Table of contents for April 2022 in Stuff UK

Hello! This issue is all about phones. Well not, all about phones, but like letters through a stick of rock it is the theme running through these pages. We’ve got the pick of the new launches, including some smashing new gear from Oppo, Honor and more, plus we’ve tested all three of the new Samsung Galaxy S22 series. And in our cover feature we’ve looked at phones for every budget, taking you through the best of the best as well as the best for not a lot of cash – you can get some crackers for way less than half the price of a flagship nowadays. Elsewhere, we’re one of the first to review the Steam Deck handheld PC gaming console, a remarkable – and very different – piece of…

From start to finish, the Tour de France is over 2000 miles long. To do that without leaving the comfort of your home, you’re going to need either a very big living room or the Technogym Ride – a connected exercise bike that makes the Peloton look like a Raleigh Chopper. With a 22in Full HD tilting touchscreen and apps such as Zwift, Strava, Rouvy and TrainingPeaks pre-installed, you can tackle virtual versions of famous stages from the world’s most legendary races – including all 21 hairpins of the Alpe d’Huez – or just zoom along to Netflix. The patent-pending gearchange buttons are claimed to be ultra-responsive – and as Technogym has been working with pro cycling teams for over 30 years, it should know a thing or two about…

£tba / huawei.com Is it a massive e-book reader? Is it a digital notebook? No, it’s the MatePad Paper! Take a book at me now Ever wished your Kindle was a bit more like your iPad? Or that your iPad was a bit more like your Kindle? With its 10.3in E Ink display, Huawei’s MatePad Paper is an intriguing mash-up of the two. There’s a spine down the side to make it easier to hold like a book; and while the 2million titles Huawei Books has on offer falls some way short of the 6m you can get on Amazon’s digital shop, both are way off the 130m that Google reckons have been published over the course of human history. So they can always add a few more. One more…

SWIPE ACROSS THE POWER BUTTON TO SWITCH INPUTS AND IT WILL CHANGE COLOUR Well, that’s embarrassing. You’ve spelt Sonos wrong. Thanks for your application to be Stuff’s new sub-editor. We’ll keep you in mind if any suitable vacancies come up – but seeing as this all-in-one speaker system is made by Italian audio artisans Sonus Faber, not Californian multiroom mavens Sonos, you might want to consider pursuing other options. Omnia is Latin for ‘ready for anything’ – and with support for AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, DLNA and aptX HD Bluetooth, it certainly is. As long as it’s wireless, by the sound of it. Wrong again. Round the back there’s an HDMI ARC input for plugging in your telly, plus it has a built-in phono stage so…

from £34,990 / fiskerinc.com What the flip is Fisker? It’s another electric car brand from sunny California, and the Ocean is its first SUV. Originally unveiled at the LA motor show last year, this eye-catching EV has just made its European debut at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. MWC? The smartphone expo? But it’s quite clearly a car! Yes, but in recent years MWC has seen an increasing number of auto makers in attendance, and Fisker thought it was a great idea to launch this tech-packed vehicle at an event crawling with Euro-geeks. Fisker already has an office in Munich and is planning to start producing cars in Austria. ‘Tech-packed’, you say? Well, first of all, a 17.1in touchscreen dominates the interior and can be switched to landscape mode…

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POWERFUL PROTECTORS The mustard mantle Fjällräven Vardag It’s an unwritten rule that raincoats should be yellow. Just ask the nearest grizzled trawlerman. For an overcoat that continues the custardy tradition, don this durable outer jacket – complete with handy front pocket. It’s also available in other colours, but why would you? £185 / fjallraven.com The old-school overcoat Burton Freelight The ’90s might be back in fashion, but nostalgia alone won’t keep you dry in a deluge. Luckily, this two-tone topper will. Inspired by Burton’s classic snowboarding shells, the Freelight’s nylon ripstop finish is water-repellent, ventilated and sure to earn the admiration of Gen Z. £185 / burton.com The Scandi styler Didriksons Slaghöken Scandinavia gets its fair share of squalls, so it’s no surprise that the Swedes know their way around…

APEXEL HD CELL PHONE 28X LENS Bummed out by the 11T Pro’s lack of 3x zoom? Pah, just get this 28x zoom accessory. It’s a miniature telescope that clamps onto the phone’s camera lens and provides magnification in the extreme. You’ll probably need a tripod to get sharp images in sub-perfect lighting, though. £37 / amazon.co.uk MI SMART BAND 6 This cute little fitness tracker will work just fine with any Android, but why not go full Xiaomi? It’s a bit of a bargain, and provides 14-day battery life, a big and bold OLED screen and water-resistance. No GPS, but it can borrow your phone’s location data for the full running-watch experience. £37 / amazon.co.uk…

