Inhaltsverzeichnis für December 2020 in T3

1 LG TONE FREE FN7 • £TBC, lg.com There’s a long, long list of things that makes for great true wireless ear buds, and in creating the Tone Free FN7s LG is determined that it has ticked absolutely every box. Fit? Covered, with innovative new ear tips offering solid passive isolation and IPX4 water resistance enough to stop sweat and rain ingress. Noise cancelling? Well, yes: there’s that passive isolation, and a newly developed ANC, which LG reckons squashes sound more effectively over a wider range of frequencies than its competitors. Sound? Tick. LG continues its processing partnership with Huntingdon’s Meridian Audio, which has tuned the FN7’s DSP to replicate the experience of listening to actual loudspeakers, added its own Headphone Spatial Processing tech to significantly widen the soundstage, and…

Q ELIOT WISE, JERSEY Can I use an OLED TV as a monitor? A Guru can’t control what you do in the privacy of your own home. You’re welcome to use just about any screen as a monitor. The question isn’t one of ‘can I do it?’, but ‘should I do it?’; mostly, Guru would recommend against using non-monitors as monitors, because monitors are meant to be used as monitors whereas non-monitors are not. TVs are built to be enjoyed from across a room, playing content from distinctly non-PC sources. In the case of OLED, though, things aren’t quite so cut and dried. The precision and speed of its pixel updates tends to be vastly superior to that of LCD-based TVs, particularly in newer models like LG’s CX series TVs,…

What a year it’s been! The big winners of 2020 in the tech world have been Amazon and, in fact, anyone with a functioning online shop. With an honorary mention going to Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, whose respective consoles must have made them a mint. The tech losers this year, the cynical might say, would include much of the remaining population of the world. I don’t know about you but I’m knackered. Spied on and over-exposed to news we’d frankly rather not hear, we’ve been left paranoid and exhausted from online political machinations, online bullying and online shopping when there is a huge virtual queue and all you want is a box of nails. Global rage probably reached a peak during the recent American election – I am saying ‘recent’…

1 SAMSUNG Q90T TV If you’re picking up a next-gen console, you need a next-gen TV to go with it. The Q90T gives you an ultra-low 11ms input lag, supports VFR, auto low-latency, HDMI 2.1 – everything the PS5 and Xbox Series X demand to look their best. It’s super-bright, too, with a punchy picture and a super-slick Tizen operating system, and it doesn’t cost the earth. From £1,299, samsung.com 2 MARIO KART LIVE: HOME CIRCUIT Leave it to Nintendo to make radio-controlled cars fun again: here, you set up gates and chevrons, fire up your Switch, and take Mario for a FPV trundle around your living room. You can race against AR opponents, which is surprisingly entertaining, but this really comes into its own when you’ve got four Karts…

1 GARMIN INSTINCT SOLAR The chunky Instinct Solar is both a practical and useful multi-sports watch made for the outdoors, and one of the best monochrome smart watches you can get because of its outrageous battery life. Garmin’s innovative Power Glass trickle-charges the batteries to potentially keep it running indefinitely, as long as you’re getting enough sun. £350, garmin.com 2 NEXTBASE 622GW Nextbase’s rise to the top of the dashcam market is fully deserved when it puts out products like this. It shoots the road in anything from 4K at 30fps to 1080p at a slo-mo friendly 120fps, with digital image stabilisation to ensure bumps in the road don’t affect that pin-sharp footage. And it also has top-quality night vision and extreme weather compensation. £250, nextbase.com 3 GOPRO HERO 9…

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Everyone wants true wireless headphones right now. We know from looking at sales data, and the fact that brands send us about 20 new pairs of the buggers every week. It wouldn’t be wildly off the mark to say that, more specifically, everyone wants Apple AirPods – or AirPods Pro. And without doubt, those are both very good options. However, you’d be a fool to head straight to the Apple Store without considering the plethora of high quality offerings from other brands. For this State of the Art review, we’ve picked out three very different rivals that all match or better Apple’s buds in various ways. True wireless headphones have only really existed for five years, and they have improved massively since their early days. Where the first generation of…

