Table of contents for Christmas 2019 in Stuff UK

Stuff starts getting Christmas emails around July time and receives invites to Christmas quizzes in October. I’m not kidding. So if you think festive TV ads from mid-November is jumping the gun, spare a thought for gadget journalists who want to throttle Santa with a Lightning lead by December. On the plus side, it does mean we’ve nailed our gift list for geeks nice and early so you know exactly what to wish for or to buy the nerd in your life. We’ve 144 awesome present ideas to peruse, from bargains under £50 to money-no-object showstoppers, as well as no fewer than nine glorious guitars to annoy the hell out of your relatives, Wyld Stallyns style. You’ll find further inspiration in this month’s Hot Stuff section, including Xiaomi’s outrageous 108MP…

1 Productive £6.99/m / Android, iOS Want to infuse good habits into your day? This app lets you set them up, bugs you at opportune moments, and lets you celebrate/sulk with stats. The sub’s pricey, but you get four habits for nowt. 2 NanoStudio 2 £11.99 / iOS The original NanoStudio was there before GarageBand, and now its follow-up is finally on iPhone. Its Obsidian synth is superb, giving you the means to craft mega-hits on the train. Possibly. 3 Pocketcoach £free / Android, iOS If anxiety’s taking over, have a virtual chat with this app. It teaches relaxation techniques to calm you down and – unlike some – won’t ramp up stress levels by mugging your bank account. 4 BBC Own It £free / Android, iOS This BBC keyboard/app…

In our 250th-issue special edition, we asked award-winning futurist and ‘tech advisor behind the tech advisors’ Matthew Griffin to stick his neck on the line and tell us about the gadgets of the future. To be honest we felt he was a bit out of his tree, but it entertained us so much we thought to hell with it and handed him his very own column. This month, we ask him about the future of music and how holding your phone in a certain way could dictate what gets added to your streaming playlist. Why are we talking about music, Mystic Matthew? Firstly, you explicitly asked me to, and secondly, don’t ever refer to me as that again. We’re also approaching 15 years since the original and iconic iPod Shuffle…

Amazon Echo (3rd gen) £90 / amazon.co.uk What’s the story? Amazon fancies this third generation of its standard Echo to be the best yet. But of course, it’s far from the only company wanting to sell you a sub-£100 smart speaker with aspirations to half-decent 360° audio. So is it a real upgrade, or does this particular Echo sound exactly the same? Is it any good? It looks like any other Echo – but borrowing the upward-firing tweeter and downward-firing bass driver from the Echo Plus, it throws out far better sound than the 2nd-gen version. In fact, the only real difference compared to the £140 Plus is the lack of a Zigbee hub for directly connecting smart home devices. It’s possible to form a stereo pair and even add…

Stamford Elements of Nature Notebook ‘Precycling’ is about buying products that won’t cause more waste… so this notebook’s pages are recycled, its cover is made of cotton and it’s all recyclable, including the packaging. £25 / stamfordnotebooks.co.uk Finisterre Banyon Packing Pouches Wasted space is the enemy of the efficient packer. Wasted fabric, on the other hand, is bad for business and the planet. Combat both with these packing pockets made from leftover fabric. £30 (pack of 3) / finisterre.com Timberland Ecoriginal Bomber Want winter warmth without the waste? You could sew together a scratchy jacket from three hessian sacks and an old skipping rope. Or, for a less rustic solution to fast fashion, try this Timberland. A bomber that’s better for nature, the whole thing is crafted from recycled materials…

UE Ralis Chris de Burgh’s A Spaceman Came Travelling is a criminally underrated Christmas classic. Give the ’70s sci-fi nativity epic the airtime it deserves with this stylish sonic cube. A lesson in Swedish understatement, the Ralis packs room-filling Bluetooth sound in a case you can carry around. The two tweeters and 10W woofer give Chris’s wailing refrain room to breathe, while dual-host support lets you share DJ duties with a fellow fan. £170 / urbanears.com Sony NW-A100TPS Sony’s 40th-anniversary Walkman comes in packaging that pays homage to the 1979 original. It swaps cassettes for 16GB of digital storage, but the glorious twist in the tail is the 3.6in HD display that displays tracks as a handwritten mixtape. As it’s a Sony the player supports hi-res audio, while a ‘vinyl…

