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GADGETS / GAMES / GEAR

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Welcome Over the past four weeks there have been moments where the Stuff team possibly haven’t been as productive as they could have been. Suspiciously this tended to occur around the hours of 2pm, 5pm and 8pm on the matchdays of a major football tournament, but being an understanding boss I gave them all the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe this liberal approach to management signals the fact that this is my last issue of Stuff as editor – but before you ready the celebratory fireworks, I’m duty-bound to tell you what’s happening in the August instalment of the world’s finest tech magazine – and so, to close the loop on this admittedly indulgent intro of a welcome letter, it’s all about gadgets to get more done.

Of course, all work and no play is rubbish, so you’ll also find a mega group test of the latest sub-£200 Bluetooth speakers for getting the aforementioned party started, plus our pick of men’s skincare products to help with the morning after. We also have the best video-game announcements from E3, a review of Sony’s new ANC buds, the lowdown on the second-gen Apple TV 4K, and a look back at the origins of Donkey Kong.

There’s no ‘i’ in team, but there is a ‘u’ in Stuff, so thanks for sticking with us and we’ll never take you for granted.

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Advertising Head of Commercial Neil Tillott (01959 543719, x7003) neil.tillott@kelsey.co.uk Account Manager Nick Davis (01959 543611, x7004) nick.davis@kelsey.co.uk Production Ad Operations Manager Martin Williams martin.williams@ kelsey.co.uk Ad Production Manager Andy Welch (01233 220245) stuff@ tandemmedia.co.uk Management Chief Executive Steve Wright Chief Operating Officer Phil Weeden Managing Director Kevin McCormick Publisher Liz Reid Head of Digital Steve Jones Retail Director Steve Brown Subscription Marketing Director Gill Lambert Subscription Marketing Manager Rochelle Gyer-Smith Print Production Manager Georgina Harris • Volume 25 issue 8 • ISSN: 1364-963 • On sale 8 July 2021

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HOT STUFF 06 The Hot Six Honor 50 Yep, we’re actually excited about a phone having Gmail on it Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 This tablet wants to shove your laptop into a prickly hedge Playdate The tiny console that comes with a FREE PEN! Nintendo Game & Watch: Zelda The tiny console that comes without a FREE PEN! Lego Adidas Originals Superstar Brick-based shoe-making fun, or a load of cobblers?

Beats Studio Buds Another Dre in paradise

14 Vital stats Leitz Phone 1 What’s not to Leica?

16 Best of E3 Stay indoors for another year 20 Icon Ikea Picture Frame Speaker Art that also plays …But Seriously

22 Stream Featuring a cow and Skeletor 24 Wheels Genesis GV80 SUV with the invisible touch

TESTS 29 First test Sony WF-1000XM4 The old XM3s were our favourite in-ears for approximately ever… so were Sony mad to completely redesign them? Can the XM4s be even better? Also, what’s the story with Souness’s teeth?

52 Tested Huawei Watch 3 Chinese giant chances its arm 54 Tested Samsung 50AU9000 A weirdly inexpensive telly 55 Tested Teenage OB-4 We tit about with the magic radio 58 Group test Portable speakers Let’s party! For £200 or less!

67 Tested OnePlus Nord CE No Nord/Lord puns, we promise 70 Tested Sony XR-55A90J An unweirdly expensive telly 73 Versus Budget buds Google vs Huawei – what, again?

76 Tested Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus Google vs Amazon – or not…

77 Tested Traeger Pro 575 How to grill steak on the internet 78 Long-term test Apple TV 4K New! Improved! Still pointless?

80 Games Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

FEATURES 33 Mini meme To-do list apps Now you just need an app to keep on top of all your apps to keep on top of things

34 Upvoted Men’s skincare Ah, you know what, don’t bother with any of this stuff – just grow a beard to cover your whole face

37 Cover feature Get more done Work is horrible and should be illegal, but it isn’t – so until those in power see sense, use these tech tips to be more productive and possibly a bit less miserable

56 Instant upgrades OnePlus 9 Accessories, apps and clever tweaks for never-settlers

74 Beta yourself Get organised Use technology to get your life in order (well, within reason)

98 Random access memories Donkey Kong (1981) Where it all went wrong for a generation of underachievers

THE LEGENDARY STUFF TOP TENS P82 4

MAKING STUFF UP

Editor-in-Chief James Day Head of News Matt Tate Head of Stuff Digital Natalya Paul Contributors Tom Wiggins, Craig Grannell, Sam Kieldsen, Leon Poultney, Andrew Williams, Tom Morgan, Simon Lucas, Basil Kronfli, Esat Dedezade, Andrew Hayward, Lee Bell, Verity Burns, Jack Parsons, Richard Purvis, Ross Presly Contact us stuff.ed@kelsey.co.uk UK subscription and back issue orderline: 01959 543747 Overseas subscription orderline: 0044 (0)1959 543747 Toll-free USA subscription orderline: 1-888-777-0275 UK customer service team: 01959 543747 Customer service email address: subs@kelsey.co.uk Customer service and subscription postal address: Stuff Customer Service Team, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Maidstone, Kent ME18 6AL

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Lovin’ you is SE As well as the 50 and 50 Pro, Honor also mentioned a cheaper 50 SE. It’s got a bigger screen but a less powerful processor, and only three cameras on the back instead of four.

HOT SIX #1 I’LL HAVE WHAT G’S HAVING Honor 50

You can’t beat a good reunion. First Robbie (briefly) rejoined Take That, then the cast of Friends got back together to compare facelift bills, and now Honor and Google have kissed and made up.

It all started when Donald Trump (you remember him – orange fella, tiny hands, bad hair) took issue with Huawei; but now Honor is nothing to do with its ex-owner, so the pair can be friends again – and what better way to celebrate than with a new phone? As well as being reunited with all of Google’s services (Maps, Gmail, Drive etc), the 6.57in Honor 50 gets a 120Hz OLED display with a 32MP selfie-cam peeking through, plus four snappers on the back: 108MP main, 8MP wide-angle, 2MP macro and 2MP depth sensor.

Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 778 5G platform, 8GB of RAM and a 4300mAh battery power the Android-based Magic UI, but if you want a bigger 6.72in screen and dual selfie-cameras there’s also the 50 Pro. Both will be available on UK shores at some point later this year, which could lead to one of the greatest reunions of them all: an Honor phone and the inside of your pocket.

As hot as… Trump’s temper £tba / hihonor.com 6

ALL THE BIGGEST STORIES FROM PLANET TECH

We are the gigs Opt for the 50 and you’ll get a choice between 128GB and 256GB of built-in storage; the Pro comes with the full 256GB as standard. Its battery is a smidge smaller but charges quicker.

Let’s get frost The Honor 50 comes in Frost Crystal (which means silver), Amber Red (pink), Emerald Green (you can probably guess that one), or Midnight Black (and that one).

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Daddy fuel To go with that all-day battery life, the new tab gets 40W fast charging, 27W wireless charging and even reverse wireless charging with other Huawei devices.

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Bezel’s haircut That gorgeous OLED display gets the full beans of a 120Hz refresh rate and has a 90% screen-to-body ratio, giving your fingers just enough bezel to grab hold of.

HOT SIX #2 PAD BOON RISING

Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6

Leaders of pen Pro tablet productivity requires add-ons – as well as the Smart Magnetic Keyboard (€130), look out for Huawei’s 2nd-gen M-Pencil (€tba), with a lag time of just 9ms.

Tablets masquerading as laptops continue to be a thing – and they’re getting good at it. To be honest, we’ve not spoken to any laptops to find out if they feel threatened, or asked any normal tabs if they’re getting an inferiority complex, but one look at the latest Huawei MatePad Pro hybrid and we wouldn’t blame them.

Running the company’s rapidly evolving HarmonyOS, the 12.6in model (there’s also a 10.8in version) comes with a 2560x1600 OLED screen – and yes, once you snap on the optional Smart Magnetic Keyboard, it certainly looks a lot like a laptop.

There’s no ‘Intel inside’ here, of course, and you know Apple ain’t sharing its M1 chip with anyone, but Huawei’s own Kirin 9000E processor promises more than enough power. In fact we’ve already had a play, and some of the best bits include a powerful eight-speaker array that sounds great, slim screen surrounds that minimise bulk, and battery life of up to 14 hours.

It’s plastic, not aluminium or glass… but if you’re really trying to be a laptop, perhaps that’s not such a bad thing.

As hot as… the fury of a thousand humiliated laptops €799 (est) / consumer.huawei.com 9

Phantom hour-pass The original Game & Watch would eat through batteries like a hungry piranha plant, but this version is rechargeable via the USB-C port. You should get up to eight hours out of it.

HOT SIX #3

HOT SIX #4

THE CRANKS ARE COMING

NEW ZELDA WORLD IN YOUR ARMS

Playdate

Between the brilliant Nintendo Switch and whatever smartphone is currently in your pocket, you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s no need for another handheld gaming machine. That is, until you meet the Playdate.

Announced last year but finally available to pre-order around the time you’re reading this, it’s a teeny handheld system with a black and white display, a D-pad, a few buttons, a built-in mono speaker and, most importantly, a flip-out crank handle on the side that can be used as a controller.

And now there’s an accessory: the Stereo Dock (pictured), a charger and speaker with Bluetooth… and a big yellow pen.

The Playdate is made by Panic – publisher of indie gems like Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game – in collaboration with Teenage Engineering. Just as interesting as its quirky design is Panic’s plan for distributing software to the console: you don’t buy physical games or download them from a store; instead, two new titles will be drip-fed to the system each week for a few months, so every release is a fresh surprise.

As hot as… mustard and/or custard $179 (including 24 games, Stereo Dock price tba) / play.date 10

Nintendo Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda Zelda fans might still be busy dissecting every single frame and pixel of the new Breath of the Wild sequel trailer from E3 (see p19)… but with anything up to 18 months to wait until that game is actually released, Nintendo has offered something to stop us going spare in the meantime: a dedicated handheld to mark the series’ 35th anniversary.

While it won’t be released until November, this special Game & Watch is crammed with enough Link-related goodness to keep anyone occupied for months, with the original The Legend of Zelda from 1986, 1987’s Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, and the Game Boy version of Link’s Awakening all pre-installed. Plus there’s a special version of Vermin, essentially Whack-a-Mole for the Game & Watch, with Link as the walloper.

Ninty’s also squeezed in a Zelda-themed clock and timer that are both playable – so even when you’ve finished the games you still have something to do. Maybe there’s no need to rush that new Switch title…

As hot as… Hyrule’s fireproof lizards £45 / store.nintendo.co.uk

A wink to the past If you like having your nostalgia glands tickled you’ll love the box this unit comes in.

It’s designed to mimic the original range, with the same gold hue and retro artwork.

The twinned waker Nintendo released a very similar Mario-themed Game & Watch last November. The start and select buttons are new here, but the screen looks like the same 2.36in job.

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Frou-frou boxes Rather than the usual Lego box that normal kits live in, your Lego Adidas Originals Superstar comes in its own shoebox. Just try not to throw it in the recycling.

HOT SIX #5 BLOCK ROCKIN’ FEETS Lego Adidas Originals Superstar

Earlier this year, Lego and Adidas teamed up to make some customisable Ultraboost running shoes, with three Lego stripes on each one and a selection of flat bricks that allowed you to give your kicks a unique look. The problem was they still felt more like trainers than Lego… but this Superstar is the other way around.

Instead of a foot-hugging Primeknit upper and responsive Boost midsole, you get a fully buildable Lego shoe. The final object is 27cm long and neatly mimics the original sneaker’s timeless form and design, with the trademark shell toe, heel tab and requisite three stripes. You even get laces to complete the effect.

But do you get a right or left shoe? You decide, by way of 17 extra elements in the box that can be used to switch between the two. Alternatively, buy a couple of the 731-piece sets and make one of each. Just don’t in a moment of madness try putting them on. Stepping barefoot on a Lego brick is bad enough; you’d need to be a total masochist to head out wearing entirely brick-built footwear.

As hot as… plastic underpants £80 / lego.com 12

Glory dais Your Superstar comes with a display stand, so you can show it off like you live in a shoe shop – or sneak it in with your real trainers and make them wonder what’s going on.

Alive and bricking Think you can improve on Adidas’s design? It’s possible to take some bricks from your Lego collection and add your own flourishes. A couple of Nike swooshes, perhaps?

HOT SIX #6 DRE DREAM BELIEVER

Beats Studio Buds Beats headphones aren’t exactly known for being affordable – what do you expect when Apple spent $3bn on buying the company from Dr Dre? – but at barely half the price of a pair of AirPods Pro, the new Studio Buds look like a bargain.

With active noise-cancelling, Siri-based voice control and support for Apple Music’s nifty new Spatial Audio tracks (see p21), you don’t have to make do without any of the fancier features you get on pricier buds – although it’s got to be said the 5hr battery life (with 10 more in the charging case) is a little bit stingy. Switch the noise-cancelling off and that jumps to 8+16hrs, but why have ANC if you’re not going to use it?

Each bud weighs just 5g, and with an IPX4 rating they’re not bothered by water or sweat, plus there’s a transparency mode in case you want to eavesdrop on your fellow commuters’ thrilling conversations about seahorse mating rituals. Their one-touch pairing also works with Android phones, which is unusual for an Apple product, but then these buds are all about nice surprises.

As hot as… a randy seahorse £130 / beatsbydre.com 13

V I

T A L S T A T S

THRALL OF THE LEITZ Leitz Phone 1

£tba / leica.com

First Leica lends its photo skills to the Chinese on Huawei phones, now it’s jumped into bed with the Japanese on a rebadged Sharp. What’s occurring?

O Dot stuff When just the strap for a Leica camera can cost £450, it’s hardly surprising that some people look for other ways to own something with that famous red dot on it – and if you find yourself in Japan any time soon you might be tempted to pick up a Leitz Phone 1. While some of Huawei’s fancier phones come with Leica-made cameras, this is the first mobile to come bearing the famous branding… although the spec sheet reveals some striking similarities to Sharp’s recent (also Japan-only) Aquos R6.

O Shot stuff While the Sharp doesn’t have the Leica logo, both phones come with 20MP f/1.9 wide-angle main cameras that use whopping 1in sensors. That should mean the pictures they spit out are a step or two above what you’d get from other blowers. On the front of the Leitz Phone 1 you get a 12.6MP selfie-snapper and 6.6in OLED with 240Hz refresh rate and under-display fingerprint sensor, while the whole thing is powered by a Snapdragon 888 CPU, 12GB of RAM and a 5000mAh battery; 256GB of storage rounds off an impressive overall package.

O Hot stuff The Leitz Phone 1 is certainly much more of a looker than that Aquos R6, with a chassis that combines matt black glass and metallic silver, plus a large circular camera module on the back that comes with its own proper lens-cap. That’s not ideal if time is of the essence when you’re trying to capture a fleeting moment, but it certainly suits the aesthetic.

Leica has helped to develop a special monochrome interface that runs on top of Android 11, while you also get a camera app that offers ‘Leitz Looks’ – perfect for capturing those arty Leica-style snaps.

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Bad weather can mean rad photos, so the Leitz Phone 1 has IP68 waterproofing.

Here’s Realme saying something

CAMERA COLLABS O OnePlus 9 Hasselblads were used during the Apollo moon landings; here on Earth, the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro have snappers developed with the Swedish manufacturer. from £629 / oneplus.com

REALME GT 5G Just days after the OnePlus Nord CE (reviewed on p67) was announced, Realme’s GT 5G spread its proverbial peacock feathers with the bold tagline of ‘flagship killer’. With a top-ranking Snapdragon 888, 65W fast charging, a 6.43in 120Hz AMOLED and a Sony 64MP triple camera, the specs suggest it’s a force to be reckoned with. Compared to its predecessor, performance is claimed to be up by 20% and power consumption down by 50%. The 4500mAh battery fully charges in 35 minutes and it’s packing Dolby Atmos speakers and a headphone port.

Realme hasn’t stopped there, with a Watch 2 (£50), Watch 2 Pro (£70) and, um, TechLife Robot Vacuum (€379) also announced. €449 / realme.com

O Huawei P40 Pro+ A number of Huawei’s phones come with cameras developed

by Leica, but the P40 Pro+ wins the prize for sheer quantity with five of them on the back. £800 / consumer.huawei.com

O Vivo X60 Pro Carl Zeiss has made lenses for Nokia and Sony phones in the past, but the latest to get help from the German optics expert is newcomer Vivo. £750 / vivo.com

Green green class of ’phones

THE HOUSE OF MARLEY POSITIVE VIBRATION XL ANC

A WHOPPING 1IN SENSOR SHOULD MEAN PICTURES ARE A STEP ABOVE OTHER PHONES

The House of Marley has pulled off something pretty remarkable with its new ANC headphones, because noise-cancellers costing this little are usually made from cheap plastic, adding to piles of e-waste. But these are engineered with FSC-certified wood and recyclable aluminium earcups, while the headband uses the company’s Rewind fabric weaved from reclaimed organic cotton, reclaimed hemp and recycled polyester.

These eco-friendly foldable puppies don’t scrimp on specs either: you get 40mm drivers with a ‘monitor mode’ to let a little noise in when needed. Battery life comes in at 26hrs with ANC on, or 32hrs with it off. £150 / thehouseofmarley.co.uk

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DUE 26 OCT

INNIT MARVELLOUS?

MARVEL’S GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY PS5, PS4, Xbox, PC, Switch (via cloud) When a publisher like Square Enix gets hold of the Marvel licence, you naturally expect big things – and even more so when the word ‘Avengers’ is uttered.

But it’s fair to say last year’s video-game take on everyone’s favourite superhero collective was a mixed bag, with a host of performance issues hurting the live-service title at launch, and grindy post-game content failing to give players much incentive to stick around once the entertaining campaign was done with.

So what’s next? Well, it’s perhaps not surprising that we’re getting a Guardians of the Galaxy game this year… but we wouldn’t have put any

money on it being the story-driven, entirely single-player title unveiled at E3. In Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy you play as Peter Quill, better known as Star-Lord, the self-appointed leader of those intergalactic outlaws, in an original comics-inspired adventure that looks very promising indeed.

And we hope Star-Lord is your favourite Guardian, because you only play as him. When beating up aliens in the game’s third-person combat sections, Quill is able to issue instructions to the other AI-controlled Guardians in real time, while there will be dialogue choices that affect how the story plays out. For example, in the fairly

lengthy E3 gameplay demo, we saw the Guardians squabbling over whether to sell Rocket or Groot in an attempt to make a bit of fast cash, with the final decision being left to Star-Lord. It’s a fun idea that seems well suited to a game featuring the Guardians, whose strange alliance is what makes them so watchable.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Guardians of the Galaxy game without a soundtrack rammed full of ’80s bangers, and here they’ll kick in when you trigger certain special attacks – because what scrap in space can’t be improved by a bit of Bonnie Tyler? It’s due out in October.

STARFIELD

XSX/S, PC Bethesda’s first totally new franchise in a quarter of a century was first teased three years ago, but we finally got a very brief look at what to expect from Starfield – and when to expect it. This space RPG, which its developer calls ‘the game we’ve dreamed of playing’, will let you create any character and explore with ‘unparalleled freedom’ when it arrives in November 2022.

METROID DREAD

Switch Quite literally the first entirely new side-scrolling Metroid game in 19 years, Metroid Dread captures the spirit of the seminal 2D classics with a dazzling new look. And while that will thrill old-school fans, it’s not all familiar mechanics: Samus has a new slide move and Phantom Cloak suit. We’ll get this one in October, and yes, Nintendo is still working on Metroid Prime 4…

ELDEN RING

PS5, PS4, Xbox, PC Elden Ring has been one of the most anticipated games on the horizon for a while now, as not only the latest game by FromSoftware but also a collaboration with Game of Thrones mastermind George RR Martin. The first proper gameplay reveal showed an epic fantasy battler that seems to have a bigger emphasis on magic in combat. It’s due out in January.

G A M E S E 3 S P E C I A L

DUE 9 NOV

MEXICAN RAVE

FORZA HORIZON 5 Xbox, PC E3 specialises in dangling flashy trailers in front of us, before cruelly revealing that we won’t actually be playing those games for several long years. But this is never the case with the Forza Horizon.

When Playground Games unveils a new entry in its great open-world racing series, it usually looks very nearly ready to send out of the door… and it’s the same story with Forza Horizon 5. Out in November

and looking predictably stunning in 4K @ 60fps with ray-tracing on the Xbox Series X, this title takes the series to Mexico in what its maker is calling its biggest game to date.

The diverse racing locales range from deserts and jungles to modern cities, crumbling ruins and even a snow-capped volcano, while dust fills your windscreen and tropical storms rage as Mexico’s dynamic

seasons test your car-handling skills. There’ll be a bigger focus on story than before, with a host of characters to assign you missions, plus a huge selection of vehicles to take on and off the roads.

Forza Horizon 5 will undoubtedly be a riot for strictly solo players, but this will once again be an online open world that lets you seamlessly enter challenges and events with both friends and

strangers as you play – and if its predecessor is anything to go by, new content will keep coming until the inevitable arrival of FH6.

Also new is Events Lab, which lets players create mini-games within the game, while cars can once again be given custom paint jobs that you can share with other players online. The only negative we can find is that November still feels like quite a while away. Sigh.

SEA OF THIEVES: A PIRATE’S LIFE

FAR CRY 6

HALO INFINITE

WARIOWARE: GET IT TOGETHER!

Xbox, PC Sea of Thieves… but make it Jack Sparrow. Yep, the online multiplayer pirate-’em-up has joined forces with Disney for a new storyline that will centre around the Pirates of the Caribbean rum-swigger.

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Xbox, PS5, PS4, PC, Luna, Stadia Far Cry’s oddball personality still shines through in the latest entry, with entertaining weapons and vehicles plus a wild rooster who can do your bidding. Add-ons will bring back previous Far Cry villains as playable characters.

Xbox, PC We still don’t have a nailed-on release date for the next Halo game, but Microsoft did show a snippet of campaign action as well as giving us a look at Infinite’s multiplayer, with a trailer featuring lots of jumping and explosions.

Switch Finally, Wario gets his day in the sun on the Switch, with a new WarioWare entry launching later this year. Expect the wacky vibe of past micro-game collections but with some new elements.

…AND WHAT WE DIDN’T GET

FRESH NINTY BREATH

ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD SEQUEL Switch

BATTLEFIELD 2042

Xbox, PS5, PS4, PC The next Battlefield game was revealed ahead of the expo, but it was at E3 that we got our first look at gameplay. The 2042 trailer showed off the new shooter’s 128-player battles, which look incredible – and bonkers.

The near-future setting means these massive matches will be sprinkled with futuristic tech, and we saw everything from parachuting tanks to explosive quad bikes. Players can use wingsuits to quickly move from ground skirmishes to the action taking place high above street level, while sandstorms and tornadoes will very quickly put an end to any strategy your squad might have.

You just can’t legislate for your chopper being hurled into the side of a building.

The lack of a campaign might disappoint some, but Battlefield 2042 could be the multiplayer event of the year when it arrives on 22 October (2021, not 2042).

Since its surprise announcement at E3 2019, we’ve heard almost nothing about the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, other than Nintendo occasionally telling us it doesn’t have anything to show.

But while we still have very little information, not even a proper title, we did finally get a new trailer at this year’s E3. And we’d advise Zelda fans who haven’t yet seen the new BOTW2 footage to hunt

it down the second you’ve finished reading this, as it really does look absolutely stunning.

The big takeaway is that we see Link soaring over what appears to be a collection of floating islands, above a much more familiar Hyrule than the one we saw in the original 2019 reveal. His trusty paraglider is seen cutting through clouds, and it appears our hero can even teleport upwards through solid surfaces.

This one should be out next year.

SABLE

MARIO + RABBIDS SPARKS OF HOPE

Xbox, PC, macOS We’ve been staring dreamy-eyed at this open-world exploration game for years now, whenever it’s emerged from its development cocoon… and this latest trailer is the most stunning yet. The release date is 23 September.

Switch Ubisoft’s mash-up franchise is getting another entry in 2022 with this follow-up to the early Switch gem Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, taking its inspiration from Super Mario Galaxy.

While there was news aplenty at this year’s show, E3 isn’t the extravaganza it once was.

There was a PS5-shaped hole in proceedings, with Sony opting once again to give it a miss. PlayStation has recently showed off a chunk of its biggest upcoming game, Horizon Forbidden West (above), but we’re still awaiting more information on what the future will look like for PS5 players.

The other major absence was EA, which will stream its annual EA Play Live event on 22 July. Expect plenty of FIFA, more Battlefield and

hopefully a few surprises when that rolls around.

As for games that didn’t show up, well, we couldn’t fit them all in here if we tried.

