Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2021 i Stuff UK

You’ll notice that the handsome chap you’ve seen gracing this page for the past 30-ish issues of Stuff magazine has been replaced with me, usually seen behind the scenes of the Stuff website munching on tangerines and rolling my eyes at insignificant smartphone upgrades. I promise this issue will not have you doing any of that. What it might have you doing is improving your home cinema setup. Yes, it’s a hassle; yes, it’s costly (or not necessarily – see p38); but the one certainty we can cling to is that no town sheriff will banish TV watching, unless you’re aged 10-16 and haven’t done your homework. So invest in the best and, with our help, fill your mind with the good stuff. That also goes for music streaming. Have…

That plumber really gets around, doesn’t he? He really does. And given that a typical day for Mario can include fighting Bowser, go-karting and playing golf (see p79 for more on that), he’d surely benefit from wearing a watch. If the plumber felt particularly vain, he might want to go for this limited-edition Tag Heuer Connected x Super Mario smartwatch. They do say plumbers are raking it in. What’s it all about, then? Well, it’s really just a modified version of Tag Heuer’s high-end Connected watch, and marks the start of what we’re told will be a long-term Tag/Nintendo collab. In terms of design, there are plenty of little details to tempt Ninty fans. The 45mm case’s bezel features Super Mushroom, Pipe and Super Star symbols at the three, six…

Oppo Find X3 Pro £1100 / stuff.tv/X3Pro What’s the story? While the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, Huawei P40 Pro+ and Google Pixel 4 XL go in for big zooms like the Sony, Oppo is heading in the other direction. One of the Find X3 Pro’s four lenses is dedicated to microphotography – that’s subjects so small they can’t be seen with the human eye. Like Boris Johnson’s integrity. Is it any good? Taking pictures of tiny stuff is great fun but a little gimmicky, so it’s a good job the other cameras do such a fine job of more everyday stuff. The 13MP telephoto lens is a bit disappointing when you get past its 2x optical zoom, but the main and ultrawide sensors are a match for any of the…

BUDGET BRILLIANCE Even with limited cash to spend, you can still treat your eyes and ears to an upgrade for movie night. p38 MID-RANGE MAGIC Willing to invest a bit more in your home cinema setup? This is the collection of classy kit for you. p42 PREMIUM POWER OK, now things are getting serious. This stuff is for cinephiles with widescreen wallets. p46 BREAK THE BANK Got the budget of a summer blockbuster to spend? This gear will worry your local Odeon. p50…

MARE OF EASTTOWN Kate Winslet excels as a world-weary detective confronting a new murder case, an old mystery and her own past trauma, all while her close-knit community starts to unravel. YOUR HONOR Impossible choices abound as Bryan Cranston plays a judge who abandons his professional principles when his son is involved in a hit-and-run. The fallout is, naturally, a dangerous web of deception and lies. ZEROZEROZERO Mexican narco-terrorists, corrupt police officers, Italian mobsters and a white-collar American family all intertwine in this ambitious eight-part series from the creators of Gomorrah.…

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Carey Mulligan plays a coffee-shop worker who teaches creeps a lesson about consent in this… romcom? Revenge thriller? #MeToo polemic? All of the above. TENET Think too hard about this blockbuster and you’ll give yourself a headache, but from a technical perspective it’s astonishing – and we don’t just mean they’ve used a very powerful graphics card for the FX. THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO Beautifully shot, unpredictable and elegiac, this masterful film tells the story of a young man striving to reclaim his gentrified childhood home.…

THE LAST DANCE This engrossing doc tells the story of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, offering a glimpse into some strangely singular minds – and no, you don’t need to like basketball to enjoy it. THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT Anya Taylor-Joy plays a chess prodigy with a tendency for addictive behaviour. If you’re still missing Mad Men, the sumptuous period details here will be right up your street. COBRA KAI A series that started life on YouTube Red as a giggle-worthy spin-off of the Karate Kid movies, Cobra Kai is now established as an action-comedy-drama arguably surpassing the films that inspired it.…

