Table of contents for October 2021 in Stuff UK

I don’t want to go on about it, but after a year and a half of growing stale inside the four walls of our homes, life as we knew it is resuming. Whether you think that’s good, or you were starting to enjoy your introvert’s paradise, it’d be a shame not to capture some of the excitement on camera. It’s lucky, then, that just about every person reading this will have a smartphone attached to their being, no doubt with decent camera specs. But maybe you want to step up your game, so we’ve selected some of the finest snappers of 2021 for your perusal. Whether it’s mirrorless or mobile, enough with ‘spray and pray’ – let our experts offer up some tekkers to assist you behind the lens. We’ve…

¥9999 (approx £1115) / mi.com If you still haven’t hound what you’re looking for, Xiaomi is here to help… • Spot: the difference Xiaomi makes a lot of stuff you probably don’t know about. As well as its range of wallet-friendly smartphones you can also buy Xiaomi electric scooters, Xiaomi musical instruments, Xiaomi exercise gear, and now your very own pet robo-pooch too. Looking like a similar breed to Boston Dynamics’ rather creepy Spot, Xiaomi’s own quadruped is designed to give robotics fans an open-source opportunity to experiment. The company also plans to set up a community for CyberDog owners to share their progress and results – a bit like an online obedience class for robots. • Just like starting Rover Rather than bowls full of kibble, Xiaomi’s CyberDog is…

£204,000 / morgan-motor.com Is Mr Toad going on safari? This vehicle is in no way endorsed by the Kenneth Grahame estate, but it receives the full backing of Stuff because we think it’s ace. It’s the Morgan Plus Four CX-T: a sort of adventurous off-roader for those with a deep love of classic British sports cars and equally deep pockets. But… why? Morgan’s history books are full of plucky moustachioed chaps wading their little brum-brums through fords and attempting to scramble up rocks, simply because that’s what gentlemen did back then. But really this is a look inside design chief Jonathan Wells’ mind, as he claims his team have been dreaming of beefing up a Morgan for years. Beef, you say? Mmm… Lashings of it. Morgan teamed up with off-road…

Motorola Razr 5G £1200 / motorola.co.uk What’s the story? Motorola first made its name with in-car comms. Then it made its name again with natty noughties handsets – including the blade-thin Razr, first sold in 2004. Now it’s trying to grab our attention for a third time with a 5G-ready flexi-screen reboot of its most iconic flipper. Is it any good? A glassy back cements the refreshed Razr’s status as a thing of beauty. That retro shell is clearly the height of cool, while its compact folded form is also usefully pocketable. The design is fit for Instagram… and so is the 48MP main camera, which faces forwards when the phone is folded and rearwards when it’s flipped open. The hinge is more robust than before; and while the Snapdragon…

NIKON Z FC £899 (body only) / stuff.tv/ZFC When you’re buzzing around the streets taking snaps of day-to-day life, it’s important to look the part – and Nikon’s Z FC has style in spades. Taking design inspiration from the company’s classic FE 35mm camera, on the inside the Z FC is every bit the modern-day mirrorless marvel. It uses the same 20.9MP APS-C sensor, processor, battery and excellent hybrid autofocus system as Nikon’s first mirrorless camera, the Z50, but this isn’t merely a retro reskin. Look past the leatherette coating, fetching round electronic viewfinder and manual dials for shutter speed and ISO (don’t worry, you can easily flick it into auto), and you’ll find a hybrid camera with an 11fps burst speed, 4K video and a magnesium alloy chassis that’s…

● Chessplode “Chess but explosions” might sound like something from the Alan Partridge book of TV show pitches, but that single twist upends this most classic of board games. Even veterans will have to rethink strategies on watching all pieces in a row and column – including their own – being obliterated when one is taken. Fortunately, daily challenges help rewire your brain for online multiplayer bouts. £free / Android, iOS ● Minit RPGs tend to let you amble, exploring at your own pace, occasionally feeling suitably smart and tough when you see off puzzles and enemies. But Minit gives you just 60 seconds before you die – although you do hang onto items for your next attempt. It’s an odd thing, simultaneously freeing you up from the finality of…

£90 / stuff.tv/PulseHeadset ■ Unsurprisingly for a sub-£100 headset, the Pulse 3D is all-plastic with pleather earpads. It doesn’t feel cheap, though, and isn’t particularly heavy. We can’t say for sure that it’ll stand the test of time, but with no boom mic there’s nothing that feels easily breakable. ■ The PlayStation 5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech engine is designed to put you in the middle of immersive soundscapes, allowing you to pinpoint where sounds are coming from. While the Pulse 3D is never going to rival a properly assembled home cinema system, it’s still very impressive when paired with a compatible first-party game. ■ Hearing the hum of the traffic directly beneath you as you swing through the Manhattan skies in Miles Morales adds a real feeling of height, while…

FIRST ADD THESE… ONE DJI OM 4 As impressive as the Redmi Note 10 Pro’s rear camera array is, it misses out on optical image stabilisation, which would have helped keep its main 108MP cam nice and steady. But all is not lost! Avoid blurry photos and wobbly videos with the best mobile gimbal on the block: the collapsible, compact, exceptionally capable DJI OM4. £139 / dji.com TWO CANON SELPHY SQUARE QX10 If the Note 10 Pro is an Instagram dream with its banging camera, then the Selphy Square is its perfect partner. This portable printer can churn out an old-school 6.8cm-square photo in 43 seconds. It’s small enough to pop in a bag, and Canon claims its prints will last 100 years. We’ll just have to take their word…

Sony WF-1000XM4 £250 / stuff.tv/WFXM4 A worthy successor to the XM3 buds that sat atop this list for what seemed like decades, Sony’s latest true wireless noise-cancelling in-ears are smaller, smarter and better. With the arguable exceptions of call quality and app slickness, the WF-1000XM4s aren’t quite the best at anything; but they’re so close to being the best at everything that their all-round game is untouchable. No other wireless earbuds are so consistently accomplished across the board. Stuff says The finest true wireless noise-cancelling earbuds around – this is the complete package Devialet Gemini £279 / stuff.tv/Gemini There’s nothing special about their design, charging case, battery life, ANC or app… and the sound out of the box is arguably overhyped. But what you’re getting here, after a quick tweak,…

Mi Smart Band 5 £25 / 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 sub-£30 gift that keeps giving. Stuff says Fantastic value and decent features make this an easy fitness tracker to recommend Myzone MZ-Switch £140 / stuff.tv/MZSwitch Myzone’s modular heart-rate tracker can be attached to different parts of the body, while the app gamifies your activity. It’s a versatile…

Samsung QE65QN95A £2499 / stuff.tv/QN95A This is Samsung’s single most expensive 4K TV for 2021 (unless you buy a bigger version), but the pictures justify the outlay. The Korean giant’s implementation of the new Mini LED tech is, on this evidence, something to be reckoned with. It’s difficult to imagine how any of the other sets that are incoming this year could be better. Stuff says This Mini LED television is a fearsomely accomplished set – and the one to beat ● NOW ADD THIS Samsung Q-Series soundbars Pairing your QLED with one of these is a stress-free way to get 3D object-based sound. from £549 / samsung.com ● TIPS & TRICKS You can configure this TV to work with the voice assistant of your choice, not just Samsung’s Bixby.…

Apple iPad Air from £579 / stuff.tv/iPadAir The 4th-generation iPad Air ushers in big changes. It looks the spit of an 11in iPad Pro (at least from the front), and supports Apple’s snazzy Magic Keyboard and second-gen Pencil… and the A14 chip makes it blazingly fast, leaving its predecessor in the dust. Sure, there are compromises, but none are critical. So if you were considering an iPad Pro but don’t really need the extra power of that phenomenal M1 processor, it might be wise to save yourself a few quid and buy the Air instead. Stuff says Pointing to the iPad’s future rather than its past, this is a meaningful, impressive, powerful Air update Apple iPad Pro (M1) from £749 / stuff.tv/iPadPro The 2021 iPad Pro’s display is wonderful and…

Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor £330 / stuff.tv/Mindstorms It’s clear Lego has prioritised immediacy and fun with its latest build-your-own-bots kit, which lets you and/or your little ones create five different coding-controlled mecha-beings. Yes, the set lacks a proper screen and relies on a separate device for programming; but it offers great clarity and scope, plus an attitude that encourages tinkering… whatever your age. Stuff says A fun, versatile set for Lego electronics newcomers and old hands alike Sphero RVR £250 / stuff.tv/SpheroRVR The RVR pulls off the balance between serious coding and knockabout fun perfectly: it’s an all-terrain vehicle that you can throw around without worrying about it breaking, but also has serious programming chops. Stuff says Enough fun to convert any coding-phobe Lego Vidiyo from £3.99 / stuff.tv/Vidiyo The…

All the best things in life are wireless these days – headphones, VR headsets, dogs – and now Google has cut the cord on its smart security gadgets too. The new Google Nest Cam and Doorbell are Nest’s first battery-powered products in their respective categories, so you can install them regardless of whether there’s a power outlet or existing doorbell wiring nearby (although both can also still be plugged in). Object detection now happens on-device, so you can receive notifications when either camera detects animals, vehicles or people – or in the case of the doorbell, packages – without having to pay for a subscription. Three hours of event video history is included at no extra cost, and if you want more you can sign up to Nest Aware (from…

Pawbby Pet Shaver The CyberDog might not have a glossy coat to keep tidy, but if you also own one of those old-fashioned organic pets and fancy saving a bit of cash at Kanine Klippers, this shaver has a four-hour battery life. Bounds Steering Wheel Cover Always dreamed of having a steering wheel that looked like a yeti’s frisbee? This will do the job, and keep your hands warm when the weather’s cold. Or you could just turn the heating on… Quange Toilet Brush Training your CyberDog to clean the toilet might be a little way off yet, but in the meantime you can use one of these brushes from Xiaomi’s Quange brand. It comes with 10 disposable heads and a wall-mountable holder.…

£free / Android, iOS Think you’re a marvel on two little wheels? You might think otherwise once you’ve taken on Touchgrind Scooter, which has you blazing along absurdly dangerous courses, performing all manner of stomach-flipping stunts during regular bouts of being flung into the air. It’s the two-finger controls that make this game – instead of a normal gamepad, you have one finger on the handlebars and another on the deck. Gestures trigger stunts, which when chained together earn you massive points, shortly before you get cocky and crash into a bin. A game that doesn’t suffer fools, then… but one that’s tactile, immediate and fun, and properly rewards perseverance.…

GOOGLE ONLY SLIGHTLY UNVEILS A NEW PIXEL The Pixel 6 might be just around the corner, but that hasn’t stopped Google releasing the Pixel 5a: a faster, stronger phone with a speedier Snapdragon 765G chip, a bigger 6.34in screen and a beefier 4680mAh battery. Shame it’s only going to market in the US and Japan for now. SPOTIFY ADDS OFFLINE LISTENING ANY-WEAR Hot on the heels of its Apple Watch app, Spotify has now also added offline listening to its Wear OS equivalent. That means you can download songs, playlists and podcasts straight to your smartwatch and listen without having your phone nearby. It’s rolling out now, so keep an eye on your wrist. APPLE KINDLY LETS YOU BUY A NEW KEYBOARD Fancy one of Apple’s Magic Keyboards with Touch…

SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION OFFER Receive your first 3 issues for £5 Continue to save 38%* off the shop price Have each issue delivered directly to your door – FREE Never miss an issue of the world’s greatest gadget mag TWO EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE: ONLINE shop.kelsey.co.uk/STU1021 CALL US 01959 543747 Please quote STU1021 Hours: Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.30pm (calls charged at your standard network rate) Offer ends 30 September 2021 JUST WANT DIGITAL? Pay just £9.50 on quarterly Direct Debit – simply select the ‘digital only’ option at checkout. Terms and conditions: Offer available for UK Direct Debit customers only. You will pay £5 for your first 3 issues then continue to pay £19.99 every 6 months. For overseas rates please visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/stuff. Offer closes 30 September 2021. *Full UK subscription rate for…

MINIATURE MAYHEM The wee workstation IK Multimedia Uno Making electronic music used to involve surrounding yourself with banks of giant modules like the captain of a very noisy spaceship. Now look at this iPad-sized beast. It’s fully analogue but programmable, comes with 100 presets, and includes an arpeggiator and 16-step sequencer. €200 / ikmultimedia.com The DIY demon Teenage Engineering Modular 170 One day Teenage Engineering will slip up and produce something that isn’t cool enough to make people grow a beard on the spot. Until then, we’ll have to carry on being seduced by gadgets like this, a self-assembly analogue squelcher with eight little patch cables and a built-in speaker round the back. £399 / teenage.engineering The teeny twiddler Modal Skulptsynth SE Modal first caught our eye with the original…

PANASONIC LUMIX G100 £519 (body only) / stuff.tv/LumixG100 Panasonic’s G100 is aimed squarely at some of the worst people in the world: influencers. But while this 20.3MP Lumix might be most at home asking people to like and subscribe, it also has plenty of stills skills to up your foodtography game. For starters it’s absolutely tiny and weighs just 345g, so taking it out to dinner won’t feel like a chore, yet the micro four-thirds sensor inside is an absolute whopper in comparison to the one inside your smartphone. Of course, the best phones can now use AI to make up some ground, but they’ll never offer the flexibility of a camera with interchangeable lenses – and there are loads available that will fit the G100. You won’t find a…

Sennheiser CX True Wireless What’s the story? The Germans have a reputation for being sensible when it comes to hi-fi. Sennheiser is famed for engineering rigour, longevity and, most of all, performance – the flipside of that being a perceived lack of value for money and visual pizzazz. While the latter still remains the case with the company’s latest wireless in-ears, the price is very reasonable. So how far should we lower our expectations? Actually, not that far… Are they any good? There’s something quite austere about the look of these buds – and that impression isn’t helped by the fact that they’re so chunky. But they’re solid and splash-proof, and excel when it comes to the important stuff: these are sonically gifted earphones, with a real up-and-at-’em quality. While…

THE BASICS ■ Find your Focus The blunt tool Do Not Disturb now has a more refined sibling, Focus, which blocks out distractions in a way that’s context-specific. For each Focus you can define a schedule, people and apps who can notify you, and home screens you want to hide. You can also manually turn on a Focus from Control Centre. ■ Play with your friends In FaceTime, you’ll soon be able to kick off SharePlay sessions to sync movie/album playback with friends. You can easily find links sent in Messages via Shared With You in News, TV, Music, Safari, Podcasts and Photos. Handily, Photos automatically adds to your library those pics you were there for. ■ Let the Spotlight shine Spotlight is smarter. Search for or select a contact…

£6999 / stuff.tv/LSP9T ■ This is an ultra-short-throw projector, which means it can produce a huge image on your wall from just a few centimetres away. Where traditional projectors would require a few metres of separation to create a 130in picture, the LSP9T can do it from just 24cm away. ■ This design eliminates a lot of the usual setup issues – there’s no need to worry about viewers’ heads blocking the image, for example – but it took a fair bit of tinkering with the feet before we managed to get it to precisely fit our wall-mounted screen. ■ It has the same Tizen-based interface you’ll find on Samsung’s TVs, and a similar remote control. In fact, it has two: a comprehensive clicker that’s bristling with buttons, plus a…

25 ASTRO’S PLAYROOM For all the big-budget epics in the PS5’s burgeoning library, the best title for showcasing the console’s new tech is pre-loaded on the system. The game itself is a charming if fairly basic 3D platformer, but it fully utilises the DualSense pad’s nifty haptics and adaptive triggers, allowing you to feel everything the titular robot does in your hands. It’s also packed with creative tributes to PlayStation’s history. 2020 / PS5 24 JOURNEY Plenty of the games on this list are big and action-packed, but Journey is very much the opposite – and all the better for it. It’s small and meditative, tasking you with guiding a hooded creature through the desert. Then you might find a companion – a real, online person – and while you’ll…

Sony WH-1000XM4 £285 / stuff.tv/WHXM4 With their balance of wearability, active noise-cancelling prowess and audio performance, there hasn’t been a better package than the Sony XM3s… until now. The XM4s look and sound almost identical, but a range of new features – including Speak-to-Chat, which stops the music when you start talking – aims to lure you away from your current ’phones. If those are the XM3s (still available at a super-low price, by the way), it’s tough to justify the upgrade; but who’s going to knock Sony off its perch now? Stuff says Not surprisingly given their heritage, these are the best all-round noise-cancelling headphones you can buy Bowers & Wilkins PX7 £249 / stuff.tv/PX7 B&W’s second ANC headphones place greater emphasis on comfort and are all the better…

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 5 £450 / stuff.tv/PS5 The PS5 is not a modest upgrade. Its hulking design means it’ll make a bad first impression on some, but spend time playing it and it’ll soon win you over – and then some. This is essentially a high-spec gaming PC for the living room: stupendously powerful, with greatly reduced loading times compared to the PS4. Most last-gen titles will run fine, many with a boost, and the line-up of new games is strong; we just hope developers make use of that fascinating DualSense pad and its haptic feedback trickery. Stuff says Huge power, clever hardware and a guarantee of great games to come make the PS5 hard to resist Nintendo Switch £279 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch Now four years old, the Switch is the second-best-selling…

Half-Life: Alyx from £39 / Oculus, Vive, Valve Index Announcing Alyx as not only a ‘midquel’ but a VR exclusive got some Half-Life diehards riled up… but in classic Valve fashion, the end result is utterly brilliant. Alyx succeeds because its universe just happens to be a perfect fit for the format. It’s also larger and much more robust than most VR games, at a meaty 12-15 hours. And though it unfolds at a different kind of cadence to past Half-Life games, it feels like a fully fledged solo campaign and a key part of the franchise narrative. Stuff says Valve’s beloved series returns… and offers one of the strongest arguments to date for VR gaming Beat Saber from £23 / Oculus, Vive, PSVR Gleefully swing your twin lightsabers to…

Fujifilm X-T4 £1399 / stuff.tv/XT4 The Fuji X-T4 might be the high-end mirrorless camera of your dreams. Relatively affordable for a flagship, it excels at stills and video thanks to in-body image stabilisation, high-speed shooting and 4K recording at up to 60fps. Rapid shooting is backed up by fancy AF tricks that feel equally fast and reliable, and even the battery life goes above and beyond the usual standards. There’s no doubting this is a worthy successor to the already fabulous X-T3. Stuff says A superbly capable mirrorless camera for shooting pretty much anything in style ● NOW ADD THIS Fujifilm XF 16-80mm f/4 This versatile lens covers a bigger zoom range than most and adapts to pretty much any requirements. £699 / wexphotovideo.com ● TIPS & TRICKS It’s easy…

We’re fast running out of classic gaming systems that haven’t been miniaturised for a TV-friendly console experience, but 16-bit home computers had been off limits… until now. With the A500 Mini, the folks behind the C64 Mini have announced a dinky remake of the Commodore 64’s successor: the Amiga. The Commodore brand itself is tied up in legal weirdness, hence the coy name, but this is otherwise fully official fare – and as authentic as a tiny take on the 16-bit machine can be. You can’t actually bash away at that diminutive keyboard (although you can plug in a USB one), but you do get a classic Amiga-style mouse, along with a newly engineered eight-button gamepad and 25 built-in games, including Speedball 2, Battle Chess, Pinball Dreams and Worms. Notably,…

The Tour de France was brutal this year. It was a really tricky first week of racing, with a lot of crashes, and it was unfortunate to see so many of the contenders losing out so early on. But for me, just to be back in the Tour after my big crash two years ago felt amazing. Being able to finish it felt like a win in itself. Before I tried Hammerhead’s Karoo 2, cycling computers used to frustrate me. For a long time the cycling industry was using basic analogue tech that felt as if it wasn’t really with the times. But the Karoo 2 [which won a five-star review in our May issue] really raises the bar. Its platform is a lot more dynamic and in line with…

STREET Step outside, stop, observe and wait. Float like a shutterfly and captivating scenes will unfold in front of your very lens. p38 NIGHT Night fever, we’ll show you how to do it. From buying the right camera to working neon lights, you’ll be the prince of darkness. p40 NATURE It’s not easy capturing the greatest artist of all, Mother Nature, but with the right gear you can come close. p42 PORTRAIT Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it? Perhaps Madonna wasn’t aware of the complexities of medium-format, but you will be. p44 FOOD Camera eats first, so make sure you follow our advice to ensure lunch looks less Kitchen Nightmares and more MasterChef. p46 VIDEO Find out how a little camera loaded with smart video modes can set you…

SONY A7C £1709 (body only) / stuff.tv/A7C The old cliche says you should never work with children or animals. But if it’s photographs you want and you’re holding a Sony A7C, there’s no reason to be afraid of either. Full-frame cameras don’t get much smaller than this, especially if you insist on in-body image stabilisation. That makes it an easy carry whether you’re on safari or on the prowl around the bins for some urban wildlife. Animals (and we include children in that) aren’t exactly known for sitting still and doing what they’re told, so you’ll need something that doesn’t hang around if you want to get the perfect shot – and the A7C is quite the speed demon. Its combination of 10fps continuous shooting and fast, accurate AF means…

£179 / stuff.tv/SymfoniskFrame ■ The Symfonisk collaboration between Ikea and Sonos has already brought us a musical lampshade and a tidy bookshelf speaker. Now there’s this, a Wi-Fi speaker hidden in a work of art. The idea is to enjoy music with one less obvious gadget cluttering up the place. ■ You can mount the Symfonisk frame in either orientation, or rest it against the wall like a trendy art connoisseur who’s decided a casual lean-to look is far better than conforming to gallery norms. We opted for the lean, simply because the dangling power cable is a bit unsightly. If we could pick one wish for future improvements to this product, it would be the inclusion of a rechargeable battery for fully cable-free listening. ■ Setup is a breeze…

from £399 / stuff.tv/Nord2 DAY 02 OnePlus offers the Nord 2 in two specs – both of which promise plenty for their respective price tags. You can pay £399 for the base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, or you can shell out an extra £70 for 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. There’s no microSD slot on either version, so the internal storage really does matter. But whichever one you select, you’re looking at a £200+ saving versus a OnePlus 9. Emulating its pricier sibling was always going to make the Nord 2 a winner – and it does this in a few ways. First up, it has Gorilla Glass front and back, with ‘fibreglass-reinforced polymer’ down the sides. It looks a delight, with a higher-end feel than the…

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Apple iPhone 12 from £799 / stuff.tv/iPhone12 The demise of Samsung’s glorious Galaxy S20 5G left a space on the Stuff smartphone throne (and its replacement didn’t even make the Top Ten)… but don’t go thinking the iPhone 12 is only our No1 phone by default. We loved the iPhone 11, and its successor carries a whole host of improvements. If you can live without the telephoto camera of the flagship 12 Pro (and most can), you should save yourself some cash and get the 12 instead. In many ways it’s the same phone. Stuff says A top display and all the power you’ll ever need in an iPhone ● NOW ADD THIS Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive Go Bump your iPhone’s storage capacity by 64, 128 or 256GB with this…

Samsung Galaxy Watch3 from £299 / 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 £407 / stuff.tv/Fenix6 Anyone who’s truly into their fitness will appreciate the Fenix 6’s endless feature list. This is the finest…

Sonos Move £399 / stuff.tv/SonosMove The Sonos range of wireless speakers had been crying out for a battery-powered portable model for ages – and finally our favourite multiroom audio specialist caved in. Luckily, the Move was 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. This is the speaker Sonos should have launched years ago – and for even better portability, see the Roam model at No3 on this list. Stuff says Sonos finally gets up to speed with the portable speaker craze, and in style ● NOW ADD THIS Primephonic Bringing sexy Bach, this is streaming for classical music. Niche, yes, but its not-on-Spotify film and game scores offer a great way…

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 Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and BT Sport in its user-friendly interface. It’s also restructured its packages to make them more affordable, 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 – and best of all, Alexa voice control…

Amazon Echo (4th Gen) £90 / stuff.tv/Echo Having morphed from a cylinder to a sphere, the latest Echo is an excellent newsreader, weather forecaster, personal assistant and intercom straight out of the box; but it’s now also a capable speaker and a very accessible smart home hub. It doesn’t sound as good as the Sonos One or Apple HomePod for listening to music, but it’s significantly smarter than both and considerably cheaper too. Stuff says An all-round upgrade that makes the Echo a smarter speaker than ever ● NOW ADD THIS Honeywell T6R This Zigbee-enabled thermostat is wireless so you can place it where it’s most convenient. £159 / amazon.co.uk ● TIPS & TRICKS The Echo’s built-in Zigbee hub can hook up hundreds of smart home devices without a bridge.…

Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) from £50 / stuff.tv/Dot This fabric-covered take on Marvin the paranoid android in disguise as a Magic 8-Ball feels playful yet classical. It can’t match a full-size smart speaker for audio, but as a little radio and an Alexa assistant for the bedside table or kitchen worktop, this cutey gets the job done. It’s worth paying £10 more for the ‘with Clock’ version, which adds extra functionality beyond telling the time. Stuff says With the optional clock, this is our favourite bedside wondergadget ● NOW ADD THIS Sportlink Wall Mount This minimalist acrylic mount for the Dot will keep it clear from wet surfaces in the bathroom or kitchen. £10 / amazon.co.uk ● TIPS & TRICKS Fed up of yelling? Alexa’s voice can work like…