The fact that it's been over six years since the launch of the five-star WH-1000XM4 from Sony is a little mind-bending, not least because they remain, anecdotally, the headphones I see on actual heads in public more than any other model in that time.

Their popularity has been huge, clearly, and Sony has been open about how successful they've proven – which explains why it's brought them back in a new guise.

The headphones' design never really went out of style, and while the 1000XM lineup has moved on to a new look, Sony is rolling the clock back with the new WH-1000XM4C, a revised version of the XM4.

The C doesn't change as much as you might think, though. It has some familiar, excellent features – but now at a mid-range asking price. Here's how it's held up to sustained use in my testing.

Price and Availability

The WH-1000XM4C arrived on the market in September 2026, fresh from Sony revealing them, and came in at a price of £219.99 in the UK, $299.99 in the US, and €249.99 in Europe.

That sees them land in the upper reaches of the mid-range market, at a time when headphone makers are pushing into more and more expensive territory for their flagship models (Sony included with its Collexion top-tier model).

For some added context, though, you can currently grab the next generation on from the original XM4, the Sony WH-1000XM5, for £199 on Amazon UK – so Sony's pricing lineup is likely to be a little confusing for the foreseeable future, with various generations of headphones getting different discounts during sales.

Design and Features

This isn't the first time I've tested headphones that really don't look at all different from the generation they're replacing, but it might just be the single most invisible set of changes I've ever encountered.

The WH-1000XM4C looks like the WH-1000XM4 in literally every way, from its dimensions, to how it folds, and where its various ports and buttons are located.

It's made from the sort of soft-touch recycled plastic that Sony has been using for years, and you can grab it in a few colours – black, beige and purplish-pink. Whichever you choose, you'll get a lightweight set of headphones (at 253g) made almost entirely from that plastic.

This gives them the feeling of robustness that can come from sticking to simpler materials, and they really don't feel in danger of breaking as you fold them, stick them in a bag, or treat them however you like.

That said, I shouldn't bury the lede here – they're actually not as durable as I'd hope for, still lacking any form of IP resistance rating, meaning there's no official weatherproofing.

The headband is old-school style, meaning it only has cushioning in the centre, but the earcups themselves are pretty plush and feature a few controls – in addition to the brand's beloved touch controls, which I'll talk about further down.

On the right earcup, all you'll find is a USB-C charging port, but the left has a 3.5mm jack, a power button and a toggle for turning active noise-cancelling (ANC) on and off.

There's a lot to like about this design, though, and it bears repeating that it's already stood the test of time – and over 10 million sales – for a reason. It's super comfortable, and has enough flex to feel durable, even before you consider the hardshell case.

This case comes in the box and it's impressively small thanks to the folding mechanism. It makes it all the more mad in retrospect that the XM5 didn't fold down in the same way, honestly.

In terms of features, though, what's new? Well, possibly the biggest change comes in the battery department, and it might partly explain why this headphone is being launched at all.

To comply with EU regulations, this new model has a user-replaceable battery that's a little less capacious than the old one, so that sees battery life shrink a little to 27-ish hours with ANC turned on, down from 30 hours before. That makes the battery life "solid" rather than terrific, although you can boost it to 34 hours with ANC off.

Sony isn't pointing at much else in terms of changes, though, which means crucially that you're getting basically the exact same headphones as you would have a few years ago.

That means the ANC is on the same level, and the hardware behind the sound is the same, although the tuning has been tweaked a little.

In terms of codec support, you do get LDAC, but not aptX, while Sony's in-house DSEE upscaler is also here if you want it. The Sound Connect app gives you access to an expanded 10-band EQ system, too.

All of this makes the WH-1000XM4C genuinely quite fascinating – are they a new set of headphones, or are they not? Either way, the feature set is simultaneously retro and entirely appropriate for their new price tag, so there aren't any objections on this front.

Sound and Performance

Slipping on the XM4Cs was a bit like stepping back a few years, which is no surprise, but it's worth remembering that back in 2020 these were rightly considered flagship-level headphones. This means that while their sound has been surpassed more recently, they're still extremely impressive and musical headphones.

As always, I listened to a variety of material in my testing, and found the XM4Cs handled all of it really capably. Justice's new track for GTA VI, Flower in a Hurricane, had all the 80s verve and depth I was looking for, for instance.

Django Django's recent single Cameos was, by contrast, delicate and acoustic, with the right amount of tonality and character.

Michael Kiwanuka's Small Changes underlined that latter point, with a lovely sense of presence and detail – although it's fair to point out that swapping back to the XM6s that I reviewed last year did provide a small boost on both fronts.

I also find the XM6s more comfortable, which perhaps isn't a surprise given their extra development time comparatively. The XM4Cs are still great to wear, but their design does centre some of their weight in the middle of the headband, where the cushioning is, making for more of a pressure point in that spot.

They're still phenomenally usable, though, especially with how well they fold up – a feature that makes the hardshell case feel optional for plenty of outings, rather than an essential to keep them safe in a bag.

Much like the overall sound quality, I have no complaints about the noise cancellation in the XM4Cs, but I can also acknowledge that it's been improved on since their first release.

These headphones do a very solid job of blocking out background noise, especially the drones of engines or public transport, but swapping to the XM6 – which have three times the microphones – again makes the upgrade pretty clear.

The story here is really that a flagship does indeed start to feel like a fair mid-range option after a few years, and that's normally just a matter of discounts and price cuts, rather than a re-release like this one from Sony.

This is basically just a rubber-stamping of what we already knew about how the XM4 had aged, and in that light it's a pretty honest approach.

Verdict

So, what does the WH-1000XM4 look like in 2026? Well, like the WH-1000XM4C – a set of headphones that underline how changing very little can sometimes be the right play. I think that despite their superb success over the years, though, this new reissue does indicate that some things have changed since they came out.

Their design remains great, but refinements have made it more comfortable since, and it's a very similar situation where sound quality is concerned. For this price, they're a great buy, and I'm arguably most excited to see what sort of price they're listed for in six months' time and more – these could be a Black Friday classic for a few years.

Still, in the here and now I think the WH-1000XM4C are a great option for those looking to stick with Sony's most tried-and-tested choices, even if some of its more recent launches have actually raised the bar past what these headphones can now muster.

Also Consider

Well, there's one very obvious comparison to make here, and it's one that I've made a few times in my review – the current reigning Sony flagship is the WH-1000XM6, and in a straight shootout it wins on most points. Its sound is beefier, its ANC is more comprehensive, and it's more comfortable, while also being a whole heap more expensive. That makes it the best choice if your budget is actually a bit higher than the WH-1000XM4Cs' level.

If you're sticking in the mid-range, though, I'd point you towards Nothing's Headphone (1), which I think does things very differently – in a good way. Its noise-cancelling is pretty comparable to Sony's (despite being years newer), but its design and controls are polar opposites. It's a palate cleanser of a headphone, and won't be for everyone, but when the sales hit, it's a genuine bargain.

Each summer, my family and I swap London life for a month in the Swiss mountain resort of Klosters. We usually choose to drive, allowing us to load the car with all the gear we need for our adventures, not least our bikes. With two children's bikes in the roof box and another three on the towbar-mounted rack, we make the 1,000km journey and settle in.

As a keen road cyclist, I've spent years exploring the surrounding mountain passes, but electric bikes have transformed what we're able to do together as a family, opening up a whole new world of adventures.

This summer, my wife and I shared the Moustache Xroad FS 6, using it extensively, often several times a day, for everything from half-mile supermarket dashes to family excursions deep into the mountains.

At times, that meant transporting four of us on a single bike: one adult pedalling, our one-year-old in a rear-mounted child seat and our four- and six-year-olds in a double trailer behind, with picnic supplies squeezed in alongside them.

It's quite a load for one bicycle, and I occasionally wondered whether we were asking too much of it. But the Moustache took it all in its stride, the powerful Bosch motor making remarkably light work of the mountain climbs. By the end of our stay, it had become an indispensable part of our holiday.

Moustache Xroad FS 6 review

Price and availability

French manufacturer Moustache was founded in 2011, with its electric bikes designed and assembled in the Vosges region of eastern France.

The brand’s extensive range spans everything from longtail cargo bikes to sporty road machines, but the Xroad is its do-it-all electric hybrid, designed to be equally at home on the daily commute, country lanes or gravel trails.

There are seven models to choose from: four front-suspension versions, from the entry-level ES to the progressively better-equipped 2, 4 and 6, plus three full-suspension (FS) models, which add a rear shock absorber for greater comfort and control on rougher terrain.

The FS 6 sits at the top, starting at £4,199 with a 600Wh battery, or £4,499 with the larger 800Wh option, compared with £3,499 for the FS 2 and £3,899 for the FS 4. The additional outlay brings Bosch's more powerful Performance Line CX motor, a larger Kiox 500 display and upgraded Magura hydraulic disc brakes.

I borrowed the bike from the excellent team at Fully Charged (https://www.fullycharged.com/moustache-samedi-27-xroad-6-fs-2026/) whose cavernous showroom near London Bridge is a hive of activity. If you’re considering a Moustache, it’s well worth a visit to get hands-on with the different models and work out which best suits your needs.

Another contender is Haibike's ADVENTR 6, which costs £3,699 and offers full suspension and an 800Wh battery, albeit with a less powerful Bosch Performance Line PX motor. The top-spec FS 6 isn't the cheapest option, then, but its extra muscle proved particularly valuable in the mountains.

Design and build quality

At first glance, the Xroad FS 6 has something of a mountain bike about it, with chunky tyres, a substantial aluminium frame and suspension at both ends. Yet its more upright riding position, low step-through design and generous array of practical accessories make it ready for much more than weekend trail riding.

It's a good-looking bike, too, with a smart matt finish and clean frame lines that disguise its considerable bulk.

The step-through frame was an immediate winner with both my wife and me, particularly with a child seat mounted behind the saddle. Swinging a leg over the rear simply wasn't an option, so being able to step through the frame made mounting and dismounting with a child aboard considerably easier.

Another brilliant feature is the dropper seatpost, operated by a thumb lever on the handlebars. Press it and the saddle rises; apply your body weight and another press lowers it again. At 167cm, my wife was comfortably accommodated by our medium-sized test bike, while at 188cm I'm better suited to a large.

Nevertheless, this quick and easy adjustment meant we could swap throughout the day without tools. For our relatively short excursions, it worked perfectly, although I would want the larger frame for several hours in the saddle.

I'd initially feared the full suspension would do little more than add unnecessary weight, but it proved a revelation. With 120mm of travel up front and 115mm at the rear, it might sound excessive for family cycling, but even the riverside gravel trails were peppered with potholes, cattle grids and rocky sections.

The suspension soaked up substantial jolts, particularly on faster descents, making for a noticeably smoother ride than a conventional hardtail. I'm sure my one-year-old appreciated it too, frequently dozing off in the child seat behind me, seemingly oblivious to the bumps beneath us.

We also had Moustache's optional £200 suspended luggage carrier, with MIK HD and QL3 mounting systems for compatible child seats, panniers and other accessories. It's an upgrade I'd wholeheartedly recommend.

Our Thule Yepp 2 Maxi child seat attached easily, and I switched out the standard rear thru-axle with a trailer-compatible version (172mm long with a 1.5mm thread pitch; I purchased this one), allowing us to hitch up a Thule Chariot Cross 2 double trailer. This made for an extraordinarily versatile setup, allowing us to transport all three children or use the trailer for larger supermarket shops.

Elsewhere, mudguards, integrated lights, a sturdy kickstand and built-in frame lock make the Xroad an impressively practical everyday machine.

The only real downside is its weight, at around 27–29kg depending on battery and frame size. Lifting it onto our towbar-mounted bike rack was manageable, but I certainly wouldn't fancy hoisting it onto a roof rack without someone else to help.

Performance and ride quality

Power comes courtesy of Bosch's Performance Line CX motor, rated at up to 120Nm of torque in its current specification. That's significantly more than the 75Nm and 90Nm available from the FS 2 and FS 4 respectively, and a difference I was grateful for with three children in tow and some particularly steep gradients to tackle.

Our regular family excursion followed the river from Klosters to Garfiun, an 18km round trip involving approximately 300m of climbing. Even fully loaded with children, trailer and picnic supplies, the Moustache made wonderfully light work of the ascent.

The assistance feels remarkably natural, building smoothly as you pedal rather than arriving in an abrupt surge. I generally favoured the lower Eco or Tour settings, while my wife preferred a little more help, particularly on the steeper sections.

We only discovered the motor's limits once, after taking a wrong turn beneath the Gotschnabahn gondola towards the main ski area. Suddenly faced with a narrow trail exceeding 15 per cent gradient, it became difficult to maintain sufficient momentum to balance comfortably with the trailer attached. A little extra power would have been welcome, although this was an extreme scenario for any family e-bike.

Elsewhere, the Xroad felt impressively planted. The Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres provided ample traction on loose gravel, while the upgraded Magura brakes delivered reassuring stopping power on long Alpine descents.

Even on smooth tarmac the suspension made its presence felt, quietly absorbing unexpected drain covers and potholes. Unhitch the trailer and remove the child seat, however, and the bike transformed into something altogether more playful, encouraging a spirited blast along the gravel trails.

The Bosch Kiox 500 2.8” colour display was another highlight. Centrally mounted on the handlebars, it's considerably larger and easier to read than the smaller Purion 200 fitted to the lower-spec models, displaying speed, battery status and assistance level, along with useful prompts suggesting when to change gear.

There's additional functionality through Bosch's eBike Flow app, although I never felt the need to explore it. Everything I wanted was already available on the screen.

Battery life and range

The FS 6 is available with a 600Wh Bosch PowerTube battery or a larger 800Wh option, neatly integrated into the frame. Moustache quotes maximum ranges of 135km and 172km respectively under ideal conditions, although real-world results depend heavily on terrain, load and assistance level.

Our Swiss mountain riding provided a demanding test, with long climbs and a bicycle frequently carrying considerably more than a typical solo rider would.

Nevertheless, range was never a concern. A typical outing involved around 40 minutes climbing up the valley followed by a much quicker 20-minute descent, with shorter supermarket runs in between.

We generally charged the bike every other evening, plugging it directly into a socket in our garage without needing to remove the battery.

Rather than relying on the estimated remaining range, which inevitably fluctuated with the terrain, load and assistance level, I simply kept an eye on the battery percentage.

My one small criticism concerned the charging socket cover. Positioned facing upwards beside the motor housing, its flap was rather too easily dislodged, potentially exposing the connection to rain and dirt. It's a minor irritation on an otherwise thoughtfully designed bike, but one that could become troublesome over time.

Verdict

Having spent five weeks with the Moustache Xroad FS 6, I'm convinced it's about as versatile an electric bike as you could hope to own.

A dedicated cargo bike might make more sense for families whose main priority is transporting children, while those who rarely venture beyond tarmac could save money with a simpler Xroad.

But for anyone wanting one bike for everything from everyday errands to ambitious mountain adventures, with children and all their gear in tow, or simply the solo blasts along gravel trails, the FS 6 makes a very compelling case. It's expensive and on the heavy side, yet the freedom it offers makes those compromises surprisingly easy to overlook.

For us, it didn't just make getting around easier. It opened up more of the mountains to the whole family, creating shared experiences and memories that will stay with us long after the summer is over.

It hasn’t taken WiiM all that long to establish itself as a digital audio force to be reckoned with, and it doesn’t take much deductive power to work out why: compact, well-made, affordable products that perform to a standard in excess of the asking price, and a properly sorted ecosystem.

No wonder the company is feeling bold enough to expand into the spatial audio soundbar market. The Bar (and who wouldn’t have wanted to be at the marketing meeting when that model name was decided on?) is a first effort – but it wouldn’t be the only time WiiM has hit the bullseye at its first attempt...

Price & Availability

The WiiM Bar spatial audio soundbar is on sale now, and in the United Kingdom it’s priced at £449, while in the United States it sells for $479, and Australia gets it for AU$769.

Sonos may have moved its Beam soundbar upmarket with the launch of the Ultra, but that still leaves the WiiM to face down some very credible alternatives...

Features & What's New?

The WiiM Bar is configured to deliver an impression of 3.0.2-channel spatial audio. Obviously it uses an element of digital signal processing to achieve this, but it also deploys physical drivers pointing in a number of directions to create this sonic character.

So there are three 110 x 52mm ‘racetrack’ mid/bass drivers and three 52mm tweeters deployed across the front surface of the Bar – these take care of the left, right and centre channel information within the soundtrack.

On the top of the soundbar, out near the ends and positioned behind a little perforated section, are a couple of 52mm full-range drivers that are angled up and out in an effort to bring the required ‘height’ to the soundstage.

In an effort to give the sound a little more heft there are four 110 x 50mm passive radiators serving up some low-frequency presence – two face forwards, two face backwards.

These eight powered drivers get an all-in total of 135 watts of Class D amplification to deal with.

Physical inputs are all arranged in a little recess at the back of the chassis. There’s an Ethernet socket and an HDMI eARC input, naturally, and WiiM also provides a USB slot, a 3.5mm analogue input and a digital optical socket.

Wireless connectivity is handled by Bluetooth 5.4 (with SBC, AAC and LC3 codec compatibility) and by triple-band Wi-Fi 6 – which means the ‘Connect’ version of every popular streaming service, Google Cast, internet radio and most other online goodies are easily accessible. Odd, however, is the lack of AirPlay compatibility.

Performance

There’s really only one place to start with a spatial audio soundbar, and that’s with some spatial audio content. And with some Dolby Atmos-soundtracked stuff streaming from one of the world’s more popular services, the WiiM Bar wastes very little time in letting you know what it’s all about.

Fundamentally, that turns out to be punchily robust, impressively dynamic and remarkably positive sound. It’s far from unsubtle, and it's more than happy to ramp up the tension when the going gets especially quiet and creepy – but you somehow know it’s itching to get to the jump-scare, so that it can showcase its remarkable dynamic headroom and low-frequency control.

At the bottom of the frequency range the WiiM is solid, square-edged and weighty. Bass sounds don’t enjoy the same level of detail and variation as information higher up the frequency range, but if it’s a sturdy foundation you want – as well as the outright wallop some many movie soundtracks rely on – you’ve come to the right place.

The midrange projects well, is a sight more detailed than the bottom end, and exists in a nice little pocket of space that the Bar’s soundstaging abilities always earmark for dialogue.

At the top of the frequency range the WiiM attacks with crisp determination – but its treble presence is substantial rather than flimsy, so even during the biggest dynamic upheavals the top end never edges towards ‘hard’ or ‘glassy’.

Oh, and given that 135 watts of power in total is not, on paper, the most encouraging number, WiiM is to be congratulated for making the Bar so vaultingly and effortlessly dynamic. It never sounds stressed when dealing with big chances in volume or intensity and never alters its fundamental sonic character.

The tonal balance is pretty neutral, despite the fact that the lack of variation at the bottom end can make things sound a little warmer than they otherwise would. The control factor of the low-end is good, though, so rhythms in soundtracks (or when streaming music in straight stereo) are realistically expressed.

In fact, the Bar is one of the best pound-for-pound soundbars out there when it comes to music playback. Some of this is to do with the fact that you can enjoy true stereo, produced by just two of the tweeters and two of the mid/bass drivers, if that’s your preference when listening to stereo recordings.

Most soundbars insist on using all their drivers no matter if they’re playing two-channel content, and it’s seldom a good policy. Mostly, though, the quality of music playback is to do with the fact that the WiiM’s balance and direct nature makes for a spirited and engaging account of your music.

When listening to music mixed in Dolby Atmos, though, or to a movie with a spatial audio soundtrack, the WiiM Bar can’t quite hit the literal and metaphorical heights. For all of the space and careful organisation of its soundstaging, it never really manages to position sound up much beyond the top of your TV – even if you really got to town in the ‘height audio’ section of the control app, where a boost of up to 12dB is available for the height channels.

It’s the one rather tentative aspect of the bar’s performance, and it’s unfortunate that it should concern the aspect of performance that many listeners are going to be most preoccupied with.

Design & Usability

WiiM has always kept things neat and tidy where the design of its products is concerned, and at a usefully compact 74 x 1060 x 105mm (HxWxD) the Bar doesn’t look overgrown even when accompanying a TV as titchy as my 48in Philips OLED.

The standard of build and finish is well up to par, the gentle curves at either end of the chassis keep the look nice and friendly, and the main choice of finishes (matte white or the matte black of my review sample) make a bit more sense than the super-refelective gloss black that’s available as a limited edition in some territories.

When it comes to using the Bar, WiiM has supplied more options than are probably necessary. There are four little touch-surfaces on the top of the chassis, for example, which take care of ‘play/pause’, ‘volume up/down’ and input selection.

However, as is key to the design, there's also a 53mm circular display, bursting gently through the top of the soundbar. Here you can also action the same controls as above, and plenty more besides, by using the touch-screen – it puts you in charge of everything from EQ settings to accessing favourites, as well as offering visual confirmation of your actions.

There’s also a little aluminium remote control handset that is a cut above the norm in both look and feel. It covers all the fundamentals of operation, and has a 'mic’ button that can put you in touch with your Amazon Alexa voice assistant if you so desire.

Best of all, though, is the ‘WiiM Home’ control app that’s free for iOS and Android. The stable, logical and extensive nature of its app has been one of the (many) reasons WiiM has achieved this level of credibility in double-quick time – and here it’s just as useful and just as thorough as it is in every other implementation.

The app lets you integrate your favourite music streaming service(s), internet radio providers and what-have-you. It lets you build, quickly and easily, multi-channel and/or multi-room systems using other WiiM products – if you want your Bar to be accompanied by rear speakers and a subwoofer, it’s the work of a moment once you’ve powered them up.

The app's got a whole lot of sonic adjustability options in the form of both EQ and PEQ interfaces, height channel adjustment and so on, too. There’s even a very effective room correction EQ that uses your smartphone’s mic to help the soundbar calibrate itself to your specific environment.

So if it’s wide-ranging and granular control of the performance of your soundbar/speaker you’re after, and you want it from an interface that’s intuitive and rock-solid, don’t look any further.

Big, bold sound from a usefully compact and relatively affordable spatial audio soundbar? Numerous options when it comes to incorporating the soundbar in question into a multi-room or multi-channel system? A real facility with music and one of the very best control interfaces in the business?

All the above applies to the WiiM Bar, and it serves to carry it most of the way – if it could be as assertive where the ‘spatial’ aspect of 'spatial audio' was concerned, it could become a default choice. As it stands, though, it needs to be judged as a fine first effort and the sort of thing that committed WiiM owners will love in a multi-room setup.

Also Consider

The is the opposite of the WiiM Bar, at least when it comes to the control app experience. But get beyond that and the Heston 60 has plenty to recommend it, quite apart from its chunky and expansive sound - it has that Marshall aesthetic, for instance, and it can be used in two different orientations. It’s no slouch when it comes to music, either. But it can’t lay a glove on the WiiM experience when it comes to multi-channel or multi-room usage…

It's safe to say I was pretty excited when Dyson's new robot vacuum cleaner lineup launched last month. This was not only because three models arrived at once, but also because they all came with different features, requirements and price points – meaning there's something for everyone.

As a result, I decided the R2 Nurovi would be a good place to start as the middle model. This was mostly because I have a mix of hard floors and carpet, but also because slightly higher suction power is needed in my house due to our five-month-old puppy.

That meant the conditions were pretty much perfect, leaving me with one more thing to do... put it to the test.

Price and availability

The Dyson R2 Nurovi is priced at £749.99 ($699) and can be purchased from Dyson's website, as well as Argos, John Lewis and Currys.

As mentioned, it's the middle model in the lineup, sitting between the hard-floor R1 Nurovi and the upcoming R3 Nurovi Spot+Scrub, which uses an AI stain scanner to identify and tackle invisible stains.

Unboxing and set up

The R2 Nurovi is easy to set up and connects to your phone via the usual MyDyson app, which I've become very familiar with. This involves plugging in the dock and using the app to find nearby products to connect to, with the R2 Nurovi appearing almost immediately.

You can see me setting it up by filling the tanks and attaching the anti-tangle side sweeper below too:

The app then takes you through a few steps, including connecting it to your Wi-Fi and the robot itself. This took me a few attempts, as the app got stuck on the pairing request page, but everything was connected properly within about 10 minutes. If you experience the same issue, just relaunch the app until it works.

After that, the robot mapped my chosen area, which didn't take long at all, allowing me to edit and split rooms when needed. I then connected it to my Amazon Alexa (steps here if needed) so I could use voice control when required, and then it was all good to go.

Design and features

The R2 Nurovi has an understated Light Grey and Vinca Blue design, with Dyson retaining the distinctive canister-style look of its robot vacuum docks. The robot itself measures 35cm wide and 35cm long, stands at just under 10cm tall and weighs 3.6kg, whilst the docking station weighs 9.2kg and measures 52cm high, 47cm long and 42cm wide. I personally love the way it looks, and it's nice change from the usual black square docks provided by other brands.

The R2 vacuums and washes hard floors at the same time, rather than requiring separate cleaning runs. Dyson has designed it around a new Twin-Capture system, which uses two stages to deal with different types of dirt. A brush bar mechanically sweeps larger debris into the machine, whilst the vacuum motor focuses on fine dust and smaller particles.

There's also a 21,000Pa suction motor and an anti-tangle brush bar designed to pick up and de-tangle hair, including pet hair.

One of the more unusual design features is the Reuleaux triangle wash pads, which allow the points of the triangles to reach further into corners and along edges. This improves floor-washing coverage right up to walls, where circular pads can leave gaps.

The R2 also has extending anti-tangle side sweepers, which are designed to deal with dirt collecting around the edges of rooms. The sweepers extend 27mm from the robot to get closer to walls and into corners, whilst their redesigned structure guides dust and debris into the airflow.

The robot also uses an ultrasonic sensor to detect whether the floor is hard or carpeted, allowing the R2 to adjust its suction, whilst a sensor also monitors dust levels. The piezo system counts and sizes dust particles and can automatically boost suction when it detects that more cleaning power is needed.

Navigation has also been upgraded from previous models, with the R2 using high-speed LiDAR to scan and map your home, allowing it to navigate rooms, avoid obstacles and clean systematically. It can also climb over raised areas of up to 40mm.

In terms of battery life, Dyson quotes a maximum runtime of 90 minutes, with a 6.5-hour charge time.

Its docking station automatically washes the Reuleaux triangle pads with 75°C heated water after cleaning, before drying them with 45°C hot air. Dyson says this helps prevent mould and odour build-up, whilst dirty water is extracted hygienically during the cleaning process.

The dock also takes care of the dry debris and has eight Dyson cyclones that separate dust and debris when the robot returns, with the dock able to store up to 90 days of dry waste. The R2's bin has a 2.6-litre capacity, whilst the dock also automatically refills, self-cleans and recharges the robot – but more on this shortly.

Performance

I've been impressed by the Dyson R2 Nurovi's cleaning performance, particularly on hard floors. The app is easy to navigate, and I liked being able to split rooms and add furniture to the map. Having those visual reference points makes it much easier to see where the robot is cleaning, rather than trying to decipher a basic floor plan.

The R2 vacuumed and mopped my living room and dining room in around 20 minutes, which is on the speedy side. Having it tackle both jobs at once is also brilliant, particularly in a busy home with pets or children, where floors rarely stay clutter-free for long.

My home has hard floors and rugs, and the R2 handled that combination without any issues during my testing. That said, I've seen reports of other users experiencing problems with the robot getting stuck, so I'd be more cautious if your home has deep-pile carpets or lots of different floor surfaces. It wasn't something I encountered myself, but it's worth bearing in mind.

Unfortunately, the biggest issue I've had with the R2 is its Twin-Capture system. This collects dust and debris inside the robot before transferring it into the larger dust container in the dock. After a few cleaning runs, I noticed that the transfer wasn't working properly, with debris building up in the robot's onboard container instead of being emptied automatically.

I tried triggering a manual empty through the app, but that didn't seem to dislodge the blockage. The onboard container has two compartments, and on closer inspection, the upper section attached to the filter appeared to be clogged with dust. I manually removed the accumulated debris from both sections, hoping this would help the dock suction everything out more effectively.

Even after I'd cleared the blockage, the transfer didn't seem particularly powerful once I started paying closer attention. I knew the system was working to some extent, and there were no seals I'd forgotten to remove, but the process of getting debris from the robot into the dock was clearly being affected.

This is a pretty significant drawback for a robot vacuum that's designed to take care of cleaning with minimal intervention. Having to empty the onboard container manually takes away much of that convenience, and it put a real dampener on what had otherwise been a positive experience. I've since been more careful about how much debris I let the robot pick up in one go, and I make sure to check and empty it after each run.

I was also keen to see how well the triangular mop pads handled corners, but after watching the robot clean, I was a little disappointed. I understand the thinking behind the shape, and I was hoping it would make a more noticeable difference, but the pads didn't reach into corners as effectively as I'd expected.

The extending side sweepers were much more successful, doing a good job of picking up leftover hair and dust along skirting boards. The dock is also very loud when emptying the robot, although that's hardly unusual for this type of vacuum – it's just something to keep in mind.

Verdict

The Dyson R2 Nurovi has a lot going for it. It cleans hard floors brilliantly, tackles vacuuming and mopping in one go, and is quick enough to make a noticeable difference to your daily routine. I also love the app and the robot's design, whilst the extending side sweepers do a good job of picking up dirt along edges. Unfortunately, the dust-transfer issue I encountered is difficult to overlook. Having to manually clear the onboard container after cleaning defeats much of the point of buying a robot vacuum at this price, and the triangular mop pads didn't quite live up to my expectations either. There’s plenty to like about the R2 Nurovi, but at £750, I’d expect it to take care of the cleaning without leaving me to finish the job.

Alternatives to consider

As mentioned, Dyson has launched three models in the same lineup with different needs in mind, so you can move up to the R3 Nurovi Spot+Scrub if you want more advanced suction and scrubbing, or down to the R1 if you find yourself using your robot on hard floors only. However, its worth noting the R3 Nurovi Spot+Scrub is currently only available in the US, and will come to the UK early next year.

However, if I had to recommend another brand, it would be the Eufy Omni S2. The Eufy has higher suction levels, but the mopping style and corner-reach designs are very similar, and the dust storage capacities are almost identical. However, the Eufy is considerably more expensive, so the Nurovi R2 is the better option if you're shopping on a budget.

The best LED face masks are evolving quickly, and we're seeing more models that do more than just treat your face. Philips is one of the latest brands to get in on the action, launching the Philips ReAura LED Face Mask in August as its first-ever LED face mask.

What makes the ReAura stand out is its flexible 3-in-1 design, which lets you treat your full face, eye area or neck separately. I've tested all three treatment areas over the full recommended eight-week period, and here's how I got on.

Price and availability

The Philips ReAura LED Face Mask has an RRP of £349.99/€399.99, although it hasn't officially launched or been priced in the US. You can currently get 15% off through Philips' website with the code LED15, bringing the price down to £297.49.

It's also available through Amazon, where a similar discount is offered.

Design and features

The Philips ReAura has a 3-in-1 design that lets you treat your full face, focus on the eye area or target your neck without needing separate devices or attachments. For a full-face treatment, the two sections connect together and are secured with the main mask strap. You can also use the upper section on its own for the eye area, whilst the lower section detaches for targeted neck treatments using the included neck strap.

Philips has also built in eye protection to block light from reaching your eyes, whilst the lightweight design makes the mask easy to wear and take away with you.

It's controlled by a separate rechargeable unit that connects to the mask during use, which charges via the included USB-C cable. This takes up to six hours to fully recharge and it provides up to eight treatment sessions per charge.

The ReAura uses three LED wavelengths – 415nm blue light, 630nm red light and 830nm near-infrared light. These are combined into three treatment modes, each designed for different skincare concerns. Age Care combines red and near-infrared light to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, whilst Blemish Care combines blue and red light to target the appearance of blemishes and redness. Daily Glow uses all three wavelengths in shorter sessions to help maintain a healthy-looking glow.

Philips recommends using the mask every other day, with Age Care and Blemish Care sessions lasting 10 minutes and Daily Glow treatments taking just five minutes. For the recommended treatment periods, Philips advises using Age Care for at least eight weeks and Blemish Care for at least four weeks, whilst Daily Glow can be continued for as long as you like.

Performance

After testing the Philips ReAura for eight weeks, the first thing I fell in love with was the design. I initially expected the 3-in-1 setup to be complicated, but its magnetic attachments make it easy to switch between configurations, which was a relief. The overall feel is premium, and although I'm not sold on the beige, orangey colour, the silicone itself feels wonderfully smooth. The mask is lightweight and comfortable to wear, and it also comes with a suede storage bag, which is great for storage and travel.

What I particularly like is that you're not limited to treating your face as a whole. You can detach the lower section and use it on your neck separately, which is useful if you want to give that area some extra attention on days when you don't use the full mask, or vice versa. It's a very clever design, and one that makes the ReAura feel a little different from the LED masks I've tried before.

Due to the mask's shape, the lower section doesn't sit completely flush against the skin. However, this isn't a bad thing as the gap helps provide more even light distribution and broader coverage – so don't worry if you notice a little space between your face and the mask!

The other thing I've really appreciated is the guided treatment system, which makes the whole experience much less intimidating, particularly if you're new to LED skincare. I also love the Daily Glow mode, which offers a shorter treatment you can use to maintain your routine after completing the initial 6-8 week courses.

During testing, I used both Age Care and Blemish Care, sticking to Philips' recommendation of treating my skin every other day. I'm approaching my 30's, meaning I still get the odd spot and blemish, but I'm also starting to notice fine lines more and more. This makes it interesting to see how the mask would perform across both concerns.

