Mobile payments come to Sydney transport, Fitbit comes to kids, Apple rumours heat up, and what do we think of Samsung’s Galaxy S9?
Transcript
For the middle of March, you’re tuned into The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology round-up, and as you can probably imagine, technology is near and dear to us. We live it, we breathe it, and sometimes we ingest it.
This week, Sydney’s transport joined in on that philosophy, adding a dose of tech to its Ferry and Lightrail network, something we hope makes its way around more of the country.
From this week, tap to pay cards from Visa, MasterCard, and American Express will now be supported on Sydney Ferries and Sydney Lightrail, but more importantly, so will mobile options supporting those cards.
That means if you already use Apple Pay on an iPhone or Apple Watch, Android Pay on a phone or wearable, or Samsung Pay, you’ll be able to tap on using your device and not your Opal card.
It’s the first we’ve seen of the Opal network feeling modern, and not relying on yet another card we have to store in our wallets.
Hey, if you have Fitbit’s Ionic smartwatch from last year, even that is supported because it has mobile payments, too. But if you don’t have Fitbit’s Ionic, no worries, because Fitbit will have another option that you can track your fitness and use mobile payments
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This week, the wearable maker announced two new models, the Fitbit Versa and the Fitbit Ace.
First is the Versa, and it’s a lightweight wearable that looks like it comes from the bones of Pebble before Fitbit bought them. That means it looks like a smartwatch, but runs Fitbit’s own platform, offering heart rate, GPS, wireless syncing, and swim proof design. And you might even be able to use it to pay for Sydney transport.
One model you can’t do that with is the Fitbit Ace, and that’s because it’s made for kids. From the looks of things, the Fitbit Ace is a Fitbit Alta resized for kids, and the idea is to get them running around and using energy on a device that can keep tabs.
If you know your kids need one of these, you’ll find the Fitbit Ace in stores in a few months for $130, while its Versa sibling will be $300 in April.
April is closer than June by a good two months, but June is how long you have to wait for a bunch of Apple’s rumours to turn into the real thing.
In fact, this week the rumour mill kicked into gear, with word that Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference is on in June, starting speculation for what’s to come.
That includes updates to the iPad Pro, to make the HomePod do a little more, and for a MacBook Pro with updated innards.
But most of the rumours are about a new Mac Pro which five years in is looking a little long in the tooth. It means that if you’re thinking of buying Apple’s most expensive desktop computer, you may want to wait until early June.
Right now, if you need something new in the phone world, you have more choices: Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and S9+ launched this week.
That means the hottest new Android is now available, and we’ve been spending time with the big one, the S9+ to see what it’s like.
And it’s kind of a lot like last year’s S8, though that should come as no surprise, since it’s largely the same design. There’s a glass body, a metal frame,