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VR REBORN: NEXT-GEN HEADSETS FIRST IMPRESSIONS

SAMSUNG GALAXY S22 Faster and smoother • TV-beating HDR Double the storage • And more!

BEST OF 2022

UNBEATABLE BIKING KIT Get into cycling with this essential gear

REVIEWED TESTED

Earbuds EVOLVED

Innovative buds offering smarter sound

RATED

SHOWSTOPPER Gadgets that showcase the very best that design and technology have to offer

SET THE STAGE Thanks to its built-in moving magnet phono stage, there’s no need to add a pre-amp. Want to upgrade to one anyway?

The phono stage can easily be switched out

PRO-JE C T A 1 Pro-Ject’s turntables regularly top our lists of the best record players for good reason: their great features, quality sound and super affordable pricing make them very hard to beat. So when the brand DQQRXQFHG LW ZDV ODXQFKLQJ LWV ĆUVW HYHU DXWRPDWLF WXUQWDEOHV WKH $XWRPDW VHULHV LW ZDV D VDIH EHW ZH ZRXOG EH PRUH LQTXLVLWLYH WKDQ D PRE RI KLSVWHU PHHUNDWV ,WV GHEXW HQWU\ WKH $ KDV GHĆQLWHO\ earned our curiosity. The fully automatic belt-drive system allows you to pop a record on by just setting the speed and hitting play – the turntable does everything else. Even better, the mechanism is entirely mechanical and physically disengages while the record is playing, which means there’s no KRUULEOH KXP RI HOHFWURQLFV KHUH 0HDQZKLOH WKH $ èV IRXU VLOLFRQ GDPSHG IHHW GDPSHG PHWDO SODWWHU and reinforced headshell all cut resonance to an absolute minimum. Not bad for such a bargain price. £369, project-audio.com

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 3

Meet the team

Meet the team

MEET OUR ADVERTISING TEAM Get in touch to see what T3 can do for your brand!

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY KATE COLGAN kate.colgan@futurenet.com

JOSH RUSSELL Editor

MICHELLE McLAREN Art Editor

RUSSELL LEWIN Production Editor

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR JOSHUA McGONIGLE joshua.mcgonigle@futurenet.com ACCOUNT MANAGER ISABEL LINCOLN-MOORE isabel.lincoln-moore@futurenet.com

THE GLOBAL MAGAZINE JO GULLIVER Group Art Director

PAUL DOUGLAS Content Director

MATT BOLTON Home Tech Editor

T3 is currently licensed worldwide, from Australia to Mexico

FRANCE

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POLAND

MATT KOLLAT Staff Writer

YASMINE CROSSLAND Reviews Writer

RUTH HAMILTON Outdoor & Wellness Editor

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The actual RRP is ‘from £1,550’. Apologies for any confusion caused.

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M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 5

Contents

Contents 029

ULTIMATE GADGET WISHLIST Dive into the sea of futuristic tech that’s making landfall in ’22

044

049 6 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

UNBEATABLE BIKING KIT

Beautiful bikes and gorgeous gear that’ll crown you king or queen of the road

057

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO…

Next-gen noise-cancelling earbuds and the features that set them apart

MASTER THE METAVERSE

Bored of the meatverse? Escape into virtual worlds with our guide to this whole new reality

Contents BEST OF THE BEST

HORIZON

TESTED

010

068

HORIZON TOP 10

Meet the Samsung Galaxy S22 family’s bright screens and huge storage

SAMSUNG GALAXY S21 FE

Packing an S21 chipset for a cheaper SULFH WKLV LV D JUHDW ćDJVKLS DOWHUQDWLYH

070

DENON HOME SOUNDBAR 550

Authentic audio and acceptable Atmos – just don’t try to turn it up to 11

072

018

STYLE

BOSE SOUNDLINK FLEX

A hardy Bluetooth speaker whose small size belies its big sound

Complement your style with cool cardigans and droolworthy watches

079

YOUR IN-DEPTH BUYER’S GUIDE

020

FITNESS & OUTDOORS

073

GARMIN FORERUNNER 55

Garmin’s latest smartwatches are an adventurer’s dream ally

(IĆFLHQW OLJKW DQG DIIRUGDEOH WKLV LV WKH ideal watch for rookie runners

021

074

TRAVEL

BEATS FIT PRO

Follow F1 around the world for breaks guaranteed to get your pulse racing

%DVV\ VHFXUH ĆWWLQJ DQG IHDWXUH ULFK these are your new best gym buds

022

076

LIVING

Instant Vortex’s new air fryers give you fried food without the guilt

XGIMI ELFIN

Seeking a bright, smart and portable projector? We have just the thing

024

GADGET GURU

Limit limescale, defunk your footwear and chat with your chihuahua

027

TALKING TECH

The stream is over: Duncan Bell picks which service should survive his cull

8 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

078

AUTEL EVO NANO

Superb things come in small packages with this seriously smart 4K drone

2XU JLDQW EX\HUèV JXLGH KHOSV \RX ĆQG the world’s best gadgets in over 50 categories, from top tellies to DSLRs to car tech to shavers – all tested by T3’s team of tech experts!

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042

Horizon

The best new tech heading your way

SAMSUNG GALAXY S22 £TBC, samsung.com It’ll come as no surprise that the Samsung Galaxy S22 series looks like a winner – Samsung pulls it out of the bag every year, offering the latest in smartphone tech packed into a range of sleek, sturdy devices.

One thing that all the new models have in common is an eco-conscious spin on things: Samsung has repurposed ocean-bound plastic, like fishing nets, to build the phones.

At the top-end of the new series, you’ll find the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the all-singing all-dancing handset that offers the most advanced tech and the most sophisticated design made for enthusiasts and professionals.

Ultra by name, Ultra by nature. It even comes with the S Pen slotted into the body of the phone. Getting a feeling of deja vu? You’re not going crazy: it does look a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Note 20. It was actually inspired by the old Note series, so it was evidently created with productivity in mind.

For those who want top-tier specs but aren’t keen on top-end prices, the Samsung Galaxy S22 and the Samsung Galaxy S22+ are much more modest. At first glance, they aren’t that different to last year’s phones but it’s the new photo and video features that set them apart with the nighttime shots and editing capabilities looking better than ever before.

All seem set to be the very best Android phones this year. Although the Ultra is the cream of the crop, it’s the cheaper models that are likely to convince the most people. We always expect big things from this smartphone giant and it seems like they’ve delivered yet again.

TECH-O-METER

KILLER CAMERA The improved Night Mode can be used across both photography and video, with seemingly impeccable detail, and you’ll be able to use features like Super Resolution directly from your social media apps.

“Brighter? Quicker?

Greener? Shut up and take my money!”

Josh Russell, Editor

10 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Top 10

PLENTY OF POWER Equipped with the latest 4nm processor, the Samsung Galaxy S22 series promises impressive performance across the board but it’s the NPU that will make the world of difference. It’s twice as fast as in the Galaxy S21 so should go a long way to improving the efficiency of the phone’s AI-based features.

IMAGE SOURCE: SAMSUNG

ANOTHER STUNNING SCREEN All three phones use a Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Vision Booster is one potentially game-changing feature worth mentioning here – it analyses your environment and the on-screen content to make adjustments so you’ll be able to see it in all lights, even under direct sunlight.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 11

Horizon Top 10

LG G2 £TBA, lg.com LG's already flat-out OLED manufacturing plant has clearly had a new extra-large wing built for it, because the company's newest line of flagship TVs (which shares the same OLED evo tech as bigger LG C2s) goes big: 2022 sees an 83-inch G2 dropping and, astonishingly, a brand new 97-inch 4K OLED panel filling the top-end version. The G2 also comes in some 20% brighter than the C2, using a new method of dissipating heat that LG is keeping a secret for now; presumably it's either magic or (more likely) some kind of sheet of aluminium, as seen in newer Sony OLEDs. The bezel's been trimmed, the thickness is still, well, very thin, and while the Z-series has the monopoly on 8K for now, there's new picture processing inside which boost 4K scaling and manages picture depth even better.

IMAGE SOURCE: LG

T3 SAYS: We're going to need a bigger wall...

TECH-O-METER

SAMSUNG ODYSSEY NEO G8 Continuing the stark white design language of the ultrawide Neo G9 before it – including colour-beaming core lighting on the rear – but sensibly far smaller, the 32-inch Neo G8 looks like a winner. Samsung claims it’s the first 1ms response, 240Hz 4K monitor ever, and we’re inclined to believe it. Curved at Samsung’s signature 1000R radius, far curvier than is common outside of the Korean company’s labs, this looks pretty immersive. Samsung’s Quantum Mini LEDs offer it a blazing 2,000 nit peak brightness and what the company claims is a million-to-one contrast ratio. It’s certainly heavy on the contrast, with Quantum HDR 2000 adding an extra layer of richness to the colour, too. At what will certainly be a more reasonable price than its predecessor, we’d wager this will land on far more desks.

T3 SAYS: This is making a case for the curve.

TECH-O-METER

1 2 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

IMAGE SOURCE: SAMSUNG

£TBA, samsung.com

Horizon Top 10

ANKER NEBULA COSMOS LASER 4K £2,199, seenebula.com

IMAGE SOURCE: ANKER

This is Anker’s first portable 4K laser projector, building on the reputation for projection skill it has quickly built up with the Nebula line. Not that this necessarily fits with some of the more budget beamers Anker has put out in the past: at £2,199, the Cosmos Laser 4K is the priciest projector it has ever issued. In the context of laser projectors, though, it looks like quite the bargain. Beyond its extreme resolution and 2,400 lumen brightness it features ALPD 3.0, making it (says Anker) perfectly watchable even with the lights on. There’s a 30W Dolby audio package inside, easy linking to external speakers for a more immersive watch, Android 10-based content streaming, and gridless auto keystone so you can get it quickly aligned to whatever surface you’ve pointed it at this time.

T3 SAYS: Go-anywhere projection for any room.

TECH-O-METER

LG ULTRAGEAR 17G90Q £TBA, lg.com LG’s debut gaming laptop doesn’t do anything by halves. Though it borrows much of its design from the company’s Gram line – and we’d argue that’s a fine place to start, given that this is far more streamlined and slim than you’ll often find in the chunky world of gaming PCs – it packs far more power than its lightweight cousin. Inside, an 11th-gen Intel processor, a Max-Q RTX 3080, dual-channel memory and a pair of SSDs working in tandem join forces with an enormous 93Wh battery; up top, LG offers it a 17-inch 1080p IPS panel, which refreshes at 300Hz. We’d probably pause on it, if only because we’re dying to see just how well the radical redesign of Intel’s 12thgen CPUs performs on portable PCs, but if you just can’t wait this will be available very soon.

TECH-O-METER

14 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

IMAGE SOURCE: LG

T3 SAYS: A new name enters the gaming laptop space – and it’s a big one.

Horizon

GARMIN VIVOMOVE SPORT £159, garmin.com

IMAGE SOURCE: GARMIN

A hybrid smartwatch needs to do two things.

It needs to pack in a bunch of smart health and movement tracking functions, and it needs to, for all intents and purposes, do absolutely everything it can to look like it doesn’t.

Garmin’s newly sportified and waterproofed Vivomove hits the mark perfectly, hiding its notification display under the dial and swooping its ticking analogue hands out of the way only when you want to reveal it via its touchscreen; when it’s hidden, this is slim and stylish enough to pull off those analogue watch vibes handily. It’s far below the weight and size of the Vivomove HR Sport before it. The smarts package is pretty extensive, including a pulse oximeter. But there’s no GPS, so serious runners may wish to look elsewhere for a more smartwatchy smartwatch which does.

T3 SAYS: Stealth health for most stylish wrists.

TECH-O-METER

LARQ BOTTLE FILTERED From £48, livelarq.com

T3 SAYS: We’ll drink to that.

TECH-O-METER

16 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

IMAGE SOURCE: LARQ

What Larqs! The old Larq Bottle, which we love, has now had ‘PureVis’ appended to its name, signifying that it runs on Larq’s trademark UV purification tech. This new one doesn’t: it’s far cheaper, and instead employs a two-layer activated carbon and Nano Zero iron filter at the end of a low pressure straw. The former layer promises to remove contaminants and chlorine from your draught, while the latter deals with heavy metals, leaving you with cleaner and tastier water – you can, if you’re brave, fill it from a stream. There’s two-month life for the filter and, naturally, a doubleinsulated stainless steel powder-coated bottle which means far fewer Evian bottles hurled in the bin. Bring a PureVis cap along on your next adventure and you can even switch ’em out for double the purity.

Top 10

JABRA ELITE 4 ACTIVE £120, jabra.co.uk perfect sonic balance shouldn’t be hard, and early indications suggest Jabra’s claim of seven hours’ playback on a charge (and 28 hours with the case) are just about spot on. Jabra, keep on doing what you’re doing, because it seems to be working.

T3 SAYS: Not groundbreaking, but potentially brilliant.

IMAGE SOURCE: JABRA

Jabra has gone from reliable business Bluetooth stalwart to similarly reliable consumer producer, and we’re here for it. If the company’s more premium Elite 7 Actives sit outside of your price range, this more wallet-friendly take on true wireless buds might meet the mark. While they’re definitely a downgrade from their larger-numbered sibling, they’re not without high-end features. There’s active noise cancelling with Jabra’s HearThrough transparency mode (naturally) along with IP57 dust- and water-resistance. You can tweak the EQ in-app, meaning finding your

TECH-O-METER COOLNESS INNOVATION FEATURES

STARCASE $150 (around £111), buystarcase.com regular and Pro) offers better drop protection, there’s a 3,000 mAh battery in there to gift your phone some extra juice on the go, and it’s bright enough to use as a flashlight.

It may be impolite, but there’s no arguing that it isn’t eye-catching.

T3 SAYS: Expensive for a case – but for one with a battery? Not so much.

TECH-O-METER COOLNESS INNOVATION FEATURES

IMAGE SOURCE: STARCASE

Now that socialisation is once again based on the concept of ignoring one’s phone rather than staring into it seeking some kind of virtual companionship, putting that handset face-down on the table is the polite thing to do. So just how polite is the STARcase, which has now emerged from Kickstarter purgatory to become an actual product you can buy? It shines discrete LEDs through its rear to highlight alerts, notifications and potentially even rude scrolling messages when you can’t look at your screen. This newly bumperised design for iPhones 12 and 13 (both

STRONG LEAP-S1 £60, strong.tv can drop your own content in with ease. For many people, a superaffordable gets-out-of-the-way streaming box is the ultimate option – and if you want to sling on some emulators or sideload some apps, you’re free to do your own thing.

T3 SAYS: Not a huge leap forward, but a strong option for streaming.

IMAGE SOURCE: STRONG

Strong – the excellently-named and apparently 140-year-old imprint of budget-kit purveyor Skyworth – has impressed us here. Mainly with its attitude: “Here is an Android TV box,” it seems to say. “It’s basically just an Android TV box. It does Android TV. Use it how you want.” And that’s fantastic, given that most of the major players like to offer half-screen advertisements and inflexible interfaces as their USP. This is hefty enough to sling around 4K UHD content and decode H.265. It has ports, including a pair of USBs, Ethernet and a microSD slot, so you

TECH-O-METER COOLNESS INNOVATION FEATURES M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 17

Horizon

CARDI COUTURE

All hail the cardigan! This stalwart fashion item has had more reinventions than Doctor Who and it returns in style for spring 2022 MILANO KNIT A Day’s March is a Swedish label that aims to design eco-conscious clothing that is made to last. This sharp-looking piece made from non-mulesed Merino is hefty enough to be a jacket too when the days get warmer. £165, adaysmarch.com

SKY BLUE MERINO Paul Smith never wanders too far away from Mod influences and this dapper Merino wool cardigan with press studs recalls the striped tip collars of classic Fred Perry. A cardie to step out in. £300, paulsmith.com

SHAWL COLLAR American brand Sebago, better known for its celeb-sporting shoewear, has designed the ultimate in cosy cardigan fashion with Moosepoint, a wool and polyamide mix knitwear with zip, shawl collar and embroidered Sebago Campsides motif. £270, sebago.co.uk

IMAGE SOURCE: A DAY’S MARCH, PAUL SMITH, SEBAGO, H&M, M&S

EDITION AT H&M John Boyega’s environmentally conscious range at H&M is bursting with colour and this wool-blend (with a dash of mohair) pea-green cardie is no exception. A great everyday piece that’ll brighten up darker days in February. £24.99, www2.hm.com

FISHERMAN’S RIB Jaeger specialises in heritage looks and if you want to look like you’re ready for a brisk winter walk then this will suit the cut of your jib. Made from cashmere with button fastening and two front pockets, this is a great choice for comfort. £159, marksandspencer.com

18 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Style

MONEY NO OBJECT

THE HOTTEST TIMEPIECES RIGHT NOW

BELL & ROSS, BR 05 HOROLUM The Horolum series has returned, retaining the bead-blasted steel case and the photoluminescent coating of the indices on the dial. It’s covered in Super-LumiNova C5, the most powerful photoluminescent coating that exists. £4,500, bellross.com

OMEGA, SPEEDMASTER 321 CANOPUS GOLD 7DNLQJ LQVSLUDWLRQ IURP WKH YHU\ ĆUVW Speedmaster from 1957, this 38.6mm model has been crafted in 18K Canopus Gold and features a deep black onyx dial with an applied vintage Omega logo. £69,500, omegawatches.com

HERMÉS, HEURE H

DOXA, SUB 600T

)RU WKH ĆUVW WLPH WKH +HXUH + LV WUHDWHG to stone dials. This rose gold model is set with 124 diamonds framing the malachite GLDO DQG ĆQLVKHG ZLWK LQWHUFKDQJHDEOH alligator or calf leather straps. £14,670, hermes.com

Remaining true to the original watch WKDW GHĆQHG WKH EUDQG LQ WKH è V DQG EHFDPHbDQ LFRQ RI LWV HUD WKH 68% 7 LVbQRZ PRUH UHOLDEOH GHVLUDEOH DQG wearable than ever. £1,395, doxawatches.com

Panthère de Cartier cufflinks

The panther undoubtedly cuts a steely figure with its reputation for stealth, cunning and physical prowess and the big cat also makes a bold statement as the focus for these sterling silver cufflinks from Paris-based luxury jeweller Cartier.

The panther has a long association with Cartier and the roots of this love affair were born from jewellery designer Jeanne Toussaint, who was appointed Cartier’s head of artistic design in 1933; the first woman to hold such a high office in the jewellery business. Toussaint adored exotic animals, in particular the panther, and she reportedly had an apartment full of panther fur and was often seen flouncing around Paris in a panther fur coat; Louis Cartier adored her, giving her the nickname ‘Ma petite panthère’. These cufflinks reflect Toussaint’s designs that were influenced by Art Deco and based on three-dimensional sculptural pieces set with diamonds, onyx and emeralds. They are made from Cartier palladium-plated sterling silver with black and green lacquer and whale-back fastening; they measure in at 1.6cm in length and 1.2cm wide. Rest assured also that no panthers were harmed in the making of these glorious cufflinks. £1,590, harrods.com

0 $ 5 & + T3 19

IMAGE SOURCE: HARRODS

WHICH WATCH

Horizon Fitness ESSENTIAL URBAN BIKE COMMUTING

The Bern Macon 2.0 is perfect for urban cyclists who don’t want to be thought of as MAMILs. A lighter weight means it’s aerodynamic enough not to hold you back when you’re trying to reach that green light.

From $60, bernhelmets.com

BORN AGAIN

IMAGE SOURCE: GARMIN

IMAGE SOURCE: BERN

BERN MACON 2.0

EPIX PROPORTIONS Garmin launches long-awaited Fenix 7 and reboots its Epix franchise

IMAGE SOURCE: CHROME

CHROME STORM SALUTE COMMUTE JACKET This stretch 2.5 layer fully taped rain shell works on and off the bike! Reflective details on back, arm and wrists for visibility. Zippered interior phone pocket and back cargo pocket to haul your stuff safely, even without a bag. £189, chromeindustries.com

After relative silence in the second half of 2021, Garmin entered 2022 with a boom: the US-based company announced not one, not two but four new smartwatches in a span of just a couple of weeks. Two of them are the long-anticipated Fenix 7 and the new-and-improved Epix.

The Garmin Fenix 7 (from £599.99, garmin.com) is likely to become hugely popular. The watch introduces the Power Sapphire glass that combines the nowimproved solar harvesting ring around the

watch face with a sapphire lens for added protection. With the added touchscreen functionality and built-in flashlight (7X model only), the Fenix 7 will be on the top of every outdoorsy person’s Christmas list.

What happened if you added an AMOLED screen on the Fenix 6? You’d get a watch that looks something like the Garmin Epix (from £799.99). The Epix is a reboot of a much clunkier watch from 2015 with the new version being part of Garmin’s premium watch range.

FLEXIBLE FRIEND

IN POSITION

IMAGE SOURCE: RAPHA

RAPHA SMALL TRAVEL BACKPACK This 15-litre backpack is compact and lightweight.

The main compartment has a zipped mesh pocket to keep kit separate from paperwork, another for storing shoes and a padded 13-inch laptop sleeve. £110, rapha.cc 2 0 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

CES 2022 was full of wonders but not many of them were as offbeat as the Wondercise Cycle Studio (price TBC, wondercise.com). This four-position exercise bike is like a workout Transformer, letting you exercise in multiple positions and toning different muscle groups.

By getting one, you can also join the ever-growing Wondercise platform, which features enhanced multiplayer engagement with Live Motion Matching.

IMAGE SOURCE: WONDERCISE

Multi-position Flex Cycle joins Wondercise range

Travel

GRAND TOUR

IMAGE SOURCE: VISITSINGAPORE.COM

SWAROVSKI OPTIK’S CL CURIO 7X21 BINOCULARS You won’t miss a moment of the action with these. They won’t weigh you down, either – these compact binoculars, the result of a collaboration with world-renowned industrial designer Marc Newson, weigh just 250g. £630, swarovskioptik.com

IMAGE SOURCE: SWAROVSKI OPTIK

HIGH SPEED HEROES

START YOUR ENGINES Spain’s spectacular Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, just 30 kilometres from Barcelona, hosts the Spanish F1 in late May and is the only circuit to host four world-class international motorsport competitions on the same track. Got a need for speed? It’s also the only circuit where members of the public can take to the track, either in their own car or with an instructor by their side.

Finally, we can’t mention legendary F1 destinations and not talk about Singapore. The Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix race weekend is due to kick off on 30 September, and as much as we can’t wait to see what Miami’s got in store, we’re fully expecting Singapore to prove its worth as the most exciting F1 destination. The high-speed night race streaks right across Singapore’s waterfront, and races are famously full of drama.

If you can, bag a seat near turn 18, where drivers pass beneath a grandstand.

Throw in brilliant entertainment – Katy Perry, The Killers and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have all performed during previous race weekends – along with Singapore’s fantastic food scene and nightlife, and you’ve got the most exciting weekend on the F1 calendar.

If you’re the kind of person who loves to send your friends trackside selfies, you’ll need to stay connected, something that gets significantly easier when you’ve got the slimline Anker Powerbank 10000, which can charge an iPhone 12 to 50% in 30 minutes. £32.99, amazon.co.uk

IMAGE SOURCE: ANKER

Formula 1 is back, and this year’s season looks set to be its most exciting yet – not just because of the Hamilton/Verstappen rivalry, but because we’ll see the first race in what might just be F1’s most spectacular location: Miami. Its inaugural GP takes place at the Miami International Autodrome over the 6, 7 and 8 May. It’s further proof you don’t have to be a petrol head to enjoy the sport. The track is at the Hard Rock Stadium, and race goers can expect some big names – Britney Spears, Bruno Mars and Kool and the Gang have all performed at the F1 race in Austin, Texas, and organisers of the Miami event are reportedly keen to raise the bar.

