There's nothing quite like a new release from The Criterion Collection to make you pay attention to a movie you'd never heard of before – and Little Odessa definitely counts as one of those for me. James Gray's debut feature was one I'd honestly not encountered before, but his later movies Ad Astra and The Lost City of Z both entranced me, so I was really keen to see how he started.

As it turns out, he started with an incredibly taut and impressively emotional gangster movie that could be described as a thriller, but is really more of a psychological drama. Crucially, it features a pretty amazing turn from Tim Roth, in a movie that acts like a brilliant second half of a double bill with Reservoir Dogs.

In the extra features on Criterion's brilliant new release of the film, Gray describes how he went to the cinema to see Tarantino's hugely influential crime movie, and immediately felt a pang of deep jealousy because he hadn't made it. Wanting to make his own film in the same genre, he wrote a script that very much played in the opposite direction – no repartee, just realism.

The fact that both movies have Tim Roth in starring roles is almost hard to believe with the benefit of time – and I'd say I like his performance in Little Odessa a lot more, not least because it leaves him so much room for nuance. His lack of affect in some scenes, and his reactions when things inevitably go wrong, are just gorgeous in their subtlety.

Of course, while the extras are lovely (and in many ways the whole point of buying physical media like this), the real star here is the restoration work that's gone into a stunning new 4K version of the film, which I watched on the Panasonic DP-UB820 player.

It's a beautiful transfer, and to hear Gray himself talk about supervising it is another reminder of just what's so precious about these releases. The film's full of boldly lit scenes, from a night-time execution to the harsh snow of a boardwalk in a blizzard, and it all looks so stylish and crisp now that it's hard to believe how much worse the previously available version was.

The sound design is also far clearer, something that's really helpful in a movie with more than one character who mumbles and stumbles over their words. It also means that when things like gunshots do ring out, they're even more impactful and, quite frankly, loud.

Also, as someone who's pretty happy sitting and watching a three-hour epic in the right circumstances, it's worth pointing out that Little Odessa comes in at a circumspect 98 minutes. That makes it perfect for weeknight viewing, in my opinion, with a small trigger warning that you might end up pretty sad after it.

If any of that sounds enticing, you've got to jump on this Criterion release – it's a great example of how seeing a director's early work can add huge value to their later films. It's certainly got me excited for Gray's next movie, Paper Tiger, which looks like it shares many of the same themes.

It's been a hot minute since a Call of Duty game managed to really grab me. The last couple of entries felt rushed at the best of times, but even if you were a Multiplayer-only type of player, you'd have to gel with the way they pushed into quicker and quicker territory. I'm not into movement shooters, so the return of a slightly more grounded style with Modern Warfare 4 has been a real pleasure this past weekend.

That said, it's the campaign that I mainlined the most efficiently, which is never too huge a challenge given COD's generally modest single-player runtimes. After the enormous disappointment of MW3, I was at least a little interested to see how Infinity Ward innovated and switched things up.

To be honest, I'm not sure this is the return to form that it's been greeted as, having rolled credits on it. While there are some great missions and the production value is right back up there, I still didn't really do anything that felt unlike something from previous games – including the open-world "Stranded" mission that felt like a glimpse into how boring a huge COD could really be.

That's harsh, of course, and the story ripped along at a good pace, but I was disappointed by how little time I spent with a new team of interesting and well-acted South Korean marines, instead repeatedly getting hooked back into the overarching storyline driven by Captain Price.

Price is now a full-on war criminal, for the uninitiated, and it's quite funny to watch the recap video included in the game, showing us a principled and straightforward operator, before dropping into the campaign and watching him be at first complicit and then fully participating in large-scale civilian death.

Still, while its story continued to get sillier and sillier, it's undeniably true that the COD mission format still feels exhilarating to play. As you push through front lines, accompanied by dozens of other marines, the sense of scale is often really impressive, and it crucially all looks pretty stellar.

In fact, playing on my PS5 Pro I was reminded time and again that Infinity Ward really know how to push the COD game engine to its limits. From night-time lighting that's impressively realistic, to explosions that shake your very bones when they hit, this is a really impressive-looking campaign.

It features a few locations that are just insanely detailed if you stop and take the time to soak them in, too. The Korean convenience store from the game's opening moments is perhaps the most photorealistic storefront I've ever seen in a game.

On the PS5 Pro, this is all rendered extremely sharply, too, with the console able to keep things even smoother than its less powerful sibling, without cutting back on the level of detail. Since my friends all game on PlayStation, this is another title that's pulled me away from my gaming PC right now.

As I've come to expect from Infinity Ward, the sound design is excellent. I'm playing with the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite connected, and the booming soundscapes of each battle are quite something to hear. Of course, next up is a multiplayer binge for me, and I'll be interested to see how reliable the audio is on this front.

If you've sat out the last couple of COD games, like me, because they just got too twitchy and were a little far from the traditional gameplay you enjoy, then I'd say this is one to take a look at. It's the biggest step back to basics that COD has made since 2019, and I can only hope it teaches Activision a lesson about leaning too far into competition with Fortnite.

October's been a fairly massive month for the biggest streaming services on the planet, and that's perhaps resulted in an interesting situation at the tail-end of the month. After a few weeks in which you would be absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to new additions, things are a little slimmer this time around.

That might be a good thing, since you could get the chance to catch up on some shows you might have missed over the last few months, but don't assume there's nothing coming this week. I've looked through every addition on its way to both Netflix and Prime Video, and picked out three really interesting-looking ones – they might be the surprise solution to fix up your weekday evenings.

A Couple of Lies

• Streaming on: Netflix from 30 October

House-swapping is the sort of topic that can really easily be turned into material for a good thriller – and A Couple of Lies looks like it's going to do just that, with some inventive and interesting plotting choices. It sets things up by having a couple swap houses to experience each others' living situations, but that all goes off the rails when someone's murdered.

With the two couples starting to fray at the seams, it looks like the whole thing might have been planned out as a sort of trap, but I'd imagine there are going to be some major twists on the way to that being clarified. Set in both Sicily and Stockholm, this looks like a super interesting new four-parter – and it'll all be done without sequel-bait, I'd guess.

Apocalypse Z: New World

• Streaming on: Prime Video from 30 October

I'm not going to pretend that this Spanish-language zombie movie sequel is about to change the world of cinema, but it's not that often that a foreign-language film like Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End gets a sequel this quickly. That serves to underline the fact that it was a riot of a good time, and now we're going to get more of its simple zombie fun.

This time around, it seems the action will shift to the Canary Islands, where a degree of isolation from other societies has left things in limbo, with the dead hunting down the remaining living one by one. As those living try to secure their futures, they'll have to deal with each other as much as with the undead – which sounds like a good setup for some proper drama (and bloody fight scenes).

The One About Matthew Perry

• Streaming on: Netflix from 27 October

Look, for its singular cultural impact and enduring popularity, there's never been a show to top Friends, and the death of Matthew Perry in 2023 was a terrible moment for fans of the show. Since then, much has been revealed about what he was going through around the time of his passing, and this documentary from Netflix looks to memorialise him properly.

It looks like an overview of his life and career, with some talking heads who were impressively close to the man himself. If you're a big fan of Friends or The West Wing, this look highly likely to be one for you, although it might be quite a sad one for weeknight viewing!

On 25th October 2026 (a.k.a today), the clocks went back in the UK, making us ‘fall back’ to standard time. After a long, hot summer, some people will be looking forward to the colder weather, but this clock change means it’s going to get darker earlier in the day, making them feel shorter.

For those who experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), this is typically the time of year when their symptoms worsen. SAD lamps are recommended as light therapy devices to combat this lack of sunlight and help manage SAD symptoms.

Following the UK clock change, it can take a few days to acclimatise to the new time. A SAD lamp can also come in handy for managing this effectively, so below, I’ve listed three ways you can use your SAD lamp to manage the UK clock change.

1. Use your SAD lamp within the first hour of waking up

To adjust to the UK clock change, use your SAD lamp within the first hour of waking up. I’d recommend using it for up to 30 minutes each morning, which is surprisingly easy to incorporate into your day. It can be introduced into your morning routine as part of getting ready, reading the newspaper, making coffee, and so on.

Using your SAD lamp first thing in the morning signals to your body clock or circadian rhythm that it’s time to be awake, which is great for if you’re feeling lethargic after a clock change. It also ensures you get a good amount of sunlight as soon as possible which can positively affect your mood.

I’d also suggest using your SAD lamp alongside a wake up light. As a wellness expert, I’ve tested plenty of wake up lights, and they’ve made a big difference to my mornings. They wake you up in a more gentle, natural way by mimicking the sunrise. Having this kickstart your day, followed by another hit of light from your SAD lamp, should hopefully alleviate your symptoms.

2. Incorporate your SAD lamp into your work set-up

SAD lamps are surprisingly portable and compact, so they can be set up almost anywhere, including your desk. Using a SAD lamp at your desk is a great way to add light to your day, and as you’re not meant to look at them directly, it’s handy for passively getting the benefits while you’re busy doing things – and without hurting your eyes.

You can use whichever SAD lamp you have, but the Lumie Task is actually a SAD and desk lamp hybrid which is designed to boost your mood, productivity and motivation while you work.

3. Avoid using your SAD lamp in the evening

This is more of a tip for what not to do, but it’s important to note, especially if you’re using your SAD lamp to tackle the recent clock change. Light signals to your brain when it’s time to be alert, so using a SAD lamp too late in the afternoon or evening can trick you into thinking it’s time to be awake. This will result in you staying awake for longer, and can negatively affect your sleep cycle.

The biggest mistake you’re making with your dehumidifier is actually much simpler than you think.

Autumn is officially here, and with it, comes darker nights, colder temperatures and – for the UK especially – lots of wet weather. This is why now is the perfect time of year to invest in a dehumidifier to prevent your home from getting damp, mouldy and unhygienic.

In general, dehumidifiers are easy to use, and don’t require a lot of intervention from you. However, I’ve covered common dehumidifier mistakes before, from facing them the wrong way to setting the wrong level, and there’s one obvious mistake everyone makes with dehumidifiers that can actually prevent them from working properly.

Due to the ease and simplicity of dehumidifiers, many people forget that they have to change and clean the filter, and empty the water tank. It might sound obvious to do this, but a dehumidifier is definitely one of those appliances that most people set and forget, so it can be easy to neglect doing these tasks.

If you don’t regularly change the filter or empty the water tank, your dehumidifier can start to negatively impact the air quality in your home. As they work by pulling in air, dirty or full dehumidifiers will start to pull in allergens and bacteria that can make your home’s air worse. This build-up will also prevent your dehumidifier from working properly and altogether.

Starting with the filter, if you use your dehumidifier regularly, you should clean your filter every two weeks. If your home is particularly dusty or you have pets, this should be shortened to every week or 10 days.

If you’re using a dehumidifier seasonally, you can get away with cleaning the filter once a month, or at the start and end of the season. For changing the filter, I’d recommend changing it every 3-5 months to keep your dehumidifier running smoothly.

Another area that’s often neglected when using a dehumidifier is the water tank. It should be emptied as soon as it reaches the maximum line, and if you’re using it throughout the day, you should be emptying it once or twice a day, especially if the tank is small.

Leaving the water tank full for too long runs the risk of it overflowing, and prevents the dehumidifier from working at its best. It’s also a waste of energy as it’ll continue to try and perform, while not actually making a difference to your home.

Sometimes it takes a chunk of time for the right decision to be made – and credit to Konami, it made the right one for Castlevania. After years out in the cold, this beloved franchise finally got a new game this month, in the form of Belmont's Curse, and rather than bashing its head against the wall trying to reinvent the series, Konami took a smarter path.

It looked at the phenomenal success of Dead Cells, from a French team (Evil Empire) that openly professed its adoration of Castlevania, and asked why that same team couldn't just make the next mainline game. Fast-forward a few years, and we have Belmont's Curse, from that same developer, showing that you really can manifest your own destiny sometimes.

I spent pivotal parts of my childhood and teenage years playing Castlevania games on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, so I've basically been waiting for a new 2D game in the series for years and years. Now it's finally here, and that heritage of portable play meant that I was only ever interested in playing it on one console – my Switch 2.

As it happens, there's one small wrinkle there. While Belmont's Curse launched with a Nintendo Switch version on day one, it doesn't yet have a native Switch 2 port. While the game does run better on Switch 2, with a frame rate cap raised from 30fps to 60fps, it's still not the sharpest, and it's a bit disappointing that we'll have to wait for an upgraded version at some point down the line.

That foible aside, though, I've been having a brilliant time sinking into the game's vision of a ruined Paris, complete with a haunted castle to explore and a carefully laid-out map to discover. It's classic Metroidvania stuff, right down to its surprisingly brutal difficulty curve.

Belmont's Curse sees you take up the mantle of Rose Belmont, at the time of the game, the youngest of her famous family's line, as she and her father, Trevor, journey to Paris to investigate an uprising of demons and monsters. On arrival, they discover the city in disarray and split up.

Taking control of Rose, you'll find her a capable warrior, but a newly acquired Tarot deck is her secret weapon. It's basically a roster of weapons and skills that she can expand over time (much of that expansion happening through mastery challenges). These skills don't just change how you fight, but also double in many cases as traversal methods, giving you the classic step-by-step upgrades to how much of the map you can explore at a given time.

While Evil Empire is best known for its roguelike work, this is a traditional game in the genre, so while there are moments that let you choose where to explore next, much of the progression is slightly more linear than it might appear. Still, the map's proving really fun to explore, and it's more challenging than I expected, with even the most common enemies demanding some care when you fight them.

Bosses, meanwhile, are entirely another question, and I haven't blitzed any of them in one attempt so far. For me, the ideal boss in this genre takes me about five or six tries – enough to make me pay attention and learn its attacks, but not so many that I get really frustrated. That metric has roughly applied to Belmont's Curse so far, which has been really fun.

In a period of absolutely non-stop releases (with more games coming every week and a behemoth called GTA VI just around the corner), I've been sneaking an hour here and there on my Switch 2 with Belmont's Curse, and it might just have its hooks in deep enough to make me finish it before I move on.

Good style doesn't have to shout for attention, although the occasional statement piece certainly helps. This week's Style Edit is all about finding that sweet spot between understated design, clever materials and just enough personality to make an outfit stand out.

We've got Japanese-inspired barefoot sneakers from Vivobarefoot, Welsh-made jeans that put an innovative spin on traditional selvedge denim, and a sculptural backpack from Côte&Ciel that looks more like a piece of modern art than something you'd carry to work.

Ciele brings its technical running expertise to everyday outerwear, Bogner and Hestra deliver some seriously luxurious accessories, and Orient proves that you don't need to spend a fortune to get an interesting mechanical watch. Nine excellent reasons to give your wardrobe a little attention.

The iPhone Duo is the phone many Apple users have waited years for. You only need to look at the Duo Pre-orders to know that this handset is seriously in demand, with shipping times now slipping into 2027.

Unlike the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone Duo only comes in two colours: Star White (white) and Night Sky (dark blue), so if you want to make it feel individual, a case is the way to go.

Here, though, there's not as much choice as you might expect. Apple offers two case designs, both available in just two colours. There's the standard polycarbonate case in either Sand (cream) or Navy Blue, and there's the TechWoven Folio case in either Taupe or Navy Blue.

That gives you just eight combinations between phone and case. Third-party cases have been slower to come through too, but some of the biggest names do have offerings to give your folding phone some more character. All of which you'll find below.

While it seems a shame to hide such a beautiful new design under a case, the last thing you want to do is scratch or smash your new Duo, especially considering the potential cost of repair. So putting a case on it gives you some extra protection.

All of these cases are designed specifically for the latest iPhone Duo model. You can find cases for the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max models here.

Best cases for the iPhone Duo

Apple cases

Best of the rest

There’s lots of excitement around the launch of the iPhone Duo, as it’s the very first folding device that Apple has produced. That means a significant change from the single-screen design of iOS to an adaptive display that can switch between the smaller portrait front display and the large landscape format central display, and also factoring in the folding nature and the ability to offer multi-screen.

This has created an opportunity for app developers not seen since the launch of the iPad. While developers of legacy apps rush to offer fixes to make use of the new features and real estate, new apps are springing up even faster.

While some of these offer genuinely useful features brought about by the iPhone Duo’s design, others are just about having fun. It reminds me of the classic iBeer app for the iPhone, which uses the phone’s sensors to make it look like you were drinking a glass of beer as you tipped your phone up, or the augmented reality Star Walk app for the iPad, allowing you to identify stars and planets.

Below are seven new apps that make the most of the new Duo screen that are worth trying. Plus some that haven’t made it to the App Store yet.

In the app store

1. Battlefleet Duo

The classic game of Battleships is brought to life in this app for a fun take that makes use of the folding display in almost a laptop-like position. The top half of the screen becomes your enemy's waters, showing where you've aimed, while the lower half shows your own fleet. You can also play it fully open, or on the outer screen, but that's not quite as fun.

Download Battlefleet Duo from the Apple App Store for free.

2. PianoFold

This tap-the-tiles-in-order game has hints of Guitar Hero and Beat Sabre, but it's designed especially for the iPhone Duo. With your Duo folded into a laptop-like position on a desk or surface, the top half augments the notes coming towards you in a highway arrangement. The bottom half becomes your piano keys, with four large coloured keys that must be pressed in time to match the oncoming notes.

Download PianoFold from the Apple App Store for free.

3. Foldhide

This app takes the virtual wallet to a new level by recreating a real leather bi-fold wallet. It's interactive in the fact that you can select each card to remove from the wallet and flip them around to see the back. You can also pull out the receipt and the banknote. By clicking on the pen, you can edit the cards to match your real accounts and store your details (just the last four numbers). It's a shame you can't then use the cards in here instead of the Apple Wallet, but that would require a lot more security. This is, after all, just a bit of fun.

Download Foldhide from the Apple App Store for free.

4. Deck-Man

Possibly the best new app we've seen so far, Deck-Man (originally Duo-Man) turns your iPhone Duo into an 80s-style portable cassette player, like the Sony Walkman. The great part of this app is that you can select music from your Apple Music library to play or from local files. You can use the pause, fast-forward and rewind buttons to skip through your tracks, all with mechanical clicks. On the central screen, you can see the cassette playing, while the outer screen shows the closed player, with a choice of designs. Occasionally, tapes will get tangled and need winding back in, just like the real thing. This is a must for your Duo.

Download Deck-Man from the Apple App Store for $4.99/£4.99.

