Inhaltsverzeichnis für November 2018 in T3

SEABUBBLES BUBBLE TAXI With around four billion cars expected to be on the road by 2050, congestion and pollution are only going to get worse. A group of aeronautical engineers in France don’t like the sound of this, so they have come up with a very clever solution to the problem. Say bonjour, then, to the Bubble Taxi, a revolutionary water-based car that runs on a 2x10-watt battery that’s recharged by the sun, wind and water while the vessel is docked. The Bubble also uses the same hydrofoil technology found in the speed record-smashing Hydroptère trimaran to elevate itself above the waves once it reaches seven knots. The result is a zero-noise, zero-waves ride that promises to get you to work quicker, and with minimal motion sickness. You won’t even…

1 GOOGLE PIXEL 3 From £739, store.google.com The Google Pixel 2 wowed us with its camera prowess last year (it’s arguably still the best on the market a year later), so we relished the chance to get our hands on the Pixel 3 ahead of its launch. We wanted to see whether the rest of the phone matched it, and if Google had worked even more magic with the camera. The Pixel 3 retains the two-tone, matte, softly curved design that was evident on last year’s range. With its aluminium frame, it feels smooth and premium in the hand. The 5.5-inch model that we tried eschews fashion by not including a notch in the screen, but the bigger 6.3-inch Pixel 3 XL does have a chunky section cut out of…

THE JACKET Tom Hardy makes every film premiere look effortless, just as he does here in this simple yet hugely versatile bomber. Flex just as well in an all-black J.Lindeberg Thom Gravity Bomber (£200, asos.com). THE JEANS Denim is a true staple of Tom’s wardrobe, and he often bases outfits around it. Go for a similar look to the ones pictured here by choosing a pair of Slim Jeans from Tom Ford (£520, mrporter.com). THE SHOES Hardy wears these essential beige and white Nikes with aplomb, showing that the right sneakers can elevate your look too. Step out just like Hardy with suede Air Max 1s (£126, farfetch.com).…

TOD’S GOMMINO DRIVING SHOES Comfortable as a slipper on the foot, these navy suede slip-ons look stylish and have a full black rubber sole, which provides extra grip when driving – and when you’re navigating icy winter pavements to get to your car. £320, store.tods.co RIPARO MOTORSPORTS SOFT LEATHER DRIVING GLOVES Thanks to a mesh-perforated leather design, these are suitable for wear during cold and warm weather. They’re available in four different colours and multiple sizes, and feature a snap button at the wrist for a secure fit. £37.99, amazon.co.uk MAUI JIM WIKI WIKI SUNGLASSES POLARISED Due to the warm bronze lens colour, these are ideal for everyday driving and changing light conditions. The lenses are polarised, too, so you won’t have to worry about the glare from light reflecting…

LEATHERMAN MUT EOD £239.95, leatherman.co.uk From a beefy field blade, fuse-wire and cutters, to cap crimpers, a carbon scraper, bolt override tool and a replaceable C4 punch, the Leatherman MUT EOD is versatile and super-rugged. Stainless steel, bronze and black oxide combine to provide 15 tools in an intriguing design, topped with a 25-year warranty. VICTORINOX SWISSTOOL X PLUS RATCHET £210, victorinox.com From numerous screwdrivers to a wire cutter, and a woodsaw to a bottle opener, a metal file to a chisel, the SwissTool X Plus Ratchet’s super-compact design houses 29 tools and a whopping 38 functions. Elegant but practical, the multi-tool comes with a tasteful leather pouch and a (priceless) lifetime warranty.…

THE GARDENS BETWEEN This breathtaking game from The Voxel Agents transports you to a series of small islands, where you use time, team work and the objects around you to solve the puzzles you find. CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA If you need something spooky to watch on Halloween, put on Netflix’s horror retelling of Sabrina, which sees the young witch take on Madam Satan. BLACKBIRD One of comic books’ biggest talents, artist Jen Bartel, teams up with writer Sam Humphries for this neon-drenched slice of California gothic. A new series from Image, issue #1 is out now.…

