Unveiling the new iPhone 4, Jobs called the glistening glass-front-and-back device the “most precise, beautiful thing”. He’s probably right. The new iPhone has taken smartphones to a new level (as defined by Mr Jobs, of course) with “the highest-resolution display ever built into a phone,” at 960×640, which Apple is calling Retina Display; a 5MP camera with LED flash, faster Wi-Fi (802.11n) and HD video recording (720p), all in a 10mm-thin casing.

There’s also a front-facing camera, which goes hand-in-hand with a new video-calling feature called FaceTime (only for use with other iPhone 4 users, it seems).

Apple’s thrown in up to 40 percent longer talk time, renamed the operating system iOS 4 (with 100 new features), and even used the stainless steel band as its antenna. If only Steve would tell us when the iPhone 4 will be available in SA.

The big sat nav news isn’t the new 2010 maps, nor the new voices (Darth Vader, Victor Matfield and DJ Fresh from TomTom, versus Garmin’s wild bunch led by Minki van der Westhuizen, Os Du Randt and – presumably for the caravan community – Riaan Cruywagen.)

The big news is that SA has finally joined the world, with live traffic updates launched in June from both Garmin and TomTom.

TomTom’s Go 750 has long headed Stuff’s Top 10 Sat nav list. Now the 750 LIVE’s built-in SIM card offers nationwide, real-time HD Traffic and “safety camera” updates, and Google Search. These services are free for a year from purchase, R500 a year thereafter. HD Traffic works with TomTom’s IQ Routes to monitor traffic flow on your route using data from Tracker and other TomTom Live units. The system will quickly identify traffic problems, display them, and offer alternative routes and accurate journey times.

BMW’s new 5 Series is a major step from previous models. Bigger and plusher, it’s like… well, it’s like the 7 Series with muscle definition.

There are six variants – an eight-cylinder and three six-cylinder petrol engines, a six-cylinder diesel, and a four-cylinder turbodiesel, all with BMW’s new eight-speed auto transmission. The tech is great: BMW’s nifty heads-up display glows on the windscreen, and optional second-gen BMW Night Vision displays people, animals and other heat-emitting objects on the 10.4in (26cm) dashboard monitor, even when they’re beyond headlight range. Video data is analysed to warn of pedestrians and cyclists potentially on collision courses with the car.

And then there’s the Parking Assistant: at low speeds, sensors in the side mirror scan for spaces at least 1.2m longer than the car. After you stop and engage reverse, the driver operates the gas and brake pedals while the Parking Assistant moves the steering wheel to reverse precisely into the space – while you’re watching a bird’s-eye view of the manoeuvre on the dashboard monitor.

www.tevo.co.za

No, it’s not just an iPod dock with built-in alarm clock and FM radio. That would be ordinary.

The shoX stealth is compatible with pretty much anything that makes a noise: it’ll play from your cellphone, laptop, TV, digital decoder, an SD card or USB stick. And the Stealth will play it well: that interesting weaponised-looking design houses five speakers, with a four-inch subwoofer, and kicks out 23 watts of really excellent sound. The footprint? 52cm long, 16.5cm deep, 33cm high. In case your significant other gets control of the included infrared remote, there’s an optional Bluetooth adaptor for playing audio from your laptop and cellphone. So you can silence Celine Dion without even looking up from your screen.

www.sony.co.za

The world has changed. There’s a new UK government and FIFA has hired the South African justice system. But we’re more concerned about the shifting market for portable computers. While Sony surely has a tablet brewing, right now we have an updated P Series. It has the same impossibly sharp 1600×768-pixel screen, a more potent Atom processor and 64GB solid-state drives. It’s a very eye-catching pocketbook size, thin and light, with the word ‘Vaio’ on its lid (which always adds sex appeal), but it’s the built-in accelerometer, GPS and compass that make it stand out to a wandering gadgeteer. Even if you do get stranded by an angry volcano.