Stuff UKの Christmas 2022 の目次

Hello and welcome to this festive issue of Stuff, in which we not only give you a treat with our Christmas-song-themed headlines but also solve all your gift-buying woes. Yes, that’s right, our bumper gift guide is back with all the present ideas you could possibly need. But it’s also a reviews frenzy this issue, as we’re now getting all the gear that debuted when the leaves were starting to fall off the trees. Our first test looks at Apple’s latest iPads, plus we’ve checked out the sharp new-generation Motorola Razr, assessed the latest iterations of Amazon’s devices and reviewed laptops from Microsoft, Lenovo and Acer. Plus there’s a long-term test of Sky Stream, the streaming puck that gives you full Sky without having to own a dish. We also…

The Sonos rival adds a more affordable Wi-Fi speaker to its premium multiroom lineup • Move us and shake us Like Coke and Pepsi, Optimus and Megatron or Aldi and Lidl, Bluesound and Sonos are big rivals that have more in common than they’d probably care to admit – but with its Pulse M multiroom speaker, Bluesound wants to show Sonos who’s boss. Similar in size and price to the portable Sonos Move, the 80W Pulse M features an upfiring 5.25in woofer and two 0.75in tweeters that are mounted at 45°, with an acoustic reflector above them to help create a 360° soundstage. That means your music will sound good no matter where you stand (well, as long as it’s not halfway down the road). • Have I the white?…

Nothing. What’s the matter with you? Well there’s no need to be like that. We just wanted to tell you about this new smart home standard that’s backed by tech’s big three: Apple, Google and Amazon. The idea is that it’ll put an end to having to read the small print every time you buy a new product to make sure it works with Alexa, Siri, Google Home or whichever other horse you’ve chosen to back in the smart home race. When you buy a new phone you don’t worry that it won’t be compatible with the Wi-Fi in your local coffee shop, so why should lights and thermostats be any different? So how does it work? Matter enables different devices to communicate over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy, which…

£free / iOS, Android, Steam A lot of strategic card games can be harder to pick up than Thor’s hammer, but Marvel Snap’s basic rules are simple to grasp. The aim is to win at least two of the three locations on each board by playing cards with a higher combined power level than your opponent. Some cards also have unique abilities that can massively boost your score – Iron Man, for example, doubles your power. Winning matches will raise your rank and earn you in-game currency. While you can spend real money on it, every card in the game is technically unlockable without spending a penny – and with only six turns per match, you can easily play a handful of games in a 15-minute tea break.…

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CARD CARRIERS The rubber rider EvenOdd Slim Card Wallet This slender pouch won’t stop your bike getting a puncture, but it does put deflated tyres to good use: it’s crafted from reclaimed inner tubes. Each water-resistant wallet wears a unique finish from its life on the road, while custom monogramming means you can add the stamp of your unique genius. $38 / evenodd.us The pop-up pocket Jekyll & Hide Slim Card Slide There’s nothing slick about fishing for cards. This compact container makes it a cinch for fat fingers to find the right piece of plastic: its milled aluminium frame features a pop-up mechanism. Thumb the little lever and it’ll raise your collection for easy selection. No more pulling out your bus pass at the till. £69 / jekyllandhide.co.uk The…

SONOS RAY No self-respecting film fan should be marathoning 2022’s best flicks over the festive break using just their TV’s measly built-in speakers. At the very least they’re going to need a soundbar, and Sonos’s latest also happens to be its most affordable yet. To get the bad stuff out of the way, the Sonos Ray doesn’t have Dolby Atmos (though Dolby Digital is supported) or an HDMI port, forcing you to hook it up via optical. But everything that people love about Sonos, from sleek design and great sound to AirPlay 2 support and seamless wireless integration with an existing Sonos setup, is included in this smart bar. £279 / sonos.com STRESS FLIX DICE You love films. You subscribe to about 30 streaming services and spend ‘movie night’ bickering…