5. Fold Accordion

This clever little app turns your iPhone Duo into a playable accordion. As with an accordion, your right hand plays the melody on the keyboard and the left hand plays the bass notes using the buttons. To make the sound, instead of squeezing, you fold and unfold the device to push the air through the bellows. Pick a song from the list, and it will guide you through the notes too.

Download Fold Accordion from the Apple App Store for $2.99/£2.99.

6. Tiny Computers

This is certainly one of those novelty apps that show off the features of the new iPhone Duo. Tiny Computers turns the Duo into one of 10 computers, including the original Macintosh, Commodore 64, Amiga 500, Window 95 machine, iBook G3 and more. you can do a few basic things on each screen – the Windows model even crashes to a Blue Screen of Death – but there's no practical use here. Just fun.

Download Tiny Computers from the Apple App Store for $3.99/£3.99/

7. Tesla

Though not specifically for the iPhone Duo, Tesla's updated app has native support for the larger screen, giving you almost like a split screen effect with the features down the left side and a large image on the right. It looks much more like the display you see in-car and will look excellent on either iPad or iPhone Duo.

Download the updated Tesla app from the Apple App Store from 23 October.

Coming soon (maybe)

8. CalibReader

One of the nice things about the NanoTexture display used for the centre screen on the iPhone Duo is that it's nicer for reading, and this app makes full use of that. The CalibReader app is coming soon to both Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store. It works for iPhone and iPad, but it's on the iPhone Duo where it really excels. It gives your phone a real book feel, with a clean full-screen layout, dark and light backgrounds and animated page curls as you turn a page. The outer screen gives you the book cover when closed, and when you open it again, it takes you straight to your page. You can import your own book library or link to your cloud storage, with pricing at $9.99 for lifetime use, or the first three books for free.

See more about CalibReader on its website.

9. Crate

Another musical app hoping to make it through to the App Store, Crate is an AI-powered music sampler. It uses a split-screen layout to divide the sample pads from the sequencer window, and uses the hinge to add special effects to the sounds. You can also use a text input to find the right samples and sounds to use.

10. TranslateCat

Another clever use of the dual display, TranslateCat is a two-sided interpreter, giving you the ability to type in one language at the bottom and see your translation at the top. Then, on the outer screen, your translation text is shown to whomever you're conversing with. Designed to work with eight languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Portuguese, it's a neat idea. No hint of when or if it will go live right now, though.

11. Monster Ink

While this appears to be an 8-bit city builder game, it's actually a clever tool to stop you using your phone too much. The idea with Monster, Ink is that while your phone is closed the helper cats build the city for you, but open your phone up and the Kaiju cats start to tear it down. You get a warning when you peek at the inner screen, but look too long and things go downhill for the city. A really clever idea that I'd love to see make it to the App Store.

Amongst the sea of fragrance notes, oud is a consistent note that you hear about a lot, especially with men’s colognes. Derived from Aquilaria trees, oud is extremely intense, and its scent of wood, leather and earth allows it to act as a powerful base for many popular and luxury fragrances.

An oud-focused fragrance that recently came across my desk is Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Velvet Mood Extrait. Originally launched in 2023, it was re-released in 2026 as an Extrait de Parfum edition, expanding the brand’s oud collection.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Velvet Mood Extrait is described as a unisex fruity, woody fragrance. Inspired by the texture of soft velvet, it has top notes of saffron and heart notes of peach accord and jasmine. At the base is oud – the fragrance’s namesake – and leather accord, which gives it a rich woody, fruity balance.

Hearing these notes, I was intrigued by Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Velvet Mood Extrait, as it sounded quite intense. I was also surprised to hear that it’s classed as unisex. It definitely leans towards the masculine, and I found it far too powerful for me, so I tasked my husband with wearing it for a few days to see how he found it.

The first spray of Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Velvet Mood Extrait is extremely woody. The oud gives it an incense, almost syrup-like smell, which is brought out by the sweetness of the peach which you can subtly smell beneath the wood. The main notes I smell are leather and oud which makes it quite rich and bold.

The major thing I noticed while I – and my husband – tried Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Velvet Mood Extrait was how extreme it is. It’s a very powerful fragrance, and it lasts for hours on the skin and on clothes. I personally wouldn’t wear it to the office or everyday, as it’s quite a distracting, and full-on fragrance, but it’s best for nights out.

My biggest recommendation with Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Velvet Mood Extrait is to let it settle. The first spray almost knocks your head off, and it smells a bit chemical initially. It also lingers a lot, so if you’re someone who doesn’t like smelling too strong, I wouldn’t spray it directly on the body, but rather, spray it in the air and walk through it – or spray it lightly on your clothes.

The bottle of the Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Velvet Mood Extrait is surprisingly small but still attractive. I like the combination of the gold and black colours – although on website listings, it looks more blue than black. It’s quite expensive with prices starting at £235, but it’s from a luxury brand so that’s somewhat expected.

I found trying Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Velvet Mood Extrait to be an interesting experience. It’s not something I’d wear as it’s too masculine for me, but it’s a bold option for date nights and late evenings.

There's something slightly unsettling about watching a perfectly good outdoor jacket being subjected to the kind of weather most people would actively try to avoid, especially when you're standing comfortably indoors while the garment gets absolutely drenched.

Yet that's precisely what I found myself doing during a recent visit to GORE-TEX's facilities in Putzbrunn, near Munich, where the company was celebrating 50 years of its waterproof fabrics and offering a rare glimpse into the processes behind one of the outdoor industry's most recognisable technologies.

Having tested countless waterproof jackets over the years, I was keen to understand why products bearing the famous black diamond logo often cost more, especially when competing waterproof technologies promise similar levels of protection for considerably less money.

After spending time around machines designed to simulate rain, wind, abrasion and years of wear, I came away with a different appreciation for GORE-TEX.

Turns out, the brand’s involvement in the development of waterproof clothing extends well beyond supplying the membrane that sits between layers of fabric.

Making it rain

Most outdoor enthusiasts will be familiar with the basic principle behind the iconic GORE-TEX membrane. It’s designed to prevent liquid water from passing through while allowing water vapour generated by your body to escape.

It's an ingenious concept, but understanding how the membrane works doesn't necessarily explain how a jacket will perform when the weather turns unpleasant.

When you factor in seams, zips, pockets and other construction details that can compromise an otherwise perfectly waterproof material, you realise how complicated it is to design a waterproof shell.

That's where GORE-TEX's testing facilities come into play, with dedicated equipment that subjects fabrics and finished garments to controlled rainfall, wind and other environmental conditions to expose potential weaknesses before products reach consumers.

During the visit, we were shown the company's rain-testing facilities, where garments can be assessed under simulated weather conditions.

For example, the infamous Rain Tower lets GORE-TEX test how a complete garment behaves when exposed to water, while also helping to determine whether the design provides the level of protection expected of a product carrying the company's branding.

Watching the tests, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the mannequin inside the tower, with rain coming in its direction from every angle. After the wet-weather protocol, we went into the tower to see if the GORE-TEX jacket and trousers kept moisture off the mannequin’s base layers.

As expected, there wasn’t as much as a drop of water inside the shell. However, the more we learned about the testing process, and as I was beginning to appreciate, the membrane alone doesn't explain those differences.

Waterproof doesn't necessarily mean comfortable

Another part of the tour showed how GORE-TEX evaluates material performance beyond its ability to keep rain out, including tests that measure resistance to water pressure, wind penetration and moisture vapour movement.

One demonstration involved hydrostatic pressure, which measures how much pressure a material can withstand before water begins to penetrate it. We were told that GORE-TEX laminates must meet a minimum waterproofness requirement equivalent to a 28-metre (28,000 mm) column of water.

That's an impressive figure, although hydrostatic head is only one measure of performance, and a jacket with an exceptionally high waterproof rating won't necessarily be more comfortable or better suited to your needs than one with a lower figure.

Wind resistance is another consideration, and not surprisingly, GORE-TEX has a machine that tests its apparel’s ability to protect its wearers from the gust. One lucky participant got to try it, and even though the demonstration wasn’t as spectacular as the Rain Tower, it showed just how broad the in-house research process is.

Manufacturers must balance keeping external moisture out and allowing internal moisture vapour to escape, something that becomes particularly noticeable when hiking uphill or running.

GORE-TEX uses different testing methods to evaluate these characteristics and determine whether materials suit their intended applications, recognising that the ideal fabric for a lightweight running jacket isn't necessarily the same as the one you'd want for a mountaineering shell designed to withstand years of demanding use.

The machines that try to destroy your jacket

While keeping water out when a jacket is brand new is obviously important, maintaining that performance after months or years of regular use presents an entirely different challenge, which is where some of the more elaborate testing equipment comes into its own.

We saw machines designed to repeatedly rub, flex and stress materials, replicating the sort of punishment outdoor clothing endures in everyday use, from backpack straps rubbing against a jacket's shoulders to fabric subjected to repeated movement.

GORE-TEX likes to go the extra mile when it comes to destroying its products. For example, the company added little bumps to the surface of the panel on which the fabric sits to imitate the uneven surface jackets and trousers might rub against in real-world scenarios.

This puts more pressure on the fabric, as it focuses the stress in more concentrated areas. It might sound cruel, but this approach helps assess how materials cope with prolonged friction, while other tests examine how laminates and their individual components respond to mechanical stress.

The same principle applies to footwear, where testing becomes even more elaborate due to the constant flexing, pressure and movement that shoes and boots experience during walking.

We were shown machines that repeatedly bend footwear to simulate extended use, alongside equipment designed to identify potential water ingress, including one particularly memorable setup that involved testing footwear with water inside it and using centrifugal force to reveal weaknesses.

It's the sort of behind-the-scenes testing most customers will never encounter, yet it demonstrates why producing reliable waterproof footwear involves considerably more than simply incorporating a membrane into an existing shoe design.

GORE-TEX doesn't just make the fabric

Perhaps the biggest revelation of the visit wasn't any individual machine, but how deeply GORE-TEX remains involved in the development and manufacturing of products that carry its name.

I always thought of the company as a material supplier, with outdoor brands designing their own jackets, selecting a suitable GORE-TEX fabric and incorporating it into the finished garment.

In reality, the relationship is considerably more involved, with GORE-TEX working alongside manufacturing partners and establishing requirements that extend beyond the membrane itself to include construction methods, production processes and testing.

These requirements aren't necessarily identical across every product category, either, because a lightweight lifestyle jacket, a technical mountaineering shell and a waterproof hiking boot are designed for different environments and must withstand different forms of wear.

Alongside laboratory testing, the company also conducts field trials to understand how products behave outside controlled environments.

During the visit, we heard about testing programmes involving substantial numbers of garments being used in demanding conditions, allowing the company to assess how different materials and construction techniques perform over time.

These processes create a quality-control system that goes beyond simply supplying a roll of waterproof fabric, even if much of that work remains invisible to the person browsing jackets in an outdoor retailer.

So, does that justify the price?

After touring the facilities, I have a better understanding of why GORE-TEX products can be expensive, though the answer is more complicated than simply pointing to the cost of developing and manufacturing a waterproof membrane.

The familiar branding represents a broader system of material development, laboratory testing, manufacturing requirements and quality assurance, all of which require investment and contribute to the performance expectations associated with GORE-TEX products.

That doesn't mean every jacket bearing the logo is automatically worth its asking price, of course, because factors such as fit, comfort, features and suitability for your intended activities remain just as important when deciding which waterproof shell to buy.

Nor does it mean competing waterproof technologies can't perform extremely well, or that GORE-TEX is the only company investing in rigorous testing and product development.

Nevertheless, the visit changed how I think about the famous black diamond logo, particularly when comparing jackets that appear relatively similar on paper but occupy very different price brackets.

It's easy to focus on waterproof ratings, fabric construction and other technical specifications when shopping for outdoor clothing, but having seen what happens behind the scenes, I'd argue that the less visible aspects of product development deserve just as much consideration.

After all, keeping you dry during the first downpour is one thing, but ensuring that a jacket continues to perform after repeated use, washing and exposure to the elements is a considerably more demanding proposition – one that GORE-TEX clearly takes very seriously.

Earlier this week, I attended an exclusive MediaTek event in Spain to discuss the latest Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset – which is confirmed in both the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max and Vivo X500 Pro Max handsets, due out imminently.

The former of those, the Oppo, which I've been using for weeks, I've since published the review in full. The latter, the Vivo, however, was the first time that I'd seen the international handset, as destined for Europe – and it confirmed interesting details.

My colleague attended the China launch of the Vivo X500 Pro Max, raving about its camera – which blew his iPhone out of the water – but we knew that particular handset, with its huge 8000mAh battery capacity, would not be released outside of Asian markets.

Vivo has confirmed that it will be launching in Europe, with an event taking place on 27 October, just not in all countries on the continent – the UK being one key territory that's excluded. Those in Spain, Portugal, Germany and other key countries, however, will be able to get their hands on a unit.

And so to the battery capacity. When exploring the handset at the MediaTek event, a colleague pointed out that it was the international model – and a further jump into the spec, confirming Dimensity 9600 Pro, also highlighted the 6750mAh battery capacity.

That's quite a big jump down from the 8000mAh of its Chinese cousin, but there's a specific reason for that. CE Certification – hence the big stamp on the side of the device in-hand, per my gallery of pictures here – mandates certain restrictions.

In previous released that's permitted 7500mAh (in the Oppo Find X9 Pro) and 7150mAh (in the Find X10 Pro Max) to enter the market, because they met specific conditions. However, certain countries in Europe set their own thresholds – with Austria, in particular, fixing that ceiling at 6750mAh. It's a transport safety regulation.

Vivo sells in Austria and, therefore, the international X500 Pro Max has said battery capacity. In some past product releases, a software-locked workaround was utilised – i.e. a larger battery capacity was 'locked' from use, but savvy users worked out how to bypass this – and that's no longer a viable nor accepted option.

Oppo notably does not sell in Austria, hence the Find X10 Pro Max model going beyond the 7000mAh threshold. That this specific model elected for a lower battery capacity than its X9 Pro Max predecessor, however, suggests the brand could have eyes on other countries in which to sell.

Vivo hasn't officially revealed its X500 Pro Max's international specification as yet, due to the launch event next week, so this MediaTek access point gave a little early insight into what to expect. For pre-orders, pricing and more, you'll need to head to Vivo's official page – with the big reveal taking place on 27 October.

Aldi announced last week that it was adding a Dyson-lookalike bladeless fan heater to its Specialbuys range, but just a few days later, Lidl has joined in with a near-identical alternative. Suddenly, choosing between the two budget buys isn't quite so straightforward.

Lidl's Tronic Bladeless Fan Heater arrives in stores tomorrow, leaving around four days of overlap before Aldi's model disappears. That means there's a limited window to compare the two before one of these middle-aisle bargains is gone.

Below, I'm putting the Aldi Ambiano Bladeless Fan Heater head-to-head with Lidl's Tronic model to see how they compare on design, features and price – and which one is worth your money.

Design

The Lidl Tronic Bladeless Fan Heater is available in black or white, and comes with a non-slip base for added stability. It also has a magnetic remote control holder, so you can keep the remote attached to the heater when it's not in use. Lidl offers a larger version for £69.99, too.

The Aldi Ambiano Bladeless Fan Heater also comes in black or white, with a compact design that's easy to move around the home. However, Aldi doesn't specify whether there's a dedicated remote holder, so we're not able to confirm.

Both models have a bladeless design, which makes them easier to clean than traditional fan heaters and removes the risk of contact with exposed fan blade.

Winner: Lidl

Features

Lidl's Tronic heater offers 10 speed settings, adjustable temperature control between 5°C and 35°C, 80-degree oscillation and five LED mood-light colours, including a colour-changing mode. It can also be used as a fan and has a nine-hour timer.

Aldi's Ambiano model offers three heat settings, eight fan speeds, oscillation and a nine-hour timer. It also provides both heating and cooling, but doesn't list the same temperature adjustment or any lighting features.

Winner: Lidl

Price

There's no difference here, as both the Aldi Ambiano and Lidl Tronic bladeless fan heaters cost £49.99. That said, Lidl is offering a larger version for £69.99, giving shoppers another option if they're willing to spend a little more.

Winner: Draw

Safety and warranty

Both heaters include overheating protection, whilst Aldi also lists tilt protection and Lidl specifies tip-over protection. Lidl adds frost protection and a non-slip base, alongside a three-year warranty.

Aldi's supplied product information doesn't specify a warranty period, so it's worth checking the terms before buying.

Winner: Lidl

In our opinion, Lidl's Tronic heater wins this time. For the same price as Aldi's, you get more speed settings, adjustable temperature control between 5°C and 35°C, and five LED light colours with a colour-changing mode. It also comes with a magnetic remote control holder, frost protection and a three-year warranty, giving it a few extra perks that Aldi's model doesn't list.

Both heaters offer oscillation, a nine-hour timer and heating and cooling functions, so you're not missing out on the basics with either option. However, Lidl's extra controls give you more flexibility over how you use it, and the longer warranty is a welcome bonus for a budget buy.

Overall winner: Lidl

If Apple's smart home news caught your attention last week and convinced you to buy the new HomeView, you're not alone. It's one of Apple's most exciting launches in years (well, in our opinion) and pre-orders are already underway.

However, not everyone will realise that some HomeView features are locked behind an iCloud+ subscription. That's not unusual, and plenty of other brands do something similar, but it's worth knowing before your wallet becomes £299 lighter.

Below, we've rounded up three features you'll need an iCloud+ subscription to use, alongside three you can enjoy without one. There are plenty more, of course, but these are the ones we think you should know before you buy.

Features that require iCloud+

1. AI-powered camera summaries

With a compatible HomeKit Secure Video camera, Apple Intelligence can summarise recorded activity in the Home app, giving you more useful information than a basic motion alert. Instead of simply telling you that movement was detected, it can describe events such as someone leaving a parcel at your door or a dog wandering into the garden.

2. Search your camera footage using natural language

Rather than scrolling through hours of footage to find a particular moment, you can search using everyday questions. For example, you could ask “Show me when the parcel was delivered” or “When did the children get home?” This makes finding specific events much quicker and more convenient.

3. Searchable video history and AI analysis

Apple's AI camera features can also connect related activity and surface significant moments captured across multiple cameras. However, accessing these capabilities requires a compatible HomeKit camera, an Apple home hub, an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone or iPad to set up the features, and an eligible iCloud+ subscription. Recorded footage is retained for 10 days and doesn't count towards your standard iCloud storage allowance.

Features you can use for free

1. Live camera feeds

You can still view a live feed from a compatible HomeKit camera without paying for iCloud+. That means you can check what's happening at home in real time, even without subscribing to Apple's cloud storage service.

