In Sunday's segment on Sky News Australia (Weekend Edition with Tim Gilbert) we looked at the Australian release of the ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI robot vacuum cleaner. It’s the smartest robot vacuum cleaner you can buy and it will cost $2 499 AUD.

It takes direct voice commands - extra to Google and Alexa, sweeps, vacuums and mops. After each cleaning round the base station automatically washes the mop and dries it using hot air to remove odours when working in humid environments. Automatically stores the wastewater after cleaning the mop, automatically empties dust bag and refills the water tank with clean water.

In Sunday's segment on Sky News Australia (Weekend Edition with Tim Gilbert) we looked at Samsung’s S22 ULTRA. Is it the phone of the year already? The phone combines the best of the Note (S-Pen) and the best of the S-Series (Cameras).

Price: $1849 to $2449

We look at the productivity and image capturing capabilities of the ULTRA with plenty of test shots taken around Sydney Harbour at night. More testing is needed before we can say this will be phone of the year. The iPhone 13 Pro Max is holding its own at this point.

HAVE SMARTPHONES REACHED THEIR PEAK?

A lot of people are asking, “where’s the innovation?” when it comes to new phones. We discuss how significant under-the-hood updates are being missed my consumers. The new Samsung phones, like the new Apple devices, appear to be similar to recent versions. But the ‘unseen’ changes deliver big benefits when it comes to battery life and camera performance.

CHECK YOUR FIND MY IPHONE SETTINGS NOW

Tim called during the week about his daughter’s missing iPhone. We discovered that Find My wasn’t active but fortunately they located the phone later in the day. iPhones and Android devices have built-in location tracking but you must turn it on as soon as you setup your mobile.

We take you through the basics so you can always find your phone because some of the settings have changed. Third party apps are not needed.

TECH GIFTS FOR YOUR VALENTINE

When hi-tech meets fashion - that’s a good place to start.

Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer - $599

HUAWEI FreeBuds Lipstick Wireless Earbuds - $369 (These look amazing)

DJI Mini 2 4K Drone - $749

Ecovacs Deebot T9+ Robot Vacuum Cleaner $1299 - what better way to express your love than getting a robot to do the cleaning so you can spend more time together ;)

Meet Karen Powell

Karen is Head of Australia and New Zealand for ECOVACS ROBOTICS, the number 1 brand in the robotic vacuum industry in Australia.

Established in 1998 in China, ECOVACS ROBOTICS recently hit 20 million sales global sales of robot vacuum cleaners, across 60+ countries.

Karen joined ECOVACS as Country Marketing and Operations Manager in November 2018, promoted to Head of Australia and New Zealand in 2019.

Originally from the UK, Karen is an industry executive with more than 20 years experience across business development, sales, account management and country management.

Roles and Companies include:

- Sony Ericsson - National Account Manager

- Jabra Mobile - Regional Sales Manager, and then Senior Director of Sales

- B&O Play (Bang & Olufsen) - Country Manager, ANZ

Karen’s story is one of hard work, smart leadership, outstanding consumer relations and results.

Under Karen’s regional leadership, the Australia/NZ market has been a huge success for ECOVACS ROBOTICS.

Enjoy.