Stuff UKの May 2022 の目次

Hello and welcome to this audio-themed issue of Stuff – in which we’ve reviewed pretty much every type of headphone available. We think everyone should have a pair of true wireless buds, but there are many reasons why you might want to look further afield, not least the peerless sound you get from a great pair of wired over-ears. We’ve also looked at the finest fitness models… and some audiophile eye-candy. Oh, and should you want to (course you do), you can win some Jabra buds on p27. Elsewhere, we’ve taken a look at a fresh selection of juicers perfect for pleasant drinks in the beautiful spring weather (OK, for sheltering inside from the showers). We’ve also test-driven our 10 top picks for all-electric motoring to avoid those petrol price…

£N/A / polestar.com Ooh, yes please! How much? Sorry, this is a concept EV and looks set to stay that way for now. It’s got two doors and four seats along with a retractable hardtop roof; the fact that it’s a concept means there’s no word on powertrain or more general technical specifications. But what we do know is that the Polestar O2 is very nice to look at. So where does the roof go? It folds away – and as the O2 is a hardtop convertible, you get the best of both worlds. The 2+2 cabin design and squat, dynamic look are embellished by some dazzling design flourishes too, like the wraparound taillights, striking airducts… and those ‘statement’ wheels. And inside the cabin? The luscious interior is crafted from…

I was one of the first kids in school with the iPod and the first with the iPhone. I also had the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1. I was a real tech fan! I’ve been quite quiet for the past one and a half years [since leaving OnePlus] but it feels great to be back with Nothing. The path to getting the brand name was a strange one. I went on a lot of long walks with my little sister after I left my previous job. I tested new names with her like, “Hey, what about this? What about that?” She was 19 at the time and so she’s pretty much in tune with the Gen Z kids. And she’s like, “Well that’s cringe and that’s cringe.” And then…

We really loved the fourth-gen iPad Air when we reviewed it 18 months ago: it was like getting an iPad Pro on the cheap. But a lot can change in a year and a half. Since then, the iPad Pro has further cemented its lead, the iPad Mini has turned into an Air that’s been through a hot wash – while gaining a few added features – and even the standard iPad has been given a selfie-camera system to embarrass the Air’s. Now the iPad Air is back. Hold the latest model in your mitts and you could easily confuse it for its predecessor, although the new colour options might give it away. But appearances can be deceptive… because this latest iteration definitely isn’t just more of the same. That’s…

Can’t be sore The headband can be adjusted using Rode’s bespoke FitLock mechanism; it feels very close to having a custom fit. A certain plum one The optional coloured cables are designed to match the channel colours on the RodeCaster Pro mixing desk and Rode Connect software. Skin and ’phones All the pads can be swapped out quickly and easily – ideal if you want to sterilise them for the next user in a studio environment. RODE NTH-100 Rode is known for its pro mics and other audio gear, but this is the Australian company’s first ever pair of headphones – and despite that heritage, they’re not just for the studio. The NTH-100s offer great sonic performance, as you might expect, but what’s more of a surprise is how comfortable…

DOTTIR If you’re looking for a set of headphones that’ll survive the most testing conditions, this might be it. Designed by a pair of world Crossfit champions, they’re built for going into battle during multi-discipline workouts. And with big battery life, IPX7 durability, 13mm drivers and lots of extras like wireless charging, they’ve got a package of specs that suggests – on paper at least – a serious all-rounder. For a start, they’re sweatproof and whoopsie-drops-in-the-sink-proof. So even if your gym-floor game isn’t quite at World’s Fittest Athlete level, you can still enter beast mode knowing that your buds won’t break before you do. They’re chunkier than some in-ears but at 9.3g each they’re still pretty light for an ear-hook type. That hook design also guarantees brilliant stay-put fit, helped…

She’s leaving foam A selection of silicone and memory-foam earbuds means a comfortable fit is easy to achieve – and the IE 900s will stay that way for hours on end. Affixing a hole You get three detachable cables with three different plug types, meaning they’re ready to connect to the output of any audiophile music player. A grey in the life The intricate machining of the earbuds results in a tactile finish that responds to light in a number of different ways. Which is nice. SENNHEISER IE 900 There can only be one reason to choose a wired in-ear headphone over its wireless alternative, and that’s sound quality. Oh, you can buy a pair of true wireless in-ears that sound very good indeed (and we’ve already recommended a few);…