1 MOSHI PORTO Q While it’s not the cheapest charger out there, this is pretty much perfect for juicing up your true wireless buds. Not only does it offer 5W Qi charging, it also has a 5,000mAh in-built battery, making it the ideal last resort when even your case is flat. £84.75, moshi.com 2 GARMIN FORERUNNER 245 MUSIC Nothing goes as well with a nice-fitting set of true wireless buds as a lightweight running watch with built-in music storage. And the Forerunner 245 Music is a great option, offering six hours of battery in GPS mode with music. £299.99, garmin.com 3 MIGHTY VIBE Running watches aren’t for everyone and yet there are plenty of times you want tunes while travelling light. The iPod-Shuffle-esque Mighty Vibe fills that Lilliputian hole, offering…

Included with £79 Amazon Prime membership, amazon.co.uk WELCOME TO THE BLUMHOUSE We’re never running out of horror anthologies to watch, but Welcome to the Blumhouse takes the genre to another level by taking the full-length film route. It offers viewers suspense-filled offerings that are more than an hour-long each. There’s eight of them for now, starting with four that are already out on Amazon Prime Video: The Lie, Evil Eye, Black Box and Nocturne. Release dates for the second half of the series have yet to be revealed, but these four should get your adrenaline pumping while you while away those cold winter nights. Release date: 6 October UNCLE FRANK Uncle Frank is bound to be a tearjerker, if its nostalgic trailer is anything to go by. With such successes…

HOW WE TEST In T3, we feature only the finest gadgets out there, and we believe that you – our loyal reader – deserve only the best tech in your life. We don’t want you to waste time, and money, on inferior products, and that’s exactly why our Tested section exists. In here you’ll find only the latest and hottest tech. Each product has been handpicked and tested by T3’s experts. We only choose people with specialist knowledge for each test, so you know you’re going to get an outcome based on many years of experience in their respective field. As well as our traditional five-star rating system (right), we also give out awards to particularly exceptional gadgets, using the line-up below - so when you spot one of these,…

BACARDI MIXING CONSOLE Given we’re facing a fairly locked down festive period, we could all do with a taste of the Caribbean right now. Fortunately, Bacardi has you covered, bringing you that bashment spirit, whether you’re more interested in spinning records or spinning liquor bottles. Designed by renowned furniture designer Hugh Miller, the Mixing Console brings together a vinyl mixing console and a drinks cart. It’s custom-built, with the turntable base and the bar top crafted from the rum-soaked staves of the barrels of Bacardi’s premium range. The bespoke walnut drinks tray houses glassware, shakers and spirit bottles, while the built-in Fluance RT80 Vinyl turntable is hooked up to custom 50-watt Bluetooth speakers fronted with an eye-catching brass mesh. All in all, this is the perfect centrepiece for getting the…

Most protein powders follow a one-size-fits-all approach. NGX Nutrition (prices from £89.99, nutri-genetix.com) is trying to solve this issue by combining genetics with nutrition. As part of the package, a DNA test is conducted that focuses on genes related to nutrition, such as ones responsible for metabolising lactose, vitamins and minerals. Once the profile is created, a one-to-one webinar is held with an NGX nutritionist to explain the results and participants also receive NGX powder. Perfect for people who work out.…

Having an outdoor space is always great but in 2020 those yards, lawns, patios, decks and balconies have been more essential than ever. Sales of barbecues have naturally been huge this year but there’s also been a big jump in demand for pizza ovens. As winter draws in, if you want to get a little more use out of your garden, a pizza oven is even more attractive. Why? Because they get very hot and cook extremely fast, and you don’t have to stand over them for ages with a pair of tongs, as you do with a BBQ. Our favourite pizza oven of the summer was The Firepod (£399, thefirepod.com). Firepod recommends cooking pizzas at 350°C. A built-in thermometer and the fact it runs on easily controlled gas means…

Because Mrs Guru is now working from home, GaGu’s mind is being forcibly turned once again to renovations. There’s a whole trickle-down list of jobs to be done, the first of which was for Guru to board the loft. Given the ample insulation of Guru Towers (GaGu will still not have turned the heating on by the time you read this) simply screwing boards onto the joists is a bad idea in terms of both damp and crushing the ceilings below. Cue a kit from LoftZone, with steel crossbeams and recycled plastic legs, which allows even DIY incompetents like Guru to install a raised floor above that lung-scouring fibreglass. It’s not too pricey, either. Time will tell if GaGu’s installation causes a massive collapse. One thing his trip to the…