SAMSUNG GALAXY S21 FE Price from £699 / stuff.tv/S21FE While the flagship Galaxy S22 phones might grab most of the headlines in 2022, there’s plenty of value to be had from Samsungs lower down on the price scale – like the Galaxy S21 FE. It takes the best bits of last year’s Galaxy S21 and wraps them up in a more affordable package. Even with its mid-range price, this is a phone that scores highly in whatever category you want to pick: performance, camera quality, design, screen, battery life, software, and more besides. You’re covered for 5G connectivity, you get full IP68 water/dust-resistance, and there’s support for wired and wireless charging as well. It’s difficult to find any feature that this phone doesn’t have. Power: silky The S21 FE is…

XIAOMI MI 10T PRO We prefer the 11T Pro, but this Xiaomi offers fantastic photos and video, a stylish design, and decent performance thanks to its Snapdragon 865 processor. £599 / mi.com OPPO FIND X3 LITE The Oppo Find X series has been consistently impressive in recent years, and this Lite model is the cheapest of the bunch – yet still offers good performance and a zingy screen. £379 / oppo.com REALME X50 PRO Can you get 5G, a slick Snapdragon processor and a quad-lens rear camera for a reasonable price? You can… and it doesn’t hurt that the X50 Pro looks lush too. £569 / realme.com…

POCO M4 PRO Price £205 / stuff.tv/M4Pro Never heard of Poco? It’s actually the cheapest branch of Xiaomi, renowned purveyor of feature-packed phones. And the 5G-ready M4 Pro packs in so many goodies it’s unbelievable at this price point. This Android uses the MediaTek Dimensity 810 platform – a power-packed octa-core processor that dismisses the Snapdragon snobs. Plus with 6GB of RAM, multitasking isn’t a chore either. Framerates in games aren’t the highest, but more demanding titles are perfectly playable at medium detail settings. Features: bargainy The 6.6in display is superb, with lovely colours and a 90hz refresh rate – which is most welcome at this kind of price level, delivering super-smooth scrolling. A 5000mAh battery sounds beefy enough for all-day use, but the Poco thrashed our estimates and lasted…

The Chemical Brothers Surrender Any Chems LP will test the capabilities of your audio gear; this one is full of demanding tracks including Hey Boy Hey Girl and Out of Control. Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon A trad choice, but there’s so much this album has to offer the headphone listener. Check the intros of both Money and Time. Daft Punk Random Access Memories A beautiful force of nature that goes way beyond Get Lucky. It’s an album recorded mostly with live instruments that sounds ace on good buds.…

ISSUES FOR £13 The world’s oldest weekly photographic magazine, established in 1884. It is the respected authority for news and reviews, with detailed tests and investigations on the latest equipment. The weekly contents include interviews and columns from many of the world’s leading photographers and practical technique to inspire and enthuse the devoted readership, to whom taking photos is far more than just a hobby. Essential reading for those interested in buying photographic equipment or wanting advice about improving their picture taking. Enjoy these great benefits: onyourfirst3issues anissue toyourdoor manage your account online afieryourtrial 2 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE Visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/APHA22 Call us on 01959 543 747 Quote APHA22 UK Direct Debit offer only. You will pay £13.00 for your first 13 issues. Your subscription…

Ever wondered what’s up with the links in Stuff? We’ve got a team of retail pros who scour the web to find you the best gadget deals – visit any stuff.tv link in this mag and you’ll be taken to the best deal for that product. If you make a purchase, we may get a small commission. It’s that simple, and has no impact on how much you pay.…

£2499 / stuff.tv/OLED936 DAY 01 TWO WEEKS WITH THE PHILIPS 65OLED936 £2499 / stuff.tv/OLED936 Philips makes some bostin’ OLEDs, but this one claims to look – and sound – better than any that have come before it… so Simon Lucas gives it a two-week workout No matter if you choose the 48in, the 55in or this 65in version of the Philips OLED936, your money gets you a nice-looking, well made and flawlessly finished TV. Seen in profile the OLED936 is slim enough… except for the bulge where it keeps its electronic bits. That takes its depth to almost 5cm, and if it’s wall-mounted then it’s effectively a touch over 15cm. Otherwise, though, this is exactly what a big, premium television should be in terms of design, build and finish. The metal…