After the first couple of weeks, I noticed my skin looking a little glowier and healthier, which is usually one of the first things I notice when using LED regularly. However, when I reached the four-week mark, which Philips recommends as the minimum treatment period for Blemish Care, I was still seeing most of the blemishes I'd started with. I stuck with it though, and began noticing more of a difference at around the six-week mark.

Age Care took a little longer to show visible results. It wasn't until around week seven that I noticed some of my smile lines looking less defined, whilst the slight puckering around my jawline also appeared less noticeable. These are subtle changes rather than a dramatic transformation, but they're the sort of gradual improvements I'd expect from an LED mask. My advice would be to give it time and not get disheartened if you're not seeing the results you hoped for after four weeks or less.

The controller is perfectly straightforward to use, although the lack of a display means you'll need to remember which mode you've selected. There's also no timer showing how much treatment time you have left, which is something I've appreciated on other masks I've tested. Neither issue is a dealbreaker, but a little more feedback from the controller would make the experience even better.

One smaller detail I really appreciated was the silicone straps. Plenty of LED masks have a comfortable face covering but let themselves down with plasticky Velcro straps. The ReAura's silicone straps feel much nicer against the head and are comfortable to wear throughout a session. The neck straps are great too, as you can simply pop them on rather than having to thread them through loops, making it much easier to switch between neck and lower-face treatments.

Finally, one thing worth mentioning is that the ReAura doesn't appear to have as many LEDs as some other masks I've tested. Philips doesn't disclose the exact LED count, and it's worth remembering that the number of LEDs alone doesn't determine how effective a mask is. Irradiance – the power density reaching your skin – and the accuracy of the wavelengths are much more important factors. Still, I'd like to see Philips provide more transparency around the LED configuration, and potentially increase the number of LEDs in a future model. For now, it's something I'd like to know more about, rather than a reason to dismiss the mask outright.

Verdict

The Philips ReAura has impressed me more than I expected, particularly with how thoughtfully it's designed. After eight weeks, I noticed my skin looking healthier and glowier, with blemishes becoming less noticeable around week six and some fine lines appearing softer by week seven. There are a few things I'd change, including the basic controller and the beige-orange colour, but neither overshadowed my overall experience. It's certainly an investment, yet if you want an LED mask that can treat multiple areas without complicating your skincare routine, the ReAura is a great choice.

Alternative to consider

The overall setup of the ReAura reminded me a lot of the Shark CryoGlow, particularly its approach to guided treatments. Having the mask handle the sessions for you, rather than having to work out which light colour to use and for how long, makes the whole process much more straightforward. The ReAura and CryoGlow are similar in that respect, although Shark's newest Face + Body model offers a little more versatility in how you use it.

The most common issue with pod coffee machines is waste. While the machines themselves last for several years, the single-use coffee pods produce a lot of waste, and despite many brands having recycling services, pods and capsules are hardly the most eco-friendly product on the market.

But Lavazza is set to change that with its latest pod coffee maker – the Lavazza Tablì. As a single-serve capsule free coffee machine, the Lavazza Tablì works the same as other pod models, but using coffee ‘tabs’ that are made of 100% coffee with absolutely no plastic in sight.

I’ve tested plenty of coffee machines during my time as T3’s Home Editor, and I’ve never been more intrigued by a pod coffee machine until this one. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks drinking an insane amount of coffee, and these are my thoughts on the Lavazza Tablì.

Price and availability

Launched in 2026, the Lavazza Tablì is available to buy for £199 / $129 at Lavazza and select retailers, like John Lewis. It comes in walnut brown, sand white and graphite black colours.

There are eight Tablì Tabs options available which start at £5.89, and come with 12 tabs inside.

Unboxing

The Lavazza Tablì arrived in a large cardboard box, with three boxes of coffee tabs. It was extremely easy to set up, as you’d expect from a pod coffee machine, and only required me to remove some plastic and tape before it was ready to go. To actually make the coffee, I simply filled up the water tank at the back and added a pod into the machine.

As mentioned, the Lavazza Tablì came with three coffee options. This included the Tablì Qualità Oro, Tablì Qualità Rossa and Tablì Espresso Intenso, all of which came with 12 tabs per box. Qualità Oro has an intensity rating of 8/13, Qualità Rossa goes up to 10 and Espresso Intenso is the most intense with an 11/13 rating.

Design and features

Measuring 32.7cm in height, 16.5cm in width and 39cm in depth, the Lavazza Tablì is quite slim and compact. It only weighs 4.5kg so it’s easy to move around, and it takes up minimal space on a countertop. It’s roughly the same size as other pod coffee machines, although it has quite a unique shape.

At the top of the Lavazza Tablì is a bean-shaped slider and piston system which slides back and forth for you to add the coffee tab. The top of the slider has the controls, including an on/off button, single shot, double shot and two cup options, and the removable 1.2-litre water tank is located at the back.

Using Lavazza Crema Plus technology, the Lavazza Tablì expertly brews your coffee to bring out the flavours and crema from the tab. It’s an espresso maker, so the Lavazza Tablì makes espresso, double espresso and lungo coffees. It can’t dispense hot water so no americanos, and if you want a latte, you’ll have to add or froth your own milk.

The Lavazza Tablì is specifically designed to use Tablì Tabs, so you won’t be able to use a ‘normal’ plastic capsule with this machine. The tabs are made entirely of coffee without any protective coating or binders, and once the coffee is brewed, the tab can be disposed of in your food waste bin.

For those who love an app, the Lavazza Tablì has Wi-Fi support and can connect to the Tablì app, so you can use it remotely. It’s also compatible with Alexa and Google Home.

Performance

Pod coffee machines all have quite strange designs, but the Lavazza Tablì definitely takes the cake. I tried the walnut brown version which looked lovely in my kitchen – almost like an oversized coffee bean! – and the slim size of the Lavazza Tablì made it easy to keep out on my countertop.

Once on, the Lavazza Tablì took hardly any time to heat up, and it’s an extremely easy machine to use with little instruction required. I pressed the on/off button and waited for the buttons to stop flashing before adding my tab and selecting the shot option – I’m a double shot girl so that was my favourite.

When adding the coffee tab, the sliding motion of the piston system was very smooth and satisfying. It covered up the tab and immediately got to brewing after I pressed the button. I found that it made a minimal amount of noise although it did produce a lot of steam.

The Lavazza Tablì also made a single, soft-sounding beep when it had finished brewing which I appreciated – there’s nothing I hate more than an appliance incessantly beeping at me! The coffee it made was rich and delicious, and while I’m a milky coffee drinker, I tried a few espressos, and loved the taste.

My first time using the Lavazza Tablì, I noticed some grainy coffee residue at the bottom of my mug. However, on my next try and the ones thereon didn’t produce this, so I imagine it was a first-use ‘error’ – if you can even call it that. The Tablì Tabs are the best coffee capsules I’ve ever tried in terms of espresso strength, flavour and crema, so I’d highly recommend them.

The Lavazza Tablì didn’t have the standard height adjustment I was used to from other pod coffee makers. The main machine can’t be adjusted to accommodate different mug sizes, so instead, you have to remove the drip tray to get a standard-sized mug under it. If you want the drip tray in place, you’re better off using a small mug as you won’t fit a standard one under there.

Now, this isn’t necessarily an issue or deal breaker – although it would be if the Lavazza Tablì dispensed hot water or frothed milk.

Verdict

As a no-waste, espresso-making pod coffee machine, the Lavazza Tablì ticks a lot of boxes. Its coffee bean-inspired design feels whimsical, and the entire coffee-making process is simple, near-silent and delicious.

The Tablì Tabs make delicious coffee – the best pod coffee I’ve ever tried – although there are no milk options yet, so if you like milky coffees, you’ll need your own milk frother.

Alternatives to consider

As a capsule-free pod coffee machine, the Lavazza Tablì is one of the first on the market. Keurig has recently announced its Alta coffee machine with plastic-free pods which is a similar concept, and it comes with a built-in milk frother.

I've called the release of Google's new laptops, Googlebooks, a bit of a revolution – and I stand by that, since this clearly signals a big change in how Google approaches the laptop market.

Still, after having worked with Acer's launch Googlebook for a week to review the first past the post, it's fair to say that moving into a different machine, this time from Asus, sort of takes some of the shine off.

After all, once you're over the shock and awe of the new, the fact that Google has set minimum standards for the internals for all these machines means that they're pretty similar in terms of components and power.

So, the difference between the various models comes down to design and the extra features that each maker might squeeze in. How, therefore, does the Asus Googlebook 14 stack up? It took me another week of use to answer just that.

Price and Availability

The Asus Googlebook 14 is available now, with Google having launched the whole ecosystem in recent weeks, and you can order it from local retailers or directly from Asus if it's going to come to your region at all.

Here in the UK, it starts from £1,199.99 with an Intel Core Ultra 5 325 chip; in the US, you can grab it from $1299 for the same spec. Since I've done so with previous Googlebook reviews, I'll just politely point out that the US price actually translates to £973 by conversion at the time of writing – so the UK is getting its usual raw deal.

Design and Specs

If you put Asus' Googlebook 14 next to one of its Zenbook 14 models from earlier this year, I think you might struggle to notice the difference at first glance – unless your eye is drawn straight to the Glow Bar on this new Google-flavoured machine.

The Googlebook laptop very much hews to the same design principles that Asus has been working with for a few years now, and the biggest tip on that front is its main material – ceraluminium, the ceramic-aluminium compound that Asus so loves. It remains a really impressive material, too, since it's nice and durable, with a soft-touch finish, but crucially is extremely lightweight compared to simpler metal options.

It seems like each manufacturer got some freedom when it came to the placement of the Glow Bar, but Asus played it pretty straight – it's right at the top of the lid, near where you open the laptop. Like in every other model, it does very little beyond some waking and sleeping animations, but showing your charging progress is its neatest trick.

Opening the laptop up, you're greeted by a 14-inch 3K OLED panel that's really quite gorgeous to look at, and possibly the single best display in any of the launch Googlebook models, thanks partly to its excellent anti-reflective coating. This is a properly matte screen, but it's still a proper touchscreen, too, just with less fingerprinting than some rivals.

Above it, there's a webcam with a privacy shutter, while the other half of the laptop houses a generously sized keyboard, complete with the fingerprint reader that Google insists on (to make Googlebook grade). Below that is the large touchpad, and in this case it is indeed haptic, whereas Acer's feels mechanical.

That keyboard is flanked by speakers, while each edge of the laptop houses some ports. On the left, you get a USB-C port with power delivery, a full HDMI port, a USB-A port, and a 3.5mm jack. The right edge holds another USB-A port and a USB-C port, making this one of the more fulsome I/O offerings in the lineup – although the lack of an SD card reader limits its creative utility.

Under the hood, the Asus Googlebook 14 runs on an Intel Core Ultra 5 325 chip, but you can upgrade to a Core Ultra 7 355 if you want a boost in power. With 16GB of RAM as standard, though, I don't think most people need that, or would find it cost-effective. The base spec is rounded out by a 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD (I'd hoped for 1TB at this price, but accept that those days might be gone).

Of course, the whole laptop is interesting from the point of view of its features, because Googlebooks are still a very new thing. It's going to be your first Googlebook, should you buy one, and the experience is meaningfully different from that offered up by a Chromebook, for instance, as I'll get into in the next section of this review.

Performance

From the off, that Intel chip and 16GB of RAM mean that the Asus Googlebook 14 runs very snappily, but the real utility of its OS will be something that Android phone users will have to probe and test over time. Some of its features, like having access to your phone's storage without any screen mirroring, are really slick, and it's great being able to pick up tasks from one device to the other seamlessly.

Apps open really promptly and run fluently, and in my normal workflow – which involves a whole heap of Chrome tabs open at once, something that can cripple a weak Windows laptop – I never really encountered any hitching or issues multitasking. One tiny hitch there is that Asus' laptop did get a little warm when running some tasks, but not to the point of any discomfort.

That said, how useful you find Googlebook OS will be a pretty personal question, one that's hard to assess until you've tried your own productivity on one properly. In my case, it's a good showcase of the good and the bad. Much of my work is browser-based, and all of this is extremely responsive, with built-in AI features that can be genuinely useful if you want them. I don't, really, but trying some Gemini queries never really let me down in terms of responses.

However, I process my own images for reviews like this one, and doing so was a bit of a pain on the Asus Googlebook 14, just like it was on Acer's. The Android version of Photoshop is a lightweight one, and even though Google seems to be trumpeting a partnership with Adobe, it just can't really compete with the proper laptop experience on Windows or Mac – right now, anyway.

That's a limitation that can be fairly hard to get past, but I do think that Googlebook OS can be really slick when you're in the zone and not demanding such levels from it. The touchscreen interface is quite dreamy (especially on Asus' matte display), and while the screen can wobble when tapping on it, it still works quickly and as desired pretty much the whole time.

The keyboard is very solid, the trackpad's actually pretty great, and the whole laptop has a lightweight design that makes it feel really quite futuristic when paired with this all-new OS (the first of its kind in a long while).

It leaves me with basically no complaints about how Asus has approached the Googlebook challenge, but the same reservations about how ready Google's laptop rewrite is for the big time.

If you're sticking to simple productivity, then it might just be a slick and quick option for you, but those with more involved workflows are unlikely to find it all that adaptable right now.

Verdict

Asus' Googlebook is a tidy little laptop – and while it can't match the 2-in-1 situation offered by the Acer Googlebook 14, it feels a little more premium in some other ways. Better ports, a gorgeous matte display, and a really lightweight build make it potentially the more straightforward laptop to integrate into your workflow.

That said, it's also really pricey, and with thinner software support than Windows and Mac right now, there's no doubt that it currently feels like early adopters will be making some compromises. This could be a superb laptop once more apps are properly adapted to the OS, but for now it's probably quite hard to justify over a more established alternative.

Also Consider

Speaking of alternatives, if you're really into the Googlebook concept, then the other one we've reviewed so far is the Acer Googlebook 14, which is just as impressive in different ways. It's more affordable to start with, and has a more adaptable hinge (a true 2-in-1). Still, it has all the same software drawbacks.

For those who decide a more established OS is probably the safer move (as I would echo), I still think the latest MacBook Air is the way to go for most. It's not as affordable as it was before the memory crisis, but it'll last for absolutely years and is a gorgeous slice of machine for a very similar price to what Asus wants for its Googlebook.

It's been over four years since Panasonic launched the Series 900+, better known as the Arc6, which I reviewed back in 2022 and came away impressed by thanks to its six-blade head and the super close shave it delivered. It was a bit of a beast, mind, with an enormous head that made it rather top-heavy, but it set a high bar for what a foil shaver could do, and it's remained Panasonic's flagship ever since.

Now the brand has turned its attention to a five-blade offering. Still part of the Series 900 moniker, the all-new ES-L580U model brings a bit of a refresh with an upgraded blade system, a smarter beard sensor and, finally, USB-C charging (hurrah!).

While it looks almost identical bar its dark grey casing over the original black, the new shaver is essentially a slimmed-down take on the Arc6, with two titanium-coated thick stubble blades and three redesigned finishing blades that Panasonic says are twice as efficient as its previous five-blade model. This is all powered by a linear motor the company claims is capable of 70,000 cross-cutting actions per minute. With a new six-blade flagship confirmed for later this year, the Series 900 has been positioned as the more accessible premium option in the meantime.

I’ve been using the ES-L580U, which comes with Panasonic’s self-cleaning charging station and a hard carry pouch, as my main shaver for the past few weeks to see whether five blades really are enough. Here’s what I think.

Price and availability

The Panasonic Series 900 ES-L580U is available to buy now in the UK direct from Panasonic and Amazon, priced at £429.99. There’s also an ES-L550U version that ditches the cleaning station, although rather oddly it’s listed at the same price at the time of writing, so the L580U is the obvious pick. I couldn’t find any official US or Australian pricing, but for reference, £429.99 works out at roughly $575 / AU$870 minus any import costs, of course.

That’s still a lot of money for a shaver, and it’s a price tag that puts the Series 900 up against category heavyweights like the Braun Nevo, while sitting well above compact alternatives such as the Laifen P3, which will set you back about £170 / $200 / AU$250 RRP.

It’s only a tad cheaper than the larger Arc6’s £500 RRP, though, and you’ll also need to factor in running costs, with a three-pack of Panasonic’s cleaning sachets costing around £12 / $16 and replacement blades adding to that further down the line.

Design and build

Lifting the Series 900 shaver out of its box, the first thing you’ll notice is how well put together it feels. It’s every bit as premium as its flagship sibling, with a solid build that feels like it’ll last for years. It’s almost identical in design to the Arc6, too, but at 180 x 72 x 57mm and weighing 215g, it’s a little more manageable in the hand. Plus, the head doesn’t feel quite as top-heavy as its six-blade relative, which made all the difference - especially during longer shaves.

The head is still on the larger side, though. It’s great for covering a lot of ground in one pass across the cheeks and neck, but when it comes to those tighter spots like directly under the nose, it takes a bit more effort to get the angling right. I did discover that you can lock the head in place by half-pulling the trimmer slider, which helps a lot in those areas, although it’s not something Panasonic makes obvious.

There’s a pop-up trimmer on the back, which has 45-degree blades, and is handy for tidying sideburns and works well enough for quick touch-ups, but it’s not going to give you as close of a shave as the foil shavers on the head.

The headline design change on the Series 900 is the USB-C port, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s a big deal. My biggest gripe with most shavers has always been having to rely on a two-pin bathroom shaver plug, whereas this Type-C port means I can top up the Series 900 with the same cable I use for my phone and laptop, which makes it far more travel-friendly.

As for the self-cleaning station, it does an excellent job, and is much smaller than those I’ve seen on rival shavers. And rather than using disposable cartridges like Braun, it relies on a sachet of cleaning fluid that you mix with water in a removable tray, which is cheaper and less wasteful in the long run. Although the down side here is that filling it up is a bit of a fiddle compared with simply slotting in a cartridge. There’s a clever pop-up button, however, that gives access to the tray for emptying used fluid, which is a nice touch.

Performance and features

When it comes to performance, the Series 900 made a strong first impression. Whether I was using it wet or dry, it sliced through my stubble with very little effort and felt every bit as comfortable on the skin as I remember the Arc6 being.

Much like its bigger sibling, the shave is impressively close. On my cheeks and jaw in particular, it left my skin smooth after just a few passes, and because you don’t need to push down hard to catch shorter hairs, there was very little in the way of redness or irritation afterwards.

Panasonic says this is because the redesigned finishing blades are angled diagonally to catch more hair with every stroke, and while I can’t say I noticed a dramatic difference in the number of passes compared with the Arc6, it certainly feels just as smooth f a shave despite having one less blade.

Where it stood out was how it munched its way through slightly longer stubble. After leaving facial hair to grow a couple of days, I found the shaver’s two thick stubble blades cut through the growth super easily, and the motor kept its pace well across my jawline rather than stuttering like many cheaper shavers do. It’s not flawless, mind, as it did occasionally miss the odd longer, flat-lying hair on my neck, and the further you push it beyond a few days’ growth, the more likely it is to snag. If you shave every day, though, I doubt you’ll hardly notice.

The Series 900’s Beard Sensor+ tech is worth a mention, too. Panasonic says this works by scanning your stubble up to 233 times per second, automatically ramping up the power over thicker areas as needed. While I can’t say I ever heard it working, the fact that the shaver never seemed to pull at my stubble suggests it was doing its job.

Panasonic also says the motor holds its power regardless of battery level, which must be correct since I never noticed any drop-off as it ran low. Speaking of battery life, Panasonic quotes the Series 900 as 50 minutes from an hour’s charge, which got me through over a week of almost-daily shaves.

My biggest bugbear, however, is the noise level this thing kicks out. It’s noticeably louder than most rival shavers I’ve used, with a high-pitched buzz that’s hard to ignore, so it’s probably not one to use early in the morning if you don’t live alone.

Verdict

The Panasonic Series 900 is an excellent shaver that gets surprisingly close to the performance of the six-blade Arc6, while being a little lighter, a little cheaper and, crucially, far more practical thanks to its long-overdue switch to USB-C. The shave itself is close and comfortable, it copes well with thicker stubble, and the self-cleaning station keeps everything fresh without much effort on your part.

It’s not without its niggles, though. It’s loud, the large head can be awkward around the nose and mouth, and, more importantly, at £430, it’s a serious investment, especially with a new six-blade flagship just around the corner.

Still, if it’s in your budget, you shave every day and want a reliable, premium foil shaver that’ll deliver a close shave for years to come, the Series 900 is a no brainer.

If you've read my Dyson Airwrap review, you'll know I'm a big fan of the hot brush attachment. It quickly became my favourite of the bunch, so when I heard Dyson was launching a dedicated hot brush styler, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

Launched in September 2026, the Airsmooth combines airflow technology with a specially designed brush head to dry, stretch, smooth and shape hair in one go. It's designed for all hair types, from straight and wavy to curly and coily, and can be used for everyday smoothing or to create a stretched-out base before moving on to another style.

You'll find all my thoughts below, but to cut to the chase, I'm very impressed.

Price and availability

The Dyson Airsmooth costs £199.99 / $249.99 and is available from Dyson's online store, as well as Boots, John Lewis, Argos and Sephora.

For now, it's exclusive to the Ceramic Pink and Rose Gold colourway, although I'd love to see more options added in the future.

Design and features

The first thing you'll notice is its distinctive teardrop-shaped brush head. The narrower tip lets you get closer to the roots, whilst the wider body works through the lengths of your hair. It's designed to create tension as you brush downwards, smoothing hair from root to tip, whilst the curved edge is great for adding volume, bends and flicks.

The Airsmooth also features Dyson's dual-bristle system, which combines two different types of bristles. First, there are the Anti-snag bristles, which have a looped structure that can collapse to release strands more easily. Then there are the PivotFlex bristles, which sit on an open base and flex by up to 90 degrees. They're designed to direct airflow whilst allowing hair to wrap around and release smoothly, creating enough tension to stretch curls and coils without pulling hair into tangles.

Dyson has also built in intelligent heat control, which monitors the air temperature more than 20 times per second to help prevent excessive heat exposure. There are three heat settings – 85°C, 100°C and 113°C – alongside three speed settings.

Despite its fairly substantial brush head, the Airsmooth weighs around 580g, with the motor positioned in the handle to help balance the tool and make it easier to manoeuvre. It also has a 2-metre power cable, universal voltage and bristle protector, making it suitable for use when travelling.

Performance

The Dyson Airsmooth already had an advantage in my eyes because, as I've mentioned, I'm a big fan of the hot-brush blowout look. However, the results, design and overall styling experience have all impressed me, and I've had a brilliant time testing it.

I've mostly been using the Airsmooth on hair I've let air dry, rather than styling it straight from wet. I've found this gives me a smoother finish in a fraction of the time, although the wet-to-dry approach works well too if you're happy to spend a little longer on it. Either way, I haven't really needed to go back in with another tool afterwards, and a little hair oil to finish is usually all I needed.

The teardrop-shaped head is brilliant for creating a smooth style, and combined with the clever bristle design, it gives you plenty of flexibility to style your hair exactly how you like. I've discovered that my favourite technique is to wrap my hair around the brush, give it a little twist, then pull it down through the lengths, which created a lovely flick at the ends that lasted. Of course, using the right prep products helps, and the Dyson Chitosan range is my favourite, but I love how much versatility the Airsmooth offers.

I also love how lightweight it is, which makes it easy to use and tackle different angles around your head. The long power cable, universal voltage, compact plug and included bristle protector also make it great for travelling, especially if you need to keep your suitcase on the lighter side. I haven't taken it away with me in the testing process, but I guarantee it will be one of my favourites going forwards.

The only real downside I've found is that I needed to keep on top of removing loose hair from the brush to maintain the best results. This isn't unusual for a hot brush, and it'll depend on your hair type and how much hair comes loose during styling, but I'd recommend giving it a regular clean to keep it performing at its best.

Verdict

I've always loved the bouncy look you can get from a hot brush, so the Dyson Airsmooth was right up my street from the start. Thankfully, it hasn't disappointed. The teardrop-shaped head makes it easy to smooth hair and get close to the roots, whilst the bristle design gives you enough control to experiment with different finishes. It's lightweight, comfortable to use and great for travelling, too. You'll need to keep the brush clean and use the right prep products to get the best out of it, but it's an overall excellent hair tool that deserves all the praise.

Alternatives to consider

If you like the sound of the Airsmooth but want something more versatile, the Dyson Co-anda 2x Airwrap is great. Alongside its multiple attachments, it includes the Co-anda 2x Multi-Styler Large Round Volumising Brush, which uses specialised bristles to maintain tension for a smoother finish.

Another hot brush I absolutely love is the Shark Glossi, which is a great choice if you're after a salon blow-dry without the complexity of a full multi-styler. It also has a similar teardrop-shaped head, allowing you to get much closer to the roots than you would with a traditional round brush.

I’ve reviewed plenty of TVs – and seldom do I get to the end of one without at some point having said something along the lines of “remember to budget for a soundbar – even an affordable model will improve the sound".

Sharp obviously wants to be the company I think of when I start banging on about “affordable soundbars’, as its new HT-SWB320 2.1-channel system is perhaps the least expensive soundbar/subwoofer combo I’ve ever heard.

So am I right? Is a soundbar that’s about as affordable as it gets an improvement on the sound of that TV you spent proper money on?

Price & Availability

The Sharp HT-SWB320 2.1-channel soundbar system launched at the end 2025, and in the United Kingdom the asking price has already fallen from £179 to £149.

It’s a model that’s intended specifically for sale in continental Europe, so a like-for-like equivalent in territories like the United States or Australia is not especially easy to come by.

What seems nailed on, though, is that any Sharp two-channel soundbar with wireless subwoofer that’s offered for sale outside Europe is going to be extremely competitively priced.

Features & What's New?

The HT-SWB320 is a 2.1-channel system that’s compatible with both Dolby Atmos and DTS Digital Surround.

Obviously any hint of spatial audio comes from signal processing rather than physical speaker drivers, though, as the soundbar features a pair of 32mm neodymium tweeters and a couple of 30 x 104mm racetrack drivers, all of which face forwards, while the subwoofer has a 133mm bass driver.

This line-up is driven by a total of 120 watts of Class D power. Incoming signals can be adapted by a suite of EQ presets – voice, movie, sport, music, game, night, and one user-defined custom setting – and spatial audio information is given the once-over either by Dolby Speaker Virtualiser or DTS Virtual:X processing depending on what type of signal it is.

As well as a selection of physical inputs – the USB-A slot can also be used to charge external equipment, as well as being available for audio playback, which is nice – the Sharp features Bluetooth 5.3 with SBC and AAC codec compatibility.

So there’s nothing new or remotely innovative about the HT-SWB320. But then no one’s really expecting that sort of thing at this part of the market, are they? And besides, the Sharp has one minor flourish where its features xare concerned: it’s Roku TV Ready, which means set-up should be super-simple when the system is paired with one of Sharp’s Roku TV models.

Performance

The Sharp HT-SWB320 is a punchier, more expansive, more dynamic listen than the vast majority of televisions I’ve heard in the last 18 months or so. The soundbar is a rather coarse-sounding system, though, and its ‘surround’ feature is of negligible use.

On the plus side, the HT-SWB320 creates respectably deep, nicely varied low frequencies that punch with fair determination – and don’t hang around or bog down everything that’s going on above them in the frequency range.

Low-end presence like this is basically unheard-of in the sound your average television makes, and it means the Sharp creates a far fuller, more robust sound than your TV has a hope of managing by itself. This alone could be reason enough to buy, for a bass upgrade.

The frequency range is quite nicely balanced from the bottom end upwards, and while the system sensibly projects the midrange just a little (the better to make voices and dialogue easy to follow) it doesn’t unduly impact on the low or high end.

The handover between subwoofer and soundbar is achieved smoothly, and the overall presentation sounds of a whole, rather than being too obviously the results of two different speakers working in tandem.

There’s a fair amount of dynamic headroom available, so when the on-screen action shifts from ‘whisper’ to ‘enormous explosion’ the Sharp breathes deeply enough to put meaningful distance between these two positions. And, again, it doesn’t hang around as it does so – there’s no slurring here.

Tonally, though, the system is on shakier ground. There’s a hint of edginess to the way the midrange is reproduced, and by the time you reach the top of the frequency range the Sharp has become undeniably coarse.

There’s a grittiness and graininess to the treble reproduction here that is noticeable at low volumes, obvious as an average level, and actively unpleasant if you decide to listen at high volume. ‘Abrasive’ is not too strong a word.

And while I’m dealing with shortcomings, the ‘surround’ setting that can be activated via the remote control handset is barely worth the effort of pushing the button. The sound gains a hint of extra width when it's engaged, but the trade-off is a reduction of focus and the introduction of a rather vague, hazy character that’s far from welcome.

Design & Usability

A product of this type, selling for this sort of money, can very seldom be said to have been ‘designed’. ‘Constructed’ tends to be what happens – and sure enough, the Sharp HT-SWB320 has managed to dodge the ‘design’ stage of product development almost entirely.

That’s not to say it’s in any way deficient when the standard of build or finish is concerned, you understand – in fact, in the context of the asking price the Sharp is put together very acceptably indeed.

The soundbar, which is a usefully compact 36 x 651 x 73mm (HxWxD) and an equally unburdensome 900g, is a fabric-covered little slice of robust plastic that can happily be positioned beneath all TVs but those that sit super-low on their feet.

The subwoofer, meanwhile, is a 258 x 105 x 370mm (HxWxD) MDF box that weighs 3.35kg. Like the soundbar, it must be plugged into the mains – but it connects wirelessly to the soundbar, which makes positioning it as simple as can be.

It does so automatically, too. The moment both elements of the system are powered up, they start looking for each other. In my experience the search doesn’t take long at all, and once a wireless connection is made it’s robust.

In a little recess on the rear of the soundbar there’s a socket for the mains adapter, an HDMI eARC socket, a digital optical input, a 3.5mm analogue input and a USB-A slot for software updates and audio playback.

The USB-A is compatible with WAV, FLAC and MP3 files, and is compatible with drives up to 64GB. Obviously anyone with a reasonably modern TV will make one connection via HDMI and that will take care of business.

Operating the system can be done using the physical controls on top of the soundbar – they cover power on/off, volume up/down, input selection and Bluetooth pairing. There’s also a little remote control handset – like the product it controls, it’s really nothing special in terms of ergonomics or build quality but is entirely fit for purpose.

As well as duplicating the functions available on the soundbar, it also offers play/pause, mute, a button to turn the ‘surround’ feature (such as it is) on or off, and independent ‘bass’ and ‘treble’ controls.

Confirmation of what the system is up to comes via a white LED alphanumeric segment display on the front of the ‘bar – it’s quite short, though, so virtually all information will scroll.

Sharp HT-SWB320 review: Verdict

As an affordable way of bringing a bit of scale, dynamism and low-frequency presence to your TV’s sound, the Sharp HT-SWB320 has plenty going for it. And if you can find it at a super-low price then the bass upgrade may make it a worthy addition.

But while it’s hardly fair to expect a product of this type costing this sort of money to be flawless in every way, its edgy treble tonality, and the vague presentation that results from selecting ‘surround’ mode, means that it’s not the complete budget-conscious solution to your TV’s terrible sound.

Also Consider

The Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus travels without an accompanying subwoofer, and it costs a little more than the Sharp – but it remains an affordable option and fairly compelling too.

Or if you don’t mind upping the box-count, have a listen to the Hisense AX5125H – soundbar, subwoofer, and rear surround speakers all at a price that’s typically Hisense in its aggressive nature.

Around this time last year, I found myself falling for an Android flagship that took me by surprise. After a hiatus in UK and European launch cycles, Oppo came back with a bang – followed by its Find X9 Pro being a masterstroke in the camera department.

This year, while there's no standalone Pro model, I've been using the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max for many weeks to find that photographic spark of excitement once again. It certainly delivers – as there are notable sensor upgrades for this model.

However, there's also a notable 'upgrade' in the X10 Pro Max's price – in line with its 'Max' name, you'll need to find a small fortune to buy this handset. And with the general specifications largely familiar, is it worth it for the camera credibility alone?

Price & Availability

While the Chinese version of the Find X10 Pro was revealed in September, its ¥6799 CNY base price (circa £765/€910 by current conversion rates – or about $1000, not that it will launch in the USA) doesn't directly translate to other regions.

In the UK the launch price will be £1,499 for the 12GB RAM and 512GB storage model. However, there's a £100 off promotion until 28 October, plus bonus of a free gift – either the Oppo Watch X3, Hasselblad Teleconverter, or Oppo Pad 5.

At the time of writing this review, however, the official Euro price is still unknown – but previous leaks suggest that you may need to part with €1699-1799 – which would be a massive jump over the Find X9 Pro's €1299 launch price just one year ago.

Also note that, due to European regulation, the earlier Chinese launch model isn't one and the same as the international version. The latter has a smaller battery capacity, for example, as it cannot bypass EU regulations.

What's New?

• All three rear cameras now 200-megapixels and housed in a new, larger enclosure
• Processor upgrade from Mediatek Dimensity 9500 to latest 9600 Pro
• Battery capacity reduced from 7500mAh to 7150mAh
• Android 17 and ColorOS 17 at launch
• Same 6.78-inch display

Straight out of the box, the Find X10 Pro Max's rear looks notably different from the Find X9 Pro's – and that's mostly on account of the new, larger camera enclosure. This further qualifies the 'Max' name, marking out the cameras as the biggest upgrade.

