Table of contents for Xmas 2020 in Stuff UK

It’s normal for Stuff to be sick of the ‘C’ word before we’ve even entered November. But with a different ‘C’ word stealing everyone’s attention this year, bring it on – we can’t wait for Christmas. Lockdown has given us some extra time to ponder our festive wish lists, which were already looking outrageously optimistic and now frankly border on the absurd, so we’ve put them all together and formed the Christmas gift guide to end all Christmas gift guides. Featuring no fewer than 156 objects of desire, it’s an ideas list to suit all budgets, wrapping paper stocks and tree-base square footage. Before you go thinking all we’ve done is put together an Argos catalogue of goodies (OK, there is a Speak & Spell on p98), this is also…

JBL CLIP 4 It’s always handy to have a Bluetooth speaker on you, especially at Christmas. What if you’re gripped by the sudden urge to sing Driving Home for Christmas and need a bit of accompaniment from Chris himself? JBL’s waterproof Clip 4 comes with a handy carabiner clip so you can hook it to your bag and make sure you’re always prepared for a spot of festive karaoke. €60 / jbl.com APPLE iPAD AIR (2020) The new iPad Air doesn’t just look like an iPad Pro – it does most of what its more expensive sibling can do too. The Air’s 10.9in screen, A14 Bionic processor, USB-C connectivity and huge catalogue of apps make it a genuine laptop alternative, particularly for somebody who values portability above everything else. All…

LG CINEBEAM Ph20N Everybody knows the best thing about Christmas is overeating in front of the telly, so you might as well make sure the screen is as big as your stash of snacks. LG’s battery-powered CineBeam Ph20N can project a 720p image of up to 100in onto any available wall – and it’s no bigger than that bag of crisps you just demolished. £339 / amazon.co.uk OVERLOOK HOTEL BUFF Wearing a mask wouldn’t have protected Jack from the bad juju at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, but it’s the least we can do right now. For fans of Kubrick’s classic (or those who just really like its carpet), this buff will let you go axe-shopping in peace. £15 / lastexittonowhere.com JCRT CINEMA COLLECTION For those who prefer to…

THERAGUN MINI Your cinnamon muscle-rub might provide a warming way to wind down post-workout, but no amount of scented balm can match the relief delivered by 2400 rubber punches per minute. Just about small enough to stash in a jacket pocket, the Theragun Mini delivers percussive therapy at three speeds to ease away cramp, knots and tension wherever you go. £175 / theragun.com BOOKMAN ECLIPSE Rudolph might light the way with his nose alone, but even the rosiest sniffer won’t keep you visible on a winter night. Whether you’re pounding the pavement or pedalling hard, be seen by drivers with this clip-on LED light. Water-resistant and good for 60 hours on a charge, the compact shiner goes one up on reindeer snouts by shining red or white. €29 / bookman.se…

ROBERTS BEACON Radios were the original wireless speakers – so if you’re after a Bluetooth one with a retro vibe and a decent set of pipes, you can’t go wrong with one made by Roberts. The company has been making radios since the 1930s, and its first Bluetooth speaker has a suitably old-fashioned feel, with a choice of vivid but classy colours. from £150 / robertsradio.com DIG DUG QUARTER SCALE ARCADE CABINET Most people would struggle to find space at home for a full-size Dig Dug cabinet, but shrink one down to quarter-size and you can stick it in a cupboard when you’re not busy burrowing through its levels. £130 / game.co.uk POLAROID NOW When you start the day with Buck’s Fizz and end it by polishing off that new…

LA PAVONI DIAMANTE Offering a serious upgrade from the usual ‘instant Americano’, clap your eyes on one of La Pavoni’s iconic coffee machines and it’s no surprise they’ve appeared in Bond movies. You’ll be relieved to know the Diamante DIA SV 2GR is by no means its most affordable machine – heck, some of them are less than five grand! – but it is arguably its most advanced and desirable. £5890 / dancing-goat.co.uk COWBOY 3 Cycle-lane hipsters will be envious of anyone riding a Cowboy, thanks to its integrated app-controlled lights, auto unlocking, traffic-beating bike-nav, live stats dashboard and triple-pillar security system: ‘Find My Bike’, ‘Theft Alert’ and ‘Theft Insurance’. It’s good for 43 miles on puncture-resistant rubber and light for an e-bike at 16.9kg. £1990 / cowboy.com SEVEN LAYER…