Alaskan Maker Apron 690 Every maker deserves a proper apron. Give the gift of draped protection with this waxed cotton job. It packs a trio of front pockets, while the rugged build will counter the menace of paper cuts and gravy stains. €84 / alaskanmaker.fr iFixIt Pro Tech Toolkit Yes, half the family have broken their presents within hours of receiving them. Fortunately you planned ahead and also bought this comprehensive tech repair kit, with grippers, picks, tweezers, spudgers (great word!) and 64 driver bits. €60 / eustore.ifixit.com DeWalt DCR011-XJ What’s the most important tool on a job? A drill? A screwdriver? An angle grinder? Wrong, wrong and wrong: it’s a speaker. Sure, it can’t make holes in a wall, but without Talksport, construction would grind to a halt. Bring…

Wacaco Nanopresso Orange Patrol After all that booze you might need more than Christmas spirit to get you out for the traditional Boxing Day walk. This lightweight cylinder can pump out proper espresso wherever you go. Simply tamp in your grounds, fill the 80ml tank and pump up the pressure. You’ll soon have a steaming brew to move you… and that orange jacket should brighten bleary eyes. £52 / wacaco.com Native Union Jump+ Wireless Powerbank What’s worse than being stuck on a packed train? Being stuck on a packed train with a flat phone. Perfect for bored commuters, this mahoosive 12,000mAh battery pack rapidly boosts blowers via USB-C – and you can juice two further devices at the same time thanks to a USB-A port and wireless charging. £85 /…

Too Good To Go A third of all food ends up in the bin. Insanity – so this app helps you find stores and restaurants offloading unsold grub that’s still edible and tasty. It’s particularly good in big cities, where loads of shops sell so-called ‘magic bags’. Sadly, these aren’t full of wizards and spells, but do contain a selection of nosebag from the retailer in question – and at a fraction of the price you’d pay to get it off the shelves. £free / Android, iOS CoGo Plenty of businesses happen to be run by toerags who hate the world, their staff and your face. Fortunately, you can avoid them by installing CoGo. Well, you can at least define your personal values – carbon-conscious companies, co-operatives, the living wage…

£4500 / stuff.tv/OLED984 With its new OLED+ 984 flagship, Philips is certainly showing what it thinks of the growing idea that a TV should blend in with a living room rather than standing out as a home design feature. Sitting on its own chrome stand with a custom-made sound system courtesy of British hi-fi brand Bowers & Wilkins, this television is unashamedly attention-seeking. But while its looks might grab you, it’s the performance that keeps you enthralled – with a picture that’s wholly worthy of its flagship status, not to mention sound quality that you just wouldn’t expect to hear from a TV. It’s not cheap, of course, but then tellies of this calibre rarely are… and the OLED+ 984 seems determined to set a benchmark for what’s to come…

OTTER Don’t have a Pixel 4? You can still tap into real-time transcription via Otter, an app that works with older versions of Android. It provides 10 hours of free transcription per month, with more available for subscribers, and can also transcribe old audio and video files. MUSIC VOLUME EQ If you’re not getting the results you seek from Sound Amplifier, try Music Volume EQ on the Play Store. With more than 50 million downloads to date, this equaliser app includes several presets and boosts to help you get the most out of your audio playback. ZEN MODE Owners of the latest OnePlus phones have a more serious alternative to Google’s Focus Mode, and it’s called Zen Mode. Press a button and it kills everything but your camera and emergency…

SKETCHBOOK Autodesk’s free graphics app takes full advantage of the latest S Pen’s 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, supports layer input and even lets you export files to Photoshop. AMOLED WALLPAPERS AMOLED screens save power by not emitting any light at all when they display blacks… so be efficient and stylish with this fine app offering predominantly black wallpapers. DEX Download the DeX app to your PC and you’ll be able to control your phone from it – so you can crack on with work and reply to text messages using your keyboard, and even drag and drop files to and from your phone.…