So just what are we talking about here? While the Find X9 Pro had a great camera suite, one of its rear trio was a 200-megapixel resolution, with the other two 50MP units. The Find X10 Pro Max, however, has a trio of 200MP sensors.

They're not just any old sensors, though, with the main using Samsung's ISOCELL HPC sensor for the first time. Only the Vivo X500, which won't launch in most markets outside of China, can currently claim the same. It brings so-called DeepPix technology and offers a massive dynamic range, of up to 17 stops.

In terms of physical size, however, the Find X9 Pro and X10 Pro Max are more or less the same – save for that camera unit. The same can be said of the display, which is a 6.78-inch panel with flagship specs in terms of colour volume, refresh rate and resolution.

Internally, the latest model gets a processor upgrade, utilising MediaTek's newest Dimensity 9600 Pro – something not even Samsung's Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra opted to use – paired with 12GB RAM (there's no 16GB variant for the international model, it seems, only the Asian markets).

The battery capacity, at 7150mAh, is huge in this phone. That said, it's lower capacity than the Chinese model's 8000mAh and, oddly, lower than the earlier Find X9 Pro's 7500mAh. Why? Hitting CE certification, as required in the European region.

Design & Display

• 6.78-inch OLED display with 1.15mm bezel on all sides
  • 1272 x 2772 resolution (450ppi density)
  • 1-120Hz LTPO variable refresh rate
  • 1-to-3600 nits brightness range
  • Dolby Vision and HDR10+
  • 3840Hz PWM dimming
• Measures: 8.4mm thin; Weight: 233g
• Titanium Grey / Luna White

For the international release, I was originally told that the Find X10 Pro Max only comes in Titanium Grey (but the Oppo site also lists Luna White, so that's an option).

The Titanium finish sometimes looks silvery-grey, sometimes emanates a warmer, almost pinkish hue when catching light. It's much nicer than the so-called Silk White finish of the previous X9 Pro, in my view.

While 2025 seemed to ramp up the demand for super-slim phones – the Samsung Galaxy S24 Edge and Apple iPhone Air were the prime two releases to prove that point – that messaging and, indeed, consumer demand have both dwindled. Not that Oppo seems to care: its 8.4mm thickness is a whisker more than its predecessor.

While 2026 has seen the advent of super-wide folding phones – again championed by Samsung and Apple, with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and iPhone Duo – the Find X10 Pro Max sticks with classic flagship format, the display a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. I've found it spot-on for one-handed use, with slender and symmetrical bezel surrounds looking neat and tidy.

There's one thing that I don't love about this display, however, and that's its reflective nature. It's just glossier than most, which I've sometimes found a distraction. It's more than bright enough to cut through this, thankfully, and I've often not needed to push that brightness anywhere near to maximum. Good to know it's there when needed, though.

The design is otherwise familiar to anyone who's handled the earlier X9 Pro: there's the Snap Key, positioned to the upper left when facing the device front-on, which is used by default for Oppo's Mind Space capture – an AI feature that captures what's on the display to store and contextualise that info.

You can adjust what the Snap Key does, if preferred, with quick control for Sound & Vibration, Do Not Disturb, Camera, OSee (Oppo's real-time camera-based translator, document and QR scanner), Torch, Recorder, Translate, and Screenshot. Or you can deactivate it entirely.

On the opposite side of the phone is the volume rocker, which sits above the power key – similar to most Android phones' controls. Absent for this model, however, is the Quick Button – which, in the previous design, was that camera quick-launch and control button that you'd usually find yourself hitting by accident rather than when actually wanted. Oppo has clearly taken on feedback here, so all the better for it.

Performance & Battery

• MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro processor (2nm process)
  • 2x 4.55GHz; 3x 4.35GHz; 3x 3.1GHz; Arm G1-Ultra-NX GPU
• 12GB RAM only, 512GB storage as standard
• 7150mAh silicon-carbon battery
  • 80W wired charging
  • 50W wireless

While some will knock the Find X10 Pro Max for having a lower battery capacity than the Chinese model and, indeed, its X9 Pro spiritual predecessor, I take quite the opposite view. Because this 7150mAh battery will no doubt last for an absolute age – but I'm basing that on calculated assumption, as I've been provided the Asian model with 8000mAh battery for this review.

We're in an age where other phone-makers are hitting high-capacity silicon-carbon batteries – yes, Samsung, here's looking at you (finally!) – but Oppo is high up the ranks of the largest capacities going. Here it's in a multi-cell arrangement to facilitate fast-charging safely and distribute the capacity successfully within the limitations of the EU CE certification.

Note that you'll need to purchase a viable plug to achieve the maximum 80W 'SuperVOOC' charging speeds. There's also 50W wireless charging, for which you'll need a relevant Qi2 pad. As Oppo elected to forego magnets in the design, you'll want the separate magnetic case for use with charging accessories – such as the (also sold separately) magnetic power bank.

So how does all that add up in the real world? After the device bedded in and got used to my usage patterns, I was getting through a day, not plugging it in overnight, and still waking up 24 hours later with 45% battery in the tank. Used carefully, you'd be able to get through two working days. Calculating for the 8000mAh to 7150mAh difference, that's a 10% reduction, so around 38% would remain by equivalent.

Performance in the Find X10 Pro Max is typically as 'max' as the name suggests. I've not found it to overheat, and gaming titles like Earn to Die Rogue will run solidly for extended periods thanks to MediaTek's latest Dimensity 9600 Pro processor.

I have seen one or two frame-rate hiccups, or strange upscaling visible in Facebook videos, though, so it's not always perfect. The decision to stick with 12GB RAM, especially when the earlier X9 Pro featured 16GB as standard, only goes to show the heightened impact of the RAM crisis here, too.

I've gotten more used to Oppo's ColorOS over the years, now finding its additional features beyond raw Android to be of use. Multitasking with floating windows, for example, is most welcome – although it needs to better integrate keyboard visibility, as all too often what you're typing won't be visible in real-time, for example.

By and large, however, ColorOS 17 is a smooth operating system with some inevitable double-ups in some areas, such as two app store fronts (Google Play and App Market). Some aspects take a little tweaking to maximise, too, such as ensuring apps aren't set to limit battery use so they can be fully functional in the background.

Cameras

• Triple rear cameras (with fourth as True Colour Camera):
  • Main (23mm): 200-megapixel, f/1.5 aperture, 1/1.3in size (Samsung ISOCELL HPC), DeepPix HDR, autofocus (PDAF), optical stabilisation (OIS)
  • Tele (70mm; periscope zoom): 200MP, f/2.1, 1/1.56in (Samsung ISOCELL HP5), PDAF, OIS
  • Wide (13mm): 200MP, f/2.2, 1/1.56in (Samsung ISOCELL HP5), PDAF
  • 2nd Gen True Color Camera: 3.2MP, 24-channel colour
• Single front selfie camera:
  • 18mm: 50MP, f/2.0, 1/2.76in, PDAF

But the real reason to want the Find X10 Pro Max beyond, well, anything else on the market? It's the cameras, but of course. I've been road-testing them for some weeks now, even able to take the phone away on a holiday to Malta to test out its abilities.

As a quick overview again: the Find X10 Pro Max's 'Lumo Camera System' features a Hasselblad-backed trio of lenses, ranging from wide-angle (13mm) to main (24mm) and a 3x periscope zoom that will deliver top portraits (thanks to a 70mm focal range). You can zoom beyond this, with the 6x default in the app offering a great 140mm option.

All these sensors are top drawer, with both the wide-angle and zoom utilising the proven Samsung HP5 – as featured in the previous Find X9 Pro's zoom, too. Its appearance in the wide-angle is new, further upping the quality of that offering. But it's the main sensor, the Samsung HPC, that really ups the Find X10 Pro Max's game.

As you can see in the gallery of shots above, that zoom lens is mighty impressive. While the first frame may look abstract – it's some truffles atop a burrata (itself atop a pizza – the Maltese know how to do it) – the level of detail by default at that 140mm setting is incredible. The 70mm and main 24mm are sharp, and each looks colour accurate to the next.

That colour accuracy is part of the second-generation Hasselblad 'True Colour Camera', which now uses more channels to ensure colour capture that's reflective of reality – and balanced to the scene's other colours – to provide an accurate representation, whichever optic or focal length or digital zoom increment you're utilising.

Daylight shots, as you can see in the gallery of shots below, depict really rich yet natural colours as a result. It's particularly pleasing that the wide-angle doesn't suffer as much blurring or visible processing compared to many other flagship phones, where this is a typical weak point.

That DeepPix technology certainly functions well in permitting low-light capture, too, although this is the one area where I feel a little more could be done. The Google Pixel 11 Pro, for example, is great at identifying faces and taking multiple shots to try and negate subject blur – something the Find X10 Pro Max isn't quite so accomplished at achieving.

There's no doubting the sheer clarity when shooting in low-light conditions, mind you, again regardless of which lens I selected to use. Having such a suite of options at your fingertips is a massive appeal that gives this device the upper hand compared to the majority of its rivals.

There are a bunch of options and settings to tinker with, too, from Portrait to Hasselblad Hi-Res or fully manual Master mode, and video capture that can hit 4K resolution at 60fps on all three cameras. Heck, you can even shoot 8K at 30fps on all three, too, should you feel the need!

I'm yet to try the separate teleconverter unit that you can also purchase for this device (using the separate case to connect), adding a physically large, elongated lens to the setup. It's quirky, that's for sure, but it's yet another string to this phone's bow that edges it closer to being 'a proper camera'.

Verdict

There's no doubt that the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max is a real showcase of what's possible in a phone camera in 2026 – blowing the likes of Samsung's and Apple's equivalent flagships out of the water with a more comprehensive and accomplished setup.

That suite of Hasselblad-endorsed shooters is the core reason to want to buy this phone over the established competition. But you'll have to really want to, as it's a pricey option when purchased outside of its launch promotional period – far more so than last year's Find X9 Pro top-tier product.

There's plenty more to upsell it, of course, from the stunning battery life to top-drawer power and a generally finessed design (if you can cope with such a giant camera enclosure – but, given what it offers, that's the visual compromise to be made).

If you're seeking a new Android flagship that's best-of-the-best when it comes to cameras, the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max is an astonishing option. It just happens to be astonishingly expensive – but you'll certainly get tonnes of worth from it.

Also consider

So that would ultimately be my suggestion: look to the Oppo Find X9 Pro, as you can pick it up for approaching half the amount of money. It still has a great suite of cameras in a design that's largely similar.

Otherwise, Google's Pixel 11 Pro can show the upper hand in some low-light or subject-recognition scenarios, wrapped in a great-looking design with the best Android software that's available.

But if all this talk of Android is making you scoff, then, well, Apple's iPhone 18 Pro is a formidable option, no doubt. Its variable aperture camera is a rarity and a point of attraction for this generation, in a proven design and highly regarded ecosystem.

For a short while, Bluesound was the only name in the ‘wireless hi-res audio streaming game’, but it’s safe to say those days are gone.

Like all the best innovators do, though, the company has remained at the forefront and generally is extremely competitive when compared to the raft of imitators it has inspired.

The Pulse Flex wants to be Bluesound’s latest demonstration that it’s nowhere near losing its mojo… so how does it fare?

Price & Availability

The Bluesound Pulse Flex went on sale at the very end of last year, and in the United Kingdom it’s priced at £279. It will cost you $349 in the United States, while it goes for AU$549 in Australia.

The world, I hardly need to tell you, is far from short of wireless speakers that sell for this sort of money – but then Bluesound has been a front-runner for quite some time now.

Features & What's New?

For a brief moment back there, Bluesound had a unique selling point: wireless streaming of genuinely high-resolution digital files. Others have caught up, of course, but the fact remains that a (relatively) affordable wireless speaker with 24bit/192kHz PCM and DSD256 streaming possibilities from multiple sources really should be a product to be reckoned with.

And getting that big hi-res content on board can be done in quite a few different ways. The BluOS control app will let you integrate literally dozens of different music streaming services – and its compatibility with (for instance) the ‘Connect’ versions of Qobuz, Spotify and Tidal makes accessing content as simple as can be.

In addition, the fact the Pulse Flex is Roon Ready, works with AirPlay 2, and offers plenty of options where internet radio is concerned too, only adds to its flexibility.

Using the app utilises the integrated dual-band Wi-Fi, of course – but there’s additional wireless functionality available in the shape of Bluetooth 5.3 with aptX HD codec compatibility. And on the rear of the speaker there’s an Ethernet socket, just in case ultimate network stability is a priority.

You’ll also find USB-A and USB-C slots here, as well as a hybrid 3.5mm socket that can either be an analogue or a digital audio input. If you favour the second option, Bluesound supplies a Toslink/3.5mm adapter in the packaging.

All incoming digital information is dealt with by a DAC that is, sure enough, good up to DSD256 and 24bit/192kHz PCM resolutions, before having a rocket put up it by 50 watts of Class D amplification.

Bluesound has finessed this power using its ‘Smart DSP’, and it serves 10 watts to a 21mm tweeter and 40 watts to a 102mm mid/bass driver. Bluesound is not exactly making with the details here – nothing about frequency response or even the material used in the construction of these drivers is forthcoming. At least it’s prepared to confirm that both drivers face forwards, though.

Performance

Thanks to the BluOS control app, it’s a doddle to set up the Pulse Flex and get at the content you want, whether it’s internet radio, your favourite music streaming service(s) or stuff stored on a common network. And once you got it, there’s a whole lot to enjoy about the way the Bluesound serves it up

What’s probably most immediately striking is just, well, how immediate this speaker sounds. Its presentation is remarkably open when you consider what a small cabinet this is, and there’s a kind of direct and unequivocal character about the Pulse Flex’s delivery that’s very engaging.

Detail levels are high, which helps with the impression of positivity (which is especially noticeable when you’re listening to nice big 24bit/192kHz or DSD64 audio files), and the evenness of the frequency response from the bottom end to the top also allows the Bluesound to present music in a fairly naturalistic manner.

The tonal balance is nicely judged, and much more than many price-comparable rivals the Pulse Flex seems perfectly happy to get out of the way of a recording and express it without sticking its oar in too much. This kind of egoless attitude is not all that common in this area of the market – many alternative designs want to meddle with the sound of a recording, and it’s seldom a helpful attitude.

The neutrality of the Bluesound, combined with its relatively open and revealing nature, goes a long way to convincing you that you’re getting an uncorrupted account of the music.

It controls low-frequency information well, which allows for good momentum and a confident way with rhythmic expression. This speaker doesn’t over-egg bass sounds, which might initially seem less than exciting – but it doesn’t take all that long in the company of the Bluesound to realise it strikes a more convincing overall balance than is usual in a product of this type.

There’s a reasonable amount of dynamic headroom available, so big shifts in attack or intensity are more than alluded to – but where the Pulse Flex really scores in this regard is with the attention it pays to low-level dynamic variations. The ability to identify and confidently contextualise the harmonic fluctuations and transient occurrences in a recording adds no end to the impression of ‘the complete picture’.

Really, about the only meaningful way in which the Bluesound could up its game is when it comes to the sort of energy and excitement it rather seems to think is a bit beneath it. The speaker’s attitude of careful attention to detail and tonal neutrality is all well and good almost all the time – but when it comes up against the ‘wrong’ sort of music (music that values drive and posture over all else) the Pulse Flex can sound just a little undemonstrative and dispassionate.

Still, for most listeners a hint of the ‘matter of fact’ is going to be preferable to ‘eyes out on stalks’ – if that’s a choice that needs making then I know which side I’m on.

Design & Usability

Display screens or other design fripperies are not for Bluesound. The Pulse Flex is a discreet and quite unassuming speaker in visual terms, with only the softly cornered triangular prism of its shape offering the merest hint of ‘design’.

It’s an understated looker no matter which of the three finishes you choose – black-and-charcoal or white-and-grey are available as alternatives to the white-and-tan of my review sample – and its compact 196 x 131 x 111mm (HxWxD) dimensions mean it’s not difficult to position.

Bluesound offers a range of stands and wall-mounting accessories, but the integrated soft rubber foot on which the speaker rests means it’s equally secure on a shelf or desktop. The standard of build and finish is not up for question – though it’s probably fair to say that this is not the most tactile speaker around.

Operating the Pulse Flex as a standalone mono speaker can be done in a few different ways. Integrating it into Amazon Alexa Skills in order for a truly smart speaker to offer some voice control is not especially elegant, but it’s an option.

There are some control buttons on the plastic top plate: volume up/down, play/pause and skip forwards/backwards are all available here, along with three buttons offering shortcuts to favourite playlists, radio stations or what-have-you.

You can specify your shortcuts in the BluOS control app, and it’s a feature that goes some distance towards explaining Bluesound’s position in the market. For an app that offers such a granular level of control, it’s remarkably easy to navigate, and logical and stable in operation.

In the decade or so that BluOS has been a thing, increasing numbers of third-party manufacturers have come aboard – which means that if you want to use your Pulse Flex as part of a home cinema surround-sound system or a multiroom set-up, say, you’re by no means limited to other Bluesound products as partners.

The app makes setting up even quite complex and/or wide-ranging wireless set-ups simple, too – which is not something that can't be said for quite a number of competing systems. I really think this app is at the cutting edge.

Bluesound Pulse Flex review: Verdict

Bluesound’s status as a front-runner of hi-res streaming is only going to be enhanced by the Pulse Flex – it’s a great-sounding speaker with a brilliant control app, and the sort of wider-system flexibility that means it could be at the heart of your wireless set-up for the long haul.

Also Consider

The Audio Pro C10 mkII is bigger than the Pulse Flex, both physically and in terms of its power output – and it’s a little more expensive too. But its sound is clean and open, punchy and assertive – and it’s got a bit going on where ‘Scandi Design’ is concerned, too, as long as you like monochrome. The control app makes setting up a multiroom system to include the C10 mkII straightforward enough, but like every competitor it’s playing second fiddle to the BluOS alternative the Bluesound is running.

NutriBullet made a name for itself with those compact bullet-style blenders that became a household name just over a decade or so ago. They hit the mainstream thanks to them making blending feel quick, simple and accessible, and they've sold millions of them ever since.

However, the company has been pushing into bigger, more capable territory of late, and its newest addition, the SmartSense Blender Combo, is probably the most ambitious thing it's done so far.

Boasting a 2-in-1 setup, the appliance touts a 1,500W base that pairs with either a full-size 1.8-litre pitcher for when you’re blending in bulk, or two smaller personal cups (900ml and 700ml) for knocking up a single serving to grab on your way out. The stand-out feature, however, is the SmartSense auto cycle, which is supposed to detect what you’ve loaded in and what vessel you’re using, then sort out the speed, time and blending function all on its own without you needing to fiddle with lots of buttons.

I’ve been using it daily for the past few weeks to find out whether the “smart” part actually works or if it’s just a gimmick. Here’s how I got on.

NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: price and availability

The NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo is available to buy now from Nutribullet’s official web store in the UK, US and Australia, priced at £149.99 / $164.99 / AU$299.95 RRP.

At the time of writing, I found it on sale for around £129 from retailers like Currys and Robert Dyas. For context, a basic NutriBullet 900 costs around £70 to £90, so the SmartSense is asking quite a bit more. Still, it does undercut premium jug blenders from the likes of Vitamix and Sage while sitting just above Ninja’s entry-level options.

You get a fair amount in the box, too, with the pitcher, two personal cups and two to-go lids all included.

NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: design and build

One thing you can’t take away from the SmartSense Blender Combo is that it does look pretty good sitting on the kitchen worktop, which is more than can be said for a lot of blenders. The gunmetal grey base has a clean, modern finish that suggests NutriBullet has put some thought into how this thing looks next to your kettle and toaster, and it’s also compact enough that it doesn’t dominate the counter the way some jug blenders tend to.

The controls on the front are lovely and minimal looking, five manual speed buttons, a pulse function, the SmartSense auto cycle button and a small, simple LCD display that shows you what’s going on. I had it all worked out within minutes of taking it out the box, without needing to keep checking the manual, which is exactly what you want from a smart kitchen appliance.

Where I think the SmartSense loses marks, though, is in how it feels in the hand. The 1.8-litre pitcher is entirely made from plastic, and while NutriBullet makes a point of saying it’s BPA-free and durable, there’s no getting around the fact that it feels way cheaper than a glass jug. There’s a lightness and flimsiness to this that you just wouldn’t find in a blender with a proper glass pitcher, and that just doesn’t feel right with the price tag it has. While the personal cups are plastic too, that doesn’t bother me as much since they’re meant for chucking in a bag and taking with you on the go, and to be fair they held up better against staining than I thought they would.

Something I did appreciate, though, is the flip-open spout on the pitcher lid, which lets you pour without having to take the whole lid off and risk getting smoothie juice everywhere (though you’ll notice form my images, I didn’t exactly dodge that). There’s also a food pusher included, which is handy for when thicker blends need a nudge toward the blades. I also loved that everything (apart from the base, obviously) is dishwasher-safe, which is a god-send when it comes to cleaning.

NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: performance

The SmartSense Blender Combo’s meaty 1,500W motor is where the device really earns its stripes, because this thing has some serious power behind it. Ice gets crushed in seconds, frozen berries disappear almost instantly, and your standard smoothie ingredients come out smooth and creamy without much effort at all.

Over a few weeks of daily use, covering everything from fruit smoothies and frappucinos to frozen berry blends, the results were consistently good and I never felt like the motor was struggling with anything I threw at it.

As for the SmartSense auto cycle feature, this is the function that NutriBullet is banking on to justify the price jump over its simpler models. The idea is that you load your ingredients, hit the SmartSense button, and the blender figures out what’s inside and what vessel you’re using, then handles the speed, duration and function on its own.

For standard smoothie batches, I found it works well and ended up using it most days. Plus, there’s something quite nice about just pressing a button and knowing it’ll blend it to the right consistency (most times) without it needing too much babysitting.

That being said, it’s definitely not perfect. Frozen bananas in particular have a habit of wedging against the sides and just spinning round without actually getting pulled into the blades, which means you end up stopping the cycle, giving things a shake or poking at it with the tamper, then running it again. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it does mean you can’t always just walk away while it does its thing. I found that loading liquid in first and putting frozen stuff on top helps most times, but definitely not all.

I should also mention the noise, because this is a loud blender. While it’s not abnormally loud - especially for something packing 1,500 watts - you certainly won’t want to use it at 6am with someone asleep in the next room.

NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo review: verdict

The NutriBullet SmartSense Blender Combo does what it says on the tin: it blends things, and does so well with a lot of force. The motor handles pretty much anything, the SmartSense auto cycle works well most of the time, and having both a pitcher and personal cups on one base gives it a versatility that a lot of rivals at this price can’t match.

But what I keep coming back to is the build quality. At the price it’s at, I’d expect the pitcher to be glass, and the fact that it’s not makes the whole thing feel cheaper than it should. It’s not poorly made by any means, but it doesn’t feel like a product with this price tag should when you pick it up, and that’s something I just can’t move past. Sorry ‘bout it, Nutribullet!

Nevertheless, if you just want something that blends well, looks decent and has a smart auto mode that does (most of) the thinking for you, the SmartSense is a worthwhile purchase. Maybe just try and grab it on sale so the cheap feel bothers you less?

Garmin’s Fenix line has become increasingly lifestyle-focused over the years, but luckily, the brand has always kept its outdoor prowess intact. The latest Fenix 9 Pro is probably the smartest-looking rugged wearable I tested in years, even though it doesn’t really add much in terms of smart functionality. Still, if you’re looking for the best outdoor watch right now, I must admit, this is the one to beat.

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review

Price and availability

The Fenix 9 Pro was announced in August 2026 and is available now at Garmin UK, Garmin US, Garmin EU and Garmin AU, with prices from £950 / $1,100 / €1,100 / AU$ 1,749. It comes in three sizes (43mm, 47mm and 51mm) and optional inReach connectivity. The Fenix 9 Pro Solar version adds solar charging but replaces the AMOLED with a Memory-in-Pixel screen.

Specs and build quality

The Fenix 9 Pro is Garmin's smartest-looking Fenix to date. Its titanium bezel and case give it a more premium appearance, and the new “nano-moulded” construction makes it noticeably slimmer than the Fenix 8 Pro (13.8mm versus 16mm).

Interestingly, the 47mm model weighs slightly more than the standard Fenix 9 (56g versus 53g, case only), matching the Fenix 8 Pro despite its slimmer profile.

The 1.4-inch AMOLED display retains the same 454 x 454 resolution as its predecessors, but brightness now reaches an impressive 3,000 nits, up from 2,000 nits on the Fenix 9.

Storage has also doubled from the Fenix 8 Pro's 32GB to 64GB, matching the standard Fenix 9, while the built-in LED torch now offers white, red and green illumination.

You also get a scratch-resistant sapphire lens, leakproof inductive buttons, a 10 ATM water-resistance rating and Garmin's familiar five-button layout.

Performance

In terms of performance, the Fenix 9 Pro feels remarkably similar to the Fenix 8 Pro. That's hardly surprising, given that Garmin has retained its excellent Elevate Gen 5 heart rate sensor and multi-band GPS technology.

I tracked runs, bike rides and walks during testing, and accuracy was consistently excellent. The biggest test came during the Eden Half Marathon, where the recorded route followed the event's winding forest trails and dirt paths almost perfectly.

The smartwatch measured 21.76km, slightly longer than the official half-marathon distance, although some variation is to be expected on a partially off-road course.

Garmin also claims up to 30% faster map panning thanks to increased RAM and an updated mapping engine. It's a welcome improvement, but ultimately an incremental one that does little to change the overall user experience. Mapping was already excellent on previous Fenix models.

Sleep tracking remains as comprehensive as ever, while Garmin's training and recovery insights continue to be among the best available.

One notable software addition is Garmin Epic, which combines activities and biometric data into a single, shareable adventure. It's a fun concept, particularly for multi-day expeditions and group adventures, though I've only tested it on my own activities.

Battery life was impressive. Starting at 83%, the watch lasted almost 11 days before dropping to 6%, despite regular GPS workouts, continuous wear, overnight sleep tracking and a software update. Charging from 6% to 100% took just over 90 minutes.

I didn't retest the Fenix 9 Pro's inReach satellite connectivity, having already experienced the technology on the Fenix 8 Pro. It's potentially invaluable for remote adventures where mobile coverage is unavailable, but the additional subscription cost makes it harder to justify for everyday users.

Verdict

The Garmin Fenix 9 Pro is arguably the best outdoor watch you can buy right now, combining premium construction, outstanding tracking accuracy and comprehensive training features. However, its titanium case and faster mapping are ultimately incremental upgrades over the Fenix 8 Pro.

Depending on your preferences, I'd find it hard to recommend upgrading even from the Fenix 6 Pro, unless you're particularly keen on an AMOLED display. That said, it's a brilliantly capable wearable with just about every smart, health, fitness and outdoor feature under the sun. You just have to be willing to pay the price.

Microwaves, generally, are used as a lazy alternative to cooking. But kitchen appliance outfit Ninja – who’s already managed to shake up both the air fryer and coffee machine categories of late with its fresh, innovative designs – has decided the ding box has far more potential than just reheating leftovers or cooking packaged junk food.

The brand’s all-new CRISPi Microwave marks its debut in the microwave category, and in true Ninja style, it’s no one-trick pony. It's a 3-in-1 appliance that combines a 1,000W flatbed microwave with a 2,000W convection air fryer and something Ninja calls “FusionCrisp” technology. This is basically a mode that starts by microwaving your food to cook it through quickly and then auto-finishes with air frying to crisp up the outside. The idea is that you get speed and crispiness from a single appliance without having to lift a finger between the two stages.

I've been using it as my main microwave for the past few weeks, and it’s safe to say it’s one of the best kitchen appliances I've tested in a long time. Here's why.

Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: price and availability

The Ninja CRISPi Microwave is available to buy now in the UK and US priced at £359.99 and $399.99 (reduced from $449.99 RRP), respectively.

At the time of writing, the UK model is currently sold out on SharkNinja's own site, with new stock expected in October 2026, but it's still available from select retailers if you move quickly.

In the US, it's available from SharkNinja, Amazon and Best Buy, but it doesn't appear to be available in Australia right now. For reference though, £359.99 converts to roughly AU$700, but there's no official local pricing or release date as of yet.

At this price, the CRISPi Microwave sits firmly in the premium microwave territory. A standard microwave will set you back anywhere from £50 to £150, so Ninja is clearly asking a lot more here. But I guess you could justify this in that the CRISPi replaces both your microwave and your air fryer, and when you factor in that a decent standalone Ninja air fryer costs around £150 to £250, the combined price starts to make more sense.

Rivals in the combination microwave space, such as the Sage Combi Microwave (around £399) and the Panasonic NN-CD87KS (around £320), offer convection functionality but lack the dedicated air frying performance that Ninja’s option brings to the table.

Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: design and build

One of the first things you’ll notice about the CRISPi is how good it looks. It doesn't look like your typical microwave in that it boasts a sexy matte black finish with stainless steel trims, giving it a design that’s clean and modern. This is joined by a minimalist control panel on the right-hand side that sports a digital display and a handful of well-spaced buttons. It looks more like a premium built-in oven than something you'd shove in a corner to reheat baked beans, and it sits on the worktop with a lot more presence than any bog-standard microwave does.

While it looks the part, build quality is where the CRISPi Microwave really impressed me, especially coming off the back of reviewing Ninja’s Luxe Café Pro coffee machine, where the plastic construction left me feeling a bit cheated. That’s certainly not the case with the CRISPi, which, weighing in at a hefty 18.6kg, is very heavy but also super solid feeling.

Plus, everything from the door mechanism to the accessories that go inside feels robust and well engineered. That’s very reassuring to see, especially at this price, and really made me think Ninja has delivered in a way it didn't quite manage with its latest coffee machine.

The CRISPi’s flatbed design is one of my favourite things about the appliance. There's no turntable, which Ninja says gives you 20% more usable cooking space compared to a standard microwave with a 33cm plate, and having used it for a few weeks I can confirm the interior is as spacious as it sounds. The flat base also makes cleaning up spills far easier than trying to wipe around a moving turntable.

As for accessories, the included 5.2-litre CleanCrisp glass cooking dish is the star of the show. It's made from PFAS-free and PTFE-free glass, which is a nice touch considering all the concerns around non-stick coatings we hear lately. It also doubles as a prep, cook and serve dish, so you can take it straight from the microwave to the table without transferring food to a separate plate, which saves time and cuts down on washing up. Win win! I should also mention that the dish includes a crisper tray that sits inside for air frying. This works by lifting food above the base for better hot air circulation underneath. *Chef’s kiss*.

My only real design gripe is the microwave’s size. Measuring 51.5 x 44.6 x 35.8cm, the CRISPi will take up a serious chunk of worktop, so something to keep in mind. If your kitchen is on the smaller side, it's definitely worth measuring up before you commit.

Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: performance

Let's start with the CRISPi Microwave’s FusionCrisp, because it's the headline feature and the thing I was probably most sceptical about before I started using it. The concept is straightforward enough: you select a FusionCrisp programme, the microwave kicks in first to cook the food through quickly, and then the air fryer automatically takes over to crisp up the outside. You just load the food, press go, and come back to something that's cooked through and crispy on the outside.

While it sounds like too good to be true, it actually works brilliantly. The standout test for me was jacket potatoes, which I made following the included recipe booklet on FusionCrisp mode. After about 10 minutes of microwaving followed by 10 minutes of air frying, I was left with a jacket potato that was beautifully soft and fluffy on the inside with a lovely crispy skin on the outside.

That's about 20 minutes total, compared to well over an hour in a conventional oven, and the result was just as good – maybe even better. Anyone who's ever done a microwave-only jacket potato knows the sad, floppy skin you end up with, and to get the crunch you have to go with the oven-only method, which takes forever. This FusionCrisp mode, however, gives you the best of both worlds for less time.

The thing with multi-mode appliances is that, usually, they do one or two things well, but not all of them. This isn’t the case with the CRISPi Microwave – especially the device’s standalone air fryer function, which works very well. At 2,000W with super-heated cyclonic air reaching up to 240°C, it performs on a par with a standalone Ninja air fryer, which – as anyone who has ever owned one will know – this is only good news.

After trying the Sage Combi Wave 3-in-1 earlier this year and finding its air fryer function didn’t quite live up to the standard you’d epect from a standalone option, I was pleased this wasn’t the case for the CRISPi Microwave. I cooked foods such as frozen chips, chicken drumsticks and roasted veg in it over several weeks and the results were consistently good, coming out crispy and well cooked. If you already own a separate air fryer and you're thinking about consolidating to an all-in-one appliance to save worktop space, the CRISPi Microwave’s air frying ability is definitely good enough to replace it.

The microwave-only function deserves a mention too, because it's pretty punchy. At 1,000W, it heats food super quickly and evenly. I found it especially handy for rescuing cups of tea and coffee that had gone cold. It sounds like a small thing, but a microwave that can bring a lukewarm brew back to life in 30 seconds is worth its weight in gold, if you ask me (then again, I am Northern), and the CRISPi handles it without any fuss.

When it comes to cooking, you’ll find 14 functions across three modes (eight microwave presets, five air fry presets, plus FusionCrisp), which cover pretty much any cooking scenario you'd want. The controls are intuitive and easy to navigate, and I had the CRISPi Microwave up and running and doing exactly what I needed within minutes of plugging it in.

My only niggle, and it is a small one, is the beeping. After your food is done and you've opened the door to take it out, the CRISPi keeps beeping at you until you physically press the cancel button. If you just close the door and walk off, as I do every single time, it'll remind you of its existence repeatedly until you go back and deal with it. It's a minor grievance in the grand scheme of things, but it's the kind of thing you notice daily, and after a few weeks it will definitely start to grate on you.

Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: verdict

The Ninja CRISPi Microwave is a rarity in that it’s a kitchen appliance that actually lives up to its own marketing. The FusionCrisp technology really works, delivering results that are faster than a conventional oven and crispier than a standard microwave, and the standalone air fryer and microwave modes are both excellent in their own right. The build quality is a good step up from some of Ninja's other recent products, too, and it’s innovative where it matters, especially the versatile glass cooking dish and its flatbed design, which makes the interior feel surprisingly more spacious than your average microwave.

At its current RRP, it's definitely not cheap. But if you're in the market for both a new microwave and an air fryer, the CRISPi makes a compelling case for buying one appliance instead of two. It does both jobs well, it looks great on the worktop, and the FusionCrisp mode adds something you simply can't get from either device on its own.

If I had to pick one fault beyond the beeping, it would be the size. This is a big appliance that needs a pretty big chunk of worktop to live on. But if you've got the space and the budget, Ninja’s CRISPi Microwave is the most impressive of its kind that I've ever used.

Who knew we needed another ROG Xbox Ally X? Well, when Asus spun up a whole heap of limited editions to celebrate ROG's 20th anniversary this year, it clearly decided that the Xbox Ally X was a great candidate for an update.

After all, I was one of many reviewers who felt the debut handheld missed one key thing – an OLED display – and now we've got a revision with that addition. However, it's also packing a new design (featuring retro transparency) and a massive new price tag.

So how does it fare as a value proposition? I've been gaming on it for a couple of weeks to see how it holds up, and it's safe to say that, just like the Xbox Ally X before it, this could end up being down to your personal finances as much as your personal tastes.

Price and Availability

There's no two ways around it – the Xbox Ally X20 is a chunky ask when it comes to the price. In the US, it comes in at $1,299, which is a $300 hike over the original Xbox Ally X. In the UK, meanwhile, we're subjected to a price of £1,299 (where $1,299 is actually £980 when exchanged at the time of writing), which is even more heinous.

These figures are steep, and no mistake, but they're likely to be complicated by the issue of stock, too. The Xbox Ally X went in and out of stock fairly regularly at launch, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same is true of the new model now that it can be ordered. So the demand is certainly there, price irrelevant.

Design and Specs

The X20 looks much like the Xbox Ally X at first glance, and indeed feels the exact same in the hand, because its dimensions haven't changed. This isn't a new design in any real way, but rather just a new case for the existing one – but that case is really cool.

It sees the handheld put into a dark grey transparent plastic shell, which lets you see hints of components inside it, especially on its back, where fans are pretty clearly visible. It's a really nice retro touch that does indeed speak to the aesthetics of 20 years ago in tech.

This and some gold buttons, to really sell the anniversary theme, are the main differences in design terms compared to the last version of ROG's Xbox handheld, and that does start the conversation about whether enough has really changed here; that debate is at its spiciest when we turn to the machine's specs, though.

When it comes to internals, there's no change here, either. The same processor powers everything, meaning you get the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip – and it remains a very impressive piece of mobile work.

That said, since this chip debuted, Intel's entire Panther Lake generation of chipsets has arrived, and the top-end versions have staggering GPU performance that has made the Z2 Extreme look less bleeding-edge than it used to.

The most eye-grabbing change in component terms, though, is the new screen. For a start, it's 0.4 inches bigger than the previous version, but the crucial difference is that it's an OLED panel – just like we wanted from the start.

It's got HDR, too, making for a substantial upgrade in most ways, while still running at Full HD (1920x1080) and with a refresh rate of 120Hz. This means that all the smoothness you'd like can be achieved with the right graphical setup in your chosen games, but also ensures that you should get better image quality while getting it.

Still, the fact is that this is the sum total of the changes – you still get 1TB of internal storage on an M.2 solid-state drive, 24GB of RAM, and all the same controls and extra buttons as last time. You also get the exact same software suite, with Windows as its base and a layer of Xbox's software on top for convenience.

In fact, it's really worth reiterating this – to all intents and purposes, this machine will feel identical to the ROG Xbox Ally X, apart from its screen. Thus, despite its name giving a slightly muddled impression, it really is the same as going from a Steam Deck to a Steam Deck OLED.

Performance and Display

So, if the ROG Xbox Ally X20 is just a new shell and a new screen, how does that translate in terms of performance? Well, the answer is pretty simple – it performs near-identically to the Xbox Ally X, as you'd expect given that same chipset powering everything.

There might be tiny differences in battery life because of the newer, bigger display, and while there are miniature changes in benchmarking across technical tools, in actual gameplay we're talking the exact same frame rates as you'd have gotten a year ago on the Ally X.

That's not a huge issue, of course, because the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme remains a really impressive portable chip. You'll be able to play Cyberpunk 2077 on its Steam Deck preset at around 50fps, for example, and running more recent games like Pragmata, you can get a pretty reliable 40fps, too, if you tune it right.

Capcom's newer games are great for their scalability, but the obvious caveat is that some newer titles will stretch the handheld past its limits, and it's a simple reality that you shouldn't necessarily buy this device in the expectation of playing newer titles for years to come – that's just not what it's best at.

Where it does excel is with a back catalogue, whether it's through Xbox Game Pass or Steam, and less graphically demanding titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong or Disco Elysium are pretty stellar to play through.

That also brings me to the software question, which is significant. Once you've set up the Xbox Ally X20, you'll be greeted by a sort of software shell, Xbox Mode. This launched a while back with the original Xbox Ally, but it's been upgraded in a few ways over time, and is now smoother than ever.

There's seemingly a big new version coming out imminently, but I didn't get the chance to try that for this review. Instead, I used the public version out now, and found it reliable enough, even if I did end up using it to just boot Steam quite often.

The fact is that Xbox Mode runs games with better performance than just doing so straight through Windows, so it's a welcome addition that also makes navigating through menus with your controls a good deal easier.

Putting performance aside, though, the display upgrade that really feels like the only reason the Xbox Ally X20 exists is a huge success in gaming terms. The change to OLED is indeed felt immediately, with inkier blacks and beautiful, vivid colours – and with no trade-off in refresh rate, there's really no downside here.

It's the upgrade I wanted the moment I tested the original Xbox Ally X, albeit at a price that I can't pretend to love.

In terms of battery life, meanwhile, I got about three hours from Cyberpunk 2077, but closer to five when running Silksong, which makes it a solid enough performer.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 review: Verdict

This was always going to be the way – the never-ending crunch of the memory price crisis means that the ROG Xbox Ally X20 feels a little compromised by its wild price. That's a shame, because adding an OLED panel basically fixes the one flaw with the Xbox Ally X, and it is therefore really quite lovely to game on.

However, in a world where Intel's Panther Lake chips are now in real handhelds that outperform this one, meaning it's no longer an apex predator, it does look increasingly like a niche option. If you're a big fan of Xbox Mode and want its best implementation yet, this is your best bet, but I think most people might end up bouncing off that price.

Also Consider

If you're shopping at the top end of the gaming handheld market, why not get the newest and shiniest option available? In this case, that's the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ – a genuine beast that features the latest in Intel chipsets and is therefore just about the best performer you'll find. That said, it's ferociously expensive.

The more sensible option is to accept that portable gaming might not be for uber-fidelity, and instead save loads of cash by going for something older like the Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS), which remains my favourite PC gaming handheld. It runs SteamOS natively and is a little beauty to play on, but doesn't come close to the ROG Xbox Ally X20 in terms of performance.

Smart refrigerators are becoming more and more common, but the Samsung Family Hub remains one of the best options on the market. They provide far more than just a simple WiFi connection to control basic functions remotely. Through the touchscreen display, you can manage other smart devices, check the weather forecast or your calendar, play music, watch TV and much more.

I’ve been testing the Bespoke AI Side-By-Side Family Hub, 9-inch model. This is a 621-litre fridge-freezer, split virtually to allow for one-third freezer (220l) and two-thirds fridge (401l). It offers all-around cooling, with metal cooling plates to retain the temperature and offers a Power Cool and Power Freeze option to blast cold air through either side to quickly drop the temperature.

I was excited to use the Family Hub, as my home is not short on connected devices and having a central hub in the kitchen could be a great way to manage them. However, after more than a month of using this smart fridge, it’s not the display that excites me most.

Price and availability

Released in 2025, the Samsung Bespoke AI Side-By-Side Refrigerator Family Hub 9" was originally priced at £2499 in the UK, which is around $3330 in the UK and A$4794 in Australia. However, it’s now reduced by £500, making it as low as £1999 in some places. Models in the US and Australia differ slightly.

My one true crush

Now, I know a water dispenser is nothing new. I remember having one growing up that you could even fill with squash and dispense it inside the door with a push-up, optic-like nozzle. However, the water dispenser on the Samsung Family Hub fridge is next level.

It offers a plumbed water and ice dispenser in the freezer door, which allows it to dispense water or ice on demand without having to refill it. A water purification canister sits between the fridge and the water supply, so both ice and water are purified. This can be easily swapped out when it’s time, with a reminder from the display to do so.

The large compartment in the back of the freezer door holds plenty of ice ready for dispensing, and will keep making more as needed (or stop overnight, so as not to disturb). There are three settings on the dispenser: a water setting, an ice cube setting, and a third for crushed ice.

Now, if you’re a fan of cocktails, having instant access to crushed ice is a game changer. From margaritas and mojitos to daiquiris, Moscow mules, and watermelon smashes, these drinks level up when you use crushed ice rather than your standard ice cubes.

With the Samsung Family Hub fridge, you simply select the crushed ice option and push your glass against the rear panel under the nozzle to let the crushed ice fill your cup. No more separate ice crushers or a tea towel and mallet.

Even if cocktails aren’t your thing, having the two ice options on demand here means that you can always make a cold drink without having to worry about filling ice trays or buying those shop packs of ice.

Family Hub display

Now, for most people, I know the Family Hub display is the main reason for buying this fridge – it was certainly the first thing I looked at – so let me go into a little more detail on what it offers.

The 9-inch horizontal display was a change for the 2025 edition of Samsung’s range, as a more subtle alternative to the 21.5-inch model. Both options were designed to offer deeper integration into the smart home ecosystem through Samsung’s SmartThings. Its usage is divided into four main areas: food, home, family communication and entertainment.

The main dashboard provides a mix of functions, including the change to add products inside your refrigerator and browse recipes with full cooking guidance. A fridge manager feature lets you control the temperatures and modes for your fridge freezer, while the SmartThings option lets you control other devices.

By swiping up from the bottom, you can access the app dock for the most used apps, as well as the full list of apps. These include a web browser, YouTube, Spotify and Ring, along with meal planner, memos, shopping liars, calendar, weather, timer, Map View, SmartThings and Bixby.

Bixby is Samsung’s virtual assistant, used across all its smart devices. From the Family Hub, you can access Bixby via the dedicated app or by voice, using the “Hey Bixby” wake word. While Samsung Galaxy devices can now also use the Google Gemini assistant, there isn’t that option on the Family Hub fridge.

This model doesn’t have the AI Vision Inside function, which uses an internal camera to recognise the food, so items have to be added to your contents list individually. So while it’s a lovely idea to keep track of every item’s best-before dates and use them to create recipes, the process of adding takes far too long.

Open sesame, I mean, Bixby!

The other great feature of this fridge is the auto-open door feature. Touch sensors on both the fridge and freezer doors can be lightly tapped to engage the function, which then fully opens the door. Opening fridge doors often takes a bit of a pull, due to the suction of the seal keeping the cold air inside, so this makes it so much easier.

It’s a function I wasn’t sure I needed – if you have a hand free to tap, surely you can just open it – but once I turned it on, I used it all the time. What I like about this automatic door function is that you can still open it manually if you want. It takes a few seconds for the door to open and then to swing out, so if you’re in a rush, opening it manually is much quicker.

In addition to using the touch sensors, you can also open the fridge doors using your voice. Saying “Hey, Bixby, open the fridge door”. The assistant takes a few seconds to think about the task, but then complies by opening the door, as if by touching the sensor.

The only downside, apart from the delay while it thinks through the command, is the fact that it opens both the fridge and freezer doors at once. Handy if you’ve just got the shopping and are replenishing both, but for use while cooking, it would be good to be able to do one or the other.

Should I buy the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator?

This Samsung refrigerator is not only a great-looking device, but it’s one of the best fridges I’ve used in a long time – and I’ve used a lot. There’s plenty of space for all of your fresh produce, including nice big door pockets for all your drinks.

Both the fridge and freezer sections are extremely well chilled and the airflow keeps the temperatures even and the produce ventilated. I’m also a big fan of the two giant vegetable trays in the bottom of the fridge.

When it comes to smart controls, the 9-inch display is useful without being too in-your-face. It provides all the information you need, though the Ring app feels a little glitchy, and general operation can seem a little slow compared to a phone or tablet. I’d love to see this display updated to a full Android setup, complete with Google Gemini, as I think it could work a lot better.

As for my favourite part, the ice dispenser, this makes the fridge for me. Filtered water and ice on tap with no refilling, plus crushed ice straight from the machine, to make those perfect cocktails. What more could you ask for?

Especially at its new discounted price, the Samsung side-by-side family hub refrigerator is a great choice.

The Brooks Cascadia is synonymous with trail running, as it is the world’s longest-running trail shoe franchise. With the first iteration released more than 20 years ago and designed with trail-running royalty Scott Jurek, the shoe has undergone multiple iterations to meet the growing demand for fast-paced adventures over rough terrain.

I was a bit late to the game – my first foray into the Cascadia experience was last year's Brooks Cascadia 19, which I wore in Chamonix while covering the UTMB finals. But I loved it so much I’ve been wearing it off and on since then.

Sometimes, it can be hard to see why a brand releases an update, but in the Brooks Cascadia 20, it’s clear the goal is to make a shoe that better meets the demands of the trail. To that end, just a few key changes amount to significant upgrades.

The Seattle brand has finally traded its TrailTack Green outsole, which was pretty reliable on a variety of surfaces, for Vibram Megagrip, widely considered the best outsole for trail.

The brand has transitioned to the new DNA Loft v3 foam, which is lighter and more abundant than ever, while the dramatically reimagined upper creates a snugger, zero-slip experience on the trail.

Is it enough to make the leap from my beloved 19? I’ve recently run 50k in them over four trail adventures to find out, and this is my honest opinion.

Brooks Cascadia 20 review

Price and availability

The Brooks Cascadia 20 is available in men’s and women’s sizing with five different colourways for each to choose from. After the bright splash of the canary yellow 19s, the brand has gone for more muted tones, though men’s colours are a little bolder.

I tested the white/blue/black colourway, which is the brightest for women, a little bit too much like toothpaste for my taste, and stains very easily on muddy days. I’d recommend trying a darker colourway like Peppercorn or Grey, and you can browse directly on the brand’s website, where the shoes are priced at an MSRP of £140.

That is really quite a reasonable price tag for a legacy shoe from a big brand. It’s never been the most technical shoe out there, but it’s highly versatile, one that you could wear on gravel days, a bit of road and even some muddier trails. It’s the same price as the Hoka Speedgoat 6, another jack-of-all-trades trail shoe that you can wear for hiking as well as running.

Design and materials

The big story in the design of the Cascadia 20 is the transition to a Vibram outsole, with confidence-inspiring lugs that have proven themselves on many a great trail shoe in recent years. The chevron lugs have tiny teeth that really increase grip, and though there is some foam on display, the coverage is quite good.

Even though last year’s Cascadia 19 introduced DNA LOFT v3 foam, the 20’s midsole has been upgraded with the DNA Flash v2. This foam is stiffer and feels similarly bouncy to the Loft v3. Once again, the stack height steadily creeps up, this time to nearly 38mm under the heel, while Brooks has kept the 6mm heel-to-toe drop that was introduced last year.

While the Cascadia 19’s upper was criticised for being a little too warm and thick, this one is thinner by comparison, with bigger ventilation holes in the outer mesh, though it's still a fabric construction. There’s a decent amount of reinforcement around the heel and toe without being too rugged.

What’s more pronounced is the huge change in the shoe’s profile. The 20 is distinctly narrower, has shaved a good amount of real estate off the toe box and is built to deliver a better lockdown fit. The tongue isn’t fully gusseted but stays in place, and there’s a big heel pull tab and lace garage for convenience.

You might think all of these updates result in a lighter shoe, but it weighs in at exactly the same weight as the 19s: 235 grams per shoe for a women’s UK 4.

Performance and comfort

When I first wore the 19s, I remember being a bit worried that they weren’t high-volume enough for my high arches, but after one run, they broke in nicely. With the 20s, I had the same fear about the fit, and even after 50k, they haven’t loosened up as much as I would like.

The result is that even after several long runs in these, I can feel a little pressure on the top of my foot. Overall, the design is noticeably narrower and shallower than the previous shoe, and Brooks has trimmed a sizeable chunk off the toe box. At about the 10k mark, I start to get hot spots on my toes.

The upside of this new design, however, is that the shoes do offer a better lockdown fit, with no slippage at all on the inside of the shoe. I’d still like my foot to sit deeper in the shoe, but I can’t really fault the fit around my heel.

The upper fabric construction isn’t as thick as the 19, which probably makes the shoe a little less sweaty, but it isn’t thin enough to cut down on protection.

I’ve had plenty of opportunity to test these shoes out in muddy and slick conditions and, unsurprisingly, they’re a great match for Scottish trails in autumn. I’ve been running a lot on a long, quiet trail that doesn’t see much footfall and is very overgrown in parts. It takes me across mud, wet leaves and grass, and I’ve had no problem keeping my footing.

The lugs aren’t too aggressive, so they might struggle on really muddy slopes, but for gravel and rolling hills I’m confident in their abilities. The lug design does seem to pick up a lot of mud, which hasn’t impacted their traction but does mean I need to be careful to take these off before entering my house.

I’ve got them completely soaked on several occasions running in the rain and through wet grass. They drain well, but they do take several days to dry out, even stuffed with newspaper.

The new midsole is really quite plush and very stiff, so it doesn’t give me any trail feedback whatsoever. But the upside of that is that, when I have to run sections of tarmac, the shoes don’t feel heavy. Overall, I’d say they feel similarly springy to the 19s, but personally I prefer a little more flex in the sole.

Verdict

It’s hard to deny that the Cascadia 20 has some significant design upgrades: it’s lighter, grippier, and has a more secure fit than its predecessor. However, this model is a good lesson in the value of trying shoes on before you buy, as the updated design doesn’t work for my foot shape as well as the Cascadia 19, which I’ll probably continue wearing. For other runners, this shoe will be the upgrade they’ve been waiting for.

For a long, long time, Logitech's G Pro X headsets have been extremely safe options if you're in the market for one of the best gaming headsets.

The first-generation version stuck around for years on end, well-constructed and with a design that stood the test of time – but now it's been supplanted twice over.

After the G Pro X2 didn't change a huge amount, what can the G Pro X3 Lightspeed do to upgrade things?

I've been using it as my go-to headset for a couple of weeks to find out – and it's been no surprise at all to confirm that it's another great launch from Logitech.

Price and Availability

Logitech launched the G Pro X3 Lightspeed in late September 2026, and it's been available to buy without any queues since 8 October, so it remains a very fresh launch.

Its pricing sits at a very similar level to the previous generation model, coming in at £229 in the UK, €259.99 in the EU, and $249.99 in the USA.

That means it's obviously a premium headset in most ways, and by most people's metrics, but also that it clearly swerves the option of going for the ultra-premium bracket, one that's fought over by the likes of SteelSeries and Audeze.

Design and Features

If you took a G Pro X3 and stood it right next to a G Pro X from way back in 2020, there's a good chance that most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference at a glance.

In those intervening years, however, Logitech has played around a bunch with the design language of its other headsets, but it rightly knows better than to toy with this hugely popular model.

That's arguably a polite way of saying that almost nothing has changed in design terms, and some might see that as a negative, particularly if they didn't love the fit or feel of the previous generations. In my book, though, you're allowed to take an "ain't broke, don't fix it" approach when you've done previous design work well.

That said, it would have been nice to see some innovation here, even if my complaints are thin on the ground. Could the microphone, for instance, be retractable instead of removable after all these years? I'd love it if so, but I know that other people's thoughts may differ.

Still, that's a long way of getting to the point – the G Pro X3 Lightspeed looks about as "headset" as you can get. It has a really nice blend of metal, matte plastic and faux leather out of the box – with a headband that's impressively plush, and arms that feel really durable.

The earcups have shiny Logitech G logos on the outside, whether you pick the headset up in black or white, and plenty of controls.

The right earcup has a sole 3.5mm jack for wired audio. It's the left that's more packed, featuring an on/off switch, a master volume dial, a mute button, a USB-C port for charging, and a Bluetooth pairing button. Finally, it has that removable microphone, which is easy to move around and position correctly.

The headset comes with a carrying bag, but also with a pair of ear cushion replacements, to let you swap out the leatherette default for a velour alternative. I prefer the standard option, and it's better for noise isolation, but this is a nice inclusion.

Comfort levels are really strong, based on my testing. While this isn't the lightest headset out there, at 356g, its cushioning is great, and I was able to happily wear it for three hours at a time without complaint. The box also includes the 2.4Ghz wireless adapter, which is USB-A, and it worked well during my use, holding connectivity well.

There's no noise-cancelling (ANC) on this headset, though, which is worth mentioning given its price.

However, there is a lot of customisation if you connect to a PC and use Logitech's software. Detailed EQ settings are available for both the audio output and microphone input – the latter is really cool and lets you tweak your voice settings in a granular way.

Finally, the stated battery life on offer is fairly whopping, standing at up to 70 hours on a single charge. That's very impressive, although it also means there's no battery-swapping feature here – Logitech has kept things simple and classic.

Sound and Performance

Of course, the G Pro X headsets of yore didn't really become popular because of their designs – it was the superb sound quality and good value that made them so successful. That value proposition is different for a brand-new successor, but how's the sound?

Well, it's predictably excellent. The big thing to note here is that I couldn't really pick out a generational gap between the X2 Lightspeed and the X3, though, where in-game audio was concerned. I played a whole heap of games while using the headset, including hours of Battlefield 6, Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, and Ace Combat 8, all of which sounded excellent.

Battlefield's concussive warfare makes for some of the most overwhelming sound design in modern multiplayer gaming, and if you can pick out footsteps and audio cues within its soundscape, you're at an advantage. I found the X3 Lightspeed was ideal on that front, which is a great boon.

Where there has been a huge leap, though, is on the microphone, which has been comprehensively upgraded and now stands as best-in-class.

The clarity and depth you get even right out of the box are startling, and with a little tweaking it can be genuinely broadcast-quality. Plenty of headsets claim that label, but few actually deserve it.

If you're on an older headset that has your friends constantly complaining about the feedback or quality of your voice, then this could be a really great choice, since I really don't think I've heard a microphone perform to this level on a headset below £350.

Speaking of tweaking the sound, Logitech's software on PC is pretty intuitive and makes it easy enough to make the changes you want, with good presets also cutting out the middleman if you don't want to tinker in too much detail.

Verdict

The G Pro X3 Lightspeed underlines the fact that Logitech knows what it's doing with this storied headset line – refining excellent previous work. The sound quality might be near-identical to the X2, and the design might be the same, but that doesn't mean it's anything other than excellent overall.

The key variable this time around is one of the best microphones in any headset, and based on my expansive testing, the single best one in its price bracket. If you care about being heard clearly, then you're going to want to think about this headset the next time you're due for an upgrade – it's that good.

Also Consider

The headset market is a deeply competitive one right now, and prices vary wildly from brand to brand and model to model.

If you're happy to spend a little more than what Logitech's asking, my favourite headset is the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni, which has some features (like ANC and omni-compatibility) that the G Pro X3 can't match.

For a similar offering at a lower price, and without that ANC, you could look to the Glorious GHS Wireless InfinitePlay, which gives you desktop convenience at an impressive price. That said, it's less premium-feeling than Logitech's headset, and its microphone is a big step down.

You might be more familiar with established brands such as Petzl and Silva, but German brand Ledlenser has been at the forefront of portable lighting for 25 years. It’s made enough of an impression that multi-tool maestro Leatherman acquired a majority stake in the company back in 2011.

Ledlenser was among the pioneers of LED head torches, while its Advanced Focus System helped push portable lighting towards more versatile, hands-free designs. What it hasn’t done is go all-in on the featherlight, bounce-free head torches favoured by trail runners racing through the night. Instead, it’s built a reputation for robust, substantial hardware – and the HF7R Signature is no exception.

A little research revealed that “HF” stands for “Headlamps – Front”, which, thankfully, means there’s no separate battery pack to contend with at the back of your head. Ledlenser describes the HF range as comprising “compact, lightweight head torches”, although that’s relative to the company’s H series, which is aimed at tradespeople such as construction workers and electricians.

I’m no tradesperson, but as the days shorten and more of my adventures spill into darkness, I’ve been putting the HF7R Signature RGB Rechargeable head torch through its paces on evening walks in the woods. Here’s how it fares when the sun goes down.

Ledlenser HF7R Signature RGB Rechargeable Head Torch review

Price and availability

The Ledlenser HF7R Signature is available in black and camouflage for £149.95 directly from Ledlenser. A standard version is also available for £119.95, with a slightly lower maximum output of 1,200 lumens.

That puts it in premium territory. It’s only a little cheaper than the more technologically ambitious HF8R Signature, which pairs with an app for hands-free operation, and around £40 more than the Petzl Swift RL, which we named Best Overall in our guide to the best head torches.

If you simply want a light for rummaging around in the boot of your car at a campsite, that’s a hefty investment. But it’s broadly in line with what you’d expect to pay for Ledlenser’s more advanced lighting technology.

Design and materials

The HF7R features three LEDs delivering spot, mid-range and flood beams, housed in a recycled aluminium casing that can be tilted manually. The unit attaches to an adjustable, stretchy dual strap that runs over the top of your head for additional support.

At 40mm deep, the torch sits noticeably proud of your forehead, and its 144g weight (including the battery) makes it considerably more substantial than many hiking head torches. The overhead strap helps distribute that weight, though there’s no disguising the bulk.

Where the HF7R really distinguishes itself is its choice of lighting modes. Alongside standard white light, it offers red illumination to help preserve night vision, green light for foggy conditions and hunting, and blue light for blood tracking.

Ledlenser’s Adaptive Light Beam automatically adjusts brightness and focus to suit your surroundings. If you prefer to take control yourself, the Digital Advanced Focus System lets you adjust the beam using a rotating dial.

There’s plenty of power available when you need it. The maximum output reaches 1,300 lumens, with a beam range of up to 210 metres, making it viable for scrambling in technical terrain. Standard Power delivers 600 lumens, while Low Power drops to 20 lumens and a beam range of 40 metres – more than enough for finding your way around a campsite in the middle of the night.

The HF7R is designed to withstand drops of up to 1.5 metres and carries an IP67 rating for dust protection and resistance to immersion in water. It comes with a protective case to help prevent accidental damage when it’s stowed in your pack.

Operation and performance

The HF7R is listed as “straightforward to use,” but I found I had to refer to the instruction manual (which seems to show a series of identical images) to get started, partly because mine had arrived uncharged.

After a bit of fiddling around, it ended up being as simple as a short press of the button on top to turn it on, following which it toggles through the three different bulbs before the Adaptive Beam Mode settles on the correct brightness and focus settings for the current conditions.

Once it’s on my head, I can press the button again to toggle through Low, Mid and Standard settings, but really I never need to intervene because Adaptive Beam does it for me. On evening hikes, the Standard Power mode absolutely blasts away the night, and I can really see the difference between this and my trusty Petzl.

I use red light as much as possible when I’m out at night to help preserve my night vision, which activates via a two-second hold from off. Once I’m in that mode, I can short-press it again to rotate through green light, which offers better night vision, and blue light, which I’ve never had on a head torch before.

This is essentially for hunters doing blood tracking, and it occurs to me that it could be really useful for paramedics searching for veins. It makes me feel like I’m examining a crime scene, which adds excitement to a nocturnal jaunt.

Sometimes rotating the dial changes the beam; other times it doesn’t, and I'm not clear on why (I also expected this to rotate through red, green and blue modes, but it doesn’t).

As for wearability, it’s more comfortable than I feared given the weight and bulk. The overhead design really helps offset the weight, but compared to most camping and hiking head torches, it is really quite heavy, and I wouldn’t want to wear it for very long. But for campsite duties, it’s brilliant in every sense of the word.

Finally, it has a Transport Lock setting which is activated by pressing and holding the button for five seconds and means it doesn’t accidentally switch on in your backpack: useful, but since it comes with a carrying case, this hasn’t proven necessary.

Battery

There are no AAA batteries rolling around in my pack with the HF7T. This head torch is charged with a standard USB-C cable (provided), and upon turning it on, green lights on one side show how much battery remains, which I think is a fantastic feature.

Mine arrived uncharged, and it took a couple of hours to fully charge, which is pretty slow, and I’d be worried about it burning through a whole battery pack if I were trying to recharge it on a long-distance trek. That said, it’s got a solid battery life, so perhaps I’ll never need to worry about that.

Continuous use in Standard Power gets you about three hours, which is fairly standard, and at 600 lumens is adequate for alpinism and mountain rescue. Turn it down to Mid, and you’ll get up to eight hours, and at Low, a whopping 60 hours. If you’re likely to be out all night, the HF8R has a better battery life.

Verdict

The Ledlenser HF7R Signature ticks plenty of boxes: it’s powerful, versatile, robust and more comfortable to wear than its size initially suggests. Its bright beam is a clear step up from cheaper head torches, while the choice of coloured lights gives it capabilities that many general-purpose models lack.

But those extra features won’t be essential for everyone. Unless you’re hunting, tracking, working in specialist environments or regularly tackling challenging terrain after dark, you may find yourself paying for functions you rarely use.

The overhead strap helps balance its substantial front unit, but I’d still think twice before wearing it for hours on end. It feels better suited to shorter outings, campsite tasks and situations where power and versatility matter more than minimal weight.

The HF7R Signature is also a significant investment for the average camper or hiker. The technology helps justify the price, but there are more affordable options if all you need is reliable illumination on the trail.

For outdoor enthusiasts who value serious brightness, specialist lighting modes and a robust build, the HF7R Signature is a compelling option. For everyone else, it’s probably a luxury rather than an essential – or a very good gift for someone preparing for a grand adventure.

I think the entire world did a double take when Dyson announced its first-ever electric toothbrush last month. The brand has built its reputation on hair tools and air products, so a toothbrush with a built-in camera and liquid-flossing system was certainly an unexpected move. That said, Dyson knows how to get people talking, and despite the price tag, I was curious enough to try it for myself.

I've actually held off publishing this review for a while, partly because of the issues people have been reporting online. I've had no functional problems with my own CameraJet after a month of use, but Bloomberg has reported that Dyson is preparing a new batch. So, whilst my experience has been trouble-free, it's worth keeping that wider picture in mind.

Here's what it's like to live with the CameraJet, and whether I'd spend this much on a toothbrush again.

Price and availability

One of the biggest talking points is, naturally, the price. The Dyson CameraJet costs £419.99 in the UK or $499.99 in the US, but you do get a fair bit in the box, including two brush heads, a 400ml bottle of low-foaming mouthrinse and low-foaming toothpaste. The two brush heads alone would otherwise cost £25 or $29.99.

You can buy the CameraJet directly from Dyson, although stock seems to come and go, so it's worth checking John Lewis and Currys as well. There are two finishes to choose from – Ceramic Ultra Blue and Ceramic Pink – both of which have an unmistakable Dyson look.

Unboxing and set up

The CameraJet's setup process isn't complicated, but it does take a little more effort than a typical electric toothbrush.

After unboxing and attaching one of the brush heads, I unwound the USB-C cable from the base of the charging dock, connected it to a power adapter and plugged it into a wall socket. A green LED light on the base came on, and a setup animation appeared on the toothbrush's screen. My first full charge took around three hours, so it's worth giving it some time before your first proper brush.

Whilst it was charging, I filled the integrated mouthrinse reservoir in the dock with the low-foaming mouthrinse. You simply press the small button on top, and it stops automatically once the reservoir is full. You can also fill the magnetic mouthrinse tank directly on the toothbrush, but you'll need to top it up fairly regularly.

I'll get into the app shortly, but setup and connecting the toothbrush are straightforward too, especially if you're already familiar with the MyDyson app. Just follow the on-screen prompts, and you'll be connected in no time.

Design and features

The CameraJet is essentially Dyson's attempt to combine three steps of oral care – brushing, flossing and rinsing – into one device. The headline feature is a built-in 100,000-pixel macro camera that uses AI to identify the gaps between your teeth. It's a strange thing to get used to, but it's also what sets the CameraJet apart from anything else on the market.

The camera works with Dyson's Gap Optical Targeting technology, which scans 28 images per second to identify the gaps between teeth. When it spots one, the toothbrush can fire a targeted jet of mouthrinse within 100 milliseconds. A specialised lens widens the camera's field of view, whilst LED Dome Technology is designed to disperse the liquid without blocking the camera's view.

The CameraJet's built-in 12.5ml mouthrinse tank has an anti-gravity design, meaning it uses an expanding diaphragm rather than a straw to keep the liquid flowing. That means it can still deliver mouthrinse whether you're holding the brush upright, tilting it or awkwardly reaching around your back teeth.

The tank is designed to hold enough mouthrinse for a cleaning session, but we'll get into this more shortly.