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1 Sony WH-1000XM4 £279 / stuff.tv/WHXM4 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 2 Bowers & Wilkins PX7 £300 / stuff.tv/PX7 B&W’s second ANC headphones place greater emphasis on comfort and are all the…

1 GoPro Hero10 Black £330 / stuff.tv/H10B At a glance it’s almost impossible to tell the Hero10 Black apart from its predecessor. Each is a little box with screens front and rear, and a lens housing that juts out. Under the hood, however, GoPro has truly levelled up its latest action camera – and much of that is down to the new GP2 processor. It’s more responsive and captures better images in all lighting conditions, while ‘nice to have’ features (better livestreaming and webcam support, faster wireless and wired transfer of video) iron out some old issues. Stuff says Beefed-up internals make the Hero10 Black a nippy, powerful, polished action cam 2 DJI Air 2S £880 / stuff.tv/Air2S DJI’s laurels remain assuredly un-rested-upon, and this may be its best drone yet: an…

NATIVE APPS Both iOS and Android have their own smart home apps in the form of Home and Google Assistant respectively, but you’ll often find that the full experience is reserved for manufacturers’ own apps: for example, the Hue app is much more flexible and featurepacked than either firm’s home offering. ALTERNATIVE PLATFORMS With the exception of HomeKit, which is only available on Apple hardware, all the key smart home platforms can be controlled via the official apps of both phone systems: Google Assistant is available for iOS, and both have impressive apps for Alexa and SmartThings. AFFORDABILITY The cheapest Apple device that can run the Home app is the £199 iPod Touch, but you’ll also need a HomeKit hub to connect it to: the cheapest one of those is…

Ring Video Doorbell 4 £175 / amazon.co.uk Keep an eye on the price for this one: Amazon often takes around £25 off the Ring Video Doorbell during sales events. But with or without a discount, the Video Doorbell 4 is a very impressive device, delivering 1080p HD video and working on dual-band Wi-Fi – many similar devices only work on the more congested 2.4GHz band, so the Ring is less prone to network congestion. It’s simple to install and use, but there’s a lot of tech inside to deliver clear video and audio over your Wi-Fi network. COME OUT AND PAY As with most security cameras there’s a paid-for subscription service, but the key features here are free: real-time notifications of approaching people, live video and two-way audio are standard…

Nest Learning Thermostat £219 / store.google.com Now in its third generation, the Nest Learning Thermostat was originally developed by some of the same minds that created the iPod – and like the iPod, it brought brilliant simplicity and great design to some pretty complex tech. Although the Nest is happy as a standalone device, it’s part of a family that also includes a smoke/CO2 detector plus video doorbells and security cameras. LEARNING DOWN THE HOUSE Unlike traditional thermostats, this one has brains built in. That enables it to keep an eye on comings and goings to learn your routine, so for example it knows when you go out or when you go to bed and can start to turn the heating down at those times. It can also tell when…

Nanoleaf Lines from £180 / nanoleaf.me We’re big fans of Nanoleaf. Where other smart lighting companies concentrate on fairly practical products, Nanoleaf is all about decorative fun – via a range of connectable shaped lights and a wild remote control. We’ve already had all kinds of shapes, and the latest is Lines. These back-firing, colour-controllable LED bars can be chained together to create truly stunning effects. The only limit is your budget – like other Nanoleaf products, the Lines are pretty pricey. But when you see them synced up to your Mac’s display or automatically changing based on the music you’re listening, it’ll seem worth it. DO YA THINK I’M HEXY? Nanoleaf Lines start at £180 for a starter kit, which includes a controller and nine Lines; extra ones are…

Put an iPhone 13, a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, a Google Pixel 6 and Honor’s new Magic4 Pro in a wireless charging race, and one of them would be propped up at the finish line sending out celebratory WhatsApp messages before the rest had even got their induction coils in gear. And yep, it’d be the Honor. While its 4600mAh battery is far from the largest around, its support for 100W charging – both wired and wireless – means it’ll hit 100% in just 30 minutes, or 60% in half that. Chances are you’ll need it, because with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor (also rather fast), 6.81in 2848x1312 OLED screen with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, you’ll probably struggle to put it down.…

