Indice dei contenuti per January 2015 in T3

Each year it’s the same for me. After crashing into Christmas and rolling through the other side more portly, partied-out and, frankly, poorer than at any other time of the year, I smash through the door of January promising to spend my hard-earned dollar more wisely, picking over the highlights of the 12 months ahead, priming my gadgetget-list for the year’s must-buys. And then what? I bet all the remaining coppers in the depths of my pocket you’re just like me. A year hence and you’re left with a half-pile of disappointing dustgatherers – maligned consoles; scorned mobiles; the crushed promises of a slimmer pair of unworn Levi’s. I speak as a man who purchased not just a Sega Mega CD, but also held out over an N64 for a…

IF THERE’S GOING TO BE A PROBLEM WITH Samsung’s Galaxy Gear VR headset it’s a lack of content. While there are some pretty decent-looking custom made games in the pipeline, they lack the clarity and definition you’ll get on an Oculus Rift or PlayStation’s Project Morpheus. And you may be able to view 3D photos and movies with the headset, but these are still going to be fairly limited by the way this content is created. To combat this, and to create great-looking 3D visuals for the Gear VR, Samsung has created Project Beyond. This small disc-like gadget contains 16 cameras – plus one on top – arranged to capture wherever it is in stereoscopic 3D. Once the videos are captured they’re stitched together into a seamless whole, which can…

WHEN YOU’RE ENGROSSED IN AN ACTION SEQUENCE in a blockbuster movie it’s easy to forget that every object you can see on screen has been designed by someone, somewhere. And chief among these invisible artists is Harald Belker, who has become a go-to designer for futuristic vehicles. Beginning with Batman and Robin, Belker has since designed automobiles for sci-fi blockbusters Minority Report, Oblivion, Total Recall and Tron, blending an in-depth working knowledge of cars with vehicles that utterly inhabit the worlds they’ve been created for. Belker’s not limited to cars, though, having created a variety of objects of desire, including sunglasses, furniture, fuel stations and toys. ANKI 2013 TWENTY YEARS OF CAR DESIGN NOUS COMPRESSED INTO 70MM, THESE AI RACERS LOOK A WORLD AWAY FROM YOUR AVERAGE SCALEXTRIC SET. UNLIKE…

3 Months away TECH Zano Basically an autonomous video drone on a smaller scale, Zano nonetheless includes some big features: Wi-Fi connectivity to your smartphone, a ‘follow me’ setting and HD video recording. It’s set to come in at less than £200. FILM The Transporter Legacy The slightly hairier Ed Skrein takes over Jason Statham’s role as the badass British ball buster in the franchise’s reboot. Expect lots of gratuitous shots of expensive cars going fast and stupidly enjoyable action sequences. GAME Tom Clancy’s The Division Set after a pandemic has ravaged the world, The Division incorporates social play from the first level and allows unparalleled player customisation. Makes the most of the graphical power of current-gen consoles. EVENT Formula E This eco-friendly race features single-seater cars that run on…

Batman: Arkham Knight PC, PS4, X1 The Dark Knight returns in this closing chapter of the Batman trilogy. Expect gadgets, combat combos and Batmobile driving. FROM £26, BATMANARKHAM KNIGHT.COM, OUT JUNE 2 Splatoon WIIU Paint the town red (or any colour) in this boisterous shooter, in which players score points by coating each other in varying hues. Like ‘baby’s first shooter’. £42.50, nintendo.co.uk, out TBC £42.50, NINTENDO.CO.UK, OUT TBC Bloodborne PS4 The studio that brought players Dark Souls serves up an equally rock-hard dungeon crawler, featuring steampunk gloom and nightmarish creatures. £49.85, PLAYSTATION.COM, OUT MARCH 27 The Last Guardian PS4 Sony says this adventure of a boy and his Griffin is still a going concern, but we’ve not seen hide nor hair of it since E3 2009. Maybe 2015 will…

According to Dutch developer Deco, having just come out of beta Flo is primed and ready to roll. Flo is the ultimate backseat driver – although it’s more likely to sit on your dashboard – which uses powerful phone functions to judge your driving style, and barks at you like a driving instructor if you brake too suddenly. Specifically, Flo taps into your GPS as well as your motion sensors so that, once activated, it can map your routes, as well as getting a feel for your driving style. Smooth acceleration, steady speed within limits and that sort of thing will earn you points, while driving too fast around corners and braking too hard will result in a points deduction. This all contributes to a driver score that you can…

