Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i Stuff UK

Throw your jazz hands in the air, because we’re entering the ‘crazy’ period of the year for new tech. The mayhem kicks off with Europe’s biggest gadget show, IFA, closely followed by Apple’s inevitable iPhone announcements, all potentially trumped by Google’s Pixel 3. Companies are clambering for a piece of the Christmas pie – and if you think it’s too soon to say that word, you’re absolutely right, but that hasn’t stopped brands peddling forthcoming festive kit since July. So we decided to compile the mother of all wish lists way ahead of time and measure up how much space we’ll need under the tree. Turns out it’s more of a forest. Everything in the top 100 most wanted has been personally and painstakingly selected by Stuff staff, and involved…

Sony Master Series AF9 £tba / sony.co.uk Coming in 55in and 65in models, Sony’s new AF9 flagship TV ticks all the boxes you’d expect – OLED, Ultra HD, HDR – as well as a few more exciting extras • Whoa-LED! The AF9’s 4K OLED screen comes with a truly dizzying array of tech trickery to send your retinas reeling, most of it powered by its electronic brain: the all-new X1 Ultimate processor. This chip detects and analyses every object on screen to boost its detail, and Sony says HDR – which comes in Dolby Vision, HDR10 and Hybrid Log Gamma flavours here – gets a drastic bump as a result. • Stream lover The clearest example of Sony’s priorities here is Netflix Calibrated Mode. This special viewing setting, developed in…

ASPHALT 8: AIRBORNE £free / Android, iOS Absurdly nitro-happy high-octane racing meets cynical IAP grind. Still brilliantly bonkers, mind. SUPER MARIO RUN £free / Android, iOS Platform gaming, stripped back. You’ve no direct control over the moustachio’d protagonist here, just his jumps. ASPHALT 9: LEGENDS £free / Android, iOS On-rails racing, where you don’t even steer – just time your drifts and boosts. Sounds rubbish? Cartwheeling through the air into your rivals is anything but.…

1 The Grip of Film In this indisputably essential text, TV funnyman Richard Ayoade assumes the role of obsessive cinephile Gordy LaSure. It’s your comprehensive guide to film. £6.69 / amazon.co.uk 2 Savisto Hot Air Popcorn Maker Hot air, rather than oils or fats, is used to cook your popcorn here, making it a healthy and cheap alternative to cinema snacks. £16.95 / amazon.co.uk 3 Anker Nebula Capsule Despite being no larger than a can of Coke, Anker’s diminutive Nebula Capsule projector can cast a picture up to 100in in size on your wall for four hours straight. £350 / anker.com 4 Blade Runner Whisky Glasses We’ll wager you’ve never watched Blade Runner while sipping Scotch from the same tumbler Deckard used in the film. Well, now you can. £120…

Ball/room blitz ODDBALL If you find learning an instrument frustrating to the point where you’d sooner hurl the thing at the wall, you’re in luck. Oddball is the world’s simplest digital instrument – and is designed to be lobbed. The bouncy ball is the main part, a Bluetooth-enabled trigger that’s sensitive to motion and pressure; it can be chucked at things or delicately tapped in your calmer music-making moments. These impacts are converted into beats in the Odd app, where you can overlay sounds and add effects. And yes, if you get three of the things, you really can create some kind of madcap cacophony while juggling. £49 / oddballing.com Self-driving card SMARTIBOT In austerity Britain, it’s apt that this ’bot isn’t clad in metal but comes in a flat-pack…

Ameo Powerbreather Given the inevitability of a jetboard wipeout (see below), I’m going to need some help getting around underwater. The Powerbreather uses a patented system for inhaling and exhaling via separate channels so you only ever breathe in sweet air, even if you’re snorkelling in the deep – a bit like Harry Potter on gillyweed in the Triwizard Tournament. €89 / powerbreather.com Polymega games console I’m well old, so the nostalgia and instant gratification of retro gaming holds a lot of appeal. Kudos, therefore, to Matt ‘Hot Stuff’ Tate for switching me on to the Polymega modular console that plays classic cartridges in Full HD. Pre-orders open soon and Jungle Strike is at the ready. £tbc / polymega.com Apple MacBook Pro Asus has had the audacity to place a…