THE BASICS ■ Use better passwords Make device passcode locks alphanumeric. Use a password manager and, when setting any new passwords, avoid easily identifiable strings of characters or letters. Never use the same passwords (or parts of passwords) across multiple apps and services. Use random strings for account recovery challenges, not real answers that a third party could figure out. ■ Thwart phishing You might laugh at terrible phishing emails from ‘Appl Icloud’, but many of these fakes are now getting more sophisticated, directly cloning the visual style of big brands. Be wary of tapping on links asking you to sign in from email – instead, manually log into accounts the usual way and check whether things are OK from there. ■ Test biometrics You want the barrier that stops…

£1599 / stuff.tv/Omnia ■ If you had to pick one word to describe the Omnia’s features, it would be ‘extensive’. This thing will power your speakers and your headphones, will stream from pretty much anywhere using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, has a stack of hi-res inputs, and can support a record player. Oh, and there’s a built-in CD drive too. ■ The digital interface is built around the DTS Play-Fi platform. This makes it really easy to add to a multiroom system, and means you can use the expansive and logical DTS control app rather than the slow-to-respond physical buttons on the front. ■ At first the Omnia might seem short of low-end substance, but listen a little longer and you’ll realise it’s got plenty of punch and drive. It gets…

• TIPS & TRICKS The Echo’s built-in Zigbee hub can hook up hundreds of smart home devices without a bridge. Pair a compatible thermostat and the Echo’s temperature sensor can activate the heating. AlexaFlashBriefingsdeliverbursts of news or trivia; choose from 5000 sources in the app. 1 HOT BUY Amazon Echo (4th Gen) £90 / stuff.tv/Echo Having morphed from a cylinder to a sphere, the latest Echo is an excellent newsreader, weather forecaster, personal assistant and intercom straight out of the box; but it’s now also a capable speaker and a very accessible smart home hub. It doesn’t sound as good as the Sonos One for listening to music, but it’s significantly smarter and considerably cheaper too. Stuff says An all-round upgrade that makes the Echo a smarter speaker than ever…

• TIPS & TRICKS Fed up of yelling? Alexa’s voice can work like an intercom with connected Echo devices. Alexa Voice Shopping lets you order from Amazon; add a ‘voice code’ to keep the kids off. Dot at your bedside? Saying “Alexa, turn on whisper mode” will stop it waking up sleepyheads. 1 HOT BUY Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) from £50 / stuff.tv/Dot This fabric-covered take on Marvin the paranoid android in disguise as a Magic 8-Ball feels playful yet classical. It can’t match a full-size smart speaker for audio, but as a little radio and an Alexa assistant for the bedside table or kitchen worktop, this cutey gets the job done. It’s worth paying £10 more for the ‘with Clock’ version, which adds extra functionality beyond telling the time.…

£55 / ikea.com That’s nice. Is it a bell to summon Darth Vader? Don’t be ridiculous – Lord Vader can’t be summoned, he summons you… and that rarely has a happy ending. But this nifty little Swedish gadget has nothing to do with the dark side – quite the opposite, in fact. The Vappeby is the latest addition to Ikea’s range of smart home tech, which started with wireless chargers, expanded to its Tradfri lights and now includes smart blinds and speakers hidden inside picture frames or table lamps. The Vappeby takes the latter idea, adds a handle and a rechargeable battery, and finishes it off with a garden-friendly IP65-certified build. Perfect for the Death Star’s roof terrace. The built-in LED light does have two different brightness settings, but expecting…

NOTHING IS WORKING ON A SMARTPHONE After releasing a pair of transparent earbuds last year, Nothing is now working on its own phone. Due for release in the summer, the Nothing 1 will have a minimalist Android-based OS, but the hardware remains a mystery. Head to p26 to read our interview with founder Carl Pei. SONY ADDS MORE FREE GAMES TO PS PLUS Sony has added two new tiers to its PlayStation Plus online gaming service. For £10.99/m (or £83.99/yr) you’ll get access to 400 PS4 and PS5 games, while the £13.49/m (or £99.99/yr) Premium package includes an extra 340 PS3, PS2, PS1 and PSP games. It launches in June. ZELDA SEQUEL DELAYED UNTIL NEXT YEAR The long-awaited follow-up to Breath Of The Wild has been delayed until next spring. The…