Android in-depth Snowbuddy ANDROID 4.4+ Snowbuddy pulls together everything good from similar sports and social apps, which makes it the perfect mountain companion. The app takes data from your GPS and motion sensors to record data on how fast you’re moving, the height of your jump and how far you’ve travelled, but it’s the social features that make it special. Daily challenges let you compete with friends and compete for mountain dominance, all the while keeping tabs on your buddies via worldwide piste maps. FREE, SNOWBUDDYHQ.COM Sleep Better Android 4.1+ This app doesn’t just monitor your sleep, but provides a myriad of ways for you to analyse and understand your sleeping patterns. FREE, RUNTAS TIC.COM TwoDots Blackberry 10.0.0+ Addictive puzzler that starts simple but quickly gets tricky. There’s a nice…

{THIS MONTH} Beardyman is the laptop Liberace Chris Smith is born to run Duncan Bell isn’t gonna wear this Pete Dreyer’s CoD philosophy Edited by Duncan Bell Nah mate, he just looked like he was checkin’ his email the whole set.” It’s a gripe oft levelled at electronic musicians ensconced behind notebooks. And it’s just one strand of a more general argument that technology has ruined music. Perhaps it’s understandable. What with illegal downloads and low-quality, low-royalty streaming. And yes, electronic performances can be derided as “guy with laptop tweaks a few parameters” – where’s the skill in that? Just don’t do it around me. IMHO, and contrary to what hoary old rockers and acid teds alike will tell you, music has been immeasurably improved by tech. That doesn’t make…

You may have noticed the latest Call of Duty hit shelves recently. Or maybe not. That’s significant because even to non-gamers, the annual return of Activision’s super-mega-quadruple-A blockbuster franchise used to be very hard to ignore. This has been a hype year in gaming, too, with the first full 12 months of releases for a new console generation. Yet Call of Duty (CoD), from a new developer in Sledgehammer Games, with a new future-war theme, has arrived with little of the usual pomp. In years past, Activision would eagerly thrust CoD sales figures upon us. This year? Well, it put out a press release hailing Advanced Warfare as, “The biggest entertainment launch of the year”, but at time of writing we’ve not been carpet bombed with details of its retail…

For the kid who has everything, how about this top-drawer snow carver made almost entirely from carbon fibre? This is no tea tray – the New Zealand-produced Snolo Stealth-X is the Formula One of toboggans, with a price to match. Its beautiful monocoque frame is as rigid as a rigid thing and comes equipped with all the extra tech the discerning tobogganist requires to make everyone else on the slope feel emphatically inadequate. And poor. Which, of course, is the main idea. $3,200 (£1,965), snolosleds.com THE TECH Why the Stealth-X is no typical toboggan 1/ Slide on, you crazy diamond Replaceable, rust-free and extremely slippery aluminium runners ensure razor-sharp performance. When you’ve hit ground zero, simply sling it over your shoulder and wear it like a backpack for the long…

A safe, healthy, only slightly mad spin on wearable tech tropes, the Glofaster R is a light-up jacket with a difference. Where the nascent brand’s earlier tops merely had LED strips in them to prevent you being run over when crossing the road on a night run, this one has LED strips that actually pulse in time with your heart – once you’ve hooked up a suitable monitor via Bluetooth. For zone training, it’s an interesting form of feedback, and if you do get run over and killed, causing the lights to stop flashing, it’ll be more poignant somehow. The materials are the usual premium mix of lightweight, breathable and waterproof. We love it. £240, glofaster.com fyi ALTERNATIVELY... NIKE’S SHIELD FLASH MAX JACKET DOESN’T GIVE FEEDBACK ON YOUR PULSE RATE,…

Keen to have absolutely everything in your house interconnected and controlled from a smartphone? The Loewe Connect allows you to send material from its 1TB hard drive and twin Freeview tuners to other Loewe sets in your house, and to your phone or tablet, from whence you can also remote control everything. There’s a 5.1 lossless surround processor built in, all ready for connection – via ethernet cable, not the usual fistful of phonos – to a suitably swank audio system, like the Systemline one below. 55-inch £2,799, loewe.com WANT AUDIO WITH THAT? HAVING SPEAKERS THROUGHOUT YOUR ABODE, HIDDEN IN WALLS, IS NO LONGER THE PRESERVE OF THE ONE PER CENT! SYSTEMLINE’S S7 IS CENTRED AROUND A SPLENDID APP THAT PUTS BOTH YOUR STORED MUSIC AND CLOUDBASED SERVICES (IPLAYER, TUNE-IN,…

