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, 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.

Verdict

The Adios Pro 5 has a lot of merit. It's a really good, consistent performer with a smooth, efficient energy that returns when you’re moving well but still protects when you’re not.

It’s probably not the top carbon shoe in terms of all-out punchiness and all-out speed, though. The Asics Metaspeed Edge Tokyo has a bit more bounce, snap and bite. The Puma Fast-R3 brings a bit more stiffness and propulsion.

However, you're sacrificing a bit of that aggression for a more accommodating ride, which I was very happy to lean into when my race hit the skids yesterday. This setup could well suit a wider range of runners with different race goals.

Also consider

Adidas Adios Pro 5 vs the Adios Pro 4

The Adidas Pro 5 is a notable improvement over the Adidas Pro 4. It’s lighter, more stable and more consistent, and if, like me, you found the Pro 4 midsole tended to roll you out when you landed further back, or felt a bit blocky on the roads and had faster-returning foam under the forefoot, this new setup fixes that.

The Pro 5 is less aggressive, and if you were a big fan of the Pro 4s, the changes here add up to quite a significant change to the ride. Everything is smoother, softer, more protective, and I think better suited to a wider range of running gaits. If the Pro 4 was a bit forefoot-biased, the Pro 5 is much more accommodating for different landings.

Adidas Pro 5 vs the Adidas Pro Evo 3

The Adidas Adios Pro 5 isn’t as light, as fast or as all-out punchy as the Pro Evo 3. But Adidas' top-tier concept shoe really caters for runners smashing the very fastest marathon times. I just about held my own in it for a sub-3 in Cape Town, and it’s a fun ride with that impossibly high-energy Lightstrike Pro Evo foam.

I would recommend the Pro 5 over the Pro Evo 3 for most runners. The slightly higher drop is a bit more protective on the calves. There’s more support from the uppers, and the Pro 5’s Lightstrike Pro midsole offers a more consistent, reliable and protective ride. The Pro 5 is also significantly cheaper.

Standing out among the best laptops in the market isn't the most straightforward thing in 2026 – given the RAM crisis and cost of production, making turning a profit on the machines ever more taxing. MSI knows this as well as any brand, but has continued to push out solid machines in both the gaming and productivity markets.

I just spent a couple of weeks with its latest Prestige 13 AI+ – the naming of which is getting a little confusing, given we've reviewed the Prestige 13 AI+ Evo from last year. It's a laptop that does very little wrong, albeit it won't necessarily catch anyone's eye from across the room or launch all-new competitor strategies. Is that enough in this tricky landscape?

Price and Availability

The MSI Prestige 13 AI+ is available now, and comes in at £1299.98 in the UK and $1,299 in the US, although you'll already find it for slightly less than that with some retailers – check out the widget above for the current best deals. It doesn't have the widest retail presence, though, so you might well end up bagging it from MSI directly, frankly.

That price is an interesting one, at a time when conventional logic about how much people want to spend on laptops is being shredded. It's a chunk of change, and while MSI is far from the only laptop-maker inflating its prices, it's still worth considering what price this might have launched at if the memory crisis had never happened. We can all daydream, eh?

Design and Spec

Laptops tend to look pretty homogeneous right now – they're all broadly silver slabs with the same old hinges and rounded corners. To its credit, that isn't all true of the Prestige 13 AI+ this year. Sure, it's silver, but it has some fun details that do make it stand out a little.

Firstly, this is a really light laptop that's also super compact. It comes in at 899g, which means it's lighter than, for instance, the beautiful 2026 version of the Dell XPS 13 that I tested earlier this summer. MSI's laptop is portable in the most literal sense as a result, and that's immediately an advantage.

Its design is also slightly different. While it does have a largely silver look (made from magnesium-aluminium alloy), its hinge is a fun one. When you open the laptop, you'll actually end up pushing its display slightly into the surface under the laptop. This puts two rubberised feet into play, which wedge the laptop up slightly.

This doubtless has advantages for airflow, and presumably some microscopic ergonomic upsides, too, but I'm just a fan of the design details that make it work. The rest of the laptop is rather more utilitarian, after all.

In terms of I/O, the right edge of the Prestige 13 AI+ houses a USB-A port, and a microSD card reader. The other edge has another USB-A, an HDMI port, two Thunderbolt 4 DisplayPort USB-C ports with power delivery, and a 3.5mm jack for audio.

Opening the laptop, you'll be greeted by its 2.8K 13.3-inch OLED (which MSI is keen to point out has a 16:10 aspect ratio to avoid the problem of a squat screen). It's a 60Hz display, though, so not the smoothest out there.

The laptop comes with a 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM, with the latter reassuring given Windows' struggles on 8GB in the last few years. It also boasts impressive battery life for its size, with MSI quoting up to 19 hours of continuous use in the right circumstances (with a whole heap of networking turned off).

Atop the display (in the admittedly quite chunky bezels), you'll find a webcam complete with the privacy shutter I always like to see. It has Windows Hello compatibility, as you'd expect, and MSI touts various noise-cancelling microphone features for video calls.

All of this runs on the Intel Core Ultra 7 355H (in the machine I tested), a Panther Lake chip that should be more than powerful enough for most productivity tasks. It's firmly from the mid-range of the lineup, and therefore misses out on the all-new Arc graphics, so there's not much to be had in terms of gaming power here.

Performance

Turning the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ on and then using it in detail for a couple of weeks, I was almost surprised by how unsurprising it was. This is a laptop that really just fulfils the brief it sets out for itself – and that's a good thing.

Firstly, that OLED panel is a great one. It has beautiful colours and the deep blacks that you've come to expect, and I frankly didn't feel the 60Hz was much of a limitation at all. It does have slightly more bezel than I'd hope for, but that's no great sin. It also has a very shiny finish which can be quite reflective, but it's become clear over time that this is a matter of taste.

I also found the CPU more than capable enough to carry me through a workday without needing to manage my windows or multitasking. When given a really heavy load, I could hit up against its limits, but I don't think anyone will be coming to this machine expecting (for example) a video-editing powerhouse.

On the more practical side of things, the keyboard that MSI has squeezed onto the body of the Prestige 13 AI+ is something of a mixed bag. Its travel is decent and I didn't have any trouble with the tactility of typing, but its layout is fairly cramped, especially in the bottom-right corner, which can be a little annoying.

The trackpad is completely fine, with nothing about it really standing out for scrutiny, and I continue to like that MSI includes a fingerprint reader in so many of its laptops, for security and quick unlocks.

Battery life was great in my testing, with the laptop never failing to get through a workday with some charge left – especially on lighter days that didn't involve as many programmes being open and actively used. I'd say it's certainly an all-day machine, which not every rival can boast.

Verdict

MSI has kept things simple with the Prestige 13 AI+ – and I have a lot of time for that approach. Ironically, it's resulted in a laptop that doesn't really stand out all that much; one that's therefore harder to write about than many I've tested recently.

The reality is that you might find other laptops in the same price bracket with more striking designs, and potentially some more power to play with, but if keeping things lightweight is your main concern for sake of portability, then few can do better.

Also consider

If you want a Windows laptop that's supremely portable but need to spend less, then the latest XPS 13 from Dell is worth considering. It's a gorgeous bit of design, and while it's not the most powerful at base spec, it's beautiful to work on and is tiny – although heavier than MSI's laptop.

Alternatively, there's always the MacBook Air, which might be in a phase where it's almost taken for granted. It remains the best laptop for the masses, really, even with prices creeping up, and the M5 version is very comparable in price terms. I think it's the better buy, frankly, but it's obviously not a Windows machine.

I've tested plenty of the best electric toothbrushes over the years, but the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9900 Prestige takes things further than most. With smart sensors, an interactive display and real-time coverage feedback, there's no denying it's more advanced than your average model.

That said, I was also keen to find out whether all those extra features actually make a difference to the everyday brushing experience, or whether you're simply paying for technology you don't really need. After using it for a few weeks, here's how I got on.

Price and availability

The 9900 Prestige is priced at £599.99 (around $800) and is available from selected retailers and dental practices.

That said, as is often the case with Philips, I've already seen it discounted significantly. For example, Boots is currently listing it at £289.99, so it's worth shopping around before you buy.

It's available in Quartz Black, Silver White and Storm Blue, which is the colour I've been testing.

Design and features

At the core of the 9900 Prestige is the brand's SenseIQ Adaptive Intensity technology, which senses your individual brushing style and automatically adjusts the pressure and motion to provide a more personalised clean. Alongside this, Philips has introduced its Next-Generation Sonicare Technology, which automatically adjusts the motor power to maintain performance and delivers up to 62,000 bristle movements per minute.

You also get a range of cleaning modes and three intensity levels, including Clean for everyday brushing, Deep Clean for a more intensive clean, White for helping remove surface stains, Gum Health for focusing on the gumline and Sensitive for a gentler clean.

The biggest change compared with its predecessors is the addition of an interactive display on the handle, which gives you a visual guide to your brushing. It works alongside Philips' new Smart Coverage Feedback system, so as you brush, the handle's light ring tracks where you've been and uses different colours to guide you around your mouth. Yellow indicates an area that still needs attention, whilst blue shows that an area has been cleaned.

Once you've finished brushing, the display shows a visual coverage map, so you can see exactly which areas you've missed and go back over them. There's also real-time pressure feedback, with the ring glowing green when you're applying the right amount of pressure and alerting you when you're pressing too hard.

The smart features extend to the Sonicare app, which gives you personalised guidance and lets you keep track of your brushing routine. However, the 9900 Prestige's interactive display means you don't have to rely on this to understand how well you've brushed, making the new model feel less dependent on an app than some other smart toothbrushes.

The overall package is completed by a Premium All-in-One brush head, which comes with a replacement reminder that tells you when it's time to swap it for a new one.

You also get the rather premium-looking glass charging setup and a Prestige charging travel case. At home, you simply place the toothbrush in the glass, which sits on the charging base, whilst the travel case doubles as a charger when you're away.

Performance

After using the 9900 Prestige for a few weeks, the feature I noticed most was the feedback built directly into the handle. I'm firmly in the camp of people who don't tend to use Bluetooth toothbrush apps, so I like being able to see which areas I've covered and where I need to spend a little more time without using my phone.

Once the brushing cycle is finished, the handle shows a more detailed visual mouth map, and I particularly like how immediate this feedback is. The app goes further if you want more detailed information, but I like how the handle gives you enough information to make a noticeable difference to the everyday experience.

In the example below, I could see that I'd done a good job brushing the front of my teeth, but hadn't paid quite as much attention to the inside. It meant that the next time I brushed, I already knew where to focus.

The actual brushing experience is very much what I'd expect from a high-end Philips Sonicare electric toothbrush. It feels powerful and thorough, and my teeth felt very clean after each use. After trying the different settings, I found myself coming back to Clean mode at medium intensity most often, which felt like the right balance for me.

That said, I liked having plenty of options to choose from, particularly if I wanted to change things up depending on how my teeth and gums were feeling. The three intensity levels are also easy to adjust, and you can swipe through the modes on the touchscreen before selecting your choice with the secondary button.

For the price, I did expect the toothbrush to come with another brush head, but it's not a deal-breaker.

The glass cup charger is another interesting addition, and I like that it can sit at any angle rather than having to be positioned upright. Unfortunately, I don't actually charge my toothbrush in the bathroom, so it's not something I've found particularly useful in my own routine. That said, I can see the appeal if you do keep your toothbrush there and want it to have a dedicated charging spot, and the fact the cup can be lifted off the base and used for rinsing is a nice touch as well.

I do, however, really like the travel case. It's slim and feels premium, and the fact it charges means you don't have to find another way to power the toothbrush whilst you're away.

Verdict

The Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9900 Prestige has surprised me with how useful its smart features actually are. The brushing itself is excellent, but it's the feedback built into the handle that really sets it apart. Being able to see where I've brushed, where I've missed and when to move on, all without reaching for my phone, makes a bigger difference than I expected. It isn't cheap, and whilst the glass charger is a clever idea, it didn't really suit my routine. However, after a few weeks of testing, I've become a big fan of having a toothbrush that tells me how I'm brushing – and I'm not sure I want to go back to one that doesn't.

Alternatives to consider

Philips is one of our favourite toothbrush brands at T3, so I'd also recommend the Philips Sonicare 7100 as a cheaper alternative. It still offers four brushing modes, three intensity levels, a visible pressure sensor and app connectivity, but it doesn't have the 9900's interactive display and Smart Coverage Feedback.

The SURI 2.0 is another option if you're after something a little less tech-heavy. It's a slimmer, more minimalist electric toothbrush that still offers sonic cleaning, a pressure sensor and a useful travel case, whilst its replaceable-head approach is designed to reduce waste.

Where permitted, the electric scooter is unquestionably one of the most practical ways to get around town. It’s way quicker than walking, less effort than cycling and, for short journeys especially, it is considerably more convenient than taking the car or public transport.

Moreover, the ability to fold it away when you reach your destination is a major plus, particularly if storage space is at a premium.

Not every e-scooter hits the sweet spot between portability, performance, comfort, features and range, so if you're weighing up your options, T3's guide to the best electric scooters is a very handy place to start.

Or, if you live in parts of the USA and Canada, you could just take it from me and make an instant beeline towards Apollo’s brand new Dash, the Canadian company’s first lighter-weight, entry-level scooter for commuters and leisure riders.

I've been riding the keenly priced Dash for the past few days to see how well it handles the realities of everyday travel and storage, and I’ve been exceedingly impressed on so many fronts. Here’s my take.

Apollo Dash review

Price and availability

The Apollo Dash is priced at $699 in the US and is currently available to pre-order direct from Apollo, with deliveries expected from late October 2026 according to Apollo’s own tracker page.

The same timeline applies in Canada, the home of Apollo scooters, where the Dash retails for $849 Canadian dollars. According to Apollo, there are no set plans for the UK just yet so watch this space.

Specs at a glance

• Frame: Extruded chromoly steel
• Weight: 43lbs (19.5kgs)
• Motor: Bosch 1200W peak
• Battery: 48V 10Ah
• Tires: 9.5in PunctureGuard (self-healing) pneumatic tires
• Ride modes: Eco, Normal, Sport, Ludo
• Range: Up to 25 miles (40km)
• Max speed: 22mph (35km/h)
• Brakes: Regenerative braking + rear drum
• Indicators: Yes
• Display: DOT
• Waterproofness: IP66 (heavy rain, etc)
• Smart features: GPS anti-theft, NFC tap-to-unlock, Apollo app
• Folding: Around 10 seconds
• Max load: 220lbs (99kgs)
• Frame warranty: Lifetime

Why I think e-scooters are the future of personal mobility

The electric scooter is arguably the simplest and most effective form of personal mobility to arrive since the humble bicycle. Initially popularised by Razor and Segway in the 2000s and 2010s, the modern e-scooter provides an environmentally clean and fuss-free method of getting from A to B efficiently, whether it’s a full five-mile trip to work or a combination of a short trip to the subway station and another short stint to your place of work.

For me, the e-scooter’s biggest advantage is its combination of portability and practicality because it takes up very little space and can be easily folded for storage at home, popped into a shop or held in an upright and compact position if strap-hanging on the subway.

Likewise, e-scooters are considerably less cumbersome to carry than a bicycle – even if some of them top the scales at over 60lbs – and you don’t arrive at work dripping in sweat, particularly when moderate hills or longer distances are involved.

E-scooters also provide a sense of immediacy. You don't need to fret about finding a parking space, negotiating traffic is a cinch, and there's no complicated routine involved in getting ready for a journey. Simply roll it out, switch it on and vamoose. For many urban trips, I think that e-scooters offer an incredibly appealing – and liberating – level of simplicity.

Of course, e-scooters aren't perfect. You have to stand for the entire journey, battery range is finite, and their practicality depends entirely on road conditions and, more importantly, local laws. But when used appropriately, e-scooters occupy an amazing middle ground between walking, cycling and motorised transport.

For this e-scooter fan, the combination of convenience, compactness and effortless electric assistance makes it one of the most compelling and eco-friendly personal mobility inventions of the modern era, and I simply do not understand why some countries get so heated up about it. After all, cars have injured and killed thousands over decades, but no one’s ever considered banning them. Time for change, methinks.

Design and features

The feature-filled Apollo Dash arrived partly unassembled in custom-moulded polystyrene packaging replete with a well-written manual, a full set of Allen keys, two NFC cards and six mini screws for fixing the handlebar to the stem. My test model arrived with a 60% charge, so I hit the road immediately because I simply couldn’t wait to give it a whirl.

Apollo scooters is a Montreal-based Canadian brand renowned for its high-performance electric scooters, featuring advanced proprietary technology and premium build quality. While the Dash may represent the company’s first foray into a lighter-weight, entry-level commuter-based e-scooter category, it still shares the majority of the smart features you’ll find on its higher-end stablemates, and that’s a major plus in its favour right from the off.

The Dash is cast mostly from extruded chromoly steel and weighs a fairly substantial 43lbs (19.5 kg), which is par for the course for entry-level commuter scooters in this price range. Despite my petite stature, I’ve found it to be relatively easy to carry short distances, though taking it up a long flight of stairs could be a bit taxing for some.

The key takeaway here is that the Dash’s frame feels sturdy enough to shake off a lot of long-term punishment, and you really do need that in a scooter, especially one that may be used every day. Small wonder the frame comes with a lifetime warranty.

I’m especially enamoured of this model’s generous deck, which measures 18 inches (46cm) in length and 6 inches (15cm) in width. Furthermore, its thick rubberised coating provides oodles of grip no matter what type of shoes you’re wearing.

Granted, the handlebar’s thumb controls could be a little nearer to the hands when holding the outer section of the bar, but I’ve got used to it now that I’ve been riding it for a while.

Where many entry-level commuter e-scooters are fitted with 8.5-inch wheels that feel skittish at speed, this one comes with 9.5-inch wheels and the difference is night and day. Rounded and very grippy ‘self-healing’ pneumatic tyres, meanwhile, help reduce vibrations on poorly maintained blacktop.

Yes, full suspension like that fitted to Apollo’s Performance line-up would make a great difference to the ride but, hey, you can’t have everything at this price point. Besides, adding suspension adds a lot of extra weight, and this e-scooter is all about day-to-day practicality.

When it comes to electric motor power, Bosch is a dominant force in the e-bike industry, so it’s great to see one of its motors fitted here on a scooter. According to the specs, the front-mounted 600W motor produces a peak power of 1,200W, which really comes into its own on hills.

Apollo states a maximum gradient of a whopping 15˚ (26.7%) but I’m not wholly convinced that’s doable without using a leg to provide a few kicks. However, I can report that it had no issues climbing a hill that I estimated to be between 10% and 12%, and that’s steeper than I expected any commuter scooter to handle.

The 48V 10Ah battery, too, punches out some serious charge that’s capable of taking the Dash to around 25 miles in Eco mode, though it will take around five hours to fully charge from empty.

One of this e-scooter’s most striking features is the huge dot matrix display that shows which riding mode you’re in, your current speed and the amount of battery power remaining. Where some e-scooter displays are difficult to read while riding, this one cannot be ignored because the lettering is an inch-and-a-half tall and readable in even the brightest of direct sunshine.

Furthermore, there’s a built-in Quad Lock mount on the headset to which you can clip a Quad Lock-equipped phone case. I’ve used a few Quad Locks for my phone when riding some of the best e-bikes, and they are among the most reliable on the market.

Let’s delve into this model’s lighting system, which is surely one of the brightest and most effective on the market. On the front, you not only get a decent adjustable LED headlight with a long beam for seeing the road ahead, but also a rear always-on LED that flashes when the rear brake is applied.

The handlebar stem is also equipped with a 13.5 -inch bright white LED strip that can be seen from a very good distance away – Apollo says 500 feet, and I’ll take that. This is not only an aesthetically pleasing feature, but it genuinely shines like a beacon, letting other road users know you’re there.

While we're on lighting, a quick shout out to the Indicator system which has an orange flasher on each end of the handlebar. To activate them, simply tap one of the arrow buttons above the throttle and regenerative braking control. The indictor flashes six times but you can change the number of flashes in the app.

The Dash comes with four speed modes – Eco, Comfort, Sport and Ludo – and you can set your own preferred maximum speed for each mode in the impressively comprehensive Apollo Scooters app, which I discuss in more detail a little further down.

Out of the box, the default speed settings are as follows: 9mph for Eco; 12.5mph for Comfort; and around 15mph in Sport, which is close to the most common maximum speed in the majority of countries.

However, if you live in certain states of the USA, you can legally experience this scooter’s Ludo mode (a nod to Tesla’s Ludicrous mode), which allows the Dash to achieve a top speed of 22mph (35km/h). Believe me, that’s fast for an e-scooter, but still not a patch on the Apollo Phantom 2.0 Stellar, which has a top speed of, wait for it, 53mph!

The Dash’s thumb-operated speed control lever is superbly smooth, delivering a perfectly balanced level of torque the further you push it. And you can easily change sensitivity in the accompanying app.

I’m also a huge fan of this model’s Cruise Control, which activates when the accelerator is pushed to any position for more than six seconds.

Once set, you can let go of the accelerator and the bike will continue at your set speed, just like some automatic cars. Marvellous. Perhaps not so marvellous is the stiff bell, which requires a lot of thumb pressure to activate. But, hey, you can change a bell anytime.

The Apollo Dash is equipped with a rear drum brake which works well enough even though it feels a bit stiff at the lever. Personally, I’d have much preferred a disc brake for improved stopping power.

On the other hand, this model also comes with a separate thumb lever for controlling regenerative braking, and that’s an area in which this scooter excels. Regenerative braking not only helps top up the battery when going down hills or coasting on a slope, but it’s possible to perform most of one’s braking by using the regen system alone.

For instance, when approaching traffic or a corner, you could simply use the regen braking function to shave off speed, charging the battery in the process. And if you go into the app, you can actually set the amount of regenerative braking you prefer, whether it’s gradually reducing the speed of a general coast or bringing the scooter to a more rapid halt.

One of the best things about e-scooters is that they can be so easily folded flat and carried using the steerer tube as a handle. This is one of the facets that makes them so suitable for commutes, especially those that involve a train or subway trip, because even when there are no seats available, you can strap on and carry the scooter standing upright in front of your legs.

The Dash uses the most common type of scooter folding mechanism, comprising a large self-locking cantilever latch, an additional safety hook on the bottom, plus another safety tab that prevents anything from coming apart.

I personally cannot see any way this locking system could ever be accidentally unlatched – it’s totally foolproof. I’d say it took me about 10 seconds for both the folding and unfolding process.

In terms of security, the Dash can be unlocked with a six-digit PIN for which you will need the phone app or, much more conveniently, via the NFC contact on the handlebar display (you get two NFC cards in the package). Furthermore, the scooter can also be tracked via GPS using Apple’s Find My app.

Given the amazing amount of onboard tech here, it’s also very reassuring to know that the whole Dash is rated at IP66 for water resistance. This means it can be ridden in the rain as long as you avoid puddles of water.

I’ve been blown away by this e-scooter’s build quality and surfeit of amazing features. The frame looks and feels as tough as a locomotive and fit and finish is exemplary with zero movement between any of the interfaces. For the money, this scoot is nigh-on bomb proof and well worth the full high-five I’m giving it.

Apollo Scooters app

The Apollo Scooters app is one of the best examples of how software can transform the e-scooter experience. This app gives you an impressive level of control, allowing you to customise acceleration, regenerative braking and the maximum speed of each riding mode to suit your preferences.

Speed limits, too, can be adjusted independently, while more adventurous riders can access Ludo Mode through the app’s Advanced Settings to unlock the scooter’s full performance potential.

Security is also well covered. In the case of the Dash, it can be electronically locked and unlocked from the app using a six-digit PIN or unlocked by tapping one of the two supplied NFC cards on the display unit. Apple Find My integration, meanwhile, makes it super easy to track its location via GPS.

Apollo also runs a free loyalty and rewards programme called Apollo Amplified, which awards AMPs for riding milestones, purchases and community engagement. Apparently these rewards can be exchanged for discounts and other perks.

All in all, this is easily one of the best integrated apps I’ve ever come across – it’s colourful, extremely well laid out, simple to navigate, and the depth of customisation on offer is second to none.

Ride performance

Riding the Apollo Dash has been a much more enjoyable experience than I ever expected. In fact, I haven’t had so much fun on two wheels since my mountain biking days.

I love the feel of the rubbery deck and, while I would still prefer a rear disc brake to a basic drum setup, the adjustable regenerative braking proved a major plus once I hit the road.

I’m also a big fan of the Dash’s cruise control system – particularly on longer stretches – and the ease with which one can flit through its three main riding modes by simply tapping the on/off button.

The lighting system, too, is fantastic and made me feel remarkably visible to other road users. Honestly, I think lighting this effective should be a legal requirement on every e-scooter.

The Dash handled my test runs superbly, and coming from my old trusty Xiaomi with 8.5-inch wheels, I honestly didn’t expect it to feel quite so well planted. Its reassuring geometry, comfortable riding position, lovely ribbed handlebar grips and large 9.5-inch pneumatic tyres worked together brilliantly, giving me a tremendous amount of confidence, even when the asphalt was a bit gnarly. With more practice, I reckon I could really fly along on this thing, speed laws allowing.