NANOLEAF SONIC STARTER KIT Mario might be qualified to fix a leaky downpipe, but if it’s electricity you’re interested in there’s only one hedgehog for the job. The 32 panels in this bundle can be used to create a Sonic, Tails or Knuckles pattern on your wall, a bit like a light-up jigsaw. If you’ve got the eye for it, you could even construct your own Mario layout from the same tiles. £219 / nanoleaf.me LOGITECH CHORUS Fancy a game of Beat Saber after the big lunch? Attach this to your Meta Quest 2 VR headset and its swivelling speakers will pipe those pumping beats into players’ ears without cutting them off from everyone laughing at them. £90 / logitech.com PS5 MEDIA REMOTE Sony’s DualSense pad is a marvel, but…

POLAROID P3 Polaroid is up there with Sinclair, DeLorean and, er, Woolworths when it comes to much-loved retro brand names – but try to take an instant photo with one of its latest products and you’ll be very disappointed. The P3 is a 35-watt Bluetooth speaker that comes in five different colours – yellow, blue, red, grey or black – and lasts up to 15hrs on a single charge. But it’s the old-skool boombox design that really sets it apart from the sea of other wireless speakers out there, with a chunky analogue dial for adjusting the volume and a polished metal handle for carrying it around the suburban streets on your shoulder. £170 / polaroid.com AMAZFIT GTR 4 Prefer a smartwatch that can also pass as an analogue tick-tocker?…

APPLE WATCH ULTRA Most rugged watches are more than happy up a mountain but don’t fit in quite so well down at your exclusive members’ club. With its classy titanium case and military-grade toughness, plus all the usual health and smartwatch features, the Apple Watch Ultra is at home in both environments… though we wouldn’t advise the bright orange strap for dinner with the ambassador. £849 / apple.com VANMOOF S5 Most electric bikes are more functional than fancy, but the VanMoof S5 is guaranteed to draw admiring glances when you lock it up outside your favourite takeaway granola station. It has built-in lights and is packed with anti-theft tech. £2998 / vanmoof.com SMEG FAB10RDYVC5 Nothing says luxury like having a fridge just for champagne – and with Veuve Clicquot’s name…

from £379 / go.stuff.tv/Pico4 ■ We’ve come a long way from the neck-straining headsets of early VR. The Pico 4’s battery is placed at the rear for better weight distribution, plus you get ample padding with excellent wicking to stop you turning into a sweaty mess during long sessions of Creed: Rise to Glory. ■ The pancake optics deliver an impressively wide 105° view, with minimal flaring from any light that manages to sneak past the face mask. The 4K+ resolution and 1200ppi pixel density minimise any screen-door effect, and the 90Hz refresh rate should be high enough to avoid motion sickness. ■ Pico’s game catalogue has over 150 titles available to buy, but it pales in comparison to Meta’s. The headset’s built-in fitness tracking seems a little generous, with…

£599 / go.stuff.tv/PX8 ■ With leather everywhere, cast aluminium arms holding the cups in place and a headband that’s stuffed with memory foam, these headphones ooze luxury. They also apply quite a bit of pressure on your head, which creates a good seal for noise isolation but can cause fatigue after a while. ■ The PX8s are a delight to listen to. All parts of the frequency range flow neatly together, with none of the dips, peaks or gaps in the upper-mids found in lesser cans. Complicated arrangements are given room to breathe, with an expansive soundstage and impeccable detail. ■ Three mics in each earcup deliver subtle noise-cancellation, designed to reduce background distractions rather than muting the entire outside world. The focus is on the music, with ANC letting…

Wii 2006 The Wii was the hype train that lost steam. But it was as delightful as it was weird – and its motion controls helped expand the definition of gaming. Game Boy Advance 2001 A pocket device of SNES quality, the GBA’s ports of Ninty’s hits meant it had perhaps the best lineup of any handheld ever. GameCube 2001 (2002 in Europe) An awkward console, but it’s roster of games included Metroid Prime, Super Smash Bros Melee and The Wind Waker. DS 2004 (2005 in Europe) With its dual-display approach, including a touchscreen at the bottom, the DS enabled new gaming experiences in a pre-iPhone world.…