Smart car, meet smartphone. The all-new Smart ForTwo optionally offers an app-plus-smartphone-cradle combo that turns iPhones and Android handsets into in-car multimedia rigs complete with audio playback, navigation, hands-free telephony and connected-car telematics like fuel consumption and eco-driving metrics. You also have the option of a fully integrated, premium-priced touchscreen system, but smartphone integration is a better match for this clever little car. £11,325, uk.smart.com SMALL SIZE, BIG AMBITIONS 1/ LCD, no sound system The new Smart ForTwo doesn’t have any kind of audio as standard, but you do get a fullcolour 3.5-inch LCD in the instrument cluster. Sadly, it’s situated in a cheap-looking semicircular bezel. Still, it’s the only real misstep in the Smart’s surprisingly spacious cabin. 2/ Teeny turbo The speediest Smart gets an 898cc turbo engine. Sounds…

{detailS} 1SIZE MATTERS The body remains largely unchanged from the HERO3. Bizarrely, though, it weighs slightly more 2 PAY FOR DISPLAY? There’s no screen for live viewing as you record, but you can use a smartphone to view live footage 3 VIDE OH! You want options? You got em! Video comes in 4K, 2.7K, 1440p, 1080p, 960p, 720p and even WVGA {GOPRO HERO4 BLACK} POINTS OF INTEREST {SPECIFICATIONS} VIDEO 4K at 30fps; 1080p at 120fps PHOTO 12MP SCREEN Front LCD, optional external touch display BATTERY LIFE 1.05hrs at 4K WATERPROOF? Up to 40m CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi, Bluetooth MOBILE APP iPhone, Android STORAGE Up to 64GB, Micro SD {SIZE/WEIGHT} DIMENSIONS 41x59x21mm/88g (without housing) {FOCUS} Reliable control, capture and connectivity The Hero4 Black is more than just a video camera – it also…

£449, SAMSUNG.COM/UK {SPECIFICATION} SCREEN SIZE 4.7in BATTE RY 1860mAh CAPA CITY 32GB CAME RA 12MP OS Android 4.4 CPU Exynos 5 Octa-core RESOLUT ION 720x1,280 MICRO SD SLOT No {DIMENSIONS} HEIGHT 132.4mm WIDTH 65.5mm DEPTH 6.7 mm WEIGHT 115g {DETAILS} 1 SCREEN Super AMOLED technology brings clear, vivid and colour-packed images 2 BUILD QUALITY Easily Samsung’s best yet, with polycarbonate combined with a metal rim 3 CAMERA At 12MP, more than enough, and packed with extras 4 ADDITIONAL FEATURES The heart-rate monitor is interesting, but still without real use The Samsung’s design sparkles, but its performance is lacklustre The Samsung Galaxy Alpha is the phone the South Korean brand had to make. Too long it had dwelled in design doldrums, content to let the power within speak volumes while others…

£539, APPLE.COM/UK {SPECIFICATION} SCREEN SIZE 4.7in BATTE RY 1810mAh CAPA CITY 16GB/64GB/128GB CAME RA 8MP OS iOS 8.1.1 CPU Apple A8 RESOLUT ION 750x1,334 MICRO SD SLOT No {DIMENSIONS} WEIGHT 129g HEIGHT 138.1mm WIDTH 67mm DEPTH 6.9mm {DETAILS} 1 SCREEN Not full HD, but colour rich and crisp 2 BUILD QUALITY The best Apple has made, curving the edges while increasing the size 3 CAMERA Not the most megapixels, but still very powerful 4 ADDITIONAL FEATURES Apple Pay will be very handy if loads of credit cards and banks sign up Significant improvements help Apple catch up with the pack After the iPhone 5S again didn’t push the design envelope for Apple, everyone was expecting the Cupertino brand to come back with something really special for the iPhone 6 –…