1 PAWFIT 2 Rugged, waterproof, and plenty clever, the Pawfit 2 allows you to track your dog’s movements both to see how healthy they are and to work out just where they’ve run off to now. If they do get lost, program in a voice message for anyone that might find them, or trigger an on-collar alarm that should (fingers crossed) send them back to you in a flash. £55, pawfit.com 2 ZEROWATER 23-CUP DISPENSER A Brita-beater? Perhaps; ZeroWater claims its proprietary five-stage filters can zap impurities you wouldn’t want in your water, including chromium and lead, and bundles in a water-quality meter to prove it. This filter jug fits snugly in your fridge, and can contain about five and a half litres of pure, cold, clean H2O. £45, zerowater.co.uk…

ALL UNDER £100 1 DESIGNNEST MAGNETCUBES Marble runs are big business these days, as any YouTube-addled kid will tell you. Here you get 64 magnet-attached cubes that can be almost-infinitely reconfigured to create a vast range of courses, though we suspect the satisfying snap-together action will offer more long lasting appeal than dropping a ball bearing along its fancy track. Or maybe that’s just us. £40, designnest.com 2 THE CHILD ANIMATRONIC TOY This inevitable toy spin-off from The Mandalorian is dead cute, with a huge range of sound and movement combinations built in, and even motorised ears. Pat it on the head three times and The Child will use the Force; lay it down, and it’ll take a Force Nap, something we’re all inclined to do from time to time.…

From £5.99/month, netflix.com MOTHER Those not quite ready to move on from Halloween or in need of a dark counterweight to all those joyous offerings should enjoy hunkering down to this Japanese dark drama. Mother is about a boy whose dangerously codependent relationship with his emotionally disturbed mum is put to the test as he grows up and comes into his own. It seems like a hard tale to tell during the holidays, but it’s something that might feel fitting for those who are dreading that obligatory Christmas dinner with the family. Release date: 3 November SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE The latest animated Spider-Man movie may have been out for a couple of years now, but it’s hands-down among the best superhero movies out there. With a terrific soundtrack, felicitous…

£4.99/month, apple.com/uk/apple-tv-plus/ ON THE ROCKS Without even taking into account its stellar cast, this powerful comedy-drama about marriage, growing old, and the bittersweet relationship between parents and their grown kids is, in true Sofia Coppola fashion, both lovely and eccentric. It also has a reasonable amount of hilarity sprinkled in, courtesy of performers like Marlon Wayans. Add Bill Murray’s and Rashida Jones’ spot-on acting chops to the mix, and you’ve got a movie with depth and tenderness that’s just the ticket for a movie night with the parentals. Release date: 2 October BECOMING YOU Ever wonder how we became the way we are as individuals? Becoming You tries to explore that by peeking into how the first 2,000 days of people’s time here on Earth influence their personalities and their…

With the latest Amazon Echo, we have the biggest design change in the six years since the Alexa smart speaker first appeared on the scene: cylinders are out, spheres are in. We’re going to be honest: we preferred the old cylindrical design for the Echo. The sphere shapes that Amazon has gone all-in on in 2020 look a bit too much like a fancy paperweight or a pet toy to us, though the acoustics do seem to be slightly better with the shift in shape. Something else we’re not particularly happy about is the switching of the status light from the top to the bottom of the device. If you’re standing up and the Echo is on a low table, you have to duck down to make sure the speaker…

Fitness trackers and running watches are most usually worn on the wrist and therefore provide information based on how one side of the body moves. This information is analysed and extrapolated by the algorithms in the watch to ‘guess’ how the rest of the body moves. The INCUS | NOVA tracker (£199.99, incusperformance.com) promises a different approach. Originally developed to track advanced swimming metrics, the NOVA is now capable of providing advanced running metrics too. These metrics include running power; average pace; cadence; take-off acceleration; landing deceleration; elevation profile and distance. And although some of these can be tracked by running watches already, due to the location of the NOVA tracker – it’s positioned on top of the spine – it promises to provide more accurate numbers than wrist wearables.…