There’s plenty to do away from the track once the chequered flag comes down too. In 2022, Florida will become the Michelin Guide’s fifth US destination, and Miami’s restaurants will feature heavily.

The recent flurry of openings includes Orno, where James-Beard-nominated chef Niven Patel serves up local, seasonal produce (much of which comes from his farm, Rancho Patel). We recommend basing yourself at The Gabriel South Beach, which opened in late 2021. Keep an eye out for the property’s 30-foot mural by street artist Mr Brainwash.

KEEN NXIS EVO WP SHOES Quickly get from the bar to the grandstand by donning Keen’s new shoes. They’re packed with hi-tech comfortenhancing features such as dual density PU footbeds, eco-friendly anti-odour treatments and compression moulded midsoles.

From £135, keenfootwear.com M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 21

IMAGE SOURCE: KEEN

Why you should consider some F1-themed travel in 2022

ANKER POWERBANK 10000

Horizon

MORE FRYING TONIGHT

The UK’s favourite air fryer brand serves up a microwavesized air fryer and multi cooker that includes – yes! – a goddamn rotisserie. Now you can cook like it’s the 1970s and eat like you’re Henry VIII. £140, towerhousewares.co.uk

INSTANT KORMA

SOMETHING IN THE AIR Instant Vortex’s air fryers will whip up healthy meals pronto

IMAGE SOURCE: NINJA

NINJA FOODI SMARTLID OL750 With its built-in temperature probe, this makes meat cookery all but foolproof. The SmartLid part of it somehow houses all the elements needed in order to be both an Instant-Pot-style pressure cooker and an air fryer. £300, ninjakitchen.co.uk

IMAGE SOURCE: VORWERK

VORWERK THERMOMIX TM6 This one is a little pricier, but then it has just travelled here from the future. Replacing over 20 appliances, it slices, mixes and cooks meals using an online recipe database. All you do is toss in ingredients and press a few buttons. £1,149, vorwerk.co.uk 2 2 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Instant Vortex is the air fryer range from Instant Brands, which also makes Instant Pot. Now, in an instant, it has released three new Instant Vortex air fryers, each of which has its own killer feature (from £120, instantbrands.co.uk).

People love air fryers because they’re a convenient way to cook and they have some health benefits. And because people just love kitchen gizmos – just look at the success of Instant Pots, which are quite literally pressure cookers with knobs on.

The health benefits of air fryers are easy to overstate, but if you usually deep fry all your food or pan fry it in a ton of oil, lard, dripping and butter, you will definitely reduce your fat intake if you buy an air fryer and use that instead. They may not literally fry food using ‘air’, but only a little tiny bit of oil – about a teaspoonful, or a few quick squirts from an oil spray.

The top-of-the-range entry here is the Instant Vortex Plus Dual Drawer 8-in-1 Air Fryer with ClearCook. With two 3.8-litre drawers, it’s got a capacity vast enough for ‘up to 8 servings’, although that might depend on how greedy you are.

The standout feature here, at least according to Instant Vortex, is the ClearCook Window technology. As the name suggests, there’s a window on each

of the two baskets, so you can see how your dinner is progressing on its way to golden brown crispness.

A SyncCook setting lets you cook both drawers on the same temperature for the same amount of time, while a cunning SyncFinish mode will delay whichever basket takes less time, so that both are ready to eat simultaneously.

Also in the range are the entry-level Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 Air Fryer with ClearCook. This is a scaled down fryer with only one drawer, and a 5.7-litre/ six-portion capacity. Instant Vortex says the ‘ClearCook Window and easy-to-use interface will transform the way you cook and will have friends and family asking for more,’ and who can say fairer than that?

Arguably the most interesting of the three new friers, however is the – deep breath – Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 Air Fryer with ClearCook + OdourErase. The potentially killer feature here is the presence of two grease filters that stop grease and odours from ending up on your food.’ Over time, grease build-up can become an issue with air fryers, and it can have quite unpleasant effects on the food.

So the addition of a filter is good news, especially if the two things you really like to cook in your fryer are heavily spiced and garlicky curries, and cup cakes.

IMAGE SOURCE: INSTANT BRANDS

IMAGE SOURCE: TOWER

TOWER 10-IN-1 AIR FRYER XPRESS PRO COMBO

Living

FLORAL TRADITION Lush, green and mood enhancing, the botanical trend is a 2022 interiors style that promises to keep you close to nature even if you’re dwelling in an urban jungle TROPICAL LANDSCAPE 2 WALLPAPER Interiors trends in 2022 will continue with an environmental focus, featuring natural materials and recycled and pre-loved items.

Creating the perfect backdrop to a more sustainable living space is this tropical-themed wallpaper.

The huge ferns and leafy lushness will create a dramatic look as well as imbue your space with a sense of calm and serenity.

From £35/m2, wallsauce.com PRIMROSE KITCHEN STOOL While the botanical trend promises to bring calm and wellbeing into our homes, this doesn’t mean you have to make any sacrifices when it comes to style and elegance. This Scandinavianinspired stool boasts both rural charm and plenty of class with its mid-century look. Made from solid beech wood with goldcapped feet and velvet fabric.

BOTANICAL PORTRAIT If you’d rather keep your botanical theme to a smaller area or you’d like just a few bucolic touches here and there, then a piece of wall art is a good way to achieve the look. This range of portraits shows six vintage illustrations of plants that can be found in the Transylvanian countryside and Carpathian woodlands. Printed on lithographic paper with a black frame that measures 60 x 80cm. £198, mindtheg.com WATER HYACINTH BASKET Boosting the images of flora and fauna in this look are accessories that have been crafted from natural products. Looking after the planet is an inherent aspect of the botanical trend, so this large storage basket is ticking boxes in terms of style and ethical obligations as water hyacinth is an ultra-sustainable product that is also long-lasting. £55, mintandmay.co.uk

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 2 3

IMAGE SOURCE: WALLSAUCE, CULT, MIND THE GAP, MINT & MAY

£159, cultfurniture.com

Horizon

T3’s tremendous tech tinkerer solves more of your pesky probs

JOWAIN JONES, BARRY

I’m tired of x86. Is Windows-on-ARM worth trying?

Not yet. Oh, dear reader, not yet. Guru has recently tested a Samsung Galaxy Book Go, which pushes Windows 11 onto the most unwilling frame of the Snapdragon 888 processor, and there just isn’t enough power there for your £350. While there’s a translation layer that will do its darndest to get every app running, it’s dog slow. Also, and this has nothing to do with Windows-onARM, but the screen on the Galaxy Book Go is just about the worst panel GaGu has ever used – and he’s old enough to have worked with the original colour LCD displays on laptops.

ILLUSTRATIONS: STEPHEN KELLY

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This is part of the problem Windows, and the PC market in general, will always face. There’s literally no opportunity for an all-hands-on-deck Apple pivot, the most recent of which allowed the company to completely revise its platform for the fourth time and utterly eclipse the performance of x86 by using ARM instead. The PC

ABOVE Give it a little push… and let the chips fall where they may

The PC grows, it improves, but it is based on fundamentally the same architecture as it was in the late ’70s

grows, it improves, but it is based on fundamentally the same architecture as it was in the late ’70s. Changing the formula – see Windows RT, which somehow managed to make Windows 8 even worse – has not yet worked.

Okay, Windows itself runs fine on ARM. But as long as Qualcomm has the exclusive licence there can be no platform competition, and while everything surrounding the core OS is so scuffed few manufacturers are going to bother to take the risk on ARM machines. Guru has no doubt that x86/ARM hybrid processors could be an option in the future – at this point, though, just no.

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO: INBOX@T3.COM OR FACEBOOK.COM/T3MAG 24 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Gadget guru

HANNAH GAPPER, LEWISHAM

How do I stop my shower scaling up?

White coat chemist Guru, fresh from his subterranean lab that definitely does not contain unholy half-human half-machine hybrids, has a little science lesson for you. Limescale is calcium carbonate, left behind in deposits when hard water evaporates, and it’s heavily alkaline, meaning (as your mum has probably told you ad nauseum) you can dissolve it with mildly acidic substances like vinegar or lemon juice. For surfaces it won’t run off, spray some on, wait a bit, then scrub the residue away. For things like showerheads and taps, try rubber-banding a bag full of dilute acid mix and leaving it on the affected fitting for a while. Just be careful around brass hardware.

That’s practical, but impractical too. Fixing a problem that’s already happened is one thing, but cutting it off at the source means you’ll have less ongoing maintenance to deal with. Depending on your

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fluency with a blowtorch and a greasy rag, the following is probably an ask-your-plumber task, but GaGu would recommend looking into whole-home water softeners, which use resin beads to suck out the calcium and magnesium ions in your water, switching them for sodium. The beads do need occasional periods of regeneration, and special salt (much like your dishwasher demands) to do it, but if you opt for a larger and pricier twin-tank solution there’ll be no break in your soft water.

If you’re really only bothered about your shower, you could buy an incredibly ugly water softener showerhead, which is likely far worse than the one you have, or an in-line softener, which may or may not do a half-decent job.

AquaHomeGroup’s 15-stage filter should be around £29, comes in a bunch of fixin’-matching finishes, and you can install it yourself.

ABOVE You don’t want Chris Whitty’s next press conference to be on your footwear

GADGET GURU’S MAGIC BOX A few issues ago Guru was grilled by a reader on Bluetooth latency.

One benevolent (or perhaps furious) audio brand took your favourite uncle’s ramblings as an opportunity to thrust a suitable product into his hands: the Tronsmart Onyx Prime True Wireless Earbuds (£55) are compatible with the aptX Adaptive codec, meaning they can go hi-res, low-latency, or everything in between. Surprisingly good? Absolutely, for the price, you get a richer sound than you might expect, with dual hybrid drivers essentially calling your ear drums out for a fight. ‘Made for audiophiles’ though, Tronsmart? Wind it in: while the Onyx Primes are indeed adept at wrangling low-latency audio, audio experts are going to sniff at the custard-thick bass layer. Guru quite enjoyed its bombast, but you may not.

To encourage his brainy-but-wayward kids to code, Guru recently picked up the

PlayShifu Tacto coding kit (£45). You get little robot figurines with conductive bumps on their feet laid out in different patterns which get read by the multi-touch function of a tablet screen to identify which is which.

Guru really enjoyed solving the puzzles in the accompanying app. The kids, though, were less than impressed that the toys could not control MrBeast or DanTDM and thus have barely touched them. C’est la vie.

As part of his less-interesting pays-thebills work, Guru was asked to write a positive article on NFTs, which hurt a lot. If you have a wallet full of crypto-apes, he invites you to write to him to convince him why a bundle of digital receipts that confer no copyright or ownership has any true value, because the only effusive sources he can find are baddies trying to scam him out of cryptobucks.

HARRY, VIA EMAIL

How can I keep my trainers fresh?

Wrong person to ask, reader – Guru’s prize kicks are being investigated as a priority by the EPA. But Guru knows this: if you’re a true sneakerhead and you’ve stocked up on lurid Nikes to show off (rather than those destined to generate mysterious spores) they deserve better protection than they’ll get on a shelf. ShoeStack’s display boxes cost £30 for a two-pack, and give you the option of a completely clear box, or a black one with a dropped front or side. Chuck in some silica packets, which you should have plenty of if you haven’t eaten them all already, and you’re golden.

For already over-pungent shoes, you might try a forlorn search for the Panasonic MS-DS100 – Japanonly, as far as Guru can ascertain, and almost certainly ineffective – which uses wacky ionisation tech.

Sit it on top of your trainers and it’ll blast them with negatively charged hydroxyl radicals, apparently neutralising the nastiness in about five hours. Apparently.

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M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 2 5

Horizon

NEW MEDIA

NOW PLAYING Guru finds the finest media you need on your various devices

MIKE BURNS, GREAT YARMOUTH

Can you recommend a soldering iron?

Guru can absolutely tell you what to avoid. Coldsoldering gadgets, which use electricity to fuse solder points, are usually quite true to their name, leaving you with cold joints. Go for the heat, then, and make sure you buy something that is adjustable so you can find the perfect sweet spot for your task. Draper’s 61478 (£18) will do, though Weller’s WE 1010 (£179) is a far more pro setup.

If you need to go portable, Guru would steer you clear of traditional butane solutions since battery tech has now truly caught up. Perhaps avoid the fancy Kickstarter vape pen-alikes, too, and go for something more established, like Sealey’s 30W SDL11 kit (around £68).

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DON’T LOOK UP Many critics say it’s rubbish, but Guru quite enjoyed the silliness of this star-studded Adam McKay Netflix comedy propagandathon. Eyes on the skies, folks.

ABOVE Using the phrase ‘dog and bone’ inevitably led to a bit of a mixup

KELLY REYNOLDS, EAST GRINSTEAD

TETR.IO GaGu has struggled to do much this month, not only because of his usual laziness, but because he has rekindled his love of legally distinct free-to-play Tetris-adjacent games.

A•Z This album of masterful nu-disco keyboard-slinging and track-chopping tunes from Applzaft has only one track with over 1,000 plays.

Ridiculous. Get it in your ears.

26 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

I snapped off my headphone jack in my iPad. What now?

Many guides online will suggest you try hot glue to attach something to the remaining bit of the tip before yanking it out. Those guides are written by people who want you to fill your 3.5mm socket with glue, the cads. Don’t do it. Instead, try jamming the end of a Bic pen’s ink tube in there, which should be just the right size to put over the centre pole and allow you to pull it out.

If that doesn’t work, time for a specialist tool. You could throw £22 at iFixit’s Gripstick, but similar thin metal tubes are available for far less.

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Some guides are written by people who want you to fill your 3.5mm socket with glue, the cads. Don’t do it

RON TOWST, MANCHESTER

Can you get my dog to talk to me?

As stupid as this idea sounds – we do not live in the world of Up, as Guru learned after attempting to launch his neighbour’s shed into the air with helium balloons – the Fluentpet Connect (from around £60) exists. It’s a device which links together hex shaped tiles containing buttons your dog can stomp on to presumably harass you for more treats.

It can even send you text messages from your dog while you’re out. As is so often the case, the fact that this is a real thing does not make it any less stupid in the end – but Guru would be excited to hear if you’ve had any good results.

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Don’t miss another instalment of the legendary Gadget Guru!

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! See p42

Opinion

Duncan Bell is running out of stream There is definitely such a thing as too much choice when it comes to streaming services here’s no doubt that streaming services have revolutionised television. The ability to watch, in theory, any TV show or movie immediately is an incredible thing, and the original content made by the likes of Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime et al has made TV shows feel universal in a way they haven’t for decades.

It’s like when there were only four channels, so practically everyone watched the hot shows.

So yes, streaming is a marvellous thing, but for me there are a few tiny flaws. Just little things such as: I don’t like the original content, the cost is ridiculous and the amount of choice becomes actively oppressive. Just little things.

I’ve recently been carrying out an audit of my spending. That’s because my energy bills are now so high, I have calculated I could set fire to a pile of fivers on my balcony and use that to heat my house, and actually save money. I was alarmed, then, to discover I was now spending over £70 per month on streaming services. Given the relatively small amount of time I spend watching TV, I would need to develop multiple levels of consciousness to get my money’s worth. Then I could lounge drunkenly in front of 12 tellies at once, all showing different things – like David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth. But, realistically, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

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Furthermore, a further audit of my watching habits revealed that I mainly use streaming services to watch crappy old films that I’ve already seen. Sometimes, I even own them on Blu-ray as well. Things such as the early films of Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini on BFI Player, movies from the 1970s ‘new Hollywood’ on Amazon Prime Video and Hellbastard 6: Die Slowly on Shudder, the horror movie streaming specialist. Why? Well, to be honest, I find much of the new stuff on streaming services to be arse-smeltingly dull.

The talent involved is incredible, yet the viewing experience is usually forgettable The studio arms of the revolutionary, game-changing streaming services have now run into the same problem that the boring old BBC has faced for a century. You have to fill up the airwaves – or bandwidth in this case – with something, and not everything is going to be brilliant, far from it.

Yet with their huge budgets and the massive competition for subscribers, streaming services can’t just make no-budget schedule

stuffers like Cash in the Attic, Neighbours or The One Show.

Instead, they must commission yet another glossy UHD time-filler where Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts must face an uncertain future in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Or a series where a photogenic family must go on the run, for reasons. Or a fish-out-of-water visitor brings heart-warming life lessons. Or another lump of content dreamed up by an algorithm to fit what the streamer thinks your demographic is. The production values and talent involved in the streaming services’ flagship shows is absolutely incredible, yet the viewing experience is usually forgettable.

So I’ve decided I am going to limit myself to Amazon Prime Video. This underrated service wins out for me for a number of reasons.

It has a decent range of movies and TV shows, especially slightly more high-brow stuff and music documentaries. Some of its original content isn’t bad. Perhaps best of all, the amount of choice is not overwhelming, and if it doesn’t have what I want in its free section, I can just buy or rent a stream instead, like Blockbuster for the 21st century. Even better, it comes ‘free’ to Amazon Prime members, which frees up valuable cash to throw on my heating bonfire. Mmm, toasty.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 27

Ultimate gadget wishlist

ULTIMATE

GADGET WISHLIST

2022’s most exciting new products – prepare to drool Words: David Nield M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 2 9

Ultimate gadget wishlist

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO ALVA TT V2 0DNLQJ RWKHU UHFRUG SOD\HUV ORRN UDWKHU GUDE DQG EDVLF E\ FRPSDULVRQ WKH Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 exudes TXDOLW\ HYHQ EHIRUH \RXèYH SXW QHHGOH WR YLQ\O $V ZHOO DV HYHU\WKLQJ \RXèG H[SHFW WKH WXUQWDEOH JLYHV \RX DSW; +' %OXHWRRWKbFRQQHFWLYLW\ D EXLOW LQ SKRQR VWDJH SOXV WKH RSWLRQ WR XVH \RXU RZQ DQGbDQ LPSURYHG WRQHDUP £1,700, cambridgeaudio.com

SAMSUNG ODYSSEY ARK

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ASUS ROG FLOW Z13

ASUS ZENBOOK 17 FOLD

SAMSUNG FREESTYLE

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,Q WHUPV RI IXWXULVWLF GHYLFHV IRUb WKH $VXV =HQERRN )ROG LV JRLQJ WR EH KDUG WR EHDW 7KLV IROGDEOH GHYLFH LV DOO 2/(' VFUHHQ VR \RX FDQ XVH LW DV D PDVVLYH LQFK WDEOHW EHQG LW DQG EULQJ XS D YLUWXDO NH\ERDUG RQ WKH ORZHU KDOI RU HYHQ DWWDFK DQ H[WHUQDO NH\ERDUG WR XVH LW OLNH D WUDGLWLRQDO ODSWRS 7KDWèV D KHOO RI D ćH[ £TBC, asus.com

ç3RUWDEOHè SURMHFWRUV DUH RIWHQ DQ\WKLQJ EXW VR ZHèUH LQWULJXHG E\ ZKDW WKH 6DPVXQJ )UHHVW\OH KDV WR RIIHU 7KLV SLQW VL]HG GHYLFH LV FDSDEOH RI SURGXFLQJ IXOO +' SLFWXUHV DQG YLGHRV DW SURMHFWHG VL]HV XS WR LQFKHV DQG WKHUHèV DOVR WKH RSWLRQ RI SRZHULQJ LW ZLWK D EDWWHU\ VR \RX FDQ WDNH LW MXVW DERXW DQ\ZKHUH \RX OLNH £999, samsung.com

3 0 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Ultimate gadget wishlist

CLMBR 6XUH \RX FRXOG JR IRU DQ H[HUFLVH ELNH RU D WUHDGPLOO OLNH MXVW DERXW HYHU\RQH HOVH å EXW ZKDW DERXW D FRQQHFWHG FOLPELQJ GHYLFH LQVWHDG" 7KLV YHUWLFDO FOLPELQJ PDFKLQH ZRUNV OLNH PDQ\ RWKHU SLHFHV RI VPDUW KRPH J\P HTXLSPHQW ZLWK D WRXFKVFUHHQ GLVSOD\ LQVWUXFWRU OHG ZRUNRXWV DQG WKH DELOLW\ WR WUDFN DOO RI \RXU ZRUNRXWV DQG VWDWV DV \RX PDNH SURJUHVV $2,799 (about £2,065), clmbr.com M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 31

Ultimate gadget wishlist

LENOVO THINKBOOK PLUS 3 /RRNLQJ IRU VRPHWKLQJ D OLWWOH RXW RI WKH RUGLQDU\ IRU \RXU QH[W ODSWRS" 7KH /HQRYR 7KLQN%RRN 3OXV FRXOG SURYLGH LW 7KH SRUWDEOH FRPSXWHU DGGV D VHFRQG HLJKW LQFK GLVSOD\ DW WKH VLGH RI WKH NH\ERDUG IRU GLJLWDO GRRGOLQJ DQG RWKHU WDVNV ZKLOH DOVR RIIHULQJ D JRUJHRXV ORRNLQJ XOWUDZLGH LQFK PDLQ GLVSOD\ DQG SOHQW\ RI SHUIRUPDQFH DV ZHOO $1,399 (about £1,038), lenovo.com

SONY BRAVIA CAM 7KHUHèV D ORW WR EH VDLG IRU Ć[LQJ D ZHEFDP RQ WRS RI \RXU 79 LW PHDQV \RX GRQèW KDYH WR JHW XS IURP WKH FRXFK WR PDNH YLGHR FDOOV DQG \RX JHW D PXFK EHWWHU ORRN DW WKH SHRSOH \RXèUH FKDWWLQJ ZLWK WRR 7KH %UDYLD &DP IURP 6RQ\ LV VPDUW HQRXJK WR RSWLPLVH SLFWXUH VHWWLQJV WR PDWFK \RXU SRVLWLRQ and supports gesture control. £TBC, sony.co.uk

GARMIN VENU 2 PLUS 7KLV 3OXV PRGHO DGGV D PLFURSKRQH WR WKH DOUHDG\ H[FHOOHQW *DUPLQ 9HQX VR \RX FDQ FRQWURO LW ZLWK YRLFH FRPPDQGV DQG PDNH DQG UHFHLYH FDOOV IURP \RXU ZULVW YLD D WHWKHUHG SKRQH 0HDQZKLOH WKH VPDUWZDWFK FDQ DOVR WUDFN MXVW DERXW DQ\ KHDOWK DQG ĆWQHVV PHWULF \RX FRXOG ZDQW WR WUDFN DQG ORRNV JRRG ZKLOH GRLQJ LW £399.99, garmin.com

VIVO V23 PRO

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The complete guide to…

4 4 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Noise-cancelling earbuds

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO…

Noisecancelling earbuds

Whether you’re all about that bass or prefer to play podcasts, the latest noise-cancelling earbuds are ideal for every kind of audio åbDQG DFWLYH QRLVH FDQFHOOLQJ LV MXVW RQH RI WKHLU PDQ\ WDOHQWV Words: Carrie Marshall Photography: Phil Barker

ith things getting back to something approaching normality and the good weather hopefully on its way, we’re all starting to do the things we haven’t been doing for such a long time. We’re pounding pavements, going back to the gym, commuting or exploring by bus, tube or train and maybe even travelling by aeroplane to faraway destinations.