DOLBY VISION OLED HERO LG C8 (OLED55C8) LG’s 55-inch C8 OLED is the very model of a modern major flatscreen. Its webOS smart platform boasts all the streaming services you could want, augmented by LG ThinQ AI voice control for improved search. Thanks to an Alpha 9 intelligent processor, picture quality is breathtakingly fine, with copious detail, excellent colour and perfect blacks. HDR coverage includes DolbyVision, HDR10 and HLG. It even has a Dolby Atmos-enabled Netflix app onboard. £1,999, lg.com “ALEXA, PLAY MOVIES” OPTOMA UHD51A ALEXA 4K PROJECTOR Alexa can now turn on your home cinema projector, but that’s not the only reason to love this UHD-capable Optoma. This compact projector doesn’t just look crystal clear with 4K content, it’s also compatible with 3D too. TVs may have given up…

ALL FUN, NO FUSS ROKU STREAMING STICK PLUS Thanks to a bulletproof user interface, this UHD streamer is a pleasure to use. There’s no Ethernet, but the supplied USB power lead doubles as a Wi-Fi antenna. A single HDMI plugs into your TV or AV receiver. Netflix, YouTube and Amazon are all available in 4K and HDR where available, and there’s a full complement of catch-up TV. £80, roku.com HIGH-RES AUDIO PLAYBACK GOOGLE CHROMECAST ULTRA The smartest of Google’s Chromecast dongles, the Ultra supports 4K and HDR streaming over Wi-Fi. Usability is the key difference between the Ultra and other streaming boxes. There’s wide support for Chromecast-compatible apps, including YouTube and Netflix. And as it uses a Wi-Fi connection, it also offers high-res audio playback. £69, store.google.com…

HDR SHOWCASES READY PLAYER ONE Steven Spielberg’s pop culture nostalgia ride makes extravagant use of wide colour and dynamic HDR. And the opening race sequence is an audiovisual eye-popper. (Blu-ray, iTunes) BLACK PANTHER Marvel’s superhero hit oozes 4K eye candy, thanks to ace VFX. Vibranium-powered weapons sizzle brightly, and T’Challa’s costume harbours so much near-black detail. (Blu-ray) STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Discovery may ‘only’ be presented in 1080p, but the addition of exquisite lighting and ambitious visual effects go boldly where no other Trek TV show has gone before. (Netflix) BEST 4K REMASTERS CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND 40TH ANNIVERSARY Freshly remastered, Spielberg’s sci-fi classic has never looked better. This edition unlocks hitherto unseen detail, while the use of HDR adds almost three-dimensional depth. (Blu-ray, iTunes) THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY…

01 GET THE APP Before plugging in your Smart Home Controller, you’ll need to download the Bosch Smart Home app (iOS/Android). This is the key to setting up everything in your Home Security Starter Kit. Fire up the app for a complete guide to everything from registering your controller to syncing the motion sensor. 02 SCAN THE QR CODE Inside the Smart Home Controller box you’ll find a QR code. From the Bosch Smart Home app, scan the code using your smartphone or tablet’s camera. The app will recognise the controller and walk you through the registration and setup process. Don’t panic if you’ve mislaid the QR code, as there’s a manual option too. 03 SET UP THE CONTROLLER Push the button on top of the controller until the cloud…

STICK AND TWIST Sketch out where your lights are going before you put them up. Factor in corners, as strips won’t bend beyond 90 degrees. Preview your layout before peeling off the backing and make sure the surface is clean because you only have one shot. KEEP ’EM SEPARATED LEDs placed against a wall mean bursts of colour, so, for a softer look, stick the strip a few inches away from the surface it’ll be projecting onto. And make sure they’re hidden away, because you don’t want 20 LEDs staring you in the face. MEASURE ONCE, CUT TWICE Most LED strips can be cut with scissors, at marked points, to ensure you’re running at the correct length. Bundling up any excess LEDs at one end, leading to an ugly bright…

Not so long ago, the idea of flying a drone through the air sounded like something you’d only find in a sci-fi novel. Rapid advances in technology over the past decade have created a market packed with options that cater for budding aviators of all skill levels. If you just want to capture long-distance selfies on your next sunny holiday, then there’s a drone for that. Perhaps you’re a pro-level photographer or filmmaker who wants to capture high-quality aerial stills and footage – drones make these things possible within a realistic budget, whereas a few years back you’d need to rent a helicopter as well as the equipment to achieve the same results. There’s even a thriving sub-set of drones aimed at people who value thrill-seeking over anything else; drone…