MateBook E Not keen on Microsoft’s furry Surface Pro 8 (see p54)? The MateBook E has a 12.6in OLED screen and can be specced with an 11th-gen Intel Core i7, Iris Xe graphics and 512GB of storage. £tba / huawei.com MateBook X Pro 2022 This little sliver of a laptop has a 92.5% screen-to-body ratio but still manages to squeeze the webcam in above the 14.2in 3.1K touch-sensitive display. It also has six speakers. £tba / huawei.com MateStation X With its 28.2in 4K+ touchscreen and no visible ports on the back, Huawei’s first all-in-one PC is a treat for the eyes. The optional Ryzen 7 5800H CPU should make it a treat to use too. £tba / huawei.com YOU CAN GO SPLIT-SCREEN AND TAKE NOTES WHILE YOU READ…

Sounds like something from Back to the Future. It really does, although with Holoride you very much do need roads. It’s basically VR for the car (but definitely not the driver). While that might sound like a one-way ticket to Vomitsville, Holoride is different. The headset connects to the car via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and uses real-time motion, location and navigational data from the vehicle’s onboard sensors to mimic its movement on the screens in front of your eyes. If the car takes a left, your in-game self does too; if it accelerates, so does your virtual ride; and if it grinds to a halt, your in-game self stops too. That should make traffic jams fun. It certainly means racing games are off the agenda. Imagine leading a race and…

B&O’S GAMING CANS COME OUT TO PLAY(STATION) Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay Portal headset, which previously only worked with Xbox, can now also be paired with a PS5, PC or phone. So whether you’re playing Elden Ring (see p78) when everybody else has gone to bed, or Pokemon Unite on the way to work, these wireless cans have you covered. Just as well, for £449. ‘LANEBREAK’ BRINGS GAMING TO YOUR PELOTON BIKE Peloton, the pleased-with-itself fitness bike, has added a new Lanebreak mode that replaces the on-screen instructor with a virtual track, encouraging riders to change lanes using the resistance knob in order to get the highest score possible. And don’t worry, you can still listen to your David Guetta playlist. BLACKBERRY GETS SQUASHED (AGAIN) Excited about the long-awaited return of…

GOOGLE PIXEL 6 PRO Price from £849 / stuff.tv/Pixel6Pro The last couple of Pixel phones were so plain it was like the design process was skipped altogether. Call it minimalism if you like, but it didn’t help the Pixel 5 stand out. That changes here. Google’s Pixel 6 Pro is one of the most striking phones you can get. With that bold camera ‘shelf’ and two-tone colourway nicked straight from an interior design TV show, the arty types in Google’s labs have finally been given a chance to show off. It’s all glass and metal too, and yet deftly undercuts both Samsung and Apple. It means we can finally say Pixels aren’t just about the cameras and software. That said, you should still pick the Pixel 6 Pro for its…

ZAGG CRYSTAL PALACE Want to protect your S21 FE without hiding its aesthetics? Get the Zagg InvisibleShield Crystal Palace case, which is both tough and transparent. The case protects against drops of up to 4m, has an antimicrobial coating and can be used with wireless chargers. £35 / zagg.com SAMSUNG SMART CLEAR VIEW COVER Sometimes the best place to go for a case is the phone’s maker, and this official cover for the S21 FE is an affordable and effective choice. You can buy it in the same shades as the handset itself, and see notifications through the little window. £37 / samsung.com…

ONEPLUS NORD CE 2 Price £299 / stuff.tv/CE2 With OnePlus now duking it out with Samsung at the upper end of the price spectrum, you might think it had forgotten its roots as a value champ. Not true – that spirit now lives on in the Nord CE 2. CE stands for Core Edition, which roughly translates to ‘all the hardware you need, with none of what you don’t, at a price your wallet can appreciate’. It’s the line-up’s new entry point, but carries over much of what makes the Nord 2 such a compelling mid-ranger – notably a display that’s excellent compared to many rivals, a 6.43in AMOLED with fairly smooth 90Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. It has a Full HD resolution, which is what you’d expect at…

NOKIA G50 A massive display and 5G on the cheap: the G50 is not especially quick, with less storage and RAM than rivals, but it’s still a great choice for stream fiends trying not to break the bank. £199 / nokia.com OPPO A74 A ‘my first 5G phone’ with premium looks, a big screen and ColorOS, a reasonably restrained take on Android 11. Well-rounded for the price, with no major weaknesses. £229 / oppo.com MOTO EDGE 20 LITE The closest thing to pure Android this side of a Google Pixel, this Moto offers detailed photos from its 108MP main snapper and all-day battery life. £270 / motorola.co.uk…

