Table of contents for November 2020 in Stuff UK

To borrow a football analogy, welcome to the ‘business end of the season’ for the tech world, where brands clamber for your attention in the run-up to Christmas. Traditionally, Europe’s largest gadget show provides the backdrop to the biggest launches in the back half of the year; but with Berlin’s IFA running on a reduced platform this year, most companies did their own virtual presentations – and man, were they plentiful. It felt like the newsdesk had never been busier, so we’re buzzing off a Hot Stuff section that includes the smallest Xbox ever, Nintendo’s attempt to turn your kitchen into a Mario Kart circuit, Apple’s latest must-have kit, the first ever IMAX-certified soundbars from Philips, and so much more we put together a Most Wanted Awards list on Stuff.tv.…

Next-gen consoles are like London buses: big, red and smelly. No, that’s not right. You wait ages for one to appear and then three come along at once. That’s the one. And if Sony’s PS5 (see p17) and Xbox’s Series X seem pricey at £450, the Series S could be your ticket to next-gen gaming. There are, obviously, some sacrifices to be made in order to save £200. There’s no optical drive and storage runs out at 512GB, plus it can’t handle resolutions as high as its pricier sibling, but it does 1440p Quad HD at up to 120fps. It also supports Microsoft’s Spatial Sound, and will play all the same games as the Series X. Oh, and if space is at a premium under your telly, it’s worth knowing…

£300 / fitbit.com Fitbit’s trackers encourage you to walk to the pub instead of catching a taxi, but its watches are altogether more ambitious. While the all-new Fitbit Sense tracks fitness and sleep, stealing the headlines – including four on this page – is the fact that it’s the first smartwatch with a built-in electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor to detect stress. Stressed for success Fitbit says the Sense will help you manage stress by giving insights into your body’s response to it. Key to this is the EDA sensor, which detects electrical changes in your sweat glands. Pair it with the app to set goals, log moods, meditate, do breathing exercises and access your stress management score – a bit like a credit score but without the added stress of…

THE TOOTH The tireless tartar-tackler Foreo Issa 2 Always forget to charge your tech? Foreo’s Issa 2 is the electric toothbrush for you. Each charge lasts a whole year, so it’s unlikely to run out of juice when you’re only halfway around your gob. The PBT polymer and silicone bristles should last just as long too. £119 / foreo.com The super-scientific scrubber Ion-Sei Sonic Ionic The clue’s in the name with Ion-Sei’s Sonic Ionic: it uses UV light and a titanium dioxide bar to produce negative ions, which help to fight plaque on a molecular level. Too much science for you? That basically means you don’t even have to use toothpaste with it. £130 / ion-sei.com The awesome oral all-rounder Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100 With a built-in pressure sensor, a…

ALTERNATIVELY ALL THE CASH Harman Kardon Citation 200 Like Boris Johnson having his backside handed to him at PM’s Questions, there’s something reassuringly reliable about a Harman Kardon wireless speaker, and its new Citation 200 looks to have the minerals to compete with Bose. It’ll stream music over Wi-Fi or switch to Bluetooth should you stray too far, there’s a 1in tweeter, a 5in midranger and two bass radiators, and it’ll go for eight hours. Google Assistant, Chromecast and AirPlay are all on board, and it’s wrapped in coated Kvadrat for easy cleaning should afternoon tea get out of hand. £280 / harmankardon.co.uk SOME CASH Google Nest Audio Google has been quietly going about the business of rebranding its connected home products with the Nest moniker as that ecosystem continues…

Cs: Classic Music Player Apple’s Music app for iOS/iPad focuses on the company’s own streaming service, marginalising your own collection. Cs instead rethinks the original iPhone Music experience for modern devices. It’s retro in all the right ways: your tracks are front and centre, whether on-device or in the cloud, and the refined interface offers plenty of sort/tab options. £1.99 / iOS Longplay The most opinionated music player we’ve ever seen, Longplay doesn’t so much urge you to play albums as force you. Launch the app and it’ll show a grid of cover art, which can be reordered in various ways. Tap a cover and the album starts, and that’s it. There’s no messing about with individual tracks. Entertainingly, though, you can set the app to shuffle… entire albums, one…