Skull and Bones (above), the Ubisoft pirate game that’s been in development for a lifetime, was nowhere to be seen. Nor were Fable 4, Pokemon Legends: Arceus or Everwild.

But perhaps the biggest surprise E3 no-show was the so-called Nintendo Switch Pro. Rumours of a powerful OLED-screened Switch with 4K graphics have been raging for a while… but at the time of writing, the House of Mario is still saying nothing.

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I C O N

IKEA SYMFONISK PICTURE FRAME WIFI SPEAKER £179 / ikea.com Ooh, that’s jazzy. But this is a gadget magazine, not Hartbeat.

Nice obscure ’80s reference. Bet you didn’t know Tony Hart served in the Gurkhas in the Second World War. But we digress, because what you’re looking at is art – only Ikea has shoved some music behind it with a little help from Sonos. Yes, the Symfonisk Picture Frame WiFi Speaker is a hanging frame with ‘room-filling sound’ that can be hung in landscape orientation… or portrait if you live your life like one long TikTok video.

Adding synth-pop group Art of Noise to the playlist, then?

Another nice ’80s reference – are you trying to alienate all of our readers? In fairness, though, the flat-panel wireless speaker should sound pretty good with Class-D amps, a 4in woofer and adjustable bass, treble and loudness. And because it’s part of the Sonos ecosystem you can link it to the company’s full range of devices.

At last, a special place to exhibit my challenging phallic art!

Not so fast, Neil Buchanan: your own art attacks will have to wait because the 570x410x60mm frame only takes Ikea’s own interchangeable covers. Still, at £17 each they’re a lot cheaper than a Banksy, and if you’re feeling particularly avant-garde you can pop it on the floor or stand it on a shelf using its anti-vibration rubber feet.

Neil Buchanan? You realise he’s 64 now?

Bet you didn’t know he played lead guitar in a heavy metal band. Other things to note about this speaker are that it supports AirPlay 2, can be stereo-paired or daisychained, and has a power cable that can be coiled up and stashed in a clever storage area at the rear. Oh, and you’ll find buttons located on the left-hand side, leaving you to push other people’s by banging on about the chiaroscuro in your intriguing original abstract from Ikea’s underrated early period.

20

IT ONLY TAKES IKEA’S OWN ART COVERS, BUT AT £17 THEY’RE A LOT CHEAPER THAN A BANKSY

I was made for oven view

OONI KARU 16 MULTI-FUEL PIZZA OVEN When it comes to impressing us with inches, it tends to be screen sizes in Stuff… but with Ooni’s latest outdoor oven it’s all about how big the pizza is. This new flagship furnace can handle 16 inches using wood, gas or charcoal-fuelled cooking. It’ll also roast meat, sear vegetables and bake bread – but let’s be serious, it’s all about the cheese discs. Heat things up to 500°C in 15 minutes then make stone-baked pizza in just 60 seconds, checking your bubbling baking base through the clear glass door. Ooni is the only home pizza oven maker certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) — the Italian body protecting true Neapolitan pizza – so please, hold the pineapple. £699 / uk.ooni.com

WTF IS APPLE SPATIAL AUDIO? Is this the US spelling of ‘special audio’?

Now, now. Spatial Audio – with Dolby Atmos, no less – creates immersive, multidimensional sound and clarity that comes from all around and above you, so think of it like surround sound but for music rather than dumb films. Sony is already doing something similar with 360 Reality Audio, but now there’s an Apple version and they won’t shut up about it.

Presumably it’s expensive?

Actually that’s the good bit, because Spatial Audio songs on Apple Music are available at no extra cost, which is a pretty hefty shot across the bows of streaming rivals like Spotify and Tidal. The upgrade is in addition to a catalogue of 75 million songs in Lossless Audio also available to Apple Music subscribers for £9.99 a month.

But I need Apple headphones, right?

Well, yes, you’ve got that bit right. Spatial Audio tracks will play on Apple Music by default in iOS 14.6 on all Apple AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, as well as the built-in speakers on the latest iPhones, iPads and Macs. How about HomePods? You’ll need a new Apple TV 4K (reviewed on p78) to go with them.

How do I set it up, then?

You give love a rad Naim

NAIM SOLSTICE SPECIAL EDITION If you need evidence that vinyl’s resurgence isn’t a passing fad, note that British audio brand Naim has seen fit to make the first turntable in its 50-year history. Just 500 are being made, each one with a plinth crafted from 47 separate layers of wood and an Equinox MC cartridge sitting in a solid aluminium housing machined from a single billet. The list of hi-fi nerd specs is long and distinguished, with a self-calibrating drive system, a tungsten and carbon-fibre tonearm, and phono stage tech nabbed from its £170,000 flagship Statement amplifier. Naim has labelled the coming of the Solstice as a ‘new dawn for music’, which is a bit much, but nevertheless we’ll take two. £16,000 / naimaudio.com

In Apple Music’s settings under Audio there’s an option to set Dolby Atmos to ‘Automatic’, ‘Always On’ or ‘Off’. Apple’s also building Spatial Audio authoring tools directly into music-making apps like Logic Pro – later this year it plans to release an update to Logic so anyone can create and mix songs in the format.

What’s there right now, Ed Sheeran?

Inevitably, along with “some of the world’s biggest artists and music across all genres”, and Apple has slapped a Spatial Audio badge on song details to make them easily discernible. There’s also a set of curated playlists remixed for the format.

21

22

S T R E A M

This month’s on-demand TV highlights range from the first cow to the last mercenary, via aliens, submarines and stupid furry pants

First Cow

War of the Worlds

The Last Mercenary

Not your usual sort of Western, First Cow explores the friendship between a baker and a Chinese wanderer in 19th-century Oregon.

Deciding to make their fortune by selling cakes, they’re faced with a problem: there’s only one cow in the territory and it’s the property of Toby Jones’ avaricious landowner.

Well, they could just go vegan…

Film / 9 July, Mubi

This ultra-loose Anglo-French adaptation of the HG Wells classic is a wee bit different to most. Low on spectacle, high on tension, it’s back for a second series promising to reveal more about the creepy Boston Robotics-esque interlopers that have set their sights on taking over our planet. Note to aliens: it’s a dump, don’t bother.

S2 / 16 July, Disney+ (Star)

The Muscles from Brussels may be a tad wizened and creaky these days, but fans of action flicks will be cheered to see Jean-Claude Van Damme back on the screen – even if it is in a French-language Netflix movie. JCVD plays a super-merc forced out of retirement for (you guessed it) one last job: to save his son from mobsters.

Film / 30 July, Netflix

Masters of the Universe: Revelation

Ted Lasso

Jungle Cruise

On paper, Ted Lasso never should have worked. The premise – brash American football coach takes over ailing English soccer team, despite knowing nothing about the sport or the country – is about as hackneyed as they come; but the first season’s wit and warmth won the critics (and us) over. Bring on the second.

S2 / 23 July, Apple TV+

In this Disney family adventure based on the real-life theme-park ride, Emily Blunt plays an intrepid chemist who enlists Dwayne Johnson’s grizzled riverboat captain to find a mythical healing tree in the Amazon basin… but a villainous German submariner is determined to beat them to it.

All sounds perfectly plausible.

Film / 30 July, Disney+ Premier Access

Kevin Smith, famous for making films where stoned slackers talk about He-Man and Skeletor, has been handed the keys to the cult cartoon franchise for a miniseries of his own. Smith says it’ll have a more mature direction than the original… even though Prince Adam is still wearing furry underpants.

S1 / 23 July, Netflix

Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, in a blockbuster Marvel origins movie where the elite Soviet-spy-turned-superhero returns home to confront her demons and make peace with former comrades while being pursued by a seemingly unstoppable enemy. She mostly does this in a leather jumpsuit, aided by a supporting cast of Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz and David Harbour.

It hits cinemas at the same time; expect to pay £20 for home comforts.

DO M N’ TH ISS T IS

Black Widow Film / 9 July, Disney+ Premier Access

23

W H E E L S

Genesis GV80

BRAND OF CONFUSION

NEWS DASHBOARD

£62,915 / genesis.com Genesis? Never heard of ’em.

Cor, don’t tell Phil Collins… but in the case of the car brand you’re not alone: it only launched in 2015 and has slowly been edging out of its native South Korea to tout its blingy bits to the rest of the world.

It’s a posh subsidiary of Hyundai, a bit like Lexus is to Toyota.

Is there a bit of Bentley in there?

Well, the logo’s certainly a little bit ‘wingy’… and former Bentley designer Luc Donckerwolke is chief creative officer at Genesis.

Actually there are loads of nods to the premium players, from the knurled metal surfaces on the indicator stalks to the whopping grille at the front. It’s Korea’s take on a Bentayga or a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, but priced to rival BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

And what’s going on inside?

You can say what you like about the GV80, but you have to admire

24

the sheer amount of gadgetry included here. There’s a smart cruise control system that uses machine learning to adapt to your driving style; the suspension uses a camera to read the road ahead and actively adjust damping; active noise-cancellation in the cabin keeps it nice and quiet; and the satnav uses AR to overlay information on a live video feed of the road ahead. Oh, and you can get out and it’ll park itself.

So how does it drive?

Bit of a mixed bag. The 3.0-litre six-cylinder diesel is smooth and powerful, delivering a big glut of torque, yet it remains very quiet and refined inside. The same can’t be said for the handling, which isn’t the most direct, nor the ride, which gets muddled at low speeds.

The 22in rims of the top-spec version we drove probably don’t help, but this car’s European rivals definitely drive better.

Strangely for a new maker, there’s no hybrid option – just turbocharged petrol or diesel. But the next generation is likely to be all-electric.

COSMIC MEG

AS KIAS GO BY

JAG IT UP

The Megane E-Tech Electric is Renault’s second proper stab at a mainstream all-leccy vehicle after the popular Zoe. It’s wearing funky camouflage but what you see is likely to be what you’ll get when it launches in 2022.

Under the skin is a 60kWh battery and a 214bhp e-motor for around 280 miles of range.

Kia has booked its Sportage in for a bit of plastic surgery, and this fifth-gen model is arguably the boldest yet. Not a face you’re going to forget in a hurry, is it? And if you’re not a fan, fret not, because Europe will be getting its very own Sportage this time around… hopefully without so much going on up front.

The Jaguar E-Pace has been refreshed and is now finally available as a plug-in hybrid. Combining a 197bhp 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine, a 15kWh battery and a 108bhp electric motor, it’s the most powerful E-Pace out there… and you can now cruise for up to 34 miles on battery power alone.

TOTAL PRIZE VALUE £1895

WIN AN EPIC HI-FI SYSTEM FROM ROKSAN AND MONITOR AUDIO! You can bang on about wireless speakers all you like, but every true audiophile knows there’s no substitute for a proper hi-fi setup. So to celebrate the launch of Roksan’s all-new Attessa range, the award-winning British brand has teamed up with Monitor Audio to offer one lucky Stuff reader a state-of-the-art sound system worth £1895.

This amazing prize bundle includes Roksan’s new Attessa Streaming Amplifier, plus a pair of Monitor Audio’s Bronze 100 bookshelf speakers and some AudioQuest Rocket 11 cables.

The Attessa Streaming Amplifier is the linchpin of a class-leading hi-fi system, whether you’re listening to music, gaming or watching TV. It also supports 20+ streaming services and can stream to up to 64 zones, all controllable via smartphone, while the phono stage allows for easy connection to a turntable.

See roksan.com and monitoraudio.com for more, but make sure you enter the competition first…

HOW TO ENTER

Ready to rock out with Roksan? For your chance to win this month’s competition, simply go to stuff.tv/win and answer this question:

THE NAME ROKSAN IS DERIVED FROM WHICH PERSIAN PRINCESS? A… Roxette B… Roxy Music C… Roxana

HURRY!

COMPETITION CLOSES 12 AUGUST 2021

Terms & conditions: 1 Open to UK residents aged 18 or over.

2 Entries close 11.59pm, 12 August 2021. 3 Prizes are as stated.

4 Prizes are non-transferable. 5 Only one entry per person.

Full Ts & Cs: kelsey.co.uk/competition-terms-conditions/ Promoter: Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Maidstone, Kent ME18 6AL.

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M asters of reativity C Try the range of FUJIFILM X Series cameras and lenses with free 48-hour kit loans to unleash your creativity

“X-S10 makes a lot of sense for a lot of people”

“If you own an APS-C DSLR and want to switch to a smaller, lighter mirrorless system, quite simply this is the camera for you.”

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FIRST TEST SONY WF-1000XM4

Every bud ear’s happy nowadays With so many fine active noise-cancelling true wireless rivals around, Sony has hit back by making its own in-ears smaller and lighter – while piling on the features

£250 / stuff.tv/WFXM4

ony is the reason there are so many brilliant active noise-cancelling true wireless earphones around right now.

The company kicked the whole thing off in 2017 with the original WF-1000X buds, and since then everyone else has been playing catch-up – some

[ Words Simon Lucas ]

S

with more success than others.

And while the WF-1000XM3s were always near the top of the class, in the two years they’ve been on sale everyone from Sennheiser and Bose to Bowers & Wilkins and now Devialet (see p32) has been trying to take the crown.

But anyone who expected Sony to just fiddle around the

edges of a proven design is going to be surprised. The WF-1000XM4 is Sony’s latest demonstration of the state of the art, and it’s an entirely new design, fresh from the ground up. The earbuds themselves are smaller and lighter than before (7.3g per bud) and the charging case they live in is fully 40% more compact than the old

model. The packaging is reduced too, and it’s now all paper-based and recyclable.

Despite reducing the physical dimensions, though, Sony has been able to include a stack of new features – from adaptive noise-cancellation to fast pairing for Android and Windows. All the buds have to do now is sound better than all their rivals…

29

FIRST TEST SONY WF-1000XM4

1

AAC in the UK

Wireless link-up is via Bluetooth 5.2, which is right at the cutting edge. There’s support for SBC and AAC codecs, as well as Sony’s own LDAC hi-res offering – good news for Xperia owners. But there’s not a sniff of aptX or any of its derivatives.

2 Get a chip on yourself The entire audio chain in these buds is new. The V1 processor and its associated amplification are both fresh designs, and once they’ve finished dealing with your digital audio file they pass it to an equally new pair of 6mm full-range neodymium drivers (1).

4 Kick out the slams The active noise-cancelling will adapt to your surroundings to give you the optimum experience whatever you’re doing. And Sony has also developed some new polyurethane eartips (3) for more passive noise-reduction than ever before.

2

3 Rockaway speech Just say the familiar wake word and Google Assistant or Alexa will spring into life – and thanks to the three mics in each earbud (2), voice commands are heard and acted on quickly. Siri is available too, if you want to make things less quick and simple.

5 London squalling There’s some extensive EQ adjustment available in Sony’s control app, including two slots for your own custom settings.

Some of the presets are worth experimenting with, although the one labelled ‘Excited’ isn’t quite as exciting as we hoped.

Good Meh Evil

T co hey m ’re fo s rt m ab a ly ll e at no th ug W ef h i cli re irs bu ng le s ta td on s c tte on ev on m ’t f en ne pt it ov cti . er on Be m is fu in or ra nc g a e t pid tio bl ha , a ns e t o n 1 nd is d 0m th a n ec . ey ice ide In , e on No fac r, to ot t, t to u he his uc ch rb e h. -c n ra ti on nd re tro co co l Fiv m nt es ro pa e l d) mi clo ap ke nu se p is ep te . g st so re at he n t . h m e Yo w m o bu u m rk ain rs ig ing s ts h fo (or ,t tn ra aQ ho e nh i ug ed h – th ou r. ba ose tte fiv ry elife mi is nut Th so e th e -s is XM o. on 3 e w ch ill arg sli in pi g nt ca o se Th ap w an es oc as di e ke m nf bu or ds t e as m s as siv at ou ily e; ive n . ,w dg ith rea ‘D lov t – au SE el na di E E y tu o x ba ra fil tr ss l es e . so me un ’ c d h laim i-r s es to . It m do ake es b no asic t.

24 hours with the Sony WF-1000XM4s

2mins 30

5mins

10mins 20mins

8hrs

9hrs

10hrs

11hrs

12hrs

FIRST TEST SONY WF-1000XM4

Tech specs

1

3

Audio 6mm neodymium drivers Connectivity Bluetooth 5, USB-C and Qi charging Battery life 8hrs (buds), 16hrs (case) Waterproof rating IPX4 Weight 7.3g each, 41g case

Best buds forever?

A Ot NC he is r b eff ud ec s d tiv o er a b ig Th it ht u by e be p p th as tte un e i si r h til m ve pr n er it i ov oi e. sn ed se ’t.

An ea -is o co d r tip lat ul ca s i ion d h ll q si o av ua m ff e a lit pr er y es ed ch is siv f a So t d lat e. a H ny ur -o ing ut i-R ’s L es DA a h sup Au C ur er ric b. di is a o d an Yo W ec e. u ire e Ha n l es t c W ve s c od F- n’ 10 t y er ec tif – 00 et ica w f XM ou te ith n 4s d . do a s t n’t yl th e o ink f m is us br ic illi th an e t.

So the specs and features are impressive, but what’s it like to hang out with Sony’s new noise-cancellers?

20hrs

21hrs 22hrs

23hrs

24hrs

Q Blasting

Q Lasting

The sound is really accomplished: balanced, vibrant and articulate.

There’s plenty of punch and drive, but lots of subtlety too, and they never let even the finest details escape.

Battery life is in the ‘good but not great’ category.

With ANC on they’ll run for around 8hrs, and there are two charges in the case. So unless you cane the volume you should be OK for a 24hr solo party.

Q Tweaking

Q Speaking

Sony’s control app is the best around. As well as adjusting EQ and ANC levels, you can assign specific commands to the touch controls and deploy Speak-to-Chat automatic pausing.

Sony has put a lot of effort into improving call quality, and a bone-conducting vibration sensor ensures clarity is immaculate. The feed-forward mics even switch off if they detect too much wind noise.

With the arguable exceptions of call quality and app slickness, the Sony WF-1000XM4s aren’t quite the best at anything. But they’re so close to being the best at everything that their all-round game is untouchable. No other true wireless noise-cancelling earbuds are so consistently accomplished across the board. @OnlySimonLucas

STUFF SAYS +++++ The best true wireless earbuds around – small(er) is beautiful and this is the complete package 31

FIRST TEST SONY WF-1000XM4

The new alternative: Devialet Gemini For just £29 more, you can go full-on audiophile… or can you? £279 / stuff.tv/Gemini Q Yep, there’s room for one more on the ANC wireless bandwagon… and it’s French luxury hi-fi brand Devialet, bounding up to the top deck with a pair of surprisingly inexpensive in-ears that promise high-class sound and hi-tech noise-cancelling. Even if they do look a bit like big clompy boots.

Let’s go drippin’ The buds are rated IPX4, so they can stand the odd splash, and they’ll handle calls and voice-assistant commands as well as music.

Q Do you like acronyms? You’ll love these. They’ve got EAM (ear active matching), whereby the buds tune their sound to the shape of your ear canals; PBA (pressure balance architecture) to regulate the amount of air inside; and IDC (internal delay compensation) for more accurate ANC in the high frequencies.

Q They should sound amazing, shouldn’t they? But on first listen, the Geminis’ edgy aggression has us wincing. Luckily, a visit to the app’s EQ screen is all it takes to swap ‘excitement’ for something a lot smoother. With dips on the 1.25kHz and 4kHz bands, we’re suddenly in happy hi-fi land: the balance is perfect and the sheer space in the midrange is joyous.

Q Is this the most powerful ANC ever? No, but if you just want to silence general hubbub it’s highly effective. It’s also very natural, cutting evenly across the range so the world seems to be turned down a few notches rather than weirdly hollowed out.

Tech specs

[ Words Richard Purvis ]

Audio 10mm drivers Connectivity Bluetooth 5, USB-C and Qi charging Battery life 6hrs (buds), 18hrs (case) Waterproof rating IPX4 Weight 7g each, 76g case

32

There’s nothing special about these buds’ design, charging case, battery life, ANC or app… and the sound out of the box is overhyped. But who cares when what you’re getting here (eventually) is proper hi-fi brilliance for under £300?

STUFF SAYS +++++ These in-ears are capable of delectable sonic refinement

Q Phones

Q Tones

Q Zones

Devialet’s simple Android/iOS app lets you choose from three levels of ANC and two levels of transparency for when you do want to hear the real world, as well as checking on the buds’ battery levels.

The app’s EQ screen includes a number of presets, but dragging the nodes on the graphic equaliser up and down is much more fun.

You can also alter the left/right balance, for some reason.

The buds have touch-sensitive outer surfaces that handle the usual play/pause, ANC on/off and call functions with short or long presses.

Double-press functions can be customised in the app.

Mini meme

O Todoist The most popular entry on this page, Todoist ticks all the boxes you might include on your ‘get a solid task manager’ list – and more, such as natural language input. It’s simple enough for newbs to grasp but flexible for those who want extra. And it’ll work offline when you’re in a tunnel. Just be mindful that some key features (reminders, filters, labels) are gated behind premium payments. £free (IAP) / Android, iOS

YOU KNOW WHAT TO-DO Well, you will once you’ve read this… if you need help getting things done and scraps of paper are no longer cutting it, try these mobile task managers

Organise your life

APPS

p74

O Things This app wants you to spend as much time cooing at its design as getting things done. But it isn’t just gloss – Things helps you get to important tasks quickly, browse what’s coming up and construct entries in a way that makes sense. The magic ‘+’ can be dragged to insert items where you want them, the visual structure marries looks with legibility, and pop-over search further boosts efficiency. £9.99 / iPhone O £19.99 / iPad

O TickTick

O Twobird

O Agenda

O Microsoft To Do

With a name that sounds like an invitation to anxiety, TickTick gets off on the wrong foot.

Fortunately, it’s packed with features that help you blaze through tasks. You get all the usual creation and checklist tools, but there’s also a pomodoro timer that trains you to use time more efficiently and a habit planner to improve life patterns – be that setting up tasks or remembering to eat. £free (IAP) / Android, iOS

Feel like you’ve enough inboxes?

Twobird invites you to smash two of them together: email and reminders. The aim is to help you focus on imminent and important tasks, since they’re now all in one place.

The system’s collaborative elements make it feel a bit like Slack… only without your message history vanishing when everyone doesn’t pay.

(Twobird is entirely free.) £free / Android, iOS

Another app that mashes reminders and task-juggling into something else, Agenda bases all its planning around notes. For wordier types who like having reminders and tasks in context, this is a boon. You can add imagery, link items to your calendar, and browse the full timeline to recall why you made specific decisions that resulted in a task going spectacularly well – or horribly wrong. £free (IAP) / iOS

If you’re an old hand and are wondering why we omitted Wunderlist, we didn’t. Microsoft crossed it off its own list years back, gobbling up the creators and regurgitating parts of their app into its own. Compared to rivals, To Do is basic – but that can be good if you want to keep things simple. And you won’t need to add ‘Take out subscription’ as your first task, because it’s completely free. £free / Android, iOS

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SUN CRAVERS

POST-SHAVERS

CLOSE SHAVERS

UPVOTED

The hippy healer

The nutty nick-stopper

The friendly frother

Doers of London Shave Cream All-natural, vegan-friendly and in appropriately trendy packaging, this non-foaming cream contains organic birch extract to relieve redness, organic grapeseed oil rich in antioxidants, shea butter to nourish the skin, plus vetiver and myrrh oil to heal your skin. Proper posh like. £14 (100ml) / doersoflondon.com

Kiehl’s Smooth Glider Shave Lotion This long-lasting gel contains some rather wacky essential oils – including kukui nut, which not only gives off a lovely woody aroma but also helps soften facial hair in prep for the razor’s edge, ensuring a frictionless shave. The result? A mug so smooth you’ll put toddlers to shame. £17 (150ml) / kiehls.co.uk

Gruum Når Aloe Vera Shave Bar Help save the baby seals and earn yourself an eco-warrior badge with this plastic-free alternative to a tube of gel, made with zero palm oil. Handmade in England, the 100%-natural bar is applied directly to the face like your grandma’s block of soap.

Simply lather up and you’re ready to shave. £8 (95g) / gruum.com

The witchy wonder

MEN’S SKINCARE

Origins Fire Fighter Does shaving leave you feeling like you’ve had your head wedged inside a wasps’ nest? Then check out this soothing balm.