However, the biggest surprise of all was when I hit a local hill which is about 200m in length and looks to have an average gradient of around 10% with some steeper sections around 12% to possibly 15%. My Xiaomi Mi Pro 2 scooter would never get more than a few metres up this incline before grinding to a halt, but this thing just kept on going.

My first run was in Mode 3 (15mph), and it held its speed at around 12mph before throttling back to 9mph for the very steepest section. I also tried the same hill in Ludo mode (22mph) but, because I failed to give it full throttle to attack the start of the hill, the results were about the same until I reached the brow and the road flattened out, at which point it quickly gathered pace to reach its full 22mph potential.

However, I did notice that the motor seemed to be gently pulsating during the very steepest section, which I gather is how it was designed. Crucially, at no time did I hear or see any sign of the motor overheating.

In my opinion, this steep incline test was a resounding success because it means that the Dash should easily traverse a wide variety of terrain without ever bogging down. And that’s precisely what you want from an e-scooter. Top marks, I say.

Verdict

The entry-level Apollo Dash is a seriously impressive e-scooter that gets the fundamentals just right. I love the comfortable, grippy rubber-coated deck, planted handling and confidence-inspiring 9.5-inch pneumatic tyres, while the adjustable regenerative braking and excellent cruise control add welcome control and car-like ease of use. No, it’s not the lightest commuter scoot around, but it’s built like a train, and that’s good enough for me.

I’ve also been impressed by the crystal-clear DOT display, the effortless speed mode switching and, when legal, the frankly bonkers Ludo Mode. Add in Apollo’s excellent app, NFC unlocking, Apple Find My tracking and an insanely good lighting system, and you have one of the most thoughtfully designed mid-priced commuter e-scooters on the market.

The original Ninja Crispi has been one of the more unusual air fryers we've tested at T3, mainly because it swaps the usual metal baskets for glass cooking containers. The new Ninja Crispi DualZone takes that same idea and adds a second cooking zone, which happens to be one of my favourite air fryer designs, so I was keen to give it a whirl.

You'll find my full thoughts below, including whether the new model is worth the upgrade.

Price and availability

The Ninja Crispi DualZone 8-in-1 is priced at £299.99/€349/$379.99 and is available from SharkNinja, John Lewis, AO and Currys.

It comes in a range of colours, including Bone, Cyberspace and Rose Quartz, with the latter being the version I've been testing. There's also a 6-in-1 version available in Vista Green or Mocha, which is priced the same but omits the Keep Warm and Prove functions.

Design and features

The biggest change from the original Crispi is, unsurprisingly, the move to two cooking zones. Rather than traditional metal drawers, the DualZone uses two 3.8-litre CleanCrisp glass cooking containers, giving you 7.6 litres of total capacity.

They're also PFAS-free, thermal-shock resistant and designed with heat protection on the base, so you can take them from the air fryer straight to a suitable worktop or the table. They also have easy-grip handles and come with storage lids, which means you can prep food, cook it, serve it and put leftovers in the fridge using the same container.

The two containers sit side by side on a self-aligning track system, with the main control unit sitting between them. A precision dial lets you set the temperature up to 240°C, whilst the controls allow each side to have its own cooking time, temperature and function.

The DualZone cooking means you can put completely different foods in each side and give them their own settings, rather than trying to find a temperature and cooking time that works for everything. Smart Finish coordinates the cooking so both sides finish at the same time even when they've been given different settings. There's also Match Cook, which copies the same settings across both zones when you simply want to double up a recipe.

There are eight cooking functions in total – Air Fry, Max Crisp, Bake, Roast, Recrisp, Dehydrate, Keep Warm and Prove. Each container comes with its own crisper plate, which raises the food off the bottom and allows hot air to circulate underneath.

The glass containers, crisper plates and lids are also dishwasher-safe, making it easier to clean up after cooking.

Performance

Apart from the fact that it looks great (my partner has slowly got used to the idea of having a pink air fryer in the kitchen), the thing that's taken me most by surprise is the amount of food you can actually fit inside it. When I first unboxed it, I wasn't convinced the two glass containers would be big enough for proper family meals, but I've been pleasantly proven wrong.

Examples include a whole 700g pork joint for a roast, as well as two large pieces of cod and four jacket potatoes. When you're cooking something like chips where you need to stack the food up, the crisper plates make a strong difference by lifting everything away from the bottom. This allows the hot air to circulate underneath rather than leaving the food sitting in any grease, which makes the results more enjoyable too.

I'll pop a TikTok below so you can see how it works.

The controls are easy to use, particularly if you're already familiar with Ninja's air fryers. Smart Finish and Match Cook quickly became second nature, and I've found myself using Match Cook regularly, mainly because it saves me from entering the same settings twice.

I also liked how the Crispi DualZone tells you to turn or shake your food half way through cooking, but it doesn't immediately stop whilst you get around to doing it. This meant if I was doing something else, I don't have to sprint back to the kitchen because the air fryer has decided it won't continue without me.

The glass containers have also been a bigger selling point for me than I expected. They're easy to pick up using their built-in handles, and because they sit on heat-protective bases, I don't have to worry about where I'm putting them straight after cooking. I've found myself taking the whole container over to the kitchen island and plating up there, rather than carrying plates back and forth to the air fryer.

It's important to know that the glass does show every smear of oil, but as they're dishwasher-safe, I've been taking full advantage of that. They fit into my dishwasher neatly too, which is a welcome change after using the Philips MegaBasket recently and finding it takes up the entire top rack.

However, the feature that's perhaps made the biggest difference is the plastic storage lids. They've become an unexpected favourite in my house because, if there's food left over, I just have to let the container cool, put the lid on and transfer to the fridge. There's no need to move leftovers into another tub, which means one less container to wash up later.

Verdict

The Ninja Crispi DualZone has a surprisingly generous capacity, a useful dual-zone setup and easy-to-handle cooking containers, making it a firm favourite in my kitchen. Alongside its excellent cooking results, the storage lids are a brilliant touch, whilst the dishwasher-friendly parts make cleaning up easy. It's not the cheapest or smallest air fryer around, but after weeks of use, I can see why you'd pay a little more.

Alternatives to consider

As the DualZone's combination of glass containers and two-zone cooking is still fairly unusual, there aren't many direct alternatives. If you like the Crispi concept but don't need two cooking zones, the original Ninja Crispi is still a good option, particularly if you have a smaller budget or would like something portable.

If it's specifically the dual-zone side you're after, I strongly recommend the Philips 5000 Air Fryer & Steamer as well. However, it cooks food a little more fiercely than the Crispi DualZone, so I'd recommend doing a few test runs before relying on its timings completely.

This is a big moment. It’s the first time I’m reviewing anything from Japanese outdoor specialist Montbell on T3. Better still, I’ve been testing one of the brand’s ‘entry-level’ waterproof shells, the Thunder Pass, which feels like the perfect introduction to what the company does so well.

What makes the Thunder Pass fascinating is its ability to deliver high-end specs at an affordable price. It’s not often you get a 3-layer construction with decent waterproofing and breathability below the £200/$200 mark. On top of that, you get a 50D ripstop outer and a fabric that feels surprisingly light and supple for something this durable.

I’ve been testing the Thunder Pass for the last few weeks, and it’s quickly becoming my go-to everyday waterproof shell, not just because it looks great. I love Arc’teryx and Montane waterproofs as much as anyone, but many of them feel built for the mountains. The Thunder Pass feels just as at home everywhere else, and that’s exactly where I’ve been using it.

Montbell Thunder Pass Jacket review

Price and availability

The Thunder Pass has been part of Montbell's range for well over 15 years, but the jacket was refreshed for 2026, replacing the long-running #1128635 version with the new #1128770 model, which I tested.

It’s available for £140 / $150 / €149 / AU$250 at Montbell UK, Montbell US, Montbell EU and Montbell AU. In the UK, the jacket comes in seven colours. I tested the wonderful yellow colourway.

Design and build quality

The Thunder Pass uses Montbell’s own DRY-TEC waterproofing technology, a 3-layer PFAS-free construction with a 20,000mm hydrostatic head rating. It’s rated at 15,000 gsm/ 24 for breathability.

If you don’t know what those numbers mean, all you need to know is that the Thunder Pass will protect you from moisture without making you feel too stuffy. Better still, the 3-layer fabric feels supple and light, which is unusual for such a well-specced shell.

Speaking of weight, my men’s medium jacket weighs a mere 328g (11.6oz), which isn’t incredibly lightweight but plenty light for the purpose. It feels light enough to have in your bag as an emergency layer, should the rain start pouring.

Despite its supple, lightweight nature, the Thunder Pass features a 50-denier nylon ripstop outer fabric with a water-repellent finish. The different panels are connected with neat stitches that are fully seam-sealed on the inside to prevent water from entering.

The colour-matched Aqua-Tect zip runs through the full length of the front of the jacket, and the pocket zips should be water-repellent, too. There are no pit zips, which might be an issue for ‘serious’ hikes, but for everyday use, the breathable fabric and the front zip offer more than enough ventilation.

The tri-axial hood offers a close fit, but I wish the front extended a bit more to keep rain from hitting my face. I really like Arc’teryx’s hood design, and even though I appreciate that the Beta AR is more of a mountaineering shell than an urban jacket, the same feature that keeps your face moisture-free at high altitudes could do the same in the city.

The website says the Thunder Pass’s hood should roll up with a hook-and-loop tab fastener, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. On the other hand, the cuffs are adjustable with a Velcro-style strap, and there are elastic hem drawcords to prevent drafts from entering the jacket from below.

Oh, Montbell supplies a colour-matched stuff bag with the jacket, which is not only a nice gesture but it also makes it easier to keep it tidy in your backpack. Excellent thinking!

Performance

I love the supple nature of the Thunder Pass (might have mentioned this a couple of times already) – it makes the jacket perfect for its purpose as an everyday shell. Three-layer fabrics can feel horrible, plasticky/clammy, but Montbell’s DRY-TEC material allows full freedom of movement and doesn’t make squishy sounds, either.

I used the shell on various occasions, including a full (very rainy) day in London, windy days by the coast and walks around the countryside. The London day proved to be an excellent test for the waterproofing, not just because of the relentless rain but also because I wore a backpack, which made me hotter.

To my delight, the Thunder Pass performed exceptionally well, neither wetting out nor letting moisture in. Granted, I got a bit hot while pounding the streets of London, but that would happen in any layer, so I wouldn’t chalk that up to a Thunder Pass’s inability to ventilate my body heat.

Wind protection is excellent, too, but as I mentioned above, I would have appreciated a more protective hood. The hood adjustability is good, and I like that there is a little lip at the front to keep the rain and wind out of your face when it’s coming sideways.

The length is perfect; the back is slightly longer so that you can lean forward without exposing your lower back. The arms are also the correct size, and I appreciated the Velcro-style fasteners at the cuffs, which allow quick and precise adjustments.

The front zipper is worth its own paragraph. The Aqua-Tect model integrates water-resistant properties directly into the zipper track, eliminating the need for storm flaps. Not only does it reduce fabric weight, but it also prevents the zip from catching. It’s a bit stiff, though, so the zipper can make the fabric bulge in the midsection. Not my favourite look!

Verdict

The Montbell Thunder Pass is proof that a properly capable 3-layer waterproof shell doesn’t have to cost north of £300. It feels unusually soft and supple for such a protective jacket, packs down easily, looks good enough for everyday wear and still has the waterproofing and durability needed for hiking.

There are a few compromises, most notably the lack of pit zips and a hood that could offer more protection around the face, but neither feels particularly serious at this price. The Thunder Pass offers exceptional value and has quickly become one of my favourite everyday waterproof shells.

Also consider

If money is less of an issue, the Arc’teryx Beta AR is a considerably more technical shell designed for serious mountain use. Its GORE-TEX PRO ePE construction, excellent DropHood, and pit zips offer greater protection and ventilation, though at £600, it costs more than four times as much as the Thunder Pass. Eek!

For something more hiking-focused, the Mountain Equipment Makalu is an excellent option. Its rugged 3-layer GORE-TEX ePE construction, helmet-compatible hood and pit zips make it better suited to long days in the mountains, while its £300 price sits neatly between the affordable Thunder Pass and flagship alpine shells.

Technics has pulled off some blinders in recent years when it comes to in-ear and over-ear audio. The EAH-A800 over-ears from four-and-a-bit years ago were a 5-star wonder, as was the impressive (and award-winning) EAH-AZ100 in-ears released just last year.

Looking to trump both those products, however, is this: the all-new EAH-A1000 over-ears, which deploy updated unique technologies taken from both the AZ100 and the brand's storied speaker products. The goal is for a high-end, high-resolution pair of headphones that stand apart from their peers.

But standing apart is ever more difficult in a market bustling with choice: from Sonos' just-released Ace Ultra and their ecosystem-targeted Wi-Fi functionality; to Bowers & Wilkins' PX7 S3 and their luxury design and material choices; to Sony's WH-1000XM6 for the ultimate in travel headphones and noise-cancelling (ANC) capabilities.

Technics hasn't explicitly tried to take on any one of those examples head-on, mind, carving out a niche of its own by doubling down on its technologies and sound quality in a design that may position them as home-listening headphones for many. Yet their lightweight nature – despite large-scale physicality – and ANC credits mean they're also versatile enough to use while on the go.

Price & Availability

The Technics EAH-A1000 are available now (from 30 September), with a launch price set at £399 in the UK and €449 in Europe. They will go on sale worldwide, but US and wider regional pricing is yet to be determined at the time of writing.

That positions the A1000 at £/€100 more than the earlier (and less advanced) A800 model, so by that logic the US asking price for the A1000 could be $549 – but we'll have to wait and see, given current market complications.

What's New?

While I've mentioned the previous A800 model, I won't really be discussing those headphones from here on – as the A1000 is an entirely different product with a heap of its own innovation. Indeed, there are some core aspects in the A1000 that provide a unique edge.

The first is the brand's Magnetic Fluid Driver technology, which uses a magnetic oil-like liquid that sits between voice coil and driver magnet, to support precise movement and suppress unwanted vibrations and distortion. This has been adapted from the AZ100 in-ears, but it needed lots of tweaking to make it possible at this larger scale.

The second is the custom dome-and-cone-shaped 40mm driver, which is made from carbon fibre – selected due to its low weight and inherent rigidity. However, Technics pulled upon its SST Edge technology (that's 'Symmetrical Surround Technology'), derived from some of its established speaker products, to ensure airflow during movement remained symmetrical.

Being able to produce a carbon fibre diaphragm to the specified shape proved tricky, though, as the material's hardness caused challenges with moulding and deformation. Technics worked around this by weaving fibre directions and adding a physical 'rib' to the dome to provide stability. No compromise to shape, nor on the material choice.

An Acoustic Control Chamber behind the driver helps manage airflow, minimise irregularities, and drive the acoustic path to the ear with utmost clarity. This, combined with the above technologies, gives the A1000 its unique sonic properties. But such technologies are also what makes the earcups protrude more than you average – as there's so much to accommodate within.

Design

How you feel about that physical size could be the deciding factor in whether these are the headphones for you, as this is no slim-profile, Sonos-style product. I've felt conscious of that when wearing these headphones for travel, not that it's as eye-catching a prospect as something zany, like Nothing's Headphone (1).

That said, there's nothing heavy about the A1000 headphones. The 306g weight is roughly that of, say, Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S3, and the way the Technics headphones position over the head feels balanced, comfortable and avoids any undue clamping force – with the headband effortlessly (and silently) adjustable.

There's been a lot of thought in what Technics calls its Flow Arm structure – the arms which hold the earcups to the headband. It flows from a square structure to a triangular one at its end, giving this a fluid visual. However, I do wish as much attention was paid to some surrounding details, as the visual presence of a hex-screwhead and notable openings for the folding mechanics don't look quite as refined.

Technics has opted for physical controls here, too, with two buttons flanking a toggle control on the right earcup. They're easy to reach, making pairing, skipping tracks and adjusting volume a breeze, although the look and feel – when inspected up close – isn't to the same lofty heights as Sonos' latest Ace Ultra headphones in my view. It, too, could be further finessed.

I'm also not a fan of the Platinum Greige name – per my review photographs – but do think the visual appeal is undeniable. Especially those metal earcaps, which are aluminium and finished with a spun-blasted technique for a distinct look in the way light catches in them. The Technics logo looks grand in gold, just as it does on the alternative Black finish option.

Sound & ANC

When I was first introduced to the A1000, the listening sessions Technics presented to me were largely built around instrumental jazz records, which the headphones presented very well – bar some minor resonance when wired USB-C listening at higher volumes.

Since then, I've explored all kinds of music with the A1000 and the myriad genres it rewards is reflective of Technics' versatility. That's an echo of how the brand is represented, from its roots in classical jazz through to DMC scratch DJ competitions.

From Daft Punk to Michael Jackson, even underground drum and bass and melodic techno, the A1000 really can put its talents to anything. I'd initially assumed the bass profile here would be limited, but it's anything but – straight and punchy, there's no shyness in low-end presentation whatsoever.

The soundstage is broad, yet doesn't overcomplicate its presentation by overindulging with processing trickery, leaving you firmly in the centre – as vocals and high-end percussion dance around that capable low-end core. The A1000 can cater for 20Hz to 48kHz, such is its range.

What really brings this all together, as the glue if you like, is the capable active noise-cancellation (ANC) on offer. I've discreetly tested it while travelling, so know how well it functions on a plane, just as it does when in the office. A key aspect of its wizardry is the 'Adaptive / Auto-optimization' feature.

In the Technics Audio Connect app you're be able to toggle between ANC being on, off, or engaged in Ambient Sound (what many would call passthrough, such as 'Aware' or similar), with a 0-100 slider to adjust the strength. Oddly it's even more powerful with Adaptive switched on, surpassing the 100 manual maximum – and, in my plane test example, drowning out that hissing background sound even more effectively.

But where ANC really helps is in the way it enhances the overall sonic profile. It's what helps that bass hit more powerfully, it's what enables distractions to be drowned out so you can focus on what you're listening to – and while some sharp external sounds can penetrate through, I've found that to be barely a distraction.

The same app also offers a bunch of customisation options, including EQ presets and an eight-band manual adjustment if you want to be very specific – three of which can be saved as your own personal Custom options to call upon. LDAC quality sounds great, Bluetooth connectivity has been solid in all my tests, but if you want to engage LE Audio or spatial audio then LDAC is dropped for lower-bandwidth AAC.

Even with all its highest settings engaged – LDAC and ANC – the A1000 lasts for a superb 40 hours per charge. That's increased to 45 hours for AAC. Wired listening is catered for, too, which can last for 30 hours delivering Hi-Res Audio playback via the provided USB-C-to-3.5mm or C-to-C cables.

Technics A1000 review: Verdict

After two weeks of using the Technics EAH-A1000, I've fallen for their big sound and presentation – the resulting benefit of unique audio technologies and design working together to great effect.

Big is the operative word, though, as that abundance of technologies does mean the A1000's earcups protrude more than your average – and some people will find that a deterrent if looking to buy travel headphones.

I have travelled plenty with the A1000, though, where the battery life and active noise-cancelling (ANC) have shown true grit and ability to stand up to the not inconsiderable competition on the market at this price.

While the A1000 won't be for everyone, therefore, their niche nature and distinctive design bring appeals of their own. But it's the sound and comfort that'll keep you coming back for more, time and again, reinforcing their 5-star status.

Also Consider

While many products aren't going to match what the A1000 is offering, I think there are a trio of alternatives that excel in their own respective areas.

The Sonos Ace Ultra are the most comfortable headphones going, in my view, with a slim profile that's great when at home or on the go.

If you want to cut some of the weight for the sake of travel convenience, then Sony's WH-1000XM6 are a strong choice, with ANC that's largely unbeatable.

Last up, from a design perspective, the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S3 are delightful. Lush materials and a luxury aesthetic are appealing, even if the ANC isn't as powerful.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the AirPods Pro series, thanks in no small part to their volume slider feature, which has made countless rival earbuds feel unnecessarily awkward ever since.

Being able to swipe up or down on the stem to adjust the volume sounds like a small addition, but compared to the various button-and-touch implementations from brands like Bose, Sony, and Huawei, Apple’s approach remains the gold standard for me in on-bud control.

Bringing this feature to the more affordable AirPods 5 is therefore a huge deal for fans of Apple sound tuning on a budget. It is a huge deal for me, in particular, as I wasn’t the biggest fan of the new shape of the AirPods Pro 3. It felt bulkier in my ears than my beloved AirPods Pro 2, which made me appreciate all the improvements less.

In addition to adding volume control to the buds, Apple has redesigned the internal acoustic architecture, improved Adaptive EQ, strengthened ANC and increased water resistance to IP57. Battery life has also improved slightly, but not to the level I would like to see it in 2026.

To clarify, this review is of the model that Apple confusingly calls “Apple AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case.” This is the version with the volume slider and slightly longer battery life. The cheaper version also offers ANC but lacks the volume slider and the wireless charging case.

Apple AirPods 5 review

Price and availability

Apple announced the AirPods 5 in early September 2026, with the earbuds going on sale on 18 September. They are available directly from Apple UK, Apple US, Apple EU, Apple AU and third-party retailers now.

There are two versions. The standard AirPods 5 cost £119 / $129 / €149 / AU$219 and, unlike the base AirPods 4, include Active Noise Cancellation. The AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case reviewed here cost £139 / $149 / €169 / AU$249 and add on-stem volume control, wireless charging and slightly longer battery life.

The £139 model is £40 cheaper than the AirPods 4 with ANC was at launch, despite adding the excellent volume slider and improving sound and noise cancellation. Considering the relatively small £20 premium over the standard AirPods 5, I think the Wireless Charging Case version is comfortably the better buy.

Design and comfort

Before trying the AirPods 5, I wasn’t entirely convinced that Apple’s volume slider would translate particularly well to this form factor. In my head, the AirPods 4 had a noticeably shorter stem than AirPods Pro 3. Putting the AirPods 5 and AirPods Pro 3 side by side quickly corrected that assumption.

The stems are almost the same length, and the volume groove is essentially the same, which gives you plenty of room for the swipe gesture. Sliding a finger up or down adjusts the volume smoothly, while squeezing the stem handles playback and other functions. To my delight, it works just as well here as it does on AirPods Pro.

That’s a huge win because the volume slider remains one of my favourite design innovations on any pair of in-ear headphones. Nothing irks me more than trying to control button-sized earphones by pressing them further into my ear canal. Stem-based control lets you access all the important control functions without straining your ears.

The bigger physical difference between AirPods 5 and AirPods Pro is the earpiece itself. The AirPods 5 head is considerably smaller, and because there are no silicone tips, there is no passive seal in the ear. This makes the buds more comfortable to wear for longer periods (if only battery life would support this feature).

I wasn’t particularly keen on the larger shape of the AirPods Pro 3, whereas the AirPods 5 are reminiscent of the AirPods Pro 2 and almost disappear once they’re in. If you dislike the plugged-up feeling of silicone-tipped earbuds, that remains one of the biggest advantages of standard AirPods.

Apple has also improved water resistance, giving the AirPods 5 an IP57 rating. That’s a significant upgrade for anyone planning to use them as running headphones, as they should be considerably more resistant to sweat, rain and other wet conditions.

I didn’t intentionally dunk the earbuds to test that claim, but the increased protection should make them a more reassuring option for running, gym sessions and generally wet conditions.

Sound performance

Noise cancellation

Apple says the AirPods 5 offer 50% more noise reduction than the previous generation, and by the sound of things, there is definitely an improvement. However, the open-fit design places a hard limit on what ANC can achieve.

Without an ear tip creating a passive seal, ambient noise will always find its way in. Sitting on a train, for example, announcements over the tannoy found their way to my ears without an issue, even with ANC switched on.

That’s not to say ANC is poor, though, especially compared to the AirPods 4. Low-level background noise and general rumble are suppressed impressively well, and the AirPods 5 do a very good job by open-fit standards.

Of course, “open-ear” covers several very different designs. AirPods 5 sit much closer to the ear canal than something like the Shokz OpenDots 2, so they naturally block more external sound even before ANC gets involved.

The point is that they still don’t create the passive seal you get from silicone-tipped earbuds. That said, anyone expecting the isolated, cocoon-like effect of AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3 or AirPods Max 2 will be disappointed by the noise cancellation prowess of the AirPods 5. In practice, the effect often feels closer to active noise reduction than complete isolation.

Transparency mode

Transparency mode, on the other hand, is exceptional. Apple has been excellent at Transparency for years, and the AirPods 5 might be one of the best showcases for it. Voices and environmental sounds come through clearly and naturally, without the processed or amplified quality you sometimes hear from rival earbuds.

Combine that with the lightweight open-ear design, and the result is a barely-there sensation that sealed earbuds struggle to replicate. You can hear what's happening around you almost as though you weren't wearing headphones at all, while your music or podcast continues playing in the background. I love it.

Sound quality

Sound quality has taken another noticeable step forward. Apple says it has redesigned the AirPods 5 internally with a new acoustic architecture informed by lessons learned from developing the AirPods Pro 3, along with a newer generation of Adaptive EQ.

I liked what Apple did sonically with AirPods Pro 3, but I wasn’t particularly fond of their larger physical shape, which made me enjoy everything else a lot less. The AirPods 5 let me enjoy some of that improved acoustic performance in a much smaller and more comfortable package.

They sound full-bodied and surprisingly substantial for such small open-fit earbuds. Bass has plenty of weight without becoming overwhelming, while the midrange is rich and treble has enough presence to keep things lively and detailed. There is also an impressive sense of space.

Open-fit earbuds naturally have some advantages here, but the AirPods 5 create a surprisingly broad sonic landscape given their compact size. The AirPods Pro still have the edge for outright clarity, separation and finer detail, but the gap has certainly narrowed.

They sound full-bodied and surprisingly substantial for such small open-fit earbuds. Bass has plenty of weight without becoming overwhelming, while the midrange is rich and the treble has enough presence to keep things lively and detailed. There is also an impressive sense of space.

Open-fit earbuds naturally have some advantages here, but the AirPods 5 create a surprisingly broad sonic landscape given their compact size. The AirPods Pro still have the edge for outright clarity, separation and finer detail, but the gap has certainly narrowed.

Custom EQ

After years of begging the company, Apple has finally given one of the most requested features to AirPods users. With iOS 27, compatible AirPods – including not just the new AirPods 5, but also the AirPods 4 and certain Pro and Max models – now get Custom EQ.

Apple hasn’t gone overboard by offering a massive library of genre presets or a complicated multi-band equaliser, but you get Apple's standard tuning or a Custom option with three simple controls that let you adjust the frequency response while previewing the changes live

The tuning is stored on the AirPods themselves and the settings follow them across compatible apps and devices, which is nice.

Personally, I haven’t felt much need to use it, as I’m generally happy with Apple's default tuning on the AirPods 5. After some experimenting with Custom EQ, I quickly returned to the standard setting, but I appreciate that Apple has listened to its customers for once.

Battery life and charging

Battery life is easily my biggest frustration with the AirPods 5. Apple promises up to five hours of listening with ANC enabled (on the £139 model), and my testing broadly backed that up.

After around four and a half hours of continuous listening with noise cancellation switched on, my AirPods battery was down to 12%.

Apple partly offsets the short runtime with fast charging, with five minutes in the case providing roughly another hour of listening. My pair went from 12% to 80% after around 30 minutes in the case.

That sounds reassuring, but I think it misses the real problem. Quick top-ups only work properly when the battery already lasts long enough to fit naturally around your day.

The AirPods Pro 3 are a good example. Their eight-hour ANC battery life is enough to cover a morning commute and several hours at work. You can then put them back in the case over lunch for a quick top-up, and comfortably get through the afternoon and journey home.

The AirPods 5’s five hours means you can already be approaching empty before lunch, forcing you to think about charging during normal use, which makes the battery life feel limiting.

The £139 model at least supports USB-C, Qi, and Apple Watch wireless charging, so putting power back in is easy. But fast charging only makes things less inconvenient, as it doesn’t offer a like-for-like substitution for decent battery life.

Verdict

Apple is the granddaddy of iterative design, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the AirPods 5 look almost identical to their predecessors. In use, though, the improvements add up to something considerably more substantial.

Sound is fuller and more spacious, noise reduction is stronger, Transparency mode is outstanding, and the open-fit design remains exceptionally comfortable. Most importantly for me, the £139 version finally gets the AirPods Pro's excellent volume slider.

The AirPods 5 don't turn standard AirPods into cheaper AirPods Pro, nor should they. They're arguably better at simply being AirPods; as in, a lightweight, comfortable and almost invisible pair of headphones that sound considerably better than before.

The biggest compromise remains battery life. Five hours with ANC isn't unusable, and Apple makes charging quick and easy, but it isn't long enough to disappear into the background of a normal workday in the way the eight-hour AirPods Pro 3 can. Fix that, and Apple would have an exceptionally difficult pair of open-fit earbuds to fault.

Nothing made a bit of a splash, at least in my own estimation, when it debuted the Headphone (1). It arrived in the over-ear headphone market with a bold design, superb controls, and extremely solid sound – and I was won over (more so than some of my peers).

Now, after already having made a cut-price version, the Headphone (a), Nothing's going even higher-end with the new Headphone (1) Pro, on review here.

These over-ears pose the question of how you could make the Headphone (1) fancier, and come up with answers that vary from expected to baffling. I've had them for a few weeks to formulate my detailed thoughts on how they shape up.

Price and Availability

When you announce a "Pro" version of an existing headphone, most people's first question will rightly be how much the price is going up. It's what people recently asked of the Sonos Ace Ultra over the original, for example.

The Headphone (1) Pro launches at $399 in the US and £349 here in the UK, exactly £100 more than the Headphone (1)'s launch price (which hasn't been cut down since then, despite some sales bringing temporary discounts).

The headphones will be available to order imminently, if you're keen on them, and that price rockets them right into the same bracket as a whole heap of flagships. They're in contention with the likes of Sony's WH-1000XM6, Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless and more, making for an extremely competitive field.

Design and Features

At a glance, it would probably be pretty hard for the uninitiated to tell apart a pair of Headphone (1) Pro from the older Headphone (1), since they very much share the same design foundations.

The new headphones retain most of the main elements of the older pair's design, including their squared-off earcups and a leaning towards transparency. It's not the biggest difference, but the Pro's earcups are actually a little less jazzy than last time out, which I welcome. Some of the details inside the transparent windows have been toned down and made less eye-catching.

That said, the windows themselves have technically been upgraded, since they're now faced with actual glass – scratch-resistant, Nothing assures me, something I've been loath to test – framed within aluminium. That's a tip-off about one of the ways the Headphone (1) Pro differs – its materials are more premium, although the headphones are in fact 2g lighter than the Headphone (1).

There's now more metal and less plastic, that new glossy glass, and some plusher cushioning in key places: the headband in particular, and the earcups, too. This honestly changes very little about how they sit on the head, but I had no comfort issues with the older version. If you found those too clamping, however, then you might have a better time with the Pro.

Also nearly unchanged are the borderline revolutionary controls that Nothing came up with for its first over-ears. You get the same roller button for volume and play/pause, a rocker for skipping tracks, an external customisable button, and a hidden button for pairing.

There's now a new switch inside the other earcup to activate a new Flat EQ mode. This is important because Nothing's pinning quite a lot on the new audio tuning offered by the Headphone (1) Pro, and the EQ presets that come with it. In the Nothing X app, you can now tinker far more deeply with the headphone's sound, including some spatial presets to mimic different types of venues.

Much of this is gimmicky (and Sony does the same with its Collexion top-tier offering), but the Flat EQ mode is pretty interesting. It does what it says on the tin, basically turning tuning off at your beck and call, to return you to a sterile, studio-style listening experience that doesn't bring anything to the table to influence your listening. I like it a lot, and being able to toggle it so easily is fun.

Like the Headphone (1) before them, these cans bring active noise-cancelling (ANC) to the table, and it performs solidly again – although I couldn't necessarily discern a massive improvement when I surreptitiously used them on a few long-haul flights recently. More microphones should mean more accurate noise suppression, though.

Battery life is a curious topic this time, with the estimated 30 hours with ANC turned on actually lower than on the Headphone (1), although turning it off will net you a really chunky 68 hours. Not that many people are likely to opt for that.

I'm an outspoken fan of Nothing's previous design work on its headphones, but that position has been tested enormously by one part of the Headphone (1) Pro: its case. Rather than a soft-touch case like every other headphone you've used in the last few years, Nothing has stepped out and instead gone for a sort of hardshell plastic halfway design, which leaves the headband exposed as a carrying handle.

I heard directly from Nothing's designers about how this would save space in bags, and how its handle loops could make it a fashion statement worn as a sling, but in practice I think it's a design disaster. At a criminal 384g, it more than doubles the headphones' weight (327g on their own) in a bag, and has room for precisely no extra accessories like wires, adapters, or anything else.

It's the definition of aesthetics over purpose, and I can't quite believe it made it out of the door – not least because of its similarities to the AirPods Max case that people have spent about half a decade loudly mocking. At least that one is light and thin, though!

If that over-thought case added anything to the final price of the Headphone (1) Pro, then colour me baffled – I'd back plenty of people to decline it from the package if they could save even £20 as a result.

That's obviously a sour note, but it stands in clear contrast to the rest of the design work on the headphones themselves, which remains innovative and different (both rarities at this point).

Sound and Performance

If you're going to crank up the price of your new headphones by this sort of margin, how they sound becomes even more important than it already was. Nothing has played an interesting hand here, too, leaning on new customisation features as well as a new driver architecture.

The new driver system is a three-part one that its engineers are clearly proud of, and the end result is more precise and detailed, just as promised. The Headphone (1) Pro builds on the solid foundations of the standard version, but it does have more heft and verve.

Listening to Jungle's new album, there's a really nice amount of separation between vocals and backing elements, and the high-end sounds great. Rerouting to older material from J. J. Cale, the acoustic soul of the tracks comes through really nicely, and the same is true of some Creedence Clearwater Revival.

It's all very impressive in isolation, but it's also fair to say that when I got my Headphone (1) back out, I confirmed fairly quickly that the gap between the models is not massive. Yes, the (1) Pro has a bit more to it, but it's improving on a great skeleton.

The same is true of that newly improved ANC system, which did indeed dull the noise of the flights I took to a strong degree, but not in a way that made the previous version look too substandard. It blocks more noise, but still falls short of the best I've used in this price bracket (which remains Sony's WH-1000XM6).

Many of the other features Nothing's keen to spotlight reside in the Nothing X app, and I'm curious how many people will be moved particularly by them. Flat EQ, as I've mentioned already, is a winner in my book, not least because it has a physical toggle.

Another addition is spatial audio presets designed to mimic different listening environments, from a studio to a club or a concert venue. I'll be frank: I experimented with these but almost immediately confirmed they're not something I'd want to use regularly, and I'd be surprised if many people diverged from that.

Some new EQ presets are a bit more traditional in their approach, and their changes to the Headphone (1) Pro's sound are clear to hear when you swap between them. It feels generous to count that as a standalone feature, though, when you can just do your own EQ customisation when you want it.

Nothing Headphone (1) Pro review: Verdict

I don't want to draw any overly grand conclusions about the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro and what it says about Nothing's wider market approach, but at a time when it claims to know it might have made too many phones in recent years, I wonder if this new launch fits into a similar bucket.

I like it plenty when assessed in isolation, but in the context of the cheaper and, in my opinion, much better-value Headphone (1), I don't see enough in the Pro to warrant an upgraded version with this sort of price jump. You get better sound and some add-on features, but a considerably more inconvenient case and little meaningful change in design terms.

At this price, I'd point people towards other options, frankly, and I'll be extremely interested to see how Nothing fares with a launch that might not really have needed to happen at all. If it could only have brought some of these improvements to a later-launching Headphone (2) without a price rise, it could have been cooking with some gas.

Also Consider

No prizes for guessing the headphones that I'd recommend most if you're enticed by the cool design of the Headphone (1) Pro but aren't sure about the price. The normal Headphone (1) remains excellent, in my view, and while you'll save a chunk of cash, I think it's almost certainly one to keep an eye on through the coming autumn and early winter sales – if its price doesn't budge, I'll eat my hat.

Alternatively, my favourite recent over-ears are the Momentum 5 Wireless from Sennheiser, which are far stealthier in design terms. They sound brilliant and have excellent battery life, too, and a normal case. Plus, they're actually cheaper than the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro here in the UK, making them a comprehensive winner by comparison.

There are certain functions that I would look for in a new washer-dryer, including a quick wash cycle, the ability to pair wash and dry cycles, and good energy efficiency. As much as I love my home gadget, I never saw the need for a Wi-Fi connection on a washing machine. That was until I tried the latest Haier washer-dryer.

The Haier X9 is one of the brand’s flagship models, and as such, it has an impressive range of functions on board. These range from Ultra Fresh Air technology, which keeps your clothes smelling fresh even if you leave them in the machine for the day, to Smart AI technology that detects what is in the machine and selects the right cycle. Crucially, though, it features Wi-Fi connectivity.

How much is the Haier X9?

Haier’s X9 washer dryer was first released towards the end of 2025, with availability across Europe, as well as in Asian markets. It officially sells for £849 in the UK or around €879 in Europe. Right now though, there are discounts available at several retailers, taking the price as low as £759.

Features and design

This freestanding washing machine offers a competitive specification for the price. It has a 10kg maximum wash load and 6kg drying load. There’s a 1400rpm direct motion motor for spinning and an energy rating of A.

The device is available in either graphite or white finishes, both with a graphite top panel and a large darkened glass drum lid. There’s a large 7-inch touch panel display which blends seamlessly into the top panel and a large selector dial for the main cycles. On top of the detergent and softener drawer, there’s a removable lint filter and a button for app connectivity.

One of my favourite features is the light inside the drum that comes on while you’re filling the machine and while it starts filling, so you can see if everything is washing correctly, and again when it’s finished. The drum entrance is nice and large, so you can get things in and out easily. There’s also a slight delay before locking the drum, in case you forget to put something in – which I usually do.

There are 14 main programmes available for washing and drying, including a Smart AI mode which identifies the fabric types and weighs the washing, to provide the right detergent amount, water level and temperature.

For each of the programmes, you can override the temperature, spin speed, washing intensity and add a drying mode if required. There’s also a special stain type addition, which lets you select from 35 different causes of stains, from chilli oil to wine. This will then adjust the time and temperature of the wash accordingly.

There’s also the ability to add the Ultra Fresh phase; this uses Haier’s Ultra Fresh Air technology, slowly rotating the drum when finished and blowing air into it. This is designed to stop your clothes from sitting wet in the washer for hours if you can’t get to them to unload it, and avoids them starting to smell damp. Haier says this can work for up to 12 hours.

Smart connectivity through the hOn network

Haier uses the hOn Smart Home network, which it shares with Candy and Hoover devices. This provides a single app to access all of your connected devices, including the Haier X9. Setup is simple: just download the app from the Apple or Android app store, and once you’ve set up an account, select the + symbol to add a device.

From the app, you can see how long is left on a wash or dry cycle, pause or stop, or set a new washing programme. It also has a couple of special features, including a washing lens, which allows you to scan the washing labels of your clothes and save them to a virtual wardrobe, so it can recommend the best cycle, and a guided wash to help you find the right wash programme in a step-by-step format.

Perhaps the most useful feature of this Wi-Fi-connected app, though, is a simple notification. When the programme finishes, the app provides you with a pop-up notification (provided you allow it in your notification settings). For Apple users, you can even get that notification on your Apple Watch.

The number of times I’ve put a load of washing on and then forgotten about it is too many to count, so a little notification is perfect for reminding me to go and empty the washing machine or put the drying cycle on. I also found the remaining time useful, saving me from getting up to go and check on the machine itself – a little lazy, maybe, but very satisfying.

If you don’t select the mobile connect button on the washing machine when loading your clothes, you’re limited by what the app can do. You will still get the notifications and can still see how long is left on the cycle, but you can’t stop the machine or set a new cycle. This is a sensible safety feature, but it is a little annoying if you forget to activate it – which you have to do each time you use it.

How does it wash?

Both the Smart AI function and regular programmes work very well. Clothes come out smelling fresh and clean (Haier recommends Ariel but any detergent is fine) and it has no problem removing stains.

The inverter motor is quiet, so you’d barely know the machine is on for most of the wash. However, the full spin cycle does really shake the machine. There’s quite a song when the device finishes, so even if you’re not using the app, you tend to hear it through the house.

The drying functions are equally impressive, with three levels of drying, plus timed drying options. The main functions adjust depending on the weight of the load and always finished dry for me. Despite the fibre filter, there’s still a build-up of lint around the seal after a few drys, but is easy to scrape off.

While the touch screen is great, the combination of rotating the wheel for the programme and touch buttons for the other parts can feel a bit disjointed. It would be nicer if you could touch-select the programmes as well. Or if the screen worked more like the app, and provided a changing display rather than set positions for each mode.

Should I buy the Haier X9 Washer Dryer?

This is a great washer dryer for the money, outperforming similarly priced units in both maximum wash and dry weights and spin speed. Its washing functions are solid and the addition of the ultra fresh air mode is very handy.

While the smart AI functionality is good, it’s not something I would necessarily trust on delicate clothes. However, the app functions, including the washing lens for checking labels is very clever.

For me, it’s the smart features that really make this machine, and though it’s not the only machine to offer Wi-Fi connectivity and app control, it’s now something that I wouldn’t be without.

MSI is in an interesting place as far as its laptop lineup goes. Earlier this year it finally redesigned some of its most popular machines, with the new, far sleeker Stealth 16 proving a particular hit – I loved that machine.

However, the simple fact is that not everyone wants their gaming laptop to emphasise slimness and portability. A lot of gamers out there seek the most power they can possibly get in a gaming laptop, with little worrying about it being office-appropriate or whether it could pass for a productivity machine.

MSI knows it can't leave that segment behind, so that's doubtless the motivation behind the new Raider 16 Max HX, a beast from whichever angle you peek at. I've put it through its paces to see whether it holds up to its lofty billing.

Price and Availability

The sad reality is that gaming laptop prices are going absolutely mad at the moment. Consoles might be stealing a lot of the headlines and scrutiny, but the fact that my spec of the Raider 16 Max HX comes in at £3550 is frankly a little bananas.

That's not the starting price of the machine, though. It begins from £2249 / $2999, and that version has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU, which shows you that there's no attempt to be entry-level here.

My review version, though, packs a 5090, paired with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, both high-end (although you can go even more premium on the processor front).

There's no way around the conclusion that this isn't a "sensible" laptop, even for top-end buyers – it's now extremely difficult to find pricing that feels fair, and if that angers you then you'd be best off pointing the finger at the AI boom.

Design and Spec

As I mentioned in the opening of this review, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX isn't where you should be looking if you're in search of subtlety. This is a gaming laptop that earns the 'Max' in its name, with a maximalist approach to both its design and its spec sheet.

Taking a tour around its hardware, the laptop is a hulking one even at a glance. It weighs in at a serious 2.6kg, and its footprint is actually a bit bigger than I'd typically expect for a 16-incher. It's very much in the same huge bracket as the Alienware 16 Area-51, making sense for those who are happy to take on a much bigger machine than they otherwise could.

Aesthetically, the Raider 16 Max HX has different looks when it's on or off. In the case of the latter it's finished all over in matte black, and is relatively understated; the back of the display has an MSI crest and a large but subtle embossed logo to make it stand out.

Switch it on, though, and the RGB lighting comes into play. That crest lights up and strobes, while there's a whole strip of lighting at the bottom of the keyboard and mousepad's shelf.

That and per-key lighting control means that you have plenty to play with if you're a fan of these effects, although I wonder if some customers might prefer to just turn them all off.

That keyboard is full-size and includes a compact numpad, and a tie-in with SteelSeries makes it easy to set up macros and shortcuts, albeit through more baked-in software. The mousepad is a good enough size but otherwise mediocre, although in this sort of gaming laptop you'll really only be using it in a pinch.

Build quality is solid enough, although it's a very plastic-heavy design (which is no surprise or point of difference with most of its competition). That does mean there's a degree of flex to be found if you search it out, but I had no deeper issues with solidity in regular use.

It almost goes without saying that the size and weight aren't chosen arbitrarily – components are jammed in here, along with huge amounts of ventilation and active cooling. The number of vents for fans is quite striking, but the I/O on offer is relatively typical.

The back edge of the laptop houses the proprietary charging port, for connecting the absolutely massive power brick. It also offers an Ethernet port, an HDMI port and a USB-A port. The right-hand edge has two more USB-A ports and a 3.5mm jack. The left edge gives you a full-size SD card reader and two USB-C ports.

Spec-wise, there aren't many chances to get a 24GB GPU in a gaming laptop, but that's what's on offer here thanks to the inclusion of the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU.

That makes this a bit of an apex predator, but there are grades of processor to pair with it. I tested the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, but that can be upgraded to a 290HX for a few hundred pounds/dollars if you really want it.

My tested spec comes with a 16-inch WQXGA IPS display at a resolution of 2560x1600, with a refresh rate cap of 240Hz, and it backed up its main specs with 32GB of DDR5 RAM in a 2x16GB configuration. Storage-wise, it has a 1TB SSD – and it's one of the many annoyances of RAMageddon that this sort of pricing doesn't get you more storage than that.

Performance

So, if you're going to make a multi-kilo laptop the size of a small planet, you'd presume that it'll need to have fairly staggering performance to make up for that inconvenience, right? Well, thankfully that's something that MSI has taken care to ensure, and the power on offer in the Raider 16 Max HX is indeed class-leading.

There's no point hanging around – I got straight into benchmarking when I turned my loaner machine on, and it pretty immediately impressed. Cyberpunk 2077 remains the gold standard where benchmarking is concerned thanks to its huge array of presets and almost every graphical integration on Nvidia's side.

Starting off modest, I picked the Ray-Tracing Low preset at native resolution, a preset that I think delivers excellent visuals without necessarily turning on expensive extras that don't add too much. An average frame rate of 120.9fps speaks for itself, frankly, and looks superb. Whacking on frame generation to the 4x mark as an experiment boosted this to a ridiculous 310.9fps.

Clocking that the laptop had more performance headroom than I anticipated, I went straight to the big guns and used the Ray-Tracing Overdrive setting next, maxing out almost every setting. I got back an average of 60.87fps, another staggering result for a portable machine. With 4x frame generation, this leapt to 189.67fps, for outrageous smoothness.

The power draw of this sort of performance is really significant, of course, but I was impressed to see that even playing unplugged (something you really aren't going to intentionally do much at all), I could still get a playable 31fps from the Ray-Tracing Low preset, making it doable in a pinch. The battery wouldn't last long, of course.

The display, meanwhile, is an interesting case. It's a pretty excellent IPS panel, and I don't really have any complaints in isolation. It's sharp, precise and really accurate – but for this price I would like to get an OLED in such a laptop, for the deeper blacks that you get with it. That upgrade is available in some territories and from some retailers, but it's not cheap.

The keyboard is decent in use, I'd say, but there is a little flex underneath it to bring down the impression of quality formed by the performance you'll be enjoying. The same goes for the mousepad, but I used a mouse in my testing, as I'd expect anyone to if they're spending this much on a gaming laptop.

The amount of venting on the Raider 16 Max HX had me a little worried that it would sound like a jet engine under any amount of load, and while I can't say it's whisper-quiet, it's not as loud as I feared.

Of course, you should still pair it with one of the best headsets out there for immersion's sake, but I think the thermal management is done quite well here. That also means the laptop never got uncomfortably hot in my testing.

There is quite a lot of nonsense pre-installed on the machine, though, with Norton's pop-ups proving particularly irksome – so be prepared to do some proper pruning once you're all set up, if you want to enjoy a more peaceful computing future.

Verdict

MSI's beastly laptop feels like a good summary of where gaming hardware is at in a more general sense. It brings unearthly amounts of power in a form factor that can't be called anything less than chunky, and gives you the option of playing the latest games at incredibly high frame-rates – which can't be sniffed at.

However, it demands an absolute wedge of your money to get that performance, and I think there are parts of the package that lag a little. For this price, I want more than 1TB of storage, and I don't want to feel any flex in the build (even if it's plastic). I'd also like an OLED panel without shelling out for an upgrade.

If you're in the market for a gaming laptop with very few compromises, though, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX should definitely figure in your calculations. The question of whether its price is right is ultimately likely to come down to your personal affordability.

Also consider

Of the MSI machines I've tested this year, I think I'd rather have the new Stealth 16 AI+, despite its less powerful starting specs. Its redesign puts it far ahead of the Raider 16 in terms of aesthetics, and I think it's easier to fit into regular life, for when you do just need a regular laptop.

That said, if you're perfectly happy to go with something absolutely massive, and want a different option, then the obvious pointer would be to look at the Alienware 16 Area-51, which is a total monster. It has a different look and feel, which makes it more divisive, but I think it competes pretty directly with what MSI's doing here.

I was pretty excited when De’Longhi decided to shrink one of my favourite coffee machines, especially as someone who values their kitchen counter space. The original Rivelia scored five stars in my review back in 2024, so let’s just say my hopes for the new Rivelia Start were high.

A few weeks after launch, it appeared on my doorstep and I’ve been testing it ever since. You’ll find my full thoughts below.

Price and availability

The Rivelia Start is priced at £599 and can be purchased from De’Longhi’s online store, as well as John Lewis, Currys and Amazon. It comes in five colourways – Onyx Black, Sand Beige, Umber Brown, Jade Green and Arctic White.

It’s not yet available in the US, but is expected to arrive at around $799 if it does.

Design and features

As mentioned, the Rivelia Start is a more compact version of the original Rivelia, so a lot of the features are similar. For example, it retains the brand’s Bean Switch System, meaning it comes with two interchangeable 250g hoppers, so you can keep different beans ready to go and switch between them. There’s also a Switch mode that empties the grinder before changing beans, helping to avoid mixing the two varieties together.

On the front, you’ll find a simple touch interface, allowing you to choose from 10 one-touch drinks, including Espresso, Coffee, Filter Coffee, Cappuccino, Flat White and Latte Macchiato, as well as iced options such as Iced Coffee, Iced Espresso and Cold Brew. De’Longhi says its Cold Brew can be prepared in under five minutes, which is considerably quicker than traditional methods.

For milk drinks, the Rivelia Start uses LatteCrema Hot, which automatically creates the milk foam and adds it to your drink, so there’s no need to manually steam or froth the milk. There’s also the option to add De’Longhi’s LatteCrema Cool carafe, which unlocks six additional cold milk drinks if you want to lean further into iced coffees, but this is sold separately to keep costs down.

The machine itself grinds the beans fresh immediately before brewing, and it has a 15-bar pump (compared to the original’s 19 bar). Its 250 x 430 x 390mm footprint keeps it compact, but it still has a 1.4-litre water tank and a 10-serving grounds container, so you shouldn’t need to refill it constantly.

The other main difference to note is that the original has the brand’s Bean Adapt Technology, whereas the Start doesn’t, but we'll get into this more shortly,

Performance

I’ll be honest, when I first saw an image of the Start, I initially thought there wouldn’t be that much difference between the two models. However, when it actually arrived, I was really surprised by just how much De’Longhi had managed to shrink it without making it feel compromised.

You still get a decent-sized bean hopper and water tank, but it makes the machine feel much easier to live with day to day. The drip trays are easier to remove and clean in the dishwasher, and the smaller overall design makes the machine itself much easier to wipe down and keep looking clean.

In terms of performance, there’s really not much missing either. The interchangeable hoppers are still there, which is arguably one of the best things about De’Longhi machines, especially if you enjoy both caffeinated and decaf options, or there are multiple people in your household who enjoy different beans. They’re easy to use as always, and the different coloured lids mean you can keep on top of what’s in which one.

The range of drinks is also impressive, and whilst there are a few missing compared to the original, all the key ones are there. I also like that the extra shot button is there too, as this is a go-to for me.

It’s a shame you need to purchase the LatteCrema Cool carafe separately, but if you’re like me and prefer hot drinks anyway, it’s really not much of an issue. There’s also nothing stopping you from frothing your own iced milk in a separate frother, or just filling a cup with milk and then brewing an espresso over it.

I was also impressed with the speed of the machine, and it’s not too loud either. I’ll pop a TikTok below showing it in action so you can see, although please note it’s been slightly sped up.

As mentioned, the Start doesn’t have De’Longhi’s Bean Adapt Technology, which automatically adjusts the grinding, dose and temperature to match the specific coffee beans you’re using.

The Start instead relies on manual adjustments and standard user profiles rather than automated software calibration when swapping beans, with the adjustments made on the hoppers themselves. This wasn’t a problem for me, and it’s something I’ve been used to whilst testing all kinds of manual machines. It was a very quick process, but if this is something you think you’ll struggle with, it’s important to note.

Verdict

The De’Longhi Rivelia Start is an impressively compact bean-to-cup machine, and after spending several weeks with it, I can see why you’d choose it over the original. It manages to squeeze in most of the features I love about the Rivelia – including the interchangeable bean hoppers and generous drink selection – whilst taking up noticeably less space. There are a few compromises, most notably the lack of Bean Adapt Technology and the separately sold LatteCrema Cool carafe, but neither bothered me during testing. If you’re short on space but don’t want to compromise too much on what your coffee machine can do, the Rivelia Start is an easy one to recommend.

Alternatives to consider

The obvious alternative here is the original Rivelia, especially if you have the space and budget to do so. However, for the core features, the Rivelia Start is a brilliant way to cut down on both of those things.

If you want to start small, another alternative to consider would be the Smeg BCC02. It’s compact, but it’s still able to pack in a 1.4-litre water container, a decent-sized bean hopper and a frothing wand, although there’s no LCD screen and only three drinks to choose from.

Blood pressure monitoring has become one of the next big battlegrounds for smartwatches, and Huawei’s Watch D Series has been leading the way for years.

Unlike other health watches that estimate blood pressure using optical sensors and algorithms, Huawei built a miniature mechanical airbag directly into the strap that inflates around your wrist like a conventional blood-pressure cuff and produces actual systolic and diastolic readings.

It’s not entirely new for the company, as the original Huawei Watch D could already take blood pressure readings. However, the Watch D3 shrunk and made the hardware significantly more appealing; from a distance, you’d find it hard to tell the Huawei and a mainline Apple Watch apart.

The body is now just 11.3mm thick, down from 13.3mm on the D2, and its 1.92-inch AMOLED display reaches a claimed peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Huawei has also reduced the weight of the strap and narrowed the airbag.

As a result, the Huawei Watch D3 no longer feels much like a medical device. The company has hidden some unusually sophisticated health hardware inside something that looks and feels like a normal smartwatch. Whether its blood pressure readings are quite as convincing as the hardware, however, is another matter.

Huawei Watch D3 review

Price and availability

Huawei announced the Watch D3 in September 2026, and it's available now at Huawei UK for £399.99. It comes in Black, Gold and Mocha Gold. That puts it firmly at the premium end of Huawei’s smartwatch range, although the integrated cuff-based blood pressure monitoring gives it functionality few mainstream rivals can match.

The Watch D3 costs €449 in Europe, and there is no official US launch or pricing, so American buyers would need to import it if they wanted one. AU price and availability TBC.

Design and display

The Watch D3 feels like an ordinary smartwatch on the wrist in the best possible sense. The strap is inevitably thicker than a conventional smartwatch band because it contains the inflatable airbag, but I never found it cumbersome.

Huawei has done an impressive job miniaturising the pump, pressure sensors and cuff system into something that still resembles a mainstream wearable.

The D3’s proportions aren't far removed from an Apple Watch, either: the case measures 46.5 x 41 x 11.3mm and weighs around 40g without the strap.

The 1.92-inch AMOLED panel is another highlight, with its bright, colourful screen that’s easy to read outdoors. The brand quotes 3,000 nits of peak brightness, making it noticeably larger and brighter than the D2's 1.82-inch, 1,500-nit panel.

Blood pressure monitoring

Taking a blood pressure reading is remarkably straightforward on the Huawei Watch D3. Start a blood pressure measurement, position your arm correctly across your chest, and the airbag quietly inflates around your wrist – simple stuff.

Huawei uses the oscillometric method, combining a mechanical cuff with a pressure sensor to produce systolic and diastolic readings. I was told the system has EU CE-MDR medical-device certification.

I was surprised by how quiet the watch was during the readings. It makes virtually no sound, and the only way to tell it’s actually working is the increasing pressure around your wrist. Traditional blood pressure monitors aren't exactly deafening, but you'll certainly know when one starts inflating. I’ve never had a similar experience with the Watch D3.

However, my results gave me pause. I compared the Watch D3 with a Garmin Index BPM upper-arm monitor several times and consistently got lower readings from the Huawei:

Across those three tests, the Huawei's systolic result was around 16 mmHg lower on average, while diastolic pressure was around 5 mmHg lower. That's too consistent a difference for me simply to ignore in a review, particularly when blood pressure monitoring is the main reason to buy this watch.

These are only a handful of examples from my review period, but the Huawei generally reported lower figures than the Garmin, and almost all readings from the Huawei were under the optimal 120/80.

It’s worth noting that mine wasn't a clinical test and Garmin’s device isn't a laboratory reference device, either. Not to mention factors including body position, timing, and even which arm you use for the test can affect measurements. As such, I wouldn't conclude from my testing that the Watch D3 is universally inaccurate.

Interestingly, the Huawei app never warned that my readings were abnormally low, which makes sense as even my lowest result of 105/72 remains comfortably above the NHS definition of hypotension, which is below 90/60mmHg.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring

The Watch D3 can also perform ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, or ABPM, taking readings repeatedly throughout the day and night.

This can be much more useful than taking your blood pressure only when you remember. Huawei's system collects regular daytime and overnight readings, helping reveal patterns a single measurement can't show.

When the watch wants to take a daytime reading, you still need to get yourself into the correct position, with your wrist raised across your chest. That's perfectly manageable if you're deliberately monitoring your blood pressure, but it can become a faff during a normal working day.

However, I missed several scheduled readings simply because I was busy doing something else. Night readings are fine, as they are done automatically, but during the day, you must assume the Watch D3 reading position with one elbow cradled in your other hand. This ensures the best readings (well, about that).

It’s completely understandable that you need to do that; you would have to do the same with a blood pressure cuff, and I don’t expect the Watch D3 to do everything automatically and be just as accurate as full-size cuffs. I would have liked it to be a bit more accurate, though.

One caveat is that Huawei says battery life drops from up to six days in normal use to around one day with ABPM enabled. Not like you would have to do it too often.

Health and fitness tracking

Blood pressure might grab the headlines, but the Watch D3 is also arguably Huawei's most comprehensive general health watch.

Health Glance can combine up to 11 measurements into a single report, while the watch also offers ECG, heart-rate monitoring, SpO2, HRV, sleep tracking, skin temperature, stress and Huawei's expanded Emotional Wellbeing feature.

It also adds a new Physical Readiness Score, improved sleep analysis, and Health Insights that combine longer-term blood pressure trends with activity and sleep data.

The Huawei Health app does an excellent job of exposing all this information. It has a similar issue to the Ultrahuman app, namely that it can be overwhelming to see all that health data presented. It's comprehensive rather than elegant.

To me, Oura’s approach is still the gold standard. It shows a few top-line numbers but allows you to dig deeper if you want to. The Huawei app tries something similar but ends up showing you way too much information.

This is not a Huawei-exclusive issue. As wearables get smarter and collect more data, you’ll inevitably be shown more and more. Gamification (e.g., sleep and stress scores) helps package it in a more palatable way, but at the end of the day, all I care about is whether I’m healthy. I don’t need to know how my light sleep was 7% under my average.

Fitness tracking is robust, and the Huawei Watch D3 offers more than 100 workout modes, including golf, skiing and trail running, route navigation and off-course alerts. I still wouldn't buy one instead of a dedicated Garmin Watch or one of Huawei’s dedicated performance wearables if serious endurance training were my priority, but fitness tracking doesn't feel like an afterthought.

Smart features and battery life

The Watch D3 covers most smartwatch basics well, including notifications, Bluetooth calling, calendar features and NFC payments through Curve Pay in the UK.

Huawei officially quotes up to six days, but my Watch D3 comfortably exceeded that figure. After charging it from 8% to 100% in no more than 55 minutes, I still had 34% remaining six days later.

That testing period also included a software update and an hour-long GPS-tracked walk. Based on the average drain I saw, the watch was heading towards roughly nine days between charges, although your mileage will obviously depend on which health features you use.

Verdict

The Huawei Watch D3 is the strongest argument yet for putting proper blood pressure monitoring into an everyday smartwatch.

Huawei has managed to hide a mechanical pump, pressure sensor and inflatable cuff inside something that looks and feels remarkably close to a conventional wearable. Add its bright display, long battery life and enormous collection of health metrics, and this is probably Huawei's most comprehensive health smartwatch to date.

The only reason my recommendation isn't more straightforward is the one feature that matters most. My Watch D3 repeatedly produced lower blood pressure readings than the Garmin Index BPM I used for comparison.

As a small-scale test, my results aren’t enough to overturn Huawei's medical-device certification or prove either device definitively right or wrong, but the discrepancy was large enough that I'd want to look into it further. That's a shame because almost everything else about the D3 is superb.

It isn't cheap, but there’s still nothing quite like the Watch D3, a wearable that puts genuine cuff-based blood pressure monitoring into a smartwatch body that doesn't look or feel like you've strapped a medical instrument to your wrist.

Beats once made headphones as much a fashion statement as audio equipment, but they gradually evolved into a polished part of the wider Apple ecosystem. That's hardly a bad thing, but somewhere along the way, some of the attitude that originally made Beats such an interesting brand became less obvious.

With the Beats 360, it feels like the pendulum is swinging back in the right direction. The brand’s latest premium headphones come with adaptive noise cancellation, Personalised Spatial Audio, automatic device switching and a fourth-generation proprietary Beats chipset.

On top of that, they're unapologetically fun and customisable, with ear cushions that twist off and headband cushions that pop out, letting you customise your headset any way you want.

More importantly, Beats has designed the 360 around something plenty of people already do, despite most manufacturers seemingly pretending otherwise. The cans are the brand's first over-ear model with an IPX4 sweat- and water-resistance rating, built from the ground up for workouts.

I’ve been wearing them all day for a week now for work and exercise, on the train, in the office and at home. And guess what? The Beats 360 are my new favourite headphones from the brand. They aren’t perfect – I dearly miss the cabled-in option that made the Beats Studio Pro so excellent for long-haul flights – but the new headphones are a lot of fun to wear and listen to audio with.

Beats 360 review

Price and availability

The Beats 360 launches at £299.95 in the UK, $349.99 in the US, €349.95 in Europe and AU$499.95 in Australia. Beats is simultaneously dropping Studio Pro to £249.95 / $299.99 / €299.95 / AU$479.95.

The price is almost identical to Bose's QuietComfort 2nd Gen and below Sennheiser's £329.99 Momentum 5 and the £349 Sonos Ace. Sony's WH-1000XM6 sit higher again at their standard pricing, while my all-time favourite cans, Apple's AirPods Max 2, remain significantly more expensive at £499.

Additional cushion kits normally cost £49.95, but Beats is running an introductory offer that drops them to £9.95 in the UK from 22 September until 31 October 2026, while stocks last. That’s a huge discount that I would seriously consider.

Even if the headphones’ price drops eventually – which is likely – getting two pairs of ear cushions will save you £80, and that’s quite something!

Design and comfort

Beats’ chunky new headphones were teased for months before the reveal in September 2026, which gave us a clear idea of how they will look. In most photos and videos, the bright colours and interchangeable ear cushions were evident, and while these are a key part of the Beats 360’s appeal (see below), they have much more to offer.

With the Beats 360, the company has moved to what it describes as a true wireless architecture, with each earcup containing its own battery, antenna and processing components. This approach reduces the hardware running through the headband and supposedly let designers make it thinner while shifting more weight to the cushions.

The finished headphones weigh 294.5g, which isn’t exactly lightweight in absolute terms, but it's competitive for this kind of premium over-ear headphone. The Beats are heavier than Sony’s and Sennheiser’s top-of-the-range plastic cans, but lighter than Sonos’ Ace and Apple’s AirPods Max 2, which comes in at a whopping 386.2g.

Despite the lighter construction, the Beats 360 feels light on the head without feeling flimsy in the hand, and I think that distinction matters.

Beats is famous for its headphones’ grip strength, and the 360 continues that tradition. That makes sense, especially since the brand wants people to use the over-ears for workouts. I've found the 360 stays reassuringly planted during exercise, from cycling to strength workouts and beyond.

The trade-off is pressure on the ears, of course, especially during and after long listening sessions. During testing, I wore the Beats 360 for hours on end, and I could certainly feel the cans pressing on the lower ends against my ears and neck.

It’s not the end of the world, and if I had to choose, I would probably say pressure on the lower side is better than pressure at the top, because that would press my glasses into my skull too much.

Beats launched the 360 with two types of ear cushions. The standard Performance Knit cushions use memory foam wrapped in a diamond-knit textile made from 36 micro-threads, which Beats says creates a softer, more breathable surface. The brand recommends these for workouts.

The UltraPlush cushions use engineered leather over the same memory foam. These are softer to the touch and lend the Beats 360 a more premium look and feel. I found both comfortable enough to wear, but I preferred the feel of the UltraPlush cushions more.

Sadly, neither completely solves the heat problem for me. Both ear cushion options seemingly provide a good enough seal for heat to build up. This forced me to take them off for a few minutes after a couple of hours to let my ears cool down. It goes to show that there isn’t a perfect solution: you either get a good grip and seal or better airflow around the ears.

Customisation

The large, interchangeable cushions not only give the Beats 360 its easily recognisable silhouette but they also expand the cans’ versatility. They release with a twist, and the padded headband, included in the box, snaps in and out using three attachment points. It’s all very straightforward.

Better still, the sensors identify which cushion type you've attached, and the headphones automatically adjust ANC, Transparency and EQ tuning to compensate for the different acoustic properties of Performance Knit and UltraPlush. Neat.

There are four frame colours – Black, Cloud, Sky and Pink – while additional Performance Knit kits come in six colours, and UltraPlush comes in Black and Cloud. Start mixing different ear and headband cushions, and Beats says there are theoretically 256 combinations.

(This would obviously involve mixing different colours for the two ear cushions and the headband, which I don’t think looks good, but it certainly is an option.)

If you want to use the Beats 360 for workouts, having a spare set of ear cushions is almost essential. Sweat and dirt will build up in these contact points, and trust me when I say that you don’t want to walk around with sweaty, smelly headphones on your head when you aren’t in the gym.

Having one set of cushions and headbands for workouts and another for everyday use makes the Beats 360 a truly “360” headphone option you can wear all day, every day. Beats says the Performance Knit cushions can be hand-washed in warm, soapy water, so having a spare set is great in the sense that it lets you wear the headphones for work while the other dries at home.

Controls and connectivity

The Beats 360 uses physical controls, something I prefer over the touch variety. Along the edge of the earcups, you’ll find four push buttons to turn the headphones on and off, switch between listening modes, adjust volume and start/stop playback. Beats says the rear placement is designed to make everything accessible with your thumbs.

And while it’s true, the button design is far from ergonomic. They are simply too flush, so I have to feel around the earcup to figure out where my thumb is supposed to go. Apple's AirPods Max 2 is considerably more expensive, but its prominent Digital Crown and separate noise-control button demonstrate how much easier headphone controls can be to identify without looking.

The Beats 360 is also notable for returning to the company's own silicon. Inside is the fourth generation of Beats' proprietary chipset, a welcome departure from Apple’s H-series chip. Don’t get me wrong, I have no qualms with Apple’s chips, but I’m glad Beats is pushing its own technology.

Thankfully, you don’t miss out on any native Apple features. There's one-touch pairing, iCloud pairing, Automatic Switching, Audio Sharing, Find My, hands-free Siri and Personalised Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking. Android gets Fast Pair, Audio Switch, Find Hub and additional controls through the Beats app.

That platform-agnostic approach remains one of Beats' biggest strengths. You can use an iPhone without feeling like you've bought a second-rate Apple product, but switching to Android doesn't suddenly strip half the useful features away either.

Sound quality and noise cancellation

Thankfully, none of that personality comes at the expense of sound quality. The 360 uses a completely new acoustic platform built around 40mm dual-magnet drivers, a high-dynamic-range amplifier and triple-layer (!) diaphragms. Beats says the new transducer produces 12dB higher output than the Studio Pro driver while keeping distortion low.

This isn't the aggressively bass-heavy Beats tuning people might remember from years ago. The new setup has plenty of low-end weight, and the overall presentation feels powerful, but it’s far from muddy, with impressive clarity and separation (alongside the punch you'd expect from the brand, of course).

That said, the Beats 360 are enjoyable headphones and not analytical ones, but in all fairness, that's exactly how I'd want a pair of Beats to sound.

Active noise cancellation is another strong point. Beats claims the 360 delivers up to 1.75 times more total noise cancellation than Studio Pro, using eight ANC microphones and substantially more processing power.

It goes without saying that I can’t tell if the ANC is exactly 1.75x stronger than the Beats Studio Pro – what does that even mean? What I do know is that isolation is excellent, even in noisy environments like trains and offices.

Ambient noise barely comes through, which is great news as the Beats 360 lets you listen to music at lower volumes even in public. I appreciate good ANC, as I feel it helps preserve my hearing by letting me avoid high volumes.

The Transparency mode isn't quite as convincing. External sounds occasionally seem to arrive a fraction of a second later than I expect. It almost feels like the algorithm needs a bit more time to think about the noise before acting on it. As a result, the effect is slightly less immediate and natural than the best implementations I've used.

It's hardly disastrous, and it strikes me as something Beats could potentially improve through a software update, but right now it's one of the few areas where the 360 doesn't feel as polished as its ANC performance.

Battery life and charging

Beats says the headphones can last up to 32 hours with ANC and Personalised Spatial Audio enabled, which is not mind-blowing but still above average. Strangely enough, Transparency mode drains the Beats 360 faster and can fully deplete the battery in just 24 hours.

Fast Fuel provides up to one hour of playback from a five-minute charge. Thirty-two hours is competitive even before you remember that Beats is quoting that figure with ANC running.

Sony's WH-1000XM6 offers up to 30 hours with noise cancellation switched on, as does the Sonos Ace. Bose's new QuietComfort 2nd Gen manages 24 hours, while AirPods Max 2 is rated for 20 hours with ANC. Sennheiser remains the battery monster of this part of the market with the Momentum 5 promising up to 57 hours with ANC enabled.

So the Bats 360 isn't the outright endurance champion, but 32 hours puts it comfortably towards the stronger end of the premium ANC category. Better still, it works like a dream (see above).

It's hardly a major criticism when the overall battery lasts this long, but Beats' fast-charging figures no longer look especially fast. I’ve been listening to the Beats 360 for a week, and I only had to top it once. The quick charge function is particularly handy when you forget to charge the cans overnight.

Verdict

The Beats 360 is one of the most interesting headphones the brand has made in years. Sound quality is excellent, battery life is strong even with ANC running, and the comparatively lightweight construction combines with a secure fit that genuinely works for exercise.

They aren’t perfect, though, with their high clamp force and overheating issue. I also really miss the Studio Pro's wired listening option. Oh, and there are the issues with the buttons. However, the 360 feels like Beats returning to its roots by producing premium, cool-looking headphones that remain attainable for a wider audience. And I like that.

Sonos has had a bit of a ride over the past few years. The audio brand has never stopped making great products at its core, though, with the current line of new 'Ultra' models turning the dial up (the Beam Ultra soundbar is well worth your attention).

Much as not everyone loved the brand's first headphones – the Ace, which I thought were super and incredibly comfortable – it has taken on abundant feedback and condensed those learnings into the follow-up model, the Sonos Ace Ultra on review.

These new over-ears aren't just an 'Ace+', though, as the Ace Ultra will act nice among your Sonos network via Wi-Fi, even handover audio to other Sonos products or groups in your system with the press of a button. The Ultra is just far more, well, Sonos.

It's also far improved in terms of hardware and features, with a new driver unit, the benefit of Grammy- and Oscar-winning audio engineers part of the tuning process, new adaptive active noise-cancelling (ANC) enhancements, and a new adaptive equaliser (EQ) too.

So how does all this newness fare? I've been testing the Sonos Ace Ultra for two weeks, both at home via my Sonos network, and when on the go – from lunchtime walks to public transport commutes and even long-haul flights – and must say that Sonos is back with a bang.

Price & Availability

Being premium headphones as they are, the Sonos Ace Ultra's launch price isn't small – set at £399 / $449 / €449 / AU$699 – but is competitive against its closest rivals.

You're also getting a lot more for your money compared to the original Ace model, without a price increase. Indeed, the UK market's RRP is actually lower by £50 for the Ultra.

At the time of writing this review we're in a pre-order phase, with the Ace Ultra set to go on sale on 29 September. You can purchase it in four colours: Black, Soft White, Agave or Sand.

What's New?

During my travels I've carted both the original Sonos Ace and new Ace Ultra in tandem, as a tried-and-tested comparison piece will be forthcoming – just as we've done with the Sonos Beam 2 versus Beam Ultra.

Regarding 'what's new?', however, and it might be easier to say what isn't new. While the Ace Ultra look really familiar, certainly akin to the original, they've been built from the ground up – yet maintain that similar aesthetic and 'Sonos look'.

Re-engineered, starting with that new 40mm driver, which is housed in user-replaceable earcups (same goes for the battery – which now also offers 35-hours per charge, up from 24 hours previously) that make for an incredibly comfy wearing experience.

More microphones have been added – there are now 10 in total – for noise-cancelling (ANC) that Sonos claims is twice as effective as before. It's also able to use those for beam-forming calls with higher clarity.

The added points of measure available from these mics also means a new adaptive system that adjusts ANC automatically (and even EQ if you wish – it can be toggled off in the app), ensuring a better listening experience if, say, you pop your glasses on and add a broader gap between your head that the headphones can adjust for.

A key internal piece of hardware is a new chip that supports Sonos' Headphone Engine 2. This is what enables Wi-Fi connectivity so that the Ace Ultra can be seen as part of your Sonos ecosystem – they never show in the app per a Sonos speaker or group, though, which feels like a miss. Headphone Linking audio handover is the one benefit of this – and something the original Ace headphones will never offer, as the physical hardware isn't there to handle it.

Similar to Bose, Sonos also offers Dynamic Head-Tracking for added immersion – whether Bluetooth listening or for the TV Audio Swap feature (which also uses Wi-Fi, but with the soundbar rather than headphones handling the processing), when you can pass a Sonos soundbar's output to the headphones with three-dimensional audio.

Setup

Now, the one blip that I had with my Sonos Ace Ultra regarded the setup. Keep in mind, of course, that these review headphones are pre-release, with even a pre-release software activation to enable the Headphone Linking feature.

Because, for me, that audio handover feature didn't work at all with my first setup attempt. I had to reset the headphones multiple times, opted to run an iPhone setup for iOS after the initial Android failure, and found the whole experience really irksome.

However, it did work eventually – both on Android and iOS platforms – and Sonos even sent a second Ace Ultra to my colleague, who set up his product in an instant, with zero issues, and Headphone Linking working like a dream. Isolated and unfortunate experience for me? It would seem so. But it would be remiss of me not to mention it here, just in case others have a similar battle.

I've found Headphone Linking a fun feature, but it's a little slow – it takes a few seconds of pressing and holding the Content Key before an audible sound confirms success and your audio stream is sent over to the physically nearest group or speaker in your Sonos ecosystem.

Note: you cannot run the Ace Ultra as part of a group – it can only handover the audio and cease its own playback. I think more could be done there, such as offering grouped playback so someone could piggyback on a session in a different room while wearing the headphones.

I also think that more can be achieved in general in how the Ace Ultra are presented in the app. As the headphones feature the hardware to act like any Sonos speaker, their absence front-and-centre in the Sonos 27 app seems odd – you have to scroll down to the Bluetooth section to get a better look and dive into the available options.

Once there, however, there's a lot of control that's very handy. You can toggle between the ANC and Aware modes, decide if you want adaptive ANC and/or EQ to be active, toggle Head Tracking on or off, set up the Headphone Linking and separate TV Audio Swap feature, tweak the EQ (three- or eight-band are available), and view the battery life remaining.

Design

From a design perspective I've zero qualms with Sonos' vision in the Ace Ultra – except for calling one colour 'Agave' when I'd argue it's far from it. I did love the original Ace's look and feel, too, which certainly have a similar vibe – Sonos hasn't ripped up a very solid rulebook, which I can only commend.

The Ace Ultra manage to look distinctive without being outlandish; oozing class and consideration without shouting about it. From the subtle logo embossed on the right earcup's exterior, to zero screws or prominent seams being visible, the level of detail here is beyond many other headphone-makers – and I've tested pretty much all the best headphones of recent years.

It's not just for the sake of looks, though, with the Ace Ultra proving supremely comfortable. I'd said the same of the original Ace, and while the two do differ marginally in terms of physicality, I've worn these headphones on a 15-hour flight for the duration and largely forgotten they were on my head.

The physical controls are lovely to use, too, with that Content Key easy to locate due to its protrusion and just as easy to adjust – it can toggle up or down for volume control, or be pressed (in sequence) for play/pause/skip controls. Below it, the ANC button simply cycles through the available modes.

The fit is very comfortable, with no excessive clamping force, and the 322g weight is no burden either. A contender for the most comfortable headphones on the market, beyond even Bose, Sony and Bowers? I reckon so. That alone is reason enough to consider buying these, whether a Sonos diehard or a newcomer with no Sonos kit.

The only not-so-good part about the design? The case. It's basically the same as the original Ace's largely maligned one. The fact the zip can catch on the fabric of the case itself is a major annoyance. It can mark too easily, too, and then look scruffy as a result. The actual layout, size, cable inclusions and whatnot are all fine though.

Sound & ANC

The sound of these headphones depends on the quality of fit, which is where I've heard the adaptive ANC feature act in real-time to great effect.

While on a plane at 41,000ft, with that classic and almost 'fizzy' white noise in full effect, I woke up wearing the headphones and popped my glasses on. This added a gap and the background sound was more present – but then, just as quickly as I'd added my eyewear, it dulled somewhat due to the software.

The ANC is therefore highly effective, able to blot out bothersome external sound with confidence, creating an enclosed listening experience where you can focus on what's important – be that music, podcasts, your TV's audio or whatever else.

The original Sonos Ace was criticised by some for being a little too 'flat' sounding and not having default bass output as large as some rivals. The Ace Ultra is a more lively listen, thanks to that new 40mm drivers and tuning, but can be further tweaked as you please.

As I've said: the Sonos 27 app provides access to a detailed eight-band EQ, but there's even a loudness toggle to amp up the sound further, should you want. So whatever you're listening to and however you want the frequency range to be enhanced, it's all at your fingertips.

You may choose to make no adjustments and that'd be just fine, though. There's all the warm bass, broad soundstage, vocal cut-through and sparkling top-end output without needing to do a thing. Bluetooth has been my typical way to listen, but a USB-C-to-C is in the box for Hi-Res Audio wired listening (and a USB-C-to-3.5mm for other wired connections).

Sonos Ace Ultra: Verdict

The Ace Ultra introduce a feature that really should have been part of the brand's headphones story from day dot: Headphone Linking audio handover to other products in your Sonos ecosystem.

While I've found that feature to be charming (despite initial protestations in my personal setup) – as you can handoff from the headphone's Bluetooth connection to local network speaker Wi-Fi at the press of a button – I've typically used the Ace Ultra standalone wireless via Bluetooth.

In that format, however, I've found the Ace Ultra's astounding comfort, incredible battery life – 35 hours per charge is impressive – and both quality sound and enhanced ANC to be as good as – or often even better than – its key competition from Bose, Sony, Bowers, et al.

Whether you're a Sonos user who's been waiting for a more integrated pair of Sonos headphones, or you're just looking for a class act where design and audio are concerned, Sonos is back with a bang in the Ace Ultra.

Also Consider

Options, options, options. That's very much the case in the headphones market at this kind of asking price.

If you want to save money and care not for Headphone Linking then look to the original Ace to make savings. They still offer the brilliant TV Audio Swap with a compatible Sonos soundbar, which is great for private movie watching without disturbing others. Wider Wi-Fi compatibility isn't possible, though.

If you're not in on the whole Sonos game, however, there are plenty of alternatives. Bowers & Wilkins' PX7 S3 are the most luxurious-looking you could buy. Sony's WH-1000XM6 perhaps have the best ANC going. And Bose's QC Ultra Headphones will save weight for epic transportability – without costing you quite as much.

It's been almost half a decade since Sonos dropped the Beam (Gen 2) and made a lot of wishes come true by adding Dolby Atmos support for three-dimensional audio decoding.

That support relied on some impressive virtualisation, though, and ever since then we've been begging for a Beam with actual upfiring drivers to boost its verticality and immersiveness.

Well, here it is – and that's not the only upgrade Sonos has put on the table. The Beam Ultra isn't a Beam (Gen 3), obviously, and it's curious to consider why. It's certainly a contender for the best soundbar for most people, though, despite a notable price boost.

What I know for sure, though, is that after a week-and-a-half using it as my soundbar – and this is coming from a daily Beam (Gen 2) user – is that it's an incredibly interesting addition to Sonos' lineup, which might just make more sense than any other soundbar Sonos has ever made.

Price and Availability

The Beam Ultra was announced at the turn of September, and will actually go on sale at the end of the month – on 29 September, to be precise. You can pre-order it now, if you're eager and know you want it.

Pricing is straightforward, since the numbers are the same in a bunch of territories: £699 in the UK; $699 in the US; €699 in the EU; and, breaking the trend, AU$1099 in Australia.

That price makes the Beam Ultra a chunk more than the Beam (Gen 2), which remains on sale – and which it sounds like Sonos will continue making.

The Beam (Gen 2) came out back in 2021, so it's no longer a spring chicken, but that price gap is worth mulling over. I've written a comparison piece after A/B testing the two soundbars side-by-side, which should help on that front.

Design and Features

When Sonos first unveiled the Beam Ultra, I'll admit that I didn't initially read the fine print and assumed it would be almost identical to the Beam (Gen 2) but for the upgrades. In fact, Sonos has made more fundamental changes than the Beam label suggests.

The Ultra soundbar is a little bigger than both of the previous Beam generations, by around 10cm in overall width and by minuscule margins in a couple of other dimensions.

While that sounds like a minor difference, in person the Beam Ultra is indeed noticeably bigger. It remains compact despite this, but if you have a first or second-generation Beam that barely fits its space, you're going to need to measure to check if the Beam Ultra will work for you.

This change in dimensions also means that the Beam Ultra has a new mounting system for wall-mounting (which sees it 'float' when mounted, rather than sitting on a shelf-like design), as it won't work with the older Beam's mounts.

On the design front, it's not just bigger, the Beam Ultra also has a different look – emphasising the addition of upfiring drivers. The top of the soundbar now continues the perforations that run around its outside, to let that sound out upwards.

Touch controls persist, but they're now mounted around the edge of the soundbar's top, in a sort of raised ridge that runs around the outside. It's a neat solution, and while I barely use touch controls since the soundbar sits over by my TV, I've tried them out plenty for this review.

Underneath the bar, there are four raised feet to keep it stable, another subtle difference since previous Beams just sat completely flat.

On the back of the soundbar, a recess conceals the I/O on offer, which comprises a power port, an HDMI port for eARC connections, and a USB-C port that can take various adapters for optical or other connections (those adapters are optional extra purchases). Back there you'll also find a mute switch to turn off the microphones (which will disable various features, too).

The Beam Ultra comes in black and white, as with all of Sonos' recent launches, and in the white colour I've been testing, as provided by Sonos, it's a pretty lovely soundbar to look at. It's simple and elegant enough, but understated such that it doesn't draw the eye, to distraction which is just what I want.

On the features side, Sonos has added some new smarts. Those two upfiring drivers aren't the only additions, since the number of overall drivers now stands at nine, compared to the Beam (Gen 2) with five total. It's a 7.1.2 arrangement, with a new central channel design that Sonos hopes will make for clearer dialogue.

The Beam Ultra is part of the launch of Sonos27, a big update to the Sonos app (pause for trauma flashbacks here), and that brings some other smarts – or will do in the next few months. Sonos is promising AI-powered voice controls, for instance, but they're not here yet, and the same goes for Alexa+ integration.

What is here, though, is a new portable surround setting that lets you use a pair of Play or Move 2 speakers as surrounds for your Beam Ultra without them needing permanent resting spots – or, indeed, even fixed spots, as you can position them where you like.

Once added as surrounds, you can simply place them to your left and right, and they'll be auto-detected as rear surrounds when you're using your soundbar. Pick them up and move away, though, and they'll behave as they would normally.

Crucially, this feature will also work on the Beam (Gen 2) and Arc Ultra, so it's not locked to the Beam Ultra, but it's a cool little idea.

What is unique to the Beam Ultra for now is an upgraded version of Sonos' Speech Enhancement, now powered by AI for better results. You can choose between four levels to tune how noticeable it'll be, too.

One curious but welcome addition is Bluetooth, which had been absent from previous Beams, which were Wi-Fi only. That makes the Beam Ultra arguably more adaptable and straightforward for playlist-happy guests to use.

So, that's a nice list of new features, but there are also a couple of continued absences. Having brought Dolby Atmos well into the fold at this point, and with DTS Digital Surround support, it's a shame that DTS:X remains frozen out and unsupported. There's also no HDMI passthrough here, which is something Sonos seems not to want to embrace.

Sound and Performance

Much of the justification behind the Beam Ultra in the first place revolves around how much it can upgrade the sound quality of the Beam, a soundbar that has proven itself for so many people.

The Beam Ultra delivers, though. Even before turning to the verticality that it brings to the party, I found that its general sound quality was a clear step up compared to the Beam (Gen 2) when I swapped back and forth. Even without the speech enhancement mode, that new centre channel does indeed make for clearer dialogue in many scenes, and clarity overall was much better.

Early on in Blade Runner 2049, there's a scene where Dave Bautista handles some maggots before a car flies overhead and then lands. It's a sequence that goes from very quiet to very loud in a flash, involving a lot of overhead noise, and the difference when I swapped to the Beam Ultra was significant.

The overhead audio was clearly upgraded, as you would expect given the absence of physical upfiring channels on the older Beam, but I wasn't expecting that earlier part – with the details of the gloop dripping from Bautista's gloves – to be so much more clearly rendered at the same volume.

This was an impression that repeated throughout my testing. Top Gun: Maverick's vertiginous action sequences were clear and powerful, again demonstrating how much that vertical sound can improve matters. Finishing off The Wire (at long last), though, and simple scenes of dialogue were never muddled or muddy – something that plenty of other soundbars sometimes mess up.

The Beam Ultra can also get quite a chunk louder than the Beam (Gen 2). In my testing between the two, I routinely had to turn down the Ultra when I swapped to it, despite starting on the same volume rating in the Sonos app, and the ceiling it can reach is impressively booming.

I also got the chance to test the new portable surround setting that Sonos has added, using two of the five-star Play portable speakers as surrounds. This system is pretty terrific – put your Play or Move 2 in positions to make them rear channels, and when the speakers are both there and the TV's on, they'll automatically get used (and calibrate for their positioning).

Move them, though, and they'll function as normal, so you lose nothing by having them there when you want. The fact that you need a pair of these pricey portable speakers, though, does make me think that most people would be better off with some Era 100 SLs set up as traditional rear surrounds for a much lower price.

Beyond the portable surrounds, quite a lot of the hype around the Sonos27 app seems distant to me. The AI voice control features aren't live yet, so it's hard to judge what they'll really add to the party, and in regular use I tend to turn microphones off in as much of my home tech as I can, regardless.

Still, even without those bells and whistles, the fact is that I'm really pleased with the sonic performance of the Beam Ultra. It's a clear upgrade on the Beam (Gen 2) from a clarity and power point of view, while the addition of better overhead audio is another big step up to make the difference obvious.

Verdict

The Beam Ultra is a terrific proposition if you're in the market for a one-bar solution at this price, with the capacity to easily expand into a bigger system over time. It sounds phenomenal, remains impressively compact, and provides a clear upgrade over the Beam (Gen 2) from a quality point of view.

Of course, its price also means the 'Ultra' in its name is fair enough, and the premium it demands does mean that the Beam (Gen 2) will likely remain the best choice for a huge proportion of people – especially for smaller rooms or those simply less fussed about vertical audio.

For those who do care, though, I actually think the Beam Ultra is the best soundbar Sonos makes, pound for pound, at this point. It has such huge advantages in terms of installation and footprint, but doesn't feel like much of a downgrade compared to bigger options, especially if you have surrounds to pair it with.

Also consider

It's obvious at this point, but the Beam (Gen 2) is the clear alternative that most buyers will likely be considering as they look at the Beam Ultra, and the simple fact is that it remains a brilliant soundbar. It's smaller, significantly cheaper (and that gap will only widen during sales), and still sounds absolutely superb, making it a great choice if your budget is lower.

For those who want something quite different, I think the Marshall Heston 60 is well worth a look. It's also compact, but cheaper than the Beam Ultra, and brings impressively punchy audio and a design that's far removed from the clinical simplicity of Sonos. That could mean it's right up some people's street – but not for everyone!

Alienware is one of those storied brands that might sometimes go under the radar, largely because it's been around for so long under Dell that it might not always get its due recognition.

Decades of presence in the gaming laptop market don't happen by coincidence, though, as it's always had something to offer.

In 2026, that offer boils down to "beastly power" when it comes to the Alienware 16 Area-51 – a total monster of a gaming laptop that doesn't even try to disguise its monstrous capabilities.

This is obviously a gaming machine for those who want no compromises on performance, but does it make sense in everyday testing? I've had one for a couple of weeks to find out.

Price and Availability

The Alienware 16 Area-51 is available now, having launched this summer, and comes in at a fairly whacking price, something that's increasingly inevitable in the world of gaming laptops.

Here in the UK, it starts from £2749 with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, but the version I tested (with a 5080) comes in at a fairly enormous £3799. That gives you a sense of the upward choices on offer. In the US, the machine starts from $3250 and again has the same range of options to upgrade with.

It's worth highlighting, though, that you can still easily buy the older version of the Area-51 (without an OLED, or the newer Intel chips that grace these new editions), for less cash. That remains a valid option given these prices.

Design

Alienware's laptops have never really aimed at being sleek or ultra-portable – it's perhaps sensibly left that part of the market to others. Rather, its machines tend towards utilitarianism. If they're chunky, it's to fit in more componentry, and if they're heavy, it's because those components add weight.

Well, chunky is one way to describe the 2026 Alienware 16 Area-51. It's a bit of a beast, and no mistake. This is one of those 16-inch laptops that feels more like an 18-incher when it's in your bag, not least because its body is actually bigger than its screen.

The laptop has what's called a "thermal shelf" in some circles – a rear-end that protrudes behind the display when it's open. It's arguably the main feature of the design brings both upsides and downsides.

The biggest downside is that it is indeed huge, and I'll be open and admit that I think it makes the laptop far less attractive. However, an upside is that it make for a very convenient place to house almost all of the machine's I/O.

You'll find the power supply socket, an HDMI port, two Power Delivery USB-C ports, and three USB-A ones. The left-hand edge of the laptop adds a 3.5mm audio jack and an SD card slot, but that's it. This undeniably keeps things organised, so your mileage may vary.

Zooming back out, the laptop is finished in a really quite fetching metallic dark blue that almost looks greenish in the right light – I like it a lot.

The back of the display houses an RGB Alienware logo, while there's also lighting embedded in that thermal shelf.

Turn the laptop upside down, and you'll see a pretty awesome glass panel that gives you a peek at the internals, including more RGB lighting in the twin fans. This serves no purpose but is extremely slick.

There's a huge amount of venting for cooling around the laptop, on basically all sides other than the display, and Dell has done a decent job of slimming down its lines and shapes to make it less enormous with various tapering edges.

Still, it's big, and comes in at a chunky 3.4kg in its heaviest configuration (it'll vary slightly based on your component choices).

Open the laptop up, and you'll be greeted by a 16-inch display, and you'll be able to see the other side of those two RGB-lit cooling fans, along with loads of speaker and cooling vents.

The keyboard is full-sized but tenkeyless, while the trackpad is a good size and is also RGB-lit, which does look quite fly.

At the start of my testing, I wasn't a fan of the Alienware 16 Area-51's design – but it weirdly grew on me with time. There's an unashamedness to it that works on you, and while its fondness for RGB is a little amusing, it's still relatively tasteful compared to some I've tested.

The big caveats here are size and weight, though, which make this a laptop for those who know they don't mind being a pack mule for their gaming power.

Specification

So, all of that bulk must mean quite the specs list, right? Well, yes – but also quite the range of customisation options. As mentioned at the top of this review, the version of the Area-51 I tested is a total beast, but that's not the whole story.

Starting with the CPU, this 2026 revision brings Intel's latest chips to the table, so you get to choose between a couple of Intel Core Ultra 9 processor variants (I had the 290HX Plus), but you can also step down to Ultra 7 options to save some cash.

The same is true of the GPU options. I was using an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080, but the whole range of current laptop GPUs is there to choose from (5060, 5070, 5070 Ti, and 5090 to round it out).

I had 32GB of RAM to call on, in a 2x16GB DDR5 configuration, but it starts at 16GB and goes up to 64GB. Similarly, I had a 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD for storage, but you can upgrade this to 2TB, 4TB, and even 2x2TB, 2x4TB or 3x4TB RAID options if you're made of money.

The new OLED display is one point of consistency, though – all the new models have the same panel. It's a 16-inch WQXGA anti-glare OLED panel with a refresh rate ceiling of 240Hz and HDR on board.

The keyboard is one point of differentiation. If you use a US layout, you can upgrade it to a CherryMX ultra low-profile mechanical keyboard, but this isn't available with the UK layout (which is quite a shame but perhaps not a dealbreaker).

This meant I tested the standard version, which I still think is really quite excellent – it has more travel by far than the average laptop keyboard, and is nice and clicky.

Performance

So, Dell has clearly tuned its development of the Area-51 around leveraging its size and weight to deliver proper power, and I've unsurprisingly put that to the test over the last couple of weeks.

True to expectations, it's been quite a beast, too. I put it through its paces in a fair few games and never found it wanting, with the benchmarking numbers back that up.

In Cyberpunk 2077, which remains power-hungry, I got superb results. Playing the game at its native display resolution of 2560x1600, the default preset was Ray-Tracing Low. That gave me an average of 93.36fps – which is terrific.

Dialling things up to the way tougher Ray-Tracing Ultra, I still got 72.76fps, which is also fantastic. The maxed-out Ray-Tracing Overdrive preset brought me 53.58fps, and I'd call that extremely playable.

Keeping it on Overdrive mode, though, and then activating the first rank of frame generation (2X), that boosted back up to 95.83 fps, confirming that Nvidia's feature remains a fantastic addition to the laptop ecosystem. Latency was minimal, so this is a clear net win.

For curiosity's sake, I left frame generation at 2X and bumped the preset back down to Ray-Tracing Low, and got a stellar 176.08fps result – unbelievable smoothness, in short.

Swapping games, in Ubisoft's new Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, the High preset, with Ray-Tracing set to "extended" mode, brought me a 91fps average, which is already excellent. Adding that 2X frame generation setting bumped this to 149fps, again making for a massive boost with basically no downside.

An important additional note is that Dell's upgrade to an OLED display also pays dividends – it's a beautiful panel. The benefits of OLED are fairly well-established at this point, but they're worth restating. The colours are brilliantly deep, while the blacks are actually black, so your contrast levels end up being great too. It's a welcome boost and fixes the only real problem with the last generation of Area-51 laptops.

That said, there's also no escaping that its performance and display quality do make the laptop run hot and loud – it has all that venting for a reason. I've long said that no gaming laptop is complete without one of the best gaming headsets to go with it, and that point stands this time around.

Battery life is unsurprisingly not that stellar, either, although I can't imagine many people will be aiming to use this as a genuinely portable productivity option. You might get a couple of hours of non-gaming use if you're lucky, but powered play is the real point here.

Verdict

It's hard to fully decouple the new Area-51 from two main factors – its heft and its price.

The former is really circumstantial; it's not like it'll take you by surprise that it's massive and heavy, but that bulk does impact how you'll use it.

Its price, meanwhile, shows just how damaging the memory crisis is for laptop businesses, since the OLED upgrade only slightly softens the blow of its objectively sky-high starting cost compared to last time out.

Still, if you do have the budget and want a gaming laptop that makes basically no performance compromises, this is certainly one of those. The power being leveraged is quite something, and the gaming performance it delivers won't disappoint.

For the niche it'll serve, the new Area-51 looks like a real phenomenon.

Also Consider

I increasingly feel like the real value in gaming laptops now lies in the class of 2025, which got Nvidia's new frame generation tech on its new GPUs but didn't get smashed by storage prices.

See, for example, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which is the polar opposite of this Alienware. If you want something sleeker, it should be in your reckoning for sure.

If your goal is instead to slice your costs way down, then you might want to look into the Lenovo Legion 5 (Gen 10). It's more affordable than the Area-51, and while it's less powerful, too, the compromises might be worth it for the money.

The tablet world is dominated, inescapably, by the iPad. That's been the case for years, and while the market for Android tablets has come on leaps and bounds in recent times, you still can't get away from Apple's behemoth all that easily.

The Oppo Pad 5 is a great example of how living in the iPad's shadow can still be quite balmy. It's an Android tablet designed pretty clearly to look incredibly similar to Apple's, and on that front it succeeds nicely.

It's well built, does everything you'd expect – and looks good while that all happens. Whether that's enough for you might vary, but you can't really say Oppo hasn't achieved what it was aiming for.

Price and Availability

The Oppo Pad 5 is available now, depending on what region you're in, having first been unveiled last year in China.

Here in the UK it comes in at £329, with availability directly from Oppo's store. There's no availability in the USA, which is no surprise for an Oppo product.

Design and Features

The Oppo Pad 5 revolves around a 12.1-inch display, which makes it extremely comparable in size to the standard iPad (which is smaller, at 11 inches). In fact, this tablet's dimensions are incredibly similar, right down to the even bezels around the screen, with rounded corners to soften those edges.

This gives the Pad 5 a nice symmetrical and balanced look, but it's a bit of a shame that it's only available in a single colour: a dark grey. That's obviously nice and subtle, but it's not exactly much fun.

The back of the tablet houses a single camera and a subtly embossed Oppo logo, while the edges offer up a power button and two volume keys, along with a USB-C port for charging. The two shorter edges of the tablet house four grilles for speakers in total, two on each edge.

Before we get to the tablet's actual features, I must say it's a nicely made bit of tech. There's a solidity to the build that impresses, although it also becomes one of the Pad 5's drawbacks, since it weighs a chunky 555g – which does feel quite heavy in the hand. I didn't have a stand to test it with, and it wasn't always comfortable to hold at a good viewing angle.

That 12.1-inch display is worth returning to. It boasts 2.8K resolution at 284ppi, which indeed does ensure that it's nice and sharp, but the panel itself is a mixed bag. On the one hand, I think most buyers at this price will be happy with its vividness and crispness, along with the 120Hz refresh rate ceiling for smoothness.

Then again, we've seen a lot of tablets bring OLED panels recently, and they're almost always a stunning upgrade, so it would be great to see Oppo push the boat out on that front. One other downside of the screen is that it can't be woken with a touch, so you'll be reaching for that power button all the time.

Perhaps the biggest shortcoming, though, is the tablet's choice of chipset. The MediaTek Dimensity 7300 (with 8GB of RAM) simply isn't powerful enough to keep this tablet feeling as smooth as its display warrants, as I'll explore further down.

Back to more positive news, though, it's conversely impressive to see how much battery capacity Oppo has squeezed into the Pad 5. You get a 10,050mAh total here, which is really solid.

Finally, Oppo's store page for the Pad 5 features a huge amount of space dedicated to the optional stylus you can order with the tablet, and various AI doodahs it can help with, but I didn't have one of those on hand to test with.

Performance and Display

The core of the story when it comes to the Oppo Pad 5 is that chipset, as you might have guessed from my mention of it further up in this review. It's hard to argue that it's powerful enough for this sort of tablet.

While plenty ran smoothly enough during simple tasks, other apps frequently hitched a little in my testing, and it became normal to wait a couple of seconds after opening one before being able to do anything – and that's quite a shame.

I could even get the tablet to occasionally hitch while moving between home screens, and that's really no good. Sure, it's priced quite cannily, but this is a mid-range tablet, not a budget one, and it should feel more powerful than it does if Oppo really wants it to succeed.

In some ways, that sentiment also describes my experience with the display. Unlike the chipset, it doesn't explicitly put a foot wrong, given that it has decent brightness and contrast, as well as solid detail. However, I also can't say it's from the top bracket in tablet terms, and it doesn't do enough on its own to redeem things.

At least that sizeable battery does good work, to give the Oppo Pad 5 something to be more proud of. In my testing, I found the advertised battery life pretty realistic – I routinely got well over a dozen hours of active use before needing a charge.

The camera, meanwhile, is technically decent, at 13MP, but surely only something you'll use in a total pinch. The webcam, meanwhile, is geared for landscape mode, and at 8MP it's similarly serviceable, but nothing special.

All of this means that the Pad 5 feels like a tablet that knows its own limits and won't last too long before revealing them to you, too. As a simple web browsing and streaming tablet, it's hard to fault it too much, since it can fulfil either of those jobs pretty handily.

However, when it comes to productivity, gaming, or anything that puts a little more of a strain on its chip, it's just not all that impressive, which makes its price feel a little dubious. Sure, an iPad is a good chunk more expensive, but it's also wildly more capable, and that performance gap is an issue for this Oppo.

Verdict

The Oppo Pad 5 left me fairly conflicted. It's serviceable in many ways, with decent build quality and a screen that you can't complain about (save pining for OLED), while its version of Android is perfectly slick and usable.

However, key issues bring it down, with the mediocre chipset at its heart being the biggest fault. It means that I can't feel confident the Pad 5 will age well at all, given it struggles with some material even now. The fact that the tablet is also pretty heavy, doesn't come with its stylus, and lacks an OLED panel all then start to rankle a little more.

If you want an Android tablet at this price, it's worth consideration, but I can't help but feel you'd be better off stretching to a higher budget and better specs, or spending even less for a more basic streaming-and-browsing option instead.

Also consider

The obvious elephant in the room for the Oppo Pad 5 is the latest version of Apple's iPad, which comes in at about £100 more but is significantly more powerful and reliable. Its design is very similar, and you'd have to swap to iPadOS, so the comparison isn't perfect, but in this case the real deal wins out.

If you're committed to Android, though, you could spend a whole lot more on the Honor MagicPad 4, which hugely impressed us earlier this year. It's far thinner and lighter, but much more powerful and with a far better display than Oppo's, making it the obvious upgrade in every department.

I feel it’s been quite a while since Ultrahuman started teasing its new ring, but it might just be that we haven’t seen a new ring from the brand for nearly three years before the Ring Pro launch, apart from the Rare and Diesel collab models.

Three years is a long time for wearables. So long that Oura launched two new smart rings between the release of the Ultrahuman Ring Air and when I actually got to try the Ring Pro.

That said, I was excited to try it, as even though its data accuracy was a bit so-so, I have fond memories of the Ring Air. It came out when smart rings were just going mainstream, looked sleek, and provided plenty of health data to digest. I also liked that Ultrahuman offered a significantly different experience from Oura, its biggest rival.

Things are different in 2026. The smart ring market is a lot more saturated, and it feels like there is a smart ring launch every month these days. Not just that, but Oura has solidified its leading position with refined hardware and software.

Plus, Samsung is still the only big tech brand to have a finger wearable, so the expected final stage of smart ring maturation never materialised. At least, not yet.

With that in mind, the Ultrahuman Ring Pro had one aim: to match or surpass what the Oura Ring 5 offers. Has it, though? The short answer is no, but as always, the situation is a lot more nuanced than that.

Ultrahuman Ring Pro review

Price and availability

The Ring Pro was announced in February 2026, and you can buy it now directly from Ultrahuman for £429 / $479 / €499 / AU$769. Ultrahuman currently shows shipping from 15 September in the UK, US, and Australia. The Ring Pro comes bundled with the Ring Pro Charger.

The ring has the highest starting price among the flagship smart rings from Ultrahuman, Oura and Samsung (although premium finishes of the Oura Ring 5 cost even more). It comes in four finishes: Bionic Gold, Space Silver, Aster Black and Raw Titanium. All carry the same price tag.

Design and build quality

Design is probably the most surprising thing about the Ultrahuman Ring Pro. Usually, smart rings get lighter and thinner with each generation, but Ultrahuman seems to have done the opposite.

At 2.65mm thick and between 3.3g and 4.8g depending on size, it's both thicker and considerably heavier than the 2.4mm, 2.4g Ring AIR it succeeds. It feels substantial on the finger and looks especially chunky next to the much slimmer Oura Ring 5.

The Ring Pro has a titanium construction with a PVD coating and a redesigned inner surface. It's well made, but I'm not convinced that the bigger-and-heavier approach is where the smart ring market is headed in 2026.

Features and tracking

A quick disclaimer before we get into things. I tested the Ring Pro throughout August and a little bit in September, during which time the Ultrahuman app has changed its layout. The new layout looks lovely, but some screenshots below may show the previous app iteration.

Back to the review. The Ultrahuman app provides all sorts of health data, from sleep stages, HRV, resting heart rate, and temperature to stress, cardiovascular metrics, sleep debt, circadian timing, and several more experimental scores, and after three weeks of testing, I still felt like I was discovering new stuff almost daily.

Circadian Phase Alignment, for example, divides the day into stages, including Phase Advance, Minima, and Phase Delay. It also recommends when to exercise and when to seek light (or avoid it) for better sleep.

It’s not a new addition to the Ultrahuman ecosystem, but I still don’t think I understand it properly. For example, the app told me that being active during the Phase Advance stage can help shift my sleep timing earlier, but when I'm already going to bed early and consistently getting excellent sleep scores, I'm not sure why I should do that.

This is an issue not just with Ultrahuman’s system, but with all other brands’. Simply put, they aren’t ready to say anything when you already have a steady and working wellness routine. I get that most people will need a lot more guidance than me, but I would still appreciate some pointers to improve things.

Sleep tracking itself is much easier to digest. You get total sleep, efficiency, HRV, temperature, sleep stages and even a count of complete sleep cycles. The latter is interesting to look at, although I'm not sure knowing that I completed four sleep cycles materially changed anything I did the following day.

I wore the Oura Ring 5 alongside the Ultrahuman Ring Pro, and they showed different sleep stages, which isn’t a massive issue, since neither measures brain activity directly and it’s all just guesswork based on the vitals the rings can read.

Activity tracking was considerably less impressive. The Ring Pro missed many of my walks altogether, while recorded activity surprisingly often appeared to be rounded into the nearest 5-minute blocks.

That's a weakness next to Oura, which has become much better at automatically detecting everyday exercise, and reinforces my feeling that Ultrahuman remains much stronger as a sleep and recovery tracker than as an overall wellness wearable.

I also struggled with some of Ultrahuman's more ambitious health scores. Ultra Age told me my biological age was 45 despite me being 43 during testing, making it the only wearable I've used that has suggested my health or fitness is older than I am. This on its own wouldn’t be a big deal, but I'm puzzled about why it suggested it.

The Pulse Age feature in the app said my blood-flow smoothness is potentially problematic (much too smooth, apparently), despite recent vascular-health readings from both a Withings smart scale and the ECG-compatible Huawei Watch D3 suggesting nothing similar.

Of course, this could mean the Ultrahuman Ring Pro is the only wearable that can accurately detect my blood flow smoothness, but circumstantial evidence suggests otherwise. That said, the app said it needs more time to calibrate, so I take these results with a pinch of salt.

On top of all this, for the most accurate Ultra Age, I would have to upload a blood report or use Ultrahuman’s Blood Vision service. Living in the UK, with its crumbling National Health Service, means I haven’t had a blood test done for quite a while, so I won’t get the most accurate Ultra Age (whatever that might mean).

I enjoyed my Brain Waste Clearance score, which is a fun way to repackage deep sleep, HRV, and related data into something more tangible. However, beyond seeing how well my brain waste was (apparently) cleared after a good night's sleep, I'm not sure how much actionable information I can get from stuff like this.

One of Ultrahuman's main marketing lines is that it provides all this health and fitness data for free. And while that’s true, there are a lot of things you need to pay for in the app. For example, Jade, the AI health assistant, is free but limits how many questions you can ask a day.

Unless, of course, you upgrade to Jade Pro, which carries a monthly subscription that's a bit over half as much as Oura’s. And that’s just for the AI assistant. PowerPlugs is the same story. There are plenty of free options, but most of the new additions that make headlines cost money.

Once you add up these comparatively small expenses, you will end up paying a lot more than an average Oura user. I appreciate the modular approach, though, which lets people tailor their experience how they want. For money, of course.

Battery life and charging

Ultrahuman claims up to 15 days from the ring itself, although longevity depends heavily on which battery mode you use. This is excellent news, even though I’m usually only impressed by longer battery-life claims if the product stays the same size or gets smaller. As we’ve already established, the Ring Pro is a lot chunkier than its predecessor.

As for real-life battery performance, the results were impressive. I started by setting the Ring Pro to Chill Mode, and was still at 93% after one day, 79% after three days, 64% after almost six days and 53% after roughly nine days. The trade-off is that Chill Mode reduces some of the ring's functionality, and I eventually realised that stress tracking wasn't operating at full capacity.

After switching to Turbo Mode to get more out of the ring, battery consumption increased significantly. The ring dropped from 53% to 15% after roughly another five days, suggesting over 12 days of battery life. It’s worth noting that I have one of the larger sizes, which has a bigger battery.

Charging with the Pro Charging Case is reasonably quick, too. Starting at 15%, it reached 40% after 30 minutes, 52% after 45 minutes, 65% after an hour and 84% after an hour and 40 minutes. It was fully charged by the time I checked after around two hours and ten minutes, although it may have reached 100% slightly earlier.

Verdict

The Ultrahuman Ring Pro packs in an enormous amount of health data, excellent battery life and a flexible feature set that avoids forcing everyone into the same subscription. However, the bulky hardware, occasionally overwhelming app and mediocre fitness tracking stop it from closing the gap to Oura. There’s plenty of potential here, but I’d like the next generation to be smaller, simpler and more focused.

A good monitor can be a complicated thing to pick out from the crowd, not least because we all have slightly different priorities and requirements, even within the gaming monitor market. Are you all about resolution, needing 4K at a minimum? Or is a sky-high refresh rate higher up the wishlist?

Well, I can't say that LG's new GX7 UltraGear monitor fits every single brief on the planet, but for those who know they're happy with 1440p gaming it's extremely hard to fault. Its picture quality is something to behold, and its simple, clean design makes it a graceful addition to any desk, while its refresh rate specification is enviable. Using it on loan from LG for a couple of weeks has been quite the ride.

Price and Availability

This version of the GX7 is a complicated one from the availability side of things. While LG has been selling it for some months now, it has only just made a review sample available, so it's in plenty of people's hands (and in their setups) already.

That also means that pricing is a little flexible. At full price, the monitor costs £899.99 here in the UK, $999.99 in the US and €849.99 in the EU. However, thanks to it being on the market for a while, deals abound now; here it is from LG for £599.98 in the UK, or on Amazon for $679.99 in the US, and for €754.23 in France.

That makes assessing the monitor at this point a little different from what it would have been at launch – it already looks like substantially better value now.

Design and Specs

This GX7 isn't exactly a monitor that rips up the rulebook from LG, and I think there's very little wrong with that. From a design standpoint, it leans on subtlety, at least when you're sat in front of it.

A hexagonal stand has a decent footprint on your desk, but nothing egregious at all, and the monitor's stand is quite slimline compared to others I've tested. That said, it lacks cable management solutions, which does impact the tidiness of a desk setup with multiple inputs connected.

The back of the monitor is a little less minimalistic, with an UltraGear logo and some RGB lighting that you can turn off if you don't fancy it. I think it looks decent enough, though.

I/O is relatively easy to access, too, and comprises one DisplayPort 2.1 port, two HDMI 2.1 ports, one USB Type-C port with passthrough charging power, and one USB 3.0 port to round things out (along with the power delivery port).

Under the display you'll find a single button that toggles between Dual Mode (for higher refresh rates), normal output and powering off. Next to it is a small control nub that acts as a little joystick for navigating the monitor's menus and controls. It works a treat, and those menus are relatively straightforward to get through.

The display itself has slim bezels on all sides and is impressively shallow, so it's not too difficult to fit on your desk. That said, it does sit quite far forward from the back of the stand, so it's not necessarily the easiest to push further back if it's against a wall.

Adjustments are available, including easily changing its height and turning it left and right without moving the stand, along with both tilting and pivoting options. So, you can pretty straightforwardly arrange it exactly as you wish.

On the technical side, this is a 2560 x 1440, 26.5-inch monitor, and it's an OLED panel that brings all the benefits of that tech.

You get a maximum refresh rate of 540Hz at maximum resolution, but you can drop down to 1080p for a boost to 720Hz. Response times sit at 0.02ms, and the monitor has DisplayHDR 500 True Black certification for really inky blacks.

It works with both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, but doesn't have any built-in speakers. The volume control that can be easily accessed is for whatever output source you connect to the monitor.

Performance

Of course, not many of us buy a monitor with the aim of sitting back and admiring its design – it's one of the more functional pieces of tech you could shop for, and the real test is how it looks in regular use.

I used the GX7 as my daily monitor for a couple of weeks, and that meant long days at the coalface of online media, but also evenings and lunchtimes gaming. It's been a busy few weeks for gaming releases, too, so I've been able to put quite a lot of variety through the screen.

I played hours of Battlefield 6, as usual, and the monitor's refresh rate came in handy for that, ensuring smooth responsiveness and crystal-clear details, including when playing on my PS5 Pro. Rocket League was even more legible, since it's simpler, and the frame rate limit again was useful and reliable.

I never really felt the urge to get a higher ceiling by going down to 1080p, but it's good to know that option is there for the competitive gamers among us. On PC, meanwhile, I've been enjoying the opening hours of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and its moody landscape looks lush and realistic on the GX7.

That's helped by the OLED panel bringing out really vivid colours and contrast. We all know that this technology makes for deeper blacks, but LG's panel feels really mature and consistent across the colour gamut.

Swapping between inputs isn't always the smoothest, though – the monitor doesn't seem to detect when a connected device powers on, to prompt you with the option of a swap. I've found that feature handy on other monitors, so it would have been nice here.

However, changing between display presets is really easy, and you get some loaded out of the box to help you ensure the monitor is matching its features to the type of game you're playing.

Outside of gaming, I've found the monitor really easy to use for work – it doesn't suffer from fringed text or blurriness, in my experience, and is bright enough to power through even direct sunlight into my study. Its anti-reflective coating is also terrific, making for really muted reflections.

I'm always an advocate for a third HDMI 2.1 slot where possible, since I think there's never any harm in having an extra port, but I should obviously point out that LG is one of many, many monitor makers sticking to just two there.

Verdict

The 27GX790B-B proves that you don't need a catchy name to make it as a successful gaming monitor – being extremely reliable on every meaningful feature is the best way to do that. The GX7 (to call it by its more obvious nickname) is a great performer that works just as well for productivity as it does for excellent gaming in your downtime.

At full price, it looks like a tall order for a 1440p panel, and that's a fair stick to beat it with. However, now that it's been out for a little while, you can find deals that make it far more approachable, and which might make the competition squirm a little. This is another great OLED panel in a year full of excellent monitors.

Also consider

It's not really in the same bracket in terms of size, but I can't stop thinking about the Alienware AW3926QW that I tested earlier this summer – as that's a genuine blockbuster of an ultrawide monitor. Its RRP is the same as this LG monitor, but it fulfils a very different brief; still, I think people should consider it as an ultrawide that really makes the format more user-friendly.

If you're keen to stick with a flat panel and want something that's in direct competition with LG's monitor, consider the Sony Inzone M10S – which now has a second-gen version. It's another stunning 1440p monitor, but will play slightly nicer with your PS5 if you connect that, too.

Outdoor gear that promises style and protection can end up a damp squib that fails to meet either standard, but leave it to the Swedes to craft a waterproof jacket that actually repels the worst of the weather and still looks good. In the Treeline Hipe 2.5L Shell, Peak Performance has hit the rain jacket jackpot.

Stockholm-based Peak Performance launched in the 1980s with professional skiers and has since turned its hand to hiking gear built on the pillars of true Scandi style: minimalist and functional.

Over the last few years, I’ve tested dozens of waterproofs, from the ultra-light Helly Hansen Odin Infinity Minimalist Jacket (great for emergencies) to the rugged Montane Alta Lite Waterproof Jacket for alpine summits, but I’ve been a little late to the game on Peak Performance gear.

That changed this past winter when I wore the Vislight Gore-Tex C-Knit 3L Shell on a ski touring trip in France and was blown away by its looks and performance.

This lightweight rain jacket can hold quite a heavy shower at bay using Peak Performance’s proprietary HIPE 2.5-layer construction, making it suitable for casual hikes, if not brutal mountaintops, which isn’t what it’s built for.

It's breathable enough to wear zipped up while I’m hiking, and the relaxed fit and clean design have made it my first choice for trotting across town.

Peak Performance Treeline Hipe 2.5L Shell Jacket review

Price and availability

The Treeline HIPE 2.5L Shell Jacket is available now with an MSRP of £220 / $250 / €250 (~AU$410) at Peak Performance UK, Peak Performance US and Peak Performance EU.

I tested it in the lovely Montana Grape (purple) colourway, but you’ll find it in several colourways in both men’s and women’s sizing.

It’s not a top-of-the-mountain shell like the Helly Hansen Foil or Mountain Equipment Makalu, and it’s cheaper for exactly that reason.

The price isn’t a drop in the bucket for a rain jacket, especially if you only want something for your morning commute, but given its high performance and suitability for hiking, it’s considerably cheaper than the Helly Hansen Odin Infinity Minimalist (£350).

Design and materials

Peak Performance uses its own Hipe 2.5-layer construction, which is windproof, has a moderate waterproof rating of 10,000 mm, and a solid breathability rating of 10,000g/m²/24h.

The face fabric is a soft-to-the-touch 50D nylon, and the jacket feels light and flexible between my fingers. It doesn't rustle when I walk, and the relaxed fit creates a flattering silhouette that makes it easy to wear over multiple layers and works well as temperatures drop.

The streamlined approach to design involves a waterproof, two-way front zip that’s not sticky, which can be a rare accomplishment in outdoor jackets, and two deep, zipped hand pockets.

The hem cinches easily with one hand, and the adjustable hood keeps rain off your face without feeling too stiff or cumbersome. The cuffs tighten with straightforward hook-and-loop fastenings that are easy enough to adjust when you’re wearing gloves.

At 352g, it’s light and packable, but not the lightest or most packable jacket out there (that distinction still belongs to the Odin Minimalist). That said, I was happy enough rolling it up in my backpack for a flight to Chamonix where I wasn’t checking a bag.

Performance and comfort

I’ve had this on more days than not over the past month, and that means it’s already taken on lots of heavy showers here in Scotland and in the French Alps and kept me dry.

This isn’t a good choice for hiking for hours above treeline (hence the name) in a sustained downpour – for that I’d still opt for my Arc’teryx Beta LT, but for casual walks and city use, I feel confident in its weatherproofing abilities.

For hiking, I’m probably most excited by its breathability. Historically, the more waterproof a jacket was, the less breathable it was, which made hiking in mild, wet weather a challenge over the years.

But I can keep this on and zipped up while I’m walking uphill, even in temperatures above 15°C, as long as I’m only wearing a T-shirt underneath. That’s nothing to scoff at, especially if you hate stopping to take your jacket off and put it back on multiple times a day.

The lining isn’t as sticky as some 2.5-layer jackets, so it’s not a struggle to pull on even if my hands and arms are already wet from the rain.

The deep hand pockets are great for urban use, as I can carry my keys, phone, and wallet without a backpack, but they’re less useful with one. When my hip belt is fastened, I’d like the option of a chest pocket so I can keep my phone handy but protected in the hills, but I also do appreciate the clean vibe of this jacket.

Living in Scotland, I can quickly sniff out a dodgy hood that blows down the minute the wind picks up, but this one cinches properly around my head. The laminated brim is big enough to protect me but isn’t stiff or obstructive, and the soft fabric means it doesn’t chafe my skin.

When I’m not wearing it, it squashes down to about the size of a water bottle, so it’s an easy choice to carry for emergencies.

Verdict

The Treeline Hype isn’t a modern marvel, but it’s an impressively versatile jacket to consider if you don’t need mountaineering-level protection and want something that looks good and isn't totally out of place on the high street.

This sleek layer offers good weather protection, and its breathability is competitive. If you’re seeking more protection, the Peak Performance Treeline GORE-TEX 3L Shell is built with a tougher face fabric, a Gore-Tex membrane and a built-in RECCO reflector for alpine adventures.

There’s now no shortage of choice when it comes to security cameras. You can spend under £50 or, as this two-camera kit from Arlo demonstrates, over £500.

What does all that extra cash get you? There’s 4K video for a start, plus HDR and what Arlo claims to be advanced AI designed to detect known people and vehicles to prevent false alarms. There’s also package detection for when deliveries are left on the doorstep, fire recognition and smoke alarm detection, and a hub that can be connected to up to 20 compatible cameras at once.

The hub has a microSD card for free local storage, but limitations apply, and full functionality (with cloud storage) is only unlocked when paying for an Arlo Secure subscription.

Can the Arlo Ultra 3’s video quality and AI smarts justify the high price? Read on to find out.

Arlo Ultra 3 review: Price and availability

The third-generation Arlo Ultra is available as a two-, three- or four-camera kit. Each of these comes with a hub, and you can buy additional cameras to expand your system. An individual camera does not work on its own without the hub, so you’ll need to buy a kit before picking up extra cameras if you need a larger system.

Prices start at £529.99 for the two-camera kit reviewed here, rising to £629.99 for three cameras and £799.99 for four. Additional cameras cost £259.99 each.

This all makes the Arlo Ultra 3 sound rather expensive. These prices are much higher than rival cameras, like the latest-generation Ring Outdoor Camera Plus, which costs £90 and is sometimes reduced to just £54.99. That records in 2K instead of 4K, but to many buyers it’ll seem like much better value.

Arlo goes some way towards justifying that price gulf by equipping the Ultra with true 4K instead of any upscaling, HDR, and an unusually wide 180-degree field-of-view, plus 12x digital zoom with automatic subject tracking, colour night vision, an integrated spotlight and siren.

On top of all that is Arlo’s artificial intelligence, which I’ll address in more detail later.

Arlo Ultra 3 review: Design

Even before you power up these cameras, their design goes some way towards justifying the high price. When many outdoor security cameras can look utilitarian, these look sleek, clean, modern and perhaps even Apple-like with their glossy white enclosures. They’re quite compact, which is welcome given how much performance they pack into a relatively small body.

They lack solar charging though, which isn’t a surprise given the shape doesn’t have a large top surface area like, say, the Eufy S3 Pro. But it’s a premium design, and one that mounts to a wall or fence with a couple of included screws and wall plugs. The mount then fixes to the camera with a ball-and-socket joint that offers lots of adjustability and screws tight.

Battery-powered, the cameras charge via USB-C cable and you can buy an additional battery to quickly swap out while the other is charging. Be careful with those batteries though. It’s all too easy to slot it into the camera upside-down, causing it to get completely stuck. Like, really stuck. I managed to free it by putting it in the fridge and letting the plastic contract slightly. User error, but I can’t be the only one.

The cameras are joined in this particular kit by a base hub. This plugs into a wall socket and connects to your router by Wi-Fi or Ethernet, then gives the cameras their wireless internet connection. There’s no integrated storage, but it accepts microSD cards up to 2TB in capacity – that’s good, but well short of the 16TB you could slot into a rival hub like the Eufy HomeBase 3 (which, incidentally, has 16GB of internal storage out of the box).

Arlo Ultra 3 review: Performance

Setting up the Arlo Ultra 3 is much like any other home security camera. Plug the hub into a wall socket and connect to your router – in my case via an Ethernet cable – then download the Arlo smartphone app and follow the setup instructions.

Camera installation is equally simple, with just a drill and/or screwdriver required to mount them to a flat surface like a wall or fence. Be sure to check signal strength and video streaming reliability before reaching for the power tools, since walls and distance will affect performance.

The app opens relatively quickly when away from home, and in my testing I found a live video feed would start in around five seconds, but this will vary by local signal strength and network coverage. From here you can view and download recordings saved in the cloud, control the camera’s LED spotlight, and arm or disarm the alarm.

Video quality is excellent, and certainly among the best I’ve ever seen from a home security system. The full 4K resolution helps, of course, but so does the wide, 180-degree lens and the inclusion of HDR to help retain detail in highlights and boost it in shadows. All those pixels also help with zooming too, and while at the full 12x things get quite pixelated, footage stays nice and sharp when zooming in by 2x or 4x – something a Full HD camera just can’t do.

Night vision is similarly impressive, with an integrated spotlight also on hand to help enable full-colour video after dark.

Motion alerts can distinguish between people, vehicles, animals and packages – and, going a step further than some rivals, Arlo’s AI tech can recognise familiar people and vehicles to help prevent buzzing your phone with alerts about your partner putting the bin out. There’s also fire detection which actually uses the camera and AI to identify flames, rather than just responding to the sound of a smoke alarm – although it can also do that too.

The catch is that many of these features require an Arlo Secure subscription, so even with its high price tag, the Ultra 3’s full capabilities aren’t unlocked unless you stump up for the monthly fee too. This feels particularly stingy when some alternatives, like Eufy’s HomeBase S380, also have person detection with facial recognition but include it for free when paired with a compatible camera.

Those costs can be avoided if you opt for local storage and slot your own microSD card into the hub. But then you’re still missing out on the AI extras that help this camera stand apart from lesser rivals.

A small issue I had is how Arlo uses Apple Maps. This will be fine for most users, but I live on a new-build estate that wasn’t finished when Apple last updated its maps and satellite images (unlike Google Maps, which is fine). So my house – indeed, much of my road – simply isn’t on the Arlo’s map view or satellite imagery, which appears on the Emergency page of the Arlo Secure app.

Arlo Ultra 3 review: Verdict

This is a very good home security camera kit, with excellent video quality and impressive AI-powered technology. I like the hardware design, the app and of course the video quality, along with the excellent night vision capabilities, integrated spotlight and wide field-of-view. But it also comes at a high price, and is even expensive compared to other Arlo cameras.

There is a way to bring that price down, though. Sign up to Arlo’s Secure Plus Annual subscription, at £199.90 a year, and along with all of the regular subscription’s AI cleverness (plus replacement cameras if stolen and cloud video storage) new customers save 50 percent on new cameras. This cuts the price of the two-camera kit reviewed here from £530 to a far more palatable £265.

That £199.90 a year subscription sounds expensive, but it works out at about £17 a month and works with up to 20 cameras.

If budget isn’t a consideration for you, then go ahead and buy the Arlo Ultra 3; you’ll get superb 4K video and, with an Arlo Secure subscription, one of the smartest home surveillance systems around. But if you aren’t in that fortunate position, there are plenty of other options, with similar performance, lower prices, and even no ongoing subscription fee, too.

The warmer days may be coming to an end now, but if there's one thing summer 2026 has taught us, it's that a heatwave can appear out of nowhere. That means having one of the best fans to hand can always come in useful.

One of the little discoveries I've made over the last few months is how handy a portable fan can be. We've seen some big names launch their own options, and Blueair has now joined the lineup with the AlwaysCool Portable Handheld Fan.

It has a few things going for it, including a relatively affordable price and Blueair's AeroSilent technology, and you'll find my full thoughts below.

Price and availability

The Blueair AlwaysCool costs £59/$59.99 and is available directly from Blueair. In the UK, it's available in Cloud Linen or Night Charcoal, whilst the US also gets Arctic Sage and a new lime green version made in collaboration with Jessica Pegula.

It's also available from Amazon, where I've spotted it for slightly less than the RRP.

Design and features

The Blueair AlwaysCool has a matte finish, curved handle and integrated wrist strap, weighing just over 0.5kg. The fan head can be tilted to direct the airflow exactly where you want it, and you can also lay it down, making it hands-free.

There's a small display in the centre of the fan head showing the battery level and current fan speed, whilst the control dial lets you adjust the airflow across 100 different settings. I really like this approach because you're not limited to a handful of predefined speeds, and can find the one that suits you.

The fan features Blueair's AeroSilent technology, combining a brushless DC motor with its airflow design to reduce noise. Blueair claims this provides a maximum noise level of 46dB on the fan's highest setting.

The power button sits on the rear, and it needs to be pressed and held to turn the fan on/off. The fan charges via USB-C, and Blueair claims up to 32 hours of battery life on the lowest setting.

Performance

The biggest advantage of the AlwaysCool is how quiet it is. It's not completely silent – you can still hear the fan, particularly once you start pushing the speed higher – but it's noticeably quieter than a lot of alternatives I've used.

This made a bigger difference than I expected when using it out and about. I particularly enjoyed using it whilst sitting and working on a train, where I could have a steady stream of cool air without adding too much noise to an already busy environment. The adjustable head was also useful here, as I could angle the airflow towards my face whilst keeping the fan sitting beside me rather than having to hold it the whole time.

I found the battery life to be impressive as well, and charging is pretty quick. From completely flat, it took around 1.5 to 2 hours to reach a full charge, and I could get around a week of quick uses out of it, with a few longer sessions thrown in.

Where the AlwaysCool doesn't quite match some of the more premium portable fans is the physical design. It doesn't feel quite as luxurious or expensive as some of the pricier alternatives, although that's not necessarily a bad thing, as it feels like Blueair has focused more on how well the fan performs.

That said, I would have liked to see a travel case included. After spending plenty of time being thrown into my bag, mine picked up a few scratches. A simple case would have helped keep it looking a little smarter, particularly if you're planning to carry it around regularly.

Verdict

The Blueair AlwaysCool is a great choice if you want a portable fan that's quiet enough to use whilst working or travelling, has strong battery life and gives you plenty of control over the airflow. It may not feel like the most luxurious fan around, but Blueair has sensibly prioritised performance over looks, and that's ultimately what matters most here.

Alternatives to consider

There aren't that many premium portable fans around, but two of the most obvious alternatives are the Shark ChillPill, with its 3-in-1 cooling design, and the Dyson HushJet Mini Cool, which takes a more streamlined approach. Both are more expensive than the Blueair, so if you're primarily looking for quiet, adjustable airflow without spending a fortune, the AlwaysCool has a compelling advantage.

Samsung's 'Fan Edition' model for 2026 is a phone that I've been using on the side whilst travelling for work for this short-form review.

It's a solid flagship alternative, replete with eye-catching colours and solid build quality – but it's almost identical to the previous S25 FE, yet is even pricier.

Where does the S26 FE fit in Samsung's Galaxy range?

Samsung's range goes as so: Galaxy S26 Ultra at the top of the stack, then the step-down S26 Plus and smaller base S26 to address format and smaller-size demands.

The Galaxy S26 FE, while it sits below that trio of handsets, is more akin to the Plus in terms of scale, with a 6.7-inch display size. It's a typical tall-and-narrow design.

How much does the FE cost?

The S26 FE went on sale on 18 September, completing Samsung's core Galaxy range line-up for 2026.

It's available in Blueberry, Pistachio or Graphite finishes, starting at £699 / $699 / €799 for the 128GB storage model. That's a £50/$100 rise over the previous S25 FE model.

What's actually different from the S25 FE?

In summary: not much. There's a new processor to justify that price rise, while the ultra-wide camera sensor changes to a new type for marginally better performance.

So who's the S26 FE aimed at?

What's always been key to the S26 FE is that its asking price undercuts the flagship range – making it a potentially great outright purchase rather than necessarily an on-contract buy.

That's especially true if you're looking for a flagship quality product, as this glass-sandwich design doesn't compromise, from the finish to the display's clarity, and all the important factors in between.

That target customer has a lot of choice in looking for an affordable Android handset, however, so for the Fan Edition model to push this price ceiling is going to challenge its appeal somewhat.

How does the S26 FE perform?

As an everyday Galaxy Z Fold 8 user myself – that's Samsung's new foldable, if you're unfamiliar – the S26 FE's similar software delivers a solid experience.

What I've found better in the S26 FE, however, is the addition of the zoom camera – which is one of the three on the rear. That's been super-handy when shooting during my travels, despite its moderate resolution.

The move to Samsung's own Exynos chip is a key hardware aspect of this Fan Edition phone, but I've found it can run games and multi-task no problems. Battery life is decent, too, getting beyond a typical day of use with no drama.

Should you buy the S26 FE?

If I had to keep using the Galaxy S26 FE as my daily phone then I'd be more than happy. From the way it looks, to the way it performs, in isolation it's a great Android option – and, from that point of view, recommendable.

That said, the year-on-year improvements are so minor that last year's S25 FE is a no-brainer purchase for even less cash. And with increasing competition, I've got to wonder if the Fan Edition has run its course in among Samsung's broader line-up.

Also Consider

At risk of repeating myself: the Galaxy S25 FE is almost the same device, but even cheaper. Even the Galaxy S25 Plus would be a viable option, if priced right.

Otherwise, should cutting the cost be your core goal, then looking to Nothing's Phone (4a) Pro delivers a distinctive metal-finished alternative with some cash savings.

One of my highlights from last year – at least when it comes to electric bikes – was the Fiido Nomads. It is an excellent touring bike with a solid build and plenty of features for the money. No wonder it won the T3 Awards 2026 in the best electric bike category.

The Nomdas Pro, a two-wheeler I’ve been testing for a few weeks, is very similar but comes with a mid-drive motor. It’s a big upgrade; mid-drive models are the cream of the crop of the e-bike world, and are priced accordingly.

Since it’s Fiido, I expected the Nomads Pro to be an excellent value bike with a long range and a decent feature and components list. And it’s exactly that. Should you get one? Read my full review below to find out.

Fiido Nomads Pro review

Price and availability

The Fiido Nomads Pro is available now directly from Fiido, with the standard single-battery model officially priced at €1,999 in Europe. In the UK, Fiido currently lists the bike at around £1,818. US and AU prices and availability TBC.

Design and build quality

The Fiido Nomads Pro is a substantially beefier machine than the standard Nomads. It still uses a 29-inch aluminium alloy frame and keeps the same touring-focused silhouette. However, the hardware has been upgraded with the aforementioned mid-drive motor, new front suspension and more.

Sadly, that extra hardware adds some heft. The Nomads was not a lightweight bike at about £24 kg, but the Nomads Pro tips the scales at 26.2kg, around 1.5kg more than its predecessor. The maximum payload remains 120kg.

As a result, the new bike is even more effort to move when the assist maxes out (more on this in the Performance section). This kind of heft isn’t unusual for a full-size trekking e-bike with suspension, a mid-drive motor, and a removable battery.

Up front, Fiido has swapped the standard Nomads’ oil-spring fork for a 120mm air-sprung suspension fork. A meaningful upgrade, especially if you plan to ride rougher tracks, as air suspension is lighter, more adjustable, and better suited to tuning than a basic coil setup.

The 29-inch tyres are more than suitable for the purpose, wrapped in 2.1-inch CST tyres, while the double-wall aluminium rims and stainless-steel spokes feel appropriate for a bike designed to carry luggage over longer distances.

The Nomads used a rear hub motor, but as I’ve already mentioned probably a 1,000 times in this review, the Nomads Pro gets a 250W mid-drive motor producing a claimed 100Nm of torque, which is a lot more than the Nomads’ 45Nm output (122% increase in quoted maximum torque, to be precise). Power delivery is managed by a Mivice X700 torque sensor.

It’s worth stopping here for a moment to explain why the motor's position matters more than torque. The regular Nomads’ motor drives the rear wheel directly, so its 45Nm doesn’t benefit from the bicycle’s gearing.

On the Nomads Pro, the motor drives through the chain and Shimano CUES drivetrain, meaning you can select a lower gear and let the motor operate more effectively when climbing. As a result, the bike feels dramatically stronger on steep hills even though both bikes say “250W” on the spec sheet.

Both bikes use the same 417.6Wh removable battery slots neatly into the downtube. Fiido’s approach of having to turn the battery on separately continues to trip me up, as it often makes me think – even just for a second – that the battery ran out. Then I remember that I forgot to press the button on the downtube before trying to turn the display on.

As I mentioned in the Nomads review, the larger frame doesn’t come with a larger battery, which means that the range is slightly less. Of course, the maximum range of the bike depends on a million factors, from rider weight to terrain and level of assist, but it’s true that the motor has to work harder on a larger frame carrying a (presumably) larger body.

As with the Nomads, Fiido also offers its expandable battery rack system, which can increase the claimed total range to 224.55km/139.53 miles with three batteries fitted. I wasn’t sent this, so I can’t comment on it. All I can say is that the system worked on the Nomads, so I can only assume it works here, too.

Fiido has stuck with a nine-speed Shimano drivetrain, although the Pro uses a CUES U3020 rear derailleur paired with an SL-M3100 shifter and 11-36T cassette. It’s not an exotic setup, but CUES is designed around durability and high-torque applications, so it makes plenty of sense on a comparatively heavy e-touring bike.

Braking hardware has also been beefed up, with HDM-5 four-piston hydraulic disc brakes replacing the Tektro setup used on the regular Nomads. Upgrades all around!

The seatpost is comparatively short, which means I ended up riding the bike in a suboptimal position, with my legs bent at the lowest point of the pedal stroke.

I would prefer a similar seat-adjustment setup to the Himiway A7 Pro or the Amflow PL Pro, where you can drop the seat using the lever on the handlebar. (Like on a mountain bike.) The fixed-angle, compact 1.47-inch screen is the same as on the Nomads, which works for me. It’s not the most amazing display but gets the job done.

The handlebar control unit, which lets you operate the assist, lights, horn, etc., is the same size as on the Nomads. The buttons are pretty small, and I doubt I could press them properly while wearing gloves. You can control the level assist using the larger buttons at the centre of the handlebar (under the screen), but that requires you to let go of the handlebar for a moment.

Ride characteristics and performance

The move from a rear hub motor to a 100Nm mid-drive fundamentally changes the character of the Nomads Pro compared with the regular Nomads. The motor feeds power through the drivetrain, making that torque especially useful when climbing.

Assistance responds to how hard you’re pushing, making the Nomads Pro feel more like an amplified bicycle than something dragging you along under electric power. Fiido says the delivery is “natural” and “responsive,” and I can’t disagree.

Given the size and heft of the Nomads Pro, you benefit the most from this new setup when you’re tackling uneven terrain relatively slowly, in the UK, anyway. I often hit the top limit of the assistance on tarmac, which almost feels like you cycled into a bog; switching the assist off suddenly drops the full weight of the bike on you to carry.

This is all fine if you’re just cycling gently along a dirt track, or if you’re not in a rush to get anywhere (which, I admit, is the point in touring). However, as someone who likes to travel at speed, I felt a bit restricted by the speed limit on the Nomads Pro and wished it was lighter instead of smoother than the Nomads.

Speaking of going off the beaten path, there’s certainly no shortage of hardware for dealing with less-than-perfect surfaces. The 29-inch wheels roll easily over gravel and other types of rougher terrain, while the 2.1-inch tyres strike a sensible middle ground between road-going efficiency and the extra cushioning and grip you want from a trekking bike.

The 120mm air fork is unusually generous for this category, too, giving the front end considerably more ability to absorb potholes, gravel and trail chatter than you’d expect from a conventional commuter e-bike. It doesn’t feel mushy, either.

The four-piston hydraulic brakes are another welcome addition given the weight and performance available. I weigh around 78 kg, so the bike and I are comfortably over 100 kg, but I never felt out of control.

On one of my range tests, I cycled around 40 km on a mix of country roads, cycle paths and dirt tracks, and often pulled over to let cars and agricultural machines pass. Not once did I have to emergency manoeuvre the bike – the brakes and smooth assist rally make the difference.

The wide, MTB-like handlebar also makes you feel at ease. I’m comparatively tall at 6’1” / 185 cm, but just like on the Nomads, it felt great riding the larger-framed Nomads Pro.

Range

Fiido claims up to 46.5 miles (74.9km) from the Nomads Pro’s 417.6Wh battery, and my real-world experience suggests that figure isn’t wildly optimistic. After 25.4 miles of riding, I still had 42% battery remaining, meaning I’d used 58% of the available charge.

Using that number, we can calculate that the maximum range should be around 43.8 miles (70.5km), which puts the real-world figure only about three miles short of Fiido’s maximum claim.

Not too shabby, considering the total weight and the mixed terrain I rode on. I also wanted to mention that my rides involved a mixture of assistance levels, including Sport mode, so around 40–45 miles per charge feels like a sensible expectation.

Verdict

The Fiido Nomads Pro's mid-drive motor is excellent, with smooth, natural assistance and plenty of torque for climbs, while the air fork, four-piston brakes, and Shimano CUES drivetrain make it a far more capable touring machine than its price suggests. If you want to experience the mid-drive touring e-bike life without splashing the cash, the Fiido Nomads Pro is an amazing choice. Just don't go too fast.

Coleman has pulled off a mini feat of engineering with the Snap 'N Go, a new type of cooler box that collapses to a third of its size in a matter of seconds.

Now I'm no marketing expert, but I can envisage a sizeable market of prospective buyers itching for a product like this, mostly because cooler boxes by their very nature take up far too much storage space when not in use – like most of the year.

The Snap 'N Go is not only a perfect overnight camping cooler, but I can see quite a few other uses for it, which I will divulge in this review – without sounding like a brand partner on the QVC channel.

Coleman Snap 'N Go collapsible cooler box review

Price and availability

The Coleman Snap 'N Go comes in three sizes – 33L (35QT), 42L (45QT) and 52L (55QT) – and is available in both the UK and USA, with prices varying according to size.

In the UK, the 33-litre (35QT) model we're reviewing here retails between £99.99 and £140. The most popular stockists include A&E Leisure (£99.99), Go Outdoors and Blacks (£139.99) plus Mountain Warehouse and Tesco (£129.99).

In the USA, you can purchase the 35QT version direct from Coleman, priced $199.99 or head straight to Amazon where it sells for the same price.

Design and features

The collapsible Coleman Snap 'N Go is one of the most innovative cooler boxes to appear in years and tackles one of the biggest drawbacks of owning a traditional hard cooler – storage.

Given that most cooler boxes are used for only a few weeks a year, with the rest of their lives spent swallowing up valuable space in the shed, the loft, cellar or under the stairs, the outdoor market is crying out for a collapsible alternative like this.

The folding mechanism is frankly ingenious, using hinged side panels, a rubberised insert, and a pull-tab system that lets the cooler expand or collapse quickly without any complicated assembly or disassembly. When erect, the 35-litre Snap 'N Go I'm reviewing here measures 57cm in length (with handles), 31cm in depth and 31cm in height.

However, when closed, its height shrinks to just 11 cm, which means it can be easily stored on a shelf, on its side between your camping gear, under a caravan seat, in the car boot, even under the sofa or bed if you're really short on space.

Let's look at the folding and unfolding process in more detail. To open the Snap 'N Go, you first need to unlatch both handles, which are clipped tightly to the body for transit. With both handles in the hands, simply lift the whole thing up, and it magically expands and snaps into a fully formed cooler box.

I can't tell you how satisfying this process is because it really is like a conjurer's trick. One second it's a stubby tray; the next, it's a fully grown cooler. Mind, I would advise punching the sides out when expanded to make sure they've locked into place.

The collapsing process is a touch more convoluted but equally satisfying. Open the cooler lid, remove the collapsible antibacterial and waterproof thermoplastic polyurethane liner, then reach to the bottom and grab the long release tab.

This lets the rigid side panels collapse neatly inward, reducing the cooler to roughly one-third of its full height. Finally, push both handles against the body until you hear a click. Job done.

Despite its folding design, the Coleman Snap 'N Go is impressively well made and surprisingly rigid when expanded. Coleman doesn't advise using it as a seat like other coolers, but I sat on it when fully expanded and, despite wriggling about on it, it refused to collapse, thankfully.

The outer shell is made of durable polypropylene with a sandwich of high-density polyurethane foam insulation for decent thermal performance.

Just be mindful that its outer shell is only 2 cm thick, and there will inevitably be a few unseen gaps, so don't expect the thermal performance of a YETI cooler or other premium rotomoulded models.

Coleman claims up to two days of ice retention under typical conditions, but that may be pushing it in a warm climate. However, I don't doubt this cooler would keep drinks and food properly chilled for at least 36 hours, even in reasonably hot summer temperatures.

Yes, there may be a lot of watery ice floating about by then, but in my experience, ice cubes mixed with water create a temperature that's frigid enough to keep milk and other dairy products fresh for consumption.

At this juncture, I should add that if full of ice and water, you will need to quickly tip the unit on its side to empty it because this model doesn't come with a drainage plug. You should also ensure that the rubberised liner is fully dried before collapsing the cooler for storage.

The 33-litre (35QT) Coleman Snap 'N Go I received weighs a modest 6kg and holds up to 64 standard drink cans. If this isn't big enough for you, consider the 42-litre (45QT) or even the largest 52-litre (55QT) variant, which will accommodate up to 93 cans.

Although not as thermally efficient as a solid, thicker-walled model, the Snap 'N Go's clever space-saving design and practical features make it an extremely appealing option for anyone who wants impressive hard-cooler performance without sacrificing valuable storage space at home.

Performance

You can't prepare yourself for the surprise when you first open this cooler, and I was pretty gobsmacked by how quickly and effortlessly it morphed from a squat, eminently storable flatpack box into a fully fledged cooler just by lifting it up by the handles.

Granted, the Snap 'N Go's insulation isn't as efficient as a YETI or Igloo, but then how could it be? For a start, its walls are a lot thinner, and the folding panel joins must surely allow in some levels of ambient air. But then again, I'm guessing this model wasn't designed for camping trips longer than three days unless you had access to fresh ice.

I admit I didn't take it camping, but I used it for an eight-hour village event and a long country picnic the following week, and it performed brilliantly with a pile of ice packs on board.

On both occasions, I left the unused food and drink in the cooler until the following afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to find the drinks remained perfectly chilled and the ice packs still felt fairly firm. However, by the early evening the packs felt much softer to the touch and were clearly on their way to melting.

Were I to take the Snap 'N Go on a two-day camping trip, I would definitely advise using a couple of inches of ice cubes with a splash of water to kick-start the chilling effect and perhaps seek out some more ice cubes the following afternoon.

Ice cubes are a lot better than sealed ice packs at keeping drinks chilled – even when most of the ice has melted – so I don't doubt Coleman's claim of 48 hours of ice retention. However, I do think Coleman's claim that drinks remain cold for up to five days is pushing it because even a YETI might struggle to attain that rosy figure.

While this model doesn't match the extended ice retention of premium rotomoulded coolers, I see it being ideal for an overnight campout and perfect for picnics, a day at the beach or a long drive to stock up on frozen items from IKEA or Wing Yip.

The fact that you can collapse this cooler box for easy storage in the home, car, caravan or camper is clearly its greatest strength and what sets it apart from virtually every other hard cooler on the market.

Verdict

Coleman's collapsible Snap 'N Go cool box makes storage and transport far more practical than a traditional hard cooler. No, it won't replace a high-end cooler for multi-day ice retention, but for picnics and short camping trips, this is an ingeniously designed option that offers a level of storage convenience that no rival can match.

The focus of Google's phones is normally directed at the top with the Pixel 11 Pro, or at the bottom, with the great value Pixel 10a. Rarely does interest veer into the middle of the pack where the standard Pixel 11 lies.

That might have something to do with the reason that people choose the Pixel. With this series' camera famous for its easy and reliable performance, the drop in specification for the standard Pixel 11 might make it less desirable.

But with prices increasing, 2026 might be the year when people decide to forego the Pro, safe in the knowledge that they get just as much power in this phone. Does that make the Pixel 11 a surprise winner?

Price & Availability

The Pixel 11 is widely available, launching with 256GB storage for £879 in the UK.

That feels like a big jump over the £699 starting price for the Pixel 10. In reality, however, the Pixel 11 is 'cheaper', as the Pixel 10 was £899 for the 256GB version.

Those prices come in at $899 in the US, €979 in Europe and AU$1499 in Australia. Again, the entry-point has shifted upwards, but the prices are the same generation on generation for this amount of storage. So, effectively, there's no increase in price.

The Pixel 11 comes in four colours: Frost (per my review model and the pictures you see here), Hibiscus, Pistachio and Obsidian.

Pixel 11 vs Pixel 10: What's new?

The Pixel 11 slims down the camera bump compared to the Pixel 10 for a flatter finish, although the phone body itself has the same dimensions. It's a few grammes lighter, for a design that's basically the same.

The big change is the move to the Tensor G6 over the G5, while the battery is a little higher capacity, but claims longer life thanks to greater efficiency. Charging remains the same, except for wireless charging, which jumps with 25W thanks to full Qi2.2 support.

There's a new main sensor, slightly larger than on the Pixel 10, which should boost quality. Most new photography features otherwise come in on the software side – and are likely to appear on the older phone, but include Magic Capture and Camera Looks, and the new Creator suite.

Design & Display

• Colours: Frost, Hibiscus, Pistachio, Obsidian
• Glass rear (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), aluminium frame
• 6.3-inch OLED display
  • 1080 x 2424 resolution
  • 60-120Hz variable refresh
  • 2000-3000 nits brightness
  • Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2

Google is leaning into the classic Pixel design, sticking to the camera bar that it established with the Pixel 6 and has evolved ever since. On the Pixel 11 this is slightly shallower than the Pixel 10 and the Pixel 11 Pro, for a more refined look. The best thing about the camera bar is that the phone doesn't wobble when you put it on a table – which almost every other phone does.

There's also a change to the covering of the camera compared to the Pixel 10 models, covering the whole thing in one sheet of glass, rather than the partially metal effect Google used previously. The LED flash is a distinct white blob that looks strange and lacks the (somewhat) pointless HiLight feature found on the Pro – which will use colours to basically show when you're talking to Gemini.

In the back of my head I'm wondering if Google's aim is to sink the camera into the body as it did with the Pixel 10a, drawing out a larger distinction between the Pro and non-Pro models. As it is, slipping it into a case means there's no bump, but visually, it's instantly recognisable as a Pixel.

The display hasn't changed from the Pixel 10, sticking to the Full HD+ arrangement, with brightness up to a 3000 nits peak. That's reasonable by modern standards, albeit far from the brightest, but I noticed a welcome kick to highlights in Google Photos.

This comes from Ultra HDR, a format Google uses on its camera, and I like the effect as it just adds a bit more bite to photos. There's still a bit of a wide bezel on this phone and that makes it look a little cheap, while the curvature of the corners means that sometimes content can be obscured, although the Pixel isn't unique in this.

I have found it to be plenty capable in bright conditions, although in lower light I've found myself tweaking the brightness up a little to make the content a little more impactful.

There's protection from Gorilla Glass Victus 2 front and back on this phone, with IP68 to keep water and dust out. It feels like a solid phone, although the glossy rear is a fingerprint magnet, constantly needing wiping clean.

Performance & Battery

• 4985mAh battery, 30W wired / 25W wireless charging (magnetic)
• Google Tensor G6 processor, 12GB RAM
• Android 17 software

Starting from the top, the Pixel 11 gets the same core hardware as the Pixel 11 Pro – and to its credit. Sitting on the new Tensor G6 with 12GB RAM, it's the same loadout as the entry-level Pro. This new chip changes to more recent cores and there's a new Titan security chip, while the TPU – which handles AI functions – sees a big boost.

Sadly, the vapour chamber used for cooling is only in the Pro model, so this regular device is less efficient at cooling itself down. Google also decided to use an older PowerVR GPU, which can't really compete with existing hardware graphically. It's clear where Google's intent lies: it's building an AI phone, not a gaming phone.

So how much does all this matter? Well, you're being asked to compromise on the experience that you get. Google wants to push Gemini and all the associated tasks and services. That's where Google is heading across all its platforms, so that's what defines the experience. While the day-to-day performance in the Pixel 11 is good, it can't compete when it comes to gaming.

On release day some support was lacking – Genshin Impact didn't render properly, for example – but those teething problems have been updated away. The Pixel 11 gets a little warm under load – including for big downloads – but it's a device for a job, and that job is delivering Google's AI experience.

With Gemini at the heart, it's no surprise that many of the updates focus on this AI tool. Gemini Intelligence isn't available in the UK, so I wasn't able to test that, while Pixel Cue primary only works in Google Messages, which no one uses, because we all have friends with iPhones, so use WhatsApp instead.

We do have Rambler though, which will let you dictate and have AI clean it up to get rid of some of the stutters along the way. It works, but I struggle to find it especially useful, taking longer than just swiping in the message you want to send.

All this plays out within Android 17 and, mercifully, Google keeps its phone software clean, while putting its devices at the front of the update queue. With 7-years of updates, I maintain that this is the most cohesive experience on Android. It's doesn’t have the same level of customisation as some rival brands, but if you mostly use Google apps, this is the best way to experience them.

Then we come to battery life. The Pixel 11 has a 4985mAh battery which is small by modern standards; it offers 30W charging which is slow, while wireless charging – via Pixel Snap – at least comes in at 25W with magnetic connection in the phone.

My first couple of weeks using this phone saw average battery life. That's not unusual for the first week while a phone finds its feet, but I arrived at week three when writing this review and the battery hadn't raised itself any further than average. It's fine, but lacks both the capacity and the charging speeds to compete with rivals.

That's likely because Google is looking towards longevity for its batteries. While I can't speak to the long-term performance of the Pixel 11's battery, previous Pixel devices suggest that by the end of the first year, the performance will have dipped considerably. That’s certainly the case for my Pixel 10 Pro.

Cameras

• Triple rear:
  • Main (24mm): 48-megapixel, f/1.7 aperture, OIS, macro focus
  • Tele (112mm): 10.8MP, f/3.1, OIS
  • Wide (13mm): 13MP, f/2.2
• Selfie:
  • 10.5MP, f/2.2, autofocus

The Pixel 11 sits below the Pixel 11 Pro in terms of the camera hardware that's offered, with each sensor and lens less capable. That means the results from the wide angle and telephoto especially aren't as good as the Pixel 11 Pro.

However, Google positions the Pixel as a master of computational photography rather than a substitute for a proper camera, which is how many rivals are pitched. The Pixel wants you to point and shoot – and that's what it's good at. On the Pixel 11 there are no Pro options and even things like managing white balance in video is tricky.

Part of that point-and-shoot ethos brings with it the desire to keep faces in focus, which is both a pro and a con. When taking pictures of people it works a treat, but taking pictures of things become problematic, because it always defaults focus to any faces it sees. In a crowded space, it means constantly tapping to focus – when I just wish I could disable the face priority.

With all that said, for the target market that Google wants to appeal to, the Pixel 11 acquits itself well. Across all three cameras the daylight results are generally good, but photos can feel a little flat compared to the best camera phones out there.

Low-light images are typically processed to be brighter, which can make things look a little unrealistic, with contrast lost for the sake of balancing out the highs and lows across a scene. Corners can be a little dark and noisy and the ultrawide and telephoto aren't great in low light.

Some of this feels a little unfair: what was a £699 phone is now judged as a £879 phone and that highlights some of the challenges we face at the moment. Where the 5x telephoto was good on that £699 phone, it's more common on a £879 phone, so it feels less special now, even though the performance remains good.

I've found the Pixel 11 to be a good camera overall, but with the last-generation Pixel 10 Pro available for even less right now, if you want a better camera experience, there's a cheaper way to get it. And that's what will make more sense for more people.

The big addition in the Pixel camera from the software side is Magic Capture. This basically works by capturing video and identifying interesting moments and saving them as photos. The idea is you don't have to worry about tapping the button, you just stream a whole scene into your phone and let it sort out the great photos from it.

It's fun, it's clever – and it means you don't miss the moment. You also don't have to save frames from video, as it's all done for you. That's the 'Magic' of it.

Pixel also nods to Gen Z with a suite of creator tools, throwing a frame around video camera so you can avoid the social icons at the side, while also offering a teleprompter so you can write a script and get your vlogging on point.

Google Pixel 11 review: verdict

Google's Pixel 11 family feel like a sub-step along a pathway to Pixel perfection. Google's mission to streamline its Gemini AI into a useful experience is obvious here, but that software push is incomplete outside the US thanks to the lack of Gemini Intelligence at the time of review.

With the low entry price now gone – and discounts on older devices – the Pixel 11 feels expensive. It's a good phone, but it doesn't really break new ground from a hardware point of view, so I wouldn't blame anyone for picking up the Pixel 10 Pro instead – and saving money in the process.

But there's a full range of positives here. The Pixel 11's design is quality and the power matches the Pixel 11 Pro. The support for MagSafe-style charging at 25W is welcomed. And the camera is dependable for point-and-shooters. All wrapped up in the best Android software experience and support in the business.

Also consider

The Samsung Galaxy S26 is the obvious competitor to the Pixel 11. It's an older device now which brings pricing advantages, while the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is more powerful, especially for gaming. The Samsung battery is smaller, while there's no magnets for the 15W wireless charging. Both offer a good camera experience, but the Pixel is better out of the box.

As I've suggested a few times, the Pixel 10 Pro is the most viable (and cheaper) alternative to the Pixel 11. It doesn't have the latest Tensor chip, but it offers a slightly better display, more storage options, better cameras across the board, and still delivers 6 years of software support. About the only downside is the wireless charging is limited to 15W.

It might be overly simplistic to view the entire wireless earbud market as one big attempt to rival Apple's AirPods Pro, but as someone who returns to his AirPods Pro 3, I do sort of look at it that way. If you can rival Apple's convenience and at least match its sound quality and ergonomics, you're off to a good start.

Probably my favourite non-Apple earbuds ever are the Technics EAH-AZ100, and I think it's a little surprising that it's taken this long for another brand to get close to the high-water mark they set.

Sennheiser has done just that, though, with the Momentum True Wireless 5, a truly excellent new set of earbuds that deserve your attention. I've used them nonstop for a couple of weeks for this review – and they've made a lasting impression.

Price and Availability

The Momentum True Wireless 5 can be yours right now, having been revealed and released in late August 2026.

The asking price is £249.99 in the UK, $299.95 in the US, €299 in the EU and AU$499 in Australia. That means it's a chunk more expensive than getting a pair of AirPods Pro 3, and puts the earbuds on a par with flagships from Sony and a bunch of others.

That means these are obviously premium earbuds, as reflected in the fact that Sennheiser makes a fair few more affordable pairs you could also consider, including the Accentum True Wireless model from a couple of years ago.

Design and Features

There seems to be a bit of a rule in the audio industry about major redesigns of earbuds and headphones – each design gets at least a couple of outings before it's changed in a major way.

That's how I'd look at the Momentum True Wireless 3 and True Wireless 4, which were really similar to each other, and have now been completely rewritten in the form of these earbuds, the Momentum True Wireless 5.

Where those older earbuds tried to stand out from the crowd with a fabric-covered case that was quite interesting, Sennheiser has gone more mainstream this time around. That case is instead finished in matte plastic with a slight speckle finish, topped with Sennheiser's logo. It's also taller rather than flat and squat like the older one.

The earbuds themselves are also very different. The last two generations were quite square in their shape, but that shape has been shaved down into a far more bean-like look that's a little more obvious in its ergonomics. Sennheiser told me this didn't necessarily make each earbud smaller than last time, but that it would make them more comfortable.

Each earbud also has a circular Sennheiser logo on its outer edge, and this is the touch-sensitive zone for some customisable controls. You can tap up to three times on each side, with each of those being mapped to a different control.

As befits their price, active noise-cancelling (ANC) is present and correct, and probably the setting I've been cycling the most using those touch controls.

The earbuds and case have one massive trick up their sleeve that I want to spotlight and praise, too: repairability. We've heard a lot about the EU requirements around user-replaceable batteries recently, and indeed the number of exemptions that are going to be flying around (here's looking at you, Apple).

Sennheiser has embraced the opportunity, though, and that means the Momentum True Wireless 5 is hugely future-proof. Each earbud sports a couple of recessed screws to let you take them apart for battery replacement, while the case needs only one screw to do the same.

This is massive for longevity, with battery degradation being one of the very few flaws that can affect this sort of higher-end earbud over time. Once your earbuds no longer last a satisfactory span, Sennheiser will sell you a replacement you can fit yourself – what a step forward, and here's hoping it pressures other brands into following suit.

Out of the box, though, you can expect around 12 hours of use on a charge, with nearly three more full charges in the case making for about 40 hours without needing to plug it in. You also get IP54 dust and weather protection, meaning they're safe for use in workouts or bad weather.

Sound and Performance

It's nice to see Sennheiser putting the R&D work into adding repairability to its earbuds, but you wouldn't necessarily want that to come at the expense of sound quality. Luckily, I can't find much to fault in terms of how the Momentum True Wireless 5 perform sonically.

I've long been a fan of Sennheiser's neutrality and its calm approach to sound signatures – it avoids the temptation to pump the bass past reasonable limits, and tends to keep things sensible on a few fronts. That trend has continued with the Momentum True Wireless 5, which sounds pretty exemplary.

I've used the earbuds as my daily driver for multiple weeks, including on an overseas trip, so I'll cover off their ANC ability first. It's extremely solid, dulling the hum of a plane cabin really well for a few hours, but also making the London Underground far less of a sensory overload.

This was an area where there was improvement to be had from the Momentum True Wireless 4, so it's great to see a decent stride be made. It's probably still not quite up there with the AirPods Pro 3 in my experience, but I'd feel comfortable putting it in the same bracket, which is more than enough.

How do the Momentum True Wireless 5 fare with music? It's impressive. I've been genre-hopping with the earbuds, including quite a lot of mellow material like J.J. Cale's album Naturally and Green River from Creedence Clearwater Revival. The acoustic texture of both came across really clearly and characterfully with Sennheiser's default tuning.

Jungle's new album Sunshine is a warm delight, meanwhile, and its hints of bass were nicely nuanced and detailed. Going back to my most familiar ground, Justice's debut album Cross is a monster of bass deployed tactically, and it too was a punchy success on these Momentum earbuds.

That's a pretty great outlook, and the picture's further rounded out by Sennheiser's Control+ app, which gives you a bunch of tweaks to make and settings to figure out.

Being able to swap what the touch controls do is a great touch, although I can't pretend to love the controls themselves that much. They're a little finicky, and the reality is that few brands have nailed on-earbud controls at this point.

Verdict

I'm hugely impressed by the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 – just as I was with the over-ear Momentum Wireless 5 a few months ago. These are earbuds that do exactly what I need, whether that's because of rock-solid ANC or superbly balanced sound.

After a lot of noise about whether Sennheiser had a future at all around the turn of the year, this is a pretty phenomenal way to silence the crowd. The brand now has 5-star headphones and earbuds fresh out of the gate, and retains a pretty loyal following thanks to the work of previous generations.

If you need some new wireless earbuds, I think it would be crazy to ignore the Momentum True Wireless 5 moving forward – and I can only hope that they usher in a new era of user-replaceable batteries in earbuds.

Also Consider

I've mentioned them in this review already, and Technics still just about retains my personal award for "best non-AirPods earbuds", but it's by the merest sliver over the Momentum on review. The AZ100s are brilliant, comfortable, and because of their age, they're now cheaper – but they don't have those replaceable batteries.

Meanwhile, the obvious other point to make is that the AirPods Pro 3 remain phenomenally convenient and reliable, and if you're a big Apple user then their device-swapping smarts can't really be beaten. I still use them every day for music, media and when out running – and that probably won't change unless something big happens.

I’ve gone through many different vacuum cleaners over the years, and I still have yet to find my perfect model. But the vacuum brand that I consistently go back to is Shark.

I’ve had many Shark vacuums over the years, including upright, stick and handheld models, and the Shark PowerDetect Transformer is a combination of all three in one device. This latest vacuum from Shark is designed to clean all floor types, be easy to maneuver from floor to floor, and get underneath furniture and into corners.

While it’ll take a lot for me to go back to a corded, upright vacuum cleaner, the Shark PowerDetect Transformer may have changed my mind. I spent three weeks testing it, and this is how I got on.

Shark PowerDetect Transformer review: price and availability

Launched in September 2026, the Shark PowerDetect Transformer is available to buy for £499.99 / $529.99 at SharkNinja and select retailers, like Currys, Argos and Very. It’s available in black, blue and green colours.

Shark PowerDetect Transformer review: unboxing and setup

The Shark PowerDetect Transformer arrived in a large cardboard box, disassembled and wrapped in paper bags and sticky packaging. Putting it together was extremely easy and took just a few minutes. An instructional manual was in the box but the entire process was very self-explanatory so it wasn’t all that needed.

First, I inserted the anti-odour box into the main brush head which consisted of me lining up the arrows and clicking and locking it into place. From there, I clicked the main stick pole into the brush head, and slid the large bin onto the front, before attaching the handle.

As a corded vacuum cleaner, the Shark PowerDetect Transformer has a long eight metre power cord. It came with a duster crevice tool, stair tool, HairPro Pet Power Brush and an Anti-Allergen Dusting Brush which clips onto the handheld part of the machine.

Shark PowerDetect Transformer review: design and features

When fully assembled in its upright position, the Shark PowerDetect Transformer measures 117.2cm in height, 28.5cm in depth and 30.6cm in width. It weighs 8kg with the main 1.3-litre bin attached which I found to be extremely heavy. It felt significantly lighter when in stick mode.

As a 3-in-1 device, the Shark PowerDetect Transformer offers upright, stick and handheld cleaning. To convert it from upright to stick, simply unclip the main bin, and then the vacuum can fold down to clean underneath furniture. For handheld, remove the main wand, and attach accessories for cleaning your car, the stairs, and hard-to-reach spots.

Each ‘mode’ is designed for different cleaning tasks. As an upright vacuum, the Shark PowerDetect Transformer is best for cleaning carpets as it has a stronger suction, while stick is easier to carry and get into difficult areas. Handheld is even better at that, and is good for smaller, more controlled cleaning tasks, like getting into the crevices of your car seats.

The Shark PowerDetect Transformer has an intelligent brush head with Anti-Hair Wrap technology to avoid tangles, and an LED light to illuminate dirt. The controls for the Shark PowerDetect Transformer are on the handle, including on/off and floor type, but the vacuum responds to floors itself with its detection technologies.

Shark has given the PowerDetect Transformer four different detection technologies, including direction, floor, edge and dirt. Direction senses how you’re moving the vacuum and will change its suction to forward or backward, while floor detects the floor type and adjusts its power. Edge senses corners, and dirt boosts power when it recognises different types and levels of dirt.

The Shark PowerDetect Transformer actually has two bins – the main large bin at the front and a smaller bin at the top, just underneath the handle. The main bin collects dirt while in upright mode, but when you take it off for stick or handheld, the smaller bin collects debris.

To empty the smaller bin, keep the Shark PowerDetect Transformer on and clip the main bin back onto the vacuum. The bin will then automatically empty into the main bin so you don’t have to empty two bins. It also has HEPA filtration and anti-allergen seal technology to trap dirt, allergens and dust, and prevent odours.

Shark PowerDetect Transformer review: performance

The Shark PowerDetect Transformer hasn’t been out for very long, but I think it’s one of Shark’s most intelligent designs. It offers three cleaning types in one, and does it with a quick and simple assembly system. Clipping the main bin on and off was simple, mess-free and took no time at all.

The controls at the top of the Shark PowerDetect Transformer were easy to use, although with its detection technologies, I rarely needed to use them. The vacuum and brush head immediately recognised different levels of dust and dirt, and I could hear it boost its power when it noticed these things which I really appreciated.

While cleaning, I found the Shark PowerDetect Transformer to work expertly on both hardwood and carpets. The LED light at the front was very bright – I’d go as far to say you could clean with the lights off and still see what you were doing! Its suction power was incredibly impressive, and it sucked up dirt quickly and effectively on single passes.

One area I found the Shark PowerDetect Transformer struggled with was dust. I noticed that it often just pushed dust around rather than hoovering it up, so it took several passes before it got everything. However, the vacuum got into corners and edges nicely.

The handheld mode was good, and its attachments were well made. It cleaned my stairs extremely well, although I found it hard to remove the accessories at times. The stick vacuum was helpful, especially to get low to the floor, and to carry the vacuum up and down my stairs. The length of the cord is generous, so while cordless is preferred, I didn’t find it to be limiting.

My main issue with the Shark PowerDetect Transformer is its weight. As an upright model, it’s extremely heavy and I felt like I really had to push it around, especially on carpet. It was slightly easier to maneuver on hardwood, but some people will struggle with it – it felt like I was doing an arm workout! It’s not the quietest, either.

Shark PowerDetect Transformer review: verdict

The Shark PowerDetect Transformer is undeniably a very clever and useful 3-in-1 vacuum cleaner. Having three cleaning options in one device makes cleaning your entire house – carpet, hardwood, stairs, furniture, car, and any other nooks and crannies – an absolute doddle.

The bin of the Shark PowerDetect Transformer was my favourite part. Having two separate bins meant you could transform the vacuum into different modes, while only having to empty one bin, and it kept everything hygienic and allergen-free. Stick mode was definitely my favourite as it took some serious weight off, and got into tricky areas and under furniture.

Its weight is the main issue for me, but the good thing is you can choose to use the Shark PowerDetect Transformer just as a stick and handheld, and only make it upright to empty the bin. Its noise will be loved by parents who vacuum to wake you up, but in general, it is quite loud when in use and when emptying. Its dust pick-up could be better, too.

Overall, though, I enjoyed using the Shark PowerDetect Transformer, and it’s become my ‘upstairs’ vacuum, as it expertly cleans both my carpet and hardwood on those floors.

Shark PowerDetect Transformer review: alternatives to consider

If upright is your bag, the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets is a great corded vacuum cleaner that’s extremely lightweight. There’s plenty of cable to go around, and it expertly cleans up pet and human hair, as well as other dirt and debris.

Another upright model – but this one is cordless – is the Gtech AirRAM Platinum. It’s extremely slim, and offers an excellent performance across all floor types. Its LED headlights are like Shark’s, and it also has a clever bin-emptying system.

Finally, if you’re a Shark fan but want an upright cordless model, the Shark FreeStyle Pro is light, easy to carry and despite its clunky bin, it turns corners well and gets into tricky spaces.

Building a compact laptop in 2026 is a complicated thing. Spikes in component prices have turned overall pricing into a nightmarish gauntlet. Consumers are now more demanding than ever in an age of AI agents that hoover up computing capacity and browsers that chew up RAM like there's no tomorrow.

I've tested a few of the best laptops this year that already feel as though a last-minute price hike killed off their potential, but I think Asus has just about avoided that fate with this Snapdragon-powered Zenbook 14. This is a great laptop that I think stands pretty proud in its entry-level specification, with a design that makes it super easy to cart about too.

Price and Availability

The Zenbook 14 comes in quite a few flavours, which is no surprise based on previous models, but I've had the Qualcomm Snapdragon X version, which is available to order now, with shipping generally estimated for late September 2026.

That version starts nice and competitively at £799 here in the UK and $799 in the US, although it's worth knowing this comes with 8GB of RAM; to up that to 16GB you have to jump to £/$1,199.99, which is quite sizeable. I'll expand more on the specs below.

Design and Specs

The Zenbook 14 is a familiar machine in most main ways – Asus hasn't ripped up the design principles it's been working from for the last few years. In fact, it shouldn't shock anyone to learn that the Zenbook 14 is exactly like a smaller version of the Zenbook A16 that I tested earlier this year.

This means that Ceraluminum takes centre stage again – Asus' in-house branding for ceramic aluminium, the main material on the outside of the laptop's casing. It's a really interesting material that has grown on me over time, and in a weird way I like it better on this smaller laptop than I did on the larger one.

It's miles lighter than most metal finishes, but with a matte, almost dusty finish that I think looks really attractive in the blue colour of the model that I've been testing. It also doesn't attract fingerprints too badly, unlike most other laptops on the market. This also keeps the laptop super light at just 1.15kg by my scale.

In terms of design, once you open up the laptop, you'll be greeted by a 14-inch OLED display running a 1080p resolution – which is a panel type that I'm really pleased to see at this starting price.

It also has a generously proportioned keyboard with decent spacing between the keys, and a big trackpad to go with it.

The left edge of the laptop houses a few ports – an HDMI, two USB-C with power delivery, and a 3.5mm jack for audio. The right edge, meanwhile, has a single USB-A port. I'd have loved to see an SD card slot here, too, but I'm sure there are a whole heap of people who don't mind that omission, either.

The laptop runs on a Snapdragon X (X1-26-100) 8-core chipset, which is far from the newest of Qualcomm's chips, but remains a reliable performer. At this price, I think it's a fair choice from Asus.

To go with that, you'll start with 8GB of RAM, as mentioned, and that's a little stingy, for all that RAM is a particularly sticky subject right now where pricing is concerned. The starting spec also has a 256GB SSD, and upgrading to 16GB of RAM does at least bump this to 512GB, too.

I tested that beefier, specced-up version, so I can't speak directly to the performance of the 8GB variant, but we realistically know that 8GB is starting to feel like a stretch for the AI age on Windows.

Regardless, the Zenbook 14 comes with just about the precise specs that I'd expect at this point in 2026, and a design that I think succeeds in some ways that other more heavyweight rivals don't quite match.

Performance and Display

How does that Snapdragon chipset actually fare when in use, then? Well, with a 16GB configuration, I've found the Zenbook 14 a super zippy performer that's happily coped with everything I've thrown its way as part of my working day.

That's included plenty of image editing, juggling multiple browsers with a dozen or so tabs, streaming video and letting all of these run in the background the whole time. That's a pretty good indication of the multi-tasking potential that this machine harbours.

I've also been impressed by its cooling, which really hasn't been too loud and hasn't stopped the laptop from getting burning hot like some others I've used in the last couple of years.

Perhaps the laptop's biggest strength, especially in that entry-price configuration, is the OLED display. It's a real looker, elevating this laptop nicely into a more premium-feeling bracket. The bezels are impressively slim on the right and left, too.

One slight downside is that it's only a 60Hz panel, but that's not much of a gripe for regular productivity use, even if it's still worth knowing about before you take the plunge on buying.

Battery life is really solid here, too – Asus says it can stretch to 30+ hours, and while I haven't eked out quite that much from it, it's consistently gone through a workday happily enough, which is the most important threshold.

Sound is also impressively solid – the stereo speaker system won't have you writing home, but it's better than it could have been, and ensures you won't be wincing while watching videos, either.

Verdict

It's hard to poke many holes in the Zenbook 14, which does exactly what it says on the tin – and makes a lot of sense as a result.

It's a great little laptop for those who need something to power their productivity and work, with a lightweight design that's a little unlike the majority of alternatives (in a good way).

It's a shame that upping the ante from 8GB base to 16GB RAM requires such a steep jump in price, because that configuration is the more attractive for future-proofing against further Windows performance issues.

Still, the entry asking price of the 8GB variant means that Asus is neither embarrassing any of the competition nor itself – it's basically exactly the price you'd expect to pay right now. Which marks this out as a very viable option for your shopping list.

Also consider

If you want a Windows laptop that's light and sleek, and you have similar money to spend on it, you'd probably better check out the Dell XPS 13 that launched recently. Its starting price has already dipped lower thanks to an early sale, which makes this design marvel even more tempting.

Of course, to spend a little less and jump into the Apple ecosystem, you could also turn to the MacBook Neo, which promised to tear up the market before getting a price hike of its own. Even with that, it's still a very solid buy for a MacBook that should be good for quite some time, at a price that doesn't cause too much stress.