What lifestyle tech do I recommend? (2025 edition)

What lifestyle tech do I recommend? I did over 220 deep-dive reviews in 2025, and I constantly get asked what excited or impressed me. Conversely, what didn’t?

CyberShack has eleven categories – that is enough to be an expert in. This is not a paid listing – it does not get a gong unless it deserves it.

Phones

I am still using the 2024 Phone of the Year, Motorola Edge 50 Pro – an excellent upper-mid-range smartphone (review), because there was nothing in 2025 that met our 15 award criteria.

Our runner-up was the Nothing 3 which was one point short of the award. This funky, youth-focused brand has done very well. 2025 Phone of the Year – Nothing surprising

And out of the blue came the Honor Magic V5 fold, which met all criteria at $2599. I am starting to use it as my daily drive, but I still have a soft spot for the Motorola. It is an Honor Magic V5, sir. This is the best foldable phone of 2025 (review) and 2025 Phone of the Year: An Honor Magic V5, sir.

Our rural cousins appreciate that we are the only review site (in Australia, if not the world) that measures phone reception signal strength. Our list of 2025 phones suitable for rural use Rural reception phones are hard to get was one of our most read articles. Special mention to the OPPO Reno 13 F 5G – the poor bushies’ new friend (review) that at $599 is selling truckloads.

Finally, on phones, read Phone outlook for 2026 is not looking good. AI will largely drive 2026, and higher price rises due to skyrocketing memory and storage costs.

AV

In 2026, we will be bombarded by RGB mini-LED and its several misleading marketing names. Micro RGB and RGB Mini LED explained: More TV hype to entice you to buy

And although not yet a well-known issue, some brands hoover up your viewing data and monetise it. Read They should pay you to have a smart TV (opinion) and Smart TVs data harvesting: How to reduce spying.

While all smart TVs gather data, LG and Samsung have made it a fine art and a huge revenue source. So we are hesitant to recommend any of their TVs, no matter how technically good they are. Hisense is embarking on data harvesting – we are not sure of the extent yet. Sony uses Google TV, and you can switch off Samba (data harvester). TCL uses Google TV, and believe it or not, it’s the least intrusive, and you can turn almost all Google data harvesting off.

The best mini-LED of 2025 is the TCL C8K QD Mini LED TV – premium performance at a non-premium price, which readers praise as visually as good as OLED.

Honourable mention to TCL’s C7K and Hisense U8QAU – a pro-grade Mini-LED TV.

JBL released its MK2 soundbars, and the features and value blew us away. We had one reader ‘complain’ that PCM2.0 music was not upscaled, but we mentioned that in our review, JBL sensibly leaves 2.0 music alone but convincingly upscales everything else.

Another JBL innovation was the introduction of its Tx/Rx Bluetooth Auracast receiver, now on JBL Tour One M3 Smart TX BT/ANC over-the-ear headphones – nothing compares and JBL Tour Pro 3 – The most feature-full BT/ANC earphones yet.

Finally, to the soundbar that I could not live without. Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar – Add Sub 4 and Era 300s for Dolby Atmos on steroids. Yes its $4.5K but the effect of having the two Era 300s as rears, each a 5.0.1 left/right stereo, left/right surround, centre forward firing, and up-firing delivers full-spectrum, glorious and precise Dolby Atmos sound.

Smart Home

2025 was the year that NBN upped the base FTTN/HFC speed to 500/50Mbps and proved beyond doubt that Telco and reseller-supplied modems were ‘Crappy’. That led to Crappy NBN modems – the lessons we learned from our free advice.

Our Free NBN Router advice is back by incredibly popular demand has helped 270 readers and reached over $3,000 in voluntary donations for the Smith Family. Important to us is that our advice has been 100% correct. Amazing what you can do with a house plan and a Wi-Fi heat map. Unfortunately, the free advice must end by 31 January.

We were impressed with advances in smart home IoT. Read Tapo H110 IR and IoT hub and sensors keep you safe,

Cleaning

My four panellists and I have the cleanest homes on the Central Coast. We reviewed every major brand and the new roller mop technology. While we had favourites in 2024, we could have used any of the following new roller mops in 2025.

Eufy offered the most innovation, and worldwide demand saw it sell out in days! Following user feedback, it has a few upgrades and features and will be relaunched in early February.

Dreame continues as the pet-owner’s choice, while its sub-brand MOVA is pretty good too.

Poolbots are the next big thing.

This is our second year reviewing these, and we are still gathering benchmarks to ensure the best review.

We had to add a warning to our reviews of Poolbot from Robot My Life due to reader feedback on service and business issues. That also includes Hobot, Ultenic, Moebot and Legee.