ChopFit Chopper What’s the story? Thor was probably born buff and swinging a hammer, but for the rest of us there’s the ChopFit Chopper, a daft but oddly addictive gadget from the USA. Yep, it’s a big axe that you swing about to get sweaty with the help of some app-based workouts. Made from a lump of metal coated in reinforced plastic, the Chopper aims to provide a dynamic workout that uses multiple muscle groups to help you tone up and get a cardio blast. Moving your hands along the handle allows you to adjust how heavy the load feels. The ChopFit app has a range of challenges covering three, 10 and 30 days, plus 30 individual circuits each made up of six exercises with one-minute rests in between. Workouts…

from £220 / honda.co.uk/marine, urbantruant.co.uk DAY 01 You know in Spectre when Daniel Craig speeds down the Thames, first alerting thousands of people to the location of MI6’s new HQ then flagrantly endangering innocent lives by blowing up a helicopter over a heavily built-up area? Stuff of dreams, isn’t it? While Honda’s Marine division won’t condone either act, they do believe that gaining a powerboat licence, navigating your way on the water and owning your own vessel is an achievable reality that costs less than you think. All in, the training costs under £300 and means that in a few days I should be free to carry out high-speed manoeuvres By partnering with boatbuilders, Honda can supply its four-stroke engines – developed since 1964 to reduce water pollution and not…

HOT BUY 1 Samsung Galaxy S20 5G £899 / stuff.tv/S205G The bigger and flashier S20+ and S20 Ultra models are the headline-grabbers, but the ‘basic’ Galaxy S20 feels like the Goldilocks of flagship phones right now: not too big and clever, not too small and basic, just right. It delivers excellent battery life, a phenomenal display, blistering performance and superb photo quality. Until someone else does it better, this is the Android handset to beat. Stuff says All the features you’d want in a flagship smartphone, plus a few more NOW ADD THIS SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive 128GB This USB-C drive will double your S20’s 128GB storage to 256GB for a lot less than you might expect. £23 / westerndigital.com TIPS & TRICKS Slide your thumb in from the edge…

HOT BUY 1 Peloton £1990 + £39/m / stuff.tv/PelotonBike Not just an exercise bike, Peloton is a fitness phenomenon based around a stylish Wi-Fi-connected bike and 22in HD tablet that streams live and on-demand training sessions 24/7. The interface is intuitive and you can view your stats and progress, or browse them later in the app; and there are even video rides through famous places in case you can’t face your instructor. It’s expensive – but if you need some punishment and can’t get to a gym any time soon, this is the way to go. Stuff says A smooth app and hardware make this as good value as any gym membership 2 Wattbike Atom £1599 / stuff.tv/WattbikeAtom Aimed at cyclists looking to enhance their training whatever the weather, the…

HOT BUY 1 Apple iPad Pro from £769 / stuff.tv/iPadPro The old iPad Pro was already our favourite tablet by miles, and the latest update only makes it more desirable. As before, it isn’t cheap; but with its huge and super-slick 120Hz Liquid Retina screen, ludicrously speedy internals and double-lens camera (like the one in the iPhone 11), this is one working device to rule them all. Since Apple added cursor support to iPadOS, it’s also the best tablet to replace your laptop – and a glimpse into the near future of computing. Stuff says Apple’s mega-tablet evolves into an outstanding piece of kit and pulls even further ahead of the pack 2 Apple iPad (2019) from £349 / stuff.tv/iPad2019 The new model on p9 of this issue brings some worthy…

HOT BUY UPDATE 1 Oculus Quest from £399 / stuff.tv/OculusQuest The Quest offers all manner of fully interactive, roamable virtual worlds that you can throw in your backpack without a single wire. Yes, the battery life is average, but the inside-out tracking and total absence of any cables make this the best all-round VR headset to date – plus it ships with the Oculus Touch motion controllers included. And the best news of all? After months of pandemic disruption, the Quest does appear to be finally back in stock at the time of writing. Stuff says If you’ve been waiting to board the VR bandwagon, the Quest might be the best reason yet to go for it 2 Valve Index £919 / stuff.tv/ValveIndex While not revolutionary, the Index carries enough subtle…

