Table of contents for November 2017 in T3

SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE The e-Evolution’s electric all-wheel drive is aided by a computer-controlled differential called AYC (Active Yaw Control), which constantly monitors rear tyre grip and controls how much torque each wheel is supplied, making it faster and safer RALLY SCHOOL The AI system uses sensors to monitor your driving and assist you, if need be, but it’s also got a coaching function that teaches you how to drive better MITSUBISHI E-EVOLUTION Mitsubishi’s original Evolution was a motoring icon – a supercar slayer for a pint-sized price. It was basically a 4WD rally car, ever-so-slightly detuned for the road. And it got even better throughout its 10-iteration tenure, until production ended in 2016. But the legend is back, or at least it looks that way, with Mitsubishi’s announcement of the…

1 GOOGLE PIXEL 2 From £629, store.google.com Break out the bunting, the Big G is back! When Google released its first smartphone, the Pixel, in 2016, it trounced the majority of Android handsets in terms of speed and camera quality. But battery life was middling and the potential of Google Assistant wasn’t fully realised yet. Skip to today and we’re eagerly awaiting the Pixel 2 and its full-bodied sibling, Pixel 2 XL (from £729). The design is an evolution of the original, with both models sporting super-fly displays – a Full HD cinematic AMOLED affair for the Pixel 2 with five-inch screen, and a QHD POLED display, with slimmer bezels, for the 2 XL with six-inch screen. (POLED is new way of making displays that can be thinner than AMOLED.)…

1 JUNYA WATANABE JERSEY TRACK JACKET This elevated take on the track jacket is made from structured jersey panels with cosy wooljacquard and a faux-leather trim. £440, mrporter.com 2 TOPMAN BLUE WEEKEND BAG Looking for a subtle sportswear hit? Try Topman’s funky Blue Weekender Bag, with nylon hand and shoulder straps, plus internal pockets to stash gadgets. £35, topman.com 3 RAF SIMONS NEW DAWN FADES T-SHIRT Channel Big Apple style with Raf Simons’ ultra-fresh cotton tee. This is fast-garnering a cult following, thanks to its slightly oversized fit and red-hot label. £193, matchesfashion.com 4 BELSTAFF SOPHNET ASTON SWEATPANTS Give your jeans a rest by switching to Belstaff’s smart, slim-fit sweats, made from soft cotton jersey and featuring cuffed legs. £150, belstaff.co.uk 5 LUKE 1977 BOUGH No ’90s sportswear look is…

The flying jacket is back this season, and there’s one we have our eye on – Brunello Cucinelli’s sumptuous Leather Aviator Jacket, a flagship autumn/winter 2017 drop from the Italian fashion powerhouse. This new season aviator is handcrafted from pure leather and has a genuine sheepskin collar, plus contrasting ribbed knit trims. Wear it with camel slacks and chunky knits. £5,170, harrods.com…

TOG SANTOKU This is what the Japanese would call a multi-purpose knife, and is slightly squatter than a Western chef’s knife. 21 layers of roll-forged, high-carbon steel provide a precision cut, while antimicrobial copper makes it hygienic. £150, togknives.com WÜSTHOF CLASSIC COOK’S KNIFE The Classic 18cm Cook’s Knife is a no-nonsense, well-balanced, manual food processor with an ergonomic polypropylene handle designed for maximum comfort. Great for just about everything. £93, richmondcookshop.co.uk KUHN RIKON TITANIUM CHEF’S KNIFE These Swiss-made knives are incredibly sharp, with titanium coating to protect and strengthen the blade. Kuhn knives are also easy to handle and, overall, are quite astonishing value. £21.95, kuhnrikon.co.uk…

One lens, pointing forward. It’s the camera standard. But should it be? Kodak’s PIXPRO 4KVR360 does things differently, with two identical sensors tucked behind two very different lenses, all crammed into a tiny super-portable 170g shell. With the 4KVR360, you’re not stuck to filming or snapping what’s in front of you, you’re able to capture the whole moment – the above, the below, and the behind, all stitched into a perfect 360-degree result. The 4KVR360 can also take advantage of its dual 20-megapixel sensors to take stunning panoramic photos, shoot slick Full HD footage at 60fps, capture stunning 4K videos at up to 30fps with varying lens angle options, and even take incredibly smooth 120fps 360-degree videos at 1440x720 resolution. Each sensor takes advantage of a unique lens, so you…

THE NORTH FACE VENTRIX HOODIE £190, thenorthface.co.uk This shower-resistant synthetic insulated jacket has laser perforations (Ventrix tech) under each arm to boost breathability. When you move, they allow heat and humidity to travel through. We find the jacket runs a little on the warm side, making it best-suited to active pursuits in cold temperatures. HEAD-TO-HEAD WINNER ARC’TERYX PROTON LT HOODY £190, arcteryx.com The Proton LT Hoody is 20g lighter than the Ventrix Hoody and utilises Coreloft Continuous 65 Insulation. That ‘active insulation’ works in tandem with the waterresistant outer shell to enable good airflow from inside and outside the jacket, keeping us warm without feeling sticky. Good for climbing and hiking.…