Fire TV Cube (2022) £140 / go.stuff.tv/FireCube The Amazon Fire TV Cube brings far-field Alexa compatibility to your television – which essentially means you can talk to Alexa without moving your backside off the sofa. But it’s a bit of an anomaly in 2022. That’s because more and more TVs have Alexa built in these days, while you can use Amazon’s voice assistant with any Fire TV Stick via another device such as an Echo or Echo Dot (see opposite). And Fire TV devices also tend to have their own voice remotes, so Alexa is a mere button-press away already. What the Cube does bring to the table is control of your set-top box for cable or satellite viewing. So as a result you can get Alexa to control that…

1 Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra from £1149 / go.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 current 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 is the most capable smartphone you can currently buy ● 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…

1 Apple Watch SE (2022) from £259 / go.stuff.tv/WatchSE 2 Garmin Fenix 7 from £600 / go.stuff.tv/Fenix7 If your budget stretches, the impressive mix of rugged durability, serious battery endurance, excellent navigation skills and smartwatch features make this the best all-round sports watch you can buy. Stuff says An ace tool for adventurous fitness-building 3 Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro £479 / go.stuff.tv/Watch5Pro It carries a chunky price premium over the vanilla Galaxy Watch5, and doesn’t have much in the way of added features, but the Pro still makes a strong case for itself thanks to its more robust build and better battery. 4 Apple Watch Series 8 from £419 / go.stuff.tv/WatchS8 5 Google Pixel Watch from £339 / go.stuff.tv/PixelWatch A stylish wearable with solid fitness tracking, but it falls short…

1 Amazon Echo (4th Gen) £90 / go.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 ● 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. ● Alexa Flash Briefings deliver bursts of news or trivia; choose from…

Everybody likes the personal touch, whether it’s a monogrammed toaster or spelling out your name in Alphabites at dinner time; but getting customised moulds for your in-ear headphones usually requires a costly trip to an audiologist. Pick up a pair of UE Fits, however, and you’ll be getting soft gel-filled tips that can fill every nook and cranny of your ears. Once in place, built-in LEDs emit a purple glow that hardens the gel in less than a minute for a truly one-of-a-kind fit. There’s no ANC, but the snug positioning should ensure a better job of keeping background noise out than a regular pair of buds – and UE reckons it also reduces pressure on your ear canals, so you’ll be able to wear them for longer. Single 10mm…

SONY REVEALS PSVR2 PRICE… AND IT’S MIND-GOGGLING Sony’s PS5-compatible VR headset will be available on 22 February and set you back £530 – that’s £80 more than the disc-free version of the console itself. For that you also get two controllers, but the separate charging station will cost an extra £40. Let’s hope they’re easier to get hold of at launch than the PS5. HUAWEI’S BEZZIE MATE COMES BEARING GIFTS The Huawei Mate 50 Pro, whose 50MP main camera has a 10-stop adjustable aperture, will cost £1200 – but if you order direct before 30 November you’ll get a bunch of free goodies, including a pair of Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 wireless earphones and six months’ accidental screen damage protection. VERTU INTRODUCES THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCKCHAIN Vertu’s latest…

Adozen years after the original iPad, the home button has finally disappeared from this 10th Gen model. We’ve come a long way from a gadget that was once dismissed as just a bigger iPhone. This tablet brings a complete and much-needed overhaul to the ‘standard’ iPad range, and it’s available in a few nice colours including a rather lurid pink (as well as blue, yellow and a more regular silver). What’s on offer here is essentially a slightly stripped-down iPad Air, and there are several reasons why that makes sense… plus several reasons why it doesn’t. This is not quite the base-level iPad, by the way – the 9th Gen model is still around (complete with its traditional home button). It’s not that Apple doesn’t want to say goodbye; it’s…