Drones are wonderful things, but like most tech, they can be used for nefarious activities. The obvious dangers involved with remotely controlling a large, sky-bound object have predictably encouraged governments around the world to slap down restrictions on UAV owners, and next year significant changes will come into force in UK drone law. From 30th November 2019, any drone that weighs over 250g will need to be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority and owners need to successfully pass online safety tests; failure to do both of these things will become a criminal offence with a £1,000 fine attached. In addition to this, as of 30th July this year, the existing 400ft (120m) legal maximum height will be applied to any drone weighing between 250g and 7kg – though if…

OLED 4K TV SONY AF8 Sony’s next-gen 4K HDR TV looks fantastic thanks to its OLED display and advanced image processing. Because of ingenious tech that uses the screen itself as a speaker, it also sounds superb. From £2,499, sony.co.uk TOP-END 4K TV LG W8 With an incredible 2.75mm thin screen and a 4.2-channel soundbar, this is a stunner. But there’s also a new brain that takes image quality to a whole new level. It’s more like a window than a screen. From £5,999, lg.com VALUE 4K BLU-RAY PLAYER XBOX ONE S Yes, this is primarily a games console, but it’s a damn good UHD Blu-ray player too. Budget 4K players from other brands still cost around the same as this, but you can’t stick a game in them. £199,…

FAMILY CAR AUDI Q7 E-TRON The Q7 is ice-cool, uncompromising and ruthlessly efficient. The spacious seven-seater has all of the entertainment and technology to make long journeys as smooth and comfortable as possible. From £65,750, audi.co.uk CITY ELECTRIC CAR BMW i3 The i3 is a responsive, highly practical electric runabout packed with connectivity options and enough power in its 170bhp motor to hit 62mph in just 7.3 seconds. Perfect for a daily commute. From £30,250, bmw.co.uk SMART CONNECTOR LOGITECH ZEROTOUCH Transform your Android phone into an Alexa-powered voice assistant for your car. This car holder connects to your phone over Bluetooth to provide voice and gesture control when driving. £49, logitech.com DASH CAM GARMIN DASH CAM 55 Constantly watching the road, the Dash Cam 55 does more than record footage…

ULTRAPORTABLE LAPTOP HP SPECTRE 13 4K An incredibly thin, light and beautiful laptop, with a dense, high-end 4K panel. Despite being 1cm thick, it doesn’t skimp on the power either, thanks to an Intel Core i7 processor. From £1,599, hp.com GAMING LAPTOP ASUS ROG ZEPHYRUS GX501 This is an amazing piece of engineering. Despite being incredibly thin and light (2.2kg), it packs insanely powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics, a quad-core processor, and a 120Hz 1080p display. £2,799, asus.com ALL-IN-ONE APPLE IMAC WITH 5K RETINA DISPLAY There’s never been a screen like this. Big enough for every task, detailed, bright, colourful, and it happens to have a Mac stuffed in the back of it as well. From £1,749, apple.com/uk GAMING HEADSET STEELSERIES ARCTIS PRO WIRELESS This brilliant PC and PS4…

1 B&W 805 Series Diamond Prestige Bowers & Wilkins’ 800 Series Diamond speakers were already some of the most advanced out there, featuring the signature head unit made from a single piece of aluminium (to avoid colouration of the sound from the cabinet), and a tweeter dome made of diamond. The Prestige comes in a Santos Rosewood finish that takes four weeks alone to complete. £19,500 per pair, bowers-wilkins.co.uk 2 Monitor Audio PL500 Platinum II The Platinum II series includes speakers that make for a glorious home cinema setup, but the biggest speakers in the range will blow you away with its music prowess too. Seven drivers in a three-way configuration fill the six-foot body, weighing 100kg each. It’s finished in wood, with 11 layers of clear gloss piano lacquer…

