T3の October 2021 の目次

Among DJs and vinyl fans, the Technics SL-1200 has an almost legendary status. Solidly built, efficiently designed and featuring a high-torque direct drive motor, it went on to sell 3 million units and became a staple of clubs and audiophiles’ home setups alike. Although Technics vanished from the scene in 2010 when the brand was temporarily retired, the iconic turntable was soon reborn as the SL-1200G in 2016, which has in turn inspired the new SL-1210G. Coming with a stylish matte black finish, the SL-1210G features an iron-coreless direct drive motor with double rotor/single stator that eliminates cogging and offers powerful torque. Its tonearm is fashioned from cold-drawn magnesium, which has a high damping effect, while its bearings utilise a cut-processed housing to deliver high initial motion sensitivity, offering hyper-accurate…

1 iPHONE 13 • From £679, apple.com Apple’s four new iPhones don’t look too new – we’re in the ‘hardware refresh’ point of the iPhone cycle rather than the ‘radical redesign’ bit, after all – but they’re absolutely some of the most exciting the company has ever released. From the dinky 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini all the way up to the big-boy 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, with the 6.1-inch iPhones 13 and 13 Pro between them, the entire line has been given a bunch of salient upgrades. They each get new batteries with smarter power management, offering between 90 minutes to two-and-a-half hours extra life on a charge. Apple’s newest 5nm smartphone chip, the A15 Bionic, brings six CPU cores, between four and five GPU cores, and a vastly…

We’re not sure if you’ve noticed, but the ’90s are back in fashion. We know, it puzzles us too why would anyone want to pay homage to a decade that made chain wallets and curtains a thing but that’s exactly what Reebok and Goodr did with their latest collaboration. The two new ’90s inspired kits (reebok.com) feature the Floatride Energy 3 and Reebok’s Nano X1 shoes and each comes complete with a pair of Goodr Recess Ree-Mix sunnies, and a coordinating pair of Reebok performance shoes in a ’90s-inspired colourway. It’s certainly eye-catching. The Reebok x Run Goodr kit comes with a pair of Reebok’s high performance running shoes, the Floatride Energy 3, ideal for logging miles with comfort and ease. The Reebok x Beast Goodr kit comes with a…

The last year may not have been packed with champagne moments – unless you were drowning your sorrows – but that hasn’t hurt the sales of fizzy wine. Champagne and the surprisingly excellent fizzy wines of England may remain reserved for special occasions. However, prosecco, cava and the like are increasingly brought out on every occasion, even if the ‘occasion’ is ‘getting home from work, or the shops’. One big problem with fizz has long been that it just doesn’t keep. That’s no problem if you’re partying with friends, and it all gets polished off in five minutes. If you are wanting to savour a higher quality bottle of sparkling wine over a longer period, it has been more or less impossible, though. Nope, leaving a spoon upside down in…

Q KERRY ERICSSON, LONDON How can I make my whole house smart? A Guru has long bounced off the whole smart home thing, despite acting as smart home correspondent for a number of reputable publications in the past, but a light has turned itself on within him: that stuff you’re doing with Alexa and Wi-Fi? It’s not smart home. It’s smart Barbie Dreamhouse. It’s dumb home. It is simply the cloying cream on top of a delicious bottle of smart milk. To do smart home right, you need to roll up your sleeves. This means, unfortunately for you, a period of learning, during which you will need to absorb the icky jargon and hideous interface of Home Assistant, ideally installed on a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (from £35). Home…

When I joined T3 way back in *cough* 2000 and *cough* – quite a W long time ago – it was very different to how it is now. The focus was on ‘gadgets’ in various shades of grey and beige, and I was not really intending to stay long. Certainly not for the [redacted] years I have ended up being here. Then the iPhone happened and suddenly technology was not solely for spec-obsessed, speccy men. It was a cool, thrusting new universe of high-bitrate life enhancement. The tech market opened up overnight to new people and new ideas. T3 was quick to leap on this and began to embrace the idea of ‘tech lifestyle’, as brands from cars to kettles desperately charged to leap on the ultra-lucrative, designer techy bandwagon…