HOT BUY 1 Sphero RVR £260 / stuff.tv/SpheroRVR The RVR pulls off the balance between serious coding and knockabout fun perfectly: it’s a fast, fun all-terrain vehicle that you can throw about without worrying about it breaking; but it also has serious hi-tech chops, being compatible with the best low-cost programming machines around. That means playing with the RVR can be as simple or as complicated as you want: spend hours constructing the most intricate driving routine imaginable, or just gun the motor and tear it up. Stuff says If you’re turned off by the mere mention of the word ‘coding’, the RVR might just convert you 2 Lego Boost Creative Toolbox £150 / stuff.tv/LegoCreativeToolbox Building Lego is already ridiculously good fun, so think what great a time you’ll have…

Expectation can be a terrible thing. When Motorola resurrected the Razr clamshell phone last year, the combination of its newfangled folding screen and rampant nostalgia for the Beckham-approved original meant it was always going to have a job living up to our sky-high hopes. But everyone deserves a second chance – and while the new version might look like it’s just had 5G shoehorned inside, there’s a lot more going on here than just some quicker-loading gifs. The Razr 5G has a faster Snapdragon 765G processor, 8GB of RAM and twice as much internal storage at 256GB. A larger 2800mAh battery should also address some of the previous version’s stamina issues. Both cameras have had an upgrade too: 20MP on the inside and 48MP on the back, with time-of-flight autofocus…

from $80,000 / lucidmotors.com If Netflix ever wanted to do a Knight Rider remake, or someone were to bankroll a fourth instalment of Back to the Future (see p98), the all-electric Lucid Air might be the perfect star car… because this advanced Tesla S rival is so quick it’s practically travelling in time. The tortoise and the Air Lucid says the Air can cover the quarter-mile dash in 9.9 seconds without so much as breaking a sweat. That’s faster than any Tesla, outpaces Porsche’s Taycan Turbo S and even matches McLaren’s mighty 720S, which by the way is twice the price. It has the equivalent of an insane 1080bhp under the bonnet, taking you from 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 168mph, making Doc and…

THEY’RE DESIGNED AS A NOD TO THE OPTIONS WHEN YOU BUY A £1.5M BENTLEY MULLINER BACALAR That’s cheap for a Bentley. Well, you can’t drive them down to Sainsbury’s car park to show off, but the Focal for Bentley Radiance headphones (£1199) and Naim Mu-so for Bentley Special Edition sound system (£1799) offer the kind of luxury you can only get from a brand that lets you upgrade to a fancier fuel filler cap. Designed as a nod to the options offered when you buy one of Bentley’s £1.5m Mulliner Bacalar convertibles, the pair have matching copper accents and lattice patterns, and have been tuned to share a sonic signature. So, those cushioned cans… With plush Pittards leather on the earcups, wearing them should feel like having your head chauffeur-driven…

SMEG: COOKIN’ & RELAXIN’ Italians do it better, so they say, and Smeg’s Vivo Screen smart ovens (from £1099, smeguk.com) have no intention of letting the side down. Developed with in-house chefs to include 100 automatic recipes and interactive instructions, they allow everything to be controlled remotely by app, and you can add 64 of your own disasters. Sorry, recipes. TADO: EVEN HOTTER STUFF Our top smart thermostat has had an overhaul. Tado’s new V3+ Starter Kit (£180, tado.com) works with more boilers than ever, supports voice control and self-installation, and – with the addition of the optional new Wireless Temperature Sensors (£70) – offers more precise readings and control over how cosy your crib is. BOSE: THROWING SHADES Bose isn’t giving up on sunglasses with speakers. It’s announced three…

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1 Brighten the corners There are various types of electric toothbrush but most rotate, oscillate or vibrate (usually called sonic). Some add in extra movements in an attempt to reach every mouth cranny. 2 Carry on, don’t lose your head With most brushes you’ll need to change the head every few months, so it’s worth checking in advance how much they’ll set you back. Buying in bulk is usually the way to go. 3 Set yourself three At some point your brush will need charging. Most toothbrush chargers come with shaver socket plugs rather than standard three-pin ones, so get yourself an adapter if required. 4 Give us an appy smile If you want almost forensic feedback on how well you’re scrubbing your gnashers, some brushes come with phone apps…