AKAI MPK MINI PLAY MK3 Nothing says Christmas getting repetitive like family carols around the piano. Tired of the same old singalong? Remix the Yuletide tunes with Akai’s mini music maker. Barely a foot wide, this portable plaything features 25 keys and an eight-strong array of illuminated drum pads. The setup is sensitive to the speed of your fingers, so you can tinkle as quietly as a mouse or drop hard like a Home Alone bandit. A bank of more than 100 sounds means you can make like DJ Shadow, while the built-in speaker delivers the EDM ditties when you tour to your nan’s. £105 / akaipro.com 512 AUDIO TEMPEST A grainy YouTube vid was enough to burden the world with Bieber, but when everyone’s a content creator it takes…

ALLBIRDS TREE DASHER 2 Tread lighter on the planet with these plant-based runners. Featherweight and flexible, the knitted upper is sewn using eucalyptus fibre, while the midsole is sourced from sugarcane. A collar locks your ankle in place, while bio-based eyelets and recycled laces make for sustainable tying. And with an FSC-certified natural rubber outsole, you can land easy on the angular heel. £125 / allbirds.co.uk OSPREY TALON EARTH 22 Approved by Bluesign for responsible textile use, this pack is perfect for alpine commuters. It features a laptop sleeve, an ice-axe attachment and a bike helmet hook, and is made from recycled fabrics and ocean plastic. £160 / osprey europe.com NATIVE UNION (RE)CLASSIC CASE What feels like cowskin and sounds like a Kanye album? Yatay: a plant-based material that’s hand-crafted…

GOPRO HERO11 BLACK MINI Hitting the slopes this season? GoPro’s pared-back action cam will record your runs without distracting from the downhill fun. Tiny but tough, it swaps touchscreens for a simple two-button setup. Two pairs of fold-out fingers make it easy to mount to your lid, where it sits while shooting 5.3K footage at 60fps. AutoBoost smarts detect how much stabilisation to apply, with HyperSmooth 5.0 glossing over moguls and Horizon Lock keeping the scenery level through your dizzying slalom turns. Highlights are sent straight to your smartphone, so you can share them on the chairlift then watch the likes roll in at the bar. £300 / gopro.com LOMOGRAPHY FISHEYE NO.2 ACAPULCO LA QUEBRADA Considering fish aren’t known for their photography skills, their eyes feature on a lot of…

NOTHING EAR STICK You could decorate a whole Christmas tree with all the different affordable in-ears out there, but there’s only one pair we’d put at the top: the Ear Stick. These’phones are comfortable in the ear and offer ANC for under £100, which Apple certainly doesn’t do with its AirPods. Oh, and the transparent chassis means you can shine a light through them and they’ll look a bit like a star. £99 / nothing.tech 1MORE SONOFLOW These wireless over-ears look not unlike Sony’s all-conquering WH-1000XM5s. They’re not that good, but they do offer surprisingly good ANC and punchy sound for a wallet-friendly pair of cans, and 50hr battery life is the icing on the Christmas cake. £90 / 1more.com GOOGLE PIXEL STAND (2ND GEN) If you know someone who’s…

● WGT Golf This mobile ball-thwacker is for proper golf geeks. It has photorealistic takes on famous courses like Pebble Beach and St Andrews, and loads of kit to mess around with. It’s also packed full of in-app purchases. But ignore all that and there’s plenty of contemplative fun to be had for the solo golfer – or competitive fare for folks who fancy their chances in live matches against online players. £free (IAP) / Android, iOS ● Golf on Mars Some folks play golf to get away from it all. Golf on Mars takes that idea a bit too far, pitting you against over 25 billion holes some nutcase has built on a future terraformed Mars. With its minimalist vibes, simple gameplay and intuitive controls, this is properly hypnotic…