Apple iPad Pro from £769 / stuff.tv/iPadPro The iPad Pro isn’t cheap, but it’s a mobile powerhouse like no other, with a diverse and rich app ecosystem, tons of power, a gorgeous screen, and the kind of focus on creativity and productivity that just doesn’t exist on other tablets. If you just want to faff on Facebook or Netflix it’s massive overkill, so we’d recommend going for the iPad Air (from £479) instead; but even if you don’t actually need the new iPad Pro, you’re going to want one if you have it in your mitts for five minutes. Stuff says Once again Apple blasts ahead of the pack, with a stylish, powerful tablet full of creative potential Microsoft Surface Go from £379 / stuff.tv/SurfaceGo Having this slinky Windows tab…

Sony WH-1000XM3 £269 / stuff.tv/SonyWHXM3 Sony’s WH-1000 series was already a top performer, and the WH-1000XM3s make for an even more compelling package. With Bluetooth wireless and great noise-cancellation, they’re the ultimate public transport stress killer… well, aside from a chauffeur or a lottery win that lets you retire. The leather 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 a sound that nails just about everything Bose NCH 700 £350 / stuff.tv/BoseNCH700 You won’t find a better voice pickup system than Bose’s, while the company’s already exceptional noise-cancelling tech is now even better. Other features, such as the slick touch controls, are…

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 Beam £399 / stuff.tv/SonosBeam Sonos’s great-value Alexa-equipped soundbar offers fine audio quality, comes with loads of features and is compact enough to fit into the average living-room AV setup without taking over. Stuff…

Sony PlayStation 4 Pro £300 / stuff.tv/PS4Pro As a gaming platform, PlayStation 4 is the best around – which makes the PS4 Pro the best of the best. Games optimised for the new console look stunning on a 4K HDR TV, and are substantially improved by the extra grunt inside this slightly bigger machine. Sure, it can’t match the Xbox One X for sheer power or resolution, but it makes up for that with an impressive line-up of games – including Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn and Bloodborne – and virtual reality support. Stuff says The system for console gamers who have a 4K TV and want the best catalogue of games on offer Nintendo Switch £279 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch Nintendo’s console earned a promotion in our list after it impressed…

Jaguar I-Pace from £60,995 (with PiCG) / stuff.tv/ipace Not content with simply making an electric vehicle that can get you from A to B with minimal fuss (and fuel bills), Jaguar has created something desirable, fun to drive and impressively capable when the going gets tough. This car offers Amazon Alexa integration, smartphone connectivity and a 10in touchscreen on the upper deck. With the I-Pace, Jaguar can happily claim to be the first mainstream brand to really give Tesla something to worry about. Stuff says Fun, fast and practical, the I-Pace is the greatest thing to happen to electric cars in a long time Nissan Leaf from £27,995 / stuff.tv/NissanLeaf Nissan has really got it right with the latest Leaf – an accomplished family car that packs some serious range…

Tado Smart Thermostat V3+ from £200 + installation / stuff.tv/TadoV3Plus It might not be as pretty as the Nest 3.0, but Tado has quietly evolved into the best all-round smart heating system around. Like autopilot for your boiler, it senses when you’re leaving home or coming back thanks to the app’s geolocation. And Tado’s gadgety goodness is second to none, with the option of zonal control for individual rooms and voice smarts from the likes Alexa and Google Assistant. Stuff says Tado roasts the competition with its combination of simplicity and smarts NOW ADD THIS Tado Smart Radiator Thermostats Once you’ve tasted the joys of zonal smart heating, you and your wallet will never go back. £70 each / tado.com Netatmo Welcome £158 / stuff.tv/NetatmoWelcome Netatmo’s smart cam has face…