That liquid-flossing system is the other big difference. Rather than firing a needle-like stream like some water flossers, the CameraJet uses a wider, conical jet. Dyson says this is designed to sweep away more plaque in one burst, whilst using lower pressure to be gentler on gums and enamel.

The brush head itself has two types of bristles, shaped to follow the contours of your teeth. The firmer inner bristles are designed to lift surface stains, whilst softer outer bristles clean along the gumline. There's also a silicone-backed sonic dampener, which is intended to make brushing feel gentler and reduce noise.

Each brush head has an RFID tag, so the toothbrush can recognise it, keep track of how many cleaning sessions it's completed and tell you when it's time for a replacement. If you have sensitive teeth or gums, there's a separate sensitive brush head available, and you can also choose between three brushing intensities – Gentle, Variable and Deep Clean.

The CameraJet also has an automatic mode that jets mouthrinse as you brush, or a manual mode for when you'd rather control the jet yourself. Onboard sensors provide feedback as you go, letting you know when to move to another part of your mouth or adjust your technique.

App

As mentioned, the CameraJet connects to the MyDyson app, so there’s no need to download a separate app just for your toothbrush. You can view a live feed of the inside of your mouth on your phone, whilst the app offers guided cleaning, how-to videos, brushing and flossing insights, coverage maps and personalised feedback showing where you’ve cleaned well and where you’ve missed spots.

Dyson says the camera only activates during live viewing or automatic jetting, and that images aren’t recorded or stored on the toothbrush or in the cloud. You can also opt out of personalised oral care insights if you’d rather keep things private there too.

I was disappointed that you can’t use live viewing and guided cleaning at the same time. Once you learn what the different vibrations mean, it’s easier to follow the toothbrush’s feedback, but having to choose between the camera and guided mode feels like an unnecessary compromise. On the live view, the lens does get blocked every now and then, but this is easily amended by shifting the toothrbush around.

Otherwise, the app works really well, and I particularly liked being able to check the battery status so I knew when the toothbrush was fully charged.

Performance

The CameraJet is one of the most controversial products I've reviewed in a while, but its cleaning performance is where Dyson really gets things right. My teeth have felt noticeably cleaner since I started using it, and the combination of brushing, flossing and real-time feedback delivers a thorough clean whilst helping you improve your technique. For me, this is easily its biggest strength.

That said, there are some fairly significant design flaws that stop me from fully getting on board with it. The first is the dock – its size, the rather over-the-top attempt at a travel case, and the fact that it can't do anything without being plugged into a power outlet.

If you're like me and only have a shaver socket in your bathroom – or no plug at all – you'll need to find somewhere else to keep it, such as your bedroom, and refill the toothbrush there. I'd much prefer to be able to charge the dock and then move it into the bathroom, where it could charge the toothbrush and refill it as needed, but that's not an option. Instead, you're left either keeping the dock plugged in elsewhere in the house and returning the toothbrush to it after every use, or leaving the toothbrush in the bathroom and filling it manually when needed. The latter can be a bit messy, as the small filling hole makes spills fairly easy.

Dyson also makes a big deal of the CameraJet being travel-friendly, thanks to a large acrylic case that fits over the entire dock – but I'm not convinced. I don't know about you, but I don't want to give up that much suitcase space for a toothbrush. You could take just the toothbrush itself and some mouthrinse to refill it, but there's no cap to protect the brush head, leaving it exposed to whatever else is rattling around in your bag. That's not ideal for any toothbrush, let alone one with a built-in camera.

On the plus side, I like both the mouthrinse and toothpaste, and they taste good as well. The spearmint toothpaste is particularly nice, although be prepared for mess as its downward-facing design can cause it to collect around the lid and leak out. You can use your regular toothpaste and mouthrinse with the CameraJet, but Dyson's low-foaming formulas are designed to work best with the brush, so you'll probably get the most out of it by sticking with those.

Brushing with the CameraJet is also messier than I expected. After my first session, I quickly realised that I needed to keep my mouth fully closed whilst brushing, otherwise the mouthrinse jet could end up spraying the mirror. The toothbrush itself can also get messy, as the toothpaste and mouthrinse are more watery than conventional formulas, so liquid can run down the handle and onto your hands. You can learn to avoid some of this with practice, but it's something to be aware of, particularly if you're used to a more traditional electric toothbrush.

In a slightly strange way, the mouthrinse jet is also one of the CameraJet's most satisfying features. There's a small burst of achievement every time it hits the right spot, and over time, you'll start to learn where the gaps in your teeth are. The on-brush feedback helps with this, too, and I appreciate the quick vibrations that let me know when it's time to move on to another area.

Battery life is a strong point, with around two weeks from a full charge. The bigger issue is how often you'll need to refill it – I've realised I have more gaps between my teeth than I thought, and each session used around 8-10ml of mouthrinse. That meant topping it up fairly regularly, so I got through the supplied mouthrinse quite quickly, and replacing it could become an ongoing expense if you stick with Dyson's own formulas.

Ultimately, the CameraJet has the makings of a brilliant toothbrush. The cleaning performance is impressive, but a few practical quirks make it more fiddly to use than it should be. I've had no issues with my own unit, though the problems others have reported are hard to ignore. Dyson has some refining to do, but I'm curious to see where it takes this idea next.

Verdict

The CameraJet is a fascinating take on oral care, and after using it for a while, I can see what Dyson is trying to achieve. My teeth feel cleaner, the liquid flossing is satisfying, and the feedback gives you a better idea of how well you're brushing. Unfortunately, the practical side of things doesn't quite live up to the technology. The dock is bulky, having to keep it plugged in is a pain, and the regular refills and messy handling become tiresome over time. My own unit has worked without any issues, but the problems reported by other users are also worth bearing in mind. There's a lot of potential here, but at £420, I'd like to see Dyson iron out these everyday frustrations before I'd fully recommend it.

Alternatives to consider

There's nothing quite like the CameraJet on the market, but if you're after a high-tech toothbrush, I'd also consider the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9900. Its feedback is built into the handle, helping you see which areas need more attention and which you've already cleaned. Once you're finished, it displays a visual coverage map so you can go back over any missed spots. It can cost a similar amount to the Dyson when it's not on sale, so I'd keep an eye out for a deal.

If the CameraJet has made you question whether you need all this technology in the first place, I'd point you towards the SURI 2.0. It's a slimmer, more minimalist electric toothbrush with sonic cleaning, a pressure sensor and a useful travel case. You don't get the camera, liquid flossing or all the feedback, but you do get a really good clean.

So, the age of the Googlebook begins. It's been a hugely busy period in the tech world, and Google isn't making things any easier by debuting what it seems to think is the future of the laptop – a new OS hybridising the desktop experience with Android.

There are five launch Googlebook models – I tried them all out ahead of launch schedules to identify the best – and while I'll fully test and rate each of them individually (all in good time), Acer was quickest with a loan unit for this very review.

That means I've spent a little over a week using the Acer Googlebook 14, trying to get a grip on what this slick machine is like if you make it your main laptop.

To be clear, though: while I will obviously discuss the nature of Googlebook OS as it pertains to the laptop's performance, this isn't a review of the operating system – I'm seeing how Acer's laptop holds up to scrutiny, rather than Google's big new idea.

Price and Availability

The Googlebook rollout has been pretty sudden, so you should find that the Acer Googlebook 14 is available now, depending on your region. Here in the UK, the laptop starts at £999, while the US market gets it for $899, and Europe sees it from €1,199.

This does mean that, once again in 2026, the US is by far the best place to be shopping for the laptop – if you actually convert $899 to GBP right now, it comes out to about £680 at the time of writing.

Design and Features

The Acer Googlebook 14 is a lovely exemplification of what Google wants its Googlebook lineup to feel like in the hand. It made a point of this when I was briefed for T3 about these laptops: to talk about them in premium terms, not just in pricing, but in build quality and features, too – and that's how this model feels.

Acer is the only one of the launch makers to offer a two-in-one design, despite the fact that every single Googlebook has to have a touchscreen to pass Google's requirements and earn the label. This means that, in some ways, it makes the most sense out of the launch options, and being the more affordable of the lot further helps on that front.

First in the list of factors that make the laptop feel premium is the fact it has a metallic body, cool to the touch and with a matte finish – that somehow still manages to pick up skin oils like nobody's business. It's impressively lightweight despite this, though, and features a nice robust hinge that's easy to open to whatever extent you like.

The outside case features the all-important (but not very key) Glow Bar – in this case off in one corner, rather than front and centre. It's Google's way of denoting a Googlebook at a glance, but is fairly free of functional use, beyond when you're charging, where it shows your progress in bar form. It doesn't detract from anything, but isn't much more than a little design note.

Once open, the laptop reveals a nice, large keyboard with an equally generous touchpad (another Google non-negotiable is apparently haptics here, but this one seems mechanical), and its large, very bright OLED display – which is a highlight of the build.

The I/O situation is where we hit our first stumble, in my view – one side of the laptop has a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port and a 3.5mm jack, while the other has two further 3.2 USB-C ports. I think there should be more.

These choices do ensure that you don't need another proprietary charger clogging up your life, but it's disappointing that Google wants these laptops to be productivity monsters, yet leaves them all but guaranteed to require a dongle for most professional uses, be it for HDMI connections, SD cards or more.

Still, in terms of specs, it's back to rosier territory. The Acer Chromebook 14 can be picked up with either an Intel Core Ultra 5 325 or a Core Ultra 7 355, and while I tested the more powerful of the two, both are extremely capable. This is shored up by being paired with 16GB or 32GBof RAM, the minimum again being one that Google has mandated to make the Googlebook cut.

You also get a 512GB SSD, which makes this laptop look pretty well-equipped to handle the sort of Chrome and Chromium-heavy tasks you're likely to be doing on it. That brings us to the operating system, which is all-new and much shinier than ChromeOS. It's pretty easy to see how it'll end up being miles better, although right now it's a little rough in places.

While the AI integration is slick – and easy to access in a few different ways, as the laptop's setup guide explains – ensuring that Gemini is indeed at your fingertips at all times, there are still huge limitations here. Principally, while you can install almost literally any Android app under the sun and use it natively, that still leaves big gaps.

While the Android versions of some 'big' apps are clearly going to get more love to cater to this new OS, it still means that sometimes you'll only have access to a mobile-flavoured version of an app. In a world where Mac and Windows users both have access to a far wider range of programmes, it'll take time (and a lot of investment) for Google to catch up in this area.

That's acceptable in the world of affordable Chromebooks, but it's harder to swallow in a Googlebook that costs a grand or more depending on spec. Adobe always seems front and centre in these discussions, and Photoshop is a great example (because I use it multiple times a day); put bluntly, its Android app is a pale shadow of the full desktop experience, and that makes the Googlebook feel hamstrung right now.

Still, at least battery life is impressive, eh? Google's quoted figures didn't blow me away (up to 14 hours of streaming video playback at 50% brightness) – but in practice the laptop never let me down in getting through a whole day.

Performance and Display

If the drawbacks of Googlebook OS mean that there are plenty of hiccups to get past while trying to work on the machine, there's more good news in the form of how its actual performance bears out.

Intel's new chips are workhorses, in my experience, and that's been proven again by the Acer Googlebook 14, which basically never chugged when I threw jobs at it. Given the scope of Chrome's RAM guzzling, a multitude of tabs is the starting point there, but multitasking was always really sprightly and zippy.

Some of the hardware varied a little, though. The webcam in place here is decent but not to the level I hoped for, and the fingerprint reader (another Google requisite) was quite slow, and took an age to set up in the first instance.

The best of the Googlebook experience comes when you have an Android phone connected to it, though. This lets you sort of pair the machines, then access your phone (and its storage) as if it were just an extension of your laptop.

It's a seriously slick feature that feels great when you need it, and is an example of Google doing something better than Apple (which may doubtless now move to one-up it on macOS). This only works with Android 17, though, which may be quite a limitation for some users.

The display that I mentioned when discussing the laptop's design is also really quite terrific. With a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR accounted for, and running at a resolution of 2880×1800, this OLED is a real looker (and a toucher, too). It's great for media viewing of all descriptions (even if gaming is limited by the OS, another sore point), and also works nicely as a touch interface.

The speakers included here are nothing more than decent, but that's a fair enough result in any type of laptop at this point, and I had no complaints about them.

Still, this all means that performance basically lives up to exactly what I expected from a new-gen Intel chip with 16GB of RAM to call on, plus a great screen to stare at. The more lasting question is really whether the software this machine is running will make sense for you.

Verdict

The first Googlebook I've been given the chance to actually live with has left me thinking just what I suspected I would after seeing the whole initial lineup earlier this year: Acer has built a really slick 2-in-1 that feels great to use, provided you're happy to stick to Chrome and some Android tabs.

If you need to go a little deeper, or your workflow relies on some particularly customised or powerful desktop apps, then it's almost certainly not going to be smart to try to move into this laptop anytime soon. It needs robust software support from not just Google but third-party app developers to adapt apps to its screen size and power, and there's no real telling how and when that might come in a given app's case.

Acer has little to do with that, of course, and I'll finish with the same clarification that I used to open this review – this isn't a review of Googlebook OS. Taken on its own merits, the Acer Googlebook 14 seems like a great introduction to Google's laptop future, but it's not quite value-driven enough to win me straight over to the new wave.

Also consider

Until I've tested more of the forthcoming Googlebooks, I can't really point you at others in the launch lineup confidently, although I'll be putting Asus' laptop through its paces very soon.

Instead, I'd say the smart money is on similar-cost laptops from the world of Windows and Mac. So, for the latter, the M5 MacBook Air is an obviously superb choice that basically demonstrates everything good about Apple's laptop decisions in recent years.

For Windows, if you have the budget, the XPS 13 might suit. It's pricey, sure, but cheaper than this Acer and is impressively tiny. While it's a tad underpowered, at least you're dealing with Windows and all the freedom that comes with it.

The world of gaming hardware might feel like it's in a death spiral where pricing is concerned (and you only really have to do a little shopping around for one of the best laptops or a PC gaming handheld to feel pessimistic), but monitors are a bit of a light in the dark at the moment.

Some arcane combination of component prices and market realities means there have been some genuinely exciting launches this year, at prices that are actually persuasive not just for the elite, but for the rest of us too. A good chunk of credit here should go to Alienware, which has had a tremendous year on the display front – and now has another to check out in the AW3226Q.

Price and Availability

The Alienware AW3226Q is rolling out over the course of October 2026, depending on where you live. If you're in the USA then you should be able to buy it now directly from Dell, priced at $699.99.

In the UK, we're going to have to wait a couple of weeks, but from 27 October it should go live at £649, while the EU will have that same date at a €749 list price.

That makes this a pretty darn competitive monitor for the specs that it brings (more on that later). It's a 32-inch OLED, so it doesn't have that much competition, but a few years ago you'd have expected to pay well over a grand for something like this.

Design and Spec

• Dimensions: 70.7cm wide, 41.9cm tall
• 4K WOLED panel

The Alienware AW3226Q is a funny old monitor to receive on your doorstep, because the box it comes in very much screams "ultrawide". That's a way of saying that it's massive, at the sort of scale that normally doesn't accompany a traditional, flat display.

Of course, that makes sense – at 32 inches, this display is as big as plenty of people's main TVs, and that makes it a bit of a monster on the desktop if you haven't done your measurements (as it's almost 71cm wide and 42cm tall). It's a full 4K display, too, so you get the maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160, as you'd expect.

The panel itself is an RGB Stripe tandem OLED, and its use of four stacks and three sub-pixel layers makes it relatively uncommon on the market right now (Asus has a rival in the PG32UCWM).

This means you get all of the benefits of OLED, including those deep blacks and vivid colours, along with the one remaining risk – burn-in, which is drastically less of a problem than it used to be, but still can happen.

As far as specifications go, beyond those headlines above, you get VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400, Dolby Vision and standard HDR – so you should be able to set it up to look great, depending on the conditions in your room of choice. Its refresh rate tops out at 165Hz, too, and supports the big motion standards: Nvidia G-Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and VESA AdaptiveSync.

Design-wise, the monitor is refreshingly simple, with a square stand that's easy to assemble and impressively sturdy. It allows height adjustment, tilt and swivel, so you get the full range of motion that you'd hope for.

In terms of I/O, you get the expected two HDMI 2.1 FRL (Fixed Rate Link) ports, along with a DisplayPort 1.4 alternative. There's also a USB-C port with 15W charging for your devices, and a 3.5mm headphone jack for audio. That means there are no built-in speakers, though, which might be worth considering for some.

It's an extremely solid list of specs, and it ensures that the machine is genuinely competitive with monitors from a couple of years back that might have cost significantly more. That said, its 32-inch form factor obviously means it won't make sense in every setup.

Controls are straightforward and the same as every other Alienware monitor launched this year. You get a power button on the bottom right of the monitor, while the back features a control knob in the middle that's easy to reach. This lets you navigate through menus to toggle modes, tweak settings, and adjust whatever you like.

Performance

Dell has made great strides when it comes to ease of use on its Alienware monitors in the last few years, and that isn't any different on the AW3226Q, which I've found a real pleasure to get to grips with.

The monitor is a treat right out of the box, with a huge flat panel and a glossy coating that's impressive when it comes to reflectiveness – meaning it really isn't an issue in my experience, despite the gloss. The bezels on all four sides are pretty slim, too.

That 32-inch WOLED panel is a real looker, too, and ensures that this monitor's upper-mid-range pricing feels like a pretty great bargain once you start gaming. Even before then, in my daily work, I've found it a superb panel to use for my whole daily routine.

This sort of display has historically had issues with text clarity and fringing, but that one bugbear has been banished by progress in the last couple of years, meaning the AW3226Q is a workhorse for productivity as well as gaming.

I've done hours of both on it, though, and found that gaming is, of course, its heartland. Playing Ace Combat 8 in its entirety on the display, I was super impressed by its clarity and brightness (which isn't industry-leading, but is more than good enough in my view).

It's unsurprisingly sharp at full resolution, but since I've sat so close to it, I've found 1440p more than good enough in most situations. The advantage of the monitor being 4K is in future-proofing, but it's worth benchmarking how much you'll really use that maximum before you decide you need it. On my work Mac, for instance, it was easier to sit at a lower resolution to avoid having to scale all my tabs individually for clarity.

I also found the AW3226Q really easy to tweak to my liking, thanks to that control knob, but it was also a pretty nice pairing with my PS5 Pro, which could flex its muscles fully thanks to those HDMI 2.1 ports. This makes the monitor a great pick if you want one panel that ticks all the boxes for both console and PC play.

Verdict

The AW3226Q is another superb launch from Alienware, in a year that it must have known was going to be one of its strongest ever. It, like the ultrawides before it, offers superb bang for your buck, with a full 4K panel that delivers brilliant image quality and motion clarity.

Whether a 32-inch monitor is right for you is arguably a whole different kettle of fish, but if you think it's the right size (and you've measured up), then you're going to want to consider it. Its price is bang on, and the experience it offers can't be argued with.

Also consider

If you're in the market for a big monitor, then you're probably already wondering whether an ultrawide might be sensible – and rightly so. If you have a bit more to spend, Dell's own Alienware AW3926QW remains the best monitor I've tested this year, with all the benefits of ultrawide and basically none of the downsides.

For those committed to flat panels, check out last year's LG UltraGear OLED 27GX790B-B, which I also loved. It's smaller and more PC-centric at 1440p, but its image quality is second to none, and it's a dream to use for more competitive pursuits (something this Dell can't really be stretched to due to its 165Hz cap).

Like any good appliance, the best dishwashers are the ones you don’t really notice. Get the job done, do it quickly and quietly, without any need to rewash, and everybody is happy. Hisense’s flagship freestanding dishwasher, the Hi9, takes that principle and runs with it. It also adds a world of connected features to remove the guesswork out of your cleaning, whether you’re home or away.

As a freestanding 60cm dishwasher, the Hi9 can be placed easily in just about any kitchen. It’s a sleek-looking grey unit with a colour touchscreen display and WiFi connectivity for use through the Hisense ConnectLife app.

In addition to the connectivity, the Hi9 offers an AI Super Wash mode, auto-dosing, and a smart dry system to ensure all of your dishes, glassware and plastic are dry and ready to put away faster.

I’ve spent the last two months using the Hi9 and was surprised just how many of its added features actually came in handy for day-to-day use.

How much is the Hisense Hi9 dishwasher?

The Hisense Hi9 HS693A90ADBX (to give it its full name) has a list price of £999 but currently sells for around £899 at most online retailers. It was released in 2026 as part of its latest smart home lineup and is currently the flagship dishwasher in the range.

Features and design

Finished in a silvery grey, the Hi9 has a modern design that suits most kitchens. A fascia panel appears blank and understated until the dishwasher is turned on, where it reveals a 6.86-inch icon-based touchscreen display, providing all the controls.

Inside, the three baskets are designed to hold up to 16 place settings, with a dedicated cutlery tray at the very top, saving that annoying standing basket used by most machines. The upper basket can be raised and lowered to provide extra height for items if needed, and there are adjustable supports to hold plates and glasses in place. There’s even a fold-out bottle holder in the bottom tray.

In addition to the regular detergent tablet compartment, the Hi9 offers an auto-dosing detergent gel, which can be filled for up to 20 washes. This then uses the right amount depending on the chosen wash cycle.

There are 10 main washing cycles, selectable from the touchscreen, including an intensive wash, eco wash, glass wash and a 30 min quick wash. The interesting one, though, is the AI super wash. This automatically adjusts the length of washing time, temperature and detergent use to the amount of dirt on the dishes.

You can also make adjustments to some of the washing cycles, including a speed wash to shorten the wash time, upper and lower spray arm use to clean from just one direction, and the smart dry function. This is a fan-assisted drying system, which opens the door at the end of the cycle and circulates air to dry your dishes faster. You can also delay the wash to run at a later time.

Connected washing

Like all Hisense connected smart home products, the Hi9 dishwasher uses the ConnectLife app to provide remote operation over WiFi. Once connected, from the app (available for Android and iOS), you can select your wash cycle, set a time delay or even engage an autostart to automatically turn your machine on for washing at a set time on selected days of the week.

You can check the energy monitor to see how much electricity and water your machine is using each week, month or year. Within the settings, you can also adjust your water hardness, switch between tablet and detergent use and even use the tablet counter. The tablet counter has to be one of my favourite unexpected features here, as you can tell it how many washing tablets you have, and then it will count down each time you do a wash and notify you when you’re running low.

Once your wash programme has started, you can check the progress on the app, giving you a countdown timer and a precise finish time. On the iPhone, it also gives you smart notifications on the lock screen for the time left and finish time.

Day-to-day use

Loading the dishes, I found the Hi9 to be pretty spacious and the racking system gives plenty of support options for a range of dishes. Once you add in pans, you could easily fill the machine each day with just a couple’s breakfast, lunch and dinner, but that’s the case for any dishwasher. If you wash your pans separately, there’s tons of space.

To turn the dishwasher on, you need to hold the power button for three seconds, and I found that, as the button is on a flush touchscreen display, it’s easy not to press it fully and so you need to try again. You then need to wait a few seconds for the screen to come alive before you can select your programme and start the wash. That’s a much longer process than on a more manual unit where you simply switch on and hit go.

The upside, of course, is the number of options available here. You can even select your favourite programmes so only they appear on the main menu, making selection easier.

Though I often used the intensive setting when the machine was very full, I found the AI wash setting to be pretty effective. Wash times were generally slightly shorter than the intensive option, and both dishes and glasses came out clean.

As with washing machines, the remaining time given on the Hi9 dishwasher can change a little during the process, so often the cycle can take a little longer than originally expected – especially on the AI cycle.

I did find that particularly dirty cutlery didn’t always clean properly in the top cutlery tray, so some rinsing was needed. However, items in the bottom and middle trays cleaned well, provided there was enough space around them for the water jets.

Should I buy the Hisense Hi9?

Considering the features on the Hisense Hi9, such as WiFi connectivity, touchscreen display and auto-dry, it’s very competitively priced. It delivers impressive cleaning with a wide variety of cleaning modes and a very competent AI Wash mode.

While the app control isn’t life-changing as a feature for a dishwasher, it can be handy to change the settings, and it does give you helpful warnings when the cleaning has finished – and when you’re running low on dishwasher tablets.

The touchscreen display is a nice touch here, and makes selecting your programme look especially stylish. However, I would have loved a faster boot-up time, and an easier-to-press power button to save you time when setting the dishwasher to clean.

The original Triangle Capella system launched just two years ago, but the company has seen an opportunity to upgrade the specification and the looks at the same time.

The aptly named Capella 2 is the result. It needs more than some fresh finishes to compete in this market, though – so does the second-gen Capella have what it takes?

Price & Availability

The Triangle Capella 2 active wireless standmount stereo speaker system is on sale now, and in the United Kingdom it sells for £2299 – but it’s worth bearing in mind the dedicated S05 speaker stands will set you back another £279.

In the United States you’re looking at $2899, with stands coming in at $329 for a pair, while in Australia it's an AU$6000 buy in – with the stands set at AU$325.

Features & What's New?

The Capella has changed in order to become Capella 2, of course, but not everything has changed. Some aspects of the original system still have what it takes.

Take the driver array, for example. The same 25mm horn-loaded magnesium-aluminium alloy dome tweeter (with phasing piece at the horn outlet for optimal off-axis performance) is positioned above the same 165mm, 100% natural cellulose pulp, mid/bass driver as before.

The larger driver has a vented aluminium chassis and a half-roll suspension of rubber and foam, and each driver features an assertively textured rubber surround that, as with the curve of the cabinet, is designed to refine soundwave dispersion.

Triangle suggests this array delivers a frequency response of 42Hz - 22kHz – the downward-firing bass reflex port contributes to that low-end figure here, of course.

At 100 watts of Class D amplification per speaker, power is the same as before too. Triangle is also persevering with a streaming hub to take care of all wired and wireless connectivity, rather than follow the majority of its competitors and have one of the speakers deal with it.

The hub still uses WiSA technology to stream to the speakers at 24bit/192kHz and offer vanishingly low latency of less than 2.6m/s. Some aspects of the hub, though, have been updated and upgraded – that’s why it’s now called ‘Stereo Hub 2’.

A new Cortex A53 processor means its dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity allows it to support Spotify Lossless, Qobuz Connect and Tidal Connect, UPnP, be Roon Ready, and is compatible with AirPlay and Chromecast too.

Bluetooth 5.2 is available, with codec compatibility up to aptX HD. There’s now an Ethernet port and a pre-out for a subwoofer on the hub, which are obviously both very useful additions. Other physical inputs include a line-level analogue number on stereo RCAs, three digital optical sockets, a digital coaxial input, USB-A and USB-B, and that all-important HDMI eARC.

Performance

Obviously there’s a difference between streaming a 320kbps Spotify file of a tune via Bluetooth and listening to the same song as a 24bit/96kHz Flac file via Tidal Connect - but what’s profoundly gratifying about the Triangle Capella 2 is how unjudgemental it is.

Sure, the Tidal stream has more of everything – but the system does its level best with the Spotify alternative, rather than holding it up for ridicule as some price-comparable systems like to do.

Its fundamental character and attitude always shine through – and that’s a good thing. The Triangle is a direct, organised listen and is capable of generating a soundstage that’s spacious, open and quite carefully organised.

It’s slightly short of the outright scale of sound some rivals can summon, it’s true – but only slightly. Its sound escapes the physical dimensions of the cabinets quite significantly – and its ability with soundstage control means any and all elements in a recording get the breathing space necessary to express themselves.

This spacious character is not at the expense of unity, either, as the Capella 2 collates each element into a convincing whole. Overall tonality is nice and neutral, with the Triangle seemingly happy to let a recording dictate terms rather than sticking its oar in too overtly.

The top of the frequency range balances attack and brilliance against substance well, the transition into the midrange is uneventful, and despite a little drop-off in presence and substance at the bottom of the frequency range, bass sounds are punchy.

They’re also controlled enough to express rhythms with real confidence and, just as with the rest of the frequency range, there’s more than enough detail available to allow the light and shade, the variations in texture and harmonics, to be perfectly apparent.

It’s an impressive facility that extends as far as the harmonic discrepancies and variations in a voice or an instrument, with the under- and overtones that bracket the fundamental. And even though the midrange isn’t above getting just slightly gritty in extremis, it’s an articulate and actually unequivocal listen.

Dynamic headroom is, to understate it somewhat, adequate. The big up- or down-shifts in attack or intensity in a recording are described faithfully and in full. And that’s the case even if you listen to the quieter passages fairly loud – the Capella 2 just gets louder as the volume ramps up, and does so without sounding stressed or altering its overall character.

Design & Usability

Each Capella 2 speaker is an unremarkable 38 x 20 x 32cm (H x W x D), and the nicely built and finished cabinets are mildly curved at their vertical edges.

I’ve already mentioned the sonic benefits Triangle is claiming from this feature – but it also helps to make the speakers look a little less sharp-edged and a little more upmarket than they might otherwise.

The downward-firing bass reflex port at the bottom of each speaker is raised to an appropriate height by the slim little integrated stand/rail/thing the cabinet sits on – whether you used the dedicated S05 stands or not, the speaker will be at an ideal height in terms of a fixed boundary for the port to fire onto.

Mind you, the S05 stands have more going for them than the fact the speaker clips nicely into the top-plate. Triangle has expanded the finishes it’s offering – to the original system’s ‘Space’ white and ‘Astral’ blue there’s now the option of ‘Space’ black, oak or the ‘English’ green of my review sample (with stands are available to match).

The magnetically attached grilles are colour-coded to the finish you’ve selected, as is the Stereo Hub 2.

You can control the system’s headline functions via a redesigned remote control. It’s made mostly from aluminium, it’s rechargeable via USB-C, it’s RF rather than IR (quite helpful when it comes to having, or not having, line-of-sight), and its row of little LEDs ensure it’s easier to understand than the unlit alternatives offered by quite a few rivals.

You get far more input into the way the system performs via the Capella control app, though. It doesn’t allow you to integrate any streaming services, which means having at least two apps open at a time, and it’s hardly the most straightforward in its layout.

That said, it offers plenty of fine-tuning where speaker placement, frequency response, subwoofer integration and so on are concerned. Particularly good is the ability to run an automatic room calibration routine using just an iOS device (Android compatibility is apparently incoming).

Verdict

Extended functionality and some lively new finishes make the Triangle Capella 2 an even more compelling option that the model it replaces.

It’s not quite ready to claim top spot though, as some rivals are even more capable and a little less compromised.

But if you prefer the road less travelled, this Triangle wireless stereo system makes a strong (and, indeed, colourful) case for itself.

Also Consider

In its own way the Technics SC-CX700 system is just as striking and individualistic as the Triangle Capella 2, and in its own way it’s just as accomplished and just as flawed – one person’s ‘neutral’ sound is another’s ‘uninvolving’, after all.

If a neutral sound is the last thing you want, you’re invited to check out the KEF LS50 Wireless II system – it sounds just as assertive and uncompromising as it looks, and it’s been the market leader for quite a while now.

Coros has spent the past few years building a reputation as the brand that gives Garmin watch fans something a little cheaper to chew on. But while the big rival tends to load its wearables with the latest smarts such as lifestyle features, app stores and contactless payments, Coros takes a different approach.

This company is all about doing the sporty stuff really well and not worrying too much about everything else. The Pace series in particular has become a favourite among runners and triathletes who care more about accurate GPS, long battery life, and lightweight builds than their Spotify playlists – and so far it’s worked.

The Pace 4 Pro is the latest addition to that lineup, sitting above last year's Coros Pace 4.

What Coros has managed to cram into this thing is pretty remarkable: you get a bigger, brighter AMOLED display than anything the firm’s done before, a titanium bezel with sapphire glass, full offline maps with turn-by-turn navigation, an ECG sensor, a built-in speaker and a quoted 60 hours of GPS battery life. All of that in a case that weighs just 43g.

On paper, it reads like a watch that should cost considerably more than its RRP. But does real-life performance live up to what this running watch says on its spec sheet? I've been wearing the Pace 4 Pro for the past few weeks across runs, gym sessions and daily life to see whether the brand has pulled it off. Here's what I think.

Coros Pace 4 Pro review

Price and availability

The Coros Pace 4 Pro launched in September 2026 and is available to buy now in black with a nylon strap or white with a nylon or silicone strap, directly from Coros and various online retailers, for £389 / $449 / AU$779.

That's quite the step up from the standard Pace 4, which starts at £229 / $249 / AU$430, and puts it into some fresh territory against rivals.

The obvious comparison anyone will make first is with Garmin, and on price alone, the Pace 4 Pro definitely has the edge.

The Garmin Forerunner 970, which is arguably its closest rival in terms of features, costs a wallet-busting £629 / $749 / AU$1,399, making the Pace 4 Pro nearly half the price.

The also AMOLED Garmin Forerunner 265, meanwhile, sits at around £379 / $449 / AU$799, which is almost the same price but comes with fewer premium materials and noticeably shorter battery life.

Design and build

The Pace 4 Pro makes a strong first impression right out of the box. The packaging is pretty elevated compared to what you’d usually find for a mid-range sports watch, and it feels like Coros has taken real care to ensure it has that premium edge, which sets the tone nicely for what's inside.

The watch itself is slim at 11.8mm thick with an impressive 47.6mm case and titanium bezel, all of which give it a subtle high-end feel that the standard Pace 4's polymer case doesn't.

The sapphire crystal covering the display should also keep scratches at bay far better than mineral glass, which is reassuring if you're planning to wear it for trail runs and outdoor workouts where knocks are almost guaranteed.