And all of those things have a soundtrack: traffic, people, engines and other potential irritants. If you’d rather listen to your podcast than the person puffing away on the machine next to you, or hear your favourite music without a rumbling engine accompanying it, active noise cancelling earbuds can make your world sound a lot less stressful.

Noise-cancelling earbuds are a must-have unless you only listen to music or podcasts at home, and even then they’re worth having: thanks to ours we haven’t heard a peep from

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the kids in days. But noisecancelling headphones aren’t all made equally. Some prioritise isolation over sound quality; others sound spectacular but don’t deliver great battery life; and some are designed to work not just with one of your devices, but all of them: Apple’s AirPods connect instantly and switch seamlessly between Apple devices, while Fast Pair on Android offers single-tap connections.

Noise-cancelling earbuds have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, and the intense competition between manufacturers mean prices are keener than ever: at the time of writing you can get a pair of Apple-made Beats Studio Buds for £105 or a pair of Jabra Elite 75t earbuds for under £70. That’s great news for anyone on a budget: you don’t need to wade into the murky waters of no-name knock-offs to get the features you need for the price you want to pay. Even high-end

headphones are more affordable than ever: Bose’s QuietComfort are often discounted below their usual £249 RRP, and Sony’s superb WF-1000XM4 earbuds can often be found for under £200.

There’s more to buying noisecancelling headphones than simply picking the most expensive pair you can afford, however. If you stick to the well-known brands it’s pretty much impossible to buy a bad pair, but it’s important to know what additional features are available and which ones will have a positive effect on your audio experience.

But first, let’s travel back in time.

Noise-cancelling headphones were invented in the 1950s by Dr Lawrence Jerome Fogel, who designed systems to help pilots communicate more easily above the noise of their aircraft’s engines.

The headphones incorporated a microphone to listen to the ambient sound and a small amplifier to create

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 45

The complete guide to…

The top three…

EARBUD ACCESSORIES Protect your pods and keep the music going wherever you may roam with these useful earbud accessories 01

ANKER POWERCORE SLIM 0DQ\ ZLUHOHVV HDUEXGV FRPH ZLWK D FKDUJLQJ FDVH WKDW ZLOO UHFKDUJH WKHP VHYHUDO WLPHV but how do you charge the charging case when you’re out? Try this – it has P$K ZLWK 3RZHU 'HOLYHU\ VR \RX FDQ XVH LW WR FKDUJH \RXU SKRQH WRR £32, amazon.co.uk

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an inverted version of the sound wave: by playing the inverse wave at the same time as the original, or as close as possible to it, it would negate the sound altogether. It was, and is, most effective with continuous, lower frequency noises such as aircraft engines; short, sharp or high-pitched sounds were harder to catch and counteract.

The first commercial noise-cancelling headphones were made for pilots too. Bose’s 1989 Series I Aviation Headset was the first commercially available headset with active noise reduction, and the technology was made available to passengers – business class and first class only – in 1999 before Bose made its first QuietComfort headphones available to buy in 2000.

TAKE YOUR PICK There are two kinds of noise reduction: passive and active. Passive noise reduction is when your headphones block out the outside world simply by being there, so for example a well-fitting pair of earbuds without active noise cancellation will still reduce the ambient audio, especially at higher frequencies. But active noise cancellation, ANC for short, is much smarter. Like its aircraft engine-defying ancestors, it analyses the sounds around you and creates a negative waveform to silence them – and digital technology enables it to do so much more quickly and effectively. The result is that you can hear what you want to hear more clearly, and without having to turn the volume up.

While the basic idea hasn’t changed much since Bose’s first QuietComfort headphones 22 years ago, today’s ANC earbuds aren’t just smaller. They’re much smarter too. Modern ANC earbuds deliver spectacular audio including surround sound, and in some cases they support high-res audio too.

3D audio, sometimes called Spatial Audio or something manufacturer-specific such as Sony’s 360 Reality Audio, is increasingly common in higher-end earbuds. It creates a sense of 3D space, and if your earbuds also have head tracking then when you turn your head towards a particular instrument you’ll hear it more clearly. 3D audio is particularly good for spacious music such as acoustic or jazz, for live concerts and for listening to movies too: provided the original audio source was mastered for surround sound it’s really rather impressive, although attempts by earbuds to create spatial audio from stereo-mastered sources are less convincing.

Where early earbuds used basic Bluetooth streaming for their audio, more advanced models now have much higher audio quality.

Bluetooth’s aptX HD has a bit rate of 576kbps, almost twice that of the best quality MP3s, and up to 24-bit audio compared to the 16 bits of CD. There’s no need for it on cheaper earbuds but on well-engineered headphones, you’ll hear a distinct improvement over older streaming standards – although Apple reckons it’s not good enough and may use a different streaming protocol for its forthcoming AirPods Pro 2.

Many active noise-cancelling earbuds also offer transparency modes (see p48) that offer a middle ground between full noise cancelling and no noise cancelling at all, so

3D audio is particularly good for live concerts and for listening to movies

The complete guide to…

T3 recommends...

THE BEST ANC WIRELESS EARBUDS FOR EVERYBODY ANC earbuds that will excite and delight

FANTASTIC FOR iPHONE

AIRPODS PRO Apple’s AirPods Pro offer superb L3KRQH LQWHJUDWLRQ DQG VHDPOHVV switching between all your Apple GHYLFHV åbVR \RX FDQ EH OLVWHQLQJ on iPhone and switch to iPad or 0DF ZLWKRXW DQ\ IXVV 7KH\ VRXQG great and Transparency Mode

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£189, apple.com

The best active noise-cancelling earbuds for you will depend very much on the kind of listening you prefer and where you’re going to do it. If sound quality is paramount then a pair with Bluetooth aptX HD will make the most of your audio, while long distance travellers will need earbuds that won’t die halfway through a flight. If you’re all-in on Apple hardware then Apple’s own products offer the best integration; if you’re navigating urban areas then transparency mode will help prevent you walking in front of a bus. Sadly none of the earbuds here can cancel buskers playing Ed Sheeran songs, but we live in hope.

AFFORDABLE ATMOS

BEATS STUDIO BUDS If you like the sound of the AirPods Pro (no pun intended) but don’t care about the iPhone integration or have an Android phone, these buds are considerably cheaper ZLWKRXW VDFULĆFLQJ VRXQG TXDOLW\ They have Spatial Audio, Dolby

$WPRV DQG DFWLYH QRLVH FDQFHOOLQJ å although the ANC isn’t as good as it is in AirPods Pro – and they don’t VXIIHU IURP WKH XQQDWXUDOO\ KHDY\ EDVV RI SUHYLRXV %HDWV SURGXFWV 7KH\èUH JUHDW YDOXH IRU PRQH\

£129.99, beatsbydre.com

ALL-ROUND EXCELLENCE

SUPERIOR SOUND

SONY WF-1000XM4

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The WF-1000XM4 sound better than the AirPods Pro, and while WKH\èUH QRW TXLWH XS WKHUH ZLWK WKH % : LQ WHUPV RI VRQLF ĆGHOLW\ – there’s no aptX HD – they’re QRW DV SULFH\ HLWKHU 7KHUHèV ZLUHG and wireless charging, Speak

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£229, sony.co.uk

With dual drivers and 24-bit aptX %OXHWRRWK WKHVH HDUEXGV VRXQG VSHFWDFXODU DQG RXWSHUIRUP DOO their rivals, but that’s not the only reason to pay the hefty price WDJ <RX FDQ FRQQHFW WKH FDVH YLD cable to a PC, portable console

RU RWKHU VRXUFH IRU &' TXDOLW\ DXGLR QR '$& UHTXLUHG DQG \RX can also share audio with another %OXHWRRWK GHYLFH 7KH RQO\ QHJDWLYH LV WKH\ PD\ EH WRR ELJ IRUbSHRSOH ZLWK VPDOO HDUV

£349, bowerswilkins.com

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 47

The complete guide to…

that you can hear people in shops or in the office without being bombarded with ambient noise.

One of the most interesting features we’re now seeing in all kinds of earbuds is customised hearing profiles. Instead of manually tweaking the EQ (if the manufacturer’s app even lets you do that), the headphones perform their own analysis of your ear canal to find the perfect settings.

Different manufacturers do things slightly differently but the HearID system in Anker’s SoundCore earbuds is typical: it plays a sound in your earbuds, analyses the reflections of that sound, and tunes the earbuds accordingly. If you don’t like the

settings you can adjust them to suit. That’s important because everybody’s hearing is different, especially as we age and lose some of our ability to hear the highest frequencies.

SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND One of the best things about earbuds is also one of the worst things: their tiny sizes and lack of cables make them exceptionally easy to misplace. That’s why many manufacturers include the ability to trace lost earbuds from an app. For example, if you can’t remember where you put your AirPods Pro or Beats Studio Buds you can use Apple’s Find My app to locate them, or see their last known location if they’re no longer active.

The app you get depends on the earbuds you buy. Sony’s earbuds, Google’s Pixel Buds and Samsung earbuds use Google’s Find My Device app, while Anker’s earbuds rely on Anker’s own SoundCore app and JBL uses its own My JBL app. While Apple’s Find My app is open to other manufacturers, for now it’s mainly an Apple-only service.

There’s one last thing to consider: fit.

Earbuds that don’t fit correctly won’t seal your ears properly, and that’ll significantly reduce their effectiveness and ability to cancel ambient noise. Most earbuds come with a range of tips to help you get the perfect fit, but it’s worth doing some research to find out if a particular pair of earbuds is unusually large or small: for example the Bowers & Wilkins PI7 earbuds deliver spectacular sound but some reviewers have found them simply too large for their ears.

If you can’t find noise-cancelling earbuds that fit, there’s another option: custom in-ear-monitors, IEMs for short, which are moulded to your specific ear shape based on measurements you provide or 3D scans of your ears. They’re passive rather than active noise cancelling but they’re very effective, which is why you’ll see so many musicians using them on stage or engineers wearing them at the mixing desk. Products such as Ultimate Ears’ UE Pro models aren’t cheap – prices start at $499 (just under £400) to $2,199 (about £1,600) for the range-topping, 8-drivers UE Live – but they’re designed for audio pros who need to hear every last detail without the slightest distraction.

The very best active noise-cancelling earbuds, however, can be bought for considerably less than custom-fit IEMs.

TRANSPARENCY AND TALKTHROUGH How to block ambient noise without missing anything important 6RPHWLPHV \RX GRQèW ZDQW WR FDQFHO DOO RI WKH noise around you: if you’re cancelling out the KXP RI DQ RSHQ SODQ RIĆFH RU WKH WKUXP RI FLW\ WUDIĆF \RX PD\ VWLOO ZDQW WR KHDU \RXU FROOHDJXHV RU EH DZDUH RI SRWHQWLDO KD]DUGV :KLOH WKH QDPHV GLIIHU PRVW PDQXIDFWXUHUV of active noise-cancelling headphones offer PRGHV WKDW FDQ FDQFHO DPELHQW QRLVH ZKLOH VWLOO OHWWLQJ VRPH VRXQG WKURXJK In order to let outside sounds in without getting rid of noise cancelling altogether, features such as Transparency Mode do VRPHWKLQJ VOLJKWO\ GLIIHUHQW IURP DFWLYH QRLVH FDQFHOODWLRQ %RWK IHDWXUHV XVH H[WHUQDO PLFURSKRQHV WR OLVWHQ WR WKH VRXQG DURXQG you, but while ANC analyses the audio and creates a reverse sound wave to cancel it out, 7UDQVSDUHQF\ 0RGH GRHVQèW 0DQ\ UHSRUW WKDW LW IHHOV PRUH FRPIRUWDEOH DV D UHVXOW 4 8 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

$1&èV QHJDWLYH ZDYH PLJKW QRW EH DXGLEOH EXW LW FUHDWHV WKDW RGG çYDFXXPè IHHOLQJ \RX JHW ZLWK QRLVH FDQFHOOLQJ VZLWFKHG RQ With Transparency Mode the PLFURSKRQHV OLVWHQ WR WKH VDPH VRXQG EXW WKH\ WKHQ VHQG LW WR \RXU HDUV DQG DGMXVW LW WR KHOS \RX KHDU ZKDW \RX ZDQW WR KHDU 7KH UHVXOW LV DOPRVW DV LI \RX DUHQèW ZHDULQJ earbuds at all, and it doesn’t give you the VDPH IDLQWO\ XQQDWXUDO IHHOLQJ RI SUHVVXUH \RX get with full active noise cancelling switched RQ ,Q PDQ\ FDVHV \RX FDQ DGMXVW WKH VWUHQJWK of the effect too, so you can dial down the DPELHQW QRLVH LI LWèV VWLOO D OLWWOH WRR ORXG IRU \RX 2QH RI WKH PRVW XVHIXO DSSOLFDWLRQV RI WKLV is when you can have a conversation with RWKHUV ZLWKRXW UHPRYLQJ \RXU HDUEXGV $SSOH FDOOV LW /LYH /LVWHQ DQG -%/ FDOOV LW 7DON7KUX but they’re both designed to help you hear an

LQGLYLGXDO ZLWKRXW UHPRYLQJ \RXU EXGV 7KH feature can also be really helpful for those ZLWK KHDULQJ GDPDJH LQVWHDG RI VWUXJJOLQJ WR KHDU VRPHRQH RYHU WKH KXEEXE RI D EXV\ FDI«bRU RWKHU SXEOLF SODFH \RX FDQ KHDU WKH SHUVRQ \RXèUH ZLWK PXFK PRUH FOHDUO\ ,WèV LPSRUWDQW WR QRWH WKDW DV ZLWK DFWLYH QRLVH FDQFHOOLQJ WUDQVSDUHQF\ PRGH continues to operate whether or not you’re OLVWHQLQJ WR PXVLF SRGFDVWV RU DXGLRERRNV LI your headphones are active and the feature LV HQDEOHG WKH PLFURSKRQHV DUH OLVWHQLQJ DQG WKH SURFHVVRU LV SURFHVVLQJ :KLOH EDWWHU\ OLIHbKDV LPSURYHG GUDPDWLFDOO\ LQ UHFHQW \HDUV it’s still wise to ensure that everything is off ZKHQ \RXèUH QRW DFWLYHO\ OLVWHQLQJ LI \RX GRQèW \RX PD\ ĆQG WKDW ZKHQ \RX GR ZDQW WRbOLVWHQ WR VRPHWKLQJ WKHUH LVQèW PXFK EDWWHU\ SRZHU OHIW

Unbeatable biking kit

Unbeatable Biking Kit A closer look at the best bikes and cycling gear to make you faster, wiser and trendier on the road and trail Words: Aaron Borrill

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 49

Unbeatable biking kit

Best Bikes

Wherever you go, these are the only bikes you need right now ROAD BIKE MERIDA SCULTURA TEAM $V D EUDQG 0HULGD LV KLJKO\ XQGHUUDWHG LQ WKH F\FOLQJ ZRUOG å WKLV GHVSLWH KDYLQJ D VLJQLĆFDQW presence on the WorldTour where its bikes are used exclusively by Bahrain Victorious. The Merida Scultura Team not only represents the best value-for-money offering in the brand’s line-up but the entire road bike segment, too. The bike is built around the all-new Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 Di2 hydraulic groupset so it’s polished when it comes to braking modulation and gear shifting. The FDUERQ ĆEUH IUDPH LV VWLII DQG UHVSRQVLYH DQG VXSSOLHV D JRRG DPRXQW RI FRPPXQLFDWLRQ WKURXJK LWV underpinnings, allowing the rider to lean on the huge reserves of grip when descending at speed. £7,750, merida-bikes.com

CYCLING ACCESSORIES

VELOSOCK

MET RIVALE MIPS HELMET

The Velosock is a novel solution for those who prefer storing their bike(s) in the house. This nifty cover not only protects your pride and joy against scuffs and possible damage, it also keeps grit, chain grease and dirt from VWDLQLQJ \RXU FDUSHWV ćRRUV DQG ZDOOV £43, velosock.com

The Met Rivale MIPS helmet can be a life-saver. While many of the best road bike helmets boast similar levels of safety and protection, Met’s helmets look superb and the after-sales service and communication levels are some of the best we’ve dealt with in the industry. £140, met-helmets.com

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Unbeatable biking kit

GRAVEL BIKE SPECIALIZED S-WORKS DIVERGE Specialized has been tinkering with the gravel bike concept since 1989 so the Morgan Hill-based company knows a thing or two about what makes a good dirty-ready speed machine. Who can remember the RockCombo? The RockCombo is considered by dirt disciples the world over as the original gravel bike and spiritual forefather of the Diverge. The Specialized S-Works Diverge is an out-and-out racer equipped with all the go-faster doohickeys needed to tackle the most treacherous of terrain assortments. Add to that the feedback-rich riding experience and almost telepathic levels of handling, and what we’ve got here is one of the fastest, most adaptable gravel speed machines available. Is it the best gravel bike out there? It comes pretty damn close. £8,700, specialized.com

GARMIN VARIA RTL515

GIRO XNETIC H20 GLOVES

The Garmin Varia RTL515 is one of the best lights available. Daytime ćDVK PRGH ZLOO JHW \RX KRXUV RI EDWWHU\ OLIH DW OXPHQV XVLQJ DQ irregular pattern to capture the attention of motorists. The kicker? Its UDGDU IHDWXUH WKDW DOHUWV \RX WR DSSURDFKLQJ FDUV IURP EHKLQG $bPXVW have for any cyclist. £169.99, garmin.com

The Giro Xnetic H20 gloves are simple in design but brilliant in the way they protect the hands. They use a three-layer material comprising a knitted outer layer and a soft ridged inner with a waterproof membrane sandwiched in between, all of which help provide a highstretch, seamless form that requires no retention system. £49.99, giro.com M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 51

Unbeatable biking kit

MOUNTAIN BIKE TREK SUPERCALIBER 9.9 Trek has been making bikes for a long time now and it keeps nailing the brief, despite the constant HEELQJ DQG ćRZLQJ RI WKH FRQWHPSRUDU\ PRXQWDLQ ELNH GLVFLSOLQH 7KH 7UHN 6XSHUFDOLEHU LV WKH company’s out-and-out cross-country race bike, boasting a weight of just 9.34kg – a staggering IHDW IRU D ELNH ZLWK PP PP WUDYHO 7KH VHFUHW FRPHV LQ WKH FOHYHU SDFNDJLQJ RI WKH UHDU shock, which it calls ‘Isostrut’. The system uses just two pivots, which has not only kept weight but also bike maintenance to a minimum, all the while creating room for two bottle cages. As the range-topping model in the line-up, the Supercaliber 9.9 gets a SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS groupset, %RQWUDJHU .RYHH ;;; FDUERQ ZKHHOV DQG D PDWFKLQJ ĆQLVKLQJ NLW £9,700, trekbikes.com

CYCLING ACCESSORIES

GELU K-3 CARBON SADDLE

ELITE DIRETO XR

Few can dispute the beauty of Gelu’s K-3 saddle; it’s a work of art. It’s handmade from carbon pre-preg weave fabric – a recipe known for its aesthetic merit but also lightweight properties. While it weighs just 38g, WKH . èV ćDW DQG QDUURZ GLPHQVLRQV DUH QRW JRLQJ WR ZRUN IRU HYHU\RQH Priced at £430, it’s also frighteningly expensive. £430, gelucarboncreation.com

Elite’s Direto XR is the Italian brand’s top-of-the-line turbo trainer. It can simulate gradients of up to 24%, while the maximum power output is SHJJHG DW ZDWWV ,W DOVR KDV D NJ ć\ZKHHO ZKLFK GRHV ZRQGHUV to help simulate real-world road feel and help carry momentum up virtual rolling terrain. Perfect for those who enjoy Zwift. £650, elite-it.com

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Unbeatable biking kit

CITY BIKE BROMPTON X CHPT3 7KLQN FRPPXWHU ELNH DQG WKH ĆUVW WKLQJ WKDW comes to mind is the fold-up Brompton.

Considered as the gold standard in the city/ commuter bike space for their foldability, reliability and comfort, the Brompton has become as much a fashion statement as it is a dedicated transportation device and the latest instalment in the range validates its trendsetting appeal. The Brompton x CHPT3 is the vision of former Tour de France stage winner, David Millar, who desired to have a city bike worth riding. The result is a collaboration of his own brand, CHPT3, and Brompton. Utilising a 1a meld of steel and titanium for the frame and fork construction, the bike provides a compliant ride quality thanks to the durability of the materials used in its construction. The %URPSWRQ [ &+37 IHDWXUHVbD FRPSHQGLXP of choice components including a colourway inspired by Girona, the home of CHPT3. £2,295, brompton.com

HAMMERHEAD KAROO 2

GOPRO HERO10 BLACK

Named after the open desert expanses of the interior of South Africa, the Hammerhead Karoo 2 is one of the cycling world’s best-kept secrets.

With a best-in-class screen and navigational prompts/assistance, the Karoo 2 will ensure you never get lost again, while tracking all your vitals and performance metrics in vivid colour and detail. £359, hammerhead.io

The GoPro is now in its 10th iteration and more powerful than ever before. While it can be used for anything from motorsports to snowboarding expeditions, many cyclists are using it to capture their epic rides and scenery along the way. The Hero10 boasts many features including the ability to shoot 5.3K video and take 23MP photos. £450, gopro.com M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 5 3

Unbeatable biking kit

CYCLING ACCESSORIES

1

2

4

3

1

CERAMICSPEED 3D-PRINTED TI OSPW SYSTEM The CeramicSpeed oversized pulley wheel (OSPW) system is not a particularly new concept but the 3D-printed Ti pictured here has ramped things up in terms of visual clout, materials used in its assembly and the 3D manufacturing process. £1,350, ceramicspeed.com 5 4 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

2

FAVERO ASSIOMA DUOSHI POWER PEDALS When it comes to the best power meters, Favero’s Assioma Uno and Duo pedals are among the most accurate options you can get.

Its latest creation, the Assioma DUO-Shi, caters for Shimano pedal users. Installation is easy, and cartridges are compatible with many Shimano pedal bodies. £512, favero.com

3

RYDER LUBERETTA Designed to simplify the chainlubricating process, the Ryder /XEHUHWWD HPSOR\V D VHULHV RI ĆQV in the lubrication channel, which help clean grit off the chain as you lube it. It’s also considerably less messy and environmentally friendlier than the usual squeezeand-spill technique we’re all JXLOW\bRI GRLQJ £5, ryderinnovation.com

4

POC ELICIT CLARITY SUNGLASSES Say hello to the world’s lightest cycling sunglasses, the POC Elicit Clarity, which tip the scales at a scant 23g a pair. Stylistically, they are typically POC in execution and are built around a completely frameless design, where truss-like arms bolt directly to the lens via snap hinges. £180, pocsports.com

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Master the metaverse

Master the metaverse Does the future of humanity lie in an online VR universe?

Words: Louise Blain

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 5 7

Master the metaverse

ABOVE Developed by Beat Games, Beat Saber is a game that moves to the rhythm of your body RIGHT & BELOW VRChat allows users to play Dungeons & Dragons together or even attend free concerts

t’s already one of the key 2022 tech bingo phrases. Alongside NFTs and cryptocurrency, the metaverse has become a buzzword for the future of the internet. But what does it actually mean? Is it really only a matter of time before we’re living in a Ready-Player-One-style world where we’re happier in a VR headset and haptic suit than our own day-to-day lives? It’s time to dive into the metaverse for some answers. There are no wires where we’re going but don’t worry your headset is fully charged.