Loaded with healing winterbloom (a type of witch-hazel), it helps calm razor-scraped skin by reducing stinging. You’ll soon feel cooler than the Fonz in a fridge. £16 (50ml) / origins.co.uk

The hybrid hydrator

The marine marvel

The papaya protector

Jaxon Lane Rain Or Shine Like the best hybrid laptops or a bottle of Wash & Go, Jaxon Lane’s SPF50+ sunscreen is a two-in-one. It carries all the necessary UVA and UVB protection, but doubles as a super-light daily moisturiser with vitamin E that doesn’t leave you feeling like you’ve rubbed yourself in lard. £26 (60ml) / mrporter.com

Clinique For Men Super Energizer SPF 40 Anti-Fatigue Hydrating Concentrate This sweat-resistant moisturising gel has a very long-winded name indeed. More importantly, it includes caffeine and sea whip coral extract to wake up tired skin (ideal after a heavy night out), with an SPF40 rating to fend off the merciless sun. £40 (48ml) / clinique.co.uk

Lumin UV-Defense Moisturizing Balm This all-in-one formula shields your skin from sun damage with its SPF30 rating, while anti-ageing ingredients work to give you that fresh-out-of-the-botox-clinic feeling. Well, not quite, but the papaya extract will help fight early signs of ageing by tightening the appearance of the skin. £23 (30ml) / store.luminskin.com

HOW TO DECIDE 34

Want a face smoother than a baby’s bum? Ew. Lee Bell slathers himself in the top shave, post-shave and anti-sun saviours…

The botanical benefactor Aesop Moroccan Neroli Post-Shave Lotion It’s not only snakes you’ll be charming with this Moroccan-inspired hydrator from Aesop. Pleasing the nostrils with fine botanical oils such as sandalwood and neroli blossom, it lightly hydrates the skin while pacifying post-shave irritation. What’s more, it’s great for all skin types. £37 (60ml) / aesop.com

1 Know your nose The basic skin types for men are oily, dry and sensitive (though some can be a mix of all three). Most brand concessions in department stores will do a test to help you determine yours.

2 Widen your wallet Even on a tight budget, you can find high-quality skincare – see above. But step things up a little if you can: more expensive products are often loaded with better, stronger ingredients.

UPVOTED

The seaweed soother Harry’s Post-Shave Mist The equivalent of having your own anti-bacterial air-conditioning system, Harry’s Mist is a post-shave summer skin cooler packed with natural ingredients like seaweed, aloe and Thai basil, plus mint, eucalyptus and tea-tree essential oils. The spray is part of a wider skincare range that includes a face wash, toner, night lotion (sung in the style of Night Fever), day lotion, eye cream and blemish treatment for spotty oiks. £11 (100ml) / harrys.com

3 Save your skin When shopping, study the ingredients – some you’ll want to avoid. Generally, anything with sodium lauryl sulfate, parabens or unspecified ‘fragrances’ risks doing more harm than good.

4 Protect your planet Most new brands care about sustainability, but not all. Check out EWG’s Skin Deep website at ewg.org/skindeep – this rates brands and products based on their environmental policies.

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DIGITAL EDITION

Available from shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff plus Readly and Pocketmags

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GOT MY MOJO, WORKING Of course many of us can work absolutely anywhere – it’s just a shame it took a pandemic for everyone else to figure it out.

Perversely, the following selection of productivity gadgets aims to help you free up more time for doing absolutely nothing.

In Batman pyjamas, if that’s how you choose to live your life.

THE COMMUTER p38

THE HOMEWORKER p40

THE DIGITAL NOMAD p42

THE STUDENT p44

THE ARTY TYPE p46

Oh God, you’ve got to go back to an actual place of work, with people. Get more done, bunk off early, and speed home quicker with these tech tools.

Desktop dazzlers, Wi-Fi-weaving wonders and planet-friendly printers for people who think the office is a place where you buy espadrilles.

Time to decamp to paradise for Wi-Fi and wanderlust, telling everyone who cares to listen that you’re the next big thing in ‘drop shipping’. You berk.

Our top picks for computing on a budget and home accessories to make Pot Noodle-stained hovels appear ever so slightly more inhabitable.

A dual-screen laptop for doodling, a phone for making those presentations pop, and A/V goodies for opening the taps on those gooey creative juices.

[ Words Tom Wiggins ]

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GET MORE DONE The trying game

Fancy a lunch-break game of Fortnite? You’ll need to dial back the details. The biggest new games are out of the question, but 2D titles and older stuff should run fine.

My sweet board

The speakers fire up through the keyboard tray and are optimised for Dolby Atmos. There’s no distortion when you crank up the volume, and the tonal balance is rather good.

Tap of the world

Whether you opt for a cool metal or warm Alcantara keyboard, you’ll get one of the most comfortable typing experiences of any notebook, with springy but quiet keys.

ALTERNATIVELY… SAMSUNG GALAXY BOOK GO Slim and shockproof, Samsung’s 14in Galaxy Book Go could just be a commuter’s dream. It uses Qualcomm’s energy-efficient Snapdragon 7C Gen 2 processor with 128GB of storage, which should be plenty for catching up on emails and finishing off that presentation on your way in. from £399 / samsung.com

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THE COMMUTER So, it’s back to the office after a lifetime away… whether or not you’ve been secretly looking forward to it, this lot will help you slip into the old routine again NOW ADD THESE

MICROSOFT SURFACE LAPTOP 4

NOW APP THESE

from £999 / stuff.tv/SurfaceLap4

hen you’re only commuting as far as the kitchen table, it’s not really a problem if your laptop weighs as much as a fat spaniel; but if you’re heading to the office via train/bus/jetpack, you’ll want to carry as little bulk as you can… and at just 1.27kg, the sleek Surface Laptop 4 is a strong candidate.

Crafted from aluminium with optional fuzzy Alcantara, it balances skinniness with sensible cooling. Armed with an Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, our entry-level model showed no signs of strain when running a handful of work apps, a browser filled with open tabs and Spotify in the background. It’ll cope with heavy-duty stuff like video editing too, but not with the same ease as Apple’s M1 chip.

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Porty fears two There are some compromises when it comes to connectivity: just one USB-A, one USB-C and a headphone port. But the 2256x1504 3:2 display is great for fitting in two documents side by side, and while the bezels around it could certainly be smaller, you probably won’t even notice unless someone sits down next to you with something super-skinny.

The battery life can be bettered, but it’ll be more than enough to get you from nine to five with some catching up on emails or Netflix on the way home – unless you’ve opted for the jetpack that day, in which case you should probably watch out for chimneys and crows.

KEY SPECS O 13.5in 2256x1502 LCD touchscreen O 11th-gen Intel Core i5 O 8/16/32GB RAM O 256/512GB/1TB SSD O Windows 10 O USB-C, USB-A, 3.5mm, Surface Connect O Up to 19hrs O 308x223x14.5mm, 1.27kg

STUFF SAYS ++++, Microsoft’s ultraportable gets a handy performance boost

BOSE QUIET COMFORT EARBUDS Remember public transport? Big tin cans full of people honking on about last night’s telly and what they’ve got for lunch?

If you’re looking for something to block that out, the ace noise-cancelling and equally brilliant sound quality on Bose’s QC Earbuds will transport you far away from the top deck of the 155. £250 / bose.co.uk

AIRPOP ACTIVE+ HALO SMART MASK With any luck masks won’t be mandatory on public transport forever – but if you fancy knowing a bit more about what’s hitching a ride in your lungs, this is like a Fitbit for your face.

Its sensor pairs with Apple HealthKit and records things like breathing rate and particles blocked. £150 / airpophealth.com

EMBER MUG²

GOCYCLE G4

While everyone else in the office slurps their tea out of those massive Sports Direct mugs that seem to magically multiply overnight, any true brew aficionado knows they’re likely to get pulled into a meeting and come back to a cold cuppa.

So the self-heating Mug2 keeps your hot drink at a preset temperature for up to 90 minutes. £130 / ember.com

There’s not a lot of point investing in a fancy electric bike if some rascal comes along and nicks it, so picking something you can fold up and never let out of your sight makes a lot of sense. Gocycle is the master of squashable e-cycling and the new G4 uses more carbon fibre to keep the weight down, while a new motor delivers more torque. £3399 / gocycle.com

HARBER LONDON LAPTOP BRIEFCASE

GROOV-E GV-WM6 WIRELESS CAR MOUNT

You could travel to work with all your essentials shoved in a Tesco bag-for-life, but is that really the impression you want to give? This laptop briefcase comes in 13in or 16in sizes, but both have space for a tablet too. It comes in tan, black or deep brown. from £379 / harberlondon.com

There’s nothing more annoying than getting in your car to find you forgot to fuel up your phone overnight. But this charger, mounted to the windscreen or air vents, welcomes a low battery, its IR auto-grip system clamping onto your phone for the journey.

And wireless charging means no fiddliness. £30 / groov-e.co.uk

POCKET Sometimes your commute is the only chance you get to catch up on reading.

Pocket is the ideal app to collect all the stuff you haven’t had time for. £free / Android, iOS

OVERCAST Rather than listening to other people’s phone calls, Overcast is a great way to fill your ears with podcasts, with clever features to enhance the talky bits. £free / Android, iOS

HEADSPACE The late-running 07:57 might not be the ideal place for meditation, but Headspace is packed with stuff to help you shake off your daily stress. £free / Android, iOS

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THE HOMEWORKER If you’ve cancelled your commute for good and now only get dressed from the waist up on weekdays, welcome to your ultimate working-from-home setup NOW ADD THESE

APPLE iMAC 24IN

NOW APP THESE

from £1249 / stuff.tv/iMac24

FOCUS Can’t trust yourself not to get distracted by a Reddit thread that’s just pictures of bread stapled to trees?

Focus lets you create a timed blocklist. £4.49/m / macOS

COFFITIVITY Missing the general hubbub of the office?

Coffitivity plays the ambient soundtrack of a coffee shop, with three environments to choose from. from £free / web, macOS

BETTER SNAPTOOL There aren’t many things that Windows does better than macOS, but it has the edge in arranging your open apps.

BetterSnapTool fixes that. £2.99 / macOS

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NETGEAR WI-FI 6 ORBI Some people don’t spend £700 on their laptop, let alone their Wi-Fi… but if you have to get a good signal to every corner of your crib, this is the daddy of mesh networking.

The modules are pretty hefty but just two of them can bathe up to 4000ft2 in 6Gbps Wi-Fi, with enough capacity for over 100 devices. from £700 / store.netgear.co.uk

GOOGLE NEST HUB Unless you’ve bribed one of the kids into being your PA during the school holidays, nobody’s going to respond if you start barking orders and asking who your 2pm is with, so why not get a Nest Hub? Its 7in screen offers easy access to your calendar and you can ask it to play whatever music you want. £90 / store.google.com

BREVILLE ONE-TOUCH VCF108

HUMANSCALE FREEDOM HEADREST

With all the money you’ve saved by not stopping off in Costabucks every day you could probably treat yourself to a Porsche… or at least a decent coffee machine to satisfy your craving at home instead. This one lets you use either ground beans or pods, depending on how long your to-do list is. £149 / breville.co.uk

WFH rule no1: don’t work from bed. That’s easy to say when you’ve got a nice chair to prop yourself up in, but not if you’ve been sitting at the kitchen table since last March.

Humanscale’s chairs aren’t cheap, but this one’s self-adjusting recliner system takes the strain off your poor aching body. from £862 / uk.humanscale.com

MEACOFAN 1056 AIR CIRCULATOR

EPSON ECOTANK ET-2720

Sometimes it’s worth putting up with inane office bantz if it means access to aircon when summer turns the heating up; but if you’re full-time WFH, that’s not an option. While the 12-speed 1056 fan isn’t much of a looker, its circular oscillation means you get cool air blasted into every nook and cranny. £100 / meaco.com

Like unlimited toilet rolls and help-yourself stationery, free printing is a perk that disappears when you leave the office behind. If you’d rather not fork out for new ink every few weeks, Epson’s EcoTank printers support Apple AirPrint and have big old tanks that should last years between refills. £200 / epson.co.uk

f your home is also your office your computer doesn’t need to be portable, but Apple’s latest iMac is so slim and light it’s almost like having a laptop that’s been torn in two, or an iPad Pro fixed to its own stand.

Of course, you can’t get a MacBook or an iPad with a 24in 4.5K Retina screen; so if it’s pixels you’re after, the iMac delivers in spades, with impressive brightness and superb colours.

Speaking of colours, it comes in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver, so you can choose one to match the decor of that home office you carefully converted the spare bedroom into when it looked like lockdown was here to stay. Even the mouse, keyboard and magnetic power cable are co-ordinated. Nice.

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M1 can fall in love The new iMac is powered by Apple’s M1 chip – and it’s just as much of a success here as it is in the MacBooks, particularly with apps that are optimised for it. Even with only 8GB of RAM it makes light work of almost anything with not a whisper of complaint from the fan. It can’t be upgraded, though, so go for 16GB if you might need a bit more oomph in the future.

Apple reckons this iMac has the best camera, speakers and mics ever. You won’t want to record an album or shoot a movie with one, but even though the screen can’t be adjusted vertically, Janet from marketing is unlikely to complain that she can’t see or hear you on Zoom. Whether that’s a good thing or not is your business.

KEY SPECS O 23.5in 4480x2520 Retina O Apple M1 O 8/16GB RAM O 256/512GB/1/2TB SSD O macOS Big Sur O 2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB 4), 2x USB 3 (8-core only), 3.5mm O Mains power O 547x461x14.7cm, 4.46kg

STUFF SAYS +++++ Smart, slim, silent – the new iMac is the only all-in-one worth considering

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Touch a shame

The keyboard that comes with the pricier models includes Touch ID. It works a treat, but we can’t help but feel Face ID using the webcam would have been even better.

My plug buddy

There’s no SD card slot, and the base model comes with fewer USB ports and no Ethernet (it’s on the power brick of the others), but there is a headphone socket for old-timers.

Chinny love

The 4480x2520 screen has fairly prominent bezels, with a chin that contains the speakers and the brains needed to stop this iMac from being just a very colourful monitor.

ALTERNATIVELY… LG GRAM 17 If you’d rather something a little more portable but don’t want to completely compromise on screen size, LG’s Gram 17 offers more display than most ultraportables but still only weighs 1.35kg. It’s not underweight when it comes to power or battery life, though. from £1400 / lg.com

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GET MORE DONE Wide my llama

You get 12MP wide and 10MP ultrawide cameras on the back, so if you really must you can use this iPad to take fairly decent photos – though doing so can be a bit unwieldy.

RAM rap!

If you opt for the priciest 1TB/2TB models you’ll get 16GB of RAM, presumably in order to cope with all your fancy content, whereas the lesser ones make do with 8GB.

ALTERNATIVELY… HUAWEI MATEPAD PRO 12.6IN Don’t want an iPad Pro but not convinced by any of the standard Android alternatives? Now there’s a third option. The 12.6in MatePad Pro runs Huawei’s HarmonyOS and it works a lot like Apple’s iPadOS, although obviously without anywhere near the same level of app support. €799 (est) / consumer.huawei.com

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High ’boltage

The USB-C port also supports Thunderbolt and USB 4, so you can plug in an external drive.

Monitor support is limited to mirroring, so you’ll get black bars up the sides.

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THE DIGITAL NOMAD When the whole world is your office, you don’t need to get a pass from HR… but you do need a different kind of approach to kitting up for optimum productivity NOW ADD THESE

APPLE iPAD PRO 12.9IN

NOW APP THESE

from £999 / stuff.tv/iPadPro

eing a digital nomad in the age of Covid might mean you spend more time on the beaches of Bridlington than Bali – but when globetrotting does return, having an iPad Pro stashed in your bag will mean you’re ready to work from anywhere. Possibly even Bognor.

Apple’s cleverest rectangle hasn’t changed much on the outside, but opt for the 12.9in version and you now get a stonking Liquid Retina XDR display. Its 64ppi resolution isn’t a great leap from the 11in model, but brightness, colour and contrast are streets ahead. Things just look more vibrant, highlights are more intense, and blacks almost look like they could suck in time itself.

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Flit and working again The M1 chip inside puts up figures that are comparable with the iMac on p40; and with pro-grade apps for everything from video and photo editing to writing and boring old spreadsheets, the whole ‘you can’t do real work on an iPad’ argument just doesn’t hold water any more.

With 5G support on the cellular model and an ultrawide 12MP camera that uses Apple’s Centre Stage tech to make sure you’re always in shot on video calls, it’s also ideal for keeping in touch with your beloved colleagues.

For typing, Apple’s new Magic Keyboard is taking the mickey a bit at £329. But the iPad Pro’s modular make-up is one of its biggest strengths – and it switches from tablet to laptop to digital sketchpad with ease, no matter where you pitch up.

KEY SPECS O 12.9in 2732x2048 Mini LED touchscreen O Apple M1 O 8/16GB RAM O 128/256/ 512GB/1/2TB O iPadOS 14 O Up to 10hrs O Thunderbolt 3 (USB 4) O 281x215x6.4mm, 682g

STUFF SAYS +++++ A very modern computer for a very modern worker

IRIS FLOW

APPLE AIRTAG

With all that travelling you’re going to need a decent pair of cans to block out the hubbub when you’re trying to work in airports, train stations and noisy hotel lobbies. Iris’s wireless headphones don’t have ANC, but they claim to help you switch your brain into a ‘flow’ state, which can aid focus. Or you can always just pump up the volume. £379 / irislistenwell.com

Apple’s Find My app is brilliant for locating your lost iStuff, but what if it’s one of your non-Apple things that’s gone walkabout? You can attach an AirTag to pretty much anything you own – bag, keys, bike – and if it goes AWOL the app will help you find it. If you’ve got an iPhone with UWB, it’ll even tell you when you’re getting warmer. £29 / apple.com

LARQ BOTTLE PUREVIS

THULE CROSSOVER BACKPACK 25L

WD ARMORLOCK ENCRYPTED NVME SSD

Nobody’s suggesting you should traverse the globe with a 25-litre bag, but when it comes to humping your kit around whichever spot you’re in for now, this waterresistant pack is big enough for a 15in laptop plus a tablet, and has a crush-proof compartment for your fragile possessions. £90 / thule.com

You wouldn’t leave your work laptop without a password to keep baddies out, so why should your portable hard drive be any different? In fact, WD’s 2TB SSD doesn’t waste time with mere passwords: it uses your phone’s biometric tech to control access. £350 / shop. westerndigital.com

When you’re living out of a backpack it can be hard to keep yourself clean, let alone all your kit… but Larq has a solution. Its self-cleaning water bottle has a UV light built into the lid, which kills the nasties inside every two hours (or when activated by pushing the button).

If only they could apply the same tech to a pair of pants… £95 / livelarq.com

ONEADAPTR ONEWORLD PD If only more travel problems could be solved with adaptors.

Need to ask where the nearest vape shop is in Portuguese? You could stick a language adaptor in your gob.

The OneWorld PD isn’t that clever, but it does allow you to plug in your gadgets in 150 countries, and has a bunch of handy USB ports. Brilhante. £37 / oneadaptr.com

WORKFROM Rocked up somewhere new and need to find a spot to work from? This app can help, with info on places with good Wi-Fi and coffee in over 1200 cities. £free / Android, iOS

TRAIL WALLET If you’re juggling daily budgets and currencies as part of your digitally nomadic existence, Trail Wallet keeps track of your finances. It’s free for the first 25 items. £4.99 / iOS

TRIPIT Making your route up as you go along? Got a complicated itinerary?

Forward all your booking emails to TripIt and the app will build a schedule for you. £free (IAP) / Android, iOS

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THE STUDENT There’s only so much snakebite and green hair-dye you can get with a government loan, so save vital pounds by going for this economical but effective working setup NOW ADD THESE

ACER SPIN 713

NOW APP THESE

from £500 / stuff.tv/Spin713

REFME If you’re writing essays you’ll need to know how to cite your references; RefMe makes it much easier.

Just scan a book’s barcode or paste in a URL. £free / Android, iOS

EVERNOTE Evernote is a bit like an online scrapbook: use it as a place to jot down ideas, record voice notes or keep clippings from websites. from £free / Android, iOS, Chrome

GOOGLE DRIVE Anyone with a Gmail account gets 15GB of cloud storage for nowt, so you’d be a fool not to get the Drive app to make the most of it. from £free / Android, iOS, Chrome

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SAMSUNG M70A SMART MONITOR A computer monitor is basically just a TV with all the fun stuff taken out, but the 32in M70A Smart Monitor puts it back in. During the day you can plug your laptop in, but when all the work’s done it includes all the catch-up apps you’d get with a Samsung telly, plus a set of built-in speakers.

It even supports 4K. £329 / samsung.com

AIR UP Finding time to drink isn’t usually an issue for students, but it’s not usually done in the name of hydration.

If you need a bit of encouragement, Air Up bottles include special aroma pods that trick your brain into thinking you’re drinking more than just water. The pods come in all kinds of scents, from pink grapefruit to iced coffee or cola. £30 / uk.air-up.com

PAPER HIVE POP UP STANDING DESK

JOHN LEWIS ANYDAY HINTON

Fancy trying one of those standing desks but don’t have much to spend? This one is made of honeycomb paper board and can be built or dismantled in the same time it takes to say “My back hurts”. Just beware, all that blank space is sure to attract juvenile graffiti artists. £60 / thepaperhive.co.uk

This John Lewis chair does a fine impression of a much more pricey buttock-plinth. It’s height-adjustable and there’s built-in lumbar support to encourage you to sit up straight.

OK, it’s not designed for all-nighters (they recommend only using it for up to 4hrs a day), but perhaps that’ll encourage you to work quicker. £139 / johnlewis.com

TP-LINK DECO P9

AMAZON ECHO DOT

Like champagne, caviar and clean bedding, mesh networks aren’t a common sight in student houses, but TP-Link’s Deco P9 system is at the more affordable end of the market. What sets it apart is that it also uses powerline tech to give you wired options when Wi-Fi won’t do. Nifty. from £145 / tp-link.com

The Dot might be the most wallet-friendly Echo, but its titchy dimensions don’t mean weedy sound: even if it’s not going to drown out that hi-fi, for desk-based tunes it does a decent job.

And the four-mic array means you can yell at it all day, whether you want the weather forecast or a reminder of your lecture schedule. £50 / amazon.co.uk

ou can get cheaper Chromebooks than Acer’s Spin 713 – but when it comes to something that won’t embarrass you during Freshers’ Week, it’s hard to see past this 13.5in workhorse.

For the uninitiated, Chromebooks are almost entirely browser-based, so you’ll have to rely on web apps, but with Google’s Docs et al (or Microsoft’s equivalents) for work, Spotify for music and Snapseed for tarting up photos, there’s little day-to-day stuff you can’t do on one these days. And if you’ve got an Android phone, everything integrates very nicely too.

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Cores and effect Powered by a 10th-gen Intel processor (options vary from a dual-core Pentium Gold to a quad-core i7) and 4 or 8GB of RAM, the Spin 713 has that little bit more oomph than Chromebooks that cost less, which means it’ll be able to cope with having more tabs open at once, plus it’s better-specified all round. Unless you opt for the most expensive model you’ll only get 64 or 128GB of storage – but as we’ve already said, almost everything you do with a Chromebook is web-based, so storage isn’t really a factor.

The brushed aluminium finish gives it a classy feel, the touchscreen swivels to turn it into a rudimentary tablet or streaming TV, and there’s an HDMI port for hooking it up to a bigger monitor if you need more screen space. The 2256x1504 display itself is more than adequate, though: bright, vivid and pin-sharp, with a 3:2 aspect ratio to fit more of the good stuff in.

KEY SPECS O 13.5in 2256x1504 IPS touchscreen O Intel Pentium Gold/i3/i5/i7 O 4/8GB RAM O 64/128/256GB O Chrome OS O HDMI, USB 3, 2x USB-C O Up to 10hrs O 301x235x16.8mm, 1.45kg

STUFF SAYS +++++ Polished and portable, the Spin 713 is an impressive, affordable package

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Meat on the edge

If we’re being really picky, the bezels around the Spin 713’s 13.5in touchscreen are a bit on the wide side, but it’s a pretty slick design and hardly looks old-fashioned.

Keys please me

One area that’s easy to overlook with cheaper laptops is the keyboard, but the 713’s backlit QWERTY feels like something you’ve spent a bit more cash on, as does the trackpad.

Whole slotta love

As well as that handy HDMI output, you also get two USB-C slots, one bigger USB 3 slot, a headphone port and even a microSD card reader, so it’s fully socketed up.

ALTERNATIVELY… DELL INSPIRON 5000 Nobody ever impressed anyone in a seminar by pulling out a Dell laptop… but if you need something that will run full-on desktop apps and doesn’t cost a fortune, you can’t go wrong with the Inspiron 5000 series. They’re available in various sizes with plenty of spec options. from £549 / dell.com

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GET MORE DONE Heft of centre

The Duo 14 feels sturdy and well built, and considering all the clever trickery it’s pretty compact. Unsurprisingly, though, it’s fatter and heavier than the 13in MacBook Pro.