MATT BOLTON Editor Matt’s been expanding his screens this month, putting the bigger iPhone XS Max (p90) and Apple Watch Series 4 (p79) to the test. He can see everything now. Yes, even that. Watch it, you. CLAIRE DAVIES Senior Content Editor Claire got the scoop on how a cutting-edge speaker gets made (p49) with a trip to Devialet’s Paris HQ. “It’s a tough job,” she said, “But someone’s got to do it, as long as that person is me.” JO GULLIVER Senior Art Editor Armed with the info in our complete guide to drones (p82), Jo wants one to take one to festivals for dramatic crowd shots. She says it’s not dangerous, since everyone’ll be too drunk to feel pain… MICHELLE MCLAREN Art Editor After our round-up of smart…

1 OFFICINE CREATIVE BROGUE BOOTS Be ready for inclement weather with these hard-wearing brogues from Officine Creative. They lend themselves beautifully to a smart-casual style. £475, mrporter.com 2 GRENSON CHELSEA BOO TS The chelsea is an all-rounder, yet Grenson has managed to extend the silhouette even further here. The subtle styling helps them bed in with a variety of outfits. £210, matchesfashion.co 3 PAUL SMITH JARMAN BOOTS For shoes that match just as well with a suit as with jeans, try these ultra-supple calf leather boots from Paul Smith. £350, farfetch.com 4 BELSTAFF ALPERTON 2.0 BOOTS These waxed leather boots are rugged enough for weekends in the countryside, and play nicely with neutrals and earthier tones. £425, belstaff.co.uk 5 RED WING CLASSIC MOC TOE BOOTS Boots aren’t always comfortable, yet…

As we head into this year’s party season, it’s important to be aware of the basics of evening wear and black tie in order to achieve the right look for formal events. In a nutshell, black tie is a strict dress code comprising a black two-piece suit. But how can you work with black tie’s nuanced etiquette, while still maintaining a cool, modern edge to your outfit that helps you feel comfortable and more yourself? To make this task easier, T3 reached out to renowned London-based personal stylist Daniel Johnson (daniel-johnson.com). He’s worked with brands including Saint Laurent, Moncler and Berluti, and has appeared on BBC2’s Millionaires Gift Guide and the BBC World News in a segment entitled, ‘Is the Suit Dead?’ “As with all the best food and music,…

1 GARMIN FENIX 5 PLUS Rugged yet premium, the new Fenix 5 Plus has best-in-test mapping and GPS tracking, wrist HR, smart connectivity, plus music playback. £699.99, garmin.com 2 INOV-8 PROTEC-SHELL WATERPROOF JACKET Feel bulletproof in this three-layer, 20,000 HH waterproof. Streamline tech on the cuffs keeps water off your hands. £270, inov-8.com 3 BLACK DIAMOND DISTANCE CARBON Z TREKKING POLES Impressively light, these poles fold away neatly and are strong and durable too. £130, eu.blackdiamondequipment.com 4 SALOMON OUTLINE MID GTX Deep lugs, a protective toe cap and full Gore-Tex. Trainer-like comfort ready for both hillside and urban adventures. £130, salomon.com 5 PETZL NAO+ The NAO+ boasts 750 lumens, while reactive lighting adjusts brightness according to ambient conditions. £154.99, petzl.com…

What better way to put aside memories of a blazing hot summer and get a boost before the Christmas onslaught than with a couple of nights in an idyllic country bolt-hole? Here are three very different places where you can hunker down by a log fire after a long, rambling walk through the countryside and a couple of pints in the local pub… Cornwall is our first choice, and the best time to visit is out of season when it’s a little quieter. For a real escape, either the cabin or the observatory at Halzephron House, near Gunwalloe, are perfect. Set in four acres and with glorious ocean views, these beautifully styled cottages are ideal for two people. There are three great beaches nearby and a terrific pub, The Halzephron…

LUMIE BODYCLOCK SHINE 300 Soaking up the sun’s rays helps boost your mood and productivity. With Lumie’s sunshine mimicker you can create an artificial sunrise or sunset and adjust the length, plus choose between 14 sleep and wake sounds. £125, lumie.com BEDJET 3 Not content with launching a climate-control system that lets you programme your optimal temperature for each hour of the night, the bods behind the BedJet have now added Alexa voice control, an app and a colour-screen remote control. from $399 (£307), bedjet.com LECTROFAN EVO Whoever coined the phrase ‘sleeping soundly’ must’ve had the EVO in mind. This little device emits a range of scientifically developed sounds – from white, pink and brown noise to crashing ocean waves – to help you doze off naturally. $60 (£45), soundofsleep.com…