€300 / stuff.tv/GTRunner ■ The Watch GT Runner operates on Huawei’s HarmonyOS, so it’ll work with iPhones and Androids, including of course the company’s own Google-free phones. You get access to Huawei’s AppGallery, but what’s available there is limited. Strava addicts will probably want to look elsewhere. ■ The TruSeen 5.0+ biometric sensor isn’t the most exact when it comes to heart rate and blood oxygen, but with support for external trackers you can increase the accuracy of its readings for training load, VO2 max, recovery time, predicted race times and Huawei’s Running Ability Index. ■ Tell the Watch GT Runner about your running experience and it can generate a bespoke training plan for you, prompting you when you have a session due and breaking down what each one entails.…

THE BASICS Understand RSS RDF Site Summary? Rich Site Summary? Really Simple Syndication? Ah, who cares what RSS stands for – just know that this overlooked tech is great. Most websites offer RSS feeds, which you can freely subscribe to in mobile, desktop or browser-based RSS clients – just by pasting or typing in website URLs. You should never again miss a story from the sources you love. Avoid distractions Be honest with yourself about the sites and sources you subscribe to. Don’t replace one deluge of information (the never-ending waterfall from social media) with another that you’ve created yourself. Focus on what matters most to you and regularly prune subscriptions when sources aren’t doing it for you. Prize flexibility There are dozens of RSS clients, but they’re not made…

■ Zen green mottles The Vero’s 30% recycled plastic chassis is paint-free. Its finish has a roughened texture of teeny-tiny embossed honeycomb shapes and a greeny-grey finish mottled with dots of grey and yellow. ■ Sprawly green giant With a zippy 5Gbps USB-C port alongside one or two USB 3.0s, a full-size HDMI and an Ethernet socket on the left, plus a single USB 2.0 port on the right, the Vero is likely to satisfy most connectivity needs. ■ from £649 / stuff.tv/Vero ■ The Aspire Vero seems to be making more than a token effort to be green. Its plastics are 30% recycled (50% for the key caps), it’s designed to be easily taken apart so you can get it fixed rather than tossing it into the sea, and…

Surefire Gaming Bunker What’s the story? Don’t know Surefire? It’s a new brand from Verbatim, an old master in the storage world. The Gaming Bunker is in one sense the least advanced SSD here as it uses a SATA drive rather than the nippier NVMe kind. But that only matters if you have a Thunderbolt connector, and Surefire jazzes things up with some RGB lights on the case. The shape is classic, the aesthetic is very much ‘gamer’. Is it any good? A SATA SSD is never going to net you blinding peak speeds, but the Bunker is a trooper for sustained writes – making it a decent way to ferry those giant installs off your console or gaming PC. Make sure you’re down for living with those blinking RGB…

Everyone would like to be good at skateboarding in real life, but getting there usually means enduring multiple trips to A&E. Fortunately, games can give you the thrill of varial heelflipping down a flight of stairs without worrying about the fractured wrist waiting at the bottom. Oh, how we wish we could skate in OlliOlli World’s side-scrolling Radlandia. From the sunbathing ice creams of Sunshine Valley to the dinosaur skeletons that double as grind rails in the vast canyons of Burntrock, each of the five 2.5D areas is gorgeous to look at and a joy to explore – not to mention the superb soundtrack: an assortment of laid-back, toe-tapping and always on-vibe electronic and hip-hop beats. But don’t let the cartoonish visuals fool you. While this is undoubtedly the friendliest…

1 Google Pixel 6 Pro from £849 / stuff.tv/Pixel6Pro The Pixel 6 Pro is a true flagship device and the best Google phone yet. With smart shooting modes adding flexibility and a trio of lenses delivering delightfully detailed images under every kind of lighting, this Pixel is trading blows with the best. It has one or two weak spots, but Android 12’s slick user experience mostly makes up for them. It’s the fact that cameras are now only a part of the package, rather than being the main benefit, that will give Apple and Samsung owners serious pause for thought. Stuff says Ambitious and uncompromising, this is Google’s finest smartphone by far ● NOW ADD THIS Google Pixel Stand (2nd Gen) This wireless charger will juice up your Pixel at the…