BEST FOR PHOTOS Huawei P20 Pro £669 / huawei.com What’s the story? The triple threat of a Leica camera with 8MP telephoto, 20MP monochrome and 40MP RGB sensor with 5x zoom makes this the most exciting smartphone snapper on the market. The 6.1in AMOLED display also helps put it on a par with Samsung and Apple’s flagships, while a colossal 4000mAh battery keeps everything ticking along. Is it any good? It’s been a long time since a phone of the P20 Pro’s quality came along to upset the Apple cart. The amazing triple-lens camera, shimmering design and heavyweight performance offer a convincing argument for making it our phone of the year. Huawei deserves credit for doing a little bit more for less of your money with a handset that’s quality…

£400 / stuff.tv/PureCool ▪ The recent heatwave might be fading from memory, but scientists reckon soaring summer temperatures are here to last for the next four years at least. That could make Dyson’s blade-free wind machine, with its Air Multiplier tech, a pretty useful investment. ▪ And that’s not all. The Pure Cool also serves as an all-year-round air purifier, sensing nasty particles and gases in your home then capturing 99.95% of them in some sort of Ghostbusters trap. ▪ The Pure Cool is available as a floorstanding tower for £500 as well as this circular desk version. Made entirely from plastic, it’s lightweight if you need to nimbly relocate it around the room, but always feels stable. This is a gorgeously contemporary contraption that looks totally Dyson, and is…

£2499 / stuff.tv/AF8 Sony’s A1 OLED was one of our favourite TVs of last year, despite its striking stand-free design being a pain to accommodate. But now that Sony’s rectified that flaw with an altered design at a much more affordable price, the new AF8 has a fighting chance of being the OLED king. Grand designs While the A1’s standless design was nice to look at, it wasn’t the most practical. Using a kickstand to prop it up from the back meant you needed a large rack to support the entire width of the screen – no mean feat if you opted for the 65in model. That’s now been replaced by a very low-profile stand on the AF8 – it doesn’t lift the screen up by much, but just enough…

THE BASICS ▪ Start using Siri Siri’s more powerful in iOS 12, learning your habits and making lock-screen suggestions. Often, though, you’ll have to manually manage its capabilities. Luckily, doing so is simple. In Settings > Siri & Search, you’ll see suggested shortcuts based on your activity. Tap the ‘+’, record a trigger phrase, and that action will then be available via Siri. ▪ Be more secure Secure password creation works throughout iOS 12. Security codes sent your way are automatically placed into the QuickType bar, as are shared passwords when using an Apple TV. And when you need to get at a password, just ask Siri – a swift bit of ID confirmation later and you’ll be at the relevant details buried deep within Settings. ▪ Prune notifications Notifications…

HOT BUY 1 Apple Watch Series 3 from £329 / stuff.tv/AppleWatch3 Apple may have been pushing the cellular edition, but it’s the GPS-only Watch Series 3 that’s secured the top position on our list. With subtle upgrades – such as the dual-core S3 chip that allows for super-breezy navigation, and the W2 chip that boosts the efficiency of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – this is actually a major upgrade from the Series 2. Factor in the unrivalled app support and quality fitness features, and there isn’t another smartwatch that comes to Apple’s ticker. Stuff says Who needs cellular? Apple’s GPS-only smartwatch has everything you’d want in a wrist companion 2 Garmin Vivoactive 3 £240 / stuff.tv/Vivoactive3 It looks good, isn’t a wrist-dominator, outlasts just about all normal smartwatches and gets you the same…