THE AUDIOPHILE CHOICE MARANTZ SR7013 DOLBY ATMOS 5.1.4 AVR Offering a classically refined Marantz sonic approach, the SR7013 is a nine-channel 3D audio amplifier (with 11-channel processing), tuned for movies and high-res audio. The brand’s sweet HDAM amplifier tech ensures supreme musicality, while a double-layer copper-plated chassis combats resonance during movie soundtracks. £1,749, marantz.co.uk POWERHOUSE HOME THEATRE DENON AVR-X4500 DOLBY ATMOS 5.1.4 AVR With nine brawny channels of amplification, this big Denon opens the door to either 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 Atmos surround. More impressively, it can decode 11 channels (7.1.4) if you add an additional stereo amplifier. Built around a 9x200W power plant, audio quality is crisp and detailed, and connectivity is top class with eight HDMI inputs. £1,499, denon.co.uk DSP MEETS DOLBY ATMOS SONY STR-DN1080 DOLBY ATMOS AV RECEIVER…

1 MICROSOFT SURFACE PEN PLATINUM Painfully expensive, perhaps, but Microsoft’s pressure- and tilt-sensitive Surface Pen is a superb way to get digital ink onto your screen. Replaceable tips give you precisely the feel you’re after, from pen to pencil and beyond. £99.99, microsoft.com 2 INATECK 15-15.4 INCH LAPTOP SLEEVE BRIEFCASE The outer shell of the Surface Book isn’t particularly delicate, but you wouldn’t just want to toss it into a bag and be done with it. Prevent irreversible scratches and protect those sharp corners with a soft, classy case that comes with five layers of device protection. £18.99, amazon.co.uk 3 JRC BODY GUARD STICKERS Stickers? On a Surface Book 2? Well, these aren’t the nerdy stickers you’ll see on the lids of battered old laptops. No, these are protective polyester…

01 A SPARE BATTERY Given that many drones are only capable of flying for a few minutes before their power cells are depleted, a spare battery – if you can fit one – is a must. With one, you can swap on-site and get back in the air quickly. 02 FPV HEADSET This isn’t a feature that’s common to all drones, but those that have it are instantly more appealing. Using your smartphone in the same way as a Samsung Gear VR, you can see a drone’s view of the world below. 03 PROPELLER GUARDS Those propellers can potentially cause harm to objects and people. A set of guards will not only prevent nasty nicks, but also protect the drone’s blades from damage.…

Training throughout the wet and cold months is hard-going even for the most dedicated cyclists… Unless, of course, you have a Wattbike Atom. This ultra-smart indoor bike provides you with a realistic training session whenever you want it, and we have one to give away. The Atom is renowned for replicating the sensation of riding on the road, enabling you to enhance your training and to gain valuable insight into your riding style. It’s designed to be used with your tablet or smartphone, with resistance and power output either controlled manually or available to be pre-programmed. The bike wirelessly interacts with the likes of Strava and TrainingPeaks, plus GPS devices and heart-rate monitors. You can also sync it with training platforms like Zwift and TrainerRoad. Accuracy is assured, too, as…

MULTI-ROOM SPEAKERS SONOS ONE Pound for pound, this is a hell of a lot of speaker for your money, easily filling a room, and expandable through the versatile Sonos speaker range. Built-in Alexa support clinches it for Sonos. £199, sonos.com PORTABLE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER CAMBRIDGE AUDIO YOYO M These portable speakers are made for wireless stereo sound and come as a pair (though you can use one on its own). They offer punchy audio in an impressively wide sound field, and look great, too. £249, cambridgeaudio.com WIRELESS IN-EAR HEADPHONES BOSE SOUNDSPORT FREE These are great all-rounder headphones, with the bonus of true wireless freedom. They sound great, are sweat-proof for exercise, have a healthy five-hour battery life per charge, and are a good price. £179, bose.co.uk WIRED IN-EAR HEADPHONES KEF M100…