True wireless earphones. Everyone needs them. Everyone loves them. Everyone drops them down a drain. Whether you’ve had a nasty drain experience or you simply don’t own a pair, why not enter our fab competition to bag yourself a pair of excellent buds from Jabra? You could win the £200 Elite 7 Pro, Jabra’s smallest buds so far, complete with adjustable active noise-cancelling and four mics, which also use bone-conduction tech for the best possible on-the-go call quality. The £170 Elite 7 Active take the same excellent formula to the gym, with IP57 water/sweatproofing, while ShakeGrip and EarGel tech ensure the comfiest fit while you’re moving about. Naturally, you can use the voice assistant of your choice too. And rounding out our prize trio are the £120 Elite 4 Active,…

from £999 / stuff.tv/S8Ultra ■ The S8 Ultra has the biggest display this side of a full-scale laptop: a crisp and punchy 14.6in AMOLED. At just 300 nits the brightness could be better, but we’ve got no complaints about the 120Hz refresh rate, which makes menus glide fluidly. The tiny bezels and 16:10 aspect ratio make it great for watching films. ■ A Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip might not scare the slickest phones out there, but hooked up to PS Remote Play or Steam Link with a Wi-Fi 6 router, our tablet handled games with virtually no latency. Benchmark scores are impressive too. ■ The Tab S8 Ultra’s keyboard dock doesn’t really work on a lap, making on-the-go productivity its biggest limitation. But hook up an external display, keyboard…

SONY WF-1000XM4 The fact that you can’t move for true wireless in-ear headphones these days is, in large part, Sony’s fault. And with the WF-1000XM4s, the latest model in the company’s madly successful WF-1000 series of true wireless earbuds, the company has served up a contender that’s smaller, lighter, greener and more affordable than ever. Oh, and they manage to sound even more eloquent and direct than the (already very decent) XM3s that they replaced. The more compact design means the WF-1000XM4s are more portable when they’re not in use and more comfortable when they are. And the control app – which is still about as good as it gets where stability and usability are concerned – has some useful ‘lifestyle’ features as well as the more common playback controls,…

Hero of the worn Comfort is king thanks to ear-cushions crafted from soft lambskin, along with memory foam that adapts to the curves of your ear. On your zone again The revamped headband has a ‘centre-relief zone’ (aka some clever padding) designed to make the HXs comfier for longer. Angels of bashes Intuitive touch controls on the right earcup’s central metal plate let you play and pause, skip tracks, adjust the volume and accept or reject calls. BANG & OLUFSEN BEOPLAY HX Danish firm Bang & Olufsen is known for its lush design work, so it’s no surprise that its latest luxury wireless cans are a work of art. Available in black, dark maroon, ‘sand’ or this eminently Instagrammable ‘timber’ finish, the Beoplay HX headphones sport soft leather and shiny…

Ever wondered what’s up with the links in Stuff? We’ve got a team of retail pros who scour the web to find you the best gadget deals – visit any stuff.tv link in this mag and you’ll be taken to the best deal for that product. If you make a purchase, we may get a small commission. It’s that simple, and has no impact on how much you pay.…

DON’T MISS OUT! PAY THE NORMAL SHOP PRICE* AND GET THE NEXT ISSUE DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR Terms and conditions apply. Order by 27 April; you should receive your copy around 12 May. Front cover is for illustration purposes only and is subject to change. *Delivery is included in the cover price for UK customers only. An additional £1 will be added to any overseas addresses. **Lines are open Mon-Fri 8:30am–5:30pm. Calls are charged at your standard network rate.…

SMARTWATCHES 1 HOT BUY Apple Watch Series 7 from £369 / stuff.tv/WatchS7 If you’ve got an Apple Watch Series 3 or even earlier, upgrading to this one will be like walking into a lighting shop from a dark and foggy winter evening: the display is bigger and clearer, and there are new input options too. As a wearable it can’t be beaten simply because it does so much, especially if you’re into fitness; just bear in mind that it’s probably not worth upgrading from a Series 5 or 6 – and of course, its usefulness remains totally dependent on you having an iPhone. Stuff says The mighty Apple Watch cements its place at the top of the wearable tree 2 Garmin Fenix 7 from £600/stuff.tv/Fenix7 If your budget stretches, the…