UNCUT GEMS A jeweller and gambling addict (Adam Sandler) hustles his way around New York attempting to juggle the demands of his celebrity clients, wife, lover and loan sharks. Delirious, manic stuff. MY OCTOPUS TEACHER A conservationist forms an unlikely inter-species bond with an unnamed cephalopod and, with the help of an ace underwater DP, captures some of her species’ truly mind-blowing skills. THE DIG Unless it involves the resurrection of the dinosaurs or Harrison Ford with a whip, archaeology isn’t an obvious subject for a movie, but this gentle tale of the Sutton Hoo excavation is still a valuable find.…

AMERICAN GODS Neil Gaiman’s American Gods weaves a fantasy tale out of myth, Americana and pop culture. Former Hollyoaks beefcake Ricky Whittle is surprisingly decent in the leading role. THE BOYS What if superheroes were not only real, but as messed up and prone to bad behaviour as the rest of us? That’s the premise behind this comicbook adaptation, which follows a group of troubled vigilantes. THE EXPANSE This beloved space opera series, in which humanity has colonised the solar system amid a looming interplanetary conflict, will appeal to anyone who likes sprawling, morally complex dramas.…

SOUND OF METAL Ruben (the brilliant Riz Ahmed) is a noise-metal drummer, touring tiny venues with his partner Lou until it all comes to a sickening halt when he begins to experience hearing loss. REENLAND With a ‘planet killer’ comet on course to wipe out almost all life on Earth, our hero Gerard Butler must get his estranged wife and son to the relative safety of a bunker in (yes, you guessed it) Greenland. PALM SPRINGS Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, strangers who happen to be guests at the same wedding, find themselves stuck in a seemingly infinite timeloop in this Groundhoggy romantic comedy.…

WANDAVISION The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t really do ‘weird and interesting’, but this series feels truly inventive and experimental with its offbeat spin on the traditional suburban sitcom. INSIDE PIXAR With episodes clocking in at around 15 minutes apiece, Inside Pixar offers lovely bite-sized insights into the inner workings of Disney’s computer animation studio, from writers, artists and more. ATLANTA Produced by and starring Donald Glover, Atlanta is a disarming, slick, quirky, observant comedy series that follows an aspiring rap star and his manager. There really is nothing else quite like it.…

NOMADLAND Based on Jessica Bruder’s book about her own ‘houseless’ life, this is a quietly powerful drama that tells the story of a widow (Frances McDormand) who roams the West in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. SOUL Jamie Foxx voices a New York band teacher who dreams of performing as a jazz pianist but finds himself sucked into The Great Before – a place where new souls are given their personalities. THE FAVOURITE Come for Olivia Colman’s Oscar-winning turn as Queen Anne, stay for Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz’s almost-as-great performances as two courtiers competing for her affections.…

ONE CAVN 22MM METAL STRAP If you’ve plumped for the standard Huawei Watch 3 and not the Pro model, you won’t have a super-smart metal strap for those suit-and-tie occasions. Luckily, this watch has a standard fitting, so you can switch out the sporty strap for stainless steel links; CAVN makes a fine-looking affordable option. £15 / amazon.co.uk TWO SONY WF-1000XM4 Packing Bluetooth and enough storage for a metric tonne of music, the Huawei Watch 3 pairs wonderfully with these noise-cancelling earbuds. They aren’t cheap, but given you’re getting best-in-class battery life and sound quality with super-clear detail and wonderful bass in a small package, they’re worth every penny. £250 / sony.co.uk THREE IKEA HEKTAR WORK LAMP Unlike the Apple Watch, the Huawei Watch 3 powers up with any Qi…

£199 / stuff.tv/NuraTrue ■ Ticket to hide You’ll need to sit somewhere quiet for a few minutes while your hearing profile is created. The procedure is quick and slick, and you can set up multiple profiles if you fancy sharing your earwax with friends. ■ Tap of the world While you’re in the app, it’s worth taking a minute to set up the buds’ touch controls how you want them. The obvious ones you’ll need are play/pause and enabling/disabling social mode for the noise-cancelling. ■ Whether you think true wireless in-ear headphones are liberating or a recipe for “NOOO, NOT THE STORM DRAIN!” mishaps, they’re everywhere – and the latest brand to join the revolution is Nura. As with the interconnected NuraLoop, the NuraTrue buds subject your ears to a…

