Audible launches Plus Catalogue and continues to invest in Canadian Original Content

Audible, a leading producer and provider of original spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks, announced the launch of an unlimited listening catalogue for Audible.ca members at no extra cost.  

The Plus Catalogue features over 12,000 titles including classic and contemporary audiobooks in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres, as well as a variety of exclusive podcasts. It will also feature over 500 French titles from Quebec, titles from celebrities Idris and Sabrina Elba and Tan France, as well as four new Canadian Audible Originals.

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Review: Microsoft Surface Headphones 2

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

As far premium headphones go the Microsoft Surface Headphones 2 bring a lot of the look and functionality, we’ve seen from other Surface products. You have dual dials that can toggle volume and 13-levels of noise cancellation. You can also touch the surface of each headphone to pause, or play audio, and there’s an easy mute button on the right headphone. 

Microsoft builds its headsets through the lens of productivity, meaning that it sees its devices as office tools for meetings and video conferences rather than as consumer electronics for consuming music. In this context, the Surface Headphones 2, do stand out with 18-hour battery life and a comfortable and surprisingly lightweight design.

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Apple tries again in the smart speaker market with HomePod mini

After a rather disastrous first salvo into the smart speaker space with the HomePod, Apple is hedging its bets to take on Amazon and Google with its new HomePod mini, a smaller and cheaper Siri-powered smart speaker. When we reviewed the OG HomePod, we were impressed by its audio quality as well as its impressive multi-room functionality. We did lament that Siri was tied to only one account and that the range of content was limited largely to Apple services. We also found HomePod expensive. 

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Review: TCL 10 Pro

By Canadian Reviewer Staff

TCL may not be the first company to come to mind when it comes to flagship smartphones. This is the world’s number two television maker after all and has built a name for itself in making premium screen technology widely available.  

What most people don’t know is that TCL has been in the smartphone game for some time. It was a licensee of brands like Alcatel, Palm, and BlackBerry. TCL was behind the resurgent KeyOne and Key2 models, the very last smartphones that featured QWERTY keyboards.  

The TCL 10 Pro comes as a complete surprise in a year where many of us are in dire need of good news. For the price of a base iPhone SE 2, the TCL 10 Pro offers an impressive and crisp 6.47” FHD curved AMOLED display the likes that we’ve only seen on flagship Samsung phones. This TCL 10 Pro has a four camera array with up to 64MP ultra-high resolution photo capability, plus standalone  macro, super-wide angle, and low-light cameras as well as a 24 megapixel front facing camera. It also features an in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock, something that some other flagship smartphones don’t even have yet. 

Consider a fast-charging 4500 man battery with OTG reverse charging and a decent Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 Octa-core processor with 6GB of RAM and 128 GB of onboard storage, and it looks like TCL has hit the sweet spot in terms of features given its  $700 CAD  (Bell) and 665 CAD (Telus) pricing. 

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