2. Personalised home screens for up to six people

HomeView can recognise up to six household members and show each person their own Home Screen, apps and widgets. Shared photos and music can still be enjoyed by everyone, including guests.

3. Hands-free cooking help

HomeView can turn recipes found online into step-by-step instructions, track ingredients and manage multiple timers by voice. It's a practical kitchen feature that cooks will love, and you can read more about it here.

iCloud+ plans start at £0.99/$0.99 per month for 50GB, rising to £2.99/$2.99 for 200GB and £8.99/$9.99 for 2TB.

Over the past few years, there have been lots of prominent fragrance notes, from sweet vanilla to woody cedar. But for 2026, the most popular note to emerge in both men’s colognes and women’s perfumes is cherry.

Cherries might only be in season for a couple months of year, but cherry is an extremely complex scent. Red cherry is typically sweeter, and best suited for spring and summer, while black cherry is darker, and better for wear during autumn and winter.

This makes cherry an all-year-round kind of scent, and it caters to all genders. What’s better is as it comes with the gourmand fragrance family, cherry fragrances often smell good enough to eat.

To celebrate the most popular note from 2026, here are seven cherry fragrances you should add to your collection, featuring the likes of Tom Ford, Armani, Dior, Guerlain and more.

CHERRY FRAGRANCES FOR 2026

It's that time of the year again: the temps are plummeting, and it feels like there's about 30 minutes of light each day. Here's a little winter-warmer on us. No, not a whisky dram (though that might help), but our guide to the smart home tech you need to see you through until spring comes round again.

We've got gadgets to keep you warm, entertained, well-groomed, and allow you to get a great night's sleep, plus much more.

Taken from issue #391 of T3 magazine.

Set the mood

GOVEE OUTDOOR WALL FLOODLIGHT

Govee has blended its love of colourful ambient lighting with home security for this clever outdoor launch. RGBWW lighting, 3,000 lumens and a 120° PIR sensor mean it can react when movement is detected, flood your exterior with colour or simply provide a welcoming glow when guests arrive.

£100, govee.com

TEWKE LIGHT SWITCH

Now you've filled your home with smart lighting, you'll need something equally clever to control it. Enter the Tewke Tap, a touchscreen switch with an OLED display, Gorilla Glass, environmental sensors and real-time energy monitoring. Ordinary light switches suddenly look terribly boring by comparison.

£389, tewke.com

TAPO L430C SMART WI-FI CANDLE BULB

Sometimes the smallest lighting changes make the biggest difference. Tapo's L430C Candle Bulb shifts from a cosy 2,500K to a crisp 6,500K, but its ultra-low 1% brightness setting is the real treat. Perfect for late-night illumination without being greeted by the lighting equivalent of an early-morning alarm.

£24.99 (two-pack), tapo.com

WIZ GRADIENT LIGHT BARS

Give movie night a little more drama with the WiZ Gradient Light Bars. Positioned around a TV or gaming setup, they wash the surrounding space in colourful gradient light, dance along to music, and can even sync with what's happening on-screen when paired with WiZ's HDMI Sync Box.

£75 (two-pack), wizconnected.com

MEROSS SMART TABLE LAMP

For an impressively affordable price, this smart table lamp combines touch controls, 16 million colours and 0-100% dimming with a minimalist design. It's the perfect way to introduce some ambience without paying premium-brand prices, and who wouldn't want that?

£35, meross.com

PHILIPS HUE PLAY TABLE LAMP

The Philips Hue table lamp takes the colourful appeal of its much-loved Signe floor lamp and shrinks it into a compact design made for desks and entertainment setups. Place it beside a TV or monitor and let Hue's ecosystem turn whatever you're watching into a room-filling light show.

£70, philips-hue.com

Three-layered lighting

When it comes to filling a room with good lighting, the trick is to think in three layers – ambient, task and accent. Start with ambient lighting for the overall glow – a floor lamp or larger smart light works well for this – before adding more smart bulbs for focused task lighting. Finally, light bars and LED strips can provide accent lighting around shelves, artwork or other features, bringing everything together.

Daily grind

SAGE THE DOSE CONTROL PRO

Great espresso starts before the coffee machine gets involved, and the Sage Dose Control Pro gives you 60 grind settings to play with. An adjustable timer helps control how much coffee you grind, while grounds can go straight into your portafilter. Consider your supermarket pre-ground era officially over.

£170, sageappliances.com

GRIND TWO MILK FROTHER

Grind's frother is here to give your homemade flat whites a serious upgrade, whipping milk into everything from silky hot microfoam to cold foam. It'll tackle hot chocolate too, while its sleek design means it's one of those rare kitchen gadgets you won't immediately want to hide in a cupboard.

£75, grind.co.uk

FLAIR CLASSIC

No plugs, pods or automatic buttons here. The Flair Classic is a completely manual espresso maker that puts you in charge of the extraction, using a lever to generate the pressure needed for a proper shot. It's coffee making slowed right down – and one for anyone who considers brewing part of the ritual.

£121, flairespresso.com

NESPRESSO VERTUO UP

Nespresso's latest Vertuo wants to make choosing your morning coffee almost effortless. The Vertuo Up automatically recognises each capsule and adjusts its brewing settings accordingly, with six cup sizes covering everything from a quick espresso to a much-needed longer coffee. Just add capsule, press button and attempt to wake up.

£99, nespresso.com

DE'LONGHI RIVELIA START

The new, smaller addition to the Rivelia family serves up espresso, coffee, long and Americano at the touch of a button. Its clever Bean Switch System also lets you swap between two different beans, because apparently committing to just one coffee is now optional.

£600, delonghi.com

OXO BREW RAPID BREWER

Good coffee doesn't always need a machine – or much patience. Oxo's rapid brewer uses a clever manual brewing system to produce concentrated coffee in just two minutes for hot and five for cold. It's compact, portable and doesn't need electricity, making decent coffee away from home considerably less complicated.

£45, oxouk.com

Coffee mistakes you're probably making

You can spend a small fortune on a coffee machine and still end up with a disappointing brew. Old beans, the wrong grind size and poorly textured milk are some of the easiest ways to ruin your morning coffee. Grinding beans fresh can make an immediate difference, while matching the grind size to your brewing method is just as important. Don't forget cleaning – leftover coffee and milk residue aren't going to make your flat white taste good.

Front of house

YALE LINUS SMART LOCK L2 LITE

Yale's smart lock retrofits discreetly onto the inside of your existing door, with no drilling required. It's simple to install, easy to live with and particularly tempting for renters. Your landlord need never know what hit them.

£130, yalehome.co.uk

TAPO C675D KIT

The Tapo C675D has practically every angle covered. Its dual-camera setup combines wide-angle and telephoto lenses with 4K clarity and 360° panning, while solar power keeps trips up the ladder to a minimum. Better still, there's plenty available without the need to commit to an ongoing subscription.

£238, tapo.com

RING WIRED VIDEO DOORBELL (2ND GEN)

Don't let the entry-level price fool you. Ring's latest wired video doorbell provides a sharper look at whoever's calling, while clear two-way talk and the excellent Ring app make everyday monitoring effortless. At £60, it's an appealing way to bring smart security to your doorstep.

£60, ring.com

EZVIZ EP4 WIRE-FREE PEEPHOLE DOOR VIEWER

No permission to drill into the front door? No problem. The EP4 transforms an existing peephole into a smarter security setup, complete with remote smartphone viewing and a 4.3-inch indoor screen. AI facial recognition makes it particularly appealing for apartment living.

£230, ezviz.com

Looking sharp

BRAUN NEVO 15000C ELECTRIC SHAVER

Braun isn't exactly known for doing things by halves, and this might be its most extravagant shaver yet. AeroTouch technology reduces friction, while 250 blades and a smart processor adapt power to your beard density. There's even a seven-in-one Care System to handle all the maintenance afterwards.

£740, braunshop.co.uk

SHARK CRYOGLOW CLINIC FACE + BODY

Shark's LED tech targets eight ageing zones across the face, neck, back, chest and hands. Better still, it does the job of three separate devices, saving your bathroom cupboard from yet another collection of beauty gadgets.

£550, sharkninja.com

SURI CORE 1.0

Suri has stripped its electric toothbrush back – but not too far. The Core 1.0 still includes a pressure sensor, timer, magnetic wall mount and up to 28 days of battery life, just without the Pro's UV charging case. Great teeth, slightly happier bank balance.

£65, trysuri.com

ROOTIQUE DUO

Scalp serums have a habit of going everywhere except your scalp. The Duo's one-handed micro-mist system applies its tonics right where they're wanted, and also incorporates 650-660nm red light, dosage notifications and a clever hair-parting design.

£112, rootique.co

Cooking upgrades

CASO DESIGN PIZZACHEF 430° INDOOR PIZZA OVEN

Pizza ovens don't have to be oversized or stand loud and proud in your garden, as this indoor model proves. It still reaches up to 430° to replicate the intense temperature of a traditional brick oven. The results? Crispy, delicious pizzas that taste authentic and are cooked perfectly in mere minutes.

£199.99, casodesign.co.uk

PROCOOK INSTANT READ DIGITAL THERMOMETER

A must for both indoor and outdoor cooking, this thermometer can handle temperatures up to 300°C, has a backlit LCD screen that instantly delivers readings, and can handle the stress – and mess – of the kitchen thanks to a waterproof design.

£32, procook.co.uk

OONI DOUGH TOOLS

From pizza to bread and beyond, these tools are exactly what you need for mixing, kneading, scraping and prepping dough. The set includes mixing and lifting spatulas, and a bench scraper, all of which make it easy to handle the entire manual dough-making process.

£35, uk.ooni.com

SMEG AFC01 DUAL FLAVOUR AIR FRYER

Known for its Italian retro-inspired designs, Smeg has put its own stylish twist on the air fryer. Its AFC01 has two cooking functions and seven presets that expertly cook different ingredients to perfection. Available in a range of matte colours, Smeg's latest air fryer is the best-looking model on the market.

£199.95, smeguk.com

PANASONIC MINI BREAD AND ICE CREAM MAKER

Bread and ice cream in one machine? Sign us up! The Panasonic Mini has 34 programmes to play with, covering a range of ice cream, dessert and bread recipes. The best feature is the dispenser in the lid which adds yeast, nuts, seeds and sprinkles at just the right moment to achieve the perfect rise and mix.

£TBC, panasonic.com

OUR PLACE CERAMIC NONSTICK PERFECT POT 6L

One of the most valuable things you can have in your kitchen is a reliable cooking pot, and this eight-in-one non-stick pot ticks all the boxes. It can tackle any roasting, frying or boiling task you throw at it, from your stovetop and into your oven. It looks the part, too, coming in a range of Mediterranean-inspired colours.

£135, fromourplace.co.uk

Brains behind the home

Thanks to advancements in smart technology and AI, the kitchen has become a place for hybrid appliances that have almost taken cooking completely out of our hands. Where we're starting to see improvements within the AI appliance space is white goods, such as fridge freezers and ovens. Having a screen on your fridge sounded ridiculous a few years ago, but now it compiles your shopping list, tracks expiration dates, and even plays music while you cook. Despite air fryers taking over, the oven has never been smarter, with AI cameras inside that scan your food and adjust time and temperature to deliver the best results. Have things gone too far? Probably, but if a fridge can order your groceries for you, it might be nice to have an extra brain in your home.

Gaming gadgets

MSI CLAW 8 EX AI+

For gaming on the go MSI has you covered, with a handheld PC that'll make your daily commutes more enjoyable. Powered by the Intel Arc G3 Extreme processor, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ offers fast and immersive gameplay for up to four hours on a single charge.

£1,399.99, msi.com

ALIENWARE 16 AREA-51 GAMING LAPTOP

The 16-inch Area-51 has everything you need to take your games to the next level. Its second-gen Intel Core processor is joined by an Nvidia graphics chip up to the mighty GeForce RTX 5090 to make ultra settings tremble.

From £2,599, dell.com

STEELSERIES ARCTIS NOVA PRO OMNI

Ideal for PC, consoles and mobile, this headset offers high-fidelity wireless audio and controls you can adjust with a quick tap. Active noise cancellation blocks out up to 96% of background noise to completely dive into whatever you're playing or streaming.

£349.99, steelseries.com

ROG XREAL R1

These AR glasses have a 0.01ms response time and 240Hz refresh rate for smooth and responsive action across their 171-inch virtual screen. The lenses come with different tint levels, and they can switch from 2D to 3D, depending on the content. Earbuds by Bose seal the deal.

£749, rog.asus.com

Home office

NANOLEAF X FANTAQI SMART LED MONITOR STAND

If you've ever wanted to make your desk look more exciting, Nanoleaf's collaboration with art-driven smart home technology brand Fantaqi is up for it. With a combination of natural wood and ambient lighting, this monitor stand illuminates your desk with colour – it's enough to make you want to sit at it for hours.

£179.99, nanoleaf.me

CANYON WEBCAM C2N

Upgrade your video calls with this pocket-sized camera that clips onto the top of your laptop or sits on your desk to offer wide viewing angles with 360° rotation. Its fivelayer 1080p lens will make your colleagues feel like you're in the room with them – in a non-creepy way, of course.

£34.99, canyon.eu

ERGOCHAIR PRO

A comfortable office chair is a must, and this one has nine adjustment points to customise the seat's depth, tilt, lumbar height and headrest. The foam adjusts to your body to keep you supported for hours for the feeling that you're sitting on air.

£466.80, autonomous.ai

COZYLA CALENDAR+ 2

Keep your work schedule and daily life organised with a 24-inch colour touchscreen that stores everything from meetings and chores to tasks and meal plans. Hang it on your office or kitchen wall, and when not in action, it turns into a photo frame.

£699.99, cozyla.com

Keep cool (and warm)

MEACOFAN SEFTE 6” PORTABLE AIR CIRCULATOR

Compact enough to sit on your desk or bedside table, this fan might be small but it sure is mighty. With three modes and 12 fan speeds, it offers strong air circulation and up to 26 hours of battery life. With a sound output of just 22dB while it's working, you'll barely know that it's there.

£69.99, meaco.com

TADO SMART AC CONTROL

Helping you make the most of your air conditioning throughout the year with simple, wireless connectivity, the Tado Smart AC Control connects to your heat pump or AC system and controls heating, cooling, speeds and other modes from your smartphone. It also monitors energy usage to help reduce your monthly bills.

£89.99, shop.tado.com

INGENIX SMART GLASS PANEL HEATER

Moving away from traditional radiator designs, the Ingenix Smart Glass Panel Heater features a glass front LED touch panel that blends into your home while delivering 2000W of heat to keep you warm during the winter months.

£99.99, igenix.co.uk

DREO WHOLE-ROOM HEATER 714S

The colder weather will be a reprieve for many after this summer, but Dreo's whole-room heater is perfect for both hot and cold seasons. This oscillating heater and fan hybrid can fill a room with warmed or cooled air, and it still remains cool to the touch while it's doing it.

£99.99, dreo.com

DUUX YENTL CUDDLE HEATED OVERBLANKET

There's nothing better than getting warm under a cosy blanket after a long day, and the Duux Yentl Cuddle Heated Overblanket is the perfect accessory for this. With its extra large size and faux fur material, the Yentl has multiple heat settings to keep you toasty warm for up to nine hours.

£159.99, duux.co.uk

DYSON HUSHJET MINI COOL FAN

While it might look a little obscene, if you've got that kind of mind, this premium handheld fan recently saved a lot of people's summers. With its simple controls and star-tipped adjustable nozzle, the HushJet Mini Cool gives immediate cooling relief and a powerful airflow while on the go.

£99.99, dyson.co.uk

What to consider before installing air conditioning

CHOOSE THE RIGHT TYPE

The AC system you choose will determine cost, how much space it takes up, and installation length. Try to choose between cooling single or multiple rooms, and match the AC unit's cooling capacity to room size.

DECIDE ITS LOCATION

Indoors, place the unit high on your wall away from heat sources. Outdoors, the compressor should be out of direct sunlight. Check with your building management or the local council first, if you need to.

GO PORTABLE

Installation and maintenance costs for permanent air conditioning systems can add up, but portable AC units deliver super-cool air when you need it and are small enough to pack away when you don't.

Tech for sleep

HATCH SLEEP CLOCK

Hatch's new Sleep Clock is a sleep tracker, wake up light and alarm in one cute, semi-circle gadget. Instead of a wearable, the Hatch Sleep Clock uses radio signals to track your breathing, movement and sleep stages without being invasive. It also has colourful lights, sleep sounds and personalised guidance for the best night's rest.

$249.99, hatch.co

EIGHT SLEEP POD 5

When it comes to smart sleep technology, no one does it better than Eight Sleep. Its Pod 5 sleep system features a base, cover and hub that work together to track your sleep and health. Overnight, it makes adjustments to regulate your temperature, stop snoring and more, so you wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

£2,499, eightsleep.com

LOOP DREAM

Sleep uninterrupted by your partner's snoring. Perfect for side sleepers, thanks to its soft silicone and small shape, the Loop Dream plugs reduce external noise and other distractions so you can sleep without interruptions. But don't fret – they're not completely noise-blocking, so you won't miss your morning alarm.

£44.95, loopearplugs.com

THERABODY SMARTGOGGLES 2ND GEN

If blackout blinds just aren't enough, these goggles block out all external light. But they are much more than just an eye mask, offering compression massage, heat and vibration cycles which will relax you, reduce stress and eye strain, and relieve headaches.

£199, therabody.co.uk

Just smart stuff

AQARA SPATIAL MULTI-SENSOR FP400

Make your smart home work without you having to think about it too much. This sensor uses mmWave radar and AI, so it knows when someone is in the room and whether they're sitting, standing or lying down – so lights and other devices can react automatically without anyone reaching for a switch.

Price TBC, aqara-shop.co.uk

IKEA KLIPPBOK WATER LEAKAGE SENSOR

Not every smart home gadget needs to be exciting – sometimes you just want to know if the dishwasher is flooding the kitchen. Ikea's tiny sensor sounds an alarm when it detects water and, when connected to a hub, can send an alert to your phone.

£7, ikea.com

TAPO P304M SMART WI-FI POWER STRIP

Why make one plug smart when you can do four at once? This strip gives each of its four sockets individual smart control, alongside Matter support, energy monitoring and surge protection. It can even estimate how much your connected gadgets are costing you.

£34.99, tapo.com

HOMEY PRO

When your smart home gadgets all speak different languages, Homey Pro acts as the translator. This hub supports Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 433MHz and infrared, bringing devices from different ecosystems together and letting you build some seriously sophisticated automations.