In issue one of T3, we reported on the release of the EV1, a fully electric car from General Motors, automobile manufacturers. The sleek two-door, two-seater is generally regarded as the first mass-produced EV available to the public. It had a 0-60 time of around 8.4 seconds and a range of between 70 and 100 miles – and up to 140 miles for the second generation model. (BMW’s i3 will only do around 150 and that was released in 2013.) Despite an overwhelmingly positive response (including endorsements from the likes of Tom Hanks, Danny DeVito and Mel Gibson) only 1,117 cars were made, and in 2002 GM decided to recall them all and crush the lot, in spite of a vociferous ‘Don’t Crush’ campaign. GM suggested that it simply couldn’t…

Liebherr has been creating high-performing, reliable appliances since 1954. Over the years since, it has launched new ranges and developed innovative ways to integrate its appliances into your home. However, Liebherr has become most well-known for pioneering new technologies that make its appliances stand out from other conventional fridges and freezers. From its BioFresh technology, launched in 1996, through to its HydroBreeze misting technology in 2020, the company aims to always bring you fresher food, crisper food, food that’s less likely to dry out and freeze, and food that, ultimately, lasts longer. Liebherr knows that the way an appliance fits into your home is just as important as the tech inside it. That’s why it’s worked hard to create storage solutions and integrated appliances that fit intuitively into spaces. It…

There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all smart lighting system: what’s right for your home might not be the ideal option for ours, and if you already have some smart home technology then you might find it easiest to go with the platform you’re already used to. So for example if you have a Hive thermostat or security system you might find that Hive’s smart lights are the most effortless addition. But if you haven’t picked your platform, these four options should cover all the bases and budgets. Whether your priority is affordability, expandability, convenience or luxury, these smart systems promise to light up your life. ILLUMINATE EVERYTHING PHILIPS HUE These are definitely not the cheapest smart lights you can lay your hands on, but the Hue system is a…

1 FIIT Fiit made waves when it landed in 2018, with people branding it the “Netflix of fitness”. However, it was during the pandemic when Fiit really came into its own, enabling us to virtually attend our favourite studio classes from our living rooms when gyms were out of bounds. But that’s just half the reason why the company has made a name for itself. It’s incredibly smart and well-designed, integrating heart rate monitoring and real-time workouts with live leaderboards to gamify exercise right from your television set. As the years pass, we’ll see a lot more from Fiit and its contemporaries. 2 JAXJOX One of the most innovative yet underrated fit-tech firms out there, JaxJox made a great impression at CES in Vegas back in 2019 with its connected…

The first issue of T3 magazine featured a videogame console T that, while time has been quite unkind to it since, for the day was a transformative piece of technology for millions of gamers. A third dimension in videogame graphics wasn’t exactly a new thing when the N64 hit the store shelves back in 1996, with the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn introducing console gamers to the idea of 3D a few years before, but the Nintendo 64 marked a landmark shift. The bright, vivid, polygonal experiences delivered by the console, as championed at launch by the now legendary Super Mario 64, were like nothing gamers had seen before and, almost overnight, transformed gamer expectations. Indeed, T3 issue 1’s coverage of the console noted that “the N64 moves the goalposts…

The first noise-cancelling true wireless earbuds from Danish audio favourites Bang & Olufsen, the EQ are high-priced and high-quality, just as you’d expect from a brand almost as famous for premium design as decades of audio quality. The fit is perfectly solid with both the silicone eartips and the Comply eartips. But although the B&O EQ never became very loose, they also didn’t feel very secure while using them. They’re weighty and they stick out quite a way, which makes them feel like they’re always in danger of falling out of our ears. They’re definitely not but the end result is we kept having to check and fiddle with them. On the outside of the earbuds are touch controls. You can switch between noise cancellation modes by tapping on the…

1 MOSHI PORTO Q 5K It may not be the fastest Qi charger at 5W, but Moshi’s handsome clothcovered pad is the perfect way to keep the PI7 case topped up with juice wherever you may be. It’s the perfect bedside charger, looks great on a desk, and packs a 5,000mAh battery so you can charge on the go. £90, moshi.com 2 FIIO M11 PLUS High-end buds deserve a similarly high-end source, and they don’t come much fancier than Fiio’s beautiful Androidbased HD player. Made for precise playback, aptX Adaptive support means you’ll be able to get the very best out of the PI7 on the move. £635, fiio.com 3 COMPLY TRUEGRIP TW-400-C Changing the ear tips can make a huge difference to your earphone experience, and when you’re dealing with…

