BEST TECH OF THE YEAR

GADGETS / GAMES / GEAR

175
+++++

GADGETS
RATED
INSIDE
Calorie-killing
T H E
T
kit to combat
the cold

G A D GE N T E C H REV E A L E D
HIES I

S T R O P
O

AW
U

A
R

R
2

D 0 TO P

PLUS!
£4.99 Jan 2020 www.stuff.tv

Carbon fibre cans

Robots go off-road
Retro arcade cabs
& a talking paperclip
 Go Beyond

DALI’s IO6 wireless,

noise cancelling headphones
enable you to fully immerse
yourself in music. Designed in
Denmark, these stunning
headphones allow you to hear
your music exactly as the artist
intended. With 30hours battery
life, these durable, comfortable
headphones are built for
extended listening, with a
natural transparent sound
that never tires.

DALI iO | Go with Music

www.dali-speakers.com
Welcome
Advertising:
Tandem Media
01233 228757
Richard Rowe
(richard.rowe@
tandemmedia.co.uk)
Ad Operations Manager
Martin Williams
Tech is about looking forward, but sometimes it’s Ad Production Manager
Andy Welch (01233
nice to dip into the archives. Hot-tub-time-machining 220245, stuff@
tandemmedia.co.uk)
it back to the 2009 Stuff Awards, somewhat Management
Managing Director
incredulously I discovered that the HTC Hero Phil Weeden
Chief Executive
beat the Apple iPhone 3GS to win Gadget of Steve Wright
Chairman
the Year. It must have been that 5MP camera Steve Annetts
Finance Director
and 3.2in touchscreen. Joyce Parker-Sarioglu
Publishing Director
And so on to the 2019 Stuff Awards; the official final word on Kevin McCormick
Publishing Operations
a thrilling decade in tech that’s seen us embrace everything from Manager
Charlotte Whittaker
3D to 4K, AI, AR, VR, 5G and ‘phablets’ (a word that still brings Retail Distribution
Managers
me out in cold sweats). We’ve got winners in 20 massive categories, Eleanor Brown,
Steve Brown
including two very special reader awards chosen by you fine Audience Development
Manager Andy Cotton
people, so thank you for voting in your droves. Head over to p32 Head of Events
Kat Chappell
to discover what our la familia of experts has deemed the best of Senior Print Production
Manager
Nicola Pollard
the best this year. Print Production
Manager
Odds are your posterior has been largely planted on the sofa for Georgina Harris
Print Production
the past couple of weeks, so we’re also doing our bit for post-festive Controller
Alicia Stewart
obesity with a winter fitness feature to get you in the gym or out on Subscription
Marketing Manager
the pistes – that’s if strapping oversized lolly sticks to your feet and Nick McIntosh

throwing yourself down a mountain is your idea of fun. I mean, you • Volume 24 issue 1
• ISSN: 1364-963
• On sale 26 Dec 2019
could just go to the Milton Keynes Snozone… no, as you were. Enjoy • Audit Bureau of
Circulations: 39,953
the issue and let’s smash 2020. (Jan-Dec 2018)

James Day, Editor-in-Chief / @James_A_Day

DISTRIBUTION
Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East
Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT
www.seymour.co.uk
Tel: 020 7429 4000
PRINTING
William Gibbons & Sons Ltd
Kelsey Media 2019 © All rights reserved.
Kelsey Media is a trading name of Kelsey
Publishing Ltd. Reproduction in whole
or in part is forbidden except with
permission in writing from the
publishers. Note to contributors: articles
submitted for consideration by the
editor must be the original work of the
author and not previously published.
Where photographs are included, which

GET THIS are not the property of the contributor,

MONTH’S
DIGITAL EDITION
Stuff is also available
in digital form – go to
shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff or
turn to p30 for this month’s
subscription offer.
You can also get Stuff from
Pocketmags for reading on
PC, on Kindle Fire or online.
permission to reproduce them must
have been obtained from the owner
of the copyright. The Editor cannot
guarantee a personal response to all
letters and emails received. The views
expressed in the magazine are not
necessarily those of the Editor or the
Publisher. Kelsey Publishing Ltd accepts
no liability for products and services
offered by third parties.
Kelsey Media takes your personal data
very seriously. For more information
on our privacy policy, please visit
www.kelsey.co.uk/privacy-policy/
If at any point you have any queries
regarding Kelsey’s data policy you can
email our Data Protection Officer at
dpo@kelsey.co.uk

www.stuff.tv facebook.com/joinstuff twitter.com/stufftv instagram.com/stuffmag

3
The Smart
Home Defence
System
Controlling your door locks from your smartphone,
your watch, by voice command as well as a real key
is clever. Combining this with Kitemarked Police
approved security and a £1000 security guarantee
is smart. Ultion SMART..

From £229
www.ultion-smart.co.uk

ULTION SMART

Siri, lock
Alexa, lock the door
the door
 Making Stuff up
Editor-in-Chief
James Day I RELIVED SOME I WENT SKIING
Hot Stuff Editor TEENAGE CAR AND GOT PAID
Matt Tate MAG FANTASIES FOR IT
Online Editor I really wanted a Toyota Supra That makes me a
Natalya Paul when I was younger. Then professional athlete,
Contributors I got some insurance quotes right? Not quite. As a tech
Andrew Williams, and readjusted my sights on a Vauxhall Nova. journalist, I’m used to getting early access
Craig Grannell, Still, like the white guitar in Wayne’s World, to the latest gear – but then Stuff asked me
Andrew Hayward, I knew that one day it would be mine… sort to take it up a mountain to test it. The peak
Sam Kieldsen, of. You see, Toyota has brought back the in question was the 3000m Mont de Péclet
Tom Wiggins, Supra, sweeping lines and all, so they lent near Val Thorens, in the French Alps, and
Tom Morgan, me one for a few days. Naturally the weather on the opening day of the 2019-20 season
Verity Burns, was mostly biblical for the duration, but even I made fresh tracks all in the name of winter
Chris Rowlands, popping out for some Jaffa cakes made me sport tech. How many times did I fall on my
Simon Lucas, feel like a king. backside? Not saying.
Basil Kronfli, James Day, Editor-in-Chief Chris Haslam, contributor Winter
Leon Poultney, fitness
Chris Haslam, p69
Kieran Alger,
Joe Svetlik,
Vikki Blake,
Alan Wen,
Jon Denton,
Richard Purvis,
Ross Presly

Contact us
stuff@kelsey.co.uk
UK subscription and back
issue orderline: 01959 543747
Overseas subscription

OUR MONTH
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:
Sports cars, skis, secret selfies and space-shoes
Stuff Customer Service Team,
Kelsey Publishing Ltd,
Cudham Tithe Barn, Berry’s Hill,
Cudham, Kent TN16 3AG
I TOOK SOME I TRAINED LIKE
Subscriptions SELFIES IN AN ASTRONAUT,
13 issues of Stuff are SHENZHEN BUT MY SHOES
published per annum Out in China for Oppo’s LEFT ME BEHIND
UK annual subscription Innovation Day, I can confirm Adidas has taken the anti-
price: £64.87 the company is doing a lot gravity idea to the next level
(offer on p30) more than just chucking money at massive with its Ultraboost 20 trainers – by sending
Europe annual
subscription price: £78 sporting events like Wimbledon. There were them into space. I was put through a gruelling
USA & Canada annual 5G and wearable tech announcements, a new 30-minute ‘Train like an Astronaut’ workout
subscription price: £78 flagship in the Reno 3 Pro, and a mixed reality developed with EXOS – a leading human
Rest of world annual headset. Highlight of my trip, though? I got performance lab – as you need to be really
subscription price: £85 to play with a prototype phone that has fit to cope in space. I felt like an accessory to
Find current a behind-the-screen selfie camera. No the real hero, though: it’s the shoes, not me,
subscription offers at notches, no pop-up bits, just a beautifully that are being sent on a NASA mission to the
shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff edge-to-edge display with an almost invisible International Space Station. Which is a pity.
Buy back issues at shop. front snapper. The future is now. What if I superglue my feet in?
kelsey.co.uk/stuffback Basil Kronfli, contributor Natalya Paul, Online Editor
Already a subscriber?
Manage your
subscription online at
shop.kelsey.co.uk/
myaccount

5
 CONS
ON THE
P14 COVER
P58

p33
Apple: top
banana

HOT STUFF p38

TESTS
8 The Hot Four Philips: it’s 49 First test Bowers & Wilkins PX7
O Motorola One Hyper a glower Noise-cancelling cans that should have Sony
O Huawei Sound X and Bose worried. But, you know, only a bit
O Amazon Echo Input worried. It doesn’t really matter, does it?
O Honor Watch Magic 2 56 Versus Smart TV controllers
16 Vital stats Denon Home The Amazon Fire TV Cube takes on the Nvidia
Marvel at the multiroom speakers, wince Shield TV in the battle of the box-botherers
at the Belinda Carlisle puns 58 Tested Sphero RVR
18 Icon Omega Seamaster 300M 007 Edition Rise of the coding-driven all-terrain robots
Watch by James Bond, pants by Johnny English 62 Group test Mini arcade cabinets
20 Apps Pop one on your desktop and imagine you’re
Cool things for, like, your phone and that p41 down to your last 10p
21 Wheels Huawei:
best Mate 66 Tested Google Nest Mini
A hybrid supercar that’s definitely not a Volvo Teeny smart speaker is pucked from obscurity
22 Games 67 Tested Xiaomi Mi Note 10
Including Half-Life 3!!! Well, not exactly… A smartphone with too many megapixels for
24 Stream its own good?
Shave your head and pretend to be Picard 77 Tested Zero DSR Black Forest
26 Start menu Electric motorbike for eco-explorers
This month’s selection of innovative gadgets 80 Long-term test Apple MacBook Pro 16in
hoping f… wait, BRYAN ADAMS??? The king of laptops, tweaked for 2020
28 The futurist 82 Tested Games
Stuff’s resident soothsayer/columnist reveals p43 Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order,
the future of esports Nissan: hail Death Stranding, Shenmue III
to the Leaf

6
01.20
P69
FEATURES
38 Cover feature The 2019 Stuff Awards
A flurry of late-year launches cast our
shortlists into chaos, but it’s done now:
the best tech of 2019, crowned by Stuff
53 Mini meme Relaxation apps
Chill, baby
54 Upvoted Hip flasks
Swiggers with attitude
60 Beta yourself Mindful tech use
Time to take control of your screen life?
69 Winter fitness special
Help turn that mince-pie surplus into muscle
with this top training tech
78 Instant upgrades OnePlus 7T
Spruce up your bargain superphone
106 Random access memories Office Assistant
Uselessly annoying, or annoyingly useless?
WIN!
p29
P104
TOP TENS SAVE!
88 Smartphones, apps, mobile games
Hot handsets and dreamy downloads
90 Headphones, wearables
In-ears, on-ears, smartwatches, trackers
92 Laptops, speakers
Porta-powerhouses and music movers
94 TVs, soundbars, streamers
All you need for a lazy night/day/year in
96 Tablets, consoles, games
Swanky slates and gaming goodies
98 Tech toys, electric cars, VR Get 3 issues
Playing, driving, escaping from reality
100 Smart home, drones, action cams, compacts
of Stuff
Comfort when you’re in, fun when you’re out for £5!
102 System cameras, budget buys
‘Proper’ cameras and the best tech bargains
104 How to buy… physical data storage p30
7
 Adjust
like heaven
As the name suggests,
Quad Pixel tech combines
four pixels into one, so the
64MP camera spits out 16MP
stills by default – bringing
better sensitivity with
less noise.

8

Little
wiry things
Pretty much every flagship
these days has ditched
the headphone port, but the
mid-range still flies the flag
for fans of wired cans. The
One Hyper has that
3.5mm output.
20 PAGES
OF THE BIGGEST
STORIES FROM
PLANET TECH
Sleek
scene
The lack of a notch means
the 2340x1080 display fills
90% of the front of the phone.
There’s a slightly deeper strip
of black at the bottom, but
it’s pretty much a
bezel-free zone.
HOT
FOUR
#1
MOTO DROPS A
PROPER POPPER
Motorola One Hyper
Periscopes have been used for hundreds
of years to help people to infiltrate areas in
which they don’t belong without being
detected – but the pop-up snapper on
Motorola’s new One Hyper is exactly what
got it noticed at Stuff Towers.
At just £270 this phone’s got no right to be
roaming among the big dogs, but as well as
that 32MP selfie-cam it’s got plenty of
other features that could cause you to
mistake it for one: the 6.5in Full HD+ screen
that necessitates the hidden camera
by stretching right to the edges; the
ludicrously fast 45W hyper charging that’ll
juice it enough for a whole day in just 10
minutes; and the 64MP dual rear camera
setup, which uses Quad Pixel tech and AI
smarts to take better pictures in all lighting
conditions, but particularly when things
get a bit gloomy.
Of course, there are a few things that’ll give
it away on closer inspection – just 4GB of
RAM and a Snapdragon 675 processor, for
example – but they should at least help
you to get the most out of the 4000mAh
battery. Just don’t tell anyone the chassis
is made out of plastic, and they’ll be none
the wiser. Infiltration complete.
As hot as… a hyperthermic hamster
£270 / motorola.co.uk
 Let it
wide
The second sensor on the
rear camera module is an 8MP
one, offering an ultra-wide
118° view – a lot like those
you get on flagship phones
such as the iPhone
11 range.

THE
RIVALS

MOTO
G8 PLUS
The One
Hyper’s
biggest rival
probably has
a Moto badge
on it as well. Beneath its
notched 6.3in screen the
G8 Plus’s internals are
very similar, although
the One Hyper’s camera
should take better pix.
£240 / motorola.co.uk

HUAWEI
P30 LITE
A similarly
full-sized
screen, albeit
with one of
Huawei’s
teardrop notches at the
top, makes the P30 Lite
almost as eye-catching
as the One Hyper. It does
lack the wow factor of
that pop-up cam, though.
£230 / huawei.com

NOKIA 7.2
A bit like a Yeah
budget Pixel, we know
Nokia’s 6.2in This ring of light shows
7.2 has less when you’ve got a notification,
storage and a so if you leave the phone face-
smaller battery down you won’t have to keep
than either of the Motos, waking the screen up to
but its smooth glass finish check whether you’ve
makes it feel like a much got any friends.
more expensive phone.
£250 / nokia.com

10
 Screen
mind
The One Hyper will ship with
Android 10, so it should feel
like using a far pricier phone…
although the slightly less
punchy processor will have
an impact on how well
it runs games.

Start
choppin’
You only get 128GB of
storage, which isn’t loads if
you’re going to take advantage
of that camera, but there is a
microSD slot that’ll take
cards of up to 1TB
in capacity.

11
 Pod knows
it’s true
At 20cm tall and 16.5cm
across, the Sound X is a little
bit bigger than the HomePod.
And like Apple’s smart
speaker, it has a circular
touch-panel on
the top.

HOT
FOUR
#2
THE DEVIALET’S
IN THE DETAILS
Huawei Sound X
Despite what Donald Trump
might think, Huawei makes
excellent phones. Unlike the
big orange baby, Huawei knows
it’s not an expert in everything,
which is why it gets Leica in
to work on its cameras rather
than just getting someone in
accounts have a go. Likewise,
when it came to making the
Sound X smart speaker, Huawei
was straight on the blower
to Devialet, the hi-fi boffins
behind the excellent Phantom
all-in-one speaker.
Together they’ve produced
this HomePod-esque effort,
which promises 360° sound
from a pair of 3.5in woofers
and half a dozen 1.5in full-range
drivers, with six microphones
on board for picking up your
voice commands.
With some US companies
banned from working with
Huawei, that raises one key
question: who supplies the
smarts? It’s one that’ll need
to be answered before the
Sound X is to have any chance
of succeeding outside China,
which is probably why there’s
Pairy
no UK availability info yet.
similitude
In China this speaker will cost As with many wireless
the equivalent of about £216, and smart speakers, you can
whereas the Phantom costs add a second Sound X to your
£999 – so thankfully it seems setup to create a stereo pair.
Huawei didn’t ask Devialet for In fact, Huawei will offer a
help when it came to concocting bundle of two for this
the price. Phew. very reason.
As hot as… the Devil’s Breville
£tbc / consumer.huawei.com

12
 Bellow
doubt
The Echo Tap required, yes,
a tap before Alexa would
listen, which undermined
the whole voice-control
concept. The new Input
lets you summon her
with your voice.

I do want
control of you
The Sound X uses Huawei’s
Xiaoyi voice assistant, but
that’s no use if you don’t speak
Chinese. It’ll also work with
the HiLink smart home
system and support
hi-res audio.

HOT
FOUR
#3
THANKS FOR
YOUR INPUT
Amazon Echo Input
Portable Smart
Speaker Edition
You might have heard of the Echo Input
before. It was a device that looked like a fat
drinks coaster, which could be hooked up
to any speaker to add Alexa skills to it. That
makes this new Input Portable Smart
Speaker Edition almost a remake… except
for a few crucial differences.
With a 360° speaker built in, it looks a bit
like the offspring of a regular Echo and a
Dot, with the addition of an indicator on the
front to show how far off needing a charge
it is. That’s because this is Amazon’s first
battery-powered Echo since the poorly
received (and now discontinued) Tap,
so you can take Alexa wherever you
go, with enough juice to play music for
10 hours solid before it needs plugging
into the mains.
The fortunes of the Tap might explain why
the Echo Input Portable Smart Speaker
Edition is initially only going on sale in India,
where portability is top of the most-wanted
list for Echo features; but for 6000 rupees
(about £65) you can imagine they’ll fly off
the shelves, which will make an eventual
appearance on Amazon UK that little bit
more likely. Fingers crossed, eh?
As hot as… Vindaloo nasal spray
£tbc / amazon.in

13
 Relative
rays
The larger Watch Magic 2
has a 454x454-pixel display,
which drops to 390x390 on
the smaller version. Both
have an impressive
brightness rating of
800 nits.
HOT
FOUR
#4
MAGIC: IT’S ALL
IN THE WRIST
Honor Watch Magic 2
Arthur C Clarke one said that
any sufficiently advanced tech
is indistinguishable from magic.
He probably wasn’t talking
about Honor’s new smartwatch;
but while its functionality might
not be what you’d call sorcery,
there’s still plenty to like about
the Watch Magic 2.
You get GPS, heart-rate
monitoring, sleep tracking,
15 in-depth goal-based fitness
modes, music streaming from
your phone via Bluetooth,
and all the usual notification
business. It comes in two sizes,
both made of stainless steel
and water-resistant to 50m;
14
The wrist
will follow
Like the Apple Watch S5, it
has an always-on option for
the screen. Battery life will take
a little bit of a hit if you decide
to use it, but the Kirin A1
processor should help
with that.
the larger 46mm version gets
a 1.39in circular AMOLED and
14-day battery life, while the
42mm one has a 1.2in display
and only lasts half as long.
If all of this sounds slightly
familiar it’s probably because
the Watch Magic 2 is very
similar to the Huawei Watch
GT 2, although the Honor badge
should mean it’ll set you back
a little less than the £200 you’ll
have to shell out for the GT 2.
That’s the kind of magic we can
all get behind.
As hot as… tickets to David
Copperfield’s NYE party
£tbc / hihonor.com

OOH, DENON IS A
PLACE ON EARTH
Denon Home
Ooh baby, do you know what that’s worth? Yes, from £219 / denon.co.uk
Denon’s HEOS multiroom
system was pretty decent.
It beat Sonos to the punch
for Bluetooth connectivity,
portability and hi-res audio
support, but the design
wasn’t for everyone…
plus its second wave of
speakers was named
HS2, which made it
synonymous with a
fustercluck rail project.
Well, Denon has rightly
kept the HEOS tech, but
now stuck it in a new set
of speakers called Home,
with Sonos-like looks.
16
O(We want) the same thing
The mere-exposure effect is when
you develop a preference for the
familiar, and it might explain why
Denon has gone down the Sonos
styling route. The range comprises
three models: the Home 150, with
3.5in woofer and 1in tweeter; Home
250, angled for wide dispersion
with two tweeters, two woofers
and a 5.25in bass radiator; and
Home 350, with two woofers, two
mid-drivers and two tweeters.
OLive your life be free
Denon doesn’t discriminate with
its music sources: choose from
Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon
Music HD, Tidal, TuneIn, Deezer
The touch
controls on the
panel light up
when your hand
moves near.
and more via Wi-Fi, plus AirPlay 2
and Bluetooth. Support is provided
for ALAC, FLAC and WAV files up NATIVE VOICE
to 192kHz/24-bit, as well as DSD
2.8MHz and 5.6MHz tracks for
CONTROL WILL
crystal clarity, while each speaker
also has a USB socket and 3.5mm
ARRIVE VIA
aux input for wired listening. A FIRMWARE
OCircle in the sound
UPDATE LATER
The Home range can be connected IN 2020
to existing HEOS speakers plus
compatible Denon and Marantz
receivers, soundbars and subs. The
only downside is no voice control.
For that you’ll need an additional
device for your chosen assistant…
at least until native support arrives
via a firmware update later in 2020.

EXPANDABLE
AUDIO ACES
OAudio Pro
AP speakers offer astonishing
sound quality for the price.
The Addon multiroom range
comprises the C3, C5 and C10,
with a uniform yet strikingly
distinctive design.
from £250 / audiopro.com
OBluesound
Bluesound offers streamers,
servers and amp combos to
go alongside its wide of range
of speakers, soundbars and
subwoofers. Start with the dinky
Pulse Flex 2i or Mini 2i.
from £299 / bluesound.com
OSonos
Couldn’t leave them out, could
be? Still the multiroom setup to
beat. We’re not sure how they
managed to pack in such quality
components and sonic skills for
so little money.
from £179 / sonos.com
Boss battle
BOSS SY-1000
Muse on steroids is a terrifying prospect, but it’s done nothing to deter
Boss from developing a guitar synth capable of imitating our idea of
sonic hell. The versatile digital orchestra that is the SY-1000 is said to
be the company’s most advanced synth to date, and features custom
DSP delivering six times the processing power of the old SY-300. It’s
packed with deep sound-design tools that can be combined and layered
like a musical trifle, and uses two 16-part step sequencers to create
complex textures that “pulse, breathe and groove”. A new sound engine
aims to deliver clear audio and precision tracking with zero latency, and
you also get FX and amp models from the flagship GT-1000.
£879 / boss.info
R2-D-stew
STAR WARS INSTANT POTS
If you’re of the opinion there still isn’t enough Star Wars merch in the
world, and you’re desperate to feel the Force of slow-cooked pork and
saffron rice, then look no further than this special-edition range of
Instant Pots. Based on the characters R2-D2, BB-8, Chewbacca, Darth
Vader and a generic Stormtrooper, they’re a one-pot shop for pressure
cooking, slow cooking, frying, steaming and even yoghurts. Each one
comes with a handful of Star Wars-themed recipes to try out, but the
designs – like whatever you’re whipping up – won’t be to everyone’s
tastes, and if you’ve ventured to the dark side it’ll probably be because
you’ve overdone it. Just like these Star Wars gags.
from £73 / williams-sonoma.com
17
 I C O N

OMEGA
SEAMASTER
300M 007
EDITION
from £7390 / omegawatches.com
That’s a fancy watch. But what
makes it different from other
fancy watches?
It’s James Bond’s for a start. At
least, this is the Omega model he’ll
be wearing in 007’s next outing,
No Time to Die. It’s also the first
ever Seamaster to get a grade-2
titanium mesh bracelet, and in the
world of expensive wristwear
these are the kind of intricacies
that make a watch sought-after.

No Time to Die? Sounds like Bond’s

watch is running fast.
I’m sure the engineers at Omega
would beg to differ. The 42mm
300M 007 Edition is powered by
a magnetically resistant co-axial
master chronometer calibre 8806
movement, and in horological
terms that should mean Bond’s
watch is pretty darned accurate.

Cheers, Q. But can it cut through

rope, defuse a bomb or mix a
vodka martini?
Sadly not, but it does have a
serious legacy behind it. The
Seamaster range was launched
in 1948 and every iteration is
linked to the original CK2129
military-issue model beloved
by the Royal Navy. Daniel Craig
also helped with the design of
this one, which is slimmer and
lighter than most models; and
if you don’t care for the mesh
bracelet there’s a Nato strap with
a 007-engraved loop instead. DANIEL
Any more 007 pub ammo?
CRAIG
The case back has engraved HELPED
reference points. So ‘0552’ is
the code for Navy personnel and WITH THE
‘923 7697’ is for a diver’s watch.
The letter ‘A’ signifies a watch with
DESIGN,
a screw-in crown. Obviously ‘007’ WHICH IS
refers to Bond’s agent number,
and ‘62’ is the year of the very first SLIMMER
James Bond film, Dr No. The watch
lands in February, while No Time to
THAN MOST
Die hits cinemas on 3 April. MODELS

18
 WTF IS THE
Grandmaster flash and the furious five ESCOBAR
HONOR V30 PRO 5G
If you thought sub-£500 superphones from China were so last year,
FOLD ONE?
think again, because Honor’s V30 Pro includes five cameras and 5G
compatibility amid some serious specs. The array of snappers includes Is that a folding smartphone that’s
a 40MP main, 8MP telephoto and 12MP ultra-wide lens on the back, been named after a drugs kingpin and
complemented by a 32MP selfie-cam and 8MP ultra-wide on the front. resembles a gold bar?
A 6.57in punch-hole display, Kirin 990 chip, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of I’m afraid so. Roberto Escobar, the
storage are equally flagship-troubling, and the 4100mAh fast-charging brother of infamous drug lord Pablo,
battery can apparently hit 70% capacity in half an hour. No word yet has announced an ‘unbreakable’ folding
on when it will reach these shores, or if it’ll be shipping with Google phone with a flexible display using an
services, but we’d be Honored to try it out. ad campaign that features underwear
£420 (est) / hihonor.com models and guns.