In the hand, the Pace 4 Pro is ridiculously light. At 43g with the nylon strap, you could almost forget you're wearing it, which is great news for running and sleeping.

Although I must say, the polymer case body, while perfectly sturdy, feels a bit plasticky and almost toy-like at first, which is an odd contrast with the titanium and sapphire sitting right next to it. It doesn't feel cheap exactly, but it also doesn't feel as premium as those materials might suggest on paper.

The good news is that once it's on the wrist and the display lights up, that concern fades pretty quickly. The screen certainly does a lot of heavy lifting in the overall design and build.

Speaking of the screen, it’s a 1.47-inch AMOLED panel, making it Coros' biggest ever. It runs at 466 x 466 resolution with a peak brightness of 3,500 nits during activities, meaning it’s super vibrant and sharp.

I had zero trouble reading it outdoors in direct sunlight, which is exactly what you need from something you’ll be glancing at mid-run. There's an always-on display option too, which looks clean and doesn't drain the battery as aggressively as you might expect.

One design detail that really impressed me – and I’ve probably not said this about a watch before – was the charger. Instead of packing yet another proprietary cable, Coros has designed a small key fob-style adapter that magnetically clips to the back of the watch and then accepts any standard USB-C cable.

It's genius, and a nice touch that makes you wonder why every gadget brand isn't doing it. Who knows, maybe they will be once they see this?

Performance and features

Getting the Pace 4 Pro up and running is about as painless as it gets. All you need to do is download the Coros app, pair it via Bluetooth, and you're going from box to wrist in about ten minutes. The app is well-designed and super slick, connecting without any drama to ensure a super-smooth setup.

On the wrist, the watch is snappy and responsive. Swiping between widgets, scrolling through menus and launching workouts all feel fluid, with no lag, probably thanks to the extra RAM that Coros has packed in compared to the standard Pace 4.

You really feel this when you're loading and panning around the offline maps, for example, as they render almost instantly.

As you’d expect from Coros, the Pace 4 Pro’s fitness and training features are very detailed, boasting dual-band GPS that locks on quickly and tracks routes accurately, as well as a multi-channel optical heart rate sensor that feels reliable during steady runs and gym sessions.

You also get SpO2, ECG, altitude, ambient temperature, and the full suite of training metrics that serious runners want, such as VO2 Max, training load, recovery tracking, race predictions, pace planning and interval workouts.

However, the offline maps are probably the watch’s most impressive feature. With 32GB of onboard storage, you can download detailed topographic and landscape maps with street and trail names, points of interest and proper turn-by-turn navigation, which is ideal for trail runners and hikers.

The maps load quickly, scroll smoothly, and the larger display makes them far more readable than on smaller-screened watches where you're doing a lot of squinting.

Battery life is where the Pace 4 Pro really excels. Coros quotes up to 60 hours of GPS tracking with all satellite systems active, or 46 hours with the always-on display running during activities.

For daily use, you're looking at up to 21 days with raise-to-wake, or around seven with always-on enabled. In my testing, with regular notifications, a few GPS workouts per week and raise-to-wake, I got about two weeks between charges, which (with this display) is pretty impressive.

Where the Pace 4 Pro falls short is in the smartwatch department. You won’t find an app store, music storage for offline listening, or contactless payments, and notification handling is pretty basic.

If you want a watch that doubles as a proper day-to-day smart companion alongside a serious training tool, Garmin and Apple still have the edge there.

But, as Coros fans will know, the brand has always been upfront about prioritising sport over smarts, and the Pace 4 Pro only continues that philosophy.

Verdict

The Coros Pace 4 Pro has to be the best watch Coros has made. The display is stunning, the battery life puts most AMOLED competitors to shame, and the combination of offline maps, accurate GPS tracking, deep training features and a build that weighs next to nothing makes it a seriously compelling package for runners and endurance athletes alike.

The plastic body won't feel premium to everyone, and at its price point, the Pace 4 Pro has moved well beyond Coros’ budget roots and into a space where Garmin’s offerings start to become serious considerations.

Smartwatch and lifestyle features are pretty lacking, too; if you depend on contactless payments, offline music or a proper app store on your wrist, this probably isn't the watch for you.

But if your priority is a lightweight, long-lasting sports watch with a brilliant screen, accurate tracking and offline mapping at a price that undercuts the Garmin equivalent by a couple of hundred quid, the Pace 4 Pro delivers all of that and then some.

I’ve reviewed too many air fryers to count, but the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer has to be the best-looking one I’ve ever tried. Launched in September 2026, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer is the first standalone air fryer from the brand, and despite being late to the party, Smeg’s first air fryer was worth the wait.

Aside from looking stunning in its colourful, retro-inspired design, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer has both steam and air frying functions, and has a unique lid and viewing window which makes it stand out from its competitors. But is it style over substance? I spent a few weeks testing the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer to find out.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: price and availability

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer is available to buy for £199.95 at Smeg and select retailers like Amazon, Currys, AO.com, Very and Boots. It comes in four colours – matte white, matte black, matte emerald green and matte storm blue.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: unboxing

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer arrived in a large cardboard box, and came with the air fryer and a cooking rack. Internally, it has a 7.3-litre capacity and measures 31cm in height, 32.2cm in width and 31cm in depth, so it takes up minimal room on your countertop. It also weighs just 5.6kg so it’s easy to move around if needed.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: design and features

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer is undeniably a Smeg product, with its retro style, matte-coloured body and silver Smeg lettering at the front. It has a cube-like shape with rounded edges, and at the front of the air fryer is a single button which opens the air fryer lid.

The lid mechanism is different from the other air fryers on the market. It ‘swings’ open to reveal the internal basket which you can easily remove using the silicone handles on the side. It’s made from non-stick ceramic coating which is easy to clean, and is dishwasher safe.

On the top of the air fryer is a touchscreen which displays light-up icons, and manual and automatic controls. The screen is very touch sensitive, and allows you to manually adjust the time and temperature, or choose from one of the seven pre-sets – roast chicken, chicken wings, meat, fish, shrimp, vegetables and chips.

Alongside the pre-sets, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer has two cooking modes – Crispy and Juicy+Crispy. Crispy is recommended for breaded food and vegetables, and cooks food evenly with a crunchy, crispy and browned texture. Juicy+Crispy combines the air fryer’s hot air circulation with internal steaming to make food that’s crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer also has one of my favourite air fryer features – a large viewing window at the top. The window works alongside an integrated light which illuminates to show you your food’s cooking progress.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: performance

Due to all the product testing I get to do, I have a surprisingly limited amount of countertop room, but luckily, that wasn’t an issue with the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer. It slotted nicely into a tiny space, and due to its beautiful colour and design – of which I tried it in emerald green shade – I was happy to display this air fryer in my kitchen.

But enough about the looks – how does the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer actually work? Firstly, I loved the touchscreen interface and found it very easy to use. I tried its manual controls, and automatic pre-sets which would flash up with the perfect time and temperature for your food of choice.

One thing I found interesting about the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer was its timer when it was cooking. Typically, air fryers count down in minutes and seconds, but the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer just stays at a minute countdown, and it flashes between that and its temperature.

This countdown took some time getting used to, but this seemed to be a theme with the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer, as its internal light also turned on and off intermittently during cooking. The window was a nice addition, although it did steam up quite a lot. I also found the air fryer to be very quiet when in action, even when it beeped after cooking.

Internally, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer had a good amount of cooking space, although it did feel a bit small at times. Removing the basket was easy and the handles were safe and comfortable to use, although I found it a bit tricky with shaking the food.

Instead, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer tells you to turn your food instead, so you have to take the whole basket out and rotate it, instead of a simple shake like other air fryers. It’s a small design ‘flaw’ if you can even call it that, and it’s mainly to do with the unique way the lid opens – I really liked the lid, so I was happy to make do!

I made lots of food in the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer but the standout meals were gnocchi, chicken fajitas and vegetables. Starting with gnocchi, I’ve been enjoying crisping it in the air fryer which typically takes 20 minutes. I found it took longer with the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer and while it cooked the gnocchi nicely, it wasn’t as brown as I would have liked, so I put it on crispy mode for 10 minutes and it achieved perfect results.

Next, I cooked chicken, peppers and onions with a fajita dry-rub mix in the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer and this was the best meal I had from it. Not only did the chicken come out perfectly moist and tender, but the peppers and onions were lightly charred and had a great texture. Again, this took longer at 25 minutes, but as I used minimal oil in the air fryer, there was hardly any clean-up, and these were the healthiest tasting fajitas I’d ever had.

The only meal ‘fail’ I had was with vegetables. I wanted to use the Juicy+Crispy setting but unfortunately, it didn’t work with the vegetable pre-set. I did some playing around with the manual controls to try steaming my carrots, but the results were a bit lacklustre. They didn’t have a ton of colour on them, and were still a little hard after being in the air fryer for 25 minutes.

Aside from the carrot mishap, the Juicy+Crispy setting worked nicely, although I found the water container dripped quite a lot. However, general clean-up of the air fryer was very easy. It requires hardly any oil either, so nothing sticks or stains to the basket.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: verdict

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer definitely takes the crown for the most attractive air fryer I’ve ever tried – and on the market. Its lid is clever, touchscreen display is intuitive and sleek, and its viewing window and light ties everything together nicely.

Inside, you have a good amount of cooking space, and the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer truly makes delicious and healthy food. Its steam setting and pre-sets could be better and more expansive to cater to all food programmes, and the cooking times are slightly longer as well.

Having said that, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer has a lot going for it and as the brand’s first air fryer, these ‘issues’ could be something to revisit down the line.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: alternatives to consider

If you have minimal kitchen space, the Philips Air Fryer XXL is another single basket air fryer that cooks a huge amount of food. It has the ‘traditional’ air fryer look with a draw-like basket, and its frying capability leaves food tasting surprisingly healthy.

If it’s the steam setting you’re after, the Tefal EasyFry Grill and Steam Air Fryer is a good alternative. Alongside air frying, it grills and steams, and has an easy clean-up, too.

While the experience of online shopping is undeniably fuss free and convenient, some products are better suited to being tried and tested using the old-fashioned approach of getting off one’s butt and visiting a proper shop.

That’s certainly the case when it comes to bicycles – both analogue and electric – which ideally need to be seen in the flesh and tried and tested to make sure the bike of your dreams isn’t one that turns out to be a lemon.

The sad thing is that many independent bicycle stores have struggled to compete against online retail, even though physical bricks-and-mortar shops offer something that websites don’t – namely expert advice, fitting, servicing and hands-on experience.

Despite the current downward trend in high street shopping, we thankfully still have the likes of Halfords, Evans, Leisure Lakes Bikes and Cycle King keeping high street bike-shopping alive, which leads me to the Carrera Subway-E 2 I’m reviewing today, an impressively-specced electric bike from the house of Halfords.

Here are my thoughts.

Carrera Subway-E 2 hybrid e-bike review

Price and availability

The Carrera Subway-E 2 is currently available in three frame sizes – S, M and L – from Halfords, priced at a reasonable £1,299. Halfords offers home delivery and reserve & collect, although store availability can vary so phone to check first. This bike is also eligible for Cycle2Work, which can greatly reduce the cost for eligible customers.

Specs at a glance

• Frame: Aluminium
• Fork: High-tensile steel
• Frame sizes: S,M,L
• Motor: BAFANG G020 rear hub, 250W
• Gear shifter: Shimano SL-U4000 RapidFire Plus, 9-speed
• Rear derailleur: Shimano 9-speed CUES
• Power assistance modes: Eco, Tour, Sport, Sport+, Boost
• Torque: 45 Nm
• Battery: BAFANG 378Wh, 10.5Ah, downtube integrated and removable
• Range: 25 - 40 miles (64 km)
• Sensor: Torque sensor
• Brakes: Tektro HD-M275 hydraulic disc
• Wheels: 27.5”
• Tyres: Kenda, 27.5”x1.95”
• Display: BAFANG TFT
• Waterproofness: Water resistant
• Weight: 21.4 kgs (with battery)
• Max rider weight: 120 kgs
• Frame warranty: Lifetime
• Battery warranty: 2 years

Set up

Sadly there aren’t as many bike shops in the UK as there used to be so chapeau to Halfords for continuing to sell and service bicycles alongside the company’s huge raft of motoring products. The fact that many UK towns have a Halfords on the high street means that anyone nearby can pop in and peruse the company’s wide range of bicycles, from kiddy cycles, hybrids, MTBs and gravel racers to e-bikes in every shape and form, and at a wide range of different price points.

Halfords not only sells bicycles – along with loads of spares and accessories – it also services them on the premises, and that means anyone can waltz in, choose a bike, have it assembled and set up for a modest fee of just £15, and then ride home on it, or pop it in the car. That, I gather, is how many prospective purchasers go about it.

However, since Halfords also has massive online presence, you can also have your chosen bike posted to you unbuilt with the front wheel unattached or, for a small fee of £35, pre-assembled with both wheels attached and set up by a technician just the way you’ll like it.

If ordering online and having the bike sent to you unbuilt, you will likely need to fit the handlebars to the headset (don’t worry, the brake and gear cables are pre-attached), attach the front wheel, saddle and pedals, and possibly make some fine adjustments to the rear gear derailleur. This is how I would always order a bicycle, but then I love assembling them because I’m a bike nerd and have fettled away on over 60 bikes in my lifetime.

For the purposes of this review, Halfords sent me the Carrera Subway-E 2 almost fully built with both wheels in place in a bike box big enough to sleep in.

All I had to do was loosen the four Allen bolts on the robust headset (don’t forget to buy an Allen key), swivel the handlebar, re-tighten the bolts and fit the pedals. Both wheels were already attached and the derailleur seemingly set up because the gears were smooth right out of the box. An assembly checklist was also supplied by whoever built it for me. That’s darn good service, if you ask me.

Design and build quality

Available in three sizes, the new Carrera Subway-E 2 falls under Halfords’ electric hybrid category though at first glance on the website page – and in real life – its steeply-sloping and acutely-angled frame and chunky gravel tyres give it the looks of 26-inch wheeled hardtail mountain bike, only without any front suspension. It looks pretty cool, too, in all that silvery livery.

However, there’s no mistaking the size of the Subway's much larger 27.5-inch wheels which are the new standard for most modern hybrid bikes. This model is also fitted with slightly knobbly 27.5” x 1.95” Kenda tyres which are fatter than the hybrid norm and better suited to both tarmac and gravel use.

Funnily enough, I was drawn to this particular hybrid model because the geometry of its steeply-raked top tube is very similar to that of my vintage Kona Cinder Cone mountain bike from 1995. Like most bikes back then, the Cinder Cone was cast entirely from chromoly steel and this not only helped the entire bike attain a svelte weight of just 10 kilos (22lbs in old cycling money) after being tricked out with lighter components, but the thin steel tubing gave it attractive curb appeal.

Aluminium framed bikes were already around much earlier but by the mid 1990s aluminium took over from steel and bikes suddenly started to look bloated with wide, squared tubing to give the frame extra strength. Bike purists like me were understandably miffed by it all but, hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

I guess this is a roundabout way for me to describe the most obvious difference between my old Kona and this new hybrid gravel-ready bike from the house of Halfords. Although one is a vintage analogue mountain bike with 26” wheels and the other an electric hybrid with 27.5” wheels there is, unsurprisingly, a massive weight difference between the two.

Where the Kona’s weight out of the box was nearer 11 kgs (25lbs), the Carrera weighs in at a whopping 21.4 kilos (a shade over 47lbs) with battery. I have the build of a stick insect and had no issues hoisting my Kona over my shoulder when scrambling over a stile but I can’t even lift this heavyweight higher than my knees, and that means that most owners – bar those built like brick outhouses – will have a lot of trouble hauling it up a flight of stairs unaided.

I must stress that it’s not uncommon for e-bikes in this low-to-mid price bracket to weigh this much because aluminium e-bikes generally use thicker and larger-diameter tubing than traditional analogue bikes to handle the extra stress of all the weighty electrics. Add the weight of the battery and motor – in this case an integrated downtube battery weighing 2.3 kgs and a BAFANG G020 motor adding another 3.3 kgs – and you can see why electric bikes generally weigh a small ton, unless you’re prepared to stretch the budget to buy something like the Fiido Air (£1,636), which purportedly weighs a comparatively featherweight 13.75 kgs (30.3 lbs).

I should also add that weight isn’t anywhere near as much of a factor when it comes to actually riding the Carrera Subway-E 2 because its 250W BAFANG motor provides all the power and torque (45Nm ) you need to get to the top of modestly steep hills with very little physical input. Mind, as with any e-bike, the opposite is true when the battery runs out of juice mid journey.

Right, that’s the Carrera Subway-E 2’s important weight info out of the way, so let’s start at the front of the bike and work our way to the rear, starting with the handlebar which has a slight rise and measures a substantial 29 inches (74mm) in width.

This level of width is quite normal for hybrids and mountain bikes these days because it makes the bike feel more stable, responsive and confidence inspiring, especially when going down steep hills and over rougher terrain. I personally much prefer a narrower bar, partly because it makes any bike easier to handle when negotiating traffic and storing at home, and partly because I find them to be more comfortable in general. But each to their own.

The bars are connected to a short and extremely robust 3-inch (7cm) stem that further helps with agility and responsiveness, though the frame geometry and handlebar configuration definitely encourage an over-the-handlebar ride posture rather than the usual upright riding position normally associated with hybrid bikes. I like it that way but many fair-weather riders may not.

The Tektro HD-M275 all-weather hydraulic brakes, meanwhile, bring everything to a halt in seconds and I especially like the spongy feel of the brake levers, which helps a great deal when feathering the brakes to shave off speed.

The Subway-E 2’s BAFANG computer display is one of the clearest I’ve seen and one of the brightest when you boost the backlight. As per usual, the screen displays all riding data such as battery level, current speed, max speed and average speed along with trip and odometer information, making it easy to keep tabs on your rides, past and present.

The up and down buttons also let you quickly cycle through the bike’s five pedal assistance modes – Eco, Tour, Sport, Sport+ and Boost. For everyday commuting and knocking about, this model’s display does a perfect job without unnecessary complexity.

While we’re at the front, a quick shout out to the smooth Shimano SL-U4000 RapidFire Plus 9-speed shifter, paired with Shimano’s CUES RD-U4000 GS 9-speed rear derailleur. This is a great gear combo for the bike’s price band though, as to be expected, owners may need to make some fine barrel adjustments to the derailleur for smoother shifts across all nine rear sprockets.

The chunky downtube accommodates the bike’s clip-in BAFANG 378Wh, 10.5Ah battery and it’s extremely well integrated with no unsightly cabling to the rear hub motor. There’s a small rubber button near the base of the battery but this is mostly for awakening the battery if it’s been in storage.

There’s also a very dim single blue LED in the same area and this basically flashes when the battery is being charged off the bike. I personally would have preferred a five-bar battery level indicator on it so I can see the state of the charge at a glance without having to turn on the handlebar display controller.

The Subway’s battery is paired with BAFANG’s G020 rear 250W hub motor. This portly beast belts out up to 45Nm of torque which is acceptable for a city bike in this price range but less than half the oomph of the Fiido Nomads Pro, which sports a claimed 100Nm of torque. Like all decent e-bikes, this one also comes with a torque sensor and it feels very smooth in operation, kicking in early so you don’t need to exert too much pressure on the pedals to get it to activate.

The Carrera Subway E 2.0 does not include Bluetooth functionality or any kind of app integration, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing because it keeps it nice and simple. There are no GPS tracking security measures on this bike either so bear that in mind if you’re locking it up outside while you’re at work and buy yourself something like the Halfords Advanced Rock Solid D-Lock which is angle grinder proof.

If you have no choice of locking it when popping quickly into a shop, whack the gear shifter to the highest gear and select 0 assistance on the display or remove the battery entirely (it comes with a couple of keys). That way a thief will have to spend precious time fiddling about while trying to make a break for it on a bike that feels like it’s riding through treacle.

Performance and ride quality

While this bike has considerable heft – which you will most likely notice when wheeling it around, manoeuvring it into a bike rack and especially when climbing stairs – I think it delivers a reassuringly composed ride, with excellent stability that makes it feel particularly easy to control in busy towns and cities. The saddle, too, was comfortable for me though some riders may find it a bit too firm and narrow. Still, it can always be very easily changed.

Rather than feeling twitchy or nervous like some folding e-bikes, the Subway’s large, chubby tyres give it a planted feel that inspires confidence, especially when riding over uneven surfaces, navigating traffic or carrying a little more speed through bends. The steering is smooth and predictable, too, with a natural response that makes direction changes effortless without feeling overly sensitive.

On my test climb which averaged a gradient of around 10%, the Subway-E 2 proved extremely capable of maintaining a useful level of assistance, especially when I switched it to Boost mode for the steepest section.

Granted, the bike’s 250W BAFANG rear-mounted motor won’t transform a challenging hill into a completely effortless experience, but with the combination of the extra assistance modes – specifically Sport+ and Boost – and the 9-speed gears, I was given more that enough hill-climbing assistance to keep up the momentum without feeling any fatigue in the legs. Mind, had the hill been longer it might have been a different story.

The Shimano drivetrain deserves special mention because the shifts have been really polished on all my test rides, with no delayed changes and missed cogs. This was especially noticeable on a section of road comprised of varying gradients where I had to keep flitting from one gear to another.

Carrera states a number of different ranges depending on the PAS mode it’s in. With around 70% of juice left in the battery, I flicked through every assistance mode on the display and checked the remaining range for each and here are the results: Economy – 42 miles; Tour – 29 miles; Sport – 22 miles; Sport+ – 16 miles; and Boost – 15 miles.

My guess is that you would easily attain more than Carrera’s stated maximum of 40 miles range if in Economy mode on flat city streets, around 30 miles if switching between Economy, Tour and Sport, and maybe 20 miles if riding in a modestly hilly area. That’s not too shabby in my opinion.

Verdict

The Carrera Subway-E 2 is a highly capable MTB-style hybrid e-bike that delivers a comfortable, confidence-inspiring ride, making it well suited to commuting and off-piste gravel travel. Moreover, the bike’s BAFANG motor and battery combo provide extremely useful pedal assistance without making the bike feel overly complicated. However, its 21kgs of heft requires the physique of an Olympic weightlifter to carry it.

Gravel bikes have a habit of getting expensive very quickly, which makes the Boardman ADV 8.9 feel refreshingly sensible. For £1,200, you get an aluminium frame, full-carbon fork, Shimano GRX drivetrain, hydraulic disc brakes and chunky 40mm Goodyear tyres, wrapped up in a package that feels far more polished than the price suggests.

After spending time with the ADV 8.9 on tarmac and gravel, I found a bike that's nimble, confidence-inspiring and genuinely enjoyable to ride. It's not especially light or fast uphill, and there are a few rough edges, but as an affordable do-it-all gravel bike, it's difficult to argue with the value.

Boardman ADV 8.9 review

Price and availability

The Boardman ADV 8.9 (SKU: 240667) has an RRP of £1,200 in the UK and is available in black or orange, with both colours using the same specification. Sizes run from S to XL, and Boardman sells the bike through Halfords.

Boardman doesn't appear to officially sell this version of the ADV 8.9 in the US or Australia. Based on the UK RRP and current exchange rates, £1,200 works out at approximately $1,590 / €1,400 / AU$2,270, although these are direct conversions rather than local RRPs. The exception is Ireland, where Halfords officially lists the bike at €1,440.

Boardman's broader ADV family does offer cheaper and more expensive alternatives, including the £850 ADV 8.6 and £950 ADV 8.8. A separately listed ADV 8.9 Carbon also exists, but that's a different £1,750 carbon-framed bike and not another version of the model reviewed here.

Setup

Setting up the Boardman ADV 8.9 was refreshingly straightforward, largely because most of the work had already been done before it arrived. The bike came almost fully assembled; the wheels, drivetrain and controls were already in place, so there was none of the usual wrestling I usually have to do, especially with e-bikes.

My main jobs were fitting the pedals and straightening the handlebar. Helpfully, the pedals were colour-coded with tape, making it immediately obvious which belonged on each side, and getting the bars into position took only a few minutes with an Allen key.

The box also included the usual reflectors, documentation and basic accessories, along with a Halfords assembly checklist showing the bike had been inspected and set up before dispatch.

After giving the chain a quick spray of lubricant, that was essentially it. From opening the box to having the ADV 8.9 ready to ride was a pleasantly fuss-free process.

Design and build quality

The Boardman ADV 8.9 makes a strong first impression with its understated finish, slim tubes and relatively clean cable routing, which give it a much more expensive appearance than you might expect from a £1,200 gravel bike.

It has a butted 6061 aluminium frame with smooth(ish) welds and a full-carbon fork that helps disguise the fact that it isn’t a carbon bike, especially in the all-black colourway I tested.

It might just be that I’ve been testing road bikes for way too long, but the ADV 8.9 feels remarkably light and nimble when you pick it up and move it around. At a claimed 10.9kg, it isn't exceptionally light by modern gravel-bike standards, but importantly, it doesn't feel like a heavy budget bike.

As for components, the Shimano GRX RX400 drivetrain sits towards the more affordable end of the company's gravel-specific range, but getting a 2x10 GRX setup with proper hydraulic disc brakes at this price is still a very respectable specification.

Most importantly, it isn't bargain-bin equipment dressed up to look premium. GRX is designed specifically for off-road drop-bar riding, and the RX400 brakes and shifters are exactly the sort of components I'd hope to see on a good £1,000–£1,500 gravel bike.

The 46/30T Prowheel crankset and bottom bracket are more budget-focused than the Shimano parts that surround them, and the KMC X10 chain and Shimano HG50 11–36T cassette, while dependable, certainly aren’t exciting.

The own-brand alloy wheels fall into the budget category, although being tubeless-ready is a significant plus at this price. However, I'm particularly fond of the 40mm Goodyear Connector tyres. They are proper tubeless-ready gravel models with a tightly packed centre tread for rolling efficiency and more pronounced shoulder knobs for grip.

They also suit the character of the ADV nicely and give the bike a chunky, purposeful look without pretending that it’s a mountain bike with drop bars.

The handlebar initially struck me as quite narrow, although that's partly a matter of what you're used to. My large frame has a 42cm bar fitted with a 16-degree flare, which isn't unusually narrow for a modern gravel bike. If anything, it's towards the road-inspired end of the gravel spectrum, with the flare adding extra leverage when riding in the drops.

One slightly unusual detail is the chunky 31.6 mm-diameter, 350 mm-long seatpost. After spending so much time testing e-bikes with frustratingly short posts, I actually had the opposite problem here and needed to drop it considerably.

The larger diameter is less compliant than the skinny 27.2mm posts commonly seen on endurance and gravel bikes, but it also leaves the ADV compatible with a wide range of mountain-bike-style dropper posts should you want to upgrade it later.

Performance

The Boardman ADV 8.9 isn't going to make you forget you're riding a relatively affordable aluminium gravel bike, but once I got it out on the road and onto loose surfaces, I was impressed by just how capable it felt.

The ADV 8.9 feels surprisingly nimble and responsive, changing direction quickly without becoming twitchy or unpredictable. On gravel, it was particularly enjoyable to throw around, and the 40mm Goodyear Connector tyres provided plenty of reassurance when the surface became loose.

Those tyres are a good match for the bike's intended purpose, offering noticeably more grip than a conventional road tyre and helping take some of the sting out of rougher surfaces.

There's a trade-off, though. Once I returned to smoother tarmac, particularly on climbs, the combination of wider rubber and the bike's overall weight made the ADV 8.9 feel a little sluggish.

It's not painfully slow, and on flatter roads it rolls along perfectly happily, but there isn't the same eager acceleration or effortless climbing ability you'd get from a lighter, racier gravel bike. Considering the price, that's hardly surprising.

The Shimano GRX drivetrain performed well during most of my testing. Gear changes were generally smooth, predictable and quick enough, and the 2x setup gives the ADV 8.9 a useful spread of ratios for switching between roads, climbs and gravel.

I did, however, encounter the same issue reported by other reviewers. Some drivetrain rub was evident in the most extreme gear combinations, and even though it wasn't enough to spoil the ride, the effect was certainly noticeable. If you avoid aggressive cross-chaining, that largely solves the problem, but it's worth knowing about.

I'd still take this drivetrain over a cheaper mechanical setup. Hydraulic braking and GRX shifting help the ADV 8.9 feel much more accomplished than its price might suggest.

The riding position is reasonably aggressive for an adventure bike. That contributes to the bike's responsive character, but over a roughly 40km ride I found myself having to tilt my head upwards more than I'd like, eventually resulting in some neck discomfort.

Fit is obviously very personal, and a different stem position or bike setup could alleviate this considerably. Still, riders who prefer a more upright endurance position may want to pay particular attention during a test ride.

There was plenty of room for adjustment at the other end. I could achieve full leg extension without needing to run the seatpost anywhere near its maximum height, which made finding a comfortable pedalling position refreshingly straightforward.

Pedal clearance caught me by surprise. When leaning into a particularly tight turn, I managed to clip a pedal against the edge of the road. Pedal strikes aren't unheard of on gravel bikes, especially when pedalling through corners, and it only happened once during my testing, but the bottom of the pedal does feel relatively close to the ground.

The ADV 8.9 also picked up cosmetic marks more readily than I'd expected. I really like the understated monochrome grey finish, but the paint on my test bike proved fairly susceptible to scuffs and small chips.

That's unlikely to matter much to riders who see gravel bikes as tools, although I'd be cautious when attaching a D-lock or squeezing the bike past walls or other obstacles.

Verdict

The Boardman ADV 8.9 isn't perfect, but at £1,200, it represents exceptional value for money.

The aluminium frame and 40mm gravel tyres mean the bike can feel a little heavy-footed on paved climbs, and I encountered some drivetrain rub at the extremes of the gearing. I'd also keep an eye on pedal clearance and protect that handsome grey paintwork if you want it to stay pristine.

Yet these feel like relatively minor complaints when you consider what you're getting. The ADV 8.9 feels nimble, changes direction beautifully, has loads of grip on loose surfaces and comes equipped with proper Shimano GRX components, hydraulic disc brakes and a full-carbon fork.

More expensive gravel bikes will be lighter, faster and more refined, but I'm not convinced most casual gravel riders actually need them. For anyone wanting an affordable first gravel bike, a capable all-rounder or something equally happy tackling towpaths, country lanes and weekend adventures, the Boardman ADV 8.9 is incredibly easy to recommend.

Boardman Bikes’ name isn’t just a coincidence. The company was co-founded by Olympic medalist and yellow jersey wearer Chris Boardman in 2007, though it’s now owned by Halfords.

The MTX-E 8.9 is a hybrid electric bike rather than something you’re going to ride in a time trial, with a mid-drive motor and a lot of Shimano bits and pieces attached to it.

With its front suspension fork, thick downtube and sloping geometry, there's a definite hint of the e-mountain bike about it, but it’s better suited to lighter off-road adventures as well as commuting and just getting around town efficiently.

Boardman MTX-E 8.9 review

Price and availability

The Boardman MTX-E 8.9 is available from Halfords. There is also an MTX 8.9 without the E, which is a much cheaper acoustic bike that often turns up in searches due to its similar name and is priced much more cheaply.

At £2,200, the Boardman MTX-E 8.9 is more expensive than the Fiido Nomads Pro, which also has more torque, and there's a cheaper Boardman MTX-E 8.8, too, with less torque than either and a less premium spec sheet.

Design and build quality

It would be easy to look at the Boardman MTX-E 8.9 and see similarities to Trek’s Marlin+ 8 or the Haibike Alltrack. It’s neither of those bikes, being more of a city hybrid with a sporty costume on.

The angle of the top tube is rather rakish, and you’ll need to jack the saddle up a bit if you’re tall (you’ll need the large 54cm frame option if you’re over 5ft 9in), which can make it look a bit spindly at the back end, but otherwise it looks like a solid bike.

This is underlined by two design features: the first being that, despite being described as a unisex bike on the Halfords website, it has a top tube. The angle means it’s easy to get on and off, and such divisions of bikes by gender belong in the 19th century, but it lacks the pure convenience of a step-through universal frame.

The top tube passes the saddle post with a slight downward kink, and the straight-line style of something like the Fiido Nomads Pro looks more modern, but it’s certainly not an unattractive bike.

The second thing that makes the MTX-E 8.9 recognisably stand out as an e-bike is that thick downtube, in which the battery nestles. As a mid-motor design, it’s chunky all the way to the pedals while the rest of the frame is thinner.

The battery is a removable Shimano 36v design with a capacity of 504Wh, and there's an easily accessible charging point at the bottom of the seat tube.

Such a large battery can take a while to charge, and you should put aside most of the day to get it from empty to full again. While there are mounting points for mudguards and a rack, neither is provided as standard, and the model delivered to me doesn’t have a kickstand either.

As the flagship model of Boardman’s MTX-E series, you get the Shimano EP6 motor here, with the maximum legal 250W output, as well as 85Nm of torque.

The torque level of a motor determines how fast it can accelerate from a standstill and how well it goes uphill. Motors with 60Nm aren’t uncommon in leisure and commuting bikes, so the extra turning force here makes the MTX-E 8.9 a better choice for slightly rougher, hillier terrain.

It’s not a completely off-road bike, however, as evidenced by the tyres. They’re 50mm-wide Goodyear Connectors, a tubeless gravel tyre that’s nonetheless good on all sorts of surfaces.

They position the MTX-E 8.9 as an all-round bike that’ll be good on the farm tracks and towpaths that make up so much out-of-town cycling infrastructure as well as paved roads on the journey to the office.