The new Fitbit Charge 5 (£169.99, fitbit.com) is the most sophisticated fitness tracker Fitbit has ever created. It features some seriously premium features including the ECG app for heart health, EDA Scan app for stress management and an always-on display that’s twice as bright as the Charge 4. Better still, you get a six-month membership of Fitbit Premium so you can enjoy all the perks of the Fitbit App. Not bad for a fitness band!…

Are you planning a staycation? Data suggests you are – with a survey carried out by Bridgestone Potenza showing 75% of people are more likely to take a staycation due to Covid-19. So I’d suggest loading up the car and heading to the best driving roads in the UK, many of which offer a perfect blend of nature, adventure, and luxury. In the name of science, Bridgestone provided me with a car, a new set of Potenza Sport tyres, and an itinerary to discover what the UK has on offer. With high temperatures and sunny weather, there was no better place to visit than the Isle of Wight, which not only has a varied coastline of cliffs, coves, sandy beaches and rock pools, but also has some of the best…

1 PINK MARBLE WALLPAPER MURAL Marble was once a signifier of great wealth used in expensive homes, then it took a bit of a status dive to become a popular kitchen worktop, but in 2021 the trend is to bring a touch of marble (or marble effect) into any room you choose. This mural wallpaper sits well within most home-makers’ budget without losing any of the sophisticated charm of the real rock itself. £30/m2, wallsauce.com 2 ORIGINAL MARBLED PRINT Designer Natascha from Nat Maks makes these original prints using the Japanese art of Suminagashi. Paints are placed on a water surface and allowed to move organically; the image is then captured by placing paper onto the water. The dreamy, marbled images that emerge explode with colour, and at a petite…

Whether it’s an old console collecting dust or a dearly departed Discman waiting to be laid to rest, it’s hard to be a committed tech fan without leaving a trail of vintage gadgets in your wake. Indeed, if you’ve followed T3 ever since its debut issue, you’ll likely have owned a cornucopia of classic contraptions over the years. But are you a kosher electronics collector or are you a mere tech trend-hopper? Find out by taking part in T3’s Retro Gizmo BingoTM! For every famed (or infamous) device that you once owned, give yourself a stamp. The centre square is a free space – assuming you’ve ever owned a smartphone – and, as always, a complete row or column wins. And if you want extra bragging rights, only count first-gen…

1 FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS LG has finally revealed the product we were promised would be the TV of the future 25 years ago: a rollable OLED TV. Yes, at the moment it costs £100K and weighs a ton (or 64kg to be accurate, but the point remains), but this is assuredly how domestic video displays are going to develop. By 2046 we’ll be able to unpin our TV from the wall, roll it up like wallpaper and take it wherever we like. Actual, genuine portable television, in other words. 2 SONOS Twenty-five years is a long time for a brand to avoid making any catastrophic mistakes (remember when Atari was going to be the biggest company in the world?), but if anyone is positioning itself to dominate for the long haul it’s…

1 AUTONOMOUS CARS Might 2046 be the year your car can finally pick you up from the pub? Despite the limitations today of systems like Tesla Autopilot, we wouldn’t bet against it. But, rather than full automation, we expect the mid-2040s to feature electric, autonomous vehicles – you could even call them pods for an extra dose of future-gazing – driving themselves along predefined routes. That said, we think most people will still be driving themselves by 2046, but with greatly advanced driver assistance systems, potentially taking full control on motorways, making them safer and more efficient. 2 FLYING CARS Everyone from startups like Lilium to industry veterans like Boeing all believe the future of transport will see us take to the skies in compact, electric vehicles. It sounds idyllic – and…

Smartwatches are a common sight in 2021 – you can’t leave the S house without seeing someone wearing an Apple Watch, Garmin running watch, or Fitbit on their wrist. There’s no questioning they’ve hit the mainstream – you’re just as likely to see one on the wrist of an oiled up gym buff or social media influencer as you are a pale, skinny, slightly awkward IT worker. But it hasn’t always been this way… I started writing about technology in 2015, just as the first generation Moto 360 was announced. It was around the same time smartphone innovation began to plateau, so the new category of ‘wearables’ came as a breath of fresh air. The Moto 360 wasn’t the first smartwatch available commercially, but it was the one that captured…