THE BASICS ■ Plug and play If you have a modern Mac or Windows PC, you’ve no excuse for not backing up data. Buy a mobile USB hard drive or SSD with at least the capacity of your computer’s internal drive and plug it in. Immediately, your OS should ask whether you want to start backing up files, protecting you in the event of disaster. ■ Make local copies Backing up local files is a must, but a lot of what we do today happens online. Much of that is ephemeral – do you really want to back up your entire Twitter history? – but for more important output (vital work on Google Docs, prized blog posts), save copies to your PC/Mac just in case the cloud eats what’s online.…

Apple iPhone 12 from £799 / stuff.tv/iPhone12 The demise of Samsung’s glorious Galaxy S20 5G left a space on the Stuff smartphone throne (and its replacement didn’t even make the Top Ten)… but don’t go thinking the iPhone 12 is only our No1 phone by default. We loved the iPhone 11, and its successor carries a whole host of improvements. If you can live without the telephoto camera of the flagship 12 Pro (and most can), you should save yourself some cash and get the 12 instead. In many ways it’s the same phone. Stuff says A top display and all the power you’ll ever need in an iPhone ● NOW ADD THIS Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Go Bump your iPhone’s storage capacity by 64, 128 or 256GB with this…

Samsung Galaxy Watch3 from £299 / stuff.tv/GW3 Sneaking into the top berth courtesy of a slightly underwhelming Apple Watch update, Samsung’s gorgeous Watch3 is an easy wearable to love. It’s superbly made and very attractive, and the spinning bezel makes it a joy to use. Samsung’s Tizen OS is slick too, with lots of customisation and shortcut options to keep things feeling fresh – made all the better by a class-leading screen. It also has all the fitness skills you’re ever likely to need, with handy auto-tracking features. Stuff says A beautiful and powerful piece of kit that you’ll be proud to have on your wrist Garmin Fenix 6 £403 / stuff.tv/Fenix6 Anyone who’s truly into their fitness will appreciate the Fenix 6’s endless feature list. This is the finest…

Sky TV from £25/month + setup / stuff.tv/SkyTV Already home to the biggest selection of 4K content, from blockbuster films and original dramas to top-flight sport, Sky has adopted a can’t-beat-’em-join-’em approach to streaming by incorporating the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and BT Sport in its user-friendly interface. It’s also restructured its packages to make them more affordable, while multiroom and mobile options round off the most comprehensive content system money can buy. Stuff says Sky has come out fighting to move with the times and its selection of shows is unrivalled Amazon Fire TV Cube £110 / stuff.tv/FireTVCube The Fire TV interface is easy to use and all the big catch-up services are available via this tidy box – and best of all, Alexa voice control…

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 or Apple HomePod for listening to music, but it’s significantly smarter than both and considerably cheaper too. Stuff says An all-round upgrade that makes the Echo a smarter speaker than ever ● NOW ADD THIS Honeywell T6R This Zigbee-enabled thermostat is wireless so you can place it where it’s most convenient. £153 / amazon.co.uk TIPS & TRICKS The Echo’s built-in Zigbee hub can hook up hundreds of smart home devices without a bridge. Pair…

Half-Life: Alyx from £25 / Oculus, Vive, Valve Index Announcing Alyx as not only a ‘midquel’ but a VR exclusive got some Half-Life diehards riled up… but in classic Valve fashion, the end result is utterly brilliant. Alyx succeeds because its universe just happens to be a perfect fit for the format. It’s also larger and much more robust than most VR games, at a meaty 12-15 hours. And though it unfolds at a different kind of cadence to past Half-Life games, it feels like a fully fledged solo campaign and a key part of the franchise narrative. Stuff says Valve’s beloved series returns… and offers one of the strongest arguments to date for VR gaming Beat Saber from £23 / Oculus, Vive, PSVR Gleefully swing your twin lightsabers to…

Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor £330 / stuff.tv/Mindstorms It’s clear Lego has prioritised immediacy and fun with its latest build-your-own-bots kit, which lets you and/or your little ones create five different coding-controlled mecha-beings. Yes, the set lacks a proper screen and relies on a separate device for programming; but it offers great clarity and scope, plus an attitude that encourages tinkering… whatever your age. Stuff says A fun, versatile set for Lego electronics newcomers and old hands alike Sphero RVR £250 / stuff.tv/SpheroRVR The RVR pulls off the balance between serious coding and knockabout fun perfectly: it’s an all-terrain vehicle that you can throw around without worrying about it breaking, but also has serious programming chops. Stuff says Enough fun to convert any coding-phobe Lego Vidiyo from £3.99 / stuff.tv/Vidiyo The…

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 a worthy successor to the already fabulous X-T3. Stuff says A superbly capable mirrorless camera for shooting pretty much anything in style ● NOW ADD THIS Fujifilm XF 16-80mm f/4 This versatile lens covers a bigger zoom range than most and adapts to pretty much any requirements. £699 / wexphotovideo.com TIPS & TRICKS It’s easy to…

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. Stuff says With the optional clock, this is our favourite bedside wondergadget ● NOW ADD THIS Sportlink Wall Mount This minimalist acrylic mount for the Dot will keep it clear from wet surfaces in the bathroom or kitchen. £9 / amazon.co.uk TIPS & TRICKS Fed up of yelling? Alexa’s voice can work like an…

Advertising Head of Commercial Neil Tillott (01959 543719, x7003) neil.tillott@kelsey.co.uk Account Manager Nick Davis (01959 543611, x7004) nick.davis@kelsey.co.uk Production Ad Operations Manager Martin Williams martin.williams@kelsey.co.uk Ad Production Manager Andy Welch (01233 220245) stuff@tandemmedia.co.uk Management Chief Executive Steve Wright Chief Operating Officer Phil Weeden Managing Director Kevin McCormick Publisher Liz Reid Head of Digital Steve Jones Retail Director Steve Brown Subscription Marketing Director Gill Lambert Subscription Marketing Manager Rochelle Gyer-Smith Print Production Manager Georgina Harris…

Active noise-cancelling silences all kinds of unwanted racket – the drone of a plane cabin, Gavin’s office chit-chat, next door’s grim taste in music – but it’s been such a long time coming on B&O true wireless buds that we suspect the Beoplay EQ’s ANC is only there to block out the deafening chorus of requests for it. These IP54-rated buds come with a dedicated DSP chip for the ANC, with six mics that adjust the level of noise-killing automatically. Combined with the snug fit offered by the silicone tips, that should make sure your ears are spared from all but the most invasive babble. The 6.8mm drivers inside have been tuned by B&O’s engineers to deliver the kind of top-notch performance the Danish brand is known for, while the…

Aya Neo Branded the world’s first 7nm handheld, this Indiegogo project is another machine with AAA ambitions. It should run the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 at 30fps. £950 / ayaneo.com GPD Win 3 The Win 3 packs Intel’s Iris Xe graphics and targets a solid 60fps for most modern games… but best of all, it has a unique slide-up display for work time. £990 / gpd.hk OneXplayer If you thought the Steam Deck was a chunk, wait until you meet this guy. Powered by an Intel Core i5 or i7, it has a whopping 8.4in 2560x1600 IPS display. £869 / 1netbook.com…

£2.09 / Android • £2.99/iOS The most famous snake game is Snake, found on ancient Nokia phones. If you love that, knock yourself out – there’s a fine freebie take for Android and iPhone. But surely technology has moved on since 1998? Well, yes, hence SNKRX – a game so cool it doesn’t have time for vowels. What it does have is loads and loads of shooty bits. You’re tasked with controlling a serpent of bolt-on parts with upgradable abilities so you can take on pill-like enemies within claustrophobic battlefields. Imagine Snake meets Geometry Wars with a dash of tower defence and Dota Auto Chess auto-attack, and throw in super-simple touch controls… and you’ve got something way better than Nokia’s ancient effort.…