£250 / stuff.tv/QCE Without being rude, the QC Earbuds resemble a boiled sweet attached to a tadpole. With a matt plastic finish and subtle accents, they’re not unattractive and don’t feel particularly heavy, but there’s no denying the bulk. Wingtips lock into your ear for a cosy fit, lending itself to passive noise-killing before you get to the tech-aided part. There are no buttons, just touch-sensitive controls: double-tap the right to play/pause or long-press to wake a voice assistant; double-tap the left to cycle between ANC levels. Multiple mics pick up external noise and send it to a new chip that pings back the opposite signal to cancel any unwanted racket. The results are magnificent. On the maximum setting they eliminate the outside world better than any in-ears we’ve tested.…

FOR SUNSEEKERS Now that apps can include as many complications as you like, this opens up opportunities for context-specific faces. This Infograph Modular example uses Carrot Weather (£4.99) to provide forecasting info, with Air Matters (£free) in the bottom-right corner for local air quality. FOR SUPERBEINGS Infograph Modular is again rolled out for this face, designed for health tracking. At the top-left are the activity rings, and at the bottom are Apple’s Noise tracker, Workouts shortcut and elevation readout. In the central slot, Heart Analyzer (£free), provides ongoing detailed metrics. FOR STARGAZERS This Modular Compact face is for stargazers. The round clock face is suitably planet-like and to its left is Apple’s Moon complication, plus Solar Watch (£free) for daylight tracking. At the bottom is a big Night Sky (£free)…

£130 / stuff.tv/Streambar I have a stream Setup is easy, and Roku’s interface makes it a joy to browse through your favourite streaming services. That includes all the big free ones and anything you’re paying for, including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ and Now TV. Talker chance on me The remote has a voice-command button, strangely disguised as a search button. It works fine – and so does the one in the free Roku phone app, whose on-screen remote mirrors the functionality of the real one. We’re fans of Roku’s Streaming Stick+, a device for bringing quick access to all your on-demand TV services in one place for just £50. But as tellies’ user interfaces get ever slicker, the need for a dongle to do that job gets ever…

Sony WH-1000XM4 £349 / stuff.tv/XM4 With their perfect balance of wearability, active noise-cancelling prowess and audio performance, there just 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, it’s tough to justify the upgrade; but it’s going to take something extraordinary 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 Sony WH-1000XM3 £246 / stuff.tv/XM3 Only just outshone by the new XM4s, Sony’s previous flagship over-ears still offer reliable Bluetooth, great active noise-cancellation and…

Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar £2199 / stuff.tv/AmbeoSoundbar Utterly convincing Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D sound, ample power and lots of inputs mean no other soundbar currently available can perform feats with the solidity and confidence of this Sennheiser. The sheer room-filling scale of this device’s sound is remarkable, and it’s hard to think of any content that wouldn’t benefit from being Ambeo’d. That’s why, as well as being the biggest and the most expensive, it’s the best you can buy. Stuff says The Ambeo Soundbar is a big unit but the sound it makes is bigger still Sonos Arc £799 / stuff.tv/SonosArc Don’t expect this soundbar to do everything a multi-speaker Dolby Atmos setup can do, but its up-firing and side-firing drivers give a real sense of scale for an immersively…

Sony PlayStation 4 Pro £350 / stuff.tv/PS4Pro Yes, the PS5 is coming (see p34)… 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 Sony 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 current-gen system for console gamers who have a 4K TV and want the best catalogue of games Nintendo Switch £280 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch Nintendo’s console earned a…

THE NAME IS A NOD TO THE HISTORIC HARLEY ‘SERIAL NUMBER ONE’ OF 1903 SERIAL 1 £tba / serial1.com Does that say Harley-Davidson on the side? Bit of a departure. Yes, but also no. Biking history tells us that Harley-Davidson essentially bolted an engine to a bicycle back in 1903 when it launched its very first motorcycle and, according to the brand, “changed the way people moved”. You don’t need a degree in marketing to guess that Harley is claiming to be doing the same thing today with the Serial 1 e-bike. But why an e-bike? And why now? Money! The global e-bike market was estimated to be worth over $15bn in 2019 and it’s only set to grow. So Harley has used the expertise garnered from its recent LiveWire…