£449, homey.app

Powered-up partying

ROBERTS SOLARDAB 99

The Roberts SolarDAB is made for those rare British afternoons when the sun actually decides to cooperate. Its integrated solar panel helps keep the battery topped up outdoors, while DAB+/FM radio and Bluetooth give you plenty to listen to. Garden soundtrack sorted.

£150, robertsradio.com

HYPERVOLT HOME 3 PRO

An EV charger isn't usually the most exciting thing attached to your house, but the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro makes a strong case for changing that. Alongside 7kW charging, it can make use of surplus solar energy, schedule charging around cheaper tariffs, and put everything within reach through the Hypervolt app.

£690, hypervolt.co.uk

ECOFLOW STREAM GARDEN/GROUND KIT

Now that plug-in solar panels are legal in the UK, EcoFlow has the perfect kit to get you started. It includes two 400W rigid solar panels bundled with a microinverter and ground-mounting hardware, letting you angle them towards the sun without committing to a permanent rooftop installation.

£649, ecoflow.com

ANKER SOLIX EVERFROST 2

Forget melting ice and soggy sandwiches. The Anker Solix EverFrost 2 is a batterypowered electric cooler that can actively chill its contents without bags of ice taking up valuable space. Available in three sizes, its wheels and pull-out handle make transporting it a breeze, whether you're camping, picnicking or taking the garden party really seriously.

From £799, ankersolix.com

IKEA SOLVINDEN LED SOLAR TABLE LAMP

Not every outdoor light needs an extension lead or complicated electrical installation. Leave Ikea's Solvinden table lamp outside to charge from the sun during the day, and it'll provide a decorative glow after dark. With such a low price, scattering a few around the garden doesn't feel particularly extravagant either.

£12, ikea.com

JACKERY EXPLORER 300D PORTABLE POWER STATION

Essentially a giant power bank for everything your phone charger can't handle, this power station is compact enough to take outdoors with you. Its 288Wh capacity and 300W output can keep laptops, cameras and other gadgets going, while USB-Cfast charging makes it particularly handy for weekends away from a plug socket.

£219, jackery.com

Solar isn't just for rooftops any more

For years, solar has meant expensive panels professionally installed on your roof, but that's recently changed. Following a change in the rules at the end of August , compliant plug-in solar systems can legally connect to standard household sockets in the UK, making generating your own electricity much more accessible. They won't replace a full rooftop setup, but could offer a simpler and cheaper way to generate some of your own power without committing to a full-size installation.

It feels like almost yesterday that I was playing Sports Resort on the Nintendo Wii. It wasn't, of course, as the second game in Nintendo's series was released some 17 years ago – in the summer of '09.

The original that started it all, Wii Sports, which came bundled with that console, was released three years prior. It's fitting, therefore, that on the 20th anniversary, Nintendo has revisited its sporting classic for a Switch 2 release, which I've been playing over the last week – hitting peak Nintendo nostalgia.

However, Switch Sports Resort isn't a mere graphical repolish of the old Wii games, it's a fully new experience that just happens to leverage some of the greatest sports in the original. It also taps into the Switch 2's Joy-Con 2 controllers, taking advantage of all their control mechanisms for the better for its new additions.

How much does Sports Resort cost?

Switch Sports Resort releases Thursday 22 October 2026 around the world. It's not bundled with the Switch 2 console, of course, as you'll have to fork out your cash to buy the game.

Nintendo is positioning the title as a premier release, meaning it's close to a AAA game's price, at £41.99 / $/€49.99for the digital download versions.

You can buy a boxed copy, too, which is meant to cost more – but Amazon is holding the same price as the download for the pre-order, plus you can split the payment over 5 months to spread the cost.

How many sports are included?

• Archery
• Basketball, Boxing, Bowling
• Golf
• Power Cruising, Prop Plane
• Skateboarding
• Table Tennis, Tennis, Thumb Wrestling
• Volleyball

If, like me, you were all about Bowling, then you'll be pleased to see it's returned for the Switch 2 edition of Sports Resort. There are plenty of other familiar games, too, which I've listed above in alphabetical order.

Some are totally new, though, with Skateboarding (which uses the Joy-Con's mouse-like controls), Thumb Wrestling, and the honorary thirteenth sport, Jump Rope – which is a warm-up, rather than fully blown sport.

Some of the lesser regarded sports of the original Wii Sports Resort have been left in the history books, as there's no Canoeing, Cycling, Frisbee, Swordplay or Wakeboarding. No big losses there, though, with many of the core mechanics of those reflected in the current line-up.

Can I play Switch Sports Resort online?

I've been playing Switch Sports Resort in local versus mode, which can cater for up to four players using individual Joy-Cons, or passing one (or sometimes a pair, depending on the game) around turn by turn.

Computer opponents, with three difficulty levels, can also be included. You can also play online, with up to 16 real players for certain sports – so long as you have the relevant Nintendo Switch Online subscription for access.

I can see the online play being a massive part of this game, as I'm sure there'll be plenty of pro players who take to one sport. It's also a great way to showcase your abilities, as the solo game – where you battle through every sport – isn't nearly as fun as the versus thrill.

This late October launch seems somewhat peculiar to me, however, with Nintendo's Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake due a couple of weeks later, not to mention the massive launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 incoming in November too.

Switch Sports Resort makes huge sense as a holiday period or slice of Christmas entertainment for the whole family – but, with only 12 sports to entertain, its shelf life is likely to be limited. A big discount would massively add appeal in my view, because there's so much joy to be had here.

Look, I'm not a professional traveller – and if you're willing to believe some accounts on Instagram and YouTube Shorts, there are plenty of those out there. I travel more than most people, because of the nature of my job, but I'm still broadly in the setup phase when it comes to figuring out my go-to packing list.

That setup got quite a shake-up in the last few weeks when I added a new element to it that I swear I should have been pointed at long ago: compressible packing cubes. Don't get me wrong, I've had packing cubes for years (all of them from Muji, one of the best all-around brands going), but never the sort that has a compression zipper to help you pack more into them.

Already, after just a couple of long weekend trips with the cubes in my EDC backpack, I don't think I can go back. I haven't done the A/B testing to see if I'm literally squeezing in more clothes per square centimetre, but anecdotally, it sure feels like I am, making it easier to pack without compromise.

I've used two types of cubes on my two trips – one from Cotopaxi, with great success, and more recently another from Thule, which isn't quite the same but does come in crucially a bit cheaper. They're both darned impressive for slightly different reasons.

I thought the addition of compression zips might be a little bit of a luxury addition to my packing, but (wouldn't you know it) they've basically made it easier to squeeze in that extra thin outer layer you'd like for chilly evenings, or the pair of shorts you're not sure you'll need.

For some people, that's not needed, if you're already a super-zen packer who reliably fits into a single bag without trouble. For those of us who aspire to one-bag travel, but know that in reality we're a little too anxious to leave some bases uncovered, this is a must-have addition, I'd say.

Obviously, though, they're more expensive than normal packing cubes, and if you're careful with how you use the latter you'll probably be able to get almost the same amount of stuff into your bag. It'll just be way easier with compression cubes, and a lot of why we all buy gadgets and gizmos is to make life that bit easier, no?

It's been just past a year since Battlefield 6 came out – something that you might have noticed thanks to a big promotional push around its new "Game of the Year" edition. That's a label you're allowed to use even if your own mum's the only one who gave it to you, but in this case there's a pretty decent shout about its success.

After all, the franchise had languished far behind Call of Duty for years, through some real low points (the monetisation in Battlefield V being possibly the nadir), only to leapfrog it brutally in 2025. It was the best-selling shooter of that year, and might have a chance at keeping that label this year even with Modern Warfare 4 arriving in a matter of days.

Sales don't make a game good, of course, and if anything, sometimes mean it has to come from behind in terms of my expectations. Yet, without any artifice, I can say that I play Battlefield 6 almost every day on my PS5 Pro, with a group of friends for whom it's completely supplanted COD at present.

We all fell back into that latter franchise in a huge way when Warzone released, but in the last few years the crazy in-game movement it required alienated us, so when Battlefield returned to a more grounded system it was music to our ears. Now, a year on, its fifth season is proving just as much of a hit, and its new maps (set in Las Vegas and Area 51) have already hosted a good half-dozen hours of team play.

I've particularly enjoyed the new Area 51 map, which is expansive and full of varied terrain – and unlike some of the arrivals in previous seasons (like Blackwell Fields), it doesn't feel like one big plane of similar situations to fight in. It has verticality, sprawl, and a whole heap of routes between points.

Crucially, though, the game is also finally at a point where it sounds as good as I remember it being during the pre-launch beta, when footsteps were incredibly clear and could help you win fights multiple times per round. After quite a few months of muddy audio, Dice has tweaked things to the point where wearing a headset once again feels completely essential.

While my friends all play on launch PS5 consoles, I'm also enjoying the game on my PS5 Pro, and it's one of those titles that makes me feel good about the admittedly sizeable investment it represents. It's sharper and a little more fluid than it would otherwise be, not least thanks to its use of PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) to sharpen its base image.

With PSSR actually getting upgrades over time from Sony, this means that BF6 is, if anything, also feeling better than it used to, and it's nice to be able to rely on a game for this long. I have reservations about some of the cosmetics in the game, to be fair, and the "Secuty" typo on a skin this season is particularly embarrassing.

I'm more fussed about the basic fun factor than I am about skins, though, and BF6 continues to nail that side of things. For a game to be drawing me in on basically any free evening an entire year on from release is really impressive enough on its own, frankly.

Our world is one of content, and there's never really enough for people to get through (even though we all know the fear of browsing Netflix's catalogue for hours before managing to decide on what to watch). So, the big streamers know that they have to keep pumping new shows and movies out, or people will eventually cancel their subscriptions.

That's why I spend the first few hours of every working week going through the release plans of both Netflix and Prime Video in proper detail, to highlight the three new additions that you should know about for the evenings to come. If you're on the lookout for something to binge this week, here are the most interesting new arrivals for you to preview.

The Terminal List (Season 2)

• Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video from 21 October

Amazon went pretty big on The Terminal List the first time around, nabbing Chris Pratt to star in the show at a time when his star was shining really brightly thanks to his involvement with Marvel. After its first season, though, the show went as AWOL as his character in it, James Reece.

Now, though, years later and just past the point when I had started to assume that the show was effectively on ice, it's back. The second season sees Reece start things off in full anonymity (or so he thinks), before being tracked down by the US because it needs his unique skills once again. With the offer of a full pardon on the table (but doubtless with some asterisks attached), it's his best chance to get something resembling a normal life back. Cue some crazy tactical missions, if nothing else.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2

• Streaming on: Netflix from 20 October

Edgerunners might be one of the most celebrated new anime of all time, an addition to Netflix's library that really marked its ability to create impressive modern animated shows. Now, a few years later, we're getting another season, but it's important to note that the story won't be related. Sure, we'll probably get some little references to the first run, but this is going to involve a brand new cast of characters.

In some ways that's obvious, since the ending of the first season didn't exactly leave too many of our favourite chooms alive, but still. This time around, you can expect another burning story of body modification, cyberpsychosis, revenge and violence. The trailer makes it clear that we'll see some crazy fights, gory deaths, and impactful exchanges – sign us up.

Lupin (Part 4)

• Streaming on: Netflix from 23 October

Lupin has been a really strong performer for Netflix over the last few years, even as the gaps between its seasons have stretched to slightly annoying levels. Now, we're finally getting a fourth outing from our favourite French thief. Framed for a crime he didn't commit (for once), it looks like he's going to be in pretty hot water, and literally in jail at least for some amount of time.

You know a French show's doing well, quite frankly, when it manages to film not just around the Eiffel Tower, but actually inside it – and that's what it looks like we're getting this time around. Assane will have to chase down a rival thief copying his methods, while evading recapture and both trying to clear his name and, frankly, score some theft along the way. What fun!

Watch launches don't usually involve abseiling into abandoned mines, navigating flooded tunnels or ziplining across underground ravines.

Then again, G-SHOCK isn't exactly known for doing things by halves.

Last week, the Japanese watchmaker celebrated the launch of its new GDG-B100 MUDMAN by organising what could become the world's deepest underground rave, featuring legendary drum and bass DJ Roni Size.

The event took place on 15 October at Cwmorthin slate mine in Eryri, North Wales, with a small group of ballot winners descending 1,375 feet (419 metres) beneath the mountain to reach the makeshift dancefloor.

I was among those who attended, and while I've experienced some unusual product launches over the years, this was certainly one of the most memorable.

Getting to the venue required a two-hour journey through dark, waterlogged passages, involving scrambles, abseils and zip lines, all under the supervision of qualified mine guides from adventure operator Go Below.

At the bottom, the reward was a one-off performance by Roni Size, supported by G-SHOCK Radio's DJ Nav, inside a vast underground chamber known as Deep Sleep.

The mountain became part of the music

What made the event particularly interesting was how the organisers incorporated the surrounding environment into the performance.

Engineers used vibration transducers to send elements of the music directly into the slate, while specialist microphones captured the resulting vibrations.

Speaking to T3 during the event, one of the audio technicians explained that the team had visited the mine several weeks earlier to experiment with the acoustic properties of the rock.

They tapped different sections of slate with a hammer to identify areas that produced interesting resonances, discovering that certain frequencies travelled through the material more effectively than others.

The engineers also took inspiration from traditional recording studios, where dedicated echo chambers were once used to add natural reverberation to music.

Using a separate underground chamber, they positioned a speaker and two ambient microphones to capture the mine's natural acoustics, which could then be mixed into Roni Size's performance.

The result was a DJ set that didn't simply take place inside a mountain, but incorporated the surrounding geology into the music itself.

Before Roni Size took to the decks, the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, echoed through the underground chamber, paying tribute to the area's rich mining heritage.

A watch built for the underground

Of course, there was a reason G-SHOCK went to such extraordinary lengths to organise the event.

The new GDG-B100 MUDMAN is designed to withstand particularly demanding environments, making an abandoned slate mine a rather appropriate setting for its debut.

The rugged digital watch features shock, dust and mud resistance, alongside 200 metres of water resistance.

One of its biggest upgrades is the high-contrast Memory-in-Pixel (MIP) display, which offers improved readability over traditional LCD screens.

There's also a red LED backlight designed to help preserve night vision, Bluetooth smartphone connectivity and activity-tracking features, including distance, speed and pace measurements.

The new MUDMAN comes in three colourways: black (GDG-B100-1), dark green with orange accents (GDG-B100-1A3) and sand with a black bezel (GDG-B100-1A5).

As for the rave, G-SHOCK has submitted evidence for independent verification of its world-record attempt. Until that process is complete, its claim to the world's deepest underground rave remains unofficial.

Still, as far as unconventional product launches go, this one will be difficult to top.

The G-SHOCK GDG-B100 will be available soon at Casio UK for £200.

The full performance is available through G-SHOCK Radio on Mixcloud.

You can read more about Go Below here.

Christmas is getting closer by the day, and the latest retailer to show off its festive range is ProCook. We already love this brand for its coffee machines and cookware sets, but there's something about a Christmas collection that gets us even more excited, especially when it's filled with new and interesting finds.

I saw the collection in person last week and have picked out my favourite pieces below. Even better, some of them are currently included in a 20% launch offer, so there are a few bargains to be had alongside the festive inspiration.

I have a confession to make – despite counting myself as a big Resident Evil fan, I'm quite far from having played every game in the series. In fact, although I played a few of the Xbox 360-era games back in the day, the big renaissance for me was Village, which arrived back in 2021. I hopped aboard the Resi train and absolutely loved the mixture of action and horror that it offered up in modern times.

That means that I'd already missed the series' first big modern remake – Resident Evil 2 from 2019. I never played the original, and despite having the newer version on a couple of platforms, I never quite found the moment to dip into it and start Leon Kennedy's story off from the beginning.

Now, though, Switch 2 versions of the Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 remakes have arrived, with Capcom dropping all three at once to give fans of the series a veritable smorgasbord of choice if they want to revisit some of its finest moments. As it turns out, that's just the prompt I needed – I've finally made time to play the oldest of those three games on my Switch 2, with portability being the key factor.

It's been a pretty brilliant time, too, getting to see how the series really evolved into its modern-day run-and-gun genre. Leon and Claire's time in Raccoon City is tense from the get-go, not least because they're getting stalked by Mr X from a relatively early stage, and that dynamic really is just as electric on your Switch 2 as it's been on various other platforms over the years.

Crucially, Capcom has once again done a very solid job with its porting work, scaling down these RE Engine games to still look crisp and modern on the handheld platform, but noticeably blurrier than most other platforms you could care to name. That means there's an argument to be made that this is one of the less impressive ways you could play them, but I'd counter that by pointing out that plenty of people will only have a single console, and that makes these ports extremely welcome.

It's worth pointing out that the games all aim for 60fps, which is really quite remarkable when you consider some of the ambitious scenes they display. That said, while they often hit that mark, all three of these remakes can dip into the mid-50s when things get more hectic.

It's also well worth underlining that this means you can play Resident Evil 2 all the way through to Resident Evil 8 on this one platform. Given it's only been a little over a year since the Switch 2 first went on sale, that's remarkably impressive work from Capcom, which really hasn't hung around at all on this front.

So, if you, too, have been thinking about playing Resident Evil 2 (or 3 or 4) in its remade form, then now looks like the perfect time if you have a Switch 2. If you're anything like me, you'll find they're brilliant little portable scare-factories.

Charging stands are more complicated things than they look – and I've used half a dozen in the last few years, each one with strengths and some weaknesses. Recently, Twelve South sent me one of its very best, and I've been surprised by how comprehensively it's won me over on a few different fronts, despite an objectively steep price tag.

The HiRise Deluxe is a 3-in-1 stand that's aimed squarely at Apple users, since one of those functions is an Apple Watch charging puck that's unlikely to be much use for Android fans. The other two charging points are an elevated 15W MagSafe charger, and a standard, non-magnetised wireless charging point at the back of the charger as a whole.

This means that in its ideal setup, I can use the charger to power up my iPhone, AirPods Pro 3 and Apple Watch all at the same time, and it's convenient to know that's an option. That said, since I use it by my bedside overnight, it's really mostly my phone and watch that it takes care of (and an overnight charge means that its modest charging speeds aren't an issue).

What I really like about the charger, though, is how simple and small it keeps its design. The base is just a slab of metal, rounded so that there are no sharp edges, and heavy enough to feel steady on a surface. Its Apple Watch puck can pop up vertically in case your strap needs to wrap around the back, but otherwise there are few moving parts.

The elevated MagSafe charger, meanwhile, also has the ability to tilt and swivel, so that you can have your phone at whatever angle suits you, and this feels sturdy and well-built. It has that sense of good design and proper materials that can be hard to find in cheaper alternatives.