Dancing hues

The second screen’s shallow angle means it isn’t suited to anything where colour accuracy is crucial, but it’s handy for Adobe’s Creative Suite, with optimised slides, dials and buttons.

Tilt for speed

Open it up and the hinge angles the keyboard towards you and tilts the ScreenPad Plus forward.

This makes it easier to use but also helps to keep the components underneath cool.

ALTERNATIVELY… SAMSUNG GALAXY BOOK PRO 360 The Super AMOLED display might be a more conventional swiveller, but if you opt for the 15.6in version you get a whopper of a convertible that’s great in tablet mode thanks to Samsung’s excellent S Pen. Even with all that screen it’s still thin and reasonably light, with plenty of ports. from £1199 / samsung.com

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THE ARTY TYPE Forget paintbrushes and modelling clay – today’s creative geniuses need a totally different set of tools to flourish (disclaimer: you may also need some talent) NOW ADD THESE

ASUS ZENBOOK DUO 14

NOW APP THESE

£1299 / stuff.tv/Duo14

aptop design hasn’t changed much in the past 40 years: screen at the top, keyboard at the bottom, hinge in between. While the displays sometimes fold both ways, twist or detach completely, it’s always a variation on that common theme – but Asus’s Zenbook Duo 14 isn’t like other laptops.

Lift the lid to reveal its 14in touchscreen and you’ll be greeted by a second, 12.6in one – dubbed the ScreenPad Plus – taking up some of the space that would normally be filled by the QWERTY. You can use it for toolbars, timelines, control panels and anything else that you need constant access to but don’t want clogging up the main display – a bit like a supercharged version of Apple’s TouchBar. It also comes with a 4096-point stylus.

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Squisherman’s blues That second display’s inclusion means the keyboard is slightly condensed – so some keys are on the small side, there’s no room for anything to rest your wrists on, and the trackpad has to be squeezed in at the side.

The buttons themselves are decent, with good consistency and a nice level of snap, but it all feels a bit awkward – at least until you get used to it. Well, compromises are inevitable with a design like this.

An 11th-gen Core i7, a GeForce MX450, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD make for a solid rather than spectacular loadout, but battery life is impressive.

KEY SPECS O 14in 1920x1080 + 12.6in 1920x515 IPS touchscreens O 11th-gen Intel Core i7 O 16GB RAM O 512GB O Windows 10 Home O 2x Thunderbolt 4/USB-C, USB 3, microSD, 3.5mm O Up to 17hrs O 234x222x17mm, 1.58kg

STUFF SAYS ++++, It has its flaws, but the Duo 14 is an innovative option for Apple-dodgers

REMARKABLE 2

JBL CHARGE 5

If you have a laptop that’s as keen on multitasking as the Zenbook Duo 14, you need a bag that’s equally flexible – like the Tokyo Totepack.

Is it a tote bag, or is it a backpack? It’s both!

Tuck-away straps allow you to switch from one to the other, with various pockets and a padded space for a laptop up to 16in. £159 / bellroy.com

You can’t beat a good old-fashioned notepad for jotting down ideas – but this is Stuff, we’re hardly likely to recommend a stack of A4. The ReMarkable 2 is a bit like a cross between a Kindle and an iPad, letting you scribble stuff down on its 10.3in E Ink screen before converting your handwriting into cloud-synced files. £399 / remarkable.com

It can be tough to get those creative juices flowing without the aid of some tunes, but it’ll only ever be a dribble if you rely on a laptop’s speakers.

JBL’s Charge 5 is tough enough to take out and about, but sounds good enough to be your daily work companion. And it’ll easily get you through a couple of working days between charges. £160 / uk.jbl.com

NANOLEAF ELEMENTS

SONY XPERIA PRO

HP OFFICEJET PRO 7720

While some people could work in a dark cupboard, others need a less ‘hostagey’ environment to get anything done. When switched off, the seven panels of the Elements make up a wall-mounted sculpture, but turn them on and you can use your smart home platform or Nanoleaf’s app to pick from 12 lighting scenes. £200 / nanoleaf.me

Most of us don’t need a phone with an HDMI input, but if you shoot video for a living you can use the Xperia Pro’s 6.5in 4K screen as a monitor for your camera, before piggybacking on its 5G connection to share the footage.

Even on its own, the Pro’s three 12MP Zeiss lenses can shoot Ultra HD video with eye-tracking AF. £2299 / sony.co.uk

Sometimes there’s just no substitute for printing something out and seeing how it looks squirted onto a very thin slice of old tree. HP’s OfficeJet Pro 7720 will take paper up to A3 in size, so you can get a proper idea of what your latest creation looks like, with up to 34 colour pages churned out every minute. It also scans. £150 / hp.com

BELLROY TOKYO TOTEPACK

BRAINSPARKER CREATIVITY CARDS Struggling to get inspired?

Brainsparker offers a random quote, image, action or question to help lube up your synapses. £free (IAP) / iOS

BLEK Playing games when you’re supposed to be grafting? Tsk… but what if the game doubles as work? Blek is designed to get your imagination firing – just don’t play it all day. £4.99 / iOS

SMARTIFY Like Shazam for artists, Smartify gets to the heart of art, letting you scan a picture to uncover its story. It’s a nifty shortcut for anyone needing arty inspiration. £free (IAP) / Android, iOS

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A printer’s tale It might mean the end of watercooler moments and office flirtation, but HP+ printers aim to help you get more done in less time at home to redress the work/life balance.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HP INC.

WORK SMARTER Lockdown life has shaken things up for most of us… so HP’s blueprint for hybrid working helps you flex for what’s next and achieve more at home, in the office and on the go he way we work has changed. Even as the country slowly reopens, that doesn’t mean we’re going back to the office full-time. The pandemic has shown that lots of jobs can be done just as well at home, while employees enjoy life with no commute and fewer distractions… not to mention the pure, unadulterated pleasure of working in their fluffy slippers.

Savvy business owners have also realised they can save a packet by renting less office space.

Instead, the future of work is going to be flexible. They call it ‘hybrid working’. Sadly this doesn’t mean having a centaur for an office manager (or any other half-human, half-beast for that matter). Instead you’ll split your time between work and home as needed: working remotely when you need to get your head down and focus on an individual task, then going into the office when you have to work with others.

But if working from home – even if it’s only two days a week – is going to become a regular thing, your home setup needs a rethink.

The quick fixes you got by with (read: put up with) during lockdown need long-term solutions. And we’re not just talking about the

T

back pain your makeshift desk is giving you. You need to power up your productivity, so you can work smarter, not harder. And that starts with the HP+ printing system.

Loaded with features Like toilet rolls and sourdough starters, home printers saw a surge in popularity during lockdown.

They became a must-have for people whose jobs demanded they print files but who were exiled from the office, as well as homeschooling parents who suddenly needed activity sheets and lesson plans. A printed doc also offered a welcome break from all-consuming screen time – something that’s going to be needed just as much in the ‘new normal’.

But few – if any – of these panic-bought printers can really

The HP Smart app: less time scanning means more time for eating pastries

keep up with the demands of working from home – especially if you’re in it for the long haul.

HP+ is different. This new range is smarter. They think ahead, detecting and fixing connectivity hiccups themselves, so you don’t have any trouble printing over Wi-Fi, while their HP Wolf Essential Security helps spot and prevent malware attacks, keeping you two steps ahead of hackers.

These services work in the cloud. While this means they need a constant internet connection and an HP account, they’re also continuously updated. It’s like having your own IT department at home, making sure the printer works whenever you need it… but with nothing extra to pay. HP+ isn’t a subscription service; it’s just part of the package.

The HP+ range launched with the new HP LaserJet M200 series.

This offers the fastest two-sided printing in its class – great for professionals who need highperformance black-and-white printing from a compact device that can fit in a home office. No wonder it’s already won a Red Dot design award.

But HP+ also comes with the always simple, always reliable DeskJet 2700e and 4100e series; the ENVY 6000e and 6400e

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HP INC.

GO FROM ‘WFH, WTF?’ TO ‘FTW!’

HÅG CAPISCO 8106

HP 24FW IPS DISPLAY

One thing with ‘WFH’ is you have to provide your own office furniture. So if you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like to fill in spreadsheets on horseback, get yourself a HÅG Capisco 8106. This back-strengthening steed was inspired by the posture of a horse rider and can be customised with different colours, fabrics and metals.

Unlike a real office horse, though, it won’t trot off if someone wanders past holding a carrot. £792 / backinaction.co.uk

There are some good desktop computers out there – but for an easier big-screen win, plug your laptop into this monitor.

It’s better for your back than leaning over a laptop, and the Full HD IPS display means you can stare at it for longer without straining. And, with an ultra-thin design, this is a premium monitor without the premium price. It also helps you keep up your productive flow thanks to the ultra-wide viewing angles making it ideal for dual-display setups. £150 / hp.com/uk/store

HP PAVILION WIRELESS KEYBOARD AND MOUSE 800

HP ELITEBOOK X360 1030 G8

This keyboard and mouse set completes your transition to bossing work from home.

They don’t just look smart, they feel good too, with contouring that’s designed for maximum comfort for hands and wrists. HP has also designed the three-zone keyboard with full-size arrow keys and a number pad specifically to boost efficiency and productivity, while the keys tap silently. £70 / hp.com/uk/store

This HP laptop’s powerful processor and advanced security features might seem strictly business, but it’s designed with hybrid working in mind. Its stunning 13.3in Ultra HD OLED display doubles as a touchscreen, and the Bang & Olufsen speakers are great for video conferencing and music. An 89% screento-body ratio means more display and less bezel, it has Wi-Fi 6, and it’s protected by HP Wolf Security for Business. from £1249 (available from mid-August) / hp.com/uk/store

series, ideal for families who need to print schoolwork, documents and everyday photos; and the small-business-friendly OfficeJet Pro 8000e and 9000e series.

And HP+ is coming to more printers soon. Want to know how to spot them? You can identify these devices by the small letter ‘e’ at the end of the product code.

No, we don’t know why it’s not a ‘+’ either.

Productivity in your pocket As if cloud-connected smarts weren’t enough, HP+ gives you more freedom to work where you want, when you want. It has a Smart Dashboard that helps you remotely manage your printer, checking your ink levels and more, and you can print directly from virtually any device.

Meanwhile, Private Pickup lets you hit print now and pick up later when you’re at the printer. This is great for juggling between working at home and in the office.

It also keeps what you print private if you handle sensitive documents and have nosy housemates.

The HP+ range also works with the HP Smart app. Already used by 48 million people, this download for iOS and Android makes it easy to send files from your phone to your HP printer wherever you are. Plus, you can scan documents with a snap of your camera. Both features also work with Google Drive, Dropbox and more.

As a perk for pros, an HP+ printer also gives you access to HP Smart Advance features for 24 months.

Contracts, business receipts, your daughter’s doodles – scan any number of pages at once.

There’s also automatic image correction flattening via the app, and now you can send a fax without a fax machine. So you get the security you need to send documents on the go and without the cost of using a landline.

Setting the toner A smart printer is no better than a dumb one if it runs out of ink, right?

That’s why you also get six months of HP Instant Ink included with HP+ printers. This subscription service makes sure you never run out of ink or laser toner. It automatically sends a new cartridge when your printer detects levels are low, so it’s delivered straight to your door before you need it.

Recycling the old cartridge is hassle-free too. And if you do decide to extend your Instant Ink subscription, there are different

Only connect While connectivity issues are fixed over the cloud, these printers can also use Bluetooth, making it easy to send files from virtually any device. Apple AirPrint also works well.

“THE HP SMART APP MAKES IT EASY TO SEND FILES FROM PHONE TO PRINTER WHEREVER YOU ARE”

Feeding frenzy Forget popping out to the stationery store: you can work fast and hands-free on scanning and copy jobs at home thanks to the ENVY’s 35-page auto-feeder.

Got your back Don’t forget about automatic double-sided printing. Not only will it save you time and paper in the long run, but you can push out up to 10 pages a minute.

plans based on pages printed to meet your needs. Prices start at £0.99 and you can save up to 70% by subscribing to HP Original ink supplies. You can also cancel or change your plan any time at no extra cost – and if you don’t use all of your pages in a month, you can rollover up to 3x the number of pages in your plan.

To top it off, HP+ also adds an extra year to your warranty, so your HP+ printer stays smarter for longer. So you’re always ready, more secure, more productive, and more sustainable than ever.

Find out more about the HP+ range at hp.com/uk/store

PRINTING PAGES GROWS MORE TREES If you think printing seems a bit wasteful in a world of PDFs and tablets, think again.

HP+ is built with sustainability in mind. Its innovative Forest First feature tracks how many pages you print; then, no matter what paper brand you’ve used, HP invests in the restoration and preservation of healthy forests.

More broadly, HP is striving to become the most sustainable and just technology company.

Within its climate action work,

it has worked with the WWF to develop real, science-based targets to help it know which are the best causes to invest in.

Since 2019 it has donated more than $12m to NGO partnerships to protect forests and improve forest management.

HP also makes sure all of its own paper stock is responsibly sourced, and is committed to maintaining zero deforestation for HP paper and packaging. It’s also helping businesses cut their emissions and costs with its

Managed Print Service, while making it easy to recycle print cartridges through its closedloop recycling process with HP Instant Ink: send yours back in a prepaid envelope and they’ll be used to help make new ones.

T E S T E D H U AW E I WAT C H 3

Where Huawei now?

The Chinese tech giant has decided to reset its wearables business with its first ‘proper’ modern smartwatch – sporting a completely refreshed UI 1

[ Words Andrew Williams ]

from £350 / stuff.tv/HW3 Huawei has made wearables for years, but the Watch 3 is the first one since 2017 that we can really call a proper smartwatch – that is, without following up with a bunch of apologies about how you can’t make calls with it or install third-party apps.

Take a Huawei Watch 2, crash it into an Apple Watch Series 6 and you get something resembling the Watch 3. (Well, that or a couple of broken wrists.)

We’re not enamoured with the drop in battery life from two weeks to two days, or with the waiting game to see if Huawei’s ever-expanding HarmonyOS platform is really worth investing in; but for a first crack at this tricky old game, the Huawei Watch 3 is something of a success.

It has a great party trick too.

This is a watch with two very distinct personalities – because with a few swipes you can turn it into a dedicated fitness watch, and one that bumps battery life back up to two weeks again.

GOOD MEH EVIL

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Finally, third-party apps

The nixed day Huawei says the battery can last 3 days, but we only got 2 even without GPS. Apparently it drops to 1.5 days with an iPhone.

Ouch!

The screen genie The Huawei Watch 3 has glossy curved glass holding a gorgeous screen with slimmer borders than some (1). The sides are tough stainless steel and the back is ceramic. To get close to this kind of construction from Apple you’d need to pay well over £600.

2

App-solute beginners In contrast to recent Huawei efforts, you can download apps from the company’s AppGallery right there on the watch (2).

There’s also an eSIM version for making calls from the wrist, and even a teeny keyboard for typing search terms on the screen. It’s no fun, but you can do it.

Golden ears?

You can talk to Huawei’s Celia assistant as you would Siri or Google Assistant… but there are teething problems. We kept being asked if we wanted to start a workout while 10 minutes into a tracked run; ask “What is the time?”, meanwhile, and she doesn’t understand.

The graphing gnome Celia aside, this is a great exercise tracker. The vibrant screen ramps up brightness outdoors (3) and the heart-rate sensor stacks up well against chest-strap accuracy.

The Watch 3 can also measure your blood oxygen saturation through the day and even log your skin temperature 24/7.

Let’s not dance Apple’s and Samsung’s latest wearables can do ECG readings; this one can’t. Its rivals also have better music support, because Huawei wants you to sign up for its own streaming service – but hey, it’s still relatively early in HarmonyOS’s development as a wearable platform.

Really slick interface

Neat rotating crown

Limited music support…

…and a limited app library…

…and limited battery life

T E S T E D H U AW E I WAT C H 3

Tech specs Screen 1.43in 466x466 OLED Connectivity GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Water-resistance 5ATM Battery life 2-3 days Dimensions 46x46x12.2mm, 54g

3

Glancing in the street It’s new and in need of some polish, but the signs for the smartwatch version of HarmonyOS are promising

Q Ziggy

Q Stardust

The HarmonyOS wearable system includes smooth and slick transitions relayed at a much higher refresh rate than Huawei’s older watches, and an app screen that looks like it’s been lifted straight from an Apple Watch.

It’s more fun to use than a WearOS watch, and for a first stab at a smartwatch interface it’s pretty great.

The rotating crown is good too, letting you scroll down menus and zoom in and out of the app page without touching the screen.

Q Spiders

Q Mars

Two of the most useful apps in the AppGallery are Fitify and Home Workout

by Leap Fitness. These offer step-by-step workouts when paired with their matching apps on your phone… but not the Play Store versions.

It’s tempting to use the OS’s low-maintenance mode to increase battery life, but then you’ll end up wondering why you bought this watch when Huawei makes bands that do the same stuff for around £100.

This is the most dynamic wearable Huawei has made in years, and given the totally new OS it works surprisingly well. It comes as a legit rival to Apple and Samsung, but at this stage it’s not the one we’d pick. It pushes you too hard towards services you probably don’t want, and the smart stuff doesn’t justify the meagre battery life. @wwwdotandrew

STUFF SAYS ++++, Huawei’s first true Apple Watch challenger could well be worth your hard-earned pennies… but not yet 53

TESTED SAMSUNG 50AU9000

I’m into Samsung good Looking for a cut-price alternative to the Korean giant’s wildly expensive QLED televisions?

This 50in bargain seems to have you covered… £699 / stuff.tv/AU9000 Q The AU9000 range is all about prodigious value for money. This 50in set is as well made as you’d expect from Samsung, and at just under 26mm it’s shallower in profile than most because LED backlighting is arranged around the edge of the screen, rather than the whole of the rear.

Samsung big A true mainstream TV needs to cater for the masses. This one also comes in 43, 55, 65 and 75in versions so you can find a size to suit you.

Q Like every 4K HDR Samsung TV it snubs Dolby Vision – a pity when the Dolby-following Netflix is front and centre of the interface. Still, Tizen is brilliant – a clear and logical UI that hasn’t changed because they got it largely right first time.

Q Three HDMI inputs (one of them eARC-enabled for use with any worthwhile soundbar) plus a pair of USB 2.0 sockets, a CI card slot and an Ethernet port should be enough connectivity for most people. There’s dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.2 too.

Q Whether it’s motion-handling, contrast, edge-definition or low-light detail, the AU9000 is currently the outstanding mainstream proposition. Huawei’s Vision S (reviewed last issue) can’t lay a glove on the picture quality, while LG, Panasonic and Sony can’t match it either for the price.

Q It’s not a perfect fit for new consoles (see right), and the sound is weak, necessitating a soundbar; but if you want a new TV simply to watch telly, this is, pound for pound, among the very best around.

Tech specs Screen 50in 3840x2160 LED OS Tizen Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, 3x HDMI, 2x USB, Ethernet, optical HDR formats HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ Dimensions 1119x645x25.7mm, 11.5kg

Q Samsung in the way

Q Samsung got me started

The three HDMI inputs aren’t 2.1 for next-gen consoles, but Auto Low Latency Mode and FreeSync are present; and PC gamers will be surprised to hear it can simulate the ultrawide 32:9 aspect ratio supported by some titles.

It comes with two remotes: one is a bog-standard handset with too many buttons, the other is a lot swisher. You can also use the SmartThings app, or talk to it via Alexa or Google Assistant… or even, if you’re a bit weird, Bixby.

STUFF SAYS As much TV as most people will ever need, at a reasonable price +++++ At this price, Samsung’s gotten hold of our heart Simon Lucas

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Never doubt Samsung’s deep understanding of what makes a great affordable television, because the 50AU9000 is a complete demonstration of what can be achieved at a realistic price. Ignore its boneless sound and concentrate on the detail, stability and realism of its pictures. Admire its skinny frame, enjoy the calm brilliance of its user interface… then double-check the price to make sure it’s not a misprint.

TESTED TEENAGE ENGINEERING OB-4

Let it spree You can update the OB-4 via TE’s app, with new features promised and the disk function designated a ‘public research space’.

Doctor knob-it After its appearance in Stuff’s coveted Icon slot, we’ve finally got our hands on the ‘magic radio’ with its mind-bending motorised dial from £599 / stuff.tv/OB4 Q The TE OB-4 is a hyper-stylised hybrid audio box combining the warm buzz of an old wireless with modern tech and Kraftwerk styling. In its simplest form it’s a high-fidelity loudspeaker with twin 4in bass drivers and neodymium tweeters; in its most complex, it’s a little black box of weirdness.

Q Treat it as a speaker and the OB-4 reaches around 100dB, but blaring out crisp sounds isn’t the only party trick here. Behind the amorphous exterior is a core of gadgetry that turns this radio into an ambient-noise-emitting drone wizard.

Q Aside from its awesome motorised user interface, the OB-4 can record live FM radio, Bluetooth audio or a line input for two hours on a continuous loop, meaning you can rewind a big tune, catch up on the news headlines or repeat one of Jeremy Vine’s ridiculous phone-ins.

Q The Bluetooth inputs are great for producing clear, natural tones just about anywhere – and TE says the OB-4 is designed ‘to be played outdoors, in public spaces and at high volume’.

Q Hipster picnics aside, you’ll soon find yourself idly jabbing buttons to see what happens. Cycle through inputs and scan the radio waves… but things get really creepy when you start messing with the ‘disk’ function – more on that to the left.

Q I’m looping through you

Q This bird has drone

The disk function is an addictive sampling device and general mayhem-maker. You can create a short loop of whatever you’re listening to then manipulate the frequency to produce all sorts of alien soundscapes.

Disk also includes a metronome and some mantras for joss-stick sessions, but our favourite is the ambient mode that takes radio snippets and creates a wave-like drone that can be altered using the motorised dial. It’s truly eerie.

Tech specs Audio 2x 4in bass drivers, 2x tweeters, 76W stereo Connectivity Bluetooth AAC, Bluetooth 5 LE, FM radio, 3.5mm Battery life 72hrs FM, 8hrs Bluetooth Dimensions 284x233x58mm, 1.7kg

STUFF SAYS An immense loudspeaker with whimsical sound-warping powers ++++, The magical mystery player is waiting to take you away Leon Poultney

The OB-4 is a slightly unhinged purchase, to be made when you want something weird and cool. Sound quality is utterly fantastic, battery life excellent, and there’s nothing else like it to look at. Yes, it’s pricey, but there’s a lot going on under that avant-garde shell… and while the extra features might seem a bit pointless, they can be highly addictive and loveable, leaving you feeling like you’ve joined some kind of synthesizer cult.

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FI R TH ST ES AD E… D

ONEPLUS 9

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ONE BELKIN 15W WIRELESS CHARGING STAND If you’re about to cough up £70 on the official OnePlus Warp Charge 50W wireless charger made for the 9 Pro, don’t do it! Why? Because the 9’s wireless charging speeds cap out at a mere 15W. For just half the price, you can pick up a fancy Belkin charger that’s as fast as you need it to be. £35 / belkin.com

TWO CHIPOLO ONE OCEAN EDITION AirTag? Jog on, Apple – as an Android user, you ought to have an OS-neutral way to find your house keys.

The Chipolo One is loud and water-resistant, and if you pick up the blue Ocean Edition you’re doing your bit in two ways: it’s made from recycled fishing nets, and $1 of your cash goes to an ocean cleanup charity. £26 / chipolo.net

THREE ANKER LIFE P3 A smartphone earbud upgrade doesn’t have to cost the earth, even if you want the sort of smarts and active noise-cancelling offered by Apple’s AirPods.

Anker’s new Life P3s have three ANC modes – indoor, outdoor and transport – plus sizeable 11mm drivers and a total of six microphones to ensure clear phone calls and voice commands. £80 / uk.soundcore.com

NO TH W T IS RY …

TH TH EN ES GE E… T

INSTANT UPGRADES

STOP MOTION STUDIO PRO

1 TOOL UP

2 LIGHT UP

3 LINK UP

OnePlus’s OxygenOS interface adds some handy shortcuts to Android – such as the Toolbox, giving you shortcuts to stuff like the selfie-cam or a timer. Swipe down from a home screen and you’ll see a load of boxes – step counter, quick notes and so on – but Toolbox is where you customise shortcuts by tapping on the pencil icon at top-right.

This also works with Google apps, Twitter, Outlook and more.

Want to look after your eyes but make the most of that excellent AMOLED screen?

Open settings and hit Display, then switch on Comfort Tone so the colour balance looks great whatever the ambient lighting is like. Next, control how much blue light the screen emits by tapping Vision Comfort (which will turn everything a bit orange); and fire up dark mode to save your retinas and your battery.