{BUYING TIPS} Portable media-playing pals 1 APPLE IPOD TOUCH A quality combo of music, apps and games. Latest version is better than ever, and more colourful. FROM £159, APPLE.COM/UK 2 APPLE IPOD NANO New, larger 2.5-inch touchscreen. Now only available as 16GB model. £129, APPLE.COM/UK 3 ASTELL AND KERN AK100 Audiophile option for lossless lovers. Sound impresses; price distresses. £557, AMP3.CO.UK 4 SONY WALKMAN NWZ-E474 Clear audio and 36 hours playback. Just 8GB storage and a dated look, though. £85, SONY.CO.UK 01PIONEER SE-MX9-T £249, PIONEER.EU, TESTED SUMMER 2014 LOVE Based on the acclaimed HDJ-2000 DJ cans. Suitably luxe looks and superior sound quality HATE Could be comfier, if we’re griping. Pricey T3 SAYS Grown-up, luxury headphones for serious clubbers and fans of DJ-quality audio SPECIFICATIONS IMPEDANCE 32 Ohms FREQUENCY RANGE…

1 JAMES STABLES Former T3 features editor James is the doyen of all things wearable at, er, Wareable.com. This issue he rounds-up the finest fitness trackers for us, which you can get stuck into on p112. 2 BEARDYMAN The beatboxing, loop-fusing Beardyman has developed his own music creation software, Beardytron 5000 MkII. He shares his opinion on how technology begets creativity on p55. 3 MARK BILLINGHAM The best-selling crime fiction writer, author, actor and stand-up comedian reveals his all-time favourite crime series in our round-up of affordable TVs (and boxsets worth hibernating for) on p75. To subscribe to T3, point your browser at myfavouritemagazines.co.uk, or flick to p126. The next T3 goes on sale January 22…

1 FUTURE HUNTER GATHERER Challenges you to hunt 3D holographic fish and animals in your home with a Wii-style controller. Drop the produce into a virtual pot and it’s brought to your door via the miracles of e-commerce. DESIGNER: PAN WANG, CHINA PLACING: FIRST, SCOOPING €5,000 2 LOTUS The “petals” of this app-controlled air purifier open to reveal three more purifiers, for dehumidifying, odour removal and general atmospheric cleansing. Return the balls to the Lotus to recharge ‘em. DESIGNER: FULDEN DEHNELI, TURKEY PLACING: SECOND 3 URBANCONE UrbanCone is a semi-autonomous hover-drone designed to fly around and suck up industrial air pollution, capturing it under its “wings”. For our money, the most aesthetically-pleasing concept. DESIGNER: MICHAL POSPIECH, POLAND PLACING: THIRD 4 PURE TOWEL Dries and purifies towels by means of a…

Cogito Classic Straddling the line between watch and connected device, this offers an analogue face mixed with hi-tech underpinnings. It’ll connect to an Android or iOS smartphone, so you can handle incoming calls and check for new messages. Looks comes courtesy of French designer Xavier Houy. £130, COGITOWATCH.COM, OUT NOW Casio G-Shock GBA-400-1A9ER G-Shocks are renowned for their toughness, but they’re quite smart too – this one comes with G-Mix, which allows you to connect over Bluetooth, via an app, to your music, enabling you to control settings and see the name of anything that’s being played nearby. £180, G-SHOCK.CO.UK, OUT NOW Withings Activité This classy, contemporary piece gets its modernist lines from the French design house Activité, but it’s actually Swiss made. The thin bezel is on trend, and…

This month… The year in games / An astonishing 12-year project / The Pumpkins are still smashing / Employ a back-seat driver When all the praise and criticism of this year’s big-name games is in, you’ll notice that many of 2014’s biggest titles had one thing in common – they weren’t actually terribly innovative. It wasn’t a lean year for gaming. On the contrary, 2014 saw some of the biggest and best games in recent memory – both in blockbuster sequels and new Triple As. In the latter, the biggest publishers saw to it that the faithful received just what they wanted. The year saw new entries in Call of Duty, FIFA, Far Cry, Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros., and critics and gamers agreed that these new-generation sequels were…

The new app has now rolled out across iOS and Android, with an improved aesthetic and far less crashes (on Android, at least). The new map gives you real-time info on Addison Lee’s 4,800-strong fleet, and finally provides in-app cab tracking too. It also picks up your location far more accurately, and remembers loads of info about you to make ordering a cab that much easier, including frequent locations and routes. Addison Lee is the first to start rolling out 4G Wi-Fi in its cabs too – you can request a 4G cab ahead of time. FREE, ADDISONLEE.COM THREE SITES  FOR RUNNERS  OF ALL SP EEDS zombiesrungame.com FOR WANNABE HEROS You’re familiar by now with Zombies, Run!, the magical app that forces you to run away from a ravening horde…