ALTERNATIVELY ALL THE CASH Fiio M11 Pro While Sony and Apple rule the roost for personal music players in the West, China’s Fiio is the real success in the Far East. Adding a ‘Pro’ to its best-selling model, the upgraded M11 gets a 5.2in edge-to-edge touchscreen protected by Gorilla Glass. You also get no fewer than three headphone ports – a 3.5mm analogue that can be switched to digital coaxial, plus balanced 2.5mm and 4.4mm options – and it doubles as USB DAC too. Naturally it caters for every audio file format under the sun and carries Bluetooth aptX HD connectivity, but also DLNA and AirPlay. £599 / fiio.com SOME CASH Sony Walkman NW-A100TPS 40th Anniversary You can buy a standard 16GB NW-A100 Sony Walkman for £320, or for £80…

£14.50 / designmuseum.org It’s as close to real clubbing as Covid rules will allow, and its opening has been a huge success. ‘Electronic: From Kraftwerk to the Chemical Brothers’ has been so popular, the exhibition at London’s Design Museum has regularly sold out. Even DJs themselves are finding it hard to get a ticket – at least we assume that’s why the legend that is Normski was forced to cover it for Mixmag. The museum has been careful to cater for social distancing. Signs urge visitors to ‘keep the dist-dance’, only 60 people per hour are allowed in after booking their timed slot, there’s a one-way system and enhanced cleaning takes place throughout. If this is a vision of clubbing’s future, perhaps it’s not so bad after all. Make it…

macOS Big Sur Be Sur of yourself The latest macOS overhaul echoes the look of iPadOS. App icons are squareish, sidebars are full-height and toolbars default to buttons (but you can control-click them to get text labels back). Looking for the Notification Centre? That now shows up when you click on the clock. We’ve no idea why. Take back controls Control Centre lurks in the menu bar, and mimics the iPad/iPhone equivalent (or the original Mac Control Panel, old people). It houses a range of settings, but you can drag individual controls back to the menu bar. Need more? Search ‘Control Centre’ in System Preferences for a list of additional options. Go on Safari Ignore Apple’s claims about Safari being faster and more efficient than rivals — those things change…

HOT BUY UPDATE 1 Sony WH-1000XM3 £229 / stuff.tv/SonyWHXM3 We’re all excited about the incoming XM4s (see p29), but Sony’s new over-ears have a lot to live up to. With reliable Bluetooth and great active noise-cancellation, the XM3s – our No1 cans for about as long as we can remember, and now going cheaper than ever – are the ultimate public transport stress killer. The ear-pads make them incredibly easy to wear, not unlike sitting in one of those ultra-comfy leather chairs, and most importantly of all the sound quality is fantastic. Stuff says Great wireless headphones with effective ANC and sound that nails just about everything 2 Sony WH-1000XM3 £229 / stuff.tv/XM3 Only just outshone by the new XM4s, Sony’s previous flagship over-ears still offer reliable Bluetooth, great active…

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

HOT BUY 1 Sony PlayStation 4 Pro £349 / stuff.tv/PS4Pro Yes, the PS5 is coming… but for now, the PlayStation 4 is the best gaming platform around – which makes the PS4 Pro the best of the best. Games optimised for the 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 Death Stranding, God of War and Dreams – and VR 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 £280 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch Nintendo’s console…

HOT BUY 1 Half-Life: Alyx from £46 / 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 2 Beat Saber from £23 / Oculus, Vive, PSVR Gleefully swing…

HOT BUY NEW 1 Fujifilm X-T4 £1549 / 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. £769 / wexphotovideo.com TIPS & TRICKS…