#1 A REFRESHED LOOK There’s more than a whiff of Apple’s macOS influence here. You’ll get a centred row of app icons on the taskbar, rounded window edges, and other flourishes that make for a cleaner, more appealing interface. #2 IMPROVED PERFORMANCE The hope is that a new feature-rich OS won’t be bogged down by the weight of its new additions. So Windows updates will be about 40% smaller and run in the background. #3 TEAMS INTEGRATION Chances are you’ve used Microsoft Teams more than once during the pandemic. In Windows 11 it’s no longer just an app, but rather an integrated part of the OS. It will be prominently featured in the interface, and starting new Teams sessions will be easier. #4 ANDROID APPS Windows 11 PCs will be…

SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION OFFER Receive your first 3 issues for £5 Continue to save 38%* off the shop price Have each issue delivered directly to your door – FREE Never miss an issue of the world’s greatest gadget mag SUBSCRIBE TODAY! ONLINE shop.kelsey.co.uk/STU0921 CALL US 01959 543747 Please quote STU0921 Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-5.30pm (calls charged at your standard network rate) Offer ends 2 September 2021 JUST WANT DIGITAL? Pay just £9.50 on quarterly Direct Debit – simply select the ‘digital only’ option at checkout. Terms and conditions: Offer available for UK Direct Debit customers only. You will pay £5 for your first 3 issues then continue to pay £19.99 every 6 months. For overseas rates please visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff. Offer closes 2 September 2021. *Full UK subscription rate for 13 issues is…

FULL-ON FILTERING The gassy glugger Hatfields NitroPress As we’ve learnt from Heston, nitrogen makes all culinary endeavours more exciting. With the NitroPress, extreme pressure through gas chargers creates tiny bubbles and results in a creamy texture with no milk required. Use Hatfields’ cold-brew beans, which are designed for the task. £148 / hatfieldslondon.com The family fix Sage Precision Brewer Thermal Get the whole house caffeinated using this generous 1.7-litre insulated carafe, with selectable filter shapes allowing for unparalleled customisation. You can also tweak both the dripping speed and the temperature of the water, and even the ‘bloom time’, which sounds like fun. £250 / sageappliances.com The dapper dripper KitchenAid Drip Coffee Maker This stylish drip machine lets you set the brew time, strength and quantity on its LCD display. Wake…

• Cubasis 3 Don’t want to leave the house without anything less than a full-fat digital audio workstation in your trousers? You’ll want Cubasis 3 on your phone (or tablet), then. The app provides limitless scope for crafting your next No1, whether you want to tap out notes on a piano roll, drag around loops, or pretend you’re Kraftwerk by twiddling virtual knobs. Just be mindful this one’s deep. £26.49 / Android • £48.99 / iOS • KORG Kaossilator It’s probably not escaped your notice that your phone is mostly a slab of glass. This doesn’t lend itself to traditional synth setups, since they’re packed full of knobs and sliders. So Korg’s app is mostly an expressive touch-panel that you drag a finger across to unleash thumping beats, whumping bass…

1 KEEP WATCHING The Watch 3’s superpower over its competition is its Ultra-long Battery Life mode. Taking the stamina from three days to 14 by stripping back third-party app support and a few other bits, the convenience it adds when you know you’re going to be without a charger is stellar. To activate it, swipe down on the watch face, tap the settings icon, scroll down to Battery and toggle it on. 2 DON’T WORRY, BE APPY What makes a smartwatch smart? Apps. And unlike the Huawei Watch GT series, this wearable supports third-party apps. There aren’t many to choose from yet (see panel), but here’s how to get hold of them. Open the AppGallery by clicking the digital crown and select the icon that looks like a red shopping…