Should I upgrade? RAZER BLADE 15 (2018) A year is a long time for PC gamers. Back in 2017, you probably thought your new Razer Blade 15 would last you ages, with its ultra-powerful GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card and super-speedy 7th-gen CPU. But now you’ve seen the 2018 edition, you might well be having second thoughts. First up, this year’s model has a GTX 1070 GPU and an 8th-gen processor. There’s no doubt those are seriously impressive specs… but they’re unlikely to be the main reason why you’d consider an early upgrade. That honour belongs to the new model’s gorgeous colour-popping display. Time for a refresh? The headline feature of the latest Blade 15 is unquestionably its 144Hz refresh rate, helping to make the on-screen action appear more fluid.…

HOT BUY 1 Sony PlayStation 4 Pro £349 / stuff.tv/PS4Pro As a gaming platform, PlayStation 4 is the best around – which makes the PS4 Pro the best of the best. Games optimised for the new console look stunning on a 4K HDR TV, and are substantially improved by the extra grunt inside this slightly bigger machine. Sure, it can’t match the Xbox One X for sheer power or resolution, but it makes up for that with an impressive line-up of games – including Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn and Bloodborne – and virtual reality support. Stuff says The system for console gamers who have a 4K TV and want the best catalogue of games on offer 2 Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch £280 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch Nintendo’s console earned a promotion in our…

HOT BUY 1 Lego Boost Creative Toolbox £150 / stuff.tv/LegoCreativeToolbox Building Lego models is already ridiculously good fun, so think what great a time you’ll have when the completed model turns into a functioning robot. With the accompanying tablet app, you can use simple coding to make the robot move, fire projectiles and play various games. And rather than retiring it to the dusty shelf once you’re bored, you can rebuild him into four other programmable models: a harmonica-playing cat, a driveable rover, a working robot-builder and a playable guitar. Stuff says All hail Vernie and friends – for value and sheer fun, it’s hard to beat this programmable Lego kit 2 Sphero BB-8 with Force Band £130 / stuff.tv/BB8 BB-8 was fun even without the Force Band. Now it…

HOT BUY 1 SNES Classic Mini £80 / stuff.tv/ClassicMini Why bother splashing out over £200 on a games console when you can get the SNES Classic Mini for a fraction of that? Especially when you get 21 classic titles pre-installed on this nostalgia-inducing machine, including the likes of Super Metroid, A Link to the Past, Super Mario World and the never-before-released Star Fox 2. And with two controllers bundled in the box, you’ll be able to start the Super Mario Kart action right away. Stuff says With 21 classic games installed, gamers won’t find better value anywhere • NOW ADD THIS 8Bitdo Bluetooth Retro Receiver Fed up of those short cables? Use this clever device to connect most modern controllers wirelessly. £16.14 / 8bitdo.com • TIPS & TRICKS • Chickens…

I TURNED MY LEGS INTO JELLY TESTING A RUGGED PHONE Most tech can be tested in an office – even drones if you’re willing to risk getting in trouble with HR. Rugged phones, though, require a much more gruelling environment for testing… so I took a trek down to the south coast to see whether Land Rover’s new Explore phone could handle a proper hiking adventure. As you’ll find on page 80, it completed the challenge with fairly decent results. My poor scrawny legs, however, didn’t fare so well. Ryan Jones, Staff Writer I DROVE AUDI’S RANGE ROVER RIVAL AROUND THE HOME COUNTIES I’ll take any old excuse to stay over in a Grade I-listed stately home designed by Sir John Soane, but when it involves driving the latest Audi…

YOU CHANGE THE VOLUME BY ROLLING THE EDGE FORWARDS OR BACKWARDS BEOSOUND EDGE £2900 / bang-olufsen.com Can I roll it down a hill? You could probably get away with it if you were Richard Branson, but otherwise no, we wouldn’t advise rolling Bang & Olufsen’s £2900 Beosound Edge down any hills. A better idea would be to make this monolithic slab of aluminum the focal point of your living room, on either the floor or the wall. Yep, you really can wall-mount this thing, which makes it look a bit like a fancy-ass gong. Good stuff, but you haven’t explained what it is yet. Oh yeah. Well, it’s a speaker, of course – and a damned loud one at that. On bass duty is a 10in woofer that sits on…