Directly before swapping to the HiRise 3 Deluxe, I'd been using Anker's Prime Wireless Charging Station, a significantly pricier charging dock that has far more features built in. While the built-in active cooling fans and display could sometimes make for impressive results, the reality was that I found them too much for the bedside, sometimes lighting up when I was trying to fall asleep, or spinning up fans when I didn't want them.

By contrast, Twelve South's charger has no such ornamentation, and I've discovered that I clearly prefer it this way. Its price (£99.99 here in the UK) is still pretty punchy, but compared to the £300 Anker wanted at launch for its more space-age charging set, it suddenly looks pretty reasonable.

Whether it's right for you might be a personal thing, but if you're looking for a charging dock that keeps things classy and simple, I'd give it a recommendation – it's working a treat for me.

The original Nintendo Switch instantly cemented itself as the home of indie gaming. Its hybrid form factor and pick-up-and-play immediacy made it the perfect host for the inventiveness and originality that many indies pride themselves on.

And given that Nintendo wisely decided not to mess with a winning formula, the Switch 2 has unsurprisingly picked up the baton. So, while it only turned one at the start of the summer, the new and improved console has already amassed a killer library of indie games. Here are three you need to play before the year is out.

Denshattack!

Just when you were starting to worry that the well of video game ideas must surely be close to running dry, someone comes up with this: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, but you’re a train.

Comfortably the most vibrant and relentlessly exciting indie game I’ve played this year, Denshattack! is a (mostly literally) on-rails 3D platformer... of sorts. You play as a ramen delivery driver in a colourful post-apocalyptic Japan.

While Emi’s job is to make food deliveries, she quickly becomes far more interested in competing against other drivers in an underground sport where they perform familiar skateboarding tricks with their trains.

It’s truly as bonkers as it sounds, combining twisty-turny, Sonic-esque 3D level design with Tony Hawk’s combos and street culture trappings that are decidedly Jet Set Radio in vibe.

Despite how breathlessly fast and frantic it is, Denshattack! is a joy to play, even if the game throws so many new mechanics at you throughout its runtime that you won’t feel like you’ve mastered any level until you’ve replayed them all several times. But that’s kind of the point.

The one-more-level nature of the game makes it a perfect fit for a handheld device, and it runs near perfectly on Switch 2 to boot.

Wax Heads

Wax Heads is essentially High Fidelity’s romanticisation of the independent record store in video game form, letting you play tastemaker for an eccentric collection of customers who walk through the door.

Described by its developer as a cosy-punk narrative life simulation, the game drops you onto the staff at Repeater Records, a store struggling to keep the lights on but determined not to abandon its quirky music-loving clientele.

Wax Heads is ostensibly a puzzle game, but here the brain-teasers are trying to work out which record a customer is looking for based on their slightly confused descriptions.

The game has crafted its own fictional musical universe, complete with an original soundtrack, so as you rifle through the genre- and era-spanning assortment of albums that line the store shelves, you’ll also learn about the artists who made them.

I was amazed at how invested I quickly became in the career of the enigmatic popstar Mimi, and the wild rumours about the chaotic metal outfit Jarhead. Wax Heads’ comic book-style visuals are the perfect fit for its wacky cast of characters, and the Switch 2 version’s intuitive touch controls mean you could hand the game to just about anyone who enjoys good music and guarantee them a good time.

Sektori

However ambitious and technically astounding video games continue to get, you just can’t beat the raw gameplay purity of a twin-stick shooter – a genre that has been around since the early ‘80s.

Sektori came out quite a bit later than that, specifically in 2025, with the Switch 2 version arriving earlier this year, but it’s a shmup that can go toe-to-toe with any of the classics.

Like all the best twin-stick shooters, the basics are easy to pick up. You control your little ship on a top-down battlefield with the left stick, and shoot gradually increasing waves of enemies with the right. You also have an invincible dash strike move in your arsenal on a cooldown (though there are ways to instantly reset it) which is key to racking up your score.

It sounds simple enough, but Sektori adds extra layers of complexity with dynamically shifting arena boundaries that make positioning as important as your aim, as well as an ingenious deck-building element that lets you further upgrade your ship’s various attributes throughout the course of a run.

The game is a spectacular audiovisual feast, hypnotising you with its trippy patterns and thumping techno score. It’s overwhelming in the best way, and once you’ve worked out what it wants from you you’ll have a very hard time putting it down.

The T3 Fashion Edit is back with a bumper selection of nine products, ranging from luxury hiking boots and Japanese watches to oversized tote bags and statement knitwear.

This week's highlights include LOEWE and On's latest collaboration, which brings a distinctly high-fashion twist to the humble hiking boot, and Seiko's wonderfully eccentric panda-inspired chronograph.

There's also a new partnership between British outdoor brand Finisterre and Australian bootmaker Blundstone, and Gramicci's fuzzy knitwear with a colourful mohair cardigan.

Finally, Snow Peak and Nike ACG demonstrate that even everyday accessories can benefit from a little outdoor ingenuity.

Here are nine of my favourite new fashion and lifestyle releases available to shop this week.

It's no secret that 2026 has been a bit of a disasterclass for Xbox, with new leadership clearly feeling the time is right for a brutal clearout of employees and studios. In light of those decisions, it's quite a spicy time for Gears of War: E-Day to finally come out – a game that The Coalition made instead of finishing its new trilogy (Gears 4 and 5), itself quite a big change in plans.

Rather than finding out what'll happen to Kait and her team in the future timeline, we're instead rewinding right to the start and returning to the objectively massive boots of Marcus Fenix. E-Day, as the name suggests, shows off what the actual invasion of the Locust Horde looked like to live through, and it's unsurprisingly gritty as a result.

In gameplay terms, things are also pretty old-school. While there are sequences that let you explore a little, they're far from the vehicle-driven open zones of Gears 5, and the running and gunning also feel impressively Xbox 360-coded (although they're actually a lot quicker than they used to be).

What's taken me aback, though, is how unbelievably good the game looks, playing on PC. I have a loan PC from Nvidia, kitted out with an GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, and it's pretty amazing to see E-Day push it to its limits, or at least exploring those limits. Playing at 1440p (my preferred avenue, for performance reasons), I've been able to play the game on its Ultra preset, with a few extra settings like hair strands toggled on, all at a pretty steady 60fps.

That performance has been rock solid while the game pushes out frankly gorgeous lighting and reflections – with the pre-release work between developers The Coalition and Nvidia to get this all working so smoothly seeming obvious. The fact that game-ready drivers for Nvidia cards were there on release day is all you really need to know on that front.

The game's opening sequences are played out largely in night-time scenes and dimly-lit interiors, giving it the perfect opportunity to show off ray-tracing's more subtle side. It's not all about shiny cars reflecting the world perfectly; the interactions of different light sources on a scene are just as important, and can often be more impactful.

Nvidia's crowing about the new feature that E-Day debuts on this front: the catchily titled RTX Mega Geometry. This basically marks a big step forward in how geometry in a level interacts with lighting – and it means that objects in a scene have a noticeable step up in lighting detail and shadowing.

You might not think it makes a huge difference, and in some ways you'll be fine to play without it, but if your card's capable of it, this is the sort of less shouty step that makes a real difference to a game's sense of reality, moreso than something like DLSS 5.

Of course, much of the fun of benchmarking a game when you have a 50-series card to play with is in figuring out where the ceiling is with frame generation enabled. With so many levels of the tech now available to use, it's about finding the right balance for you.

I've been playing with frame-gen largely turned off, but turning it on at all can bring huge rewards in terms of frames – and the first couple of levels really don't introduce enough latency to feel like they have much downside. Crank it up to the maximum, and you'll get hundreds of frames per second, although input lag might start to weigh on you a tiny bit.

Having that headroom to play with at all is pretty great, though, and leaves E-Day feeling like a really polished PC launch. In fact, its visual quality and launch day parity has me feeling (once again) good about selling my Xbox Series X a few years ago. It was a machine I didn't use enough, and getting this sort of massive Xbox release on PC right from the start underlines that I still don't need one.

I've mentioned it before when testing pro controllers (like the SteelSeries Aeon Pro, just last week), but the PS5 really does have one huge flaw as a console generation on this front. Because of the step forward in haptics taken by the DualSense controller, the market for third-party pads has been hamstrung from the start.

For whatever reason, Sony hasn't been keen to let other brands use its patents and designs on the haptic side of things, and where the PS4 had literally hundreds of options for controllers, the PS5 has been far more barren. Nacon has been one of the few brands making PS5 controllers, though, and it just unveiled its fanciest yet – the Revolution 5 Unlimited.

It's basically an upgraded version of the Revolution 5 Pro, and I've been using it for over a week to get a sense of how it performs. The good news is that it ticks basically every box that I want in a pro controller, with one small caveat, and I'd love if it had more competition from other brands.

A simple prospect

In some ways, I think it's quite simple to make a pro controller – just don't try too hard. The best ones I've used haven't tried to reinvent the wheel or change how you use a controller; they're just extremely premium-feeling versions of what you already know. That's how I'd describe the Revolution 5 Unlimited, which is lovely and solid in the hand.

One of its immediate changes is that it's almost entirely covered in matte-finish plastic, making it grippier when you hold it. That's accentuated by actual rubberised pads in some places, too.

All over the controller, meanwhile, buttons are clickier and more responsive than on the basic DualSense, which is really noticeable. The triggers can also be turned into clickers at will, thanks to a trigger stop toggle, and that's a huge boon for shooters.

Needless to say, the Revolution 5 Unlimited boasts a heap of extra programmable buttons, too. There are two on each side where your fingers sit in a natural grip, while extra shoulder buttons are a little harder to reach but welcome additions.

The analogue sticks are TMR for drift-resistance and responsiveness, and a built-in screen makes it really easy to program buttons, change between profiles and presets and more. If you fancy a different method, a connected app on your phone works just as well.

This all adds up to a wide range of customisation options, but there are even more in the box. It comes with a hardshell carrying case, and inside you'll find extra analogue stick heads (to change from concave to convex, for instance), along with a series of weights.

These slot into hidden compartments to let you choose exactly how heavy your controller is in the hand. That's a degree of choice that few rivals offer even on PC, and it's a really classy touch that Nacon has been fond of for quite some time.

Finally, the whole thing comes with some convenience – a charging dock that can let you slot the controller's dongle in to save on USB ports. It's a neat little addition that makes the controller more of a fixture on your desk.

The elephant in the room

It's worth clarifying at this stage that the Revolution 5 Unlimited costs $229.99 in the US, £179.99 here in the UK and €199.99 in the EU, since that price is basically the biggest single factor in whether you might buy one.

That makes it roughly the cost of three or four standard DualSense controllers, and a small slice cheaper than the DualSense Edge, but in the same premium bracket. The question of which is better is complicated; the Edge has tighter integration with your PS5 and feels slicker in software terms as a result, but when it comes to sheer customisation, Nacon clearly wins.

There's another key difference, too, since Nacon's pad has an asymmetric layout for its sticks. That's a departure from the normal PlayStation layout, and might make it more attractive for those used to Xbox gamepads historically, or it might be something you'd rather avoid.

Another small downside is that where a normal DualSense has a large touchpad, the Revolution 5 Unlimited has a tiny customisable button underneath the larger PS button. It's fiddly to tap, making accessing the map in plenty of games a bit of an annoyance (although customising another extra button to cover the same job solves this).

I've been hugely enjoying my time with the gamepad, though, and expect to keep using it as my standard controller on PS5 for quite some time. I don't have a DualSense Edge, and since my launch-day Scuf Reflex Pro got stick drift about six months ago, I've been playing without extra buttons; Nacon's loan unit has fixed that problem for me, and I'm not sure I can go back again.

So, if you're in the market for a PS5 controller with a whole heap of added features, it's one to check out. If you want a PC and Xbox controller, meanwhile, SteelSeries has you covered with the Aeon Pro.

I have been testing and writing about home cinema and audio products for more than two decades, so it's rare that I can be surprised by a new product. But that's exactly what happened with the new Naim Mu-so – the company's first all-in-one sound system to carry the Utopia branding.

I had no clue what to expect when I sat down in a listening room at Focal's headquarters in France, only that I was to listen to something new. And when the demo started, I thought I was experiencing new surround sound separates.

I was wrong.

It soon became apparent that the fully spatial audio bubble was being provided by a single-box solution, and I was blown away. The sides and rears were so pronounced that I was sure there was some kind of Wizard of Oz hoodwinkery going on. And the Dolby Atmos playback on multiple video clips had real height – as it should.

The least surprising part of the reveal was that Naim and Focal collaboration is the first to adopt "Utopia" – the latter's flagship audio labelling. The Mu-so Utopia is at the pinnacle of the range and offers safely the best soundbar-style performance I've experienced to date.

That's perhaps unsurprising considering it costs £4,500 / $5,500, but I actually think that's reasonable for what you get – both technically and in quality terms.

The Mu-so Utopia contains 15 speakers in total, with seven ranged along the front. There are two on each side, plus a further four on the top.

Each driver is powered by either class D or class A/B amplification, depending on the frequency ranges. And there is a total power output of 720W.

The two midrange speakers ranged left and right on the front are Focal's trademark W drivers, and they are joined by a tweeter apiece, featuring the audiophile brand's new PRISM technology. This is instead of the beryllium drivers that are usually synonymous with Focal products, but are no less precise.

There are three six-inch woofers too, which negate the need for a separate sub, and the speakers at the top and sides are full range.

I've had a lot of experience with the Yamaha YSP-1 in the past – one of the first soundbars to use beamforming technology to bounce audio off walls and the ceiling to create a surround sound effect, and the same philosophy is employed here. Only tenfold.

The directional effect is astounding. It depends on the room, of course, and I was told that it works best in a room up to 50 metres square. But considering I was in a 60-metre room, it sounded pretty darn impressive to me.

The demo consisted of some Dolby Atmos clips, including a scene from the 2014 war film Unbroken and the wildfire sequence from Game of Thrones. Both rocked me to my socks, with superb spacing and a grunt that punched in a truly cinematic way.

On top of this, I got to hear how capable the all-in-one is with spatially arranged music, such as Billie Eilish's Bittersuite in Dolby Atmos (via Apple Music).

As with last year's Mu-so Hekla, the Utopia supports both Atmos and Focal's own Sphere Music and Sphere Movie spatial audio platforms. These provide complete bubbles of sound that helps immerse you more into the experience – as if playing through ceiling and wall-mounted drivers.

It is also compatible with a wide array of wireless streaming services and standards, such as Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, Google Cast, and AirPlay 2. There's Bluetooth on board too, as well as internet radio support.

Hi-Res Audio is supported, of course, with playback up to 32bits/384kHz (via WAV). All manner of other formats can be decoded too.

It is a 7.1.2 channel system and features HDMI eARC on the rear. You feed the Mu-so from a TV or amplifier, rather than the other way around. And there's an optical audio input available for good measure. A sub/aux out is offered as well.

Wi-Fi 6 is on board for wireless connectivity, although you might be best using the 1-gig Ethernet port if you want the best connection to your home network. It certainly deserves it.

As with all of Naim's Mu-so collection, you can even use the Utopia as part of a multiroom setup and sync its playback with other speakers. But this is a real centrepiece statement device that deserves to be at the hub of your home.

Music sounds crisp and accurate, even at high volumes, while movie and even game soundtracks are emotive. Yes, you are paying for the pleasure, but pleasure is the operative word.

Even from just a 30 to 60 minute test, it's clear that this is an all-in-one for audiophiles – and could even convert those who would never dream of ditching their separates.

It's available through the Focal Powered by Naim network of shops, priced at £4,499 / $5,500 / €5,000. You should arrange to have a listen yourself, if you can.

I can't quite believe it's been two and a half years since Dragon's Dogma 2 released – and playing the game's early hours again on my Switch 2 while travelling over the past weekend has been a reminder of just how impressive the game really is. Capcom's crunchy action-RPG is the sort of title that can grab hold of you and suck away dozens of hours before you realise what's happening, and that's high praise.

Now, it's got the major DLC it deserved, in the form of Dark Arisen, which also makes big tweaks to the base game and sees the whole package hit the Switch 2 with total parity of content. That's another little trophy in Capcom's cabinet, continuing a frankly ridiculous streak that runs through Pragmata, Resident Evil: Requiem and plenty more.

First, let's talk Nintendo. I'm not saying that Dragon's Dogma 2 on the Switch 2 is the same sort of miracle port as The Witcher 3 was on the original Switch, but it's still really quite remarkable to play on a portable machine this slim and quiet. This is a huge RPG with a massive world and some really emergent combat systems.

That it runs at all is a testament to Capcom's RE Engine and how it scales, but Dark Arisen also brings frame generation to the fore, which is important. We knew that Nintendo's console had the capacity to potentially use AMD's FSR Frame Generation, and now it's here (and more will follow in Stellar Blade soon).

This means that the game, running uncapped by default unless you tweak this in the menus, is able to inject frames to smooth out its gameplay – and the VRR-capable Switch 2 display makes this basically impossible to perceive. It means that the game's frame rate, which in fact hovers in the high 30s most of the time, feels far smoother than all that, and I'm deeply impressed with how playable that makes the whole adventure.

I've played about three hours on my Switch 2 and found myself basically bumping against no real friction in terms of gameplay compared to when I finished the base game (back at release) on my PlayStation 5. Now, though, I have a PS5 Pro to leverage for non-portable play, and that's where I've been playing the late-game expansion content.

This expansion sees you journey into a new region far to the north of the world you'll explore in the main game – which largely trends towards hotter climates, in fact. This means that, despite some parts of its visual design being fairly traditional (we've seen snow zones before), it's a really nice change of pace when you come to it, and its bleak, wintery areas really are lovely to explore.

The pace of the adventure here is really well-judged, too, and while I haven't finished it yet, I have a strong feeling that it'll follow the same trend as the base game – i.e. you could call it "finished" after 15 or so hours, but there will be dozens more in content for you to discover if you fall in love with the game.

One gameplay tweak that I didn't expect to find so addictive has been the addition of spoils, which are basically loot tokens that you find around the world, and which a given NPC can then convert into actual equipment for you to use or sell off. This loop of discovery, looting, then unveiling is surprisingly compelling, not least because the powers that these items can bequeath are occasionally build-changing.

Meanwhile, I've also used Dark Arisen as an excuse to change my main character's build, having played the base game as a mage. I'm now a fighter, and having a really good time getting more up close and personal, including a heap more climbing on and around monsters, the game's speciality.

