, according to Gadget Guy managing editor Ray Shaw. He says fewer than than 20 million 5G phones were sold last year from 1.4 billion phones, which covers the US and China where 5G is more advanced. “The real 5G (up to 20Gbps DL) is micro millimetre wave and the government will not even begin to auction this spectrum until late 2021. The earliest we may see a very limited rollout is 2023,” Mr Shaw said. “The promise of 5G is really five to 10 years away and by then it will be 6G or 7G.” With smartphones being banned in school, new smartwatches that only connect to parents have real potential this year, Mr Shaw said. One that is on the market is the Alcatel Movetime Family Watch, which allows children to call or message their parents while providing accurate location tracking. TV manufacturers are not standing still, with what’s coming after 4K: 8K. It’s the next big jump in TV resolution and like 4K, the transition will need new technologies. The new Hisense dual-cell LCD TV is promising to be a game changer, and is coming to Australia in 2020. Called the Hisense XD9G, the TV layers two liquid crystal modules on top of the other inside a single cabinet, allowing for black levels the company says will rival OLED. LG’s first foray into the growing indoor gardening movement, with a built-in column-style indoor garden, could also be a hit with urban dwellers. The company says it will offer all-in-one seed packages and a growth-monitoring app to help users cultivate greens inside their own homes.