The Undoing This miniseries stars Nicole Kidman as a hotshot New York therapist whose perfect life is shattered by a terrifying event. Originally scheduled for the spring but delayed due to the pandemic, The Undoing’s dark psychological thriller vibes actually make it seem better suited to the dark autumn nights. Hugh Grant also stars. S1 / Now TV / Sky Atlantic, 26 Oct The Haunting of Bly Manor Potentially the perfect series to lead you into Halloween, this spin-off from The Haunting of Hill House shares much of that spooky show’s artistic DNA. Creator Mike Flanagan and some cast members return, but the setting is all new. It’s loosely based on the chilling Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw. S1 / Netflix, 9 Oct Star Trek: Discovery Discovery’s…

Bane’s had an upgrade since The Dark Knight Rises… Ahead of his time in a way, wasn’t he? While the funny voice might not have caught on, we’re all now wearing masks every time we want to pop out for a pint of milk. Sure, you could pick up a box of cheap disposable ones online or make one out of an old pair of pants (washed), but you’re a Stuff reader – wouldn’t you rather have something that ticks a few tech boxes? It’s not going to turn me into a supervillain, is it? Only if there’s one already inside you waiting to come out. The PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier (£tba, lg.com) does exactly what its name suggests. Not only are there two H13 HEPA filters inside, but it…

Finally! A workout app for techno DJs! Jeff Mills will be delighted. Now all he needs is a name that doesn’t sound like an area manager for Homebase. No, unfortunately for Jeff, this is not a workout app for DJs of techno, fidget house, progressive psytrance or any other genre of dance music for that matter. With hot, sweaty gyms pretty much just potential germ factories and the weather only getting worse, Technogym’s new app works with its connected fitness kit, adding a whole new dimension to your solo workouts. Ah, so it’s like Peloton? A bit, although without the insufferable marketing by the looks of it – and you can do far more than just cycle and run. With treadmills, bikes, cross-trainers and rowing machines in its range, Technogym…

It’s fair to say we quite liked the original Oculus Quest. We were so impressed, in fact, that after much debate and only a brief bout of Greco-Roman wrestling we named it Stuff’s 2019 gadget of the year. The all-in-one VR headset blew us away with high-end performance that didn’t require a powerful PC, nor a roomful of sensors and wires. It was VR, then, without faff, without barriers – and provided the easiest and cheapest way to experience the best of what this exciting new medium has to offer. But the Quest is last year’s toy. Replacing it is a new headset with a design overhaul, a beefed-up spec sheet and, perhaps most impressively of all, a lower entry price. You should know, however, that this is the first…

MEETING OWL PRO Curious creatures, owls. This one is a smart speaker for the working-from-home era, but not in the way you might think. You can’t summon Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant or any other artificial help. You can’t stream wirelessly via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and you must be plugged in to the power at all times. All of which begs the question, what does it do… for a grand? Well, the ‘smart’ part refers to how it utilises a real owl’s rotating powers to transform video calls. For a start it’s got a Full HD 360° webcam that we’ll hazard a guess is better than the one on your laptop. Also 360° is the array of mics able to pick up your voice from over five metres away. Then there’s…

ALTERNATIVELY ALL THE CASH Marantz Model 30 Not for Marantz the dubious appeal of bleeding-edge tech dressed in chintzy post-war design language. Not for Marantz the cramming-in of as many functions as possible. No, the Model 30 is hi-fi in the truest sense: it’s an integrated amplifier, massively over-engineered and ready to accept inputs from all your traditional analogue components like turntables, tuners and, um, CD players. It’s also packed with streaming capabilities, multiroom options and voice assistant support for those wishing to keep at least one foot planted in the future. £2699 / marantz.co.uk SOME CASH Cyrus One Cast Cyrus always fits products into half-size boxes like this, but it’s never squeezed in as much functionality as this before. The One Cast is a streaming amp with 100W per…

£40 / stuff.tv/MiBand5 If you’re after a dinky wearable to help shift the lockdown love handles, Xiaomi’s latest might be a smart choice… even if, despite the name, this is an unsmart fitness band. With no installable apps, it can’t stack up to smartwatches or reply to notifications, but it can relay alerts and track everything from sleep to workouts. It’s also daft-cheap, putting it in prime Christmas present territory… but it’s actually £5 dearer than its predecessor and the battery life is inferior. So what gives? A bigger, brighter, higher-res screen, that’s what – plus stress tracking, 11 sports modes (up from six) and menstrual cycle tracking. At 12g you’ll hardly feel it on your wrist, whether enduring a long workout or chasing a PB in napping. On the…