The metaverse is difficult to put a precise label on. It’s why amidst the technobabble and jargon, it’s still easy to ask ‘But how?’ and not really get a clear answer. The term was first used in a dystopian 1992 novel called Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson but don’t let that put you off. In it, the metaverse is a shared digital world experienced in 3D via a headset, which isn’t terribly far removed from our current generation of virtual reality goggles.

VR is the primary focus of the current ideas around the metaverse. Headsets are seen as a 3D portal to a shared online experience where we can all exist together.

I

5 8 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

In this world, we would see the same concerts, watch the same movies, and interact in a digital persistent universe.

While mini metaverses are already happily in play in various online games like Fortnite where live events can be experienced in real time, we’re going to be looking specifically at the VR elements of the metaverse.

It’s important to note that the metaverse as a concept shouldn’t belong to any one company. Facebook might have changed its name to Meta and hired 10,000 staff to build its metaverse future but this shared world can’t belong to one tech firm. The metaverse should belong to everyone.

Think of a digital high street packed with shops belonging to big tech brands. In

The metaverse as a concept shouldn’t belong to any one company

theory, the metaverse should be the concrete under your feet and the bustle of fellow shoppers. And here lies the first limitation of our current 21st century metaverse experience. We don’t really even have a car park.

A FRAGMENTED METAVERSE Headsets like the affordable Meta Quest 2 – bye, Oculus, thanks for all the memories – mean that virtual reality has never been more accessible but that doesn’t mean VR headsets are commonplace. A 2021 survey of UK internet users found that 4% of people own a virtual reality headset. Within that 4%, 1.7% own a high end headset like a Quest. That’s just over one million people in the UK who can get their head directly in the game. Numbers wise, obviously this ownership pales in comparison to something like the 13 million UK Netflix subscribers but that’s to be expected in the early days of a new technology. VR Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all.

The uphill struggle for the metaverse, though, is that the majority of these VR experiences are disconnected. When most of us put our headsets on, we’re in isolation

Master the metaverse

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 59

Master the metaverse

ABOVE With Spatial, you can get together with people from all around the world in one virtual space RIGHT & BELOW Quest offers up environments that are nothing like what’s ever been seen before

and we stay that way. Whether it’s a Beat Saber session with the new Lady Gaga pack or the vertigo-inducing The Climb 2, a VR experience is largely an isolated one. Even multiplayer games are with small clusters of friends but really aren’t like easily jumping into an open VR pub to shoot the breeze with our pals.

The early days of the internet are an easy comparison; disparate individual uses of a technology that lacks a common infrastructure or a language to tie things together. It doesn’t mean that a VR metaverse is dead in the water – in fact, quite the opposite – but until we cohesively tie these threads together across multiple headsets, platforms, and points of entry, a full metaverse might feel like something of a distant dream.

Given that cross platform play between Xbox, PlayStation and PC has only just become a reality in a limited number of games specifically built for this functionality, it’s easy to see the kind of hurdles facing a true metaverse. Those throwing around the prospect of the technology meaning that you can take weaponry between your favourite 6 0 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

videogames have probably never even tried to download a cloud save.

STATE OF PLAY But that doesn’t mean there aren’t places to have a taste of what could come. Many of these individual, what we might call ‘mini metaverses’ are a great way to see the potential in a more open online world. The push for more shared experiences means that we can see what it’s like to rub digital shoulders with fellow goggle wearers and the biggest apps work across multiple headsets. VRChat, one of the most popular, can be accessed from the majority of headsets and allows users to just play Dungeons & Dragons together or even

Millions have been spent on the VR elements of global film festivals

attend free Jean-Michel Jarre concerts with binaural audio.

VRChat was even used by the Venice Film Festival in 2021 to build virtual worlds to host its VR competitors. Millions have been spent on the VR elements of global film festivals over the last few years. With creators working in immersive VR, AR and mixed reality spaces, festivals like SXSW have created online portals to let as many people as possible interact with this innovative new content. The dream metaverse would give us open virtual cinemas to load up to experience these creations but individual apps are doing the heavy lifting for now.

Plus, with working conditions over the last few years shaped by the pandemic, shared productivity apps have also thrived.

Quest has its own proprietary Horizon Workrooms app and there’s also Spatial on Quest, which also works with iOS, Android, and PC. This lets you create a 3D avatar to spend time with fellow app users. Spatial has a park to hang out with friends – well, the top half of them at least – and you can go to organised events in custom spaces and even NFT art galleries. Spatial and Horizon

Master the metaverse

Workrooms, as well as apps like Arthur and Immersed, are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to experiences geared towards sharing digital spaces with whiteboards even when you can’t get together in person.

GAME ON There is still a very clear delineation between the visual quality of VR gaming experiences and those of proposed metaverse content.

Load up an app like VRChat or Spatial and you might be surprised at the Second Life or PlayStation-Home-ness of it all. Avatars are often basic and painfully rudimentary, which feels ironic in a world where games like Half Life: Alyx exist. Quest’s shared Horizons app feels a little gentler and cosier but still alien enough to be, well, alien. But that doesn’t stop these experiences from feeling layered with potential. There’s something here once we get over waving at each other and apps like Horizon deliver innovative creation tools.

Truthfully, the current metaverse space feels perhaps what it should at this point in time; experimental and strange. VRChat doesn’t feel so much like a futuristic city as a mash up of consciousness with various

bizarre avatars running around, and it’s easy to be left feeling cold. The best way to experience the idea of a shared VR universe still might be in closed groups with friends, ironically. Working out together in Beat Saber or FitXR, or gathering a group for a game of something like Star Trek: Bridge Crew. Bonding across VR platforms is a perfect example of how this tech can work in a satisfying way. Suddenly your in-game hands feel like they have purpose and built in microphones aren’t just for obscenities.

It just isn’t quite Ready Player One.

THE FUTURE Then how does the future look? Well, complex but exciting. VR has never been

Bonding across VR platforms shows how this tech can work in a satisfying way

more accessible and the addition of more headsets at multiple price-points mean that onboarding shouldn’t always be too painful.

It’s also useful that the majority of the new headsets have access to shared platforms such as SteamVR to prevent further fragmenting. Yet this means that specific companies will always have control. Valve holds the keys to SteamVR and Meta’s Quest content is carefully cultivated for its own headsets. Using the analogy of the shopping street again, we still don’t have that neutral ground from which to browse.

There’s also the affordability of this digital world to consider. Cheaper headsets will be good onboarding for specific experiences but Panasonic’s MeganeX, the Valve Index and the majority of HTC Vive’s offerings demand a high-performance PC. With the constant increase in graphics card pricing, room scale VR set-ups now cost thousands of pounds to build. Add in the latest in haptic accessories and a metaverse future isn’t cheap but it does feel exciting. Even in a fragmented state, the possibilities feel endless as long as we are happy under the control of big tech firms such as Meta. But that truly free future might still be a sci-fi dream.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 61

Master the metaverse

VR HEADSET ROUNDUP 1

2 3

1

META QUEST 2

2

PLAYSTATION VR2

3

LYNX R-1

Take away the Oculus name and all of a sudden existing Quest owners already own a little bit of Mark Zuckerberg’s future metaverse tech. The standalone Meta Quest 2 continues to be the VR gift that keeps on giving with an ultra-attractive price point and no need for additional tech other than your smartphone. Plus the stratospheric success of the system means that the Quest doesn’t suffer from a lack of dedicated apps. There are hundreds of games and experiences to make the most of the improved screen, speedy processor, and eternally impressive Touch Controllers ZLWK LQGLYLGXDO ĆQJHU WUDFNLQJ ,I \RXèUH looking to play on PC, you can always just plug in for games like Half Life: Alyx.

There’s no release date, pricing or even visuals just yet – hence the image of the original PSVR above – but Sony has revealed it isn’t leaving VR behind. The PlayStation VR2 and Sense Controllers will, unsurprisingly, be exclusive to the PS5 and use cameras on the headset to track your hands in real time. A 4K display with 2000 x 2040 pixels per eye was a predictable upgrade but less so are what Sony is calling ‘sensory features’. We’ll be experiencing haptics through the new controllers but also directly through the headset thanks to a built-in motor. This means feeling character heartbeats and even the whoosh of near PLVVHV :LWK H\H WUDFNLQJ FRQĆUPHG DV ZHOO the PSVR2 is an exciting proposition.

Why choose between AR and VR when you can do both? The Lynx R-1 mixed reality headset was a resounding Kickstarter success last year and is aiming for true versatility. This also means that as well as AR and VR it also works in both wired and unwired forms. The Lynx R-1 has an impressive 1600x1600 pixels per eye and runs on a speedy Snapdragon chip that can VWUHDP 6WHDP 95 RYHU :L )L ,WèV JRW DQ 6' card slot for upgradeable storage, as well as built-in speakers and microphones, and a unique headband-like design to suit mixed UHDOLW\ H[SHULHQFHV ,I \RX ZDQW WR VROHO\ use it for VR though, you’ll want to buy the DGG RQ )DFLDO ,QWHUIDFH WR EORFN RXW WKH rest of the world.

From £299, oculus.com

£TBC, playstation.com

£438, lynx-r.com

62 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

VR headset roundup

4

5

6

4

PANASONIC MEGANEX

5

HTC VIVE

6

VALVE INDEX

Maybe those Steampunk cosplayers were onto something… Panasonic’s MeganeX VR goggles from its Shiftall division are XOWUD FRPSDFW DQG PDNH WKH PRVW RI 2/(' micro-display tech. This means there’s no PHVVLQJ DURXQG ZLWK ĆGHOLW\ WKH 0HJDQH; delivers an incredible 2560x2560 pixels per eye, meaning it offers 5.2K imagery ZLWK +'5 IXQFWLRQDOLW\ DQG D VPRRWK 120Hz refresh rate to boot. Weighing in at just 250g, this headset unsurprisingly needs to be connected to a PC and we haven’t seen the controllers just yet.

3DQDVRQLF KDV FRQĆUPHG WKDW WKHVH JRJJOHV will work with SteamVR games and apps, PDNLQJ WKLV RIĆFLDOO\ WKH OLJKWHVW DQG graphically detailed way to play.

Why choose one VR solution when you can have them all? HTC Vive’s suite of consumer and professional headsets is so unique that we’re ignoring T3 convention and mentioning three different ones.

The Vive Flow is an ultra light set of VR goggles with a built in cooling system for on-the-go VR with a focus on wellness and relaxation, while the HTC Vive Focus 3 is a professional all-in-one equivalent of the Quest 2. Vive is known for its superior room-scale tracking and that’s now left to the high-end Vive Pro 2 with base stations.

Also essential is the unique Viveport subscription that includes a Gamepassstyle collection of titles to save you spending even more on games.

,WèV HDV\ WR IRUJHW WKDW 9DOYH KDV LWV RZQ dedicated SteamVR hardware and that’s at least partly down to the pro-level SULFH SRLQW ,W LV SRVVLEOH WR EX\ HOHPHQWV VWDQGDORQH EXW WKH IXOO 9DOYH ,QGH[ VHW XS LQFOXGHV D KHDGVHW WZR ,QGH[ FRQWUROOHUV and two base stations with stands. You’re tethered to your PC – and a wall power adapter – but the cable is 16ft, giving you plenty of leeway for full room scale VR. The headset delivers a smooth 120Hz experience but the true winners here are WKH LQWXLWLYH ,QGH[ FRQWUROOHUV ZLWK ĆQJHU tracking. Even compared to the Quest 2 FRQWUROOHUV WKH ,QGH[ IHHOV VXUSULVLQJO\ natural. You haven’t played Half Life: Alyx XQWLO \RX KDYH SOD\HG LW RQ DQ ,QGH[

£TBC, panasonic.com

From £499, vive.com

£919, store.steampowered.com M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 6 3

Master the metaverse

ACCESSORIES 1

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OWO HAPTIC VEST

HTC VIVE WRIST TRACKER

PROXIMAT FITNESS EDITION

SHIFTALL HARITORAX

Bullets entering and leaving your body… insects crawling… free fall… no, we’re not just writing random words. These are among the many feelings that the OWO Haptic Vest can deliver. Each sensation can be fully customised with an app and the OWO works across VR, PC, console, and mobile, so no one can miss out on the as-yetunpriced touchy feely fun.

The latest wrist-worn HTC Vive tracker unveiled at CES 2022 has been designed for the Vive Focus 3 headset. Not only can it be worn but you can also attach it to other accessories like sports JHDU IRU IXOO ' WUDFNLQJ 3OXV if it’s on your wrist but not in direct view of the headset, it can still predict movements thanks to advanced kinetic modelling.

Staying safe in the real world while your head is in a virtual one is essential. To save any unfortunate controller meets wall incidents, the Proximat Fitness Edition mat is VSHFLĆFDOO\ IRU NHHSLQJ \RXU IHHW in place while playing Beat Saber and FitXR. The textured foam is a tactile reminder to stay in place while you’re working out.

Let’s face it, hand tracking isn’t quite enough for full metaverse immersion. The Shiftall HaritoraX is a body tracker for both your torso and legs to fully upload yourself. Thankfully there are no wires to make things tricky and the battery lasts up to ten hours at a time.

And while you will need a PC to make the most of it, it’s fully compatible with SteamVR.

£TBC, owogame.com

£119, vive.com

£25.75, proximat.net

£197, en.shiftall.net

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BHAPTICS TACTGLOVE

NEW ALIENWARE AURORA

ANKER CHARGING DOCK FOR QUEST 2

LOGITECH G PRO GAMING HEADSET FOR QUEST 2

Consumer versions aren’t coming till the end of 2022 but the bHaptics TactGlove quite literally feels like future VR tech. :LWK DQ DFWXDWRU LQ HDFK ĆQJHU for the precise sensation of touch, these stretchy gloves are compatible with existing hand tracking headsets like the Quest 2. With built in batteries, they even have a washable liner to keep things fresh.

,I \RXèUH QRW JRLQJ IRU D standalone headset, you’re going to need a gaming PC that can keep up with the graphical demands of the metaverse. The New Alienware Aurora comes with an i7 processor and the blisteringly powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 with a mere 10GB of RAM. Fittingly, the case looks straight out of Area 51.

Anker’s charging station solves two Quest problems in one stylish go. Not only does it actually give you a dedicated place to store and charge your headset but it comes with rechargeable AA batteries and custom wireless charging controller covers. So no more rummaging around for spare 'XUDFHOOV WKDQNIXOO\

To truly block out the analogue universe you’re going to want proper gaming headset drivers.

7KHVH RIĆFLDO /RJLWHFK * FDQV come with a shorter cable and velcro strap for smooth integration with the headset.

The memory foam headband and earpads mean serious comfort even for long VR sessions.

£219, bhaptics.com

From £2,899, dell.com

£99, oculus.com

£84.99, logitechg.com M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 65

COMINGNEXTISSUE Future Publishing, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA EDITORIAL +44 (0)1225 442244 SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SERVICES +44(0)844 848 2852

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HEAD OF PRINT LICENSING RACHEL SHAW licensing@futurenet.com PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS & BACK ISSUES We rely on various delivery companies to get your magazine to you – many of whom continue to be impacted by Covid. We kindly ask that you allow up to 7 days before contacting us about a late delivery at help@mymagazines.co.uk Email enquiries t3@myfavouritemagazines.co.uk UK orderline & enquiries 0844 848 2852 Overseas order line and enquiries +44 (0) 344 848 2852 Online orders & enquiries myfavouritemagazines.co.uk CIRCULATION HEAD OF NEWSTRADE TIM MATHERS PRODUCTION HEAD OF PRODUCTION UK & US MARK CONSTANCE PRODUCTION PROJECT MANAGER CLARE SCOTT ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER JOANNE CROSBY DIGITAL EDITIONS CONTROLLER JASON HUDSON PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR NOLA COKELY MANAGEMENT CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER AARON ASADI CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER PENNY LADKIN-BRAND HEAD OF ART & DESIGN RODNEY DIVE PRINTED IN THE UK BY William Gibbons on behalf of Future.

DISTRIBUTED IN THE UK BY Marketforce (UK), 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: 020 3787 9060 ISSN 1364-2641 :H DUH FRPPLWWHG WR RQO\ XVLQJ PDJD]LQH SDSHU ZKLFK LV GHULYHG IURP UHVSRQVLEO\ PDQDJHG FHUWLĆHG IRUHVWU\ and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill holds full )6& )RUHVW 6WHZDUGVKLS &RXQFLO FHUWLĆFDWLRQ DQG DFFUHGLWDWLRQ All contents © 2021 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered RIĆFH 4XD\ +RXVH 7KH $PEXU\ %DWK %$ 8$ $OO LQIRUPDWLRQ FRQWDLQHG LQ WKLV SXEOLFDWLRQ LV IRU LQIRUPDWLRQ only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to WKHP 7KLV PDJD]LQH LV IXOO\ LQGHSHQGHQW DQG QRW DIĆOLDWHG LQ DQ\ ZD\ ZLWK WKH FRPSDQLHV PHQWLRQHG KHUHLQ If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions.

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HOT 100

From quantum dot OLED TVs to e-ink cars, these are the most eagerly anticipated gadgets and future tech trends

SAMSUNG GALAXY S22 REVIEWED The year’s most exciting Android handset tested TAKE A BREAK Perfect tech to make this your dream holiday SIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTION Explore the outdoors with drones & vlogging cams PHILIPS FIDELIO T1 TESTED These buds have top-tier sound & awesome ANC * ALL CONTENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

TESTED Expert reviews and recommendations WR KHOS \RX EX\ ZLWK FRQĆGHQFH Edited by Josh Russell

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SAMSUNG GALAXY S21 FE

DENON HOME SOUNDBAR 550

BOSE SOUNDLINK FLEX

GARMIN FORERUNNER 55

BEATS FIT PRO

XGIMI ELFIN

AUTEL EVO NANO

HOW WE TEST In T3, we feature only the finest gadgets out there, and we believe that you – our loyal reader – deserve only the best tech in your life. We don’t want you to waste time, and money, on inferior products, and that’s exactly why our Tested section exists.

In here you’ll find only the latest and hottest tech. Each product has been handpicked and tested by T3’s experts.

We only choose people with specialist knowledge for each test, so you know you’re going to get an outcome based on many years of experience in their respective field.

As well as our traditional five-star rating system (right), we also give out awards to particularly exceptional gadgets, using the line-up below - so when you spot one of these, you’ll know you’re onto a good thing.

THE SCORES EXPLAINED Forget it Below average Good for the price Very good all round An exceptional, best-in-class product

OUR AWARDS This is given to winners of our group tests, so you can see which is the best at a glance

Only the very best products – those WKDWbVFRUH ĆYH VWDUV å UHFHLYH RXU Platinum Award

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 67

Tested

Display 6.4-inch 120Hz 2340 x 1080 AMOLED CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 660 RAM 6GB / 8GB Storage 128GB/256GB Camera 12MP wide, 12MP ultra-wide, 8MP telephoto rear / 32MP front Battery 4,5000mAh OS Android 12 Connectivity USB-C, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5 Dimensions 155.7x74.5x7.9mm Weight 177g

FAN SERVICE

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE The smartphone giant packs all the best bits from the S21 into a more affordable package. But is it fashionably late or out of date? ove the Samsung Galaxy S21 but not the price? Then the FE is your saviour.

It takes everything fans loved about the 2021 flagship and packs it into a more affordable piece of kit. But be warned: this phone still isn’t cheap, just cheaper.

So what do you get? For starters more screen real-estate with a 6.4-inch display as opposed to the 6.2-inch screen on the Samsung Galaxy S21, but it’s still the same Dynamic AMOLED technology with Full HD resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. There’s a stripped-back rear camera system but a boosted front camera, ideal for you selfie lovers more on this later. There’s the option to take 6GB of RAM instead of 8GB to save a few quid and a boosted battery from 4,000mAh to 4,500mAh. The design remains very much the same with a camera notch that wraps around the corner of the handset but the new phone is slightly longer and wider because of the bigger screen.

The FE uses the ‘Glasstic’ back across the whole of the device. So you

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from £699 samsung.com

6 8 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE

get the impression that the phone is more durable than other handsets that use a lot of glass. The screen is Gorilla Glass Victus and that should survive drops from up to two metres. And, with an IP68 rating, the phone is completely waterproof so you won’t need to worry about getting it wet.

Around the frame, you get the usual power button and volume controls on the right-hand side with a USB-C port along the bottom. You don’t get a 3.5mm headphone jack, though. If you do still use wired headphones, it could be time to upgrade to Bluetooth or you’ll need to buy an adaptor.

Enjoy the view The larger 6.4-inch display boasts a 2340 x 1080p resolution so it’s bang up-to-date. The screen is only interrupted by the hole-punch style camera in the middle at the top. It looks and feels fantastic to use, with bold accurate colours, plenty in the way of brightness and sharp details.

If you’re a keen photographer you will be a little disappointed with the simplified camera system. But it’s perfectly good for the casual user. On the rear there’s a 12MP ultra-wide

camera, a 12MP wide camera and an 8MP telephoto lens.

You get sharp and bright images that don’t quite get the same level of detail as you do elsewhere. But there is a good balance between light and dark areas, colours look bold and vibrant as well, although they can be oversaturated so sometimes come out looking quite unrealistic.

The digital zoom is nothing to shout about either. You get up to 30x zoom but photos look noticeably more grainy than they did on the S21, especially when you reach 20x zoom.

The 30x zoom is hardly even worth it.

Selfies is where the FE excels. Set the tone to Natural or Bright and you get sharp and flattering photos. And when two or more people step into the shot, it’ll automatically switch the front camera to the ultrawide mode.

The performance on the FE fares noticeably better. Powered by the Snapdragon 888 - the same as the S21 - you get a powerful processor, but one that will be superseded by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 sometime in 2022.

Elsewhere, you get a choice of 6 or 8GB of RAM, depending on how much you’re willing to spend, and either 128

THE ALTERNATIVES ONEPLUS NORD 2 Anyone on a budget should have this on their shortlist.

Granted you can’t charge it wirelessly and it’s not totally waterproof but it’s got speedy performance, an excellent camera system and a very long-lasting battery. £399, oneplus.com

SAMSUNG GALAXY A52 5G Want to spend a lot less but set on a Samsung? Take a look at the A52 5G. Like the S21 FE, it has a 120Hz FHD+ display and 5G support, and the main camera takes impressive photos as well. £331.50, amazon.co.uk

The screen is only interrupted by the hole-punch style camera at the top

or 256GB of storage. There’s no MicroSD card slot to expand memory.

As you would expect from those specs the phone ran well. It felt quick to flick through menus and opening apps was instantaneous. It’ll even cope well with larger mobile games like Call of Duty Mobile, but expect the handset to heat up a little in use.

A larger battery ensures a day’s worth of power, but annoyingly no charger, just a USB-C cable. When you do have a charger it’s 0-100% in an hour and a half. The brain of the operation is Samsung’s One UI 4.0 interface - based on Android 12.

If you don’t want to pay for the S21 but want most of its features, give the FE a go. It’s nearly the same.

VERDICT WE’RE IMPRESSED Premium chipset and specs; 6.4-inch FHD+ 120Hz display; pretty decent camera system.