Are you serious? It’s disgustingly

garish and you’d be mad to buy one.
You can tell Roberto that if you like. He’s
part of Escobar Inc, founded in 1984 as
the official holding company for Pablo’s
assets – you know, the former leader
of the Medellin drug cartel and a man
reportedly responsible for around 5000
deaths. Anyway, the phone costs $349.

Wait, what? Doesn’t the Samsung

Galaxy Fold cost £1900?
It does. The Escobar Fold One undercuts
its flexible rivals by cutting out networks
and retailers. Roberto Escobar says he
even wants to “beat Apple” in a £22.8bn
lawsuit for allegedly overpricing phones,
before returning the money to the people.

What about the phone itself?

Well, it looks suspiciously like a rebadged
Royole FlexPai and even shares the
same specs – notably a 7.8in AMOLED
1920x1444 display that folds outwards
in tablet form and claims to be the most
Easy as one 2.3 durable telephone screen on the market.
NOKIA 2.3 The panel is plastic, but the phone is
stainless steel with a brushed gold finish.
Nokia’s latest cheap-as-chips mobile is packed to the rafters with AI
to control everything from the camera to the battery, leaving you to And the innards?
concentrate on selfie-induced narcissism. The 13MP AI-fuelled dual There’s a Snapdragon 855 chip with
cameras on the rear add in a 2MP depth sensor, while the 5MP front 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage,
snapper includes facial recognition for unlocking. Factor in a two-day a 16MP f/1.8 primary camera and a
battery with AI-assisted adaptive tech to squeeze out every bit of juice, 20MP secondary shooter. The phone
a 6.2in HD+ display and a Google Assistant button, and that really is is network-unlocked, includes free
quite a lot of phone for a cheeky ton. Nokia is even pledging monthly worldwide shipping – Lord knows with
security updates for three years and OS updates for two years… by what else – and is available directly from
which time the microUSB charging port will feel positively medieval. the Escobar Inc website.
€109 / nokia.com

19
 This month’s mobile must-downloads
1 2 3
IN THE
SPOT-
LIGHT

4 5 6
ADOBE
PHOTOSHOP
FOR iPAD
£free (with
existing plans)
/ iPadOS
One of the
arguments
against being
able to do
‘proper work’
on an iPad used
to be the lack
of Photoshop.
Adobe has
7 8 9 finally removed
that barrier
by bringing
its desktop
photo-editing
behemoth to
Apple’s tablets.
Well, sort of:
although we
were told this
would be full-fat
Photoshop,
v1 is more…
semi-skimmed.
1 Grid Autosport 2 Launcher 3 Sociable Soccer The foundation’s
£9.99 / Android from £free / iOS £4.99/m (Arcade) / iOS there (as is full
Fed up of freemium Android tat? Wish your iPhone’s home screen Pining for SWOS? Find it tricky to PSD support),
Grab this full-on AAA racer, which could do more? Launcher fills the carry an Amiga around? Try this but a bunch
packs in more than 100 circuits and void with widgets to which you can instead, and become a “goalscoring of features
offers enough tinkering to make add contacts and shortcuts to key superstar hero” all over again via including layer
a mechanic grin – assuming your app actions, and have said widgets Apple Arcade. Just don’t blame us effects are MIA.
device can cope. show/hide based on time/location. when you forget to eat. Luckily, we’re
promised rapid
updates – which
4 Triode 5 Spark 6 Asteroid Commando is a smart move,
£free (IAPs) / iOS £free / Android, iOS £1.99 / watchOS given that for
Digital radio is great but digital radio In its ongoing quest to make email Classic arcade games on your the cost of two
apps aren’t, usually being infested tolerable, Spark’s slick redesign phone? How last decade. What months of
with ads. Triode is free, lacks ads, includes custom actions, multiple about on your wrist? This one Photoshop you
and won’t invade your privacy. The windows on iPad, inbox avatars and injects your Apple Watch with can grab a copy
IAPs are merely to reward the devs a swanky new dark mode that also endless space-rock blasting, just of the superb
and sync favourites. works on Android. via twiddling the crown. Affinity Photo
and keep it
forever.
7 Minecraft Earth 8 Unify 9 Void Tyrant
£free / Android, iOS £free (IAPs) / iOS £free / Android, iOS
Mixing building with Pokemon Go Hate the idiot blinking or gurning If you think blackjack is tense, it’s
and The Matrix, this is Minecraft’s in all your group shots – especially got nothing on Void Tyrant. Here,
play for the real world. Come up with if that idiot is you? This app unifies card-flips mean life or death as
creations, place them in your town ‘good’ faces from multiple pics and you battle intergalactic meanies
and use AR to marvel at a hidden lets you hurl the perfect composite by cunning deck-building, careful
blocky world mapped onto our own. at your friends. strategy and more than a little luck.

20
 Polestar 1
SWEDE AND TENDER
Body panels
are made of super-
light CFRP, allowing
HOOLIGAN
plenty of creative
freedom for the
designers.

£139,000 / polestar.com NEWS DASHBOARD

Goodness, that’s pretty… with a Tesla Model 3 rival due in

Yes it is. Polestar’s designers 2020. There’ll also be an electric
wanted to distance themselves SUV in the line-up, but no more
from their Volvo siblings with hairy-chested hybrids like this.
something that looked sexy
without losing the modern lines That’s a shame. Is it annoyingly
and Scandinavian influences. good to drive too?
You guessed it – an absolute
What’s underneath the bonnet? peach to pilot. The surge of ZIMMER BIMMER TRUCK YEAH! KARM DOWN
There’s a twin-turbocharged power from standstill is addictive, Legendary film As you may have If you need proof
and supercharged four-cylinder steering is light but direct and the composer Hans noticed, Tesla has that electric cars
petrol engine that develops manually adjustable suspension Zimmer (Inception, launched an electric are edging towards
309hp, but that’s only half the (slight overkill) ensures the ride The Dark Knight) pickup truck. The desirable territory,
story. Twin rear electric motors remains firm and planted. Then has teamed up company reckons take a look at
contribute an additional 232hp ease off the accelerator and the with BMW to create this American the Karma SC2
and a crank-integrated starter Polestar 1 transforms into a quiet, a new ‘score’ for institution needs concept. This
generator throws in another sedate and very luxurious cruiser. future electric a makeover and staggeringly
68hp. You don’t have to be Rachel models. The its Cybertruck, beautiful ‘design
Riley to work out that equates to Does it destroy the planet a bit? Vision M Next with a 500-mile expression’ is said
609hp – a gut-busting amount of The battery packs ensure it can is the marque’s range, 0-60mph to develop a mighty
power for any luxury GT. go for up to 77 miles on electricity debut fully electric time of 2.9s and 1085bhp from front
alone, while the all-electric top supercar and is set bulletproof windows and rear electric
So is this the shape of things to speed is 100mph. Official fuel to blast Zimmer’s (well, in theory…), motors. There’s
come at Polestar? economy is 403mpg on the stirring crescendos is its answer. no commitment
Weirdly not, because the Swedish combined cycle, making a very under heavy Deposits are to produce one,
brand has said it will only create convincing case for hybrids that acceleration. being taken now. though. Sad face.
all-electric vehicles from now on, are as mean as they are green.

21
 G A M E S

OUT
13 MAR

FIRST PLAY NIOH 2 PS4

Plenty of games have tried
to copy Dark Souls, but only
samurai slasher Nioh has come
close to understanding what
makes that series tick.
Set in warring Japanese
states where there’s a fine line
between bloodthirsty warlords
and menacing folklore demons,
its twist on brutal combat is
tied to a devilish ‘ki’ stamina
system that can easily leave
[ Words Alan Wen ]
your own bad-ass samurai
thanks to a pretty robust
character-creator offering
diverse options from hairstyles
to skin tones to gender. And
co-op can have up to three
samurai banding together,
either with other players or
AI-controlled avatars.
You’ll need all the help you can
get when even the most basic
foes can cut you down if you’re
their ability to drag you into
a nasty new dark realm that
slows your ki recovery to a crawl.
Not that you have to take this
lying down: charge up your own
meter and you can transform into
a full-on demon with the power
to make a divine comeback.
There are also new weapon
types to discover, as well as
‘blessed’ and ‘corrupted’ ones
that have new effects to help

you out of breath and open to
a deadly blow.
Its sequel doesn’t change the
successful formula too much,
though this time you can create
not careful. By the time you’ve
reached the bosses, ranging
from slippery weasels to huge
snakeheads, the challenge can
get overwhelming – thanks to
enhance your playstyle. Throw
in new skill trees and loot drops,
and we’re confident that Nioh 2
will make real samurais out of us
in no time.

22
 FIRST LOOK VALVE’S VANCE VEERS TO VR

HALF-LIFE: ALYX shooter series… now in VR.

PC VR headsets
Is Half-Life 3 finally happening?!
[ Words Andrew Hayward ]
Coming to PC-based headsets,
Half-Life: Alyx is a prequel story
set before Half-Life 2.
from what we’ve seen so far,
Half-Life: Alyx nails not only
the tone of the series but also
the tension – newly amplified
using Alyx’s wondrous-looking
new gravity gloves.
The character animation
and voice acting are also

No, it’s not. A dozen years after
the last entry, Valve still won’t
give fans what they want.
Even so, we’re thrilled to see
the company behind Steam
finally dip back into the brilliant
and influential first-person
Unlike most VR experiences
(and the Episode releases),
this isn’t a bite-sized affair:
it’s a fully fledged single-player
campaign featuring Alyx Vance
herself, with an estimated
length of about 15 hours. And
with VR immersion.
Evading and fighting off a
vicious headcrab looks all the
more harrowing from your
own viewpoint – whether
you’re peeking out from a
hiding spot, firing a pistol or
fantastic, with an assist from
Firewatch developer Campo
Santo (which is now part of
Valve). Sure, it’s not a proper
Half-Life 3, but Alyx could still
be pretty special in itself. We’ll
find out in March.

BEST OF BLIZZCON REVEALS

OVERWATCH 2 WORLD OF WARCRAFT: DIABLO IV

formats tbc
Overwatch has built up captivating
characters and lore – and will finally
explore them with the sequel’s new
story missions. Overwatch 2 will also
build on the brilliant team-based action
of the original with fresh maps and
abilities, plus a light visual refresh.
SHADOWLANDS
PC
World of Warcraft keeps on chugging
along, and 2020 will see the launch of the
new Shadowlands expansion. This major
add-on brings players to the titular realm
of the dead, offering up fresh dungeons
and raids to enjoy.
formats tbc
The original dungeon-crawler sensation is
back, and Diablo IV looks to strike a darker,
more menacing tone than its predecessor,
hearkening back to the glories of Diablo II.
Otherwise, this looks like a game that will
refine and enhance rather than overhaul
the hack-and-slash loot-grind formula.

INCOMING
JANUARY
ODRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT
OJOURNEY TO THE SAVAGE PLANET
FEBRUARY
OORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS
OMARVEL’S IRON MAN VR
MARCH
OFINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
ONIOH 2
OANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS

23
 This month’s new-to-streaming selection
includes everything from a harassed space
captain to, er, another harassed space captain

Avenue 5 The Outsider The Deuce

From The Day Today and The Thick
of It to Veep and The Death of
Stalin, Armando Iannucci is the
mind behind some of the best
satire of the past 25 years – and
now he’s pointing his comedic lens
at the future of tourism… in space.
Hugh Laurie stars as the captain
of a luxury cruise starship where
sailing is anything but smooth.
S1 / Now TV
It might be yet another adaptation
of a Stephen King novel, but who’s
complaining? This one stars Jason
Bateman as a man accused of
a gruesome murder, backed up
with cast-iron forensic evidence…
except there’s also cast-iron proof
he wasn’t even in town when it
happened. The always-great Ben
Mendelsohn also stars.
S1 / Now TV
David Simon’s follow-up to The
Wire might not quite have grabbed
us by the short and curlies quite
as tightly, but its sleazy, scuzzy
recreation of ’70s and ’80s New
York, packed with small-time
hustlers and hoodlums, will secure
it a spot in the TV annals. This
third and final season should tie
everything up nice and neatly.
S3 / Now TV

Treadstone It’s Always Sunny Doctor Who

A spin-off from the Jason Bourne
movie series, Treadstone delves
into the murky world of CIA black
ops, in particular the creation of
a gaggle of elite sleeper-agent
assassins who don’t even
know they’re elite sleeper-agent
assassins. Expect bone-crunching
bust-ups, shadowy spymasters
and conflicted killers.
S1 / Amazon Prime Video
in Philadelphia
The world’s longest-running
current live action sitcom returns
for a 14th season – with exactly the
same main cast as the first. Always
Sunny virgins are better off starting
at S1 (don’t worry, Netflix has every
episode), but veterans will be itching
to get back with the gang and their
awful, selfish, offensive adventures.
S14 / Netflix
Jodie Whittaker’s ageless timelord
returns as the 12th season of ‘new
Doctor Who’ kicks off on the very
first day of 2020. Details are scant,
but we do know that Stephen Fry
and Lenny Henry will be putting in
guest appearances and that it will
kick off with a two-part special
called ‘Spyfall’. Whovians, start
your hype engines.
S12 / BBC iPlayer

Star Trek: Picard S1 / Amazon Prime Video

TH ISS T
M N’

The best-loved, boldest and baldest captain of the Enterprise makes an overdue return
DO

in this 10-part Amazon exclusive. Yes, almost 20 years after last playing Jean-Luc Picard,
the great Patrick Stewart is back. Picard is now retired, mourning lost friends and making
IS

wine rather than exploring the far reaches of space, but something is about to drag him
back to the stars. Promising to be a more contemplative and slow-paced series than the
action-packed Star Trek: Discovery, it features a number of old faces…

24
25
 S T A R T M E N U
The latest startups, crowdfunded projects and plain crazy ideas

TE -
R
AR K
ST KIC

Cuts like a knife

PHONOCUT
Cassettes, the worst audio
medium in history, had one
redeeming feature: the mixtape.
It was easy and fun to make
your own compilations before
streaming obliterated such
creativity. The Phonocut brings
mixtape thinking to vinyl by freeing
record production from the need
for pressing plants that demand
you order by the hundred. Instead,
plonk a 10in blank on the machine,
connect your audio source, press a
button, and it starts cutting those
soundwaves into grooves – all in
real time. A few minutes later, you’ll
have a beautiful black disc housing
your favourites – or a super-rare
white label of yourself singing in
the shower.
€1499 / phonocut.com

BACK IT

STACK IT

SACK IT
TE -

TE -

TE -

TE -
R

R
AR K

AR K

AR K

AR K
ST KIC

ST KIC

ST KIC

ST KIC

Only thing that looks good…
BANDLY
If modern tech makes you feel
disconnected from the natural
world, Bandly puts some nature
right on your wrist. This Apple
Watch strap turns lumber
offcuts into a water-resistant,
durable material backed by
vegan leather. You also get
matching backgrounds so
the strap appears to continue
through the screen.
$39 / bandlybands.com
Run to you
MARTY THE
ROBOT V2
To stand out in a market awash
with programmable robots
for kids, you need to have legs.
Marty takes this literally, with
powerful and dextrous blue pins
that enable him to walk, turn,
kick and dance. An array of
sensors and modular extension
options allow for more
advanced interactivity.
£125 / robotical.io
Summer of swishy time
SWITCHBOT
CURTAIN
Window glare is annoying – but
then, so is getting up to close
the curtains. So have this robot
do it for you. It’s controlled by
app or voice; and if even that
feels like too much effort, you
can set schedules to open your
curtains at sunrise – or keep
burglars at bay by closing them
every night while you’re away.
$69 / switch-bot.com
Kids don’t wanna rock
SB01
This analogue synth is inspired
by the Roland SH–101, but that
classic never looked this cool.
Like something designed by
Jony Ive in Dark Mode, the
SB01 is machined from a single
block of aluminium, is 1in thin
and has a 16hr rechargeable
battery. The 3340 VCO and
four-pole OTA filter ensure
it sounds as mean as it looks.
$949 / playsuperlative.com

26

Clammy ears
FRESH ’N REBEL CLAM ANC DGTL
Don’t go searching for any clever audio-based meanings behind
Fresh ’n Rebel’s crustacean logo, because you won’t find any: the owner
just likes lobsters. Well, so do we. And we like the premium features on
these sensibly priced noise-cancellers – features normally found on
far more expensive headphones. We’re talking about digital ANC for
blocking things out, ambient mode for letting a little back in, proximity
sensors for stopping and starting the music automatically, and a
long-haul-friendly 26 hours of battery life. They’ll even support your
chosen voice assistant and fold away when not in use. Get your claws
on a pair now and snap them up in either a blue or sand finish.
£180 / freshnrebel.com
DROP
EVERYTHING
& DOWNLOAD
Procreate £9.99 / iPadOS
There’s epic trolling on this digital art tool’s
App Store page, with a sly note that you
can import Photoshop brushes and run
them faster than Photoshop can. But that’s
the tip of the beautifully painted iceberg,
because this latest version of Procreate
combines a seriously speedy engine with
a raft of new features.
To help transform your iPad into a
miniature Tate Modern, you can delve
into an improved brush editor and watch
as dynamic depth and jitter is added to
strokes. Artists of all stripes get colour
harmony pickers, while those aiming
at print now have CMYK support. Even
wannabe ‘Aardmen’ get something: the
new Animation Assistant, ideal for crafting
a moving masterpiece one frame at a time.

Catch ya data
MOBVOI TICWATCH 4G
With 4G Wear OS smartwatches rarer than rocking-horse poop, the
latest Ticwatch ticker could be worth a crafty glance. This wearable can
take calls, read messages and make payments without needing to be
tethered to your mobile. It also offers the same 30-day battery life as
the Pro model thanks to a low-power LCD display that sits on top of the
1.39in OLED, and something called Essential Mode. Fitness and sleep
tracking are also the same as on the Pro, only the 4G version is 11g
lighter. Powered by a Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip and 1GB of RAM,
it has GPS, NFC and an IP68 waterproof rating so rain shall not pass.
Exclusive to Vodafone in the UK, it’s available now.
£249 / mobvoi.com

27

THE FUTURIST
THIS VIRTUAL
SPORTING LIFE
Stuff ’s award-winning futurist, Matthew
Griffin, tells us what’s next for esports
When someone
mentions esports,
most of us envisage
crowds amassing in a
kind of combat arena
to watch gamers huddled over
hundreds of screens battling
against each other. The scale of
these tournaments can put rock
concerts to shame, and they’re
playing for sums of money and
fame that would make wannabe
rock stars weep.
But while the tournaments
in this billion-dollar industry are
still mostly screen-based, or
in some cases played out on
VR headsets, every part of the
esports experience is set to get
increasingly intense and ever
more real… until, eventually, those
arenas lose most if not all of their
screens altogether.
Hang on… how are you supposed
to play video games without
a screen?
Have a bit of patience, will you?
First let’s look at personal gaming,
and how it will take advantage of
28
Don’t get too
comfortable: the
Predator Thronos
all-in-one gaming chair
could be a thing of the
past when esports
get physical.
those ultra-fast, low-latency
trans-oceanic terabit fibre cables
and 5G. This allows us to shove all
those consoles into the cloud so
online games can be streamed to
everyone, everywhere.
Now let’s recruit some creative
machines (as discussed in last
month’s column – AIs that can
imagine and generate synthetic
content in real time). They can
create and tailor games just
for you, based on the emotional
feedback that these cloud gaming
platforms are gathering about you
in real time from the cameras and
sensors in your devices.
OK, so say we’ve kissed goodbye
to buffering and reached the point
of superconnectivity. What next?
Then let’s kick it up another notch.
Let’s ditch bulky old VR headsets
EYE-TRACKING CAN CUT THE AMOUNT OF
PROCESSING POWER NEEDED FOR YOUR
4K VR GAMING EXPERIENCE BY UP TO 90%
and swap them out for a pair of
ordinary-looking wireless glasses
that are anything but ordinary.
Manufactured from the latest
metalens nanotech, these
nanoscale-thin lenses look set
to replace the heavy ones used
in cameras, optical instruments
and – you guessed it – VR and
AR headsets.
They’ll use something called
AI-based foveated rendering:
integrated eye-tracking that
follows the position of your pupils,
enabling the GPU to know where
it needs to focus its rendering
resources. This cuts the amount
of network and computing power
needed to create your 4K VR
gaming experience by up to 90%.
The Specsavers of the future.
2030 vision, you might call it…
You might. Then, of course, no
future gaming experience would
be complete without haptics and
other sensory systems that make
the feelings, sights, sounds and
tastes you experience in the
game ‘real’. And last but certainly
not least,there’s electromagnetic
flooring that will let you walk and
run miles without ever having to
be more than five steps away from
MEDALS
OF HONOR?
your favourite energy drink. A first-person
shooter set in
So how does all this feed into a war zone might
esports and the gaming arenas be a stretch for
of the future? the Olympic values
Put this tech together. Throw of friendship
in some AI opponents who are and respect, but
getting increasingly adept at esports could soon
wiping out all humans – in gaming become a medal
terms anyway – and suddenly event at the
you’re filling gladiatorial arenas Games. Intel
with human competitors facing is hosting an
off against adversaries and other IOC-sanctioned
gamers in the virtual world, while tournament in the
getting gently pummelled in the run-up to Tokyo
real world to the amusement 2020, where
of spectators. players will
I said esports would be getting compete in Street
increasingly intense, but they’ll Fighter V and
get increasingly physical too. Rocket League.
Imagine crowds watching players Meanwhile, at the
thrown into the air while haptics recent Olympic
administer whatever punishment Summit in
is being dished out in the virtual Switzerland,
realm. Until we enter an era of VR esports were
moshpits, rock concerts have got described as
nothing on this. having great
potential for future
inclusion in
the Games
themselves.
 Total Read the
review
prize value p49

£1050

WIN 1 OF 3 BOWERS & WILKINS PX7

HEADPHONES WORTH £350 EACH!
Looking to kick off 2020 with a bang? This month’s
competition probably isn’t for you, because the HOW TO ENTER
noise-cancelling tech in Bowers & Wilkins’ PX7 Fancy a five-star pair of Bowers & Wilkins
headphones is so impressive we doubt you’d hear headphones? Go to stuff.tv/win and
it. They’re also the first ever cans to feature the new answer this question:
aptX Adaptive codec, meaning no delays between
the dialogue on screen and what your hear when McLAREN’S CURRENT BRITISH
streaming movies, shows and games. Head to p49
to discover just how much we rate them.
DRIVER SHARES HIS FIRST
Quick history lesson. Bowers & Wilkins is as NAME WITH WHICH STAR HURRY!
British as bangers and mash, and has been bossing WARS CHARACTER? COMPETITION
things on the audio front since 1966. Its speakers A … Darth Vader CLOSES
and headphones have been winning awards for B … Jabba the Hutt 30 JANUARY
2020
decades, and it even makes car sound systems for C … Lando Calrissian
the likes of McLaren. That might go some way to
explaining why the PX7s are made from that holy Terms & conditions: 1 Open to UK residents aged 18 or over.
2 Entries close 11.59pm, 30 Jan 2020. 3 Prizes are as stated.
grail of racing car materials, carbon fibre. That’s 4 Prizes are non-transferable. 5 Only one entry per person.
right, this is your chance to win the noise-cancelling Full Ts & Cs: kelsey.co.uk/competition-terms-conditions/
Promoter: Kelsey Media Ltd, Cudham Tithe Barn, Berry’s Hill,
equivalent of an F1 car. Just answer the question Cudham, Kent TN16 3AG
on the right, and visit bowerswilkins.com for more.