1 Apple Watch Series 7 from £369 / stuff.tv/WatchS7 If you’ve got an Apple Watch Series 3 or even earlier, upgrading to this one will be like walking into a lighting shop from a dark and foggy winter evening: the display is bigger and clearer, and there are new input options too. As a wearable it can’t be beaten simply because it does so much, especially if you’re into fitness; just bear in mind that it’s probably not worth upgrading from a Series 5 or 6 – and of course, its usefulness remains totally dependent on you having an iPhone. Stuff says The mighty Apple Watch cements its place at the top of the wearable tree 2 Garmin Fenix 7 from £600 / stuff.tv/Fenix7 If your budget stretches, the impressive mix of…

1 Samsung QE65QN95A £2099 / stuff.tv/QN95A This is Samsung’s single most expensive current 4K telly (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 new sets that are incoming in 2022 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 £299 / samsung.com 2 LG OLED65G1 £2299 / stuff.tv/65G1 Well over £2k is a lot of money for a television, even one as slim and well-specified as…

Apple iPad Air from £539 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 2 Apple iPad Pro from £749 / stuff.tv/iPadPro The iPad Pro’s display is wonderful and the M1 chip…

1 Amazon Echo (4th Gen) £70 / 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. £200 / amazon.co.uk 2 Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) from £30 / stuff.tv/Dot It can’t match a full-size smart speaker for audio and is…

1 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 2 Sony A7C £1599 / stuff.tv/A7C Putting…

Hello and welcome to this special Stuff supplement: the ultimate guide to the smart home! We’ve got stacks of gear for you to pick up on, whether you’re looking to expand the system around an existing smart speaker or you’re just starting out (and if you don’t have anything installed yet, turn the page to see which smart home ecosystem you should choose). Thanks to the popularity of smart speakers, many of us have the first building block in our homes already, so it’s a case of choosing great gear to add on to that. The key with smart home tech is that it should serve a purpose: ask yourself, “What do I need this for?” Smart home tech can be absolutely brilliant, but it can also quickly gather dust…

Amazon launched its first Echo back in 2014. We’re now on the fourth generation, alongside the Echo Dot, the Echo Studio, the Echo Flex, the Echo Show 5, 8, 10 and 15, the Echo Sub, the Echo Link, the Echo Buds, the Smart Plug… and that’s just the Amazon devices, not including its Blink and Ring security cams. And then there are the very many third-party devices that can also be controlled by Alexa… including Hue lights, Samsung smart TVs, Sonos speakers and Motorola phones. If you want the widest possible range of connected devices to choose from, Amazon has you covered. IN TOO CHEAP If you’re considering smart home tech on a tight budget, or intend to buy lots of devices, Amazon beats its rivals here: its smart speakers…

Google Assistant has been with us since 2016, when it debuted on the first Pixel phone, and it’s now able to communicate with and control tens of thousands of compatible devices. Google Home is the second most popular smart home system: as of summer 2021 it was estimated that eight million American homes had multiple Google Home devices, compared to 20 million for Amazon. BORN TO BE WIDE Google Assistant is the app and virtual personal assistant for Google Home and Nest, the smart home system Google bought in 2019. It’s in all of the newest Android phones as well as many older ones, and also appears in Google devices including the Chromecast and Pixelbook Go, plus lots of third-party devices. The product range covers everything from phones to locks,…

Although Apple’s HomeKit platform was released way back in 2014, it’s lagging behind some of the other ecosystems. That’s because, while rivals constantly churn out new smart kit, Apple prefers to leave HomeKit to third-party makers… and it gives them very tough targets in order to be certified (see panel, p19). Apple’s first connected speakers have been discontinued and only the HomePod Mini now remains. You’ll find that HomeKit devices are fewer in number and more expensive than many rival smart home systems, and Apple’s Home app feels a little dated. As you’d expect, HomeKit is specifically for Apple smart homes. Android users should look elsewhere, or go for products that work with other platforms as well. SHAKE SOME ACCENT HomeKit is best controlled with Siri, which is built into…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH ANKER Samsung’s SmartThings doesn’t get the attention that the Amazon, Google and Apple ecosystems get, but it’s a very powerful and flexible platform. Although the number of available devices is smaller than you’ll find for Alexa or Google Home, there are still plenty of big brands here including Arlo, Bose, Sonos, Nest, Hue, Innr, Lifx, Belkin and Ring. SmartThings is actually two entities: it’s a smart home platform, but it’s also Samsung’s label for its own compatible devices – so it’s baked into the company’s phones and laptops… and even some of its fridges. HUB PARADISE SmartThings is based around a hub, which also works with Zigbee and Z-Wave so you can link up third-party devices such as Hue bulbs. The SmartThings phone app is available for…