THE BASICS ■ Manage multitasking Strap in! Apple’s added a new windowing system to the Mac and iPad: Stage Manager. This is like a simplified take on Mac windows. You’ll need a 2018 or newer iPad Pro, or an M1 iPad Air – and only M1/M2 iPads get upcoming external display support. (Note: you can still use Split View on iPad and normal windows on Mac.) ■ Boost browsing Safari now supports Passkeys, which will eventually consign passwords to oblivion. Until then, you can edit suggested strong passwords to deal with site-specific demands. Website settings and extensions sync between devices, and you can share tab groups, to organise events or inflict your terrible taste in websites on others. ■ Tweak toolbars Apple talks about the iPad now having ‘desktop-class apps’.…

£270 / go.stuff.tv/Sense2 ■ Fitbit has gone properly radical with the Sense 2: it’s got a button! The haptic controls have been dumped for something more traditional, familiar and all-round useful. But it does stick with the same rectangular 1.58in 336x336 AMOLED display, which is bright and delivers really rich colours. ■ The button is baked onto a 40.5mm-sized aluminium case with soft curves to give this square smartwatch an elegant feel. You’ve got your pick of three colours and a wide range of straps. If you want to take the Sense 2 for a dip, it’ll take water up to 50m deep. ■ Unlike the cheaper Versa 4, you’re getting the full package as far as health and stress are concerned: it will still count steps, monitor sleep and…

Xiaomi 12T Pro 1. HARDWARE Look, we get it – size isn’t everything. And neither is pixel count. But you can’t deny 200MP is impressive. The 12T Pro’s main cam is leagues ahead of its meagre secondary snappers, capturing incredible detail in all conditions. 2. IN USE The glass and plastic construction betrays the 12T Pro’s more wallet-friendly nature, but the display is gorgeous and it gives up nothing in performance. Battery life is decent, and 120W wired charging brings sub-20min top-ups. 3. THE REST You don’t get any kind of IP rating, and the design is a little lacking in personality – rear logo aside, you’d have a hard time telling the 12T Pro was a Xiaomi. Still, the in-display fingerprint scanner is speedy and the speakers are OK.…

Acer Swift Edge What’s the story? With a substantial 16in display but weighing a mere 1.17kg, the Acer Swift Edge proves laptop screen size doesn’t have to dictate luggability. Folded shut it’s a barely-there 14mm thick, yet its magnesium-aluminium alloy chassis lets you silence the bit of your brain that links ‘light’ with ‘flimsy’. Some might call the styling work-ish, but we reckon there’s a stealth bomber vibe going on: it’s black and angular, with a scary amount of firepower inside, courtesy of a creator-friendly 4K OLED panel and a Ryzen 6800U CPU. Is it any good? Acer might be going against the grain by siding with AMD rather than Intel, but it’s a move that’s paid off: the Swift Edge is as zippy as you like on the Windows…

1 Hammerhead Karoo 2 £359 / go.stuff.tv/Karoo2 For ages cycling computers have been held back by outdated tech… but Hammerhead’s sharp screen really is a gamechanger, and effectively running a tiny Android phone inside a custom case feels like a no-brainer. The 3.2in display is a delight, helping you spot new trails branching off from routes, all with the nostalgic feel of an early smartphone. Navigating with swipes and taps is intuitive (and works with gloves), and the software is constantly updated with helpful nips and tucks. Stuff says At last, a bike computer for the 21st century – Wahoo and Garmin appear to have missed a trick here 2 Wattbike Atom £1999 / go.stuff.tv/WBAtom This is no beginner bike, but if you’re looking to improve your cycling form at…

1 Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Max £1799 / go.stuff.tv/AmbeoMax The arrival of a new Plus model means the standard Ambeo Soundbar gains a ‘Max’ – and a £400 price cut (at least for now). Utterly convincing Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D sound, ample power and lots of inputs mean no other soundbar currently available can perform sonic feats with this much confidence. The sheer room-filling scale of its sound is remarkable. Stuff says The Ambeo Soundbar Max is a big unit but the sound it makes is bigger still 2 Sonos Arc £899 / go.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 cinematic scale. See also the much more affordable Ray model. Stuff…