SOUNDBARS 1 HOT BUY Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar £2199 / stuff.tv/AmbeoSoundbar Utterly convincing Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D sound, ample power and lots of inputs mean no other soundbar currently available can perform feats with the solidity and confidence of this Sennheiser. The sheer room-filling scale of this device’s sound is remarkable, and it’s hard to think of any content that wouldn’t benefit from being Ambeo’d. That’s why, as well as being the biggest and the most expensive, it’s the best you can buy. Stuff says The Ambeo Soundbar is a big unit but the sound it makes is bigger still 2 Sonos Arc £899 / stuff.tv/SonosArc Don’t expect this soundbar to do everything a multi-speaker Dolby Atmos setup can do, but its up-firing and side-firing drivers give a real sense of…

£229 / na.enabot.com With cameras and app control, this little security bot is like a guard dog you don’t have to feed. ● Patrol with it Unless you live in a one-room flat with barely enough space to swing a Cat5 cable, covering your whole home with security cams can be a costly business. So why not put one on wheels and let it roam about in search of intruders instead? The Ebo Air might look like a tennis ball from the future, but let it patrol your house when you’re not there and it’s like having your own security droid. It uses AI-powered tracking and facial recognition skills to alert you if it spots something out of the ordinary… although considering it makes BB-8 look menacing, it might not…

Come on now, April Fools Day was weeks ago… We know – but according to Dyson, the Zone (£tba, dyson.co.uk) is no joke. It might look like something from a Saw sequel set in outer space, but this is actually a pair of wireless headphones that double as a wearable air purifier. Or is it the other way around? Dyson started working on them six years ago, back when donning a mask in public would have marked you out as a potential thief; but even with the Covid pandemic making it a more everyday sight, you’d definitely still get a few funny looks with this contraption hugging your bonce. So how does it actually work? Each earcup includes a tiny compressor that draws air in through dual-layer filters before channelling…

Save 50% on the world’s best-selling gadget mag! SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION OFFER Buy one year and get one year free Save 50% off the shop price Have each issue delivered directly to your door – FREE Never miss an issue of the world’s greatest gadget magazine Receive our e-newsletter TWO EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE: ONLINE shop.kelsey.co.uk/STUP522 CALL US 01959 543747 Please quote STUP522 Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-5.30pm (calls charged at your standard network rate) Offer ends 9 June 2022 Terms and conditions: UK offer only. You will pay £64.87 for 26 issues. Savings are based on the standard cover price of £4.99. Offer ends 9 June 2022. Your subscription will start with the next available issue, and you will receive 13 issues in a year. Prices correct at time of print and…

Ballad of easy driver The XM4s use the same 40mm free-edge dynamic drivers as the XM3s to do their sonic business – ‘if it ain’t broke’ and all that… Mr space-cans Yes, you can enjoy the delights of spatial audio thanks to compatibility with Sony 360 Reality Audio… once you’ve set it up in the app. Chestnut pair On the left earcup there’s a power button, a 3.5mm input for wired listening, and an NFC patch for the easiest wireless pairing imaginable. SONY WH-1000XM4 For once, ‘less’ really is ‘more’. Compared to the extremely capable WH-1000XM3s they replaced, these WH-1000XM4s are slightly slimmer and slightly lighter, and travel in a slightly smaller case. And as an overall proposition, they’re slightly better – which means that, by extension, these are the…

STEELSERIES ARCTIS 9 This is a highly reliable pair of 2.4GHz wireless gaming cans. Available either for PC and PlayStation or for Xbox (look for the ‘X’ added to the name), they offer everything you could need. Most importantly they sound fantastic, with lag-free audio and meaty 40mm neodymium drivers. This leads to a wide soundstage so you can hear what’s coming from all around you, proving particularly useful if you’re playing something like Apex Legends and you’re unsure of the location of your enemy. And beyond the practical benefit, they just make your gaming a more immersive and involving experience, thanks to the way the sound grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. PC gamers also benefit from DTS:X, which provides a form of virtual surround-sound system, ensuring that…