Alore WINDOWS PHONE 8+ Tell Alore what you care about, and it’ll curate a list of news and features for you to read, from over 100 handpicked websites. FREE, WINDOWSPHONE.COM Tesco Mobile WINDOWS PHONE 8+ Tesco Mobile users finally get an app. Track your minutes, texts and data, manage your bundles and see a full history of your bills. Perfect. FREE, TESCOMOBILE.COM Photomath WINDOWS PHONE 8+ Point your phone camera towards a mathematical problem and Photomath will automatically work it out. It’ll even show you its working out. FREE, PHOTOMATH.NET View WINDOWS PHONE 8+ View lets you discover new artists and designers. Anyone you like can be saved to your ‘Quiky’ list, for updates on their progress. FREE, WINDOWSPHONE.COM British Airways WINDOWS PHONE 8+ The excellent British Airways app makes…

The Great American Automobile is one of the most enduring signifiers in this country’s psyche. From movies to rock ’n’ roll, the tuned-up, drop-topped car hitting the open road is celebrated. Hell, Bruce Springsteen alone has penned roughly nine albums-worth of material that’s dedicated to riding “through the mansions of glory in suicide machines”, and what’s more ‘America’ than The Boss? Nothing, that’s what. Kids in the US can’t get acquainted with the country’s highways and dust tracks soon enough: they can legally drive at 16. That’s a full five years before they’re allowed to drink a beer, which to this Brit seems like someone back in 1776 made a terrible error and mixed the two up. The reason is simple though. With a car, you can go anywhere, traversing…

1 SEND SMS MESSAGES DIRECT FROM CHROME The easy way to stay connected and updated 1/ Push the button Download the PushBullet Android app to your phone you want to use, then download PushBullet’s Chrome extension to your browser. 2/ Link up Set up an account and link your PushBullet account to your phone to give it access. 3/ Text away! Open up Chrome and you’ll see a PushBullet tab in the top-right corner of the screen. Clicking it will open a window, from where you can send a text to anyone in your phone – just enter your message, type in the recipient’s name or number and click Send. 4/ Keep track The text is sent via your Android phone as normal, so everything will still be recorded in…

Miele CM6300 Reliable and consistent, this is also compact and simple to use. Coffee quality is generally sound, if seldom spectacular, and the only bum notes are struck by the slightly iffy milk frother and hopeless ground coffee hatch (stick to beans). £1,300, miele.co.uk 3/5 Krups EA 9010 The most compact caffeine wrangler on test, this is touchscreen-controlled and so easy to use, a chimp could manage it. Add very good coffee and milk texturing plus something at least approaching VFM, and you have a most alluring option. £970, krups.co.uk 4/5 Jura Giga 5 With two grinders, boilers and pumps, this is one for those who drink industrial quantities of espresso. The coffee is the second best on test, but surely no amount of chrome can justify a price that…

SWIM 1/ Huub Acute Goggles Wide, flexible lenses and the soft frame are the important things here. A comfortable fit is vital, but Huub’s wide, anti-fog and scratch-resistant lenses also give you the clearest sighting possible in open water. £30, huubdesign.com 2/ Zone3 Vanquish Wetsuit Yamamoto premium neoprene is the gold standard for wetsuits, and the latest Vanquish suit is made entirely of the stuff. The extra buoyancy and flexibility means the suit aids rather than restricts, and Zone3’s Pro Speed Cuff makes for an easy transition too. £425, racezone3.com 3/ Polar V800 Polar’s new triathlon all-rounder records all stages of your race, but is particularly impressive underwater. Both the watch and heart-rate monitor are fully waterproof, and the build quality is nigh-on indestructible, giving you access to all your…

1/ Shire 10X7 An Englishman’s shed is his castle, and the loglap walls and mortice locked doors of this one will stand up to modest attempts at invasion. At 7x10ft there’s room enough for a workbench, lawnmower and suit of armour, and the price includes assembly but not painting, so make that your first DIY task. £1,380, diy.com 2/ Makita DHP481 LTX This kick-ass cordless drill/driver is 2cm shorter than Makita’s first effort, but with its new brushless motor, the 18v battery lasts 20% longer. That means a lot more holes, and to make sure you’re drilling them in the right places there are twin LEDs. Its Makpac hardcase stacks and locks together with your other Makita products, ultimately creating a manly and impressive ‘Wall of Makita’. £323, makitauk.com 3/…