Twenty years ago, in those sepia-tinted days when CDs ruled the Earth and musicians could still make a living from their records, the idea of having instant access to almost every song ever recorded would have seemed like science-fiction. Even when Spotify launched out of the blue in 2008, few of us could have predicted the seismic shift in music consumption that was about to occur; but today’s streaming services make even the idea of building a collection of MP3s look positively quaint. Each service hands its users the keys to a millions-strong library of on-demand music (and sometimes also podcasts and videos), listenable on smartphone, tablet, computer, web player or a growing gaggle of internet-connected hardware devices – and often available in CD quality or better. But, as with…

ADOBE SCAN There are loads of mobile scanners for phones, but Adobe’s doesn’t muck about. It’s free and yet does the business… and best of all, it automatically performs optical character recognition, so you can copy and paste text from the PDFs it generates. free / adobe.com IMAZING Getting into Android file systems is easy, but iPhones and iPads are more locked down. iMazing (macOS/Win) lets you dig into Apple device data, perform smarter backups and even extract full apps in case they ever vanish from the App Store. £29.99 / imazing.com BACKBLAZE Cloud storage can ease the horror should you lose a PC or Mac through fire or theft, but there’ll always be some local files you’ll later miss. With Backblaze, you can hurl everything at the cloud and…

Sony WF-1000XM4 £250 / stuff.tv/WFXM4 A worthy successor to the XM3 buds that sat atop this list for what seemed like decades, Sony’s latest true wireless noise-cancelling in-ears are smaller, smarter and better. With the arguable exceptions of call quality and app slickness, the WF-1000XM4s aren’t quite the best at anything; but they’re so close to being the best at everything that their all-round game is untouchable. No other wireless earbuds are so consistently accomplished across the board. Stuff says The finest true wireless noise-cancelling earbuds around – this is the complete package Devialet Gemini £279 / stuff.tv/Gemini There’s nothing special about their design, charging case, battery life, ANC or app… and the sound out of the box is arguably overhyped. But what you’re getting here, after a quick tweak,…

Mi Smart Band 5 £23 / stuff.tv/MiBand5 With no installable apps, Xiaomi’s dinky wearable can’t stack up to smartwatches or reply to notifications, but it can relay alerts and track everything from sleep to workouts. It’s better than the Mi Smart Band 4, thanks to a bigger and brighter screen, smarter software and a charger that’s much less annoying. The slightly reduced battery life really isn’t an issue – and with the addition of activity, stress and menstrual cycle tracking, this is a sub-£30 gift that keeps giving. Stuff says Fantastic value and decent features make this an easy fitness tracker to recommend Myzone MZ-Switch £140 / stuff.tv/MZSwitch Myzone’s modular heart-rate tracker can be attached to different parts of the body, while the app gamifies your activity. It’s a versatile…

Samsung QE65QN95A £2699 / stuff.tv/QN95A This is Samsung’s single most expensive 4K TV for 2021 (unless you buy a bigger version), but the pictures justify the outlay. The Korean giant’s implementation of the new Mini LED tech is, on this evidence, something to be reckoned with. It’s difficult to imagine how any of the other sets that are incoming this year could be better. Stuff says This Mini LED television is a fearsomely accomplished set – and the one to beat ● NOW ADD THIS Samsung Q-Series soundbars Pairing your QLED with one of these is a stress-free way to get 3D object-based sound. from £499 / samsung.com TIPS & TRICKS You can configure this TV to work with the voice assistant of your choice, not just Samsung’s Bixby. Samsung’s…

Apple iPad Air from £579 / stuff.tv/iPadAir The 4th-generation iPad Air ushers in big changes. It looks the spit of an 11in iPad Pro (at least from the front), and supports Apple’s snazzy Magic Keyboard and second-gen Pencil… and the A14 chip makes it blazingly fast, leaving its predecessor in the dust. Sure, there are compromises, but none are critical. So if you were considering an iPad Pro but don’t really need the extra power of that phenomenal M1 processor, it might be wise to save yourself a few quid and buy the Air instead. Stuff says Pointing to the iPad’s future rather than its past, this is a meaningful, impressive, powerful Air update Apple iPad Pro (M1) from £749 / stuff.tv/iPadPro The 2021 iPad Pro’s display is wonderful and…