29
 £1 .66
Just ue
per iss

TRY 3 ISSUES OF
S TUFF FOR JUS T £5
SUBSCRIBE TO STUFF MAGAZINE AND RECEIVE
YOUR FIRST 3 ISSUES FOR JUST £5! YOUR
SUBSCRIPTION WILL THEN CONTINUE AT A RATE
OF £19.99 EVERY 6 MONTHS, SAVING 45%*.
 SPECIAL SUBSCRIP TION OFFER

Receive your first 3 issues for £5

Continue to save 45%* off the cover price
Have each issue delivered directly to your door
Never miss an issue of the world’s greatest gadget mag

S UB S C R IB E T OD AY !
ONL INE shop.kelsey.co.uk/STU019
C A L L U S 01959 543747
Please quote STU014
Hours: Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.30pm (calls charged at your standard network rate)
Offer ends 31 January 2020

DIGITAL
Pay just £37.99 for a
13-issue digital subscription:
shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff

Terms and conditions: Offer available for UK direct debit customers only. You will pay £5 for your first 3 issues then continue to pay £19.99 every 6 months.
For overseas rates please visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff. Offer closes 31 January 2020. *Full UK subscription rate for 13 issues is £64.87, USA & EU £78, RoW £85.
Here at Kelsey Publishing we take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to administer your account and to provide the products and services you have requested from us.
We will only contact you about our special offers via the preferences you have indicated, and you can update these at any time by emailing us at subs@kelsey.co.uk or by calling us on 01959 543747.
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

STUFF
AWARDS
2019

The gadgety hits just keep on coming, and it’s down to

us – with some vital input from you, Stuff’s discerning
readers – to decree which are the year’s very best
32
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

PHONE OF THE YEAR

A PP LE i P H ON E 1 1 PR O
from £1049 / apple.com and mindblowing new Night Mode, the O Still of O O Star of the
iPhone 11 Pro performs just as a £1000+ the night sliver screen
The iPhone 11 Pro might not have 5G or a smartphone should, even if it can still be Apple really The Dolby Atmos
pop-up camera, or fold in half, but Apple has hard to stomach spending that much on upped its game speakers are
never been one for gimmicks. This triple-cam one. Best of all, you don’t have to worry with the new really impressive
powerhouse feels like the handset that Tim about Donald Trump having a tantrum and triple-camera for a phone.
Cook and co have been building towards since rendering all its apps useless. system, and Find some Dolby
the iPhone X launched: an exquisitely designed Night Mode Vision or HDR10
phone that excels in every department. NOMINEES beats Google content and
From the phenomenal A13 chip and practical O Apple iPhone 11 O OnePlus 7T at its own it’s streaming
battery life (finally!) to the best-in-class camera O Huawei P30 Pro O Google Pixel 4 XL low-light game. heaven.

33
 STUFF AWARDS 2019
BUDGET PHONE
OF THE YEAR
MOTO
G8 PLUS
£240 / motorola.co.uk
It seems like forever since the go-to budget
phone hasn’t been one of Moto’s G series.
In fact, we’ll probably soon have to rename
this category the Motorola Budget Phone
of the Year – so it shouldn’t come as a huge
surprise that this year’s best cheap blower
is the G8 Plus.
Not that you’d know this was a sub-£250
phone to look at it. There’s a big old 6.3in
screen with an unobtrusive teardrop notch on
the front, and a triple-camera setup round the
back, complete with laser autofocus and LED
flash. Improved battery life and a drop in the
asking price from last year’s model secure
another year on the budget throne for Moto.
NOMINEES
O Xiaomi Mi 9 O RealMe X2 Pro
O Nokia 7.2 O Oppo 10x Zoom
34
READERS’ PHONE
OF THE YEAR
HUAWE I
P 30 PRO
from £750 / consumer.huawei.com
There’s nothing that gets you riled up quite like
Phone of the Year. Whatever we decide, you’ll
tell us we’re wrong, so we gave you the power
to call the shots with a special standalone
readers’ award. We included 10 shortlisted
smartphones – some from little-known
companies like Apple and Google, some from
breakthrough brands like RealMe and Xiaomi,
even a nod for Nokia.
But none of this mattered to you, because
you’ve named the P30 Pro – Huawei’s final
flagship handset before being tarnished by
US political turmoil – your phone of the year.
Power to the People…’s Republic of China.
NOMINEES
O Apple iPhone 11 & iPhone 11 Pro O OnePlus 7T
O Google Pixel 4XL O Moto G8 Plus O Xiaomi Mi 9
O RealMe X2 Pro O Nokia 7.2 O Oppo 10x Zoom
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

SMART HOME GADGET OF THE YEAR

AM A ZON E CH O S HOW 5
£80 / amazon.co.uk Amazon’s own Echo Spot, the Echo 5’s O Alexa, close OOAlexa, call
feature set and low price point make it the your eyes the doctor
She appeared in the toilet, in the microwave Echo Dot of smart displays. The shrunken The 5.5in display The screen has
and, thanks to Amazon’s Echo Frames, sitting screen fits into our lives more easily but is good enough added benefits
on our faces. Yes, this was the year Alexa got still lets us to fall back on a visual interface for viewing news for Alexa skills,
everywhere – but when it comes to controlling when Alexa isn’t enough. For sheer value, bulletins from like workouts
smart home devices, it’s the Echo Show 5 this is the best of the smart displays. across the room, with pictures of
that’s on discerning worktops. and if you don’t how to do the
A smaller version of its 10in namesake and NOMINEES like the camera exercise you’re
a rival to Google’s Nest Hub, Lenovo’s Smart O Arlo Ultra O Amazon Echo Dot with Clock it can easily be about to be
Clock and, whether it was meant to be or not, O Brisant Ultion Smart O Google Nest Mini disabled. humbled by.

35
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

HEADPHONES OF THE YEAR

S O NY W F-1 0 0 0 XM 3
£219 / sony.co.uk ambient-sound-destroying tech were on O World shut OOBack in
the way we got rather excited… and boy, your mouth your box
Alongside scary clowns, eco-protestors and they did not disappoint. Put plainly, any Sony’s QN1e Combined with
‘influencers’, there’s been no escaping true music played through the XM3s sounds processor their charging
wireless earphones this year. And once we superb, the ANC delivers dutifully… and doubles as a case, the XM3s
found a pair that would stay in place longer they stay right where you want them. DAC and amp are good for up
than it took to say ‘extinction rebellion’, some while providing to 32hrs’ play,
of them actually sounded good. NOMINEES ANC with very while Bluetooth
Sony topped this category last year with its O Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 3 little power 5.0 keeps a
noise-cancelling WH-1000XM3 over-ears, so O Bose NCH 700 O Apple AirPods Pro consumption. reliable wireless
when they told us a pair of buds with the same O Libratone Track Air+ A killer combo. connection.

36
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

HI-FI GADGET OF THE YEAR

S O N O S MO V E
£399 / sonos.com sound you’d expect from any Sonos O Bass extra OOMild
speaker, but take the Move outside and smooth and bitter
Paint the top half-inch of a Sonos Move white its built-in battery, hefty construction Over Wi-Fi, Built for all sorts
and it’d bear a startling resemblance to a pint and specially tuned outdoor mode make Bluetooth or of nastiness, the
of Guinness – which is appropriate considering it a punchy performer that’s more than AirPlay 2, music Move’s ‘shadow’
how long we’ve had to wait for them to make capable of getting your garden party is handled by a black finish is
the thing. But as the famous ad told us, that’s started. Well, maybe not in December… 16-bit/44.1kHz IP56-rated to
how you get good things… and the first portable DAC, feeding a beat off cold,
Sonos has certainly been worth the wait. NOMINEES main mids/bass humidity, rain,
At home on your Wi-Fi network it delivers O Amazon Echo Studio O Naim Mu-so 2 driver and salt-spray, dust
the same seamless performance and superb O B&W Formation Wedge O UE Wonderboom 2 a tweeter. and mustard.

37
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

TV OF THE YEAR

P H I L I PS OL E D+ 98 4
£4500 / philips.co.uk Bowers & Wilkins has borne the best sound Sergeant
O O O Lovely
we’ve ever heard on a TV, Ambilight on all peppier tweeter
John, Paul, George and Ringo were formidable four sides still offers an unrivalled viewing Philips’ P5 chip The 984’s
solo artists. Imagine, Live and Let Die, Got My experience, the third-gen P5 processor delivers a 30% soundbar-esque
Mind Set on You and Thomas the Tank Engine delivers a thrilling picture no matter what increase in speaker packs
prove it. And yet, on reflection, The Best of The the source, and it’s one of only a few sets performance three channels
Beatles probably remains their finest work. to offer universal HDR and Dolby support. on last year’s and 60W of
In much the same way, Philips’ flagship OLED OLED+ 903. power; the
is packed with individual features of real flair NOMINEES Even upscaled centre channel
and finesse, but it’s when they come together O Panasonic GZ1500 O Sony XF9005 SD content is has its own
that the magic happens. A partnership with O Samsung Q90R O Panasonic GX800 watchable. tweeter on top.

38

TV GADGET
OF THE YEAR
S ENNH EI SE R
AM BE O
SOU NDBAR
£2199 / sennheiser.com
Most soundbars that claim to support
Dolby’s sound-bouncing Atmos tech
can’t dream of coming close to a proper
surround-sound system – but Sennheiser’s
whopping Ambeo bar has the necessary
oomph to fill a room.
The 13 drivers are bigger than most
soundbars, plus the sub is built in, hence
the unprecedented heft, but that’s what gives
the 500-Watt amp so much to work with. The
result is a big black box that can genuinely
compete with a 5.1 system for scale,
separation and sophistication. If you’ve got
a TV big enough for it to live under, this could
just be the best soundbar ever.
NOMINEES
O Nvidia Shield TV O Amazon Fire TV Cube
O Vizio SB36512-F6 O Sky Q
STUFF AWARDS 2019
STREAMING
SERVICE
OF THE YEAR
N E T F L IX
from £8.99/month / netflix.com
As Disney and Apple wade in with their
bottomless piles of cash, Netflix’s dominance
of the streaming market will no doubt be
tested in 2020. But the new players are going
to need more than superheroes and Jennifer
Aniston to unseat the king.
From brilliant debuts like Russian Doll and Sex
Education to returning favourites like Stranger
Things, GLOW and BoJack Horseman, Netflix
remains untouchable when it comes to
original programming. And that’s before we
even mention the remarkable mini-series
When They See Us or Scorsese’s melancholic
gangster epic The Irishman, which landed on
Netflix just days after its cinema release.
NOMINEES
O Amazon Music HD O Amazon Prime Video
O Spotify O Now TV
39
 STUFF AWARDS 2019
MOBILE GAME
OF THE YEAR
JU M PGRI D
£2.89 / Android O £2.99 / iOS
Some games take no prisoners. But you get
the feeling Jumpgrid would take them and eat
them, given half a chance. At its core there’s
a beating black heart of fury, fused to a
stripped-back neon nightmare that recalls
both Frogger and Pac-Man.
Your task is simple: jump from point to point on
a tiny grid, grabbing the spinning cubes at its
edges, and make for the exit. But countless
geometric shapes lurch and whirl, all too eager
to smash you to pieces. The game is staccato.
You’ll die – often. The ‘boss’ levels will reduce
you to tears. But also, you’ll fast recognise the
white-knuckle ride of Jumpgrid as mobile’s
greatest twitch arcade game.
NOMINEES
O Sky: Children of the Light O Vectronom
O Bad North: Jotunn Edition O Pigeon Wings Strike
40
APP
OF THE YEAR
P IX E LM ATO R
P H OTO
£4.99 / iPad
Modern digital darkrooms afford you plenty
of control, but frankly, who has the time? This
app has been trained on 20 million professional
photos so it can do the work for you, fixing
any snap with a tap.
You might wear a sceptical expression on
reading that. Fair enough – most automation
of this sort is garbage. But with the odd
exception, this app is astonishingly good at
tweaking colours and making your pics look
balanced and beautiful. And if you do prefer
to be in the driving seat, a host of sliders and
buttons will hurl you down an hours-deep
rabbit-hole of transforming even the most
basic image into a masterpiece.
NOMINEES
O Moodflow O EōN by Jean-Michel Jarre
O David Bowie Is O NanoStudio 2
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

LAPTOP OF THE YEAR

HUAWEI MATEBOOK X PRO

from £1299 / consumer.huawei.com portable typewriter. There wasn’t much O Flairy liquid OO Kill-it bang
wrong with the old X Pro, but beefier The real star The 2019 model
Hanging out with Huawei is a confusing innards and neat NFC tricks have made of the show features Intel
business while Donald Trump is the school the 2019 version an even more tempting here is a 13.9in Core i5 or
bully. Google still can’t pass notes, but for proposition, powerful enough to mix it display with i7 CPUs that
Microsoft it’s study-buddy sessions and with a playground of MacBook Pros. 3000x2000 benchmark 10%
swapping packed lunches. That’s good news resolution. Don’t quicker than the
for Huawei’s laptops division amid rumours it NOMINEES let the lack of an old version, and
was considering exiting the PC market. O Apple MacBook Pro O Dell XPS 13 OLED put you a Fortnite-ready
Even better, we’ve deemed this Windows O Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 off, because this Nvidia MX250
laptop, the MateBook X Pro, our preferred O Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon LCD pops plenty. graphics card.

41
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

GAMING GADGET OF THE YEAR

OC U L U S QU E ST
from £399 / oculus.com movements in virtual space, meaning O Sky walker OO Panel beta
jumping into a game of Beat Saber or The Quest offers An OLED panel
This was the year when VR started to get Superhot VR really is as easy as sliding six degrees of with 1440x1600
interesting – and that’s mainly down to the the headset over your face, grabbing the freedom (6DoF) per eye isn’t just
Oculus Quest. Sure, there are more powerful excellent Touch Controllers and pressing and inside-out a spec bump on
headsets out there, but nobody has come the ‘on’ button. If not for limited battery life, tracking so it the Oculus Go;
close to nailing the marriage of ease-of-use there’d be little reason to return to reality. can follow you it’s also higher
and functionality that Oculus managed with precisely and than you’ll
its latest piece of hardware. NOMINEES save you from find on some
This all-in-one VR system is totally wireless O Nintendo Switch Lite O Asus ROG Phone 2 bumping into ultra-premium
and packed with sensors that can track your O Sega Mega Drive Mini O Nintendo Labo VR the walls. headsets.

42

GAME
OF THE YEAR
RES IDE N T
EV IL 2
from £16 / PS4, Xbox One, PC
The fact that the reimagining of a 21-year-old
title has won this award might seem to indicate
a slow year for games. But Resident Evil 2 is so
much more than a remake. Capcom rebuilt its
PS classic from the ground up using RE7’s RE
engine, replacing the old static camera angles
with a modern third-person over-the-shoulder
view. It looks and feels fantastic, without
sacrificing any of the original’s unbearable
tension and jump scares.
Whether you’re scribbling down codes to help
you with a puzzle, kneecapping zombies or just
running as fast as your legs will allow (note: not
very fast) from the nightmarish Mr X, Resident
Evil 2 is never less than a thrill ride.
NOMINEES
O Death Stranding O Super Mario Maker 2
O Gears 5 O Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
STUFF AWARDS 2019
CAR
OF THE YEAR
N IS S A N LE AF
from £26,345 / nissan.co.uk
Just because something sells well doesn’t
necessarily make it any good – just look at
Ed Sheeran. But despite shifting more than
400,000 worldwide – more than any other
leccy motor – the Nissan Leaf is very much
not the Ed Sheeran of electric cars.
As well as offering up to 239 miles on a charge,
the Leaf is packed with the kind of tech you
wouldn’t expect from such an affordable
family car – for a start it can park itself, and
ProPilot will pretty much drive it for you.
It’s also spacious, practical and all those
other boring things you have to worry about
when buying a car. Just don’t try challenging
a Tesla to a drag race.
NOMINEES
Tesla Model S O Mercedes-Benz EQC
O
O Hyundai Kona Electric O Smart EQ Fortwo
43
 STUFF AWARDS 2019
CAMERA
OF THE YEAR
FU J IFIL M
X-T 30
£839 (body only) / fujifilm.eu
If you picked up the photographic special in the
August issue of Stuff – work of art, wasn’t it?
If you didn’t, grab a back copy, because it’ll turn
you into a semi-pro snapper in no time. In short,
2019 was the year mirrorless cameras went
mainstream and began digging a shallow grave
for the dear old DSLR. And standing there,
shovel in hand, is the X-T30.
Panasonic and Sony might be bigger
mirrorless players, while Canon and Nikon
have finally got serious, but the X-T30 is
a stark reminder of how well Fuji goes about
its business. Image quality is superb and it’s
designed to give you plenty of control at your
fingerprints, all with a sub-£1000 price tag.
NOMINEES
OSony A6100 O Canon EOS RP
O Nikon Z50 O Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III
44
ACTION GADGET
OF THE YEAR
DJI M AV IC
MINI
£369 / dji.com
Owning a drone used to be easy: buy drone,
find open space, take off. But since some
people can’t be trusted with the power of
flight, any UAV weighing over 250g now has
to be registered with the CAA. A total pain in
the gimbal, right? Not for the Mavic Mini: it
weighs precisely 249g, so you can take to the
skies at your leisure.
That would mean nothing if this foldable
quadcopter had all the flying talents of an
overweight Icarus; but with its 30-minute
flight time, and handy QuickShot flightpaths
to help you get the most out of a camera
that shoots 12MP stills and 2.7K video, it has
everything the casual aerial auteur could need.
NOMINEES
O GoPro Hero8 Black O Parrot Anafi
O DJI Osmo Pocket O Insta360 One X
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

WEARABLE OF THE YEAR

AP PL E WAT C H S E R IES 5
from £399 / apple.com but when that upgrade quite significantly O Go west, OOGo out
changes the way you use it, and young man on a limb
Imagine if you could never go to sleep. Sounds meanwhile watchOS 6 brings a stack As well as GPS, A dedicated
exhausting, doesn’t it? So imagine how it feels of handy new features and changes, the S5 has a App Store on
to be an Apple Watch S5. Not only do you spend the best wearable on the market is now proper compass the Watch itself
all day passing on messages, reading heartbeats even better. should you lose means you no
and acting as a personal trainer – you also have all sense of longer need to
to keep your screen on all the time in case your NOMINEES direction. Incline, download apps
owner wants to know the time. O Garmin Fenix 6 O Bose Frames latitude and on your iPhone
Apple’s fifth smartwatch might only be a O Huawei Watch GT 2 longitude are then sync them
minor upgrade compared to last year’s model; O Samsung Galaxy Watch Active also shown. across.

45
 STUFF AWARDS 2019

GADGET OF THE YEAR

O C U LU S QU EST
Insults were hurled, defences were mounted setup process and hulking PCs you can’t O Games room OO Hands free
and once-unbreakable bonds disintegrated. afford. Not any more. Every category We’re big fans
And that was just deciding which pub to Contained in this faff-free headset is all winner is up for of the Touch
go to. Once we got there, the big debate the tech you need to visit alien planets and Gadget of the Controllers, but
to settle on our overall Gadget of the Year fantasy kingdoms in between walking the Year, but truly who needs ’em?
began in earnest. dog and taking the bins out. Games look untethered An experimental
While we saw stonkingly great tellies and brilliant, the library keeps growing and the VR – tracking new feature
near-flawless phones aplenty in 2019, we had room-scale tracking just works. The Quest across up to allows the
to award the big prize to a true game-changer. is one of the finest gadgets we’ve ever had 4000ft2 with no headset itself
Proper virtual reality has for too long been the joy of using, and has the best chance wires – was too to track hand
associated with messy cables, an awkward yet of bringing VR to the masses. cool to ignore. movements.

46

H I G H LY C O M M E N D E D
Philips OLED+ 984
If you’re looking for a
new TV that assigns
equal value to picture
and sound, see Philips’
latest flagship. The
updated P5 processor
creates a stunning
image, while the B&W
audio means you don’t
need a soundbar.
STUFF AWARDS 2019
READERS’
GADGET
OF THE YEAR
P HI L IPS
OL E D + 98 4
Whether it was England’s Cricket World Cup
win, Greta’s voyage across the Atlantic or Boris
hiding in a fridge, 2019 threw up some belters.
And tech didn’t disappoint either, as we were
treated to stunning TVs, electric cars that didn’t
go flat after five miles, smartwatches working
as medical professionals and tangle-free VR.
Also, have you noticed how routine it’s become
to check in daily with Alexa, Siri or Google
Assistant? What they lack in personality, they
make up for in obedience.
Speaking of which, we live to serve you, our
readers – which is why we let you have your
very own Gadget of the Year award. And we’re
happy to announce that the Ambilight-glowing,
B&W-booming, P5-processing Philips
OLED+ 984 TV is your worthy winner.
Apple iPhone 11 Pro
The 11 Pro is Apple’s
emphatic answer to NOMINEES
those saying it has Apple iPhone 11 Pro O Moto G8 Plus O Amazon
fallen behind in the Echo Show 5 O Sonos Move O Oculus Quest
smartphone war. O Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar O DJI Mavic Mini
It’s insanely fast and O Huawei MateBook X Pro O Apple Watch Series 5
long-lasting, and O Sony WF-1000XM3 O Nissan Leaf
packs possibly the
best trio of cameras
on any phone.
47
 BackBeat FIT 3100

10

plantronics.com
 FIRST TEST BOWERS & WILKINS PX7

By the
Bowers of
grey skull!
B&W takes on the masters of the noise-cancelling universe with
a pair of tastefully-clad cans packing heroic levels of low-end beef

£350 / stuff.tv/PX7

or most people, with the PXs, and immediately PX7s are happy to slum it in instead you twist the cups to lie

F choosing a pair
of noise-cancelling
headphones comes
down to a toss-up between
Sony, Sennheiser and Bose.
[ Words Matt Tate ]
looked as surprisingly at ease
among its more experienced
competitors as Sheffield United
do in the Premier League. And
now we have a successor in the
economy. That they look ever
so slightly less premium isn’t
meant as an insult, though.
They’re chunky and spongy,
the metal arms have been
flat in the relatively chunky carry
case. It’s hardly a deal-breaker,
but there are more compact
options for travel.
Also, we’re quite fond of the

But you’d be doing your ears
a real disservice if you ignored
Bowers & Wilkins.
B&W had its first crack at
noise-cancelling two years ago
PX7 model, promising improved
noise-cancelling and even
better sound.
If those original PXs were
‘business class only’ cans, the
swapped for carbon fibre, and
the flush-sitting silver B&W
badge looks mighty fine.
Downsides? They don’t fold
away like some big headphones;
touch-sensitive controls used
by Sony and Bose, but you’ll
find no such witchcraft here,
just buttons. Still, do the PX7s
press ours?

49
 FIRST TEST BOWERS & WILKINS PX7

1 Power rangers
4
The PX7s’ most notable feature
is hard to remember after a few
drinks: aptX Adaptive. As well as
the hi-res streaming capabilities
of aptX HD, the new codec also
offers dynamic low latency to
ensure the sound in movies and
games stays in perfect sync.

2 Transformers 3 Ninja turtles

You can toggle noise-cancellation
between low, high and an auto
mode that adjusts itself according
to your environment. The lowest
setting is perfect for blocking out
the office rabble without cutting
yourself off completely; on high,
it’s just you and Cliff.
Like their predecessor, the PX7s
can automatically sense when
the wearer has removed them
from their head, pausing music
and resuming it when they’re put
back on. It works perfectly, and
the sensitivity can be adjusted
in the B&W app.

4 Thundercats 5 Care bears

The old PXs were some of the
best-sounding noise-cancellers
on the market; the PX7s are even
better. The proprietary 43.6mm
drivers are the largest in B&W’s
headphone collection, and their
power is immediately evident
when you start listening to music.
If you want the most balanced
and detailed performance, Sony’s
WH-1000XM3s still haven’t been
topped – but the PX7s are so
much fun that it’s hard to imagine
anyone being disappointed. And
if you’re a bass junkie, these are
the ones to go for.

24 hours with
l

t. ,
el
. ll

los side
er e
. ild

ne we

ti
eh
l h is
r

d. en
nt
he
Xs bu

el y no
e.

the Bowers &

ho s

s. h

n’t r
ta

un vid
er

ot
iP rk

re me
er d t
d P all

sis
ov

an
y o

d w lif
ol er

So e
riv ne
m cw

s a ar
le p

Wilkins PX7s
. as

or rly
he ov

ls

c. –

cie e w
nd am

e d e tu
ro

on ode

nd e
e

d f ula
n t ter

ki oic
de er
nt

en th
ha es

siv av

ire tic
ha gh

co s h
o

TV e c

ny v
t’s od

qu n
as h
h. c

W ar

re e o
f a s no

Good
r t li

t
h

m ers
ing tiv

ti m
ew ou
fie nd

hy is p
ug uc

h f ’r
ch ap

bu nt

se ne
e n op

y
m sa

n o re’
ho o

Meh
hig he
,t rt

nc h
at Ad

h, ie
th l dr

he gi
tio e

pu p
co up

uc b
ns efe

t
ra , th

’s om
f t en
m am
n w tX

Evil
he ly
of a
ar rc

ill ign
r

t t cal
eg sk

t o ’s
e f ea

he ap

iff o
tto p

o e

ou W

Cl ss
bu e’d

int sk t
sk o s

bu oni
to om
ar he

w e

B&

Ba
Th
W

S
T

T
S

10mins 15mins 45mins 1hr 2hrs 3hrs 5hrs 6hrs 8hrs

50
 FIRST TEST BOWERS & WILKINS PX7

Tech specs
Drivers 43.6mm
Connectivity Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX Adaptive,
3.5mm jack, USB-C
Mics 4x ANC, 2x telephony
Battery life Up to 30 hours
Weight 310g

Button chops
You don’t get tippy-tappy touch controls here,
but the B&Ws’ proddable bits are nicely done…

Q Fish fingers Q Frozen peace

Pressing the single button Press and hold that button
on the headphones’ left for two seconds and it
cup lets you skip through initiates ambient mode:
the three noise-cancelling effective for hearing how
modes. It’s easy enough long your train is delayed
to locate this without for without having to lift
having to fish about off your audio earmuffs
too much. in the bastard cold.