I bet you could make a really good deadly potion in that. Granted, Samsung’s new Galaxy Home does look uncannily like a witch’s cauldron. And a BBQ. And a potentially hostile alien spaceship. It isn’t anything of these things, though. Rather, this is Samsung’s first crack at a smart speaker to rival the Google Home, Amazon Echo and Apple HomePod, with its Bixby assistant taking centre stage. Isn’t it a bit late to that party? You could say that, but put it this way: when the Galaxy Home walks through the door, crate of beer under one of its non-existent arms, all the other speakers are going to take notice. Rather than echoing the competition’s cylinders, it resembles a chubby teardrop sculpture with the top sliced off, the remaining shape…

STYLISH SNEAKERS The trendy Toms Toms Muscat Canvas It’s easy to end up with racks and racks of shoes if you insist on having a pair suited to every occasion. Your light-up Heelys might rock it at the disco, but they’re not going to cut it at a job interview. These trendy Toms are comfy enough for casual wear, yet smart enough to pass for ‘proper’ shoes. £70 / toms.co.uk The lazy lacers Nike HyperAdapt 1.0 Shoelaces have been the bane of humanity since their conception, becoming undone at the most inconvenient of times. Fortunately, it’s time to say goodbye to this menace. Inspired by Back to the Future, Nike has released these kickers that electronically tighten around your foot. £620 / nike.com The fashion flashers Buscemi Ventura Tricolour Looking…

£1999 / stuff.tv/LGC8 Since LG supplies the OLED panels for most of the other television makers, you’d probably expect it to rule in this three-way competition. But while LG’s C8 is certainly one of the best OLED TVs vying for a place in your living room, that doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to come out on top. It really is a very close race… On the bright side First off, the C8 easily has a punchier and brighter picture than its Panasonic and Sony rivals. The cloudless jet-blue skies of Albuquerque in Better Call Saul looks absolutely radiant. Some could justifiably argue that these bright colours look a little too artificial, though, with Panasonic’s FZ802B offering a much more natural tone. Which TV comes out top in this regard simply comes…

MEASURE This new app pinches the spirit level from Compass and adds a natty augmented reality measuring tape. And if tapping out start and end points feels like too much effort, the app also automatically measures rectangular objects. Take a snap, then chuck your rulers in the bin. BOOKS Apple’s done more than lop an ‘i’ off of iBooks. The revamp borrows a trick from Apple Music, with a Reading Now view that combines large previews of current books and recommendations. There’s an enhanced library view and store as well. VOICE MEMOS Presumably in part because Apple wanted to port the iPad versions to Mac, Voice Memos and Stocks (with a neat dual-pane interface) are now on Apple’s tablet. Inexplicably, Apple still reasons that iPad users don’t want a weather…

HOT BUY 1 Moov Now £45 / stuff.tv/MoovNow Slow and steady wins the race, and the Now has gone on to prove that with a marathon-like pace helping it finally make it to the top of this list. We’ve long considered this tracker a bargain, but further reductions have helped it enter the realm of ‘downright steal’. OK, so it doesn’t have a screen or smartphone skills, but with guided voice coaching, a six-month battery and solid waterproofing, it has everything you’d ever want in your perfect fitness tracker. Stuff says A bargain-tastic fitness band that does more than just track your steps 2 Fitbit Alta HR £120 / stuff.tv/AltaHR The Alta HR is one of the most motivational health monitors around. The heart-rate tracking adds some insightful meat to your stats,…