Oculus Quest 2 from £299 / stuff.tv/Quest2 The original Quest felt almost too good to be true. Its successor lacks the same wow factor, but you can’t argue with a better display and processor – not to mention a lighter, more comfortable build – for less money. Are there more powerful headsets? Is motion sickness still an issue? Yes to both, but superb tracking and a total absence of wires make this the VR package to get… that is, unless you’re boycotting Facebook, because you have to be logged in to use it. Stuff says Not a complete reinvention, but our favourite VR headset is now even better… and cheaper! Valve Index £919 / stuff.tv/ValveIndex While not revolutionary, the Index carries enough subtle upgrades to put it atop the PC-based…

Looking for the perfect tool to kickstart your career as a lifestyle vlogger? Already had your teeth bleached to a shade slightly brighter than the sun? Then Sony’s ZV-E10 wants a word in your ear. The firm’s first interchangeable-lens camera designed specifically for vlogging, it offers many of the features found on the excellent ZV-1 (like that cute windscreen for its three-capsule mic and support for livestreaming via USB) but with one major addition: support for the ever-increasing range of E-mount lenses. The ZV-E10’s 24.2MP APS-C sensor captures 8-bit 4K video at up to 30fps and Full HD at up to 120fps (all the better for buttery-smooth slo-mo), with Sony’s celebrated real-time eye-tracking AF ensuring faces both human and animal always stay sharp. The swivelly screen flips forward to aid…

Once when I was a kid, my dad brought home a quadraphonic hi-fi system. It was this new format that was going to take over from stereo, but it never really took off. It’s amazing we haven’t really had a big shift in audio like we’ve had in video, so I’ve been waiting a long time for Spatial Audio. Sometimes new technologies are gimmicks. But this isn’t like that at all. It allows you to be in the room with the musicians actually performing right there. The first person to show me Spatial Audio was Adam Levine from Maroon 5. He called me up and said, “I’m going to send you something I want you to listen to. It’s a real gamechanger for music and it’s hard to imagine ever…

You’ve got to hand it to Sony: it knows its audience. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, the firm’s phones have evolved to focus on its core fans, from photographers and cinephiles to music lovers and mobile gamers. The Xperia 1 III is the latest, aiming to improve on last year’s Xperia 1 II by once again pooling the efforts of its various divisions to create a true flagship with a feature list longer than a 2021 British passport queue. That means you get some PlayStation-inspired gaming features, an improved 120Hz display with a hat-tip to Bravia, sound tech courtesy of Sony Music, and even more camera trickery borrowed from its Alpha digital imaging bods. Sony pretty much nailed the flagship look and feel with last…

1 Think of the waste Single-use coffee pods are no friend to the planet. Ditch the pods, find a machine that doesn’t require paper refills and, if you are still going to buy takeaway, get a reusable cup. 2 Think of the space Luckily you’re not looking for an industrial-size machine like the one you’ve admired at your local cafe – but choose a permanent space in your kitchen and check it’ll fit before you buy. 3 Think of the taste Coffee snobbery knows no limits, so work out where you sit. If it’s quite high up, you’ll want that extra control over water temperature and coffee strength, so go for a machine with max tweakery. 4 Think of the pace Consider how much coffee is being drunk (we’re not…

ROKU STREAMBAR Roku shoves the functionality of its widely admired streaming stick into a small soundbar and produces – ta-da! – a Streambar. No, the Roku can’t compete with the Yamaha where sound is concerned, but it’s still a significant improvement on that of any mainstream television, with way more punch, presence and detail. Plus, of course, the Streambar gives you access to an absolute stack of streaming and catch-up services… as well as a very tidy little remote control for navigating through them all. £130 / roku.com • NOW ADD THIS MOTO G8 PLUS Take advantage of the Yamaha SR-C20A’s ability as a music speaker, and its Bluetooth 5 skills, by pairing it with the best-sounding affordable smartphone around. This Moto’s got enough memory to manage all your favourite…