HEATING AND KITCHEN If your Protect detects carbon monoxide build-up, it can tell your Nest thermostat to turn your heating off, in case that’s the cause. This also works for some smart ovens, such as Bosch’s Home Connect range – the Protect can turn it off it’s been left on. SMART LIGHTING When the Protect detects a smoke emergency, your Philips Hue or LIFX lights will flash red to help warn you, then stay red, which helps cut through the smoke. They’ll do this even when turned off in the middle of the night, so you easily see your escape route. INTERNET CAMERAS If you have a Nest Cam as well as a Protect, your camera will kick into life when smoke is detected, sending you a video clip along…

01 LYFE LEVITATING PLANTER The future of house plants continues with LYFE’s geodesic silicon hub, which levitates thanks to a magnet in the planter’s base and an electromagnetic field in the base unit. Choose from one of three Air Plants, then watch it rotate in mid-air to get maximum sun exposure. £220, noxuhome.com 02 RUSSELL HOBBS CHALKBOARD SLOW COOKER Make your time in the kitchen easier this autumn with Russell Hobbs’ 3.5L slow cooker. The chalkboard-style coating enables you to leave notes for your family, telling them what’s for dinner. £25, debenhams.com 03 TRANQUILITY ABSTRACT ACRYLIC ON CANVAS We love this piece of textured artwork, featuring wide, rustic brush strokes of block colour layered with rich tones of blue, steel grey and cream. It’s also a great way to add…

At last year’s Cyclocross World Championships, a motor was found inside a rider’s frame. Hiding batteries in frames is illegal in racing, but for the rest of us it’s good news. Two of the ebikes here have internal batteries. The Vanmoof’s is located in the top tube, while the New Charger uses Bosch’s brand-new PowerTube tech: a slimmer, elongated battery shaped to fit in either top tube or downtube. In some of its bikes, R&M offers a double capacity option, utilising both tubes, so you can go even further on a charge. Even roadies are getting in on the action. Orbea recently announced the Gain: a road bike with its 250W battery and rear wheel motor so neatly integrated, you’d never know. So you can ride fast, and look like…

It’s official. Everyone is back in love with vinyl. Turntable sales are booming, 12-inch albums are back in fashion, and Ikea is selling collector-friendly Kallax shelf units by the truck load. Streaming music services are all well and good, but the tactile pleasures offered by physical records, and the ritual associated with playing them, is something else entirely. But if you’re new to the hobby, or rekindling an old passion, there are things you need to know about the vinyl renaissance. When it comes to hardware, not all record players are created equal. Turntables range from low-cost all-in-one transportables to stratospherically priced objets d’art. If you’re shopping on a budget, Crosley will be your go-to brand. It dominates the bargain basement with offerings like the Crosley Cruiser. This retro-styled briefcase,…

One reason to love the resurgence of vinyl is the outpouring of remastered classics and special editions. This year’s best-selling record release is the 50th anniversary reissue of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, however we’ve only got eyes for this colossal special edition box set from heavy metal icons Black Sabbath. With two Grammys, 70 million records sold and the creation of an entire music genre to their credit, it’s perhaps surprising that the band enjoyed a fairly tumultuous relationship with the music press during their early days. This period, referred to as The Ten Year War, is what’s celebrated here. The set covers the band’s first eight albums. All lovingly remastered by Sabbath engineer Andy Pearce from the original studio tapes, they’re pressed on high-grade multicoloured vinyl, and…

2nd Blue Ella £655, BLUEMIC.COM DESIGN With a clamping headband and whopping driver enclosures, Ella’s style may not suit everyone - but we’re fans. Heavy padding and synthi-leather earcups provide a snug fit. The cans ship with two 3.5mm audio cables, one offering iPhone control. FEATURES An integrated 250mW amp is used to energise the 50x50mm planar magnetic drivers, and battery life should see the day out. The amp enhances dynamics and bass reach. The design also provides an element of passive noise cancellation. PERFORMANCE Crisp articulation and naturalistic imaging are hallmarks of planar magnetic headphones, but they can lack bass. Thanks to amplification, that’s not an issue here. Vocals are sweet and musicality with all hi-res audio sources is outstanding. USABILITY The funky design is a head-turner, and doubtless looks…

As flagship phones continue to rise in price – evidenced by the near-£1,000 iPhone X and Galaxy Note 8 – this trend is at least offset by improvements that filter down the product ranges to low- to mid-range devices. It wasn’t so long ago that buying a cheaper phone meant almost unbearable compromise – slow processors, poor screens, limited memory and shoddy cameras – but this no longer has to be the case. You see this not only in great-value phones from traditional device manufacturers, but also in new entrants to the space who are doing a top job of challenging the bigger boys. Let’s see what you can buy from a starting price of under £80, and stretching up to a more mid-range £270. 01 ONE FOR PHOTOGRPAHERS HONOR…

If you’re looking for the very best tech available today, you have definitely come to the right place. Best of the Best is the most useful gadget-buying guide you will ever encounter. To create it, we’ve ruthlessly filtered down to the biggest groups, to bring you rock-solid recommendations for your home life, daily commute and the tech you use all the time. Within each of those groups, we’ve got a dozen categories for key tech buys. We’ve picked one product for every category that we think is the best you can get on balance, taking into account price, quality and features, so it’s easy to know what you need in your life. You should also check out T3.com, where you’ll find even more categories, if you’re looking for something that…

ANDROID PHONE SAMSUNG GALAXY S8 Tremendously fast, with an Infinity Display that almost completely eliminates bezels, cameras that work in any light, and irisscanning security. Samsung’s flagship is as much an experience as it is a phone. From £689, samsung.com MID-RANGE PHONE HONOR 9 Coming in at half the price of a flagship phone, this is truly a hidden gem. It looks great, with a diffracted curved glass finish, and its cost completely belies its specs – especially its excellent dual cameras. £379, hihonor.com SMARTWATCH APPLE WATCH SERIES 3 Nothing in the smartwatch market does more than the Apple Watch, and this third generation can do it all without a tethered phone – perfect for keeping your life in order whatever you happen to be doing. From £329, apple.com/uk ANALOGUE…

HAKUSHU 25-YEAR-OLD SINGLE MALT The Hakushu single malt comes in the standard three-year-old flavour, as well as more distinctive 12- and 18-year-old varieties, but none compares to the taste of this exceedingly mature 25-year-aged Japanese whisky. Hakushu distillery, where this tipple is produced, is one of the highest distilleries in the world. Built on the doorstep of Mount Kai-komagatake, this epic mountain forest setting isn’t just for show – it gives the distillery access to the purest natural water source. This helps to give Hakashu’s single malt its trademark freshness. All its single malts carry a distinctive, subtle smokey flavour, but the grandaddy gets a deeper colour and a more powerful presence, with hints of plum, cigar humidor and caramel on the nose; crème brûlée, sage, lavender and baked pineapple…

THE LOWDOWN In the first section, we showed you how to get your smart home started with an all-in-one kit. But if you want to choose exactly what goes into your smart home, you can simply build it up yourself – and you don’t need to stick with one manufacturer, either growing collection of apps on your phone to control each one. With a hub, you can corral all of your smart home gadgets using just one app. A hub will also enable you to automate your entire smart home, setting schedules and rules, like you would if you used an individual app. Hubs such as Logitech’s Harmony Hub take things a step further, allowing you to control smart gadgets using its app (or with its optional Harmony Elite remote)…

THE LOWDOWN Unsurprisingly, security is one of the fastest growing areas of the smart home. Who’d have thought it? Smart home security comes in many forms, and though people tend to gravitate towards security cameras, they are a topic in themselves, so we’ll talk more about them in the next section. For now, let’s focus on the essentials. The first thing to consider is a window or motion sensor, which will tell you if someone enters your home – you’ll get a notification on your phone. There are plenty around, so pick one that works with your hub. That said, the SmartThings hub, for instance, supports other makes of sensor, not just its own. An Amazon Echo Plus can work with many of the most popular sensor types. Next up…

THE LOWDOWN Many people in the UK start their smart home with a smart thermostat. Not because it’s the cheapest, or easiest, thing to upgrade, but because it’s by far and away the most effective gadget – especially in a country where the temperature varies so much. Sure, a regular thermostat is better than none at all, but the fine control that a smart one gives you is well worth the outlay. Some thermostats, such as the Tado, let you control the hot water independently of the heating; of course, if you have a combi boiler this isn’t something you need to worry about, but it’s worth checking that the thermostat you want has it included. A smart thermostat comes with many handy features, such as scheduling, so you can…

MATT BOLTON Editor Matt spent most of his time this month stressing over replanning the magazine, then chilling out with Destiny 2. He did find time to cameo as ‘large murderer’ in our VR horror shoot p106 JO GULLIVER Senior art editor Jo has spent all her recent waking hours designing this new-look T3 you’re holding! We’re over the moon about the results, but a bit worried she’ll go to sleep and not wake up until 2018. ANDREW WESTBROOK Operations editor Our Complete Guide to Vinyl feature p100 has got Andy thinking about going retro with his home music, if only it wouldn’t take a metric tonne of records to replace his one ’90s pop Spotify playlist. SPENCER HART Product Editor, t3.com Spencer attempted to move into the Rolls Royce…

Your fingerprints are unique to you, but did you know that your hearing is too? Research shows that each of us has different levels of sensitivity to various frequencies of sound. This means you’ll hear music differently to the next person, and will pick up on, or miss, certain notes. So, how do you pick the right headphones for your hearing? Step forward, adaptive audio headphones, such as Nura (£349, nuraphone.com). The Nura uses soundwave tech to automatically measure your hearing, then adapts the music to suit – helping you to hear each note perfectly. The Audeara A-01 ($499/£367.27, audeara.com) also aims to deliver perfectly tailored sound. When you first wear the cans, you perform a simple hearing test. The A-01 then uses your hearing profile to adjust the sound…

TWO MONTHS FREE AT Readly.co.uk/t3 The world of media is changing - instead of having to find the things we like individually, we have services such as Spotify and Netflix that give us everything we love all in one easy app. These are great not just because we get easy access to all our favourites, but also for the new things we can discover there. And there’s now a service just like these for magazines! Readly offers thousands of digital magazines to read, on-demand, as many titles you want for a monthly subscription fee. There are over 2,300 titles at your fingertips - which means you can have a whole newsstand on your phone, on your tablet, or even in any computer’s web browser. These magazines are ready to go…

SWATCH SKINSNOW The water-resistant Skinsnow is crafted with silver-coloured print dial and 40mm double-injection case. The white silicone strap makes it a perfect partner for minimalist dressing. £76, shop.swatch.com CHRISTOPHER WARD C7 RAPIDE QUARTZ Christopher Ward gets inspired by motorsport for its C7 Rapide Quartz, available with black or blue dial finishes and featuring a Quartz movement and 316L stainless steel case. £395, christopherward.co.uk MAURICE LACROIX WATCH ELIROS CHRONOGRAPH MENS Luxe brand Maurice Lacroix pays tribute to its heritage with this timeless piece. At its heart lies a Swiss quartz movement, enrobed in a 40mm steel PVD case with sapphire crystal glass. £720, jurawatches.co.uk…

So, you’ve been invited to an event where the dress code is black tie. Confused about what clothing is acceptable? T3 asked Lucy Hume, Associate Director of Debrett’s, a professional coaching company and authority on etiquette and behaviour, to break it down. “For men, it traditionally means a dinner jacket, black trousers – typically with braiding down each outside leg – and a white evening shirt with a turn-down collar, cufflinks and studs,” explains Hume. “Shoes should be black and patent or highly polished. Hand-tied bow ties are preferable to pre-tied versions. Some men also choose to wear a cummerbund or waistcoat. “The dinner jacket can be black wool (barathea) or ultrafine herringbone; it can be single or double breasted with no vents. Lapels should be silk peaked (or a…

BLUESMART SERIES 2 Used by Usain Bolt and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, this impressive travel case can charge all your devices (including laptops), has an automatic locking system, global location tracking device and weight sensors – no more unexpected charges! From £350, uk.bluesmart.com SAMSONITE GEOTRAKR SPINNER This ballisticweave nyloncovered smart case from Samsonite features the brand’s GeoTrakR location device and a rechargeable battery (up to 15 days’ use), and works with a smartphone app so that you can check on the bag’s location if you think it’s gone missing. £299, samsonite.com AEROLITE SMART SUITCASE Light and compact, the Aerolite makes for the ideal high-tech cabin carry-on. It has a USB charging port (power pack not included) and a three-digit padlock, while the hard shell adds some sturdy extra protection for…

THE GRIZZLY, DEVON A cult classic. As probably the only trail race that has a ballot, it’s that popular. Despite being around 20 miles of mud, hills, bogs and beach, runners keep coming back. axevalleyrunners.org.uk/grizzly LAKELAND TRAILS: CARTMEL, LAKE DISTRICT With 5k, 10k and 18k options, these races in the heart of fell-running country suit all levels. The land of fells and lakes is always dramatic, and this course is bound to be a slippery, slidey chortle. lakelandtrails.org/cartmel SCAFELL SKY RACE, LAKE DISTRICT Skyrunning is a combination of running and scrambling (using your hands) on terrain that’s difficult to run on. This 40km race goes over England’s highest point, Scafell Pike, and is considered a beginner-friendly skyrace. lakesskyultra.uk…

THE TV PHILIPS 50PUS6262 For only a little more than the price of the Xbox One X, you can net yourself this gleaming 50-inch 4K HDR set from Philips and revel in its visual splendour. Added to this is the Amblight background glow, which changes colour to suit the action on screen. £529, philips.co.uk THE CONSOLE XBOX ONE X You can expect our full review of the world’s most powerful console next issue, but we can tell you now that it’s a gaming wonder, thanks to performance most PC owners would be jealous of. The result? Native (rather than upscaled) 4K HDR gaming goodness at 60fps. £449, xbox.com THE HEADSET STEELSERIES SIBERIA 840 A good headset is a vital component of console gaming. The Siberia 840 is the pinnacle of…

01 SET IT UP IN THE APP Get the Nest app on your phone if you don’t already have it, and log into your Nest account (or create one if you need to). Tap the ‘Add New’ button to add a Nest device, then follow the instructions on-screen, which will guide you through adding the product using the QR code on the back, and adding it to your Wi-Fi. 02 CHOOSE A LOCATION As part of the set-up process, you’ll need to specify the Protect’s location – this is what it will call itself if it needs to alert you to something, so pick one that makes sense for where you’ve installed it. You can go from the specific (‘Master Bedroom’) to the wider (‘Upstairs’). You can also type in…

ADD HUE If you’ve not used your Hue lights with Stringify before, just-open Stringify, tap Things, the plus icon, then ‘Add a new thing’. Find Hue on the list, then connect by logging in and hitting the button on your Hue Bridge. CREATE A FLOW Tap the plus button again, then ‘Create a new flow’. Use the plus button to add ‘Date & Time’ and Hue, then drag the orange clock icon onto one of the empty circles. Tap it to set it up, and choose an appropriate time. LINK UP Drag the Hue icon into the circle next to the clock and tap it to set up your fade duration and colour. When you’re happy, drag the clock icon onto the Hue icon to link the trigger and the…

The motor in an ebike is the bit that does the hard work – taking the energy from the battery and powering you along. They come in all shapes and sizes: you can get hub-mounted motors in the front or rear wheel, and they can be geared or gearless. The advantage of hubs? They work with any type of drivetrain (whether it’s geared, internal hub-geared, chain or belt drive) and if they’re mounted at the front, you get an all-wheel-drive bike (good for snow). However, they do add unsprung weight, and don’t work efficiently on hills. By comparison, mid-mounted motors use the drivetrain to deliver the power, giving you better hill-climbing abilities. There’s less unsprung weight, and their low, mid position is better for bike handling.…

01 PROTECT YOUR REAR Driving at night can be daunting, but great lights will help you overcome any evening. Garmin’s Varia smart lights (garmin.com) alter brightness depending on the level of light. The front projects further the faster you go, while the rear light intensifies when a vehicle approaches from behind. 02 DRESS APPROPRIATELY British weather is notoriously unreliable, so it pays to wear cycle-specific clothes for the day ahead. You’ll get better protection against the elements, but you won’t sweat and your clothes won’t flap about. It’s worth building a variety of wardrobe options, for any occasion – just check the forecast and choose the best option. 03 GET A SMARTWATCH If you want to track your stats as you ride – for speed, distance and more – get…

01 BLUE HORIZON PROMAT This elaborate mat features a dual-layer design to cope with different record thickness, so you don’t need to alter tonearm height. Made from India Rubber, cork and leather, it combats resonance between platter and disc, resulting in clearer definition and focus. £50, bluehorizonideas.com 02 PARASOUND JC3 JUNIOR Compact but compelling, the Parasound JC3 Junior is a super-slim high-performance phono-preamp. It boasts supremely low distortion, caters for both MM and MC cartridges, and has a selectable gain output. It also has a mono switch for older vinyl. £2,199, parasound.co.uk 03 CONTINUUM OBSIDIAN Fear you might outgrow that midrange record player? Upgrade to the astounding Obsidian. This high-end marvel features a novel plinth-free design, putting its motor and tonearm on separate, mechanically isolated mounts. Tungsten steel provides density…

From £399 (4G), £329 (GPS only) apple.com/uk The Watch Series 3 adds cellular connectivity to a successful recipe. To denote the 4G version, Apple has added a red dot to the Digital Crown (the cheaper non-4G version is dot-less). You pay a reasonable £70 premium for cellular connectivity, though as usual with the Watch, you pay more for fancier materials and bands. So does the cellular connectivity work well? In a word, yes, but there are a couple of caveats when considering whether to plump for cellular or the standard version. Siri, messages and calls from the Watch work really well (the Watch’s audio quality seems improved); while you can use the Watch itself to call, things are far better when teamed with a pair of AirPods or another Bluetooth…

£2,000 uk.kef.com PLATINUM AWARD Yes, these are pricey speakers (the original LS50s were £1,200 cheaper), but let’s put it this way - if you buy these Wireless versions, you don’t have to buy an amp or streamer. Nor do you have to find a space in your lounge to house them. That’s because all the necessary hardware is neatly integrated. The result? Two simple boxes offering the sort of sound that makes bigger, more complex systems blush. The added hardware of an amp and heatsink on each speaker has made them a bit bigger than the originals at the back, but otherwise they still look stunning, with their curved front. Playing your favourite tunes is also uncomplicated - using the companion app you stream tunes from Tidal, your local library,…

OLED 4K TV SONY A1 SERIES Incredible 4K HDR is only a tiny part of this awesome package. The panel (55- or 65-inch) and bezel are super slim, it offers lightning response times, and great sound comes from a screen that’s also a speaker. From £2,800, sony.co.uk TOP-END 4K TV LOEWE BILD 9 Loewe creates art just as much as it does high-end AV equipment, and its towering, sculptural bild 9 TV is as attractive as it is exquisitely powerful, with a hidden soundbar and top picture quality. £8,990, loewe.tv VALUE 4K BLU-RAY PLAYER XBOX ONE S Yes, this is primarily a games console, but it’s a damn good UHD Blu-ray player too. Why pay more for something that just plays discs when you could be getting your game on…

ULTRAPORTABLE LAPTOP HP SPECTRE 13 Simply the most glamorous and handsome laptop you can buy today, and that doesn’t mean sacrificing power, either: HP has somehow managed to squeeze a Core i7 into its impossibly thin 1cm thick shell. From £1,149, hp.com GAMING LAPTOP RAZER BLADE STEALTH A sumptuous Core i7 processor, a 4K screen, a Razer Chroma-infused keyboard, all in a beautiful ultrabook shell. Add in desktop GPU power via the Thunderbolt 3 Razer Core and you’re in gaming heaven. From £1,349, razer.com/gb-en ALL-IN-ONE APPLE iMAC WITH 5K RETINA DISPLAY There’s never been a screen like this. Big enough for every task, detailed, bright, colourful, and it happens to have a Mac stuffed in the back of it as well. From £1,749, apple.com/uk GAMING HEADSET STEELSERIES ARCTIS 7 Super-comfortable…

Have you been hankering after a smart home for a while, but haven’t worked out where to get started, or what you need to make it work? Or maybe you’ve just been putting it off until the smart home scene matures? Whatever the reason, there’s no reason to delay – now’s the perfect time to pull the (smart) plug. There’s so much good stuff out there, and it’s all really easy to set up and use. And once you’ve got your smart home sorted, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. So, with that in mind, we’ve created this handy guide, which clearly highlights each of the main areas of your home that you should consider upgrading, and what smart gadgets you need to achieve this, whether it’s how…

THE LOWDOWN One of the first smart home upgrades people tend to make is to their lighting. There’s a simple reason for this: not only is it really easy to do, often merely a case of swapping out your existing bulbs for smart LED ones, but it’s also because it makes such a big difference – especially if you go for colour-changing bulbs. Smart lighting allows you to schedule when your lights come on and off (great for security), create triggers (or rules) that let you do neat tricks, such as make your lights turn on when you enter the home and turn off when you leave, and if you have a voice assistant, you can perform the ultimate party trick – turn your lights on just by asking. The…

THE LOWDOWN The smart home revolution has brought a tidal wave of security cams, whether it’s of the indoor or outdoor variety, doorbell cams, and even pet and baby monitors. Security cams enable you to keep an eye on your home from the comfort of your phone, even at night, thanks to infra red. Which one you go for depends on what part of the home you want to protect, but usually, an indoor camera is a good first option, giving you increased security where your most valued posessions are. If you want to spot intruders before they get in your home (or you want to protect a shed), get an outdoor camera – the Netatmo Presence is waterproof for year-round use, and even has a floodlight built in, to…

THE LOWDOWN The more gadgets around the home, the more you use energy, and the more money you spend, right? Not necessarily. Of course, buying smart home gadgets in the first place will cost you, but you can make long-term savings having them in place. With around half of your energy bills going on your heating, a smart thermostat is a shrewd investment, enabling you to only heat your house when you need to, through scheduling and geolocation. As we discussed in the last section, smart radiator valves or multiroom systems enable you to get full control over your entire home’s heating, so you don’t unnecessarily use energy heating a room when you’re not using it. The next stage in saving energy around the home, and making your home smarter,…

THE LOWDOWN Is it possible to make life around the home easier? Yes – in fact, most smart home gadgets are built to do this. Take robot vacuums, for instance. Instead of having to clean the floor yourself, machines can do it for you. There are a wide variety of robot vacs that will effectively clean your home. If you want the most intelligent type, it’s hard to beat Dyson’s 360 Eye, which learns a room layout to clean it more efficiently. Or there’s the Neato Botvac Connected, which connects to your phone, enabling you to control it remotely, select schedules and more. In the garden, it’s a similar story – choose from umpteen robot lawn mowers, such as the Robomow and Bosch Indego. You can buy a lawn mower…

We’ve still got staples like State of the Art and Man vs. Tech, but we’ve added more pages about the gadgets we’re really looking forward to, from cutting-edge innovations to broader lifestyle gear and tips. We’ve also expanded our Home section with even more smart tech, including regular reviews and more advanced automation tips. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll have seen me say in these pages that the ‘gadget’ world is expanding into every area of our lives - everything has an app and wireless connection these days, even your power tools. We’re embracing this with the new T3, and giving this great new stuff the attention and space it deserves. Of course, we still love the high-tech gizmos we always have, and so you’ll find this issue packed…

HUDWAY CAST Stop fiddling with the music player! Let the Hudway Cast handle playback and voice calls as well as display texts or directions, all in your line of sight while you focus on driving. This slick, portable HUD has now gone live on Kickstarter. £TBC, hudway.co HEY OLLY Small robot, big personality. Hey Olly, the work of London start-up company Emotech, wants to be your new lifestyle assistan and adapts its personality to suit your needs. Hey Olly won four awards at CES 2017 and is crowdfunding on Indiegogo. £TBC, heyolly.com…

TECH There’s a great range of technology mags on Readly, including T3, naturally! And when you’ve finished us, you can also check out the likes of MacFormat, Digital Camera, How It Works, iPad User, and loads more! ENTERTAINMENT Film and TV fans can keep up to date with the latest issues of Total Film, SFX, Empire and more, while music fans will love to dive into magazines including Q, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Acoustic, and Mojo, among others! GAMING Whatever platform you game on, there’s the perfect mag for you on Readly, whether that’s Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer, Edge, Official PlayStation Magazine, GamesMaster, and even Retro Gamer for the classics. MEN’S INTEREST Make sure you’re always your best self with the latest fashion, style and general life advice in…

THE SHIRT To ape Gosling’s Cannes festival look, get a white shirt with rounded collar and breast pocket, and roll those sleeves up above your elbows. Try Jack Wills’s Salcombe End On End Regular Fit Shirt (£59.95, asos.com) or Dries Van Noten’s Coen shirt (£260, harveynichols.com). THE TROUSERS Gosling often favours coloured trousers or those with a print. Get close to his light-grey choice with a pair of Boss Tailoring Slim-fit Trousers in Light Grey (£105, hugoboss.com/uk), or Kingsman Harry’s Light-Grey Wool Suit Trousers (£350, mrporter.com). THE SHOES Gosling’s accessories are always on-point – just look at those playful white brogues! Step out in a similar style with some Rolando Sturlini shoes (£199, luisaviaroma.com) or Church’s Classic Oxford Shoes in White (£290, farfetch.com).…

GP BATTERIES TASK P36 If you break down at night, you’ll need a way to see what’s happening around you or under your car’s bonnet. The weatherproof, 300-lumen Task P36 torch can help, shining a 120-metre beam on the scene. £34.99, uk.gp-design.com MATADOR POCKET BLANKET 2.0 Stay warm while waiting for a tow by wrapping up in Matador’s HyperLyte Nylon blanket. When packed, it’s small enough to fit on a keychain, so it will take up little space in the glove box. £29.95, bearandbear.com ANKER POWERCORE 20100 So, your car’s knackered and your phone’s dying. Lucky you keep a fully-charged power bank in your glove box, eh? This Anker beast offers 20,100mAh of power, which is several charges of an average smartphone. £29.99, amazon.co.uk…

In the past, your hotel room key might be attached to something akin to a doorstop and the TV limited to a few channels only. Nowadays hotels are wising up to the demand for the latest technology and our desire to control room features via apps and smartphones. Hub by Premier Inn (hubhotels.co.uk) is the tech-savvy spin-off from the big chain, with a flagship hotel in King’s Cross (there are six others in London and two in Edinburgh). Download the hotel’s app and you can control almost everything in your room with it, from the smart TV and lighting to an interactive map on the wall. The room key also shows housekeeping whether the room is occupied or not, which might spare you a few blushes. Or how about the…

1 MITI X LARGE This clever accessory enables you to turn four logs into an upright wood burner for cooking on. $ 90CAD (£54.71), sportesoutdoortools.com 2 GRANSFORS BRUKS SMALL FOREST AXE The finest axe you’ll own. Perfect for many jobs in the woods, from felling small trees to splitting wood. £86, proadventure.co.uk 3 MORA COMPANION HIGH-VIZ KNIFE At HGC (huntergathercook.com) this is our go-to knife for butchery. Go high-vis with kit outdoors – it’s harder to lose! £12.95, bushcrafttools.com 4 SPUN IRON GLAMPING PAN A perfect size for campfire cook-ups. The handle unbolts for travelling; slip it in your rucksack and go. £52.50, netherton-foundry.co.uk…

THE HANDMAIDEN Currently on Amazon Video, Oldboy’s Park Chan-wook tells the twisty, seductive tale of the rich Lady Hideko and her affair with haidmaid Sook-Hee. It’s shocking and sumptuous fare. DESTINY 2 So, we love travelling across beautiful new locales, but the true joy of Destiny 2 lies in popping aliens’ heads off with a variety of shiny weapons. And we’re okay with that. SPIRITS: A DRUNKEN DIVE INTO MYTHS AND LEGENDS Get into the Halloween mood with this creepy-cool podcast about the real stories behind supernatural myths and cool legends from around the world.…

Range on an ebike might not be quite as crucial a number as it is in an electric car – you’re not going to get stranded in the middle of nowhere if your battery runs flat – but it’s still useful to know what to expect. It’s hard to get an accurate figure of range, though, which is why most of the manufacturers in this test are reluctant to quote it; there are many factors that will affect the overall figure, after all. The figure Vanmoof quotes is entirely reasonable, given what we experienced, but we’ve used the Range Assistant on the Bosch website to calculate the others (both of which use a Bosch motor and battery). Here you can calculate the range based on the rider, bike and terrain,…

From £799 apple.com/uk et’s be honest – the iPhone 8 Plus would formerly have been known as an iPhone 7S Plus. It’s no slight on this phone to say that; previous iPhone ‘S’ handsets have been great moves forward, and that is reflected here with a slew of updates that make it an admirable upgrade over the iPhone 6S Plus and previous models, even if less so over last year’s iPhone 7 Plus. But actually, the S-ness of this phone isn’t the biggest elephant in the room of the 8 Plus – that’s the iPhone X (pronounced ‘ten’ officially, but we’ll see how long that lasts). It’s even more flagshippy than this big 5.5-inch flagship phone. In terms of Apple’s handsets, the Plus series has always been our favoured models…

£849 royole.com/moon SPECIFICATIONS Price £849 Screen 2x 1920x1080 OLED Storage 32GB Headphones 8HZ to 20kHz active noise cancelling Interpupillary Distance 58mm – 70mm Diopter adjustment -7.0 to +2.0 Battery capacity 6000mAh Connectivity 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, micro-USB, micro-HDMI (adapter supplied) One of our favourite things about the PlayStation VR is how it works with non-VR content, displaying it on a floating screen in front of you, as if you were in a cinema. You get a personal space to watch movies, or play 2D games, without taking over the TV. That’s why we were so excited to try the Royole Moon, which aims to do the same thing, though without the VR elements. It has twin OLED 1080p displays that sit just in front of your eyes, replicating the feeling of…

VOICE ASSISTANT AMAZON ECHO Alexa is everywhere these days, but nowhere is Amazon’s AI more at home than in its Echo. It couples an awesome array microphone with pleasing design for the perfect assistant experience. £90, amazon.co.uk SMART DOORBELL RING VIDEO DOORBELL 2 Part motion-detecting security camera, part ring-anywhere doorbell, the Video Doorbell 2 alerts you via your smartphone when you have a visitor – and you can two-way talk even if you’re not home. £179, ring.com LIFESTYLE WI-FI CAMERA LOGITECH CIRCLE 2 Indoor, outdoor, in a plug socket, on a handy surface, mounted on a wall or stuck to a window‚ Logitech’s clever 180-degree camera doesn’t leave you short of options, and streams some fine 1080p footage. From £169, logitech.com DOOR & WINDOW SENSORS HIVE WINDOW OR DOOR SENSOR…

ENTRY-LEVEL DSLR CANON EOS 800D Make no mistake: the EOS 800D’s tech, trickled down from higher models in the line, is remarkable. It offers up 45-point autofocus, a touch-sensitive screen and awesome image quality. £779, canon.com MIRRORLESS CAMERA SONY A9 Cleverly engineered to put every component right behind the 24.2MP sensor for speed, the A9 can shoot at a ridiculous 20fps, take 4K video, and has 693-point focus with a full-frame sensor. £4,499, sony.co.uk ACTION CAMERA GOPRO HERO5 BLACK The current pinnacle of action camera technology. Stabilised 30fps 4K video, completely water resistant with no need for a Perspex housing, and integrated GPS so you can see where the action is. £399, gopro.com RUNNING WATCH GARMIN FORERUNNER 935 The Forerunner 935 measures every aspect of your workout, from heart rate…

THE LOWDOWN If you’re looking to set up a smart home, it might seem a little daunting when you realise just how much smart home stuff is out there. Knowing exactly what you need to purchase can be tricky, and then you have the potential issue that not all of it may play together nicely. But an easy way to ensure that you get everything you need in a neat, one-box solution is to purchase a smart home starter kit. There are a few options out there, from the likes of Samsung and Yale, and which you go for depends what your smart home priorities are and what other stuff you want to add in the future. As standard, each kit comes with a hub – this is the absolute…

THE LOWDOWN According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a home is up to five times as polluted as outside, which can have an effect on your health. It’s easy to see why – there are a variety of nasties floating about, such as volatile organic compounds (mould, glues and paints), particulate matter (dust and fly ash), and even humidity and temperature can have a big effect on air quality. To combat this, there are gadgets designed to help you breathe better. The first, and most popular, type of these are air quality monitors, such as Foobot, Awair, Elgato Eve Room, Netatmo Healthy Home Coach, or the BlueAir Aware, which measure the air in a variety of ways and alert you to any anomalies that need to be addressed. Each device…