HOT BUY 1 Oculus Rift £399 / stuff.tv/OculusTouch The Oculus Rift has been playing catch-up for a while; but now that it’s got the fantastic Touch Controllers, has boosted its room-tracking capabilities to match the Vive and has had a price drop to undercut HTC’s standard headset by £100, it finally deserves to top our VR headset rankings. Its library of exclusive games has grown considerably since launch too, with the likes of Robo Recall, Lucky’s Tale and Lone Echo all added. This is now the best VR headset available that doesn’t cost the world. Stuff says Thanks to the price cut and much-needed updates, the Rift is now the best reasonably-priced VR headset 2 HTC Vive £499 / stuff.tv/HTCVive Barring a £100 price difference, there isn’t much difference between the HTC…

NETFLIX The Dragon Prince (S1) Avatar: The Last Airbender was a prime example of how cartoons can be enjoyed by adults, even without fart jokes and violence. Next up from the Avatar writer is The Dragon Prince, which delves into the world of fantasy. BoJack Horseman (S5) Despite the cartoon animals and multitude of punny jokes, BoJack Horseman may just be the most depressing show on television right now. Don’t let that stop you watching it, though – this is pure TV gold. You (S1) Romance stories have changed a lot since Romeo and Juliet. Now instead of standing under balconies, Netflix drama You shows how men are using tech to convert themselves from stalkers to proper boyfriends. AMAZON VIDEO Paddington 2 Paddington is certainly not smarter than the average…

HOT BUY 1 Fujifilm X-T20 £749 / stuff.tv/XT20 Coming with the same 24.3MP APS-C sensor and processor as the X-T2, plus a touchscreen (which its sibling lacks), the X-T20 will leave you with a lot more spare cash in your account. And for most people, the model will deliver results that are just as good as its pricier big brother’s. With well laid-out controls, a huge viewfinder, excellent autofocus and access to superb lenses, the X-T20 is just one more fantastic mirrorless camera from Fujifilm. Stuff says The X-T20 nails the sweet spot between price and performance • NOW ADD THIS Manfrotto 190 Go! Carbon Fibre Tripod You no longer have an excuse for wobbly photos with this carbon-fibre tripod. It weighs just 1.65kg. £235 / manfrotto.co.uk • TIPS &…

1 Snoozle £free / Android, iOS This split-personality alarm clock serenades you to sleep with the sounds of rainforests and crackling fires. In the morning you’re roused by messages sent by friends. Hope they don’t go in for screaming. 2 Travis & Fripp £2.99 each / iOS Having squeezed a digital Brian Eno onto iPhone, Peter Chilvers manages the same trick with Theo Travis and Robert Fripp. Three apps provide a trio of endless chill-out experiences akin to live performances. 3 Moment Pro Camera £2.99 / iOS • £1.79 / Android Manual cameras are great… until you realise you’ve messed up settings while sorting your shot. Moment puts you right with speedy double-tap presets and a slew of other fab pro-level features. 4 Timeshifter £free (IAPs) / Android, iOS Zombified…

Motorsport Manager Mobile 3 £3.99 / iOS, Android Football management is fine, but do you honestly want to spend all of your time micro-managing entitled pig-skin hoofers and sulking substitutes? How about delving into motor racing instead, with egotistical death-wishers blazing around at breakneck speed? That’s much more like it. In Motorsport Manager Mobile 3, you run a team – juggling drivers, sponsors, cash, buildings, research and kit – before heading to the track for race weekends. Despite depicting discs zipping about a top-down circuit, races are tense and exciting – unless you lose, in which case they are of course rubbish. Put in the hours, and you’ll gradually improve your lot, take pole positions, take part in increasingly lucrative championships, and accrue a cash pile you’ll really wish you…

7th MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN We’ve played enough of the long-awaited Spider-Man PS4 game to know developer Insomniac has nailed the swinging and the punching-goons-in-the-face bits; fingers crossed they’ve also got a good story to tell. 8th VIDEOGAMES: DESIGN/PLAY/DISRUPT It’s an age-old debate: are video games art? Well look at them here, with their very own fancy exhibition at the V&A – possibly the most famous arts museum in the world. Try to argue now, haters. 11th BRITISH SCIENCE FESTIVAL If you want to fill your brain with information about AI, mixed reality and surround sound, you should be making a beeline for Hull this month. And when you’re done listening to clever people, there’s a robotic vacuum petting zoo to visit. Google it if you don’t believe us. BEST OF THE…