Q Side orders Q Break out the port

Playback buttons are On the underside of
on the right earcup. Play, that right cup you’ll find
pause, skip track and a 3.5mm socket for wired
volume controls are listening and a USB-C
found on a triple-button port. B&W bundles a
strip, while the on/off stereo cable, a USB lead
slider also enables and a storage case in
Bluetooth pairing mode. the box.

The PX7s improve on B&W’s maiden

noise-cancelling effort in every
way. The redesign places greater
emphasis on comfort and these
headphones are all the better for
it, while noise-killing is as effective as you’ll
al

ive

ds ng
e
ing an
sic

or
sf

ar rti
ut th

m
. u

find anywhere. Throw in the inclusion of aptX

.

.
nw sta
ing
an e m

m ore

is
br

. or

di s
om m
om e th

ol it’

Adaptive and you’ve got quite a package. Oh,

Xs ns
e. ge
fc –

t f g,
e P se
lW v

r
k o rs

n’ ba
tim a
vi bo

and they sound flipping good too. @MattWTate

u

n
ng c

do d
ee o
De r a

n t ctio

n
w 0h

ey e
t
of oa

en u

th ek
h
n o te
ra 3

st in
m ss

ha de

at we
fo e is

f li -m
i
ro al

e t r-
gh lif
lst oc

th g a
s o 15

bl a
ou ery
ae s v

lia we

STUFF SAYS +++++

ur id

irk in
ho rap

to ack
m liff’

en tt

re e
Ba

Th
A
C

They’re not cheap, but Bowers

& Wilkins has produced another
fine pair of noise-cancelling cans
17hrs 18hrs 20hrs 22hrs 24hrs

51
 PROUD PARTNERS

GAME CHANGER
 APPS

Mini meme

SIX APPS
OBloom: 10 Worlds
A mix of instrument, composition
and visual art, this collaboration TO LET YOU OPocketcoach
If anxiety is why you often feel
the need to take some time

TAKE FIVE
between Brian Eno and Peter
Chilvers serves up generative
worlds. Tap the screen and you
create patterns and melodies
that repeat and evolve. Each
of the 10 experiences has a
distinct personality, and all are
great to unwind with when you
want something mildly creative,
interactive and hypnotic, but
without any pressure.
£7.99 / Android, iOS
out, try Pocketcoach. Presented
as a messaging app, it leads
you through a kind of virtual
therapy, helping you deal with
internal responses, worries and
When you’re feeling stressed – perhaps more. It’s no replacement for an
you’re an Everton fan – or need a actual human being; but when
it’s just you and your phone,
breather, these friendly downloads can with a handful of minutes to
calm your mind and help you relax spare, Pocketcoach is always
there when you need it.
£free / Android, iOS

O Oak O Lake: OSmiling Mind O Mini Metro

When you want to keep things
simple, Oak offers a streamlined
approach to relaxation. Rather
than bespoke courses for
individuals, you get a selection
of three meditation types,
three breathing exercises
and a couple of wind-down
soundscapes for bedtime.
The immediacy of the app
is welcome, and the breathing
stuff can be very effective when
you need to de-stress.
£free / iOS
Colouring Books
Adult colouring books litter the
shelves, with publishers having
twigged that slapping down
colours is a great way to relax.
But you needn’t faff about with
messy real-world media when
you can use Lake. There’s a
heavy subscription but plenty
of free stuff to try, and the
interface is lovely whether
you’re using a finger or a stylus.
On Android? Try Pigment.
£free (IAPs) / iOS
The idea behind Smiling Mind
is to retrain your brain using
‘mindfulness’ techniques. You
outline which areas of your
life you’d like help with, and are
offered programmes to work
through. The app is without
stress or expectations. With
it, you can transform short
breaks into sessions where
you recharge, release the
pressure, and better deal with
the challenges of the daily grind.
£free / Android, iOS
Subways don’t usually spring
to mind when you think about
relaxation, and Mini Metro’s
traffic management simulation
can be a fraught juggling act,
seemingly designed to drive
you bonkers. But in its endless
mode, everything changes.
There’s no fail state, so you can
just noodle about, optimising
lines and listening to the gentle
plinky-plonky soundtrack made
by the tiny virtual commuters.
£3.99 / Android, iOS

53
 UPVOTED
WRAPPED RECEPTACLES
The colourful cache
Ettinger Sterling 6oz Captive Top
Most whisky has a vintage amber hue, but
that doesn’t mean your hip flask has to
match. Bring brightness to your back pocket
with this azure accoutrement from Ettinger:
compact, neatly curved and far classier than
anything you might come up with using a
plain flask and some old modelling paint.
£90 / ettinger.co.uk
STEELY SWIGGERS
The clean canteen
Snow Peak Titanium Curved
Inactivity is an unhelpful quality in a hiking
partner, but the ideal attribute for a flask.
Enter titanium: famed for its featherweight
strength, this metal’s inert chemical nature
means it won’t taint any tipple it touches. So,
unlike your friend’s idle attitude, this shapely
receptacle shouldn’t leave a bitter taste.
£116 / amazon.co.uk
RUGGED RESERVES
The indestructible icon
Stanley Classic 8oz
The Zippo lighter. The Swiss Army Knife. The
Leatherman multi-tool. The best outdoor
gear is legendary for its sheer utility alone,
and Stanley’s stainless steel Classic flask is
no exception. As durable as it is iconic,
there’s a reason the wide-mouth warrior
ships with a lifetime warranty.
£27 / amazon.co.uk
1 Hip to be square?
From polished orbs to pewter cubes, flasks
HOW TO come in many forms. Planning to pocket yours?
Opt for one with the classic kidney shape,
DECIDE curved to keep a low profile against your body.
54
The tartan tipple
Barbour Tartan
Wrapped in a wax jacket as the wind whips
across the moor, spare a thought for the
poor single malt shivering in your flask.
No fermented beverage deserves to freeze,
so invite yours to the tartan party with this
woven home, sure to keep your glug as snug
as a baby haggis in a sporran.
£38 / barbour.com
HIP FLASKS
In search of liquid glow to go,
Chris Rowlands pockets
drams aplenty to find nine
of the finest flasks for
storing a nip of whisky
warmth this winter
The porcelain pop-top
MCGO Ivory Ceramic Flask
A ceramic bottle might not sound like the
safest way to transport booze, but pottery
worked just fine for the Romans. Sure, this is
not one to drop at the bottom of your kitbag,
but with walls a quarter of an inch thick,
MCGO’s wonderfully rustic looker won’t go
to pieces in your artisanal picnic basket.
$98 / misc-goods-co.com
The leather lounger
Aspinal of London Classic 5oz
A sip or two is all it takes to warm the
cockles. Anything more and you’ll be
stumbling among the hills like your old
man after he’s been at the homebrew.
Go streamlined and refined with this
leather-bound flask from Aspinal, perfectly
sized to keep you toasty but sober.
£49 / aspinaloflondon.com
The corner cutter
English Pewter Company Novus
As you learned during last summer’s efforts
at gardening, chopping the top corner
off something doesn’t usually pass for
innovation. Unlike your lopsided topiary,
though, the off-centre opening of this
pewter job is truly new – which you’ll know
from the name if your Latin’s up to scratch.
£85 / englishpewter.co.uk
The see-through stash
GSI Outdoors Boulder 10
Keeping track of rations is key to any
expedition, and that’s as true for fluids as
it is for food. Helpfully, this rugged number
has clear sides with measuring marks for
easy liquid management. It’s shatterproof
too, which should prevent wastage – unless
you absent-mindedly drain it all at once.
$19 / gsioutdoors.com
2 Shot selection
Sharing is caring, but there’s only so much you
can carry in your coat pocket. A standard 6oz
flask will serve up seven single measures, so do
the maths before you dole out the drams.
 UPVOTED

The Scandi statement

Royal Selangor Erik Magnussen
Good design lasts for decades,
which is why Erik Magnussen’s
polished pewter piece looks as
good today as it did when it was
winning awards back in the ’90s.
With its domed cap and curves in
all the right places, this timeless
container remains a lesson in
liquid-toting minimalism.
£99 / uk.royalselangor.com

3 Unleaded fuel 4 Initial impression

Pewter is a fine material for a premium flask, Wear and tear can put a personal stamp on any
with a lovely lustre that’ll last and last. And, well-loved vessel, but if you want to emboss
thanks to a legal standard set in the ’70s, you your ownership right away then engraving is
won’t find any nasty lead in the alloy today. the way to go. A classy acronym is all it takes.

55
 Boxy & elsewhere
Done with telly for
the night? The Fire
TV Cube can also
be used to control
other smart home
gadgets via Alexa.

The RAM’d wazoo

The Shield TV is
powered by Android
TV in combination
with Nvidia’s Tegra
X1+ processor and
WINN EST

2GB of RAM.
ER
T

Swank zappers
Amazon Fire TV Cube VS Nvidia Shield TV
First it was lights, then security cams… now Alexa’s come for A streaming device with added gaming smarts, this is
your telly. The Fire TV Cube not only delivers 4K streaming Nvidia’s most affordable Android TV gadget to date. It
1. THE IDEA
services to your living room – it also aims to give you almost supports 4K and is compatible with Dolby Vision and Dolby
total hands-free voice control of your gogglebox. Atmos for a truly cinematic experience.

This not-quite-cube has just four buttons – two for volume,
one to mute the mics and one to call Alexa manually – but you
2. DESIGN
shouldn’t need them. Setup involves signing in to Amazon and
downloading the apps you want on your Fire TV home screen.
The Shield TV is a discreet cylinder designed to hide beneath
your telly, and comes with a quirky Toblerone-shaped
remote. This has all the usual buttons plus a mic for voice
control and one customisable shortcut button.

The Fire TV interface is easy to use and all the big catch-up
services are available, plus Netflix, Apple TV and of course
3. IN USE
Prime Video. Voice control works brilliantly, and not having to
worry about losing the remote any more is an absolute joy.
Powerful streaming skills aside, the Shield TV is designed for
gamers. You can play Android titles on it, but if you’ve got a
PC with an Nvidia graphics card you can use GameStream to
beam Steam games straight to the Shield. It works superbly.

1
2
Max resolution 4K HDR 3 Max resolution 4K HDR
Connectivity HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microUSB Connectivity HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet
Storage 16GB Storage 8GB (plus microSD)
Audio support Dolby Atmos Audio support Dolby Atmos
Voice control Alexa Voice control Google Assistant, Alexa
Dimensions 86x86x77mm, 465g Dimensions 165x40x40mm, 599g
[ Words Verity Burns, Esat Dedezade ]

O Price £110 / stuff.tv/FireTVCube O Price £150 / stuff.tv/ShieldTV

+++++ STUFF SAYS ++++,

The Shield TV rules for gaming, but Amazon’s canny cuboid is a marvel of voice control
56
 wex.co.uk
01603 208303
8 stores nationwide

Get closer
to nature
with the new
Canon EOS 90D

• Fast continuous shooting up to 10fps

• 32.5MP APS-C CMOS sensor
• 45 cross-type AF points
• Intelligent optical viewfinder

T&Cs: All prices incl. VAT at 20%. Prices correct at the time of going to press. E. & O.E. Prices subject to change. Goods subject to availability. Wex Photo
Video is a trading name of Calumet Photographic Limited (Company Registration no. 00425579) and Warehouse Express Limited (Company Registration
no. 03366976). ©Warehouse Express Limited 2019. Wex Photo Video is a Which? Recommended Provider Source: Which? members’ annual survey
June-July 2019.

Order your Canon EOS 90D today

online, by phone or in store
 TESTED SPHERO RVR

Don’t dream it’s rover

An app-controlled all-terrain vehicle for
seasoned coders and robo-newbies alike?
Sphero, you have our attention…

£260 / stuff.tv/SpheroRVR
Tech toy maker Sphero is known
for the Bolt, a little app-controlled
ball you drive with your phone.
It’s cute. Twee, even. Then there
are the highly original Specdrums
that can turn a banana into a 1
percussion instrument. It’s such
a fun company that, if we were
classmates, we’d invite them
round for tea and japes.
But its latest product might be
enough for parents to impose a
ban, because the RVR is basically
a go-anywhere monster truck
you programme yourself… and
that sounds like trouble.
It’s similar to the Sphero Ollie
(a racing robot that can handle
the great outdoors) but on
steroids. It’s bigger, faster and
brasher, but more sophisticated
too – because as well as taking
coding instructions from the app
on your smartphone, it can take
its orders from a Raspberry Pi or
[ Words Joe Svetlik ]

BBC micro:bit. All of which means

there are far more features to 3
play with than meets the eye.
Time to hit the dirt…

Fool if you think it’s rover
The stereotype of the spindly
little coding bot? The RVR blows
that out of the water. And then
runs it over. Sphero calls this
‘the go-anywhere, do-anything
programmable robot’, and it’s not
kidding. It rolls on all-terrain tank
treads (1), which make a satisfying
whirring noise as they turn.
Bridge rover troubled water
The chassis (2) is solid and clearly
able to withstand a knock or two.
Playing fields on a muddy morning
leave us surprised with how well
it performs: grass churned up
from months of Sunday league
football poses no trouble, and
nor do big divots. It even powers
through the deepest puddles.
(Just like) starting rover
Setup is simple – and you don’t
need to be a coding wonderkid
to start using it, because it’s also
a simple RC car fresh from the
box. Sensitive steering means
handling takes some getting
used to, so we’d advise starting
with wide-open spaces to avoid
ploughing into Mum’s flowerbed.

Easy to Handles Packed with

operate all terrain features
GOOD Sensitive App is a bit
MEH steering crowded
EVIL
Bluetooth
can drop out

58
 TESTED SPHERO RVR

Holding out
for a Sphero
Even foetuses are into
coding these days, and
the Sphero RVR is
2 suitable for anyone
Tech specs
aged 10 and up.
Sensors Colour, light, IR, magnetometer,
accelerometer, gyroscope
Battery Lithium-ion
Connectivity Bluetooth
Weight 1.36kg

The long and winding code

There’s a lot going on in Sphero’s Edu app, but it’s
user-friendly and simple enough for kids to use

Q Day tripper Q What goes on

The app is suitable for
all levels. Doodle a route
on screen and watch the
RVR drive it. Then try
personalised actions by
filling in blanks – ‘drive
forward XX seconds’, for
example – and choose
what order they go in.
The homescreen has a
feed with Sphero projects
other people have shared,
while the ‘3D Models’ tab
lets you dissect each bot
in an exploded 3D diagram
and see what makes it tick.
Safer than taking the thing
apart yourself.

Q Drive my car Q Cam together

Rover the hills and far away
Want to do more than splash
people? The Sphero Edu app
lets you programme your bot
to perform a series of actions:
have it turn at a certain angle,
move forward for a set number
of seconds, flash its lights (3),
make noises, even say phrases.
Perfect for terrorising pets.
It’s all rover now, baby blue
Playing with the RVR can be as
simple or as complicated as you
want. You could spend hours
constructing the most intricate
and contrived routine imaginable,
or just gun the motor and tear
it up. Our Bluetooth connection
drops a couple of times, but
overall the range is impressive.
The Programs tab is where
you create and store
predefined actions, and
where others are shared
by the Sphero community.
In Activities you can watch
tutorials, while Drive gets
you behind the wheel with
no coding necessary.
You can even take photos
and videos using the
in-app camera, and record
your adventures from
the RVR’s viewpoint
using an optional
add-on camera (which
costs extra) – perfect
for adrenaline fiends.

Some coding gadgets are all a bit serious… but STUFF SAYS +++++
anything too knockabout risks veering into wacky If you’re turned off by the
territory. The RVR pulls off the balance perfectly:
it’s a fast, fun all-terrain vehicle you can throw
mere mention of the word
about without worrying about it breaking; but ‘coding’, give the RVR
it also has serious coding chops, being compatible with the a try and you might just
best low-cost programming machines around. @joesvetlik be converted

59
 BETA YOURSELF
MINDFUL TECH USE
Worried you’re frittering your life away, staring at ephemeral
nothingness on a glowing screen? Craig Grannell finds ways
to be more ‘conscious’ on phones, tablets and computers…
THE BASICS
QBe creative
One way to ensure you’re not
wasting time on a device is
to make something. If you’ve
always had a novel in your
head, or ambitions to be an
artist, the digital realm now
offers more help than ever.
Instead of defaulting to social
networks, spend downtime
writing a novella, learning
to paint or working on that
nu-ragtime chart-topper.
QGet educated
Although it’s true we never
stop learning, most people
rarely do so in a structured
manner post-school/college.
But your phone can be a great
way to get useful stuff into
your head. Try Duolingo to
learn a new language, or Khan
Academy for lessons in just
about anything.
Yo filter
Most email is junk you
mindlessly wade through
prodding ‘delete’. Focus on
messages that matter by
using your email client’s
filtering and VIP
functionality.
60
QLearn to relax
Taking time out is vital, but it’s
useful to approach relaxation
mindfully, rather than spending
all your spare time on things
that may end up making
you more stressed (such as
endless news feeds). Instead,
fill this time with chill-out
activities like meditation,
ambient audio noodling in
Bloom: 10 Worlds, or a spot
of virtual colouring.
QTame your indulgences
So you enjoy catching up with
your social feeds and playing
games. There’s nothing wrong
with that. But don’t squeeze
such things into odd moments
that rapidly expand – instead,
schedule time for them, and
avoid them elsewhere during
the day. You’ll claw back hours
and appreciate those planned
spells all the more.
QPut it out of reach
There are times when tech
is inappropriate – or even
harmful to wellbeing. If you
can’t trust yourself, put your
devices out of reach. Get an
old-school alarm clock for
the bedroom and leave your
phone to charge overnight
elsewhere. When watching
TV, put your phone in another
room so you can concentrate
on the right screen. And when
you’re out socially, keep the
effing thing in your pocket.
COUNT THE MINUTES
QUse time-trackers
Android has Digital Wellbeing,
iOS has Screen Time. Use
them to monitor your app
and game usage on mobile.
The stats will show how often
you’re picking devices up,
and whether you have an
Instagram problem.
QBe wary on desktop
If you track app usage on
desktop, ensure the system
you work with is intelligent
enough to understand apps
you’re actively using, rather
than totting up whatever’s
lurking in the background.
(Screen Time on macOS is
oddly poor at this.)

BE GOOD TO YOURSELF
QInfuse good habits
Get a habit-tracker on your
phone, and use it to define
a handful of ways in which
you’d like to improve your life
and tech use. Don’t be overly
ambitious – between two and
six items is enough – and do
give yourself a break if streaks
are broken.
QGamify your health
Conscious tech use can prove
transformative on health with
the right apps. Have your
smartwatch encourage you
to move and exercise more,
or go all-in with Zombies, Run!
to combine a Walking Dead
dystopia with getting fit.
PRUNE
YOUR APPS
QDelete social apps
Social media apps tend to be
the ones that eat into most
people’s time. If that’s you,
add friction. This might mean
gating usage with a screen
time system, or removing
native apps and using inferior
web interfaces to put you off.
QOffload on iOS
When fixated on an iOS game,
too regularly tempted to play
but unwilling to lose all your
progress by dumping it,
offload it in Settings. Your
device will retain the app’s
data, but the game will only
run when reinstalled.
QRefine device usage
If you’re fortunate enough
to own multiple devices, clear
your daily carry of cruft. Have
a ‘gaming’ or ‘social’ device
ready and waiting for you
when you get home, for your
allotted faff time.
GET SOME PEACE
QTame notifications
Android and iOS both have
mature notification systems.
When new notifications come
in, quieten or disable them
entirely. Chances are, you only
really need a handful active.
The rest are a distraction that
suck you back into apps.
QSet contact ringtones
Similarly, most phone calls
fundamentally don’t matter.
For key contacts, such
as a spouse, best friend
or boss, assign a custom
ringtone so you know
it’s them and can answer
immediately. Everyone else
can go to voicemail.
APPS FOR
THE MIND
TODOIST
A list manager arguably
means more busywork
and another reason to
pick up your phone, but
it can also be a great way
of consolidating tasks
and making phone use
more conscious. Use this
as the hub for your day,
and place it prominently
on your homescreen.
£free / Android, iOS
HABITICA
If you need a nudge to
get things done and tend
to spend too much time
playing games, check
out Habitica. It gamifies
self-improvement,
transforming your
to-do list into an RPG…
and success in the real
world translates to the
virtual one.
£free / Android, iOS
BFT – BEAR
FOCUS TIMER
There are plenty of
timers that attempt
to carve your day into
work/rest sprints. But
BFT has you place your
phone face-down during
work periods – great for
focusing on tasks.
£1.19 / Android
£1.99 / iOS
61
 GROUP TEST ARCADE CABINETS
Mini mame
Vintage arcade cabinets are bulky, pricey and tricky to maintain. Whereas this lot…
Pimoroni Picade
What’s the story?
The Picade takes a different
approach from the three other
cabs in this test. Rather than
aiming for authenticity, it lets
you take whatever you like from
[ Words Craig Grannell ]
gaming’s past by adding apps
and games to a Raspberry Pi
that you install inside.
That’s after you first put the
thing together, because the
Picade comes in kit form. And
the build is quite involved,
although a set of online videos
STUFF SAYS Aimed at tinkerers, this is an ideal compact home cabinet for retro-gaming freedom +++++
62
deftly takes you from unboxing
to finished unit.
There’s a grey area regarding
what you actually put on the Pi
(ensure you have the rights to
run the games you load up, etc),
but this setup is hugely versatile.
Fancy switching from arcade to
Amiga to ZX Spectrum? Go for it.
Is it any good?
Once you’ve got the software
up and running, the Picade is a
retro-gamer’s dream. The 10in
screen is bright and clear, the
speaker packs a wallop, and the
controls are great.
Because there’s a Pi inside,
you have the option of branching
out from arcade controls as well,
connecting up keyboards and
gamepads for titles that play
better with alternative inputs.
This freedom does come with
a downside, though: a distinct
‘homebrew’ feel throughout.
The cabinet is robust but dull
compared to its rivals, and with
BUTTON UP
The Picade has six
full-size face buttons
and four more on the
sides – more than
enough for most
classic games.
a printed card marquee and
control-panel background
that feel cheap. Still, there’s
nothing to stop you working
up something better – assuming
you can spare a few minutes
away from being fully ensconced
in your happy place exploring
gaming’s history.
Price £195 / stuff.tv/Picade
O 10in display O Internal speaker
OPi or SD card OMains power
O 350x245x210mm, 1.75kg
 GROUP TEST ARCADE CABINETS

ALTERNATIVELY

PAC LIGHT
This desktop cab not
only has the original QUARTER
Pac-Man’s artwork, ARCADES
but also its unique GALAGA
shape. It really is the Prefer shooty
original in miniature. thrills over running
around in a maze?
This evolved take
on Space Invaders
has alien ships
dive-bomb your
position. Dig Dug,
Ms. Pac-Man and
Track & Field are
also due soon.
£130 /
geekstore.com

PAC TO BASICS
As on the original,
the joystick is locked
to four compass
directions, so you
can’t speed around
corners on diagonals.

Quarter Arcades Pac-Man

What’s the story?
If you’re going to twang your
nostalgia glands, go for the most
famous game character of all.
This cab gives you an authentic
take on a 1980s classic, but at
25% of the original’s size.
The iconic yellow cab’s design
remains fully intact; and when
you’re immersed in dot-munching,
ghost-avoiding antics, your
senses and fingers are catered
for with a crisp 5in display, a
surprisingly decent 3W speaker
and a dinky, clicky, responsive
four-way joystick.
There’s also a teeny take on
a coin mechanism at the front,
and a nod to more modern tech
round the back with a microUSB
port for charging – or running
the cab using mains power if
you’ve waka-waka-waka’d all
day and drained the battery.
Is it any good?
From the opening jingle to the
game itself – which somehow
stands the test of time – this
unit is a delight. It hits a sweet
spot in terms of size and
playability, with the joystick
being big enough for solid
gaming sessions.
Old hands will be delighted
with the fine details such as the
cabinet’s coin-slot door and the
small but readable instructions
surrounding the screen. That
display nicely shows off all
those retro visuals, but at
a size that avoids the pixels
feeling like daggers poking into
your eyeballs.
One gripe: the top light bleeds
through the speaker grilles
and can reflect off the screen.
Otherwise, this is retro-gaming
perfection. It’s limited to 10,000
units, though, so don’t dawdle.
Price £150 / stuff.tv/QAPacMan
O 5in display O Internal speaker
O Original arcade ROM
O microUSB/battery
O 430x210x160mm, 2kg

STUFF SAYS An addictively tasty mix of superb authentic design and a timeless game +++++

63
 GROUP TEST ARCADE CABINETS

ALTERNATIVELY

THREE PLAY
This cab might not be
full-size, but three
players can easily fit
around it to partake
in multi-player
rampaging.
ARCADE1UP
STREET
FIGHTER II
If RepliCade’s tiny
take (see opposite)
doesn’t do it for
you, go almost
full-size with this
iconic brawler.
Hopefully the Star
Wars Arcade1Up
will finally make
it over from the US
in 2020 too.
£350 /
amazon.co.uk

PI SCORE
This unit’s innards
aren’t really hackable,
but retro-gamers
have modded
Arcade1Up cabs with
Raspberry Pi boards.