WE’D IMPROVE No charger LQbWKH ER[ VORZ FKDUJLQJ VWLOO fairly expensive.

THE LAST WORD The most affordable phone in the S21 series – streamlined to keep the cost down. It may not be as good value as we’d hoped but it’s still DbYHU\ FDSDEOH SLHFH RI NLW

Find great deals for the Galaxy S21 FE at:bit.ly/t3sms21fe

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 69

Tested

£469 denon.com

Drivers 6 (2 x 19mm tweeter, 4 x 55mm full-range, 3 x 50x90mm passive radiator Connectivity 4K HDMI (1 x eARC), Digital Optical, USB, Ethernet, 3.5mm jack input, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 3.0 Dimensions 650x75x120mm Weight 3.5kg

MMM DENON!

Denon Home Soundbar 550 A stylish, well-built compact sound bar that will power up your TV audio with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X

he Denon Home 550 has got a lot of the right ingredients. It’s compact and discreet, nicely made, properly finished and better-specified than many of its competitors for the price you pay. But can it knock our current favourite small-ish soundbar – the Sonos Beam Gen 2 – off its perch?

Let’s kick off with an additional HDMI socket. Unlike the Sonos Beam Gen 2, with its single HDMI eARC

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socket, the Home 550 adds an HDMI input – so you don’t have to take up one of your TV’s HDMI inputs if you don’t need to. A seemingly obvious course of action, but not as obvious to some competing brands it seems.

The HDMI sockets support 4K, HDR10 and Dolby Vision too. And in the little recess at the back of the bar, they are joined by a digital optical input, an Ethernet socket, a 3.5mm analogue input and a USB socket. Add

in dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and it’s hard to know how much more flexibility you could expect.

And that’s before you consider the HEOS platform developed by Denon and its Marantz sibling. As well as a degree of control, the HEOS app allows you to integrate streaming services, TuneIn internet radio and local network-attached storage devices.

No matter how you end up getting the audio information onboard, once

Denon Home Soundbar 550

there it’s dealt with by hardware not only capable of handling Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks but 24bit/192kHz and DSD5.6 too. Once decoded, it’s handed over to a driver array consisting of a pair of 19mm tweeters, four 55mm full-range drivers and a trio of 50 x 90mm ‘racetrack’ passive radiators. Given that none of these drivers fires upwards, though, it’s the responsibility of the Home 550’s digital sound processing circuitry to conjure the impression of ‘height’ and ‘width’ to the soundbar’s presentation.

Sound barrier The first box any soundbar has to tick is marked ‘sounds better than an unaccompanied TV’. Not much of an ask, but yes, the 550 sounds a lot better than your average TV. And, even better, it sounds a lot bigger than its 75 x 650 x 120mm physical dimensions might suggest.

Stick on a movie with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack and the Denon is capable of quite impressive scale – its presentation is deep, wide and tall.

Unless your TV is hanging on a particularly large wall, the 550 will

have no trouble projecting sound close to each of its four corners.

Low frequency presence is quite impressive for a soundbar that’s unaccompanied by a subwoofer, and at the opposite end of the frequency range there’s a nice balance of shine and attack. The midrange projects well and carries good levels of detail. In fact, the Denon will happily sink its teeth into the excesses of a show-piece Hollywood soundtrack.

All of this assumes a volume level that doesn’t exceed ‘realistic’. Show a bit more ambition where volumes are concerned and the Denon bares its teeth, abandoning its composure and becoming quite aggressive and upfront. This quite fundamental change of attitude is accompanied by an obvious change in tonality. Treble and midrange become edgy to the point of stridency, and dynamic light and shade is abandoned in favour of all-out everything-louder-than-everythingelse attack. The lesson is: don’t drive the Denon Home 550 too hard.

Switch to some music and the story is much the same. Keep volume at a civilised level and there’s a nice sense of space to the Denon’s delivery.

As long as you don’t have the volume too loud, the Denon will delight

THE ALTERNATIVES SONOS BEAM GEN 2

SONY HT-G700

One of the best manageably proportioned soundbars around.

While its Dolby Atmos/DTS:X performance isn’t as pronounced as the Home 550, it doesn’t lose its cool when asked to play loud. £449, sonos.com

A little cheaper than the Denon, it uses the same digital processing trickery to produce Dolby Atmos.

It features HDMI passthrough and a wireless subwoofer but has fewer drivers, which means it’s not as dynamic. £399, sony.co.uk

Elsewhere, you can control the soundbar via Alexa, but if you don’t fancy raising your voice, there’s a fair degree of control available in the HEOS app and a larger degree via the 550’s remote control. It’s not the most luxurious handset but it covers most aspects of the soundbar’s functionality. On the top of the bar, there’s a proximity-sensing touchcontrol pad that lets you adjust volume and switch between ‘play’ and ‘pause’.

In some ways, the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 is as good as any compact subwoofer at a similar price – and better-specified than many of them. It undergoes a fundamental change of character at volume, though – and that’s not a good thing.

VERDICT WE’RE IMPRESSED Good VSHFLĆFDWLRQ JRRG ćH[LELOLW\ tall and convincing audio presentation.

WE’D IMPROVE Loses FRPSRVXUH DW YROXPH ORRNV better than it feels.

THE LAST WORD Good selection of inputs, a decent app and some areas of truly impressive audio reproduction.

Go carefully with that volume control though.

Find the best Denon Soundbar 550 deals at: bit.ly/t3den550

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 71

Tested Bose SoundLink Flex

£149.95 bose.co.uk

A MIGHTY FLEX

Bose SoundLink Flex This impressive waterproof Bluetooth speaker brings powerful sound and a rugged body, but it has tough competition n paper, the Bose SoundLink Flex has everything it needs to compete with the best Bluetooth speakers: decent battery life, rugged and durable construction, decent technical specification and a trustworthy brand’s heritage behind it. But can it knock the Bang & Olufsen A1 2nd Gen and the Sonos Roam off their perch?

The SoundLink Flex is a reasonably compact 20x9x5cm and weighs a very manageable 600g. It has an extremely sturdy fabric strap at one end of its chassis, too, which means it can happily hang off a hook or a bag. And the materials used mean the Flex has an IP67 rating against dust and moisture ingress. In fact, the SoundLink Flex will float quite happily in water.

As far as usability goes, the Flex is properly, well, flexible. Controls run along the top of the frame of the speaker and there’s also the ability to use Google Assistant or Siri for voice control.

Or you could give the Bose Connect app a go – it’s classic Bose, inasmuch as it’s clean, stable, good-looking and not really all that much use.

Certainly the lack of EQ adjustment will rankle with any number of users. At least it’s possible to use the app to form a stereo pair with another Bose speaker, though.

With no adjustable EQ, the sound you get is the sound you’re given. Happily, in many ways that’s a perfectly agreeable arrangement.

Streaming from TIDAL reveals much punch and drive. Given its modest dimensions, the Bose is capable of quite unlikely scale of sound – the

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company’s claims of ‘room-filling sound’ don’t quite ring true, but the Flex nevertheless sounds bigger than it actually is.

Unlike a lot of designs that use a single driver to cover the entire frequency range, the SoundLink Flex has good presence and bite at the top end but doesn’t get in any way hard even at big volumes. The opposite end of the frequency range is equally well represented.

Specification is a mixture of ‘thoughtful and impressive’ and ‘rather disappointing’. On the plus side, the 12 hours of battery life claimed by Bose is easily achievable as long as you’re not cranking the volume way up – and connecting the Flex to the wall via its USB-C input will take it from ‘flat’ to ‘full’ in around 150 minutes.

Certainly not in the ‘plus’ column is wireless connectivity via Bluetooth 4.2 – it’s hardly a disaster, but if you’re paying for a top-tier streaming service subscription it might be nice to be able to listen to their highest hi-res files on your nice new portable speaker.

Where the Bose SoundLink Flex is good, it’s very good indeed. So as far as resilience, longevity and portability are concerned, it’s among the genuine front-runners. There are unarguable positives to its sound, too, not least its full-range response and the assertive nature of its lower frequencies. Some other designs do a better job where frequency integration and detail retrieval are concerned, though… which means the Flex is a good option among the top speakers of its type rather than a compulsory purchase.

VERDICT WE’RE IMPRESSED Sturdy build DQG ĆQLVK H[SUHVVLYH IXOO VFDOH VRXQG VWURQJ EDWWHU\ OLIH WE’D IMPROVE Bass feels a OLWWOH GHWDFKHG FDQ EH VSLN\ DW KLJK YROXPH QR (4 LQ DSS THE LAST WORD Delivers clear and rich audio, in a suitably tough body with decent battery life. It’s not perfect, and it has some hot competition, but it gets more than enough right to warrant consideration.

Find great Bose SoundLink Flex GHDOV DW ELW O\ W ERVHć[

Tested Garmin Forerunner 55

£179.99 garmin.com

AMAZE RUNNER

Garmin Forerunner 55 This running watch for inexperienced DWKOHWHVbZKR ZDQW WR LPSURYH WKHLU UXQQLQJ gets the basics right – and its price is nice sing a running watch for the first time can be a daunting experience.

Most watches have plenty of features that can help runners get better at their craft, but if you’re starting out, all those numbers won’t make much sense. Hence why it’s so refreshing to use the Garmin Forerunner 55.

It looks exactly how you’d imagine it: a smaller version of the Garmin Forerunner 245. The button layout is the same as on any other Forerunner, and as expected, the Forerunner 55 doesn’t have a touchscreen either. Maybe that’s to come?

The screen resolution is not amazing but good enough for the price. It’s a 1.04-inch, sunlightvisible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) display with 208 x 208 pixels resolution. To be honest, the screen is the weakest point of the Forerunner 55; it’s not a terrible display, but in 2022, when fitness trackers and smartwatches have AMOLED screens, a MIP display won’t impress anyone for sure.

As for battery life, the Garmin Forerunner will last up to two weeks in smartwatch mode (GPS turned off) and 20 hours in GPS mode. As always, this means that the battery can track 20 hours’ worth of GPS activities, not that if you turn the GPS on the battery will die in less than a day.

Considering the price, the Forerunner 55 is an accurate wearable. It uses Garmin’s gold-standard algorithm that performs exceptionally well when you’re moving around fast (eg out on a run). Of course, the Garmin Forerunner offers many features for beginner and intermediate runners.

U

It tracks activities all day (steps, heart rate etc) and even provides daily workout suggestions, should you need a little inspiration.

If you’re planning on getting better at running, Garmin Coach might help you do that.

The on-board adaptive running trainer can get you ready to run a 5k, 10k or half marathon in a set time. It’s pretty cool to use, and it also takes the weight off your shoulders if you struggle to put a training plan together for a race.

It’s a wrist wearable, so don’t expect it to be super accurate for strength training or HIIT. It also struggles when you aren’t moving fast outdoors, such as walking and hiking. GPS and HR aren’t way off in these instances though, and for running, the Forerunner 55 is near damn perfect.

It’s water-rated to 5 ATMs, so is better suited for people who like to use a watch to track swims. It’s not a dedicated triathlon watch, but it’s good enough for beginner training.

As well as Garmin Coach, the Forerunner 55 added PacePro, too, a feature that offers GPSbased pace guidance for a selected course or distance in the Garmin Connect app. Using PacePro, you can become your own running coach, which is a great thing.

The Garmin Forerunner 55 is a significant update over the Forerunner 45, and it’s also very cheap, at least by running watch standards.

Its only flaw is the screen. But thankfully, the Forerunner 55 didn’t cut too many corners, and, for beginner runners, these will be hardly noticeable anyway.

VERDICT WE’RE IMPRESSED ,PSURYHG battery life; added PacePro; added swimming metrics; built-in GPS; Garmin Coach ready.

WE’D IMPROVE 'HVLJQ LV YHU\ similar to Forerunner 45; screen resolution is low.

THE LAST WORD For beginner runners, we wouldn’t recommend any other watch.

It’s light, capable, has plenty of useful features, and it’s also pretty affordable.

Find great Garmin Forerunner 55 deals at: bit.ly/t3g4run55

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 73

Tested

£199.99 beatsbydre.com

Connectivity USB-C, Class 1 Bluetooth :HDWKHUSURRĆQJ IPX4 Battery life 7 hours buds; 24 hours total Dimensions 19x30x24mm per bud; 28.5x62x62mm case :HLJKW 5.6g per bud; 55.1g case

KING OF THE BEATS

Beats Fit Pro

These workout-ready heavy hitters improve on a winning formula for an excellent aural companion to the gym eviewing the Beats Fit Pro, we had a little deja vu: they share a lot of similarities with the relatively recent Beats Studio Buds.

At least, on the surface. But, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find a much improved experience.

The Beats Fit Pro don’t reinvent the aesthetic wheel of earbuds, nor should they. Though the squarish charging case looks very different,

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they resemble the Beats Studio Buds quite a bit, only adding the wingtips that a lot of sports-focused earbuds tend to come with.

As far as materials go, the body of the earbuds is made of a durable plastic while the wingtips have a flexible runner feel, letting the outer part of the buds have a softer feel.

While the wingtips don’t look as secure as the over-ear hooks of the Powerbeats Pro, they will stay in

place no matter how intense of a workout you’re doing. That was certainly what we found. Unlike any other earbuds we’ve used, we didn’t have to adjust them or push them in for a better fit.

The downside of that, of course, is that they’re not comfortable for long periods of time. That makes these great for working out but not so great for a plane or road trip, as far as comfort goes.

Beats Fit Pro

On a brighter note, the Class 1 Bluetooth implemented is pretty impressive. We were able to get over 60 feet away from our phones before experiencing a drop.

Sounds familiar One of the reasons for the regular comparison to the Beats Studio Buds in this review is the fact they sound essentially the same.

You get that same very good (but not great) sound with a bass forward profile. The mids are balanced for a fairly rich and rewarding listening experience; the highs are prominent enough to keep the earbuds from sounding too warm while still being slightly rolled off. Though bright enough, these are not the most detailed earbuds out there. When it comes to buds however, that’s probably a good thing as most buds on the bright side end up sounding harsh.

Where the Beats Fit Pro really shine is in the implementation of their active noise cancellation (or ANC) and transparency mode. While the ANC on the Beats Studio Buds was good, it’s better here. When on, it easily blocks out the rest of the world,

whether it’s ambient noise from a nearby fan or the noisy goings-on of a busy gym. The transparency mode, which wasn’t so great on the Studio Buds, is just as good; you can listen to music at reasonable volumes and still hear announcements.

Something new is Spatial Audio, Apple’s virtual surround sound tech.

Additionally, it comes with dynamic head tracking so that the sound source stays static when you move your head around, as if it’s coming from a physical speaker in front of you. While it works well, we wouldn’t suggest turning it on when doing a Russian Twist – it’s disorienting. That said, the Spatial Audio itself is a nice way to make music and movies especially more immersive.

The only place where these buds take a step back is when making calls.

Using dual beam-forming mics to pick up a user’s voice, the earbuds are supposed to represent the voice clearly. But while we could be heard well enough, we sounded like we were in an echo chamber. Maybe it’s because of all the digital processing to reject background noise, but the mics’ performance on the Fit Pro is average.

Battery life is very decent: we got seven hours on RQHbFKDUJH

THE ALTERNATIVES BEATS STUDIO BUDS

BANG & OLUFSEN BEOPLAY E8 SPORT

If you’re not be ready to pay £200 for earbuds, these might be the way to go. While the Fit Pro have a better transparency mode and battery life, the Studio Buds are still an excellent sounding pair of earbuds for the gym. £129.99, beatsbydre.com

If you’re ready to splurge, these buds sound amazing. They may not come with ANC but their transparency mode is well executed and they come with the kind of features you need in the gym. e EDQJ ROXIVHQ FRP

When we tested the Fit Pro battery life, we were pleasantly surprised to get a full seven hours and two minutes of playtime on one charge, with ANC and transparency modes turned off. And, once the charging case fully restored the earbuds, it had two full charges left. That means you’ll end up with 28 hours of playtime without ANC and 24 with it.

So, are the Beats Fit Pro worth the cost? We think so. They’re not perfect, particularly when it comes to making calls or wearing them for long periods of time. But, these are meant for active use, whether that’s the gym, going for a run, or something else. And you’ll not be left wanting if you grab a pair of these for your next workout.

VERDICT WE’RE IMPRESSED Fantastic Transparency Mode and Active Noise Cancellation; great battery OLIH YHU\ VHFXUH ĆW IHDWXUH ULFK WE’D IMPROVE Slightly too bassy; mic could sound better; could be more comfortable.

THE LAST WORD A stellar pair of active earbuds. Great battery life and features are paired with solid sound. They’re only held back by a less than stellar mic and uncomfortable wingtips.

Find the best deals for the Beats Fit Pro at: bit.ly/t3btftpro

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 75

Tested

£559 uk.xgimi.com

Resolution 1920 x 1080 Brightness 600 - 800 lumens Speakers 2 x 3W Memory 2GB Storage 16GB Operating system Android 10 Connectivity HDMI 2.0, USB 2.0, 3.5mm jack, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 Dimensions 192.1x194.2x48.3mm Weight 898g

THE BIG PICTURE

;JLPL (OĆQ

While it’s far from pocket-sized, this portable projector delivers a brighter screen, DbODUJHU GLVSOD\ DQG PRUH UHOLDEOH NH\VWRQH FRUUHFWLRQ WKDQ LWV VPDOOHU FRPSHWLWLRQ maller, smarter projectors are gaining popularity but your options can be limited when looking for one. Fortunately, the Xgimi Elfin has blown that wide open. It’s clear that the company has put everything it has learned into crafting the ideal one.

The Xgimi Elfin isn’t something you can simply toss in your purse or small backpack, unlike the Xgimi MoGo Pro+. However, at 192 x 194 x 48mm, it

S

76 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

will take up just as much space as a 13-inch Ultrabook. Better yet, at 900g, it will feel much less of a burden than something like a MacBook Air or a Dell XPS 13. So, if you’re used to carrying your laptop everywhere, you’ll have no concerns transporting this.

While it does keep things travelfriendly, it’s also very stable. The biggest issue with smaller units is that they can wobble at the slightest knock or bump. The Elfin takes a wider,

flatter form than most, which allows it to lay flat on surfaces, effectively eliminating the wobble issue.

Aside from its dual-band 2.4/5Ghz Wi-Fi, the Xgimi Elfin also comes with Bluetooth 5.0, handy if you want to connect it with a Bluetooth speaker or a pair of wireless headphones. And either option is much better than the built-in speakers on the projector.

Don’t get us wrong, the two 3W downward-facing Harman Kardon

Xgimi Elfin

speakers on the Elfin work just fine, but they’re not detailed or wide enough to deliver an immersive experience, even in a small room.

They’re decent, however, and can get respectably loud.

Among the Elfin’s best features is its keystone correction and autofocus functions. The auto keystone correction, especially, is robust and effective. Even on ever-so-slightly skewed walls, you only have to make the tiniest adjustments manually.

Autofocusing, in the meantime, is done decently fast – again, better than on other portable projectors.

Moving pictures Armed with the X-Vue 2.0 image engine, Intelligent Screen Adaption (ISA) technology, and HDR10, the Xgimi Elfin is fast and delivers bright and sharp 1080p picture quality in an up to 200-inch image, which is pretty massive for a portable projector.

It offers a brightness of 800 lumen portable – that’s bright enough to light up a small dark room – which should give you an enjoyable viewing experience that’s easy on your eyes. In fact, that’s bright enough that you can

still use it in the daytime as long as it’s indoors in a non-brightly-lit room.

It also offers plenty of contrast and vibrant colours, although if you raise the brightness level all the way up, the picture does get a tad washed out.

Drop it down too low, and it’ll likely lose a lot of details in the shadows.

Turning on the HDR10 gives a nice little boost, but don’t expect anything mind-blowing.

One thing about the Xgimi Elfin that is annoying is that it tends to power off without warning when it gets too hot. If it does shut down, leave it off for 30 minutes or so, and it should get back to working order.

Sadly, there’s no built-in battery here, so if you’re looking to use it on the go, you’ll need to plug it in to an socket or generator. Wi-Fi is required as well, if you want to stream.

However, thanks to its 16GB of storage, you can download movies and shows to the device in advance, or plug in a USB drive or laptop in the rear.

Another thing to bear in mind is that Netflix has ceased app support for non-certified Android UI projectors from companies like Xgimi and Anker Nebula. This means that you won’t be

7KH ;JLPL (OĆQ LVbHDVLO\ SRUWDEOH but also ideal for home use

THE ALTERNATIVES NEBULA SOLAR

BENQ TK850

A solid 1080p smart projector that’s the same VL]H DV WKH (OĆQ WKLV comes with extras like mobile app support and a built-in stand. However, LW RQO\ KDV $16, /XPHQV RI EULJKWQHVV +'5 and a 120-inch projected image. £599.99, amazon.co.uk

,I \RX GRQèW PLQG VDFULĆFLQJ SRUWDELOLW\ for stunning 4K resolution, the TK850 features a whopping 3000 lumen brightness and is still SUHWW\ FRPSDFW ,W FRPHV LQ ZLWK $QGURLG 79 EXLOW LQ å EXW DOVR ZRQèW UXQ 1HWćL[ £1,438, currys.co.uk

able to stream Netflix content. There are a couple of workarounds, including streaming it via a laptop or Fire TV Stick, or side-loading an older version of the Netflix app, but it’s inconvenient.

Smart portable projectors often come with compromises that are hard to swallow. The Xgimi Elfin, on the other hand, is much more capable. It’s got its share of flaws, though none of them big enough to be deal-breakers.

It’s fast, stable and portable yet also ideal for home use. Best of all though, it’s got a price tag that’s affordable enough for many people and reasonable enough considering its features.

If you’re looking for a smart portable projector, this should definitely be on your list of options.

VERDICT WE’RE IMPRESSED Bright 800 lumens 1080p projection; portable; lightweight; premium EXLOG JRRG NH\VWRQH FRUUHFWLRQ WE’D IMPROVE 1R EDWWHU\ 1HWćL[ QRW VXSSRUWHG WXUQV RII when it gets hot; so-so speakers.

THE LAST WORD 0LJKW ĆQDOO\ be portable projector perfection. ,WèV VXUSULVLQJO\ UREXVW FDSDEOH and effortless to use for one that \RX FDQ HDVLO\ VOLS LQWR \RXU WRWH bag or backpack.

Find the best deals for the ;JLPL (OĆQ DW ELW O\ W [JHOI

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 7 7

Tested Autel Evo Nano

£599 autelrobotics.com

SMALL FLY

Autel Evo Nano Weighing less than 250g and shooting sharp-as-a-tack 4K video, this sensational mini drone is coming for DJI’s crown n order to take on the consumer drone giant DJI, a company needs to design and build a drone that’s as good, if not better; a drone equipped with an excellent camera, a rock-solid flight controller and transmitter, an exceptional app and some decent autonomous flight modes. Well we’ve found that drone: the Autel Evo Nano.

The Evo Nano weighs just 249g and that means that, like the DJI Mini and Mini 2, it can be flown in more places than drones above the 250g weight limit. This is a key selling point because most casual users only fly occasionally when, say, on holiday or shooting a family gathering.

The last thing you want to have to do is jump through complicated legal hoops.

Having flown numerous DJI drones, for the first time we’ve found a model that didn’t give us the heebie jeebies on its first flight. It was quite windy on the day and the titchy Autel Evo Nano performed extremely well. In fact, it felt as smooth and reliable as any model in the DJI roster.