On PS5 Pro, it's a really good-looking title – there's a cragginess and detail to its designs that draw you in nicely, and while some NPCs can look a little lumpy and randomised at times, hero characters are super compelling and animated. Plus, of course, while the Switch 2's VRR-enabled frame generation makes for decent smoothness, it's nothing compared to what the PS5 Pro can muster when you put it to the test.

This really does feel like one of those win-win releases. If you've never played Dragon's Dogma 2, there's literally no better time than now to dive in with a smoother, less obstructive experience. If you enjoyed the base game, this expansion is quite literally more, with some amazing boss fights and new systems to uncover. Get going!

As temperatures begin to drop, gardeners are being urged to give their lawns one final cut before winter sets in – if you can dodge the rain, that is!

We've already looked at the temperature at which you should stop mowing your lawn, but new advice from Gardeners Dream co-founder and gardening expert Craig Wilson reveals the predicted final mowing dates for different parts of the UK.

According to Wilson, Scotland is expected to reach below 7°C by 4th December, whilst England, Wales and Northern Ireland are predicted to follow on 8th December. That means we've got less than eight weeks before it's time to put the best lawn mower away for winter.

Wilson explains that grass naturally grows more slowly as temperatures fall, before returning to its usual growth rate around March. Whilst he would normally recommend a final mow between late October and the end of November, milder autumn weather could mean you can leave it a little later this year.

However, it's worth keeping an eye on the forecast and getting that final cut done before the first frost, which could damage your grass. To be on the safe side, Wilson recommends mowing before the end of November, even if the weather stays mild.

In a world full of sleep hacks and gadgets promising to cool you down at bedtime, it can be hard to know where to start when your sleep takes a turn for the worse. Your mattress is an obvious place to look, but cooling mattresses are often overlooked outside the two or three hottest months of the year.

What many people don't realise is that cooling mattresses can still be beneficial in autumn and winter, as they're designed to regulate temperature rather than simply make your bed feel cold. Your core body temperature needs to drop slightly to help you fall asleep, so a temperature-regulating mattress can help excess body heat escape even when your bedroom is cool.

Simba explored this with its upgraded Hybrid mattress range back in August, introducing new cooling technology designed to help you sleep better in the heat by keeping you up to 4.4°C cooler. A few weeks later, my own mattress arrived, and I got straight to testing it.

I wanted to put this review together after testing the mattress in two very different environments. First, I wanted to see how it performed during the heatwaves we'd experienced over the summer, which I managed to do towards the end of August. Then, as temperatures dropped, I wanted to find out whether the cooling technology would still make a difference, even when the weather turned colder.

I've been testing the upgraded Simba Hybrid Ultra, which earned five stars in our review of the original model. This newer version features graphite-infused HeatRelease strips designed to improve airflow and heat transfer, helping your body stay at a comfortable temperature throughout the night. The technology now comes as standard with the Hybrid Ultra, whilst it's an optional extra for the Hybrid Luxe and Hybrid Pro.

As expected, the technology was a godsend during the summer heatwaves. The mattress felt noticeably cooler as soon as I got into bed, and it stayed that way throughout the night. My partner also noticed the difference, and even though our super king means we rarely feel the heat coming off one another anyways, the cooling effect was still clear. Neither of us even kicked off the duvet during the night, which is usually a telltale sign in itself.

I was also sleeping on Simba's new Cool Linen bedding, which I know helped as well. You can read more about my experience with that in my separate review.

However, it wasn't until temperatures started to drop that I really appreciated the difference the cooling mattress could make, and I've been experiencing some of the most restorative sleep I've had in a long time.

The cooling effect isn't as obvious when I first climb into bed now, but I no longer overheat once I'm under the covers. That seems to be helping me stay asleep for longer and enjoy deeper rest, and my Oura Ring appears to be showing the results. I've included a few examples from the past few weeks below:

I'd never considered buying a cooling mattress before, as I assumed it was only worth having during the summer. After all, why invest in something if you can only enjoy its benefits for a few months of the year? However, sleeping on the Simba Hybrid Ultra with HeatRelease technology has completely changed my mind, and I think it could change yours too.

Things were a lot simpler back in 2024, when Ninja had just one coffee machine that was picking up all the top reviews. Fast-forward to 2026, and the range has grown considerably, so having reviewed several models, I've rounded up my favourites to help you choose.

Interestingly, I've found that neither the most expensive Ninja AutoBarista Pro nor the cheapest Ninja Prestige DualBrew System is necessarily the best buy. Instead, it's the models sitting somewhere in the middle of the range that have really impressed me.

Below, I've picked out my top three Ninja coffee machines and explained why I think they're better over the more expensive flagship model. They're also currently on sale, so it's a good time to pick one up if you're in the market for a new coffee machine.

Check out our other affordable coffee machine guides...

• 3 affordable Breville coffee machines I'd buy over an expensive one

• 3 affordable Sage coffee machines I'd buy over an expensive one

• 3 affordable De'Longhi coffee machines I'd buy over an expensive one

Begun, the streaming wars have – or, more to the point, they begun long ago. Netflix and Prime Video are now locked in what feels like a fight to the death, albeit one that Netflix appears to be winning handily if you go by viewership alone. Neither has any interest in letting up the pressure on the other, though, and that means content.

Sure, it's probably the worst word in history used to describe what should be artistic pursuits, but in a time full of more TV shows, movies and other material to watch than any other era in history, maybe we have to use it. If you're a Netflix subscriber, an Amazon Prime member, or both, you have a vested interest in knowing when good stuff hits either platform.

So, I've taken a careful look at everything being added to Netflix and Prime Video this week, and have picked out three highlights that you should be aware of. They're below, with trailers and release dates so that you can plan around them for your mid-week viewing pleasure.

The Diplomat (Season 4)

• Streaming on: Netflix from 15 October

One of the biggest hits that Netflix has had in recent years has been The Diplomat, starring Keri Russell in the title role as an extremely stressed diplomat for whom nothing seems to ever be simple. If you haven't watched the first few seasons, head off and do that, because this next paragraph will be spoilerish.

Kate (Russell's character) has always had a super complicated marriage, but things are even more fraught now that Hal (Rufus Sewell) is vice-President, and becoming ever more exposed to the sort of influence that she's afraid of. Whether she can keep a grip on the whole situation is anyone's guess, and doubtless there's going to be at least one major twist to keep her on her toes.

Love of Your Life

• Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video from 14 October

If you're in the mood for a story that's a little bit more optimistic about the potential for love to strike when you're least expecting it, then Love of Your Life seems like the perfect pick for a mid-week evening pick-me-up. It stars the always-glowing Margaret Qualley as a young woman mourning the messy end of a relationship that she thought would go the distance.

She takes herself on a European trip to clear her mind, but with no intention of falling for anyone else while she's there. Life has other plans, though, as it so often does, and she's soon doing her best to stop catching feelings for none other than Aaron Pierre (fresh from his profile-raising work in Lanterns).

Masterplan

• Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video from 16 October

My final pick this week is the most light-hearted of the lot, so it might be a great pick if you're in the mood for something snackish and easygoing this week. Stanley Tucci stars in Masterplan as a master thief who's planning a job just a little bit too big for him to tackle on his own: stealing literally the Mona Lisa. This means it's a Louvre heist, which is obviously more topical than it might have been a decade ago.

The movie looks, frankly, like a bit of light fun – Tucci's clearly having a ball, from the trailer, and he's the only really recognisable face in the whole thing. That hopefully won't stop it from putting together an inventive story, and if it can nail the fundamentals of a good heist sequence, then it'll be well worth the price of entry (which you already paid in your Prime sub).

Christmas might still feel a little way off, but plenty of retailers are already getting into the festive spirit. IKEA is one to keep an eye on if you like your Christmas décor affordable and understated, but its designs tend to be popular, so it's worth taking a look now before the favourites sell out.

As part of its latest Stråla collection, IKEA has launched a variety of festive lighting, including chain lights, LED decorations, table decorations and outdoor lights. I've picked out a few options below, but don't forget to check out the full collection on IKEA's website.

Autumn is one of my favourite times of year to head outdoors. The trails are quieter, the scenery looks spectacular in its seasonal colours, and there's something wonderfully refreshing about spending a few hours outside when the weather isn't playing ball.

Of course, there's a difference between enjoying a brisk autumn walk and spending several miserable hours getting soaked to the bone.

Having spent years testing hiking boots, waterproof jackets, trail running shoes and all manner of outdoor equipment, I've learned that the right gear can make a big difference.

And I'm not just talking about expensive GORE-TEX jackets. A decent base layer or comfortable socks can be just as important as your outer shell, particularly when you're moving between different environments or dealing with unpredictable British weather.

With that in mind, I've pulled together some of the most interesting wet-weather essentials in 2026, including products from Patagonia, Montbell, HOKA, Snow Peak and Shackleton.

Some are designed to keep the rain out, others help regulate temperature or manage moisture, and a few simply make spending time outdoors more enjoyable when the days get shorter.

Acqua di Parma recently expanded its Signatures of the Sun collection with its Cedro Virtuoso eau de parfum, and to say I was eager to try it was an understatement. Described as warm, creamy and woody, Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso sounds like the perfect scent to transition from summer to autumn, and it really took me by surprise.

If you’ve taken a peek at my author picture, you’ll have probably guessed that while I’m an expert in men’s fragrances, I don’t tend to test them. So, I enlisted the help of my husband, who, as a fan of Acqua di Parma, was more than happy to wear it for me

As a woody gourmand fragrance, the main notes of Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso are hazelnut, Virginia cedarwood, musk, tonka bean and Calabrian bergamot. Created by Fabrice Pellegrin, the first two ingredients are co-finished through a 30 day maceration process to achieve that rich, creamy scent.

Creaminess is definitely present in Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso, with the smooth richness of hazelnut being the main thing that you smell when you spray it or just sniff it from the bottle. The cream does translate to sweetness, and I found it to be on the far sweeter side than I expected.

The most prominent layers I could smell were hazelnut and tonka bean, although the first spray has a burst of citrus before it settles into its sweeter notes. I couldn’t really smell the woodiness of the cedar or sandalwood, but they definitely added some warmth to the fragrance.

Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso is actually a unisex scent, although my husband wore it more than I did during testing. I found it to be a bit overpowering for me with the muskier notes, while he felt the opposite and found the sweeter ones to be more intense.

Speaking of intense, Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso is one of the most long-lasting fragrances I’ve ever tried. My husband sprayed it in the morning and left for work, and I could still smell it around the house long after he was gone. When he got home late in the evening, the scent of Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso was still strong, and it lingered for days.

I’d say you can definitely use Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso sparingly, not just because it’s quite powerful, but because it sticks around for a while – you probably won’t need to buy a new bottle for months. I also found it clung to skin and clothes well, with the latter holding the scent better.

When I first heard of the notes in Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso, I thought it would be a good transition scent between summer and autumn, and I think I was right. I compared it to Acqua di Parma Blu Mediterranean – my husband’s favourite fragrance – and found Blu Mediterranean to be much fresher and zestier than Cedro Virtuoso.

However, comparing Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso to a more oud, wintery scent also felt like night and day, as its notes are much brighter. It’s still got some warmth to it though, so a summer-autumn fragrance is how I’d best describe Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso.

What I also found interesting was how different Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso smelt in fragrance form compared to candle form. I was kindly gifted an Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso candle, and while I’m unlikely to burn it because of its price and using it as a homeware piece, I found the candle to be much brighter and more citrusy than the fragrance.

In terms of looks, the Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso looks the part with its classic glass bottle design. The fragrance has a rich brown-yellow colour which also matches the autumnal season I think it’s best suited to.

With prices starting at £180 for a 50ml bottle, Acqua di Parma Cedro Virtuoso isn’t cheap, but the brand is luxurious, and even a small bottle of it is sure to last you a while. You can buy 50ml, 100ml and 180ml sizes at John Lewis.

Six years ago, at the start of 2020, Polestar – then a new car company, spun off from Volvo with much to prove – wowed us all with the Precept.

A concept car outlining what the company hoped to deliver in its formative years, the Precept was a stunning piece of vehicle design. An electric grand tourer with a sharp but muscular body, and an interior reminiscent of a business class cabin. It looked magnificent.

Now, a fair few years later than expected, the Precept has become reality in the form of the Polestar 5.

Bookending the first era of Polestar as a standalone car company – which began with the hybrid 1, then shifted to full-electric for the 2, 3 and 4 – the 5 is a stunning vehicle, inside and out. It also uses a bespoke bonded aluminium chassis that shares nothing with the rest of the Polestar family, or even anything with other members of the Geely automotive group, which includes Volvo and Lotus.

But what is it actually like? T3 headed to Northumberland to find out.

The 5 is a bold signal of intent from Polestar. An electric grand tourer that starts at £89,500 and tops out at over £115,000 when all boxes are ticked, it squares up neatly against rivals like the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, Lotus Emeya – and, yes, the new Jaguar Type 01.

My first encounter with the Polestar 5 couldn’t have been more incongruous. It’s the sort of grey, misty day that this part of Northern England is particularly good at. The air is damp with drizzle, cobblestones glisten beneath tourists’ feet and the medieval Alnwick Castle broods in the background in a way that would please the Brontë sisters. A bright white Polestar 5 sits among this like an alien spaceship in search of a charging station.

It might be the most striking car on sale today. And I’m not saying that because I don’t want to be rude. I mean it’s striking in the best way possible. Sharp, clean and modern, it manages to portray enormous presence without making the all-too-common mistake of confusing assertiveness with aggression. It’s wide, low, long and powerful, but isn’t a car whose driver probably likes to flash us all out of the fast lane.

Inside, the killer design continues with a 4+1 seating arrangement that provides seatbelts for five, but in reality there are supposed to be two occupants in the back instead of the usual three. A centre armrest lowers over the middle seat, properly separating the outer two and giving passengers stowage and a touch panel for controlling their seat heating, cooling and massage. These seats can also be reclined electronically and there’s masses of knee and headroom.

It’s properly luxurious back there – a sensation aided by the 5’s massive glass roof that’s over two metres long and fills the cabin with light, even on a miserable Northern day.

There’s no rear windscreen, as in the Polestar 4, so instead the driver has a camera and digital display, which I think works very well but some glasses wearers don’t always get along with. The rest of the driving environment is similar to other members of the Polestar family, its dashboard dominated by a huge, portrait-oriented touchscreen, a letterbox-shaped driver display behind the wheel, and…not much else.

It isn’t quite as spartan as a Tesla – smart implementation of a range of interesting, often recycled materials help prevent that – but it’s a touch too clinical. Polestar’s touchscreen works well, and its user interface combined with Google’s Android Automotive is among today’s best infotainment systems.

But in a six-figure car I’d prefer to see some money spent on tactile switchgear. I’m not asking for Ferrari Luce levels of Leica-like tactility, but some nicely damped dials for cabin temperature and fan speed would have been welcome, or a bank of cold-to-the-touch toggle switches could have been fun. The 5 is expected to be the final car of Polestar’s first era, so hopefully the next generation will see a shift away from today’s touchscreen dominance.

The 21-speaker, 1,610-watt Bowers & Wilkins sound system is fabulous – both in the way it looks and sounds – but bizarrely lacks the Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio compatibility that makes the Polestar 3’s B&W stereo such a treat, which is a shame.

Happily, driving the Polestar 5 makes up for this shortfall. Not because it sounds good – Polestar has rightly opted for silence instead of pretend engine histrionics – but because it’s an absolute joy to drive. Our 170-mile test route took in some seriously challenging roads across the very north of England, and the 5 never put a foot wrong.

Much of this is thanks to the clever bonded aluminium chassis, which is extremely stiff. That inherent stiffness meant everything attached to it – the suspension, the steering, etc. – could be tuned to do exactly what Polestar’s engineers wanted, instead of wasting bandwidth masking the downfalls of wobbly foundations.

Despite being a touch over five metres long, two metres wide and weighing 2,500 kg, the Polestar 5 hides its bulk remarkably well. I drove the standard car, known as the Dual Motor, which lacks the clever MagneRide semi-active suspension of the pricier Performance model, but still uses its passive dampers with hydraulic rebound stops to excellent effect. It’s flat, stable and composed through the corners, while remaining comfortable too and not being spoiled by the overly firm ride some other Polestars exhibit.

The Dual Motor is down on power too – not that you’d especially notice during normal driving. It still serves up 748 horsepower and 812 Nm of torque, sprints to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds and has a top speed of 155 mph. Its massive 112 kWh battery uses an 800-volt architecture, charges at up to 350 kW and can fill from 10 to 80% in as little as 22 minutes.

The Polestar 5 Performance (which starts at £104,900) produces 884 hp and 1,015 Nm – proper supercar figures – and hits 62 mph in 3.2 seconds. The top speed is the same, and so too is its battery size and charging performance.

Range is up to a claimed 416 miles for the Dual Motor and 351 miles in the Performance, but these figures depend on how the car is driven.

Given the challenging test route – and how the car had likely been driven in a spirited manner by journalists since the day it was born – I saw an estimate of just 260 miles from 97%. But the average consumption for my drive was 3.16 miles per kWh, which equates to a theoretical range of about 354 real-world miles, or 62 short of what Polestar claims using the WLTP test cycle.

Back to the actual driving, and the Polestar 5 strikes a nice balance between fun and civility. There’s no artificial noise, no fake gears and not even a set of paddles for adjusting regenerative braking, so in that sense you feel a little detached from the massive performance.

But the steering is nice, the brakes are strong, the rate of acceleration is massive and, despite its scale, the 5 handles with an athleticism that matches the exterior. I haven’t driven the Performance model, so will reserve judgement on whether the extra power (and, more importantly, the clever suspension) make enough difference to be worth the extra £15,400.

Should you buy the Polestar 5?

Six years is a long time in today’s electric car world. Had the Polestar 5 arrived soon after the Precept, it would have landed like that sucker punch to the establishment Elon Musk once said the Tesla Roadster would make.

Instead, we’re now well into the second generation of Porsche Taycan, the Lotus Emeya has failed to escape niche territory, and the sales success of the Jaguar Type 01 is, for now, anyone’s guess.

That makes life harder for the Polestar – indeed, for any six-figure, electric grand tourer – but it doesn’t make the car any less impressive. Crucially, it still looks remarkably close to the Precept, and as a result is one of the most beautiful cars on sale today. I could almost suggest you buy it on looks alone; it really is that jaw-droppingly handsome in person. And the bespoke chassis gives it the driving dynamics to back up those looks, too.

There are some frustrations. The lack of a rear windscreen still won’t be for everyone, and the emphasis on a big touchscreen over tactile switchgear is an opportunity missed at this price point.