The OnePlus 9 can project from its screen to a monitor or TV through a wired connection… and if you have a laptop with a USB-C port that you hook up to a big screen, you probably already have the right dongle.

Whether you need to improvise for a dead laptop at a meeting, want to blow up a video or fancy some not-so-mobile gaming with a Bluetooth joypad, the 9 is up to the challenge.

Push the OnePlus 9’s camera to the limits by trying to reboot Morph as a ninja assassin in your own stop motion movie. This app has all the tools you need. £4.99

MY HERO ACADEMIA: THE STRONGEST HERO

[ Words Basil Kronfli ]

Anime fans! My Hero Academia is on Android, in a game that exploits the Snapdragon 888’s full power. £free (IAP)

4 SHARPEN UP

5 TIGHTEN UP

6 SHUT IT UP

If you think it’s only the 9 Pro that offers Hasselblad imaging, you’re mistaken. The whole series sees the legendary camera brand upgrade your phone photography experience, from the manual mode interface through to the level of polish in the pictures themselves. To fire up that manual mode with its pro features, open the camera app, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and select H Pro.

Sure, the Google screen (to the left of your home screen) is genius. It uses whatever info Google can get its mitts on to curate a newsfeed that couldn’t be more ‘you’. But if ever there was a case of something being too good and therefore distracting, this is it. To shut down this recipe for addictive death-scrolling, pinch your home screen, tap on Home Settings and toggle Google off.

Don’t ignore OnePlus’s handy little Alert Slider. It’s located on the top-right side of the phone and lets you quickly switch between silent, vibrate and sound-on, without having to unlock your phone. Slide up to mute the phone, slide down a little to switch the ringer back on, and slide all the way down to turn on vibrate mode. Deeper control is available in settings, under Alert Slider.

NOOM Coming out of lockdown to July heat, none of our summer clothes fit. You too? Noom could help. Not just a diet app, it deals in long-term behavioural psychology and education. from £17.25/m

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G R O U P T E S T P O R TA B L E S P E A K E R S

You pair it well Bluetooth 5.2, Google Fast Pair, Made for iPhone and Microsoft Swift Pair mean the Explore will attach itself to your chosen device in no time.

Tints I left you Black anthracite, grey mist and green finishes are available now, but expect to see new seasonal colours being added to the list as time goes on.

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G R O U P T E S T P O R TA B L E S P E A K E R S

Treble’s coming B&O’s app lets you adjust the EQ and check how much of the Explore’s generous 27hr battery life you’ve got left to play with.

Cheap grilles Behold our eclectic pick of the best sub-£200 portable speakers to soundtrack your summer, along with the best eco-backpacks to carry them in

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Explore What’s the story?

The Explore pushes the rugged end of the portability spectrum more than most (including its Beosound A1 cousin on p65). For a start, it doesn’t have a leather carrying strap but a hardy woven one, and includes an aluminium carabiner for hooking it to a rucksack. It also ditches touch controls for buttons, for better accuracy on the go.

The anodised aluminium body is scratch-resistant and as stylish as you’d expect, with a grille that’s cut in 360° lines around its cylindrical body. Not only does that mean it looks lovely, but it also supports B&O’s True360 omnidirectional sound.

For an outdoor speaker, it’s suitably rated at IP67 for keeping out dust and water, and at 637g

it’s reassuringly weighty in the hand without adding a load of unwanted heft to your bag.

Is it any good?

The Beosound Explore has a hugely likeable presentation, but needs a bit of help with placement to ensure you’re getting the best from it.

That’s because it’s been tuned with the outdoors in mind. Its bass – all 59dB of it, don’t you know – is controlled but a little heavy-handed, while its 360° projection thickens up the midrange at the expense of some fine detail.

However, take it outside and the sound of the Explore makes much more sense. Its presentation quickly becomes more balanced when competing

with the elements, and that added weight in the mids helps it to sound more solid from top to bottom. Crisp treble ensures the top end doesn’t get lost in the process either, which helps to give it a healthy dose of energy and drive.

It’s not capable of quite as big a soundstage as the Bose Revolve II on p64, and it’s not as refined as the Beosound A1, but it projects well and can go all the way to the top of its volume allowance while largely keeping its cool – even if you’re not.

Price £169 / stuff.tv/Explore Key specs O 60W, 2x 1.8in drivers O Bluetooth 5.2, USB-C O Up to 27hrs O IP67 O 124x81x81mm, 637g

STUFF SAYS Not our first choice for house parties, but an outdoor star ++++,

[ Words Verity Burns and James Day ]

BEST FOR LARKS IN PARKS

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G R O U P T E S T P O R TA B L E S P E A K E R S

Splash dance On the back you’ll find a microUSB port for charging, along with the aux input. Both are hidden behind rubber covers for splash-proofing.

BEST FOR A TIGHT BUDGET

Roving dual The TWS function allows for stereo pairing and playing music in sync, but you’ll be paying £200 and there’s no support for aptX or AAC files.

NOW POP IT IN THIS

Urbanista Brisbane What’s the story?

Osprey Arcane Duffel

Made from 100% recycled polyester and coated in eco-friendly PFC-free DWR waterproofing, Osprey’s dutiful duffel opens wide for stashing summer essentials, with a padded sleeve for tablets and laptops. It comes in a choice of muted colours including haybale green and stargazer blue, and you can haul it with handles, as a rucksack or on a shoulder strap. £100 / ospreyeurope.com

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Urbanista has been putting in the work to be seen as a decent affordable audio brand with minimalist Scandi design. The Brisbane is the largest of its wireless speakers and comes wrapped in a choice of black or white fabric, with a smattering of controls on the top.

Fair enough if you like things stripped-back, but dare we say the Brisbane looks a touch drab with its rectangular form… and while portable it’s also pretty weighty – enough to never go missing in the bottom of your bag anyway.

While it’s not the most rugged speaker we’ve bashed about, it does have an IPX5 waterproof rating for added peace of mind, and also has a line-in port for

hard-wiring your device – which could be great for stretching out the 10hr battery life.

At under £100 it’s playing with the big boys here, but just think how many months of premium music streaming that extra cash could pay for…

Is it any good?

The Brisbane is the cheapest speaker on test, and that does show in its performance.

It is an easy listen, though.

Some speakers around this price can be harsh and thin, but that’s not the case here. The sound has body and depth, and it’ll go loud without much issue thanks to the two 10W drivers under the hood.

It also times pretty well, so you don’t have to worry about

it getting all mixed up and messy with fast-paced pop and dance tracks. There’s confidence here, which goes a long way to producing a comfortable, enjoyable sound.

However, there is a lack of clarity across the board, so detail is missing. Edges to notes are dull, vocals are missing detail and there’s just an overall lack of bite and insight. Even at this price point, that takes away from the performance a little too much to make this a speaker we can truly recommend.

Price £99 / stuff.tv/Brisbane Key specs O 20W, 2x 2in drivers O Bluetooth 5.0, microUSB O Up to 10hrs O IPX5 O 215x98x52mm, 705g

STUFF SAYS A near-bargain, but struggles against stiff competition +++,,

G R O U P T E S T P O R TA B L E S P E A K E R S

Glowing my way Above the Sonos logo is a tiny LED displaying speaker status. A second LED indicates when mics are active, and a third glows orange if it’s thirsty.

Season of the switch

BEST FOR MULTIROOM

Connectivity was solid throughout our testing, as was the switch between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, though the claimed 10hr battery life is a stretch.

Sonos Roam What’s the story?

The Roam is Sonos’s first proper portable speaker you can sling a satchel. Sensible proportions, Bluetooth connectivity and a reduced reliance on the Sonos app make it perfect for partying anywhere, but with Wi-Fi too it’ll still play nicely with any existing Sonos kit.

A Toblerone-like mini boomer that’s designed to stand either horizontally or vertically, it isn’t exactly shouty in the design department, so look elsewhere if you’re after an injection of colour; but the robust Roam does have a lovely metal, plastic and rubberised finish capable of taking a bit of a battering.

What sets it apart from the competition is clever stuff like Auto Trueplay, meaning it’ll tune

NOW POP IT IN THIS its soundstage to suit the environment whether you’re inside or out; and Sound Swap, which switches audio to the nearest Sonos speaker in the vicinity. Press play/pause and the Roam pings sound around accordingly – especially useful if you’re listening to music indoors but then wish to express your right to Roam in the garden.

Is it any good?

For a Sonos speaker, the sound quality is just OK… but for a speaker of this size and form factor, it’s impressive.

One thing this boombox doesn’t lack is bass. You’ll find anything requiring low-end oomph to come over with incredible impact for a speaker so small – in fact it’s overzealous

on certain tracks, requiring a wee bit of wrestling with the EQ. Everything is well balanced in the midrange, although it does suffer in the higher frequencies, lacking a bit of clarity. That aforementioned low end really is decidedly thumping, though, especially if you jump in the shower with it.

There are better-sounding rivals, but few offer this combination of features, and the fact that it plays nicely with any existing Sonos system is an added bonus.

Price £159 / stuff.tv/SonosRoam Key specs O Mid-woofer, tweeter O Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2 O Up to 10hrs O IP67 O 168x62x60mm, 430g

STUFF SAYS An unbeatable blend of versatility and portability +++++

La Pochette Sweat Bag

In keeping with the circular economy, La Pochette’s water-resistant stash bags aren’t just made from recycled materials – they’re recyclable themselves.

They’re also designed to keep contents friskily fresh with an anti-stain coating and antibacterial protection – handy if you’ve been playing pass the parcel with your portable speaker. £30 / lapochette.co

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Cut me some FLAC It’s easy to stereo-pair two P5s and its audio file support is impressive: WMA, AAC, FLAC and Apple Lossless are all catered for.

Little black drain While the P5 is good for up to 18hrs of playback, if you crank it up to full blast that gets zapped down to just 4hrs – so have a power-pack handy.

NOW POP IT IN THIS

BEST FOR SHEER SIMPLICITY

Audio Pro P5 What’s the story?

Millican Smith The Roll Pack 25L

With fabrics made from 100% recycled polyester, Millican’s multi-talented tote is made to go the distance. Light, tough and waterproof to boot, the Smith’s rolltop closure keeps gadgets dry in all weather. External stash pockets are perfect for bulky bits, while sleeves inside – plus a subtle laptop slot – ensure your stuff is easily sorted. £140 / homeofmillican.com

A bit like Sonos letting the Wi-Fi shackles off with the Roam, the P5 represents Audio Pro’s first foray into properly portable Bluetooth territory.

The Swedish firm has a fine record for multiroom speakers, but this truly diminutive boomer has no interest in playing with its sonic chums and is going it alone instead, supported by a 1in tweeter, a 3.2in woofer and a 35W amp.

It’s wind/rain-resistant, not fully waterproof, but there is a handy wrist strap to stop it falling in the soup – and to free up your hands for more important things, like holding a continental lager or texting your mate at the bar.

The 18hr battery life is on a par with the more expensive B&O A1

on p65, but at half the size it is also half as powerful. In design terms it’s as inoffensive as the aforementioned Roam – and comes in a choice of black, black or black.

Is it any good?

Listen to the Audio Pro next to one of B&O’s 360° devices (or the Bose on p64) and you’ll hear the difference immediately. The P5 is a forward and authoritative speaker, throwing the full weight of its performance towards the listener in front.

While it might not have the airy separation and insight of its sound-spreading competition, this is still a bigger, wider soundstage than its slender frame would have you guess it to be capable of. Vocals are

pushed front and centre, without ever feeling detached from the rest of the track; and there’s a real sense of cohesion to its performance, with all elements of a track sounding equally strong and confident.

The decent bassy punch it serves up ensures a solid sound across the board, although right at top volume it does start to get a bit shouty. It’s at its best around two thirds to max, when dynamics and energy really kick into action to help this speaker get the party started.

Price £140 / stuff.tv/P5 Key specs O 35W, 1in tweeter, 3.2in woofer O Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, 3.5mm O Up to 18 hrs O IPX4 O 220x97x53mm, 720g

STUFF SAYS A simple ultra-portable speaker that’s surprisingly meaty ++++,

Getting array with it In what would be an absolutely insane experiment, you can daisychain up to 100 of these speakers. It’d set you back £17,000, but still…

BEST FOR WILD PARTIES

Disco tech If the Xboom’s mood lighting isn’t hypnotic enough for you, the ring-shaped lights make multicoloured movements when the woofers vibrate.

LG Xboom PL7 What’s the story?

The PL7 is part of LG’s Xboom Go range of portable Bluetooth speakers. It’s the largest of the three PL models, meaning it’s the most impressive when it comes to power, battery life and proper low-end welly.

It comes with the added clout of having hi-fi wizards Meridian providing proprietary tech for the range, as well as some added pizzazz thanks to party lighting at either end. Download the app and you can customise this or turn it off to save battery, as well as accessing party-linking for doubling up with other speakers. It’ll also work with Google Assistant and Siri via a connected phone.

And the repertoire of added features doesn’t end there,

NOW POP IT IN THIS because you can also use two of these speakers as surround channels with any LG TV from 2020 or ’21, which seems like a genuinely smart application.

Is it any good?

Considering its name, you may be expecting the Xboom PL7 to put bass above everything else; but while there’s plenty of low-end warmth, the power it’s capable of in the lower registers doesn’t define its character by any stretch.

In fact, if anything, the sound of the PL7 leans towards the bright side, with crisp, controlled treble and expressive mids sitting on top of its solid bass performance. There might not be the soundstage to trouble B&O or Bose, but this speaker

still sounds considerably larger than it is. It’s an exciting listen too, with a strong handle on timing and an energetic nature that’s suited to most genres.

We’d take a touch more clarity through the midrange, but it’s not muddy by any stretch.

The Sound Boost button does just what it promises, pushing everything louder and more forward. While this might work in outdoor/party situations, for critical listening things get a bit pushed – so best keep it off unless the situation calls for it.

Price £170 / stuff.tv/PL7 Key specs O 30W, 2x 2.3in drivers O Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, 3.5mm O Up to 24hrs O IPX5 O 245x98x98, 1.46kg

STUFF SAYS Not quite the finished article, but fun and feature-packed ++++,

Fjallraven Kanken Art

Launched on World Oceans Day, the classic Kanken pack has been given a pair of fresh looks

by Swedish illustrator Linn Fritz. Not a study in abstract camouflage, the two designs represent the appearance of ocean plastic from above. Each is made with recycled polyester and organic cotton, while 1% from every purchase will go to sea-saving organisations. £90 / fjallraven.com

Love and deflection To get big noise from a small enclosure, Bose has employed an omnidirectional acoustic deflector to push sounds around 360°.

BEST FOR 360° SOUND

Cradle to the rave The optional charging cradle will set you back another £25, but it makes for a nice home base for your speaker before taking it into the wilderness.

NOW POP IT IN THIS

Bose SoundLink Revolve II What’s the story?

Finisterre Ridge Backpack

Ripstop polyester is the material of choice for parachutes, but Finisterre has found a purpose for surplus offcuts: its rugged Ridge Backpack is crafted entirely from recycled ripstop. It won’t be much use if you jump from a plane, but loops, clips and pockets organise your gear while an undivided main compartment offers plenty of space for a speaker. £65 / finisterre.com

The second generation of the Revolve brings with it some subtle yet welcome refinements.

You get an extra hour of battery life, up to 13 hours, and a boost in dust/waterproofing to a full IP55 rating.

Bose has taken an ‘if it ain’t broke’ approach to the design, and that’s no bad thing (well, except for the lack of a USB-C port – it’s still microUSB). This is a lovely-looking speaker: a cylinder with a sturdy aluminium body and silicone control panel on the top. All the controls you’d expect are up there, including a multi-function button that beckons your phone’s voice assistant with a long press.

The grille runs seamlessly around the speaker, which helps

the Revolve’s 360° sound to do its thing: no matter where you’re standing you’ll get the same audio experience.

You can pair two of these speakers for stereo playback through the Bose app if you wish, but there are no EQ controls to tweak the sound.

Is it any good?

Cor, the out-of-the-box sound doesn’t need much tweaking.

It’s a big, bold voice that has no trouble filling a decent-sized room. The 360° sound works just as it should too, so you get a solid performance in all corners of the room.

There’s a pretty neutral sound profile, swerving the popular bass-heavy presentation of some speakers at this price

point for something that’s more balanced. But that’s not to say there isn’t any bass power on tap when it’s needed – this is an authoritative performer that drives tracks forward with punch and excitement.

The all-round sound ensures space in the presentation, so songs never sound congested, and there’s a good amount of detail and dynamism too. You lose a little focus and insight through the midrange, but the airiness it brings to the party makes up for that.

Price £180 / stuff.tv/Revolve2 Key specs O 1x down driver, 2x bass radiators O Bluetooth 4.1, microUSB, 3.5mm O Up to 13hrs O IP55 O 152x82x82mm, 660g

STUFF SAYS At 80% volume the Bose hits a real a sonic sweet spot +++++

Dance call days The Beosound A1 doubles as a speakerphone, with three mics for clear hands-free calls when you’re OoO – which might be forever.

TEST WINNER

BEST FOR CLEAR TONES

Bicker conspiracy As well as 360° sound, the A1 has a feature allowing two people to be connected and controlling the tunes – good luck sorting that one out.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen) What’s the story?

B&O can boast a world first with the new A1: this was the first Bluetooth-only speaker to get Alexa voice control built in, hitchhiking on your phone to link to Amazon’s servers.

Redesigned audio drivers and Bluetooth 5.1 deliver enhanced 360° sound with a 92dB max loudness when streaming, and if you’re feeling flush you can buy two and pair them for stereo.

Sound can be personalised using the B&O app.

Design-wise the second-gen A1 doesn’t look any different to its predecessor; but seeing as there was nothing wrong with the pearl-blasted aluminium chassis before, we’ve no qualms about that. Only now there’s a higher IP67 waterproof rating,

which extends to the carry string, and a soft polymer base.

Since launch the A1 has had a number of seasonal finishes added to the line-up, and for an extra £120 you can get a Berluti special edition. Reet fancy.

Is it any good?

The A1 serves up a performance as refined as its design, with toe-tapping punch and confident but not overpowering bass.

The weight that’s served up is impressive from such a petite unit, but it remains controlled, giving you rumble where you want it without weighing down the rest of the presentation.

In fact, clarity is the defining feature in this speaker, with vocals and instruments through the midrange sounding crisp,

detailed and expressive. Treble is well handled too, creating an overall sound that blends with absolute cohesion.

Volume can be pushed pretty loud without affecting the airy soundstage, though 360° sound is better-realised in the Explore model on p58.

If your outdoor speaker needs are more garden picnic than trail hike, this is a premium speaker with a sound to match. It sits unashamedly at the top of this group’s budget, but it’s worth the extra cash if you have it.

Price £200 / stuff.tv/BangA1 Key specs O 60W, 3.5in tweeter, 3.5in woofer O Bluetooth 5.1, USB-C O Up to 18hrs O IP67 O 133x133x 46mm, 558g

STUFF SAYS Maxes out the £200 budget, but you won’t regret it +++++

NOW POP IT IN THIS

Got Bag Rolltop Sea Shepherd

This rolltop rucksack tackles floating trash while carrying your stash. For every bag made, 3.5kg of ocean plastic is collected by fishermen in Indonesia; the best of it is then sorted, shredded and sewn into seaworthy sacks. Built tough enough to brave wet weather, the Sea Shepherd packs down tight with compression straps, while a removable pocket keeps devices safe. £131 / eu.got-bag.com

GET THE BEST GADGET DEALS WITH STUFF

In the mag We pick out the best price for every featured product

Online Choose from our roster of great-value retailers

Ever wondered what’s up with the links in Stuff? We’ve got a team of retail pros who scour the web to find you the best gadget deals – visit any stuff.tv link in this guide and you’ll be taken to the best deal for that product. If you make a purchase, we may get a small commission. It’s that simple, and has no impact on how much you pay.

TESTED ONEPLUS NORD CE 5G

Where’s Nord from here?

OnePlus tones down its Stuff five-star-rated Nord smartphone to tempt those of us in the cheap seats, and it works… mostly from £299 / stuff.tv/NordCE Q The OnePlus Nord CE 5G is a cheaper version of the original Nord. Is it better? Hell no. The back is plastic, the main camera is worse, the processor doesn’t have as much gaming power and you’ll only save £30… but we’re not sure how much longer the proper Nord will be available.

Q ‘CE’ stands for ‘core edition’.

Really it’s all about creating a friendly face to mask something that’s not quite as good. Still, it looks more sophisticated than your average sub-£300 5G phone.

Q It has a 64MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP monochrome. We assume a OnePlus employee found a few million of these black-and-white cams discarded in a skip, because it’s totally pointless, but the CE can shoot lovely images.

Big new prints Don’t go thinking the CE doesn’t have classy touches – few rivals can match its excellent in-screen fingerprint scanner.

Q You will find phones with more power for less cash, and a blast through Fortnite shows the CE isn’t as strong as the original Nord: the visuals are capped at ‘medium’ rather than ‘epic’. The two have similar CPU power, but the older model’s chip has more 3D grunt.

Q This doesn’t mean performance has been overlooked – the CE feels slick, never missing a beat as you jump between apps. The battery makes it through the day just fine and you get 30W fast charging to take you from flat to 61% in half an hour.

Q Totally mired

Q Telephone zing

The main camera flattens textures into blocks of colour and mushes up fine detail in darker areas. It’s a step down from the Nord, if not a catastrophic one. The ultra-wide is basic, but OnePlus gets away with it by jacking up the colour.

The mid-size 6.43in display is a OnePlus staple: sharpness, colour and contrast are all great, but some cheaper rivals like the Oppo A54 do look marginally peppier on sunny days – despite OnePlus’s claims of 1000-nit brightness.

Tech specs Screen 6.43in 2400x1080 90Hz AMOLED Processor Snapdragon 750G RAM 6/8/12GB Storage 128/256GB OS Android 11 Cameras 64+8+2MP rear, 16MP front Battery 4500mAh (USB-C) Dimensions 159x74x7.9mm, 170g

STUFF SAYS A solid 5G phone that breezes past Samsung in the value stakes ++++, It’s a good deal, but if you want more you’ll have to pay your rates Andrew Williams

Don’t buy the Nord CE 5G expecting the sort of red-hot bargain that made OnePlus famous. The company has taken the original Nord and made it cheaper to produce (and, yes, a bit worse) but hasn’t drastically cut the asking price. It’s smaller, lighter and thinner than most affordable 5G phones, and looks more elegant than just about all of them, but that may not be enough to satisfy the old-school OnePlus crowd.

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Fidelio

THE RETURN OF FIDELIO: A FEAST FOR YOUR EARS How it started to how it’s going – don’t call it a comeback, because Philips’ audio prowess has been here for years hen Philips first established its Fidelio brand, it was with the express intention of doing the ‘premium’ thing a little differently.

And those Fidelio headphones and soundbars certainly stood out from the crowd, thanks to an unbeatable combo of premium materials, premium performance and a most un-premium ease of use – because unlike its competitors, Fidelio never considered complexity or wonky ergonomics to be virtues.

And now the brand is back, ready to build on its reputation and ready (again) to redefine what ‘premium’ really should mean where materials, performance and accessibility are concerned. The new soundbars and headphones embody the whole Fidelio philosophy: they look, feel and sound superb.

W

IMAX power Not only is the B97 the world’s first IMAX Enhanced soundbar, but the wireless detachable speakers allow for true ‘Surround on Demand’ rather than a virtual version from the front only.

X gon’ give it to ya The X3 open-backed over-ear headphones are a brilliant example of what Fidelio stands for. Their mix of metal, sustainable Muirhead leather and Kvadrat acoustic cloth brings tactility, longevity and sophisticated good looks; and the 50mm neodymium driver in each earcup has multiple polymer layers and a damping gel in order to deliver deep, balanced and accurate sound from any source.

The Fidelio philosophy is even clearer with the extraordinary B97 soundbar – if for no other reason than that there’s plenty more of it.

In fact, the description ‘soundbar’ is to understate the Fidelio B97’s capabilities somewhat. Yes, at first glance it’s a good-looking, well made soundbar. But there’s a bit more to it than that.

With speaker drivers facing forwards, angled out from the ends

and firing upwards too, the B97 can deliver all the sonic width and height that a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundtrack demands. Its discreet wireless subwoofer adds the sort of low-frequency punch every blockbuster needs; and for when only truly full-on surround sound will do, the end modules detach to become wireless rear speakers.

As well as performing brilliantly with movies, the Fidelio B97 is also an accomplished system for music.

It has wired and wireless inputs, so any source can be supported – and of course, it’s perfect for the spatial audio that so many streaming services are beginning to offer.