One of the niggling problems with today’s smart home tech is that, as we’ve seen throughout this guide, you can’t simply choose the product you like best and assume it’ll work with the ecosystem you’ve got – you need to scan the specifications carefully to make sure it works with your particular platform. Matter is here to change that, and it’s backed by almost all the major smart home brands. WHAT’S IT FOR? Matter is actually the new name for an existing initiative, which had the much less catchy name ‘Project Connected Home over IP’, aka Project CHIP. And while the name wasn’t great, the idea was sound enough: your smart home tech should work like your other tech. You don’t need to worry who makes the Wi-Fi router you…

Earphones with a hole in the middle might seem about as useful as a waterproof towel, but Sony’s LinkBuds aren’t like all the others. Designed to be worn all day, they have 12mm drivers shaped like Cheerios – so you’ll never be cut off from the outside world and will always be able to hear what’s happening around you, even when you’ve got music playing. Adaptive volume control will automatically pump your tunes up in loud places, or turn them down when it’s quiet, plus there’s a Speak-to-Chat mode that pauses whatever’s playing as soon as you start talking. The controls are clever too: rather than having buttons or touch-sensitive areas to prod at, the LinkBuds can turn vibrations into actions, so you just need to double-tap or triple-tap the…

XIAOMI 11T PRO Price from £539 / stuff.tv/11TPro Phones at this price don’t tend to push at the boundaries of tech. It’s not really their job. But the mid-priced Xiaomi 11T Pro really does qualify as a flagship smartphone, in at least one small but useful way. This phone has 120W charging, almost three times as powerful as the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s. Sure, the power brick is a bit of a beast as a result, but Xiaomi says it will up the 11T Pro’s battery in just 17 minutes. But does it? We got out the stopwatch for a test and used the same method as Xiaomi, charging from 2% to avoid the slow safety charge that kicks in if it dies completely. At 5mins we were at 38%.…

HONOR 50 Honor has cut its Huawei ties so it can now use Android proper, including Google Play. This is a lot of phone for a fair price: big 120Hz screen, 108MP camera, zippy charging. £450 / hihonor.com MOTO EDGE 20 PRO The Moto series is usually budget gold, but the Edge 20 Pro aims higher. It’s one of the cheapest ways to get a 5x optical zoom, primed for covert puppy pics. £549 / motorola.co.uk REALME GT This phone’s original claim to fame: it was one of the cheapest ways to get a Snapdragon 888. It still is, making it a solid option for gamers not keen on handing over a grand. £450 / realme.com…

GOOGLE PIXEL 6 Price £599 / stuff.tv/Pixel6 Just like its Pro big brother, the Pixel 6 is something of a return to form for Google after the underwhelming Pixel 5. With a bold, colourful design, Google’s Tensor chipset running the show (with lots of AI tricks) and significant camera upgrades to talk about as well, it feels as though the Pixel 6 is a real mid-range star – and quite possibly better value for money than the top-end Pro version on p42. As well as that Tensor processor – built to excel at AI tasks such as Google Assistant responses – you get 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage with the Pixel 6. In other words, enough power to deal comfortably with any kind of task you want…

NOTHING EAR (1) These cyberpunk wireless in-ears let you eyeball the internal circuits when you’re not rocking out, while ANC keeps the outside world at bay. Expect a combined 34hrs between trips to a plug socket with the equally see-through charging case. £99 / nothing.tech BELKIN CAR UNIVERSAL MOUNT Belkin’s cheapo mount sucks onto your windscreen or dashboard and is compatible with all types of devices up to 6in. It’s proven to be reliable, with great customer reviews and 4.5 stars on Amazon. It’ll rotate 360° degrees and has built-in cable management. £16 / belkin.com…

Sketchbook Fancy yourself as an artist, but can’t even draw a straight line? Sketchbook is on hand to unleash your inner doodler by way of a mammoth selection of brushes and pencils that you can select before attacking a digital canvas. You also get handy tools like symmetry mirrors and perspective grids that make it look like you know what you’re doing. It’s pro-grade – but even pros don’t have to pay for it. £free / Android, iOS GarageBand With GarageBand being free, ‘serious’ musicians might be sneery about its capabilities. But whether you’re a beginner or a pro looking to win your fifth Grammy, Apple’s app has got what it takes. It can act as a hub for other iOS music apps, its Alchemy synth alone used to cost…