Health and wellbeing are one of the most obvious and well-suited uses for wearables, and sensor technology is now so prevalent that a wrist strap can monitor a host of movements and habits. The results can be used to improve your lifestyle, breaking down myths about how much exercise you get, and enabling you to make better lifestyle choices. Which are the best bands? Read on to find out. 01 UPTOWN GIRL JAWBONE UP MOVE £39.99, JAWBONE.COM The UP Move is a superb budget fitness tracker, which not only tracks steps and slumber, but also activities as varied as cycling, weightlifting, footy and Zumba. While its Early Learning Centrestyle rubber build and primary colour design won’t exactly blend in with your designer tails, it can be clipped out of sight…

£325, LG.COM/UK {SPECIFICATION} SCREEN SIZE 5.5in BATTE RY 3000mAh CAPA CITY 16GB CAME RA 13MP OS Android 4.4 CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 RESOLUT ION 1,440x2,560 MICRO SD SLOT Yes {DIMENSIONS} HEIGHT 146.3mm WIDTH 74.6mm DEPTH 8.9 mm WEIGHT 149g DETAILS 1 SCREEN The first to bring QHD, the display is too dark and battery hungry 2 BUILD QUALITY Looks premium, but doesn’t have the feel or balance of its predecessor 3 CAMERA The 13MP effort is great in the day, but poor at night 4 ADDITIONAL FEATURES The camera’s laser AF promises quick and sharp snaps, and it delivers The tweaked interface and decent screen make this worth a look LG’s a funny brand. Winning the world over with its Chocolate, Secret and Viewty feature phones half a decade ago…

£440, HTC.COM/UK {SPECIFICATION} SCREEN SIZE 5in BATTE RY 2600mAh CAPA CITY 16GB/32GB CAME RA 4MP (Ultrapixel) OS Android 4.4 CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 RESOLUT ION 1,080x1,920 MICRO SD SLOT Yes {DIMENSIONS} HEIGHT 146.4mm WIDTH 70.6mm DEPTH 9.4mm WEIGHT 160g {DETAILS} 1 SCREEN Super LCD 3 is a clear and crisp technology, with great colour reproduction 2 BUILD QUALITY The clear design leader, the One (M8) is a joy to hold 3 CAMERA Bright scenes are iffy, but it performs well in low light 4 ADDITIONAL FEATURES BoomSound speakers and auto video highlight reels make this a media marvel Beautiful and brilliant, this phone’s still a winner The HTC One (M8) – crowned Phone of the Year at 2014’s T3 Awards – should have fallen away by now. After all, it’s…

SONY HAS BEEN ON A ROLL SINCE the PlayStation 4 was released, lapping up plaudits for its console and beating Microsoft in both the numbers and the PR game. One of the most interesting things about the PS4 is its Remote Play functionality. Anyone with a PS Vita can currently take advantage of this, by mirroring the PS4’s OS to their device. It’s fun and, unlike when it was first announced for the PS3, it really works. It’s this functionality that sits at the heart of the PlayStation TV – a tiny box that’s designed for your second television. Simply connect it up and it allows you to play the PS4 on another screen, when your primary telly has been taken over by someone else. One thing we can’t fault…

NICE. BUT WHAT ARE THEY, EXACTLY? Named after Renaissance stargazer Galileo, Audio Research’s G Series consists of three high-grade Hi-Fi amplifiers – the GSPre preamplifier, the GS150 power amplifier and the GSi75 integrated amplifier. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM? The GSPre preamplifier and the GS150 power amplifier are designed to be used together for ultimate audio performance. The GSi75 combines elements of both into one unit, but drops the power. WHAT ARE THOSE LIGHT BULB THINGS? Those are valves, dear. They make a big difference when it comes to preserving the finer details of an analogue signal, but the G Series can also deliver enough power for high volumes and punchy sounds. AREN’T VALVES ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY NOW? Their fundamental design is over 100 years old, but they’re still admired by…

It’s hard to warm to Billy Corgan, and Smashing Pumpkins is now just him plus whatever blokes can stand to be in a room with him long enough to make a record before firing and/or suicide. However, despite that, and despite saddling it with the tombstone title of Monuments to an Elegy, his latest opus is undeniably rather magnificent. It’s a wall of guitars and euphoric gloom as massive as his own ego – and that’s substantial. £11 CD, £8 MP3, out now {BEST O F THE REST} Rapping paper GHOSTFACE KILLA 36 Seasons Possibly the greatest talent from hip-hop’s golden age still at the peak of his powers, Ghostface follows 12 Reasons to Die with another classic. £11 CD, £11 MP3, out now PANDA BEAR Panda Bear Meets Grim…