1 Fujifilm X-T4 £1549 / go.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 a worthy successor to the already fabulous X-T3. Stuff says A superbly capable mirrorless camera for shooting pretty much anything in style ● 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…

I’ve got a Kindle, but this looks like someone’s roughly hewn it from wood with an axe. The Kindle’s been called the ‘iPod for books’, in the sense of not being the first of its kind yet changing everything. But this first version lacked Apple-style design: it was as if Amazon had whacked an Etch A Sketch with an ugly stick, got drunk and glued on loads of weird bits. Today it resembles a vision of the future from a badly made 1960s sci-fi show. Still, they must have done something right: when you think of e-readers, the name that springs to mind certainly isn’t Nook. Oh, be fair, Amazon got lots right: E Ink, clicky buttons, wireless ebook sync… We imagine that people leaping to the defence of the…

Ever feel like you’re being watched? Either you’re paranoid or you’ve just bought one of Devialet’s new portable speakers. Despite looking like a robot’s eyeball, the Mania can’t see you; but pipe it some music over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (including Spotify Connect) or AirPlay 2 and you’ll certainly be able to hear it: this thing might only be the size of a teapot, but with six drivers inside and a maximum volume of 95dB, when cranked to full it’s as loud as a motorbike engine – and that’s before you add it to an existing Devialet system for any multiroom shenanigans. And you’re absolutely sure it can’t see? Positive. It can hear, though. Four microphones measure reflective surfaces around it and tweak the output of its full-range drivers to ensure they’re…

from £275,000 / rolls-roycemotorcars.com Ah, splendid, I’m due a new Rolls. The usual 6.75L engine? Not at all: the Spectre is the iconic brand’s first electric car – part of a concerted effort to move away from combustion engines by 2030. They’re calling it an ultra-luxury super-coupé, complete with rear-hinged doors. A low drag coefficient of just 0.25 means the car should deliver lots of ‘waft’ factor and a sublime ride through its planar suspension system. What’s it like on the inside? Rolls-Royce will be including its new-gen Spirit infotainment system, supplemented by the aptly titled Whispers app that lets owners set the car up just as they wish. Meanwhile there’s lots of interior bling, including optional ‘Starlight’ doors with no less than 5876 illuminated dots. So you can gaze…

LOGITECH K380 FOR MAC Whether you’re tip-tapping on a tablet or like to sit back from your laptop, this streamlined keyboard is a win for your fingers. Wedge-shaped and wireless, its compact footprint fits neatly on any desk, while contoured scissor keys are cosy but responsive. Available in blue, pink or off-white, this low-profile board is good for up to two years on a single charge – ideal for travelling typists. £45 / logitech.com APPLE iPAD AIR Tablets have changed since Roman times. Apple’s latest lightweight slate is a champion of in-chariot entertainment: fronted by a 10.9in Retina display, its M1 chip provides all-conquering performance, with optional 5G. from £669 / apple.com BELLROY DESK CADDY It takes more than a laptop to work from anywhere. Organise your portable office with…

THERABODY THERACUP No, it’s not a container for your takeaway spiced latte – this compact cup offers caffeine-free relief for your aching muscles. Like the therapy ordered by Olympic athletes, the TheraCup deploys a combination of suction, vibration and heat to soothe your sore bits. The cupping concept is pretty simple: by pumping on targeted areas, it’s meant to stimulate bloodflow, relieve tired tissue and speed up recovery. But unlike a full physio setup, this thing can fit in your gym bag for treatments on the go. It’s also good for up to 2hrs per charge, and doesn’t require an intimidatingly healthy professional to push the buttons. £109 / therabody.com UNDER ARMOUR HOVR SUMMIT FAT TIRE DELTA Dashing through the snow is difficult if you’re slipping about like Bambi. Be…