We were also inundated with requests to review generic white-labelled Chinese-made pool robots looking to dump and cash in on the Australian market due to Trump’s tariffs killing the US market. We updated our Pool Robots – how to choose the right one for you (2025 guide) in the hope that you won’t be caught.

At this time, we have two years of experience with Aiper and are satisfied that not only is the gear well-made, but the local service is solid.

We have just reviewed Dreame’s first poolbot, Dreame Z1 PIXZ4110 cordless poolbot, for maximum clean with minimum effort. Given that we have no longevity stats, all we can say is that it is well-made from a good company.

Charlie Brown is reviewing the Wybot brand.

Security

Home security cameras are also the next big thing as homeowners try to protect their assets from increasingly desperate criminals who need cash for drugs.

The market is flooded with generic Chinese rubbish that you can pick up at a hardware store, to quality offerings that cost a fair bit more.

Arlo is a great brand with great gear and has gone down the subscription path. To a large degree, its philosophy of security in the cloud makes sense, as it is where the AI comes from. Read Arlo Intelligence Powers 6 New Smart Home Security Cameras

But Aussies hate subscriptions, and I am impressed with the major advances with E u fy and its Homebase BionicMind AI (no subscription) and its cameras, including solar models. It also has the world’s first palm lock (better than a fingerprint) and a range of smartlights for both decorative and security purposes. Read eufy S4 Max PoE NVR AI Security System – Bullet and PTZ, 24/7 recording.

Tapo camera systems have come a long way with their new TP-Link Tapo H500 smart home base – no subscription, local storage, and AI. New camera’s are here (review soon)

Swann came up with a 600m range (well, at least half that) set of cameras and doorbells. Swann MaxRanger4K up to 600 metres long-range wireless security cameras.

Off-Grid

Yet another next big thing that seems to go ballistic every time there is a bush fire, flood or school holidays. We are talking portable and backup power – not home grid replacement. Our guide Portable Power Stations – power on the go has been read thousands of times.

The two key players are Bluetti and EcoFlow. Both have great, safe LFP power banks and offer a comprehensive range of solar panels and accessories. Anker Solix has a range, but they are still getting organised and focusing on home batteries.

But a stellar performer was my journey to rooftop solar. The four-part series (and a few segues) were read tens of thousands of times and helped people understand what they are really putting on the roof and what batteries really do.

Home Appliances

This was a big year for us, and we worked with a local commercial kitchen and chef to really put devices through their paces.

The Breville winner was the Breville Combi Wave 3 in 1 – microwave, oven, air fry, grill and combi, and you cannot beat its soft-close door or simple controls that open it up to become much more.

Ninja made a range of appliances and has a cult following. Our pick, and we use it multiple times daily, is the Ninja Foodi AG551 Smart XL Grill and Air Fryer – the one appliance you really need.

Over Christmas, we reviewed the Ninja Luxe Café ES601 Premier Espresso Machine: Coffee for prosumers, and it has replaced our pod machine with real barista-quality coffee.

The worst invention of the year was Bartesian – cocktails on command, drink on demand: great concept, but poor design and build.

Health and Environment

A little gas bottle-shaped air purifier Shark NeverChange5 Air Purifier HP150ANZ: Perfect for bedrooms, has been my constant hayfever companion. It works so well as a bedroom purifier, and not having to change filters for five years is for sloth-like owners.

The Shark FlexBreeze FA200ANZ will blow you away. It turned out to be one of the quietest and most powerful desk/stand fans. There is a water mist version as well.

And for Winter personal heating, we could not go past Stoov personal heating with Dutch style and Dreamaker heated throw – personal heating at its best.

Gadgets and Stuff

Bambu offers incredible 3D printers from single colour to seven colours online. Amazing gear.

LaserPecker offers portable and benchtop laser engraving and cutting. It’s becoming a real side hustle for many Australians – everyone needs this.

But here are my personal favourites

Arzopa D10 and D14 Digital photo frames: Perfect for Xmas, and my aged mum gets a thrill every day as we can remotely add photos and messages.

Quntis Curved Monitor light 45cm – a no-glare task light – any task light is better than none, but this suits curved monitors.

Quntis Body Sensing Lightbar SVR-H4015-PIR30 – lights only when you need it. Perfect for motion-sensitive light, these are great in the bathroom, hallways and cabinets. Terrific staying power.

OPPO Watch X2 – a fascinating and fully-featured smart watch for those who want an Android Wear watch and don’t want to enter Samsung’s ecosystem.

Uniden UH45 Max Series UHF-CB tranceiver – CB fun for the family solved my problem of a Christmas gift for the family that they use almost daily.

Robosen Mini Robots: Bring toys to life. It gets the gong for the right child who loves Pixar.

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