I LIT UP THE ETERNAL CITY WITH AN iPHONE As a rule I don’t take photos of famous landmarks and post them on social media. We all know what the Taj Mahal looks like, and whatever I snap will only be bettered on Google image search anyway. But the iPhone 11 Pro’s Night Mode has changed everything to the point where I only want to sightsee in the dark from now on – when everything is shut. To prove my point, check out this ridiculous picture of the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. Seriously, I can’t stop starring at it. James Day, Editor-in-Chief I STALKED THE LOCALS OF FLORENCE You might think I’ve become a camera bore, given I was gushing about the same Fujifilm X-Pro3 last month. But to fully…

$95,000 (pair) / oswaldsmillaudio.com Whoever’s on the Iron Throne, it appears they’ve splashed out on a new sound system. Is it still too soon for spoilers? Just in case, we’ll play it safe and say the unnamed new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms appears to have asked bastard blacksmith Gendry Baratheon to knock up a pair of fine sculpted speakers to celebrate getting the top job. What you’re looking at is the OMA Ironic, cast from a special kind of iron with a high graphite content. It certainly has a grand and stark kind of beauty Rather ostentatious, isn’t it? Hypoeutectic grey iron is usually used in high-tech applications such as photolithography machines for silicon chip production, where resonance and vibration must be reduced to an absolute minimum – perfect…

If, having won one of these Libratone ZIPP 2 smart speakers, you decide to give it away as a late Christmas present, just wait for them to unwrap it and realise it’s not that rare bottle of Scotch they were after. Watch them unzip the removable fabric grille from its fine cylindrical exterior to reveal that, no, it’s still a speaker… well the joke’s on you, reader. Because if we’re a nation of shopkeepers, the Danes are a race of audiophiles, and you’ve just passed up one of their finest exports. You see, the ZIPP 2 is a portable smart speaker with Alexa voice control, AirPlay 2 multiroom capabilities, Spotify Connect streaming and more. It’s 100% wireless, with punchy 360° sound and 12 hours’ battery time, and you can pair…

SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION OFFER Pay £39.99 for 13 issues, saving 38%* off the shop price Each issue delivered directly to their door They’ll never miss an issue of the world’s greatest gadget mag HERE’S HOW! ONLINE shop.kelsey.co.uk/STU018 CALL US 01959 543747 Please quote STU018 Hours: Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.30pm (calls charged at your standard network rate) Offer ends 31 December 2019 DIGITAL Pay just £37.99 for a 13-issue digital subscription: shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff Terms and conditions: Offer available for UK customers only. You will pay £39.99 for 13 issues, saving 38%. For overseas rates please visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff. Offer closes 31 December 2019. *Full UK subscription rate for 13 issues is £64.87, USA & EU £78, RoW £85. Here at Kelsey Publishing we take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to administer…

Sega Mega Drive Mini You don’t need to be a ’90s kid to know about gaming’s 16-bit glory days – and even someone who thinks the Mega Drive is a golf shot can tell you what Sonic looks like. Relive the authentic Sega experience with an HDMI-connected half-size repro: the Mini ships with 42 built-in games and a pair of USB controllers for a dose of nostalgia so strong it’ll have you reaching for MiniDiscs (not that there’s anything wrong with MiniDiscs). £65 / megadrivemini.sega.com Lego Overwatch Wrecking Ball This Overwatch-themed set from Lego is primed for fans of the team shooter, and the rolling mech’s rodent pilot is instantly recognisable as Hammond. For everyone else, he’s a small hamster riding an angry brick-built ball with cannons. Either way, what…

Amazfit Bip Lite This little tracker is anything but a lightweight when it comes to keeping people active. It’s just 32g but packs a 45-day battery life – along with movement reminders and multiple sports modes. Cut back on its functionality and it can track for four months. £51 / amazfit.com Jabra Elite Active 45e Jabra’s waterproof wireless buds aim to give long-term comfort, nine hours of battery life and top-notch audio. Whether they’re for a veteran runner, hardcore cyclist, gym junkie or fitness noob, the new Elites are solid buds with a neck strap for when they’re not in use. £85 / jabra.co.uk UA Rush ColdGear Mock Sweating while shivering is one of the strange realities of winter running, but this base layer controls core temperature without trapping moisture.…