Arcade1Up Rampage
What’s the story?
Arcade1Up’s units come flat-
packed, and most of the range
uses the same generic cabinet
design. The ROMs are licensed,
though, and each cab has unique
artwork. Ours riffs off the original
Rampage game, with some
superb marquee art.
The scale approaches a full
cab, but in going for 75% size
the finished product doesn’t
dominate any reasonable-sized
room. It’s a bit short for most
adults, but risers and stools
are available.
Controls-wise, you get
three sets of sticks and buttons,
so you and two chums can
simultaneously smash up cities.
(Dungeon crawler Gauntlet is
sadly limited to two players.)
Is it any good?
This one has a presence that
makes it feel like you’re in front
of a proper cab. In play, however,
things are variable. The large
screen is bright and clear, but
these games were designed for
CRT, not LCD. Optional filtering
would have helped the visuals
avoid a bad case of the jaggies.
Also, Defender’s controls are
mapped across the entire front
panel’s six buttons, rendering
it unplayable.
This particular Arcade1Up
shines most when using co-op
multiplayer in Rampage and
Gauntlet, although the coin-
guzzling nature of the originals
is very apparent: it’s tempting to
just keep topping up your lives,
and there are no save states to
pick up lengthy sessions later.
It’s still enjoyable, but given the
space demands and price, you’ll
need to really like the included
titles to justify buying this one.
Price £325 / stuff.tv/Arcade1Up
O 17in display O Internal speakers
O Original arcade ROMs
O Mains power
O 1200x640x580mm, 26.3kg

STUFF SAYS Flawed but fun – especially in multiplayer – this bodes well for the range’s future +++,,

64
 GROUP TEST ARCADE CABINETS

ALTERNATIVELY

ASSAULT AND
BATTERY
The RepliCade should REPLICADE
give you up to two TEMPEST X
hours of thuggery O brave new world,
before it needs a that has such
microUSB top-up. gadgets in’t! This
vector-based
masterpiece
transfers to
miniature in
fine form, with
responsive dial
controls and
surprisingly
clear visuals.
$120 /
newwavetoys.com

SCHOOL OF EVEN
HARDER KNOCKS
Prod the player-two
coin button to access
game difficulty
settings – and the
tougher Turbo edition.

RepliCade Street Fighter II: Champion Edition X

What’s the story?
RepliCade cabs make even
Quarter Arcades seem hefty:
this one seems to have gone
through the wash at far too high
a temperature and come out at
a cutesy 1:6 scale.
There’s still space for a 3.5in
display – comparable to what
you got on the Nintendo DS. And
you’ll find a smallish joystick plus
six tappable buttons.
Fine, but Street Fighter II is a
famous two-player game… so if
this cab wanted to be faithful to
the original, surely it’d have two
sets of controls? Well, it sort of
does. Taking a sneaky sidestep
from full accuracy, the unit has
a plastic door on its rear. Open it
up and you’ll find a compartment
housing a fight-stick that you
can connect via USB.
Is it any good?
The first RepliCade, pioneering
shooter Centipede, looked
magnificent, but your bullets
disappeared into the tiny screen
and the controls were fiddly. So
miniaturising a more complex
game looked like a bad idea… but
we were soon converted.
Even experts may find it hard
to pull off every combo, but we
found the joystick and buttons
sufficient for giving the classic
roster of fighters a kicking – until
the game decided to punch us
solidly in the face.
The two-player option can’t
help but coming across as a
gimmick – crowding around a
3.5in display feels ridiculous. Yet
viewing angles are great and the
speaker has real oomph.
And, arguably, of all the cabs
on test, this is the best for being
shown off on a shelf – its petite
form won’t take over the house.
Price £139 / stuff.tv/RepliCadeSF
O 3.5in display O Internal speaker
O Original arcade ROM
O microUSB/battery
O 350x132x114mm, 1.33kg

STUFF SAYS Can you really stuff Street Fighter II into such a tiny form factor? Shoryuken! ++++,

65
 TESTED GOOGLE NEST MINI

Pucky star
Google’s Home Mini smart speaker has evolved
into the new Nest Mini, with enough added Tapper
don’t preach
bass and brain power to justify your love The touch controls
£49 / stuff.tv/NestMini work well. A simple bop
on the nose pauses
QIf you’re comfortable chatting whatever’s playing,
away to a small fabric blob to find with another tap
out the weather, play a podcast to continue.
or be taken through a recipe, the
Nest Mini is one of the cheapest
and most reliable voice-assistant
speakers you can buy. Think of it as
a capable but slightly quieter sibling
to the Google Home.

QYou’d have to be the Columbo of

consumer tech to tell the Nest Mini
apart from the old Home Mini. But
the fabric cover is now made from
recycled plastic bottles and there’s
a fetching new blue colour option as
well as chalk, red and black. You still
get a switch on the side to turn off
the mics when you don’t want it
listening to your every cough.

QGoogle claims the bass is twice

as good as before. We agree, and
it’s startlingly loud for its size, but
we still can’t recommend this as
a replacement hi-fi. It’s perfect for
playing podcasts or catching up on
the news, though.

QGoogle Assistant is always

improving: the product you buy
today will get smarter month by
month as Google processes a world
of data requests and enhances
its answers and functionality. It’s
already far more consistent than
Siri, and on a level with Alexa.

QVoice recognition is great: we

didn’t have to shout over loud
music to get the Nest Mini to hear
us. Smart home integration is
straightforward, with support for
Philips Hue bulbs and, of course,
Nest thermostats.
Q Into the groove Q Who’s that, girl?
Tech specs A new addition is a wall mount The Voice Match feature means it
that lets you hang the Nest Mini can recognise different users and
Connectivity Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, up. Once you get over the odd tailor things like calendar requests
Google Assistant, touch controls, look, it means the speaker can to the right Google account. You
Chromecast built in easily be placed around head can add up to six people, which
Microphones 3x far-field height – which can sound better is great if your family relies on the
Dimensions 98x98x42mm, 181g than on a shelf or table. Google ecosystem.

STUFF SAYS Louder and cleverer than ever – and it’ll only improve over time +++++

Bigger smart If you live in Google’s world (and let’s face it, most of us do), then the Nest Mini is
speakers sound about the best, cheapest way to get into the smart home game. Bear in mind that
better, but small the better-sounding Google Home only costs a few quid more; but if you want
can be beautiful a small smart speaker to stick in the kitchen, the Nest Mini gives you a radio,
Henry Burrell encyclopaedia, recipe book and timer all in one.

66
 TESTED XIAOMI MI NOTE 10

Happiness is a warm ton Unsurprisingly, a phone camera with over 100

megapixels takes great pictures. But what’s
the rest of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 like?
€549 / stuff.tv/MiNote10

QDo megapixels really maketh

the mobile? Apple and Google
reckon 12MP is a rational limit for
phone cameras. Xiaomi, however,
has other ideas, and has officially
broken the silly-pixel-count
continuum to bring us the 108MP
Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

QLuckily, there’s a lot more to this

phone than its five rear cams – it’s
got a cracking curved OLED display
Let it USB and seriously premium styling
Sorry, your wireless that’s especially seductive in
charger isn’t welcome shimmery ‘glacier white’.
here, but this Xiaomi
fuels up nice and QA Snapdragon 730G CPU with
quickly with 30W 6GB of RAM won’t power through
fast charging. games and chores with as much
gusto as the chips found in some
cheaper devices. Still, day-to-day
performance is mostly great.

QNothing comes close to the

detail grabbed by that main sensor.
Pictures are actually taken at
a default 27MP, combining four
pixels into one in a technique called
pixel-binning; shoot at the full
108MP, however, and the Mi Note
10 will grab sharp shots that can be
cropped into time and time again.

QThe other cameras also impress.

The 12MP zoom does fine portraits
and the ultra-wide-angle gets
plenty in the frame – although
both are seriously inconsistent
in low light. The macro cam is a
nice touch too, and the front 32MP
selfie snapper is one of the better
ones around.

Q A day in the life
With a giant 5260mAh battery,
we expected the Mi Note 10 Pro
to last for ages, but one day was
about all it could manage. That
isn’t bad, but it isn’t class-leading
like the numbers suggest it
should be.
Tech specs
Q MIUI can work it out Screen 6.47in 2340x1080
Xiaomi phones run a customised AMOLED Processor Snapdragon
version of Android called MIUI. 730G RAM 6GB OS Android 9
If you’re coming from another with MIUI 11 Cameras 108MP +
Android phone, things will feel 12MP + 20MP + 5MP + 2MP rear,
different – there’s no apps tray, 32MP front Battery 5260mAh
for example – but it’s mostly Storage 128GB Dimensions
clean and customisable. 158x74x9.7mm, 208g

STUFF SAYS An incredible camera let down by middling power under the hood ++++,

The camera’s You won’t get a better camera-phone than this for €549… but that aside, weighing it
amazing but the up as an all-round smartphone, the price becomes a little harder to swallow. A number
rest of the phone of missing mod cons – like wireless charging, a 90Hz screen, expandable storage and
is nowhere, man flagship power, the absence of which is especially noticeable in the camera app – hold
Basil Kronfli the Mi Note 10 back from greatness.

67
What is Santa bringing you this year?

For more info, visit:

www.zeromotorcycles.com/eu

FIT JUST
GOT REAL
WHETHER YOU’RE TAKING TO THE SLOPES
OR ESTABLISHING A WINTER TRAINING CAMP
WITHOUT GOING OUTSIDE, WE’VE GOT THE
CARDIO, STRENGTH AND SKI TECH TO HELP
YOU SHIFT THE POST-CHRISTMAS PODGE
Go cardi,
not lardy
Barbados is for beer and
BBQs, not boot camps.
Get beach-ready ahead
of time with our
connected cardio
kit for a motivating
workout that fights flab
within the confines of
your own four walls.
[ Words Kieran Alger, Chris Haslam ]
WINTER FITNESS
Get swoony, Do races,
not puny not cases
Your puny arms get to The Alps might be
stay undercover for a calling, but budget
few more months… but airlines’ baggage
for the full ‘sun’s out, charges are most
guns out’ effect, we definitely not. Can you
assess the strength hit the snow with hand
tools tasked with turning luggage only? We jump
you into Johnny Bravo on a bucket flight with
by summer. a single bag to find out.
69
 WINTER FITNESS

SMASH HIITS
LESS PAIN, MORE GAIN WITH
CONNECTED KIT TO HELP YOU
BOSS YOUR CARDIO WORKOUTS
Light
exercise
Connect up to 12
pods to a phone or
tablet and you can use
the app to assign
bespoke light
sequences.

Brain
drain
You can use the app
to test your wits too,
including a random
light speed test and
a colour-hunting NOW
game. ADD
THESE

BlazePod from $279 / blazepod.com

The simplest ideas make the
best fitness gadgets – and
BlazePod is a no-brainer that
genuinely makes cardio work
enjoyable. No, really.
The fitness equivalent of
Whac-A-Mole, this reflex
training system cunningly
transforms almost any
workout into a game of
physical and mental strength.
Each stackable and portable
Stuff says We doubt there’s a smarter way to make pain fun ++++,
light-up pod can be assigned
one of eight different colours.
You can connect them in a
series, place them practically
anywhere – indoors or
outdoors – programme
the flash timers and turn
otherwise pedestrian cardio
routines into interactive
reaction challenges.
The partner app is loaded
with a wide selection of drills,
designed to push your lung
capacity to the max while
also improving hand-eye
coordination, agility, speed,
stability and strength.
Alternatively, you can
create your own workouts,
including multiplayer
challenges.
And battery life? The pods
can go for up to eight hours.
We’re betting you can’t.
Jabra Elite 75t
At just 5g each,
true wireless buds
don’t come much
more compact.
These sweat-proof
Jabras also pack 28
hours of battery life
and customisable
sound to help you
power through
the pain.
£169 / jabra.co.uk

70
 WINTER FITNESS

WORKOUT WONDERS FUTURE

FITNESS
PERSONAL
TRAINING

Form Swim Wattbike Stryd

Goggles Atom with Wind
Nothing puts you Recreate spin studio
Detection Sweati
off your stroke like sufferfests, access If running is your Knowing when to
trying to clock your virtual training cardio hell, maybe hydrate, when to
SWOLF score on a worlds like Zwift you’re just going out fuel and when to
watch in mid-swim. or just enjoy indoor too hard, too soon. ease off so you can
These HUD-style saddle sessions Strapping on a Stryd sustain a longer
goggles put all your in your very own power-tracking effort is still largely
stats right where you pain cave. Ready footpod could help guesswork. But this
can see them, letting to ride out of the ease you in more patch analyses your
you crawl freely to box, the Atom packs gently. The tiny sweat to give real-
cardio supremacy, near-silent magnetic sensor attaches time feedback on
while also making resistance and to your laces like blood lactate, sugar
you feel like a fighter automated gradient a timing chip and and hydration levels.
pilot in Speedos. Pair simulation from flat helps you run at iamsweati.com
them with a Polar to 25%. The app an effort level below
heart-rate sensor to serves up real-time your breaking point,
add your BPM to the ride metrics plus whether that’s
in-goggles display. training plans and up hills, in heat
$199 / fitness tests. or into the wind.
formswim.com £1599 / wattbike.com £199 / stryd.com

Bioniq
Blindly swallowing
supplements is a
haphazard approach
to plugging vitamin
deficiencies. This
personalised health
platform uses AI
to determine which
biochemical markers
to test and the
Corner Tangram Airofit supplements you
Smart Rope should take.
Try throwing jabs and Getting out of breath bioniq.com
crosses flat out for Studies show that 10 is an instant limiter
three minutes and minutes of skipping for any workout.
you’ll earn sudden is as effective as half But your respiratory
respect for a boxer’s an hour’s running. muscles can be
cardio fitness. Fast-foot rope trained just like your
Corner’s compact sessions are also guns. This smart
boxing trackers strap lower-impact and breathing trainer has
to each wrist to give improve coordination a mouthpiece and
you seven hours’ and balance. This an app-based virtual Tonal
drill data – to reveal ‘smart rope’ uses coach that uses One day we’ll all get
just how hard you’re embedded LEDs to guided resistance ripped at home with
working and how float your jump stats drills to make those virtual trainers… like
well you’re hitting. in real time in the air respiratory muscles this wall-mounted
You get punch type, in front of you like (mainly the digital weight setup.
speed, power and a hologram. You can diaphragm and Lift up to 90kg with
intensity stats all track sessions, set the intercostals) all your stats auto-
sent in real time to targets and follow stronger, increasing tracked, and never
your smartphone. guided workouts. lung capacity and have to see another
£90 (pair) / £80 / breathing power. human using the
thecornerapp.com tangramfactory.com £185 / airofit.com hairdryer on their
genitals again.
tonal.com

71
 WINTER FITNESS

FUTURE MUSCLE MACHINES

FITNESS
VIRTUAL
GAINS

Nexus Whoop TRX Medicine

Strap 3.0 Ball (10in)
Nexus does the
Kaia Personal complicated job of You get stronger Want to get ripped?
Trainer tracking over 140 during recovery, not Get your balls out.
Bad technique is the strength-training during your workout, Medicine balls,
enemy of effective moves common and this wrist-strap that is. These
workouts. But in the in crossfit. Motion is a subscription- handcrafted training
future, AI motion sensors and machine based 24/7 fitness aids from TRX,
tracking – like in this learning decipher tracker with a heavy resistant to moisture
clever app – will offer when you’re doing focus on how quickly and scuffs, have
real-time guidance a deadlift, a double your body bounces reinforced seams
for hitting the under or a barbell back. Its built-in to withstand pretty
perfect form for any clean, or just heart-rate and much anything
exercise using just reaching for your motion sensors you can throw them
your phone camera. towel. With real-time provide insights into at. They come in
iOS feedback on power, strain, recovery and weights ranging from
work, round splits sleep, so you can 4lb to 12lb, ideal for
and rest times, you optimise your effort drops, wall-throws
can train smarter for a more effective or bounces, from
and avoid injuries. route to fitness. novice to boxer level.
$299 / from €150 + €25/m £55 /
trainwithnexus.com / whoop.com trxtraining.co.uk

Rezzil
Immersive VR
training isn’t a thing
of the future – it’s
already here. Rezzil’s
advanced VR tool is
used by top football
clubs to help players
bounce back from
injury, improve
technique and Bulldog Gear Bowflex Hyfit
adopt new skills. HIIT Box SelectTech Wearable Gym
rezzil.com 560 Dumbbells
A neat and compact
home for all the Ideal for strength
kit you need for Unless you’re a workouts without
a full-body workout, Premier League the need for loads of
this seven-level footballer it’s unlikely weights, Hyfit makes
adjustable bench is you’ve got room to resistance-based
the gym equivalent stash a whole suite training connected
to Batman’s utility of dumbbells in your and smart. Each
Nintendo Ring belt. It has storage pad. These clever set features two
Fit Adventure for dumbbells up space-saving 1m bands with
Carrying on where to 15kg, kettlebells, weights solve that adjustable resistance
the Wi Fit left off, skipping ropes by cramming a so you can tailor the
Nintendo’s vision of and slam balls, and complete rack of toughness of your
future fitness lies in doubles as a sled for heavy metal into drills to suit. But the
turning the burn into strongman-style two compact, real smarts are in
RPG entertainment. pushes and pulls. You Bluetooth-connected the wrist-based
Hand-held sensors can also attach ropes selectable irons. heart-rate monitor
and immersive and resistance bands. They also fire your and cuff sensors that
graphics make high £1200 / stats to an app. track your reps.
knees, squats and bulldoggear.eu £599 / bowflex.com $149 / hyfitgear.com
shoulder presses fun.
Switch

72
 WINTER FITNESS

GIVE ME STRENGTH
THE LATEST SMART TRAINING
TOOLS TO HELP YOU TONE
UP THOSE MUSCLES IN 2020

Steady
player one
You can play in
multiplayer or solo, and
see how you stack up
against the world with
retro-style leader-
boards.

Hard-
core gamers
There are five
different games to
choose from, and the
challenge changes
each time
you play.

NOW
ADD
THESE

Stealth Plankster £89 / stealthbodyfitness.com

Aside from the hellish burpee,
the plank is one of the most
common exercises you’ll find
sneaking into core-ripping
pain fests. Personal trainers
love this move because it’s
uncomplicated, versatile
and ideal for building core
strength, improving balance
and posture. But let’s be
honest – staring at the
floor while holding the plank
Stuff says Arcade larks for otherwise miserable ab sessions ++++,
position is dull. Luckily, Stealth
fixes that.
Slot any smartphone into
this balance board, fire up the
app and you can play a range
of ab-scorching games that
give those holds an old-school
arcade vibe. Gameplay is
simple – you use minor core
movements, picked up by
your phone’s motion sensors,
to fly gliders through the
skies, shoot down asteroids,
roll balls into holes or navigate
a labyrinth. Meanwhile, you’re Under Armour
working up to 29 muscles. HOVR Apex
The board is built to support These feature the
anyone up to 20 stone and same responsive
has soft, easy-clean pads HOVR midsole
so at least your elbows won’t foam you find in
hurt. It isn’t exactly compact… UA’s running shoes,
but by the time you’ve with added stability
mastered all the games, to cope with the
your gut will be. demands of the
gym floor.
£120 /
underarmour.co.uk

73
 WINTER FITNESS

CARRY-ON SKIING
C A N Y O U R E A L LY D O W I N T E R S P O R T S I N
STYLE WITH JUST ONE BAG? STUFF SENT
CHRIS HASLAM TO THE ALPS TO FIND OUT…

Vollebak
Indestructible
Puffer
Vollebak’s latest release
uses Dyneema, the world’s Shell
strongest fibre, making it suit
the outerwear equivalent An extra-strong
of a Sherman tank wrapped form of polyethylene,
in a missile-proof duvet. Dyneema was originally
Up to 15 times stronger than used in anti-ballistic
steel – we’ve seen knives body and vehicle
bounce off it – Dyneema armour.
covers this quilted jacket,
designed to keep you toasty
down to -40°C.
What’s perhaps even more
remarkable is the fact that this
stuff gets stronger the colder
it becomes – which is why it’s
most commonly used to make
mooring lines on giant ships
and deep-water oil rigs in
freezing seas.
£795 / vollebak.com

NOW
ADD
THESE

Oakley Clifden
To save pack space we broke
a sacred mountain rule and
wore shades with a helmet…
but when the light went flat
we were still able to see thanks
to Oakley’s Prizm lens tech.
£160 / oakley.com

Helly Hansen H1 Pro

With the bottoms weighing
just 138g, these seamless base
layers have no right being as
good as they are. The ultimate
in performance without bulk.
from £100 / hellyhansen.com

GoPro Max 360

This superb 360° action cam
will transform your piffling
attempts at radness into
hyper-stylish clips; just record
everything and edit in the app.
£480 / gopro.com

74
 WINTER FITNESS

ALPINE ACCESSORIES SKI HIRE

TIPS
SWISH
NEW KIT

Travelling light to the

slopes traditionally
means splashing out
Osprey Picture Zippo on below-par hire
Transporter Harvest HeatBank 6 kit, but Intersport
has upped its game
Carry-On 44 Jacket & Bib Look what happens here. As well as
to a lighter brand hiring the latest
By ditching the You’ll need to layer when everyone gear, you can swap
wheels and plastic up under this shell stops smoking! Zippo and change skis for
pull-along gubbins, for warmth, but both has reinvented the changing conditions.
Osprey has maxed the super-packable battery pack for the Plus they use a 3D
out every cubic jacket and bib-pant winter, giving you scanning system for
inch of space in remained impervious the chance to charge better-fitting boots.
this carry-on to to snow and wind on your tech via USB
give a full 44 litres our trip, even when (it’s a 5200mAh
for your kit. It’s hefty gusts hit 75mph. It’s lithium-ion power
when fully loaded a high-performance bank) or, if your
but has shoulder eco-friendly design digits are feeling
and rucksack with a membrane the chill, switch
straps plus loads made using castor oil modes and use
of compartments and the waterproof this charger as a
for effortless packing. treatment is free five-temperature
Great price too. of parabens. (up to 50°C) hand-
£120 / from €267 / picture- warmer instead.
ospreyeurope.com organic-clothing.com £40 / zippo.co.uk Salomon X
S/Force Bold
+ X12 TL GW
With on-piste snow
on the solid side we
were recommended
these high-class
skis. They feature
a double layer of
titanal, improving
hard-snow
performance with
a welcome injection
of precision at speed.
Patagonia Finisterre Wayks intersport-rent.fr
Nano Puff Vans Slip-Er Compression
When worn with the Based around the
Packing
aforementioned H1 classic Vans slip-on Cubes
Pro base layers and sneaker, these
Harvest jacket, this slippers are heavily The answer to all our
lightweight mid-layer insulated using packing problems,
gave us epic levels organic cotton, these fabric packs
of protection. have a supremely took care of most of
Made from highly comfortable insole our kit and left room Salomon
compressible and even pack a for all the fun tech S/Pro 130
PrimaLoft Gold waterproof coating extras by using a Our hire boot of
Insulation Eco and durable waffle nifty three-zipper choice is a comfy
(created using 55% sole for outdoor system to squish but progressive
recycled content) use. A blissfully everything down design that proves
and wrapped in a comfortable post-ski without undue top performance
recycled polyester treat for our feet, and creasing. The access doesn’t have to
shell, it’s also further proof you can system also makes mean sore feet. The
water-repellent pack in the luxuries it easy to keep dirty step-in construction
so handy as an even when limited to clothes apart. and seamless liner
everyday jacket. just one bag. €34 (one small, one combine to ensure
£180 / patagonia.com £60 / finisterre.com large) / wayks.com edge-to-edge
power all day.
intersport-rent.fr

75
DIGITAL EDITION

Available online from

Readly or Pocketmags
 TESTED ZERO DSR BLACK FOREST

Ballad of EV rider This hardy electric steed is ready to fuel your

all-terrain dreams with punchy performance,
a real-world range… and zero emissions
from £18,090 / stuff.tv/ZeroDSR

QNever heard of Zero? This

Californian crew is on a mission
Filth dimension to become the Tesla of the
Worried about scaring two-wheeled world with a slick,
the cows as you tear stylish and impressively powerful
through the countryside? range of all-electric motorcycles.
No need – this is much
quieter than any QPowered by a 14.4kWh battery
petrol ride. pack (developed in-house) and
a potent Z-Force electric motor,
the DSR Black Forest delivers a
hefty 69hp and 146Nm of torque.
It’s wheelspin-ready, no matter
the surface.

QIgnore your rumbling stomach:

this is not a tribute to the famous
gateau. The Black Forest edition
of the DS features hardcore
panniers, a tough top box and
other protective elements that
are designed to encourage riders
to take the path less travelled.