The power of 3 It’s with the Fidelio L3 headphones, though, that Philips has made its biggest statement of intent. At every turn, these wireless noisecancelling over-ears set standards: they’ll run for over 30 hours on one charge and can manage six hours of playback after just a 15-minute top-up, while aptX HD Bluetooth 5 means solid wireless connectivity and superb sound from their triplelayer 40mm drivers.

The four mics monitor external conditions to deliver the most effective noise-cancellation available; and, of course, the Fidelio L3s use a combination of soft, sustainable Muirhead leather, memory foam and aluminium to create a pair of headphones that’s as big a pleasure to look at as it is to wear and listen to.

Fidelio by Philips is back. And if you want an audio device that looks, feels and performs like a premium product but doesn’t have premium-style complexity or cost, Fidelio by Philips has you covered.

Philips Fidelio audio products are available from Currys, Richer Sounds, AO.com and Amazon.co.uk

STUFF PROMOTION

Hitting the hi notes The Fidelio L3s let you connect to any source, wireless or wired, and enjoy the very best in hi-res audio with AAC support for iOS and aptX HD for Android or Windows.

Nice touch Touch controls and buttons take care of music, calls and ANC settings, while two mics in each earcup reduce background noise so phone conversations are crystal-clear.

In the moo’d Plastic is pared back in favour of an aluminium frame, while Muirhead leather adorns the cushioned headband to keep you comfortable in longer listening sessions.

TESTED SONY XR-55A90J

The Sony way is up The firm has given its 2021 flagship OLED some fancy feet, a slick processor and a new smart TV platform… and priced it well above most of the competition 1

[ Words Simon Lucas ]

£2699 / stuff.tv/A90J There’s nothing groundbreaking about what Sony’s trying to do with its new XR-A90J range of 4K HDR OLED tellies.

Like every other TV maker that takes things seriously, it’s shooting for great picture quality, an intuitive smart TV portal, sound the right side of ugly, a bit of style and a solid build.

Looks simple, doesn’t it?

But this is a competitive market and getting more cut-throat all the time. So can Sony possibly meet all those criteria to the point that the XR-55A90J justifies its hefty asking price?

The 55in version we’re testing can be yours for £2699. Yes, that is expensive for a set this size.

But from the panel itself, via the picture-processing engine to the height-adjustable feet, this TV is the result of rigorous thinking and engineering.

Only problem is, they were thinking so hard that somebody forgot to add the UK catch-up services. No, we’re not kidding.

4

2 Bassline chunky Physically, it’s one of those ‘slim yet not slim’ OLEDs we’re still a little disappointed by (1). There’s a brief portion that’s 6mm deep, but the majority of the chassis is a much less exciting 41mm thick in order to house the electronics, the inputs and two rear-firing low-frequency speakers.

GOOD MEH EVIL

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Bit chunky for hanging on a wall

Feet surrender If the depth deters you from hanging it on the wall, at least its feet earn their keep. In their first position (2), the bottom of the screen is mere nanometres from the surface it’s standing on, while in position two they raise it high enough to accommodate a soundbar.

Picture is superb in every way

Screen and shout Sony has tried hard to eradicate the need for a soundbar, though.

Those rear-firing drivers support its Acoustic Surface Audio+ tech, which turns the screen surface into a speaker (3). Sony has even added speaker connections so it can be used as a surround-sound centre channel.

Nice new Google TV interface…

Effective sound system

…but no catch-up TV (yet)

Not cheap compared to rivals

TESTED SONY XR-55A90J

3

Shake a lag PS5 and XSX owners rejoice: there are two HDMI 2.1 sockets with 4K @ 120Hz, and an input lag of just 9.9ms in game mode.

Tech specs Screen 55in 3840x2160 OLED OS Google TV Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, 4x HDMI, 2x USB, optical HDR formats HLG, HDR10, Dolby Vision Dimensions 1220x709x41mm, 19kg

All along the watch power Spending some quality time with the XR-55A90J is a feast for the eyes… and only slightly less for the ears

I lost my heart to XR chip, super The latest XR picture-processing engine takes the AI capabilities of the old X1 and adds ‘cognitive intelligence’. This combines AI analysis of picture performance with more in-depth inspection across multiple zones. So the chip responds to depth of field, detail, colour and contrast (4).

My friend Goog Google TV is clean, logical and much less pushy than Android TV; and while its recommendation algorithms need finessing, it’s more usable overall. Sony’s exclusive Bravia Core streaming service features too, which is a genuine plus: content is extensive and super-high-quality.

Q Proving

Q Moving

Native 4K content looks deeply impressive. Black levels are classic OLED in their depth, but they’re also very detailed; white tones pop in a most un-OLED fashion, and they’re equally loaded with information.

The colour palette is extensive, nuanced and believable. Edge-definition is assured and, where motion is concerned, the Sony just doesn’t put a foot wrong – slow or rapid, horizontal or vertical, simple or complex.

Q Improving

Q Grooving

If you’re watching HD or worse, it’s also a very accomplished upscaler.

Picture noise is kept to a minimum, edges don’t soften too badly, detail levels remain high and movement is (again) kept completely under control.

Sound quality is equally, er, sound. There’s depth and body to the bass, and the sort of direct delivery of the midrange that comes from using the whole screen as a driver.

Images and audio are in close alignment.

The Sony XR-55A90J is a brilliantly accomplished TV that delivers utterly absorbing and believable images from any source. It has you covered for next-gen consoles, but a lack of catch-up services until a promised fix later this year means that, right now, we’d be tempted by more affordable options from LG, Panasonic and Philips. @OnlySimonLucas

STUFF SAYS +++++ Everything this Sony TV does, it does to a dizzily high standard – but the world is awash with cheaper rivals 71

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VERSUS BUDGET BUDS

TES WI T NN ER

Playing with wire For the Pixels it’s USB-C charging or nothing, with wireless ditched to bring the price down. Expect 5hrs of playback, with a further 24 from the case.

Swap the cavalry The Huawei AI Life app enables you to manage all devices paired to the buds on a single screen, and you can use it to transfer audio easily between them.

The ready pairs’ picnic These affordable in-ears are designed as ideal partners for their own brands’ phones

Google Pixel Buds A-Series The A-Series are indistinguishable from last year’s Pixel Buds: low-key circles with touch controls and no dangly bits. The silicone anchor is soft, but takes some twisting to get the sound right; the charging case is a smooth pebble.

‘Spatial vents’ make for a more gentle seal for comfortable listening and a wider soundstage, at the expense of letting in some ambient noise. The 12mm drivers deliver clear, well-balanced audio that does any music justice.

[ Words Tom Morgan and Andrew Williams ]

Connecting to Android is as easy as lifting the lid on the case – and Pixel phone owners don’t even need an app.

There’s no ANC, but ‘adaptive sound’ raises the volume as ambient sound levels increase. For the most part, it works.

Audio 12mm dynamic drivers Connectivity Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C charging Battery life 5hrs (buds), 24hrs (case) Water-resistance IPX4 Weight 5.1g each, 43g case

VS

1. DESIGN

Dead ringers for the original AirPods, these hard plastic earphones sit in the ear rather than blocking it with a silicone tip. They may feel like they’ll fall out, but they actually hang in there happily even when you go for a run.

2. SOUND

Large 14.3mm drivers are the best approach for semi-open earphones like this, ramping up the bass a bit to make up for the stuff lost to the air. They sound good for this class, but struggle against ear-blocking buds for power and dynamics.

3. SMARTS

Huawei’s ANC isn’t great –you can still hear pretty much everything, although the most music-trampling traffic frequencies are kept out. Little touch-sensitive spots on the stalks cover ANC and playback control; these work well.

1 2 3

O Price £100 / stuff.tv/PixelA

++++,

Huawei FreeBuds 4

Audio 14.3mm dynamic drivers Connectivity Bluetooth 5.2, USB-C and Qi charging Battery life 2.5hrs (buds with ANC), 22hrs (case) Water-resistance IPX4 Weight 4.1g each, 38g case

O Price £130 / stuff.tv/FreeBuds4

STUFF SAYS

+++,,

Having ANC doesn’t guarantee you’re best buds – Google’s in-ears just sound better 73

BETA YOURSELF

GET ORGANISED The supercomputer in your pocket won’t only rob you of countless hours – it can also give some of them back. Craig Grannell offers tips on using tech to bring order to your life…

THE BASICS

Q Collaborate and share Most people don’t live in a vacuum. Normalise inviting others to your setup, to avoid duplicated effort and wasted time. Share family and social calendars. For shopping, set up a shared to-do list with your household that’s a single source of truth for what’s needed – a deft way avoid accidentally buying seven turkeys next Christmas.

Q Get a routine You need good habits and routines to stay organised, even when armed with tech.

If you start using to-do or GTD (Get Things Done) apps like Things, go all-in rather than arbitrarily adding tasks. Deal with documents and emails swiftly. Just because digital doesn’t involve paper, that doesn’t mean there’s no mess.

Q Be consistent Search engines can (in theory) rifle swiftly through countless documents and bring to the surface what you need. But searches are simpler if you file things properly in the first place. Do so with email and elsewhere, and ensure you give items keywords (including dates) that will help you find them later.

Q Make data accessible Ensure your files are readily available and secure. Three steps can make that happen.

Put your documents – neatly filed – on cloud storage, so you can even get at them using a phone. Back up that storage regularly. And with paper, digitise documents you receive and then organise them alongside your other digital files.

Q Use the right apps Which apps you use is less important than the principles behind them. Ideally, choose ones that are cross-platform, so you can stay organised and update lists and documents wherever you are. Open source isn’t important, but the means to transfer and export documents is. Most importantly, use systems and apps that work best for you.

MAP YOUR MIND Q Try Mindly

App-grade Try to find apps that enhance existing data. For example, Fantastical uses standard calendars but improves presentation and enables faster event creation.

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Lists are fine, but freeform organisation can be useful for figuring out more complex challenges. With Mindly (£free, Android and iOS), you kick off with an initial idea and branch nodes from it. The result can be shared as a PDF.

Q Try MindNode If you’re keen on ‘mind maps’ but think in lists, MindNode (£2.49/m, iOS) gives you the best of both. You start with a bullet-point list that you convert to a mind map with a tap. You can then switch between outline editor and mind map modes.

APPS FOR LIFE

HABITICA Organisation can feel like a chore, particularly with tasks you do on a regular basis. Habitica ‘gamifies’ task management, using success to power up a pixelated hero. Suitably equipped with weapons, skills and pets, your little character can then duff up monsters. £free (IAP) / Android, iOS

STREAKS This habit-former invites you to define up to 12 habits (ideally just six) to track; these can include timed habits and ones you want to break. When done, you prod the big button; when curious, you can dig into the stats.

The app’s sense of focus encourages good results. £4.99 / iOS

POWER UP CALENDARS Q Block it all out

TAKE OUT TEXT Q Chat with Otter Information lost from meetings and interviews can hamper organisation. But with Otter (£free, Android and iOS) you can record (with permission) and get a live transcription to work with later. Pay and you can import existing recordings.

Q Scan with Adobe We’ve mentioned the bane of paper, right? Use Adobe Scan (£free, Android and iOS) to turn your smartphone into a pocket scanner. The app tidies up scans, and performs OCR on them so you can save the result to PDF then copy and paste the text.

It’s commonplace to block meetings out in your schedule.

Get into the habit of doing this with other tasks, jobs and events during your day as well, to provide a better representation of availability.

Q Book in faffage

PICK OUT PICS Q Flag your faves

You’re going to spend part of your day on minutiae.

If you want to get properly organised, admit this and schedule it: create repeating calendar events to burn through email and social feeds a couple of times per day.

Photos were once precious and rare, shot on special occasions and placed lovingly in albums; today they’re a constant stream. Learn to organise them, flagging favourites to later reminisce over and turn into digital takes on the old-school album.

Q Add regular breaks

Q Use tags and AI

Downtime is important. If you work in a job where you get a fixed lunch break, block it out in your calendar and mark yourself as unavailable. It’s vital to be organised about taking time out, otherwise you risk not doing so.

Centralise photos and work with apps that let you quickly access and organise them. AI and machine learning can help you access images by theme or date. Try also using manual tagging to build collections of related snaps.

BFT – BEAR FOCUS TIMER Blocking out time in your calendar to do all of the things is no good if those time-blocks are frittered away. BFT helps you train your brain by turning your phone face-down to trigger work sprints.

99p / Android £1.99 / iOS

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TESTED AMAZON FIRE HD 10 PLUS

The slate divide Amazon’s latest affordable flagship tablet is an undeniable bargain… but will you have to make do without Google’s massive selection of apps? £180 / stuff.tv/Fire10Plus Q The Fire HD 10 Plus is now the top slate in Amazon’s roster, bringing a Full HD screen, improved innards and wireless charging. Not bad for a £180 tablet, right? Well, the downside is you’re stuck with Amazon’s Appstore and its limited selection of apps and games.

Expand on the run Ports-wise the Fire HD 10 Plus has USB-C, a 3.5mm headphone socket and a microSD slot for up to 1TB of extra storage.

Q Slick integration with Alexa transforms it into a portable Echo Show, but it won’t be long before you realise YouTube, Gmail and Call of Duty: Mobile are absent. It’s said the web has some really easy tips on a Google ‘jailbreak’… we couldn’t possibly comment.

Q It won’t win any design awards, but it’s far from ugly. The plastic build feels sturdy and we like the dark matt finish. Controls are on the right-hand side of landscape and we often found ourselves accidentally turning off the display when aiming for a CoD killstreak.

Q Of course we’d prefer an OLED screen, but LCD is fair enough at this price. The 10.1in display is no slouch: from games and films to browsing and reading, your eyes won’t be left wanting more… unless it’s placed next to an iPad Pro. Q From weather reports to photos from Facebook, a screen takes Alexa’s game to a new level. The front camera means you’re good for 720p video calls too, though the rear cam is poor in low light.

Tech specs Screen 10.1in 1920x1200 60Hz LCD touchscreen Processor MediaTek MT8183 octa-core 2GHz RAM 4GB OS Fire OS 7 Cameras 5MP rear, 2MP front Battery life Up to 12hrs Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, USB-C, 3.5mm, microSD, Qi Storage 32/64GB Dimensions 247x166x9.2 mm, 468g

Q The blare necessities

Q Pumped up quicks

You’ll get punchy performance from the built-in stereo speakers, which do a great job at higher volumes to create a 3D-esque soundscape. This is good news for games and TV streaming, as well as Amazon Music Unlimited.

It has the same quad-core chip as its predecessor, but this tablet does get a 4GB RAM boost and we managed to play demanding games like Asphalt 9: Legends at max settings, with very little to complain about.

STUFF SAYS An almost perfect budget tab that can easily be made even better ++++, This is not an Android tablet… unless you really want it to be Esat Dedezade

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For the price, the Fire HD 10 Plus offers incredible value, thanks to its sharp screen, powerful speakers, built-in Alexa smarts and ability to keep up with demanding games while offering a smooth user experience. It’s only real downside is the lack of the Google Play Store… but as we’ve seen, that’s a quick and easy (albeit totally unofficial) fix, making this a solid contender on our Android tablet shortlist.

TESTED TRAEGER PRO 575

Get the patty smarted Traeger’s plug-in grill is a connected wood-fired furnace for keeping tabs on slabs and kebabs via your phone £899 / stuff.tv/Pro575 Q If you’re the sort of person who thinks BBQs are a faff and a surefire way to get food poisoning, then Traeger’s Pro series might just change your mind. That’s because this hardwood pellet grill uses oven-like digital temperature controls and a meat probe for seriously easy and precise cooking.

Q Plug the grill into the mains, prime the auger motor that pushes the pellets along a kind of conveyor belt to a fire pot, and you’re ready to go to work.

Traeger’s motto of ‘Set it and forget it’ then kicks in. Select your preferred temperature using the dial and you’re done.

Oil be gone The Pro 575 needs a 40-minute one-off pre-burn before you can start slapping steaks on, in order to remove manufacturing oils from the grill.

Q OK, not quite done – but only because things get even easier.

Connect the Pro 575 to Traeger’s app and ‘WiFire’ tech lets you control things from the couch by changing or monitoring temperatures, or activate Keep Warm Mode – handy if your game of beer pong has gone into overtime.

Q You’ll find over 1500 recipes on the app, which also includes Apple Watch integration and works with Google Assistant and Alexa smart devices – where the novelty of asking your chosen AI butler to crank things up to a 500°F is unlikely to ever wear off.

Q Roast in the machine

Q Don’t bake me wait

The drum design equates to 572 square inches of cooking space.

Traeger reckons you can pack in 24 burgers, five rib racks or four chickens. Grill, smoke, bake, roast, braise or BBQ: it’s a 6-in-1 cooker, and that includes pizza.

The worst thing about any BBQ is waiting for it to get hot, but Traeger has addressed this. We managed to hit the maximum 500°F from a cold start in about 15 minutes – and the cooker runs in near-silence to boot.

Q The grill’s chimney isn’t there for show: this baby is a smoker. That means bags of flavour for your food (you can even get flavoured pellets) plus consistent results whether you like it low and slow or hot and fast. Kinky.

Tech specs Cooking area 572 sq in Max temp 500°F (260°C) Dimensions 135x103x65cm, 56kg

STUFF SAYS A solidly built, simple-to-use grill packed with connected add-ons +++++ If a normal barbie makes you feel as useless as Barbie, this grill’s for you James Day

As an absolute amateur when it comes to outdoor cooking, the thought of testing a Wi-Fi-enabled pellet grill felt pretty intimidating… but Traeger made things so easy I found myself cooking via my phone while the football was on. The app is brilliant, and any accusations that connected cookers are ‘overgrill’ were quickly dispelled. Use the all-terrain wheels – this thing is heavy – but otherwise the Pro 575 is pure fire.

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TWO WEEKS WITH THE APPLE TV 4K (2ND GEN)

Don’t stream it’s over Can a spec bump and a new remote persuade Matt Tate that Apple’s TV box still has a future? To find out, he spends a fortnight watching films on work time… from £169 / stuff.tv/AppleTV4K

DAY 01 It’s been four years since Apple first introduced a 4K TV box.

That’s so far back its own TV+ streaming service didn’t exist at the time – and nowadays TV+ is baked into many tellies’ own smart platforms.

You might think that makes this latest version of the Apple TV 4K even less of a must-buy, especially given the most exciting thing about it is the new remote control. We’re talking about an incremental upgrade in a world of affordable Roku sticks and

it’s immediately chunkier and heavier – and has an actual power button, which is universal for your TV and home cinema setup too.

You get a mute button, while the Siri button moves to the side. But it still charges via Lightning, not USB-C, which is a shame.

There’s still a touch-sensitive centre button for navigating tvOS but now it’s surrounded by an iPod-like directional click-wheel that anyone can get the hang of. Disabling the touchpad functionality is possible too.

Oh, this is a nice touch: the wheel can scroll through videos,

The new Colour Balance feature uses an iPhone’s sensors to match your TV’s picture to ‘industry standards’ Chromecasts… but this still promises to be one of the best all-round video streamers.

It’s not tall, so it slips into our entertainment unit with ease, and an HDMI 2.1 socket means 4K HDR content at 60fps – a jump from 30fps – only there’s no HDMI cable with it and we need a new one to support the higher framerate. Tsk. This remote, then. We liked the old one, with its clicky trackpad and coin-thin build, but it was also maddeningly easy to lose, and not always intuitive.

Unwrapping the new Siri Remote,

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slowing down or speeding up at the whim of your thumb.

Time for a bit of late-night viewing, but the lack of remote backlighting makes jabbing the wrong button a little too easy, and there’s no input button for switching to a different HDMI source on your TV. We’ve noticed you can’t use the Siri Remote as an Apple Arcade game controller like you could its forerunner either, but was anyone doing that anyway? It’s worth noting the remote can be bought separately if you want to upgrade an existing box.

The Apple TV app offers a fine curated selection of shows across various services… but not Netflix.

LO N G -T E R M T E S T

01

Donut of Truth™

06

05

02

03

04

DAY 02

Tech specs HDR formats Dolby Vision, HEVC, HDR10, HLG OS tvOS 14.6 Processor A12 Bionic Connectivity Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, HDMI 2.1, USB, Lightning, IR, Ethernet Storage 32/64GB Dimensions 98x98x35mm, 425g (box); 136x35x9.3mm, 63g (remote)

Diving into some specs, the A12 Bionic chipset is an upgrade, but also iPhone XS-old. Apple claims improved graphics performance; that’s questionable, but it is zippy and Wi-Fi 6 gives connectivity a noticeable boost.

We’ve sourced a new HDMI lead, but there’s not much 60fps HDR content and Apple has pointed us towards the Red Bull TV app for review purposes. HDMI 2.1 does mean 120fps 4K support, and even 8K 60fps footage, but content seems way off.

DAY 04 Dolby Vision, HDR10 and Dolby Atmos are a big tick. Apple’s new Spatial Audio upgrade (see p21) also works, and when tvOS 15 arrives later this year you’ll get Atmos content with virtual surround sound and dynamic head-tracking on AirPods Pro or AirPods Max. Ah, that’s interesting: this box supports Thread, the low-power mesh network designed to make it easier for your smart home devices to interact with one another. It’s a significant step for gadgets to function without a hub… but this one will only talk to HomeKit-enabled products.

01 Comes with the excellent new Siri Remote 02 There’s a great selection of apps 03 The 4K picture quality isn’t in question

04 Not the biggest chipset upgrade, though 05 Netflix is here, but not via Apple’s app 06 Not much 60fps HDR content to watch

DAY 08 Having properly gorged on content, we can confirm picture quality is superb across the board, from Loki on Disney+ to Samurai Jack on All4.

The new Colour Balance feature uses an iPhone’s sensors to match your TV’s picture to ‘industry standards’; the calibrated image seems too warm to begin with, but after a while we prefer it.

All the apps are here, of course: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+, all with 4K HDR and Dolby Vision. You’ll also find BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All4, My5, BT Sport, BritBox, Now and more. Apple Music comes with on-screen lyrics, plus there’s Apple Fitness+ and Apple Arcade.

DAY 14 We’ve rather enjoyed our fortnight with the new Apple TV 4K, but it’s pricey – and baked-in smart TV interfaces have caught up.

Still, if you’re a big Apple user you won’t find a more convenient media hub. All our iTunes files sit alongside a full house of apps and Apple Arcade games, and you can ping anything not there from your iPhone via AirPlay. The 4K streaming is as good as anything out there, while the new remote makes aimless flickery more fun.

STUFF SAYS Only a minor update, but this is still one of the best 4K streamers money can buy ++++,

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TESTED GAMES

PS5 / stuff.tv/RiftApart

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Going strong since the PS2 era, the Ratchet & Clank series is as synonymous with Sony as the Mario franchise is with Nintendo – and its PS5 debut is exclusive to the new console atchet & Clank: Rift Apart is, like its predecessors, an exceptionally polished kid-friendly adventure in which our titular intergalactic heroes dart between hostile planets armed with an ever-swelling arsenal of bonkers weaponry.

What sets Rift Apart, well, apart, is the PS5. The series has always been a technical showcase for the PlayStation of the moment, and by taking advantage of that vastly powerful hardware (see panel), this latest romp might just be the most

R

impressive next-gen game to date – even if in many ways it’s as old-school as they come.

Ratchet is a cat-like ‘lombax’ who, together with his robot pal Clank, travels through the galaxy thwarting the evil Dr Nefarious. But the not-so-good doctor steals the Dimensionator, a tool that opens other dimensions…

After tumbling through a few dimensional rifts, Ratchet and Clank become separated. You’ll spend much of your time playing as new character Rivet, a female

lombax from another dimension committed to taking down her own reality’s Nefarious. The trio soon find themselves working together to fix the universe.

This breezy story has the energy of an old DreamWorks flick, with heart and humour in spades. Some voices are exaggerated, but you’re only ever a robot-wisecrack away from being won over again.

And there are OTT weapons, of course. The best are the Large Negatron Collider, a giant laser beam for wiping out swathes of

baddies; Mr Funghi, a deployable army of talking mushrooms; and the new Topiary Sprinkler, which fires miniature water-cannons that turn lumbering mechs into bushes. You won’t be shooting all the time, though, and there’s plenty of platforming action.

This is the kind of game PS5 owners crave: an old-fashioned single-player adventure but technically a marvel, with a host of wonderfully daft weapons to wreak havoc with.

Matt Tate

STUFF SAYS Consistently fun and incredible to look at, this is a PS5 must-have +++++ 80

TESTED GAMES

I got PS5 on it

Rivet is a lombax from a dimension where quiffs are acceptable.

This is a lot like Pro Skater, only with a space-cat on a rollercoaster.