Audi E-tron Audi’s leccy SUV is suitably luxurious and good for around 250 miles on a brimmed battery. It’s also surprisingly understated… except perhaps for the cameras replacing the wing mirrors. The £3500 plug-in car grant should pay for some spare mats. £71,560 / audi.co.uk Kjus Hydro_Bot Many skiers would find themselves sweating at the top of a black run. But that’s just your cue to hit the button in your pocket – knowing the more you sweat, the more effectively the electro-osmotic moisture-moving membrane in your Kjus jacket will function. £1299 / kjus.com Astell&Kern A&ultima SP2000 On the rare occasions an audiophile leaves his or her pressure-controlled sonic chamber, a portable solution is needed to soften the blow. A&K’s latest player is an arresting example of audio wizardry, with…

CLASSIC CRUNCHERS The ageless all-rounder Fender American Performer Telecaster The basic formula for the solidbody electric guitar was laid down seven decades ago by Leo Fender… and incredibly, the Tele hasn’t really changed since then. Well, it hasn’t had to, because it’s perfect. To put that into some context, Pickled Onion Monster Munch have been around for only four decades. £999 / shop.fender.com The regal riffer Rickenbacker 330 Rickenbacker might be famous for the ’60s jingle-jangle of its 12-string guitars, but the six-string versions are classics in their own right. Paul Weller played one throughout his Jam heyday, before turning to less interesting guitars and inventing dad-rock. They’re pricey, but there’s nothing else like a Ricky £1999 / guitarvillage.co.uk The perky punker Gibson Les Paul Junior Tribute DC Gibson originally…

Millennium pair To make sure these AirPods are securely plugged into your ears, Apple has designed a fit test for the tips. A piece of music will play and the mics will detect if sound is escaping. There are silicone tips of three sizes in the box. Giving doll A new feature on iOS 13 is audio sharing. It’s the 2019 answer to a headphone splitter, where you can instantly pair a second set of AirPods (it’s also compatible with the 1st-gen and 2nd-gen buds) to your phone. £249 / stuff.tv/AirPodsPro With active noise-cancellation, improved sound, silicone tips for a snug fit and other design tweaks, Apple is making big noises about the AirPods Pro being a huge step up from their predecessors. We love the shorter stems. They look…

Feel the burn Fire up Adventure mode for a fully-fledged RPG that casts you as a silent protagonist who, with the help of an enchanted ring, must take down a bodybuilding dragon – who turns out to be one of Nintendo’s best villains in ages. No campaign, no gain The sprawling campaign, which Nintendo says can take months to complete, sees you traverse grassy meadows, sparkling streams and thunderstruck forests, with a visual style that’s reminiscent of Breath of the Wild. £70 (inc game) / stuff.tv/RingFit If you’ve got used to seeing your Switch as a way of escaping from the risk of exercise, prepare for a rethink. The Ring Fit concept combines a surprisingly meaty role-playing game with some seriously heart-pumping hardware. Never mind button presses – it’s high…

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 Jumpgrid £2.99 / iOS Pac-Man and Frogger meet Super Hexagon and buckets of adrenaline in this superb…

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 last year’s model, it does have one key addition: an always-on display. Also new is a compass, while the watchOS 6 update adds a host of new tricks that 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 Apple Watch Series 4 from £349 / stuff.tv/WatchS4 Series 5 is the new king, but the old model remains a great…

Sonos Move £399 / stuff.tv/SonosMove The Sonos range of wireless speakers has been crying out for a battery-powered portable offering for ages – and finally our favourite multiroom audio specialist has caved in. Luckily, the Move proves to be entirely worth the wait. Its adaptability and sound quality mean it’s fine value for money, and a no-brainer for anyone who’s already a fan of the brand. Not only is this the speaker Sonos should have launched years ago – it’s one of the best products of its type and price that we’ve heard. Stuff says Sonos finally gets up to speed with the portable speaker craze, and in some style Sonos One £199 / stuff.tv/SonosOne The One is now a more well-rounded device than it was at launch, supporting Spotify…