B&O BEOVISION CONTOUR You know you’re riding with the high rollers when a Bang & Olufsen telly is the cheaper alternative, but this all-in-one 4K OLED looks like anything but a second choice. Available in various finishes that mix aluminium and wood, it offers a choice between 48in and 55in screen sizes, while the Atmos-compatible speaker setup utilises 11 amps to power four 1.5in mid-range drivers, three tweeters and four 4in bass rumblers. And it’s pretty much just an LG underneath, so you can be sure the picture will be up to scratch too. from £5500 / bang-olufsen.com NOW ADD THIS SKY Q If you’re a proper telly addict there’s really no other option than a Sky subscription. And the basic package is pretty affordable, though it soon adds up…

SONY HT-ST5000 At 118cm, Sony’s HT-ST5000 is almost as wide as the Ambeo, but with a separate subwoofer to deal with the whumpage it’s not quite such an absolute unit. Three of the seven 65mm drivers across the front also have tweeters mounted in the middle, while two on top fire upwards to give you the sense of height that sets Dolby Atmos and DTS:X apart. It performs magnificently, with Google Home support and wide-ranging connectivity making it easy to set up, and hi-res audio support is just the icing on a very wide cake. £1500 / sony.co.uk NOW ADD THIS APPLE TV 4K Think live TV belongs in the past with chequebooks, CDs and Lee Hurst? Looking for one of the most capable, intuitive streamers you can buy? Apple’s…

HANDCENT NEXT SMS While the Watch 3 doesn’t talk to smartphone SMS apps by default, if your Android phone has this installed you can use the wearable to read and reply to texts with ease. STOCARD There are few things more annoying than faffing through a wallet trying to find that one store card. This app shares loyalty cards across phone and watch for simple point-scoring. LONDON LIVE BUS COUNTDOWN OK, it’s only useful in the capital, but this one gives an insight into Huawei’s localised app support and how the Watch 3 combines location smarts with wristbased updates.…

£130 / stuff.tv/Luxe ■ I right the wrongs Move! Drink water! Do some mindful breathing! Wash your hands like you mean it! You can add a bunch of customisable health alerts as gentle reminders to stop yourself being a sedentary wedge of brie. ■ I wanna do it with USB The Fitbit Luxe stays alive for the best part of five days with no energy-sapping GPS, though it’s still listening to your heartbeat nightly. A USB charger comes in the box and the watch connects to it magnetically. ■ In a bid to make the sexiest Fitbit imaginable, the Luxe is designed for those who want style with their stats. It’s a bracelet-inspired fitness tracker with five-day battery life… but is somewhat lacking when it comes to stuff like standalone…

Sony WH-1000XM4 With their balance of wearability, active noise-cancelling prowess and audio performance, there hasn’t been a better package than the Sony XM3s… until now. The XM4s look and sound almost identical, but a range of new features – including Speak-to-Chat, which stops the music when you start talking – aims to lure you away from your current’phones. If those are the XM3s (still available at a super-low price, by the way), it’s tough to justify the upgrade; but who’s going to knock Sony off its perch now? Stuff says Not surprisingly given their heritage, these are the best all-round noise-cancelling headphones you can buy Bowers & Wilkins PX7 £249 / stuff.tv/PX7 B&W’s second ANC headphones place greater emphasis on comfort and are all the better for it, while the…

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 Sonos Arc £799 / 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 scale for an immersively…

Sony PlayStation 5 £450 / stuff.tv/PS5 The PS5 is not a modest upgrade. Its hulking design means it’ll make a bad first impression on some, but spend time playing it and it’ll soon win you over – and then some. This is essentially a high-spec gaming PC for the living room: stupendously powerful, with greatly reduced loading times compared to the PS4. Most last-gen titles will run fine, many with a boost, and the line-up of new games is strong; we just hope developers make use of that fascinating DualSense pad and its haptic feedback trickery. Stuff says Huge power, clever hardware and a guarantee of great games to come make the PS5 hard to resist Nintendo Switch £279 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch Now four years old, the Switch is the second-best-selling…