■ Hand in shove A stainless steel bezel sits on top of a 43mm plastic case that’s waterproof down to 30 metres. The five physical buttons feel a little on the stiff side and the watch is also slow to respond when you press them. ■ This charming scan The 1.1in always-on matrix display does OK in direct sunlight and there’s an LED backlight for when it’s dark, but it’s no match for a proper AMOLED or LCD. It’s also fighting a losing battle with the sizeable black border. £259 / stuff.tv/5Peak ■ Looking for a sports watch with a little bit of Finnish flair? Suunto’s 5 Peak offers a good tracking experience on the whole, with over 80 sports covered. ■ Suunto’s adaptive training guidance, which looks at the…

FORD MUSTANG MACH-E Don’t be fooled by that name and its sporty heritage: Ford’s first mainstream electric car is an SUV. Still, there are some design hints of where the Mustang Mach-E has come from, including distinctive bonnet lines and rear taillights… along with the horsey badging. And it looks the part, though the low ground clearance isn’t ideal for off-road SUV larks. Driving the Mach-E turns out to be a more interesting experience than we expected. You’ll be rewarded with some thrills, even from the rear-wheel-drive basic model. Select a drive mode to match your mood and it proves to be a real driver’s car. It’s fairly affordable and spacious, with four doors and a family-friendly boot. There’s a fake engine burble that can make you think you’re driving…

FIRST ADD THESE… ONE SAMSUNG GALAXY S PEN FOLD EDITION It takes a special kind of S Pen stylus to write on the Galaxy Z Fold3 – try a regular Samsung scribbler and you’ll get an error prompt. Once you hook up this more delicate digi-pen, you can enjoy pressure-sensitive scribing at up to 4096 levels and full access to Samsung’s excellent Notes software. £44 / samsung.com TWO KENSINGTON UH1400P DOCK Samsung’s DeX desktop interface turns a phone into a mini-PC when hooked up to a monitor. Add this USB-C mobile dock to the mix for HDMI out, Ethernet in, fast-charging power via USB-C, two SD card slots and three USB ports. It’s a tiny dongle that brings desktop-grade connectivity. £50 / misco.co.uk THREE ANKER 735 CHARGER With the Z…

• TIPS & TRICKS Swipe up from the bottom of the screen for the app tray, so you can browse all of your apps. Press volume and standby together to take a screenshot, or just swipe your hand across the screen. Go to Settings > Battery to finely control your phone’s battery-saving efficiency. HOT BUY NEW 1 Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra from £1149 / stuff.tv/S22Ultra If you’re a tech-loving Android fan and can justify the outlay, this is the most fully-featured phone of the 2022 crop. The first ‘S’ model to have a built-in S Pen, it also offers a wonderfully sharp 6.8in QHD+ screen with super-smooth 120Hz scrolling and a stellar zoom camera, aided by a new neural processing unit that creates Samsung’s best pictures yet. Stuff says This…

TABLETS 1 HOT BUY UPDATE Apple iPad Air (4th Gen) from £499 / stuff.tv/iPadAir There’s a new iPad Air tested on p31, and it’s hard to imagine it not taking top spot in next month’s listings… but for now, the 4th-generation Air is quite revolutionary enough. It looks the spit of an 11in iPad Pro and supports Apple’s snazzy Magic Keyboard and second-gen Pencil… and the A14 chip makes it blazingly fast. Sure, there are compromises, but none are critical – if you don’t really need the extra power of the new model’s M1 processor, it might be worth looking out for end-of-line discounts on this one. Stuff says Pointing to the iPad’s future rather than its past, this is a meaningful, impressive, powerful Air update 2 Apple iPad Pro from…

• TIPS & TRICKS It’s easy to set up the X-T4’s customisable Q button: just hold it down for a couple of seconds for options. Avoid those wonky horizons by turning on the built-in on-screen level in screen settings. FujifilmXAcquireisa clever bit of PC/Mac software that backs up all your X-T4’s custom settings. 1 HOT BUY Fujifilm X-T4 £1399 / stuff.tv/XT4 The Fuji X-T4 might be the high-end mirrorless camera of your dreams. Relatively affordable for a flagship, it excels at stills and video thanks to in-body image stabilisation, high-speed shooting and 4K recording at up to 60fps. Rapid shooting is backed up by fancy AF tricks that feel equally fast and reliable, and even the battery life goes above and beyond the usual standards. There’s no doubting this is…