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. That’s a mindblowing technical feat. 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. It also ships with the Oculus Touch motion controllers included, which means you can play fully fledged Oculus Rift titles without being anywhere near a PC. Stuff says If you’ve been waiting to board the VR bandwagon, the Quest might be the best reason yet to go for it HTC Vive £499 / stuff.tv/HTCVive There isn’t much difference between this and the much cheaper Oculus Rift, in all honesty. But if you’re…

GoPro Hero7 Black £289 / stuff.tv/Hero7Black Last year’s model continues to fall in price as the new Hero8 Black (reviewed on p80) comes to market. This is basically the excellent Hero6 Black, a five-star action cam that cost £500 at launch, with a bunch of improvements added – the most useful of which being the incredibly effective HyperSmooth image stabilisation, which has a huge impact on video quality. It’s great to see a company like GoPro continue to innovate in ways that are genuinely valuable to its core customers. Stuff says A last hurrah for GoPro’s smoothest operator ever, a brilliant flagship action cam DJI Osmo Action £329 / stuff.tv/OsmoAction The image stabilisation is sensational and the face-optimised metering makes DJI’s action cam an ideal choice for vloggers. It has…

Sega Mega Drive Mini £65 / stuff.tv/MegaDriveMini There’ll be playground 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 going to be the must-buy console this Christmas. 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 SNES…

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 issue 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. In the mag: We pick out the best price for every featured product Online: Choose from our roster of great-value retailers…

Help us uunnderstand what’s going on here. Teeth have many enemies. Fizzy drinks and Werther’s Originals will set alarm bells ringing for those 32 chunks of enamel (28 if you’ve had your wisdom teeth out), but one of their oldest adversaries is plaque. Brushing is your best defence; but if you want to know who’s winning the war, Uunn’s health tracker for teeth will give you a full sitrep. So how does that work? A Bluetooth chip embedded in a filling? Strap it over your phone’s camera, stick it in your mouth and it’ll take three photos, which the app will analyse using Uunn’s plaque-seeking algorithm (which took four years to develop). It’ll then offer tips on how to brush better in the hope of helping you avoid a trip…

‘Real’ musicians often sneer that electronic instruments play themselves. With EōN, they have a point. This app is endless Jarre, like you’ve tied the French synth twiddler to a chair and demanded an endless remix in return for food. There are visuals too – all manner of beat-synced weirdness, from hypnotic swirls to mutating planets whose tendrils interlink like they’re eating each other. If you want interaction, tough. EōN invites you to gawp but not play. Still, while bathing in its beauty and flickering riffs, you can mull over the impending obsolescence of electronic musicians and – ironically – note that this automated experience is Jarre’s best work since 1986.…

When it comes to summoning Alexa, Amazon’s Echo speakers are among the best in the business. But while the standard Echo has been beefed up this year with the audio internals once reserved for the Plus, you could argue that nothing in the existing line-up really boasts the hi-fi chops to do Cliff Live in Japan ’72 justice. That changes with the Echo Studio. By far the company’s most powerful Echo device to date, the Studio has had multiple speakers shoehorned into its grey mesh chassis. It’s also the first smart speaker capable of 3D audio courtesy of Dolby Atmos and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio, bringing added depth and height to music. Quite ambitious for a £190 gadget… even if the results aren’t flawless OK, not a lot of recordings support…

Apple Watch Series 5 Apple’s Watch Series 4 was already awesome, from a full suite of fitness smarts to a shell that set the bar for every smartwatch. So what was left to change for Series 5? The always-on display for even quicker interactions, for a start. There’s a size, design and strap to suit everyone, and you might even fancy splashing out on a Nike, Hermes or Edition model made from ceramic or titanium. Properly fancy, they are. from £399 / apple.com SoundMagic E11D Everything from the Google Pixel 4 to the OnePlus 7T has now ditched the humble headphone port. Still don’t want to go wireless? SoundMagic’s E11D earphones are your answer. More than just a jack swap, these aluminium in-ears pack a DAC in their USB-C cable…