And while a relatively niche market segment, the Polestar 5 finds itself up against some exceptionally capable competition from brands with greater mass-market appeal. But after a day on some of the UK’s best roads, I came away with a smile on my face. The Polestar 5 looks sensational, inside and out, drives beautifully, and charges quickly. It might have arrived a little late, but it’s a fine flagship for the Polestar family.

It feels pretty standard to wake up and turn the coffee machine on, or reach for a cup of tea straight after lunch. However, these everyday habits can have a bigger effect on your caffeine levels than you might realise, potentially making it harder to get a good night's sleep.

Recent research has found that caffeine was associated with around 45 minutes less sleep overall, with researchers looking at factors including total sleep time, how long it took participants to fall asleep, sleep efficiency and the different stages of sleep.

Perhaps most surprisingly, the researchers calculated that people should have their final coffee 8.8 hours before going to bed if they want to avoid the reduction in total sleep time seen in the analysis. So, if you're aiming to be asleep by 10pm, that would mean having your final standard coffee by around 1.12pm. For an 11pm bedtime, the cut-off would be roughly 2.12pm.

That might sound surprisingly early, particularly if an afternoon coffee is a normal part of your routine. Luke Dalton, coffee expert at UK coffee brand Contact Coffee Co, says it's a useful reminder that caffeine doesn't simply disappear because you've moved into the afternoon.

“A lot of us think of coffee in terms of morning, afternoon and evening, but caffeine doesn't work according to those neat sections of the day,” he said.

“If you're making another coffee at three or four in the afternoon, it is worth remembering that some of that caffeine can still be relevant hours later."

That said, the 8.8-hour figure shouldn't be treated as a hard rule for every coffee drinker. The study's calculation was based on a 250ml coffee containing 107mg of caffeine, but the amount you actually consume can vary considerably depending on the coffee, serving size and brewing method.

As Luke explains, “You could have a small espresso, an Americano made with multiple shots, a big mug of filter coffee or something brewed very strongly at home. They may look like similar habits on paper, but the caffeine you're consuming can be very different.

“Even the beans and the way the drink is prepared can change things, so the clock isn't the only thing worth paying attention to.”

There's some further evidence to suggest that the amount of caffeine you're drinking matters just as much as when you have it. A later trial published in the academic journal SLEEP found no significant sleep effect from a 100mg caffeine dose when taken four hours before bed in its small study. However, a much larger 400mg dose affected sleep even when consumed 12 hours beforehand.

So, rather than there being one exact time when coffee can have a negative impact on your sleep, the more useful takeaway is to consider both how much caffeine you're having and how close it is to bedtime. If you regularly have an afternoon coffee and sleep well, there's no need to panic, but if you're struggling to nod off, your later caffeine intake could be worth looking at.

I used to test pro controllers all the time – it's part of the territory when you cover as much gaming and tech gear as I do. When the PS5 launched, though, something fundamental changed about the market. Sony's DualSense controller was a big step forward in terms of haptics, but it was also basically a closed shop, and there have been very few third-party controllers that work with PS5 since then as a result.

That's all basically a quick explanation of why the Aeon Pro, a superb new controller from SteelSeries, lacks the one bit of functionality that would see me use it every single day until the end of time. It's a PC and Xbox controller (as the big logo in the middle of it, and the textbook layout, would both suggest), and while I have plenty of use for the former, the latter is increasingly a less popular platform.

It's a limitation that I can't see as SteelSeries' fault, although I'd still feed back that PS5 compatibility should be the major goal of any controller-maker right now, by hook or by crook. Aside from that limitation, though, the Aeon Pro really is hugely impressive.

"Pro" controllers can run the gamut in terms of features, but SteelSeries has made sure to push the boat out in terms of inputs. You don't just get a couple of extra buttons here, but instead get four very clicky ones on the rear of the controller. These are easy to reprogram either by connecting the pad to software or using its built-in screen and menus (I'm amazed by how responsive these are).

The main triggers are both adjustable, letting you choose between full travel or clicky instant-response. That's ideal for letting you stick to one pad for all genres. It's a small thing, but the extreme clickiness of the main face buttons is also striking, and makes it all feel phenomenal to game on.

If SteelSeries is known for one thing in the world of headsets, it's for the idea of swappable batteries, something that it came up with for the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless and has now implemented a few times to great success. Adding this system to the Aeon Pro is one of those no-brainers that's clearly still innovative simply because the competition isn't doing it.

Like a high-end headset, this means that the charging cradle for the Aeon Pro, which also doubles as a connector for the controller's wireless standard, houses a charging battery at all times. When your controller runs low, you can just slide a panel off the back and swap the two batteries to never run out of charge. You'll also see the charge status of both batteries when you pick up the controller, on that built-in screen.

Frankly, with around 11.5 hours of battery life on a charge at the lowest, I can't imagine when I'd need to make this swap urgently, but since the dock only charges the controller when my PC is on, it's still a great reassurance.

That dock is also a system-swap hub, so you can have an Xbox and a PC connected simultaneously to swap between them without any hassle. The only downside to that built-in OLED input is that the menu buttons have moved down to the bottom of the controller – not an issue, per se, but something you'll need to get used to.

If there's one other elephant in the room for the Aeon Pro, it's the price: $260/£230. Those are chunky numbers for a controller, even one that feels as superb in the hand as this. It's also the sort of price that makes you want near-perfection, and while I think the Aeon Pro might be close to that level if you like the Xbox layout and don't need it to work with your PS5 or Switch 2, that won't be true of everyone.

If you're on the hunt for a high-end controller for just PC or Xbox, though, and budget is really no object, then this could adorn your desk very nicely. In that way, it pairs pretty beautifully with the Arctis Nova Elite headset – the price doesn't necessarily make sense, but the hardware is fairly irresistible.

Want to age better, improve your strength, gain lean muscle and improve your body composition? Strength training is your best friend.

In fact, you've probably heard plenty about the importance of maintaining muscle as you age, but there's a good reason for it. From around the age of 30, we gradually begin to lose muscle mass and strength, and this can become more noticeable as the decades go by.

The concern isn't simply how your muscles look, either. Losing muscle can mean losing strength, balance, power and the physical reserve that helps you continue doing everything from carrying the shopping to climbing stairs to playing sport and staying steady on your feet.

To help combat this, we asked Phil Evans, Chartered Physiotherapist, founder of Urban Body and author of Built to Last After 50, for the 10 strength exercises he'd recommend after 50.

Why strength training matters after 50

Getting older doesn't automatically mean becoming weaker.

“Think of your muscles as your body's suspension system,” says Evans. “Strong muscles help support your joints, absorb and control load and give you more physical capacity for whatever you want to keep doing.”

More importantly, your muscles are still capable of responding to resistance training as you get older.

“Your body continues responding to mechanical stress and nutrition well into later life,” says Evans. “And the good news is that muscle responds to training as we get older. You can get stronger.”

How often should you strength train after 50?

You don't need to train every day. According to Evans, two to three strength sessions a week is plenty for most people over 50.

“What matters is giving your muscles enough of a challenge to make them adapt, then giving them time to recover,” he explains.

The workout provides the stimulus, while recovery gives your body time to rebuild. What you do during those sessions matters too. For example, if you've been squatting with the same 10kg weight for the past six months, your body has very little reason to change.

Instead, Evans recommends gradually asking a little more of your muscles as you get stronger. That could mean adding weight, completing a few more reps, increasing your range of motion or progressing to a harder variation.

And there's no need to destroy yourself in the process.

“Being sore for three days isn't proof you've had a good workout,” says Evans. “Two or three good sessions, done consistently and gradually progressed, will get you far further than going all-out for a few weeks and giving up.”

Ready to get started? Here are Evans' top 10 exercises for building a stronger body after 50.

10 exercises to bulletproof your body after 50

1. Sit-to-stand or squat

Sit on the front edge of a sturdy chair with your feet under your knees. Stand without using your hands, then lower yourself slowly back down.

Why: This builds strength through the legs and hips while training one of the fundamental movements we use every day. You can then add weight as you get stronger.

2. Step-ups

Using the bottom stair or a low, stable step, place one foot fully on top, push through that leg to step up, then lower yourself slowly.

Why: Step-ups strengthen each leg individually and build the functional strength you need for climbing stairs, tackling hills, hiking and sport. Increase the step height or add weight to make them harder.

3. Hip hinge or deadlift

Push your hips backwards, then use your hips and legs to drive yourself back to standing.

Why: This movement gets your glutes, hamstrings and back muscles working together and builds the strength you need for picking things up, whether that's a weight in the gym or something heavy at home.

4. Press-ups

Why: Press-ups build strength through your chest, shoulders and arms and can be adapted to almost any fitness level.

If the floor is too challenging, start with your hands against a wall or on a sturdy chair, then gradually lower the height as you get stronger.

5. Rows

Using a resistance band or a pair of dumbbells, pull your elbows backwards towards your body.

Why: Rows strengthen your upper back and arms, developing pulling strength while working the muscles that help support good posture.

6. Overhead press

Hold your dumbbells at shoulder height, press them overhead, then lower slowly with control.

Why: Overhead strength comes in handy whenever you're putting something on a high shelf, lifting luggage or tackling jobs around the house or garden.

7. Farmer's carry

Pick up something reasonably heavy in each hand and walk. Dumbbells work well - and kettlebells too.

Why: This simple exercise trains your grip, core, shoulders and legs simultaneously, making it one of the most functional strength exercises on the list.

8. Calf raises

Stand near a wall or chair for support, slowly rise onto your toes, then lower your heels with control.

Why: Your calves help propel you forward when you walk, run and climb hills. Progress to single-leg calf raises or add resistance when bodyweight becomes too easy.

9. Split squat

Stand with one foot in front of the other and lower yourself by bending both knees before pushing back up. Alternatively, you can step backwards into a reverse lunge.

Why: Both variations strengthen the hips and thighs one leg at a time, helping with everything from balance to climbing stairs and even getting up from the floor.

10. Glute bridge

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet planted on the floor. Push through your feet, lift your hips and squeeze your glutes before lowering slowly.

Why: Strong glutes help with walking, running, getting in and out from a chair, lifting and generally generating power through the hips. Add resistance or even squeeze a pillow in between your thighs to progress the move.

How to add these exercises to your routine

Before you start feeling overwhelmed by all 10 exercises, don't panic. “The key is not to think you need to do all the exercises every time you train,” says Evans

“For a simple session, choose a lower-body movement such as a squat or step-up, an upper-body push and pull, like the row, a hip exercise such as a deadlift or bridge, and a carry. You can rotate through the other exercises across the week.”

Strength isn't the entire picture after 50, either. Evans recommends continuing to work on balance and mobility, particularly maintaining good movement through the upper back, hips and ankles.

And perhaps the most important thing is remembering what you're actually training for.

“It's not just another personal best in the gym,” says Evans. “It's being able to play sport, walk up a mountain, spend a day in the garden, do the DIY, carry your own luggage and keep saying yes to the things you enjoy.”

Or, to put it another way: “Train for the life you want to live, not just the body you want to look at.”

If you're building a list of the best RPGs ever made, there's no doubt a lot of personal opinion that'll inform your choice for the top spot, but some games just have to be in the upper echelons. No matter your persuasion, most people would agree, for one, that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt belongs in that conversation.

It's one of the finest open-world games of all time, but also one of the most intriguing, expansive and immersive RPGs ever, and it's been attracting accolades for donkey's years now. In 2026, though, CD Projekt Red has seen fit to bring it up to date once more by releasing a remastered version for modern consoles and the PC.

That means a new version of the game running natively on the Nintendo Switch 2, which previously just had the near-miraculous but very blurry original Switch version to turn to. This new port is available as a new purchase, but crucially is also a free upgrade for those who already have the Switch 1 version – so you might already own the newest version without realising it.

This generosity is a great start to the experience of testing out The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, but it doesn't end there. This past weekend I've put in around five hours in the game, refreshing my memory of its brilliant campaign and sizeable expansions, and I'm basically in awe of how it runs on Nintendo's machine.

Before we get to performance, though, it might be worth underscoring that this is a third-person, action-focused RPG with long, winding questlines. Geralt of Rivia, the series' hero, is on the search for his adoptive daughter Ciri, but she's not easy to track down, and he'll also circle around the sorceress Yennefer while he hunts. The story is peak fantasy, the action is relatively simple but very satisfying, and the setting is dark and gritty in a hugely satisfying way.

The fact that this game ever ran on the first Switch was a superb feat, but the performance on offer meant that I never really got into it – playing the game on any other platform felt like a better pick for me. Now, though, I think the portable experience on the Switch 2 is genuinely at the point where the compromises are no longer really there.

The developers have embraced Nintendo's hardware, including that variable refresh-rate screen, to give the game a 40fps mode as default, which means that it feels impressively smooth without the same demands as a 60fps version. There are areas where this performance dips a little into the mid-30s, but I haven't found that distracting, and the benefits to perceived smoothness are huge.

It's also drastically less blurry than the previous port, as you'd hope, and while there are still clear fuzzy edges to things when you're playing in handheld mode (these really clear up when you dock the console), it's extremely legible and clear. This means that I really do think you could play the game's entire saga from start to finish without feeling like you should have done so on other hardware.

If that feels like damning the port with faint praise, think again – I love this game to death, and to be able to play it on the go, on a machine with just a faint whirr of fan noise rather than a cacophony, is quite special. My girlfriend also only really games on the Switch 2, so this means that she's now lined up to play one of the best stories in gaming, something I've been saving for her for ages.

All of this is also doubly reassuring given that the game is getting a new expansion next year – Songs of the Past. The gap between the original game's release and this DLC is staggeringly long, but it promises to set the scene for The Witcher 4, which sounds like a real treat, and it'll come to this Switch 2 version from the start.

This all means that you can get the game on Switch 2 and be confident that even if you manage to hoover up all of its content by the end of the year (which would be quite a feat, given its scale), you'll still have more to enjoy next year, at presumably the same level of performance. That, in turn, means this is a great investment, and the smartest way to buy it is probably to find a used copy of the Switch 1 port, buy that and then score the free upgrade that way. That's a hot tip in case it hadn't occurred to you!

Powered exoskeletons might still sound like something you’d expect to see in a science-fiction film, but Hypershell is making a convincing case that the technology belongs in the outdoors right now.

Designed to add powered assistance to walking, hiking and other active pursuits, the New Hypershell X range essentially gives your legs a little extra help when you’re moving. The idea isn’t to do the walking for you, but to make long days, steep climbs and demanding terrain feel more manageable.

What does a powered exoskeleton actually do?

All models in the Hypershell X range are powered by the brand’s HyperIntuition system, which recognises how you’re moving and adjusts the level of assistance accordingly. The company says – and TÜV Rheinland, global leader in independent technical testing, has verified it – that the system can respond in as little as 0.31 seconds and synchronise with your gait as terrain and pace change.

The system is also designed for the stop-start nature of real-world outdoor use, regardless of the surface or steepness of the terrain you’re tackling. Hypershell says its testing has shown reductions in muscle load of up to 42.7%, along with lower average heart rate and oxygen consumption in certain test scenarios.

As ever, real-world performance figures will vary depending on the wearer, terrain and activity, but Hypershell’s numbers are a good indication of the level of assistance you get from wearing an exoskeleton out in the wild.

Three versions for very different adventures

The Hypershell X Pro S is the most accessible all-rounder of the three discounted models.

With up to 800W of output and a claimed single-charge range of 17.5km, it’s aimed at everyday outdoor activity, lighter hiking, walking and commuting. If you’re intrigued by the technology but don’t necessarily need huge range, this is the most straightforward entry point.

For longer outings, the Hypershell X Max S increases peak output to 1000W and extends the claimed range to 30km.

That makes it the more obvious choice for longer hikes, trail outings and days when you expect to cover significantly more ground. Hypershell Max S sits in the sweet spot for users who want more range without stepping up to its most extreme configuration.

Then there’s the Hypershell X Ultra S, which takes things considerably further.

It retains the 1000W peak output, but pairs it with a dual-battery setup capable of delivering a claimed 60km total range and can withstand more extreme temperatures (-20° to 60° C versus -10° to 60° C for Pro S and Max S). It’s designed for demanding, long-duration use where maximum endurance is the priority.

Designed to disappear into the background

As fascinating as the technology behind the Hypershell X range is, comfort matters just as much for something designed to be worn for hours at a time.

Hypershell has equipped the units with a soft-pack suspension system, a three-zone waist pad, lower-back support and honeycomb anti-slip silicone intended to keep everything stable while you move.

The best wearable technology is the kind you stop thinking about once you’re using it. And while any old powered exoskeleton can offer impressive specifications on paper, if it doesn’t feel natural enough to wear on a long walk or day out, you’ll stop using it eventually.

The New Hypershell X range is designed with that in mind, and combines powered assistance with a wearable setup meant to move with the body rather than get in its way.

A more approachable way to try exoskeleton tech

Exoskeletons have historically felt like specialist equipment, but products such as the New Hypershell X Series are pushing the category towards mainstream outdoor use.

Head to the Hypershell website to find out more.

I can't be the only one who'd never played an Ace Combat game until this week, right? The series just got its eighth iteration, Wings of Theve, and while I've known about it for quite a few years, I've never had the circumstances align to the point where I've actually knuckled down and played one.

Now, with a review code provided by Bandai Namco, that's changed, and I've been slotting down a virtual visor to go on sorties for a few days, notching hours of flight time and realising that even in-game flight can be way more challenging than I thought.

This isn't a game that dresses itself up with multiple different types of gameplay, either – it's all plane, all of the time. While you do get a surprising amount of story content delivered in briefings and cutscenes before and after missions (in which you can move the camera a little, and occasionally press a button to, for instance, shake someone's hand), the gameplay is all flight-based.

You play as a pilot who's on an early mission with an ace, the Wings of Theve, before being shot down, with that ace passing away. Rather than admitting such a damaging blow, though, the PR operation behind your military (aiming to retake its own territory after invasion) decides to pretend that you are the Wings, continuing the legacy of this larger-than-life figure.

That's all a framework around which a long series of missions play out, as your forces make advances and beat retreats according to the overarching military plot. To help, you'll fly a wide range of missions, from escorting landing troops to retake a city, to strafing a giant land battleship as it crawls towards the battlefield, or long dogfights against enemy squadrons above the ocean.

There are an impressive number of different scenarios to experience, and two main control schemes to do so with. The older-school of the two lets you control pitch and roll, and while it's easy enough in isolation, in the middle of battles (if you're anything like me), the ground becomes your biggest enemy. The more casual option leaves you able to do far fewer interesting manoeuvres, but makes it miles harder to crash, and I've ended up using it to avoid frustration.