VOICE ASSISTANT AMAZON ECHO Alexa is everywhere these days, but nowhere is Amazon’s AI more at home than in its Echo. It couples an awesome array microphone with pleasing design for the perfect assistant experience. £89, amazon.co.uk SMART DOORBELL RING VIDEO DOORBELL 2 Part motion-detecting security camera, part ring-anywhere doorbell, the Video Doorbell 2 alerts you via your smartphone when you have a visitor – and you can two-way talk even if you’re not home. £179, ring.com LIFESTYLE WI-FI CAMERA LOGITECH CIRCLE 2 WIRED No smart home cam is as fun to use as this – instead of CCTV, it’s more like a Fitbit of home monitoring. It provides a sped-up ‘brief’ of the day, two-way communication, has a 180° camera and Alexa control. £149, logitech.com DOOR & WINDOW SENSORS…

ENTRY-LEVEL DSLR CANON EOS 800D The 800D gets great features from Canon’s pro line, including a snappy 45-point AF system, top build quality, articulating screen and, most importantly, fantastic image quality. A top all-rounder. From £609, canon.co.uk MIRRORLESS CAMERA SONY A9 It’s so expensive, but it earns every penny by packing an incredible 24.2-megapixel full-frame sensor, with 20fps shooting while tracking autofocus the whole way. It’s a technical and imaging marvel. £4,299, sony.co.uk ACTION CAMERA GOPRO HERO 7 BLACK On top of classic GoPro toughness and 4K 60fps image quality, this adds image stabilisation that makes recordings super smooth. It has voice control, a touchscreen, and is waterproof to 10m. £399, gopro.com RUNNING WATCH GARMIN FORERUNNER 645 MUSIC Garmin is the king of sports watches. Fast GPS and oodles of…

The nights are getting dark, and the days are getting rainy, so it’s time to hide indoors and work your way through half of Netflix. Of course, this presents you with an excellent excuse to upgrade your living room setup to make the most of the latest and great AV tech. Now that 4K is firmly entrenched, the next big upgrade that makes a genuine difference to your viewing experience is Dolby Atmos. If you get a setup that adds height as well as surround sound, movies really do become a cinematic event, even when you’re at home on your tatty old couch. Our feature on p34 is designed to make it easy for you to choose the home cinema upgrades that best suit you. Elsewhere, I think smartwatches are…

BRAUN AW 10 EVO The iconic AW 10, Braun’s first wristwatch designed by Dietrich Lubs and Dieter Rams, has been updated for more modern tastes while still sticking to the original blueprint. £250, braun-clocks.com CALVIN KLEIN SWING The fashion brand’s first step into ‘proper’ watchmaking, this stylish timepiece features a stunning automatic movement, showen off with a skeleton dial and transparent caseback. £549, calvinklein.co.uk BAUME HRS LIMITED EDITION Baume and legendary skateboarder Erik Ellington have teamed up to make this watch from used skateboard decks. Each timepiece from the collection will be utterly unique. £TBC, baumewatches.com…

You can almost hear Doc Brown telling Marty McFly: “Wing mirrors? Where we’re going, we don’t need wing mirrors!” Or something. But the car you’re looking at isn’t from the future. No, this is the Audi e-tron (from £70,805; audi.co.uk) and it goes on sale early next year. In place of good old-fashioned wing mirrors, the German marque’s first standalone all-electric model, a five-seater SUV, boasts a pair of cameras that transmit a live video feed to interactive OLED displays inside the doors. With various pre-programmed settings (motorway, turning, parking), a zoom feature and the ability to aim the cameras in totally different directions, you can enjoy unprecedented ease of manoeuvrability. Replacing mirrors with cameras also reduces the e-tron’s drag rating, contributing to a Tesla-rivalling 248-mile range per charge. Performance…

BOSE SOUNDSPORT FREE EARBUDS This Bose bud-tip nozzle has been engineered to spread contact evenly around the inside of your ear, while the fin naturally fits your lug’s upper ridge. They simply don’t fall out, whatever you’re doing, are super-comfortable and sound great too. £179.95, bose.co.uk SONY WF-1000X Whether you’re travelling, talking or walking, Adaptive Sound Control detects your activity and adjusts the ambient sound settings. These buds auto power on; noise cancellation is benchmark quality; and preferences can be customised in-app. £180, sony.co.uk JABRA ELITE 65T As well as excellent wind noise perception, the Jabra Sound+ app enables full sound customisation: voice assistant, music profiles, how much ambient noise you want to hear, and battery life, plus predefined settings for different situations. £149.99, jabra.co.uk…