Good.co IOS 7.0+: IPAD, IPHONE, TOUCH A mash-up of eHarmony and LinkedIn, Good.co asks you questions to assess your personality, then matches you with suitable professions/employers. FREE, GOOD.CO Sortpad IOS 7.0+: IPAD, IPHONE, TOUCH View and sort photos into folders with a single swipe. Helps you rediscover and file long-lost shots alongside new ones for optimal organisation. FREE, SORTPADAPP.COM Flickr IOS 7.0+: IPAD, IPHONE, TOUCH You can back up all of your photos on Flickr now, and the service gives you 1,000GB of free storage space, along with some useful organisational tools. FREE, FLICKR.COM Great Global Chefs Recipes IOS 7.0+: IPAD ONLY 75 exclusive recipes from some of the world’s best chefs. There’s a nice range though, from simple dishes with a twist to elaborate masterpieces. FREE, GREATGLOBALCHEFS .COM Hyspherical…

TunnelX BLACKBERRY 10.0.0+ Reminiscent of Wipeout’s early PlayStation days, TunnelX is a nice mix of thumping drum ‘n’ bass and searingly fast time trial action. FREE, APPWORLD.BLACKBERRY.COM Rainbow BLACKBERRY 10.0.0+ Sync all your cloud services to your phone and Rainbow lets you drag and drop files between them. Supports every major cloud service too. £0.75, Appworld.Blackberry.Com Triangles BLACKBERRY 10.0.0+ Triangles generates beautiful polygonal images for you to use as wallpapers – just hit a button and the app will build something random. £0.75, APPWORLD.BLACKBERRY.COM Latasy Music Player BLACKBERRY 10.0.0+ A media player with a simple interface and nice gesture controls. It’ll automatically pull together all your music too, which is a nice bonus. £1.50, APPWORLD.BLACKBERRY.COM Moka Reader BLACKBERRY 10.0.0+ Moka is about the nicest reader on Blackberry, boasting great features…

You’re probably aware, especially after reading this issue of T3, that the tech wearables revolution is upon us. In the technology pages of the media, you’ll find endless watches and bands, with a growing army of actual utility belts, flanked by Google Glass and Oculus Rift me-toos. Turn to the business pages and you’ll find the writers there stroked to a near explosion of excitement. Headlines such as “Apple Watch to cost same as house and sell 15 billion units in first week” and “Wearables market to be worth 15 frillion super-dollars by 2020” make clear which way the land lies. However, there are warning noises sounding on my Hype Dashboard. A big klaxon sounds the news that Google is now talking down Glass. It’s suggesting, as far as I…

WHAT YOU’LL NEED… 1/ Corsair H55 Yes, it is ugly, isn’t it? Rest assured this cheap, liquid-cooling system will be secreted in your Aerocool, lifting the ventilation to new heights of chill. £30, corsair.com 2/ Logitech G502 Proteus Core Customise its optical sensor, weight, DPI and balance to suit your style. Then get busy on the 11 programmable buttons. It’s great for FPS, but versatile. £69, gaming.logitech.com 3/ Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Chroma The usual quality Razer ’board – 60-million-stroke life for each mechanical, programmable key, five macros etc – now with customisable disco lights. Sweet. £140, razerzone.com 4/ Intel Core i7 4790K Essential, overclockable, not obscenely expensive. Pro-gaming willy wave nirvana. £250, intel.com 5/ Aerocool DS200 How we love this case of many colours. It comes in blue and yellow…

1/ Columbia Platinum 860 With the reflective foil of Omni-Heat thermal insulation on the inner lining and TurboDown in the ribs, this is a perfect blend of science and nature. It’s like a goose with a big bionic arm and the result is top-flight outdoor performance at an accessible price. £150, blacks.co.uk 2/ Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer After something a little more Blade Runner? This urban cyberpunk classic is T3’s favourite puffy. With Q.Shield down, it’s the world’s lightest “fullfeatured down jacket”, whatever that means, and can be layered under coats or worn solo. And there’s a better-fitting cuff for 2014! Get in. £250, mountainhardwear.com 3/ Black Diamond Hot Forge Quite literally the hottest thing in down jackets right now is Primaloft Gold – artificial down that is DWR-treated (durable…