The saddle and handlebars could be better, being a little thin on padding for longer rides. They’re not actually bad, but the handlebar grips in particular, with a thin soft layer over something harder, can become tiring when you’re putting in the miles.

Performance

There are three levels of power assist on offer from the MTX-E 8.9, and the boost from the mid-mounted motor is transferred to the back wheel through an 11-speed Shimano CUES groupset controlled from a lever under your right hand.

It’s fairly smooth-shifting; CUES uses Shimano’s Linkglide tech to avoid the classic jerks between cogs (though this isn’t completely successful, you’ll still feel and hear gear changes) and should be more durable too, though as it’s only been around a few years this hasn’t completely been proven yet.

Much of the time you’ll be content to leave the power setting in the middle and let the gears take care of evening out your pedalling, and there's a noticeable difference between levels 2 and 3.

Turn it up full, and the bike moves forward urgently as the torque sensor registers the pedals beginning to turn, making hill starts from stationary a possibility and bringing up the max assist speed surprisingly quickly, after which it can feel like pedalling through glue in contrast.

It’s also quite noisy when putting out full power, which at least has the benefit that pedestrians will hear you coming. The difference between the extremes of the cassette is also quite large, meaning you’ll be able to tackle some pretty steep hills, even if you’ll be going pretty slowly by the time you reach the top.

It’s all controlled through a small but effective LCD on the left of the handlebars. It won’t switch on while it’s charging, which makes it easy to avoid the classic mistake of riding away with a cable attached.

While I’ve certainly seen larger screens on e-bikes the information is clear, with the remaining battery charge easy enough to discern even if the remaining range is shown as a very small number.

Joining it on the left is what looks exactly like another gear lever, but which instead controls the dropper post for the saddle. Press it while riding, as first-time riders coming from a mountain bike might, and you’ll suddenly find yourself a lot lower down and with your knees splayed out, which is suboptimal to say the least.

Stopping is handled by Shimano hydraulic disc brakes, with a 160mm rotor at the back and 180mm at the front. If you got out of the habit of using your front brake during the side-pull era, this might be enough to get you pulling it again, as it’s very effective and using both will slow you well even on a downward gradient.

Also, at the front of the bike is an air-sprung Suntour suspension fork, nothing special but enough to make rougher surfaces less irritating with its 100mm of travel. You can switch it off if you’re going to be on-road, but there's very little reason to unless maxing out the range is your primary concern.

With the 504Wh battery full of juice Halfords claims a 60-mile endurance, and while that’s going to depend on the size of the rider as well as the nature of the paths you’re riding on and the ambient temperature, the remaining charge indicator drops noticeably more slowly than on something like a Brompton Electric.

On one hilly ride the range decreased from 37 to 20 after about 12 rather than 17 miles having used the highest boost level for some of the ascents.

Verdict

An e-bike with a mid-mounted motor is worth the extra investment over a rear-hub model, and one with a greater amount of torque is too. The Boardman MTX-E 8.9 is a fun bike to ride, its motor making things like climbing hills without getting off and pushing possible. With its sporty look, grippy tyres and effective brakes, it’s an excellent ride for dirt paths, byways and looser surfaces too.

Samsung's dedication to its flagship Galaxy line of products is unwavering – and the release of the Tab S12 Ultra shouts that loud and clear, marking it out it as one of the best tablets money can buy.

The Ultra is so called due to its huge 14.6-inch panel, which has been this model's calling card since the 2022 release of the S8 Ultra. That makes it massive, but also versatile as a laptop replacement with the right accessories added on.

However, the latest S12 Ultra not only cuts a familiar shape, but also a familiar experience – as I've found from my hours of using it as a travel companion. Aside from a new processor and more recent software on board, it doesn't differ from last year's predecessor.

In 2026 that casts something of a conundrum: in a Googlebook era there are now alternative (and more affordable) alt-laptop options for Android users; plus the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra's inevitably higher price point will likely see savvy buyers seeking out alternative deals.

Price & Availability

Although it's yet to show on Samsung's own site, the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra is available right now, with a launch price of £1,399 / $1,399 (for the 256GB / 12GB RAM version).

That's a considerable sum, especially as the previous Tab S11 Ultra was £/$200 less on its launch date – a figure that's stuck fast, though, without notable discounts.

If you want to add on the Pro Keyboard addition, however, add a further £399 / $399 to your cost estimations. But then you've got one very fine laptop alternative all in all.

Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra vs S11 Ultra: What's new?

• Newer MediaTek Dimensity 9500 processor
• Same design: 5.1mm slim and 692g light
• Teardrop front camera remains

As I said up top, the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra is visually a carbon copy of its Tab S11 Ultra predecessor.

That means the same 5.1mm super-slim build, the same low weight – it's 692g in tablet-only form – and same S Pen included in the box.

Some of that means it's looking a little dated, truth be told, especially regarding the teardrop front-facing camera. Still, the slender build and epic screen ensure this tablet still stands out.

The only notable point of difference is within: where Samsung has elected for the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 processor this time around – note: not the newer 9600 Pro – for a boost in power.

Design & Display

• 14.6-inch AMOLED panel
• 2960 x 1848 resolution
• 120Hz refresh rate

I've really enjoyed using my Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra in various scenarios. When taking the Eurostar back from Paris to London it was ideal for the pull-out table space in front of me – keyboard attached, Chrome loaded, and working just as I would on my Mac.

I've also taken a short-haul flight with the tablet in tow, with its very design nature – i.e. no keyboard as part of the build – meaning fewer restrictions and more screen time. And Netflix looks super on this 14.6-inch panel, let me assure you.

That said, there's no way the Ultra is going to be for everyone. There's no denying that it's a giant slab of a tablet – far bigger than many competitors, even dwarfing the largest Apple iPad Pro product.

It's a well-appointed product, though, finished in aluminium, feeling thin yet sturdy. The S Pen stylus is included, but this can easily be misplaced as the magnetic strip on the back of the tablet is haphazardly placed towards the camera area – there's no dip or dock at all.

Just as was said in T3's Tab S11 Ultra review, the S12 Ultra echoes the same sentiment: the more I've used this tablet, the more apparent it is that it's best designed in tandem with its optional keyboard accessory. It's a great way to prop up the display, even when not using the keys.

And that massive display is the core reason to want this tablet. The AMOLED panel is just as glorious as before – Samsung makes this tech, so that's no surprise – and even without a higher brightness peak for this generation, it's a stunner to look at, all colourful and resolute.

Performance & Battery

• MediaTek Dimensity 9500
• 12/16GB RAM, 256-1TB + microSD
• 11,600mAh battery, 45W charging

The S12 Ultra's step up in power is fairly marginal, really, with the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 upgrading the previous-gen version, but missing out on the chip-maker's most up-to-date offering.

It's a flagship processor, no doubt, so I was able to do an abundance of multi-tasking with all manner of Android apps. But that did also get me thinking: in a Googlebook world, I could do much the same with a full-on laptop alternative.

Googlebook OS is a little different to Android, of course, but I do think this has to be a major consideration in what you might buy this year. A versatile tablet with an accessory isn't the only avenue to take, after all.

Nonetheless, I've found the Tab S12 Ultra to be, well, ultra in its ways of operation. It's smooth and fast in everything it does, the latest One UI software delivering easy-to-use features – multiple apps, floating windows and split screen ensuring it's not just like a bloated basic Android phone.

For gaming this tablet is almost funny to use, given the sheer size – unless you use it as a display with a separate controller attached anyway. I played some of my go-to, South Park: Phone Destroyer, and this giant canvas makes the process of moving characters into play more complex simply due to its physical size.

Per its predecessor, the Tab S12 Ultra also features a microSD card slot, so you can top up the storage by up to an additional 2TB at low cost. That means you can avoid buying the 512GB or 1TB variants of this tablet, which are pricier still – the industry is very stretched when it comes to storage right now, so you have to pay big for it at present.

In terms of longevity, the 11,600mAh cell on board here lasts plenty long enough. I ran a YouTube stream – my typical, a fireplace crackling away, as it's an infinite video – and it lasted for 12 hours. You'll get longer when offline, streaming downloaded Netflix, Amazon and such shows.

As I've not been using the Tab S12 Ultra every day, given the nature of a tablet, I've also been pleased to see that it holds onto its charge well between sessions. You can leave it for days and won't come back to a dead tablet – assuming it's not running big background tasks anyway.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra review: Verdict

Samsung continues to offer an unrivalled Android tablet experience in the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra.

However, it's an experience so similar to last year's Tab S11 Ultra that you'd be mad not to track that down for its cost savings.

Furthermore, in a Googlebook world, there are entry models there which will undercut Samsung's mega-tablet on price. Granted, they're through-and-through laptops – but the Tab S12 Ultra arguably functions best with a keyboard accessory attached anyway.

If you don't wish to use the Tab S12 Ultra that way, however, then its massive screen – while sometimes cumbersome – is a joy to behold, bringing content to an XL scale when on the go.

In short: the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra remains king of the Android tablet world. Its conundrum remains the same, though, with its size being both the main reason to buy and the main reason not to.

Also Consider

If you're sold on a mega-display Android tablet then, well, the previous Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is more or less the same product – but cheaper, so an obvious option.

Powerful Android tablets otherwise aren't particularly abundant these days. So while a 13-inch iPad Pro would be the most obvious alternative from across the divide, it's a very different prospect given the ecosystem shift – and far pricier, too.

If anything, I'd now consider a Googlebook, such as the nicely appointed 14-inch option from HP, as being the laptop alternative that's a similar, long-lasting Android-based experience.

I'll happily hold my hands up and admit that I've been something of an open earbud sceptic for the last few years. While I've used a handful of "open" style 'buds, and I understand the appeal from a safety point of view, my experiences have generally left me keen to stick with my daily driver (the AirPods Pro 3) for convenience.

Shokz is one of the brands really aiming to shake up that sort of thinking, though, and having made a name for itself with bone conduction audio, it's long since branched out into the wider earbud market.

The OpenFit Air 2 aim to be so lightweight that even heathens like me end up seeing the light, and they've been a fascinating set of earbuds to use for the last few weeks while exercising.

Price and Availability

Shokz released the OpenFit Air 2 earlier this summer, so you can buy from basically all the retailers you'd expect, including Amazon, crucially.

It comes in at £129 here in the UK, $129.95 in the US, and €139 in the EU, which makes it really quite an affordable option compared to much of the exercise-specific market.

That said, it's also available at lower prices in a few instances, including some sub-£100 listings here in the UK – see the shopping widget above for current best deals – so there's already scope to score it for less.

Design and Features

As I mentioned in my introduction, it's important to clarify from the outset that these are not bone conduction earbuds. Rather, they're open-style earbuds that effectively play audio through a traditional driver, but without the sort of passive seal offered by either in-ear tips or over-ear cups.

The OpenFit Air 2 have a hooked design that will be familiar to anyone who's shopped for earbuds aimed at exercising in the last couple of decades. This means that when you wear them, you basically secure them around the back of your ear, which leaves the main part of the 'bud pointing into your ear canal.

They're really secure thanks to that hooked arm, but also leave your ear canal nice and open so that you can still clearly hear the world around you as you move around. This is ideal for exercising outdoors safely, since it won't drown out road noise or others around you.

The OpenFit Air 2 come in a few colours; I tested the dark grey option, but there's also a clean white version and a quite fetching icy blue, too. If there's a downside to their design, it's that those hooks make each 'bud rather big, which in turn makes the case housing them quite large – and therefore less convenient in a pocket.

Still, the 'buds themselves are well made and finished in a soft-touch plastic that is easy to grip even when you're sweaty (and you probably will be). They're also exceptionally lightweight, at just 7.2g per earbud according to my scale. That makes them really comfortable to wear for long periods.

In terms of battery life, Shokz says these earbuds should manage an impressive 8 hours of continuous play per charge, with a total of 36 hours if you account for the extra juice in the charging case. Those are great numbers, and beat much of the 'normal' competition.

When it comes to controls, though, things are a little bit more unique. Each Shokz earbud has one button on its inner section, and if you grip the earbud in the right way, you can squeeze it. This can play/pause your music, but it's really quite fiddly to locate when wearing the se, making it a challenge in practice.

The design made me assume they would offer some swipe- or tap-based touch controls on their outside, where the Shokz logo sits, but that's not the case. Given there's also no on-ear detection to pause your music when you take an earbud out, it leaves the OpenFit Air 2 a bit lacking where controls are concerned.

Another limitation comes with the case, which doesn't have wireless charging – it's wired via USB-C only. It does at least have its own IP rating (at IP54), to make sure that it's okay with a decent amount of liquid or dust exposure.

Sound and Performance

I used the OpenFit Air 2 as my earbuds for lunchtime jogs for a few weeks, and the fact that they're aimed squarely at fitness means I'll treat comfort with more detail than I normally would for an earbud review. In short, they're excellent on this front, provided you know what you're in for.

The fit of the OpenFit Air 2 can be a little hard to describe, but once you have them hooked into your ears, and after a little adjustment of the hook (which can be bent a little into the right shape for you, with effort), they sit really naturally and comfortably on the ears. They're so light that you might forget they're there, which is a rare boast in this area.

With water- and dust-resistance that sits at IP55 (therefore more resistant than the case), they're durable enough to withstand basically any amount of sweat or rain that you can throw their way – but they're not safe for submerging, so abandon any thoughts of swimming with them. I'd love to see that rating pushed higher for future iterations, but it's no issue here.

How do they sound, though? Well, it's a mixed bag, but only by virtue of the design. There's no getting around the lack of passive isolation here, so whatever environment you're in, you'll be hearing it. When running, this is not a problem (in fact, it's a safety boon), but at home with a robot vacuum running, it means they're not a great option.

Still, in either a quiet room or when doing exercise, to accept the downsides, the actual sound quality on offer here is solid for the price. You get good clarity, and the earbuds can go to a high volume, too, which is more important than it normally is because background noise plays a role.

I found that the amount of bass on offer was surprising (in a good way), and Shokz claims to have concentrated on that in its upgrade over the previous OpenFit Air, so the return on that investment is noticeable.

That said, these aren't going to win awards for sound quality – mids aren't the most detailed, and the high-end can be a little weedy. EQ adjustment is available through Shokz's app, and you might want to tinker with it, because it can unlock distinct improvements compared to the default tuning. Having that functionality is appreciated.

Another small note is that the open design means that sound leakage is a factor here. I often listened to music at high volumes to deal with background noise, and that meant that taking the earbuds out made it apparent that my audio wasn't exactly inaudible to those around me.

Verdict

If you're looking for a wallet-friendly open-ear earbud that will perform really well during exercise, then the Shokz OpenFit Air 2 is a great pick.

These 'buds are incredibly, almost bafflingly light, have decent enough sound for this kind of design, great battery life, and the right sort of fit and durability.

Most of the downsides come packaged with open earbuds, from sound leakage to a lack of isolation, and while I'd love to see its sound tuning refined further, I really don't have major issues on any one front.

Shokz's latest may not permanently dislodge my AirPods Pro 3, but for a much lower price, it's given me a great secondary option when I go for halting jogs.

Also Consider

I've mentioned my AirPods Pro 3 a few times, but a fairer comparison and alternative comes from the new AirPods Gen 5. These don't have a silicone seal, either, and can be had for a price that competes much more directly with Shokz.

For an upgraded version of the same sort of hook-armed earbuds aimed at sweaty exercise, though, you might want to look to Beats. The Powerbeats Pro 2 are no longer brand-new, but they're superb and have all of those same Apple chip smarts, for easy device switching and pairing. They're not open, though, so will feel more enclosing.

A full Dolby Atmos sound system for £169, you say? Including subwoofer and surround speakers? You cannot be serious?

But Cambridge-based Majority is very serious – as that’s just what it’s delivered with this bijou Bowfell box of tricks.

It’s one of the least expensive ways to experience object-based surround sound at home – but what you get might not be quite what you expect.

The Bowfell Halo Atmos package bundles together a compact soundbar, wireless subwoofer and diminutive rear speakers, which pair to create a genuine 5.1-channel system.

This isn't a rival to premium systems from Samsung, LG or Sonos, as you'll find among the best soundbars. It’s designed for those of who want bigger TV sound without spending a fortune.

Price & Availability

The Bowfell Halo Atmos is available now, and sells for £169.95 / €179.95. That's around $230 or AU$320 – not that it's launched in USA or Australian territories.

It sits above the standard Bowfell Halo 5.1 surround system, which omits Dolby Atmos support and sells for just £119.95. Buyers wanting just an Atmos-enabled soundbar can opt for the Bowfell Axis Atmos 2.1 package, at £129.95.

As you can tell, we’re very much in the cheap seats here.

Features & What's New?

Premium accoutrements are thin on the ground. There’s no automatic room calibration or microphone-based optimisation available. This is very much plug-and-play.

The single box package contains a compact soundbar, separate wireless subwoofer and a pair of rear surround speakers.

While these satellites communicate wirelessly with the front stage, you'll need sockets to power the lead (right) surround speaker and somewhere to hide the wire that connects the two rears together.

When it comes to codec support, the Bowfell Halo handles Dolby Atmos and all its subsidiaries – Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Surround. However, DTS is absent.

Majority also includes four listening presets, covering Music, Movie, News and Sport. Bass and treble adjustments allow a modest amount of tailoring.

Sound Quality

No-one should expect reference-quality Dolby Atmos at this price. Yet the Majority Halo delivers something that TV speakers and stereo soundbars simply cannot: wraparound sound that puts you in the middle of the action.

Installation takes only a few minutes. The soundbar, wireless sub and rear speakers pair without fuss. I moved from unboxing to watching films in a jiffy.

Spinning the Dolby Atmos Amaze demonstration clip on Blu-ray immediately reveals the system's strengths – but also its limitations.

Surround steering works well. Effects pan cleanly around my listening position. There's a satisfying sense of movement as sounds travel from front to rear.

What never truly materialises is convincing height effects. There’s no upfiring drivers to be had on the Halo. The soundbar faces forward.

The result is that the overhead canopy that for many defines the Dolby Atmos experience is missing.

This front soundstage is also fairly narrow, largely because the drivers are packed closely together inside the compact enclosure. On the plus side, dialogue stays anchored to the screen and remains intelligible.

Bass, meanwhile, is dominant.

The compact wireless subwoofer digs surprisingly deep. Majority quotes a reach down to 45Hz, but I measured lower. It certainly adds weight to blockbuster films. Explosions, rumbles and portentous soundtracks are delivered with plenty of grunt.

The opening bombing sequence of WWII drama Unbroken, with its exploding flak, demonstrates this trait well.

However, the crossover between the bar and the sub is set high, around 200Hz, so the sub is contributing to the front soundstage fairly consistently. It's important, therefore, that it’s not positioned too far from the soundbar itself.

Running the Dolby Atmos ‘Amaze’ demo jungle clip reveals a decent sense of surround and panning movement, even though there's really no height component to the mix. A consequence of that high crossover causes the soundbar to clip quite viciously when the big thunderclap comes.

Music exposes the system's compromises more readily.

Billie Eilish's Bad Guy overwhelms the room with bass energy. The ported subwoofer is wildly enthusiastic, and unless you reduce its output by one or two increments, it booms. Dial it back too far, though, and the relatively thin character of the soundbar becomes more apparent. It’s a delicate balancing act – and not one I think I mastered.

Ultimately, the Bowfell Halo Atmos sounds exactly as its asking price suggests. It’s rowdy, energetic and unapologetically entertaining. Even if refinement is left at the concession stand.

Design & Usability

This build is best described as functional, and the finish is neat enough, although I really don’t like the oversized Dolby Atmos branding.

The bar itself measures 40.5 x 9 x 6.2cm; the subwoofer, a ported design with a downward-firing 6-inch driver, is similarly compact, at just 18.5 x 15 x 32cm. The two surround speakers are circular pucks, measuring 9 x 6.2cm.

The unit ships with a simple remote control that covers all key functions and provides direct access to sound modes.

These dimensions make placement relatively straightforward. The soundbar should sit neatly beneath most TVs, while the rear speakers are small enough to perch on shelves or mount discreetly on walls.

Daily usability is a little more mixed. The soundbar communicates via a scrolling LED display, which isn’t particularly intuitive.

Connectivity comprises HDMI eARC for TV audio, while an optical digital input offers compatibility with older screens.

Bluetooth 5.3 enables wireless music streaming, while USB playback supports MP3, FLAC and WAV files.

There's also a 3.5mm AUX input for any legacy kit you might want to hook up.

Verdict

There’s very little that can match what Majority offers with the Bowfell Halo Atmos. It’ll surround you with sound for a price that’s undoubtedly generous.

Viewed purely as a Dolby Atmos system, it falls well short of what the format can ultimately achieve. Height effects are non-existent, the soundstage lacks width, and the subwoofer throws its weight around in a distinctly antisocial manner.

However, it still warrants a recommendation. Give it an action movie or a Netflix thriller and it rewards with aggression, clear dialogue and wraparound sound.

Teenage bedrooms, gaming rooms and smaller lounges are where the Bowfell Halo Atmos belongs. Movies, games, and sports all benefit in the right context – and without having to pay big for it.

Also Consider

If your budget stretches considerably further, the £899 Samsung HW-QS90H is a far more sophisticated Dolby Atmos soundbar. It offers a much larger soundstage, convincing height effects, advanced room calibration and Samsung's excellent Q-Symphony integration for compatible televisions.

Alternatively, check out the £179 TCL Q65HK 5.1 soundbar and sub. It lacks dedicated rear speakers, but includes support for DTS:X, has a 580W power plant, and uses proprietary Ray Danz side-firing drivers for a wider soundstage.

Apple is exceptionally good at directing your attention. With the Apple Watch Series 12, it wants you to look at the completely redesigned Health Sensing System, or how heart rate is now measured every five seconds throughout the day.

Then there's the more frequent HRV sampling rate, and all the extra data that feeds into new features such as Readiness and enhanced Vitals.

After several weeks with the Series 12, there’s little doubt that it’s the best Apple Watch yet. Heart-rate tracking is excellent, Readiness is a useful addition, fast charging is genuinely impressive, and the broader Apple Watch experience remains difficult to beat if you own an iPhone.

The problem is that Apple's smartwatch was already very good at most of these things. Heart-rate accuracy was hardly a glaring weakness before, and I don't think anyone was upset about the charging speed of their new Apple Watch.

The Series 12 improved upon features that were already good while leaving some of the key issues with Apple's wearable untouched. For example, the physical design barely changes, and battery life remains conspicuously short.

Worth a look, though? Read my full Apple Watch Series 12 review below to find out.

Apple Watch Series 12 review

Price and availability

The Apple Watch Series 12 went on sale on 18 September 2026 and starts at £369 / $399 / €449 / A$649 for the 42mm aluminium model. The larger 46mm aluminium version starts at £419 / $449 / €499 / A$739. Both can be purchased at Apple and third-party retailers.

I tested the 46mm Dark Bronze aluminium model with the M/L Sport Band supplied in the box. Titanium and ceramic versions are also available for higher prices (of course). Apple’s UK aluminium range starts at £369, compared with £649 for titanium and £849 for ceramic.

Design and build quality

Externally, the Series 12 looks very similar to recent generations, which, sadly, shouldn’t come as a surprise. Apple’s rounded rectangular design remains slim, lightweight and exceptionally comfortable, including overnight.

Aluminium models now use Ceramic Shield 2 in place of Ion-X, which Apple says is 60% tougher, while titanium and ceramic models retain sapphire crystal. Aluminium and titanium cases are 9.7mm thick.

I like the new Dark Bronze finish with its warmer and subtler tones, as it looks a lot friendlier in person than its name suggests. The colour gives the familiar case just enough character to distinguish it from older models.

Features

Health and recovery

Series 12 introduces Apple’s new Health Sensing System, which combines the redesigned optical and electrical sensors with the S11 chip. The headline feature is the updated HR-sampling process, with the new Series 12 producing a reading every five seconds throughout the day, including when you’re moving. In comparison, the Series 11 attempted a reading roughly every five minutes and generally required you to remain relatively stationary.

Similarly, heart rate variability (HRV) measurements can now be taken as frequently as every five minutes at rest compared to roughly every two hours on previous models. Apple also separates Recovery HRV, using RMSSD, which looks at the beat-to-beat variation between successive heartbeats over a relatively short period, from its existing SDNN-based overall HRV measurement. Recovery HRV feeds into Vitals and Readiness.

Cleaner, denser data is welcome, even if it’s mostly estimation and not actual electrical pulses measured. The Series 12 takes more samples, and even if single measurements aren’t noise-free, more data enables the algorithm to provide a better overall trend.

The biggest beneficiary is Readiness, Apple’s new 0–10 recovery score based on recent activity, sleep and Vitals. It can even change throughout the day following exercise, naps and daytime heart-rate changes.

It took around two weeks before Readiness populated for me. My first score was 2, or “Pace Yourself”, after a 17km run and plenty of walking the previous day. After subsequently completing a 40km bike ride, it increased to 4 but retained the same recommendation.

Apple does a good job of explaining what pushes the score up or down. In my case, high activity reduced Readiness, and good sleep and normal overnight Vitals helped compensate for it.

It’s nicely executed. It also feels overdue. Garmin, Oura and other wearable brands have spent years developing their own recovery and readiness metrics. Apple gave us Sleep Score last time; now it’s Readiness. The slow drip-feed of these features makes Apple’s health gamification feel surprisingly incremental.

Sleep Score itself performed well when measured against the Oura Ring 5 and Garmin Fenix 9 Pro. All three devices generally agreed on whether I’d slept well or poorly.

Apple tended to be the most conservative numerically, often scoring a night in the high 80s when Oura went beyond 90. None of these numbers represents an objective measurement of “sleep quality”, though. What mattered to me was that their conclusions generally moved in the same direction.

Fitness and activity

Apple Watch remains a very capable workout companion – no wonder it's the most popular wearable on Strava. Running, cycling and walking tracking are easy to start, the interface is clear, and the Series 12 now benefits from a much denser heart-rate dataset throughout the rest of the day too.

Apple has also introduced a redesigned pedometer model using machine learning on the S11 chip, claiming improved step accuracy when your arms aren’t swinging normally, such as when carrying something or pushing a buggy.

One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is Apple Watch’s continued popularity among runners. Plenty of people are still training with considerably older Series 5, 6 and 7 devices. For them, the Series 12 represents a far more meaningful jump than it does for somebody wearing last year’s model.

Smart features and software

The Apple ecosystem is excellent when everything behaves exactly as Apple expects. Communication between iPhone and Watch is seamless, but that integration can also make seemingly simple settings unnecessarily rigid.

After removing Sleep Focus from my iPhone, I could no longer put the Watch into its normal sleep state. To prevent the screen from lighting up in bed, I resorted to Theatre Mode and then manually switched it off in the morning.

WhatsApp messages also annoyed me, as despite putting on Do Not Disturb mode, the incoming messages set off the vibration motor. Turning off haptics solved that problem but also disabled haptic feedback for things I actually wanted, including workouts and alarms.

Then there’s the app situation. Apple Health has become astonishingly comprehensive. Dig deeply enough, and you’ll find metrics including walking asymmetry, stair-climbing speed, double-support time, walking steadiness and cardio recovery.

I not only wonder why so much of it feels hidden, but also why, in 2026, am I still jumping between Health, Fitness and Watch to manage one wearable? Garmin and Oura put enormous quantities of information into one primary app. Apple’s approach increasingly feels fragmented.

I’m not sure what happened to Gesture control, either. Double Tap and Wrist Flick remain useful in specific situations, but Apple still restricts them to a surprisingly small set of interactions. A couple of generations after gestures were presented as a major new way to interact with Apple Watch, they feel strangely neglected.

I couldn’t properly test several of the new Audio Intelligence features. Series 12 introduces functions including Live Rewind and Siri Recap, powered by the S11 chip, but some are rolling out later. I’m on the fence about their usefulness anyway, so I’ll reserve judgement until the whole system is available.

Performance and accuracy

Apple makes a bold claim that Series 12 has the most accurate heart-rate sensing of any wearable.

Its own study involved more than 1,000 participants, with a Polar H10 ECG chest strap used as the reference and devices from Garmin, Google, Samsung, Huawei, Oura and Whoop included for comparison. Participants performed everything from running and HIIT to walking, desk work and meal preparation.

Indeed, in my real-world testing, Series 12 performed exceptionally well. I wore it alongside the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro during runs, walks and cycling. During a long run, the two watches averaged 138 and 137bpm, and their traces followed each other remarkably closely.

During walking, both averaged 93 bpm; on a bike ride, the Series 12 averaged 124 bpm, compared with 122 bpm on the Garmin, which is excellent. But it also illustrates why I struggle to view heart-rate accuracy as the game-changing upgrade Apple wants it to be.

Modern mid-range and premium wearables are already extremely competent. Series 12 may genuinely be better, but the real-world improvement is often marginal when its rivals are already this accurate.

The same applies to HRV. More frequent sampling gives Apple cleaner, richer data and more opportunities to establish trends. That doesn’t make HRV itself suddenly definitive, nor does it automatically make proprietary Readiness scores objectively “correct”.

Series 12 gives Apple’s algorithms considerably better ingredients. Whether every conclusion produced from those ingredients is correspondingly better is harder to prove. I didn’t separately benchmark GPS accuracy, although it caused no obvious problems during testing, so I wouldn’t make stronger claims about it.

Battery life and charging

And then we arrive at Apple Watch’s oldest problem. Apple quotes up to 24 hours of normal use and 38 hours in Low Power Mode, with outdoor workout tracking extended to ten hours.

My Low Power Mode test actually comfortably exceeded Apple’s quoted figure. I took the watch off charge at 100% at 9:08am on 20 September, and at 7am on 22 September it still had 20% remaining. That’s almost 46 hours while using 80% of the battery.

Running wasn’t particularly punishing either. One 55-minute outdoor run reduced the battery from 35% to 29%, and I generally saw around 7% battery consumption per hour of running.

Charging is where Apple has made genuinely useful progress. Five minutes took my watch from 20% to 35%. On another occasion, it went from 7% at 7:52pm to 60% at 8:10pm, then reached 94% by 8:30pm. Apple officially claims 15 minutes provides up to 12 additional hours of normal use, and around 30 minutes gets the watch to 80%.

Fast charging makes Series 12 dramatically easier to live with, but it doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, though. In an era of sophisticated health sensing, powerful silicon and AI, I can still only expect roughly a day and a half of unrestricted everyday use before thinking about a charger. Garmin, Huawei and plenty of other competitors have normalised multi-day battery life. Apple hasn’t. Why?

Verdict

The Apple Watch Series 12 is undoubtedly the best mainline Apple Watch yet. Heart rate tracking is superb, and its higher-frequency sensing provides Apple with more useful data to work with.

Readiness is a welcome addition, sleep feedback proved consistent with Garmin and Oura in my testing, and rapid charging significantly reduces the inconvenience of its short battery life.

But almost every compliment comes with a qualification. Heart rate was already excellent. Readiness and Sleep Score have existed elsewhere for years. Gesture controls still feel underdeveloped. Health data is scattered across too many places. Battery endurance remains comparatively poor. And externally, very little has changed.

That’s why Series 12 feels like another Apple magic trick. The company asks you to focus on the impressive new Health Sensing System in one hand, while the other quietly holds many of the compromises we’ve been discussing for years.

As always, for owners of recent Apple Watches, there’s little reason to rush out and upgrade, which I hope doesn’t come as a surprise. I doubt even Apple thinks that people will upgrade to a new Apple Watch every year.

However, for somebody still wearing a Series 5, 6 or 7, this could be exactly the Apple Watch they’ve been waiting for. Especially for those who use their watch for running or cycling training.

Braun’s electric shaver line up is extensive, spanning beard trimmers, hair clippers and all-in-one solutions that are just as happy tidying up the nether regions as they are etching sharp lines into sideburns.

The company also isn’t afraid to inhabit the very premium end of the electric shaver market, with the previously range-topping Series 9 Pro+ boasting an RRP in excess of £600. Heck, even the more basic Series 7 cost around £350 when new.

The Nevo, which is the brand’s all-new flagship, comes with a similarly painful price tag (more on that below) but crams enough technology inside to go some way to justifying it.

Automatic cleaning docks, battery-infused travel cases and a completely redesigned shaving head are just a few highlights.

If you like shaving results incredibly close and free from any irritation, the Nevo is a fantastic option to consider. After testing the model for a few weeks, using it to shave pretty much every other day, it rapidly shot to the top of the list of the best electric shavers I have tried.

Price and availbility

The Braun Nevo 1500C, to give it the full title, starts at around £740 for the basic package, while the top-tier bundle I tested has an RRP of almost £900 (?!). Thankfully, Braun appears to be discounting it heavily already, with the full package available for considerably less at the time of writing.

Head over to Boots and the package that contains the travel charging case and automatic cleaning dock can be picked up for as little as £420. That’s slightly better.

But even at the discounted price, this is very much a premium electric shaver. For context, the Philips i9000 Prestige Ultra and Panasonic ES-LS9A also occupy the high end of the market but can now be picked up for around £270.

Design and features

The Nevo makes a strong, steely first impression. The stainless, almost automotive-inspired body feels fantastic in the hand and has a reassuring weight that immediately separates it from the sea of plastic electric shavers I've tested over the years.

It’s so solid, I worried I’d potentially crack a tile if I dropped it in the bathroom. But despite the heft, it’s also beautifully made. Every surface feels carefully considered, although the metallic finish does have a habit of collecting fingerprints and watermarks if you don’t dry it properly.

The real star of the show is the new AeroTouch shaving head, which Braun says is a “world first”, as it moves far more freely than most rival designs.