ILI TRANSLATION Ever been lost for words when dining or shopping abroad? Speak into the handheld ili and it will instantly translate what you’ve said, and without the need for Wi-Fi. At the moment it handles English to Spanish, Japanese or Mandarin. £151, iamili.com/us WAVERLY LABS PILOT Here’s a neat way to tune into another language: when you to listen to someone talking in a language you don’t understand, the Pilot can translate listen in and translate. You can also share a secondary earbud with that person so that you can converse. 15 languages are currently supported. £151, waverlylabs.com BRAGI THE DASH PRO When used in tandem with the iTranslate app, the customised Bragi The Dash Pro enables you to converse in up to 40 languages. You can also use…

We’re not keen on needles, but in recent years we’ve made an exception for Coravin’s clever contraptions that use a slender spike to extract wine from a bottle without having to uncork it. The company’s latest edition, the Model Eleven (£899, coravin.com), takes things up another level. The luxury wine device features an LED display that switches to green when the wine is ready to be poured. It also connects via Bluetooth to the Coravin Moments app, where you can discover which movies, food and music would go best with your chosen bottle.…

GaGu’s commentary on just about every crazy thing going on in the tech world around the time of writing follows: Alexa-addled Microwave, no, but maybe yes depending on if he can truly shout at a robot to excite the molecules of microwave pizzas; Oculus without a proper computer, yes, but that would depend on if it’s actually any good and Guru suspects it’ll be bad; new iPhones, hmm. GaGu isn’t tempted to spend over a thousand pounds upgrading his Apple pocket, but he wouldn’t moan if an iPhone XS Max landed there. Your favourite Gadget Uncle does love a puzzle, as any of you who’ve woken up in the morning to find your combination locks randomly opened will know. He’s particularly fond of the Rubik’s Cube, which is why the…

PREMIUM DISC SPINNER PIONEER UDP-LX800 Built like a battleship, this high-end 4K UHD deck elevates disc playback to another level. With peerless build and best-in-class componentry, no expense has been spared. A 4.6mm double-layer composite chassis tips the scales at 10.3kg, thwarting resonance, and the analogue audio section adopts a pure audiophile design. Whether you’re playing Dolby Vision UHD discs or spinning Super Audio CDs, no other deck does it better. Just don’t drop one on your foot. £2,200, pioneer.com CUT-PRICE 4K BLU-RAY PANASONIC DP-UB420 This budget UHD disc player may have a paper-thin build, but beneath the hood it boasts the same impressive HCX image video processing as higher models. Image quality is sensational for the price, both with 4K HDR discs and regular Blu-ray discs. The deck is…

This was a competition with a life-changing prize. Back in July, we partnered with TechRadar and Honor to launch a competition where we asked students and recent graduates to come up with a brilliant tech idea, with a first prize of £10,000. The competition was part of our Tech Innovation for the Future project, which included events in Newcastle and London hosting innovative thinkers, and around 100 thought-provoking articles posted to our innovation hub at T3.com. For the competition, we were looking for ideas for apps, software services and hardware with the potential to solve real-life problems and improve people’s lives. The response to our competition was fantastic, with entries flooding in from all over the country, which made for some lively discussions on the judging panel made up of…

From £1,099 apple.com/uk For the last few years, when there’s been a ‘plus’-sized iPhone, the bigger one has always been better. The screen size is a matter of personal preference, but they’ve also had significantly better battery life and dual cameras instead of single-lens affairs. That all changes with the release of the iPhone XS models. The 5.8-inch iPhone XS and 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max are the same phone in different sizes, so apart from talk of physical dimensions, this is effectively our review of both. Beauty factor We might as well start by looking at that screen. The 2688x1242 OLED screen is absolutely stunning, leading the field in vibrancy and colours without question, even if the 6.4-inch Samsung Note9 actually has it beaten for sharpness. When things are this…