Puro JuniorJams Bluetooth Christmas songs are made to be overplayed, but the Frozen soundtrack will drain the last dregs of your sanity. These wireless cans will give you some peace from Disney tunes… and, with a safe 85dB limit, peace of mind. £55 / purosound.com Toniebox Starter Set The Toniebox is an intuitive audiobook experience. Pop a Tonie on top and the story starts, or resumes where it left off. There’s a whole cast of familiar characters available, from Simba to Baloo to Lightning McQueen, each with a yarn to spin. £70 / tonies.com Fitbit Ace 2 You don’t need a fitness tracker to tell you your kids just spent two hours building a snow fort, but Fitbit’s kid-friendly band can help them build healthy habits. Virtual badges encourage an…

Capcom Home Arcade An actual arcade cabinet might make for an authentic gaming experience, but short of selling the telly and standing one in the living room, you might struggle to find the space. Gift the next best thing with this retro deck from Capcom. No everyday emulator, this full-size replica of an arcade controller is built to be durable, with premium joysticks, buttons you’ll love to push and, most importantly, a host of classic games built in. £200 / capcomhomearcade.com Marshall Stockwell II Marshall’s guitar amps have done the business for everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Motorhead, so bring rock’n’roll to your Bluetooth rodeo with the Stockwell II speaker. Styled like its full-size forebears and topped by a neat fabric handle, this beautifully built speaker packs punchy sound, EQ…

Groov-e Athena Stick this clock on your bedside table and your phone will start every day full of beans: with its 5W wireless charger, the Athena will keep your blower’s battery brimmed without an ugly wire in sight. Sadly, it won’t do the same for you once the Christmas spirit runs out. £35 / groov-e.co.uk Rocketbook Fusion Get ahead on next year’s letter to Santa by recording your good deeds in this hybrid notebook. Scrawl your list on the synthetic paper with a Pilot FriXion pen, then scan it with the app; check twice, fire a digital copy off to the North Pole and wipe clean. £35 / getrocketbook.co.uk Google Nest Mini Google’s dinky domestic aid has a fabric skin fashioned from recycled plastic bottles. The Nest Mini offers all…

THE BASICS Go dark Android 10 has finally added a native Dark theme, which is not only better for battery life on OLED screens but potentially also better on the eyes. And you might just like it more! It’s under Settings > Display, or on the pull-down notification shade. Google’s own major apps will also shift along with your choice. Send smarter replies Save yourself the hassle of tapping out a message on the touch keyboard with Google’s Smart Reply suggestions, which are now available for all messaging apps. When you’re in a message, it’ll toss up a quick, context-sensitive one-tap reply or emoji, or perhaps an app suggestion (like Maps). It’s handy. Make the move Google has fully embraced iPhone-like gesture controls in Android 10, with a tiny bar…

Apple iPhone 11 from £729 / stuff.tv/iPhone11 You’re getting a really neat package with the iPhone 11 – and crucially, it’s not silly-expensive. The new Bionic A13 chip packs some serious power, the cameras are near-faultless for a smartphone and the battery will last all day. The lack of an OLED display could be an issue for some, but if you can bring yourself to get over that, it’s time to say hello to the new everyman iPhone… and start thinking about what colour you might opt for. Stuff says Wow – an affordable Apple handset that doesn’t scrimp on specs • NOW ADD THIS Ted Baker Wireless Power Bank A mix of cabled connections and Qi wireless charging means this bank can fuel up two devices at once. £80…