Rift Apart was built from the ground up for Sony’s next-gen beast… and from the moment you enter Nefarious City, with spaceships filling the sky while neon cityscapes shimmer in ray-traced puddles, it’s clear this game wouldn’t have been possible on the PS4.

Things get even more impressive when you hop between dimensions. Purple portals are all that separate entirely different gameworlds, which require no visible load-in thanks to the console’s SSD. On a half-decent 4K telly it looks quite beautiful, with each planet getting its own distinctive palette.

This is also the latest PS5 title to include Sony’s 3D spatial audio capabilities. We played a good chunk with headphones on, and while it isn’t as transformative as Returnal, it clearly adds something to gunfights.

Most weapons make use of the DualSense’s adaptive triggers, which could have felt gimmicky but actually makes total sense. If you’re using a throwable weapon, pulling the trigger halfway will display an aiming sight, while squeezing it the whole way releases the ammunition. The pad’s inbuilt speaker can often be heard chirping away too, which just adds an extra layer of charm.

Oh, and don’t forget the haptics.

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TOP TEN

This gadget has leapt straight outta testing and into our rankings.

NEW

OF EVERYTHING

HOT BUY

Time changes everything, including Stuff Top Ten entries.

BARGAIN BUY UPDATE Searing with techy genius, a product that’s set our hearts aflame.

A solid gold bargain.

Worth owning, regardless of cashflow.

Smartphones Headphones Smartwatches, fitness tech Laptops Speakers TVs Soundbars, streamers

83 84 85 86 87 88 89

Tablets, consoles Games E-bikes etc, electric cars Smart home VR headsets & games Drones & action cams, tech toys Cameras Budget buys

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97

HOW TO USE THEM

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SMARTPHONES TOP TENS

1

HOT BUY

Apple iPhone 12 The demise of Samsung’s glorious Galaxy S20 5G left a space on the Stuff smartphone throne (and its replacement didn’t even make the Top Ten)… but don’t go thinking the iPhone 12 is only our No1 phone by default. We loved the iPhone 11, and its successor carries a whole host of improvements. If you can live without the telephoto camera of the flagship 12 Pro (and most can), you should save yourself some cash and get the 12 instead. In many ways it’s the same phone.

TIPS & TRICKS Enable ‘Start PiP Automatically’ so you can keep watching videos while flipping between apps.

Stuff says +++++ A top display and all the power you’ll ever need in an iPhone

Under ‘Face ID & Passcode’, disable ‘Require Attention for Face ID’. Now you can keep your shades on.

O NOW ADD THIS Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Go Bump your iPhone’s storage capacity by 64, 128 or 256GB with this tiny Lightning flash drive. from £36 / shop.westerndigital.com

Got AirPods Pro or Max? Under their Bluetooth settings, tap ‘Spatial Audio’ for fancy 3D immersion.

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3

Oppo Find X3 Pro

Apple iPhone 12 Pro

In almost every respect, the X3 Pro is a killer flagship phone. Oppo’s software has taken a major leap forward and the hardware is easily on a par with Apple and Samsung.

If you want the best you pay the premium… and the Find X3 Pro is very much one of the best.

The achievements of the iPhone 12 Pro are evident everywhere… but who actually needs them?

For some, the camera setup is the selling point, but an extra £100 bags you an even better one on the 12 Pro Max; and for the rest of us, the iPhone 12 will do fine.

Stuff says +++++ It’s serious money, but it’s brilliantly capable in just about every way

Stuff says +++++ Advanced photo skills make this an iPhone for the few and not the many

£1100 / stuff.tv/X3Pro

from £999 / stuff.tv/12Pro

4

OnePlus 9 Pro

5

Realme X50 Pro 5G

6

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max

7

Apple iPhone 12 Mini

8

Asus ROG Phone 5

9

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G

10

+++++ from £829 / stuff.tv/OnePlus9Pro With OnePlus’s best camera yet and a top display, this is high-end hardware at a non-premium price.

+++++ £499 / stuff.tv/X50Pro Realme’s high-spec, mid-price marvel makes for a compelling alternative to a OnePlus.

+++++ from £1099 / stuff.tv/12ProMax The only choice if you want to fully Max your iPhone experience… but not a big upgrade over the 12 Pro.

+++++ from £699 / stuff.tv/12Mini A 5.4in-screened cutie packing Apple’s lauded A14 Bionic chip and the same cameras as the iPhone 12.

++++, £800 / stuff.tv/ROG5 Serious about mobile gaming? Top specs and clever tools make this our favourite phone for gamers.

++++, from £1199 / stuff.tv/S21Ultra Earns its ‘Ultra’ name owing to an incredible camera array capturing moments other phones will miss.

OnePlus 9

++++, from £629 / stuff.tv/OnePlus9 A camera upgrade balances out a design downgrade to ensure OnePlus is still easy to recommend.

FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW PHONES, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/SMARTPHONES

O Prices quoted are for handset only unless otherwise stated

from £799 / stuff.tv/iPhone12

TOP TENS IN-EARS

1

1

HOT BUY

HOT BUY

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds

Sony WH-1000XM4

They’re bulkier than the average in-ears and come with a ridiculously large case, but otherwise the QC Earbuds are difficult to knock. The noise-cancelling doesn’t do a disservice to the esteemed QC name, it’s hugely customisable, and the buds themselves sound great: bassier than you might expect, but in a nicely rounded way that retains lots of detail. They’re at the upper end where price is concerned – but if silence is what you seek, you currently won’t find better.

With their balance of wearability, active noise-cancelling prowess and audio performance, there hasn’t been a better package than the Sony XM3s… until now. The XM4s look and sound almost identical, but a range of new features – including Speak-to-Chat, which stops the music when you start talking – aims to lure you away from your current ’phones. If those are the XM3s (still available at a super-low price, by the way), it’s tough to justify the upgrade; but who’s going to knock Sony off its perch now?

Stuff says ★★★★★ A fun listen with excellent noise-cancelling skills, these are the best buds to stick in your ears

Stuff says ★★★★★ Not surprisingly given their heritage, these are the best all-round noise-cancelling headphones you can buy

£250 / stuff.tv/QCE

NEW

ON/OVER-EARS TOP TENS

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2 3

Bowers & Wilkins PI7

£349 / stuff.tv/pi7 B&W’s debut true wireless buds are brilliant in a number of ways – most notably, how thrillingly good they sound. For the price we’d have liked better ANC and battery life, but the soothing sounds make up for that.

Stuff says ★★★★★ Mighty expensive but mighty impressive

Cambridge Audio Melomania 1+

£120 / stuff.tv/Melomania1Plus These buds come with a range of silicone and memory-foam tips – and once you find the right fit you won’t want to take them out.

There’s a lovely balance to the sound, with real depth and a wide soundstage.

Stuff says ★★★★★ Almost impossible to fault at this price

4

Technics EAH-AZ70W

5

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2

★★★★★ £200 / stuff.tv/AZ70W The AZ70s score highly for noise-cancelling and even higher for sound quality.

★★★★★ £279 / stuff.tv/MTW2 A pleasure to listen to, no matter what sort of music you want to hear.

£299 / stuff.tv/WHXM4

2

Bowers & Wilkins PX7

3

Bose NCH 700

4

Bang & Olufsen H95

5

Marshall Major IV

£279 / stuff.tv/PX7 B&W’s second ANC headphones place greater emphasis on comfort and are all the better for it, while the noise-killing is as effective as you’ll find anywhere. Oh, and they sound flipping good too.

Stuff says ★★★★★ B&W takes on the best with top-class cans

£305 / stuff.tv/BoseNCH700 There are superior-sounding headphones, but if call quality and noise-cancelling are just as important to you then Bose’s flagship cans are the gold standard. The voice-pickup system is the best out there.

Stuff says ★★★★★ As all-rounders, these are hard to beat

★★★★★ £700 / stuff.tv/H95 Prepare to be bankrupted by the most luxurious ANC cans of all.

★★★★★ £130 / stuff.tv/MajorIV Decent on-ears elevated to bargain status by their preposterous 80-hour battery life.

TO READ THE FULL REVIEWS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/IN-EAR-HEADPHONES & STUFF.TV/TOP-10/HEADPHONES

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TOP TENS SMARTWATCHES

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FITNESS TECH TOP TENS

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1

HOT BUY

HOT BUY

BARGAIN BUY

Samsung Galaxy Watch3

Mi Smart Band 5

Sneaking into the top berth courtesy of a slightly underwhelming Apple Watch update, Samsung’s gorgeous Watch3 is an easy wearable to love. It’s superbly made and very attractive, and the spinning bezel makes it a joy to use. Samsung’s Tizen OS is slick too, with lots of customisation and shortcut options to keep things feeling fresh – made all the better by a class-leading screen. It also has all the fitness skills you’re ever likely to need, with handy auto-tracking features.

With no installable apps, Xiaomi’s dinky wearable can’t stack up to smartwatches or reply to notifications, but it can relay alerts and track everything from sleep to workouts. It’s better than the Mi Smart Band 4, thanks to a bigger and brighter screen, smarter software and a charger that’s much less annoying. The slightly reduced battery life really isn’t an issue – and with the addition of activity, stress and menstrual cycle tracking, this is a sub-£30 gift that keeps giving.

Stuff says ★★★★★ A beautiful and powerful piece of kit that you’ll be proud to have on your wrist

Stuff says ★★★★★ Fantastic value and decent features make this an easy fitness tracker to recommend

from £349 / stuff.tv/GW3

2 3 4 5

Garmin Fenix 6

£400 / stuff.tv/Fenix6 Anyone who’s truly into their fitness will appreciate the Fenix 6’s endless feature list. This is the finest fitness watch money can buy – if you’re getting more serious about shaping up, you can’t go wrong here.

Stuff says ★★★★★ The best fitness-orientated smartwatch

Apple Watch Series 6

from £379 / stuff.tv/WatchS6 The Series 6 is a superb smartwatch with ambitions to be a total wellness deity; but while the new sensors are useful, they’re not vital for most. This is a fine statement gadget, but there are better deals to be had.

Stuff says ★★★★✩ A great all-rounder, especially for iPhone users

Apple Watch SE

★★★★✩ from £269 / stuff.tv/WatchSE The most obvious alternative to the Watch Series 6 – and it looks identical.

Oppo Watch

★★★★✩ from £200 / stuff.tv/OW This Apple Watch lookalike streamlines Wear OS to go ahead of many rivals.

£26 / stuff.tv/MiBand5

2

Myzone MZ-Switch

3

Hammerhead Karoo 2

£140 / stuff.tv/MZSwitch Myzone’s modular heart-rate tracker can be attached to different parts of the body, while the app gamifies your activity. It’s a versatile wearable that pushes you to roll up your sleeves and go further without intimidation.

Stuff says ★★★★★ An addictive and convenient route to fitness

£359 / stuff.tv/Karoo2 For ages cycling computers have been held back by outdated tech… but Hammerhead’s sharp screen really is a gamechanger, and effectively running a tiny Android phone inside a custom case feels like a no-brainer.

Stuff says ★★★★★ At last, a bike computer for the 21st century

4

Peloton Bike+

5

Wattbike Atom (Next Generation)

★★★★★ £2295 + £39/m / stuff.tv/PelPlus The connected bike phenomenon: Peloton owners look smug for a reason.

★★★★★ £1899 / stuff.tv/WBAtom With improved sensors, this is the benchmark for serious indoor cyclists.

FOR THE FULL REVIEWS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/SMARTWATCHES & STUFF.TV/TOP-10/FITNESS-TRACKERS

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TOP TENS LAPTOPS TIPS & TRICKS

The Sidecar feature on macOS Big Sur lets you use an iPad as a second display for your MacBook.

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Apple charges a hefty premium for extra storage, so consider a cheaper external SSD.

1

HOT BUY

Apple MacBook Air from £999 / stuff.tv/Air

The early-2020 version was already the best MacBook Air ever – and this one brings a real step up in power. Apple’s amazing new M1 processor means that, for once, we aren’t hankering after a Pro for video editing and graphics-heavy gaming. It’s a pity about the rubbish webcam – a real annoyance in the age of video calling – but this is a stunning machine in every other respect, and the best all-round work laptop you can get for under a grand.

Stuff says +++++ Our go-to MacBook just keeps getting even go-to-er O NOW ADD THIS Anker PowerExpand 7-in-2 Hub Turn the Air’s twin USB-C ports into a media hub with a mix of HDMI, USB, microSD and SD card connections. £40 / uk.anker.com

2

3

UPDATE

4 5 6 7

Apple MacBook Pro 13in

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3

The new M1 chip has given this business-class performer an injection of jet fuel. The 13in Pro remains a sturdy notebook, but its processing power is incredible.

Our review unit, with just 8GB of RAM, left a higher-specced 2020 Intel MacBook Pro in the dust.

The Surface Laptop 3 seems plain on paper – no second screen, no hybrid hinge, no fingerprint scanner – but Microsoft has put supreme attention to detail into every bit that matters. And if you can spare another £150, see also the new Surface Laptop 4 on p38.

Stuff says +++++ Believe the hype: the Pro with an M1 chip inside kicks big, big bottom

Stuff says +++++ Forget frills and gimmicks: this is everything a laptop should be

from £1299 / stuff.tv/Pro13

from £849 / stuff.tv/SurfaceLap3

8

Apple MacBook Pro 16in

+++++ from £2399 / stuff.tv/MacBookPro16 Not just a bump up in screen size, but a serious upgrade to the already top-class 15in Pro.

LG Gram 16

+++++ from £1099 / stuff.tv/Gram16 LG’s latest lightweight machine is slick, light and well made – an impressive, versatile option.

Dell XPS 13

+++++ from £1229 / stuff.tv/XPS13 Style, portability, performance… there’s little else out there that’s quite so well rounded.

Razer Blade Pro 17

+++++ from £2200 / stuff.tv/BladePro17 Incredible power and quality make for a working and gaming beast.

Huawei MateBook X Pro

+++++ from £799 / stuff.tv/MateBookXPro Not massively better than the 2018 model, but this is a real powerhouse of a Windows laptop.

9

Asus ZenBook Duo 14

10

Google Pixelbook Go

++++, £1599 / stuff.tv/Duo14 The full-width second screen is innovative and useful, but ergonomics are compromised.

++++, from £629 / stuff.tv/PixelbookGo A light and stylish touchscreen laptop built for those who like to live and work in the cloud.

FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW LAPTOPS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/LAPTOPS

TIPS & TRICKS

You can control your Move with the touch controls on top, the Sonos app, Google Assistant or Alexa.

Auto Trueplay adapts the Move’s sound to different rooms, while the app offers additional EQ tweaks.

1

87

SPEAKERS TOP TENS HOT BUY

Sonos Move £399 / stuff.tv/SonosMove

The Sonos range of wireless speakers had been crying out for a battery-powered portable model for ages – and finally our favourite multiroom audio specialist caved in. Luckily, the Move was worth the wait. Its adaptability and sound quality mean it’s fine value for money, and a no-brainer for anyone who’s already a fan of the brand.

This is the speaker Sonos should have launched years ago – and for even better portability, see the Roam model at No3 on this list.

Stuff says +++++ Sonos finally gets up to speed with the portable speaker craze, and in style O NOW ADD THIS Primephonic Bringing sexy Bach, this is streaming for classical music. Niche, yes, but its not-on-Spotify film and game scores offer a great way into the genre. from £9.99/month / primephonic.com

2

3

4 5 6 7

Sonos One

Sonos Roam

The Sonos One is now a more well-rounded device than it was at launch, supporting Spotify with voice control as well as Amazon Music and TuneIn Radio, while the early Alexa hiccups seem to have been fixed. It’s a class apart from the competition.

The Roam’s portability alone should be enough to see it shift plenty of units, but it’s the bonus features like automatic Trueplay and Sound Swap that set it apart.

Yes, there are better-sounding sub-£200 speakers, but none with the Roam’s skills.

Stuff says +++++ A great balance of sound and smarts for forward-thinking audio nerds

Stuff says +++++ An attractive truly portable speaker with solid sound quality

£199 / stuff.tv/SonosOne

£159 / stuff.tv/SonosRoam

8 9 10

Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation

+++++ £1299 / stuff.tv/Mu-so2 More than capable of maintaining Naim’s position at the front of the hi-fi pack.

Devialet Phantom 1 108dB

+++++ £2790 each / stuff.tv/Phantom1 An insanely powerful lump of hi-fi magic, best enjoyed in a neighbour-terrifying stereo pair.

Audio Pro Drumfire

+++++ £599 / stuff.tv/Drumfire Large, loud and lots of fun, this is one of the most absurd and grin-inducing wireless speakers ever.

B&W Formation Wedge

+++++ £900 / stuff.tv/BWWedge Pricey, weird-looking… and a brilliant illustration of what a wireless speaker is capable of.

Marshall Emberton

+++++ £130 / stuff.tv/Emberton A tiny speaker that packs an unexpected punch without scrimping on refinement.

JBL Flip 5 Eco

+++++ £120 / stuff.tv/Flip5Eco A portable party speaker that does its bit for the green cause while sounding fantastic.

Q Acoustics Q Active 200

+++++ £1499 (pair) / stuff.tv/Q200 The Q Active 200s marry serious audiophile qualities with oodles of connectivity options.

FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW HI-FI, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/HI-FI-STREAMING

TOP TENS TVs TIPS & TRICKS

You can configure this TV to work with the voice assistant of your choice, not just Samsung’s Bixby.

88

Samsung’s remote is solar-powered, so don’t lose it down the back of the sofa – it’s dark down there.

1

AirPlay 2 integration lets you stream content from Apple devices to the big screen.

HOT BUY

Samsung QE65QN95A £2699 / stuff.tv/QN95A

This is Samsung’s single most expensive 4K TV for 2021 (unless you buy a bigger version), but the pictures justify the outlay. The Korean giant’s implementation of the new Mini LED tech is, on this evidence, something to be reckoned with. It’s difficult to imagine how any of the other sets that are incoming this year could be better.

Stuff says +++++ This Mini LED television is a fearsomely accomplished set – and the one to beat O NOW ADD THIS Samsung Q-Series soundbars Pairing your QLED with one of these is a stress-free way to get 3D object-based sound. from £499 / samsung.com

2

3

4

UPDATE

5 6 LG OLED65G1

Philips 48OLED+935

£3k is a lot of money to pay for a television, even one as slim and well-specified as this, especially when you take the humdrum audio into account – not to mention the absence of a stand.

But the OLED specialists have made good on the ‘Evo’ promise by serving up pictures that exceed expectations… so maybe LG is entitled to charge what it thinks it can get away with. Between this and the Samsung at No1, there’s really nothing in it.

Our former No1 telly bounces back onto this list now that the 984 model is no longer available.

Considering the audio-visual fidelity you’re getting here, not to mention the convenience of the integrated soundbar, it’s hard to argue the 48OLED+935 isn’t worth every penny. Next-gen gamers may lament the lack of HDMI 2.1, but for anyone other than ardent button-bashers the lovely picture (with Ambilight) is quite immersive enough.

Stuff says +++++ Probably LG’s best ever OLED… which is saying something

Stuff says +++++ Expensive for its size, but the picture and sound justify the price

£2999 / stuff.tv/65G1

BARGAIN BUY

7

£1499 / stuff.tv/OLED935

NEW

8 9

BARGAIN BUY

10

Samsung 75Q950TS

+++++ £3999 / stuff.tv/Q950TS Extravagant even after a £2k price drop… but no other 75in TV looks quite so elegant.

LG OLED55CX

+++++ £1195 / stuff.tv/OLEDCX LG knows exactly what it’s doing with OLED and the results here are mighty impressive.

Sony KD-65A8

+++++ £1898 / stuff.tv/SonyA8 What’s a few gaps in specification when performance is as barnstorming as this?

Philips 55OLED805

+++++ £1199 / stuff.tv/OLED805 All the things we love about OLED without the flagship price tag.

Sony KE-48A9

+++++ £1399 / stuff.tv/A9 Don’t be fooled by its relatively small size: the A9 is a real smasher of a 4K OLED.

Samsung QE65Q65T

+++++ £899 / stuff.tv/Q65T Overlook the humdrum sound and this is one of the best pound-for-pound goggleboxes around.

Hisense A7200G

+++++ £379 / stuff.tv/A7200G This 50in budget buy is a perfectly good way to get a biggish screen at a little price.

FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW TELEVISIONS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/TVs

TOP TENS SOUNDBARS

1

STREAMERS TOP TENS

89

1

HOT BUY

HOT BUY

Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar

Sky TV

Utterly convincing Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D sound, ample power and lots of inputs mean no other soundbar currently available can perform feats with the solidity and confidence of this Sennheiser. The sheer room-filling scale of this device’s sound is remarkable, and it’s hard to think of any content that wouldn’t benefit from being Ambeo’d. That’s why, as well as being the biggest and the most expensive, it’s the best you can buy.

Already home to the biggest selection of 4K content, from blockbuster films and original dramas to top-flight sport, Sky has adopted a can’t-beat-’em-join-’em approach to streaming by incorporating the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and BT Sport in its user-friendly interface. It’s also restructured its packages to make them more affordable, while multiroom and mobile options round off the most comprehensive content system money can buy.

Stuff says +++++ The Ambeo Soundbar is a big unit but the sound it makes is bigger still

Stuff says +++++ Sky has come out fighting to move with the times and its selection of shows is unrivalled

£2199 / stuff.tv/AmbeoSoundbar

2 BARGAIN BUY

3 4

5

Sonos Arc

£799 / stuff.tv/SonosArc Don’t expect this soundbar to do everything a multi-speaker Dolby Atmos setup can do, but its up-firing and side-firing drivers give a real sense of scale for an immersively cinematic TV-watching experience.

Stuff says +++++ Big-screen sound for your big-screen binges

Roku Streambar

£130 / stuff.tv/Streambar It’s a compact soundbar and a versatile streaming stick in the same box – and both parts of the deal work brilliantly well. This is the simplest and cheapest way to upgrade your TV’s sound and smarts in one go.

Stuff says +++++ A punchy little bar with built-in streaming skills

Sonos Beam

+++++ £399 / stuff.tv/SonosBeam Sonos’s great-value Alexa soundbar is affordable and packed with smarts.

Yamaha SR-C20A

+++++ £229 / stuff.tv/SRC20A At 60cm wide, this is a little bit of a soundbar that can do a little bit of everything.

from £25/month + setup / stuff.tv/SkyTV

2

Amazon Fire TV Cube

3

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

4

Chromecast with Google TV

5

Amazon Fire TV Stick

£110 / stuff.tv/FireTVCube The Fire TV interface is easy to use and all the big catch-up services are available via this tidy box – and best of all, Alexa voice control works brilliantly. You’ll never have to worry about losing the remote again!

Stuff says +++++ A marvel of voice control for your telly

£50 / stuff.tv/FireStick4K This streaming stick offers 4K plus a faster processor than the original Fire TV Stick, and comes with an Alexa Voice Remote… but look out also for the cheaper non-4K version below, and the bargain Lite model.

Stuff says +++++ Simply a great 4K streaming stick

+++++ £60 / stuff.tv/ChromecastTV A solid buy if you like Google’s casting tricks but also want all your TV apps in one place.

+++++ £40 / stuff.tv/FireStick A solid little HD streamer for all the best bits of Amazon and more.

FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE PRODUCTS IN OUR TOP TEN LISTINGS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10

TOP TENS TABLETS

1

1

HOT BUY

HOT BUY

Apple iPad Air

Sony PlayStation 5

The 4th-generation iPad Air ushers in big changes. It looks the spit of an 11in iPad Pro (at least from the front), and supports Apple’s snazzy Magic Keyboard and second-gen Pencil… and the A14 chip makes it blazingly fast, leaving its predecessor in the dust. Sure, there are compromises, but none are critical. So if you were considering an iPad Pro but don’t really need the extra power of that phenomenal M1 processor, it might be wise to save yourself a few quid and buy the Air instead.

The PS5 is not a modest upgrade. Its hulking design means it’ll make a bad first impression on some, but spend time playing it and it’ll soon win you over – and then some. This is essentially a high-spec gaming PC for the living room: stupendously powerful, with greatly reduced loading times compared to the PS4. Most last-gen titles will run fine, many with a boost, and the line-up of new games is strong; we just hope developers make use of that fascinating DualSense pad and its haptic feedback trickery.

Stuff says +++++ Pointing to the iPad’s future rather than its past, this is a meaningful, impressive, powerful Air update

Stuff says +++++ Huge power, clever hardware and a guarantee of great games to come make the PS5 hard to resist

from £579 / stuff.tv/iPadAir

NEW

CONSOLES TOP TENS

90

2

Apple iPad Pro (M1)

3

Microsoft Surface Go 2

4

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+

5

from £749 / stuff.tv/iPadPro The 2021 iPad Pro’s display is wonderful and the M1 chip super-powerful, with only Apple itself holding things back with the flawed iPadOS. Don’t rush to upgrade if you have the 2020 model… but this is the king of tablets.