BOWERS & WILKINS PI7 You know when you bite into a perfect steak, or a delectable desert, and you just feel this instant sense of relaxation and comfort? That’s what these headphones do to you the second you fire up your first song. The PI7 don’t just sound good; they sound phenomenal. There are no compromises here. Bass is big and gripping, but never overwhelming and always precisely controlled, like Lewis Hamilton weaving a lorry through a chicane. Mids have energy and warmth that makes them just an immense amount of fun for pop, but also contain all the detail you need for haunting voices to include every croak. And the high-end manages to stand out clear from everything else, while also not feeling detached, and never comes across as…

94 SAMSUNG GALAXY Z FOLD 3 98 AMAZON ECHO FLEX 99 PANASONIC LUMIX TZ200 100 DELL XPS 15 9510 102 PANASONIC JZ1000 104 XIAOMI MI ELECTRIC SCOOTER 3 HOW WE TEST In T3, we feature only the finest gadgets out there, and we believe that you – our loyal reader – deserve only the best tech in your life. We don’t want you to waste time, and money, on inferior products, and that’s exactly why our Tested section exists. In here you’ll find only the latest and hottest tech. Each product has been handpicked and tested by T3’s experts. We only choose people with specialist knowledge for each test, so you know you’re going to get an outcome based on many years of experience in their respective field. As well…

Looking for something small and cheap to control your smart home, but don’t need a fully fledged speaker? With the Amazon Echo Flex, you can have Alexa everywhere and anywhere from the hallway to your bedside or even out in the garage. You won’t need a table to place it on and messy cables won’t get in your way; it just plugs directly into your wall socket. Measuring 22.5 x 14.6 x 10.1cm, the Amazon Echo Flex looks more like a smart plug than a smart speaker. It has a small blue light to let you know when Alexa is listening and there’s a microphone mute button. Above that, the multifunction button can put Alexa in setup mode or activate the microphone. Admittedly, the latter seems a little pointless because…

Let’s make no bones about it: we loved the Dell XPS 13 9310, especially the wonderful OLED screen. Sometimes, though, you need a little bit more space, which is where the XPS 15 9510 comes in. It ups the gorgeous OLED screen’s size to 15.6 inches, and upgrades the internals to give it some decent gaming kick. The highlight of this new iteration of the XPS 15 is that 15.6-inch OLED display. It has a resolution of 3,456 by 2,160 pixels, which is just a bit below the resolution of a 4K TV. There is an option for a 4K screen for the same money, but this uses a more standard LCD display. This OLED display is worth the slight reduction in resolution, though: it has the same deep, clean…

HYPERICE VYPER 3.0 The Vyper 3 vibrating foam roller’s contoured design helps avoid pressure on your spine and other sensitive areas while the three speed settings enable you to crank up the intensity if you require more oomph during your roller sessions. Compatible with the Hyperice App. $199, hyperice.com LULULEMON DOUBLE ROLLER As the name suggests, the Lululemon Double Roller is two foam rollers in one. Use the exterior roller to massage your arms and legs and the interior roller to release tension in your back. The 20-inch rolling surface is great for massaging the whole back and both legs at the same time. £48, lululemon.co.uk THERAGUN WAVE DUO The Theragun Wave Duo is a unique take not just on foam rollers but also on massage balls: the contoured design…

When T3 magazine launched in 1996, I’d been out of school for W a few years, but looking back on a quarter century of tech reminded me of something a teacher once said. She was asked, as I recall, about getting older and her response was: “You’ll be amazed at the things that are invented in your lifetime.” It clearly stuck with me, as that was a long time ago and yet I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday. Thumbing through issue one of T3 I’m struck by a few things. Even then, the magazine was enthusiastic about electric cars. GM’s EV1 was the subject, and while that car was never a success it wasn’t because it wasn’t good. And even then, the naysayers wrote letters claiming it…

VACU VIN CHAMPAGNE SAVER If you only want to save your leftover sparkling wine for the next day, and would rather not pay 400 quid for it, look no further than this fizz-specific spin-off from Vacu Vin. It seals bottles quite effectively, and also doubles as a dribble-free pourer. £14, vacuvin.com CORAVIN TIMELESS 3 SL This cleverly uses a needle to gently pierce the cork of your precious vintage. As you pour through the needle, exactly the right amount of inert gas is pumped in to fill the gap left, meaning the bottle can be made to last for years. £199, coravin.co.uk AARKE CARBONATOR C3 An upmarket SodaStream! The design may be based on posh espresso machines but it uses the same process to carbonate any liquid. You could even…