BUILD YOUR OWN PINBALL MACHINE Ordinarily you’d need way-deep pockets if you were thinking about getting a child interested in pinball machines. But this is no six-digit ’80s restoration, rather an eco-friendly cardboard tabletop machine that they build themselves. Everything you need is supplied, including the elastic bands that power the flippers. The best part? No carpet-wrecking glue required. £20 / buildyourownkits.com BELKIN SOUNDFORM NANO If you know all the words to Baby Shark then you probably should have bought them headphones a long time ago… and with these Bluetooth buds you can save your own ears while knowing theirs are protected by an 85dB limiter. £30 / belkin.com JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION: REAL FX BABY BLUE DINOSAUR Jurassic World Dominion wasn’t a very good film, but at least it inspired…

KODAK EKTAR H35 Christmas memories might be priceless, but shoot the festivities on 35mm film and you’ll be forking out a fortune at the print shop come 12th night. Want analogue nostalgia with less of a hipster price tag? Lightweight and styled to match its vintage medium, Kodak’s compact H35 shoots half frames to maximise your roll allowance. Consecutive photos appear side by side in a single snap, giving you twice as many exposures from a single reel. That means you can experiment with contrasting or complementary compositions, like a portrait of Auntie Susan followed by an expressionistic study of her empty gin bottle. £50 / kodak.com HUMAX WI-FI SMART PLUG A display of a thousand lights begins with a single plug. Insert this one into a standard socket and…

WEATHER Astonishingly, neither iPadOS nor macOS had the Weather app until now. It makes good use of screen space by letting you see a lot of information at once; also, tap a pane and it reveals more – most notably an animated precipitation map ripped right from Dark Sky. CLOCK Apple shoved a clock in the Mac menu bar back in 1994. Now there’s a full Clock app – which, oddly, isn’t accessed from the one in the menu bar. Ho-hum. Instead, it’s launched from the Applications folder and looks identical to the iPad’s Clock app. It’s solid, and very handy. SYSTEM SETTINGS System Preferences on macOS is gone, hurrah… only System Settings isn’t much better. Again the design seems to have been lobbed over from iPadville. Get used to…

The Ultra model is the first major ground-up redesign of the Apple Watch as we know it. So when Apple suggested that Stuff sit down (well, virtually) with three of the company’s vice presidents to ask them about the key sensors on the device, we didn’t have to think about it very long. We spoke to Stan Ng, VP for Apple Watch marketing; Ron Huang, VP for sensing and connectivity; and Jay Blahnik, VP of fitness technologies. So, first things first: Why is now the right time for the Ultra? “Over the years we’ve heard from customers who shared with us how they wanted to use Apple Watch for their extreme adventures,” explains Stan Ng. “We wanted to create a watch that would be a meaningful tool, and it was…

£99 / go.stuff.tv/EarStick ■ Nothing’s unique-looking new in-ears adopt the bold AirPods tactic of having no silicone tips to keep them locked in place. They will stay put when you walk to the shops, but finishing a 5K without one popping loose will be a taller order. On the other hand, because they don’t place pressure on your ear canals, we could wear them all day with no discomfort. ■ Passive isolation is basically non-existent, which can help songs feel airier and less enclosed but also means you’ll need to crank the volume to block out background distractions. There’s no active noise-cancellation. ■ Sound quality depends heavily on finding the right angle: with the stems pointed directly downward we lost all low end, yet a 45° angle gave a far…

1 Sony WH-1000XM5 £345 / go.stuff.tv/WHXM5 Nobody was able to displace Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones from the top of this list for two years… yet the 2022 model manages to be even better. Key to the XM5s’ overall quality is the new carbon-fibre composite 30mm drivers: they bring even greater clarity than the previous generation, and the sound reproduction is beautifully precise. The simple fact is that these are the best noise-cancellers around by almost every measure. You really won’t regret buying them. Stuff says Sony keeps its grip on the top spot with an unrivalled combo of great sound, ANC and comfort 2 Sennheiser Momentum 4 £300 / go.stuff.tv/SM4 These are headphones that sound naturalistic, engaged and entirely musical, making every recording sound like an event. And they’ll last a…