QRange is just shy of 100 miles

when ridden carefully, and a full
charge of the battery pack takes
around two hours from a 7kW
outlet. Alternatively, plug it into
any old domestic socket overnight
and the batteries will be brimming
over for your morning ride.

QUnlike any regular bike powered

Q Mr Paceman
This is no Ducati Panigale, but it’s
impressive how rapid the DS is
off the line. Mind you, this can
make things a little tricky on
slippery surfaces, where 241kg
and a super-spinny rear wheel
are hardly a recipe for stability.
by an internal combustion engine,
the Zero DS boasts a wonderfully
simple lack of moving parts,
which means fewer maintenance
headaches and fiddly bits to clean.
What’s more, the company is
constantly releasing updates
to improve power and delivery.
Users can even adjust the engine
mapping via an app to achieve
a power delivery that suits their
Q Great miles high riding style.
The Zero DS’s battery has
the highest power and energy Tech specs
density in all of the EV kingdom,
which means this bike can keep Motor Z-Force Interior Permanent
up with its petrol-burning rivals Magnet, 14.4kWh battery pack
in a drag race while also offering Power 69hp (52kW)
a respectable range. Top speed 100mph Weight 241kg

STUFF SAYS A liberating ride, even if it lacks the drama of a gas-guzzling bike ++++,

You’ll wheel a There’s something very cool about tackling the muddy trails and venturing off into
whole lot better the woods aboard an electric motorcycle, and the Zero DSR Black Forest is pretty
going off-road adept at doing so, offering exploration opportunities typically off limits to a normal,
without pollution noisy bike. However, you’ll have to pay a premium for the privilege… and there’s no
Leon Poultney denying those petrol-powered rivals are still better at it.

77
 ONEPLUS 7T
ONE
DJI OSMO MOBILE 3
E… D
ES AD
TH ST
The 7T takes fantastic
R
FI
pictures… but add an Osmo
Mobile 3 to the mix for
stunning, rock-steady video
capture too. The Mobile 3 is
a compact, baggable gimbal
that unfurls into a stabilising
whizz, ready to keep
your smartphone footage
looking pro-grade at the
press of a button, whether
shooting selfie or ultra-wide
GoPro-style clips.
£99 / dji.com
78
TWO
BUMPER CASE
It ain’t cheap, but this official
bumper case is made from
a combination of Kevlar
and plastic, complete with
a carbon fibre patterning
that looks fantastic. It’ll
shield your 7T’s back and
sides, leaving glimpses of
the buffed metal top and
bottom shining through,
making for a sleek-looking
cover that adds less bulk
than traditional cases.
£37 / oneplus.com
THREE
HUAWEI FREEBUDS 3
These open-fit buds have
a (very) similar design to the
original AirPods – but share
the active noise-cancelling
skills of the more expensive
AirPods Pro. They sit well
in the ears without needing
to jam right in, and should
stay put on the move. Most
importantly, they help drown
out the droning background
sounds of train engines and
the like.
£170 / consumer.huawei.com

1 FIND YOUR LOOK
When you first turn on the
OnePlus 7T, customisations
are seriously extensive thanks
to its OxygenOS interface.
Start by whacking in your Gmail
details and adding your face
and fingerprint data. Now the
good stuff: you can choose from
three screen modes depending
on how punchy or subdued you
want that lovely screen to look,
and decide whether to use the
OnePlus font over Google’s.
4 GET UP CLOSE
With its triple camera, the 7T
is a versatile shooter that can
capture super-wide snaps or
get you closer to the action
with 2x optical zoom. To toggle
between these ranges, fire up
the camera app and tap on the
trees near the shutter button.
There’s also a mega-close-up
super-macro mode: tap the
flower icon and you can get as
[ Words Basil Kronfli ]
close as 2.5cm from an object
for incredible levels of detail.
INSTANT UPGRADES
E… T
IS DO
ES GE
TH W
…
TH EN
NO
TH
REAL RACING 3
With its 90Hz
screen, the 7T
is one smooth
scroller. But only
a handful of games
2 KEEP CUSTOMISING 3 SAVE YOUR PEEPERS are optimised to
take advantage
The personalisation doesn’t Plenty of phones pack a reading of the feature;
stop there. Go into settings, tap mode, but the 7T has two. Pull this racer is one
on ‘Customisation’ and you can down from the top of the display, of the best.
choose between preset themes then pull down again to expand £free (IAPs)
or make a new one. This gives your quick settings. Swipe from
you complete control over your right to left and you’ll see a
wallpaper, clock style and even ‘Reading mode’ option. Tap
fingerprint-unlock animation. on it to choose ‘Chromatic effect’
If you want to overhaul the look or ‘Mono effect’. Night mode,
and feel of the menus, OnePlus also found in the quick settings,
has you covered with custom filters out 40% of the screen’s
accent colours, and you can even blue light for sleep-friendly
change the shape of the icons. late-night reading. FILMIC PRO
The 7T has a
superb pro mode
for photographers;
but if you’re a
videographer
craving manual
controls, Filmic Pro
is for you. It isn’t
cheap but it’s very,
very powerful.
£11.49
5 BETA YOUR SHELF 6 PUT IT DOWN
KINEMASTER
On the left of the home screen OnePlus has run with the idea You’ve shot your
is OxygenOS’s ‘Shelf’, for quick of digital wellbeing by creating masterpiece with
access to key features without Zen mode. This deactivates Filmic Pro – now
cluttering the display. The words most of your phone’s features stitch it together
‘Never Settle’ headline it, but just so you can look up and smell with KineMaster.
long-press the slogan to change the roses. Find it under quick This advanced
it to something more ‘you’. Then settings, pick a duration, and video editor has
tap the icon at the top right to now you won’t be able to do a monthly sub, so
add or remove elements, from anything on your phone other take the free trial
a vehicle-finder for forgetful than take calls, make emergency to see if it floats
parkers to a contacts list. The calls or use the camera – and your creative boat.
Shelf also supports third-party it can’t be deactivated until the £4.99/month
app widgets. timer’s up.
79
 TWO WEEKS WITH THE NEW MACBOOK PRO 16IN

Inchy strider
Apple’s flagship laptop has grown a little on the outside but made big steps on the
inside… Craig Grannell spends some time with the new star in the aluminium hood
from £2399 / stuff.tv/MacBookPro16
Ports are
Thunderbolt 3
USB-C all the
way… and that’ll
mean dongles.

DAY 01
With its latest iPhones, you might predecessor, keen eyes will soon ‘inverted T’ arrow key layout) for bezels to pack in a bigger display.
wonder if Apple is now welding notice the changes, and they everything from smashing out It has 3072x1920 resolution
the word ‘Pro’ to product names become more apparent as you words to programming. at 226ppi, up from 2880x1800
with merry abandon. But when start to get properly acquainted… But the keyboard as a whole is at 220ppi in a frame that’s not
you unwrap the new MacBook which is why we felt we needed the real revelation. A new scissor meaningfully bigger.
Pro 16in, there’s no doubting this a solid fortnight to get properly switch mechanism replaces the Video types should be pleased,
is the real deal: a full-fat high-end under its silvery skin. butterfly one and, whether this as you can adjust the refresh rate
laptop for creative types. If you’ve ever wasted quality will prove more durable, it feels to match footage. Major negatives
It’s also a message. This is time yelling at the virtual escape more comfortable – and tapping are no Face ID and no FaceTime
Apple’s retort to people who say key on a Mac with a Touch Bar, away no longer deafens everyone camera upgrade, meaning more
it never listens. Although this prepare for your swear jar to go in the immediate vicinity. crummy 720p video calls.
Mac might not outwardly look hungry. The return of the physical There’s also a slightly smaller By the way, see the word ‘from’
that much different from its 15in escape key is bliss (as is the Touch Bar, a separate Touch ID in that price? It’s a big ‘from’. Our
button (like on the MacBook Air), review laptop – 2.4GHz octa-core
The keyboard is the real revelation: the and a multitouch trackpad the i9 CPU, 32GB of RAM, 2TB SSD,
size of a dinner tray. AMD Radeon Pro 500M with 8GB
scissor switch mechanism feels more Oh, and did someone say 16 of RAM – weighs in at £3789. I’ll
comfortable and is no longer deafening inches? This unit shaves the try not to drop it…

80
 LO N G -T E R M T E S T

01 05
Donut of Truth™
01 A stellar display, as we’ve 04 The FaceTime camera is
04 come to expect fuzzy old 720p
02 Plenty of raw power and 05 If you skimp on the specs
a longer-lasting battery to save a few quid now,
02 03 Improved keyboard and there’s no way to upgrade
03 surprisingly great speakers the RAM later

Tech specs
Display 16in
3072x1920 LED
Processor Intel
Core i7/i9
RAM 16/32/64GB
GPU AMD Radeon
Pro 5300M/
5500M with
4/8GB RAM
Storage 512GB/
1/2/4/8TB SSD
Connectivity 4x
Thunderbolt 3
(USB-C); 3.5mm
headphone port,
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
OS macOS
Catalina
Battery life
Up to 11 hours
Dimensions
358x246x16mm, DAY 03 DAY 11
2.0kg Working from home, it’s time I’ve tried a bit of gaming today. It’s
to try some tunes. What’s most fine, but you’re probably still better
surprising with the Pro is that the off with the cheaper machines
speakers aren’t just really good and greater range of titles offered
for a laptop – they’re really good by Windows.
full stop. Flipping back and forth For everything else, from photo
between the built-in speakers and editing to video encoding, this
Ruark’s MR1 Mk2 desktops, the Pro impresses. There’s some
Mac’s aren’t obviously worse, just occasional warmth around the
thinner in the low end. They offer keyboard, and the Touch Bar does
an astonishing soundstage with get uncomfortable at one point,
real separation and height. otherwise heat and fan noise
That’s down to a six-speaker remain pleasingly absent.
system with back-to-back
drivers… and the same’s true for
the new ‘studio quality’ three-mic DAY 14
array. It’d be a stretch to imagine This isn’t a revolution. What it
Adele singing into it, but it’s easily represents is Apple taking its
good enough for a podcast or MacBook line into the future,
blasting out vocal demos in Logic but in a way that ensures we’re
Pro (apologies to the neighbours). all willingly along for the ride.
Sure, some people are going to
bleat that this 16in model doesn’t
DAY 05 look much different from its
Delving into the stats, CPU speed predecessor, and even that it’s STUFF SAYS
and single-core performance are a shade heavier. The thing is, all
broadly on a par with this Mac’s this fades away when you start A top upgrade
predecessor. The GPU is way up using it. The keyboard is better. for creative
with radically improved thermal The screen is superb. The speakers
architecture, plus you can spec are great. It only rarely gets warm.
pros that bodes
a bank-account-mugging 64GB Even the battery lasts longer. well for the rest
RAM and 8TB storage.
Apple’s own apps all deliver, with
Of course, you pay for all that.
This is a wallet-thumping piece
of the MacBook
only one hiccup in Logic Pro when of kit, with the clue being in the line in 2020
I chuck a few too many virtual name – because here, ‘Pro’ still +++++
synths into the mix. means something.

81
 TESTED GAMES
PS4, Xbox One, PC /
stuff.tv/FallenOrder
Star Wars Jedi:
Fallen Order
Low on groundbreaking content but high on combat thrills, the latest Star Wars game sticks
to the tried and tested – which is good news for hardcore fans and nervous n00bs alike
ou’ll see the fingerprints of
Y other franchises smudged
all over this game – mostly
Uncharted but also Tomb Raider,
God of War and the Dark Souls
series. For sure, Fallen Order could
have been a more original and
adventurous game than it is; but
after all the grumbling over Star
Wars Battlefront II (and its loot
boxes), you can’t fault Respawn
for playing it cautious.
Above all, this is an accessible
take on the series. You don’t need
to have liked – or even seen – the
STUFF SAYS This could be the single-player Star Wars game you’ve been waiting for ++++,
82
most recent movie offerings to
understand Cal’s plight, nor will your
experience be hampered by a lack
of Star Wars trivia.
Cal is now working as a scrapper
on the planet Bracca, his Jedi training
a secret up until the day he betrays
his own anonymity to save the life
of a pal. Alerted to the event, an elite
team of Jedi-hunters come looking
and bang: Cal’s up and running.
And we mean running. This early
sequence is a heart-pumping blast
of combat and parkour as you try
to get to grips with your burgeoning
powers. Never is the action more
Uncharted-y than in this section,
training you to look up and around
as you run from corridor to corridor.
Within ten minutes you’ll be skating,
plank-walking and leaping from
vines as the tutorial teaches you
all you need to know about Fallen
Order’s plentiful platforming.
Cal doesn’t traverse as fluidly as
Nathan Drake, but the combat is
deliciously satisfying, in part due to
the electrifying graphics and sound
effects. Don’t go into this thinking
the fighting is easy, though. You’ll
need to parry and block, often and
successfully, and experiment with
your skills to learn how best to chain
moves together, particularly as your
skill-set expands.
Once you settle into the game
proper, you’ll be mesmerised by
its gentle exploration, canny puzzle
design and tight, rewarding fight
sequences. Everything else in Fallen
Order is serviceable yet lacking any
true innovation… but that doesn’t
stop it being one of the best Star
Wars games of this generation.
Vikki Blake
 TESTED GAMES

Cal’s a drag… but

his pal’s a wag
Cal Kestis is not the world’s
most exciting protagonist.
Though well-voiced and
animated in a way that makes
most combat encounters a
delight, he’s the archetypal
Generic Good Guy that we’ve
seen eleventy-gazillion times
before, falling just the wrong
side of interesting.
It’s a pity, because almost
everyone else in this game
– from his shipmates Cere
and Greez to his ass-kicking
foes, the Sisters – are pretty
memorable. His lack of passion
and charisma often had us
wishing he could be tempted
by the Dark Side – well, at
“Take the dogs for a walk, “Go for it, she said. You’ll be least then he’d be a tad more
she said. It’s a lovely the first ever Stormtrooper interesting.
evening, she said…” on Strictly, she said…” Of course, a Star Wars game
would be nothing without a
loveable droid, and Fallen Order
is no exception. Here we meet
BD-1, a mash-up of R2-D2,
BB8 and Wall-E who trills
and beeps and makes all the
adorable noises we expect
(demand?) from a robotic
gaming comrade.
He spends much of the
game perched on Cal’s
shoulder, jumping in to alert
you to nearby secrets, as
well as managing your health
and holographic map. He’s a
delight, and the game would
have been considerably less
enjoyable without him along
for the ride.

83
 TESTED GAMES
PS4 / stuff.tv/DeathStranding
Death Stranding
If you’ve ever fantasised about being a sort of post-apocalyptic
Postman Pat (but without the cat), this epic game could be for you
t its core, Death Stranding
A is a game about walking.
Other stuff happens, but
mostly this is the first AAA stroll
simulator. You pick up a package,
walk for miles and deliver it to
someone. You have a chat with
a hologram, restock your supplies
then do it all over again.
Essentially a 50-hour fetch
quest, this stupidly long, baffling
and repetitive game may well drive
you to tears. Yet at times it can be
strangely compelling.
You’re Sam, an almost entirely
humourless delivery man working
in an unrecognisable and very much
Amazon-less future America all
but obliterated by a series of huge
explosions. Sam is assigned the
task of plodding back and forth
across the wasteland, delivering
packages to people who now live
in bunkers and hooking them up
to the Chiral Network (the internet,
basically) so his employers can
rebuild their world.
In each of the game’s 70 main
story missions you’ll have to
micro-manage how much cargo
you can carry. There are ladders,
STUFF SAYS Love it or hate it, Death Stranding is an experience like no other ++++,
84
ropes and eventually 3D-printed
weapons; bring too little and you’ll
run into trouble, too much and the
Jenga-tower of steel on your back
will get the better of you. “Be a courier,
The online multiplayer element she said. Pootle
works really well here. You’ll never around the
see another player on your travels countryside in
but you can leave ladders and ropes
a nice comfy
to aid them, while theirs will appear
permanently in your game world. van, she said…”
You can even build communal
postboxes and charging stations,
and amassing popularity among
your fellow couriers can quickly
become quite addictive.
Sam carries a tank baby on his
chest, which helps him sense BTs
– screeching ghosts that you can
either try to sneak past or fight
head-on. He also has run-ins with Hannibal star
violent raiders and a number of Mads Mikkelsen
Metal Gear-lite bosses, but all this plays Cliff, who
is secondary to the walking. doesn’t eat
This is a merciless slog of a game people but does
that has very little respect for your
look a bit scary.
time. But in its quieter moments,
when you’re hiking across
the bleak yet oddly beautiful
landscape, it’s like nothing else.
Matt Tate

PS4, PC / stuff.tv/Shenmue3
Shenmue III
The long-awaited third instalment of this martial arts action adventure
series feels as out of time as the original game was ahead of its own
henmue III picks up right
S where the story left off
18 years ago… and goes
on as if all the gaming trends and
The third series mechanics of the intervening years
of Gone Fishing had never happened.
will be the first How you view this game, then,
to feature Paul will depend on whether you’re
coming at it as a fan or completely
and Bob fighting
fresh expecting a modern game.
to the death. More importantly, how much you
get out of it will depend on whether
you have the patience to appreciate
it at its own glacial pace.
It’s fitting that the first half is set
in a remote Chinese village where
you can bet on tortoise races,
because the pace of its story moves
just as slowly. Just trying to track
down a group of thugs who’ve been
“Meet me causing trouble in the area can take
below the red up to an in-game week.
lantern, she If that sounds maddening, at
said. You can’t least you can fast-forward to the
miss it, she next meeting point. But some will
appreciate this relaxed feel, where
said…”
plot is secondary to soaking up the
atmosphere while practising martial
arts and chopping wood.
And despite feeling 20 years old
it’s a beautiful game to behold, even
STUFF SAYS For better or worse, the old-school ‘Shenmue charm’ lives on ++++,
TESTED GAMES
by modern standards. Sure, leading
man Ryo still looks a bit stiff and
awkward, but that’s an endearing
quality to laugh with rather than
a flaw to laugh at.
Martial arts remain a core focus,
even though you don’t actually
do a lot of fighting. Perhaps more
important is the other busywork
on offer. If you’re skipping the
jobs, arcades and gambling, you’re
playing this game wrong.
It’s idiosyncratic in a way not
everyone will take to, especially
once you hit a couple of moments
where the only way to progress is to
cough up a huge wad of cash. Quite
honestly, if you’re a newcomer to
the series, there’s little reason to
jump into this game now when
there are much more sophisticated
open-world games around.
But then, no one else has made
an open world quite like Shenmue.
Dedicated fans who have followed
this opus all the way through to
its Kickstarter revival are ultimately
the audience here – and on that
basis, Shenmue III is a successful
continuation of the journey.
George Cowley
85
GET THE BEST GADGET
DEALS WITH STUFF

In the mag Online

We pick out the Choose from
best price for our roster of
every featured great-value
product 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 issue 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.
 TOP
NEW

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

BARGAIN
OF EVERYTHING
Time changes
everything,
including Stuff
Top Ten entries.

BUY
UPDATE
Searing with
techy genius,
a product that’s A solid gold
set our hearts bargain.
aflame. Worth owning,
regardless of
cashflow.

Smartphones 88 Games 97
HOW
Apps, mobile games
Headphones
Wearables
89
90
91
Tech toys, electric cars
VR headsets & games
Smart home
98
99
100
TO USE
Laptops
Speakers
TVs
Soundbars,
92
93
94
95
Drones & action cams,
compact cameras
System cameras
Budget buys
101