FIRST ADD THESE… ONE SAMSUNG PROTECTIVE STANDING COVER What’s the point of having a massive zingy screen when you’ve got to hold it up or clumsily prop it between objects whenever you want to go hands-free? Pick up a Protective Standing Cover to shield your Note20 Ultra from dings, and you’ll also be turning it into a freestanding streaming dream for long train journeys. £29 / samsung.com TWO HUAWEI FREEBUDS PRO Noise-cancelling wireless audio with on-bud volume control and track-skipping is central to Huawei’s ace new FreeBuds Pro. They sound fantastic, offer decent battery life and come with enough silicone to sort a seriously comfortable fit. They’ll even charge when placed on the back of the Note20 Ultra. £170 / huawei.com THREE SANDISK IXPAND WIRELESS CHARGER Available in 128GB and…

HOT BUY 1 Data Wing £free / Android, iOS This game starts off as if Asteroids had a baby with a top-down racer: your triangular craft blasts around circuits, gaining speed when its bum scrapes neon track edges. Soon you discover you’re part of an OS ruled by a deranged AI. Story and game quickly expand, as you glimpse the world beyond the screen and battle gravity in cavern-based sections that recall 8-bit classic Thrust. Rarely do mobile titles pack in so many hours of clever, thoughtful narrative. Pretty much never are such games free. Stuff says A mobile game we’d happily recommend if it cost a fiver – for nowt, it’s an absurdly generous bargain 2 Sky: Children of the Light £free (IAPs) / Android, iOS Now available on…

HOT BUY 1 Apple Watch Series 5 from £399 / stuff.tv/WatchS5 There’s no great secret to Apple’s continuing smartwatch domination: it’s all down to a seamless relationship between hardware and software, plus impressive health features that other makers still haven’t been able to match. But while the Series 5 isn’t as significant an upgrade as the previous model, it does have one key addition: an always-on display. Also new is a compass, while watchOS 6 added a host of tricks to make the Watch even smarter than it was already. Stuff says This is a minor upgrade on S4, but an always-on display makes the best smartwatch even better 2 Samsung Galaxy Watch from £299 / stuff.tv/GalaxyWatch We’re loving the new Galaxy Watch3 on p67… but this remains a sturdy…

HOT BUY 1 Sky TV from £20 + £25/month / 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 Spotify, Netflix and Disney+ in its user-friendly interface. It’s also restructured its packages to make them more affordable and include rivals like BT Sport. The box has 2TB of storage, 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 2 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…

HOT BUY BARGAIN BUY 1 Amazon Echo Show 8 £70 / stuff.tv/EchoShow8 This could be the right smart display for a lot of people. It’s big enough for comfortable video chatting, and to have drivers that can fill rooms with music. Its display may not look as refined as some, and the sound won’t worry Sonos, but it is good enough in every area to justify its price. We just wish Amazon could find a way to iron out the politics that mean we don’t get YouTube and Netflix app compatibility. Stuff says The Alexa home invasion continues apace with this superb smart display NOW ADD THIS Neato Botvac Connected D7 Say “Alexa, do the vacuuming” and Neato’s latest robo-vac will clean up all your dead skin cells. £799 /…

HOT BUY 1 Sega Mega Drive Mini £60 / stuff.tv/MegaDriveMini There’ll always be rows and online feuds over whether Nintendo’s or Sega’s games are better, but the Mega Drive Mini wins the miniature retro console war in terms of the faithful recreation of both hardware and software – especially as there are 42 games included. It’s taken a long time to get here, but as the saying goes, to be this good takes ages – and the Sega is the must-buy console of the moment. Stuff says Sega’s back – and this really is the ultimate mini gaming machine NOW ADD THIS Retro-Bit Official 6-Button Controller A must for fans of fighting games, this six-button USB pad is also compatible with PCs, Macs and even the Switch. £18 / amazon.co.uk…