Stuff says +++++ Absolutely the best tablet around… at a price

from £399 / stuff.tv/SurfaceGo2 The Surface Go 2 feels less user-friendly and slick than an iPad, but pair it with the optional Type Cover and it turns into a neat mini-laptop. It’s also a surprisingly good way to play games.

Stuff says +++++ Just enough power to be a genuine iPad rival

++++, from £799 / stuff.tv/TabS7Plus A true iPad Pro alternative that brilliantly balances productivity and entertainment.

Apple iPad (2020)

++++, from £329 / stuff.tv/iPad2020 The A12 Bionic chip turns Apple’s cheapest tab into an absolute powerhouse.

£450 / stuff.tv/PS5

2

Nintendo Switch

£279 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch Now four years old, the Switch is the second-best-selling console in Nintendo’s history thanks to great games and a unique twist on portable play. Just one question: when’s the new version coming?

Stuff says +++++ This 2-in-1 console is the real deal

3

Microsoft Xbox Series X

4

Microsoft Xbox Series S

5

£450 / stuff.tv/XSX A fully future-proofed machine that doesn’t scrimp on specs or speed, the Series X just wants more exclusive titles to make it sing.

Xbox Game Pass remains pretty much the best streamed offering in gaming.

Stuff says ++++, A beast of a console that needs more games

++++, £250 / stuff.tv/XSS Delivers affordability without sacrificing key features, but still falls short on new titles.

Evercade Handheld

++++, £60 / stuff.tv/Evercade Scratches the retro itch in all sorts of ways.

See also the TV-bound VS model.

FOR FULL REVIEWS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/HOME-CINEMA & STUFF.TV/TOP-10/GAMES-MACHINES

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91

GAMES TOP TENS

HOT BARGAIN BUY BUY

The Last of Us Part II £20 / PS4

Just as The Last of Us proved to be the perfect swansong for the PS3 era, The Last of Us Part II is a masterful triumph to see off the PS4 in style: a rare superior sequel that can be mentioned in the same breath as The Godfather Part II. An unparalleled masterclass in everything it does, with an extensive suite of accessibility options that every game should adopt as the standard, it’s a game with a story that challenges us – and one we’ll be discussing long into the new console generation.

TIPS & TRICKS Take your time exploring – you’ll find key resources, notes, even some fun Easter eggs.

Stuff says +++++ Naughty Dog has done it again with this brutal, bleak and beautiful game

Not keen on all the violence? A lot of confrontations can be avoided. Just look out for sniffer dogs!

O OR PLAY THIS Uncharted: The Lost Legacy A leaner and somewhat less grim action adventure from Naughty Dog, starring a pair of kick-ass women. £10 / PS4

4

It Takes Two

5

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

6

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

7

Final Fantasy VII Remake

8

Monster Hunter Rise

9

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

3

2

Hades

Demon’s Souls

Just when you think you’ve seen all this hellish roguelite has to offer, a new tweak yanks you out of your comfort zone. It quickly becomes very addictive… and even if you’ll have to face numerous setbacks, few games make you feel so godly.

This is a lovingly attentive remake that transforms an old game into a next-gen must-play. It’s going to make you work for it, as beneath that shiny new coat it remains a uniquely foreboding challenge, but overcoming Demon’s Souls is its own reward.

from £22 / PC, Switch

£50 / PS5

NEW

Stuff says +++++ Great even if you don’t like roguelites …and if you do, it’s the best there is

Stuff says +++++ A gorgeous and faithful remake of a hugely influential cult classic

10

+++++ from £32 / PS4, PS5, XBX, XSX, PC A masterful co-op experience that will live long in the memory.

+++++ £35 / PS5, PS4 A visually stunning superhero romp, ideal for showing off the power of your new PS5.

+++++ from £20 / PS4, XB1, PC A superb remake of two of the best sports games ever committed to disc.

+++++ £28 / PS4 The greatest remake of one of the all-time greatest video games.

+++++ £40 / Switch So many monsters and mechanics to feast on – this is unmissable.

+++++ £40 / Switch A sleeper Mario classic + an experimental 3D offshoot = one hell of a package.

Returnal

+++++ £65 / PS5 A must-play for the PS5 – just be prepared to die again and again.

FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW GAMES, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/GAMES

1

ELECTRIC CARS TOP TENS

92

1

HOT BUY

HOT BUY

VanMoof S3

Porsche Taycan

VanMoof’s second-gen S3 (or X3 if you’re under 5ft 8in) looks like a normal bike, rides like a normal bike and, crucially, doesn’t cost a ridiculous amount of cash. The chunky 50mm tyres, slightly swooped bars and upright riding position all combine to make it super-comfy, and 30 miles with the power assistance set to level three (out of four) left us completely sweat-free with 20% still in the tank. Plus, for such a looker, the S3 has a lot of tech hidden away to make it a less than ideal target for thieves.

It was about time someone took the fight to Tesla, and boy has Porsche delivered with the Taycan. This electric four-door saloon is the EV that petrolheads have been waiting for. In full-fat Turbo S flavour, the Taycan hits 62mph in 2.8 seconds – and adding more drama to proceedings is how it shifts up through its two-speed gearbox. The Taycan has a dynamism that can’t be matched by other electric cars, with a surefootedness that encourages you to press on.

Stuff says +++++ This smart-looking e-bike offers a great ride, great features and some genuinely useful security smarts

Stuff says +++++ Big power, sports-car handling and lots of clever tech make the Taycan the most exciting EV yet

£1798 / stuff.tv/VanMoofS3

2

Cowboy 3

3

Specialized Turbo Vado SL 5.0 EQ

4

GoCycle GX

5

Ribble Hybrid AL e

£1990 / stuff.tv/Cowboy3 The 43-mile range, app-controlled lights, smart tracking and anti-theft tech make this bike a true commuter contender. It’s a handsome steed… but watch out also for the new Cowboy 4.

Stuff says +++++ A light e-bike that’s ideal for commuting

£4000 / stuff.tv/VadoSL With the electrics hidden away in the frame, this hybrid bike looks pretty discreet – but it has a mass of added extras, including an extra boost of assistance for daunting hills and a kickstand for statement propping.

Stuff says +++++ Pricey, but well built and a real easy rider

+++++ £2899 / stuff.tv/GoCycleGX This foldaway e-bike is getting hard to find, but the new G4 model is on its way…

+++++ £2199 / stuff.tv/RibbleHybrid A secret e-bike that proves you don’t need fancy extras for an excellent ride.

from £70,690 / stuff.tv/Taycan

2 3

Honda E

from £28,215 / stuff.tv/HondaE Born to be a city commuter (its maximum range is just 137 miles), the E is light, nimble and planted, but also delivers a completely comfortable and saloon-like refined ride for longer journeys.

Stuff says +++++ Pricier than the equivalent Mini… but more fun

Polestar 2

from £39,900 / stuff.tv/Polestar2 From Volvo’s EV subsidiary, this five-door all-electric fastback blends elements of a futuristic saloon with bits of an SUV and totally gets away with it… thanks in part to a staggering 660Nm of torque.

Stuff says +++++ A speedy five-door EV that’s a joy to drive

4

Volkswagen ID.3

5

Nissan Leaf

+++++ from £29,620 / stuff.tv/ID3 A solid hatchback that looks ice-cold but is equally good at the mundane stuff.

+++++ from £25,995 / stuff.tv/NissanLeaf An accomplished family car that packs some serious range, performance and gadgetry.

FOR UP-TO-DATE LISTINGS AND FULL REVIEWS OF ALL KINDS OF GADGETS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10

O Electric car prices include government plug-in car grant (PiCG)

TOP TENS E-BIKES ETC

93

1

SMART HOME TOP TENS HOT BUY

Amazon Echo (4th Gen) £90 / stuff.tv/Echo

Having morphed from a cylinder to a sphere, the latest Echo is an excellent newsreader, weather forecaster, personal assistant and intercom straight out of the box; but it’s now also a capable speaker and a very accessible smart home hub. It doesn’t sound as good as the Sonos One or Apple HomePod for listening to music, but it’s significantly smarter than both and considerably cheaper too.

TIPS & TRICKS The Echo’s built-in Zigbee hub can hook up hundreds of smart home devices without a bridge.

Stuff says +++++ An all-round upgrade that makes the Echo a smarter speaker than ever

Pair a compatible thermostat and the Echo’s temperature sensor can activate the heating.

O NOW ADD THIS Honeywell T6R This Zigbee-enabled thermostat is wireless so you can place it where it’s most convenient. £165 / amazon.co.uk

Alexa Flash Briefings deliver bursts of news or trivia; choose from 5000 sources in the app.

2

3

4

NEW

Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen)

Google Nest Mini

It can’t match a full-size smart speaker for audio, but as a radio and Alexa assistant for the bedside or kitchen, this cutey gets the job done. It’s worth paying £10 more for the ‘with Clock’ version, which adds extra functionality beyond telling the time.

If you live in Google’s world (and let’s face it, most of us do) then the Nest Mini is the best, cheapest way to get into the smart home game. It’s a better bet than the Echo Dot with Clock if you want close integration with your Google calendar and apps.

Stuff says +++++ With the optional clock, this is our favourite bedside wondergadget

Stuff says +++++ Louder and cleverer than ever… and it’ll only improve with updates

from £50 / stuff.tv/Dot

£49 / stuff.tv/NestMini

Ring Indoor Cam

+++++ £49 / stuff.tv/RingIndoor This cute little spy-cam is a bona fide bargain for anyone with security worries.

5

Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd Gen)

6

Philips Hue Starter Kit

7

Dyson V15 Detect Absolute

+++++ £187 / stuff.tv/Nest3 A simple and mess-free smart thermostat with Alexa compatibility.

+++++ from £50 (white) / stuff.tv/Hue Become an indoor god with the smartest way of lighting up your home remotely.

+++++ £600 / stuff.tv/V15Absolute Ludicrous but brilliant: a vacuum cleaner that illuminates your dust particles with a laser.

8

Brisant-Secure Ultion Smart

9

Amazon Echo Show 10

10

+++++ from £259 / stuff.tv/UltionSmart Tradition and tech partner up in a smart lock to please everyone.

++++, £240 / stuff.tv/Show10 The revolving trick makes this a handy (but not essential) upgrade on the previous Echo Show.

Nanoleaf Essentials A19

++++, from £18 / stuff.tv/NanoleafA19 Simple, affordable, effective: these lights are a must for any Apple smart home.

FOR FULL REVIEWS OF THE BEST SMART HOME DEVICES, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/SMART-HOME-DEVICES

TOP TENS VR HEADSETS

1

VR GAMES TOP TENS

94

1

HOT BUY

HOT BUY

Oculus Quest 2

Half-Life: Alyx

The original Quest felt almost too good to be true. Its successor lacks the same wow factor, but you can’t argue with a better display and processor – not to mention a lighter, more comfortable build – for less money. Are there more powerful headsets? Is motion sickness still an issue? Yes to both, but superb tracking and a total absence of wires make this the VR package to get… that is, unless you’re boycotting Facebook, because you have to be logged in to use it.

Announcing Alyx as not only a ‘midquel’ but a VR exclusive got some Half-Life diehards riled up… but in classic Valve fashion, the end result is utterly brilliant. Alyx succeeds because its universe just happens to be a perfect fit for the format. It’s also larger and much more robust than most VR games, at a meaty 12-15 hours. And though it unfolds at a different kind of cadence to past Half-Life games, it feels like a fully fledged solo campaign and a key part of the franchise narrative.

Stuff says +++++ Not a complete reinvention, but our favourite VR headset is now even better… and cheaper!

Stuff says +++++ Valve’s beloved series returns… and offers one of the strongest arguments to date for VR gaming

from £299 / stuff.tv/Quest2

2

Valve Index

3

HTC Vive Pro

4

HTC Vive Cosmos

5

PlayStation VR

£919 / stuff.tv/ValveIndex While not revolutionary, the Index carries enough subtle upgrades to put it atop the PC-based headset pack. Everything looks fabulous and the controllers deliver the most fluid-feeling VR interactions to date.

Stuff says ++++, The best of the performance-PC VR options

£599 (headset only) / stuff.tv/HTCVivePro No longer the top dog for high-end VR using a PC, the Vive Pro remains a strong headset thanks to its crisp screens and comfy fit. We can’t wait to try the new and improved Pro 2…

Stuff says ++++, Impressive, but not the best around in 2021

+++,, £699 / stuff.tv/Cosmos A simple setup with potential for upgrades, but tough to recommend at this price.

+++,, from £260 / stuff.tv/PSVR Held back by niggling issues… let’s hope the upcoming second-gen PSVR will fix those.

from £40 / Oculus, Vive, Valve Index

2

Beat Saber

3

Star Wars: Squadrons

4

Pistol Whip

5

Population: One

from £23 / Oculus, Vive, PSVR Gleefully swing your twin lightsabers to chop blocks that are flung your way to the thumping beat of a song. This game has reinvented the rhythm genre for VR and it’s glorious, especially on the cable-free Quest.

Stuff says +++++ A mesmerising musical melee

from £15 / Oculus, Vive, PSVR Suit up and enter the cockpit in this dazzling dogfighter, a robust Star Wars sim that you can play fully in VR across the entire experience – campaign missions and online shootouts alike.

Stuff says ++++, Spacey fun… and even better with a joystick

++++, from £16 / Oculus, Vive, PSVR Like John Wick meets EDM, this rhythmic blaster makes you feel like a master assassin.

++++, from £23 / Oculus, Vive Not as polished as Fortnite, but still a ripping battle-royale shooter with chaotic action.

FOR FULL REVIEWS, AND TO EXPLORE MORE OF THE STUFF TOP TEN LISTS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10

TOP TENS DRONES & ACTION CAMS

1

95

TECH TOYS TOP TENS

1

HOT NEW BUY

DJI Air 2S

HOT BUY

Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor

£899 / stuff.tv/Air2S

£330 / stuff.tv/Mindstorms DJI’s status as overlord of the consumer drone world is pretty much unchallenged, but there’s no sign of laurel-resting here.

The Air 2S may be its best drone yet: an almost perfect balance of portability, performance and price, ideal for novices but still able to produce nigh-on pro-level results. The richness of colour in conditions where a smaller sensor would struggle is the real killer feature; that this camera is bolted onto such a stable and easy-to-fly drone just makes it all the better.

It’s clear Lego has prioritised immediacy and fun with its latest build-your-own-bots kit, which lets you and/or your little ones create five different coding-controlled mecha-beings. Yes, the set lacks a proper screen and relies on a separate device for programming; but it offers great clarity and scope, plus an attitude that encourages tinkering… whatever your age.

Stuff says +++++ DJI cranks up the magic once again with the best all-round camera drone on the market

Stuff says +++++ A fun, versatile set for Lego electronics newcomers and old hands alike

2

DJI Mini 2

£419 / stuff.tv/Mini2 Just light enough to avoid having to be registered with the CAA, DJI’s latest pocket drone is a little beast that grabs stellar aerial video. It’s also super-intuitive to control and capable of shooting in 4K. Stuff says +++++ DJI’s dinky drone soars above the competition

3

DJI Mavic Air 2

4

GoPro Hero9 Black

5

GoPro Hero8 Black

£769 / stuff.tv/MavicAir2 DJI has built on the platform of a simple entry-level drone and thrown in a heap of pro features, so those dipping a toe into aerial photography or videography no longer have to put up with mediocre content.

Stuff says +++++ A viable cheaper option than the new Air 2S

+++++ £330 / stuff.tv/H9B One of the most versatile bits of filming and photography kit we’ve used.

+++++ £260 / stuff.tv/H8B Overtaken by the Hero9 Black… but this is still arguably a better option if you don’t need 5K.

2

Sphero RVR

3

Lego Vidiyo

4

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit

5

Lego Adventures with Mario

£250 / stuff.tv/SpheroRVR The RVR pulls off the balance between serious coding and knockabout fun perfectly: it’s an all-terrain vehicle that you can throw around without worrying about it breaking, but also has serious programming chops.

Stuff says +++++ Enough fun to convert any coding-phobe

from £3.99 / stuff.tv/Vidiyo The brick masters’ latest foray into AR sees you shoot video, directing music promos for bands whose members are based on real-world sets – think collectable minifigs crossed with TikTok. Stuff says ++++, Lego’s best digital/plastic crossover yet

++++, £100 / stuff.tv/MKLive AR software, real-life cars and course markers turn your living room into a Mario Kart track.

++++, from £50 / stuff.tv/LAMario Basically Mario Maker in brick form; begin with the essential Starter Course.

FOR FULL REVIEWS, AND TO EXPLORE MORE OF THE STUFF TOP TEN LISTS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10

TOP TENS CAMERAS

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HOT BUY

Fujifilm X-T4 The Fuji X-T4 might be the high-end mirrorless camera of your dreams. Relatively affordable for a flagship, it excels at stills and video thanks to in-body image stabilisation, high-speed shooting and 4K recording at up to 60fps. Rapid shooting is backed up by fancy AF tricks that feel equally fast and reliable, and even the battery life goes above and beyond the usual standards. There’s no doubting this is a worthy successor to the already fabulous X-T3.

TIPS & TRICKS It’s easy to set up the X-T4’s customisable Q button: just hold it down for a couple of seconds for options.

Stuff says +++++ A superbly capable mirrorless camera for shooting pretty much anything in style

Avoid those wonky horizons by turning on the built-in on-screen level in screen settings.

O NOW ADD THIS Fujifilm XF 16-80mm f/4 This versatile lens covers a bigger zoom range than most and adapts to pretty much any requirements. £699 / wexphotovideo.com

Fujifilm X Acquire is a clever bit of PC/Mac software that backs up all your X-T4’s custom settings.

2

4

Nikon D780

5

Fujifilm X-T30

6

Canon EOS RP

7

Sony A1

8

Fujifilm GFX100S

9

Sony ZV-1

10

Nikon Z50

3

NEW

Sony A7C

Sony A7 III

Putting full-frame sensors in small bodies is one of Sony’s greatest strengths, and the A7C minimises things even further – but this is a compact package with a lot of imaging power. For photographers and video makers who want to carry everything with them in a modest bag (or hanging around their neck), the A7C fits the bill better than any other interchangeable-lens camera.

The A7 III manages to pack in a lot of technology and desirability for less than £2000. It’s a fantastic all-rounder that’s well suited to a bunch of shooting scenarios, coping well with landscapes, portraits, and even a little bit of high-speed sport shooting.

As a camera design it’s admittedly not the prettiest thing we’ve ever seen, but it handles well for its compact size.

Stuff says +++++ Superb quality and full-frame goodness from a half-pint camera

Stuff says +++++ An excellent all-rounder that thrives in low-light conditions

£1709 / stuff.tv/A7C

£1699 / stuff.tv/SonyA7iii NEW

+++++ £1990 / stuff.tv/D780 An all-round DSLR that’s built like a tank and borrows the best tricks of its mirrorless siblings.

+++++ £849 / stuff.tv/XT30 Does a brilliant job of distilling the X-T3’s appeal into a cheaper, more compact body.

+++++ £1049 / stuff.tv/EOSRP A full-frame mirrorless marvel that’s light enough to not be a burden and offers top picture quality.

+++++ £6499 / stuff.tv/A1 There are better options for specialists, but this is the ultimate no-compromise all-round camera.

+++++ £5499 / stuff.tv/GFX100S Not cheap, but lightweight and compact: Fuji has made medium-format accessible.

+++++ £699 / stuff.tv/ZV1 With ace video and a flippable screen, Sony’s clever compact is a vlogger’s dream.

+++++ £839 / stuff.tv/Z50 One of the best APS-C cameras out there, offering a multitude of pro-level features.

FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW CAMERAS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/SYSTEM-CAMERAS

O System camera prices quoted are for body only unless otherwise stated

£1399 / stuff.tv/XT4

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HOT BUY

Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) from £50 / stuff.tv/Dot

Fed up of yelling?

Alexa’s voice can work like an intercom with connected Echo devices.

This fabric-covered take on Marvin the paranoid android in disguise as a Magic 8-Ball feels playful yet classical. It can’t match a full-size smart speaker for audio, but as a little radio and an Alexa assistant for the bedside table or kitchen worktop, this cutey gets the job done. It’s worth paying £10 more for the ‘with Clock’ version, which adds extra functionality beyond telling the time.

Alexa Voice Shopping lets you order from Amazon; add a ‘voice code’ to keep the kids off.

Stuff says +++++ With the optional clock, this is our favourite bedside wondergadget

Dot at your bedside?

Saying “Alexa, turn on whisper mode” will stop it waking up sleepyheads.

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BUDGET BUYS TOP TENS

O NOW ADD THIS Sportlink Wall Mount This minimalist acrylic mount for the Dot will keep it clear from wet surfaces in the bathroom or kitchen. £9 / amazon.co.uk

3

4

Mi Smart Band 5

5

Orange Crest Edition

6

+++++ £26 / stuff.tv/MiBand5 Fantastic value and decent features make this an easy fitness tracker to recommend.

+++++ £95 / stuff.tv/OrangeCrest Comfortable cans with a sound that’s true to Orange’s hard-rocking heritage.

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2

+++++ £90 / stuff.tv/Wonderboom2 A rugged little wonder that’ll bring a sonic boost to any occasion.

7

Chromecast with Google TV

£94 / stuff.tv/Pi400

8

Moto G30

These black cans are unmistakably Xbox, with chunky earpads and plenty of padding. And the sound is impressive for the price, with a low-end response so impactful we had to turn down the bass in the Xbox’s EQ app.

This DIY computer kit isn’t about the work (or homework) it can do, but what you can turn it into.

It’s an affordable standalone programming rig, a hub for electronics and a stashable device that can become any classic home computer in seconds.

9

Stuff says +++++ Yes, you really can bag a decent gaming headset for under £100

Stuff says +++++ A superb gadget for hacking around and exploring computing’s past

Microsoft Xbox Wireless Headset

Raspberry Pi 400

£90 / stuff.tv/XboxHeadset

10

+++++ £60 / stuff.tv/ChromecastTV A solid buy if you like Google’s casting tricks but also want all your TV apps in one place.

++++, £160 / stuff.tv/G30 A phone that packs in plenty on a budget, even if not every feature adds value.

Nanoleaf Essentials A19

++++, from £18 / stuff.tv/NanoleafA19 Simple, affordable, effective: these lights are a must for any Apple smart home.

Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen)

++++, £90 / stuff.tv/NestHub2 A small but mighty smart home display with some useful improvements on its predecessor.

FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THESE GADGETS, AND TO EXPLORE MORE TOP TEN LISTS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10

Dumb ass It’s often been assumed that the game’s name arose from a mishearing of Monkey Kong. In fact, ‘donkey’ was a synonym for ‘stupid’ in Shigeru Miyamoto’s Japanese-English dictionary.

RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES 1981

980s arcade gaming meets 1930s cinema. Double retro overload!

It does feel like that when you first set eyes on Shigeru Miyamoto’s legendary design. This was one of the earliest ‘climbing’ games, laying the foundations for the platform genre. And it’s packed with film tropes, from the damsel in distress to the giant ape – too packed, according to Universal City Studios, who filed a lawsuit against Nintendo alleging trademark infringement of King Kong. Universal lost; Nintendo won; gamers and everyman carpenters everywhere erupted in celebration. Probably.

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Carpenters? Duh, Mario’s a plumber!

Not at first. He wasn’t even called Mario – he was an unnamed everyman, trying to rescue the generically named Lady, avoiding deadly barrels and removing rivets from towers in a flagrant breach of health and safety regs. He was at various points dubbed Jumpman and Mr Video, before Nintendo’s US staff renamed him Mario after their warehouse landlord, Mario Segale. That worked out pretty well for the character… but his quest in the game itself was tougher, not least due to a bug that gave him just four seconds to complete the 117th screen.

Yikes! Bet that made Mr Segale furious.

Indeed – and in sequel Donkey Kong Jr, Mario acted in uncharacteristic fashion, squeezing the giant ape into a tiny cage and unleashing psychotic critters on DK’s son when he attempted a rescue. There were helicopters too – this was big-budget revenge.

Eventually the apes won, booting Mario across the screen and leaving him to forever take out his aggression on tortoise-like creatures instead. As for DK, he took refuge inside a greenhouse in Donkey Kong 3, annoying a pest control officer but – this time – no major film studios.

DON’T MISS THE NEXT ISSUE! ON SALE 5 AUG

[ Words Craig Grannell ]

Donkey kong

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