Rather than simply tilting from up and down, it pivots across multiple axes to keep the five cutting elements in contact with the contours of your face.

In another automotive comparison, it's as if the head has Rolls-Royce style self-levelling suspension, ensuring the entirety of the shaving head is in contact with the face, as opposed to wheels on the ground.

Braun says there are 250 diamond-sharp cutting edges inside said head, while a processor constantly adjusts the motor to tackle various beard densities.

You don't need to fiddle with anything yourself, it will automatically up the ante when it needs to plough through thicker fuzz.

There's also a bright colour display showing battery level, cleaning reminders and maintenance information. It's clear and useful, although you don’t get the shaving advice wizardry that you get with the Philips i9000 Prestige Ultra, which uses a light ring to warn of excess pressure or incorrect movements.

That said, I found the accompanying smartphone app that came with Philips’s model overkill anyway. Surely most people know how to shave without cutting their face to ribbons by now?

Anyway, the other big addition from Braun is the 7-in-1 Care Centre. Click in the provided pot of antibacterial cleaner, drop the shaver in after use and it cleans, lubricates, dries and charges it automatically.

Then there's the Power Travel case. It's a substantial bit of kit, but it also acts as a portable battery, giving you weeks of extra shaving without needing to find a socket.

My biggest gripe is that both charging accessories use Braun's traditional two-pin bathroom plug. That's increasingly awkward in a world where USB-C is becoming standard across almost every other piece of personal tech and I had to buy an adaptor to charge it from a bedroom socket.

Performance

I've tested a lot of premium electric shavers recently, and the Nevo is comfortably one of the best I've used. The shaving head glides over the skin with almost no resistance, while the flexible design does a brilliant job of following the contours of the face.

I deliberately left several days of growth before my first shave to see whether it would struggle with longer hairs. It didn't.

There was virtually no snagging or pulling, and the Nevo simply worked its way through the patchy beard without the uncomfortable tugging I've experienced from cheaper foil shavers.

Better still, it is remarkably quick. Areas that normally require several passes were dealt with in a single sweep, and I found that a typical morning shave took roughly half the time it normally does.

It's also impressively comfortable. I experienced no irritation during my testing, even when tackling tricky areas, such as the neck and jawline. And that's coming from someone that doesn't often go for a close shave.

The pop-up precision trimmer is another useful addition. It slides out from the back of the shaver and is perfectly positioned for tidying sideburns, sharpening beard lines and even dealing with those random ear hairs that seem to appear from nowhere as you get older.

You can also lock the AeroTouch shaving head in place if you’re struggling to find the right angle to tackle a particularly difficult area.

As with most premium foil shavers, though, the Nevo is very much an all-or-nothing affair. It will give you an exceptionally close shave, as in baby’s bum smooth, but there's no way to leave a fashionable layer of stubble behind.

If that's your preference, you'll need a separate beard trimmer or a shaver with several guards to adjust cutting lengths.

It’s also quote noisy when in use, with that powerful electric motor letting out a distinctive, high-pitched whine.

Battery life

Braun claims up to 60 minutes of cordless shaving, while a five-minute quick charge is enough for one 15-minute shave.

In my testing, I fully charged the Nevo and then ran the battery flat, managing 52 minutes on the first full discharge and 54 minutes on the second. That's a little short of the official figure, but still plenty for several days of normal shaving.

The Power Travel case changes the equation completely. Once charged, it stores enough energy to keep the Nevo running for weeks, so you can leave the charging cable at home on your holidays.

Just be aware that the protective case is big, heavy and includes a battery, so check with an airline where it will have to sit in your luggage line-up.

If travelling light is your priority, something like the compact Laifen P3 Pro or the gorgeous Panasonic Series 9000s Palm Shaver make much more sense. If you don't mind carrying a little extra weight in exchange for not thinking about battery life, the Braun setup is much more appealing.

Cleaning and maintenance

There's something wonderfully lazy about dropping the shaver into its dock, pressing a button and letting it do all the unpleasant work. It cleans away the hair without throwing it all over the sink, lubricates the cutting head, dries everything out and charges the shaver ready for the next morning.

It takes around 10-15 minutes to complete the process, and the cleaning cycle is noticeably noisy, but the convenience more than makes up for it.

You'll need to replace the cleaning cartridges, though. Braun recommends changing them roughly every two months, depending on how frequently you shave, with prices starting at around £7.50 per cartridge. Although Amazon will likely stock third party cartridges that fit for cheap.

Braun also recommends replacing the main shaving head every 18 months. The replacement costs around £80, which is a significant expense when some complete electric shavers cost less than that, but it sends less to landfill.

Verdict

The Braun Nevo is a difficult shaver to criticise because the thing it is primarily designed to do is something it does exceptionally well.

It's incredibly quick, very comfortable and leaves one of the closest finishes I've experienced from an electric shaver. The stainless-steel construction feels suitably premium, while the Care Centre and Power Travel case genuinely make everyday ownership easier.

There are some minor gripes. The lack of USB-C charging is particularly frustrating and the travel case is bulky. But the upside is that it prolongs battery life by weeks when you’re not near a plug socket.

Then there's the price. At its official RRP, the full package is difficult to justify for anyone who doesn't really care about having one of the best possible electric shaves with all of the technological bells and whistles.

But discounts make a huge difference, and if you find the full package for around £480 rather than its £900 RRP, it makes slightly more sense.

For anyone who shaves every day and wants the closest, quickest and most effortless electric shave possible, the Nevo is very difficult to beat.

Alternatives to consider

If you want a similarly premium experience without spending quite as much, the Philips i9000 Prestige Ultra is worth considering. It offers an exceptionally close shave and a clever cleaning system, although I found the Braun quicker and more comfortable overall.

For something considerably cheaper and much easier to travel with, the Laifen P3 Pro is the obvious alternative. It's tiny, stylish and offers impressive battery life, although it doesn't match the Braun when it comes to dealing with longer facial hair or tricky areas.

The iPhone 18 Pro is another step forward for Apple in terms of performance, with a new A20 Pro chip and upgrades to its battery, thermal management and camera system. It sits as the pinnacle of the company’s phone technology, though this year it has a shiny new stablemate that is in danger of stealing the limelight.

It’s perhaps no accident that there is a month between the on-sale dates of the iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max and the new foldable iPhone Duo. That time gives those looking for a replacement a chance to properly consider the Pro models, as on paper at least, it’s the better phone.

While the Duo offers the spectacle of a folding screen, revealing a 7.6-inch display from its passport-sized form, the iPhone 18 Pro and larger 18 Pro Max offer better battery life and a better camera system – complete with full Pro camera features.

This year, more than ever, the 18 Pro and Pro Max feel like professional tools, with their ProRAW, Spatial video, ProRes RAW and variable aperture on the main 48MP camera. With the Pro Max, you get a generous 6.9-inch display for that big-screen playback, while the smaller iPhone 18 Pro still offers a 6.3-inch display and sits easily in your pocket, weighing less and being both thinner and narrower than the Duo.

I upgraded from the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Pro to the classier burgundy iPhone 18 Pro to see how the new model performs and to see how much of an improvement it is for those annual upgraders.

How much is the iPhone 18 Pro?

The iPhone 18 Pro was first announced on 9 September 2026 and went on sale on 18 September. Prices start from £1199 / $1199 in the UK and US, respectively. In Europe, it starts from €1449 and in Australia from A$2099. Alternatively, the larger iPhone 18 Pro Max starts from £1299 / $1299 / €1599 / A$2299.

This year, there are four colours to choose from, including Glacier Blue and Burgundy in addition to silver and black options. Capacities start from 256GB for the base model and go up to 2TB for both the Pro and Pro Max, which takes the price up to £2399 / $2399 for the Pro or £2499 / $2499 for the Pro Max.

Design and build

From the outside, very little has changed with the iPhone 18 Pro, compared to the 17 Pro. The dimensions are identical, as are the button placements and camera bump, meaning that cases for the 17 Pro will fit the 18 Pro, and the same for the Max models.

The only real difference is the weight, with the new Pro model being 7 grams (0.24 oz) heavier, or 18g (0.63 oz) in the case of the Pro Max. It’s not enough of a difference to feel in the hand, but it is at least a distinction.

The iPhone 17 Pro was defined by its bold Cosmic Orange colour, which divided opinion among buyers. This year, Burgundy is the main marketed colour, and projects a calmer, classier feel. It’s a deep colour with all elements of the phone perfectly colour-matched, including the camera bump.

Notably, there was no black option in last year’s 17 Pro and Pro Max, so it’s nice to see that return here. The black also feels much darker than previous black iPhones, thanks to the paintwork's matte effect. It reminds me much more of the midnight black used on MacBook Pro models.

New Features

The real change comes inside the 18 Pro. It features a brand new A20 Pro chip, with huge performance upgrades over the previous A19 Pro, including a new CPU and a GPU with an additional core.

To keep the phone, and specifically the chip, cool, the 18 Pro has a larger vapour chamber, with three times the surface area. With this thermal management, the A20 Pro chip is able to sustain high performance for longer.

Then there’s the battery. Not only is this a new integrated design, but it’s also larger in capacity. According to energy labels required for European sales, the Pro and Pro Max models sold here feature a 4,056 mAh and 5,391 mAh capacity, respectively, which is 1.45% and 11.8% greater than the 17 Pro models. The US model, which doesn’t feature a physical SIM slot, has a larger battery, still.

On the display, there’s a redesigned Dynamic Island, which is 25% smaller than the previous version. This has been achieved by placing the IR camera, used for Face ID, under the screen.

There’s improvement on the camera side too, with a new variable aperture on the main camera, giving real depth-of-field control to the iPhone for the first time – more on that shortly.

Display

The Super Retina XDR Display on the iPhone 18 Pro is a 6.3-inch OLED display with 2622 x 1206 pixel resolution. The Pro Max has the larger 6.9-inch display with 2868 x 1320 pixels. Both feature ProMotion technology, which provides an adaptive refresh rate, going up to 120Hz and as low as 1Hz for that lock screen.

With a typical peak brightness of 1,000 nits, it also offers a peak HDR brightness of 1,600 nits and an outdoor mode that pushes it up to 3,000 nits. For nighttime use, it will also go as low as 1 nit minimum, should you need it.

While these are the same specs as last year’s models, it’s a fantastic screen. It delivers great detail and colour, whether you’re watching movies, browsing images, gaming or just browsing the web.

On a bright sunny day, the auto setting turns the brightness to full while outside, and the screen is just as clear as when inside at 50% brightness. I also really like the low brightness settings when looking at your phone first thing in the morning or last thing at night, without flooding the whole room with light.

The smaller Dynamic Island on the 18 Pro is a notable improvement here. Though still more than just a punch hole, when not showing extra information, it takes up a lot less of that top bar. As this space doesn’t sit under videos or most games, you wouldn’t notice otherwise, but it gives the top bar more breathing room.

It also provides more space for the Dynamic Island to show information, adding small symbols and numbers for anything from music playback to sports scores and Uber pick ups. It can then expand for those full live activities.

I watched a range of different content on the iPhone 18 Pro, from The Last First: Winter K2 documentary and the latest series of Slow Horses on Apple TV, through to Taylor Swift music videos on the YouTube app. The one thing that hit me, besides the image quality, was the sound, especially in landscape mode.

Like the 17 Pro models, the 18 Pro supports Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos playback from its stereo speakers, with vents on the bottom and top of the phone. So while it sounds good while holding the phone in portrait mode, moving to a landscape position gives you that full separation.

Rear cameras

Principally, the camera system on the iPhone 18 Pro (and Pro Max) remains unchanged from the 17 Pro series, with one exception. The 48 million-pixel main camera now features a variable aperture.

This is a first for the iPhone, though other brands have tried it before, as far back as 2018, when the Samsung Galaxy S9 offered a dual aperture option on its camera. The iPhone aperture is a six blade design with four aperture settings: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4. These can be selected manually from the new pro controls menu in the camera, or set to auto.

Advantages of a variable aperture are three-fold. In bright conditions, it allows you to reduce the light intake for creative control, while in low-light conditions you can increase the amount of light for better results. The most visual result though is in the depth of field.

Typically, with a fixed aperture, smart phones are designed to let in the maximum amount of light while maintaining a large depth of field – meaning that everything in the image stays in focus. In recent generations, Apple has offered a digital blurring effect in its portrait mode and cinematic video, to replicate a shallow depth of field, but it always looked a bit processed.

The main camera on the iPhone 17 Pro had a maximum aperture of f/1.78, so the f/1.48 option on the 18 Pro is two thirds of a stop wider, with 2.3 stops the other way to give greater depth of field. These changes are small compared to a DSLR lens, which may offer as much as a six-stop range from f/2.8 to f/22, but with a phone camera sensor being that much smaller, the changes appear as large.

The variable aperture works with all the zoom settings that the main camera offers, which is 1x (24mm equivalent), 2x (48mm equivalent) as well as the 1.2x (28mm) and 1.5x (35mm) settings. It’s also worth noting that you are only getting a full 48-million-pixel image at the 1x setting, with a standard 4:3 aspect ratio. All other ratios and zoom lengths will give you a cropped in image with less pixels.

By default, the iPhone uses a 24MP setting anyway, which uses two pixels for everyone to optimise the image. However, this is reduced to 12MP for a 2x crop, or if you use the studio lighting effects or portrait mode to create the fake depth of field. This isn’t always clear unless you check the image information after.

The longer telephoto camera works much the same way, but with a fixed f/2.8 aperture rather than a variable one. It provides a 4x zoom (100m equivalent) at 48 million pixels or 24 million pixels, as well as an 8x (200mm equivalent) at 12 million pixels.

The third camera is the ultra-wide, which provides a fixed f/2.2 aperture and a 0.5x zoom (13mm equivalent) for 120-degree images at either 24MP or 48MP. This is reduced to 12MP though for Macro shooting.

Front camera

The front camera saw a massive upgrade on the iPhone 17 Pro models and is the same here on the 18 Pros. It uses a square format sensor which can deliver 18-million-pixel images in either portrait or landscape format without having to turn the phone on its side.

This camera also includes Apple’s Centre Stage technology for photos and for video calls, allowing it to zoom in and out to keep either you centred or expand to include a group of people. This means that by default, it will take a cropped 7MP image, but you can zoom out to use the full sensor.

The results are so much sharper than the old 12MP front cameras that feature in the iPhone 16 and older, so if you’re upgrading from a phone more than a year old, you’ll notice a significant difference.

Video

It’s not just still images where the iPhone 18 offers professional level specs. For video, you can shoot in 4K at up to 120fps using the main rear camera, or 60fps using the ultra-wide or telephoto cameras. The front camera also provides 4K at up to 60fps.

For professionals, you can record using the ProRes format in 4K 120fps, and record straight to an external hard drive. There’s also Apple Log 2 and Academy Colour Encoding, to get the most colour information out of your video, and ensure consistency across your cameras.

For on-camera effects, there’s also Apple’s Cinematic mode, which creates a pro-looking shallow focus effect and can still record in 4K at up to 60fps. The beauty of this is that you can actually adjust the focus point after shooting. The variable aperture also works for video, so you can make use of the real aperture effects here too.

There’s also dual capture mode, which uses both the front and rear camera to create a picture-in-picture effect, action mode for ultra-steady shooting in 2.8K at 60fps, slow motion at up to 240fps (1080p) or 120fps in 4K, timelapse recording in 4K and Spatial video recording in 1080p at 60fps for immersive 3D.

Video also benefits from the iPhone 18 Pro’s four-mic array, allowing you to capture Spatial Audio sound or stereo recording. Apple’s new audio mix tool then allows you to edit the recorded sound to separate voice and music from background noise.

Image quality

What I think impressed me most about the image quality on the iPhone 18 Pro, is how much more photographic the results feel. One of my favourite images was during my aperture test, placing a thistle in the foreground and a house in the background to see how the variable aperture changes the image.

I underexposed the original shot and pulled it back using Adobe Lightroom. Though the aperture was set to f/1.8, which is achievable on the iPhone 17 Pro, the slight stop-down of the aperture ring gives the out-of-focus areas a natural bokeh while the main thistle really stands out.

You can see the change in depth of field quite clearly between the f/1.4 and the f/4 settings, though the effect isn’t quite as extreme as on a DSLR or mirrorless camera. The one interesting feature is the way the aperture reacts to having the sun in the shot. With the aperture even slightly closed, you get a real starburst effect on the highlight, which looks quite impressive – and goes away when the aperture is fully open.

Apple has clearly focused its imaging efforts on colour and exposure over detail, with results straight from the camera looking absolutely stunning. To opt for the most detail, you often have to override the camera, picking the RAW capture and the 48MP mode. This is sensible, as most don’t need an image that large, and the option is still there if you need it.

Many were hoping that we might see the iPhone 18 Pro go beyond the 48MP sensor resolution, to match the 200MP sensors now offered by Samsung and Oppo. Personally, I would rather have seen a larger sensor on the main camera, which in turn would have made the aperture changes more prominent. The current main sensor is 1/1.128 inches, which is the same as the iPhone 17 Pro.

Oppo, Xiaomi and Huawei have all offered 1-inch sensors for some time on their phones, which has a significant advantage over a smaller sensor. However, this would require bigger lenses to cover it. The perfect set up would be where smartphones can use a single sensor for all of its rear cameras and simply have a variable optic, but it seems we’re still some way off that.

Battery and performance

Apple’s new system-on-a-chip (SoC) is the A20 Pro, and it’s used on the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max and the upcoming iPhone Duo. It has a 6-core CPU, which is 20% faster than the A19 Pro, and a 7-core GPU, which is 40% faster. It also offers a new dual 16-core neural engine for those on-device Apple Intelligence features.

The vapour chamber, which was first introduced to the iPhone last year, has been tripled in size to keep that new chip running cooler. This results in a 40% gain in sustained performance, so you can game and run those AI features for longer without any impact on performance.

To see exactly how that performance stacks up, I ran the Geekbench 6 benchmarking app on the iPhone 18 Pro. The CPU test delivered a multi-core score of 12,543 (4678 single core), which is a marked increase on the iPhone 17 Pro’s 9014. Meanwhile, on the graphics (GPU) test, it scored 63,551, which is also an increase over the 44950 from the 17 Pro.

What’s also interesting is how this compares to the M-series chips used in iPad and Mac devices. The CPU multi-core score is higher than the M3 results and closing in on the M4, while on the GPU it beats all but the latest M5 iPad Pro models.

Considering the MacBook Neo runs on an older A18 Pro, the potential for future MacBooks and iPads to run on the A20 Pro chip are huge, and offer potential space saving and battery efficiency improvements.

On the battery side, the iPhone 18 Pro now offers up to 34 hours of video playback compared to 31 hours on the 17 Pro. The 18 Pro Max is even better with up to 43 hours, compared to 37 hours on the 17 Pro Max. Apple also now quotes a typical usage figure, which is meant to give a more realistic estimation of overall battery life. For this it gives the 18 Pro 24 hours per charge and the Pro Max 30 hours per charge.

Those typical numbers certainly feel close to what I have been getting from the 18 Pro. Once all of my data had fully migrated over from my old phone and things were running normally, I would typically end my day with between 20% and 30% battery left.

The only caveat was that when shooting video, the battery still drains much faster, and with heavier use, you are likely to need a charge before the day is done.

Should I buy the iPhone 18 Pro?

The iPhone 18 Pro is without doubt the most powerful and best-performing iPhone to date. While the 18 Pro Max has the bigger screen and better battery life, both provide the same upgrade in power and performance, as well as the new camera system.

Aside from the battery improvements, which feel negligible in real terms, the biggest change for me is the camera system. This is a big step forward for the iPhone, and while the effects can seem subtle at times compared to the digital depth-of-field options, it feels a lot more real.

If you’re upgrading from an iPhone 16 Pro or older, you’ll notice significant upgrades across the board with the iPhone 18 Pro. If camera performance really matters to you, this is the iPhone to go for this year.

Anker is making some big moves this year, not least in the form of a slight branding rejig to really centre its own name on its products more (making the likes of Soundcore and Nebula more part of product names, rather than sub-brands in their own right).

That's a little arcane for the average customer to care about, though – we're more interested in new launches. So, on that note, here comes the Soundcore Space 2 Pro to make things interesting.

The follow-up to Anker's mid-range set of headphones – which I rated highly back in 2024 when I reviewed them – the new Pro is a step up in price, with Anker hoping that some added quality will make it work for people. So, has it succeeded?

Price and Availability

The Soundcore Space 2 Pro is an interesting swing from Anker on the pricing front, having launched this September. You can order them now from a range of retailers (and direct from Anker), with Amazon being the most prominent in most regions, for £199.99 in the UK or $199.99 in the US. Availability in other regions seems to be rolling out slightly more slowly.

This price puts them a good chunk more expensive than the recent standard Space 2 (£129.99 / $129.99), which are already seeing discounts to make them cheaper. The price is also a £50/$50 bump over the Space One Pro from 2024, again underlining Anker's gambit.

Design and Features

The Space 2 Pro is a very familiar proposition, having handled the Space 2 extensively earlier this year, with both units provided by Anker for testing. These are headphones that lean into subtle design, surprisingly so from a brand that used to be a lot louder in its design work.

In fact, shorn of that previously recognisable Soundcore logo, the earcups of the Space 2 Pro are actually some of the most anonymous and simple of any headphones I've used recently (and not even in the same league as the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro). They're dead clean, with just a subtle reflective bit of logo work around their edge.

On the right earcup, you'll find a play/pause button, along with a rocker for putting the volume up or down. The other earcup has a 3.5mm jack, a USB-C port for charging, a power button that doubles as a pairing button, and a toggle for the noise-cancelling modes on offer.

Slipping the headphones on confirms that the generous-looking cushioning is indeed extremely comfortable, with a good amount of give on both the headband and those earcups. It's soft-touch, and I've found the Space 2 Pro great to wear for long stretches as a result.

That said, the Space One Pro was one of the most comfortable headphones ever made, and this is surprisingly a bit of a step down, I'd say. That doesn't make it a bad fit, but it's not the direction of travel I'd have chosen.

The headphones do fold, meanwhile, but don't do so into the smallest shape I'd have expected, and they're a little fiddly to collapse. You do get a carrying pouch in the box with them, but I'd have liked this to be more protective given the bump in price that Anker has brought in this time.

So, what about the features on offer? Well, in keeping with the Space 2 below it in the range, you get sophisticated adaptive noise-cancelling (ANC) here, enabled via eight microphones. The Space 2 Pro also has on-head detection for auto-pausing, which I always welcome.

Anker's making a big deal out of the new microphone array on the headphones, which it says has garnered a Guinness World Record for the best wireless over-ear call quality (however that could possibly be proven). I'll talk on that later, but it's something that's not on cheaper models.

Battery life is interesting, because it's quoted at 60 hours, but halves to 30 hours with ANC turned on, and goes down to 20 if you're on calls continuously, thanks to the new AI processes for its voice detection.

In terms of audio quality, 35mm drivers are housed in each earcup, and they support spatial audio if you want it activated. You'll also find support for LDAC and Hi-Res Audio in either wired or wireless modes, which is always nice.

Sound and Performance

While comfort and sound quality might not seem like they're necessarily related to parts of a headphone's performance, the reality is that cushioning has everything to do with the passive seal that great headphones now use for part of their noise-cancelling. That's why it's good to report that the Space 2 Pro has some of the best comfort on the head that I've tried in ages.

As I say, I still think it's slightly less perfect than the Space One Pro, but I still happily wore the headphones for three hours at a time without any clamping issues or discomfort. Even without powering them on, meanwhile, the amount of noise cancelled out was very decent.

Turned on, though, the ANC in this release becomes extremely obvious and impressive. Anker might not be able to quite say it's the best on the market, but this is definitely the best noise-cancelling I've tried on headphones under £/$200 in recent memory – and that's quite the boast.

That same level of positivity can be redoubled when it comes to the call quality on these headphones, something that I normally skip over as being relatively secondary in importance. I still think that, but when it's this good it's worth mentioning. Anker says its "Thus" chip is the reason for the clarity and pick-up quality that the headphones manage, with AI playing a part, and it makes for impressively clear audio when you're on calls – which is rare for this sort of headphone.

That's a fairly brilliant start to matters, but it's a slight shame that Anker can't bring five-star audio quality to match its ANC and microphones. That's not to say that there's anything explicitly wrong with Anker's tuning, but it's certainly not the most refined you'll find out there.

It leans quite heavily on bass, for one thing, which does mean that you get a good amount of warmth in the low-end of tracks, but this hurts the detail in other registers. The start of Eric Clapton's After Midnight (Live) from 2021 showcases this – its opening twangs are just a little overdone, lacking balance.

You can still have a great deal of fun with the headphones, though, in particular using Anker's app to customise their sound and create a personalised range of settings to make things a little more clinical. Out of the box, though, they're not particularly sophisticated, and that's a bit of a shame.

I found battery life to live up to the billing pretty closely, though, which means they're more than competitive with most of the other options you can find at this price. Some standouts go far beyond the 30-hour mark with ANC on, though.

Verdict

The Sound 2 Pro is an interesting launch from Anker, not least because these headphones are substantially more expensive than the Space One Pro, let alone the more recent Space 2 (Anker's approach to numbers and text is also clearly quite fluid).

I'm not sure they merit the price hike that they've been given, and that's the shortest version of my verdict.

However, there's nuance to be had here. The call quality here is really quite remarkable, and Anker clearly thinks that'll matter to certain people – like those who'll use them primarily in the workplace and need that to be reliable. The ANC is similarly really great for the price, and that's an interesting pair of strengths to maximise.

If their music performance could only match them, Anker would have a real stunner on its hands. Instead, this is an interesting launch that will suit a specifc set of users, while leaving others potentially wishing they'd spend a little more on genuine musical excellence.

Also Consider

If you want much of what makes the Space 2 Pro great, but fancy saving a bunch of cash without a huge downgrade, then consider the standard Space 2. Super comfy to wear, with a look that's just as clean, plus they're a bit more of a bargain.

Alternatively, if reading my verdict has made you realise that you'd rather spend more and get better audio quality, then I'd point you towards the Sonos Ace Ultra. We just slapped a five-star verdict on them, and I've been using them a little to confirm that they are indeed stellar and as comfortable as anything on the market.

When Sebastian Sawe strode into the record books, becoming the first person to run an official sub-2-hour marathon in London earlier this year, all eyes turned to what was on his feet. There, we saw an impossibly lightweight pair of sub-100g Adidas carbon supershoes, the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3.

Runners everywhere asked themselves the same question: do we all need Sawe’s super-minimal speedsters to chase our own PB goals?

I spoke to the Adidas Pro Evo 3 designers, and they were quite clear. The Pro Evo 3 shoe was designed specifically for the fastest runners, those clocking sub-3-hour marathons and, like Sawe, much, much faster.

I raced the Cape Town Marathon in the Adios Pro Evo 3, squeaking under three hours, and while it’s a light, fast weapon of a running shoe, I can confirm the stripped-back racer is fun but definitely not for everyone. Not least because of the £450/$500 price tag and the limited availability.

However, Adidas seemed pretty sure they would pretty quickly repackage some of that record-breaking, efficiency-boosting tech into shoes better suited to those of us taking ever so slightly longer than Sawe to conquer the 42km.

That shoe landed last week – the Adidas Adios Pro 5. And I just got to lace it up to race the Berlin Marathon. The perfect test to find out if it translates the Pro Evo 3’s punchiness into a more accessible little sibling. And where this sits in the super shoe standings.

Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 5 review

What’s new with the Adidas Adios Pro 5?

The Adidas Adios Pro 5 is a complete overhaul from the Adios Pro 4. It looks like a cross between the Pro Evo 3, the hugely popular fast trainer, the EVO SL, and the Pro 4 and features a completely new midsole setup.

It sticks with the highly rockered wedge of a new-formula Lightstrike Pro foam but adds an extra 2mm under the forefoot, shooting for a softer, more responsive and more energetic ride.

Adidas replaced the carbon EnergyRods that sat under the metatarsals on the Pro 4 with a horseshoe-style carbon EnergyRim running around the edge of the shoe that mimics the tech used in the Pro Evo 3. That sits you directly on top of the new bed of Lightstrike Pro.

The Pro 4 had a big, weight-saving midsole cutaway that exposed those rods. That’s gone, replaced by a flatter complete midsole that makes for a much more consistent and smooth transition, particularly at the slower paces.

Up top you’ve got new uppers deploying the same lightweight woven material. But with lots of added pinhole perforations to boost breathability. There’s an updated version of the Lightlock 2.0 uppers with internal support bands to help secure your foot. You’re still getting short, thin, minimal tongues which are stitched in on both sides to help them stay put, rather than gusseted.

Adidas also swapped the regular laces for sawtooth laces that don’t wriggle loose. That’s a welcome improvement.

Another thing I like. The Pro 5 now has some reinforcement in the toe box that helps provide some extra clearance across the top of the toes. Though the forefoot still tapers quite sharply for a narrow toe box.

The heel package has been changed too, sticking with race-style, weight-saving, minimal internal pads with just a hint of cushion at the base of the Achilles. Adidas says they also now use a material coating that helps those heel pads grip better when things get wet or sweaty, to help avoid movement and rubbing.

The outsole sticks with a very similar outsole combination of Lighttraxion and a Continental rubber pad under the main strike point in the forefoot.

A few tiny but very important details to note here: The outsole looks recessed into the midsole in places and thinner overall. Presumably, more weight savings, but that could help avoid catching the edges of the outsole rubber pads, reducing the risk of those lifting off.

Then, on the lateral side, there’s also an exposed section of the Lightstrike Pro foam. Adidas says it’s added protection only where you need it to keep things light. So there’s no Lighttraxion rubber on this edge. For some runners, that’s led to scuffing and damage.

How’s the fit?

Fit and sizing are areas where Adidas race shoes don’t always deliver. In the last-gen Adidas Adios Pro 4, I struggled with the length in my usual Adidas size.

The end of the toe box caught my (neatly clipped) toenails on runs over 2 hours or so. The sharp tapered toe box also made everything a little more cramped.

The Adidas Adios Pro 5 seems to have fixed the toenail woes, thanks to those reinforcements in the toe box. But the fit remains snug. If I’m being kind, I’d call it a race fit, but the tapered forefoot leaves little wiggle room, and I think I’d recommend going half a size up in the Adios Pro 5.

But then there’s the heel package. The Pro Evo 3 cut my heels in Cape Town; the Adios Pro 5 did the same on my solo marathon test, from around mile three. For Berlin I chose thicker socks and plastered up, and that extra protection prevented a repeat of the damage, though I could still feel those heel collars more than I would like.

This is something I think Adidas could definitely improve. I’d take a couple more grams for a little bit more guaranteed comfort back there. 
I don't really want to have to plaster up my heels every time, or go into a race worrying about what might happen.

I didn't have any toenail lifting, as I suffered with the Pro 4. That little reinforcement of the toe box seems to have fixed that issue. Though. I think you still might want to consider going half a size up to give yourself good clearance and account for that tapered, narrower fit toe box.

The marathon test(s)

Two weeks prior to Berlin, I laced up the Adios Pro 5 for a 3:45 solo marathon around the streets of London, with two blocks of sub-3 marathon pace in the middle. The Pro 5 felt good moving fast when I hit my target marathon pace.

I lined up for the Berlin Marathon, feeling in good form, a bit off my 2:50 PB fitness, but still targeting a sub-3-hour marathon. Something I clocked with the assistance of the top-tier Adidas Pro Evo 3 back in June at the Cape Town Marathon.

Ride experience

On the Berlin streets, I went out a little hot, hitting between 6:30 and 6:50 min/miles – the latter being my target pace. When I was moving well on fresh legs with a good mid-to-forefoot strike, there was a really nice impetus to the shoes, good energy coming back from that Lightstrike Pro midsole.

I'd call it smooth and efficient, though maybe not as aggressive and punchy in the toe-off as the Adios Pro 4, which I find has a less compressive foam that's much more immediate in responding when you're engaging it.

But the Pro 5s feel much smoother and more natural. I found a more consistent sensation underfoot, much more uniform and planted across all paces, from when I was feeling really fresh and running well, to the last bit where I was really struggling, landing very heavy and suffering.

They might not be quite as bouncy or propulsive as, say, an Asics Metaspeed Edge, not as punchy as the Puma Fast-R 3. You don't get the same stiffness and aggression; they're not a bounding shoe. But I don't think the Pro 5 lacks energy. If Adidas was aiming for a shoe with a more democratic, accessible setup to appeal to a wider range of abilities, I think it delivers.

It gave back what I invested when I was hitting pace, with a nice efficiency and buttery smooth, controlled energy. And it certainly looked after me well from a protection perspective when I dropped to a minute slower than marathon pace and was heavy and ragged deep into the race, likely because you're now landing on the foam rather than the rods or a plate.

What stood out most was the boosted comfort and reliability versus the Pro 4, and the extra support, protection and restraint versus the Pro Evo 3, when the inevitable ragged form hit.

I had virtually no foot fatigue under the forefoot, and though the Pro 5 wasn't perhaps assisting me much at the slower paces, it didn't leave me exposed the way some carbon racers can.

Durability concerns

On durability, a lot has been shared on social media, with some runners finding the outsole cutting up where there’s that exposed bit of foam.

Post-Berlin, I’ve now run 100km+ in the Adios Pro 5, including two full marathons and a bit of training, and I’m not seeing any signs of that wear.

Interestingly, while in Berlin, we saw an early prototype of the Pro 5 that had a full covering, and I think Adidas may well respond quickly and tweak the outsole to have more coverage to address those concerns.