102
103
THEM
streamers How to buy… 104
Tablets, consoles 96 a storage device
TOP TENS SMARTPHONES
TIPS &
TRICKS
Swipe-typing makes
writing messages
much smoother: just
run your finger over
the keyboard letters.
Haptic Touch means
pressing longer
instead of harder
to enable shortcuts
like taking a selfie.
Dark Mode works
with many third-party
apps, so browsing
Insta at night is now
easier on the eyes.
2 3
OnePlus 7T
£549 / stuff.tv/OnePlus7T
Significant upgrades bring a price
hike over the OnePlus 7, but for
your extra dosh you’re getting
better-than-flagship features
for a lower-than-flagship price.
As well as an improved camera, it
has stacks of power, great battery
life and a dreamy new design.
Stuff says +++++
Smooth, slick and still bargainy,
this is the latest Android to beat
FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW PHONES, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/SMARTPHONES
88
Apple iPhone 11 Pro
from £1049 / stuff.tv/iPhone11Pro
This is Cupertino’s elite handset,
with a triple-camera array that’s
up there with the best we’ve
tested (including an excellent
night mode), an A13 Bionic chip
that brings about untouchable
speeds, and finally the godsend
of fast charging.
Stuff says +++++
The best phone Apple has ever made,
but it’s just too pricey to top our list
1 HOT
BUY
Apple iPhone 11
from £729 / stuff.tv/iPhone11
You’re getting a really neat package with the
iPhone 11 – and crucially, it’s not silly-expensive.
The new Bionic A13 chip packs some serious
power, the cameras are near-faultless for
a smartphone and the battery will last all day.
The lack of an OLED display could be an issue
for some, but if you can bring yourself to get
O Prices quoted are for handset only unless otherwise stated
over that, it’s time to say hello to the new
everyman iPhone… and start thinking about
what colour you might opt for.
Stuff says +++++
Wow – an affordable Apple handset
that doesn’t scrimp on specs
O NOW ADD THIS
Ted Baker Wireless Power Bank
A mix of cabled connections and Qi
wireless charging means this bank
can fuel up two devices at once.
£80 / proporta.co.uk
OnePlus 7T Pro
4 +++++£699 / stuff.tv/OnePlus7TPro
This Pro shares some key specs with the basic 7T
but boosts the screen size, battery and storage.
Huawei P30 Pro
5 +++++from £750 / stuff.tv/P30Pro
Heaps of power and the best phone camera you can
buy… but the Google issue makes it a risky choice.
Samsung Galaxy S10
6 +++++from £649 / stuff.tv/S10
A well-rounded Android with a versatile camera,
a gorgeous display and truly ace performance.
Samsung Galaxy S10 5G
7 +++++£1099 / stuff.tv/S105G
This 5G hardware will have you future-proofed with
sensational snaps and a stunning screen
Oppo Reno 10x Zoom
8 +++++£460 / stuff.tv/Reno10x
A wondrous camera-phone that gets a lot right
despite its overbearing software.
NEW Moto G8 Plus
9 +++++£240 / stuff.tv/G8Plus
Classic Moto: a smart, well-equipped and capable
smartphone for less than £250.
Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro
10 +++++ £379 / stuff.tv/Mi9TPro
Makes all the right sacrifices to become the most
desirable phone you can get for under £400.
TOP TENS MOBILE APPS
1 HOT
BUY
Pixelmator Photo
£4.99 / iPad
Apps like Snapseed revolutionised photo editing on mobile,
making the process user-friendly and fast. Pixelmator Photo
takes this to a whole new level. By way of a machine-learning
algorithm trained on 20 million pro snaps, it’ll try to fix your photo
with a single tap. Amazingly, this mostly works, resulting in
balanced, natural tones. And should you want something more
personal or creative for your photographic chef d’oeuvre, there
are plenty of manual controls too.
Stuff says +++++
A first-rate picture editor – only avoid if you don’t have
an iPad… or hate making your photos look nice
Korg Gadget 2
£19.99 / iOS
When making music, there’s GarageBand for
iOS and Caustic for Android, but we remain
smitten with Gadget. Its instruments ape
everything from classic synths to game
consoles, and workflow is silky-smooth.
Stuff says +++++
This could turn you into the next Kraftwerk
BFT – Bear Focus Timer
£1.19 / Android O £1.99 / iOS
It’s too easy to be distracted by your phone,
so BFT trains you to put it out of reach. You
define work/break sprints, but the timer
only works when your phone’s face-down.
Try to cheat and the bear scowls at you.
Stuff says +++++
The best app for more responsible phone use
Moodflow: Year in Pixels
4 +++++£free / Android, iOS
Track moods, find patterns and change your
life with this simple self-improvement app.
Bloom: 10 Worlds
5 +++++£7.99 / Android, iOS
Control Brian Eno inside your phone as you
bend an organic art/audio project to your will.
FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE PRODUCTS IN OUR TOP TEN LISTINGS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10
89 MOBILE GAMES TOP TENS
1 HOT
BUY
Data Wing
£free / Android, iOS
This game starts off as if Asteroids had a baby with a top-down
racer: your triangular craft blasts around circuits, gaining speed
when its bum scrapes neon track edges. Soon you discover
you’re part of an OS ruled by a deranged AI. Story and game
quickly expand, as you glimpse the world beyond the screen and
battle gravity in cavern-based sections that recall 8-bit classic
Thrust. Rarely do mobile titles pack in so many hours of clever,
thoughtful narrative. Pretty much never are such games free.
Stuff says +++++
A mobile game we’d happily recommend if it cost a
fiver – for nowt, it’s an absurdly generous bargain
Jumpgrid
£2.89 / Android O £2.99 / iOS
Pac-Man and Frogger meet Super Hexagon
and buckets of adrenaline in this superb
game, a twitch/arcade/punishment
crossover masterpiece. It’s a stunning
ride that will leave you a quivering wreck.
Stuff says +++++
The best twitch arcade game on mobile
Oddmar
£free (IAPs) / Android O £4.99 / iOS
Oddmar looks like it could have breezed in
from a PS4. Now available on Android as well
as iOS, it’s packed full of superb level design
and lush animated visuals, as a beardy Viking
oaf sets out to save his tribe.
Stuff says +++++
Touchscreen platformers can be great after all
NEW GRID Autosport
4 +++++£9.99 / Android, iOS
The best racing game on mobile is an
astonishing achievement.
Bring You Home
5 +++++£3.19 / Android O £2.99 / iOS
Make your own future with this imaginative,
brilliantly designed and devious puzzler.
TOP TENS IN-EARS
1 HOT
BUY
Sony WF-1000XM3
£219 / stuff.tv/SonyWFXM3
The original WF-1000XMs had an easy job in the early days of
noise-cancelling in-ears, because there simply wasn’t much in
the way of competition. That’s all changed now – yet the way
the XM3s serve up sound quality as spectacular as this while
being truly wireless, while effectively cancelling background
noise and while remaining comfortable in the ears, is quite
something. So, just as it was with the original XMs, it’s job
done for Sony.
Stuff says +++++
Outright winners on design, build, specifications and,
most importantly of all, performance
NEW Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless
£240 / stuff.tv/MomentumTW
Everyone wants to sell you a pair of true
wireless in-ears, but not many companies
can compete with Sennheiser. You’ll find
daintier options, and cheaper ones, but
nothing that sounds better at this price.
Stuff says +++++
They’re big and they certainly are clever
Libratone Track Air+
£179 / stuff.tv/TrackAirPlus
These distinctive wireless buds are
excellently designed and sweatproof,
provide up to 24 hours of battery life, offer
active noise-cancelling, and are neat in all
senses of the word.
Stuff says +++++
Ace design, sound and versatility
NEW Apple AirPods Pro
4 +++++£249 / stuff.tv/AirPodsPro
Not really ‘Pro’, but still excellent wireless
in-ears for iPhone users.
RHA TrueConnect
5 +++++£149 / stuff.tv/TrueConnect
Fantastic sound, lovely design, waterproofing
to IPX5 and rock-solid Bluetooth.
TO READ THE FULL REVIEWS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/IN-EAR-HEADPHONES & STUFF.TV/TOP-10/HEADPHONES
90 ON/OVER-EARS
HOT
BUY
Sony WH-1000XM3
£229 / stuff.tv/SonyWHXM3
Sony’s WH-1000 series was already a top performer, and the
WH-1000XM3s make for an even more compelling package.
With Bluetooth wireless and great noise-cancellation, they’re
the ultimate public transport stress killer… well, aside from a
chauffeur or a lottery win that lets you retire. The leather pads
make them incredibly easy to wear, not unlike sitting in one of
those ultra-comfy leather chairs, and most importantly of all
the sound quality is fantastic.
Stuff says +++++
Great wireless headphones with effective ANC and
a sound that nails just about everything
Bose NCH 700
£350 / stuff.tv/BoseNCH700
You won’t find a better voice pickup system
than Bose’s, while the company’s already
exceptional noise-cancelling tech is now
even better. Other features, such as the
slick touch controls, are also winners.
Stuff says +++++
As all-rounders these are hard to beat
Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 3
£349 / stuff.tv/MomentumWireless
The best Momentums yet, these noise-killing
cans give an enjoyable listen regardless of
your musical tastes. Presentation is open
and wide, while bass hits hard but the overall
tonality is brilliantly judged.
Stuff says +++++
Big headphones, big price, big sound
B&O H9i
4 +++++£329 / stuff.tv/H9i
Offering luxury for your ears, these are some
of the best noise-cancellers you can buy.
BARGAIN
BUY Urbanista Seattle Wireless
5 +++++from £56 / stuff.tv/SeattleWireless
Bags of style and fantastic sound quality at
a throwaway price.
TOP TENS SMARTWATCHES
1 HOT
BUY
Apple Watch Series 5
from £399 / stuff.tv/WatchS5
There’s no great secret to Apple’s continuing smartwatch
domination: it’s all down to a seamless relationship between
hardware and software, plus impressive health features that
other makers still haven’t been able to match. But while the
Series 5 isn’t as significant an upgrade as last year’s model, it
does have one key addition: an always-on display. Also new
is a compass, while the watchOS 6 update adds a host of new
tricks that make the Watch even smarter than it was already.
Stuff says +++++
This is a minor upgrade on S4, but an always-on
display makes the best smartwatch even better
Apple Watch Series 4
2 from £349 / stuff.tv/WatchS4
Series 5 is the new king, but the old model
remains a great option. The big screen, fast
processor and punchy speaker mean it’s
easier to do stuff on it than any previous
Watch, and it has superb health features.
Stuff says +++++
Still a sleek and sophisticated wearable
Samsung Galaxy Watch
3 from £199 / stuff.tv/GalaxyWatch
A sturdy and stylish smartwatch with plenty
of power and a truly lovely user interface.
Those with an iPhone are still likely to get
a better experience and more functionality
from an Apple Watch, though.
Stuff says +++++
The best smartwatch for Android users
NEW Garmin Fenix 6
4 +++++£530 / stuff.tv/Fenix6
The best fitness-orientated smartwatch,
offering incredible levels of detail.
Garmin Vivoactive 3
5 +++++from £180 / stuff.tv/Vivoactive3
It’s cheap, it looks good and it’s a fine
all-round smartwatch for sporty types.
FOR THE FULL REVIEWS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/SMARTWATCHES & STUFF.TV/TOP-10/FITNESS-TRACKERS
91 FITNESS TRACKERS TOP TENS
1 HOT
BUY
Moov Now
£47 / stuff.tv/MoovNow
Slow and steady wins the race, and the Now has gone on to prove
that with a marathon-like pace helping it finally make it to the
top of this list. We’ve long considered this tracker a bargain, but
further reductions have helped it enter the realm of ‘downright
steal’. OK, so it doesn’t have a screen or smartphone skills,
but with guided voice coaching, a six-month battery and solid
waterproofing, it has everything you’d ever want in your perfect
fitness tracker.
Stuff says +++++
A bargain-tastic fitness band that does more than just
track your steps
Fitbit Inspire HR
2 £90 / stuff.tv/InspireHR
Fitbit’s latest is a great little tracker. As well
as step-counting, it’s surprisingly capable
for proper run-tracking if you go out with
a phone. Add notifications and that’s just
about everything we want in a low-key band.
Stuff says ++++,
All the tracking skills that most people need
Huawei Watch GT 2
3 from £179 / stuff.tv/WatchGT2
A tracker that thinks it’s a smartwatch,
the Watch GT 2 has impressive design,
tracking skills and battery life; only the lack
of third-party app support will rule it out for
serious fitness fiends.
Stuff says ++++,
The best-looking tracker money can buy
Withings Steel HR Sport
4 ++++,£133 / stuff.tv/SteelHRSport
One of the most well-rounded, stylish hybrid
wearables, with 25-day battery life.
Fitbit Charge 3
5 ++++,£100 / stuff.tv/Charge3
A capable tracker with an easy-to-wear
design and long battery life.
TOP TENS LAPTOPS
TIPS &
TRICKS
A Touch ID button
at the top right of the
keyboard saves the
agony of forgetting
your password.
2 3
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
from £899 / stuff.tv/SurfaceLaptop2
While there’s little that’s truly new
about the Surface Laptop 2, that
also means this computer has
kept everything that made it such
a phenomenal device in the first
place. The additions of Intel’s latest
processors and the full version of
Windows 10 ensure it’s even better.
Stuff says +++++
An even stronger all-round
workhorse than its predecessor
FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW LAPTOPS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/LAPTOPS
92
Apple charges a
hefty premium for
extra storage, so
consider a cheaper
external SSD.
Dell XPS 13
from £1199 / stuff.tv/XPS13
Last year’s Dell XPS 13 was one of
the best Windows laptops in the
world, and the new model is even
better. Every element is top-quality.
As before, you get style, portability,
performance and great battery
life… and as before, every part of
it just feels good.
Stuff says +++++
There’s nothing else out there that’s
quite so well rounded
1 HOT
BUY
Apple MacBook Air
from £1099 / stuff.tv/MacBookAir13
With the ‘basic’ version of the MacBook Pro no
longer in Apple’s line-up, a July update to the Air
model – including a £100 price drop – sees it
power to the top of this list. And justifiably so,
because in 2019 this is absolutely the go-to
MacBook for most people. It looks every bit
as premium as the Pro, and the fantastic screen
represents a substantial leap from the old
generation’s basic panel. That keyboard is
a treat for your fingers too.
Stuff says +++++
Its stunning design, screen and features
make this the perfect MacBook
O NOW ADD THIS
Satechi Type-C USB 3 Combo Hub
Two ports not enough? This hub adds
loads more and sits snugly against
the MacBook Air’s side.
£40 / amazon.co.uk
Huawei MateBook X Pro
4 +++++ from £1299 / stuff.tv/MateBookXPro
Not massively better than the 2018 model, but
this is a real powerhouse of a Windows laptop.
Apple MacBook Pro (2019)
5 +++++ from £1299 / stuff.tv/MacBookPro13
The entry-level Pro grows up with a revamped
screen, a Touch Bar and more powerful innards.
Dell XPS 15 2-in-1
6 +++++ from £1949 / stuff.tv/XPS2in1
A powerful, portable and versatile hybrid, but
with a hefty price tag to match.
Razer Blade 15 Advanced
7 ++++,from £2104 / stuff.tv/BladeAdvanced
Razer’s Blade models are our favourite gaming
laptops, and this is a worthy flagship.
Asus ZenBook Pro 14
8 ++++,from £1257 / stuff.tv/ZenBookPro14
A capable multimedia laptop with a clever
gimmick: a second screen instead of a trackpad.
BARGAIN
BUY Acer Swift 5
9 ++++,£799 / stuff.tv/Swift5
A capable and extremely portable laptop at
a tempting price.
Asus Chromebook Flip C434
++++,£499 / stuff.tv/FlipC434
One of the best high-quality Chromebooks, with
a great screen and strong battery life.

TIPS &
TRICKS
You can control your
Move with the touch
controls on top, the
Sonos app, Google
Assistant or Alexa.
2 3
Sonos One
£199 / stuff.tv/SonosOne
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.
Stuff says +++++
A great balance of sound and smarts
for forward-thinking audio nerds
FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW HI-FI, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/HI-FI-STREAMING
93 SPEAKERS TOP TENS
Auto Trueplay adapts
the Move’s sound
to different rooms,
while the app offers
1 HOT
BUY
additional EQ tweaks. 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.
Not only is this the speaker Sonos should
have launched years ago – it’s one of the best
products of its type and price that we’ve heard.
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 £7.99/month / primephonic.com
B&W Formation Wedge
4 +++++ £900 / stuff.tv/BWWedge
Pricey, weird-looking… and a brilliant illustration
of what a wireless speaker is capable of.
JBL Xtreme 2
5 +++++ £279 / stuff.tv/Xtreme2
A hefty portable speaker that growls with
confidence whatever you play through it.
KEF LSX
6 +++++ £999 (pair) / stuff.tv/KEFLSX
Convenience and fine sound at a real-world
price, and in some vivid colours.
Marshall Tufton
7 +++++ £350 / stuff.tv/Tufton
Huge power, 360° clarity and long battery life
make this the perfect portable party speaker.
UE Ralis
Naim Mu-so 2
£1299 / stuff.tv/Mu-so2
8 +++++ £170 / stuff.tv/Ralis
A pretty speaker with great battery life, and it
sounds superb when cranked up.
The Mu-so 2 is a fuller, richer,
more detailed and louder listen
than the model it replaces, with UE Megaboom 3
lots of added functionality, and
it’s every bit as handsome and
decorative. Too expensive? You
9 +++++ £170 / stuff.tv/Megaboom3
You’ll struggle to find a better, or more fun,
portable Bluetooth speaker.
can still get the original Mu-so
for several hundred pounds less.
Amazon Echo Studio
Stuff says +++++ ++++, £190 / stuff.tv/EchoStudio
Naim’s luxury wireless speaker Easily the best-sounding Echo speaker you can
sequel is an improvement all round buy, and the 3D audio is a lot of fun.
TOP TENS TVs
TIPS &
TRICKS
We prefer to
keep most picture
processing off, but
the P5 chip is great
for upscaling.
2 3
Panasonic TX-55FZ802B
from £1350 / stuff.tv/FZ802B
As 4K TV prices continue to
tumble, there’s been a mad dash
from manufacturers to convince
the world their OLED panel looks
better than everyone else’s.
This Panasonic is a strong
candidate, showcasing one
of the best 4K HDR displays on
the market for a pretty affordable
price. OK, so the design looks plain
and the lack of Dolby Vision might
surprise a few, but when the
picture looks so detailed and
natural, who really gives a damn?
Stuff says +++++
You won’t find a better OLED for the
money than this talented Panasonic
FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW TELEVISIONS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/TVs
94
Flitting between
the Movie and ISF
Day/Night presets
gives the best picture
Choose to have
Ambilight’s colours
match the picture,
stay static or move
1 HOT NEW
BUY
out of the box. to the music. Philips OLED+ 984
£4500 / stuff.tv/OLED984
The OLED+ 984 offers outstanding picture
performance with universal HDR support, and
goes above and beyond what we expect from
TV sound thanks to a custom-made speaker
system from British hi-fi brand Bowers &
Wilkins. Plus it looks gorgeous, particularly
with that four-sided Ambilight in full effect.
Above all, this is the best picture we’ve seen
from a Philips yet, and the best audio we’ve
heard from any TV.
Stuff says +++++
Going big on design, performance and
sound, this is the best Philips TV yet
O NOW ADD THIS Sky Q
Once you’ve got a 4K TV, you’ll want
access to the best 4K content. Sky Q
is a good bet for watching and recording
all your favourite shows and films.
from £20 + £22/month / sky.com
LG 55 C8
4 +++++ £1279 / stuff.tv/LGC8
Small improvements make this LG’s best OLED
television yet.
Philips 55OLED+903
5 +++++ £1500 / stuff.tv/55OLED903
The first fruit of Philips’ collaboration with hi-fi
specialist Bowers & Wilkins is a fine, stylish set.
Samsung QE65Q90R
6 +++++ £2199 / stuff.tv/Q90R
Samsung has stuck to QLED… and upped its
game to rival OLED in virtually every way.
NEW Samsung UE43RU7020
Panasonic TX-55GZ1500
£1700 / stuff.tv/GZ1500
BARGAIN
BUY
7 +++++ £329 / stuff.tv/RU7020
Way better than its place in the Samsung pecking
order suggests, this is an unassuming cracker.
This isn’t the biggest or most
expensive OLED in the Panasonic
range, but on a ‘quality versus Sony KD-65XF9005
price’ basis it’s definitely one of
the best you can buy right now.
It’s a 4K screen equipped to deal
8 +++++ £1099 / stuff.tv/KD65XF9005
It may have a mid-range price, but this Sony’s
4K LCD panel is still a proper belter.
with any HDR standard you care
to mention, and its handling of
contrast has to be seen to be Panasonic TX-58GX800
believed. Colour and dynamism
are as good as you can get, and
even the little integrated soundbar
9 +++++ £692 / stuff.tv/58GX800
Not the last word in picture excellence, but this
is a lot of TV for the money.
does admirable work. The GZ1500
is the complete package.
LG 65SM9800
Stuff says +++++ ++++, £1499 / stuff.tv/65SM9800
An excellent TV with superb HDR Among the best backlit TVs around and a fine
picture quality – worth every penny OLED-dodging compromise.
TOP TENS SOUNDBARS 95
1 1
Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar
£2199 / stuff.tv/AmbeoSoundbar
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.
Stuff says +++++
The Ambeo Soundbar is a big unit but the sound it
makes is bigger still
Sonos Beam
2 £399 / stuff.tv/SonosBeam
Sonos’s great-value Alexa-equipped
soundbar offers fine audio quality, comes
with loads of features and is compact
enough to fit into the average living-room
AV setup without taking over.
Stuff says +++++
Compact, affordable and packed with smarts
Vizio SB36512-F6
3 £599 / stuff.tv/Vizio36512
An intriguing 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos setup with
a wireless sub and rear satellite speakers,
all for under 600 nicker. Not bad… and the
quality of its delivery, from film dialogue to
thrumming helicopters, is deeply impressive.
Stuff says +++++
A bargain Dolby Atmos upgrade
Q Acoustics Media 4
4 +++++£179 / stuff.tv/Media4
This is a whole lot of under-telly hi-fi
for the money.
Sky Soundbox
5 +++++from £249 / stuff.tv/SkySoundbox
The best-value upgrade ever… as long as
you’ve already got Sky.
FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE PRODUCTS IN OUR TOP TEN LISTINGS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10
STREAMERS TOP TENS
HOT
BUY
Sky Q
from £20 + £22/month / stuff.tv/SkyQ
Sky Q works flawlessly and could change the way you watch
TV – especially now 4K’s arrived. With Sky Movies’ huge range
of films and Sky Sports in stunning Ultra HD, along with the new
addition of Netflix, there’s something for everyone to treat their
eyes with. And 2TB of storage means you can record 350 hours’
worth of entertainment, so you’re unlikely to be sweating over
which show needs deleting. Factor in its multiroom skills, and
Sky Q is undoubtedly the best TV experience you can get.
Stuff says +++++
You’ll have to cough up for a subscription, but this is the
best box for watching both live and recorded shows
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K
2 £50 / stuff.tv/FireStick4K
Amazon’s latest streaming stick offers 4K
plus a faster processor than its predecessor,
and comes with the new Alexa Voice
Remote. It is very Prime-centric, but the
selection of third-party apps is excellent.
Stuff says +++++
The best 4K streaming stick you can buy
BARGAIN
BUY Google Chromecast
3 £30 / stuff.tv/Chromecast
The latest Chromecast is an incredibly neat
little gadget that will let you watch almost
all of your favourite streaming and catch-up
services on a television that doesn’t have
the apps built in.
Stuff says +++++
The cheapest way to smarten up your TV
Roku Streaming Stick+
4 ++++,£50 / stuff.tv/RokuPlus
This simple all-rounder is a great choice for
the open-minded telly watcher.
Apple TV 4K
5 ++++,from £179 / stuff.tv/AppleTV4K
Streaming boxes might be on the way out,
but Apple’s 4K version still has its uses.
TOP TENS TABLETS
1 HOT
BUY
Apple iPad Pro
from £769 / stuff.tv/iPadPro
The iPad Pro isn’t cheap, but it’s a mobile powerhouse like no
other, with a diverse and rich app ecosystem, tons of power,
a gorgeous screen, and the kind of focus on creativity and
productivity that just doesn’t exist on other tablets. If you just
want to faff on Facebook or Netflix it’s massive overkill, so we’d
recommend going for the iPad Air (from £479) instead; but even
if you don’t actually need the new iPad Pro, you’re going to want
one if you have it in your mitts for five minutes.
Stuff says +++++
Once again Apple blasts ahead of the pack, with
a stylish, powerful tablet full of creative potential
Microsoft Surface Go
2 from £341 / stuff.tv/SurfaceGo
Having this slinky Windows tab up your
sleeve (not quite literally) is like carrying
a mini PC on you at all times. The processor is
adequate for everyday tasks and the 10in
screen is lovely.
Stuff says +++++
An affordable, ultra-portable workmate
Apple iPad
3 from £349 / stuff.tv/iPad2019
If all you want a tablet for is consuming media
and typing up the occasional Word doc, this
is still the best option. iPadOS’s arrival also
makes this an ideal time to invest in a new
tablet if you haven’t done so in a while.
Stuff says +++++
The basic iPad remains the best entry-level tab
Amazon Fire HD 10
4 ++++, from £150 / stuff.tv/FireHD10
Amazon obliterates the competition at the
lower end of the tab market.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
5 ++++, from £619 / stuff.tv/TabS6
This is the Android tablet to get if you like
doodling or gaming.
FOR FULL REVIEWS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/HOME-CINEMA & STUFF.TV/TOP-10/GAMES-MACHINES
96 CONSOLES TOP TENS
1 HOT
BUY
Sony PlayStation 4 Pro
£299 / stuff.tv/PS4Pro
As a gaming platform, PlayStation 4 is the best around – which
makes the PS4 Pro the best of the best. Games optimised
for the new console look stunning on a 4K HDR TV, and are
substantially improved by the extra grunt inside this slightly
bigger machine. Sure, it can’t match the Xbox One X for sheer
power or resolution, but it makes up for that with an impressive
line-up of games – including Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn
and Bloodborne – and virtual reality support.
Stuff says +++++
The system for console gamers who have a 4K TV
and want the best catalogue of games on offer
Nintendo Switch
2 £279 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch
Nintendo’s console earned a promotion in
our list after it impressed us with a growing
list of fantastic games. Plus, no other device
here offers the joy of portable gaming. Train
journeys will never be boring again.
Stuff says +++++
This 2-in-1 console is the real deal
Microsoft Xbox One X
3 £450 / stuff.tv/XboxOneX
There’s no doubt the Xbox One X is the
most powerful console here, capable of
producing stunning 4K visuals… but it simply
doesn’t have the line-up of games to usurp
the PS4 Pro from top spot.
Stuff says +++++
A 4K monster held back by its game catalogue
Sony PlayStation 4
4 +++++£220 / stuff.tv/PS4
Haven’t got a 4K TV? This is the best way to
enjoy PlayStation’s brilliant exclusives.
Microsoft Xbox One S
5 +++++£179 / stuff.tv/XboxOneS
No longer our Xbox of choice, but the One S
remains a serious affordable option.
 97 GAMES TOP TENS

1 HOT
BUY

Red Dead
Redemption 2
from £25 / PS4, Xbox One

Believable characters, a world to lose yourself

in, top-class voice acting and a story that
intrigues all the way through. Warts and all,
with improvements from other games ignored,
this is Rockstar at its most arrogant but also its
TIPS & most powerful. Red Dead Redemption 2 trusts
TRICKS you to explore, to grow, and to let its world seep
into your consciousness. This is a special game
Make sure you talk and one that was entirely worth the wait.
to strangers more
than once – you Stuff says +++++
never know what Ultra-addictive gameplay in one of
they’ll reveal. the greatest open worlds ever created
Regularly brushing
and feeding Arthur’s O OR PLAY THIS
horse will increase Zelda: Breath of the Wild
their bond. It’s what If you’re after a different kind of
all good cowboys open-world experience that’s
should do anyway. just as expansive and has a lot
of heart, this is the one for you.
£48 / Switch

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

2 3 4 +++++ £44 / Switch
Smash is well and truly back, and it’s bigger and
better than ever before.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

5 +++++ from £30 / PS4, Xbox One, PC
A brutally punishing action adventure that will
get your heart a-pumping.

Forza Horizon 4
6 +++++ from £22 / Xbox One, PC
This is a bar-raising sandbox-racing game
experience that’s worth buckling up for.

Gears 5
7 +++++£19 / Xbox One, PC
Huge, thrilling and luxurious at every turn – this
is absolutely essential.

Super Mario Maker 2

God of War
£16 / PS4
A lot has changed for PlayStation’s
god-slaying champion, Kratos.
He’s acquired a beard and a new
magic axe… but while the action
is as breathtaking as ever, it’s
the surprisingly mature storyline
that’s the draw here, with Kratos
learning the ropes of parenting.
Stuff says +++++
The epic return of Kratos is yet
another phenomenal PS4 offering
Resident Evil 2
from £16 / PS4, Xbox One, PC
8 +++++£37 / Switch
One of Nintendo’s smartest ideas in years feels
perfect for the Switch.
Top to bottom, nothing in this
game feels like a mere upgrade
on an old formula. As polished NEW Luigi’s Mansion 3
and defining as recent favourites
like God of War, RE2 will inform
not only the future of the survival
9 +++++£43 / Switch
Luigi finally gets a blockbuster hit that would
make his brother proud.
horror genre, but the interactive
entertainment medium as a whole.
Devil May Cry 5
Stuff says +++++
Highly polished and much more than
a remake – the series’ best entry yet.
10 ++++,from £16 / PS4, Xbox One, PC
A strange blend of world-class combat and
old-fashioned design.

FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS AND REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW GAMES, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/GAMES
TOP TENS TECH TOYS
HOT
BUY
Lego Boost Creative Toolbox
£150 / stuff.tv/LegoCreativeToolbox
Building Lego models is already ridiculously good fun, so think
what great a time you’ll have when the completed model turns
into a functioning robot. With the accompanying tablet app, you
can use simple coding to make the robot move, fire projectiles
and play various games. And rather than retiring it to the dusty
shelf once you’re bored, you can rebuild him into four other
programmable models: a harmonica-playing cat, a driveable
rover, a working robot-builder and a playable guitar.
Stuff says +++++
All hail Vernie and friends – for value and sheer fun, it’s
hard to beat this programmable Lego kit
Propel Star Wars
2 X-Wing Battling Drone
£37 / stuff.tv/SWDrone
The Star Wars Battling Drone works indoors
and outdoors, and doesn’t require a licence
or CAA permit to fly. It’s a total blast… just a
shame there’s no camera or app.
Stuff says +++++
Is the Force strong with this one? You betcha!
Sphero Bolt
3 £100 / stuff.tv/SpheroBolt
This little rolling ball of tech is great fun, and
educational to boot. We hope your skirting
boards are up to taking a few knocks, but if
your kids have any curiosity about coding it’ll
keep them entertained for months to come.
Stuff says +++++
Proves that learning really can be fun
Kano Harry Potter Coding Kit
4 +++++£50 / stuff.tv/KanoHarryPotter
A magical way to make coding accessible
and fun to learn.
Nintendo Labo VR Kit
5 ++++,from £35 (+ Switch) / stuff.tv/LaboVR
An irresistible mash-up of cardboard-folding
adventures and lo-fi VR entertainment.
FOR UP-TO-DATE LISTINGS AND FULL REVIEWS OF ALL KINDS OF GADGETS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10
98 ELECTRIC CARS TOP TENS
1 HOT
BUY
Jaguar I-Pace
from £60,995 (with PiCG) / stuff.tv/ipace
Not content with simply making an electric vehicle that can get
you from A to B with minimal fuss (and fuel bills), Jaguar has
created something desirable, fun to drive and impressively
capable when the going gets tough. This car offers Amazon
Alexa integration, smartphone connectivity and a 10in
touchscreen on the upper deck. With the I-Pace, Jaguar
can happily claim to be the first mainstream brand to really
give Tesla something to worry about.
Stuff says +++++
Fun, fast and practical, the I-Pace is the greatest thing
to happen to electric cars in a long time
Nissan Leaf
2 from £26,345 / stuff.tv/NissanLeaf
Nissan has really got it right with the latest
Leaf – an accomplished family car that
packs some serious range and performance,
and acts as a flagship for the company’s
most advanced driver assistance gizmos.
Stuff says +++++
A strong candidate for your eco-conscious cash
Tesla Model S
3 from £77,700 / stuff.tv/TeslaS
This sleek saloon re-writes the rules
for all-electric performance and offers
advanced autonomous driving tech that
most of the other makers are only just
beginning to explore.
Stuff says +++++
A true groundbreaker among high-class EVs
Volvo XC90 T8
4 +++++from £66,645 / stuff.tv/XC90T8
This plug-in hybrid 4x4 looks great and can
tackle the twistiest routes.
BMW i8 Roadster
5 +++++from £127,105 / stuff.tv/i8Roadster
The electric motor turns this stunningly
futuristic convertible into a genuine supercar.
TOP TENS VR HEADSETS
1 HOT
BUY
Oculus Quest
from £399 / stuff.tv/OculusQuest
The Quest offers all manner of fully interactive, roamable virtual
worlds that you can throw in your backpack without a single
wire. That’s a mindblowing technical feat. Yes, the battery life
is average, but the inside-out tracking and total absence of any
cables make this the best all-round VR headset to date. It also
ships with the Oculus Touch motion controllers included, which
means you can play fully fledged Oculus Rift titles without being
anywhere near a PC.
Stuff says +++++
If you’ve been waiting to board the VR bandwagon,
the Quest might be the best reason yet to go for it
HTC Vive
2 £499 / stuff.tv/HTCVive
There isn’t much difference between this
and the much cheaper Oculus Rift, in all
honesty. But if you’re thinking of upgrading
to the Vive Pro in the future, this is a great
gateway headset.
Stuff says ++++,
A solid choice for immersive virtual reality
HTC Vive Pro
3 £799 (headset only) / stuff.tv/HTCVivePro
This high-end headset offers the best
virtual reality experience by a long way,
but its sky-high price means you should
only really buy it if you’re a VR obsessive
with a super-powerful gaming PC.
Stuff says ++++,
This hardcore headset is overkill for most
Oculus Rift
4 ++++,£329 / stuff.tv/OculusRift
Still the best affordable VR headset, and you
get the Touch Controllers thrown in.
PlayStation VR
5 +++,,from £228 / stuff.tv/PSVR
It can deliver incredible experiences, but
the PSVR is held back by niggling issues.
FOR FULL REVIEWS, AND TO EXPLORE MORE OF THE STUFF TOP TEN LISTS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10
99 VR GAMES TOP TENS
1 HOT NEW
BUY
Beat Saber
from £23 / Oculus Quest/Rift, Vive, PSVR
Most VR games equip you for immersive combat, but Beat
Saber’s dual laser swords aren’t meant for slicing and dicing
foes. Instead, you’ll gleefully swing them 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 is glorious indeed,
turning the power fantasy of dual-wielding lightsabers into an
exhilarating modern music experience. And add-on packs keep
the beat going for longer.
Stuff says +++++
A mesmerising musical melee that’s at its absolute best
when played on the cable-free Oculus Quest
Superhot VR
2 from £19 / Oculus, Vive, PSVR
There’s something really cool about hiding
behind a desk before blitzing your opponents
with streams of bullets as if you were starring
in your very own Matrix movie. A wonderfully
action-packed title.
Stuff says +++++
A superb 2-in-1 VR puzzler and shooter
NEW Astro Bot: Rescue Mission
3 £35 / PSVR
This 3D platformer serves up a heaped
helping of Mario-esque magic, but in a
built-for-VR world that uses that unique
perspective to create fresh challenges and
surprises. You can’t help but grin.
Stuff says +++++
A wonderfully charming PSVR essential
Blood & Truth
4 +++++£25 / PSVR
A rollicking PSVR-exclusive action thriller with
brilliant set-pieces and terrific gunplay.
NEW Star Wars: Vader Immortal
5 ++++,£24 / Oculus Quest/Rift
Step into a galaxy far, far away… and yes,
swinging a lightsaber is as cool as it sounds.
TOP TENS SMART HOME
TIPS &
TRICKS
The Dot’s display
doesn’t just tell the
time – ask Alexa for
the temperature or
to set a timer.
It also automatically
adjusts to ambient
light, so it won’t glow
too brightly in the
middle of the night.
Pairing the Dot with
a second one creates
stereo sound, even if
you’re linking it to an
older 3rd-gen model.
2 NEW
Amazon Echo (3rd gen)
£90 / stuff.tv/AmazonEcho
The 2nd-generation Echo was a
great-value smart speaker… right
until you asked it to play music.
But that shortcoming has been
thoroughly addressed in v3, which
is basically an Echo Plus without
the ZigBee connectivity. It’s a fine
listener and a fine speaker.
Stuff says +++++
For a smart speaker under the £100
mark, you can’t argue with this Echo
FOR FULL REVIEWS OF THE BEST SMART HOME DEVICES, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/SMART-HOME-DEVICES
100
1 HOT NEW
BUY
Amazon Echo Dot
with Clock
£60 / stuff.tv/EchoDotClock
The Echo Dot smart home assistant has for a
long time been one of the best bargains in tech;
now you can get one with a clock on it for a
few quid extra. If you don’t want the clock, save
money and buy the cheaper one. Everyone’s
happy. But with solid Alexa performance, the
Echo Dot with Clock is really difficult to fault at
this price. The only downside is that you’re going
to have one less excuse for being late to work.
Stuff says +++++
It’s hard to see how the Echo Dot could
get much better than this
O NOW ADD THIS
Small Transparent Speaker
Plug your Dot into this glass sound
system to create an eye-catching
smart speaker with sonic oomph.
£450 / transparentspeaker.com
Netatmo Welcome
3 4 +++++£145 / stuff.tv/NetatmoWelcome
A neat security cam with loads of features and
storage options.
Nest 3.0
5 +++++£150 / stuff.tv/Nest3
A simple and mess-free smart thermostat with
Alexa compatibility.
Philips Hue Starter Kit
6 +++++from £60 (white) / stuff.tv/PhilipsHue
Become an indoor god with the smartest way
of lighting up your home remotely.
Brisant-Secure Ultion Smart
7 +++++from £229 / stuff.tv/UltionSmart
Tradition and tech partner up in a smart lock to
please everyone.
Arlo Pro
Tado Smart Thermostat
from £200 / stuff.tv/TadoV3Plus
8 +++++£200 / stuff.tv/ArloPro
A good home cam that becomes a great one
outdoors. Your shed has never been so secure.
Tado has quietly evolved into
the best all-round smart heating
system around. Its gadgety Google Nest Hub Max
goodness is second to none,
with the option of zonal control
for individual rooms and voice
9 ++++,£219 / stuff.tv/NestHubMax
A fine smart display… and see also the non-Max
version for a whole £100 less.
smarts from the likes Alexa and
Google Assistant.
Google Home Mini
Stuff says +++++ ++++, £19 / stuff.tv/HomeMini
Tado roasts the competition with Grab this little smart speaker for next to nothing
its blend of simplicity and smarts before it makes way for the improved Nest Mini.
TOP TENS DRONES & ACTION CAMS
1 HOT NEW
BUY
DJI Mavic Mini
£369 / stuff.tv/MavicMini
The Mavic Mini definitely won’t be for everyone. If you want
maximum control over your footage, have no qualms about
registering your drone, need 4K capture at 60fps, are OK with
spending the best part of a grand and consider object-tracking
a must-have, you’ll want to look elsewhere. If, however, you
just want to get a fantastic balance of user experience, features,
convenience and quality at a stomachable price, the Mavic Mini
is the most accessible premium drone we’ve used to date.
Stuff says +++++
Dinky drones don’t come more feature-packed, and
bigger drones than this need to be registered. Win!
GoPro Hero8 Black
£379 / stuff.tv/Hero8Black
GoPro fends off the DJI challenge by giving
its latest flagship action cam even better
stabilisation skills plus 4K 60fps video, a
range of wide angles, waterproofing and
fast/slow timelapse capture.
Stuff says +++++
Then most stable action cam we’ve ever used
DJI Osmo Action
3 £329 / stuff.tv/OsmoAction
The image stabilisation is sensational and the
face-optimised metering makes DJI’s action
cam an ideal choice for vloggers. It has some
idiosyncrasies, but this is a smart shooter that
captures great footage without faff.
Stuff says +++++
Despite a few quirks, this is a stellar cam
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
4 +++++£1349 / stuff.tv/Mavic2Pro
Superbly responsive in the air, this is the gold
standard in portable flyers.
DJI Mavic Air
5 +++++£769 / stuff.tv/MavicAir
A cracking gadget that combines the best
bits from the old Spark and the Mavic Pro.
FOR FULL REVIEWS, AND TO EXPLORE MORE OF THE STUFF TOP TEN LISTS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10
101 COMPACTS TOP TENS
1 HOT
BUY
Sony DSC-RX100 V
£679 / stuff.tv/RX100V
We wouldn’t recommend buying this camera if you already own
the old IV model, but a few improvements have ensured Sony
remains the top dog in our compacts list – and we’re keeping this
model above the newer RX100 VI simply because of the huge price
difference. It remains one of the finest point-and-shoots we’ve
ever seen, with a flexibility that few pocket cameras can muster.
While it’s still not exactly cheap, we reckon this is the cam to buy
if you want fantastic-looking snaps from your holidays.
Stuff says +++++
Only a small improvement over the RX100 IV, but this
Sony is close to premium point-and-shoot perfection
Panasonic Lumix TZ200
£569 / stuff.tv/TZ200
This Panasonic compact is a significant
upgrade from the TZ100, offering extra
reach with the zoom lens, better colour
reproduction, and an improved experience
when using the electronic viewfinder.
Stuff says +++++
Small, neat and not dramatically overpriced
Sony DSC-RX100 VI
3 £899 / stuff.tv/RX100VI
A true all-rounder that shoots 24fps
at full resolution and has stunningly fast
autofocus, topped off with a whopping
8x zoom lens that’s quite spectacular
for such a tiny camera.
Stuff says +++++
A dinky yet luxurious point-and-shoot
Panasonic Lumix LX100
4 +++++£449 / stuff.tv/LX100
One of the most capable compacts on the
market, with superb stills and HD video.
Fujifilm X100F
5 +++++£1129 / stuff.tv/X100F
The best street shooter around if you don’t
need the flexibility of interchangeable lenses.
TOP TENS SYSTEM CAMERAS
TIPS &
TRICKS
Pre-shot ES mode
starts taking photos
and adding them to
the buffer as soon as
you half-press.
Sports Finder mode’s
display enables you
to see what’s about
to come into frame
for moving shots.
Tapping an area on
the 3in touchscreen
will let you set the
focus point or take
an instant shot.
2 3
Sony A7 III
£1754 / stuff.tv/SonyA7iii
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 +++++
A fantastic all-rounder that excels
in low-light conditions
FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE BEST NEW CAMERAS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10/SYSTEM-CAMERAS
102
BARGAIN
BUY
Fujifilm X-T20
£549 / stuff.tv/XT20
With its 24.3MP APS-C sensor,
plus a touchscreen, the X-T20
will deliver results that are in some
cases just as good as you’ll get
from Fuji’s pricier models – and
will leave you with a lot more
spare cash in your account. With
well-laid-out controls, a huge
viewfinder, excellent AF and
access to superb lenses, the
X-T20 is just one more fantastic
mirrorless camera from Fuji.
Stuff says +++++
The X-T20 nails the sweet spot
between price and performance
10
1 HOT
BUY
Fujifilm X-T3
£1249 / stuff.tv/FujifilmXT3
It’s really hard to find anything bad to say about
the X-T3 – it’s just consistently great in so
many ways. Fuji has looked at virtually every
feature on the X-T2 and upgraded it. With
substantial tweaks made to the pro-level
video options, the high-res EVF, the super-fast
autofocus and the burst shooting, what you’re
left with is an all-round beast of a camera in a
O Prices quoted are for body only unless otherwise stated
small, beautiful form. As APS-C shooters go, it’s
the best there is.
Stuff says +++++
An incredible stills shooter with video
smarts to match
O NOW ADD THIS
Manfrotto 190 Go! Carbon Fibre Tripod
You no longer have an excuse for
wobbly photos with this carbon-fibre
tripod. It weighs just 1.65kg.
£249 / manfrotto.co.uk
Panasonic Lumix G9
4 +++++£899 / stuff.tv/LumixG9
The G9 is the best Lumix camera to date and
a fine choice for wildlife or action photography.
Sony A6500
5 +++++£899 / stuff.tv/A6500
A cracking system cam for action photography,
but stick with the A6300 if your budget is tight.
Fujifilm X-H1
6 +++++£849 / stuff.tv/XH1
By adding in-body image stabilisation, Fuji has
created a wonderful all-rounder.
Canon EOS 80D
7 +++++£980 / stuff.tv/80D
The 80D is so easy to use that even a toddler
would get some great shots with it.
Nikon Z6
8 +++++£1499 / stuff.tv/Z6
A top-notch and reasonably sized mirrorless
camera from the optical experts.
Nikon D850
9 +++++£2499 / stuff.tv/D850
This super-cam has enough fantastic features
to excel in pretty much any situation.
Canon EOS RP
+++++£1299 / stuff.tv/EOSRP
A full-frame mirrorless snapper that’s light
enough not to be a burden.

TIPS &
TRICKS
Dip into the display
settings to switch
from the standard
4:3 aspect ratio to fit
your widescreen TV.
Switch the language
settings to Japanese
and you can play
vastly different
versions of games.
Struggling with the
old-school difficulty?
Hold down the start
button to use one of
four save slots.
2 3
SNES Classic Mini
£140 / stuff.tv/ClassicMini
Why splash out over £200 on a
games console when you can get
the SNES Classic Mini for so much
less? You get 21 titles pre-installed
on this nostalgia-inducing little
machine, including the likes of
Super Metroid, A Link to the Past
and Super Mario World.
Stuff says +++++
Retro-minded Nintendo fans won’t
find better value anywhere
FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THESE GADGETS, AND TO EXPLORE MORE TOP TEN LISTS, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10
NEW
NEW
Amazon Echo Dot with Clock
£60 / stuff.tv/EchoDotClock
Amazon’s Echo Dot smart home
assistant has for a long time been
one of the best bargains in tech;
now you can get one with a clock
on it for a few quid extra. And with
solid Alexa performance, the Echo
Dot with Clock is really difficult to
fault at this price.
Stuff says +++++
It’s hard to see how the Echo Dot
could get much better than this
10
103 BUDGET BUYS TOP TENS
1 HOT
BUY
Sega Mega Drive Mini
£64 / stuff.tv/MegaDriveMini
There’ll be playground rows and online feuds
over whether Nintendo’s or Sega’s games
are better, but the Mega Drive Mini wins
the miniature retro console war in terms of
the faithful recreation of both hardware and
software – especially as there are 42 games
included. It’s taken a long time to get here,
but as the saying goes, to be this good takes
ages – and the Sega is the must-buy console
of the moment.
Stuff says +++++
Sega’s back – and this really is the
ultimate mini gaming machine
O NOW ADD THIS
Retro-Bit Official 6-Button Controller
A must for fans of fighting games, this
six-button USB pad is also compatible
with PCs, Macs and even the Switch.
£18 / amazon.co.uk
Moto G8 Plus
4 +++++£240 / stuff.tv/G8Plus
Classic Moto: a smart, well-equipped and
capable smartphone for less than £250.
Raspberry Pi Zero W
5 +++++ from £9.30 / stuff.tv/PiZeroW
The Pi Zero was already a brilliant mini-computer;
wireless add-ons make it even better.
UE Wonderboom 2
6 +++++ £90 / stuff.tv/Wonderboom2
A rugged little wonder that’ll bring a sonic boost
to any occasion.
Moov Now
7 +++++ £47 / stuff.tv/MoovNow
The best budget tracker you can buy – gives
most Fitbits a run for their money.
SoundMagic E10
8 +++++ £20 / stuff.tv/E10
We love the E11s, but the previous model is still
available for real bargain-sniffers.
Google Home Mini
9 ++++, £19 / stuff.tv/HomeMini
Grab this little smart speaker for next to nothing
before it makes way for the improved Nest Mini.
Ryze Tello
++++, £79 / stuff.tv/Tello
Rule the skies without breaking the bank with
this affordable toy drone.
TOP TENS HOW TO BUY 104

HOW TO BUY If you don’t trust the

internet, hop off the
A STORAGE cloud and let’s get
physical with some
Flash memory

DEVICE real data hardware

This holds data
electronically without
movable parts, so it’s
less vulnerable to
damage.

SSD
Solid-state drives
have now mostly
replaced hard drives,
both in PCs and
externally.

USB 3.0
To move files as fast
as an SSD can read
and write them, go for
JARGON
USB-C, USB 3.0 or
BUSTER
Thunderbolt 3.

MIND THE STORE SATURDAY SUPERSTORE

1 Learning 2 Casual 3 Rude 4 Stick it 5 Memory

to drive specs mechanicals to ’em cards
The best SSDs have In an ever-decreasing It’s the equivalent Forget Grandmaster Plenty of phones and
all the attributes of world of built-in of picking Graeme Flash carting crates cameras can expand
eating-challenge storage, buying an Souness over of vinyl about: these their built-in storage
guru Adam Richman: external SSD can Raheem Sterling, days DJs can rock with an SD memory
speed and capacity in be a cost-effective but opting for a up at a club carrying card. These slide into
a fairly compact form way of increasing slower, mechanical nothing but a USB a slot and work as
factor. They need to capacity rather hard-disk drive stick storing masses an ultra-small flash
be tough too, as they than speccing up (HDD) still has of music. They’re not drive. Just check the
will be bundled in a a machine from the its advantages. much different to an size for compatibility.
backpack half the maker. You’ll pay SSDs cost a lot more SSD, with both using O Get this: Samsung
time. Around 500GB £200 for an extra per GB, and can be flash memory – it’s Evo Plus 128GB
should do unless you 128GB of storage on just too expensive merely about form £36 / samsung.com
hoard uncompressed a MacBook Air, but for 2TB or more. factor and capacity.
videos, photos or you can find a 500GB For large files or So while you’re
music, in which case SSD for under £100. long-term storage unlikely to find one
it’s time to enter the Even iPads support rather than everyday holding more than
terabyte zone. external storage now. use, an HDD is still 256GB, they can be
O Get this: WD My O Get this: SanDisk a great option. super-handy.
Passport Go 500GB Extreme Portable O Get this: Seagate O Get this: Kingston
£90 / western SSD 250GB Expansion 2TB DataTraveler G4 128GB
digital.com £70 / sandisk.com £70 / seagate.com £13 / kingston.com

OR TRY SANDISK IXPAND

WIRELESS CHARGER
ONE OF
from £55 / amazon.co.uk
THESE… Place your phone on this
Qi-enabled charger and it’ll
automatically back up photos
and videos.
ISTORAGE DISKASHUR 2
from £129 / istorage-uk.com
The DiskAshur has decent
levels of digital encryption,
plus a physical keypad so
users have to enter a PIN to
access its files.

SUBSCRIBE, SAVE CASH AND GET STUFF DELIVERED FOR FREE: SHOP.KELSEY.CO.UK/STUFF
 ORDER OUR NEXT ISSUE NOW
AND GET FREE DELIVERY

DON’T
MISS OUT!
PAY THE NORMAL SHOP
PRICE* AND GET THE NEXT
ISSUE DELIVERED DIRECT
TO YOUR DOOR

ORDER ONLINE AT SHOP.KELSEY.CO.UK/STUFEB20

CALL NOW ON 01959 543747** & QUOTE STUFEB20
Terms and conditions apply. You should receive your copy around 23 January if you order before 7 January, and will receive your copy as soon as possible if
you order after that date. *Delivery is included in the cover price for UK customers only. An additional £1 will be added to any overseas addresses. **Lines are
open Mon-Fri 8:30am–5:30pm. Calls are charged at your standard network rate. Front cover is for illustration purposes only and is subject to change.

It looks like you’re
writing for Stuff.
Would you like help?
O Get help adding snark
every third word
O Attempt to type
article without
help/coffee
O Begone forever, foul
digital fiend
RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES 1996
Office Assistant
reat – thanks for bringing up my
G worst PC nightmare, the bolshy
paperclip of doom.
Sorry. We forgot some Office users
have terrifying flashbacks to Clippit, who
abruptly appeared the second they typed
‘Dear’, intrusively demanding to help lay out
a letter. Presumably, the plan was to make
Office seem human – or even fun. Instead
we got something that was, broadly speaking,
a mash-up of a third-rate Pixar character, an
overly strict teacher and a sociopath. We still
can’t hold a box of paperclips without yelling
“NO, WE DON’T NEED HELP!” at it.
DON’T MISS THE NEXT ISSUE! ON SALE 23 JAN
Whatever made Microsoft think an
anthropomorphic paperclip could brighten
everyone’s day?
To be fair, you didn’t have to sit there and
watch a paperclip outlining that you were
rubbish at grammar. Microsoft also provided
other options – although those were arguably
just as bad. It was possible to replace Clippit
with grinning idiot The Dot (more or less an
acid smiley painted red), The Genius (who
wasn’t), Links the cat (seemingly having
wandered in from a 1950s Disney knock-off)
or, erm, Office’s actual logo, its coloured bits
glowing like a demented Simon game.
Clip round
the ear
Even Microsoft hated
Clippit. The feature was
referred to in-house as ‘TFC’,
with T standing for ‘the’ and
C for ‘clown’. Stuff leaves
you to work out what
the F stood for.
Still, at least it’s over now, right? Clippit and
pals will never darken our doors again!
Well, you can actually weld a sort-of Clippit
to your website (smore.com/clippy-js), but
the real problem runs deeper – because the
black soul of Office Assistant is everywhere,
infused into countless smart devices. It’s
there when Alexa randomly pipes up as
you’re chatting with friends, or when you
[ Words Craig Grannell ]
ask Siri something and get a daft quip rather
than actual help. Douglas Adams wrote that
future tech would require us to sit still to avoid
triggering gestural interfaces. Clippit’s legacy
is that we’ll soon have to sit in silence too.
 stand out sound
versatile
enough for use
on a desktop or
bookshelf
In-fact, you could place these
loudspeakers virtually anywhere thanks to
their sealed enclosures.

Our tenth generation Tablette 10 has been

re-designed from the inside out with this in
mind. With new cutting edge bass drivers,
specially designed crossover and our well
known silk dome tweeter it gives a rich
deep bass and transparent mid-range.

The Tablette 10 Signature with it’s totally

new bass driver incorporating copper
excel magnet system and our own solid
copper phase plug shares the attributes
of the Tablette 10 but has a larger more
projected mid-range giving an excellent
sound stage with a feeling of size, often
missing in small loudspeakers.
When it comes to loudspeakers,
we feel we are the experts.
Contact our dedicated team
of expert, independent dealers
and listen to how good we are
at what we do.
YOU WON’T BELIEVE YOUR EARS!

Available in: Black Ash, Mahogany, Cherry, Walnut, For your nearest dealer call
Oak and Silk White real wood veneers as standard
with Rosewood and Ebony available as premium
01280 700147
OR VISIT
real wood veneer finishes. proac-loudspeakers.com
DE IN
A
E
D M

NGLAN
AN

H D EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE THROUGH A DEDICATED TEAM OF UK INDEPENDENT DEALERS AND INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS