What started as a phone comparison system has grown into one of Australia’s most trusted technology news and reviews websites, covering more than just phones, but everything in the technology news, reviews, analysis, and the tech education space.
But we’re not done, and we’re not resting on our laurels.
Regular updates and changes aim to improve how people use the website, and this year, we’re making a bunch of changes to help people have a better experience researching gadgets and gear. It’s not your basic blog, that’s for sure.
Table of contents
The first feature we wanted to include is one desktop readers on laptops and the like experienced with an update in 2025: a table of contents stuck on the side.
This year, it comes to phones, as well. And not only that, but the table of contents will animate as to where you are, complete with a reading indicator on phones.
It’s a way to always know where you are in reviews and buyers guides, because they’re often so big, you’ll want a roadmap. This is that roadmap, and means you can easily find your way around large articles even when you’re not on an equally sizeable screen.
Ordered reviews
We’re being a little more direct about our reviews this year. Pickr does so much reviewing that finding those reviews isn’t always easy.
From 2026 onwards, you’ll be able to see ordered reviews from the home page and others, citing best phones, best laptops, and more. The gear will be ordered automatically based on our ratings often with pricing, and it’s just the beginning.
Good, better, best with the Helpr
A big new feature we’re testing that coincides with the ordered reviews, the Pickr Helpr offers a solution designed to help you sort reviews and find great gear quickly.
To make this work, we’ve created a way to see gadgets ordered as Good, Better, and Best, a quick filtering system modelled from the group testing component to let you pick a category, and filter it down to the best gear as noted by their score.
You can do even more filtering yourself, entering a price range in, which will hone the range of gear further.
Perhaps the best part is that everything in the Pickr Helpr system has actually been reviewed, and has review methodology behind it. No AI is used in the process, and everything has a real review you can read.
You can see why we think something is good or bad, and help your gear research process.
Group testing gear
Part of the functionality that powers Helpr also helps us show group testing where we can. For instance, in articles where we’ll compare products directly, we can now use group testing to highlight each product and link to their reviews easily.
It’s an addition that will hopefully make it easier to see quick comparisons where you can, and it comes from our reviews data, making it easier to connect with, read about, and ultimately trust.
Bookmark articles
Another new feature, the share bar includes a way for you to bookmark any articles or reviews you’re interested in to your own personal collection. These aren’t bookmarks for your browser. They’re bookmarks for the site, and for your specific browser.
You won’t need to register or log in, and you don’t need to bookmark articles to your web browser unless you want to. These bookmarks are specific to your browser at the time, and can be viewed through the bookmark button at the top of the screen on mobile or desktop. Your collection will even say when you bookmarked them, and let you delete them.
Anyone can do it, and you simply start by pressing a bookmark on an article, no registration needed.
We think being able to quickly make a bookmark collection could help with research, because it will say what’s important and what you want to come back to. And to remind you, that little icon up above near the search box will also change colour to let you know you have a bookmark or two waiting for you.
More articles read to you, more accessibility
Last year, we started dabbling with the idea that our articles could be read in the voice of the author, a process we built with AI on a paid service in the cloud.
At the time, the idea of AI-read articles wasn’t new, but using the author’s voice was. Every AI voice reader is usually a somewhat generic automated voice, but Pickr uses the author’s voice.
Even this article can be read to you in the author’s voice, a demo of sorts that you’ll start to see on more articles. This concept should help more people hear articles over time, as opposed to simply needing to read them, improving accessibility and giving people the option to listen or read, or even do both.
We even have quotes working to sound different, almost as if they were being read in a Media Watch style of voice, something you’ll hear if you listen to this article.
“This feature has been in development for a while,” said a spokesperson for Pickr. “I think it goes some of the way to addressing the way AI can help publications evolve positively.”
AI-read voices without the environmental disaster
One of the major points we’re making with our AI voice reader is that it doesn’t run on some server in the cloud chewing up excess power and water, and destroying the environment further.
Pickr’s AI voice reader runs on a system connected to a solar panel (at its creator’s home in Australia), and so manages to avoid some of the environmental pitfalls of other AI systems. The voice we’re using isn’t perfect, but we’re working to improve the technology and cadence of the language so that it eventually sounds more natural.