But while you can have the best flying drone in the world, it’s no good if the camera’s not up to scratch. Thankfully the Evo Nano excels here.

The camera is married to a three-axis gimbal for image stability and fitted with a very efficient 1/2-inch CMOS sensor capable of shooting 48-megapixel stills and video in a number high resolutions – 4K at 30 frames per second, 2.7K at up to 30fps and 1080p at up to 60fps.

Straight out of the box, the video blew us away with its sharpness across the frame, its depth of

I

7 8 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

colour and rock-steady stability. For a drone of this size, we were more than happy with the results which, given the larger sensor, were a tad better than what we’ve seen from the DJI Mini 2.

We’re struggling to work out how Autel’s R&D bods managed to squeeze in three-way obstacle avoidance – downward, forward and rearward – without exceeding the 250g weight limit.

Another cool thing is the way it warns you on the phone screen by showing the distance to the object in front or behind. Very handy.

We were also impressed by the visual feed on the iPhone 11, which was crystal clear. Amazingly, its live view quality is way above the Mini 2’s 720p – at up to 1km it’s a magnificently sharp 2.7K and over 1km it’s a not-too-shabby 1080p.

The Autel Evo Nano comes with a decent array of autonomous flight modes. Dynamic Track 2.1 automatically follows a moving subject, Rocket shoots a vertical ‘dronie’, Fade Away starts close to the subject before zooming off into the distance, Orbit performs a perfect circle around the subject and Flick tracks in towards a static subject before flicking around in the opposite direction. They are all simple to activate and make difficult cinematic shots easy to execute.

We never thought we’d see the day where we gave a full five stars to anything other than a DJI drone but the little Autel Evo Nano has impressed so much in so many areas that it’s a veritable shoo-in for anyone looking for a small lightweight drone capable of shooting sensational hi-res footage on a regular basis.

VERDICT WE’RE IMPRESSED Excellent 1/2-inch sensor; superb 4K video; ravishing 48MP stills; three-way obstacle avoidance; under 250g.

WE’D IMPROVE Firmware update a bit glitchy.

THE LAST WORD 7KH ĆUVW small consumer drone we’ve seen that’s capable of giving DJI a thoroughly good innings. This OLWWOH ELUG LV WKH ĆUVW QRQ '-, GURQH WR ZLQ D IXOO ĆYH VWDU accolade. And deservedly so.

Find great deals on the Autel Evo Nano at: bit.ly/t3autnano

Best of the best INSIDE

BEST OF THE BEST The world’s best tech, all in one place

If you’re looking for the very best tech available WRGD\ \RXèYH GHĆQLWHO\ FRPH WR WKH ULJKW SODFH %HVW RI WKH %HVW LV WKH PRVW XVHIXO JDGJHW EX\LQJ JXLGH \RX ZLOO HYHU HQFRXQWHU 7R FUHDWH LW we’ve extensively tested the best tech the world KDV WR RIIHU WR EULQJ \RX URFN VROLG UHFRPPHQGDWLRQV IRU \RXU KRPH OLIH GDLO\ FRPPXWH DQG WKH WHFK \RX XVH DOO WKH WLPH ,Q GLIIHUHQW FDWHJRULHV ZHèYH FKRVHQ WKH WRS IRXU SURGXFWV VR \RX FDQ FKRRVH RQH WKDWèV MXVW WKH

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Smartphones

80

Cheap smartphones

80

Smartwatches

80

Hybrid smartwatches

81

Watches

81

Watches under £1,000

81

TVs

82

TVs under £1,000

82

Projectors

82

Gaming TVs

83

Games consoles

83

Soundbars

83

Turntables

84

Streaming DACs

84

Multi-room speakers

84

Bluetooth speakers

85

Bluetooth headphones

85

True wireless headphones

85

Noise-cancelling headphones

86

Wired in-ear headphones

86

Wired over-ear headphones

86

Laptops

87

2-in-1 laptops

87

Tablets

87

Gaming laptops

88

Gaming headsets

88

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88

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89

Action cameras

89

Cheap action cameras

89

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90

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90

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90

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91

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91

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91

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92

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92

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92

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93

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93

Robot vacuums

93

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94

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94

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94

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95

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95

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96

Electric toothbrushes

96

Beard trimmers

96

Fitness trackers

97

Running watches

97

Running headphones

97

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 79

Best of the best

SMARTPHONES Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestphone APPLE iPHONE 13 From £779, apple.com The iPhone 13 takes smartphone quality DQG UHĆQHPHQW WR D whole new level. For most people it will be the ideal companion, DbSRZHUIXO DOO URXQGHU that delivers a great experience across WKHbERDUG

CHEAP SMARTPHONES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestcheapphone iPHONE SE (2020)

From £420, apple.com $ QHDU ćDJVKLS iPhone experience IRU D IUDFWLRQ RI the cost. The SE is XQGHU KDOI WKH FRVW RI WKH L3KRQH DQG IRU WKDW UHDVRQ it demands attention IURP DQ\bSURVSHFWLYH phone upgrader.

ONEPLUS 9 PRO

ONEPLUS NORD 2

From £829, oneplus.com Very much an HYROXWLRQ RI WKH OnePlus 8 Pro, with a similar design and iterative specs bump IRU WKLV \HDU WKH OnePlus 9 Pro has doubled down on the camera. And the results are excellent.

From £399, oneplus.com 7KLV IROORZV RQ IURP WKH LPPHQVHO\ SRSXODU ĆUVW generation Nord ZLWK HYHQ IDVWHU speeds, an even bigger battery and HYHQ PRUH IHDWXUHV 3HUIRUPDQFH ZLVH LWèV a marvel.

iPHONE SE (2020)

SAMSUNG GALAXY S20 FE

From £420, apple.com Apple’s iPhone SE (2020) handset has taken this year by storm, the hot new handset winning acclaim worldwide ZLWK LWV EDODQFH RI IHDWXUHV TXDOLW\ DQG SHUIRUPDQFH IRU D very attractive price.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S21 ULTRA From £1,149, samsung.com Not only the best phone Samsung has ever made, but the ĆUVW 6 VHULHV KDQGVHW that comes with digital stylus support.

From its massive screen to the quad FDPHUD WKLV LV D VWDU beast in every way.

8 0 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

From £699, samsung.com The best core S20 IXQFWLRQDOLW\ DORQJ with 5G, but at a PRUH DIIRUGDEOH price point, this is actually nothing like a budget handset, as it is still loaded with premium hardware DQG IHDWXUHV HONOR 50 From £249, hihonor.com 7KLV ORRNV DQG IHHOV like a premium handset, covered in glossy glass and IHDWXULQJ D FXUYHG OLED screen on the IURQW 7KHUHèV HYHQ D PD[LPXP UHIUHVK UDWH RI +] VR LW IHHOV VR smooth to use.

SMARTWATCHES Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestsmartwatch APPLE WATCH SERIES 7 From £369, apple.com Apple is king when it comes to smartwatches. The Series 7 includes a bigger, better screen, DQG IDVW FKDUJLQJ ,WèVbVWLOO WKH RQO\ device to straddle WKHbOLQH EHWZHHQ WHFKbDQG IDVKLRQ SAMSUNG GALAXY WATCH 4 From £269, samsung.com A modern, stylish take on a smartwatch – it’s VOLP FRPIRUWDEOH DQG able to withstand knocks and bumps.

3OXV LWèV ZDWHUSURRI The only downside KHUH LV EDWWHU\ OLIH DW 40 hours it’s not the ORQJHVW ODVWLQJ SAMSUNG GALAXY WATCH ACTIVE2 From £269, samsung.com 6OHHN DQG SRZHUIXO this is the best VPDUWZDWFK IRU Android users. The screen and design are on par with the Apple Watch, while D FROOHFWLRQ RI QHZ ZDWFK IDFHV JLYH LW DbPRGHUQ HGJH APPLE WATCH SE From £299, apple.com Despite being the çDIIRUGDEOHè VPDUW ZDWFK IURP $SSOH WKH SE is a truly excellent smartwatch. You ZRQèW QRWLFH LI $SSOH has cut corners in JHQHUDO XVH DV LW IHHOV OLNH WKH IXOO $SSOH Watch experience.

Best of the best

HYBRID SMARTWATCHES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/besthybrid

WITHINGS STEEL HR SPORT £190, withings.com Featuring a heartrate monitor and the ability to track 30 different exercises, this is ideal for ĆWQHVV IDQDWLFV ,WèV water resistant to 50 metres, and the battery lasts around GD\V

WATCHES Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestwatch AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK CHRONOGRAPH £21,500, audemarspiguet.com We love Audemars 3LJXHWèV VLPSOH stainless steel model with a blue Grand Tapisserie pattern GLDO ,W IHDWXUHV D VHOI winding manufacture calibre 2385 movement with a 40KRXU SRZHU UHVHUYH

GARMIN VIVOMOVE HR PREMIUM

BAMFORD LONDON MAYFAIR DATE

£250, garmin.com

£500, bamfordlondon.com The Bamford Mayfair Date is dependable and has the added EHQHĆW RI EHLQJ waterproof to 10ATM, making it a great accessory for outdoor activities whilst remaining cool DQG VW\OLVK

One of the most comprehensive hybrid watches you can buy, with a wide range of ĆWQHVV DQG KHDOWK tracking features, a subtle touchscreen digital display, and several different FRORXUV WR SLFN IURP FOSSIL HYBRID SMARTWATCH HR £129, fossil.com This timepiece features activity and sleep tracking, plus app and call alerts, time zones, and buttons to control VPDUWSKRQH PXVLF Yet it mostly looks like a regular watch, aside IURP WKH H LQN GLVSOD\ WITHINGS MOVE ECG £129, withings.com Think a pricey Apple Watch is needed to take an ECG reading of your heart? This can do that, plus activity tracking and sleep monitoring, ZLWKbD PRQWK battery life, for a UHDOO\ ORZ SULFH

BAUME SMALL SECONDS £430, baume-et-mercier.com Baume uses sustainable and recycled materials where possible, and its elegant watches are fully customisable, with over 2,000 permutations achievable on an RQOLQH FRQĆJXUDWRU BELL & ROSS BR03-92 NIGHTLUM £2,300, goldsmiths.co.uk No complicated bells and whistles here; the BR03-92 has its roots in aviation, a heritage the folks at B&R have clearly channelled LQWR WKH %5 èV straightforward, seconds-minutesKRXUV GDWH GHVLJQ

WATCHES UNDER £1,000

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestwatchunder1k CHRISTOPHER WARD C60 SAPPHIRE

£795, christopherward.com Striking, bold designs really set this British brand apart from its more conventional 6ZLVV ULYDOV 7KH EHVW example of this is the C60 Sapphire, which features a seethrough dial made IURP VDSSKLUH FU\VWDO VICTORINOX I.N.O.X £459, victorinox.com Having undergone 130 durability WHVWV bWKLV ZDWFK ZLOObVWDQG XS WR anything you throw DW LW 7KH SDUDFRUG strap hints at its adventurous heritage, DQG LWèV JUHDWbIRU DOO ZULVW VL]HV

HAMILTON KHAKI FIELD £375, hamiltonwatch.com This is a faithful recreation of its original 1960s forebear and is WUXHbWR +DPLOWRQèV PLOLWDU\ KHULWDJH 7KHb PP VWDLQOHVV steel case is paired with a durable 1$72bVWUDS TAG HEUER FORMULA 1 QUARTZ MENS WATCH £895, tagheuer.com This F1 timepiece features a steel case with sapphire crystal protecting the legible PRQRFKURPH GLDO 7KH strap is black leather, a quartz movement provides the power DQG LWèV ZDWHU UHVLVWDQW XS WR PHWUHV

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 81

Best of the best

TVs Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/besttv SAMSUNG 75QN900A £7,999, samsung.com A master of SD, 8K and everything in between, this isn’t OLED but has so many dimming zones you’ll swear it is. This is an outstanding TV, ready for anything today or tomorrow can offer.

TVs UNDER £1,000

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/besttv1000 SAMSUNG QE55Q80A £839, samsung.com

This well-specced 55-inch set from Samsung is the overall best bang-for-buck TV at the time of writing, balancing image quality and features. Bright and colourful, it acquits itself excellently.

SAMSUNG 65QN95A

LG OLED48A1

£2,999, samsung.com 7KH ćDJVKLS . PRGHO from Samsung’s 2021 UDQJH LV DOVR WKH ĆUVW to use the new Neo QLED Mini-LED display tech, and the results are utterly incredible, beating even the OLED TVs we’ve seen so far.

£799, lg.com

PHILIPS 55OLED936

SONY KD-49XH9505

£1,799, philips.com

8 2 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

£1,999, optoma.co.uk This second-gen ultrashort throw projector GHOLYHUV D IDQWDVWLF . viewing experience overall. Image quality is superb, and you can get a 120-inch picture with the projector placed around a metre from the wall.

£1,499, benq.com A brilliant buy if you ZDQW . ELJ VFUHHQ sports, but don’t particularly want to dim all the lights. Its motion smoothing is highly effective, so onscreen action looks wonderfully naturalistic.

BENQ TK700STI £1,199, benq.com

6RQ\èV ćDJVKLS /(' . 79 IRU packs in all kinds of advanced technology and processing for supreme picture quality. Somehow, WKH LQFK PRGHO LVbDYDLODEOH IRU OHVV than a grand.

SAMSUNG 65AU9000 £999, samsung.com LG’s mid-range screen may lack a couple of the G1’s features, but it has all you really need: taking the design of the CX and making it better, adding in HDMI 2.1 and VRR as well as LG’s revised webOS.

OPTOMA CINEMAX P2

BENQ TK850

£999, sony.com

£1,100, lg.com

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestprojector

The LG A1 isn’t as bright as more elite OLED TVs, but it costs a fraction of the price. More importantly, it gives you rich HDR performance. And LG’s excellent smart TV platform.

For a total home cinema upgrade in a single simple package, this is unbeatable. It’s not only a fantastic 55-inch OLED TV, but built into the stand is a Dolby Atmos system, complete with XSĆULQJ VSHDNHUV LG OLED48C1

PROJECTORS

7KLV . SURMHFWRU LV smartly geared up for gaming, with a low LQSXW ODJ PV DW .

60fps), with movies and TV catered for via a hidden Google TV stick, and an impressively short throw of 2m.

VIEWSONIC M2 MOBILE STUDIO £616, viewsonic.com

This is Samsung’s best 2021 TV that isn’t QLED, which means it might not have quite the same punchy colours and brightness, but costs a lot less, enabling this huge 65-inch model to squeeze under £1k.

The perfect 1080p option for big-screen fun and games. It requires next to no warm up, runs cool and is maintenance free. Images are sharp and detailed, and colour performance is similarly outstanding.

Best of the best

GAMING TVs Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestgamingtv LG C1

GAMES CONSOLES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/gaming PLAYSTATION 5

£1,300, lg.com You still get 4K 120Hz, VRR and ALLM on all four HDMI ports, and a great low input lag level, but you can also now customise the gaming mode depending on what you’re playing.

SAMSUNG Q80A

£449, playstation.com Look beyond the big, bold design.

This console offers powerful next-gen hardware, backwards compatibility, an excellent DualSense controller with haptic feedback and truly stunning graphics.

£449.99, xbox.com QLED at a more affordable price.

There’s one HDMI 2.1 port, with support for VRR, 4K 120Hz and ALLM, plus three 2.0 ports. Image quality is really strong, and it really punches above its price range.

SONY X85J

If you’re looking for an HDMI 2.1 gaming TV that won’t break the bank, this is it – and it’s one of the few gaming TVs that’s available in a 43-inch variant, which is handy if you don’t have much room.

£599, hisense.co.uk

£349.99, nintendo.com How easily you can switch between playing on your TV to gaming on the go hasn’t changed.

What has changed is that bigger, brighter screen; it makes handheld gaming much more enjoyable.

£249.99, xbox.com The A6G features HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR, and supports VRR and ALLM on all three HDMI 2.1 inputs. You get eARC, Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet, CI Card and RF too. Even composite video.

SONOS BEAM 2

Microsoft has nailed it. This is a console that delivers massive amounts of power and performance. Because of its raw pixelpushing prowess, it’s a superb base for a new generation of jawdropping experiences.

MICROSOFT XBOX SERIES S

HISENSE 55A6G

£1,599, samsung.com Delivering over 600W of power from 22 different drivers, this really brings the cinema experience home, yet still retains all the size and convenience advantages of owning a soundbar.

£449, sonos.com

NINTENDO SWITCH OLED

£1,100, sony.co.uk

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestsoundbar SAMSUNG HW-Q950A

MICROSOFT XBOX SERIES X

£999, samsung.com

SOUNDBARS

A superb soundbar that’s small enough WR ĆW XQGHU HYHQ D 32-inch TV but big HQRXJK WR ĆOO \RXU room with brilliant sound. This version adds Dolby Atmos, and improved onboard processing.

SAMSUNG HW-Q800A £800, samsung.com Our top mid-range soundbar right now strikes just the right balance between being a big audio upgrade, being useful with most TVs, and a good price. It’s a hard target to hit, and the Samsung excels.

SONY HT-G700 £399, sony.com

Stylish, affordable, easy to set up and taps into the very slick Xbox ecosystem seamlessly. It does have limited storage space out of the box though, and can’t play current or previous gen games on disc.

An excellent package that makes it easy to recommend – it JLYHV \RX VLJQLĆFDQWO\ more spectacular directional audio than budget soundbars, and you need to spend double to really improve on this.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 8 3

Best of the best

TURNTABLES Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestturntable PRO-JECT ESSENTIAL III £250, project-audio.com Really sounds great for the money, with an expansive and enjoyable sound across a range of genres and volume levels. It also looks very pleasing, in a variety of high JORVVbĆQLVKHV

STREAMING DACs Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestdac SONOS PORT £399, sonos.com A great streamer, especially if you already own a Sonos speaker. It has an analogue input and output, as well as streaming to any Sonos speaker, so you can plug in \RXUbWXUQWDEOH YAMAHA WXAD-10

£1,199, technics.com With rock solid build quality, easy set-up, immense bass, and a hugely exciting and involving sound, this is much more than just a DJ deck. There are few turntables that are more enjoyable to own.

£120, yamaha.co.uk

PRO-JECT PRIMARY E

IFI XDSD

ELIPSON CHROMA CARBON RIAA BT £699, elipson.com

8 4 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

£1,300, naimaudio.com Mu-So 2 crushes its competition. An awesome, thumping wall of sound and reliable, versatile software platform DQGbVWUHDPLQJ support make for the perfect 21st-century music experience.

SONOS ONE SL £179, sonos.co.uk

This Yamaha lets you stream everything from Bluetooth to hi-res audio, with support for AirPlay, most of your favourite streaming services and, of course Yamaha’s RZQb0XVLF&DVW

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In terms of the sound quality, this really impresses with detail and clarity across the whole range, and how well balanced it is for treble and mid-range especially. You can get two for stereo, but RQH ZRUNV ĆQH RUARK R5

This dinky little combined Bluetooth receiver, DAC and headphone amp supports AAC and aptX and sounds really superb. It has a battery, and can be used with earphones as well as speakers.

AUDIOLAB 6000N £449, audiolab.co.uk

Elipson’s top-line turntable pulls GRZQbDbORW RI IHDWXUHV from the truly high end. You get a super-stiff carbon ĆEUH WRQHbDUP DQG new digital belt drive motor, plus AptX Bluetooth and USB.

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestmultiroom NAIM MU-SO 2ND GENERATION

TECHNICS SL-1200GR

£179, project-audio.com Pro-ject’s entry-level player is the record player stripped down to its most basic form.

Everything comes pre-adjusted and preinstalled, so it’s ready to go right out of the box with the perfect tracking force.

MULTI-ROOM SPEAKERS

£1,000, ruarkaudio.com Like a mini system for the 21st century, Ruark’s R5 chucks in a CD player, DAB and FM radios and two extra inputs, including one pre-amped for use with a turntable.

There’s even Bluetooth too.

AUDIO PRO ADDON C10 MKII £359, audiopro.com

Probably impractical if you don’t have a KL Ć VWDFN EXW ZLWK support for audio up to 192Khz/24-bit, its sound quality is noticeably better than the Sonos and Yamaha streamers further up the list.

Audio Pro makes speakers that cater to every type of music and the Audio Pro Addon C10 MKII is no different. It’s energetic, loud and three-dimensional, showing off every detail of the track.

Best of the best

BLUETOOTH SPEAKERS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestbluetooth BANG & OLUFSEN BEOSOUND A1 V2 £199, johnlewis.com

BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestwireless SONY WH-1000XM4 £330, sony.co.uk

If you want a full, punchy sound that’s fairly expansive, and that doesn’t crush when going loud, then this is the place to start. It’s also an object of desire, and is available in a great range of colours.

JBL TUNE 660NC

£78, amazon.co.uk

£90, jbl.com The Wonderboom 2 doesn’t really try to straddle home and outdoors: it’s clearly meant to be taken to wherever the party is.

It’s waterproof, and well protected against grit, dust and beachside sand.

£178, electricshop.com A super-portable speaker with Wi-Fi streaming for higher quality and multiroom, with Bluetooth for total convenience.

It’s a stunner, especially if you can avoid using Audio Pro’s quite crappy app.

JBL FLIP 6

The latest version of Sony’s high-end buds has slimmed down in size and weight, but improved on battery life, boosted audio quality and polished their noise cancellation. That’s quite the upgrade.

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO MELOMANIA 1+

JBL does great work at bringing big sound to affordable packages. If you’re looking for a comfortable option that offers great detail in your music, and are heavy on the bass, they’re ideal.

AUDIO-TECHNICA M50XBT2 £179, audio-technica.com Long battery life and sound that’s closer to the more neutral WRQHV RI KL Ć FDQV (though still with a slight extra kick of bass), plus great comfort levels, make these ideal for losing yourself in music.

£120, cambridgeaudio.com High-end sound for a pretty incredible price. With drivers made of miracle substance graphene, the Melomania 1+ are uniformly excellent.

And their battery life is also right up there with the very best.

PHILIPS FIDELIO T1 £249, philips.com Powerful and crisp with a great level of GHWDLO \RX ZRQèW ĆQG many wireless buds that sound better.

With effective noisecancelling and battery life of up to 48 hours with the case, the T1s are a winner.

BOWERS & WILKINS PI7

£36, sony.co.uk Small enough to chuck in your bag and still have space for everything else.

And it’s now fully dustproof as well as waterproof so you won’t need to worry about damage when you use it outdoors.

SONY WF-1000XM4 £225, sony.co.uk

SONY WH-CH510

£130, jbl.com

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/besttruewireless

The new kings may be beaten on individual features, but not on them combined.

Great all-rounders, they offer rich bass, clear treble and a detailed mid-range.

Being comfortable and light helps too.

ULTIMATE EARS WONDERBOOM 2

AUDIO PRO ADDON C3

TRUE WIRELESS HEADPHONES

While you may not be getting the latest and greatest audio technology, you’re still getting truly remarkable quality for something so cheap.

30mm drivers deliver sound that’s powerful and upfront.

£349, bowerswilkins.com Some of the very best wireless earbuds.

They have exceptional sound, but there are no compromises here.