From £699 sonymobile.com There’s no doubting the Sony Xperia XZ2 was a technical powerhouse when released earlier in 2018, yet it fell down in terms of design, aesthetic and software, which still needed work to bring them up to a level where they could compete with the flagship Android devices. Fast-forward six months, and Sony has returned with the Xperia XZ3, a new device that has re-engineered that phone’s DNA to produce a handset that, at least on the outside, looks different to its predecessors. Has Sony produced a flagship killer that returns it to the top table, or has the device got lost in its evolutionary leap forward? A modern, lithe design Pleasingly, the Sony Xperia XZ3 has had a total redesign, with a tall new 18:9 form factor,…

If you’re looking for the very best tech available today, you have 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 ruthlessly filtered down to the biggest groups, to bring you rock-solid recommendations for your home life, daily commute and the tech you use all the time. Within each of those groups, we’ve got a dozen categories for key tech buys. We’ve picked one product for every category that we think is the best you can get on balance, taking into account price, quality and features, so it’s easy to know what you need in your life. You should also check out T3.com, where you’ll find even more categories, if you’re looking for something that…

ANDROID PHONE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE9 The huge 6.4-inch screen on this phone is perfect for productivity, thanks to split-screen apps and the S-Pen. It’s really fast, has great battery life, a fantastic camera, and you can fill it with 1TB of storage! From £899, samsung.com MID-RANGE PHONE HONOR 10 There’s power to spare in the Honor 10, thanks to a flagship-grade processor, and the device’s integration of AI across the phone is hugely impressive. Add to that a super-stylish design, and it’s a winner. £399, hihonor.com/uk SMARTWATCH APPLE WATCH SERIES 4 Beautiful big screens, a thinner design, cellular connectivity, great battery life and groundbreaking health, and fitness features make this the essential techy timepiece… for iPhone users only, alas. From £399, apple.com/uk ANALOGUE WATCH TUDOR BLACK BAY GMT Sporting a…

COFFEE MAKER SAGE BY HESTON BLUMENTHAL THE ORACLE TOUCH A sleek machine bringing barista-level coffee making to your home, with the hard part handled automatically. You can also go manual and the results are just as tasty. £1,999, sageappliances.co.uk COOKER RANGEMASTER ELISE 110 Want the versatility of gas hobs and the reliability of an electric oven? This dual-fuel range is the ultimate in kitchen convenience, with six solid burners, two ovens and a grill with glide-out action. £2,379, rangemaster.co.uk DEHUMIDIFIER MEACO 25L ULTRA LOW ENERGY DEHUMIDIFIER This small unit can drag 25 litres of water out of the air in a day, perfect for drying clothes indoors without the risk of mould or condensation ruining your windows. £299, meaco.com WASHING MACHINE AEG 9000 SERIES L9FEC966R This fantastic cleaner introduces a…

CZECH & SPEAKE NEROLI BATH OIL We enjoy a Matey bubble bath as much as the next person, but for a truly opulent soak you’ll have to dig a little (okay, a lot) deeper into your pocket. Yes, Czech & Speake’s Neroli Bath Oil costs a pretty penny, but it does hail from London’s swanky Jermyn Street, and it does contain the kind of ingredients that’ll have your jaded limbs tingling like your grandma at a Tom Jones concert. Citrus fruit notes provide sweet fragrance, African orange flower the rich moisturisation. Then there’s ylang-ylang, an essential oil extracted from the blossoms of an exotic Asian tree that’s reputed to promote relaxation and lower blood pressure. It’s also famed for its aphrodisiac properties… So, er, all you need now is a…

1 Naim ND 555 What kind of attention to detail does this kind of money get you? How about a streamer in which the exact tightness of the bolts that hold the Faraday cage (to protect the streaming module from interference) were carefully calculated. For actual streaming, aptX, AirPlay, Roon, Tidal and more are all included. Oh, don’t forget the super-clean £6,999 external power supply. £12,999, naimaudio.com 2 Marantz Premium SA-10 Marantz’s high-end disc players have the habit of becoming legendary, and this deserves to continue the streak. CD, SACD and music DVD-ROMs are all welcome here. The premium player reads using a custom-designed transport, and handles DAC duties using a special 1-bit conversion process. A built-in headphone amp adds extra flexibility in your home hi-fi setup, too. £5,999, marantz.co.uk…