It’s an example of AI that doesn’t use anyone else’s material without permission and also manages to skip the environmental problems typically associated with the category. And it’s one way Pickr is doing something very different from everyone else.
Get to know the authors
One of the other new features in Pickr’s tenth year is about the writers at the publication, something organisations aren’t always good at showcasing. Writers are important, because without them, the information and its expertise doesn’t exist, so we’re highlighting it.
Every article begins with that expertise. You can see what that author has experience in from the beginning of the piece, citing it from the very start.
If you click into the authors profile by pressing their name, you’ll not only find a bigger bio, you’ll find their social feeds on places beyond the big players.
Go beyond Facebook and Insta with Bluesky and Mastodon, plus their gaming profiles, as well. You might even find links to Apple Music and Spotify to see the music they like and regularly listen to.
If you want to support the author through their Ko-fi or other reader support mechanisms, we’ll have links for that, too.
You’ll be able to see any awards they’ve won if they have, how long they’ve been working, and even possibly the gear they regularly use. If Pickr has reviewed it, you’ll be able to see an author’s favourite phones, headphones, and wearables alongside their list of computers, found on the side of the author’s page on desktop and at the bottom on mobile.
Basically, if you needed proof that an author swears by the gear they’ve reviewed and uses it themself, this is it.
These are things most publications aren’t considering, but we’re adding to let you see that these are real people. No other tech reviews website is going to this level. We’re not even sure if any other publisher is doing this much.
Clear and minimalist
Improved design is also a part of the changes, with a renewed focus on minimalism, clear text, and softened edges.
Pickr works day and night with light and dark modes, so you can read all the time without being blinded with eye-searing light, and depending on the article you’re reading, you’ll find different headings to help you focus on what matters.
Even the text has been studied, moving to a font focused on readability across screens and reducing visual stress for all users. Beyond the logo, we’ve moved to Lexend to help people read our information-heavy website more comfortably. A font literally designed for that purpose, it helps make Pickr easier on the eyes and highly viewable.
There are other little features you’ll notice here and there, aspects designed to make Pickr stand out and feel almost like it’s alive, and doing things differently. You’ll see it in search, gazing at categories, or generally just using and browsing the site.
Even our recommendations have changed, and now give you pricing to make the information clearer.
Tech publications don’t necessarily focus on look, but Pickr does. We want you to come back, and we believe clarity helps.
…and still no ads
We’re also doubling down on our “no ads” concept, something few publishers really embrace.
You might have seen our ads across the country last year, semi-ironic placements advertising the lack of ads on an Australian technology website, and this year, we’re pushing forward with a lack of advertising even more.
Previous versions of the site included the places to run ads, while the latest version is focused on the content and text. Simply put, there will continue to be no ads on Pickr in 2026 and moving forward.
Ads aren’t a factor here; the information is. The research to help you pick and choose products is what matters most.
Pickr is Australia’s only award-winning ad-free technology publication, and proud of it.
Going beyond mere blog
At ten years of age, Pickr wants to be more than just another tech blog, and strives to overcome the basic programming. It now does that by adding more to the research experience, which was its original goal. We’re going beyond the blog.
Finding great gear shouldn’t be difficult, and it’s important to do research and find the best choice you can get. Reading reviews is a part of that, but you have to find them in the first place.
With Pickr’s 2026 updates, we’re aiming to make that process easier, while also arming readers with more to make finding and picking their gadget that much clearer, as well. It’s an in-house approach you won’t find anywhere else, and aims to use the data we’ve gathered over the past decade to improve the review and research process to make finding technology easier for all.
It’s one of the first examples of a year and anniversary designed to bring change, and isn’t the only new addition being worked on.
While Pickr isn’t alone in the Australian tech news and reviews scene, the addition of features that go beyond the blog make it something different, and can help explain why Google views Pickr as one of the most trusted Australian technology websites, and why media outlets use its expertise on their programs. We’re changing the way you choose.
As always, Pickr is simply happy to help. That’s the goal. It’s why you’ll hear its founder on radio signing off with “happy to help” every time.