Moov Now £48 / stuff.tv/MoovNow Slow and steady wins the race, and the Now has gone on to prove that with a marathon-like pace helping it finally make it to the top of this list. We’ve long considered this tracker a bargain, but further reductions have helped it enter the realm of ‘downright steal’. OK, so it doesn’t have a screen or smartphone skills, but with guided voice coaching, a six-month battery and solid waterproofing, it has everything you’d ever want in your perfect fitness tracker. Stuff says A bargain-tastic fitness band that does more than just track your steps Fitbit Inspire HR £90 / stuff.tv/InspireHR Fitbit’s latest is a great little tracker. As well as step-counting, it’s surprisingly capable for proper run-tracking if you go out with a phone.…

Sky Q from £20 + £22/month / stuff.tv/SkyQ Sky Q works flawlessly and could change the way you watch TV – especially now 4K’s arrived. With Sky Movies’ huge range of films and Sky Sports in stunning Ultra HD, along with the new addition of Netflix, there’s something for everyone to treat their eyes with. And 2TB of storage means you can record 350 hours’ worth of entertainment, so you’re unlikely to be sweating over which show needs deleting. Factor in its multiroom skills, and Sky Q is undoubtedly the best TV experience you can get. Stuff says You’ll have to cough up for a subscription, but this is the best box for watching both live and recorded shows Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K £50 / stuff.tv/FireStick4K Amazon’s latest streaming…

Lego Boost Creative Toolbox £150 / stuff.tv/LegoCreativeToolbox Building Lego models is already ridiculously good fun, so think what great a time you’ll have when the completed model turns into a functioning robot. With the accompanying tablet app, you can use simple coding to make the robot move, fire projectiles and play various games. And rather than retiring it to the dusty shelf once you’re bored, you can rebuild him into four other programmable models: a harmonica-playing cat, a driveable rover, a working robot-builder and a playable guitar. Stuff says All hail Vernie and friends – for value and sheer fun, it’s hard to beat this programmable Lego kit Propel Star Wars X-Wing Battling Drone £37 / stuff.tv/SWDrone The Star Wars Battling Drone works indoors and outdoors, and doesn’t require a…

Blood & Truth £28 / PSVR Blood & Truth uses every trick available to deliver an absolutely rollicking action thriller – sweaty palms are guaranteed. Covering a huge breadth of environments and sequences that will make you forget its relatively short runtime, it turns London into a playground packed with dazzling action set-pieces, while the story keeps you grounded with a likeable and compelling cast. Anyone with a PSVR needs to play this; and for those who don’t already own one, the time is now. Stuff says A stunning full-length VR action blockbuster with a great story Superhot VR from £15 / Oculus, Vive, PSVR There’s something really cool about hiding behind a desk before blitzing your opponents with streams of bullets as if you were starring in your very…

Sony DSC-RX100 V £799 / stuff.tv/RX100V We wouldn’t recommend buying this camera if you already own the old IV model, but a few improvements have ensured Sony remains the top dog in our compacts list – and we’re keeping this model above the newer RX100 VI simply because of the huge price difference. It remains one of the finest point-and-shoots we’ve ever seen, with a flexibility that few pocket cameras can muster. While it’s still not exactly cheap, we reckon this is the cam to buy if you want fantastic-looking snaps from your holidays. Stuff says Only a small improvement over the RX100 IV, but this Sony is close to premium point-and-shoot perfection Panasonic Lumix TZ200 £569 / stuff.tv/TZ200 This Panasonic compact is a significant upgrade from the TZ100, offering…

Another showcase of Apple’s amazing design skills: the USB stick-of-gum iPod! Look here – we’ll have nothing said against the first-gen iPod Shuffle, which turns 15 in January. Sure, it was a bit weird to see Apple selling an iPod without a screen… or a scroll wheel… or any apps… or even basic playlist management. But you could argue that iTunes filling it at random with songs from your collection was remarkably prescient. After all, who bothers managing music these days? We all just use a streaming service and have it pump whatever it chooses into our ears. I have more discerning tastes. Plus the Shuffle looked like the Siri Remote. Bleh! Well, the iPod Shuffle is a better design than the Apple TV zapper – at least when holding…