Guru finds the finest media you need on your various devices LOVING IN STEREO What would the Bee Gees be like if they were actually kinda cool? The third album from falsetto neo-soul groovers Jungle once again answers that question, and how. JUNGLE CRUISE The Rock does indeed bulge his way through vegetation wearing a too-tight button-up shirt in this entertaining flick, which is the truest mark of a good film that there is. FREE GUY The Truman Show for the 2020s? Eh, kinda, but not, but sort of – Ryan Reynolds is more likeable than Jim Carrey, and this is a far more fun take on the trapped-in-a-thing genre.…

Connect and control all kinds of smart home devices from your phone or smart speaker 01 AMAZON ECHO SHOW 10 Two of the current Amazon Echo range offer integrated Zigbee hubs: the Echo Show and the Echo. Zigbee works with a range of different smart lighting systems. £240, amazon.co.uk 02 HIVE HUB Hive is probably known best for its smart thermostats and radiator valves, but the range has expanded to include smart home security and smart lights too. Control them with Hive’s own app or with a smart speaker. £80, hivehome.com 03 TRÅDFRI GATEWAY Ikea’s smart light hub doesn’t just enable you to control its smart lights and bulbs with the Ikea app on your smartphone or tablet. It also enables you to control your other Ikea smart home products including blinds and…

In the 25 years of T3, TVs have changed drastically, especially I considering that the most important bit is still much as it always was: a 2D screen surrounded by a frame. Back in 1996, things were hotting up in the TV space. Sony’s patent on its famous Trinitron CRT tech ran out this year, which meant that the best TV quality was suddenly available in cheaper sets – in response, the flatscreen revolution began. Not only did high-end CRT sets start adding flat screens as a differentiator, but rear projection TVs also appeared and offered bigger size (though this was more of a US craze, where they could actually fit the sizes of set required), and in 1997 plasma TVs launched. LCD TVs had been floating around since the…

1 INCREASINGLY THIN LAPTOPS The clam-shell design of laptops has remained pretty much unchanged for the past 30 years, but a recent trend we can see carrying on is for ever thinner and lighter devices. Laptops are great for taking around with us, so the easier they are to carry, the better. Over the next 25 years, we can see advances in component manufacturing that allows laptop parts to get ever smaller, so the laptops of the future could be seriously slim devices, while also getting ever more powerful. 2 STREAMING KILLS OFF GAMING PCs Yeah, yeah, people have been predicting the death of desktop PCs for years, but they’ve always been proved wrong. After all, no matter how good laptops or smartphones get, they can never compete with the raw power…

1 CARING, CLEANING AND COOKING ROBOTS You might already have a robovac or voice assistant, but in your smart home of the future, helpful robots will become more useful and commonplace. They’ll take care of your daily chores, like cleaning, doing laundry or chopping up vegetables. But they’ll also play an essential role in providing care and companionship for older people or anyone with mobility issues or disabilities. They may also be able to look after your children and pets, giving you instant access to real-time video, so you know what’s going on wherever you are. 2 LEARNING YOUR HABITS AI advances mean your smart home will know your habits, talk to your devices and proactively make changes to your environment. For example, data from sensors in your PJs will turn on…

MASTER & DYNAMIC MW08 Let’s cut to the chase - the Master & Dynamic MW08 are some of the best true wireless earbuds you can buy right now. They combine style with great sound and active noise cancelling. You couldn’t ask for much more, and their price is a definite reflection of that. The earbuds are a sleek shape, square on one end and rounded on the other. A ceramic finish makes them lightweight and scratch resistant. While the semi-square design looks smart, it can be confusing; it took us a few uses to remember that the straight edge goes at the front. Each earbud will last 12 hours of music playback and the case gives you an additional three charges, holding 42 hours all-in-all. That’s more than enough: a…

In the Wellness arena, we’ve seen major changes in the world of I mattresses. Tempur released the first memory foam mattress in 1991, and by the time T3 launched a few years later, people were coming around to the idea that coils were square, man, and what they really wanted was to sleep on a great slab of polyurethane. A sleep surface that you would sink slowly yet inescapably into, to experience the most undisturbed night’s sleep of your life, if only because you couldn’t physically move. (I’m – mostly – joking, of course.) The next major arrival to the slumber party occurred in 2014, when Casper fired up its vacuum-packing machine and started compressing mattresses into almost unfeasibly small boxes, to be swiftly delivered to customers’ doors. Everything could…