£1799 / stuff.tv/FZ802B Take a peek inside some of the biggest post-production firms in Hollywood and you’ll find them using Panasonic’s 2017 OLED. And this year they’ve gone better still: upgrading the panel, installing a new processor and updating the picture-processing to deliver a better-than-ever viewing experience. As nature intended The TX-55FZ802B is the smallest of the entry-level range, and one of the cheapest OLEDs you can buy. The only thing separating the FZ802 from the FZ952 is a built-in soundbar, but the picture is identical – and what a picture it is! That leg up in brightness, shadow detail and colour performance from last year makes all the difference in ensuring it holds its own in a fiercely competitive OLED space. LG’s C8 might just pip it for out-and-out…

from £76,595 / stuff.tv/LC500 ▪ The Lexus LC 500 is Japan’s hi-tech answer to the European GT brigade. With styling plucked straight from a video game, its meticulously engineered driving modes can tackle the UK’s most vicious pothole assault courses. ▪ We’re not complaining about being given the 5.0-litre V8 version to test, but the greater ingenuity arguably lies with the 3.5-litre V6 hybrid model. It has Lexus’s Multi Stage Hybrid system, which runs on pure electric power all the way up to 88mph. ▪ 10-speed direct-shift automatic transmission sounds ludicrous, but we’re assured it brings better fuel economy in the higher gears and smoother acceleration in the lower ones. For the V8, 0-60mph arrives in a warp-speed 4.4 seconds and 471bhp takes it up to 168mph. ▪ The LC…

Lomo’instant Automat from £129 / stuff.tv/Automat What’s the story? Fuelled by a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, it’s no surprise the Lomo is a popular choice. It takes Instax Mini film and the images are a handy, wallet-friendly size. The lens also acts as the ‘on’ switch and has three focusing positions. There’s the option to buy it with a bunch of lenses - wide angle, fisheye and some macro add-ons – plus a remote shutter and colour gels. Is it any good? The viewfinder at the top-left of the Automat is really tiny and not the most accurate when it comes to framing your compositions. Still, in good conditions, images are vibrant and clear (with the very occasional light-leak), and the multiple lens options add a lot of versatility. The…

HOT BUY 1 Huawei P20 Pro £669 / stuff.tv/P20Pro While Samsung and Apple’s war for smartphone supremacy rages on, Huawei has sauntered up and knocked both companies off their feet with the P20 Pro. Serious snappers will love this flagship phone thanks to the triple-lens camera, with 5x zoom and a 40MP main sensor. Add to that a quite awesome AMOLED display, lightning-fast internals and a top-notch design, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for the best new smartphone of 2018. Stuff says That triple-lens cam gives the P20 Pro the edge in the smartphone wars • NOW ADD THIS AModern Huawei P20 Pro Case With its fragile back, you’ll want a case for your P20 Pro – one that accommodates the three sensors. £6.99 / amazon.co.uk • TIPS & TRICKS…

HOT BUY 1 Sky Q from £20 + £20/month / stuff.tv/SkyQ Sky Q works flawlessly and could change the way you watch TV – especially now 4K’s arrived. With Sky Movies’ huge range of films and Sky Sports’ frequent doses of football and F1 now all in stunning Ultra HD, there’s something for everyone to treat their eyes with. And 2TB of storage means you can record 350 hours’ worth of entertainment, so you’re unlikely to be sweating over which show needs deleting. Factor in its multiroom skills, and Sky Q is undoubtedly the best TV experience you can get. Stuff says You’ll have to cough up for a subscription, but this is the best box for watching both live and recorded shows HOT BUY 2 Q Acoustics Media 4…