Apple iPhone 12 from £799 / apple.com What’s the story? iPhone 12 Mini too small? iPhone 12 Pro Max too big? If you’re somewhere in the middle, that’s where it gets difficult. The standard iPhone 12 has the same display, the same CPU, much of the same camera tech and the same 5G future-proofing as the Pro version, for £200 less. Easy to recommend, then? Is it any good? We loved the iPhone 11, and huge improvements to the design and display mean its successor gets an equally emphatic thumbs-up. In fact, if you can live without the telephoto camera (and most can), you should save yourself some cash and get the 12 ahead of the 12 Pro. In many ways it’s exactly the same phone, and it’s just as…

DYSON PURE HOT+COOL Blowing hot and cold isn’t generally a positive trait, but Dyson’s purifying fan heater is built for exactly that. Classier than any other office fan going, this tall and slim device doesn’t just cool down or warm up the room – it’ll clean it too, thanks to the additional HEPA air purifier and accompanying app for monitoring airborne pollution levels. £549 / dyson.co.uk SARAH EDMONDS COLLECTION Cocks, peckers, hooters, boobies, tits, honkers and shags. Not the Viz Profanisaurus, although that’s also arguably essential for any home office, but designer Sarah Edmonds’ cheeky bird-inspired coasters, mugs, prints and calendars. from £3 / etsy.com LAVAZZA A MODO MIO SMEG Lavazza’s new Modo Mio collaboration with Smeg isn’t just compact enough to keep by a desk – it’s got two…

XBOX SERIES S It might not be as all-powerful as the supercharged Series X (see p36), but the Xbox Series S is the most affordable of the four next-gen consoles – and still a giant leap forward from the Xbox One. Thanks to a compact and fetching minimalist design it’s very easy to live with, while Game Pass’s massive selection of titles means there’s loads to play from day one. £250 / xbox.com OCULUS QUEST 2 You might have to sign your soul away to Zuckerberg to use it (it needs a Facebook login), but this all-in-one headset makes VR beautifully simple. With everything required for an eye-popping immersive experience built in, access to loads of apps and games and no cables to trip over, it’s a one-box solution to…

HAYNES MINI AMP That Haynes logo will spark a warm nostalgic glow in the hearts of many, but chances are your dream Christmas present isn’t a manual. So instead, how about putting together your own Haynes mini amp, firing it up, plugging your phone into its aux connection and then rocking out? (Well, to some extent — it is quite wee.) £16 / gear4music.com ARDUINO STARTER KIT Fancy getting into electronics but never really knew how? This kit includes an Arduino UNO and the various bits and bobs you can use to work through 15 step-by-step creative projects. Go for the Fundamentals Bundle (£92) and you can even pass an online exam. £73 / thepihut.com PICADE (2020) Do you download games on your phone? Pfft. In the old days, people…

ROBO WUNDERKIND EXPLORER PRIME This is an impossibly clever robotic building-block system for ages 5+, featuring a central brain and seven modules including distance sensors, push buttons, motors and wheels. Once they’ve built the robot/car/lighthouse/etc, Lego blocks can be added for extra pimping. More versatile than most coding kits, it’ll secretly stimulate maths, logic and creative thinking. £249 / robowunderkind.com VTECH KIDIZOOM STUDIO The perfect tool for the next generation of superstar influencers – and one that doesn’t mean having to hand over your phone – this 720p video kit comes with a microSD card slot (up to 32GB), mini tripod, wrist strap, super-simple editing options and… the best bit? A fabric green screen for cool disappearing tricks and imaginative backgrounds. £50 / smythstoys.com STAR WARS THE CHILD ANIMATRONIC EDITION…

JQBX It’s hard for music to bring people together with social distancing, but JQBX (as in ’jukebox’) has a good go. Everyone needs to have Spotify Premium – you create a room (or join an existing one) where you chat or ‘become a DJ’ to add your queued songs to the playlist. Just ensure Auntie Doris doesn’t fill the feed with Cliff’s Christmas crooning… well, unless you want her to. Prefer Apple Music? Try Vertigo Music instead. £free / Android, iOS Exploding Kittens Card games are a mainstay of the holidays – a snag if you’re not all at the same table, and also because traditional ones can be quite dull. Fortunately, Exploding Kittens provides you with an online alternative. It’s a kind of Russian roulette with deeply weird illustrations…