That's something I know I'll probably have to change if I decide to dive into the world of online play once I finish the campaign, which is daunting. What's also daunting is that I'm playing on PC, where people are a bit more likely to have access to flight sticks and other equipment; I normally play my multiplayer games on PS5 Pro, where my friends also game, but that option isn't the one I went with this time, and part of me regrets that choice for social play's sake.

Graphically, though, it's hard to argue with the PC version of the game. I'm playing on the Nvidia rig that I have on loan, complete with its 5070 Ti, and Wings of Theve is quite the looker at 1440p. It's a super-demanding game, too, with 4K play stretching my system to the point of needing frame generation to level things out.

Instead, I've dropped to 1440p without any real compromises on clarity, and am playing the game on the Ultra preset with no complaints and no hitches. While smoothness is really important (and I'm getting a steady 60fps without issues), it's also interesting that the pace of dogfights means that I don't feel the need to push for results closer to 120fps at this point.

The game's beautiful, though, and around 10 missions into the campaign, it's doing a great job of showcasing its natural weather systems and cloud formations. Whether it's a golden sunset cascading through high clouds or a dark and rainy night with low visibility, there's a really fun vibrancy to how the stages look.

The aircraft themselves, meanwhile, are also ridiculously detailed and impressive, with moving parts that really sing with authenticity, which makes sense since almost all of the planes you can fly in the game are, in fact, real and licensed.

I wasn't sure whether I'd click with Ace Combat 8, especially in a release calendar so ridiculously busy that I have multiple other new games waiting to be started (I'm looking at you, Silent Hill: Townfall). I'm having a blast, though, and have already carefully plotted how I'll be progressing through the campaign's unlockable skill tree – a sure sign of commitment.

Whether you aim to play it on PS5, Xbox or PC, I'd give Wings of Theve a firm recommendation as an entry point to a long series. If, like me, Ace Combat has always flown by as a theory, not something you've actually tried, then I'd tell you to get on my six, and try it out.

The crown weighs heavily in the world of streaming – for however long Netflix has been able to call itself the biggest streaming service in the world, it's known the whole time that it can't rest easy. The likes of Prime Video are there in the back of its mind at all times, trying to steal away the status it earned.

Some of us, of course, will just play both sides in this one, and if you're a subscriber to either or both of Prime Video and Netflix, then you're likely curious about what you can expect from the pair of streamers this week. It's actually a really big one for releases, too, with some massive additions rounding out my three picks below. You'll find each with a trailer for some context, along with a release date to plan around.

Animals

• Streaming on: Netflix from 9 October

Ben Affleck's new film looks like a thriller that should have you on the edge of your seat, not least because there seem to be a few different angles on its plot. On the surface, he plays a mayoral candidate in California whose life is upended when his son is kidnapped, driving him to desperation.

Below that, though, there are clearly some sordid details percolating. Affleck's character seems to be hiding more than one secret, and he's not the only one – his wife (Kerry Washington) is clearly at least somewhat compromised too. Throw in Gillian Anderson as a shadowy fixer that comes in to theoretically help things move forward, and you've got a pretty interesting equation for a movie.

Carrie

• Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video from 7 October

Carrie launched the career of a certain Stephen King, which is quite the accolade, and was later adapted into one of the most iconic horror movies of all time, albeit subsequent remakes have generally been fairly dire. Now it's time for a new vision, though, and Mike Flanagan's horror credentials are basically peerless.

He's running this new show, which looks like it'll take a slower-paced view of Carrie's journey into the hellish world of school bullying, and also update it for modern times. Harrowing scenes from the original might be even more troubling in the age of smartphones and cameras, and this looks like it could be quite the addition for Prime Video this week.

Below

• Streaming on: Netflix from 8 October

Back to Netflix we go, though, for my last pick, which sees Josh Hartnett return to our screens for what looks like a supernatural horror-thriller, which is quite the combination of genre flags. Below looks like nothing else we've seen recently, and I consider that an accolade. Hartnett's character is scarred by a confusing event from his childhood, and hopes that it'll never crop up again.

He's left to process his disappointment, then, when a mysterious and giant iceberg floats into the bay of his quiet fishing town, inexplicably, and seemingly starts to fuel odd happenings and unrest. The trailers for this one have been mercifully vague, so I'm looking forward to discovering some big twists about the bizarre plot that Below might offer up when it arrives midweek.

The humble bicycle is fast becoming the best way to get around urban environments. Soaring fuel costs, low-emission zones and congestion charges are pushing vehicles out of city centres, while expanding bike lanes make two-wheeled travel quicker than ever. In fact, research from health data expert Terra proves cycling is the fastest way across London for journeys under eight miles.

The problem is pedalling. While bicycles are highly efficient, they require effort. Sweaty, panting effort. There's a simple solution: add an electric motor. Suddenly, you can get around the city with minimal exertion, and the drawbacks of conventional cycling evaporate like sweat off a Lycra-clad back. Today's models are a far cry from the clunky e-bikes of the mid-2010s, with subtly integrated batteries and minimalist motors that look almost identical to standard bikes. Here, we'll guide you through everything you need to know about these cybernetic velocipedes.

GETTING STARTED

Ask any e-bike addict what their gateway drug was, and they'll probably tell you the same thing: Limes. What was once a citrus fruit associated with hazy memories of salt and tequila is now synonymous with electric hire bikes dotted around the country's cities. Other options are available: Forest, Voi, Beryl, Bolt, Tier, Santander, but Lime is the most popular. And the most unpopular: the Daily Mail will often run horror stories on how these citric e-bikes are clogging our pavements and causing ‘Lime bike leg' (severe injuries attributed to being crushed by one of the cumbersome cycles).

Whatever your opinion on hire e-bikes, there's no denying that they've revolutionised the way we get around cities. Unlike buses, you don't have to wait for a bike to show up – you can usually just grab one from your nearest parking zone. They don't get held up in jams, or by red lights (rider dependent). And, unlike the early era of Boris Bikes, electric motor assistance makes riding these absolute units an effortless joy.

But, as e-bike riders find, it's not always plain sailing. Sometimes they can be unreliable, and their per-mile or per-minute pricing seems low to start with, but can soon add up: an average daily commute with Lime's pay-as-you-go pricing can cost a whopping £240 a month. And this is exactly where buying an e-bike makes sense.

BECOME A CONVERT

Your best bike is the one you already have – and you might not need to buy an entire new e-bike when you can just strap a motor to your existing one. Units such as Skarper (which attaches to your rear disc brake rotor) and Swytch (which replaces your front wheel with an electric one) give you all the benefits of an e-bike on your existing steed. The added advantage here is that you can switch it back to a non-electric bike in a matter of seconds, and you don't need to find space to store a whole extra bicycle, which can be handy when each cubic inch of your flat costs £1,000 a month in rent.

Or, you could just get a whole new e-bike, and throw your non-electric unit in the canal. There are now electric variants of every kind of bicycle, from monstrous mountain bikes to aero-formed roadsters. Here, we're going to focus on bikes that are suited to the urban environment, though.

The dominant bike in this sector is the urban commuter, whose more upright design helps you see and be seen in traffic. Designs of these vary enormously, from classy Dutch-style sit-up-and-beg models to hybrid bikes that pack mountain bike-like features such as suspension forks and high-torque motors into lightweight, agile frames. To make them practical for commuters, they also often feature mudguards, pannier racks, and built-in lights.

These are often also the cheapest way to get into e-biking, starting at around £800 for fairly respectable models. Spend more and you'll find more features, such as higher-class motors, built-in computers for navigation and recording your rides, and tracking if the bike is stolen.

And that's one of the biggest problems with commuter bikes: they have to be locked up outside, or in ‘secure' garages that are actually about as impenetrable as a string vest. This is where folding bikes come in handy: they perform about as well as their full-size brethren, but when your journey is complete you can fold them up and stow them in a cupboard or under your desk.

Adding electric power to these versatile bikes makes a lot of sense: as they're often used by commuters, they can help mitigate the dreaded sweaty shirt syndrome, and they can be taken on public transport for longer journeys. They're also surprisingly fun to ride, combining small wheels with micro-suspension to make the bike feel a lot bigger than it actually is.

The top three… smart commuter gear

Upgrade your urban e-bike ride with these accessories

LET'S CARGO

At the other end of the scale are cargo e-bikes. These are large and heavy but also the most versatile e-bikes, with modular systems so you can transport your kids to school or load up with a week's worth of shopping. They have taken off among inner-city families who want to ditch the car (every urban primary school has at least one cargo-bike parent), and their bomb-proof frames make them a great investment.

Regardless of your choice, there are a few things to look out for. As e-bikes are legally limited in terms of speed in the UK, torque has become the big number to look out for: the higher the torque, the more quickly the bike can reach top speed, in turn giving riders the confidence to accelerate away from red lights when they've got a lorry behind them. It's also what helps the bike maintain higher speeds when going uphill or carrying heavy loads. High-end e-bikes pack a whopping 150 Nm of torque, but 75 Nm will suffice for most commutes.

An e-bike's battery is also important, and manufacturers have to maintain a balancing act between delivering mileage while keeping weight low. An 800Wh (watt-hour) battery will deliver up to 80 miles of range on a single charge, although this is heavily affected by factors such as the lumpiness of both the rider and the terrain. Systems such as Bosch's PowerMore range extender are water bottle-sized units that plug into e-bikes to deliver more range.

E-bike motors usually sit mid-mounted in the bottom bracket, between the pedals, but they can also be hidden in the hub of the rear wheel, which results in more stealthy frame designs. Gearing is usually much the same as it is on a non-electric bike, with front and rear derailleurs moving the chain into different cogs to change the ratio between pedalling and rotations of the rear wheel.

However, some e-bikes make use of carbon belt drives and intricate gearing in the rear hub to shift between gears. While this reduces the range of the gears, the benefit to this setup is that it's quieter, oil-free, and requires less maintenance. Because e-bikes add assistance to pedalling, a big gear range is less essential than it is on traditional bikes, and belt drives are becoming much more popular as a result.

The four best urban e-bikes

Our expert picks in the commuter, folding, cargo, and smart tech categories

Choosing the right urban e-bike can be tricky – but there's one out there for everyone, from slick Pogačar wannabes who like to engage in races to the lights, to sedate mums and dads on the school run. There are myriad features to consider, and every manufacturer is trying to outdo one another in terms of tech integration and smart design. Here, we've picked four standout models that are the absolute peak of urban micro-mobility, whether you need to transport massive loads or kids (or both), or you need a bike that rides like a full-size one but folds into the footprint of a suitcase.

THE FUTURE OF E-BIKES

E-bike sales are surging at the moment, and manufacturers are locked in an arms (or should that be legs?) race to create e-bikes that are safer, more efficient, and just much cooler. Solid-state batteries are likely to be the biggest upcoming shift in e-bikes, delivering as much power as conventional lithium-ion batteries in formats that are smaller, lighter, charge faster, and are inherently unable to burst into flames.

Meanwhile, e-bikes themselves are borrowing tech from a new generation of cars to protect riders on chaotic city streets. Created in collaboration with Volkswagen, Canyon's Roadlite:ON V2X incorporates V2X technology that uses radio frequencies to enable vehicles to see one another – even when they're around corners or behind other large vehicles. In turn, this can alert drivers via dashboard warnings, and let cyclists know that something's coming with haptic vibrations in the handlebar grips.

Bikes and vehicles aren't the only things that are getting smarter – cities themselves are beginning to move more fluidly thanks to intelligent traffic lights that prioritise emergency vehicles, public transport, and e-bikes. These systems are already on trial in the Netherlands (of course!) and can automatically switch to green as you approach, so you never have to put your foot down. And up. And down again.

Utrecht's Flo system also uses overhead radar and rider instructions (speed up or coast) to group cyclists into a caravan of courage so they can pass through traffic lights in a ‘green wave.' And, as e-bikes become more popular, dedicated cycle highways designed exclusively for higher speeds enable cyclists to get to their destinations in less time than it would take to drive there.

When previous generations imagined the world of tomorrow, it was often flying cars and jet packs that crossed their minds – but now it seems more likely that it'll be defined by supersmart e-bikes cruising effortlessly around hyperconnected cities. It may not be quite as exciting, and there are still some issues with legislation and safety to be ironed out – but if you want to be part of the future before it happens, get yourself an e-bike.

Five golden rules of the road for e-bike legality and safety

KNOW GOOD E-BIKES FROM EVIL

So, you're ready to ditch the hire bike and get your own electric two-wheeler. But before you splash your cash, it's important to understand one thing: there are good e-bikes, and there are evil e-bikes. Good e-bikes abide by EPAC laws – a maximum 250W continuous motor power and a 15.5 mph pedal-assist limit. Anything more turns your machine into an electric moped requiring licensing, insurance, and number plates. Police are seizing and crushing illegal bikes, so sticking with road-legal models is essential.

AVOID FIRE HAZARDS

Uncertified grey-market e-bike batteries can cause terrifying fires. Thankfully, buying a safe e-bike is easier than ever thanks to initiatives like the E-Bike Positive campaign, which is backed by major brands such as Specialized and Trek alongside retailers including Halfords and Decathlon. Always ensure your bike complies with EN 15194 safety standards and only use the manufacturer-approved charger.

LOCK IT LIKE IT'S HOT

E-bikes represent high-value targets for urban bike thieves, and thin cable locks are basically a great big invitation for someone to nab your precious two-wheeler. Invest in dedicated high-security hardware carrying a Sold Secure Gold or Powered Diamond rating. Always anchor both the main frame and rear wheel to an immovable bike stand. If your bike features a removable battery or quick-release display, take it with you.

PLAN SAFE, STRESS-FREE ROUTES

Taking full advantage of electric power means you don't need to stick to the shortest roads. Use cycle-specific navigation apps such as Komoot to find segregated cycle tracks, low-traffic neighbourhoods, and canal paths. A ten-minute detour may keep you clear of heavy traffic, blind spots, and irate motorists.

STAY VISIBLE

E-bikes accelerate faster than traditional bicycles, which means drivers often misjudge your approach speed at junctions. Keep daytime running lights turned on at all times, wear a brightly coloured helmet, and check before you signal. Maintain a dominant lane position away from the side of the road, stay alert around large vehicle blind spots, and never undertake HGVs at red lights.

Depending on how big a fan you are, you might or might not know that today (5 October) is James Bond Day – and in the absence of a new movie, or even a confirmed new live-action Bond actor, it's looking like a big one for 007 First Light.

IO Interactive's game arrived back in May to a rave reception, rightly. I had a downright brilliant time with the game, loving the way it blended stealth and action, and I was also impressed with how it integrated arcadey driving sequences into the mix. Anyone who's finished the game will know that the Aston Martin Valhalla plays a pretty big role in its culmination, with a little more than just driving up its sleeve.

Now, a few months on, IO is making good on its promise to support the game with post-launch releases, in the form of a major new update that adds not just New Game Plus and new TacSim content for Bond to tackle on foot, but also the Valhalla Protocol, a new TacSim mission that's all about that hypercar.

It gives the player free rein to drive the Valhalla with all of its gadgets and weaponry enabled, through four missions that span day and night in the Slovakian mountains – beautiful stuff. That release prompted a chat with IO's Dominic Vega and Rasmus Poulsen (game director for missions and art director, respectively) last week, and I got to pepper them with questions about how exactly they got the car in their game.

After all, while Aston Martin's long had a deep partnership with the Bond franchise, it's also a brand that's pretty careful of its image (and that of its cars). How relaxed is it about outside partners like IO knowing about the Valhalla before it was made public (which the team did), let alone turning it into a techno-hybrid version of itself?

Well, according to Poulsen, the prerequisite to finding out about the Valhalla was indeed "certainly 100 NDAs" or so, but once that inevitable hurdle was jumped, it was impressively smooth sailing throughout the process. IO's team decided very early on that it wanted two Astons in particular – a vintage DBS, and the newest, most powerful car Aston would make available.

Bond also trains in a 2006 DBS, but it's the 1970 DBS that really steals the show when Bond drives it in Slovakia during a gorgeous car chase. Then, the Valhalla really takes the cake when it becomes explosively useful in a shootout in Q Branch late in the game.

Poulsen says that the team never presented anything too wacky in terms of that weaponry, though, always wanting to lean on credibility within the Bond universe. "How do we want this car to be represented? Of course, [we had] conversations about credibility and bridging that gap between over-the-top excitement and cool restraint."

This means that the way the weaponry comes out of the Valhalla, from underneath exterior panels, actually fell into place very early on. "When we had a design that we felt straddled being both credible enough but exciting as well, we took that design to Aston, and they were very game; because it felt, I feel, like maybe we had straddled correctly, so that they didn't feel that their vehicle was being compromised."

Anyone who's worked on projects involving more than one brand will know that the needle Poulsen describes there is not as easy to thread as he makes it seem. Vega adds some emphasis to the point, too: "We want to do this right. We want this to be something that, on this hypercar [...] we're actually doing the brand justice, and then the kind of moment was built around what those guys came up with."

After all, if you're not keen to work out how machine guns and missiles could come out of an Aston Martin, as Vega points out, you might have to ask, "Why are we making a James Bond game in the first place?"

In point of fact, the machine guns came first – it was only once IO started to playtest the Q Branch shootout that it decided more was needed to really empower the player. Vega described a moment when the team agreed: "You know what'd be really fun right now is if the AI voice, you know, Q's assistant, comes on the intercom and says 'missiles unlocked'. Right? And then you have to go back and redraw the concepts and re-look at stuff because now you have a new problem to solve."

That process of iteration, with the added layer of Aston Martin approvals, makes it sound like a complex journey, but the enthusiasm from both Vega and Poulsen for the car they ended up with is obvious. They rightly wouldn't be drawn into any question of a sequel (something that was much talked about when the game landed to huge sales and great reviews), but the addition of new driving missions is fun enough in its own right.

If you enjoyed First Light, it means there's more of it for you to sample now, and if you've not yet grabbed it, the value proposition just got even better.

A lot of people consider Breville quite an affordable brand when it comes to the best bean-to-cup coffee machines, and that is true to an extent. However, the brand also has a range of more premium options costing upwards of £500, so there's still plenty of cheaper options to explore.

As I've done with De'Longhi and Sage, I thought it was time to highlight some of Breville's more affordable models, particularly if you're on a budget and want to spend less. You'll find each of them below, including a very new addition.

Check out our other affordable coffee machine guides...

• 3 affordable De'Longhi coffee machines I'd buy over an expensive one

• 3 affordable Sage coffee machines I'd buy over an expensive one

• 3 affordable Ninja coffee machines I'd buy over an expensive one