GOOGLE NEWS Want to stick with algorithms after all? This app’s no-nonsense approach kicks off with a headlines briefing. You can follow specific sources, but the app urges you to move beyond your bubble by seeing how others are reporting on a story. news.google.co.uk APPLE NEWS This option provides a nicely ‘Apple’ experience, along with an inevitable premium tier that costs a tenner a month for access to the likes of The Times. The free version is a good way to dig into articles, and the app usefully learns what you like over time. apple.com FLIPBOARD This app initially rose to fame because of its tactile page-flipping, which felt like the future of magazines. Today, it remains worth a look because of its mix of algorithmic news and specific sources…

Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 What’s the story? Saucony’s nylon-plated eye-catchers are designed as a training partner to the racier Endorphin Pro 2. At 224g they’re light and agile, thanks to a combination of high-energy Pwrrun PB foam and a foot-long nylon plate that’s better for regular running than carbon. Plus there’s Speedroll midsole tech – a sort of curved rocker shaping – to smooth your heel-to-toe transition in every step. Up top, breathable and flexible mono-mesh uppers wrap your feet, while the outsole has reinforced high-abrasion zones to deliver reliable traction even when you’re taking tight corners at top speed. Are they any good? There are loads of really good shoes around right now… but the Endorphin Speed 2 is the leader of the pack. If you want a single…

IRST ADD THESE… ONE TILT STAND FOR ECHO SHOW 15 If you don’t like the idea of wall-mounting your Echo Show 15, the Tilt Stand really is your only other option. It has limitations (no swivelling), but it does support either portrait or landscape orientation with a bit of screwing and unscrewing. Once it’s set up, you can angle your Echo on your countertop at will. £30 / amazon.co.uk TWO RING VIDEO DOORBELL 4 Livestream your front door to the kitchen with this video doorbell. It has a 1080p cam with night vision, motion alerts and zone mapping. Running on 5GHz Wi-Fi for a reliable connection, it’ll stream a feed to your Show 15 on command, and can even do the talking for you with six preset quick responses. £179…

Some (very patient) people will consider Sifu the best game they play all year. Others will find it a maddeningly punishing endurance test that seemingly wants them to fail. We’re somewhere in the middle. This is a tale of revenge where most of the talking is done with fists. You play as a kung-fu student on a mission to take down the five martial arts masters responsible for the murder of his or her family. Your search takes you from the suburbs of a fictional city in China to an out-of-hours museum and an opulent corporate HQ, with a boss calmly awaiting at the end of each level. At its best, Sifu can be incredibly satisfying both to play and to look at. This is a hardcore beat-’em-up with a…

1 Myzone MZ-Switch £140 / stuff.tv/MZSwitch This tracker can be attached to different parts of the body, while the accompanying app gamifies your activity. If you’re a gym poser rather than a workout grafter, the MZ-Switch is not for you – it’s a versatile wearable that pushes you to roll up your sleeves and go further without intimidation. The wrist-based heart-rate measurement brings much-needed convenience, and this should be enough to push procrastinating newbies to join the fitness revolution. Stuff says Myzone’s modular heart-rate tracker is an addictive and convenient route to fitness 2 Hammerhead Karoo 2 £324 / stuff.tv/Karoo2 For ages cycling computers have been held back by outdated tech… but Hammerhead’s sharp screen really is a gamechanger, and effectively running a tiny Android phone inside a custom case feels like…

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 £899 / 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…

1 Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) from £30 / 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. £15 / amazon.co.uk 2 Microsoft Xbox Wireless Headset £90 / stuff.tv/XboxHeadset With their chunky earpads, these black…

There are four main smart home platforms: Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s HomeKit, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings. Many smart home devices will work with multiple platforms, but some won’t – and there are important differences between the platforms, the prices and the products available. Smart home products typically fall into one of three categories: entertainment (speakers, TVs, streaming devices etc), home automation (lighting, heating and fun things like robot vacuum cleaners) and home security (cameras, video doorbells and other sensors). In the latter category, don’t just look at the pricing of the devices: check the cost of their data storage too. You’ll usually find that security cameras only offer basic features and limited storage if you don’t subscribe to a cloud storage plan. WE HAVE QUESTIONS… There are three questions to…