£330 / stuff.tv/Mindstorms DAY 01 There’s a sense of ambition as I peruse the hefty box, checking out the five distinct builds — and trepidation as I peer at the many bags inside. The lid wants to be a sorting tray but, annoyingly, lacks dividers. There are no physical instructions either.  It soon becomes evident why there’s no book in the box: it’d have to be a doorstep to cater for five complex robots and their many accessories. Fortunately, the Mindstorms app quickly installs and is zippy… as is my eager six-year-old co-reviewer, who brazenly ignores ‘10+’ clearly being marked on the box. Sorry, Lego. She informs me our first build will be Charlie, a cute, squat, square-jawed tyke who trundles around on two big wheels. At each step there’s…

Samsung Galaxy Watch3 from £399 / stuff.tv/GW3 Sneaking into the top berth courtesy of a slightly underwhelming Apple Watch update, Samsung’s gorgeous Watch3 is an easy wearable to love. It’s superbly made and very attractive, and the spinning bezel makes it a joy to use. Samsung’s Tizen OS is slick too, with lots of customisation and shortcut options to keep things feeling fresh – made all the better by a class-leading screen. It also has all the fitness skills you’re ever likely to need, with handy auto-tracking features. Stuff says A beautiful and powerful piece of kit that you’ll be proud to have on your wrist Garmin Fenix 6 £445 / stuff.tv/Fenix6 Anyone who’s truly into their fitness will appreciate the Fenix 6’s endless feature list. This is the finest…

Sky TV from £25/month + setup / stuff.tv/SkyTV Already home to the biggest selection of 4K content, from blockbuster films and original dramas to top-flight sport, Sky has adopted a can’t-beat-’em-join-’em approach to streaming by incorporating the likes of 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 Amazon Fire TV Cube £110 / stuff.tv/FireTVCube The Fire TV interface is easy to use and all the big catch-up services are available via this tidy box…

Insta360 One X2 £430 / insta360.com Should’ve clone better As well as shooting 360° videos at up to 5.7K, the One X2 includes a Steady Cam feature, InstaPano for panoramas and MultiView for split-screen shots. Dolly Zoom sets up catwalk-style content, while Shadow Clone captures multiple shots of the same subject to create impossible collages. Spookily apt for the world in 2020, Ghost Town can clear the streets of people, magically removing them from 360° timelapses. You can also lock the horizon, auto-follow a moving subject, or chronicle your own antics using the invisible selfie-stick (the only good kind) to capture drone-like perspectives. Cropper-cabana The One X2 doesn’t short-change you in post-production either, with AI-powered editing via the Insta360 app’s Shot Lab feature meaning you don’t have to point or…

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TEENAGE ENGINEERING PO-133 Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator in the Stuff Gift Guide – and this year the zany Swedes have surpassed themselves. The Capcom Series comprises two tiny gadgets packed with the sounds of arcade gaming: this Street Fighter sampler and a Megaman synth/sequencer. Tatsumaki senpukyaku, as they say in Lapland. £85 / teenage.engineering NURALOOP You know the Nura drill by now: before you listen to the headphones, they listen to you – testing your ears’ response to different frequencies so they can tailor their output to compensate. The full-size Nuraphone is an absolute wonder, but about as gym-friendly as a Victorian diving helmet; luckily, these lightweight buds are hardly any less spectacular. £199 / nuraphone.com ULTIMATE EARS HYPERBOOM The perfect gift for…

JBL FLIP 5 ECO Beating the drum for sustainability is all very well, but what if they can’t hear you at the back? Give it some welly with this great-sounding and green-minded wireless speaker. Durable, waterproof and good for 12 hours of wireless sound, the Flip 5 Eco is made from 90% recycled plastic. You can keep up the renewable theme by only listening to remixes on it. £120 / jbl.com TOPL REUSABLE COFFEE CUP Coffee shops might be low on your to-visit list right now, but Topl will be a fine choice for waste-free takeaways long after Covid’s over. This vacuum cup has a lid designed for easy sipping without splashback, while the valve shuts itself if your Topl topples. from £23 / toplcup.com LUMINOX BEAR GRYLLS SURVIVAL ECO…

FUJIFILM X-S10 As tough as choosing James Blunt’s worst song, picking a mirrorless camera can be near-impossible simply because you’re so spoilt for choice. So opt for an excellent all-rounder like the X-S10, with its 26.1MP X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and X-Processor 4 brain. It’s a great camera for first-time dabblers or as a second shooter for pros. £1299 (with 18-55mm kit lens) / wexphotovideo.com GOPRO HERO9 BLACK The ultimate action Hero, GoPro’s 2020 flagship camera captures 5K video with industry-leading Hypersmooth video stabilisation skills in a package the size of a fag packet. Competition exists from Insta360 and DJI, but with its ability to shoot 20MP stills and extensive selection of accessories, the adrenaline junkie in your life will go gnarly for this. £430 (£330 with sub) / gopro.com…

NOKIA 2.4 In these tough times, even MI6 has to tighten budgets. Luckily, Nokia has the answer. Official supplier for No Time To Die, the Finnish firm has packed its latest budget blower with an AI-boosted battery good for up to two days, as well as twin-lens camera smarts and a 6.5in display. Which should be more than enough to keep Q happy. £100 / nokia.com CHROMECAST WITH GOOGLE TV Google ain’t afraid of no ghost: the search giant’s upgraded plug-in puck crosses all the streams. From Netflix and Prime Video to BT Sport and Disney+, the Google TV interface brings together content from countless services on a single screen. £60 / store.google.com LIFX MINI DAY & DUSK If you’ve not already invested in Philips’ Hue system, Lifx’s bulbs are…

THE BASICS Watch and learn To pair an Apple Watch, just place it near your iPhone; and when asked, put it beneath the viewfinder. Now set it up as new or a family device (to manage a relative’s Watch from your phone), or restore from a backup. If an Apple Watch is running an older version of watchOS than what’s on the one you’re replacing, you’ll have to update it before restoring. Start the tweak Hold the Digital Crown and ask your Watch to open Settings. In App View, select List View for a simpler app-browsing experience. In Display & Brightness, you can adjust the text; and in Accessibility, activate Reduce Motion if you have motion sickness. Stay healthy In Settings > Handwashing, turn on the timer to ensure you…

from £1800 / stuff.tv/OLED935 Although this set also comes in 55in and 65in variants, Philips has joined a limited number of brands to offer a smaller 48in OLED for those who like to leave space in their living room for other stuff, like windows. Seen dead-on it’s pretty much all screen, with a staggeringly slim bezel holding the panel in place. The bespoke Bowers & Wilkins soundbar also functions as a stand. This is a 4K OLED TV with every HDR base covered, from HLG to HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, further aided by four-sided Ambilight giving off its trademark wall-glow. The whole show is run by Philips’ P5 processing engine with AI and machine learning to improve picture balance and upscaling accuracy. The palette is vibrant but never lurid: big…

Mi Smart Band 5 £35 / stuff.tv/MiBand5 With no installable apps, Xiaomi’s dinky wearable can’t stack up to smartwatches or reply to notifications, but it can relay alerts and track everything from sleep to workouts. It’s better than the Mi Smart Band 4, thanks to a bigger and brighter screen, smarter software and a charger that’s much less annoying. The slightly reduced battery life really isn’t an issue – and with the addition of activity, stress and menstrual cycle tracking, this is a £35 gift that keeps giving. Stuff says Fantastic value and decent features make this an easy fitness tracker to recommend Peloton Bike+ £2295 + £39/m / stuff.tv/PelPlus A fitness phenomenon based around a connected bike with a Full HD touchscreen that streams live and on-demand training sessions…

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. Its only real rival, in fact, might turn out to be the new iPad Air reviewed on p68… Stuff says Apple’s mega-tablet evolves into an outstanding piece of kit and pulls even further ahead of the pack Apple iPad (2019) from £299 / stuff.tv/iPad2019 The new model on p69 brings…

An ‘educational toy’ — two words that strike fear into the heart of any child. It must have been quite a shock in a late-1970s world of exciting new electronics to tear off that wrapping paper and face a hunk of plastic designed to help you spell. “But the Atari VCS was right over the page in the Argos catalogue!” you’d say, lip wobbling. “But this is educational,” your grinning parents would respond, while your grandparents tutted about how ungrateful you were. And then you’d grudgingly settle down with it… and discover it was actually quite a lot of fun. Fun!? Are you a teacher in disguise? You have to remember this was the ’70s. Peruse the Argos book of dreams from autumn 1979, for example, and you’ll see the…