Everything about the audio is exactly what you want, and you’ll love to wear them day in, day out.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 8 5

Best of the best

NOISE-CANCELLING HEADPHONES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestnoisecancelling SONY WH-1000XM4 £349, sony.co.uk

Nailed it. Light, with broad, soft ear cups and a remarkably comfortable headband, these offer best-in-class noise cancellation with great sound, rich bass and a lively approach to music.

WIRED IN-EAR HEADPHONES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestinear MEZE AUDIO RAI SOLO

£179, mezeaudio.com With a single-driver design capable of excellent dynamic range, these can pull from a deep well of bass as well as shimmering treble. $bZHOO SULFHG XQIXVV\ and great-sounding pair of headphones.

BOSE QUIETCOMFORT 45

FLARE AUDIO FLARES JET 3

£319, bose.co.uk

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Comfortable, and great sounding, these feature some of the best noise cancelling we’ve (not) heard.

Elsewhere, there’s no manual EQ, and you can’t turn noise cancelling off, but this is rarely a problem.

JBL TUNE 660NC

If you’re looking to immerse yourself in music without spending hundreds, these deliver punchy sound, have excellent noise-cancelling capabilities, and are genuinely surprising åbD WRS EX\ SONY WH-1000XM3 £199, sony.co.uk

8 6 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Maintaining the quality of the Flares Pro (see Bluetooth headphones), removing the DAC element and thereby slashing the price, these audiophile inear headphones are a tremendous option.

£49, soundmagicheadphones.com Can we really be recommending a pair of headphones for under £50? Yes we can! The grown-up sound quality and exemplary comfort RIbWKH F PDNH WKHPbWKH VRQLF bargain of the year.

KLIPSCH T5M WIRED £65, klipsch.com

The XM4s may be at the top, but the XM3 cans are still absolutely brilliant.

They’re comfy, have excellent noise cancelling, are pretty superb in the sound department, and the price is good too.

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestoverear FOCAL CLEAR MG £1,399, focal.com

Simply sumptuous, ZLWK VRIW PLFURĆEUH on the earpads and a headband that you can sink into; then comes the rich, warm sound to totally lose yourself inside.

They’re just fantastic in that regard.

GRADO SR325E

SOUNDMAGIC E11C

£80, jbl.com

WIRED OVER-EAR HEADPHONES

7KH ĆWWLQJ LV XQXVXDO but nonetheless immediately felt comfortable and VROLG b7KH DXGLR LV boosted, primped and pop-friendly, with plenty of bass and a very lively and engaging sound.

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When you factor just how good these sound, they’re a bargain. In a quiet room, they sound as good as headphones WKDW FRVW ĆYH WLPHV more. They’re among the leakiest we’ve tried, however.

AKG K52 £25, akg.com These have absolutely no right to sound half as good as they do. For at-home listening they offer a massive soundstage, impressive balance and a frankly ludicrous amount of detail for the dosh.

SENNHEISER HD 660 S e VHQQKHLVHU FRP One look at the HD 660 S tells you everything you need to know about them: clear and open earcups for air movement; big plush pads that wrap around your ears for comfortable listening.

Best of the best

LAPTOPS Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestlaptop APPLE MACBOOK AIR (M1, 2020) £999, apple.com

2-IN-1 LAPTOPS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/best2in1

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/besttablet

ASUS ZENBOOK FLIP 13

APPLE iPAD AIR (2020)

£800, asus.com Apple’s cheapest laptop is a revolution.

Think thin and light laptops have to VDFULĆFH SRZHU" 1RW any more. This is the EHVW RI DOO ZRUOGV ZLWK DQ HLJKW FRUH 0 &38 DV SRZHUIXO DV those in gaming PCs.

The Zenbook Flip PLJKW EH WKH EHVW laptop Asus has ever released. Tooled up ZLWK DQ HLJKWK JHQ ,QWHO &RUH SURFHVVRU the tablet mode feels JUHDW WR XVH WKDQNV to a responsive touchscreen.

ASUS VIVOBOOK S15

MICROSOFT SURFACE BOOK 3

£899, asus.com

£1,439, microsoft.com 3XOO WKH VFUHHQ DZD\ from the keyboard and it’s a tablet.

Connect them for more graphics SRZHUbDQG EDWWHU\ OLIH $ SUHPLXP IDQWDVWLFDOO\ SRUWDEOH and supremely versatile system.

This slim and super light laptop hits a ZRQGHUIXO VZHHW spot. With an Intel &RUH L *% RI 5$0 D *% 66' and a touchscreen 6FUHHQ3DG LW UHSUHVHQWV ZRQGHUIXO PLG UDQJH YDOXH DELL XPS 13 (9310) £1,194, dell.com

HP ELITE DRAGONFLY G2 £2,630, hp.com

7KH 'HOO ;36 LVbWKLQQHU DQG PRUH SRZHUIXO WKDQ HYHU 8S WR 7% RI 66' VWRUDJH *% RI 5$0 D . VFUHHQ DQGbIDVW WK generation Intel chips KHOS PDNH LW D WRS TXDOLW\ DOO URXQGHU MACBOOK PRO (M1) 2021 From £1,899, apple.com $YDLODEOH DV D LQFK RU LQFK ODSWRS ZLWK HLWKHU WKH 0 3UR RU 0 0D[ FKLS Macbook Pros offer WRS OHYHO SHUIRUPDQFH and yet hugely impressive battery life. The very best Apple has to offer.

TABLETS

A seriously impressive ODSWRS å LWèV IDVWHU more premium and even nicer to use than WKH ĆUVW JHQHUDWLRQ RI WKH 3& WKH +3 (OLWH 'UDJRQć\ DQG WKDWèV saying something.

Versatile and transportable.

LENOVO YOGA 9I 14 From £999, lenovo.com 1RW MXVW VW\OLVK EXW ZLWK VXEVWDQFH WRR This is a speedy piece of kit that is sure WR FRSH ZLWK SUHWW\ PXFKbHYHU\WKLQJ \RX FRXOG WKURZ DW LW 7KH RQO\ UHDO GRZQVLGH LV that the battery life is fairly average.

From £479, apple.com Technically the iPad $LU EXW PRUH like the latest iPad 3UR ZLWK VRPH RI the ‘pro’ features removed. Apple Pencil VXSSRUW LV KHUH WKRXJK DQG WKHUHèV D smart connector for DbNH\ERDUG WRR APPLE iPAD 10.2 (2021) From £319, apple.com 7KH FKHDSHVW IXOO size Apple tablet has evolved in some UHDOO\ XVHIXO ZD\V The storage options have been increased WR *% RU *% ZKLOH WKH SURFHVVRU has been boosted to WKH ]LSS\ $ %LRQLF SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB S5E From £319, samsung.com This is Samsung’s QHZHVW WDEOHW DQG if your needs aren’t that demanding and \RX ZDQW D ZHOO EXLOW $QGURLG WDEOHW ZLWK DQ H[FHOOHQW VFUHHQ LW GHĆQLWHO\ VWDQGV out as one of the best WDEOHWV RI APPLE iPAD MINI (2021) From £479, apple.com $ OLWWOH SRZHUKRXVH of a tablet and a fantastic creativity PDFKLQH SDFNLQJ LQ an incredibly fast $SSOH $ SURFHVVRU that makes it the PRVW SRZHUIXO L3DG RXWVLGH RI WKH 3URV remarkably.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 87

Best of the best

GAMING LAPTOPS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestgaming ASUS ROG ZEPHYRUS G14 £1,099, asus.com A game-changer that delivers buckets of performance despite being compact and light. It does this thanks to its use of AMD’s hot QHZ 5\]HQb&38V and Nvidia’s RTX b*38 RAZER BLADE 15 ADVANCED £2,499, msi.com The sort of system WKDW 3& JDPHUV dream of owning, VRbWKH IDFW WKDW LW DOVR looks like something you could take LQWR D )RUWXQH FRPSDQ\bERDUGURRP at the same time is just heavenly.

ACER NITRO 5

GAMING HEADSETS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestheadset STEELSERIES ARCTIS 7P WIRELESS £160, steelseries.com This is an impressive piece of kit, delivering an excellent audio H[SHULHQFH IRU 36 DQG 36 $ 86% & dongle makes it quick to set up and means it will also work with a 3& 1LQWHQGR 6ZLWFK or Android phone.

LUCIDSOUND LS50X £249, lucidsound.com A hugely impressive new entry as we enter the era of the next-gen consoles, with an all-round package – style, setup, audio – that’s YHU\ GLIĆFXOW WR EHDW %XLOG TXDOLW\ LV ĆUVW rate too.

ASUS ROG DELTA S

£750, acer.com

£190, asus.com A lower spec is UHćHFWHG LQ WKH ORZHUbSULFH :LWK D &RUH L *% RI 5$0 *% 190( 66' SOXV D 7% KDUG drive and a Nvidia *H)RUFH *7; 7L *% LWèV VWLOO D SRWHQWbSHUIRUPHU

MSI GS66 STEALTH £1,500, msi.com

8 8 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/best4kmonitor PHILIPS BRILLIANCE 328P6VUBREB £692, amazon.co.uk

This monitor’s vibrant display will do your graphic design, video editing and gaming pastime justice.

It’s also shockingly affordable, especially when you consider WKLV LV D LQFK GLVSOD\ ZLWK .

EIZO COLOREDGE CG319X £3,989, eizoglobal.com (TXLSSHG ZLWK D UDIW of high-end features, this screen is ideal for high-end photo and video work, as well as general usage and gaming. Serious hardware commands a serious premium price, however.

SAMSUNG U28E590D £279, samsung.com

A very impressive headset that will ZRUNbZLWK MXVW about any device.

Audio quality is of the highest order whether you’re rocking out or WDNLQJbSDUW LQ LQWHQVH gaming sessions.

RAZER KRAKEN V3 HYPERSENSE £130, razer.com

An astonishingly powerful gaming laptop with up to a 10th-generation Intel Core i9 and Nvidia *H)RUFH 57; *38 7KLV LV QRW D cheap laptop, but it delivers incredible performance.

4K MONITORS

Delivers a super-fast 1ms response time, 170-degree viewing angles and a 1000:1 contrast ratio. You don’t get quite as much size as other models, but it cuts very few corners hitting its low price.

PHILIPS BRILLIANCE 329P1H £816, philips.co.uk

:LWK LWV FRPELQDWLRQ RI SRZHUIXO ' VRXQG and haptic feedback, you won’t just hear your game but feel it too. The mic is crystal clear, but the feedback tech makes it chunky, and there’s no wireless option.

$ JUHDW . PRQLWRU for professionals, GHOLYHULQJ D LQFK 8OWUD +' ,36 SDQHO with integrated ZHEFDP :LQGRZV Hello integration and 86% & FRQQHFWLYLW\ but no advanced gaming features.

Best of the best

DRONES Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestdrone

ACTION CAMERAS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestactioncam GOPRO HERO 10 BLACK

DJI AIR 2S £899, dji.com

£585, gopro.com A sensational camera drone. Despite being lightweight and very portable, this foldable drone packs some incredible onboard tech, including a 1-inch CMOS sensor that enables you to capture 5.4K video.

£599, auteldrones.com The diminutive Autel Evo Nano gets everything pretty much spot on. The key item here is the camera and its 1/2inch sensor, which punches way above its weight, shooting exceptional 4K video.

£429, gopro.com

The Brave 7 LE ĆWVbQLFHO\bLQ WKH SDOPbRI \RXUbKDQG While its headline feature is a frontfacing screen, it DOVRbVSRUWV D QXPEHU of features only usually found on fancier models.

AKASO BRAVE 7 £120, akasotech.com

£279, gopro.com This GoPro has goodies everywhere you care to look. )RXUbYLUWXDO OHQVHV get you the ideal ĆHOG RI YLHZ IRU ZKDW you’re shooting, and next-gen video stabilisation keeps it stable and crisp.

GOPRO HERO 7 BLACK £250, gopro.com '-,èV ĆUVW FRPSDFW pro-level drone is outstanding. It comes with two cameras: a four-thirds Hasselblad that produces the best images you could hope for, plus a second with 28x hybrid zoom.

AKASO BRAVE 7 LE

A bigger sensor (23.6MP), means WKLVbQLIW\ FDP FDQ shoot 5K/30 video and 20MP stills, and you get a welcome 30% battery boost over the Hero 8.

There’s a front VFUHHQbWRR

The perfect quality camera-carrying drone for the masses, this titchy bird is so small when folded you can hide it behind an iPhone. The camera is 4K spec, and video transmission distance jumps to 10km.

£769, dji.com

The wallet-friendly Hero7 White ERUURZVbSUHPLXP features from the Hero7 Black. Ideal for part-time adrenaline junkies needing a simple HD camera that shoots YouTubeready footage.

£140, akasotech.com

GOPRO HERO 8 BLACK

DJI MAVIC 3

GOPRO HERO7 WHITE

The newest addition to the range packs a new processor that means this GoPro is smoother and slicker than ever. Video tops out at 5.3K 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS, and 2.7K/240p. Stills get DbERRVW WR 03 GOPRO HERO 9 BLACK

£419, dji.com

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestcheapaction

£179, gopro.com

AUTEL EVO NANO

DJI MINI 2

CHEAP ACTION CAMERAS

The waterproof Hero 7 Black makes capturing pro-looking shots easier, thanks to HyperSmooth electronic stabilisation. 4K image quality is excellent, and there’s slick 60fps recording.

Able to record 4K at 30fps (the image stabilisation isn’t up to much, however).

It’s waterproof to 10m, has a 2-inch rear touchscreen, and comes with a remote as well as supporting voice controls.

OLFI ONE.FIVE BLACK (2ND GEN) e ROĆFDPHUD FRP A bulging bag of bangs for a relatively small number of bucks. It can shoot in 4K, take 15MP photos, is waterproof to 30m, can record at 120fps, and has a wealth of other premium features.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 8 9

Best of the best

DSLR CAMERAS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestdslr

MIRRORLESS CAMERAS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestmirrorless NIKON Z50

NIKON D780 £2,199, nikon.com

FUJIFILM X-T3

£3,299, nikon.co.uk

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CANON EOS 90D

An APS-C sensor means you don’t have to lug around heavy lenses and accessories but still leaves you with cracking image quality. The X-T3 has impressive 4K video capabilities too.

NIKON D500

Quite possibly the ideal vlogging camera, with 4K video recording, a vari-angle 3-inch touchscreen and the ability to use an external microphone. It can shoot the occasional still image too.

PANASONIC TZ200

£1,299, canon.co.uk This solidly built camera is the SHUIHFWbFKRLFH IRU those who like to shoot a little bit of everything, thanks to a brilliant autofocus system and glorious image quality from its 20MP sensor.

A beautifully retro design mixed with a host of advanced features, this, like LWVbSUHGHFHVVRUV sports a DSLR-sized (APS-C) sensor, ZKLFKbLV SDLUHG ZLWK Db PP I Ć[HG length lens.

£699, sony.com If you’re looking for \RXU ĆUVW IXOO IUDPH camera, the Z5 PDNHVbD ORW RI VHQVH You get a 24MP full-frame sensor, D QLFHO\bHUJRQRPLF body design and excellent electronic YLHZĆQGHU WRR

CANON EOS RP

£1,699, nikon.co.uk

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SONY ZV1

£1,719, nikon.co.uk A mid-range model that packs a lot of power for its price.

You get a 32.5 megapixel sensor, uncropped 4K video recording, and an RSWLFDO YLHZĆQGHU WKDW offers a 100% view of the scene.

For the best image quality in a pocketfriendly body, look here. The RX100 VII continues t o build on Sony’s reputation for high-quality premium compacts, and does so without breaking the bank.

FUJIFILM X100V

NIKON Z5

£1,249, canon.co.uk

9 0 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

£1,099, sony.co.uk All the best bits IURPbWKH = UDQJH shrunk into a more affordable package.

A smaller (APS-C) 20.9MP sensor means a smaller overall body, ideal IRUbWUDYHO DQG everyday shots.

NIKON D850

With a highresolution 45.4 megapixel sensor, 4K video capture, a 153-point AF system, and a sturdy body, you’ll never be GLVDSSRLQWHGbZLWK what the D850 can create for you.

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestcompact SONY RX100 VII

£849, nikon.co.uk The D780 is, in many ways, a Nikon Z6 (mirrorless) camera inside a larger DSLR body. Thanks to this, we’ve got room for dual memory card slots and a lot more direct control dials and buttons.

COMPACT CAMERAS

£629, panasonic.com Excellent full-frame image quality, but with a few GUDZEDFNV bVXFK as a low frame rate (5fps). There’s also the annoying problem of there still being scant native RF OHQVHVbDYDLODEOH

This might be the ideal travel companion, with a versatile zoom lens XSbWR [ DQG D fantastic one-inch sensor that captures bright, sharp images.

It’s also stylish and pocket-friendly.

Best of the best

SAT-NAVS Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestsatnav TOMTOM GO DISCOVER £279, tomtom.com

DASH CAMS Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestdashcam NEXTBASE 622GW £250, nextbase.com

A straightforward navigation device without fancy features. It is ultimately about utility, not fancy tricks, and there’s no doubt TomTom delivers excellent usability here.

The latest dash FDPbIURP 1H[WEDVH boasts muchimproved video quality, improved stabilisation and the inclusion of some rather clever What3Words geolocation services.

TOMTOM GO PREMIUM

GARMIN DASH CAM 66W

£290, tomtom.com

£169, garmin.com This state-of-the-art sat nav links with IFTTT, so you can connect to home devices, interact with personal digital assistants, get QRWLĆFDWLRQV DQG share location and arrival data.

GARMIN DRIVESMART 61 LMT-S £209, garmin.com

THINKWARE F800 PRO

£999, pureelectric.com The Flux One offers exceptional value for money and punches above its weight in terms of looks and performance. Its max range is only 25 miles, but for urban riding that is plenty, and recharging is rapid.

CANYON ROADLITE:ON

A great example of how electric bicycles have evolved in recent years.

Mainly because it feels, handles and largely looks like a normal bike, but with electrical assistance to keep you moving.

XIAOMI MI SMART FOLDING ELECTRIC BIKE £1,399, xiaomi.com

With an almost invisible design, time-lapse recording and a great night mode, this is a good stealthy option if you’re worried PRUHbDERXW YDQGDOLVP or theft than your fellow drivers.

NEXTBASE 522GW £149, nextbase.com

Packed with good IHDWXUHVbEXW QHYHU ĆGGO\ DQG ZLWK Google and Siri support, this is a really good mobile companion too. The price includes lifetime updates via Wi-Fi for most features.

PURE ELECTRIC PURE FLUX ONE

£2,799, canyon.com

£249, thinkware.com

£299, tomtom.com

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestebike

This fantastic little cam earns its place on this list with good image quality, extra features including GPS and speed camera warnings, and an attractive design.

Video is 1440p, in a 180° angle.

This sleek sat-nav KDVbVXEVWDQFH WR match its style, ZLWKbDbELJ GLVSOD\ OLIHWLPH WUDIĆF and maps (for Europe) and useful points of interest information courtesy RIb7ULS$GYLVRU TOMTOM GO 6200

ELECTRIC BIKES

Perhaps not the most fun on two wheels, but it really packs in the features. It folds up small, but drives along smoothly enough at the legal 15.5mph top speed, and has gears, a display, and lights.

GOCYCLE G4I £3,999, gocycle.com

7KH ĆUVW GDVK FDP available in the UK with Alexa builtin, this also has impressive safety features that will alert the emergency services of a crash. It also crisply masters the basics.

A folding bike with a riding position that’s practically identical to a full-size bike, everything from the overtly ‘futuristic’ styling to its wealth of high-tech features marks this out as one of the best in the biz.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 91

Best of the best

SMART SPEAKERS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestsmart AMAZON ECHO SHOW 10 £239.99, amazon.co.uk The most comprehensive Alexa smart speaker to date, capable of doing lots, and with a unique trick: its large screen rotates to follow you around the room, so that you can always see it clearly.

SMART BULBS Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestbulb PHILIPS HUE From £59, philips-hue.com Hue dominates the smart lighting sector for good reason: it’s a superb system with the widest range of bulbs and a simple, useful app. Rivals may be cheaper but they can’t compete with Hue’s variety.

LIFX

£239.99 (without stand), amazon.co.uk Amazon’s biggest smart display can be mounted on the wall or on a stand. The 15-inch HD screen looks fantastic, and the brand new Alexa widgets, make this the most useful smart display yet.

From £19, lifx.com

AMAZON ECHO 4TH GEN

NANOLEAF ESSENTIALS

Bigger than the previous model, it has beefed up speakers and features, while the Zigbee smart home functionality that used to be part of the Echo Plus only has been moved into the standard Echo.

GOOGLE NEST HUB MAX £219, store.google.com Winner of our 2020 T3 award as the best smart speaker for doing absolutely everything. You get a crisp 10in screen, a VSHDNHU WKDW FDQ ĆOO a room, a front camera and of course *RRJOHb$VVLVWDQW

9 2 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestthermostat NEST THERMOSTAT E

AMAZON ECHO SHOW 15

£139, amazon.co.uk

SMART THERMOSTATS

£180, nest.com/uk This cheaper 1HVWbPRGHO GRHVQèW ĆWbDV PXFK information on its screen and doesn’t feel as premium, but that’s it. Same algorithm, same Alexa and Google Home compatibility.

TADO SMART THERMOSTAT £99, tado.com If you fancy a Hue system but don’t want to spend so much, LIFX has a strong product range and integrates with your favourite personal digital assistant.

Philips still wins, EXWbRQO\ MXVW

From £18, nanoleaf.me A line of bargainpriced bulbs and OLJKWbVWULSV WKDW support Thread, DQbXSFRPLQJ SURWRFRO a bit like Zigbee.

We love the faceted look, but they’re only available in E27 or % ĆWWLQJV IKEA TRÅDFRI

Tado is very sociable: it works with 95% RIbWKH V\VWHPV RXW WKHUH ,WèV ćH[LEOH clever and supports a wide range of accessories too.

3ULFHbFXWV KDYH PDGHbLW HYHQ PRUHbHQWLFLQJ NEST LEARNING THERMOSTAT £220, nest.com/uk Nest made smart thermostats sexy and this third-gen model looks great.

It’s simple to use with good Google Home and Amazon Echo integration, but a tad pricey, especially ZLWKbLQVWDOODWLRQ HIVE ACTIVE HEATING 2

From £13, ikea.com

£179, hivehome.com Ikea’s Zigbeecompatible system doesn’t have the range of Hue, but if you prize control over colour options it’s stellar value for money and has some great controllers DQGbGLPPHUV

This excellent system LV ĆWWHG E\ D TXDOLĆHG engineer, and includes a receiver, an internet hub and a wallmounted thermostat.

It’s easy to use, and tracks your phone so the house is warm when you get home.