FROM STEALTH TO HEAT The key tech in Cold Gear Infrared is the futuristic grid pattern of printed ceramic that lines every garment – it’s in everything from training tops to running leggings. The tech is based on the ceramic beading and tiling used to help make stealth aircraft invisible to radar, but here the heat-retaining properties of the ceramic coating are used to keep you warmer for longer, so you remain very much on your opponents’ radar… Winter is coming, the goose is getting fat. However, there’s no excuse for you to do the same, so get outside and get training: Under Armour’s Cold Gear Infrared (CGI) wearable tech will help you train through the temperature drop and beat the cold. The most exciting thing to happen to base…

fyi TOP SPEED 155MPH 0-62MPH 5.3 SEC ENGINE 1,984CC, FOUR-CYLINDER PETROL TURBO POWER 230BHP GEARBOX SIX-SPEED, DUAL-CLUTCH FUEL CONSUMPTION 44.1MPG CARBON EMISSIONS 149G/KM WEIGHT 1,335KG PRICE AS TESTED £45,335 ROUTE MASTER The all-weather hooning started at Mar Hall, near Glasgow. From there, across the Clyde we went and up along the shores of Loch Lomond. Next, onto some serious Scottish B-roads and into rally mode, flicking up and down the TT’s super-slick dual-clutch gearbox. The TT may still not be hardcore, but it is a proper driving weapon. The new Audi TT might just be the first totally T3-friendly car. Not thanks to top speed or clutch-toasting racing starts, but because of its high-powered in-car tech. Too often manufacturers make excuses when their in-car kit sports the sort of crap…

{Ratings} The future’s here, and it’s got a slightly curved display on the right! OK, so it’s not quite as groundbreaking as finding life on Mars, but the Galaxy Edge is at least – if you’ll pardon the pun – cutting edge. Samsung’s latest super-sized smartphone assault enters the market with a unique slant – a curved slither of screen to the right that acts as a sort of second display for the smartphone. This isn’t an all-new device, though. Samsung has basically taken the Galaxy Note 4 and bent the right side of it to form the 5.6-inch Edge. The sturdy metal frame that hugged the 4 has been dropped here, leaving an all-plastic body that doesn’t feel anywhere near as premium in the hand, although your eyes are…

Compare any smartphone around today to the best ten years ago – heck, even three years ago – and you’ll see that even the budget options still pack a mightier punch. But even though everything today is rather brilliant, there are still big choices to be made on your next phone. Do you want a hyper-sharp screen? Two cameras working in harmony to take clever snaps? A super-sleek design? There’s so much on offer, and you needn’t part with a year’s wages to get it. So take our hand, and let us guide you through a smorgasbord of brilliant phones. We promise we won’t let go… {CONTENDERS} Five phones worth flaunting down the pub SAMSUNG GALAXY ALPHA £449 LG G3 £325 NEXUS 6 £499 APPLE IPHONE 6 £539 HTC ONE…

£499, PLAY.GOOGLE.COM {SPECIFICATION} SCREEN SIZE 5.96in BATTE RY 3220mAh CAPA CITY 32GB/64GB CAME RA 13MP OS ANDROID 5.0 CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 RESOLUT ION 1,440x2,560 MICRO SD SLOT No {DIMENSIONS} HEIGHT 159.3mm WIDTH 83mm DEPTH 10.1mm WEIGHT 184g {DETAILS} 1 SCREEN At six inches, the QHD display is clear and bright 2 BUILD QUALITY The sleek looks and metallic frame combine beautifully in the hand 3 CAMERA The camera is quick, and not half bad 4 ADDITIONAL FEATURES Uses the super-powerful Qualcomm 805 chip There’s a lot to love about this best-ever Nexus The days of the cheap Nexus are over – this new phablet now costs as much as most of the other phones on test. That said, Motorola (the brand chosen by Google to make the new model)…

1/ Any Daniel Day-Lewis film The English actor would of course have a starring role in the game, which he’d make super real by living as a pixellated character – really nailing the art of swaying slightly when standing still and accidentally jumping off buildings – for a year in advance. He would then add to the experience by coming to live with you and adopting the guise of a gamer, sitting on the couch, eating pizza and forcing you to play through the night. Intense. 2/ The Shawshank Redemption Playing as wrongly convicted lawyer Andy Dufresne (weapons: Rock Hammer), the Shawshank game would involve silently digging a tunnel for a total of 100 hours of gameplay, before crawling through said tunnel while Morgan Freeman talks slowly. Seen by many…