The northern lights are expected to be fantastically bright this winter, thanks partly to cleaner, clearer skies, so why not take an aurora-borealis-themed adventure? Here’s where to watch the greatest light show on the planet. Don’t make the mistake of assuming you have to head overseas to admire the aurora borealis. The dark skies above Northumberland National Park earned the region its Dark Sky Park designation in 2013, and it’s a great spot to observe the Northern Lights. We recommend basing yourself at Bardon Mill’s Twice Brewed Inn (twicebrewedinn.co.uk), with its packed calendar of stargazing events and team of aurora experts. This wonderfully cosy hotel even has its own observatory on-site. If you’re keen to head further afield, consider Finland’s remote Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort (kakslauttanen.fi), where you can bed down…

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES Thirty years on, the reboot of Unsolved Mysteries is a bit less supernatural nonsense and a bit more grisly murder, but it’s well worth a watch if you’re hunting around on Netflix. ULTRA MONO With Idles, imagine John Spencer Blues Explosion went to war with the Pixies, then the remaining musicians wrote an amazing, angry album – with Jamie Cullum guesting! MAD MEN Everything up to the end of season seven is up on Amazon Prime Video, with full second-screen X-Ray functionality. Treat yourself to a rewatch, or enjoy it for the first time.…

1 ROKU STREAMING STICK + For a first step on the smart streaming ladder, you could do a lot worse than going Roku. This is highly affordable, manages a solid 4K HDR picture and, critically, is unbiased. While Roku now offers its own programming, the voice search on its remote will direct you to the smart TV app that makes the most sense without leaning towards its own platform. £50, roku.com 2 FIRE TV CUBE You’re not short of options when it comes to Fire TV devices – if you don’t need 4K, the Fire TV Stick Lite is just £30 – but this double-duty combination of Alexa speaker and TV streamer is currently the best of the bunch. Its hexa-core processor gives it a good lick of speed, there’s…

From £5.99/month, disneyplus.com THE MANDALORIAN (SEASON 2) At this point, we don’t know much about what will happen in the second season of the popular Star Wars show. What we do know is that it’ll pick up where it left off, with the Mandalorian now tasked with reuniting the Child with its people – or as the bounty hunter likes to call them, “a race of enemy sorcerers”. Galactic-level battles are expected, naturally; as are those deadpan comedic moments we’ve come to know and love about the show. Baby Yoda is returning, of course. This is the way. Release date: 30 October MULAN Mulan may have cost folks an additional £19.99 to watch when it was first released, not a small amount, but come December, it’ll finally be free to…

From £7.99/month, nowtv.com THE SECRET GARDEN It may not be as good as Agnieszka Holland’s 1993 adaptation, but it’s still a great movie to watch under the covers while you pass the dreary weeks of winter and dream of warmer springtime days. Colin Firth and Julie Walters (who play Mr Craven and Mrs Medlock respectively) are reason enough to watch this 2020 version, but the timelessness and nostalgic quality of the story itself should convince you even more. It certainly has its charms, and the kids need a break from the mind-numbing cartoon shows anyway. Release date: 23 October THE GOOD LORD BIRD If it comes from the producers of such masterpieces as Get Out and BlacKkKlansman, you can pretty much count on it being incredible. And, that’s exactly what…

This year has seen quite a few brands launch their first 48-inch OLED sets. But there’s more to this TV than just being available in a smaller size: the Philips OLED+935 has piled on the features until it covers all realistic audio/visual bases – and then one or two others, just for good measure. Everyone knows OLED TVs are gloriously slim right until the part where they store all their electronics hardware – and so an OLED TV can really only be as slim as its deepest part. Philips, sensibly, has decided against pursuing ‘as much slimness as possible’ in favour of giving its Ambilight feature as much room to operate as is necessary. And given that the OLED+935 is only 47mm deep at its chubbiest point, it’s hardly a…

If you’re looking for the very best tech available today, you’ve definitely come to the right place. Best of the Best is the most useful gadget-buying guide you will ever encounter. To create it, we’ve extensively tested the best tech the world has to offer, to bring you rock-solid recommendations for your home life, daily commute and the tech you use all the time. In 54 different categories, we’ve chosen the top four products, so you can choose one that’s just the right mix of features and budget for what you need. These rankings come from real testing by our team of experts – they’re the products we’d choose for ourselves, and we can’t recommend any higher than that. Look for the links above each category that take you to…