Best of the best

SMART PLUGS Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestplug TP-LINK KASA MINI KP115 £23, kasasmart.com

SECURITY CAMERAS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestsecurity ARLO ESSENTIAL SPOTLIGHT CAMERA £130, arlo.com

A reliable smart SOXJbWKDW GRHVQèW LQFOXGH HQHUJ\ PRQLWRULQJ EXW LWèV KDSS\ WR ZRUN ZLWK $OH[D *RRJOH +RPH DQG %L[E\ 7KH 73 /LQN .DVD DSS LV DOVR PXFK LPSURYHG RQ UHFHQW JHQHUDWLRQV

HIVE ACTIVE PLUG £39, hivehome.com

ROBOT VACUUMS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestrobotvac IROBOT ROOMBA J7+ £899, irobot.co.uk

$UORèV FKHDSHU VWDQGDORQH FDPHUD FRQQHFWV GLUHFWO\ WR \RXU :L )L EXW VWLOO PDQDJHV SHUVRQ SDFNDJH DQG DQLPDO GHWHFWLRQ WZR ZD\ FRPPXQLFDWLRQ FRORXU QLJKW YLVLRQ DQGbD VSRWOLJKW ARLO PRO 3

7KH VPDUWHVW ORRNLQJ FKDUJLQJ GRFN FXP FROOHFWLRQ ELQ LQ WKH EXVLQHVV ,QJHQLRXVO\ WKH - LGHQWLĆHV REVWDFOHV DQG DYRLGV WKHP ZKHQ QHFHVVDU\ VHQGLQJ LWV RZQHU LPDJHV LW KDV WDNHQ RI DQ\ REVWDFOHV ROBOROCK S7

£550 (two cameras), arlo.com ,I \RX FDQ OLYH ZLWKRXWbWKH .

UHVROXWLRQ RI WKH $UOR 8OWUD WKHQ WKH $UOR 3UR LV MXVW DERXW WKH EHVW KRPH VHFXULW\ FDPHUD \RX FDQ EX\ ULJKW QRZ DQG LWèV DYDLODEOH DW D YHU\ UHDVRQDEOH SULFH

£665, roborock.com

TP-LINK KASA SMART WI-FI POWER STRIP KP303

RING STICK UP CAM

iROBOT ROOMBA S9+

£30, kasasmart.com

£180, en-uk.ring.com

£1,499, irobot.co.uk

6LPLODU WR %HONLQ +LYHèV SOXJbFDQ WXUQbVRFNHWV RQ RII YLD \RXU SKRQH DQG FUHDWH VFKHGXOHV ,W DOVR ZRUNV ZLWK $OH[Db<RX QHHG D +LYHb+XE e WR XVH WKH $FWLYH 3OXJ bWKRXJK

:LWK WKUHH VPDUW RXWOHWV HDFK ZLWK LQGHSHQGHQW FRQWURO DV ZHOO DV D SDLU RI 86% SRUWV IRU FKDUJLQJ DQG SRZHU WKH .DVD 6PDUW :L )Lb3RZHU 6WULS .3 bGHOLYHUV SOHQW\ RI ćH[LELOLW\

,I \RXèUH LQ WKH PDUNHW IRU D URERW YDF WKDW DOVR PRSV KDUG ćRRUV WKHQ WKLV PRGHO LV \RXU EHVW RSWLRQ ,W PDGH OLJKW ZRUN RI RXU WHVW FDUSHW EXW LW ZDV WKH UHDU PRXQWHG PRSSLQJ V\VWHP WKDW LPSUHVVHG WKH PRVW

3UHWW\ PXFK DQ\ IHDWXUH \RX FRXOG DVNbIRU LV LQFOXGHG VXFK DV QLJKW YLVLRQ PRWLRQ GHWHFWLRQ DOHUWV WZR ZD\ DXGLR bDQG S YLGHR \RX FDQ YLHZ RQ $OH[D GHYLFHV ZLWKbVFUHHQV

7KH V KDV SRZHUIXO VXFWLRQ DQG H[FHOV RQ FDUSHWV ,WV DXWRPDWLF ELQ HPSW\LQJ UHDOO\ ZRUNV DQG OHIW WR LWV RZQ GHYLFHV LW ZLOO OHDUQ LWV ZD\ DURXQG \RXU KRPH ZLWKLQ D IHZ GD\V -XVW ZDWFK RXW IRU WDVVHOOHG UXJV

AMAZON SMART PLUG

EUFYCAM 2C

iROBOT ROOMBA I3+

£25, amazon.co.uk

£299 (two cameras), eufylife.com 7KLV LV D ZLUHOHVV VHFXULW\ FDPHUD V\VWHP ZLWK D VKDUS . VHQVRU D GHJUHH GLDJRQDO YLHZ VROLG ,5 QLJKW YLVLRQ ZLWK D VSRWOLJKW LI \RX QHHG D EULJKWHU YLHZ DQG D FODLPHG VL[ PRQWK EDWWHU\ OLIH

£699, irobot.co.uk

'HVLJQHG WR EH XVHG ZLWK $OH[D WKLV SOXJ FDQ EH FRQWUROOHG XVLQJ YRLFH FRPPDQGV RU WKURXJK WKH $OH[D DSS ,I \RX XVH WKH *RRJOH $VVLVWDQW RU LI \RX KDYH $SSOH +RPH.LW \RXèOO ZDQW WR ORRN HOVHZKHUH

7KLV LV DOVR RQH RI WKH TXLHWHVW URERW YDFV ZHèYH HYHU XVHG DQG RQH RI WKH VKDOORZHVW å SHUIHFW IRU UHDFKLQJ XQGHU ORZ IXUQLVKLQJV ,WV WZLQ UXEEHU UROOHUV SHUIRUPHG H[WUHPHO\ ZHOO RQ KDUG ćRRU DQG VXSHUEO\ RQ FDUSHW

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 9 3

Best of the best

CORDLESS VACUUMS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestcordlessvac DYSON V15 DETECT ABSOLUTE £599.99, dyson.co.uk 5HĆQHG DQG LPSURYHG DFURVV DOO VXUIDFHV EXW WKH UHDO KHDGOLQH IHDWXUH LV WKH DGGLWLRQ RI D KHDGOLJKW D ODVHU PRXQWHG DW DQ DQJOH RQ WKH IURQW RI WKH KDUG ćRRU KHDG WKDW UHYHDOV D KRUULĆF DPRXQW RI GLUW SAMSUNG JET 90 PRO £600, samsung.com

WASHING MACHINES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestwashing AEG 9000 SERIES L9FEC966R £899, aeg.co.uk $(* GHOLYHUV VXSHUE ćH[LEOH FOHDQLQJ HIIHFWLYH ZDWHU VRIWHQLQJ DQG D VWHDP FOHDQLQJ IHDWXUH WR UHGXFH \RXU LURQLQJ SLOH ,WèV TXLHW HIĆFLHQW DQG HQYLURQPHQWDOO\ IULHQGO\ WRR HISENSE WFQY1014EVJM £349, hisense.com

0DWFKHV WKH '\VRQ LQ SUDFWLFDOO\ HYHU\ ZD\ DQG ZLOO DOPRVW FHUWDLQO\ HQG XS EHLQJbFKHDSHU ,W FRPHV ZLWK D SURSHU VWDQG WR KROG DQG UHFKDUJH LW DQG KDV DWWDFKPHQWV IRU IRXUbWRROV VAX ONEPWR BLADE 4 £220, vax.co.uk 7KLV QHZ FRUGOHVV %ODGH IURP 9D[ LV D ORW FKHDSHU WKDQ WKH '\VRQ 9 EXW WKHUHèV UHPDUNDEO\ OLWWOH WR WHOO EHWZHHQ WKHP LQ WHUPV RI FOHDQLQJ SRZHU 7KH 9D[ PDNHV D ELJJHU QRLVH WKRXJK DYSON V11 ABSOLUTE £599, dyson.co.uk

BOSCH SERIE 8 WAX32GH4GB £849, bosch-home.co.uk 7RS QRWFK FOHDQLQJ SHUIRUPDQFH ZLWK D NJ FDSDFLW\ DQG D USP PD[LPXP VSLQ VSHHG WKHUHèV DOVR LQWHOOLJHQW VWDLQ UHPRYDO D ' ZDVK V\VWHP IRU H[WUD HIĆFLHQF\ DQG $OH[D YRLFH FRPPDQGV INDESIT IWC 81483 £229, indesit.co.uk

7KH KLJK WRUTXH KHDG ZHOO VL]HG ELQ DQG SRZHUIXO VXFWLRQ PDNH WKLV WKH WRS VXFNHU WR JHW DQG ZRUWK WKH ç'\VRQ WD[è b7KH $XWR SRZHU PRGH ZRUNV ZHOO EDODQFLQJ EDWWHU\ DQG VXFWLRQ QLFHO\

94 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

:HOO SULFHG VSDFLRXV HDV\ WR RSHUDWH WKHUH DUH D ORW RI UHDVRQV WR FKRRVH WKLV ZDVKLQJ PDFKLQH DQG LWèV QR VXUSULVH WR VHH WKH DSSOLDQFH HDUQLQJ UDYH UHYLHZV IURP SOHQW\ RI VDWLVĆHG FXVWRPHUV

DISHWASHERS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestdishwasher BOSCH SMS67MW00G

£629, bosch-home.co.uk $ WRS QRWFK GLVKZDVKHU WKDW XVHVb]HROLWH D PDJLFDO PLQHUDO WKDW WXUQV PRLVWXUH LQWR KHDW LQbWKLV FDVH WR GU\ GLVKHV ZLWKRXW XVLQJ H[WUD HOHFWULFLW\ $QG E\ GU\ ZH PHDQ ERQHbGU\ BOSCH SERIE 2 SMS24AW01G £329, bosch-home.co.uk :LWK D VLPSOH LQWXLWLYH GHVLJQ DQG D EUDQG QDPH \RX FDQ WUXVW WKLV SODFH VHWWLQJ GLVKZDVKHU KDV D ORW JRLQJ IRU LW EHVLGHV WKH ORZ SULFH :DVKLQJ DQG GU\LQJ SHUIRUPDQFH LVbH[FHOOHQW MIELE G7110 SC £1,199, miele.co.uk (FRQRPLFDO HDV\ WR XVH DQG FRQWUROOHG IURP \RXU VPDUWSKRQH WKH * 6& FRPHV ZLWK DXWRPDWLF GHWHUJHQW GLVSHUVDO IRU XS WR ORDGV DQG KDV D KDQG\ TXLFN SRZHU ZDVK F\FOH HISENSE HS520E40WUK £259, hisense.co.uk

7KH DIIRUGDELOLW\ RI WKLV DSSOLDQFH GRHVQèW PHDQ \RXèUH JRLQJ WR PLVV RXW LQ WHUPV RI FOHDQLQJ TXDOLW\ DV WKH NJ FDSDFLW\ LV JRLQJ WR EH HQRXJK WR NHHS PRVW IDPLOLHV KDSS\ ,WèV FRPSHWHQW HIĆFLHQW DQG FKHDS

$ IUHHVWDQGLQJ VOLPOLQH PRGHO LV DQ H[FHOOHQW FKRLFH IRU D VPDOO NLWFKHQ DQG WKLV RQH KDV SODFH VHWWLQJV ZDVKHV LQ bPLQXWHV DQG LV IUXJDO ZLWK LWV ZDWHU XVDJH 7KHUHèV VHOI FOHDQLQJ WRR

Best of the best

COFFEE MACHINES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestcoffee SAGE BY HESTON BLUMENTHAL THE ORACLE TOUCH £1,999, sageappliances.com The Oracle Touch looks like a baristaoperated machine, it produces coffee like one, yet all the clever stuff – dosing, tamping, extraction, milk texturing, is done for you. Not cheap – but amazing.

FRIDGES Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestfridge MIELE K 28202 D WS £875, miele.co.uk

£720, delonghi.com

£75, russellhobbs.com This A+ rated, 43-litre counter-top fridge is perfect for studio ćDWV EHGVLWV VWXGHQW digs and mobile homes. For its size, this dinky chiller provides surprisingly ample estate for PRVWbVROR QHHGV

£999, sageappliances.com Cheaper, faster DQG ZLWK EHWWHU frothed milk than WKHb2UDFOH bWKLV PD\ be the better buy for most unless being unable to make FRIIHHbDQG VWHDP PLONbDW WKH VDPH WLPH is a deal breaker.

GAGGIA VELASCA £479, gaggiadirect.com The espresso and lungo that the 9HODVFDbPDNHV DUH DVbJRRG DV anything you can buy in most coffee shops. It produces a reassuringly oldfashioned, intense ćDYRXU IRU \RXU EUHZ

NEFF N 70 B57CR22N0B

If you have the spondoolicks and FP RI VSDFH ZLWK no cupboards above, this cooler should be top of your list. Its clever cooling keeps foodstuffs fresh ZLWKRXW KXPLGLW\ DQG it’s cavernous.

RUSSELL HOBBS RHTTLF1

SAGE BY HESTON BLUMENTHAL BARISTA TOUCH

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestoven

£789, neff.co.uk

DELONGHI LA SPECIALISTA EC9335.M Solidly built using VZDWKHV RI EUXVKHG stainless steel and good quality SODVWLFV bWKLV ORRNV MXVWbOLNH D small version of a professional café espresso machine.

Dynamite coffee too.

OVENS

LIEBHERR TP 1760 PREMIUM £489, home.leibherr.com Arguably the only A+++ rated undercounter model on the UK market.

Despite its diminutive exterior, inside it’s like the Albert Hall, D FKLOOHG 7DUGLV ZLWK WZR VHSDUDWH VDODG YHJ GUDZHUV BOSCH SERIE 2 CLASSIXX KSV29NW3PG £643, bosch-home.co.uk Looking for a midsized larder fridge that doesn’t cost the Earth, provides SOHQW\bRI IRRG VWRUDJHbVSDFH FRROV quickly and is cheap to run? Consider this HIĆFLHQW DQG ZHOO made Bosch.

The unique Slide and Hide door is brilliant, the touchscreen is handy and the oven’s no slouch: it enables you to cook multiple GLVKHV ZLWKRXW WKDW unfortunate crosscontamination from VWURQJ ćDYRXUV ZANUSSI ZOD35660XK £399, zanussi.co.uk This electric double RYHQ LV D ĆQH FKRLFH if you’re looking for plenty of cooking capacity and some really useful features on top, like even heat distribution, DXWRPDWLF VZLWFK RII and a bright display.

MIELE H7164BP £1,389, appliancesdirect.co.uk Reliable and easy to operate, this model FRPHV ZLWK SOHQW\ of features that are going to appeal – like its Moisture Plus tech for getting perfect ‘bake off’ results. You can even control it from your phone.

BOSCH SERIE 8 HBG634BS1B £729, bosch-home.co.uk A great all-rounder, ZLWK D GHGLFDWHG SL]]D cooking function, this is easy to use, easy to clean, and has a simple touch display.

A fan constantly circles heat around the interior for HYHQbFRRNLQJ

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 9 5

Best of the best

ELECTRIC SHAVERS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestshaver BRAUN SERIES 9 9390CC £250, braun.com

ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSHES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/besttoothbrush

PHILIPS SONICARE 9900 PRESTIGE £300, philips.co.uk

Given that the trend is to shave less nowadays, we recommend the %UDXQb6HULHV IRLO shaver over Philips’ almost equally LPSUHVVLYH HIIRUWV ,W is slightly better on ORQJHU VWXEEOH

£300, philips.co.uk

£35, oralb.co.uk The second best shaver has a silly RRP (£430!) but is DYDLODEOH IRU DURXQG e ,WèV JRRG IRU sensitive skin, mows long stubble and is really close to the VKDYH \RX JHW IURP WUDGLWLRQDO UD]RUV

£125, philips.co.uk

96 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

7KH EHVW WULPPHU IRU those with sensitive skin, this uses LQQRYDWLYH 2QH%ODGH WHFKQRORJ\ ,WèV JRRG IRU ERWK \RXU IDFH and your downstairs, although you may wish to change heads LQ EHWZHHQ BRAUN BEARD TRIMMER 7 £65, braun.com

2IIHULQJ WKH FXUUHQW EHVW EOHQG RI IHDWXUHV and price in the 6RQLFDUH UDQJH WKLV brush doesn’t pile on too many pointless cleaning modes – just WKH VHOI H[SODQDWRU\ ‘clean’ and ‘white’ plus D çJXP FDUHè PRGH ORAL-B IO9

7KLV WULPPHU IHHOV OLNH JRRG YDOXH IRU PRQH\ earning it a place on WKLV OLVW 6PDOO OLJKW and easy to use, its tough blades shave FOHDQO\ %DWWHU\ OLIH LV solid, and the unit is ZDWHUSURRI HQRXJK IRU HDV\ ULQVLQJ PANASONIC I-SHAPER ER-GD60

£500, oralb.co.uk A rotary shaver that requires a circular PRWLRQ RQ WKH IDFH 6WXEEOH GLVDSSHDUV like magic, and the whole experience is YHU\ ORZ LUULWDWLRQ You get a clipRQ WULPPHU IRU VLGHEXUQVbWRR

PHILIPS ONEBLADE PRO

This only has two cleaning modes and no ‘smart’ IXQFWLRQDOLW\ WR VSHDNbRI EXW DVN \RXUVHOIð GR \RX UHDOO\ FDUH" ,W KDV a timer, pressure sensor, and excellent URWDU\ FOHDQLQJ

7KLV QHZ RIIHULQJ IURP %UDXQ ZLWK WKUHH IRLO KHDGV LVbDQbDEVROXWH FUDFNHUbLQ HYHU\ UHVSHFW ,W VKDYHV as close as a wet UD]RU RQO\ LQ KDOI WKH WLPH $QG WKDWèV QRbH[DJJHUDWLRQ

£199, philips.co.uk

The classiest looking beard trimmer we’ve ever clapped H\HV RQ LW RIIHUV DQ HTXDOO\ FODVV\ VKDYH Designed primarily IRU QHDWHU EHDUG scaping, it whips away whiskers without any VQDJV RU SXOOV

£50, philips.co.uk

PHILIPS SONICARE 6100 PROTECTIVECLEAN

PHILIPS SERIES 9000 S9211/31

PHILIPS BT9000 PRESTIGE

Philips’ most advanced electric toothbrush yet, it IHDWXUHV 6HQVH,4 WHFKQRORJ\ ,W VHQVHV pressure, motion and coverage up to 100 times per second, adapting the intensity LI \RX EUXVK WRR KDUG ORAL-B PRO 2 2500

£165, braun.com

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/besttrimmer

£120, philips.co.uk

PHILIPS SERIES 9000 PRESTIGE

BRAUN SERIES 7 70-N7200CC

BEARD TRIMMERS

e bSDQDVRQLF FR XN 7KH 553 IRU WKH L2 6HULHV LV ULGLFXORXV EXW \RX FDQ JHW LW IRU less, and it is brilliant at actually cleaning your teeth, plus it’s also very stylish, with a colour touchscreen and a tooth-tracking PRQLWRULQJ V\VWHP

For slightly longer beards, this is the RQH WR JR IRU ,WV unusual, ‘side-on’ cutting action, where you pull the shaver through your hirsute tresses more like a comb, soon becomes VHFRQGbQDWXUH

Best of the best

FITNESS TRACKERS

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestfitness

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestrunningwatch GARMIN FORERUNNER 245 MUSIC

FITBIT CHARGE 5 e ĆWELW FRP

RUNNING WATCHES

A decent update over the Charge 4, and the AMOLED screen is very handsome.

It’s comfortable to wear, and the overall user experience is also great, but it’s as expensive as some running watches.

e JDUPLQ FRP

The ultimate phone-free GPS running watch for the price-conscious runner. The battery can last up to seven days in smartwatch PRGH DQG VL[bKRXUV LQb*36 PRGH ZLWK music playing.

HUAWEI WATCH FIT ELEGANT

GARMIN FORERUNNER 945

e KXDZHL FRP

e JDUPLQ FRP 7KH SUHWWLHVW ĆWQHVV tracker on the market. Its 1.64 inch AMOLED display has a 456 x 280 resolution and an ambient light sensor, dimming when it’s dark to help the already excellent battery life.

GARMIN VENU 2 e JDUPLQ FRP

The Forerunner bKDV UHWDLQHG WKHbORRN DQG IHHO of the 935, but LQVLGH LWbKDV EHHQ completely revamped.

There are new GPS chips and heart-rate sensors, plus onboard maps.

POLAR VANTAGE V2

The AMOLED screen of the Garmin Venu 2 really brings the widget view of the Garmin OS to life, including the animations when you hit new milestones such as your daily step goals.

FITBIT CHARGE 4

e SRODU FRP

Excellent build quality, and loads of useful tests and data å PDQ\bRI ZKLFK FDQèW be found elsewhere – for serious runners and cyclists to better their form and get ready for races PRUHbHIĆFLHQWO\

COROS PACE 2

e ĆWELW FRP

e FRURV FRP 7KH EHVW ĆWQHVV tracker you can buy and a big step forward for Fitbit, adding features such as GPS and a new exercise tracker alongside the step-counting. There are plentiful sleeptracking features too.

RUNNING HEADPHONES

Find the lowest prices at: t3.com/bestrunningphones BEATS POWERBEATS PRO

e EHDWVE\GUH FRP XN These true wireless powerhouses absolutely crush WKHLUbSUHGHFHVVRUV when it comes to quality of sound and VHFXULW\ RI ĆW $OO but impossible to accidentally dislodge from your ears.

JAYBIRD VISTA 2 e MD\ELUGVSRUW FRP Real class, with an H[FHOOHQW ĆW DQG advanced water and PXFN SURRĆQJ 6RXQG quality is great, and there is both effective noise cancelling and a ‘SurroundSense’ mode to hear what’s going on around you.

SKULLCANDY INDY ANC e VNXOOFDQG\ FR XN An amazing piece of workout kit for the price, combining Audiodo technology with active noise cancelling, making it possible to listen to your playlists in the gym without having to crank up the volume.

BEATS BY DR DRE POWERBEATS

The Pace 2 gets the basics right, but also has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. It might provide fewer casual features than some Garmins, but the running features on offer here are pretty much spot on.

e EHDWVE\GUH FRP XN A chunk cheaper than their big daddy, and they sound identical – which is to say they sound superb for workout music.

And for non-workout music too. As a bonus, they boast a longer battery life.

M A R C H 2 0 2 2 T3 9 7

LUXURIES Exclusive gifts to seriously spoil yourself

G OR D ON M U R R AY T.33 C OU PE Designed by legendary F1 and McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray, the T.33 Coupe was always going to be something special.

Under the hood, the T.33 harnesses a V12 GMA.2 engine, which GHVSLWH ZHLJKLQJ D WULćLQJ NJ UHYV WR D EOLVWHULQJ USP DQG UHDFKHV KRUVHSRZHU DW USP 0HDQZKLOH WKH FDU LV FOHYHUO\ FRQWRXUHG ZLWK GLIIXVHU VKDSHUV DQG GXFWLQJ DQG FDQ DXWRPDWLFDOO\ GHSOR\ D VXEWOH UHDU VSRLOHU WR RIIHU DHURG\QDPLFV PRUH HIĆFLHQW WKDQ D FRQYHQWLRQDO JURXQG HIIHFWV V\VWHP <RX GRQèW KDYH WR ZRUU\ DERXW VWRSSLQJ HLWKHU LWV FDUERQ FHUDPLF PDWHULDO EUDNHV SDFN DOXPLQLXP DOOR\ 0RQREORF VL[ SLVWRQ IURQW DQG IRXU SLVWRQ UHDU FDOOLSHUV ,QHYLWDEO\ WKRXJK VXFK D XQLTXH YHKLFOH LV LQ YHU\ OLPLWHG VXSSO\ MXVW ZLOO EH PDGH PHDQLQJ \RXèOO KDYH WR JUDE \RXUV QRZ e32$ JRUGRQPXUUD\DXWRPRWLYH FRP

NEXT ISSUE IS ON SALE WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH Hot 100 – eagerly anticipated gadgets and future tech trends 9 8 T3 M A R C H 2 0 2 2

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